#what if i told you that s3 made me ship this a little bit too? in the crackish way i ship shauna/misty i mean.

[warningsine]

[hugmekenobi]

S3: The Bad Batch (4)

Chapter Four: A Different Approach

Gif by @azertyrobaz

Hunter x femaleJedi!reader

Series Summary: Ever since Eriadu, Clone Force 99 had been a fractured squad. Months have passed but you're finally back with the Batch but Omega is still out there and you won't stop until you find her again.

Chapter Summary: A reunion may be on the cards sooner than you thought

Masterlist for S1 and S2

<Previous Chapter

Genre: Friends (idiots) to Lovers (we're in the lovers stage now)

Chapter Warnings: Canon-typical violence, gambling, again we have my interpretation of headspaces, limited use of y/n, fluff and mild angst, discussion of character death, protective reader and Hunter, reader and Crosshair kinda get into it

Word Count: 5.3K

Author's notes: Now we're getting into part of the series where each episode allows for a bit more creative license which I'm very excited about! It starts with the end of this one and I hope y'all like it! Also, with regards to tagging people, I'm only tagging the users who still officially register when I do it. Please, please let me know if you want tagged/for me to try your username again!!

Sparks flew from the control as Omega did her best to stabilise them, but it was proving to be a rather challenging task. “I could use some help up here! Our comms are down. I can’t contact Hunter!”

From down below in the shuttle, Crosshair was also doing his best to get things under control but the smoke, electrical malfunctions and the persistent screech of the alarm told him that was a very unlikely outcome. He analysed the screen dictating the state of the ship. “That’s not the priority. The ship sustained heavy damage.”

“I can see that.” Omega retorted.

Crosshair made his way back up to the co-pilot’s seat, with Batcher following close behind. “Get the stabilizers back online!”

“That’s what I’m trying to do.” Immediately after she said that a large spark of electricity crackled from the console and the ship was torn out of hyperspace and spiralled towards the planet ahead.

“We have to land.”

“A little hard to do when nothing’s working.” Omega snapped at him as she fiddled with the steering but to no avail.

The ship entered the atmosphere and started to plummet towards the ground.

Omega pulled hard on the lever to even out the ship as the ground grew ever closer. It was all she could do before it crashed landed and skidded along the surface.

When it finally came to a halt, Omega opened the glass roof to allow them all to get some air and eventually exit the wrecked vehicle. She looked in dismay as the controls fully shut off and the last dying spark flickered. “This will take forever to repair.”

Crosshair exhaled a sore sigh as he got his bearings, but that soreness was soon replaced by irritation as the hound pushed insistently on the back of his chair. “No. there’s no time for that.” The dog’s fussing got too much for him. He stood up to allow her to jump past him and off the shuttle.

“We need to get the nav reader online to extract the coordinates to Tantiss for when we go back.” Omega said, turning to look at him.

He couldn’t understand how she’d only just escaped that hell and was already talking about returning. “We’re not going back.”

“We left the other prisoners behind.”

“And the Empire is going to be searching for this ship and us.” He grabbed the pack with the blasters and hopped out of the shuttle. “We have to move. I scanned a spaceport a few clicks east. We’ll start there.”

Omega followed his example and let him lead the way to the spaceport.

--

With the establishment of the new plan being they would get to the spaceport and sneak onto a shuttle, they acquired their disguises and the two of them blended in with the civilians of the town.

They walked past the various troopers in the town as casually as they could so as not to arouse any unnecessary suspicion.

Omega warily analysed the situation ahead as they reached the spaceport. “It’s too well-guarded. We’ll never slip past all those troopers undetected.”

“I can take out at least half before they know what’s happening.” Crosshair stated confidently.

“Or… or we could try a way that doesn’t involve blaster fire.” Omega countered.

“Like what?” Crosshair asked, his voice filled with doubt.

“Watch and learn.” With that, Omega calmly led the way to the ticket attendant.

“Oh, I can hardly wait.” Crosshair said with a sigh as he followed a few paces behind.

“Hello. We’d like two tickets on the next shuttle please.” Omega requested pleasantly.

“Chain codes?” Came the standard reply from the attendant.

“About that. We lost our chain codes.” Omega said coyly.

“No chain codes, no passage.”

“Right. But you see, a problem for us could be an opportunity for you if, say, you knew of an alternate way of booking passage without a chain code.” She advanced towards the desk.

The attendant leaned forward. “Are you insinuating that I should take bribe?”

“If that’s what you want to call it.” Omega replied, feigning innocence.

“I do. And that could be arranged… for 15,000 credits.”

Omega’s composure slipped slightly upon hearing that price, “For two tickets?” She exclaimed.

“Per ticket. And it’s non-negotiable. You’re lucky I’m not charging extra for the creature.”

“Where do you expect is to get 30,000 credits?”

“Sounds like a you problem. Don’t come back without the credits.” The attendant waved a hand in dismissal.

Omega hung her head in defeat and left the port with Crosshair.

“Well, that went well.” Crosshair remarked sarcastically.

“Stow it.” Omega grumbled.

--

“Storming the spaceport would be easier than finding 30,000 credits.” Crosshair hissed as they aimlessly wandered the streets of the town.

“I don’t want to hurt anyone.”

“Don’t be naïve. Every second we’re here, we’re at risk.”

They came to a stop outside a bar.

“The quite wasting time complaining.” Omega argued before two troopers exited the bar and they both averted their gaze, but the opening of the door had given Omega another idea. “I think I know how we can make some fast credits.”

“Of course you do.” Crosshair mumbled as he saw her getting ready to make her way into the bar. The fluttering of a scrappy piece of paper caught under a nearby crate grabbed his eye before he entered, and he came to a sudden stop as he picked it up and saw what- or rather who- was on it.

Omega noticed he had stopped and when she turned back to enquire what was wrong, the question died on her lips as she saw what he was looking at. Only half the information on the sheet was news to her, but the rest made her eyes widen in shock. By the looks of things, you had been on your own for the time she’d been on Tantiss and clearly, you’d stopped hiding. And judging by the harsh language and substantial reward offering, the Empire wasn’t too happy about that. Now, not only was there the trouble of how exactly this information would go down between you and Crosshair but she also couldn’t count on the fact that you were back with Hunter and Wrecker. She glanced up at Crosshair and, despite the fact that most of his face was covered, he could not conceal the emotions that flashed behind his eyes. “Oh… um… she- well back when- I’m sure she would’ve told-” She broke off with a sharp breath as she struggled to find the words to say.

“Doesn’t matter.” Crosshair said dismissively, crumpling it up and putting it away before he carried on into the bar. The fact that Omega seemed to already have an idea of what your… situation… gave him enough of a timeline to go off of.

“One thing at a time, right girl?” Omega said with a shaky breath, patting Batcher’s side as the hound nuzzled into her. Putting her mind onto the task at hand, she too entered the bar.

--

The bar itself was relatively busy, especially compared to how Cid’s had usually been, and it gave Omega the chance to study her potential adversaries from their booth by the wall unnoticed.

“That’s your plan? You want to hustle someone?” Crosshair repeated sceptically. What had they taught this kid?

“I’ve done it before, and I prefer to think of it as a temporary requisition of funds.”

“And bet with what? We don’t have anything.”

“They don’t know that.” Omega said with a cheeky grin.

“And if you lose?”

“Well… I guess we’ll be in more trouble.” With that, she made her way to the card table in the middle of the bar and sat across from the Trandoshan and got her performance ready to go.

--

To say that Crosshair was surprised would be an understatement, the kid was winning every hand against the Trandoshan and securing credits within a matter of minutes. Whatever experience she’d gained with the rest of his squad was clearly something to be admired. Although the mental image of Hunter even allowing her to hone such a skill felt very out of place, he was quietly grateful for it right now.

The bar came to a sudden hushed silence as the door opened. Omega heard Crosshair clear his throat in warning and she looked to the entrance to see an Imperial officer flanked by two troopers enter. She studied them carefully but remained at the table as she won the next hand much to the Trandoshan’s disappointment. “I think I’ll quite while I’m ahead.” She said in response to his pleas for another game. Having an Imperial official here complicated matters and it was time she, Crosshair and Batcher left.

“Leaving so soon?”

Omega turned her head to face the officer as he stood by the table.

“You’re in my seat.”

The Trandoshan let out a low snarl before he departed and gave up his seat to the man.

Crosshair tensed as he saw the Imperial sit but Omega waved him back.

“So, you think you’re good at this game?”

Omega replied with a nonchalant shrug of her shoulders.

“Want to try against a, uh, real opponent?” He suggested to the young girl. “I insist.”

--

“Your mutt don’t seem to like me.” He said as the dog released a series of growls.

“She’s harmless.” Omega said in reply as she organised her cards.

“She’s a distraction. Get rid of her.” He demanded.

Omega signalled to Crosshair to take her out.

Crosshair got to his feet, clicked his tongue, and led Batcher to wait outside.

The Imperial watched them go. “Never seen you or your dad around before.” He commented.

“We’re just passing through.” Omega replied as she watched him flip the next card and the rise in murmurs indicated that both he and the crowd seemed to think her time was up.

“Eh, I’ll admit you’re not bad. But you seem to have misunderstood your enemy.”

Omega only smirked, “Did I?” She placed her cards down and flashed the set of the three Eastern Stars. Game over. “I’ll take those 20,000 credits.” She grew nervous however when his two guards made to approach the table.

He held a hand up to stop them. “I concede. You beat me fair and square.” He gave her the credits. “Nicely played.” He left the table.

The Imperial went back to his men and one of them addressed him.

“Sir. Patrol found a crashed Imperial vessel on the outskirts of town.”

“I wasn’t notified about any shuttles arriving today.” He angled back to look at the two strangers with a newfound sense of suspicion. “Now, hang on a minute.”

Omega gathered the credits in her bag and, now that Crosshair had returned, she got up to leave with him, but the familiar voice of the Imperial stopped them both.

“We’re not done here.” He chuckled coolly. “You haven’t paid your fine.”

“What fine?” Omega asked.

“Gambling’s illegal in these parts.”

“What?” Crosshair snarled as he made to step forward, but Omega’s arm stopped him.

“The law is the law. Now, all you gotta do is pay the fine. And I’ll be on my way.”

“How much?” Omega asked him as she did her best to keep her disgust at bay.

“Ten thousand credits… unless you prefer to be arrested instead.”

Omega got the credits out and handed them over.

“Excellent. Consider your fine paid in full.” He said smugly. “Try and stay out of trouble.” He dipped his cap and left the establishment.

Omega sighed in relief. “Let’s get out of here.”

Crosshair caught her shoulder. “How many credits do we have left?”

Omega checked the bag. “Thirty-five thousand. Enough for two tickets and a little extra.” She made the first move to leave.

--

“Crosshair, where’s Batcher?” Omega asked anxiously as she scanned the area for her companion.

“Oy. You looking for that hound?”

The two of them turned to look at the young boy speaking to them.

“You know where she went?” Omega queried.

“Sure do, but the answer’s gonna cost you. Ten thousand credits.”

The fact that he was a child made no difference, Crosshair sighed and stood intimidatingly over the boy. “I’m getting tired of this.”

“Okay, okay.” The boy backtracked. “Five, but that’s my final offer.”

Omega touched Crosshair’s arm to call him off before she gave the boy the money.

The boy examined the credits before he supplied the information, “That Imperial officer and his troopers snatched the creature and headed for the cargo docks. Down that way.” He pointed. “Nice doing business with ya.” He ran away from them before they could change their mind about the money.

Omega started off in the direction of the docks.

“Omega.”

She angled back to face Crosshair. “You heard him. Batcher’s this way.”

“And the spaceport is that way. Forget the hound. We have to get off this planet.”

“We never would be escaped without Batcher. I’m not leaving her.”

“You’re making a mistake.”

“I’m not abandoning her!” Omega angrily tossed the bag of credits at him. “Take the credits. If you wanna go, then go. I’ll find my own way.” She stormed off.

Crosshair watched her go but before he got ready to go his own way, he felt guilt coil in his gut. It was becoming very clear as to the impact she could have on someone and explained why his squad had cared so much for her since he too found himself following her rather than doing the more sensible thing of leaving from the spaceport.

--

“Fine. We’ll do this your way.” Crosshair agreed begrudgingly as he placed the bag down before Omega scaled the gate to the cargo docks herself. “But my skills are being wasted.” He offered his hands as a means to boost her over the top.

Omega gave him a warm smile, “Noted.” With his assistance she was able to climb over the gate with ease.

Crosshair made the quick climb after her and together, they snuck through the docks looking for where Batcher was being kept.

Omega then heard a series of whines and she saw Batcher’s cage. “There’s Batcher.” She signalled to Crosshair before she analysed the situation around her. “Shouldn’t we free the other animals too?”

“Don’t push it.” Crosshair replied.

--

They had managed to covertly make their way around to get better access to the centre console but before they could make a move, that dull voice spoke up.

“I thought you’d come searching for your mutt. Yeah, unfortunately for you, Lau has a very strict pet policy. No license means a hefty fine.”

“How much this time?” Omega asked, pretending to play along as the two of them were swiftly surrounded by troopers.

“How ‘bout you give me all my money back? Credits won’t do you any good when Hemlock shows up.” He saw the shared looked between them. “Oh, did you think I wouldn’t piece it together when I found that crashed shuttle? Nothing gets by me. I run this town.” He drew his own blaster. “So, hand over the credits and surrender.”

Omega sighed, “Alright.” She chucked the bag to the Imperial. “Let’s try things your way.” She murmured to Crosshair.

“Finally.” Crosshair waited until Omega ducked to cover before firing the first shot, but he noticed his hand was still no unsteady and his aim was more compromised than he liked.

Omega used the chaos of the firefight to get to the controls and release all the animals, the resulting stampede thinning out the Imperial forces and reuniting her with Batcher.

“I’ll handle this. Take Batcher, and power up the ship.” Crosshair ordered. He provided her cover fire as she got the ship ready and when he saw a break in the blaster fire, he made his move towards the step.

Once he was on board, Omega got the cargo ship in the air and into the safety of hyperspace.

--

You had remained on the ship to study Tech’s datapad and the various planets and their coordinates whilst the other two dealt with the lead on this particular planet, but its name escaped you- you’d been to so many in this sector already, the names of them were beginning to blur together.

You were doing what you could to try and determine the next, more efficient course of action whilst the others were out but the words and data on the screen were moulding into one pile of unintelligible information. You put the datapad down for a minute and rubbed your eyes as you huffed a tired breath from your lungs. You stretched your neck and adjusted your posture but before you picked the datapad back up, a faint chirping caught your ears.

You swivelled in your chair to see the communications light flashing and you knew you weren’t supposed to be hearing from Echo any time soon. So, when you patched the encrypted message through and untangled it to find coordinates to the moon just outside of Ryloth, you knew there was only one other person who could’ve sent it.

You jumped out of your chair and cleared the steps of the Marauder in one leap before you sprinted to find Hunter and Wrecker.

--

“What’s wrong?” Hunter asked urgently as he saw you come running towards them.

You shook your head as you glanced between them. Your breath was heavy from the running but also from excitement as you said, “It’s Omega.”

--

“Look, I hate to be the one to say it, but what if this message is a trap?” Wrecker broached carefully as the ship flew through hyperspace.

“Who else would know those codes?” You disputed.

“But if the Empire has her…”

“If it’s a trap, then we’ll get out of there but if it is her… we need to be there, Wrecker.” Hunter said as the ship disengaged from hyperspace, and he entered the landing cycle. There was no sign of another ship yet, but he opened the door anyway.

“There’s no one here.” Wrecker murmured, wringing his own hands anxiously.

“Then we wait.” You said calmly though your own heart was pounding.

--

“The Empire will be able to track this vessel. We need to ditch it.” Crosshair advised as he entered the cockpit after getting rid of the hat and face covering that he had donned back in Lau.

“We will. I’m heading to a remote location, and I sent a coded transmission for Hunter and Wrecker and (Y/N) to meet us there.” Omega responded. She only hoped you’d be with them too.

Now that this reunion was approaching ever closer, he found himself unprepared for what was to happen next. “Omega. It’s- it’s been months. You don’t know if they’re still ali-”

“They’ll be there.” Omega interrupted sharply.

The ship exited hyperspace and as she peered out the window, she saw the welcomed sight of the Marauder waiting there.

Omega dashed down the ship’s steps but paused as she saw no immediate sign of any of you.

--

A few hours had passed but there was still no sign of the ship and nerves were starting to get the better of you all.

Hunter had begun pacing the length of the cockpit, you had not stopped fidgeting with your vibroblade and alternated between that and examining the hilt of your lightsaber, and Wrecker was busying himself around the rest of the ship.

You saw the uneasy expression on Hunter’s face, and you pulled yourself together enough to be there for him. You caught his shoulders and looked deep into his eyes. “Just wait, take a breath. She’ll be here, Hunter. I know it.”

“But-” He broke off as he heard the sound of a ship landing and a whole different type of nerves overtook him.

Wrecker made the first move to look outside and what he saw filled him with pure joy. “Now there’s a sight!”

Take your time. You caressed Hunter’s cheek with a comforting and utterly relieved smile before you ran outside to join Wrecker.

Hunter braced his hands on the back of the pilot’s chair. He needed a minute to gather himself. This was the moment he had been seeking out for months but part of him couldn’t quite believe it was happening.

--

“Wrecker!” Omega cried in relief as she ran towards him and let him pick her up.

“I wasn’t even sure your message was real!” Wrecker said with a happy laugh as he held her close.

“I knew you’d show up.” Omega closed her eyes and let the comfort of his strong hold overtake her.

“We wouldn’t have missed it.”

Omega opened her eyes to the sound of your voice, and she smiled brightly as she saw you standing just behind him.

You knelt down with your arms open as Wrecker lowered her.

Omega fell into your embrace and nuzzled into your shoulder. “I wasn’t sure if- I thought you might’ve been-” She pulled away with a teary sniff.

You tilted your head as you tenderly wiped away the tears that had slid down her cheek and stroked a hand through her hair, the longer length of it a painful reminder of how much time had truly passed. “I’m right here, nothing happened to me.” You didn’t need to worry her about past events right now- that rehashing undoubtedly would come up later- but this current moment was something to be celebrated and not clouded by anything else.

Omega went to clarify what she meant but Wrecker’s words stopped her.

“We crossed the galaxy four times looking for you.” Wrecker revealed, wiping his own tears away.

“Five.”

Omega glanced past you as she heard Hunter’s voice and the sight of him created a feeling of pure elation that she wasn’t sure she would never experience again.

“But you’re the one who found us.” Hunter said with a smile from the doorway of the Marauder.

Omega started to run towards him.

Hunter darted down the steps two at a time and came to his knees as he held his arms out to her.

Your heart swelled and the emotions of the moment got stuck in your throat. That sight had been one you had been waiting to see for quite some time. You sensed and visibly saw how relaxed and content he looked, and you felt tears prick at the corners of your eyes.

Wrecker put a friendly arm around your shoulder as you both go to your feet, and he saw your reaction to their reunion. He too felt himself getting caught up in it all. Finally, things were looking up.

“We missed you, kid. We never stopped searching.” Hunter said affectionately and as he tightened his hold on her and felt her reciprocate, for the first time since Ord Mantell, he felt truly at peace. He pulled away but kept his hands on her shoulders, “But how did you escape?”

Omega hesitated before saying, “I had help.”

Hunter looked past her to see… well to see his brother descend the stairs of the ship, but what hit him was far more complicated than the relief he had been experiencing a mere second before.

You all followed his eyes and whatever happiness and lightness that had been surrounding you all immediately vanished and was replaced by a palpable tension as you all faced the clone that walked down the steps.

Your hand automatically came to cover your lightsaber.

Omega gaze darted between you all and she saw the shift in body language as well as the serious and distrusting expressions on all of you. It appeared she may have miscalculated as to how this smoothly this particular reunion would go.

“We can do this now and remain by a ship the Empire will be currently tracking, or we can get out of here.” Crosshair said simply.

Hunter placed a guiding hand on Omega’s back and jutted his head to Crosshair as the rest of you boarded the ship.

Crosshair followed them, with Batcher now close on his heels and the Marauder entered hyperspace once more.

--

Omega stood in the middle of the hallway. None of you had so much as made a sound or really moved since the ship had begun the journey back to Pabu and it was getting rather unbearable. “So… I got a dog! Her name’s Batcher.” Omega said with an uneasy laugh into the dead silence of the ship, but it got no reaction. The four of you continued your standoff with Crosshair positioned down the hall of the ship closest to her room/gun turret and the rest of you closer to the cockpit. All of you had your arms crossed and you, Hunter and Wrecker looked particularly guarded. She took that resulting quiet as her cue to perhaps let you all have it out right now. She took a seat and called Batcher over to sit by her feet and waited.

It was Crosshair who broke the silence first, “Where’s Echo?”

“Working with Rex.” Hunter replied briskly.

Crosshair released a soft hum in acknowledgement before he asked the question that he’d been putting off since he’d deduced it from how Omega had talked to him all those months on Tantiss, “And Tech… he’s- he’s really gone?”

“Yeah. It-” Hunter released a sad sigh, “It was a mission gone wrong and he- he sacrificed himself for us so we could get away. He knew what he was doing but… yes, he’s gone.”

Crosshair’s jaw tightened. He knew exactly what mission Hunter was referring to. “So much for Plan 88.” He couldn’t help but say, the grief and tense situation getting the better of him.

“What?” You remarked with a glare.

“You were supposed to stay hidden.”

“We couldn’t do that.” Wrecker said grimly. “Not when it looked like you were in trouble.”

“We couldn’t leave you behind, Crosshair.” Hunter added quietly, some of the fight leaving him as he recalled the events of Eriadu.

“Why? You never had trouble doing that before.” Crosshair retorted harshly.

“Excuse me?” You growled.

“Hey, it’s okay, don’t-” Hunter came to stand in front of you, but you stepped past him.

You couldn’t help it, the protectiveness that hit you was all you could act on. “You don’t get to do that. You don’t get to throw your choices back in his face. You were offered a different path, but you decided the Empire was where you wanted to be. And yet, despite all of that, the moment we found out you needed us, there was no real alternative. We never knew what had happened to you, but we didn’t need to. All we knew was that you were in trouble. We all knew the risks of ignoring that plan… Tech knew the risks. Don’t you dare-”

Crosshair wasn’t prepared to explain what happened to him yet, so he kept up with his provocation instead, “You want to talk about risks? What are you playing at staying around with them?”

Hunter and Wrecker both looked sharply towards Crosshair.

Your posture stiffened. “I don’t know what-”

“I may have been out of action but I’m not blind. If the lightsaber on your belt didn’t give it away, the wanted poster I just saw sure as hell did.” Crosshair spat as he flung it towards you.

You unfurled the paper, and your breathing became irregular saw this was one of the more detailed wanted ads that had been circulated. You crumpled it back up and then glanced to Omega who could only offer an apologetic grimace that she couldn’t warn you earlier, “That’s what I was trying to tell you.”

You looked back to the clone, “Crosshair, I-”

“You’re a Jedi and that wasn’t something you felt the need to share?”

“Every day.” You said tightly, “But I couldn’t chance something happening-”

“Well, something’s happened now, hasn’t it?” Crosshair bit back angrily. “Do you have any idea the danger you’ve put us in? Do you even care? You’d be doing us a favour by leaving.”

Even Omega joined Wrecker in shaking her head at him this time.

“Crosshair.” Hunter cautioned as he saw the guilt and shame that flashed across your face as your mask of composure slipped. “She’s not going anywhere. We’ve handled it so far.”

“You don’t know what the Empire is capable or what she is. I read what she’s done, and they won’t stop-”

“We’ve got it handled.” Wrecker repeated again as he noticed the way your shoulders started to heave.

Your jaw clenched. “You weren’t there. You don’t know-”

“I was there on Devaron.” Crosshair snapped. “I was there when you decided to join us. I was there when you decided to spend every day lying about what you are.”

“Crosshair.” Hunter warned again and there was no mistaking the protectiveness in his tone or his stance now.

Crosshair picked up on Hunter’s reaction, but he wasn’t to be dissuaded. “You want to judge my decisions, but you betrayed-”

“You don’t get to talk about betrayal, Crosshair.” Hunter interjected coldly as he came to stand by your side.

You only let out a bitter laugh. “Yeah, I made my choices in the beginning but when would you have liked me to tell you, Crosshair? On Kaller? But would that have been during or after your attempts to kill the Padawan? Or perhaps you would’ve preferred it on Kamino when Tarkin was there, and you were talking about how great the Empire was and how the Jedi were traitors and what happened to them was justified? Or would you have liked to have a sit down during one of the many occasions you were already actively trying to kill us? Tell me, when should I have entrusted you with this part of me?”

This time he didn’t have a response for you, he just shifted uneasily on his feet and glanced down at the floor.

You continued to speak but there was a distinct sadness to your voice now, “I wished I had been honest with all of you from the start. Truly I do. But after everything that’s happened, I’m glad you’ve only just found out because looking at you now, knowing what I do, I can’t be certain that if you had known what I was on Kaller, that you wouldn’t have tried to kill me too.”

Crosshair went to speak but found that he couldn’t immediately offer the reassurance that was needed.

“You’re our brother, Crosshair, and you’re welcome to stay on Pabu with us but don’t expect any of this to be easy.” Hunter said, placing his hand on your back in support.

“He helped me get out of Tantiss. He’s different now.” Omega remarked quietly.

Wrecker grunted and nodded towards his brother, but you and Hunter made no such moves, instead you both retreated further into the cockpit.

You sat in one of the passenger seats and stared at the paper again as you read the painful reminders of how you’d acted when you’d been separated from them. He’s right, you know.

“No, he’s not.” Hunter disagreed firmly as he knelt before you and untangled the wrinkled piece of paper from your hands. He paid it no attention as he threw it away. He came back and placed his hands on your shoulders as he crouched before you. “Are you alright?”

You breathed deeply and nodded. And you?

Hunter also nodded before he got to his feet and sat in the seat across from you.

--

“So, when did this happen?” Crosshair asked, gesturing to the two of you. The way you both were behaving wasn’t totally different to how things had been in the months before Kaller, but there was a definite shift that marked something more official. There had been a lot he’d missed out on.

“After Tipoca City.” Omega informed him as Batcher eagerly greeted them.

Wrecker enthusiastically petted the hound as he moved closer to Crosshair and Omega. “About time, right?” He added with a hint of humour in his voice, but the stern looks from the two of you had him clearing his throat awkwardly.

Crosshair simply hummed in reply and found himself wondering just quite how difficult things were about to be.

Next Chapter>

Tagging: @noeasyisnoisy, @andreaaxy, @dominoeffectsworld, @nightmonkeysstuff, @arctrooper69

[yiangchen]

it's so tragic funny that while i was watching t100, jroth was so adamant that there was nothing romantic there with bellarke, that it literally made me doubt what was very clearly being written as romantic (and it actually was. like, we know this now. it has been confirmed).

looking back, bellarke could have kissed at so many different points in the show, without changing anything else but having them kiss, and it would have made perfect sense. it would have flowed. it would have aligned with their relationship development.

just think about it. 1x09. unity day. is this a bit early? yes. but do they have the chemistry? yes. and have they had sufficient build up for two characters to have their first kiss? yes. honestly more than a lot of ships that happen in the first season of their show. especially since day trip just happened! plus, the flirting during unity day was...not subtle.

listen...she wanted to kiss him here so bad. seriously though. clarke could have and that would have been a very natural progression of this scene. it would have especially fit the early drop ship days vibe.

(or you could add in a scene where clarke finds him later, now sufficiently buzzed, they flirt some more, then she kisses him, and bellamy's like, "woah, woah, princess, what are you doing?" but he's smiling and she just shrugs with a smile and goes in to kiss him again, saying "having fun", and bellamy says, "you're drunk" and clarke is exasperated saying, "well you told me to!" and bellamy laughs, very amused, and from the look in his eyes, you can tell that he is also very very VERY smitten.)

if you still think that's too soon, yeah, i tend to agree. i love the idea of s1 bellarke in fanfic, but for the show, i prefer a bit more of slowburn. so let's push it to season 2. no, that's not a true slowburn, but still, you had to wait a little for it, and a lot of shows do this successfully. so anyway. 2x05. post iconic reunion hug, shot in a very romantic way i might add.

bellamy is watching clarke sleep by the fire, she wakes, we have some platonic gazing with firelight flickering across their faces...

we all know how the scene goes. he reassures her. he confides in her. she reassures him back.

i'm sorry, but the way they are looking at each other here? dude, if they had been sitting any closer, they could have kissed. i tend to think it would be more in character for clarke to initiate a first kiss with bellamy in s1-4, but in this scene, i 100% could see bellamy going in to kiss her after this.

(and yes, i'm aware that octavia was pretending to be asleep this whole time, but honestly, her reaction to them would have added some much needed levity to the situation. octavia is a bellarke shipper, after all. also, some people might say that this would make clarke's "i love you" to finn less believable, but i disagree. you can have feelings for two people at the same time. i mean, she literally kisses lxa very quickly after finn's death sooo yeah...plus, it would have made the bellarke angst of s2b/3 even better.)

maybe you still want more of a slowburn though, and that is perfectly fair, which brings me to s3, which in my opinion would have been one of the best seasons for canon bellarke. alright. 3x05. hakeldama yup! it was prime time for a first kiss. i mean, all the build up of s1/2 obviously, but also...this had just happened:

but anyway...back to hakeldama. this is the peak of their angst. nothing tops it.

but then, after the heat of the moment, the softness comes in. as it always does with these two. they wind up sharing the softest, most romantic scene in this entire show (fight me).

that last gif, man...at this point, i think they would both go in for the kiss. mutually initiated. god, it would have fit the scene so well!

(some people might say that this would invalidate clarke's love for lxa, considering everything that happens two eps later, but again, i disagree. like i said before, you can have feelings for two people at the same time. people might also say that this would undermine bellamy's relationship with gina, but you know what? the whole fucking narrative undermined that relationship, so i really don't care. i loved gina, but if clarke can kiss lxa right after finn's death, then bellamy can kiss clarke right after gina's death. this show is messy, okay? and bellarke are messy as fuckkkk.)

still think it would be too early? okay. season 4 then. very recently, i realized how easy making bellarke canon in s4 would have been, holyyyy. starting off in 4x03. bellamy is sleeping on the couch and clarke watches him sleep with the softest smile on her face (i'm still crying about this btw). i can't find the right gif, but you all know the smile! then clarke is struggling so bellamy wakes up and is there to support her, making a declaration that has romantic undertones, it just does!

and then clarke lowkey makes a move on him lmao. for real though?? what was this???

i would only change one thing here. he takes a seat beside her first and then puts his hand on her shoulder. so that way they are eye level (aka kissing level).

when she lifts her head off their hands, their faces would be so close. maybe bellamy would tuck a lock of hair behind her ear, not realizing how intimate that kind of thing is until he does it. i could see them kissing here. clarke would initiate. although, i think it would be so much better if it was just an almost kiss. bellamy tells her she should get some sleep right before it happens.

and then in 4x06...

it's actually so funny how she says that and then she's like 'oh no. that sounded like it implied something. i did not mean to imply.'

and bellamy's over here like 'omg she's implying.'

which leads to him literally about to confess. i'm sorry, but there is no other way to interpret....

and of course clarke interrupts, but this is the moment, you guys! this could have been the moment.

right after this, before roan's interruption, there's a pause, and then clarke kisses him. it's a quick one. the kind of kiss where she has both of her hands on his face and he's so stunned by it that his eyebrows raise in surprise and before he can even process that it's happened, she's pulled back and they're looking at each other, a bit in awe, both surprised that she just did that.

then in 4x09, we actually get to see the reunion!! and it's the running kind. just like 2x05. only this time, after they run to each other and hug, bellamy pulls back and takes her face in his hands to examine her for injuries, and once he realizes she's okay, probably after she reassures him and puts a hand on his face, then he kisses her, but they both go in for it (and i cry).

in 4x13, i would change the location of the head and heart scene. somewhere more private...a bedroom (!). so, after this moment:

and bellamy turns away, upset, clarke pulls him back to face her and takes his face in her hands. his eyes are watery. so are hers. she kisses him. one thing leads to another and we get the sex scene we deserved!! then they're lying in bed, cuddling. bellamy's head is on her chest and clarke's playing with his hair. that's when she decides to ruin the moment lmao and continues the head and heart convo with "we've been through a lot together, you and i." i can just see it so well. they would shift so that they're laying on their sides, facing one another. maybe clarke's fingers play with the hair at the nape of his neck now. when she says he has a big heart, her palm rests on his bare chest. when she says he has to use his head too, her fingers of her other hand shift from his neck to his temple. when bellamy says, "i've got you for that," clarke kisses him. their foreheads stay touching for a few breathes, then she pulls back to look at him and says that raven's premonition came true. like...am i crazy or would this have worked so well?? literally the same dialogue but...they're together.

(plus, this could have led to clarke raising bellamy's kid--august--along with madi over those six years they are separated, i'm just saying!)

maybe you still think that season 5 was the ultimate time for bellarke to go canon, and you know what? i honestly might just agree. the set up was there with clarke calling bellamy every day for 2,199 days. the potential was there. madi was the biggest bellarke shipper i swear. she wanted them to be together even more than all of us combined i think. for a bellarke kiss though, you would almost have to drastically change the course of events...unless you go with 5x13 and blecho have broken up earlier in the season. after clarke wakes bellamy from cryo (still crying about this moment, yeah!), i could see them having a moment.

before jordan walks in, maybe clarke helps bellamy out of the pod, and once they're both standing, bellamy would finally make his move. instead of bellamy asking why they're the only ones there, clarke does. bellamy tells her, "we'll figure it out, clarke, but first, i have something i wanna say." maybe he does something soft, like take her hand or brush her hair behind her ear. clarke is staring at him, not quite believing what is happening right now, but deep down, she knows. he tells her, "those six years without you were the worst of my life and i don't wanna waste any more time." clarke is wearing a watery smile, still not quite sure she believes what she's hearing. she tells him, "i radioed you every day you were gone." bellamy's whole face lights up and he tells her, "i know." their foreheads touch. both of his hands are cradling her cheeks, her hands are cradling his wrists. she whispers his name. it's the kind of kiss where the time before the kiss is excruciatingly long, but once they kiss, it becomes much more urgent as they finally give in to all of the feelings. god. would have been ICONIC.

plus, they both looked absolutely gorgeous in this scene. hello???

would have been one hell of an aesthetically pleasing first kiss holyyyy. then jordan interrupts and makes some comment about how his mom and dad were right all along :)

if not season 5 though...moving onto season 6. 6x10 to be exact. i know i've said that other times were the ultimate time for canon bellarke, but this episode is too! or right after it in 6x11. there are two scenarios that i see playing out here. (in both, blecho have broken up previously.)

in the first scenario, it's 6x10. as soon as bellamy saves clarke and she wakes up, instead of going in to hug him, i swear when i was watching it that i really thought she was going in for the kiss. that was the one and only time where i legitimately thought they were about to kiss while watching. it had never made more sense than in that moment. even with all of jroth's attempted brainwashing, my mind was stronger in that moment. it saw it coming. or at least i thought i did lmao. i know they didn't actually kiss.

but listen.

they really should have.

clarke is literally looking at him like this:

come on, man.

i usually say that bellamy should be the one initiating post s4, but in this moment, it would have been clarke.

and if not then, the other scenario is that they hug as usual. clarke gets some rest as usual. but when she wakes up in 6x11 and bellamy is at her side, they are in a separate private tent. they have that same conversation that they do. they argue about clarke risking her life again. but then...

he tells her, "hey, i just got you back." he says it firm but soft. i see bellamy initiating the kiss here, especially since he's almost lost her twice now, but once clarke realizes that this is really happening, that after all this time he wants her just as much as she wants him, she would for sure be the one initiating everything else. she would be sitting in his lap making out with him so fast jfsldkjfaslk and you know what? good for her!! they either just kiss a lot here, laying down on the bed, all tangled up together, and then they're interrupted, or maybe, just for once, they're allowed to be happy, uninterrupted, and they sleep together. either way. natural progression.

that's really the point of this longwinded post. so many times it could have happened. all of them a nature progression of the story that was being told.

then comes season 7...

there are no words.

6x13 left them off in a perfect place...

the set up was literally right there! they should have kissed in 7x01!! they should have lived happily ever after with madi in a seaside cabin situated in a field of gold!!

[bonnieisaway]

BIG BOY spoilers for season 5 but I really wanna talk about how brilliant episode 1 is (I just woke up and I'm not in the fuzzy headspace I was yesterday)

Off the bat also I do wanna mention the art style is changing again a little! It's a bit different from season four so far. I really like the way it's looking though. Seven looks fucking GOOD in so many of these scenes

Anyways it took me an EMBARASSING four fucking minutes to realize that 1) this was not really happening irl and 2) that the dome was supposed to represent Seven's headspace

anyways The place they're standing in at the start is really interesting to me. They're on Chicken Island obviously but it's Chicken Island in Seven's head. And the way it is in his head is it's foggy, cloudy, and absolutely deserted. I mean there's already not many people on Chicken Island, but it's like dead empty. Much like this scene from the s3 outro:

(didn't know this ED had twenty fucking variations of this scene now jesus christ)

It also feels like it's littered with a lot of references from past episodes. The ducky floatie feels like a reference to the episode where we met DaChun in season 1, the coconut Hua's messing with feels like a reference to that as well, this all feels very reminiscent of invading Captain Jack's ship, the episode even starts with the "First mission" title card, which the show doesn't really use anymore. There's a lot of like, old references in here that all seem kind of tainted and dulled by this grayed out, melancholic perception of Chicken Island.

The second I saw this I instantly thought of the scene from season 3:

I just I dunno I really really like this. I like how they chose to represent his mindscape and the references to the past experiences he can remember.

And I also really like how the different levels represented the different poisons in his body. The first being a puzzle about Manjusaka, the second about the Dark Frost blade

(which also: there are random figures hidden in the ice in this scene that made me tweak out.

is that fucking blackbird? who the fuck are you)

I love how the wolf is drawn and reflects the exact effects of the blade. The animalistic, heightened senses, the fact it's not inherently an evil entity, it's capable of being nice, it's just got heightened aggression it can barely control. Anyway and then the fucking final layer.

Literally the exact spot he once stood in.

And the fucking. The thing that fights him. That tries so hard to stop him from opening the door. It's not just himself, it's a fucking amalgamation of every reason why he shouldn't, why he originally did this to himself: the Shadow killers, faces we don't even recognize, the girl in white, faces we'll probably never see again but that will haunt some deep corner of him, and it's himself. and it's not the thousand demon daggers that kills it, it's just the girl in white's blade. Her dinky little run of the mill sword.

I think it's really, really important that the "past him" asks: If you could've done this too, wouldn't you? Wouldn't you have run away? You would've wanted a new life too. Don't do this again. Don't do this to me.

I started this season worried we were gonna hard pivot at "oh, Seven and the past Seven are two different people" but they're not and this, to me, clearly illustrates that they're not. He wanted this. He wanted this life to end. He wanted to run away, he didn't want this life, exactly like I've been saying since fucking season 3. He wasn't a ruthless, cold hearted killer, at his core he was a child who did what he needed to. He only fought on missions, he was told directly to kill Stanians on sight, but he wanted to be empathetic, he wanted to care so badly, and he wanted to protect somebody. The FIRST fucking time he EVER gets to directly, blatantly, and loudly protect somebody he even MILDLY cares about, it's enough to convince him to never want to do this again. And now with the added context that the Thousand Demon Daggers was slowly killing him - he didn't just fight some demon and won but he signed his fucking life over and was bound to this sword that was ripping him apart, he wanted to leave so badly, and the only way he did was in a way that almost killed him anyways. Episode 2 made me afraid too, because of the way the flashback controlled him, but ultimately, he's already had these flashbacks THE ENTIRE SHOW. These have happened to him before, but now they're so much louder, they're overwhelming and powerful, he's conscious but he's not, he doesn't know how to stop, sometimes he doesn't even actually know where he is. He's not being 'possessed' by somebody else or something, he is somebody riddled with PTSD taken over by those memories.

I also really wanna know what it is 'Seven' is saying here. His mouth is obviously moving like he's speaking but there's no audio or captions to it, (Netflix if you love me you'll give me something good god,) but it looks like Seven doesn't know what he's saying here either. and I just really really really wanna know. This is going to become my new "what was in the letter."

Anyways feel free to pile on more thoughts cus thats all I have right now. I ran into this season (foolishly) (once again) praying I'd get end game Seven x Thirteen but it seems I will spend the duration of season 5 in the trenches, fighting for my life, kicking and screaming, shitting my pants and sniffling, begging, "NOOOOO HE'S THE SAME PERSON HE WAS BEFORE!!! NOOOOOOO!!!!!!! THEY'RE NOT TWO DIFFERENT PEOPLE!!!!!!!!! NO!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

Thirteen save me, save me Thirteen, Thirteen, Thirteen save me.

[seeasweetsmile]

To my miraculous fans followers

I'm sorry but more the serie continues, more I’m turning myself into the dark side (aka the ml salt).

Maybe you saw that I didn’t reblog gifs from episodes since S4 (just a few) like I did for S1-S3 and to be honest, the wait between seasons/episodes and the way I’m slowly detached myself from the show to discover others cartoons or animes didn’t help either.

For S4 and mostly S5, the traitement of the characters, the Ladynoir/Adrinette chaotic relationship, the way Lukanette and Adrigami were killed at the first two episodes of S4, Marinette’s hypocrisy, Gabriel’s madness and his growth grudge towards Marinette, Chloé’s caricatural treatment, Lila being mastermind, no adult has a brain anymore, even if there’s globaly good ideas and so much potential, the fact they were awkwardly or badly executed were a pain to watch.

And you know what is the most painful? I loved that show.

Because is that : I loved that show.

It’s been 7 YEARS (almost 8 years in september if I remember correctly) since the serie debut, and like so many fans, I grew attached to the worldbuilding, the characters, the bond between all of them, the humor or the banters, the lore about the miraculous, the design of the superheros and the supervilains, their powers and how complex/funny/interesting they were... and if you have the inevitable urge to read/write fanfics, look/create the fanarts, or even read analysis/meta post about the episodes, you grow even more attached to the characters and the show!

But when you watch from a objective point of view, you realize there’s so much problems consistency issues (I don’t list them, others fans on tumblr and salty hashtags do it better).

Like I said in a previous reblog, if the writers didn’t want to make episodes just for shocked the viewers (remember when they said each episodes of S4 were equivalent of Chat Blanc??) because all the excessive drama around ladynoir or adrinette, if they didn’t push these things to the extra way, if they didn’t get anyone involved (Alya, classmates, adults) to tell Adrien and Marinette what to think or what to do, it could have been so much better. I firmly believe that friendship is a fondamental piliar to any relation. Adrinette started with a good way (cf origines), but they shaped Marinette into another girl who idolazed Adrien without sincerly knowing him (and when they start to give Marinette some retrospective of her behaviour, what we got? we got Alya to tell her she kNoW AdRiEn instead of listening genuinely her best friend and step back), and Adrien, even though he sincerely liked Marinette and held her in high esteem, he ends up becoming the perfect boy madly in love with her who forgets everything as soon as she is in his field of vision or as soon she breathes. If the others characters had LISTENED to Marinette when she questioned herself and preferred to remain friends with Adrien because she realized she didn’t fully know him, and if the others characters had LISTENED to Adrien when he told them he wasn’t agree with their crazy plans (they didn’t listen and the MCs sighed, abandonned their spine column when the classmates insisted a little bit too much), I repeat myself ; it. could. have. been. so. much. better.

To leave Marinette and Adrien figuring out how to do the things at their own rythm. Instead of a healthy, good and solid friendship that transform into romance, we get a forced ship. Because “ThEy MaDe FoR eAcH oThEr” like everyone said in millions times (I was temped to rewatch since the beggining to counts exactly how much the characters say this stupid sentence but I’m not strong enough). And they say this as if we were dumb and we didn’t know Adrinette was the endgame since day one.

Also, another thing that bug me : since S4 to S5 –and I don’t know if anyone felt that– but I have this distrubing impression that Marinette and Adrien mostly  were just puppets in the theater/playhouse and they didn’t have a soul. Sometimes it push me out of the show when I watch the episodes.

Anyways, if you made it until here, thank you for reading my rant post. Two more episodes to left for S5 that will air early july (I read the script of the finale and boy...) and I still don’t know if I will watch the S6. With Gabe and Chloe out of the picture, Lila stepping as main vilain (still wait for her background) and Emilie being here, maybe they’ll do something correct ? But as I said in a previous post, if I watch the first few episodes and if it irrated me, I’ll stop.

I’m tired to hurting myself.

[sasuhinasno1fan]

Wish come true - Adrien AUGreste Day 9+10

It took a while for this one to get written and I was a bit back and forth on letting Ameile get the ring just based on the reason for why Gabreil wanted to keep it. I never actually watched s4 and 5, just know from friends hatewatching, and I had assumed the rings had a bigger part in the story but so far, they just seem to be family heirlooms. But again, because it’s not cannon past s3, Felix actually has a relationship with his dad. Anyway, enjoy!

Friends

“Remind me never to do Student UN again.” Adrien said, dropping onto the deck of the Liberty.

It was the Saturday after their schools Model UN and while Adrien lucked out with Lila not participating, she was back in school and made it her mission to make his life difficult by being a nascence. it took the whole class playing shield to keep him from actually hurting her. Chloe surprisingly had been a huge help, giving her a dress down that honestly, was too good to describe. Obviously, the Mayor’s daughter hadn’t done a whole 180 but with most people remembering how her mother treated her and starting to give her the benefit of the doubt, she was coming out from her spoiled shell. She was still spoiled and self-centred, that was Chloe, but Adrien compared her to Cleo from Monster High. She cared and wanted people to know that, it just took a while for her to find the ways of showing it.

“No need to applaud, I’ve arrived!” Chloe announced, stepping onto the ship, stumbling when Sabrina tripped off the gangplank and crashed into her. Her best friend stuttered apologizes when she turned to glare but the blonde took a breath and asked if she was ok.

Baby steps, that’s what it was about.

“Look on the bright side, two days and a full party where we don’t have to deal with her.” Nino said. He was leaning against Alya’s legs as she sat on the stage with Marinette and Alix, still going over the story about the Miraculous and their secret society. She’d been even more into it when the news riel about the sudden return of the Temple, with a very familiar looking mark, ran.

“And even better,” Luka said, kneeling down next to Adrien, “You now have more free time and I’ve gotten ahead in assignments.”

Adrien smiled to himself. “I guess that is something worth celebrating. Other than actually pulling off the school’s first Student UN.”

“Oh my god. Chloe!” Alya called.

“I didn’t do anything!”

“No.” Alya got up, practically shoving her phone into Chloe’s face. “Did you know about this? that this was today?”

Chloe’s eyes widened. “Crap. I can’t believe I forgot. I didn’t think I’d forget.”

“What?”

“Lila’s mom disappeared a year ago.”

“Died.” Chloe corrected. “She died, I’m sure of it. she was really sick, dizzy spells, fainting, confined to her bed for days. I never liked Lila, but I liked her mom. I can’t believe I forgot.”

“It’s been a busy year, what with Hawkmoth and everything.” Sabrina said.

“Not to mention Lila suddenly showing up at school.” Marinette reminded. “I’m sure her mother knows you care.”

“She showed up at school?” Adrien asked.

“Lila was homeschooled. With her dad’s popularity, Emile didn’t want her being stared at. Not like she cared; she was always doing something to make a mess of things. She would be a clothing model for her dad for clothes for her age group and clearly, she loved the attention.” Chloe said. “it started small then, but she started lying to get her way. Emile would catch her a few times but she started to get better and then Emile got sick, so she hid better. All of a sudden, she walks into the classroom with this lie that her father hated that she was being locked away and wanted her to be normal and interact with the people who bought his clothes.”

“Which also brought in the lies she told us basically about how she was involved in all our favourite things.” Alya reminded.

“Which Alya here actually helped expose a little. Did you know she said Jagged Stone wrote a love song about her?” Alix said, putting a hand on the reporter’s shoulder.

“Jagged Stone, is in his 30s.”

“Her lies went crashing down pretty soon after he made a statement about it not being true. Didn’t stop her, but we knew to fact check and before you know it, newest big model on the scene is the biggest scandal no one wants to deal with.”

“But she lost her mom.”

Adrien thought about how she reacted the first day he met her. She had no standing, clearly grasping at anything to be seen. He understood it, keeping up a façade because it was easier, but she seemed to take singular focus on attacking him, insulting his mother and her love. He could blame it on Lila’s own mother and her disappearance, but he didn’t know. The popular kids he me at his schools, a lot were mad at their parents, but unless they were involved in some way with yours, your own parents never made conversation. Any cheap shot about them was about their looks or their jobs, not their ability to love you. he felt bad for her, but it didn’t justify her behaviour. He did feel bad for Chloe though. He wondered if Emile Agreste had been more of a mom than her actual mother.

“Chloe, did you want to go give your condolences?” Adrien asked. “To Gabriel and maybe Lila? I mean, I don’t like her, but if my mama disappeared?”

“We should at least let her know we’re thinking of her.” Mylene said. “But if we all went.”

“She’d lose her head. Or lap it up. Or, I don’t know, maybe be normal.” Ivan pointed out, all valid points.

“her dad wouldn’t want his daughter’s whole class coming by. He doesn’t even leave his house.” Chloe reminded.

“So only a few of us. Chloe, you and Sabrina. Maybe Juleka, since you model for him? And Marinette, since you’re working his internship.” Rose suggested.

“I will be working his internship. And honestly, if Lila hates Adrien the most, she hates me second. She constantly goes after me trying to get me in trouble.” Marinette reminded.

“I’ll go.” Adrien said, shrugging when everyone looked at him. “I don’t like her, but I mentioned to her dad that I liked Solitude. Feels like I should at least let him know how sorry I am.”

“So, Chloe, Sabrina, Adrien and Juleka?”

“Except, Juleka is practically becoming the new face of the brand,” Luka reminded. “I don’t know her well, but I know her enough. If we’re worried what all of us being there will do, do we really think sending her replacement is a good idea?”

“Chloe, Sabrina, Adrien and Luka? if only to stop Adrien when Lila undoubtly pisses him off.” Rose said, Adrien looking insulted.

“Hey!”

“Oh, you know she’ll do it. get filming, I’ll call the limo.” Chloe said.

                                      ________________

“Yes?”

Chloe tossed her hair, standing at full hight. Adrien would admit, it was impressive how easily she fell into being her snooty self when she wanted something. There was Chloe who held onto her self-importance and could still be ok to be around and then there was this side, who after a few minutes, you’d be tempted to throw her off the Eiffel Tower.

That was probably why any akuma she caused would take her there.

“We’ve come to pay our respects to M. Agreste.” Sabrina nudged her, leaving her to sigh and roll her eyes. “And Lila I guess.”

“We have guests Chloe.”

“Oh, let her in. I haven’t seen her in years!” that was a different voice, but one that perked Chloe up. She turned to Adrien, who was messing with the plastic covering the bouquet. She smirked in a way that worried Sabrina, who started tugging on her jacket to get her to spill.

The gate swung open and Chloe led them to the door. It was pulled open and Adrien had to remind himself that Emile Agreste had been missing for a year. The woman who stood in front of them was near identical though.

“Chloe!”

“Amelie! It’s so nice to see you again. How is it in London? Great, I’d like you to meet someone. This is Adrien.” Chloe dragged Adrien over, ignoring his questions of what she was doing.

“Um, hi?”

“Oh, my goodness. Felix, Felix! Come over here. Look at this.” grabbing Adrien, the woman dragged him in the house, Chloe still ignoring the questions over what was going on, smiling at the scene before them.

Amelie brought Adrien to stand in front of someone. Someone with the same shade of hair and eyes, near the same height and had the same expression Adrien tended to have when truly annoyed or angry.

“It’s this amazing? Felix, you two look exactly alike. Lila, you must have been so surprised when he came to your class. I hear you’re new?”

“Um, yeah. I’m Adrien Rossi…and this is a little strange.”

Amelie giggled, clapping her hands. “Oh, this is amazing! Emile and I always hoped our kids would look like this, near twins. I always wanted to play a trick on you Gabriel, and switch the kids for a day. Oh, the things the two of you could have gotten away with.”

Feeling a little awkward, Adrien gave the teen in front of him a smile. “Hi, and you are?”

“I’m Felix.” His accented French made Adrien tempted to switch to English, but he didn’t want to assume.

“Oh, and I’m Amelie. Emilie was my big sister. Chloe, why don’t you introduce me to your other friends?”

Adrien glanced over Felix’s shoulder to see Lila glaring at him. She seemed madder than usual, like she actually wanted to hurt him. Eager to get out, Adrien handed the flowers to him.

“Sorry for your loss.”

Felix looked at the flowers before looking back at him. It was strange, seeing such a proper picture staring back at him. Mylene, while waiting for others to finish their video, had braided his bangs into his hair and the fishnet poking out from under his oversized shirt was a definite contrast to his slacks and waistcoat.

“I know you don’t mean my father but thank you regardless.” Felix said.

“Oh, I didn’t know. I won’t say ‘I’m sorry’ because I know every kid who lost a parent never wants to hear that. So instead, I’ll say…I hope the important memories never fade and if they do, you never lose the feelings you had during them.”

Felix looked surprised and Adrien realised he was hoping for a reaction. Just not the one he gave. He took the flowers and handed them to Nathalie, who looked pained as Chloe held court with Lila’s aunt.

“If you don’t mind, Mlle. Bourgeois, this is a family occasion.” Gabriel finally interrupted.

“That’s fine, we just wanted you to know we were thinking of you. oh, and Sabrina.” The red-haired girl took out the SD card that they downloaded their video onto and handed it to Lila. “Just so you know we care.”

Lila dropped the SD card and stomped on it a few times. Whether or not it broke it, Adrien wasn’t sure, but they all got the message. She stormed up the stairs, ignoring her aunt’s yelling to come back and apologize, which turned into a near fight between her and Gabriel about Lila’s behaviour. Adrien took one look at Felix, who’s face still held the same expression, but with a bit of sadness and spoke without thinking much.

“Hey, Felix. Is it your first time in Paris? We’re having a party at Luka’s houseboat; you should come with us.”

A small bit of relief appeared in the green eyes as he turned to his mother. “Can I?”

“I suppose. How about you meet me back here at 4 so we can say goodbye and go to the station together?”

And with that, they had a new addition.

                                                  _________________

“Whoa. It’s like a funhouse mirror.” Kim said, looking Felix up and down, who looked annoyed at being gawked at.

“Except I’m sure his temper is the same. Sure, you remember that part, huh Kim?” Adrien said, smiling when the athlete got red and turned back to the party. “Sorry about him.”

“You didn’t have to do this because you feel sorry for me.”

“I only feel sorry you would have had to spend the afternoon with Lila.” Adrien said, taking in the same surprised look Felix had before. “If I felt sorry for you because of your father, then I’d feel the same about a lot of my friends. Lot of single household kids here. Fair amount due to a parent passing away but they have their ways of remembering them and it’s a reminder to us to always remember the important feelings. now, you hungry? Kagami is getting off training soon and she’s bringing freshly made mochi. It’s really good.”

Felix stared at him, like he was trying to figure him out before he turned away. “Not particularly hungry, though I am thirsty.”

It took some time, but Felix started to open up. He was sarcastic and a bit rude but they were all used to it with Chloe. When Kim’s teasing went to far, Felix shut him down with a rather well-timed insult that had the whole group laughing as Kim went red and pouted. His social skills lacked some, which made him bond with Kagami when she finally arrived.

“If they say something pop culture related you don’t get, just nod. They usually figure out we have no clue what they mean and explain to not look stupid.” She advised.

“Thanks Kagami.” Adrien said sarcastically.

Somehow the topic turned to the thing majority of their class shared in common, single parent households. It was a healthy debate of what they felt they missed compared to their friends and classmates with two parents.

“Twice as much worrying? That baby akuma accidently smashed through my room and my dad freaked out. I was in the bathroom, which is the furthest from the skylight so I was fine. but Papa lost it, trying to break in and check on me. Which is fine, I get it. but after Scarlet Bug fixed everything, he came by to check if I was ok while Catseye went to go drop the baby off and my dad’s first reaction is that I’m dating Scarlet Bug! Do you have any idea how mortifying that is? The poor guy didn’t get a chance to explain before my dad tried inviting him to dinner with us.” Marinette went.

“Please, you think that’s bad? Reminder that my dad became akumatized to keep me from leaving.” Chloe threw in. “Your dad got akumatized because he thought you were dumped.”

“Seeing how my dad won’t even talk to me since I came out,” Marc said, “I wouldn’t be too mad about him getting akumatized because he didn’t want to see me hurt.”

“At least your mother wasn’t akumatized because she wants to control you.” Kagami said, taking a sip of tea.

“Or akumatized because she doesn’t enjoy being control.” Luka said.

Felix looked confused. “Is this what we do? Talk about being akumatized? Wait, have all of you been akumatized?”

“Pretty much. I think Marinette is the only person who hasn’t been akumatized. Just all her friends and family.” Nino said.

“Besides, we’ve realised that talking about what happened and remembering the emotions we felt is a reminder that it’s ok to feel that way. If Hawkmoth didn’t exist, we could feel that without consequences. Our reactions would be different. We have to remind ourselves that while we try to keep a check on our emotions to keep Hawkmoth from taking us over again, feeling what we felt is normal. And one day we can feel those emotions without worrying about the really bad consequences again.” Rose explained.

“I think there are some consequences you should still feel worried about.” Felix pointed out.

“So, what would be your trigger?” Markov asked, hovering over the mochi to keep Kim and Ivan from having too many.

“My trigger?”

“A lot of ours was Chloe. Chloe’s was Scarlet Bug believe it or not.” Alya said.

“Mine was a grown man who thought it was ok to threaten kids and act like a child. But got us a contract out of it.” Adrien said. “It doesn’t have to be anything big.”

Felix’s gaze went to his cup, clanging his ring against the ceramic. “My dad. But not his passing. It could have been, he died in an accident but that would have been my mom’s. she lost her sister and the love of her life within a month of each other. My trigger would have been my uncle not showing his face at the funeral, but expecting us to come to his house to mourn his wife. I loved my aunt, but why should my father’s passing be brushed off? I can’t talk about it with my mother and I don’t make friends easy. Most just want something because our family is rich, but I wanted to mourn and because of my uncle I can’t. he doesn’t even seem to understand why my mother wants the rings back.”

“Rings?” Adrien asked.

Felix messed with the ring on his finger. “because my aunt was older, she got the family rings. Used to be told stories about how they had special powers and for a kid who grew up with his father telling him about fae and calling his wife Titania the fairy queen, I liked those stories. After my aunt disappeared, my mom wanted a piece of her back and that piece was the ring. They used them as their wedding rings and he doesn’t seem to get why my mom wants them back. He’s mourned her by hiding away. My mother’s hid her mourning to take care of the company and me. She deserves that much.”

Adrien looked at the ring, as Felix continued to mess with it. it was slightly big, a bit faded but Felix handled it like it was the most important thing in the world. Probably because it belonged it to his father. The ring could have gone to Amelie but instead Felix had it, to remember his father because she had him. and all she wanted was a way to remember her sister. He got why Gabriel wanted to keep the ring if it was his only link to his wife, but he wasn’t the only one who lost her.

“I think you should steal it.” Kagami said. “he lives inside his home, rarely coming out. I’m sure he has other ways of remembering her. The rings don’t belong to him, they did to her and now to your mother. But if you want to avoid getting in trouble, maybe convince your mom to have him sit down and explain her side. Guilt could probably work too if she adds how she can’t grieve her family with nothing to hold onto.” The whole group stared at her. “What?”

“You, are a terrifying person. Look, the point is, you have every right to feel the way you do. Tell that to your mom so she can take care of it. and if that doesn’t work, maybe steal the ring, but only if you feel like he’s saying no to be an ass.” Adrien explained.

“So, steal as last resort?”

“The guy is friends with the mayor of Paris. Try not to get banned before we can hang out again?”

“Again?”

“Well yeah. We’re friends now, you’re stuck with us.”

Felix took in the mix of faces, all – including Chloe – giving him looks that all said they were telling the truth. His usual personality turned people away, but these people were fine with it. he looked at Adrien, a wilder copy of himself and realised his original plan to be an ass wasn’t going to work. They were too stubborn and honestly, it was just easier to give in.

Later on, the train, he watched his mother smile softly down at the ring in hand.

“I have to say, I’m surprised Gabriel was moved enough to give me the ring. I’m sorry I had to use your father as an in.”

“It’s fine. I’m just glad you have it now. Besides, it wasn’t mainly my idea. Got it from a friend.”

“A friend?” she asked with a smile on her face.

Looking at his reflection, he spun his father’s ring on his finger. “Yeah. My first actually.”

[icebluecyanide]

Alex Rider S03E01 Reaction

So I've already watched all of s3, but I decided for some reason to keep a liveblog & take a moment after every episode to write down my thoughts/predictions/questions at the time. Some of it is very amusingly wrong, but I'm going to share it anyway because I do always enjoy reading liveblogs/reaction posts myself so maybe other people will want to read it too.

Note that while this contains no spoilers for later eps, I have read the book and reference it, so warning for book spoilers and me being unable to stop comparing the two.

Liveblog

Hey I’ve been there! (Malta)

I am petty but I don’t like Alex sharing what Yassen told him with people lol. But I guess they had to make it a group project for the show and it’s not the stuff with his dad which is what Alex in the books felt was too private to share so oh well

Tom and Jerry(/Jay??) ahsdlfhs

Alex thinking Yassen wasn’t lying to him 😭 and he does seem to have kept the part about his dad a secret!

oh damn he wants to destroy Scorpia!! and Kyra also wanting him to, that could cause interesting conflict when he joins them later

also i forgot that Scorpia actually killed Ian in this lol

Kyra is going to do machine learning lol

Love the Alex/Kyra ship fuel with the hurt/comfort scene

ahslfhs how did they even find that villa tho? LIke I thought that was just the piece of wall Mrs Rothman was photographed in front of, surely that gives them no clues about where she’s staying?

And not to be mean but Kyra did kinda bring the stabbing on herself ashdflhs. Going off on her own because she got bored and then expecting Alex to do the fighting and treating the fight weirdly casually

It’s interesting how they seem to have changed Scorpia’s structure/origin story what with Mrs Rothman being elected and there being no client for this operation.

Them referencing Alex getting in with Tom setting fireworks in the books... i mean it's a nice reference but also actually that was more fun than Kyra just being able to hack their way in ngl ahsdlfhs. Not really the show’s fault, but modern tech & computer tricks make spy stories more boring

Also Alex just walked into the party in his suit and honestly this is one of those plots that only works because Otto is not a teenager. If he actually looked like a teen, he would have stood out waaaay too much (which was actually a concern in the book)

Alex grabbing champagne and later putting it back down again haha good way to blend in, I suppose

Getting his phone out?? In the exhibition?? So rude

Love the trend of doctors/scientists in Alex Rider wanting to be paid more for their work. Honestly they deserve it because they won’t even get to publish their extraordinary findings

‘I can hear you breathe’ Love Nile

Nile please how are you surprised at Alex attacking you asdfs

Shame we didn’t get Nile overpowering him like in the books, the difference in their fighting skills was so much bigger there, but I think they made Alex more of a fighter in the show. In the books he mostly needs to rely on the element of surprise and usually when he’s in a fight he’s outmatched and needs to use some form of trickery/his environment to win while show!Alex actually has pretty good fighting skills

I love Nile’s actor but I wish he could have actually taken Alex down like in the book, the way he loses Alex and doesn’t even realise it & thinks he died makes him look a lot less competent tbh

How did Alex climb up there?? And more importantly, how is he getting down haha

I get the feeling Yassen isn't gonna show up until Alex is with Mrs Rothman lol but at least we got to hear his final words ot Alex like four times

Overall

Really exciting, love seeing Malta and I’m intrigued at the differences between the book and the show and where it will lead. 

Thoughts/predictions

I imagine the race Tom’s brother mentioned will play a role and I liked the little bit we got with Tom about his grades being bad and maybe wanting to drop out. I guess Tom’s parents aren’t going through their divorce in the show? Also really enjoyed Alex and Kyra being more invested in the investigation than Tom and how they are apparently planning to take down Scorpia for their families.

I liked how we got to see more from Julia Rothman and Scorpia already and I’m intrigued by what Invisible Sword will be. Love Max having his ‘I have grandkids now’ moment and trying to talk Julia Rothman down and her being like ‘no I want to kill’. Looooved Nile telling Mrs Rothman to shoot him if he ever lost the appetite for killing.

I also really liked Alex talking about his dad and how he had nothing to do with spying and how his world got turned upside down when he learned about his uncle being a spy and now it’s happening again.

Questions

What is Invisible Sword in this?

What’s the deal with Julia inheriting her place at the table? Not sure if I like the new origin story for Scorpia but I’m intrigued by the way they have a council now instead of an executive board and how it changes the vibes.

Are Alex and Tom and Kyra gonna fight?

[brionysea]

hi! sorry for the brother, i'm reading your posts about mike of st, and thank god you don't ship him with anyone, so i'd like to know a neutral opinion about a writing choice made for him in season 3 where it was show mike say sorry to el for lying to her, while he did not the same for will. It was show an attempt, but in the end the writers choose that mike didn't brother with an actual apology to will. In my opinion mike show his love through his actions, more than his words, and that's the point of his arc in season 4.

(yea mike apologizes to will in season 4 but for his actions at the rick o mania, but he never say anything about the fight of s3, so mike meant those words even if he was a bit rude the way he said them :/)

Thank you for your answer,

have a nice day :)

yeah you're right anon, i don't really care about ships. like, i do, but in an Intellectual, "what does this reveal about their characters?" way, which is definitely not the vibe for most of this website. i'm just here for mike tbh

it took me a second to remember the apology you were talking about. the thing is, like with most of season 3, mike kind of had to have his hand held through it to get there. it was mostly lucas doing his whole wingman thing but max was also put in a position of trying to get mike to do better (even if she was more shouty about it). i see that scene and mike's realisation that he needs to get over himself ("i like that you and max are friends now") as him taking all max's comments about el being a person and not his little pet that he can just hide in the basement to heart and realising she's right. it also goes the other way with max and mike working together to protect el when they're trapped in starcourt, since that was mike's side of the argument

and the way mike says he was jealous of el spending time with max and that's assumed to be romantic... this was the same episode as robin told steve that her being jealous wasn't because she had a crush on him. and there's been a lot of platonic jealousy on this show - lucas over mike and el; mike over lucas, dustin and max; steve over dustin and eddie; eddie over dustin and steve. like, it's not that out there, i'm just saying. friendships matter on this show

and with will... honestly, i think mike was trying not to think about him during season 3. and even though the season 3 apology was never heard, by doing that in the first place, mike was doing what max said ex boyfriends should do when dumped - come crawling back, begging for forgiveness. mike was... very unbothered after el dumped his ass. but when will tells him he's ruining the party and runs off? mike bikes to the other side of town in the middle of a storm, bangs on the door like his life depends on it, and immediately starts begging for forgiveness. max said that in the same episode. i cannot stress enough how much i don't care about the love triangle, there are too many of them in this show and they're boring every time, but just looking at those two reactions when el and will respectively decide they're done with him... yeahhhh, it's telling

also, i think that season 4 apology was meant to encapsulate everything that's gone wrong between them. it's the only way mike saying "the past year has been weird" makes any sense to me, outside of these two just being overdramatic teenagers for no reason; things were weird before the byers moved (which we know they were, because mike was acting like a total jerk and ignoring anyone whose name wasn't el for months), we're just not allowed to see why because mike's pov is holding way more secrets than el's or will's are

back when i first watched season 4, before my brain decided to latch onto mike wheeler for no reason, most of his scenes just bored me to sleep because all he would talk about was el, and he didn't feel like himself in those scenes. i specifically remember thinking that the most mike scene in the season was the "friends, best friends" scene, because i just enjoy him so much more when he's with will. it lets him be all the things i love about his character, strong and brave and smart and caring, and when he's with el, mike himself feels like he can't be any of those things. and that goes the other way too; el was putting on a front for mike, pretending to be happy and normal when she's not

i care about these characters being able to be themselves and just be enjoyable to watch, on an entertainment level, and when mike and el are together romantically all they do is bring each other down and hurt each other constantly. mike doesn't get el's experience with bullying, doesn't get that girls do it in subtler ways, and that el was reacting to months worth of being poked at. el doesn't get mike's experience with bullying, tells him that he doesn't get it, when she was literally there the day a bully made homophobic comments towards him (whether mike is interpreted as queer or not, that was homophobic bullying) and later forced him off a cliff. bullying is one of the first things they bonded over way back in season 1. it feels important that they've lost that ability to communicate (about this and many other things) now that their relationship has shifted

i don't "ship" mike with anyone, but by god i need them both out of that relationship because all they're doing is hurting each other. if byler lets mike stop being so heart breakingly depressed all the time - which i think it would, because if anyone could see through mike's bullshit of pushing people away because he doesn't think he deserves them and realise he's hurting too, it would be will "too selfless for his own good" byers - then i'm all for it. also, a queer relationship as central as byler on a show this big makes me kinda giddy to think about

[countessofravenclaw]

So, this will not be surprising coming from me, and I will tbh be happy if you even come up with 2-3 reasons. But, it's just fun nonetheless to see what you can say about them. So!

Franletta and Jam :)

But then I also wanna give you something that's more easy for you, so I will give you Gastina and Diecesca too <3

I see what you did here Sara... I totally deserve this after the ask I sent you. I will do my best.

Franletta

They care about each other so much

the cheek kisses

Really good duets

Girls before guys

How they support each other

I mean best friends to lovers

Jam

Rodar mi Vida... and how they are obsessed with that song. Seriously, they sing it like 4 times during S1 and that's just the opens

I don't really ship either of them with their canon love interests

They are each other's hype girls

They share one brain cell

They are absolutely chaotic and annoying but the same amount and together

Gastina

Unexpected, but still very good buildup

Healthy couple

Good communication skills, even in an argument

Even when he was angry at her, Gastón never managed to say anything bad about her and continuously said how he loved her

Never had the "how was so wrong about her/him" phase during a break-up

Nina always dropping her books

Never once fell out of love

the PINING!!!!

Soulmates

Fell in love with each other twice

The relationship was established through emotional connection a and shared interests

The PDA and physical affection

Gastón can't keep his hands to himself while she is around

Different personalities that complement each other

They bring out the best in each other

Gastón considered Nina to be part of his future

Mature, passionate and serious relationship

She was the best thing that ever happened to him: S2E23~ "Truth is, you're the best thing that ever happened to me." / S2E47~ "Nina has been the best thing in my life."

Short break up in DCLA standards (it was only 24 episodes. Leonetta could never)

Needed outside forces to stay apart

Matteo is the biggest shipper

Absolutely endgame, screw S3, they got back together at Oxford... it is canon

Going a little bit into the headcanon territory: Gastón provided Nina the stable and whole family she never had

The amount of "I love you"s. (the sad thing about this is that Te Amo was forbidden in SL apparently)

Always found their way back to each other

Gastón brought Nina out of her shell, but he also could be himself with her and drop that "popular cool guy persona"

The matching outfits

Just the scene at the lockers in S2E2

"Nina y Felicity, Chica en mi suenos"

The names in the sand and the blue ribbons

They were absolutely miserable apart

Same intelligence level

The absolutely made up story about the airplane and cake after the extreme singers. He just told her that to make her smile.

The small ear thing in S2E9

The way he always puts her hair behind her ear

They speak in the manner only their heart can hear. (Yes, I stole this from Bridgerton)

The red roses

I could go on forever, but this covers most of it

Diecesca

They bring the chaos

hidden relationship (even if the reason was stupid)

the hiding was funny

Diego recognized Fran under the Fausta wig

How absolutely everyone found out by accident

The validation (Story time: I saw S3 first time in 2016. I never cared for Marco and Fran. When Diego and Fran got lost in the woods at the start of S3, I was like "huh? I like this dynamic... they are cute. Will they be a thing?" Note, I did not know that Marco was leaving. And I kept shipping them, thinking that they would never happen.)

Fran and Gregorio's relationship

they just were super cute

Fran had dreams about Diego

The whole fiasco with Andres and Fausta

The whole lost in Caiz plot (where did they sleep? Why didn't either of them have a credit card?)

the kisses

The one episode lasting break-up Diego never took seriously

They sound extremely good together

I like Se Qui Soy okay... I don't get the hate it gets. Anyways, it was clearly about Fran

They actually had a healthy and normal relationship. So normal the writer had to bring the hiding into the mix to make it meet the DCLA standards

Okay, I guess that is it. I could come up with 1000 more for Gastina, but I don't have unlimited amounts of time. But seriously, where did Diego and Fran sleep during S3 finale? They didn't have money.

[booasaur]

Just saw your gif set about Audrey and Till. When season 2 started and Audrey changed to a completely new character I thought the writers just didn't know what to do with her, same with Wilfords sudden obsession with her when until then he was all like "Melanie, Melanie, Snowpiercer" but now I actually think the Audrey thing makes sense. She had the opportunity to develop and grow without her abuser and then was trust upon him again and started regressing into the person she knew he would love, and she has been chasing that from that moment on. But then they got back to the train all those things happened and I think she saw Wilford like that and the hero worship, obsession and "love" that she thought she felt disappeared, I think Audrey can only be interested in a cunning and dangerous Wilford because that was how he groomed her, now tho he has nothing and once again they are being kept apart so I think she is having a easier time going back to who she was

I'm just still really confused, because she doesn't seem--well, I mean, I suppose that's maybe realistic, too, that someone who doesn't seem or even isn't outwardly horrible could still love and be with a terrible person...? But then the way she acted when he was all shaken after waking up again, that was pretty brutal. And the thing is, unlike in real life where people can be pretty isolated from the effects of their family's horrible actions, she could see it all very up close.

But tbh, I think you have the reason for the switch in your post, but it's not necessarily, or only, about Audrey's character so much as that they needed someone to fill in that role once Melanie was out. Or maybe even more than that, the show needed for Wilford to have someone on his side, someone interesting that we cared about, not just poor Kevin, as everyone else slowly moved over to Layton's side. Audrey certainly offered that, and indeed, could offer a more interesting angle about surviving through all this, especially when she realizes even Wilford is now allying with Alex and presumably Layton.

I'm actually not opposed to this ship at all, two first season characters who are legit interesting and have actual roles in the show that aren't guest star love interest, I mean, that's actually pretty great on paper. And they've taken the time to actually give them interactions and screentime together this season soooo. As long as this isn't something because the writers ran out of what to do with one or both and the next step is to kill off one or both for angst, I could be pretty into them.

ETA on April 3, 2022: 

Actually, I’ve really rethought what I wrote here, based on rewatching s2, which, my bad, I must have just blanked out a ton of. When I’d watched live, I’d still been very annoyed at Jinju’s disappearance, a double whammy of homophobia and racism in wiping out a significant queer Asian character without any mention from Bess and Melanie, and skimmed a lot and what I did watch, I didn’t fully take in or absorb, I guess?

Because I seem to have skipped or plain forgotten major chunks of the story that were quite relevant to Audrey’s characterization. The more I rewatched, the more started to come back but none of that had been in mind when I was watching the end of s2 or s3.

She was groomed, as you said, anon, and I think a lot of what came after was to try to justify that, to make it worth it. She was actually scared of going back to him at first and warned the rest about him. They sent her back, to be their spy, and she even seemed to try to resist falling back into his thrall, like, he’d made her cut her freaking wrists. And we know how hard it is to resist him, look at poor Alex too, who’s only a little younger than Audrey was he got her hooks into her, since at 18 she was already with him.

And when Wilford was weaker in s3 after waking up from the suspension drug, for a bit, what really got to me during Audrey’s rant was her saying “science is nothing without power, you told me that”. She’s really just trying to justify her past actions AND what happened to her, that it was all necessary. Because if it wasn’t, then not only are all her horrible choices and decisions pointless but so was everything that happened to her.

So yeah, while she has done a lot of bad things and encouraged and ignored more, and turned in s2, as you said, into a seemingly almost completely different person, indulging in alcohol and orgies and turning a blind eye to Wilford’s cruelty, with the previous context, I’m much more willing to forgive her as a victim of abuse who fell back into destructive patterns when her abuser returned.

[multimetaverse]

HSMTMTS 2x09 Review

Spring Break was a bit of an odd ep but helped move some key plots forward. Let’s dig in!

Well people can no longer claim that Portwell is one sided. We finally got Gina’s pov and she starts off the ep uncertain whether the shift in their relationship means that EJ likes her but by the end of the ep she seems sure of herself and that EJ likes her back. I liked that she didn’t try to pretend that nothing had changed or that she hadn’t noticed potential signs that EJ might like her; it always sucks when tv characters act like idiots. 

Perhaps the most important reveal of this ep was that Gina has a much older estranged brother who left her and her mom many years ago. That certainly makes her backstory more tragic and is definite set up for her brother to eventually return.

The writers continue to give Portwell great tropes, capping this ep off with an airport rom-com trope that also calls back to EJ getting Gina the place ticket so she could come back in S1. Not only did Gina keep EJ’s Duke sweatshirt but she altered it to fit her better which is both sweet and bold in the assumption that it was hers to keep. Gina got her sign when not only did EJ show up to drive Gina home and take her luggage but he brought her the granola bar that she had wanted but forgot to pack. I wonder if her posting on her story that she was ubering home after her flight was cancelled was intended to see if EJ would show up since the camera focused on her posting it. Also sweet that she’s taken to calling EJ, ‘ Eej’. 

EJ’s opening was good, shows a lot of his character growth from the selfish guy he was in S1 and how he’s learned to value other people which of course leads into his feelings for Gina. We got another great use of the camera as character tonight when Gina was laughing after her facetime call with EJ until she realized that the camera was on her. 

Jack was a lot of fun. Though he didn’t really change Gina’s mind over anything like the ep description said he would.  Seemed like Gina was largely over Ricky and wondering about EJ at the beginning and the end solidified her feelings for EJ but Jack didn’t really play a role in that, it’s not like he encouraged Gina to reach out to EJ or anything. There’s a vague sense in which Jack being nomadic linked him to Ricky’s unreliability in Gina’s eyes with her craving stability but that’s a stretch. Jack mentioned that the second most dangerous part of a plane ride is when the plane takes off, a hint to the blossoming Portwell relationship where in order to take off one or both of them has to risk a confession even though they could be turned down.

This ep might seem a bit weird in hindsight. The zoom parts probably won’t age well and five years from now people might be wondering why they had Gina hang out with a manic pixie dream boy of sorts for an ep.

The path is clear for canon Portwell in the finale with EJ being Gina’s second chance at romance and her first kiss since they clearly telegraphed it out of nowhere. I’ve been impressed with the great work the writers have been doing since 2x05 to build up Portwell as a ship but also work on Gina and EJ as individual characters; they’ve been the highlight of the season so far. 

There was discourse this past week over how well or poorly Portwell has been set up. Objectively very few ships on this show get much in the way of set up or consistent writing. Redlyn and Kowie had barely any set up before getting together. Seblos had none (though in fairness that was due to Disney restrictions) and Miss Jenn and Mike Bowen didn’t have much set up either. Rini did get lots of development in S1 but that’s because they had already dated and were the main ship of the show. The show’s not really about slow burns, if Jenzzara canons in the finale they’ll count and if Rina ever got together they’d also count but neither of those ships have gotten consistent development with Mazzara not being in several eps and Gina and Ricky not even interacting for the past 3 eps. 

Is Portwell a slowburn? In a sense since they did feature quite a bit in each other’s S1 plot lines and even had a fake dating plot but it is true that they were platonic and not that close in S1 so it’s a wash. There was clear set up for romantic Portwell in 1x10 with team wonderstudies and Gina staring at EJ (which interestingly enough looked more like set up for Gina to pine over EJ). I think the main problem is that even though we saw Gina and EJ hanging out in the background we didn’t get any scenes of substance between them until 2x05. It was a mistake and there should have been some scene, like EJ and Gina commiserating in 2x03 over being single on Valentine’s Day or something like that. Hell there was even that still from 2x01 of EJ and Gina looking at each other at the piano while they were in the frame between Ricky and Nini singing and having a moment  which would have been good foreshadowing but that shot wasn’t in the ep.

Whether Tim just really wanted Portwell to be a surprise in 2x05 as a mid-season twist to throw the audience off of what looked like a Rini/Rina triangle or he was unsure as to whether he wanted to go with Portwell or if he just planned it out poorly we may never know. Regardless they’ve had great writing for 4 eps in a row now which puts them slightly ahead of the 3 eps in a row of development Rina got in S1. I’m sure if someone added up their screen time they’d find that Portwell has more screen time this season than Kowie and more screen time than Redlyn or Seblos  got in S1. 

Caswell cousins was fun and Ashlyn did in fact paint EJ’s nails. 

Set up for Seblos drama next week, it’s refreshing to see Seb being jealous over Carlos flirting with other boys that’s definitely not something you see on Disney shows.

Ricky got some healing done with his mom. Enough to cover their issues? No but this is probably the best this show is capable of. There was a brief mention of therapy sandwiched between other options which sounds more like checking off a box then setting up Ricky actually going to therapy. I noticed Lynne was smiling at odd times like when she told Ricky she knew about his breakup with Nini; whether that was poor directing or acting I don’t know. Who knows if we’ll see Lynne again. As an aside still so wild that Tim named Lynne who’s been a kinda shitty mom after his own mom who he seems to be fairly close with.

Really liked You ain’t seen nothin as a song but not a fan of the Tiktok style vid. I’ll level with you wildcats, I’m too old to really get Tiktok, it just seems like a crappy version of Vine to me. Let you go was good, seemed better fitted for Joshua Bassett’s voice than some of his previous songs. A big sign that they’re not circling back to Rini for a long time for sure. Though on that note we got a bit of a hint that Ricky was Nini’s muse which may one day come back as a way to help bring them back together. 

Looking Ahead:

If there’s only 3 weeks left till the Menkies, with only 2 weeks left for rehearsal due to spring break, it’s hard to see East High winning unless North High is disqualified or has to withdraw. 

Lily is in a promo photo so she’s likely the unexpected facetime Ricky gets which is what I had theorized. Also makes it much more likely that she’s the party crasher Ricky re-evaluates in the finale though what Tim actually wants to do with those two I do not know.

There’s little point in bringing back the Valentine’s chocolate since there’s no real stakes. Rini are already broken up, Gina hasn’t spoken to Ricky since 2x06, and it’s not like Nini and Gina were ever close so even if they stopped talking to each other it wouldn’t really affect the show in any way. 

Seems pretty likely that Second Chances refers to Gina realizing that her first try with Ricky failed but her second chance with EJ won’t and that leads to her sharing her truth and cue the Portwell confession and kiss, perhaps with an assist on EJ’s end from Mazzara. We’ve gone well past the point where Portwell can be brushed off as just a plot device to help Rina but Tim is playing with fire by getting the audience so on board with Portwell if he’s once again going to have EJ lose a girl he likes to Ricky in S3.

Gina certainly needs to talk with Ricky and I do think that happens in ep 11 or 12 and leaves them on better terms. As I mentioned last week, if Tim was smart he’d slam the door on Rina if he’s going with canon Portwell or vice versa. If he wants Rina to be a slow burn he’s really botched the writing this season, it’s been too one sided and too angsty to sustain any kind of momentum or audience interest. They haven’t even interacted for 3 eps now and not only has it not affected the show but it’s inarguably made Gina’s story line much better.  Again I don’t think he’s smart enough to not try and do Portwell and then later Rina but he’s accidentally set up the Rina story line to quite easily slam the door permanently on them by having their conversation be closure for Gina who’s moved on and an apology from Ricky who never liked her back as much as Gina liked him.

Not looking forward to seeing Nini basically live out Olivia Rodrigo’s life in future seasons

Curious to see Carlos’ apology song to Seb. Ricky helping him with it is a great way to help start redeeming Ricky’s character in the audiences eye’s. According to Matt there is a bit of a Ricky/EJ rivalry this season and if it’s really happening the sleepover would be a good place to do it though I hope it’s not about Gina. 

Until next week wildcats.

[tigerseye46]

Random idea, but secret relationship Spicynoodles, except nobody's figured it out by the time S3 rolls around. So Red joins the crew somehow and he and MK have much more time together... except there's a ton more people around so they can't be too romantic otherwise questions will start coming.

Oooo, I’ve seen this around! My turn! MWAHAHA >:D! Sorry this took so long.

Red pushed MK against a wall, their hands and mouths exploring each other, sparks flew between them, an undeniable passion ignited.

They had barely anytime to kiss and cuddle as they had been constantly surrounded by the others on the flying ship and they hadn’t exactly told the others about the nature of their relationship.

Since New Years, the two had gotten to know each other. Along the lines a friendship had formed then a romantic relationship which became long distance when the Demon Bull King decided to take Red out of the city and away from the madness.

They hadn’t seen each other until they appeared at Red’s home, asking for help.

And Red accepted. After all the White Bone Spirit had messed with his father, this was personal and getting to see the Noodle Boy after so long was a plus.

They agreed to keep their relationship under wraps for now since they were afraid that the group would make them break up in favor of focusing on defeating the White Bone Spirit.

They didn’t want that to happen so they kept quiet. Well they tried to, it was so difficult not to touch each other and cradle the other in their arms after so long.

They took every opportunity when they were alone to shower each other with affection, careful not to get caught.

Red peeled back MK’s jacket so one side of it rested on half of his arm. “I love you,” he proclaimed in between kisses.

“I love you too. I love you so much,” they replied as they hastily ran their fingers through their partner’s hair.

The kisses grew hot and heavy until it was broken by a “MK!”

They separated with Xiaotian quickly pulling up the jacket, softening the creases and Red fixing his mussed hair.

The two tried to hide their red faces as Mei walked up to them. “Hey, Red, MK.”

The human waves at his friend. “Hey, Mei! You called?”

Mei grinned as she looked at them. “Yea, I did! I was wondering if you wanted to play a game with me!”

“Sure! Want to join, Red?”

The demon hid his scowl, angry at being interrupted. “No, I’m fine. I have to help Sandy with something anyway. Bye, peasants.”

He walked away, hands in pockets. MK felt a bit sad at that but he had no time to comfort the demon as Mei pulled him to the couch to play a game.

While the game was fun and he enjoyed hanging out with his friend, sadness lingered at remembering his partner’s expression. Eventually he and Mei separated. He made his way to find Red who was leaning against an invention he was working on with Sandy.

“Hey, you two,” he greeted with a wave.

“Hey, little man,” Sandy greeted in return in the middle of tightening a bolt on the latest invention.

“Hi, Noodle Boy!”

“Hey, Red! I wanted to know if you were done.”

“Oh, ummm… are we done, Sandy?”

“Yep! Go on!”

“Thank you.” He grabbed his partner’s hand and dragged them away into the other’s room. Once he locked it, he pressed a kiss against his lips.

“You okay?”

“I’m fine, Noodle Boy. Why would I not be?”

“Because Mei ruined our moment.”

“It’s fine,” they repeated. “Not as if I’m not used to it. I wish I could flay that White Bone Spirit myself and save the day.”

“Like a hero?” MK interrupted with a smirk.

“No! Just… just so we could announce ourselves as a couple with the possibility of being split apart.”

“I know. I know. One day. I promise.”

“I know.”

They sighed together, the same conversation happened day in and day out about the nature of their relationship and revealing it.

Red settled the human in his lap, wrapping his arm around his waist and burying his chin in the other’s hair.

Time passed where their relationship continued in secret as it always had.

They had fought a myriad of demons, gotten injured a bunch of times, made memories and enjoyed each other’s company. The others always looked as if they had something to say when one of the two had a strong reaction to their partner’s injuries but remained quiet.

Even if they suspected the two had feelings for each other, there was a silent reassurance they weren’t going to act on it.

“So, kid, how do you feel about Red?” Pigsy asked one day when he, Pigsy and Sun Wukong were in the kitchen, the two helping the pig make some red bean cakes. Well Xiaotian was doing most of the helping while the Monkey attempted to steal pieces of every batch.

The king had an arm around the pig’s waist, sitting on the counter.

“Hm? Why do you ask?”

The Monkey King and Pigsy exchanged glances before turning to the younger. “We just want to make sure you’re okay with him being here, bud. Since you two were rivals.”

He raised a brow. “Well, Red is good now so I don’t mind.”

“He treat you well?” The king nudged Pigsy as if silently telling him that he was supposed to ask that in a more subtle manner.

“Yes?” The response came out as more of a question than a statement. “Why?”

Another glance between the older adults. “We noticed you have you know feelings for him.”

They waved their arms in dismissal. “No! No! I do not have feelings for Red! That’s crazy! If I did, they would impede our goal so I do not have feelings for Red!”

They stared as if they didn’t believe them. “It’s okay if you do, bud.”

“Wait. What?”

“Yea, we don’t mind. We think it’s sweet and he seems like a good fit for you.”

A wild grin. “Really?”

“Yep,” Sun Wukong responded. “In fact, we wouldn’t mind if you two dated or anything but you don’t like Red so.” He shrugged.

“I wasn’t being completely honest about that.”

Pigsy rolled his eyes. “We could tell.”

“It wouldn’t hurt our goal if I said something?”

“Nope,” they replied.

“As long as you’re happy and safe, bud. That’s all that matters and we don’t think confessing would hurt our mission at all.”

He gripped both of them in tight hug. “Oh thank you! I’ll uhhh confess to Red one day! Bye!” They skipped off, beaming ear to ear to tell Red about it.

The two elders laughed. “Are we goin’ to tell them we already now?”

“No, it’s more fun this way,” Sun Wukong said as he reached for a red bean cake. Pigsy slapped his hand. “Hey!”

The pig rolled his eyes for the second time. “I give you two weeks before they say something.”

“I give you three.”

“Shake on it?” He took the king’s hand.

The king bobbed his head and shook it. “Shake on it.”

[robinrequiems]

actors au, damijon;)

• “SUPERSONS” a tv series that has been going on for now three years

• started when Damian was 13, jon 11.

• the show was a spin-off after the superman show jon was in, and a batman show damian was in. Superman’s show is: Action Comics, Batman’s: Detective Comics

• the show was mainly focused on the supersons, so there weren’t a lot of others, but there were a lot of cameos and guest stars

• there are some movies in the little universe, theres Batman, Superman, Flash, Green Lantern, & etc, but those are origin movies for them or really important moments, shows go more in-depth.

• the first few episodes were on the action comics show, then a few on detective, the episodes received great reactions, so the company decided to bring back the two boys for a show

• their first season was based on the supersons comic, vol 1 & 2, rhe finale was the supersons of tomorrow ( no teen titans, jt was just the supersons + young justice, it only followed comic loosely )

• season 2 was supersons vol 3 + 1st half of challenge of the supersons

• s3: second half of challenge of the supersons + adventures of the supersons

• in their break between seasons, they ran into a problem. jon had a growth spurt

• damian hadn’t, so the show decided to do something else for season 4

• on the action comics show, they brought back jon and he went with grandfather, next episode, damian went onto the action comics show and watched rhe medsage jon left

• s4 was delayed a bit because fan reception wasn’t the best

• damian and robin were 16, jon was 14, but superboy was 17

• it was. complicated

• they didb’t follow the comics after this

• they had jon back on the show

• they showed a growth between them, they showed more sad moments between them, fights, and them being kids, something comic fans were ripped of

• in detective comics, dick had been shot in the head and alfred killed, fans got to see how damain was handling it all in the supersons

• we got to see the pain and anger there, and the show showers growth and redemption for Damian and did not ruin his character, and jon was there to help him

• until jon got a chance to go to the future, he went and did a trial run for a few episodes ( mainly a way for producers to see if fans liked this in a potential way to start a new show )

• we get to the midseason finale / Christmas break , where damian was about to kill kgbeast

• but then it went to black

• fans didn’t like jon in the future

• the show picked up after the break, jon standing in front of damian

• he stopped damian from killing him

• that episode got a lot of hits

• mainly because they got to see the boy wonder crying in superboys arms

• next episode; we see a conversation with jon and Saturn girl:

• “Damian isnt evil; he’s the best guy I know.”

• “but the future..”

• “the future isn’t set in stone! that’s what he told me! he believed in me and told me. we’re partners! if he can’t be here, than neither can i.”

• “but jon, you could be great here, you could be an amazing hero here!—…. *she gets cut off as another hero flies in, informing her that something happening in the timeline* jon.. if you really beleive damian isn’t evil, stop him before he goes and does something he WILL regret.”

• that’s how he knew to go stop damian from killing kgbeast

• if the legion of heroes got a good rating, damian would have killed kgbeast ( the writers and everyone were very happy that didn’t happen )

• their friendship was falling apart due to jons age up, but when jon stopped him, it got better

• the show was probably the best airing show besides young justice ( the core 4 own )

• D.C. was not alright, A.C. was alright, nightwing was good, red hood & outlaws was good, the Batgirl(s) was well received too

• fans had a problem with how many characters D.C. had, and how rhe arcs went all over the place

• during the supersons show, we can see so much development in the two characters, jon slowly maturing, and Damian’s edges being smoothed over

• and in one episode, we got some talia speaking to jon, just her making sure jon was a good friend

• we get to see a fallout with jon and his parents in A.C.

• they treat him differently now, but damian doesn’t, not after they got over everything, damian realized he was still jon

• BUT for the actors, Damian 17, Jon 16, they are on their 4th season, they started secretly dating

• they found themselves with people shipping them in real life, they didn’t mind the characters, but they were real

• abd they didn’t want that to effect them

• it made them even going out on a date uncomfortable

• press conferences are so chaotic, at first, jon was so shy, so damian could easily insult him

• but as time went on, the interviews & etc went smoothly, they playfully bickered, it was good

• jons voice used to crack during shooting, it made damian laugh so much

• they became really good friends over the years

• but the show was coming to an end soon since the kids are becoming older

• but luckily enough, it just so happens that A.C. and D.C. are too, batman and Superman are retiring, there needs to be a new Worlds Finest

• “The Supersons will return in World’s Finest.”

[tsugarubecker]

Rewatching Love, Victor season 2 and all I can think as I’m watching is that Benji is cooonstantly putting his own feelings aside and instead striving to put himself in Victor’s shoes and empathize with Victor. Victor, for his part, gladly takes that from Benji and then proceeds to fail to put himself in Benji’s shoes in return. (We’ll leave Benji’s issue with conflict avoidance/not stating what he wants aside for a second but we’ll get to that shortly.)

Long-ass post, prepare yourself :P

Example exchange: in ep 6 after Isabel is so nice to Rahim and Benji fails to be #stoked about it, Benji comes up to Victor at the coffee shop the next day and says something like hey, sorry I wasn’t supportive when you were so excited that your mom was being nice to Rahim. And Victor just goes thanks for saying so yeah she was really being nice to him and I think we made some real progress yesterday!

Like. Okay. rewind noises

Let’s do that whole exchange over again but in the way a healthy couple would, shall we?

Benji: Hey Victor. I’m sorry I wasn’t supportive yesterday when you were excited about your mom. I know you wanted me to be excited with you. Can I tell you a little bit about my own feelings around your mom?

Victor: of course you can.

Benji: Okay. To be honest, I feel really hurt when your mom gives me the cold shoulder. And that’s been something I’ve been dealing with for a while now. So, as much as I want to be supportive of you and excited for you when you see her seeming like she’s making some progress, it’s hard for me. Because it would hurt for me to get my hopes up that she’ll treat me better, only to be disappointed.

Victor: Damn. Wow. I’m so glad you told me how you feel about that. That makes a ton of sense. I would really like your support, because I love my mom and this whole thing with her is hard for me, but I understand now why it would be painful and complicated for you to get too excited. Now I get it. Thanks for telling me. I’ll keep that in mind when I bring it up to you from now on and we can navigate all of it together.

fast forward noises OOC cause I just wrote that as I thought about what I would say in a similar situation, but you get the idea.

Returning to Benji for a sec. I’m a cliiiiinically conflict avoidant person, and I recognize a lot of myself in Benji. He doesn’t want to take up space. He makes funny stories and jokes out of his trauma (strip club, crashing car into Wendys). He doesn’t stand up for himself even if he has a legitimate reason to be upset - he finds reasonable reasons to apologize for his part in the situation and tries to make amends. (Certainly not always a bad thing, just can definitely be a conflict avoidant thing.) I mean, we saw him behaving this way even in s1. Think about on their anniversary when Derek said “can we just go catch that show” and Benji said “you go ahead, I’ll catch up” instead of “hey, I know you don’t care about anniversaries but I do. This means a lot to me. I want to spend time together.”

So yeah, Benji has some serious issues with avoiding talking about his own feelings, standing up for himself, etc if it basically doesn’t “go with the flow” of what the other person is thinking or feeling. Conflict avoidant. He doesn’t want to rock the boat. I don’t know why, yet. I don’t think we as the audience know why at this point, but I hope the writers will get into it. Probably isn’t “because alcoholism” - rather, I think the alcoholism is another symptom of the same issue.

Victor, for his part (and I’ve touched on this in another post), probably has spent so much of his life being the fixer for his family that he kind of unconsciously latches on to people who will give him a break from that and take care of him (think Simon, for instance??? Lol). And he forgets that it’s not black or white, it’s not one or the other: care or be cared for. In a relationship it goes both ways. I really think he got this massive crush on Benji, put him on a pedestal, made him out to be perfect; almost saw him as kind of a savior. Someone who could come, sweep him up, and make everything okay. Fulfill all his fantasies. Victor doesn’t seem to see Benji as a real person yet. And he doesn’t seem to realize that he needs to proactively take care of Benji, not just let Benji keep taking care of him. That they need to meet each other halfway.

And speaking of avoidant people, Victor does seem to have a pattern with this behavior doesn’t he? Dates Mia -> not working out -> run to someone who is new and seems perfect. Dates Benji -> things are complicated and hard -> oh look a handsome boy who is wonderful in every way (runs to someone who is new and seems perfect) (and will fix all his problems). Boy needs to stop running off to the next person who’s gonna “fix all his problems”. He needs to invest in his current partner. He needs to invest in being the one to care about his partner, being the one to put in the effort. Not just being the one to be cared for. He needs to stop waiting for someone to come sweep him up and fix all his problems. It’s not realistic, Victor. Get yer shit together & learn how to be a better bf. For reals. Smh

That went off on a little tangent lol, but honestly, at the end of the day, none of this is really even either of these guys’ faults - yes Victor puts Benji on a pedestal and is just beginning to see him as a real person with complexity and flaws, but to be fair Benji basically did the same thing: put Victor on a pedestal. “I broke up with him. I just want to be with someone where I can be myself and that’s enough. That’s how you make me feel, Victor.” = a really similar pattern to what we’ve seen Victor do. Relationship failing, abandon ship for the shiny, new, and better-seeming option. I’m not saying that that’s always the wrong choice. I don’t think that it is. But I am saying that both Benji and Victor are experiencing something very natural: having big crushes, letting infatuation and rose-tinted glasses go to their head, and then experiencing whiplash when their partner isn’t perfect. Honestly I think we’ve all been there to some extent.

At least in s3, now that they’ve seen some low times and their rose-tinted glasses are off, they should get a chance to create a deeper bond if they choose to do that (I feel confident that they eventually will). Benji needs to own his conflict avoidance and start advocating for his wants, needs, and feelings. Victor needs to recognize that although Benji seemed like a dream boy and is way more experienced yada yada, he’s not there to save or take care of Victor - he’s just a person, who also needs to be taken care of sometimes, and Victor needs to meet him halfway in their relationship and do that for him. They need to be able to exchange care as equals.

There I fixed their whole relationship you’re welcome afhffjhgfgjfgjg

(…….oh god I just realized how the writers are gonna have Victor figure out that sometimes he needs to take care of Benji too, and it’s totally gonna be bc Benji relapses with alcohol. Probably. Sounds like a TV-show move, doesn’t it?)

[destielfanfic]

My First Destiel Fic, vol.3

Thank you guys for sharing your memories! My First Destiel Fic is a nostalgic survey open to any destiel fan and has a simple goal - to celebrate fics that were our gateway into a wonderful world of destiel shipping. Thank you, fic writers, you are our heroes!

from @nextheirofslytherin

my first destiel fic was “In This Secluded Spot I Respond As I Wouldn't Dare Elsewhere” by RhymePhile. the girl i liked who got me into supernatural in middle school recommended it to me, so it always has a special place in my heart 😅 it was the first fic i read on ao3 too! i read it while i was watching s3 (cas hadn’t even shown up yet!) but the show was in its 9-10th season

All fic titles link directly to the fic, when it’s possible, we have added another link to our review or submitted rec post.

In This Secluded Spot I Respond As I Wouldn’t Dare Elsewhere by rhymephile [M, 34,000 word count, posted 2010] (our review)

It's 1995, and Castiel's high school years are destined to be difficult: home-schooled until eighth grade, he is awkward, shy, and socially inept. The weird kid with the funny name would rather isolate himself and draw in his sketchbook than deal with the constant bullying he faces every day. Things only get worse in his junior year when he excels in home economics class, leading the captain of the baseball team, Alastair, to start taunting him for being gay. Then new student Dean Winchester arrives at Flour Bluff High School, sharing many of Castiel's classes. Castiel has seen his type before -- handsome, athletic, arrogant, and sure to be the most popular kid in school. But Castiel eventually learns that he and Dean have more in common than he thought, and they form an unlikely friendship.

from @deansbff

i joined the fandom in the beginning of 2019 and molting expectations by tricia_16 was the first fic (over 11k words) that i read. it really made me fall in love with deancas because i realised i didn't need them to be in the canon!verse to be so wonderful, their relationship was amazing in whatever universe they were in and it was always intriguing to read about!!

Molting Expectations by tricia_16 [163,100 word count, posted 2019]

After having trouble coping with a traumatic incident on the job, Dean takes his little brother's advice and leaves everything behind to go stay at the old family cabin in Colorado. Nobody's been there for years so it needs some major work, but it's secluded, and that turns out to be exactly what Dean needs in order to start to feel at peace again. Now in the mountains with nothing but nature to amuse himself with, he takes up bird watching and plans a hike into the mountain range across from his cabin in search of a golden eagle. High up in the mountains, he discovers human footprints. Thinking someone is in danger, he follows them into a cave and quickly becomes familiar with a form of wildlife he never could have imagined: winged people who call themselves angels.

from @bornonathursdayinmarch

I actually started out in the fandom against Destiel. I mean, it was pretty clear that Dean Winchester was not into men. But then I read “Redemption Road” by accident around 2015. I didn’t know it was Destiel. But I got really into it and this fic totally changed my mind on Dean/Cas. I have since read hundreds of Destiel fics and I am more into the ship than ever. My absolute favorite fanfic is “Sweaters and Cigarettes” by lemonoclefox. I love how shy, caring Dean softens cynical Castiel and how in love they are despite being so different. It makes me smile when I’m down.

Redemption Road by spnredemption (the fic is a collaborative effort of a group of destiel writers and artists) [NC-17, 650,000 word count, 24 episodes, posted 2011-12)

With Castiel having set himself up as the new God, drunk on power and volatile as a nuclear reactor, Dean, Sam, and Bobby find themselves on the run from the jealous, capricious monster wearing the face of their friend. Desperate for protection and wary of his brother’s mental state since Castiel unlocked Sam’s memories of Hell, Dean knows Castiel must be defused before he can wreak further havoc in Heaven or on Earth. Although Bobby advocates for destroying Castiel by whatever means necessary, Dean is convinced the Cas he once knew still remains, buried somewhere beneath the mass of poisonous souls and calling out for help. Determined to save the angel who once rescued him from Hell and redefined his purpose in life, Dean himself must resist the allure of the false deity vying for his obedience, and come to terms with the knowledge, long-suppressed, that his feelings for Castiel run much deeper than brotherhood. It is this bond, and the dubious distinction of the Righteous Man, that will ultimately grant Dean access to where Castiel’s grace languishes in Purgatory. However, what Dean brings back with him is broken, angry, and only half-angel, certainly not the Castiel he remembers—and nor is it the only thing that returns to Earth with them…

Sweaters & Cigarettes by lemonoclefox [NC-17, 150,000 word count, posted 2014]  NOTE - the fic was deleted from ao3 by the author, please see our review for more details

Dean Winchester is in high school, crushing hard on Castiel Novak, the unbelievably hot goth who Dean does his very best to convince himself he hates, despite the fact that he can’t really stop staring at him. Dean tries, but when the two of them finally cross paths, their first conversation takes a surprising turn. And suddenly, they both find themselves falling harder and faster than they ever could have expected.

from @iamasphodelknox

Hi! The fic that made Destiel my OTP was The Walk series by Persephoneshadow. It blew my mind and I hadn’t even started watching Supernatural yet. 🙈 I started watching the show last year, just as Season 15 was starting. I’m a newbie but this comfort ship felt like coming home. I also read a turn of the earth by microcomets just as I got to season 4 and it is one of the best things I’ve ever read, fic or no. :)

The Walk by Persephoneshadow [NC-17, 190,000 word count, posted 2017]

Castiel tells himself it was a one time thing, even if his night with a hooker named Dean changed his whole world, but he can’t keep away from the man fate keeps throwing in his path. Castiel is married and he knows his sexuality is an affront to God and everything he’s ever been told is right. Dean tells himself he doesn’t care about the weirdo with blue eyes, but every time they meet he gets a bit closer to something like hope. Dean’s nothing but a homeless waste of space with a brother in foster care a world away and a father in the wind. As the connection between these two lost men deepens, it threatens the carefully maintained lies their lives are built on in a story of faith, mistakes, and the journey of love.

a turn of the earth by mishcollin microcomets [NC-17, 95,300 word count, posted 2015] (our review)

Dean’s your typical half-orphaned, monster-killing 22-year-old until a trenchcoated stranger crashes into his back windshield one September night, claiming he’s an angel that knows him from the future and that he’s on the run. Frigging fantastic. (Or, in which Castiel gets stuck in Dean’s timeline pre series and Dean kind of hates it—until he doesn’t.)

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You can find all My First Destiel Fic posts under this tag!

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Do you think the keenler storyline is going anywhere? I used to be sure that it was, I mean why else would they have them kiss and have sex. However now that Liz has been gone for five episodes and she is being quite mean to Ressler (the whole pointing a gun to his head and pretty much telling Cooper about them sleeping together) I feel like a relationship between them will never happen and the writers are just trying to make us forget or dislike Keenler.

Ok, on to the asks about Ressler/Keenler in 8x09 where things were said, but only through contact lenses and earpieces. Thoughts below the jump, because it’s a long post that will (hopefully) address all of these at least in part.

I do think it was Liz speaking through the doppelganger at all relevant times. They haven’t given me a reason not to think that at this point. She knew things only Liz could know. So I assume (unless we get new info) that everything Mia Collins said to Ressler was actually Liz telling her what to say to him (and likewise to Aram and Cooper). I did express to BlacklistRoom on Twitter that they were evil for having faux-Liz call Ressler “Donald” on screen before real Liz does. And at first, I thought maybe that was some sort of signal to Ressler that things were amiss because real Liz wouldn’t do that, but in the end I think it was just the writers playing their usual games. NOT because they hate Keenler or Keenler fans (they’re the ones who made Keenler canon, for God’s sake), but just because they love to toy with fan emotion. They give you a Wing Yee birthday nugget one ep, they throw in a loose “Donald” in another from the lips of a faux-Liz. They know exactly the emotional points to hit if they’re paying attention to social media (and they certainly are, to a point). 

I did catch that accurate observation on Twitter that the doppelganger did not have her finger on the trigger while pointing the gun at Ressler’s head. I’d like to think the actress and crew are careful enough to catch such things as her finger was nowhere near that trigger (and she knew how to shoot that unnamed FBI agent during the chase) so I hope that was purposeful, perhaps as a small signal to the audience that Liz never really intended to hurt Ressler, even though he of course couldn’t see what was going on behind his head. A nod, at least, to the idea that Liz doesn’t really mean to hurt him.

Before I get too much deeper into my personal impressions of the scene, I want to specifically address the anon who wonders if she’s alone in finding it hard to root for Liz or Keenler in all this.

Of course you’re not.

Darker Liz isn’t for everyone. If I had a dollar for every time someone has told me Ressler deserves better than Liz over the past five years, I’d be able to buy you dinner (even at NYC prices). Never mind how many have abandoned the ship over that exact issue or related issues over the seasons. But I also think you know that I don’t share your viewpoint. Maybe that’s why you send me asks, or maybe you’re just using my inbox as an outlet to find those who agree with you. I don’t know and it doesn’t matter (although I admit if it’s the latter, publishing your thoughts on your OWN page rather than in my inbox might be preferable because as much as I enjoy asks to a point, I’m a little tired of ship hand-holding asks. I like what I like and trying to explain it or defend it gets a little tiring.)

All I can say is after five years of deep investment in this fandom and these characters, it takes a LOT more than an absent female lead and a bumpy episode to capsize my ship and send me into the pit of despair. For me, this is the expected price we pay for the ship being canon now versus only at the very end of the show. The Blacklist has never been about showing smooth, happy, relationships. Angst, drama, tension is the name of the game. You have to decide for yourself whether you can stomach that on a week to week basis and especially this season because they warned us – “good AND difficult” – difficult!  - for Keenler. I reconcile the conflict by the fact that Ressler still WANTS Liz and BELIEVES in Liz despite her flaws and if he does, then so do I. The man has some blinders when it comes to Liz, certainly, but not the sort that they love to mock him for on screen. He’s not thinking solely with his male parts brain, he’s thinking with his actual, in his head brain and he LOVES this woman despite her crazy and I love that about him. He’s smarter than most people give him credit for. And I am also of the view that real life and ships do not need to be equivalents. You can love two flawed fictional TV characters without being a person who wants to see those things manifest in real life. (I also ship Wanda and Vision for the record).

So I think we can all agree that this episode – and Liz’s absence generally – has been more “difficult” than good Keenler-wise. Ressler himself told us in those early episodes before her departure that it’s different if you see her, and it certainly is. We’ve been robbed of Liz’s thoughts and emotions entirely ever since she last graced our screen in Ep. 8x04. (And of Ressler’s reaction to said departure, for the most part). At the same time, I think Liz recognizes that too as she hasn’t to our knowledge directly engaged with Cooper, Aram OR Ressler since she left except through surrogates. Purposeful choices on the part of the diabolical writers.

As I said in my earlier ask response tonight, I remain of the view that Liz is in control of her actions and is doing her own risk/benefit assessment in how she responds to the situations she finds herself in. 

I do NOT think that means she has lost all emotion or feeling for Cooper, Aram OR Ressler, but as she explained to Townsend, “Reddington has an army on both sides of the law. I can’t do this alone. I need a partner.” She believes that the Task Force – all of them – are tied to Reddington in their own way, including Ressler, and she doesn’t expect them to violate those arrangements/principles for her. She’s moving outside the boundaries of those relationships to shed light on the secrets that she believes are being kept. Did she involve them this week?  Yes, but I think only because Townsend forced her hand on dealing with his sister. I doubt she would’ve sent her double to the Post Office otherwise. (I totally agree that the Post Office needs better security protocols btw – the idea that Liz can continually breach their defenses has become absolutely laughable at this point).

But, part of that is personal relationships.  She needed Ressler to give her the door codes and he did. Why? Not because he’s her patsy or her f--- boy or whatever derogatory term someone wants to slap on him (!), but because he loves her, flaws and all. The whole letting her go/letting him go thing has always had double meaning, back to S2. 

Cyranoid Liz: You should let me go. Ressler: Those days are over. Cyranoid Liz: Why? Nothing’s changed.

Has nothing changed? He let her go in S2 and then she shot Tom Connolly and he beat himself up over it. Then, the “I can’t let her go” (Ressler pointing the gun in S3 outside the Russian embassy), followed by that car chase and then Red in the next episode, Eli Matchett:

Red: Ressler is a law-enforcement robot. The FBI winds him up– Liz: That’s not true. He’s a person. He’s a good person. Red: Look at me. You need to let that go, Lizzy. I have survived for a very long time now, and I assure you, I didn’t do it by relying on the goodness in people.

I’d submit it has and it hasn’t. All these seasons later, she is once again having a hard time letting him go and so is he (with respect to her).

Ressler: Why’d you call? Liz: I don’t know. I guess– because every time we say goodbye, I’m afraid we might actually mean it.

Both with eyes open wider this time and yet, still wanting the peaceful night, free of all the distractions. 

Yes, he let Liz’s double go physically without much protest. Emotionally? He hasn’t let go of Liz. Not one bit. And Liz saw that, through her cyranoid. He’s still on her side. He still wants to believe in her, no matter what she’s putting him through (and poor Ressler, he’s really enduring a lot – though I hope the tide will turn on that at some point).  He had no reason to open that door, and yet – he did. He doesn’t want that one night to be just ONE night and deep down, I don’t think she does either.

“I won’t give up on you.” 

He hasn’t, yet. “But I still need to do my job, Keen.” She better not push him too far because the day he does is the day I worry. He’s desperate not to repeat the mistakes of the past, he’s desperate to trust her this time. Not because he’s thinking with his small man-part-brain, but with his HEART. He loves her. He’ll do anything he can for her within the limits of his conscience. They are each others’ second chance.

I don’t view Keenler or Ressler’s feelings for Liz or Liz’s manipulations of Ressler as fatal to the ship because I accept that this whole thing – Liz’s mission – is the battle for her soul  that the writers have teased for years . Which side will win? Hopefully the right one. The hopeful one. The one that makes second chances happen.

Cheers.