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blu-joons · 4 years ago

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DATING STRAY KIDS A⇴Z HEADCANON ⇴ Lee Minho

A ⇴ AFFECTION

After a long day, Minho can be very affectionate with you. He tends to keep his affection private when no one else is looking just so the two of you can enjoy each other’s company. If you need affection, he’ll be more than willing to give it to you.

B ⇴ BEFORE DATING

The boys could tell he was into you straight away as he became incredibly shy. He was never the loudest in the room when it came to his members, but when his eyes fell on you for the first time at the studio, he was desperately trying to come up with a way that he could head over and approach you, without the members getting involved.

C ⇴ CONFESSION

The only person he spoke to before confessing to you was Chan, as he knew he’d be the most supportive. He relied on his smile more than anything else to try and impress you, he wanted everything to go perfectly. When he approached you, you could tell straight away how shy he was, happily listening to him ask you out on a date before accepting. His cheeks turned a light shade of red as soon as you accepted, looking around for Chan.

D ⇴ DATES

He was surprisingly meticulous when it came to your dates, something no one ever expected from him. When it came to his relationship, he wanted everything to be perfect, because nothing mattered more. He tended to choose active dates for the two of you, but when it came to a special date in your relationship, he’d make sure to take you to a nice dinner or plan a romantic evening for the two of you. Most nights he just liked to settle down with you in front of a film or something just so he could be around you.

E ⇴ EXPERIENCE

He’d never been in a relationship before he met you, he was far too shy to ever really be able to approach a girl. He definitely was cheeky, but around you especially he lost all of that behaviour with his blushed cheeks. Having focussed for so many years on his dance and Stray Kids, he struggled to begin with when it came to adapting to a relationship, but with your help he soon found the perfect way to make sure both parts of his life were fulfilled without a single problem.

F ⇴ FIGHTING

It takes a lot to wind Minho up to a point where a fight occurs, he’s surprisingly sensitive and hates to know he’s upset you. He might give off the impression that he can be quite cold, but don’t be deceived, his delicate heart hates confrontation. He’s been through enough upset in his life to let little things get to him, more so with you. If the two of you do argue, he never lets it escalate too far, he’ll sit down like an adult and talk with you rather than raise his voice, he’s a lot more logical than he’s given credit for.

G ⇴ GETTING TO KNOW HIS FAMILY

Being an only child, you knew his parents were bound to be protective of him which added the pressure onto your shoulders. Luckily for you, they were very trusting in Minho’s judgement, and if he liked you enough to introduce you to his family, then they’d like you too, so long as he was happy, so were they.

H ⇴ HOME

Most of the time the two of you tended to do your own thing at the dorm, but that didn’t stop him wanting to think about your own place too. He missed the privacy of having somewhere just for the two of you as he knew what his members were like, walking in uninvited most of the time, which he didn’t think was fair.

I ⇴ “I LOVE YOU”

He was the first one to say, ‘I love you,’ one night after the two of you had settled in front of a film. The room was silent, and the two of you were laid side by side as he leant forwards and whispered into your ear. As soon as he’d said his cheeks turned a dark shade of red, hiding himself away from you. You couldn’t help but smile at how coy he was, wrapping your arms tightly around him.

J ⇴ JEALOUSY

Minho was one of the quieter characters in the room most of the time, especially around members like Han, so he tended to not have your full attention. He hated to describe himself as jealous, but he didn’t like when your attention wasn’t fully on him. It was one of the other reasons why he tended to prefer that the two of you did your own thing at the dorm. As much as he liked to see how well you got on with those who were close to him, he knew there was a boundary that his feelings would push to, and he hated to see you pass it.

K ⇴ KIDS

The both of you were very aware that children were a long way off for you both, but that didn’t stop the two of you beginning to think about the future. For the first time his focus wasn’t entirely on the group, now he had someone else to take into consideration. He’d always had hopes about having a family in the future, but for the first time he really felt like he’d found someone he could share those aspirations with.

L ⇴ LAUGHTER

His cheekiness and sarcasm always brought a smile to your face, his off the cusp remarks always took you by surprise in the best possible way. He’d spend most of his day making sure that you had a smile on your face, and if you didn’t, he wouldn’t stop cracking jokes until you did. You loved sitting back and watching him wind his members up, especially Seungmin, which would only encourage him to do it more, at the expense of everyone else. Nothing could brighten up his day more than the sound of your laughter.

M ⇴ MISSING

Whilst he wasn’t entirely dependent on you, he definitely hated times when he was away from you. Tour was always the hardest part of your relationship, he’d never really had that person that he yearned for before when he was away, until he met you. The boys would often rally around him whenever he went quiet as they knew he was beginning to think about you. He’d rely a lot on talking to you every night to get him through the time away from you, but no matter how hard you both tried it was never the same as actually being able to see you.

N ⇴ NICKNAMES

He’s very private again with your nicknames as he is with your affection, Minho never really settled on anything for you, it varies always, ‘love,’ ‘jagi,’ ‘sweet,’ you can never predict what nickname he’s going to choose for you.

O ⇴ OBSESSION

Minho is obsessed with your smile, it’s his favourite part about you. He’s main job as a boyfriend is to make you happy in life, so if he succeeds there, then he knows he’s doing a good job. It’s all he wants from the world.

P ⇴ PDA

Again, he’s very private around people who know him, the most you’ll get out of him is maybe a quick hug or a hold of his hand. You knew PDA was something that he was uncertain about, so even just the smallest of gestures from him meant a lot to you, never would you pressure him into doing anything he didn’t want to do.

Q ⇴ QUESTIONS

You can always rely on Minho to ask if you’re alright. He’s very attentive and caring, whenever he meets your gaze or sees you for the first time in a while he’ll be sure to check up on your mood.

R ⇴ RANDOM FACT

When he had time to himself, Minho loved to dance, and when he did have those moments, he loved to come up for little routines to perform for you. No one else would ever get to see them they’d only be for you. He’d come home with a huge smile on his face and show you the little routines you’d come up with. You loved to watch him dance, so you’d never complain, especially when it was dedicated to you.

S ⇴ SEX

He’ll always do his best to look after you during intimate moments, he’s very careful and caring during every moment. He’s not the most dominate person, so the two of you tend to switch roles quite frequently depending on your moods. He’s very affectionate during those private moments, making up for all the times he often feels like he neglects you in public.

T ⇴ TEXTS

You can usually expect texts from Minho at random parts of the day, he’ll always want to just check up on you and see how your day is going. Or if he’s going to be late, he’ll always be sure to let you know with a text.

U ⇴ UNIVERSE

He was well known for being quite private a lot of things, but never around you. He’d never been open with anyone like he was with you, he knew he could talk to you about everything and anything and you’d always be there for him.

V ⇴ VACATION

The two of you going on holiday was a very rare occasion, but when you did, Minho would work hard to make it a special occasion. He’d pull out all of the stops to make sure that the two of you could relax and just enjoy being around each other. His favourite holidays were the ones where the two of you did absolutely nothing, and just relaxed.

W ⇴ WHINING

If he didn’t get his own way, he would be more than happy to let you know that he wasn’t impressed until you gave him what he wanted.

X ⇴ XXXXX

He was always very loving with the kisses he gave you, each one always meant something, he’d never kiss you without reason. First in the morning he’d always greet you with a kiss, and whenever the two of you got a few moments to yourself he’d do exactly the same. He’d always hold you close when he kisses you, he likes for there to be little distance between you both so that he can have you tucked into his chest where you belong.

Y ⇴ YOU

You were his favourite person in the whole wide world, no one else even came close.

Z ⇴ ZZZ

Minho tended to fall asleep with you close to him, pulling you tightly into his chest. He much preferred to be the bigger spoon, but if he’d had a bad day or craved some attention, he’d be known to curl into your side too.

---

Masterlist

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theinkmage · 3 years ago

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Home

"Do you wonder?"

"Wonder what?"

"Wonder what we would become."

"I leave that up to fate. It's not really my place to decide."

"It can be." The hero said, reaching up to cup the other's face in his palms, forcing him to look directly into his eyes. Brilliant purple meeting stormy grey, like the sizzling flash of a lightning bolt on the cusp of dawn. "If you let it."

The villain looked away, pursing his lips. "Not everyone is as lucky as you."

The hero sighed, his hands falling away, fingers tapping listlessly against his thighs. "That I admit, but my point still stands." After a pause, he continued, "If I didn't know better, I would think you were scared of failing. That would most certainly explain your reluctance to meddle with fate."

He could almost predict the villain's response to that.

"I'm not scared of anything," the villain snapped, glowering at the city that sprawled before them from the rooftop of the building.

The hero had guessed right after all.

"And fate is fixed. It's supposed to be inevitable because it's determined by the cosmos. You can't change it." There was a hint of desperation there, barely, but the hero had known the villain long enough to pierce through his veiled attempts at subtlety.

"Yes…" the hero said slowly, staring resolutely at the villain.

"I sense a 'but' coming."

"But…" the hero let a faint grin slip onto his face. How he had missed these friendly banters with the villain when they were younger. "Destiny isn't."

The villain blinked, the epitome of baffled. "Destiny isn't what?"

"Destiny isn't fixed. It isn't determined by the cosmos. Even if your fate was given to you at birth, you don't have to follow its course. You can change it, by embracing your destiny."

The villain looked ready to argue, but the hero jumped in before he could. "And who's to say what's what? All we have are pre-conceived notions that are rubbed off onto us from the people we are surrounded with. They may be right, they may be wrong. For all you know, your notion of fate may be wrong."

"If you go according to that bizarre philosophy of yours, everything's going to end up wrong, you nitwit."

The hero snorted, his lips quirking up to the side. "The sky's grey."

"No, it's black."

"How do you know that the colour of the night sky is black and not grey?"

The villain scowled. "I just do."

"Oh really? Do you know what makes you happy in life then?"

"The two are not related."

The hero merely grinned, shoving his hands into his pockets as he turned to face the villain completely. Oh, how they had both grown. Into two different people, so different, yet so similar. Their paths had crossed once when they were children, young and innocent and naïve to the works of the world, then separated as they had grown, as they had each accepted Nature's calling. And now, here they were. Their paths had led them back together.

"Do you trust me?" The hero asked quietly.

The villain frowned suspiciously, but a soft "yes" ensued after a period of time.

"Try to keep up then." The hero smirked as he brushed past the villain, leaping onto the next rooftop without so much as a glance behind his shoulder.

The villain grumbled, but the faint traces of a smile etched themselves onto his countenance as he followed close behind.

Above them, the faint crescent of a new moon shone, sending slivers of white cascading over the houses and the grass and the stone of the paths. For a moment, it was just the two of them, silhouettes against the backdrop of a starry night sky and the brilliant moon. Surreal, yet concrete.

The villain could have left before the next rooftop. He could have melted into the shadows before the sight of their old childhood spot popped into sight. He could have gone home or returned to base before standing at the top of that very hill where they had once stood, many years ago. Yet he did none of the above.

"You haven't been here in a long time." Somehow, the hero made it sound accusatory.

The villain lowered his head, scuffing the grass at his feet with the tip of his shoe. That, he could not deny. "I didn't have time."

For a long time, the hero didn't say anything, and the villain began to think that perhaps he had been forgiven and the hero would drop all this that was going on between them. He had never meant for both of them to turn out this way, him more than the hero, but life was never fair. Neither was it predictable.

"I don't think so." The hero mused, plopping down onto the soft green grass, palms flattened against the ground. "I think you were afraid. Of this place. Of the memories it would bring back. You think they would go against what you were taught you would become."

"Who I've become is the path I've chosen for myself. No one else forged it for me." The villain snapped harshly, with a little more bite to his words than he had intended.

The hero fixed him with a knowing look. "Is that what you really think? Listen to your heart, and tell me. Honestly."

The villain bit down on his lower lip before sinking down onto the spot beside the hero. He said nothing. Just stared into the distance ahead, and fixed his eyes on the heavens above. It was going to be early morning soon.

"Doesn't being here make you feel small? Infinitesimal? With the land stretching on as far as the eye can see and the stars littering the sky above? I have always come back here, even after you were gone. It made me feel free, like…like an escape from reality. Here, I…we can be whoever we want to be. No one to forge our paths for us, no one to decide what we could be, no one to force us to be what we could never be."

"Life is rarely that simple, Hero." The villain intoned, hands fisting clumps of grass on either side of him.

"And again, you're right. But that would merely be following what the cosmos has planned for you. Many people lament that life is difficult, that it can never give us what we want. Yes, but a few break through life's barriers, because they believe. They believe in what they want, they believe in a happier ending, they believe in embracing destiny and revolting against fate. You don't have to be who you don't want to be just because others have carved the path for you, because others like you have done it before you. You are not like the others. You are unique, and you are what makes you you. I'm not asking you to drop everything all at once, I'm just asking that you rethink your life choices that you have obviously made not for yourself but for others. I'm asking that you give yourself a chance. Just a small one, in a world that's too big for us."

An amalgamation of emotions rushed through the villain, and his heart ached. The words were on the tip of his tongue, struggling past one another to spill past his lips, yet he could not bring himself to do it. He swallowed the chunky letters back down, tasting bitterness and the acridity of them burning sharp against his throat, pressing his lips tight together, stinging eyes staring resolutely ahead.

They sat on the hilltop for a while, the crickets chirping around them, the wind rustling through the leaves on the trees, the brook singing merrily downstream.

"It's getting late," the hero said quietly after what seemed like eons. "I should go. Rest well, Kaison."

The villain started. He hadn't heard the hero use his real name since they were children. It evoked something in him, a stirring deep in his gut, something primal and raw and so achingly sweet and sour at the same time.

"Did you know, your name means "son of fighter or rebel"?"

The villain shook his head and the hero smiled sadly, slowly rising and making his way past the villain.

"Just now," the villain blurted out in a panic, the hero's back the only thing in his vision. His feet had stopped, and he had not turned around to face the villain, but the villain knew the hero was listening. He always had.

"You asked me what makes me happy. You did. When we were kids and all that. You've always been the one stable thing in my life, even after we went down separate paths. You were always there. You never left."

By now, the villain was struggling not to cry. But it was hard, as the tears pooled in his eyes and he bit down on his lip harder, angling his head downwards to stare at the patch of grass between his feet.

Suddenly, the hero was there, kneeling down beside him, taking his hands into his and holding on tight. "It's okay to cry. It's okay to be vulnerable. It's okay to be free, to be whoever you want to be. It's okay to give yourself a chance."

The villain's emotions betrayed him, and the dam broke. It had been more than ten years since he had last cried, since he had last allowed himself to cry.

The hero squeezed his hands tighter. "You don't have to do this alone. If you're ready to try, I'm here to help."

The villain nodded, and he could see the relief in the way the hero's shoulders sagged, the joy in the beautiful smile that broke across his face. The hero pulled him into a hug, one that was long overdue, and that exact same feeling from earlier arose in the villain. It felt like regret, like relief, like a certain kind of joy and bliss, the only kind you could find when you were at home. And it felt like love. The love of an old childhood friend, the love of someone you could call home. It was the love of someone he had loved dearly since day one and had never stopped loving over the years.

As if reading his thoughts, the hero pulled away, cupping his tearstained face in his warm soft palms, resting his forehead against the villain's, their noses touching and their breaths misting in the cool air between them. "I missed you."

"Missed you too." The villain croaked, managing a shaky smile.

One minute, they were barely an inch apart, and the next, the hero's lips were on his. They fit perfectly, like a last piece fitting into a jigsaw puzzle. The kiss felt soft and sweet and slow, something warm and burning that crashed through their veins and threatened to burn them from the inside out. It felt like home, something the villain hadn't had in a very long time.

In the distance, brilliant purple met stormy grey, as the sizzling flash of a lightning bolt appeared on the cusp of dawn.

#hero x villain #soft villain #soft hero #writing #m x m #romance #fluff

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michals · 3 years ago

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That post reminded me I never actually posted this and it's one of those ‘kind of embarrassing I spent so much time on it but I’m posting it because I spent so much damn time on it’ things.

Klaus and Luther similarities/parallels

So the show doesn’t give us a ton of Luther and Klaus interaction but I think just them being the characters they are they’re really similar and have interesting parallels.

Of all the siblings I think it’s actually Luther and Klaus who are the most diametrically opposed in terms of their place in the Academy and their childhood. Obviously there’s the dynamic between Reggie explicitly calling Luther his favorite and Klaus his biggest disappointment, both of them had high expectations thrust upon them and one excelled and the other failed. But then again Luther was set up to excel and Klaus to fail. For all that Reggie wanted from Klaus he went about it in entirely the wrong way which only hurt Klaus’s abilities, and comparatively Luther’s powers are very straight forward so his training had to be mental in that he became exactly what Reggie wanted him to be.

Basically: Reggie’s abuse had opposite effects on them. Luther was brainwashed and isolated, Klaus was discarded and left to fend for himself. Luther loves/trusts his dad, Klaus hates him. Luther thinks they have a purpose and what they did was worthwhile, Klaus thinks it was all a big joke and meant nothing beyond Reggie’s little experiment. Luther’s at one end of the spectrum, Klaus the other, and everyone else falls somewhere in between.

How they show the effects of their abuse however, is actually more in sync. Klaus has a habit of either ignoring or talking around problems, acting like they’re not problems, or being flippant about them. Klaus acknowledges Reggie’s abuse but it’s usually in a jokey, casual manner, he usually moves on from talking about it quickly without getting too deep. He knows Reggie did a number on them but confronting it head on is difficult. And this is from a character who’s been in multiple rehab centers that obviously include some kind of therapy sessions.

Luther of course outright denies it until he’s faced with it in the worst way, and even then he can’t really get his head around it. One of the first things he did when landing in the 60s was to go to Reggie and expect him to welcome him, even though he doesn’t even know him. And then for all his talk in s2 about having moved on it reads like lip service, it sounds like he knows that’s what he should say, what he should feel, but it’s not entirely working. It’s like he’s just trying to dismiss it to the point where he will literally run away from the conversation. I still think the moment of him telling Sparrowverse Reggie that he’s happy they’re all home and together is a huge sign that he still thinks of Reggie as his dad no matter what.

Klaus and Luther either don’t know how to talk about their trauma or aren’t willing to. Whether it’s that Luther still doesn’t want to face up to it completely or that perhaps he does have the littlest bit of hope that actually Reggie did care and there was/is a chance he might care yet, or with Klaus trying to put the trauma on the backburner so he doesn’t have to relive it or process it in a way that means he won’t be able to drink it away or perhaps be forced to confront the powers that have caused him so much pain.

I also think they are genuinely sensitive. Not in the same way the others are, but empathetic and gentle in ways they never got to explore as children. I think that emotional wounds go much deeper than they let on. They’re always on the cusp of reaching out but not only do they not like dealing with their problems, they were taught not to. If given the chance they’d probably be happy to play support for the others but that wasn’t Reggie’s goal. I can easily imagine Luther as the kind of leader who takes everyone’s plans and thoughts into account and makes sense of it from there, who’s better at dictating than just demanding. And I imagine Klaus would probably be capable of understanding and connecting to his ghosts in a way that helps both him and them if he had been given different training.

Next is how both of them have poor self esteem and what comes across as a passive view of self preservation. Klaus has a very conflicted view of his place within the Academy. Apparently he was regulated to being the ‘look out’ often and wasn’t as active as the others. Obviously this is because of his complicated relationship with his powers and how Reggie treated him within the group dynamic. If he didn’t think Klaus was important (because he wasn’t doing what he was supposed to) then he wasn’t important. Now, having embraced his place as the black sheep of the family, Klaus still doesn’t know where he fits in and often comes across as “useless” (in quotes cause obvs that’s not the whole story, just a simplification).

Just in general he sees himself as an outsider. For all that he’s flippant and casually cocky he’s not actually all that confident in what he’s capable of to the point of not even trying sometimes because he’s convinced he’ll fail. It’s a smokescreen. It goes hand in hand with him not confronting his feelings or trauma, easier to play like he’s confident than to deal with it.

Luther’s self esteem came entirely from his place in the Academy and his father’s opinion and what Reggie made him. Even then his confidence gets shaken all the time when someone doesn’t listen to him or when they argue with him. He too tries to cover this up, Klaus is glib Luther is bossy. Then there’s the whole gorilla body thing, which he is very obviously mortified by. (Side note: interesting contrast in Klaus being usually the least physically covered up sibling and Luther being the most.) He’s wildly ashamed and embarrassed by his appearance. (There’s a whole other point I could make about how Luther only willingly shows his body when he’s being exploited and pummeled – or high – but that’s another post.)

Then Luther’s whole foundation crumbles with the discovery of Reggie’s true nature. He doesn’t have much left after that and then he’s dropped into a foreign world with no one and no way of coping and then Reggie once again lets him down. What’s he do? Gets into a situation that mirrors his relationship with Reggie, lets himself be taken advantage of, does what he’s told to the point of physical harm - because he knows nothing else and the bet is he doesn’t think he deserves better. Then he spends all of season 2 saying that he messed up, he’s not a hero, he’s not a leader and that he has no place thinking highly of himself. Guy straight up doesn’t have any self esteem at this point.

(Klaus also doesn't see himself as a hero even though he was on a literal superhero team.)

And in terms of their sense of self preservation: Klaus obviously has very little regard for his own health and wellbeing. Even if he doesn’t throw himself in front of bullets he’s still drinking and doing drugs to an extreme degree, to the point where they’ve actually killed him. He knows it’s bad for him, he knows it’s dangerous but he doesn’t care. Even with Ben in his ear he continues. When he dies in s1 he’s relieved.

Speaking of throwing one’s self in front of a bullet: Luther does this 3 times that we see. This comes obviously from his protectiveness as a leader but there’s an undercurrent of other people surviving being more important than him getting hurt. And when Five comes to him to say the world’s ending again Luther says he doesn’t give a shit. The Luther from s1 was all about saving the day, s2 Luther is shrugging and saying ‘yeah well, so what?’ and when he does start to care it’s mostly because he’s looking out for Five.

(Sidenote: I realize that my headcanon that Luther is becoming an alcoholic and has an unhealthy relationship with drugs is probably me reading into things but were the show to go in that direction: that they both would find comfort or an escape through substances would be another thing to tie them together and explore how their traumas affected them and what they do to deal with/avoid dealing with them. They’ve become pessimistic about the prospect of answers or catharsis so they look for escape instead.)

(Also also pointing out that the two times Luther was the most candid about his trauma was when he was drunk/high and one of those times was with Klaus – who for the first time in probably a long time, or ever, got to be the shoulder someone cried on. And what a great thematic idea that it’d be the two of them that’d be the most honest and open with each other eventually.)

Bonus item: Luther and Klaus have both died outside of their apocalypse related deaths (pretty sure Allison never actually died in s1 but was close) and in ways that none of the others were there for. Neither of them have talked about it. Maybe it’s because they don’t want to seem weaker than they already are, maybe it’s more of that ‘let’s not talk about trauma, let’s just get drunk’ mentality, or maybe it’s because they don’t think anyone would care. None of the others have really talked to Luther about the accident or the aftermath, none of them have approached Klaus’s addictions as an actual problem. Whatever reason why it would probably do them a world of good to find out they have that in common in the same way it would be good for Luther and Five to talk about their isolation.

They really seem like they should be very different characters in all respects and they really are in a lot of ways but there’s also this laundry list of ways they mirror each other or are similar and I hope the show takes advantage of that.

#tua #tua meta #luther hargreeves #klaus hargreeves

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makeste · 4 years ago

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BnHA Chapter 275: YAAAAY but Also AHHHHH

Previously on BnHA: Endeavor was all “I’M FIGHTING TOMURA AND YOU CAN’T STOP ME” and set everything on fire. Unlike SOME people, however, it turns out fire is NOT Tomura’s weakness, so he basically just shrugged it off. But before things could progress any further, AFO was all “psst, go get One for All” and Tomura was all “? One for All?” and Endeavor was all “?? One for All?” and Deku and Kacchan, who were listening in on their earpieces, were all “!!!” Having thus realized that Tomura was targeting him, Deku sped off to lead him somewhere away from the civilians... accompanied by his good friend Bakugou “274 chapters of character development have all been leading up to this” Katsuki. Because like hell are you going to have an EPIC BATTLE with the FINAL VILLAIN without him, you damn nerd. Who’s he going to heroically sacrifice himself for if you’re not there?? Hahh!?

Today on BnHA: Deku and Kacchan fly off to battle Tomura after confusing Endeavor into giving them his location (which wasn’t very hard lmao). En route, Deku finally thinks to ask Kacchan why he’s tagging along, and Kacchan is all “DON’T GET ME WRONG, IT’S JUST BECAUSE I WANT REVENGE ON TOMURA, AND DEFINITELY NOT BECAUSE I CARE ABOUT YOU AT ALL, HOW DARE YOU, WHY WOULD YOU EVEN SAY THAT”, which is super convincing and didn’t make me roll my eyes at all. Anyways so then Tomura shows up and is all “EYO TIME TO KILL YOU NOW” and Deku and Kacchan are all “OH SFFKDFK”, but fortunately Gran shows up to save them in the nick of time, because BnHA is literally the only shounen manga in which grown-ups will see kids trying to lead a battle and be like “lol wtf” and actually try to stop that shit instead of being all “what are your orders, children.” The chapter then ends with the heroes doing EXACTLY WHAT THEY SHOULD BE DOING??Namely, having the guy who can TURN OFF QUIRKS battle the guy with the ultimate death quirk! I’m so proud. But also I swear to god, if Tomura so much as breathes suspiciously in his direction...!! What the fuck. HORIKOSHI.

y’all what in the fresh hell is this bs

not yet there isn’t son but if you keep trolling like this I can give your nervous system something to actually be nervous about

anyway. this was his comment from last week’s issue of Jump, and I have absolutely no idea what it’s referring to, is the fun part! did he cry because of something he was working on in a chapter that’s coming up? or is he just tired from a combination of stressful mangaka schedule + 2020 in general?? or hell, for all I know he just recently watched Titanic or some shit

(ETA: KILLING AIZAWA SHOUTA WOULDN’T MAKE SOMEONE CRY OUT OF JOY, THOUGH. RIGHT?!)

anyways I guess it’s time to read and see if I feel like sadly happily crying for two hours afterward

-- oh shit I just realized there are two scanlations out for this?? one from readjump.com, and one from readheroacademia.com. lol now what. uhhh

lulzes. I guess I’ll go with RHA for now and keep checking back to RJ after each page and I’ll go with whichever translation I liked better

LADIES AND GENTLEMEN, OUR MILLENNIAL VILLAIN

or would he actually be gen z. he was already in his twenties when this manga started like six years ago, so I’m going with millennial. but on the cusp though I guess. anyway, he plays video games though is the point

and I see he’s already decided to contradict me and my inane speculations not two panels in! I GUESS I AM JUST A FOOL. that’s really interesting though. I wonder if it’s just Monoma’s quirk that doesn’t take the accumulated “save data” from the people he copies from, then? guh. how many of my AFO/OFA theory notes do I have to scrap now

and there’s a little quirk blurb about Search, which is fairly useless given that we already know how it works (actually in even greater detail than shown here), but at least it comes with a cute little picture of Ragdoll in her hero costume, to make us all sad and stuff

so anyways Tomura who are you looking at?? this was a topic of some contention last week! also why were you only seeing nine people then. Ragdoll had seen everyone in 1-A along with Aizawa and her fellow Pussycats at a minimum, so is this confirmation that Tora and Mandalay and Pixie-Bob are all really dead then, because I CAN AND WILL HUNT DOWN A MAN AND MAKE HIM CRY FOR A GOOD DEAL LONGER THAN TWO HOURS IF THAT’S REALLY THE CASE. was Kouta not traumatized enough already?? LET’S JUST ORPHAN HIM AGAIN WHY NOT THAT’S A GOOD PLAN

(ETA: I really hate that we are still up in the air regarding this? and I mean, sure, why not, we only had like a dozen lady heroes to begin with, so why not just kill off two more of them, offscreen, in one fell swoop??)

WHAT IS A SHAME. TOMURA. DAMN IT

(ETA: ??)

-- well hello there

OR MAYBE I WAS NOT A FOOL AT ALL?? lol guys. please do not tell me my hobo husband is flying his vengeful ass over to where Tomura all heedless of the danger because I really do not need that just yet. CAN MY FAVORITE CHARACTERS PLEASE FUCKING TAKE TURNS BEING IN TERRIBLE DANGER INSTEAD OF ALL AT ONCE

sob we’re cutting back to Endeavor and Deku and Kacchan. ACTUALLY THAT’S GOOD THOUGH why am I complaining. I’m just gonna have to get used to the fact that no one is going to truly be safe for the next god knows however many chapters, and make my peace with that. hahaha. yeah right

lmao Deku. “HEY WHAT’S UP, ME AND MY FELLOW CHILD HERE ARE GONNA LURE SHIGARAKI TOWARDS US, BUT WE’LL EXPLAIN OUR REASONS FOR THAT LATER. IF YOU SEE HIM MAKING ANY SUDDEN MOVEMENTS PLEASE INFORM US SO AS TO AID US IN THIS PLAN.” Endeavor if you just go along with this I will lose so much respect for you lmao

lol he is trying to argue a bit but then he’s suddenly cutting off. so in hindsight I don’t know why I said “lol”, really. I’M JUST NERVOUS OKAY

btw in the other translation Deku straight up asks if Endeavor can redirect Tomura towards them. “sure no problem bucko, let me just tell the walking apocalypse exactly where he can find you, my two sixteen-year-old interns whose safety I am responsible for. I was just thinking to myself that I hadn’t had my fill of crazy ill-thought-out plans with a high risk of death today”

holy --

okay I have not the SLIGHTEST clue what’s going on here, even after analyzing both scans, except that someone, probably Tomura, either just went CRONCH or just GOT cronched just now lmao. let us read on to find out who was cronched and who did the cronching

the rest of this page is not really much more helpful

but I am becoming increasingly suspicious that those were in fact Tomura’s new, improved and ridiculously thicc legs doing the cronching as he did a Marvel Superhero Landing from the most RIDICULOUS ANGLE POSSIBLE

LMAO NOW WHAT

so he just cronched onto the ground and fooshed Endeavor and then went flying off again huh

LMAO AT EVERYTHINNNNNG

THANK YOU ENJI. HE’LL LURE HIM AWAY. lols WHY THE FUCK DID YOU TELL THEM WHICH WAY HE WAS HEADED YOU BOOB

he really just fucking hung up on him afterwards too. just, “got it thanks amigo just leave everything to me, [CLICK]”

OH MY GOD

BECAUSE WE CAN’T HAVE ANYONE ELSE CONVENIENTLY INTERFERING WHEN YOU HAVE YOUR LITTLE THROWDOWN OF DESTINY HUH. THAT WOULD JUST BE TERRIBLE

-- oh shit

that’s just. a SLIGHT change in meaning, there. silly me. thinking “get rid of them” meant “get rid of their communications as opposed to FUCKING KILLING THE ONE YOU’RE NOT ACTUALLY AFTER. hmm. well that’s not good

(ETA: never have I been so happy that a translation was wrong lmao.)

so now Endeavor’s shouting at everyone else that Tomura is heading southwest and that he has “SUPER REGENARTION” (sic) and is no longer THE SAME THUG HE WAS BEFORE and yeah RHA you have officially won me over, flaws and all. listen up boyos. this ain’t your granddaddy’s Shigaraki Tomura. this one regenars

also “that damn kid...” like why the hell did my son have to go and befriend two protagonists. why is this my life now

AHAHAHAHA

“MIDORIYA IS IN DANGER...!!” STORY OF THIS MANGA. AHAHA. KACCHAN HE’S COMING. HE’S COMING, KACCHAN. for you two. someone please help me I am both terrified and thrilled beyond all recognition and my body doesn’t know how to handle the conflicting emotions. honestly crying for two hours is starting to sound more and more appealing

oh my god I forgot they didn’t know, though

fff. Kacchan especially didn’t know, because unlike Deku he doesn’t have random bits of other people’s souls going “heyyyyyyy... transcendent being at 12 o’clock.” what has this kid so bravely and stupidly gone and gotten himself into

look at them go

damn Deku can you really not float yet?? that’s going to be really inconvenient if that’s the case

(ETA: my boy really would have just straight up died. he would have died so hard.)

OH MY GOD

NOW YOU WANT TO ASK HIM LMAOOOO. well it’s because of all the character development!! if you must know

THAT’S NOT AN ANSWER BLASTY MCANGERTY

you’re not as smooth as you think you are, you know. we all know why you actually followed him. but fine, be that way

okay so now he’s giving a real-er answer though

“understand the situation”, the situation being that your best friend and his secret-trump-card-in-the-battle-against-evil quirk were being targeted by the guy who just obliterated this entire city. got it. you put it quite succinctly

and Deku is all

and Kacchan is all

love how he throws that protagonist crack in there too. because we all know that Deku absolutely is the protagonist lol, and so if that part’s obviously not true, we can make some inferences about the rest of what he’s saying too now can’t we

ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh snap

YOU SURE DO!! and he does with you too!! :) it’s gonna be one big happy reunion! :) :) :) oh gosh golly

OH NO KATSUKI WHAT ARE YOU DOING

what are you doing to me, I should clarify. please be considerate of my feelings. you can’t just DUMP sudden Kacchan Kamino Angst on me without any warning, you have to let me know in advance so that I can buy some thank you cards

THERE’S MOREEEEE???

YOU REMEMBER TOO, DON’T YOU DEKU. HE WAS ALL CRYING AND STUFF. IT WAS A LOT. IT’S POSSIBLE THAT I HAVE NEVER PERSONALLY GOTTEN OVER IT

AND IT LOOKS LIKE HE NEVER QUITE GOT OVER IT EITHER

:’)

by the way in the other translation he says “I’ll make up for what I did that day.” so yeah. BOOM. right to the heart. shot of me collapsing to the ground in slow motion

but it’s interesting though that he still can’t admit to having selfless motives yet! even after everything he’s been through and all his character growth! he’s still all GET RID OF THE REFERENCES TO ME CARING ABOUT YOU, WE CAN’T LET PEOPLE KNOW WE HAVE FEELINGS

but even his Kamino feels are notably first and foremost about him feeling responsible for failing All Might. so yeah, buddy. where does that leave you? even your feeble excuses are still rooted in selflessness, JUST GIVE IN AND ADMIT YOU’VE BEEN SECRETLY GIVING A SHIT BEHIND EVERYONE’S BACK. and honestly he might be better off at this point if he didn’t! BUT HE DOES. and that’s that

anyways Deku I sure hope you and your big hero brain can see right through this nonsense

god. you’re both in so much danger though, do you even have any idea?! of course you fucking don’t. god

HELLO BAKUGOU NARRATION!?!

well that’s one hell of a rare sight!! all fresh and chock full of shrewd observations about his best rival’s current skillset. ah what a time we’re living in

ooooh

gonna hold off commentary until I read the next part of this lol

OOOOOH

goddamn. Horikoshi really went off this week. just a whole chapter’s worth of Stuff Makeste Really Likes, goddamn is it my birthday or what

so do you guys think he’ll be able to keep pace all the way up to 100%? I can see this part being interpreted in two totally different ways if I’m being honest. on the one hand we have the more pessimistic (some would say realistic) view that Bakugou is desperately trying to convince himself that he’s still on the same level as the rival he so desperately wants to surpass, but with the sinking feeling that he’s actually not going to be able to keep up for much longer. and then on the other side of the coin we have the more glass-half-full perspective that he actually is capable of keeping up with him right to the bitter end. that even as Deku grows stronger, he’ll continue to push himself and use that as motivation to keep getting stronger too. that Deku isn’t out of reach; that his goal isn’t out of reach

and I’m not completely sure which way this is leaning myself! I personally would like to lean more towards the second interpretation, because y’all know I love me some rivals. and also because imo one of the most commendable things about Bakugou’s development has been how he hasn’t once been envious of Deku’s strength or of his position as All Might’s chosen heir since he learned about OFA. he hasn’t once shown any kind of resentment towards him for it, or doubted whether or not he deserves it. and as minor a detail as that may seem to some people, I cherish it. and I don’t want that to change! but I guess we shall see

so now we’re getting the clearest shot we’ve had yet of the new AFO holes in Tomura’s palms as he gets ready to combine some more quirks. also! more information about the quirks he has and is using! fucking thank you, where was this last week

so “radio waves” is clearly going to be used here to disrupt the heroes’ communication, which is a shame for them, but I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t relieved given the alternative! the RJ translation is clearly just a hot mess lol. but I still adore that one “I’ll make up for what I did” line though

WOW

THE DISRESPECT. LOL DID YOU JUST FUCKING KILL HIS ASS

(ETA: I just realized he’s nowhere to be found after this, though, so... did he?? or is he now lying somewhere now all wounded and waiting to be found by one, or, dare I say, two of his sons? ...)

LKDFJLSDKGHOSIDGHOISDflkwejfdfsdklggdflgnfdlgndakgalkgldfdfkwlfwiowelKLDSGKSL:DKGJL:DKFM?G?SGSDLKG?SDFSDF??LKJ@L!

HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT

HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT

even if you ask him nicely??! somehow I just can’t help feeling that he probably shouldn’t oblige you, though!?!?!

anyways. THAT AIN’T SAFE. and what the hell is happening in that bottom left corner ahhhhhh

AHHHHHHH

GRAN DM ME YOUR ADDRESS I WANT TO SEND YOU SOME FLOWERS AND A BASKET OF FRUIT AND CRACKERS AND SOME LITTLE CHEESES AND SAUSAGES

jesus christ it completely slipped my mind that there was one other person currently in the vicinity who knows about OFA. my good sir, maybe you would like to introduce these two dunderfucks to the concept of a “plan.” and maybe you can also find the single shared braincell they apparently dropped and lost somewhere back there in all the city rubble

oh fuck me

(ETA: does Kacchan look so rattled here because he is being lectured, or because he just saw a vision of his own death and is now having it explained to him just how close he came to being decomposed. you decide! I’ll just sit here and bask in the angst.)

fuck. main character gods were really working overtime here. anyways so how are you all doing this fine Friday afternoon. me, I’m just sitting here wrangling with the knowledge that Tomura’s quirk is even deadlier than I realized, and that my two little boys came within inches of dying horrible deaths just now. but anyways it’s not as humid today as it was yesterday so that’s really nice

anyways so now Gran is continuing to lecture the mayor of Dumb Ideas Town here, along with his friend the deputy mayor who still thinks he outranks the actual mayor

SHH NOW AND LISTEN TO YOUR GRANDPA

-- ohhhh shit son are they mounting a counterattack?? don’t tell me!!

also is Gran seriously faster than Tomura. that makes no fucking sense, and yet these two are only alive now because of it so I’M SURE NOT GONNA QUESTION IT

YESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS

AND IS AIZAWA ON HER BACK THOUGH???

AHAHHAHAHAHAHA

AH, BUT IT AIN’T GONNA WORK THOUGH, IS IT!!! AHAHAHA YESSSSSS

excellent question sir. the short answer is “they’re idiots”, and the long answer is just a longer version of “they’re idiots” but with some more complicated BakuDeku feels mixed in. I’ll tell you all about it if you just promise me that you’ll actually live through this, all right?

“is he after the two of them?” listen boy if you don’t finally put two and two together after this I’m gonna be fucking beside myself lol. (though honestly, Deku and Kacchan have been targeted by the League so many other times already that he might just simply accept “yeah they’re after them again” without any further explanation)

my dear gentlefolk would you fucking look at how the lord has blessed us on this day

Aizawa Fucking Shouta and the motherfucking dramatic intro to end all dramatic intros. finally this man gets his moment

someone please teach me how to cast a force field. teach me how to reach into the manga and slap this man and tell him to stop talking about how everyone’s noble sacrifices to protect him and his eraser quirk have led him to this day and to this one encounter. my guy. my fucking dude. THERE HAD BETTER BE SUBSEQUENT ENCOUNTERS AFTER THIS

NOOOOOOOOOOOO

ISN’T HE THOUGH??? Tomura I love you sweetie but you better BACK THE FUCK. OFF

well FINE THEN! BE THAT WAY. it’s not like my life revolves around you and your stupid manga anyway!! it’s not like I’m obsessed with it or anything!! I have other hobbies!! well I actually do have other hobbies, so that doesn’t really work as sarcasm, so let’s see though. maybe something more like, “this isn’t by far my favorite out of all my hobbies!!” I don’t spend 80-90% of my free time on any given day either actively or passively daydreaming about this series and writing essays in my head and reading fanfic and scrolling through art on tumblr!! etc.!! whatever!! enjoy your break!! have fun living your life!!

please don’t kill Aizawa

#bnha 275 #midoriya izuku #bakugou katsuki #shigaraki tomura #aizawa shouta #endeavor #gran torino #bnha #boku no hero academia #bnha spoilers #mha spoilers #bnha manga spoilers #makeste reads bnha #well then #now that I have 'fixed' this post and am playing by tumblr's rules #I wonder if it's too late to get it unhidden from the tag search :/

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trillian-anders · 5 years ago

Text

amor de mi vida - 1948

pairing: bucky barnes x latinx!reader

warnings: racism, prejudice, fluff, angst, smut

word count: 2423

description: Bucky Barnes is a sweet young Brooklyn boy, just on the cusp of manhood, a hopeless romantic that falls in love with almost every girl he sees. when he sets his eyes on a young girl fresh off the boat from Cuba he finds out how hard love can really be.

for @cake-writes 1940s challenge.

You told Bucky you were never having sex with him again.

Jaime was the eldest of three, Dia becoming a middle child, and those newborn cries you weren’t given the time to miss sounded from your bedroom at night every two hours like clockwork.

Grant was a handful. But he was so cute you forgave him for it. Jaime looked like his father with your coloring, Dia was an exact replica of you, but Grant, he had his father’s eyes. They just about knocked the wind out of you when they didn’t change from that milky newborn blue to brown. His sweet fat little cheeks and blue eyes.

Dia waddled her way over to you, holding onto the side of the couch and bouncing while looking at her father, babbling for his attention. Bucky peaks at her over his newspaper, the radio keeping Jaime preoccupied while he plays with a toy car Santa brought him for Christmas, making motorized sounds as he pushes it across the carpet.

Dia lets out a little screech. Bucky laughs and drops his paper, her little arms reaching out for him. He picks her up and settles her on his lap. Another screeching sound as she bounced, Bucky’s mouth blowing raspberries and tickling her. Grant was milk drunk and falling asleep on your breast.

“We need a vacation I think.” Bucky laughed, Dia pulling roughly on his hair that desperately needed to be cut. You smile softly, looking down at your newborn.

“Just you and me?” Dia screeches again, accidentally jumping on Bucky’s lap, feet first into his groin. He groans, lifting her off his lap,

“Just you and me.”

Martha Green was still talking to your husband. He was short with her, mostly ignoring while he mowed the lawn. You stood in the front window of the house, watching her. Leaning on the fence, pushing her breasts out, smiling. She was wearing a frilly pink dress and for a moment you envied how she had two kids and kept her figure, there was no secret that yours had filled out. Almost every dress you owned had been adjusted.

But Bucky had seemed just as insatiable as ever. He still kissed you a hundred times a day, he still pressed himself against your back at the sink, he’d grope your ass or breast in passing. A playful slap here or there. But he was respecting the fact that you weren’t comfortable enough to have sex again, not yet.

But maybe you were wrong for that.

Grant was three months old now and while the weight from Jaime didn’t stick to your tummy or hips, Dia and Grant certainly did. Bucky respected the fact that you weren’t ready, and not out of fear that you’d get pregnant again, which he was happy to buy rubbers for, but the change in your body was hard to deal with.

You loved your children more than life itself, and you heard the ‘girls steal your beauty’ more than once after Dia was born. That didn’t help.

Bucky had packed on muscle. And a lot of it. Between boxing and training with Steve. Completing missions, his arm had been upgraded to just about match his flesh arm, and he was sporting a six pack when he flexed. But luckily enough he seemed annoyed with her. Bucky could hold a grudge and the woman had called the police on you after all.

He glared at her, pulled the mower, and resumed cutting the grass. Grant wailed from behind you and you gave her one last look, her face clear with disappointment and annoyance before she stomped back into her house.

Later that night, after the kids were sleeping soundly, you knew Bucky wanted to have sex. He had a tell. “I just like looking at you.” He always says when you’d playfully tell him to stop, but his eyes stay on you as you wash your face and set your hair at the vanity. You could see how hard he was in the mirror. The gentle hands that began to massage your shoulders.

But the doubt and the insecurity from earlier was still nestled in your chest. You shrug his hands from your shoulders and step from the vanity, walking to your side of the bed and removing your robe before slipping under the covers. Bucky was looking at you from his spot still next to the vanity, debating,

“What’s wrong?” He asked. You’d known each other for nine years now, if he couldn’t tell something was wrong there would be a bigger problem in the marriage other than insecurity about extra weight. He squat next to your side of the bed, brushing his fingers across your cheek, cupping your face.

“Nothing.” You shake your head, pressing a kiss into his palm. “It’s nothing.” Three months was the longest the two of you had gone without sex since he’d gotten home from the war.

“It’s not nothing, talk to me.” You roll onto your back, rubbing your eyes, before looking back at him. Concern clear on his face.

“I uh…” You felt anxious, sitting up in bed he rested his chin on your knees, looking up at you. “Do you…” His hands found yours, thumbs brushing over the back of your hands. “I just…” You could feel yourself getting emotional, wanting to swallow it down.

“Dahlin, talk to me.” His voice was full of concern.

“Should I lose weight?” You ask him. “Do you think I’m…” His brow furrowed and he leaned back on his haunches.

“Is that what this is all about?” He asked. You let out a heavy sigh and nodded. “Sweetheart, I don’t care about any of that.” His hands left yours and held your hips. “You’ve given me three children,” Hands bunching your night dress, “You’re so beautiful.” A kiss to your knee. “If losing the baby weight is something that would make you happier, I’ll support you.” Kiss to your other knee, “But I don’t mind either way.” His hands met your hips under your night dress and pulled you closer to him, his lips trailing up your thigh. “I’ve loved you since the minute I first saw you.” Hot words against your thigh as his fingers twisted into your panties, tugging them down your hips, “Nothing is going to change that.”

Your back met the mattress as he placed your thighs on his shoulders, fingers intertwined with yours as his tongue met your clit. Back arching and soft moans, his hands leaving yours to grip your thighs and fondle your ass as his tongue pulled moans from your lips and made your hips roll against his face. You were quick to cum, his eyes hooded and mouth tangy with your release as he kissed you. The quiet shift of his boxers being dropped and he paused over you long enough to roll a rubber down his shaft.

Whispered love and affirmation as you joined for the first time in three months, hands gripping sheets and mouth muffled moans to keep from waking the kids.

Bucky made it a point to tell you that you’re beautiful daily after that. And he meant it, truly.

Bucky had gotten home midday in Spring, another mission done, tired to the bone. But from the kitchen sink he could see clear into the backyard. Jaime was in just his shorts, running around the backyard, enjoying the playset Steve had helped him build a few weeks before. Dia in her diaper following him, your sweet voice calling out to them and ‘ralentizar’ and ‘ven aquí’, Dia coming back to play with the blocks you laid out on the blanket that 6 month old Grant was currently banging together.

His eyes moved to you, a slip of a dress on, shoulders bare, laying back in a day of heat that was causing the flowers you’d planted to bloom. He admired you from the window. Your skin seemed to glow in the sunlight, hair in loose curls down your back the way he remembered seeing for the first time in that club so many years ago. A relaxed loose, carefree way he always wanted for you.

He sighed in contentment, leaning over the sink to stare out the window. Watching you lean back on your forearms, Grant’s one tooth smile grinning up at you, holding out his blocks and banging them together while he laughed.

Your dress business is being taken care of by five employees of your own now. You’d talked to him about maybe getting a building in the city, maybe with his backing you’d be able to open a small store. Once the summer was over, the two of you decided, after the vacation he’d been planning, then you’d work on opening a store in the city.

“I’ve never been away from them.” There was a little panic as Winnie took Grant from you. Bucky rubbed your arms, Jaime’s hands wrapped around your legs. He was already so fussy that day. Like he knew you both were leaving, he’d thrown three tantrums which caused Dia to be uncontrollably fussy, Grant was the only one who seemed content to go with whatever was going on.

“They’re going to be fine.” Bucky soothed. George was bribing Jamie with a toy, trying to pry him from your arms, but the two-year-old was not having it. His face red and wailing, arms wrapped around your neck as you hugged him goodbye. “It’s just a week sweetheart.” Your heart broke as you walked down the steps of the Barnes’ brownstone and to the car. Winnie having Grant wave goodbye and cooing to Dia and Jaime that the two of you will be back and that they’re going to have so much fun.

Howard had a beach house in the Hamptons, quiet and secluded. Far away from anyone able to protest and argue. A beautiful house with large bay windows and natural light. Bucky was unpacking the groceries, your shared suitcase by the front door still, while you looked out at the crashing waves. This was your home for the next week. And while you’d sit on the phone with Winnie each night, asking her to hold your babies up to the phone, you couldn’t help but be relieved for finally having some kind of break.

The sun was going down, both of you warm with it, sleepily laying in the sun listening to the waves crash. No kids to care for, no responsibility, just the two of you. You’d eaten cold cut sandwiches and had started drinking at lunchtime, followed by an indecent amount of kissing and fondling on the blanket in the sand.

He blocked out your sun, leaning over your frame, mouth consuming and hot, malty from the taste of liquor.

“I’ve missed this.” He said, your face on his chest, fingers dancing down your back. “Just being the two of us.” You hummed, sleepy and a little drunk.

“Me too.” His hat is halfway propped onto his face, he continues,

“Once the kids grow up and move out,” He says, “Maybe we could retire up here.” You hum, knowing that it probably won’t be possible, not unless they abolish segregation, but who knows. Maybe one day, maybe when you retire forty years from now things will be different.

Maybe.

The bath is big enough for the both of you and once the sand is rinsed from your bodies you find yourself there, sinking into the warm water, your back to his chest. Bucky tried his best to make it romantic, all the candles, the oils in the bath. A bath that wasn’t littered with toys and having the ability to bathe longer than five minutes was a definite advantage.

The days that followed were much like the first, a steady routine you both created in the absence of the normal routine you had at home. Automatically formed out of habit.

The sex was passionate and much needed. The ability to love each other openly without worry of a baby crying or interrupting in any way. Bucky’s stamina was unparalleled. You’d even risked it out on the sand, swimsuit bottoms pulled to the side, legs over his shoulders, moaning against the sound of the waves beating on the shore.

You’d lost count of the times you called the Lord’s name in vain. Dumb and babbling with it. Bucky’s back was littered with deep red marks that weren’t given time to disappear. A revitalization for your marriage, with a realization that you’d been together for eight years. Married for six.

You celebrate your anniversary in the Hamptons, definitely not on your anniversary, and eat cake naked on the kitchen floor.

“Okay,” You hum, “You look beautiful.” Peggy gave a watery smile in the mirror, the satin and lace wedding gown draped over her body accenting every curve she had. You smiled at her, your dark blue bridesmaid dress a stark contrast.

Turning she grasps your hands and holds them between the two of you, her nails red lacquered and pale.

“Thank you for being here.” She lets out a heavy sigh from nerves, “I don’t have many girlfriends.” You shake your head,

“You’re my friend,” A grin, “Of course I’m here.”

A small ceremony, not much fuss, that’s what Peggy wanted but certainly not what she settled on. It was a little larger, with a lot more flowers, and a bigger audience than she expected. She was marrying Captain America after all. They’d gotten requests from reporters, people wanting to take pictures as the couple took their vows, but they were told a hasty ‘no’ and now sat outside the church waiting to snap a picture of the newlyweds as they left.

You cried. Standing across from Bucky as he stood behind Steve. You tried not to, but you couldn’t help it. Not just for the happiness of the marriage, but the love you could feel from your friends. Bucky met your eye and smiled, eyes watering as well, clapping with everyone else as Peggy and Steve shared their first kiss as husband and wife.

Bucky met you behind them while they walked down the aisle, pulling you tightly into his side. “Do you regret that ours wasn’t like this?” You met his eyes and they were watery, he seemed upset. You shake your head, pressing a kiss to his lips, the congregation more focused on Captain America and his bride.

The love you felt for him chokes you and you begin to cry, “Not at all.”

taglist // @corneliabarnes @bookish-shristi @saturnki @jennmurawski13 @geeksareunique @albinotigerpython @cake-writes @iheartsebastianstan @000bananaclip000 @shadowbusiness @sprinkleofbooty @gifsbysimplysonia @vhsbarnes @loseralert @wendaiii @mcueveryday @alwaysbenhardysgirl @beck-alicious @thefandomzoneisdangerous

#bucky barnes x reader #bucky barnes #1940s!bucky barnes #sebastian stan #steve rogers #peggy carter #latinx!reader #latina!reader

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espressotw · 4 years ago

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The Need for Ethical Brainwashing

Historically we've seen dramatic changes in thought, culture, and politics that shaped the word and the future of humanity relatively quickly. Events like the Renaissance, the Industrial Revolution, and even the psychedelic movement of the 60's demonstrated society's ability to pick up new systems and new worldviews and in doing so, designing a new way of life for our species around them. But none of that comes close to what humanity faces now. Change of that level is simply incomparable to the change on our horizon. With the exponential growth of computing power and various technologies, ranging from biotech to deep learning to quantum processing, we find ourselves faced with the potential to wake up in a world damn near incomprehensible.

At the same time, we are seeing many relics of the old system beginning to fail us. American democratic processes are being called into question, threatening the 150 year streak of relative domestic peace that the country boasts. While China and the US grapple for global economic dominion, India and Brazil threaten to displace the global balance of power. The year 2020 has been a roller coaster of international events that make the stomach churn.

The more interconnected our world becomes, and the more connected we become as individuals, the more our stories must be able to line up. It is no longer feasible for us to fight a battle between American democracy and Chinese communism; clearly neither is creating a widely healthy and successful populace. Both have severe pitfalls, as well as distinct advantages over the other. Beyond that, neither has had any real success in tackling the impending ecological crises that threaten our very existence, they being only a portion of the existential threats that we face as a species.

In such a fragile state we find ourselves on the cusp of discovering and inventing technologies and systems that could change life in such profound ways that it's really difficult to even imagine. AI and machine learning alone could (and already has) drastically change the way society operates. Combine that with DNA sequencing technologies. Combine that with nanotechnologies. Combine that with a deep understanding of fundamental physics and chemistry; the very building blocks of matter. The possibilities only multiply with every step we take. How much could we really change life as we know it?

With this massive influx of information and capability, we must redesign our own nature to be able to discern and to act in a responsible manner, or any one of these new technologies could end up where the older ones- like nuclear power -nearly brought us: mass extinction. We need to take our discussions of ethics and accountability to a much deeper level, and fast. Thus we have a need for what Hanzi Freinacht terms meta-narratives. In his own words:

"When a multiplicity of things explode all at once, in a multidimensional crisis-revolution, our linear models of the world rarely work out – they cannot take on so many different variables (and variables with qualitatively different properties) and their mutual interactions. But that does not mean we should refrain from attempting to understand the times we live in; au contraire, we have even greater reason to analyze society and to try to see the deeper patterns that connect in the chaos.

We need directions, but these directions must necessarily be of an abstract, open-ended nature. We don’t need cookbooks; we need general ideas on how to create good cookbooks, so to speak. We need stories about stories. Meta-narratives.

In circumstances such as these, it is only seemly to anticipate corresponding changes of the political system and how society functions in daily life. Indeed, to ignore the necessary adaptations of political, cultural and psychological development in the face of a multidimensional crisis-revolution would be highly irresponsible. In order to take responsibility we must use an intricate understanding of psychology – the science of the human soul and the behavior of the human organism – to develop social technologies that address the deeper issues at hand." (The Listening Society)

I argue, and Hanzi would undoubtedly agree, that public education has already established a large-scale and surprisingly reliable brainwashing program. We can argue about the truth of that statement in another essay, because it's really not worth my time to prove what should be obvious right now. But the fact that we have yet to acknowledge this as a society means that the ethicality of it is questionable at best, and more likely horrifically lacking. So instead of arguing about weather or not our education system is brainwashing our children (it is), we ought to get on with discussing how we ought to be brainwashing our kids. And we must use every resource in our grasp to do so, because they are growing up in a world where their adulthood is not guaranteed, and if it is, it will be a world unlike any of us have ever experienced. To brainwash them into a dead system is what it sounds like: grooming them to die.

As a last word, I want to clarify that I do not hold a grim view of the future. Actually I'm quite excited. I dream of the amazing things that I and my posterity will be able to experience. The potential of DNA technology, AI, and space travel are exhilarating and frighteningly realistic. But life has exactly one most fundamental function: to solve problems. And right now, that might demand all of our collective will to accomplish.

Written 17 Nov. 2020

Hanzi Freinacht is a philosopher and the author of several books including The Listening Society and Nordic Ideology. He is a leading voice in the realm of Metamodernism.

#Metamodernism #Ethics #Society #Hanzi #Philosophy

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viinylspins · 4 years ago

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◊ ♫ ◊— look what the cat dragged in! that’s ROONEY RUIZ and SHE is an around 25-year-old NEWCOMER to the store, but she’s been in the neighborhood for 6 YEARS. I think they are a LAW STUDENT and I overheard her listening to WIN by NASTY CHERRY, and, I dunno man, it seemed pretty fitting. Like, call me shallow but I look at them and think of CAMILA QUEIROZ and CLICKS OF RED-BOTTOM HEELS, DEBATING FOR SPORT, and GLOWING WITH SELF-SATISFACTION. (ooc info: garnet, she/her, est, 22)

hello, hello, garnet is BACK! with one intro post to go now. believe it or not, this is longer than Zoe’s. I really couldn’t stop writing, so if you just skim and go to the misc and wanted connections sections...I’ll understand. name: rooney constaça ruiz birthday: april 20th (aries-taurus cusp) distinguishing features: beauty mark on her cheek, highlighted hair sexuality: pansexual positive traits: decisive, loyal, straightforward negative traits: intolerant, critical, materialistic jung type: INTJ enneagram: 8w9 temperament: choleric

trigger warning(s): deportation

Rooney was born shouldering high expectations, placed both by her parents and by herself. This can only partially be blamed on her accomplished Manhattan family. Herman and Pippa Ruiz exemplified achieving the “American Dream.” After a childhood of growing up in the Spanish Harlem a few houses down from each other, they officially started dating after finding each other at Columbia University. Pippa dreamed of becoming a doctor, while Herman majored in business to prepare for a career on Wall Street. Fast forward ten years after the conferral of their Ivy League degrees, and the two were happily married and thriving in their respective chosen career fields.

If her parents could make something of themselves, their children could, too. So, Rooney, along with her sister Reed and brother Rory, were instilled with the need to become something groundbreaking in life. Unlike her siblings, though, Rooney knew exactly what she wanted to do from a young age: make a lot of money so that she wouldn’t have to compromise on the lifestyle that she had growing up. By age eleven, her career goals solidified and had taken shape. She knew that she was going to become a lawyer.

Nothing if not ambitious and dedicated, Rooney began reading about prominent court cases and state laws for fun.

When she told her parents about this, they were thrilled. Reed more or less followed the path paved for her, but Rory was a wayward child. As a result, the parents worried about not only how Rooney would end up, but if they were as good parents as they thought they were ( which slight electric chair ). If you asked Rooney, she would have asked that they spent more time with her instead of having so many nannies in rotation, but otherwise, objectively, they were perfectly adequate at this and only slightly out of their depth.

Her opinion of her parents changed drastically when she was about fifteen. Learning about genetics in biology class piqued her curiosity about why she appeared physically different from her parents and her siblings. She first suspected that she just received all of the recessive genes, but once she presented this to her parents, they told her the truth: Rooney was adopted when she was just an infant. She was the only one adopted out of the three Ruiz children.

The news hit Rooney hard. She was furious and from that day forward, Rooney vowed that she would never forgive them. Although she does remain in contact with her family since moving out, she has firm boundaries with her parents. They don’t push it, for the most part, but I digress.

In the years leading up to her graduation from high school, Rooney became obsessed with finding her birth parents. Her father supposedly disappeared, but public records of her mother were last updated in 2000. This kept Rooney filled with hopeful butterflies, which she was very unlike her. The girl was filled with questions: who was she, exactly? Was she like the mothers she saw on TV? Did she have another family? How many siblings did she have, that she never knew about? Her parents helped out in her search to the best of their ability, but it seemed that they were searching for a woman who didn’t want to be found.

If this were a movie, Rooney would have met her birth mother at her high school graduation. But this isn’t a movie, so Rooney did not.

However, a little before she graduated Magna Cum Laude from Columbia University, on track to enter Columbia Law for Corporate Law immediately after, Rooney received a Facebook message from a Brazilian woman living in New Jersey. Despite the impulse to block and report the profile for spam, Rooney couldn’t resist opening the notification. Good thing she did; the woman claimed to be the birth mother.

Over the next year, Rooney sporadically messaged the woman over Facebook. The more they spoke, the more Rooney searched for cracks, but everything matched the information she’d collected prior. Slowly, brick by brick, her walls diminished and she accepted that, maybe, this was the person she was so desperate to find.

Eventually, the woman asked Rooney to meet her for coffee, and Rooney accepted the invitation, albeit with strict guidelines on how this was going to go. They’d meet in public, during the day time, and Rooney had no qualms walking out at any time if she felt that the woman had any sort of malicious intent.

Her “birth mother” was smaller than Rooney expected, and in person, she could see their physical resemblance. Rooney wanted to believe that this woman was her mother, more than she wanted to believe anything in her life.

[TW: Deportation] That is, until the woman needed her help. She tearfully explained that she needed an immigration lawyer, because, without one, she might be deported back to Brazil by the end of the week. Any hope that this woman would be her birth mother, Rooney very deliberately crushed. She didn’t want to potentially meet her birth child, no, she only wanted someone who would be willing to help her.

Once the older woman finished, looking at Rooney hopefully, Rooney had taken out a business card, scribbled the contact information to one immigration lawyer she networked with, and got out of her seat after handing it to her. The woman called out after her, but Rooney didn’t look back. [/END TW]

As someone not only adopted, but who studied law as long as she has, Rooney knew that the system wasn’t going to change. The best thing that she could do was make the best out of her present circumstances, even if the best thing was never reaching out to that woman again.

tl;dr: she’s a hard-ass law student who is very decisive and knows what she wants, and who also learned she was adopted when she was fifteen. and met her birth mom when she was 21, but walked away and she’s definitely not coping with that!

MISCELLANEOUS:

Rooney and her siblings were purposely given gender neutral names in order to increase their job prospects in the future. Constaça is her birth name, which her parents kept as her middle name.

She’s 5′10″ without heels. She loves being so tall.

Her favorite fragrance is Mon Paris Eau de Parfum by Yves Saint Laurent. Of natural fragrances, her favorite scent is vanilla.

Her confidence in herself is unshakeable to its core, so she is able to adapt to her current company without doubting or losing herself. She is sociable to acquaintances, but she only has a few friends who she considers being on par with her standards.

She is VERY competitive. One of the reasons that she wanted to be a corporate lawyer is because she wanted to be more successful than her siblings. Now she has to be even more successful than her parents. We love being motivated by spite.

I didn’t mention it here, but Rooney did a lot of equestrian sports (rich people am I right?) when she was younger. It dwindled around the time she entered high school but she stayed active through being on the swim team at her high school and playing water polo for fun at Columbia.

Rooney is a family person, and one of her strengths is her loyalty. She knows this about herself but thinks she’s been dealt a very shitty hand. If you can’t tell, growing up as privileged as she has feeds into her high expectations of herself and others.

She isn’t very romantic, never has been, and as of right now, she’s not really looking for a romantic relationship.

WANTED CONNECTIONS!

OTHER LAW STUDENTS! She hasn’t graduated from law school just yet – she’s in her final year. As aforementioned she is very sociable and she’d appreciate having people who understand what it’s like to be under the demands of going to an Ivy League law school.

CHILDHOOD FRIENDS! Rooney hasn’t left New York state, so there’s a lot of potential for her to have long-term connections with people.

COLLEAGUES HER INTERNSHIP! Currently, Rooney is being mentored by Maddie Breckenridge, so she’d know a few people connected to Maddie! She’s also all about networking and, if she does say so herself, she’s a good person to know if you need to be bailed out of something. She can argue herself, and other people, out of any situation.

COLLEAGUES THROUGH SPORTS! Can’t believe I’m writing someone more or less jock adjacent, but Rooney is very active. And she knows herself well enough to know she performs better when she’s trying to outdo someone, so she’d definitely be on the lookout for a workout buddy or two.

BRUNCH SQUAD! This one sees the more light-hearted Rooney. Is it because of the mimosas? Maybe so!

AN EX! Rooney is pansexual, so gender is irrelevant. I imagine that Rooney has had only a few relationships because she’s very committed in both her relationships and she’s kind of married to her schooling. She has one ex position filled by Alexa Cox, but she can have one more. As a treat.

ANYTHING! Like this and I’ll hit you up! Or feel free to come at me with anything and we can make it work!

#( intro: rooney )#ABSOLUTELY INSANE HOW LONG THIS IS #fr.intro

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fan-fantasies · 4 years ago

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(1/5) Hello! Can I get a written ship with ATEEZ and Stray Kids? 💖 179 cm tall; dark brown, shoulder-length hair with bangs; blue eyes (the left eye is mixed with hazel, aka, heterochromia iridium); heptagon face shape with dimples; rectangle body shape. INFP-T. Hufflepuff. Bisexual. Pisces-Aries cusp sign. ”Looks like could kill you, but is actually a cinnamon roll.” At first, I may come off as reserved, shy, yet polite.

I, as many of us, have a resting bitch face, that’s why people may think that I’m in a bad mood. It takes me a lot of time to warm up to somebody, cause I have social anxiety. Hate small talk, or speaking in front of the public. When I’m nervous, I tend to mess up my words or forget what I was supposed to say. I’m usually playful, dirty-minded and goofy around close friends. I’m the so-called, ”fashionista and mom” from my circle of friends. A perfectionist, punctual, over-thinker, slight control/clean freak. Stubborn in some situations. If I’m annoyed or getting impatient, I can say something witty or sarcastic. I’m constantly fighting an inner battle with myself, trying to accept myself. I don’t like to smile or laugh in public, cause of the small gap between my front teeth. I really hate taking selfies or somebody else taking pictures of me. The clothes I wear depends on my mood (and the weather outside), but it’s always a mix of smart casual/vintage/or comfortable. Don’t like doing things out of my comfort zone, prefer to stay indoors. Hate crying in public, or asking people for help (it makes me feel uncomfortable). I don’t like arguments, but I will square up if they come for my family or I snapped. I’m a kind-hearted person, always ready to help someone in need, quite modest as well. Used to be a people’s pleaser. My hobbies include listening to any type of music, reading, watching movies or tv shows, traveling (if given the chance), and cleaning. Have a thing for writing. Very protective of my family. Divorced parents. Motherly towards kids and friends. An old soul, and the ”black sheep” of my family. A 100% feminist, support LGBT community. Sometimes I like to try and cook easy recipes. Dislike coffee, prefer tea or orange juice. That’s it, - thanks!

Hey @pataim ! Thank you so much for requesting and for your patience. You gave me so much information and I was honestly a bit caught off guard. I tried to write as much as i could. I haven’t really had the chance to write much or the will to even push forward so I hope I did alright. I think Wednesday is gonna be the day I answer either one or two requests. I may pick another day but honestly, things with school are insane right now. Anyways. I really hope you enjoy what I have written! <3 Breezy

SEONGHWA

Okay okay, hear me out. The second I read that you tend to be a neat freak, I couldn’t stop myself from thinking Seonghwa because I’m pretty sure he is one too. Like I'm gonna start with this.

Like I can only imagine the two of you being clean freaks together. Like, I can picture Seonghwa going to get you, leaving the demon children on their own. Though Hongjoong is there, we all know they would just lock that poor dude up. Then when you arrive at the dorm, I can imagine the mess that they left. It would be like a tornado had hit the whole area. How in the world could these demons be so messy? I can only imagine Seonghwa would first scold them and legit force them to help you clean. I think it would be cute, the both of you would somehow make it really cute, whether it be glancing cutely at each other or even planting soft kisses on each other's lips at random. The other boys would be so grossed out up but the both of you really wouldn’t care. I also think both of you would be the couple that, ‘looks like could kill you, but is actually a cinnamon roll’ because well we know how Seonghwa is totally that.

The next thing I think he would enjoy is how you dress. We know Seonghwa dresses really well and I feel like he would enjoy seeing you in your usual attire. I feel like he would also be the type of person that would love to try and match you, even if it’s ever so slightly. Though you don’t enjoy pictures being taken of you, I feel like he would be the guy that would love to have photos of you on his phone. Especially in your cute clothes. He would obviously have to convince you and would only do it if you were okay with it but his main reason would be so he could have something to look at when he was away. He would be the type to want to talk to you as much as possible but while being on tour or doing promotions that may be difficult due to busy schedules. He would want photos of you to look at when he knows he doesn’t have time to call or FaceTime you. He would want you to have photos of him too, so you would know he was always with you. Though if you had time to FaceTime he wouldn’t mind just being there on a call with you while you are doing something. Reading a book? He would just sit there and watch your eyes scan over the words. Just relaxing in your room or living room? He would love to just talk about your day or about anything you wanted. Though often or not, the other members would likely walk in on your FaceTime and say hello and make jokes about how you both were adorable. Which isn’t a lie.

Lastly, I think he would love spending time with you and I feel like he would always ask you to help him cook. He knew that you liked to try to cook things and I feel like he would love to show you what he knows. To teach you new things and to watch you succeed in doing something new. It would be full of laughter and just so much loves. It’s adorable honestly and I’ve been saying that a lot but it's true.

Stray kids

Seungmin

So like I’m still really bad when it comes to the members of Straykids so just hang in there while I try to make sense of my mind.

From what I have seen of Seungmin, he is such a sweet baby I don’t even know where to begin. I think this would be the sweetest thing anyone would have ever seen. I honestly this dude is the, looks like a cinnamon roll, is actually a cinnamon roll. I feel like he would see your resting bitch face and would just honestly start pouting or doing aegyo to try to get you to smile or giggle. He would do this anywhere too. If you’re alone, he would do that. If you were hanging with the members and you seemed upset? You bet he would start being a cute adorable bean. I honestly think he would be cute just all the goddamn time.

I honestly also think if he knew about you always trying to get you to accept yourself, he would be with you that entire journey. He would be there for you if you ever needed to say something. If you need an opinion on something, he would do that for you.

Like, think of this. You’re getting ready to go to one of their concerts, you want nothing more than to look good for your boy. You spend quite a bit of time trying to pick your outfit until you finally decided on your favorite. You looked in the mirror and would sigh, wondering if it was actually good enough for him… You had been so deep in thought that you didn’t hear him enter your apartment, ready to bring you to the arena with the others. He would notice you staring at yourself and I think he would be able to piece it together. He would come up behind you and hug you, hold you close, and listen to what you had to say. When he would hear you out, he would reassure you about all your worries. He would just hold you for a few minutes until you both left for the concert.

I think both of you would argue about anything or really get upset about anything. There might be a few minor things like there are in lots of relationships but nothing that would drastically tear you apart. He would just love your kind-hearted personality and just how sweet you were to literally all your friends. I could also see him loving that you act like a mom. I’m not 100% sure why I think that but I do. I feel like he would love having someone take care of him and the others but he would also love taking care of you. He would be so protective of you and would do anything to make you happy. He would also enjoy just holding you while you do things like if you’re reading a book or watching something, I feel like he would take that opportunity to hold you. He would wanna take all the time he had, and spend all his time with you when he could. It would be really sweet.

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hypnobyl · 7 years ago

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"This balcony sure is chilly, Supergirl..." Cat's tired of being subtle

Kara leans on the balcony and considers the dark night sky; the moon is covered by clouds, which drift slowly through the air. With her enhanced vision, she can make out the curling smile of the waxing crescent, but she doubts many others in National City can boast the same. At just after two in the morning, the city is quiet beneath her, and she takes the time to truly appreciate the crisp scent of autumn pervading the atmosphere. Krypton hadn’t had this sort of seasonal shifting, and she’s grown to love each time of year for different reasons.

Fall is a time of orange leaves and soft, warm scarves piled around her neck, even though she doesn’t feel the chill in the air. She can get her pumpkin spiced drinks–despite Alex’s constant teasing that she’s basic. There’s an energy in the air during fall as well, charged and frenetic, that seems to start with the children on the first day of October and builds to a crescendo on the last of the month. Adults catch on, too, from the garlands of fake spider webs to the nightly bar crawls.

Not everyone appreciates the festivities, however. She knows for a fact that the woman sleeping in the apartment behind her dislikes the rambunctious nature of the month, even while she actively supports her son’s interest in costume design. Kara adores both woman and child, for very different reasons, and she loves the mutual respect they give one another, for all she’s never gotten the chance to speak any of this aloud. She doesn’t think the woman will take very well to such an admission, as Kara is perhaps on the cusp of earning the title of friend but light-years away from something more.

She doesn’t mind. Honestly, she thinks Cat Grant might have hung the sun in the sky–and there’s no definite proof to the contrary–so just being nearby is sufficient. Kara has known a lifetime of loss and grief, and she knows better than to undervalue the connections she has while she has them. So, if all she ever is to Cat is friend and supporter, then she’ll be content. But if something did happen…

Smiling up at the moon, she closes her eyes and listens to the quiet thrum of the city’s nightlife. People seem to be up and about at all hours, which she finds comforting when she can’t–or doesn’t want to–sleep. She can come up to Cat’s balcony and watch and listen. As long as she leaves before daybreak, she doesn’t disturb anyone, and nobody has to know she’s there.

The sliding glass door opens, and she turns to face Cat, who rests against the wall in a robe. Her hair is sleep-tousled, and she’s not wearing makeup, but Kara’s tongue ties itself into knots at her simple beauty. She flushes red a moment later as her brain catches up and realizes she’s been caught.

“I’m sorry–”

Cat cocks an eyebrow. “I’m sure you are.”

“I didn’t mean to disturb you. I’ll go–”

“Kara.”

Hesitating, Kara turns back. “Yes?”

“This balcony is rather chilly, don’t you think?”

At first, Kara wants to respond that she doesn’t feel the cooler temperatures, so she’s not actually sure if this is chilly or not. Then, she understands that the question is rhetorical, as so many of Cat’s tend to be. If it’s not a serious inquiry, it can only mean that Cat doesn’t want her to go just yet. She might be reading too much into this, she thinks, but she doesn’t stop herself from taking a few curious steps forward.

“Come in.”

Kara does so and gently closes the door behind her. Cat wiggles her fingers in what could be construed as a come-hither gesture and heads deeper into the apartment; Kara’s legs move of their own accord while her brain and heart argue about what this means. When they end up in Cat’s bedroom, Kara’s brain concedes defeat and shuts down for the rest of the evening, while Kara’s heart all but explodes.

“It’s warmer in here,” Cat says, moving to the bed and tossing the comforter back. “Join me?”

Kara trips over her feet but regains her footing just in time to keep herself from looking completely foolish. She removes her boots and slips under the sheets. She hasn’t noted a change in temperature, but she’ll have to trust Cat. When Cat sidles up to her, tangling fingers in her hair and staring intently at her, Kara flounders for a good response. Should she say good night? Should she ask what this is? Does she dare do what she’s dreamed about for years now?

She settles for the only thing she can manage, a lame, “Warmer now?”

Thankfully, Cat seems to possess either more sense or greater confidence; Kara’s heart chases madly after her brain, both unavailable the moment Cat’s lips touch hers. Then, as a burst of heat floods Kara’s veins, she finally understands just how cold she’d been.

#supercat #fanfiction #falloween17 #Anonymous #flashfiction

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shanastoryteller · 7 years ago

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my what a guy, gaston!

okay so i know i already did one of these for beauty and the beast (for fuck's sake shana write about some new fairytales why are you like this) but i listened to sam tsui's cover of a tale as old as time and OH BOY, OH MY HONEY OH MY DARLING

okay, so in the very early stages of the original beauty and the beast, gaston was an aristocrat. that eventually got scrapped, but oh what if it didn’t

so say gaston is the son of someone very high up in the royalty chain, someone who’s parents are important enough that he spends an awful lot of time at the castle? and our prince adam isn’t really down with this whole ~being a prince~ thing, he’s a brat, like so many other kids are brats (but these kids don’t get turned into beasts by random witches, like i’m sorry but i’ll never not think that beast didn’t get the short end of the stick there) and so he spends the least about of time possible parading about with a crown on his head. he likes going outside, like riding his horses and playing in the woods, and all sorts of other things that make his parents shake their heads and despair at the inability to have another child, because their son is a small disaster.

and here comes gaston, who’s older and more long suffering. gaston in naturally dramatic, okay, he likes being flashy and fun and loud, all the things the son of a noble shouldn’t be. so by the point he meets adam he’s listened to his parents, folded himself up nice and tight into this quiet boy who just doesn’t want any trouble. adam loves trouble. if he can’t find it, he invents it.

so he grabs onto gaston like glue, and gaston is irritated, but he’s the prince, he can’t say anything or his parents will kill him. so he lets adam keep dragging him out horseback riding and hunting and rock climbing and all sorts of things little noble boys aren’t supposed to do. they spare, and no matter that gaston is bigger and older he never wins, adam always ends up pinning him to the ground with his arm to his throat and he’d more irritated about it if the prince didn’t look so delighted every time he won. adam loves all the animals that he’s not interested in eating, and gaston tries to point out that it’s a little weird how thrilled adam is to take down a deer when two minute later he’s trying to entice a wolf to come closer so he can pet it, and also holy shit adam that’s a wolf what’s wrong with you

adam loves his staff, the people who do their best to reign in this little terror but don’t try that hard, because the thing about bratty kids is that they’re rarely brats all the time, as an adult you swing between wanting to strangle them and finding them so adorable and charming your chest hurts. so mrs. potts indulges him, likes the way he’s only ever really patient while he’s playing with her son chip when he’s snuck into the kitchen to beg her for some extra cookies. lumiere and cogsworth are his tutors and spend more time arguing with each other than teaching him, and he’s delighted by that.

and so adam is this loud, exuberant little prince who slowly but surely picks at gaston’s barrier until gaston almost feels like himself again, and adam doesn’t do what his parents did. adam doesn’t make fun of him for how much he cares about his hair, about how he hates dirt under his fingernails. as long as gaston keeps following him into dangerous situations, adam doesn’t care about much of anything, and gaston loves him for it.

and gaston’s on the cusp of teenagerhood when he realizes he loves adam, the prince, this is awful and he immediately has a panic attack over it, he’s to be lord and adam is to be king, it will never work, oh, and adam probably doesn’t like boys, and – oh my god, all those schoolyard taunts about him being gay we’re right this is a nightmare.

he’d freak out about this properly and probably go charging to the castle to confess his love in true embarrassing 12 year old fashion – except his parents set him down, pale, and say, “they’re gone, they’re all gone, the king and queen were found dead and the prince is gone and now a monster lives in the castle.” and of course gaston takes this to the most logical conclusion – a beast broke into the castle, killed the love of his young life, and now he’s claimed the castle for his own.

this is gaston’s defining moment okay, this is the point where he snaps and never goes back. he rebels against his parents, refuses to fit himself back into the mold of the perfect son, tries to live his life like adam would have wanted him to. that means being exactly who he is and damn the consequences. he focuses on his hair and his clothes and his looks, he pursues hunting because it reminds him of adam, because so much of their friendship took place in the woods, covered in mud and laughing. he pursues hunting because, one day, when he’s the very best he’s going to go the castle and kill the beast that killed adam. and his parents are furious about all of this and they disown him in favor of his young siblings and he just. doesn’t give a shit.

so he moves to the town, and everyone loves him, of course they love him. he’s loud and arrogant, but – he’s not cruel. he’s beautiful and brings in more pelts and meat than any other hunter and gaston doesn’t miss the days of being a young lordling in the slightest. but girls keep throwing themselves at him and he doesn’t know how to keep refusing either outing himself or hurting their feelings, so he goes to belle. belle, who is every inch as pretty he is. belle, who is smart and quiet and kind in a reserved sort of way. if there’s anyone who won’t judge him, it’s her.

so he goes to her, and tells her the truth – that he only likes men, that he’s not interested in advertising the fact, and asks her to pretend to be his lady. and belle, kind sweet belle, agrees. she does it out of sense of duty to help those in need, because nothing she knows of gaston says she will enjoy this. but she’s proven wrong, because gaston was raised to be a lord of course he’s educated, just because he doesn’t really care about any of that stuff doesn’t mean he doesn’t know it. and belle can speak with him like she can no other, because gaston has more formal education than anyone else in this village. and to their surprise, gaston and belle become friends, become the closest of friends, and gaston hasn’t known this closeness since adam, although it’s different because he loves belle but he’s not in love with belle.

and one day belle and her father are out traveling and sudden snowstorm forces them into the castle. belle knows there’s some sort of monster that supposedly lives there, but it’s either the castle for refuge or dying of cold outside, so into the castle they go. and instead of a hideous monster there’s adam, the beast. he’s rude and gruff and calls them twelve kinds of idiots for getting caught in a snowstorm in the first place. he offers them a room before sulking back into his study, watching the last petal threaten to the fall from the rose.

the castle is so excited to have guests, to have a young girl that may be their saving grace, and beast doesn’t know how to tell them that he likes girls well enough, but the only person he’s ever loved is a prickly, stuffy little boy who used to wring his hands together whenever they went looking for wolves. the storm doesn’t abate, and belle and her father stay. beast likes belle, likes how much she loves his library and the courteous way she speaks to all his staff even tho they’re all furniture, and he wishes he could love her, she is a woman that deserves to be loved. but he can’t.

back in the village, gaston has had it. the beast took adam from him, and he wont allow that thing to take belle. he rallies the villagers and goes marching to the castle, determined to save belle and her father, determined to kill the thing that killed adam.

so they storm the castle and he and the beast fight. belle and her father rush forward to stop the rest of the angry village men, and belle is screaming at gaston to stop, that things aren’t as they seem. but he’s mad with bloodlust, with revenge, and he’s about to take the beast’s head off with his axe when the beast lunges and pushes him to the ground, pinning him with an arm to his throat. and the muscle memory is so sudden and visceral that gaston freezes and stares at the snarling beast and whispers, “adam?”

and the beast blinks, and pulls back a little, and goes …… “gaston!?”

literally everyone is so confused, but they only get more confused when gaston throws himself at the beast and there’s a rush of magic as the last petal falls and the spell is broken. gaston sees beast for who he really is, loves him wholly and completely in the way only children can, and the curse is broken.

so gaston goes from having the beast in his arms to having a man, and he kisses him, outing himself in front of the whole village and not caring in the slightest. “i’ve missed you,” adam says, reaching out a hand to cup gaston’s cheek.

his staff are people again, and the cloud of darkness that had fallen over the castle is lifted. the old and irritable third cousin twice removed who’d been running the country is more than happy to hand it back over to adam, so happy in fact that he doesn’t question anything about this incredibly weird situation.

gaston and adam were children with a children’s love, but as adam gets his castle and kingdom up and running again, gaston is there. and their love deepens, and strengthens, and becomes something much more real and true than it ever was before. and gaston knows he can’t keep this, that adam will need to take a queen and gaston won’t be able to be with him after that.

except no one told adam that, because he goes to belle who just, never left the castle because she likes it and it likes her and her two favorite people are here. and also they’ll pry her from that library over her dead body. “hey,” adam says, “so, i’m kind of the king now.”

“i noticed,” belle answers, and doesn’t look up from her book.

adam considers closing it, but also considers that he likes his hands attached to his wrists. “want to get married? we’ll need to produce an heir or two, but beyond that you’ll get all the books you want and a whole country to boss around.” one of the things adam had quickly learned was that belle loved bossing people around.

belle doesn’t look up from her book. he hadn’t honestly expected her too. “okay. I’m dating plumette. im going to keep doing that.”

“nice,” he says, because plumette is a lot prettier now that she isn’t a feather duster.

so adam find gaston and tells him that he’s marrying belle, and gaston’s whole heart breaks but it makes sense, adam and belle make sense together, and he wishes he could make himself hate either of them but he can’t because he loves them both. but then adam is talking about how belle will have the rooms next to theirs, and gaston should probably stop paying rent for his house in the village, he lives in a literal palace, come on now.

and gaston figures out that adam is planning to stay with him, that belle is his wife and queen in name only and and gaston will continue to be the one in his heart and in his bed. adam is talking about how they all really need to sit down and do something about the redistribution of tax revenue, and they should probably do it before the wedding because otherwise their subjects will only show up to throw fruit at them. gaston cuts him off by pressing his king and love of his life against the wall and kissing him breathless.

cogsworth and lumiere walk by and pause mid-argument to wolf whistle at them before continuing on their way. gaston and adam end up having to hold each other up as they laugh so hard they can’t breath.

and everyone lives happily ever after.

read more of my retold fairytales here

#retold fairytales #why am i like this #this is so long oh my god #disney #beauty and the beast #gaston #i literally can't believe i wrote a gaston/beast fic what #who am i #also that scene where they recognize eachother is 100% nala and simba from the lion king okay #long post #the gay disney we should have gotten #or at least the one i wanted

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fyeahjamesandlily · 8 years ago

Text

Risky Business

for @jilys, who requested both a royalty and/or uni au. enjoy <3

word count: 3,220

“Highness.”

Lily, Queen of Evanshire, Empress of the Cokeworth Isles (and outlying territories), almost conqueror of Pottsworth, greeted her guest with a cool smile. She did not rise from her seat.

“Highness.” Her guest greeted her with equal stiffness, and he did not bow.

She, for one, couldn’t stomach the usual formalities, so it came as something of a relief that he didn’t, either. Lily gestured to the seat opposite. After a flicker of hesitation, he took it. Once settled, he leaned back and tried, rather desperately, to project an unruffled air.

Or was that her?

More wine. Now.

“I’d offer you some,” she said as she refilled her glass, “but I daresay it’d go untasted.”

“You’d be right. I’d rather not risk poison.”

“I’ve kept my word,” Lily said. “No emissaries or advisors.”

He looked around the room, which was empty, save them, quiet, save the clock ticking in the corner, and dim but for the tapered candles set on the small table between them. It might have been romantic, under different circumstances.

“I can see that,” he said, “though you won’t get any credit from me.”

“Formalities, Highness. Play nice.”

“I’m still waiting for the assassin.”

“Only Remus, and he’s sleeping, and he’s just as libel to murder me than you.”

“Ah.”

“And I wouldn’t try to kill you—by poison or assassin—when you’re holding my baby hostage.”

He laughed bitterly. “And after that?”

Lily slipped her wine, slow and steady, measuring her next words carefully. “If you’re so convinced I mean you harm, Highness, then why did you come?”

Rather than answer, he studied the map covering most of the table—her father’s map—and the pawns which represented their respective armies. She and her sister had painted the pawns as small children. Even in the flickering light, the story the map told was unmistakable: Lily’s failed retaliatory campaign, her ever-shrinking territory, now surrounded on all sides by enemy forces.

Her own forces, cornered and trapped.

A perfect metaphor for how she felt right now, wasn’t it?

Certain defeat for her, and certain victory for her sworn enemy.

Who sat across from her, fidgeting awkwardly, staring anywhere but at her.

Odd, because he knew his victory was all but secure. He might at times be arrogant and presumptive, but he was brilliant, a master strategist. She could give him that much, even now. Was that why he’d come? To gloat?

“Why did you invite me here, Lily? Do you really want to negotiate war prisoners?” He pointed to the map. “Or even any of this?”

She refilled her glass, but he reached across the table, took it from her, and finished it one gulp.

When he saw her surprised expression, he shrugged.

“No use abstaining, now I know it’s not poisoned.”

Lily set the bottle back down. “I wasn’t going to poison you, James.”

“I’m not sure anymore—this has all gone a lot further than I ever anticipated.”

“I’m not the only one who’s gotten carried away.”

“I know. And In that vein, I’ll make you a promise: your baby will be returned.”

“Unharmed?”

“Yes.”

“When?”

“After we resolve all of this. Which is the reason I’m here.”

“Resolve doesn’t sound very optimistic for someone who appears poised on the cusp of victory.”

He leaned back in his chair, pressing his fingertips together like a wizened old man. “It appears to be a victory—you called me here, after all—but you and I both know that we aren’t being fully honest. You didn’t call your allies off, like you’ve said, Lily.”

“Oh?”

“Yes. They’ve abandoned you.”

“Yours have abandoned you as well,” Lily bit back.

“Of course you’d know that.” He reached a hand behind his head to scratch the back of his neck, a gesture she found so familiar that she couldn’t help the small smile. She quickly let it drop. “Spies?” he asked.

She nodded. And then she offered: “They think we’re being ridiculous with this whole thing…yours and mine.”

Because this had escalated out of their control, hadn’t it?

He took it.

“Agreed. And I’m tired of arguing with you, Highness. Do you think it’s even possible that we—come to an accord—without any more”—he glanced at the map—“collateral damage?”

He said Highness with far less sarcasm than before, which gave her something like hope that this could, indeed, be sorted out. Properly. Without her having to surrender. Because she would surrender, if it came down to it, but she’d rather not be the one to cave first.

“I think we owe it to ourselves—I mean to them,” she said, pointing to the pawns, “to try.”

“Yes.”

“What if we fail and bugger this up?”

He smiled, but it didn’t meet his eyes. “More than we already have?”

Lily gave up her stiff posture and crossed her legs. Very unladylike, yes, but she too flustered to keep any sense of decorum. “Do you think the damage is irreversible?”

A dangerous question, but he didn’t hesitate in answering.

“I came, didn’t I? And you summoned me here for this clandestine, middle-of-the-night meeting.”

“I sent you a missive requesting an audience, James. It’s our protocol. I didn’t summon you—”

“You wouldn’t have summoned me if there wasn’t hope for peace.”

“Peace?”

He waved a dismissive hand. “Resolution. Accord. Whatever you want to call it.”

“Resolution.” Lily mulled over the word. Resolution didn’t sound like ‘gloating in victory,’ did it? “So you aren’t expecting me to just, surrender? Give in?”

“Surrender? No. But I am expecting us to sort this out like adults.”

“But we aren’t adults, James.”

“Yes we are.”

“Technically, maybe, but barely. And that’s part of what got us into this mess.”

“If by that, you mean your misinterpretations and overreactions, then yes—”

Lily scrubbed a weary hand across her face. “Can we not start going around and around again? Please? Because hurtling accusations of blame isn’t a very good start, if you want to talk through this with any sense of rationality.”

That got his attention.

“We are adults, at least adult enough to sit here and talk about this.” A pause, then, “Aren’t we? “ He waited for Lily to nod. “And you’re right, I’m not interested in what got us here. Well, I am. I just know this fighting has been going on for too damned long.”

She smiled. Again. Damn this boy. “The…current campaign…has only been going on for two days.”

“But aren’t you exhausted with it?”

This time, Lily didn’t hesitate. “Yes.”

He leaned forward, placing his elbows on his knees, and for the first time all evening, looked her square in the eye.

“Then I want to talk about the possible unification of our, erm, kingdoms.”

“You do?”

“Yeah, I do. And I’m asking you, Lily, what do you want?”

That, Lily wasn’t prepared for. She also wasn’t prepared for the pounding of footsteps down the hall, or the flip of the switch, bathing the living room in the offensively bright, yellow light of the overhead. Both she and James winced and shielded their eyes.

“Do you know what I want, guys?”

Lily removed her hand and found a harassed, disgruntled Remus Lupin glaring at her. And James.

“D’you think you could turn that off, Remus?” Lily asked. Nicely, because Remus’s go-with-the-flow, relaxed attitude did not extend to the hours of one and five in the morning.

“No.”

“Okay, then.”

Remus looked at James. “Aren’t you going to ask me what I want, Prongs?”

After a brief glance at Lily, he turned in his sofa to meet Remus’s gaze full on. “Sure, mate. What do you want?”

Remus crossed his arms and leaned against the doorjamb. “World fucking peace. Barring that, sleep, because my econ final is in six bloody hours. Barring that, I want you two to sort your shit out so I can listen to literally anything on this earth but you two being…weird.”

“We aren’t being weird,” James and Lily chorused.

“You’re attempting to resolve your real-world issues—which you’ve dragged every last one of your friends into with your lunatic dramatics—through a board game. Weird is being pretty goddamn generous.”

Lily glanced at the Risk board—the board game in question—and both she and James opened their mouths to protest. Remus held up a hand to silence them.

“No! No interrupting, either of you.”

Lily sat back in her armchair and prepared for the onslaught.

“This, here, is precisely the ‘dramatics’ I’m talking about. You’re here, in the dark, at two in the morning, pretending you’re royalty about to destroy each other’s kingdoms.”

“Unite them,” Lily said. “Hopefully.”

“Whatever. I’ve listened to your tales of woe. Both of you, nearly crying, for two nights in a row, and this, here,”—he flapped his arms at them with a look of utmost revulsion on his face—“is worse than that. It’s unacceptable, especially at two in the bloody morning. And I know we—your mates, all of us—said we weren’t going to intervene, let you work it out on your own, but that’s not possible. Do you want to know why it’s not possible?”

He looked at James, eyebrows raised, face expectant. James sighed. “Why, mate?”

“Because you two are infants! And I really, truly mean that. You aren’t adults in any sense of the word. You can’t be trusted with pizza, let alone armies. You can’t even talk about your feelings without using your favorite board game as a, I have to say it, really shitty metaphor.”

He took in a deep breath, and Lily thought for a short moment that he might have finished early. She was wrong.

“Which, while I’m at it, is also complete bullshit. That’s not how you play Risk, Lily, whatever your dad said. It takes two hours, three if you’re playing with a militant knobhead like Prongs. But you two have kept this game going for months—“

“But—”

“You’re wearing crowns, Evans. Actual crowns.” Remus turned his attention fully on Lily. “And you, Lily, listen. James has been my best mate since we were eleven. We came to uni together! I’ve lived with him for going on ten years. And he—sorry, mate—says and does stupid shit. All the time. No filter. He speaks out of his arse 90% of the time. 95% with you, because you make him so bloody nervous. And I’m here to remind you that you find it endearing when it isn’t driving you absolutely mad.

“And James. Prongs. Evans overreacts. To everything. All the damn time. She lit sparklers in the living room on Christmas. She bought cake to celebrate ‘no cavities’ at your last dental visit, for fuck’s sake. She tried to hide a duck in the bathtub on Bonfire night. And, surprise to no one, she ’ sakefuckast dental visit.s because ooons forctively, but he turned his attention fully on Lily.

iends into over the last fortyoverreacted to the fur ball, yeah? You find it bloody adorable, nauseatingly adorable, when it’s not driving you absolutely bonkers.

“He got you a kitten, Lily. And yes, he assumed a lot in getting that cat. That you’d want the shared responsibility for the next decade, and that you’d move in together, et-fucking-cetera. Darling, you use my razor to shave your legs most mornings, so you don’t get to harp on about ‘presumptions.’ You already live here. You live her more than I do.

“Honestly, how you two hurdled from fur ball to ‘does she even really love me’ and ‘I guess this is over’ is beyond me, but here we all are, at two in the bloody fucking morning.

“You love each other, yeah?” They both nodded. “Of course you want to move in together! James, you shouldn’t have just assumed it. Lily, you know, you know, he didn’t mean ‘sure thing’ like you were a sure thing. And it’s a cat. An adorable cat that is clawing the shit out of my sheets, so come get him when you’re done sorting your shit out.

“Sidebar: I want you to move in together, If only so you can work out your weird Risk fetish and couch shagging—which everyone knows about, by the way—in private. You two have no boundaries, and you’re bloody perfect for each other. If you two can’t sort it out from here, I give up. Now I’m going to bed. If I hear you again, I will douse your favorite shoes in milk.”

“Now-please-snog-and-go-to-bloody-sleep-for-fuck’s-sake. Good night, your highnesses.”

With a bow, Remus flicked the light off and stomped back to his bedroom, closing the door none-too-gently behind him.

Lily and James turned to each other in stunned silence.

“Well, what’s up his arse?” James asked. “We haven’t been that dramatic.”

“He has an exam in five hours and forty-seven minutes.”

“True.”

“I’ve never seen him that worked up though.”

“He’s like solar power—saves it all up for when he really needs it.”

“He did save us the trouble of working through all of that on our own. But we aren’t…playing this game wrong.” She pointed to the Risk board, which was unrecognizable as such which new lines and country names drawn in with different colored Sharpies. “We play it better.”

James nodded solemnly, his paper crown slipping a little sideways in the process. “Rules are for losers.”

“Exactly. Our countries are loads better. And you got me this tiara for New Year’s. I love it.”

“And I love my birthday crown.”

Lily nodded. She’d gotten it for him for his birthday. His birthday, which was a blast. Suddenly, surrendering first, apologizing first—or rather, not—didn’t matter as much as it did twenty minutes ago. “He’s right about other bits, though.”

“Yeah?”

“About me. I do…overreact. And misinterpret.”

“Can you come over here?” James asked from his vantage point on the sofa. Her armchair was right next to his part of the sofa, but the separation did feel unnecessary, now that the illusion of the middle-of-the-night parlay was broken.

“Time to give up our crowns?” she asked.

“It’s kind of a shit metaphor.”

“Is not.”

“Evans.”

“Fine.”

Lily tossed her crown onto the coffee table and moved to the sofa. After a momentary crisis—sit far or close? facing him or the fireplace?—she settled for middle cushion, but not touching. He immediately turned sideways to face her, sitting cross-legged, so his knees were touching her thigh and knee. But okay.

She’d barely sat down when he jumped right in. “I shouldn’t have gotten you the cat, okay? Or I shouldn’t have just assumed you’d want a cat. Together. For the next ten years. And I didn’t mean ‘sure thing’ like that. And if you don’t know that, I’m telling you now.”

She laid her head back on the couch and turned it to face him; he grabbed her hand and squeezed it.

“But, I need you to know, Evans, that this does feel like a sure thing to me. You and me, it’s the surest thing I know. Or it did. And not feeling that sucks. A lot. And that’s not what I said, I know, but it’s what I meant. And it’s all I meant. And I don’t take that back.”

She squeezed his hand. “I—don’t want you to take it back, James.”

“You don’t?”

“No. Of course not. I’ve been bloody miserable. Angry and confused and hurt, but all wrapped up in misery. That’s why I sent you the missive.”

“You tucked a post-it note into the toilet roll, Lil. Remus brought it to me.”

“Yeah, but I knew Sirius and Peter are already at the lake, and Remus wouldn’t have wiped his arse with it. I knew it’d get to you.”

James smiled, genuinely smiled, and it was so far removed from the coldness with which he had greeted her that it gave her the courage to get the next bit out. “I panicked a little, okay? And yeah, got a bit dramatic.”

His grin widened. “The goldfish was over the top, even for you.”

“I know.”

“But the fireworks were a nice bit of work. If I wasn’t the recipient.”

Lily rolled her eyes. “Okay, so a lot dramatic. But of course I want to move in. Officially. And I want the furball. And you. I want you for—like, longer than a cat. Like Seven cats.”

“A cat can live anywhere from 12-15 years, Evans, so that’s until we’re over a hundred.”

“How d’you even know that?”

“I’ve been reading up. Responsible pet ownership.”

“Ah.”

“I was afraid I was going to be a single parent.”

“Well, you aren’t. You’d be a cute single dad though. I’d pick you up.”

“Well, thank-you.”

“And I’m planning on living forever, didn’t you know?”

“Well, glad I can be there to watch it.”

“So my living here is a permanent thing then, yeah?”

“If you’re amenable to that, my lady.”

“You are a giant fucking nerd, James Potter.”

With that, he pulled her onto his lap, and into a kiss. And she forgot about the fighting, and the crowns, and anything but the taste and the feeling of him. This, here, in his arms. This was home. How could she ever, ever have doubted that she wanted anything else? It’d only been two days, but a really, really long two days. Lily shifted on his lap, and in the process her toe tipped the board game—the board game they’d made their friends leave on the coffee table, untouched, for three months—over, sending the pieces scattering on the rug.

The kiss broke.

“Fuck,” James said. “I was looking forward to finally trouncing you.”

“You were going to win anyway. I’ve known it for weeks.”

“Were you going to surrender peacefully?”

“Never.”

“Good.”

“You still drive me mad with your assumptions, Potter.”

“You still overreact.”

“We’re still too young.”

“I definitely love you.”

“I definitely love you, too.”

“So,” James said, pulling Lily close to him again. “What do we do now?”

“Fuck.”

“Yes, please, but we’d better go to my room, or—”

“No. Fuck…Remus and I have econ together. I have my final in six hours, too.”

“Closer to five.”

“Shit.”

“Okay, so no fucking. Just bed. But first, I’m going to need to hear you say it.”

“I love y—” But he pointed to the game board, scattered on the floor; she groaned. “Really?”

“If you want your baby back alive, yes.”

“You’re insufferable.”

He pinched her side.

“Proof of life, please, before I humiliate myself forever.”

James pulled Lily’s beloved childhood stuffed elephant, Ellie, from between the couch cushions. She’d been held hostage for the last three weeks, and—

Lily lunged for it, but James held it high above their heads, out of Lily’s reach.

“She was here the whole time?”

“Yes. And you can have her just as soon as you say it.”

“Fine. You are the master of Risk.”

He waved Ellie in the air.

“You, Lord James, King of Pottsworth, are the, er, victor. Of Risk. Master player. Really wonderful. Cute arse, et-fucking-cetera.”

“You say it like that, all over the top, and I think you don’t mean it.”

“You want to start a new game?”

“Maybe after you fail your exam tomorrow, yeah?”

She grinned at her boyfriend. Her live-in, co-cat parent boyfriend, one time Risk victor boyfriend. “Sounds like a plan.”

#userjilys #jily #jily fanfiction #jss 16

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zenruption · 7 years ago

Text

Eminem’s “White America” gets a Revival

By Zoe Zorka, freelance writer

@zoeshrugged

With Trump’s first year in office immortalized by scandal, blunders, and numerous other controversies and Eminem preparing to headline Coachella, our nation finds itself on the cusp of a generational shift and our leader isn’t the orange buffoon sitting at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave., but rather the Real Slim Shady- the unlikely voice of the millennial generation.

After all, it was only a matter of time until Eminem, known the past two decades for skewering politicians and current political dynamics, took aim at Trump (as well as many of society’s other ills), creating not a revolution, but a revival.

Revival, which is undoubtedly one of Eminem’s best albums of his career, serves as the perfect mirror for millennial America’s entrance into adulthood.

“I could be one of your kids…”

In the late 1990s and early 2000’s, millennials (who were largely teens and preteens at the time) loved Eminem, most parents hated him. After all, even he touted his ideas as “nightmares to white parents.”

He was the media’s dream come true.

Just like Trump.

This isn’t Trump’s reality show.

This is The Eminem Show. All grown up.

“Now how the f*** did this metamorphosis happen?”

In order to understand where we are now, it’s crucial to understand that we got to this point long before the Republican primaries in 2016.

Following one of the biggest upsets in history, political pundits and talking heads pondered the following:

How did Clinton not swiftly capture our millennial vote? (We love Jay-Z!)

How did she not capture the vote of our parents, the baby boomers? (They love Medicare!)

The answer is simple: The millenials, Eminem’s “White America,” came of age.

(In this context, it’s important to note that Eminem’s “White America,” is strictly a reference to the 2002 hit song off The Eminem Show album, and has far less to do with race than it does with relating to disenfranchised millenials, most of us whom were teenagers or pre-teens when the album came out as Eminem’s broad, cross-cultural appeal to “anyone who’s ever been through s*** in their lives” largely resonated with middle-class urban and suburban kids across every race, religion, and socioeconomic demographic. )

“Little hellions, kids feeling rebellious…”

While perhaps misguided, Trump succeeded in pushing “this generation of kids to stand and fight for the right to say something you might not like.”

And he appealed to our parents’ sense of frugality and paternal dependence, thus winning the two largest voting blocks.

If Eminem, who has been simultaneously both a reflection of our generation as well as a motivating factor, was so accurately able to capture the attention of America’s youth (which he obviously did as the album sold over 10 million copies), it should come as no surprise that our generation would grow up and carry those messages and values into our adulthood. Essentially, our generation still has a lot of “anger aimed in no particular direction that just sprays and sprays.”

In a recent interview with The Atlantic, Alan Jacobs, author of How to Think, argues that “the primary fault of the right at this moment in America is wrath,” a dynamic evidenced on social media and in the comments section of any major news article on any given day.

Carly Holman of Conservative Review hit the nail on the head when she wrote that “Trump is the Eminem candidate. Like the rapper, Trump is explicit, vulgar, and unapologetic. He’s anti-PC and he’s anti-elitism. Both Trump and Eminem have endured the intense backlash of liberal elites.”

Legally, us millennials are adults, but emotionally, many of us are stuck in a perpetual state of blissful, delayed adolescence. We’re figurative teenagers who were, and still are, both simultaneously dependent on, and despondent of, our parents and other authority figures.

The candidates understood this dynamic, and the angst that accompanies it, and turned our electorate into a family with two divorced parents going to divorce court on the national stage. Us kids just had to choose: mom or dad.

In “Cleaning Out My Closet” (also on The Eminem Show), Eminem embodied this millennial dichotomy, blowing off “tempers flaring from parents” while simultaneously singing a song written entirely about his mother, a woman who he was clearly codependent on- to at least some extent.

Trump further capitalized on this contradiction by singing “for these kids who don’t have a thing” as he “lit a fire up under [America’s collective] a**” by providing an outlet to rebel against our surrogate helicopter parents (the government, big corporations), but still promising to be the dad who would be there when someone tried to hurt us.

After all, even Eminem has devoted a fair amount of lyrics to the importance of being a good father and the impact that a fatherless existence had on his upbringing.

“Have you ever been hated or discriminated against?”

Just as with most of his music, Eminem consciously (and subconsciously) appealed to listeners’ feelings of being a victim, because let’s face it- everyone has been judged to some extent. In the 2016 election, both candidates played into the idea that everyone is a victim- many times they reinforced the belief that “it” (whatever it is) is someone else's fault.

As millennials, we were the test tube babies of the anti-bullying movement. At school, teachers and administrators would ask the offender to change their behavior rather than for us to handle it on our own. At home, our parents told us to stand up for ourselves and to hit back (literally or figuratively) in order to earn respect. Eminem called enemies “a maltese” while he was “a pit bull off his leash,” the same moral ideology touted by Trump with regard to pretty much all of his policies.

“You’re getting older now…”

In the end, millennials chose to live with dad because, according to Dan Zak of the Washington Post, we have some daddy issues stemming from the fact that our first experience with governance is our family unit. A parent is in charge, and traditionally, it’s Dad.

Many in our generation voted for who we thought would parent us best while our parents voted who they thought would be the best parent and look after their wayward brood of children.

Many baby boomers seemed to want a father who would take care of the kids once he was gone. Ellen Kaufman, 56, called Donald Trump “the strict dad that America needs.”

Trump gave voters both those things, mirroring the familiar family dynamics that many millennials still pine for while at the same time, promising our parents that he’d care for his kids, the American population, if they were to die.

“Like Home"

With an unprecedented amount of coverage, the reaction to Revival symbolizes much more than a protest against the current administration. It’s the symbolic passing of a generational torch and more importantly, the need for us millennials to start acting like adults.

This is the perfect chance for the strongest of our generation to emerge from the chaos and do this the right way.

Almost two decades ago, he gave respect to the first amendment and “the women and men who broke their necks for the freedom of speech this democracy of hypocrisy is sworn to uphold.”

Back when we were kids, the freedom of speech seemed like a ubiquitous concept, something foreign to many of us or an ancient relic of the protests of our parents’ generation.

Today, we have that power, but too many of us have no idea how to use it, not realizing that ideas and criticism of the current administration or social dynamics is not an affront against America, but rather an important part of progress.

In “Like Home,” Eminem sings: “But you ain't ruining our country, punk, or takin' our pride from us/you won't define us/cause like a dictionary, things are looking up/so much, got a sprained neck/know we will rise up/so hands in the air, let's hear it for the start of a brand new America,” a unifying call to reject not America, but the toxic ideas that have become far too prevalent in today’s anger culture.

As leaders of our generation, we can’t be afraid of the freedom of speech, but we also must know how to use it wisely. Repeating rhetoric, sharing simpleminded views, and stirring the pot simply for the sake of attention and/or our peers’ and elders’ approval (or disapproval) is not the way to do that.

The question is: which of us are going to step up and be adults? Who among us will the voice to inspire the next generation of kids and get them to pay attention?

“America, we love you….”

But we do need a line in the sand as Eminem pointed out in his BET freestyle video.

Which of us in the “White America” generation are willing to draw a line in the sand? Who among us is enlightened enough to know that the line isn’t necessarily against just a man, but also against ignorance, racism, divisiveness, and the other ills plaguing our nation?

Racism and hatred on life support and our generation needs to be the one who pulls the plug.

Eminem ends both “White America” and Revival stating his support for the nation as a whole, giving a glimmer of hope during two turbulent times in our nation’s history.

After all, we owe it to the next generation to give them a better America than we had, a sentiment best summed up by Eminem while waxing philosophical on the potential of a draft (a fear among young adults in 2002):

“You’re just a baby, getting recruited at 18….I’m 28, they’re gonna take you before they take me.”

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attendantdesign-blog · 7 years ago

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New Post has been published on Attendantdesign

New Post has been published on https://attendantdesign.com/sports-bosses-on-thin-ice-in-eu-antitrust-probe/

Sports bosses on thin ice in EU antitrust probe.

Speed skating case threatens to diminish the power of important governing bodies.

Ostensibly, it’s about guys in skin-tight suits racing on ice. But it has the potential to cripple the energy of agencies that run some of the globe’s top sports activities.The European Commission is nearing the end line in an antitrust investigation into a complaint by using Dutch pace skaters, whose governing body banned them from taking element in a lucrative and glamorous race planned for the rolling sands of Dubai.

For the skaters and different athletes who help them, the case is ready having the liberty to ply their alternate at a time when cash is pouring into sports — and gamers and golf equipment want more manipulate over their very own fortunes.

But the institutions and federations that run many main sports activities warn that if their powers are diminished, commercial hobbies may have triumphed over wearing values and their potential to make investments in the grass roots will decline. They also enhance the specter of different sports activities going the manner of boxing, with its puzzling array of more than one governing bodies, all with their personal titles and champions.

Big sports agencies, which includes the International Olympic Committee and European football’s governing body, UEFA, are retaining a close eye on the case, which is likewise a reminder of the way even the maximum obscure probes by way of Europe’s competition company can ship shock waves across European economies and industries.

“A precedent [could] in addition the erosion of global federations’ electricity and ‘open the marketplace’ of sports competition organization a long way beyond skating,” James Ogilvie, an EU affairs representative with understanding in international soccer, said thru e mail.Across a variety of sports, golf equipment, athletes and competitions which include football leagues are vying for extra autonomy from their governing our bodies, and a bold verdict from the Commission would want that transition, Ogilvie said.

After protecting a listening to in advance this year, regulators are the notion to be final in on a very last verdict, according to two people following the case, and a choice may want to come as quickly as after the Commission’s summer season break. Europe’s powerful commissioner for the opposition, Margrethe Vestager, has taken a private hobby in the case, telling one of the skaters on Twitter: “I will inspect the matter.”

Plans on ice

Back in 2014, the area of interest sport of speed skating appeared to be on the cusp of a business revolution.

Icederby, an organization owned by way of a South Korean occasions company, turned into planning speed-skating races in the dunes of Dubai and aimed to hold comparable occasions in Las Vegas, Russia, and Asia.

The concept, reputedly, changed into to bring the glamour of Formula 1 to the sport.Investors and skaters had been enthusiastic. But Ottavio Cinquanta, an Italian businessman, one-time ice skater after which-president of skating’s governing frame, the International Skating Union (ISU), was now not a fan.

The ISU refused to authorize the event, which it stated could appeal to gamblers. Under its regulations, any skaters who took component would face a lifelong ban from the events it managed, inclusive of the Olympics.

In June 2014, skaters Mark Tuitert, a former Olympic champion, and Niels Kerstholt, a former global champion, complained to the European Commission.

The Dutch skaters argued that the ISU became abusing its dominant role over skating, restricting their expert possibilities and prescribing the sport’s reach. Icederby offers a pinnacle prize of $130,000 — a giant quantity in comparison to the €2,000 a pinnacle pace-skater ought to aspire to win at ISU events, in step with the skaters’ attorney.

“We suppose they move too far in stopping us from pursuing possibilities as professional athletes and operating citizens within the EU,” Tuitert instructed POLITICO. He complained that skaters had no say “about who’s in the ISU, nor about the guidelines.”

“What is the function of federations and the powers they need to monopolize the game?” he requested.The Commission opened a research inside the fall of 2015 — its first wearing case in properly over a decade, despite numerous lawsuits — and officially accused the ISU of infringing antitrust policies in September 2016.

That prompted a stir in the world of sports, in which governing our bodies notion they enjoyed an extensive margin of discretion to decide what was in their recreation’s great interests.

The ISU, which grew to become 125 years vintage ultimate month, informed the Commission it approves occasions as long as they meet its requirements, which includes on protection and values, together with opposition to play. Since the criticism became filed, it has reduced the period of the ban for skaters that take part in unauthorized occasions.Contacted with the aid of POLITICO, the ISU referred lower back to a statement it issued in September 2016, warning that “a neoliberal and deregulated technique to game ought to spoil the Olympic values underpinning recreation.”

Sports Olympic meddling ice probe.

The ISU isn’t always the only one that is worried.

The International Olympic Committee intervened inside the case as an interested 0.33 birthday party. Its president, Thomas Bach, used a speech in Brussels in June to warn opposition regulators to live out of recreation.

“Some appear to ignore the fact that it’s miles the sports corporations, thru the grassroots, the golf equipment and institutions, which might be making an investment in children,” Bach said. “Such game agencies can not be in comparison to business sports corporations on the pinnacle of the pyramid, who want to cherry-choose and benefit from this gadget for business hobbies without contributing to the unfold of the game and its values.”

He referred to as on Vestager to “to guard the European Model of Sport, rather than destroying it by way of making use of the same guidelines as it does for industries, like vehicle manufacturing or metallic manufacturing.”

Some sports, along with tennis, are greater flexible approximately the events in which their players are allowed to compete. But others, along with horse using, hockey, snowboarding, and cricket have similar guidelines to speed skating that restriction the capacity of competitors to take part in rival competitions, according to Ben Van Rompuy, a law professor at Leiden University who represents the ice skaters before the Commission,UEFA is following the case, as are business rivals who dream of creating an alternative league only for Europe’s extremely good-clubs. Last 12 months, the Financial Times said that Chinese assets large Dalian Wanda changed into making plans a rival to the UEFA Champions League.

A Commission spokesperson declined to comment on the reputation of the case.

In addition to levying fines, Europe’s competition regulators have the power to force the ones they find to be at fault to change their ways, whether that means redrafting contracts, promoting groups or rewriting governing regulations.

The skaters want the Commission to strike down the ISU’s electricity to forbid athletes from taking part in occasions — or at least to lessen that strength so any choice now not to authorize an occasion is based totally only on protection concerns.

The standards installed in the verdict can be invoked in other sporting disputes, whether before country wide courts, national opposition government or the Commission.

Indeed, there are signs and symptoms that Brussels can be equipped to take a more hobby in a sport. An inner reorganization in the Commission’s antitrust department created a brand new mini-unit for sports instances.

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