#will obvs add as the season goes on

[limeskye]

Will Trent Title Cards [Season 1] [Season 2] [Season 3]

[peipakao]

that post about the lack of fic in opm fandom made me remember this fuckin. essay i wrote like a year ago for a reddit comment that i then shamefully deleted cos it was so entirely irrelevant to the original post. but i saved it so. here it is. a fanthropological analysis on the state of fic in opm fandom:

One Punch Man is not a small fandom by any means, but it definitely seems that most fans are of the 'dudebro who likes to powerscale' variety, and I'm continually surprised by how small the shipping and fanfic writing side of the fandom is in comparison. Like, this is one of the most popular well known anime series in the world, I'm pretty sure even the most casual of anime fans has to have at least heard of it. But it only has 5k fics on AO3, which isn't exactly small, but considering its popularity and in comparison to other popular battle action "shounen" manga (technically OPM is seinen but no one remembers that so), it is bafflingly tiny. I've thought about it a lot, and I think it comes down to multiple related reasons, both internal to the story that limit the likelihood of a fan to write fics for it, and external, lowering the number of ppl who would want to write fics for it that become/stay fans in the first place.

Let's start with internal reasons. The cast of characters is huge, made up of mostly men (a lot of whom are young + attractive). Which seems like it should be a definite boon to M/M shipping--the backbone of a large number of fandoms! But I think there's a difference in that with so many characters, screentime/focus is really spread out across them, and I'd find it hard to really tell you who counts as a "main character". On top of that, there's not a whole lot of interaction between them, they all seem much more isolated. I think this is especially the case in the biggest arc that took 7 years to complete. Even the biggest ship/pair had a ~3 year gap in the manga where they didn't appear together at all.

But there are definitely still lots of ships with potential and interactions to fuel shipping (although I still think less than comparable media), so that's not the whole story. Which brings me to my next point about external factors. Most of those ships are not in the early parts of OPM, and you're probably gonna have to read through the manga and also the webcomic to get to them. Most people have not done this, and have probably only watched season 1 of the anime, considering that was the peak of its popularity. And those early parts are much more comedic, so I think the impression most ppl have of OPM is that it's primarily a gag anime/manga. Which is still true, but the story has definitely gotten more complex and serious. So I think a lot of people who might want to write fic for OPM probably don’t get into it because they don't expect it to have much potential in that regard.

I think the release schedule of the anime also plays a huge role, with the anime taking 4 years to come out with a (widely considered) disappointing second season, and with a third season trailer having been released after like 5 years. It’s probably not an understatement that most anime/manga fandoms are much more focused on the anime side of things, and not everyone who enjoys an anime is going to then get into the manga.

And let's not forget the manga and webcomic release schedule, with the webcomic releasing basically solely according to ONE's whims, and the manga constantly going through redraws. Which I'm not necessarily complaining about since we get all this lovely content for free! But it does pose another hurdle for new potential fans, and I imagine there are quite a few who simply didn't want to put in that commitment over time, or honestly just got confused about what was going on.

OPM as a whole has lost a lot of relevance, it seems not many people are getting into it right now and many fans who did write fic for it at the peak of its popularity have probably left the fandom in search of greener pastures.

This is all just speculation though. I wasn't actually in the fandom when it was popular, only got into it a few years ago, so my theories on its decline aren't super backed up. I hope it gets popular again, having said all that I think there's so much fandom potential that isn't being tapped into. Like others have said, a lot of fandom/fic is based on filling in gaps and aspects that weren't explored, and there's plenty to explore in OPM.

[variousqueerthings]

some favourite random things about ray vecchio, now ive finished the rewatch!

Goodbye Ray Vecchio, am now firmly and entirely in season 3, so will give a little list as a "oh boy this character scratched an itch" type of farewell. so. some stuff

will begin with something that @gjdraws also pointed out to me -- he's got style. he's sartorial. he likes nice clothes, both in s1 and s2, but he grows up a bit in the latter, which, usually I'd call a downgrade -- fancy patterned silk shirts for turtlenecks and muted colours? but it totally works, it works with the haircut (embrace the baldness!) it works with leaning into the character's serious side more often, it works as a development of who Ray is when we first meet him (a bit insecure, job on the rocks, holding on to his past self and not knowing where to go, pretending his just a silly guy no ignore all the tragic backstory lookat my amazing Gonzo shirt!) to where he goes (more settled in himself, more confident, allowing some of the more melancholy elements to seep through, a bit more serious on the whole), also, look... they're both giving me transmasc swag. it's just overall a super developed sense of Style. Ray likes looking good and he likes good textures. GJ put it as: Sartorial Baby

in the middle of plot will be doing unrelated tasks for fraser, simply because he was asked if he could help. he doesn't make a big deal of doing these things, this is simply what he does (notable examples, the wolf pass in diefenbaker's day off, the search for glendorlan scotch in some like it red)

spends an incredible amount of time trying to help fraser stand up for himself/become more comfortable with interpersonal conflict, but will also take over when fraser struggles (notable examples, vault, the promise, one good man, red white or blue)

every once in awhile you'll get an almost casual tidbit of some of the most tragic backstory and ray will basically go "anyway we don't have time for that, im just a guy" and the story will move on (notable examples, the pilot, gift of the wheelman, north, we are the eggmen, exceptions, the duel and juliet is bleeding in which we don't move on and just scream instead)

on that note, is really strongly hinted to have family history with the mob and crime, which adds such a layer to his joining the police force and his initial friendship with- and then disgust for- zuko, and his going undercover in the mob (his father seems to have been more of a petty criminal, but there's enough to infer there's some ties there, and then there's uncle lorenzo. also ray's tendency to "know a guy who knows a guy" that sometimes seems to be adjacent to legality, and the fact that his father didn't want him to be a cop)

seems to have been a hit with the girls back when he was a teen/young adult (which, yeah, i get it, ive seen young david marciano and ray has real charm to boot) (notable examples, juliet is bleeding, one good man, some like it red)

likes inserting random fancy words and phrases into conversation on occasion (notable examples: "chagrin" in free willy, "grand jeté" twice in mask, obvs the famous "Jai Nai Sai Qua" pronunciation in a cop a mountie and a baby)

believes in luck charms and signs (notable examples, we are the eggmen, body language)

takes on a caregiving role and it's hinted he's probably done that since childhood and isn't good at putting that down/letting himself be cared for in turn (obvs The Pilot, every single thing he does for Fraser all the time, i think also it's shown with Frannie, albeit more abrasively, esp Heaven and Earth and his concern for her in Vault and for the whole family in The Duel -- vice versa I think it's more subtle and often framed through his dad putting him down, for example in Gift Of The Wheelman and North, and through his Frank and Irene Zuko backstory in The Deal and Juliet... also there's Witness when he gets beat up in jail, that whole episode revolves in my brain)

on that note, @gjdraws also brought up how he needs to do things for someone when he's upset for them or he'll go absolutely crazy. the way he is in The Pilot with Fraser, and the amazing The Deal "can I get you a coffee" sequence and the entirety of Bird In The Hand really spring to mind

all the times this man has had to take care of a severely hurt fraser!!!!!! emotionally and physically!!!!!!!!! The Pilot, Manhunt, The Wild Bunch, The Blue Line, The Deal, Letting Go, North, Bird In The Hand, One Good Man, Flashback some of the big ones...

I really like his relationship with his family -- I'd want to explore it even more, but I think his canonical protective softness with his mother, and the much more abrasive sibling relationship with Frannie that is still ultimately based in love, but also I think comes a bit from them being quite similar in a lot of ways in terms of the world beating up on them quite a bit... there's so much there to unpack (the house they all live in!! i wish we knew more about his youngest sister as well)

another @gjdraws addition: his love for the riv, and the riv's love for him. the subtext of the riv itself being a form of magic -- loses one and another riv appears to find him

[blahblahbih]

My very long overdue season predictions

As it goes with all my college assignments, I'm submitting stuff in righttt at the due date so please enjoy my sort of delulu, crazy but not so crazy 2025 F1 season predictions.

I would like to preface this by saying I have not watched testing so I'm literally going in blind and just basing things off of vibes ✨

ahem ahem

WDC: Lando Norris obv because i’m delusional

WCC: mclaren, not so delusional because our car is actually really good

My predictions:

Carlos podium (i know he’ll do it i believe in him)

Kimi podium (I have faith in that child)

Lewis and Charles on track battle, possible taking each other out (i don't wish ill on them at all butttt i will be sat for the drama)

FIA throws a fit over people cursing (this isn’t really a crazy prediction they just suck)

Lando keeps the lead on the first lap more that he loses it (let a girl dream ok i think he has matured)

Another rookie joins the grid (someone can’t race and we get another rookie)

We lose another appendix (it just feels like a curse at this point)

Random midfield double podium (either another alpine or vcarb)

Ollie top 6 finish (i believe in that baby)

Ferrari wrong pitstop/tires (last year they actually had their life together but this year i feel like there’s opportunity for chaos)

A ferrari wins in monza (money on lewis, i wanna see it)

Liam beats max on merit for a race (that one is actually crazy)

Yuki outscores hadjar (this not so crazy)

Rookie in the wall

Alex gets a podium (long overdue i feel like he deserves it)

No nico podium (i just don’t think it’s in the cards for that poor man)

franco replaces jack mid season (it's so unfair to jack but i want to see franco back and briatore is not to be trusted)

I may or may not add to these as they come to mind but for now tada!

[holdyuhmuda]

Thoughts on Hawaii Five 0 Part 1

I just started Hawaii Five-O from a recommendation by a friend and I completed the first season so here are my thoughts. I'M LOVING IT THUS FAR BTW. (Goes without saying but obv my rant contains spoilers) First episode opening scene Steve father getting murdered. Crazy. I love the team. Danny is fun and his relationship with his daughter is the cutest thing as well as him and Steve bond. I like his characterization as a Dad and a family man. You really see it in the episode where Rachel got carjacked and Matt came by. Steve and him made me laugh so much the first episode because of their tense first meeting, Steve forcing him to be his partner and the scene where Danny punched him. I like how he's kind of the angel on Steve shoulder that is telling him what are you doing, relax, we must follow procedure etc. I hate this plot line with him and Rachel carrying on with an affair like have we forgotten all she did to you.

Clearly Steve forgot how humans act in the real world. I do love how he has the team back every time and is 10 toes behind them like stealing the money to get the collar off Chin or when Danny was dealing with the carjacking and then Matt he was like don't worry go ahead and I'll come help u when I can. Idk if it's just cause I think he's hot or a testament to Alex acting but Alex does really well at showing his emotions facially. Some of the scenes you just feel when looking at him whether that's a smile or him getting emotional when confronting criminals about his parents' murder. His eyes are very expressive and I love it. He's very intelligent and despite him being a trained killer he's good at being soft when it's needed. I remember the first couple of episodes I was shocked by every min he was breaking the law with how he dealt with suspects like the throwing the man in the sea with sharks and attaching the man to the top of the car and going for a joy ride. Crazy. He's kind of simmered down now though. I think at least or I've just gotten used to his brand of crazy. I just wanna give him a hug every time he talks about his parents' murder. Both lovable guys and their dynamic adds some light heartedness to the show. I don't think I'm a shipper but I can clearly see why McDanno is strong amongst the fanbase.

[lunabug2004]

Just came up with a new(ish) Mike theory, and even tho I'm sure someone's said it before, I wanted to share! [Beware: it's long]

So, we all know that Mike is acting differently, specifically towards Will, in s3 compared to the past 2 seasons (what we see of their interactions at least). I know I've mentioned before the possibility of Mike pushing Will (again, Will specifically) away in s3 because of his trauma from the previous season, s2, so I'd like to revisit that theory and add some more to it.

In s2, Mike is forced to see Will be "taken away" by the shadow monster. He is being possessed and completely taken over right in front of Mike's eyes and there is nothing he can do about it. You would be crazy if you say this alone would not give the boy massive trauma. But then add s1 onto that, obv where Will went missing and Mike literally thought he was dead. Crazy insane amounts of trauma that have to do specifically with Will being taken away. Same thing with El being taken away in both seasons. Keep all of this in mind going forward.

Now, I'd like to go back to the beginning. Obv, as I mentioned before, s1 is super traumatic for Mike with Will being missing, then dead, then missing again. He's found and Mike is over the moon. El also goes missing tho, and Mike falls into depression. He blames himself for both Will's "kidnapping" and El's disappearance so he promises himself he will not let it happen again and starts to be super overprotective of Will. However, surprise surprise, Will gets taken away again. Mike now thinks he has failed. Three times. He has failed to protect those he cares about.

Then, El is found, and Mike is happy. Will is saved, and Mike is happy. But he now has severe trauma from being trapped in the lab with Will, the one who he was trying to protect, the one who also happened to sick demodogs on all the people in the lab. Mike failed to protect Will and therefore caused all of these unnecessary deaths in the lab. So he decides that if he can't protect Will, if he just causes more issues in trying to do so, he may as well let Will go. He starts pushing him away bc he can't stand the thought of failing again. He sees El at the Snow Ball, and figures that if he can't protect Will, maybe he can protect El this time.

Again, he thinks he's already failed Will twice. He's only failed El once. He may still have a chance to protect her. He doesn't have as much crazy trauma connected to attempting to protect her as he does Will. But then he's told he's treating her like garbage, he's failing again! Then Max and Nancy are telling him he's being controlling for not wanting to risk El overusing her powers. He's just trying to protect her, and if he can't do that then he's worthless! He doesn't want to fail El for the second time as well.

Going back to the rain fight for a sec, I think that Will calling him out was exactly what he needed. He realizes how unfair he's being. He wants his best friend back, even if he doesn't feel like he deserves him.

They win the Starcourt Battle, Will and El are safe. He can start over with both of them. He can live life with his two favorite people! But then a bomb is dropped: the Byers, along with El, are moving. Moving far away. He has failed yet again. But this time, he's failed both of them! He feels awful.

As he's saying goodbyes, though, another, more personal, bomb is dropped on him: he doesn't feel near as heartbroken about losing his girlfriend as he does his best friend. Now internalized homophobia enters the picture. We know by the last shots we see of Mike Wheeler, he is absolutely broken. He has just had the worst revelation and is also losing both of his favorite people at the same exact time. All he's ever wanted to do in s1-3 is protect these specific two and he failed, as now he's lost them.

Who knows what exactly goes on in Mike Wheeler's head between seasons 3 and 4. A lot of internalized homophobia, maybe? A lot of reflecting on past traumas of losing these two people, perhaps? If so, one person holds a lot more power in both aspects and that is Will. Both of Will's disappearances (one physical, one mental) are much more traumatic to Michael. Not to say El's s1 disappearance wasn't, but he went through completely losing Will two separate times. Mike doesn't contact Will because losing him again, along with his queer revelation, has made him regress back to how he felt at the beginning of s3 and he is pushing Will away again. If he can just focus on El, maybe he can be normal and love her like a normal person. Talking to Will is too much. It makes him feel too much.

When Mike goes to Cali is when is internalized homophobia is at it's highest, as he's in the presence of Will again. Then we have the Rink-O-Mania fight, and again, Mike needed the callout to see his flaws. He realizes how much of a "self-pitying idiot" he's being and decides he and Will are stronger together.

That's kinda where this theory ends, I think, as the whole end of s4 is kinda just Mike trying everything he can, including lying, to save El from dying.

I realize after typing it all out that this theory is kinda a stretch? At least some parts? And I also didn't keep the timeline very well but oh well 😅 it's my first long post in a long time, cut me some slack. Anyways, I wanted to share it anyways cuz it just hit me so 🤷‍♀️

[willbyersbookshelf]

Continue from the last ask: To get Will to progress they threaten Mike several times with a gun. And this kick starts the comforting after the first incident. Mike feeling so useless and powerless. The least he can do is take care of Will. And its like an echo of season 2 but less innocent. Also Mike giving Will massages. And pet talks before he goes into the deprivation tank. Eventually it leads to Mike getting Will off to calm down and heavey petting and making out.

hi hello you are brilllllliant. i’d just like you to know <3

i want to emphasize all of this so hard and add the concept of a,, fwb situation to the mix. like emotions are so high Mike can easily just be like “i want you to feel good, i want to help you, (i love you), but as a Friend. that’s ALL!!!” and Will won’t even question it like “huh yah that is how friendship works, totally makes sense.”

alternatively, Mike is obv doing this with all the love in his heart meanwhile Will is out here misinterpreting him with a “this is super high stress, he is just trying to help me as much as he can and there’s nothing he can Do. Mike loves to do things!! ofc he’s gonna go to the ends of the earth (sucking my dick and getting off about it) to feel like he’s helped me!! DUH!!!” meanwhile Mike thinks Will is almost using him to get off? like he knows it’s incredible that Will trusts him with this part of himself and he feels so lucky but he almost just feels like he is fulfilling his duty. like Will needs him. finally and explicitly. this is how he can be useful. even if it means nothing to Will, he will find a way to make any part of this situation more bearable for Will. he’s also def insanely guilty about getting turned on by Will and won’t let Will reciprocate like “you don’t have to, let me do this for you” type shit. ahhhh i love the angst of this so much hehe

also,,,,, THE MASSAGES!! THE SENSUAL MASSAGES???? have i mentioned you’re a literal genius?? it starts out so innocent: Will is in pain, Mike wants to help. but emotions are high, our boys are sensitive, Mike has such long bony fingers and he’s touching Will. EVERYWHERE. Will is hard and panting and moaning at the littlest touch, he’s like putty under Mike’s hands. who is Mike to resist Will when he’s practically begging for his touch?

thank you for this ask I am now obsessed with this concept 🫡

[melrosing]

As your not a big fan of fantasy books in general. What drew you into loving asoiaf? What got you hooked?

now that I'm invested in asoiaf I do genuinely like the fantasy elements of the story, but the stuff that really pulled me in was the human drama and political intrigue etc. I love the character work, almost all of the POVs feel fully realised and subvert typical tropes in really interesting ways (imo). I like the inter-generational drama (the reasons I like succession are v similar to the reasons I like the Lannisters), like if I want to understand Jaime and Cersei and Tyrion I can look to Tywin, and if I want to understand Tywin I can look to Tytos, and if I was to understand Tytos I can look to Gerold, like it's a russian doll of intergenerational trauma what more could a girl want.

and on that note I really like the scope! GRRM obviously feels this need to account for all details minor and major, so that even with everything that's already on the page there's room to extrapolate so much more. i mean here I am writing who knows how many words about a fake 20-episode long robert's rebellion tv series lol like this all happened before the series even starts and yet I hardly need to make anything up bc there is so much to draw on just based on all the random little details we've got here and there from characters reflecting on the same events from different angles, and trying to piece together portraits of the people who died based on the recollections of those on the page who remember them..... it is so fun)

and yeah usually I prefer to read about that kind of thing on a smaller scale but the drama that plays out in AGOT is so engaging that upon initiation I didn't find it so much of a chore to keep track of all the various houses and lands etc in order to understand the full implications of each thing that happened - it felt like it was worth the effort. generally it's the 'keeping track' of it all that I find grating about fantasy bc I really want to just get on with the story rather than keep on top of a hundred magic systems and sub-species of pixie.

and obvs asoiaf is low fantasy rather than high fantasy, i.e. there aren't intricate systems to the magic and or complicated genus for each of the creatures, so that made it feel a lot more accessible for me as someone who just isn't very interested in those kinds of details. Dany's magic is made up as she goes along, it's never explained, and that's the same for pretty much all the fantastical elements - it's very show don't tell. and even though when you count it all up there are quite a lot of fantastical features and subplots, taken together with the rest of the story it's more like.... seasonings I wouldn't usually choose but ended up liking just fine in this overall dish lol

and finally asoiaf just really appealed to me from a fannish perspective! I really hate when you're trying to dig deeper with a work and you quickly start to realise that the writer(s) just weren't thinking that hard. it feels like striking concrete with a spade, like it's a one-sided conversation rather than something both the writer and the reader are participating in. I think some fans are perfectly fine with that and good for them - who cares if the author built the work to sustain your analysis if you're just having fun doing it - but for me it's a complete killjoy, I end up v frustrated and like the work isn't worth my time

so here's GRRM who is so fixated on the finer details that he's churned out a history book like 700 pages long and a bunch of short stories and also another history book just to add a bit more texture to the main story. and I don't have to worry about network input or co-writers or actors' intentions or whatever other external conflict or influence cos for better or worse it's all his story. and that just suits me better lol, it's one guy and his shitty computer, and me reading the shit he wrote with it. pure and simple living in the moment no phones in sight

also jaime and brienne are everything to me xo

[justaboot]

10, 16, 21, and 22 for della duck?

10 - describe the character in one sentence

Heart-driven child sick with wanderlust and fuckaround spirit was never told No growing up, finds out.

16 - a childhood headcanon

This was actually a scene I wrote for something else ⬇️

Early on, she pushed so hard to get positive affirmation about her skill bravery etc that she really messed something up, something is really damaged, and she gets herself hurt, and Scrooge shouts her all the way home, tells her he doesn’t need her doing all this, getting herself hurt, and ruining everything. Pre-teen baby only hears “I don’t need you” and “Ruining everything”

Cue “New Gods On The Block,” 90s edition.

21 - when do you think they were their happiest?

Okay OBVS the foyer scene. I’ve always thought that she’s already figured out who Dewey was in Last Christmas, and in the moment she’s holding his face for the first time, it really drops in for her that she’s not holding her baby for the first time, but again, and that these lil guys in front of her were actually the same ones she held and MADE. Dewey came looking for her all the way in the past, which means she was missed and wanted, and already loved. (Which adds a great kick to her scene in the garage.)

22 - their lowest?

Canon? GOD she’s such a fuckin incredible character, she NEVER gives up onscreen. Every single time she crashes and burns, she has a brief moment, wipes away her tears, and goes to solve the problem, no matter what. That said, I think the biggest moment we see onscreen is as she’s watching the rescue rocket fly away. She’s 26, and for the first time in her entire life, she realizes there’s no one coming for her.

Headcanon?

My first answer was gonna be on the walk from her melted ship to Tranquility the first time, but I think there’s so much going on, she’s not really processing.

Nights on the moon last about 14 days. That’s a lot of time unable to work, left alone with your thoughts. I could have watched a whole season of her transmissions send back home, bc I do think as far as “I’m not okay,” that moment would be during a transmission.

[his-mother-is-lightning]

EPISODE 6: FEAST OR FAMINE (too soon?)

AKA - Break a leg, kid! (Sanji's bad day)

AKA AKA - a blond and a red-leg walk into a bar

AKA AKA AKA - how many pirates does it take to sew up a swordsman? (answer: just one, if he's also a chef)

my episode 5 reaction

Luffy just straight up dissociating over here. A grand start to the episode

Will the trope of someone about to do surgery asking for alcohol and then drinking it ever not be funny? I don't know, but I don't want to live in a world where it isn't

Mihawk wears cowboy boots 👢

I'm so glad they don't call him Hawkeye all the time like they do in the anime. Dracule Mihawk is an objectively amazing name - why the hell would he need a nickname?

Luffy cleaning Zoro's swords + his mental spiral/rant about wanting Zoro to recover is such a gut wrenching moment.

Love me a group of grown men making fun of a child. Poor tiny Sanji has already been through enough guys (as we learn much later in the series) and then Zeff tries to add oregano to his food? The inhumanity of it all!

Just two guys, stuck on a rock, trying to not starve to death. Just a guy watching a bratty kid walk away with all their food. Just a child, laid out in the sun, waiting to die. Just a pair of survivors, dreaming of a restaurant in the middle of the ocean. Just a-

(warning for gross) but like, Zeff was planning on dying and letting Sanji eat his corpse, right? And if they were stuck there for 85 days... what did they eat? Did they finish eating his leg? Bc that seems like the only option. How am I the only one wondering this??

Ngl I don't get the fairy tale Nami reads to Zoro. Maybe that's why I don't get her perspective. Cause she's yelling at Luffy and it's clear that she's upset, but on what planet could Luffy have stopped Zoro from going after Mihawk?

Koby is over here, trying to be helpful by asking Garp to accept his grandson for who he is. Which Garp obvs takes to mean, "if he wants to be a pirate so damn badly, then I'll treat him like a pirate. And kill him"

Meanwhile Arlong slams open the door, late to the party with his Starbucks, ready to make everything worse for everyone.

Luffy trying to talk to an unconscious Zoro - so soft, so pure.

"I can't let innocent people get hurt because of me" must sting. Poor Nami. Everything she's running from is catching up, and here's Luffy literally running at them

HOW DID YOU NOT NOTICE THERES AN EAR IN THE BAND OF YOUR HAT?? He was just repairing the hat last episode!!

Ok Nami I get it. I get it, right. But telling Arlong to drop him in the sea is such a fucked up thing to do. I can only think that she has faith that one of the crew would go and save him. That has to be it, right?

Nami changing into a slinkier outfit when she goes back to Arlong's crew is Noted.

And there's Sanji, diving into the water to save Luffy, a guy he literally just met. Did he realize that Luffy couldn't swim?

Garp makes his stupid little speech wearing his stupid little dog hat. What is with these ppl wearing animals on their head?

Helmeppo looking over at Koby when he hears about the new plan bc he's caught the friendship bug and it's given him a bad case of feelings

Luffy going to Zoro at his lowest moment to say 'i need you right now. I need you back' is so pure. And of course Zoro wakes up for him

Love me a man who wears a full suit to join his new pirate crew. And when he has a beautiful, emotional goodbye with his father figure? Sanji cries and I cry and we all cry about found families.

The return of Buggy! Poor Sanji is standing at the back, prob wondering what the fuck he's gotten himself into

I'm saving the last two episodes for tomorrow. And once I've finished season one, I'll prob go back to watching the anime. I was at episode 60 I think

Onwards and upwards

[lucysablefan]

lucysablefan 2023 review

also i didn't get to talk abt my top however many things that i've watched in 2023 and i'm probably going to have to make this into a thread but firdt of all revenant and celebrity are definitely Up There for me from the cast to the story and everything else i was completely into those shows and that's a lot for me bc getting bored halfway into a show is my number one (reluctant) hobby.

i definitely think revenant escaped that partly bc there was no obvious romance plot for me to get bored after they get tgt but even without it being obvious kim taeri and hong kyung tgt in that show was one of the best decision ever made in cinema. kim taeri stuns us once again with her amazing acting + shim dalgi moment s, that was great i'm still not done watching more of her stuff but i really do love seeing her in stuff i'm watching it's always a delightful surprise and she slayed that role like it was written for her so that was great. oh jungse was there too (ig 🙄) and it was nice he did his job and i was sold + yang hyeji moment ! always a blast seeing her in anything (will make another appearance when i talk abt sweet home 2 in this post eventually)

now celebrity,,, amazing drama, i'll be honest at first i wasn't too sold on the influencer plotline but it's a park gyuyoung drama and as a humble lesbian i just had to tune in + lee chungha slay once again, i've loved her ever since vampire detective and this character was amazing for her

anyways i loved the plot, loved the execution, one grievance i have is definitely the fact that seo ari ends up with that loser classist guy intead of yoon sihyeon which was??? like if not for homophobia ik they would have ended up tgt bc seo ari has too much respect to stay with hjk for sure

also one thing i absolutely Have to comment on is that one scene where seo ari ruins her dress and then she goes "i can just pay for it" or smth along those lines and when she realizes what she said she gets a little taken aback? ye that scene birthed me actually bc??? what amazing writing truly just art

also literally the whole cast in that show was just like oh ye i'm an amazing performer and here's proof so that was definitely a treat for the audience (me)

now smth that Didn't come out during that year but i finally watched bc of park sewan (i still haven't finished doona but when i found out she played in it i was like!!!! school 2017 actress moment, idk why i have this weird cast of school 2017 thing but i do and it simply can't be helped) anwz it's!!!! ultimate weapon alice or wth title that you know it by. now i'll be honest the ending? i wasn't thrilled but i also didn't care much for it bc this drama just felt like one where the ending really isn't that important like ye i used to study lit so having an "oh this is a tragedy (shakespeare war flashbacks)" moment is always nice but that's not what this is abt, the sound design (? eng isn't my first language so don't be mean to me) alone makes this show better than average, the writing? impeccable, those imaginary somewhat comedic scenes? right up my alley, every episode was just a treat after another i had a Great time watching it, the characters and their dynamics were truly amazing and the acting was just constantly delivering once again i just love park sewan and i will finish watching doona for her (mostly, i love suzy too ofc <3)

now smty else i watched that i lived this year : enigma. what a show, short but a masterpiece nonetheless and i can't wait for s2 although obv as i was forced to learn through being a cw nancy drew fan, i should always keep my expectations low when the first season is a little too good. also prim won't be there which booooo,, but i'll get over it and i can't wait to see the new charas.

one thing to know abt me : i love visually pleasing stuff and if you play around with format a little bit and add some great mixed media to your show not only am i sold but i'm also telling whoever is willing to listen to go and watch your show i'm easy and i'm not ashamed.

anwz brain no worky anymore so i'll add onto this eventually but don't hold me to that (just rmbrd i have to talk abt sweet home 2 so i Will be back for that hehe)

[rocktoberr]

GOOD LORD I KNEW THERE WAS A REASON I WAS AVOIDING SOCIAL MEDIA

i hate trade season </3 my heart is in pieces on the floor again

tbh brendan makes sense to trade out as much as it would suck but like we have alan and obv mac (because i refuse to consider it an actual possibility that he gets traded) and its baseball half the team plays at least 3 positions. the whole thing for the rockies is that our pitching staff is as reliable and sturdy as running a madden25 ranked match on that one cousin's grimey ps2 only connected to internet by dial-up. that and the constant more or less vote of no confidence given to literally any vet not a fan favorite. its not a baseball team its a money grab. im one bad day of rockies news from writing myself in as the gm that fixes it all 2012 wattpad style

even if mac does get traded i hope he goes to the damn yanks literally just for the - gather? idk the word for what im thinking and im way too tired to be writing rn - w dj because i would write that fic to hell and then some . . . sideplot bryzzo would go so hard with it . . . . .but also going to a big name bigger wallet team means he's getting recognized as the absolute KING that he is and god knows he more than deserves it. tf you mean chappy got the gold glove ToT not in my heart

anyway we have to stay positive or we collapse so

bo nix looks like the strongest runner in this season's roty campaign and the broncos look really damn good when the defense comes to play nate atkins had a touchdown and whats his name that took chubb's number had a pick. cant stop thinking about holding kirk cousins to field goals. i'm not thinking about justin simmons im not thinking about jerry jeudy im not thinking about drew lock im not thinking about kendall hinton im not thinking about noah fant im not thinking about brandon mcmanus im not thinking about all the guys we've lost since 2015 im not- the javonte touchdown when he was carried into the end zone was hilarious and lives rent free in my mind

the nuggets looked like shit about halfway through won their game tonight and the rumor why joker's out is that his wife is having another baby. vlatko might have reinjured his knee and saric showed up big time. jamal was extra fluffy and adorable even though he kept making bad passes in the 2nd half and made some huge shots. russ was called for the weakest tech ive ever seen cooked and is now the all time nba leader in triple doubles (200) (i think) coach malone was hilarious to watch on the sidelines and is now tied as the nuggets winningest head coach

THE CHIEFS FINALLY FUCKIN LOST TOO

I get trading Brendan. I feel like all of us saw it from mile away honestly, it’s the least surprising thing that would happen this off-season. What would be surprising if we got someone value from him.

However, Mac gets traded I physically do not know what I’ll do with myself. If he gets traded, obviously I’m gonna want him to win the World Series right away because he deserves it and deserves everything good happen in life and I know him and Judge have been friends since childhood so there’s that as well that would add a different synergy to the Yankees roster.

Bestie imma try my best to stay positive this offseason however the nuggets are so iffy that you can’t really predict how the seasons gonna go and it seems like we are nothingness without jokic which adds a whole new problem.(also it has been a brought to my attention that Malone shops at my local King Soopers which probably means he lives somewhere close to me, and that scares me) Also, the Broncos are just confusing. They confuse me I don’t know how to feel. BUT YOUR RIGHT AT LEAST THE CHEIFS FINALLY FUCKING LOST. ALL HAIL JOSH ALLEN

Anyways, if we trade Mac, I will literally crash out 

[antiloreolympus]

10 Anti LO Asks

(Note: All of these asks are before episode 206 (Season 2 finale) so some may be dated.) 1. The wild part to me about the "Persephone got approved Underworld citizenship" is it took what, a week at most? Even if you want to use IRL Royal examples, someone like Megan Markle would (if she had kept up the process) still need two YEARS to get approved of it at minimum which includes a lot of paperwork and staying in the country for prolonged time, but Persephone gets it in a few days with no process? Is there really nothing Persephone doesn't get handed to her on a silver platter?

2. "How to be a woke misogynistic :Add white before woman" I think this anon was tryna call antis misogynistic?? Which like. Some of the "criticism" ive seen is just people using lo as an excuse to be misogynistic against rs but most of it is genuine idk what they're going on abt 😭

3. ya know for claiming to be a "loving and supportive fandom with no drama" lo fans are by far the most cruel set of bullies i've ever seen, and I've been in a LOT of intense fandoms. and I can't even handwave these fans as just dumb kids, many of them are adult women who made a mid webcomic their entire world and would rather get a power high off the harassment and bullying of others who dare no obsess over what they do while still thinking they're "feminists". it's so weird 💀

4. Lol I love that the person typed that 'regular' people just drop it and move on when they dislike something. Apparently you're no longer a regular person for disliking and discussing a piece of media 😔

Anyway, LO can bite it. It's misogynistic and an insult to Greek culture among many other glaring flaws. The giant red flag of an age gap and power dynamic between them is one hell of a thing to defend y'all, and it's also a hell of a thing to praise 1 character for cheating but cheer on another character for doing the exact same thing 🙃🙃🙃

Also it's incredibly funny to me how LO stans are so so aggressive and condescending to us about disliking it when we're just minding our own business?? We ain't talking to you nor do we go out of our way to mess with your tags (tumblr is tumblr, y'know) unlike a few of y'all that I've seen specifically use the anti tag to start shit like a bunch of brats. We'll continue minding our own business talking about LO with both non-fans and fans who actually want to have a discussion instead of mindlessly praising it, and y'all should mind your own business. 

5. This comic loves to claim it’s pro sexuality, pro kink, and pro female empowerment AND anti purity culture yet loves nothing more than framing sex outsides of Hades as bad, loves to push Purity culture to make Persephone look like the best woman ever, loves tearing other women down for not being the “right” type of woman, and consistently shames others’ consenting sex lives as gross and weird despite the whole comic being an obvious stretched out mess of Rachel’s office setting DDLG kink. Like??

6. I mean I get why LO Hera doesnt murder babies and all but it is an issue RS rides off "I'm not trying to be accurate!" when she makes Hades the "perfect" guy and Hera and Persephone the most desirable/amazing with zero flaws but then turns around and goes "oh well I'm being accurate!" to make Zeus be super mega awful and just make up stuff to pin on Apollo, Leto, and Thetis like?? you can't have it both ways?? Like she obvs picks and chooses who gets to be whitewashed and who doesnt.

7. Go figure LO fans to make Netflix all but closing down their entire animation department and laying off hundreds of people to STILL make it all about LO. I have countless friends who lost their jobs all en-masse with no warning and a neutered severance plan (NF purposely made it be four WEEKS instead of four MONTHS), the majority of them and their productions by BIPOC and/or LGBTQ+ creators and they're only worried over well-off and employed Rachel? Fuck off. I'm so upset over this.

8. Completely and utterly disappointed at LO being nominated for an Eisner again. I think Webtoon has the power to just nominate it every year and ignore all of their other series.

9. Listen we all know every award is just marketing and we know damn well Webtoons just pumps the with money to nominate LO but we know damn well they're giving way more money to pump up their brand now because the Batman comic is so lazily made yet was ALSO nominated for best webcomic and they're like "one of our BIGGEST HITS big ethel energy is being printed!" despite it being one of their most hated series that is lampooned for bad art and writing. anyway they need to be taxed more.

10. HXP is such boring, basic mythology shipping. Get back to me when they give Isis x Osiris and Dionysus x Ariadne the respect they deserve.

[reidscanehand]

Line of Fire

PART 1 of 2

Spencer Reid x BAUfem! Reader

Category: Angst with Fluff and a Happy Ending

TW: teen unsub, facing unsub, implied sex, implied unprotected sex, bullying, pregnancy, addiction recovery

Based on a request by @saspencereid : I had an idea for a Spencer prompt that I think would be great to read, if you are ever up for it? I think I've seen it in romantic comedies, maybe? Something like Spencer and reader are friends but after a party at Rossi's (or wherever) they hook up and she gets pregnant and they have to navigate their relationship and the baby situation from there...fluff obvs! Tysm!

So, here’s the thing...this most likely isn’t what you want, and I’m sorry for that, but I started writing it and got really inspired. I think that I’ve actually read a fic that is probably closer to your original request and, as we can all see based on the rest of my Tumblr, I write a lot of angsty stuff. Who knows? I might just be an angsty gal, anyway - this is a rewrite of the episode “Elephant’s Memory” in Season 3 (if you haven’t seen it, stop reading this right this second and go watch it; it will tear you to shreds, but it’s so very good) and actually goes back a few episodes before that as well. Canonically I guess this fits into Season 3 from the end of episode 8, “Lucky”, to the end of episode 16, “Elephant’s Memory”(this is long, as is everything I write, but I promise this is not eight episode’s worth of content; we skip around a fair bit). I loved this request, but as I started working on fluffier concepts, nothing was clicking and this is what I came up with; it does have a happy ending, though...promise! This is part 1 of 2 and is the first purposeful two parter I’ve ever done, so...I hope you enjoy it! 

Part 2 should be up tomorrow! Love you to bits xx

~ “Man is not what he thinks he is, he is what he hides.” - André Malraux ~

After one of his first successful cases with the team and in an attempt to get to know the team better, SSA David Rossi decided to take the team for a night out. And with Rossi buying, the drinks flowed like a river. The last case, a sadistic psychopathic serial killer who was killing women in order to test out cannibalistic recipes with their bodies, was also a bit of a tough one, meaning everyone needed a release. Derek went off on his own, not telling anyone where he was heading and Garcia had a date, but JJ, Emily, you, Spencer, and even Hotch had all decided to head to a local bar with Rossi. There was music, controlled by a present, but non-annoying DJ, a decent selection of liquor, and even a dance floor. At around 11, the music changes and the dance floor, previously full of people at varying levels of intoxication, clears abruptly. 

“It is the slow dance hour, my good people,” the DJ announces over the speaker. “Grab a loved one and head to the floor!”

“That,” Emily says, standing up at their table, “is my cue to leave.”

“Oh, no,” Rossi disagrees, standing and offering his hand. “You and I are going to take a turn on the dance floor, Agent Prentiss.” Emily laughs and accepts the offer. “And the four of you better follow,” Rossi adds, turning back to the four of you at the table. Ever the gentleman, Hotch offers his hand to JJ, who accepts it with a sweet smile. Hotch makes eye contact with Spencer as he and JJ retreat to the floor, eyes flicking to you with a smirk. 

Was he that obvious? Spencer knows that Derek knows how he feels about you, but he wasn’t aware that anyone else knew. And he’d really only told Derek because he’d had a rather intimate dream revolving around you while sharing a room with Derek on a case. And, unbeknownst to Spencer, he’s apparently just as talkative in his sleep as he is in real life. Derek teased him about it, sure, but a healthy crush on you isn’t exactly surprising. 

You’d joined the team right after Emily and just before Rossi. You were not only good at the job, but a genuine friend to everyone on the team and loyal to an absolute fault. You’d taken the time to learn about everyone, asked permission about things that might have boundaries (like asking Spencer’s permission to call him “Genius”), and were never condescending or even mildly short with anyone, despite the tempestuous nature of the job. Spencer’s never met someone who, on less than an hour of sleep, could manage to talk to a victim’s family with such skill that you’d both comforted them and got the necessary information out of them without causing offense. If ever pressed to talk about you, the best Spencer could do - without absolutely going apeshit extolling about your beauty and your skills as a profiler - was to say you’re really sweet. Which is not a lie, either. You’re incredibly sweet, actually, which is one of the reasons Spencer is suddenly vastly uncomfortable as the two of you remain, swimming in the awkwardness of being left alone together or dancing, and he can’t decide which is worse. Truly, he’d love to dance with you, to hold you close, to maybe attempt to tell you how much he’s grown to like you, but he doesn’t want you to dance with him out of some sense of obligation. You’ve known each other for nearly a year at this point and he cares about you as a teammate, sure, but he’s fostered an affection for you that, clearly, wasn’t as subtle as he’d hoped. 

“So,” you say, scooting slightly closer to Spencer in the booth, “not much of a dancer, are you?” 

Spencer stares at you, unsure of what to say, “Um-”

“Unless I’m wrong,” you whisper, leaning closer, “and you’re a regular Gene Kelly.” You laugh slightly and Spencer manages a slight smile, a breathy chuckle. He can’t focus now. You smell too nice and look too pretty and you’re very close to him. “Is something wrong, Genius?”

“No,” he answers, quickly, barely recognizing his own voice. “W-why?”

“You seem to forget that I’m also a profiler,” you say, still quiet, moving slightly closer. “And you, Doctor Reid, are nervous. I wonder why.”

“D-do...do you have any th-theories?” Spencer asks, inwardly cringing at how utterly nerdy that sounded. You calling him by his honorific...does things to him. At work when you call him ‘Doctor Reid’ he can temper his reaction to you, focusing on the case or professionalism, but, in this environment, away from the office, with you so close to him, he can’t hide it at all. He’s not great at reading social cues, but...are you...if he’s right, you’re...kind of flirting with him? Dare he imagine such a possibility? He’s absolutely thrilled when you giggle with delight at his slightly nerdy question. 

“I do, indeed, Genius,” you tease, eyes roaming his face. “I think that you’re nervous, not because we’re supposed to be dancing, but because you’re left here...alone with me. Do I scare you, Genius?”

“Y-you don’t s-scare me,” Spencer barely manages to rasp out, embarrassed at the fact that he definitely sounds scared. 

“Are you sure about that?” you ask, not a hint of malice in your voice.

“You’re...you’re far too s-sweet for that,” he admits, feeling a blush crawl up his neck. 

“Oh,” you gasp, your eyes widening. “You think I’m sweet?”

“Of course I do,” Spencer whispers, suddenly very worried he’s given the wrong impression. “And I’m not scared of you...you make me nervous, though.”

“Because I’m...sweet?” you ask, a glint he can’t quite place in your eyes. There’s an ever-so-slight smirk teasing your adorable mouth as well. 

“Yes,” he admits, trying hard to stop looking at your lips - a losing battle, truly. 

“You liked my theory so much,” you begin, eyeing him cautiously as you scoot so close that your now sitting directly next to him, thigh to thigh. “How would you feel about a litte...experiment?”

“An experiment?” he repeats, now fully staring at your mouth. 

You hum in response, your eyes now flicking from his mouth to his eyes. He catches your eyes again and his blush deepens. “Could I...could I kiss you, genius?” Any hint of slyness is gone from your tone and your eyes are boring into his with such docility, such damn genuine care, that he can hardly finagle a reply from his own brain. 

“Y-yes,” Spencer breathes. You take a steadying breath and gently place your hands on his shoulders before slotting your lips over his. For only a moment, Spencer doesn’t kiss you back. You lose your nerve and pull away for a second, only for Spencer’s hands to shoot out from their previously useless state and cup your face, pulling you to him with such fervor that it’s shocking neither of you gains an injury. After what feels like a small eternity and yet not enough time at all, Spencer pulls back panting for air. “W-was that...um....did your experiment go well?”

“Better than well,” you whisper, placing a chaste kiss on his lips, before kissing a small line of kisses down his jaw.

Spencer lets out a quiet gasp, allowing his hands to roam to your waist and into your hair, “I’m-I’m...I don’t understand. Do you...did you....um..um-”

“You know I like you, right? Like, I have crush on you?” you whisper into his neck before pressing a kiss into it. He barely stifles a moan as his logic attempts to grasp at the situation. 

“I think it’s fairly apparent that I definitely did not know that,” he groans as you nip at his ear. He gains purchase on your shoulders, pulling you away from his neck. You completely pull back, scooting away from him a little. 

You don’t meet his eyes and Spencer feels the need to apologize, “Y/N, I-I am...to say flattered would be an understatement, but I’m not going to take advantage of-”

“You wouldn’t be taking advantage of me, Spencer,” your voice, small, but stern, interrupts him. “I’m sorry if I misread-”

“No, no, no,” it was his turn to interrupt you. “That’s not what I mean...I-I...Y/N, I think you’re...you’re...,” he swallows to gain his composure. “You are amazing, but I-I-I just think you might be drunker than you know you are, so this doesn’t-” Your glass is at his lips, cutting him off. 

“Drink this, Spencer,” you breathe. “Just trust me.” Spencer eyes you cautiously, his eyes not leaving yours as he takes a sip. He tastes nothing. He stares at you, still not understanding. 

“It tastes like nothing,” Spencer says, very confused. Why would you make him drink nothing? “It tastes like nothing!” You just stare at him as he reiterates it more emphatically. You gently nod your head, putting the glass back on the table, and Spencer feels his eyes widen astronomically. “It tastes like nothing.” The realization dawns on him slower than he’s used to. “It’s...have you been drinking water?” 

“Just like you, Spencer, for the last two hours,” you nod, nearly smirking. “And, if anything, I only had one cider maybe three and a half hours ago.” You make a clicking noise with your mouth before continuing, shuffling slightly closer to him and placing a hand on top of his on the table, delicately teasing the top of it. He clenches his jaw tightly, so much so he’s worried he could crack a tooth, to control his body’s natural reaction to you. “So...that being said, um...I’m fully sober. You’re fully sober. I told you I like you and you....have yet to respond to that.” You’re biting on your lip when you meet his eyes again. 

Spencer takes a deep, stabilizing breath, “I’m...I’m...yes. I like you. So much.” 

You giggle again, a sound that goes straight to his groin. “Thank God for that,” you whisper, staring at his lips for just a moment too long before looking back up at his eyes. “Would you...maybe...wanna come home with me?” 

Spencer gulps so hard it almost hurts as he nods vigorously, “Please.” 

Once the two of you have made your goodbyes, telling everyone your giving Spencer a ride home, you hurry your way outside, shivering in the slight cold. Spencer wraps his cardigan around your shoulders, and you nod at the gesture. It affects him more than it should, really, seeing you in his deep blue cardigan. Jesus, man, it’s a cardigan, he thinks, but he can’t help but smile as the two of you pile into your car. The ride to your house is....awkward, if not somewhat uneventful as the build up from the bar slowly dissipates, never fully leaving. You don’t live very far away, thankfully. You live in a cottage, almost a townhouse, and the door is painted bright blue. You open the door and turn on the porch light, then the hall light. The hallway is lined with a light yellow wallpaper with pink seashells dotting it. There’s a small, light blue table by the door where you drop your keys and purse. You have yet to take off his cardigan, in fact, you slide your arms through the sleeves, kick off your heels and walk through to what he assumes is the kitchen. A photo of you with a woman Spencer can, based on shared features, assume is your mother, is in a small frame on the blue table. A print of a Degas painting is hanging on the wall mostly taken up by the entrance to the kitchen, as well as a print of a Marina Cano wildlife print next to front door. A closet was across from the front doorway and across from the entrance to the kitchen was the entrance to the living room, then a door to, what he assumes is your bedroom.

“Do you own this?” he calls, stepping further into the hallway to observe the full bookshelves, the framed diplomas, and the small emerald green sofa in the living room. 

“No I rent it,” you call back. “Do you want anything to drink?” 

He follows through to the kitchen. Everything in the kitchen was largely out of date, but charming. And, in the quiet of the night, surrounded by the seventies kitchen and encumbered in his cardigan, you look remarkably charming as well. 

“Are you having anything?” he asks leaning against the wall molding around the entrance to the kitchen.  

“I was going to have a ginger tea,” you reply, turning to face him as he enters the tiny kitchen. 

“That sounds perfect,” he smiles.

You smile back, turning to open a cabinet, pulling out another giant mug and tossing a tea bag into it, filling a baby blue kettle with water and sitting it on the stovetop, turning it on as you do. You then stare at him, pulling yourself up to sit on top of the counter. 

“So,” he begins, crossing into the space and leaning against the counter next to you. “Are you a fan of Edgar Degas?”

“Oh,” you reply, "I see. Doing a wee bit of profiling, are we, genius?”

“Can’t be helped,” he chuckles. 

“Well, I’m sure your asking because I definitely don’t seem like the type to covet art prints like that, but,” you cross your legs for effect, “to answer your question: kind of, I guess. It’s more nostalgia than anything.”

“Nostalgia?”

“Yeah, I used to take ballet and my parents bought that for me when I was, like, 8, maybe? It used to hang in my room. When I moved to Virginia, it seemed like it might be nice to have something like that to remind me of home.” 

Spencer nods, touched by your slight sentimentality, though not at all surprised by it. 

“Plus,” you add, “I can’t live in a place and not decorate it, even if I’m just renting it. That’s way too boring.” 

“You’re anything but boring,” he insists, standing up fully and turning toward you. 

“I wish everyone thought that,” you laugh, self-consciously. He scoots slightly closer to you.

“I hate to tell you this, but they do,” Spencer whispers. 

“They don’t-” 

“Oh, but they do,” he breathes. He puts a hand over yours on the counter. “You are absolutely enchanting.” He doesn’t dare look in her face. This was forward, this was a move. He isn’t used to making moves, small or otherwise. To his delight, you lift your thumb, ever so slightly, and rub the side of his hand. 

“Enchanting, am I?” You’re staring at him, he can feel it and finally meets your eyes. He moves quickly, caging you in as he places his hands on either side of your thighs on the countertop, leaning steadily closer to you. 

“Enchanting,” he reiterates. He moves to kiss you and the kettle goes off. 

“I’m so sorry!” you gasp. He backs out of your way quickly as you jump off the counter, blushing madly as you pull the kettle off the hot eye, turning off the stove as well.

Spencer doesn’t have a whole lot of hope in romantic moments of this variety, but he knows he will regret it forever if he doesn’t seize this moment. The kettle can ruin it for a second, but he can at least try to fix it forever. Fairly boldly for his standards, Spencer pushes away from the counter and crosses to stand directly behind you. You haven’t turned around, staring at the kettle for a long moment, realizing his presence behind you, before turning to face him. You cheeks are flushed and your pupils are dilated. You lick your lips and drop your eyes to your fiddling hands.  Spencer puts a gentle finger under your chin, tilting your face until your eyes meet his, trying not to appear as nervous as he feels. You smile up at him, and, with every modicum of confidence he has in him, he takes your face in his hands and kisses you. To his relief, you kiss him back. He shifts slightly, attempting to push you further against the stove.

You whine against his lips, pulling away but running your hands up his chest, whispering as you go. Whether it’s the lack of oxygen or the elation he feels at finally kissing you after all these months, Spencer doesn’t hear what you say.

“What? I’m sorry,” he pants, his gaze flitting from your eyes to your lips and back again. 

“The stovetop is still hot,” you repeat, whispering through a slight giggle. 

“Oh,” he stutters, pulling you closer to him, away from the offending stovetop. “Um-”

“Here,” you whisper, pushing him against the fridge on the opposite wall of the tiny kitchen, gloriously taking charge by wrapping your arms around his neck and kissing him again. Spencer grins into your mouth as he runs his tongue along the seam of your lips, the tone of the kiss becoming decidedly French. After a few minutes, he pulls away and you moan slightly, a moan that turns nearly feral as he moves his kisses to your neck. 

“I knew you’d be good at this,” you rasp, in a tone that, to his mind, happily denotes your distraction in the moment.

“Am I?” he teases, breathing the words into the tender skin of your neck, before nipping at it, gently.  

“I-I should say s-so,” you reply, your voice faltering as he sucks a mark onto your neck. He smiles, nearly smirking as you shrug off his cardigan and unbutton the top three buttons on his shirt. His hands find purchase in your hair as he brings your lips to his again. 

“I was wondering,” he whispers, pulling away and looking into your eyes, parsing his fingers through your hair, “if you’d like to…” He finds it rather difficult to complete this particular statement. Thank God you’re an intellectual because after staring at him in brief confusion, you seemingly understand, a huge smile adorning your face. 

“Oh, God, yes,” you laugh, pecking a quick kiss to his lips, then pulling him by the hand to your room. You shut the door and pull him to you, lavishing his neck, now, and it’s so heavenly it takes him a moment to gain any form of composure. He pulls away again, breathless.

“Just to be sure,” he whispers, “you want to have sex with me, yes?”

“Yes, genius,” you cry, pulling him down onto your bed in a fit of laughter quickly quashed by kisses, moans, and much less innocent, but no less enjoyable touches. 

~~~

Hours later, he stares into the darkness of your room. Your figure is drawn up next to him, your head laying on his chest as you gently breathe in and out, lightly dozing.

Spencer isn’t tired. He should be. He should be exhausted. But he feels...a euphoria he’s never felt, especially in the more intimate parts of his life. He had fun. Since when had sex become fun? Looking back to his first awkward fumbles all he could recall was nerves and awkward stares, the occasional, painful giggle. But you are different. You’re passionate and funny. You’re vocal about your pleasure in a way that makes him want to work harder to hear it again. The way you feel, the way he feels sheathed within you...Spencer doesn’t really believe in a higher power, or the afterlife. He’s a man of science, of pragmatism, but being with you, bringing each other to the height of pleasure is the closest he’s ever been to heaven, he’s sure of it. 

“Hey,” you whisper into his chest, startling him. “You should get some sleep.” He freezes. Do you want him to go? He doesn’t want to leave. As though you heard his thoughts, you wrap your arms around his chest and kiss the edge of his jaw. “I can practically hear your mind moving, Genius. Go to sleep.” 

Spencer tightens his arms around you, nuzzling the top of your head as your breathing evens out again. He might be getting ahead of himself, but if this is the type of passion he’s been missing out on, if this is the love he’s been looking for...he never wants to let it go.

~~~

It’s awkward. He can’t deny it’s awkward. Spencer feels like you know he’s watching you, but either you’re too distracted to care or you’re genuinely unconcerned, and he can’t decide which is worse. He wishes he could focus more on the task at hand, but, truly, Hotch and Rossi had left you, Spencer, Derek, Emily, and JJ at the hospital while they went to Garcia’s home, or, rather, the crime scene. And, really, now that he and Morgan had interviewed her and she’d been released to go home, there wasn’t much else to do but stare at you.

You’d shot up so quickly when your phone went off that Spencer almost had a heart attack. You’d read the text from JJ and turned to him, all teary eyes and alarm, unable to make any noise beyond a sob. He’d wrapped his arms around you as you cried, pulling you to his chest as his phone went off only moments later. Removing one arm from you he’d leaned back to grab his phone, reading an identical text from JJ: “Garcia’s been shot. She’s in intensive care. No word yet. Get to hospital now.” 

You’d arrived together, but everyone was, rightfully, focused on Garcia’s progress in surgery and hadn’t noticed. You’d sat with Emily while Spencer had waited for Derek to arrive, updating him and prepping for the delicacy of the cognitive interview with Garcia. But now, nearly 36 hours later, as Derek prepares to take Garcia home, and Emily bums a ride home from JJ, Spencer watches you carefully, a protective instinct taking over. Hotch, determined to solve Garcia’s case before moving on to anything else, has instructed them all to go home and get a good night’s rest before starting bright and early the next morning. Since Penelope’s doing okay and safe (or, at the very least, safer) with Derek for the evening, Spencer doesn’t feel guilty about wanting to spend time with you right now. As JJ and Emily leave, you glance toward Penelope’s room where she and Derek are waiting for the final release papers from the doctor before finally looking at Spencer.

“So,” you begin, “um...how are you?” Spencer lets out a breathy chuckle and you look up at him, curiously. “What?”

“I...I just- we’ve been here for, what? Like, a day and a half now?” he asks, wiping a hand over his face and plopping into the seat beside you, staring at the clock. “To be exact it’s been 35 hours, 56 minutes, and 12 seconds, and you ask how I am?”

“Yeah,” you mumble, “is that...stupid?”

“Oh, God, no,” Spencer amends. “It’s just...this is the sweetness I was talking about earlier...or yesterday?”

“Oh,” you nod. “Thanks, then, I guess.” There was small, but awkward silence. “You still haven’t answered the question.” 

“I’m fine,” Spencers answers. “Actually, though...please don’t take this the wrong way, but...could I take you home?”

You smirk, letting out a breathy chuckle, “Nearly 36 hours and you’re still making moves on me, Genius?”

“No,” he chuckles, before he allows his tone to become more serious. “I mean, I’m not at all opposed to...that, but...after what’s happened to Garcia, I’m not...I feel like I shouldn’t send you home alone.” 

You look at him, slightly in awe. “That’s really, really sweet of you. And, as long as it’s not an imposition for you that would...actually be great, Genius.” 

“Nothing is an imposition when it comes to you, Y/N,” Spencer breathes, boldly taking your hand. Even though he knows that sounded corny, he means every single word of it. You smile at him and the two of you stand up, saying goodbye to Penelope and Derek, telling them that you’re seeing each other home, even though both of you are aware that you’ll likely end up in the same place. 

And, sure enough, when the two of you climb into your car, you turn to Spencer and ask, “Your place or mine?”

“You hosted the events last time,” Spencer quips. 

“So, your turn, then, Doctor Reid?” you joke, but Spencer clinches his jaw.

“If you keep calling me that, we aren’t going to make it far,” he swallows. You start the car, looking at him with raised eyebrows before backing out of the spot.

“Honorifics, huh?” you ask, after a few moments as you begin to head to his apartment. “That’s what does it for ya, huh, Genius?”

“Well,” Spencer begins, considering his options. He could be honest or he could be flirtatious...or maybe both. “There are few things about you that don’t ‘do it’ for me, Y/N, but, I don’t exactly mind being called ‘Doctor’.” 

You laugh, but then you’re quiet again, focusing on the road ahead. His apartment is further away than yours and you’ve only been there a couple of times, mostly to drop him off. Just as he’s about to offer up directions, you suddenly, quietly, say, “We should probably talk about what happened.” 

“You’re right,” Spencer agrees, clearing his throat. “Um, where do we start?”

“I don’t really know,” you admit, “where do you usually start in discussions like this?”

“I don’t usually have discussions like this, Y/N,” Spencer confesses, shyly.

“Well, neither do I, actually,” you reveal. You’re quiet again. Spencer chances a look at you, determined not to stare at you as you can’t do the same to him. You’re biting your lip which isn’t exactly calming his libido, but the nervousness in the rest of your face definitely does. 

“If I may,” he ventures, running a hand through his hair, “I really like you. And I really enjoyed sleeping with you...it meant...it means a lot to me. You mean a lot to me.”

“You mean a lot to me, too,” you whisper. “I don’t...I’m not sure how well this would work....not because of you, but...it’s just-”

“Our job,” Spencer finishes for you. He wipes a hand over his face as you pull into his apartment complex, parking and sitting for a moment before Spencer decides to continue. “The way I see it, we have two options here. One, we give it a go. We see each other for a while...and we don’t have to tell anyone yet. I don’t know how you feel about it, but I’m not really one to...see other people-”

“I don’t really want to be with anyone else, Spencer,” you agree, quietly, not looking at him. 

He smiles at that, reaching over and squeezing your hand. You squeeze back and he has the courage to continue, “Okay. So, we just start dating each other...and maybe....don’t tell the team?”

“What’s the other option?” you ask, still looking at your entwined hands over the center console. 

“We...go our separate ways,” Spencer mumbles, almost hoping you don’t hear it. He doesn’t really want that to be an option, but he knows it has to be, for both your sakes. Your gaze moves from your interlocked hands to meet his eyes. 

“I don’t really think that’s an option for me, Genius,” you breathe. 

Spencer lets out a relieved breath he didn’t know he was holding, releasing your hand only to cup your face in his hands, pressing his lips to yours for a few moments before pulling away. “It’s not an option for me either, Y/N.” 

You smile up at him and he presses a quick kiss to your nose. A mischievous glint alights in your eyes.  

“What are your opinions on car sex, Doctor Reid?” you ask, cheekily. 

“I’m up for anything as long as you keep calling me that,” he replies. He presses a chaste kiss to lips before pulling away again. “However, I do have a rather comfortable bed only a few feet away.”

“Lead the way,” you whisper, barely containing your giggles as Spencer attempts to subtly hurry you into his bedroom. 

~~~

For the most part, Spencer is able to disconnect from his work. A good deal of that ability came during recovery from his dilaudid addiction. By separating the two parts of his life, work and private, he is able to leave work at work, even some of the rougher cases. Cases are always sensitive. That’s just the territory of working with the Behavioral Analysis Unit, of being a profiler, frankly, but some hit harder than others. Cases with children are always difficult, any time the profile’s off and they have to correct it, it’s harder, and sometimes they aren’t able to save everyone and the lives lost haunt far longer than the lives saved. However, sometimes a case seemingly ends well and it remains with them far longer than expected. It was an odd case in Chula Vista, California. It started out, seemingly, as an abduction case. Abductions are always stressful; it feels like the team is running against the clock more aggressively in these, especially for Spencer, who couldn’t forget the national statistics on abductions to murders if he tried. This one was bizarre, however, as the BAU’s cases so often tended to be. In fact, it would be more appropriate to categorize all of their cases as bizarre, allowing for more surprise when they had ordinary, quickly completed cases. The case was strange, to be sure, but it wasn’t the sort that usually haunted Spencer. 

It’s one of Spencer’s great insecurities that he isn’t exactly a people person. JJ is, for sure, it’s one of her great skills as a communications liaison, and most profilers are, typically; you and Emily have a particular skill for it. Spencer, on the other hand, isn’t bad at it, per se. He connects well with kids, typically, which he’s secretly proud of (you’d actually recently acknowledged this skill as well, a fact that made his heart soar), but Spencer isn’t exactly brimming with social graces. He’s awkward, in layman’s terms, finding it difficult to turn off the more fantastical parts of his brilliance - the eidetic memory and the speed reading - to assimilate to a more ‘normal’ presence. However, he’s got a pretty great track record in talking down unsubs. That is until this case. The case was complicated: a former hitman’s daughter and her friend had been abducted by a small trio of boys led by a charismatic sociopath, a young man named Ryan. The daughter’s friend was murdered by the gang and her father asked the hitman to go after the boys. One of the boys was murdered by Ryan, the other was badly injured by Jack, the hitman. Spencer had been the first one at the scene, tasked with talking Jack down from murdering Ryan in front of his daughter. And...Jack had killed Ryan, despite Spencer’s best efforts to talk him out of it. Even though he was a murderer, a sociopath, even though Jack and his daughter both survived, Spencer couldn’t shake the guilt he felt. It felt like he had blood on his hands. He felt bad at his job, for the first time in ages. 

He doesn’t give it much thought. At least, not as much thought as he definitely should give it. But, as per usual, life gets in the way. There are more cases, reports to fill out, things to do, and the fact that the two of you have been dating. And, to his amazement, it’s going rather well. As the two of you began dating, he found the separation between his work life and his private life even easier than it had been. There was something to look forward to with you as part of his private life, something viable and growing. Something that made coming home more than worth it. He tried, as did you, to stay calm, but it things were going remarkably well. The two of you have even managed to keep it a secret, which is pretty outstanding considering the company you keep. During one case the two of you had even managed to sneak in a rendezvous in Spencer’s room. However, for someone who classifies himself as a realist, Spencer’s a little disappointed in himself when he’s surprised by the sudden downturn the relationship takes, and at his hand, no less. The two of you have just returned from a case in Pittsburgh where victims were being coerced into suicide. Really, Spencer should’ve recognized that this case would have an effect on him. The victims were being targeted from support groups, giving him an unwanted insight into the world of the victims. A world in which he’s uncomfortable lingering. He’s been able to avoid thinking about it for too long. He’d read a book on the jet ride home, planning to meet you at your house later. Spencer’s acutely unaware of his choice to avoid this mental avenue, but he can’t seem to focus. 

The two of you are making out on your couch, an activity that usually engrosses his entire being, but not tonight. As his mouth passionately attacks yours, a number flashes through the forefront of his thoughts. A ten digit number. He tries to ignore it, to push it to the side, to focus on you, on the angelic, guttural noises you make, on the gorgeous way you smell, on how soft your skin is. There’s an itch. An itch he can’t reach, it’s within him. He’s not sure what it is. The number is back. What is it? Why is it important? Flashes of a gun going off, the splatter of blood as Jack shot Ryan as Spencer stood there, uselessly, helplessly. Those words: useless, helpless run freely through his head. He pulls back from you briefly shaking his head, trying to rid himself of these distracting thoughts. 

“What is it?” you ask, breathlessly. 

“Nothing, nothing,” he rasps. “Just a little dizzy.”

“Do we need to stop?” You stare at him so innocently, so genuinely concerned, he’s worried his heart might break right here, right now. 

“Not at all, sweetheart,” he reassures, blinking rapidly, trying to get rid of the feeling. “Here.” He renegotiates your positioning, placing himself over you on the couch, hoping being in a more dominant position might focus his mind. The moment his lips are back on yours, he feels the itch, but now he knows what he wants. He wants sex. He wants pleasure. He strengthens his affections on you, kissing down your neck and on your jaw, over your collarbones. He’s working desperately to increase your moans so they’ll drown out his thoughts. The number is back. A phone number. The itch is here. He wants...euphoria. The number...the itch...

And then it hits Spencer, very suddenly. He doesn’t want sex. He wants dilaudid. That’s the euphoria he’s craving. His old dealer’s number is running through his head. He jumps off of you so quickly that he loses his balance and falls the the floor. 

“Spencer?” You’re staring at him, sitting up on the sofa and he can see you in periphery, but, for the first time in a while, you’re not at the forefront of his mind. At least not in the typical way. The amount of shame in his system is so overwhelming he can hardly get past it. He’s out of his own body at this point. He realizes he’s standing, assuming he’s gotten himself up at some point. Tears are forming in his eyes and he feels like he can barely see. At some point you’ve crossed to him, reaching out to him.

“Spencer, are you alright-”

“I have to go,” he rasps, the tears falling from his eyes. He’s backing away from you towards your door, trying to remember steps from meetings he hasn’t been to in months. Meetings he hasn’t needed, but suddenly requires, desperately. Trying to push dark and terrifying images and the feeling of guilt out of his mind, which is only accelerating the craving. “I’m...I’m so sorry.”

“What? Spencer, seriously-” You’re stepping closer to him, but he can’t let you touch him right now. He has to get out of here. Now.

“Don’t touch me, Y/N!” A part of Spencer’s brain knows he’s being too loud, but he can’t think straight. “I’m...I’m so sorry.” He can’t bear to look at you, but he can hear you sniffling. He can feel your confusion, and he wants nothing more than to gather you in his arms and kiss the worry lines from your forehead and tell you everything will be all right, but, as the panic increases, his longing for the dizzying, drug-induced high doubles. And, along with it, the images of Ryan being killed, Lindsay’s friend dead in a ditch, every single victim the team hasn’t been able to save in time - all coursing through his brain at a lightening speed. He numbly picks up his bag and crosses to the door. He pauses for a moment and can hear your breath hitching, but he can’t let you try to fix this right now, so he practically runs from your house, slamming the door in his wake. 

Heart pounding, Spencer races away, moving faster than he ever has, breaking when he’s about three blocks away, leaning up against a tree, trying to catch his breath. He shuts his eyes, squeezing them tightly. He can’t do this. He can’t bring you into this. You. Sweet, gorgeous, adorable you. You, the woman who makes him happier than he’s been in longer than he cares to admit. You, who’s nicer than anyone he’s ever met. You, who doesn’t deserve to be mixed up with this...this mess again. He needs to find a meeting now. This moment. Before he blindly drives to his dealer’s house or goes to an ATM and gets out enough cash for one of those goddamned glass vials. Before he continues to use you to get over this craving. Just the thought of the fact that he’s been making out with you while thinking about getting high makes him feel so disgusting that he begins to physically retch, violently vomiting bile onto the exposed roots of the tree. 

Spencer leans back again, his heart still pounding. He finally manages to look at his watch: 7:34. Again, he has to find a meeting. Now. 

~~~

TO BE CONTINUED -- Read Part II

[greyedian]

eh fuck it, rbing to add my tags bc for once I'm somewhat confident in my takes, so I'm not hiding them in there lol (it's kinda long and rambly tho I do apologize. I'm still collecting my thoughts about it all)

#act 3 come through please 🙏 #I don't think it can salvage some of the things I have contentions with but still... please... #don't ask me about the silco vander flashback with jinxs + vis mom #or the bizzare choice to do so much of the storytelling through this weird music video format they've got going on #completely stripping it of the weight these plot beats could've had if they were... normal scenes #and also missing the point of how the music was used in season 1 and what made it so effective #bc it was complementary to instead of replacing the storytelling #seriously don't ask me about these things I will spontaneously implode on the spot

#whyyyyy would they recontextualize season 1 like this with that flashback #to me it kind of ruins the character dynamics and themes in s1. it just makes me so sad you have no idea #also what even are they doing with Jinx rn for real #aaarghhhh just... so many things that are making me scratch my head

#also I'm so terribly sorry but I could not care less about Isha sorry lol #like i get that its sad conceptually but she was such a non-character that i struggle to feel impacted at all #same with sky tbh. i thought her role in s1 was alright but there is so much emotional weight put on her now #in terms of her relationship to Viktor but that was barely established so it's weird to have her around #and clearly you're supposed to care but they haven't given me much reason to #isha and sky were non-characters just there to die to further the development of other characters #they didn't really have anything going on on their own and that's just a type of character and plot device that does nothing for me

#also i thought the war between zaun and piltover + internal struggles in zaun bc silcos gone would be the main focus #but that stuff seems so sidetracked rn

#also sorry i dont like what they did with vander and warwick either. that man should've stayed dead lol #it honestly just makes his death feel less impactful and i dont know what this is supposed to do for the story or the themes??? #that just feels like a pointless plotline that is taking up time that could've been spent on other things

#i just... i could go on like this for a while like there are so many things that just puzzle me #it's so weird considering how tight and thematically consistent season 1 was #let's see where act 3 goes but... i kinda have a bad feeling about it ngl #obv im glad others are enjoying it and this is just my opinion! also a lot of this is probs just my personal tastes anyway

MAN I'm seriously so sad about season 2. Bc I wish act 2 had the same emotional impact on me as it appears to have on so many others. But rn I'm just somewhere between unable to care and actively annoyed by some of those writing decisions. Seriously the more I think about it the less I like it.

[bonkalore]

A while back before the series ended, I shared a newer rendition of my pastime “Tangled 2″ and a Giant Eugene... Now that I finally have all the content before me from the series and have been patient, I went: “my city now.” Full feral rewrite of final season in the works now with a giant guardian Eugene tied to the moonstone and a Zhan Tiri demon vessel Cass as a new finale.

But yeah. I sort of drew the “Eugene taking the moonstone himself” in concept but wanted to try the actual part as well since it obv goes... differently. I still am trying to get details out (I’m actually doing the entire scene redone in storyboards as well but wanted to try a comic concept first). The growth is the bit of complicated part to get down but def wanted him emerging by the end for dramatic effect lol

I’ve drawn his outfit a bit differently a few times but def think the crown adds to him feeling he has to go into this role he’s put on himself now (I also have drawn a cape as well but that might come in a bit).