#the truth has a way of coming out and when it does robbie will learn that packs and homes can disappear in an instant

[bigassbowlingballhead]

OH NO I'VE MADE A MISTAKE. I READ THE INSIDE SLEEVE OF HEARTSONG.

OH NO.

[raigash]

Gone Cold

Whumptober 2023 Days 16 (Don’t go where I can’t follow.”) and 30 (“Not much longer…”)

It’s been a long time since I’ve written, and even longer since I’ve posted, but this piece has been haunting me for a good little while now. Allow me to more formally introduce you to Robbie, my roaming Professer with a bleeding heart, and many, many millennia beneath his belt. All those years don’t make saying goodbye any easier

Despite his best efforts, Robbie cannot stop his hands from shaking as he takes up the whistling tea pot from the stove. The coughing from the bedroom, brittle and thin though it may be, thunders through his chest like an earthquake. He feels like a building condemned, ready to let nature have its way. To give in to the tremors and just…allow himself to collapse back into the sticks and the dust. But he can’t.

Not yet, anyway.

So he simply clutches the heated porcelain tighter in an effort not to drop it. The pressure, the burning against his palms brings unnamed nausea welling to the surface. Old scars crying out to be recalled in the looming shadow of a bloody and inescapable sunset. Their screams are muted, though, as he goes about preparing the cup to steep, and twists the fox-shaped kitchen timer to the correct time absentmindedly.

Nothing is as loud as the coughing. Not even his own heartbeat, thumping cruelly in his ears.

It feels as though it takes hours for the chime to go off. While he waits, Robbie finds his gaze lingering on the chipped blue porcelain of the cup, and his aching heart and mind drift. Fifty five years, seven months, two weeks, and three days ago, that cup found a home in their pantry. An anniversary present, handmade and hand painted, and cherished day after passing day.

What would become of it now? Would it, too, be shattered and lost amongst the pile of shards that makes up his world?

When the shrill sound finally pierces the momentary silence, Robbie jolts, smacking a hand down on it harder than he meant to. He winces at the resulting thump, closing his eyes tightly for a second to take a deep breath. He has to get himself together. Now is no time for him to act a fool.

Now is no time at all

He draws a steadying breath, trying to bind his splintering pieces back together with sensible words as he removes the apple shaped tea infuser and sets it aside. This day was always going to come. From the very first time he caught those beautiful amber eyes gazing back into his own, Robbie knew he would one day have to say goodbye to them.

That doesn’t make moving his feet any easier. They feel as though they’re made of lead. All of him does, in fact, and the task of walking around the cluttered little island to make his way out of the kitchen feels Herculean.

As though he’s the one whose soul is slowly peeling away from its mortal husk

After far too long and all too quickly, all at once, Robbie finds himself at the doorway to the bedroom. The curtains have been pulled back to allow the sunlight to fall upon the bed where his husband lay, nestled in blankets and cushions to ease the encroaching chill. Bathed in golden hues and paling in life’s twilight hours, Silvio looks absolutely ethereal. Beautiful, always, in every way.

He has very little time to observe this scene before his presence is noted, and that gentle smile knocks him off his feet the way it always does. Even now.

Especially now.

Far too soon, that smile is disrupted by a rattling cough that shakes his beloved’s shoulders, and leaves him gasping for air. When he regains his composure, he is still calm, but there is an air of somberness that has returned to him. Truths are truths, no matter how painful they are to learn.

“Not much longer, mi corazón,” Silvio murmurs softly, face drawn into a gentle frown as pulls himself into a sitting position. He is a haunting sight, thin and sallow against the plush bed they had shared for years, and Robbie feels the claws of darkness digging into his lungs voraciously. It was cruel.

This was cruel

His eyes suddenly burn with the tears he had been fighting off since they had realized that today would be the day. Trembling fingers clench the innocent saucer with a punishing grip as he closes his eyes against the coming flood, turning his head in shame. He should be better at this. Silvio is looking at him as though he’s the one dying.

I am. I die every time. I will die with you, too.

He should be better at this, but he never is. And the guilt at his ineptitude wracks him alongside the tidal waves of grief threatening to drown him. But then a rattling wheeze reminds him that he is wasting precious time. Priceless time. So Robbie opens his tear-filled eyes and turns back to meet his heart’s worried gaze. Just watching, never pushing, even with so little time left. There is pain written in the deep lines of his aged brow, and there is a creeping dullness overtaking the once vibrant gold of his all-seeing eyes.

What will he do, without those eyes to see him when he can’t seem to see himself? What will he do without those hands to hold in the darkness? Forever, as it always does in these moments, feels like a twisted joke. What is forever without the man he wants to spend it beside?

He doesn’t realize that he hasn’t responded until Silvio prompts him again, this time with a pat of his hand against the empty space on the bed. “The tea, cariño. You know how I hate it to go cold.”

And just like that, in a burst of painful light, his beloved pierces the night hovering heavy above them. A laugh, true and desperate, bubbles up from Robbie’s lungs as he shakes his head. His northern star always, a light in the dark and the shadows he was so prone to wander through. The black hole will devour him, soon. But for now, there is still warmth and light to be found in Silvio’s smile.

And so he does as he’s bid, crossing the room to stand at the bedside of the man holding the entirety of his brittle heart in cooling hands. Offering the cup quietly, his eyes mindlessly find a spot on the wall to latch onto to stop them from endlessly tracing the lines over tired skin. He doesn’t look down when the tea is removed from his hands, or when the first sip is taken.

It’s not until a hum of approval reaches his ears that he gives in to the gravity pulling at him, and turns his gaze downwards. Silvio is smiling, his eyes closed to savor the taste the way he always does with his first sip, and the sight tugs at the swiftly unraveling strings of his heart. This will be the last time he sees this in anything other than the theater of his mind, and he doesn’t know how to cope with that.

This is the last time he will serve his beloved the tea that he drinks more frequently than water. The last time he will cross the threshold of their bedroom to find him strewn across the bed in the light of the sun. The last times their hands will brush as he hands off the cup he may never have the strength to drink from again.

The last time for so many things, and he hadn’t even bothered to look.

The last time. His lungs feel paralyzed, his chest tight as a bowstring. A small sound escapes him as he tries to find words, tries to find breath, tries to find purchase. But everything is pitch black, and slick with blood still yet to be shed, and he keeps slipping back down the slope of despair he’s trying so desperately to climb.

He can’t do this.

A gentle clank tells him that Silvio has set his cup down, and his unconscious assessment is proven right when gentle hands find his arms and guide him down to sit on the bed as well. The intensity of the emotions coursing through him makes him shiver, and he hates how pathetic he is right now. But he is given a hand to hold onto, and is pulled close to the thin frame of the man he must soon say goodbye to.

The gasps of anguish wrenching themselves from deep within his chest have no words to them. Just a dark, nebulous pain that aims to swallow him whole. He thought he was ready. He thought he could do this

He can’t. He can’t do this. He’s never been able to do this. He feels like he’s crumbling apart from the inside out. And even when he’s broken down to the foundations, he won’t be free from time’s cruel procession. He will be stuck, nursing the wounds left behind by a soul he would have followed into the darkness, if only he could. It’s not fair.

“Don’t go where I can’t follow you,” the brokenhearted Professer sobs without thinking, clutching the hand of his fading lover like driftwood in a hurricane. He knows it’s unfair, knows his husband has no way of granting him this relief, and guilt grips him even more tightly once the words have passed his lips. He tips his head against their joined hands, unable to look into the eyes that have always seen him far too well as he tries to get himself back under control.

It’s no use. Even behind closed eyelids, Robbie can feel that knowing gaze settling against his skin. Silvio gives him a moment to collect himself, but when it’s clear his partner doesn’t intend to pick his head up, he clears his throat gently. It’s a frail sound, and doesn’t really get the attention he’s looking for. But he doesn’t stop there.

“Robito,” that frail voice chastises, cutting through the storm clouds once more, and drawing him back to the ground. That stern gentleness finally forces Robbie to open his eyes once more, only to have his breath stolen away by what he sees. He can feel the night falling over his lover’s soul. The song it sings is ebbing away to silence faster than he can prepare for.

But in its wake, Silvio is radiant. Eyes shining with depth of emotion and understanding no longer barred by mortal perception, skin standing strong and defiant against the march of decay. It is in this moment that Robbie remembers why he cannot stay away, no matter how much it breaks his heart.

He will remember this for the rest of his days. The miracle he witnessed deserves nothing less.

When their gazes meet, both so tired, there is a lifetime in the lines between. His beloved smiles, fond and longsuffering, and reaches across to brush an errant tear from Robbie’s cheek. The touch lingers, and he can’t help but lean into it for what may be the last time. There is apology and gratitude, joy and desolation coursing between their skin, unspoken, but ringing loud as a bell.

And then Silvio begins to speak. The lecture is soft, and interrupted by spells of damning, rattling hacks that force him to begin again no less than three times, but it rings with truth so profound that Robbie is left speechless for one of the few times in his incredibly long life.

“How many times have you traveled where I could only dream to have gone? How many stories of your roaming have we shared? You have given me longer than a lifetime, mi amor. And in all things, you have taught me, above all else, to look to the future with excitement.”

Robbie can tell the effort of keeping himself from coughing is winding him, can see it in the fluttering of his chest peeking out from beneath his nightshirt.

He doesn’t comment on it, though. His mouth feels sewn shut. As if sensing the avalanche of emotion within his husband’s chest, Silvio uses his free hand to take one of Robbie’s, and to hold it tight.

“And so I do here, too. And I ask you to do the same for me. You cannot follow me on this journey. But one day, I will see you on the other side. And then for once, I will have a story to tell you.” The ending is delivered with a gentle humor that breathes air back into his lungs, and pulls from him a little sob of a laugh. He has to close his eyes for a second against the stab of pain in his chest, waiting for it to fade, to mellow out into a deep-seated ache that he will nurse for years to come. He cannot follow Silvio into the veil. But he can carry their memories for the two of them, until they meet again.

A gentle kiss from chapped lips placed on his forehead stirs him to reopen his eyes again, and to take in his lover in full. Stronger and wiser than he could ever be, with so little time. He’s such a fool in comparison.

How am I going to do this without you?

Slowly. Painfully. Unendingly. This unbearable ache will dull into a scar just as memorable as the ones scored across his skin, and he will remember it for the rest of his days. He will go on limping into eternity through every broken heart and broken bone, because he has to. He has no choice

As if sensing the dark spiral in Robbie’s head- as well as the encroaching exhaustion in himself, Silvio gives their hands a little squeeze. “One more story for the road, mi coraźon. Will you read for me?” It has the intended effect of spooking the despondent professer out of his own mind and back into reality again, and with a smile, he can’t help but admiring just how handsome his husband really is when he’s distracted.

They are lucky to have found each other in this life. He can only hope that one day their paths will cross again.

“I…can do that, my heart,” Robbie replies after a moment, having to swallow around the lump in his throat. His heart is beating faster as he feels the change coming on, another cruel irony to dig claws into his flesh. The book is where it always is, and he pulls it from the nightstand drawer full of prescriptions that rattle like requiem bells. Night is falling. And it’s time for one last bedtime story.

He takes his spot half-sitting on the bed, pulling on the little lamp that sits beside them for extra light. His heart feels like a stone suspended in his chest as he opens the book, trying with all his might to tame his sorrows before he has to speak aloud. Once, then twice he clears his throat, until his beloved turns worried eyes up at him, and he wants to kick himself. He opens the book, and feels the worn leather crease beneath his fingertips.

Only one word leaves his lip before a cool hand touches his writs, gentle and plying. He can’t look away from the page, or he’ll start to cry again. Luckily for him, Silvio seems to know this. And he doesn’t wait for an acknowledgement before he speaks once more.

“Take the time to say goodbye to me properly before you run, Conjejito. Take with you what pieces of me you need, and give the rest of me back to the world that you love so dearly. Allow yourself to weep, my love. But smile, when your eyes are dry. Tell me goodbye. But remember to tell me hello again when the sun rises over the grass. I will watch you from the skies, and hold you tight through the wind’s embrace. I will never leave you, My Robbie. And you will never be apart from me.”

This…does not help his attempts at keeping his composure. But Silvio does not mind, laying back against the pillows arranged for this purpose. The soothing timbre of Robbie’s voice carries him through the worst of the aches as he feels sleep tugging at his weakened bones. He closes his eyes, and allows himself to smile as he fades into a final dream.

Robbie is not brave enough to look down for a long time. He continues to read and sob simultaneously, one story becoming two, and then four, until his hands are shaking so bad he drops the book on his lap by mistake.

The dam breaks as the silent stillness of the bed registers to him at last.

Later tonight, he will dig a grave under the willow tree near the lake where they first met. Tomorrow, he will clean the house, and begin to stitch up his shredded heart.

Right now, Robbie cries himself to sleep holding the cold hand of a lover he could not carry with him into his inescapable forever. On the bedside table, the chipped blue mug sits silently, lavender tea long since gone cold

Tag List: @lektricwhump @salamancialilypad @tormentum-ab-intra @whumptober

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[thingummies-and-whatsits]

Lewis Fic Recs: Trapped

Moldy cellars, broken elevators, and all the fears that come from being trapped in small, dark places. As usual, feel free to add more fics to the list!

To Dash Against Darkness by paperscribe

1,406 Words, Robbie & James, Rated T, No Archive Warnings Apply In the early days of working together, a rotted ladder leaves Robbie and James stuck in a dark basement. Robbie, in his usual comfortingly no-nonsense way, talks James through his attack of claustrophobia and learns a few things about his new sergeant.

Trapped With You by divingforstones

4,160 Words, James/Robbie, Rated T, No Archive Warnings Apply While trapped together in a broken lift, Robbie does his best to distract his claustrophobic sergeant. James latches on to warm timbre of Robbie's voice and the touch of his hand, but Robbie has to get creative when the intercom calls him to the opposite side of the elevator. Who knew James' feet were so sensitive?

Seeing in the Dark by Evenlodes_Friend

2,107 Words, James/Robbie, Rated T, Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings Trapped in the pitch dark missile bunker at the end of Old, Unhappy, Far Off Things, Robbie realizes that James is quietly shaking with fear. A harrowing yet poetic exploration of haunting memories, loneliness, and learning to see that you're not alone in the dark.

Airtight by wendymr

2,969 Words, James/Robbie, Rated G, No Archive Warnings Apply A routine witness visit ends with Robbie and James locked in a survivalist's reinforced cellar, the clock ticking until the air runs out. It's the perfect catalyst for revealing some long-guarded truths, and Robbie is such a calm pillar of strength against the growing sense of doom as the air grows thin.

Patterns Unfamiliar by greenapricot

4,939 Words, James/Robbie, Rated T, No Archive Warnings Apply Their suspect flees and the debris-strewn tunnel is an inky-black, as if there is no light left in the universe. This fic does an incredible job capturing James' growing panic amidst moments of fragile self control, and shows how powerful the feeling of touch can be in the dark.

hugging you by TheGoodDoctor

10,245 Words, James/Laura/Robbie, Rated T, No Archive Warnings Apply Through good times and bad, gradually they come together. All the hurt comfort, with the deep affection and support between the three of them really shining through. At one point James and Laura are trapped in a crime scene freezer, trying to keep warm until Robbie is able to get them out.

Another Thing To Fall by Suzan_Lovett

119,557 Words, James/Robbie, Rated M, No Archive Warnings Apply Epic-length, intense casefic with religious zealotry and a complicated murder plot, plus massive pining and gradual self discoveries in the background. Without giving away too much, the ending is harrowing, with Robbie trapped in a dark cellar in absolutely horrific conditions, and James working to find him.

[messymindofmine]

Ok so here we go with part 4 of my series. Just a quick disclaimer bc I am only going to say this once. As this series focuses on characters through the lens of their relationship with Robby and we all know that Robby has been done dirty in one way or another by just about every single character on the show, there will be a fair bit of criticism. Fair criticism being the operative phrase here. I have no intention nor desire to shit on characters for no reason. This is true of all characters. While I may be harsher on some characters than I am on others, it isn't due to me hating them but rather with the magnitude of how much wrong they've done. Also, while the main focus is the characters' relationships with Robby, I will be exploring the characters themselves as it their own characteristics that impact the relationship they have with Robby. I will also add that loving and defending characters is fine but I think that being able to call out flaws and acknowledging valid criticism is actually a healthy way to interact with characters. Let’s just remember that criticism does not automatically equal hatred and part of an analysis means making warranted criticisms.

So for this post I want to talk about Robby and his relationship with Kreese and by extension Silver.

What I find really interesting about Kreese is that he really does believe in what he’s doing. He truly doesn’t think of what he did to Johnny as abuse. Instead, he actually seems to view Johnny as some kind of surrogate son and extends that to Robby. He talks about “three generations of Cobra Kai” as though it’s some kind of family legacy. He continuously refers to Robby as “son.” 

From the moment Kreese is reintroduced, we can see the effect he still has on Johnny. For Johnny as a child, Cobra Kai was an escape from his horrible stepfather and Kreese did play the role of a father figure for him. It’s hard to admit that the person you view as a parent is actually the reason for your pain. Hell, we see this repeated with Robby and Johnny. Even when Robby can admit that his father has hurt him, he still craves his attention. With Johnny, he internalized the abuse Kreese inflicted on him to such an extent that it took decades for him to even acknowledge that Kreese had done something wrong. 

When Kreese returns at the end of s1, Johnny is shocked and definitely not as happy as Kreese hoped Johnny would be. They fight and Kreese once again hurts Johnny badly. However, despite this Kreese is able get under Johnny’s skin once again and convince him that Kreese has changed. Johnny believes him which is understandable and lets Kreese back into his life. It’s only after the school fight when Johnny begins to question everything around him that he starts to escape Kreese’s grip. 

One thing that is obvious almost from the moment Kreese returns is his desire to get Robby into Cobra Kai. He constantly tells Johnny that it’s not right for Robby to be with Daniel and that he should be with them instead. He keeps referring to Robby as “our boy.” It’s almost impressive the lengths Kreese goes to to get Robby into Cobra Kai. 

It’s hardly surprising that Robby would trust Kreese despite everything because when Robby was completely alone and scared, Kreese was the only one who even bothered to show up for him. Kreese was the only one who visited him in juvie. Sure, he had ulterior motives and Robby certainly wasn’t interested in what he had to say in the beginning. However, Kreese taught Robby how to fight back in a way that actually stopped him from getting beaten up in juvie. I find it interesting that before Robby even gave Kreese a chance, he actually looked him up. He looked Kreese up and learned about him without any biases clouding his judgement. Of course, none of the articles that he looked at would have told him the truth about how messed up Kreese actually is. So for Robby, it really did come down to who was there when he needed someone and that was Kreese. Of course, Kreese was the only person to acknowledge what really happened in the school fight. That Miguel was the one who escalated the whole thing and Robby was the one who was trying to stop it. 

In 3x10, Robby watched as Johnny and Kreese fought. Bearing in mind that the only reason Johnny was even at the dojo was to get back at Kreese for what he did to Miguel. He didn’t even know that Robby was there because he just let Robby go off on his own but he was willing to storm the dojo and fight Kreese for Miguel. So Johnny sees Robby and Kreese goes into his spiel about “three generations of Cobra Kai.” Kreese may be messed up but everything he said in that scene and in previous scenes since s2 all show that he truly does view Johnny as a son and by extension Robby as a grandson in an extremely warped way. So Kreese and Johnny fight and Robby sees it all. He sees Johnny on top of Kreese actually about to kill hi. Johnny only stops when Robby tells him not to do it. So now on top of everything else, Robby has also had to see his father almost kill someone. Then he outright tells Johnny how much he has hurt him and Johnny just stands there. Then when Robby snaps and starts fighting him, yeah Johnny says he doesn’t want to fight Robby but then proceeds to throw him into a set of lockers and knocking him unconscious. Yeah, it was an accident but there were so many things Johnny could have done in that moment to stop Robby that didn’t involve pushing him into those lockers. Then when Robby regained consciousness and went outside where Kreese and the others were having their standoff, Robby tells them to go. Johnny could have insisted he stay, he could have asked Robby if he was alright, he could have done lots of things but instead he chose to walk away thus making it clear to Robby that his only option was Kreese. Daniel said “keep your Cobra Kai away from our kids” yet had no problem leaving Robby in Kreese’s clutches.

Despite everything, Robby still wasn’t completely sold on joining Kreese. He told Kreese that he wasn’t interested in being a pawn in his games. It was really only after his conversation with Tory and then with Sam at the skatepark when he saw that there was no place for him at Miyagi-Do that wouldn’t require him to debase himself, he went to Kreese. Mind you, even then he makes it a point to tell Johnny that he doesn’t really trust Kreese. For Robby, going to Kreese really was more about survival than anything about Cobra Kai.

Robby’s relationship with Silver is interesting because he is the only person with the exception of Kreese who isn’t scared of Silver. Sure, he was bit intimidated by him at first but even after being beaten up by Silver, Robby never feared him. Robby clearly knew from the start that Silver was dangerous yet he had no problem openly challenging him at the avt. Then in s5, he took it a step further and challenged him in front of all his students. Silver by that point was already clearly unhinged and made it very clear that he would not hesitate to hurt Robby but Robby still looked him in the eye without a hint of fear. 

It’s interesting that there are similarities between Robby and Daniel when it comes to Silver. Both have been his students. Both understand just how dangerous he is better than anyone. Silver for his part seems to have a personal interest in both Robby and Daniel. With Daniel it’s obvious and goes a lot deeper but he became obsessed with Robby as soon as he found out who he was. He watched as Robby was teaching Kenny Miyagi-Do and tells Robby he knows enough to kick all their asses and then challenges him to a fight. There was no reason for him to do that other than to show Robby how much power he could exert over him and Robby understood that message. He taunts Johnny in the prom episode by saying that he would take care of Robby. He also looks directly at Robby at the avt and tells him that it’s his chance to prove to Johnny and Daniel that they don’t need him. He makes it a point to address Robby when even Kreese didn’t say anything. Even in s5, during the beatdown with Johnny, Silver is actually the only person to point out how Johnny has screwed up with Robby. 

As far as Kreese in s5 goes, now that he feels that he has been well and truly betrayed by Johnny and Martin Kove has even said will likely target him in some way for revenge, it’s highly possible he might try something with Robby. Robby obviously will not go back to Kreese but Kreese may target Robby. With Silver, I doubt we have seen the end of him. Given the murky legal situation regarding his arrest, I certainly don’t see Silver just accepting defeat. I’m actually interested in seeing what happens to these two in s6.

You can also see my other posts on Robby and his relationships here

As always, thank you so much to anyone who took the time to read this post and leave a reaction. I truly appreciate it. I hope to have the next post in my series up as soon as I can.

[indecisive-behaviors]

Originally I was just going to add this as a reblog to my previous post about the parking lot scene in KK2 but it’s almost 2k words so now it’s getting it’s own post. Be forewarned- this is fucking long.

TW for discussion of PTSD, child abuse, neglect, injury, and death, in relation to topics surrounding the show, under the cut-

Obviously, Cobra Kai is a show based around the premise of “what happened to that Lawrence kid after he got kicked in the face?”, which is honestly a pretty cool idea for a show. Johnny’s story is never explained past sitting on the sidewalk with his head in his hands at the tournament, and there are no real context clue’s to figure out what may or may not have happened.

In the show we get to learn early on that Johnny’s life spiraled after the tournament, going from bad to worse to “holy shit how are you still alive”-dropping out/never going to college, working jobs he seems to hate, becoming an alcoholic, presumably many dead end relationships, and not being there for his kid. And yeah, obviously, this would be a hard pill to swallow for anyone watching the show if Johnny had just lost the tournament. If we never got the scene in KK2, he would have just been some kid who lost a tournament- we see at the end of the first movie that(through tears holy shit Billy) that Johnny is the one who gives the trophy to Daniel with his famous line, “You’re alright, LaRusso.” There’s a level of grudging respect in that moment that isn’t lost on anyone who sees that movie- that Johnny, who throughout the movie only sees Daniel as some whimpy kid, gets proven wrong and respects that. If we didn’t have that scene, there’s reason to believe Johnny would have apologized, tried to make amends, Something, even if it was just being less of a dick at school.

But then, we get the parking lot. We get a far off shot, intended to distance you from the scene, framed over Daniel’s shoulder. This makes sense, Daniel is the main character, the protagonist, the underdog hero- why wouldn’t it be framed in his perspective? But the scene is about Johnny. We get the shouting match, the back and forth- “No, you’re the loser man.”- and again it’s fairly obvious how Johnny sees this situation. This is a man who we assume(and is later confirmed) to be a surrogate father figure, who set his friend up for failure, and then basically forced him to do the same by targeting an injured opponent, and forcing him to fight without honor. This same man presumably follows a teenager out to the parking lot, to harass him, to tell him he’s off the team, to tell him he’s a loser, that he’s nothing.

But at that point, Johnny knows the truth, even if subconsciously. At the end of the day Johnny knows that Daniel LaRusso was a worthy opponent, and that regardless of the cheating and manipulation, Daniel could have won anyway, and did win, despite of it.

And then Kreese grabs him, too fast to react to, Johnny too surprised even knowing that Kreese is the bad guy here, not believing that he would ever willingly hurt him- and Johnny isn’t strong enough to fight him off, none of the boys are, so Johnny is forced to suffocate for almost a full 30 seconds(which I double checked for the record- also as a reference, 30 seconds is about the average time it takes for a person voluntarily holding their breath to pass out- this does not account for the oxygen lost during a struggle, and the lack of preparation from both surprise and panic. The only silver lining here is the fact that Kreese was most likely compressing his windpipe, not his jugular, which would have made him pass out in about 5-10 seconds, and would have caused permanent brain damage or death in about 15).

Now, PTSD is a complex thing. I’m not a psychiatrist, and what small amount of information we have is all we have to work off of, but I feel fairly comfortable in saying Johnny mostly likely developed it after the incident. This not an uncommon take in the fandom as far as I’m aware either. But, if we assume this, we also have to assume that after the fact nothing would have been done about this. Not just in the sense that we still don’t really know everything that happened right after the tournament, but that in the early 80s, PTSD wasn’t really a thing yet.

Sure it was absolutely a condition that existed, but Post Traumatic Stress Disorder wasn’t even added to the DSM-III until 1980- and for a long time afterward, was only seen as a condition that affected primarily war vets. Even after an event as traumatic as having a man you considered a father trying to kill you, in public, without remorse, would not have been seen as something to warrant the diagnoses, let alone treatment.

Johnny Lawrence was 17 when Kreese tried to kill him, and this boy would have been offered no resources beyond filing charges with the police. And as we see in KK3, either this didn’t happen either, or someone(presumably Silver) got the charges dropped. So on top of almost being murdered, Johnny had to live with the fact that the man who did that to him was still out there, and to top it off, still ran a dojo at least for a few months after the event. The only relief he could have gotten is after Kreese faked his death.

And sure, Mr Miyagi may have gotten Kreese to let go eventually, but as several people have pointed out in comments and tags, left him and the other boys alone with Kreese still standing there in the parking lot and just... drove off. Kreese has already been established to be a psycho with no problem hurting children, a little bit of glass might not have prevented him from trying again.

So why did I talk about all of that? Because it all contributes to why Daniel LaRusso works as a credible antagonist in season 1 of Cobra Kai.

Think about this- Johnny blames losing everything on Daniel in season 1, but we specifically get a shot in KK1 and later KK2(”You’re alright, LaRusso” and “I did my best” come to mind) where he seems to be at least mostly accepting of the fact that he lost(with what was actually an illegal kick but that’s a rant for another time). So why does he blame him for everything 30 years later?

Because 30 years later, Johnny is forced to go outside, go to work, and pretend like he doesn’t see what feels like every street corner(including right outside his apartment mind you), a literal billboard sized reminder of what happened to him.

The rest of this is mostly speculation but it makes sense in my head so bear with me.

When we get introduced to Robby, it’s made pretty clear that Johnny has not been in his life for a bit. In season 2 we get Johnny’s heart to heart with Miguel, where he divulges that he missed the birth, because he spiraled after his mom’s death. This however doesn’t suggest that he stayed gone, especially knowing that it wasn’t long enough for Robby to not consider seeking out his dad. Because tacked up to the fridge, is a picture of Robby in his soccer uniform as a kid. It’s an early detail you can see in previous episodes, and says a lot about how Robby grew up. To be fair, this could have been given to him by Shannon, and not taken himself, but it’s the sport Robby’s playing that makes me question this. KK1 dedicates an entire scene to Johnny being on the soccer team in high school. Soccer, while maybe not as important to him as karate, is still part of his character. Robby does not know karate in season 1, Johnny obviously didn’t share it with him, but that doesn’t mean Johnny didn’t share anything with him.

So Johnny’s back in his kids life, maybe doing better for himself, maybe cutting back on the drinking. LaRusso Auto is already established to exist at this point but it’s in Encino, a place Johnny has no reason to go to, and probably doesn’t want to. He’s trying again and things are okay. But Robby knows enough about Daniel to know that going to him will piss off his dad. So Johnny had to have talked about him at some point. The billboards here are what’s important- they’re in the first episode, the first scene montage, Johnny draws a dick on one of them as some petty revenge.

The first billboard goes up in the late 2000s to mid 2010s. Johnny sees it, maybe he has Robby with him at the time, maybe he goes home and says something there, but he says something in a way that sticks with even a child as being important. More billboards go up. Dealerships starting popping up more and more. Daniel’s face, and by extension, the memories, the flashbacks, become inescapable. Johnny, for a third time, spirals again. Before he even knows what’s happening, he’s lost his relationship with his son. And it’s all Daniel’s fault. Of course Daniel doesn’t do it deliberately, but the constant reminders are enough to send him back into a tailspin and Johnny blames him for it.

Because it’s Daniel who is a constant reminder of his failures- it’s Daniel who caused him to lose the tournament and almost get killed, Daniel who put up the billboards that trigger his flashbacks, it’s always Daniel Daniel Daniel.

And then Johnny gets it in his head that he wants to be better. He opens a dojo, teaches Miguel and the other kids, wants to try again- and he almost succeeds.

Johnny up to this point has not deliberately antagonized Daniel in any way. Sure he named the dojo Cobra Kai, but Cobra Kai is all he knows. Besides Johnny doesn’t blame karate for his failures, his best memories are Cobra Kai and he’s trying to be better than Kreese. So what’s the harm in this really? His building is in Reseda, there’s no reason for Daniel to ever be there, he doesn’t do it out of spite, it’s because he lives there and rent is cheap. He doesn’t know about KK3, doesn’t know about Daniel’s own trauma. This isn’t an attack. Johnny sincerely just doesn’t know.

Enter Daniel, stage left. Daniel makes no attempt to talk to him- he simply makes demands and accusations, before he starts making active attempts to put him out of business.

Sure, we as the audience know Daniel has good reasons to not want Cobra Kai back. But Johnny doesn’t. All Johnny knows is that the kid he picked on in high school- who won, who got everything Johnny wanted, who grew up to be successful, has a wonderful wife, two kids who love him, a thriving business- is doing everything he can to make his life hell 30 years after the fact.

And this could only have happened because in 1986 John G. Avildsen decided to add in a scene meant for the original movie into the sequel, for absolutely no fucking reason.

[bookloveravenue]

Hot Off the Ice (book 2): Country Boy by A.E. Wasp

Sometimes the toughest thing to have faith in is yourself.

The first time Paul Dyson met Robbie Rhodes, they ended up naked in Robbie’s bed. The last time they met, on the ice the morning after, Paul punched Robbie in the face and called him something he’d rather not repeat.

Two years later, they’re teammates on the Seattle Thunder hockey team.

Being gay is wrong, unnatural, and there is no room for them in his world. Paul’s heard that his whole life. So when it hits him that he is gay, he does the only thing he can: he shoves himself so deep in the closet he would need a map to find his way out again.

When the chance to fulfill his lifelong dream comes along, Paul can’t say no, even if it forces him to share hotel rooms with the only man he can’t resist. It doesn’t take long for Paul to give into temptation and find himself falling in love with his brilliant, caring teammate.

But as much as he cares for Paul, Robbie is finding it harder and harder to justify hiding who he is. It goes against everything he was taught was right. He feels like he has a duty to come out to the public. He’d be the first out gay pro-hockey player.

If Paul wants to be with Robbie, he will have to turn his back on his family and everything he’s believed in. If Robbie wants to be will Paul, he’ll have to do the same.

It’s going to take them a lot of faith to find their way together in this shiny new world.

Country Boy is a love story about figuring out who you are, who you want to be, and how to get there. It contains sweet hockey plays, a 1976 Corvette Stingray, fancy underwear, and the journey of a lifetime.

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/36174037-country-boy

********

January 16, 2023

My Review: 3.5/5 Stars

Robbie and Paul met two years ago for a night that neither can forget. But the next day, Robbie was both surprised and unsurprised by Paul's attitude on the ice when their rival teams played. And let's just say Robbie hasn't exactly forgiven Paul for his behavior two years later when they end up on the same pro hockey team. But the two of them are overdue for a long chat and some truths. Paul has been hiding who he truly is for a long time. Coming from a home and a church that has made it clear on their feelings of those who identify as gay, Paul knows he can never come out. Robbie has never denied he is gay but he is shouting it to the world either. Pro hockey at this time doesn't exactly have anyone who is out and representing in the league. And no one seems to want to be the first. When Robbie and Paul are reunited Paul gets a chance to apologize to Robbie for how horrible he was that night and what he was and still is going through. The two of them soon learn that the connection they had back then is still very much there and it isn't long until the two of them give in to their feelings and their connection only deepens the longer they spend together. But things are still complicated and neither can truly be themselves outside of their bubble. They also have a lot to figure out before they can have the happy ending they both want and truly deserve. Love Robbie and Paul! This story really touched on some sensitive topics but did a beautiful job of handling it. Definitely looking forward to the next book in this series!

[newbornnebulae]

Truth is a loaded gun

The truth of the matter is, Dorian has grown to care for his friends. It's the only reason he makes the choice that he does.

A character study of Dorian in episode 5, because Robbie made some WILD decisions. Also on AO3

Dorian’s thinking of Dariax as he speaks to the disembodied voice that had visited his dear friend the previous evening already. As he bargains with it, his mouth moves faster than he can keep up. He’s bluffing, he thinks, when he says yes, yes he would trade the crown, an undeniable danger to the world in Poska’s hands, for his friend’s safety.

Maybe he doesn’t know himself as well as he should because when he searches inside for the lie that should be there, there’s only truth. He’s always considered himself a good man, reasonable, logical, moral… but he can feel the ring of honesty in his words; he would truly rather the whole of Emon burn down (again) than allow something to happen to his friend -friends, he corrects himself. 

It’s just that he can’t get the image of Dariax’s eyes gone jet black out of his head. The colour of his eyes are too lovely to be hidden in such an unsettling manner. The handsome dwarf doesn’t have enough self-preservation, or any for that matter. It’s all too easy for Dorian to imagine him falling prey to the crown and to the Spider Queen. Every time Dariax makes to reach for the crown with his bare hands, Dorian can feel his own chest constrict.

If Dariax were to turn into a darker form of himself, Dorian doesn’t believe he’ll have the strength to deal with it in the same way they’d dispatched of Alternate-Fearne. With the crown gone, there would be nothing of that nature to worry about. Dariax could continue to be his stupidly charming and pure self.

It’s beyond frustrating to Dorian that Orym had used Gilmore’s enchanted box just to send away a damned note. More than that, he’s upset with himself for insisting they hold onto the cursed crown in the first place.

Almost from a far away perch, he could see and hear himself snap at Orym unreasonably, time and time again. What makes it doubly worse is that Orym hardly ever responds in kind, doesn’t point fingers or place blame. It never makes Dorian feel better, only guiltier.

He knows it’s his own fault they are in this mess; the only reason Dariax is forced to continue carrying the crown is because Dorian had insisted they keep it. Dorian knows and the whole group must think it too. But all Orym does is quietly observe his outbursts. It’s annoying that Orym can remain so calm even as he confronts Dorian, while Dorian keeps having these hot flashes of anger he can hardly control.

Dorian finds himself to be more irritable as they traverse through the jungle, the heat and humidity of the place getting under his skin. Aside from his frustration with Orym, he eyes Fy’ra Rai with distrust, bristles at Opal’s prodding, and can’t help but grow annoyed at Fearne’s flute playing. It’s irritating when she plays poorly, the sound grating against his patience. It’s bothersome in it’s own way when she plays well, an uncomfortable jealousy prickling his skin.

The only person who hardly gets on his nerves is Dariax. 

Partly it’s from a sense of guilt. At Gilmore’s, Dariax had looked at him so earnestly. 

“If you want to keep it, we’ll keep it,” he’d said, unquestioningly supportive even when Dorian couldn’t give the group a good reason why. He’d seen how frightened Dariax had been after his dream with the Spider Queen. The dwarf had made an admirable attempt to act as though everything were fine, but it is plain to see that everything is not fine. 

There’s something so remarkably straightforward about Dariax, some would say simple-minded. As someone who doesn’t know the first thing about being straightforward, Dorian appreciates that about him.

Where Dariax is earnest and charming, Dorian is reserved most of the time and politely posh at his best. Dariax goes along with anything, easygoing and generous with his warmth. The only thing Dorian is generous about is imagining a generous amount of terrible scenarios that could happen. He can, at any given point in time, come up with more than twenty reasons why something is a bad idea. He’s rational in the worst of ways. 

As far as adventuring goes, Dariax has significantly more experience than him. The dwarf is never afraid to wander into the unknown. Dorian prefers to know where he’s going, how long it will take to get there, what dangers there might be, so on and so forth. It’s an effort for him to relax, something he’s had to learn how to do.

It was all learned, Dorian’s charm. Growing up, he hadn’t possessed an ounce of charisma. But he’d practiced until he could murmur polite platitudes in his sleep. He studied others, trying to figure out how people worked. He stood in front of his reflection, training himself to stand confidently, move naturally. Sheltered child that he had been, it had been important to have a certain image.

Slipping into Dorian Storm, a charming bard, was all the easier for it later on.

Unfortunately for him, the awkwardness still comes out sometimes. Dorian is still kicking himself for his display at Gilmore’s. Attractive men made it difficult for him to retain his composure or think straight. He’d gotten flustered again at the pageant, seeing Dariax in the clothes he himself wore everyday. 

He should consider himself lucky that he’d managed to remain cool in front of the group for so long. Next to Orym, he’s supposed to be the other reasonable one. Well, the group still likes him just fine and Dariax still looks at him with respect and admiration at the very least. 

While Dorian does his best not to read too much into the other man’s words -Dariax is the type to say things without thinking them through- he can’t help but think he’s Dariax’s favourite out of the whole group. Dariax looks to him for leadership, wakes him up after having a nightmare, sleeps back to back with Dorian out of everybody else.

It’s flattering, it’s nice, and it could be why Dariax is Dorian’s favourite.

It’s not the whole picture though. Dorian thinks on how he’d said to Poska all those weeks ago, “If Dariax doesn’t like you then I don’t like you.” Even back then Dariax had had his trust, as much as he’s able to give at least. Perhaps it has to do with the week of memories they’d collectively lost. Dorian doesn’t know how else he could have so much respect for a dwarf that he’s seen with shit in his beard. 

As much as Dariax seems to seek him out, Dorian gravitates toward Dariax in turn. It’s impossible for Dorian to be totally truthful about himself, but with Dariax, some foolish part of him wants to be. While the circus Dariax believes in does not exist, Dorian had not been completely dishonest about his situation. It’s the most he’s ever shared with someone. 

The thing is, Dorian has never had a best friend before, but if he had to guess, Dariax is the closest thing he has to one. Emon be damned, Dorian’s not ready to give that up anytime soon. 

[breckstonevailskier]

Daniel LaRusso's experiences with Terry Silver and how they affect him in Cobra Kai

One thing that is often overlooked in Cobra Kai, because the show fixates so much on the events of the first Karate Kid movie, is how much Daniel LaRusso's behavior is influenced by his time with Terry Silver in The Karate Kid Part III.

Season 1:

Daniel's handling of Kyler: Kyler is actually a lot like Terry Silver. He was going out with Sam, putting on the act of a nice guy to get her to go out with him. In reality, Kyler is a bully towards Miguel and his friends, and is only interested in Sam because he wants to get in her pants. Kyler puts on this nice guy act while having dinner with the LaRussos, and manages to fool both Daniel and Amanda. Then he lies about Johnny attacking him in defense of Miguel, prompting Daniel to confront Johnny. Daniel goes to Johnny, finds out the truth, and immediately does a 180 about Sam going out with Kyler.

Considering their history, Daniel has no reason to believe Johnny instead of Kyler. For all someone in Daniel's shoes ought to know, Johnny could be lying through his teeth (as Amanda points out). But because Daniel's been told that this nice guy might be anything but, he now has to question if Kyler really likes Sam or he has ulterior motives...because again, Silver approached Daniel pretending to have good intentions for him. Amanda at one point in episode 3 tries to assure Daniel that Sam will be fine with Kyler at the Halloween dance because Kyler seemed harmless to her. Daniel says, “Yeah, I’ve known plenty of guys who seemed harmless that were real pieces of crap behind the scenes." He's talking about Silver.

That's why Daniel insists on chaperoning at the Halloween dance: it's to keep an eye on Kyler if he does anything sketchy. Sure enough, he sees Kyler take Sam into an empty classroom and try to get her to take off his belt, and this is when Daniel intervenes and pulls Sam out of there. A good thing, because Kyler was going to date rape Sam (this is made clear in their next scene. Before they beat up Miguel, Brucks tells Kyler that "you had [Sam] in the palm of your dick" and talk about how the bracelet trick worked on another girl at a different school, showing Sam is not the first person Kyler has done this to).

Sam's attitudes towards her boyfriends: A related consequence to this is that after Sam finds out that Kyler is a jackass (between seeing him bully Miguel and his friends in the library, and him trying to date rape her), she is much more guarded and reserved when it comes to meeting new people. This is probably a good thing because it prevents her from getting burned like Daniel did by Terry Silver. This is the reason why she's so hesitant to enter a relationship with Miguel, and is quick to dump Miguel when the Cobra Kai teachings get to Miguel's head and he turns into an asshole, then goes back to him once those asshole tendencies disappear. And while never said out loud, this also contributes to her relationship with Robby falling apart, for while Robby treats her well, he withholds from her the fact Miguel returned Miyagi's Medal of Honor so he can keep Sam for himself (because he knows full well Sam would have second thoughts about being in a relationship with him once she had proof that Miguel wasn't a bully like his fellow Cobra Kai peers).

Johnny's speech to appeal Cobra Kai's ban: Daniel has a very bad reaction when Johnny makes his speech to appeal Cobra Kai's ban from the All-Valley, in which Johnny claims Kreese is dead and his Cobra Kai is different, a place for bullied kids to seek refuge. Thing is, Daniel clearly isn't convinced of any of Johnny's words, because these are almost the exact same words that Silver said to Daniel. Silver approached Daniel claiming that Kreese had died, and at the All-Valley gave a speech proclaiming that his chain of Cobra Kais would be a place for kids to practice the values he [Silver] learned, a speech that Silver wasn't sincere about.

Daniel's reaction to learning Robby is Johnny's son: Daniel's reaction to finding out Robby is Johnny's son is an angry, “You lied to me! Was this all just a con? Some kind of sick mind game you tried to pull off on me?!” It's very telling what Daniel's word choice is, because Terry Silver played a long mind game on Daniel, pretending to be his friend while actively sabotaging him so he'd take a humiliating loss to Mike Barnes in the All-Valley tournament. And when coupled with the fact that Daniel was drunk and had just been attacked by Johnny in his own home after just inviting Johnny in for a friendly fight, his anger is more understandable.

People calling Daniel "Danny Boy": Any time someone calls Daniel "Danny Boy," whether that be Kreese or Tom Cole, Daniel's composure briefly falters, because that's what Silver called him. In fact, Kreese has to know this, since he was there for when Silver revealed his true colors to Daniel.

Season 2:

Daniel's reaction to finding out Kreese has returned: Daniel goes to Johnny intending to inform him about Robby's living situation (in light of Shannon leaving for Cabo)...but immediately decides against it when he sees Johnny with Kreese. Johnny claims to Daniel that Kreese is a changed man...and Daniel warns him not to trust Kreese. Kreese was complicit in everything Silver did to Daniel in 1985 to get revenge for him, so Daniel has every reason to believe Kreese is up to his old tricks again so he can worm his way back into Cobra Kai.

Indeed, Daniel is right: Kreese gains Johnny's trust by claiming to be atoning for what happened in 1984 (by fixing Johnny's second place trophy, and lets Johnny see him as down-on-his-luck so Johnny will take pity on him). It's all a calculated act to undermine Johnny's authority in Cobra Kai and steal the dojo away from him.

Daniel even calls out Johnny for not listening to him when they're arguing in 3x08 while waiting for Robby to get out of juvie. He says, "What did you think would happen when you summoned that devil back to Earth?"

Season 3:

Catching Sam and Miguel together: When Daniel catches Miguel and Sam making out at Miyagi-Do, Sam says to him, "I know it's been a lot. But can you please try to remember that I'm still your daughter, and that you can trust me?" and Daniel replies, "It's not you I don't trust, Sam." Having prior experiences with people who claimed to have changed but didn't (Silver and Kreese) is the reason why learning "Miguel's changed. He's a good person. He's not Cobra Kai's number one bully; he's not even in Cobra Kai anymore!" is a pretty hard pill for Daniel to swallow because any impressions Daniel has had of Miguel up to this point are not very good.

Daniel's impressions of Miguel up to this point are as follows: Johnny had Miguel use Daniel's signature Crane Kick to open the tournament as a way of mocking Daniel, then Miguel fought dirty against Robby. This is combined with whatever Sam said to Daniel about her breakup with Miguel, which probably was that he was an asshole. So seeing Miguel's speech at the town hall to save the All-Valley, and finding him making out with Sam, Daniel is on guard because while Sam has had plenty of positive interactions with Miguel since bumping into him at school, Daniel only has the filter of whatever Sam told him about Miguel to go off of.

Seeing Robby being trained by Kreese: Daniel's reaction to seeing Robby training with Kreese seems very telling. If Daniel is Mr. Miyagi, then Robby is 1985 Daniel, and Kreese is 1985 Silver. Daniel realizes Kreese is going to do with Robby exactly what he and Silver failed to do with Daniel 33 years ago. He'll certainly see the cycle repeating even further when he finds Silver has been summoned back to town by Kreese.

And I would bet he'll possibly realize in season 4 that Johnny's neglect of Robby throughout season 3 left Robby open to manipulation from Kreese, much like Mr. Miyagi's neglect of Daniel in 1985 left him open to manipulation from Silver.

[mittensmorgul]

Not an ask, just a thought that has probably been talked about to the bone, but thinking about despite how much Dean and others undersell his intelligence and misunderstand his motivations, he still took the time to get his GED. Like, as a hunter, he doesn't really have any need for it - no one's asking for credentials - and yet he did that one thing. Out of self-consciousness, or a desire to prove to himself he could do it, idk, but that is something that is sticking in my brain today.

I know, right? I personally get the feeling that a lot of Dean’s “Sam’s the smart brother” and the way he talks about anything to do with studying or learning stems from his own rationalization of his sacrifices so that Sam could have as normal an education as possible. It was never that Dean WASN’T just as smart as Sam, but that he never had the mental and emotional space to invest in his own education the same way Sam did. He never had “leisure time” the way Sam did, he had stress about John, about hunting, about monsters, about taking care of Sam in ways that far exceeded John’s orders to him.

I mean, John told Dean to watch out for him, to keep the secrets from him (which worked until Sam was old enough to go digging through John’s journal on his own and push Dean into telling him some of the truth), and even then Dean gave Sam just the basics. We saw Dean ordered to literally stand guard over Sam when he couldn’t have been more than nine years old, armed with a gun and given almost no information about the thing it certainly looked like John had been using his children as bait to lure in...

Imagine growing up like that, where doing almost ~anything~ for himself was punished as disobedience, with the potential punishment spelled out as “if you fail, Sam dies.” It’s bound to fuck someone up big time, you know?

So Dean rationalized. He framed himself as “not smart enough” or “not as good as Sam” or “I’m only good for grunt work.” Because that was how he justified it to himself.

*pauses to cry about Dean for a while*

This was the performance Sam bought into about Dean, and only on exceedingly rare occasions did he admit he could see through the mask. This is why their pride at swapping the lines about “hey, I read” in 9.04 pisses me off so much. Dean *does* read. He, in fact, being a nerd for horror/fantasy/sci fi in ways that Sam never was was KEY to his characterization, and I (like Robbie Thompson) will never not be mad they took that from Dean in an episode where we were shown he shared that with Charlie, our secret lil nerd who took pleasure in storytelling, in telling his OWN story, even if it was largely just for *himself.*

Because HE DOES find his own escapism from the grim responsibility and duty of his own life through movies, television, and books. He’s just as capable of intellectual pursuits as Sam is, just as capable of research and understanding as Sam is, only he was never given a CHANCE to succeed academically the way Sam was, because Dean didn’t have a big brother making it possible for him to do that.

So why the GED? Why even bother? Was he just stuck in some town babysitting Sam while John was off hunting and saw they were offering the test? Just took it on a whim to see if he could pass? Killing time while Sam was off being a mathlete one afternoon? Or did he do it after Sam left for Stanford? Was he entirely on his own at that point and thought, well without having to always watch out for Sam, I can do whatever I want now, and maybe what I want is to prove I could’ve done that too, maybe I could’ve got out and gone to college and had a life like Sam wants...

Not that he would’ve left hunting and run off to try to be normal, but just to prove he could.

This sort of observation about Dean was why I wrote  Dean's Days Off, because I just *know* he carved out time to do stuff just for himself-- stuff Sam would’ve thought was incredibly out of character for him, stuff that John would’ve punished him for, stuff Dean himself may have felt was “shirking his duty” or otherwise not being the good little soldier John had forced him to be.

He’s just as smart, just as intelligent, just as intellectually curious as Sam is, and he deserved to have a life of his own. Sometimes I think Cas was the only character who truly got that...

How is it that every post now comes back around to the finale and how absolutely fucked it was?

[dykeninthdoctor]

“ironhusbands, pre relationship, focusing on them in their first year of college and being like rhodey really realizing how young tony is” and “sweater sharing”

“Have you heard–“

“Did you see–“

“He went to Rob’s party–“

The whispers are carried to him on the wind, full of rumors, sometimes lies, sometimes truths.

Jim doesn’t care. He knows Tony Stark–the heir to the Stark empire, son of the legend, Howard Stark–is on campus, but he doesn’t care.

There’s no reason for him to.

The kid is 16, apparently, a prodigy for his age, which Jim could’ve guessed, and he gives zero shits about his education.

Jim hasn’t heard anything about the kid going to classes; only about parties, and girls, and sometimes, the whispers mention boys, too. They call Stark a charmer, a slut, a flirt, and worse.

Maybe Jim cares a little bit.

Stark is 16, and he already has a reputation, one that scares Jim.

“Oh my God, did you see how much he drank last night?” a girl says, eyes wide in a mockery of surprise.

“He never seems like he’s drunk, though,” her friend says.

Jim frowns.

“Maybe it runs in the family,” the first girl teases, and then they’re both laughing, walking in the other direction.

Jim frowns harder.

-

He goes to a party the next chance he gets.

Stark is there, in the center of it all, holding court like a prince standing on the backs of his adoring subjects. He’s sprawled across a sofa, legs draped across the lap of a girl whose hand is resting on the inside of his thigh, head in the lap of another girl whose lips are staining marks of red across his jaw.

Stark’s eyes are glazed, the smile he wears is taped on, and Jim realizes with a sinking feeling that it’s all a mask. A mask hastily built, a mask with cracks that Stark uses alcohol to fill, so that no one can see the emotions behind it.

Jim doesn’t know how, or why, but he can.

“A toast,” Stark slurs, raising the plastic cup in his hand, “To dear ol’ dad, who sent me to this lovely institution.”

A cheer goes up around the room.

Stark drinks.

Jim’s moving before he realizes, shoving his way past people, fighting to get to Stark, snapping sharply, “C’mon, Tony, let’s go.”

To his surprise, and fear, Stark gets up and takes his hand without second thought. Jim tries not to think about why.

When he takes Stark outside, the kid–because God, he’s just a kid–looks up at him with a raised brow and a smirk made of plaster. “We’re gonna do it outside? You’re into exhibitionist shit, huh?”

And then he’s on his knees in front of Jim, and Jim’s trying not to throw up.

“No–shit, no, please stand up, Stark–“

“What?”

It’s the confusion in his voice that finally does it, and Jim’s retching into the bushes that line the house behind them, coughing up bile.

He hears the clumsy motions of Stark getting to his feet, feels a small but calloused hand on his back, sees Stark’s face–eyes wide, lips parted in a small o, the face of a kid–and then throws up more bile onto the leaves.

“I’m sorry?” Stark offers quietly, and it’s so different from the brassy, loud, slurred voice of the prince Jim saw only minutes ago.

“How old are you?” Jim asks. It’s not what he meant to say, but as Stark’s eyes go a little wider, he knows he needs to know the answer, because it’s not 16.

“I’m almost 15.”

Jim tries not to throw up again.

-

He takes Stark back to his dorm, with its single bed and tiny cork board with pictures of Momma Robbie and Jeanie tacked up, with the single poster of a galaxy taped to his wall and the precarious stack of textbooks on his desk.

Stark drowns in his clothes, the knitted sweatshirt hanging off his shoulder, revealing a collarbone littered with hickeys, the sweatpants hanging low on his hips, showing bruises the shape of fingers pressed into tan skin.

“Why?”

The question rings out in the silent room.

“Why what?”

“Why are you being…like this?”

“Because you need this,” Jim says.

Stark just looks at him, his chest rising and falling with exaggerated slow breaths, his eyes blinking slowly, his hands clenched in fists at his sides.

“C’mon, get in bed.”

When Stark doesn’t move, Jim freezes.

“No, Stark–not like that. I’m not gonna do anything with you–to you. We’re not doing anything. You deserve a safe place to sleep. I’m gonna do homework, okay?”

“Okay,” Stark says quietly.

When he falls asleep, curled around the only pillow in Jim’s bed, he looks even younger.

Jim makes himself a promise.

A promise to protect Stark.

-

The next day, when he wakes up with his face pressed to the pages of his physics textbook, and his bed rumpled but empty, he realizes protection is not what Stark wants.

Too bad, Jim thinks. Too fucking bad.

-

It’s harder than he thinks to find Stark; even if the kid doesn’t attend classes, there aren’t parties during the day.

The whispers don’t tell him anything, and today, they’re about him.

“He went home with him, just like that–“

“Have you see him around before?”

“Stark just listened to him–“

Jim ignores them.

He goes to his classes, he takes notes, he tries to focus.

He also thinks about where Stark might be hiding.

-

He doesn’t have to think too hard; Stark’s sitting in his dorm when he gets back after his 5:00 lecture.

The door was locked, but Stark didn’t seem to have any difficulty with that.

“Hi,” Stark says.

“What the fuck,” Jim says back.

Stark shrugs. “You were nice to me. What do you want for it? Money? A reputation boost? We can pretend to fuck, if you don’t want to for real, just so that people think you got some.”

“What do I want for it?” Jim repeats.

“Yeah, payment.”

“I don’t want anything.”

“C’mon, everyone wants something,” Stark says, and the way his eyes avoid Jim’s, despite his casual pose and even more casual tone, tells Jim that he’s scared.

“I don’t want anything, Stark.”

It’s a lie; he wants to know who hurt Stark, he wants to give Stark a hug, he wants to protect Stark.

He also wants Stark to let him out of choice, rather than obligation.

“Okay,” Stark says.

Okay, Jim thinks.

What he says is, “You can stay while I do my homework, if you want.”

“I talk a lot,” Stark tells him. “I’ll bother you.”

“I have a little sister, you can’t be worse than her.”

“Oh.”

So Stark stays.

-

“What’s your name?”

“Jim.”

“Oh, that won’t do at all. What’s the rest of it?”

“James Rupert Rhodes?”

“Rupert?”

“Don’t start with me, Stark–“

“Tony. My name’s Tony.”

“And my name’s Jim.”

“Not anymore, it’s not. You’re Rhodey now.”

-

“What are you doing?”

“Physics.”

“No shit, Sherlock, I meant the equation. You calculated wrong.”

“I did not.”

“Put it in the calculator, it’s not 6.78, it’s 6.57.”

“You did that in your head?”

“I’m not just a pretty face.”

-

“How old’s your sister?”

“She’s 10, but she’s 7 in that picture.”

“That’s your mom?”

“Yeah, I took that picture of them at the lake near our house.”

“She…she looks nice.”

“She’d like you.”

-

“What’s your major?”

“Aerospace Engineering, so yeah, I’m a rocket scientist.”

“Damn, how’d you know what I was gonna say?”

“You’re predictable, Tones.”

“Tones?”

“Well, if you’re allowed to give me a nickname, shouldn’t the favor be returned?”

“I…yeah.”

-

So Jim becomes Rhodey, and Stark becomes Tony, and sometimes Tones.

-

Rhodey realizes a few months in that Tony doesn’t need protection.

Tony knows how to protect himself, with a sharp quip or an even sharper smile.

What Tony needs is love.

So Rhodey makes a new promise.

-

After Rhodey has to drag Tony out of another party, after slurred words become quiet apologies, after Tony falls asleep in his bed again, Rhodey calls his momma.

She tells him to bring Tony home for Christmas break.

-

In Rhodey’s eyes, Tony’s never looked more alive than when Momma Robbie convinced him to play Scrabble with her and Jeanie.

-

“That boy needs love, James,” Momma Robbie tells him, a mug of tea cradled in her hands.

“I know, momma.”

“You gonna make sure he gets it?”

“Pretty sure I already am.”

-

When the clock strikes twelve on New Years, Tony tries to kiss him.

They’re on the roof, the stars above them reflecting in Tony’s eyes, and Tony tries to kiss him.

“No, Tones,” Rhodey says softly. “I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be. I love you.”

“Just not like that?”

Tony’s voice is broken glass, slowly tearing Rhodey’s heart to pieces.

The lie is a knife to the chest.

“Just not like that.”

Tony nods quietly.

They don’t share a bed that night.

-

When they get back from break, after a silent car ride, Tony asks suddenly, “Wanna see my workshop?”

It would’ve been simpler to ask if Rhodey wanted to see his heart.

There’s no other to answer to give than yes.

-

It’s a beautiful mess of chaos, the only description befitting the place where Tony breathes life into wires and gears and lines of numbers.

Rhodey doesn’t know what to say other than, “Thank you, Tones.”

Tony hugs him for an hour, and then spends three more showing him each idea, and then uses another two to get lost in a new project.

Rhodey realizes that this is where Tony truly comes alive.

He’s a kid in a candy store, a bird taking flight, a genius at work.

And he’s beautiful.

The knife, the lie, digs harder into Rhodey’s chest.

-

Tony has bad weeks, and worse weeks, where Rhodey doesn’t see him for days, but it’s okay.

It’s okay, because Tony always comes back.

-

Rhodey learns about Howard during a bad week, and about Jarvis on a good one.

He learns about Maria on a good week, and about Ana on a bad one.

Tony brings him pieces, and Rhodey starts to build the puzzle.

Some pieces are missing, and will probably always be missing, but it’s okay.

Rhodey will love him no matter what.

And slowly, Tony is starting to believe that. Rhodey can see it in his eyes, in the way his mask comes off, in the way the cracks become windows for Rhodey to look through.

-

The summer is long. Tony calls him some weeks, emails other weeks, doesn’t talk at all for most of them.

The worst part is not knowing if he’s okay.

But Rhodey takes what he can get, and gives as much as Tony will take.

-

When they get back to school, there are fresh bruises on Tony’s arms. Rhodey gives him a new sweater from Momma Robbie and Tony wears it like its armor.

They get a dorm together, officially, and most nights, Tony ends up in Rhodey’s bed, in Rhodey’s arms.

Watching him wake up is the best part of Rhodey’s day.

It’s hard, to keep lying, but Tony’s still just a kid, and Rhodey won’t be another person to use him.

So he loves him in the ways he can, and it’s enough, because it has to be.

-

The whispers are constant, always talking about them, but this time, Rhodey truly doesn’t care.

He knows better than the lies they spread.

-

“Rhodey–Rhodey, wake up,” Tony whispers against his chest.

Rhodey grunts. “‘m sleeping.”

“It’s raining.”

“So?”

“I wanna go outside.”

It’s the look in his eyes that does it, the wonder. Rhodey’s on his feet before he even realizes it. “Okay, Tones.”

They dance in the rain on the roof, and Tony laughs, and Rhodey looks at him, and sees nothing but happiness, and feels nothing but love.

-

Rhodey kisses Tony on his 18th birthday.

Maybe it’s wrong, but the way Tony laughs against his lips and twines his arms around his neck is nothing but right.

“I thought–“

“I lied, genius, I had to,” Rhodey whispers, ready to let go, but Tony just holds him tighter.

“Thank you.”

“For lying?”

“For loving me the way I needed.”

[elysiashelby]

In Another World - T. Shelby Imagine Ch. 2

Paring: (Eventual) Thomas Shelby x Aliena Welsh (OC)

Fandom: Peaky Blinders

Word Count: 2, 522

WARNINGS: Cursing

Summary: Aliena Welsh has been living in the universe of the show Peaky Blinders for 2 months now. She’s beginning to make a life and a home for herself, but she’s been avoiding calling Thomas by his name. And he wants to know why.

MASTERLIST  CHAPTER ONE CHAPTER THREE

A/N: So, I forgot to add something very important. I am not from Liverpool. I do not know the proper way scousers talk. I’ve done some research and watched movies, but I will not advocate that it’s perfect. I’d love to get my readers’ opinions on it, and if enough responses come back saying that I shouldn’t show her accent in the writing- it will be gone! Also, this is the pronunciation of Aliena ( A Lee ay nah ). Thanks for reading!

So, I've been with the Shelby's for two months now! It has definitely been something! I mean Polly is very strict and for the first couple of days I was taking care of John's kids, she was watching over me like a hawk. I mean I didn't mind and I totally appreciated it. I dealt with me own family members, meaning I could've dealt with them however I wanted but these weren't me kids to punish. So, that's where Polly helped me out. She set me boundaries. 

With the cooking, I learned a lot of things. Like how to make eggs and bacon and sausage for breakfast. I can basically make anything Polly has taught me for the past 2 months. I also clean the house regularly. I do the sweeping, moping, the trash, and the laundry. I honestly don't mind. What's fun is that Polly found out that I didn't know UK currency and how it worked and she taught me it along with Finn. But, Finn actually already knew how to count money. He was 10, of course he did! He was there so that Polly could keep an eye on ‘em. 

I'm currently working on buying our weekly groceries for the main house, and for John. For the main house, Polly helps me out, but for John's house, I have to figure it out on me own.   

I was doing the kids' laundry as I watched over them. Katie, the eldest at 7, was helping me along with her sister Ilsa, who was 6. Robert, who was 4, was playing with his younger brother John, who was 3. I found out that John had knocked up Martha when they were 16, resulting in little Katie. They had Ilsa a year later, waited 2 years and had little Robert, and then baby John Jr. was a result of John Sr.’s vacation days during the war. 

I was scrubbing harshly against a stain when I noticed things had gotten out of hand. "Robbie, don't hit your brother so hard! You'll regret it when you're older. Katie, dear, you need to space out the clothes more! Ilsa, you need to scrub that spot harder." I shouted at them. 

Ilsa huffed. "Aliena, I want to go play! Why can't I?" 

"It's not that you can't, sweetheart. It's just- I need your help. I have to take care of all of your clothes along with your father's, along with your uncles’ and aunt's clothes. I would have your brothers do the same if they were any older, but they aren't. They would just mess the clothes up or not wash them right. So, as much as it pains me to prevent you from playing, I need your help, alright?" 

She groaned loudly. "Fine! But only because you need me." She muttered while sporting a big pout. 

I chuckled at her and reached over to pinch her pout. She flinched at it. 

"Aliena, why would I regret it?" Robbie shouted. 

"What?" I asked with my eyes squinting as I tried to get a good look at him. 

He ran towards me, which made Johnny follow. "Why would I regret hitting this annoying bugger?" He repeated while pushing his brother's head. 

I tsked at his antics. "You'll regret it because he'll grow bigger one day and give you a beating back. Mark my words, he'll learn to get you when you're weak!"

"No, he wouldn't!"

"Oh, but he would! It's what siblings do you see. I'm not telling you to never hit 'em because I know that's how you both play, but just don't make each other cry. Okay?"

Robbie tilted his head as if in deep thought before agreeing and running off with his brother. 

I sighed knowing that he probably told me a blag. 

Speaking of blags, you know that story I fed Thomas when I first arrived here was total bullshit, right? The truth is me whole family, nieces and all, are back in California in one house. Me da and ma aren't dead. Me sister doesn't have a husband, but does have a daughter. Me brother doesn't have a wife, but actually has 4 kids. Me da's brother is not mental, but lives with me gran. I forgot the reason why. And me mum still talks to her family all while maintaining the mentality that they are jealous of her because she's a stay-at-home mum. Also, I was dead-on about me body being younger. I had to have been 16, at most, because when I was 18 me features began to be more defined, and now I was stuck with this baby face again. 

When we were all done with the laundry, it was late afternoon. I made us all lunch, and then let them all run abar with their friends with the expectation of little Johnny. Him and I were going back over to Polly's. He once asked me about this decision, and I told him it was because he was too young. He pouted and groaned, but accepted it nonetheless. 

I opened the door to the house and he bolted right in. I laughed at the sight. I went straight away to the kitchen and put on an apron. I had to, ironically, make sandwiches for the boys. Finn probably found something to eat or Polly made him something, but it was my responsibility to feed the older Shelby brothers. 

"Finn, take care of your cousin while I go 'n feed your brothers!" I shouted as I finished making the last sandwich. 

I put a plate on top of the other holding two sandwiches and I had the third one set on its own plate, ready to be served. I opened the door by hitting it with me bum. I was instantly overwhelmed by the yelling and shouting of countless men that were in the betting shop. I had to weave me way through clumps of men as well as maintaining awareness of all their movements, so that they don't bump into me! 

John was closest even though he was actually the farthest. But he was the only one out of his office. Always near the blackboard that one.  

"John, I have your lunch!" 

He smiled at me while taking the plate. "Thanks, love!"

I nodded in return. Then, I went for Arthur's office. I knocked, he saw me, and told me to come in. 

"Here's your lunch, Arthur." I separated the plates and got one of the two sandwiches to place on the plate. 

"Ah! Finally, some fuckin' food! I swear Aliena, you make a mean sandwich. Thanks, doll." Arthur said before taking a huge bite. 

I said "you're welcome" with a rather embarrassed smile and left. I walked out of the room and closed the door behind me. Now, I was holding one plate in my hand. I inhaled largely and puffed my cheeks as I exhaled. 

'I swear I'll never get used to 'em.' I thought.  

I walked over to Thomas' office, knocked, and was allowed to come in. I turned the knob and took in the sight. Thomas Shelby kept his head down, inspecting his documents while nursing a ciggie that was in-between his two fingers resting there with his arm bent on the desk. 

"Your lunch, Mr. Shelby." I whispered as I set his plate down. 

He didn't even lift his head as he muttered "thank you." So, I just left. 

I wiped my hands on me apron, walked back into the main house, and closed the doors behind me. I walked back into the kitchen and tossed me apron on a chair. 

"Finn, is your cousin still alive?"

"Yeah!"

"Good! Keep him that way for the next two to three hours!"

"Okay!"

After serving lunch to the boys, I had to start cleaning the house. I beat the dirt out of rugs, I swept away dirt, and moped the floors afterward. When I was done with that I was taking down clothes that I've just washed yesterday. Then, I got ready to start ironing them, but mid through it was around 4 o'clock. 

I had to stop and go find the rest of John's kids. I got little Johnny and walked back to the flat, but when I got there, I found all three of them waiting outside of the door. I was able to start dinner with ease that night. Katie helped me make chicken soup. She was always so adorable. It took little over an hour. I ate with them, and then told Ilsa it was her night to wash the dishes. 

She’s so stubborn, reminds me of meself. I bet she’ll be a boss feminist when she gets older. I can imagine her now, marching for Women’s Rights. 

Anyway, I ran over back to the main house and helped Polly finish making their dinner. It was basically chopping and peeling. When she didn't need me anymore, I had to go back to the kids. I was up with them 'till 8:30 and then I had to tuck them into bed. I got done by 9, but little Johnny came out abar three times before settling down. When I was confident they were all asleep, I tidied up the house a little more. I just put away a toy or two that they'd missed. 

It was 11:37 in the night when John got home. He thanked me and gave me a pound before sending me on me way. With a pep in my step, I trod over back to the main house. 

I got me key to unlock the door, stepped in, and then locked it. With a key still in me hand, I rested against the door. Me hand with the key was clutching on the doorknob for dear life, me body thudded softly as it collided with the door. I closed me eyes and let out a heavy sigh. I rested there for what seemed like an eternity. But I got meself back up. I took the pins out of me hair that finally managed to form and maintain a proper bun. Me cheeks puffed as I exhaled and I shook out me hair. I put me pins in me coat pocket as I made me way to the couch. Me body just plopped down and I just relaxed. 

Me feet and back soon started to ache. So, I took off me shoes and socks, and started massaging me feet and rolling my ankles. I followed up by cracking me back, and then going upstairs to me room. I started placing everything nicely and where they were supposed to be. I changed into pajamas, which was just a dress. I attempted to fall asleep in bed, but ended up failing. Instead, I went downstairs, grabbed the tub, heated up some water, and drew meself a bath in me own room. 

The only way we could cleanse ourselves here was in a tub. It wasn't installed into the house, oh no! It was quite literally a grey tub, and I have to use another tub for me hair. When I was done, I poured me hair water down the kitchen drain, and then worked me way with the water I used for me body. Afterward, I settled down in front of the fire that was in the living room. I sat in front of it while wringing the water out of me hair. The crackling of the fire as well as its heat was comforting. So much so that I found meself dozing off. 

It was during that allotted time that a hand suddenly shook me. Frightened, I gasped, rolled on to my knees from leaning on me thighs, and tried to focus on the person who jolted me awake. 

"You know, you'll end up catching a cold if you go to sleep with wet hair right away?" Thomas said while kneeling down beside me. "And your hair will be a pain to deal with if you don't brush it soon." 

I nodded while looking at him with hooded, unfocused eyes. "Thank you, Mr. Shelby." My voice sounded hoarse like I actually had been just awoken from a nap when in reality all I did was close me eyes for a second. Me eyes kept wanting to close. I chose to rub me arms to keep me awake. 

"Do I make you uncomfortable, Ms. Welsh?" He asked while properly sitting down next to me. 

I squeezed me eyes shut, silently cringing. I knew I was making it obvious, but I figured that he was used to it. Hell, even Arthur and John don't talk to him without minding themselves. 

With a tight grip on me arms and an equally tight smile I said, "No, not uncomfortable, Mr. Shelby. But I am intimidated by you." 

He nodded silently. "Intimidation is often used as another word for fear."

I giggled at his words. "It's actually a synonym for frighten or terrify, but also overawe. Which means to be impressed by someone to like the point of speechlessness." Me hands were now an active part in our small conversation.

Only reason I knew that was from searching up the word so much! 

"So, am I correct to assume you're telling me you're impressed by me, Ms. Welsh?"

I pursed me lips while leaning me head to the side, resting on me arms that had been crossed on top of me bent knee. "I guess. What I'm really trying to say is that… I don't know actually. I just don't want to cross a line with you, in all honesty. If I were to say something wrong- like a mispronunciation! Arthur and John would 'ave a laugh and a joke, but my expected reaction from you is silence. Silence can be the most daunting thing."

Thomas hummed while looking at me silently. 

I couldn't stop a giggle and pointed at him. "See! Like that! Are you just being understanding, or are you judging me?" I laughed even more afterward, and then I yawned. 

Through squinted eyes, I saw Thomas smirk. It was small. I'm sure it was really a half-assed smile. 

 "I see that you call my brothers by their names. Even though I insisted from the moment we met for you to call me by my name, you don't. Is this the reason why?"

I hummed. "I guess. I mean, well, you're my boss. I figure you have to use, you know, the proper terms. It's my first job 'n all! I didn't want to do anything to mess up." I said while tracing over the patterns in the carpet. 

"Well, from the way I see it, I am your boss and your boss is giving you an order." 

I tried to stifle my giggle and hide me smile, but it didn't do much since he had eyes and ears. "Fine. Thomas."

"Aliena."

After that, he went up to his room. Me fatigue was oddly gone yet at its worst at the same time. It took me another hour before I managed to drag meself up and sleep on the couch.

TAG LIST: @amirahiddleston @nemesis729​

[littlehollyleaf]

So talking of finales penned by spn writers.

One of my fav comics the last few years has been Spider-Man/Deadpool, written by our very own Robbie Thompson.

Obviously, Deadpool is a character I was always gonna be fond of, since his fourth-wall breaking power / chatacter trait makes him all about the meta, and metafiction is My Jam.

Spider-Man/Deadpool has the additional fun of being about Wade and Peter's relationship specifically, which is just fun and adorable any which way, but the series also makes constant nods to the idea of them as a romantic couple (the title IS a LITERAL REFERENCE to slash fic/shipping). Never in a baity way either. The writing celebrates the idea of Spider-Man/Deadpool without ever teasing the idea it might actually happen. It's mostly Wade explicitly referencing them as a slash pairing in his various fourth-wall breaking speeches, while in the 'reality' of the universe the writing is pretty clear on the fact Peter only thinks of Wade platonically (or occasionally antagonistically :p), while Wade genuinely has an explicit romantic crush, but overall just simply respects and cares for Spider-Man as a person and primarily wants to be and have him as a friend (tho there's absolutely, deliberate, space left in the writing to imagine/fanfic a mutual romance between if you want).

(ASIDE: PETER PARKER IS NOT A KID IN THIS CURRENT VERSION OF MARVEL CANON HE IS 100% AN OF AGE ADULT, like he is in the Spiderverse film - in case anyone was freaking out)

So yeah, that's all fun and sweet and completely catering to my interests.

One of the big, big things about the characters and their relationship, though, is the fact that WADE DOES NOT KNOW SPIDER-MAN'S IDENTITY. And this quickly became one of, if not THE, things at the heart of their evolving friendship/relationship. The closer they get, the more and more you WANT Wade to find out or, better, for Peter to TELL HIM. Because you want them to reach that place of love and trust where they each know intimate things about each other, where Peter cares about and knows he can trust Wade enough to share that vulnerable truth about himself.

So, Peter telling Wade his secret identity - that's, basically, the ship/relationship endgame everyone is rooting for.

SO.

In the *cries* final storyline of the series, this whole epic Thing happens, that I won't explain cos it'll take too long. But basically, the world appears to be ending and in that context of dire and angsty straits - Peter reveals his identity to Wade! *insert Deadpool movie shock gif*

Now closer than ever, they team up with a rag tag collection of other characters to take on the Big Bad and, long story short, they discover the whole epic end of the world Thing has been a fake reality created by the real villain of the piece -

THE WRITER, aka Robbie himself!

Due a series of implausible comic book events they are able to confront and defeat him and he offers this in his defence -

and I just -

<3

aw Robbie

your supervillain origin story was... WANTING FICTIONAL CHARACTERS AND THEIR RELATIONSHIPS TO GROW?

(#relatable)

When I first read this (which was, oh, back near the very beginning of spn S15) I thought

a) amusing that an ex-spn writer is, like spn itself, writing a meta story in which the writer is the villain

b) it's funny how spn's villain writer and Robbie's villain writer both harm/manipulate their characters for the exact opposite reasons - Chuck wants to prevent the characters from developing, comic!Robbie wants to force them TO develop

(and c) I wonder if this lament over characters not being allowed to grow, and the fact that wanting to change that associates Robbie with villainy, in any way connects to... other writing jobs he may have had... before the comic...)

The tragedy, tho, is that after his defeat, as Spider-Man and Deadpool are locking comic!Robbie away, he tells them his capture doesn't matter because in the end HE WON, because Wade now knows Spider-Man's identity!!

To which we end with this -

The growth Robbie wanted was denied!

*sad face*

(I forget the in-universe explanation, if there was an explicit one - either defeating comic!Robbie and his fake world caused all memory/experience if that world to be lost/destroyed... or there was genuinely no real explanation and that in itself was a meta nod to how comic book narrative is constantly dropping/discarding/ignoring/retconning plot points in order to maintain the wider status quo of the comic universe narrative)

AND YET - while the biggest growth of learning Peter's identity was denied (presumably because, as noted above, wider comic book canon requires/insists both characters and their relationship remain in a specific, static, status quo - so the industry can keep churning out multiple comics with them without necessarily having to bother with the extra time/hassel of researching specifics of continuity - because, money), as Peter and Wade's further discussion points out, SOME development HAS happened at least. Wade has grown more moral/heroic in how he doesn't immediately kill his enemies. And Peter has come to care deeply enough about Wade to be proud of him for this and tell him so. AND they walk away together side by side, their friendship cemented.

So bottom line - the story ends. And it's not in the BEST way. It denies the readers and the characters (and the writer!) the fulfilment of that key endgame plot point.

And YET.

It manages to still be a funny, heartwarming and ultimately SATISFYING end. One that, tongue in cheek, lampshades the development the rest of the story has, in many ways, been building up to and, using metafictional tricks, tells readers in a way that is funny, entertaining and also feels somewhat apologetic, that it simply wasn't a plot the creatives involved were able to give. But offers SOME growth at least, and leaves things open enough for readers to imagine the characters are poised for more in the near future (...although due to the nature of comics that may well have been jossed by other comic book runs at this point - I haven't read any that include the characters since this title ended).

WHY am I making a longass post about this you ask?

Well

a) because the comic is great and I think more people should read it, consider this a recommend (tho sorry for spoilers!)

b) ...just ...wanted to big up Robbie Thompson for a bit. A++ Robbie, way to land an ending, both in fiction and meta, kudos to you, nice to be reminded that it can be done!

(also in case by some miracle anyone at Marvel is reading this - I said the ending was satisfying, but that doesn't mean I WOULDN'T SPEND GOOD MONEY ON A REVIVAL OF THIS TITLE IN A HEARTBEAT! just because I'm ok with the last comic being the end doesn't mean I don't WANT MORE WITH A BURNING PASSION why must you cancel all my favs?? ...*coughs* so, yes, thank you any Marvel execs for your time...)

[colehasapen]

(ONE SHOT) And the dreams that you dream of   DC COMICS

A03

It’s a weight off his shoulders.

Alan had known for a long time that his dirty little secret was dragging him down, had known that it was a vice around his heart and a collar around his neck that had stopped him from ever really being happy with himself. He’d lived his life hiding, and keeping secrets; for his own safety at first, and out of fear of change afterwards once it started becoming more mainstream. Back when he was a lad, being caught with another boy was as good as a death sentence - he’d heard so many stories of other kids and men like him being found in alleyways, of them being attacked and beating out in the open and still no one cared enough to help.

It was the norm, and Alan had tried to conform.

Alan Scott had known since grade school that he wasn’t normal, that he wasn’t like the other boys. Boys who would talk about how pretty Betty Noris was, or the shape of Dorothy’s assets. Instead, Alan had found his gaze lingering on the other boys during gym class, or the look of the bare chests of the men who would help his Ma move furniture. He’d known for a long time that it was dangerous, had known even before Jimmy and Robbie from the next block down had caught him and their kid brother behind the fish market. They had beaten Alan black and blue, had spit on him while he’d laid on the dirty ground and pulled Johnny away from him, promising worse if they ever saw him sniffing around their brother again, that they wouldn’t tell anyone this time that Alan Scott was a fag because it would drag their family’s good name down with him.

Johnny hadn’t been able to meet his eyes again after that, had sat on the opposite end of the classroom and kept to himself even more than he already had in the first place, and Alan had locked that part of himself away. He had hardened himself to everything around him, had become the kind of man expected of him.

But he hadn’t been fully happy. Not with himself, and not with his life.

Becoming Green Lantern had helped, it gave him a meaning that he hadn’t known he was missing. He made friends and comrades that would last him for decades afterwards, friends who knew and cared for him, no matter what Alan was. None of them were normal, none of them fit into the society of their time, for whatever reason. They were all freaks and outsiders, abominations who had all found themselves brought together by a shared desire for justice in an unfair world.

The Justice Society.

As Green Lantern, Alan could save people, could help people. Could slowly let out parts of himself that he had kept locked away for so long, ever since he was scrawny and twelve, and kissing Johnny Moore in a hidden part of the market. He could never  say what he was out loud, not fully, not without the words that he wouldn’t learn until much later in life, when more and more people like him started coming out of the shadows to live their lives openly and make their voices heard. He made friends and friends, people who didn’t care that Alan wasn’t right, because none of them really were either.

What was looking a little too long at men to aliens and immortals after all?

What was it to a man that could run faster than sound? A man who liked men and women equally and kept it hidden just as Alan did?

The Justice Society gave him Jay, and despite him being a raging ass, it also gave him unconditional love.

The Justice Society didn’t last forever, but the connections he made did.

Never before Alan had called what he had with Jay more than friendship, but they both knew it was more than that. Friends didn’t have the same sort of relationship Alan had with Jay, friends didn’t fall in love with each other and stay in love for as long as they had. Friends didn’t sleep with a married man, even with their partner’s wife’s permission. Joan was a lovely, wonderful woman, who deserved the world, and by god, Alan knows that Jay was willing to give it to her if she asked. The Garricks would never have blood children, not without the lack of trying, but Alan knows they considered the new generations of speedsters their own, just as they considered Alan’s children family.

Unlike Jay, Alan hadn’t been able to settle down. He hadn’t been able to keep up the facade he had built up, even if he had tried. He had loved Rose and Molly, had adored them, but not in the ways that they deserved. He had grieved Rose when she’d died, he had let Molly go so that she could find happiness, and he had kept going, kept hiding.

But hiding had taken its toll.

He has adult children now. Children with lives of their own. He’s old, and getting older, and the world is changing. It’s not perfect, he knows, but it’s so much better than the one he had grown up in. There’s still people like Jimmy and Robbie Moore out there hurting people like him, but this generation refuses to keep quiet or hidden. Alan is damn proud of them; he may wear a mask, but those activists? The ones who stood up and made themselves heard over the years and the ingrained belief that they were lesser because of how they were born or who they loved? Who refused to stay down despite everyone telling them to?

They’re the real damn heroes.

Alan wishes he was half as brave as them.

As it stands, he’s making the truth known. He’s coming clean, and it feels like the rush of adrenaline that comes with flying, that swoop in his stomach as his feet leave the ground. Telling Jen and Todd the truth had felt so,  so wrong, but so right at the same time. He’s an old man now; he’d been lying and hiding since before they had been born, and still they didn’t care. They loved him regardless of it.

They had called him brave.

Alan doesn’t feel very brave, not after all these years, but he does feel free.

It’s after telling his kids that Alan finds himself Keystone City, in front of a familiar little townhouse that Alan is pretty sure he knows better than his own apartment. He lets himself in like he always does, and wanders in, mind feeling like it’s moving as fast as Jay runs.

“Alan?” Jay is in the kitchen, drying his hands on a dish towel and looking soft and domestic, dressed down in slacks and a t-shirt he remembers Barry getting him as a gag on Father’s Day. He’s as beautiful as the day Alan had first met him. His hair is whiter, sure, and his face more lined, but his blue eyes are as kind and warm as ever, and standing in the golden light of the sunset, Alan wants to sweep him into his arms and kiss him.

God - Alan is getting sentimental in his old age.

Propping a hip against the counter, Jay folds the towel over his shoulder, studying him with a gentle sort of care that comes easily to the speedster, and Alan finds his worries melting away. “Everything alright?”

“I told Jen and Todd.” Alan blurts out before he can stop himself. Jay makes it so easy, to tell him everything, to bear his soul and put his heart in his hands. He knows that Jay would protect it, just as he protects everything else. He’d treat his heart with gentle love and sweet care that Alan still doesn’t know if he deserves to have. “I told them. About me.” His eyes slide away from Jay’s, a habit developed after years of not telling anyone.

After years of hiding.

“Alan.” Jay’s voice, deep and kind with the smooth Midwestern drawl Alan had first fallen in love with as a young man, draws him back. It grounds him in ways that Alan can’t describe. “I’m proud of you.”

“I love you.” He whispers, like a promise, and it’s loud in the bubble of space-time that is Alan-and-Jay. He’s never said it before, not out loud. He had been too scared to let it pass his lips or form on his tongue. Jay had been so much more patient than Alan ever deserved, letting him lead him on for as long as he had.

He can see the surprised delight in Jay’s eyes, the stunned part of his lips, and Alan wishes he could have been brave enough to say it years ago.

“I love you. I’ve been in love with you for years.” His voice is louder now, but it still shakes, and if possible, everything about Jay gets softer.

“I love you too.” The speedster says without hesitation, and Alan steps closer, into the bubble of his space, feeling the sparks of static electricity dance across his skin as it always does this close to Jay.

“Can I kiss you?” He breathes reverently, and Jay laughs faintly, gently taking his face in his hands, warm skin against his jaw.

“Do you really need to ask?” Jay teases, and Alan’s lips quirk.

“Yeah.” He says, like a sap, “I like it when you say yes.”

Jay’s blue eyes sparkle. “Well then,” he says with good humour, “my answer will always be yes, Alan.”

Like a fish on a line, Alan is reeled in, letting Jay pull him closer and tilt his head, before he presses their lips together.

[thingummies-and-whatsits]

Lewis Fic Recs: December 19th

For the anniversary of Val's death, stories of grieving, remembering the past, and learning to live again after loss. Some are Christmas focused, others not. As usual, this list is far from exhaustive so please feel to add your own favs to the list!

I Wonder What Comes Next, And Whether This Or This Will Be The End by Somniare

1,580 Words, Robbie/Val, Rated T, Canonical Character Death In the wake of Val's death, a grief-stricken Robbie turns to alcohol as he packs for his secondment to the BVI. A heartbreaking fic that does not shy away from the rawness of loss, but an unexpected find offers a shred of comfort for Robbie to hold on to.

Beacon by uniquepov

1,499 Words, James & Robbie, past Robbie/Val, Rated T, Canonical Character Death An angsty fic with a hopeful ending. Nearly ten years later, and Lewis still has nightmares. Robbie thinks of his grief over the past years, how he'd wake up expecting to see Val there, how he'd expected to be the one not to make it home one day. He lost his beacon of light that December but, Robbie realizes, he's not completely alone.

Anniversary by Sarren

2,093 Words, James & Robbie, past Robbie/Val, Rated G, No Archive Warnings Apply Robbie visits Val's grave on the anniversary of her death, and James knows when not to listen his Inspector's orders for his own good. A bittersweet story where James' determination to support Robbie through his grief allows Robbie the space to remember, and sparks a conversation about needing someone else.

Falling by Luthien

9,098 Words, Pre-James/Robbie, past Robbie/Val, Rated T, No Archive Warnings Apply, Brandy and Cough Medicine Don't Mix December 19th is just around the corner and it's raining, Hathaway is stuck in Cornwall on a case, Lewis' heat has gone out, and his chest is growing tighter with this worsening cough. An aching sickfic, with a dash of (fraught rather than fluffy) huddling for warmth, and an interesting case going on in the background.

The Things We Do For Each Other by divingforstones

7,504 Words, James/Robbie, past Robbie/Val, Rated T, No Archive Warnings Apply James reveals a bit of his childhood when he gets caught up studying for a special training course. The unfortunate timing of the final exams leaves Robbie struggling on the hardest day of his year with James out of town. In the absolutely heartwarming ending, Robbie learns that he can lean on the people who care about him, and James learns that he's cared for, no matter his grades of his usefulness.

Solace to the Soul by divingforstones

11,097 Words, James/Robbie, past Robbie/Val, Rated T, No Archive Warnings Apply James takes care of Lewis quietly over the years: in the frigid winter air, through sickness and injury, in the wake of the Oswald Cooper case, and on the anniversary of Val's death, when the world conspires to prevent Robbie from making his pilgrimage to her grave. Divingforstones always does an amazing job capturing the deep, steady devotion in their relationship.

Anniversary Effect by iloveyoudie

1,354 Words, Pre-James/Robbie, past Robbie/Val, Rated G, No Archive Warnings Apply After an evening drinking on the couch, James wakes up to loud banging at the door, only to find his worried Inspector standing outside. What starts out as a mild argument ends up with some much-needed truths being voiced at long last, and it's satisfying to see these two starting to open up. The ending especially is gently hopeful.

Christmas Pudding by greenapricot

3,185 Words, James/Robbie, past Robbie/Val, Rated G, No Archive Warnings Apply Hathaway is dubious of Christmas pudding, but when Robbie admits he misses the one Val used to make, James is determined to give it a shot. When James fails to answer his phone on the 19th, Robbie gets worried-and finds an unexpected surprise waiting for him. This story has the sweetest ending (in more ways than one), one that leaves James and his flat delightfully unkempt. Make sure to read this with some sort of holiday dessert on hand, because it will give you pudding cravings.

From Where the Light Rises by catwalksalone

590 Words, James^Robbie, past Robbie/Val, Rated G, No Archive Warnings Apply Established relationship (QPR). Part of a longer series, but can be read as a standalone. Robbie lost the joy of Christmas after Val died, but watching light candles and decorate the house they share, Robbie finds himself remembering the beauty of the season.

Christmas Past and Present (series) by wendymr

6,216 Words, James/Robbie, past Robbie/Val, Rated G, No Archive Warnings Apply Many Christmases ago, he'd given his heart to Val, but ten years after her death, Robbie still can't bear to face the holiday. But when James quietly refuses to leave his side at the end of the day, they each learn that they're a little less alone than they had thought. Extra kudos for Val scolding Robbie's poor choice in clothing from beyond the grave.

Before and After, Then and Now by dogpoet

6,269 Words, James/Robbie, past Robbie/Val, Rated M, No Archive Warnings Apply Established Relationship. Part of a longer series, but can be read as a standalone. Robbie remembers the day when the call came, how Ali had had to tell him there had been an accident, and how he had almost burnt down the house when he'd had to tell his son. But now he also looks towards the future, to his life with James-once he can work up the courage to tell Lyn, that is.

[heresathreebee]

Dirty Water

Benny 'Borracho' Magalon x Robyn Banks (Black!OC)

Summary: Robb met a couple of shady characters calling themselves cops. Well it just so happens they are, and they're worse than she first thought.

Masterlist

Word count: 2.5k words

Rating/Warning(s): +16 Mature | kidnapping, mild torture, tied up, wanna be clear: IRL I do not condone hooking up with a person who kidnapped you or was complicit in kidnapping you, it just don't work out like that in reality

AN: so basically I'm gonna write and post this in whatever order I please, then go back and figure it out later. Since my brain has jumped back on the Pascal bandwagon, it's hard to focus outside of his body of work but I'm still coming back to this story with relative ease.

Just when she'd started to warm up again, a another shower of ice cold mop water was pitched over her head. Robyn sputtered and coughed, trying not to swallow the suds in her mouth or let them see her cry to keep the dirt out of her eyes. From the shadows that danced beyond her eyelids, she could tell the alleged cop who called himself Nick was crouching in front of her. 

"Last chance, sweetheart," the dirty cop said. "Tell me how you know Tony D'Onofrio." 

Fuck. 

Seven years ago, two federal agents walked in on officer Robyn Banks being sentenced to traffic duty. She didn't mind– she was fed up with the secrets her colleagues were forcing her to keep anyways. Maybe stepping down could help her clear her head, maybe give her time to compartmentalize those events and feelings. Only now could she say that the rest of her career was already out of her hands. 

"Those agents on that file? They approached me about D'Onofrio. Said he was my moby dick. Made a big deal about 'justice' and 'law and order' and 'the sanctity of the badge." Robyn spit more mop water onto the floor and continued, "I told them I didn't know what the fuck it had to do with me and they just sorta looked at each other." 

The blond man– Nick called him Z, she thinks– crossed his arms. "Quit jerkin us around, Banks, get to the fucking point." 

Nick held up a hand. "Easy, tiger. I asked for a story and that's what I'm hearing. Keep going, Robbie." 

Robyn scowled on the inside. "They told me he was my father. More like a sperm donor than anything, he probably didn't even know I was alive." 

"Now that is interesting," Nick purred. 

He cut the zip tie binding her arm to the rolly chair and handed her a towelette to wipe her eyes. She dared not reach for the tie on her other arm, lest her captors think she's pulling a move to escape. Instead she dabbed the sweat and mop water that soaked into the skin of her neck and face to pause and think about her next words. 

"That was the basis of the deal. I join their investigation undercover, see if I can get somewhere with my connection, and help them put one of the biggest crime bosses on this side of the coast away for good. In exchange, I get to call the shots, they'd put in a good word with my CO and elevate me to detective status instead of beat cop." 

"Thought you liked being a beat cop," the one in the silk flamingo shirt said. 

"Apparently nobody believes that." 

"So," Nick steepled his fingers beneath his aquiline nose in thought, "your end of the deal wasn't even your idea? How does that work?" 

"Sounds like she got something else out of it," the bald man in the white polo accused. 

Robyn glared at him, but she didn't contradict him. If she wanted to be listened to, she needed to stay calm. Stay calm, stay alive. Go home with the minimal amount of PTSD. 

"Do you want me to tell you what happened or not?" When nobody raised any more objections, she continued. "I agreed to their terms. Next I know, I'm climbing the criminal ladder, dropping bread crumbs about my parentage, two years goes by, yada yada yada, and then bam. I have a meeting with the heir apparent to the Italian mafia. 

"At that meeting I told Tony D'Onofrio he knew my mother and that I knew they had been dating around the time I was born–" 

"Conceived–" 

"Yeah that– he stared at me for so long I forgot how to breathe and then… he… believed me." 

A pin dropped somewhere in the empty parking garage. A dog barked wildly a mile away but could still be heard in the silence that followed. Robyn still couldn't believe he'd bought it either. 

"He just… believed you," Nick said skeptically. 

Robyn could do nothing but shrug. "I never got the details, I couldn't ask my mom about it and Tony never gave me any indication that he knew about me before that meeting. He just asked me what I wanted and did it." 

Nick dragged his eyes over her form, shivering and glistening, and then-- "what did you ask him?" 

Robyn felt her eyes gloss over as she tried to remember what mysterious force compelled her to say the exact right words. "I told him all I wanted was for him to know, to see him with my own eyes and know he was real. I said I didn't need any favors or special treatment. I just needed some closure." 

That was all. And the agents had been fucking furious with her. They had accused her of using them, of being a traitor and a spy for D'Onofrio or a mastermind cat-woman type villain and all manner of other terrible things. They were ready to pull the plug on the whole operation when Tony had offered her a better job. A job where she would come face- to- face with every schmoe on Tony's payroll. 

"Tony offered me a job 'running errands.' Not quite in his inner circle but higher in his ranks than I had any business being," Robyn said. "Most of the people doing these jobs were kids, easy to get around the city undetected and reliable. Now he knew I wasn't a kid but I guess he wanted to see more from me, put his best eyes on me to see if I was legit." 

Nick nodded and stood up (his knees popping like broken branches). He walked over to Murphy in the flamingo shirt and passed a few inaudible words between them. Robyn wasn't skilled in the art of lip reading, and failed to catch anything from Murphy except the word 'pointless.' It rubbed her the wrong way, sending a spark of fear through her that quickly dulled back into the numbness of being helplessly bound to a chair. She needed to finish this soon before she completely cracked. 

Nick returned to her side, chasing some pepto bismol with a flask of what smelled like tequila in it. "That's a very sweet story, Robbie, really it is. But… what I wanna know is why you're not in this file." 

"That's not what you asked me," she griped, then backpedaled into, "I'm trying to tell you why I'm not in the file. But in order to tell you that, I have to tell you what was left out of the file first. I'm getting to the point, I just… there's a lot of shit to sift through." 

Nick nodded like a patient father (yeah, right). "Just the good parts then." 

"Yeah," she nodded quickly, "just the good parts..." 

"The good parts, uhm. Well he did learn to trust me. I barely had to do anything just… let him try to kindle a relationship between us. I started calling him dad at his request, nobody bothered me or questioned me after that and I didn't abuse it, expect on the downlow giving info to the feds. He liked that about me– he liked me. We'd talk about my mom and he'd let his guard slip, started taking me to his meetings and asking me to deliver his important paperwork." 

"I let him think I was with him and documented everything I could for six more years." In truth, she had had some doubts. About putting him away and the vacuum of power it would create, about the dichotomy of good versus evil, about her career. In that last year, she had actually warmed to the idea of becoming a detective and getting to do work with her own moral backbone and not someone else's. "We made the arrest January 19th and put him away for a dime." 

Nick leaned so far forward in his chair Rob had to lean back. "This is the part where you wrap it up, sweetcheeks." 

Robyn gulped. "Gomer and Valentine pushed me out. They'd been acting really strange at the end, wearing these shit eating grins and looking at each other, and then they iced me out. Had me fired on the grounds that I was too close to the perp, used a fucking Christmas photo for evidence. There went the Italian mob's heir and seven years of hardwork, and I wouldn't even be mentioned by name in the case file. No testimony, no credit, just a dishonorable discharge and dumped on my ass in the streets." 

"Wow." Nick rubbed a hand down his face like he was the exhausted one. "That's quite the story, princess." 

He looked at each of his mates, every face stonier than the last. Especially the silent one's, the latino guy. Then he looked back at Robyn and smiled with a lot of teeth. 

"I do have some questions though, if you'll let me." Sure like I have a choice. "Now it wasn't public knowledge you were in on the investigation, but I find it hard to believe your dad's lackeys didn't know it was you who turned him in. And what I find even harder to believe is that they'd let you live for it." 

Robyn said nothing. There was a part of her that didn't quite grasp it either. When she had arrested him, when she'd slapped the cuffs on him herself and read him his Miranda rights, after the shock of her betrayal wore off, Tony had congratulated her. 

"I'm proud of you, kid. You may be a narc but at least you got your head straight. You got guts, kid." 

As far as she understood it, his last order as the leader of the mafia was not to harm her in any way. Nobody bothered her. They still knew her face on the streets, sent glares her way but never touched her. One of his underlings had come to her place and suggested she skip town permanently just to be safe. It was not a courtesy she ever expected from anyone let alone a man with a reputation for high profile robbery and murder. 

She didn't know what to expect. "I guess he really did love me." And Nick left it at that. 

~

Robyn was unbound, blindfolded, and dumped right back onto the street those so called cops had snatched her from. Her legs shook as she walked the last block to her place, utterly miserable and in desperate need of some sleep. Maybe tomorrow she could figure out what the fuck her life had come to. She showered (and cried) and picked up the half drunk beer from her fridge and brought it out on her front steps, taking a sip of the flat beverage and wishing it was something stronger. 

People passed below her on the streets, never once looking up. The traffic never disappeared but it did lull this time of night. She didn't mean to– barely noticed she was doing it– but she found a pack of cigarettes in her overcoat and lit one up. 

"Next time," she promised herself. I'll try to quit next time. 

Just as she was beginning to ease the tension that had been weighing on her all night, a man climbed the steps to her building and pointedly slowed down to a stop a few feet away from her. She chanced a glare at him and found him no stranger which was somehow infinitely worse. 

"Fuck off," her nerves got the better of her, "I told you everything, can't I at least get some sleep first?!" 

The man lifted his hands in defense, carrying a bottle in a brown bag in one of them. He was, well, he was the handsome one. The Cuban with the neck tattoo and broad shoulders. His eyes seemed a lot softer now Despite the dark setting. 

"Swear on my life, I'm not here for Nick." He took a single step up, waiting to see how she'd react, and when she didn't run, he took another and set the covered bottle down next to her before backing off. Still skeptical, Robyn carefully unwrapped the thing, revealing an expensive looking wine label. Dark red. "It's an apology," he explained with his hands in his pockets, "Nick thinks he's this big, clever actor but he can be a real bully when he drinks." 

Robyn gave him the 'do I look like an idiot' eyebrow and he had the decency to look at his feet. "We could really use your help with this, Banks. Nick forgot to mention the part where Tony was put on parole for good behavior. He'll be out tomorrow." 

"He what." That's just the thing isn't it? The case that ended her career permanently and he just got to walk off after only serving two years of his sentence. That was the real crime here. Robyn gritted her teeth, gripped the neck of the bottle and squeezed. She started shaking it like it was her criminal father, or the weasel federal agents who took her credit, or the dirty cops who kidnapped her tonight. 

Borracho looked concerned. "Do you need a corkscrew or– " 

Robyn shrugged off her jacket and looked him dead in the eye as she wrapped it around the base of the bottle and gently banged it on the porch step until the cork exploded into the air (along with a third of the bottle's contents but whatever). Borracho raised a hand to protect his face from the spray, and turned away to hide a silly grin. 

"Nevermind," he said, shaking the excess drink off his hand. "Listen, if he calls you about anything, please let us know." 

He pointed to the bag, which had a phone number on it. "Don't let your work be in vain." 

"You try that line on everybody?" Rob was feeling a little facetious in the face of mercy, over tired from the revelations, and pissed off by these fucking pigs. "Your good cop, bad cop routine needs some balance. Did you know I was kidnapped today? Now this wine is a start but you'd better step it up, good cop." 

He started to walk away but she called out, "I got Nick, Z, and Murphy. Clocked 'Gus' by the name written on his underwear. Which one are you?" 

"Benny," he threw back, and disappeared into the nighttime traffic. 

"Benny," Rob scoffed. "Cute ass." 

Robb drank the equivalent of two glasses, then passed out from exhaustion. She slept dreamlessly and tried to forget last night had ever happened. Benny, in the meantime, returned to the office where his crew was huddled around a phone receiver. 

"Don't appreciate you throwing me under the bus, B," Nick growled from his seat. 

"Shup up and drink this," Benny pushed the glass of raw eggs closer to his boss' hand, a so called 'hangover cure'. Nick shrunk back a little.

"Told you she'd be sweet on him," Z elbowed Murphy in the ribs and ignored his protesting 'um actually I said that.' 

"Wouldn't call her sweet," Benny said, grunting as he took up residence at his own desk. "She looked like a feral cat." 

Nick laughed. "Yeah well don't go getting mixed up with that pussy, B, we've got work to do." 

It was gonna be another long night for everybody. 

[gale-gentlepenguin]

Gale Reviews: Cobra Kai Seasons 1 +2

(Thanks @knightsweeties​)

So I should mention that I love 80′s movies. And one of my favorite movies of all time is the cliché OG Karate Kid.

With the best mentor character of all time in movies, Mr. Miyagi.

So when Youtube announced a sequel series based off of that iconic movie with the RIVAL being the main character. You bet I was ready to watch it... until I found out you had to pay for it on Youtube red. So naturally I waited until it was Netflix. Then I finally had a chance to watch it (legally)

So now that I have watched the series in its entirety. I have some thoughts on it.

Which you can read below (spoiler warning if you haven't seen the series. I recommend having a watch)

The Plot.

I will say that Season 1 and Season 2 have entirely different feels to them.

To put it briefly

Season 1 takes place with Johnny Lawrence, a guy in his 50′s hitting rock bottom, living paycheck to paycheck as a repair guy, and still stuck in the past.

Everything changes when he ends up inadvertently saving a kid, Miguel. from some bullies using his Cobra Kai karate.

Johnny realizes that he still has a passion for karate, and wants to bring back Cobra Kai, but without the psycho of a teacher involved.

So Johnny becomes the sensei of Miguel and the two’s dynamic is like that of Miyagi and Daniel (the original master and student of Karate kid) but with some hilarious contrasts and snaps that make fun of the movie in a fun way. In a way, the season starts off like Karate kid, but keeps changing one’s expectations of characters.

It even has the last episode ending with a final bout between Johnny’s student Miguel and Daniel (the original Karate kid’s) Pupil, Robby (who also happens to be Johnny’s own son). So the tension between the two are high.

Season 2 takes place AFTER the All valley tournament and Cobra kai is rising. Now with the inclusion of a man long assumed dead coming back, Daniel now trying to get Miyagi do as a real dojo to compete against Cobra kai. Tension starts to build and it seems like a war is brewing, the events culminating in a legit all out brawl on the First day back at school, with an ending that really makes me want a season two.

Season 1 is about preconceptions. Johnny and Daniel’s actions are based on their own preconceived notions, People let the past dictate how things are when that isn't the truth. Daniel automatically assume’s Johnny is up to no good because of his personal dealings with Cobra kai, and Johnny believe’s Daniel is at fault for everything awful that has happened to him, thus resulting in each of them indirectly attacking one another intentionally or unintentionally. They even try to reconcile only for Johnny to find out Daniel was training his son in karate, which Daniel actually didn't know was his kid, but this broke any trust the other have.

Season 2 is about Perspective, Almost everyone acts based on their own views on how things went down in their head. Everyone takes these perspectives as facts and there is no way the other person can be right, until a third party gets involved. And just like in the first season, Johnny and Daniel almost reconcile again, only to their views blinding them to the truth.

___________________

The characters:

I think I will just list off the main ones with their own arcs in the show and tell you all my thoughts on each of them.

Johnny Lawrence: Johnny is best described as a man stuck in the past, both technologically and mentally. He is a jerk, and considering his a**hole step dad and the psycho Karate teacher Kreese, he didn't have good role models on how to be a man. He pretty much screwed up his chances of being a dad to his biological son Robby, and spent half his life drunk and the other half depressed and angry. The day he saved Miguel and reformed Cobra Kai was the day that helped him start turning things around. Miguel became the student that helped bring him back into the modern day, helping him recruit students to his dojo, and even helping him deal with his hang ups regarding his failures with his son robby. Johnny is by no means perfect, but he is trying to be a better person. He is kind of like that out of touch uncle that is ignorant of a lot of things but is slowly getting used to it. He is tough, but he cares. Honestly the best adult character in the series with how hard he tries to actually be better but life just keeps kicking him down.

Miguel Diaz: a young boy who Johnny has been teaching to fight. At the start of the show, he had ZERO confidence, and felt like a nobody new kid in a town. Learning Karate helped give Miguel confidence and allowed him to stand up to the bullies that messed with him. Miguel is a good kid, in fact, he is my favorite Character in the series. In season 1, he was awkward, and unsure of himself. But as the first season went on, he managed to ask out the girl he liked, and even made good friends. Though Miguel started to pick up a lot of similar habits to Johnny from the original Karate kid, albeit directly and indirectly from his sensei. But season 2 quickly shows Johnny doing everything to make sure that doesn't happen. Miguel becomes the most civil of Cobra kai, becoming a more refined fighter and even a better person then any of the other students in either dojo. Thus making the end of season 2 so much more tragic and not even his fault.

Daniel LaRusso: The original Karate kid. A car dealership owner, and family man. He was living his best life, lovely wife, two good kids, and just enjoying every minute of it, until Cobra Kai came back. We get to see a lot of Daniel from Johnny’s perspective and the reveal is, he was just as much of a jerk as Johnny was back in the day. Even kind of a stuck up a**hole that tries to destroy Cobra kai through underhanded methods like having the landowner raise the rent, or stopping him from entering the All valley tournament. It isn't until he starts training Robby that Daniel starts to act like the man that we expect the main character of Karate Kid to act like.

Amanda LaRusso: Daniel's wife, She is great. She also has the most braincells out of everyone. She calls Daniel out on his crap and without her Daniel probably wouldn't be as good of a character as he is.

Robby Keene: Johnny's street-smart son and Daniel’s karate protege. At the start of the series, Robby is a bad kid, skipping school, drugs, stealing, and running with a bad group of kids. Robby really didn't care about his life choices or his loser father. He did however care about his mother, who was busy trying to have her own fun and neglecting him. it wasn't until he started learning Karate from Daniel, (originally working at the dealership to Spite his dad) did he start to turn things around. Robby hid the fact that he was Johnny’s kid from the LaRusso family and the developments in the first season resulted in a dramatic irony. In season two, his interest in Samantha (Sam), started to cause problems especially near the end of season 2. Robby is also another complex character and he is an amazing Parallel to Miguel. Robby keeps wanting the things that Miguel seemed to get, and always seemed to fall short, much like Daniel and Johnny’s rivalry in the original Karate kid. This has Robby holding back information that he does come clean about later.

Samantha LaRusso: Daniel's daughter. The most experienced Martial artist of the teens since she grew up with it. She is much like the love interest in the series in season 1 and becomes more of her own character in season 2.

Okay, so I am going to flat out say this. She is an awful person. Like at first, she ditches her friend to hang out with the popular crowd, lies to her parents about a hit and run, hides the fact that she is dating Miguel from her parents because his is Cobra Kai. I can forgive some of the things as an honest mistake, and in season 1 I can even look past some of them, since she does do the right thing about standing up to Kyler over his BS But the OTHER STUFF?

Sneaking around with Robby who is living in her house at the time because of a family situation which is a MASSIVE betrayal of trust. Accuses Tory of stealing from her mom, attacks Tory at the roller rank over a shove, ignores Miguel’s apologies and actions to at least try and clear the air only to KISS him when he is in a relationship with another girl. The list goes on. Now context matters, and then there is the whole  situation in episode 9. Now Miguel was drunk and trying to fight robby, (like an idiot who thinks a guy is trying to steal his gf) and it resulted in Sam getting hit, which Miguel was mortified that it happened. But a lot of people are divided on whose fault it is, I really think Miguel shouldn't be throwing punches so in that regard, he was in the wrong. Now unrelated, Sam was in the wrong in pretty much every other situation she was in.

Aisha Robinson: The second student of cobra kai, that went from an insecure nerd to a legit sassy confident bada**. Giving one of the stuck up popular girls the greatest karmic punishment. She is tough and knows her own worth. She is also another voice of reason character in season two.

Eli "Hawk" Moskowitz : And the award for most changed character is Hawk. A quiet kid with a scar from a cleft lip surgery left him the target of vicious bullying. Dimetri was his only friend, until he ‘Flipped the Script.’ Gets a mohawk and a back tattoo after embracing Cobra Kai. He becomes a legit bada**. As the season goes on, he does become more and more Aggro, his confidence now coming off more as arrogance and lashing out. By season 2, he starts taking lessons from Kreese and when his mohawk went Red, the old good Eli was dead. He is the prime example of how dangerous Cobra kai can be when one has bad guidance. Blue Hawk, fun, cool, still figuring out how to be a bada**. Red Hawk, irredeemable prick

Demetri: sarcastic and Neurotic, he saw things in the worst light, a natural whiner that really began his road to development in season 2, his friendship turned bitter rivalry is quite fascinating. Though the GOT references did not age well.

Tory Nichols: Certifiable Bad girl. She joins Cobra Kai and she is easily one of the most interesting characters in the show. She becomes Aisha’s new best friend and immediately butts heads with Sam. She ends up dating Miguel and Sam’s actions result in Tory declaring war on the daughter of Larusso. She is the catalyst of a lot of developments.

John Kreese: The sensei of Johnny, there is a LOT of beef between the two, but Johnny actually saw how broken of a man Kreese was and tried to help him despite their rough past. But Kreese only had one thing on his mind, revenge. The show actually shows how much more conniving and cruel Kreese is, even more then the movie. Kreese has been in wait a LONG time and he wants to crush Miyagi do once and for all.

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The Action and Acting.

I will say the acting on the part of the characters is pretty good. The dialogue can be a touch hammy at times, but when it involves Johnny, you can tell its genuine. All the characters in the original Karate kid movie really show how connected they are despite it being over 30 years.

The fighting Choreography is also fun and gets even better in season 2.

My favorite fights being Miguel vs Kyler and the boys In Season one episode 5, Miguel vs Robby  Season 1 episode 10, and  Season 2 episode 10 the school brawl.

Honorable mention is the Bar fight in season 2 with the older cobra kai alums.

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Overall:

The show can be a bit much for some people, its crass and its more teens and adults audience, but I highly recommend watching if a fan of Karate kid, or just want something interesting to watch.

I give it a solid 8/10 and I look forward to seeing season 3.