#this is an ongoing thing with Michael as a character

[chloesimaginationthings]

Gregory knows he looks LIKE HIM in FNAF..

[eureka-its-zico]

Residuals Pt 3

Ongoing Series

Synopsis: You and Robby spent seven long years together until the day it ended. You’ve done your best to create space; to become invisible. You can’t miss what you don’t see. Unfortunately, the universe (Gloria and the Board of Directors) seemed to have missed the memo.

Pairing: Michael ‘Robby’ Robinavitch x Reader

Genre: Established previous relationship, slight age gap (by about 15 years give or take), a little bit of tension mixed in with a little bit of hate yearning, cause she’s a saucy angsty fic ok

A/N: Screaming at the top of my lungs because you have all been so incredibly lovely and sweet. I appreciate every single one of your comments, reblogs, and your excitement over this spur-of-the-moment series idea. Honestly, I can gush forever. Thank you! This chapter is centered around a little extra backstory on their relationship (briefly). I noticed it's around ep. 4 when everything starts popping off in the show (and I have scenes already pre-written cause I’m excited!) so I hope the story stays entertaining and true to showing slow insights into characters, their flaws, and being human. As always, I hope you all enjoy this next chapter. Much Love. Jenn

Thank you to the bestie @viridian-dagger for humoring me and checking all of my work. Thank you for helping keep me sane.

Words: 7208

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You remembered with agonizing clarity the last day you’d seen Robby. You could recall down to the very marrow of the hour how you’d watched him grab his backpack and head out the door. 

If you weren't careful, your subconscious loved to dredge that particular memory up in frequent rotation. 

If you weren’t careful, always on mental high alert, the memories came violently to the forefront demanding that you remember what it felt like to walk the halls of your home in nothing but his shirts. It had you up late in the middle of the night writing a list of all the achingly obvious differences between the empty bed you now slept in and the one you’d shared with him. How his large frame curled against your back or how his nose pressed into the crook of your neck before he woke you, trailing kisses down your collarbone. 

Sometimes, Robby held you so tight you’d jokingly ask if he was trying to morph together like The Thing. 

You’d gotten used to the quiet in your home. The lack of security knowing another person was there. You’d learned to portion down your meals, so you didn’t make some on accident for two, or three when Jake was home for the week. You did laundry less and didn’t have to fold as much. There was no one to help you build furniture or tear it down. The trash was handled by you and only you. Dishes sat questionably for longer in the sink than they should’ve. There were no hands on your hips to keep you steady as you demanded to be an independent woman and use the step ladder to change broken fixtures and lightbulbs. No car rides with blues gently playing through the speakers with his hand on your thigh. 

No. You were reminded every minute of every day since you’d left of what you lost. What you chose to leave behind.

The day you left you’d waited in the hall. In the past, before the pandemic, before the world went to shit and stopped making sense, Robby waited for you to send him off. You’d bring him his backpack full of protein bars, a homemade sub sandwich (if he ever got to it), and instant coffee packets when he didn’t. The moment you were close enough for him to grab - to touch - Robby would reach for you. 

Before Robby, you didn’t know what it felt like to be worshipped; to be craved and wanted so badly that they couldn’t wait for the moment they could touch you. The safety of trusting someone because they loved you without pretense allows you to be comfortable enough to be good, bad, weird, and everything in between. 

“You’re my favorite person.” He’d told you this randomly, while you’d both been curled up on the couch. Your cheek pressed against his chest. You heard the slight change in rhythm before he spoke. It was an answer to a question you’d asked weeks ago. One he refused to answer because “What are we in junior high?” 

You didn’t believe in fairytales or the idea of perfect relationships. You believed in what someone’s actions said about them when they tried to cover them up with words. You didn’t know what it was like to have someone choose you, all of you, until Robby. 

Whenever he had the chance, Robby was always touching you - light traces of fingers that drew aimless doodles in your skin while he read. His hand glided across your back as he passed you in the kitchen or the hallways at work. Once Robby learned how much you loved having his hands on you, he found ways to use them all the time - in ways that made you feel secure and others that were far from innocent. 

But out of everything, Robby always made sure you were taken care of and, most of all, loved. 

Usually, when Robby departed from the house, he used his large frame to crowd into your space. Possessive hands snaked around your waist to pull you flush against him. Every time, like clockwork, you eagerly respond to his touch. Your neck already falling back just enough for his mouth to slate over yours.

Those memories of better days, days where you didn’t have to question if he still loved you, are what made the last day so hard. You stood there, silently hoping that he would turn around. That Robby would just stop putting in his air pods, looking everywhere but at you, and finally acknowledge you. You didn’t want your last fight to be what you remembered - the words you’d hurled at one another with tired vehemence the final thing you heard. 

You just wanted him to love you like he used to. But the problem was, you weren’t sure if you could love him how you used to anymore either. 

“I think you should take Kiara up on her offer, Michael. You need to speak with someone even if it isn’t her.”

“Jesus,” he huffed. A hand scrubbed at his face before latching behind his head. His eyes screwed tight as if he could simply blink the conversation away. “Here we fucking go again.”

“Yes, here we go again. We wouldn't have to keep doing this merry-go-round around the issue if you would just admit - “

“Admit what?” His voice rose in challenge, and it took every ounce of you not to return it. “You seem to want me to say I’m broken so you don’t have to be the only one.”

“That’s bullshit,” you scoffed, pushing your dinner plate further down the table. 

You weren’t hungry anymore.

“It’s not bullshit! I’m not the only one in this room who won’t be honest with themselves.”

“That’s real rich coming from you, Michael. If you think that’s true, look me in my eyes and admit you don’t feel some type of way since he passed. And I never once fucking said that you were broken - “

“That’s the point! You don’t have to. I can see it in the way you look at me. The way you talk to me. It’s like no matter what the fuck I say you don’t believe me. You just want me to be depressed like - “

“Like what, Michael.”

The room went glacial cold. Your eyes turned to slits as you waited for him to finish his sentence. A piece of you prayed he didn’t because you didn’t know how much more you could take before you finally broke. 

“Like you,” he sighed, voice defeated as if he hated saying it as much as you hated hearing it. “You haven’t been the same since -”

“Shut up.”

“- it happened and I’m sorry. I - I wish I’d been there - “

“I said shut up! Jesus, just stop talking!” 

The venom in your voice was toxic. It had your arm lashing out and shoving the plate of food off the table. The sound of tableware clattering and glass breaking dimmed the flash of anger enough to be embarrassed at your outburst. You hadn’t meant to do it. Just like you hadn’t meant to do a lot of things since Adamson passed, since the pandemic, and…since you received the news. 

It was written plainly in the silence held between you. The unspoken depression from two different spectrums left you both unable to help the other. Neither of you knew how to bridge the gap your stubbornness bred.

Doctors were historically the worst patients because of that very reason. Pride. You used to believe Robby and you didn’t share an ounce of it between you, but you’d been wrong. You forgot you were both human and flawed.   

“I just want to help you, Michael. Please. Ever since Adamson passed and - and what happened - “

“He doesn’t have anything to do with what happened! What happened fucking happened because it’s nature. It’s - it just wasn’t our time. You’ve got to stop beating yourself up for something you have no control over. How many times have we told our patients this?” Robby looked up from his hands and you wished he hadn’t. His watery eyes were close to spilling; the tsunami of pain was all-consuming and when he whispered your name before he spoke again, you wanted to shatter. “You’re killing yourself from the inside out with this self-hatred.”

How many times have you been told that exact thing? It was an unfortunate natural process. It just ‘happened’. Every word is sterile and scientific which makes you feel less and less like a person. And what about the news that came after? Was that natural too? 

Maybe you were the one who was broken.

“Adamson happened too, and you haven’t been the same since we lost him. You’re on edge more, Mike. You snap at work and home. You’re closed off. You’re so desperate to put it under the rug that we only focus on me? Bring up my faults so we can bury yours.”

A sneer pulled up his lips as he turned away from you. His eyes scan over the shelves and furniture in the room - looking everywhere but at you. 

“You just want to help me? That’s what you keep feeding yourself but in reality, you just want me to be who I was before this. I don’t know if I can be that man again and when I tell you that, you act like a fucking child going around slamming doors.” Shame flushed up your face, turning your cheeks red with embarrassment. You’d done that and worse. You thought you could wait whatever this was out until it got better. But it wasn’t better. It was worse and you were so, so tired. “You want to focus on me but what about you?”

“You aren’t the only one hurting - that lost someone. You left me! You fucking left me to deal with it all on my own. Where the fuck were you when I needed you?”

“I’ve been right here with you!” Robby shouted back. “I’m right here with you, baby, but you don’t fucking see it. You won’t let me in.”

The tears you struggled to contain escaped in one shaky exhale. You carried around so much of your shame and guilt - tried repairing the cracks with quick fixes so Robby wouldn’t see because the last thing you wanted was pity. You didn’t want the confirmation that you were irreparably broken. 

“But you’re not here. Are you? Not really.” 

The earlier flash of rage was extinguished with each word. This job was a marvel and a curse. It took and took without forgiveness. Sometimes you’re fighting to save people who don’t want to be saved; who’ve never known the support and love they needed to believe they were more than their demons. Who wanted to succumb to a brief drop of loneliness in the ocean of a lifetime. Or you saw the ugliness that people did to one another and left you having an existential crisis if someone’s bad choice made their life unworthy of saving. 

Robby dealt with all of these things daily. He shouldered them for every friend in the hospital. For every patient who needed the strength of his resolve and the care he delivered. He gave all that and more during the pandemic and now he’d given so much that there wasn’t much left to tend to himself. 

Robby used to lean on you for just about everything. Sometimes, your talks were gradual - opening up little by little until everything was exposed. Other times, they came in bursts. A rush of words said too fast because if neither of you just ripped the band-aid off and said it, nothing would ever get fixed. Now all of that came to a screeching halt. You didn’t know what he was feeling anymore or thinking. He shut you out in so many ways. You tried to break through and failed. 

You both stood at separate spectrums of grief and neither of you knew how to reach the other anymore.

“I can’t do this anymore.”

You hadn’t meant about your relationship. You wish you could’ve said that - informed him that the despair and betrayal of your own body left you in a place of purgatory. The pandemic stripping you bare and raw pressing salt into every wound. How was Robby supposed to love you if you didn’t know how to love yourself?

But it’s not how it sounded leaving your lips. It’s not how he took it as you watched his shoulders deflate. The emptiness that hollowed out his eyes in protection and left them empty as you felt. 

“No one is forcing you to stay.”

You never did get to tell him you saw him - saw that he’d been there waiting for you to open up. He wasn’t who he was, but he’d still tried the best he could in whatever ways he could. In the end, you believed you deserved punishment. 

Maybe that’s what losing Robby was - the universe's way of dishing it out for a wrong you never knew you committed. 

It felt suffocating; your chest caved to create a black hole of grief that felt never-ending. You watched as the pandemic tore him down piece by piece - shredding him to ribbons. So many lives were ravaged by the virus with no way to combat it. You remembered the overwhelming, crushing feeling of seeing dozens of patients lining hallways because there were no more beds. Every doctor, nurse, RTs, and CNAs struggled to care for every patient and be with those in their final moments because the families couldn’t. It was chaos. It was frightening. It felt like it would go on forever. The last thing anyone expected was for Adamson to get sick. For the virus to infiltrate his body and claim his life. 

Robby had run outside, tearing off his hazmat suit. Unable to breathe around the soul-crushing grief that constricted the air from his lungs. He’d crumbled like a house of cards as you held him in your arms, but he wasn’t allowed to grieve. He was a doctor, you were still a fucking doctor, and neither of you were allowed to grieve. You needed to compartmentalize; sew up the fraying edges of your grief and go back inside and be the doctors everyone needed.

It was agony watching what came after. The way he struggled day and night to get any amount of rest while wrestling with his demons. The guilt kept him up at night and woke him screaming covered in a cold sweat. Eventually, he stopped sleeping in bed with you all together. Slowly, you saw him less at home and only at work. You watched while the anxiety ate him alive and transformed him into someone you could barely recognize, and you felt helpless against it. At any moment, the pain in your chest would swallow you whole.

And just when you thought, given a few months, you’d be able to find new joy in your life, it all came crashing down again.

So, you waited in that hallway. You waited for any sign that you should stay. You waited to see if you’d change your mind and begin to be honest with him. You waited for him to at least turnaround and look at you - for the recognition of the life you’d had months before to flash in those beautiful brown eyes. You waited in the hallway even after he’d left - waited for your tears to dry before you went upstairs to pack up your old life and find a new one. 

You’d expected a lot of possibilities when Gloria brought you back down to the Pitt. You considered all the variables and the endless amount of what-ifs. It felt inevitable for you to end up in this very situation; him being the attending, in charge of the Pitt, and overseeing a case. The only thing you hadn’t accounted for was how the heat of his body pressed against your back made you forget how to breathe. Your mouth suddenly dry and your heart pounded violently against the ache in your chest. 

Was Robby even aware of what he was doing? You could practically feel him take a breath he was so fucking close. Fuck, you wanted to scream and you almost did when you felt his gloved hand move across your lower back as he stepped around you. The old desire to touch you every chance he could was a surprise to you both when the reflex made its appearance. It must have been a mistake - a subconscious tick because old habits can die hard. It was the only thing that made sense. You fought the urge to mouth a, ‘What the fuck?’ at him. Did he even realize what he’d done? If he did, he was damn good at hiding it. 

You needed to get your shit together. You brought him in here for your patient.

“Allan,” you began to introduce him and found you had to clear the warble from your voice. “Allan, this is Dr. Robby. He’s the attending doctor here in the emergency department. Robby, this is Allan and his mother, Rebecca.”

“Pleasure to meet you both. Now, Allan, why don’t you tell me what brings you in today?”

Once Robby agrees to your use of wire cutters to remove the key rings, conferring on medications during and after a take-home prescription, you immediately go to work. It took a few extra minutes of explaining to Allan (and his very traumatized mother) that you would be as gentle as possible, but the longer the key rings stayed on to cut off circulation, the higher the chance of necrosis would occur. You also promised him lidocaine to numb the area. Lots and lots of lidocaine. 

You’d just signed off on discharge paperwork and spoke with him one last time about maybe just buying what he wanted to try next time. It was not only the safer option but probably more fun and less mortifying than having his mom bring him here. 

You stepped out of the room and made your way up to Dana’s desk. While you’d been in the room doing minor surgery to metal keys, you’d heard a couple of new traumas that arrived through the ambulance bay. The one that unfortunately had stuck with you was the nineteen-year-old kid who’d been found unresponsive. Nineteen. Two years older than Jake. 

For years you tried to make sense of how it was possible to become so attached to a son that wasn’t even yours. You didn’t give birth to Jake and missed the beginning stages of his life. You met him at his ninth birthday party and thought he would automatically hate you. Instead, he asked you questions about superheroes and if you had a favorite wrestler. 

The relationship between Robby and Jake’s mom had been hard to navigate. Harder when you came into the picture because all mothers are understandably weary of unknown variables and people around their children. You did your best not to step on any toes and bided your time until Jake’s mom trusted you - felt comfortable enough - with your presence to allow Jake to stay over when he asked Robby. 

You went on field trips as a chaperone when Jake asked, helped him build science fair projects, and tried your best to play basketball with Jake and Robby. You were better at three-pointers and playing horse than the original two - on - two. Jake chose to see you as another parent. His mother decided to let you be a part of his life and knowing Robby, loving Robby, brought you all together. You were forever grateful to both of them for it. 

But seeing cases like this one - hearing about them - caused a cold sweat to spread across your body. Jake was a good kid - a smart kid but even smart kids could make mistakes. 

You pulled your phone out of your back pocket and continued moving towards where Dana sat front and center in all the chaos. She was currently on the phone but her eyes tracked you as you made your way towards her. 

Quickly, you unlocked your phone and went to your messages. You tapped on Jake’s name.

Mom v2.0 ~ Hey kiddo just checking in. Everything good?

You were about to lock the phone and put it away when his reply came back at lightning speed. 

JakeTheRipper ~ Hey! Ya everything’s 👍🏽 I’m coming by the hospital later to get tickets from dad. Be cool to see you.  JakeTheRipper ~ if you can! JakeTheRipper ~ if you have the time!

You and Jake never lost contact with one another after you and Robby split. It’d been his golden rule and who were you to break rules, especially golden ones? But you hadn’t seen him since he was fifteen. The last weekend you spent housed up in the house - his teenage self picking up a dark cloud stole the warmth from the home. 

He’d asked to see you a few times since then but you were always busy. Always unsure if you were overstepping. But you were here now and he said he was coming here anyways so -

“What’s got you smiling all goofy?”

Dana’s question sent you crash landing back into the present. You were standing directly in front of her seated position, phone in one hand and wire cutters in the other while a perfectly arched brow did most of her questioning.

“Ugh, it’s nothing,” you replied, tucking the phone back into your pocket. 

God, you were acting suspicious. Be natural. Be cool. 

“You got a boyfriend or something?”

“Oh, god no, no, no.”

You were throwing in way too many no’s. 

You felt like you were under a microscope when Dana’s eyes narrowed in on you like this. A cold sweat was going to happen any minute now. 

“There aren’t that many things that make women smile at their phones like that.”

“Memes make people smile at their phones because they’re witty and funny. A good deal on a pair of shoes, funny videos of animals, or cute babies…anyway,” you mumbled before handing the wire cutters over the top of her computer. “Ron the maintenance guy should be coming by to pick these back up. If I miss him, can you let him know I appreciate him letting me borrow these?”

“Did you tell him what they were gonna be used for?”

“Oh, god no, and please Dana don’t tell him I used it to cut key rings off a patient's penis.”

“You mean he didn’t know why you were asking for them?” She laughed. Dana fucking laughed and it eased the tension from your shoulders tenfold. “I think at least owe the man some kind of lunch, don’t you?”

“Ugh, well, I disinfected them. Twice? Does that count?”

Another bark of laughter came as she shook her head in disbelief. She was still smiling when she reached out and took the cutters from your hand. 

“Aren’t you supposed to be up in triage?” Langdon asked, sliding in on your right. 

“Did you come all the way over here from your spot in hell to ask me that, Langdon? Are we slacking off today or willfully choosing to be lazy?”

Langdon shot you a sarcastic smile before he reached over to grab a tablet and handed it over to the med student who’d been with him before. Her dirty blonde hair was slicked back into a tight ponytail and her glasses gave her an almost childlike demeanor that was only enhanced by the excited way she bounced on her heels. Her hand shot across the counter in way of introduction. 

“Melissa King - everyone calls me Mel.”

She was so eager - sweet - that you almost warned her to be cautious in the Pitt. It tends to eat the good ones alive. 

“Dr. Fullerton,” you replied, taking her hand briefly. “I remember you from earlier. Hopefully, Langdon is taking care of you and isn’t showing you what not to do during a residency?”

“Ha, that’s very funny, Fullerton. How long has it been since you’ve been down here? You’ve probably gone soft with all the babying they do upstairs.”

“Out of the two of us, Langdon who is still in their last year of residency and who is a board-certified doctor?”

“You know what I smell?” 

“I don’t smell anything,” Mel interjected, thin lines of confusion creasing around her eyes.

“No, I don’t mean - it’s metaphorical, Dr. King.” 

“Okay, kids that's enough. Robby sees you two both standing here bickering, you'll both be in trouble.”

“Is that your way of telling us to go back to taking care of the board?” You asked. 

“No, it’s my way of telling you both to get the hell away from my station. Now shoo both of you,” Dana retorted, using a stack of patient demographics to swat at Langdon and you. 

“I’m going, I’m going,” you surrendered, backing away. 

You were mid-turn when an enthusiastic wave from Dr. King was thrown your way. 

“It was nice to meet you. Again,” she excitedly called after you. 

She seemed too pure to have picked the Pitt. Everyone had their reasons for doing residencies here and, hell, you believed med students should be mandated to work at least one full rotation in an emergency department to truly learn. Mel, however, made you just want to protect her from the harsh realities of a place like this. It could be soul-crushing and there is no way to prepare yourself for when it happens.

“Likewise, Mel. If you ever want a break from ER Ken you’re more than welcome to come find me.”

“She’s good where she’s at, Fullerton.”

You didn’t bother giving a retort; you and Langdon could keep up the verbal back and forth the whole shift. You were only a couple feet away when you heard Dr. King state, “She seems nice.”

“Yeah. She’s alright. A little unhinged, but alright.”

Each word had been pulled like teeth from him; admitting you weren’t the absolute worst thing in the world, or at least inside this hospital, you knew made Langdon grumpy. Those few words left a sour taste in his mouth admitting anything nice about you, but it was enough for you because it meant one thing for you. There was hope that today wouldn’t be a total disaster after all. 

It was a busy morning but mornings were always busy in the Pitt. There shouldn’t have been a reason the hum of panic constantly buzzed behind his ears. It only grew louder the closer he got to the pediatrics wing of rooms. The bright colors blazed out into the hallway; all greens and blues. Animal motifs meant to instill comfort instead summoned what he’d struggled to keep buried. 

Dana already caught him helplessly trapped outside the room. The memory of that day - the last day with Adamson - flashed vividly like every nightmare he’d had of that day since. Robby had been so engrossed in the recollection of monitors blaring and Princess shouting for him to do something, “Robby we’re losing him,” that he wasn’t able to shake the feeling of dread off. 

He knew Dana noticed. The way her eyes craned over his shoulder to take in the peds room was the only confirmation he needed. 

“You okay?”

“Yeah. I’m fine. When do I ever make you worry about me?”

“Are you kidding?” Dana chuckled. “All the time.”

They both knew he was lying. Robby never did confirm it when Dana asked, but he didn’t need to. He wasn’t sure if he’d ever be fine or even close to simply being okay. Even after four long years, Robby found he still sought Adamson’s advice. Moments in the Pitt he swore he could hear him directing the room; asking questions to challenge Robby because “a doctor never stops learning.”

He missed being able to confide in him. The expectant look on Adamson’s face when Robby asked about situations in his life where he was at a loss of what to do. 

Robby needed to change the subject - and lead Dana down a safer path of questioning that he could handle. If he could keep himself away from that room he should be okay. He could handle you being here and everything else if he didn’t have to step foot in that room. He should’ve known there was no safe space where Dana wasn’t going to bring you up. Robby could see the hard exterior she tried to keep up to defend against your presence was beginning to crack. 

Maybe so was his. 

“The two of you looked cozy earlier.”

“Dana, you know I wouldn’t know what to do without you.”

“Uh-huh.”

Her voice oozed a playfulness that edged towards teasing. 

“But there is no universe where you and I talk about this.”

“I was just making an astute observation.”

“I would appreciate it if you maybe observe somewhere else. We have eleven more hours of this shift to go and I’d rather not have to spend it talking about her.”

“Yeah, because you’re allergic to talking in general.”

“Well, that’s just not true. I’m allergic to people I don’t want to have a conversation with,” he pointed out.

She tried to shake the smile off her lips. Her palm lightly smacked at his shoulder which caused his smile to rise in response. 

“You’re such a smart ass.”

“I try my very best,” he mumbled as he leaned down towards the computer. 

He’d just grabbed his badge to swipe past the electronic monitor to unlock the computer, placing his arms to brace on either side of the keyboard when he felt her presence eclipse to his right. Dana was leaning over the counter divider. Her arms hanging over waiting for him to look back up at her. 

“Something else I can help you with, Dana?”

“Just wondering if you’d be more talkative if you knew Fullerton was all smiles earlier. She had her phone out. Seemed to be textin’ someone.”

Robby could feel his eyes narrow in on her position. He shouldn’t care - he shouldn’t fucking care - because you were the one who left. What did he care if you were dating anybody? It’s been two years. The chances of you dating were astronomically high; shit, he’d attempted it a while after you left. Instead of taking care of himself because, “You look like shit,”, as Dana lovingly told him, he’d done what 95% of the population does: he ran from it. 

Heather Collins was an R2 at the time. She was funny, intelligent, witty, beautiful, and he’d fucked it up in record time. All the things you’d thrown at him about being shit at taking his own advice, hiding from his problems, were true. When things took a turn he’d lock up. Collins noticed the cracks and mentioned them enough he countered with argument after argument. The worst part was he was harboring a love for someone else that was gone. You can’t love someone else, give them the love they deserve, when you’re buried ten feet deep for someone else. She deserved better than to be a rebound - better than what Robby could’ve given her because no matter how amazing she was he still thought of you. Heather deserved more than to be a body to bury his sorrows in. He tried dating again a year later but that had also gone up in spectacular flames. Robby couldn’t keep the ghost of you from haunting him.

He tried to act like he didn’t care - that Dana’s words weren’t threatening his last proper brain cell for the day. By the look on Dana’s face, he did a shit job of hiding it. So what if you were with someone? He shouldn’t even care. 

“Did she say who she was talking to?”

Why the fuck did he ask that? Dana didn’t necessarily answer him as much as she chose instead to grin. A silent, ‘Gotcha’ flashing that he absolutely hated. He’d walked right into it. 

“Surprise, surprise. I thought she’d be one of your allergies.” 

A huff of laughter rushed past his lips that he tried to cover up with a cough. 

“You’ve got a mean streak in you.”

Dana patted his arm before she retracted back inside her bubble. The phone went off in record time to pull her safely away from having to hear him complain. She gave him one last thumbs up before her back faced him, completely ending the conversation and forcing him back to the open file on the screen. 

He enjoyed the quiet for all of a millisecond before he heard - 

“Hey, fruitcake.”

God, take him now. Robby chose to ignore her. Ignore her like every other time - 

“Hey, I’m talking to you, fruitcake.”

“Myrna,” he bit out. “I told you a hundred times my name is Dr. Robby.”

He expected her to argue about nicknames and their usage. It’s usually what happens when he advises her that maybe she’d get better treatment if she’d use real names. That isn’t what he got. 

“Do you wanna see my vagina?”

Robby’s eyebrows ran towards his hairline as he replied, “I've already seen it. And once was enough, thank you.” 

“And what about mine?”

Robby knew that voice. He’d know it in any lifetime, through space and time; Robby would know your fucking voice anywhere. He turned to his left and there you were with your elbows and back resting against the counter. You’d leaned close enough so that your words were for him and him alone. 

Robby wanted to humor himself that it had to be his imagination. The flash of something dark, ravenous, and achingly familiar he saw in your eyes must have been his subconscious going haywire. It wasn’t until he watched recognition dawn of what you said, the way you’d fucking said it, crest over your face that Robby knew he hadn’t made it up. 

The heat of embarrassment had you straightening up beside him. He could see it in the light tinging of your cheeks, the anxious beat your fingers rapped on the counter. You weren’t looking at him now but he wished you would. 

And then the memory of Dana saying you’d been caught smiling at your phone reared its evil head. 

Mine. 

He couldn’t keep the word from forming in his head. You’d been his for so long and those words of yours meant to tease and force him to give you a response. Robby wanted to tell you that no, once wasn’t enough. It was never enough. 

Mine. 

The last few months of your relationship had ended in flames but the rest. What about the rest of the many years you’d spent together? They’d been spectacular. The best memories he had you were a part of. The attempts at gardening and doctoring up sick animals. The way you’d dance to his records as you danced through every room while you dusted. The sounds of yours and Jake’s laughter mixing from the kitchen table going over homework. 

He could remember the way your hands fisted the sheets as his hands hooked under your thighs to bring you closer to his greedy mouth. Your slick drenching his face, his beard, stubble - whatever phase he was in with or without facial hair. Robby loved it when you began to let go; body melting in his hands as your fingers wound themselves tightly in his hair to pull him closer, deeper. Robby could get drunk off your taste, the soft keening breaths that came ragged and shaking from your chest. How your body trembled as he worked each finger inside you until your back arched beautifully off the bed. 

Mine. Mine. Mine. Mine….

He shouldn’t care. He shouldn’t fucking care, but he fucking did. 

“What can I do for you, Dr. Fullerton?”

Robby grabbed the PPE gown from beside the table before he went to his full height. From this advantage, he could faintly make out the dying hint of a flush on your cheeks. 

“I was talking here first, Sugar tits.”

You pivoted to glance around him and waved at Myrna who waved back with her middle finger. 

“Myrna, always a pleasure. I think that’s my third finger wave today,” you muttered the last part to him. 

“Dr. Fullerton.”

“Right, right. I wanted to see if I could borrow one of your med students. Central 3 and 4 have two patients, males twenty-three and twenty- four in age. Both were at the same BBQ and believed dumping liter fluid on a fire was a good idea.”

“Yikes.”

“Yeah, they look like human marshmallows right now. One has second-degree burns while central 4 has, what I believe, might be second degrading into three.”

“Do you need me to come take a look?”

It felt like a reasonable question. He was attending and usually, all consultations like this went through him for an opinion. He’d just done it with her half an hour ago. It shouldn’t be a big deal - 

“Oh, no, no. Thanks but I think I got this.”

“Oook. If you got it, why do you need a med student?”

“I figure it would be a good teaching moment for one of them on treatments of burns and how to assess the level. I’ve already called surgery for a consultation on central 4. Plus, there’s no available nurse to help me attend to both.”

Robby tried to keep the scoff from coming out. He shook his head and went to move around you, shooting Myrna an irritated glance that hopefully she caught as his nonverbal way of telling her he didn’t want to see her the rest of the day. 

“So, you are saying you need help, you just don’t want my help.”

God, he sounded like a petulant child. By the look on your face, you’d agree with that statement. 

“Robby, I know you’re busy - “

“I’m not busy,” he cut in. 

“Robby, the parents of the OD teen are here.”

Dana came from behind the station, her eyes glancing between the two of you. 

“Okay, park them in Trauma 1. He’s not back from CT yet. I’ll be there in a minute. You can borrow Whitaker,” he directed at you.  

He had to move. There was still the floating face patient in trauma 2. He needed to find out if they’d been able to prep for a safe intubation and if not, they were doing a solid alternative. Langdon was there with both interns. Robby could trust him. He should’ve been more worried about himself because as he passed by you on his way to trauma 2, he felt his body dip towards you. The jealousy rushed up like a lance piercing his heart as he remembered Dana’s words. The idea that you’d moved on, that someone else had taken his place, threatened to remove whatever sensible bit of himself he had left. 

“And don’t pull your phone out on the floor. It’s unprofessional, and I won’t have it in my department. You can step outside like everyone else.”

You didn’t look at him as he spoke. You didn’t even snap at him or give him any hint you’d heard him. Robby knew you’d heard him, but your eyes were solely focused behind him. It was the spot he’d just been standing - the spot Dana now occupied. 

There should’ve been some satisfaction in watching Dana’s face crumble like this. All the earlier anger dissipated back into a playful, if not biting, rhetoric that gave you some hope the day wouldn’t be your version of Dante’s Inferno. 

But Robby’s comment…

Only one person saw you on the phone earlier. One person who’d asked about who you’d been talking to while you’d read Jake’s texts. You’d been so ready to shout at Robby that it was Jake, his son. It might have given you some retribution but why should you have to explain anything to him? He was acting like a jealous significant other, not a damn boss. The way he’d pressed himself against you earlier; touching you as if half-possessed. 

You weren’t helping, were you? The minute the words had leapt from your mouth you’d wished you could take them back. You shouldn’t have said it and yet, you did. You fucking did and now the wanton look he’d given you was forever etched into your brain. 

You were an idiot. 

An even bigger idiot for thinking Dana would’ve left anything between you. 

“You just couldn’t help yourself. Could you?”

“Kid - “

Dana took a step forward ready to explain. You didn’t have it in you to listen. When the phone went off in her hand you found your way out and took it. 

“Do you know where I can find Whitaker?”

“He had a patient around the North-East hallway.”

“Thanks.”

You heard her call your name. Not Fullerton, not kid. Dana said your name and for the first time today, you wished she’d stuck to calling you an asshole. 

You followed Dana’s instructions and moved toward the hallways. You weren’t sure how long you’d be searching for him, but luckily it wasn’t long. On the opposite side of the hall, you watched him wheel a patient out of 17 North and into the halls. Whatever the patient said stopped Whitaker in his tracks - both grateful and surprised all at once. You waited a few minutes longer for him to enjoy a good moment with his patient (because sometimes it didn’t always go like that) before you made your way around to get to him. 

“Whitaker!”

“Uhm, oh yes. Hi, Dr. Fullerton.”

“I have a couple of burn patients in Central 3 and 4; second to third degree. Dr. Robby said you’d be able to assist if that’s alright?”

“Yeah, yeah. I would. That’d be awesome. Thank you.”

He was so earnest it was endearing. “You’re welcome. Now, let’s go remove some dead tissue.” 

You took the lead in showing Whitaker to the rooms. You were trying to make polite conversation. It only seemed fair to take a small interest in what motivated a young doctor to get into the field of medicine, of saving lives. Basic questions such as those were able to tell you a lot about who someone was and if they held enough compassion to be around people during their most vulnerable times. 

You did try your best to keep your attention trained on the work. It was your turn to be a teacher, and you wanted to do it well. You didn’t have an excuse why you looked toward Trauma 1. No excuse at all why you watched Robby speak to the kids' parents looking defeated before they’d even begun. There was even less of an excuse for when Robby looked away from them, his eyes searching until he found yours, that should’ve made you want to forget these last two years. You hated the old impulse to run to him - to care for him. The last time you’d seen Robby looking desperately close to combusting like this it’d been a few doors down standing outside pediatrics. 

Looking at him now, Robby seemed ready to quit, and it wasn’t even close to 8:30. 

______________

As always, thank you all so much for reading!! Comments and reblogs are always appreciated!

______________

Tag list: @whatdoesntkillyoumakesyoustrange

[popponn]

here and there, about him.

summary: is he perfect? no, just like anyone else. but there will always be something about him. (aka a snippets of one of many, many things he will do for you.)

notes: missing lovesick bllk boys trope for a hot minute while doing other stuffs. short and light stuffs to scratch the itch. was about to isagi and nagi, but turns out self control is still a thing for me. warning: none, just minor swearing + fluffs capital f of smitten boys, chigiri is ready to fight for you. reader's gender unspecified.

characters: rin, chigiri, kaiser.

itoshi rin is very, very much very obvious in his favoritism to you. so obvious that both his teammates and his brother told him to tone it down a little bit. of course, rin only scoffs and tells them to mind their own business (actually he said it more as ’fuck off, cretins’, but details). but, really, no one could exactly blame them. this guy could be in an ongoing tirade about how person a is an utterly pathetic soggy wet trash, then you greet him with a smile and he turns into a cold, suave, rich boyfriend on a snowy winter day. drape his jacket on you, hold your hand, and ’let you hug him from behind while discreetly intertwining your finger with his’ type of stuff. it’s a bit disgusting, honestly. and no one wants to start commenting on how he immediately looks in your direction after scoring a goal. also if he buys something, the only one who has the slightest bit of hope of ever receiving anything is his brother here—and that chance is very miniscule on its own since none of them are you. put simply, it’s a bit infuriating, yet undeniably infuriatingly cute in its own way to watch. especially when there is a very high chance you will be the one and only romance this anti-social guy will ever have. everyone in the team supports the two of you, but by gods maybe please do something about him a little bit?

chigiri hyoma will never let anyone hurt you. it’s common knowledge already that he takes no shit from anyone and ever since he has seen you as ‘the one’, he pretty much already thinks of you as an inseparable part of his life already. so, in other words, that means you have gotten yourself a boyfriend who is ready to become a biting guard dog at a moment's notice. someone insults you? tries to physically harm you? oh, baby, hold your boyfriend back because he is also known to get angry real quick. save his reputation and hold himself back from spouting words that would make someone’s ancestors cry or, worse, from beating someone up. this is a speedster athlete trained by ego jinpachi himself—no one could escape unscathed from something like that. but hey, this is someone who naturally turns into a shoujo manga male lead with soft gazes and flowery smiles the moment you put a hand on his cheek. this is, in a way, just another way for him to protect and make sure of your comfort. also, he needs to have an outlet for the less soft part somewhere other than soccer.

michael kaiser is very reliable and observant, despite whatever persona or deflection he will give you even in the ‘official already’ part of your relationship. this guy has a high ego and puts on an air of someone high and mighty, beyond your league. but everyone all knows if you get to the part where he proudly lets you wear his clothes or makes sure you stay pressed to his side during walks, he is down bad. still, for his sake and maybe everyone else’s, let him take care of you and act casually about it. don’t point it out when he suddenly crouches down and ties your untied shoelaces, keep talking as if nothing happened when he puts a hand in the small of your back, and just act as if nothing happened when he gives someone a ferocious glare while making sure you cling unto his arm. don’t praise or, god forbid, swoon at those. it will only make him get flustered and lose his composure or, worse, get real annoying. he is indeed good at the whole act of service thing, surprisingly, but please do remember his attitude is indeed also in the ‘piece of shit’ category most of the time. just let the yellow and blue betta fish swim at his own pace and let what means to happen in the future, happen at its own time, including giving praises to him without him reacting like a lovesick brat.

[spookysanta]

Chapter 4: Real Ones Only

Ongoing tags: [Modern Romance] [Slow Burn] to [Fireworks [Black!Reader] [Younger!Reader] [Reader is That Girl] [Obsessed Michael™] [So Much Eye Contact] [Vacation Fling] turns into [Something Real]

Potential TW/CW: [Swearing] [Light Sexual Tension] to [Eventual Smut]

Read Part 1. Part 2. Part 3.

IMPORTANT NOTE: SOOOOO you may or may not have noticed (probably not bc no one's said anything lmao) that i fucked up by having the faceclaim names in this post and the character names in the actual fics be different... yeah i'm writing multiple things at once.

SO HERE'S THE UPDATE: NYAH is now NAS, JAE is now LEX.

sorry for any confusion. hopefully this clears things up! and now i have to retire nyah and jae so i don't keep confusing myself. :)

also!! i'm trying something new with the text message layout. this took WAY longer than i intended for it to.. so pls lmk what you think!

The morning came in quiet waves. Sunlight stretched across the carpet. A half-full glass of champagne still sat on the dresser. The air smelled like heat-styling tools, edge control, and leftover perfume.

Your phone buzzed beside your pillow. You rolled over, eyes barely open, and smiled when you saw his message.

Just outside your room, the suite was buzzing with energy. When you entered the common area, Tati was in the kitchenette making mimosas with way too much champagne. Kris was curled on the couch in your robe like it belonged to her. Lex was sorting through her camera roll, muttering “why did y’all let me post this.”

But Nas — Nas was watching you. The quiet kind of watching. The kind that clocked your second smile at your phone and tilted her head gently.

“You good?” she asked, reaching across the breakfast bar for a croissant.

You looked up from your seat, soft. “I am.”

She smiled. “You sure?”

You nodded. She held your gaze, making sure that the smile you gave her actually reflected in your eyes. Then, she raised her glass. “To knowing the difference between good sex and being seen.”

You laughed out loud. And the whole suite followed.

-

Later, over brunch, you told them about the phone call.

The walk. The kiss. The way he didn’t try to push inside. The way he just stood there in front of four girls and said “hey ladies” like it was nothing.

“You don’t understand,” Tati said, leaning across the table. “The calmness. The confidence. That was not a man fumbling.”

“I think he’s just…” you hesitated.

“What.”

You looked down at your drink. “I think he’s serious.”

Nobody laughed ... Nobody teased.

Lex reached across the table and touched your hand. “Then we’re serious about protecting you.”

Kris nodded. “And cheering you on when he keeps showing up right.”

“Exactly,” Nas added. “We’re here to hype and hold. Real ones only.”

And that night, while you were getting dressed for the club in the way only you could — lashes curled, gloss slick, heels set by the mirror — your phone buzzed again.

Michael calling…

You picked up, smile already forming. “Hi.”

It's almost like you could see him smiling back at you. His voice, full of depth and rasp, sounded exhausted despite clearly being happy to talk to you. "Hey. What's goin' on?"

"Nothin' much," Setting your lip liner on the vanity, you put your phone on speaker so you could find the blotting powder in your makeup bag. "We're about to go to the club in a bit so I'm getting ready."

“You look good.” he said with finality, clearly imagining you in his mind.

You laughed. “You don't even know what I’m wearing!”

“I don’t,” he said, “but I know everyone at the club's about to hate how good you look.”

You sat on the bed to pack your clutch, suddenly shy. “You going out tonight too?”

“Late dinner, maybe. You gonna be safe?”

“Always.”

“Text me when y’all get back.”

You nodded. “Okay.”

“I mean it,” he said gently. “I wanna know when you’re home.”

-

When you did get back to your hotel after a night of tequila sunrises, dancing to T-Pain, and not-so-great truffle fries, it wasn't until 2:14 AM.

And, to no one's surprise, your phone buzzed as soon as your heels crossed the suite's threshold.

With a chuckle and a smile, your fingers danced across your screen to reply. And, as expected, he texted right back before you could blink.

You hesitated, thumbs hovering. Though yes, you wanted to tell him everything about your day – the ins and outs, the jokes with the girls, that one random guy you saw on the street dressed as a rat – you didn’t want to inundate him with everything. This is new, you reminded yourself, don’t bug him.

There. That seems reasonable. Answered the question but kept it short.

Oh. Okay, then.. “Hm.” You hummed to no one in particular, “That’s not what I was expecting him to say. Not quite sure where to go from here.”

You responded. Lighthearted but serious.

And again, he replied. It seemed as if he replied before you could even hit ‘send’. As if he responded to your thoughts.

You laid back against the pillow, lips parted, blinking slow. Biting back a shit-eating grin, you found yourself describing your day – still short and to the point, but with just enough detail to satisfy his craving to know more.

--

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[hellzyeahthewebwieldingavenger]

It has been over 17 years since One More Day.

During that time we have had:

The equivalent of 6 runs on Amazing Spider-Man, if one counts Brand New Day and the Beyond era as runs unto themselves.

Several runs in sister titles like Avenging Spider-Man, Superior Spider-Man Team-Up, Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man, Spectacular Spider-Man, etc

Over 300 issues of ASM, even if one discounts Superior, which Marvel themselves do not

All of this is frankly MORE than enough ‘field testing’ for us to look back with the benefit of hindsight and draw some conclusions. And those conclusions are rather damning.

Whilst it was objectively bad, Superior Spider-Man is the most remembered and referenced and (undeservedly) well received period of time in the post-OMD era. This means the ‘highlight’ (if you want to call that vile story such a thing) is a time period that Peter Parker wasn’t even the main character of the narrative

We have literally had TWO eras where Peter Parker is not even the main character of Spider-Man. Superior, and Beyond

Dan Slott’s run invested time in redressing mistakes perpetuated during Brand new Day, and Nick Spencer’s run spent A LOT of time repairing damage done in BND and Slott’s run.

In the entire 60+ year history of Spider-Man who have been the writer’s with the most ‘prestige’ attached to their name in the wider culture, not specifically within the comic book industry? Who has the ‘star power’ in other words? Kevin Smith for a mini-series in the early-mid 2000s that was just 6 issues (his 2020s Spider-Man work will be happening when his star has fallen into disgrace) and J. Michael Straczynski. In other words, despite the claims that an unmarried Spider-Man will attract more ‘high profile talent’, none of the talent who has worked on 616 Spidey since 2007 has ever had a profile remotely as prestigious as the person who was writing Spidey pre-OMD and wanted to write him married. And again, the second highest profile guy was also writing him pre-OMD.

The ‘high profile talent’ Spidey attracted frankly was front loaded and obviously hired to offset the fallout from OMD. Spider-Man even during BND, saw an exodus of ‘Big Name Creators’ with Slott hanging on until the end of BND and then getting his solo run. Since then it took over 10 years for Joe Kelly to return to the title and in the interim the Spider-Man office got so desperate they hired a fill-in writer from the 2000s, Zeb Wells, to take over ASM. So, actually Spider-Man has had MORE trouble attracting talent long-term post-OMD than pre-OMD. Whilst this is to an extent a problem in the mainstream industry, it is particularly acute with Spider-Man.

The highest profile writers to have worked on Spider-Man in the 2020s have been JMS for a non-canon one shot (in which he was married) and Jonathan Hickman in a non-canon ongoing (in which he is married with kids and this is the centrepiece of its promotion).

All those creators who worked on BND who said they would prefer to write an unmarried Spider-Man proved themselves summarily unqualified to write for Spider-Man in the first place. They got to write the Spider-Man they wanted and did so via nuclear levels of mischaracterisation, character assassination, plot holes, a disrespect for consistency, a disrespect for the readers time/money/intelligence and tired tropes. They claimed everyone deserved the Spider-Man they grew up with but they never even wrote the Spider-Man they grew up with.

Looking back at the actual best Spider-Man creators of the pre-OMD era (1962-2007) it is striking that ONLY Roger Stern and Marv Wolfman were staunchly anti-marriage. Stern delivered arguably the most consistently great Spider-Man run of all time, whilst Wolfman was a lot more contentious but did lots of good stuff. Gerry Conway might be included in that trio but he has massively vacillated his views on the subject. What I am saying is, the overwhelming majority of people who were accepting or supportive of Spider-Man being married delivered solid-all time great stories. By contrast, the overwhelming majority of people who were opposed to a married Spider-Man delivered at best mediocre stories but more often than not bad stories. I say bad, what I mean is the top 20 WORST Spider-Man stories to have ever been made were largely made by people who are of the anti-marriage camp and largely made after One More Day.

In fact, even if we use the anti-marriage camp’s golden boy, Roger Stern, his best work, whilst awesome, is not on the same level as quality as certain stories delivered by pro-marriage creators. Be honest, removing your own subjective enjoyment from the discussion, on a purely literary level, is the Kid Who Collects Spider-Man or Nothing Can Stop the Juggernaut even remotely close to the same quality level as Kraven’s Last Hunt, which actively utilises Spider-Man’s marital status? No.

Even removing the subject of Spider-Man’s marital status or continuity, 2007-2025 Spider-Man has largely been creatively inconsistent, by which I mean disastrous. These would be the WORST Spider-Man stories of all time all on their own regardless of OMD setting us up for them. Character assassination is rife. Disdain for the customers is a regular occurrence.

Marvel have an institionalised misinterpretation of Spider-Man that requires the rats at the very top to be removed from office. Many of you out there are thinking this is a Nick Lowe problem. It isn’t. It’s a Nick Lowe/Tom Brevoort/Alan Fine/Dan Buckley/C.B. Cebulski problem. They all need to go and NOT be allowed to choose their successors

[voidcanarys]

Blue Lock Fic Recs

I’ve been meaning to make one of these for a while now. I truly cannot state how much I enjoyed these fics so if a few, or even just one, stands out to you, please give it a shot. I’ve split the list into three sections, kaisagi, bachisagi and miscellaneous but I have wayyyy more fics so I’ll probs make at least a part 2, maybe a part 3.

KAISAGI

I Pay the Price, You’re the Answer to the Pain by yasuna

Teen | Completed | 42.8k words | 8/8

Romantic Hate-Flirting | Homophobia In Football | Angst | Character Study | Developing Romance

It's been one kiss. One kiss that didn't mean shit. But captured by the cameras and broadcasted for the entire world to see, it has the potential to end both of their careers right then and there.

Kaiser and Isagi navigating the world of football whilst staring on a reality tv show. The banter between Isagi and Kaiser is so fun and I love the incorporation of real life events and controversies.

Oat Milk (and Other Irredeemable Vices) by @caluette

Teen | Completed | 26.5k words | 3/3

AU - Coffee Shops & Cafés | AU - No Blue Lock | Enemies to Lovers | Getting Together

Yoichi Isagi works at a coffee shop on campus, and likes to believe he has the virtue of being patient with the people he encounters. He does not, however, file Michael Kaiser under "people." Or, the coffee shop au where they hate each other. Until they don't.

So cute. Dramatic musical theatre major Kaiser and fed up minimum wage worker Isagi. Brilliant characterisation. Love the dialogue between Kaiser and Isagi and their snarky-ness.

Kintsukuroi by laylayli

Mature | Completed | 54.3k words | 3/3

Processing Grief | Kaiser-Centric | Mending Relationships | It starts Bad But Gets Better

'“Kaiser,” he starts to say, “I’m sorry if I’m overstepping, but are you really okay?” And he’s not sure, even afterwards, what it is that makes this his breaking point. Whether it’s the fact that he’s so far away from home, feeling like he’s unmoored himself from reality in this surreal, unfamiliar place, or whether he’s just so tired, so defenceless without the fire burning through him and its fumes obscuring the things he does not want to handle. He’s not sure, if it’s because Isagi is the farthest thing from a friend or the closest thing he has to familiarity right now, but he hears himself say, “My father died,” out loud, for the first time since he got the news.' * sometimes being offered tenderness feels like the very proof that you have been ruined - ocean vuong

Kaiser meeting the Isagi family and learning how to accept help and kindness. Love Kaiser internal dialogue throughout the fic and the constant push and pull between enjoying his time with Isagi and his parents but hating how it reminds him of his own familial relationships, or lack there-of. (Ness and his relationship with Kaiser is also a highlight)

BACHISAGI

Like glass from Sandy Ground by Ethereally & @putsch

Teen | Completed | 7.2k words | 1/1

Aromatic Asexual Isagi Yoichi | Pre-Relationship | Getting Together | Post-Canon

Isagi and Bachira have been best friends for eight years, and pro footballers for six. Isagi knows how Bachira takes his coffee and how many charms are on his phone, is reminded of Bachira when he sees sunflowers or nutmeg in the spice shelf. Bachira can trace every freckle on Isagi’s cheeks and count the moles on his back like constellations in the sky. Isagi and Bachira are not together.

I truly cannot emphasise more how much this fic means to me. I have read it at least 6 times and have cried every. single. time. There’s a specific quote that sends me into tears anytime I think about it (I’m tearing up as I write this). It’s such heartwarming, comforting and beautifully written fic.

Orange Juice by totallyrottentomatoes

Mature | Ongoing | 63.6k words | 5/10

Post-Canon | AU - Olympics | Slow Burn | Unreliable Narrator | Angst with a Happy Ending | Implied/Referenced Homophobia

Isagi Yoichi returns to Japan in preparation for the summer Olympics for the first time in three years, and Meguru finds him again.

The pining is so strong aughhh. Love the incorporation of the original characters. My favouite type of post-canon fic where life gets in the way but the love never leaves.

Sideline Love Story by bogreport

Explicit | Ongoing | 55.6k words | 8/29

AU - No Blue Lock | Most Characters Are Professional Soccer Players | Slow Burn | Feelings Realization | Parenting | Light Angst |

While visiting his family in Japan during the off-season, 25-year-old Bastard München player Isagi "volunteers" to coach his nephew's U-6 team. Enter: the most high-maintenance crew of soccer dads ever to make a scene on the sidelines. Although one of the kids has an older brother who Isagi wouldn't mind getting to know better... Meanwhile Bachira, his arm and his heart both freshly broken, tries to convince himself that while love is fleeting, his monster is forever.

Eeek the kids are so cute in this fic. Isagi being head over heels and not realising it. Bachira developing a crush but hesitating to persue it having just gotten out of a relationship. The author mentions that the “fic's original brainrot form, it was more like a sitcom with an ensemble cast and short silly ‘episodes’ rather than a coherent story” which makes for really fun chapter and a real long slow burn feel.

MISC

Whipper!! by bigdamnher0

Bachira Meguru/Isagi Yoichi/Itoshi Rin

Teen | Ongoing | 15.5k words | 3/6

Bachisagi Are Childhood Friends | Angst and Hurt/Comfort | Climbing As A Metaphor for Self-Actualization or Self-Destruction (Take Your Pick) | Injury | Mild PTSD

Isagi was getting used to the shape of Rin's attention: How he jammed his fingers into Bachira’s back whenever his spine sagged without tension. Barked, “WRONG,” every time they made a move that wasn’t his exact flavor of climbing. Called Isagi’s latest boulder, “fucking lukewarm,” like he was some kind of underpaid undersecretary, delivering him coffee for the day. Still, Rin never failed to hold up his end of the bargain in this tenuous belaytionship: to show them some damn good climbing. The little flame in Isagi’s chest was back. It licked him black and blue. After a near-fatal climbing accident, Rin resolved to never fail again. Isagi swore he'd take the wind out of this pretty boy's sails. And Bachira? All he wanted was a soft landing, just this once. Going up and growing up; cord of threes and all.

Rinbachisagi and bouldering/rock climbing, what more could you want. The way the author writes is so captivating and such an easy read despite all the technical terms used.

I’ll Find my Own Bravado by cygnusknights

Bachira Meguru/Isagi Yoichi/Itoshi Rin

Teen | Completed | 9.6k words | 1/1

Post-Canon | Existential Crisis on a Christmas Cruise | Isagi Yoichi & Itoshi Sae | Isagi-Centric

Meguru and Rin are hooking up. And Isagi… doesn’t hate it, but he’ll certainly have an existential crisis about it on the trio’s Mediterranean Christmas cruise, where he runs into Sae and has a weird holiday not-hookup.

The platonic saesagi is definitely the star of the show. The small Oikawa cameo was also very funny.

Despite the Overwhelming Odds, Tomorrow Came by @icarianiscariot

Itoshi Rin & Shidou Ryuusei

Teen | Completed | 19.7k words | 5/5

AU - No Blue Lock | Suicidal Thoughts | Depression | Platonic Relationships | Absent/Neglectful Parents | Angst with a Happy Ending

"Rin," Shidou repeats. "Where are you?" "I'm—" and fuck, it's so embarrassing, isn't it? The Sae in his head sneers at how lukewarm and pathetic this all is. Begging for someone to ask him to live. "Um, I'm at the bay, up on the bridge. "Silence for a few beats, and then he can hear the clink of Shidou's ridiculously oversized keychain, followed by the slam of the door and his car coming to life on the other end of the line. Rin isn't okay, and the only person he can think to turn to is his shitty brother's annoying boyfriend. A fic on platonic bonds, little things that make big differences, learning compassion toward both others and the self, and coming to terms with being alive. More or less.

A certified Blue Lock classic in my opinion. A must-read even!

On a Wire by merulus

Karasu Tabito/Otoya Eita

Teen | Completed | 128.3k words | 22/22

AU - College/University | Getting Together | Panic Attacks | Fluff & Humour | Trans Karasu Tabito

As a junior in college pursuing his passion for soccer while also putting just as much focus into having a solid post-graduation career path, Tabito Karasu honestly thought he wouldn't have enough time for romance. And especially given how his last relationship had ended, he wasn't even sure he would be able to deal with that kind of stress; he wasn't exactly a fan of letting someone in just to get hurt by them. He would rather stay on track to graduating with honors even if it meant being alone. But somehow that goddamned Eita Otoya was able to sneak his way through all of his defenses, painfully securing a place in his heart. They had been both roommates and teammates since the beginning of freshman year, and by now they also had easily solidified themselves as each other's best friend. They recently moved into an on-campus apartment with their other friend Kenyuu Yukimiya, and life was good. Karasu happened to have feelings for Otoya, but he had had this affliction for the better half of two years so it was something he was unfortunately just trying to get used to. He tried to ignore it most of the time since Otoya didn't feel the same; he was straight. Sometimes it really didn't feel that way, though.

Part 2 of a series but it can be read alone (definitely read part 1 if you enjoyed this tho)

[whencartoonsruletheworld]

never have I played any nights at Freddy fazbears

pls explain the whole plot and all lore to me as if I were small and slightly stupid

oh great timing i literally JUST explained this to my asoue discord

this is a VERY simple summary, but things to keep in mind while reading:

very very VERY little of this is directly spelled out for us. the creator, scott cawthon, LOVES to confuse people on purpose and the vast majority of the lore is gleaned from hidden minigames, secret cutscenes, and easter eggs. this makes things very confusing and controversial within the fanbase, so im gonna try to explain where there are differing opinions

really, there's two main stories: the first main story was completed with FNAF6 and Ultimate Custom Night, the story going on rn is the second and it is still ongoing. as such, a lot of the lore is still a mystery to all of us.

For clarity's sake, I will divide this between: THE AFTON STORY, the one the movie's gonna tell a part of, and THE GLITCH STORY, which the games are going through

dont worry i will make it fun to go through so it doesnt feel like school

ok lets go

THE AFTON STORY

First, let's get a visual chart in here. don't worry it's just for show

These are the important families we will be talking about; the Emily family, with father Henry and daughter Charlie, and the Afton Family, with father William, two sons (Michael and a boy who is still unnamed, he might get named on friday? We call him Crying Child "CC") and a daughter, Elizabeth. Don't worry about the mothers they're not important

Okay so here's the thing: of these four children, all but Michael die VERY early on in the timeline

The problem is we do NOT know THE ORDER each of them died. There's a lot of arguments on all sides but I personally think the order is sad boi->charlie->baby so imma present it in that order. But keep in mind that we don't actually know because of the confusing way the lore is dropped.

okay so for starters.

Backstory/FNAF4

purple guy is william afton and he and this guy vcalled henry start opening a restaurant chain starring freddy fazbear

in the original location they've got two animatronic suits, fredbear and spring bonnie. the other location has freddy, bonnie, foxy, chica

the og location suits are ~special~ tho, bc henry and william are crazy inventor dudes. these suits are called "springlock suits". they function as full animatronics but you can wind all the wires and gears and endoskeleton and shit back and step into the costume yourself. only problem is the safety is jackshit and if you like. cry or sweat or breathe wrong the springlocks will fail and the metal will come crashing back and crush u to death. u should have enough time to get to the back room so u dont bleed out in front of the customers tho. springlock suits are important remember those

michael is in his early teens and has just learned how to be a shit to his siblings and is trying out this hot new bullying thing. he's picking a lot on CC because CC is terrified of the freddy animatronics. it is said that he "saw something" that scared him, it could be anything as benign as "saw someone go into the suit and got freaked out" to something as serious as "saw one of those aforementioned springlock failures and person bleeding out." could also be charlie or elizabeth's death if those happen earlier in the timeline. again we dont know bc cawthon likes to confuse us

CC is not scared of the freddy characters tho, he has all the plushies and calls them his friends. he's just scared of the animtronics. unfortunately his dad works there so he has to be there like 90% of the time so he's having a wonderful time. hence the moniker "crying child". bc he cries all the time

anyway at his birthday party, michael decides it would be really funny to shove CC up into the animatronic's mouth for kicks. this goes about as well as you'd expect cause the mouth closes and fuckin. crushes his head

kid goes into a coma for a while but eventually flatlines. while he's in the coma we hear michael tearfully apologizing, and his fredbear plush talks to him (presumed to be william) saying he will "put him back together"

anyway that was fun. so next up charlie emily gets FUCKING MURDERED

Backstory/FNAF1-2

for some reason charlie gets locked outside the pizzeria. william's driving by and decides to stab her bc why not

honestly most of us believe that this occured after CC just bc it gives william motivation to be pissy at his business partner and kill his kid abt it, but also a book that released a month ago implies that william might have been nightmare gassing his kids for shits and giggles so. who knows. dont worry about that btw its not relevant rn

anyway the thing is willie and henry had an animatronic designed to protect the children called the puppet. the puppet sees charlie outside and goes out to help her but it's raining so it fries up the puppet's circuits and it crashes on top of her dead body. cheery!

except this is where it gets wild bc charlie proceeds to like. possess the puppet

possession is really complicated in this universe but basically there's no real way to communicate openly with people and the possesser might not even be aware of who or where they are or anything really but. yeah the lil girl def possesses the puppet

its after this that william starts killing kids for funsies. a lot of us presume that he saw the puppet getting possessed and was like "holy shit a way to bring crying kid back" but again he might've just decided this was fun

anyway he lures five kids into the Secret Freddy's Backroom That Is Not On The Maps by wearing the spring bonnie costume. after killing them he shoves them into the other animatronic suits (freddy, bonnie, chica, foxy, fredbear "golden freddy") and yeah they start gettin possessed

the fifth missing kid was stuffed in fredbear and here's where it gets veeery theoretical cause we dont have straight confirmation of this but just some theories. it's VERY likely that crying child was also haunting fredbear at this point, and shoving another kid in there got two kids haunting the same bitch and it causes fredbear (golden freddy) to be really fucking weird and glitchy and eldritch or w/e. anyway you dont have to worry about that rn cause golden freddy doesnt show up much they're too busy ascending or smth

now this is where the lore gets confusing-- the first game claims that after the last two were lured, someone was caught on camera, arrested and charged. however we know for a fact willie-boi wasnt caught so either 1) this got retconned when cawthon decided to actually make lore, 2) he wasnt convicted and somehow still kept a hold on the fazbear empire during this, or 3) a lot of us theorize that henry was framed for the crimes and thats why he disappears from the timeline until the sixth game. cause yeah he disappears from the timeline until the sixth game. personally i believe the third it makes a lot of sense but yeah willie-boi stops killing at about five kids

anyway will is going full scientist with all these animatronics and he's like. ripping parts off them and putting them on other animatronics to see what happens. we THINK. again this is really vague but this is just kinda the most logical explanation here.

anyway this is what happens in fnaf2 and what it does is like. split the souls and shit. and he's like "oh this is sick" except this makes all the suits act erratic as hell and very angry towards adults (theyre cool with kids tho) and eventually one of them causes the infamous Bite of 87. we're not entirely sure what it was but one of the animatronics bit off the frontal lobe of someone in 1987. this caused this location to get shut down and willie boi just puts the pieces back on the og animatronics and is like "well shit what do we do now boys"

FNAF5: Sister Location

anyway so this is where we think elizabeth dies in the timeline. william makes these things called the "funtime animatronics"-- we know they are made after a fnaf location shuts down, though it's not specified which. these animatronics are built SPECIFICALLY to kidnap children. ballora is built as a distraction for parents, the other two are built to only move when not seen, and then Circus Baby™ has an arm that can grab kids and drag thtem into her until willie lets em out. she is programmed to only do this when a child is alone in the room so william tells elizabeth "do not go see baby when you are alone in the room"

so elizabeth is like 6 and she goes to see baby when she is alone in the room and baby grabs her but the arm is fucked up and the kid dies p badly

funtime's location is then immediately closed due to "gas leaks" and william rents out the funtimes for parties. at the same time he starts shoving some haunted parts into the funtime animatronics to see what happens. we THINK.

important location here btw is the "scooping room." it's actually very good horror but basically it's a bitch that is supposed to rip the endoskeletons out of the suit whenever theyre malfunctioning. super smart idea that will cause no nightmares going forwards.

anyway the animatronics all kinda know that william killed them so after a while (a few years??? who knows) they start trying to kill him and he's like "hmm. i cannot go into this bunker anymore. let me send michael, my last surviving kid who i hate." this is where michael, now an adult, re-enters the timeline.

mikey boy is told by his dad that he can bring his baby sis back to life if he goes down into this bunker and does some shit. michael is like "oh sweet" bc honestly he probably still feels guilty about literally killing his bro and so he goes down to the bunker.

the animatronics eventually tell him "go into the scooping room it'll be totes mcgotes" and when he gets there he finds out that the animatronics have killed all the other employees, scooped themselves, and fused their endoskeletons into one conglomerate called ennard

ennard is like "yeah we cant escape here cause they just bring us back so we're gonna use you as a skinsuit k thnx" and they scoop him and use him as a skinsuit

it's really good horror i promise

BUT this turned out to be a bad plan because Humans Decay so after like a week ennard gets puked up by the MikeSuit and escapes into the sewers.

here, meanwhile, is where mike pulls a reverse uno card and possesses his own decaying corpse

LIKE A FUCKING BADASS

he then calls up his dad and is like "hey dad :) elizabeth's fine now :) BUT :) they fucking killed me :) because they thought i was you :) you sure sent me down here to die huh :) anyway :) im gonna come find you :) you have a ten minute head start start running :)"

actor really fucking sold that monologue too ngl

so he's like. PISSSSSSED and rightfully so he is walking around in his own corpse. so he goes to find his dad

Backstory/FNAF3

this is about when peepaw willie goes back to the original fnaf location (we THINK) and is like "ok im just gonna take apart all the animatronics and do something with these"

only when he destroys the suits the missing kids' ghosts show up and spook him. so this guy who's been studying ghosts is like "oh fuckshit there's ghosts here" and tries to hide in the spring bonnie suit. only he laughs and this causes the springlocks to malfunction and FUCKING VIOLENTLY KILL HIM. get springlocked idiot

except then HE possesses the spring bonnie suit and this is springtrap. but also he's in a super secret back room while this happens so he is trapped there for a while

FNAF6

so ennard, michael and william are fuckin around for a couple years. at some point ennard decides that elizabeth is kinda a freak actually and kicks her out of the hivemind so she just rebuilds herself a circus baby suit and keeps wanderin around so now we got four bitches doing who knows what

eventually it's been 30 years since the last freddy's closed and someone opens up a haunted house parody of it. mike goes to work there as a security guard* and guess what they found springtrap and bring him to the attraction thinking he's just an animatronic. after five nights of fucking with him mike sets the place on fire to try and finally kill his dad fr. it does not work

*note that this isnt confirmed to be michael but we kinda. all know it's probably him. it really seems to be him

anyway then michael finds out that an actual fazbear's is opening and needs an owner so he goes and becomes owner of the restaraunt. while some guy on a cassette tape is giving him tutorial instructions he sets up the place and also collects several animatronics. these are:

scraptrap (peepaw post-fire and really pissed)

scrapbaby (elizabeth now thinking that maybe if she kills things her dad will pay attention to her)

molten freddy (remains of ennard still not entirely sure what's going on)

lefty (a bear solely built to capture the puppet, who was still fuckin around the fnaf2 location i guess. anyway now the puppet is here thats important)

so after our five nights scrapbaby comes on the speaker system and is like "omg dad if we kill people will you love me. we're gonna kill soooo many people it's my passion actually" and that's when the cassette tutorial guy interrupts her

and he just goes "yeah. you're not doing that"

anyway he's like "hi guys. you remember me??? henry??? from 30 years ago?? i owned half this business? you killed my daughter and stuffed her soul in a puppet? lmao yeah i literally lured you all here and you came like the fucking idiots you are. im setting the place on fire, we're all gonna die and go to heaven. except for YOU, WILL. you are not going there. lmao bye" and he sets the place on fire and they all burn. it's more epic when he says it tbh

now henry mentions that he had an escape route ready for the building owner but he figured out the owner was michael and was like "i feel like you wanna stay and burn with us" and michael's like "fuck yeah"

you might think that wraps up the story nicely but OH NO THERE'S MORE

Ultimate Custom Night

see, the next game is ultimate custom night where you can choose which animatronics hunt you and their level of difficulty. it is through hidden messages and shit that we find out that ucn is, canonically, william being tortured in hell. which is sick af

anyway the tormentor is a spirit labelled "the vengeful spirit" in the files, and "the one you should not have killed" by the animatronics. we sometimes hear either a light voice behind the other animatronic lines (could be either a woman with a light voice, a little girl, or a little boy), and the pic that sometimes shows up as a hallucination is a distorted photo of scott cawthon's son. we know for a FACT this spirit is someone from the fnaf6 fire cause they reference the fire more than once while poking willie with a stick. it's probably not elizabeth cause she was just tryin to get her dad's attention. it's not charlie/puppet bc one of her lines is like "ffs just stay out of my way for ONCE." we also know for a fact it's not henry cause they were like "henry sure tried to release us huh. not happening im not letting you go that easily bitch haha" so that narrows it down to michael and the missing kids

now here's the thing.

the vaaaaast majority of the fandom is convinced that the vengeful spirit is cassidy, the missing child that was stuffed inside golden freddy with cc. this is because golden freddy is in a looot of ultimate custom night and if you beat the hardest mode you just get a quick cutscene of him glitching and then everything fades to black

however. i have seen legiterally no convincing evidence that this is the case. all we know about cassidy is she is the golden freddy missing kid and was talking to cc through the logbook. and we BARELY know this. in the alternate universe book she first showed up in (the silver eyes) she wasn't even the golden freddy kid. people point out a similar situation to her and cc in fazbear frights where one of the kids was tormenting william (stitchwraith) but that's literally a whole separate universe and completely separate characters with separate backstories and personalities

there's a sprite in security breach who fights glitchtrap (explained below) who was named in the files as "cassidy" so ppl point to that but 1) they changed that name after people made a deal out of it, 2) that could mean literally anything, 3) the protag of the next game was named "cassie" and her story kinda paralleled the sprite's first game so uuhhhh anyway

honestly i think it's WAY more likely the vengeful spirit is mr michael "i'm going to come find you and set you on fire twice" afton, using his childhood likeness to fuck with his dad. this is strengthened by one of the easter egg cutscenes in ucn, where the vengeful spirit talks to a benevolent spirit who tells them to "leave the demon to his demons. there is nothing for you here." the audio in the background is someone distortedly screaming "HENRY" and "MICHAEL"

one of the animatronic lines also says "is this a prison for you or for me? perhaps both" implying that the vengeful spirit feels like they belong in hell, which would fit with mike's "i killed my brother" self-loathing. the golden freddy glitch could very easily be his mental anguish as well as william's, with the optional cutscene telling us that while michael is self-harming by torturing his dad in hell, he has the ability to move on and find peace if he can forgive himself. honestly i really like that open ending there

another point towards "vengeful mike" theory is that we play as him for most of the games (definitely 5 and 6, most likely 1 and 3, some theorize 4) and so him being the vengeful spirit is way more emotionally impactful than "random kid #5"

however every time i bring this up to the fnaf fandom they get really really pissy at me because y'all love ur angry lil girl cassidy headcanons and honestly that is completely fair i also love angry lil girls. im just saying this bc we're going over whats canon rn and i firmly believe in vengeful mike (thank @birdsareblooming for that) but yknow. cassidy is also fun as hell

i wrote a whole essay on this btw these are just the cliffnotes. do you guys wanna see the essay

anyway that's where the afton story ends but OHHH NO MR CAWTHON CANNOT STOP

if you just want a quick catchup before the movie you can stop here but anyway. let's talk mimicry

THE GLITCH STORY

the games coming out recently are kinda a sequel-story and bc theyre still coming out we are still very confused about what the fuck is canon and what is not so this one will be a lot more guessing. i digress let's talk about

Help Wanted

so back on earth, it's the 2020s-2030s. turns out the fazbear company is still functional and they're like "well shit guys what the FUCK do we do about all of That"

so they decide they need a brand cleansing and what they do is they secretly hire an "indie game developer" to make the fnaf games in-universe, to make light of the tragedies and make people take them less seriously. they pretend to have beef with this indie dev but eventually put all of his games into a VR game as a show of "good faith." somehow this actually does work in revitalizing the brand image

also sidenote but the books imply that the indie dev was kidnapped and gaslit into making the games but thats not important

now see there's a glitch in the game and the beta-tester jeremy mentions it and then gets increasingly withdrawn and obsessive. because it turns out there is a Bitch in here

now. the identity of the Bitch is uh. controversial in the fandom rn. i will say for clarity that i am in Party Two and will probably be biased towards that but here's the thing. the Bitch is either:

a digital upload of william afton's soul (somehow escaping hell)

THE MIMIC

Help Wanted Interlude: The Mimic

see, the other books (silver eyes, fazbear frights) are set in a parallel universe-ish to the books, similar rules and worldbuilding but cawthon can fuck around all he wants with no consequences. there were charliebots and springtrap mpreg at one point it was nuts. but the thing is right now they're kinda trying to tell us that the current series, tales from the pizzaplex, is game-canon. god only knows if they'll stick to that so some people think the books are in the game's universe, others think they're parallels to the games and not 1-1 exact much like the others

but anyway they give us crucial lore on The Mimic so here we go

some guy named edwin (some think he's a parallel to henry or william, but rn we're just gonna assume he's canon) is a single dad to a toddler. however he's working for fazbear making all these animatronics and he's sooo busy and needs something to distract the toddler so he creates a fucked up nightmare animatronic called The Mimic, whose programming is extremely basic: "copy whatever you see being done"

the toddler actually loves the fucked up nightmare animatronic and teaches him to play patty-cake and carry around stuffed animals or w/e. anyway then the toddler runs out into the street and gets hit by a car

edwin is still grieving and the mimic comes up carrying the toddler's stuffed animal and still copying him and when the mimic that edwin programmed to copy things is still copying things edwin snaps and just beats the fuck out of it bc he needs a grief outlet. he then abandons the thing but however the mimic has just learned Violence

some employees come by to see where edwin's animatronics are and the mimic just starts killing all of them bc. well. it's supposed to copy things. it will copy things

there's a BIG GAP here in what happens to it next but it disappears for the next 30 years. however it is heavily, HEAVILY implied that it witnessed at least one of the missing children incidents

fazbear actually has a Lot of mimic endoskeletons but bc they start copying violent shit they shut them all down. however they all run on the same program, "mimic1" and fazbear keeps that tech around cause you know it could be helpful

Back to Help Wanted

now here is where the "we only THINK this is canon we dont knkow yet" comes in

back to the vr game, they are just shoving random old pieces of code in there to speefd up the process of making the game cause capitalism doesnt like long development times. this puts the mimic1 program into the program and it immediately sees All Of Afton's Crimes In 4K. it decides "oh yeah i can mimic this but i should probably get a physical body in order to do that"

so beta tester jeremy sees the mimic program, which takes the form of Spring Bonnie Suit. this is Glitchtrap

now keep in mind that some people do still believe that all this aint happenin and the spring bonnie glitch is just william. again i personally believe the mimic cause it makes more sense than "william escaped hell somehow" but w/e

anyway, glitchtrap is fuckin around. it tries to possess beta tester jeremy and in order to stop it, jeremy does the sensible thing and cuts his own face off

so glitchtrap is like "hmm. that didn't work out" and decides to go for the more subtle approach. the next beta tester, currently unnamed, starts recording tapes inside the game to send to the next beta tester so they dont fuck with glitchtrap. glitchtrap however seals itself inside the tapes so that when the beta testers try to delete it, it'll instead be inside the tapes and cant be removed lmao. it then "mimics" tape girl's voice and adds a last tape saying "let him possess you its ok i promise"

it also mimics her intro of "hello can you hear me" in the one time it speaks so. mimic

anyway the next beta tester is this gal named vanessa and she gets possessed like suuuper quickly and glitchtrap is like "oh fucking FINALLY"

Security Breach Therapy Tapes

vanessa's acting weird at work so company requires her to go to therapy, however she has the same therapist as Another Patient. this patient will be named later however right now we're calling them Patient 46. they do not talk but have the same therapist as Vanessa and is creepy about it. anyway whenever a therapist prods too much into either Vanessa or P46's life, or discovers them fucking with fazbear tech, the therapist mysteriously goes missing and shows up later dead and mangled by machinery

they go through like five of these bitches at least, but it's clear P46 is another bitch possessed by glitchtrap but they're like more possessed than vanessa is so glitchtrap likes them better

BUT THAT'S ALL BORING, WE'VE GOT A PIZZAPLEX NOW!!!

Security Breach

fazbear opens a giant 80s-style mall with a ton of attractions like disneyland or w/e and call it the Mega Pizzaplex. There's state-of-the-art animatronics in here that are basically sentient ai. they might be possessed but we're not actually sure rn they might just be advanced robots

they start with "glamrock" freddy, bonnie and chica, along with roxy wolf instead of foxy. we're not sure why rn. anyway at some point something suspicious happens and bonnie is found mangled and he's replaced with montgomery gator, a c-list animatronic they had to run the golf course. he doesnt seem to take the spotlight well and has started breaking things but its probably fine

anyway they eventually realize they can automate the staff and stop paying human beings and they jump on that cause they love cutting costs. they've got staffbots everywhere except for ONE person- vanessa, who is hired as the security guard. we find a note saying that her interviewer found her too inexperienced for the position, but someone "very" high up in the company pushed her into the role. this is implied to be glitchtrap taking over the systems

so vanessa and P46 are shoving glitchtrap into the systems because, well, guess what? the pizzaplex is built on top of the fnaf6 location. the one where henry set them all on fire, and they're trying to do some sort of shit with the burnt remains of springtrap. if you believe in william!glitchtrap he's trying to get his body back; if you believe in mimic!glitchtrap he's trying to fuse himself to afton's corpse in order to gain a corporeal form. it also helps that there is The OG Mimic Endoskeleton in this area (its explained in the books im not going into it) but it's pretty fuckin damaged so they gotta spend some time fixing it before fusing it with peepaw's corpse

but the night they're supposed to do that, something goes wrong: a child is loose in the pizzaplex

glamrock freddy had a malfunction onstage, and when he wakes up in his room, there is a child hiding in his stomach compartment (used for oversized piñatas and cakes). this child is named gregory and he looks suspiciously like the crying child and we dont have an explanation for that but no, matpat, he's not a robot, it's probably just symbolism

anyway gregory actually has like very little memory of what's going on and barely remembers his own name but he says that vanessa the security guard is trying to fuckin kill him so he needs to get tf out of the pizzaplex. freddy's like "well you're shit out of luck cause the doors close and seal until 6am but that's fine we can make it til then" and gregory's like "fucking JOY"

long story short gregory has to run around the pizzaplex while every animatronic but freddy is trying to kill him. freddy is not trying to kill him bc his malfunction caused him to enter Safe Mode and it turns out that Safe Mode is safe from the glitchtrap virus. everyone else, however, gets glitchtrapped and is trying to kill this kid

you dont find out why until like laaaate in the game and even THEN you're confused until one of the goosebumps-knockoff short stories confirms a thing, and that thing is:

gregory is patient 46

oh shit

turns out gregory was possessed by glitchtrap for FUCK knows how long and was used as its body for like the entire time. and when he eventually wakes up un-possessed (no idea how that happened) he has no memory of whats going on at ALL and is understandably fucking terrified. doesnt remember being possessed or killing ppl or anything he just wakes up and runs. glam freddy likely malfunctioned cause glitchtrap was like "oh my god go GET that stupid kid" and glam freddy was like "but???? protecc????" and entered safe mode

so gregory eventually fuckin DEMOLISHES all the other animatronics and uses their parts to upgrade freddy. freddy is like "hey where'd you get these parts" and gregory's like "uhhhhhhhhh dont worry about it" "hey where are my friends" "DONT WORRY ABOUT IT"

while this is happening, a possessed vanessa is in a bunny suit calling herself vanny and also trying to kill him. this is just as confusing to us as it is to you

anyway there are six endings to security breach. according to the most recent game, there is a chance that two of them are canon. WE DO NOT KNOW which of the two is canon. these are the endings:

Princess Quest Ending: greg and freddy try to confront vanny and she gets freddy ripped apart by staffbots. gregory then finds an arcade game in her room and plays and beats it which sets her soul free (presumably he knew how to do this cause he's remembering bits and pieces of being possessed??? idk). anyway once the game is beat she is unpossessed and takes gregory and freddy's decapitated head out of the pizzaplex

Burntrap Ending: gregory and freddy avoid vanny and go to the fnaf6 basement where freddy starts acting all fucked up and then thtey find the Springtrap corpse, now Burntrap (fused with the mimic? glitchtrap? yknow). it tries to kill them so you have to Boss Fight everything and then set him on fire again. THEN a tangled mess of animatronic wires with a funtime freddy head (remains of ennard???) shows up and drags him off. again, just as confusing for us as it is for you. freddy and gregory escape. no idea where vanessa is

ONE of these is canon. we do not know which. this is making the fanbase super chill and normal /lying

Evidence for Princess Quest: in ruin, we see a headless glamrock freddy in the exact same area he is in pq. we also have no sign of vanny trying to help glitchtrap. you can collect gregory's fanart of his own game and pq is the only one he didn't draw. princess quest arcade game has sword sticking out of it

Evidence against Princess Quest: aforementioned headless freddy is labelled a prototype on his foot and we know for a fact that our freddy does not have that stamp. he also has a gift inside his stomach when freddy gave his stomach gift to gregory already (and it was a diff color). the pq arcade game has sword sticking out of it BUT that could symbolize the princess being skewered, and surrounding the game is art of the escaped glitchbunny

Evidence for Burntrap: labelled as "true ending" in the files, only ending to be FULLY animated instead of switching to comic form and also only one with boss fight, the tangled animatronic mess is definitely canon (we see it, gregory draws it so he saw it too which means he went in the basement where it was), while vanny isn't seen her grafitti is everywhere and appears to be recent

Evidence against Burntrap: the "true ending" label, like cassidy, could mean literally fucking anything. also if vanessa is still under his control why the fuck doesnt she help him where is she

so yeah we're having fun figuring THAT out

Ruin (the end so far thank god)

the most recent game we got, then, was the dlc for the above game, this dlc is called ruin. a few months after this, a lil girl named cassie wanders into the ruins of the pizzaplex cause her best friend gregory told her to meet him there. when she gets there she finds a walkie-talkie and he's like "girl im trapped under the pizzaplex you need to shut down the security and come get me" and she's like "sounds great"

she finds vanny's mask and puts it on and enters an AR world where a glitched bunny is trying to kill her (this one isnt glitchtrap actually) and a friendly little AR bear is telling her to keep going she's doing a great job (this one IS glitchtrap probably)

anyway it turns out her backstory is her dad worked for the pizzaplex and she had a birthday party there with her Favorite Character Roxy and literally none of her friends showed up. she was sad about it until gregory showed up and became her friend. then gregory went missing and she was sad

anyway the last security node is favorite character Roxy and roxy recognizes her and is nice to her and its very sad

cassie eventually goes down to the fnaf6 basement and is like "ok gregory i opened the door are you okay" and PSYCH, IT'S NOT GREGORY

IT'S

THE

MIMIC

the mimic immediately tries to kill her bc it likes violence but roxy shows up to save her. the real gregory calls her on the walkie-talkie and is like "bITCH GET OUT OF THERE" and she's like "IM TRYING" and gregory's "friend" (whose pronouns are very specifically blurred out, so it could be either freddy or vanessa) uses the building maps to help her to an elevator. however when she gets in the elevator gregory's like "yeahhhhh sorry we cant let you be followed :(" and drops the elevator, trapping her there

it's like a 99% chance this last bit was not gregory but it was the mimic, seeing as gregory is not even in the pizzaplex and the mimic lost cassie right next to the elevator fuse box that it could easily rip out. so you know

anyway we end with either roxy finding cassie or the mimic using roxy's voice finding her so this kid's fucked lmao

also other questions about if mimic is burntrap is that we see the mimic p naked in this game and not in a fun corpse skinsuit so where did bunny go??? however i will also mention that there is a secret ending that shows us that the FUCKING SCOOPER is here so. personally i think that answers that question. get scooped idiot

oh also if you noticed "hey 'cassie' sounds a lot like 'cassidy,' the golden freddy kid who was sharing a body with the crying child, who has a similar design to gregory," congrats! we've noticed that too! we have no fucking idea what it means! :D

and thaaaaat's five nights at freddy's

that didnt take too long did it

[ingravinoveritas]

i stg if david wins a bafta for rivals and not good omens i WILL lose what’s left of my sanity

Oh, boy. I'm at a conference at the moment and running around like crazy, so only dipping in periodically. But for those who haven't seen, the nominations for this year's TV BAFTAs have just been announced, and David was nominated for his role as Tony Baddingham in Rivals...

First and foremost, it is absolutely amazing that David has now received only his second ever nomination for a (regular) BAFTA. Long well overdue, for sure--to the point where it's become an ongoing joke, even--and he more than deserves to be recognized for his work as an actor.

But there are definitely a couple of things that are odd about this. The character David plays in the show, Tony, is not really one of the main characters--unlike Alex Hassell or Aidan Turner's characters who are, and yet neither one of them were nominated. It's David's (arguably far more recognizable/bankable) name that was put forward, even though he has significantly less screen time than both of them.

It's also peculiar that he was nominated in this category instead of Male Performance in a Comedy, which arguably would have made a lot more sense, given the type of show that Rivals is. And looking at the other nominees, David being in this category stands out because there is such an incongruity between his performance/show and all of the other shows, and it does not seem as if he is being set up to win.

That said, perhaps the most disenchanting thing about this nomination is that while David was by no means bad in Rivals, it is not necessarily his best work. He deservedly received a nomination for Good Omens last year, but I would argue that there are other projects for which he was just as deserving of nomination yet did not receive one--namely, Broadchurch and Des. The very idea that David would be nominated for Rivals but not for Des seems almost too ridiculous to comprehend, especially given the passion and weight that he has given to Des and playing that particular role.

And sadly, we also can't ignore that awards shows do tend to be political in nature, to some extent. Michael not being nominated for A Very Royal Scandal, for instance, which is likely due to Prince William being the president of BAFTA, something I only learned last year. In the case of David, he just hosted the film BAFTAs this year, and then you also have the roaring engine of Disney that likely was the driving force behind this nomination, advancing David's name because of his visibility more than anything else.

I think that is what rankles me most of all, actually--is that David could be nominated for bullshit reasons such as the above instead of because he delivered an award-worthy performance. Again, this is not to say that he was bad in Rivals or didn't deserve to be nominated--only that it feels like it would've been a lot more meaningful if he was nominated long before now for first-rate performances that he took much more pride in, and not because of whatever behind the scenes machinations are going on.

So those are my thoughts on David's BAFTA nomination. Again, it's definitely a wonderful achievement and should be celebrated, but there are still issues worth (reasonably, civilly) discussing...

[moonlightkitties]

Header by @saradika-graphics !!

REQUESTS ARE OPEN (But I may not write them soon)

Fandoms

GTA V

RDR 2

COD

TLOU

TWD

Characters

Arthur Morgan

Dutch Van der Linde

Micah Bell

John Marston

Bill Williamson

Sean MacGuire

19 yr. old Jack Marston

Charles Smith

Lenny Summers

Trevor Philips

Michael De Santa/Townley

Wade Hebert

Dave Norton

Steven Haines

Things I will write

Fluff

Angst

Literally anything (except smut 😔)

Red Dead Redemption

Micah Bell

Late Night Swim (You and Micah go in the lake for a swim)

Snowball Fight (After doing all your chores and just wanting to rest, Micah ruins it by throwing a freezing cold snowball at your face.)

Arthur Morgan

Arthur Morgan x Reader - (You get separated from the gang during the Blackwater massacre and do whatever it takes to find them again) - ON HOLD

Part One

Part Two

Part Three

Snowy Horse Ride - (After a long day of chores, you and Arthur go on a snowy trail ride)

Dutch Van der Linde

Dutch Van der Linde x O'Driscoll! Reader - (You're Colm O'Driscoll's daughter who got kidnapped by the Van der Linde gang) - ON HOLD

Part One

You are your fathers daughter - (You're Dutch Van der Linde's 18 year old daughter who is struggling to keep up with your father's plans for your future) - ONGOING - MASTERLIST

Kieran Duffy

Full Moons are Ruff (Halloween Fic) - You're a werewolf and after going missing during guard duty, Bill makes Kieran go look for you. When he finds you, he stays with you all night.

Sean MacGuire

First Snowfall of the Year - Celebrating the first snowfall of the year, you and Sean spend some much needed quality time together.

John Marston

O' Christmas Tree - John is struggling to put the Christmas tree up while you sort through decorations.

John reacting to your protective boy cat

Grand Theft Auto Five

Trevor Philips

Jealous and Needy Trevor Headcanons

Trevor with a partner who is "out of his league"

The Walking Dead

Daryl Dixon

Coming soon

[orange-peony]

SnowBaz I Explicit I ongoing I Howl's moving castle AU, curses, baker Simon, wizard Baz, mutual pining, eventual smut.

Summary: My eyes wander to the window, where I can see the first timid hues of orange and pink appear over the hills. And then I spot it. Wizard Baz's moving castle. There's smoke coming out of its four, thin turrets, an aura of mystery surrounding it. They say the Wizard steals women’s hearts. Swallows them whole. That he collects souls because he lacks one himself. I shudder at the thought and wonder who would be fool enough to get close to him.

I re-read Howl's moving castle by Diana Wynne Jones last month, and it just felt like such a snowbaz story that I had to write an AU! This is based on the book, not on the film (even though I love both to bits).

You don't need to have read the book or seen the film to enjoy this fic.

An enormous thank you with a cherry on top goes to @thewholelemon for being such a fantastic (and super speedy) beta and for brainstorming ideas with me.

Another big thank you to @pato-roldnart for reading the first draft and to @bubble-gumhead for her support. <3

Read chapter 1 of Things invisible to see on AO3.

In case anyone is interested, here's the cast of characters under the cut:

Simon as Sophie

Baz as Howl

Penny as Michael

Fiona as Calcifer

The Mage as the Witch of the Waste

Shep as Martha

Agatha as Lettie

Mrs Wellbelove as Fanny

Ebb as Mrs Fairfax

Niall as the King of Ingary

Dev as Prince Justin

Niamh as Ben Sullivan/Wizard Suliman

Lamb as Miss Angorian

Miss Possibelf as Mrs Pentstemmon

[soft-pine]

do you think dean has a tendency to point to a person's past mistakes more than other characters? im not saying this is "wrong" behavior from him im just curious if you agree. i think other characters point out his past mistakes quite a bit as well, but i dont really see a problem with dean pointing out past mistakes as a guide for why something is making him uncomfortable/scared/worried (such as pointing to season 6 castiel behavior and being worried [to the point of anger] that cas is repeating his mistakes in 9x22 and lying to him and sam again, or getting mad repeatedly at sam for leaving kevin with crowley for a year).

like i think sam (justifiably) points to the situation with gadreel as an example for why he's mad at dean for several episodes, and i dont think i'd consider this "weaponizing" dean's mistakes against him and totally understand why he struggles with trusting/engaging with dean socially during the period after gadreel is expelled.

im coming to you because you tend to catalogue stuff very thoroughly and figured you'd know best.

hi anon! i am honored you thought of me but i certainly wouldn't claim to know best! especially as this isn't a specific thing i've been keeping track of.

but i tend to agree with you in that i don't think dean disproportionately brings up other people's actions as a gotcha. in fact, i tend to see him as one of the most flexible and forgiving people on the show. in fact it's to the point where in 5.02 and 15.03, him not being immediately conciliatory and forgiving enough is grounds for a break which dean is often criticized for.

i also agree with your characterization of how dean often points these things out as a way to articulate why he's feeling what he's feeling. and with the kevin stuff, he's not harping on a past situation, he is actively trying to resolve an ongoing crisis.

i'm not sure what conversation you've seen about dean being overly critical or whatever.

but i also want to point out that sam spends a significant amount of s1 berating dean for the way dean follows john's orders. like that comes up in multiple, multiple episodes (1.02, 1.08, 1.10, 1.11, 1.18, 1.20 to name a few). we know from 1.11, 14.12, and 15.20 that dean wishes he had behaved differently around john and regrets the ways he never pushed back, etc. (i want to be clear here i am not criticizing a child for how he chose to navigate a course to survive an abusive childhood.)

cas is also specifically critical of dean's "failures" in 5.02 and 5.19. the oft omitted lines which come after "i'm hunted. i rebelled and i did it, all of it, for you" are:

CASTIEL: and you failed. You and your brother destroyed the world—and I lost everything, for nothing. So keep your opinions to yourself.

in 5.18 he says, among other things:

CASTIEL: Maybe they're desperate. Maybe they wrongly assumed Dean would be brave enough to withstand them.

and later:

CASTIEL: Maybe it is. But then I won’t have to watch you fail. I’m sorry, Dean. I don’t have the same faith in you that Sam does.

this is in the context of Cas being angry that Dean was going to agree to possession from michael.

i'm not trying to bash on cas or sam here. just saying that, i don't know, in over 15 years of world-ending events and sacrifices and disagreements about how to handle them, they have all done things which didn't sit right with each other and which they fought about at the time and sometimes still bring up later either in anger or for context. i don't really think any of them particularly stand out as doing that disproportionately or more than the others. (though i do feel dean receives a disproportionate amount of criticism from characters in the show but i guess that's kind of another convo).

hope this made some sense! sorry it took me hot min to reply to!

[ponett]

hello i am considering getting into transformers. however, aside from maybe a few episodes of the 2000s show i caught halfway through, a handful of toys i tried to rip the heads off of and i guess maybe the michael bay movies, i know Fuck All about those funny robots in disguise. what are your recommendations for entry points for someone who does not know an autorobot from a deceiptfulcon? i know you talk up the IDW comic series, is that a good place to start? what about cartoons/movies?

(yes i know i could google this but who am i gonna trust more, the transformers lorekeeper or some random screenrant article)

So I love a lot of the IDW comics, especially More Than Meets the Eye/Lost Light, but that continuity is massive and very dense. It's aimed more at adult readers, and in particular adult readers who are already familiar with Transformers. If you wanna just jump right into the deep end, it's a good option. I know a ton of people fell in love with Transformers through MTMTE and its gay robot melodrama with no prior experience. But it can still be daunting, especially if you try to read ALL of the IDW comics.

Right now, the main thing I would recommend is the currently ongoing Image comic series by Daniel Warren Johnson, just titled Transformers. It's the centerpiece of a new shared universe with an original sci-fi series called Void Rivals (which has a lot of Transformers cameos) and some GI Joe comics, but honestly you can just ignore all that stuff and read Transformers on its own. There are 11 issues out right now and they're all bangers. I think they convey the basics of Transformers really well, with incredibly fun action and great character writing to back it up. I'm not sure we've gotten such a succinct encapsulation of why Optimus Prime is such a great character in years.

In terms of cartoons, the main fan favorites are Transformers Animated and Transformers Prime. If you want a 2D animated version by a lot of the same people who worked on Teen Titans and Ben 10, go for Animated. If you want a 3D animated version that's a little more serious and a more conventional take on the story, go for Prime.

There's also, of course, the option to just go watch the original G1 cartoon, if you're a fan of that '80s toy commercial cartoon cheesiness. It's still a lot of campy fun, even if it's not going to be the most dramatically compelling version of the series or the easiest on the eyes. The 1986 animated movie in particular gets referenced, like, all the fucking time in everything else that's come since, so that's at least worth checking out on its own.

The Bumblebee movie is also cute as a little standalone story. That's the only one of the live action movies I would recommend as an entry point lmao

[enbyzutara]

Aang x Luke Skywalker Parallels: How Aang’s Hero’s Journey Wasn't Properly Finished

I read this post by @lovegrowsart and I couldn't get it out of my mind how Aang and Luke Skywalker's journeys have so much in common, yet only one of these arcs feels like it has come to a properly finished conclusion. Meanwhile, the other one feels like the character didn't learn what he was supposed to in order to fulfill his Hero's Journey arc. So, in this post, I want to expand more on why “Aang was supposed to be the Luke Skywalker of Avatar: The Last Airbender”, but the creators of A:TLA failed to properly finish his story.

Firstly, it’s important to point out that the Star Wars saga and universe are widely famous in pop and nerd culture, including Luke Skywalker, the Jedi protagonist, who himself is one of the most famous and beloved characters from the saga. So, it’s not really a reach to assume that the creators and writers of Avatar: The Last Airbender were - at some level - inspired by this famous universe and character. By doing a quick research, we can confirm this assumption, because Bryan Konietzko, one of the co-creators of A:TLA, said in a podcast that Dave Filoni helped to shape A:TLA and its story. Also, both creators said that Joseph Campbell’s writing about mythology helped them to create the Hero’s Journey and the other storylines for their show, and George Lucas was also heavily inspired by Campbell when he was writing Star Wars.

(I will refer to the Star Wars episodes of the original trilogy as one, two and three - even though, nowadays, they are the numbers four, five and six).

Bryke (Bryan Konietzko and Michael Dante DiMartino, the co-creators of Avatar: The Last Airbender) and George Lucas share a lot of tropes and narratives in the stories that each one of them created. Both protagonists of the sagas are the '"chosen one" of their universe: both are the last of their kind (even though in the Star Wars universe, initially there were two more older Jedi) who have the weight of the world’s future on their shoulders. Aang needs to fight against the Fire Lord and Luke, initially, against Darth Vader. By doing this, they would bring balance to the world/galaxy.

It’s also important to emphasize how Luke Skywalker and Aang are not only the saviors of the story, they are also the last of their kind. In A:TLA and in Star Wars, we have populations that suffered genocide: the Airbenders were brutally exterminated by the Fire Nation during Sozin’s Comet, and initially, it was revealed in the original Star Wars trilogy that the Jedi were wiped out of the galaxy when Order 66 happened. So, Luke and Aang not only have the destiny of the world/galaxy on their shoulders, they also are the only ones who can continue the legacy, the culture, and the survival of their own kind.

Another parallel between Luke Skywalker and Aang is that both have a Mentor From Beyond. Luke Skywalker was able to seek knowledge from the Jedis who had passed away in the original trilogy. Firstly, it was Obi-Wan Kenobi, who was his first mentor; Luke was able to communicate with him, and Obi-Wan would give him advice and directions to follow. Later, Yoda also appeared to him. For Aang, due to the fact that he’s the Avatar (and to be the Avatar means that you are the reincarnation of someone who already died), he was able to contact the Avatars from his past incarnations. In the show, Roku is the past Avatar with whom Aang most often connects, but he also seeks knowledge from Kyoshi, Kuruk, and Yangchen.

In Book One: Water and A New Hope, both characters are presented as more naive, and the narrative is not as tense as in the later seasons/episodes. However, the sequel presents a "darker" version of its universe as both characters grow and face emotional dilemmas and more hardships. The Empire Strikes Back and Book Two: Earth explore, even more, the ongoing war in their respective universes, and by the end of these sequels, things go wrong for the heroes. And what I really want to discuss is the similarity between the second episode of Star Wars and the second season of Avatar: The Last Airbender.

At some point in the second episode/season, Luke and Aang had to separate from their group of friends in order to learn more and to train. They had to seek knowledge of what they are and what they represent, because by doing this, they would be a step closer to fulfilling their duties and saving the galaxy/world. At this moment in the narrative, Luke and Aang have an older and wiser mentor who will try to help them achieve this: Yoda and Guru Pathik.

But neither Luke nor Aang finish these training sessions that they started, because during their training, they have a vision of people who are special to them currently in danger. So, even though Yoda and Guru Pathik advise them not to leave and to finish what they started, they leave. Luke goes to Cloud City to save his friends (Leia, Han Solo, Chewbacca, and C3PO) and Aang goes to Ba Sing Se to save Katara. And as stated before, in this episode/season finale, things go wrong for the heroes, including to the protagonists who are supposed to be the saviors of both universes. Luke and Aang left their training even though they were advised otherwise, they went to fight without properly learning what they needed to learn. So when they faced the enemy, they lost. Both at the end were defeated: Aang quite literally dies and Luke has a metaphorical death when he learns about his parentage and loses one of his arms. He also "commits suicide" when he decides to jump instead of aligning himself with the Dark Side.

Now, something really important here is to talk about how Luke and Aang's attachments to people who are dear to them made them run away from what they should have been doing, instead of bringing them closer to their duties and destiny. It was understandable the reasons why they left their training, but it still was wrong in the sense that things went wrong and it ended tragically for both characters. And, it’s never portrayed in both sagas that loving someone is wrong, but being attached to someone is. Both of their Hero’s Journeys required them to learn the difference between what is love and what is attachment, because both concepts are different and one of them (attachment) is portrayed in both sagas as wrong, especially for the protagonists.

Although I’m not Buddhist, nor was I raised as one, it’s clear that Star Wars (1) (2) and Avatar: The Last Airbender (1) (2) both were inspired, to some extent, by this religion and its philosophy. (I tried searching for articles and videos made by Buddhist people, but, unfortunately, I couldn't really find many, so if anyone wants to link more content, please, feel free). And one thing that appears to be inspired by this religion and philosophy in both sagas was the concept of attachment in contrast to love (1) (2). Before delving into the topic of attachment in the show and movie, it’s ideal to understand what attachment means from a Buddhist perspective:

In Buddhism, attachment is called upādāna, which means grasping or clinging. It refers to the human tendency to cling to people, things, or ideas in the mistaken belief that they will bring us lasting happiness and fulfillment. Attachment arises from our desire to feel secure, comfortable, and control of our lives. (...) Attachment to people: Attachment to people can become a source of suffering, as we can become overly dependent on them for our happiness, identity, and sense of security. This attachment can take many forms, from romantic relationships to friendships and family bonds.

While searching for what would be the difference between love vs attachment in Buddhism, this quote also brought my attention (I'll definitely come back to this later): 

Any kind of relationship which imagines that we can fulfill ourselves through another is bound to be very tricky. Ideally people would come together already feeling fulfilled within themselves and just therefore appreciating that in the other, rather than expecting the other to supply that sense of well-being.

George Lucas seemed to understand this concept better than Bryke. In Return of the Jedi, Luke Skywalker a) trusts his group of friends way more than he did in The Empire Strikes Back, b) he was also able to let go of his anger for Darth Vader because he genuinely loved Anakin, his father. George Lucas was very vocal about how he wanted to portray attachment as a bad thing, and when it comes to this topic, he never intended to make the Jedi philosophy something wrong. Strict? Maybe, but not wrong. And in the end, as the episode’s title suggests, Luke "returns", as he also returns to Dagobah to contact his master, Yoda, one last time. (The title of this episode can also refer to Anakin returning to the Light Side, but art can be interpreted in different and many ways).

In contrast, Avatar: The Last Airbender presented Aang’s attachment to Katara in a bad light. The Guru episode shows that Aang's attachment to Katara, not his feelings, is what is making him fail to open his chakra and not being able to enter into the Avatar State. 

Pathik: The Thought Chakra is located at the crown of the head. It deals with pure cosmic energy, and is blocked by earthly attachment. Meditate on what attaches you to this world. [Images of Katara appear before Aang.] Now, let all of those attachments go. Let them flow down the river, forgotten.

It’s even more important to understand that what Aang feels for Katara is not genuine love, at least in this episode, it’s pretty much stated that he is attached to her in a way that he needs to learn to let go. To expand a little bit on this, it’s necessary to analyze two Avatar: The Last Airbender episodes and how they portray what Aang feels for Katara:

Firstly, 'The Fortuneteller' episode portrays Aang’s feelings for Katara as just a childish crush. There's nothing wrong with a childish crush in general, especially because Aang is, in fact, a child, so he's bound to be childish. But in this episode, what he feels for Katara is paralleled with what Meng feels for him: something that was one-sided and lacked "emotional maturity and self-awareness". Both Aang and Meng viewed their crushes in an overestimated and hyper-idealized way, which again was portrayed as silly and in a bad light.

Secondly, in 'The Guru' episode, it shows that yes, Aang does love Katara, but is it in the right way? The Air Nomads' genocide deeply affects Aang, and he still loves the people that he lost, obviously. But in the show, Guru Pathik states that the love that Aang felt for the Air Nomads was 'reborn' in a new love - his love for Katara. So, Aang is projecting his feelings of love for the people who were brutally exterminated onto the girl who, at this moment in the narrative, was only his dear friend who shows him support and fights alongside him. Aang needed to get closure and heal from this traumatic event; it’s a huge trauma that he should work through. But instead, he was coping by projecting his feelings onto something, or better, someone.

I personally think that Aang loves Katara to some extent, but he needed to work through his trauma first. This goes along with something already shown before, quoting: "people would come together [in a relationship] already feeling fulfilled within themselves and just therefore appreciating that in the other".

The chakra/Guru plotline in Avatar: The Last Airbender is not about Aang needing to stop loving Katara; that's a huge misunderstanding. It was about how Aang was attached to something (or someone, in his case) that he needed to learn to let go of, so he could progress, grow, and heal. After he fulfilled this arc about what's love vs attachment, two things could happen: a) maybe Aang would realize that his love for Katara was more platonic and that he was projecting a lot onto her because he sees her in an idealized way, or b) that he indeed loves her but he needs to realize that he's too much attached to the comfort that she gives and brings to him, so his feelings for her need to have more emotional maturity.

And in the end of season two, Aang actually let go of his attachment to Katara, and he was able to achieve the Avatar State. But unfortunately, after this, he was brutally attacked by Azula and had his chakra blocked.

But in Book Three: Fire, not only does he not return to see or contact Guru again, as Luke did (returned to see his older and wiser mentor, Yoda, in the third and final episode), but Aang also appears to still be attached to Katara in the same way that he already was, if not worse. In the Ember Island Players episode, he: 1) gets so mad and frustrated with the Players portraying his relationship with Katara in a non-romantic light that he says that he could go into the Avatar State over this, and 2) rushes things with Katara and kisses her without her consent, disrespecting her boundaries, after she just avoided his romantic questions and advances.

Point 1:

Aang: [Angered.] No, I'm not! I hate this play! [Yanks his hat off and throws it on the ground.]  Katara: I know it's upsetting, but it sounds like you're overreacting.  Aang: Overreacting? If I hadn't blocked my chakra, I'd probably be in the Avatar State right now!

Point 2: 

Aang: But it's true, isn't it? We kissed at the Invasion, and I thought we were gonna be together. But we're not. 

Katara: Aang, I don't know. 

Aang: Why don't you know?  Katara: Because, we're in the middle of a war, and, we have other things to worry about. This isn't the right time.

Aang: Well, when is the right time? 

Katara: Aang, I'm sorry, but right now I'm just a little confused.  [Aang tries to kiss Katara.]

Katara: I just said I was confused! I'm going inside. [Exits the balcony.]

All of this shows how he still lacked emotional maturity, and how he still was attached to Katara, in a way not much different from what was shown in Book Two: Earth. Overall, this shows how his feelings for her weren't properly developed and didn't grow from where they previously were – because it was still bound by an attachment that he needed to let go of in order to grow, heal, and learn.

Unfortunately, the Guru/Chakra plotline was completely brushed aside in Book Three: Fire; Aang doesn't even seek to see Guru again or continue his unfinished training. And in the end, when he was fighting the Fire Lord, what he was always meant to do, he managed to go into the Avatar State. Not because he trained or learned how to achieve this goal; actually, it was because a rock saved him by triggering the Avatar State. So, in the end, an entire plotline was ignored and forgotten. Aang didn't learn what he needed to learn with Guru, nor did he finish the training that he was meant to do, and he still was rewarded by the narrative with achieving the Avatar State and saving the world (and also, "getting the girl").

[(...) and Aang protects himself with an airbending shield but is pushed back by the force of the attack, crashing into a rock pillar. The scar on his back is hit with a point of the rock, causing him to flashback to when he was shot by lightning. (...) Aang jumps out, now in the Avatar State, and grabs Ozai by his goatee.]

And that's why Aang is the Luke Skywalker that we could’ve had. Luke finished his Hero's Journey; he learned what he needed to learn and because of it, he saved the galaxy and his father. Meanwhile, Aang didn't learn about love vs attachment, yet he still achieved what he needed to achieve from the beginning: the Avatar State and winning against the Fire Lord. And he only achieved that because the narrative chose to give him a final new solution to resolve all his problems instead of him directly dealing with and facing the problems, difficulties, and dilemmas that the narrative initially proposed to him.

(I don’t actually mean quite literally that Aang needs or should have been the Luke Skywalker from Avatar: The Last Airbender, because Aang is his own character who has his own story. What I mean is that: Luke Skywalker is a character who is similar in some ways to Aang, and he had his Hero’s Journey properly fulfilled. I believe that Aang also deserved the same treatment by the creators of ATLA).

[greghousescane]

-𝐅𝐀𝐓𝐇𝐄𝐑 𝐅𝐈𝐆𝐔𝐑𝐄

I WANT YOU ENTIRELY.

I WANT YOU FOREVER AND ONLY YOU.

MY RIBS ACHE WITH HOW MUCH I LOVE YOU.

EVERY BREATH HURTS WITH HOW MUCH LOVE I HAVE FOR YOU.

I COULD NEVER EVER LIVE WITHOUT YOU.

MY BODY COULD NEVER HANDLE NOT HAVING YOU AT ANY MOMENT.

WE WERE MEANT TO BE.

you know that, right ?

DOUBT IS JUST THE DOOR BEFORE DEVOTION.

The words weren't handwritten, but they weren't printed either. The ink, faint and uneven, seemed to lighten away at the last two letters, like a last breath in the back of your throat. Typewritten. Possibly old, or purposely made to look old. Slipped loose from the crinkled, flimsy pamphlet, it fluttered out onto the floor.

    The Watsons hadn't grown up particularly religious. They went to church on Christmas, sometimes Easter—more often for funerals than anything else. Faith, in their household, had been more of a polite nod than a pillar. But in the years when Vivienne's world began quietly, steadily falling apart, she found herself returning to the pews.

Not for God exactly. But for hope.

    Hope that her sister would survive the addiction eating her from the inside out. Hope that her sister's wife wouldn't fall apart in the wreckage. Hope that her brother would make it home. Hope that she could keep herself afloat—even if it meant believing in something, anything, that felt like it might still care.

SADISTIC

/səˈdɪstɪk/

adjective

deriving pleasure from inflicting pain, suffering, or humiliation on others.

"he took sadistic pleasure in watching her."

. . .

. .

.

Andrew Scott as . . .

JAMES MORIARTY

        ❝Salvation was never meant for people like me. But it's fun to pretend!❞

Michael Fassbender as . . .

SEBASTIAN MORAN

        ❝You'd be amazed with how easy it is to look like a good guy with just the right amount of skills.❞

Mia Goth as . . .

VIVIENNE WATSON

        ❝I just want to be good.. to make up the time you left me with.❞⠀ ⠀

Martin Freeman as . . .

JOHN WATSON

        ❝I survived a war, but I don't know if I survived coming home,❞

Benedict Cumberbatch as . . .

SHERLOCK HOLMES

        ❝Sentiment is a chemical defect on the losing side.❞

Oliver Stark as . . .

THEODORE VERSTAPPEN

        ❝Killers don't look like killers, they look like lambs ...❞

DISCLAIMER

this is definitely not a healthy relationship type book, please keep that in mind.

i do not own sherlock bbc, the only thing I do own is the storyline and characters (vivienne, theodore, and any extras).

this story will have multiple warnings, please click off if some subjects may feel sensitive- i'm sure i'll be writing books with less warnings in the future.

this story will be going a long the timeline of around the first season +, however i will be adding original elements to it.

possible insinuation of johnlock

WARNINGS

language

borderline creepy behaviour

stalking

murder and other crimes

some descriptions of wounds, crime scenes

representation of ptsd (john)

eventual kidnapping

eventually smut

age gap.

and possible more.. however there will be additional warnings on each chapter.

ONGOING

DATE STARTED: 10/06/2025

DATE PUBLISHED: 15/06/2025

DATE FINISHED: tba.

© greghousescane '25

[tawked]

The Ultimate Universe is such a weird experience because Mark Millar is allowed to put it in a blender repeatedly, but also, okay

The core issue I have with Ultimate X-Men is Millar's failure of characterization. I also think Bendis is over-hated and his time on Ultimate X-Men is one of the most interesting, experimental runs in any superhero comic.

Remember that time Wolverine entered a relationship with Jean Grey despite her being very much a kid, and everybody - including Charles!! - was fine with it except (much later) for Storm. Not because Storm realized the inherent issue of an adult man and a teen with obvious mental health issues being in a relationship together but because she also wanted to be in a minor-adult relationship with Wolverine and used Wolverine's history of dating a teen to attempt to convince him, only for him to be like, haha nooo Jean was an "old soul" and mature enough to consent to a relationship with an adult haha.

Then meanwhile over in Certified: Not A Weirdo Brian Michael Bendis' Spider-Man, Black Cat flirted it up with Peter, who was shown as dumb and horny but realistically unable to process the situation, then Black Cat realized Peter is a kid, practically threw up in her mouth and bailed on that whole situation, which is actually the correct reaction lol.

This is imo kind of the vibe with Ultimate X-Men in a nut.

Millar will refuse to write Magneto and Charles as complex characters with valid but incomplete perspectives, because he's just incapable of writing any beliefs but his own with sincerity. Magneto is simply cartoonishly evil and will do shit like kill mutanimals for not being human mutants and thus harshing his Hitlerian idea of a mutant master race, culminating in his flooding NYC and killing off a bunch of characters like Daredevil practically off-screen. Charles will continually forgive absolutely everything because although Charles actually puts together a small paramilitary group he's also some kind of cartoon idea of a permanently forgiving pacifist leftist. It's like, if standard Magneto is based on a silly whiteboy idea of a hyper-violent Malcolm X and Charles is a silly MLK who believes that black people actually do need to be policed (see, I actually hate the X v. MLK reading of these characters), then the Ultimate version of these characters must be based on Hitler and some nonsense white British idea of Ghandi lol.

Then when Millar is finally kicked off of X-Men, Bendis comes in and writes one of the most compelling Jewish stories in comics by borrowing from Jewish mythology and survival stories, landing in this simply unique-in-comics Z for Zachariah-esque space where the surviving mutants build a homeland for themselves in a dead part of the desert. While not Zionist in the settler-colonial Israeli "New Zionism" sense, it is metaphorically an exploration of manmade Zion as a both practical and religious concept. It's also a unique superhero story in that what enables them to build this place is their powers. It's an incredible X-Men narrative in that it deals with the threat of mutants breaking into two camps, one contentedly isolationist and the other bitter revenge-fuelled expansionists, with both camps still in solidarity with each other due to their shared trauma and marginalization, exacerbated by the United States wanting to reclaim this land they gave to the mutants now that the mutants have made it prosperous.

And at the center of this, Kitty Pryde has the best arc she has ever had, imo, maturing from team kid to the surviving orphan of the original X-Men, to a war-time leader of the mutants in an ongoing defensive battle of survival incorporating traits she should have learned from Xavier and Cyclops, to struggling with her own trauma during a transition to peacetime leader and mediator. And the thing is, this could have been made even better if it was a demonstration of skills and philosophy she learned from the X-Men and the Brotherhood --

except Millar never wrote any of that shit into his run. The most tactically brilliant thing either team does is, The Blob catfishes Beast into giving away information via AOL, 'cause Millar wants to make fun of nerds lol.

[mantra4ia]

Spoilers: There are only two things I would change about The Bear 4x10 if I could write it.

1) I love the continuous alley shot — beautiful pivotal dialogue and character development have taken place in that alley and 4x10 is no exception. The stream of consciousness that plays out between Richie, Carm, Syd, and Sugar is S-tier writing that makes my heart sing. I also love the stills shots of the night time Chicago and The Bear interior. But with regards to the editing: flip them. Open with the interior stills, the night, then the alley scene, add the clock sound effect over the Carm and Sugar hug, to mirror Syd waking up out of the snowy dream in 4x1, and either cut the credits there. Or if you must cut to the clock — I honestly don't think it's necessary in 4x10, we've seen it in almost every other damn episode to the point where we actually have commentary "don't look at the clock" — then show it as an insert shot at zero before the hug. As if to say "that's life, sure there's a clock on it, but we're still here." Just like Carmen's mentor at French Laundry told him in culinary school about the ongoing impact of nurture. Just like Michael's memory: he's gone, but his legacy beat the clock.

2) Four seasons is perfect. I wouldn't mess with "Goodbye" as it relates to the core four continuity. But "The Bear" is like a stylistic musical trip into very realistic lives. So take a breath, and then if we are lucky enough that the stars align, and the writers and cast were naturally inclined, I think it would make sense to have a fifth season a handful of years down the road to show us where our characters could be in a decade and how old paths cross again.

5x1 "Hello." Or "End of Beginning"

Will Tiff, Frank, and Eva finally come to the restaurant? Will Marcus start his own business? What happens after girls night with Syd and Chantel? I want to see mother daughter granddaughter goodness with Nat and Pete breaking the generational patterns of trauma with Sophie. I want to see the 9 Faks. I need Carmy to split a chef Sydney meal on three credit cards (even if we don't get to see it, even if we only know he did once Syd sees his name on the check)

And sweet Jesus, I gotta know how many napkins Richie folds before he loosens his tie on purpose and tells Jessica another personal anecdote.