#they’re both kids who got put into a lot of pressure early on

[dungbeatposse]

the amount of mental trauma boboiboy has is astounding.

kid has never catch a break since the day he got his power watch, especially with the weight of the whole galaxy on his shoulders, and the amount of times the descendants of the first elemental users have seen boboiboy as their ancestors AND retakka… yikes…

i’m glad he’s deciding to stay on earth for the time being, lord knows he needs it 😭😭😭

he has yet to get the all third stage elementals, and also i would like to see the origins of the others’ powers too. i think it’d be interesting to see where yaya’s, ying’s, gopal’s and fang’s powers came from.

so we’ll see how that pans out (hopefully my boy’s gonna go clock in with the tapops psychiatrist before he does any shenanigans)

can’t wait for boboiboy galaxy season 3~~

[vintagepresley]

Spoilers Ahead... From Here To The Great Unknown.

Okay.. I've finally finished Lisa's book. I listened to the audiobook version on Spotify because my copy from Graceland probably isn't coming until later this week. But anyway, I’m not going to give much away, but I just wanted to talk about it for a moment because I did cry towards the end of the book and I needed a moment to process everything. I just wanna say the way Riley told her mother’s story and helped her tell her own story was beautiful. This was such a great book and I highly recommend listening to the audio version of it because it’s even more emotional. 

Now I know after reading this some of you are going to act kind of.. wild because of the parts about Priscilla. Which I can totally understand. But let's remember to keep it respectful if someone has a difference of opinion from you. I feel like everyone just wanted to know about the Priscilla parts of this book. Which I find kind of odd because Lisa’s story is amazing and just her life overall and everything she’s been through and just motherhood being something she was the best at. If trying to get dirt on Priscilla is the only reason you’re reading this book, that’s sad. 

That being said.. After reading this book regarding the parts about Priscilla.. I still don’t hate this woman. Because if you have never experienced this sort of relationship with your mother like Lisa and Priscilla had. You could never understand. There were parts where I was completely disappointed in Priscilla and her actions and for not protecting her daughter more and being so worried about a man more than her daughter. But sometimes mothers are like that. They put a man before their child. But I have to remember I don’t know her story. Not really or how she was brought up or raised. I don’t know what she could’ve gone through There’s a part in the beginning of the book where Lisa is talking about her mom and how she wishes she was her mom because she felt bad for her and sympathized with her. She said the same thing about her grandma (Priscilla’s mom). Which was so sad. I feel like Priscilla becoming young parent when she clearly wasn’t ready to be a mom yet was probably the wrong thing for her. She still had a bit of selfishness that you can’t have when you’re a parent. Sometimes when you’re not ready to be one it’s probably hard to get rid of that. Priscilla and Lisa never made things easy on one another at all. They were always hurting each other. Elvis dying didn’t make this easy for them because Lisa was lost and Priscilla seemed to be still figuring out her life and I truly feel like having to be a mom full time was too much for her especially when Lisa started to rebel and get into drugs at an early age. I think that just made their relationship worse and where that strain came from. But as they both got older they started to connect more mainly for the grand kids, but eventually they did bury the hatchet with one another and realized they put each other through so much. I feel like a lot of relationships with mothers and daughters are like that. Not all. But some. Where they both grow older and realize everything they had done was just silly and they’re able to talk more and connect as adults. But that being said it doesn’t excuse Priscilla being kind of an absent mother but then at the same time wanting Lisa to be this perfect daughter and things being a certain way and having to look a certain way for the outside world.Then being very strict and enforcing the dynamic that “I’m your parent. Not your friend.” which made her kind of cold toward Lisa. That’s a lot of pressure to put on a child who clearly hasn’t grieved the death of her father and obviously didn’t know how. I guess in a way I sympathized with not only Lisa, but Priscilla as well. Because I realized we actually don’t know much about Priscilla outside of Elvis. We don’t know the kind the life she lived as a child besides being an army brat. But we don’t know how her relationship was with her own mother. Usually how you raise your own child sometimes is a mirror of how you were raised. But it was so nice to see that Lisa broke that kind of generational  thing when it came to raising her own children and not being anything like her own mother was. 

Another thing is Lisa didn’t like anyone that tried to be an authority figure toward her. She never had a connection to Vernon and didn’t really like him because he would be an authority figure whenever she was at Graceland. No one could tell her what to do because if they did she didn’t really care for them. Her mother fell under the same thing. She felt her mother tried to control things and didn’t let her do certain things because she didn’t want her to be spoiled. 

I also found it interesting that she saw the relationships between her parents with other people and how they would be when it came to her own children. Whenever she was dating someone new she’d introduce them and then asked her kids what they thought of them. If they didn’t like them, they’d never see them again. Because whoever she was dating she would make sure her children liked them no matter what. Their opinion meant everything. Because she never liked anyone her mother dated and she didn’t like Ginger and felt like she wasn’t right for her dad and that no one else really liked her. I think another thing that stuck out to me the most was that she showed more of the human side of Elvis. I feel like we get that in every book about him but sometimes we don’t know what the truth is or not. But when Lisa would go into his tempers and his anger whenever something didn’t go his way she would go into detail about how everyone would be scared in that moment and sometimes would hide because he tend to throw things. Then stories about how soft he would be toward her and all the fun things they would do and how he would sneak away with her on a golf cart to go visit his dad down at his house but really it was just a way to spend time alone with Lisa. Just the really silly and special moments they had together. He really was the sweetest daddy, but we already knew that. But hearing stories we had never heard before about the two of them was just so sweet to read and it’s so heartbreaking she never really grieved or gotten over his death.

Everything about this book was just so special. So vulnerable. Not just from Lisa but from Riley as well as she filled in the pieces for her mom for things. The struggles Lisa dealt with all her life and the loss. So much loss she had to deal with and never truly recovered from. She says, she’s always been sad. People would always tell her she looks sad and she never realized she had always been sad since the day her dad died. The sadness was always written on her face since that day.

This book was incredible and I’ll probably read it again once my copy comes in the mail.

[xenosaurus]

listen listen listen. i need to know everything about this disabled Big Lad and the badass wife please and thank u

Their names are Ami (human) and Beezle (u’rahm)! Ami was adopted by a u’rahm family when she was a small child and raised entirely separate from other humans, Beezle was her childhood best friend.

Beezle’s disability is genetic, but also recessive and varying in presentation. It’s a growth hormone insensitivity that prevents some systems from responding appropriately to periods of rapid growth. Most individuals with the condition due within a few days of birth, as the cartilage supporting their organs fails to grow fast enough and inevitably blocks their intestines.

However, there is a separate, much less severe genetic condition that is fairly common among u’rahm that affects the supportive and connective tissues— in most people, it leads to hypermobile joints and chronic digestive discomfort. If you have both, though, it drastically reduces the chance of a fatal organ blockage, as the too-small cartilage is flexible enough to allow food to pass through.

Those that survive early childhood usually go undiagnosed until their first adolescent growth spurt, when the particular growth hormone becomes a primary signaler in development. They almost always die.

Beezle is the youngest of five children, and has a particularly severe case of the aforementioned joint problem. The comorbidity got him to adulthood, but two of his siblings died young. His mother, mourning and firmly in denial about how sick her youngest is now that he’s relatively stable, put a lot of pressure on him to live a “normal” life. There is a dangerous lack of respect for limitations and accommodation.

Ami, small and fragile as a child, and Beezle, sick and fragile in general, were the bottom of the social pecking order in a situation where roughhousing is used to define relationships. Bullied kid besties, basically— they imprinted on each other young. They were ‘snare kids’, a particular low social ranking defined not by losing fights, but by skipping them and relying on tricks and cleverness. Hunting with traps.

Beezle is patient, maintains an impressive poker face, and is depressingly used to making compromises on his comfort and safety (lose the battle, win the war). He’s calculating and deceptively gentle, willing to let you walk all over him riiight until the last second. Ami, on the other hand, is often outright mean and happy to fight dirty. She’s so small her anger is easily brushed off, so she doesn’t bother to hide it.

They’re incredibly protective of each other, with the well-earned trust and vulnerability of two people who have repeatedly proved themselves willing to make sacrifices for the other.

[tarjapearce]

Babygirl, i got it

I just want to tell you if it’s ok I send the strawberry jam request to my friend who also writes(prob won’t write it cuz she’s busy) that was unimportant

I am the anon who wrote you the ask on Strawberry Jam.

And after eating all that up, I have to say. I HAVE NEVER IN MY LIFE READ SOMETHING SO DELICIOUS. This work was a high quality piece and I’m coming back for more.

So,

You know I’m gonna ask you for Continuation of this masterpiece.

So my mind is already jumping to the third part so I think, I’m just gonna tell you how the third part could go (I have severe adhd)

-year or two later-

Bros getting ready to marry her n eyeing her up n down, thinking whether he should break the promise he gave to her dad about not getting her pregnant n blah blah blah. Him inviting over her dad while she is wedding shopping and asking him for permission¿ Fr he would be so nervous and tense I’m not even kidding.

“Also, I might get her pregnant before the wedding” or “also, I think she’s pregnant, she has been very moody lately” fR he would be smug about it

(just pretend it’s something else/I’m not very smart as I’m writing this cause it 3 am and I have not slept yet, but it’s holidays)

She would find out that she’s pregnant and getting all happy n dovey, knowing it’s the consequences of them fucking raw everywhere in the house. ( fr he would have it as a bucket list, fuck on every stable surface n room in the house, he would also be so shameless about it, I love it)

He comes home, after getting ‘the talk’ from his future fil (father in law), sensing she has something to say, so with his shit-eating grin he says something along the lines of “ what you have for me, ma? Don’t get all shy on me, mami” I love him nicknaming me ma or mami, don’t even get me started on his accent and his talks in Spanish to me.

He would be so happy n exited for this new chapter of their life together the even tear would escape his eye, that she’s growing their little bean inside her.

For instance, he would kiss her all up with their make out sesh he would lay her on his chest, her listening to his heartbeat n getting sleepy telling him all about her day. FR he would just euphorically smile, knowing that he’s internally happy.

I feel like this would already be part four🫠

Them marrying each other and the dad and Miguel would be both crying, no the dad would be full on sobbing while walking her down the aisle. I assume that by the time he was marrying her she would be PREGNANT pregnant like on the bring of pushing the lil human out, but before all that, there would be the happiest moments of them together, for example them laying in bed early in the morning on weekend, he would be up bc fr he’s a morning bird, setting himself so his head would be next to her baby bump. He would talk to the baby fetus for HOURS to no end.

Or them together cooking, just things like that.

OHHH PART 2

so her putting her high level qualified degree to use, she gets a job at alchimax working alongside him, and slowly realising they they’re both unhappy. So they start their own company.( I do not have any experience) like the company would slowly turn into the most powerful corporation ever destroying everyone with its patented tech n ideas, bro they would be crazy rich but still be kind of humble? Their jobs be like their hobbies, and dad would be super proud of her.

Part five would be like them with their baby, and just loving tooth rotting fluff of Miguel being a father.

I am💯sure that Miguel would have lactation kink.

I did not reread it after me, for that I apologise, because I’m gonna go to sleep cuz it’s currently 4 am and I’ve been writing this for an hour. Also it’s incoherent, I will prob make it coherent soon. Also you absolutely feel no pressure writing it anytime soon, because I know it’s a lot and it’s kinda not making sense?and kinda cringe?

Anon...

I must ask you for advice cause that PLOTTING SKILL IS *Chef kiss* Wish I had that fr haha.

2. Im so... JSKGAHSHS ❤️❤️ You loved it.

3. OF COURSE I AM WRITING A PART 2 and probably make it a small fic 🤭. It is not cringe. I love smut, sure, but I also love me a good fluff and stuff.

4. Its totally fine, if they write it, I wanna read too! ❤️

5. I will upload as soon as I have cleared up some other requests and AU's for Miguel.

You seriously made my day. Any request do, actually, ❤️. Thank you so much for keeping me busy haha.

6.Rest well nonny ❤️✨.

[veresiine]

Headcanon and thoughts dump; the vast majority about Leon because I've been having almost nonstop blorbo thoughts for over half a year, but there's some stuff on some other SwSh characters too in the background.

Topics:

Ages

Battle Tower

Leon as League Administration

Darkest Day and Eternatus

On Dragapult

Hop and Leon's Family and Early Childhood

Consequences of this

Others' Family Backgrounds

Rose

Relationships and Orientations

How I got to be so obsessed anyway

Actual content under the cut due to length

Ages:

At the time of the game, Leon is 22, and Hop and the protagonist are 14-15 years old. Sonia is the same age as Leon, maybe a few months older. Raihan is maybe around two years older than Leon and Sonia. Nessa's around the same age but I'm hoping she's closer to Raihan's age than Leon's and Sonia's, because I sincerely hope she wasn't dealing with the double whammy of being a child athlete AND a child model for a long time, because that's just FAR too much pressure to put on someone, even if she seems so well-adjusted.

So this means that Leon was Champion for 12 years. Yes, in the fic I wrote, I'd had him 20 years old and champ for 10, but I have since changed my mind after thinking it over for a while.

Battle Tower:

In addition to actually winning and losing, Battle Tower gives points for battling style / showmanship, and takes points away for damage to the surroundings.

Leon is in charge of operating the tower and is also its final boss (most of the time; sometimes other pro trainers like Raihan or Mustard might step in briefly), but he's graded on the same system as everyone else, and he had lost quite a few points for damaging the battle area before he and his pokemon re-trained themselves to be more restrained and less destructively showy. It's a different style from how he battles in the stadium!

Leon also considered that the gym challenge requiring endorsements means both a lot of nepotism and also, talented trainers without connections being SOL; he's since added the ability to get an endorsement from Battle Tower performance.

Battle Tower supports itself financially both from a small entrance fee, and from virtual tickets to higher-level matches; all this gets turned around into paying the staff and providing prizes. This is not a for-profit thing; this is a "let's have fun and make each other stronger!" thing that has to be financially solvent to justify its existence to the League

Leon as League Administration:

Instead of one single assistant in everything (i.e. Oleana), Leon ends up with a group of 4-5 senior League staff he goes to for advice a lot, and who help keep him on track.

He's known half of them since he was a kid so at this point they're basically extended family

He was still pretty emotionally conflicted and fragile for a few months after the whole Darkest Day thing and then losing his title, and needed some time to regroup and find himself again. Leon was in touch with the League during this time, and trying to do his part to untangle the League and Macro Cosmos and deal with the fallout of the Darkest Day, but he wasn't doing anything in any official capacity; he just kind of stuck himself in the middle of things and did what he could, mental health permitting, in between training sessions.

And he wasn't actually offered the chairman position until those few months had passed and Leon had had some time to sort himself out, and some of the investigations had wrapped up, helping to clear the League's image.

Rose had Leon attend all kinds of events and sometimes listen in on meetings while he was Champion; it wasn't Rose's intent to train Leon to be his successor as chairman, but it does mean that Leon's not going in completely blind; he has some prior experience.

Leon is concerned about the League, yeah, but he mostly just wants the region's trainers to have fun as they reach for the top, provided they play fair. He's a lot more hands-off than Rose was, with one major exception:

During the gym challenges, he lets meetings slide a bit so he can watch as many of the battles as he can, and has taken to delivering little notes to the challengers, encouraging them or telling them an aspect of their style that really impressed him. And if a trainer is really struggling, he'll praise their perseverance.  He aims to get each challenger at least once in a season so no one feels left out; part of this is thinking back to Sonia.

And in the years after that, he extends the note thing to gym trainers and League staff as well during the challenge season, since they need encouragement too!

He really wishes there were more battles and fewer meetings, but that's part of what his involvement in battle tower is for; getting him to blow off steam so he can tackle more admin stuff.

Darkest Day and Eternatus:

Leon was up there fighting Eternatus for a few hours by the time Hop and the PC arrived to save the day; after all, the protagonist and Hop had time to fly to the opposite side of Galar, wander through the Slumbering Weald, get the artifacts, fly back up to Hammerlocke, battle Rose, and THEN finally confront Eternatus. With a battle that long, mistakes are inevitable.

There is security camera footage of the first 15-20 minutes of Leon vs Eternatus, but the cameras got knocked out after that.

I think the anime mentioned something about Galar particles converting to electrical power? And presumably they do so naturally at some rate, but can be more efficiently converted with the power of technology.

Before Dynamax bands were introduced to the stadiums, Magnolia had made SURE to test that the Galar particle exposure involved in using a Dynamax band had negligible side effects on trainer and pokemon, and had introduced some kind of shielding to make it even safer. The one dynamax per side per battle rule is also there out of an abundance of caution.

But that's Galar particles from a Power Spot, not a source of INFINITE Galar particles. Exposure to the levels Galar particles and electrical effects released by a rampaging ETERNATUS cannot be healthy, never mind whatever type of poison Eternatus is packing. Exactly what effect, temporary and lasting, all this had on Leon and his pokemon, I don't know, and I frequently change my mind and up the stakes, but whatever it did, it was bad, and some of it was permanent.

The player character, Hop, and their pokemon weren't facing Eternatus for anywhere near as long, so they shouldn't be as affected.

... Physically, anyhow. Everyone who was present for that battle is probably more than a little shaken-up, psychologically.

On Dragapult:

I love Charizard as much as the next person but I feel that Dragapult as a pokemon is a better representation of Leon

Dragapult is Galar's pseudo-legendary, and pseudo-legendaries usually go to / reflect champions.

Though it is not 1:1, as Hoenn had 2 pseudo-legendaries and while Steven and Metagross fit to a T, Salamance is just kinda there, vibes-wise. Being awesome without being linked to a trainer

Also Dragapult gives Leon 2 repeat types on his team; 2 dragon (haxorus and dragapult) and 2 ghost (aegislash and dragapult) and it's nice to have that theme/consistency.

And Dragapult's evos match his story a bit. Dreepy are super weak; Leon started out as a kid out in the middle of nowhere with only one friend and not much else going for him. Drakloak look after their younger evolutionary relatives, it's their whole Thing; Leon was left to raise his younger brother, and also his entire dream is to look after / inspire all Galar's other trainers to encourage their growth. And then Dragapult is a pseudo-legendary; Leon's a champion for a long time, and Dragapult have the whole thing about lock-on and targeting; pokemas Leon has a special skill that makes his moves NEVER MISS, regardless of base accuracy (this only applies to Leon's sync pair with Charizard though).

Also I like the idea of there just being Dreepies everywhere, and all the Dreepies flocking to Leon as much as they do to Dragapult; he's totally their dad too.

Hop and Leon's Family and Early Childhood:

Leon and Hop's grandparents' are their mum's parents; their dad married in and wasn't particularly well-liked by the grandparents. When Leon was little, they tried not to argue in front of him, for his sake, but Leon probably picked up on some of the tension anyway.

Then the dad got sick when Leon was around 5; mum was busy being his caregiver, and the grandparents were busy with tending the wooloo flock and also errands; this left Leon to pick up some of the household labor in the form of more chores than expected of a kid that age. Mum was concerned about offloading too much onto her kid, but the grandparents didn't really care.

Then mum was pregnant with Hop and that meant that she couldn't do as much around the house, and so more work fell to Leon. Then Hop was born, and their dad was taking a turn for the worse, and it was not a very happy situation to grow up in, even if Hop and Leon's actual parents did care about their sons and wanted them to have a happy childhood, but unfortunately, circumstances didn't work out that way, and the grandparents were borderline neglectful, in part because of their feelings about their daughter's husband.

So yes! Leon does have some domestic skills! Like cooking and cleaning and the like! He's not great at it, since he hasn't had much practice since he became Champion, but the basics are in there somewhere!

This is also where we get Sonia's observations, both in-game and in the anime, that Leon didn't have time to spend with other kids, because he was busy helping around the house and with his little brother, and 'practically raised' Hop. Which isn't to say that their mother did nothing! She certainly tried, and after the dad finally passed away, and she'd had some time to mourn, she made a point of trying to do more for her kids and to get them to have more happy childhood memories.

This is how Leon ends up going somewhere and getting his Charmander. I've heard theories that he must've gotten him from Mustard on the Isle of Armor (and that's probably when he trained there) and I am definitely not opposed to this (it makes sense!) but also haven't directly addressed it.

Hop would have been 3 years old or so at the time Leon left on the gym challenge, old enough to remember his promise about becoming Champion.

Consequences of this:

Hop never knew his father; he died when Hop was too young to remember. Leon is the closest person to filling that role for Hop.

Leon does remember his father, but not very well. He mostly remembers how much his father meant to his mum, and how much his death broke her. He does have a few good memories of his dad playing with him and reading stories to him, but as the years passed, he realized that Rose had ended up being more of a father figure to him than his own dad had a chance to be.

No one in the family really talks about Leon and Hop's father; Hop learned quickly that asking his mum made her sad, asking his grandparents made them angry, and asking Leon mostly got him shrugs as answers.

Mum is very protective of her kids' health after what happened with their father; this is part of what caused Leon to take such an interest in fitness, as a way of saying 'don't worry, mum!' He does really enjoy being physically active in general, and always has, but that's an additional layer on top of it.

Leon probably had her worried sick with all his wandering around lost; she was extremely grateful for Sonia (and Yamper) for bringing him back from wherever he'd ended up. She's glad that Hop doesn't have the same issues, and only ends up in the middle of nowhere if he wants to.

Because Hop didn't bear as much witness to hostilities from his grandparents, he takes more interest in them and their Wooloo flock than Leon did, and his grandparents are the ones to let him pick his favorite Wooloo to be his own personal pokemon.

Leon actively tried to keep Hop away from the spotlight so he'd have a chance to have a normal childhood; Rose encouraged this as well, but Leon eventually decided that Hop was ready to give it a shot (as of the start of the game), since he wanted his little brother to have a chance at having an adventure with pokemon, too, as much as he hoped Hop wouldn't have to deal with all the pressures and expectations of the public. This caused some friction with Rose, but they talked it out and smoothed things over eventually.

Others' Family Backgrounds:

Sonia is not Magnolia's only grandchild, but she is the only one who's stayed in the area. Magnolia had a few kids; at least one of them moved to a different region following their career path. Some of her grandchildren probably did, too.

Sonia is also one of, if not the oldest of Magnolia's grandchildren.

Raihan has a sister who works in the archives. He lived with his sister, away from his parents, for a few months, before going to live entirely on his own. The circumstances behind this change pretty much every time I bounce them around in my head.

At least one of Raihan's parents is/was an architect.

Rose:

HHHHHHHHHH

I've considered the possibility that Rose gave Leon his Aegislash (either at its current evolutionary form or earlier ones), since Rose is a Steel-type specialist, and also there's Aegislash's whole pokedex entry about it sometimes being manipulative.

Macro Cosmos and the League being so closely tied together is only a recent development, and it's Rose's doing. Separating the two entities is going to be a long process.

Rose genuinely feels terrible about how things turned out. He didn't want anyone to get hurt (physically, anyhow); though he had accepted it as a possibility, he wanted to avoid it in possible, and thought that no matter what happened, it would be worth it in the end. Spoiler alert: it wasn't. He screwed up big time, and I hope he realizes WHY he screwed up.

That said, I HC he was the immediate successor of that one Chairman who tried to rig matches, causing Mustard to leave the League, and because of that, Rose is very popular for having 'drained the swamp' in his own time. League veterans like Opal and Kabu really appreciated him for that. Opal appreciates him significantly less now that she’s gotten Bede to open up to her.

Relationships and Orientations:

Nessa and Sonia are in a relationship

Other than that it's just a big murky mess of 'I make every character I get my hands on bi and/or aspec, though exactly what flavor combination depends on the weather, the day of the week, and what's on sale at the grocery store'

How I got to be so obsessed anyway:

I didn't actually like Leon at first. He and Hop gave me name-related psychic damage (I could explain but that would require at least 3 paragraphs of personally identifiable information as context), and his initial interactions with Sonia rubbed me the wrong way.

After that rough introduction, it was 'ah it's this guy again;' he existed and I had no strong feelings one way or another. He still annoyed me slightly, but he was helpful and clearly trying his best.

Then he had Charizard shield Hop and the player, and I decided that if nothing else, I appreciated how much he cared, and what he was willing to do.

And then

AND THEN

His losing animation hit me right in the feels. When I saw him pull his cap over his eyes, my first thought was "I understand this man on a spiritual level". Everything about that animation was perfect. I could see myself in him. Everything fit into place. Terrible sense of direction? Check. And that's not something I often see in fiction; I guess there is Ace from HnKnA but I'm not a fan of yanderes, thanks. Hiding emotions behind a hat? Check. That was a staple of high school me. The anger, but forcing it down and letting it go? Over the course of a few seconds? *chef’s kiss*.

More importantly, pushing himself to be the strongest, to help others, to bring them up to his level, to entertain, and to protect the region? That's the exact kind of power fantasy I used to try to live in MMOs and part of why I (almost) always play a tank. And of course, with being a tank comes having an ego, but Leon doesn't put people down to build himself up, which is really nice to see in such a confident character.

Then everything I learned about him after that just made me love him more.

TWILIGHT WINGS. All of it. That honestly made me go from loving Leon to loving all of the SwSh cast, honestly; it even got me to sympathize with Oleana! I mean yes, what she did to Bede (and to Goh and Sonia in the anime) was beyond messed up and I am not justifying her actions, but at the same time, I appreciate her character.

Battle Tower outfit 12/10! A solid half of my blorbos over the years are fancy bastard wizards and battle tower Leon gets to look the part too! It's great!

I love how the anime and pokemon masters fleshed out his interactions with other characters, especially with Sonia and Raihan.

I could go on and on and on but I won't, especially as there's some self-recognition through the blorbo I'm not ready to admit to

[blueberrytwoberry]

Okay, well, I have a bunch of unformed half-thoughts about Eddie, and Buck, and potential relationships (not positive, for the record), and I thought, you know, why not write them all down on this Saturday morning when I’m up super early, because, I don’t know, at this point I feel less and less (and less) like them being together would actually be good for Eddie, and he’s my favorite so.

(I am putting all my many unpopular opinions under this cut)

It’s just… Well, let’s start with the end of the last episode. Where Eddie finally allows himself to experience joy, to dance around and just be free for once in his life. And in the midst of that joy, in that one moment of freedom, Buck shows up at his house in a thundercloud and just. Brings the whole mood down.

Which, you know. Would be one thing, except it also comes after episodes and episodes of Buck not being around when Eddie is clearly going through a lot of shit. Of a season where Eddie has shown up twice to help with Buck’s shit and is now getting pulled into helping with a third serving of crap, and it really just… paints the picture that Eddie is there (in Buck’s head) to take care of him. To help when Buck has a “problem” and to be put away up on a shelf when Buck has other things going on (a boyfriend).

(Note also that when Eddie is up on his shelf, Buck doesn’t want him getting down on his own and going to do other things, and will react violently if he tries, per 7.4. Because Buck may not have any use for Eddie at certain times but he doesn’t want anyone else stepping in, which….)

And you know what, all of that reinforces something I’ve felt about the two of them for a while. There are, for sure, people who date single parents because they’re hoping (either consciously or unconsciously) that they’ll get parented, too. They want parents, not partners. They want someone to do the work for them.

Which, well. I’ve been told over and over by fandom that’s what Buck wants and I didn’t agree and then I didn’t want to believe but, actually, based on his relationship with Tommy, sure. Sure, it seems so. Tons of people said Buck wants to be babied and coddled and hey he was ready to move in with the boyfriend who babied and coddled him in his thirties and he gives Abbie credit for making him grow up as a guy in his mid twenties, and Ali forced him to actually get a place to live as a guy in his late twenties, so, yeah, okay. Seems he does. Which. Fine. Not unrealistic. Like I said, some people are like that. If they find someone who wants to parent them, more power to them both.

But I absolutely do not believe Eddie wants to be a parent in his romantic relationships. He has, in fact, shown a preference to find people who will co-parent, regardless of his own attraction or desire for them on other levels. And I do appreciate that the show seems to confirm that, over and over.

Eddie wants and needs and deserves a chance to be joyful and human. To be free and happy without getting roped into parenting another adult. And if I’m really getting into it, taking everything that’s happened in canon, both distantly and especially recently, I think on some level he’s always known that he’d get stuck parenting Buck if they got too close.

Because I don’t know. Probably my most unpopular opinion (but you have so many, you say) is that Buck doesn’t actually co-parent Christopher and never has and doesn’t want to. Buck acts mostly like Chris’s older sibling. He’s nearly always there for fun time hangs, he puts the pressure of caring for his emotions on Christopher more than once (at the pier, after Eddie gets shot), and he’s the “I ran away to your house because dad was mean” choice, which has always been, in my experience, a sibling role.

I don’t know. This all ties into why I can’t buy the Buck-Wants-Kids thing, I think, because I don’t see it. He, for sure, likes kids. (Even loves kids!) But he likes kids in the… fun to play with and hang out with way. In the “fun uncle who takes you on crazy adventures” way. Him watching Jee was basically a masterclass in demonstrating this, IMO. He likes hanging out and being silly. Not the nitty-gritty “you’re going to have to deal with teething and potty training and refusing to do homework” way. He hangs out at the kids table during events and that’s fine for the cool uncle but as a parent it puts him into the “I’m not like other parents, I’m a cool parent” box and you know what, I’ll just say, not a great box to be in for the care and development and growth of your child.

Kids don’t need parents to be their playmates. Kids need parents to be their parents. Not to say parents shouldn’t play with their kids. But they have a bigger role beyond fun time buddy.

Anyway. I do have, I guess, the smallest smidgeon of hope that maybe things’ll happen on the show that can get me back on Buck’s side. The talk about him taking time to figure out what he likes encourages me a little, but, honestly, I mostly suspect he’ll discover he likes the same things he’s always sought out. Which, again, to be clear, is a FINE thing to want! People do! It’s chill as long as all involved parties are into it!

BUT! I hope if that is what he discovers that he stays away from Eddie, because I don’t know. Some people want to parent their partners. Seems Tommy did. But I absolutely believe Eddie doesn’t and I just want him to find more joy. Not subsume it to make someone else happy.

Anyway. Yeah, thanks if you read this far. It feels good to get this all out and I figure I’ve included something in here for most people to block me in the fandom but you know? I’ve got to live my truth, I guess. And my truth is I want better for Eddie. I want him to be happy. I’d like Buck to be happy, too! But, as of this moment, I truly don’t think their happiness is compatible. Also I have tried to tag this appropriately but if I’ve missed something, let me know.

[natsbaby]

Cheeseburgers?

Pairing: (mentions of platonic) Tony Stark x Shy!Reader, (romantic) Natasha Romanoff x Shy!Reader

Summary: Reader is the shy childhood best friend of Tony and would always visit him, but only when the other Avengers aren't around. Though Nat meets her for the first time after coming back from a mission early

Warnings: none !

Word Count: 680

A/N: this is a short one, just thought this would be a cute idea HAHA i have some things drafted right now so I might post them soon! I hope you guys like it! 💖

"Hey Friday, are the Avengers around, and is Stark up in his lab?"

"The Avengers are currently out on their missions so I'm afraid not Ms. Y/L/N. Would you like for me to let him know you're in the building?" The AI asks you as you enter the elevator. You think about it for a moment with a hum while drumming your fingers against the elevator railing.

"It's alright Friday, I might as well just keep myself occupied while waiting" you paused for a moment as you looked at the time on your phone and walk to the lab. Knowing the Avengers, it might take some time till they come back.

"Can you play some songs though? Anything from Tony's playlist will do" you let Friday know as you enter the lab and make yourself comfortable. You've always been friends with Tony since childhood due to your parents being college friends and have been inseparable ever since.

Tony would always be the one to speak for the both of you whenever you're out with other people and it's because you've always been a shy person ever since you were kids. He tries to help you come out of your shell and talk to more people. Though honestly, the thought just scares you and he reluctantly accepted that along the way.

He does plans to introduce you to the Avengers, don't get him wrong, but he's worried that you'd feel pressured to even utter a word. So maybe that's why he just asks you to come around when they're not around and meet them when the time comes.

You walk to his workbench and flop down to his seat to see what he's been up to, tinkering around a little bit. You start humming to yourself when a certain redhead came back early from her mission.

Natasha lets out a sigh as she walks through the compound, fresh from a bath, tired from her mission and not in the mood to do any post-mission reports. She notices the faint AC/DC playing as she walks through the hallway where the labs are.

"Hey Friday, is someone back from their mission?" Natasha asks as she approaches at the laboratory door.

"You're the only one who's back Ms. Romanoff. However, Ms. L/N is in Mr. Stark's laboratory." Friday replies. Natasha thanks the AI as she tries to think why that name is so familiar.

She opens the door to the lab to see Y/N dancing around the lab while holding Tony's screwdrivers as drumsticks. She smiles a little in amusement as she leans by the door frame, waiting for you to notice her presence.

"Took you long enough Stark, I was going to order some cheeseburgers without y-" you say as you turn around but stop as you see the redhead by the door.

Oh wow, you thought while staring at the redhead with wide eyes. You accidentally let go of the screwdrivers, forgetting you were holding them, and frantically catch them as Nat chuckles at you.

"I-i'm sorry I-I thought I was alone" you stutter as you shyly put down the screwdrivers.

"It's alright, I thought Stark came back from his mission. I believe we haven't met yet?" She starts as she starts walking to you. "Natasha Romanoff" she says as she stands in front of you.

You stand there, blinking and gawking at the redhead to even realize that she's talking to you. Oh my god how come Tony never introduced you to this goddess of a woman you thought.

"Hello? Is anyone there?" Nat teases you with a smirk. "You good?"

"I- oh my god I'm sorry! I'm Y/N L/N, I've heard a lot about you guys from Tony" you frantically say as you take a step back. Nat follows you by taking a step forward.

"All good things I hope" she smirks as she manages to corner you against Tony's workbench with her hands at either side of you, resting on the workbench.

"I was wondering if you want some cheeseburgers, got hungry after you mentioned it" Nat says as she reaches up to brush the stray strands of hair to behind your ear and gives you a warm smile. Your blush form a really deep red as you realize the close proximity between the two of you and at Nat's smile. You take a soft deep breath, trying to to get some courage.

"Sure" you start with a shy smile. "Tony can wait"

[damonalbarn]

Hey I was wondering if you knew the article that Justine spoke about suzi in?!

It was in The Guardian in 2000. Here you go:

Sweet revenge

In the mid 90s, Justine Frischmann and Damon Albarn were the First Couple of Britpop. Then he used a Blur album to rake over their break-up, while she languished in obscurity amid rumours of heroin addiction. Now she's back with a new album, and it's her turn to exorcise her demons.

Caroline Sullivan

Friday March 24, 2000

As Alison Moyet once said, it's hard to write a decent song when you're happy. Rock bands thrive on romantic turmoil in their private lives, without which they would be reduced to padding out lyrics with football scores and the weather.

Thus it was for Blur's Damon Albarn in mid-1998 when he sat down to write what would become the 13 album. His eight-year relationship with Justine Frischmann of the chart-topping Elastica, whom he once described as **"the only person who's ever been completely necessary to me" **had just ended, at her instigation. Pained and humiliated, he decided to exact revenge by exposing their most intimate details to public scrutiny.

The outcome? Embarrassment for Frischmann, a number one album for Blur and a bit of a result for Albarn.

Break-up albums are by definition both embittered and yearning - in the case of Marvin Gaye's vindictive Here, My Dear, they're just plain nasty - but 13 got more up-close and personal than could be considered gentlemanly. Albarn portrayed his former partner as neurotic, even slipping apparent drug references into the single Tender: "Tender is the ghost, the ghost I love the most/Hiding from the sun, waiting for the night to come". Frischmann was the ghost, supposedly, who was on the verge of being consumed by what one music paper euphemistically called "the darkness at the heart of Elastica".

Frischmann's response can be found on a song called The Way I Like It, which appears on Elastica's first album in five years, The Menace (out next month): "Well, I'm living all right and I'm doing okay/Had a lover who was made of sand, and the wind blew him away".

This is unlikely to be her last word on the subject. As she ambivalently begins her first round of interviews since 1996, she's finding that everyone has the same three questions. Why did Elastica nearly sabotage a promising career by taking so long to follow up their million-selling debut? Had Frischmann taken leave of her senses when she walked out on Mr Britpop? And what about the drug rumours?

"One journalist said to me, 'Dahling, I heard you were on heroin - Mahvelous!' " she says with some amusement. "Drugs are around, but I'm not that interested and never have been, although there have been elements of party animal in my band. The rumours are a lot to do with rock'n'roll mythology, where people want to believe you're having a more exciting time than you are."

The only drugs on her person today, as she perches on the edge of an armchair in her publicist's north London living room, are Marlboro Lights. Her other indulgences are two cups of herbal tea and a Cadbury's Flake cupcake, which she nibbles with well-bred pleasure. Her dark eyes are clear, and her long, tanned body is a testament to the virtues of a daily swim in a pool near her Notting Hill home. Only Elastica know whether they really succumbed to heroin and hedonism after their self-titled debut made them more famous than they'd ever expected to be, but if they did, Frischmann, 30, seems little the worse for it.

Given the current predominance of damnable boy bands, the Britpop mid-90s are beginning to seem like a halcyon period for English music. It was a time when the underground went overground, and a self-described "little punk band" like Elastica could sell 80,000 albums in a week.

More than a few loser guitar groups saw Britpop as a licence to print money, but Elastica, led with cool elan by the androgynous Frischmann, were one of its gems. The Blur connection was a marketing godsend (Frischmann and Albarn met on the London indie circuit, she as guitarist in an early line-up of Suede and girlfriend of frontman Brett Anderson, he as a cherubic baggy hopeful), yet the spiky-haired Elastica LP embodied that euphoric time like nothing else.

Frischmann, guitarist Donna Matthews, drummer Justin Welch and bassist Annie Holland were unprepared for the album soaring to number one in its first week. When they signed their record deal, Frischmann, whose great-grandfather was a conductor of the Tsar's orchestra at the Summer Palace in Byelorussia, was five years into an architecture degree at London University. A liberal north London Jewish upbringing - her engineer father built the Oxford Street landmark Centrepoint - had instilled expectations of success, but the reality of being photographed in the supermarket and having her rubbish stolen was a shock. Fiercely independent, she also resented her unsought role as half of Britpop's First Couple.

There was more. Two of Frischmann's musical heroes, The Stranglers and Wire, decided that two Elastica songs were suspiciously similar to two of their own tracks, and won royalties. Meanwhile, there were malicious rumours that Albarn had done much of the work on the record. He hadn't, but he did find Justine's success in America, where she was substantially out-selling Blur, hard to endure.

"It was very hard for him to deal with and he's very confrontational," she says, with the flattering openness of someone who prefers interviews to be more like conversations. She admits she often says too much, but in an era of image control and spin, her honesty makes her a one-off. Not that she's likely to land herself in it too badly - she possesses the intellectual ammunition to look after herself, which must have been instrumental in attracting two of rock's more articulate stars, Albarn and Anderson.

She's been accused of being a professional rock girlfriend, though it was probably they who were lucky to get her. She spent the cab ride over reading the Sylvia Plath letters in Monday's Guardian, and muses on the irony of the poet's subjugating herself to Ted Hughes when she was the more gifted. (Her new boyfriend, by the way, is an unknown photographer, "though that'll probably change, because men seem to get famous when I go out with them".)

"I reacted the way a lot of women do, by being passive," she continues. "He put a lot of pressure on me to give up Elastica. He said, 'You don't want to be in a band, you want to settle down and have kids.' " In so many words? "In so many words. He kept putting on pressure till I started to believe him." She adds bemusedly: "I've met his new girlfriend, and one of the first things she said was that he wanted her to give up travelling with her work to stay home with the baby [Missy, born last autumn]. I'm surprised he's got away with being thought of as a nice person for so long."

After 18 months, during which they did seven American and three Japanese tours, Elastica came off the road to record company demands for an immediate second album. Annie Holland's response was to quit the group, while Donna Matthews became renowned for hard partying on the nocturnal west London scene. They lethargically recorded some demos, but their heart wasn't in it. By 1997, when a second album should have been ready to go, Frischmann and Matthews were barely speaking, and there was nothing useable down on tape.

Holland's replacement, Sheila Chipperfield (of the circus Chipperfields), was deemed not good enough and left by mutual consent. By 1998, their continued lack of productivity was being likened to the Stone Roses' lengthy and ultimately self-destructive holiday between their first and second LPs.

"I didn't think Elastica were going to continue at that point, and we did kinda split up," she says, absently stroking her publicist's cat. Frischmann is a cat person; she's owned a tabby called Benjamin since she was 10. "Unconditional love," she coos. The pet's place in her life is so assured that prospective boyfriends are subjected to his feline scrutiny before she'll go out with them.

On top of everything else, in early 1998 her relationship with Albarn was in trouble. Frischmann retains enough of the indie ethic to detest the phenomenon of celebrity couples, and was dismayed when they became one. "I really hated the tabloid interest, and I went out of my way not to be photographed with him. Only about three pictures of us together exist, I think. In many ways, I think the media interest broke us up, because it made me feel the relationship was quite ugly, and I had to get away from it. There were other factors, too, obviously, because we were together for eight years, and I finally felt it was better the devil you didn't know, really."

Albarn's ego seems to have been severely undermined by having a girlfriend who was nearly as successful as he was, and something of a sex symbol to boot. Despite adopting a resolutely boyish T-shirt-and-jeans uniform, she's thoroughly feminine, a mix that got her voted fifth most fanciable woman in a lesbian magazine.

"I'm completely heterosexual, so I didn't know how to take that. It scares the shit out of me, the idea of being with a girl. I'm glad I've narrowed it down to half the people in the world."

She seems to view Albarn with indulgent exasperation these days, simultaneously praising his intelligence ("The Gallaghers just couldn't compete") and ticking off his flaws. "Damon adores being in the press, and sees all press as good press. He orchestrated that rivalry thing with Oasis. He really wanted kids, and I didn't feel our relationship was stable enough. He was a naughty boy, and he wasn't the right person to have kids with. I had this cathartic moment..."

At which point they split up. Albarn wrote 13 and then met Suzi Winstanley, an artist. "She was pregnant within three months," Justine observes wickedly.

Of the acclaimed 13, she's tactful, describing several songs as "really lovely". She studies her cigarette for a while before adding, "but I'm cynical about selling a record on the back of our relationship". But you're doing the same now. "It's true, but at the time I had no right of reply."

Elastica finally pulled themselves together last year, just as the music industry was about to write them off (their American label had already "very kindly let us go", as she puts it). Holland rejoined, Matthews went to Wales to sort out her life and the band banged out an EP and played the Reading Festival. Things came together quickly after that. They spent the last £10,000 of the recording budget on re-recording a dozen tracks, finishing the album, after years of procrastinating, in six weeks. They've called it The Menace "because that's what it was like to make".

It's dark and resolutely uncommercial - all wrong for 2000's pop-oriented climate. It's unlikely to match the success of the first one, which is fine with them. Call it (though Justine doesn't) their White Album. Its 70s punk aesthetic brings to mind angry girls such as the Slits and the Au Pairs, although the defining mood isn't anger so much as catharsis. None of the songs is specifically about Albarn, she claims. "The dark feeling is due to the sense of isolation, tasting success and getting frightened by it. I was questioning whether I wanted to be in a band any more, and there was no one I could ask for advice. Getting success and everything you ever dreamed about is hard to handle, and makes you question everything."

She's better prepared for success, if it comes again, this time. Already the privacy-preserving barriers are in place. The next interview of the day is with Time Out magazine, which wants a list of her favourite restaurants. "I'm not telling them where I eat," she says reflexively. "I'm gonna lie."

[papaerloy]

SBI ACTOR AU BRAINROT LETS GO.

This is just a list of stuff I´ve written down for an SBI/DSMP actor AU that´s been living in my mind rent free. I´m currently working on a oneshot for this AU so stay tuned!

list is under the cut because it´s LONG and I want to be polite to your feed.

SBI FAMILY WITH TECHBUR TWINS AND TOMMY ALL BEING PHIL AND KRISTIN’S BIOLOGICAL KIDS THANK YOU.

They’re all actors, or just big personalities in general-

Kristin is a little more lowkey, she’s had acting roles before, but she’s more like the backbone of the family that keeps everyone together, since life can be hectic when everyone’s eyes are on you.

Phil has his own TV show where he’s a winged adventurer who travels around a huge fantasy world, explores the massive structures and interacts with the deity’s and creatures inhabiting it! (Biggest moment in the series was totally The Battle For Endlantis)

Wilbur has been acting since he was a child, starring in a series called “Soot House” for most of his early to late teen years, before the series ended. (Disney child star Wilbur GSKFJSJHSHDEHSH)

Wilbur also absolutely still made his ARG.

Despite taking roles here and there, Wilbur quickly moved on to direct and act for his own series and movies, like a small series called “Earths Empires” that sadly didn’t last long, but he got to star his family and friends in it, so it was fun nonetheless!

Wilbur also loves music and later on goes to start Lovejoy with his friends, which he then focuses more on than acting, but still manages to juggle both careers. (I mean really? This man only doing only one thing? As if.)

Techno is a good actor, but he is even better at martial arts and has a nag for competition. Which is why he’s part of a competitive series called “Hypixel” which is a really random wacky series, that puts the actors in situations where they need to complete challenges and Techno is of course a beloved contestant because TECHNOBLADE NEVER DIES!

Technoblade is obviously not his real name, but the alias he uses in Hypixel. Yet everyone just calls him that now because he is very iconic with his long pink hair, golden crown and the pig mask he wears with his very royal looking dress style.

Since Hypixel lets the actors pick their own brand and looks, Techno honestly doesn’t change much from when he’s on screen compared to when he’s off screen.

Techno actually dislikes the attention outside of work and tends to wear different kinds of face masks with cool designs on them. (One specifically loved by the public is a light pink face mask with golden embroidered tusks on the sides, based off his Hypixel brand.)

Tommy was firmly kept out of the spotlight as much as Phil and Kirstin could manage. All of his childhood and also his early teen years, he never had any acting roles apart from like school plays and normal kid stuff...

It’s all due to Phil and Kristin realizing letting Wilbur be a child actor/star was a big mistake that they didn’t want to repeat. (The pressure was too great and it kinda fucked Wilbur over due to the harsh nature of the acting world.)

Tommy has always been interested in the acting world though, he wanted to be cool like his big brothers but had to wait... So instead he made his own little films together with his friend Toby! (Better know as Tubbo because that’s just what everyone calls him) Who just so happened to be in the same boat as him, regarding the whole “my family does acting but I’m too young and not allowed” thing.

The two of them just made silly little comedy skits, but they’d get a decent viewing on Youtube and were quite enjoyable.

( Tubbo is related to Schlatt, who is a well known actor as well. Just like Phil and Kristin, he didn’t want Tubbo to be exposed to the actor world too early. Mainly due to he himself going down a pretty harsh path, because of diving straight into it at an early age. He is better now and a really good dad! )

Tommy did eventually start appearing occasionally on Hypixel because Techno was on there.

Later on Tommy got his first role in an actual series, it was “Earths Empires” that was directed by Wilbur, mainly because Phil and Kristin thought it to be a good and safe place to start.

Tommy’s very first BIG role was when him and Tubbo were cast for a new series called “The Dreamer” (or something).

Tommy got to play a young and chaotic teen called “Tommy” (the writers liked his name, thought it fit the character well). While Toby’s character was named “Tubbo” (the writers found his nickname really endearing), who was gonna be Tommy’s best friend and partner in crime.

When being cast for “The Dreamer” Tommy once again got to meet the actor called Clay, who he had met in the past due to Clay having been starred alongside Techno a few times. This time, he was the person that was gonna play the character Dream in the series.

Clay was a man who seemed to be constantly increasing in fame due to starring in a series of films called “Manhunt”. Where he was a clever and agile man, who had to survive while being on the run from hunters who wanted to kill him. The number of hunters seemingly increasing every movie.

Funny enough the actors who played the hunters from the first “Manhunt” movies, George and Nick, also starred in the new series, but this time they would be Dream’s friends called George and Sapnap, Which was more close to their actual real life relationships as well.

The Disk Saga was a huge success and the series very quickly grew in popularity! Tommy was very happy to be one of the main characters alongside Tubbo.

Tommy’s own fame started to grow more rapidly after that, becoming a very beloved character and actor very quickly.

Of course the family was very proud of Tommy, but Phil and Kristin were still a little cautious, trying not to overbook his schedule and still let him be a kid outside of all this.

Wilbur was of course cast for the new L’manberg independence arc and OH MY GOD THE FANS WENT WILD.

Tommy and Wilbur’s brotherly bond shone through a LOT in their acting and the writers even changed the script slightly to make them more pseudo brothers, since their characters weren’t canonly blood related.

Wilbur was also a co-writer, along side playing the character that was dubbed after him “Wilbur”.

Wilbur´s character made Tommy super uncomfortable during the pogtopia arc and it made their life outside of work a little more complicated.

Techno gets cast into the series during the pogtopia arc as well and Tommy and Wilbur are both super excited to work with Techno on set.

Techno gets to keep his name as well because at this point the writers have let most of the cast keep their real names, so why not keep it going?

At the end of the L´manberg independence arc Phil joins (out of all the actors, only Wilbur knew he was joining the series.) and kills Wilbur as the second season ends with L´manburg in shambles and the fans projectile crying about it.

That is all I have for now! 

Also feel free to ask questions or like do anything you’d like with this stuff!

[airi-p4]

Love in the sky - Chapter 3

Chapter 1 | Chapter 2 | Chapter 3 | Chapter 4 | ...

Guess who wrote more of this story? 

I’m planning to finish this one (2 chapters left) but I’m struggling to find motivation and I may have a kind of ‘writer’s block’? I’m not sure my stories are making sense anymore but I won’t give up on writing because I want to explore my stories, even if they’re not very good written.

Anyway- Enjoy?

AO3

__________________________________

Chapter 3 - fashion show

Marinette checked the time on the phone: 2:35AM.

It made no sense.

She was exhausted. Not supposedly, but as a fact.

Long working hours, enduring lots of pressure, Kitty section's concert… the adrenaline from kissing Luka…

But then… why?  

Why couldn't she sleep?

She had barely rested!

She knew it wasn't only the jet lag.

Nerves.

Her big presentation was approaching, and her heart wouldn't stay calm in fear and anticipation. How was she supposed to calm down when her big day was- in just a few hours, actually?

"I can't sleep," she typed, and sent the message to Luka.

Why did she send it? He would be sleeping at that time. She shouldn't bother him…

She left out a deep sigh, but soon, a message from him arrived. 'Wanna talk?'

A phone call followed.

It had startled Marinette at first, but she picked up at the next tune.

"Luka?"

"Marinette? You can't sleep?"

"I- that's right. I'm sleepy but nothing is working! Tomorrow is my most important day and I have to wake up super early and I'm exhausted and Audrey is gonna fire me if I don't do well and-"

"Shhh… You're nervous, Marinette. It's normal. It's your big day tomorrow. Of course you are!"

Luka made everything sound so easy….

"I've been in a similar situation before. Remember Eurovision?"

She faintly remembered Eurovision. Kitty Section wasn't well-known at the time, but they had lots of eyes and expectations put on them. A big pressure to represent a whole country in front of all Europe. Of course, after a perfect performance, they easily won, earning most of the 'twelve points' from the rest of the countries. And it was that event that catapulted them to global fame… Marinette got shivers just imagine the pressure they must have felt performing in front of such a massive audience.

"Yes… I remember seeing it on the news, mostly hearing it on the radio while working. What did you do to calm down and get some sleep before your big day?" She asked. Luka took two seconds and hummed before answering.

"It may sound uncool, but the truth is that I listened to my mother's lullaby," he confessed.

"What…? A lullaby?" That was unexpected.

"I know it's probably childish, but that's exactly why it works" he chuckled. "Wanna try?"

"I- I don't know…" she wasn't a kid anymore, for lullabies. But what if it worked…? If it was Luka's calming voice... If it was Luka, then-

"Just listen," he cut her thoughts and started singing.

Luka singing ' a capella' was unheard of. He was a rock artist not a ballad one. Ballads were for Rose, but to the designer's surprise, his voice was actually very soft and angelic, healing… Marinette was taken aback, marveled. His singing voice, soft like a whisper in her ears, filled her with calm, love and protection. It didn't take her long to let out a subtle snore that made Luka hang up in relief. "Good night, Marinette" he sent her a kiss through the phone. 'I'm looking forward to your successful presentation tomorrow '.

Both of them dreamed of love and slept with a smile on their faces.

_____________________________________________

Marinette counted up to ten and sighed. Nothing. She couldn't calm down. Nerves were back as she got her costumes and models ready. She had everything under control, she convinced herself.

Wrong.

She sat down, defeated, sinking her face on her hands for a moment. What was she going to do? Everything was going to be a disaster!

"Marinette? Y-you have guests…?" Sabrina called, incredulous. She could recognize those crazy hair colors everywhere.

"Luka! You came!" She tackled him with a hug.

"Of course I came! I wouldn't miss the chance to see our future designer shine" Luka winked, returning her hug. Sabrina's eyes popped open at their unexpected familiarity.

"I'm sorry, I can't stay around. One of the models has injured her leg and another one has been food poisoned and- I'm in a pinch! If I don't find another pair of models soon everything is going to be a total failure…! My dreams, my future-" she panted, anxious.

"Shhh- Calm down, Marinette. Breathe" she did as he told her and relaxed a bit at the weight of his hands on her shoulders. "Good. Now, tell me what you need for the show."

"The two models that are missing." She answered, still hypnotized by his charisma. "But it's impossible to get them in time-!"

"Not if we can have substitutes…" he grinned, signaling Juleka and Rose, who were signing autographs to Sabrina and other members of the staff. Her eyes opened like plates.

"Oh, no no! I can't ask them that! It would be too selfish!" Her hands frantically fused.

"I'm sure they'd love to do it, though. They mentioned before how they would be thrilled to wear your designs" he assured.

"But- I still can't! What if-" she couldn't finish before Luka interrupted her rambling.

"Hey Jules, Rose. How would you feel about going to the catwalk? Marinette needs a pair of extra models."

"We don't mind it at all. As long as it's not very different from our style, we would love to, right?" Juleka answered, waiting for Rose's confirmation.

"She helped us yesterday. Of course we're going to help her if she needs us too!" Rose added happily. "Plus her designs? It's so exciting!" She squealed, jumping to hug Marinette.

She squeaked at the surprise. Would it be ok? Was it even allowed to be this lucky…?

"See? Besides, you don't have to worry, Marinette. They have the experience. They won't fail you" Luka affirmed. "Juleka used to be a model. And well- we all are, in a way"

Marinette knew what he meant: those photoshoots for magazines, music videos, booklets… She had seen enough of them to know. Of course they were professionals.

It seemed too good to be real.

"Maybe I could model for you too, if you want?" Luka offered.

She blushed at the thought. There was that suit… that suit she re-designed at the last minute thinking of him… A suit that wasn't perfect but that would fit him so well… and she wanted to see him wearing it so bad! Was she really allowed to? Luka gave her a questioning look and she blushed.

"Is this a yes? Will you let me model for you?" He smirked.

He defeated her with his smirk. "If you're ok with it… I'd love it" she admitted with a blush.

"Awesome" He grinned. "Show us our outfits and we'll get ready. You focus on your work. We're here to help, not to distract you" he kissed her cheek and she blushed hard.

How was she supposed not to be distracted when he kissed her like that? Focus, Marinette!

___________________________________

Even from behind the stage, Marinette could feel Audrey's intimidating gaze from the first row seat, under her sunglasses.

She gulped. A hand stopped on her shoulder and made her jolt at the contact.

"Marinette, you're trembling. Relax."

"Luka" she turned towards him. She hadn't realized she was trembling. She felt much better with his touch. "I'm so nervous! My future depends on this!"

"You know how we made it where we are, Marinette? It's not because of either talent or luck, even if they do play a role in it. It's because of confidence and perseverance. And you have both, I've witnessed enough to know. That's how I can assure you you're going to do amazing. You are extraordinary, Marinette."

"Luka I-" Marinette blushed.

"Shhh… tell me later." He winked. "Now go, and dazzle all of them with your fantastic creations. Ivan and Mylene are also there, cheering for you from row 3"

Marinette nodded effusively, and Luka's fond smile wasn't missed by Sabrina. Marinette called for her models, and put them all in a circle. She put her hand at the center, and the rest of the members' hands followed.

"Let's do this!"

"Yes!" They raised their hands together.

It was the time for Marinette to dazzle the world.

______________________________________

Throughout the catwalk, Marinette could hear the camera flashes and the "woah" voices from behind the curtains. Her heart beating fast, she stood tall and professional. At Juleka's turn, there was a big commotion.

Marinette's collection was based on flowers, and Juleka's dress was inspired by black lilies. Tight and short, long black gloves, long boots that empathized her long legs and details of violet along the full costume. She wore a big hat and purple and black sunglasses as well. Those sunglasses weren't part of the collection, but part of her show. So she dramatically threw them to the audience when she reached the furthest part of the platform, waved her hair, and turned to go back behind the curtains. The audience lost it in a collective "woah!".

They didn't even have time to confirm with the person next to them if "was that Kitty Section's Juleka?", that a smaller model started walking on the stage. Rose's dress was pink, with a skirt that resembled a tulip. She also wore a little pink hat she squealed over as soon as she saw it. Her platforms were high, and the pose she made at the end stole the audience's heart with her cuteness. "It's Rose! She's so cute!", someone said. "The dress is wonderful and looks perfect on her!" Someone else added. She winked before hiding backstage, making room for the last model of the night: Luka.

If the audience already were at the edge of their seats, now they were absolutely losing it. His suit was inspired by forget-me-not flowers. A secret wish she held for Luka not being just a dream of hers, but someone to stay in her life and memories forever. She had added some golden details and handmade flowers around his lapel and on the asymmetrical suit. The buttons he wore were also handmade and flower shaped. The pale blues tones matched with his hair color, in a beautiful elegance that didn't short on comfort. It fit him like a glove.

In the first row, watching the show next to her mother, Chloe was sinking her nails in her tights in jealousy. ' How could the loser Dupain-Cheng get Kitty Section members to model for her!? ' When approaching, Luka recognized her and directed her a momentarily cold glare. His biggest surprise was when he spotted the person seated behind her: Volpina.

Marinette couldn't stop grinning at how Luka raised his eyebrow, as if mocking them as if saying 'admire this amazing work, because you'll never achieve such outstanding results' .

Luka left the stage with a satisfied feeling, while both girls growled in anger amid the audience's loud applause.

Marinette stood there for a moment, watching Luka arrive, so mesmerized she almost forgot she had to go on the stage. The applause intensified when the announcer called her name, her models behind her clapping as well. Marinette blushed a little, but gained all the confidence she needed knowing Kitty Section members had her back.

"Thank you very much" she bowed. She laughed at Ivan's celebratory whistles, accompanied by Mylene's "woohoo". After a few photos, she returned backstage.

Once there, Marinette searched for Luka with her eyes, but before she could move, congratulations from the staff arrived non-stop. Kitty Section members retired to one side, away from the focus. They smiled happily at her success, and when someone on the staff approached Juleka, Luka kindly shoved them away. It was Marinette's time to shine- not theirs, and they didn't plan to make her time of glory go to waste.

"This was an amazing show, Marinette!" Sabrina cried, moved, hugging her friend. "Thank you" the designer kept replying in joy.

The crowd was so loud she didn't hear the high heel steps coming from behind her, even though before even turning back around, the designer could already feel the glacial air behind her neck. Silence formed and the people that surrounded her progressively stepped back. She knew that presence too well: Audrey Bourgeois.

Marinette glanced at Luka, who nodded at her in encouragement and took a deep breath before confidently turning to face her boss.

"Dupain-Cheng" Audrey called, with judging intimidating eyes showing under her slightly descended sunglasses.

"Mrs. Bourgeois" she challenged.

"This was an interesting show…" she started. "The fabrics, the style, the colors, the cut and the details: everything was vibrant and innovative" Marinette nodded. She wanted to say thank you, but Audrey hated being interrupted, so she let her continue. "There is something clear in your collection: you have attitude, vision and creativity. I like that" Marinette nodded, her eyes on hers as she took off her sunglasses. "Just one thing…" her tone became threatening. "I don't think you need to rely on ridiculous celebrities to pull off your designs. The spotlight is yours and only yours. Don't let them take that from you"

"I know" Marinette didn't miss the glare she directed towards Kitty Section- her friends. "It was an emergency, and they were returning a favor. It's not something I plan to willingly repeat. I have total confidence in my skills"

"I see…" Audrey smirked, putting her sunglasses back in place. "I'm pleased to hear that. Having contacts is important, but you need to be able to pull it off without depending on others, otherwise it is ridiculous" Marinette nodded again. "I look forward to seeing more from you," she said, turning to her heels. "Well done."

"Thank you very much" Marinette bowed as her boss left, directing one last warning glare towards Kitty Section.

Not a sound covered the steps of the Style queen as she left, but when she crossed the door, euphoria exploded. "Oh my God, Marinette! Audrey Bourgeois congratulated you! This is incredible!" Sabrina jumped to hug her. "I'm so proud of you!"

Marinette fell to her knees. "I- Did this just happen? Did I really do that…?" She blushed.

"Yes, you did!" Rose said, squealing.

"I can't believe I said all that!! I don't know where that confidence came from- and I had to defend you guys and-"

"We're so proud of you," Sabrina said. "We have to go out and celebrate this success! C'mon guys! Let's go change and get ready to party!"

"Don't forget to call your new boyfriend Delmar, too," Aurora joked.

"Tha- that's not like this! We're not-!" She protested, and everyone laughed at her redness. "A- anyway! Kitty Section is coming too, right?" Sabrina turned towards them.

The band shared looks and it was Luka who spoke. "Sadly, we have to turn down the invitation. We still have some obligations to take care of today"

"Nooooo" some people whined.

"You're not coming then…?" Marinette was close to tears, as she stepped close to Luka. "I wouldn't have made it without you…"

"Of course you would! You said it yourself! You're amazing, Marinette" Luka surrounded her tiny waist and lifted her. "Besides, you've heard Style Queen: it's your day today. You don't need us to shine. Enjoy your moment" He put her back on the floor and she threw herself into his arms.

"I know but I wish you could come… You also have part of the merits. It won't be the same without you…" she lamented.

"Marinette, you're going to ruin the suit you carefully made if you cry on my chest…" Marinette jumped back to wipe her tears and Luka smiled. Close to her ear, he whispered: "We can celebrate your success on Wednesday. You haven't forgotten we have a date, haven't you? I'll make sure to generously congratulate you as you wish and treat you to whatever you want" there was something hot in his tone, but that may have been his mind playing with him. She felt her face burn. "Ok?"

"Ok…" she finally gave up with a bit of sadness.

"Good. I can't wait" Luka lent to kiss her cheek and there was a collective 'kyaaaa' behind her. She was sure steam had to be leaving from her ears. "See you, everyone! Have fun at the party!"

Luka and Kitty Section waved as they moved to change their outfits and leave, their manager hurrying them at the door.

"OMG, Marinette! What was that!?" "Lucky girl!!" "I want a kiss too!"

"Oh, shut up…" the designer mumbled. "Let's get ready for the party, shall we?"

"Ehhh! But we want to know…"

"C'mon guys! Time to celebrate! Hurry up!" There were a few protests, but Sabrina made sure everyone moved. Before Marinette left, she surrounded her shoulder with her arm. "You'll have to tell me everything that's going on with Kitty Section!" Sabrina whispered, and Marinette blushed hard, just in time Luka waved and winked at her as she left through the door.

'I can't wait for Wednesday <3 ' He sent her a message.

'Me neither <3'

Another day for her to remember in New York.

[darkficsyouneveraskedfor]

One Night🌙10

Warnings: noncon sexual acts, angry Andy, hormones

This is dark!Andy Barber and explicit. Your media consumption is your own responsibility. Warnings have been given. DO NOT PROCEED if these matters upset you.

Summary: One night changes your entire life.

for @kittykatlow​‘s 200 Follower Celebration

Note: Another update? Who is this bitch actually trying?

Hope you enjoy it. Thank you. Love you guys!

Please leave some feedback, like and reblog <3

The bus chugged down the city streets as you sat closer to the back. You stared out the window and watched the grey sky of Nelson hanging overhead, a cloudy backdrop to the smoking city. 

You sighed every now and then, trying to forget the beeping and when it stopped. You still felt Andy’s hand on your back and the suffocating silence of the drive home. The burden of the dead woman on your shoulders.

It was as if it had been years since you saw the slightly crooked pole that held the bright sign. The bus stop was as desolate as ever, the dirty bench marked with spray paint and the shelter glass cracked. You set off around the corner past the house. Each was familiar but not comforting.

Your hips hurt from the stiff ride and you rubbed your stomach. You wore one of Andy’s hoodies under your open jacket, the zipper of the latter no longer meeting. You stopped in front of your parents’ house. You hadn’t asked permission; not from your mother, your father, or Andy. There was no courtesy phone call so you hesitated, afraid you might be sent away.

It was noon. Your father would be in the garage. He always had some project going. That was his work. He was cheaper than any other mechanic in the city, he just did it all from home. He could recycle parts from the junkyard and charge half price. They usually did better than the newer parts sent away for down at the Jiffy.

You walked up the driveway, the garage door was only halfway open, the bite of the late autumn, rather the early winter, mingled with the warmth flowing under the metal. You tapped on it with your knuckles, “dad?” you called.

You stepped back as his oily hands gripped the bottom and he hauled it up entirely. He tilted his head at you but couldn’t hide his smile. He looked at your stomach and you dropped your hand. He drew you to him before you could react. He hugged you tight and rocked you.

“Your mother’s gonna be mad you didn’t call before you came,” he let go of you and looked you over again.

“Mad that I’m even here,” you remarked.

“No, she might act like it but…” he waved you into the garage and rolled over the little stool he sat on when he was working. He helped you sit and put his wrench on the plywood table against the wall, “she missed you. We both did.” he wiped his hands on his jeans, “you could have called us. You know how she is. She feels before she thinks.”

“She kicked me out,” you felt precarious on the little rolling stool, “you let her.”

“So why’d you come back?” he asked.

You hung your head and hugged your stomach, “well, I’m having your granddaughter. I didn’t want you to find out from anyone but me.”

“It’s a girl?” he grinned.

“Sorry, wish I could give you a boy to get all filthy in this place,” you shrugged.

“You never minded getting your hands dirty,” he neared and grasped your shoulder.

“Yeah, guess it doesn’t matter too much, she’ll be as curious as any kid,” you said.

You were quiet as you looked around. Your dad’s rolling chest of tools was dented and rusted, the same one he’d had your whole life. The place hadn’t changed, only the car sitting in it.

“That’s not the only reason you’re here,” he said. Your father was a simple man but he wasn’t dumb.

You frowned and felt a prick in your eyes. The hormones, you told yourself, they were getting to you.

“I need you guys,” you said quietly, “is that so bad?”

“I missed you, you’re mom did too, she’s just stubborn. Think that’s where you get it,” he turned his hand over and held it out to you, “but she won’t turn you away.”

“You sure?”

“I won’t let her. Not this time,” he bent and took your hand, “now come on.”

You let him help you to your feet and he led you through the side door into the house. You heard your mother’s old Patsy Cline CD droning from the box speakers on the shelf as she muttered to herself. 

Your dad kicked the dirty off his boots and you slipped your own off. You followed him and peeked over his shoulder as he went to the living room. Your mother was wiping down the framed picture from your high school graduation.

“I got a surprise for you,” he announced as he stepped aside and beckoned you in alongside him, “and she’s got a surprise for you.”

Your mother turned and froze. Her lips formed a straight line and her eyes pierced you. She didn’t say anything as he stared at you then tossed the dusting cloth onto the table beside the lamp. She looked down at your feet.

“You remembered to take your shoes off,” she said.

Your lips parted and your chest gripped. She was still mad.

“You remembered us,” she swept over to you so quickly, you flinched. She hugged you and her middle met yours. She let go and looked down at your stomach. Her eyes were sad but not angry, “I’m…” she lifted her head and met your gaze, “I’m not good at saying it but I’m sorry.”

You watched her for a minute. She was still her mother as nasty as she’d been. You could see her regret and it coupled with your own. It didn’t fix everything but for her, it was a lot.

“I’m sorry too,” you breathed, “it was… me being stupid started all of this. I just didn’t know what to do.”

“You gotta tell her,” your dad intoned.

You glanced at him then back to your mom. You gulped, “we found out yesterday, it’s a girl.”

“We? And where is… he?” your mother bristled.

“Working,” you said.

“We went to the diner, they said you quit. The café too,” your mom batted away lashes, “please, sit.” She touched your stomach, “you’re so big.”

“Five months, I think,” you said as you let her take you to the old floral sofa, “and the doctor recommended I take it easy so I had to… leave.”

“Oh? Is something wrong with the baby?” she picked up her cloth again and resumed her dusting. Your father quietly excused himself.

“No, just me,” you leaned against the arm, “but they said my blood pressure is getting better, just have to check it now and again.”

“And that man? The least I can say is at least he’s taking responsibility, even if he is married,” your mom hung the picture back on the nail.

“It was a mistake,” you said, “but you know, I think it’s taught me a lot. Not that it was worth it.”

“I don’t mean to rag on you, but… it’s just not how it should be,” she went to the television stand and focused on the edges.

“You think I don’t know that. Mom, I didn’t come here to argue my morality. I came here…” you paused as you felt your phone buzz. You slid it from your jacket pocket and checked the ID; Andy. You ignored it and dropped it back inside, “I just wanted to see if you had any interest in your granddaughter.”

She spun back and her face wrinkled with sadness. She twisted the cloth and retreated to the rocking chair and sat. She chewed her lip and looked at the floor. When she looked at you again, her brows crinkled.

“I’m trying,” she said, “but what you did, I don’t know if I can’t get over that. That man, everyone knows him, and when it comes out, with his wife still in a coma, you don’t think about what that does to us.”

“Well,” your throat constricted and you held back the hot tears bubbling behind your eyes, “she’s not anymore.”

“What?”

“She… she passed last night,” you sniffed, “and I’ll admit that I came here as much for me as you. I just needed… needed to get away. Just for a little.”

Your phone went off again and you grunted as you pulled it out and swiped away the second call from Andy. You kept the phone in your hand and rested it against your thigh.

“I just need time,” your mom leaned back heavily.

“Well, it’s quickly running out,” you replied, “she’s gonna be here soon enough.”

“I know,” she said grimly, “I know.”

There was another silence and your phone twitched. You turned it over and checked the message on the screen; ‘why don’t you invite your parents for dinner if you’re not gonna answer me?’ You let the phone slip between your legs and slowly raised your eyes. How did he know?

“I can go, if it’s too much,” you said, “I didn’t expect to get past the front door, honestly.”

“It’s not-- you’re still my daughter,” she uttered, “and even if it’s not the best situation, you got my granddaughter too.”

Your phone began to shake between your legs and you huffed, “sorry,” you stood with effort as you snatched the phone up, “just a second.”

You went into the dining room and answered. You hissed into the phone, “what do you want, Andy?”

“Why didn’t you tell me you were going there?” he asked sharply.

“How do you even know? You following me?” you kept your voice low.

“I know, that’s all,” he retorted, “it is… surprising.”

“They’re my parents,” you scowled at the tabletop as you leaned on a chair.

“Mine, too, right? Considering--”

“Andy,” you warned, “come on. Let’s cut this out--”

“Invite them for dinner. You’re right. Our kid will need her grandparents,” he interrupted, “I’ll get off early and help.”

“I don’t think--”

“Invite them,” he demanded, “and don’t take the bus back. I’ll send you the money for a cab.”

“Jesus, I can take care of myself--”

“No, you can’t, which is why you’re sleeping under my roof. And this isn’t about you, it’s about the baby,” he exhaled and you heard a squeak of metal, likely a chair, “Now I want you home by two. I’ll be there shortly after.”

He hung up before you could argue. You closed your eyes and forced down the angry bile in your chest. You shuttered and tucked the phone back in your jacket. How did he know you were there?

🌙

Your parents agreed to dinner. Your mother wasn’t subtle that she was curious to see Andy’s house. Her judgement was always her driving motivation and you were certain she could find something to hate, even in the suburban utopia. 

You took the bus out of defiance and brewed with anger as you got off just outside the cul-de-sac. You walked the single block to Andy’s and paced like an angry lioness inside.

He arrived at three, just after. Your anxiety boiled with anger and you stopped to face him as he entered. You watched him put down his briefcase and hang his long black coat. Your nostrils flared as you braced yourself for the onslaught ready to spill forth.

“So, you weren’t following me?” you challenged.

“I was working,” he said quietly, “to pay for all of this…” he pointed to the ceiling, “and that,” he pointed to your bump.

“No, Andy, you don’t get to do that every time,” you snarled, “how did you know?”

He didn’t answer and brushed by you. You followed him into the kitchen as he went to the coffee machine and pressed the buttons bluntly. You watched him from a foot away, your hand on the cold marble.

“You can’t just ignore me. How did you know I was there?”

“Because…” he grabbed a mug and filled it with water. He poured it into the machine and snapped the lid shut, “because you have my baby and I have a right to make sure you don’t take it from me.”

“That’s not an answer,” you sneered, “Andy, I have done everything you’ve wanted. I have stayed here, I have quit my jobs, I have kept this baby for you, and you… you’re what? Tracking me like a dog?” You reached into your back pocket and slammed your phone on the counter. You slid it over to him, “when did you do it?”

His jaw ticked as he put a pod into the machine and hit start. He tapped his fingers on the counter and let out a long breath through his nose. He turned to you and crossed his arms.

“After you stayed out that night. I couldn’t worry like that again. I had to know,” he said staunchly, “because I’ve had a wife go out and not come back. A child--”

“I’m not your wife and I won’t ever be. This child is all we have in common,” you rebuffed, “even after last night. What you did, that doesn’t change things.”

You nearly tripped as he marched towards you. He had you against the far wall, his hand planted on either side of your head as his anger rippled across his forehead and set his jaw square. You pressed yourself against the pure white wall and tried not to wither.

“I did that for you,” he breathed, “I’ve done everything for you. Don’t act like you’re the only one doing shit.”

“Andy, get away--”

“No,” he punched the wall and you gasped, “my wife is gone. Jacob is gone! This is all I have; you, my daughter…that’s everything and I will be damned if I’m going to let you take any of it away from me.”

“You’re scaring me,” you wisped, “Andy, please--”

“No, you shut up and you listen. This is the last time we have this conversation. Your parents are coming and you’re going to be good. You’re going to wear something nice, you’re going to cook something good, and you’re going to smile. You don’t let them see you crack, not once.”

“You can’t--”

“Enough!” he hit the wall again and you heard it crumple under the force, “if you don’t, they won’t be around. Ever. Do you understand me?” you gaped up at him and trembled, you shook your head in disbelief. He leaned in and spoke softly to you, “Understand that I will make sure you and no one else ever sees them again.”

“You… wouldn’t…”

“I could. I will. You’re fucking bitch of a mom deserves it,” he hissed, “so, honey,” he growled the second word, “what’s it gonna be?”

Your lip quivered and you searched his face. The rage had his blue eyes alight and his breath rasped out like animalistic snarls. You thought of Laurie, of how blank he’d been when they stopped the machines. And that smile, after. What was that?

“I’ll… be good,” you murmured, “I will.”

His lips twitched and he shoved himself away from you. He stomped over to the fridge and took out the light cream. He added it to his mug of fresh coffee and stirred. You stood straight shakily and looked up at the hole beside your head.

“Well,” he said, “better figure out what you’re making for dinner. Our guests won’t be long.”

[lucifer-is-a-bag-of-dicks]

fuck I still haven't done the rewrite of the Mutant Town AU that I specifically came off hiatus to write, like the Plant Witch Sam and Pharaoh Tucker posts were written to prep this au and I just got wildly distracted so uhhhh

yeah the concept is in the link but the gist is that the people and town becoming mutated by constant ectoplasmic contamination, we all know and love this concept right but I'm gonna expand on it

this is a direct result of the portal being opened, but they aren't getting infected from the portal, the issue is that creating a permanent opening into the ghost zone has weakened the veil between their worlds and Amity Park and the Ghost Zone sort of slip in and out of each other constantly

and because ectoplasm responds strongly to emotions (poltergeists being made from atmospheric emotions for example) it all tends to converge very heavily at the school full of hormonal teenagers

so Casper High becomes its own god damn cryptid, the teachers get so jaded about opening the door to a classroom and finding just a whole ass ghost zone on the other side that they just put a sign on the door telling kids to go to a different room, lockers swap contents with other lockers so kids have started putting their names on the inside so they know who's stuff they've just found

this also means the kids get super affected, like super affected, literally, they all get ghost powers, some are just physical mutations, some are just super abilities, or a general increase in natural ability, like a member of the track team getting super speed

it takes a while for Danny and co. to figure this out, Sam and Tucker should have been warning signs as they've spent the most time around ghosts and the ghost zone, but that's why the Witch Sam and Pharaoh Tucker posts are important

they have powers, but they thought they came exclusively from outside sources, they had no idea that their abilities were also strengthened and influenced by being highly contaminated by ectoplasm, which is why when one day Mikey sneezes and green acid shoots out of his nose and melts his desk, everyone is a little bit startled

the teachers have long since started using ghost detectors after the time Paulina spent a whole week overshadowed by Kitty, so Mikey gets a check over and other than the usual atmospheric reading Lancer gets nothing especially strong from him

there have been concerns about the gradually increasing ectoplasmic content in the air messing with ghost detector results, the devices have to be recalibrated constantly, so Lancer asks the one and only son of the local ghost hunters in the room if he has some other way to check

Danny's parents make him keep a few protective items in his schoolbag, so he tries some gear on him to see if anything comes flying out, but nothing does, Danny isn't too surprised seeing as he couldn't sense a ghost in the room anyway, but it definitely makes things a little concerning

even if it were a repeat of the Spectra incident and he wasn't being overshadowed, the Fenton's tech would have still gotten rid of whatever was causing this if it were an external influence

Mikey is sent home for the day and his parents are told to keep an eye on him

and then the next week, Star drops a pen off her desk and a strand of her hair whips out to grab it, she's also checked for ghost influence and sent home

a few weeks after that it happens again, a kid on the basketball team makes a leap to the net and stays in the air, they have to call in the cheerleaders to climb on top of each other to reach him and pull him down

Danny has been trying to figure out what's happening from the first moment with Mikey, and his parents have also been getting calls from worried parents who want to know if they can fix whatever's happening to their kids

over the next couple of months, every kid in the school has some kind of ability or mutation, Dash heals whoever he touches, which he discovers after punching Nathan in the face and curing his acne, Paulina turns invisible, which freaks her out at first until she realises it's great for eavesdropping, Wes can conjure fire (because I desperately needed him to have a polarising ability to Danny), Kwan becomes empathic and can feel and influence people's emotions

Valerie also had an early mutation that she didn't know about, when Technus gave her a new suit, her body pretty much just absorbed it as a part of her, Technus had not intended this to happen, and was pretty peeved about it, Valerie found out that she had stolen control over the suit when Technus had a big rant about it during a fight, and she put the pieces together once other kids started developing abilities

this whole thing causes a ton of chaos as kids are struggling to control what they can do, so Danny has to step in and help them out, he often has to run off to change into Phantom in order to protect everyone from an ability that's gone haywire, he ends up pretty much running ghost power training courses after school to help them control themselves

he's also gotten stuck in situations where he's had to step in and help someone without having the time to change forms, meaning he has to make up a cover story about having developed his own powers way before everyone else since he's been living on top of a portal for years, he only tells people about his ice powers

Jazz has always had a tendency to be able to reign in her emotions and keep a cool head, (the only ones who can really push her buttons are Danny and sometimes her parents, at school around other kids who look up to her she's often very in control) meaning she doesn't draw ectoplasm to herself all that much, and though Danny uses the excuse of having lived on top of a ghost portal to explain why he's already so familiar with using his power, it's actually not even remotely true, because the Fentons use specialised air purifiers to keep the atmospheric ectoplasm at a manageable level, the Fenton house ironically has the least atmospheric contamination compared to the rest of the town, that's how Maddie and Jack have had limited mutation to themselves (though they aren't wholly free, they've mostly just gotten physically stronger and tougher)

so even though Jazz develops her power a little earlier than everyone else's, it's not that far ahead, and she actually doesn't even realise she already has one until half the school has developed theirs

Jazz has the power to slow time in a little bubble around herself, she'd been using it without realising while studying, having gotten through hours of work in half that time, she always thought it was just her losing track of time or she was just getting faster at reading, she also spends a lot of time counselling other students and trying to help them sort out their problems, and they'd often comment that they felt like they'd been talking for so much longer than they had, again she just chalked it up to losing track of time

a lot of students had wondered why Danny developed a power early and Jazz hadn't, until someone walked in on Jazz helping a girl through a panic attack in the bathroom, and found them both talking extremely fast, a lot of her friends realised in hindsight that she'd been doing that unwittingly for quite a while, nobody had noticed because she always talked to people privately, so nobody outside her little time bubble had seen it happen

Sam and Tucker come clean about their abilities too, but they also don't give the full rundown, still keeping some things close to the chest to avoid standing out from everyone else

then there's the teachers

adults typically have a better time regulating emotions than teenagers, meaning much like Jazz they aren't drawing as much ectoplasm toward themselves, but this doesn't exempt them from developing something after a while, especially with the heightened stress of managing a school full of volatile super kids

Mr Lancer discovers that he can create shields, after an incident where he jumps in front of some students to protect them from another power gone awry

Tetslaff ends up with a sonic ability, able to project her voice like a megaphone (yes this is a Coach Boomer from Sky High reference don't @ me), Principal Ishiyama develops a physical mutation, growing to twice her size, she likes that she can tower over the students while delivering speeches, but she doesn't like having to stoop through doors all the time, she has the one to her office resized, along with her chair and desk

so as you can imagine, the town ends up erupting into chaos, a lot of kids very much misuse their abilities, Danny does his best as Phantom to teach people to be responsible, but sometimes he has to resort to literally kicking their asses to get them to straighten up

but for the most part, a ton of kids were already looking up to him, and are generally pretty happy to follow his example, especially the more popular kids, it's generally considered not very cool to get your ass kicked by Phantom, so weirdly enough a lot of kids get peer pressured into not causing any real damage or injury with their powers

this doesn't mean they don't absolutely misuse them, they're just more subtle about it

until a ghost shows up, a lot of the kids are more than happy to let loose to protect themselves and their friends, and Phantom for the most part is happy to let them, with some supervision of course, he still has to make sure nobody gets too hurt (including the ghosts)

the entire debacle makes Danny's life simultaneously a whole lot easier AND so much more fucking stressful

[miekasa]

OMG PLEASE DO DAD!JEAN I WOULD CRY IF U DID

Y'all want them to be dilfs so badly...... fortunately, I would be a housewife for Jean, so I will indulge the both of us 😌😌

Jean wants kids so badly, he’s so excited and ready when you guys finally have them. There’s not really any nervousness about it for him; sure, there will be difficulties along the way, but he’s mentally prepared himself for all that already; he’s ready. 

He’s so gentle with his kids and, yeah, sometimes he does borderline on being overprotective of them, but it comes from a place of love. You’re there to make sure he doesn’t smother them too much, and reassure him that they’ll always need him, even when they do grow up a bit. 

I wanna say he wants at least two, and so that’s where you start. Your oldest daughter is about three when you have your second kid, and it turns out to be another girl. You were both perfectly content to stop there, but the minute your second daughter was sent off to pre-k full time, Jean comes into your bed room with puppy dog eyes and a huge pout and a declaration you should have seen coming from a mile away: “I think we should have one more kid.” 

(You swear to stop after the third, a son, who Jean cherishes just as much as his baby girls. You do not, and you have one more son, but hey, they say four kids is supposedly the recipe for a happy family).

They somehow all get Jean’s eyebrows and it’s a little crazy… a bit envying, too. The girls get Jean’s eyes, and your sons get his hair color, face shape, nose, and just about every other distinct feature you can imagine. They are certainly his children, that’s for sure. 

PTA dad that puts all other PTA parents to shame. Every event, every meeting, every fundraiser, Jean is there with a pen and paper in hand. He’s ready to volunteer and make demands and throw out ideas, and he’d not backing down to some passive aggressive gluten-free mom wearing capris. No way. 

Most of his involvement in his kids’ school(s) come from a place of distrust with the administration. You two spent a lot of time discussing where to send your kids to school, but Jean never trusted anything 100%, so he gets himself involved as a sort of reassuring measure. 

You can often catch him essentially hosting a breakfast buffet on Sunday mornings. Everyone gets their own little omelet tailored to their exact liking. When your firstborn gets old enough, she stands on a little stool and helps him cook; Jean holds your first son in his hand while he does it, and the other two sit at the counter, kicking their little legs in anticipation for their favorite breakfast. 

He’s always holding at least one of them whenever you’re out. This usually helps to keep them together, but also just because Jean likes it. He’s happy that they like to crawl on him and essentially use them as a human tower because he loves any and all affection from them. 

Your first kid was the easiest in a sense, or at least, she was according to Jean, because she’s a huge daddy’s girl. All Jean had to do was walk into the room for her to stop crying, I wouldn’t blame you if you were bitter after carrying her for nine months, only for her to look at Jean like he hung the moon in the sky himself. 

You gotta admit, it’s pretty sweet watching him be a first time dad. He’s always wanted this, so he was ready mentally, but he also did his research: parenting books, early-development research, even pregnancy books. And your firstborn was kind of the textbook baby, so she was a breeze.

Then came your second daughter and she knocked the wind out of him. Nothing he did with your first kid seemed to work with her: she didn’t stop crying just because Jean rocked her to sleep, she didn’t like being held or being put down for sleep, and she fucking hated her stroller pls Jean was just a constant state of buffering for, like, four months.

It’s with your second kid that you learn that Jean has a pretty good singing voice, because it turns out that lullabies in combination with him swaying her in his arms was the recipe to get her to settle down after a crying fit. You have a handful of videos on your phone of Jean dancing with the newborn, while your first kid hums an accompanying tune in the background. 

When your first son comes along, the girls are about seven and four respectively, so they’re at the age where they like to essentially be mini-parents to the baby. Jean could cry at the sight of watching his two girls help bottle feed their baby brother, and they’re actually quite helpful when you and Jean are busy at home. 

By this time, you both have mastered the work-home schedule perfectly, and it’s pretty smooth sailing. The only real bump in the road is that the kid hates baby food—the girls didn’t mind it, and ate it until they were old enough to handle solids, but your son spit up anything from a jar. So, Jean also becomes a part-time home chef, and his meal preps consist of blending up fruits and veggies every Sunday night for your baby. 

You guys will be out shopping as a family, and more often than not, your second daughter will be on Jean’s shoulders, you’ll push the baby’s stroller, and your firstborn is at Jean’s side, holding his hand. 

The middle two are the ones who argue the most. They got the… fiery sides of Jean, so they’re the most likely to butt heads with each other. Thankfully, your oldest is usually able to get them to calm down, and you and Jean think it’s quite cute watching them hold little kid-lead family meetings to work through their problems. 

He kinda gets peer pressured by his kids sometimes, and by that I mean he knows he’s not supposed to buy the sugary cereal, or let them stay up too late, but sometimes he can’t help it. They’re very cute and very convincing, so can you really blame him for the Oreo O’s that make it into the shopping cart?—or for letting them snuggle up to him for an extra 15 minutes before bed time? 

When your last kid comes around, Jean is a fucking pro—but he kind of always has been. He can have a baby in his left arm and build a princess tower with his right; he’s got this. 

You gotta admit, it’s quite… attractive to see Jean not only handle your newborn with such ease, but to do it while doing work, and keeping up with your other three kids. He really makes it look like he was born to do this. Almost makes you wanna have one more… almost. 

He gets complimented a lot when he’s out in public with all of them without you, and he tries to be gracious and respectful, but the middle two aren’t having it. (“Daddy is handsome, but he likes mommy.” “Yeah, he likes mommy!”)

He’s got to be careful about what he says around the kids, because they sure do love to gossip. They’ll even rat him out to you accidentally. 

Look, he knows that Connie has been his friend since they were teenagers. That does not mean Jean is willing to trust him with any of your kids. You gotta convince him that, yeah, Connie is a little… wild sometimes, but he wouldn’t let any of your kids get hurt. 

Connie essentially becomes the resident cool uncle, and a little part of Jean is happy and relieved that he turns out to be a reliable babysitter, but he can also admit to being a little jealous whenever the kids come back from Connie’s house and wont shut-up about how “fun and cool” Uncle Connie is. (It’s not coincidence that soon after, Jean usually plans some fun family activity, as if he feels the need to prove himself). 

Nothing drives him crazier than knowing that your first son wants to be “just like Uncle Armin” when he grows up. Armin’s smart and cool and everything, but he’s not that great. (“You don’t wanna grow up to be a nerd, kid—ouch!” “Jean, stop calling Armin a nerd, you’re a grown man.”)

Connie is the cool uncle, and Armin has some favoritism in the house, but Aunt Sasha puts them all to shame. All four of your kids idolize her, even your newborn, you swear you see his eyes sparkle when Sasha holds him. Sasha can do no wrong in their eyes, and they love love love being around her. 

Endless amounts of pictures and videos of you with the kids on his phone. He scrolls through them on his lunch breaks, and even drives to see you when he has a little extra time in the day. He loves having photos of your little family with him always. 

His favorite thing is coming home from work and hearing all the footsteps running to the door to greet him. He swears having you and his kids welcome him home is the best feeling in the world. 

[lea-andres]

Oops have some more Team Chaotix headcanons, guys! This is my idea of their origin story, kind of in chronological order. It's just me rambling, LOL.

I'm commandeering @sonicsmeteor 's headcanon that something happened to make Espio so bloodthirsty toward Eggman/Nega. So Espio is from another country originally, where he was being raised by his ninja clan family. (I like to think it was Chun-Nan, because I love Unleashed, but the Unleashed countries might not be Canon anymore... so 🤷) But, a typical Eggman taking over the world scheme caused his whole family to die when he was 3-4 years old. 😳 And it wasn't even intentional on Eggman's part. They were just... in the way.

I'm not certain on all the angsty, gritty details yet (I'm avoiding that for now with "Espio doesn't like to talk about it"), but that's... A Thing.

Espio was shipped off to Seaside City, and was bounced around a lot between foster families and orphanages. No one was too keen on the idea of adopting a ninja assassin child who watched his whole family die, and Espio was unfairly regarded as a "Troubled Youth"/juvenile delinquent because of it.

Because of everyone assuming Espio was trouble right from the get go, he decided to show them just how much trouble he could be. He'd sneak out at night and wander the city, causing mayhem and picking fights with any Eggman robots he'd encounter. (He's got a criminal record from these days. Nothing really crazy, just some 'destruction of property', 'trespassing', and 'disturbing the peace' violations. It comes back to haunt him work wise sometimes, but Vector vouches for him.)

Vector's past is pretty uneventful. He graduated from school with a degree in criminal justice (helps explain why the Chaotix are so broke, student loans LOL... 😵) and might've minored or even just taken a class or two in early childhood education. He knew he wanted to be a detective from day one, but he's got a big soft spot for kids.

If you had asked Vector before his first case, he would've told you he loves kids, definitely wants two or three someday, but not right now. He needs to get his career going first. (This will be humorous later.)

Vector and Espio met when a jewelry store near his latest foster home was robbed. Vector was just starting out as a private investigator, and this was his first case. Everyone else was eager to just convict Espio of the crime and be done with it (because he was the closest delinquent, who else would it have been?), but Vector was confident Espio didn't do it, and the real culprit was trying to set him up to be the fall guy. So Vector insisted, despite all the pressure otherwise, on doing a full, proper investigation and consider all possibilities. Turned out he was right: the store owner was trying to commit insurance fraud, and figured no one would bother looking into it if he accused Espio. Vector tore the guy a new one for trying to do that to a little kid, earning Espio's respect and gratitude forever.

They'd ran into each other a couple more times after that while Vector was solving other cases and Espio was up to some late night trouble. Vector put a stop to the late night trouble almost immediately, but he was against the idea of sending the kid home (the jewelry store case left a bad taste in his mouth, he didn't know it for sure yet, but he sensed Espio's home life was not great), so he decided to bring the kid with him on cases, and teach him how to be a detective.

It got to a point where Espio would just be over at the office every second he had available. There didn't even have to be a case happening, he just wanted to be with Vector instead of his foster families.

Sometimes people would ask Vector how he tolerates 'that troublemaker bothering him all the time', but Vector always insists Espio is not a troublemaker, and he's not bothering him. He loves having the kid around.

Vector was the one who suggested Espio blend together ninjitsu and being a detective. He thought the two complimented each other well, and Espio shouldn't forget his past.

Espio really cleaned up his act thanks to Vector, and was the happiest he'd been since his family died. He looked up to Vector like a father.

Espio's got some abandonment issues (WONDER WHY), and eventually begged Vector to take him on officially as his apprentice out of fear that he was going to lose his father figure too. Vector refused to be his mentor, and gave Espio a counter offer: He wanted to adopt him, and give him the familial love and care he deserved. 🥺

Adopting Espio was a long, arduous nightmare. "Vector's too young", "Espio's a problem child." "Vector's single, Espio needs a mother to nurture him properly." (That one made Vector the angriest of them all) It eventually worked out though.

This was one of the few times Vector saw Espio cry of happiness. 🥺🥺🥺

Time jump ahead 7 (happy) years, Vector and Espio are hired to solve a homicide case. Well, Vector was hired. Everyone was hesitant about him bringing his 13 year old son, but Vector insisted that they're a team and they solve cases together. Espio just darkly quipped he's "seen worse".

However, this case was particularly hairy, as the key witness was the murder victim's 3 year old son, Charmy. (No, he didn't see the murder, I'm not THAT monstrous, but he did see the murderer make their escape, and he was needed to ID them.)

If you were to ask Espio, he'd tell you that he knew the second Vector laid eyes on the bee that Charmy was going to be his new little brother.

Charmy had been really scared of all of the law officials and lawyers and news reporters all crowding around him demanding to know what happened and what he saw, so he clammed up and was refusing to speak to anyone.

So Vector had to chase them all off, and he and Espio comforted Charmy.

It took a couple days and a lot of patience, but Charmy eventually warmed up to both of them (especially Vector), and as long as at least one of them was with him he had the confidence to give his testimony. His true personality started to shine through again, all his cheeriness and optimism despite the morbid situation he was in. He really won over Vector and Espio at that point.

I don't have all the details of the case figured out yet, but obviously the Chaotix figured it out and justice was served. :)

Vector feared it was going to be harder to adopt Charmy than it was to adopt Espio (because Charmy was younger, and more desirable to the average family), but it wasn't. Vector and Espio milked "You guys said Espio was a problem child, and look at him NOW, after 7 years in MY CARE!" for all it was worth. 😂

So Vector's been teaching Charmy all the detective stuff too, and Charmy's been picking it up, as we've seen.

That's all I've got so far. I have some holes to fill in, but give me a couple days and I will.

I might turn this into a whole fic someday. I could get way more detailed than this, even. 😂

[egg-on-the-run]

I got my first proper request and I literally accidentally deleted it. Am I stupid? Yes. Did I immediately panic? Yes. Do I remember what was on it?........ mostly.

Haha anon I hope you see this I'm so sorry but ily.

The turtles s/o who's usually very calm but just bursts into anger.

Notes: swearing :) I think it's funny

Leonardo:

He's used to a very calm s/o, you like to meditate together, he's always been good with helping you with breathing exercises.

You both like to keep arguments to a minimum, and even when fights do take place there isn't a lot of yelling

But when your mother came to visit :) that was just :) a lot of pressure :)

And she stayed in your apartment :) for a week :) everything was fine :)

Leonardo hadn't seen you for an entire week, not an overly long time, but certainly not pleasant. And he knew that you got stressed when you couldn't see him often. So as soon as you texted saying you had dropped your mother off at the airport, he immediately came round.

You were already screaming the moment you walked in the door.

"Oh she has some nerve! Some nerve! Speaking to me like that!"

"I'm guessing you're car ride went smoothly."

"She's been bugging me all week! When are you getting married? When are you have kids? I want some grand babies before I die! Ugh! She's obsessed with maintaining this perfect image all because her friend's kids are married and making babies like rabbits!"

He stayed quiet, not exactly sure how to comfort you. It wasn't like he could provide you with these things, and by the sounds of it, your mother would never approve of your huge turtle boyfriend.

"She just can't get that I'm happy! I have my own life and it's perfect the way I want it to be! I have a perfect boyfriend! You're a fucking delight! She–she's just so obsessed with her image that she'd never get that!"

"You... You think so?"

"I know so! She's too stubborn and she'll never get how fucking great you are and it just— UGH! It fries my brain."

"Even though I... I can't give you all those things... I can't legally marry you, we can't have kids."

"Even if you could give me a mansion and a diamond ring, or if all you could give me was a-a fucking walnut! I love you Leonardo, not that prim and proper white satin wedding she's made a thousand Pinterest boards for. I love you, I just wish she would get it."

Leonardo leaned down and kissed your cheek

"I love you too."

He believed in dealing with anger appropriately, but seeing you defend him with such passion made him feel so much more secure.

Raphael:

He's seen you angry before, he encouraged it. He's all about helping you with your confidence, teaching you to not be afraid to take up space and stand up for yourself.

But holy cow. You were mad that night.

He'd warned you not to take the trash out at night, wait to the morning — or better yet, he'll take it out for you when he came to visit after patrol.

But you are Raphael's girl. You are stubborn.

So you take the trash out, and some absolute creep decides that "flirting" in a dark alleyway in the key to a girl's heart.

Raphael swooped in, told the man to scram. But bold and drunk, the man spits back with a "Oh yeah? And would she want anything to do with a freak like you? What are you gonna do? Hit me? Aw, big angry turtle, you're gonna scare your girlfriend away."

It was two of his biggest insecurities. His appearance and his rage, especially in regards to scaring you away. It was a low blow, Raphael should have known to just walk away.

But he clammed up, he'd never admit when his anxiety got the best of him and you don't blame him.

"Oh go fuck yourself. If a vile man like you doesn't scare me, why the hell do you think a good man like him would?"

"A good man? He's not a fucking man! He's some freaky turtle thing, a pretty little thing like you deserves a real man."

"And are you a real man?"

"More real than your little pet."

The next thing you knew, the man was on the ground. You assumed Raphael knocked him out, but Raph's standing behind you and you're the one with your hand in a fist.

"Oh my god. Oh–Oh Raphie I knocked him out! O-Oh my god!"

"Holy shit Y/N! You probably broke his nose!" Raphael is grinning, shaking your shoulders.

"I didn't mean to hurt him."

"He deserves a broken nose at the least for messing with you! He was an asshole and he needed someone like you to set him straight!"

"I, um, well, I suppose he did! Saying such horrible things about you, I-I guess he did need someone to put him in his place."

Raphael ruffled your hair, "Thank you, my knight in shining armour."

"That make you my Prince?"

"Your Prince who was right about not taking the trash out at night."

"You've got to be fucking kidding me."

He appreciated you standing up for him more than you could imagine. And he found it mighty hot how hard you hit that guy. Seriously! He must be a good self defence teacher.

Donatello:

Donatello loves you so much, loves holding you and hugging you whenever he can. He adores it when you sit on his lap while he works.

But do you like to cuddle when you sleep? Tough luck. Getting him to bed is like trying to lick your own elbow: near impossible.

Regardless, you try. Because every once in a while Donatello is too tired to fight and he will go to bed.

Tonight is not one of those nights.

"Baby, please, just come to bed. Everyone's already asleep."

"I'll be there in a minute, just go on without me."

You sigh, not really seeing the point in fighting. Instead you return to his bed, trying to keep yourself awake playing games on your phone. When half an hour passes, you go back and try again.

"Donnie come on, aren't you tired? I just want to cuddle."

"I just need to put some stuff on a hard drive, April's writing a new article, she needs it for tomorrow."

You sigh once more, "Promise you'll come to bed right after?"

"I promise."

Donatello's bed is comfortable, but it's more comfortable with him in. You force yourself to stay awake; despite your exhaustion you're determined to cuddle tonight. It's all you want.

But it did not take an hour to put some documents onto a hard drive. And he's being awfully loud for just typing away on a computer.

"Are you fucking joking right now?!"

He jumps, almost dropping the box of beakers in his arms, "Hey love... Can't sleep?"

"You're rearranging your lab?! Why are you—since when do you rearrange things, huh? What the hell?!"

"I just y'know, thought things needed a change..?"

"Oh, and now is the time to change things, really? Of all the times to move your fucking beakers you decide to do it in the middle of the night after I specifically asked you to come to bed? Seriously?"

He gives a nervous grin, the kind that usually made you smile in return. But it was late — rather it was early at this point — and you were cranky.

"You can sleep without me, you're a big girl." He teased.

"I want to sleep with my boyfriend! I want to cuddle! Is that so much to ask for?!"

Donatello blinked, "You're right, I'm sorry, but I swear, I promise, I'll be ten minutes, honest."

"You can finish this tomorrow. If you're not in bed in the next ten seconds, I am going to scream and wake everyone else up."

"Don't be ridiculous—"

"Ten."

Donatello jumped, quickly moving to shove supplies in cupboards a little recklessly. You continued to count down from ten, storming off back to his bed for hopefully the finally time this night.

By the time you got to the very firm "Three... Two... One..." Donatello was racing to bed, dived in beside you, crashing and knocking your heads together.

He'd never tell you, for fear you'd let it get to your head, but he kind of liked it when you got bossy.

Michelangelo:

Anger and Michelangelo just don't mix. They just don't. He's the king of communication, he's tries his hardest to avoid fights at any and all costs. You've always appreciated his determination to talk things out with you.

But with his brothers? He shuts down, he goes quiet and just accepts whatever blame they put on him: he knows they don't mean it, they only say mean things when they're angry.

But it hurts, hearing his big brothers tell him he's stupid, that he's childish, that he's lackadaisical.

"What kind of word even is that?! I swear Donnie must read a thesaurus as a bedtime story.."

So he's allowed to complain, and you let him ramble when he comes to visit. He sits on your bed and the words just tumble out of his mouth, lets you move around the room tidying up while he rants.

"I just—Raph keeps calling me stupid. And I just—I-I just—You know, sometimes I believe it."

You freeze, sweater only half folded and turn to him, "But you're not stupid. Just because you're not some brainiac like Donatello doesn't make you stupid. If that was the case, then I'm stupid, Raph's stupid, April, Leo, Splinter is stupid. Do you think we're all stupid?"

"Well—no, but—"

"But what?"

"But I... I am a little stupid."

"No you're not! Mikey, how many times has you out of the box thinking saved the day? Y-You were the one who suggested playing friggen buck-buck to take down Shredder! Y-Your skateboarding—hoverboarding skills saved the world. You think your brothers could do that?"

Mikey scrunched his nose up, "That's not smart though. They're right. My-my focus is all over the place, I-I could never come up with a plan like Leo, I could never have half the brains Donnie has, and Raph just—he gets things that I don't and I-I am stupid!"

"I need to have a word with your brothers—"

"And that's another thing! Everyone still treats me like I'm some kid! I don't need you to have a word with them! You're not my mom."

"Then you have a word with them! But sitting here and complaining about things that just aren't true isn't going to change anything!"

He's taken aback. Much like himself, you hardly ever yell, never ever raise your voice at him.

"I am not going to stand here and let them insult you day in and day out! Either you do something about it, or I will!"

He blinks at you, you're aggressively folding the sweater in your arms and grumbling about how you could definitely take Raphael in a fist fight if need be. You mumble something about how nobody gets to speak to your boyfriend like that, and it finally clicks with Mikey.

"Alright. I'm going to talk to them," He's mostly talking to himself, "I'm going to show them that I'm not some stupid, ditzy, lackadaisical kid anymore. I'm your boyfriend, and nobody gets to speak with me that way!"

You beam at him, anger disappearing within the second with his newfound confidence, "Hell yeah! Nobody insults my boyfriend!"

"Your boyfriend!"

"My boyfriend!"

"Your boyfriend!"

His brothers' version of a wake up call is to point out his weaknesses, tell him what needs to be corrected. But you much prefer to build him up, point out his strengths.

But jeez, he does not like your angry face.

[collisiondiscourse]

Man, why does it feel like the threshold for success has a time limit? I always feel like if I'm not an insanely popular artist or powerful influencer by the time I turn eighteen, then I am an utter failure and a waste of my teenage years. I think one of the biggest pitfalls of how the generation of kids today has been raised is that we've basically been socialized to think that our best achievements have to come in our youth or else they become virtually worthless.

Like... Oh? you're a talented pianist and played in front of an auditorium of hundreds at an opera house? how old were you when that happened?

A forty-seven-year-old would be met with a few impressed nods, maybe, and people congratulating them for all their hard work and experience.

A fourteen-year-old would get news articles. they'd go viral on the internet and thousands of people would be clambering over each other to sing praises of how they were blessed with such innate talent.

I get it. It's impressive, right? Because they're young and haven't had plenty of years of experience. These kids, by all means, deserve all the praise and attention for working hard to get where they were!

But that's not the case, is it? And the culture of people putting more credit for young people's achievements doesn't even fuckin end there.

Because not only does this exact same pattern happen with literally every single thing ever, even totally non-competitive hobbies like painting, it happens with such frequency that it's considered normal. Articles use age markers about successes to serve as clickbait for their articles. Cable companies start shows purely about young prodigies and how they've beaten their adult competitors. Because who wouldn't wanna hear about a ten-year-old chess champion, right?

And what's even worse is that it then becomes a competition even among young people themselves! You scroll down on a video of a pre-teen playing Winter Wind and I promise you there will be at least one asshole saying shit like "This kid is not impressive. I saw a nine year old do the same thing the other day!"

It eats away at you! It really fucking does! because we go down this stupid rabbit-hole wherein younger and younger kids get paraded around and raised to be prodigies and meanwhile here you are, sixteen, and having a panic attack because you can't go back in time and force your eight-year-old self to keep playing the violin. It's stressful. It aches. Instead of bringing up younger people around us, we're stuck in this miserable zone where we constantly get compared and pitted against each other because we couldn't "maximize our childhood".

Isn't it enough to just... exist?

There have already been many conversations on the nature of college. How it's utter BS that people have to choose what career they want for the rest of their lives as early as junior year in HS. But what a lot of people don't talk about is just how early people are forced to decide what hobbies they want to do for the rest of their lives. People who start learning how to play an instrument at 28 can't do so without constantly being questioned why they started so late. A drawing with decent coloring garners more credit and attention for the average tween than the struggling middle-aged woman, despite both having an equal amount of experience with visual arts.

Parents constantly tell their children to study harder, to practice more--to just keep on work, work, working until their children become the perfect model dolls they use flex to one another over brunch. It's constantly having your name be followed up by your latest achievement and not anything about who you are as a person.

"This is Codi. She is a straight-A student and got invited to compete at Harvard."

"This is Codi. She is on her school's math team and knows how to play the piano."

"This is Codi. She is--"

I am a human being, thank you.

It's never "This is Codi, and he loves fashion and losing at video games." or "This is Codi, and he likes listening to annoying pop songs from the early 2010s and laying down in the rain."

Why? because none of that matters! None of that is worth listening to because anything less than what I can do to represent my family, my school, my team, my country will never be anything more than a waste of time. It's toxic, how today's generation of teenagers have to be celebrities or important figures or champions or prodigies before they are people.

It gets worse, though.

People start counting your talents like tally marks for points. You can't "just be an artist" anymore. If you draw, then you also have to be good at writing. And poetry. And graphic design. And a sport. Oh, you only know one language? Oh, you've only learned the basics of the guitar? It's like a fucking marker, ticking off boxes to determine the worth of these teenagers on the marketability of their achievements.

And, okay, it's a misrepresentation to only blame parents, right? Because it's a systematic thing. A new societal expectation for kids to be the next fucking Renaissance--with peer pressure for things like relationship experience and wild stories too. We kids now worry about not being special enough, not phenomenal enough, or beautiful enough, or talented enough, or smart enough, or experienced enough. And it's weird!

It's weird how teens now flex how tired and burnt out they are! It's weird how I've had conversations that turned into competitions of how many bullshit responsibilities we have on our plate. It's weird how I've met kids on the honor roll that are so adamant to prove to people that they've gone to parties, had alcohol, and slept around.

It's a goddamn tragedy, watching so many of my peers turning into burnouts before they've even graduated high school.

We are expected to be the most. If that one singer could do it, if that one global warming activist could do it, if that one Olympic athlete could do it--then why can't you? Why can't you have over 20.7k followers on Twitter? Why can't you have started your own band and release a popular album? Why can't you have published your own book by now? Why can't you be good enough?

I sit here, typing away at this stupid post and being unhappy and feeling like I am not good enough. I am an artist. I am a writer. I speak more than one language and play more than one instrument. I used to be a straight-A student and nationally competed in maths and sciences competitions. I am an international finalist for my sport and have multiple gold medals from foreign countries.

Yet still, I feel like my timer is running short.