#why did you all like those paranormal investigators so much though

[tricoufamily]

2023 Tumblr Top 10

1. 3,998 notes - Jul 22 2023

2. 1,324 notes - Aug 22 2023

3. 1,064 notes - May 4 2023

4. 872 notes - Jun 23 2023

5. 816 notes - Apr 24 2023

6. 648 notes - May 30 2023

7. 586 notes - Apr 27 2023

8. 521 notes - May 17 2023

9. 480 notes - Aug 20 2023

10. 478 notes - May 18 2023

Created by TumblrTop10

[jess-the-reckless]

Hype time. I have an e-book free at the moment to get people in the mood for the one I’m currently working on, which is a sequel to this peculiar little baby of mine. Well, I say little, but it’s a 100k+ chonker, which is hefty for me. I usually aim for about 80k to get the thing done, but I was having so much fun with Ghosted that it ran long. It gave me the opportunity to tell some ghost stories, and I love, love, love telling ghost stories.

Writing Good Omens made me thirsty for more supernatural silliness, so I cooked this up to satisfy that need. It was also a reaction to a really, really bad book that will remain nameless, because while I loved its premise (romance about paranormal investigators hooking up) it sucked so lamentably that I felt the need to take the premise and do it my way. I think there’s still a line in Ghosted that references one of my objections, which is that the paranormal investigators all went to bed at 11pm. You don’t need to be an expert in the paranormal to know that this is not remotely how ghosts work.  They work nights. They keep long, unsociable hours that leave investigators sitting up – usually bored out of their brains while waiting for something spooky to happen. Plenty of time on those tedious ghost vigils to have deep, probing conversations, and maybe contemplate sucking each other’s dicks.

The book starts out in the ghost-factory of a city that is New Orleans, but swiftly gets roadtrippy due to my desire to include the things about Supernatural that I liked. I make no apologies for my workaday exorcist Jason Kent being extremely Dean Winchester coded. He’s got the shitty father, the trunk full of esoteric weapons, the haunted sibling, and all of the attendant angst that goes along with that. I really loved the whole all-in-a-day’s work vibe of Supernatural, where you rattle from one crappy motel to another doing paranormal grunt work, although (full-disclosure) I dropped out somewhere in S6 because everything after the apocalypse felt like an anti-climax to me. The only episode I really remember from S6 was Weekend at Bobby’s, which was a masterpiece on a par with the one with the haunted lucky rabbit’s foot.

I did enjoy the angel, though, which is why he gets a shoutout in the name of the other lead – Ange. His name is French for angel, and short for Desanges – of the angels. It seemed an appropriately no-we’re-totally-Catholic-honest handle for a Haitian-American baby boy born on the second of October, the official Catholic feast day of the Guardian Angels. Although it doesn’t come up that much in Ghosted it did give me the opportunity to fold in some of that delicious voudou research I did for Code Noir, and close readers might spot a connecting thread there between Ange and Gabrielle from the latter book. I’m way too fascinated by syncretic religions, and the second book will dip into Ange’s palo inheritance on his Puerto Rican mother’s side.

But that’s to come. The big deal with Ange in Ghosted is that he’s my favourite kind of character to write – a fast-talking grifter whose head is permanently a-swivel for the next big opportunity. He’s Oda Mae Browning it up in an influencer’s haunted mansion in New Orleans when he meets Jason, who is there to exorcise a kitchen-centric ghost who is really shitting on the owner’s dreams of launching a cookbook. It’s lust at first sight on Ange’s part, but because Jason is a lonely weirdo who prefers anonymous sex at truck stops he ghosts Ange afterwards.

And that’s when Ange finds out he’s been ghosted in more ways than one. That exorcism in New Orleans? Yeah. It didn’t take. The ghost just…relocated, and now Ange really needs the services of an exorcist. I had an absurd amount of fun with this book. It’s stupid, spooky, and full of lots and lots of creepy little things that got my blood pumping as a storyteller, like the twin aunts who turned into Collyer Brothers-level hoarders in their New Orleans mansion, or the nuclear scientist obsessed with Glenn Miller. And then there’s Melissa, the most Californian ghost of all time, who started out as a plot point and a pair of rainbow sneakers, and then morphed into a character so fun that she’s absolutely coming back for the sequel. Same with cat-lady researcher Celine, who I plan to bring back for book three. And oh yes, there’s going to be a book three. No need to stop when you’re enjoying yourself, right?  

[dodgeballstuckonthegymceiling]

Dib Membrane & Gaz Membrane X adopted sibling reader? Could add in profesor Membrane too since it’s more of a family dynamic

Maybe the reader is overly happy all the time and agrees with everything that Dib says when it comes to aliens or even cheers Gaz on when on a hard part of a video game, even going along with some of Prof’s silly little experiments.

Just so you know i'm going to make the sibling around 2 to 3 in this. Also I love this concept!

Dib and Gaz & adopted sibling Reader

Prof Membrane

★ Who gave this man another child? Where did you even come from? Why are you now apart of his family? Those are just a few of the questions that will never be answered.

★ He might not be the perfect father but he's trying. He takes a more hands on approach with parenting you, by that I mean he's not absent all the time. (No joke, Prof Membrane from the original series was a pretty awful dad)

★ "Can I press the button?" Yes, yes you can. He actively encourages you to mess around in his lab (assuming that all harmful chemicals are put away and out of reach) and shadow him while he's working. Observation is an important part of science after all!

Dib

★ He's a little off put by the fact that his dad brought a literal baby home (ur like 2/3 not, so not a baby >:( ) and said it was his new sibling. But after the initial shock and confusion wears off he just accepts it. I guess he has another sibling now?

★ He really acts like a big brother. He looks after you when dad is out doing something or at work and he tries to keep you out of trouble. Dispute getting himself into trouble fairly often.

★ Sometimes he sits you down on his bed and practically rants about whatever paranormal creature is on his mind. He very much enjoys the many questions you ask, no matter how basic. "What's a bigfoot?" He's so glad you asked-

★ You are literally the only person who supports his paranormal interests in this whole family. His interest in the paranormal rubs off on you and you end up becoming a mini-paranormal investigator yourself. He's very proud!

Gaz

★ "Listen, dont go in my room, dont drink the soda in the fridge and don't bother me. Got it?" Is the first thing she said to you. Assuming you listen to her she will eventually warm up to you.

★ She gives you a unplugged controller if you want to play a game with her. It works surprisingly well untill you get to old for that trick, or untill somebody points it out.

★ When you cheer her on while she's playing a game she tells you to hush up. But it's not in a rude or mean way, more of a "I heard and acknowledge what you said" kinda way. But she's bad at expressing it so...

★ After awhile of letting you play with an unplugged controller she eventually lets you "borrow" one of her older handheld systems along with a handful of some of the kid friendly games in her collection. She does get a little upset when you delete her old saves though.

[scorpiongrassfield]

Things Are Awkward Now

Start | Prev

There is once again something going on that you can’t quite grasp and gods is it frustrating. You almost want to ask Pat what their problem is. 

But you don’t. And it seems like this is something fundamental between the two of you. You can’t remember why, but you’ve still got your gut instincts. Pat doesn’t ask you why you change your name in the middle of the day, and you don’t ask them why they’re suddenly acting weird towards your new friend. 

But. Then again. You’re also pretty sure nothing bad would happen if you did ask them. 

So you do. 

“Hey. Are you alright?” you ask, with as much neutrality as you can muster. 

Pat lets out an almost startled laugh. “Yeah, no I was just caught off guard.” 

“Ah. Sorry. Was that rude?” Theo asks, looking concerned. 

“Not unless I was rude first. Turnabout’s fair play. This is my bad,” they deflect.  

“Oh,” is all Theo has to say to that. His face still falls 

Pat nods, and turns their attention back to you. “Eat up, kid. We’ve still got work to do,” they say, pointing at your bowl with a chip in their hand. 

You nod and tuck in, wishing you could taste it but knowing that food is important anyway. 

“You’re both welcome to some of my chips if you want,” Pat offers. 

“Oh. I might. Ah. Can I?” Theo puts his hand out to take one, retracts it part way, then reconsiders and takes a chip when Pat nods at him. 

“Thank you,” he says. He takes a comically small bite of the chip. 

“So. You mentioned work. What sort of work do you do?” Theo asks. He cocks his head to the side as he does. 

Pat doesn’t quite laugh, but they breathe out sharply like they want to. “We’re paranormal investigators,” they lie with a straight face. 

What. 

Why? 

You give them a look but they just shrug and gesture at your food again. 

You can take a hint, so you nod. 

“Really? Like ghosts and stuff or like, vampires?” Theo asks. His eyes practically glitter with excitement and curiosity. 

This gets a genuine laugh out of Pat. 

“No, no. Well. Actually I guess just because I haven’t met a vampire yet doesn’t mean they aren’t out there. But no. We’re here for ghosts,” Pat explains with a wink. 

Theo’s face takes on a bit of color, making him seem a tinge more… real, than he has appeared since Pat came back in. 

“That’s really, cool,” he enthuses. 

“It can be,” Pat agrees. “So. Theo. What sort of work do you do?” They turn the question back around. 

“Oh. Uh. I’m an artist,” He says, once more fiddling with the hair at the nape of his neck with the hand not occupied with food. 

Pat raises an eyebrow. “What kind?” 

“Digital art. I do a lot of commissions and stuff these days. So it’s whatever the customer wants me to be drawing. I do a lot of portraits and like. Drawings of people’s pets and stuff,” He rambles. He takes another bite of his single potato chip. 

“Oooooh an artist? Nice. You’ll get along with Sylv then, he’s artsy too,” Pat says. 

You freeze at being addressed with the spoon still in your mouth. 

Are you an artist? 

“Oh! That’s cool! Did you paint your phone case yourself, then?” Theo asks, gesturing at it. 

You inspect it. It does look like the flowers are hand painted on. And Pat didn’t include themself in the artist category just now. So it was probably you. 

After a too long pause to think it all out, you nod. 

“Nice! It’s acrylic, right? Those can be fun. I prefer oils myself,” Tho says. He reaches out to touch your phone case, tracing a finger along the stem of one of the flowers. 

“I thought you did digital art?” you ask. 

Theo pulls his hand away like he’s been caught doing something he shouldn’t. 

“I do. I was classically trained though. Went to art school and everything. Didn’t finish though,” he says with a strained smile. “And paint gets kind of expensive, even if you do manage to sell a physical painting, which is easier said than done.” 

“That’s a shame,” Pat says, and it sounds like they mean it. 

Theo shrugs, but the spark’s gone out again. He’s back to trying to fade into the booth. “It is what it is.” 

“I suppose that’s true,” Pat agrees. 

Silence settles back over the table. 

You manage to finish your bowl of soup. 

Pat convinces you to eat a few chips while you wait for the waiter to come by with the check.

[nerdby]

The Loki season two trailer dropped today. Judging from the trailer, the series seems to be leaning more into the series' horror elements. I'm basing that largely on the soundtrack because I have not met a single person that isn't creeped the fuck out by theremin music, myself included. That being said this is definitely your typical horror story. It falls into the social horror genre, which is quickly becoming one of my favorite subgenres.

Social horror is a newly emerging genre of horror that examines all of the fucked shit that we as a society allow to take place simply because the mainstream says that it's ok.

In the case of the Loki series that is allowing one person to take the fall for crimes that he didn't even do and also hunting down and murdering someone simply cause they're transgender. And I know that not everyone headcannons Sylvie as trans and for those of you who don't, I have a question for you:

If Sylvie isn't trans and was simply born female, then why didn't the TVA come for her as an infant? Why would they wait until she was a child capable of complex magic and, ya know, running away?

Just a little something to think about.

It does seem as though Sylvie's story is taking the back burner in season two. Or that's how it seems in this trailer. She didn't exactly turn out to be a fan favorite among stalkerish Hiddlestoners who can't stand to see Tom have a love life even if it's an imaginary one. Or among biphobic assholes who insist that being a straight-passing relationship negates a bisexual's queerness. So it would make sense if Sylvie got less screen time, but she was also a huge part of the season one story arc.

I, personally, thought it was nice that Loki had someone who didn't exist simply to remind him of what a terrible person he was simply for existing. But it's like I said their kiss didn't really eek me out as much as it did other people cause I guess I'm desensitized. Desensitization is what happens when you watch A LOT of horror movies over a long period of time. Or when you just live through so much fucked up shit that you just stop caring.

I do have a line, though, and I don't go out of my way to read about incest and shit like that. Like there's this book called All The Ugly & Wonderful Things by Bryn Greenwood that I absolutely refuse to read because the plot is basically that this girl's life is so fucked up that the only good thing she has is an incestous relationship with her brother or someone. That's just fucking torture porn, ok? It's disgusting. But the whole incest/self-cest trope also plays into the social horror thing cause that happens quite often in horror stories.

Cause usually when characters end up in a consensual incestous relationship it's because they've bonded over shared trauma and are kept so isolated both socially and psychically.....That I guess it starts to feel like it's impossible for someone other than this sibling or whoever to love and understand them.

It's not meant to be sexy or funny. It's meant to be tragic. And like you think you might be some desensitizing yourself I highly recommend--

Vampire Knight by Matsuri Hino

Flowers In The Attic by V.C. Andrews

Bates Motel tv series

Vampire Knight also exists as an anime, but I don't think the complete series was ever put to film. So if you wanna know how it ends then you need to read the manga. Flowers In The Attic is also a movie and you definitely want the 1987 version if you decide to watch it. Here's the trailer--

The movie is (or was) available to stream for free on Tubi.

And Bates Motel is a TV series that depicts a prequel to Robert Bloch's classic horror novel Psycho. The novel was adapted as a movie by Alfred Hitchcock whose well-known for putting horror movies on the map with his film, The Birds. Bates Motel stars Freddie Highmore and my favorite scream queen, Vera Farmiga who you may know from the Conjuringverse movies that depict the work of famed paranormal investigators (and con-artists) Ed and Lorraine Warren. Here's the trailer for that, too--

If you guys think some of these are too much for you to handle or that they're too triggering, I recommend looking up reaction videos and embracing schadenfreude because I can promise you if the person watching is a first time viewer.......Well, the first time I watched Bates Motel I was pretty much making this face the entire time--

So yeah.

[dxfiedfxte]

Thread Revival/Continuation || @belovedblossoms (W/Chiaki)

   “Ohh, I see...” Chiaki pondered as he explained about ghosts and spirits that are available to haunt at anytime rather than just the nighttime. After all, she was mostly revealed about them through media and superstitions. Although she wasn’t one to fully give in and believe if they are true or not, nonetheless she was curious about it all. Humans are definitely unusual but interesting, especially when they actively search for beings that could have the capability to hurt or kill. But then again, that couldn’t possibly be true either considering the myth of ghosts being around only at night had been proven to be false. “It’s a shame there aren’t any right now. I wonder what kind of questions to ask them...or what they could do if they found out you can reach out to them too.” Already she was hoping to meet one sometime thanks to the Ultimate Paranormal Investigator. 

       “Maybe there could be one out there. I’ve already walked past the park where the bridges must lead to other islands. Maybe you’ll have better luck out there once they’re open. I think.” This island was definitely huge and vast yet packed full of so many things and places to be, the possibility of visiting the others should be soon if they’re allowed some time. “Well, I know that everyone has been exploring or wandering around. I’ve pretty much been gaming here since I found these arcade boxes and the restaurant is upstairs too. I’m not really sure why there’s an airport if we can’t leave...”

It felt nice to have someone actually interested in what he had to say for a change. After his explanation he could see the interest in her pink-colored hues that she was becoming more interested in the conversation, this was probably the most enthusiasm he'd gotten from anyone here thus far. (With the exception of Hajime and Sonia who also genuinely seemed interested in the topic as well ) In Chiaki's case, being the Ultimate Gamer likely meant she had at least seen the idea of the supernatural in the horror games she'd played, though, of course, things were a bit exaggerated for the whole purpose of it being a video game.

Ghosts couldn't really kill people, causing a level of harm that great, would require an impossible amount of manifested energy, and from all the places he'd been to so far, as well as the research he did on that subject, he saw no record of a ghost killing someone, although there were certain scenarios that could lead to a casualty if given the right opportunity, so while spirits couldn't outright kill a living human being just like that, there were at least risks of being seriously injured, which could also lead to a potentially dangerous situation -- there was always a risk, it all depended on the type of spirit it was.

[{ 🦋 }] - "Tell me about it. I thought there would be more to look at here on this island, the other bridges being locked are a major inconvenience. But you're right, maybe there is something."

When she brought up the bridges again, a thought crossed his mind, now that she mentioned it, there was one thing Minato had heard about, apparently there was supposed to be a hotel of some sort on this island, but from the places he'd checked out so far, he couldn't recall any hotel being there until Chiaki had mentioned the bridges possibly being opened, hopefully eventually they'd be unlocked, especially if they were stuck here like Monami had said, the least their hostess could do was let them explore beyond the boundaries of those gates, and at this point, he only hoped that would happen sooner rather than later.

[{ 🦋 }] - "Well, at least you found a way to keep yourself busy, to be honest, I've been pretty bored ever since we first got here. After you've explored all that can be currently explored, you get bored pretty fast.. well I do anyway."

Minato had a feeling he knew the airport was there for him, to Minato, having an airport was an illusion of false hope, meant to make them believe they could leave when in reality, they couldn't. It was a way to taunt them, and while that theory seemed concrete, it didn't fully add up when Monami had seemed like she meant well, just in a rather unorthodox way, so for now, he said nothing in response to that. With nothing else to do, Minato decides to see if maybe Chiaki would want to spend some time together, he was already talking to her, so why stop now?

[{ 🦋 }] - "Uh.. hey. Nanami-san. Do you wanna hang out or something? I've got nothing to do today, and I've seen all of what this part of the island has to offer already, maybe we can check out the parts you didn't see yet?"

[xplrvibes]

is the Vallisca the one abt the kids being killed? and they talk abt the little girl in the bed? that makes me so uncomfy. i wanna rewatch it but i might skip over that part. i love true crime as much as the next girly but when it involves kids like that i just cannot :( special place in hell for people who hurt kids.

You know actually that could be why some of their videos are just for entertainment and less about actually investigating. I definitely prefer their more serious investigation videos but not at the expense of them getting down in the dumps afterwards. id hate for them, especially colby bc he seems the most susceptible, to come away from a really awesome and intense investigation and not be able to shake the funk that comes with it.

we need a lighter topic… umm… favourite snc video of all time???

- aussie anon

Yes, that's the one, so please use discretion if rewatching it - although I think the part about the hangovers is in the beginning before any of the truly awful stuff gets discussed.

But yea...that episode is heavy. Weirdly, it actually is one of my favorites that they've done, simply because I think the way they approached it and told the story and the interviews they did were probably some of the most "professional" work they've ever done, and I respect that.

Also, that house has a creep vibe like few others.

Aside from that, though, some of my other favorites from the paranormal years are probably Mizpah, Conjuring 1, Chillingham, Wilson Castle, the Jersey Devil (I'm definitely in the minority on that one but I drove through the pines on my way back from Atlantic City all the time and know how funky that whole area is, so it has a special place on my heart lol), the Biltmore from the 2019 collection...there's probably others, but those stood out.

From the xplr days, I think I mentioned this the other day, but the ones that I remember the most vividly are the Six Flags, the Poconos, the Wal Mart they did in New Mexico, the hospital video with Jake, and...you know what? All the old xplr videos are just great. Simplistic and nostalgic as hell lol.

From 25x25, I'd say the tattoo or the one where they almost died scuba diving cause they tried to cram a month's worth of training into 3 days.

That was a lot, lol. You?

[madegeeky]

31 Days of Horror Movies (3/31)

FIND ME THAT FOOTAGE AND FAST, SUPERNATURAL EDITION

I fucking love me some found footage. Just love it. Everyone has that one sort of trope that they go absolutely bonkers over and this is mine. I love that anyone can make a found footage horror film as long as they have a video camera and some friends that are willing to play along. I love seeing the ridiculous reasons people make up to keep the characters recording everything. And I really really love it when I get a movie from this trope doing something different and interesting.

I've broken up the movies by a read more because otherwise this was just way too long. Those above the read more are those I'd recommend to anyone who's interested, in general, in horror. Those below the read more are those I'd only recommend to fans of found footage specifically.

Paranormal Activity: When strange things start happening in a young couple's home, they decide to set up a video camera in an attempt to capture evidence of the supernatural. ... Despite The Blair Witch Project being most people's Found Footage Film, this is mine. All the movies recommended here were made after this movie for good reason. Paranormal Activity takes what BW did and hones it, showing the genre in a whole new light. It revitalized the trope and it's easy to see why. (Also, one of the few movies to cause me to shiver.)

Gonjiam: Haunted Asylum: The crew of a horror web series travels to an abandoned asylum for a live broadcast. ... Despite my squeeing, I generally go into most horror movies expecting that it won't be good but hoping to at least be entertained. So I'm always so happy to make finds like this one. Having some truly original and creepy moments, it's one of the few movies that actually creeped me out by doing something that's not inherently creepy.

Grave Encounters: A tv show about paranormal investigators decide to lock themselves in a haunted psychiatric asylum for an episode. ... This is probably one of my favorites. The relationships between the characters are great, the situation is chilling, and they do such a good of embracing that feeling of being trapped. There was actually a moment in this movie where I gasped because it was so perfect and horrible. Loved it, definitely recommended.

Found Footage 3D: A group of filmmakers set out to make their own found footage film, the first one in 3D. ... This movie is very much a look at the trope as a whole. I, as a fan, find what they're saying about the genre and the way they play with it fascinating. There are a few things they do that made me go, huh, that's perfect, I can't believe no one has thought of that before.

Hell House LLC: The opening night of a haunted house goes terribly wrong and the only proof of what really happened is the video log the staff was making. ... There isn't anything necessarily new or original about this particular movie (though there is a couple scenes that are quite creepy) but it does everything so well that if you like found footage, this is definitely worth checking out.

Unfriended: While video chatting one night, a group of friends receive a message from someone who says they're the classmate that killed herself a year ago. ... I feel like no one loves this movie but me. :( I love the way the characters interact and instead of seeing everything through a camera, you see it all through the desktop of the main character, to great affect. Definitely for found footage fans.

Blair Witch (The Blair Witch Project #3): People on a camping trip discover that something is lurking in the woods. ... Listen, I'm just not a fan of the original Blair Witch Project, I'm sorry. I actually didn't see it until recently and found it largely underwhelming. I found this one much more compelling and creepy but I'm well aware that I'm in the minority here.

Host: Six friends hire a medium to do a seance via zoom during lockdown. ... At under an hour this is a short sweet snack of a movie. On top of that, it's quite good. The things that happen are creepy and start off small (which I always love). The different relationships between the characters are interesting and help ground the story which is definitely needed for such a short film.

[surveysand]

one.

When was the last time you did clay work/pottery? middle school, i think? i can't remember if it was middle or elementary school where i last had a pottery unit in art class, lol.

Do you like art, hate it or just not mind it? i love it. i have a yearly membership with my city's art museum.

If you had to choose would you prefer dull pain for 12hours or sharp for 2? dull pain.

Koala or Kangaroo? koala.

Do you know the words to the national anthem of your country? yes.

Is your country ruled by a president, prime minister, queen or other? president.

Does blue occur in your national flag? yes.

Talking of flags. Do you like football/soccer? If yes, do you play and what position? no, just never been my type of thing.

Would you rather be a Model, Famous Scientist, Singer or Chef? famous scientist.

Would you rather be a pilot, crime scene investigator or estate agent? crime scene investigator.

Does making others happy really make you feel happy? absolutely. it's hard to be in a bad mood when i know i've made someone else feel good.

What colour literally doesn’t appear in your wardrobe at all? i have at least one item in every color, but orange is definitely the one least represented.

Do you actually read the answers others give to your surveys? i don't make surveys, just answer them.

Did you ever swear at a teacher in school? Why? no.

Have you ever pricked your finger on Holly or another ‘sharp’ plant? no.

Speaking of Holly, do you adore Christmas or does it bug you? i can get overwhelmed, but it is probably my favorite of the traditional holidays. i'm not religious, but i love winter and the music/food/etc. reminds me of my childhood which i hold very closely.

Have you ever wrote your own short story? What about a novel? Or perhaps you started and couldn’t finish? i've written several short stories for school projects, but never any novels. also, have never started and left anything unfinished.

Do you prefer SciFi/Fantasy/Action/Horror or Rom/Com/RealLife? i am not really a movie person, but i guess real life if i had to choose. the only movies i really watch are documentaries.

What do you have a lot of faith in [note: can be anything]? the true good in people.

Think of a material thing you want. Name it here (material, made or bought). Would $100/60 be enough for this item? How about $1000/600? i would love a desktop computer, but really don't know what brand exactly. i figure it would be at least $1,200, though.

Would you rather have a big house, a lot of kids or a high flying job? high flying job.

Have you ever been to a creepy/haunted/abandoned place? What did it look like and what were the circumstances? yes, i actually recently visited a (supposedly) haunted prison in my city despite having lived here for years and never gone. i went on a tour with my parents for a day together after my college graduation. i didn't think it was too scary despite getting pretty freaked out at paranormal stuff. What’s your favourite dip? french onion.

Chocolate Cookies or Fudge Brownies? brownies.

I give you a little baby puppy. What do you name him? it really would depend on the breed of dog.

Is crime a big problem in your area? not a ginormous problem (it could very easily be much worse), but i live in a very big city. so yes in comparison to other places.

What’s your town/city most well known for? importance in american history and annoying sports fans (which i am unapologetically a part of), lol. Do you know a Jack? What’s he like? How about a Lisa? What’s she like? yes, but neither very well. jack is one of my partner's best friends and lisa is one of my mom's close family friends. they're both nice from the limited interactions i've had with both of them.

Are most your friends older, younger or the same age as you? all the same age, except for one who is two years older than me.

Do you subconsciously hang out with those with the same star sign as you or as each other, perhaps due to certain personality traits? no.

Name 5 objects that you don’t have but would like right now? two bedside tables, a new mattress, a new bedframe, and a dresser. i really need to upgrade my bedroom furniture, lol.

When you have children, would you like twins? i wouldn't be opposed, but it's also not something i yearn for necessarily. Do you know any twins? If so, what are they called? yes, there were three sets of twins that i went to primary/middle/high school with, two sets were in my grade and the other set was in the grade below me. i won't name them fully for personal reasons (i.e., i'm paranoid someone i know would find this, lol), but their initials are as follows: c/c, j/z, and l/l.

If you were given the choice to choose your child’s gender, would you? honestly, yes. i would want a girl first.

What instrument would you love to learn how to play? piano.

Does the sound of knocking/tapping startle you? yes.

What’s the scariest story/urban legend/creepypasta etc you heard? i really don't know. those things i was never really into.

Do you miss someone currently? yes.

When was the last time you were in hospital? What for? a few months ago. i had to get an mri for some head pain i was experiencing.

When was the last time you went to the dentist? middle school, i think (i turn 23 in a few months). my family no longer has dental insurance and i can't afford out-of-pocket, but i know it's bad i haven't gone in so long.

Do you get along well with your family doctor/your doctor? yes, she's very nice.

What personality trait does nearly everyone in your family seem to have? we're all very loud, lol. everyone outside our family is always telling us to quiet down.

[deathsbestgirl]

we all know i'm gonna do it anyway. i do want to say that this is all purely based on vibes. i don't think it's in the text in any meaningful way but that's also why i love it. everyone's in love with scully

so. don't kill me but i absolutely (obviously) think skinner loves scully. i think he's attracted to all the same things mulder is. mainly, her mind & stubbornness & kindness & integrity. her protectiveness & determination. and obviously he thinks she's stunning.

a lot of the time, i'm like no way he thinks of her that way. those are his KIDS. but ... the fact is they are simply not his kids. he actually would kick mulder's ass for hurting scully but he isn't supposed to know about them, even though they couldn't be more terrible at hiding their feelings. and it's so fun to think that's because he loves scully more than he should, or because he views them almost like his children. he's protective of both of them, so idk i just think it works. especially because i don't think he could ever bring himself to actually hurt scully, but he absolutely could hurt mulder (kind of like scully shooting mulder that one time, and in the same episode skinner puts mulder in a chokehold lmao)

anyway. the journey for it is something very different for skinner. like at the beginning, she's one of his agents. the first time they meet is him trying to get her to rein mulder in, follow typical procedure. she defends mulder and their investigations and tells skinner he needs to have an open mind. (and i LOVE this about scully sooooo much. everyone goes on about her being skeptical but she walked into mulder's office with an open mind & no real judgement of him or the x files. she didn't agree with him, and she teases him, but she takes him seriously. she takes their work seriously. and she does her job. which isn't debunking the x files, because she can't. she validates them over & over. even if they never find proof of the paranormal, the x files are completely valid because they are cases that should be investigated. not tossed aside because conventional procedure doesn't solve them. ANYWAY.) and he's got csm breathing over his shoulder in this meeting. absolutely crazy if you ask me. did he even know csm?? why in the world is someone hovering in this meeting?? and i think it's obvious skinner is uncomfortable and following shoddy orders. because he really has no idea what this is about. at this point, their solve rate is 75% so like. what's the damn problem csm??

soon after, the x files are closed and mulder & scully are split up but they still report to him (?) so when mulder is MIA obviously they turn to scully, who has no idea. and skinner already knows them enough that he recognizes scully is worried and she wouldn't be so worried if she knew where mulder was or what he was doing. skinman is paying a lot of attention to them.

when scully is abducted, he won't let mulder resign. instead he reopens the x files. like that's huge. i love that scene so much, where this tough, closed off man opens up to mulder. because he believes in mulder & his work, and it's personal for him too even if he can't explore it himself (yet). it's such a comfort to skinner to know people like mulder & scully are doing this kind of work, not letting things get buried because they're uncomfortable, or difficult to prove, or require methods not approved by the government. he knows their worth. (i'm of the mind that skinner doesn't always like mulder, but he respects him so much, enough that he does come to love him. so much that he would lay down his life for mulder, like he later does with scully...which is just as much for mulder lol)

that's so many tangents. but his love for either of them is so hard to quantify. because he is so tight lipped. he barely lets them know how much he cares, but when they need him, he's there. he won't let mulder sell his soul to save scully, but he has no problem selling his own soul to save her (and him).

i think about when he's shot and she does everything she can to save & protect skinner. they're transferring him? she's not letting him ride in that ambulance alone. he wanted to keep melissa's murder investigation open, but he couldn't. he's shot by the same man. i think he would have died if it meant they got justice, and scully could have even just some closure.

when he's sick with some unknown disease, she's his emergency contact. she takes over his diagnosis & treatment and does every damn thing she can. it isn't because she ~loves him. as often as she thinks he's trying to kill her, scully amazingly has the same amount of respect for him.

when mulder is abducted, he starts calling her dana. forging a personal connection they didn't have before. skinner has to tell her he lost mulder, and she tells him that she's pregnant. probably the first person she told. skinner knows she doesn't open up easily. she's just as bad as he is. so he doesn't take it lightly. he tries so hard to be there for her, let's her sob into his chest. listens to her talk about nightmares and the stars. it all breaks his heart. he won't let her be alone, as much as she'll let him be there anyway.

and god, the way he respects her is actually so beautiful. he wants to know everything but he minds his business. he understands his role and he never tries to overstep. idk i think it's really special. however you interpret all of this, it's just beautiful.

i change my mind all the time. no matter what though, walter skinner loves dana scully. he would do anything for her. whatever she needs. (whatever she wants.)

but one of the reasons i like to interpret it as ~in love~ is because he knows it doesn't matter. because she loves mulder with every fiber of her being. and he still just loves her and does everything he can for both her & mulder. to me, there's just something about men who understand & respect boundaries. it's the same thing i love about doggett. any man who can be in love with a woman, recognize he will not get what he wants, and still stands by that woman in whatever capacity...incredible. valuing a person & your relationship with them that much is so profound to me.

i tried @edierone

are you trying to get me kicked out of fandom @edierone ?! 😂😂😂

[absolutebl]

10 BLs Worth Sticking With Despite the Start

Sometimes I had to really stick with a show despite myself to make it trough. In a few instances, I actually dropped a show and then someone convinced me to try again. 

1. 2gether

It’s not secret that I think GMMTV’s big guns 2gether is overrated. But it tops this list because I think I had to try this BL 6X before finally getting though the first 3 episodes. Honestly, had there been any other new BLs (there wasn’t much back then) I probubly never would have watched 2g. I absolutely loathe the character of Green, such a caricature of predatory gay, not to mention punching down humor on femme. I have real issues with the start of this show. But I actually kinda enjoyed the rest of it. 

2. DNA Says Love You

I really did not like the first episode of this recent Taiwanese drama. I think it has to so with the fact that Amber isn’t introduced until the very end, and he holds this BL down. But even saying that, the first half of this series drags for me. I’m just not into the paranormal investigator aspect, I find it boring. 

3. He’s Coming To Me 

I just remember finding it pretty dull until the two leads get together as adults, and I only ever rewatch the second half. 

4. Oh Boarding House! 

In general Japan and Korea are pretty good on their hooks (they don’t have as much time for fart around with as Thailand). But I wasn’t into this one as it didn’t know if it wanted to be a sitcom or a BL. Once it decided to be a KBL I really enjoyed it, but I doubt I will ever rewatch the first few eps. 

5. Gameboys 

I could not get into the premies of this one. Too close to home in terms of quarantine at the time and also I’ve never been one for online gaming or dating. And I could not see how they would manage all chemistry dynamics with separated characters. They defied the odds, and I was impressed, but it took me a while and it’s not a rewatcher for me. 

6. HIStory 2 Right or Wrong 

An odd one to pick, but I think many are with me that it’s the neglectful parent aspect I found really off putting. I got over it because I like the pair dynamic so much, but it’s still hard to watch a single dad be that much of a deadbeat and still sympathize with him finding love. This is the reason I don’t rec it as much as I normal would for a BL that hits all my buttons (age gap, teacher student, out gay, accepting bi, tiny family). 

7. So Much In Love

One of those Thai pulps I don’t talk about much because its hard to find and not good. Except... I really liked the premise, I enjoyed the leads and the horror elements. It’s on this list because I am glad I gave it a chance and stuck with it. And if it ever got picked up by GaGa I would probubly watch it again. 

8. Ingredients the series

Ooof it’s so SLOOOOOWWWWWWW. But then, I switched off that part of my brain and was like, ahhh.... this is the bubble bath BLs, just relax and enjoy. 

9. Love Sick 

Becha didn’t guess this one? Look, go back and rewatch that first ep. OMG is it lousy. Nothing happens, it’s chaos, there’s too much time spent on other couples. It’s a terrible opener. Fair though, because it didn’t know what it was, or what it was doing yet because it was the one to break that ground in Thailand. 

10. Why R U?

Topping the list. What can I say? I HATED SaifahZon. Like deeply disliked Tommy’s character in the first ep, their dynamic, just everything about them, and originally were to lead-out this show out. I didn’t like it at all until the focus turned to FighterTutor. And honestly it was mostly Zee who won me over. (Those soft soft eyes of his.) Have I come around to SaifahZon? Mostly... I still prefer FIghterTutor tho. 

 Honorable Mention

Secret Crush On You - I basically had to stop/start, fast forwards, finagle my way through the first 6 eps of this show. And some of the rest of it too. It’s too cringey for me, yet the queer rep is so wonderful. The struggle is real.

Triage - it’s airing right now and I never rec a BL I haven’t finished. But I hated the time loop premise going in (I am NOT a fan of Groundhog Day). ALSO I had seen and actively disliked the short it’s based off. ALSO I was never a huge fan of this lead pair. And yet it was just high enough concept and well enough done in a medical setting (my weakness) for me to REALLY TRY... It took me three eps to get into, but now it’s one of my current favorites. I hope they land it well, it’s really pretty special. 

Vietnamese BL in general. Look they don’t really have a system down yet, so they often open a little weak, slow, or awkward. Because this is their style, I kinda always give the a pass on the first few episodes. But we all have to be okay with this if we are going to watch VBL because it doesn’t seem to be changing anytime soon.  

(source) 

I am genuinely curious, what are some of yours? What did you start and then stop? What made you drop it? Why did you pick it back up again? 

[some-kindofgnome]

tastes so bitter (tastes so sweet)

You’re driving back from an out-of-town mission with Hawks when your car breaks down on a very sparsely-populated highway. While you await relief, things get... personal. 

characters: takami keigo (hawks) x f!reader

word count: 7.1k

warnings: smut (18+ please!), car sex, pro hero!reader, angst, emotionally unavailable hawks

notes: ta-dah!!! the car sex fic! this turned out way longer and way more feelsy than I ever intended it to be. but I’m grateful for the chance to show you how I play with plot and emotion as well as some good porn. porn with feelings, y’know? 

EDIT: The supremely talented @la-saffron​ has created an absolutely spectacular piece of artwork for this fic! Please go and look at it right here, it’s really quite splendid

Masterlist

The shadowy trees on either side of the highway cast a chill across the pavement as the sky went dark.

It was far from sunset, but the woods were so tall and thick that the light had disappeared from the road a long time ago. The overpriced navigation system laid into the dashboard of Hawks’ luxurious car was no help at all; not when you were taking the only road for miles around.

The highway narrowly passed for two lanes, winding precariously down from the mountains. Dotted with reflective yellow signs- deer crossing, bear crossing, creatures-of-unimaginable-horror crossing. Bigfoot himself could have wandered into your headlights and you barely would’ve flinched.

But that was to be expected, given where you’d come from.

That day’s mission brought you both far, far away from the city. There was a national forest about three hours away- one of the biggest in the country- and you and Hawks had been called in at the crack of fucking dawn to drive all the way out to the woods and investigate some ‘strange reports,’ as the rangers cared to call them.

Most park rangers knew what they were seeing when guests came in from the woods reporting abnormal happenings. Nobody was truly immune to fear, though, when faced with the impossible.

Whether there were paranormal creatures lurking in those woods or not, you couldn’t have been sure. But after spending the day exhausting both your quirks combing every spare inch of those woods, you were relieved of your overnight duties by a group of other, more nature-savvy heroes.

Hawks had been miffed, but too exhausted to argue. He didn’t like to think he’d been overshadowed. You were just thankful to be going home to your own bed.

“Okay,” you sighed, nursing the last of a lukewarm soda from a burger joint at the edge of the only one-horse town you’d passed through. It was a pretty unassuming stop for dinner, but you and Hawks both agreed that the burgers were way too good to be sold to so few patrons.

Keigo was driving, with one palm splayed lazily across the bottom edge of the wheel. His scarlet wings stretched into the backseat, draping over the shoulders of his black leather backrest like some bizarre kind of seat cover.

The fact that his car was so luxurious was not lost on you- although you were more surprised to find out that he had one at all. Hawks seemed like the last person in the world to need a car, after living in a fantastic downtown penthouse. And owning a pair of wings, come to think of it.

He owned it because he could. And because he knew how good he looked in the driver’s seat.

“What?” He turned a curious eye toward you, though he never quite pulled his gaze from the road.

“I know we started this conversation on the way here,” you began, “but… we never exactly finished it.” You swirled what was left of the ice chips in the bottom of your cup, considering the best way to voice your thoughts.

“Alright.” He sounded vaguely amused, slouching a little further down and drawing an idle palm over his feathered hair. “Shoot.”

“Well…” You trailed off. “You’re kind of… a city guy.” You were already starting to talk with your hands. The racket coming from your half-drunk soda was proof enough.

“What makes you say that?”

“You are,” you defended. You let a playful edge creep into your tone. “And the agency’s kind of a city thing.”

“Am I really as one-note as you’re making me out to be?” He was chuckling. Your cheeks were going hot. You weren’t sure how this became a personal conversation, but you were determined to steer it in the proper direction. You course corrected.

“I just mean, we don’t take a lot of jobs outside the city. Like… ever. So, what’s with this one? Why this call?”

He didn’t answer right away. When you glanced across the car, he was licking his lips and appearing to be, very genuinely, thinking.

“Well,” he began. There was an immensely appealing depth that wore around the edges of his voice when he was deep in thought. You hung on tightly, trying your best to hide how intently you listened.

“I was just… bored, I guess.” He gave a lazy little shrug. His eyes were still trained on the windshield, but you could feel the weight of his urges. He wanted to look over. You turned your head, willing him to.

“Probably sounded like bullshit, now that I think about it,” he confessed, “but if there really was somethin’ freaky in those woods… I dunno. I wanted to see it.”

You resisted the urge to snort.

“Maybe you should start a ghost hunting branch at the agency.”

“Aw, c’mon,” he protested. This time, he really did drag his eyes away from the road for a second. They glinted playfully in the dark. You got a flash of pearly canine from the barest hint of a grin, but it was enough to put a stupid smile right across your face.

A sickening thud from beneath the hood zapped any false confidence you’d been building. There was a dull pop, then the engine died.

“What the- shit.” Hawks scrambled to put both hands on the wheel, navigating the car with what momentum remained over to the narrow shoulder. The tires hit gravel and soft mud, rolling pathetically to a stop and settling in damp silence.

“What the hell was that?” You leaned over the dashboard as your pulse came down from near-terminal velocity. There were half a dozen lights blinking away on the dashboard- symbols you couldn’t understand.

“Not sure.” Keigo was doing his best not to sound too perturbed. As a result, he was just perturbed enough.

You knew what those lights implied, though. Service due. Oil change due. Battery maintenance due.

“Jesus Christ,” you hissed, “when was the last time you took this car in for service? It’s a miracle you even made it out of the goddamn garage.”

Hawks was in the process of mashing the engine start button like an arcade game. When you spoke up, he pushed it down and held. The engine gave a dull, sad sort of sputter, but nothing roared to life.

“Look, look,” he dismissed, waving a hand in your direction as he unbuckled his seatbelt. “I don’t drive this thing that often, okay? I’m gonna go check under the hood.”

He climbed out of the driver’s side and slammed the door before giving you the chance to remind him to pop the hood. For a minute, you let him wallow in his mistake, watching gleefully as he pried at the seam of it. Finally, you unbuckled yourself and leaned over, flicking the release for him.

He gave an unamused glance toward the windshield and lifted the hood, obscuring all but the very tips of his drooping wings from view.

After about fifteen seconds, he ducked back into the car with a rush of cold air behind him. He rubbed his palms together as you watched, arms folded over your chest.

“So?” You prompted. He gave a sideways glance in your direction, blowing into his chilled hands.

“So what?”

“Oh my g- what’s wrong with the car?” You tried your best not to let panic set in.

“I don’t know. It’s just a bunch of pipes and wires under there. They didn’t exactly give me a map of the thing when I bought it.”

You’d seen Hawks pull people out of burning buildings before. You’d see him think on his feet, devise a plan and act on it in the blink of an eye. Usually, he was impulsive. Confident. Clever.

Tonight, on the other hand, he was demonstrating a very clear affinity for money over brains.

You flopped into your seat, scrubbing your hands over your face. You were not going to freak out. You refused to. It didn’t matter that Keigo had suddenly become useless in the face of disaster. You were heroes, even if you had to save your damned selves.

“Oh,” he quipped from beside you. “Still got bars. See?” As you peeked over at him through one cracked eyeball, he waved his illuminated phone screen at you. “It could be worse, kid. If this were a horror movie, this thing’d be dead.”

He tapped away on the screen, seeming very pleased with himself. Even his wings gave a little ruffle, draping themselves smoothly over the back of his seat again.

“I’ll call us a tow. We’ll be outta here in no time.”

A few minutes later, you had a map pulled up on your phone while Hawks’ brow creased deeper and deeper.

“Uh-huh.” His voice had taken on that irresistible deepness to it again, but this time it was sending pangs of dread through your gut.

“Right.” He brought a palm up to smooth over his jaw, fingertips bending and pressing idly against the patches of scruff that dusted it. “Y-yep, yeah, I understand. Fifty miles is a long way. I know it’s gonna be a lot to send a truck that far. But-“

As he was abruptly cut off by the other end of the line, those idle fingers slipped up to his temple, pressing inward and rubbing in stiff little circles.

“Okay. Alright. Yeah, I guess we’ll wait, ‘cause there’s not much else we can… I understand. Yes, thank you. Thank you. Okay, we’ll be here. Or within a ten-foot radius. Thanks. B-“

He blinked rapidly at the screen as he pulled it away from his ear. “Have an excellent night, sir,” he muttered under his breath. He let out a deep sigh, lifting a hip to tuck his phone away again.

“They said they would send someone,” he said, “but the depot is, like, fifty miles from here. Could be a couple of hours.”

“A couple hours?” That cold dread was settling into your chest again. So much for sleeping in your own bed.

“Yeah. C’mon, get out.”

“What?” You glanced past him at the frosted driver’s side window. “It looks freezing out there.”

“Well then, you’d better bundle up. C’mon. I’m gonna fly us back to the city.”

“No way. Hawks- Keigo.” You grabbed his arm and squeezed tightly as he made to get out of the car.

“What?” Exasperation was creeping into the edges of his voice. The sides of his gaze, too, as he landed against the seat back with a thud and turned his cheek to look at you.

“You’ve been flying all day. Your wings are shot. You’re not flying anywhere.”

“What? They’re fine.” He gave the appendages in question a defiant flutter and a cloud of expiring feathers floated into the backseat.

You folded your arms across your chest. Hawks gave a frustrated growl.

“What do you suggest, then?” He retorted in fierce opposition to your silence. “Just sit around and fucking… die of old age before the tow truck comes?”

“Oh my god, you’re the number two hero,” you snapped back. “When did you become such a drama queen? Yes, we’re going to wait. Like a normal person would have to.”

“I’m not being dramatic; I’m presenting you with a legitimate solution and you’re ignoring it!”

“If you try to fly us both out of here, you’re gonna hit the ground before we’re halfway home. And then we’ll be really stranded, with no water and no shelter. So, if you’d like to fly back all by yourself, I can’t stop you. But I’m not going to let you kill both of us.”

“Fine!” Hawks’ cheeks were flushed with temper as he kicked the door open and clambered out of the car. He kicked it shut again so hard the whole body rocked, and for a moment you were left, trapped in shocked silence.

He was really going to leave you out here. Alone.

Half a dozen heartbeats passed before his boots crunched on the shoulder and he wrenched the door open again, flopping back into the car with an immense sigh of irritated defeat.

“Fuckin’ freezing out there,” he muttered as quietly as possible.

You wanted to punch him.

“You ready to wait?”

His wings stiffened behind him, then drooped so lowly they seemed to disappear into the backseat. He looked at you from the corner of one tawny eye.

“Yeah.”

For the first hour, you honestly enjoyed yourself. As soon as Keigo accepted his fate, he got much closer to his usual mellow self. You finished off cold fries from dinner, listened to true crime podcasts on your phone, (you listened- he talked over the whole thing) and played a few ruthless games of hangman on a couple of napkins you found in the glove compartment.

You’d spent a lot of time with Hawks in a professional capacity. As partners, you took most of your missions together. You were well-versed in the way that he liked to think, the way he approached a job, a conversation. You worked well with each other and you were drawn to his quick wit and laid-back humour. Even if he was a piece of work at times, you made a strong team. But you didn’t do a whole lot of hanging out.

“Okay, that’s it,” he chided as you added an extravagant top hat to the completed, dressed hangman scrawled onto the inside fold of your last napkin. The word he’d failed to guess was ‘patience,’ and the irony of his struggling was not lost on you.

“Aw, c’mon,” you protested. “You’ve still got gloves and a bow tie left.”

“No, no, no.” He held up a palm, shaking his head. There was a good-natured grin curling his lip as he bowed toward the door. “I’m callin’ it. I gotta take a leak.”

You snatched your soda cup from the drink holder, clutching it protectively against your chest.

“You’re not going in here.”

Next, it was Hawks’ turn to shoot you a deadpan stare.

“How about in the woods? Is that allowed?”

Your cheeks went hot. “It’s pretty dark out there.”

“Aw.” Hawks shoved the door open. There was an unfamiliar glint to his eye as he tossed a mischievous look over his shoulder. “Guess you won’t be able to sneak a peek, then.”

You slammed your fist into his back. “Shut up and go take a piss.”  

As the car door clicked shut, you turned the other way out of sheer habit. All you could see in the opposite window was the reflection of your own face. Maybe it was just the dim light, but you looked exhausted. Keigo had seen you caked in blood, streaked by mud and soot before. But you’d both been awake since four o’clock that morning and there was a special kind of ugly feeling that came with overtiredness.

You were dreaming about the first thing you’d do when you got home again when Hawks climbed back into the car. He looked considerably brighter as he ducked inside, and he brought a flush of rich, earthy forest-smell along with him.

“Don’t tell me you couldn’t find it in the cold out there,” you quipped. Payback.

But Keigo just chuckled, shaking his head.

“Close the door,” you whined as the frigid air from outside finally reached your bare arms. “It’s already cold enough in here.”

“Aw,” he crooned, tugging the door shut behind him. “You scared of a little cold now, kid? It’s not so bad out there. Feel.”

He lunged at you, ducking rapidly to rub his frigid cheek against your shoulder. You let out a terse yelp and squirmed, trying to shove him back amid a sea of chilled giggles. He got a few passes of his icy skin on yours before you both realized how close you’d gotten.

Hawks cleared his throat and scooted away from you. In the bare light from the shitty overhead lamp, you were starting to see the outline of a flush creeping into his cheeks.

The light abruptly went out, leaving you in darkness again.

“Tell me something,” he mused, grabbing for the abandoned takeout bag and digging a hand into it. He produced a tiny wrapped square and tore it open with his teeth, removing the folded alcohol wipe from inside and gliding it with impossible grace over his fingertips. He eyed you sideways.

“How come we don’t hang out more?”

Your chest went cold. You’d been dreading that question all night. Longer than that, even.

“What d’you mean?” It was a gut response, but you instantly kicked yourself for even attempting to play dumb.

“You know,” he chided, dumping the wipe back into the paper bag once he was finished with it. “We work. We do interviews together. We do those bullshit PR functions together. I’ve known you- what, two years? And we’ve never even been for a drink. What gives, kid? Don’t tell me I grate on you.”

“I get plenty of you on company time,” you retorted. You were starting to panic. You weren’t ready for this conversation, but it didn’t seem like you were going to be rescued by the timely arrival of the tow truck.

“Okay, okay, I’d take that,” he laughed, “if you hadn’t agreed to take this mission with me. C’mon, this wasn’t exactly a nine-to-five gig.”

He paused. “Come out with me this weekend.” He nudged your shoulder with a bony elbow. You tried your best not to snap.

“Stop,” you pressed quietly. “You know why we don’t.”

The smirk slipped from Keigo’s face.

“What? Why?”

“Don’t make me say it.”

“Wait a second, there’s an actual reason? What the hell is it?”

The confusion was genuine on his face. Hawks could be a smarmy little shit when he wanted to be. But you could tell he wasn’t fucking with you.

“Oh my god.” The words slipped out like a deep breath. Your hand drifted to your mouth as cold shock ran over your skin. “You really don’t remember.”

“No.” His confusion was bordered with fear. He sat back a little, letting his eyes drift over your expression. “No, I really don’t.”

You swallowed hard. You should have known that you’d have to talk about this eventually. But he didn’t even remember the night that had been changing the way you acted around him for nearly a year.

“Last Christmas,” you began. Your breath was so short that it put a desperate hush to your voice that you absolutely hated. You revelled in your ability to act casual around him, but the more probing he got, the harder that composure was slipping.

“At the agency gala. You remember the party, right?”

Hawks rolled his eyes.

“Yeah, and I got trashed.” He paused. Realization dawned on his face, and he shot you the deepest, most sincere look of concern you’d ever seen. Even more sincere than the look that crossed his face when you got shot off the roof of a house and broke a rib.

He leaned forward.

“Did I do something?” He swept a palm over his mouth, fingertips dallying at his chin. You knew exactly how he felt in that moment. You’d been there before, too, realizing that you’d lost control. Blacked out. Understanding that you might have done something you were going to regret.

“You really don’t remember a thing?” It was your turn to be horrified. How could something that consumed your every thought stay so damned far from his?

His fingers were still curved around the point of his chin. He’d gone white, and he shook his head as his eyes cast down to his lap.

“You fucking kissed me, okay?” You snarled with a whip of frustration. “There was mistletoe and you kissed me under it and-and Christ, I can’t believe you.”

“What? What?” He demanded as his voice grew defensively sharp.

“I had no idea what you were gonna do. What you were gonna say, what was gonna change between us. I showed up to the agency the next morning and your hungover ass acted like nothing had ever happened.”

“Of course I did,” he defended, “I didn’t think anything did happen. Oh my God, did I really kiss you?” His wings were coming to life all of a sudden, bristling on either side of his seat. There was a dull whisp as one edge of them brushed against the window. They seemed to expand, along with his horror, to fill the entire car.

He pushed further. “Well, did you… did you want me to?”

You could see where his thoughts were taking him. The answer was an impossible dilemma. To lead him further down that path would not only be cruel, it would be untrue. But to tell him the truth- that you had wanted it- would be to shatter the fragile illusion of casual, platonic intimacy that you’d been building over the last two years.

You chewed your lower lip. Hard enough to hurt.

“Oh god, you didn’t,” he gasped. That was enough for you to lift your chin and shoot him a sudden, sad, pathetic little look.

“Jesus,” he gasped again, deeper this time. “You did.”

“Look,” you snapped. “I was never gonna say anything to you. I was never gonna push it. You didn’t feel that way and I knew that and I just wanted to work.”

He told you enough about his personal life as it was. Every date he swung in from on Monday morning, every Friday night he spent preening in the last hours of the workday hurt enough already. If you’d grown close, fallen harder, it would’ve become too much to bear.

“What do you mean, I didn’t feel that way? What way don’t I feel? How could you even know that?” He was beginning to raise his voice back at you and the adrenaline was pushing you way too far to listen.

“Because you never said a fucking word to me about that kiss! You pretended like it never even happened, Kei! What was I supposed to think!”

“If you’d asked me, you woulda known that I didn’t speak up ‘cause I didn’t remember a goddamn thing!” Keigo jammed a finger into his temple. His golden eyes flashed. He was so fucking hot when he was angry, but this was not a fight you ever wanted to have.

Luckily for you, he was having it without you.

“What do you want me to say to that?” He snarled. “Huh? What- you want me to tell you that I’m sorry for not having psychic powers? That I’m sorry I didn’t hire a mind-reader to tell me what the fuck was going on with you?”

He scrubbed his hands over his face. You were on the verge of tears.

“I-I never-“ you began, but Keigo beat you to the punch,

“You know, maybe I noticed that you were actin’ funny around me. And maybe I should’ve asked. But maybe if you ask yourself, and if you really, honestly give yourself the truest answer, you’d be able to admit that you knew how I felt about you. That you always knew.”

“Of course I knew!”

Your response echoed raw and deafening in the silence of the car. You’d lost your temper and shouted it at him with every decibel left in your breathless chest. Your fists were clenched atop your frigid thighs as you bent over in your seat, shivering. To your immense embarrassment, warm tears trickled down the sides of your nose.

He was right, after all. Every sideways smile he’d given you was just a little too broad to be friendly. Every time he caught you by the hand, he held it just a little too long. Every time he offered you the crook of his elbow at a stuffy charity gala and every time he poured you into a cab at the end of the night, he promised to take good care of you. Every time he looked at you at all it was with a depth that you had recognized, but never understood.

“But look at us, Kei. Look at what we do to each other.”

You sniffled, scrubbing tears off your cheeks with the heels of your hands. He reached for you, seeking to comfort, but his hands twitched midair and he drew back instead.

“Yeah,” he croaked. You tossed a glance in his direction. He looked more dejected than you’d seen him in a long time. He rested both hands on top of the wheel, the rest of his body sagging against the seat back.

“Except now I’ve told you,” you continued. “And now we both know, so everything’s fucked no matter what.”

You were met with silence. The truth was dawning on you. You hated to even consider it, but it felt like what needed to be done.

“When we get back to the city,” you started. Hawks interrupted you with a low rasp of your name.

“No, when we get back, I’m giving you my resignation.”

“Fuck, stop.”

Keigo lunged, grabbing you by the back of the neck and pulling you toward him. He rested his forehead against yours and closed his eyes. The warmth of his closeness weighed on you like a heavy quilt. You couldn’t even pretend not to be immensely comforted by affection from him.

“I’m not gonna let you do that, kid.”

You were both drawing deep breaths- slow, rolling gulps of air that matched over gradual time. You licked your lips, bracing your chilled palms on his shoulders. Your fingertips brushed the very edges of his feathered hair, dull and soft in the dark.

You’d talked each other down from bigger, badder edges before. But this one had sharp, jagged rocks waiting at the bottom. This one, you were going to have to jump from together.

“I can’t do this,” you pleaded. “I can’t keep myself away from you like this.”

“Don’t.” His voice was hushed and so achingly tender, like he couldn’t take the command himself.

“I can’t-“

“Then, don’t.”

He was firmer this time, and the pad of his thumb brushed the bottom of your lip. He pulled back just a hair, grazing the tip of his nose across yours. The heat of his breath puffed over your lips and his blonde eyelashes threatened to tickle your cheek.

He drew in a slow, calculated breath.

“Lemme kiss you. Lemme try again. I’m not gonna forget it this time, I swear.”

“Keigo, please.”

“Just lemme try. Just once. I’ll never ask you again, if you don’t want me to.” He pulled back the rest of the way and your body keened at the loss, but he looked deeply into your eyes. Deeply like he’d never been allowed to look before.

You licked your lips. Considered it for half a heartbeat. Then you gave a slow little nod.

“Okay.”

To your surprise, he didn’t lunge again. He took his time with you. He cupped your cheeks tenderly between his bare palms, memorizing the curve of your face. He stared, taking you in like this. At his mercy.

Finally, he leaned in and captured your mouth in a soft kiss, heartbreakingly loving. You responded eagerly, blossoming beneath his touch and bracing your hands on the broad plane of his chest. Your fingers curled in the fleece that lined his coat.

You kissed back with near-desperate urgency, shamelessly showing him how touch-starved you’d become. Dating was pointless when Keigo stole your whole heart every time you showed up to work.

The quiet press of his tongue had your jaw going slack in his hands. Your kiss went needy all at once, and he licked into your mouth with a hunger behind his movements that you never anticipated sensing from him.

You broke from him first, turning your cheek to him as your lungs burned. Your mouth was swollen, and you gasped greedily for whatever stale air lingered between you. He grabbed your chin and forced your eyes back to his.

His gaze was fearsome. Ravenous. You were powerless beneath it.

You combed your fingers through his hair like you’d always wanted to, settling your palm at the nape of his neck. Your own voice was nearly unrecognizable, nothing more than a feral growl.

“Get in the back.”

Hawks took one look at the narrow gap between his seat and yours and sat up, nudging the driver’s side door open. He climbed eagerly into the road and then back into the back seat, settling in the center with his legs and wings splayed wide.

Meanwhile, you took the opportunity to wiggle out of your boots and pants and slam dunk everything into the foothold of the passenger’s seat. You climbed over the center console in your underwear and settled into his lap.

Even though you had to bow your head against the cushioned ceiling, it was a holy sensation. Your thighs settled perfectly into the crooks of Keigo’s legs, and his hands slid so naturally over the curves of your hips. It was as if you’d done this before.

You kissed him again, using the weight of your newly boosted height to descend hard and loving against his lips. He grabbed you hard by the ass, drawing you smooth and tight against his hips.

“God,” he groaned eagerly into your mouth.

“You’re so. Fucking. Perfect,” you hissed back into his, and he squeezed you harder, breaking his lips from yours to trail a hungry path of kisses along the edge of your jaw. His scruff scratched at your chin just like you imagined it would. You loved him like this- trimmed, unshaven. The rougher, the better.

“Don’t say that,” he purred dangerously close to your ear. “You’ve seen me at my worst.”

You tried not to grin, remembering Keigo barfing over the balcony of the Plaza after one too many charity-benefit martinis. Keigo caked in ooze after cutting open that sludge villain from the inside. Keigo on the verge of tears, just a few minutes ago.

“I still think so,” you pressed, and he smiled against your cheek. His wings, tired and bruised but majestic as ever, stiffened proudly. They were capped firmly by the cramped space that surrounded you, but the feathers that spread across the back seat were sleek and graceful.

You dug your fingertips between his jacket and his t-shirt, feeling the warmth of his torso all over. He did his best to shrug it open, but the material was caught up on his wings- no getting it off now.

He wound his hands into the hem of his shirt and tugged it up for you. The skin you could feel by slipping your fingers underneath was all you were going to get.

Not that it mattered to you. It was far more than you’d let yourself so much as picture before. While you felt your way across his heated abdomen, he dipped his head to your pulse point. He scraped the points of his teeth across your tender flesh, making you sigh and shiver. He pressed a hand to the small of your back to keep you close and nibbled all the way down to your neckline, leaving a trail of tiny welts in his wake.

They would fade by morning. Tonight, the feeling was enough.

He glided smooth, tender fingers up your sides. You straightened, letting him wedge your long-sleeved t-shirt up around your shoulders. You had to bend even further and press your forehead awkwardly against his shoulder to wrench it off. Once he peeled the fabric over your head, you tossed it haphazardly toward the front seat. Keigo was already going to work on his fly.

The tender press of his erection had grown apparent by that point, stiff and needing down one thigh of his thick pants. You reached between your legs and palmed it indulgently. There was an answering throb of arousal in the pit of your belly as you felt the shape and thickness of it trapped against his body, and an even stronger one when his hips pressed into your touch and he gave a low rumble of approval.

“Don’t act so surprised,” he crooned. With his pants unfastened, and the bulk of his cock shifted to the stretchy pouch of his undershorts, he slid a fingertip down the plane of your belly and curled two graceful digits between your thighs.

“Are you wet for me yet?” He shot you a deep, lustful stare. You rocked your hips against his fingers, hopeless in resisting the pleasure he offered. Keigo nudged the crotch of your thong easily aside, dipping his middle finger against your slit.

He sucked a sharp breath through clenched teeth as you gave a simultaneous yelp of stimulation. When he looked up at you again, he bore a sly little grin. You’d seen it a thousand times before, but never with such desire. And never all for you.

“You’re drippin’, kid.” He arched his palm, slipping that finger slowly upward and easing it inside you. There was no stretch, but the sensation of intimacy- of being felt in such a way by those hands that you’d never dared to fantasize about- was intoxicating in its own right.

Keigo was, apparently, feeling it, too. His eyes were deeply lidded, glazed completely by his own desire. The tip of his cock had found its way over the waistband of his undershorts, weeping shiny precum against his stomach and the bottom of his shirt.

He curled a blunt fingertip inside you, massaging your tender front wall. The feeling rappelled up the column of your spine and brought deep trembles forward. It brought fresh handfuls of wet slick from your depths, gliding down his palm and between his fingers. He took the hints your body offered and rubbed faster, watching the way your expression morphed from desire to pleasure.

“Stop,” you hushed, leaning forward and pushing your lips to his. He drew his hand back from you immediately, settling it on your thigh. The wet little print it left against your skin wasn’t lost on you.

“Something wrong?”

“No,” you replied. “Just ready for you.”

He gave a low, loving little chuckle and shifted beneath you. “Can’t hold out any longer?”

You smiled into his hair. “Don’t want to.”

“Fair enough.” His smile was even, but the tug in his voice betrayed his fraying nerves. It thrilled you to know that you weren’t the only one putting way too much emotional stock in this. It was immensely validating to discover that he’d been anticipating it, too.

He wiggled and squirmed against the backseat, shucking his pants and underwear down over his thighs and letting his cock pop out. It bobbed against his stomach- thicker than you’d imagined- framed by a trimmed scruff of tawny hair that disappeared under his shirt.

“Fuck,” you sighed in spite of yourself.

“I know, right?” He rasped. He reached for you, cupping your jaw. He brought your forehead down to his, giving a weak laugh. “What the hell have we been waitin’ for?”

“We just needed the bottle episode to shove us together,” you giggled. “C’mon, we’re a walking trope right about now.”

“We’re about to become a different trope if you don’t let me fuck you.” It was his turn to play the desperate card. But the ache between your thighs had not dulled, even a little.

He wrapped his fingers around the base of his shaft and you lifted your hips. He gave the heated tip a playful little swipe along your slick slit, but his game backfired when both of you let out tight cries of sensation.

You rocked your hips forward, taking his tip eagerly inside. The sensation was toe-curling, made even better by the way he held you tightly against him, nosing at your ear and kissing any patch of skin he could reach.

He brought his free palm to your ass as soon as you were situated, helping you slide the rest of the way onto his cock. With your knees braced on either side of his lap and your feet pressed tightly against the front seat, you let him bottom out. And for a moment, you just sat there.

“Jesus,” Keigo sighed, lolling his head against the seat behind him. You still had your head deeply bowed, trapped in the space that seemed just an inch too tight.

“I…” Your thighs shuffled. Your hips gave a little squirm. It felt good, but it wasn’t enough. Keigo cracked an eye and lifted his chin, sensing a problem.

“What’s the matter?”

“I just…” Your cheeks went hot. You licked your lips. “I can’t move.”

His gaze cast downward, to the place where you were joined. He took in the press of your thighs, the curve of your neck. He snorted.

“No, you can’t. C’mere, kid, I gotcha.” He planted that palm on your ass again, drawing your hips forward and up, as far as you could take them. Your head and neck bowed with the rest of your back as he draped your upper body over his chest and held you tightly against him.

Then he planted his feet and gave one good, deep thrust. Your innards gave a jerk. Oh, fuck.

“That’s it,” you panted into his ear. He nodded tensely.

“Yeah?” He prompted. “That’s workin’ for ya? Alright, alright. We’ve got this, kid, c’mon. Lemme show you somethin’ good, okay?”

One thrust sent you spiralling. But the rhythm that he dove into- steady, tough, fluid- sent every nerve through your body into meltdown. You were entirely incapable of dealing with such pleasure, combined with the emotions that swirled through your lovestruck brain.

It felt as though you had been holding out needlessly for all this time. Like all the hurt and frustration and heartbreak you shed over him would be evaporated, now that you understood that he wanted you like this, too.

Like that was all there was. You, Hawks, and the free love you could now share.

“I’m n-not-“ Keigo stuttered, piping up after a series of breathless pants and airy groans, “n-not gonna last much longer, kid, you’re… really gonna make me feel it.”

“Yeah,” you breathed back. You looped your arms tightly around his neck, tilting your hips forward. You could feel the barest hint of stimulation when your clit brushed his belly, so you leaned into it- aching for your own release.

His rhythm doubled as the intensity of your pleasure spiked dangerously high, and when you gripped him hard and rocked your hips in time with his, there was a low, warning pull that echoed all the way up to your throat. You were close. Very close.

Your head dropped backward and Keigo leaned forward, drawing his mouth up the vulnerable column of your throat. He panted hard and heavy against your pulse point.

“That’s it, kid, that’s fuckin’ it, baby, oh, God, I’m g-gonna f-fucking… I- shit, I- can’t… fffuck!”

Keigo let a vicious roar tear from his throat as he reached his vibrant peak. His erratic thrusts brought you to a tight little climax, too, and you clung to him and whined and rode through the pleasure as he fucked madly up inside you, spurting messy shots of cum into your depths.

Gravity took hold of his pleasure, dripping it onto his shaft and pooling it in a sloppy mess between you. And when it was all finally over, you collapsed against his body and you both stayed, airless and spent, wrapped tightly around one another.

It was the bright flash of headlights on the back of his neck that brought you to the surface, moments later.

The inside of the car was warm and stuffy and damp. Had you just come in from outside, you might have realized that it reeked of sex. Sweat and breath and fluid and feeling. The windows were near-opaque, fogged by the dampness of your lovemaking.

It was a moment you might have loved to capture, if you weren’t about to be so rudely interrupted.

The light in your rear windshield was bright white and flashing orange. Unmistakable.

“The tow truck,” you wheezed, scrambling off of Keigo’s lap. “Oh, fuck.”

“Get dressed,” he muttered weakly, already scrambling to get himself cleaned up and decent. He was far more dressed than you were, so you did your best to climb back into the passenger’s seat and slide back into your own clothes. You banged your shin hard on the center console, and your head on the ceiling as your body flailed in retaliation. You crumpled into the front seat and nearly kneed yourself in the mouth trying to scramble back into your pants.

By the time you climbed out of the car, fully dressed, with a few additional bruises, Hawks was already standing on the shoulder, talking to the driver. The driver was wagering a few guesses on what might be wrong with the car. Hawks’ eyes had already glazed over.

“Hey,” he greeted, as he spotted you emerging over his shoulder. He introduced you quietly to the driver before the ballcap-wearing, bearded man spoke again.

“Yeah,” he gruffed, rubbing the back of his neck. “I’ll give you a lift to garage nearby. It’s kinda late, but he keeps weird hours. I bet he’ll take a look for you, it’s prob’ly an easy fix.”

“That sounds great,” you gushed, clasping your palms together. There was a lot of stiffness settling in around your hips and thighs. You couldn’t be sure if it was a result of the compromising position you’d nearly been discovered in or the whole lot of not moving you’d done for hours before that.

Either way, it felt good to stretch your legs.

“You c’n go ahead and hop in the back,” the driver directed, waving the key that Keigo had apparently already given him in indication. “I’ll get you hooked up, no problem.”

Keigo opened the truck door for you, and you climbed over the passenger’s seat into the back. He followed closely behind you, tugging the door shut and slouching into the opposite side.

You sat in silence; hands clasped between your knees. A confusing air settled between you.

You felt vulnerable and raw and moony. You wanted to hold his hand and curl up to him in the back seat. Kiss his cheeks and tell him how good it was, tell him how much you felt.

For you, though, it could never be that simple. There was no free love for heroes like you.

Pay later, always.

Keigo felt the weight of your gaze. He turned to meet your eyes and shot you a thin smile. You’d seen the look that he’d turned to hide from you, though.

The truck driver climbed into the front seat before words could pass between you. But you didn’t need to hear them to know what they were going to be.

You didn’t need a warning to understand what Monday morning at the agency was going to look like.

[overnightheartbeats]

The things he would do for her. Even when he didn't feel confident about it, he jumped in the moment she asked. It really had always been this way, but with her pregnancy, even more common. Aaron knew that the last few months had been difficult for her. His fear of ghosts was nothing compared to the symptoms she had been experiencing during the pregnancy. So, if he could make the good days better, why wouldn't he? "Whew," a sigh of relief escaped him, turning to look at her and catch a glimpse of her adorable eyes. He swore the more time that passed, the more love he found in her eyes. It was a look he could never get tired of. At least, it wasn't the entire tour. "Okay, yes to the gift shop." The thought of their baby being the opposite of him, unafraid of ghosts, made him laugh. Baby's first paranormal investigation, that amused him. "Imagine that. We get her a ghostbuster shirt, and next thing you know, I'm the scaredy cat for being afraid." Looking at his wife, Aaron couldn't help but admire her. She looked stunning, her belly barely poking out with his sweater. This was his dream, his entire world stood before him. Sometimes, it still didn't seem real.

Aaron's smile widened before a small smirk replaced it, returning the light squeeze to her hand. "Oh, I'm intrigued babe. Hand holding could just be the start," he teased, leaning in to press a kiss to her lips. Flirting with her, after all these years together, it had the same feeling. The only difference was how effortless it was now, not as much stuttering as when they were kids. Corazón, oh he loved the way she said that. His heart was practically jumping up and down, and he knew it was the feeling she elicited in him, not the anxiousness of the tour. "I feel much safer already mi vida. Imagine that, babygirl is going to steal her grandfather's heart if she takes a liking for the sport." Well, he was sure their daughter would steal his parents' hearts regardless.

He looked down at her belly, his hand immediately resting over the sweater fabric. Any chance he had to feel her, he took. "She's already gearing up to fight ghosts, huh? Hi baby," he spoke, leaning down to be closer to her. "I think it's possible," he followed her gaze, looking around the place, though his hand remained on her. "You know they say all those battlefields are super haunted. Still causing chaos in the afterlife. Oh, thank god. I really got scared there for a sec. Definitely a survival shirt, and maybe an award for biggest weenie. Awarded to just me." As they continued walking, he tuned out the tour guide and kept his attention on his wife instead. "Are you still up for lunch after this? We can begin our pending baby shower planning, or those baby names. Did I tell you my mom already sent over a list?"

Just based on the way his voice fluctuated she knew she wasn't going to make him suffer through the whole tour but it was fun making him think they were. Truthfully, she loved that he was so willing to get out of the house and join her, them. Being six months along didn't really bode well when she sat around for hours going crazy. She was well aware of his hesitancy toward this aspect of the holiday so this, having him here with her meant the world to her. A soft hum escaped her as she looked at him with adoration in those eyes of hers. "No, we're not staying for the whole tour. We just need to get to the other side before the curtain because I want to visit the gift shop. I think baby Contreras needs a mini ghost buster shirt." That made her giggle as she still couldn't believe she, an official she now, was baking away waiting to make her big arrival. Luckily now Julia just stuck to Aaron's sweaters that covered most of her protruding belly and below her ass.

Julia couldn't help but laugh as she gave his hand a squeeze. "I mean kind of feeling a little something else that I'd really want to do to you but hand holding was a good compromise." She was happier and each time that glowing nature of hers shined through. Pregnancy wasn't for everyone but it sure suited her. She'd take these moments over the nights she couldn't stand up straight doubling over in pain. Which a few of the male nurses always said were mild. She'd loved to see them go through what she was going through. "Si corazón. I got your back. Actually, we got your back. With the way your daughter kicks I'm pretty sure we will have a soccer player on our hands."

As if she had summoned their tiny one she felt a kick to her ribs and that made her gasp out. "Okay, hi baby girl. Too hard.' Clear eyes looked up and smiled. "See? She's got daddy's back. You think an old Texan general's ghost still bouncing around here?" She looked around and had a skeptical look. Though it wasn't impossible. "Honey, that's my other hand going up your neck," she laughed being tickled by his front. "I think we should get a we survived a ghost tour shirt."

[annab-nana]

Stay With Me - Colby Brock

When tagging along with the boys on a trip to London, you experience some crazy things when you’re alone in your room at the Langham Hotel.

@traphousedaily’s favorite snc series project with: @lonely-xplr, @sarcasmhadachild, @taradummy @reddesertcolbs, @reinad-snc, @cartiercolby, @colbylover99, @sunflowerwhoever, @xplrtrash, @goddess-of-time-and-magic, @xolbyz

A/N: This is my longest fic I have ever written, so if you like the longer fics, let me know! Also, this probably isn’t the best edited because I tried to get it out in a hurry so sorry about that haha

Warnings: some curse words; mentions of suicide, murder, and suffocation

Word Count: 4.6k+

--------------------------------------------------

“We’re going to England, brothas!” Sam shouted which was followed by excited squeals and scream from you, Jake, and Corey as Colby clapped beside you all. When you went to the party at Kian and Jc’s, you were not expecting your best friends to come up and surprise with such news. You giggled as you watched Corey prance around, saying “Oh my God” repeatedly, and Jake spew absolute nonsense of connecting Queen Elizabeth to Bloody Mary.

“Pack ya bags. We’re going to London, baby!” Sam spoke enthusiastically before covering the camera lens that Colby was holding with his hand. And from there, your crazy adventure with the boys began and you hand no idea what you were in for or how badly it would end.

...

After your suitcase was packed and you had your backpack on, you were ready to go to London. You were so excited to see a new place and considering you have never left the country, this was a whole new experience for you. After a ride in an uber and a plane, the five of you arrived in the capital of the United Kingdom.

“Are you guys gonna be safe driving on the opposite side of the road?” Jake questioned as we walked through the parking lot of cars.

“Oh,” Sam and Colby say together, though Colby’s ended with a ‘my God’.

“I didn’t even think about that,” Colby added as he walked backwards, facing the camera towards us.

“Look at the steering wheel, brotha!” Jake pointed to the steering wheel of a black car in front of you all and the wheel was in fact on the opposite side.

“Oh no! How are we gonna do this?” Colby questioned as we all looked at the car, thinking the same thing as the boy with reddened locks.

“I don’t know my right from my left,” Sam spoke in a horrid British accent that you could not help but laugh at.

“Alright, you’re gonna drive,” Colby told his counterpart as you playfully rolled your eyes.

“Okay,” the blond sighed in defeat.

“This isn’t looking good,” you spoke to the camera that Colby held as you two watched Sam try to pull out of the parking spot. He already nudged Jake with the car and then tried to turn right when you can only go left. After a bunch more tomfoolery from the group, you all finally moved your stuff into the car and got in as well.

“Alright boys so-” Colby started to explain what we were doing but was cut off by Corey clearing his throat.

“And girl,” he scolded as he nodded his head in the direction of you.

“No, Corey. Y/n is one of the boys,” Jake butted in.

“I don’t know if that’s a compliment or an insult,” you chuckled before turning your attention back to Colby so he could continue his explanation.

“Anyway, this is what we’re doing. We’re going to the Langham Hotel which is known as the most haunted hotel in the UK.”

“And also top ten in the whole world,” Sam added.

“Wait, are we going there or staying there?” Jake asked beside you. Your eyes followed from his to Colby’s to see his answer.

“Staying there.” Your eyes widened slightly as you looked at the two boys beside you. Corey giggled nervously and made jokes to hide his fear and you and Jake just laugh in disbelief.

“In our last series, The Origin, we talked to those guys like a demonologist and he says we’re a lot better at paranormal investigations than normal and he thinks we have a gift. So, this whole trip is trying to prove that our group is the best ghost hunters on YouTube and because of that, we are meeting with two paranormal experts who’ve been studying the paranormal and demonology for years and we’re doing an interview here in an hour,” Sam explained.

Jake appeared to be really excited to the right of you and on your left, Corey stayed quiet, which led you to believe he was kind of scared and trying to hide it. You felt a mix of both the emotions of the boys next to you. You were excited for the adventure like Jake was, but also a little scared like Corey since y’all were going to one of the most haunted hotels in the world.

...

“Hey, there it is,” Colby announced to you three in the back and the camera that he had pointed at the building before you guys.

“The Langham!” Sam shouted as he kept his eyes locked on the road, still trying to get used to driving on the other side of it. You all pulled up the hotel, got your bags, and headed inside in no time.

“So, we have a reservation under Golbach,” Colby started as he spoke to the man at the front desk.

“We put in a request. We don’t know if it was able to be fulfilled, but we’re trying to do room 333,” Sam asked the man in the grey suit, a maroon tie and handkerchief to compliment it. You and Corey shared a look after Sam mentioned the number 333, both knowing it did not sound good.

“Absolutely. You have been allocated in that room,” the front man told y’all and Colby turned to you three with an excited grin which you returned. The man at the front desk noticed your group’s excitement and smiled along with you.

“We heard online that room 333 was like haunted or something like that?” Sam mentioned, hoping to get some information from the clerk.

“Is this why you have the camera?” He grinned as he processed the transaction.

“A little bit, yeah,” Sam chuckled.

“There is the legend, yes,” he told you all as he focused on his work.

“Have you heard anything about that?” the blond pressed again.

“We can’t tell guests,” the clerk starts with a smile, but the grin soon drops as he nods his head. Something about the way he did that made you feel a bit uneasy.

“Do you believe in it personally?” Sam questioned as you all listened intently to what the man had to say.

“No. In one year that I’ve been here, I didn’t have any complaints and so on, but you can tell me. Just stay there with the camera, yeah?” he laughed as you all joined in, trying to relieve the awkward and weird tension.

...

“My name’s Sam. This is Colby, Y/n, Jake, and Corey. We’re filming for our channel, but these guys are always into it and woah.” Sam turned the camera to the large creak you all just heard coming from above him and Rosie, the lady you had just met who is a member of the ghost club. John, a guy from the council for the Society for Psychical Research, sat next to her. You sat on the couch nearest to him between Colby and Jake and Corey sat on the chair next to Sam across for you.

“We just rented out room 333. We haven’t even told them why that’s a significant number, but do you guys know much about room 333 here in the Langham Hotel?” Sam asked, filming the response from Rosie.

“Well, the story goes that a Victorian doctor spent the night in room 333 with his bride. It was his wedding night. Who knows the circumstances, but the story goes, he actually murdered his bride in room 333.” She pauses as y’all take in the information she had just given before she continues.

“So, fast forward now to 1973 and the journalist James Alexander Gordon was staying room 333 where he’s waking in the middle of the night and he said he saw a fluorescent ball of lights that slowly formed into the figure of a man, but there was something strange about this man. He was dressed in a full evening suit, very smart, but the bottom half, his legs, were actually missing. Now the journalist actually tried to speak with the figure, but the figure didn’t speak to him. He just walked towards with his arms open wide.”

“A famous cricketer, he was staying at the room and in the middle of the night, he was woken by the sound of taps turning on. He went into the bathroom. Water was gushing out through the tap.”

“Woah,” all of you say collectively as you think back on what happened to the boys previously. You didn’t go with them on that trip, but you heard the story several times and watched the video too. Sam fills in the woman in on the experience briefly before she can continue with her story.

“Anyway, he turned off the taps, went back to the bed, what he could hear was still the sound of running water, gushing out even though the taps were turned off.”

John nods along before speaking about a theory that ghosts are like a tape recording of traumatic experiences that just play over and over again. He explains that you can’t really interact with it because it’s always going on a loop. The theory piques the interest of the group to say the least.

...

After finishing the interview and exploring a bit of the beautiful town you were in, you all gathered around the camera as Sam gave some background on the hotel. He tells you all about a German prince who jumped from the building out the window and how the doctor from earlier killed his wife and himself afterwards, both stories happening in room 333.

Soon the camera is turned off and you all pile in the elevator to head to the third floor. The whole hotel has an unsettling vibe, especially with some weird and creepy paintings that are hung all around. There is a big one of a boy with creepy eyes right when y’all get off the elevator.

“Which way is room 333?” Corey asks a worker when y’all get to a hallway and do not know which way to turn.

“Oh… uh… room 333… it’s that way,” he speaks, dragging out each word and shuffling away in a weird fashion. You and Corey share a wide-eyed look before going to catch up with the rest of the group.

“This is the most haunted room in the most haunted hotel,” Colby tells the camera as he films Sam who is about to unlock the dreaded door. The key does not work on the first try or the second which scares you all, but thankfully, the third time’s a charm.

Sam pushes the door open to reveal the supposed haunted room. A bed sat in the center of it, a closet to the left and a desk to the right. Huge grey curtains covered the window and another door was next to it, which you assumed to be the bathroom.

“It smells like old people,” Jake mentioned. “You know what that means? That means its haunted, bitch.” You and Colby giggled at the beanie boy as Sam and Corey were off in the other corner of the room. Colby mentions how tiny the room is as Corey says how that one of us could be standing where someone got murdered.

“Oh, we got three rooms. There is no way we can all share this bed,” Colby mentioned.

“Where are the other rooms at?” Corey asked as he stuffed his hands into his new hoodie that he got earlier when we were going around the city.

“Just down the hall,” Colby told him.

“Oh, so still on the most haunted floor,” Corey rolls his eyes and nods, accepting the fact that something bad might happen tonight.

...

You all left room 333 and headed to 324 where Corey and Jake would be staying to check the room out. Your room was next door, 323, and looked remarkably similar to 324. After exploring the rooms, y’all take on the hotel in its entirety, passing more creepy paintings and experiencing a door closing behind you without anyone around it, several vortexes, handprints on mirrors, immediate temperature changes, strange noises, and so on. The thing that freaked you out the most was Sam getting random headaches as you explored.

Back in room 333, you guys sat on the bed and Sam explained all the new ghost hunting gadgets they got, from the EMF reader to the dowsing rods. Sam says that with the dowsing rods, you can find basically anything you want.

“Anything?” Colby questions as he picks up the rods.

“Alright, where’s my girlfriend?” he asks and both rods point to you almost immediately. A blush scatters on your cheeks as you laugh it off.

“See guys, even the rods think you two should get together,” Jake tells the camera. Colby ignores the awkwardness between you two as he asks Corey how to effectively use the rods.

Y’all decide to begin the investigation, starting with the EMF reader. Corey brings it close to the hangers that made a noise and it moves up one green light. It lights up to orange in a few places on the right side of the bathroom which freaks you all out and y’all decide to set the EMF reader up in the bathroom since it got the most activity. You all put together that the bathroom is the only spot in the room that has a vortex and that it is exponentially hotter than the bedroom.

While Sam and Colby messed around in the bathroom, you, Corey, and Jake stayed in the bedroom to see if anything would happen in there while the cameras weren’t running in there at the moment.

“If there’s anything in here, can you please make the bed shake?” Jake asked into the air above him, trying to get whatever was out there to make the bed shake like they did earlier. At the moment, he was laying on the left side and you were on the right. Corey was next to you in the desk chair. You guys waited a moment for any responses and then you got one.

“We’re here,” you heard the raspy low whisper come from the closet.

“Please tell you heard that too,” you begged as you sat up, pulling your knees to your chest to comfort yourself. Corey nodded profusely in the dim lighting as Jake audibly answered ‘yes’. Corey dashed to the bathroom door to tell the other two.

“Hey, you good?” Colby asked you quietly as the other boys discussed what happened. Your eyes left the trio before meeting the blue ones that gave you such peace. He had placed a comforting hand on your back, his thumb rubbing it to soothe your nerves.

“Yeah, just freaked out. This place has been giving me an uneasy feeling all day, but I’m good.” You smiled up at him and he gave you a grin right back, one big enough for those adorable little dimples to pop out.

“Bro, if you guys lay on the bed, you will feel something with you,” Jake told Sam and Colby. You stood off the bed, allowing Colby access to lay on it. He handed you the camera, which you handed to Corey because you were not the best them and your hands were slightly shaky.

“When I was laying with him, we could feel it shaking,” you told the duo as they sprawled out on the mattress.

“You should turn off the light,” Jake told Corey and he did. It was just you five in the room alone with the darkness and all who inhabit it.

“Do you guys feel the bed shaking at all?” Corey asked, his voice right next to you.

“Maybe, barely,” Colby’s voice sounded in front of you.

“If the German prince or the doctor that killed his wife is in here, please shake the bed,” Sam asked nicely of the spirits that are presumed to be in the room with you guys. After a moment of silence, a stunned ‘woah’ fell from Sam’s lips.

“What?” Corey questioned as you heard him fiddling with the camera. “What? Bro, I can’t find the light.” Sam grabbed the green light grid thing and turned it on to provide you all with some sort of light.

“I felt it go back and forth,” Sam told us all as he kept his eyes on Colby to see if he felt anything too.

“You felt it? I don’t know if I’m feeling anything,” Colby sounded a little disappointed like he wanted to feel what you, Jake, and Sam had felt.

“It literally rocked bro,” Jake told the camera and you nodded your head in agreement. You all hung out in the bedroom, trying to figure out the green light grid and how else you all wanted to go about the investigation when Corey got a text from his little brother, Cambrey.

“Are you okay?” you asked Corey as he stared wide-eyed at his phone screen. The other boys turned to look at Corey to see why you asked him such a question when y’all were just chilling at the moment.

“Uhh yeah, Cam just texted me this: Hey so I just saw your new video and at the end of it when you were talking about in the part where y’all kept saying save me and you were wondering like what you should do, I just wanted to let you know I went to a psychic lady and she told me that I have powers to send ghosts to the other side lol. All I have to say is you are free to go to the other side and it helps them go through. I know this sounds really stupid but ever since I talked to her, I’ve been seeing giant black figures in my room every night and when I sleep, it feels like someone’s watching me.”

“What the fuck?” Sam comments as you all share looks between you guys.

“Wanna know what’s even freakier? Cam is fourteen right now and I was fourteen when I first saw the shadowman.” ‘Woah’s fall from the group around him as we take in the information and process what we’ve been told because it seems so surreal. You all talk about how to deal with this. Corey feels guilty and responsible for Cambrey possibly seeing the shadowman. You try to comfort him, but the heavy feeling that he is dealing with is something that you can’t help that much.

“Maybe it might be good if we call it a night,” Sam suggests to the group as you nod your head. Things are a bit tense right now and maybe just getting settled into our own rooms and stopping the investigation for now could ease it some.

“Let’s set our alarms for three or something like that, but I think it’s good to take a break for a minute and like relax and we’ll come back to this in a minute.” And that is exactly what you guys did.

“Are you gonna be good by yourself, y/n?” Colby asked before you left their room with Jake and Corey.

“Yeah, I should be but I might call you so that if I hear something, you might hear it too and so I don’t go crazy,” you chuckled as he smiled at you, the grin making butterflies flutter around in your belly. He nodded before you turned around and went to your room.

A sense of relief flooded your body when you walked into the room. You were still very creeped out by the hotel and the fact that you were on the most haunted floor of the most haunted hotel in the most haunted country in the world. You were happy you were no longer in the most haunted room, but the things that were happening in there freaked you out.

You went to your suitcase and flipped through your clothes until you found something to sleep in. You had packed mainly warmer clothes for sleepwear, but since room 333 was so hot and you were still burning up from it, you grabbed the one pair of shorts you brought and a tank top. You grabbed a hair tie from your backpack and went to the mirror, throwing your hair into a ponytail. After you brushed your teeth and got your charger out, you settled into bed and shot Colby a text.

Y/n: can I call you?

Colby: of course

“Hello?” you asked as soon as you hear the ringing stop.

“Hey, are you okay?” His voice sounds so concerned and it makes you smile.

“Yes, Colby. I’m fine. Can you stay on the phone with me until I get tired?”

“Yeah, sure.”

It didn’t last long until you were about to conk out, so the two of you said your goodbyes and you placed your phone down on the bedside table. Just as you were about to fall asleep, you swore you felt the bed shake. You do not know why you said what you were about to, but you did.

“If there is anything there, can you make the bed shake again please?” A moment or two of silence passes before it does it again. The bed wobbles lightly beneath you.

“Okay so there’s something here,” you whisper to yourself. You try your best to shrug it off and go to sleep. You almost slip into a blissful sleep before you hear a whisper similar to the one from before.

“You’re not alone, y/n.” You immediately grabbed your phone to text Colby. You knew he would probably be in a deep sleep by now, but it was worth a shot.

Y/n: the bed shook in here

Y/n: and I asked it to do it again and it did

Y/n: then it whispered youre not alone y/n

After not seeing the bubble with three dots pop up, you decide to let your phone record audio while you sleep just to catch anything that might happen and set an alarm from three in the morning. Finally, you get to sleep.

You woke up with a jolt, a sweat on your forehead and the bed moving slightly beneath you.

“You’re not alone”

“We’re here”

“Come with us”

The whispers filled your head as you watched an outline of a guy appears in the hallway near your door.

“Colby,” you call out as you sit up and rub your eyes.

“Sam? Jake? Corey?” you continue but not a peep comes from the man as he inches towards your bed.

“Seriously guys. Cut it out,” you chuckle, but he keeps coming closer and closer until he is right beside you. You reach a hand out to try to touch him, but your hand falls through his misty form.

“Whoever you are, please leave. You aren’t welcome here,” you demand, but your voice falters at the end. You hear a loud maniacal laugh vibrate throughout your small room as the figure crawls on top of you.

His presence is suffocating enough, but when a hand comes up to your throat and clamps down, it becomes difficult to breath. You fear for your life as you try to pry the hands from your neck, but just like his body, you can’t grab onto them. Your fingers slip through his and there is nothing you can do about it. Tears seep out your eyes and black spots cloud your vision before all you can see is black.

“Y/n! Open the door! Y/n!” you hear the worried shouts of your friends. You look around and reach for the lamp to turn it on. Looking around, you see that you are safe. It was nothing but a bad dream. You hand flies to your throat and when you feel that there isn’t a misty hand closing in on it, a sigh of relief leaves your lips.

You sling the covers off your body and run to the door. When you open it, you are met with the concerned expressions and worried eyes of the four boys you loved most. Your tear-filled eyes meet the specific blues ones before you step forward and wrap your arms around his waist, hiding your face in his chest.

“Are you okay, y/n?” Sam asks as he places a hand on your shoulder. You flinch at his touch unintentionally before muttering a ‘sorry’.

“You were screaming,” Jake added as he met your eyes.

“Really?” you asked, but based on how scratchy your voice sounded, you could tell it was true. “What happened?”

“Sam and I went to Corey and Jake’s room because Corey called us, but we heard you screaming and rushed over here. What happened to you?” Colby asked calmly above your head.

“Did you get my texts from earlier?” Colby nodded at your question. “I had a nightmare and the same whispers I heard earlier, I heard in my dream. And then this figure came up to me and try to choke me to death. I saw black and then woke up to you guys banging on my door,” you finished as the tears came back and you went back to hiding in Colby’s chest. His hand rubbed up and down your back comfortingly as he looked around at the other guys, unsure of what to do.

“I don’t want to be alone anymore,” you muttered into his chest.

“You can come stay in our room,” you heard Corey offer.

“Or ours,” Sam suggested.

“Can you stay with me?” you asked the blue-eyed boy as you looked up at him.

“Yes. Sam, can I have the camera? I’ll start looking through the footage and you can go to sleep since you couldn’t earlier.” Sam handed him the camera that he had hanging by him side before the other three left to go back to their rooms.

“Was I really screaming?” You asked Colby as soon as you sat on the bed.

“Like you were being killed,” he told you. You grabbed your phone and began to listen to audio recording you started earlier. It is mainly quiet for the most part, just your soft breaths and sounds of you moving in your sleep. Then, you hear the whispers again.

“Listen to this!” you shout as you hand the phone to Colby. His eyes widen at the sound.

“That’s what I’ve been hearing.”

“That’s insane,” He told you as he handed the phone back to you. You get all the way to the end and do not hear any screams.

“There’s no screaming on this.”

“When did it end?” You check and the time that stares back at you freaks you out even more.

“3:33 a.m.”

“Here. Let’s put this away because you have been through a lot tonight and just chill out,” Colby suggested as he placed your phone down and pulled you closer to him. You settled yourself into his side and placed your head on his chest. He had one arm around you while the other laid on his stomach.

“I’m sorry we put you through this,” he muttered as he fiddled with the bottom of his shirt.

“No, it’s okay. I have had a lot of fun this trip and I don’t want it to end early because I had a bad dream. That’s all it was,” you tried to see the bright side of it all.

“That makes me feel better because I really do love you, y/n, and I���d hate to see you not come on another trip with us or stop hanging out with us because of this.”

“I love you too, Colby, and it’s gonna take a whole lot more than a bad dream to get rid of me,” you both chuckled as a comfortable silence fell over the both of you. You fell asleep in the safety of his arms and right there, you did not have another bad dream that night.

[writeouswriter]

What's your favourite thing about mysterious small towns with a big secret? What the vibe that you like?

Ooh, that's a tough question, I don't actually know how to describe it and I have so many favourite aspects. But like one big thing is... I like the characters, and I like to like the characters, you know? Or like to hate em.

I mean, you get a lot of small town mysteries where the characters are all jerks or downers, protagonists and antagonists alike, small town small minds, stuff like that, you're not rooting for them, they're not rooting for themselves, or like you are supposed to be wary of these characters because they're shady and skeevy right off the bat, and where's the fun in that? No, no, no, I like the characters with quirks, with subtlety, with layers like an onion, goofy and friendly on the surface, with progressively darker secrets and backstories underneath. Also unique but still distinctly a part of this town. I like the façade being intact as well, that this is a picture perfect town maybe with a few hiccups until you start noticing those small little off things... off things that most locals just brush off, I like being a part of discovering the mystery, and of eventually being in on the secret when others aren't, though not right away. I like mysterious small town characters who you root for and laugh with and love to see and would go to parties with but still deeply fundamentally do not trust. I like characters you absolutely shouldn't trust and yet can't help but be disarmed and trust completely. I like characters who banter, who joke, who end up having the darkest pasts of all. Characters who are friends and interact like you would in any normal situation, like it's just another day, but in this case it's in extraordinary circumstance for anyone else. That's so muddled an explanation but... idk... Gravity Falls I think is a perfect example of this, though me trying to explain why would probably take me hours and you'd have to pay me to stop rambling because concise is not a word in my vocabulary. Like you love Grunkle Stan, but he's a conman for a living and you know he's got shady stuff going on. McGucket, you think he's just the goofy hillbilly but he's not. You're discovering the secrets with Dipper and Mabel. They're investigating this town but they're also having their summer vacation, they're making friends, they're doing their thing and then getting pulled into the strangeness, the mystery is never the background but neither is the town, like the getting to know the town and those in the town is integral to it, they're not set dressing. And the people in the town, they know this place is a little weird, not the whole scope, but it's kind of just how things have always been. There's so much more to say, but like I will be here all day. Haven is a slightly lesser known example, but again perfect. Loveable side characters that you trust about as far as you can throw them. And the town is a character in and of itself, it has its "thing," you know, the big secret that makes it what it is and the people who keep that secret. Atmosphere is also important, but the thing is, it can't just all be atmosphere.

I also like the very specific trope of female detective or the like assigned to investigate case in strange small town meets male detective or the like of strange small town and have to investigate together but he's privy to the town's secret and has to bring her into the secret and then they find out they both secretly have some kind of connection themselves to that secret... did I mention concise is not in my vocabulary?

But anyway, you go on goodreads or something like that and try to find mysterious or paranormal small towns and a majority of what you're going to get is either some variation of sad alcoholic writer who probably just lost his wife moves to small town to get away and is immediately (like immediately) targeted by cannibal murder cult or something like that, interacts with no one normally, learns nothing, goes out in a blaze of not so glorious glory, or you get YA sad whiny teen girl forced to move to weird small town and is immediately bullied by high-school mean girls before the insta love for sad whiny teen boy kicks in, and maybe there's monsters or magic but sad boy's more important (or vice versa gender swapped). Or on the adult end of that, a lot of paranormal erotica, which I'm not a personal fan of, but if you are, you know you do you. Or alternatively you get a small town that's all vibe no actual substance to it, flat characters, a painted set rather than a real place. I mean, of course disclaimer, they're not all like that, I'm exaggerating, but at the same time I'm not, these are broad ranges, but the sheer amount of times I've seen these exact plots and all is ridiculous.

But ignore my rambling.

Anyway again... I'm not even sure if there is a suitable answer in there, but yup, there you go.

[stillness-in-green]

I felt like the plf war was rushed

1.Plf advisors getting hype but no payoff

2.Only miruko, Momo, and Kirishma got time to shine

3.Machia got defeated to easily

4.The war felt more like a raid

I don't know if I feel like it was rushed, per se--it's by far the longest arc in the story so far by number of chapters, and would be even if you cut off the Tartarus jailbreak and the entirety of the hospital aftermath. What it absolutely does feel like to me is unbalanced.

You note that the "war" feels more like a raid, and you're right. As a caveat, it's worth keeping in mind that "Paranormal Liberation War" as a name for the arc in question is entirely an invention of the fanbase. To the best of my knowledge, the reasoning for the name was that big action shonen series like BNHA (Naruto, Bleach, Hunter x Hunter, etc) always have a war arc, so what we were seeing in the lengthy, mass combat confrontation with the PLF had to be HeroAca's equivalent. It's not a term that's in the manga itself, however, not called as such by the characters, not referred to as such by Horikoshi or his editors, not even namedropped in chapter or volume titles. If it feels like a raid, that's probably because that's what it was intended to be.

And that's the problem, really. This arc shouldn't have been about a couple of raids; it should have been about a war.

(Below the cut: a bunch of fired-up complaining. Uses some harsh language, and talks about both injuries and deaths we did see and some we logically should have.)

From the outset, we were told that the resources Shigaraki had amassed were "on par with, or even stronger than" the resources of the hero-saturated society. Yet, we're expected to believe that a force that strong is so easily taken down by a single coordinated set of raids? Yes, the heroes had the benefit of surprise, but there's just so much that doesn't work for me.

First off, and to get this out of the way, it's ridiculous that the heroes even had the benefit of surprise. The MLA had an unknown number of hero double agents. They had people in the government; they had people in the infrastructure. This is an organization that had been living undercover completely unsuspected for multiple generations--how did the HPSC ever manage to carry out a massive, country-wide investigation on such a secretive group and coordinate multiple simultaneous, comprehensive raids without a single person finding out and alerting the higher-ups over a period of only three and a half months?

When exactly did Hawks have time to go and revive Best Jeanist--which he tells us he did personally--such that none of the bugs and micro-cameras he was covered with picked up on it, and both he and BJ could be back in the positions they needed to be in for the raid to begin?

How did Skeptic find out about the raid such that he only discovered it at the last possible second and not minutes, even hours, before it kicked off? How did hundreds of heroes (and even "hundreds" is being conservative, given the fact that they had seventeen thousand people to detain) close in on the villa without anyone from the PLF noticing, either Skeptic with his information network or mundane precautions like people on watch?

Even granting the heroes their surprise advantage--which I don't want to--if the advisors were all supposedly "stronger than the average hero," why didn't we see any of them winning? Okay, yes, Hose Face beat Midnight, but he had every possible advantage in that "fight"; I hardly count it as some big impressive defeat that shows us that the villains were holding their own.

Here's another thing: the MLA styled themselves as an army--they were demonstrably trained in troop tactics. When we saw them in Deika, even their nameless on-the-ground people were capable of coordinating with each other on the fly in response to the movements of the enemy, as we saw come up repeatedly:

Yeah, they were off-guard at first, but as soon as the advisors made the front line (which, you'll note, was immediately), that disadvantage really should have begun eroding. Certainly once Geten--Geten! The number one MLA member most willing to disregard collateral damage! And there he was being a proper leader!--got to the front and started yelling orders, we should have seen the PLF rallying, and I can't imagine any sensible justification for the tides not turning when a) Re-Destro showed up to occupy the highest-ranked hero on the field, b) a bunch of heroes peeled off to try to stop Machia only to get trampled for their efforts, and c) Trumpet got dug out.

You know who don't style themselves as an army, though? Heroes. Oh, they get some basic lessons in cooperation as students, but the extent of such lessons we see is stuff like "why it's important for heroes to have signature moves"--so that on group missions, their reputations will precede them and fellow heroes will already know their shtick. U.A. teaches the odd lesson plan that involves the kids fighting in groups, but there's a huge difference between you and 3 to 6 of your buddies fighting a similarly-sized group in a practice fight, or a handful of heroes teaming up to take down some criminal low-lives, and the mass combat scenario that was the raid. For heaven's sake, look at our closest other equivalent: the raid on the Hassaikai base. At every turn in that encounter, the heroes let themselves get split up and picked off, winnowing down their numbers. It's even explicit in the narrative that hero team-ups were, in the age of All Might, uncommon, and heroes are only just beginning to adjust to fighting in teams. The erstwhile MLA should have had the advantage there.

As to Machia's defeat, I think the big problem with it is not how it happened, per se, but the timescale involved. The plan itself was sound enough, and even with all the kids' efforts, it still took Machia reaching Shigaraki and not getting any new orders to follow to really do him in. Given what we can extrapolate about his movement speed, though, I just don't think the kids should have had time to set all those traps, especially given how much of that equipment would have had to be fabricated by Momo on the fly. I know she's gotten stronger and all, and good for her, but you're telling me that in the four months between Joint Training and the raid, she went from passing out because she created a bag of goodies and one (1) cannon to being totally fine and still able to coordinate her fellow students while cranking out 23 jars of sedative, dozens of feet of rope/cable, multiple fire-resistant coats, explosives they somehow had time to bury, and three cannons?

For fuck's sake, Jirou gave Machia's ETA as under ten seconds. Yeah, Mount Lady slowed him down, but "only a little"--how much time could she possibly have bought them, that the kids were able to to coordinate and enact everything that plan involved?

You guys, go read this post by @codenamesazanka. Machia is so fast. So unbelievably, incredibly fast. "Twice as fast as the fastest train in the world" fast. "Horikoshi clearly did not stop to think about the distances involved here" fast. Three miles in ten seconds fast. It would have been hard enough to square with the needs of the plot that the kids were sufficiently far from the villa to have the kind of time they needed to swing Momo's plan at all, but Horikoshi explicitly letting Machia get right on top of them before the kids even start just makes it completely impossible for me to credit. Machia clearly being slower aboveground than he is when burrowing does not make that much difference to my suspension of disbelief.

My other big complaint? More people should have died, for real. The PLF warriors would not have been holding back. They were ready and willing to kill anyone they came up against. The heroes did have to hold back, because heroes, as we're told over and over again, are not supposed to kill, no matter how dire the circumstances. That difference in ability to exercise force should have been yet another significant advantage for the PLF. I could write an entire list of characters that I think could have reasonably been killed during the raids. That wouldn't be to say that I think any individual, specific character on that list should have died, just that, based on the parameters as they were presented to audience, some number of them should have.

I mean, honestly. How did Horikoshi wanna show us Gang Orca's unmoving claw in the wake of Machia's passage and not have Gang Orca on the list of the dead? How did Fat Gun run right into a mass melee and still have enough fat left over afterward to survive getting trampled by a walking mountain? How did Thirteen survive not getting pulled out of the hospital basement when Shigaraki's Decay hit? How did Trumpet survive getting a staircase dropped on top of him? How did Gran Torino survive a fist through his tiny old man chest cavity?

I could go on and on, but it's not just about the deaths, either. I'm not saying that Kamui Woods necessarily should have died by swinging himself face-first into a blast of blue fire, but I am saying that he should have been out of commission for longer than three goddamn days. You bet your ass I'm saying that after telling us that Hawks' weak point is fire, making us watch him spend at a solid minute or more with his wings wholly enveloped in Dabi's 2000 degree flames, and having Dark Shadow exclaim that his back is completely burned away, Hawks should never have grown his wings back, much less so quickly that they were already visible under his shirt a single day later.

More deaths, more maiming--heck, even more retirements. I'm not saying I love that kind of thing in my fiction--I don't, actually. I think an overreliance on it is a sign of edgelordy nonsense. But the scenario that we had demanded to be treated with the kind of gravity that would have led to such an outcome. To set up a conflict like the raid and have the villains only barely be able to scrape a partial escape, to try to tell us that Shigaraki's victory in Deika granted him such a terrifyingly powerful force only to have them lose every battle they got into, to tell us this was a blow that shook Hero Society to its core, only to be so unwilling to kill or retire any heroes the audience cares about that Midnight is literally the only significant loss… It doesn't work. None of it works.

I don't have much to say on which characters did or didn't get a highlight. I think there were a few more people than you listed that got some good scenes--Tokoyami and Uraraka both got material I liked quite a bit; Dabi famously out-trended the U.S. presidential election on Twitter when he (literally) came clean, and Mr. Compress gave us some wonderfully interesting and characteristically opaque material to chew on. On the whole, though, adding more character moments would only have been dragging out the problem: the scale of the PLF's threat and the HPSC's chosen method of dealing with it are simply incompatible with the feeble "neither side truly won or lost" resolution we got.

And that's my rant on that--thanks for the ask!