#they can leave one thing out and it wouldn't change a thing

[leclarifies]

letters (MV33)

✰ max verstappen x childhoodbestfriend!reader ✰

summary → it was confusing, even though you were continents apart, you never understood why max never responded to your letters, until you attend the belgium gp to finally get the answers you were looking for. inspired by the prompt, "why did you never reply to my letters?" "you wrote me letters?"

genre → fluffy, the fluffiest fluff i've ever fluffed.

word count → 4.4k

author's note → i have worked on this non-stop for two days, and i loved the way it turned out, maybe one of my favorite works. enjoy reading this as much as i enjoy writing this!!

she was always around max, either from the sidelines or the first person max ran to when he won a race, it was always her. not even his father, even though he held his father to the highest regard, but it was always her.

the little wrinkles on the edge of her eyes when she smiled at him, the way her lips would curl up, or the way she would giggle every. single. time. that he would come and hug her after every race finish. he remembers it all. and the way he would snuggle his face in the crook of her neck and asked her softly after he would win a race, 'did you see me win, schatje?'

she would always smile back with a laugh, 'of course i did maxie.'

it was always about max, her life revolved around him, whether he liked it or not. she adored him and maybe he adored her a little bit more. they were childhood friends, they were inseparable since they were little babies, their mothers being friends made it even harder for the both of them to not be attached at the hip.

she loved being in his presence and he loved her.

the divorce between jos and sophie was hard on max, he blamed himself and his career but she was always there to tell him that it's not his fault. that their decision was their own and she never forgot to tell max that it wasn't his fault, no matter how much they told him that it was.

she saw the way jos had pushed max to his limits, get physical with his own son and his way of escaping that life was run to her arms, she was there tending to every bruise, every wound whether physical or emotional. she was his rock and it was final. nothing anyone could ever say or do would change his name.

"schatje," max had gently woken her up from her slumber, and she stirred awake from his soft voice, she noticed where she was and finally remembered what happened.

max had finished lower than expected and jos had thrown hurtful things about max, she was there on his mother's couch, comforting him and had fallen asleep that way, with max on her lap, "are you sleepy?"

she shook her head, not wanting to admit that yes, indeed she was sleepy, but if max needed comfort then that wasn't a big deal to her, "what's wrong maxie?"

"nothing, you can sleep on my bed if you're tired. i can sleep here," max had brushed a stray strand of her hair behind her ear but she refused, she hated taking his bed because she knew how uncomfortable the couch was, she wanted him to sleep well.

but he wouldn't allow her to take the couch, so they both slept on sophie's couch almost cuddled with eachother because they were both stubborn.

max was necessarily content with how he was living his life right now, but she made it better and that's all he could ask for. was it her smile? maybe her presence? max didn't care. the first memory he could remember from his early childhood was her, and it was etched into his memory like stone.

she was content with being max's rock, she was there to keep him grounded and she too only had memories of him from her early childhood. she wouldn't replace him for the world, he was too precious for anything in this earthly world.

but there was one day, it felt like a bomb dropped on her. her father had told her that he would have to move to korea to continue work, and she didn't know how to break the news to max until a few days before she had to leave.

she knew it was wrong to keep something this big away from max, but she was so stricken with anxiety that she never got the chance to until max came over to her house and saw all the packed boxes with their belongings.

"why didn't you tell me sooner?" max was angry, she could tell, by the way he was pacing around her room, looking at the packed boxes around. max thought he meant more to her than just a measly friend, he felt frustrated— betrayed almost. why wouldn't she tell him? why would she keep something as big as this away from him?

"why didn't you say something before? why now? why before you could see me race this weekend?" max was raising his voice now, and she didn't know what to do. her eyes turned glassy and those doe eyes max loved so much just looked so sad.

she stayed quiet, a guilty look on her face. she knew max would break from the news, and she knew that it would affect his performance, but she didn't know how to stay, how to convince her father that she didn't want to go, so yet again, she stayed silent in important moments of her life.

"schatje, can you say something? say anything?!" max yelled and she flinches, she didn't know what to say or what to do, she wanted to say something, say anything. but nothing would come to her lips. it was so hard for her when he was angry like this, it reminded her of his father and his father was deathly scary when angry.

a sigh escapes max's lips when he sees her flinch, coming close to her to wrap her in a hug. tears escaped from her eyes as she held onto max tight, "i didn't know how to tell you," she whispers into max's ear but max didn't say anything to that, just held her even tighter and he did not want to let go.

"it's okay schatje, i'm not mad at you. i could never get mad at you, i'm sorry for raising my voice. i just don't want you to go," tears started to escape max's eyes too, he didn't want to see her go. he wanted her to stay, and she did too. but the universe was pulling them apart and there was nothing either of them could do about it.

the ride to the airport was tough, being only fifteen and sixteen respectively. max held her hand the entire time, not wanting to let go, he didn't want her to leave, she was his biggest support system and he couldn't imagine her gone like that.

she was the most scared of the two of them, what if her father never returned to belgium? what if she was stuck there in korea forever? what if she never got to see his pretty blue eyes anymore?

max was the one to ground her, no longer lost in her thoughts, "can you promise me we'll keep in touch? or maybe visit from time to time?" max was holding onto her hands tightly, she felt like they would bruise, she could only smile and nod.

her mother had called her over, it was time to go. she looked at max for what it felt like the last time and left her life in belgium.

dear schatje,

hi, this is the first week that you're gone and it's bene been so hard without you here with me. i forgot that you weren't here anymore and i was expecting to see your face, but when i didn't, i may or may not have almost cried.

i miss you so much. tell me how it is in korea, is it cold? do they have bears there? what about the food? is it good? can you eat it? i heard there's a lot of spiy spicy food there? honestly i don't care about what they have there, i just care about you.

when can you visit again? can you tell me if you're ever coming back? i'm so worried about you there, i miss you... so much schatje.

written with a lot of love, your maxie.

max always handed off his letters to his father, telling his father to hand it off to his mother because apparently they kept in contact and wanted to send it off to the post office on behalf of him.

he just wondered how she was doing there.

it's been months and countless of letters max had sent, and none of them replied. he was starting to lose hope, he didn't want to think that his best friend would forget about him so easily like that, but he held out hope. he knew that she wouldn't magically forget about him now that she was there.

jealousy bubbled within him when he realized that she would be meeting new people, what if she met someone like him? who enjoyed karting and wanted to steal her attention?

no, he couldn't be thinking like that. he loved her and he knew she loved him as much as he did, so he told himself to just be patient, maybe letters to korea took months to reach?

the naviety was almost laughable but he was fine with it. he just wanted to hear back from his pretty girl.

"i do not understand why you keep writing letters to that stupid girl, she doesn't reply to you and all it does is distract you," jos had reprimanded his son, but max was stubborn. he didn't care what his father had to say, he loved all of her, even when she was thousands of kilometers away. he wanted to talk, even when she never replied.

max was in the process of writing another letter, but he never listened to his father, not about her. not about how much of a distraction she's been to his career, he didn't care. he used it as motivation to get better on the track, so the next time she saw him, he would be a world champion, that's what he silently promised to her.

it had been two years, and he hadn't heard a peep back. slowly, he was starting to lose hope but he couldn't lose hope, every single time he would send off the letters, he told himself that maybe it got lost in the mail.

max kept writing though.

max's debut in f1 was explosive to say the least, his interviews would absolutely go viral by the things he was saying in them. he didn't understand why, he just said what was on his mind.

what was truly on his mind was her.

was he not good enough for her? was him being in f1 not enough to impress her? why wouldn't she write back?

oh god how he missed her.

he still wrote to her weekly, it was religious at this point. he never forgot and he always told his father to send them off to his mother and the week after that was always disappointment because he wouldn't hear anything back.

little did he know, she never received those letters.

max had slowly stopped writing letters as he got into f1, he didn't see a point in it anymore. she never replied. she didn't care. letters didn't take years to reach korea, and he finally lost hope.

winning his first championship felt empty, the pretty girl who used to be waiting for him wasn't there for him anymore. of course, he was happy to win such an impressive feat, who wouldn't? but it just... lacked her.

max indeed lost hope that she would ever write back, but never lost hope that she was out there, somewhere, watching him race every single week and beat the shit out of his rivals. she loved watching him race and that's what he intended to do until the day he died, he wanted to impress her, maybe that was his ulterior motive to becoming a formula one driver.

all just to impress his best friend who had lost contact with him for a decade now.

"you need to stop figdeting so much," her mother had scolded her, she could only laugh nervously and stop fidgeting around. she wondered why max never wrote back to her, she had written him letters. did he hate her for moving out to korea and not coming to visit belgium?

she shook the thoughts out of her head, she was here now. for his home race, and for the rest of her life. her father had now decided to move back to belgium, because and i quote, 'i don't want my daughter to lose touch with her culture'.

she was 26 now, and she had guessed that he turned 27 not too long ago. it's been so long since she talked to him and she hoped that the spark that she had been yearning for had not been lost to the passages of time.

getting the paddock passes was not easy, it was a war and a half but she managed to snag some for herself and a friend that wanted to visit belgium and would arrive later on in the week.

"how did you even manage to get paddock passes for us?" heejin, her friend that wanted to visit had asked, she could only laugh and explain how she got them, it was a war and a half. heejin laughed along with her as they both arrived and scanned their passes at the entrance.

"i'm gonna meet my best friend here— well it's complicated. i don't think he considers me a best friend anymore, but i still do," she had softly told heejin who was a big formula one fan even before meeting her, heejin raised her eyebrow when she said that.

the both of them were walking down the paddock, passing all of the different team's hospitalities. heejin raised her eyebrow at her friend, who shrugged.

"who's your best friend?" heejin had asked as they pass by the red bull hospitality, she stopped which signalled heejin to stop as well, she looked at the redbull in awe. she hadn't been to a formula one race yet, the closest she'd been was to karting but that didn't bring on the feelings she felt when standing in front of this red bull building.

"well, he's driving the number one car."

"YOUR BEST FRIEND IS MAX VERSTAPPEN?!"

"YOUR BEST FRIEND IS MAX VERSTAPPEN?!"

max had heard a girl yell, he slowly turned his head. he was confused, he didn't have a best friend— well not anymore. she had moved to korea, all memories of her stuck in his head being replayed all over and over again.

that's all he had left of her.

the other girl shushed the girl who yelled, and that's when it dawned on max. the other girl looked awfully familiar, he couldn't quite place why she looked so familiar but she looked like her, like his best friend.

"shh! you can't just yell that out in public," she clamped a hand on her friend's mouth, "they're gonna think i'm insane!" then the both of them giggled, it did sound ridiculous but now he was curious.

was she back? was that her? who was she with? is that her new best friend? is that her?

as they both walked away, max wanted to run up to them, to ask that one particular girl what her name was. what she was doing here and who she was with but all of that died when he got approached by his race engineer.

then he forgot all about that familiar girl that he saw in front of the red bull hospitality.

max would only get another glimpse of her when it was race day, they were walking through the paddock in a similar fashion, but max promised to himself that he would approach them, that he would ask but there was doubt in his heart.

what if she forgot about him?

she couldn't, right?

and so approach them he did, tapping the girl that he felt was so familiar to on the shoulder, she had turned around and they had locked eyes.

it was as if she never left.

the sparks, they all came rushing back and then his heart started beating out of his chest, he wanted to ask so many questions, why she was here, who she was with, when she came back— why she came back, why she never wrote him back.

but the only thing that left his lips were a simple, "hi."

heejin was freaking out, she could tell. she knew that heejin was a big red bull fan too, always talking about how the team was dominating and they had the better car. she had heard all about it. but the little dutchboy she left all those years ago was standing in front of her and not-so little anymore and all those thoughts about her girlfriend was forgotten.

he looked the same, but grown and decked out in red bull merch. she wanted to laugh at how innocent he looked when he tapped her on the shoulder to get her to turn around, he looked stupid, stupidly cute.

all of those feelings from when she was back in belgium came back, she almost forgot what it felt like to be around max— her max. he looked like he was going to cry when he got a good look at her, that he finally realized that yes, it's her. the one that left him in belgium all those years ago.

and maybe she could cry too.

"maxie?" a familiar nickname slipped from her lips and she didn't get a response back, but a bear hug in return.

god, her scent. it was everything to him. he fucking missed it— miss her.

"i thought... i thought you forgot about me," max buried his face into the crook of her neck, she too wrapped her arms around max and buried her face into his chest. his voice was so vulnerable, all she wanted to do was curl around him and tell him that she would never.

she shook her head as she sank into the hug, "i could never forget my maxie," she mumbled into his chest, he held onto her tighter. he never wanted to let go, not now, not ever. she was where she was finally supposed to be, right in his arms.

once they got time alone after his race, max had stolen her away from her friend and dragged her into his driver's room, locking the door and pushing her against the wall, slamming his lips onto hers. he had been dreaming about this for so long, his lips on hers.

he didn't want to so sexual with her, no not yet. being in the small driver's room where they couldn't be free out of the public eye wasn't a good place. he just wanted to touch her, hold her, love her, make sure that she knew how much he had missed this.

missed them being together.

her hands instinctively went up to hold onto his shoulders, holding on for dear life as he kissed her softly. the feelings going through him were a mix of nostalgia, longing and love. he loved her for so long and it was so like her to show up when it mattered the most.

he won it for her today, to show her, that the little max she knew still had it in him to win and to impress her even with a world championship under his belt.

she felt the softness and the gentleness that max was touching her with, she knew how much he loved her. how much he care, how much he longed for her touch and she did too, only so much more.

she had so many questions in her, on why he never replied to the letters she sent or why he never sent any himself, not knowing what happened with her letters and why they never arrived properly.

but she didn't care at the moment, all she cared about was that she was safely in his arms, never to be let go ever again.

safe to say, her lips were to the point of bruising that night. max had forbade her to go back home, or to be away from his sight. he had kissed her silly, not wanting to let her go and there she was, settled nicely in his arms.

it's not like she wanted to go anywhere anyway.

the movie in the background was long forgotten, max's lips felt like they were molded for hers. he had waited for her for so long, waited to feel her skin after so long and this just felt right, it felt right when he was with her.

"maxie— mmhh— my love, stop," she had to talk in between kisses, max didn't want to let her go, his fingers were basically imprinted onto her waist. she was straddling max as he sat upright and kissed her, so softly. like she would break if he was any harder, even though he absolutely did want to kiss her harder.

max released her from the kiss with a pout, his pretty lips were red and swollen from all the kissing they did. everything in the world just seemed to fade into the background when they were together, like everyone else in this world was so insignificant for their time and they were the only people worthy of each other's time.

"but why? i wanna kiss you, i miss you. i have waited for you for ten years, the least you can do is let me kiss you until you're sick of me," max mumbled against her lips and all she could do was giggle.

god, her laugh, he loved it.

she shook her head and left a final peck on his lips, "because i want to talk maxie, we can't just kiss whatever questions we have for eachother away," she told him but he seemed to think otherwise, she had moved back to put a bit of distance in between them, to make sure max didn't go in to kiss her again.

"oh yes we can, i don't care about the questions, schatje. i just wanna be with you, just like old days, but now it's so different because in those ten years without you, i finally realized what i felt and how i felt for you and i can't wait any damn longer to finally kiss those pretty lips of yours, so please. just let me do this for another three hours and we can talk," max begged as he pulled her closer.

she couldn't imagine kissing for another three hours as they spent the last hour doing it, but with him? she would do it for another life-time if she could.

the both of them later had the serious talk when they were done kissing each other, now wanting answers from eachother. their legs were tangled and intertwined with each other's, not wanting to let go from their skin to skin contact.

"first off, why did you never reply to my letters? i wrote you so many. so many that i lost count, i would always write to you but you never replied, why?" max's voice came out strained, all of the painful feelings from the last ten years of his life were coming out, her doe eyes looked up from where she was, laying against his chest.

"you wrote me letters? i wrote you letters, you never replied. i thought you got too busy with your karting career to reply—"

"i could never get too busy to reply to you, but i never got any of your letters, schatje," max murmured against her forehead, kissing it gently after he spoke. she hummed a response before it dawned on her, she had always sent the letters to his father's address and she knew that his father wasn't fond of her, even offering her a huge lump sum of cash just for her to stay away from his son but she never accepted it, always choosing to be beside max, no matter what happened.

she looked up and sighed, she knew what happened now, she connected the pieces, "did you send your letters off to your dad?" she asked, and max nodded before it dawned on him too.

"that fucker hid the letters from you and never sent mine..."

she could only nod sadly, but it didn't matter now. all that mattered was that they were reconnected now.

scattered around them were the countless of letters max had written to her and all of the letters from her that he never received, the years of pining, longing— all of them tucked neatly away into these little envelopes that held all of those unsaid feelings.

a soft sigh escapes her lips, she looked at all of them, there were hundreds maybe. all of them posted to where she stayed in korea but never sent, always kept in a big box where all of his letters were and hers were stuffed in there in a similar fashion.

her heart clenched when she saw how many there were, there were far more many than whatever she sent, even though she did send quite a big sum.

when max had found out, he stormed into jos' house and demanded to ask why he never sent out the letters that he wrote and a big fight broke out, she had to hold of max from physically harming his own father. then they left after given the big box filled with letters.

"there's so many..." she watched in awe as all of them were sorted by date, from the latest to the earliest, max looked up at her with those big blue icy eyes of his, he looked really sad. stuck in his feelings almost, not understand why his father would do whatever he did in the past.

max held her hand gently, pulling her into his embrace, "i have always loved you, even when i was a little kid. i just didn't understand what those feelings were, i just acted on how i felt and being away from you... i just couldn't. so i sent you my love in the form of these letters."

she left a lingering kiss on his cheek, she felt sorry for having to leave all those years ago. she should've fought, should've stood her ground on how much she wanted to stay but she was just a 16 year old kid who didn't know how to, "i know. i'm sorry i had to leave all those years ago."

"don't apologize, schatje. i have never blamed you for leaving me. i have always held love for you in my heart, even if you didn't know it."

"i always knew max, and i still do."

very willing to do a part 2 to this btw, will only do it when requested tho. not proofread, excuse grammar mistakes.

[nochepsicodelica]

Suggestive

"Why do I have to sit out here while you try things on? I've seen you naked a fuck ton of times, but I can't be in the bathroom with you while-"

The door opens, revealing you in a new, red lingerie set that had just gotten delivered. "This one?" You ask, hands on your hips as you do a slow little three-sixty for Toji.

"Oh," he utters, a low chuckle following. He can't contain the smirk on his face as he eyes you up and down, taking in the entirety of the gorgeous sight you offer. "Come here, pretty mama," he says, beckoning for you to come closer to where he is on the bed. "Let me touch. See if you're comfortable in this."

You laugh and make your way over to him. "You're gonna tell me if i'm comfortable?"

"If it's rough on my hands, then I know it doesn't feel too good on your soft skin. Now, come here." His hands reach out, pulling you by your hips to stand between his legs. He hums, satisfied, as one hand rests on your ass, squeezing, while the other occupies itself with the front of your lacy underwear, just feeling up the material. "This is pretty soft. I could tear it off easily, too," he says, teasing you by tugging on the garment.

"Aaand that's enough from you." You pull his hands off of you and head back to the bathroom. You almost laugh at the way you can feel him watching you as you walk away.

You change out of that set and into the next nightly article— a silk, black slip dress. The door opens and this time you do giggle when Toji's attention is already on you.

"How's this?" You do another little spin to display your outfit change and nudge at one of the thin shoulder straps, teasing Toji by pushing it the slightest bit down. You see his hands reach out for you, signaling for you to come and let him grope you, again. "Mm-mm," you hum. "You know silk is soft."

"But I need to check your panties," he argues. Anything to have you in his hands, again. "What if the texture is too harsh on you?"

"Oh, don't worry about that. I wouldn't be wearing panties under this. Not wearing any now..." you say, a sultry hint in your tone, as you lift the hem of the short dress the slightest bit. Toji's eyes are devouring the slow reveal of your pretty skin, following the end of the smooth dress as it goes higher and higher. He's only able to blink with disillusion, when you let the material slide back down before he gets to see what you were teasing. "...and I won't be wearing any for its official debut."

"Fuck... you look so good, ma. Wanna touch you."

"Nope. There's one more." You pull the strap of your slip up and smirk, as if taunting him for not getting to touch you. He sighs when you turn around and scurry off to the bathroom again. The crotch area of his sweats is getting uncomfortably tighter and you walking away just makes him miserable.

The last getup took a little longer to put on than the other two, due to the sheer stockings and the garter belt, but it was all worth it in the end, because even you couldn't deny how good you looked.

You open the bathroom door and peek your head out to see if Toji's waiting, though his impatience doesn't leave you wondering for long.

"Don't tell me you're shy," he teases, in hopes of baiting you into revealing yourself quicker. "What, are you completely naked?"

You take a step out, instantly feeling a rush of nerves when you're in Toji's view.

"Oh, shut the fuck up..." He mutters to himself, absorbing the hellish sight of the little number you changed into.

You take a few more steps away from the bathroom, feeling your cheeks grow warm as Toji gawks at you, unable to pick his jaw up from the floor. You decide to tease him by pointing at yourself, then at the bathroom, insinuating whether you should go back in and change.

"No, no. Bring your fine ass over here." Even his posture straightens during his attempt to bring you closer. If you had gone back inside, he would've started sweating.

"Yeah, come here, sweetheart," Toji purrs, once you're in arms reach. "Do that little spin for me." You comply and spin slowly like you did the last few times, giving him a view of everything. "Fuck, you want me to die, huh?" He murmurs, smirking at the sound of the giggles he lures out of you. He pulls you in close, his hands resting on the backs of your thighs, his face pressed into your tummy. You tangle your hands in his hair, smiling down at him as he kisses your soft, warm skin, over and over. When he looks up at you with those precious green eyes, he has the most endearing, lovestruck look on his face.

"Gonna eat you out 'til you fucking cry."

"Yeah?" You ask, cupping his cheeks as he stares on. You click your tongue and laugh bashfully when he hums affirmatively.

"Let's test run this one today, hm?" Toji suggests, pressing more kisses onto your stomach, trailing them lower until his lips meet the waistband of your garter belt.

"Now?"

"Right now. Unless you have somewhere else to be," he says, fiddling with the thin, satin strap that rests on your thigh.

"You know I don't," you say, coursing your fingers through his hair.

"So, you're gonna let me at you, then?" He asks, standing up from the bed, towering over you in a single second.

"I'm all yours," you respond. That devilish little grin on your face was the final shove needed for Toji to push you onto the bed and pounce on you. "Ah-ah-- If you rip this off, you're banned from all of this..." you drag your fingertips over your lips, the gesture transitioning to your hand gliding down your neck, your chest, your abdomen, finishing off by splaying over your panties, "...for a week."

"You wouldn't," Toji says, challenging your threat, but when you simply hum and shrug in response, as if to say 'try me', he ends up doing as you say, and carefully stripping you.

[geekgirles]

And let's not forget how people tend to conveniently leave out the fact that while Marinette's jealousy prompted her to spy on Adrien and Lila in the library, what really kickstarted the actual plot (Lila stealing the Grimoire, buying the necklace, claiming to be Volpina and insulting Ladybug to the point of the superheroine tearing her a new one causing her akumatisation...) was actually Lila's own jealousy over Ladybug.

For all the episode's flaws, it did a good job establishing the kind of character Lila was going to be right off the bat: an attention seeking liar and an abhorrent admirer for Adrien who isn't above disregarding his boundaries or invading his personal space.

Having said that, at that point she had been shown to be far from an ideal person, but not irredeemably evil like her later self. And though she did use implicitly dishonest methods to get closer to Adrien—such as dragging him off to a more private place so it can just be the two of them or trying to evoke a commonality collection by pretending to be interested in superheroes—, most of her actions up until that point were fairly harmless.

In regards to Adrien. She had already harmed her classmates and Ladybug's credibility by lying through her teeth just to be popular.

Up until that point, while definitely not honest, Lila's tactics to get closer to Adrien were relatively realistic. After all, we have all seen the "lying about shared interests" trope at least once in our life, and we might have even employed it ourselves at some point.

It wasn't until the topic of Ladybug was brought up that things took a turn for the worse.

At first, upon seeing Adrien's book Lila just seemed to be faking interest, just like she looked genuinely surprised to see Ladybug pictured there. But the moment Adrien expressed awestruck admiration for the heroine, that's when Lila's entire façade changes. Literally. She goes from looking surprised to sporting a nasty scowl to acting all sugary-sweet right after as she fishes for more information on Adrien's crush to use to her advantage.

And because she can't stand to be shown up by anyone, even if they're not even in the room, she went and started downplaying Ladybug's accomplishments even back then. Claiming that a girl doesn't need to a costume to be amazing, only to prove she's a hypocrite by setting out to become amazing by claiming she isn't just actually good friends with the costumed girl but, would you look at that, she's a costumed girl herself!

Lila: Ladybug! Adrien:(sighing) She's amazing. Lila: A girl doesn't need to wear a costume to be amazing, you know. (scoots her seat closer to Adrien) Adrien: Uh, I don't know—I mean, I— Lila: So you've got a little soft spot for the bug, huh? Adrien: Me? Oh, no! Not at all! (The book cart moves closer to them, but is unnoticed.) Lila: You know I actually happen to be very close friends with Ladybug. (Adrien and Marinette both gasp.) Adrien: Really?! Lila: We can chat about it if you want. Not here though. Why don't we meet at the park after school and I'll tell you everything.

That's why Lila stole Adrien's book. That's why she bought the necklace and came up with the whole Volpina thing. And that's why she kept on insulting Ladybug in order to make herself look better (other than to distract Adrien long enough so he wouldn't notice his missing book, that is). Because the moment Adrien expressed romantic interest in Ladybug, Lila became seethingly jealous and desperate to get him to stop paying attention to the superheroine and to focus on her.

Marinette's jealousy actually played a very small role in the episode overall, it was just meant to get her in the right place at the right time so Tikki would see the Grimoire and urge her to follow them to the park in order to retrieve it. From then on, Marinette's actions were a direct result of Lila crossing way too many lines at once. Absolutely everything else that happened can be linked back to Lila growing jealous of Ladybug and trying to have Adrien all for herself.

Everything that happened was Lila's own fault.

Wait, I was reading your posts and came across something I've found confusing. How is Adrien asking Ladybug wth she is doing in Volpina a bad thing? From Adrien's perspective, Ladybug's a celebrity tracking down a middle schooler with zero clout and humiliating her for lying about meeting her before. That's, uh yeah? Imagine if that happened irl lmao. Millions of teenage girls would perish at 1D's hands. My middle school would be a horror story. And it's made clear multiple times in the episode that her motivation is jealousy. It's one of the few episodes where the lesson Marinette gets makes sense I think, because she was genuinely spiteful in shitting on this random girl in front of her crush. That's significantly different than Ladybug just asking for a retraction from the Ladyblog. It's also one of the few times when Adrien's celebrity background actually affects how he acts, and it makes sense that Marinette doesn't make the connection between superhero=celebrity=not allowed to scream at middleschoolers in public. If half the kids in her school didn't lie about meeting Ladybug before, my suspension of disbelief is gone.

I've seen this argument before and it makes no sense to me, especially in the context of the lie that Lila actually told and the way the Lila confrontation actually goes down. A lot of people who have this take seem to think that Lila's lie was, "Ladybug saved me," and that Ladybug made a big public confrontation which is not what canon actually gave us. The confrontation was done in a mostly private setting and, while we never see Lila's full Ladyblog interview, this is how Ladybug sums up the interview in Volpina:

Ladybug:(sarcastically) Well hey Lila! How's it going? Long time no see. I saw your interview on the Ladyblog, awesome job. Oh sure! I remember our instant connection when I saved your life and we've been really good friends ever since! Practically BFF's! Uh actually, when did I save your life again, Lila? I don't recall. Oh yes! Of course, now I remember. Never! And we're not friends either! Miss Show-Off here was trying to impress you and everyone around her.

Lila didn't just lie about meeting Ladybug, she lied about having an ongoing, close relationship with Ladybug, two very different things. And Ladybug isn't just a celebrity, she's a superhero who is fighting an active terrorist. If I had to rewrite this confrontation, I'd keep it pretty much the same and just change the "Miss Show-Off" line to something like:

Miss Show-Off here was trying to impress you and everyone around her, putting herself and all of you at major risk! You know that Hawkmoth would do anything to get these, right? (gestures at her earrings) Did you even stop to think about what he'd do if he learned the identity of my supposed best friend? Of course not. You were too busy trying to look cool to stop and think things through like an actual superhero! We keep our identities and relationships secret for a reason!

Is this the kindest, most gentle way to confront someone like Lila? No, but it's very in character for Marinette to be filled with righteous fury when she sees someone using her name for their own personal gain. I really can't blame her for getting incredibly angry at this total stranger presenting herself as a Ladybug authority and using that authority to manipulate Marinette's friends. As I've said before, take away the crush complication and Marinette's actions still make total sense to me.

I'm not a huge proponent of virtue ethics. That's the idea that you need proper motivation for an act to be morally justified. If you do the right thing for the wrong reason, then the act is bad no matter how good the results and vice versa. If you view the world that way, then sure, you could possibly argue that Marinette's actions were wrong just like you can also argue that Gabriel's actions were totally fine, but I don't view the world that way. Switch Marinette's motivation from jealousy and a little righteous fury to pure righteous fury and almost nothing changes. She'd still need to confront Lila, the words would just be a little different.

It's not like this confrontation stops Lila, either. Chameleon gives us this:

Lila: (in flashback) Not only did Ladybug save my life, we've become very close friends. Marinette: She lies with every breath. Nino: Wait. You eavesdropped on Lila and Adrien? That's not cool. Alya: A good reporter always verifies her sources. Can you prove she doesn't actually know Ladybug?

Quick mini rant before I give the next Chameleon quote: this isn't how verifying your sources works, Alya! You should be verifying that Lila does know Ladybug, not the other way around! Right now, Marinette and Lila have equal authority on the topic as far as you know and there is no evidence to support either claim, so you should be looking for proof that Lila isn't lying! Proof isn't a first come, first serve problem even though a lot of people fall into that trap. This is especially true since Lila goes on to make claims like this:

Lila: Of course Ladybug saved my life. She never misses an opportunity to rescue her best friends. Max: Didn't your tinnitus give you vertigo when you went up the Eiffel Tower? Lila: Oh no. Ladybug knows me so well that she brought me an earplug to stick in my right ear.

So Lila keeps right on lying about her relationship with Ladybug, presenting them as close friends, making it even harder for me to get on the "Marinette was in the wrong for privately confronting Lila" train. If anything, Marinette was too tame! She needed to go full scorched earth and have Alya post a public retraction that included a message about the dangers of claiming to be personal friends with someone you don't actually know.

If the show went that route and had Ladybug give an equally furious smack-down and Alya posted it without a second thought, THEN I'd probably be on team "Marinette needed to tone herself down because she went too far" because that isn't a heat-of-the-moment reaction. It's something Marinette would have time to think through. But Volpina didn't go there. Instead, we just get Marinette reacting live to someone using her name to flirt with her crush. Remember, this is the setup to Marinette transforming and jumping in to stop Lila:

Lila: Not only did Ladybug save my life, we've become very close friends because we have something very special in common- it's what I wanted to tell you about. I'm the descendant of a vixen superheroine myself, Volpina. Adrien: Volpina? Marinette: Volpina? Adrien: Wait a minute! I think I read about her in my book. Lila:(stopping him from grabbing the book) Of course she's in your book. She's one of the most important superheroes. More powerful and more celebrated than Ladybug. Between you and me Ladybug doesn't even make the top ten. My grandma gave me this necklace. [Marinette runs off to transform] Adrien: (holding Lila's necklace) Are you telling me this is a Miraculous?! (Ladybug lands in front of them)

This wasn't a planned confrontation. It was Marinette reacting live to some pretty massive lies. If Ladybug had been swinging by and just overhead this, then the scene once again wouldn't change much. That's why blaming Marinette for confronting Lila in the "wrong way" feels so victim blame-y to me. "How dare Ladybug not be perfectly poised at all times and react with grace when someone lies about being her close friend and teammate!" is not a take I'm ever going to agree with. And if you want to use the middle schooler defense? Then it applies to Marinette, too. She and Lila are the same age. Why the different standards just because Marinette has fame that she never asked for or sought out?

I've never been much of a fan of holding celebrities to an "always on" standard where their every interaction needs to be done with poise and grace even if the interaction happens out in the wild and not at a planned even where the celebrity can be mentally prepared for dealing with fans. That's extra true for accidental celebrities like Ladybug. Marinette didn't take up the earrings for fame and they certainly haven't brought her fortune, plus she has no PR training. Expecting her to be a PR master who knows how to handle her accidental fame is, once again, a little too victim blame-y for my tastes. Ladybug is here to save the world, not sign autographs. You can hold her to politician standards when you start paying her for risking her life on the daily.

There's a version of Lila where I would have a different take. A version where the lie really is minor and Marinette really did "overreact", but even there my lesson wouldn't be "Marinette was totally in the wrong" because I genuinely think that sends the wrong message to kids and kids are the show's target audience. Think about what you're actually saying here, "Because Marinette is famous, she needs to accept that people will lie about her and just ignore them even if people believe the lie."

While that isn't exactly a wrong take, it's still really messed up. It's not okay for people to use Marinette's name like that just because she's famous. The reason she needs to learn to let it go is because that's what's best for her mental health, not because her fame makes her lesser than others when it comes to things like personal privacy. The lies are not magically okay just because she's well known.

Remember, Marinette is a fictional character, but the kids watching this show are very real and they're way more likely to be Lilas than Marinettes. And the kids that do relate to Marinette in this episode? They'll be kids who have dealt with the rumor mill spreading lies about them or their friends without the celebrity complication. The show should not be telling either set of kids that Marinette is the one in the wrong here. That is the wrong moral and why I hate this episode so much. I might feel differently if the intended audience was teens and if this plot was allowed to be more complex, but none of that is true. The show is aimed at kids ages 5 to 12 and every episode is supposed to teach its own moral with Volpina's moral being "Marinette was explicitly and totally in the wrong here."

This is the age of internet personalities where there are more easily-accessible celebrities than ever and where many of them do not have the wealth needed to protect themselves from fans nor the PR training to know how to handle extreme fans if there even is PR training for that! That means that it's honestly really important for kids to learn to view these individuals as people who it's wrong to lie about and who deserve the same respect as non-famous people. Treating celebrities as public commodities is how we get things like the Kit Connor scandal where an 18-year-old actor felt forced to publicly come out because the internet wouldn't shut up about his sexuality. Oh, and since you brought up one direction, I'll also note that the band members have publicly stated that online shipping discourse has negatively impacted their relationships. So, yeah, I'm never going to agree that kids should be told that it's okay to lie about celebrities or treat them as fictional characters to play with and that the celebrities are the ones who are wrong if they get upset about that behavior. That shit is toxic.

If we go the "minor" lie route, then my version of this episode would be a very sad one where Marinette learns that people are going to ignore her boundaries and lie about her and there's nothing she can do about it. A lesson in mental health training that will hopefully help kids who are dealing with bullies, but that does not present Marinette as totally in the wrong. It just teaches her when to pick a fight and when to let it go, which is a very important skill to learn even outside of lies about your own person. There will be many times when you hear people say something that you vehemently disagree with and it's important to learn when to pick a fight and when to just let it go, knowing that no good will come from speaking up even if you're 100% in the right. It's a very sad, but also very necessary skill.

I think Adrien has a place in that story. A place where he still tells Ladybug to let it go, but it should NOT have been played the way it was in canon where he acted like Ladybug was totally out of line. He needed to be way more compassionate and understanding of her very justified anger. I've written Adrien giving advice on this topic before and it's always presented as, "people are going to be assholes and you have to learn to ignore them for your own well being," not as, "you are wrong to be upset about strangers telling lies about you. You agreed to deal with this when you decided to be a hero" because what kind of asinine lesson is that?

You could also keep Adrien's canon reaction and have the lesson be him learning that it's okay to have boundaries. That his fame doesn't negate his bodily autonomy and right to be treated with dignity. That people chasing him down, invading his personal space, and otherwise preventing him from living a normal life is wrong. I love it when fanfics take this approach to Adrien's part in the Lila conflict. It's very cathartic to see his friends supporting him and protecting him from Lila.

I really have tried to see Volpina from the "Marinette was totally in the wrong" perspective because I've come across it several times, but I just can't wrap my head around it. If you've got a counter argument, then feel free to try to change my mind because I've given you my full thoughts here, but know that I'm probably not budging on this one. You'd have to make some pretty dramatic changes to canon for me to feel like this take has a point. I think the only way that I'd be on Lila's side is if it was very clear that no one believed Lila and Marinette still had the same reaction that we see in canon as that does feel like going too far. But everyone believed Lila so that's not a solid argument and I'm just never going to agree that people have to be cool with others lying about them just because they're famous. I honestly despise celebrity culture so much and hate that people are basically forced to deal with that bullshit if they want to be successful in certain artistic fields.

[beardysuits]

Bulking Up pt 1

Ian, just the sight of him inspired conflicting emotions ranging from rage, to jealousy, to desire, to lust. Ian was the pretty boy of the office and the boss's favorite. He could literally do no wrong, and yet, I was probably the only one who knew what he was really like. See Ian and I went to college together and even participated in the same internship program. He and I also had to share the same job duties, schedule, and workload. Only Ian decided his time wasn't worth the work and decided it was up to me to do the work for both of us. Obviously initially I told him absolutely no way, but that all changed when he got some dirt on me.

Mr. Galveston was head of the law firm Ian and I worked at and if we were tasked with naming the first three words which came to mind when we though of him, it would be intimidating, big, and daddy. Despite running an entire firm and raising three kids, Mr. Galveston still seemed to have the time to run every morning and lift weights. It helped too that he was graced with the hairline of a 20-year old and the skin I'm sure he had to perform a ritual sacrifice to obtain. As you can imagine, I had spent many late nights fantasizing about him, he was prime spank bank material! Unfortunately those late nights alone were not enough for me and my stupid horny brain.

I may have definitely broken some HR guidelines. One day we had a meeting where Mr. Galveston had praised my latest work and it ended with a "good job son". My cock immediately got hard and I had to adjust myself as discreetly as possible. As soon as the meeting concluded, I had to excuse myself and run to the bathroom to pump one out. What I didn't realize is that Ian had followed me, peaked over the stall door and snapped a photo of me, hand gripping my cock and cumming all over the toilet bowl.

"Say cheese," he said to me. The cheeky bastard. I begged Ian not to tell anybody what I had done and he agreed, for a price. So, that was how I got stuck working later and later hours to get the work done for both of us, while Ian sat on his ass all day flirting with our female colleagues. And the worst part about it? If Ian in some weird twist of character told me to get on my knees and blow him, I would still say yes in a heartbeat. I mean, he was built like a god. 6 pack, veiny arms, pecs like an olympian. He was a fucking model and he knew it. Meanwhile there was me, pudgy, couldn't grow a beard to save my life, and just short enough for him to call me munchkin as he held his hand out for his work. I hated his guts.

It was a typical Tuesday night at the office and I had ordered myself a pizza, which I ate at my desk while wrapping up my work and about to start Ian's. I glanced at the clock. 6 PM. I should have been able to leave an hour ago, but got held up doing some data entry Ian was tasked with at noon. Now I still had a stack of papers for him to get started on. There was a rap of knuckles at front of my desk. I looked up to find Tabitha, the office kook. She was a nice enough woman, but she certainly didn't have too many people speak with her for a reason.

"Marty, what are you doing here so late?" she asked me. I swallowed my latest bite and cleared my throat.

"Just need to finish some things here and I'll be heading out. What about you?" I asked her. She sighed and twirled the medallion she always wore around her neck.

"Catching up from my vacation. Being gone a week lets things pile up. Oh, but what I wouldn't do to return to Europe in a second..." she droned on and on about her trip, which I had heard about three times already. But, she was also one of the few people to be genuinely kind to me, so I let her ramble while I set Ian's work aside.

"Oh and goodness! I almost forgot! How could I?" he said, startling me awake after I had zoned out. She pulled her purse forward and fished around in it before holding her closed hand out to me.

"I found this little beauty while I was out there. There's a small village out in the countryside which is said to be the ancient home of witches. I saw this and just thought of you," she said. She opened up her hand, and in her palm was... a rock.

It was a pretty rock, don't get me wrong. It shone and had shimmers of jade green crackling along it's flat surface. But again, it was a rock.

"Oh wow Tabitha that's... beautiful," I told her. She nodded, took my hand, and placed the rock in my palm.

"It's said to be a wishing stone. You hold it close to your heart, wish your deepest desire to it, and place it under your pillow. It's said those who are truly worth of their wish will have it come true."

I twirled the rock around in my hand before setting it on the desk.

"Thank you Tabitha, that's very sweet of you," I told her. I really was touched she thought so nicely of me.

"Well, make sure you have that wish be a good one. Maybe even get you out of here a little earlier next time," she said with a wink. "I have to go home to the cats though, you find your way out of here soon, okay?"

I waved her off as she went the door. I got back to Ian's paperwork, but found it hard to concentrate. The stone kept catching my attention. It was like it caught the light at every angle and shone its shimmering green gaze back at me. About an hour later, I gave up and left Ian's work half done.

Once I was home, I slumped on the couch and turned on some TV. I couldn't even focus on the most mindless of shows though. Every thought came back to the stone. I fished it out of my pocket and turned it through my fingers. Wish on the stone and it would come true, yeah right....

I could see my reflection in the window next to the couch and sighed. My glasses were askew and somehow I didn't notice. I adjusted them and saw a pudgy little geek, still in his work suit, too tired to even take it off. I pushed at my belly, which for the past few weeks kept pushing harder and hard to get out of this tight button down shirt. Sighing, I looked at the stone. Why not?

I wish... I wish I could have what Ian has.

Of course that's where my mind went. Ian had it all. Looks, charm, and now a little nerd doing all of his work for him. My eyes became incredibly heavy and it was like I got hit with a tranquilizer. No surprise, working late hours had become the norm. My hand slumped behind the couch cushion and not a second later, I slumped off to sleep.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The ringing of my phone fluttered my eyes open. I grumbled trying to find it in the depths of the couch cushions. Eventually I found it stuck deep in the back. I held it up and turned off my alarm I had set. 6 am, perfect time to be awake. I tried to open my phone through half closed eyes. It had facial recognition, but the stupid thing couldn't catch on to my face. I retired a few times before it prompted me to put in the passcode. I fumbled with it some before finally getting in, and going over some emails. I stumbled off the couch and shuffled to the bathroom.

I had to find some Tylenol, I had a killer headache. I was just about to reach the bathroom when I felt something catch on my feet and force me down. I crashed to the ground and groaned. Fuck... what the fuck even happened? I turned around and saw my pants around my ankles. Or... wait what? I could see down my legs, which were half the size in girth, but twice the size in length. That's... a trick of the morning grog right?

I turned myself around to sit on the ground and looked my legs up and down. They were hairier than before, and the skin was taut with muscles spreading across the curvature of my calves. Holy shit what the fuck was going on? I panicked standing up, kicking off my pants in the process. Rushing to the bathroom, I threw the lights on and was met with Ian in the reflection!

Holy fuck!

I grabbed at my cheeks and pulled at them, which Ian mirrored perfectly in the reflection. Grabbing at my chest through the now oversized shirt, I patted myself, feeling a rock-hard torso in return. I gripped at the button and ripped it open, sending the buttons flying across the bathroom floor. I was met with Ian's muscles greeting me. Tracing my (Ian's?) fingers over them, I felt a shiver run down my spine. Oh my god, I was Ian! Almost instinctively, my fingers rubbed over his nipples and I could feel the same shiver race down my body.

I looked down and found Ian's cock flopping, not even attempting to be contained my XXL underwear that was at least three sizes too big now. My hand was trembling as I slipped the boxers down and found his veiny cock fly almost wildly.

It had just as many veins as his arms did and was almost as thick as them it felt like. I took my new hands and gripped the shaft, it felt so natural to be holding on to it. Even a couple of strokes in and I found out that Ian was quick to precum. My new cock was instantly lathered up as I slicked it back and forth, each pump making his cock feel even girthier somehow.

I laid one of his hands down on the bathroom counter and looked at myself. Ian was hunched over, stroking his cock and smiling mischievously at me.

"Oh fuck daddy, that feels so good," I said without even thinking. "Ohhhh... FUCK Mr. Galveston, pound my tight hole!" I yelled. I thrusted myself back and forth, fantasizing about my boss bucking my hips as he plowed his thick daddy dick deep into Ian.

"Harder! Faster! That's right sir, breed meeeeee," I begged. I bit my lip and made Ian look back at my pathetically. Oh if I could only get Mr. Galveston to ACTUALLY fuck my new hole, make me his little bitch. I pumped harder and harder, fucking my new hand. I could feel the cum build until eventually climax hit.

I let go of my cock and moaned as loud as I could, feeling Ian's cock spray his delicious cum all over the bathroom. It was like a fire hose was set loose, letting streams spray around the room. Each bit hit harder than the last. Eventually I was left standing in the bathroom, breathing heavily and watching as Ian tried to stand up straight after spraying his essence everywhere.

Once I got control of myself again, I peered into the mirror and saw through the drips of cum, Ian's face elated. I couldn't help but smile at my new face and body, now ready to take on the world. I stuck my tongue out and lapped at the cum which was beginning to run down the mirror's face. It tasted so fucking good, like pure masculinity was captured in a liquid state.

Watching Ian become my little lap dog at my bidding made me horny all over again. This was just me going solo, wait until I use my phone to download Grindr and see what fresh pieces of meat want a slice of Ian! Speaking of my phone, it started to rumble on the counter. I picked it up and my heart sank, it was Ian. I cleared my throat, trying to emulate my old voice before answering.

"Uhh.. he-hello?" I choked out.

"What did you do you son of a bitch?!" Pierced through the other line. I coughed again.

"Ian? What's going on?" I asked.

"Like you don't fucking know! What do you look like right now? Who the fuck are you?!"

I recognized the voice, it was mine! Oh shit, I didn't just become Ian, we swapped!

"Ian, I gotta come clean, I'm you," I told him. What was the point in hiding it?

"What. Did. You. DO!?" He screeched. Damn, was my voice always that high pitched? It was whiny and pathetic.

"First off, I didn't do anything! I just woke up and found myself like this. Secondly, calm down, we'll figure this out. Just... just get dressed and get to the office. We'll figure it out there, we need to act normal," I told him.

"Oh yeah fucking right! What the fuck am I supposed to wear? All I have here are my clothes and your fat fuck of a body sure as shit isn't going to fit in them!"

"I'm sure you'll figure it out," I said. "Listen, the sooner you get there, the sooner we figure this out. Better get dressed munchkin." Calling me by my old nickname felt empowering in some way. Before he could retaliate, I hung up the phone on him. Looking at myself back in the mirror and grinned back.

"Yeah, like I'd ever give this up," I said. But, I should probably get dressed and meet up with him. Looks like it's going to be a fun day. Now, let's see if I can find anything tight enough to show off this body.

[rin-solo]

This came to me earlier, and now I am utterly obsessed: The Vengeance wasn't Odysseus stabbing Poseidon, it was Odysseus disproving Poseidon's "Ruthlessness is mercy upon ourselves" belief right in front of his very eyes. With him as the subject, even.

Think about it—the fact that Poseidon remained ruthless and insisted on punishing Odysseus was the only reason he got stabbed repeatedly. If Poseidon had been merciful, if he had accepted Odysseus' offer of forgiveness, he would've been fine. His own ruthlessness backfired so hard on him this time that I am sincerely hoping it haunts him forever.

I am actually utterly obsessed with Poseidon thinking back to Odysseus "Maybe you could learn to forgive?" on a daily, no an hourly basis. I cannot and will not lie to you that is unironically my favorite moment in the whole Vengeance saga just because of what it says about both the characters—about Odysseus for offering and Poseidon for declining. And this makes me love it even more.

Poseidon was going to decline, we all know that. I don't think anyone watching—even Odysseus, probably—expected him to accept. But then I'm picturing him lying there, bleeding into the stone, and, against his will, wondering whether maybe he should have. Maybe if he had, he wouldn't be in pain. Maybe if he had not killed Odysseus' fleet ten years ago, he wouldn't be in pain either. Maybe this one time ruthlessness wasn't mercy upon himself—maybe this time, his one grand belief was wrong. Maybe ... it was always wrong.

Obviously, he would never admit to these thoughts, he would slap himself for having them one second later. But I simply need this self-proclaimed god of ruthlessness to be utterly haunted by that and question whether he made the right choice or no—whether he's even lived by the correct philosophy all his immortal life—and no matter what, be too stubborn to admit he was wrong.

He's trying to pretend like nothing changed, but the thoughts still remain. They pester him. They won't leave him alone. Especially every time someone—anyone—is kind to him for whatever reason, they come crashing back into him and they won't leave.

"What if my own ruthlessness hurt me that time?"

"What if ruthlessness isn't mercy upon ourselves after all?"

"What if I'm wrong?"

"What if I have always been wrong?"

The most dreadful thoughts imaginable to a god as proud and stubborn and old as Poseidon, but they're there now and he can't do anything about them. You all don't understand how much I NEED this god to jolt up in his bed at 3 am after having a dream or nightmare about something related to one of his many ruthless deeds (maybe even sinking Odysseus' fleet) and go "BUT WHAT IF I HAD LEARNED TO FORGIVE?? WHAT IF I STILL COULD??" only to immediately slap himself for it because that's absolutely ridiculous.

He is left to watch this belief shatter before his very eyes as he's clinging to the remains of it desperately, trying to keep it all from crumbling. Not because he genuinely believes he's right anymore, but because he simply cannot imagine ... does not know how to live by any other philosophy.

No matter whether it's objectively correct or not, it's the very thing that defines him. The thing he's known for. He has built his entire image around this, he cannot give it up no matter what ... at least not quickly or without help.

But as much he would seek to deny it, his core belief has now been proven wrong; he has actually lived through an instance where it was wrong, and he can do nothing to erase those memories or conclusions from his mind no matter how much he yearns to go back to simpler times.

And that was the real Vengeance, guys—possibly the biggest, most painful existential crisis of Poseidon's immortal life. I rest my case.

Although before I disappear back into the void I simply must give a shout out to @o3o-lapd-o3o (this came to me during a conversation in one of their comment sections for the glorious Friends In Higher Places AU, which is quite possibly my favorite piece of EPIC fan content that exists ...)

[lucedilunax]

I wrote a song - J. Hughes

Songs masterlist

song: I wrote a song - Mae Muller

pairing: Jack Hughes x ex girlfriend!reader

summary: Healing process after Jack cheated on his girlfriend

warning: cheating, swear words, drinking

words: 1.4k

note: it's a way different vibe from what i normally write but i hope you like it!

masterlist

---

She and Jack met through Luke. She and his brother had been friends since college because they’ve been hanging out in the same group of people. After she moved to New York, she and Luke have been hanging out a lot. One night, she was at his place when Jack came back home. When he saw her, he was starstruck. He never saw that beautiful woman like her.

After three dates, she and Jack became a couple. Luke was so happy that his brother finally found someone so similar to him. He was confident that his brother had never been this cheerful like he was with her. Although he was third wheeling them, he was delighted for their happiness. When Jack suffered an injury it was the moment when all things in their relationship went wrong.

When you said you were leaving

To work on your mental health

You didn’t mention the cheating

Jack picked up an injury in January. She was trying to be there for him as much as she could with her work schedule, but he was taking his anger out on her. Often, he was just saying sassy comments to everything she asked him. She was tired of him throwing tantrums but tried to understand him. She knew how much hockey means to him and how much it must hurt him not to be able to play, especially when Luke was all the time training and playing.

After a month, Jack was back on the ice but his attitude hadn't changed. Still, he was snippy towards her. She felt like he was blaming her for his injury. They were arguing over it and she was always in a lost position when he started screaming at her. Neither of them wanted to break up but they knew something must change so they can be happy again. 

Jack told her that he needs a break. He didn’t want to end things with her but he needed a space to figure things out. She agreed knowing that their relationship was based on screaming, crying and guilt in the past two months. This was the moment when he cheated on her. The minute he felt free, when technically they still have been dating, he started sleeping with other women. 

I got so mad, was gonna 

Cuss you out outside your house

She learnt about his cheating in the most cruel way - through social media. One day, she was scrolling through her twitter and she saw a picture of Jack kissing another woman. She didn’t know how to react. She was heartbroken. He was her first real love and she truly believed that they make things work while being on a break. This killed a piece of her heart. 

She really wanted to take revenge on Jack. She was close to going to New Jersey just to scream at him in front of his apartment. She wanted to slap him, do the worst to him so he could feel how she’s feeling but she knew she’s better than him. She simply wrote him a message saying that they are done and he should never contact her again. 

Jack was confused and asked her what her problem was. Yes, he was cheating on her but he thought he’s sneaky enough so she wouldn't notice this. When she sent him a picture of him kissing another woman, he realised that he wasn’t. He hasn't answered her. He just accepted that he’s single again. His friends were asking him what happened but he said that they realised they are not made for each other.

I could have cried a home 

And spent the night alone

Right after her short conversation with Jack, she broke down in tears. She felt like her whole world just fell apart. She wrote on group chat with her girl friends that he cheated on her and she ended things with him. All she wanted to do was to cry and lay in her living room while watching sad movies under blanket. That’s what she did. She came back home and dressed up in comfortable clothes. 

This was painful for her because half of her wardrobe were his shirts and hoodies. She decided to throw them in the box and give it to Luke when she got the chance to see him. After she found something that’s actually hers, she went and turned on Edward Scissorhands. This movie always made her cry. Around 7PM, she heard knocking. 

What she did not expect was all her friends in front of her door. They’ve been holding bottles of wine and food from her favorite place. When they came in, one of her friends put on some music and they had a little party in her apartment. They knew how much she loved Jack and wanted to make her forget about him. 

Tell all your friends

How cruel you were to me

When she and Jack broke up, she cut her ties with all his team, even Luke. She really wanted to stay around him but she was seeing him as her ex. After a month, she got better. She felt like she moved oun and was ready to talk with Luke. He was surprised when she invited him to her place but gladly accepted it.

Luke came and the first thing to do was to ask her why she broke up with his brother. She wanted to scream that it’s all Jack’s fault. That he ruined their relationship. That she was always for him but he just treated her like a servant during his injury. That he wanted a break and the first thing he had done was to cheat on her. She really wanted that but she swallowed her pride and simply said that it wasn't it. 

Luke felt that she's lying. He knew her well enough to read it but he also saw her watery eyes after he asked the question, so he decided not to dig into it. He accepted this answer but still was curious about what went wrong. He was how Jack was happy with her and how she was happy with Jack. They spent the night catching up with their lives. 

When Luke was ready to get back to his apartment, she gave him the box with Jack’ things. After he returned to his and his brother’ place, he threw the box at him. Jack was taken aback but before he could say anything, Luke asked him what really happened that they broke up. Jack never saw his brother so furious so he decided to tell him that he cheated on her. Luke listened to him and went to his room to call her and apologise for his dumb brother. 

Me and my girls are out

And we all sing along

Three months after she and Jack broke up, she returned to Michigan. She was hanging out with all her girl friends from college. One night, they decided to go to a club and have fun. She was skeptical but agreed. She knew she deserves to finally move on and search for someone new. They were getting ready and drinking wine while doing it. 

When all of them finally arrived at the club, they went to order drinks. She was partying like there’s no tomorrow. That was her first party since she broke up with Jack. In the middle of the night, she saw familiar blue eyes in the crowd. She realised that it’s her ex-boyfriend partying with his friends that she never had a chance to meet. 

She said this to her girls pleading them to leave but they told her that Jack is a past and she deserves to have a fun night. They dragged her to the dance floor when their song started playing. She was singing all her heart and laughing at the same time. She acted like only her and her friends were in the club. 

She didn’t know that Jack also noticed her. He couldn’t stop watching her and how she was having fun out there. After conversation with Luke, he realised how badly he fucked up and how much she meant to him. Seeing her all free like that made him happy. He wanted to go and apologise to her but he knew he would do more harm to her. For the rest of the night, he was watching her having fun and imagining that it was him with her, not her friends.

---

Thank you for reading💕

[lazyneonrabbitt]

Bug

In which Faelithil, Adar's mortal lover accidentally adopts a newborn uruk.

Adar's attention was drawn away from the fireplace by the sound of someone entering his home, turning and seeing his lover standing by the entryway. Upon the sight he was at her side to take what she held from her so she could rid herself of her cloak and muddy boots.

"My moon," Adar stepped back from Ithil, dropping his arms to his side and taking in the sight before him to ensure he was not seeing things.

"I thought we had discussed bringing work home? Especially this far info your pregnancy." There was didappointment in his tone.

It was true, Adar had asked to leave work at work. At most discuss it over dinner but the need to rest was one both of them had.

"Oh but Adar, he was born only this morning. His mother didn't make it and he wouldn't stop crying unless he was in my arms." She cooed at the little boy and smiled at his soft babbling. "I thought I'd do the motherlikes a favor by taking him with me." The mortal felt for the child, he was barely a day old and had no one.

Adar sighed deeply, but still a smile krept onto his face. "Dear, have tou made it clear to the others you only took him for the night?" He put emphasis on her own words. "N.. no, I don't think I did.. They didn't ask." She thought back at her leaving and the exact words spoken, but she couldn't recall with the fussing babe in her arms.

"Then, I believe you have adopted him. Intentionally or not, it is what you have done by bringing him into our home."

This time it was Ithil's turn to take a moment to take in the situation. Had she really?

"Have you named him? Out loud, I mean." A shake of her head told him no, and a quiet sigh of relief left Adar's body.

"Good, don't name him or he is yours by uruk law. He may stay for the night. Tomorrow morning we will go see the motherlikes and discuss this properly." Adar sighed once more with a smile. Of all the ways she could have misunderstood his culture, this was where she ended up.

"Come, hand him to me so you can change." His voice was as gentle as his actions of taking the child from her arms and handling him like it was second nature. The sight had her all flushed and quickly she disappeared into the bedroom.

Faelithil had seen many things in her months of living with the uruk, but the sight of Adar so gently handling a newborn was new and affected her in a way that most certainly would have led to her begging him for a child if she wasn't already carrying one.

Changing into easier sleep clothes took a while without Adar's assistance, but she managed and waddled back into the home's main area where she pauzed at the sight before her.

Adar laid played out on the furs he kept, his fingers wiggling above the babe resting on his chest and grabbing at them. But that was only part of why she had stopped dead in her tracks. She kept quiet and listened.

"You are going to give your mother such a hard time in her last weeks, I suppose I will have to stay home from now on to care for you, little bug." Adar rambled softly to the urukling on his chest, that happily Buh'd back at him.

"Yes, bug. Do you like that word? Bug."

"Buh!"

"Bug it is, then. As you wish."

Ithil had a hard time holding back the smile that started to hurt her cheeks as she made her way over to her lover and slowly but surely made her way down onto the pile of furs.

"It seems we won't be returning to the motherlikes tomorrow, are we?" Adar had sat up again to give her the space she needed and pressed a kiss to her temple.

"I believe uruk young choose their new parents, not the other way around. When he stopped crying in your arms it meant he wished to stay with you, so who am I to deny him a family." The ancient uruk in this moment showed why he was named Adar all those ages ago, and the mortal could not have wished for a better father for her children.

[clueless-romantics]

BAXTER

so, about the fish man that I love. I wanted to do a short analysis of him before we get him in the full series.

this will be full of season two predictions, shipping, headcanons, and backstory ideas.

DEATH

first, we'll start with his death. ironic, right?

anyways, we know that Baxter was supposed to have died on the Titanic, but since Viv didn't want to be Insensitive, she changed it to a vague ship that sunk in the 1910s. since he is an anglerfish, which lives on the sea floor, we can infer that he probably didn't make it out of the ship, and sunk to the bottom of the sea with it. thats all we know right now, and I will give ideas to expand on that and give him some character.

he might have a fear of not having enough air, or a fear of sinking or being pulled down.

he absolutely hates the movie "Titanic," and complains about how inaccurate it is to everyone (fun hc)

LIFE

we know nothing about his life, other than he was some sort of scientist. I like to imagine that he was a heartless scientist who disregarded everyone else's lives, and experimented on people.

A reason why he could be so short is that he believed his life to be more important, or 'higher' than everyone else. that is why he is short, as hell usually makes you look like things you hate, therefore he would hate being viewed as lesser, or smaller than others, and now quite literally.

we do not know how old he is, but I would assume based on looks that he is 25-30, somewhere around that range.

RELATIONSHIPS

we dont know much about Baxter at all in any of these, as I have stated, but in the sneak peak we know he had a negative past with sir pentious. since we know sir pentious is an inventor, not a scientist, therefore he cannot create biological life. one of my theories is that sir pentious made the egg bois with Baxter's help and betrayed baxter, while taking the egg bois with them. I also personally headcanon they dated, but that might not be true, and isn't really backed up by anything.

now, onto who I think owns his soul. I believe vox would be his owner, as vox has a proven history of working with sea creatures, and it is a very popular theory. I think he has two reasons to be at the hotel. one, obvious one, for studying redemption. he is a scientist, why wouldn't he want to do that? the second, being he was spying for vox. my reasoning? there are two reasons I think could be true.

vox hired Baxter because sea creature AND the fact vox knew sir pentious and Baxter had a rivalry, so vox would take advantage of that and give Baxter the chance to upstage his enemy.

two, baxter knew sir pentious failed at being a spy so that's why he accepted the job, so more intent on Baxter s side for this.

MISC.

baxter is still a scientist in hell, obviously. so I'd imagine in his 100+ years of being in hell, he probably has his own lab. we don't know a lot about him, still, which leaves a lot for the imagination. which, brings me to my next part, headcanons!!

HEADCANONS!

Baxter is trans (only female anglerfish have the esca)

Baxter wears glasses but only for protection during science experiments, because anglerfish have excellent vision, so he wouldn't be low vision.

EXCELLENT vocabulary

he avoids alcohol and smoking like the plague, as he is very health conscious and doesn't like husk at first because of it

the only person in the hotel he can actually bear talking to (besides niffty) is cherri. they both have a past with sir pentious, and he would probably think she is the most self actualized out of all the guests, (he doesn't think Vaggie is the most because he dislikes how violent and protective she is)

THAT CONCLUDES MY POINTS ABOUT HIM!

FEEL FREE TO ADD YOUR OWN IN THE COMMENTS AND REPOSTS

[bronzemettle]

Does Talia still have a relationship with Damian? Does she have a relationship with Batman?

in BronzeRealms, Polyamory is common among superheroes in the 21st century. Batman/Clark/Diana/Lois is a full quad. He's also married to Selina.

He's not with Talia, though. They're not enemies, but not involved. The League of Assassins, now led by Talia, is mildly reformed. Still a League of Assassins, tho. Just no longer trying to actively topple civilizations, and slightly more principled about what jobs they'll take. Talia can visit with Damian, if Damian wants her to, and for his sake the Fam will refrain from trying to capture her for her many, many (some still ongoing) international crimes. But she's not exactly sitting down for most family meals.

I will now tell big parts of the story of how things got like this.

Turning back the clock to 2006, Batman has been Batman-ing for over 3 years, but he is not known as a great fighter. He's got some passable martial arts, enough to outmatch nearly any street crooks, but primarily at this point he is the World's Greatest Detective, with some wonderful toys and a stealthy spooky cape. Dick and Barbara could either one kick his ass out of costume.

Bane comes to Gotham. He has no civilian identity to detective out, can see in the dark well enough that his stealth is useless, and isn't scared of bats. Bane arranges for Batman to be isolated from his allies and cracks his spine over his knee. Most of Gotham assumes Batman is dead. His cousin Kate takes up the mantle as Batwoman (after the short and disastrous tenure of Jean-Paul Valley). But Bats himself isn't ready to call it quits. He leaves Gotham, not telling anyone, even Dick, where he's going.

He's going to find the League of Assassins. He only heard rumors about them in his original world journeys preparing to become Batman, but now, he finally meets them. He asks to be taken in and have his back healed, and they do. He sticks to his word and stays with them, and begins his training. Talia falls in love with him, and they get together.

But this is still the League of Assassins under Ra's al Ghul, and Gotham is a target on their map. I won't say that Batman never loved Talia back, but if it's a choice between her and Gotham? It was only a matter of time. A year and change after he found them (and having become one of the more formidable martial artists on the planet), he leaves.

And here's the thing. He suspected. He knew that the League of Assassins wanted their heir. He knew Talia wasn't on any kind of birth control. He saw what might be early-months signs. But if he KNEW, he wouldn't have been able to abandon her and return to Gotham. And he needed to return to Gotham. He had a mission, and already had a family. He couldn't afford to know, so he convinced himself that he didn't, buried his guilt, and he got on the next boat.

Skipping through some stuff I'll give more details on in different posts, 2008 he takes in Jason Todd. In 2012 Jason Todd is murdered by The Joker, then his corpse is taken by the League of Assassins. 2016, Batman fights the Red Hood, finds out he's Jason resurrected by the Lazarus Pit. Jason wins the fight, but can't kill him.

The next year, 2017, Red Hood tells young Damian, Talia's son, that he knows who his father is. He brings Damian to Gotham. Damian is surprised that his father is the Batman, the legendary protector of Gotham, the very city that his grandfather has been trying to destroy for Damian's entire life. Talia comes for him, but Damian decides he wants to stay and get to know his father and the city. Against her father's wishes, Talia agrees to let him stay, and he becomes Robin and takes the full name Damian Wayne.

Ra's doesn't stand by this, and he partners with Scarecrow and Astrid Arkham, providing them with a private army, thousands of soldiers, tanks, drones, advanced technology, some of which is Batman's own gadgetry stolen by Red Hood when he was still working for them. Late 2017 the League of Assassins wages all-out-war against Gotham and a full scale military occupation. Scarecrow fits people with Fear Toxin collars to enforce his own law, with the Arkham Knight as the enigmatic enforcer of his Fear State.

(Tangent): During the fight, two of the Arkham Knight's soldiers are accidentally killed in a battle against Batman. He discovers the two had brought their son, Turner Hayes, to Gotham with them. Turner had never known that his parents were mercenaries. Batman decides to cover up the circumstances of their deaths so that Turner never has to know, and as Bruce Wayne he adopts the boy, but continues to keep him in the dark about his own identity as Batman, or all the rest of the family's hero lives. He honors Turner's parents, the first people he considers himself to have murdered (even if accidental), by protecting Turner from the world of heroes and villains altogether, just as they had, giving him the normal life that tragedy robbed Bruce himself of. (End Tangent)

Early 2018 sees the end of the Fear State, and proves the final defeat of the League of Assassins' campaign against Gotham. After his repeated failures, Talia ousts Ra's from power. He flees, along with a splinter faction of loyalists, becoming the League of Shadows based out of Infinity Island, and Talia begins instituting reforms, inspired by her son having chosen Batman's methods over the ones he was raised in.

And while Batman respects her readiness to improve the organization... she is still literally the Queen of Assassins and the last time he killed someone he adopted a kid out of guilt so no they're not getting back together.

And I think that gets us basically up to speed on why things with Talia are strained, but not hostile (mostly for Damian's sake tbf).

[kawaiichibiart]

Tsukasa discovers his SEKAI earlier AU HCs:

Honestly was terrified the first time he arrived. He thought he would be stuck there forever.

Is more open in his SEKAI than he is out of it. He's more likely to tell Miku or KAITO how he's really feeling than his own parents, even if that little tidbit makes him feel bad. This will also, later, apply to the rest of WxS.

Sometimes he doesn't want to play or put on a show when he's in his SEKAI, he just wants to be held. Miku is surprisingly strong and is usually the one who'll just carry him around, KAITO is usually the one who'll hold him while they rest somewhere.

Switches between calling KAITO his dad and his mom (even after MEIKO and Luka show up), but Miku will always be his big sister (Rin and Len are his younger siblings).

Sometimes he falls asleep in his SEKAI and wakes up in his bed. He can't really remember it, but Miku and/or KAITO always make sure to wake him up long enough for him to go home. They also stay with him until he's fast asleep in his own bed.

The thing that solidified his friendship with Emu was her respecting his boundaries when it came to the Wonderland SEKAI. Her telling him she'd leave if wanted her to meant more than her trying to say nice things about it or asking him to show her around.

He was a lot more hesitant to invite Rui (and Nene although he didn't know she was also there) to his SEKAI, but felt it wouldn't hurt. Their fight, later on, makes him regret giving the other boy access to the world made by his emotions.

When it comes to his passions, Tsukasa can be a perfectionist. Things have to go right or everything is ruined. Even the smallest thing going wrong can make him feel like a failure. It's something he's working on, because no matter what, things can't always be perfect. So, when WxS's show goes wrong, of course he snaps. It's not an excuse and he's not trying to make it one. It's his biggest flaw if you ask him, but the only ones who really knew about it were Miku and KAITO. But Emu, Rui, and Nene don't know this, so things just end up worse. And hearing Rui tell him that he'll never be the one thing he's wanted to be since he was a child, tell him he was selfish and egotistical, tell him he just wanted fame, hurt. He didn't want to invite Rui Kamishiro back to the place he felt the more vulnerable. He's relieved when things end up working out.

Since they have access to the Wonderland SEKAI now, Emu, Nene and Rui will sometimes enter it alone. It's always interesting to see how the world changes depending on how Tsukasa's feeling. How it can go from being the most lively place they know to being just so quiet.

They want to help each other overcome their own personal issues (such as Nene's stage fright, which hasn't fully left yet, and Tsukasa's perfectionism which can lead him to wrongfully snap at others if things go wrong). After that one show, they realized they can't just always go straight into talking. They'll need time to cool off. To get their thoughts in order. They don't want to risk hurting each other again.

[noblehouseofgay]

Sorted

Black Brothers microfic

Hurt/comfort

✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:*✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:*✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:*✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:*

Regulus sat at the slytherin table, eyes staring at nothing. Mind lost in a daze. He doesn't know when he started watching his brother across the hall, laughing with his idiot friends, but he can't seem to look away.

He was supposed to be with them. That's what Sirus had wanted. Regulus knew his brother hoped he would he sorted into gryffindor just like him. But Regulus can't be something he's not. He can't control where the hat placed him. But it didn't matter.

He remembered the look on his brother's face when the hat immediately called out slytherin. The disappointment. The betrayal. All over something Regulus had no say in. The hat didn't even give him a chance to argue.

Sirius hasn't spoken to him since it happened. Regulus has tried but his brother always manages to avoid him. How could he have lost him so easily? He's not like the rest of them...shouldn't Sirius believe that?

After twenty minutes of not touching his food, Regulus decided to leave the hall. It was too loud and too upsetting. He went and sat in an alcove near the library. He looked out at the night sky, the stars just beginning to appear.

He scans the sky and finds Sirius immediately. He sat looking at his brother's star, eyes tearing up a little. "What did I do wrong?" His voice small and quiet. "I- I didn't choose where i was sorted....I'm not brave like you.......but I'm not bad like them.......please don't think me like them....."

Two weeks pass. His brother still avoiding him. It hurts. It feels like he's lost him in a matter of days. Lost years of love. Years of secrets. Years of their childhood. Gone. Over a stupid hat.

Now all Regulus can do is watch from the outside. He should've seen this coming. Should've known he'd be sorted in a place that would disappoint his brother. Should've known those friends he made were Regulus' replacements. His sadness was bubbling into anger, something he hated feeling. But he couldn't help but be angry at his brother. Angry that he obviously doesn't trust Regulus. Doesn't trust that he's still the same little brother he was.

In his angry daze, he walked right into someone. He looks up at who he bumped into. It shouldn't be surprising with his luck, but he's shocked he managed to run into his brother with Sirius avoiding him like the plague. Regulus just stared at him, mouth dry, eyes wide. He couldn't speak. He wouldn't even know what to say.

Sirius broke the silence by clearing his throat. "Sorry, I didn't see you there." And with nothing more to say, he started to walk away.

Regulus felt like he had been stabbed.

Weeks of pure silence and that was all he gets?

He turned around, watching him leave. "Sirius-" he choked out.

Sirius paused, clearly hesitant. He turned back around to face his brother. "What, Reg?" He sighed.

"I-" Regulus had his brother. He wasn't ignoring him. He had to use this. "Why have you been avoiding me?" He tried to keep his voice level. "I didn't choose slytherin. I got put there. But you've been acting like I did it on purpose." He felt his eyes sting. "I'm not brave like you. I was never going to be in your house. But I'm still your brother. At least I want to be..."

Sirius sighed. "Reg..."

"What? Tell me, Sirius. Tell me what I did wrong. Tell me why you've given up on me so easily." Regulus was lucky nobody else was in the hall. He felt the words coming out before he could think about what they were. "Can't you for one second think of me as my own person rather than the house I'm in? Why does it matter so much?"

Sirius shuffled his feet. "I just hoped things would be different."

Regulus stared at Sirius, eyes wide and full of disbelief. "Different? Different?! I'm sorry, I wasn't aware things changed so much in a single month of school! Though you wouldn't know since you've been nowhere near me!" He was shouting now.

"How am I supposed to trust that you're different? That you won't be like them??"

"Because you know me!!" Regulus' voice broke. Silence echoed. "At least you're supposed to..."

He couldn't hold back the tears anymore, a few slipping down his cheeks.

"Please, Siri...I'm still me..."

Sirius' face faltered, softening a little. He sighed, walking towards his brother. He pulled him into a hug.

Regulus' breath hitched, trying not to choke out tears, as he relaxed into his brother.

"I'm sorry, Reggie...really, I am. I just...I got scared that they'd gotten to you in the year I was gone."

Regulus buried his face into Sirius. "They did...a lot...but I-...I get to be here...for now...and I don't want to be them...I want to be me."

He could feel Sirius lightly smiling. "You be you, Reggie...you be you."

[bluegekk0]

what do the rest of the family think/ feel when grimm gets all burnt and needs a refresh?

Ooh I'm guessing you mean whenever he has to leave for a ritual? Since 99% of the time that happens before he starts showing visible signs of his body falling apart haha

Vyrm doesn't cope with it too well, which was especially an issue at the beginning of their relationship. In fact, the first time Grimm had to leave was quite soon after their reunion, so as you can imagine, that made Vyrm really stressed, as he assumed Grimm wouldn't come back (even despite him assuring that he would). Vyrm's self esteem was at its lowest still, so he was convinced that Grimm found him disappointing as a partner, especially in intimate aspects, something Vyrm was very self-conscious about. Of course, Grimm did return, so his worries were unfounded. Over the years after that, Vyrm still experienced a lot of anxiety whenever Grimm would leave, the separation clearly stressed him out, he would anxiously wait for his return and would not be able to focus on anything. He got better at it over time, and these days, while he still finds Grimm's absence to be upsetting, he manages to cope with it, especially since he has children to look after.

As for how he feels about that aspect of Grimm itself, he definitely wishes things were different. Yes, there are positives, Grimm's ability to adjust the body can come in handy, and loves whenever Grimm does it specifically with him in mind (making the fur fluffier to act as a softer pillow? Yes please). But Grimm not being there for two, three weeks, sometimes even a month, is very upsetting considering how close their bond is, and he would be ready to sacrifice those small changes in a heartbeat if it meant Grimm wouldn't have to leave every few months.

As for the rest of the family, I'll start with the kids. The twins only experienced him leaving once, and they were still at the age where it was very confusing to them. They really missed him during the time, Milo especially, and while he brought back many toys for them to play with, it was still a stressful time for them. They're still too young to fully comprehend why he has to leave now. In the future, I think Asta would find it fascinating and would even want to join him at some point, Milo would not be too happy about it still. He's very close with his parents and depends on them with all of his health issues, so Grimm's absence would be a stressful time. Lewk is old enough to have had the conversation about Grimm's nature, not to mention he went through that whole thing a few times already, so he understands the reasoning. I think, with his compassionate nature and his curiosity, he would wonder how Grimm feels about it, so he'd definitely ask him about it often.

Hornet didn't really care the first time he left since it happened so soon after she moved to Dirtmouth, and they weren't close back then. But over time she began seeing him more as a parental figure, and with that his absence became much more noticeable. She won't admit it, but she does miss him every time. Generally she thinks of Grimm's situation as something very unpleasant, especially after the Grimmkin incident where Grimm stayed by Vyrm's bed for so long he neglected the state of his physical body. To the point Hornet had to actually step in and tell him he has to leave or else he'll completely fall apart. And I think the sight of his decaying form really stuck with her, and she remembers it to this day.

Holly is in a similar situation where they really miss him when he's away. They were the first one to see Grimm as a father post-infection, not to mention he already delayed his departure once to help them recover from the infection. On top of that, seeing Vyrm's distress at his partner's absence also affected Holly, and I like to think they spend extra time giving him company whenever that happens. So while they wish Grimm didn't have to leave, they enjoy the opportunity to spend more time with their father, without Grimm getting in the way, as bad as it may sound. I suppose they still have some of that jealousy rooted deep within, and I don't think that'll ever change.

Zote would have some complicated feelings, mainly because every time Grimm replaces his body, it's a reminder of his own mortality. Maybe he's jealous that Grimm can cheat death like this. Before meeting the family he wouldn't care, but now that he has his own little group that tolerates him, the thought that he doesn't want to grow old started to surface in his mind. He was fairly young when he met them, I picture him as about 18, 19 years old, but 10 years already passed like nothing and it's understandable that he'd start to think about it, especially seeing their birthdays where they don't even keep up with their exact ages anymore. So maybe whenever Grimm returns from a ritual, Zote would be particularly grumpy. Though at the same time, I don't think he envies him that much either. Having your body slowly burn down every few months can't be pleasant, after all.

[spiderman2-99]

Well that took him off-guard.

Miguel bites down the instinctual that'd be impossible on the tip of his tongue. He has to be delicate; the last thing she needs right now is a reminder of her own inhumanity.

Wait.

The answer-- or the closest thing to it-- hits him like a bus. That has to be it. The virus must've made her insecure in her own programming. It can't be a good realization to know that no matter how advanced you are, you can still be taken down by errant lines of code and malware.

Maybe it says something to her merit that LYLA's advanced enough to... be insecure. Or maybe Miguel and Xina's hubris. Either or.

Come on, Miguel, think. You caused this, you've got to have something.

"Well... no," he answers carefully, like stepping through glass. If he says the wrong thing and she shuts down, he'll never forgive himself. "Not in the... the usual sense."

She knows that, you're not helping, his brain screams at him the second the words leave his mouth, making him cringe internally. He takes a steadying breath before he continues.

"But, she did program you to learn and adapt. To… mimic others. Their tones, inflections, expressions... that's how you feel."

And after Xina left, Miguel took it upon himself to feed LYLA more and more data, make her more fluid, more expressive, more human. She passed the Turing test, she has her own wants and desires, and can think for herself-- for better or for worse.

Wonderful. I gave an AI existentialism.

It takes more willpower than he really cares to admit to not let out a frustrated sigh and bury his head in his hands. Or maybe let out a hysterical laugh. Or scream at God. Maybe all three in succession.

But he doesn't. Because Miguel O'shockingHara is a semi rational, mature human(ish) adult, the one with a brain, the one who has to be strong, the one who can pull himself together by the bootstraps.

"Now, I can’t know for sure, but… I think- I believe it's possible you could feel… something." Miguel continues, trying to push the lump in his throat back down. "Maybe… maybe it’s possible that you do."

Dios en toda su gloria, he is so not doing this right. What would Xina do?

"But even if you don't-- even if it is only mimicking… it doesn’t matter. You’re still- you're still you. And I wouldn't change that for the world."

✨:consolation-Lyla having trouble with her emotions

[11.11.2099]

[Closed starter for @lyrate-lifeform-approximation]

To say this past week was hectic would’ve been the understatement of the century.

Somehow, a virus managed to creep its way into the Spider-Society’s computer, corrupting LYLA badly, forcing her to be offline for a couple days, as well as partially downing building security and certain gizmo functions. While the cause of the hacking was dealt with (some punk who was pulling a prank, apparently), it was still difficult to weed out the influence from the computers…

And from LYLA herself too. The virus had badly messed with her memory, and Miguel worked tirelessly to get her memory wiped and restored to normal.

Frankly, it was the most scared he's been in a while.

She's more than an AI to him-- she's a respected colleague, building manager, a reminder to take care of himself, a thorn in his side, and his closest friend. He doesn't know where he'd be without her.

And if he's still bothered by an off-handed remark she made on her blog earlier today about being "ai that can be easily replaced by another ai", that's between him and God.

So for the first time this whole week, the two finally have a chance to rest— and true to form, Miguel still spent it in the lab at unholy hours of the night. Though at least now, it’s his own personal one at his apartment, and it’s just a smaller passion project (fixing the design of the portal watches) rather than dealing with the crisis from earlier. It helps both of them relax.

LYLA always helps where she can— playing music to help him focus, friendly banter, helping him if he lost something (and giving him shit for it the whole time), reminding him to take breaks so he 'doesn't blow out his old man back'. It’s nice having another presence. He's missed this. Missed them.

But... Miguel can't quite shake the niggling feeling that something is still off with her. Which should be unfounded, right? He thoroughly combed through her servos to gut and put her back together; nothing from that virus should be left, right?

So then what's going on? Why has his AI, his baby, been... so off? Almost subdued? Still as snarky as ever, still bothering him both on and offline, but something just feels... Hell if he can put a proper finger on it-- Shifted a bit to the left? He's never been good with emotions and things-- even programmed ones. All he could do was fix the physical problem.

He sighs and forces his mind off of autopilot. Going down self-loathing rabbit holes is a task best left for when he's not taking apart a delicate piece of machinery.

LYLA's hologram re-materializes so it’s ‘resting’ on Miguel’s shoulder, feet kicking.

Though she looks outwardly carefree as usual, the fact that for once, LYLA didn’t immediately start teasing or bantering or anything at him is enough to get Miguel’s attention, even when he's hyper-focused.

He pauses, and looks down at her diminutive hologram sitting on his shoulder like a perched bird. Odd…

“...Hey. Something on your mind?”

Of course there is. She's never like this. Great start. 10/10 for emotional intelligence, O'Hara.

[thundergrace]

If the wardrobe demands of The Last of Us were minimal, the psychological intensity of the shoot would have tested actors several times Ramsey’s age. The penultimate episode, in particular, is brutally violent. “It was… exhausting,” she reflects, “but those were some of my favourite days on set. That sounds really masochistic, but it’s the scenes that break me that I love the most, in a way.” As for what she thinks people will make of the series finale in March? “It’s going to divide people massively – massively.” Let the Twitter games begin.

Oh god.... they're going to do the whole David plot. The whole thing....

[ofswordsandpens]

"the Gabe and Sally dynamic in the show is abusive" and "the way they've portrayed Gabe in the show is distinctly different from his book counterpart and fans can criticize that" are two discussions that can coexist

[tetraandtheapples]

Erm!! I did more art!!!!!! My art style is so inconsistent I want to draw more realistically but I'm goofy goober at my core....... Gehahahaha

Also???? Pony Error under cut??????? (and a few error sketches!) Hidden slightly because I'm still a bit unsure about the design RAHH

I think it'd be cool if he had strings all over his body like he was some mangled stupid hasbro official pony plushie...... but the strings were like insanely last minute LMAO so I want to redo it again with that in mind.... when the pony takes me over again.

Transcript for Pony Info (because my handwriting is a bit messy)

PONY INFO!

Strings run along entire body

Used to have a cutie mark, but the file is "lost"

Horn sparks & glitches dangerously when using magic

-> Not harmful to him, but strong emotions can cause it to flare up (basically when the horn starts fuzzing a lot you know he's close to a full-on reboot)

Whatever the hell this thing is core -> (pic of very stupid looking Hasbro official Princess Twilight Sparkle plushie with brushable hair!!!! Batteries not included)

↓ WARNING!!! STUPID IDIOT BELOW!!!!!!! 🆘🆘🆘🆘🆘⚠️⚠️⚠️⚠️⚠️⚠️⚠️☢️☢️☢️☢️☢️☢️☢️☢️☢️☣️☣️☣️☣️☣️☣️☣️🤢🤢🤢🤢🤢🤢🤢🤢🤢🤢🤢🤢🤢 ↓