#teen me had a dumb Grudge

[sinsofsinister]

finally playing the og ffvii and y'know what?? i get it now

[findafight]

Jonathan’s line about Steve in vol 2 was so…. I don’t know. I mean yeah it straight up confirms that Nancy and Jonathan make fun of Steve behind his back, and like I get that I have never been in Nancy’s situation so obviously it seems more mortifying to me, but I would have felt so guilty in her place. I can’t imagine not shutting Jonathan up if he started shit talking about Steve. Like Steve would have been straight up unmentionable if I was Nancy. Idk.

I get that Duffers don’t treat their characters emotional lives seriously, but like. That’s why Robin being kind to Nancy in s5 despite Nancy’s uh.. well frankly appalling attitude towards Robin, makes zero sense to me. I really wanted Nancy to struggle being in Steve’s group. Not in the “she deserves it bhahaha” way, but like… Steve dumped his friends for her (which was good for him), and her expecting to get the same treatment and meeting Robin instead? Who actively dislikes her and for a good reason? Who is smart and cool and kind? That’s way more interesting than people kissing Nancy’s ass the whole season, while she is actively putting Max’s life in danger. Like, yeah in high school she is the chief editor of the newspaper, and at home she is the eldest sister, and with Jon she makes fun of Steve, and now none of these people are here, but Steve is here and so is his bestie. And Steve is as kind as always, but Robin dislikes her, and it is not just prejudice

Nancy Wheeler you wild girl! She has no guilt lmao She's like yeah steve was dumb and annoying and didn't enable my investigation, and jon goes yep, what an idiot. All while Steve is just like. bumpin around making friends with little nerds haha. Minding his own business blaming himself for the end of their relationship. You're right, it's kinda bonkers because even if we take the stance that Nancy didn't cheat (which I believe she did) like. she still had him as her second choice and as soon as he pushed back a bit and didn't give her the kind of support she wasn't telling him she needed (until talking about exposing the lab in the library where anyone could hear) she jumped ship and ran to Jonathan. Why would she want to talk about Steve? Why wouldn't she want to try to forget he ever existed as anything other than Mike's friend Dustin's older friend? Is that not weird for her?

(i think you might mean s4? but i can work with s5 too haha) It's so much more compelling to me to have Nancy and Robin at odds with each other because Robin is like a little guard chihuahua holding a grudge for Steve. She holds grudges so well let her do it more!! like jesus give him someone in his corner! And also for herself! She got so nervous and tried to explain and defend herself, and Nancy only really started to listen once they got into the hospital. Nancy has a not great plan that puts one of the kids in danger, one of the kids Steve is close to. (Max wrote him a letter!!) I think Robin would really see Steve's people as her people, even if she wasn't personally close to them she'd still feel comfortable around the younger teens because Steve is? Let robin be critical of this plan. Let her call it out or something. Give Nancy someone to push against, it's no fun if there's no resistance! I want Nancy to be the one wanting friendship with Robin, and Robin not being receptive to it. Nancy not having a relationship handed to her would be refreshing and I want to see how she'd try to win Robin's friendship.

Let Robin not want to work with Nancy because she's heard the rumours about how her and Steve ended, even though he only mentioned that he wasn't a good boyfriend ans wasn't what she needed so it didn't work out. Robin saw that one week Steve and Nancy had a fight, and a day later she was ditching with Jonathan? yeah something is fishy there to even the most socially oblivious person. Let Robin know Steve well enough that she knew he at least thought he was telling the truth but that there must have been more. Let Robin decide she was going to do the most cliche best friend thing and not be very nice to the ex that broke her bestie's heart.

ooooh anon what you're saying is so interesting because, yeah. Steve dumped Tommy and Carol for Nancy, and that was good for him, and then Nancy got with Jonathan who doesn't really have any friends in Hawkins. So she's always been her boyfriend's main person of similar age they're close to. But now Steve's got Robin. Who is funny and kind and weird and loyal and smart and sarcastic. Who is obsessed with Steve and who Steve is also obsessed with. And that, from a s5 stancy pov, is so interesting because now Nancy is now competing (in her mind) for her boyfriend/potential bf's attention with his best friend. Like Jonathan was focused on his family, obviously (and this caused strain for them too) but it's not the same socially as a best friend taking priority. Steve would still hold those relationships, because they're good for him and good for the others, and there's zero reason for him to abandon them this time.

I think Nancy would hate it. Like Steve would obviously give her tonnes of attention, but with him having actual close friendships not just with Robin but Dustin and Max (at least) too, she'd still feel like she was bartering for time with him. That is suuuuch a fun potential dynamic between nancy and steve and also nancy and steve's friends.

[blue-sunflower-bee]

Werewolf Ness

Watching that Alvin and The Chipmunks meet the Wolfman movie reminded me of this post I made a while ago. Let me expand the werewolf Ness idea with this specific movie in mind.

Now the plot about Alvin accusing their neighbor of being a werewolf would be kinda funny with Mike, Abby and Ness, but now this time it's Abby making up all kind of conspiracy theories.

So Ness is their new neighbor in this, who's very reserved in the beginning and doesn't talk to anyone. All this arouses Abby's suspicion, who'd been secretely reading Mike's monster and horror comics he'd owned since his teen years.

Promptly, this new Mr Sparky next doors became one of the creatures in her books, tho her most recent theory is that he is a werewolf, of course, Mike only rolls his eyes about this and she feels forced to collect enough evidences so her brother believes her.

Now, Ness isn't stupid, he of course notices her snooping around but doesn't do anything since she doesnt appear like a big threat, only when Abby looses sth (maybe her notebook or so) on his property, he rings on their door to return it and take the chance to introduce himself awkwardly. Abby popps up too while they talk, and she explained that she just wanted to take a look at his dog, because she hears it howling at night from time to time, but has never seen it. Ness nervously explains that he doesn't own a dog.

Mike apologizes for her behavior and promises it won't happen a second time, but Ness is distracted by the rising full moon, so he says it is alright (he doesnt hold a grudge anyways) and pretty much flees back to his house.

Mike is holding a lecture...but it doesnt really stop Abby in her task to prove her theory and they kinda argue.

"Isn't it suspicious I hear it howling from his house, even tho he doesnt own a dog?"

"Not this again...."

"Mike, I'm serious, something about him gives me the creeps..."

It goes on like this for some weeks, Abby not finding any strong evidences to convince Mike, instead making him more and more impatient until he forbids her to watch and read anything that has to do with monsters.

Ness is always polite when they cross ways and even helped them with their flower bed once. (He disappeared quickly that day, Abby was pretty convinced it was because of the wild wolfsbane growing in their garden).

Soon, however, he learns that his sister had been right all along. Maybe because one evening he had visited Ness to apologize for sth Abby did and ended up seeing him transform into a wolf.

Mike is horrified, flees and hides with Abby. Despite his fear, he can't help but feel bad for Ness.

So in the morning, when Ness is himself again, Mike once again knocks on his door. Ness opens hesitantly, terrified of himself, remembering that Mike had been with him the night prior,but they have a talk about everything and Ness ends up explaining a lot about his kind.

They become friends quickly and as a were, Ness quickly becomes attached to those humans.

They fall in love, blabla and thats pretty much how Mike got himself a werewolf husband who's protecting them like a guard dog.

I know this is dumb and niche but Its been too good in my mind🥺

[marissasfacility]

Unknown Grudge

TW: Violence

Today, Musa got a day off work! How awesome!

Evidently, he was happy about this. He drummed his fingers on the table, not bored as he would usually be while waiting for lunch.

Adam watching him intently, his face bright as he put down his book. "Wow, Musa! You look happy today!" He commented cheerfully.

"Why, of course. It's not every day I get to do nothing!" Musa replied, leaning forward so his head was on the table. He looked up at Adam, his eyes boring into the other teenager's, and then quickly sat upright. "And you just happened to tag along. I would be fine without you!" He pretended to be annoyed. Adam looked crestfallen. "Should I go..?"

"No, no. It's okay! I.. Don't mind that much, actually." He quickly amended his fault, scanning over the menu. "Oh, wow, haha. These food options all suck."

"Actually, I think they look good- wait, if you didn't like the menu, why did you-?"

"EXCEPT the one i ordered! Hah!" Musa slammed the menu down and looked to the side, his ears upright and rigid. "Wow, look at the time. That chef takes ages. Why did they let him volunteer again?" He complained, trying to find something to complain about that Adam wouldn't shoot down. He failed. "It's been five minutes." Was the other boy's innocent reply.

He was about to try to find something else to complain about, when he caught the eye of a girl staring at him. She had blue hair tied in loose pigtails and green eyes that were narrowed in his direction. She was also sitting alone, L, and hadn't touch the plate of food in front of her. How long had she been staring at him!? That was creepy - Musa didn't like that!!

"Hey! What are you staring at!?" He shouted, standing up and thrusting both hands on the table. Adam jumped and nervously looked over his shoulder at the girl.

"Mind your own business!" The girl shouted back, angrily biting into her sandwich. Who went out to eat for just a sandwich!? That was weird behaviour.

Soon enough, their lunch was delivered. Musa stared at his food, took a bite, then spoke. "This is gross." He commented, thinking about how good it was. He really liked this food.

"Oh.. Wanna swap?" Adam asked, tilting his head worriedly. Musa shook his head quickly. "No! No, it's fine." Even if he didn't like his food, which he did, he wouldn't swap with Adam. He hated soup. Ugh, why would people drink liquid and call it food?? That was just dumb. He continued to down his very fancy salad, then glanced once again at the girl. She was still staring at him, despite her sandwich being finished. Again, who ordered sandwiches at a restaurant? What kind of psycho would do that? Ew.

Adam looked at Musa with wide eyes. "Um, what's wrong?" He asked, reading the expression on the older teen's face. "That girl keeps staring at me. I'm gonna tell her what I think of t-"

He didn't get the chance to do so. The girl got up and stiffly walked towards him, putting her hands on her hips. "You." She hissed.

What a bad entry line. Musa could do better. Unfortunately, the idiot girl didn't give him a chance to start the.. 'Conversation'.

"Um- Guys?" Adam quickly got up and stood between the two. Musa guessed he could sense the fight that was evidently going to start with this.. Child. Well, Adam couldn't do anything, anyway. Musa was the one with murder training. The child probably couldn't do much either.

Of course, as said, Adam 100% couldn't do anything. He was just pushed to the side by the girl, who thrust her face close to Musa. "You. Do you think I'd forget?" Her voice was low. Musa folded his arms. "Considering I've forgotten, yeah. Forgive and forget, that's my motto." That was not his motto.

In response, the girl pushed Musa out of his chair, catching him off guard. He fell on the floor. Wow, he didn't think she'd pull the starting move. He knew there'd be a fight, but... He didn't think she'd have the guts to attack him first!

Once he was on the ground, the girl launched herself on top of him and began to repeatedly punch his face. People turned to look at them. Adam was trying to break them apart, but too afraid to enter the conflict himself.

Better not, he'd be torn to shreds. Probably by me. Would probably be an accident. Musa thought to himself, pushing the girl off of him, grabbing her by the collar and flinging her into the table. She hit her head. Ooooh, that's gonna hurt! He thought again with glee.

Apparently, though, the girl still had some fight in her. She got up, rubbed the back of her head and flung herself back at Musa. "Wow, you're really bad at fighting." He commented, holding her back by placing his palm on her forehead and keeping her there. While she decided to bite his hand, Musa simply laughed. "It's almost impressive how little you're hurting me right now."

"Shut up!" The girl screeched, pushing his hand away (with all the strength she could muster) and trying to kick him. Musa sidestepped her attack. This was getting boring. He sighed, deciding he'd end this now.

Easily twisting around the girl, Musa clung onto her neck and pushed her towards the floor, landing a solid punch onto her head. That definitely knocked her out. Well, it was a noble effort. He still didn't know why she was so angry, but oh well. Didn't matter.

As the heat of the fight bleeding out of his mind, he looked up. People were staring. Adam was looking at him with a pained expression. Musa didn't get it.

"What?"

Adam: beating up children is wrong:(

Musa: okay your point?

[greygilberti]

I find it funny how I just read Fourth Wing and Iron Flame within a week and I am not going feral over any character or character relationship. Which is really, REALLY funny cause I went feral over every single aspect of Our Flag Means Death.

MY PERSINAL HYPERFIXATION coming out of my binge reading is simply: dragons.

I think it's the fact that I'm in my 30s now and the characters in Empyrean are so young and I have to literally remind myself how young they are anytime they're holding grudges over dumb shit or are unable to think critically for one second because the other person is around and they're just horny.

THIS IS ABSOLUTELY IN NO WAY A HATE POST. This is simply me working through the fact that, while I totally want PARTS of what Violet and Xaden have, I can more closely related to older gay pirates than I can young dragon riders.

Now the dragons and magic and everything ELSE in the world??? Yeah, I'm totally down. Those are the parts that are exciting to me now that I am outside of the main characters ages. I think maybe that's how it just is for older readers reading books targeted at younger audiences? Is this what this is? 😂😂😂 I honestly don't know. People can enjoy whatever they want at whatever age, I am NOT trying to tell people what to do, I am just having a realization about myself and I think it's interesting and if you have input or comments I'd like to hear them! I'm curious if others had this realization too, or even experienced it at all! Like, I hyperfixate, binge, finish The Thing, and go look up fanart and fanfics. While I have been looking up art (I'm sorry but it SEEMS like a lot of it is AI of the characters and I don't really like that) but I don't think I'll look up fanfics or anything of that nature.

Idk, maybe I'm just unable to relate to them? I can relate to a middle-aged man leaving his life to start anew a life he's always wanted to live only to find out he's gay. Like that's more real to me personally. And honestly, to every 👏 single👏 reader 👏 who is older teen-early 20s, I am not begrudging you your joy and happiness and exuberance at relating to these characters! I do love them, my God I'm a broken record 😂 I think at this point anyone who has trudged through this slop of post knows what I'm saying.

[danny-chase]

well maybe. if Jason actually had seen Dick be a jackass, but Dick waited till Jason went to school to pick fights with Bruce

was totally the hot-head in that fight 🙄

and made up with Jason for treating him harshly by the end of their first issue

(all the above is from Batman 1940 #416, so if you cry about Jason’s character being retconned, then this is the source you want to pick from)

In contrast Dick took longer (aka more than 1 issue) to warm up to Tim

The New Titans #61

Wasn’t a fan of Cass taking up Barbara’s old mantle

Batman: Legends of the Dark Knight #120

And was definitely not a fan of Damian attempts to up-surp Tim’s position as Robin 

Nightwing (1996) #138

Dick isn’t this magical golden person that meets you, instantly decides you’re an uwu baby that needs big brothering, and takes you under your wing. He’s had initial dislike for ALL of his siblings when they’ve entered into his family. So what changed?

1. With Jason it was really about Bruce, which generally fandom gets right, but what they get wrong is Dick and Bruce festering and fighting about it for long periods of time. Dick saw Jason was Robin, showed up, was rude to Jason, and stormed off. He calmed down, waited till the next day when Jason was at school, confronted Bruce about the situation, and made up with Jason that night. It was literally a 2-day long event. Not months of arguments and Jason playing the divorced child of Dick and Bruce. Dick also wasn’t living in Gotham at the time, and didn’t really have a need to be around, so he wasn’t, and Jason wasn’t alive for many more issues after this anyways, but was on the Teen Titans reserve list, so ig he did stuff with them

2. Tim kept coming back. Accounts that Tim bullied Bruce and Dick into accepting him as Robin are kinda dumb. Essentially Tim kept showing up and seeking them out, and they were like. Fine this kid is cute, also lets train him so he doesn’t fucking die, because he tried to rescue us from Two-Face single handedly

3. Barbara voiced her approval for Cass to take on the Batgirl mantle. It was literally as simple as that

4. Time. So much time. Dick and Damian aren’t this fluffy huggy pair that fandom makes them out to be. They genuinely didn’t like each other at first. Damian didn’t respect Dick, and while Dick respected Damian as a person, that doesn’t mean he necessarily liked him, because Damian was a massive brat (affectionate) at 10 years old. And so yeah. Dick made snide remarks to Damian at times, and engaged in banter/taunting with a 10 year old. Eventually they learned how to communicate in a better way. But it took time

So yeah, ALL of Dick’s siblings know he can be an asshole, they’ve all been on the receiving end of his disapproval. But all of them got past that and know he’s a good person, who won’t let grudges or first impressions get in the way of how their relationships develop. If Jason asked Tim or Damian if they thought Dick was an asshole, they’d probably reply “yeah sometimes, but after you get to know him, he’s really great” or something along those sentiments. anyways this is the fanon interpretation of Dick and Jason’s relationship that drives me nuts: that Dick was a massive bitch to poor widdle Jason and no one believes him because he’s all hugs and kisses when it comes to Tim and Damian. nah. sorry but Jason’s not special, Dick disapproved of all his siblings initially. And then five seconds later he was like actually [x] is my kid now, and if anything happens to them I’ll kill everyone in this room, and then myself

I just know Jason is so fed up with the rest of the Batfam not knowing how much of a shitbag Dick was when he was a teenager. I know this man looks like a complete nutcase when he tries to convince Tim or Damian that Dick had his asshole phase, too. Don’t believe his fucking golden boy, depressed, running on fumes, burnt out, “I’d give everything and then some for the good of the world” act. He’s a lying liar that lies. It’s ALL lies.

Mr. Professional Older Brother was a goddamn menace to society, and Jason Todd is gonna PROVE IT, DAMNIT.

“I know what you are,” says Jason.

“Lol,” says Dick. “Lmao.”

[anonymeqaupdates]

Chapter 55 review

The nightmares knowing the end is near is really frightened.

Lilia being a good dad to his new son!

Yeah, gossip Cater. Hope the tweels don't murder him soon. Speaking of, I wonder how Trey feels about the tweels right now given what happened.

So Riddle and Floyd are already on the next step. Honestly, not sure what to describe given the rating of your fanfic without being too explicit.

Everyone laugh even Leona, I am sure he and Ruggie haven't done it yet.

Well just hoping that the djiin go on the whoopee scene. That is one of the most iconic moments ever.

Floyd accidentally loosened his grip and was sent flying into a nearby bushes, unfortunately for him it was a briar one.

Well at least Malleus gave a bit of punish to Floyd.

“I never thought I would be on the other end of it.” He said that last part so softly Kalim wasn’t sure he heard him right.

I guess he is talking about himself when Meleanor went to the battlefield.

I love the Diasomnia boys being pouted about getting out of Lilia's lessons because of how petty they are. They really are children.

So I guess the reason Lilia is one of the suffered ones is because of how he been through with how he lost Meleanor and Revan and didn't history repeat itself again.

Lilia actually knew damn well what or rather who was that magical item and it was highly unlikely she has any links to the Djinn. But Lilia was selfish and he didn’t want Malleus to meet her.

I mean make sense Lilia knows her, Leota still doesn't know that Meleanor is dead and it will be shocking for Malleus to learn the news from her.

Trey is sometimes scary that no one should mess with. Unfortunately, we got diamond on the shocking news.

Oh so the past Jamil was in overblot appearance this entire time, pretty cool if you ask me. Past Jamil now has to deal with his snakes like how Medusa is.

So Djiin planning to make past Jamil the most powerful being even beating the Draconia family.

I am not sure who is the street rat being Abis Mal or Aladdin, but I can tell this is when Jafar 'died'

Both Jamils being the Djiin's chains and Kalim in the pocket dimension is when things are near the end.

Good thing Azul's voice is back a bit but the fact the trio revealed that Kalim mixed up the dates and the day is today.

The Jamils are trapped like Jasmine and Kalim is the key to saving him despite leading to their doom. So even the past Jamil doesn't want to hurt him, he will be forced by the Djiin to attack Kalim.

Ah! Cater was tackled by the hynotize students and kalim knew they are under Jamil's orders. The day has come! The day has come!

So today was the last day! **** you Djiin! The Impending Doom waste their magic on their training that they couldn't provide too much magic without getting themselves overblot!

**** the calm before the storm! There is no calm before the storm! It is already is the storm!

NOW I WANT TO SEE THE OVERBLOT CHAPTER SOON! I WANT TO SEE OVERBLOT JAMIL! EVERYONE TEAMING EACH OTHER AGAINST THE DJIIN! AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!

...okay I am calm.

-🧋

The nightmares were a side effect of the Djinn fishing into Kalim’s brain for traumatic memories.

Lilia tried but that was never going to go down well. At least Cater delivered the tea before everything went awol! Trey doesn’t have any grudges against the twins but he’s keeping an eye on them. He just need to get use to Riddle acting like a dumb teen.

Leona is still waiting on Ruggie to turn 18 before going further than first base with him. Ruggie is a bit annoyed but understand.

The briar bush mishaps was an accident, but he’s not too unhappy about it hence why he didn’t caught Floyd with magic before he landed in it.

Lilia have good reason to hide Leota from Malleus. However if he had actually man up and went to see her he could have learned some surprising facts. Crowley was banking on the fact that Lilia would avoid her.

As for Jamil’s and the Djinn’s past and intentions you’ll see more of it later.

As for the rest, as I said, it’s all going to shit!

[forestlingincorporated]

Underrated TimKon Scenes #15

Robin #141

Not because it’s, like, super shippy, but because I think a lot of people probably haven’t seen it. Conner doesn’t appear much in Tim’s run, most of their interactions are in their teen hero crossover comics, but this is one of the rare times Tim specifically asks Conner to come to Gotham. 

And yes, I can actually see how they talk to each other in this particular comic can actually be kinda off putting, but there’s a couple little gems among the rocks in there. 

For context, Tim’s father and Stephanie have both recently died, and his stepmom is still in a mental health clinic. He’s staying with “Uncle Eddie” at the moment, and he’s been pretty distant from the other bats. This is noted as taking place before Conner’s Luthor mind control incident at Titans Tower. 

Tim is in an awkward situation where Darla, a girl he knew from school that died in the gang war Stephanie “died” in, has been resurected by Johnny Warlock, a villain with a grudge against Tim. Darla comes to Tim to ask for help with a problem, said problem being she has to kill Robin to repay her debt to Johnny. She doesn’t know Tim IS Robin. 

Tim’s big plan to fix everything is to convince her the Robin Johnny is after is already dead. He is going to fake internet sleuth his way into showing her a bunch of pictures of the various Robins over the years and claim that the one Johnny wants - himself - is definately already dead because look! He was followed by a girl Robin, and then some other dude with a much different body type... 

Yup, Tim’s plan is to put Conner in the Robin suit and hope she buys it. 

And Conner AGREES to it. 

They may be snarky bitches to each other this whole comic, but I gotta give my man props for hearing this stupid ass plan and going with it anyway to protect his bro. 

And SIDEBAR... the fact that they had to have had some sort of photoshoot of Conner in the Robin costume ahead of time for Tim to leak onto the internet and “discover”, I.... 

So...... Tim has this stupid idea (I’m sorry Tim, you’re very smart, but you’re very dumb when you’re stressed and alone) to convince Darla he can set up a meeting with Robin by posting to this forum “the super hero are totally known for reading” and the two wait for Conner on some roof top, where Conner shows up to look all Not Tim Like in the Robin suit. 

(Don’t mind Tim calling Darla “Laura,” she changed her name when she was resurected because “Darla Aquista” is dead.) 

Tim, it’s okay, I understand, Conner’s muscles are very distracting in that costume. 

Yeah, this prectictably goes wrong. 

I appreciate how fast Tim goes from “haha, oops, I’m sorry, lucky you’re invulnerable, huh?” to “omg, are you okay?” when Conner’s like “dude, I’m weak to magic.” He’s not even bothered by Conner’s empty threats, he’s just “okay, buddy, you can kill me at home.” 

Even threatening bodily harm, Kon’s like “watch your step, I puked here.” 

And I’m weak for any time Conner’s frustrated with Tim’s secret identity, even after he’s let in on it. “You were playing Tim Drake. You ARE Tim Drake!” “Yes, but no.” 

“He got a little overexcited on his very first encounter with Robin, the greatest, manliest, most magnificent super hero of them all” - self-aggrandizing teasing, flirting, or both? You decide. 

You think Conner likes it when Tim calls him “big guy”? I think he likes it. 

And again... there... HAS TO BE an off-screen scene of Tim patching up Conner in the Robin Nest, and they ROBBED me of it. 

[2hoothoots]

So what exactly is Dion’s deal did he never apologise to raz after raz ran for camp or the whole joining the psychonauts thing I think it’s a bit silly to still hold a grudge for so long especially from what your ten year old brother did when you were a teen or is it a  series of misunderstandings mix with miscommunications that piled up over time????

(for reference, this post introduces where Dion is in FSAU and his relationship with Raz!)

the answer to that is kind of a big ol' "it's complicated". but a large part of it is just that, yeah, they kind of never really resolved that tension of Dion being angry at Raz for running away? i was gonna write an essay but actually i think a ficlet is a more interesting way to get the same ideas across, so:

"Y'know, you still never apologised."

Dion's hands stilled over the knot on the tent rope. He met Frazie's eyes, and Frazie grimaced. She shook her head.

Don't, her mind urged, nudging against the dull embers of his own. I know you've been needling each other all day, but can we please just once have a get-together without you two blowing up at each other?

Dion either didn't notice her suggestion, or flat-out ignored it. He fastened the knot, and then rose to look over his shoulder at Raz.

"Apologised for what, exactly?"

Raz was stood over by the tub, washing dishes with his back turned to the two of them. His body language was casual as he shrugged, but Frazie didn't miss the shivers of tension that rippled off his aura.

"Oh, you know," he said lightly, "for how you treated me when I came back from Whispering Rock. And come to think of it, how you've treated me every year after that, too. But hey, who's counting?"

Dion strode over. Frazie's mental urgings became a klaxon - don't, don't, for god's sake Dion just let it go this once -

"Funny that you think I should be the one apologizing."

Raz set a dish down hard on the table.

"Funny, huh?" There was unrestrained venom in his voice, now. Frazie turned her focus to him, but her mind had barely brushed against his own before there were iron-clad barriers slamming down. It was like having a door shut on your fingers, and Frazie recoiled, wincing as a headache blossomed across her temples.

"That's right," Dion said. "After everything you did, you still think you deserve an apology?"

Raz dried his hands off, and turned, slowly. Dion had come right up to him, squaring his shoulders and lifting his chin in every effort to reduce the height difference between them. Raz leaned back, a careful, obvious display of nonchalance, and Dion moved forward another inch.

"Everything I did, huh?" Raz said. "Hey, Frazie, are you hearing this? Dion says that I-"

"Can you two just stop, already?" Frazie cut in. "I'm so sick of - you have this argument every time! When is one of you going to grow up and-"

Dion thrust his finger at Raz, and Raz flinched back another inch. "Yeah, right, like he wasn't the one who started this whole-"

"Don't raise your voice at me," Frazie hissed.

"I'm not! I'm talking to-"

"I started it, huh?" Raz's grin was almost a snarl, a wary animal showing teeth as he eyed up Dion. "Now how's that figure?"

Dion turned back to him, eyes blazing.

"Don't play dumb," he said. "You know what you did."

"Explain it to me, smart guy."

"You want me to say it? Fine! I'll say it!" Dion flung his arms out - he was really yelling now, the same way Dad always had, and Raz's snarl pulled back to his molars. "You abandoned our family! You betrayed the man who raised you, you turned your back on the circus-"

"The circus?!" Raz crowed. "This is about the circus, now?"

"Don't act like it's not," Dion fumed. "We've lost half our act. Did you even think about how hard it is to keep things running, to put shows together with two less pairs of hands?"

"The circus is doing fine-"

"You knew this was Dad's dream!" For a moment, Dion's voice cracked, something other than anger showing on his face. "You've heard him talk about it, same as I have. About how all he wants is to bring the family name back to its old glory. But that's right, you never cared about any of that."

Raz straightened up, setting into his stance as Dion moved closer into his space.

"Dad wanted me to be happy," he said.

Dion scoffed. "Sure. Because all you ever think about is yourself."

"Yeah, well, you know what?" Raz shot back. "I am happy! I bet that's more than can be said for you, isn't it, Dion?"

"I know there's more important things than-"

"Gotta make sure you're Dad's favourite, isn't that right?" Raz was holding himself back from shouting, but the words were picking up speed like a freight train. "Gotta make him happy! Gotta live his dreams for him, because god forbid you think about yourself for once in your miserable life! Or maybe you're afraid, huh, maybe you're scared that one day he'll be angry at you and-"

"Our father is-"

"Enough!" Frazie yelled. "I am done with having to listen to this from you two! Either take it outside the camp, or can it."

The two of them locked eyes with her for a moment, Dion with his jaw clenched and Raz's shoulders rising and falling. Then, abruptly, Raz slammed the rag he was holding onto the table and spun sharply on his heel to stride away.

"Hey!" Dion snapped, reaching out and seizing his arm. "I'm not done with-"

Frazie felt something suddenly light up blazing in Raz's aura - tension, fear, panic, danger danger danger - and then Raz moved too fast for her eyes to follow, pivoting his torso, and when she blinked Dion was sprawled out on the ground, wheezing as the wind was knocked out of him.

Raz was breathing hard. She took a step forward, and he flinched, his head snapping up to meet her gaze. He blinked. Then suddenly the tension that had been boiling at his brow was gone, dispelled in an instant. He cleared his throat, and straightened up, brushing himself down.

Dion groaned.

"What the fuck was that for," he gasped, struggling to lift himself up onto his elbows. Raz flinched again, and then looked away.

"Don't - don't come at me from behind like that," he said stiffly. He flexed his hands, and then added, "I'm gonna go - check on the caravans."

He turned, brushing past Frazie as she knelt to help Dion up. Once he was out of earshot, she said, "good job, dumbass."

Dion gave her a look that was equal parts pissed-off and pleading.

"I - he - he sta-"

"'He started it'?" Frazie simpered. "Gimme a break. You need to grow up. Both of you," she added, when Dion opened his mouth to retort.

Dion closed his mouth again. But he didn't say anything straight away. He just furrowed his brow, leaning on his elbows and staring off into the forest.

"Hey," Frazie said, when it had become clear that Dion would be content to brood for the rest of the evening. "Listen, you two need to talk about this. And I don't mean another shouting match, I mean, like actually talking."

Dion pouted. "Ugh, don't start. Next thing you're gonna say I need to apologise to you, too."

Frazie usually had a pretty high tolerance for bullshit from her whiny brothers. But after everything else she'd put up with that day, that was the straw that broke the camel's back. She shoved Dion back into the dirt, and leapt to her feet.

"Fine," she said, striding away as he spluttered. "Screw you too, asshole."

[bitimdrake]

What are your thoughts on the 2003 teen titans? Personally while I think it's a good show on it's own, I'll always hold a grudge for not using the fan five and popularizing that specific group as the teen titans

I watched the 2003 show as a kid and I loved it. It still holds a pretty fond place in my heart. As a show, on its own, I think it's great. I have rewatched it before, and still enjoyed it a lot.

As an adaptation, I got some issues with it.

iirc, it was an executive mandate to use the NTT team to capitalize on that run's popularity, which is...so dumb. As if kids in 2003 were big fans of a comics series for adults from the 80s?? And the then-current team of titans in the comics was a line-up pulled much more from the fab five anyway??? If they used the fab five they wouldn't have had to cancel two comic runs in 2003?? Just very dumb.

(There was also apparently a legal issue with using Donna Troy in any adaptation, which makes a lot more sense as a reason.)

It does kinda bug me that the show cemented the NTT titans as the commonly known team, but I'm not super mad about it. That is also a canonical and important team, and the comics haven't forgotten the OGs. (Still holding out for a popular adaptation someday about the fab five though...)

What bugs me more is the liberties taken with characterization. In particular, the 2003 just. permanently destroyed Raven's character.

And that feels weird to say!! Because I loved Raven in the show! I was obsessed with her as a child.

But she is also totally different in characterization from the Raven that existed up to that point--and DC let that influence even the comics so heavily that I don't think we will ever see anything resembling the original Raven again. Which sucks! Because I really liked her and miss her!!! I want my shy, sweet, reserved, trying her best girl back.

(imo the cartoon's version of Starfire is also a pretty strong departure for Kory, but for whatever reason that one hasn't had the same bleed into the comics. So it doesn't upset me much--though I do cringe every time I see fans thinking she doesn't know anything about Earth culture or uses that weird diction.)

So yeah it's ehhhh. It's a good show. But I wish adaptations would be more faithful. If we got any kind of parity, then I could actually recommend comics to people who liked the animated versions! Fans would have more to talk about! Fandom would be less annoying! And, hell, dc could even synergize marketing for once. We can dream.

[sokkagatekeeper]

bestie did i read that right you CANNOT just say “haru had a brief fling with zuko” in the tags and leave it at THAT-

no but i WOULD like to hear about haru x zuko🤔🤔 (@i-hate-mayo)

yeah well maybe i need to stop talking so much in the tags. that said! me and @/zukkot crafted this scenario (about an 80% of a joke. give or take) in which haru has a brief fling with zuko at the western air temple, most importantly at the same time he has a fling with katara. now i know this sounds batshit but there’s a big comedic value to it.

reasons why haru should hook up with zuko and katara at the same time: it would be further proof of the fact that katara and zuko share the same taste in men (see: jet, who is also sokka-esque); it would mean katara and zuko share not only one, but two ex-boyfriends/boyfriend-adjacents; it would mean dumb teen romantic drama, and i think they deserve it; it would definitely strengthen their friendship. somehow!

people this fling would piss off: katara, for letting another tall boy with nice hair break her heart and for zuko of all people nonetheless; sokka, for being foced to remember the fact that katara and zuko have the same (SHITTY) taste in men; aang, who is deep down a twelve-year old in puppy love; ty lee, who is honestly a little tired of people breaking zuko’s little heart, even if it was kinda funny at one point

people this fling would be a fun little adventure to: haru! and do not misunderstand him, he might’ve made a mistake, but in his defense, he thought katara... knew. zuko knew he was having a fling with katara as well, why wouldn’t katara? overall this was a fun experience that served haru to understand he is, in fact, straight. now “why would haru experiment with zuko, fugitive prince of the fire nation, of all people?” the answer is that haru has no impulse control, next question; toph, who loves teen drama when it’s merely outside of her person but inside her social circle, and whose feet are very aware of everything that went down at the western air temple, is very amused as well.

people this fling would not piss off: zuko, whose heart was not, in fact, broken by haru. he might’ve been hooking up with haru but deep down he was pining after sokka the entire time, the poor thing. which also brings me to my next statement;

zuko can uh... forgive the mustache, when they’re at it. katara thinks it’s hot, sokka thinks it’s hideous, zuko thinks it’s... fine. whatever. five out of ten. but it’s definitely not a plus. zuko likes haru enough, and nothing more — he’s not a sokka, y’know. not even a jet. but that���s fine, because zuko is not looking for romance! he’s looking to distract himself from his embarassing crush on sokka, the crushing weight of uncertainity of not knowing if his uncle hates his guts or not, his imminent defeat and death and general mortality upon joining a 12 year-old’s rebel gang of child soldiers, etc. you know, typical teen boy stuff. so when haru off-handedly mentions katara, zuko is just like “huh. ok?” he simply doesn’t give a shit. good for him! katara on the other hand is not looking for romance on principle, not because haru wasn’t a good candidate, but because you know, the War. girl has her priorities. but haru is so sweet to her she has got to admit she sort of got a crush. now there’s two possible scenarios in which katara finds out;

first, during their last days at ember island, when sharing grief over jet, looking to lighten up the mood a little, zuko says “isn’t it crazy we share two entire ex-boyfriends” and katara is like “what.” and then zuko gets drenched instantly. there’s no witnesses; who’s to say what happened really. maybe a very big wave or something

OR, when toph says, “i knew you had a secret thing with haru!” at the same time katara and zuko, aka the exact same person defensively say, “NO I DID NOT—” and it goes downhill from there

either way. internally, katara is like, “haru wouldn’t do that” but then she concludes she actually doesn’t care that much about haru, and she thinks “i can’t believe ZUKO would do that!!!” and she gets back on her zuko-is-evil mindset the entire day — “you just had to colonize my love life as well, didn’t you???” they are back to being ride-or-die besties by the next morning tho.

upon these very public, very hilarous revelations, sokka sincerely believes it is his right to punch that dude. fuckboying it up not only with his bro, his boy bestie, his pal, his totally absolutely entirely platonic lohl (love of his life) etc etc, but also with his sister!! that is of course until zuko tells him no, haru did not break his heart (jet did tho. poor thing p2. good thing zuko broke his heart right back! but that’s for another post). zuko insists it was a meaningless fling for him, even if it angered katara to no end, and then it angered zuko because it angered katara, because they are both Like That. since then, sokka finds the situation... kinda funny.

so a year after the war has ended, aang and katara inevitably break up. the first thing sokka does upon hearing the news is go directly to zuko like, “if you go after aang i swear to god” and then zuko almost pukes a little. not about to make out with a twelve year old, y’know? (and actually, aang is fourteen at the time, but once you know someone at twelve at sixteen you always know them at twelve at sixteen. privately, aang thinks zuko is kinda ugly, anyway.) during the years aang and katara spend as just friends, katara and haru light up their little flame again for a little while. it’s fun, but it doesn’t last. there’s too much history there, y’know? sometimes zuko will visit and give haru the bad eye, and haru thinks it’s because he kinda broke zuko’s heart, but in reality it’s because he broke katara’s heart and made her angry, and zuko can hold a grudge. eventually tho aang and katara get back together because they go really hard on fate and soulmates. zuko thinks it’s perfectly reasonable, and sokka & toph don’t want to ruin their beautiful love story just yet, so they keep quiet. when sokka and zuko get together, katara looks at zuko straight in the eye and says “no.” and zuko points at aang, and says “no.” so their shared type in men comes to an amiable end.

that is, until one night at a sleepover. zuko takes a sip of his tea (alcohol) and says, “jet was kinda like sokka, though” and katara says “No.” but zuko keeps going, also pretty horrified, “and haru is kinda like aang” and katara says “STOP.” and they happily agree to never speak of any of it ever again.

[oxiosa]

Characters: Luciano (Brazil), Martín (Argentina), Manuela (Fem!Chile). Relationships: BrArg. Past Arg/Chi. Additional Tags: Divorce AU. A grown-ass gay man clueless about his own sexuality. Summary: Martín, a twice divorcee Literature professor whose life is a crumbling mess, comes up with an impractical ruse to make a good case for himself in his divorce trial by moving in with his hot neighbour, Luciano.

by @oxiosa and @disaster-fruit. Feat ​@kurara-black-blog

Martín is a university Literature professor. He is the sort of passionate teacher who is really inspiring to hear, you know this guy loves what he does. It is as if he has read every book in the world and has a strong opinion about it. The students all look up at him because he is cool and confident and handsome and clearly very passionate and intelligent – if a little cocky. Honestly you would never guess that below his very cool smug façade, his life actually is a crumbling mess.

He is pretty much a loser who cries himself to sleep watching novelas and gorging ice cream except you’d never guess ‘cause he’s very proud and very good at pretending life is great. He is actually going through his *second* divorce, has no money since he has a lame salary and is paying for his divorce trial and child support, all while living at his parents’ house since he can’t even afford to rent some place for himself after his ex-wife kicked him out of their house. He sleeps on a couch in the room that used to be his bedroom during his teen years and which now is his stepmother’s art study. Since he has no room in the house, Martín uses his old Torino (his first car, which he loves dearly and both his exes hate for it is a piece of trash he clings to like some overgrown child clinging to his blankie) like a moving storage place where he keeps all the clothes and books. He also keeps all his student’s homework and papers in there, and piles of trash such as take-away containers and coffee cups and crumbled cigarette packages. It is one crowded mess, a mirror of Martín’s life and state of mind.

Manuela is his first ex-wife. They married very young during their college years; both studied Literature and were two passionate nerds and Martín thought “Hey she’s a girl, I’m a boy. I like her, she likes me. That’s gotta be love, right?”. Manuela had a crush on Martín, so she couldn’t resist him when he pulled her in. His intensity was magnetic and it felt thrilling, like an adventure. They dated for some months before Martín proposed and Manuela accepted. She was in love and clueless, they were young and dumb. They had a kid right away but their marriage was very rocky and super short, only lasted a few years. It was a very hard hit on Martín. It has been almost ten years since and their relationship is civil, almost friendly even. Manuela doesn’t hold (major) grudges for their failed marriage, it has passed enough time that they can have some sort of mutual understanding. Their relationship might have been terrible once the honeymoon phase was over, but she knows Martín loves their kid to death and she also knows that deep down he is a nice guy - if a little insane and unbearable.

Martín and Manuela see each other frequently since they have a kid together. She listens to Martín’s sorrows very judgeful and unimpressed and unhelpfully tells him he is a disaster and that he needs to get his priorities straight. First, she doesn’t approve his parenting, he’s the sort of parent who lets his kid stay awake past bedtime and lets them have sweets and that tells them to punch their bullies in the face and then gets called by the principal when the kid does exactly that. Second, she doesn’t think he makes a good example for their kid; he is brash and impulsive and proud and not known for taking the best decisions, which are not very nice qualities. He needs to figure his life out, he is a walking mess who needs to get his shit together and who should be a good example for their kid. Also, she has figured out Martín is gay and she very blatantly tells him so but Martín just thinks she is being mean and poking him on his “fragile masculinity” but joke’s on her, he is very sure about his sexuality.

Things are more complicated with his second ex-wife. Their breakup is still raw and fresh and they are mid divorce and there’s a very young child in the middle. Unlike Manuela who simply is very done with Martín’s shenanigans, his second ex-wife fucking hates his guts and would very much just cut him out of her and their kid’s life all together.

Martín met her a few years ago; she was this hot intense girl who crushed fast and hard on him. This time Martín was the one being dragged around and romanced, which was just fine by him since he likes the attention and feeling desired. She matched his intensity, surpassed it even, which he thought made them a good match. Their married life was very sad and pathetic. Martín didn’t pay her much attention, he was the sort of husband who gets home and drops on the couch to watch football and have a cold beer and go “Uh-uh, that’s great, honey” without even looking his wife’s way. She had it so bad for him that she didn’t notice his lack of commitment until their baby was born. Then she started to notice their child got a very different treatment than her; Martín’s eyes would light up when he got home and saw the baby. He would pick them up and coo at them and play and just give them his unwavering attention. She was so used to him being distant that watching him be invested in their baby was a stark contrast that threw into the light the little attention she got from him. She tried to fix things at first, stubbornly tried to seduce him and remind him why he married her – she was fun and hot and passionate and she would prove it. But she was trying to seduce a (closeted) gay man who honestly didn’t even notice at this point. She failed to get Martín’s attention no matter how much she tried, and she grew bitter and resentful. When she realized he was no changing him and that this was what she could expect from Martín from the rest of their marriage – a man who didn’t talk to her, who didn’t look at her, whose only joy was their child - she exploded and kicked him out. Martín crashed at his parent’s place and assumed it is just one fight, she needed time to wind down before he cpuld go back home. But the following morning he got a call from his lawyer to inform him his wife was asking for a divorce.

And here is the thing, Martín never wanted a divorce, not the first time nor the second time. His marriage with Manuela had been filled with fights and disagreements yet still he had been shocked when she asked for a divorce, breaking up was never an option in his head. During his second divorce he hadn’t even notice things weren’t ok with his wife. He wasn’t happy, but he wasn’t unhappy either. He thought this was how married life was supposed to be, that certainly is the way many couples talk about marriage anyways. Being married and having a family is Martín’s life dream, he wants that for himself and two divorces in a row is a hard and painful failure. All he is taking from them is that he is a difficult person who apparently can’t keep a nice stable relationship and who might die alone.

Manuela has the custody of their child and Martín gets to hang with them often, he picks them up from school or football practice and takes out for ice-cream or to the movies. The kid is older and his relationship with Manuela is civil, so it is easier. But he is struggling to see his second child, he is fighting for their custody but it seems to be a lost cause. He does try to be a good father and be present in their lives, but it is very hard when their mother hates him and he doesn’t have his own place. He doesn’t have a room for himself, let alone one for the kid, there is no way a judge is giving him a shared custody. He knows he can’t be more present until he gets his shit together.

And this is where Luciano comes in, the cherry on top of his life crisis: Martín thought he was straight. Martín has been brushing of his sexuality for years, making up excuses for all of his life. He think this one actor is painfully handsome but come on, who doesn’t have a gay celebrity crush? As a teen he thought some of his friends were cute, but puberty was a mess so no big deal. He had a “wild phase” during his college years in which used to party hard, you know, dance over tables, skinny-dip at private pools, and why not French kiss the captain of the football team and fuck some cute exchange students hand in a parking lot. You know, all crazy stuff “heterosexual” bros do in college parties while they are super drunk. He looks back at all that and laughs it off as all the ~crazy~ things alcohol did to him in college.

Now Luciano is Martín’s parent’s neighbour and the very opposite of Martín – he never married, he has no kids, and he is very un-confused about his sexuality. Martín hasn’t met him properly, he has only caught side of him in passing and when Luciano decides to tend his garden barely dressed (Martín looks respectfully from the window). Luciano has a “ROOM FOR RENT” ad up, since he used to have a roommate who just left and he is looking for someone to share the house expenses with.

Martín is broke and really can’t afford to rent a place for the month, so instead he has the brilliant idea to rent Luciano’s place whenever his ex-wives and kids are over. It is brilliant: Luciano lives right by his parent’s house and Martín doesn’t offer much money but Luciano still could use some cash; a handful of money is better than no money at all. Luciano agrees as long as he gets to call the deal off the moment he gets a roommate. Martín’s problems are not his responsibility after all.

Martín rents Luciano’s place during the weekends so he can pretend to have a house and thus pass as a responsible adult who is getting his shit together and totally deserves more time with his kids. Luciano’s house is small and cosy and clean and tidy, and it has a lot of living plants that look very healthy and well taken care of (and if Martín doesn’t follow Luciano’s exact instructions to take care of them in the weekends, he is fucked). It even has a spare room for the kids so it looks great for Martín’s responsible adult image. Since this is supposed to be Martín’s place, Luciano makes sure to be out of the picture during the weekends, he just crashes at a friend’s house, or his father’s or even some date. It is flawless and everyone wins: Martín has got his ex-wives fooled and Luciano is making money.

Their plan goes about smoothly, until one day Martín’s youngest kid needs to stay with him for a few days. Martín’s ex-wife needs to be out of town for work reasons and she can’t take the baby with her. She was going to let the kid stay at their grandparents’, but Martín insisted she let them stay with him. He is the father and he has a place of his own, he can totally have the kid over for a few days. His ex hesitates but relents and Martín is thrilled to get to spend time with his kid. The thing is he can’t just kick Luciano out of his place that long, so he begs him to please pretty please let him stay over as his roommate for these few days. Martín’s toddler can’t talk and won’t rat them out and Luciano will barely notice them, come on, a full week of rent is better than a weekend. Luciano is not convinced (this is getting out of hands) but he eventually accepts since it is the only way to get Martín to shut up. Just this once, he relents, don’t get used to it. And he is charging extra.

Martín and his kid move in for a few days and Luciano gets to see first-hand Martín being a father. Luciano had a few reservations about Martín before, he thought he was a downright mess and wasn’t too impressed by him. But now that he sees how much Martín adores his kid it hits a raw nerve. Luciano’s parents had an ugly divorce when he was a kid and it totally fucked up his relationship with his own father. Seeing a loving dad struggling to keep their kid makes him invested in Martín’s story.

The days sharing Luciano’s house eventually are over. The kid returns to their mother and Martín is packing to go back to his parents’ but Luciano announces he can stay. He will let Martín move in as his roommate without charges but only until the divorce trial is over. This is a temporary arrangement to help Martín get back to his feet, he says. He will help Martín so he can make a good case and earn half his kid’s custody. Without meaning to, Luciano becomes this sort of fairy godfather to Martín by lending him his place and helping him with his kids.

Luciano starts helping out a little reluctantly. Even if this was his idea, that doesn’t mean he is too happy about having been dragged into this family drama, damn his conscience. Likewise, Martín at first tries not to ask for help, he took Luciano’s offer but ultimately he is too proud and anyways the kids are not Luciano’s responsibility, he can’t just abuse of his kindness. He tries hard to juggle his responsibilities with work and the kids and the trial, and only calls Luciano if he has run out of solutions.

Luciano becomes a secret helper of Martín. He helps with the toddler, but Martín keeps him out of the picture when his eldest kid comes for the weekend since there is a high risk of Manuela finding out the truth if they know. But eventually Martín needs Luciano to pick them up from school since he can’t make it and well, the cat is out of the bag for Martín’s eldest kid. Martín asks them to please keep this from Manuela. We’re not lying to mommy, baby, he promises, we’re just omitting, it’s different! The kid swears to keep the secret for them; secrets are fun and so is Luciano and they like coming over to dad’s place, so they are down for it. Of course, this is a 10 year old and there is only so much Martín can ask from them. His kid keeps their mouth shut for a while but they eventually spills the beans without meaning to.

Manuela is furious. Not just about Luciano himself, but that Martín was dishonest with her pretending everything is peachy while he is barely holding his life together. He always does this, it is one of the things she that used to drive her crazy during their marriage. He is not honest about himself and she hates this stupid prideful posing he does jfc why can’t he ask for help like a normal person? This is ridiculous, what was he playing at? And dragging their kid into it, asking them to lie to her? Martín should be happy she is only giving him and earful and hasn’t banned him from hanging with their kid ever again. She says she should tell Martín’s second ex-wife since she’d like to know if the roles were inverted, but Martín’s exes hate each other and Manuela knows this will fuck up Martín for good in the trial. As mad as she is, she doesn’t want to fuck him completely over so she promises to keep the secret as long as Martín is 100% honest with her from now on. She basically sits both Martín and Luciano under a light like some detective and plays bad cop, there are no good cops in her interrogatory. She wants to know everything if she is letting her kid hang with Luciano, and now Luciano feels a little more sympathetic with Martín, so this is one of the exes? The one he is supposed to get along the best with? Lord have mercy.

Despite their rocky meeting and their very contrasting personalities, Manuela warms up to Luciano quite easily, much to Martín’s relief and misery. This plays to Martín’s favour, since Luciano manages to quell Manuela’s temper, but it is a bit annoying to see Manuela having a soft spot for Luciano when Manuela has never had a soft spot for *anyone*. Also Martín doesn’t particularly appreciate the embarrassing ex-husband gossip Manuela likes to share with Luciano about him.

As time goes by, Luciano starts growing fonder and fonder of Martín’s kids (and Martín himself) and starts helping out without Martín having to ask. He offers to pick the kids up even if Martín isn’t that busy, takes them out if daddy needs a moment of quiet to sort some papers out, buys them sweets and trinkets and goes for the baby when he hears them crying as if they were his own child, etc. Martín starts trusting and relying more on him, starts being able to relax and rest a little. They are basically co-parenting and working as a team, they look very much like a married couple at this point.

This phase has a lot of sweet but confusing moments for both of them. Martín sees Luciano being so nice and patient with his kids and he definitely values it. On the other hand, Luciano likes kids so he’s fine playing with the baby on his free time and helping Martín, and he finds that he enjoys this new change of pace, the house feels less lonely and quiet. He likes the kids and he likes Martín.

Co-parenting with someone he is unknowingly crushing on makes Martín think back to his married life and how some of it resembles it - but with a new twist he can’t quite put a finger on. That’s what was missing in Martín’s previous marriages. He had lived under the same roof with his exes and they had both raised theirs kids but they hadn’t been a team they way Luciano and him are. He had been so disconnected from his previous partners, working on autopilot around them. But with Luciano is different – they talk about their day and last night’s match and anything and everything while they take care of the children, and it’s almost as if Martín felt drawn to Luciano. How could he not gravitate towards him when they are in the same room, how could he not search for his bright eyes, hang on every word of that sweet soft voice, tease and joke until he got to see his warm smile? He enjoys Luciano’s company in a way he had never enjoyed his exes’ before, or anyone’s for the matter. He’s in sync at such an unspoken level with him.

But he’s still very in denial so it’s not like he rationalizes all that, he just bottles down all the unshaped yearn day after day. Martín is oblivious to his feelings, still caught up in his “I’m hetero” jazz, but Luciano isn’t. He flirts and Martín flirts right back at him and Luciano gets all the signals that his advances are welcomed – he starts with harmless teasing that slowly escalates to real flirting. And Martín is quite receptive, totally going along with it. Martín is very much into Luciano without realising so, but Luciano realizes.

One quiet night, Martín is rocking his fussy toddler, walking around the living room trying to get them to sleep while also trying to read some important papers. Without a word, Luciano comes and takes the baby for him. Martín gets to sit on the couch and read the papers, but he instead hears as Luciano rocks his kid to sleep humming and pacing around the spare room. Once the baby is asleep, Luciano reappears in the living room and announces in a whisper and with a tired yet satisfied smile that he baby is asleep. Martín thanks him for taking over They have a little whispered chat and Martín is trying to find words to keep Luciano there a little longer before he disappears into his room. He doesn’t know why he wants Luciano’s company, why it feels wrong that they will part ways for the night. This weird yearning for things of a married life that he didn’t particularly care too much about before is confusing and doesn’t make much sense, Martín can’t put a name to the feeling.

Both are tired from the day but satisfied; it’s been a day of hard work but they did good, amazing even, they are getting so good at co-parenting. Luciano announces they have earned themselves some beers. Martín protests weakly, saying he needs to read his papers but Luciano tells him he needs a break and he’s right. So they hang on the couch drinking beer, a little closer than necessary, and they get to that tipsy edge that is not quite fully drunk and well they kiss.

Luciano has kissed many people before, but kissing Martín feels different. There are butterflies in his stomach and he feels like taking air after holding his breath for too long. He hadn’t realised how deeply he had been craving for this moment, it’s such an overtaking feeling he can’t ignore it no more, there is no denying how he feels for Martín. They deepen the kiss a little, enough for it to start getting hot, and Luciano being Luciano has a hard time keeping his hands to himself. He gets a little handsy and his hands travel south but Martín pulls back with a chuckle and announces he is not *that* drunk yet.

Luciano didn’t know of Martín’s self-proclaimed straightness and he is taken aback when he realizes they are not in the same page at all. With all the casual flirting they exchanged in this past months he had assumed Martín was bisexual. No hetero man is that comfortable shamelessly flirting with another man. They’ve been at it for months and it is so obvious they both are into each other it would never occurred to Luciano that Martín’s very blatant flirty is a “bromance”. Beside they didn’t drink that much, and hey no straight man makes out with a “bro” like that.

It is confusing and the moment is broken. Martín announces it’s late and that’s he’s going to bed and Luciano is left on the couch feeling very confused. He casually brings up the kiss next time he hangs with Manuela. She tells him she always suspected Martín was gay - she saw that coming the whole time. She says she’s glad to hear Martín is finally figuring that thing out, took him long enough, but then Luciano tells her about the No Homo rejection and she just rolls her eyes. Of course stupid Martín would be this dumb, she says.

But it is fine, Luciano decides it is ok. Martín is clearly confused and in denial but that is not Luciano’s problem. Luciano shoves his feelings back down again after that terrible no-homo rejection and tell himself it doesn’t affect him at all. He doesn’t care if Martín is confused and claims to be hetero, that’s on him, definitely doesn’t affect Luciano at all. Their flirting and that one kiss don’t have to mean anything, Luciano is used to casual affairs. He can move on, brush it off. It is not as if his heart is breaking a little but he is hiding it because he still wants to hang around Martín. So what that he adores his kids as if they were his own and wants Martín to continue living with him forever and maybe move from the couch to his room? What is Luciano supposed to do, healthily distance himself gradually? Hell no, everything is fine, Luciano is just getting things mixed up because they are sharing a house (never mind he didn’t feel like that about his last roommate).

Luciano’s natural response to heartache is to turn his bachelorness to 11 and just start dating around. He behaves when the kids come to spend the night, but when they are out of the picture Luciano can sleep wherever he likes. He doesn’t owe Martín explanations in the morning about where he spent the night. See, he’s getting around as he always did just fine. He is not love, it’s nothing, really. NOTHING.

Ironically, this is Luciano’s hard-partying what changes things between them. Martín starts to feel very annoyed with Luciano. When his kids are over, life is wonderful; Luciano helps him out and they are a team. They look after the kids and play games and have dinner and movie nights, it is all so fun and easy and sweet. But when the weekend is over and the kids are gone, Luciano is just never around and Martín knows he is out there having dates and getting laid while Martín drinks wine alone in the couch reading his divorce papers miserably. Knowing Luciano is out there messing around with other people makes his chest hurt and he doesn’t understand why. Martín can’t really sort out his feelings, which turns his pain into frustration. He is left with this discomfort he can’t recognise and doesn’t know what to do with and that ends up turning into saltiness and bitter.

This puts a strain in their relationship. Martín is colder and snappier and so very irritable when the kids aren’t around and Luciano is doing his partying and dating. He tries not to lash at Luciano since he knows whatever Luciano does is not his business, but Martín’s head runs hot and he is too bitter and salty. Luciano tries to blame how stingy and insufferable Martín has been lately on the divorce situation, he knows his kid’s custody is soon to be decided by the judge and tells himself Martín is in a difficult position and he is in all his right to be grumpy and sour.

One particularly hard day in which Martín is exhausted and very mad at the world and in which Luciano comes back home super late with no explanations leads to some vicious lashing out from Martín. They get to say a lot of stuff they’ve both been keeping, since it’s not like they talk about it like mature adults with good communication skills. It is a very confusing fight because Martín doesn’t really know what he is truly angry about so he doesn’t make much sense. And he *knows* he is not making much sense, but that doesn’t mean he can stop his mouth from running. He wears his heart in his sleeve, so even if his brain is screaming at him to please shut the fuck up he just can’t stop pouring his feelings out, letting all that frustration out by targeting Luciano. Luciano says that when he agreed to help with the kids he never agreed to be Martín’s stay-at-home wife. They are not married, he doesn’t owe Martín any shit. Furthermore, Luciano throws in his face that it’s not fair that Martín wants to keep him from dating and having fun while also not wanting to be with him in the first place. Which is kind of a backhanded confession, because Luciano is saying he is willing to be with Martín if Martín took him.

Martín doesn’t realise what Luciano just said, he focuses on all the negative and gets defensive. Which in Martín’s case is to get on the offensive and he just makes everything worst with his temper. The fight gets out of control and Luciano tells him to leave his home and spend the night at his parent’s place. That hits a raw nerve in Martín: this is a deja-vu from his divorce all over again. Martín leaves slamming the door but he doesn’t head back to his parents’ house. He needs some alone time to calm down and get his shit together. He gets in his car and just drives around the city, hits a bar and has some drinks. Sleeps in the car.

The two get some time away from each other after that.

The decision over the custody of Martín’s kid happens during this period of time in which they are not speaking to each other. Martín is a pile of nerves and anxiety because he knows his chances aren’t the best. He feels hopeless and realizes he wishes Luciano was there at his side. They haven’t spoken since their fight, Martín hasn’t reached back of shame and guilt and self-pity; He knows this is on him, it’s the same story over again, when will he learn, why does he keep ruining things? He ruined his first marriage, then another marriage, and now his “friendship” with Luciano which he has started to realise it was not just friendship. In the last days, he has found himself thinking of the kiss and every warm moment they spent together. He can’t stop thinking of him, his jokes, his smile, his laughter, his lips. And his words admitting he would have chosen Martín if Martin had chosen him back… Martín finally realises he has feelings for Luciano and it is such a bad timing because Luciano is gone and probably doesn’t want to have anything to do with him and anyways Martín should be focusing in his child and in the trial and why is life so hard, when will Martín catch a break, when will he get his shit together?

Meanwhile, Luciano is mad and miserable and worried and a pile of nerves as well. He doesn’t reach out because he is hurt and angry, yes, but he also knows Martín is busy and has to keep his head in the game. The kids come first, right? Luciano shouldnt bother him. He was helpful but that is it, he can’t let himself become a distraction. Martín never was serious about him anyways, Luciano only ever was a “drunk” hook-up. He got way too involved in this family, he should distance himself. This little family is not his to claim, Martín and the children will be out of his life once the trial is over, that was the deal, but Luciano will miss them so much it is kinda hard to breath.

Despite everything, Luciano is still very much rooting for Martín, he wants him to win the trial. He knows very well that the decision is coming and despite his anger he is worried about him. Fight aside, he really wants Martín to get the shared the custody of his kid, he knows how much he wanted it and how little his chances are to get it. Luciano swallows his pride, anger and insecurities and the day of the decision he waits outside the courtroom, frowning to himself and being very mad and miserable about being here because stupid Martín doesn’t deserve his support and he feels stupid being here for him when Martín clearly doesn’t want him but he’s hopelessly in love and cares deeply even if he’s mad, which honestly makes him even more mad.

The session is finally over and Martín comes out with his head down and looking completely beaten. He didn’t get shared custody, to no one’s surprise. His life is a mess, he is in no condition to take his kid in. As Martín steps out of the courtroom, he looks up and sees Luciano - and that is what Martín needed. Martín needs a shoulder to lay on, and he has been thinking about Luciano for days and maybe he is not sure about his sexuality anymore but he is so very sure of his feelings, he knows he loves Luciano with all his heart, and Luciano is here for him. He might be angry and glaring sourly at Martín, but he came. He cares, and Martín goes to him and hugs him very tightly and starts sobbing. He lost the trial, his life still is a mess and he is miserable. But at least Luciano is here.

Luciano holds him and lets him cry on his shoulder for as long as he needs. He tries to be optimistic for him; not all is lost, he says, he’ll still see his kid on the weekends and he’ll make the best of their time together. Martín sniffs and says he’s glad Luciano is here and that he doesn’t want to be away from him ever again. He confesses he is confused about himself, but not about his feelings for Luciano. He wants Luciano and he hopes Luciano still wants him back. Luciano holds him closer and gives him a little sweet smile. He says he never stopped wanting Martín and that they can figure it out together with time.

Figuring out his sexuality (or starting to) is the first step for Martín to get his shit together. This information sheds a new light on why his previous relationships didn’t work; his clueless denial ties in his general behaviour of not admitting things as they are. His bad marriages, bad divorces, bad relationship with his second ex-wife, it all makes much more sense when he figures out he is not straight. Martín has found a loving partner in Luciano, who helps him understand that married life could be much better than he had thought it had to be, so much better than what he did with his exes. He is finally in the right path, even if there’s still a lot to fix.

Martín being queer re-contextualizes his disinterest in his second sex-wife, and so she now understands a little better. It doesn’t fix their terrible marriage, but it makes her far less hostile. They get close to the civil point he is at with Manuela, which makes life so much easier for everyone since they do share a child.

Now that Martín can stop obsessing over making a good impression for a judge, he focuses on genuinely working on getting his shit together. No more quick fixes, he is doing things right now. He starts by selling his beloved Torino and most of his books. It hurts, but he is trying to get his priorities straight; his old car was too high-maintenance and he doesn’t have any room for his books. Most important, he needs money. These are the sacrifices that need to be made so he can become a better father.

He eventually moves out of his parent’s house, but he doesn’t move in with Luciano. Martín doesn’t want to rush it the way he did with his two other marriages, even if he’s sure about Luciano in a way he never was before. He wants to make things right, for Luciano, for the kids, for himself. They agree to go slow, maybe move in together in a few years. For now, Martín gets his own place by renting a little apartment. It is not big and gets crowded very easily and it is not perfect, but life seldom is. The important part here is that Martín is finally working to do better, and that he has found a man he loves and who loves him back and they are making it work between them.

[incoherentbabblings]

Has it been explained why Stephanie didn't have many or any friends before meeting Tim?

I give Dixon some credit here, Steph had 'friends' who he wrote her associating with, but she falls out with them when she gets pregnant and they're a bit... unrealistically dumb regarding teen pregnancy. I've never known so many fifteen year old girls to be ecstatic that their friend is preggo, but hey. Maybe Mr Dixon knows more than me about teenage girls. Woah that was a dig.

And then after Steph comes back from the dead she hangs out with a 'rough' crowd, but looking at her standing there in a pink top and her blonde hair, she clearly isn't meant to fit in with them. In fact she even tells Tim that she's half hanging around with them to keep them out of too much trouble.

Robin (1993) #61 - 'So's a tattoo' omg Tim shut the frick up comparing a baby to a tattoo wooft - and Robin Spoiler Special - But they're harmless really. Oh no! Waterguns.

I mean I look at her in the Batgirl run really trying to make friends at college. The girl is painfully awkward. She's drawn with really stiff and awkward body language, overshares and is overly friendly in efforts to get people to like her. I dunno, maybe being homeschooled for four years made her social skills plummet.

The reason out of universe for her lack of friends was nobody focused on her enough to show what her life was like outside of Tim. In universe, the citizens of Gotham are mean or do know what to do with emotional earnestness. She gets on best with Cass, someone who's not exactly gonna hold a grudge at Steph breaking social conventions, and Kara, who kind of uses Steph to practice human normal life things with, so again, not so bothered about the breaking of social conventions there. Kara doesn't even know what half of them are.

Batgirl (2009) #14 - Kara has clearly never enjoyed the mind boggingly awful game of scrabble.

Steph even admits she has very few friends. Cass, Wendy, Kara. Which to be fair to Steph, is probably enough for her, or a lot of people. Civvie friends though... well. Jordanna is right to call her weird. Cause she is a bit.

Steph didn't exactly have a ton of friends before Tim, but she didn't really get loads from knowing him after either.

[buzzkillzine]

14/8/22

So my girlfriend and I gave been going out for 10 years. It's been a great 10 years.

But over the last few months things have been on thin ice. And it's my own fault.

It started with a Grudge. Specifically the Grudge from 2004 starring Sarah Michelle Gellar.

So for pretty much our entire 10 year relationship my girlfriend and I love showing each other movies. I love gorey horror movies, Sci fi, Dumb comedies etc and she loves 00s films with white covers and pink writing, Australian films and rom coms. Obviously that's a very narrow snapshot of our tastes but enough of an idea of where we're starting from.

When we started watching movies together we'd pick stuff that the other hadn't seen in an attempt to show them our favourite movies. She hated horror movies and didn't watch any and I had a big blind spot for her stuff.

Little by little we eased each other into our respective tastes and along the way we opened our minds to each a la Kuato from Total Recall (a film I picked and she enjoyed).

We both realised that it's great to watch stuff out of our comfort zone and we even found some stuff that became rewatchable favourites.

She enjoyed the ridiculous campness and hyper-masculine-to-the-point-of-homoerorotic of stuff like Predator, the parody and hidden in plain sight satire of Robocop and the ridiculous fun of Dredd. In turn I enjoyed the great writing of Mean Girls, the relatability of Booksmart and the sheer joy of Romy and Michele's Highschool Reunion and Josie and the Pussycats.

The 'your pick, my pick' rotation of films worked great. Until a few months ago.

We had watched The Ring (2002) pretty early on in our relationship and enjoyed it. One day in around May this year I realised that there were some other remakes of Asian horror that she hadn't seen.

Now I had watched the Grudge around the time it came out in 2014. I was in highschool and remember it being an eerie ghost tale with some effective scares and a great story. Plus it stars Sarah Michelle-Gellar who is great in Buffy (a show which my girlfriend loves), what could possibly go wrong?

So, with my pick chosen, we sat down to watch a film from my teens years that had cemented my taste in horror movies and would surely be a fun little trip down memory lane.

But... it stunk!

I was puzzled, baffled and shocked. What had happened to the tension, the strong female lead, the creepy atmosphere and the heart in the story? None of it was there.

We got about 3/4 of the way through and first the first time since Freddy Got Fingered (my pick) we called it a dud and turned it off. (Part of our rules are if you're reeeeeeaaallly not digging a partners pick you can tap out. She tapped out. However FGF is a stone cold classic and I stand by it)

I apologised and we watched something else that we both enjoyed.

But I was still puzzled. What went wrong? Why did I get nothing from the film? Like admittedly the CGI looked awful now and it was miss-cast and SMG is normally great, like in Scooby Doo (her pick) or I Know What You Did Last Summer (my pick) but the film was just a real fizzer and didn't live up to my memories and her expectations.

So a few days pass and it's back to my pick. The whole Grudge situation is getting to me. I need to fix this.

Then I see that The Grudge (2020) is streaming and Lin Shaye is in it. Awesome! Hollywood realised that they mucked up the OG remake and decided to update it and fix the problems by making it creepy, updating the CGI and putting Lin Shaye in it. We both love Lin Shaye from the Insidious films (my pick but we both love them) and this will surely make up for my dud pick and we'll get to see a good remake of the story.

But.... it also stinks.

The same traps. Nobodies fault but it just didn't land with either of us. I'd picked 2 duds in a row and they were both the same film.

I was way off my game.

The curse of the dud Grudge followed me over the next couple of months.

I either picked stuff we both didn't enjoy of stuff that she flat out hated. Her picks kept coming through strong but mine were consistently bad. My radar of what I thought we'd both enjoy had been damaged.

I couldn't, for the life of me pick a film that was campy fun, silly fun, gross fun or even fun fun. Pick after pick I failed. The pressure of trying to find something we'd both enjoy was getting to me.

Then it happened.

We watched Black Phone in the cinema (my pick, I liked it. She didn't) then watched 'X' (my pick, I liked it, she really didn't) and then she dropped the bombshell.

'Maybe you should take a break from picking for a couple of movies?'

I knew she was right. I'd fucked up and kept fucking up. I needed to take a break and take stock of what I was doing.

So she has picked the last couple of films, Not Okay (both loved it) and Amélie (what a classic) and I have attempted to make a list of films with all the right ingredients to finally break my streak and get back on the good film buddy/great boyfriend podium.

I have my picks locked and loaded and will report back next week on how I've done.

I think I've picked something suitably ridiculous, fun and over the top to win back her trust.

Wish me luck and I'll let you know how I go.

(Just to be clear, she's great and this is all just fun but I take watching movies together seriously)

Also my car broke down but it fixed now.

[wxnderlustfandoms]

not a villain [loki x teen!reader]

[not my gif]

pairing: loki x teen! reader (platonic), avengers x teen!reader (platonic) 

description: you try to make loki feel more welcome after thor brings him to the compound, thinking it would be good for him. he thinks you’re just trying to get on his good side for selfish reasons, but after overhearing you defend him to the avengers, he realizes you see the good in him

word count: 2291

warnings: none really. 

a/n: not me taking this description straight from my shifting script and turning it into a fanfic lmfao

in a way a continuation of this headcannon because the reader’s powers are the same and its the same backstory. 

After the fight at the airport between the avengers, they all realized how stupid the accords were and how it provided them no freedoms to do the things they needed to. However, you pointed out that the idea of an accords was okay because if we’re being honest, the avengers didn’t really think about collateral. The avengers all met with the countries that made the accords and worked together to revise them to work the best for both parties. 

Once that was settled, you all moved back into the compound and returned to normal life. Well, as normal as you can get with the avengers. 

One day, you heard a loud booming noise outside and saw a flash of light come from outside. You opened your window and flew out quickly to investigate. When you got closer, you saw a tall blonde with longer hair and a hammer. With him was another tall man with long black hair. A few other avengers were already there and they seemed to be on edge. 

You landed next to them and realized that the blonde was Thor. He was an avenger and you remembered seeing him on tv when New York was getting attacked. 

“I’m sure you all remember my brother, Loki,” Thor introduced, gesturing to the man with black hair next to him. Loki looked about as excited to be there as everyone else was to see him. 

“Wait, wasn’t that the guy who attacked New York? I saw him on TV when I was a little kid,” You asked Sam quietly, whispering towards him. Sam nodded his head and you looked back to Thor confused. 

“Why is he here, Thor?” Tony asked, holding his armor-covered hand up to him, prepared to attack if he needed to. You seemed to be the only one not in a fighting stance, but to be fair, you really didn’t understand what was happening. 

“I believe that it will be good for Loki to come and live with us all here! Who knows, maybe he could even become an avenger with the proper training!” Thor boomed with a smile. You felt yourself smile a bit just looking at him, he radiated so much pure, optimistic, happy energy. 

“Absolutely not, he tried to take over the world, Thor. He killed people,” Natasha argued back.

“My brother may have had a complicated past, but I just know that this will be a good opportunity for him!” 

You didn’t feel as though you were in any place to take a side, as you were not there in New York and did not know anything about Loki, but you felt as though if Loki was here to train to become an avenger, he should be able to. He didn’t seem like a terrible guy. You listened to them go back and forth for a while, discussing things you once again couldn’t input on because you were a child when these things happened. 

Eventually, Thor convinced the rest of the Avengers to let Loki stay with them. However, he was basically on house arrest at the compound until they deemed him trustworthy enough to leave, and Tony made sure to tell Loki how he believed that to be a long, long time. Loki seemed to not be bothered at all, and hadn’t really talked throughout the entire interaction. His brother kind of took the lead and spoke out for him. 

The next week, you didn’t see Loki much around the compound. He seemed to be brooding in his room or something like that. You shrugged and just thought he might be taking his time to get comfortable. 

I mean, he did try to kill a lot of people in this compound. It's got to be awkward to just run into them in the same compound now that he lives with them, You thought, walking into the kitchen. Your wings flexed in surprise when you saw Loki in the kitchen. He looked up when you walked in and he looked like he was going to leave once he was aware of your presence, but you stopped him.

“You don’t have to leave, you know? We both live here and this kitchen is big enough for the two of us,” You said. 

His face didn’t betray what he was thinking, but he didn’t make another move to leave. You got out some ingredients to make a sandwich for yourself and looked over to Loki, who was looking through the cabinet. 

“So… you’re like… a god?” You asked him the question you’d been thinking the whole time since he moved in. 

He looked at you and raised an eyebrow. The look on your face told him you were being serious. 

“Yes,” He responded bluntly. You raised both of your eyebrows in your surprise that you got a verbal answer. 

You hummed, going back to making your sandwich. Loki didn’t seem to find anything he wanted in the cabinet and made his way to leave the kitchen. “See ya, Loki!” You said as he exited. 

The next few weeks went the same way, you running into Loki and initiating conversation with him, trying to get to know things about him. He was very blunt, his answers short. Sometimes he didn’t even answer and the conversations were very one sided but you still didn’t give up trying to get to know him. You knew that because Thor was still taking care of things on Asgard and coming back and forth, he didn’t really have time to check on how Loki was but for a few minutes. And the other avengers made no attempt to socialize with the god. So you decided to. You weren’t sure if they knew you were talking to him all the time, but if they did none of them made an attempt to stop you. They knew you were trusting, but they also knew you weren’t dumb, so they trusted you. 

One day, you caught Thor when he was visiting the compound and asked him what Loki’s favorite earth food was, or if he could bring him some food from Asgard. Thor was surprised a teenager was concerned about Loki, but thanked you for thinking about him. He told you about an Asgard dish that could easily be made with Earth food and you thanked him, going to the kitchen and started making it. When you were done with it, you went to Loki’s room and knocked on his door. It took a minute before he opened it, but he was surprised to see you when he did open it. 

“Hi! I noticed you didn’t seem interested in any of the snacks in the cabinet and haven’t really eaten any good meals since you got here, so I made you something. Thor said it was similar to an Asgardian dish. I’m… not sure exactly which one. It was pronounced weird. But I hope you enjoy it!” You said, handing it to him. He wasn’t sure how to respond, so he just looked at the dish and then back up at you. 

“Anyway, I hope you have a good day, Loki!” You told him, walking back to clean up your mess in the kitchen. 

Loki stood there with the door open, looking at the dish. His thoughts were jumbled and he couldn’t figure you out. What could you possibly want from him that would make you try so hard to get on his good side? He appreciated the gesture, but he didn’t trust that it was just out of the kindness of your heart.

Later that week, you were hanging out with a majority of the avengers in a lounge room, TV on in the background, but you all were mostly just talking. 

The topic of Loki got brought up quickly. They started talking about still not being able to trust him and how awkward it is he lives at the compound now. Usually you wouldn't say anything because you didn’t feel like it's your place but you just had to this time. 

“Well maybe, if you guys even tried to talk to Loki, you would know he’s not a terrible person,” You defended. 

Bruce laughed, “Are we talking about the same man that mind controlled Clint and made me go all hulk mode on everyone?” 

Clint agreed. 

“Jesus,” You stood up, wings ruffled in anger.

“[Y/n], why are you getting so defensive?” Sam asked. 

You turned around and gave him an annoyed look. “Because you all are sitting here, saying Loki could never be anything but a villain, but won’t stop treating him like he is!” You threw your hands up in defeat. Walking a bit to the right before turning back to them. “Like, how is he supposed to prove to you guys he’s good when you won’t even give him the time of day! I’m not saying to go in trusting him 100%, I know he did bad things in his past. But haven’t we all? Isn’t there some part of our past we wish we could go back and erase because it was a mistake?” You looked to Natasha especially while saying this. 

“[Y/n], I understand what you’re trying to say, but it’s incredibly naive of you to trust Loki, and to compare what he did to any of us,” Clint responded. You looked at him, confused and hurt. Looking to the other people sitting in the room, they agreed, nodding their heads. Your eyes started tearing up. 

“If I’m too ‘young’ and ‘naive’ to understand these things then why am I even an avenger? You can’t sit here and constantly bring up my age and lack of experience when I try to say things just because you don’t think I’m right! If Loki’s villainy in the past never affected you guys personally you wouldn’t be sitting here holding this, what? 5 year grudge against him!?” You felt a few tears fall down your face and you brushed them away, almost angry that they decided to fall when you were trying to talk to your comrades. You were trying to tell them that you don’t want to be treated like a kid, but here you were crying like one. 

“[Y/n]...” Sam started, getting up when he saw you were crying. You shook your head, turning away from them and running back to your room. You collapsed onto your bed and let out a few sobs. 

You weren’t necessarily crying because the avengers didn’t accept Loki. It upset you, but that wasn’t why you were crying. You were crying because this wasn’t the first time they have brought up your age to belittle your opinion or said you were not experienced enough to have an opinion on something. You were sick of them treating you like that when you’d been a part of the avengers for almost 2 years. You jumped slightly when you heard a knock at your door. You thought it was Sam coming to talk to you, but you didn’t want to speak to him.

“Go away, Sam,” You yelled. 

“It’s Loki,” You heard his voice from the other side of the door. Your eyes widened in surprise and jumped up off the bed. Walking to open the door. You tried to make it look like you weren’t crying, but when you opened the door he could see the redness and puffiness around your eyes. 

“Is… something wrong?” You asked, having no idea why Loki would come talk to you of his own accord. 

“Can we talk?” He asked. You nodded and led him into your room. He looked around for a second, taking in your room before you sat on the bed and invited him to do the same. You sat more towards the middle of the bed, crossing your feet in towards you. Loki sat near the edge, barley making an indent in the covers. It was probably as awkward for him as it was for you. 

“Listen, I’m sorry if I’ve been annoying you the past few weeks. I’ve been trying to make you feel welcome here but I know it's been a lot. No one really wants a teenager all up in their business. So… I’m sorry,” You started, looking up at him.  

Now, you were usually good at reading people, however, ever since Loki moved into the compound, you could never read his face. Even now, you looked at his face and couldn’t see a single expression that revealed what he was thinking.

“I don’t understand you. Why are you so nice to me? And why would you go against your teammates to defend me? What exactly does that accomplish you?” You sigh a little as you realize he overheard you talking to the group of people out there.

“I don’t really have a reason to be nice besides wanting to make you feel welcome. I know what it’s like to feel… out of place.” You gesture to the wings on your back and the horns on your head. “Ever since this happened, the avengers are the only people that seem to accept me as the way I am. And I believe everyone deserves to have that. Even if the avengers don’t end up being that for you, I hope you do find it.” You explain. “I trust that you have good in you. Being mischievous doesn’t mean being evil,” You smile at him.

For the first time since Loki moved in with the avengers, he smiled. Even if it was a small smile, it was genuine. He nodded and got up, on his way to leave. Before he did leave though, he turned around and revealed he was never truly annoyed by you and enjoyed the talks you had. 

[tinyjeanmarco]

Your display name literally defines my week mood, Porco is the best boy🥺 i was wondering if you could write some hc about him?? I didn’t have any specific in mind, maybe something cute but ofc it’s up to you and you can even not write anything, that’s alright too!! Im just happy seeing more people warming up to him☺️ i hope you have a great February and that you stay safe and happy💖

eee! porco really is best boy, i love him to pieces. and of course i’ll write some hc’s about him (*°ヮ° *) these will be super soft, i promise. and thank you! my february has been going well so far, so i wish the same upon you! this is also my first request i’m doing, so i’m really excited. i hope you enjoy!  ♡

summary: some hc’s about domestic life with porco. canon divergence because in this he’s not a warrior, that way reader doesn’t have to worry about having a time limit w/ him or worry about anything happening to him (∩_∩). (i think this ended up like some sort of canon-ish au with some modern setting mixed in, whoops!)

porco x gn!reader

warnings: none

you’ve known porco since you two were kids. you essentially grew up together and you had always had a tiny crush on him growing up.

it wasn’t until you guys were teens that he confessed to liking you as well. this totally took you by surprise, but in a good way!

a few days after he confessed to you, he told you that he did so because he knew reiner also liked you, and he was afraid that reiner would admit his feelings for you and that you’d date him instead.

he didn’t want to become the pathetic childhood friend who was too afraid to say something and then be doomed to watch you be in love with someone else for the rest of his life.

when he told you this, you found it quite funny (and also felt bad for reiner since porco just outted him and now he would never get a chance cuz you’re dating porco), since you had always liked porco, not reiner, so he wouldn’t have had to worry, anyways.

you two had been together for years, not really having many issues. that isn’t to say you would never fight or disagree, but you two always made an effort to resolve any tensions that arose.

porco seems to me the type who holds grudges and doesn’t really care to talk things out, but he knows that if he does that with you, he will most likely end up losing you.

whenever you get into a disagreement/fight with him, he needs space and time alone before he can come back and confront the situation. if you try to make him talk right away, he will lose his cool and say something he doesn’t mean.

you sort of learned this the hard way with him when you started dating. he’s long since made up for those times, but in the back of his head, he still feels bad about them (although he would never tell you this).

after dating for like six years, porco finally decided to wife you up and make you his officially.

he would definitely want it to be really special for you because he absolutely adores you and wants to make it something that you’ll remember forever.

he would have a whole plan put together. he has the ring, he just needs to take you out, have a nice night, eating really well, and then as you two gaze up at the stars on the roof of the building you live in, he would whip out the ring and propose. bam! foolproof.

probably not as foolproof as he hoped because he actually ended up accidentally proposing to you while you guys were just cuddling one night.

you would be all cuddled up to him, both of you almost asleep, and he mumbles out, not thinking, “marry me.”

and you’re instantly awake at that, turning your head to glance at him, and just say yes.

boy do his eyes shoot wide open. he’s stumbling over words, trying to correct himself before you just kiss him to get him to shut the hell up.

he tells you that he had a whole plan to make it special for you and spend the whole day together before popping the question.

you respond, saying that he can still do that, you’ll just pretend you never heard anything, but any way that it happened was special enough to you because you love him with your whole heart and you just want to be with him.

he bonks you on your nose and just calls you cheesy, but his heart is beating fast with the pure love he holds for you.

you both end up going through with his plans and having a wonderful day, him proposing again at the end of it all.

okay, so, porco loves kissing you. his favorite activity. you want a smooch? you don’t even have to ask, he’s one step ahead of you.

he is a clingy baby that wants to always have you near him. he will constantly have his hand on you, whether it’s in your hand, on your thigh, around your waist.

he loves kissing the top of your head. if you are shorter than him, it’s a win and easy peasy. if you’re taller than him, he will make you bend down so he can still kiss the top of your head.

he also will love kisses on the top of his head if you’re taller than him, or if you two are cuddling and he has his head laid on your chest.

he also loves it when he’s just showered, and his hair isn’t slicked back, if you play with his hair, running your fingers through the soft blond locks. it really relaxes him and helps him fall asleep.

this clingy boy also loves to cuddle with you.

he will look for any opportunity to wiggle into your arms and tangle his limbs in yours.

he loves to be both the big spoon and little spoon, all depending on his mood. sometimes he just enjoys the comfort of being held close to you, and other times he wants to hold you in his arms to remind him that you’re really there with him.

he will have an iron grip on you, refusing to let you go ever.

“porco, please, i have to pee.”

“noooo. stay here, pee later.”

“porco, i will pee on you.”

i also totally hc porco to love cooking or baking. he definitely loves to eat and it’s more fun when he gets to eat it with you. better yet, cooking with you.

when you’re making cookies or something, you’ll have to yell at him to stop eating the raw batter. it’s not good for you. (if you’re vegan, you wont really have that exact issue, but him still eating it means there will be less output, so stop eating it, porco!)

he first started cooking when you guys moved in together which means he was pretty bad at it. you kind of had to help him and were brutally honest if he burnt something or did something wrong.

i don’t think he would really be a disaster in the kitchen because he would always follow the recipes down to a T.

i mentioned above you two moving in together. let me tell you, that was one chaotic day. so many boxes, so few hands. you legit spent all day moving things in.

porco would constantly be like “ow, ow, babe, i hurt myself!” to make you fret over him and then when you ask him what’s wrong he’ll say something along the lines of “i hurt my hand carrying this box. can you kiss it better?” or he would straight up be like “my heart hurts because you’re not kissing me right now.”

cue rolling your eyes and giving this dumb baby a kiss nearly every fifteen minutes.

you end move in day with all the boxes piled up around your apartment, and you two fall asleep on just a plain mattress with a few pillows, too tired to unpack anything else. maybe a blanket too so that way you guys don’t get too cold.

i’m hopping around a lot for these hc’s, but the wedding you two have is a nice small one with just your closest friends and family.

he doesn’t even care (that much) when you invite reiner, he’s just excited to marry you and be yours.

seeing you all dressed up for the wedding makes his heart leap into his throat, and he just starts crying. he never thought this day would come and that he would be lucky enough to spend his forever with you.

after you two say your vows and the officiator says you may kiss, he leaps to you and gives you the slowest, most gentle kiss ever. he pours his soul out into the kiss, making sure you know this is the happiest day of his life.

the whole part at the after party where you feed each other cake? he’s the one to smash it all over your face. yep. he’s that kind of husband.

calling him your husband is also your new favorite thing. it just makes it feel so real.  

“hey, can you get me a glass of water, husband?” and he melts because he loves hearing that come out of your mouth. it reminds him that you actually married him. (he still can’t believe that.)

porco will try his hardest to be the best husband ever and always make you happy. he just loves you to the moon and back and is never afraid to show it.