#All the pages are grey but the last panel is so gay.

[susartwork]

I believe in you! You can do a little better! Even if you don't think so!

Sorry for turning this into a whole Salphys comic, I couldn't resist (^▽^;)

This is for A L I V E Hopes and Dreams! GO BADASS LIZARD!!!

A L I V E belongs to @tatatale Underwizard and art by me

[bamfdaddio]

X-Men Abridged: 1976

The X-Men, those fiery mutants that have sworn to protect a world that hates and fears them, are a cultural juggernaut with a long, tangled history. Want to unravel this tapestry? Then read the Abridged X-Men!

(X-Men 97 - 102) - by Chris Claremont and Dave Cockrum

If I ever participate in Drag Race, this will be my entrance look. (“Hear me, bitches! No longer am I the woman you knew! I am fierce! I am fashion incarnate! Now and forever, the winner of season 27!” *mugs at camera* ) (X-Men 101)

It really amazes me how quickly Claremont shifts things into high gear. One year in and he absolutely does not calm down, giving us both the Shi’ar, more Sentinels and the (motherfucking) Phoenix. SO LET'S GOOOO

You’d think that, as a telepath, Charles would be used to dreaming absolutely twisted shit, surfing everybody else´s freaky dream waves, but apparently, vividly dreaming of space is so exhausting that he needs a vacation.

To be fair, I’d be exhausted too if I dreamt of schizo space bugs on detailed splash pages. Get into it, Mr. Cockrum. (X-Men 97)

Meanwhile, Alex and Lorna have absconded to the sizzling Rio Diablo to work on their doctorates. It’s unclear what they’re studying (archaeology?) and where this Rio Diablo is (Panama, Chili, Ecuador?), but considering that Rio means River, I’m unsure whether drawing a dry dry desert is the appropriate setting. But hey, this was the pre-Google era and you’re not here for topographical nitpicking, so.

Lorna is shot by an unknown assailant and continues the long, long history of Polaris being mentally overtaken by other entities. Together with the equally not-himself Havoc, they travel back to NYC and attack the plane Xavier is boarding. The X-Men battle them, until it is revealed that these former not-quite-X-Men are in league with… Eric the Red?

Scott is all: But I was Eric the Red! Also, Eric the Red does not exist!

Xavier escapes, apparently not giving a fuck that all kinds of X-Men are demolishing the JFK airport, but the still-evil Havok and Polaris also get away. The X-Men are shook!

Some time later, The X-Men celebrate X-Mas at Rockefeller Square, where Claremont skips some steps in favour of narrative expediency. Moira and Sean are apparently in a relationship, Jean and Storm are the best of friends. It’s some pretty rough telling, not showing, but we’ll allow it, but only because the Storm/Jean-friendship is one of my favourite things.

What, you think only the movies indulged in Lee/Kirby-cameos? (X-Men 98)

Anyway, Jean and Scott are attacked by the Sentinels, who continue their trend of being way too sneaky for supersized racist robots! Xavier is kidnapped on his boat trip with super-duper scientist Peter Corbeau (seriously, he has two Nobel Prizes), while they steal away Jean, Sean and Logan in NYC. When they come to, there’s some gloating from Stephen Lang.

Jean Grey being a literal pin-up while delivering nazi-burns is such a big middle finger to everything she was in the sixties and I am here for it. (X-Men 98)

When the three kidnapped X-Men make a break for it and escape the Sentinel’s clutches, they burst through a wall, only to be greeted by the cold vacuum of space! They’re not on Earth at all: they’re on a formerly SHIELD space station! GASP! (literally)

In secret, Peter Corbeau, inventor of sliced bread, helps the X-Men back on Earth board a space shuttle, where Colossus remembers his brother Mikhail (objectively the worst Rasputin), a kosmonaut who died at the launch of another spacecraft. It’s another Future Plotline Seed©.

The X-Men dodge solar storms which sounds like a made-up contrivance but aren’t, while the Sentinels try to destroy the shuttle. In what the kids these days call a pro-gamer move, the X-Men instead ram the space station and go through to these apparently sub-par Sentinels like Magma through butter. Kurt’s showmanship and Colossus’ loyalty are highlighted, while Cyclops becomes more robotic and repressed the more Jean is in danger.

Colossus’ secondary mutation is apparently BEING THE BIGGEST DORK. (X-Men 99)

Scott almost kills Stephen Lang, but then Stephen throws his ace in the hole at them: THE OLD X-MEN? This reveal throws us right in the hallmark one hundredth issue!

And, look. Stephen, this is just a terrible plan. Instead of using most of your budget on making more impressive Sentinels, you blow half of it on making janky X-Men clones to… what? Confuse the real X-Men?

It works for a hot minute, but Kurt and Ororo quickly figure out something is wrong. This Beast, for example, isn’t hairy and this Jean doesn’t remember being in Storm’s confidence. Wolverine is the first to snap: acting on instinct, he kills ‘Jean’, proving she’s an android.

Stephen Lang, foiled by the X-Men’s logical thinking skills (which, to be fair, are notoriously unreliable), spews some hatred and accidentally blows himself up. Nothing of value is lost.

Too bad the X-Men can’t return to Earth: their space shuttle is too damaged. I actually love this: going to space is kind of a big deal for most people and the fact that the X-Men have trouble because they’re stranded in space lends them a kind of vulnerability that has been lost over the recent years. Jean steps up to the plate, herds the other X-Men into the protected life cell and assumes the pilot seat of the shuttle. This is after zapping Cyclops into unconsciousness and telling the other X-Men to kindly fuck off when they try to stop her.

As the X-Men descend onto the Earth, Jean’s telekinesis isn’t enough to protect her as she’s engulfed by solar flares. OR IS SHE?

Nothing funny. All of these panels are just beautiful. Forget those robot copy X-Men, this is why this issue is worthy of being the hundredth one. (X-Men 100)

The space shuttle crashes, rolls over JFK airport before dunking in the water. The X-Men emerge, safe, sound and very lucky and then, defying all odds, Jean emerges as the Phoenix. Fire, life incarnate, etc.

After a brief but melodramatic burst of energy, Jean collapses into unconsciousness and is hospitalized. Wolverine intends to bring her flowers (aw!), before throwing them out when he realizes the gal’s taken, establishing the X-Men’s most famous love triangle. (You can fuck right off with your Scott/Jean/Warren-bullshit.)

I’m not sure what my favorite thing is here: the absolutely bonkers everybody’s-elated-panel (special mention to Kurt’s boots and his bounce) or the subtle character beat where Kurt goes all heart-of-the-team and checks on Scott, who turns out to be not so stoic. (X-Men 101)

Charles orders all the X-Men (except Scott) to go on vacation, so he can take care of Jean. Like, Charles, you’d think they could just go hang out at the X-Mansion. Instead, they go to Ireland because Sean has conveniently inherited the ancestral Cassidy Keep.

All the X-Men dress up fancy for a welcoming feast, and it seems Kurt and Ororo are flirting? But sometimes, it also seems like Ororo and Piotr are flirting? Listen, I’m not judging: I love these polycule vibes from the early X-Men. Especially because neither Kurt nor Ororo have had particularly satisfying romantic plotlines for the past 20 years.

I’m not here to insinuate nothing, but last time I said “I enjoy being with both of you”, it ended up in a spitroast. (X-Men 101)

The soiree is interrupted by… THE JUGGERNAUT, BITCH, and Black Tom, Sean Cassidy’s evil cousin. They are hired by an unknown someone to kill the X-Men! Since nobody subtle is involved, they quickly wreck the castle and everybody tumbles into the dungeons. (Local news paper reports: gay power couple harasses ill-dressed American tourists.)

This story is mostly a vehicle to tells Ororo’s backstory: Storm, one of the few who could conceivably put up a fight to Cain Marko, feels caged by the cold rocks of Cassidy Keep and is incapacitated by her claustrophobia.

Back in the USA, Charles, who’s heard Storm’s mental anguish, is furious with Scott because he doesn’t hop in a plane to save the other X-Men, even though Scott correctly points out that he’ll never get there in time if he leaves now. Meanwhile, Jean awakens, convinced she somehow brought herself back to life. Yeah, you go girl.

While the rest of the X-Men fight the evil duo in Ireland, Claremont tells Storm’s backstory in a few gorgeous spreads.

“I could write a novel about Storm’s backstory.” “You get two pages.” “Deal.” (X-Men 102)

Another classic comics trope appears here, where family members are immune to one another’s powers. I have no idea how Black Tom is immune to Banshee’s sonic scream - he has ears.

Does Black Tom just have a voice in his ears going NEENER NEENER NEENER when Sean screams? (X-Men 102)

When Storm finally pulls herself back together, it’s too late: the Juggernaut has pummeled the other X-Men into a paste and she also falls to his onslaught. IS THIS THE END OF THE X-MEN?!

Other things introduced this year:

Kurt’s image inducer, which he abuses to look like Errol Flynn. (I would abuse it to look like an amalgam of Milo Ventimiglia (ca. Gilmore Girls) and Timothée Chardonnay. OR like Emmy Raver-Lampman.)

The fastball special!

All kinds of name confusion: Lorna is Polaris, Havok is sometimes Havoc and Piotr becomes Peter.

Best new character: Phoenix. Hit me with that iconic shit.

What to read: The Stephen Lang arc is not fully necessary, just read issue 100 and 101. Don’t skip issue 102 if you want to know all about Storm’s past.

[artb0t]

[ALT text for basic image I.D.s, full I.D.s for each page under the read more.]

Pure White, He’s Not Alright

Heh, so here’s the (prologue) comic for that au @dottilyn and I have been working on. the file name is “au meant to hurt you” and i hope it achieves that goal <3

Some minor ramblings under the image ids below the cut if you wanna know more!

[Page 1 - Split into 8 panels, three in the top and bottom rows with two in the center. The first three panels show a dark purple side table in the bottom left corner and a pale foot in the bottom right all in front of a dark grey wall. A phone with a pale pink case sits on top of the table. In the first panel the phone glows and text reads “buzz buzz” in orange. in panel 2 the phone is dark, as is the rest of the room. Panel three has the phone lit up again with the “Buzz Buzz” text. Panel four is an overhead of the phone so it can be read. It is at 3% battery, with a time of 3:46 AM. There are three visible notifications on the phone, one marked as new. The new one reads “Discord, today, 3:6 AM. G.H.R.T.V. : Bro? Are you okay? Normally I’d hear back b-” before getting cut off. The two older messages read “Discord, yesterday, 3:14 PM. G.H.R.T.V. :Shouldn’t be an issue though, right?” and “Discord, yesterday, 10:21 AM. G.H.R.T.V. : Speaking of -(cut off) -ip next week...” Panel five shows the same as panel four, but a pale hand is trying to activate the screen, blocking most of the text. Panels six to eight also show the same as panels one to three, but slightly more zoomed out with Benrey standing in frame, trying to use the phone. He is a pale man in a dark navy shirt, white shorts, and shoulder-length bed head, looking extremely sleepy, like the phone has woken him up. In panel six he’s saying “broooo..... stopppp buzzing.” In Panel seven, Benrey says “It’s too early” while yawning. There are little yawn bubbles around him, and his finger is overlaid through the phone, at a lighter opacity. In panel eight, Benrey has noticed his finger going through the phone with comically open eyes. The yawn bubbles have popped and he is saying “huh?”

Page 2 - This page has 3 small, vertical panels in the upper left corner, overlapping each other slightly while the other 3/4s of the page are one larger scene. In the first small panel, Benrey’s full body is shown and we can see he’s not wearing socks or shoes either as if he just crawled out of bed. He is grabbing the side table for support, and phasing his foot through the side of his Black Mesa Security helmet, which is sitting on the floor. The next is zoomed in slightly to cut off at his knees. This time, Benrey’s hand is going through the side table again, and he looks shocked. The text reads “....whu?” above his head. In the third panel, Benrey is turning away from the left towards the right with an extremely confused expression. The Final panel shows Benrey from the knees up, facing to the right past the viewer. The side table is beside him with the phone (buzzing again) on it as well as his work ID. Benrey’s vest is on a second, shorter side table. On a bed across from the side tables is a pale body. Only the lower legs are visibly, but it is the same skin colour and frame as Benrey himself. He’s looking distraught towards where the head of the body would be, out of frame.

Page 3 - This page has seven panels, split into three rows vertically. In panel one, Benrey is leaning down, looking over what is his body, lying on the bed and slightly blurred to look out of focus. He is shown from the shoulders up, extremely confused, and is saying “Bro, I’m supposed to be IN that.” In the second panel, Benrey has stoop up slightly and can now be seen from the waist up. He’s sticking one of his arms through the body towards the camera, even more concerned. “Why am I not IN that?” He’s asking. In panel three and four, the camera is placed behind the phone on the side table, viewing Benrey from behind. He’s still got his hand in the body, looking away, as the phone buzzes again. In Panel four, he’s turning to look over his shoulder at the phone. In panel five, we see over Benrey’s shoulder as he goes back to the phone. His face is not visible but he is sayin “Oh come on.” Panel six is a close up on the phone. We can see the time is now 3:48 AM, the battery is down to 2% and the new message reads “Discord, Today 3:48 AM. G.H.R.T.V. : Okay well -(cut off)- get back to me soon.” Panel seven, the final one, has a view looking up at Benrey who’s face is lit up from the glow of the phone. He looks quite distressed and is saying “please let this work.”

Page 4 - This page has four panels with images and an additional two with only text. The page has one Main panel, the last one, and everything else is set overtop of it. The first two panels are small, rectangular and floating near the top of the page, flanked by text in “Benrey Speech Blue” saying “no” repeatedly and getting larger each time. The first panel shows his hand almost touching the top of the phone from a dramatic side angle, as the phone gives a “Low Power” warning. The second is more zoomed in, and shows the phone screen shutting itself off. The third panel is wide horizontal on the next row down and we can see the top of the side table where the now off phone sits, Benrey from the waist up, and his body lying on the bed. Standing Benrey has a hand in his hair and his face all screwed up in distress. From this point to the bottom of the page, all the lines fade to white from black, and all of the colours fade to black. There is a smaller horizontal panel with only Benrey blue-text which vertically fades to white that says “NO” and a smaller box underneath that which says “... please”. The final panel shows Benrey leaning against the wall between the side tables and the bed with his body on it. He’s got his head against his knees with his arms wrapped around his legs.

END I.D.]

SO ! this is not a “benrey is a xen creature/experiment/glitch/game construct” au, there is no Res Cas, but there Is an experiment that brings our normal main cast together. We don’t have a full plot outlines, but we do have most of our setup figured out! 

Full time security guard, part time glitch-hunter, Mr. Benrey Benrey Benrey has been online friends with his favourite twitch speedrunner, GHRTV for a while now. They were planning on meeting up! Too bad Benrey can’t remember what happened in the last 48 hours, including what ... killed him. When he wakes up again, he’s back in his apartment, but things look different, and things keep getting more different as it turns out he’s been gone for a while. His apartment has been resold as “move in ready” to a recent PHD graduate moving across the country with his toddler son. And well, wouldn’t you know it’s (ex, now) speedrunner Gordon Freeman, finally getting a chance to use his scientific skills. 

Well... Benrey is dead, right? And he’s not sure why he’s still around (and he really doesn’t want to leave) but there’s nothing against having a little fun with his old best friend, right? And you know what, Gordon Freeman is a busy man and he could use some help having fun again. Either someone to help out with having a toddler, even if they can’t really touch him, or someone to just make him laugh again.

don’t worry, it’ll all work out :)

We’ve got ideas and scenes and goofs of all sorts but we have really been having fun coming up with ways to make this as found family as possible. Let everyone rely on and love each other! They deserve it! But also lots of Angst haha. Its basically us using a lot of ideas which would be really fun but are small on their own, and pushing them all together for the gay rights <3

[dottiechan]

Tempest (Pt. 1)

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5  

Read on AO3

Pairing: Ava Du Mortain x f!Detective

Wordcount: 1950

Warnings: gay pining, denial of romatic feelings none

Summary: Ava waits for the private detective to arrive while pondering their relationship. (1890s AU)

A/N: I am plagued by the late Victorian AU and Miss Du Mortain, so this happened. I wrote the detective as a female private detective, but other than that I have not specified any details about her. It also passes as a reader insert fic! (You can check out the full art here.)

Ava watches the grey sky as it persistently batters the window with rain, the small streaks on the glass pane casting lines on her handsome face that could be mistaken for tears by someone who doesn’t know her. Anyone who does know her knows that she’d sooner shed her blood than her tears. That is just the way she is. The way she likes to be thought of. The only way she is truly safe.

The heavens have let loose, and god is baring his teeth. And Ava just stands there, hands shoved in the pockets of her trousers, gazing out into the busy street as still and cold as the marble statues dotting the hallway. But only on the outside. Because inside of her, there is a storm to match the tempest that assails the city.

She is agitated the moment an image of her slips into her mind, and she begins chewing on the inside of her cheek when she realises that every minute the private detective isn’t in her sight, she is losing her mind. The nervous gesture is soon quelled by hundreds of years of self-discipline, and is replaced by her signature frown, lips pressed into a thin line, the muscles running along her jawbone tensing under her opaque skin. She is... mortal, she wants to think. Fragile. Unimportant. A job.

But she is also everything.

Which is why she must sever her ties to the woman before the job is over, otherwise the eternity to come will turn into hell on earth without her. Ava deserves hell, she knows that. Not that she believes in the devil, but the sharpness of his pitchfork and the heat of hellfire are sensations not unfamiliar to her. Eternal damnation is just guilt and anger and fear hiding in Satan’s clothing. But she can’t even begin to assign words to the kind of torture a world without her would mean. Ava’s ever so logical mind paralyses in terror at the thought of existing in a time when she isn’t.

She inhales sharply - even brushing the surface of the topic causes so much pain to course through her whole being that she needs to focus on something else - anything else - to continue functioning. So she listens to Nate’s soothing voice as he discusses myths with the professor down the hall. She registers the footsteps of people mulling about the museum on the floor below, the idle chatter of ladies clad in expensive dresses, the booming voices of three men arguing over the origin of a painting in the first hall. She turns her piercing attention on the street now, listening to the sounds of horses and vendors and street urchins, feeling thankful to the steady rain for considerably dulling the sharp tang of the muddy streets in her nostrils. She pulls out her pocket watch then, the ticking matching her now once more steady heartbeat.

The detective isn’t late yet, though she has a feeling that she will be, with the rain clogging the streets with carriages and hansoms as it usually does, especially at such a lively hour in the late morning. Ava wonders what she will wear, how her hair will be styled. She wants the rain to kiss her face, she wants the wind to rake its fingers through her tightly pinned up hair and loosen some strands from their captivity. She wants the warmth of the museum building to engulf her once she steps inside, bringing a rush of blood to her cold cheeks. She wants all this and more, for her own body must stay still for everyone’s sake, thus leaving her to live through the rain, and the wind, and the warmth of the radiators, her own fingers and lips and skin left yearning for a sensation she must deny herself.

Her daydreaming is cut short when two men pass her by, throwing her wide-eyed stares as they clutch their books to their chests and mutter quiet greetings to her. Students of the professor, no doubt, and shocked to their very core by the sight of a woman in trousers easily towering above them. It fills Ava with a savage sort of satisfaction before her insecurities - awakened by the private detective’s appearance in her life - creep up on her. It has never been particularly acceptable for a woman to wear men’s clothing throughout history, and 1896 is no exception. Then again, Ava has never been particularly bothered by this expectation, so it has all been well. Until now, when she begins to wonder if the detective likes this. She has commended her on her bravery before, and agreed with her choice of clothing because of its practicality, but that is hardly an admission of approval or attraction. And besides, she seems to favour dresses herself, even if she is nowhere nearly as extravagant or tightly laced as the dames of the decade. Admittedly, the detective’s pulse always picks up when they speak, especially alone, and her pupils are blown when she catches her staring but...

“I’ve got what we came for... and more,” Nate speaks with quiet excitement as he stalks up to her by the window, and Ava forces herself to look at her friend, hands balling into fists in her pockets. She had been so absorbed in thoughts of the private detective that she almost didn’t notice Nate at all until he reached her.

Pathetic. She needs to focus.

There’s a supernatural on the loose, murdering in the streets of London, and she is thinking about whether or not a mortal woman likes her choice of clothing. She takes the folder Nate hands her, and pries it open to reveal several new pages filled with his neat handwriting. At least their initial hunch has been correct - they’re definitely something corporeal that can pass off as a human, and now thanks to Nate’s research, they’re all but confirmed to have come from Scandinavia originally. And yet it doesn’t help her ease her mind that she knows what they could possibly be - after all, they’re out for the detective by the Agency’s estimate.

“Could it be a dark elf?” she mutters, blonde brows furrowed as she skims through the pages.

“Dökkálfar. My thought exactly,” her friend nods, pleased that Ava has come to the same conclusion.

“Haven’t seen one of those in... well, in a very long time.”

Nate’s shoulders sag a little as his initial enthusiasm ebbs. “I suppose we are about to face one again.”

She wants to reprimand Nate for forgetting the real objective of their mission - it’s protection, after all, not hunting down a rogue. But she thinks of the detective again, a woman so unique and individualistic in a world that tries so hard to oppress her along with her ambitions, and she knows she won’t be able to rest until the threat to her life is no more. It’s her duty, she reasons meekly against the swell of affection filling her chest and pushing against her skin, threatening to crack the solid marble of her stoic facade. But she knows a lie when she hears one. She suddenly thinks of last year, Paris, the Louvre. Nike of Samothrace. The statue of the Winged Victory. Headless, and yet still the symbol of triumph. She has lost her common sense ever since she started working with the detective, but she knows she must win as well, because if she fails... Well, she dare not even think about the consequences it would have on her.

And above all, she must remain as cold to the touch as that carefully carved block of marble.

“I wish we could tell her,” her friend presses on gently, concern and guilt marring the edges of the soft curve of his long lips.

“It’s better this way. Safer,” she croaks, hating the way her voice softens and breaks mid-sentence.

“Safer for whom, I wonder?” Nate sighs, taking the folder Ava hands him and closes it with delicate fingers before leaning against the wall next to her. She hasn’t even realised she sought to support of the wooden panelled hallway until Nate mimicked her movement absent-mindedly.

“What do you mean?”

“Safer for her...” he sighs before glancing at Ava with sad eyes, “or safer for us?”

She averts her eyes, her long ignored self-loathing clawing its way up from the deepest pits of her mind before she clenches her jaw. “For all parties involved.”

But mostly for me, she admits to herself inwardly. The lie obscures her true nature, and she revels in it for once. She doesn’t know what she’d do if the detective flinched away from her in fear instead of being drawn to her like a moth to a flame in the middle of a heavy summer night. For the past 800 years, she thought of herself as nothing but an agent, an element operating in the shadows, making the world a less dangerous place. She hunted her emotions and burned them at the stake, but this witch hunt can only go on for so long without consequences. She always thought of herself as a vampire first and foremost, her base nature being a bloodthirsty monster, but she was human before that. And she’s never felt more human than now. Probably not even when she actually was one.

And that is a terrifying thought to live with, especially when its source is so easily pinpointed. Her. It’s all on her.

“So we lie once more?” Nate sighs, breaking the silence and drawing her attention outwards once more.

“Yes,” she states firmly, the word feeling strangely sour in her mouth. “We tell her this was a dead end. She doesn’t need to know anything else. The Agency, on the other hand, needs to be brought up to speed. Will you do it?”

“I’ll brief them,” Nate nods, pushing himself away from the wall before straightening down his coat. “I suppose that leaves you with watching her?”

“Yes,” Ava speaks through gritted teeth, ignoring the heat crawling up her neck at the thought of being alone with the woman. Her reaction to the detective is unbearable, and yet she brings it upon herself like a masochist inviting the pain. She doesn’t understand why she does it, and yet she has no will to stop.

A nod, retreating footsteps, and Nate is no longer to be seen or heard, not even by her eyes and ears. She slips out her watch from her pocket once more and flips the silver lid open - she is late. Her heartbeat turns into a wild galloping crescendo when she hears a familiar voice on the street though, her heart’s rhythm no longer matching the steady ticking of the pocket watch as it did before.

Ava stares as she exits the hansom with a graceful ease that should be categorised as a criminal offence, wet pieces of stray hairs sticking to her delightful face as she rushes across the street with a purpose that almost leaves her breathless.

She wants to catch the killer, she tells herself. That’s all she wants and nothing more.

Yet as she moves swiftly towards the staircase, unable to wait for her in one place, and wanting, no, needing to see her as soon as possible, deep down Ava hopes the detective is just as eager to be with her as she is.

And then at the very last moment, right before they’re about to come face to face, she schools her features into a blank expression, a great lie of a tabula rasa, her face hardening like sculpted marble - commanding, ancient, beautiful, but so, so cold.

[spaceorphanssecondbreakfastclub]

Reading X-Men: Uncanny X-Men 1-3

It’s been a long standing project of mine to finally read (and think) through the entirety of Uncanny X-Men (and many of its offshoots).  I’ve tried a few times to start, but of course, I get hung up.  Well, I’m not really going to buckle down and do it, even if it takes me the decade (which it probably will.)  

So, let’s start at the beginning -- the Silver Age of Comics, a time in the early 60s when comics were bright and colorful, and clearly targeted towards a very specific demographic of white, upper middle class boys ages 8-12.  I can’t say I’m a huge fan of this era of comics (even the most beloved titles such as Fantastic Four and Spider-Man), but that doesn’t mean we can’t find fun things to talk about here either.  

X-Men was one of the last titles Stan Lee created in his golden age with Marvel Comics, and his attempt to create a superhero team made up entirely of teenagers (as a way to get kids to relate?), and was drawn, infamously, by Jack Kirby.  Was the book any good? Meh, X-Men consistently had the lowest sales, and it’s not a surprise that it was cancelled by 1970.  But the whole idea of Mutants, of people being ostracized for being born different, is a concept that still very resonant today.  

X-Men Issues 1-3

The first three issues of the book aren’t much to write home about.  Pretty much all of Stan Lee’s comics have the same similar feel to them, and a structure that’s nearly unwavering.  The X-Men are introduced (usually by training in the Danger Room), the outlandish villain is introduced, the X-Men fight the villain and lose, the X-Men fight the villain and win.  The end.  Not very sophisticated these books. But they didn’t have to be -- kids just needed to read them.  Silver Age was less about story, and more about fun action sequences drawn on the page.  

So, let’s talk about the original line up of X-Men: 

Professor Charles Xavier: Founder of the X-Men.  He’s a rich, invalid guy who decided he wants to train teach younger members of homosuperior (yes, mutants are considered a different race) how to use their abilities to fight crime.  Because why not?  His mutant ability telepathy, telekinesis, and any other mind power you can think.  

Like pretty much all of the characters in the first few issues, he doesn’t have much personality.  He spends a lot of his time yelling at the X-Men through telepathy and having uncomfortable feelings about Jean Grey.  (Okay, it’s one panel, but my god, why??)  He also starts the series by having some serious issues with ethics, as he scrambles people’s minds without much thought.  

Scott Summers (Cyclops): The moody and broody ‘leader’ of the team.  He doesn’t do much but angst over the fact that his eyes shoot dangerous energy (not laser!) beams, and he could seriously danger anyone at any second.  

Warren Worthington III (Angel): The wealthy, playboy with wings attached to his back.  His most prominent skills are being that dude whom every woman rolls her eyes at and being able to dodge shit.  

Henry (Hank) McCoy (Beast): A jovial and loquacious oldest member of the team, who is supposed to sprout irony, being the most intelligent while his mutant power is being beast-like. 

Robert (Bobby) Drake (Iceman): The youngest and “coolest” member of the team, who is often incredibly juvenile and uses his ice powers to joke around.  (Bobby’s much, much later going to come out as gay, which adds an extra fascinating (and sometimes hilarious) layer onto his Silver Age persona.)  

Jean Grey (Marvel Girl): Jean gets to be the token girl back in an era when having a girl on the team was considered diverse.  I like Jean in general, but the unfortunate downside to her being a girl in a Silver Age comic is that she doesn’t get much to do.  She’s often regarded as being the weakest based solely on the fact that she’s a girl, despite the fact that she’s a telekinetic, and will eventually be one of the most powerful characters in the Marvel Universe.  She doesn’t get to do a whole lot other than be oogled by the guys on the team, and faint after she exerts a minimal amount of power on panel, often needing one of the men on the team to save her.  

It does get better, and I’m glad she’s at least around, but you can tell comics still had a long way to go.  

***

Like I said above, the structure of Silver Age comics is pretty much the same, and it really comes down to the villain of the week.  So, the villains of the first three issues: 

Magneto:  Long before Magneto’s tragic backstory is developed, before his long standing somewhat homoerotic friendship with Xavier is explored, and before his name is even established, Magneto makes his mark as being the first supervillain the X-Men ever fight.  He’s already in his classic red and purple costume, using his questionable powers of magnetism to screw around with nuclear bombs and threaten the world.  

And he’s an absolute delight.   He’s cheesy and the epitome of supervillain scenery chewing.  Do his powers make sense? Not really.  Does he really accomplish anything by blowing the world up? Nope.  But at least he’s ridiculous and fun, and memorable enough to become the most iconic villain in X-Men’s canon. 

Vanisher: Magneto’s followed up by the somewhat bland Vanisher, whose outfit is totally killer, but otherwise an idiot. The Vanisher’s power is to teleport (like Nightcrawler), and his brilliant plan is to steal secret plans from the government.  (He also decides to recruit a following - which is kind of hilarious.)  The X-Men aren’t really able to stop him, so Xavier steps in to wipe his mind.  Cause you know.  Ethics. 

The Blob: While the Vanisher is forgettable, and won’t really be remembered, The Blob ends up sticking around, albeit in smaller villainous roles.  The Blob’s whole schtick is that he’s a huge dude and nothing can really hurt him.  The X-Men try to “save” him from the circus, but the Blob is just one obnoxious dude, and isn’t really about being trained for Xavier’s mutant army, so he decides to head back to the circus.  And then gets his circus friends to attack the X-Men (why, I don’t know).  But because Stan Lee keeps writing himself into a corner, Xavier, once again, wipes the guy’s mind.  

And that’s really it - the first three issues of The X-Men! Whoo! :) 

[murasaki-murasame]

Ah yes, Ao no Flag chapter 46, aka the one where I keep thinking to myself “we all do realize that this all started with Touma literally being physically assaulted for being gay, and him then being totally ostracized by the rest of the school, right? Like, that’s a thing that happened. We can’t just act like that didn’t happen’”.

[And as a side-note, Viz Media will start releasing this series physically starting in April 2020, just to remind everyone]

Anyway, thoughts under the cut.

Oh boy this post sure is going to sound like a retread of what I’ve been saying about the last several chapters, considering that content-wise nothing’s exactly changed lol.

I know I said this before, but I really feel like this whole story arc is an incredibly uncomfortable example of ‘grey morality’ being taken to the point of outright victim blaming. It’s a very complicated subject, but basically I feel like it represents this naive understanding of what ‘grey morality’ actually is, where people just use the idea of it as an excuse to go ‘well, no-one’s truly good or evil, so everyone’s exactly the same and I can just keep supporting the people I already support without thinking too hard about it’.

I honestly think it’s more mature, realistic, and nuanced to accept the fact that, for all intents and purposes, some things in life actually ARE ‘black and white’, and trying to smother them in shades of grey does a disservice to people. In this case, I hope we can all agree that spontaneous homophobia violence is, let’s just say, capital-B Bad [tm], and no amount of navel-gazing after-the-fact justifications can change that.

It’s also worth pointing out that over on reddit, there’s been more and more people being like ‘I guess people can’t handle a REALISTIC story about gay people, and they just want their yaoi ships to be canon :/’, which I think says a lot about why exactly the tone of these last few chapters, and especially the focus on acting like Futaba has it the worst out of anyone at the moment and everyone’s bending over backwards to tell her about why she shouldn’t bother feeling bad for Touma, really rubs me the wrong way.

To be frank, I feel bad that Futaba’s become the victim of some vague rumors, but that’s also literally the only thing going on with her. A few random schoolgirls have been vaguely mean toward her behind her back once or twice. That’s pretty much it. Whereas Touma was, y’know, literally beat up for being gay, forcefully outed to his entire school, and socially ostracized to a way more extreme extent than Futaba has been.

It’s also weird to see people like Yorkie act like this was all Touma’s fault, when this all started because he privately came out to Mami, and then Kensuke decided to barge in out of nowhere and make it into a whole thing that then got leaked out to the entire school. And the only reason Touma decided to confess to Taichi once and for all was because everyone already knew about it by that point so there was no point hiding it anymore. So it really sucks seeing anyone act like this is all just something Touma decided to have happen and that he should deal with the consequences alone.

Also, I hope I’m not the only one getting increasingly annoyed at how the relatively little screen-time and focus Taichi and Futaba have been getting has mostly involved them having extended periods of awkward silence with some vague internal monologues about them being insecure about themselves. It’s starting to wear on me a little.

At this point I can’t help but hope that Kaito is actually going somewhere interesting with this whole plot thread of how the two of them seem to be re-evaluating exactly how they feel about each other, and what they think it even means to have romantic feelings for someone. I probably shouldn’t get my hopes up, but I think it’d be interesting if this goes in the direction of them both doing some serious self-examination and realizing that they might only *think* that they have romantic feelings for each other. But we’ll see.

I did really like the art for the whole scene with the two of them, though. Especially that one panel of Taichi looking at Futaba. I just really like those moments of super high detail in the character designs.

Also, one last thing, the first thing I thought when I saw that cover page with Mami and her friends in lingerie was that someone at the Shonen Jump editorial department must have been like ‘oh shit this recent story arc’s been too gay, we gotta throw a bone to the horny straight dudes’, lol.

[princessdevy03]

Tumblr Exclusive!!!!

Author’s Note: Because I can.

Nat belongs to @c2ndy2c1d

Chances Are…

“Hey, there.”

“H-Hey.”

Edd’s eyes darted down from the sparkling green ones in front of him and blinked a few times before looking back up to see Kevin still grinning at him.

“Wanna come in?”

“Uh, yeah. Sure,” Edd said softly as Kevin stepped to the side and let him into the small dorm room.

“How was your trip?” Kevin asked as he closed the door, a small pout crossing his face as Edd flinched at hearing the heavy door close even though they were both expecting it.

“It was alright,” he shrugged as he toed off his shoes and placed them at the end of the bed before sitting down on the edge of it. “We got to meet a few of the writers on the panels, which was nice. Might have some connections for grad school, but that’s a ways away so we’ll see.”

“Only you would be thinking about grad school now, Dork,” Kevin snorted as he walked across the room and collapsed into his bed.

“And you’re not?!” Edd exclaimed.

Kevin smirked as he leaned back against the wall and shrugged, which just made Edd tug on his beanie as he sighed and shook his head.

“I mean I could,” Kevin said as Edd put his beanie back in place. “But I’m kinda just done with it all, ya know?”

“Can’t say that I do,” Edd told him. “I’m still a sophomore so I’ve got a ways til I reach burn out.”

“Knowing you, you’ll get a like three doctor degrees before you burn out.”

“They’re called doctorate degrees and I only really need two,” Edd retorted and Kevin laughed.

“What the hell are you gonna do with two doctorates?!” Kevin snorted as Edd gave him an unamused stare.

“Teach,” Edd said incredulously.

“Oh,” Kevin replied as he cocked his head to the side. “That actually kinda makes sense.”

“Thank you,” Edd snarked and Kevin snatched the beanie off his head and ruffled his curly hat hair.

“You’re welcome,” Kevin grinned as he waggled his eyebrows and then snickered as Edd slowly started to turn red and had no hat to hide under.

“So…so what did you do while I was gone?” Edd asked as he picked at the stray strings of Kevin’s comforter.

“Jack shit,” the redhead snorted and he laughed as Edd gave him a disbelieving look.

“So you just sat up in here all weekend doing nothing?”

“Did my homework,” Kevin answered as he pointed to his desk and Edd turned to see a neat pile of books, notebooks, and folders on top of Kevin’s closed laptop. “Went to the movies with Nat and Ang yesterday and took Nazz lunch at work. I mean, it’s the same shit I do every weekend, just did it without ya.”

Edd caught the downturn in his tone and he had to bite back a smile.

They had met last semester at a movie event the Student Government Association put on at the beginning of the school year.

It was a drive in theater experience where students were encouraged to bring lawn blankets, portable chairs, snacks and drinks, even though the SGA provided some, and a movie would be projected on the side of administration building.

As athletes, it was Kevin and Nat’s responsibility to mingle with their classmates and encourage them to come to games instead of running home every weekend as their small state school was known for being one of the easiest for students to commute to and from as the closest metro area was only an hour away.

So the two hotshots would go to as many SGA events as they could, talk to people, participate in whatever was happening and then head back to their dorm by curfew, pretty pleased with themselves as they knew people would come out to watch them play.

But Edd wasn’t any other student.

He was the science department’s biggest coup from the Ivy League campus across the state, the Tiny Ivy in Edd’s hometown, and the big state school in the middle of the state that his parents graduated from.

But this all meant he was very busy.

He couldn’t run home on the weekends to be with his parents or friends who had stayed in town because he was in the labs conducting experiments for class and extra credit.

He was also in a few honor societies so his weekends would be filled with events with them as well.

Very few of which included football games.

Kevin only really saw him on campus, running back and forth between the math and science building and the science department’s lab annex.

He caught sight of him at the homecoming game because everybody went to homecoming and Edd even stopped to congratulate him on their win at his buddy Rolf’s fraternity party later that night.

Kevin didn’t see him again until midterms and the university’s Gay-Straight Alliance club put on their Snowflake Destresser.

Nazz told him to go unless he wanted to end up in the hospital from the stress of having to deal with midterms and a conference game that would put the team in bowl game bid contention.

Hospitals meant needles.

Needles meant assured death.

Hating that idea, he went and found himself melting.

Rolf was coloring with his new girlfriend, Angela, and Nat and Edd were in a corner cuddling kittens.

The adorable grin on the smart young man’s face as he head butted a grey calico kitten twisted Kevin’s stomach up and he quickly found his lap full of kittens as Nat took pictures to post to his Instagram page and Kevin finally got to talk to the genius who’s blue eyes had been filling up way too many lonely daydreams.

That conversation led to numbers being exchanged and Kevin found him on Facebook, while Edd silently stalked his Snapchat.

The texts were friendly at first, plans made to hang out were made and met, but as the texts got more personal, their face to face interactions faltered.

Kevin wouldn’t say Edd was shy, just reserved. But there was always a guarded glint in his eyes whenever they parted ways and Kevin would hear a remorseful sigh that just hurt because he couldn’t understand why Edd would go from an open book to closed off and seemingly pained by it.

Figuring that their texts are how he found out so much about his new crush, Kevin broached the subject as best he could and was met with a very basic, “it’s not you, it’s me,” response.

Knowing that that meant Edd had dealt with some sort of heartbreak before, Kevin dug deeper because he knew that he couldn’t let Edd go, but he knew that they couldn’t move forward with Edd still being stuck behind some pain from his past.

After talking to Ang, who was from the same city as Edd and went to his rival high school, Kevin found out that being out in the city was just as hard as being out in the small town he was from.

Edd would start each school year bright eyed and bushy tailed about his classes and making new friends and in a fast romance by Halloween. But it was always over before Easter and for Edd, the spring rains would be a great place to hide his tears.

Seeing as they were in the spring semester, Kevin could see the smart ravenette was bracing himself for something to happen between them, but Kevin was going to make sure that it wasn’t the tornado of disaster that Edd was used to.

He kept things casual for the most part, inviting Edd to hang out whenever he got the chance, calling him for no reason, silly texts to go along with their more serious ones.

If they went out in a group, Kevin would make sure Edd was always by his side.

All of his friends knew that he had some sort of nice feelings for their younger classmate, but what shocked most everyone that knew the redhead was that despite his growing feelings, he was taking things slow.

Nazz and Rolf, who had grown up with Kevin, had plenty of stories of the redhead who would pounce into relationships at the first hello. The goodbyes were rarely mutual on the redhead’s part, but he always bounced back.

His flirting ways preceded him everywhere he went, so he knew that Edd would have to have felt some kind of way about the attention he was giving him, but he was always sincere.

Edd figured that Kevin would find something to get into with someone while he was gone to a science conference that their school’s biology and physical science clubs were hosting with other science and biology clubs from schools in their conference.

Except, apparently he didn’t.

He knew that Kevin was trying to gain his trust, but he didn’t trust to what ends the redhead was after.

Kevin was just his type; tall, athletic, killer smile, charming as all get out, and happily out.

But, relationships with this type always ended up with Edd being burned because they would always find someone more fun to hang out with.

Not that he’s boring, but his studious, plan for every contention ways would limit his fun sometimes.

His best friends all but begged him to chill and go with the flow when he got to college and Edd tried, but he knew that time wasn’t on his side.

The biotech field was always changing and he wanted to get into it as soon as he could and teach for as long as possible. That meant no time to be wasted unless he had it to waste.

He was only a sophomore, so he knew he had about a year and a half to play around before he had to buckle down, but Kevin was a junior and by the time Edd would need to get to work, Kevin would be gone.

And it scared him.

Kevin seemed like he was genuinely interested in what Edd wanted to do with his life’s work and would support his plans to do it no matter how long it took, but this was now and Edd couldn’t bear to think of later.

And yet, Kevin had spent the long bank holiday weekend just hanging out with his own friends and their mutual friends living life, but still waiting on him.

He told Edd to come by as soon as he got back if he was up for it after he got back into town, and Edd was more than up for it.

He wanted to see Kevin for himself and see if the pictures posted to Nat’s Instagram feed were true.

And they were.

There was a smile or smirk on his face in every one, but there was a glint in his eyes that Edd couldn’t quite get a read on, but he knew he didn’t like it.

He didn’t like it one bit.

As soon as Kevin had opened the door, the glint disappeared and his eyes happily sparkled like they always did when they saw each other.

And he’s scared again.

He’s scared of falling and then losing his safe place to land because Kevin couldn’t or wouldn’t or because of life.

It would just be easier, simpler, safer to keep his head down, go to class, get his degreeS, then maybe create a life with someone who understood his need to help us live just a bit better.

But despite his fear, his apprehension and reservations, to know that a hotshot like Kevin was there for him was a bit of an ego boost.

“Well, I’m here now, so if everyone is up for it, we can grab dinner or something later,” he said as he looked around the bed for his hat.

“What about now?”

Edd looked up to see his hat on Kevin’s hat, which was on the redhead’s head.

“I’m free as a bird,” Edd shrugged as he reached for his hat and Kevin leaned away which made him fall right on top of him.

“Tweet, tweet, mother fucker,” Kevin snickered as he tossed both hats on his desk and pulled Edd into a cuddle.

Cuddling wasn’t new for them, but they typically kept it loose and light.

This time, Kevin was holding him and Edd didn’t want him to let go.

Still…

In an effort to put some distance between them but still stay in his space, Edd moved a bit, but that just made Kevin pull him closer.

“Kevin, you’re squishing me,” Edd whined and Kevin huffed as he loosened his grip and Edd rolled onto his side so his back was to the wall.

Kevin pouted a bit before rolling on his side to face him and kiss his nose.

“Miss me?” Edd smirked and Kevin rolled his eyes.

“Well, you’re in my bed so who’s missing who?”

Edd pulled his phone out of his pocket and started counting aloud. When he got to forty, Kevin asked him what he was counting for.

“That’s how many texts I got from you last night while we were at the awards banquet,” Edd replied as he showed him the string of texts from Kevin basically live texting his playing some video games and watching a movie the night before.

“I was bored.”

“Uh huh.”

“You texted me goodnight!”

“Just so you wouldn’t drain my phone with this nonsense!” Edd screamed as he waved his phone in Kevin’s face. Kevin rolled over in a huff and turned about six shades of red when Edd went on, “And then I wake up to twenty more because why now?”

“I just wanted to know if bees really have knees,” Kevin pouted and Edd snickered.

“They do. And penguins do, too.”

“Nerd.”

“Jock.”

“Dork.”

“But I’m cute sooo…,” Edd shrugged and Kevin just stared at him, which made him giggle, which made him cuter and Kevin’s just done.

“You’re cute, but you’re not that cute,” he lied and Edd saw right through it.

“You’re cute, too,” Edd grinned. “But you’re like a five, but not that cute like Jacob Oriole. He’s an eight.”

“My dick’s an eight so…”

“Uhuh,” Edd blinked and Kevin nearly fell off the small bed laughing at him. “That’s not funny, Kevin!”

“Yes, it is!” Kevin chortled. “Oh, my God, if you could see the look on your face right now.”

Edd’s mouth settled into a hard frown and it took everything in Kevin not to kiss him.

They hadn’t gotten past a kiss on the forehead, cheek, or nose, but when Edd frowned, Kevin had to kiss it better. He just couldn’t bring himself to do so.

Edd still seemed so guarded and he didn’t want to scare him away so he held back.

But knowing a hug would ease a smile back on his face he pulled him into his arms as he said, “You started it.”

“How?!”

“You showed up and you just won’t leave,” he grinned as he squeezed him tight because Edd was trying to wiggle away. “I’m teasing, I’m teasing!” he laughed as he let go because if he held on any longer, he’d give Edd something to wiggle about.

“Meanie,” Edd huffed as he wiggled himself back to the safety of the wall.

“Doodyhead.”

“Imbecile.”

“Smart ass.”

“Jackass.”

“Says the guy staring at my ass,” Kevin tossed over his shoulder as he went to his closet. “I’m getting hungry. You want a snack?”

Watching him walk away made Edd sink in the bed a bit and he pulled the pillow close to take in more of the scent that had been taking up too much space in his head lately and to hide a problem that always started whenever they were thisclose.

“N-No, I’m fine,” Edd stuttered as he held the pillow close and picked at his nails.

“It’s like 3, Edd,” Kevin said worriedly before looking from Edd to the clock on his desk. “313, actually. No one is gonna be free til after 6, sooo…”

Edd just shook his head as his appetite left him and anxiousness took its place.

“You ok?”

Edd was startled by Kevin’s sudden appearance in front of him and yelped as he threw his pillow at him. Kevin caught it with a smirk and tossed it back on the bed before falling back on the bed again and pulling Edd into another cuddle.

“What’s wrong, Dee?”

Not many called him Double Dee anymore as the nickname seemed childish to most of their college peers, but Kevin had no problems calling him every other variation of his name for kicks.

“Nothing,” Edd sighed.

Kevin ran a hand through his hair and took in what he could see of Edd’s face that wasn’t hidden by his hair or the pillow.

There was a bit of a worried look in his eyes, but he seemed to be in deep thought so Kevin played in his hair because he knew Edd would talk when he was ready.

Edd leaned into his touch as he wrapped his arms around Kevin’s waist and held himself there. It all felt so good, but a piece of himself wouldn’t let go.

Let go of David, his first real kiss.

Of Adam, who told him he loved him before leaving him for a girl because, “at least she puts out.”

Of Jordan, who did everything right that the others did not and then stole his access to the school’s student records and changed his grades so he could graduate, and Edd’s so he wouldn’t.

If the sudden change hadn’t been so stark, Edd would have never known.

But the scholarship he lost would be memory enough. It wasn’t much, but seeing Ang use it every day to make her ends meet was a regular reminder that trust had to be well earned before given away.

Kevin had shown himself trustworthy, but Edd wondered.

Wondered who else had Kevin courted.

Wondered who else he had caught as they fell.

Who else he had had in his bed.

But rumor had it that Kevin had deleted his dating apps off his phone, changed his Facebook profile so that the Interested In tab was no longer visible, and in general let any and everyone know that he may have been single, but his eyes were only for one person.

Edd

Their phones rang, chirped, and buzzed, but they didn’t move except to put them on Kevin’s desk and just lay on the bed in thoughtful silence.

Kevin playing in his hair made him doze off for a bit and when he woke up, Kevin kissed his forehead and asked if everything was okay.

He had felt concern from his family and friends before, but Kevin’s seem more directed at how he was truly feeling and not how Edd’s feelings were making him feel.

“I’m fine, Kevin,” he replied with a small, but soft smile. “Thank you for being so understanding.”

Kevin would sometimes wonder if Edd was picking up what he was putting down and now that he knew he was and knew that Edd knew that he knew was and that Kevin knew that his past did sometimes make him a bit slow on the uptake, Kevin felt that there was hope for them yet.

“No prob, Double Dork.”

“Really?!”

“What?!”

“Noth-Nevermind,” Edd muttered as he rolled over and Kevin instantly became the Big Spoon.

As his hands eased around Edd’s waist, the ravenette squeaked.

“What was that?”

“Nothing,” Edd whispered as he placed Kevin’s hands higher on his torso, but as Kevin squeezed him close, long, wide fingers tickled Edd’s sides and the ravenette jumped away with a squeal and rolled himself into a ball with his back against the wall.

“You’re ticklish!”

“Please, Kevin,” Edd begged and Kevin sat up as he clinched his fists.

“I’m not gonna tickle you,” Kevin said slowly and Edd’s sigh of relief was cut off as the redhead went on. “But that doesn’t mean it won’t happen sometimes.”

Slightly scared, slightly pissed blue eyes met his teasing own and the redhead shrugged.

“You’re the one that’s ticklish, Edd.”

“And you’re not?!” Edd exclaimed as he pulled himself out of his defensive ball and his hands lunged for the jock’s sides.

The sound that came out of Kevin was certainly not one of one being tickled and Edd quickly found himself pinned to the wall.

“I’m not ticklish,” Kevin grinned as he held Edd’s hands over his head.

“Then what the hell just happened?!”

“Heh, you swore.”

“Kevin.”

“Eddward.”

The sudden change in Edd’s eyes should have scared him but Kevin was too busy being drawn into the shocked and awed twinkle in Edd’s ocean blue irises that Kevin didn’t really realize what he had done.

Edd tugged his hands away with a strength Kevin was turned and slightly frightened by. He closed his eyes as his hands settled on Kevin’s sides, just above his hips and he took a deep breath before saying, “Say it again.”

“Say what?!”

Bright, needy blue eyes flashed up into his own as Edd said, “My name.”

But Kevin couldn’t resist a bit more teasing, if only to get this fast moving situation under control.

“Double Dork.”

“That’s not my name, Kevin,” Edd pouted as he pulled his hands away.

“I can call you so many things, Edd,” Kevin whispered as he pulled him close.

“Like what?” Edd deadpanned as his arms hung limply at his sides and he gave Kevin an incredulous look.

“Baby.”

And Edd just looked stunned.

“I like you, Edd.”

“I-I…I know,” Edd said softly as he started to curl his arms around himself. “It’s just that…”

“What?” Kevin asked as he pulled him down into his lap and held him close, but kept his grip loose so Edd would feel comfortable. “What is it?”

Edd looked down at his hands as he said, “I…I don’t know.”

“C’mon, Edd,” Kevin snorted. “A genius like you not know?”

“No one can predict the future, Kevin, so yes, I don’t know.”

“I’m not going anywhere unless you tell me to, but I have a feeling that you won’t, especially since I’m not going down without a damn fight.”

“There’s no need to resort to violence, Kevin,” Edd snickered as he brought Kevin’s slightly trembling hands into his own.

“Good, because I’m a lover not a fighter,” Kevin whispered as he pressed their foreheads together and held Edd’s wide eyed gaze with his own smoldering one.

Edd was faltering, but he held on.

Literally.

A soft hand wrapped around the collar of Kevin’s tshirt and shakingly drew the redhead in for a kiss he had been waiting for for months.

It was eager, but soft.

As Edd moaned into his mouth, Kevin’s hands shot into his hair and Edd let himself go.

He fell back limply into strong arms when Kevin broke the kiss apart so they could breathe again and Kevin pressed his forehead into Edd’s heaving chest.

“Whoa,” Edd whispered as the kiss he initiated took his breath away.

“Yeah.”

“Kev?”

Bright green eyes full of devotion shot up and sparkled as he answered, “Yeah?”

“You can call me Baby if you want to.”

And Edd let out a small scream as he found himself suddenly pinned to the mattress.

“Oh, Baby.”

A large calloused hand was up his shirt, rubbing small circles in the small of his back, and Edd couldn’t stop himself as he undid his cuffs while Kevin nommed small kisses on the side of his neck.

“What’re you doin’?” Kevin asked as he pulled away only to sit back on his knees as he watched Edd undo four buttons on the front of his button up and then pull the button and his undershirt with it over his head and toss them away.

“Edd.”

Pouting blue eyes met his own and he said it again as he kissed him.

“Oh, Baby.”

While Edd wanted to argue with himself that they were moving entirely too fast, Kevin’s sweet kisses were bit more distracting.

And he needed them.

It had been so long since he had been in such an intimate position with anyone and he was dying. Physical touch was nice, but kisses were better.

Combined?

Fill his cup up!

But this wasn’t like any make outs he had in high school or the quick hookups he had last year.

There was no rushing outside of chucking their shirts away and the kisses ran the gambit from soft and slow to deep and intense; the touches were electrifying.

Kevin may not have been ticklish but to make him squirm was an absolute delight!

When the redheaded squirmer wiggled away from Edd’s soft fingertips and bit kisses down Edd’s belly, they both froze when he got to the top of Edd’s pants.

“You don’t have to,” Edd whispered and then he whined when his phone rang again.

But the next thing Kevin did made him forget about his communicative device for the next forty-five minutes.

A white hot wet heat enveloped his cock and he screamed as his back arched completely off the bed.

“Please, yes! Dear GOD Almighty!”

A hum begat a moan that had them both melting back in the bed as one of Edd’s hands found its way into Kevin’s hair and the other held on to the underside of the headboard as he guided the redhead through one of the most intimate acts no one had ever done for him.

Nat’s closed fist hovers over Kevin’s dorm room door as a moan fills the room and ekes out into the hallway.

Rolf grabs his hand as Ang and Nazz both slap their hands over their mouths before taking off down the hall and into the common area that separates the large building’s various wings.

Throwing themselves onto the bean bags on the floor, they shake with laughter as Rolf and Nat look at them before hearing a familiar, but muffled voice moan Kevin’s name.

A shocked look crosses Rolf’s face as Nazz hisses at them to get their asses back down the hall.

Before Nat can do something shitty, Rolf grabs his arm and tugs him down the hall as Ang holds her sides and tears stream down her face.

“Wait a min,” Nat huffs once Rolf let him go. “Was that Edd?!”

“It better be,” Nazz said as she tried to catch her breath. “I’m a kill him if it’s not.”

“Yeah, that was Edd,” Ang snickered as she sat up and wiped her eyes. “I’ve known that kid for ages. Our clubs played 7 Minutes In Heaven at a district National Honor Society retreat. I know that moan.”

“Good,” Nazz grinned. “About time they figured it out.”

“Are you sure?” Rolf asked.

“Dude,” Nat said incredulously. “I know you heard him say Big Red’s name in there.”

“But what if it’s just a hook up?”

“I’ll kill him,” Ang and Nazz said together.

“Me, too,” Nat sighed.

“WHAT?!” His friends exclaimed and the peacock rolled his eyes.

“Kevin’s been after that sweet ass for months now. He fucks this up and I’ll kick his ass. Who wants pizza?”

Nazz glanced at Ang who shrugged and they both got off the floor before grabbing hands and walking out, gabbing about how cute their two friends were, Nat and Rolf following behind them as Nat explained to his foreign friend that Kevin and Edd were legit.

The chances of Edd in Kevin’s bed with the redhead between his legs and sucking him off like he was a thick ass milkshake had to be one in a million.

But Edd couldn’t do the math because he was too busy fucking Kevin’s face and moaning Kevin’s name over and over again.

It was what he said as he came that had Kevin’s head spinning as Edd writhed on the bed.

“Kev.”

It was moaned out like a prayer and the blissed out glow on Edd’s face made him look so damn peaceful Kevin didn’t mind doing whatever it took for however long it took to keep that look on his face.

“Lis-Listen,” Kevin stuttered once he pulled off of him and Edd rolled his eyes because at the moment he was completely incapable of doing much of anything. “Look…just hear me out,” he continued as he came to lay next to Edd, who was pulling up his pants as best as his limp limbs and dizzy head would let him. “I really like you, Edd, and –“

“Then do something about it.”

Intense blue eyes locked with his own an as he pulled back a bit in shock, he saw that Edd had a tight grip on his pants that were mid-thigh.

Kevin knew that this could go either way and the way he wanted it to go seemed like the way Edd wanted it to go, too, but he had to be sure.

“I’m calling you Baby til you tell me not to.”

Edd closed his eyes for a moment and when he blinked them open, he couldn’t hide the need that his soul was sending to the surface in waves not unlike the ones Kevin’s mouth had just pulled out of him.

“I won’t.”

Suddenly, it was as if everything was in slow motion but also at super speed.

The kisses were quick but the hand in his hair seemed to move at a snail’s pace. His pants were clawed away, but with his shaking legs it was like it was taking forever to get them out of the way.

When Kevin settled between his legs again, he was still in a bit of shock, as if he couldn’t believe that this was happening.

“Kev.”              

If there was one thing Edd had come to know about Kevin it was that names were a thing with him.

Through names he could build a rapport with people and it made it easy to charm them.

He had names for all of his friends and used them often.

Nat was Nat because that was he asked everyone to call him, but only Kevin could call him Peacock.

Nazz was Nazzerino on most days, Nazz when he was feeling more serious. He would occasionally call her Natasha in a bad Russian accent, but it made her smile so he would never stop.

Angela was Ang, or Princess when he needed something. Rolf hated it because she was his Princess, but if Kevin needed something, and Ang could help, she could be his Princess, too.

Rolf was Rolf. Unless he was being weird and then he was a damn son of a shepherd to Kevin’s stale end piece of white bread.

But Edd was Double Dee, Double Dork, Double Dude, or his favorite, which was simply, Dee.

Til today and he called him Eddward.

Sure, it was his damn name, but to hear the King Of Nicknames use it had Edd feeling so damn special that he was about to give everything in himself away.

But to make sure Kevin knew how he felt, he had to get his attention and he did it the only way he knew how.

Everyone called him Kev. It took a few weeks for Kevin to get used to Edd calling him Kevin, which was harder to deal with than Mr Barr because at their age, Mister was slowly but surely becoming a thing.

But for Edd to call him Kev meant something because Edd very rarely used nicknames outside of those who he considered friends.

Gentleman were to be called by their proper names and you always let the lady take the lead. His only exception to the rule was his very best friends but that was only because they all had the same name.

Kevin had been nothing but a gentleman since they met,  but the nickname habit was a hard one to break. Especially since Nat’s forward behavior towards him made him want to keep the habit because it was the only thing keeping the peacock at bay.

To call him Kev would lead to a new familiarity that Edd needed in his life because it was just for them. And the easy way that the name came out of his mouth made it even easier to get closer to the one who loved the way Edd said his name.

“Y-Yeah?”

“It’s ok. I…I want this, too.”

“Me or this?”

“Yes.”

A hard kiss.

A guiding hand.

Back and neck support to hold him through the searing shock, pressure, and pleasure of it all.

When Kevin bottomed out, he nearly fainted, but held on.

The pressure on his cock felt mind numbingly good, the pounding in his chest was far more from how Edd made him feel than from exercising all his strength in moving as slow as possible so he wouldn’t hurt him.

He was grateful that they weren’t doing this under the covers because he was hot as hell and sweating like a shamed whore in church.

“Dear Lord.”

“You ok?!” He asked worriedly, scared that Edd wasn’t feeling as good as he was and starting to regret this.

“Move.”

When he pressed his face into the side of Edd’s neck and did as he was told, the moan the other groaned out as he did so made his head shoot up and the look on Edd’s face had a pressure building in his gut that felt like nothing else he had ever felt before.

Relief was dancing in his blue eyes, but so was something like appreciation.

As his eyes fluttered closed and long, dark eye lashes danced across high, flushed cheekbones, the gap between his two front teeth flashed in a small, wistful smile.

Ok, so Edd is feeling good, but Kevin wanted him to feel even better.

But instead of showing off, he followed Edd’s lead.

Soft hands eased from Kevin’s shoulders to his hips and started to guide the way he rocked Edd into the bed.

“Yeesss,” Edd hissed breathlessly. “Just like that.”

Kevin kept his eyes on his face, even when Edd shifted and took him in deeper.

His head fell, but Edd kept their foreheads together with one hand on the back of Kevin’s  head.

The other was squeezing his ass and Kevin was flying.

The kisses to his face and lips were so sweet and the longing look in Kevin’s green eyes let Edd know that this wasn’t going to be a one time, two time, even handful of times thing.

Kevin hadn’t been saying that he liked him because he was cute or smart. He had said he was funny once or twice, but then Ang said he was witty and Kevin had been giggling about it since Christmas.

In close spaces, a hand would graze his arm as they or their group shifted from one thing to the next, an arm would be around his shoulders or waist to guide him or hold him still.

His interests in what he did was genuine for sure and when you put it together with his friendly concern, his flirting, his just trying to get to know him, Edd knows that this is more than like, or even like like.

This is a crush.

A mutual one.

From the first time they met, there was something about the jock that Edd liked.

The way he carried himself, the way he was always so open, respecting, and cool with nearly everyone on campus.

It was hard to get on Kevin’s bad side and even harder to stay there, so to be in his good graces and for Kevin to do everything he could just to get Edd to stay was way more than Edd could hope for in their interactions.

Didn’t hurt that he was hawt, too.

And if Kevin wanted to make all of this a thing, Edd was here for it.

Because his dreams, his wistful fantasies, his lustful thoughts was nothing compared to actually feeling those strong hands in his hair, holding his body close, in his own.

To feeling that mouth on his cheeks, nose, lips; to feeling it bite his neck in a desperate need to leave his mark, to taste him, to draw out of him intelligible words that only Kevin’s grunts and growls understood.

He was here for it all.                          

Every movement of the redhead’s hips brought Edd closer to the edge of orgasmic bliss, but the intimacy of everything about this was going to bring them into something that would glow for as long as they let it.

Edd couldn’t wait to take the journey.

“Kev…”

“Yeah, Baby?”

Needy blue eyes meet his own and Edd’s hand starts to graze down his torso to his cock and Kevin’s torn.

The entire time he’s been so focused on the sweet, beautiful expressions crossing Edd’s face that he forgot that Edd would need to put a seal on this whole deal and either Edd would do it himself or Kevin could bring his Baby the ecstasy he needed.

“Kev.”

Once again, his name is moaned out like a prayer and the look in Edd’s eyes makes Kevin wonder if Edd’s done this before.

“Edd.”

A whine is kissed away but Edd doesn’t stop stroking himself, the near disbelieving look in his eyes growing weaker with every touch.

It evaporates and is replaced with a yearning that only Kevin will ever meet when the redhead knocks Edd’s hand away and takes over.

“My Baby.”

A hard grip is around his shoulders and a sob is in his ears as Edd’s body tenses up and then shakes them both.

A sloppy kiss and a soft cuddle.

When Edd could finally pull his head together, a panicked look crossed his face and Kevin damn near stopped breathing again as he pushed the redhead away and did his best to run to the bathroom.

When he heard the shower come on, he snorted and rolled his eyes.

“Want some company?” He called to him from the other side of the closed door.

When Edd burst into the most obnoxious chorus of Celine Dion’s All By Myself he had ever heard, Kevin yanked the door open and nearly tore the shower curtain off the bar as he stormed in and said, “REALLY!?”

“I mean…” Edd shrugged as he handed him the shampoo.

“Yeah, yeah,” Kevin sighed as his hands got tangled up in Edd’s hair again.

Naturally.

When they settled on the couch after their shower, Kevin went to call Nat to see if everyone was up for dinner only to see pictures of their friends having a pizza party at Rolf’s on the peacock’s Instagram feed.

“They ditched us,” he sighed as he showed Edd the pictures Nat had taken of the impromptu party.

“Meh. I’m thinking Asian, though,” the ravenette shrugged as he stretched his legs across Kevin’s lap.

And over fried rice, Rangoon, Kung Pao beef and Moo Shu chicken, they had their first real date, thus making them official.

Nat would swear his pictures of his date with their friends were better than the sweet photos Edd would post on Facebook later, but chances are everyone else, even the peacock himself, knows better.

Because love just looked good on them like that.