#when fans don't tell him it's like they don't respect him enough to deal with his own shit

[skania]

Final Akane + AquaKane Thoughts

There are so many things to say that I don't even know how to start organizing my thoughts lol I'll also be including my final thoughts about the "love triangle" while I'm at it, so this is probably going to get long!

I've written quite a bit about Aqua/Akane this past year, so I won't be going into detail into any of the things I've already discussed up to now. Instead, I'll just focus on my thoughts on this final set of chapters, as well as my overall thoughts now that the manga is over.

I'll start with the (few) things I liked:

The Good

I mentioned before that I'm a sucker for parallels, and that Aqua/Akane having so many is one of the reasons why I couldn't help but ship them. We somehow got some very good ones in these last few chapters. We even got a scene at the Aqua/Akane bridge, the one where Akane's relationship with Aqua began and ended.

Aqua saved her life at that bridge, without any ulterior motives. And it's that very bridge that is pictured as Akane says that she has decided to live on. The imagery is poignant and pays its respects to not only Akane's arc as a character, but also to the Aqua/Akane relationship.

More than that, the parallels we got confirm things that Akane and Aqua/Akane fans like me have been saying all along:

Through it all, Akane saw him as he is and embraced the broken him. Each time, she willingly chose to get closer to him. When Aqua tells Akane that he has been saved ever since he met her, I get it. I have no doubt that for Aqua, who has been desperately fighting alone for so long, being seen and understood and loved despite all his self-perceived flaws and the darkness in him must have felt like salvation.

Akane is the one who knows Aqua the best, the one who knows him the most, the one who sees him exactly as he is and who loves all of him. Akane doesn't romanticize Aqua's flaws and his self-sacrificial nature, and neither does she idealize his virtues. She just accepts him and does her best to support and understand him through it all.

Akane being the only one who can see through Aqua's plan is enough to prove this, but it's actually not the most meaningful way in which Aka confirmed it. The most meaningful way was actually this:

Usually, whenever Akane thinks about Aqua, she calls him Aqua-kun. However, throughout her entire monologue in the last three chapters, Akane never addresses him by name. She just calls him "You". The same "You" (君) that Aka emphasized in Chapter 63.

The "You" that encapsulates everything Aqua Hoshino was: both the Goro and the Aqua.

This was a very, very deliberate narrative choice that tells you that throughout the manga, Akane was the one who loved Aqua Hoshino exactly as he was.

Aka also uses another parallel to confirm that Akane was indeed lying to Kana when she claimed that she was over Aqua.

When she finally breaks down, Aka allows Akane to be honest about her feelings, and the parallel to the Aqua/Akane break-up tells us everything we need to know.

Akane never stopped loving Aqua. She has been in love with him all along.

Ever since they broke up, Akane has been sacrificing her feelings for Aqua in order to do what she thinks is best for him. Akane's priority has always been to see Aqua happy. She is willing to do whatever it takes to accomplish that. Back when she thought that Aqua needed to kill Kamiki, Akane was willing to shoulder that sin with him just so he wouldn't have to carry it on his own. When she realized that what Aqua truly wanted was to be free from his revenge, Akane was ready to deal with Kamiki on her own just so that Aqua wouldn't get his hands dirty. Then, when Aqua pushes Akane away, Akane becomes determined to stop him from killing Kamiki because she knows revenge is not what Aqua truly wants or needs.

But that's not all there is to it. Akane wants to be with Aqua, because she loves him. And it's precisely because she loves him, and because she thinks her love failed to save him, that she keeps her feelings to herself and is even willing to help another girl get close to him in her place.

So this chapter confirmed that the one who has been making the sacrificial play, the one who truly loved Aqua, was Akane. It is, essentially, the counterpart to Chapters 148 and 149.

It's no wonder, then, that Akane's feelings and her grief are the ones we follow immediately after Aqua's death. She goes to mourn him in the place he actually died, and when she's around his family, she keeps her pain to herself in order to not worsen their burden. We see her piece together what happened, we see her break, and then we see Akane put herself together and find some solace in knowing that Aqua kept her away to protect her.

Aqua is gone, and Akane is the only one to know Aqua's truth.

A lot of people spent the entire manga trying to downplay Aqua's relationship with Akane; claiming that it was a lie, a manipulation, or what-have-you. Now that the manga is over, we can say those claims were never proven.

At the contrary, until the very end, Aqua's thoughts & actions in regard to Akane were shown to back-up everything he said about her during their relationship.

Aqua could've lived if he had asked Akane for help in killing Kamiki, but he didn't want Akane to get her hands dirty for him. He broke up with her to not bring her down to hell with him, and when the options were to either die alone or make Akane bear the weight of a sin with him, the choice was quickly made.

At the end, he's even shown wanting the same thing Akane wanted: an equal relationship with her.

Unlike his thoughts about Kana (more on that later), which are just a 'might', this is something Aqua is purposeful about. It's something he is sure he wants. It's even the last thing he thinks of before wanting to see Ruby at the dome, which we all know was his dearest wish.

This also fits the panels chosen to be shown in the "romance" part of Aqua's montage: the moment he doesn't catch Kana's ball (symbolizing that their feelings don't connect) vs the moment where he chooses to kiss and date Akane for real.

Which brings us back to the moment they broke up. That chapter was titled "Going Astray" and we now saw where that wrong turn led Aqua: to his death.

So chapter 98, the Aqua/Akane break-up, is pretty much officially the chapter that leads us to the ending we got.

Which means that what I said back in this post still applies. If Aqua and Akane had been honest with each other during that phone-call in Chapter 97, things could've been different. But truth is, it's nearly pointless to think about it, because what this all comes down to is that Aka wanted this ending and he wanted it at all costs.

So nothing could have happened any other way, because Aka didn't want Aqua to be saved. He wanted Aqua to die so he could have his forced "bittersweet" ending.

This is why Aqua and Akane had to break up, it's why Akane is practically not allowed to interact with Aqua again after their break-up, and it's also why Akane never found out about Aqua being Goro's reincarnation.

Aqua was never meant to be saved, and Akane more than anyone could have saved him. So, of course, Aka couldn't allow her to do so. It's forced writing at its finest.

This is also why Akane isn't involved in Aqua's fatidic confrontation with Kamiki. While there is Aka's typical contrived writing involved in Akane leaving Aqua to his own devices at the most crucial moment, I do think it makes sense.

I've mentioned before that from the very beginning, Aqua and Akane's relationship has been based on trust and on choices.

Aqua once gave Akane a choice, trusting that she'd be able to choose what was best for herself. After Akane made her choice, Aqua did everything in his power to help her accomplish her goal.

Ever since, Akane has been trying to do the same for Aqua.

Akane wants Aqua to choose what's right for himself. She will always respect whatever it is that he chooses, as long as it is a true reflection of what he wants and needs. This is why Akane was eager to stop his plan to kill Kamiki, she could tell that Aqua was ready to sacrifice his own future to accomplish it.

That's why, once Aqua chooses to let Kamiki live, Akane is reassured.

Something has changed in Aqua. Akane notices this and believes that Aqua has, finally, chosen to not throw his life away just to deal with Kamiki. She trusts that he has.

Personally, I'd like to believe that Akane was right. Problem was that once Aqua knew for sure that Kamiki couldn't be saved, he switched back to his original plan. Something Akane couldn't have foreseen without knowing that Aqua was the reincarnation of a dude whose issues made him suicidal... which is yet another reason why Aka could have never let Akane find out about the whole reincarnation business.

So all in all, Aqua/Akane-wise, this is all well and good. On paper.

When it comes to the execution however, it leaves a lot to be desired, because Aqua/Akane is sadly majorly brought down by the spectacular way in which Aqua's character was (mis)handled during the second half of the manga.

The Bad

Goro has always been someone who thinks his life has no worth, and this belief is deeply ingrained into Aqua. That's why I could tell that his revenge plan likely involved killing himself and making it look like Kamiki did it.

I just didn't think that he would actually succeed, because it kind of goes without saying that the suicidal character getting to kill himself is far from being a satisfying ending. Even less so when said character has shown time and time again that he actually wants to live, he is just too broken by his guilt complex to believe he has that right.

For a while there, it even looks like Aqua will make it. That he has once again started to embrace that this is a life that he wants to live.

Sadly, once Aqua realizes that Kamiki can't be saved and that he poses a danger to Ruby, all of that flies off the window and "Goro" takes over. And by "Goro" I don't mean Goro the character, I mean all the bad habits that Aqua has due to his guilt-complex and survivor's guilt.

So Aqua goes and executes his original plan, killing himself instead of looking for a better solution. Which means he started off like this:

Only to end the manga pretty much the same way, except you can switch "If Ai's gone, this world isn't-" for "As long as Ruby can live on in this world."

Though, actually, it's even worse than that, because Aqua realizes that he was wrong — dying would bother him — only when it's too late.

It leaves a bad taste in my mouth because it's like Aqua had no development through the entire manga. Cut everything after his break-up with Akane and nearly nothing changes, except the motive behind Aqua throwing his life away: protecting Ruby (Sarina) instead of revenge.

It all feels even more pointless because Aqua's death rings hollow due to how badly his character was mishandled in the second half of the manga. After the break-up, Aqua becomes a "..." bot. His character isn't allowed to grow and neither is he allowed to explore his feelings in any meaningful way, to the point that he dies confused and not knowing who he was.

Pardon my bluntness, but how pathetic is this? 160+ chapters and literally none of this guy's issues were ever solved. His character goes nowhere, only so he can be sacrificed to make the ending bittersweet for Ruby. Though for me it wasn't even bittersweet; the ending fell flat on its face precisely because Aqua's character never goes anywhere, so it's hard to feel anything other than vague frustration and disbelief at how forced the writing is.

Even the Kami/Ai - Aqua/Akane parallels were wasted because both ships ended up in the exact same way: Akane and Ai both unable to save Aqua and Kamiki. I wouldn't even be surprised if those parallels are something Aka came up with on the spot while writing the Ai DVD.

I'm sure some Aqua/Akane truthers will say "all Aqua and Kamiki needed to be saved was to be with Akane and Ai, and Akane and Ai didn't realize that" and leaving aside my issues with that kind of co-dependency, once again, that's all well and good — on paper.

Sure, those of us who ship Aqua and Akane could see it that way if we wanted to, but... did Aka make a point of clearly stating this? No, he left it to the reader's imagination, which means it's just another blank to be filled with headcanon.

Personally, I'm pretty tired of doing that, because everything there is to like about the manga may as well just be the headcanons we have filled all those blanks with.

I always say that I prefer showing and not telling, but there's a limit to everything. Truth of the matter is, if this was supposed to be the case — and especially if it was supposed to be important — then showing isn't enough. Because the majority of readers aren't going to spend hours breaking down every single Aqua/Akane interaction to draw those parallels and reach that conclusion.

Aqua dying soothed by a song by his favorite idol (Ruby/Sarina) doesn't really do it any favors either, because fact of the matter is that people who were never invested in the Aqua/Akane relationship will just assume Aqua never loved Akane back. They'll be more distracted by Kana's tropey, shallow shoujo romance, and this is something Aka allowed in his manga right up to the very end.

Aqua and Akane were the only relationship in the entire manga that got mutual, gradual, organic, continuous development. But this all came to a halt when they broke up, so at the end of the day, they're mostly left up to interpretation.

It's underwhelming.

Most of all, if you ask me, it was a terrible move, because Aqua and Akane could've been the heart of this manga. If their feelings had been properly explored after their break up, if Aqua had been allowed to think of Akane in his last moments, if all this blank-filling had been actual text, they'd have been a tragic love-story for the ages.

But Aka didn't want it to be the heart of the manga, because he had already decided from the beginning that role should go to Aqua and Ruby. Alas, he completely failed at developing that, too, because to the very end there's only Goro and Sarina. That is the entire basis of the Aqua/Ruby relationship and dynamic, and it gets one single chapter where it's explored beyond that, only to immediately focus back on Goro and Sarina as Aqua lies dying.

Goro couldn't save Sarina in his first life, so he wastes his second to do it. He jumped at the chance to free himself of the burden of that guilt without even bothering to think of how much his death would hurt the very person he wanted to protect.

Which takes me to...

The Ugly

Turns out Kana was pretty much just a mixture between Fujiwara and Maki, after all. Except that unlike Maki, she never grows (Aqua literally has to die for her to do so) and unlike Fujiwara, she's overused instead of underused.

Aqua and Kana are portrayed as shallow to the end, and I'd even go as far as saying that the narrative pokes fun at Kana for it. Even during the funeral, she puts on a hat that's reserved for family members and it literally falls off her head when Miyako slaps her lmao

Since this is a manga and not real life, the way Kana's outburst was handled in that chapter is likely meant to be contrasted with the way Akane's own grief was handled, because it pretty much embodies all the differences between both of their relationships with Aqua through the manga.

Kana is focused on herself and on her pain. She thinks Aqua was murdered, but she still irrationally blames him for it, too blinded by her own pain. Aqua was murdered, but not being able to confess to him properly is still at the top of her list of grievances. She is also shown overplaying that one conversation she had with Aqua about Aqua having a death-wish, as if Aqua somehow agreeing to not say that he wants to die was some vital promise that he broke.

Meanwhile, Akane focuses on Aqua. On what Aqua felt, on why he did what he did, and on what he would have wanted. Even her wish to be by Aqua's side is expressed through Akane saying that she'd have been willing to shoulder his burdens with him, no matter where that led them. It is also Akane's understanding of Aqua that helps her to find some solace and to overcome his death.

Kana always looked at Aqua from the outside-in, idealizing and romanticizing him, while Akane was Aqua's partner in every sense of the word. That's why Akane gets all the insightful narration about Aqua while Kana just gets to make a fool of herself at his funeral.

So to the very end, the dichotomy between "Ai" and "Koi" does perfectly illustrates the contrast between the two sides of the Aqua love triangle.

Kana was infatuated with the Aqua that she built up in her head, and focused on what she wanted Aqua to do for her (support her unconditionally), and what she wanted to be for him (his only idol), rather than on Aqua himself as a person.

As for Aqua, during his last moments, most Aqua can say about Kana is that it might be good to respond to her feelings. Might. He spends the entire story knowing Kana is at his beck and call, he even makes fun of her for it (you're so easy to manipulate, yadda yadda), yet when the opportunity to date her presents itself, most he can say is essentially "it could be cool I guess." He even pictures her pulling on his arm to get his attention, while with Akane, he pictures himself facing her and looking straight at her.

So to Aqua, Kana was at most a teenage crush. His feelings for her weren't deep or relevant enough to have any sort of impact on his character, while he outright called the year he spent dating Akane his happy days. An entire year that he spent without Kana even being in his life, mind you. Meanwhile Kana was out there living an entire shoujo where she's the heroine and Aqua is the male lead 😂

That said, I still think Aqua, who I'm sure must've broken a record at being bad at understanding his own feelings, was likely mistaking admiration for romantic attraction, and that he would've realized this pretty early into dating Kana.

The anime is even clearer about this because Aqua's reactions to Kana are paralleled to Akane's who is, quite literally, a fan of Kana.

But even if he wasn't, it doesn't really matter, because it's shown very clearly that Aqua deeply values being understood (to him, it feels like salvation) and that Kana doesn't really understand him. So had they dated, Aqua would've had fun at first, sure, but his emotional needs wouldn't have been met; instead his job would've been to meet Kana's. It just would've never worked in the long term.

Now that the dust has settled, I can say for certain that if Aqua had been allowed to have a happy ending, it'd have been with Akane.

So once more, this is all fine on paper. The problem is that Aka takes it too far. The whole Kana business takes too much panel time for no discernible reason other than to... bait readers? I've even seen some say that Aka intended to mock them.

But even if that were the case, considering that those same readers are likely going to walk out of the story thinking Aqua and Kana are a tragic ship that loved each other because of all the bait, who's really the butt of the joke? Them or Aka himself?

Conclusion

I've always been pretty clear about being an Akane fan first and foremost. Despite all my Aqua/Akane meta, I had no emotional investment in whether she ended up with Aqua or not, as long as she got a satisfying ending. That said, by principle, I most definitely didn't want Aqua to end up with Kana, because that'd be like rewarding Kana for all her crying and whining when she never even tried to understand who Aqua was as a person and I've already gone through that in Naruto, thank you very much.

So the two silver-linings about this ending are that Akane stayed amazing to the end, and that Kana didn't have Aqua handed to her on a silver platter. But considering just how much panel time Kana's meaningless crush takes up in the narrative and how side-lined Akane got after the break-up, it feels like a pyrrhic victory lol

Akane is still the best thing about the manga, and I'd say that she got by far the best ending of the bunch. I'm not sure if I'd call it satisfying, because Akane's one goal was always to save Aqua and she didn't get to accomplish that. But at the very least, she got a good ending, all things considered. She got to protect what Aqua entrusted to her, and she got to show just how emotionally strong she is.

As for Aqua and Akane, AquaKane could've been incredible if only Aka had done them justice, but he didn't. I joked before that the Aqua/Akane development was so good that it's like it wrote itself, and I actually think that's exactly what happened. Aka made things up as he went along, and he allowed Aqua and Akane to develop together in ways he didn't necessarily plan nor foresee. But as soon as he started heading towards the ending he envisioned, he dropped the ship, likely because he had already established everything that would be relevant about them by then, and then proceed to leave a lot of it to the discretion of the readers.

While I'm sure that'll be enough for some, I'm afraid it's not really enough for me. If you were to ask me if I'm satisfied with the way they were handled, my answer would be: not really, but it certainly could've been worse lol

In my opinion, they're the biggest wasted potential in the manga (which is saying something, because the entire manga is wasted potential), and their potential was wasted simply because they're the ones who could've actually led us to a happy ending.

Aka didn't want that ending, though. He cared for his vision more than about his characters, and his vision was literally just an ending where poor Ruby would be a star that shines brighter "the darkest things get". Nothing else mattered. LMAO. As if Ruby hadn't already gone through enough!

Oh well, at least we're finally free!

[httpiastri]

more than enough – jmm21

you hate your birthday, but pepe is determined to change your mind.

genre: fluff/a little angsty/comfort

pairing: reader x college!pepe marti, ft christian mansell and sebastian montoya

warnings: uhhh anxiety and such ?? idk

word count: 2.6k

author's note: just like last year, this is merely a very self-indulgent birthday gift to myself (and a bit of a late birthday gift for a friend on here who confided in me about not liking their birthday either), so sorry if you don't relate but i needed to write this for myself despite how painful it was. not happy with how it turned out but, i had to get it out of my system. <3 (also not proofread because i will freak out likely aaaaa)

this is mostly a standalone fic but ig it kinda works as college!pepe so i put that there. i got this idea at my mom's birthday back in march but never actually wrote it until this last week... also loosely based on a tiktok that really spoke to me.

also! this doesn't really work with the headcanon of pepe, seb and chris all sharing an apartment, but i wanted it this way. i also wasn't comfortable including gaby or hermes, so i used the names nora and emma for seb's and chris's respective gfs. :)

"why didn't you tell me your birthday is next week?"

the question is innocent enough, only borderline accusing, but something tightens in your stomach nonetheless. you don't look up from the pot in your hand, however, instead continuing to scrub it with your dishbrush like it's no big deal. "who told you that?"

pepe chuckles as he makes his way over to your side, leaning against the counter as he looks at you. "emma," he tells you, crossing his arms over his chest. "going to answer my question now?"

"i must've forgotten to tell you."

"oh, come on..." your boyfriend shakes his head. "is there a reason i wasn't allowed to know? did i do something? do you not trust me? am i-"

"pepe," you say, his name followed by a sigh as you look over to him in hopes of stopping his rambling. "it's nothing personal."

"what is it, then?" he presses, eyes following your hands as they begin to rinse the pot he'd cooked your pasta in just a couple hours ago. "why don't you want to tell me?"

you take a deep breath, shrugging your shoulders before turning off the tap. "i just... i'm not a big fan of my birthday."

the biggest understatement of the year.

you hate your birthday.

for a number of reasons, really. some to do with your family and childhood; many to do with your own inner thoughts and feelings.

you hate how it reminds you of every bad birthday you had as a kid. you hate how it makes you hopeful that people will remember and congratulate you, because you hate how painful it is when they don't. you hate how you always get reminded of how little people seem to care, and how they always prioritize themselves even on what's supposed to be your day.

it's too much of a mess to explain to him right now – maybe, hopefully, one day you'll have the energy and courage to go through it all.

you hadn't forgotten to tell pepe; you had just been silently hoping he wouldn't address it, and that everyone else would forget, too. but apparently, you have a snitch in your friend group. "what do you mean?" pepe asks.

"i'd much rather not celebrate it." you place the pot on the drying rack, wiping your hands on your towel hanging by the stove before turning to him. "a lot of stuff regarding my birthday just makes me really upset. if i could, i'd just... make it disappear, honestly."

your eyes flicker to the floor, fingers nervously fiddling with the sleeve of your shirt. he can tell you don't want to get into it, and he won't push you. instead, he opens his arms wide, taking a step forward. you accept the offer instantly, arms wrapping around his waist as he pulls you close.

the air in your little dorm room isn't as thick as you had expected it to be when telling him all of this – but at the same time, you aren't surprised. pepe has always had a way of grounding you, making everything seem a bit easier. "i can't make it completely disappear, i think," he says, placing his chin on top of your head. "but i can pretend for you."

you hum contently, letting your eyes close for a few moments. "that would be great."

he remains quiet for a couple of seconds, but then he can't stop himself from talking again. "do you really not want anything? no party? you threw me that party for my birthday, i'd feel guilty not doing anything back."

"i did it because you had a fun time and you like those things, and because i enjoyed planning it. but i was really hoping i could skip all that," you answer, pulling away ever so slightly to look up at him with a sheepish expression. "i would honestly rather have dinner with you, emma, nora, sebas, chris... maybe get some takeout from that new indian place down the road?"

to pepe's ears, you sound more than just a tiny bit crazy – but your being so different from him is one of the things that attracted him in the first place. he nods, leaning in to press a kiss to your forehead. "whatever you say, love."

"where did your girl go?" emma asks the second pepe slumps into a free seat by the cafeteria table.

your boyfriend shoots a glance over his shoulder back to the serving line before setting his plate down. "they were out of rice so she's just waiting for a new batch," he says with a shrug.

"okay then, let's be quick before she gets here," emma speaks up again. "what are we doing for her birthday? it's just a few days away, but i think we can pull something off."

"me and seb were talking about throwing her a surprise party," nora says, looking over at sebastian who's nodding excitedly.

pepe, however, lets out a dismissive sound and swats the air with his hand. "no, forget about that," he says, stuffing a spoonful of pasta into his mouth. "she doesn't want any of that."

nora snorts. "what? of course she does."

"you know, pepe," emma counters, eyebrows raised at the spaniard. "every girl will tell you that she doesn't want a surprise party. don't bother, i don't care, you don't have to do all that for me! but in reality, we're all secretly craving it."

pepe considers her words for a few moments; maybe there is some truth in them after all. maybe all you did was try to act modest, to put the idea in his head so he would make the right choice.

but you weren't the one to bring up the subject – he was. he remembers clearly how you were doing your very best to avoid talking about your birthday at all, and the memory of how tough of a subject it seemed like to you is still etched into his mind. he thinks you were so brave to confide in him like that, and so he needs to stand up for you. he can't dishonor your trust.

"trust me, guys. she really doesn't want it." he ignores the groans of the people around him, taking a few sips of his water before continuing. "can't we all just grab some dinner on saturday instead? maybe that new indian place?"

"works for me," christian joins in. "how about presents, then?"

"right, are we all buying something together, or separate gifts?" emma fills in.

pepe shakes his head yet again. "i don't think she wants that, either." his words are followed by a long silence, which makes him unable to hold back a chuckle. "just paying for the food should be enough."

nora sighs dramatically, the palms of her hands pressing into the sides of her face. "and i'm supposed to just trust you, huh?" she asks and pepe merely shrugs, focusing back on his food. "hope you're not messing with us here, marti."

"i have no idea what he said, but he usually is," your voice spreads through the group as you finally take a seat at the table. "fill me in and i'll help you decide if he's just being annoying."

"i was just telling them about what mr. peterson said yesterday," pepe says quickly. "about what he'll do to everyone who fails the exam."

you throw your head back laughing, nodding instantly. "oh my god, that was hilarious. so, it started with someone on the front row asking about..."

pepe loves birthdays. his own, too, but mostly he finds himself looking forward to his friends' birthdays and longing to celebrate the important people in his life. he loves picking out gifts, planning celebrations, and making sure everything is perfect. it just comes naturally for him to be caring and detailed in that way.

but while pepe eagerly awaits your birthday, you couldn't even come close to feeling the same way.

most years, you spend the weeks leading up to your birthday dreading it, and the day of your birthday crying, because your birthday reminds you of everything you try to forget year-round.

pepe wants to make the day perfect for you, but he also obviously doesn't want to do too much. it's a hard task, but he's set on making it work – and the first step is getting a cake.

his first thought was to get you something huge, something to properly convey what he thinks you deserve and how much he loves you. though, it didn't take long for him to realize that something like that would be way too much for you. instead, he settled on a more basic yellow cake with some kind of white coating that the lady in the bakery recommended to him, and dropped by the grocery store near campus to buy sprinkles and a bunch of candles.

the end product is a little messy, but created with so much love, and pepe knows you're going to adore it. what he doesn't know is how he managed to keep you away from his refrigerator and the surprise hiding in it all night yesterday, but it doesn't matter – all that matters is that you're currently still sleeping soundlessly in his bed, with no clue of what's going on over in the kitchen.

pepe's hands are trembling slightly as he lights up the candles; he is a little nervous, he will admit, but he's also excited at the same time. he can't wait to see the look of surprise on your face, so he hurries up and places the cake on a tray along with two cups of coffee.

he silently curses at the way his bedroom door creaks when he pushes it open with his foot, but thankfully you don't move a single muscle. he carefully scoots over to the side of the bed, sitting down next to you and balancing the tray in his lap. he reaches over with one hand to your cheek, thumb tracing along your skin, fingers settling under your jaw. "mi amor," he whispers, a soft hum leaving his lips as he watches your eyelids slowly flutter open. "happy birthday."

it takes a few moments for your eyes to adjust to the sunshine lighting up the room, but when they do, they can't help but focus on him. the goofy grin on his lips, the messy hair, the-

the cake on his lap.

you push yourself up to sit in bed, rubbing some sleep out of your eyes. you're mistaken, surely? you're still half-asleep, you must've imagined it...

but no amount of blinking makes the cake disappear. the little flames of the candles swaying in the air, the single drop of stearic rolling down the side of a candle, the rainbow sprinkles sticking to the top and sides of the cake – it's all very real.

pepe was so sure this was the right way to go. but seeing the tears begin to seep out of the corners of his eyes makes him horrified. he messed up.

he knew the sprinkles would be too much. and that amount of candles, what was he thinking? he definitely went overboard.

"oh my god," he says, instantly placing the tray on the bedside table before scooting closer to you. "i'm so so so sorry, i thought you would like it... i don't know what i was thinking. here, let me-"

you shake your head as he begins brushing away your tears with his thumbs, and to his big surprise, you chuckle. "don't be sorry," you say, letting out another laugh when you see the confused expression on his face. "i do like it. a lot." you reach up to take his hands in yours, bringing them down to the bed and intertwining your fingers. "it's just... very emotional, for me. as you can see."

he also chuckles now, and he thinks he understands – even though seeing your happy tears is more painful than he'd expected. "okay," he says with a nod. "so..." his eyes flicker back to the cake.

"yes, please. i mean, what could be better than a sugar rush first thing in the morning?"

pepe would've been so happy to shower you with presents to express how much he loves you; it would've made him so proud to invite all your friends to a big celebration, to show you how much you mean to all of them, to change your idea of a birthday. but this – sitting together in bed, eating straight from the cake (no plates needed), pressing sugary kisses to each other's cheeks – is another form of perfect.

he just hopes you think it's perfect, too.

hearing you tell the stories of how you needed to bake the cake for yourself if you wanted one as a child, how you always made sure to buy yourself a gift because the risk that no one else would get you one was too high, and how you always needed to plan out your own parties breaks his heart – but hearing you open up like that also means the world to him. he understands that it's all buried so deep inside of you, but there's nothing he wants more than to help you heal and to prove that you can have much better and bigger birthdays than that.

but for now, a little cake in bed and a ton of kisses will have to do.

baby steps.

"chris, will you pass me the chicken korma?"

he leans over the crowded couch table and holds out the takeaway box to nora, who takes it into her hands and thanks him. "that one is really good," you tell her through your mouthful of bread, nodding to your friend.

"what's the verdict, then?" sebastian asks from his seat over on the couch. "i need a rating from the birthday girl, one to ten."

"food? ten," you say, taking a sip of your soda. "company? ten."

birthday? eleven.

the whole day has been much better than you'd expected; from your wake-up this morning, to the lunch date you shared with pepe over in town after a cute walk along the river, to having your closest friends all gathered in your living room for you. you don't even mind the way your buttcheeks are already starting to hurt after sitting on the floor for too long – you knew you should've invested in more seating for moments like these – because all of this is worth it.

"agreed," pepe chimes in from next to you. "especially about the food."

"speaking of which," says emma. "was there any bread left?"

you're quick to jump to your feet, already turning towards the kitchen. "garlic or plain?"

"ooh, garlic! thank you!"

pepe hurries off the floor right after you, making up some excuse about getting a new spoon for one of the sauces, but no one even bats an eye. you hear him enter through the door, and you smile instinctively. "how are you feeling?" he asks when he reaches your side, hand finding the small of your back as you rummage through the takeaway bag. "is this all enough?"

"it's more than enough. so much more." after pulling out the garlic naan from the bag, you reach up to the side of his face with your free hand, brushing your thumb over his cheekbone. "best birthday ever."

you seal your words with a feather-light kiss to his lips, and he's still smiling when you pull away. "you promise?" he asks, eyes searching through yours for any slightest hint of insincerity or uncertainty.

"i promise." another kiss, followed by a gentle hum, and he visibly relaxes. "thank you."

"no, thank you." for opening up, for letting him do all this for you. for existing. "only happy birthdays from now on, okay? i will make sure of it."

"it could never be anything other than a happy birthday with you around."

[pedrithink]

understand ✩ jude bellingham

request: can you do jude and the reader arguing during their vacation and she starts crying when they're at the beach but she doesn't want him to notice but he notices and starts apologizing

"I'm just telling you that I felt uncomfortable, that's all." You exasperate as you cross your arms. Is it so hard for Jude to understand your side?

He shakes his head impatiently. "And I'm telling you that no big deal happened."

"They were practically all over you, Jude. They were hitting on you and ignoring my existence." You roll your eyes to keep tears from escaping your eyes.

"And why does that matter? I'm with you, you know that." Jude runs his hands over his own face somewhat aggressively and, whispers. "There's no need to create a giant problem over a situation as silly as this."

"You seem to be schismatic about not understanding my side." You cross your arms. "The point is that they kept sending little papers with their instagram, sending drinks, and had the audacity to come to our table and talk to you while I stood there watching everything like an idiot." You swallow your tears and stare at him with glittering eyes. "And you did nothing."

"What did you want me to do? Please, love. They're just fans."

Jude's impatient voice only makes your heart tighter, and the moonlight, the sound of the breaking waves, and the sand invading your shoe do nothing to improve the situation.

Faced with this situation, you can only take a deep breath and hope that this is the dream and that you are not arguing while you are in such a paradisiacal place, hope that Jude understands 1% of what you are feeling right now.

"We traveled here to have fun on my vacation and look at the kind of ridiculous thing we're discussing in the middle of a party." He grimaces in dissatisfaction.

You don't have the guts to say anything else for the next 20-30 minutes and Jude much less.

You are surrounded by the noise of the party, the crashing waves and each other's pained, dissatisfied sighs.

Jude stood beside you, head down. In a way that he didn't need to face you for the moment. He knows that you need this moment of silence to think about everything you've said to each other in the few minutes you've come outside the party to talk.

But at no time does he dare leave your side. Whatever the fight may be, you don't leave each other's side without working it out.

It all started because of some women who didn't care that Jude was holding hands with you, that he was kissing you relentlessly and insatiably. They didn't care that he was with someone else and it bothered you because Jude wasn't able to say "Enough" to them, according to him, it was an unnecessary fight to buy.

You guys normally don't argue, you don't like it. You avoid it as much as possible and always respect each other's opinion and space, but this situation left you completely out of place and you tried to express this with the intention that Jude would understand your side.

Your eyes fill with tears when you hear Keshi's "Understand" playing in the background in the inner part of the party, the light touch of the music along with the sounds of the waves makes your heart squeeze because this is your song.

take you by the hand, you're the only one who understands.

Tears escape and you try to hide them as you bite down hard on your lower lip trying to keep the sobs from escaping your lips.

You don't want Jude to see you crying, but you can't stop more tears from flooding your face.

He is the person who understands you most in the whole world, so why does it seem that now you are not being understood?

Jude takes courage to look at you and is startled when he sees you crying. His heart shatters into a million pieces and the urge to pull you into a hug becomes immense, he can't resist and pulls you around your waist. "Hey, no. No, my love. I'm sorry, don't cry."

Jude's arms grab your waist and you try to avoid it, but you can't resist melting into his embrace either. "Please forgive me." He whispers as he strokes your hair. "I thought it was something silly, but now I can clearly see that you have been affected by it. Not knowing how to express myself properly is one of my biggest fucking flaws. I hate that about me."

Jude says the last sentence in a low way, he wanted to throw himself into the sea and disappear for a few minutes. He feels so ashamed for putting you through such a situation.

Jude's hands walk to your waist and pulls you back so that your eyes stick to his, he always liked to talk looking into your eyes. "Hurting your heart was the last thing I wanted in the world. Forgive me, my love."

"I know and understand that you didn't mean to, Jude. But, this lack of positioning hurts." You explain as you dry the trail of tears from your face. "It may be silly and insignificant to you, but it makes me insecure."

His eyes soften and you can even see a trail of tears forming on his edge. "I didn't mean to hurt you, I just thought I was making the right choices, trying to avoid a fight or something, but clearly I wasn't. It hurt you and I promise that from now on I will review my attitudes."

His hands walk over to caress your back. "I value you so much, I really do, and I honestly don't know what my life would be without you. I know I let you down, and in the end, I feel like it hurt me more than it hurt you because I can't handle the idea that I hurt you. I love you too much.” He whispers. “I didn't mean to hurt you like that."

You hug Jude by the neck and give him a light kiss on his lips, you know that he didn't mean to hurt you and this conversation (not the fight) was even good for you to clarify some points and prevent more situations like this from happening again in the future.

Jude makes you feel complete.

[carlyraejepsans]

for the record, i frankly do not give a single shit about how toby as the creator of the undertale feels about how people treat his protagonists. he made a piece of art and he set it free, he's a smart enough guy to know not to shove his nose in fandom discussions more than is necessary to continue his stories. i don't care if it wouldn't be a big deal to him that people gender his main characters, my perspective is that of a transgender fan interacting with other fans in a social space. if you're so painfully cis brained that you can't handle leaving a neutral character as is because you have to forcefully shove them in a binary somehow, that tells me you do not have the maturity to interact with people like me. even if you did, you couldn't pay me to run the risk of finding out when i can hang out with people who are obviously more reliable and trustworthy than you.

i don't respect you and i don't want you around me. i'm not entitled to your headcanons? sure. you don't see me going around attacking fans who misgender the humans. i go out of my way to avoid them and make my opinions known on my own goddamn blog. YOU are not entitled to my views either. not my headcanons, not my interpretations, not my analysis, not my judgement of your character based on this behavior. i find your arguments insufferable and immature, and would rather tap dance barefooted on coals than continue this discussion.

get fucked and don't come back. i've got better things to do with my day, and better fans to enjoy this game with than people like you.

[ilyasorokinn]

Please, something of adorable fluff with dad Travis Konecny I have such bad baby fever right now

HOCKEY CARD COLLECTION

i don't remmebr who it was, but a while ago, i saw a video of a player and his kid opening hockey cards, and they pull him and that's just stuck in my brain. also, i did decide to change the player, just personal reasons, we love tk in this house! so, instead, this is going to be for my au for nico cause i feel like i dpn't give that au enough love.

"THE HISCHIER FAMILY" MASTERLIST

something new that elena had started collecting in her ever growing hockey paraphernalia collection was hockey cards, they were her new obsession. it was probably the surprise aspect of it all but she had a giant binder filled with cards. whenever you went to the store, you made sure to stock up on the cards.

something that nico loved to do with her was get different players to sign the cards. of course every new jersey card she had had been signed by the respective player already, but whenever the away team came to play or he went away for games, he would always collect the players cards from that team and get them signed and it was always a sweet to see the smile on not only elena's face when she saw the card, but nico's as well.

"lena, i have a surprise for you!" you sang as you came through the door. not long after, you heard elena's quick footsteps running down the hall, frankie, your dog, following after her.

"mama!" she cheered. you quickly set down all the grocery bags and enveloped her in a hug. you had only been gone for a few hours but she was in a clingy stage, she missed you and nico no matter how long you had been gone.

"hi, girly." you smiled, kissing her head and setting her on your hip. nico came down the hallway, a smile on his face as you looked at the scene in front of him.

"i have some frozens." you pointed to the bags, kissing nico on the cheek and walking towards the living room leaving him to deal with the bags.

while you waited for nico to finish putting all the groceries away, elena spent the entire time telling you about everything she and nico had done in the time that you had been gone, "wow, you and papa did a lot today." you gasped.

"did you get me a present?" she asked, raising a brow at you the same way you did.

"i did." you nodded, "but what do you say first?" you raised a brow right back at her.

"please?" she asked, flashing you her puppy eyes.

"that's my girl." you nodded, reaching into your bag and pulling out the hockey packs.

"cards!" she cheered, snatching them from your hand and ripping into them before you even had time to reprimand her for snatching.

you and nico watched with smiles as she pulled out each card and attempted to read the names. she got a few right but got stumped on a few of the names. she ripped into the last little pack and flipped through the cards.

she got the second to last card and her eyes went wide, "papa!" she quickly flipped the card around to show him the card.

in all the hockey cards for you, for some reason, had yet to find a nico hischier card. you had millions of other players and tons of repeats, but none of her beloved 13.

so when she flipped the card over, you both couldn't help but cheer with her, "it's you, it's you!" she jumped around, giggling and laughing when frankie started doing the same.

"you have to sign it now. it's tradition." you reminded him. he quickly grabbed a sharpie and signed his name. he had signed his name for tons of different fan merch, other jerseys, bobbleheads, other cards, but this one was special for him.

he picked it up and held it up, showing it off, "i look good." he joked. elena laughed while you playfully rolled your eyes.

"i have to add it to my collection." she quickly gathered her new cards and ran up to her room, frankie on her heels.

once it was just you and nico, he looked over at you, "i looked good, right?"

you rolled your eyes again, "yes, nico, you looked good."

[dopeasspancake]

Can't stop thinking about the concept of post-Scream (1996) and Billy and Stu's spirits being tied to Sidney for whatever reason. Maybe it's penance. Maybe it's unfinished business. Maybe they never figure it out. But they're just kind of stuck following her.

And maybe it takes her a while to notice. Maybe it takes Billy and Stu a while to become proficient enough at haunting for her to see/hear them and for them to be able to interact with objects or the living. At first they're not even sure they want Sid to know they're there.

But it eventually happens. And NONE of them are thrilled about the situation. For a long while. Maybe Stu finds it kind of funny, but Billy and Sid are PISSED. Billy & Stu aren't always around, though. They sometimes disappear for hours or even days at a time, but they always come back. They have no choice.

They follow Sidney to Windsor College, mock her choice in studies, and cannot stand her boyfriend Derek ("He's so corny it's painful, Sid.") And although Billy & Stu love finding out that they've inspired their own horror movie, they DON'T appreciate the new Ghostface(s) targeting Sidney. Sidney was THEIR final girl and she beat them fair and square. This New Guy should be more original, in their opinion.

When Sidney is distraught over Randy's untimely murder, Billy & Stu are actually a little bummed for her. And him. Stu was even rooting for them a bit. Thought Sid & Randy would have been cute together, but oh well.

And maybe Billy still hates Sidney, but he kind of respects her. He was once genuinely in love with her, before everything. Maybe Stu, who only ever got involved for funsies (and because he'd follow Billy to the ends of the earth) is even a little attached to her. So maybe they do their ghostly best to watch out for her (not that they'd actually tell her this, of course).

And when Billy eventually finds out one of the Ghostface killers was his mom, he spirals a bit (because why does she care NOW but not before he died? What right did she even have to be angry? SHE left HIM). And all Sidney can tell him is "Well, she's dead now."

After Sidney escapes death yet again following the Hollywood murders, she has to deal with several weeks of a falling out between her ghosts. Stu was there, he heard what Roman said about giving Billy pointers. About having a partner he could sell out if need be. And that had hurt more than any knife or smashed TV ever could.

(After a few weeks and with mediation from Sid, Billy finally confesses he never planned to sell Stu out. Only liked the idea of a partner, of not being alone, and Stu was the only person in the world Billy trusted with his life. And who Billy knew was unhinged enough to agree to murder for his friend. Getting this information out of Billy is like pulling teeth because not even death has cured his emotional constipation.)

And this just continues on through the franchise. And despite the fact that Sidney will never forgive Billy & Stu for what they did, she gets used to their presence. Even eventually begins to appreciate them, as fucked up as it is. They become a familiar constant in her life.

When they tease or mock her, Sid's not afraid to remind Stu that she dropped a TV on his face. Or that she put a bullet between Billy's eyes and would gladly do it again. But funny enough, she eventually says these things with very little malice. It's almost like a fun little inside joke. And to be fair, Stu can't think of a more ironic way for him to have died. He gets giggly about it sometimes.

They make fun of Sidney when she starts dating her eventual husband. They make fun of her even harder while she's pregnant because she's often tired, sore, and easily irritated. And while neither Billy nor Stu are big fans of kids, they have to admit Sid and Mark make some pretty cute ones.

Sidney is the one to break the news to Billy, "Congratulations, it's a girl" but 25 years late. She also has to break the news that his daughter is the latest target. And that Stu's nephew was already a victim. Both ghosts are left reeling over this information. Stu is weirdly disappointed to find out Billy cheated on Sid.

("Really, Billy? Didn't you plan an entire murder all because your dad cheated on your mom? And then you had the nerve...?!"

"Stu, while I appreciate you coming to my defense, I find it... fascinating that you're fine with murder but infidelity is where you draw the morality line."

"It's the hypocrisy, Sid! And you didn't deserve that."

"You literally both tried to murder me."

"... not the point, Sid."

If Billy wasn't so flabbergasted at the time, he might have felt more ashamed and embarrassed.)

When Sidney realizes what house Sam is at, Billy & Stu stay with her as she rushes headfirst into danger. All 3 of them are a little sick at setting foot back in that house. Billy & Stu are downright disgusted when they realize the killers are once again The Boyfriend and The Friend. ("Have some fucking originality, I am begging these kids.")

Billy later ends up genuinely thanking Sidney for helping save his daughter. They laugh over the irony of it all. Stu thinks about how Sam reminds him a lot of Sid, weirdly enough. But also of Billy, in some ways. He doesn't say these things out loud. But he does feel oddly protective of the young woman.

And I honestly have no idea how or when to end this concept, it could theoretically go on for decades... but I'm def obsessed with the idea obviously. So, if you actually read through all this (thank you and) feel free to expand upon the idea.

Maybe one day I'll get my shit together and write it out in detail myself. But probably not. BUT MAYBE.

UPDATE: after tons of positive feedback and although I am absolutely shitting myself with nerves, I have officially posted the first chapter of The Ghosts of Our Past for anyone interested.

[moonshine-dan]

Personal Headcanons:

Sakusa Kiyoomi

This is mostly to provide context for fics I write with him and how I interpret his character. I might add to this at random! NSFW below cut.

He's not an asshole for fun- he's brusque with people because he respects their time and wants them to respect his.

Similar to above- he's not an OCD germaphobe, he's just tidy and dislikes unnecessary mess where it's avoidable. He's got standards. And he doesn't like being sick! Is basic hygiene such a high bar???

It's really just high anxiety but he'd never admit to it

Not a 'dry' texter but he's not writing more than he needs to.

Was told once as a teenager that he was a shitty boyfriend and he took that personally. He spent a month reading magazines and internet articles on how to be a better partner & now has a brain lobe dedicated to Cosmo and Buzzfeed advice that comes in varying degrees of handy at random times

He has hypermobile wrists; I think he does get the associated body and joint pain associated with them. He's not in agony, but he's dealing with low to midgrade pain almost constantly.

Part of why he's got a reputation for being short with people is that he's often kind of tired or in pain and is band at recognizing or expressing it. He wants to go HOME.

He's a goofball but in Strange and Offputting ways, not fun and endearing ways. Has his own sense of humor.

If he's being silly with you, he trusts you. If he's putting your stuff in his bag 'on accident' or pulling 'too slow' high five shit with you, you've fucking made it into his heart.

I don't think he's very experienced in sexual relations! He takes dating seriously & doesn't rush. Not many have stayed with him long enough for him to feel like sex is on the table.

Does not have a very high sex drive and is not super curious about exploring much about himself on his own- but he's more than happy to indulge your sexual fantasies if you ask.

Not huge on PDA but not shy at all about telling people you are together. Arm holder, not hand holder.

He runs warm and is always in shorts and short sleeves if he can help it.

Moles all over. Got a mole next to his dick. Self conscious about it even though it's irrational bc he's very pale and they stick out :(

Addicted to tiger balm and camphor spray. Huffs it like glue when putting them on.

Secretly thinks laundry soap and dishwashing powder smell good. Sniffs them every time he uses them.

While not a fan of PDA, he's on more than one occasion shown up to a date with a gift unprompted. He'd buy you one of those embarrassing and Huge stuffed animals and carry it for you.

He has very strong opinions on the use of sesame oil as a condiment. "It's overused. And it smells so strong. And they always put so much in."

He's not a hard top only dom. He's actually very happy to be the sub- he CAN switch, but he enjoys following the lead and reacting to your wants.

Bro is ALWAYS OUT ON A RUN. Morning? Running before breakfast. Lunch? Has a circuit by the river. At night? On a jog before dinner. He WILL ask you to join him once a week.

He knows how to cook but only the blandest meals known to man. He cannot handle spice at all and gets bright fucking red, it's lame as hell and he hates it

Average sensitivity in general, except for his sides and waist. He gets jumpy if you touch them. it's cute :)

He's also very tenderheaded. poor thang :(

There is nothing in the WORLD more erotic to him than a massage. Work the knots out of his shoulder and he'll fuck you till you pass tf OUT

Does not like used condom smell. at all. He's genuinely considered a vasectomy so he can hit it raw without consequence

[lunatic-pudge]

Tf2 characters reactions to skibidi toilet?

This ask scares me. I think it has to do with the fact that I never understood skibidi toilet, and that means I'm starting to disconnect from the youth. I am becoming the old man who doesn't understand memes.

BUT, since you asked, most of the mercs would be so confused by it. A toilet with a head coming out of it and singing, they're so old and don't understand how people find it entertaining.

I feel like the entire offense class would enjoy it to varying degrees. Scout loves to use it as a way to annoy everyone around him. Constantly blaring it at the worst times. He ends up getting his devices confiscated by Heavy for a while until he learns to knock it off (spoiler alert: he doesn't learn and keeps getting his devices taken). Soldier doesn't understand but thinks it's rather entertaining. His rather nonexistent brain has interpreted it as American propaganda and uses it to show off how great his country is. Bless his heart, he means well even if he isn't the brightest. Now Pyro likes it cause of the music. They aren't too fond of the weird animations and tend to only listen to the audio. They're the only one that's kind enough to have it blasting for everyone to hear.

Now, the defense class. Demo is typically too drunk to really understand nor care about ilwhat the hell is going on. His intoxicated brain barely comprehends the he's looking at (only focusing on actual important things like booze, bombs, and his wife Soldier). But he can get annoyed with it rather quick if he hears it playing on a loop. He has threatened to break Scout's phone after hearing it play for the tenth time back to back. He's very serious with his threats and will strap the phone to a bomb and explode it. Poor Demo is just trying to relax and have a good time. Heavy is just plain confused. He just views it as kids being weird and usually ignores it. He'll hide out in Medic's to avoid having to deal with it. But he's also the main person to put a "timeout" on the skibidi. Engie is also confused but is just too busy to care. You can show him it, and he'll be like, "That's nice, son." while continuing to fix his sentry. (He didn't even look at the phone, typical dad behavior). He's pretty chill when Pyro is playing it cause they know how to be respectful.

And finally, the most "I'm not dealing with this shit" class: support. The plus side these goobers have is that they all have a way to hide from the BS. Medic is the least vocal of the support, opting to instead watch the chaos of other people yelling for him. If anything, he'll just tell them how they're gonna rot their brain out with such nonsense. He refuses to let skibidi toilet be played in his lab. He doesn't want his doves to be exposed to such brainrot. Now I can see two different things happening with Sniper. 1. He yells at Scout and Solider to shut up, or 2. While not being a fan of skibidi toilet, uses it to annoy people like Spy (or maybe even to use it to get what he wants). Now remember, Sniper's the second youngest merc and an only child. He's just as goofy as someone like Scout. He just doesn't show it often. This would be one of those times where his goofiness shows. And finally, Spy, he just ain't having it. Devices will go missing in the middle of the night and will not be seen again. He is constantly yelling at Scout and Soldier (and the occasional Sniper) about how annoying and childish they are. He's surprised with how he's been able to deal with it. He feels like he's always on the edge of killing everyone cause of how fed up he is.

[alatismeni-theitsa]

There are many things I will never forgive Rick Riordan for but the number 1 (one) thing I will always hold against him is how he treated WWII in the entire series.

To quote the PJO wiki, "[...] World War II, in the books, is described to be a huge fight between the children of Zeus and Poseidon on one side and the children of Hades on the other.

The events of World War II resulted in the pact of the Big Three, because their children were affecting the course of history too much. It was decided more demigod children would be dangerous for the mortal world."

Just. What the fuck. There are so many things that are wrong with this.

There is nothing that he can do to excuse or salvage this. He could rewrite the whole series, I don't give a fuck. This should not have happened in the first place.

I don't care if he wrote the first book in 2005, he was and still is a grown ass man with a high education from what I've read, he has no excuse. WWII has affected millions across the globe with the descendants of all too many families even having to deal with the generational trauma that came from that time period alone AND dealing with heavy deniers of the many atrocities and war crimes that were committed whilst their grandparents and great-grandparents are having hallucinations of all of their traumatic experiences (can you tell i'm speaking from experience?).

Ironically he holds (Ancient) Greece on such a high pedestal, calling it the birthplace of Western Civilisation (it isn't), and yet you can tell he obviously knows very little about the damn country whose culture he's been appropreating for almost two decades now. Making Hades the father of 3 (three) terrible war criminals in the war that, you know, Greece had been and still is greatly affected by to this day. Which is, you know, his fucking home. That he and all the other characters supposedly care about oh so much (I have so many bottled-up negative emotions about these books and absolutely no safe space to let them out, theitsa, you have no idea).

You may think I'm overreacting or taking this too seriously but I honestly couldn't care less. This is not a topic you can just joke about or treat light-heartedly. Yes, it was mentioned as an atrocity in the books, but it was still mainly treated as just "Hehe silly fight between gods! Secret History ooo!~".

Simply saying that WWII was bad is not enough, Rick, it's actually the bare minimum. You need to show it at the very least some respect by not undermining its consequences to simply "This is why we don't have kids anymore!". But you're obviously not ready to hear that yet. It still baffles me that his fans are just now discovering he is not the saint they thought he was. "How could he be a zionist ??" they all ask in unison, meanwhile the signs were all there since 2005 (at the very least).

Anyway, you don't have to answer this ask if you don't feel like it, I understand it can possibly be overwhelming. You're the first person I've seen that's actually not afraid to point out Rick's bullshit despite initially liking his books, and also the fact that you are a Greek educating people on actual Greek culture, so I felt safe sharing my thoughts with you. Thank you for your time! Καλές γιορτές! 💕

You're overreacting, especially when it comes to the World Wars! In ww2 1 in 10 Greeks died in the famine, and almost everyone I know had someone in their family executed or tortured by the Germans/Bulgarians/Italians triple occupation (not to mention getting hurt or killed in battle). These situations traumatized generations of Greeks, but Rick had the immense privilege of not considering this while writing! He treated the wars like they were play-dough for his little cutsy lore, he made our arch-enemies the children of our gods, and he can go to hell for this.

I am here for all the righteous Greek αλάτι, so if you have more thoughts, bring it on!

[justallihere]

aNOTHER play by play of my thoughts <3

I kid you not the entire time I was reading this the audio of Klaus saying "MOMMY ISSUES" was playing in my head

Lilith really said, "I'm going to be useful when I come to my kids by brining riders AND insert myself into the military lol"

OMG OMG DEVERA AND FELIX!!!!!

I'm assuming their mother is a particularly touchy subject between Mira and Vi (i lowkey felt uncomfortable reading their conversation in a good way but I also wanted to diffuse the situation between the two 💀 LOL) Mira needs a goddamn award. The mental gymnastics of trying to love/defend her mom but also understanding Vi's own personal feelings and her position as queen is rough

Mira telling Vi she's the favorite (likely bc she's the baby bc let's be for real here lol) Vi thinking its Brennan makes my heart break for Mira because what about her???? (No slight against Vi or B but my heart aches for Mira too, as the eldest daughter). All of them need a goddamn hug

This line HIT , when did this become a therapy session LMAO

“It’s okay if it’s not enough, and it’s also okay if you let it be enough. If you try, too,” she added pointedly, “instead of being stubborn about it. She left the country she’s dedicated her entire life to because of you.” 

Not Mira begrudgingly accepting Xaden and knowing that he's antsy as fuck w/o Vi

“Go home to your insufferable husband,” she said. “You probably stressed him out.” 

The dragons finally fucked and X and Vi had to do something about it. The spicy scene was 10/10!!!! I have so much respect for ppl who write smut well bc I can't do it LOL but what i really appreciated was the attention to detail of X getting her conduit for her so that she doesn't burn down the kingdom 💀. My exact thoughts were "wait is her mom going to know their fucking bc of the lightening" but then I didn't even need to think about that bc you HAD IT COVERED LOL

Lilith is so complex and I love her for it. I bet the room was frigid when Brennan and Lilth spoke.

Naolin was mentioned and I am SOBBING. I hope RY expands on him but idk if it will make it to canon tbh

Glad this was sorted out bc I know this was a particular fan theory that was RAMPANT. I never particularly agreed w it

“Dead?” Lilith repeated.  “The storm the day I crossed the parapet—” “I had nothing to do with that,” she interrupted. 

I am terrified and excited for what is to come Alli 😭. Again another lovely chapter that I thoroughly enjoyed from start to finish

So many mommy issues. All the mommy issues.

One thing about Lilith is that she has a purpose, and that purpose is protecting her kids, and because she's emotionally distant she'll just do things for them instead of with them.

I'm obsessed with Felix. He's such a fun character, just so much personality even though we see next to nothing of him in canon. Same with Devera! They feel the same to me in a lot ways I think.

Lilith is a touchy subject among all the Sorrengail children for sure, but definitely with Mira and Vi because Mira has spent so long trying to keep the peace between the two of them. And (in this world) Mira has been there for Violet in a maternal role a bit, so she sees the choices Lilith makes differently than Vi does and relates to them more, where Violet just sees that it's not what she needs from her mom.

This became a therapy session...somewhere around chapter 10, probably.

Idk what it is but I just love a dragon lust-fueled sex moment. Hits different, you know?

I can't believe I wrote a positive thing about Brennan Sorrengail 🤮 never happening again. Naolin is still just so intriguing though, I also hope we get to hear more about him in canon (I don't want him to be venin, I want him to be dead, to be clear).

I never particularly bought into the "Lilith tried to kill Violet on the parapet" thing either, especially once we learned about the deal she'd made with Xaden. She just loves Violet so much.

I, too, am excited and terrified for what's to come! Mostly excited!

[lowkeyrobin]

Hi idk if this is possible or if ip this makes u uncomfortable but maybe reader x Quackity or ranboo where reader is actor (idk what they/them people who act are called 😭😭😭😭) anyway and maybe there doing an award show and Quackity is was the shows on live and he’s just really supportive about it

hi!! and yes of course! ; also nonbinary actors are just actors, don't worry! even some women/femme presenting entertainers prefer actor over actress so it's no big deal! I don't know too much about award shows so bare with me LMFAO

QUACKITY ; award show

summary ; you've been nominated for best actor in supporting role, and Alex is there to cheer you on

warnings ; language, reader wears a tuxedo

genre ; fluff

word count ; 666 (ooo the devils gonna get me at 3am guys 😨😨)

masterlist

Alex was your biggest fan, genuinely. You built your career from the ground up with him there by your side each step of the way. You'd never stray from your YouTube roots, so when your new movie-fans found your social medias, they were quickly fixated on seeing your content and you with Alex.

You'd been acting in smaller shows and movies for a while, like T@gged, a horror web series, you played a very minor role in The Walking Dead, and almost most importantly, you had a pretty big role in the A24 film Mid90s. Mid90s was basically your breakthrough, and you loved working with your costars and just being a skater who could act.

But, after the release of The Last Of Us, you'd gained a fair amount of new followers and subscribers. You weren't expecting your role to be that important to viewers, but people loved seeing you on screen playing such a different character that completely contrasted yourself. Alex did too, he religiously rewatched the movie just for you and would talk about how awesome or hot you looked in certain scenes. It was flattering. However, you weren't expecting to be nominated in the best actor in a supporting role over it.

You obviously brought Alex with you to the Oscar's, I mean, holy shit, how could you not? You both wear tuxedos, him in a dark burgundy color, and you in a dark grey with a lighter grey pattern. Both of you wear black collared shirts underneath your blazers and sit down at a table. You didn't know anyone else, nor were you friends with anyone else at the event, sadly.

You and Alex sit and talk about the event and the Streamer Awards coming up for him soon and what categories he'd been nominated in. Focusing the conversation on him made you a little less anxious about it all, considering if you for some reason won, you'd have to go on that stage in front of hundreds of people on live television to talk and hold your award.

A few hours pass, and finally, the show starts. You two both show respect for the other actors and filmmakers, but talk in between bits because your anxiety was only getting worse up until the point where you were on screen, showing your nomination for best supporting role.

Alex smiles and nudges your arm, telling you, "Look, it's you!"

You hide your face in your hands, embarrassed and flustered. You quickly smile and wave at the camera, however, until they move on to the other nominees.

"And the winner for Best Supporting Actor is..."

Alex taps his fingers on the table, watching you bounce your leg under the table as you watch.

"Y/n L/n!"

"Oh my God! Holy shit!" Alex shouts, standing up with you. He wraps you in a hug before quickly telling you to go get your award.

You grab his wrist and drag him up backstage and onto the stage, making him stand with you as you claim your award.

"Hi, oh my God, this is- this is crazy! Thank you!" You smile, speaking into the microphone as people clap and cheer for you. "Thank you so much, and thank you to my awesome boyfriend, Alex," You turn back to him, smiling as he holds his hands in front of him, clasped together. "I wouldn't be here without him, and I can't thank him enough. And thank you to all my fans who have been supporting me along the way, even new fans who just learned of my existence. Thank you so much, words can't describe how grateful I am right now"

You smile, looking down at the award before you walk off stage, Alex right behind you. He stops you backstage, wrapping you in a longer hug.

"I'm so proud of you, Y/n/n!" He smiles, "I love you so much"

"The adrenaline feels like drugs at the moment, my face is numb, holy shit"

[deafeningbasementcolor]

Mine at First Sight - Yandere! Feitan x Reader

Warnings: Yandere Feitan x Reader, F! Reader, Virginity, Forced Infantilism, Daddy Kink, Kidnapping, mention of collaring reader, mention of noncon/dubcom

Please respect my wishes and do not engage in my work unless you are over the age of eighteen.

Look at you, poor little darling girl. Do you even know what you're getting into? He smiles at the sight of you from across the dining table, your flushed cheeks and shy expression as he grabs your hand when you wave it around for emphasis as you tell him some story. Precious. Absolutely adorable.

He wasn't a fan of dating apps. He also wasn't lonely, and before this had not had a single care about not having a warm body in his bed at night. He hadn't even been the one to message you. That had been Phinks, the other spider snorting at some message you sent him. Feitan had glanced over, accidentally seeing the message you sent in reply to a request for nudes. Oh, how innocently you gave up the information of your inexperience. Phinks wasn't the kind to be interested in slowly guiding virgins who wouldn't even send saucy pics. Feitan normally wasn't either.

He wasn't sure why you enticed him. If he needed a fuck, it was easy enough to procure one in a warm cunt of some whore trying to trade sex for her life. He had to admit he was grateful to Phinks got to ghosting you the second Feitan told him to. The other spider did have a few good laughs over Feitan being in love, but it was worth dealing with in order to not have the headache of fighting another troupe member for your hand.

"I'm done." He announced, halfway through the meal. You stop your giggly tale, face filled with humiliation.

"Oh, um, okay. No problem." He smiles again at your response. Such a delicate thing. He isn't used to finding someone so charming, especially someone so pathetic.

"Get up." He commands, and you look so confused. He doesn't give you time to argue, not wanting to have you recieve a punishment so soon. He instead walks to your side of the table and yanks you up, ignoring your startled gasp. He sat your date next to an exit on purpose, pulling you out the door before any attention is drawn to you.

"Good girl, not screaming," he praises, ignoring the whimper of fear that leaves you. "I hate this dress." You looked pretty, but he had already decided he would be in charge of everything now, including what you wore. And this whorish red dress? It was much too slutty for his princess. He produces a knife, gagging you by shoving fingers down your throat when you open your mouth to protest. You drool around them, as he slices off your dress. The cold air would make you tremble, if you weren't already squirming in fear. He can't resist fucking his fingers further down your throat, as he hauls you to the car.

Shalnark chuckles from the front seat. "Sick man," He calls Feitan with an amused and chipper tone. Feitan sits in the back with you, beginning to dress you in your new outfit as Shalnark begins to speed down the street. He forces you into a top announcing you were, 'Daddy's Princess,' and a soft pair of cotton shorts. You don't notice the words on the shirt yet as you whimper from his manhandling, drool drenching your chin when he finally yanks his fingers from your mouth. He watches in amusement when you realize, your eyes widening in terror.

"Why are you upset?" He asks, as if he doesn't know. He doesn't give you time to answer. "That's what you are now." He licks your drool from his fingers, moaning at the taste of your saliva. You're addicting. If he didn't think he would get grief for it from Shalnark, he would fuck you right now. "Speed up." He tells Shalnark.

"Calm down, she isn't going to disappear!" Shalnark laughs, but obliges him. Feitan holds you close, ignoring the look of horror on your face. When they reach the hideout, he plans on taking your virginity. He's got a pretty pink collar, just for you, and some toys sweet little girls like you like. Feitan knows training you to happily play dolls will take time, but he can't wait.

He can get a warm cunt anywhere, after all. He can cause pain whenever he want to. But his beautiful girl, with those big innocent eyes sparking up at her Daddy? His princess, whining about five more minutes to play with her toys until he shuts her up with his cock? That's something special, just between the two of you. He couldn't wait.

[laura1633]

Laura please tell me you understands my pain 😭

I know that the collison today was Max's fault. BUT I am crying over the fact, that everybody ignore Lando's insanely desperate and dangerous driving and divebombing! It's obvious that was the cause ofthe collison from Max's part. I hate that people behave like Lando is a saint and Lando behaves like a victim! Crying like a little child and not takes responsibility AGAIN at all! (Like in Spain)

While Max give the interviewers mature answers. And they still say that crashstappen is back, and he went back to his immature self like when HE WAS LITERALLY A TEENAGER!! I can't put up with these people anymore! 😭

They will never acknowledge that he is a grown up mature man now and won 3 championship because he HAS talent...

And for the last note, I am so sad for their friendship 🥺 after what Lando said he seems like such a fake friend and I hate it…

Thank you for reading my rambling 🫠

-🦦

Anon I am with you about the whole Lando being portrayed as an innocent victim and it is the thing that has annoyed me most about the whole outcome of the race. I should say that I am British so I am faced with British media which probably doesn't help!

I'm going to put the rest under the cut so Lando fans can ignore this. I am also going to go on a massive ramble so I do apologise ���

I knew this was going to happen sooner or later. I think it goes as far back as the end of last year. Lando obviously had a pretty decent car towards the end of 2023, particularly at some tracks. There was a lot of talk about him not battling Max enough and letting Max go by because they were "friends". What struck me was how Lando then seemed to be quite defensive whenever someone mentioned his and Max's friendship. I think in part it was because he had seen the criticisms online about how he didn't defend hard enough and wanted to distance himself from the whole friendship thing. I didn't really like the way he spoke about Max BUT I know that friends have their own way of communicating so its up to them, they are both grown men. To me though it felt like he was almost embarrassed to say he was Max's friend which I thought was strange.

Fast forward to this year and now Lando has the fastest car but doesn't have the experience or, in my opinion, the skill Max has. Max is a three time world champion and you don't win multiple world championships by accident or by being a pushover. I think Lando is getting frustrated and this can then result in desperate moves being made. He would have been much better biding his time today. Maybe this is a part of his race craft he will develop given he is now fighting at the front regularly.

Today Lando was absolutely not an innocent victim against an aggressive Max Verstappen and I hate that that has even become a narrative. It is why I did not care for Lando's comments straight after the race as he really did play up to the "Max is aggressive" idea. To me his comments were immature. I can accept that he was angry and still probably full of adrenaline but it will just fuel all those so called fans who love to hate on Max.

The crashstappen nickname is absolutely ridiculous. Max came into F1 when he was 17, he was learning on the job. I also think that if you did a deep dive into his results and collisions over his whole career the nickname would be completely unwarranted. When you go wheel to wheel you will sometimes have collisions, it happens to literally all the drivers but for some reason Max gets absolutely destroyed for it.

Max has been unfairly portrayed by the media and certain groups of fans his whole career. Honestly there are times I wish he would just move to WEC or something because some of these F1 "fans" that can't deal with racing do not deserve him.

Max this season has been mature and respectful. He congratulated Lando in Miami and when asked about the unfortunate timing of the safety car he never started complaining that he would have won without it. His post race interview today was so mature. Max has so often stuck up for other drivers and I truly wish he would start receiving the same respect back, especially from people who are meant to be his friend. Perhaps once things have cooled down it will be different but if you can't put up with tough races then you are not ready for a championship battle.

In terms of dealing with it as a fan, I will say that it's fine to get angry and upset and then it's good to take a step back and reset because otherwise it can be too stressful. In term of Max, he is healthy and successful and has people who love him so he will be just fine. He will also go down as one of the greatest drivers of all time.

[lurafita]

I need immortal husbands who accidentally travel back to current times from like a century or two in the future. And Alec is super relaxed because while he keeps in shadowhunter shape just in case, he has been retired from official clave business for over a century and malec are currently the owners of a small island b&b. And anyway island life Alec falls through a portal and lands in season 1 and has to tell himself to chill out.

Anyway, you are the place I send my weird fic ideas I don’t have time to write. I love reading yours when you post them!

If season 1 Alec, then immortal future Alec probably has a bit more to tell him than just to relax. A lot of fans like to forget that early Alec had some major hangups that fortunately he grew out of. But an older self coming back to this mirror of the past, and dragging him into a room and telling him exactly what a bullshit statement "Downworlders are slaves to their instincts" is, would just be *chef's kiss*. Also how there was more to life than leading an institute the way his parents and the Clave want it to be led. That adhering to tradition too stubbornly stands in the way of progress. That life is nothing but a meaningless list of tasks to complete if you aren't true to yourself. That the respect of his subordinates isn't earned by standing in his family's shadow. That loving your siblings doesn't mean that you should go along with every cockamamie idea they have. And yes, he uses words like cockamamie now. And so on. Just imagining the possible butterfly effect of change it could bring if Alec got an early start for a change of perspective, and did things differently. Especially if this meant that he and Magnus would get together quicker. And then when future Magnus steps through a portal to collect his husband (it probably took him a bit to figure out what happened and where Alec ended up), future Magnus can take a bit of a crack at past Magnus as well. Why not give him a head's up about the whole Valentine disaster? Why not deal with Iris Rouse sooner? Why not lay the groundwork to cut ties with Camille once and for all? Why not prevent Ragnor's death? Why travel back in time at all if you don't change things for the better. Magnus isn't worried that these changes would affect his and Alec's relationship. They have stood the test of time. They are rock solid. And they both believe in their love. So many lives can be saved, relationships repaired, diplomacy practiced, and so on. Two Magnuses going up against Lilith and Asmodeus? Two Alecs leading the institute to a frontal assault against Valentine, Malachi and Altertree? Hell, maybe they can even help Johnathan. At that time, he hasn't commited any atrocities yet. And then they can go back to their time and island living. With the added occasional visit from Ragnor, who is promptly tlaked into babysitting the latest kids that Malec have adopted, so that they can have an anniversary date under the stars.

Keep the fic ideas coming. I love responding to your messages. XD

Hope you are doing well, and remember to drink enough water.

[synergysilhouette]

Another 10 Disney hot takes/probably unpopular opinions

Not a fan of Meg and Hercules as a couple. I ADORE them having an innocent male lead and a jaded female love interest, but Meg's situation with Hades makes it feel very toxic. The movie is kinda confusing on whether or not she can refuse Hades; one minute he uses incentive to get her to do what she wants (which is bad enough; her freedom for Hercules' death), and then when she tells him the deal's off, he reminds her that she has no say in the matter. Following this, she rejects his deal and he forces her into being exposed so Hercules will make a deal. She does sacrifice herself for him in the end, but it still feels very iffy for me, particularly since the backbone of her resisting him isn't even "I can't let this guy get killed" but instead "I don't wanna fall in love after getting my heart broken and having sold my soul" (which is EXTREMELY valid, but so is the other point). Had Meg been a normal human and made a deal with Hades to save Hercules or help him earlier on during his training, it'd be so much better.

2. Disney needs needs to stop making sequels just because of financial success and actually work to craft a narrative that requires a sequel or two. It's risky (considering the first film could have negative critical or commercial success, as well as take time and resources away from other films at the studio), but would have a better payoff, imo. I enjoyed "Frozen 2" despite it's flaws, but the fact that it felt independent of the first film did make it feel like we could've used an entirely different cast and made the same story.

3. I need more musicals with a male lead--The last one we had was "Tarzan"--or "Hercules," depending on your criteria. The revival era has had female leads for all their musicals, with a male playing as a co-lead or a deuteragonist. I know the girls are MUCH more valuable at Disney due to the Disney princess line and musicals with a male lead may be harder to market (well, not really; "Aladdin" and "The Lion King" were the highest-grossing animated films at one point, and their remakes grossed over $1 billion).

4. "Moana" needed a bigger (main) roster--Something I love is a nice-sized amount of main characters in a movie. "Moana" only had Moana and Maui for most of the movie, and thus it wasn't as enjoyable for me in that respect. "Moana 2" is introducing new characters, so I hope they can hold my interest.

5. Involve the Anderson-Lopez team in more musicals outside of the "Frozen" franchise--they almost got to do this with "Gigantic," but it fell through. Their music has been great, so I really hope to see them in more musicals for Disney outside of Disney's "Frozen."

6. NEVER return to hybrid animation for a feature film--It's too disorienting for me personally, and while the animation for "Wish" wasn't bad, it definitely didn't have the storybook vibe it was going for except with backgrounds. It would look fine if it was a video game, though.

7. "Gigantic" should've been Disney's anniversary film instead of "Wish"-- I already did a post on this, so I'll just leave it at that.

8. Raya is one of the best Disney leads in a while--Granted, her movie could've been much better and I wish the color of her clothes reflected her culture instead of going for neutral colors, but Raya is the blueprint for a great protagonist. It's been mentioned before how she's a feminist icon without having to really show it in ways others have in films, by being a confident warrior with no discussion of marriage or gender inequality brought up in the film. She's also deliciously sassy and quick on her feet. I may have preferred her OG concept of being stoic, but her swagger makes her one of the more engaging Disney leads, particularly as the adorkable trait started to show up. Speaking of...

9. Ariel and Mulan are the best adorkable leads for a Disney protagonist--While I don't have much issue with Anna and Mirabel and don't really find Rapunzel or Moana that adorkable, Ariel and Mulan were the blueprints for a funny female lead, and they felt less forced than later leads.

10. Aladdin is one of the worst Disney princes--DON'T KILL ME! He used to be my favorite Disney prince, until I watched a "therapists react" video to Disney couples and they brought up the fact that Aladdin had lied to Jasmine several times over the course of the movie. Him being insecure is a great character trait (a common one with Disney leads since the 90s, really), but it's poor writing to make his romance with Jasmine be based on a lie. I'd rather he just kept tight-lipped about his identity when Jasmine caught him the first time rather than covering up with another lie.

[theerurishipper]

The Issue with Felix Fathom

So, I'm not a fan of this character. I think there was a lot that could be done with him. I think he was done really dirty by the writing (but what's new there XD). He had a lot of potential; he was genuinely entertaining when he showed up and he slayed in that musical number. And that he was the only one to actually advance the plot meaningfully? Respect. But Season 5, as Season 5 does, ruined his character. And I don't like when bad writing ruins good characters. So I took it upon myself to break down his character and how Season 5 took a sledgehammer to it. I divided it into three parts.

A) Inconsistent motivations

B) Half-assed Redemption

C) Feligami is a bad ship

This gets long, so here we go.

A) Inconsistent motivations

The first time we're introduced to Felix in the episode named after him, he seems to just be a grade A dick, going out of his way to ruin his cousin's life and making deals with Hawkmoth to get his hands on some rings (which we now know are Adrien's amok) and the natural assumption is that he's just a spiteful asshole who's angry that Adrien didn't attend his father's funeral. Then he comes back in the finale of Season 4 (after a not really noteworthy return in Gabriel Agreste the episode) and proceeds to spend that time betraying Ladybug and giving all the Miraculous to Gabe, along with Adrien's Amok in exchange for the Peacock Miraculous. Then he shows up again in Season 5 as an advocate for Sentimonster rights and commits genocide, only going back on it when Adrien and Kagami called him out. Then he spends a while stalking Kagami and saving her from her mother, and then reveals his tragic backstory to her, instantly earning her trust. Then they get together, and the next time we see them, Kagami is declaring that they're doing this to stop their parents from getting in the way of their love. Then he is straight up missing from the finale, so that really did go somewhere.

So, let's take a look at his motivations through all these episodes one more time.

Felix: Just seems to want to ruin Adrien's life and get his hands on the rings that have his Amok in them.

Strikeback: Wants the Peacock Miraculous in exchange for the rest of the Miraculous and Adrien's Amok.

Emotion: Wants to rid the world of humans in an effort to create a better world for his fellow Sentimonsters.

Representation: Wants to stop Monarch so that he and Kagami can love each other freely without their parents' interference.

Recreation: Is a part of the hero team.

That's five different motivations within the course of, what, 8-9 episodes? And it causes some major inconsistencies in his characterization.

For an example, the episode Emotion introduces his whole Senti-rights thing, and he starts snapping the world away so that he and Adrien, and later Kagami can live happily ever after. He only let Kagami stick around because he realized she was also a Senti later (and Marinette too was only spared after he realized the relationship between her and Adrien), so we assume it was just going to be him and Adrien. He goes as far as to say he did this all for them, showing that he really cares about their opinion and well-being. And considering that Kagami and Marinette only factored into this later, we assume he was originally doing this just for Adrien.

Then why did he treat Adrien like such absolute shit over his past appearances? Let's review exactly what Felix has done to the cousin he claims he loves enough to snap out the world to protect him.

Victim blamed him for not standing up to Gabriel (despite knowing he was being mind-controlled and had no way of standing up to him).

Took on his identity to ruin his relationships with others he cared about.

Sent a cruel response to his friends' kind video to isolate him from his friends.

Stole his Amok from Gabe.

Realized his father was Shadow Moth and didn't tell him of the danger he was living under, or you know, give him back his Amok which holds his very autonomy in it.

Didn't try even a little to help Adrien when he realized the danger he was in.

Didn't tell Adrien he was a Sentimonster.

Gave Adrien's Amok back to Gabe without a hint of regret or hesitation.

Snapped everyone he cared about out of existence.

And yet, he loves him so much.

For someone who supposedly cares about Adrien, he sure did go out of his way to bully him and treat him like garbage. A clear example of how his motivations were retconned. He went from being a grade-A douchebag to Adrien to supposedly caring deeply about Adrien and wishing only for his well-being. He went from screwing over Adrien to doing everything for him apparently. He traded his Amok with no hesitation and with a grin on his face, and yet he supposedly did all this for Adrien.

Then the next time we see him, he's a Senti-rights advocate and is committing genocide for that cause. Which, fine. It was set up in the Season 4 finale that he seemed to care about Sentis. Still doesn't explain him caring about Adrien suddenly, but okay. Then we see him get into a relationship with Kagami, and the next time we see him, he's completely over his Senti-rights phase, and is now focusing on making sure Gabe gets taken down so that he and Kagami can love each other. There is no mention of his earlier motivation that he would not shut up about, and the only motivation is Kagami stating that they can't love each other unless they take care of Monarch. Sentimonster rights? Who cares about that? All that they need is to protect their love, because they're all that matters right? Not like there's a third Sentimonster still being controlled by his supervillain father that might need rescuing. Which is something Felix should probably care about if he's such an advocate for Senti-rights and freedom. Instead of, you know, focusing only on one girl he met less than a month ago.

And I'm not saying that wanting to protect his love can't be his motivation. Except when you make Senti-rights his motivation and then forget all about it to push an already rushed ship, it just ruins his character. Constantly retconning character motivations doesn't make for good storytelling, who woulda thunk it.

And just to drive in this complete reversal, the episode Emotion where Felix begins his quest for Senti-rights ends with him breaking down over having to destroy the Red Moon. And what do you know, this complete change in his motivation makes him create a Senti-projector for no reason and destroy it with no hesitation! Almost like the writers forgot what he was all about in the first half of the season! That they established him as someone who fought for giving Sentimonsters agency and treating them like people, and who would break down at having to destroy them, and only created Red Moon because he thought he wouldn't have to destroy her! But when his motivation changed to being in love with Kagami, I guess that all just up and vanished. And it just makes him come off as a hypocrite.

(Which is honestly what he is. Felix is a hypocrite. Despite not having been able to break free of his abusive father until his death, he mocks Adrien for not doing the same. To be clear, this is not criticism of Felix for not being able to fight back against Colt. He is not to blame for that whatsoever, and he did not deserve that treatment. This is criticism of him blaming Adrien for not fighting Gabriel, which is pretty hypocritical of him. And as I mentioned before, he says that he's not like others and that he wouldn't bring a Sentimonster to life just to destroy it later. Senti-projector would beg to differ.

These moments are transparently hypocritical. But the thing is, the narrative doesn't portray these as hypocritical moments, and never seems to acknowledge this aspect of his character. Instead, it's played straight and never addressed. You'd think that Felix doing the one thing he swore never to do would be addressed, but nah.)

And then Felix, the most proactive character in the series, whose whole appeal is that he gets shit done, decides to leave it to Ladybug to handle and fucks off to who knows where. And then he joins the team at the end despite having shown nothing but disdain for these people the last time he saw them, and despite having never shown the desire to work in a team.

B) Half-assed Redemption

That is, if it can even be called one.

So, yeah, let's start by listing all the awful shit Felix has done. We've already covered the list of things he did to Adrien specifically. But we can move onto the rest of his awful actions.

Tried to kiss Ladybug without her consent.

Betrayed Ladybug and gave all the Miraculous to Shadow Moth, putting Paris in grave danger.

Committed literal genocide.

That's it, pretty much. Until you consider the magnitude of what he's done, and then it all becomes a whole lot worse.

Like, he gave all the Miraculous to Gabe. He directly enabled a terrorist for personal gain. He actively put the lives of countless people in danger for his own desires. He betrayed Ladybug's trust and caused her great suffering. And did I mention he enabled a terrorist?

And his defense for this?

Argos: True, except I work for no one.��(kicks Ladybug, causing her to crash onto a building) I only helped Monarch cause it served my plans! (charges in to punch her and she dodges) I needed the Peacock Miraculous and today I need yours and Cat Noir's so I can make my wish! (makes another attempt to attack Ladybug with his heel as Ladybug rolls away to evade it)

Oh yeah, so sadness, much remorse. Very redeemable.

But the funny part is, this isn't even the worst of it. He then goes on to commit literal genocide. I know I brought this up more casually before, but I need to emphasize how actually fucked up this is. Felix, of his own free will and of completely sound mind, killed all the people in Paris and possibly in other parts of the world, whilst singing a peppy song and enjoying himself.

And yeah, I got a good laugh out of that scene too. Doesn't make it any less fucked up. He committed genocide without a care in the world. Mf literally pulled an Eren Yeager, but even Eren had some remorse or something. And he didn't even bring them back because he realized mass murder was wrong, he did it because the people he did it for turned on him, and he realized that maybe people with morals don't appreciate him killing everyone in the world including the people they love.

And what does that episode do? Have Ladybug blindly trust that Felix would fix things himself, with no reason for her to do so. He literally just admitted he feels no remorse or regret for helping Monarch, that he wants their Miraculous to make a wish and that he has nothing to lose. And she just... decides to trust him because... the Lucky Charm said so? Because she was able to feel positive vibes coming from deep within him even though he has proven to be nothing but a self-absorbed piece of shit? Even though he's betrayed her trust so much and caused her a great deal of pain and suffering? And it's not even like it was right, because he didn't change and fix things because he could be trusted. He did it because his plan failed to please Adrien and Kagami and he realized he had fucked up with them. Not the people he killed, just them.

Okay.

After this, we see him in Pretension. To his credit, he seems to have given up on genocide, and has taken up stalking as a new hobby to keep himself busy. And then he kidnaps Kagami, yadda yadda, Sentimonsters are people, we don't abuse them in my house, all that. And then, this is what gets Kagami to start advocating for Felix.

Like, he just not too long ago snapped her mother out of existence right in front of her. He just snapped the entire fucking world out of existence. He should be publicly despised. People should be out for his head. Ladybug and Chat Noir should have made getting his Miraculous back one of their top priorities. But no one does anything. And hearing one speech about how Sentimonsters should be protected makes Kagami just flip her whole tune about Felix, as though he didn't commit unimaginable horrors. One hint at a tragic backstory and a passionate speech about Sentimonster rights, and suddenly he didn't do anything wrong. He was actually a good guy all along! There's certainly no reason for anyone to distrust him! He may have done all that awful shit, but he had good intentions! That makes it all okay!

Like, I get it. I get that his motivations are sympathetic. But that does not absolve him of wrongdoing. He doesn't get a free pass from consequences and accountability just because he had good reasons and a bad childhood. Kagami goes from being unbelievably hurt by him essentially murdering her mother, to being okay around him when he kidnaps her, to literally shielding him from consequences a short while later, and ends the episode by going on a date with him. As though she doesn't remember what he did.

Really. Kagami would do that. Kagami Tsurugi. You expect me to believe she'd do that? That she'd be swayed by one passionate speech and start coddling and protecting people from facing justice? Kagami would do that? Sure Jan.

Seriously, this is like listening to a terrorist go on about how animals deserve to be treated well and shouldn't be abused and deciding that their fervor for animal rights means they're a good person at heart. They aren't completely insane, cool. Doesn't mean they still aren't a horrible, monstrous person! And yes, I am comparing the two situations. Just because Felix brought all the people back doesn't change the fact that he first did it with the intention of having it be permanent, only brought everyone back because it was hurting the people he tried to please and not because he realized genocide was wrong, and then never expressed remorse for it. The writers aren't good enough to properly explore the implications of what just happened, but it doesn't mean I'm gonna brush by it, especially since they want to be taken seriously this season.

But Felix had a bad childhood, and he had good reasons, and his heart was in the right place. So naturally, he doesn't need to be called out, and Kagami's word is enough for Ladybug and Chat Noir to just... straight up forget that he happily gave up the Miraculous to Monarch and let him do whatever he wants. Sure, he betrayed them horribly and said he wasn't sorry at all about it, but this girl who's known him for a few hours at best says he's a good guy, so it must be true! The show tells us that he's not bad really, he's just misunderstood! Even if he never really apologized or expressed regret and remorse. Ladybug and Chat Noir have valid and justifiable reasons for going after Felix, and the narrative hasn't yet proven them wrong. And yet, him simply having sympathetic motivations is enough for him to be considered a good person and have all his mistakes forgotten. That's not how a redemption works.

Forgive me for being a basic bitch, but look at ATLA and how it handled Zuko's arc. Yeah, Zuko had sympathetic motivations, but that was never used as an excuse. He had to go through a whole arc of realizing the error of his ways, and no one coddles him through it. He actively owns up to his mistakes, accepts blame and responsibility for them, and works hard to earn the Gaang's forgiveness and trust. They don't forgive him immediately either, and he literally puts his life at risk to be accepted by them. He openly calls himself out and apologizes. Contrast that to Felix's "redemption," where his sympathetic motivations are used not to explain his actions, but to excuse them. Him having sympathetic motivations makes another character start to like him enough to shield him from being called out. He gets sympathy and understanding despite having done nothing to earn it. He never apologizes or tries to fix what he did, he never even admits that he hurt people and made mistakes, and yet just because he showed that he's not a heartless monster, the people he hurt are just supposed to accept that he's not a bad person. He's done so many awful things, but he's shown that he can potentially have a compassionate side (for very a specific thing but okay) so all is forgiven and forgotten.

The thing is, having sympathetic motivations and qualities that indicate that he's not completely cruel don't mean a thing if he doesn't act on them. It doesn't matter that he says he loves Adrien if he treats him like shit anyway. It doesn't matter if Felix cares about things and isn't actually as untrustworthy and selfish as he came off if he never shows those qualities in his actions. Sure, Kagami might trust him for whatever reason, but Ladybug and Chat Noir (as Adrien) are victims of his toxic actions, and Kagami's word about how he's not their enemy shouldn't be enough for them to just blindly let it go. Because they have no reason to trust him, and he has not shown any sign that he wants to make up for what he did or even that he feels bad about it at all (again, he literally says he doesn't).

Sympathetic backstories are supposed to help us recontextualize a character's actions, yes. Zuko too came off as a lot more sympathetic after we learnt of his past. That didn't mean he didn't have to make up for what he did. He had to work to change and grow, and actively states that he was wrong and that he wants to make up for it. Where does Felix do this? All he does is start talking about Senti-rights and suddenly all he's done is water under the bridge? All the things he's done can be forgotten because he did them for good reasons? One emotional moment means he's not that bad after all and means they can trust him, even though he's done nothing to prove that? Him having sympathetic motivations means he's now justified in what he did and doesn't need to make up for it?

That's not redemption. That's excusing bad people because they did what they did for "good reasons". He never admits to his mistakes, and he never takes accountability. Instead, Kagami is there to vouch for him despite not being the one most affected by him. And then no one calls him out anymore. And according to that little play, he still thinks it was justified for him to do those things because he had a good reason, and the show agrees with him!

A good heart is not enough for a redemption. It involves learning and growing and taking accountability. It means showing regret and remorse and the desire to do better. It means apologizing and accepting consequences. In canon, Felix has done none of those things. He expresses some kind of noble reason and is immediately validated and entitled to understanding and forgiveness. The characters don't bring up his past crimes, and he joins the team with no issue in the finale, as though he didn't snap these people out of existence gleefully, or as though he wasn't the reason they all suffered under Monarch.

You want me to believe Felix is a good guy? Give him an actual arc of growth. Actually make him confront the things he did. Actually let him face consequences and make it up to the people he hurt. Let him admit to his faults and learn how to be better. Don't give him a girlfriend who acts as a shield to exonerate him of all fault. That's not how a redemption arc works. That's not how any of this works.

C) Feligami is a bad ship

Imma say it. This is not a good ship.

Yeah, in concept it's fine, even good. I always love me some enemies to lovers. But the execution is so rushed and so poor that I really can't understand why they even got together.

The short version? It actively detracts from both of their characters.

The long version? Here we go.

It's so rushed.

We get Felix and Kagami together in Emotion, Pretension, and Representation. They go from enemies to lovers in three episodes, and in about a week in canon. In Emotion, they are very assuredly not friends. Felix only spares her because she's a Senti like him, and she straight up attacks him for killing everyone.

In Pretension, he stalks her for a while, saves her from her mother, reveals his sympathetic motivations leading her to start trusting him, and they go on a date at the end of the episode.

A few problems:

Kagami seems to have forgotten everything Felix did to her and the rest of the world just... a few days ago.

Kagami just admitted to still being in love with Adrien.

So for her to just... go along with him with no distrust or hatred is so strange. She called him out for stalking her, but what about the mass murder? Surely she hasn't forgotten about that?

And also, she literally just admitted to still being in love with Adrien. And she's immediately going on a date with Felix? I'm not saying she can't or that she shouldn't but... why have her still being in love with Adrien be such a big part of her arc this season, so much so that it had an episode dedicated to it, if it's going to be resolved in no time at all? Where did her feelings for Adrien go? They are never brought up again. Did they disappear off screen? And Felix and Kagami end up together in one single episode! They barely know each other! And by the time the next episode with them in it rolls around, Kagami is saying shit like "My mother and Gabriel Agreste will never allow us to love each other freely." Baby girl you've barely known him for a week, slow down please.

So yeah, rushed. But that's not all the problems I have with it. In their effort to pair these two together, there are some problems with the very concept of this ship. Now, the reason I said earlier that it's conceptually a good ship is because there are a few minor issues in it, but nothing that cannot be fixed with time and good writing. So overall it's a good concept. Problem is, we have the end product but the writing is shitty and ruins the whole thing.

It damages Felix's arc.

At least, whatever Felix's arc was supposed to be in Season 5. It started out with him trying to create a better world for Sentimonsters like himself. There are two aspects of his arc that the writers were trying to go for here. To integrate him into the protagonists' side from his role as an antagonist (his seasonal arc), and to flesh out his goal of getting more freedom for Sentis (his overall character arc).

Feligami as a ship undermines both these goals. Introducing Kagami as a love interest for Felix makes her more or less a shield for him to protect him from consequences, undercutting the "redemption" part of his arc. It stops him from having to face consequences or make amends or take accountability, because having a good person be in love with him is an easier way of painting him as also "good," thereby reducing the need to have him go through any actual growth. Having Kagami love Felix instantly prevents him from having to grow. It makes it cliche "Guy changes with the love of a girl" trope, except done poorly because he never really changed, she just started making it seem like he did by excusing him.

And as for his goal of freedom for Sentimonsters, his relationship with Kagami switches the focus from developing him, developing the lore of Sentimonsters (because the previous seasons did a piss poor job of it) and his goal into developing Feligami, which changes his goal from what was previously established to Being In Love With Kagami. He goes from wanting all Sentimonsters to be free to wanting to protect his relationship with Kagami and only that. You could say that he and Kagami are Sentimonsters and therefore saving their relationship falls under this, but that's not how it's framed. It's not framed as something Felix thinks furthers his goal, it's something else entirely. Felix spares no more thought to the freedom of Sentimonsters and does not mention it again, or else he would have thought about the other Sentimonster, his cousin, whom he damned in the previous season. He spent his reintroduction in Season 5 professing how deeply he cares for him, and yet after Feligami becomes a thing, he barely spares a thought to the only other Sentimonster (whose free will he traded for personal gain) even though he's such an advocate for Senti-rights.

It ruins Kagami's arc.

Kagami's overall arc is to win back her free will from her mother and find her own path in life, and this arc this season focuses on Kagami learning how to allow herself to be more passionate and emotional and want more from her life, both in terms of companionship and freedom, which is a step on her way to freeing herself from her mother's control. A big part of this arc is her still being in love with Adrien. She's also a Sentimonster, making her arc about autonomy and freeing herself from the control of her mother, finding new relationships and forging a new path for herself. This is something that has always been a part of Kagami's character. She's stubborn and headstrong. She finds her own way. And with the introduction of the plot point of her being a Sentimonster, you'd expect a pivotal moment to be her reclaiming her own agency. Except that's not what happens.

In Pretension, Tomoe asks for her Amok, and Kagami gives it to her. And at the end of the episode, it's revealed that Felix stole her actual Amok, and gives it back to her, thereby being the actual one who saves Kagami from being controlled by her mother. And it undercuts Kagami's arc of standing up to her mother and asserting her independence, because it's not her asserting herself, it's Felix sneakily saving her Amok for her. Kagami, who paves her own way, has a pivotal part of her arc where she reclaims her autonomy done for her by someone else. And we never see anything related to them again. So it makes an important moment which the episode has been building to, of Kagami standing up for herself and progressing her character arc into her being saved by a guy. She basically becomes a damsel in distress. And her arc never progresses beyond that, so her character journey in Season 5 which was supposed to be about freeing herself ends up being Kagami Finds A Boyfriend.

The episodes before this were building up her relationship with Marinette and Adrien, showing that Kagami is progressing in her social life, making friends and opening up to more people as a part of her development. Her development happened mostly starting from Season 3 and since she was only in a handful of episodes, we only saw it progress slowly. But we see a progression in her relationship with Mari and Adrien as she becomes more comfortable, open and vulnerable with them. And episodes like Perfection show how she is making more friends, that she is loved by many people. We see her start to want more friends, more freedom. And this is emphasized more than in the previous seasons. But once Felix enters the picture and Feligami happens, it's like her other relationships go out of the window. All she cares about is Felix. She doesn't want to assert herself to protect her other friendships too. All she cares about is that she and Felix won't be able to love each other. This straight up ruins her arc about finding many lasting relationships that she values and wants to fight for, because now she has one boyfriend to focus on over the many friends she was making and wanted to make, which was one of the things I actually liked about the Season. Kagami started the season with wanting to fight for all her relationships, and ended it with only caring about one guy she met a week ago. Thanks, I hate it.

It makes them both act OOC.

Feligami as a ship alters both Felix and Kagami's characters to revolve around their romance, even if it means they act in ways that are out of character. It drastically changes their personalities and their roles in the story.

For Kagami, it manifests itself the worst in Representation. Kagami is a very direct, to the point individual. If she wants to say something, she says it. If she wants to do something, she does it, or at least tries her best to do it. And Kagami hates lying. She broke up with Adrien for this very reason, because he wasn't being honest with her. So for her to go through this elaborate scheme to trick Marinette into going to the school by following Felix disguised as Adrien is unnecessary and... kind of cruel. And for her to have discovered Marinette's identity as Ladybug, and to go behind her back and tell Felix without informing Marinette herself, is so out of character for her. Felix is not entitled to this information. In fact, he is the last person Mari would want to reveal this to, other than Monarch and his lackeys. And for Kagami to betray Mari like this when she hates secrets and lies is so out of character for her.

And it's the same thing with Adrien. This is someone she loves so much that breaking up with him hurt her so badly, and she chooses to not tell him vital information that she knows about him, that he is a Sentimonster and his father is Monarch. Anyone who is keeping this secret from Adrien by thinking they know what's best for him is actively denying his ability to break free of his abusive father, whom Kagami is already trying to fight against, and yet the thought of telling Adrien the truth never crosses her mind. Even after she pushed him to assert himself and stand up for himself. She called him out for this in Risk, and yet now she is complicit in denying him the information he needs to do that. Kagami, who told Adrien to stick up for himself, is denying him what he needs to do that and making decisions for him.

It undercuts her personality in other ways too. Kagami is a very stubborn and very straightforward person. And so, for her to coddle Felix when Ladybug and Chat Noir come to rightfully take back the Peacock Miraculous and call Felix out is so against how she usually is. She is reduced to being Felix's protector. Kagami does not take shit lying down, and she does not shy away from calling people out, even if she loves them. For her to validate Felix just because he said and did a few nice things makes her come off very differently from who she is.

So basically, her personality changes. Since she is around Felix, whose MO is usually being tricky and sneaky, Kagami also goes along with it to advance the relationship and the plot, even though it is the antithesis of her character. She willfully abandons all her principles so that this plot can progress. Because Feligami can't happen as fast as it needs to if the writers have to explore this drastic difference between their values, as it would make them incompatible with each other. It could be resolved, but it needs time which the writers don't have because Feligami needs to happen quickly before the season ends for plot purposes. So this lack of exploration of their dynamic makes the ship seem very shallow, and so they would rather remove their defining traits altogether than take the time to flesh out their dynamic and reconcile their contradictory values which would make their relationship more natural.

The relationship also hurts Kagami's role in the story. The first half focused on her relationships with her friends and her mother. But once Felix came along, like I said, her arc switched to revolve around him. Not only does this hurt Kagami's arc, but it also removes her from the plot. Her mother is now part of the main conflict, and yet Kagami is separated from her at this crucial time and put into a romance with Felix to keep them busy and away from the main plot. Them being Sentimonsters too only really matters for exposition purposes and to force a relationship between them. And her arc of breaking free from her mother is abandoned, because now her relationship with Tomoe barely matters to the story. Only Feligami matters now.

And as for Felix, one of his greatest appeals as a character is his proactiveness. He pushes the story forward, he gets things done. He is interesting and engaging to watch because he doesn't sit around and let other characters make a move before he does something. And this romance arc with Kagami makes him do just that. Once his romance arc with Kagami begins, Felix's character is resigned to this arc, and therefore his pivotal role in the story proper ends. The relationships that were developed for him that gave him an active role in the story, such as his relationship with Adrien and his enmity with Gabe were all pushed to the side. These are the main characters in the show, and Felix's relationship to them was what allowed him to be close to the conflict. But after Feligami became a thing, Felix's connection to the main plot was severed, and all that he could contribute to it was the information he had figured out about it. So that's why his main contribution to the conflict this season was just telling Mari that Gabe is Monarch.

Basically, he was a mouthpiece for exposition. Compare this to his role in Strikeback, where he was an active part of the conflict because of his connection to Gabe and Adrien. And him being cut off from everyone except Kagami, who is by no means anything but a side character and who is certainly not as involved in the final conflict as she should be, his role also moves with hers because his arc is written around her. And his role only extends as far as hers, which is why he is barely in the finale except for a few seconds at the end. He goes from an active character to a passive one, which massively reduces his appeal in the story. He goes from proactive to complacent, which is so different from the type of person he was established as. Look me in the eye and tell me that Felix from Season 4 would let Ladybug handle things instead of marching up to Gabe and snapping him out of existence himself.

Feligami as a ship alters Felix's personality (the very little of it that was left after Season 4 ended). He was introduced as conniving and cruel and selfish. Him caring about Sentimonsters doesn't change that about him. But once Feligami becomes a thing, that aspect of his personality straight up disappears. From a writing standpoint, there is a reason for this which I'll get into later, but suffice to say that in order for Feligami to happen, they had to retool Felix's personality to be more appealing, and tone down his cruelty and lack of morals.

And as I've already mentioned, him destroying the Senti-projector without any sort of hesitation or guilt when he completely broke down about having to kill Red Moon shows how much his character had to change, even withing the season for this to happen. Felix being willing to kill a Sentimonster for any reason is completely unfathomable (lol) and yet he does it in order to save his relationship with Kagami without a hint of remorse.

Once again, the romance messes with their fundamental character traits and roles in the story.

Their relationship is diet Adrienette.

It is. Kagami is introduced to Felix when he is masquerading as Adrien. She later compares him to Marinette. Kagami is the reserved, isolated kid, like Adrien. Felix takes on the role of the "awkward" Marinette. Kagami is locked away by her parent like Adrien, Felix comes to her rescue like Marinette is supposed to for Adrien.

The thing is, these similarities are extremely superficial. Kagami and Adrien share a similar situation as abused children who are currently being controlled by their parent, but that's about where it ends. And Felix's awkwardness and shyness remind Kagami of Marinette, but that's about where their similarities end. And yet, their relationship is not built up much beyond that. There are some differences, but again, a lot of the concept is the same, and with so less screentime, it ends up coming off as a less compelling and way more rushed version of the main couple. Especially since the writers clearly didn't know what to do with Kagami and Felix, so the obvious solution was to give them each other and end that plot line. This relationship is literally just "Pair the Spares."

Of course, there are also differences, plenty in fact, but all things considered, it seems like the writers wanted to make Kagami and Felix prominent but didn't know how to end their seasonal arcs. Kagami's of finding lasting relationships (the plural being important actually)/being in love with Adrien, and Felix's of redemption and coming over to the good side. So they threw Felix at Kagami as a consolation prize and Kagami at Felix as a convenient excuse. Of course, this is a really poor conclusion to their seasonal arcs, and also warps their overall character arcs, Kagami's of asserting her individuality and Felix's of Senti-rights. It twists it into becoming all about their love when they could continue working on progressing those like they've been doing in the episodes prior to Feligami becoming canon.

And it seems to also be trying to compensate for Adrienette. Adrien and Marinette are having trouble kissing? Felix and Kagami can't stop. Adrienette took literally forever to happen? Feligami happened in a single episode. This relationship is built around the main couple with not much of a leg to stand on its own. They have no organic, natural build up. It just happens because the plot demands it. The reason I say their relationship is built around Adrienette because it is clearly only happening because they needed to get Felix and Kagami out of the way, and they try to make up for some of the criticisms levelled against Adrienette with this ship.

But speaking of differences...

They don't know each other.

Quite frankly, they do not know each other at all. They've barely known each other for a week. That's not enough to fall in love with someone, not enough that someone like Kagami is talking about it like they're soulmates, star-crossed lovers who are fighting the world or something. Their relationship is extremely superficial, and the only reason they are together is because the plot demanded it to be so. We've seen how it warps their characters to be involved in a romance and how them even falling in love necessitates that their personalities be altered. And there are a few other contrivances that leads to the conclusion that this is clearly less a natural and organic relationship and more a set of conveniences that are needed to give them something to do in the season.

Why do I say they don't know each other? Why do I say they aren't in love with each other? Well...

Felix only likes Kagami because she's a Sentimonster.

Because that's the reason he ever even noticed her. He only noticed her because she was a Sentimonster. That's why he spared her. That's why he followed her. That's why he likes her. Because she's just like him.

Ask yourself, what else does Felix know about Kagami? What does he like about her explicitly? Does he appreciate her character? Does he enjoy her interests? What would they talk about other than them being Sentimonsters? And the answer to that is we don't know. We don't know why Felix likes Kagami, aside from the fact that she's a Sentimonster like him and that she stuck up for him. The rest is inference, because they only appear in what, one more episode after that, and they spend all that time putting on that cringy play for Marinette (which does fuck all because Mari doesn't figure out that Gabe is Monarch from that anyway lmfao).

Kagami only likes Felix because he's similar to Adrien.

On the most superficial level, of course. Felix looks like Adrien, he sounds like Adrien. The reason Kagami broke up with Adrien is because she wanted him to be more assertive, and Felix has that in spades. He's kind of like Adrien... the way Kagami wants him.

Puts things in a different context, huh?

Adrien is kind and compassionate, he's empathetic and selfless. He cares about her. Kagami was drawn to that nature of his. And on the surface, Felix exhibits these traits as well. He's kind to Kagami, he seems to have a great deal of compassion and empathy for Sentimonsters. And it was only previously revealed that Kagami still has feelings for Adrien. And here she sees a boy who looks and sounds like her old boyfriend, who seems to share some of the same qualities as him, even doing things like drawing hearts on her window, which is something a romantic like Adrien would do...

Seems like Kagami is trying to replace Adrien with someone who seems to be just like him. She's projecting her feelings for Adrien onto someone who meets the criteria.

Of course, that's where these superficial similarities end. Felix and Adrien couldn't be more different. Adrien is a hero. He's Chat Noir, who risks his life on the daily to battle Monarch. Felix... directly enabled Monarch's rise to power.

And that's just it. Kagami has not seen this. Kagami does not know this. She sees that Felix is, on some level, similar to Adrien, and seems to like him for that reason. But she doesn't know Felix as he is. She's only ever seen his "nice" side. She doesn't know who he truly is and what he's done. She doesn't know him. She's never seen him at his worst, she doesn't know just how badly he's fucked up, she doesn't know that he wasn't sorry for it at all. And what he did do, she never brings up and never acknowledges it, so it's like she forgot. At least for the whole genocide thing, we can at least make the excuse that he brought everyone back to explain her not trying to cut him into tiny pieces the moment she sees him (again, it's a bad excuse, it should not have been glossed over and forgotten, but if I have to do the writers' work for them...). But she doesn't know him beyond that. All she's seen is his "good" side. She doesn't know how he betrayed Ladybug. How he allied himself with Monarch. How he treated his cousin. She doesn't know him at all.

How do you think she'd react if she knew all this? Would she still be in a relationship with him? No. And that's why the writers had to make sure she never found out, and only saw the "good" side of him. So that she could fall for him without having to deal with the atrocities that he committed. So that they could come up with justifications for why she liked him without having to have him face consequences and actually deal with what he's done. They had to erase the worst of his actions so that Kagami could come to protect his feelings from his victims. They had to alter his personality and ignore some of his more unsavory personality traits so that they could justify someone like Kagami falling for him. The moment Kagami is in the picture and the Feligami arc happens, all Felix's traits like his cunning, his selfishness... it's all gone. All to make him more appealing.

She liked Adrien because he was nice to her. Not just to her, but to everyone around him. Felix is also nice to her. But that's all she's seen. She doesn't know Felix. So she doesn't know that he's only nice to her (and his mom). She's only seen him in situations where he comes off as good and nice, and she hasn't known him long enough to get the whole picture (people will point to the events of Emotion, but it doesn't count if she never seems to hold it against him or indicate that she even remembers it). Which leads to Kagami having a fundamental misunderstanding of who Felix is, not knowing that he's selfish and cruel, and not like Adrien. They had to hide this side of him when he was with Kagami to make him seem more nicer, kinder and sweeter, more like Adrien. And this is the Felix that Kagami falls for. Not for who he is as himself, flaws and all, but only the positive aspects of him, the qualities that got her to fall for Adrien.

There is a fundamental lack of understanding between them because they don't know a lot about each other. Their relationship isn't built on acceptance of the other person, they only like each other because they meet their superficial expectations and haven't known each other long enough to understand each other deeper, which would make them realize how different they are, who the other person truly is. This is the kind of relationship that ends in a mess. Once Kagami finds out about Felix being a tricky and scheming person, more than what he showed in Emotion, and that he's selfish enough to damn them all for personal gain, do you think she'd stay with him?

Kagami has a strong sense of justice and right or wrong, while Felix is... morally ambiguous, to say the least. And so, it begs the question, how were Kagami "I hate deception" Tsurugi and Felix "serial manipulator" Fathom able to reconcile this fundamental difference in their principles that is a very defining part of who they are? The answer is they didn't. And that does not make for a sustainable relationship. They need to get to know each other better before acting like they're fated lovers straight outta Shakespeare. But as of now, they don't know each other, they don't know some very important things about each other that could cause conflict in their relationship. But dealing with that would take away from other important things such as Adrien and Marinette trying to kiss for the thousandth time, and so the writers fail to explore it and ignore it, opting to write Kagami and Felix both OOC to make it seem like they are totally made for each other and have a great relationship and are super in love.

It wouldn't matter if it was implied that Feligami have this conflict and the writers chose to hint at it and address it later. But they're portrayed as a perfect couple with only cute moments and stuff. And it really seems like there was no effort put into writing them at all. The relationship is only there to give them something to do. Watch as they never address any of this, watch as they just keep giving them cute moments instead of addressing some important issues with this relationship. Watch as they keep writing them OOC because they would hate each other if their personalities were left as they were.

Because it's not perfect. Quite frankly, it's not good.

Edit: Apparently she does know about Monarch. I forgot that play they did, and he mentions that he gave the Miraculous to Monarch. My bad. But my point still stands. In fact, it makes it worse. They made him justify himself in that play and Kagami just accepts it. Kagami accepts and willingly allies herself with someone who is the reason everyone is in such danger. She willingly allies with someone who hurt her friend in such a cruel way. It literally goes against her character to exonerate people just because they have a tragic backstory. And Felix's character and personality is still changed to be more appealing so that they don't have to deal with all this. You expect me to believe that Kagami, anyone really, would just brush over the fact that Felix sold them all out to Monarch? She knows about it, but they still had to brush over it in order for the ship to work. The writers knew that if they actually made Felix face consequences and acknowledged his actions, they could never get Feligami together, or even get anyone to associate with Felix for that matter.

And even if Kagami does know about Monarch, that doesn't change much of my criticism. She still doesn't know how he treated Adrien, she still hasn't seen his manipulative and cruel side. His personality was still made more appealing so that she could get together with him, which includes glossing over his flaws and unsavory character traits and erasing his mistakes. Kagami still doesn't know who Felix is as a person because she has never been exposed to that side of him. The show tries to sell it to us that he does everything for a good reason, and that's why Kagami decides to trust him (which I already addressed), but she hasn't seen all the shit he did to his cousin out of sheer spite. I stand by my point that Kagami would never associate herself with Felix if she knew who he really was, and the writers knew this. So, the show goes out of its way to downplay his mistakes and make it seem like they are noble heroics, and it literally changes his personality so that Kagami can like him. The way it's written, she might as well not know and nothing would be different, so really, none of my criticism is actually moot.

The writers couldn't find a way to have Feligami happen if Kagami held Felix accountable, so they just made Kagami brush over it/forget about it and had Felix justify himself. Their relationship isn't built on Felix genuinely regretting his mistakes and wanting to fix it, it's built on him getting a personality retool and justifying himself, and on Kagami miraculously (sorry) forgetting how egregious his mistakes are and excusing him because of his tragic backstory. Instead of dealing with his unsavory traits and acknowledging his mistakes, the show erases those traits and justifies his mistakes to make him seem better than he is. His awful actions are retconned into being noble deeds that were necessary and correct, so really, Kagami still doesn't know him because the story changed what he actually did into something else entirely. She doesn't truly know what he did, just the watered down, sanitized version of it. But to an audience who watched Felix remorselessly bargain with Gabriel and doom so many people to be victims of Monarch, it makes Kagami look bad by association for allying with someone who sold them all out to a terrorist and doesn't regret it.

Again, this is still changing his personality. Making a clearly bad act to be justified, thereby portraying it as some moral act instead of the scummy shit it was makes him seem better than he really is. I may have been wrong about Kagami not knowing about Monarch, but she still doesn't know him, because now he doesn't have those bad qualities and his mistakes aren't really mistakes. So, Kagami doesn't know who he truly is and thinks he and his actions are better than they really are. She doesn't accept him flaws and all, she doesn't realize he's changed or that he's trying to change. She's written so that she thinks that what he did wasn't so bad that he has to be held accountable for it. The writers couldn't put in the effort to actually deal with what he did, so they tried to justify him by having characters like Kagami not bring up his mistakes, and rather accept and agree with what he did. Which is just... yikes.

In conclusion...

Felix's character was stripped of his intrigue and plot relevance. He was turned from a compelling character and villain into a glorified love interest who barely mattered to the plot. His "redemption" was half-assed because the writers couldn't bother to put in the effort, instead choosing to drastically alter his personality. His motivations were retconned in twice in the season itself, and his story ultimately went nowhere. He was ruined so badly that he took Kagami down with him. And it's sad, because despite his villainous role in the story, he was a genuinely interesting character. He had a great presence and he actually acted and did stuff. He was fresh and fun. Sure, he was an asshole, but he was enjoyable and entertaining to watch. But once you take away what makes him so appealing, all that's left is a husk.

Thing is, most of the problems with Felix can be traced back to Feligami. And sure, maybe that handful of Feligami shippers who spawned after Gabriel Agreste were gratified, and you know what? Good for them. But I really didn't like it, and I thought it was a massive disservice to both Felix and Kagami's characters. For Felix to be reduced to a simp and a glorified trophy, and for Kagami to be reduced to "girl who fixes the guy" (which they didn't do well lol) and the damsel in distress for him to save. I didn't like how their characters were changed for this ship to happen all because the plot demanded that it had to happen.

I am not against a relationship between Felix and Kagami. I love enemies to lovers. But it has to be good. It shouldn't rely on the characters' personalities being changed and their past interactions and mistakes being forgotten in order to force a ship to happen within a single episode. It shouldn't gloss over their genuine incompatible qualities. And I've said it before, having opposing personalities isn't a sign that your relationship is fated to be doomed or something. Not at all. People can put in effort and work on their relationship to reconcile their differences. But it's not dealt with. Rather, it's ignored in favor of making them seem like the perfect couple just a week or so after they met? As though they are already like such a healthy and loving couple who know each other soooooo well. The show chooses to change their personalities rather than figure out a way for them to reconcile their actual personalities. And this hurts both their characters and makes them do things they would never do if it were not for the ship. And if you have to change your characters' personalities for a ship to happen... then no offense, but maybe it shouldn't happen.

And most of this problem with the ship is because of the lack of screentime. Maybe they could have cut down on the Chloe hatefest to, idk, give these important characters some more screentime? Maybe we didn't need Derision and we could have gotten some more of Felix and Kagami there? No hate to the people who like Derision, I'm happy that others got joy out of it, but was it really necessary? Maybe they could have given Felix and Kagami the time they gave to Socqueline, who is the most unnecessary character ever? And again, no hate to her fans, but was she really needed? Did she contribute anything that could not have been and wasn't already being contributed by an established character (Alya)? Does she have any plot relevance aside from being there?

Maybe if they had cut down on some of these useless decisions which no one really asked for (did anyone really look at Mari's awkwardness and think "oh I wonder what specific trauma she went through to be like this, it can't be that she's just nervous around her crush or anything"), they could have made Feligami a more natural and believable romance and had Felix develop as a character and join the team in the end without having to change their characters completely.

But Felix's character is riddled with inconsistency and hypocrisy, and he is the farthest thing from redeemed, even at the end of the season. And frankly, it baffles me that they decided to include him in the team at the end. The writing choices surrounding him did not help his character develop in any meaningful way. He was less a character with a story and an arc and more a plot device that the writers changed up whenever they needed him to do something. His personality and motivations changed according to the needs and demands of the plot. But it also went out of its way to justify and make the audience sympathize with him. So, Felix's writing is in this weird grey area where he's a victim of bad writing but it's used to his advantage more often than not.

(To get a little more into my personal feelings here, unlike characters like Chloe for whom I can get rightfully angry about her mistreatment by the narrative, I don't feel that way for Felix because the narrative favors him, and his personality is changed to make him look good in whatever plot he's in. His moments are at the expense of other characters. So, his character is inconsistent and poorly written, but it's often to his favor, and that makes it less... outrageous? to me than for characters like Chloe and Adrien. Idk, this is one of my most subjective points, feel free to disagree.)

But bad writing is still bad writing. Ultimately, the decisions made in Season 5 were detrimental to Felix's character and made him far less compelling than he was, and it's a damn shame. But hey, that's just me.