#if anyone is curious about momentum - the upcoming chapter is in the works ^^;

[pjz4dayz]

Some praise for the SpyXFamily manga (a letter to the anime onlys)

I’ve never read adapted manga chapters of an anime I’ve seen until SpyXFamily. As soon as I heard of the upcoming anime I knew it would be my jam (ticks all the boxes, even the ones that I never expect anime to tick— like adult characters around my age). Story about a fake family becoming a real one that has action, comedy, and a hard hitting dash of romance + cour 2 will have a dog? I didn’t need anyone to explain why I would have enjoy it. By episode 2 I got exactly what I was hoping this series would give me, that sweet sweet brainrot of a slow burn ship. I’m talking the good brainrot we got for Inuyasha/Kagome back when we were kids.🤌 Naturally, brainrot takes me down the path of manga only spoiler hunting, and eventually I come to the conclusion that I’ll become a reader. But do I start with the juicy new stuff— or do I start from the start? I came to the conclusion that I’m all in with this one, will get something out of reading what I’ve already seen animated and am curious especially to see the original work from the creator’s perspective only.

For Christmas my husband got me the first 3 volumes (the hints were strong). And all this faff is to say wow—I’m loving this manga.

We already know the artwork is beautiful from the screenshots we see, but reading the manga has been an experience unique to watching the anime, and that is not something I expected. The paneling is top notch. I hate when panels feel static or, worse yet, confusing. But the panels have a consistent momentum that really makes the story, the art, the pages come together in that sweet spot that lies somewhere in the visuals being shown to you and your own imagination. There are moments that didn’t stand out to me as particularly funny haha in the anime that for some reason, seemed hilarious in the manga. And sometimes it’s nice to be able to take in a frame at your own pace and really soak in all the details.

So, I’ve eaten manga spoilers galore, watched the anime, and I still get excited when reading the major story beats. I’m now saving the last episode like a forgotten soldier because I want to read the manga version first. I was afraid reading the manga would lessen my enjoyment of the anime but not so.

If you have sXf brainrot, twiyor brainrot, or any interest in the manga, grab the first volume. If you’re already enough of a fan to be on tumblr threads— you won’t regret it.

[gay-otlc]

Monsters- Chapter א

Summary: Eyphah is a monster. No, Eyphah has monsters living in hir head. No, Eyphah has to fight a monster. No, someone ze used to love was the real monster. No, monsters are everywhere.

Content warnings: OCD/intrusive thoughts/trich, religion, cursing, low self esteem, violence, lmk if I need to add anything.

Playlist (if anyone's curious)

Word count: 1702

A note: Ahav is a word in their world for girlfriend/boyfriend/partner. It comes from the Hebrew word for love. Also, if you see an ḥ, and you don't already know what it means, interpret it as an h. Please.

Okay, without further ado, enjoy the first chapter of the finally titled everyone-is-jewish wip!

Eyphah surveyed the girl in front of hir- Racḥel, was it?- seizing hir opponent up before hir instructor told them to start. Racḥel looked a lot like hir; light brown skin, thick eyebrows, amber eyes, and a long, prominent nose. Hir opponent had hair of a similar mahogany shade, but hers was much longer than hirs, which only reached just past hir ears. Racḥel probably didn’t have any bald patches either.

But the comparisons and contrasts of their appearances wasn’t what mattered here, though Eyphah did enjoy studying the appearances of pretty girls… and boys, and any gender, really. Everyone was pretty. Silently, ze chided hirself for getting distracted and continued thinking about the upcoming fight.

Racḥel’s stance was wide- it would likely be hard to knock her off balance. She was a few inches taller than Eyphah as well, though that wasn’t a surprise, given hir grand height of five foot one.

Her sword might pose a challenge. Its blade was much shorter and wider than Eyphah’s longsword, and the longswords ze was used to fighting. Still, it couldn’t be bad to expand hir skillset… after all, it would be better to mess up fighting Racḥel than in a real combat situation.

Ze tried to remember- how much did ze know about Racḥel’s fighting style? If ze recalled correctly, she tended to go on the offense, which would work well with hir own defensive strategy.

“Start!” her instructor called, and before Eyphah even really had time to think, Racḥel brought her sword down in overhead attack.

All of Eyphah’s senses lit on fire, hir molecules on high alert. It felt almost like slipping on an old, familiar glove as ze blocked, swinging their elbow out so that the sword would turn horizontal above hir head. The swords clashed together with a metallic clang.

A grin rose to hir face as adrenaline surged through hir. Other than hir ahav, Shoshanah, sword fighting was one of the only things that really made hir feel energized and alive. The world around hir seemed to vanish as hir mind narrowed in focus around Racḥel, and the swords, and hir mind racing to decide what hir next move would be.

Eyphah swung hir sword arm around to bring hir blade around to the side of hir opponent’s head. She blocked it easily, pushing hard against the sword in what felt like an attempt to spin Eyphah around. Ze widened hir stance slightly and bent hir knees to stand hir ground. Once ze felt secure in hir balance, ze brought the sword back vertically across hir chest, preparing for whatever strike would undoubtedly come in a few seconds.

It turned out to be a thrust towards hir gut. Ze took a step back, out of range of her opponent’s shorter sword, and thrust hir own sword in a similar manner. Racḥel brought her arm in, trying to push Eyphah’s aside. Unfortunately for her, she put the tip of her sword midway through the other, giving Eyphah just enough leverage to shove Racḥel to the side, take a long step forward, and place the tip of hir sword against Racḥel’s chest.

“Break!” called the instructor. “Point to Eyphah.”

Racḥel smiled at hir and nodded as ze withdrew hir sword and sheathed it. “Good game,” she said.

“Yeah, good game,” ze said. Hir chest rose and fell as ze reminded hirself- breathe in through the nose, out through the mouth. Hir tense muscles relaxed slightly as ze let hirself come down from the adrenaline high. Ze still buzzed with energy, ready for another fight. Ze focused on hir breathing until that opportunity arose.

Hir next opponent had pale skin, red glasses, and long brown hair. Eyphah didn’t recognize them. They immediately went on the offensive, jabbing their sword out repeatedly as Eyphah sidestepped again and again, searching for an opening. It never came. Hir opponent drew their sword back again, preparing for yet another strike.

Eyphah sighed and angled hir sword, hoping to block down hard enough to hit their leg- hopefully they had enough momentum for hir to use it against them. As ze readied hir sword to swing its blade down, hir opponent changed direction at the last moment and quickly arced their sword up and down, the blade hurtling towards Eyphah’s head in a swift overhead attack.

Before ze had time to react and change the direction of hir block, the opponent lightly tapped the top of Eyphah’s head.

Distantly, ze wondered if it would cut any hair off. Ze hoped it wouldn’t. It had just grown back.

If ze concentrated, ze thought ze could feel hir thick hair rubbing against the blade, slowly leaving hir scalp. It felt itchy, almost, like the hair was screaming at hir. Hir breath caught. Slowly, hir opponent grinned and removed the sword from atop Eyphah’s head. “Good game,” they said. It sounded like their voice was underwater.

The world blurred, everything feeling very detached from hir except the mahogany strands cluttering the sword’s edge. It was only one or two, it shouldn’t be a big deal, except it was a big deal, because if one was ripped out, the rest would follow. Ze wouldn’t be able to resist.

And it had just grown back.

Hot rage flashed through hir, or maybe it was panic. Did ze know? Did ze even really care? It was burning, and fiery, and there was a lot of it. So much. Ze didn’t know whether ze was angry at hir opponent or hirself or afraid of hir opponent or afraid of losing hir hair or afraid of hirself, but ze was feeling.

Hir fingers made their way to the hilt of hir sword, tightly gripping its ridges. It might have been odd that a weapon was one of the few things, other than friends and hir ahav, that could calm hir down, but it could.

Or at least, it used to be able to.

Ze felt the same arm start to creep towards hir hair, ready to tear out the screaming strands of it.

Their fault, ze thought, in broken fragments of a sentence, as hir amber eyes flicked across hir opponent once again.

Like the ghost of an arm, a phantom limb, Eyphah felt hirself draw the sword. Before they had time to react, ze thrust the sword into the opponent’s chest. The opponent had this expression on their face, mostly happy, but a little bit concerned, lips slightly parted. Just the barest ghost of shock had flitted across their face when the blade made contact.

Then, they froze.

Blood gushed from their chest. It streaked down their shirt, the scarlet color sharply contrasting its previous plain white color. It dripped onto Eyphah’s hands, smearing across hir light brown complexion and sinking into the creases of hir skin. Hir opponent pressed their own hand against the wound, and it came away bloody.

“Why…?” they whispered slowly, face falling.

Eyphah couldn’t move. Ze was frozen. If ze had tried to speak, ze didn’t think hir mouth would have worked.

Ze didn’t have an answer, anyway.

Why? There wasn’t an answer. There wasn’t a reason.

Ze just did it. Eyphah was a monster, so ze did it. Hir opponent never got an answer as the light faded from behind their eyes. Their hand pressed against the wound went slack, falling to their side, and they slumped over. A dark red puddle formed around them.

Eyphah killed them. Eyphah was a monster.

“-Eyphah. Eyphah!”

The world still looked blurry. Eyphah blinked as ze came into focus. What was going on?

“Eyphah, are you alright?”

“I…” ze began, looking around frantically. Their opponent was still standing there, upright. Looking at hir with a concerned expression on their face, but not covered in blood. The sword had fallen from hir hand, and definitely couldn’t be used to stab anyone now.

Good. Eyphah never wanted to touch it again.

“My head hurts,” ze finished lamely. “I suppose I just lost focus because of the pain.”

For a second, hir instructor looked suspicious, or maybe that was hir imagination. Either way, the look faded quickly. “Very well. You are dismissed. Ask Shoshanah if she can give you something.”

Normally, a small smile would have risen to Eyphah’s lips, as it did most times ze thought about hir ahav. Shoshanah was sunshine and warmth and love, a million other wonderful things. Ze loved her with everything ze was, and it was so obvious to everyone around hir that hir sword fighting classmates and instructor had picked up on it, but hir head was swimming with dark thoughts in murky waters, and it didn’t have any room for warm thoughts about love and sunshine.

“Yeah, I’ll do that. Thanks,” ze mumbled. For a few moments longer, ze stood paralyzed. Eventually, it clicked in hir mind that people expected hir to pick up hir sword.

Hir breathing quickened, the world around hir seeming to get smaller and more confining and hotter and so much worse. Ze didn’t want to touch the sword. What if ze killed someone when ze touched it?

I’m not a bad person, ze told hirself. I’m not a bad person. I’m not a murderer. I’m not a monster.

And I don’t want to kill this person. They have a life. They’re a living person. Maybe they have an ahav, or friends, or family. They have a future, a bright one. They exist, and I don’t want to take that away from them.

Ze took a deep breath and lifted the sword gingerly by the hilt. Ze couldn’t have put it away quickly enough, busying hir hands by picking at hir hair so ze wouldn’t touch the sword and hurt anyone.

No, ze wouldn’t have hurt anyone anyway.

Because ze wasn’t a monster, right?

Right?

No, no matter how much ze tried to reassure hirself ze wasn’t, ze was. Ze was a monster. Good people don’t have thoughts, fantasies, even, about murdering others with lives, especially not if the imagined victim never did anything to hurt them. Good people didn’t do that.

Only monsters could have thoughts like Eyphah.

There was no escaping the simple truth; Eyphah was a monster.

[seriestrash]

Chapter One

- Banner by the amazing @punzellies -

Summary: TJ Kippen walks through life looking out for number one because nobody else seemed to. When an unlikely friendship sparks new feelings, TJ’s outlook on everything begins to change.

Note: This is an AU. Most of this will be explained in the story but a here’s a quick summary of the main changes: TJ and Cyrus met during the muffin scene but never reconnected after that. The kids are now all in high school. GHC and co. are sophomores whilst Amber and Iris are juniors. 

(read on ao3)

Chapter One 

Word Count: 1662

✗ ✗ ✗

It’s the last day of summer vacation before TJ officially becomes a student at Grant High School. To round off the break in a way that poetically reflects how the summer has gone for TJ, the rain pours down outside. 

TJ sits alone at a table situated at the back of The Spoon in a position where he can see everyone in the diner without anyone really noticing him. TJ has his headphones plugged in but with the music low enough that he could still clearly hear everything going on around him. TJ often did this, he liked to be aware but he also wore them because it tended to make people leave him alone. 

Even though TJ could hear everything clearly, he still pretends like he didn’t notice his cousin approach the table. It’s not until she forcefully yanks the cord - pulling the headphones from TJ’s ears completely - that he looks up from his phone.

“What do you want, Amber?” TJ grumbles. 

“Nice to see you too, cousin.” Amber exaggerates her smile. “I was on my break and I didn’t see you come in.” Amber explains. 

“I didn’t think you were working, if I’d known you were, I wouldn't have come in.” TJ exaggerates his smile too, mimicking his cousin. 

“Did you come from work?” Amber asks, choosing to ignore TJ’s jerky behaviour. 

“No, I wear this for fun.” TJ quips sarcastically as he motions to his Jackson Street Gym t-shirt. “I was walking home but it started raining.” 

“Wasn’t your mom picking you up today?” Amber questions, continuing to ignore his snarkiness. 

“I guess she forgot me.” TJ shrugs, “That’s been happening a lot lately.” 

"Maybe Aunt Tess was just busy,” Amber smiles sympathetically, “I finish work in an hour, want me to drive you home? I could try slip you some free fries while you wait.” 

“I don’t want your sympathy fries or your ride home.” TJ rejects grumpily.

“I’m just trying to be nice. No need to be such a jerk about it.” Amber huffs. “Walk home in the rain. See if I care.” 

TJ did just that, staunching out of the diner with a huff of his own. Luckily for the teen though, the rain had started to clear up so the walk wasn’t actually too bad. Eventually it stopped completely and the sun even poked through the gray clouds.  

With the weather change, TJ decides to walk through the park even though it adds an extra five minutes onto his trip. As TJ is passing the swing set he spots a somewhat familiar face singing a mopey song as he swings.

TJ usually ignored this kind of thing and kept to himself or he’d be the kind of guy to poke fun at it and he kind of does just that when he approaches and comments, “Nice song, what do you sing when you’re on the slide?” 

The boy stops swinging and answers with another rhyme, to which TJ can’t help but let out a faint laugh as he hadn’t actually expected him to have a song.

“I know you,” TJ says a little uncertain, “Chocolate, chocolate chip muffin right?”

“And you’re scary basketball guy.” He says with a hint of a smile on his confused face. 

TJ’s expression drops, although the boy had said it with a smile it felt like an insult nonetheless. “Actually, TJ.” 

“I know. Cyrus.” He points to himself. “I can’t believe you remember the muffin thing, that was like two years ago.”

TJ shrugs it off casually. “Didn’t you move to London or something?” 

“It was more in the country.” Cyrus explains, “But basically yeah. I’m back now though. For good.”

“When did you get back?” TJ asks. 

“Today.” Cyrus beams. 

“And your first stop was the park?” TJ raises a brow. 

“Swinging makes me feel better about things.” Cyrus admits. 

“You’re not happy to be back?” TJ questions. 

“More anxious.” Cyrus explains. “I’m kind of battling with a big decision.” 

“Like what shirt you’re going to wear for the first day?” TJ playfully teases. 

“Please,” Cyrus coaxes his head with a smirk, “I decided that two weeks ago.” 

TJ chuckles but eventually the laughter fades, he looks at Cyrus with a subtly curious expression, “So does it help?” TJ asks. “The swinging?”

“It helps me.” Cyrus nods, “Why don't you try?” He suggests, “It could just be the rain dampened look but you kinda seem like you need it.” 

TJ considered just walking away, he had already stayed longer than he planed - which was not at all - but before he even realised what he was doing, TJ took to the swing beside Cyrus. 

TJ begins kicking his legs back and forth, the momentum builds and he’s quickly swinging high, a smile building on his face, “Wow, this does kinda make me feel better.” 

“I told you,” Cyrus smiles as he swings at a slower pace. “There’s something about feeling like a kid that makes your problems feel not so important. What do you need to feel better about anyway?” 

“You don't know me. I got stuff.” TJ swings. 

“Betcha I got more stuff.” Cyrus almost jokes. 

“Betcha I can swing higher.” TJ challenges.

“I’m afraid to swing high, that’s part of my stuff.” Cyrus admits. 

TJ continues to try and bait Cyrus into swinging higher but when the boy continues to reject the idea, TJ jumps off his swing and a childhood game ensues. 

“That was exhilarating!” Cyrus exclaims and TJ watches Cyrus’ swing slow with a smile. 

“Feel better about your upcoming decision yet?” TJ questions. 

“I think so.” Cyrus laughs, “How about you, do you feel better?” 

“Yeah. I really do.” TJ smiles, swinging really had made him feel better but acknowledging that out loud again changed TJ’s mood, like a subconscious reminder went off about how he shouldn't feel that way. His expression drops, “I should probably get going.”

“You don’t have to.” Cyrus stops his swinging completely. 

“I still have to decide what shirt to wear.” TJ jokes. 

“Avoid red.” Cyrus continues the bit, “I find it too angry for a first day.” 

TJ lets his laugh taper off, “Thanks for reminding me about swinging.”

“You’re welcome.” Cyrus nods. “See you at school tomorrow, not so scary basketball guy?” 

“Sure thing, underdog.” TJ says almost sarcastically and it wasn’t meant in a malicious way, TJ just couldn’t imagine they’d have much reason to be in each others lives after this. 

After the swings, TJ makes his way home and on the way it began to lightly rain, getting him all damp again. TJ enters his apartment quietly, gently placing his keys on the hook by the door. 

“Teej, is that you?” His mothers voice trails down the hall.

“Yeah, it’s me.” TJ calls back. Silently he wonders what his mom would do if it wasn’t him. The chances of the person at the door -letting themselves in- being someone else were slim, after all it was just the two of them that lived there.

“I’m in the kitchen.” Tess announces. 

TJ zips up his still slightly damp jacket and finds his mom as promised, in the kitchen, stacks of boxes scattered about. 

“Sweets, you’re all damp.” Tess points out with a confused expression. “Has it been raining today?” 

“A bit.” TJ nods casually. 

“Where have you been all day?” Tess questions, “You shouldn’t be out in the rain, you can’t afford to get sick with high school just beginning.” 

“It’s fine, I was inside.” TJ states. 

Realisation crosses over his mothers face and her expression falls to guilt, “I was supposed to pick you up from work.” Tess slaps her palm to her forehead. “Why didn't you call me?” 

“I figured you forgot.” TJ shrugs. “It’s okay, I don’t mind walking.”

“Teej, I’m so sorry.” Tess apologises, “I didn’t mean to forget. I got distracted-” 

“Packing up our life, I know.” TJ cuts in bitterly. 

“Teej,” Tess frowns, “I know you don’t want to move but it’s not like it’s across the country. You’ll still be right here in Shadyside. The house will be bigger and there’s yard space. I’ll make sure you can set up a hoop right in the backyard.” 

“I don’t care about a big house or a stupid hoop.” TJ snaps, “This is our home, mom. Our memories are here.”

“Sweets, those memories will always be with you.” Tess soothes, “You don’t need this tiny apartment to keep them alive.” 

“You’re right, so why bother keeping half this junk anyway?” TJ angrily pushes a  box off the counter and dishes smash in the aftermath. 

“TJ!” Tess gasps. 

“I’m going to my room.” TJ states. 

“Dinner will be here soon, I ordered pizza.” Tess tries to defuse her sons anger. 

“I’m not hungry.” TJ grumbles as he leaves his upset looking mother behind him. 

TJ retreats into his room tossing his wet jacket and shirt to the side before putting on something dry. Just as he pulls the new sweatshirt over his head he catches a glimpse of something on his desk. It’s a new set of pencils with a post it note attached that reads, ‘love mom’ with a simple stick figure drawing of the two of them. TJ smiles at the gift and basic drawing, he had been needing new pencils for a while now. The thoughtful gift made him feel guilty for being such a jerk to his mother but TJ was stubborn and still angry that he was being forced to move so he stands firm about hiding away in his room for the evening.

TJ flops down at this desk, his unfinished summer reading staring him right in the face but instead of picking up the syllabus, he reaches for his new pencils and his old sketchpad. 

The time ticks by and as the sun sets on the final day of summer break, TJ fills the page with a drawing of two boys on a swing. 

✗ ✗ ✗

End Notes (pls read): Okay just a short little chapter to get us started. The next one is longer, I promise :) 

I noted a few changes at the top but here are a couple more changes explained further that were mentioned in the chapter;

- Kippen cousins (kinda): 

I am not really a Kippen sibling fan. I like the HC, it’s fun but too far from cannon for me personally. But!! I like the idea of their grumpy dynamic so I’m using it but putting my own spin on it - therefore cousins rather than siblings. (Also not having Amber be his sister works a lot better for this story). 

TJ’s mom and Amber’s dad are brother and sister. Amber’s last name is Brown (as some people tag her as such I can’t remember where this last name came from tbh.. I think it was Josh?). TJ’s mom’s maiden name is Brown but TJ is Kippen because of his father. Hope that’s easy enough to follow :) 

- Cyrus moved to England 

Soon after the muffin escapes and before their on screen swing set scene, Cyrus moved to England. Cyrus attended a fancy boarding school but more on that in future chapters. 

Since Cyrus moved away, TJ and him never really bonded fully after the muffin scene. This change will have impacted both their lives (as I’m a firm believer that people impact who we become) so you will see changes - or changes that never happened - with both of them.

OKAY. There will be a few tweaks to canon here and there but you should all be able to follow along each chapter easily enough!! 

Now to address, swing set new.0; I wasn’t even going to have TJ and Cyrus re-meet this chapter - I had a sort of different prologue planned but scrapped it - and their re-meet was never planned to be on the swings again but I do believe in fate and the swings really sparked their bond so I wanted to revisit that in my story whilst expanding on it to fit their new character dynamics. 

I would like to mention that whilst some parts of my story might include canon tyrus moments reimagined, I won't just be rewriting canon. I plan to incorporate the canon tyrus essence into this story but this story is something new and different. It will not be the tyrus we know but in high school. 

SOOOO, that’s a lot more wordy than usual for my end notes! Yikes! 

I hope you enjoyed this first instalment! More to come! :) I don’t have a planned posting schedule but I hope to release one chapter a week at least!! So ask about the tag list to keep updated! :)

Please let me know your thoughts, likes, reblogs, replies - they are all welcomed and very much appreciated! 

Tag List

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