#ultimate spider man feels much more like a world and a place than a lot of the rest

[artbyblastweave]

So I’ve finally been reading all of the original ultimate Spider-Man. And what’s interesting is, you know, I’ve read the ultimates, parts of Ultimate X-Men, and from there I can pretty easily understand the stance that that everything in the ultimate imprint except for Spider-Man was a write off. But honestly, I’m quickly developing the stance that there are ways in which the ubiquitous, unrelenting bleakness of the setting as a whole are a major element of why Ultimate Spiderman is so good

[azullumi]

the minecraft experience with them — various characters ☆彡

summary — in the world wherein the blocks are square, the sun is square, the moon is square, everything is square, how will they live and survive?

characters — kaveh, zhongli, childe, tighnari, cyno, wanderer, alhaitham, ayato (w/ gender neutral reader)

tags — fluff, modern, just some headcanons i thought of while playing minecraft; headcanons

word count — 1137

a/n — god my heart is melting seeing my friends act like couples in minecraft.

KAVEH — It’s obvious, guys, come on. He focuses on arts and the beauty of architecture and would most definitely take on the role of the builder and the designer of the world. He’s the type to build the most beautiful and extravagant house, create an underground base, and have a fully functional and pretty home that it feels literally out of the world. He consumes a lot of resources though and would spend more time gathering the things that he needs more than the time he spent on building. He’s the primary reason why the forests are bald in your world because of the amount of wooden logs he needed. There was also the time wherein a creeper came to his home and blew it up, ultimately destroying it, and he was in despair. Alternatively, if you threaten to destroy his base, hell will break loose.

ZHONGLI — The most efficient and lucky miner of all, as well as the gatherer of materials and resources. He’s the type of player to immediately venture out and look for a cave with a wooden pickaxe on hand. Nobody complains though because he’s extremely lucky at finding ores and getting the things you need early-game. Progress is easily made with him on your side because of how fast he can mine things and because of that, it feels like he’s an expert on the game even when he doesn’t play that much nor has any prior experience. Oftentimes, he’ll immediately find diamonds but doesn’t have the appropriate pickaxe to mine it but it’s not a problem however as he’ll find another one so easily. ‘I came looking for coal but found diamonds instead’ type of beat.

CHILDE — An all-rounder. He can be the miner, he can be the explorer, he can be the gatherer, he can be the farmer, and most especially, he can be the fighter. We don’t talk about his building skills though, this man would build a 5x5 house made out of wood and call it a base then reasons that this is much more effective and saves your resources. Well, whatever makes him happy, I guess. He often accompanies you wherever you go especially when you go mining as he’ll protect you from the mobs. He’s the kind of person to believe that placing a bed on nether and sleeping on it will give you a huge buff. He’s the adventurous type of player, the reckless and careless kind, and is the reason why keep inventory is switched to true.

TIGHNARI — FOOD. FOOD. RESOURCES. FARM. ANIMALS. FOOD. Food is the essence of life and is really crucial in the game. He’s in charge of anything related to farming and alike. You’ll find dozens of chests fully stacked with food and animal products, especially bread and baked potatoes. He’s the main supplier and giver of food, as well as, potions in your world. He’s the type who loves collecting flowers and has his home decorated with plants and vines because it looks pleasant and not like anyone complains because it looks good. He’s also the builder type and just one look at a reference picture for his builds, he knows how it is done even without watching a tutorial. Definitely doesn’t like spiders because of the way it looks and how it can climb up structures and invade your home.

CYNO — The fighter and bodyguard to the farm. He’ll take on the role of the protector as he protects the base and farm from creepers that threaten to approach, blow up, and destroy any form of hardwork and kill annoying skeletons that shoot at you from afar and hide underneath the shade of the tree to avoid being burnt and dying. He often uses the weapon, Trident, and would go even at the ends of the world just to attain it (since it’s a rare drop). He does whatever he is asked to and would often go explore to gather materials or get what is needed. He occasionally finds lush caves and would tell you about it, asking you to come to these specific coordinates if you can. You won’t need Iron Golems and anything to protect your home when you have Cyno.

WANDERER — Just like his name suggests, man is the player incarnation of Dora the Explorer and would rather focus on looking for those rare and hard-to-find biomes than settling in on one place. He takes days just for adventuring and sometimes it can last up to weeks or months in-game. He goes out to venture and seeks for strongholds, mansions, and villages, then once he’s satisfied, he’ll come back with good loot and hard-to-get items on hand. He pulls an uno-reverse card on enemies and would raid them, blowing up mansions and taking everything that he can. He knows how to come back to your base or wherever he came from though no matter how far it is. You really don’t have to worry about him getting lost since he understands how coordinates work and if you don’t, he’ll make fun of you for it but will teach you afterwards.

ALHAITHAM — An explorer and expert in gathering. He has tons of materials stored in his chests that he doesn’t use and only chooses to fight when he needs to but he somehow has his character on a fully enchanted diamond armor with enchanted tools, either iron or diamond. You need a stack of clay? He has it, it’s on the chest on the third column at the top. How about some cactus or snowballs? He has quite a lot of those. He also has a collection of leaf blocks and vines that you might like as decorations of your home. Of course, since he has those unnecessary things, he also has a ton of importance that are often really hard to get and find, especially the slimes. Because of this, farming and gathering wasn’t something you’ll have to think of when you play with him.

KAMISATO AYATO — Exploration? Mining? Fighting? Gathering? Farming? Building? Whatever you mention, he knows how to do it and is even good at it. He immediately becomes an expert on the game from the very first few times of playing, saying that it’s just like life itself with some weird mobs and a square world. However, he only gathers and collects precious and rare materials and items that, majority of the time, he ends up not using. He would never touch copper because he thinks that it has no use— it’s true though. He doesn’t do a lot of work and wouldn’t invest that much time in doing such trivial things and tasks so his base is mediocre, not big nor small, only made for functional and competent use, and his chests are filled with only items that are needed for late-game.

— navigation | masterlist

[pico-digital-studios]

Into, Across and Beyond! Cast: Errorverse Sonic

Replaces: Metro Spider-Man / Raimi-verse Spider-Man

WARNING: A major spoiler for Undertale Yellow is present in this post. A strikethrough will be used where the major spoiler is.

"Looking at the ground and thinking about how everything could go wrong will only slow you down, bud, and I'm sure your Sonic hates slow. Just keep looking for a way to fix the problems you see ahead of you. That's what I've been doing! Things look grey now for sure, but there's still a world- heck, a UNIVERSE of colour out there just waiting for us to explore. You just gotta know where to look!"

This version of Sonic comes from the same universe that my own character, Nitro, does; the Errorverse. He's pretty much seen all the adventures we've expected him to. The storybooks, the Solaris madness, the race across space and time, the great Eggman war, all of it!

That said, he has had his own twists and turns along the way that make him stand out as his own character. He's one of the few Sonics to be self-aware of us, his viewerbase, be it good... or bad. He underwent a period of depression leading up to the Great Eggman War, but thanks to the support of his companions, alongside Eggman himself, he was able to keep fighting forward.

After the initial war, Sonic and Tails stumbled through an abandoned lab of Eggman's, coming across somebody that would change Sonic's life forever.

(Nova owned by BroadwayBash123)

A young teen girl named Nova was sealed in one of the test tubes of the place. Knowing she really needed a happy life, the duo freed her and helped her adjust to the world around her. As time went on, Nova developed her own hobbies, personality, and strong love for her friends. She even got to meet Nitro and Amy along the way.

There was definitely a lot of romantic tension going on between the two, and though Amy was happy for Sonic and Nova, she felt torn between him, who she had loved for a while by now, and Nitro, who was developing his own feelings for her. It ultimately took Sonic expressing his sibling-like affection for Amy for her to finally make up her mind.

These bonds continued to flourish when Infinite returned, more dangerous than before, to overpower Eggman and conquer the world on his own. It took plenty of effort, but the heroes still managed to save the day. And it got Eggman to stand down for a little while to make up for his troubles.

Concerning Sonic.EXEs, Errorverse Sonic had gone through three of them; Executor Vermillion, Phaton the Phantom Hedgehog, and, well... Toxinfect. He handled the first two like a champ, but Toxinfect almost ruined his life entirely, having the WORST impact of the three and almost conquering ALL of Mobius if not for Nitro's intervention.

It took five months for Sonic to escape from purgatory alongside an ally he made there, who is the guardian of a floating city in another dimension, but once he got out with Toxinfect on the loose again, he helped tie up loose ends and put an end to the monster's tyranny once and for all.

That said, the whole ordeal shook him up a lot, which contributes to how more concentrated on their goals Team Sonic are in Frontiers. The gang do get the time to do their own Twitter Takeovers on the SEGANet, which helps them lighten up after any particularly rough cases.

As time went on, Sonic and his friends got to meet up with the cast at the dimension said guardian came from, known as Calteron. The guardian's name is Kyuzi, and he had been defending his city for a while, alongside his best friends, Enzo, Lean and Reemah.

Many more adventures ensued with time, with more universe links being established to form further bonds, which led to More than One Universe, where the gang got involved in helping OMT!Tails and the Blur Gang put things right. Sonic also wasn't afraid to get emotional and sob in CU!Sonic's arms about his own tragedies.

Things only got darker for them from there, and the most recent supernatural threat, which was responsible for causing Bently to split from the base timeline, caused the death of Kyuzi, his life being mourned for greatly.

After one of the most recent outings, a strange phenomenon caused the entire Errorverse to undergo a hard reset (or "rewrite"), creating a fresh new timeline where the old one was erased. Think the Super Genesis Wave, but without any legal mumbo-jumbo. Several things were different for this new Rewrite Errorverse:

The Puhoi Curse stuff never happened, so Audrey, its main host, co-exists with the rest of the cast without it.

Amongst characters, only Reemah, Kyuzi, Enzo, Nitro, MC, Amelia and Errorverse Team Sonic (alongside all self-aware characters, Time Stone holders, the Blur Gang and the Quill Society) remember all that went on originally.

In the original Errorverse, Eggman redeemed himself and became Mr. Tinker. Here, though, Eggman and Mr. Tinker are split into two separate characters in Errorverse Mobius.

Evo and Sid Chang had started their own science group that a now-sweet and stable Seak (who was once an insane psychopath) often attends.

In this rewritten timeline, Many More Heroes onwards is able to occur, due to the Quill Society being formed there.

All failed timelines prior to the point we pick up at still happened, but their denizens are all safe, whether in the OMEGA Universe or co-existing with the regular Errorverse crew.

In the Rewrite's Undertale/Deltarune timeline, Clover (our bean from Undertale Yellow), after giving up their soul for the Underground, got it back after Asriel shattered the barrier for good, courtesy of Frisk coming back to help them out.

Due to their interactions with canon (or "Prime") Sonic, Exester and Nameless both recall the events of a peculiar time when the ORIGINAL Sonic and many Sonic.EXEs clashed. Though that's a story for another day.

To begin with, only Nitro, Reemah, Amelia and EV!Sonic retained their memories of the old timeline, but thanks to a special orb holding those memories, the other aforementioned characters got their memories restored.

Prior to this point in the Rewrite Errorverse, EV!Sonic ended up encountering Tekno, who had also been caught up in multiversal craziness. Together, the duo formed the Quill Society via getting help and support from other heroes of all kinds of Sonic universes. He even rescued OMT!Mina and gave her a much-needed support network out of it.

And unlike Lost Memory Sonic, EV!Sonic got his rights to be the leader of the Quill Society, which has several key rules in place:

Having fun or at least enjoying yourself when in the support network is highly encouraged.

As long as it isn't hurting anyone, humour and harmless quips are perfectly alright between Quill Society members.

Even if a member isn't explicitly from a Sonic dimension, they're more than welcome to contribute music for the elevators. (LM!Sonic took offence to Somari's suggestion, by the way.)

No "canon event" nonsense is tolerated in the Quill Society, as while set events might've shaped some heroes, many more won't have those to cling to.

Calling anybody an "anomaly" (yes, this even extends to all the captive villains; those incapable of redemption are cited differently) is outright illegal in the Quill Society if it isn't by accident or is simply in discussion, as EV!Sonic actively dislikes that term, and it risks permanent exile from the dimension.

(Pictured above: NES Sonic, Hefty (D-Sides Nitro), OMT!Tails, Jake (Reclassified Sonic), LM!Sonic and EV!Sonic)

After OMT!Tails managed to help BK!Amy out of making a sadistic choice, EV!Sonic was more than happy to invite the kid to look around Gust Planet and see how the Quill Society operated. Needless to say, OMT!Tails was really excited for this opportunity, and marvelled at just how many people were here, likely in the hundreds.

(Pictured on the top row: Lord Mortis (Sonic II Special), Bluckles, Boomer, Ashura, Atomic Sonic, NGPC Sonic and Socket/Minute) (Pictured on the middle row: Candy, NightAkio, Creamy and SunFIRE) (Pictured on the bottom row: Gerem (Sonic Chrono Adventure), Nameless (The Glitch Chaos), Alicia Acorn, Game.com Sonic and Yeth) (Pictured in the foreground: Hedgehog Maria, OMT!Tails, EV!Sonic, ZX Sonic, Curse (my take) and EX!Alice (with her new mech and Chao companion) (Lord Mortis was recommended by NightAkio himself)

EV!Sonic was undeniably proud of this version of his sidekick for ratting out LM!Sonic, gladly assisting himself in apprehending the rogue blue blur and giving him an appropriate scolding before sending him back to his dimension.

During that point, of course, he got seriously pissed off at LM!Sonic for citing OMT!Tails, Antho AND Nitro as anomalies for supposedly breaching "canon" (the formermost didn't even HAVE any fault in that to begin with), and made sure to hammer it in for his crueller self how much of a mistake that was.

For now, that's all I can really say about EV!Sonic.

Sea-Production (Lord X sprite; Lord Mortis edit by BEC)

Sonicfan32 (Boomer sprite)

EXEcutor-The-Bat (S2 Sonic/Ashura)

Jay201 and CK57 (Creamy sprite)

BrandonPrower (SunFIRE sprite)

NikoGlitchArts (Nameless sprite)

Cylent-Nite (Alicia Acorn sprite)

hyperturtle32 (Maria sprite)

Jon Gandee (ZX Sonic sprite)

Dolphman (SWAT Bot mech sprite)

DeltaConduit (Alice sprite)

Jon Gandee and Plokboy (NES Sonic sprite)

Louplayer (Ohshima Sonic/Jake sprite)

PixelMarioXP (SMB1 Sonic sprite)

Froggy Mudd (Custom Amy sprite)

khalifax10 (Mania Shadow sprite)

AkumaTH (Tiara sprite)

[thevindicativevordan]

Following up on my question about the world as remade by the Maker, do you feel like the worldbuilding of the new Ultimate Universe is a bit… odd? Correct me if I'm wrong, but the North American Union was dissolved and anexed by three different territorries and there is no apparent political repercussion on the streets. In Ultimates #1, the moloids seem to be a persecuted species, but in Spider-Man #8 we found out that the Mole Man works for the Kingpin, who ultimately works for the Maker. I don't know, but sometimes it also feels like the Maker changed the world but not by that much? Like, it seems similar to ours but the narrative sells it as an all different world, with the heroes (initially) wanting to go back to how things should be. What do you think?

They want to have their cake and eat it. As you say, on one hand it's a world that has a widely divergent history from ours, but also it's recognizable as similar to what life is like for us. Yes it's a bit disappointing that there hasn't been a lot of Krakoa style data pages from Hickman to flesh out what life is like, but you would have to make that the focus of an entire book to do it justice. Besides, Hickman knows that the people who rushed to get USM are more interested in character relationships than the political dynamics of the North American Union. I think Camp is doing a good job showing us what life is like on Earth 6160, but I do wish we had gotten a book focused on the Council. If we had, that would have been the best place to explain how exactly this government system Maker created works in terms of how exactly do you split up North America between foreign powers without people rebelling.

[liugeaux]

The Best Games of 2004 | 20 Years Gone

A long time ago, in the late 00s, I REALLY wanted to be a Video Games Journalist. I was writing and podcasting for local tech website Techpedition and we even worked our way to E3 2009. I was able to parley my mask of legitimacy into getting a couple dozen free games from publishers, but was never able to break into the "business".

It's fine, I've still paid super close attention to the industry and have a handful of podcasts that I follow. One thing that I missed out on was creating the end-of-year best-of lists that have become so popular with pundits of video games. Partially because I didn't have a big enough outlet for it to matter, but more so because I didn't have the resources to play all the relevant games within their release years to render a judgment.

I typically get around to playing all the games I'm interested in, but it usually takes me about 2-5 years. It's partially a time thing but mostly a budget thing. So, what this is, is the beginning of my trip through the last 20 years of video games. I'll be creating a top 10 list for the last 15 years and going forward, I'll post a new list every year of the top 10 from 5 years ago. That is assuming I keep up with it, lol.

These will be written as if they were published the year of the list, so there will be no references to future games or better sequels, etc. Let's get started. Travel with me back to the year 2004 which, news flash, is now 20 years ago.

#10 - Metroid: Zero Mission

Not only is Zero Mission a solid remake of the classic original Metroid, but it succeeds at both making it feel modern and ultimately super-playable, which isn't something you can say about the old NES game.

#9 - Prince of Persia: The Warrior Within

Much more agro than its predecessor, The Warrior Within builds on the foundation of the standout Sands of Time and smooths out a lot of the jagged edges, specifically in the combat department. Your mileage will likely be tied to how much you like Godsmack-itude, but POP2 is a great sequel.

#8 - Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door

Paper Mario was a weird novelty and shadow follow-up to Super Mario RPG, but despite its clear creative direction, it was missing the character needed to fully succeed in the RPG space. The Thousand-Year Door has character in spades, and it will charm your staples off.

#7 - Sly 2: Band of Thieves

Making Sly Cooper into an open-world heist game took what was a decent platformer to the next level. Where the first game was a solid third place behind Ratchet and Clank and Jak and Daxter, Sly 2 makes the argument that it's a top-tier Sony series. Each mission matters and each of its characters is special.

#6 - Pikmin 2

Better than its predecessor in every way, Pikmin 2 shows the first game's primary game loop wasn't a fluke. The addition of Louie, as a second playable character who's played simultaneously with Olimar, adds a heightened level of stress, making each recovery mission a manic exercise in task prioritization.

#5 - Halo 2

Is Halo 2 as impactful as Halo: Combat Evolved? Not really. The story isn't stellar, and the surprise Arbitor missions are little more than a pallet swap, but dropping the proven Halo action onto the Xbox Live service is game and industry-changing. I'm not a multiplayer guy, but I enjoyed the single player and I recognize how important Halo 2's success is to gaming as a whole.

#4 - Mario vs Donkey Kong

Donkey Kong '94, on the Game Boy, is secretly one of the best games of 1994. Mario vs. Donkey is Nintendo fleshing out that idea and making an addictive puzzle platformer. It starts out simple and sweet and ends hard and satisfying. Had this been the direction the Donkey Kong franchise went rather than Rare's DK Country series, SNES games may have had a very different trajectory.

#3 - Spider-Man 2

Licensed games always suck. Movie tie-in games always suck. Spider-Man 2 is an anomaly on top of an anomaly and it's 100% powered by the Swinging mechanic Treyarch built for the web-crawler. It feels SO good to swing around NYC that it's hard to believe Spider-Man as a character wasn't created specifically for video games.

#2 - Ratchet & Clank: Up Your Arsenal

R&C3 is undoubtedly a great game, I'd even say damn near perfect, but its placement this high on the list may seem a bit weird. That's where my opinion comes in. I'm a huge 3D platformer fan, it's probably my favorite genre. With that factored in with the depth and polish of this shiny new Ratchet game, #2 on the list doesn't seem so outlandish.

#1 - Half-Life 2

There's always talk of "importance" when it comes to works of art. Abbey Road is important, Michelangelo's David is important, and even A Clockwork Orange is important. Video Games, a medium that's still technically in its infancy, has only a handful of important titles. I'd say Half-Life 2 fits the bill. It's use of physics as a gaming mechanic is as technically impressive as it is clever. It's an FPS but it's not "just an FPS" and the mood and tone established throughout are as compelling as that of Blade Runner. Half-Life 2 is a stunner that will be studied for years.

Notable Omissions:

Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas - I've never liked GTA games. I respect their scope and ambition, but when it comes to playing them as games, GTA titles just stink.

Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater - I've never gotten into the Metal Gear games and the more people yell at me to play them, the less I want to.

The Legend of Zelda: The Minish Cap - This one technically came out in North America in 2005. So, with me being from the US, It will hit next year's list.

Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic II - The Sith Lords - I might end up playing this one eventually, but as of 2024 I have not.

What are your favorite video games from 2004?

See you next time. Cheers!

[ciaossu-imagines]

ultimate spider-man Adrian toomes relationship headcannons! ps I have never done this before so if im doing something wrong let me know.

Oh my gosh! I finally got a request for this fandom! You have no idea just how insanely happy this makes me, my lovely anon! Thank you so much! You did nothing wrong at all, and I really appreciate the request and hope you’ll enjoy!

I do think Adrian would be very hesitant to get into a relationship to begin with. He definitely would have the attraction and the romantic feelings and he wants it, but there’s a large part of him that is so preoccupied with everything else going on, with his search for his past, with reconciling who he is, with all his insecurities and self-doubts…and he’d honestly have a hard time even believing that he was worth being in a relationship with or that someone could like him that way. I do see him as someone who doesn’t initially like himself, or who sees himself as less than in a lot of ways, and I think that’s where a lot of the hesitancy would come from. He doesn’t even really know, initially, who he is so how can someone like him for who he is??

Anyone interested in Adrian is going to have to be patient and willing to wait for him to get to a place mentally where he feels he can properly be with them. They’ll have to put up with his moods and his self-esteem issues. They’ll have to show him support, build a bond with him, and gain his trust before he’ll be comfortable getting into a relationship with him.

I do see Adrian as being very much someone who does take relationships seriously though. He does consider dating someone as an important, serious thing and he’d be a really dedicated and loyal partner. To him, at times, he will make it a very much ‘it’s me and them together against the world’ and he’ll make them very much a huge part of their life, though he can fall into putting them on a pedestal at times.

Expect lots of bad poetry because he’s definitely going to be that emo kid who writes lots and lots of it for his partner. He’s a huge fan of Edgar Allan Poe’s poetry, but his own will be more free form, though it’ll still have the gothic feel to it. His partner will find surprises, little love notes and poems, slipped into their bag in his attempt to ‘cheer them up’ throughout their day, whenever they discover it.

Adrian really isn’t a fan of crowded places or being around people so a lot of his dates will be very low-key and will focus on spending alone time with his partner. Expect a lot of night-time dates, picnic suppers on the roof of a tall building, where he’ll want to take in the nightscape, the moon and stars and city lights. He’s surprisingly well versed in some of the old Greek myths about the constellations, especially the more angsty ones, and he’ll love sharing them with his partner.

[ben-talks-art]

My Favorite versions of Peter Parker

Spider-Man has been adapted a lot in the media over the years. Japanese Tv shows, movies, games, animated series, and so on.

It's hard to settle what would exactly be the "ideal" version of Peter Parker since every writer who tries to handle him offers their own spin on what Spider-Man should represent and why he's such a good character.

I myself wouldn't say that I have a definitive Peter Parker, but I do have several versions of the dude which I gravitate towards the most. Be it because they capture the sense of tragedy, the sense of getting up after being knocked down, the sense of friendliness, or even just the sense of humor that appeal to me so much, so I felt it would be fun to talk a little about my favorite versions of him and why I enjoy them so much!

So let's do exactly that...

Ultimate Spider-Man

I'll admit I never read much of the comics of the classic 616 Spider-Man, but I did read the entire run of Ultimate Spider-Man by Brian Bendis, and I honestly really liked it.

This Peter is what I would describe as the "Puberty Spider-Man." This is a Spidey that represents what's like to be a teen trying to be a hero and slowly learning how the real world works and... how much a lot of it sucks.

It's a Spider-Man that's being challenged into continuing being a hero even though he's constantly getting disappointed by the adult world around him. Doesn't matter if it's villains, heroes, allies, teachers, or his own boss, this is a Peter who keeps being exposed to how selfish and self-centered people can be, how ready they are to use or throw away others to fulfill their goals, and how now that he turned himself into someone important, he needs to decide who will he allow to use him or if he will allow it at all.

It's kinda depressing cause you see this young boy just going into this hero thing and being all "I'm gonna save people!" and then learning that it's a lot more complicated than that.

But that just makes it all the more impressive that he does keep going and doing the right thing, even with the bureaucracy of the adult world trying to swallow his motivation.

He's the Peter that was forced to grow up, but still managed to grow up as a good person who knows how to do the right thing, despite how hard the world around him tried to convince him otherwise.

Peter B. Parker

This is the "Almost lost cause Spider-Man." One of the great themes around Spider-Man is that he never gives up, never quits, never stops doing what's right, but in this case we have a Peter that almost, ALMOST indeed gave up.

Due to a series of unfortunate circumstances, this Peter ended up reaching his lowest point after losing nearly everything he cared about and feeling like there was no reason to keep going. And yet, despite everything that happened to him and having all the reason to give up and let go of the mask, he still managed to bounce back.

All because he ended up meeting a little boy that needed a hero, and thanks to that little boy he managed to find in himself the will to be that hero once again resulting in not only helping him, but the boy helping Peter as well.

And now, because he decided to try one last time and take the risk with one last "leap of faith" this Peter managed to find happiness once again.

He is a guy that managed to get up after reaching his lowest point, and not only managed to bounce back but went even further and achieved a happy life with the family he never knew he wanted and needed after being inspired by a confused boy who was also just trying his best to find his place in the world.

This Peter shows how healing helping others can be, and why even when there are times you think nothing else matters there will always be something that matters.

He shows that you're never too old to learn or too lost to find yourself.

Insomniac Peter

This is the "Friendly Spider-Man." The best way I can describe this Peter is that he's incredibly wholesome and kind.

He's the dude that actually tries to chat with the people of the city and make them see that he's just a guy no different than any of them, a very humble dude, the kind you want to hang out with because you know you two would get along super well.

You can even see in his type of humor like when he's fighting Vulture and Electro and making jokes about Rocky and getting excited that one of them got it. Or in the DLC where he tries to get a high-five from Silver Sable. This is a Spidey that wants to get along with the people around him.

He's not just a hero that punches bad guys, he wants to actually help them out. It's the one that comes to my mind when I think of "Friendly neighborhood Spider-Man."

This is the kind of dude you want living in your city, cause you know you can count on him when you have a problem, and this is exactly what a superhero should do, make you feel like you're safe and in good hands.

Amazing Spider-Man

This is the "Struggling Spider-Man."

He's the one that you feel sorry for because everything that could possibly go wrong with this guy always go wrong, and yes, being miserable is a thing that happens to every version of Peter Parker... But something about the way this Peter responds to it really works for me.

It's the fact that you can tell he's trying to keep his problems inside while still doing the job that needs to be done. He's not pretending his struggles don't exist or letting them completely take over him, he's just trying his best to keep going since he knows Spider-Man is needed, even if life may not be so kind to him.

Each live-action Spider-Man handles how they react to their struggles in their own way. With Tobey you can really feel how it destroys him inside sometimes and with Tom it feels like he hasn't even processed the severity of what happened until it happens.

Andrew's Spidey feels like he's trying his best to stay optimistic, stay on the right path, keep fighting the good fight, despite the fact that inside he might be carrying a lot of pain.

He's a Spider-Man that I really respect because he captures the harshness of facing these struggles but also the strength to face them and keep going.

Spectacular Spider-Man

This is my favorite version of Spider-Man. Is it perfect? No. Does it capture the essence of what makes Peter Parker Peter Parker? Who knows. But when I think of Spider-Man, this is the first image that comes to my mind.

He's the "born leader Spider-Man." The kind of guy that will jump into battle with 5 different plans already formed in his head, and if they all fail he'll just come up with another 20 more because he knows he has a job to do and people to save.

This Spidey is the embodiment of confidence. Anytime he sees someone in danger he instantly goes into "have a job to do" mode and starts formulating how to best deal with the situation while making full use of all of his skills and gadgets while also taking full advantage of the environment and even his own opponents as he learns about them.

He always feel like he's in control of the situation, and even when he fails he's quick to adapt to the situation and try the next thing. He doesn't just dwell on his mistakes, he accepts them, learns, and moves on like an adult.

I love this Spidey because he at times feels like the ideal version of what a mature Peter would look like. You sense no hesitation or fear when you look at him, you just feel that if you're in trouble and he shows up you're gonna be okay because this guy always gives 200% to get the job done.

Even though this is one of the "jokiest" Spider-Mans, you still know he is taking his job of saving people completely serious. If he falls, he just gets up. If a plan fails, he thinks of another one. If the enemy is strong, then he just starts acting smarter. He always has his head in the game and always sure that he has what he needs to save the day.

And I think that's it. Confidence, friendliness, growth, persistence, hope, strength, humor, intelligence, kindness, there are a lot of things to like about Spider-man and a lot of ways to adapt this character into the media while focusing on his several qualities.

These were the ones that stood out the most to me and these are the qualities about them that made them stand out so much.

I know Spider-Man might be going through some rough times right now in the comics, but I still love the character, still think he means a lot to me, and still hope to see more of what makes him so great in the future as well!

[asm5129]

Flash Thoughts ⚡ A New World Part 4: Finale

Well, here we are. The last episode of the flash, and a farewell to the arrowverse–at least, for the foreseeable future. God damn, i’ll miss it. I don’t care what anyone says, this world, these characters, they’ve meant so much to me. They’ve been by my side through the worst moments of my life, through into a better time where I feel more fulfilled and happy, I feel genuine joy in my life, my family is healthier, and my pain, while not gone, is lessened. That kind of reliable companionship, whether through a human or a story, is rare. And I will treasure it, always. My hope remains that in a few years, people will start softening on the Arrowverse the way they have Andrew Garfield’s Spider-Man or the Star Wars prequels, and maybe all the work that was put into this world–ten years, 6 shows not counting Superman and Lois or Stargirl–can get a bit of a resurgence. It’s already built out the most complete multiverse brought screen after all.

 But anyways. The finale. I liked it a lot. It was imperfect to be sure, a bit rushed, and it really wasted it’s returning villains. But I liked it. It was really lovely and hopeful. And I know Grant Gustin pushed for a hero’s death, but I actually stand with Eric Wallace on this one. The Flash, long before Wallace was showrunner, was about hope, and love. We can argue whether he took it to places it didn’t work, but that was always what it was about. Barry brought a light Oliver couldn’t. That was established in the pilot episode. So him meeting a similar end to Oliver I think, as epic as it may have been, wouldn’t have made sense in the grand scheme of things. No, ultimately, it was the right call to make The Flash’s final episode about hope, and love, and family, and–most importantly–coexistence. 

 While I liked Khione, her inclusion had no real grounded logic to it. There’s no reason what Caitlin did in the season 8 finale should have created Khione. Yet regardless–I think she was the perfect vessel for the message of coexistence. As long as Thawne was the Avatar of the negative speed force, there was no chance for coexistence. There was no path forward with him. But the NSF screwed up when it chose to try and corrupt a good man. This is, genuinely, the first time Barry talking a Big Bad down worked in Eric Wallace’s Flash, because Eddie was a good man who was in pain. He hadn’t chosen to be cruel, so much as he felt he had to make someone cruel happy for him to be happy. But it wasn’t natural for him. And while it was a bit rushed, I think it worked well.

 There will always be those we butt heads with, those standing in our way. But if we’re smart, and we’re kind, that doesn’t always mean there has to be pain. Conflict and contrasting viewpoints are healthy and important, as long as it doesn’t spiral out of control. Barry could have sworn off Eddie as just another Eobard, but he knew Eddie. He knew there was more to him than the pain and the fear that was pushing him to these extremes. So he chose peace, and let Eddie see the man he was becoming. I know it’s very idealistic, but fuck it, there are a billion other stories that refuse to entertain the idea of coexistence, that have the heroes just murdering whomever they consider a threat, or even just getting mad and pursuing vengeance without any care for the lives of others. There’s maybe ten mainstream stories that entertain the idea that maybe some people could change and that could make a better world. Less, most likely. If you wanna expend your energy getting upset over that, god, what a waste.

 I also really, really like that Barry’s choice to let Thawne kill himself ended up really mattering here. I felt that was very strange in season 8 and the beginning of season 9 because such a big deal was made during Armageddon about saving him, even though he was only a victim of his own actions just as he was in the S8 finale So for Barry to know the same thing could happen to Eddie and being desperate to not repeat his choice in season 8 was a great payoff to that. You can argue whether it’s rational to want to save those trying to kill him and his loved ones, but it’s who Barry is. He values every life. Every single one. We need hope. We need idealism. We need kindness. And The Flash didn’t always execute it right, and it’s failures at it deserve criticism, but I don’t feel this episode was one of those failures.

 Onto some criticism though… As I mentioned, I think this episode absolutely wastes its returning villains. 

 The first episode of A New World really oughta have been the last appearance of the Reverse-Flash I think if this was all they were gonna do with him. I don’t think this episode cheapened that one at all, but it still felt like a much less satisfying final appearance. And Chester having black hole powers that protected him from being murdered by Thanwe was just cheap. 

 Savitar did almost nothing, and everything that made him interesting from season 3 was gone. 

 Godspeed was just…ugh. He did less than nothing, because he did something and it had zero impact on anything and then Cecile just knocked him out with a thought. Godspeed really was the most underwhelming of all of them, he was mediocre in season 7 and mediocre here, and I wish his slot was filled by the Red Death, just to at least connect her to the rest of the season somehow. Bart finally got a mention in the last 15 minutes or so, but he wasn’t part of the episode despite Godspeed supposedly being “his Thanwe”. I guess the actor just wasn’t available or something, but God it’s so weird that they have spent so, so much time this season on Nora and there was just a single mention of Bart all season. and Zoom was eh.

 Did kinda enjoy all their egos clashing and their grandstanding, and I did appreciate the tension between Eobard and Eddie. Honestly what I might have done instead of these villains would be to have Matt Letscher’s Thawne and Tom Cavanaugh’s Thawne be recruited together. Could have made for some fun dynamics, clashing egos and both Thawnes hating that they were recruited by Eddie–plus finally seeing the two Thanwes onscreen together would have been a great way to say farewell. 

 Ah well. Not sure how I feel about the return of Caitlin, but I did very much like that her and Barry got a chance to talk again and reconcile what happened between them. So regardless of how I feel about the fact that she’s suddenly safe and sound, I do like something we got from it. And Frost still being dead at least makes this not a total about-face. I do like Chester and Allegra together, but I do think the will they/won’t they didn’t need to go on as long as it did. I did however adore Joe FINALLY proposing to Cecile. There were times I had to actually look up whether they were married or not, since they were dating so long, living together, had a kid, etc 

 And after Joe having such a hard time with love before Cecile, in retrospect I actually really appreciate that she didn’t push him. Sure, the ring and everything is nice, and it’s made clear she wanted it, but she clearly didn’t need a ring or a binding piece of paper to know that Joe was in it for the long haul. It was a really, really nice moment for the finale. Nora being present at her own birth, and even holding herself as a baby…yeah barry was right, even for the Flash family that’s a lot. 

But I really appreciated all the moments with baby Nora, especially Joe singing with iris’ memories flashing across the screen and Barry asking baby Nora to believe in something impossible. 

and actually on that note, let me close out by saying–I fucking love that that line, the very first line of the pilot episode, was at the core of the finale. “I need you to believe in the impossible.” It began as a way to describe a world of metahumans, aliens, time travel and multiverses. 

 But here, it’s about believing in a new world, a better world, one that doesn’t accept that a cycle of pain and violence could ever pass for the natural order of things. And I dunno–maybe it’s also a little message that the Arrowverse might have a future some day. That it will get it’s due. Some say that’s impossible, but maybe I’ll listen to Barry on this one, and believe in it anyway. 

 Thank you for following my Flash Thoughts during this final season. It was really enjoyable to write them up for folks. Chat soon folks. You’re all wonderful. stay safe.

[ducknotinarow]

03/07 Michelangelo - All Symbol Headcanons please uwu

| Send me a symbol and I will write a headcanon about…  For multimuse blogs, please specify!

MIKEY!!!! I love Mikey ;3; he's such a good character. I lowkey nah no what I Highkey absolutely hate how much fandom can or rather will initialized Mikey. Or reduce him to the comic relief of the group. Mikey is such a good character. Yeah Mikey is funny, witty and even annoying but he is very empathic. He very often is the only one who can understand where one of his brothers is coming from such as being the most aware of the burdens Leo carries that well they sort of put on him. Unlike in 2012, Leo is an unofficial leader. Mikey knows because Leo dose take to that role placed on him though it give the rest of them freedom Leo can't really have. His skill often get over looked despite the fact Mikey is actually the most athletic of his brothers he just lacks focus it's often shown and stated if he did? He would be quite the force to deal with in a fight.

𝓕 : My muse’s handwriting. (Is it good, bad, difficult to decipher, do they prefer writing by hand or with the help of some form of machine, e.t.c.) 

Mikey is for sure the more creative one of his brothers and he dose show he thinks differently than any of them do often his plans come as a surprise to the rest because of this. Of course this creative trait is due to Mikey being a free spirit and artistic to a point. Mostly his hand writing is hard to read often you can at best only make out the first letting of ever word he wrote because his brain actually thinks faster than he can react at times. When he sits and focus on writing of course he wants to make it out to look fun and pretty uwu

✈ : My muse and  traveling. (If they do it frequently and why, if they never left their home town, e.t.c.)

"Man I've been to all sorts of places, buuuuuuut clearly it's how i traveled to the top and became the battle Nexus champion!"

Mikey travels a lot but it is not by choice believe you and me. But because of a lot of things him and his brothers happened to find themselves suddenly apart of a lot of weird things. I mean hes gone to the future and other worlds but I mean furthest? has to space right?

✿ : My muse and nature. (If they are an ‘outdoorsy type’, like the sound of bird’s singing, if they have never set foot in a forest, e.t.c.) 

"Ehhh I mean its nice I guess buuuut I rather be home with the ultimate tv view experience."

Yeah Mikey is for sure a home body this is a turtle that took to the modern convince of technology and has the hardest time dealing without it. It's not he dislikes the outdoors he can take to it pretty well when he has too of course and that's the wording that should be focus on here. Mikey really likes watching tv after all and tends to find anyway todo so even skipping on training to peep in on someones else tv. But He doesn't dislike nature he loves animals and plants in fact. Luckily he was born with a green thumb even.

Mikey kind of likes that something is reliant on him and that he can make something from his own hands. Helping a plant thrive because of his care is sort of rewarding. Considering Mikey is often always being made to feel like he always the one depending on others which he dose but hardly dose his brothers seem to see him as able to do the same back. So he sort of gets that from his interest in plants.

☼ : My muse’s first memory. (Where it was, who was with them, how this memory makes them feel, e.t.c.) 

"hmm first memory? uhh I guess when I got the first comic book that got me hooked? It was an issue of Spider-Man and boy was it a fun read!" Mikey was up on the surface on Halloween, it's been said that Splinter always took the boys up on the day since they could walk around without fear or worry at the time. They stuck to a more small rural area just to be cautious still. In this neighborhood there was a lot of smaller shops so as a community they ran a sort of trick-o-treat event where kids got their candy and such from the store owners. A cookbook show was on this block and often they gave out free comic books and this is how Mikey got a lot of his comic collection started. The first he got was of course a Spider-Man Comic. A wise cracking hero? Who often distracts his villains with his smart ass mouth? Yeah someone just may have been a tad influenced.

Mikey fell in love with comic books after this he loved the stories and the plots. He wanted to be a super hero so bad. Because in the comics the humans loved heros no matter what. From humans dressed in spandex, to Aliens that took home on earth hell even mutants or meta-humans were loved by humans. So why can't that be the same for him and his family?

Of course Mikey knows being a hero comes with being selfish too and in part keeping to the shadows is something him and his family may have to do forever with no single thanks given hell even acknowledgement. Sure maybe being a hero should drive from helping but sometimes Mikey can be self severing doesn't mean he also doesn't see he has the ability to help. He often swallow his fears to step up or gets involved when he really doesn't have to. Common traits from his favorite heros.

☙ : My muse’s favourite food. (Bonus: A memory, be it good or bad, associated with said food.)

"Uh hello? Pizza?" Of course it is Pizza Mikeys favorite food to him Pizza is the best human food to ever come to be because of what all you can do with Pizaa. You don't even need to stick to marinara sauce for the base like in the case of BBQ or Chicken Alfredo Pizzas. Mikey of course like the different styles thick crust, thin crust, even stuffed. Mikey being a true Pizza lover has also tried out from Chicago style to Colorado style but of course New York style is his go to favorite. He is a new yorker through and through and they are known for having good pizza.

Mikey even likes to push the limit on what toppings he eat on a pizza and often? nothings to far out there for Mikey this boy should be on fear factor honestly.

♬ : My muse and music. (What type of music they like listening to and in what context, what music they would never listen to, e.t.c.)

"hmm I like all kinds of music really? Rap, Techno, Surf, Jimmy Buffett."

As is Mikey he is flexible on many things even when it comes to his taste in music this applies to. Mikey just likes music with energy is what it comes down to in the end. Sure Rock music is one that could fit but it's not quite the sound he is looking for he wants a more bouncy sound when he listens to music.

Mikey may be a new yorker but likes be honest this boy would thrive of Cali's vibes and just oozes the setro type of a California person. From how he talks and carries himself not to mention his Cali accent is hard to miss. Surf just ties into all of this Mikey if he could would love to surf! is why he loves to skateboard so much and loves the half pipe Donnie made just for him. He wants so badly to catch the waves! Sometimes when he's skating in the Sewer tunnels and theirs some water on the ground he likes to imagine hes out on the ocean.

↺ : My muse and the past. (Do they live in the past and struggle to let go of past grievances, or move on more easily, is there anything in their past they want to forget, e.t.c.) 

"live in the past? Why do that and why worry about whats to look forward too? Nah all about the now and current vibes" This might sound like good advice but in truth Mikey actively tries to avoid the past and all the mistakes that follow. So you can say there is a lot he wants to forget he likes to cherry pick in a sense one could say. Winning the Battle Nexus? Of course he remembers that and hangs on to even seeing it as the real only achievement he has ever been able to make happen which has been an issue seeing as he rode the high of the win for a long time even to a point Splinter saw an issue with Mikey's egos due to the win.

Mikey also isn't the best about thinking about looking ahead it fills him with anxiety in truth because he just doesn't know. It's like he is being surround by mountains of work and all he can do is focus at those peaks and how high they reach. He has no clue where to start because its just all to much.

Going where he is now? it's easier he can sort of tell whats going to happen. Him and brothers will wake for breakfast. Hell annoy Raph as they make their way to the kitchen where Leo is likely already at. Don will follow soon lured by the smell of coffee that Raph got ready for them. Mikey will start on breakfast and then They will head to the dojo and train once clean up is over. Don will go back to his lab to work, Leo may do some one on one work with Splinter, Raph might stay home or sneak away up top. Maybe its junkyard day and they head out to look for stuff. It may be friday so Mikey will call up April and such to see who wants to join movie night. some things change here and there but over all it's the same and he take comfort in all of this.

Even when things changes routines are still there, Don and Raph move out and have kids but they come by and Mikey gets to play the babies. The whole family still gets together here and there it just easier to live in his current point. It often why his mistakes can catch up to him like his mistake of joining the foot clan. Donnie asked him about his future and it set him off. He struggles with who he is and what use he even has with his family looking to the past is littered with mistakes but to the future is uncertain and open ended answers.

☾ : My muse and sleep. (How much they sleep, how much they wish to sleep, if there is something that never fails to put them to sleep, e.t.c.) 

"Gotta get those z's every now and then, early to sleep early to rise or stay up late to get more time." Mikey is someone who goes to bed at a somewhat decent time it just kind of depends. he always likes to settle down with a movie or comic and tends to pass out when his eyes have tried out this isn't always the same time every night. Sometimes hes out early sometimes hes out late. He doesn't have much trouble sleeping unless there's a lot of noise like the times he had to share a room with Raph who snores loud. But to everyone one annoyance I feel no matter how tried Mikey is? He don't have an off switch he can always seem to just get a second wind and be well Mikey.

✧ : My muse and art. (If they have an artistic side or not and why, favourite artist if they have one, e.t.c.) 

"I love it! well I mean I like street art at least and painting my skateboards, so i got a few for that reason."

Mikey loves art but he's not versed in it's history type of art lovers. So he doesn't know the classics he knows him and his brothers were named after artist but he doesn't known much about them just that they were old artist guys in the past but will make reference to his name sake at times. Art isn't a big thing for him he's always colored with crayons as a kid and ate them of course. Like to give some character to things such as the decks of his boards and he has tried his hand at nail art. Something that improves over time if he has the right supplies that is of course.

❃ : My muse and social media. (If the muse is/would be on social media and why/why not, their general opinion on it, e.t.c.) 

"Course I use it, how I find out about comic releases and catch up on story lines."

Mikey was able to see the start of alot of more know Socials today. He had an account on friendster mostly for the games later on till it shut down. He had a myspace and loved to customize his profile with all sorts of widgets.Hasn't touched it in years! He went on to forums mostly and 4chan of course for comics so he could track down issues he was search for and there was always someone online who could offer help on how to get it. He's part of a few online friend circles from comics books to people who have seen glimpses of the turtles and talk about it online, he thinks it's funny and sometimes messes with them. He'll see them pick up common locations they spot them and will go there to just give them more to share. It's a harmless prank on his end and something he keeps to himself he don't need his brothers ruin his fun after all.

Mikey also has a twitter account mostly for comic related stuff but he likes to post pictures of the weird stuff in New York most people know weird creatures come around in the city since the Tricerton Invasion so it's harmless.

✉  : My muse and others. (If they social and outgoing or more introverted, and why. If they prefer communicating with others face to face or in written form, e.t.c.). 

"I love meeting new people! Those other turtle can be tots annoying sometimes ya know? Gotta shake it up."

Mikey is very social if he dosen't vibe with someone right off the bat there usually a good reason even monstrous creatures like Leatherhead or Quarry where Mikey understandable was scared of them when first meeting them. Was able to see the good in Leatherhead and try to befriend him and soon saw Quarry wasn't like the other mutants if annoyed by how much of a scardy cat they could be ironic considering himself. Or like with April where he was first to openly speak to her with out any hesitation. Mikeys pretty good about befriending anyone really shown when it comes to the superhero charaters in the show. Mikey was able to Befriend Sliver Sentry with ease even with them feeling he was getting in the way and even the more aloof Nobody. His friendly welcoming nature just seems to be a natural draw for a lot of people no mater the species.

Dosen't mean he gets along with everyone he meets but he can at least up to points stand some people a be a bit more tolerable. Takes a special someone to be annoying to mikey *cough* Casey *cough*

Mikey is just very very social and he craves interaction because of it. Which can get annoying for his older brothers who are all more independent and such. Mikey will often just go into a room with one of them and linger about of course not quietly he just needs to be around someone is all. Like when hell go into Don's lab and rant on about something stupid in his comics he knows they aren't listening or care much he just likes that Don will let him do it. He loves spending time with his brothers the most, so those Friday night movies are always his favorite.

When it comes to talking Mikeys prefers it be face to face. Likely due to him having a lot of empathy for others it just easier for him to gauge the other person's feelings. Written or text is hard for him to convey a tone from. Hearing their voice, seeing their face? He just feels the best way to communicate is face to face. This is also why he is willing to step back from Ariel when she got upset with him and wait for her to come to him. He wouldn't have that talk any other way with her. It's why he and Summer never had this blow up her Dad's made sure to make her feel she can express her thoughts after all and in a way she has taken one some traits from Mikey because of this. So they had their own talk she knows Mikey regrets what he did and knows how torn up over it he is as well. It why he dose the same with each of his brothers when serious things come up those one on one talks are just too important.

▶ : My muse and level of education. (If the muse has some form of education, what education they perhaps wish they had, e.t.c.). 

"uhhh I mean whatever Splinter teaches me I guess?"

And yet Mikey isn't even the worse of Splinters students. Mikey is for sure that kid who learns in a different way than most. He has the most raw talent out of his brothers and he knows the same things they do like Chi Gong breathing techniques when they went to space. But as show during the Ninja tribunal season Mikey is a active learner being told how to do something or reading it doesn't work he man retain the information like when he and Splinter were dealing with mr.touch and mr. Go he showed he could in fact use his mind when it came to a fight and come up with some good plans. He just has to apply it in ways he can understand.

◐ : My muse and animals. (If they like animals and treat them well, do not care for them at all, e.t.c.). 

"I love animals I don't know what I do with out Klunk and Klunk jr."

Mikey is a lover of cute animals one could say like cats and Chickens of course like Sonny and Cher ;3; Mikey is also a sucker for his pet cat Klunk who is for sure Mikey's furbaby. Klunk knows hes got a nice gig in the lair so never strays far from them and for sure has kept other rats away from getting into the lair since they got a cat around. He often lets his brothers pet him or sets him on thier laps because he knows animals are good for mental health. Which is why he is so attached Klunk became her emotional support animal after some time. And im sure as you can tell by a mention in his comment there is a second Klunk in his life.

Sadly even with the life of luxray Klunk lived with the turtle Klunk wasn't going to live forever. Based on color alone I would say Klunk is and orange Tabby and they can live for 20 years at the latest. Most only 10 to 16 years. Roughly well say it was 2004 when Mikey found Klunk whoe was just a kitten at the time so Klunk could live and be around a god long while. And as BTTS showed Klunk was still around then. But not in the 07 movie and based on how I sor tof timeline things here 03 -> 07 -> FF/BBTS (?) this would in a way make a gap with out a cat and just hit harder on Mikey being lonely. But Klunk was a alley cat in a sense and was free to roam as they got bigger. Met female cat and Im sure you can see where I leading to. Mikey soon finds a cat that looks just like Klunk and take them in as Klunk jr.

❒ : My muse and gifts. (If they are good/bad at finding gifts, good/bad at receiving gifts, good/bad at wrapping gifts, e.t.c.) 

"I mean I love getting them that for sure."

I feel Mikey is pretty decent at giving gifts hell recall something someone said they liked before and come across something similar like say April mentioned as a kid she loved a certain character and Mikey happens across something of that old character so he brings it to her. It was a passing comment but he tends to hang on to that information.

☘ : My muse’s relation with their family. (If they speak with each other and how much, if they are close or estranged, e.t.c.). 

"I love them really all there is to say on that, I know my brothers and I fight. I know they fight. I know we make mistakes but...I also know we always have each other and always will have each other." Mikey is the baby of his family through and through and sometimes it can be annoying since his brothers often look at him as younger. Sure over time they learn to see him on their own level. and even seems to earn their respect. Mikey dose look up to all of his brothers in different ways and for different reasons and in a way he sort of idolizes them.

Don kind of Spoils Mikey because he dose give into thier whims a lot and its kind of made Mikey feel Don can fix anything from whatever tech issue is going on to other problems as well like when Mikey is feeling Don it's Donnie he goes to. Mikey needs interaction so bad or he gets kind of down and Donnie is the less likely to be annoyed with him so he fixes Mikey in a sense.

Raph and Mikey can have a sort of love hate relationship. Mikey being the annoying little brother and Raph the disgruntle older one. Mikey dose know Raph cares about him and knows he will protect him and look out for him. Raph can mess with Mikey but anyone else tries? They are dead.

Leo Ive said it alot here but Leo is who Mikey is closest to. Leo is often the only one who dose have faith in Mikey's abilities and acknowledges his talents but often has to be stern and tell mikey to focus. Mikey loves heros and to him Leo is his own personal hero for those reasons alone and it's why he listens to Leo not to mention why he is so close to them.

Splinter He is dad and Mikey is good about listening to his Dad sometimes. Mikey dose sometimes feel he isn't always measuring up well compared to his brothers and must be failing his dad. But he feels close enough to express these worries to Splinter they have a very good relationship and Mikey spends hours talking to Splinter. They often crack jokes together honestly they might be an awful combo because of Splinters savage ways.

Casey is the one person in the world that can actually annoy Mikey and that is a thing to say XD However Mikey dose see Casey as another big brother of his sometimes his favorite outside Leo. Cause Casey will often listen to Mikey's complaints seriously unlike his brothers will. If he whines about not being able to find a comic Casey suggests a place that may just have it and offer to take him. Casey also tends to play along with Mikey's antics at times very much how an adult will be wowed by a younger kids statements to match their energy. But Casey pretty much a big kid himself it's why he can match Mikeys energy it seems. its why he trs to be there for Casey during the break up.

Yvonne is someone you might think wouldn't get along to well with mikey due to her serious nature but she is Mikeys gal pal. They like to trash talk over whine and watch chick flicks. They have girls night along with April and later the girls when they are teens. Von is also kind of the branch that helped Mikey more embrace his feminine side shes kind of like a safety net in a sense. Because she has a habit of needing to use example and such it helps mikey see that him feeling like he genderfuild is not werid and dosen't make him different its just another thing that make him Mikey. He was one of two who really wanted him to get together with Don but because it meant she would be his sister.

Summer/Ariel- Ill drive more into stuff on Summers answers but over all Mikey loves his nieces and used to take part in kidnapping them both when they were babies. Often the last option as babysitter but it was more like playdates. he might be thier uncle/aunt/auncle but it follows more th logic of im the older kid between them. Mikey always had very good friendships with the both of them. He's sort of like this break from adults because like what Casey did for him i feel he dose for his nieces offers them someone they can talk to in a way they can't other adults. It why he was shocked by Ariels turn on him he just felt everything was fine because as stated Mikey is someone who needs to talk to know whats going on but Ariel is too much like her own parents and it didn't help that everyone seemed to just mov eon from everything. So when she snapped at him sudeenly of course it hurt him a lot. He didn't know how much what he did would effect her nor was he ware how it affected Don. He loves her and of course wanted to fix it but because he loves her he gave her the space she seemed to need at the time. Dose make him wonder if they were as close as he thought they always were.

[xtruss]

Charles III! The Slightly Creepy King Who Talks To Trees and Spent His Life Waiting.

— By Imogen West-Knights | May 05, 2023 | Assessment

A facsimile of King Charles III on Friday in London. Finnbarr Webster/Getty Images

People have been wondering what a Charles III reign will look like for a long time. They’ve had a lot of time to do it: He’s the longest-serving heir in British history, having spent 70 of his 74 years next in line to the throne.

It has been unclear what Charles ought to be doing with his time on earth. His job has been, more than anything else, to wait, and to wait for something both monumental—becoming a king—and ghoulish—the death of his mother. The pitfalls of not quite finding your place in the world as a member of the royal family and kicking your heels on top of a near-limitless mountain of wealth are very clear: You get a Prince Andrew situation.

So how has Charles been passing the time? In the mid-’70s, when he was approaching 30, he began setting up charities, and he kept at it: He held a summit in 2009 with the intention of protecting the climate and reducing deforestation that saw Hillary Clinton and U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon in attendance. He’s a keen agriculturalist, and believes that industrial farming is an environmental travesty. He has his own organic farm in Gloucestershire, where he keeps up traditional farming techniques, and where he hosted the “National Hedgelaying Championships” in 2005. He’s also spent much of the past couple of decades getting involved in politics through what became known as his “black spider memos,” after his scrawling handwriting: letters he would write to government ministers on subjects like urban planning and education. He’s been vocally in favor of overhauling the “honours system,” whereby titles such as “Commander of the British Empire” are handed out to the rich and powerful, a designation he has said is bestowed on “the wrong people” for “the wrong reasons.” He’s subsequently been accused of interfering in political matters to an undue degree. A critically acclaimed play called Charles III premiered in London in 2014 and went on to Broadway. It depicted Charles meddling with freedom-of-the-press laws, sparring with Parliament, and ultimately having to abdicate in favor of Prince William. A more sympathetic portrait came on the TV series The Crown, on which he was recently played by Dominic West, but even there, he was most memorably portrayed as an ambitious but ineffective royal conniver.

There’s also the slightly woo-woo stuff—a hippie-ish bent. In 2010, he gave a now-famous interview to one of the U.K.’s foremost celebrity gardeners (yes, we have several of these), Alan Titchmarsh, in which he said he talks to the trees on his estate, something he asserted keeps him “relatively sane.” It’s not accidental that the official invitations to the coronation featured an illustration of the Green Man, a sort of pagan vegetation spirit associated with ancient English folklore (although it’s not actually as ancient as many people think). He co-authored a book on his beliefs about the environment and the “magical” rhythms of nature in 2010, too, called Harmony: A New Way of Looking at Our World.

“Charles Won’t Be Allowed To Express His Opinions On Things Anymore, But In Some Ways That Doesn’t Matter. It’s Too Late.”

But the truth about Charles is that he is a traditionalist, really. He famously hates modern architecture, and seems to long for a return to a romantic idea of a pre-industrialized England, of farmhands working the land and feeling a deep connection with their local and national community.

What’s he like personally? We know the ins and outs of his rocky marriage to Diana and their subsequent divorce all too well. His current wife and now Queen Consort, Camilla, admits that he can be obstinate, describing him as “pretty impatient.” “He wants things done by yesterday,” she has said. “That’s how he gets things done.” It is also undeniable that he is a little bit creepy, perhaps just by virtue of being necessarily so out of touch with normal life, coming out with statements like “Mummy laughs and cries with us all,” about the late queen, which sounds like something a haunted doll would say before its head spins all the way around.

The thing about becoming king is that the role of a monarch is strictly defined in the U.K. They must act with political neutrality. In other words, there will be no room for black-spider memos, none for backhanded comments about political machinations in the country he reigns over; no room, ideally, for personal opinion at all. He knows this well. In 2018, Charles gave a television interview to mark his 70th birthday, promising he would not be a “meddling” king. When he was asked whether his campaigning on various issues would continue, he put it bluntly: “No, it won’t. I’m not that stupid. I do realize that it is a separate exercise being sovereign.”

But that doesn’t mean his reign is going to feel much like his mother’s. Charles is, by default really, the most modern king the U.K. will have had. He’ll be the first monarch to have been to school. He’ll be the first monarch whose life has been subject to tabloid scrutiny, whose failures and foibles are already well known to the public before he ascends the throne. Elizabeth II had an appeal that extended beyond people who would consider themselves royalists—she was a fixture in national life, thought of by many as a sort of benign grandmotherly figure and, based on the very little information people ever got about her, quite widely liked in the U.K., as monarchs go. She intentionally kept her private self hidden. Unlike Charles, she almost never gave a televised interview, and although she agreed to let a BBC crew chart the lives of the royal family in 1968, she reportedly felt when the subsequent documentary came out that it had opened too wide a window on the inner lives of the royals. She is said to have personally had it scrubbed nearly out of existence, other than in a few physical archive locations. By contrast, if you want to, it’s all too easy to find out perhaps too much about the king’s intimate personal history via, for example, Googling the words “Prince Charles” and “tampon” together.

Charles won’t be allowed to express his opinions on things anymore, but in some ways that doesn’t matter. It’s too late. We already know them. And his conduct before taking the throne will probably dictate his popularity during his reign more than anything else. Opinion polls have consistently shown him to be less popular than Queen Elizabeth II, or his son Prince William. Anti-monarchist protests are now a fixture at his public events. He’s been egged. Charles III may be a more modern monarch than his mother was, but he will be ruling over a very different country than the one she looked out on at her coronation in 1953—and the judgment of his reign has been underway for most of his lifetime.

— Slate.Com

[makeste]

I like Bakuguo but his attitude is starting to really piss me off. He's talking about Daku as if he's just ~crazy~ and as if he isn't partly to blame for Deku's toxic self-worth issues. It's infuriating to watch. If Bakuguo doesn’t admit out loud and in front of his friends that his bullying of Deku played a part in Deku's current destructive state and if he doesn’t verbally apologize and reaffirm Deku's worth then I can no longer like Bakuguo's character or Hori's writing.

tbh I don't really know why this is the discourse of choice for people all of a sudden, but this is already the second ask I've gotten about it, so I might as well address it lol.

I think fandom is conflating fanon!Deku and canon!Deku here again. fanon Deku is of course much more sensitive and woobified and has much shakier self-esteem. fanon Deku is the one that turns evil in so many AUs because of Kacchan's bullying. fanon Deku is the one that actually jumps off the roof in so many fics, as opposed to fishing his notebook back out of the pond a few minutes later grumbling about how Kacchan needs to think before he speaks or else he could land himself in serious shit one day if god forbid anyone actually does take his cruel words to heart.

and just to clarify before I get any further, I am not saying this to excuse Kacchan's actions in any way, because what he did was still completely terrible and unacceptable and WAY over the line, and what's more he knew it, too. the bullying was still shitty and horrible and awful, and definitely impacted Deku and made him miserable. I fully acknowledge that, and that Kacchan has a lot of atoning to do for it. this is not a "Kacchan did nothing wrong" post.

but that being said, I don't think canon Deku's reckless self-sacrificing nature actually has anything to do with the bullying. I think they're two completely separate things. canon Deku actually has pretty decent self-esteem in spite of everything Kacchan did to him. canon Deku doesn't think he is useless. canon Deku had a wholeass fight with Kacchan less than 10 chapters into the series in which he explicitly spelled it out for Kacchan that he had a lot of worth, and was going to prove it to him. canon Deku was persistent in wanting to become a hero and hoping and believing that he could find some way in spite of being quirkless. canon Deku never let go of that dream even when no one else supported it. I don't think he would have even given up on it after being told no by All Might, tbh -- we just never got to see how it would have played out because of everything that happened with the sludge monster shortly afterward. but he's not the type to ever give up on something that easily, and we've seen that. canon Deku never thought he was useless, but rather wanted to prove to everyone else that he wasn't.

the drive that Deku has to save and protect others even at the expense of his own safety is something entirely separate from that. he doesn't break his body for others simply because he has no self-esteem and thinks that his own life isn't important. he does it because he can't stand the thought of someone else getting hurt, and knowing that he could have done something to prevent it. it's as simple as that. like, Spider-Man has the whole "with great power comes great responsibility" thing, right? and he doesn't have low self-esteem; he simply believes that if he has the ability to help someone else, then he has a responsibility to help them. it's a personal creed. and Deku is based on Spider-Man. his philosophy is based on that philosophy, which was one of Horikoshi's core influences and is one of the core creeds in superhero fiction.

Deku is self-destructive not because he doesn't value himself, but because he is literally physically incapable of standing back and doing nothing if he knows that he can do something. he's the type of person who sees a car speeding towards someone and leaps in to push them out of the way. NOT because he wants to get himself fucking pancaked by a speeding car, but simply because he can't sit back and watch the other person get hurt without taking action. his body moves before he can think. and that's where the whole "doesn't take himself into account" thing comes in -- the fact that his thought process simply stops at "get them out of the way of the car", and never extends beyond that to "hey, and maybe I should try to find a way to do this that doesn't involve me getting hit in their place." to him, that's simply less important than the first priority, which is getting the other person out of the way.

and regarding that last part, while that may seem like a self-worth issue if he's prioritizing everyone else above himself, I think what it actually is just selflessness taken to extremes. like for instance, when a parent sacrifices themselves to save their child, them placing the child's life above their own isn't necessarily because they don't see themselves as having value. rather, it's that they love the child so much that they place their well-being even above their own. and that's what Deku is like as well. except that in his case he cares about EVERYONE, and so is willing to sacrifice himself for anyone. and that selflessness is his defining character trait, and simultaneously the most admirable and the most terrifying thing about him. it's both his greatest strength and his greatest weakness, which I think is fascinating to explore.

but anyway, so that's also why we never really see anyone thoroughly chewing him out for this behavior either. because the thing is, it is admirable how selfless he is. it's just that there's also a reason why most people are at least a little bit selfish. and that's because too much selflessness will ultimately and inevitably wind up getting you killed. at some point you either have to learn when to put the oxygen mask on yourself first, or else find yourself a loyal group of friends (or classmates) to watch your back, and make sure that mask gets on you when you need it. and maybe help you land the plane too while they're at it.

anyway so that was a lot of rambling, but basically it all boils down to three things:

when Deku berates himself for being useless (for instance at the end of the War arc), he's doing it out of frustration for not being able to push the others out of the way of the metaphorical car. that's the kind of uselessness he can't stand. the sitting-back-and-doing-nothing uselessness.

Kacchan's bullying was terrible, and it might have indeed played a part in Deku's choice of the word "useless" as a way of berating himself in these instances, but he is not the one who gave Deku this mindset of taking himself out of the equation. that's something that was already inherent to Deku from day one. (but that said, Kacchan has a lot of things to apologize to Deku for anyway, so if he wants to add this to the list I certainly won't stop him. he gets mad about Deku's suicidal attitude because it worries him, but that doesn't necessarily mean that he doesn't feel responsible for it. people underestimated his feelings of atonement before 284/285, and I think they're still underestimating him now.)

and lastly, one last important note, which is that Deku's current "saving" mindset isn't wrong, just as Kacchan's "winning" mindset was not wrong either. the lesson to be learned here is NOT that being selfless and wanting to save other people is bad. rather, it's the fact that he's trying to do it alone that's got him all fucked up right now. basically when you think about it, selflessness is really just selfishness on someone else's behalf. which means that in order for Deku to be saved, it isn't necessary for him to change his outlook or his selfless attitude, even if it is pretty crazy lol. rather, all he really needs is a good group of friends who are willing to act selfishly on his behalf in return. protecting each other through mutual selflessness lol. teamwork as self-preservation. hence why the U.A. kids are here now.

anyway so yeah, I think that's everything. sorry this got so long and out of control lol. this is just a very specific nuanced thing that's hard for me to express, but which I feel is very important when it comes to Deku's character. Kacchan didn't unleash Depressed Nomad Deku on the world (or at least not in this respect). but that being said, he and the others will hopefully be the ones to nudge him back on the right course again.

[crimsonkenjii-writes]

Congrats! Can I ask for A and C on Rengoku and Reiner please 🤗

I’m so glad you asked for Reiner!! I haven’t written for him yet and I love him so much!! I’m excited to write for him :)) tysm for the request! .｡*ﾟ+.*.｡(❁´◡`❁)｡.｡:+*

⭑･ﾟﾟ･*:༅｡.｡༅:*ﾟ:*:✼✿ 🔥 ✿✼:*ﾟ:༅｡.｡༅:*･ﾟﾟ･⭑

⭑･ﾟﾟ･*:༅｡.｡༅:*ﾟ:*:✼✿ 🔥 ✿✼:*ﾟ:༅｡.｡༅:*･ﾟﾟ･⭑

A - Arcade:

Kyo would not be a poor sport at all!! He’d find games really really fun and just be happy that he gets to spend time with you! He wouldn’t understand why someone would get so upset over losing. It’s just a game?? You could win next round??? He just doesn’t understand

“What’s this game?! How do you play it?! AHA! I DIED!!”

In a modern au, I can see Kyojurou not knowing shit about games lolol so he’d learn it all from you if you knew more than him

“A game? About ghosts?? Why would you want to scare yourself like that?”

Games I can see him really enjoying is Mario Kart (or any mario game lol), any fighting game (like street fighter, mortal kombat, ultimate smash bros, etc), Wii Sports, maybe some PC games like Valorant, Minecraft or League of Legends but his knowledge is pretty limited and would depend on the console(s) you have

He’s sound like a parent when he asks you about your games lmao

“Y/N, my dear! Is that the crossing of animals?! How do you win the game?! ....You don’t???”

“Could you pause the game really quick, My Dear? I need your help with something. You can’t pause it? Why not? Isn’t that button usually the pause button?”

He can’t remember titles for the life of him! Making him sound even more like a parent with your games

“Duty That Calls!” “Man of Spiders for the PX4!!” “Thievery of a Grand Auto?! That’s what it’s called, right??” “Redemption of the Dead!” “The Last of Them!!” “Zelda’s Legendary???”

C - Cooking:

Surprisingly an amazing chef!! He cooked a lot for his father and brother so he knows a few tips and tricks that make him an excellent chef

Although, I can see Kyo failing miserably at a recipe he’s never done before. But the second time he makes it, it’s like he was a professional at that recipe for seven years

He’s also willing to explore other cultural foods and learn how to make them, especially if it’s from your culture! He loves to explore new things and learn about them so you opening a new door to all different kinds of foods excites him

“Oh, this is something you always ate as a child? Do you know the ingredients? I’d love to try making it!”

I can also see Kyo being pretty sloppy in the kitchen while he’s cooking. He’s just so in the zone he doesn’t realize he spilled some sugar on the floor, wiped his flour ridden hands on his forehead or knocked over the salt and let it spill all over the counter

But he does a very well clean up afterwards and leaves the place looking like he didn’t just create a mess for two hours straight

He’s always excited to hear your input on is good so that he learn how to improve it and make it taste even better

You guys typically switch on a off with cooking and he loves the way you cook. Even if you fucked up the food a little, he’s still love it because he can feel the secret ingredient of love in the cooking

Even if you’re so terrible that all you can even make is cereal, Kyojurou would literally gobble that shit up as if it’s the most tastiest thing in the world

“You poured me this cereal, Y/N?” *ANSOOQNFIFHAIOWO* “IT TASTES SUPER GOOD!!!” “DELICIOUS! DELICIOUS!!”

⭑･ﾟﾟ･*:༅｡.｡༅:*ﾟ:*:✼✿ ⚔️ ✿✼:*ﾟ:༅｡.｡༅:*･ﾟﾟ･⭑

artwork by: twitter.com/AFpocketbee

⭑･ﾟﾟ･*:༅｡.｡༅:*ﾟ:*:✼✿ ⚔️ ✿✼:*ﾟ:༅｡.｡༅:*･ﾟﾟ･⭑

A - Arcade

In a modern au, I could totally see Reiner loving games

He got a lot of the consoles when he was a young boy so the older version of consoles are super nostalgic to him

And since he dabbled in a in all the consoles, his range of games is real large so he plays almost any and every game on every console

If you’re not into games, he’ll try his best to get you into it as well so that it’s something you both could share together he just wants to do everything with you 🥺

“Here, Babe, look. This one is easy! All you have to do is aim at the target and shoot. Try it!” you failed miserably “Oh... no no you did good!! Just... keep practicing and you’ll be an expert in no time!!”

And honestly, this guy’s a little bit of a poor sport. Not to a toxic level but enough for it to be kind of cute. If you beat him at one of his favorite games, sheeeeesh he’s gonna pout so much!

“What?? No. You got lucky. That’s not - I - you - ANOTHER ROUND!”

He will literally keep playing you until he wins then turn off the game as if he “doesn’t wanna play anymore”

He would definitely beat you up a lot in a new game you’ve never played before and not even teach you the controls or give you time to learn them. He’d just beat you up.

He’ll get his fill of victory though and then start to teach you and take it slow. He’d even let you beat him a bunch so that you can start getting the hang of it. But once you do, beware. He will not hesitate this time, he’s going all out.

C - Cooking

Oh dear... oh gosh... this man cannot cook. Get him out of the kitchen. Please, he’ll start a fire.

There’s like literally only two things he can cook and that’s French toast and pancakes. Maybe Kraft Mac and cheese.

But he makes some really good French toast and pancakes, he loves making them for you when you wake up

But other than that, he’s so bad. He’d manage to burn the outside of the chicken and the inside be raw

But if he really, really practiced, I think Reiner would end up be a pretty good cook

Now, if you can cook, you can bet your ass this simp would act so extra when he eats your cooking

“It smells SO GOOD!!” “Mmm!! Oh my god!!! BABE!! MMMMMMM!!! MMHHMMMM!!! SSSOOO GOOOODDDD!!!”

“Reiner, stop simping with your mouth full.”

He always looks forward to your cooking and is literally drooling the entire time waiting for it to be cooked. Let’s just say he’ll be a very well fed man because that’s how much he asks for you to cook for him and how much he eats, not even the left overs are safe

[hellyeahheroes]

Miles Morales’ Clone Saga: Overview and Analysis

tl; dr: Miles Morales: Spider-Man’s Clone Saga is a return to form to Ahmed’s high narrative quality that he had prior to the Outlawed crossover. This arc continues to keep the focus on Miles’ supporting cast as well as checking in the emotional struggle of the character dealing with Spider-man. It benefits from learning the mistakes of the previous and infamous Clone Saga in that it is succinct and clear in that Miles’ Clone Saga is more akin to Jordan Peele’s Us than Peter Parker’s Clone Saga which centered around identity. The Clone Saga isn’t a stand alone event, but a culmination of Ahmed’s Spider-Man run up to this point that sets up more relevant stuff in the future.

It’s been awhile since I have been able to cover Miles Morales as enthusiastically as I want to. I am preparing for a move and being a good boyfriend that I have been reduced to chiming in on stuff instead of making these lengthy ass posts.

Sorry about that.

Regardless, I can’t necessarily blame my personal life struggles with my lack of enthusiasm in the comic. I could have made time to talk about this comic, but honestly, the comic has been going through a bit of a lull period since it has been embroiled in back to back crossover events in which Saladin had to juggle pushing his own narrative within MM:SM while servicing the crossover event that absolutely no one honestly cared too much about because it was undercooked due to the political climate at the time as well as the Pandemic(Outlawed) or it was just fucking terrible and basically hypermasculine fanfic self-insert porn(King in Black).I am just glad that Miles is allowed to return to the good old basics of just being Spider-Man.

The Prologue of the Clone Saga: What is Going on in Miles’ Life prior to it?

Aww Ahmed, you somehow managed to be topical without actually trying to be.

As someone who has dealt with Slum Lords and shitty Land Lords and living in Florida, this was cathartic.

But underneath this, there is this  overall point that Miles’ is succumbing to anger which was something he feared doing all the way back since Bendis was writing him. Miles’ is timid. He fears becoming like his father and Uncle and letting his temper go off. He restrains himself a lot versus Peter, who was generally an angry kid who was picked on a lot and might have gotten in fights. Miles isn’t some nerdy outcast recluse like Peter was. He didn’t want to be Spider-Man. Peter, on the other hand, was a pissed off misanthropic orphan who was angry at the world enough that once he got his powers, he immediately used them for personal gain until his selfishness came back to haunt him.

While Peter explodes into violent outrages from a place of hatred for his own inaction and taking collective responsibility, Miles hates that he is becoming like his Uncle the more he does this Spider-Man bit.

Keep this in mind that the struggle of Miles is the balancing of going too far in restraining himself or keeping in his shell and not dealing with situations and going too far expressing his rage.

I feel like I have to do some backstory because it’s been like, what, six issues since I covered this so I am going to have to backtrack to keep everyone who hasn’t been following along with the comings and going of this comic.

Alright, first, what has been going on in Miles’ social life. Where we last left off, Miles and Barbara broke up or were broken up. So how is the crew doing since?

First and foremost, Uncle Aaron Davis aka the Prowler is “dead” again or as good as dead. At worst, he got sent back to the Ultimate Universe with Ultimatum and the Maker. At best, he is dead.

Miles has a baby sister which I have covered, but she is important to the Clone Saga. Her name is Billie named after famous Jazz singer Billie Holiday, Yes, the naming convention of the Morales family to name their children after jazz musicians and singers.

And what about Ganke and his crew at Brooklyn Visions?

So during Outlawed, Barbara took a stand against the anti-teen vigilante law and conducted a sit-in. Judge and Ganke joined in the sit-in and ended up detained unlawfully. Luckily, their Congresswoman stepped in and called Captain America, a resident in her district, to sort out the Fascists. Ganke, Barbara, and Judge were released. And because Miles was dealing with his Spider-Man issues, he was too busy and not around. And Ganke took that as “great opportunity.”

I had this image under “GankeTheSnake.jpeg” lol.

Isn’t Ganke supposed to be dating Danika Hart? What happened to that? I swear if Ahmed reads this and puts a little aside in an issue instead a full blown appearance of Danika, I am going to be mad.

No, this has very little to do with bro code and a lot to do with general betrayal. First off, Ganke knows why Miles and Barbara broke up: Miles did not tell her that he was Spider-Man. This attitude towards revealing his secret was pre-imposed on him by Peter Parker and....wait for it...one Ganke Lee. It is snake like behavior because it’s like your best friend telling you to work super hard for that promotion and work extra hours. You take up that advice and you work super damn hard. Meanwhile, your best friend comforts your partner while you are out there grinding for that check. Your partner gets sick of it because they feel neglected, and your so-called best friend decides to comfort them a little too much. That is what Ganke did. 

I don’t blame Barbara because, again, isn’t Ganke’s best friend. She was never part of the clique. She is not bouncing off or being a rebound other than putting the screws to Miles. Ganke is supposed to not fall for that. Would you call Mary Jane a violator because she also dated Harry and Mary Jane? No. Barbara is a free agent and even she was skeptical of that until the Snake did retract. What is underserved is that it frames Barabara to look like a manipulator which comes from this sexist interpretation that women are two sided or two faced about relations. But that isn’t Ahmed’s point. He is pointing focus towards Barbara which a thing in both Miles’ and Peter’s Spider-Man is that since they are both first person perspective titles’ you don’t get a lot of introspection from other characters. Especially so in MM:SM where everything is in a thought bubble writings in Miles’ journal. Barbara could very well have some bad intentions but Ganke is the asshole. People thought Mary Jane was just a promiscuous party girl with multiple lovers and it turns out that she was raised in a broken home and witnessed two failed and abusive relationships between her mother and her sister. We don’t know enough about Barbara to jump to any conclusion. We do know enough about Ganke to know what he did was foul. In fact, Ganke was the one who introduced Miles to Barbara. That’s the fucked part of it. At least, Harry asked!

Second, Miles still loves her.

He mentions her twice on his friend date with Kamala Khan, another girl that Miles has admitted that he has a crush on. He refers to Barbara as “my girl” and yeah, it’s clear, in spite of shippers leaving out the text of these panels, that Miles still has feelings for her.

Ganke the Snake is messed up. But I love it. I love the melodrama. I thrive in it because that is classic Spider-Man as hardcore fans like @traincat​ can provide countless examples of some soap opera shenanigans like this.

To continue on from that, Miles decides to reveal his identity to Starling after the whole ordeal in Outlawed where she and Miles were on the run from the government for being vigilantes under 21.Tiana worked with the Champions on the run and she earned Miles’ trust.

And for those who were expecting Starling to act like Black Cat...wellllllll...

There was no confirmation or anything because Zoomers don’t believe in making things official apparently as I learned from Euphoria. We don’t know if Miles and Tiana are dating or not or are they doing that “We are not going to put a label on it” thing.Regardless, Miles basically pulled a Jay-Z “On to the Next One.” I am proud of my boy.

Ganke is still a snake though.

And last and certainly not the least important factor in Miles’ Clone Saga is the Assessor.

The Assessor was able to basically roam free after Miles’ first encounter with it. I am so mad that Ahmed allowed Slott to write an annual basically solving all the mysteries of the Assessor in fucking Iron Man. But that is for another post. Anyways, after the Assessor tortured Miles, Miles basically was too traumatized that he stopped being Spider-man for a month. While this is understandable, it allowed for the Assessor to continue with it’s project and create Burner Clones of Miles. This is a character flaw with Miles. As soon as being Spider-Man gets too tough, he quits and acts like the world is perfectly fine and refuses to resolve things. It happened when Miles first got bitten and instead of reaching out to Peter, Peter dies and now Miles feels emboldened to be Spider-Man because he was too scared. He did it after his mother was killed in the Ultimate Universe when he decided to retire for two years and this allowed a criminal child trafficking network run by corporations to capture and experiment on kids and thus creating super teens. 

Instead of dealing with it immediately, he recluses and hides until the issue becomes so big that he has to deal with it.

And that is what happened here. The Burner Clones attack Miles at his home and kidnap him again. The Assessor now has clones of Miles running around wrecking havoc and because Miles decided to wallow and do nothing, well we have the Clone Saga.

I think that is everything so lets begin with the Clone Saga.

Part 1

Miles comes home to concerned parents with the news that Spider-Man is kidnapping scientists. The thing is that Miles did not do that. Gee, it must be a clone.

Apparently the news is flooding with Spider-Man running amok all over Brooklyn.What we get here is the above situations mixing into one page. Miles is getting angrier at the world and while most of these instances are untrue, the story about the real estate agent/slumlord comes up and he is forced to admit to his parents that that one actually happened.

What was an instance of rightful vindication becomes framed as an out of control vigilante/criminal and that is the theme of Miles Morales Spider-Man. Things that Peter routinely got away with turns against Miles. Miles can;t get too emotional or be too angry because his anger is perceived as more threatening because of whom he is.

Then Ganke, who Miles thought was there to inform him of the happenings, arrives to tell Miles’ something, but immediately cedes his mission once a bigger and more important issue comes up. That’s suspicious. Miles and Ganke go up to Miles’ room as the former gets suited up to investigate the case of his doppleganger destruction. Miles notices Ganke’s phone buzzing and hands it to him.

You’d expect the kid with a giant box labeled Empathy on top of his work desk would be totally understanding that his best friend is dating the girl who he still have feelings for?

He doesn’t. Miles’ gets angry and rightly so, but he doesn’t do what I would have done i.e. web Ganke from a tall building and make him hope that I cool off in time to get him before the web evaporates. Miles stops himself from careening his fist into Ganke and apologizes(more than I would have done), and heads out to be Spider-Man.

And this is the theme of Miles’ Clone Saga. He fears that anger in himself so when he meets the literal personification of that rage and unhinged violence, he gets scared as he does now. He is becoming violent like his father used to be. Like his Uncle was. Like his grandfather that Miles never met and was so bad that Jefferson cast away his surname.This anger in Miles becomes manifested in the personification of his selfish rage: Selim.And Miles deals with the hypothetical repercussions of if he ever were to break bad or just lose it.

This is a reminder for Miles that Peter will definitely come for his ass if Miles were to ever go too far. And while it was fun watching the two tumble, Miles in the back of his mind has to realize that Peter is not against using violence on his successor. And this isn’t a something I’d hold against Peter because he does stop when he realizes that Miles is his Miles and always believed that Miles was not behind the kidnappings. Peter always believes in Miles Morales even when Miles doesn’t believe in himself and honestly, while I don’t think of Peter as Miles’ mentor, I do like that Peter gives a shit about the kid enough to give Miles and automatic benefit of a doubt.

But I digress. After Miles explains the situation to Peter but gets interrupted when they find the imposter. Or imposters since both Peter and Miles get ambushed from behind by another Miles’ clone while chasing another. They scuffle with the clone who can apparently shapeshift his body and is shock proof and successfully tie him up but the Miles’ clone escapes with a built in bio-color smoke bomb. Peter gets incapacitated by the smoke bomb so Miles has to give chase alone.

While Miles’ gives chase, he finds his clones.

Part 2

The Clones names are Selim, Mindsplitter and Shift. Selim, other than being Miles backwards, means undamaged in Arabic which also means that he is a near perfect clone of Miles. As you can see, Selim is elitist and also hyperviolent. This is an important quality regarding Selim and I’ve seen people compare Selim to Kaine Parker to which I say it’s a little different. Kaine, from what I know, was a defective Clone who had issues with his identity. Selim is sure of whom he is and has no misconception about whom he is nor does he want to be Miles. Selim is just hyperviolent Miles. And we are going to the meta-commentary of Selim in Part 3 and why it is a bit more sinister than Peter and Kaine.

The clones beat up Miles and gang up on him until Peter comes to the rescue and makes the obligatory Kilometer Morales joke. The clones escape again which leaves both Miles and Peter time to discuss what is going on. Peter imparts Miles with some crucial advise in dealing with Clones.

Peter advises Miles not to act hastily when dealing with Clones and he also advises that Miles take some life stock and get some rest. Miles reluctantly takes up Peter’s advise and the two part ways.

This is the last interaction for Peter in Miles’ Clone Saga. He is there to remind the reader that yes, his Clone Saga was a thing and he did go through it, but Miles’ Clone Saga is ultimately different because it is less about who is the original and grasping with the idea of identity and more about cloning as a means of weaponizing and tarnishing reputation. And while I am at it, it isn’t that the original Clone Saga was terrible but more of the fact that it was drawn out and melodramatic.While Miles’ is quick and painful, Peter’s confused audiences and red herrings of whom was the real Peter and had whiplashes out the  wazoo. And while it did produce fan favorites like Ben O’Reilly and Kaine Parker, Clone Saga suffered from inconsistent writing due to having multiple writers. Miles’ benefits from Ahmed seeing everything through and actively refusing to stick with one arc more than 4 issues at a time. It’s the classic Amazing Spider-Man pace. This isn’t to say that Miles is better. It’s say that Miles is allowed to take his spin on old Spider-Man stories and make them better because people can examine those stories and learn from them.

But I digress.

Miles goes back home and tries to take the advice, but can’t because Selim and the clones have chose to weaponize themselves against Miles in a different way.

While Ganke did immediately believe Miles, I think the important thing to note is how Selim chose to represent Miles in that text, but that is for part 3 because it is very intentional from his use of dialogue and his overall aggressive attitude. Regardless, made his point that Miles can’t ignore him. Ganke realized that Selim must have cloned Miles’ phone and sent texts so Ganke reverse engineered his phone to track where Selim sent those texts from. 

Meanwhile Miles reflects on what makes him unique as a person and how he used to think it was his family, but starts to question if that is true(he gets his answer the next issue).

Regardless, Spider-man heads out exhausted but with fire in his eyes hoping to resolve this Clone business once and for all.

This is about as close as to Peter’s Clone Saga Miles gets as he ponders what exactly makes him unique. And he likens it to his experiences and the people around him is what makes him unique. Speaking of which, I want to clarify something: I do not like Clones. I’ve seen people liken my dislike of Clones with ableism and honestly, no. If you want to create a little petri person, I am okay as long as that person is their own identity and is allowed to experience life on their own accord. But the moment that you clone someone without their consent, and then that clone insists on existing in that cloned identity, then I am taking the Dr.Octavious approach regarding clones in general. This is why I have an issue with Ben Reilly’s excuse to hijack Spider-Man from Peter in the current Beyond storyline. He says that Peter’s memories are his memories too so therefore the Spider-Man identity means the same thing it does to him as it does Peter’s. And that’s fallacious because I have read about Peter, but that doesn’t make me Peter Parker. Clone Existential crisis only come about because they are not trying to be their own person and are latching onto a self that isn’t them. What Ben did was wrong and is wrong especially since he is latching on memories that he did not experience. Does that also mean that he can marry MJ too? Aunt May is his Aunt too? 

Ben, like Selim, was created to pervert the life of Peter by a man who does not care about humanity and cares more about his obsessions.

And Selim is about to demonstrate exactly what I mean.

Ganke successfully reverse tracked Selim’s phone and got a location. Miles heads out to confront his clones. When he finally arrives to their hideout, Miles calls them out and then proceeds to let his anger dictate the situation.

And he pays for it.

Turns out Miles doomed his Clone brethren by destroying their lab as they were trying create a cure for their temporary lifespans. By not heeding Peter Parker’s advice, he has effectively killed his clones. And Selim is going to make sure that his swan song will be spent making his Clone template’s life a living hell.

ACT 3

Now I can finally talk about Selim. I have seen Spidey fans, usually white ones, make this haphazard comparison of Selim to Kaine Parker or Ben and that’s not exactly correct. Yes, Kaine is seen as the physically superior Peter Parker in that he has more powers, is stronger, and is well-aware of that. However, Kaine wasn’t manufactured to be weaponized by the public like Selim and also Kaine is cloned from a white Jewish man who has a history of going off and letting that anger flow. Kaine constantly goes through an existential crisis of not being the true Peter Parker in spite of being a “better” Peter Parker. Kaine is a reflection of personal identity and not necessarily public perception of your identity.

Throughout Miles’ Clone Saga, we have seen Miles’ anger leading him to making mistakes and how his tendency to lash out violently and aggressively be used against him and people’s perception of him. Miles knows that his family on his dad’s side has a history of criminality. His father used to be an enforcer for the Kingpin, his Uncle was a career hitman/thief for the rich/assassin for the wealthy, and his granddad was a selfish drunk who would beat his kids if they did not steal him his favorite alcoholic beverage along with the candy they took. Not to mention the fact Miles’ fears the anger boiling inside of him that one day, he might just go crazy and do something rash like kill Captain America(Civil War 2) or become just like his Uncle(Ultimatum). People forget that if Miles did not get bitten by the spider, he’d become the next Prowler and be like his Uncle. Not to mention in every other universe, including Spider-Gwen’s, Miles or his family has either been bad guys, criminals for even badder guys or etc. For you movie oriented motherfuckers, recall that scene from Into the Spider-verse when Miles meets Peter for the first time and their Spider-senses tingle together. Notice how Miles background changes from Purple and Green(Prowler’s colors) to Red and Blue(Peter’s colors). That is visual storytelling at work.

Selim represents those darker tendencies Miles. Selim lashed out at Ganke for dating Barbara just like Miles did. Selim is targeting greedy, rich, and powerful people violently just like Miles lashed out at the slumlord in the prologue. And Selim is aiming to destroy Miles’ life like Miles’ doomed his. The difference is that Selim takes up a notch because he knows that he won’t ever have to deal with the repercussions of his actions, personally or societally. Selim doesn’t just get annoyed with Ganke. He whoreshames Miles’ ex-girlfriend. Selim does not just get aggravated with the rich white people. He kills them and leaves his fingerprints everywhere so it will blowback on Miles. Selim does not just target Miles. He targets everyone even remotely related to Miles because this nigga has no fucking sense.

But this is just on a personal level. Selim, on a macro-level, invokes racial imagery and caricature. Selim is literally created by an AI of a literal white man to weaponize copies of a black teen and prioritizes the copies to be violent and aggressive.That above cover intentionally evokes racial imagery such as a white man’s perception of black men versus the reaction of black men towards a violent act. Both are angry but one is fabricated and the other is evoked. Selim evokes something so much more sinister than Kaine because he is racial aggravation. To Jewish folks, Selim is the ‘shande’ that embarrasses all Jewish people. To Asian people, Selim is the banana. And to black people, Selim is the coon that is so ignorant or indifferent to the perception that his actions reflect on all of us as a whole.Because Selim is created by a white man, he has no respect or care for the societal persecution that his actions his actions could evoke upon black people in general. Which isn’t so weird in a society in which mass incarceration and criminalization of the black man are founded on Jim Crow-esque ideals of protecting white women from black savages, and the like.

Kaine was terrifying to Peter Parker and only Peter Parker. Selim could get Stop and Frisk reinstated. So no, Selim is not the same as Kaine. Perception of violence in this country racialized. While no one gives a shit about the riots that happen after white people’s favorite sports team win a game, but will raise a stink and evoke Martin Luther King when police unjustly murder a black person.

Back to the comic.

Selim corrects Miles in that he and his clone brethren aren’t exactly clones, but modifications of Miles without the sustaining ability of a clone like Ben Reilly or a Kaine Power. While both clones do have clone degeneration, they both typically last longer than a few days. They are burner clones. And Selim was hoping to alleviate that condition, but Miles unintentionally fucked that up. Miles apologizes and states that he had no idea what the Clones were doing and it wasn’t his intention and that he can help them all, but the Clones don’t belive him and opt to torture their clone template for revenge. Miles gives up and declares that he isn’t afraid of torture since Miles has experienced worse which Selim asks if he is referencing the Assessor.

I don’t think I did much justice on just how bad the Assessor is, but honestly, Miles Morales: Spider-Man #8 is only 3.99 and I did a review on it anyway so search those tags. To sum it up, the Assessor is an AI that assesses any and everything. He is GlaDos except none of the charm or sass and a bit more unnerving. The Assessor tortured Miles for weeks. The Assessor drilled him to exhaustion, beat on him with his machinations, vivisected Miles, waterboarded him, and several more things that you can see for yourself in MM:SM #8. Why did he do this? As of this writing, we don’t know yet, but we hopefully will find out in the current Beyond Arc. Anyways, if the Assessor did this to Miles, you can only imagine what the Assessor did to the clones.

I am not going to let you imagine. I am just going to show you.

Just pure evil. Also, this is the first time I think the Clones’ names and abilities were mentioned. Selim is just a deadlier Miles. Shift is an unstable mess of biology and barely is able to maintain his physical form. Mindspinner has become more Spider like and has grown four more arms and also has 8 eyes and psionic powers. 

Back to the comic.Selim and Mindspinner leaves Miles with Shift to kill Rio and Miles has a heart to heart with Shift, who is rather reluctant about what his clone brothers are doing. Miles noticed that Selim referred to Rio as “our mother” and took that to heart that they are like his brothers in a way. After a little pleading, Shift releases Miles.

More on Shift since he has become a bit of a recurring character after this arc. Shift is coded as neuroatypical in that he cannot speak and is somewhat deformed(couldn’t find a better word to describe him, but did not mean to offend those). But compared to his Clone brothers, he is the most like Miles Morales in heart. He has a sense of right or wrong that was not eroded during the Assessor’s conditioning. Shift is hopefully a mainstay for Miles, although I doubt it, because his entire character reeks of tragedy in the making.

Miles immediately goes to the hospital where Miles’ mother works only to find the hospital a mess and staff frazzled.

Mindsplitter meets his “mom” Rio and terrorizes her. Rio, showing where Miles gets his selflessness from, shoos away potential victims while she deals with clone of her son.

I love that Rio gets really foulmouthed when it comes to defending her children. Like yes, she is sweet and kind, but people forget that she knew Luke Cage back when the Rivalz were a thing and she resided in Spanish Harlem. She is with the shits and will drop the kind sweet mother act as soon as her family is in danger. Rio is not an Aunt May, although even Aunt May poisoned a batch of cookies and fed them to Chameleon when he impersonated her nephew so she don’t either. Rio gets vulgar and I find it hilarious that Miles inherited this aspect from her and not Jefferson.

So Miles and Mindsplitter fight throughout the hospital and with a timely assist from Mama Morales, Miles overpowers and defeats Mindsplitter. Miles asks where did Selim go and both Rio and Miles realized that Selim went after Jefferson and Billie.

Well fuck.

Part 4

The final part in Miles’ Clone Saga which also shows that unlike Peter’s it is brief, coherent, and direct. 

Selim has Billie and he has called out Miles to come to Brooklyn Bridge. This is somewhat an important location for Miles and would have been for Spider-Man mythos. You see the Brooklyn Bridge would have been the bridge that was depicted in the Night Gwen Stacy Died, but the text states that the bridge was the George Washington Bridge. It is actually hilarious to imagine Green Goblin carrying a white girl across Upper Manhattan past Harlem and into Washington Heights from Lower Manhattan near where NYU is. Just imagination a flying green man carrying a screaming white girl above millions of people across the island and you kind of understand why everyone in New York remembers the night Gwen Stacy Died. It’s because everyone saw it. Ahmed opted for Brooklyn Bridge which was also the location that Miles’ Uncle used to take him as a kid as a mini-field trip.

This is from Absolute Carnage: Miles Morales #2. Also written by Saladin Ahmed.

The bridge is technically an important location for Spider-Man mythos in spite of Gerry Conway erroneously naming the wrong bridge in TNGSD. To Miles, this place was a location filled with nostalgia. For Peter, this place is a moment of one of his greatest failures. And now Selim is evoking TNGSD with Miles’ baby sister, Billie. It’s a pivotal moment that Miles has to face a potential baby killer with his face wearing his mask.

Selim’s lack of humanity and his little microaggressions lead us to this moment. Miles is facing the person that he fears that he could be. Where those little bouts of anger and hot flashes are embodied in Selim. Selim is a major vibecheck for Miles. And Miles has to do a little soul searching to see where he ends and where Selim begins.

This is about as close Selim begins to act like Kaine. This is what is driving him. Is he a better Miles Morales than the original. And Miles baits him with it because the one thing Selim values or was conditioned to value was strength. It is not about whether he is like Miles. It’s about being better than Miles in reference to his own values. Spider-Man vs Spider Clone with a knives.

Miles and Selim fight across the Brooklyn Bridge deciding the fate of Miles’ family. There are few scenes in comics that convey action well and I think Carmen Carnero did a very good job displaying the choreography in a few pages. If I had to rank her among of Miles’ best artists, she’d be four behind Javier Garron, Sara Pichelli, and David Marquez in that order. In terms of fight scenes in this series, this would be well behind anything Garron has done as he did a fantastic job panelling fight scenes such as Miles versus Green Goblin II and IV. There is also the multiple fights with grunts and the two with Tombstone. Carnero is better with designing Miles to look more realistic while Garron prefers depicting action as more fluid and engaging. And this is not a diss at Carnero. Miles has had fantastic artwork and some of the best comic artists in the industry depicting him. She is still one of the best comic artists today. She is just in a company where in this series, it’s a rare thing when Miles is depicted poorly.

Was there ever any doubt that Miles would whoop Selim’s candy ass? Miles physically is one of the stronger characters in Street Level Marvel. Peter could handle Miles, no problem, but Miles is a problem when he is appropriately focused and motivated to hand you a can of Spider-whoop ass.

So of course, Selim cheats.

Say what you want about Kaine, but Kaine was capable being in love. He was capable of being in love. There is no love or humanity in Selim. He is calling an infant who is as close to him as a sister that he can get, a thing. In spite of looking exactly like Miles of his brothers, he resembles Miles the least of them.

Both Shift and Mindsplitter intervene and stop their homicidal brother from collecting bodies, Shift on behalf of Billie and Mindsplitter on behalf of Shift. Selim feels betrayed and attacks Mindsplitter while Shift cradles Billie from danger. Miles watches as his two clones engage in a final clash that ends with an electric explosion off the bridge.

Miles gets Billie from Shift and realizes that Billie was sleeping soundly in the web cradle that Selim placed her in. So the baby slept through the explosion. Miles is grateful for Shift and the two with their sister get away from the bridge to avoid the cops A safe distance away from the bridge, Miles and Shift have a heart to heart. Miles says that he understands that Shift didn’t have much of a say in being created and he understand that he was used by Selim. He then tells Shift that he has a choice now and Miles with be there to help him. Shift seems elated with the news so he spontaneously paints this.

Awww and in hindsight this will probably will be tearjerker inducing when Shift eventually and most likely dies. I can imagine Miles officially taking up grafitti lessons in commemoration of his brother because we know he has it in him and now it means something to him.

And yes, Miles considers Shift to be his brother.

And it ends in a positive and endearing note.

Summary and Final Thoughts

I enjoyed this arc. Obviously as spent months writing this up well after the arc has ended. You can get this entire arc in one volume as it is available in stores as Miles Morales: Spider-Man Volume #5 Clone Saga or any online comic distributor of your choice.  

Saladin Ahmed is recreating the feel of those classic Spider-Man stories like Romita or Conway with Miles that aim to focus on Miles’ struggle under the mask and this arc really tests Miles in all fronts. It is a benchmark for the character in terms of development and while nothing traumatic happened to him, Miles struggled and he triumphed. He certainly strained his relationships as  following this, his image has been tainted due to Selim going buckwild, but I think having witnesses attest that there were multiple Spider-Men kind of allowed Miles to save face. Miles has a new responsibility and brother in Selim that he has to look over and help.And I am sure Miles’ parents are certainly stressed out with the bullshit that Miles’ time as Spider-Man bring to their front door.

In other words, it’s a Spider-Man story.

@ubernegro​

[thevindicativevordan]

Comics this week ? (like WW #12)

Superman #17 - The good Absolute Power tie-in of the week. Glad to see Clark is pissed about Jon and not handling it well. He’s much more aggressive and short tempered here, with Zatanna playing the cool head. An underrated aspect of Superman is that when he loses his powers he also tends to lose his patience and his restraint. Something to unpack there about how much of the cool-headed friendly personality we normally associate with Superman is an act. But of course I am not unbiased when it comes to Superman and Wrath…

World’s Finest #30 - Waid managed to write a story that even the Wondy fans enjoyed, truly a Herculean feat given the grudge they bear towards him for his self-admitted tendency to misrepresent Diana. Themyscaria came off well, they had advanced tech, kangas, and not all of the Amazons were hostile to the World’s Finest trio.

Wonder Woman #12 - Bleh. Good to let Sampere get ahead so that the actual story has consistent art, but these AP tie-ins from King are not hitting.

Green Lantern: War Journal #12 - Loved the ending. Finally have a stand-alone story for Stewart that I can recommend. I'm not sure about keeping Ellie around as her own entity. I interpreted the bit about John's Mama being preserved in the ring as John rewiring his ring to be based on his mom's personality rather than literally preserving her soul or what not, and that interpretation strikes me as very touching. Montos for Stewart is what Reis was for Hal, what a shame we can’t get a 50 issue run on Stewart from this team.

Jenny Sparks #1 - Judging by the complaints, it’s seems like this was a lot of people’s first exposure to the Ellis style of sneering bastards making fun of “capes”. King captured that tone perfectly I’d say, even if some of Spoke’s imagery was heavy handed. Old bearded white guy feeding the birds for no reason other than he wants to (God as a benevolent provider) contrasted with Atom saying he wants to kill and eat the birds because he can (God as a terrifying force of destruction) was not subtle at all. Will King bring up the High is my biggest question. After all it was the High who in a way caused Jenny to form the Authority in the first place, since she seems to have a negative opinion of Superman here I want to know what her history is with High/Superman. Especially in a post-S&tA world (even if it is an Elseworld) you could wrong some interesting stuff out of Superman and Sparks talking about the Authority.

Ultimate Spider-Man #8 - If my clothes started smiling at me I would simply never wear them again. I would also set them on fire. If it wasn’t obvious, the picosuit is 6160 Venom. I loved how ominous this entire issue read, even without any major action you can feel the swords dangling over the cast. AI Peter is already referring to himself as his own entity, he’s focused on the kids just like regular Peter, he’s teasing that he can do stuff Peter doesn’t know about, how long until he starts trying to “take the wheel”? Maybe we’ll get a version of Earth X Venom where the suit tries to bond with either Richard or May in an effort to protect them.

Harry meanwhile gets a small humiliation in that Maker didn’t even consider him worthy of notice, which is only going to fuel his need to prove himself. Been going back and forth on if Richard or Jonah would be the ones to die, and after this issue I bet it’s Jonah. Killing Jonah would affect both Richard (with whom Jonah bonds in one of the best Jonah moments ever) and Ben (who is clearly lonely after his wife’s death and Jonah dying could push Robbie to join Ben or Peter to jump ship too). Kingpin gathers his Sinister Six, and I loved how Mysterio is shown to be playing mind games with his fellow villains.

[traincat]

I feel like I've read a ton, but I'm honestly still pretty new to comics rn. That being said... What is one more day? Ik we don't like it and it happened a while ago, but that's about it [,=

Time for Spider-Man History With Traincat: Highly Controversial Storylines! And that feeling is totally normal with comics with huge canons -- you can read a ton and still have some fairly big blindspots in your understanding of the total picture. That being said, this is kind of a big one, both in terms of Spider-Man history/canon and in terms of how Spider-Man fandom functions. I would say probably no other storyline has had quite as much impact on how the fandom views and interacts with the source material as One More Day/Brand New Day. It's been the Wild West out here ever since it happened. (Which was in 2007, so like, yes, fairly long ago, especially when you look at how Spider-Man canon has evolved since, but in the grand scheme of things, also kind of recent. One More Day is not old enough to rent a car.)

So when people talk about Spider-Man's One More Day, they're usually actually talking about two related arcs: One More Day and Brand New Day. For the sake of simplicity, I'm going to be covering both. For the sake of transparency, I am going to admit that I think One More Day, as a self-contained story, is good, actually. This is controversial! I admit that! But I stand by my stupid opinions on this blog, for some reason. I think One More Day when you examine it on its own, by which I mean you ignore the decade and a half worth of canon that came after it, as a Spider-Man story and as a PeterMJ-centric story holds up under scrutiny and that people who don't like it don't like complicated love stories and might actually throw their own mothers under buses. No offense to the OMD haters. Little bit of offense to the OMD haters. Brand New Day, which is the continuation of One More Day, on the other hand -- largely bad. Very largely bad.

But let's backtrack. One More Day is a four issue crossover storyline that takes place directly after Civil War, during which Iron Man and Captain America got divorced and divvied up the superhero community and Spider-Man made some startlingly bad decisions and made a fugitive out of himself and his family in a manner that got Aunt May shot, and Spider-Man: Back in Black (Amazing Spider-Man #539–543) which examines Peter's actions immediately after Aunt May is shot and ends with him humiliating the Kingpin in front of an entire prison. One More Day consists of Amazing Spider-Man #544 -> Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man #24 -> Sensational Spider-Man v2 #41 -> Amazing Spider-Man #545. In One More Day, Aunt May is dying, all of Peter's efforts to save her have thus far failed, and, consumed by guilt, he is rapidly running out of time. Approached by Mephisto, a literal demon from hell, Peter is offered a deal: Aunt May will live -- and Peter's identity, which was previously revealed to the world at large during Civil War, will once again be hidden from the memories of all but a select few -- if Peter trades him his marriage to Mary Jane. Peter and Mary Jane struggle with this, but eventually both agree to the deal. The clock strikes twelve, the deal is done, and Peter and Mary Jane's marriage fades into history.

(ASM #545) A reasonably simple premise for a story that caused so many problems -- most, I would argue, not actually the original story's fault. So obviously, this was an unpopular move -- Peter and Mary Jane had for a long time been a fan favorite Marvel couple, and in a fictional universe where most relationships are doomed as soon as they begin, the enduring Spider-Marriage was sacred ground. And then, with a snap of its fingers, it was gone: Peter wakes up in Aunt May's house, no longer married, with Mary Jane out of the picture. (She would not return to the book on any sort of consistent basis for over 50 issues.) In the wake of One More Day began Brand New Day, which is basically what it sounds like: a promised "brand new day" of "exciting" Spider-Man content and a publishing schedule where Amazing Spider-Man came out three times a month. (Which sounds good on paper but I think in practice caused more problems than it created good storylines.) Peter, newly single again, had new love interests! And also Harry Osborn was alive again for some reason! I generally like Harry's post-BND stories so that part's fine with me.

But overall? Brand New Day is a mess. It knows it wants to tread new and exciting ground with Peter -- tell new stories! ensnare new readers! make them fork out for a book three times a month. -- but it doesn't know what those stories should be. Readers who were invested in Peter and Mary Jane's relationship -- a major facet of Spider-Man comics for decades at that point -- felt rightfully betrayed that the marriage could be so easily traded in and that Mary Jane herself, perhaps the second most important figure in Spider-Man comics after Peter, could be tossed aside. From a personal point of view, I think Brand New Day fails in large part because it abandons what has always made Spider-Man such a compelling series, and that's the mix of Peter's personal life with his vigilante life. BND sees Peter with new friends, new jobs, new love interests, etc -- it is very much a brand new day! But it isn't a better day compared to the stories that came before it. I do like some post-BND stories, especially American Son (ASM #595-599) and Grim Hunt (ASM #634-637), but compared to pre-BND where I think the majority of canon is good, it's a very lacking body of work that is hurt by the way it divorced itself from the PeterMJ marriage as Spider-Man's central relationship.

"But Traincat, I thought you said you liked One More Day?" Yeaaaaah. I do. This is why I keep saying I like One More Day on its own merits, and not on the merits of the stories it opened the doors for. I like a good romantic tragedy in fiction, and the way Peter and Mary Jane's final scene in One More Day plays out is beautiful. I like the idea of Peter caught in this impossible situation, being asked to choose between two women he loves more than his own life. A really common criticism I see leveled against One More Day is that Peter should have chosen his relationship with Mary Jane over May's life, which is -- okay, I think it's weird that people keep insisting on this, not in the least because by asking Peter to sacrifice his aunt's life they're essentially demanding he commit a callous, out of character act in order to further his own interests. It's also weird because the thing is, Peter already chose Mary Jane over May -- that's what gets them into this situation. It's literally in the scene where May is shot:

(ASM #538) When the gun goes off, Peter's spider-sense kicks in, and he covers Mary Jane, leaving May in the path of the bullet. He does choose Mary Jane over May, regardless of whether he realized what he was doing. And that's why he can't make that choice a second time. His actions in One More Day do make sense for him as a character, whether or not any individual reader likes them, and Mary Jane's actions make sense, too -- after all, she's the one who ultimately tells Mephisto that they agree to the deal when Peter can't bring himself to voice it.

A lot of people also like to nitpick One More Day by going, well, why could (x) or (y) with life saving powers save Aunt May which is like -- yeah, I guess, but if we're going to ask that about this specific comic book near death setup, you kind of have to do it with every single one, and I'm not going to stake every single moment of comic book drama on whether or not that gold kid from the X-Men was busy at the time. Comics are soap operas in flimsy paper form: serialized longform storytelling that relies heavily on melodrama. Sometimes you have to go with things. Sometimes you sell your marriage to the devil. Stuff happens. That in and of itself doesn't make One More Day a bad story -- and while some people blame the Spider-Marriage's dissolution entirely on One More Day, I think that's a little shortsighted when you look at the history of Spider-Man since the turn of the century. It's clear -- and Marvel themselves have been perhaps a little too open about this -- that Marvel in the past few decades has had trouble with the direction they want to take Spider-Man. They WANTED Spider-Man to appeal to a distinctly youthful audience that they didn't think they were actually reaching -- understandable, considering that Marvel nearly went bankrupt around 2000 and was saved by Ultimate Spider-Man, an out of main continuity series which retold Spider-Man from the beginning and focused heavily on Peter as a teen -- but the problem was Spider-Man in the main continuity was at that point in canon a happily married man who was pushing the dreaded 30 whether or not they wanted to admit that. This is also why Marvel has continually pivoted away from Spider-Man having kids, because they feared that making him a dad would age him too much and make him unrelatable to their coveted audience of Teens. (This is also why almost every new Spider-Man property, especially the live action movies, perpetually stick him back into high school, despite that occupying a very small slice of 616 canon.) So around the year 2000, they started trying things in relation to the Spider-Marriage, which was viewed as a major problem -- after all, what's more adult than being married and liking your wife. First, they had Mary Jane presumed dead. Then, they had Mary Jane and Peter separate. Then, when Mary Jane and Peter had only recently gotten back together, One More Day struck. If One More Day specifically hadn't gone the way it had, it's pretty clear that the Spider-Marriage was going to go one way or another -- it's a little bit of a shame it happened when it did, because OMD is the end of J Michael Straczynski's run, and JMS wrote a really beautiful Peter and MJ relationship. But Marvel as a company and especially editor in chief at the time Joe Quesada viewed Peter and Mary Jane's relationship as a major problem in how they wanted to portray Spider-Man and thought that striking the relationship from the books would allow them more freedom in their portrayal of him as younger and more relatable to their Desired Audience of people who I guess really wanted to see Peter sleep with characters who weren't Mary Jane.

(ASM #546. Younger! Fresher! Less attached! Kissing random women in the club!)

The problem with One More Day has always been in the follow through -- from the content of Brand New Day to the pacing of events to the fact that Marvel withheld key information for such a long time that it allowed misinformation to thrive. After all, what does it MEAN to trade Peter and Mary Jane's marriage to the devil? It altered the events of canon in Peter and the majority of other characters' memories so that the marriage didn't exist, but it left people wondering -- did the relationship as they remembered it existed? How much of Spider-Man canon was altered? And the answers didn't come for over 100 issues of Amazing Spider-Man. One Moment In Time or OMIT (Amazing Spider-Man #638-641), which revealed that while Peter and Mary Jane never got married in the altered canon they did continue their long committed relationship up until just after Civil War, was published in 2010, so essentially readers were hung out to dry without answers for three years. That's a long time to string people along, but not as long as it took Marvel to confirm that the popular fan theory that Mary Jane retained her memories of the original timeline as part of her own deal with Mephisto was also true, which happened this year. I would say, at least from my perspective, a lot of the frustration doesn't come from the individual One More Day storyline so much as how Marvel has continually dragged out the aftermath, using the promise of a Spider-Marriage return to keep fans on the hook. Which is why One More Day continually comes up in discussion of current Spider-Man, because Spencer's run has relied very heavily on imagery from that period with a serious question of whether or not there actually was going to be payoff, something which is still up in the air.

This has been Spider-Man History With Traincat, brought to you by anonymice like you.

[luvknow]

in another lifetime | lee minho

genre: ceo/iron man!lee minho x secretary!reader | ceo au ; superhero au ; alcohol mention ; blood mention summary: you and your boss were inseparable. no one could understand how you could work ungodly hours for such an inexperienced ceo. but your job was to stick by Mr. Lee for as long as you were getting paid, and that meant being his date to charity balls and helping him turn into the country’s best superhero. wc: 18.9k a/n: rewrite of that one w**jin fic cuz fuck that guy ~! the public has spoken.... lee minho has been chosen as the winner

Secretary was your title, but you liked to think you were more than just that. Perhaps secretary was just an umbrella term for amateur sommelier slash novice multitasker slash the only employee who knew how to drive stick. Whatever your job entailed, you were sure to list all of those tasks in your updated resume when it was time to pass the torch onto some other poor sucker because you would much rather die than be a secretary for life.

It wasn’t like your boss was a total ass, or anything. That was actually the scary part - the fact that your boss was one of the kindest and most attentive people you’ve ever worked for, yet you still hated this job! What made this so horrid was the amount of walking and running your poor feet had to do. And guess what? No sneakers were allowed in the office, so you were left with walking over forty-thousand steps in a day in toe-pinching sole-aching glossy shoes that were half a size too big for your feet because shoes like these always ran out in your size in the store.

“Good morning, Mr. Lee,” you greeted, walking into his private office at 8:00 am on the dot as normal. With tired eyes, he looked up from his stack of blueprints and gave you a warm smile. You don’t know how he does it, but he always managed to welcome your morning visits with a smile that almost made you consider your resignation. “Iced americano, extra shot.”

“You are a blessing,” he praised graciously. One sip of the liquid gold was enough to wake him up right away.

“Long night?”

“Yeah. You know how it took us hours to decide the wall colors for each floor in our building? Imagine doing that all over again, but for a superhero suit prototype.”

“But it’s just a suit this time, not fifty floors.”

“This isn’t just a suit, _____. It’s the suit of a man who’s going to save the world one day! A suit that everyone will lay their eyes on and judge me for my color choices.”

“You sound like a child.”

“An ambitious child, mind you.”

“Did you ultimately decide on a color?”

“Yes, two colors actually. Red and gold.”

“Wow, such a loud and loyal color choice.”

“Is it?” Your handsome boss pouted slightly while scanning his designs. “Seungmin said the same thing. Maybe I should change it -”

“No!” you interrupted for the sake of not wanting to look up Pantone’s thousands of shades of ruby and champagne. “Red and gold are perfect for you.”

Minho’s pouty lips melted into a proud smile. “If you believe so, then I trust you. Come take a look - what do you think of it overall?”

You walked around his ginormous custom-made walnut desk to peer over his shoulder. Minho could smell the familiar gardenia scent you wore for years and it immediately brought comfort to his panicking soul. Somehow your presence always calmed him down, no matter what stressful situation he was in. Maybe that’s why he wanted to have you around 24/7. How selfish of him.

Your couple minutes of silence were so agonizing that his nervous foot-tapping habit he told you about that he thought he got rid of in college broke through, which was your cue to answer.

“I like it. I like it a lot, actually,” you admitted honestly. “I would definitely feel safe if I saw you come to my rescue, although the helmet is a little concerning.”

“Concerning how?”

“Well, it has such a… A, uh… How do I put this politely? A dead expression?”

“‘Dead’ is a polite adjective to you?”

“I mean come on, Mr. Lee, there are two eyes and a flat line for the mouth where the corners curve downwards just slightly and it looks like you gave him little fangs. There’s not much life in the eyes, either.” 

“They light up when the suit is on!”

“Maybe I’ll like it more when I see it in person?”

“The helmet is the only thing I’m confident about, so nothing and no one can change my mind,” he said stubbornly.

“I’m sure everyone will love it,” you reassured while smoothing out the stress wrinkles on his indigo shoulder pads. “When do you plan on starting the build?”

“In half an hour.”

“What!?” Minho nearly spit out his espresso at your yelping and the frantic way you sifted through your massive planner and scrolling through your emails on your phone at the same time. Oh, so that’s what he forgot to tell you! He knew something felt off. “B-B-But I didn’t get an email that the shipment arrived!”

“I called the company at five in the morning just as they opened and demanded an expedited shipping of all the materials and they’ll be arriving in half an hour.”

“But did the quality department approve of the materials? Or your design at least?”

“You do know I’m the CEO, right?” Minho smirked teasingly. “That’s business talk for ‘fuck Quality’.”

Minho stood up from his black velvet Chesterfield chair to escape your nagging and briskly walked away towards God-knows-where. Like an obedient, push-over puppy, you trailed closely behind with a light jog and all you could think about was how it was too early for your feet to be aching this badly.

“I don’t like the idea of this,” you said firmly.

“You never do. Loosen up a little, will ya?”

“I will not! I looked the other way when you decided on signing a contract to collaborate with that ugly luxury car brand, I agreed with the proposal of a new smartphone that totally flopped in the end, and I barely allowed the approval for the development of the new branch in Taiwan! All of those ideas are whatever, arbitrary even, but this? This puts you at the front line of danger, Mr. Lee! What if something goes wrong, or the material is compromised? What if these companies take you for a fool for not checking in with the quality department first? What if you’re setting yourself up to be sabotaged, huh?”

Minho pressed the down button on the elevator, ignoring your pleas. Even though all you do is nag and play by the rules, he knew you were only doing so because he didn’t bother to. In the end, you were just looking out for him, and he couldn’t appreciate you more.

His gives you what he thought was a reassuring smile. To you, it looked rather mischievous “Lucky for me that you’ll be there the whole time, right?”’

“What do you mean…?”

“I mean you’ll watch the entire suit being built while you work. Then you’ll see how safe it is. I need someone to double check me, anyways.”

“Mr. Lee, I don’t think I’m qualified for that.”

“Don’t be silly, of course you are!”

Your engineering experience went as far as Physics I and II classes with a teaspoon’s worth in basic circuitry, so if Minho thought that qualified you to double check his work, then you might have to question his PhD degree.

The elevator welcomed you both into its vacant container. The lowest level this elevator could reach with a single button was the basement, but if the right person (or the wrong person) were to dial the buttons in the order of 4-4-1-9, they would be taken nine floors below the basement to the rumored ‘Super Office’ (ten was too much because Minho didn’t like the feel of the heavy pressure and eight was such a silly number).

The steel doors opened right into his Super Office which he designed to be five times larger than his executive office so he had plenty of room for building up new car designs and bringing his super suits to life for both him and his partners. His successful designs that were once worn but are now retired were placed on mannequins and stored inside a tall glass box on display for him to admire.

You walked up to your favorite one, eyes sparkled adoringly at Seungmin’s first Spider-Man suit.

“You always loved the red and blue,” Minho noted behind you. “Still not a fan of the black one?”

“The black one is scary! No one wants a hero dressed in all black, like that color does not exude the feeling of safe.”

“Duly noted for his next suit.”

Beside Seungmin’s old spidey suit was an empty display case you assumed was meant for this final draft of Minho’s Iron Man suit. Surrounding the two glass cases were dozens and dozens of wood and plastic demos that didn’t work out in the end, but Minho didn’t have the heart to take them to the dumpster.

“Looks like the shipment arrived early!” Your mature but easy-going boss jogged up to the piles of wooden crates and packages that were laid out neatly in the center of his work space. Without much patience, he took off his indigo suit jacket, tossed it to the side like it wasn’t worth two thousand dollars (to which you caught before it hit the ground), and took the crowbar on top of the pile to open the cases with ease. Sheets of metals, different tools, and a cool welding and soldering set scattered along the concrete floor. Minho gave you an excited grin that mimicked a child upon opening gifts on Christmas. “Let the building commence!”

There wasn’t room for any argument, so you took a seat at his desk where he normally would sketch the designs and worked off of his desktop with a heavy feeling of defeat. At least watching the process would be cool, right?

Maybe cool wasn’t the right word. Or watching.

For the next three months, from sunrise to sunset, you spent your day nine floors below the surface for almost twelve hours a day being his little helper. From holding pieces of metal in place while he flame torched them together to feeding him take out because his hands were covered in oil, you did it all and God, if Minho didn’t give you a raise or at least some meal tickets to the executive cafeteria, you might just quit on the spot.

“Done.” With a heavy and exhausted sigh, Minho clapped his hands together and marveled at his nearly-finished product. “We’re done!!”

“What about the red and gold paint?”

“I can’t work on this anymore or I’ll implode. I’ll just take this to my car guy and he’ll paint it exactly how I want it.”

“Not really a self-made suit then, is it?” you dared to challenge your boss.

He pointed an accusing finger at you. “Shut your mouth and give me my food.”

You handed a slouching Minho his box of take-out and wooden chopsticks. While you had a perfectly comfortable ottoman he could have sat on right next to you, he remained on the cold concrete, probably too sore and worn out to even stand up, let alone walk to a cushioned seat. Minho was a man with personality and many faces, but his face of satisfactory upon completing projects was when he was the most handsome. For a while, you two just sat in silence, taking in every detail of the flawless iron suit while slurping noodles. 

“So,” Minho began nervously. “What do you think?”

“It’s beautiful, Mr. Lee,” you say immediately.

“You mean it?”

For someone so intelligent and talented, it was a wonder how a man like him could be insecure about any of his creations.

“Absolutely,” you reassured. “Flawless. Is it fully programmed and everything?”

“Yup. I installed the software and artificial intelligence last week.”

“Sounds like the only thing you need to do is take it out for a spin.”

Minho hummed with approval. “... Can you do it for me?”

“What!? No!”

“I really don’t want to do it…”

“With all due respect, suck it up.”

“Isn’t it reasons like this why I hired you?”

“I was hired to be your secretary, not your lab rat.”

“To be fair, the job description was pretty vague.”

“Yeah, I definitely did not expect to be helping you construct a modern Knight in Shining Armor cosplay.” After wiping your mouth clean of all MSG and soy sauce, you tossed your dirty napkin in the trash bin that was a considerable distance away.

Minho followed suit, who was also able to get his napkin in the can. Then you tossed another napkin, and then him, and this went on until you were left to toss your boxes and chopsticks. The real challenge was tossing the plastic wraps of the fortune cookies.

“Whoever loses has to do whatever the other says,” Minho proposed.

Without hesitation, you nodded in agreement. “Fine, but I will not test that thing out if I lose.”

“Deal. Secretaries first.”

You did your best to crumple up and squish out any air that was left in the wrapped before whipping it like you were throwing the first pitch. The wrapper hit the rim of the can and fell to the side. But that’s ok, because there was no way your boss could even come close to -

“WOO!” Minho cheered, getting up from the floor while you were left slumped in the chair filled with defeat. Of course, whatever he wanted, he would get his way. “Man, I am super lucky today.”

“What the hell! Did you wrap it around a stone or something!?”

“Darling, I would never cheat ~”

“There’s no use in arguing. Just lay the consequences on me, boss.”

Minho scooted the ottoman closer - almost a little too close. Then, like a handsome little goldendoodle with his swooshy chocolate hair and sparkling eyes, he gazed up at you pleadingly before offering you your punishment.

Fear and flattery tickled your spine. “Spit it out.”

A grin followed. “You will accompany me to the ball next week.”

“The Children’s Charity Ball? The biggest charity ball of the century? The one where all the white-haired big shots attend with their dates who just barely turned eighteen?”

“The very same.”

“And you want me to be your date.”

“Yes.”

“Seems a bit lazy, doesn’t it?”

“Lazy how!?”

Not wanting him to see you blush, you began cleaning up the mess from the takeout. “Lazy as in why not find a real date? You know, someone you’ll have a good time with.”

“Hey, I always have a good time with you! And I’m doing you a favor if you think about it. If I wanted to bring anyone else, that would mean you’d have to flip through all of my contacts and have you choose the perfect date for me. So unless you want the extra overtime, I’ll expect to see you dressed to the nines?”

“Don’t you want to bring someone more suited for this role? Someone with much more finesse and elegance?” you said as you twirled dirty napkins in the air.

“If I’m being honest, I do not have the time nor do I want to put in the effort into bringing someone so bland.”

“Who says they’re bland? What if I pick out one of your supermodel friends or like a professor, or something?”

“All my supermodel friends like to toke up in bathrooms and what’s a professor going to do? Lecture me to death? _____, please, I am begging you - be my date? You know you and I are going to have a blast, I promise you. We always do when we’re together.”

A moment of silence passed while you shuddered in disgust. You couldn’t believe you were going to say this, but…  “So what should I wear?”

“Yes! That’s the spirit! Wear anything besides velvet because that’s my fabric of choice.”

“Can you at least do the picking for me? We should at least match in the slightest.”

Minho let out an exaggerated sigh. “Oh, fine, I’ll do all the work.”

“You’re a pain in the ass, Mr. Lee.”

“It’s what I do best.”

After cleaning up the mess and a last quick polish on the Iron suit, the two of you took the elevator to the level below the basement where Minho parked his favorite fancy shmancy foreign sports car you couldn’t pronounce. In its shiny and spotless all-white glory sat his coup in his executive parking spot where no other car or person was in sight.

“Quite showy for you, isn’t it?” you accused your normally toned-down boss.

“I had a hunch that today was going to be the day we finished, and low and behold, we did. Soojung the Spyder always brings me good luck,” he patted and praised his prized roadster.

The distance from the office to your apartment was a solid forty-five minutes away by public transportation, right on the edge of being not too far, but not close enough, but by car it was only twenty-five minutes. During your first couple of years with the company, you enjoyed the lonely rides and getting lost with your thoughts, but there were moments you got so lost that you missed your stop a couple too many times and sometimes the winter made waiting outside so unbearable. It wasn’t until you started to clock in tons of overtime that Minho was nice enough to drive you home from then on.

--

“C’mon, _____, just get in the car,” Minho begged for the twelfth time, holding the passenger door open with one hand and an umbrella with the other. He parked his car illegally right in front of the bus stop that so many other employees used. Why did it matter that you were using it while it was thunderstorming and past 10:00 PM? “The heat is escaping the longer we argue.”

“It’s fine! I don’t live too far away,” you lied. “Please go home, Mr. Lee, your puppy must be worried sick.”

“Hazelnut can wait, but I can’t. As your boss, I order you to get in my car!” Though the statement was serious with his booming voice, his pouty lips made it much less intimidating.

“With all due respect, I have clocked out for the day and I don’t have to listen to you until 7:00 am tomorrow.”

“I can’t believe you’re making me break the law.”

“What do you mean?”

The blinding lights of the bus flashed irregularly, a polite way of telling Minho to get the fuck out of the way. But he didn’t move in the slightest. He patiently waited for you by the passenger door, not moving a muscle and looking like a car model dressed in his long, warm and tan pea coat. The patient and smug look on his face let you know he wasn’t playing around and that he’d dare tell the bus to wait until you got in.

“Mr. Lee, get out of the way!”

“Not until you’re in my car,” he shook his head stubbornly. “The bus is getting closer ~”

Your anxiousness hiked up exponentially when the driver held the horn long and loudly, not looking like they had much patience in them and indicating that they were very, very annoyed. For the sake of not inconveniencing the butt-load of passengers and the driver and securing your job, you hurried into his car, cursing up a storm that rivaled the one outside. A triumphant and smirking Minho followed suit and sped away at a dangerous speed, perhaps breaking a second law that night. For those twenty-five minutes (or maybe it was fifteen with Minho’s driving), the car was silent because your reckless boss focused on cutting every civilian off on the highway and you were too busy covering your eyes in fear.

--

“You were so dramatic back then,” Minho snickered at the seemingly-harmless memory.

“Me!? You were the one who parked in front of a bus stop and begged me to get in!”

“You were the one who wouldn’t get in the damn car!”

“How does it look to on-lookers that a secretary is getting into her boss’s car!?”

“It’s not like anyone knows our relationship.”

“Oh please, someone like you driving a beautiful shiny car picking up sad ol’ me at the bus stop - of course on-lookers may not know me and my relationship to you, but they definitely know who you are at the very least.”

“I could not give more than zero fucks of what people think.”

“Yes, that much is clear.”

“_____, you can’t always worry about what everyone thinks ~”

You sighed loudly, as if you’d explained this to him a thousand times already. “Worrying is the basis of my entire title, Mr. Lee.”

“And will you drop the ‘Mr. Lee’ once and for all? We’re the same age!”

“Same age, but different titles and a massive pay gap. You and I are not equals.”

Minho reached over to mess up your hair. “You’re so formal, it’s so cute!”

“Ah, stop it! You’re swerving!!”

Minho had dropped you off and walked you up to your apartment more times than you can count, but you don’t think you’ll ever get over the embarrassment of your humble abode. Of course you’ve visited his mansion just as many times, since you participated in the designing of it, and him having to see such a sad home in comparison is, well, terrifying each and every time.

“Ok, bye,” you dismissed quickly.

A handsome laugh escaped your handsome boss’s lips. “Still hate having me so close to your home? You know, it’s quite rude you’ve never invited me in and yet you’ve been in mine hundreds of times!”

“My home doesn’t have marble statues or glass refrigerators and I can’t hire you to redesign the interior.”

“You know I don’t care about that stuff.”

“But I do!”

His tongue tisked disappointedly. “What a shame. I thought we were friends.”

“We are, but friends don’t break sensitive boundaries.”

He passively waved you off. “Fine, fine. I’ll see you tomorrow?”

“Bright and early.”

“Excellent. I have one request.”

It was your turn to pout. What could he possibly want this time? “Already? At least let me sleep peacefully.”

“It’s nothing complicated, I promise! In fact, it’ll save you thirty minutes. Don’t bring me my coffee tomorrow.”

“Don’t? Are you on a caffeine cleanse again? You know how badly that went last time - you barely lasted two days and you fired someone, to which I had to convince you for forty minutes to hire them back.”

“No, not a cleanse. Just come in a bit earlier. Let’s get coffee together.”

“Do you have time for that?” Knowing how packed Minho’s schedule was in the mornings, you wondered his sanity for making time just so the two of you could grab a cup.

“I’ll make time. Actually, you’ll make time. Can you pencil us in for some coffee?”

“U-Uh, yeah!” With nervous and shaky hands, you pulled out your work phone and squeezed in half an hour of coffee time. “Done.”

“Perfect. I’ll see you in the morning.”

“Don’t be reckless driving home.”

“No promises.”

Before going into your apartment complex, you watched Minho wave goodbye before blasting music with a deep bass and speeding off, leaving a smokey trail from burning rubber.

“I hate him,” you smiled to yourself.

--

“I hate him,” you said to yourself upon walking into Minho’s office.

Like an artificially intelligent robot that didn’t know of its purpose, Minho dressed in his Iron suit walked around his office doing regular office things, like dusting the blinds and tidying up loose papers on his desk. It was a little difficult to do smaller tasks with his stiff and massive iron hands, so you’re not entirely sure what your boss was doing.

“G’morning!” he greeted cheerfully. “Just taking this baby out on a test drive.”

You had just noticed the paint job was completed on the suit which meant that it was good to go. However, you didn’t think this was the ideal way to ‘test drive’ a superhero suit. 

“Good morning, Mr. Lee. Is this really the right way to test drive?”

“I got too excited when my car guy told me it was done. He did it so quickly and precisely, too. Look, he even engraved it with my signature! She’s a beauty, isn’t she?”

“Yes, very shiny. The gold and red are much prettier than I imagined.”

“Right!? Not too Gryffindor-y, is it?”

“Not at all,” you said sincerely. “Do you want to get coffee now? We should hurry, you have a conference call at 8:00.”

“Yeah, let’s go.”

Minho followed you to the door with a trail of heavy iron steps. You turned around quickly and gave him an incredulous look, one he’s seen much too often. “I don’t want coffee anymore.”

“Why not!?”

“I’m not going out in public with you wearing that thing! You look ridiculous!”

“That’s so rude of you to say about my pride and joy! This also took me thirty minutes to put on!”

“Mr. Lee, we’re just getting coffee!”

“You are not fun at all.”

It took only five minutes to get your boss stumbling out of the suit because the button for the release was hidden under a metal panel on his wrist, but at least it was painless.

“I thought you didn’t want to reveal Iron Man until you tested it and got your seal of approval?” you asked the child-like man.

“That’s still the plan, but I’m just so excited! I think we should test it tonight.”

“Tonight? Already?”

“Yup, and I need you here with me in case I die, or something.”

“And to think I was gonna relax and take a bubble bath tonight.”

“It won’t take long, I promise.”

“I’ll believe it when I drop my bath bomb in my tub.”

In your whole time working here, you’ve spent more time together with Minho at both the office and at his home than working alone. The ratio was about seventy-five percent at the office, fifteen percent at his home, and ten percent miscellaneous, like going to business lunches or simple walks to the coffee shop like today. The long work hours were brutal on your feet and your social life, but the money was way too good to pass. You swore you broke the world record for ‘quickest payment of student debt’ with your hard work.

To anyone else, your job sounded so unappealing that no amount of money could ever convince them to do what you’re doing. ‘So brave’, they tell you, but it’s not that you’re brave, it’s that you’re loyal and as much as you hate to say it, you had the best boss. Yes, he’s a little goofy and yes, maybe a bit naive because he’s so young, but he treated you like you’re his equal and not someone so beneath him who takes all of his notes and takes his laundry to be dry cleaned. Plus when he compensated for your time so handsomely, how could you hate your job? Every day was new and exciting when you were with Minho.

The day went along as normal, from conference calls to lunch and finishing the day with an interview with the press. The very second everyone clocked out at 5:00 pm, you followed a speedy boss to wherever he led you.

“Are we going to test it out now?”

“No, silly, it’s still too bright out! We have to test it once the sun sets.”

You knew that sounded too good to be true. You held a light jog in order to keep up with him. “Where are we going then?”

He turned and gave you a suspicious grin. “Shopping!”

“For what!?”

“You and I need matching outfits for the charity ball, remember?”

“You know, I was just kidding when I said that… We don’t have to match…” The last thing you want is for someone to mistake you as your boss’s date instead of his secretary, but to be fair you don’t know many guests going that bring anyone that isn’t a date, so you kind of shot yourself in the foot when you didn’t make that shot into the trash bin.

“We are matching and I am not arguing with you.”

A defeated sigh escaped your lips before entering the backseat of Minho’s car where his driver would take us anywhere he pleased. He told him a cross section that sounded familiar, but not enough for you to guess where you’re going, so from here on out until you were home taking a hot bath, the rest of today would be a surprise. 

The car stopped in front of a glossy black DIOR building. You expected nothing less from Minho.

“You would pick Dior,” you scoffed, completely amazed at how someone so rich could have so much brand loyalty to one company.

“Hey, they are consistent and beautifully crafted, don’t judge me.”

“Mr. Lee and Lovely _____!” An older, graceful lady came running to greet both of you with a warm smile dressed in a hot red shade of lipstick. You recognized her voice to be the owner from all the times you called to ask about any pieces Minho could reserve before they hit the runway and were snatched up by the ‘I Have Daddy’s Credit Card and Inheritance’ private-school boys. This was your first time seeing her in person and her calming voice matched her mature appearance perfectly. “This piece has been waiting for you ~”

“I can’t wait, Auntie,” he smiled back graciously like an obedient nephew rewarded with cookies.

She led the two of you to the very back where the private dressing and tailoring area was, where the mirrors went from the floor to the ceiling. The store owner walked in with Minho’s fabric of choice, a velvet jacket with crisp black pants and a white button-up that had the slightest sheen of silver from metallic strands woven into the shirt fabric. In the shadows, one would think the velvet was black, but in the light or at certain angles, there was the slightest sheen to it that showed the darkest shades of indigo and green, like an oil slick. You couldn’t believe the amount of detail in the velvet that your eyes looked like they were popping out of your sockets.

Your boss was so eager to try it on that he was taking off his pants before you were warned. Quickly you turned around and shut your eyes, pretending that you didn’t see his KakaoTalk-patterned boxer briefs.

“M-M-Mr. Lee! At least warn me if you’re going to strip!!”

“Sorry ~” he apologized unapologetically.

A couple of zips and rustling of fabrics later, Minho tapped your shoulder to turn around. Your eyes bulged out of their sockets again while looking at your boss dressed in a suit that was clearly made for him and him only. It didn’t look like any tailoring was needed at all! He looked like he walked right off the runway. There had to be some enchantment spell in the fabric because you swear you’ve never seen any man more handsome before this moment.

“I take it you like it?” Minho teased.

Your cheeks tickled with red when he caught you staring. “You look amazing as usual, Mr. Lee.”

“You think so?” You knew so. “It’s not too flashy, is it?”

“Not at all. I think you have the perfect amount of flash. How does it feel?”

“Like a glove. It’s already perfectly tailored!”

“I know your measurements by heart, my dear,” Auntie bragged. “Of course I had it ready to go already.”

“You’re the best.” He gave her a kiss on the cheek and a tight hug. “What would I be without you?”

“Not GQ’s best dressed man under thirty, that’s for sure.”

“Could you do me another favor? Do you perhaps have something for _____ to match? We have a charity ball next weekend.”

“Mr. Lee, this is really unnecessary -”

“I know exactly what to pull.”

Before you could object, Auntie ran to the back of the store where all the hidden inventory was held. You glared at your cheeky boss, still dressed in his sexy outfit and it was hard to keep your glare when he looked so damn good, that handsome bastard.

“I’m not wearing whatever she brings out.”

“You will and you’ll look great and we will buy it, so don’t embarrass me.”

“Embarrass you!? I am not your doll!”

“I’ve got it!”

Both you and Minho whipped your heads to see Auntie running in with a blacker than black satin and silky outfit that was simple but elegant. Nervous goosebumps spread through your arms and straight to your wallet. You already knew this was going to be the most expensive outfit you’ve ever worn.

“It’s beautiful,” you gasped so slightly.

“Try it on!”

Minho followed Auntie out of the dressing room but not before shooting you a triumphant wink. I mean, who were you to deny your boss and the store owner, right? So with ease, you put on the cooling fabric that clung to your body in all the right spots. The mirror did all justice and perhaps it was a magical mirror that Dior spent millions on to convince their customers to buy everything because damn, you look hot! With your face as red as Minho’s Corvette, you presented the outfit to the two judges.

“Oh, it fits perfectly!” Auntie gushed with wide eyes.

Minho stayed silent with his mouth ajar and eyes scanning you up and down like you were a precious gem discovered in a deep cave beyond a waterfall. It was hard to differentiate between feeling flattered and feeling like object, but at least you were a desired object, right?

“You look amazing,” Minho admitted sincerely, no longer looking at you with awe and rather content.

“Really? I look ok?”

His handsome smile shined brightly at you. Whether you were dressed in your formal work clothes that screamed ‘absolute virgin’ or you were head-to-toe in Dior, you were never just ‘ok’. You always had the attention of everyone in the room once you walked in, especially his. You were always stunning, no matter what. Validation from your boss always came easy and calmed you quickly because he only had eyes for you.

“You look just fine,” he lied, because ‘fine’ didn’t come close to how you looked to him.

“We’ll be the best dressed at the ball, huh?”

“Absolutely.”

The car ride home was quiet other than the trot music playing on the radio from the driver’s playlist. Minho seemed as cool as a cucumber, but you were at the edge of your seat feeling a bit awkward and ugh, unintentionally sweaty. Compliments from any man was one thing, but coming from your boss? A whole different level of weird, especially if they weren’t work related! What did ‘you look just fine’ even mean!? Was that a good thing? Were you too average-looking? Whatever it was, from now until you fall asleep at ungodly hours, those words were going to circulate your thoughts, perhaps haunt you for days.

At exactly 7:03 pm, just as the sun set below the horizon revealing the indigo night sky, the driver pulled up to the back entrance of the building that led to a secret elevator that would take you straight to the underground office after punching in the code. A giggling and grinning Minho was the first to hop out of the car and ran towards the door.

“Mr. Lee, hold on!” you whined as you struggled to get out of the tall car.

“Hurry up, _____! Now’s the perfect time to earn that OT!”

“This time-and-a-half pay better be worth it…”

Upon entering the elevator, you were ready to punch in the 4419 code, but Minho had already pressed the button to the top level, which led to the roof slash helipad.

“Why are we going up?”

“We can’t test the suit inside, silly. Seungmin came by earlier to pick up his suit after I recalibrated it last night and I asked him to take the suit to the roof.”

“How, that thing weighs like a ton!”

“Not when you’re wearing it.”

“You let him wear it before you test drove it!? Mr. Lee, that’s extremely reckless!”

“Relax, I trusted he wouldn’t mess anything up, and look! It’s right there!”

The glass elevator made a slow stop to reveal the red and gold suit standing proudly in the center of the helipad. As soon as the doors panned open, Minho handed you his suitcase before running out and tossing his blazer onto the floor before hastily stepping into the suit.

“Oh, I almost forgot,” he said, running back to your frazzled state. He took the leather suitcase from your hands and popped it open so he could give you a glass tablet. “This is for you.”

You looked at the shiny slab of glass with wonder. “What is it?”

“It’s like a control center. You’ll see what I see in terms of my stats and where I am in the city. If anything goes wrong, like say the jets give out, I need you to send a command to manually turn on the back-ups.”

“And what code is that?”

“Not important, we’ll study those later.”

“Later!? What if something happens tonight!?”

“Nothing will happen I promise, I’ll see you in a bit ~!” his cheering faded away the further he ran from you and to his beloved suit.

There was no use in fighting your boss, so you did as you were told and touched the tablet to reveal the control panel. It was black for a few moments before the screen showed your tiny self off in the distance looking down at the tablet which meant that Minho was able to put on and turn on the suit super quickly without any problems.

“What do you see?” he asked you through the speakers of the tablet from his built-in microphone in the helmet.

“I see me in the distance, the battery level of the suit, and all other weird liquids and commodities at one hundred percent.”

“Perfect!”

You turned to look at your boss who was stretching and feeling out the suit as if this wasn’t his 50th time wearing it. Still, he looked so excited and proud of his hard work, it was hard to tease him about how childish he was, even if he was trying out his yoga poses he just learned. 

“How does it feel?”

“It feels incredible! Totally indescribable now that I’m out in the open. And it’s surprisingly lightweight.”

“How were you able to make it feel light with all that metal?”

“I don’t know, if I’m being honest…”

You rolled your eyes. “The work of a genius, huh?”

“You’ve got that right. Are we ready to take off?”

“I believe so. Are you ready to take off?”

“More than I’ll ever be, baby!!”

Before you knew it, you saw the camera’s view on the screen wobble and turn towards the edge of the building. Terrified, you saw your child-like boss get a running start before he dove off the edge and into the sea of the city.

In a panic, you ran and took a peak over the edge, hoping the jets or whatever kept the suit flying would operate properly and leave you without any worries. At first, Minho was but a dark red speck falling beneath the shadows, but a second later, he came flying up at lighting speed doing tricks and flips with ease and whooping loudly, as any normal CEO of a software company slash wannabe superhero would do. You could hear him giggling through your tablet, and like a spectator watching the most spectacular aerial performance, you watched him with a smile on your lips.

After his solo, he glided back down to you and hovered beyond the edge just at your eye level. You couldn’t see any features behind the glass of his eyes so you were left awkwardly staring at his expressionless helmet with those signature weird fangs. After all you and Minho have been through together, even with an idea like this being so ridiculously obscure, he could always rely on you to support him no matter what. He saw how your eyes sparkled with wonderment and how your cheeks dusted a soft pink and it was then that he knew you would stay by his side for even more ridiculous shenanigans to come.

He would never let you leave, anyways. Even in another lifetime, he’d have you by his side forever.

“How cool do I look right now?” he asked. His voice sounded deeper and electronic through the helmet, like he was a robot or had his voice programmed through a phone like Siri. You imagined an idea like that was how Minho planned on becoming immortal one day.

You raised a brow. “You look kind of… scary?”

“Scary!? Why?”

“I don’t know, if I saw a flying robot come at me at rocket speed, I think I’d be terrified!”

“Well, if I come to your rescue, at least you’ll know it’s me.”

“I suppose. So what are you going to do now? Throw a reveal event? Press conference, perhaps?”

“That, or wait for a Demon-Level threat to pass through our city. I don’t know, whichever comes first.” Minho shrugged nonchalantly. “Wanna see something cool?”

Before you could agree, Minho held his palm to the sky before a neon blue blast shot out of it, disappearing into God-knows-where. You could feel the heat from the beam of light radiated around you and fear sparked inside your chest.

“What the hell was that!?” you exclaimed.

“Isn’t that so cool!? Gonna hit some suckers and fry them up like bacon!” Your boss blindly shot another beam of light into the sky and you prayed to someone out there that no planes would disintegrate in the process.

“Hey, careful! What if you hit a satellite or something!” In the process of grabbing Minho’s iron hand so he’d stop being so reckless, you burned yourself upon touching the hot metal opening like a total dumb ass and yanked your hand back. “Ah!!”

“Oh, shit.”

Quickly and haphazardly, Minho landed back on the helipad and climbed out of the iron suit. In the process of running back to your aid, he untied his black silk necktie to use as a temporary band aid on your scalding palm. Gingerly, his cold hands took yours and ran a thumb over the scarring semicircle.

“Ah ah ah stop!!” you cried with tears of pain and embarrassment streaming down your cheeks.

“Sorry! Here,” Minho wrapped his tie around your palm and tied it tightly. The pure silk felt cooling against the burn and soon your tears stopped and you couldn’t do anything else besides sniffle. “Let’s go back inside. My office has a first aid kit.”

Your mumbling and cursing boss led you back to his office with urgency, blaming himself for being so stupid and recklessly playing with what could be considered a weapon of mass destruction. And now his favorite person, the one person who believed in his iron suit, was hurt in the process, pouting cutely and holding your burned hand like you were an injured puppy. This was one of his greatest fears upon completing this project.

You sat on his sapphire blue velvet couch with the bronze-gilded frame that looked like it belonged in the Ravenclaw common room trying to alleviate the pain of the burn in Minho’s ice bucket (for his white wine, of course) while he shifted through his drawers to find the first aid kit you gave him a couple years ago.

“Do you remember when you got this for me?” he asked as soon as he pulled it out from the bottom drawer. You shook your head, too lightheaded and in too much pain to remember. He sat next to you and began to tell the old story while patching you up. “It was your third year working here, but my first day as CEO when I took over for my Dad. I got so many paper cuts from all the paperwork I had to read and sign and I got a massive headache afterwards and I just wanted to eat something because all I had that day was an iced americano. It was so late and by the time I was finished, it was maybe 7:00pm -”

“8:00 pm,” you corrected in between sniffles.

“Ah, so you do remember! At 8:00pm, you waltzed into my office wearing your comfiest clothes with a bag of take-out in one hand and the first aid kit with a million bandaids and Tylenol in the other. That night, you sat in my office and helped patch up my fingers, fed me lo mein, and helped me with the rest of the paperwork for two hours. I thought of you as my guardian angel since that day and vowed to myself that no matter what, you and I would stick by each other’s side and be the dynamic duo that we are forever. Oh, how the tables have turned tonight. Now I’m the one patching you up.”

Minho had finished wrapping your palm at the end of his story. Something about his proclamation didn’t sit right with you. Something about staying here forever, clocking in massive amounts of overtime and being subservient to the same men sounded like your own personal hell.

“I can’t be your secretary forever, Mr. Lee.”

“I know,” he admitted. “But I don’t have to think about that for quite some time, right?”

“Maybe.”

“I hate change, you know.”

“I, more than anyone else, know that.”

Your handsome boss chuckled lightly at the heavy subject. His curly coffe hair covered his eyes as he looked down at your hand and traced small shapes on the bandaid. You knew that he knew you didn’t want to stay here forever, and he couldn’t blame you, but it didn’t make the thought of you leaving any less heartbreaking.

“Does it feel any better?”

“Much better,” you said truthfully as the cooling gel felt like a magical potion.

“This first aid kit is the only practical gift I’ve ever received. All others are for the aesthetic.”

“Do you prefer practical gifts, Mr. Lee?”

“Of course! The fuck am I going to do with a VVS diamond-encrusted chain?”

“Flex on all the other young CEOs?”

“And partake in their pissing contest? No, thank you.”

“You’re telling me you won’t be doing that this weekend at the Charity Ball?”

“When I have you next to me, I don’t need VVS diamonds,” Minho grinned flirtatiously.

You hit his arm with your good hand and he flinched upon his correct prediction. “I am not an accessory!”

“Of course not! You are my beloved intelligent sidekick that all other big wigs tell me they wished they had! But when you look like that, it’s bonus points ~”

“Ugh, your kind are all the same!” you scoffed, trying to collect your things and storm out the door.

“It’s a compliment!” he teased. Minho managed to chase after you and grab your things to carry to his car so he could drive you home for the 1106th time.

--

After a long and tiring rest of the week helping your boss do target practicing with the iron suit on, Saturday had arrived and now you had the honor of accompanying said-boss to a Big Dick contest disguised as a Charity Ball. The main event was for the sake of the children of course, but the real show was to see who was wearing what designer with what accessories and who pulled up in the fanciest sports car with the youngest and sexiest date in their arms. You were so, so lucky to be working for someone who liked to stay low key, despite always being the center of attention.

“Why are you so nervous?” Minho teased, nudging your arm as you both walked up to the front doors of the venue. “This isn’t the first time you’ve played as my date.”

“I know, but it doesn’t get any easier,” you admitted, shyly covering yourself from the much-more revealing outfit now that it was tailored to fit.

“You and I look fine! Muted colors, minimal diamonds, low key attitudes - we’re perfect! No one will even notice we’re here.”

That was a complete lie, because the second you walked in, a swarm of gossip columnists and magazine writers circled around the two of you, bombarding you both with the same questions you were so used to.

“Mr. Lee, who are you wearing?”

“Mr. Lee, who’s your lovely date?”

“Mr. Lee, what’s the best way to lock in that your date will go home with you?”

Minho raised his hand slightly and all that could be heard were the cameras clicking. God, the power he has… 

“Dior, a close friend, and be so irresistible that they can’t say no.”

Without another word, he gently took your bandaged hand and led you out of the circle of gossipers who were silent in awe. With your free hand, you covered up your ugly laughing.

“You’re such a cornball!” you said in between a fit of giggles.

“An irresistible cornball, at least. Now, walk me through all these people again?”

Minho was young and when it came to networking, he still had the mentality of being the CEO’s son rather than the CEO. That meant that Minho didn’t care much in remembering other CEO’s names and relied on you to remind him of all the people he should have remembered three years ago. It was a consistent hour of introductions and small talk about future goals, collaborations, and golfing, all of which you were able to expertly tune out while sipping prosecco and snacking on caviar tarts. Years of experience thankfully made these events easier.

“Did you practice your speech for your donation?” you reminded Minho after taking a seat at the prestigious Table 2. Since the company was one of the Charity Ball’s biggest sponsors, the CEOs were always invited to say some manufactured speech.

“Yeah. I even practiced it in the shower. Hopefully I get the charity organization correct this time.”

“It’s amazing how you even got this far.”

The Charity Ball should have been named See Who Can Donate the Most Money Ball because every speech given by a CEO of some company tried to out-do each other. Luckily, your company’s speeches were always last and your touch of humanity written on paper always had the audience in awe with the Minho’s compassion. To pass the time, you and Minho played rock-paper-scissors and whomever lost had to drink champagne. Let’s just say Minho ended up having the infamous Asian Glow.

His face was still blushy by the time it was his turn and you almost felt bad because the pictures with the flash turned on probably wouldn’t be so flattering in the magazines, but that wouldn’t matter because he still looks like the most stunning man in the room. All eyes were on him as he made his speech, but he had his eyes on you. Probably because he would piss his pants if he saw how many people were looking at him. You gave him two thumbs up for encouragement.

“It is the greatest honor to be here and giving a speech for the third year in a row. Children are the source and future for a better world, and it is our duty to -”

You blanked out for most of it since you wrote it. It was hard to focus anyways when his eyes were so piercing, so you averted his gaze and counted the number of peppercorns on his unfinished steak. At an alarming fifty-three, you glanced around the gallery to see if anyone was actually paying attention. Many, if not all, of the guests around your age were paying attention with dreamy eyes and pouty lips, all wishing they were in your position tonight. Some even dared to make eye contact with you as if to say, ‘how DARE you NOT pay attention to the sexiest man alive!?’ The older, more powerful guests seemed genuinely interested in the amount Minho was donating and the older dates seemed to care more about their reflection on the back of a spoon.

The fattest check with a bunch of zeros was walked onto the stage. A standing ovation was in order of course, and you conformed with the crowd, even though applause always made Minho visibly uncomfortable.

“He throws a big, fat check to charity and yet he still doesn’t like the attention, huh?”

As the clapping died down and the noise faded into the smooth hum of the live piano and jazz music, you turned to face the owner of a familiar sly voice. The man that stood before you was the famous doctor slash art collector slash playboy who you’ve come to know after attending all of these flashy events.

You smiled slyly at the man. “If it isn’t GQ’s Bachelor of the Month, Dr. Park Seonghwa.”

The raven-haired man gave you his signature smirk. Then he took your hand and kissed it tenderly like the prince he is. “Lovely _____, pleasure to see you as always.”

“Have you been doing that to all the other guests you frequent at these events?”

“Of course not! Just the beautiful ones.”

You let out a loud scoff. “You and your way with words.”

“Are they enough to convince you to finally go out to dinner with me?”

“Not quite.”

Seonghwa sighed tiredly and dropped his head as if this was the first time you’ve rejected him. Guess every time felt like the first time. The handsome raven held his hand out to you. “If not dinner, how about a dance?”

Hesitantly, you searched for your boss like you were trying to sneak away from a parent. He was busy shaking hands and catching up with The Important People’s Club, so you didn’t think one dance would hurt, though once you feed a dog a treat, he’ll be begging for more forever.

You took his hand. “One dance.”

“Five.”

“One.”

“Three?”

“Dr. Park!”

“What!? Ok, fine, one dance, unless you’re really feeling it and then we’ll dance some more.”

“Maybe in another lifetime, Dr. Park.”

The young doctor led you to the dance floor before you could object further. For someone not-so-smooth with pick-up lines, he was definitely smooth with his moves. With one gentle hand on your waist and the other holding your hand, you two glide around the white tiles like the Royalty of the ball, and truly, for a few moments, it really felt like you were the star of this fairy tale.

Seonghwa let out a tired sigh. “Intelligent, beautiful, loyal, and good at dancing? How are you so good at everything?”

“Stop that.”

“I mean it! Yet no man swept you off your feet.”

“Just because I won’t say yes to you, doesn’t mean I’m not waiting for that special someone.”

Seonghwa held your hand up high and made you do a little twirl. “You might be waiting for a while, beautiful.”

“Why do you say that?”

“With Mr. Minho by your side twenty-five hours eight days a week, there is no man that has the courage to come in between such a strong relationship.”

“Even you?” you challenged.

“Even I. Unless you want me to -”

“Nope.”

“Ice cold heart as always…”

Song number one melted into song number two and it passed you both as you continued to discuss the hot topic of why you’re still single. It’s a conversation topic that you thought was reserved for nosy family members for you to brush off, but coming from another man who has begged for your number since you both met really put your love life into perspective. Perhaps you were too loyal to your boss…

While engulfed in the heated debate, Minho was desperately searching for his right hand where he thought you’d be - either at your seat or by the bar, but you were at neither. After receiving his order from the bar, he let the expensive gold liquid over ice flooded through his bloodstream, which led him to a group of gawking gossipers whining and gazing at the dance floor. What was all the hype about?

The sight of you in the arms of the world’s most arrogant doctor didn’t sit too well with him. The scene made him see green.

“You’re such a liar!” Minho heard you laugh aloud. “I did NOT give you so-called bedroom eyes at Yuta’s house warming!”

“You’re telling me you weren’t eyeing me up and down like a barbecued piece of pork belly dipped in sesame oil?”

“That’s because you had sesame oil on your white shirt!”

“Excuses, excuses.”

Minho took another sip of his golden drink before putting it down haphazardly and waltzing towards the dancing couple. To onlookers, this scene looked like it was straight out of those cheesy love triangle dramas. The gossipy gals wondered - would Minho punch Seonghwa? Would he grab your hand harshly and drag you away to scold you and tell you how much he cared about you? Would he kiss you!?

You saw your uncharacteristically stern-looking boss approaching, and even though you’re unsure of his intentions, you still smiled brightly, as you always did whenever you saw him. Minho lightened his heavy, angry steps. Even with another man by your side, you still looked at him. How could he be mad at you?

“Hello, Mr. Minho,” Seonghwa greeted, holding out a hand for him to shake. You knew your boss wasn’t the biggest fan of Seonghwa, but he politely returned the gesture anyways. Somehow you felt your heart beating in your throat - the tension on the dance floor was too high, too powerful, and you were but an awkward and nervous secretary standing on the side while two powerful men duked it out.

“Dr. Seonghwa, nice to see you again.” Minho was good at lying, but his lies never passed you. The amount of discomfort knitted in his eyebrows almost made you snicker. “Long nights at the hospital still?”

“As always, but at least it’s rewarding and enjoyable. How are your long nights at the office?”

“Can’t get enough of them, right, _____?”

“What? You’re still doing that much overtime?” Seonghwa asked worriedly. Now, was he worried because you were overworking yourself or was he worried because you were spending so much time with a man that wasn’t him?

You shrugged unapologetically. “I love that overtime pay.”

“_____, that’s not good for your health -”

“I tell them that all the time,” Minho interrupted defensively. He was always like this whenever anyone questioned the amount of work you had. To you, it was not much of a burden at all, but to anyone else, they couldn’t fathom your work hours but if they saw your paycheck, maybe they’d understand. Even your boss felt bad whenever your friends blamed him, but  no matter how much he tried to convince you of a normal 40-hour work week, the duties of being his secretary never added up to just that. Therefore, your boss always felt the need to defend you and him for the sake of making sure you weren’t portrayed as his slave. “But you’re just so stubborn, aren’t you?”

“Only because it’s you, Mr. Lee,” you said like you’re reading a script. Somehow that doesn’t translate through the ears of the two powerful men in front of you, as your boss smiled triumphantly and Seonghwa couldn’t help but shake his head.

“If you ever want to take me up on that date, Lovely _____, you know who to call.” The most handsome man who’s ever flirted with you took your hand gently and planted a sweet, soft kiss that sent little tingles all up your arm. You don’t think you’ll ever reciprocate his feelings, but the feeling of being desired and wanted by a man really kicked up your ego and really made you think - when was the last time you ever liked someone, or someone ever liked you?

Park Seonghwa disappeared into the crowd and perhaps left the Charity Ball all together. Until next time.

Your boss turned to face you, whose stern face quickly melted into innocence as he knew what was coming by the look on your annoyed expression. “What?”

“What was that all about?”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

You shook your head and mumbled under your breath, “Ugh, you are unbelievable, Mr. Lee.”

As you tried to escape, the desperate man caught your hand. “Wait, where are you going?”

“Away from you for just five minutes, can you let me do that?” you snapped in a hushed volume. “Or do you need to watch over me and speak on my behalf, since you’re my Father apparently!”

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to act like that.”

“You say that every time, especially when I’m talking to another man and even more-so when I’m talking to Dr. Park. When will your sorries mean something?”

“You know I get protective over you.”

“Again, you are not my Father!”

“I know, but -”

All of the attention that was once focused on the handsome CEO and his secretary shifted to the glass ceiling that was now shattered to pieces upon the force of some dozens of masked strangers dressed in all black. Minho instinctively, though harshly, forced you down so he could hover over you so none of the glass hit you. What followed seemed to be too numbing, as all of the stimuli in the banquet hall was too much to handle.

“Get down,” Minho instructed while pushing you under one of the tables. “Don’t move until I come back.”

“Wait, but where are you -”

“I’ll be back in ten minutes!”

“Mr. Lee!”

Of course, he didn’t listen, as Mr. Lee always did what he wanted, right? Which would normally annoy the fuck out of you, but who has the time to panic about what your boss was up to when you’re stranded under the table and shrouded by cheap table cloth linen?

Since those people had invaded and fallen from the sky, you noticed that no gunshots or any sort of violence outside of melee were heard. No purpose of the attack is even known yet, but the signs were promising, until the famous alarm was heard throughout the whole town.

“Threat level: Dragon. Please stay inside until all threats have been cleared. Threat level: Dragon. Please stay inside until -”

“Ah, yes, the richest of the rich gather here today to donate the smallest percentage of their some billions of dollars to charity,” a booming voice tisked through a microphone. “Do you feel good about your good deed of the year? Are you proud of yourselves?”

For some unknown reason, the voice paused, as if waiting for an answer or a reaction from the people. Nothing was heard besides shrill screaming and crying, which was probably what the wannabe-vigilante wanted. For the first time, you peaked through the slits of the table cloth. At the stage where Minho gave his speech was a now-broken stage with the foot of a giant robot through it. It was a very top-heavy robot that looked like it had a large cavity in its belly, whose odd shape probably served some weird purpose unknown to everyone.

“Perhaps you’ll be proud of your donations for once when we capture you all and milk you of your every last penny!” The man laughed evilly at the head of the robot. “Down with the rich!”

“Down with the rich!” his people cheered in unison.

The oddly political turn of events made the scene less jarring - it seemed like an over-exaggeration of townspeople coming together to fight for higher taxing of the rich. Then you were reminded of the Dragon-level threat by how the minions loaded up the richies with a gun pointed to their heads and the complex mechanism that loaded them up to the belly of the robot. Somewhere among the mass of people you saw Seonghwa in between another surgeon and a senior engineer at Tesla before he disappeared behind the walls of metal.

“Hey, I found another one!” someone yelled close by. “Under Table 2!”

Shit. “Fuck.”

Perhaps all those years of advance self defense classes that Minho’s father enrolled you in would come to good use this time.

By your glamorously-strapped heel, one of the masked men dragged you out from under the table. There was no use in struggling, and the man seemed quite satisfied with how you complied.

“Let’s go, darling.”

With your free foot, you dug the pointy end of the studded heel into his groin. Luckily, you can only ever imagine how painful something like that could feel. He was in so much pain that he doubled over and let go of your foot, leaving you to flee to God-knows-where after you stole his police baton.

“Don’t fucking call me darling,” you spat as a farewell.

There were too many men in between you and the emergency exit, so you had to fight your way through like in those cheesy American action movies. A bunch of kicks in the groin here and a couple baton to the knee caps there were enough to get you by half way, but then they started double-teaming on you. Of course, this was much harder, but Senior Mr. Lee didn’t give you the best sensei in the damn nation for no reason. You felt invincible even after defeating multiple double teams, but it was the triple teaming that got you stuck. You can only kick and baton so many groins at one time until two men held each of your arms and the other stole the baton.

While struggling to break free, you managed to knee the one in front of you in the chin, causing him to cut his lip with blood dripping on his cheap leather shoes. After realizing what had happened, he punched you in the cheek as punishment. Was that a bone you heard cracking?

“Try me again, bitch,” he seethed.

Out of nowhere, your knight in Iron armor landed before the one who punched you and returned the favor, sending his body through so many walls of this building that you worried about the foundation and how long you had before it collapsed.

Minho’s red and gold helmet swung sharply and the empty eyes were staring into the souls of your captors while at the same time not.

“Who’s next?” Minho threatened with his super cool and inaccurately deep robotic voice.

Both men fled the scene as quickly as possible, losing their grip and throwing you to the floor. The penny taste finally registered in your brain that yes, you were definitely coughing and spitting out blood.

The cold metal of Iron Man’s hand helped you to your feet while the other cupped your quickly-bruising cheek gently. The underlying tenderness of your boss’s touch somehow healed all pain, or perhaps it was the cooling iron. Gestures like these were so foreign that you almost forgot it was your boss behind the mask and not some handsome stranger who was ready to sweep you off your feet. It was instances like these where you wished the latter was real.

“Are you ok?” he asked gingerly.

“I’m fine,” you promised. “Go save your investors.”

A light chuckle came from Iron Man. “My driver’s already waiting outside. Are you able to run?”

“I’m not leaving without you.”

“C’mon, _____, now’s not the time -”

“Do not argue with me until you save everyone, Mr. Lee.”

Minho shook his head tiredly. He knew there was no use arguing with his headstrong secretary. “You’re so stubborn. Just promise you won’t get into any trouble this time.”

“No.”

“I’m cuttin’ down on your work hours!” he yelled, blasting off to fight the giant robot thing so he wouldn’t have to hear you argue back again.

You were left with a couple of masked minions who still had the balls to attack and capture you as if you were worth more than your surprisingly above-average five-figure salary. Your copper saliva mixed with your boss trusting you enough to not die in the middle of a Dragon-level threat really pumped the adrenaline through your veins, so as one man sprinted to attack, you managed to dodge it and kick him in the throat before he could try something else. The other guy tried to sneak up behind you, but you were quicker, swinging the baton hard enough to the head to knock him out cold. The power you felt coursing through your body left you on a major high. Where were all the other minions? No way was that all…

In the middle of the banquet hall was the face-off of the century, rivaling any and all story lines from DC and Marvel combined. A tiny seven-foot-something intricately crafted and painted sheet of metal was about to fight a giant several-stories tall and several-dozen-tons heavy hunk of junk with dozens of guests they managed to scoop inside. Now how was Mr. Lee going to save the day this time?

“Lee Minho, the man of the night,” the man controlling the ship scoffed. “You will look like my childhood favorite action figure once I stuff you in a glass box in my office! A prized treasure is what you’ll be. How does that sound?”

“Sounds kinky.” You could just sense the smirk behind his mask. “Then what will you do to me?”

“Milk you of all your assets, of course! Liquidation of its truest definition! The redistribution of wealth will come easy to the people, especially with your earnings in the mix!”

“Fine, take my money. But let these people go.”

“Absolutely not! I need all the money I can get! How do you expect me to change the distribution of wealth of the entire world with just one CEO’s salary!? Mr. Lee, I thought you knew that, silly.”

“Ok, fine. You take all of our money and then what?”

“Well, kill you, of course.”

A chorus of gasps and crying were heard from the belly of the machine.

The philosophical man continued. “People like you are the very reason there is a large pay gap. You sit on your ass drinking cocktails and eating caviar and you donate to some profiting charity only a tiny percentage of what you make while all the good hard-working people are the ones bringing the big bucks into your bank account! And what do they get? Small paychecks and four hours of sleep!”

Yeah, this guy was bad, but he had his points, so you’ll cheers to that, am I right?

“Well, then where will you get your money after that? Hm?” The captain stayed silent. “Where will you get more money to sustain this utopia? Certainly not from the hard-working people who have no experience leading or handling such a huge sum of money. And certainly not from you, right? Ha! With your five-figure salary paychecks that barely get the bills paid on time.”

A heavy arm swung to try and snatch up your boss. Though the arm was so large and heavy, Minho barely managed to escape his grasp. By the silence of the once-chatty leader of the pack, you could tell that he was bothered by the words spat by the youngest CEO in the room. How dare Minho mock his hard-earned pay when his earnings were given to him on a VVS diamond-encrusted platter!? There were a couple of times where he landed a couple of hits on your boss and you should feel worried, but you couldn’t help but think he deserved it. You hated to be on the enemy’s side, but you, too, were one of those five-figure salary paycheck owners that are barely scraping by with their bills. And of course you were all for the redistribution of wealth, but this guy definitely went a little too far…

You would think that the sheer size of this oddly-shaped hunk of metal wouldn’t be able to move so fast, but it managed to capture Minho by digging its claw to the wall and sandwiching Minho in between. He couldn’t even wiggle his way out between gaps because the thing was pressing too hard against the wall. Minho could feel the metal bending from inside.

“People like you will never understand the worth of the dollar,” the captain seethed. “Not when stacks come to you in baskets sewn with gold and jewels commissioned by your Daddy. People like you, and everyone captured, need to be humbled a little. Maybe you all can learn a little something from the working class.”

“Then we die, is that right?”

“Of course! But at least you’ll die a hard-working man, Mr. Lee.”

“I will. But I’ll die a hard-working man with billions in my grave before I let you take a penny!”

The blue beam of light that you once cursed for burning a half circle on your palm you were now thankful for, as that beam of light shot your boss up in the air and freed him, taking a few fingers off of the hunk of metal with him. A couple more shots of incinerator beams later, and both arms of the robot had been severed and half disintegrated. Minho kicked the glass where the leader sat and pulled out the defenseless lump of flesh that spoke the harsh truth about the wealthy. The leader was a young man who was not much older than either you or your boss, who didn’t look afraid in the slightest. Perhaps he expected, or even wanted, to go out this way - fighting for what he believed in.

The police, who had been waiting outside for all the ruckus to die down, came in and cuffed the leader and a few of his minions who cowardly hid under the tables. Minho helped all of his investors safely come out and among the crowd you saw Seonghwa, safe and sound.

You thought after a traumatic attack that now was not the time and place to reveal who Iron Man was or even associate yourself with him, so you tried to mix in with the crowd and book it to the driver like he asked you to do before. But of course your flaunty boss wanted to do the exact opposite.

“_____, wait!”

No, no, no, no, no, what the hell! Really!? Right now!? was how Minho read your expression as he walked to you with the suit on. When the seven-foot something Iron Man stopped before you, the face of his helmet slid open to reveal an out-of-breath Minho. The entire banquet hall echoed with gasps.

“Are you ok? You’re not hurt, are you? Your bruise is getting worse!”

You could not feel anything on the left half of your face besides intense pain and somehow numbness at the same time and your limbs felt like jello and over-kneaded dough. But you couldn’t let your boss worry about you - he needs to take care of more important people right now. You’ll be fine come tomorrow once you sleep on a frozen bag of peas.

“I’m fine, I promise,” you said convincingly. “Looks like you have an impromptu press conference to deal with.”

To Minho’s dismay, all of the cameras and press and the phones of his business friends captured his face inside the Iron suit next to his famous secretary that all his business friends wished they had. He knew you hated press conferences because even though you never said anything, you were always by his side and that meant the cameras were pointed at you also.

“I can deal with them. Go to the car and go home.”

“I can stay with you.”

“I won’t allow it. You need to go home and ice your face.”

“I said I -”

“I said go.”

Minho never raised his voice at you ever because he never had a reason to. You were always hard-working and loyal and you always did everything correctly and did it with his best interest in mind. He’ll allow small things that might be detrimental to your health, like all the over time you loved to have and the unhealthy amounts of coffee you drown yourself in. But when the arm that’s supporting your body weight was shaking, your left cheek was the color of aubergine, and you had blood splatters on different parts of your body, that’s when he had to draw the line. Worry was knitted into his brows and his lips were a flat line and you only ever saw his face like this whenever he talked with his father. It was terrifying to see him almost mad at you and it made your heart sink a little that you did something wrong.

He softened his expression upon seeing your glossy eyes. “Take Monday off to rest. I’ll see you on Tuesday, ok?”

“But -”

“I’ll pay you for your time off, so don’t worry about the money. I just want you to rest. Can you do that for me?” You could only nod. “Thank you. Go home - I’ll text you when I’m done cleaning up tonight.”

Minho plastered on his happy television face and returned to the fawning crowd and overly-thankful investors. You were blinded by the flashing camera lights and that was your cue that you didn’t belong there anymore.

The trot music-loving driver hummed the whole way home while driving on auto-pilot, as he had memorized the path to your apartment long ago. Sitting in the back seat covered head-to-toe in the finest satin wasn’t as luxurious when you were alone as opposed to having your equally-luxurious boss next to you. You imagined what it’d be like if a giant robot didn’t crash the party this evening: you’d probably yell at him more about how you needed space and that he was overreacting with the whole Seonghwa deal; then he might try to bribe you with food or dessert so that you’d stop pouting like a child (and you’d totally cave in); and finally, he’d walk you up to your doorstep begging to come inside once more and you’d deny his entry, only for him to leave you with a comment about how you were the most stunning person at the ball tonight.

In short, as much as you hated to admit it, the ride home was lonely. Can you believe that? Your short time alone away from your boss was fucking lonely. Not peaceful, not relaxing, not mind-clearing, but totally and completely lonely. So much so that your heart ached a little, and to put these feelings in the simplest terms, it was because you were so used to being by his side that the emptiness to the seat next to you mimicked an unfamiliar cavity in your heart. It’s a painful feeling, really, because that meant leaving this job would be much harder than you hoped.

As if he planted a tracking device in your phone, Minho texted you upon locking the front door to your place.

The Money Man [01:03 am]: did you make it home ok?

An involuntary smile spread across your lips.

You [01:04 am]: just got home. are you stalking me?

The Money Man [01:04 am]: you didn’t think the phone i gave you was completely harmless and bugless, did you? ;)

You [01:05 am]: i should have known better. how’s the impromptu press conference? are people surprised that it’s you?

The Money Man [01:07am]: they are, but at the same time it’s not. ppl keep asking me questions and won’t let me take the suit off, can you believe that!? it’s hot as balls in this thing!!

The Money Man [01:07am]: shit, gotta go - gotta somehow convince these idiots this is definitely NOT something to invest in.

You [01:08am]: text when you’re home.

The Money Man [01:08am]: yes, darling.

‘Darling’ has a nice ring to it.

--

Having Sunday all to yourself was normal and you did what you always did every weekend: cleaned your place, took your time making a nice meal, organizing all of your work papers, and ended the night with a hot shower and an ice pack to your cheek. Monday, on the other hand was a disaster. You were so bored! Your fingers were itching to scribble down your boss’s agenda and you were so tempted to log into your work laptop, but you knew Minho would chew your ear off for not listening to him and resting as you should. It wasn’t your fault that you were a work-a-holic!

After looking in the mirror and hating the way your face looked for the fiftieth time, it was time to accept that the bruise wouldn’t disappear for at least a couple more weeks. Sunday was at its ugliest, where the center of your cheek was a deep purple and there was this off-colored halo around the perimeter. Now, the swelling went down and it wasn’t as purple or painful, but still equally ugly no matter how you looked at it or tried to cover it up.

After a lonely and boring Monday afternoon, your doorbell rang around 5:00pm. You weren’t expecting any visitors or deliverymen, so upon peaking through your viewfinder, you were surprised to see your boss on the other side.

“What are you doing here?” you asked surprised.

Minho was glad you didn’t seem disgusted by his presence since he was the one who told you to take the day off and you must be tired of seeing his face by now. He whipped out an oily bag from behind his back with a child-like grin on his face. It was an unusual sight to see a man dressed in a several thousand dollar business suit carrying a twenty dollar bag of dinner.

“You and I have some business to discuss.”

“Hold on, let me get this straight - you tell me to take the day off, rest up, ice my bloodshot cheek only for you to come into my home and say I need to work?”

“Yup,” he claimed unapologetically, squeezing past you to get through.

“Yes, please come in, Your Highness,” you rolled your eyes, though he was already setting up at your dinner table.

“Your home is nice. Why are you always so embarrassed whenever I try to come in?”

“I mean, look at it. It’s nowhere near as nice as your home.”

“It’s as more of a home than my place will ever be, no matter how many velvet cushions and arcade games I ask you to buy for the place.” Minho whipped out two bottles of beer, his favorite chaser to wash down the oiliness of the fried chicken, and poured them into glasses. “How’s your cheek?”

“By the look on your face, I guess not so good?”

He adjusted his twisted expression upon your teasing. Blood and bruises were never his thing, so any variation of the sort just looked bad in general. “It just looks so painful… Have you been icing it like I asked?”

“I have, and it’s not as painful as it looks!”

“Oh, yeah?”

Minho challenged your claim by standing in front of you and lowering his head to see you at eye-level. His face was way too close to be considered appropriate for CEO and Secretary relationship behavior, though you knew he never cared for those formalities. His eyes were always so sparkly per usual and that gave him that dreamy stare all the ladies in the office loved. You never saw the appeal to it until now, with only a few centimetres in between.

He poked your bruised-like-an-apple cheek.

“Ow, what the hell!” you screamed, swatting his hand away.

“Not as painful as it looks, my ass.”

“Well, people don’t go around poking my cheek all day!”

“Do you need pain killers? My doctor can write you a prescription for the best one on and off market.”

“That’s ok, I only trust Dr. Seonghwa.”

Minho gave you the same look he gave a former intern who got his breakfast and coffee order incorrect. Let’s just say the intern started crying on the spot. You, on the other hand, could barely hold in your snicker from his death glare. You were never on the receiving end of the infamous death glare and now that you were, it was hard to take it seriously.

“Ha ha,” Minho fake laughed. “Not funny.”

“What exactly do you have against him, anyways? It’s surprising that you’re threatened by the likes of a doctor and not some other hot shot software company CEO.”

“I don’t have anything against him.”

“You’re such a liar!” you scoffed, taking a swig of the ice-cold beer. “If you didn’t have a problem with him, you wouldn’t have acted so defensive at the charity ball.”

“I don’t like the way he looks at you,” he said shamelessly. A vigorous bite of a chicken leg came afterwards. “He looks at you like how I look at chicken legs.”

“Well, maybe I like the way he looks at me.”

“You can’t be serious.”

“No, I’m not.”

“Stop doing that.”

“You deserve it for acting like my Dad that night.”

“I said I was sorry! I even bought you dinner and cold beer to make up for it!”

“Oh, so this is not because you said that me and you have some business to discuss?”

“Well, that, too.” Minho wiped his greasy fingers on his silk handkerchief that he kept on the inside of his breast pocket before whipping out his phone to show you multiple news articles on the night of the charity ball. “Watch these videos.”

Almost all of them were exposing your boss who was behind the genius that is Iron Man, but what preceded the reveals were clips of you kicking major ass. The sources came from both paparazzi and the security tapes at multiple angles and it was hard to hide the fact that it was you as all angles captured your facial features quite clearly. Headlines and whole articles talked about how the mighty CEO and his secretary were the perfect unstoppable duo and they weren’t wrong - you kicking ass in a sexy outfit with a man of iron handling the big guy? Definitely a story worth selling.

Your brows furrowed worriedly because you had no idea how Minho felt. “Are you mad…?

“Mad?” Minho paused the current video and placed his phone face-down on the table so he could focus on his good chicken and better company. “Why would I be mad?”

“I don’t know! What’s the point in showing me these videos?”

“To show you how bad ass you look! Where did you even learn these moves!?”

“For some reason, your father thought being a secretary was dangerous enough that he decided to enroll me in some classes. I actually really liked it a lot, so I kept at it and I guess I got to a pretty advanced level.”

“Pretty advanced is definitely a misnomer, love. Well, it’s good to hear that Father has made one good decision in his reign.”

“Is this the business you wanted to speak about?” you asked shyly, hoping that the beer was a good enough excuse for your blushing cheeks. You’ll never get used to Minho praising you.

“Sort of. I have a proposition for you.”

“What, that you want me to be your sidekick?” you scoffed. When Minho remained silent with only the same sly smirk on his lips, you could see your worst fears coming true. “Oh, God, you’re not serious.”

“I am one hundred percent serious.”

“Are you out of your damn mind!? I am not sidekick material!”

“You totally are! You and I are already the perfect duo! Why not take it up a notch!?”

“No, Mr. Lee, I cannot be your secretary again, but in a different form and outfit!”

“Why not!? It’s not like I’m not going to pay you for it.”

“The pay is not the problem. The pay is never the problem. It’s…”

How do you put that the pressure of keeping the entire country safe and being by his side twenty-four/seven sounded like your own personal purgatory that you could never escape for as long as you lived, or until you died by the hands of some Demon-level threat monster?

“It’s a huge commitment, I know,” Minho admitted. “Too huge to even put a price on it. But can you at least consider it? I can’t imagine anyone else by my side except you.”

Now only if a man who wasn’t your boss said that to you without any underlying superhero context, you might have considered the proposal.

“Mr. Lee, I can’t…”

You hesitated getting the right words out, but Minho knew why. You’ve been bringing up how you couldn’t stay his secretary forever, and although he knew this was true, he couldn’t help but try to keep you anyways. You’ve been loyal to him for so long that he often forgot how to treat you like a friend and not his subordinate. But the thought of you leaving? Soon, at that? It was something he didn’t want to think about just yet. He wanted to keep you by his side for as long as he could.

Minho downed the last of his beer before whipping out his phone again. This time a slow song played over the speakers. He stood up and offered you a hand.

You raised a brow. “What are you…?”

“You and I never got to dance on Saturday. So dance with me.”

“Here? Right now? In my small ass apartment?”

“The next charity ball isn’t for another month and I don’t think I can wait that long.”

His impatience was just shy of flattering - if only you weren’t so afraid of being within close proximity to him. It was one thing when he helped ease the burn on your hand, it was another when he touched your cheek while inside his iron suit, but the two of you alone dancing in the middle of your living room was a whole other level of intimacy that needed to be hidden from human resources,

You took his hand and he led you to the living room. One hand on your waist and another holding the one with the scabbing half-circle. The two of you swayed in silent contentment for several songs. It was a comfortable silence, but there’s some hidden sadness to it that you couldn’t explain - something along the lines of him missing you dearly, despite you being right in front of him, and you missed him dearly, too. So much that your nerves made you squeeze his hand harder, asking him to not let go of you for a long time.

Then your boss pulled you in close enough that it felt like he was hugging you.

“S-Sir?” you stuttered nervously.

“Thank you,” he began. “For always being there.”

“Well, that’s my job,” you snickered.

“Not just as my secretary, but as my friend.”

“You think of me as your friend?”

“I do. Don’t tell Vice President Chan this, but I consider you one of my closest friends.”

“You’re quite soft, aren’t you?” It took a moment to register that he was definitely not joking. The tension in your shoulders diminished and you were able to relax in front of the equally-vulnerable man. “I consider you one of my closest friends, too.”

“Really?”

“By association though. After all these years being by your side, it’s only natural that I came to like you.”

“I like you, too,” he chuckled, tucking some hairs behind your ear. “A little too much, at that.”

“Oh, yeah?”

“In another lifetime, I feel like you and I would be soulmates.”

“You don’t think we would be in this lifetime?”

Were you hoping to be? “Perhaps. By association though, right?”

You didn’t want to press more about any underlying meaning to his statements, so instead you looked down embarrassed. In another lifetime, in this lifetime, in multiple lifetimes, Minho thought you and him would be each other’s soulmate no matter what, because a lifetime with you sounded perfect.

A thumb gently ran over the perimeter of your cheek bruise and it tickled rather than burned, so that was a good sign that it was healing. A loud tisk came from your boss.

“God, do I really put you through this much pain!?” he cried aloud.

“Huh? You didn’t cause this - those dumbass followers did!”

“I guess, but I was the one who brought you to that event! And what about the scar on your hand, huh? I definitely caused that one.”

“Well, yeah, but -”

“That’s it, I can’t be hurting you like this anymore. I can’t be putting you through all of this danger like you’re my bodyguard. I have to let you go.”

You knew he was joking when he couldn’t hold in his cheeky smile. “That is not probable cause to fire me, Mr. Lee.”

“Really? Dammit.”

“No matter how many times I get hurt, you can’t get rid of me that easily, ok? I go out on my own terms!”

“So strong willed… I almost hate it.” Minho sighed exaggeratedly before pulling you in for a real hug this time. His arms squeezed your waist tightly, letting you know that he didn’t want to let you go even if he tried. “Just make sure to give me a two weeks notice, all right?”

“Anything for you, boss.”

“I’m going to miss hearing that from you the most when you leave.”

You hit his chest lightly, but he caught your hand and held it for a few moments before leading you back to your kitchen to finish up dinner. The rest of the night wasn’t you and your boss - it was you and your closest friend enjoying dinner and some ice cream you had in your freezer.

In another lifetime, huh? Too bad you were stuck in this one.

--

Work has mellowed out in terms of paperwork and actually work and has instead transitioned into more press conferences and meetings with government officials regarding Iron Man. In theory, the meetings sounded cool, but you wouldn’t know for sure, as your boss decided to take one of the newer girls as his assistant for these meetings.

The first time he denied your company, you were only a little confused, but it soon passed when he said there was a lot of paperwork he only trusted you to complete on his behalf. But when he would bring her to every event - whether it was out of habit or on purpose - for an entire month, and her only, it really made your blood boil.

No, you weren’t jealous…! You weren’t jealous he was hanging out with someone younger and prettier and more his type! Definitely not! You were upset that your boss, whom you called one of your closest friends in a time of vulnerability, was already replacing you before you could put your two weeks in! And you knew this to be true when he denied your invitation to get lunch and instead you found him in the cafeteria laughing and flirting with the new girl at the table you and him would always sit at.

For a whole month, without even knowing it, you were slowly getting left behind and replaced for someone better - someone who would actually heed his every word and never argue. Someone who would keep their mouth shut for once. Someone who wouldn’t mind taking order from him forever.

It had been a month since you were living in this limbo, and tonight, the night of the Animal Cruelty Charity Ball to which Iron Man would be making a guest appearance, was when you knew he no longer needed you.

“You’re taking Ryujin…?” you repeated, as you couldn’t believe your ears.

“Yes, so you can go home early if you want,” Minho said as he fixed his bow tie in the giant mirror in his office. He then turned to present to you with an ignorant grin. “How do I look?”

“Why are you taking her?”

“She’s been working hard this past month, so I thought I’d reward her with tonight and have her practice some networking skills.”

“How generous of you,” you mumbled bitterly to yourself.

“Hm?”

“Nothing.”

“Can you help me put on this chain necklace thing? The clasp is so damn tiny…”

Reluctantly, you helped clasp the silver jewelry. While you thought your boss was heavily admiring himself in the mirror, he instead was focused on you and how your face was uncharacteristically stern.

“Are you ok?” he asked sincerely. He pressed a firm hand to your forehead. “Are you sick?”

You harshly swatted his hand away. “I’m fine.”

He shrugged it off, thinking that you probably had a bad week with all of the boring work he’s been having you deal with. A lot of weird and unsettling energy was pent up inside of you for the past month, so before you exited Minho’s office for the weekend, for some reason you thought this was the appropriate time to speak on it.

“Actually, I’m not fine,” you blurted out. Minho gave you his full attention for the first time that month. “I… I’m putting in my two weeks.”

His eyes went wide. “What?”

“I’m giving you my two weeks notice.”

“Do you have a job lined up?”

“No, but I will figure that out later.”

“You don’t have another job lined up but you want to quit? Where is this coming from?”

He didn’t sound angry. He wasn’t - he was more hurt than anything else that you wanted to leave without a proper explanation. He thought you and him were doing well… What changed so suddenly?

“I can’t do this anymore,” Minho noted how your voice was shaking. “I was fine when you had me staying ungodly hours, I was fine when you had me get you coffee every morning and your dry cleaning every Monday, and I was fine when you involved with the Iron Man project, but now all you’ve given me lately is paperwork and shit that the new hires should be doing and not myself!”

“_____, language -”

“And why is that? Why do I feel like I’m starting to get left behind already, or-or why do I feel like you don’t appreciate anything I do!? It’s clear to me that you’ve already begun to replace me, so what’s the use of me staying here when you don’t want me anymore?”

Minho was silent. You couldn’t tell if he was angry or sad or surprised at your sudden outburst. The tension in the room was suffocating and his silence even more so, like this was his ideal form of psychological torture. Minho didn’t seem to care for your feelings anymore as he turned back to face the mirror.

“Your two weeks has been noted,” was all he said.

You left the room in tears, with your blood still boiling and your heart crushed. But this was a good thing. In the end, this would be a good thing, is what you were trying to tell yourself, because this lifetime wouldn’t let you be with Minho.

--

Another month passed by and you were left in a worse limbo than you began with a month and a half ago. No one was contacting you about any job offers so you were left to ‘self-reflect’ or some bullshit this self-help book told you to do for the past two weeks. Luckily, all the overtime you put into your savings account had vastly accumulated into an unthinkable sum that would support you far beyond whatever the government noted as a proper unemployment time. Like, you didn’t even know what to do with the money sometimes - thank Minho for time-and-a-half, huh?

On days where you couldn’t help yourself - when you felt like torturing yourself - you would look up Minho on all the tabloid sites. Surprisingly enough, this happened way more than you’d like. Of course, as you speculated, Ryujin had quickly taken your spot as his secretary and God, did you like to shit on how terrible she was! You didn’t have to be at the office to know that Minho must be frustrated with her by the crookedness of his ties and jackets and how she must have forgotten to schedule a salon appointment by the look of his roots and unruly brows.

Ha! That’s what he fucking gets for not being grateful! That dick!

What a shame your relationship with him had come to. To spend what felt like an entire lifetime with him to being complete strangers, it was like you were reborn into this new and fresh carefree person. So carefree that you hummed on the way home with a bag full of fresh produce from the local market.

Perhaps you should have been less carefree, as a stranger snuck up behind you and knocked you out cold.

--

“Ryujin, where’s my document-signing pen?”

“Um, in your drawer?”

“Which drawer?”

“The one with all the other pens…?”

Minho sighed loudly, running a hand through his curly locks and staring intently at the mess of papers that scattered on his desk. His desk hadn’t been this messy since the first day he started when he had to sign all of those official documents that transitioned him to CEO. The same day when he fell for you.

Ryujin, who was nothing close to a secretary compared to you, was only getting on his nerves these days. Perhaps yes, he’s been a little too harsh on someone who’s still fairly new, but in truth he just didn’t have a way to express his frustration about you leaving all of a sudden. Where had he gone wrong?

“Take the rest of the night off,” he told his subordinate.

The poor girl bowed obediently and scurried out the room.

Another sign left the young man’s lips. This time it was because he was tired. He couldn’t deal with anymore bullshit tonight.

An anonymous FaceTime call rang his phone. Who could be wanting to FaceTime him at such an odd hour of the weeknight?

When he swiped to answer, all he saw was you tied up roughly to a splintered chair with tape covering your mouth. Minho nearly dropped his phone.

“Good evening, Mr. Lee,” a familiar voice sang. From the shadows behind you emerged the fake vigilante that led the invasion of the Charity Ball. “I see that you’re doing well.”

“What do you want?” he demanded quietly.

“I think you know what I want.” A shiny knife drew a line across the other cheek, small drops of blood seeping through and mixing with the dried tears and dirt. Minho’s heart felt like it was collapsing. “A blank check addressed to little ol’ me.”

“If I see another scar on them, I’ll kill you,” he threatened.

The man held his hands up high in defensive mode and took a step away from you. “Fine, I won’t touch them! Just give me what we want near the docks.”

“I’m on my way.”

“Oh, and one more thing - come dressed in Iron Man and I’ll slice their throat. Bye!”

The line cut dead and Minho had no choice but to leave empty-handed with only a blank check in his pocket.

The air inside the enclosed cargo bed was hot and suffocating and your rising panic did not ease your pain or heavy breathing one bit. It didn’t help that the guy and his minions were playing with your hair and playing with their knives, dragging the dull edges on your arms and neck. Normally, you wouldn’t be so weak and crying to the point that the tape around your mouth was loosening up, but life these days was tough and perhaps an event like this, causing Minho major inconvenience once again, was what you deserved.

Scurrying and uneven footsteps were heard from outside and you really, really hoped it was Minho not dressed in Iron Man.

“Here already? He must like you,” the leader teased.

The back of the cargo bed opened up to reveal that the sun had fallen a long time ago and the light of the moon outlined your plain and simple hero. He didn’t give the leader a second passing glance before blindly shoving the blank check to his chest and rushing by your side to untie you. First, he ripped off the tape and you let out loud gasps of air and cries.

Minho’s shaking hands take hold of your face to try to calm you down. “Hey hey, shh, I’m here. Are you ok? Are you hurt?” You shook your head vigorously, whining and trying to break free from the ropes tying you down. “Hold on, I got you.”

Before Minho could untie your hands, one of the minions hit him on the back of his head the same way they knocked you out. But your boss was stronger than that - his head was harder than his iron helmet. At the failed attempt, Minho hurled the guy over his shoulder and out the cargo bed. Your bad ass boss got up like it was nothing, but he was breathing heavily.

Not because he was tired or weak, but because he was furious.

Three more guys tried to kick his ass and it was then you realized that your boss wasn’t just some fake hiding behind an iron suit who could program it to fight. He truly was kicking their ass! Like, raw strength and all! If you weren’t scared to death, you might have thought this was kind of hot. But then Minho punched one of the guys too hard and it sent him flying over to you, to which you fell over and broke the chair. The rope was no longer tied to anything and you were free.

Yet another one of the lame-o sidekicks tried to capture you again, but now you were equally as furious, if not more, than your partner in crime. How dare they sneak up on you and not even give you a chance to fight back!? That was the definition of a weak-ass group of villains! So of course you had to show them a lesson and kick a few balls and some asses. But the number of asses was infinite and you were getting really tired. They had enough people to fight you and Minho until you couldn’t keep up and then they’d kill you easily.

“Mr. Lee, now would be a good time for one of your brilliant plans!” you begged between kicks and breaths.

“Ten seconds tops. But when I say so, I need you to hold my hand, ok?”

“What!? What are you planning!?”

“Just trust me!” You and Minho saw the leader direct the last ten of his minions to finish the job. “Ready? Three… two… one!”

A heavy force on the outside pushed the cargo bed off the edge of the pier and into the ocean with the purpose of drowning everyone in it. The only sensation you felt was ice cold water freezing your blood flow and Minho grasping your hand for dear life while trying to swim up to the surface. Before blacking out from lack of oxygen, you felt the ripples of something entering the ocean and saw a faded red and golden glow of light. Not a second later, a hollowed Iron Man on autopilot rushed you and Minho to the surface and placed you gently on the sand just under the pier. The silent night was filled with a chorus of ugly coughing fits from you and your boss. What a wonderful CEO slash ex-secretary couples activity this turned out to be.

As soon as your breathing returned to a rhythmic beat, a wet, crying, sand-covered Minho held your face in his still-trembling hands. He didn’t say a word - he simply held you and pressed his forehead to yours, making sure that yes, this was real, and not some unconscious dream where he was still in the middle of the ocean drowning. Yes, you were there with him and you were alive.

“Why are you crying? I was the one kidnapped,” you joked, hoping it’d lighten up the mood if but a little bit.

Minho laughed between sniffles and shivers, but couldn’t stop crying. He was smiling, but still crying, and if that didn’t perfectly depict this situation, you’re not sure there’s anything out there that did. Haphazardly, he planted a cold kiss on your forehead before pulling you into a hug.

“I’m so happy you’re ok,” he whispered. “I’m so, so sorry.”

“Why? You had nothing to do with this.”

“I’m just sorry in general. I’m sorry I took you for granted. I’m sorry for making you feel like I was replacing you. I’m sorry for not buying you that cappuccino three years ago. I’m sorry for -”

What’s the only way to silence your sexy boss in a heartfelt moment like this that would complete this superhero plot line? Kissing him mid-sentence, of course. You kissed your loving boss fully, wrapping your arms around his neck and pressing your whole body into it. It took him a while to register that yes, his secretary was definitely kissing him, but once it did, he kissed you even harder, enough to make you fall back onto the grass with him on top of you.

You’re left breathless the moment your lips parted. “I-I, uh, I forgive you…”

“How could you ever think that I could replace you?” he muttered. “I could never. Not in this lifetime.”

“You also said that me and you wouldn’t happen in this lifetime,” you challenged.

“Lifetimes can merge into one, I guess.”

Iron Man returned to Minho’s basement as soon as his job was done, so your favorite driver picked you two up in ten minutes with plush hot towels and dry clothes to change into. The pajamas you wore already had your initials monogrammed over your heart.

“Yeah, uh, about that,” Minho began awkwardly on the car ride home. “I was going to gift them to you a couple Christmases ago, but you said that monogrammed clothing was cheesy and stupid, so I abstained…”

“... They’re not so bad,” you admitted truthfully. “Very soft.”

Coming home to Minho’s felt so wrong, yet so right. You’ve only ever been inside for business reasons, such as redesigning his closets and kitchen pantry, but now that you were here on leisure - well, after almost fucking dying - it was kind of weird. But Minho holding your hand reassured you that you were wanted here - that he needed you here, damp with salt water and all.

“Take a shower upstairs. I’ll go make some tea.”

You gladly obeyed, using your favorite shower that you helped design. The door and the walls of the shower were made of glass and the shower head hung from the ceiling, making your long, hot shower feel like it was raining. Your body was covered in cuts and bruises and it was really ugly, but you’ve never felt more badass and in control in your entire life.

You left the shower smelling like orchids and eucalyptus and entered the kitchen that smelled like ginger and honey. Minho, who had also showered, followed shortly after, stealing a kiss on your cheek that was cut up earlier that evening.

You followed Minho to his giant marble island while he poured tea into white mugs on the other side. This felt so… domestic. This felt so right. This felt like home.

“I have a business proposition for you,” he smirked slyly.

Well, that ruined the moment. “What, no ‘how have you been the past month since I replaced you with some other chick’?”

“I promise I’ll ask that after, but I need to ask you this.” Your hard-headed boss was all giddy just at the idea of it and it was the first time in a whole month since you’ve seen him smile like this. He was so, so cute.

“Fine, what is it?”

“I want to hire you back.”

“Mr. Lee, I already told you, I can’t -”

“As the Head Director of the Iron Man project.”

Your eyes widened at the prestigious title. “Head Director?”

“You stayed by my side through all the criticism and the praise and I can’t imagine a better person for the position.”

“So it’s not just a fancy title for like, super mega ultra secretary, right…?”

Your handsome man chuckled. “No, I promise.”

“Head Director, huh?” your lips slowly spread into a grin. “I like the sound of that.”

“Is that a yes?”

“On a few conditions.”

“Hit me.”

“Higher pay with time-and-a-half.”

“Obviously.”

“I get my own secretary.”

“Only if you don’t fall in love with them like I did.”

You rolled your eyes and continued. “An extra week of vacation.”

“You’re pushing it.”

“Last one. I’m your date to every event from now on.”

Minho raised his eyebrow teasingly. “Oh? And if I say no?”

“Then I say no.”

“Jeez, I’m kidding! So strict. Of course you can, on two conditions.”

“Fine.”

“You call me Minho from now on. Or boyfriend, or soulmate, or sexiest man alive, or whatever suits your fancy.”

“Deal.”

“Second,” Minho leaned in and puckered his pink lips. “Seal this with a kiss.”

You start your new job next week - after Minho cashed in one week of vacation to spend with his soulmate.