#there’s a whole bunch of people protecting her from getting tackled

[bottom-lexa]

Can someone please write me a Clexa fic where g!p Lexa is the quarterback of a tackle football team and Clarke is the trainer, but also her girlfriend and it’s all very steamy. Like maybe Lexa is filled with nervous energy before the game or is pissed because they are down at halftime and Clarke is there to stretch and massage Lexa and it turns into sexy time. Football is so gay—all the touching, tackling, grabbing, hitting. Bonus points if Lexa is still in her pads while they are having sex

You could ask someone who usually writes fics like this nicely for it.

I, personally, don’t write a lot of g!p Lexa nowadays. I’ve seen the light and write more with Clarke. And I’m not really a fan of this sort of dynamic.

This would probably be? College Clexa? I haven’t written them in a while. If we’re in the US, then there isn’t anything after college that isn’t the NFL as far as I know so they’d be pretty young. We have a lot more here in Europe between uni and the national teams. I could see Clarke as one of the QB coaches, or assistant coaches, but tbf I can’t see Clarke involved in any sort of sports with very few fic/au exceptions from a couple of writers.

Also the last part. It would be soooo uncomfortable to fuck in shoulder pads, for both of them. They wouldn’t be able to get as close to each other with them on, Lexa would be more stiff and less flexible if she was wearing them. And. The most important thing when it comes to football gear. They stink. It smells Bad. It smells like, what we call, football. Same with fucking in the locker room. Smells so bad in there. Heated post-game sex where it’s all the adrenaline needing an outlet, and it’s quick and fast, I get. That’s the only time I can excuse it happening in football gear in fics. Also getting out of those pants during halftime or something? That’s another thing and I know now I’m just ranting about the inaccuracies in fic that have football player character. But basically football pants are So Tight. And there’s like at least two layers under them. More if it’s cold.

This got away from me 😅 but yeah, not my jam but there might be someone else out there who’d wanna write it.

[ghostlyeggtart]

Platonic Yandere Invincible (Part 2)

Other Parts: 1

Reader/OC swooping in to steal Nolan's place? 🤔 By this I mean trying to seduce Debbie and wife her up and then going to play catch with your new grown ahh son named Mark (Oliver too if it's that far into the timeline but tbh I think it's more interesting to explore the shock of someone trying to replace Nolan so soon after he left and tackling the challenges of that trust being betrayed).

The thing is though, I think this works so much better if reader is some OP species as well - but they're suuuper clueless about family structures etc. I imagine reader sees this strong young child who flies them (maybe looks a bit like them?) and sees that Mark doesn't have a dad. They could be that dad!! Theirs, he could be theirs! And then they find out this pretty lady is his mum so now they have to try and make the pretty lady like them and she's sooo pretty and reader is head over heels in love. Maybe they start working for Cecil or doing some pizza delivery job or even just superheroing on their own to "make money for Mark's college" which they probably got the idea of from Earth Television.

^ variant of that one: instead of making Reader/OC an enemy of Nolan (I mean Ur tryna replace the guy it's sort of inevitable) I think they should try and wife up Nolan too 🙂‍↕️

Oooh maybe the same sort of idea but OP reader wants to be Oliver's brother? I think the naivety of the reader character would shine through better if Oliver had to teach them things like "don't lick that melted ice cream off the floor" or "don't follow that strange man down that alley" and I think the platonic yandere aspect could go both ways here - the Grayson family could be overprotective and such over reader due to their naivety but the reader could see the Grayson family as "theirs" and be possessive and protective as well.

Teleporter child reader with Cecil - this one got really long so I made a separate post about this here

Okay okay, hear me out on this one: platonic yandere mark and darling! Variant mark (I'm thinking maybe maskless or just any one that seems a little more "docile"). So the idea behind this one is that maybe mark would see all these evil versions of him and snap. Maybe he comes across one of them ages later and it's just one, a bit more scared to wreck havoc maybe since there's no other evil variants around (fighting a whole world AND another you? With no back up or any safe place to rest? Kind of risky!) but still noticeably evil. What if he took them and forcibly tried to "reform" them. In a sort of "I know better than you listen to me" way. He declared himself their older brother, takes away their name and renames them something. If they try to fight back? He gets a bunch of people to dog pile variant mark and gets Cecil to put something in them.

"It's okay, big brother's just trying to do what best for you - you get it, right?"

Maybe they eventually give in, living this fake domestic life with our mark. Maybe try suit up again and help him. Maybe they start to forget their previous life - where they didn't play with their little brother or fly up to their big brother, hugging him once he got home from a big day of superheroing. Their mom (This isn't their mum, their mum was gone ages ago.) scolds them for flying and they sheepishly apologise.

"Big bro! Can we go play in Antarctica later?"

"Sure, why not! You've been good recently."

They were bad before but they're so, so good now - don't punish them, please?

Oooooh what about a kid with a curse similar to Dupli-Kate's or Multi-Paul's? Maybe it's a similar situation about a past family member, maybe they manages to make a magical being mad all on their own or maybe it's some entirely different set of circumstances - regardless, I imagine this kid would make their parents go mad as well, constantly making a mess, screaming, crying, the noise never stops and there's never a break. Anyone would go mad. Imagine the Cha family twins discover this, discover another family being torn apart, another child being condemned. Maybe they kidnap them (probably paul) or maybe they go to Cecil with demands (probably kate). Maybe they don't work together, keeping separate copies of the kid in their respective homes (constantly fighting over the original body). Maybe they prefer to be a parent or an older sibling figure. Their multiple clones would definitely help in taking care of the kid. Either way, I imagine that kid is going to stay with them, no matter what.

^ in the case that they do work together, maybe they get a huge warehouse or something that can hold all the clones, working together as a team to make sure both the heroes and villains stay way from the kid. Maybe they fight over how to raise them, too harsh, too vicious, too soft, too lenient. Arguments all the time but they make sure to hide it from the kid. Maybe this wasn't the best start to a childhood, but I imagine it's the best a cloning kid like this would get.

[aihoshiino]

Do you think Aqua ever had a real chance of redeeming Hikaru?

It's kind of hard to say. The Kamiki we have in the text of the story is so weirdly inconsistent as a character and we see such Absolutely Nothing of any attempt on Aqua's part to redeem/"save" him that it's hard to imagine what redemption would even look like for him. Especially after the whole Serial Killer Cult Leader reveal - that's the kind of thing you establish for a character you want to be absolutely sure the audience won't sympathize with and would be pretty hard to walk back from without revealing it to have been untrue in the first place.

There's also a potential discussion to have vis-a-vis whether a redemption is even an appropriate or satisfying conclusion to Hikaru's arc in the first place and I can totally understand why some people in the fandom are leery of or otherwise just straightforwardly put off by the idea of it... But I also don't really think the ending we got for him in canon was appropriate or satisfying either so is there really anywhere for us to go but up LMAO

That being said, for the purposes of this little thought experiment, I am basically tossing out everything about Hikaru from 159 onwards. 160+ Hikaru isn't ENTIRELY unfixable - shortly after the ending first dropped, an anon dropped a really cool alternate take on the ending that spun off from the moment Aqua and Hikaru go over the cliff but even that has to trim the dumb serial killer cult shit because it really does just end up taking Hikaru to a place as a character you can't easily (morally) recover him from without going WAYYYYYYY beyond the scope of what OnK would ever have been willing, able or intended to tackle as a story. And since that take already exists, I'll be running with the idea of 'redeeming' 152+ Hikaru.

To that end, I'll mostly leave things alone up to the end of 155. Rather than explicitly namedropping Nino, we snip the end of Akane and Aqua's conversation, cutting directly from the line about wrapping everything up with a happy ending to Nino, to establish her as the unspoken loose end in this. From there, I'd extend her slow descent into deciding to target Ruby over a few chapters, alternating between her making plans and everyone looking forward to Kana's graduation concert, seemingly unaware and adding to this growing sense of alarm and discomfort that's growing for the reader.

Eventually, everything climaxes in the attack on Ruby at the apartment in the same way it does in canon - except it's Hikaru who intervenes to stop her once Nino realizes something is wrong. We'd get a bunch of flashbacks recontextualizing a bunch of moments with the main cast across the last few chapters, eventually revealing that they've been keeping an eye out for Nino and preparing to catch her in the act this whole time, a plan that Hikaru and Ichigo (begrudgingly) came up with together. The one bit of the finale I thought was straightforwardly great was Ichigo getting to essentially redo and make up for failing Ai in protecting Ruby, so I think there's something extremely powerful in having the two men most directly responsible for her exploitation and death recreate that tragedy for the explicit purpose of preventing it from happening again and correcting their mistakes.

After that, I can see it going two ways:

Hikaru just hands himself into the cops and lets himself get arrested alongside Nino to receive punitive punishment for.... wtfever his crimes are in this version of the story now he isn't doing the serial killer cult leader thang.

Or, given that it's noted that 15 Year Lie is going to trash his reputation and kill him via public opinion, Hikaru accepts this and withdraws entirely from not just the entertainment industry but public life as a whole, more or less going into exile and stepping away from all the systems that provided him power.

Of these two, I like the second. Even in the main manga, my interpretation of Hikaru is that he didn't intend for Ryosuke to kill Ai and, as Akane points out, since he was a minor when all this went down he can't be traditionally prosecuted. But even if what he did isn't legally punishable, it's still plainly wrong. I feel like this would be a way of holding him accountable that doesn't result in the anticlimax of not dealing with him at all. Like, sure, he’s alive, but he might as well be as good as dead to the world - forced to exist in obscurity, stripped of his power, left to dwell on everything he’s done.

This is definitely still a super messy ending and I imagine there's better ways to do this sort of thing but just off the dome, that's one of the possible ways we could've gotten a Hikaru redemption.

[the-light-finds-its-way]

So I'm thinking of my own self-insert fic and how I meet Misraaks. And yes it's cheesy and trope-y. But it's my universe and what I say goes.

Anyway, I'm a Titan, obviously, but I use a bunch of melee weapons since irl I can't aim for shit. So I imagine a more futuristic barbarian aesthetic since I always LARP as a barbarian, with myself carrying an axe in one hand, and Caiatl absolutely gave me a Centurion shield to use so there's that in my other hand.

Anyway, I'm on the battlefields with Misraaks because Hive have attacked and somehow he's caught up in the mix.

A bunch come, and one knight jams his blade through Misraaks, injuring him gravely.

I see this. I fucking go berserk. With fury and wrath I summon the Hammer of Sol, and charge the swarm with vengeance and rage, eliminating nearly all within moments.

The knight takes notice and approaches.

My hammer fades, and I grab my axe, jumping as I outright tackle the Hive to the ground and grapple him.

Misraaks watches, absolutely ASTOUNDED that this tiny ass Titan not even 5ft tall has somehow managed to subdue a humongous Hive knight.

An epic fight ensues between the knight and I, ultimately ending when I am flung off the dude and stop mid-air, soar from above, and drive my axe through his chest, ripping it out as I land on the ground, then use my shield to shatter the knight apart.

The field is clear, and I rush to Misraaks, gripping him close and gently.

Much to the Kell's surprise, I lift him in my arms and run him to my ship, then fly us to the Last City where I bring him to get help.

I'm walking through the Tower idly, worried sick.

Ikora sees me, and approaches. She says Misraaks told her what I did, and that I managed to intimidate him a bit with my prowess, apparently. But Ikora laughs a bit, and says she always knew I was fierce. That's just who I am.

There I absolutely panic. I didn't mean to scare him! I just freaked out and wanted him safe! This is just how I fight! I care about him, I had to get him help and fast and I couldn't do that without decimating the enemies, and—

Ikora stops me. She says it's ok. Misraaks is ok. And he is glad I saved him. She thinks he might've even taken some appreciation to my strength in battle. Maybe even in the same way I appreciate him...

How does she know I like him? I never said anything to anyone. How would she—

And Ikora tells me to just go. See Misraaks. He needs the company.

So, nervously, I head out to where Misraaks is. He's laying in a medical cot, wound wrapped, helmet off with just his rebreather on. I rush to his side.

Misraaks seemingly grins at the sight of me.

I sigh in relief at seeing him ok.

The Kell tells me he has not seen a ferocity as mine before, but that he's heard from others how I'm just like that. I defend, I protect, and I do so with my entire being because I love.

And Misraaks says it's ok. He knows.

I freeze. I'm literally stunned in silence.

But Misraaks lifts his arms closest to me, and pulls me against his chest. And with all four, he hugs me gently.

I just lay against him softly, carefully, listening to his heartbeat, and suddenly Misraaks moves his rebreather away, and leans down. He kisses my head.

"I love you, too," he tells me.

And I lean up, and return this kiss to him as he and I just hug and hold and love.

Days later, when Misraaks is recovered, I outright carry him out of the place, and when we make it to the Tower, Osiris sees us.

"So the lovebirds finally took flight," he says.

I frown at him.

How many people knew? How long have they known? HOW did they know I love him?!

"To be fair," Osiris says, "You've been learning Eliksni, and I don't know anyone who would go so far as you have to save a man as you did."

"Says the guy who broke time to save his husband," I tell him.

"Exactly. You're gay. I'm gay. It's all gay. Now go take your boyfriend on a date already. The whole City has been waiting long enough for you to."

I'm stunned.

The whole damn Last City knows???

I accidentally drop Misraaks in my surprise, then freak out! Is he ok?! I apologize so much!

But Misraaks stands up, laughing and hugs me close. "I am fine, Magnus. Stop worrying, please. Let's go have a pleasant lunch."

I blush. Hugging the Kell back, I nod. "Ok. Agreed. I uhhh... I know a good mac and cheese place if you want that."

And so we have our first date with mac and cheese as the meal, and both of us are happy.

[play-rough]

So, this is about your classification AU, but not exactly about Chuuya and Dazai, so feel free to ignore this if you don't wanna answer lol

Have you ever thought about the classification of the rest of the ADA (and how that might influence their interactions with Dazai)? Personally, I love Little!Atsushi and Little!Ranpo, as well as Caregiver!Yosano and Caregiver!Kunikida, but I was curious on your takes.

Also, if you do think there would be other littles in the ADA, do you think there would be playdates once Dazai is back on track with regressing (probably after reconecting with Chuuya)? If so, would Dazai be more social because the other littles are people from the ADA that he cares about?

Yes! I do plan on doing some one shots that take place in the early days of Dazai joining the ADA (i just like writing in between when manga exists, it’s easier to play around canon events don’t touch me timeline don’t come for me)

Straight off the bat i go back and forth whether i want atsushi to be a little or an alpha and then vise versa with akutagawa. Right now i am thinking little atsushi and alpha akutagawa, but i could also totally see the classifications swapped. I’m not as confident in my sskk writing so I’ll probably tackle them separately in their own fics eventually too. I do think atsushi would have larger range of ages regresses to just depending on how safe or emotional he feels, I’m thinking from ages 2-8. Most of the time atsushi is really active and rambunctious and just wants to play, kind of kid you take to a park and just let him run around. He does drop smaller if he’s feeling vulnerable or upset, or if he just needs extra attention. He likes playing pretend and he always plays games at the playground that end up roping in a bunch of other kids like pirates or warrior cats and everyone loves atsushi and wants to be his friend 🥹🩷 and akutagawa as his seemingly reluctant grumpy caregiver that actually loves him sm and is there in a millisecond if atsushi scrapes his knee or if it looks like he’s getting bullied on the playground

But for the rest of The Ada:

Kunikida would absolutely be a caregiver and he would take it upon himself to look after Dazai once the office finds out he’s a baby. Ranpo’s main caregiver would be fukuzawa, but kunikida often babysits him too because they’re all a family. Pretty much everyone in the ada sees kunikida as their nagging older brother, even if they’re not little, but once Dazai is in the picture it’s easy for kunikida to work taking care of him into his schedule.

Ranpo is a little, and I do think Dazai and Ranpo would play well together once dazai’s classification is exposed and he loosens up a bit. I think Ranpo would be a chunky block Lego kid (the big ones for little kids because kunikida fears choking even though Ranpo is pretty good about keeping things that aren’t candy out of his mouth) and Ranpo will build things and Dazai will help by separating all the pieces by color so Ranpo has an easier time color coordinating his tower. Ranpo would be a good older brother, he’d be nice and plays gentle with the baby.

Yosano would be an alpha (she is when the healer goes in with the GUN) but she cares about her whole ADA family and is always looking out for them. Dazai’s immune system is bad, and it’s lucky that they have such a great doctor on staff. Adult Dazai avoids yosanos office (he dodged his initial physical exam) but he at least realizes yosano means no harm, baby is terrified of her office. Yosano is real patient and goes slow with Dazai when he’s little and sick, and eventually the baby learns to trust her too

Fukuzawa is an alpha and he’s very protective over his agency members. He insists ranpo cannot go home by himself when he’s little, so he will usually take him home with him after work (kunikida takes Dazai home and then atsushi when chuuya comes back into Dazai’s life).

I love early Ada days when the agency is small and the stakes aren’t as high and there’s time to just be a family and i will write fics for them soon 😭🩵

[pixels-miracle-box]

I kinda hate my brain because I come up with a new AU idea like- very quickly and then I'm stuck because IDK WHAT I WANT TO WORK ON-

I just came up with another AU idea and I kinda want to work on this but atm I'm like- I already have quite a few AUs I need to work on

Unlikely Friendship/Animotif: Cast gets more animalistic traits/side effects from their miraculous... also insert Chloe and Marinette friendship.

Broken Hearts: World works a bit differently. Mari gets a bit more snappy and ready to throw down.

Tales of Madame Bug and Axel Noire: Chloe gets the ladybug earrings, Alix gets the black cat ring. Chloe has to grow as a person, Alix gets both destruction and timeline supervision on her shoulders.

"Ghost Girl and her Scary Dog privileges"/Creatures AU: Majority of the class are part creature/monster. Alya quickly becoming besties with Mari and becomes overprotective over this kid so much so she's ready to throw down with an eldritch shapeshifting entity.

Down the Burrow: Not a full on AU, but just a bunch of Bunnyx variants having shenanigans in their own burrow...

There's also some one off AUs/stories I want to work on.

Catverse... I like to turn people into kitties.

Ladybug/Guardian!Luka... Some angst and some shenanigans.

A new world: Silly bakugan crossover AU. A wish brings the cast in a whole different world and now Team Miraculous is swept in a different story.

So, what have I come up with now? ... I was kinda thinking of an angst AU- and while it kinda drifted from the original idea- I kinda like the potential.

Kinda inspired by the series' own "Re-verse". Many people speculate that "The Supreme" may be Fu- soooo- I kinda went "AU where Master Fu is evil".

Unlike most universes, once the wish is done in this universe, all miraculous from the box get shuffled/scatter around. Good news, they aren't that far off. Bad news, they could be anywhere in Paris.

It kind of becomes a rush to gather the miraculi back.

Three factions: Butterfly!Fu, "Ladybug" and Fox!Sabine, "Chat Noir" and Gabriel [idk what miraculous I'll give Gabe yet].

Butterfly!Fu faction: Gather all the miraculous, no matter the cost. Though he's primarily looking for the ladybug and black cat.

"Ladybug" faction: A mother and her child trying to do good in the city of Paris. While they join "Chat Noir" when an akuma is present, they're primarily trying to help the civilians.

"Chat Noir" faction: A father and a son against the system. They're looking for miraculi and keeping them away from the butterfly. While Gabe would want the ladybug earrings so he could use the wish to undo the damage, he isn't sure if taking them away from a literal child is a good idea. He's at least happy that the earrings are in good hands.

Both Adrien and Marinette are homeschooled in this AU. Both Gabriel, alongside Sabine and Tom, wanting to protect their kids from the dangers of the world.

Adrien isn't a model in this, as Gabriel is more worried about Adrien's safety, and fears if he's put out there, he's afraid he might get stalkers.

He only allows Adrien out if he's in his super hero form. Again, mainly out of concern. Though Adrien does detransforms occasionally and explores the city. (He may find the Dupain-Chen bakery in one of his scouts).

Marinette used to be in the public school system, but was pulled when the bullying got worse and one of her classmates went missing.

Due to the dangers of the world, she's usually accompanied by one of her parents while outside.

Keeps contact with some of her classmates, which is how she gets introduced with Alya.

Honestly I really need to work on how the story works and decide who gets what.

I was originally thinking about alya getting the black cat ring, but I thought since I have Mari have the earrings, I should give Adrien the ring still.

The reason I have "Ladybug" and "Chat Noir" in quotes is because I'm thinking if I should have them use different names for their alter egos.

I'm also thinking on how I should tackle the love square. These two won't be seeing each other as civilians too often, so their main interactions is as their hero identities.

jljlkjlkjkl- I could ramble a lot of nonsense but heck I like this idea and I want to expand it...

My ask box is open if you want to ask anything about this AU or any of my other AUs I've mentioned here.

[flwrcrxwnlyon]

Broken Picture Au:

Theodosia Sycamore (nickname: Teddy), Desmond's daughter, survived the Targent attack thanks to her mother, who encouraged her to hide.

Now the two of them have to deal with the consequences of the trauma and the realization that everything changed.

The whole story, a rewriting of the prequel trilogy, is viewed by Theodosia perspective and tackles the themes of loss, trauma, and the relationship between a father that was heavily hurt and who's trying to find revenge with the objective to protect his only child and a daughter who tries to understand what happened to her dad and who tries to heal from the past by trying to moving on.

Reinhold workshop au:

After her adoptive father's disappearance, Flora tries to take care of her little siblings (katrielle and alfendi) while trying to balance it with her job.

In fact, she studied to become a mechanic, and now she has a workshop of her own with a familiar face as an assistant after he got out of the jail.

The themes of this au are somewhat the same as the broken picture one +the development of a friendship between Clive and Flora (ITS NOT A CLORA AU!! THEY'RE FUNNY BESTIES)

Also, Flora gets a girlfriend who works in a museum as an archivist because yes.

Fallout AU:

(This is a beta, but -> azran legacy, miracle mask and unwound future spoilers, and CW for mentions of war, bombs, and apocalyptic themes in general)

Essentially, it is a rewriting of the layton main games but setted in the post-nuclear universe of fallout. At first, it started as a joke but now I'm not sure of it.

Since it is not finished, I'm going to leave here the main informations about the au (probably I'm going to change something in the future):

- The au is setted a few years after 2077 (not sure of the one yet), and the place where is mainly setted (distant from London) wasn't bombed like the main cities, so it's like fallout 76 where people left the vaults (basically bunkers) early from the others.

- The Bronev Brothers were separated before 2077, and the decision of Des letting Hersh be adopted instead is because the Laytons had a place in one of the shelters that were considered the safest.

- Des survived the bombings by going to a shelter with the Sycamores. That's where he met his future wife.

- Hershel forgets about his brother (like canon) and met Randall inside the shelter.

One day, Randall suggest Hershel to escape the shelter and go outside in order to find pre-war stuff.

There was an accident where a bunch of feral ghouls (people hit by radiations but not able to think again- basically zombies) attacked them, Randall went missing after that and Hershel thinks that he's dead (he isn't, he was saved by people from a near settlement)

- Inside Hersh shelter, there was an experiment (is... normal in the game universe), which consisted of building a time machine.

Instead of an explosion, there were toxic fumes (sorry claire...)

- Des and his wife theorised that there were people outside the shelter and tired of the propaganda (talking about how they were the only ones still alive etc.) They decided to escape and they started to live in a village made with debris (plus they have their daughter too).

But while Des was away, trying to gather resources (mainly food), Targent attacked the village. Plus, he became a ghoul due to radiation exposure (ghoul ≠ feral ghoul, normal ghouls are basically people heavily burned and with a longer lifespan)

Ah, Teddy is in this au as well. She's pretty much traumatized and scared, but she is okay and travels with her dad.

- Raymond is a modified Mr. Handy and travels with Des

- Anton is a somewhat conscious glowing one (basically a ghoul that was hit by more radiation than the others)

People with PL AUs

🎤🎤🎤

Pitch me the idea

[youarealwaysontime]

Let’s talk about asexuality in media.

It’s a fact well-known to all queer people, no matter their identity, that we are all underrepresented and when we are it is often more harmful than helpful. This all boils down to homophobia, of course, but each identity has a specific homophobic-based “reason” as to why.

For asexuality, it’s because sex and romance are easy to write. They’re classic plot tools that ensures drama and clamor from fans. Don’t have a side plot for these two characters? Make ‘em have sex. You’ve got two best friends nearing the end of an arc? Make ‘em fall in love. It’s prominent in literally every type of media you will ever consume. And going hand-in-hand with that, allo people tend to think that because aspec folks don’t feel romantic and/or sexual attraction, that they don’t feel at all. This is why when we see “canon” aspec characters (or even headcanoned ones) they’re often aliens, robots, or even animals. Asexual people are not seen as human, and allo people don’t know how to write humans that don’t want to have sex.

So now let’s talk about Esperanza “Spooner” Cruz. And how especially in a show like Legends of Tomorrow that’s very fun and silly and everyone sleeps with a bunch of people, I never expected an ace character in a million years.

I’m not ashamed to admit that I cried when the scene played. My identity is so important to me and usually I try so hard to be like “ah it’s no big deal that no one knows what it means” to try and protect myself before other people can hurt me, but to see this character as so whole and so human broke me. And there was no blurry definition or sly hinting, a crumb of representation for us to wrap our hands around. Spooner is asexual, and she says as such.

The interaction went as follows:

Z: “so: smash marry kill… [names three male characters]”

S: “uh… no, not—not really into any of them”

Z: “copy, okay, how about [names three female characters]”

S: “not—not—not really into any of them either.”

Z: “also copy, okay. So what is your type?”

S: “you know, I don’t really get those types of feelings for anyone. [joking] Maybe it’s one of those things those mushrooms aliens messed up about me, huh?”

Z: “hey, no, no, no. What you’re describing is totally normal. It just means maybe you’re ace. Asexual, people who identify as ace have little to no interest in sex but many of them still want to be in relationships.”

S: [tearing up] “wow… uh… [chuckles] I guess that makes me ace.”

So not only did they explain the sexuality, they used the actual terminology for it and didn’t shy away from “tackling” the topic. This character is not a robot or an alien. She is not unshakable or emotionless. She has been shown many times to feel, and to feel deeply. She’s cried, she’s raged, she’s been anxious and happy and determined. She is well-rounded with a good sense of humor and a deep love for her friends.

I myself identify as arospec asexual, and just because I don’t feel sexual or romantic feelings for people, doesn’t mean I don’t love. In fact, I love more than I think people would ever know. I love my friends more than the world, I’d do anything for them. I love my best friend so much it feels like my heart will explode when I think about her. I make her playlists with songs that remind me of her, I surprise her with gifts sometimes. But I don’t want to be in a romantic relationship with her, or any of my friends. Platonic love is so very important and I cannot wait to see more of this character and her journey with her newfound identity. An identity which, upon finding out there was a word for it, she cried. She was so relieved to know she was “normal.” That she wasn’t “messed up” or “broken” as many asexual people do. So thank you, Legends of Tomorrow. Thank you, Lisseth Chavez and Tala Ashe, thank you. Thank you for helping the next generation of asexual people find themselves and take this step towards mainstream rep.

There is nothing wrong with you if you don’t feel things the same way other people do. You are still deserving of love. And if no one else will give you that love, I will.

[misscrazyfangirl321]

Grimm 1x01

*Hank is a confirmed Shutterbug.

*Hank has been married 4 times. I always forget.

*Nick seeing his first woge in the first minute of the episode is a Good Call. Also, my heart at him buying that ring for Juliette. The ring Juliette will never wear.

*Also Nick the profiler. AU where Nick, Audrey, and Will are just cops together and Lucy is the local history professor who gets caught up in their cases.

*"I didn't know you couldn't sing." Their friendship my HEART.

*The Time Wars crossovers are turning into the Big Four of Back in the Day.

*Oooooo the aunt Marie introduction! Played like a villain! Like Ashley! Saving the reveal for later on!

*"Do you have a photo of her?" "Uh, yeah, on my iPhone." Literally Nobody would say it like that.

*.... Nick and Lucy could have met taking Carol and Marie to treatments. .... Except for the whole "different states" thing.

*Marie couldn't move for a week when she saw her first Wesen. We know from later on that she was 11. My HEART.

*Nick killing his first Wesen with the power of "shooting him a whole bunch of times"

*THE KEY. Ohhhh the keys my beloved storyline.

*AU where Meg transfers out of Old City to get a from the Weirdness and ends up working in a Portland hospital. And then her first patient is Aunt Marie.

*Might just let four narratives entwine irrevocably and change each other forever. Idk.

*Renard looking out for Nick... I know he has Ulterior Motives and everything, but to a point, he really does treat his men as his People, under his protection. I think there's some sincerity in that.

*Cannot get over the fact that one of the biggest images from the ads for this-Juliette running through the woods in a red dress-is from a three second dream that has no bearing on the show ever.

*"I think it was just a cat." Juliette, having no idea that a cat will change the course of her life forever.

*Oh, right, Marie was a librarian at one point.

*Hank being the one to figure out that the girl went through the park.... Is very important to me. Nick knows people. But Hank's not just someone who tags along. He's a really good cop.

*R.H. Robin Howell. Red (riding) Hood. I'd forgotten how Specific this show gets sometimes.

*Monroe and Nick's first meeting was so bad, guys. So, so bad. I always forget how truly bad it was. I remember the tackle through the window, but that was the second meeting. The first... Oof.

*"And by the way, you're paying for that window."

*"You people started profiling us over 200 years ago." Given how the show progresses, this has the same mood as that post about Julius Ceasar dying well over 70 years ago. Or was that Abraham Lincoln? Anyway, that.

*"No, I'm here because of the little girl." And "We're not things." . Very similar to Will's "You said you were tracking the boy," and later, Magnus' "I'm not sure how he'd feel about you calling him a thing." Just. Similar.

*Okay but Monroe and Nick's dynamic is made 10x funnier by the fact that Monroe is 10 years older than Nick. Just. Very Tired Guy Does Not Get Paid Enough For This Nonsense. (But yes, obviously he's going to help. Just, for goodness' sake, could you please learn to go to bed at a reasonable time?)

*See, Hank and Joe have very similar roles: The grounded partner to contrast the one who sees the Impossible. The voice of reason to keep the out there one grounded. But whereas Joe is basically a paper cutout designed to look ridiculous while Will looks smart, Hank is a really intelligent man and an excellent cop.

*Wait Adalind really just straight-up tried to kill Marie right in front of Nick? Like, you couldn't have waited until visiting hours were over? You were disguised as a nurse, so it wouldn't have caused you problems.

*"Let's hope she doesn't wake up first." * Immediate cut to Marie opening her eyes* Brilliant episode ending tbh.

[pigeonp0st]

could u do nat taking care of r when r gets sick (pretty please i beg of u)? preferably lots of cuddles 🥺🥺

idk i just love soft!nat 🥺

Natasha Romanoff x Reader #5

Words: 1,689

Warnings: none?

Notes:

I didn’t really like how this one turned out but i’ve finally decided that staring at it in my drafts with disappointed isn’t gonna make it any better...so here it is. Thank you for requesting, and sorry for spelling mistakes. Hope you enjoy!

———

It started with a cold. Just a couple of sneezes, a runny nose, and a sore throat...the usual.

It started out with you trying your best to hide it. Hide the sickness. That plan went under the moment Natasha heard you sneeze during training... she had you confessing to your sins much too quickly.

Suffice to say she immediately kicked you out of the training area with demands to take some medicine.

So she was the first to realize that you were sick, and she was the first to realize you were getting worse instead of better. She’d pester you endlessly when you wouldn’t want to talk about it, and watch over you like a hawk.

It was sweet, but you also didn’t think it was necessary. You were sure you’d be fine in three or so days.

How wrong you were.

When you wake up with a 103° fever for the third day in a row it has you layed in bed for the whole day groaning about the inequalities of the world, and begging Natasha not to get a doctor for the 100th time.

You were fine. Totally fine.

Natasha watches you with a mix of amusement and concern from the corner of the room and suggests, gently, that maybe you’re not.

You peak over your covers to glare at her in something like betrayal. “I’d be fine if you’d stop pacing and come cuddle with me.”

She seems to think about her options for a long moment and right when you think she’s going to reject you she relents with a heavy sigh and gets into the bed.

She’s so blissfully cold it has you snuggling into her side immediately, both to warm her up and use her as your own personal ice pack.

“You’re burning up,” Natasha whispers, but she pulls you closer to her—like somehow if she’s close enough she can absorb some of your pain and make you feel just that little bit better. “If your fever rises even a little bit we’re going to the doctors, okay?”

She’s concerned and worried, and even though a stranger fussing over you is the last thing you want you know you have to give her this.

As soon as you nod your head in agreement some of the tension seeps out of her body, much to your relief. As ridiculous as it is, you’re worried about her worried about you—if that makes sense.

“Around 100,000 people died from the flu in 2019,” Natasha mumbles against your forehead. She adds quietly after a moment, “just in case you were wondering.”

You were not wondering. What the fuck.

“Nat...that statistic is mostly old people.”

“Yeah,” Nat agrees, “you’ll be fine.”

And despite your body's protest, and how much of a pain it is to pull away, you do, just so you can give Natasha an incredulous look so she knows just what you think about what she’s doing right now.

Her face is unexpectedly vulnerable when you see it. She isn’t trying to bother you...she’s just…she’s worrying herself crazy.

“Nat,” you sigh, ready to embark on the most comforting and articulate speech you can think of, but a sudden fit of coughs has you turning away hurriedly to muffle your face in a pillow.

When your lungs finally decide to stay in your body for now, and Natasha stops rubbing your back, you’re too tired to try and comfort her, so instead you mumble, on the verge of sleep, “if I die; just know I love you.”

Which, in hindsight, probably doesn’t help much.

But she doesn’t sound worried when she replies, just exasperated and fond. “I love you, too.”

———-

When you wake up again it’s to a bunch of kisses and beautiful red hair.

“Stop attacking me,” you grumble, trying to push her away, but you're not able to hide your smile. God, you love your badass (soft) girlfriend.

“Look who's not dead!”

Remembering your last words to her before you went to sleep has you finally opening your eyes and giving Nat a sheepish smile. Oops. “Look who really wants to get sick…”

“My immune system is stronger than yours,” Natasha scoffs, shoving both your medicine at you and a bottle of water.

“Asshole,” you mumble, moving to open the medicine bottle only to get stopped by a hand on your wrist. “What?”

“You need to eat first.”

Thus, starts the trip towards death.

————

“Oh my god, how much farther is it…”

Your fever is finally down and back to safer levels so naturally Natasha has insisted that you’re able to go to the kitchens yourself and sit outside to eat.

You need fresh air, she said.

The room is getting stuffy, she said.

It’ll be good for you, she said.

What a fucking devil.

“You’re literally the most dramatic person to ever grace this earth,” Natasha tells you for only the millionth time since the journey began. “Maybe if you stopped sliding against the wall and crawling on the floor like you got shot three times we’d get there faster.”

“Maybe if you’d help me—”

“I tried! But apparently i’m ruining your image.” She rolls her eyes when she says that, then turns away to grin like she thinks you won’t notice.

You’re a whipped idiot who's decided to make a complete full of yourself and waste what little energy you have just to get your girlfriend to laugh, and to prove to her that you’re doing better.

You’re definitely going to regret this later, but now, in the moment; This is totally worth it. No doubt.

————

Wanda is in the kitchen.

As soon as you see her you straighten up and stop leaning on the wall (and limping). Natasha laughs next to you when she notices.

“You’re doing better, Y/N?” Wanda asks, glancing over you before returning back to the soup she’s making. For you. She’s making soup for you.

You adore her. She’s your favorite person, she’s—

“Not your girlfriend,” Wanda interjects, amused, “and doing this as a concerned teammate, and because your girlfriend asked.”

“Yes, well I love you anyways. Your cooking has gotten very good,” you say, shooting her a grin while you practically bounce to the dining chair, in stark contrast to the way you were dragging yourself down the halls.

Natasha does a good job at trying to not look confused, but she clearly is. Unfortunately, or fortunately, Wanda informs her before you get the chance to.

“Favorite person for making you soup?” Natasha asks once Wanda’s done relaying your thoughts. She narrows her eyes at you then. “Not the person who has been taking care of you since you became an avenger, not the person who—”

“It’s very good soup, Nat.”

“Very,” Steve agrees from the living room.

Natasha sighs, takes a sniff of the soup, and resigns herself to the facts she’s faced with. “Yeah...it is.”

——-

“Close your mouth,” Natasha orders, tapping your chin. You listen, waiting patiently for the beep of the thermometer to signal it’s done.

When it does, Natasha pulls it back to study it. There’s a small lapse of anxious silence before Natasha reveals the results. Then...“Ninety-Nine. You’re officially a healthy woman.”

And with that, you’re finally free of the bed rest and able to walk the halls as a newly restored human being.

“I’m free,” you shout, tackling Natasha onto the bed and kissing her all over her face, completely overjoyed. “Natasha, I survived!”

You survived. It only took an exhausting week. When your fever went down a couple of days ago it spiked to 105° a bit after and you were sure you were going to suffocate in Natasha’s worry because of it. You had to go to the medical room...it was awful.

But now Nat laughs, and laughs, and then pulls you into a tight hug to stop all of the kissing. She seems to be unburdened and lighter now that she finally has the numbers she’s wanted.

“Loving you as much as I do is really just living in this constant state of worry and fear,” Natasha says when you’ve both settled down. “I do not like things being out of my control,” she admits, kissing the crown of your head. “Especially when it involves my heart.”

“Your heart,” you repeat, curious. “Is that what I am?”

“Ignoring the worry and fear part?” Natasha teases, quirking an eyebrow.

“We both know those feelings are accompanied with a multitude of good and beautiful emotions. I feel them too.”

Natasha smiles then, soft and gentle, and full of admiration. “Yes.”

You tilt your head. “Yes...what?”

“Yes, you are my heart. Or at least you feel like you are.”

At that, with a determination and seriousness that visibly shocks Natasha you say, “i’ll protect it. I’ll protect myself, and because you're mine also, I'll help protect you. Always.”

“Always,” Natasha agrees, her fingertips trailing across your cheek. “Thank you, Y/N.”

“Yeah,” you mumble, embarrassed suddenly, “of course.”

————

“Are...are you serious?”

Natasha scowls into her tea and says nothing in response. This is fucking hilarious.

Your lovely girlfriend doesn’t seem to think so because the second she sees your face struggling not to laugh she begins glaring at you. “Don’t,” Nat warns. “Don’t you fucking dare—”

“I seem to recall you saying, and I quote, ‘my immune system is stronger than yours.’” You grin. “Oh how ironic this is.”

“I’m not sick—”

“Aw, but baby, the amount of tissues on the floor seem to be saying otherwise,” you gesture towards the growing pile, feeling absolutely no sympathy until Natasha glances at the pile with a sigh of defeat. She looks so small and sad covered in her pile of blankets...it simply won’t do. “Don’t fret, my love. I will take care of you, just as you took care of me,” you assure her, leaning down to kiss her forehead.

“First things first,” you tilt her chin up, “i’ll get Wanda to make you some soup so you can take some medicine.”

“I hate the world,” Natasha grumbles, mumbling some curses in russian.

“I love you, too.”

[deanwasalwaysbi]

I've gotta say, I find the concept of Bedlund trying to Ben-Hur Jensen absolutely hysterical. I'm just imagining Jensen getting a script and being like "Ben?? What's this? Is this gay? This seems gay????" and Ben just soothing him like a frightened horse.

Hahaha - Look it wouldn't be the first time. What is this verb we're working with? Okay. Strap in everyone. The Multi-Oscar-winning 1959 movie 'Ben Hur' had a bunch of gay subtext. The writer, the director, and the second lead actor all knew that Charlton Heston's character, Ben Hur, was gay. However, one person didn't find out until the 1990s: Charlton Heston. The consensus on set was "Don’t tell Charlton, because he’ll freak out." and when Heston found out in the ninties, freak out was exactly what he did. (x) [the movie may have gotten a reference from Misha back in season 6 (x)]

Whether this happened with Jensen on SPN depends on two things.

Was the character of Dean intentionally written as Bi and, if so, at what point did that become true?

Did anyone tell Jensen? Did he figure it out? if so, when?

I personally DO believe at this point, I really do, that Bedlund - Ben Hur'd Jensen. I think it was part of the writers room but not all of it, until it was. (Which RN I believe finally happened under Dabb.) I think Jensen wasn't in on it, until he was. So for me? I think he really was in the dark at one point. But at what point that changed? Probably only he can answer that question. and RN? He ain't talking.

In the meantime we can only look at things Jensen has said on the subject - Like this unbearably ambiguous GIF set from @nikadd. Was this tongue in cheek? Legitimate ignorance? You're killing me, Jensen. That cheeky lil smile, Jensen. Nvm - I'm going to kill you instead. It's for my own survival. No hard feelings right? You understand.

UH OH HERE COMES A CUT TO HIDE A LONG DERANGED POST...

We can look at the text for number 1 - and I do that uh - a lot - see the blog name #Dean Was Always Bi

For number 2 we can look over some points when we got clues from what Jensen thought was going on [regardless of whether they make sense based on his jacting or directorial choices I guess] and get left wondering whether at any point he felt pressured to lie for his career, for self protection, or to protect the narrative from the network: 

2010 - 'We're missing the gay angel' (x) (Season 5 gag reel) (x) “Sorry man, not what the show’s about.” Jared: One of the good and bads about playing the straight [non-comedic] character on the show… Jensen: What wait? I’ve been playing him so wrong

2012 / S8 - Trenchcoat - Jensen talking about how sometimes they change the lines because they're way too gay. Calls Cas a third brother

2012 - "What's Destiel?" Ben Edlund: That’s some weird shit. Jensen: Is this something that you created, Ben? Ben: You don’t want any part of that.

“Don’t ruin it for everyone now” “I still don’t know what the question was. I���m going to pretend I don’t know what the question was.”

2013 @ JIB, re Dean’s reaction to Aaron’s flirting in the season 8 episode Everybody Hates Hitler,  (x)

“And the scene wasn’t written to be that kind of - I mean - It was written to be awkward.  Ben Edlund wrote the - my favorite line in that scene was ‘carry on . citizen’ that was - I almost couldn’t say that with a straight face I was laughing so hard.  But it was - you know - it was comedy. It was a comedic moment in the show and fortunately Dean gets a lot of the comedic moments in the show and it was just, you know, Ben was poking fun at the fact that - you know, how can we make this very kind of manly, heterosexual guy uncomfortable - uh -you know, or  or have him back on his heels and throw him off his game a little bit.”

The thing is - Bedlund and Phil Sgriccia made very clear on the commentary track that THEY saw this scene as a 'romantic comedy kind of fluster' "This potential for love in all places."

Ben Edlund calling the writer’s room a boy’s club in 2013 (x)

Misha Collins telling Destiel fans they aren’t Crazy in 2013 after some executives said they were (x).

2014 Jensen says he was glad there wasn’t much Dean and Cas in season 9  - HA Hah HAH (x)

“I think the whole Cas and Dean thing has gotten out of hand”  “I don’t think there’s anything secret to their relationship even though a lot of people wish there was” REMINDER - that season we got the nightstands acknowledgement and “play him like a jilted lover” and the “he dumped me James” cut and -

I certainly know that Misha and I don’t play that. SIGH. they Ben Hur'd Jensen.

2014 - the fan fiction joke - 10.05

“I didn’t have a positive reaction, The first time in I think 200 scripts I went and sat down in the showrunners office and said, ‘What in god’s name are you doing?! Why? I need to understand why this is happening.’” “[Carver] gave very eloquent answers and did a great job of explaining why we were doing what we were doing, I guess I had been aware of this ‘fan fiction’ for a while and I felt like maybe if I ignored it, it would eventually go away. When I read it in the script that is what I do for a living and is my work—I’m very protective of these characters and the story and I think we have a right to be—I wasn’t angry. I just wanted to understand why and what was the message we were ultimately sending with this script and story. By the end of it, I felt good and it gave me all the confidence I needed. It was better than I could have ever hoped.”

But then there's Jensen in 2015 talking about all of Dean’s bromances. (x)  [gifs at the top] Could go either way - starting to figure it out? or No?

What had changed if anything? the entire Crowely season 10 story line?  This was July 2015 - the same day as the SDCC 2015 panel where Misha talked about Destiel   (x @ 13) Carver and Dabb were there - 

By this time Jensen and Misha were nominated for a teen choice award for best chemistry against various tv couples (and one ensemble cast, but the award nomination did NOT include Jared) .... Misha and Jensen would go on to WIN this award one month after the panel.

At the Panel Rob and Rich ask the question: “You two have branded yourselves as TV’s greatest team since, ... idk who.... Ernie and Bert so.”  [Misha says to Jensen & Jared, half not on the microphone: “I really didn’t expect them to throw us under the bus.”] “are we going to see that continue? Is the Castiel Dean relationship still aflutter and still growing as we move into season 11?”  Jeremy Carver: “Ish.” [mocking from panel ensues] “Yes. Of course. I mean Yeah. Absolutely. Yeah. There’s no doubt.”

Jensen Directs 11x03 and the choreo mimics Goodbye stranger (x)

2016 - Jensen: Dean could have a huntress, but you’d kill her.

Jan 2017 Con the infamous - no hedge - harsh - “Destiel doesn’t exist.” (x)

I would hope that if he knew he wouldn’t have been so harsh with it.  So by that point either he still didn’t know - OR - to him ‘Destiel’ was specifically about internet porn/sex and not like - the potential for feelings / a relationship.  It makes me think about something Misha had actually said, around 2013, “It’s called ‘Destiel’ and it’s about the romantic interludes between Dean and Castiel.” (x)

2017 - jib8 Jensen called Dean a lover of the ladies

May 2017 - After filming the end of season 12:

2018 - Misha confirms he and Jensen have talked about Destiel (x) - also 2018: The Bisexual Dean essay "? No." (Oh god was this really this recent?! I can't deal with this.)

Well. SOMETHING happened in 2019. cuz here it comes

2019 - "Dean has no taste, clearly." 2019 - 'So, tell us just a little bit about what you're most excited to tackle with your character this final season.' "Cas. Just like a full football form tackle."

Look at this face he gave Dean when Cas told him he loved him and tell me he wasn't playing into it here. You can't. (x)

[melishade]

Attack on Prime Headcanons: Megatron’s Opinion of the Marleyans (Spoilers for my fanfic ahead)

link for fanfic here: https://archiveofourown.org/works/36583423/chapters/91243426

So this is a fun topic to tackle. I already did Megatron’s opinion of the people on the island, but because Megatron’s pretending to be a human to infiltrate Marley, he’s got some things to say about the humans he’s encountered over there. And believe him, most of them are not really good. Megatron already hates humanity and is only working with Paradis to make amends with Optimus. That’s his whole reason for staying on the planet in the first place. Humanity be damned. But him being in Marley further develops his character to make him less of a piece of shit.

(And here’s the link for Megatron’s ranking of the humans on the island: https://www.tumblr.com/blog/view/melishade/681377390344175616?source=share)

There is no particular order to this system because Megatron fairly hates them all equally. So here we go.

Zofia: Honestly his favorite out of the Marleyan bunch simply due to the fact that she doesn’t bother him all the time and makes jokes.

Udo: He keeps worrying and panicking and that’s not a good trait to have.

Colt and Falco Grice: He feels a small piece of sympathy for them. They don’t believe in Marleyan ideology and are only even in this mess to protect their family. Colt wants to take on that burden of warrior so Falco can live a long life. Their situation reminds him of his days in the mines, when he had no choice at all.

Gabi Braun: Hates her. Thinks she’s annoying and extremely arrogant. He hates the fact that she’s following him around and trying to get his approval when he could very well crush her like a bug. He’s contemplated doing that a few times just to get her to stop and also to break Reiner. He seems two steps away from spiraling into insanity anyway.

Willy Tybur:  This is from a response I gave to someone on ao3: “For Megatron, for the time being, Willy is a means to an end. Willy is literally the only thing protecting him from prison or interrogation, and if he didn't save Willy's life, Megatron wouldn't have been able to move about freely. Also, learning about Willy, getting to know him, could lead to him knowing the identity of the War Hammer Titan an any other perceived weaknesses. So Megatron will, at the very least, feign a weird sense of friendship if it means gaining his trust. However, some of the responses that Willy has given him throws him off, and the acts of kindness Willy gives doesn't sit well with Megatron. That's because he's not used to it. He's always used to people trying to kill him or be afraid of him. He knows if Willy knew who he was, he would run. So he tries not to think to hard on Willy's acts of kindness. He knows what would happen if the truth was revealed.”

Porco: Megatron also finds him annoying and arrogant, and he finds his behavior problematic whenever he blames Reiner for the failure of the mission and proclaims he would’ve done a better job in securing the Founding Titan. Gabi’s arrogance is born out of ignorance. Porco’s is born out of anger and hatred, and he’s seen what that can fester into. He’s had to be mindful since he ate the Colossal Titan, which had dark energon in him, but he’ll see what happens.

Pieck: He’s suspicious of her. Every time he talks to her, it feels like it’s an interrogation. He cannot tell if she’s onto him or not and it bothers him.

Commander Calvi: a means to an end. He knows that as long as he keeps him and Willy happy, he can’t be touched. His cruelty reminds him of the Decepticons.

Theo Magath: He doesn’t like him and will actively mess with him just for the fun of it. He only needs two people’s approval, and Magath is not on that list. So he will argue, insult, berate, and mess with him just because he can. And it fills him with joy when he is able to succeed. 

Reiner Braun: Reiner is complicated. He initially saw him as a weakling, especially since he was able to defeat him quite easily in the occasions they fought each other. But then Megatron is seeing glimpses of Reiner’s pain and suffering. He can tell Reiner is broken, and he’s sees that broken mind so clearly. Every time he watches and discovers certain actions, it’s painstakingly familiar to how he felt and what he still feels. Everything both of them had worked for was a lie, and they murdered, maimed, and destroyed to justify those beliefs. Now they have nothing left but death waiting for them or whatever punishment comes next. Megatron will start to see himself in Reiner because he is the only one who will ever be able to understand the titan shifter in the first place.

Yelena: She is possessively devoted to Zeke Jaeger and that makes Yelena dangerous in Megatron’s book. Because someone that devoted and loyal would do anything to appease their master. He doesn’t want her on the island at all!

Zeke Jaeger: He is completely suspicious of him! Despite the fact that it’s been a year on the storyline, Megatron can’t bring himself to trust him. All of his actions are contradictory. Zeke Jaeger betrays his parents to Marley, but proclaims he wishes to help save Eldia. Zeke says he feels remorse about killing Eldians and turning them into titans. Well he seems pretty detached from that too? He may very well betray and defect to the island soon, so why would he care about Bertholdt Hoover’s demise? Megatron knows that Zeke has something up his sleeve, but he can’t pinpoint what. And that’s what plan B is for.

I think that’s it. I haven’t introduced Lara yet, and if I say any more, I’m certain I’m going to spoil what I haven’t published yet. But again, the link for my fanfic is up at the top, and if you have any questions, my ask box is open.

[greensaplinggrace]

What Is There To Celebrate About the Darkling? (Part 4)

1 2 3 4

He’s calculating but impulsive. Gentle yet firm. Stubborn and adaptive. Just a real mess of contradictions that makes him all the more interesting.

He loves nature. He loves the forest.

Fond of luxuries and nice things. After growing up as he did, I think he deserves them.

Very socially awkward. Introvert just trying his best. Anything that isn’t manipulation and therefore something he’s planned in his head is just a social train wreck waiting to happen.

The way he pushes up Alina’s sleeve when they first meet. This man had zero compunctions about acting completely unprofessionally in front of his soldiers and I think that’s very sexy of him.

He’s constantly tired and exasperated with the people around him.

The way he says “quiet” with the softest voice imaginable and a room full of laughter instantly goes silent.

He had no interest in Elizaveta even though she was utterly obsessed with him and I think that’s hilarious.

Elizaveta: I have a plan to resurrect the Darkling Everybody Else: Oh the Darkling is so evil for trying to come back! The Darkling, who just wants a nap and is sick of this mortal bullshit: Why am I even here? This is such a pain in the ass. I should have killed Elizaveta when I had the chance.

How he asks if Alina “will have” his name like a man proposing.

Has his bedroom attached to the war room.

Constantly checking up on Alina just to know how she’s doing. Never pushing her beyond her limits as she’s training.

Very creative with his shadows and the extent of their abilities. So many of the ways he uses his powers are genius.

His ending in RoW is a tragedy and an injustice. He deserves better.

This old man pouting at Alina in episode seven as he says “please, I just want to talk to you 🥺”

There is a black kefta made for Alina after like two days in the Little Palace. He really was already planning their entire immortal futures together as Mr. and Mrs. Starkov wasn’t he?

His bed is covered in maps and notes when he’s plotting how to find Alina. Also before that, the way he’s poring over the notes at his desk and giving orders is 👌🥵

Him acting like a real General at all is simply amazing.

The fact that he trusts Luda with his life. That they have a whole intimidation routine set up around him purposefully getting himself fatally injured knowing she’ll heal him.

He looks like a vampire in the show and a fae in the books.

His favorite ABBA song is probably “Lay All Your Love On Me.”

Looks composed but that’s only a façade. Is actually an unhinged feral terror of pain and misery.

That scene where he tells the king she will remain in the Little Palace to train undisturbed and he puts his foot down. ON THE RED CARPET. the king’s carpet. and uses a commanding voice that’s just on the edge of an order…I’m surprised he didn’t get flogged for that. IMO nothing conveys the fine line he walks with those in power while wielding his own like this scene. Literally he should just be celebrated for this alone.

“‘Why won’t you leave me alone?’ I whispered one night as he hovered behind me while I tried to work at my desk. Long minutes passed. I didn’t think he would answer. I even had time to hope he might have gone, until I felt his hand on my shoulder. “Then I’d be alone, too,” he said, and he stayed the whole night through, till the lamps burned down to nothing.

Trapped a bunch of Saints in the Shadow Fold like a true amoral disaster villain. What an icon.

His barely concealed amusement and half hidden smile when Alina comes to put his kefta on. The way he finds Alina utterly hilarious and tries so hard to act like he doesn’t.

That small amused smile when Alina jokes about finding Volcra hilarious. Please he’s so adorable 😭

“‘I know what you feel when you’re with the tracker,’ he said. ‘I doubt that’ He gave a dismissive wave.” - My Malarklina obsessed self, vibrating at the edge of my seat: but what does it mean?!?

Mal and the Darkling’s entire fight in the Fold: dumbass on dumbass violence.

The way he stands with his back turned to Alina when she enters his tent the first time they meet and then does the slowest Godfather turn in history. 1999/10 - points removed for a criminal lack of cat petting.

“I may lead the second army, but the king is still the king.” - the delivery of that line. the implications, the history behind it and also the foreshadowing for his plans.

That slow turn face reveal in episode one though. Like okay we get it you’re pretty alkjsdflkj

Confused Old Man Face™ whenever Mal or Alina do anything remotely defiant in his presence.

How he tells Alina to come closer and she only takes the tiniest step and he doesn’t even react.

His little head cock whenever someone says or does something that just doesn’t vibe with him.

Darklina tumblr has now convinced me that the Darkling is a cat in human form.

“You’re an amplifier,” she said. He glanced at where Sylvi was pouncing on another helpless tree, oblivious, and gave a single, frightened nod. How could he have been so stupid? He would have to tell his mother now, and she would insist that they leave right away. If word got out, they’d both be in danger. Amplifiers were rare, hard to find, harder to hunt. Their lives would be forfeit. Even if they got away, word would spread. He could already hear his mother’s voice: Foolish, careless, callous. If you don’t value your own life, show some concern for mine. Annika touched his sleeve. “It’s okay,” she said. “I won’t tell.” Panic crowded in. He shook his head. She slid her hand into his. It was hard not to pull away. He should. He was breaking his mother’s fundamental rule for keeping them both alive. Never let them touch you, she’d warned him. - 😥 I just want to give him a hug all the time.

His strangled shout when Mal tackles him off of the skiff.

His smile when he’s summoning the sun. The expression on his face when he does so. Like I know I’ve mentioned this before but damn. If you ever needed a reason to celebrate him, this would be it.

“Shame, I’ll have to give that speech again now.”

The way he flips Mal over his shoulder in the Fold after Mal attempts to strangle him.

His little lecture on the Small Science to Alina when they’re going to meet the King. Info dump.

“You make it sound so easy.” “A bird makes flight look easy. But it was born to do so.”

When Alina looks at him for guidance on whether or not to remove her veil and he gives her a small nod.

The handhold in the throne room after Alina’s demonstration is absolutely precious, but it’s in a room full of people he should be keeping up a façade for and it’s so unwarranted and yet he does it anyway, I’m-

The way he says “welcome home, Ms. Starkov,” in the most tender voice I’ve ever heard and then goes “ok that’s enough emotions for one day” and then just straight up leaves without even a goodbye.

He has his symbol?? Sewn into Alina’s kefta??? bRo???!?!

Disaster Simp never gets tired of introducing Alina to other people or talking about how she’s the best thing that ever walked this earth.

The Darkling lying: honestly

“I have devoted my life to undoing the great sin of my forebearer, but I am never seen as the solution. Only as a reminder of the problem.” Sasha you were literally the problem. What a manipulative little shit. We love to see it.

The way he closes his eyes and kisses the coin before he makes a wish at the wishing well.

“I think the Grand Palace is the ugliest building I’ve ever seen.” - I love him your honor.

This man has the most intense lines for Alina. Like straight up I would have booked it when he said “you and I are going to change the world”. But then the head grab?! “I’ve been waiting a long time for you.” He’s so intense like sir can you tone it down a bit please I am begging you.

“I shall be right by your side.” / “We can do anything. Together.” / “For us.” / “You cannot do this on your own. And neither can I” / “I want you to know my name. The name I was given, not the title I took for myself. Will you have it, Alina?” - WEDDING VOWS

That scene in the war room when Alina comes to find him and he instantly drops his guard and lowers his arms and welcomes her with a soft voice.

“Am I bothering you?” “Not at all.” - girl you could be stabbing him in the chest and you still wouldn’t be bothering him.

This whipped disaster sounds like the proudest man on the planet when he talks about how much more his enemies fear Alina over him.

His shadows react to his emotions.

“YoUr’E nOt IvAn.” asjlkdfjs god he’s so embarrassing.

Local Dark Lord Sasha offering Alina the throne after she literally tries to kill him.

He gets so jealous of Mal.

Has a great relationship with his soldiers and his men. His men trust him implicitly and believe him to be an amazing general.

When he turns around after Alina puts the kefta on him and looks flustered/has to take a breath because she’s a lot closer than he expected. The way he’s breathless and literally can’t string a sentence together because he’s so distracted by her closeness.

His jokes are absolutely terrible.

GF: *jokes about throwing herself down the stairs to get out of an event* Sasha “no thoughts head empty only Alina” Morozova: haha I’d just have my healers heal you right back up again.

How genuinely touched he is by Alina admitting to wanting to help Grisha and Ravkans.

That scene in Demon in the Woods when he notices the intricate details of the politics in the Grisha camp after one meeting with the Elders. He has the Ulle pegged almost instantly.

Born to be a leader. Born to take care of others. Born to protect. Even in Demon in the Woods he’s protecting people. Even in Demon in the Woods he’s leading them and caring for them.

The way he cups his hands around Alina’s face when they’re kissing.

This man gets so starstruck by Alina walking into the Fete that he doesn’t even excuse himself from the King’s side to go to her.

Long haired Aleksander rights!

Ok I know the wig was kind of ugly but he looks pretty with long hair and I think it would look very good on him naturally.

The way he slams his hands together in the Winter Fete scene and instantly turns the room pitch black.

Literally any times he summons shadows is a blessing and we should all celebrate him for it. They are so beautiful. On god if I ever saw his shadows in real life I would be awestruck.

He asks Mal if he’s okay when they first meet.

The pure, barely contained fury directed at the Conductor for daring to harm Alina and kidnap his Grisha.

He always has to make a grand entrance.

This man is like a bloodhound when it comes to Nina. He is very invested in finding her and I feel like that’s never really talked about.

“I know exactly how she felt. The King’s soldiers treated me the same way. Because they knew- they knew that I was more important than any of them.” - the way he says it, like it’s something he has to remind himself of in his head constantly. a justification for the way he’s been treated, the fear he evokes in others. a way to protect himself from the hurt of being ostracized and reviled. arrogance and conceit as a defense against emotional harm.

Also the way his face instantly changes after that, like he’s said too much. vulnerability. lowering his eyes. shifting his eyes. literally just everything about this scene makes me love him all the more.

Dark carriage rides up to the Crows’ hiding place. Grisha circle the area as Aleksander steps from the carriage slowly, dressed all in black, floofy cloak high on his shoulders. Villain Entrance™

Him slowly pulling a knife out of his chest like it shouldn’t have killed him is hot as fuck and also totally badass. Big dick energy.

“I’ve had enough of your lies.” “And what lies are those?” - Alina, pulling out a fifty mile long scroll of grievances: Well, for starters-

This man is literally just an Alina Starkov compliments machine.

He cares so much about the Grisha and their protection. He loves Ravka and his people so much.

He had an entire cult dedicated to him.

“They would approach him. They always did. But he felt more anxious than usual. He’d stopped trying to make friends in the places he and his mother visited—there was no point when they moved on so quickly. Now he wasn’t quite sure how to go about it.”

Save a Villain. Murder the King.

Openly admits to staging a coup like it’s the most natural thing in the world.

He speaks so slowly. He moves so slowly. Everything he does has to have Purpose and Gravitas.

Theater Nerd™

He knew Nikolai for years and yet couldn’t recognize him as Sturmhond. We do stan an oblivious icon 💕

The Darkling after he gets his ass whooped in Siege and Storm: Mom can you please come pick me up? I’m scared!

He’s here to manipulate sun summoners and murder cities. And unfortunately he’s all out of sun summoners.

Would absolutely get drunk on real alcohol. This man thinks kvas is strong liquor.

Has his wrists exposed exactly one time in the most skin he’s shown all season and it’s when Alina visits him at night in the war room. WHORE!

Was too emotionally slutty and fell for Alina. RIP.

He’s passionate and cold and beautiful and hurt and twisted up in ways nobody could ever hope to understand and he’s stunning.

I would literally kill for this man 🖤✨

[wannabemobwife]

Guns, Glamour and Goodfellas- Chapter 1

Chapter 1: Dressed to the Nines

Dad!Mob!Tom Holland x Mom!Mob!Reader Fanfic

-Pairings: mob! Tom Holland x reader

-Warnings: Language

-Words: 3.9K

Background Info- Tom Holland is boss of his mafia and Y/N Holland, his wife, is former mafia boss turned stay at home mom but still joined Tom on his business trips and meetings. They started dating at 19 and were married at the young age of 21, realizing they only needed each other. They have two kids together, both ages 16, Parker and Rosie Holland.

*Realistically to have two teenagers, Tom and Y/N are both in their mid/late thirties but they look like they are in their mid twenties/late twenties alright. What can I say, they have really good genes. I can guarantee that Tom will still definitely look as gorgeous as he does know in his 30’s.

Author note: I enjoy writing drama, so it’s hard to have constant fluff, mostly angst (I hope, at least what I consider angst). The more times where a character almost dies but doesn’t the better to me. This is my first fanfic, I wrote this story based on being married with kids because that is the part of my life I’m most looking forward to. Heads up but there is tons of dialogue, I find that the most fun to write.

Also I enjoy PDA and a personal goal of mine is to be married for 20 years and still want to jump my husband’s bones so there are a bunch of little hints like that through the fanfic. Sorry if your name is any of the characters, feel free to change them in your mind. I know it’s stupid of me to say that but whatever.

Chapter 1: Dressed to the Nines

Words: 3.9K

You and Tom were a power couple. The Hollands, the ones with the most power and the most dangerous. A king and queen to their empire. Lately you had been tackling married life together and had been raising two kids. A boy named Parker and a girl named Rosie both the same age. But nothing could prepare you for what every parent dreads, their teenage years. All the hormones, mood swings and relationship drama that comes with it.

When both the twins turned 16 it was big turning point in your family. Rights of passage as Tom would say. You and Tom threw a massive gala to celebrate their 16 years of being alive. Tom as the leader of his own mob, money was no object and you coming from the family you did and being a former mafia boss, you both had truly opulent wealth. It was the night of their kids’ sixteenth birthday and everyone was invited from family, friends, business associates and even enemies. Keep your friends close and your enemies closer they would say. Tom and tried to keep as much as possible from your kids, trying to give them a normal childhood. Failing over and over again at that. Some nights Tom would come home bloody from beating up someone who crossed him. Or there would always been strange, bulky, built men surrounding your mansion for protection. It was hard to explain everything to the kids, but it was something they just had to do for family.

The party was about to begin, 7:00 on the dot, and the house was decorated to fit a very elegant yet youthful look. Caterers dressed in white carrying bountiful trays of appetizers. Tom and you adored the luxury of their life, even though they knew if they didn’t have all the materials they did they would be even happier. Their family is what mattered most to them. You were dressed to the nines, in a lace gold gown, with sparkly stilettos on. Her Y/H/C hair gracefully laying one her back, without a strand out of the place. And her Y/E/C eyes were beaming, if looks could kill they would. Tom couldn’t help but admire you.

“You know, it’s rude to gawk,” you said and Tom chuckled.

“I’m sorry but you’re just too beautiful not to,” he responded and placing his hands on your hips.

Rolling your eyes and smirking you said “tonight’s the night.”

“I know, should we do it now?” he questioned as his half smile turned into a frown.

“No, let him have this one more night. Without any obligation,” you had been dreading this night for years.

“Alright, darling,” he said as he kissed softly, he just couldn’t contain himself he

found his other half. The person that makes him want to be a better man. His soulmate.

Like any family there are skeletons in their closets but, the Hollands were a whole another story. Tonight was the night, one they had been dreading for 16 years, to be exact. You and Tom’s son, Parker would be tasked with the most difficult decision of his life. One that will rewrite his story. Tom wishes he would just turn it down and do what he didn’t have the balls to do when he was his age.

The day Tom’s dad brought him into the office, he knew his life would never be the same. Dom, his father and former boss of the Holland empire, made it very clear that if he turned him down, he could forget about being in this family. Tom just knows he won’t give the same ultimatum. Parker being the oldest and only son of Tom and Y/N Holland is the future of their family empire. Parker was quite popular, a playboy actually and very dashing. Wearing a black suit with a black tie and a white shirt he look just like his dad with his brown hair slicked back. Being one of the guests of honor tonight he had to look the part. Slowly made his way to the bar before his mother could find him. Desperately needing some liquid courage, he quickly poured himself a shot of vodka and downed it even faster. However nothing gets past, you, Y/N Holland.

“Parker Jackson Holland!” you fumed, catching her 16 year old son drinking.

“Hey, what’s with the middle naming me, it’s my birthday,” he responded a little startled.

“You should not be drinking, ever. You got two years, mister,” you explained.

“Alright, mum,” Parker sounded annoyed.

“Where’s your sister by the way, party is supposed to start in 10 mins,” you said as she noticed all the guest starting to arrive. A line of people already waiting at the door but everyone knew the Hollands preferred people to arrive fashionably late.

“I don’t know. Having a fit probably. Last I heard was screaming coming from her closet.”

“I’ll go check on her. Your father and I need you sober later. Understood?” You exclaimed.

“Yes, mum.” Parker was a good boy on paper but, enjoyed breaking the rules.

Right as you turned away, Parker then started to pour another shot.

“Don’t even think about it,” you said still walking forward. Parker chuckled and set the shot down.

You went to go check on her daughter. You knocked on the door when she heard something shatter. Rosie may seem timid but she definitely inherited Tom’s anger issues.

“Honey? Is everything alright?” You questioned, startled by the outburst.

“Yeah, mum. I’m sorry,” Rosie muttered seeming frustrated.

“It’s ok, oh honey!” You exclaimed, noticing the tears on her daughter face

“I know, this is stupid,” Rosie whispered trying to hide her tear stained face.

“No, no it isn’t. What’s wrong?” you said, genuinely concerned for her daughter’s well-being.

“I don’t know everything, this dress, my hair, my makeup,” she exclaimed frantically.

“Baby, you look beautiful.”

“Pretty enough that someone would want to dance with me?” Rosie whispered. You were caught off guard that your daughter could ever have thoughts like that.

“Yes of course, you are always gorgeous.” You hated seeing your baby girl beat herself up based on her looks.

“Thanks mom, I have a question?” You just nodded in response.

How did you get dad to fall in love with you?” Rosie asked inquisitively.

“Um, I guess was just myself. I didn’t put on a facade and I was very honest and transparent with him,” you answered a little taken back from the question.

“You were yourself? I find that hard to believe. From stories I’ve heard you seemed to be bold, brave and beguiling” said Rosie with a hint of sarcasm.

“Am I not those things now?” You asked, cheekily.

“No you are, just in a different way.”

“Honey, whoever you are trying impress, will love for who you are, ok?” You couldn’t stand seeing her daughter like this.

“Alright. Can you help me with my makeup?” Rosie asked because her previous makeup had been ruined by her miniature breakdown

“Yes, of course.”

Back at the party Tom was making his way around saying hello to almost everyone. He desperately needed to find his son. Tom’s and Parker’s relationship was interesting to say the least. As babies and toddlers Tom was there. He loved his kids so much but as they grew older they only noticed the times he wasn’t there. Only the missed recitals and football games, never all times that had dinner as a family and he tucked them in to bed at night. Parker is closer to his mother and his twin sister. Never really having that man to man talk with his dad yet. The time when fathers stop seeing their sons as boys and look at them as men. Tom approached Parker sitting there with his a drink in his hand, he hoped was a watered down Pepsi.

“Hey Parker, did your mom talk to you already?” Tom asked, not trying to raise too many questions.

“No, she might have mentioned something,” Parker responded.

“Ok, well after cake meet me in my office.” Parker nodded in response and noticed how he tensed a little at the conversation.

Their chat quickly ended when Harrison and his 16 year old son Henry came to wish happy birthday. Harrison is Tom’s right hand man, his consigliere and his best friend. He was more than that, Harrison was family. Harrison’s son, Henry was best friends with Parker and Rosie, ever since birth.

“Hey mate,” Tom said to his best friend Harrison.

“Hey, just came to wish this guy “happy birthday”” he said patting Parker’s shoulder.

“Happy birthday, dude” Henry said to Parker and he returned with subtle “thank you’s.” Parker slightly nodded to his dad to see if he could leave the conversation and Tom let him know it was ok.

“Come on, let’s go,” Parker exclaimed making his way to den where his other friends were.

Harrison was the first to speak up, “Have you told him yet?”

“No, Y/N and I are going to do it tonight” Tom uttered with a low toned voice.

“Geez, do you need me there?” Harrison asked, afraid Tom might say yes. Harrison was there when Tom went through the same process with his dad. Tom’s anger issues didn’t help the outcome.

“I think I’m alright, just family. Not that I don’t consider you family but I don’t even know if Rosie should be there.” Tom justified.

“It’s alright mate, I get it.”

They were both enjoying their night, making their rounds, Tom and Harrison went to get drinks, not beer this time but a scotch on the rocks as this was a classy night. Everything was dandy up until one of Tom’s men, William, came up to him informing Tom of a problem.

“Sir we have a problem,” William whispered to Tom, Tom nodded for them to follow them to his office.

“William, what now? Can’t you see I’m enjoying the party?” Tom exclaimed, closing the doors to his office.

“Sir, Daniel, was found dead at his post outside, shot by a tranquilizer gun, with a note taped to his chest, it’s for you.” William announced and handed the paper to the most important and dangerous man of the mob, his boss.

“What the fuck?” A long silence stayed in the air while Tom processed the news. Awkwardness had filled the entire room as they all awaited Tom’s response.

“For fucks sake, you need at least 3 guards posted outside. NOW!” He screamed as his anger continued to rise as read the note.

“Yes, Sir.” William said promptly.

“God forbid anything else happen tonight, but my wife and kids are the first ones to be escorted to safe house. Understood?” Tom explained as he only was only thinking about his family in that moment.

“Yes, Sir.” William said and quickly ran out before he could get the brunt of Tom’s upcoming outburst. Right on cue, Tom threw a glass ashtray at the wall, it shattering into shards.

“Calm down mate, what did the note even say.” Harrison asked with a worrisome look on his face. Tom showed Harrison the joy and his smile faded immediately. Tom for the first time, in a while, felt fear because he knew he had everything to lose.

Not wanting to deal with the life long headache that is his life. He looked for solace in, you, his wife as he spotted her over by the fireplace and made his way over to you.

“Have told you look stunning tonight?” He said instantly falling in love with you over again.

“Several times actually,” you said.

“Well I can’t help what you do to me, gorgeous.” He said placing a kiss to your temple.

“Hey, have you had the talk with him yet?” You said pointing a finger at your son getting very intimate with some girl.

The girl was Charlotte Owens. Parker and her had been together for almost a year, but you and Tom hadn’t met her formally yet. Your son was very tight-lipped the it came to his private life. She was tall, fair and had platinum blonde hair along with piercing blue eyes. Rosie didn’t seem to like her very much, constantly annoyed by her popularity status and reputation, used to be known for being with a new guy every couple weeks and don’t put it past Rosie to not give her the benefit of the doubt.

“No, remember we’re going to do it tonight. Is something wrong?” He said with concern, worried why you would forget something so important.

“No, not that talk, silly, “The talk”,” you responded. His lips formed an “o” shaped as he realized he would have to teach his son about how to be safe during sex.

“Oh, no. I’ve been avoiding it for as long as possible.”

“Why baby, you’re so good at it. You could give him a few a pointers.” You said, winking at him.

“Wow, love, you surprise me everyday. Speaking of beautiful girls, where’s Rosie. I’ve haven’t seen her all night,” Tom quickly trying to change the subject as they were at a party.

“I saw her a few minutes ago,” you said as a puzzled look grew on her face.

“Come on, let’s go find her and maybe you and I can sneak off for awhile.” He said cheekily.

“Tommy,” you whispered but eventually agreed. Slowly making your way out of the main ballroom to the secret garden next to his office.

Walking very slyly, you both made your way to secret spot near Tom’s office. Where ivy had grown throughout the brick and purple and yellow tulips lined the fence along with giant trees. There was a little wishing fountain that Tom had installed when you moved in, this was their secret spot. One where they could forget about all the violence and responsibility that tainted their lives.

Their intimate moment was ruined when Rosie walked by with some random guy named Connor, not the person she’d hope to bring there. All throughout the night Rosie seemed to be jealous of the attention her crush was getting at the party as he didn’t pay attention to her. Thus, she went find a distraction of her own.

“Oh hey, shh, look two people getting it on over there,” he whispered to her as she dragged him outside.

“Please don’t be my brother.” She murmured but felt like she wanted to throw up when she saw who it was.

“Mom, dad?” Rosie screamed.

“Oh shit, we’ve been busted,” Tom muttered against your neck.

“Hey honey,” You said while Rosie was completely mortified. Rosie’s potential hookup stood there mouth wide open.

“That’s your mum, god, she’s a babe.” Connor said.

“Connor, not helping.” Rosie exclaimed sternly as she pinched his side.

Tom spoke up, “Why don’t you guys go back and enjoy the rest of the party.”

Rosie just nodded and left as fast as humanly possible. She never wants to be that embarrassed again.

“Oh my god, we were gonna get it later.” You said.

“I know, we really screwed up this time. But have you had “the talk” with her yet,” Tom asked.

“Nope, we should both really get on that. What would I’ve happened if they hadn’t caught us?” You asked jokingly.

“I don’t want to think about that Y/N! She’s our daughter.” Tom exclaimed.

“Neither do I.”

“Enough of this, where were we?” Tom interjected immediately changing the subject.

“Well you lips were on my neck and you hand was on my waist, but I think the moment has passed and we should get back to the party,” you said rather seductively.

“Fine, I know you’re right. But fuck, I just want to make out with my wife,” Tom muttered frustratingly.

“Well you can later... in bed.” Winking as you chuckled.

“Man, that kid was right, you are a babe.”he said as he slapped your ass as you walked in front of him chuckling.

“Is it time for cake?” Harrison asks as he came up to Tom and you.

“I think it is.” Tom said and you nodded. Walking towards Rosie, who was desperately trying to erase her self from existence because of the embarrassment she’d experienced a minute ago.

“Hi, honey. Can you please go find your brother? We are going to cut the cake.” You said trying not to accidentally bring up the elephant in the room.

“Alright, fine,” Rosie muttered still a little peeved finding you and Tom like that. Rosie searched high and low for Parker.

Needing some assistance she asked Henry. “Hey, have you seen my brother?”

“Last I saw he was taking Charlotte to the green house” Henry responded.

“Alright, come on, let’s go find them” Rosie said rolling her eyes. Her hand slipped into Henry’s as she led the way. Making their way through the vast yet gorgeous yard. Rosie and Henry found Parker and Charlottes lips entangled together and bodies in a compromising position in the green house

“For fucks sake, how many people am I going to find sucking face at this party.” Rosie yelled, startling Charlotte and Parker.

“What the fuck do you want, Rosie? Can’t you see I’m busy.” Parker quipped annoyingly.

“Mom and dad want to cut the cake” Rosie responded.

“Ugh fine. Give us 10 mins” knowing he will be finished in that time.

“No, you can fuck your bimbo of a girlfriend later.” Rosie said, receiving a grimace from Charlotte.

“Don’t you fucking talk about her like that! Fuck off!” Parker yelled as Henry and Rosie left. Both of the kids had inherited Tom’s angry side.

“Well, you can explain to mom and dad you were late because you were balls deep in in your whore,” Rosie said walking away.

The moments leading up to the end of Parker’s innocence were fleeting. In more ways than one. He wasn’t a virgin even before that evening but, Parker could imagine the task he was supposed to accomplish. The 3 tier chocolate raspberry ganache cake had been cut and distributed to the guests. Happy birthday had been sung to Rosie and Parker. Parker tried to go off with Charlotte again, but Harrison stopped him and brought him to the Tom’s office.

“They’re in there,” Harrison whispered.

“Who?” Parker asked Harrison who was like his uncle.

“Just go,” Parker opened the door to see his mother and his dad sat behind the desk. The door shut behind him.

“Mom? Dad? What’s going on here?” Parker hesitated.

“Son, sit down,” Tom said, knowing this wasn’t going to be easy.

“We have to talk to you.” You interjected.

“Parker, as part of this family, there are certain responsibilities you have to take. It is a tradition in our family that at the age of 16, the sons are brought to light about the dealings of our family and what is expected of you,” Tom said as Parker grew wary. Not really understanding what his parents were trying to convey.

Throughout his entire life, he had his suspicions about his family. Wondering why men followed them everywhere, even on trips to the store for eggs. Why his parents went to work but have never seen their office, only heard it referred to as “the warehouse.” Why everything was always so damm secretive. Scared if he accidentally let some enormous family secret slip with his big mouth there would be repercussions. Never not scared of the harm that could come to his family.

“Your father, is the leader of a very powerful mob. I am part of it too, not just as wife but as his partner. There will be day when he will longer be in position of boss and you will take over,” you asserted playing off of Tom’s words.

“Our family is not only the owners of one of the world’s richest exporting company, we also do business with casinos and own multiple hotel chains. Sometimes our work brings us above the law, but the connections we have are what keep us alive.” Tom explained trying to preserve his son’s innocence.

“Why are you telling me all this?” Parker stuttered.

“Because it is time. Time for you to step up and take your place in this family. You’ve had 16 years of juvenile fun and now this is what has to be done.” Tom concluded.

“What if I don’t want this life. You don’t think I don’t know what happens behind closed doors here. All the times dad has come home with a black eye or blood on his knuckles. Why fuck isn’t Rosie here? She is the same age as me, WE ARE TWINS! Why am I the only one who has to do this. I don’t want to kill for sport like you and mom!” Parker screamed. He couldn’t handle this anymore. There was too much information he had to process.

“Do not raise your voice at your mother! Tom screamed.

“Dad, I had dreams and hopes. I wanted to go to college and travel. Find a nice girl and marry her. Experience the kind of love you and mom have. What you are asking me to do, flushes all that away. You are asking me to give up on my life.

So that’s it, I don’t have a choice,” Parker begged.

“Baby, you have a choice. Nothing is set in stone,” you said rubbing his arm.

“Y/N, you damm well know what will happen if he turns this down,” Tom yelled.

“Maybe this life works for you two, but I don’t want this kind of life. My answer is no. Find someone else.”

“Parker, you know I can’t do that. Take a couple days and think about it” Tom answered trying to stay calm.

“NO DAD! My answer is final, I’m not going to be your apprentice to carry on this heinous family legacy!” Parker exploded. It was too much.

“If you aren’t willing to do what is asked of you, then you can forget about being in this family!” Tom screamed. He did exactly what he said he wouldn’t, he gave his son an ultimatum. Parker couldn’t handle it anymore and left. Needing to forget about the fact he no longer had a say. He was stuck.

It was just Tom and you sitting in the study. They couldn’t understand where the conversation had gone. All their hopes for tonight went out the window along with potted plant Tom threw when Parker stormed out.

“Tom, you can’t force him. You can’t do what your father did to you to him.” You tried to say in a loving tone but it came out as stern.

“IM NOT, Y/N!!!” Tom screamed. He had fucked up. The words spoken tonight have rewritten his relationship with his son.

“Alright.” You whispered trying to calm your fuming husband down.

“I’m sorry I raised my voice, baby.” Tom’s tone immediately changed once he heard the softness of your voice. You just nodded in response

“Tommy?” You asked hoping Tom was now ok.

“Yes, love” Tom said.

“He’ll come around. I can promise you that.”

“I know, darling. That’s not what I’m worried about.”

“Then what?” a look of confusion grew on your face.

He handed you a paper, the same one that was found on Daniel’s body, saying “Eclipsing of the Hollands. Let the show begin. Better watch your back.”

It was threat. A play to eventually be made on his life or the life of his family and you all had no idea who was behind it.

Guns, Glamour, and Goodfellas Series Masterlist

[mostlysignssomeportents]

How one of America's most abusive employers gets away with it

I spend a lot of time looking in detail at abusive situations where tech plays a starring role: stalkerware, bossware, remote proctoring, etc. But nothing I'd read really prepared me for the tale of Arise Virtual Solutions, an abuser without parallel.

https://pluralistic.net/2020/10/02/chickenized-by-arise/#arise

Arise sells itself as a "virtual call center" and boasts of blue-chip clients like Disney, Carnival Cruises, Comcast, Airbnb, Intuit etc. If you've ever called one of these companies, you may have spoken to an Arise worker.

But that "worker" was not an employee. Arise is a pioneer in worker misclassification, and treats all the people who work for it as "independent contractors." So even though these workers are more tightly supervised and managed than any regular employee, they have no rights.

You have to pay Arise for the privilege of working for them. Not just buying your own computer, but also paying to be trained in how to pretend to be an employee of Disney or Airbnb and Arise's other customers.

Execs at these giant corps listen in on your calls while they are in progress or after the fact - and if they detect so much as a squeak from a child, or a noisy neighbor, they can terminate your contract and you lose the money and unpaid labor you spent on training.

Likewise, you can be summarily fired for hanging up on - or mildly chastising - a caller, even in the face of sexual harassment, racist abuse, or threats of violence. Being fired means losing your training "investment."

The company will not assign a regular working schedule: rather, you are assigned 30-minute shifts, scattered through the day. Turning down a shift can mean losing access to future shifts.

Why would anyone work for this shitty, shitty company? Put simply: it's a pyramid scheme that preys on women, especially Black women. The company deceives the workers it recruits, then rewards them for roping their friends into the job.

These workers are the most precarious, desperate part of the US labor force, and Arise brutalizes them by remote control. Workers talk about the terror that they'll lose thousands of dollars and their income if their children cry or laugh too loud.

The whole family goes into lockdown like Anne Frank in the attic as soon as Mom dials into her terrible job. They have to sit in silence while Mom smiles through calls where she can receive death and rape threats, racist abuse, and sexual harassment.

And here's the kicker: if this all gets too much for Mom and she quits her job, *she has to pay Arise an "early termination" penalty*. This is the kind of thing that happens under worker misclassification: you have to pay to get a job, and you have to pay to quit it.

Now, Arise are pioneers in worker misclassification and their abuse stretches all the way back to the Obama administration. They were dirty from the start. In 2008, the US Department of Labor launched an in-depth investigation into rampant wage-theft at Arise.

The investigation took two years and involved interviews with at least 56 workers. It concluded that Arise had stolen $14.2 million from its workers, and that it owed double that in damages to be paid to those same workers.

But Arise didn't pay a cent.

What nefarious legal trick did Arise use to avoid $28.4m in liability? How did it wriggle free of the Department of Labor's airtight case?

Well, it's like this. When Arise's lawyers met with the DoL's lawyers in 2010, they "politely disagreed" with the DoL's conclusions, so the DoL walked away from the case.

https://www.propublica.org/article/arise-department-of-labor-2010

In yet another landmark piece of reporting, Propublica's Ken Armstrong, Justin Elliott and Ariana Tobin document how the DoL lawyers dutifully noted that Arise disputed the report and would not be changing its labor practices and then washed their hands of the matter.

They even have an official notation for when this happens: they mark the file as "RTP/RTC," which stands for "Refused to pay, refused to comply." In the years that followed, top Obama DoL officials narrowed the complaint from $14m to $40k.

Why did the DoL do this? According to DoL insiders quoted in the Propublica article, the DoL won't take on cases with big firms that can afford to drag out the proceedings and tie up department resources.

The circular reasoning goes: we need our lawyers and investigators to protect workers. But if we discover a bunch of workers in harm's way, we can't afford to protect them, because then we won't have those resources to protect workers.

The DoL was a known problem in 2010. The Government Accountability Office had already identified its inability to fulfill its mission, and they tested the Department with 10 fictitious complaints to see how they'd be handled. Only half of those were even entered into the DoL's database.

DoL intake staff tried to convince people who filed complaints to drop them, told them that the DoL had no power, lied about what they were doing to address the issue, and failed to investigate a claim of child labor in a meat-packing plant.

In the years since Obama's DoL walked away from Arise, its misclassifed workforce has grown from 20,000 to 70,000.

The factors that allowed it to flip off the DoL in 2010 are far stronger today, and the company has more than tripled the number of workers it has ensnared.

Worker misclassification didn't start with Uber, or even with Arise. It really began in the poultry industry, which is why labor economists call it "chickenization." The US has only three monopolist chicken processors.

These monopolists have carved up the country so that chicken farmers only have one company that can process their chickens and get them to market. That company calls farmers independent contractors, even as it treats them like employees with no labor rights.

A chicken farmer gets their chicks from the packer, which owns them, tells the farmer what to feed them and when, which meds and vets can be used on 'em, when the lights go on and when they go off.

Packers design the chicken coops and then order the farmers to borrow the money to build them. Farmers sign nondisclosure agreements so they can't complain, and arbitration agreements so they can't sue.

Packers tell the farmers what they must and must not do, but there's one thing they NEVER tell farmers: how much they'll be paid. It's only when chickens are sent to market that packers declare a price for them, just enough to service farmers' debt, but not to get ahead.

Of all US occupations, "farmer" is presents one of the highest risks of dying on the job. But their leading cause of death isn't falling into a threshing machine: it's suicide. And chicken farmers lead farmers in these deaths of despair.

Arise has chickenized a 70,000 person workforce of call-center workers whose homes are rent-free office space for a wildly profitable company that serves other wildly profitable companies. Most of those workers are women, and most of the women are Black women.

Biden faces an immediate, urgent test of his willingness to tackle worker misclassification. One of Trump's last-minute regulations was a rollback that protected workers from being misclassified as contractors. The Biden admin could reverse that regulation.

Then there's the matter of what he does with his DoL, which has shed 25% of its investigators over the past decade, even as labor abuses have skyrocketed.

The Biden admin's actions here will speak far louder than any soaring inaugural rhetoric.

If Biden cares about gender justice, racial justice, inequality, fairness and corruption, he will immediately reverse the Trump rollback and massively staff up the DoL's investigative division.

[why-this-kolaveri-machi]

just because you’re afraid it doesn’t mean you’re broken.

Titans 3.05

once more into the cold dark void of the internet with my stream-of-consciousness take on a superhero tv show...

spoilers ahead.

1. i cannot believe that among the first things i get to hear in this episode with my own two ears is the line 'eluded our overdudes'. why must you give me such pain along with so much joy, show?

1.5. scarecrow stringing jason along on this path to red-hood-dom is not something i would’ve ever expected, but does kind of make sense. 

1.55. i don’t know all the details of the original resurrection arc in the comics but i like that jason, weirdly, has a greater role to play in his own demise and rebirth? i think it makes it easier to draw a line between his past trauma, the demonstrably shitty and terrifying responsibility of being robin, the ways bruce and the titans wronged him, his responses to that, the reasons he turns to scarecrow, and his final evolution to red hood. it makes for a smoother character arc rather than a one that was interrupted for two decades before somebody went oh hey let’s resurrect that kid that the audience once voted to kill and make him an anti-hero!

1.75. what’s crane giving him? anti fear toxin? anyway, crane is a fucking creep and i’m not sure i want to see a whole lot of him on my screen.

2. oh, um, heads up: there’s a long sequence of unsteady cam + flickering lights right after the title card upto the 3:16 mark. it’s a bit headache-inducing so if you want to skip, you can go ahead and do that. 

2.45. that’s... weird... why would he dream about... donna...

ok, who am i kidding. i’m going to jump right into my theory about Why Titans Makes Sense Actually because the show itself is apparently not interested in explaining itself:

a) it makes no sense for jason to be conjuring up donna--who famously did not care much for him!--in his dreams. (he wasn’t even there when she died.) or for her to be telling him don’t go or there’s still time.

b) this leads me to think that that’s actually donna, in some sort of limbo between life and death, the kind of place where jericho used to be

c) rachel has demonstrated that she has the power to link the minds of the titans across great distances--she called jason and hank/dawn for help in 2.01, she linked up everybody later in the season, projected dick’s hallucination of his father into their brains without even realising she was doing it, and in the finale, she managed to get dick into conner’s brain. she’s in themyscira now. is this how she gets donna back to life? but reaching out to her in that non-space between life and death?

d) the next obvious question is: why isn’t donna appearing in the dreams of the other titans? she probably is, but they have better reason to be dreaming about her since they were actually close to her, unlike jason.

e) but why would she warn jason in particular? does she foresee jason entering the afterlife--however briefly? does she have an idea of what jason plans to do and what he will become?

f) anyway, more trippy mindscapes and weird psychic powers, yay!

2.5. my heart clenched when bruce comforted jason post-nightmare: clearly i’ve been reading way too much batfam fic. this is a side of bruce we haven’t really been told to expect by all the characters on the show calling him a ‘psychopath’ (*cough*unreliablenarrators*cough*) and him getting jason to speak to a professional speaks volumes about the kind of self-reflection he’s done post dick’s departure, and maybe some of the regrets he has with regards to how he dealt with dick’s traumas.

i mean, just look at him when jason dismisses his concerns! BRUCE IS TRYING JASON

anyway, i have a whole lot more i want to say about this, but i’ll save it for later. 

also: LESLIE THOMPKINS!!!!

3. i really like molly--and i love that she’s a friend from before jason got taken in by bruce, the implication that they meet up regularly and that she’s a grounding influence on him (tho clearly not grounding enough to not go along with his dumbass idea about confronting a child trafficker alone). 

3.5. aw, jason. robin was his armour against everything in the world that would throw him down and chew him to bits, but san francisco proved that even robin wasn’t enough to protect him. it’s really interesting how ‘disillusionment with the idea of robin’ is so integral to the traumas of both dick and jason but in such different ways. 

4. LESLIE!!!!!!! i even forgive her office being so goddamn blue because leslie! 

4.5. it makes so much sense for titans!verse leslie to be a therapist, because this show is so inward looking anyway, and therapist sessions are a useful tool to showcase this character work in a story. besides, at least in fanfic, leslie often seems to double up as a counsellor anyway. 

4.6. oh man. i’m not terribly convinced by walters’ red hood (tho i think that may be the point--argh. i’ll come back to this thought later. have to stop getting distracted!) but he plays the asshole kid that’s trying not to let any real emotion seep through really well.

“you’d like me to punch you, wouldn’t you”

5. not sure what to think of batman’s little trophy case other than the show winking unsubtly at us and going look look - catwoman! the riddler! two face! you excited yet?! it’s like the scene from the end of amazing spiderman 2 when they were trying to drum up excitement for a sinister six spinoff by having harry osborne walk by a bunch of display cases with stuff from iconic villains in them.

... but then again, bruce does like to display a lot of shit in his batcave, including his dead robin’s bloodstained costume, so.

5.5. bruce is so soft with jason it’s killing me. beyond just trying to learn from his mistakes with dick, it speaks to his own genuine desire to balance his dedication to gotham with doing the best by his sons, although he’s often not successful with that. 

i love that titans is really playing the long game with bruce wayne, with each season and character-perspective sliding in fresh pieces of a bigger puzzle. titans’ bruce has always been a phantom of other peoples’ making, but now we’re getting the idea that he’s a whole lot more complicated than other people make it seem.

5.75. it really recontextualises some of his actions from previous seasons: the fact that he locked dick out of his security systems in 1.06 is likely his way of respecting dick’s independence and his desire not to be associated with batman/gotham anymore. jason knowing about bruce’s tracker while dick doesn’t is probably bruce trying to be more honest and upfront with his charges. bruce sending jason packing off to sanfran to spend time with the titans is probably not him passing on a big responsibility to dick (as i first uncharitably thought) but him trying to get jason out of the toxic influence of gotham for a while and a sign of his trust in dick as a leader and a mentor,

5.8. i mean, bruce is a prick, but he’s also human.

6. i think leslie is doing some good work with jason here, though she may have overstepped the line with her line about robin as a construct being projected by a man with BPD. her speculations about bruce’s diagnosis have no place in her session with jason, and if bruce confides in her, an egregious violation of patient-therapist confidentiality. 

(about the diagnosis itself... i don’t know. i can’t really confirm or refute this without a whole lot more information, and i’m not sure if the writer of this episode means BPD in the same way an actual professional might.)

6.5. i think a huge thing that gets missed out in a lot of recent comics as well as movies/shows is that bruce didn’t create the robin persona out of whole cloth. dick did. he’s the starting point of that legacy and to call it entirely bruce’s creation is blatant erasure of that. in fact, i’m surprised that dick doesn’t feature more in the conversations they’re having about the pressures of being robin. after all, the guy had been robin--bruce’s partner--for such a long time before jason. 

6.8. (and here’s the primal part of me that resonates the deepest with dick grayson--the Eldest Daughter part--that’s sort of resentful: that jason gets the therapy and softness and the learning from mistakes when it took years and years for bruce to reach out in any meaningful way to dick.)

7. oooh that was a great scene!

it’s fun to do these stream-of-consciousness live reactions, because the moment you step down from your soapbox, the episode goes right into tackling what you were just complaining about. bruce means well, he’s learning, but he goes about exactly the wrong way to help jason: taking away robin now can’t be read by jason as anything but a devastating judgment call from bruce. and iain glen really sells the moment that bruce realises this--too late--and his helplessness in trying to get jason to see that it isn’t jason’s fault that he’s trying to do this. he loves jason enough that jason is enough. 

7.5. aaaah so jason brings up the elephant in the room at last. dick got everything makes sense from his perspective, where getting to put on a costume and fight crime means approval, means being something stronger and better than you are. dick got to be robin, then nightwing, and a leader of a whole team of other costume-clad heroes. 

8. ... how did jason just walk into arkham????? this is ridiculous.

8.3. i mean, clearly jason’s not thinking straight, but betraying batman like this puts his possibilities of being robin again even further away. 

8.5. watching that chemistry experiment montage was strangely funny. this guy is looking for an antidote to fear? well, constantly mixing up and inhaling gases concocted by a mad-scientist supervillain is something only the very fearless--reckless to the point of foolishness!--would do. what’s to say crane’s not given you a formula for a drug that will keep you tethered to his every will and whim? hmmmm?

8.7. so he sought out the joker to... test the formula??? 

9. wow the “loud and clear... boss” hits different after a whole episode of them referring to each other as father and son.

9.3. waitwaitwait HOLD UP. wait a DANG MINUTE. you’re telling me that scarecrow had enough resources that he could not only have folks on the outside steal jason away and dunk him in a lazarus pit (i TOLD you that this show would bring up and dismiss ra’s al ghul in a ten second aside! I TOLD YOU) but also have his own little chemistry lab in the basement, AND have enough resources for jason to build his red hood persona???????? all of this in barely twenty four hours?

well there goes my ‘jason orchestrated his death’ theory. it was nice while it lasted. *cups hands to the sky* fly away, my baby.

9.6. a part of me is gleeful at the rushed nature of such an iconic transformation though, especially when compared to all the character work that went before it. we’re so used to getting the opposite that it’s fucking delightful to have a show that’s more interested in exploring its characters’ minds rather than battle scenes or recreating transformations from the comics. that’s taken such bold and exciting steps to fully convey all the nuances of its most recognisable character, bruce wayne, from casting an older actor to play him to unflinchingly showing just how damaging the vigilante lifestyle has been to him and the people he loves. BRILLIANT

*sporfle*

10. again, heads up: a whole lot of flashing lights between 40:28 and 42:00. 

10.3. i guess it’s the super-compressed timeline that’s really throwing me off. where did he have the time to get/develop the mind control thing from? or is it something that he got from the cabal of villains that he intimidated at the beginning of 3.02? very messy.

10.5. i love molly, i hope she shows up again this season.

11. aaaand that’s it! that was a solid episode as flashback episodes go, but now i can’t wait to return to the present.