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percabethfiles · 4 years ago

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Charlie

Uh... Hello? Anybody still here? I haven't been around in years and years. But I keep my fandoms stored in some corner of my brain waiting for something to tug them out. And of all things this time it was Taylor Swift re-releasing her old songs, because I used to imagine so many percabeth scenes listening to "Fearless". So have this little something that's been sitting unfinished in my archives for years now.

Remember that time Percy saw Sadie Kane and thought “Hey, this is what mine and Annabeth’s daughter would look like”? Yes.

(Also there are small nods to that fic I wrote about Logan, Hidden Heritage, but I've been meaning to re-write it someday because there were SO MANY PLOT HOLES omg)

When they find out it’s a girl it’s a bit too soon to know for sure, or so the doctor tells them. They’ll have to wait for the next appointment to know for certain. “So don’t go buying any tiny dresses yet,” he jokes and they laugh along, but they’ve been together for approximately eighteen years now, they can tell what the other’s thinking with a glance and the ecstatic grin that breaks through their lips lets him know they’re on the same page. Too late. They’re already thinking plush bow and arrows and a Merida costume for her first Halloween.

Percy tries to keep his cool. As the weeks progress, he tries not to get his hopes up, but in his heart he knows already. They hadn’t really had a preference before, they’d been too happy knowing their baby was fully human and had all its limbs (with the number of deities they’d pissed off, you never knew), but a little girl? It feels right after their two boys, it feels like their family will be complete.

(He thinks about a slight blonde girl with streaked hair and a British accent dropping from the sky on a magic camel, remembers thinking “if Annabeth and I had a daughter…” and his chest squeezes tight with happiness so raw he has a little trouble breathing)

When the doctor beams at them next appointment and says “Congratulations, Jackson family, it really is a girl,” he’s not surprised, but no less elated. He doesn’t hear the lame joke about Jackson Five, he’s too busy trying to be a manly man and not burst into tears because he’s going to have a daughter. When Annabeth’s in the other room paying for the appointment, and he’s waiting for the doctor to print the really impressive high tech 3D picture of the ultrasound, the man asks him “So did you go ahead and buy a tiny dress anyway?”

Percy blushes.

The man shakes his head in amusement. “Every time”.

His work colleagues, proud dads of little girls themselves, try to terrorize him with tales of tea parties and future boyfriends, and Percy thinks somewhere in the middle of all that teasing they mean well, but really, he’s mostly annoyed. It’s not like he’s new to parenthood, he’s got two sons already and they seem to be turning out okay, and before, when Logan and Nathan were just a nice dream for the future, there was Estelle, the little sister Percy had never expected, but loved to bits all the same.

And then Charlie is born.

She’s tiny, warm and pink, all curled up in her yellow cable-knit blanket, a tuft of blonde hair peeking out of a tiny, tiny beanie, features scrunched into the most adorable variation of a grumpy face. He’s not new to parenthood, he’s been here twice before, but the rush of affection and protectiveness and awe and raw love is just as genuine. He’s smiling like a dork, can’t seem to stop, walking from side to side, avidly searching her traits. She’s bigger than Nate was when he’d been born, but smaller than Logan. Her hair was light, like Nate’s, would it stay blonde or darken with time? Would her eyes be like his or Annabeth’s? And oh, she had her mother’s nose (they all did).

It never fails to amaze him how such a small, vulnerable being can shake up his whole world until it’s made a space for her. And he’s done this before, he’s no first time sailor this time, he’d thought he had it all under control. But she blinks and looks up at him with half-lidded eyes and a frowny face and—they’re green. Her eyes are the blue-green Logan’s are, Percy’s are.

(He’s got two sons who are his life, and he does love all his children equally, but holding his daughter for the first time, he thinks he understands his friends’ warnings. He doesn’t love her more, it’s just… different. It’s special.)

When he goes back to work, Nick takes one look at him and bursts into laughter. He claps him on the shoulder in commiseration.

“I told you.”

He’s completely wrapped around her finger already.

It’s not too different, he finds out. Especially having been pre-trained by Estelle. He’s got to brush up on his Disney princess knowledge, and hair braiding skills. He hasn’t gotten much better at color coordinating the polka dotted bows and tiny shoes, but Charlie is really forgiving. She is a very happy baby, much happier and easy going than any of the boys had been.

She’s also fucking crazy.

She is smaller and skinnier than her brothers, likes to wear frilly dresses and talk to plush animals and dance around the house in a pink tutu, but she’s wild. She never learned to crawl, just held on to the couch until she was wobbling on two feet, and it seemed like the very next day she was running across the house, the mall, the park, and if he turned his eyes away for one second, she was shooting off in the streets and nearly getting run over.

He’d found her dangling from the kitchen cabinets, trying to reach the cowering cat. She had a phase when she thought she could fly and she would climb furniture and stairs and the window sill and just… Launch herself into the air expecting her flying powers to manifest spontaneously. If they hadn’t been trying to raise them away from the whole mythological world, he would have sat her down and clarified that she had the wrong Olympian Grandparent in mind. She might have had more luck jumping into the ocean.

She had a way to jut out her lower lip, and turn those big green eyes on him that could render his every effort to be a responsible parental presence useless.

Besides, she was so funny. He could never muster enough anger to discipline her, because if he found her on the kitchen table covered in peanut butter, somehow sporting a very sticky Mohawk, and looking entirely unapologetic, well, he just couldn’t stop laughing.

One day he’s coming home from work and he hasn’t even pulled the key from the lock when Charlie calls out ‘you’re back daddy,’ in what sounds vaguely like a new jersey accent. He finds her sitting on the floor of the living room, drowning in one of Annabeth’s bathrobes, pink plastic barbie sunglasses on, holding a pooh bear sippy cup with one hand and a pinky stretched out.

“Charlie, what are you doing?”

“It’s wine Wednesday, daddy.”

“It’s what?”

“Wine Wednesday.”

He had half a mind to check if her sippy cup actually contained wine because they hid their alcohol way up in the cabinets she can’t reach but that girl could climb like a monkey. He knows he should follow that remark up with some kind of questioning of where she’d even heard of ‘wine Wednesdays’ and then explain that kids don’t drink wine or some other kind of responsible parent speech, but a sudden burst of incredulous laughter bubbles up in his throat and he takes refuge in the kitchen, lest he encourages her behavior.

He finds Annabeth there, hand over her mouth, clearly in stitches over their daughter’s performance. He wants to question if she gave her permission to wear her bathrobe but finding his wife nearly doubled over in silent laughter in the kitchen is too much and he finally lets out the guffaw he’d been trying to hold on to.

It’s not the first time Charlie leaves them breathless with laughter, and he’s almost scared of what she’s going to cook up in the future.

Charlie is a hellion.

There isn’t one person safe from her pranks, but she’s so adorable she hardly ever catches hell for it, and she’s learning to use it in her favor – thankfully, just in time for her parents to develop immunity to her puppy eyes. And she’s… difficult, yes, but not always, and not in a terrible way. For all her climbing the roof, organizing illegal cookie sales, getting in fights with her classmates, she’s not a bad kid. She’s got Percy’s penchant for befriending the kids no one wants to go near, and defending her ragtag team of losers. She’s loyal to a fault, and it gets her in trouble often.

She and Nate have epic jealousy fights over everything, including – but not limited to – Logan’s attention, the crayons, the biggest piece of cake and all the videogame characters in the world are not enough, they will always want whatever the other picked. It gives them many, many headaches. Logan, on the other hand, positively spoils her, and whenever Charlie gets in trouble they can be sure to find her hiding behind her big brother while he gives them this solemn look and says “It’s ok, mom and dad, Charlie promises she won’t do it again. We’ve talked.”

When the whole “Logan being attacked by a dracanae in school and thus finding out his Olympian heritage” debacle came to pass, and they started frequenting camp again, there was nowhere in the entire Camp Charlie would rather be than the stables. She’d spend hours there with the Aphrodite kids, brushing the pegasi and talking to them endlessly about all her classmates and her friends, and her dolls, and her new dress, and the new book grandma gave her. It was all really cute until Percy realized the pegasi were talking back, and she fully understood their replies.

And it’s funny, really, because Logan had taken after Percy, to a point where bathing him had been hard as a child because he tended to stay dry in the tub, and Nathan was Annabeth to a T, but Charlie was a perfect mix of them both.

He guesses it makes sense it would be so explosive.

When Charlie is twelve, she gets kicked out of school.

Percy is not overly worried about it himself – the number of schools he’d been kicked out of reached double digits, and this was only her first – but he is worried about how she will feel. Getting the boot from a place that’s housed you for years, where your friends are, where everyone already knows you and having to start over is never pleasant, no matter how used to it you were.

He’d expected the school to have gotten tired of all her pranks and misbehaving, which was fair, he guessed. But when Annabeth comes home from the meeting with the school director, she is seething, and not at their daughter. Charlie is angry too. In fact, it’s the first time he’s ever seen his daughter well and truly pissed off. The two of them are a sight for nightmares, both blondes standing side by side ranting with righteous fury, they look ready to start a revolution. What he gets from her angry snarls and Charlie’s rushed rambling is that Charlie had talked back to a teacher that was picking on the autistic kid and demeaning the thirteen year old who was repeating sixth grade.

She’d called him a brain-washing small minded overgrown bully who, he was quoting, didn’t get enough love from his parents.

And Percy is so proud his eyes even get a little misty.

Because he’s getting old and sentimental and raising kids is very hard. No one knows what they’re doing, not one person, not even the fancy psychologists with those books on raising perfect, well rounded, high-achieving members of society that Annabeth insisted on reading when she was pregnant with Logan. You do your best and you hope for the best, and you don’t know what you get until it’s basically too late to do anything about it. And even if he did have the best mom in the history of the entire world to draw example from, he was also half of an absent Olympian father whose heritage condemned him to dance in and out of battlefields half his life.

He’s always been terrified of being a crap father.

He looks at Charlie cussing out with every mild version of actual cuss words, stalking around the kitchen like a little lioness in a cage, furious at the unfairness of the whole situation, caring less about being expelled and more about who was going to defend her friends from that awful teacher when she’s gone.

His daughter is only twelve, but she’s already so brave, such a force of nature. She won’t stand for injustice, and she won’t take insult lying down. And she’s so kind. She’s growing up, and the person she is slowly turning out to be… is good.

And something in his heart shifts and settles down, smooths over old fears and anxious thoughts.

Percy doesn’t mean to brag, but he thinks he’s not doing half bad as a parent.

#fanfic #pjo #percabeth #percabeth kids #charlie jackson #back at it again with the old unfinished fics #percabeth fanfic

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touchmycoat · 3 years ago

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qijiu bingqiu (bingliushen??) fix-it fic planning blabber

so i think i gotta keep it tight on SJ’s POV. Right before his death, he makes a deal with Xin Mo (who’s kind of a lone operator bc LBH too has to fight its power) to create this alternate timeline in exchange for his cultivation. Xin Mo can open up new dimensions no problem, and with SJ’s cultivation, it even manages to rewind the timeline. That’s not enough though—Xin Mo’s goal is only consumption, so it takes the deal but reveals there’s nothing that will actually change. The price SJ paid only opened the door.

But that’s fine, ‘cause SJ saw it coming. He also strikes another deal, this time with Death itself? Some sort of large cosmic force. The only thing he wants changed is Qi-ge’s death, and in exchange...the universe takes him. SJ will not get to exist in that second universe. SJ takes the deal.

And that’s the start of canon. SJ-as-SQQ can no longer exist. Instead, SY-as-SQQ is brought in. In order to stay cohered though, YQY’s memories and personality get a little glitched—he is physically incapable of recognizing all the ways SQQ is now not SJ. That’s why, despite SY-as-SQQ clearly being OOC, YQY never seems to see it.

Canon happens, now we’re in the post-canon world where bingqiu are married and settling down, but SQQ still kicks it with his buddies LQG and YQY every now and then. YQY still firmly believes SQQ is SJ, to SY’s increasing consternation. Is it just delusions and wishful thinking? The more YQY treats him as SJ though, the worse SY feels—he shouldn’t be stealing all this affection that doesn’t belong to him.

It all comes to head when SQQ overhears public opinion on YQY, how he’s perfect in everything but his crazy devotion to SQQ. SY thinks enough is enough. He can’t bring SJ back but he sure can tell YQY that his Xiao Jiu is dead, right? The System warns him he’ll be punished but that’s fine, it’s just not fair, SQQ can take another little mental horror trip down to BinggeLand if it means YQY can have some closure.

Except that’s not what happens. He gets YQY in private and says, “no, you don’t understand, Shen Jiu is dead.” He sees the recognition in YQY’s eyes, but he also sees the moment that recognition gets wiped. The sad smile that had fallen off of YQY’s face returns, eerily happy, as YQY says, “my apologies, Qingqiu-shidi, I must have spaced out just now, what did you say?”

Right before the System kicks him into another punishment phase, SY tries again: “Shen Jiu is dead!” He sees the recognition disappear once again from YQY’s eyes.

Inside the punishment world, Bingge has him again. “I’ve been searching for an answer to why the sniveling pathetic version of me gets you as his Shizun, and I think I figured it out.” For a moment, SY’s horrified by the possibility that Bingge has figured out his transmigrator status—if his punishment figures it out, would he be trapped inside the punishment forever? But instead, Bingge says, “Liu Qingge is still alive, meaning Shizun didn’t kill him in the spirit caves. Did his survival render such a dramatic change?” SQQ”s like “yup, yup that’s definitely it. We’re such good friends, he really changed my outlook on life, so I treated you better, mhm.”

“Shizun’s very clever then to save his own life this way. Xin Mo’s already told me about your little bargain.”

That’s how SY learns that SJ had made a deal. Holy shit, he’d thought it was just random phenomenon this whole time, but the original goods had made it all possible? He didn’t know whether to thank SJ or curse him.

But that can’t be the whole story—Xin Mo opened up a timeline, that doesn’t explain why SY is here. Bingge doesn’t know this part, but it sure feels like SJ made a second deal, paying with his life.

What would motivate the original goods to do all this? Sacrifice his hard-won cultivation and his entire existence in this last-ditch effort?

The memory of YQY’s glitching came to mind.

Holy shit. SY owns the two of them more than he’d ever thought.

After the punishment, SY goes back home. He’s with Binghe, and LBH can tell there’s something troubling him.

“Binghe, there’s something this husband wants to do, and I need your help to do it.”

“Shizun, anything.”

“...But there’s a risk it might hurt you. There’s a risk it might ruin everything. It might be straight-forward, but it also might not be. It’s safer for all of us—but especially you, Binghe—if I just let things be.”

“But it’s not something that Shizun can just let be, is it? Otherwise Shizun wouldn’t have said anything. Binghe is honored to help. Anything to ease Shizun’s mind.”

“...I promised I wouldn’t let you come to harm again, and I meant that. Whatever happens, remember that I am your husband, this is my call, and you must do whatever you need to do to protect yourself, okay? Swear to me, Binghe.”

SQQ begins figuring out how to use Xin Mo to go fetch SJ from the other timeline. He figures that if Bingge could exist in this dimension without destroying the space-time continuum, the same ought to be true for SJ. Only trouble is, he can only go get SJ after SJ’s made the deals, because otherwise it’s a paradox, and he wouldn’t exist.

So SQQ brings home limbless, post-torture!SJ. That’s where the fic starts.

By all accounts, the deals are squared: SJ no longer has cultivation and SJ died in SY’s dimension, so SY successfully exists. SJ and SY can exist in the same space totally fine, and SJ begins healing.

(Currently, the fic is completely from SJ’s POV, and very much about coming to terms with being saved and what the hell is going on in this better world.)

The trouble is, SY doesn’t know what’s going to happen when SJ meets YQY again. SJ very thoroughly declines the offer to go see YQY because part of SJ still believes this whole thing is a trick, and if he goes to see YQY he’ll ruin his end of the bargain and YQY will die again. For SY’s part, he’s afraid of SJ going to see YQY too for similar but opposite reasons—if SJ going to see YQY ruins SJ’s end of the bargain, then wouldn’t that mean SY can no longer exist? Would SY just disappear from this universe?

So we get ragtag group therapy fun times. SJ thinks this is probably all an illusion Xin Mo is tricking him with, so treats everything with scorn but also existential apathy. This actually works to his benefit because he’s not clinging to things as hard, and it’s easier for him to admit, for example, that he was definitely in the wrong for abusing LBH, and yeah he was being a spiteful bitch when he did not need to be.

SY tries to keep LBH away from SJ mostly, because c’mon, he’s not about to make his darling husband face his childhood abuser. He does explain the situation to LBH though, in the same terms that Bingge had (mis)understood it lmfao—that the act of saving LQG’s life had prompted an entire 180 on his personality so he came out of the spirit caves a better man. LBH’s jealous as fuck of course, but damn if that doesn’t explain some things. Given the opportunity to see his old and new Shizun side-by-side, LBH takes it, and really gets a moment to see how horribly he’s been treated by SQQ.

So it actually prompts some therapy between SY and LBH too. LBH used to figure that getting pushed into the Abyss was squared by SQQ sacrificing himself to save him. But ofc it turned out SQQ came back and kept on, in his perspective, trying to get away from him. Trying to leave him behind. SQQ’s tried to treat his abandonment issues by going “okay sorry about that I’ll never leave you behind again” but he’s never really explained it.

SJ’s presence gives Binghe the ability to ask the question again and gives SY an answer: shame and cowardice. They’re able to put SJ’s mistreatment of Binghe right in front of them and SY-as-SQQ gets to explain how much it hurt to look back on that bit of their past, but also how much he feared LBH's retaliation. LBH is a little hurt, but also he remembers how he’d raped SQQ under Xin Mo’s control and, looking at what’s left of SJ now, he sees his own darkest possibilities. He really did destroy the man he loves now in another timeline. That helps him contextualize SY’s fears and why SY chose to push him off the cliff.

LQG crashlands into the middle of this whole party as is his wont. He gets a little fix-it too maybe. SY very staunchly repeats the reason for his personality swap—saving LQG in that cave made him a Better Person™. Meeting the original goods again, LQG is forced to believe it. Or like, it doesn’t really matter to him either way, but now he really does see pre-cave SQQ and post-cave SQQ as two completely different people.

SJ though, has to swallow this really weird pill. He remembers trying to save LQG inside the cave but failing, and then getting blamed for LQG’s death. If he’d succeeded, he and LQG would’ve become...this close?? A life debt between them would’ve changed his outlook on life so much???

Well whatever. Now that he’s put down all his old posturing, he more readily gives his reasons for why LQG gets on his nerves so much: the insufferable confidence (arrogant prick), the skills to back it up (privileged bastard), and a flawless cultivator family with all the money and the training and the pedigree. (Meanwhile SY’s like “oh shit that’s me too hahahahah awkward, good thing he still thinks i’m him so he doesn’t just murder me immediately.)

LQG’s a little weirded out too. SY-as-SQQ is his favorite person in the world, so it’s hard to get angry at SJ-as-SQQ since they’re “the same person.” He’s more willing to talk all this out with SJ and brings up all their old beef on his side too: high-handed snootiness coupled with underhanded dick moves, also the whole sleeping-with-prostitutes thing hurting Cang Qiong’s reputation. Ofc they’re snapping at each other this whole time. “There’s no reason for you to do all that!”

SY intervenes if needed. “Actually there is.” Considering the fact that SJ gets indicted for so many things that actually turn out to be not his fault, SY figures he’ll just get it out there. “Remember Qiu Haitang’s accusations against me? I grew up a slave in that household. I grew up believing it was kill or be killed—it doesn’t make sabotaging others right, but...that’s why the Spirit Caves made such an impression on me. I learned it wasn’t just kill or be killed, I can also save people. It opened my eyes to everything I already had, and everything I should be grateful for.”

This is for both LQG and SJ. And it works, to some degree. SJ knows he managed to claw to the top of privilege, but he still felt horribly insecure there. That’s because, he realizes, he never got the thing that would actually grant him security. It's not power or money or reputation—it’s Qi-ge. Holy hell he misses Qi-ge. In anger and betrayal, he’d pushed YQY continuously out of his life, but when faced with certain death the only regret he actually had was bringing Qi-ge down with him. YQY was meant to have survived, and in this world, he did.

So now, after all that, SJ really, really wants to go see his Qi-ge. It’s nice to have survived (and gotten part of his power back—at the very beginning, SY gives one of SQQ’s eyes to SJ as a bit of his golden core in order to save SJ’s life), but it’s so damn hard to live on in this world knowing YQY is only so far away, still very deeply attached to Xiao Jiu.

They try to Cyrano it at first. SY-as-SQQ goes to YQY with SJ’s voice in his ear, telling SY how to treat YQY as him. YQY is so fucking touched and hopeful, and SY is damn uncomfortable. He goes running back to SJ and says it’s not going to work—it’s not going to work because he’s no longer Qi-ge’s Xiao Jiu. He’s Luo Binghe’s husband, okay? He can’t go back to YQY as SJ.

SJ’s fucking furious at first (what kind of shitty variation of himself saves LQG’s life and then falls out of love with Qi-ge???? bitch?????) but what can he do? LQG tells them YQY’s on his way here and SJ hides for now. They still don’t know what will happen if SJ meets YQY, so SY continues to front as SJ for now.

But during this conversation, something changes. Maybe YQY says something, but SJ realizes he’s actually a little willing to take this chance. If Qi-ge does disappear—easy, he’d just kill himself right after. He’d already experienced Qi-ge’s death twice before, and at least this time, he can follow, knowing he’s at least reconciled with Qi-ge through SY.

And if he disappears on his own, then at least he knows there’s a world in which Qi-ge does not die horribly. That’s enough for him.

That, however, leaves the very last possibility—that SY will disappear. At this point both LQG and LBH have figured this out, and are very, very reluctant to let this be the scenario. They don’t see it as two people, they see it as their version of SQQ vs. YQY’s version of SQQ.

So there’s a little tension, but in the end, SY gets the final choice. As soon as he learns SJ is willing to go see YQY, he chooses that path. He simply owes qijiu too much to deny them the possibility of reconciliation. So despite knowing he might disappear from Binghe and LQG’s life, he makes it happen.

(They should get a very painful goodbye scene.)

SY goes out to explain things. “Zhangmen-shixiong may have noticed my change since my qi deviation and the spirit caves.” “I’m happy Xiao Jiu has a brighter outlook on life.” “Yes, but I think Qi-ge, of all people, might actually prefer how I was before, right?” “If Xiao Jiu’s happy, I’m happy.” “Yes, but Shen Jiu wants you. Is that alright?” “—of course. I want Xiao Jiu too—”

SJ comes out. Everyone holds their breath.

Scene cut.

It’s said that Cang Qiong’s Sect Leader Yue Qingyuan disappeared suddenly one afternoon...

But jk, YQY just ran away with SJ, they’re recuperating in the mountains and everybody’s fine and it’s a happy ending.

#...nice #that's the whole fic planned then #sv fix-it

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inadaydream99 · 4 years ago

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um... is req rlly open? if so, can i drop one for either hak/chanhee (you can choose ^^ tbh I'm in a crisis between both 😳) and if I could choose a genre, probably angst with a FLUFFY ending(?) srry, it sounds cliche but I love for those kinda things.

Hey, thank you for sending in a request! I thought I could use both Chanhee and Haknyeon in this oneshot so I really hope you like it! 😁

Accidentally Confessed

“You what?” You stand dumbstruck in the middle of the room. All eyes on you, including Chanhee’s guilt stricken ones.

“But I didn’t mean to...” He desperately tries to reason, but to no use. He went behind your back, betrayed your trust. “Come on (Y/N), please stay. I said I was sorry.” He chases after you as you angrily grab your bag and storm off.

“No Chanhee, you betrayed me. My own best friend told everyone the one secret I trusted no one else with!” Your voice comes out hoarse, throat tight from using all its strength to hold back your tears.

“I didn’t mean to though!” He calls after you but gives up when you slam the door in his face.

“Don’t worry, I’m sure you can fix it.” Younghoon approaches Chanhee from behind, comfortingly placing his hand on his friends slumped shoulder.

“Yeah, by tomorrow you’ll be best friends again I’m sure.” Hyunjae joins, trying to pick up the mood.

“No, I think I’ve really messed up this time.” Chanhee mumbles before dragging himself away, wanting nothing more than to hibernate and wallow in his regrets.

It’s been three days since your so called friend blurted your secret and you’re arguably even more enraged than before. The more you think about the situation the more hurt you feel.

You’d told Chanhee about your crush on Haknyeon in confidence. You even made him promise to never tell anyone. But I guess promises don’t mean to same to everyone.

“Come on (Y/N), please talk to me.” Chanhee whines as he follows you like a lost puppy. He’s been doing this all day, relentlessly pleaing for you to stop ignoring him. But you’re still so hurt you can’t even begin to think about forgiveness.

The only reason you were even in the same room as him is because you’d come over to visit the rest of the guys. Kevin had invited you over to hang out in hopes that you could amend things with Chanhee. But he was very wrong.

“Hey Kevin, you want a soda?” You causally offer as you open the refrigerator in search of an iced drink.

“Sure, thanks.” He smiles back at you before resuming his previous activity of scrolling through his social media.

“What about me? I want a soda...” Chanhee desperately continues his attempts at getting your attention.

“Whatcha looking at?” You blatantly ignore Chanhee, walking right past him to reach Kevin and hand him his drink.

“Oh, just some news. I’m trying to find some article that Haknyeon told me about.” Kevin beams towards you, nodding his head in thanks as you place the can down in front of him.

You try to hold back your faltering smile at the mention of Haknyeon, but Kevin still picks up on the uncomfortable laugh that emits from you in responce. It’s a sore topic, but you haven’t heard from him since your secret came out and you’re guessing it’s a sign he doesn’t reciprocate your feelings.

“You know he is here... if you wanna talk to him about it.” You’re snapped out of your thoughts by Kevin’s suggestion. He’s giving you that look that tells you he knows what’s troubling you.

“Even if I wanted to...” You raise your voice a little as you cast a quick glance over to Chanhee as he is sat at the opposite end of the table looking sulky. “I don’t think it’s the best idea.” You continue, letting out a deflated sigh at the end, turning back to face Kevin.

“Well, you never know.” He sympathises. That’s one of the things about Kevin that you love, he’s always so understanding towards everyone. It’s what always makes you want to seek him out when you need advice or comforting.

“Thanks.” You mutter gratefully before deciding that maybe you should be brave and face the possibility of rejection. No point letting fear control your life, right?

“Oh hey (Y/N)!” Eric greets you, ever the bubbly excitable person he is. “Guys, (Y/N)’s here!” He briefly turns to inform everyone of your presence.

“Hey Eric, is Haknyeon here? Kinda need to talk...” You awakwardly trail off. Truth be told you’re unsure of whether you really want to go through with this, but it’s going to happen at some point right? Better to get it over and done with that to let things go on for too long.

“Oh yeah, he’s just over the back.” You peak over to where Eric is pointing to spot Haknyeon laughing as he watches Hyunjae and Sunwoo battle against each other on whatever video game they’re playing.

“Right, thanks.” You take a deep breath, straightening out your posture before entering the darkened room. You feel Eric pat your back in encouragement, smiling at you knowingly.

“Um Haknyeon?” Your greeting comes out more as a question as you approach said boy.

He doesn’t hear you at first, the room being filled with so much commotion coming from the sounds of the tv and the shouting that ensues.

“Haknyeon?” You try again, this time speaking up a bit louder in an attempt to be heard over the noise.

“Go left!” He shouts, clearly completely immersed in cheering Sunwoo on. The room eruptes into cheers when Sunwoo wins, Haknyeon standing up out of his seat and jumping on the spot in celebration.

“Did you see that? Incredible!” He turns to you, placing both of his hands on your shoulders and shaking you lightly as he continues to celebrate.

“Can we talk?” You ask through a burst of giggles, his excitement making you feel more at ease.

“Oh yeah, of course.” Haknyeon chirps. “Is out here ok?” He asks as he makes his way out of the room, in the direction of his shared bedroom, with you following his lead.

“So, what is it you want to talk about?” He causally asks, giving you his full attention and waiting with a warm smile.

“I just wanted to address the whole crush thing that happened the other day.” You selfconsciously answer, eyes looking anywhere other than directly at Haknyeon.

“Oh right, you know I wasn’t actually sure if Chanhee had made that up or not.” Haknyeon lightly laughs, which makes you relax a little. It’s good to know that it hasn’t made him feel awkward around you.

“Well, he wasn’t exactly— I mean, he was kinda—” you stumble over your words, not sure of the best way to tell him.

“I like you too.” You freeze when you hear Haknyeon’s confession, completely caught off guard as you never expected him to say that. “I mean, the only reason I never said anything sooner is cause I was unsure if it was really the truth.” He continues, his smile growing wider when you fall shy from how flustered he’s making you, your gaze fixated on the floor and your hands fidgeting together as you fail to hide your smile.

“But I haven’t said if Chanhee was telling the truth or not.” You play coy when Haknyeon tilts your chin up gently so you meet his fond gaze. You wanted to come off all blasé and cool, but your game is given away when Haknyeon hears your breath hitch from realising the close proximity between your faces.

“Is that so?” He lightheartedly jokes, not phased in the slightest by your statement; the fact your face is a bright red gives everything away.

By this point you’ve lost the ability to respond, so focused on the way he gazes at you with such intense affection. You’ve been rendered speechless.

“Maybe...” you whisper, breaking out into a smirk to reciprocate Haknyeon’s.

“Well then, I guess that means you won’t want me to kiss you.” He pulls away, throwing his head back in laughter when you protest, your hands clinging onto his arms to keep him close.

“I never said that.” You pout, giggling when Haknyeon draws you in close and connects his lips with yours.

“So, when are you gonna tell Chanhee that you’re not mad at him anymore?” Haknyeon leans in next to you discretely.

“I know I should, but this is kinda fun.” You chuckle back, regaining your composure and hiding your amused expression when Chanhee bursts into the room.

“Ok, I’ve got your favourite drinks and snacks here. I even had to go to three different places to find the right flavour of chips, so please can you forgive me. I promise to never spill any of your secrets ever again!” Chanhee hurriedly lays everything out on the table in front of you while pleading for you to stop ignoring him.

You share a knowing glance with Haknyeon before letting the grin you’ve been holding back grow on your face.

“You’re forgiven.” You beam. “But! If you ever blurt one of my secrets again there’ll be no second chance.” You caution, laughing when Chanhee rushes over to you and squashes you in the tightest embrace possible.

As he pulls away from the hug he notices your hand interlaced with Haknyeon’s, sending you a sly look and you instantly clock onto the fact he’s noticed.

“You know, I think I’m gonna take some of these snacks for myself as a thank you... cause you know, without me you would have never confessed.” Chanhee cheekily smirks, slowly backing towards the table before quickly snatching away some of the food and rushing out of the room.

#the boyz fluff #the boyz angst #the boyz oneshots #the boyz drabbles #the boyz x reader #the boyz imagines #the boyz reactions #the boyz scenarios #the boyz requests #kpop fluff #kpop angst #kpop x reader #kpop oneshots #kpop drabbles #kpop scenarios #kpop reactions #kpop imagines #kpop requests

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piratefalls · 4 years ago

Photo

A McDanno rec list for a new friend. (These are also authors I enjoy, so consider this a blanket rec list.)

The Bareknuckle Poet by pleasebekidding

After a serious accident left Steve temporarily wheelchair-bound, working towards his recovery, he enrolled at Rutgers for a year. He met Danny Williams in his criminology course, wearing pride pins and chipped black nail polish, so sure of himself that Steve found it breathtaking. What happened next redefined Steve's sense of self, his ambitions, and many of his priorities.

Tax Benefits by renecdote

“Everyone already assumes we’re married so maybe we should just...” Danny gestures broadly with his beer. He’s maybe a little bit… Not drunk, but definitely tipsy.

“For the tax benefits.”

Danny gives him an aggravated look. “Yes, Steven, for the tax benefits.”

Danny (jokingly) suggests they should get married. Steve takes him seriously.

ua kaha aku la ka nalu o kuu aina (the surf has pressed upon my land) by icoulddothisallday, TetrodotoxinB

Steve knows, he learned, how a man behaves. He can play his part. Danny, who is a good man and great father, looks nothing like what Steve was taught. Reconciling the two means giving up everything he's clung too for the last two decades, and there's nothing about it that's easy.

*potentially triggery AF (deals with effects of conversion therapy) but beautifully rendered

the art of leaving and saying goodbye by Verasteine

2007 is the year Danny learns that choice can be the worst kind of heartbreak. AU.

*warning for infidelity (not mcdanno)

in jest by apathyinreverie

“No, babe,” Danny shakes his head with a grin. “If the apocalypse were to go down while I’m elsewhere for some godforsaken reason, then you stay put and I’m coming to wherever you are.” His grin widens. “And I expect you to have cleared any aliens or zombies or whatever else might be messing with us off the island and to have set up a nice, comfortable military dictatorship for us to rule over by the time I get back.”

It’s a joke.

Of course it’s a joke.

Until it isn’t.

(A the-day-after-tomorrow-style apocalypse AU, where the world decides to end right when Danny is visiting one of the other islands with Grace. Because, of course, it does.)

not just friendship (romance too) by earthquakedream

Steve's gone and gotten himself a boyfriend. Danny's not sure what worse: the fact that he's stupidly jealous or that he actually likes the guy.

All I Ever Wanted (It Comes with a Price) by leviarty

Steve gets shot. Again. Danny is not okay.

* warning: a young grace shoots someone to protect both herself and a gravely injured steve

After All Our Troubles, We Have This by Banshi13

"I'm ending this," McGarrett muttered after a few moments of silence. "I'm not coming back until Wo Fat is in the ground. I'll dig his own grave and bury him myself if I have to, but my father is dead, my mother is running all over the world in hiding, my sister and I were uprooted from our lives, and now he's got Danny locked somewhere in a basement in the middle of Japan." He looked both Chin and Kono in the eye, deadly resolve in his eyes. "This ends. Now. This is the absolute last time that man interferes with my life and my family."

The Other Guy by haldoor

Danny tells Steve what he thinks is a funny story from when he attended Grace's school play. Steve doesn't think it's so funny; in fact, it makes him jealous.

Strapped by stellarmeadow

Steve's determined Danny's going to be prepared next time.

Warm to the Touch by veronicaluv

Danny didn't think twice about going to North Korea to find Steve. He just didn't know everything would go to hell when they got back.

Me and my heart (We got issues) by SquaresAreNotCircles

“I’m in love with you, Steve,” Danny says. He does it softly, quietly, laying the words into the darkness of Steve’s backyard like they’re something breakable, something to be tiptoed around. “I thought you should know.”

Steve’s heart jumps. It rams against his ribcage so hard it’s going to leave bruises. So hard he startles awake, and he almost yells before he realizes he’s outside because he fell asleep in one of the garden chairs in his backyard again.

how to be gay for your best friend in ten easy steps by commatme

See, the thing is that Danny doesn’t really do gay sex, what with being straight and all, but when Steve says I love you he sounds so earnest he makes Danny want to consider it. Which is crazy, right? He’s pretty sure that’s crazy, or at least a little unhinged.

It’s Not So Easy Caving In by paradis

The one where Danny used to be a heroin addict.

blame it on the ocean view by carryokee

Danny gives in, freaks out, and comes to his senses.

So Have I Loved You by Brumeier

In which Grace has a surprise for Steve's birthday and there's not a dry eye in the house.

take it back to a couple years yesterday by itsrosencrantz

Danny really, really doesn't want to go to his twenty year high school reunion.

Steve decides they're going anyway, and Danny takes it about as well as you'd expect.

View From The Shipwreck by flowerfan

Danny Williams isn’t in a great place – he’s a reluctant transplant to Oahu and an outsider at HPD. Former Navy SEAL Steve McGarrett isn’t doing much better, having suffered a career ending injury. When Danny’s young daughter Grace wanders into Steve’s bar after getting lost on a school field trip, Danny is drawn to Steve, somewhat against his better judgement – he’s got enough on his plate. He’s not exactly sure what Steve sees in him. As they spend more time together, Danny learns how Steve’s injury has changed his life in many ways, but not the most important ones. As one thing leads to another, Danny realizes that things might be looking up after all.

True North by lavvyan

“Tell you what, my dad’s throwing his annual Christmas Ball on Saturday. It’s not a trip to Aspen or anything, but it is nice. Fancy food and everything. You guys should come!”

On the trail of a suspected war criminal, Steve and Danny have to go undercover at a fancy ball. The sacrifices they make for the job.

Oh, and Steve's pining like the taiga. Nothing new there.

outside the lines by withoutwords

“I’m Detective Williams.” Danny says, not trying too hard to keep it smug free. “This is my partner, Detective Mackenzie.”

Ken Doll keeps his arms up, his eyes flickering between them all as if he's only seeing police for the first time. “Good cover,” he tells Danny, and it sets Danny’s teeth on edge.

“This is the part where you say sorry for assaulting a police detective, for compromising an investigation, and for acting like a complete asshole while doing it,” Danny growls, about to change his mind and cuff the guy himself.

“Sorry, Officer.”

The bastard is still grinning.

Boys Like Me, We Try Too Hard by romanticallyinept

Steve's always wound so fucking tight.

And Danny's worried about him. Legitimately worried about him. Because maybe Steve always lays into the perps a little hard, and maybe he follows his own rules and his own morals and doesn't stop to sleep unless his body's actually shutting down around him, but usually, Steve's okay at the end of the day. Usually, Steve's not leaning against the wall of the alley they're in, eyes closed and shaking, with the perp he'd cuffed a minute earlier lying on the ground and crying about his broken nose.

Steve keeps a secret, and Danny does his best to patch him back up when it comes to light.

Transformative by boxparade

“You know, I’d heard you’d changed a lot after high school, but I’ve gotta admit, this is a little weird.”

* trans (FTM) Danny

All the Way by VictoriaAGrey

Danny has lost count of how many times he and Steve have used the sexual tension between them for undercover work, only for it to be bottled away after the op is over. With Saint Michael as his witness, that ends tonight.

Nocturne in C# Minor (featuring Stevie Ray Vaughn) by minor_demimonde

So, to recap, Danny has beautiful eyes, great shoulders, a pleasantly-shaped butt, a delectable mouth, expressive hands, and he smells good.

You know, Steve has gone to bed with women who didn’t have that much going for them.

seen it in the flight of birds by Siria

AU from the beginning of Season 2. The Five-0 task force has been reinstated, but the new governor's determined to shake things up. Facing changes and unexpected betrayals, the team has to work together to face new challenges.

It Ain’t Me Babe (Nah), It Ain’t Me You’re Looking For (Babe) by tourdefierce

A story in which Danny makes lists and can't find his heterosexuality underneath all his homogay, Steve has a lot of faces, Kono is perfect in every way and Chin continues to keep Hawaii safe from the Five-O's general disfunction—Or, a story about Kono being awesome and how she likes her men with hearts in their eyes for each other.

Ratios, Decimals, and Percentages by fuchs

In which Steve takes an internet quiz and slowly loses his mind. Danny's okay with it.

Let’s Dance Like We Used To by AndreaLyn

There isn't a world in which Danny wouldn't go after Grace. So when Rachel moves the family to California, Danny goes with. Steve gets left to process life without Danny.

Gunfire, Rainfall, and Beach Erosion by thegrrrl2002

Steve and Danny are kidnapped. After which there is too much swimming and too much rain and it's all very romantic. If you are Steve, that is.

Moving In (To Every Single Aspect of Danny’s Life, Including the Boring Bits like Dry-Cleaning by westgirl

It felt wrong for Steve to sound unsure of his place in Danny’s life. His place in Danny’s life was at Danny’s side, driving him slowly insane. Steve should feel secure about that.

Always Known What I Wanted To Be by mickeysixx

Grace Williams has always wanted to be a cop.

The Taper Phase by popfly

It’s like being run over by an armored car, like the impact of gunshot to tac vest. The pride Danny feels for his daughter and something else, something about Steve’s tank top sticking to his stomach, the way his shorts stretch across his thighs. The goofy grin that lights up Steve’s face when he sees Danny and Charlie, waving one hand while he nudges Grace with the other.

Pitching Woo by SBG

In which Danny pitches (and then accidentally catches) woo.

clue: four letters, ‘is a many splendored thing’ by armillarysphere

“Crosswords? What are you, sixty?”

“They stimulate brain activity, Danno. You ought to try it sometime.”

Steve doesn’t even look up from his newspaper, half-chewed pen resting at the corner of his mouth in an entirely too distracting way.

That’s Not Just Friendship, That’s Romance by thismuchmore

Danny and Steve start out accidentally dating each other, and it turns into something more.

it’s not what you’re sure of (it’s what you don’t know) by somehowunbroken

Art thief Steve McGarrett and his team come up against FBI Special Agent Danny Williams, and things spin wildly out of control from there.

Same Deep Water by JiM, kalena

This isn't the first lifetime Danny's been in Hawaii. When the stress ratchets up, the dreams get more and more real. Turns out Danny has some unfinished business . . . with Steve.

Warning: Ambien use may lower inhibitions in a wakeful state.

Curiosity Didn’t Kill This Cat by unadrift

"I'm confused," Rachel says. "Are you two dating or not?"

Danny sighs. "You remember that thing with the cat in the box? The one that's both dead and alive?"

"Schroedinger's cat?"

"It's kind of like that."

"Okay," Rachel says. She clearly has no idea what he's talking about.

2727 Piikoi Street by imaginary_iby

The ways in which Danny makes himself at home by Steve's side, and the family he gains as the years go by. (Featuring Steve in Timberland boots and little else, and happy goofs who like to make out against the front door).

All The Earth Awaits Thee by Portrait_of_a_Fool

Steve knows all about war and willpower, but this is still the hardest battle he’s ever had to fight.

* warning: life threatening illness, no MCD

The Vertical Challenge by AlamoGirl80

Five times Danny thinks about his height, and then realizes that being "not-tall" doesn't really suck at all.

Some Things to Think About When You Decide to Be an Asshole by sutlers

Steve gets high and tries to fuck Danny; things devolve from there.

Inked by thehoyden

Of course Steve is enjoying himself. They're bait for a serial killer who has some sort of serious hangup about tattooing loved ones' names on their skin -- of course Steve thinks this is practically like a vacation, but better, because the chances of collateral damage are higher.

This Thing Of Ours (It Needs a Better Name) by leupagus

Cosa Nostra: (kō'sə nō'strə) etym: Italian n. The branch of the Mafia operating in the United States. Literally, "our thing" or "this thing of ours."

Ho’oponopono by ember_firedrake

Groundhog Day AU. Danny finds himself trapped in the same day over and over again.

Swim for Brighter Days by zarah5

Danny kisses Steve late on a Tuesday, early on a Wednesday. Steve punches him. (Set vaguely post-finale, so spoilers for that.)

All My Guards Away by sheafrotherdon

Tag to episode 1x18, with all the heartache that implies. Now with bonus fixes. With thanks to dogeared for all her suggestions and edits.

Let’s Take it from the Top by pterawaters

Steve goes along with the bachelor-party-in-Vegas, because he chose Danny to be his best man, and that's what Danny wants to do. Unfortunately, the things that happen in Vegas don't necessarily stay there.

How to Keep Your Mouth Shut by primetime

Danny’s sometimes gay. Gay, sometimes. Does dudes. He doesn’t know how to say it right. He doesn’t know how to say it at all.

Don’t Turn Me Home Again by gyzym

After a rough day of island living, Danny wakes up in New Jersey and learns the hard way to be careful what he wishes for.

End-Around by t_fic

Steve hesitates with his hand on the doorknob, looking back over his shoulder at Danny and nodding once before disappearing inside, and yeah, Danny is going to be so fucking lucky to get through this night without a coronary event.

Lonely People Do Stupid Things by waketosleep

Danny decides to show Steve the true meaning of Christmas, and does it by dragging him to New Jersey.

Down Beneath the Waves by samjohnsson

A picture may be worth a thousand words, but sometimes it takes another thousand to explain it.

Love’s a Battlefield (and the Navy Did Not Train Steve for This Shit) by cyerus

The Kalakaua-Kelly clan are determined to matchmake Steve. Out of desperation, Steve makes up a boyfriend named Danny.

It doesn't quite go according to plan.

put your mind at ease by eleanor_lavish

Somewhere in the last year, while Steve was busy killing bad guys, Don’t Ask Don’t Tell has been erased from the books and guys like Jeff can marry whoever they damn well please.

You’ve Got Hawaii (and all I’ve got is you) by queenklu

In which Danny has issues, presents, and Steve fleas, not necessarily in that order.

Jaws by JoeLawson

Danny has a secret.

#mcdanno #fic rec #super simple edit is mine please don't copy #it's also my twitter header I WILL KNOW #Hawaii five-0 #h50 #holy shit this got so long it took like three hours

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trashogram · 4 years ago

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Ryuk/Reader 5

Not too sure if anyone is still interested in these or wants to be tagged? I’ll be crossposting them on AO3 though.

Your friend was beaming, up until she looked down and saw your glossy shoes. You crossed your arms as May’s face fell, not at all ready for the obvious browbeating.

“You’re wearing those?” She asked. Her brow was knitted as she stepped forward, whirling around to face you again once you’d closed the door behind them.

“If I actually do dance, I don’t want to break my ankle trying.” You pointed at May warningly. “And I don’t want to come home and have to soak bloody feet in the tub before bed.”

“It’s not gonna get that bad!” Your friend said.

She scoffed at you while making herself cozy, promptly slumping onto your sofa and pulling her bag out to rummage. You felt a stab of hurt at her dismissiveness, but instantly berated yourself. You were way too sensitive; May didn’t mean to make you feel bad.

Ryuk was standing idly in the background, staring from the dining room table. He hadn’t said much since you’d come out of your room, not that he could unless you wanted May to think you were (way) too far gone. It didn’t phase you as your stomach was twisting unrelentingly.

You felt sick. That was despite knowing that going out to a public place tonight, with a friend, wasn’t the dire crisis you’d been making it out to be. Going out wasn’t exactly your style - but neither was turning down your friend when they asked you for anything.

You knew, deep, deep down, that your inability to say ‘no’ was a real problem, but May was one of your only friends. She was outgoing and chatty, and she actually acted her age instead of like a recluse. Her vibrance made you feel light-hearted, able to set aside weighty thoughts and behave like nothing mattered.

It was a solid hour and a half before May had run off into the crowd and left you sitting in a booth.

May had left her drink unattended, but you didn’t feel too bad about offering it up. Your friend was already buzzing by the time they’d gotten in, and while the drinks were scammer-worthy expensive, you knew that May would hardly miss this one.

“Try this!” You said, sliding your back up the booth to gain some height with May’s discarded drink in your hand.

The martini glass floated out of your grasp as you watched Ryuk eye the liquid inside, unceremoniously dumping it into his maw.

“Eugh.” Ryuk grunted, some of the liquid leaking out of his wide mouth and dribbling down his face.

“What?” You shouted over the music. “You don’t like it? It’s apple-flavored!”

Ryuk’s nose scrunched in an empathetic look of disgust, and you failed to cover your laughter as you took the glass he’d held out at arms length. “Nothing about that tastes like an apple.”

You matched his melodrama with a pout of your own.

“Aww, come on! You’re being so picky.” You traded the near-empty glass for your own, still full and sloshing up to him to half-ass a toast. “It's good! You just have no taste.”

Ryuk’s golden eyes gleamed as they rested upon your open, ruddy face. He didn’t say anything more, just laughed. The sound sent a pleasant shiver crawl down your spine, while you likened it to the crackling that came when lightning struck the earth.

You smiled, feeling lightheaded with the alcohol and the fondness amix in your system. Perhaps he was the stuff of nightmares to most people, but to you, Ryuk had become a friend. And although you were unsure of whether or not you could consider your feelings reciprocated, just the thought made you happy.

You drank in his appearance. The multicolored lights bounced off the various silver bobbles that hung off his suit. His belt in particular caught the pinks and greens from above, and you studied it. It was a pretty badass belt, but it was also a practical utility even for a god of death. It was the only thing holding up his pants and loincloth as, unlike his upper body, there didn’t appear to be any stitchings between them and his skin.

He could probably take them off.

The smile on your face slowly disappeared when said thought didn’t go away immediately. Heat bloomed beneath your cheeks, and you ducked your head to stare down at the grimy table, imagination lost to far off, inappropriate places. That regular queasy sensation of considering something taboo was still there, in your brain, but the wild atmosphere laid the excitement on thick and the sense diminished.

You looked away, back out into the crowd of people, all of them completely unaware of your conundrum - as was your otherworldly companion perched overhead. There were couples in your field of vision, including May and some guy. Everything was cast in darkness down here, but you could make out the sight of your friend throwing caution to the wind and grinding on him.

Without the barrier of clothing, you were sure that May and Whateverhisnamewas wouldn’t have any trouble getting right down to it in the middle of the dancefloor.

Eyes glazing over, your attention leapt to the heat growing in your belly. The past few weeks had given you more insight into the way the shinigami felt about you. You could be wrong, of course, but you were sure that if you asked, Ryuk would definitely take his pants off for you.

You brought a hand up to your mouth, pretending to prop yourself up by the chin to hide the gasp that escaped from your lips, even with the music drowning everything out.

The alcohol was slowly working its way through your system, you finally reassured yourself, and that was likely what was causing these intrusive thoughts. Maybe this was the strange but necessary way in which your brain was telling you that you’d hit your limit.

Pushing away the glass, with its malty-green liquid all out of fizz, you started to slide out of the booth and address Ryuk once more.

“Hey, I’m gonna tell May we’re going.” You called.

You rolled your eyes as Ryuk leaned down, hand cupping over one ear as he made a show of not being able to understand you over the noise. You thoughtlessly swatted at his leg, inhibitions temporarily abandoned.

Ryuk looked at you. “Done for the night?”

Had you been sober, you might’ve questioned why he wasn’t throwing a fit over not staying longer. It hadn’t been too long, and often if you were too quick to jump at going home, your deathly partner would whine about how un-fun you were. That had to be especially applicable after you’d withheld the information about this weekend excursion -- Ryuk had vocalized how fascinating he found the idea once it finally escaped your lips… But he’d been quiet as soon as May arrived and hadn’t said more than a few words at a time since.

You hiccuped. “Just gotta say bye.”

Ryuk’s orbish eyes flashed as he looked off to the side, probably to help you find your way in the crowd, and you were momentarily preoccupied by whether or not you should ask May to leave with you. You doubted she would, but who knows? You didn’t want to leave her in a terrible situation if she was trapped --

With a startled yelp, you tripped on your way out of the booth, not accounting for the lift that you’d had to jump onto beforehand just to get into this ridiculous seating arrangement. You fell forward, sensible shoes scuffling the edge of the raised platform and one of your hands banging the underside of the table while you tried to grab onto whatever you could.

Tough luck, but even with Ryuk cackling in your ear, you registered one of his large, taloned hand instinctively snatching you by your arm.

Your eyes narrowed as you concentrated on having your feet planted firmly on the ground floor, and at the sudden dual set of voices confusing your already impaired senses.

Your shinigami was saying your name - or had started to - when another male voice rendered him silent.

“You good?” Suddenly there was a man beside you, arm outstretched and making you squeak as he used it to press you to him. He was either under the impression that you needed the support, or wanted to give you the impression that you needed it.

It didn’t matter. All that mattered was that he was much too close, and Ryuk’s grip on your arm had disappeared.

“You sure do like looking at the human world, don’t you?”

The shinigami had his back turned to Armonia Justin whole kneeling down on the ground made of sand and dust. The name above his head rippled, but he was otherwise unresponsive.

“I suppose that makes sense.” Justin continued. “I don’t remember being as new as you. I’m not even sure if Shinigami can be considered young… but I’m sure that if I were young, the humans would distract me as well.”

Silence followed his words. It wasn’t much of an attempt at conversation, but then Justin didn’t care too much if he was entertaining their newest member or not. It was, in fact, a little annoying to put up with this arrogant shinigami and his bold refusal to integrate into their realm.

But then, the King had seemed so gleeful at the idea of this new guy. He’d laughed as though enjoying an inside joke while putting the body together.

Armonia Justin sat as he always did, perched on a golden throne. He was no king himself, but there was some truth to being of a more divine position in his case. He knew more than a lot of the others of his kind did.

A breeze blew by, rolling stagnant air about. “I’m not looking at the world.”

“Huh?” Justin asked.

“I’m not looking at the world.” The name above the Shinigami - Helios - rippled again as his tone changed to one of irritation.

“No? What else would you be doing while looking into that pool, then?” Justin snapped back.

“Searching.” Helios shrugged his shoulders beneath the overcoat he’d been bequeathed. “I heard that another death note was dropped into the human world.”

Justin paused, then began snickering. “Aha, yes, that did happen. I’m surprised you weren’t there to watch the show. I believe the death god who ‘dropped’ it was of interest to you at one point?”

“Are you trying to help him find it?”

It actually startled Armonia Justin when Helios snorted. He sounded as arrogant as ever, but some wounds had been scratched and the posture of the newborn tightened considerably.

“Like I would ever help Ryuk.” Helios shook his head. “No, no. I want to see who picked it up.”

#death note #ryuk #Ryuk x Reader #Ryuk/Reader #shinigami

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mariposafantasmas · 3 years ago

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Julie doesn’t have the ability to see all ghosts. It’s specifically tied to her band, her boys. Before Sunset Curve appeared in her studio, Julie had never had any sort of paranormal experience before ; she wasn’t sensitive, and didn’t even believe in ghosts. The fact that she’s suddenly acquired a ghost band doesn’t mean she randomly developed the ability to see them all. Julie can just see... these particular ghosts.

Meaning!! if Caleb Covington himself was doing a one - man meringue in the middle of her living room, Julie wouldn’t be able to see it ( unless Caleb wanted her to ). She can’t see all ghosts.

If a ghost is closely tied to the boys, however, she will slowly develop the ability to see them. This only happens when another ghost means very much to the boys --- essentially, being a part of their souls. I explained it here, in my fic recognition :

Julie's the only lifer who can see him — but that has less to do with Willie, and more Julie herself being a force of nature. Even she says Willie isn’t really there — not in the way the boys are, clear as day, so solid she can literally touch them. To Julie, Willie is an outline; a translucent shadow with faint features. Sometimes she can make out the details of his clothes, or the smile on his face… but most of the time, he’s too hazy even for that. His voice is faint and tinny, resounding from far away.

The only reason Julie can see him at all is because he’s so closely tied to Alex, and Alex is tied to her — like a working game of telephone.

“That’s got to be it, right?” Julie theorizes. “I don’t have the same bond with Willie as I do with you guys, so…”

“It’s like our souls are connected!” Reggie pipes up.

“Through music,” Luke adds. He and Reggie exchange wide eyed looks, and nod, like they’ve just said something very wise.

How Julie sees and interacts with these sorts of ghosts is explained here, from another one of my fics, still alive but i’m bearly breathing :

When they spot what looks like a skateboard zooming on its own through the empty art museum foyer... Flynn hammers on the museum's glass doors. The skateboard skids to a stop.

It takes a minute of focus before Julie is able to see him — Willie. Or really, the outline of him, a poorly-rendered hologram with the vague definition of facial features and clothes. Willie is illuminated to Julie’s eyes, not through any connection with her soul, but whatever connection Alex has with his. Like a cosmic game of telephone. Julie can’t see what Alex sees as clearly as he’s able to… but Willie is still real for her. As he phases through the door to greet them, she's able to look him in the eye and smile.

“Hi, Willie! Great to see you again.”

“Uhh, yeah.” Even his voice is an echo. “Great to… see you too? Still super weird to be seen by a lifer, but — uhh. Why do you have a bear dressed like Freddie Mercury? And why does he look so miserable?”

“It’s Alex,” Julie says. “Alex has turned into a teddy bear.”

You get the picture? She can’t see these ghosts the way she can see the boys, and definitely can’t touch them or make them visible. The magic connection she has with the boys could hypothetically extend to another ghost like Willie, but only if the ghost was very close with the boys, and developed a close relationship with Julie herself.

basically : Julie can’t see all ghosts, only her ghosts... but if her ghosts love another ghost, she will be able to see them, and they could eventually become one of her ghosts too.

#( this found family is not exclusive!! julie's arms are open and she gives great hugs!! )#( but yeah... a cursory explanation of julie's ghost-seeing abilities )#( it's JUST the boys except for a few exceptions )#headcanons || 𝐜𝐚𝐧𝐭 𝐠𝐞𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐦𝐮𝐬𝐢𝐜 𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐦𝐲 𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐝!

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its-sixxers · 4 years ago

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Contract Lost

Whumptober Day 5 Prompt: Where Do You Think You’re Going? (On the Run)

Lone Wanderer x Charon, Fallout 3

Spring in the Capital Wasteland was wet. Whatever ground wasn’t held together by tree roots turned marshy - Lizzy grunted, struggling to walk through the hard to navigate terrain. Charon plowed on in front of her, his head turning to and fro as he scanned the horizon.

“You know.” she panted after a particularly grating struggle with the muck that had almost eaten her boot. “I’m starting to think we should’ve taken our chances with that group on the road.” It was hours back, a group of six in leather armor with rifles strapped to their backs sauntering down the road. Charon had somehow managed to spot them before they realized there was other company on the road, and quickly ushered her into an alternative path through the wilderness. Cracked and broken pavement wasn’t the most comfortable path, but it beat the mud and brush.

“We were outnumbered.” Came Charon’s short reply - he’d been on edge for months since they’d retaken the purifier, and all the clean water in the world wasn’t enough to settle his nerves. Lizzy couldn’t help but blame herself for it - her own rash actions had destroyed what emotional fortitude he’d built in their time together, and now he was very close to skittish.

Lizzy tried not to wheeze - weeks of bed rest had unwritten the little bit of musculature she’d managed to gain, and the aftereffects of acute rad poisoning had left her body weak. The skin on her face was still bruised, parts of it still peeling from the burns. Still, she was alive - a miracle, everyone had said - so she couldn’t complain. At least she was free of the bandages - the ones around her face had been suffocating.

Charon paused a couple of yards in front of her, glancing over his shoulder at her. He heaved a sigh at her pathetic display as he’d done so many times before - but this time there was concern etched in his brow where before there’d only been annoyance. “Zaychik.” he grumbled, the nickname for her one he’d grown fond of using. “I should call you cherepakha instead.”

“I don’t know what either of those words mean.” she huffed. “Are you ever going to tell me what language you’re speaking?”

“So you can find a dictionary?” He raised a brow, continuing onward once she caught up. “I see you searching the libraries. No. Discover it on your own, then we talk.”

Charon said it with such certainty it almost frustrated her - but his return to playful teasing was one she wasn’t about to question.

“Fine. I hope you don’t mind seeing more libraries.” Lizzy groaned a little when the terrain tilted upward, unhappy to not just have a trek through mud to deal with, but an uphill trek.

“They are not unpleasant.” Charon returned, scaling the small embankment with ease. Lizzy stared at his long and muscular legs with a mix of resentment and awe, earning a slip in the mud for her trouble.

“Shoot.” she hissed as she fell forward, coating the front of her jacket in mud. The familiar clink of Charon’s armor sounded at her side, and her legs dangled as he lifted her up, looping his arms under hers.

“We’re almost back on the road.” He spoke from behind her, his breath ruffling the hair at the crown of her head and his voice rumbling against her back. Somehow even when he was manhandling her he was gentle - she felt like a ballet dancer being lifted gracefully across the stage, even as mud dripped down her coat. Charon walked back up the slippery embankment as if it was nothing and set her down neatly on the pavement.

Lizzy wiped the mud from her pipboy screen and squinted at her map - they were far north, beyond Oasis and its slowly spreading greenery. Running messages for the Temple of the Union wasn’t glamorous work, but it was rewarding - and she liked the change of scenery. They’d made the trip a few times already, to a little settlement called Garden’s End. The wildflowers certainly earned the place its name.

“You look like a slug.” Charon clicked his tongue and wiped a smear of mud from her cheek with his thumb. He paused, knuckles still brushing the underside of her jaw, and for what was far from the first time Lizzy felt her chest leap.

Always she had to be the one to break the contact - Charon’s touches lingered and she never knew if it was the contract or his own feelings. Part of her refused to dwell on the possibility of the latter - she didn’t know if they could ever find a way to break his conditioning, and her heart couldn’t handle it if they couldn’t.

It didn’t stop the butterflies in her stomach or the need she had for his opinion and conversation, but she’d been gifted enough in her lifetime - she was willing to bear dwelling in limbo. Lizzy cleared her throat and looked back down at her pip-boy, bringing her face out of Charon’s reach. He let his arm drop to his side immediately after, resuming the stoic posture of a bodyguard.

“A couple more hours and we should be there.” she reassured him, starting back down the road. “I could go for a bath.”

“Mm.” Charon hummed his agreement at her side. “They let ghouls in?”

“They’d better.” Lizzy stated matter-of-factly. “Not that that’s ever been a problem for us.”

“The Citadel almost was.” he returned. She sighed at him and jogged forward to catch up with his stride.

“But it worked out. Don’t worry about it. We’ll get a nice warm meal, a bath, maybe some rum and nuka-cola…”

“You always have such faith.”

“Someone has to.”

Lizzy caught a grin on his face, and beamed in return. Even being covered in mud couldn’t dampen her spirits - Charon was in a good mood, which meant hers was stellar.

They walked in companionable silence for around an hour more before they met fellow travelers on the road. As always Charon spotted them first - he cast his arm across his chest to bring her to a stop, stepping forward to shield her behind him the best he could.

“Charon.” Lizzy huffed. “There’s only two of them. You’re making us look suspicious.”

His body was stiff again, all trace of his previous good humor vanished like smoke. Lizzy rested her hand against his bicep, feeling the tension humming beneath her fingertips.

“It’s okay.” she murmured gently in an attempt to calm him. “We’re okay.”

The other travelers waved, and any worries Lizzy had evaporated. She waved in turn, and Charon grumbled as he had so many times before.

“I don’t like the look of this.”

Lizzy smiled at the approaching newcomers, though her smile faltered a little once they came close enough for her to see what they looked like. They were two men - one handsome with sleek blonde hair, the other middle-aged and balding - both wore a mix of combat armor and leathers, mercenaries or well-equipped scavengers. They returned her smile.

“Good afternoon.” The older man began, eyeing Charon not with fear as strangers usually did, but with an odd kind of fascination. The younger man behind him said nothing, maintaining his polite smile.

“Hi.” Lizzy greeted. “You guys just leave town?”

“An hour or so ago, yes.”

Charon was sniffing the air. Lizzy knew he was a heartbeat away from reaching for his shotgun. Something about the strangers had him on edge.

“We seem to be distressing your companion.” The balding man continued. “Garner, put your rifle down, you’re spooking the man.”

Garner slowly took the laser rifle at his back out of its holster and set it down on the ground - it was of a make Lizzy had never seen. The balding man did the same with a similar looking pistol at his hip.

Part of her was suspicious - but they’d laid down their weapons, and she had Charon at her side. The advantage was theirs, and they’d beaten much worse odds.

“Thanks. You can’t be too careful on the road these days.” she tried to keep her smile from faltering - something about Garner unnerved her. Maybe it was the way his smile flashed like a blade’s edge.

“Oh, where are my manners - I’m Crawford, and this is my nephew Garner. We’re on our way to DC - rumors are spreading where we come from that the waters run pure, and I’d like to prove them wrong.” Crawford didn’t extend his hand.

“I’m Lizzy, this is Charon.” She did the introductions as she always had - traveling with Charon had made quite the chatterbox out of her. Back in the Vault she stammered when she had to do a presentation in front of the very people she grew up with. “It’s true - there’s a big purifier by Rivet City. They charge out of towners to use it, though.”

“Do they.” Crawford’s eyes glimmered, and he glanced to Garner out of the corner of his eye.

It was enough to set Charon off - in a single fluid movement his shotgun was out of its holster and grasped in his hands, the barrel staring down the two men. “I smell smoke.” he said flatly, and Garner’s smile slid off his face. Lizzy realized what she’d thought was a cloud on the horizon was a pillar of smoke - exactly where Garden’s End was.

To Lizzy’s surprise - and growing dread - it didn’t phase Crawford one bit. “They fit the description.” he said neatly, and before Charon could pull the trigger he uttered what sounded like a code. “Atropos, gamma six twelve.”

Charon lowered his shotgun, tension evaporating from his body. He stood in place idly, and Lizzy drew her own pistol.

“Whatever you’re doing, stop it.” she barked, summoning forth all of her willpower and trying not to look as scared as she felt. “Charon, we should go -”

Crawford was beaming. “I’m afraid he can’t hear you.”

“It worked.” Garner muttered. “After all these years-”

“Charon.” Lizzy pleaded, tugging at his sleeve. It was like tugging on a mannequin. Crawford had rendered him this way with a sentence - perhaps she could undo it. “Atropos-”

Garner picked up his rifle in a heartbeat and fired a warning shot at her feet, cutting her off. “Don’t try it.”

Atropos, oldest of the greek Three Fates, the sister who severed the thread of life. The meaning did not escape her. It was getting hard to breathe. Conflict of any sort sent her anxiety levels spiking high - usually she wasn’t so close to the gun barrel. Usually Charon would have eliminated anyone who aimed a gun at her. Everything was wrong.

“Amazing.” Crawford whispered, walking right up to Charon. “What providence. You have no idea what you possess, girl.”

“Get away from him.” Lizzy stepped in front of Charon, still pointing her laser pistol at Crawford. “Get the fuck away from him, or I swear to god I’ll shoot. He’s not a possession, he’s my friend - “ The man she loved, but she wouldn’t dare speak it. “ - and we’re leaving.”

“Your hands are shaking.” Crawford observed. “Your friend will kill you before you pull the trigger.”

“Bullshit.” Swearing always felt foreign on her tongue, but she felt a need to puff herself up, to seem more dangerous. Lizzy’s mind raced with attempts at solving her issue, and all she could come up with was hoping she could shoot Garner somewhere that’d leave him unable to kill her while she tried to do the same to Crawford.

Unless - and she was starting to realize how likely that unless was - the two men knew more about what Charon was than she did. Charon told her his contract could only pass on through the death of his employer, but she’d spent many nights thinking. Someone had to make him that way. Couldn’t they undo it?

It was too risky.

The situation deeply amused Crawford judging by his rolling chuckle. He tugged off the glove of his right hand and slapped her clean across the face.

Lizzy saw stars, disoriented enough for Crawford to rip her pistol from her hands. He stepped back while she held her hand to her face - he’d hit her hard enough to bruise. Tears of pain sprung to her eyes and she blinked them back, refusing to shed any tears in front of the two men.

“Spare the rod, spoil the child.” Crawford clicked his tongue, and her temper flared. She hadn’t been a child for years - all innocence died with her father. “We’ve wasted enough time here. Reassign Ares protocol.”

Awareness returned to Charon, and for a brief moment Lizzy’s heart soared, hoping that the blow had shaken him to his senses. Her hopes were shattered when he pushed her aside with the butt of his shotgun, causing her to stumble as he walked by, settling at Crawford’s side. The man tapped his finger to his lips thoughtfully.

“You’ve been spoiled. A little girl with a bodyguard that will do whatever she says - I bet you’ve never tried to discover what he is.”

Like hell she didn’t - she’d spent hours pouring over Vault-Tec databases, days exploring every ruined military installation. She’d begged Lyons for access to the Brotherhood archives and paid for it in the start-up codes for the purifier. Lizzy wanted to scream it in his face, to tell him he knew nothing about her - but incensing him wasn’t likely to turn out well.

His smile turned into a sneer. “I’ve spent decades tracking what you’ve obtained through luck. I’d have thought someone of your reputation would be a little more educated - today you’ll learn the cost of ignorance.”

Lizzy felt like she was going to throw up. She looked at Charon pleadingly, unable to hold back her tears any longer - he returned her gaze dispassionately, looking as bored as he had standing in the Ninth Circle when she first met him. “Charon.” she whispered - I love you, she mouthed, as if it was some fairy tale and she could break the spell with a confession and a kiss.

Had everything been a lie? Were the tender moments only hours before just the result of his conditioning, as she’d always feared? A friendship born of programming, wiped away like she’d done to so many protectrons in her time. Lizzy’s breathing came in reedy whines, she was shaking worse than ever now - trying desperately to think of a deal, to think of something that could convince these men to release Charon. It couldn’t have all been a lie, she told herself. This very incident was what he had warned her about, was what he confessed to fearing in the late hours of the night. It was more hellish for him than it was for her, she was certain.

The worst part, he’d told her, was that he was aware of the motions of his body even as his mind screamed otherwise. It was worse to dissent in the mind than to lose all thought, to witness the horrors you wrought with your own hands. Azhrukhal knew it, and made him enact cruelty upon cruelty as punishment with full awareness of the damage it’d do to Charon’s psyche.

“Nothing to say for yourself?”

“Please.” Begging was her last resort, but it was all that was left to her. “There’s plenty of mercs out there, probably people even better than he is at the whole killing thing - please let him go, I’ll pay you, I’ll give you whatever you want.” In her state she was even willing to lay the purifier on the line - the two men would be ripped apart by the Brotherhood, at least. “Anything.”

Garner laughed. “You don’t have anything we want, kid. You’re in a bad position to bargain. Come on, Crawford - let’s give the big guy a test run.”

Lizzy’s blood ran cold. Charon’s face was blank.

“It’s sad, what lack of discipline will do.” Crawford sighed - his tone sounded like that of an annoyed old settler, rather than a murderer. “Charon. Kill her.”

She was running before the sentence was done - a shotgun blast hitting the ground just behind her feet. This was a nightmare, something out of her worst dreams - but as another blast hit a tree close to her head and wood splinters flew in her face she knew it was all terribly real.

Lizzy took off for the woods, where the ground was sturdier and the cover was deeper. Over and over she repeated that Charon had better aim than that, that if he really wanted her dead she would be - but then a pellet grazed her arm and she knew that if he had the chance he’d kill her. Breathing was agony - she was wheezing, lungs unprepared for such a chase. Adrenaline carried her forward. She thrust a hand into the messenger bag she had slung across her shoulder, desperately searching for the Stealth Boy she knew she had. The only advantage she had was her size - it was easier for her to dart and weave between the trees than it was for him.

Another blast where her torso had been a second earlier. She could hear Crawford and Garner laughing in the distance. Charon was a skilled tracker - she’d seen it with her own eyes. Stealth Boys only lasted a few minutes - how much distance could it buy her, how well could she hide that he wouldn’t find her?

A grim voice in the back of her mind said that at least he’d be the one to kill her - but she remembered the haunted quality to his voice when he recalled being trapped within his own body, and knew she couldn’t let it happen. For his sake, if not hers.

Her fingers brushed the corner of a Stealth Boy - she could hear Charon crashing through the undergrowth only yards away from her. Lizzy flipped open the top and hit the switch, the baby hairs at the back of her neck standing up as the stealth field flowed over her.

It hid her from view, but it didn’t hide her influence on her surroundings. Charon slowed, watching the foliage for movement - she was gaining distance, trying to get enough space to slip away. Her foot landed on a twig, and with the snap came another shotgun blast.

Lizzy nearly bit off her tongue as she held in her scream. Pain shot through her - pellets had ripped through the meat of her hip, the shot a grazing one. Adrenaline flushed through her, and she kept scurrying onward, praying that she wasn’t bleeding enough to leave a trace.

Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death…

In answer to her prayers the undergrowth thinned, leaving short tufts of grass in its wake. The ground here was rocky, easier to travel without leaving a trace - here she extended her legs as far as she could with each stride, covering as much ground as possible. The sound of Charon’s pursuit faded as her stealth field started to wear thin. Frantically she searched her surroundings and spotted a little alcove in the rock, shielded by a shrub. Lizzy slipped in behind it just as her stealth field dissipated. She was barely small enough to fit - the way she had to contort her body made her bullet wound throb. She clamped her hand over her face to silence her breathing.

Familiar footfalls grew closer, so associated in her mind with safety. Charon paced the area, boots scuffing against the stone. She stared at him from her hiding place, trying to will her heart to stop beating. Charon wasn’t looking as carefully as he had with her whenever they were in pursuit of something - pride swelled within her at the small ways he seemed to bend his conditioning.

He grunted after what felt like an eternity of searching, the sound of his footsteps retreating into the distance. Lizzy didn’t dare move.

Only when night fell and darkness blanketed her surroundings did she dare to tend to her wound.

Only then she let her tears fall.

Lizzy had no plan - but there was only one thing she could do.

Where you go, I will follow.

#whumptober 2020 #fallout 3 #fanfic #lone wanderer x charon #the existential horror of being charon #rip

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language-of-love · 4 years ago

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nostalgia... (rated E, 1974 words, also on AO3) Future fic with two very happy husbands finding an evening to reconnect.

.......

A muffled beat and an array of approaching voices break the silence of the store and he swivels on his heel to peer outside the front window to see a small group of teenagers making their way along the middle of the street. One of them has a string of rainbow colored lights woven between the spokes of her bike wheel and another has a strobe light on her handlebars seemingly flashing to the beat of the music blaring from her iPhone. They are all talking and laughing all at once as they make the most of one of their last late summer nights before school starts up again and careless nights with friends will become few and far between. He’s reminded of the group of idiots who had shoplifted from the store all those years ago and smiles at the memory, thankful that David’s self esteem has strengthened some since then and he no longer seeks validation from undeserving people. At least, he’s gotten much better at it anyway.

Just thinking about his husband makes him eager to see him and Patrick refocuses on his straightening so he can lock up and head home. He’d texted him earlier to see how the vendor visits went and got a thumbs up, so he hopes that means David will be waiting for him when he gets there. While most of their vendors have set up online accounts, there are few who are still off the grid, meaning one of them has a monthly task of dropping off checks, or sometimes cash, to the farms and homesteads on the outskirts of town. David usually volunteers, which initially surprised Patrick, but it didn’t take long for the pieces to fall into place. As much as he complains about how off-the-beaten-path some of their town’s residents may be, David loves visiting them, loves tasting their food and fawning over their diverse and unique artistry. And while he might never admit it, he knows they love seeing him, too. Patrick knows this for a fact as he’s seen the disappointment on more than one of their faces when he stops by instead of his husband. David has convinced himself he’s an acquired taste, but that hasn’t been Patrick’s experience. The man collects people wherever he goes, including Patrick, his biggest cheerleader and president and CEO of the David Rose fanclub.

His cell phone vibrates on the counter and he makes his way over, twisting a few bottles and lotions to their correct positions on the way.

Seeing “are you coming home soon?” from David has him smiling at his phone screen and he feels his belly swoop a little in excitement. It surprises him, not because he doesn’t still love seeing his husband, but because they’ve been in a bit of a cool phase these past few weeks. Not for any reason, really, and not that it’s been a problem, but they’ve just not been super physical with each other. They still kiss every night after their “I love yous” and again in the morning with their coffee and tea, but there’s been a lack of initiative from both of them for anything more. Still just as connected as ever though, solid, so solid that Stevie has commented that they are entirely too functional and it’s making her uncomfortable. Seven and a half years of marriage and he couldn’t be happier. So it’s not something he’s worried about, but he’s definitely noticed.

This feeling though, he loves it. A little light headed, unfocused, and warm, and all he can think about is getting his hands on his husband as soon as humanly possible. He quickly texts David back to let him know he’ll be home in a few minutes and has the door to the store locked and he’s in the car and driving in less than two. As he pulls into their driveway, he can see a glow illuminating their back lawn and figures David must have set up for dinner out there, so he walks around the house instead of going through the front door.

What he sees almost brings tears to his eyes.

David has the back porch lit up in strings of fairy lights and edison bulbs, citronella torches and candles in a variety of lanterns. He can hear the soft strum of Patrick’s favorite singer/songwriter playlist coming from their outdoor speaker and the distant hum of his husband’s voice as he sings along from their kitchen through the screen door. It’s not that David isn’t romantic, because he is, but this is so unexpected that Patrick is rendered speechless.

Somehow he gets his feet to move further along their grass and up the back steps, making sure to make some noise on the creaky wood so he doesn’t sneak up on his husband too badly. David must hear him as he’s peeking his head out the door just as Patrick’s at the top step, smiling widely with a mischievous gleam sparkling in the dark depths of his beautiful eyes.

“What’s all this?”

David just shrugs and Patrick huffs out a small laugh, still a bit overwhelmed and needing to release a few long breaths to ease the ache in his chest. It’s a good ache, a really, really good ache. As soon as he’s close enough, he’s pulling David towards him by the hem of his sweatshirt and whatever half-hearted complaint his husband was about to profess about the garment is silenced by Patrick’s mouth. For a second or two, he just reacquaints himself with David’s breathing, gently trapping his bottom lip before letting it go and switching the angle of his head so he can do it again. When David’s hands at his waist clench a little, he knows he’s on the right track. Making sure to have his hand behind David’s head before he backs him against the door jamb, he finally gets a taste of his mouth with his tongue and their bodies automatically stretch to align.

Temporarily shelved passion is unearthed and their kisses turn molten, all hot breaths, wet lips and urgent questions asked and answered and it takes no coaxing at all to lead a very willing David upstairs to their bedroom. He only fully realizes just how on the same page they are when he’s got David pressed against the mattress and he’s looking down at his face as shadows dance across his skin from the candles perched on every available surface.

“Were you planning on seducing me?” he whispers, taking David’s hands in his and dragging them up and over his head on their pillow.

“No.”

His husband isn’t even attempting to sell that lie, with his tongue peeking out to wet his lips as he widens his hips a little so Patrick can sink in between his legs.

“But if you’d like to seduce me, I’m fully prepared for that outcome.”

Nudging his nose, Patrick presses a smile against David’s lips, fully intending to banter back about what he could possibly mean by that (he knows), but gets lost kissing him instead, in the taste of his mouth and the heat of his tongue and the familiar contours of his lips. David’s fingers tighten in the space between his and Patrick groans in appreciation into his mouth, torn between wanting to kiss him all night and this deep pull in his gut for something deeper. The need to feel David’s skin against his hits him the same way a nostalgic song does when it comes on the radio, this bone deep knowledge of every note and chord and the anticipation of wanting to get to the chorus, and he unfurls his fingers from David’s so they can take their time undressing each other in the candlelight.

Finally bare, David’s loving and urgent hands linger over Patrick’s slightly untoned belly, kissing the small pooch there before making his way up to nose at the skin along Patrick’s ribs. It tickles and Patrick retaliates, quickly pushing David onto his back and kissing him fiercely, taking advantage of the dazed state left behind to slide down his body and happily bury his lips in the now salt and pepper flecked perfection of David’s happy trail.

“I’m married to a silver fox,” he jokes as he dips his tongue into David’s belly button, a remark that earns him a playful tug at his ear even as David’s long leg traps him in place. David’s hand moves to his hair and he threads his fingers through the short strands and Patrick leans into the touch, welcoming the gentle tugs as he ventures further down to kiss the warm crease of David’s thigh.

He makes up for lost time worshipping all of David’s sensitive places, his mouth, tongue and eventually lube-slicked fingers bringing David to the edge and back until his husband’s pleas go up an octave and he knows what they both need. With his arm holding up David’s knee and his lips ghosting his open mouth, he finally comes home. The same love that has them kissing each other goodnight before bed guides their bodies in this moment, too, the same ease and knowledge that they are safe and so deeply loved. They give and take until it’s too much and they both need release, slick limbs rearranging until Patrick’s nose is buried in the sweaty nape of David’s neck as his hips drive his husband’s long and beautiful body deep into the mattress.

When David turns his head on the pillow so he can cry out as he comes, Patrick buries himself deeper, the fiery tendrils of his own orgasm spreading quickly as his husband’s ass clenches around him. Leaning down, he buries his face next to David’s and whispers how much he loves him, over and over as he pumps his hips quickly, finally coming with a groan and an amused smile as David mumbles something incoherent in response.

The small of Patrick’s back is screaming at him and he’s completely out of breath, so he collapses on David’s back, inelegantly spent but unwilling to disconnect. David’s hand reaches back for him, finding the back of his neck and tugging as if he can somehow bring their bodies closer and it just makes Patrick want him again, all night, forever. He has no energy left, but he kisses David’s back, and his shoulder, then his cheek, and finally the corner of his mouth as David twists around in a position that just cannot be comfortable. They both laugh as they scramble to rearrange themselves, both pulling at each other’s backs as they face one another on the pillow, lips like magnets as they breathe into another series of kisses.

Patrick’s far from being able to go another round, but when David slips a thumb between his lips to wet it against his tongue and that same thumb slides between them to toy with Patrick’s nipple, his brain short circuits a little thinking of all the ways his husband plans to rouse him.

He loses count at six.

Eventually, they make it back downstairs for a very late, but perfect dinner outside amidst the fairy lights, exchanging heated looks full of all the things they’ve done to each other over the past few hours, touches lingering until he ends up in David’s lap and they makeout for a while before Patrick’s yawning into David’s mouth. It earns him another tug to his ear and some performative huffs and puffs, but he does all of the cleaning up from dinner to make up for it.

Tucked into bed to sleep, on fresh sheets and back in their everyday pajamas, Patrick leans in for his “I love you” and goodnight kiss and David reciprocates, smiling against his mouth just like the night before and all the nights to come.

#david x patrick #david rose #patrick brewer #schitt's creek #schitts creek #my sc fic #nostalgia

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aion-rsa · 3 years ago

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Why Jack Bauer Is America’s James Bond

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Despite what Marvel might have you believe, not all film franchises are perfectly serialized.

Take, for example, another kind of cinematic superhero: James Bond a.k.a. 007. The MI6 spy created by Ian Fleming and brought to screen by Harry Saltzman and Albert R. Broccoli is timeless in the most literal sense of the world. Since Sean Connery passed the role of James Bond to Roger Moore for good in 1973’s Live and Let Die (Connery previously gave way to George Lazenby in On Her Majesty’s Secret Service before returning in Diamonds Are Forever), James Bond has become unstuck in time.

As played in subsequent films over several decades by actors like Timothy Dalton, Pierce Brosnan, and Daniel Craig, Bond remains the same while the world around him changes. Some fans like to theorize that “Agent 007” and “James Bond” are aliases used by different MI6 spies throughout the years. But within the context of the series, there is only one Bond…James Bond. Bond is always middle-aged, looks good in a tux, enjoys stiff drinks and beautiful women.

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James Bond Movies Streaming Guide: Where to Watch 007 Online

By Don Kaye

The Cold War ended in the ‘90s and yet Bond, perhap the ultimate cinematic representative of its aesthetic, just kept calm and carried on as usual. Save for a handful of Craig’s latter year depictions, James Bond rarely learns any new tricks. He doesn’t develop. He is what he is – a hero of espionage and action. In that regard, the James Bond series is a surprisingly honest exploration of the occasional propagandistic aims of major blockbuster filmmaking. Bond isn’t a character in a story. He’s the United Kingdom’s idealized version of itself writ large on a canvas widescreen: a suave spy who is welcomed into every country to get laid and save the world.

But what about the United States’ idealized version of itself? How has the Cold War’s lone surviving superpower let itself go without a similarly iconic (and occasionally nakedly jingoistic) cinematic creation? The answer is that America already does have an outsized action icon…he was just on television.

Jack Bauer of early 2000s Fox thriller series 24 is American James Bond whether we want him to be or not. Just as Bond is the idealized Englishman, with his martini lunches and quick wit, Bauer is the America’s warped ideal of itself: angry, merciless, focused, and unfailingly effective.

As portrayed by Kiefer Sutherland (who won an Emmy for the role), Jack Bauer started off as a fairly three-dimensional character in 24’s first season. That season picked up with Jack as a family man and a glorified pencil pusher at the fictional Counter Terrorist Unit’s Los Angeles office. Over the span of the first season’s 24 hours (24’s hook, of course, is that each season takes place over the span of a 24-hour day in real time), Jack slowly lost grip of his humanity, culminating with his friend Nina Myers turning out to be a mole and murdering his wife Teri.

The death of Teri fundamentally changed Jack. For eight subsequent seasons and a movie, Jack became an Uncle Sam-style cartoon character obsessed with protecting his country from terrorists all over the globe, because his family was already taken away from him. Elisha Cuthbert as Jack’s daughter Kim was a prominent character for a few seasons, but as she was phased out so too was Jack’s grip on reality.

Unlike the James Bond series, 24 was particularly devoted to its chronology, with the very premise of the show meaning it had to have a close relationship with time. Jack Bauer would in theory grow as a character from season to season. But rather than developing, he mostly devolved into the most base version of himself.

It’s in this way that Bauer actually became more like James Bond than one might initially expect. Regardless of who is playing him or what time period a particular film is set in, Bond’s characteristics remain static. By the end of 24’s run in 2014, Jack was similarly a Bond-ian relic of the past. Though the country was still feeling the effects of it, “The War on Terror” seemed as dramatically quaint for 24 as the Cold War did for James Bond. And yet here was this rugged American in the miniseries 24: Live Another Day, gripping the life out of a pistol and barking at perceived London terrorists in a gravely timber like a psycho.

24: Live Another Day was the last appearance for Jack Bauer and rightfully so at the time. The character had become a bit too anachronistic and his show, quite frankly, was frequently xenophobic. Still, as the continued success of Craig’s Bond films indicate (with No Time to Die finally set to arrive this October) perhaps there is still room for walking anachronisms in the entertainment world, as long as they’re approached correctly.

Fox has repeatedly attempted to rejuvenate the 24 brand. In 2017, the network greenlit a spinoff starring Corey Hawkins called 24: Legacy. Like its forefather, 24: Legacy, utilized a real-time format, only condensing 24 hours into 12 episodes like Live Another Day did. The spinoff was not successful and was quickly canceled following the conclusion of its first season.

Ultimately, Fox (now owned by Disney) hasn’t made any subsequent reboot attempts work yet because it has misidentified the appeal of 24 as a franchise. While the ticking clock aspect of telling a story in real time is novel and interesting, it wasn’t the reason the original series lasted for nine seasons. The real reason for 24’s success was Jack Bauer. Viewers are typically attracted to characters, not concepts. In Jack Bauer, many an American viewer likely found the embodiment of a paranoid nation they recognized.

There’s an undercurrent of anger and indignance in the American psyche. Exactly why is a question best left for sociologists. Perhaps it’s misplaced guilt over displacing a society to create a new one, or maybe it’s just the disappointment of being promised a Manifest Destiny and getting Wyoming. But whatever the reason, Jack Bauer is as apt a cartoonish American avatar as James Bond is a British one.

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So why then doesn’t 20th Television (again, now owned by Disney) just formalize the comparison and make Jack Bauer literally American James Bond? Just as Connery once handed off the baton to Lazenby and Moore, have Sutherland hand the role off to someone else. That actor would preferably represent the American physicality that Sutherland brought to the role (despite Sutherland being a Canadian, which is somewhat fitting given that the Scottish Connery was the first to play Her Majesty’s favorite spy). The new Jack Bauer would be played by someone who is short, stubbly, and angry rather than Bond’s tall, dark, and handsome. Throw the new Jack back into the field in a modern day ticking time bomb plot without bothering to explain why he is still middle-aged after 20 years.

The answer to why Disney wouldn’t want to do such a thing is almost certainly all that aforementioned racism and torture. That is admittedly a, uh…roadblock. It really can’t be overstated just how xenophoci 24 was at times and how cruel it could be to characters and actors of Middle Eastern descent. Jack Bauer’s reliance on torture wasn’t just a dramatic crutch, 24 co-creator Joel Surnow genuinely believed in the value of torture as a foreign policy tactic.

Suffice it to say, the series has not aged well. Then again, however, neither have many of the earlier Bond films. To a certain extent that’s the point of the Bond franchise. It understands that making movies is making myths. James Bond is every bit the mythical figure that Captain America or Iron Man are. The fact that Bond is so obviously an exaggerated character now has helped soften some of his more problematic edges.

Bauer, on the other hand, comes from an era where Americans were both terrified of the looming threat of terrorism and were starting to invest in television as a more “serious” art form. As such, not everyone of the time was prepared to accept Jack Bauer as American James Bond, that is to say a cheesy cultural figure, not a vital supersoldier of freedom.

In The Atlantic’s 2007 article “Whatever It Takes” about the politics of 24, U.S. Army Brigadier General Patrick Finnegan, the dean of the United States Military Academy at West Point, recounts Jack Bauer’s effect on enlistees.

“The kids see it, and say, ‘If torture is wrong, what about 24?’ The disturbing thing is that although torture may cause Jack Bauer some angst, it is always the patriotic thing to do.”

The world has changed since then, obviously. But even now, it feels like it hasn’t fully set in that Jack Bauer is the American James Bond and should be treated with the same amount of reverence, which is none at all. Perhaps the only responsible move left is, in fact, to continue the increasingly ridiculous stories of the character with new actors.

In the right hands, Jack Bauer could be put to use as a blockbuster magnet and an appropriate critique of American foreign policy. In the end, icons don’t matter so much as what you do with them.

The post Why Jack Bauer Is America’s James Bond appeared first on Den of Geek.

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linkspooky · 5 years ago

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No Freedom in Destruction

In the latest chapter we see Shigaraki Tomura, a character that is supposedly free and liberated not depicted in triumph but rather naked and alone clinging still to one of the severed hands that All for One gave him.

At the idea of accomplishing his goal soon, Shigaraki does not look happy or sad, just mealncholic. He is empty staring at the hand in isolation, in front of an all white background. There are several hints in the aftermath of the villain arc that despite Shigaraki’s claims to have overcome anything, Shigaraki is someone still not free from his past. He is also someone who cannot find freedom no matter how much he destroys, because that is still what All for One wanted for him and nto Shigaraki’s own desires.

1. The Cycle of Abuse

Shigaraki cannot be free to develop into his own person, because he is still very much caught in the cycle of reacting to his own abuse. The reason he cannot develop a solid goal beyond destruction of everything, is because his destruction is a lashing out meant to vent his emotinos, because Shigaraki has no other healthy outlet for the way he accumulates stress.

Horikoshi is clearly exploring the cycle of abuse, and the effects of long term abuse in regards to Shigaraki’s character. It’s not just there to provide a sympathetic backstory of him, it informs about him as a person. Horikoshi clearly understands cycles of stress and lashing out, because he literally made that Re-Destro’s entire ability, to slowly accumulate stress and turn it into strength to destroy whatever is around him. Both Re-Destro and Shigaraki’s quirks are effected directly by their emotions and their mental states, and stress for Shigaraki literally translates into destruction for his decay quirk.

Let’s define the cycle of abuse in simplified terms to provide a working definition to this meta. Abuse comes about because characters are unable to handle their stress in a healthy way, and therefore they use other people as an outlet for their stress. The primary cause is an inability to process emotions, like sadness, anger, any kind of negative emotions like a healthy developed adult on your own.

Not only will abusers be affected by this cycle, but victims will as well. Because the root cause is not being able to process your own emotion. If you are stuck in an environment where you can never healthily express emotions, and no one is there to show you how to find healthy expressions of emotions, the way you handle your emotions is inevitably going to be warped. Especially when one of the biggest factors of abuse, isolation comes into play because you have no outside environment to provide you with an alternative.

To compare this to Shigaraki’s backstory, Tenko exists in an environment isolated from his family where his own emotions are denied.

This is due to his father who cannot handle the stress of his own mother abandoning him, and has clearly unresolved wounds that he chooses to take out on his own son rather than confronting it. We see Koutarou’s tensions building, an incident where he explodes. Then after that Koutarou calms down because his emotions have been vented, but Koutarou does not address the root issue and Tenko is left completely alone.

In that environment, not only does Shigaraki receive no meaningful comfort or resolution for his feelings when he is the one being hurt, as most often when these incidents happen the family sides with Koutarou. His only model on how to healthily handle his anger is Koutarou, who himself cannot handle those emotions.

Shigaraki grew up in an unhealthy environment that stunted his ability to handle his emotions. The way he processes them now is inevitably shaped by this cycle. Shigaraki did not grow up to become an abuser himself (literally, notice the way that Shigaraki treats every single person he has power over now, he has a healthy relationship of equals between every member of the league and talks to them all as people). However, the way he processes his emotions inevitably reflects his abusers because this is how he has been taught to handle his feelings.

From the point that he is recovered by All for One, Shigaraki is actively enouraged never to handle his emotions in a healthy way. He is told to hold onto stress and let it accumulate. That he should feel stress, anger, sadness all the time, let it explode, and then reset and keep feeling this way.

Shigaraki describes a constant, itch that persistently bothers him no matter what he does. This itch that he is plagued by is clearly a psychological wound due to being in a negative, highyl stressful environment, but Shigaraki himself does not see it that way because he has never existed in a healthy environment. He has no idea what it feels like, so he cannot make the connection that the itch he feels is a result of his own broken and damaged emotions.

Here is the thing about the second phase the incident or the explosion. The ugly truth about human psychology is that people lash out because lashing out feels good. It’s venting. Acting on those emotions clears those emotions up. By temporarily indulging in violence, Shigaraki is able to clear away the extreme amounts of stress that piles up for him.

However, while venting clears the emotions away it is not a permanent solution to the problem. This is why even though he acts on his urge to lash out, that lashing out never makes the itch permanently go away for Tomura.

Shigaraki himself in his narration even acknowledges that he thought the itch might have gone away, if somebody else had comforted him, rather than him having to continually lash out to make it go away. If he had healed instead of staying scarred and picking at that wound forever.

It’s at this point we get to All for One’s manipulation. Rather than attributing Shigaraki’s itch as basic human psychology, and a response to the trauma he’s suffered, All for One instead insists part fo what Shigaraki’s survivors guilt already tells him that he wanted to destroy, and that he wanted to destroy his family all along. He pushes the idea on Shigaraki that he is some inhuman thing with backwards psychology that longs for destruction, and that the itch comes as a result of him holding himself back.

Except we have seen several times that the itch is a response to stress, and that even when he vents and destroys as All for One tells him to do the itch always comes back. That’s because venting does not solve the problem, and strength will inevitably accumulate again.

All for One’s plan is to always keep him in a stressed out state, so he will never hold back, and also never develop into anything other than what All for One wants for him to be, which is just a pure destructive force. Shigaraki is meant to lash out, and lash out, until there is nothing left.

So, here we are in Shigaraki’s cycle. He is constantly made to feel sick and horrible about himself, and because of that he vents to clear his feelings. Afterwards he feels a moment of relief and thinks that his venting is the only thing that cures his feelings, only to let them accumulate again because he cannot handle those emotions in any healthy way. He is literally scratching and picking at a wound until it gets infected.

And this is what it renders Shigaraki into. Someone who hates everything, someone who gets no enjoyment out of life, someone who believes his pain will never end no matter what he accomplishes.

Shigaraki wants to destroy everything, because he just wants those feelings to go away. He thinks if he destroys everything, that will somehow amount to relief. It’s the same logic of committing suicide because you can no longer handle living. It’s not the result of Shigaraki being some unknowable and unreasonable being that thirsts only for destruction. It’s Shigaraki wanting a release, an escape, and being so desperate he would do anything to make these feelings go away.

2. Shigaraki Freeing Himself in My Villain Academia

So with all of that in mind, you can read Shigaraki’s actions in the most recent arc not as liberating himself, but rather once again venting his own stress through violence and losing control.

At the start of this arc, Shigaraki is called once again to prove himself to All for One. He spends an entire month fighting with gigantomachia in the woods, barely taking care of himself, and not eating or sleeping. Not only that but immediately afterwards without giving him a break the league is threatened, and one of his members is kidnapped. He goes from one impossible battle to the other, and Shigaraki’s response is the same as always, because that is how he copes.

If something is in his way, if something is hurting him, he just destroys it. That’s what All for One raised him to do. We see during the battle against the MLA Shigaraki shows extreme signs of his mental health deteriorating. His perception of reality degrades, he starts dissociating from his body. When we see Shigaraki’s perspective in the story, it’s shown trauma is something that hs rendered him severely mentally ill.

Not only that but Shigaraki’s mental state is tied directly to his quirk, he starts losing control of his quirk and it’s power increases at the same time that he’s experiencing this breakdown.

Shigaraki then is beaten within an inch of his life by Rikiya and has several trauma flashbacks in the middle of the fight. This is where he’s basically at his lowest point. At which point Shigaraki reaffirms All for One’s narrative, and says that he himself has no plans for the future. That’s the point, it’s incredibly unhealthy for him to think this way, it’s not liberating at all he’s repeating bad and unhealthy habits. He’s doing what all for one has repeatedly told him will free him. His heart has not become lighter, it’s only becoming more and more heavy. Not only that but when talking about how he doesn’t need a future Shigaraki sounds downright suicidal no longer caring whether he lives of dies.

We see him symbolically break the hands around him, only for him to reutrn to wearing the hand again after the incident. This is because, the hands are symbolic for Shigaraki not having control over his own life and being in the grips of others.

Shigaraki believes he has shaken off the trauma of what happened to his original family by lashing out, but he’s still underneath the hand of All for One, his father figure and the one who taught him that lashing out will free him. Until Shigaraki escapes from All for One he is incapable of being truly free.

Shigaraki’s desire for liberation is the genuine thing. He may have only falsely liberated himself in the My Villain Academia arc, but that does not mean the freedom that Shigaraki was fighting for was wrong to begin with. He has felt trapped his whole life and continually fights back against what traps him. It’s that desire that should push him to reject what All for One told him freedom was, and instead come to define what freedom means for himself.

Only when Shigaraki is able to feel for himself, decide for himself what he wants, and free to define himself as an indvidual will he truly be free. That is what freedom entails for this character, Shigaraki being his own person, instead of just existing in reaction to the abuse he has endured his entire life.

#shigaraki tomura #shigaraki meta #mha meta #meta #my hero academia meta #league of villains #league of villains meta #all for one

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facelessxchurch · 5 years ago

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What we’re your thoughts about the book?

Some asks were answered already in this post already so I just smacked those asks in here at the part where I talk about the topic in question, which is why the answer may not 100% fit the question.

Massive “Seasons of War” spoilers below the cut:

First off, of all, this book read like GoT/any zombie movie ever. With the necromancers being like the white walkers, Vile is the night king and daugar are the wights. even with the necromancers crumbling away after Vile got killed Tell me I’m not the only one seeing that.

I think there was a lot of fanservice and some confirmed headcanons in the book, which I really liked. Saracen magic got revealed, there was a return to the Leibniz dimension, the Vile vs Vile fight so many wanted finally happened (tho that was kinda underwhelming) and the Dead Men returned which I’m sure made a lot of people happy.

Ravel poisoning Saracen during the war and Vile being so powerful bc of being dead were two popular headcanons that got confirmed. And I am personally so happy that this book killed the ‘there is no sarcasm in the Leibniz dimension’ headcanon bc I bloody hated that.

Finally, Landy tries to please the old fans instead instead of what feels like purposefully pissing them off. I guess the phase 2 book sales weren’t that great so far (nice try blaming it on the pandemic, but no).

I’m also glad that the romance in this book was kept to a minimum bc The Val/Militsa kiss in the beginning, yikes, fanfiction has better written kisses than that. And the the dialog for the lesbian love triangle (bc for some reason Ms.Wicked aka Laura’s self insert is Militsa’s ex??) was cringy and stiff as hell, it felt more like first graders trying to do a dramatic play and not natural at all.

Surprisingly enough Mevolent’s and Serafina’s relationship seems to be the most healthy and romantic in the entire series and I have no idea if that was on purpose or if Landy just has twisted views on relationships.

I however am actually kinda happy with how Mev was written. He was sympathetic and charismatic, tho some of the stuff he did doesn’t fit to they way he’s characterised when he’s on screen (I know he is probably lying 90% of the time he speaks, but still). Like, banning all languages apart from English doesn’t seem like something a man who cares about culture, literature and art would do. It also seems kinda stupid bc those languages will be forgotten eventually and if they need an old text translated no one will be able to do it. Also, why English? Isn’t Mev old enough that his first/original language should be Gaelic? So weird. I have the feeling this was mainly done so Valkyrie (and with that the audience) can understand what the people on the continent are saying bc I very much doubt she understands/speaks any languages apart from English.

But I loved that Mev was also shown as insanely smart. He managed to outsmart Val multiple times. And I love how he doesn’t need his magic to fight, how quick and agil and skilled he is. So I take it that his fighting style is more based on agility and not getting hit, and he uses brute force only when forced into it (by Darquesse/the Unnamed). I was wondering about that bc his armor is made of leather and chainmail instead of metal plates which is considered light armor and not something a tank type of fighter would wear.

What really rubbed me the wrong way tho was when he was talking Tanith and Skul and more or less stated the war wasn’t a challenge anymore ever since Skul died. Or when he was talking to Val being like ‘you’re more powerful than I could ever hope to be’.It bothers me even more knowing that Val is based on girlfriend!Laura. Does really everyone and everything in-vers, even a big bad like Mev, rub Skul’s/Landy’s and Val’s/Laura’s ego? Big yikes.

Crespular Vies is surprisingly fun. At first I thought the two men going after the Obsidian Blade were hired by the Unnamed, but since that wasn’t the case, I think Crespular Vines hired them that so he could show up in time to save Omen and his friends. I think him opening up to Omen about being Skul’s former partner came too unprompted, too quickly and that he is trying to gain Omen’s trust so he can get close to Skul through him. I think another giveaway that that’s the case is bc one of the men Omen had to meet to get his brother back wore a Cleaver outfit and Vies gave that man probably the same reasoning Omen gave him.

That said Omen’s chapters were surprisingly enjoyable. By what I had heard of others I expected a sad sack that can’t fight worth a damn.

I’m not found of the Temper/Kierre stuff, it came out of nowhere.

Val is overpowered AF, it seems that she can get on Darquesses level with more practise/learning how to keep the doors open. She certainly needs to be nerfed.

Also I skipped the Darquesse chapters bc I’m giving negative fucks about her and the plague doctor.

The last 10% of the book were too rushed and felt like half finished thoughts.

Also I was kinda really bothered by the citizen of the Leibniz dimension. They were cartoonishly racist and it was very pretty black and white for the most part AKA everybody good is in the Resistance and all other sorcerers are evil/corrupt. That is also shown by there being children in the Resistance camp while there was no mention of children in the mage cities. In reality, most people are fairly mellow and it’s just a small percentage that is either really good or really wicked. I would have liked to see more racism towards mortals in form of apathy or ‘the soft bigotry of low expectations’ like I’ve seen it from Serpine in DotL. You know, make it a little less black and white.

Also, I understand the mermaids, but the bats in Europe were random AF. Like, I would understand it if they were just in Romania/Transylvania as a nod to the Dracula-typ vampire legends originating from there. As a plot-device they weren’t really needed to keep the protagonists from flying bc the danger of getting spotted by necromancer by doing so should be enough of a threat to keep them on the ground. This might seem nit-picky of me, but the bats just seemed so bloody random to me like wtf????

And also bc I’m a slut for magical creatures, I would have really liked to see more of them than just daugar and giant bats. Some undead cut together and resurrected necromancer experiments would have been pretty cool tbh. Like whatever the hell this is.

Something like zombie bears would have also been acceptable, I mean, bears are fucking terrifying on their own, let alone when undead and decaying.

I’m kinda pissed at China that she wanted Skul to kill Nef, but it does seem in character. Of course I still don’t like it bc I headcanon as Nef, Eliza and China having been besties during the war (no matter what canon says, I’m keeping that headcanon). I’m surprised Skul didn’t let Wreath have Nef considering that. Then again, he thought Nef might still be useful. And he was right. I loved how Nef actually had an essential part in saving the world by throwing the bomb. So proud of my boi <3 But Skul refused to kill him even after that. Could it be that Skul is finally getting character growth and development? 👀

Aaaand, China’s continuing to be a tyrant. With Tanith’s sense of justices flaring up shown when he killed the city governor, Erato, and Nef being shown to go after people that betray him (Lorien) I think those two are being set up to go after China to kill her (and to probably kill Creed too). Imagine Eliza joining the team bc she want a piece of China too.

I feel sorry for Baron, but at least he got a few speaking lines this time around. Still, I really wanted Nef to save him. :C Like, he suffered so much before he died too considering he spend a year alone starving and thirsty with broken legs in the middle of nowhere wft, why is Baron getting fucked over like this? #BaronDeservedBetter2020 he is the only honorable person of all faceless followers and he’s the one that gets screwed over in every book he shows up in, why tho- 😭

Speaking of Nef, I absolutely loved him in this book, he was a delight and stealing the show whenever he was on the page, despite being used as punching bag through pretty much the entire book. If people have always treated him that way I can see why he turned evil jfc that poor man. Despite that, he was still being such a clever, funny and relatable bae <3 He’s described as ‘cynical, and nasty but also kinda cheerful’ and as liking to ‘needle’ people (aka trolling and roasting) by Val and that essentially describes every shitposter on the internet ever. And I so loved the way he roasted Saracen lmao

And how he’s so clever, like the Lorien part was my favourite scene closely followed by how Nef essentially talked Remus Crux into getting himself killed, just 👌 smart snek boi, I love him <3 Also I hope he keeps poisoning everybody thoughts against Skul like how he had already been doing it to Tanith, he’s poison in human form and that’s just my jam.

That obedience bracelet was kinda fucked up tho.

Why does this thing even exist? Aren't electro shocks or any other form of pain enough instead of shutting his nervous system down/rendering him completely defenceless? I feel like some messed up mage 100% used it to keep himself (sex) slaves at some point in time :/ Landy might have gotten that idea from some fucked up hentai. Even the implications of the name "obedience bracelet".... I can’t be the only one that got creepy perv vibes from that thing, right?

Btw what the fuck happened to Harmony? You know, Leibniz Serpine’s girlfriend. She hasn’t been mentioned again. Did she die? She didn’t seem too found of him in DotL, was she plotting against him and he found out about it, killed her and fled the Resistance? Or did she die prior to him leaving and it was part of the reason he left bc she was the only thing that had tied him emotionally to the Resistance?? Or Landy just forgot she existed. I would not be surprised.

Of course my biggest issue with this book was how he retconned Nef’s magic and how he took his trademark, his red hand, away, but more about that in a different post.

TL;DR: Nef was a delight even though he was done dirty. Mev’s scenes were a 50/50 split between good and bad. I actually liked the Crespulare and Omen chapters. The Unnamed was a disappointment. The last 10% of the book were to rushed and the final fights that were supposed to be the biggest were underwhelming. The rest is meh, didn’t really care tbh. Let’s be real here, I only bought this book bc Nef played a bigger role in it, anyways.

#skulduggery pleasant #seasons of war #seasons of war spoilers #review #book review #I hate 'read more'#but this got so bloody long #RIP mobile users #long post #Anonymous #answered

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