#I am at the game sooooo lets see what the hell even happens!

[imperatorrrrr]

Welcome to T's Eastern Conference Wildcard Watch - 2 April 2024

Tuesday April 2, 2024 Relevant Games + Preferred Outcomes:

The New Jersey Devils are six points out of the WC2 spot and seven points out of the M3 spot.

Washington Capitals @ Buffalo Sabres - BUF Regulation Win

Chicago Blackhawks @ New York Islanders - CHI Regulation Win

Pittsburgh Penguins @ New Jersey Devils - NJD Regulation Win OR NJD Overtime Win

[strawberryya]

fancy you

seungcheol x reader

synopsis: you don't like losing, but you do like to tease your best friend. you also like your best friend, in a "more than friends" way. so what are you supposed to do when he starts asking you about how you feel?

word count: 4.8k

genre/contains: friends to lovers, smut, fluff, banter and teasing, desperate sex, unprotected sex, creampie, use of nicknames/petnames, stressful feelings and confessions, gn!reader, afab!reader, (lmk if I forgot anything)

rating: 18+

a/n: thank you my lovely zeta @multi-kpop-fanfics for telling me its not trash <3333

.・゜✭・..・。.・゜✭・. .・。.・゜✭・..・。.・゜✭・..・。.・゜✭・..・。.・゜✭・.

"So how do you feel about me?"

Out of all the things you were expecting him to say in the time you and he had been friends, this was the one you dreaded the most. But why the hell did he have to do this right now?? 

Well, maybe you should’ve been more prepared for this moment. If you were honest with yourself you had partially brought it on yourself… maybe the nicknames hadn’t been the ingenious plan you had thought it was after all. And maybe you desperately needed him to ask, so that something could finally happen. 

.・゜✭・..・。.・゜✭・. .・。.・゜✭・..・。.・゜✭・..・。.・゜✭・..・。.・゜✭・.

“Sooooo, what’s the plan for the weekend Scoups?” you ask as you catch up with your bestie on your way to class. 

“Please, why do you call me that?? Do I look like a scoop of ice cream to you?” he groans out and looks at you while you laugh at how quickly you had managed to rile him up this morning. 

“Yes. You look sweet and delicious.” you deadpan, looking straight into his eyes. 

He freezes for a moment, scanning your face to tell if you’re joking or seriously just called him delicious looking, but he quickly realizes that you were indeed joking when you burst out laughing at your own joke, and he shakes his head in a disapproving manner and sets his gaze back on the road where you’re walking while shoving his hands into the pockets of his long coat. 

“Oh c’mon! It’s a little bit funny, and by the way, you are the one that decided to name yourself that as your fake rapper name anyhow!” you say and nudge him in the side to get him to loosen up. 

He looked back to you with a frown on his face, “I am well aware of that ‘Lil king potato’, which by the way is a much worse name if I’m being honest, but it’s been like two years since then, you need to step up your game and find a new one,” he says as he continues walking a bit too fast for you to comfortably keep up.

“Okay, okay, I admit, it’s not the greatest name… I should renew my nicknames for you.” you agree while inserting your arm into the space between his arm and his body, clinging onto him as you walk through the multicolored leaves covering the ground. “What do you think about darling,” you say in a theatrical tone, “or maybe honey would fit you better?”

You giggle a bit, seeing Seungcheols face turn into even more of a frown as he listens to your teasing. His arm tensing up at the sound of the endearments was only egging you on at this point, and you press yourself closer to his arm before you gasp, “No, wait! I know - sugarplum! That’s the one right?! It’s perfect for you,” you snicker as you tease. 

You almost get whiplash from the way your body is flung back when the arm you’re attached to comes to a sudden full stop, and you’re still a bit dazed when he unlinks your arms only to place his hands in a firm grip on the sides of your arms, “Dear god! Whatever you do, DO NOT call me sugarplum!” he pleads as he squeezes your shoulders in desperation. 

“Calm down Cheol, I won’t call you sugarplum if you hate it that much,” you say with a roll of your eyes before you giggle and he lets you return to walking next to him and once again linking your arm with his to keep up, “but returning to my actual question: what are we doing this weekend, darling,” you ask, pronouncing the endearment as cutesy as you could manage to muster up. 

“Whatever you want, don’t really have any plans,” he said and shrugged his shoulders, “but I swear, if you’re gonna keep doing that I will be forced to retaliate, and we all know you aren’t the best loser,” he chuckled, his tone half threatening and half simply teasing, “and you would lose if I began to play and you know it,” he added, while turning his head away from you, hiding the small smirk that had appeared on his lips as he said this. 

“I’d like to see you try sweetie,” you said, trying to hide the way you tensed up at the thought of him possibly calling you by endearments or flirting with you to get back at you. Nevertheless, you wouldn’t be stopping this newfound way of teasing him any time soon. 

Since the very first day on campus, you had been friends with Choi Seungcheol. The kind-hearted, broad-shouldered, and all-around lovable Choi Seungcheol. You had gone through heartbreaks that made the world feel like it was broken and never would be the same again, dozens of mindnumbing nights of essay writing next to each other for courses that meant little to nothing in the long run, and so many dumb fights that neither of you could recall half of them at this point. But through all of that, you still stuck by each other, remaining friends and teasing each other through all of life’s obstacles. 

Because even though Seungcheols favorite pastime was bugging you with remarks on how much better he had done on his own tests, or how much you freaked out when you spoke to your crush after weeks of fawning over them to him but being too nervous to actually do anything about it, or bringing up how much you had been drunk-crying outside of the club the night before, or literally anything that he found he could get you riled up or embarrassed about. Yes, because even though he did all of that, he was still your absolute best friend in the entire world. Nobody was there for you the way he was there for you. Nobody cared about all the small details of your life as much as he did (even if it’s only to tease you about it later). And nobody would ever make you feel as safe and loved as he did every single day. 

Each time you get to the point where you feel like murdering the man, you bring yourself back by reminding yourself of the things he does that aren’t making you feel like violence isn’t that bad. For example: when you’re passed out drunk and he is the one that carries you home and makes sure you don’t die, sitting up with you for hours as you throw up or pass out on your back instead of on your side so he has to flip you over so as to not have you choke before morning. Or all those times when you’ve been one test away from failing a class and he sits for hours studying with you for a test that he’s not even going to take, just making sure you pass the test. And all those nights when you can’t sleep and you call him to just hear his voice and he comes over with a warm embrace and pats you on the head until you fall asleep. 

However, it is vital to never forget that he most certainly will tease you about it for the foreseeable future and you will simply have to put up with it because you would do the same if he was the one doing stupid shit at the same pace as you. And to be honest, you do the same any chance you get, teasing him for being too nervous to ask his own crushes out, or for falling asleep on top of the textbook during a study session, and never letting him live his own drunken mishaps down until you yourself have forgotten about them in favor of a new one.

And now you had been running around all night, calling him every pet name you could possibly come up with, seeing both him and every single one of your friends begin to question their entire lives over what you meant by it; knowing you were a bad actor and horrible at lying but somehow able to call your close friend “sweetie” and “babe” while maintaining a relatively straight face. 

Even though there had always been this something between the two of you, you never thought he would ever do anything about it, and you certainly wouldn’t put your friendship or your self-respect on the line while confessing only for him to reject you and create the possibility of losing that relationship. 

Losing had never been a strong point in your personality, and you sure as hell wouldn’t lose that easily. But now he was here, practically asking you what you two were, questioning what you felt for him, and all you could think was that you needed to play it cool, and definitely not give away just how terrified you were at that moment. You felt like a deer in headlights, unable to escape and simply seeing your life flash by while waiting for the inevitable crash awaiting you, right there in the kitchen of your empty dorm where you had ended up after your night out with friends. 

"So how do you feel about me?" 

"I’m, fond of you," you say, faking a calm aura the best you could. 

Seungcheol only shifts in his seat at this, folding his arms over one another and cocking an eyebrow before questioning your response, "Fond of me?" 

"Mhmm, very," you say, nodding and avoiding any and all eye contact, knowing it might break your defenses down faster than you could say ‘Choi Seungcheol is so fucking hot’. 

"Fond of me… such fancy words you're using today. Well, do you want to know how I feel about you?"

Your breath hitches in your throat, he’s playing with you. He is definitely trying to mess with your head, and you cannot let him win. This is just revenge for teasing him all night - do NOT give in, you continued to repeat to yourself in your mind. 

"Alright if you feel the need to tell me… I guess I wouldn’t mind," you say, trying to play it cool by being nonchalant and dismissive. 

"Oh okay then your not interested to know if I’m fond of you back then?"

"Not really," you shrugged. 

You lied, and it was obvious that you did.  Anyone would be able to tell by the way you couldn’t keep your eyes focused on anything, let alone his face as he spoke and stared right at you. And on top of that, the way you kept fiddling with your nails told on you, making Seungcheol the slightest bit more confident. At least confident enough to continue saying what he was about to say. 

"Then you don’t want to know how infatuated I am with you?"

This caught your attention. You looked up with huge eyes, meeting their eyes while they searched your face for a reaction. 

"Oh, infatuated… just infatuated?" you asked, letting the curiosity win over you before you could stop yourself. 

"Hmm, I feel great affection for you if that is better?" 

His words were playful, and the way he smirked at the corner of his mouth when your eyes flickered up to meet his, confirmed that he was definitely teasing you, at least a little bit. 

"Ah, you are ‘infatuated’ with me and you 'feel great affection’ for me, that’s nice. I appreciate that." you said and smiled while looking straight into his eyes, trying your hardest to look innocent; trying to find a way to avoid facing the fact that your best friend that you have loved for months is basically confessing to you, while you’re trying your hardest to not slip up and let him see the effect his games have on you.  

"It is rather nice, isn’t it? You’re fond of me, and I have affections for you, it’s charming really," he said and sighed.

"Quaint," you said with a small smile, turning back around to open the fridge and find a way to segue out of this conversation. 

But behind you, you heard some shuffling as Seungcheol presumably got up from his seat, which was confirmed when you could physically feel him coming closer to you, sending shivers down your body as he inched forwards towards you, contrasting the cold in the fridge with the heat of his body. 

Trying your hardest to, once again, not let his actions get to you. You continued to look around the fridge after literally anything that piqued your interest and ignored the movements around you. But he was so close now, you could practically melt from the warmth of his skin closing in on yours.

He placed his chin on your shoulder, resting his head on you as he whispered so low it would’ve gone unnoticed by you if he wasn’t literally right next to your ear. 

"I like you."

You gasped, you won, he said it, wait, he said it, he said it, and you knew he wouldn’t joke around saying something like that. That means he meant it and that he gave in. And now it was out there, now you knew, and even worse, there was no reason for you to hide your own true feelings anymore. 

Completely frozen by the words, you didn’t move a muscle, not giving any emotion away, it would’ve been fine if you had managed to pull yourself together after a couple of seconds, but a couple of seconds too many passed, and you felt Seungcheols shaky breath leave you side, slowly stepping back, unsure of what to do and what to say. 

He was afraid too. You didn’t answer his confession, you wanted more time to find a way out of it. You didn’t feel the same, oh god, he should’ve known. His mind was spinning with pure terror as the second where you stood frozen ticked on. 

"I’m sorry, I didn’t, you don’t have to…" he began stuttering out, unsure of how to make it all go away now that he was sure you didn’t feel the same. 

His voice made you spin around, shock still visible on your face. He looked wrecked, so vulnerable in front of you, having told you how he felt and now getting nothing from you, not a single word… 

"No,"

Ah, there it was - the rejection. It was worse than he imagined, the crushing feeling of it all imploding onto him with all its force.

But you continued, faster seeing how he closed his eyes in obvious pain from the word you had uttered that he thought meant that you didn’t feel the same. 

"No! I mean- not no I don’t like you, I meant - no don’t say sorry, please!" you blurt out. 

He looked up at you, hope sparking back into his eyes, life coming back into his face, and a small smile combined with furrowed eyebrows questioning the meaning behind what you were trying to say replaced the terror that had been visible on his face just moments ago. 

"You don’t don’t like me back?"

You took a deep breath, "Yeah, I don’t don’t like you back, I-"

A quick movement, a rapid step forward made you stop mid-sentence, gasping as he came close enough for you to smell the absolute godlike smell of his perfume. He had now grabbed your hand, dragging his hand over the back of it, waiting for you to continue talking. 

"I-" you tried again. 

"Yes? You…" he chuckled, putting his other hand on the small of your back, pressing you the tiniest bit closer to his body. 

"I like you too, okay?!" you finally spit out. 

He smiled, a chuckle of pure relief and happiness waiting to escape as he asked, "Was that a confession or a question?"

"It’s not a confession. It’s a response, a response to your confession," you smirked, feeling like you won once again.

"Oh really now? You're still playing with my feelings, now that you know I’m down bad for you huh? I hoped you would go easy on me," he fake pouted as he pushed the hand he was holding up to his shoulder and placed his now available hand on your waist. 

"Easy on you? Never. It’s too much fun playing with you," you whispered, about to laugh at the way he tensed up at the words, but before you could he crashed his lips onto yours, your words fading out into a muffled moan as you let yourself melt into his touch and his god-given mouth. 

You pushed yourself against him, pressing your breasts into his chest and letting your hands entangle themselves in his dark hair. His own hands were everywhere, squeezing and groping everything and anything he could get his hands on. This was really happening, you both thought unbeknownst to the other, both of you internally freaking out and simultaneously losing yourselves in the search for any sort of release to subside the intense feelings you were both overflowing with. You were desperate for more. 

“I’m clean, are you?” he breathed out while leaving your lips for just a second. 

“Yeah, and I’m on the pill so you can come inside,” you replied in between wet and messy kisses. The words apparently set Seungcheol off because he groaned into your mouth and then pushed you up against the fridge and let you hop up, his hands holding you up with a firm grip as you encircled your legs around his waist and felt his hard cock against the fabric of your pants.

Suddenly he pushed you both off of the cold surface of the fridge behind you and began making his way to the living room, you didnt stop kissing him for a second, letting him navigate around the room while you kissed down his jaw and neck, leaving tiny marks from where you stayed and sucked to earn moans and grunts from Seungcheold lips. 

He placed you down on the flat surface of the couch as he began kissing you in the same manner that you had just been kissing him, down your jaw and neck with heavy, hot, and wet kisses that sent a surge to your cunt. At the same time, he was undressing you, and you were working on removing his shirt, pulling and tugging so you could let your hands get underneath it and onto his warm and toned abdomen. 

Once his shirt was off and you were left in only your flimsy underwear he let his hand fall down to your thigh, rubbing small circles so close to your cunt you could hear it screaming at you to do something to make him touch you where you needed him. So you reached your own hand down, letting it gently drag over the fabric covering his erect cock. The action proved fruitful when his hand slipped down to your cunt as his hips jerked at your touch, his fingers pushing down on your clit and eliciting a sinful moan from you as you got what you needed. 

“Oh, is that how we’re gonna play it,” he snicked into your ear, his breath heavy and his hands tugging your underwear down only to let his fingers drag across your wet cunt for a moment and then just as quickly as you had gotten what you wanted he took it away, removing his hand from you and placing it back at your thigh. He was teasing you, and you wanted revenge, but the urge to just have him fuck you were stronger than the previously overpowering one to beat him whenever he tried to get you riled up. 

“Fuck, wait! No more games, please,” you pant out, reaching out to Seungcheol and pulling him towards you. He groaned when the motion resulted in his crotch landing right between your legs, pushing his hardened cock against your bare pussy. 

“You sure? I thought you said it was ‘too much fun playing with me’?” he hissed into your ear with a small chuckle that sent a chill down your body. His voice doing things to you that you never expected a voice to do. Maybe it was how close he was to you, how he was right next to your ear saying those playful and daring words with his insufferably deep voice, making you feel his hot breath on your skin as he said them. 

“Shit, yeah it is, but I just… I need you so bad right now and I-” you whined, still pulling him down towards you and grinding your hips up against him in search of some friction. The moans he let out when you did had your head spinning and your motions becoming even more frantic. “Please just fuck me, no more teasing,” you moaned as you let your wet cunt drag across his straining pants. 

“Since you asked so nicely, who am I to not do as you wish,” he finally let out along with a faint smirk playing at his mouth. 

He pulled his trousers down along with his underwear, kicking the fabric off of his legs and away from the surface of the couch. You’re jaw almost dropped as you looked down and saw his thick and hard cock, freed from its restraints and you could feel yourself salivating at the thought of getting to suck his enormous dick at a later time. Because right now, you needed him inside of you like you need water to survive. At times like these, it is truly okay to need cock more than anything else, because what good is living if you can’t let yourself take pleasure in having your cunt stuffed to the brim by the man you have been in love with for years?

“Oh my god, fuck, I need it,” you moaned as you felt him drag his tip along your slit, collecting the thick slick gushing out of your pussy as he lined himself up with your throbbing cunt. 

The groan Seungcheol let out as he began pushing the head of his cock past your opening combined with the sensation of him stretching your tight hole with the sheer girth of his cock had you feeling lightheaded but so so good. It felt amazing, he felt amazing, and if the way he was panting and groaning as he continued to painstakingly slowly enter your throbbing pussy, you felt amazing too. Clenching down on him hard, gripping his length as if you never wanted him to leave your cunt. Your pussy trying to both adjust to his size and take all of him in while sucking him in like it was afraid he wouldn’t come back inside if it let go of him. Neither of you were sure of how or even if this was possible, but it sure felt that way, resulting in both of you being moaning messes as you both focused on the pure pleasure coming from the sensation of each other. 

“So fucking tight sweetheart,” he panted out as he finally managed to fit all of himself inside your snug walls. 

You could only continue to moan before grabbing him by the neck and pulling him down towards you, kissing him sloppily but fervently, moaning into his mouth as you let your tongue travel anywhere he let you. He was squeezing your hips as he experimented with moving himself within you, the way your moans increased in volume, letting him know just how good he felt, gave him the guts to try and pull out only to push himself back in with a force that and you sliding up the cushions of the couch. 

“So, so good Cheol,” you gasped, letting go of his lips for a bit only for him to do it over and over again, the stretch making you feel like you were floating in a pond of pleasure and complete satisfaction. You pushed your chest up, meeting his equally bare one and loving the feeling of your sensitive nipples dragging against his skin. Seungcheol’s eyes were closed but the action made them shoot open, meeting yours, letting you see the lust consuming him to the fullest. 

He was already pulsating inside of you, and you felt yourself beginning to come undone, never before had an orgasm come this fast for you, but the way his hips kept grinding down into yours, letting his cock drag inside your cunt and his pelvic meeting your clit with every stroke was more than you could handle. 

But then he heard the way your moan almost turned into a half-scream when his chest brushed against yours, spurring him to let one of his hands off of your side only to make its way to your breast and leaving his fingers on your nipple, circling it, pinching it, pulling slightly, and rubbing all over it, all while he continued to snap his hips into you at the perfect speed. 

“Cheol! I’m gonna-aH” you began, but he hushed your attempts by letting his lips once again meet yours in a messy and passionate kiss, swallowing your moans and screams as you felt yourself being swallowed by the white bliss of your orgasm. The way you pulsated and clenched around him in fluttering motions as you reached your high and then began coming down from it was just the thing Seungcheol needed to reach his own high, letting his hot cum spurt itself inside of your fluttering walls, pumping himself into you for a moment until he was sure you were both at the end of your high. 

.・゜✭・..・。.・゜✭・. .・。.・゜✭・..・。.・゜✭・..・。.・゜✭・..・。.・゜✭・.

“Well, fuck,” you said, out of breath and still feeling high off of your orgasm. 

“Yeah, I should’ve asked you if you liked me earlier because holy fuck.” 

The way he said it made you chuckle, making him look over at you from where he had managed to position himself on the couch so as to not crush you while you recovered your breath. 

“I would’ve told you myself if had I known it would end like this,” you huffed out in response. 

You were met with a quick chuckle and then calm silence. After a couple of minutes, you began to wonder if he had fallen asleep because it was so quiet over where he sat. He hadn’t left, you could still feel his hand on your thigh and his legs underneath the one you had laying across his lap. So you opened your eyes, only to see him staring down at you, resting his chin in his palm and smiling the goofiest smile you had ever seen on him. 

“What? Do I look that dumb?” 

“You look so beautiful…” he said, his tone as filled with adoration as his gaze. 

You couldn’t help but huff out a laugh because you were currently splayed out on your living room couch, almost completely naked, sweaty and tired from the night out and the quick but insanely effective and almost embarrassingly desperate sex you had just had. And this is the moment he chooses to tell you that he thinks you’re beautiful? Really? 

“I love you, I’ve loved you for so long,” he suddenly said, kinda surprised by himself that he had said it just like that. 

But you just smiled, “You have no idea how long I’ve wanted to hear that, I really never thought I would hear you say that like this. And, I love you too, so so much.” 

“Me too… oh god it took us too long to just say that,” he couldn’t help but chuckle at the whole stupid situation. 

“I know, I’ll say it as much as you want to hear it from now on,” you said with a small smirk.

“Promise?”

“Of course, anything for someone who is fond of me,” you said and smiled widely. 

He squeezed your leg before throwing himself back onto you, kissing you tenderly before snuggling his face into the crook of your neck, whispering “shut up,” into your neck. You could feel his smile on your skin and it made you laugh and wrap yourself around his large build, hugging him tightly, not wanting to let go and instead asking him to carry you to the shower; which he did after some light teasing about how you would have to follow him to class like that all week if you were going to be clingy like this all week. You said you were fine with that plan and held on tighter, making him kiss you over and over again while whispering how much he loved you and how much he had been wanting to tell you just that for such a long time. 

Maybe you would go easy on him after all, or maybe you would be able to have even more fun playing with him from now on. The thought had you giggling to yourself as he helped you up from the couch, and as if he knew exactly what you were thinking he smirked at you and kissed you playfully before he carried you off to the bathroom. 

.・゜✭・..・。.・゜✭・. .・。.・゜✭・..・。.・゜✭・..・。.・゜✭・..・。.・゜✭・.

[navigation post!]

[wyrdle]

I'm totally with you on the pre-P3 timeline. I love love love having exact dates for everything, so the lack of information is sooooo frustrating. Even worse being a Sho fan as there's barely anything, best I've got is that the experiments on him took place in 1999 (mentioned by Labrys in the P3 side as she's heading to the top of the tower), and according to the manga he was 8 when he nearly died during "combat training", so if you take the info we get in the manga as canon then he'd be the about same age as the P3 3rd year trio. Idk if it's helpful in any way, I'm just a bit insane about the guy. Sorry for coming in here and rambling.

Oooh! Interesting!!! And don't worry about being insane about the characters lol I am the same with tomato boy's horrible dad. Honestly, the bit I focus on is whether it's before or after the explosion from 10 years ago for sequence of events.

Here are some of my footnotes: Spoilers and excessive yapping ahead

Child experimentation and pursuit of inducing personas + evokers were only conceived post-Mitsuru's awakening within Tartarus. Which is post-explosion. (Source: In-game notes, Persona 3 Club Book)

This makes a lot of sense what with the creation of Theurgy/new equipment for SEES. Not saying child experimentation didn't happen pre-explosion era, but it certainly didn't stop. These all had to be Kirijo group-sanctioned activities, Ikutsuki did not work alone and without support.

The above implies that Sho + Strega + other child victims were only worked on post-explosion too, as the only reason they did so was to gather as many Persona users to explore Tartarus. So maybe? Late 1999, immediately after explosion? Once Tartarus exploration trapped a bunch of kids and failed though, the experiments were dropped. Strega escaped before this. Sho got into a coma before this.

The issue with timeline starts when Sho's plume of dusk scenario seems to be the key to the creation of Anti-Shadow Weapons. The existence of Minazuki inspired the researchers to trial Aigis, Labrys and their brethren needing a plume of dusk to develop their sentience. (I need a source for this though, lol.) And Aigis needs to be around pre-explosion to be able to trap Death.

Soooooo. The timeline/sequence of events is shot to hell haha. I might've mixed up "Discovering a plume of dusk contains a soul in robots so they can use personas too >>> Let's try putting this in a child so he can get a persona" reasoning timeline... but it makes less sense in this direction.

Now for my personal thoughts: I believe the game wants to frame it as being "pre-explosion" and during Koetsu Kirijo era to idk. Bundle all the evil to that time, place all possible evil on Ikutsuki, and suggest they've turned a new leaf, but are maybe burdened by the ethical issues in pursuit of it. At least, that's how I've conceived Takeharu Kirijo. "The ends justify the means, unfortunately" type beat. It matches up with how he wants to distance himself from Mitsuru, too. Still, it is his Kirijo Group covering up the incident that killed Ken's mom, his Kirijo Group that decides Eiichirou Takeba should remain slandered in public eye and for Yukari + her mom to experience the fallout. Wtf.

Forewarning for Ikutsuki yapping ahead lol.

Unfortunately, they decided Ikutsuki (as the last representative of "old-world" Kirijo group) became the easiest scapegoat for all of this heinous shit. I have opinions about their use of him as a character like this, because it's so cheap. In P3 game's story alone, his (+Strega's) role in the story is meant to be an antithesis to Protag + SEES. So what does that mean exactly? Throwing away bonds/not forming them, seeing no meaning in living after pain, finding meaning/will to live in the pursuit of death etc.

These are all extremely sympathetic points for Strega, for Sho, for literally any character that "experiences the doomerisms". But in the case of Ikutsuki, suddenly it is of no consequence. The writers hate him/don't care for him as a character, when he could be so intriguing. Why does he believe the world needs to be remade? He's the last mouthpiece for the dead Kirijo group cultists too, so!!!!

All persona games have always explored how people are complex and how causing suffering is often the result of suffering- yet Shuji, the guy who actually kills himself / seeks death so doggedly / deludes himself into a prophecy that would make living just a bit longer more bearable is. Just crazy I guess. Guy who spent 10 years like this, taking solace in the fact that Nyx is coming...

Sho's actions mirror Ikutsuki's, Strega believe in Nyx, that implies something for Ikutsuki too lol. That's lost to everyone because he's never given more reason to exist on screen besides to torment people with his puns.

TLDR: I'm so so so salty about Shuji haha. Sorry, he's my fave because he's essentially "What if unhealable mental illness in man" which is horrifyingly sad. The concept of him is so delightfully doomed. Rounding back to topic (OOPS), the timeline messiness was likely to just set up some nebulous evil to contrast next to SEES as well as give them hurdles to overcome. I just think they should've fleshed out parallels in the human condition to experience hurt and contrast of how to live with it though, haha.

[nonsensemonkey]

yall, this game is SO good. it had me cryin and shit. had me doubting myself. had me fucked up-- i highly recommend it. truly. best game i've played in a while.

major spoilers below

first game i played since the rgg craze that left a deep impact on me. i think i'll be thinking about this one for a while. i might go back and play from the beginning and make tyler and alyson raise hell with all their choices next time hahaha. gahhh so much fun. all the characters felt so believable!!! ALL OF THEM! and even though i didn't like that michael kept coming onto to tyler even tho i politely brushed him off once before, he still felt human to me as well. sometimes dudes just can't fucking take a hint- no matter how nice and cool they are.

what was so crazy to me was how he was talking about how tyler was 'sooo special' and blah blah blah but just 6 months later this mf already taking photos with someone else with a pet talking about 'the new addition to our family'. like bitch if you want me so bad--????? THAT'S WHY I SAID MICHAEL GAVE ME UHAUL VIBES!!!! eehhhhh- like, no, give a mf some time to know you my guy. shit. idk maybe that's just me. (6 months is a while but im just saying)

but anyways, so.

i loved alyson and tyler's relationship so much. tyler is so fucking 😩😩😩😩🥰🥰🥰🫦🫦🫦. he's so hot. the amount of screenshots i have of that man is abysmal. he and alyson does this thing with their mouth but idk, i feel he does it alot more than she does, where he kinda bares his teeth-- sometimes it's a smile but not always. unff. LOVE! i love minor mouth ticks. i have one and i always notice when other people have one- aizawa has one (he chews at his inner lip). nish seems like he would kinda does the same thing tyler does now that i think about it but anyways im getting side tracked~~~

i loved their relationship! the bond thing was sooooo neat- being able to share memories and inner thoughts. HELLA NEAT! i love that so much.

UGH the writing here was so fucking phenomenal.

all of the townspeople: tessa, tom, sam, eddy-- they all had their parts and they were all believable flawed. the only person who i think i'd consider a villian, really would be tom. because fuck that guy- you cheated on your wife, let her raise your kids on her own, watched her fall apart, watch her get stabbed, allowed her to drown to death, allowed two kids to make decisions about something that fucking major when you saw what happened and then you got the audacity to try to blackmail them for your shitty ass campaign???

i rate his bald score a -8 🍅🍅🍅🍅🍅👎🏾👎🏾👎🏾👎🏾👎🏾👎🏾 he doesn't deserve that shiner. for shame.

more importantly, the one thing that i wish that we got to see was the perspective of mary-ann from that night. but i guess that's the beauty of the story. no one will ever truly know what was going through her head. everyone has their speculation but no one knows for certain and they sort of have to live with that in order to survive... ughhhh (i am relieved that ty can live his life potentially at peace believing that his mother would see him as her son- her SON- see him for who he is. i know that had to eat away at him while he was at fireweed.)

11/10

honorable mention for my girl denise, she didn't really have shit to do but she was there and i was happy she was. i was happy to see them braids too. like they kinda ate. ngl. i was like okaaaaaay. it makes me really happy. like someone trully put in effort on them! anyway, her and tyler are best buds now. i call it. it is my headcanon. <3

[theloveinc]

Helloooo! Kind of new anon here - been obsessed with your headcanons and writing as it is soooo good ahhhhh *flails in fangirl*

I am not sure what rules you have for asks (so feel free to ignore) but just needed to let out the thoughts of Bakugo running around in my head!!

So my impression is that Bakugo would very much be a ride-or-die type of guy. Like the in it for the long game type dude who doesn’t date unless he’s sure he can see himself being with this person for the full ride.

Which makes me cackle to think about how this can tie with a rivals to lovers type trope where the person who stands out just initially annoys the hell out of him - can kick his ass in training, is always ready with a quick retort, doesn’t shy from his grumpiness or outbursts. Both just hating each other’s guts. But also because of that, you understand each other better than anyone else. You see when he’s at a low and he sees when something is bothering you. After seeing each other at your lowest but finding the beauty in that to stick with each other through thick and thin - ughh my heart!!

Then it hits Bakugo when he catches himself daydreaming and wondering what it would be like to have a life with you. And he’s like “oh shit” but little does he know you’re also thinking the same thing lol

hi hi hi!!! thank you so much for enjoying my stuff so much that u wanted to send me an idea of ur own! i appreciate both the follow and the kindness (and trust hehe) A LOT!

can i be honest tho? stories that present two characters at odds w/ one another who are actually the only ones who understand each other.... make. me. BONKERSSSS CRAZY, truly one of my favorite tropes that has me crying and screaming on the floor every single time...

sooooo uh... YES!!! to this idea, and i hope u don't mind me continuing on a lil bit. just thinking about all the moments you have together that u and bakugo just absolutely refuse to talk about.... but mean so much.

the time you land on your wrist wrong after he knocked you out of the air during training, and he immediately stopped the fight to bandage you up. the time he gets off the phone after finding out he didn't make the top ten this year and deku did.... and you let him cry into your shoulder and keep him company and make him tea so he doesn’t have to be alone.

obvs, hardly anyone is aware of u two so no teasing takes place about your crushes... but it's sooooo, so obvious when either of u really think about it, esp when the thoughts u have become less about wanting to beat the other in a fight... and more domestic and sweet. bakugo having a rough night and just wanting to see your face, even if you snap at him (which you wouldn't)... or you just wishing he was there to tell you that you did a good job after patrol.

despite everything, all the fighting and mean words, it's like you're searching for each other every single second!!!

and maybe this is cliche... but i feel like neither of you would confess until... something bad happens. Like another hero is bullying you, or you get caught up with some villain... and bakugo is just going bananas because HE'S THE ONLY ONE WHO CAN TEASE U. HE'S THE ONLY ONE ALLOWED TO FIGHT W/ YOU. BARK BARK WOOF WOOF he gets so defensive! and maybe you do too when the same thing happens to him.

And then you're both finally able to admit... yeah. this is love(and it will be forever).

[ikilledamanforthisurl]

Minami anon x4 but you bring up a lot of really interesting points abt like subcultures / attitudes and also more personal life stuff I never thought about b4! In my head the kinda headcanon justification I made for myself was like the idea Minami used to be formerly realllyyyyy low on the yakuza ladder and as thus kinda just acted like a robot / as dully competent as possible (he wouldn’t drink because What If that affects his ability to Do Anything etc) and so on and Internally Really Wanting To Live A Much different life / be more important then just Another Guy In this Organisation. Which is why he clings so hardcore onto emulating Majima who IS someone eye catching and attention grabbing and to him Important. I think my main basis for this is all of the times Minami in like fight scenes acts really dramatically and even when he loses tries to insist on Keeping On Fighting UNTIL Majima walks in and Minami completely shuts down and just lets him Do As He Does. Sorry if this is a rly big deviation I didnt have a lot to respond to your previous answer outside of I think it’s all really interesting especially the stuff in tags regarding his tattoos (who is she fr!) and if this were a situation where we were having a more private one on one conversation i'd nod very enthusiastically

HAHAHA i know this feeling. thank u for indulging me either way anon and idm the deviation it's like waving a new set of keys in front of my adhd ass. passionate conversations with me derail all over the place i'm very used to it ^_^

and i really like your point about him not wanting to blend in, wanting to Stick Out as a Somebody. it would not phase that kind of Minami if drinking + whatever else was the norm amongst his peers. perhaps it was influence from Majima that convinced him to drink after all........ its certainly what i like to think....... makes their stupid toxic dynamic hurt a little more

and i am so glad u also noticed the way he refuses defeat every chance he gets it literally plagues my thoughts the most.... i think about it sooooo much so so soo much. it's definitely an ego thing + just another nod to Minami's utter reverence of Majima. he goes from being pretty emotional and throwing a tantrum when you Throw Off His Groove™ but forgoes doing what he wants the second the bossman gives the order. Boss' word takes all priority, regardless if you're stupid, or emotional, or whatever else.

I love picking this apart trying to discern their dynamic but it also reflects on how Majima is with his men in general..... I've yet to see any of his boys defy him. And for good fucking reason (insert montage of him smacking around his own men)........ Minami also kindof reflects this in how he strings along a bunch of his fellow Family men to watch him fuck around on the karaoke machine, who CLEARLY don't want to be there but tolerate him regardless! I'd like to think he doesn't randomly assault them though. Not over small shit anyways, he seems pretty lenient and understanding (see: "shit happens"). He's probably just very obnoxious when ribbed, as he is in many other aspects. Or hell, maybe he shuts down and gets so bummed out that its obnoxious in a really cringefail pitiful way

Ideally Majima's garnered respect not strictly through violence.... We have all seen how personable he can be and how he got himself roped into helping random folks all over in y0. Ideally Minami even less so, if he is as lenient as he seems. Which leads me to asking what's up with his title, "junior leader"? What the fuck even is that? Surely it doesn't bring all that tolerating respect with it yknow. I dont think anyone else in the series is a JL. We're not particularly clued in to how Yakuza life actually works in the game about Yakuza, but you can bet I can pull ideas out of thin air to tie stuff together if given scraps

Least likely in my opinion: JL is literally a next-of-kin for a leader position in the Family, possibly for patriarch itself, which implies a much closer relationship between Minami & Majima than we're ever clued into. i'm also not so sure it suits him (though i can pull arguments for it out of thin air as well if you want) since he really seems like the kinda guy happy doing his regular grunt work. brother is not patriarch material imo...... not for what i personally believe a patriarch's duties are, anyways.

Funnier option: he got the role to be appeased. you mentioned that you think he wants to Be Somebody and i completely headcanon-same..... this scrappy little shitkicker kid waltzed in one day, hounded someone until they let him join, and has been gunning for respect ever since. not necessarily power, i'd like to think he wants to be well-liked, but also, it's totally an approval-from-the-father thing. he wants to do good enough for Majima to Notice. since Minami wouldn't know subtlety if it socked him in the face, it's not difficult in the slightest to see this and he gets thrown a Special Role because he's just the most Specialest Boy Ever.... in this case Junior Leader probably just reflects stuff he was already good at while working. Couldve been a socialite amongst the new kids on the block, could even be a trainer. Higashiyama and Nojiri (Dead Souls Majimagumi) seem to imply that recruiters and their recruitees generally work one-on-one and get to know one another pretty well, but that could easily just be a Them thing. I'm sure there's plenty of newbies who get recruited by already-busy blokes.... fuck it, have Minami show them the ropes, get em ready ASAP and keep it going......... yknow that type of thing

[moonstone27ls]

Owl House ep 2....

Spoiler warning...

.....

I’m warning you....

......

....

.....

.....

............................

Go any further and you’ve been spoiled.....

......

.... no complaining I warned you...

Last warning..........

....

...

....

...

Sooooo  a lot happened. Am I disappointed? Hell no, I loved all of it. I also love how Camila even though she was scared/didn’t understand anything she was still very much in mama bear/caring for ALL the kids mode. I LOVE HER.

I also love how she’s still trying to help her baby girl in all this struggle. I hope this marks some self healing for Luz and that she’s forgiving herself. I LOVED her Palisman its original and unique just like Luz :3. I LOVED how Camila is trying to embrace her nerd side she suppressed when she bonded with Hunter/Gus XD.

Loved how Rain got all anime “oooh” over Eda’s owl form... what I’m surprised is that King hasn’t tried to ask the Collector to remove her curse... I mean IF he’s that mysterious one who made the owl beast curse.

Uhhh am I shocked that Kikimora went all nutso and tried to be King or whatever... nah she’s been hinted early on to be nuts and the stereotypical villain we see in cartoons. 

King... I feel sooo sorry for King because he’s just like Luz trying to save everyone and help everyone. I wanna just squeeze that adorable baby! (also who also thought it was cute that Camila basically said almost the same thing Luz said when she first saw King XD)

Then we have the Collector... uhh I’m gonna be blunt I feel more sorry for him than I do Belos. And I know thats gonna shock fandom or offend people cause I know since the last ep came out I heard nothing but “Philip sympathy” stuff. To a degree I got it... but until something changes... sorry/not sorry I don’t feel a LOT of sympathy for Belos/Philip. The whole “being haunted” by his murdered victims and still refusing to take responsibility. I don’t see a “Oh Philip’s been brainwashed” or “Philip loved his brother so much thats why he went on a murderous rampage and killed his brother Caleb SOOO deserved to die”. Philip is literally LOOKING at his sins and refuses to acknowledge what he is. He’s... he’s Kikimora they are characters who could have had good potential in another path but choose to follow the bad one. Again CHOOSE.

I love him as a villain this is great stuff. But heh... its a mix on sympathy... I mean I dunno have him do a Vader moment where he does something to SAVE Luz... oh wait no he’s not... he’s gonna kill Luz and her friends/mother or try to have the Collector do it for him. So yeah no.

But back to the Collector.. we don’t know much about his past/background/or species? (and thats not all Dana Terrace’s fault... thats YOUR FAULT DISNEY) But from what I can guess... there’s something hidden he didn’t want King to find out. And its hinting he might be somewhat anxious from being left in solitude in wherever he was banished to. So yes for a brief moment when he asked King to let Françoise stay with him. I felt sorry for the god like/or child like Bill powered character here. I mean heck he’s referring to Odalia as Mamadlia. I feel like thats hinting he wants what the others have... but he’s either not understanding or whatever I dunno I’m not a whatever psychiatrist.  

Anything else... I admit I wonder what Belos is planning... I get why he’s manipulating the Collector... but what is his ultimate goal.... is he actually gonna kill himself just to end the demon realm (I assume he would if he posses puppet Rain and again GUESSING if he gets the Draining spell working again... wouldn’t that mean he’d go with his puppet host?). Does he hope that turning the Collector against the demon realm? Or have that enough so he can continue the draining spell? I mean his body was literally falling apart on him... I just am trying to figure out what his end game here... I mean even if he possesses toy Rain... what will he do? He hates them all so much that he wanted to go back to the Human world... so would he just go back in what he possessed... Or does he have an actual plan B and the Collector is just a distraction?

But also... how did Belos know where Lilith/Eda were hiding? oO I mean I guess puppet Rain heard things? maybe but that wasn’t established.... yet.

Also ... what did Luz see in that inbetween world? Was it another Collector?... Is it a creature? Evelyn? Another Titan?... Caleb’s spirit?

Also.... Hunter/Willow.... they HELD HANDS(sorta) THEY WERE BOTH BLUSHINGGGGG! Come on people we saw it she was blushing when he saved her!! And when Willow had ... I wanna say panic attack?  or just say the pressure finally caved on her. Moment he heard her put herself down and refer to herself as a “half witch”. He broke those vines and went to her! He told her she meant a LOT to him. That moment!! GAH THATS LIKE AMITY/LUZ! Its those moments that make me love the ship! And GAHHHH he was blushing when she said it back later!! THEY ARE JUST LIKE AMITY/LUZ TOOO PURE FOR THIS! I LOVE THEM SOOO MUCH!!  And Belos/Philip better leave them alone or I dunno wish more bad luck on him. I say that cause he pretty much hated Evelyn... so how is he gonna like it when he sees that his “nephew” fell for a witch just like Caleb. 

Ooohhh SO MUCH GOING ONNNNNNN

[surrealsunday]

Crazy theory time that is probably not based on reality:

No way in hell does Kinn actually think Porsche is betraying him. No way. He’s distrustful of Vegas, and for good reason, but I think he’s looking at Porsche’s naïveté and thinking that Vegas’ tactic is working after he saw them at the pool, which is currently his worst fear (ALSO WORK ON YOUR JEALOUSY ISSUES KINN FFS!) but I think he’s underestimating Porsche here. Porsche after episode 7, when Vegas brought up his dreams for a bar on the beach, I think is pretty aware of what Vegas is trying to do. Like Porsche is dumb but he’s not stupid and he’s shown himself willing to do literally anything to keep his loved ones safe. Even after Kinn has probably eviscerated his heart. I think he’s going to run away with Vegas and play his game in order to find out once and for all wtf is going on and who’s behind it. It’s really the only move he probably feels he has left at this point. I also think it’s incredibly smart on his part.

I think everyones right that Kinn is intentionally playing into Tawans hand, and keeping Porsche captive to keep him safe and clear his name, as well as flesh out who the mole(s) is/are. The problem is they don’t communicate anything with each other which has constantly lead to mistrust and accusations in the past. This is highlighting how detrimental it is that they learn to be a solid unit in their relationship and how in the future it will make them almost impenetrable to this type of manipulation.

Anyway, all of this keeps bringing me back to the “shootout tango” scene they’ve shown us a peek at. If KP were both on the same page of some secret plan, that scene doesn’t make much sense. Kinn looks genuinely suspicious of Porsche when he pulls his gun on him but he completely drops his guard after Porsche tells him “I’m not on anyones side. I’m on yours” and then they literally fight while embracing and I think that’s pretty significant. I think this will be a pivotal point with them so, as much as this episode was painful to watch, I kind of think they’ll be stronger because of it. I’m also delusional so maybe I’m just grasping at straws but like, come on, do these idiots around them really think they’re gonna destroy this power couple? Khun would never allow it anyways 😂

I love your speculation so much. I love reading through someone's else's thoughts and theories. It helps me work through my own. This was sooooo interesting.

So first, Kinn's reaction to seeing Porsche and Vegas. I interpreted it similarly to you. But then I saw someone else talking about how in that scene maybe Kinn is trusting Porsche and that's why he doesn't react as he has in the past (i.e. storming in and flipping out). I'll edit this post and link that person's post if I can find it again. That honestly hadn't occurred to me so now I'm not totally sure what I think. But I am bolstered in you agreeing that Kinn has some kind of plan. I very much agree and I would be super surprised (and disappointed tbh) if that wasn't the case. As for Porsche... that I don't know. I think he is slightly swayed by Vegas in that pool scene (or at least the vulnerability Vegas fakes) but I also am with you on thinking Porsche is much more wary of Vegas now. Then again... I legit did think Porsche had a plan when it came to drinking/ being drunk/ letting Vegas lead him away in ep 7 and so far that's gone nowhere...

So I'm not sure.

You think Porsche will run away with Vegas to enact some kind of plan? That is super interesting. I didn't think so for a couple of reasons (but after reading your thoughts I'm not sure what I think now). I was thinking that we were going to see angst, Kinn and Porsche make up and Kinn admit his feelings to Porsche, some other fall out, and final coming together. I don't know how a final fall out would happen but from the moment in the preview you mentioned, it feels like it would have to. What you suggested however would be a more straightforward sort of betrayal - secret plans - make up situation. And now I just don't know! But another consideration is that we know something is coming up with Vegas and Pete. And if Vegas was still wrapped up in a situation with Porsche, I don't see how Vegas and Pete have time to happen. Something to consider...

100% agree that Kinn and Porsche need to communicate. So badly. I think we're getting there. Or we'll get partially there and maybe some outside influences will fuck it up again. But I cannot wait for the moment they do. They've actually been really good at opening up to one another from the very beginning. It's just where their feelings are concerned that we've stalled on that front. And it absolutely makes sense for that to be the case but my god, I can't wait for them to make it over that hurdle.

That final battle (assuming it's somewhere near a final battle at least) with Kinn and Porsche fighting together will for sure be the most significant and be that, 'Us against the world' we've been waiting for. I am with you there. I think everything is actually building up in a pretty logical way. They have one another. That is what they can trust. And it's tested again and again, and yet they'll come through it realizing that. So the culmination is gonna be some pretty fine pay-off I think.

[blackgirlfandomwriter]

Pregnant (Bayverse Optimus x Oc Reader)

Ok, so this is an old one-shot that I wrote starring my friends and me. This was back when I first starting writing on Wattpad and I thought it would be funny to share it with yall so enjoy!!

Lori's POV:

"People are so dumb in horror movies," Savannah said tossing popcorn in her mouth. "I know right," I said laughing as we continued to watch the film in front of us. Tonight me and the girls decided to have a movie night until the guys got back from their mission in Tokyo. "I just got a text from Ratchet, they should be here tomorrow morning," Nina said smiling at us as we all grinned. The movie had gone off so we just started talking about randomness. Kaitlyn started to crack jokes making me laugh uncontrollably. "How about a game of truth or dare," Savannah said with a huge grin that said she was up to no good.

"Uh-uh Savannah's up to something," Nina said shaking her head. "What? No, I'm not I just have a question" Savannah said still smirking evilly. "And what may that be," I asked raising my eyebrow questioningly. "Have any of yall....... you know.......... done it yet?" Savannah said as we all looked around at each other waiting for answers. "Duhhhh," Kaitlyn said sticking her tongue in a playful way. "I know that's right," Savannah said as she and Nina high-fived while laughing. I on the other hand sat there in silence

"I know Lori be getting it in with Optimus all the time," Nina said looking at me giggling. I slapped her on the arm and laughed. "No, we haven't done it," I said trying to hide my embarrassment. "Not yet at least," Savannah raised her eyebrows at me in a joking way. "Bruhh shut up," I said hitting her with a pillow. She looked stunned for a moment before she hit me back. "PILLOW FIGHT" Kaitlyn yelled as we all started to hit each other with pillows.

~Time Skip To Morning~

"Ow stop kicking me" I muttered moving around to get comfortable on whatever I was laying on. I opened my eyes to see me and the girls all spread across the living room floor. I laughed as I stood up from my position on the floor and stretched. I yawned as I headed upstairs to get cleaned up and changed. I washed my face, brushed my teeth, and threw on leggings and a crop top as I picked up my phone to text Optimus.

~~Messages~~

Lori: Hey, I thought you would be home by now 😥

Optimus: Sadly we are at the military base with Lennox discussing going back to Cybertron...... the government is starting to get a bit angsty

Lori: Oh is everything ok

Optimus: Nothing that needs to concern you. Everything will be fine

Lori: Um ok. I love you 💙

Optimus: Love you too. I'll be home soon❤

~~End~~

I looked down at my phone with a smile as I sighed. "I wonder how going back to Cybertron is going to work," I said to myself before shrugging my shoulders. I slipped my phone into my pocket and headed back downstairs. "Breakfast sounds good," I said while pulling out eggs, bacon, and pancake mix as I got to work. Once I was done with breakfast the girls were already awake and sleepily walking to the table. "Thanks for breakfast Lori," Nina said as Savannah and Kaitlyn grumbled through stuffed mouths of food. I laughed hearing a knock at the front door. "Who could that be," I said aloud as I jogged to the door. I slowly opened the door to find a few of the Autobots standing there in their bipedal forms.

"Oh my god! You're back" I yelled hugging them as they all chuckled. "What are you yelling about," Savannah said walking up behind me and freezing. "BEE" she yelled tackling him to the ground. We all laughed as Kaitlyn and Nina came to see all the commotion. They were so happy to see Ratchet and Crosshairs it was unbelievable. "Aww yall are so cute," I said taking out my phone and snapping many pictures. "Whatever girl your just jealous," Nina said sticking out her tongue playfully. "Girl you wish," I said with a playful eye roll. Before I could close the door I saw some more cars pull up. They all looked pretty familiar. They soon transformed revealing Jazz and the Lambo Twins (Sideswipe and Sunstreaker). "It's been a while, Lori," Jazz said walking up to me with a smile. "Nice to see you too," I said punching Jazz in the arm.

Before I could say anything to the twins I was engulfed in a tight hug. "We've missed you," they both said as I sighed. "I missed you guys too," I said as I kissed both of their foreheads as they went inside. Finally, the last three Autobots showed up, Drift, Hound, and Optimus. As soon as they transformed I ran over to Optimus and jumped into his arms. He caught me and spun me around causing me to squeal. When he set me back on the ground I smashed my lips into his as to which he returned the favor. "Eww guys get a room," Hound said in fake disgust. I only laughed as Optimus threw me over his shoulder and carried me into the house. "Optimus what are you doing" I yelled as he started to carry me upstairs. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Savannah making these symbols with her hands towards me.

I gave Savannah a death glare as I mouthed the words Fuck you. Savannah looked at me in disbelief and burst into laughter as me and Optimus made it upstairs. When we made it to my bedroom Optimus lightly threw me on the bed causing me to giggle as he crawled on top of me. "Optimus what are you doing" I wined playfully trying to push him off of me. He didn't say anything as he let his metal lips find mine in a passionate kiss. I kissed back as he let his hands wander down to my hips. He pulled away and nibbled on my neck leaving little love bites as I moaned lightly. After a few minutes, he pulled away and kissed my forehead. "You sure you wanna do this" He whispered as I smirked kissing him roughly. "Does that answer your question?" I said with a smirk as he proceeded with a low growl.

~Time Skip To The Morning After (Cuz I've never written a lemon sooooo..... Yea)~

I woke up to the sun beaming through my curtains as I groaned snuggling into the warm figure next to me. 'Wait' I thought as my eyes popped open. 'Did me and Optimus ..... noooo did we?' I thought while slowly looking under the covers and quickly putting them back down. 'Oh, shit' I thought looking up at the ceiling. I let out a deep sigh as I turned to face a still sleeping Optimus. 'He's so handsome when he sleeps. Ugh, but why do I feel sick all of the sudden'. For some reason, something didn't feel right as I rushed to the bathroom. I shut the door and hunched over the toilet immediately spilling my guts. "What the hell" I groaned as I grabbed my phone off the counter and texted Savannah

~Messages~

Lori: Savannahhhhh😫😥

Savannah: Yes big head

Lori: I need help 😥 Somethings wrong like fr fr

Savannah: Where are you???

Lori: The bathroom in my room 😭

Savannah: Ight hold on

~End~

I took a deep breath as I waited on Savannah's arrival. Soon I heard the doorknob jiggle and in came Savanah shutting the door behind her. "Did you wake Optimus?" I asked nervously. "No, but what's your problem? You look uglier than usual" Savannah stated smiling as I weekly kicked her. "Looookkkk," I said pointing at the toilet. Savannah looked in and quickly backed away in disgust. "What the hell! Are you sick?" she yelled as I shushed her sternly. "I don't know I woke up feeling weird then I threw up," I said laying my head on the bathtub.

"Wait did you and Optimus......" Savannah asked not finishing her sentence. "Not important right now," I said pointing a finger at her as her eyes went wide. "I'll be right back," Savannah said as she ran out of the bathroom leaving me confused. As I waited for her to come back I slowly got up from my position on the floor trying to steady myself. I wobbly walked over to the counter and looked at myself in the mirror. 'Ugh I look horrible' I thought as I rinsed my mouth to get rid of the smell of puke.

"I'm back," Savannah said while holding something behind her back. "What's that," I asked pointing behind her with a raised eyebrow. Without saying a word she pulled out a pregnancy test and my jaw dropped in shock. "Take it," Savannah said sternly. "Are you serious?" I said crossing my arms in disbelief. "Yes, now take it," Savannah said shoving it into my hands and walking out of the bathroom. I sighed as went through the process of taking the pregnancy test. I set it on the counter and waited. 'There's no way I'm pregnant...... am I? I mean it was only once and it was my first time! Oh god, why am I so anxious'. I started to get more nervous as I paced around the bathroom. 'What will Optimus think? Does he even want kids? Do I want kids? WHY DIDN'T WE USE A-'. My thoughts were soon interrupted by my phone ringing signaling that the five-minute wait was over.

I slowly picked up the test with shaky hands. I looked down at the test and immediately lost my breath. "I'm pregnant" I whispered while covering my mouth with my hand. Tears started to fall but I couldn't tell if I was happy or scared. I sobbed quietly as I slid onto the floor. 'What am I gonna do?' I thought to myself as I cried a bit harder. There was a knock at the door causing me to jump but I didn't say a word. "Lori are you ok," A rough voice said from the other side of the door. 'Shit' I scurried to my feet while wiping my eyes clean. "Yea I'm fine," I said fixing myself up. "You don't sound fine. Can you please open the door" Optimus said as my heart stopped. 'Here comes the moment of truth I guess'

I opened the door letting him in as he kissed my forehead. "I have something to tell you" I spoke as my voice quivered. "Are you ok, you look sick?" Optimus said looking at me with concern. "Yea I'm fine just a little morning sickness," I said putting on a fake smile. As soon as I said those words Optimus's eyes went wide. "Are you?" Optimus asked questioningly as he stared at my stomach. "Yea...... I'm sorry" I said bursting into tears as I felt a strange pain in my chest. "Sorry? For what" Optimus said trying to calm me down. "I didn't even ask if you wanted kids, it just happened! And I-" Before I could continue my ranting his lips gently smashed onto mine.

I calmed down as he wiped away my stray tears. "Hey, look at me," Optimus said while raising my head my his index finger, "I've always thought about starting a family with you. It just happened faster than I expected, but I still love you and our unborn child," Optimus said causing my eyes to water up again. "I love you so much," I said kissing him passionately. I felt him smirk in the kiss causing me to giggle. "You kiss me like that again and we might be making twins," Optimus said kissing my neck. "You horny hunk of metal," I said shoving him playfully and trying to walk away. But I couldn't get far enough before he scooped me up into his arms bridal style and carried me downstairs.

When we walked into the living room everyone was sitting there as if they were awaiting our arrival. "Soooooo," Savannah said with a huge grin. "You told them," I said looking at her with a shocked expression. "That's not important right now. What does the test say" Nina said jumping up and down eagerly. Optimus and I exchanged a look as we both smiled. "WE'RE HAVING A BABY!!" I yelled in excitement as everyone laughed and clapped. "It's about damn time," Crosshairs said with a smirk while I playfully glared at him. "Aww I'm going to be an auntie," Savannah said wiping away a fake tear. I laughed while hugging her tightly as everyone else started talking about baby showers and planning causing me to roll my eyes. "Wow can't believe I'm gonna be a mom," I said rubbing my still flat stomach. "I can't believe I'm gonna be a father," Optimus said kissing my forehead as everyone 'Awwed'. I took a good look around at the people around me, the Autobots, my friends, my best friend, the love of my life, and soon to be born child.

This is my family now and I love them

[shhhlikeme]

Can I request hcs for Oikawa, Ushijima and Kenma reacting to when their S/O calls them "daddy" as a joke in front of their team 😂😂

ANON, ARE YOU AWARE THAT I’M A WHORE FOR USHIJIMA AND KENMA OR DID YOU JUST RANDOMLY REQ THEM? I won’t be writing Oikawa because tbh I don’t like writing for him, he just doesn’t do it for me —sorry!!! Lmao, either way, I hope you enjoy b/c this might be my favourite story so far: 

A reminder that ALL CHARACTERS ARE AGED UP!!! They’re GROWN grown, aight?

(slight NSFW)

————————————

Ushijima Wakatoshi | Kenma Kozume | Reacting to Their S/O Calling Them “Daddy” In Front Of The Team!

—————————————————————-

Ushijima

“Hey, daddy?”

Ushijima stops immediately when he hears it

You were on a team outing at a poppin nightclub and you pretended to be a wee bit more drunk than you were so you could get away with saying it

In Tendou’s private bottle service booth, the team wanted to explode when they heard you, all of them turning to their captain

especially Tendou who let out a childish ‘oooooooooooooooooooooooooo’ and wiggled his arms

Toshi, calm as ever, just looks you up and down in your skin tight club dress and says in his deep, panty-dropping voice:

“Yes, baby?”

even though it was a joke trying to get your statuesque bf to crack in public you’re the one who almost rips his clothes off

He is sooooo FINE

And not fazed at all that you’d called him that in front of his friends

It made you HOT, like you were burning up

Toshi is the type of s/o that honestly wants you to do whatever you want as long as you were safe and happy doing it, so he didn’t mind in that sense that you called him daddy in front of his team

Issa whole man girl. Fuck you thought?

The team felt and embraced Ushijima’s infectiously calm energy, just like they do on the court, subconsciously convincing themselves that what you just said wasn’t a big deal

This was Wakatoshi’s strategy and inside he was pleased when his team went back to taking shots out of the bottle and dancing

The team felt that it wasn’t a big deal because Ushijima didn’t make it a big deal. Simple math

But although your boyfriend didn’t appear like it, let it be known that to him: what you said was a very big deal.

Toshi made sure that all his teammates were back to partying and not paying attention to him when he pulled you closer and used one big hand to squeeze your ass in that dress

He knows that’s your weakness, and you squeal as quietly as you can, hiding your face in his chest

Ushi leaned down smoothly, pressing his lips to your ear as he said quietly,

“Listen. Are you listening?” His deep voice vibrated through his chest which meant it vibrated on your boobs that were pressed to his chest. When you didn’t answer fast enough Toshi squeezed your ass again, making you moan. Luckily, the music in the club drowned you out. You nodded.

“You begged me to come here when I didn’t want to, Y/N. And now I’m here. You said you want me to stay until it closes but if you call me daddy again I’m carrying you back home without a second thought.” Ushi leaned away from you to happily clink glasses with drunk Tendou who was yelling at everyone to cheers. Your man was so well disguised. If his teammates were paying attention they probably thought he was telling you his favourite tv show with how calm his demeanour was. When Wakatoshi felt that no attention was on him again, his lips suddenly returned to your ear and he moved his hand to squeeze your other ass cheek. You moaned as you could feel your panties soak. Your hubby sounded calm as ever in your ear,

“And if that happens, Y/N, I’ll unintentionally have you walking with a limp like I did on our honeymoon. I will not be able to control myself. Am I understood?”

You nod, wanting him inside you so badly. Conjuring up some liquid courage you lifted your head from his chest to look him in the eye. You two held each other’s heated gazes for a minute before you mouthed:

“Yes, Daddy,” because he never said anything about inaudibly saying it.

“Hm.” Grunted Wakatoshi, his eyes darkening in the nightclub. He tugged the bottom of your dress down a little so that no other guys could see your private parts as he roughly lifted you over his shoulder with one arm.

RIP to your limp-free walk for a week or two b....definitely two

sorry not sorry

He warned you and you tried it

wish I was you

Kenma

Your boyfriend was being anti social as usual.....at a 5-year Nekoma Volleyball Team reunion in Lev’s mansion

He was the best boy you’ve ever met, and you rarely had issues with him, but sometimes you did want him to interact with your friends instead of standing in the corner playing video games.. just a little 👌🏾

While chatting and laughing with the other girlfriends, you watched out of the corner of your eye as Kuroo talked to your boyfriend in the corner, no doubt trying to get him to join the actual event and mingle

You could see your blonde baby shake his head while staring at his game thing like he always did, and you sighed

Kuroo turned to you and pretended to hang himself, his way of telling you that his attempts didn’t work

Of course not, smh.

When Kuroo walked past you he leaned down to say that if ‘Kenma won’t go to the party then the party would go to him’

Not knowing what that meant, you just nodded before excusing yourself from your girlfriends to meet up with your boyfriend.

From behind, you wrapped your arms around his waist and rested your chin on his shoulder.

He jumped but soon relaxed knowing it was you getting into your favourite position.

The two of you didn’t say anything, having a silent conversation instead

You two just stared at the screen and Kenma upped another level, he was so into it and you could tell.

“Kenma.”

No answer.

“Kenma.”

Still no answer. You used your other nickname for him.

“Kay? Hell-o?”

Still no answer. Smirking, you tried using your ”other” nickname for your boyfriend instead. The one you used when he was anything but shy like how he’s acting now.

“Haven’t you already beat that game, daddy?”

Even if Kenma’s ears didn’t hear you, his dick definitely did. Unfortunately, at the same time that the naughty nickname exited your lips, you heard a collective gasp. You and Kenma both snapped your heads up, seeing Kuroo and the team had just walked over, and heard you.

That must have been what Kuroo meant earlier when he said he’d bring the party to Kenma.

Kenma closed his eyes, biting his lip then sighing loudly.

You laughed nervously. “Whoops. Did I say th-that?”

“You totally did.” Exclaimed Lev with a huge smile on his face.

“I heard it!” Yamamoto raised his hand like this was class time and the teacher just asked who’d like some candy.

“You’re so awesome, Kenma.” Praises Yaku. “You have a hot girlfriend, and she calls you—??” Kuroo clasped his hand over his old libero’s mouth, knowing that Kenma was sure to leave if they kept mentioning what they just heard like this.

“Hey Kenma, we are about to go inside and play some video games in there in Lev’s home theatre. Why don’t you come?”

Kenma opened his eyes, hearing immense comfort in his favourite thing to do. He could not turn down surround sound video games. You still had not released your arms around his waist. Kenma nodded to his best friend and told them to go on a ahead and that he will meet them there in a second.

Tetsuro ushered them all away like the true captain that he is, even after 5 years.

When they walked away, Kenma turned so that he was facing you. You looked at him with your cute ‘I’m sorry’ face that your boyfriend was literal putty for. He sighed when he saw you making that face, and all the anger he had toward you for saying that aloud dissipated.

“Y/N, that was really embarrassing.” He said in his normal dry tone.

It was your turn to shut your eyes in embarrassment. “I know, Kay, I’m so sorry. I promise I didn’t know they were there! I was too wrapped up in the game. I’ll never call you the d word again—“

Kenma watched you, his beautiful girlfriend, practically begging for his forgiveness. He didn’t like it. “I know you’re sorry, don’t worry about it.” He kissed your forehead. He looked around to make sure no one was listening. “And wait—you mean you’ll never call me the d-word again in public, right? Or ever?”

“Ever.” You said quickly. “I’ll embarrass you-“

“No.” Kenma said sternly. “Please keep calling me that in private. I love it, Y/N.” he told you he loved it very quietly, you could hear his voice drop with seduction. Kozume was thinking about all the times you called him that when he was having the time of his life between your legs and it turned him on. Kenma pulled you flush against him so you could feel his hard-on and you almost fainted. You loved when he was hard. It signified that pleasurable times were to come. You wanted him so bad.

But, you were at a party, and Kenma never let himself get carried away sexually in public.

Well, until today.

He pressed his boner harder against you.

“I’m telling you. I love it. So keep calling me daddy when we’re having sex. Or just whenever we are completely alone. Please.”

You gulped.

“Okay, Kenma.” You whined, wishing that you weren’t stuck at this reunion party anymore but writhing under your man at home in your shared bed.

A thought hit you and you reached in your pocket to feel for your set of keys. You remembered that you drove here, which only meant one thing: one really, great thing:

there was always the car..........

[nefoe-dd]

SO SMT AU AM I RIGHT GAMERS

I mentioned this in the tags of another post and joked about it in Discord but my brain went brrrr during my last class of the day and now I lowkey have a full plot starting to form lol.

Keep in mind the only Shin Megami Tensei game I’ve played myself is the Nocturne remake, plus I only really remember bits of the plot of 4 and whatever we’ve been given so far of 5 so I’m not super well versed in the series.

Also I’ll add this to the tags too but DSMP Spoilers specifically for the contents of Techno’s Will exist in this post, because that is where the idea for this came from. A lot of other JRPGs have similar plotlines but I specifically thought of SMT because its kind of a meme specifically for that at this point how the plot always seems to have the same type ending bosses. 

Also some spoilers for Shin Megami Tensei IV

ANYWAYS

Now Presenting: An AU where Techno’s Limbo is an SMT Game lol

(Under a ‘Read More’ because it got way ahead of me)

An Introduction to Relevant SMT terminology:

Demons: Makes up a large majority of the characters in the game. They are the enemies that you face in combat, and its possible to recruit them to your team through various means. Some demons exist in the overworld though, and can be talked to normally, they’re chill most of the time, unless you do something to tick them off. ‘Demon’ is not taken literally by the Christian definition, they are based off of various figures in folklore and religion around the world, some are even based on Gods and Angels.

Law vs Chaos: Many SMT games have multiple endings based on these two alignments, along with the neutral alignment. It is usually decided by some important decisions the player makes throughout the game. I’m most aware of the SMT 4 ending, in which the route you are on decides the final dungeon, the character you team with for the ending, and the final boss (its either Satan or the in-game version of God). It’s based off of the traditional interpretation of these two, where Law represents the importance of authority, and Chaos represents the importance of freedom. 

Another note is that a lot of SMT games take place in a post-apocalyptic world of some kind, which, spoiler, is the case here.

General Plot Details and Worldbuilding:

- Techno dies in the prison. The stasis chamber fails and Quackity succeeds in killing him. Permanently. 

- Despite dying, he wakes up again in the main prison cell, but things are different. The lava isn’t blocking the entrance anymore, (in fact there isn’t any lava at all), and he’s alone. Upon peering outside the main cell, he notices a bit of sky peeking through the prison ceiling, like it had been broken into. 

- The drop down to the bottom floor is long, but he’s dead, so he just shrugs and jumps down so he can see what’s going on. Turns out there are several holes in this part of the prison, in fact there are multiple on the ground, likely where the lava had escaped from. (Obviously Minecraft lava specifically doesn’t work like that, I’m pretty sure in the DreamSMP the bottom is all source blocks, but just ignore that bit). 

- He exits from the back wall of the prison, and everything there so far looks normal, except for the fact that there appears to be less trees than normal. Of the trees that are still there, many of them were cut down and never collected, and some appear to have fallen over due to some damage.

- Techno goes around the prison to the front, and that’s when he notices some things that are very wrong. Various parts of the prison, not just the main cell, are also sitting destroyed. Many cracks, scuff marks and full-on chunks are missing on the walls. The usual entrance which houses the nether portal is hardly still standing, and he can see straight into the main lobby where the portal would lead into once you were let through. 

- The surrounding areas are not much better. Tommy’s outpost is toppled over in the distance, only the base and bottom floor are left standing. The tents near the beach are collapsed and destroyed, the only remnants of one of them is a small piece of fabric ripped from the main bit and laying on the ground. Skeppy and Badboyhalo’s mansion is crumbling where it stands, half of the back wall and ceiling are gone. And that’s only what’s visible from here. 

- The rest of the server is also in various states of destruction, the spawn walls are hardly left standing, the main nether portal area is covered in potholes, none of the portals are active. The prime path is rotted and broken in most areas, the buildings along it are not faring much better than the ones he’d seen before. And the further he gets away from the prison, the more the plants themselves appear to be dead or dying. 

- L’manburg’s crater looks much the same as it once did right after its destruction, albeit with more debris at the bottom which had fallen from the sides as they slowly eroded. The flag at the bottom is torn up and discoloured, honestly its hardly recognizable. The nature that had finally begun to reclaim the land has slowly been dying instead over time, and the bridge overtop has completely collapsed. The only thing still standing, is the ever present obsidian grid that looms over it in the sky. He supposes that whatever disaster had caused this wasn’t able to reach that high up, or that it was at least in part done by someone that liked the way it looked. Not that there seems to be a need for the reminder anymore. 

- Something something, he finds out DreamXD is here, and that he might have had something to do with how this world looks. And as much as it shouldn’t matter in the afterlife, he did promise Phil he would be killing God sooooo he goes on a mission to do just that. He can do pretty much anything now that he really doesn’t have to worry about dying, so why not. He has no reason to care about some God, especially when they’re the only ones left.

- Some DSMP people hang around the world and are represented by certain demons, the mostly chill ones that kinda just hang around in the apocalyptic scenery. They don’t recognize him, it isn’t really the people he knows after all, but they are willing to talk to him since they can tell he isn’t human either. He learns little bits of what happened through them, and learns where DreamXD resides, that being one of the strongholds that’s a bit further out. 

- Unfortunately, due to the portals being inactive, and his inability to break anything efficiently, or even at all, he has to travel using the overworld. Along the way he manages to speak to some others, this allows him to better locate where the God is, although it doesn’t seem to be hiding out. He even sees it sometimes flying around, which he uses to follow where its hiding. 

- Some of the random demons he runs into recognize that he’s not supposed to be here (according to them at least), so he has to fight his way through them. Luckily, many of the friendly demons that he talks to end up tagging along in order to help, thus making up a team he can use to get through them instead.

 - There’s probably a demon that seems to resemble Phil somewhere, living alone (alone for so so long) away from everyone in an arctic house perhaps. If I wanted to really up the angst, the demon takes a liking to Techno right away, which is partly how Techno is able to tell its him so quickly. The more they talk, the more Techno realizes how lonely the Phil he knows must be without him there, how upset he’d be once he reads the will and finds out what happened to him. Thus he’s more motivated to, you know, fight God, in an attempt to figure out what the hell happened. (DXD is the only entity existing here that also exists where he’s from, he can guess pretty easily that maybe, just maybe, they are one and the same). Thus, he is given a choice that he knows he will have to make in the future. 

- Eventually he manages to find the stronghold and comes face to face with DreamXD himself. DreamXD is just kinda chillin there, they fight, through DreamXD doesn’t seem to be putting in too much effort, almost like it does not want to win. 

- Techno wins (duh), and he is left with a choice, a choice to finish the job, or spare the god and allow it to go free. And, well, he feels that he doesn’t really have the right to decide whether it lives or dies, and while its possible that DreamXD caused whatever disaster created the current state of the world, but he doesn’t know that for sure. DreamXD has done nothing this whole time he’s been here, and its done nothing to him or his companions.

- He chooses to leave it alone, and DreamXD seems to know that it was always going to end that way. 

- DreamXD disappears, and Techno wakes up in the cell again post-revival, the prison and the world around it is the same as he remembers

(I don’t remember the exact real-world to limbo time difference but I imagine that it felt like, a day, maybe half that, while irl it was only a few minutes to an hour.)

Some other notes/details:

- The other possible ending would have resulted in Techno killing DreamXD and being given ANOTHER choice to take its power over the world, or just leave and stay there forever. Basically DreamXD’s existence is vital to the power of the revival book, and it’s death would have resulted in Dream not being successful in his revival attempts. Obviously we have no idea how the powers actually work yet, but I just came up with an explanation because I thought it would be interesting. You can decide on your own which of these endings fall into Law, Chaos or Neutral because uh, its complicated given the scenario. You can also decide if letting DreamXD live even fits into his character! Idk! But its not like DreamXD’s being oppressive by any means, not that there’s anyone to oppress here anyways. That’s my logic anyways.

- I don’t know what demons would represent specific people, I’d like to use one of the Angels for Phil but the Demons based on Angels usually have an important role in the plot that is in line with the Law alignment and like, protecting god or whatever, so no. There are a couple bird ones but idk if they fit the vibe, idk it could work, I’d have to look at a list if I want to go into this further.

- I kinda want Eret to be an Inugami because it’s body does that thing that ferret’s do when they’re all stretched out :) The only reason I’m hesitant is because Inugami is a dog, and Goose deserves representation.

- The reason I imagined for why Techno can’t break anything is because the mining fatigue lasted throughout this because he died with it, it’d get in the way of fighting too but at least it isn’t weakness, and he’s not alone either.

Uhhhhh that’s it for now I think!

(will potentially add to this if I figure something else out in the future)

[catrasredemption-moved]

I'm really struggling and hurting with what's going on in the fandom right now as im losing the only comfort i had in quarantine. could you please write something happy post-s5 catradora based on noelle's statement that once Adora realises she's in love with Catra she'd be SO into the reslationship?

((I get you, Nonners <3 *hugs* Again, white af, so I’m going to limit my comments, but - it isn’t all downhill from here. Try not to give up)) (((Disclaimer it’s almost 4am and my sleeping meds are kicking in, so I’m sorry if this isn’t completely coherent)))

Adora had never half-assed anything in her life.

And she’d be damned if she was going to start now, at a time when being fully on her game was more important than ever.

“I just want to do something for her!”

Bow practically had hearts in his eyes. Glimmer was a little less impressed. “I’m pretty sure if you just stayed in bed and napped together all day, she’d be happy.”

“I know, I know.” Adora sighed. “But that’s not - I want to do something good. Like, really show her that I love her.”

“Take a vacation.”

“Glimmer!”

“What? I’m serious,” Glimmer insisted. “If you just like... took an entire week off to do nothing but spend time with her, she’d probably be speechless. Which I would pay to see, by the way.”

Adora frowned, thinking it over. It was true that Catra would probably be floored by Adora taking a week off, no need for She-Ra or anything, just for her.

“I don’t know. Do you think it’s enough? What should we do? What do people do on vacation?”

“You could just travel?” Bow suggested. “You know, get as far from Bright Moon as you can then call Glimmer for a ride back or something when you’re done.”

It was... actually a good idea, Adora thought. They’d spent their whole lives in the Fright Zone wondering what was beyond the Whispering Woods. They could actually see things now. They could see a world full of magic!

The happy thoughts died almost as quickly as they had started. “I... I dunno. I mean, it sounds great, but that would take more than a week, and-”

“Take a month,” Glimmer encouraged. “Take six months, honestly. You guys saved the universe. If anyone’s earned time off, it’s you.”

“That’s a lot of time.”

“And you’ve earned it,” Bow assured her. “Maybe not six months - I mean, you should take six months but I know that would drive you nuts. But take a month. Go places. Spend time together. I think it’d be good for you guys.”

Adora chewed on her thumbnail for a moment before slowly nodding and smiling. “Yeah. Okay.”

This whole thing had started with Catra not feeling like a priority in Adora’s life, after all. A month together would be the perfect way to show Adora she was invested and she cared. Perfect. * * * * * * * * * * * * Catra didn’t get back to Bright Moon that night. “Your cat passed out on my couch,” Mermista informed Adora flatly, turning the screen so Adora could see Catra curled up in a tight ball, sleeping.

“Is she... okay?”

“She’s dumb. Sea Hawk found her almost sick with heat stroke and had to drag her away from the house she was working on.”

Adora’s heart jumped to her throat. “She’s... She’s really trying hard to help with Salineas.”

“And I appreciate it,” Mermista admitted in a rare moment of genuine honesty. “But I’ll appreciate it less if she kills herself in the process. If she’s going to die, I should at least get the first shot.”

“Glimmer can come get her, if you want.”

“Nah, she already feels like hell. She can sleep it off on the couch.”

Adora scrubbed her eyes, smiling weakly. “Thanks, Mermista. Sorry, I guess I should’ve warned you, she gets really intense when she actually puts effort into things.”

“She’s not someone I would’ve pegged for a workaholic. Want me to wake her up to say... I dunno, good night or whatever you guys say to each other?”

“Nah, let her sleep.” Adora wanted Catra home, wanted to talk to her about a vacation, but she was sleeping, and that was more important than anything. She’d been exhausting herself for nearly a month working on Salineas. And while it was earning her some begrudging tolerant will with Mermista (who firmly believed actions were better than any apology Catra could ever say), Adora was worried. A vacation would really do her some good. * * * * * * * * * * * * Glimmer and Adora went to Salineas the next morning to get Catra. They thought it was reasonable to assume she was still sleeping off the heat stroke at the palace.

“Nope, she took off before I woke up,” Mermista said flatly when they found her. “Sea Hawk tried to find her, but he’s not exactly subtle about it, so she probably had plenty of time to hide.”

“Great.” Adora sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose. “I’ll... track her down.”

“Tell her if she’s going to keel over to get out of my kingdom. She can die on Bright Moon’s turf.”

“Tell her not to die,” Glimmer added.

“Yes, and yes.”

Mermista pointed Adora in the direction of where they’d found Catra yesterday. She approached a half built house, quietly climbing up the ladder at the side and finding Catra working on the roofing.

“Seriously?” she asked, resting her arms on the edge of the roof. Catra looked up, surprised.

“What?”

She looked exhausted, her face flushed red. Adora sighed. “Are you coming home any time soon?”

“Yeah, yeah.” She went back to work, distracted. “Sorry, I dunno what happened yesterday.”

“You made yourself sick working in the sun all day.”

“Sea Hawk overreacted.” Catra waved Adora off. “He’s just scared you’d kill him if you found he let me overwork myself.”

“Sooooo you’re admitting it?”

“No, that’s just his logic.”

Adora shook her head. “Come on, take the day off and come home. I wanna talk to you about something.”

“I really need to finish this.”

There was a weird moment where Adora thought she understood how Catra had felt for years. Catra had been working nonstop on Salineas for a month, and Adora was starting to feel a little ignored.

But she also understood Catra’s side. She took a deep breath, hauling herself up onto the roof and crawling over to Catra, gently putting her hand on Catra’s and stopping the hammer. “Hey. I get it, okay? But you’re not responsible for fixing all of Salineas.”

“Actually, I kind of am,” Catra replied bitterly. She was far too warm for it to be comfortable.

“I’m pretty sure Hordak could stand to take a little more responsibility than he has.” Adora couldn’t help but be a bit bitter about that. He had mostly stayed in Dryl, working with Entrapta on tech that would help with the rebuilding process. And that was great and all, but it wasn’t much compared to Catra being out here every day working herself half to death.

Catra let out a long sigh, finally relaxing her hand. “I just... need to do this, Adora. Okay?”

“I get that, but you don’t need to do it at the expense of your own health. And yes, I know I’m a hypocrite. But I’m worried about you.”

“I’m fine.”

“No, you’re not.” Adora squeezed her hand. “And that’s okay. Have you eaten anything?”

“No.” The honesty was nice.

“Did you skip eating because you felt sick?” Catra nodded. “Okay. So... you can leave with me, or Mermista can wash you out to sea so you don’t die in her kingdom.”

Catra looked around, and sighed, finally nodding. “Okay. Let’s go.”

Getting her back to solid ground was a bit dicey, but she held herself up and managed to walk back to the palace without much help.

“She lives,” Mermista said dryly when they arrived back at the palace. Glimmer smiled, although she couldn’t hide her worry.

“You okay?”

“Yeah, I’m fine, I’m fine.” Catra smothered a yawn, scrubbing her eyes.

“Picture of health all right,” Mermista deadpanned. “Look, you built like, an entire neighborhood on your own. Come back when you’re not burning up.”

Glimmer rested a hand on Catra’s shoulder, wincing when she felt the heat radiating off of her. Adora took a moment to whisper, “Thank you for taking care of her,” to Mermista. The princess shrugged.

“Yeah, you know. Whatever.”

Catra was not happy with the teleport back to Bright Moon. Glimmer put them close enough to the bed so she could drop straight onto it, groaning. Good luck, the queen mouthed before disappearing. Adora went to the bathroom, wet a washcloth with cold water, and returned to the bed, resting the cloth on the back of Catra’s neck. She shivered.

“Cold.”

“Yes, because you’re burning hot.” Adora settled in next to her. “So, I had an idea, and I already know you’re going to argue with it, but hear me out.” Catra hummed in affirmation. “I was thinking we should take some time off. You and me. I was thinking traveling, but now I’m thinking maybe go visit Frosta and spend a week in the snow.”

“Oh hell no,” Catra muttered. “I am not going anywhere with snow. That’s where I draw the line.”

“But you’re agreeing to the vacation?”

“I dunno.” Catra raised her head. “When? Can it wait until Salineas is-”

“No.” Adora gently clasped Catra’s face in her hands. “I know this is hard for you, but you can’t hurt yourself trying to fix things. That won’t accomplish anything, and nobody wants to see you hurting, not even Mermista.”

Catra looked ready to argue, but something in her expression flickered. “You’re willing to take time off just to do nothing?”

“Not nothing. To spend time with you. We can hold each other accountable. You keep me strapped down, and I’ll lie on top of you to make sure you don’t run off to Salineas.”

Tears slowly filled Catra’s eyes, and Adora panicked for a moment before Catra spoke. “You’d... really take time off to spend time with me?”

“Of course.” Adora kissed her gently. “I love you, Catra. And I know we’ve been through a lot and done a lot that doesn’t really... support that, and I want to prove it now. And I want to take care of you.”

The moment of silence between them was comfortable. The same silence they could have spent hours in at one point in their lives. “I love you too,” Catra finally murmured. “Maybe taking some off to spend together wouldn’t be so bad. If only to see you try and relax.”

“Ha. Ha.” Adora grabbed the washcloth and began gently wiping Catra’s face. “Glimmer gave us a month, but I’m pretty sure she’ll be happy if we want to take more. Let’s start with getting you better, then we can figure out what we want to do from there. Okay?”

“Yeah.” Catra snuggled into Adora’s chest, taking a deep breath. “That sounds good.”

It had worked. Adora couldn’t believe it. “So uh... I’m doing this relationship thing pretty good, huh?”

Catra snorted, reaching up to push her face away. “Get over yourself.”

[tsuki-sennin]

Hehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehe

Spoilers, I guess...

-Salted calamari.

-Aaaaaaaand he's gone!

-Hello Akaishi!

-OOOOOOOKAY THAT WAS CREEPY AND UNCALLED FOR

-Yeah, this guy's beyond fucked.

-Is it like the Fusion Dance where there's a time and damage limit? ...at least, I remember that's how either version from DBZ and Steven Universe worked.

-Itty bitty George! Ah, he's so cute~!

-GODDAMN JIOHKLGJK

-Oh, that bitch went up in flames.

-Oh god, cheer!

-Well, this possession lipsync definitely isn't up to Den-O standards, but

-It IS very funny sooooo

-I imagine Kagerou would be pretty agitated. You should let him out more.

-Lovekov do a funny spin wheeeeeeee! :)

-IS THE FIRE HOW PAPA LOST HIS HEART

-Oh Buu-san, you Chad :)

-Hello Ushijima-san.

-"Was there a rule...?" Does this mean Daddy Karizaki's not the guy in charge?

-OH GOD HE'S FLYING

-Ok, I've seen a lot of different romanizations of this demon's name. Bael, Veil, Vail, Beiru... I think for simplicity's sake I'll use the wiki's name, Vail.

-W

-WHAT

-OHHHHHHH LORD

-JESUS CHRIST HAS HE BEEN DOING THAT ALL DAY

-Aguilera-sama, pls

-Oh no :(

-Bring him Karizaki Sr. and his masked Monokuma looking ass.

-Slayin' with Queen B!

-Smth smth "What am I fighting fooooooooooooooooooooor?"

-Oh god, he's waking up.

-THE BETRAYAL! I expected this from Kagerou, but this is a step too far, Lovekov!

-OHHHHHHHHHHH FUCK GEN-SAN

-OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOH THAT VOICE

-Yep, Kabuto, like the Rhino Beetle. ...and I imagine not Kabuto like... Kabuto. Or Kabuto and Kabutops.

-Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh, that's a creepy transformation.

-JESUS THAT WAS SO QUICK

-Maybe he IS Kabuto!

-JESUS HE'S SO BRUTAL

-OH GOD IS THAT DEMON BLOOD

-This guy's straight out of a goddamn horror manga!

-Mr. Vail's real fucked up, huh?

-OH GOD

-OH MY GOD VICE KNEW-

-He's fighting back!

-Jesus Christ, this thing is horrifying.

-GIRL HELP IDK WHAT'S EVEN HAPPENING

-OH GOD BUU-SAN

-This season's really treading into some dark territory, let me tell you.

-WOW, this is terrifying.

-So, Vail and Genta did business... I suspected a lot about Gen-san, even if I didn't bring them up. Maybe he was secretly a former Fenix operative, maybe he was a sleeper agent for the Deadmans, maybe he was intended to become a Giftex. This? This is an absolute game-changer.

-So, that's where Vice came from.

-Oh hi, George! One more revelation for the road?

-Oh hi, Daddy.

-I'm no expert, but it is very likely that the Vistamps came from a different civilization than the ones prevalent throughout Latin America, just on looks alone.

-OHHHHHHHHHH HE CUT GENTA OPEN

-Yeah, it makes... a ton of sense now, actually.

-We're all Gifu Juniors.

-I imagine Olteca didn't know about this, because Akaishi seems to be hiding a lot from him, but did anyone else know? The Ushijima's definitely didn't. Buu-san definitely had been on the same team, I'm sure of it now, and that's why he's been hanging around. Did Commander Wakabayashi know? Hell, did Yukimi know?

-OH MY GOD HE ATE HER

-OHHHHH NEW FORM YESSSS

-I imagine that's the Live Holy Wings form I've heard about. It looks fantastic, but I hope this doesn't mean the end of Evil screen time. I've also seen other stuff about a new Revice Super Form. Thunder Gale I think it's called? ...it seems pretty divisive, but I wanna see it in action before I make a call.

-Sorry this was so short, but I'm just reeling rn. Shit's crazy, yo.

[turtleduckrabbit]

' KILL OR BE KILLED '

PROLOGUE: CHAPTER 2

Honorary Mentions: GingaNinja (Insta)/ @bluepalleteuniverse / @star-gamerxox / @help-im-a-gay-fish / @adorablybubblyfirebug / @ari-cuno / @rikablue27 / @amarald / @zu-is-here (Sorry for the mentions! Hope you enjoy my trashy writing.)

[NOTE]: I have NEVER written any sort of story before, especially one like this, so please forgive me for the horrible grammar, writing, and art.

- SUB-UNIT: STUDENT COUNCIL -

It’s all black… I can’t see… where am--

I slowly opened my eyes and sat up. I was in the same classroom, it was lit brighter. The light from the sun shined through the windows and I felt an aching pain in my head. But it could be from the fact I just fell on my head a few sec--- wait. How long ago was it?

I’m starting to remember now.. We’re in a game.. The school was in ruins a moment ago. What the hell is going on here?

I walked towards the door and into the hallway. Where is everyone? The other students? Do we have to meet up in whatever room? I peeked back into the classroom to look for a message on the chalkboard but there was nothing. Sooooo, no clue what to do- uh- I’ll just walk over to the classroom next door…

(Entering classroom/ representatives;2_found/ subunit;studentcouncil)

“Hellooooo? Anyone in--”

“No, but I’m just saying- is it really a good idea to allow timed academic competitions..?”

“Of course it is, don’t be so cautious. Other schools do it, and besides- we were picked out for this subunit, so it would most likely make the most sense, right?”

Uh- am I supposed to be here? Maybe I should leave? WAIT- THERE ARE OTHER STUDENTS, THAT’S A GOOD THING, UH- OKAY-

I walked over and they turned to look at me. A more young masculine looking person and a feminine looking person. One of the students had more fluffy orange-tinted hair, wore the masculine-based school uniform. And the other student had straighter black and faded purple-tinted hair, with their hood up. “My name is Star, I was wondering if I could get some help around here? I don’t really know what happened to my school- adding on that I’ve never seen you two during my entire life at this school-”. I jumbled over my words a little, I have no idea how to explain any of this. “It’s nice to meet you, I’m Aim. Listed under the Student Council Subunit.” he smiled. I let out a sigh of relief, they were nice- thank the stars.. I turned to the other student: “And you are-?”.

They stared at me for a second before blinking, like they were bringing themselves back into reality. “OH- sorry.. You can call me Oriana, I’m under the same subunit as Aim. We were just discussing random stuff that I kinda already forgot about--” they scratched their head and laughed awkwardly. “Really….?” Aim glared sarcastically at Oriana. “Yeah, okay. Don’t try that, you’re still a baby compared to me.” Oriana snickered.

I watched Aim get slightly offended before turning back to me. I decided to take them with me to look for other stu--- wait, did they say they’re under a subunit?

‘ ‘ I am your Headmaster Subunit. , ,

“You’re under a subunit, like Yui?” I asked. “Huh- didn’t we say that?” Aim asked before Oriana chimed in. “Yui is a weird kid, I don’t say that often. I’d like to not be compared with them.”.

I quickly apologized and fidgeted with my hands a bit. “What subunit are you listed under?” Aim asked, and as always, I was dumbfounded. Man- I really gotta start paying attention in class. I don’t even remember what subunits are-

“Well-- uh-- I-” I was looking around trying to think. It was just out of habit.

“If you don’t remember, you can just check your student handbook.” Oriana suggested. I thanked them before taking out the student handbook in my pocket. And this student handbook- was VERY personal. Like extremely personal-. Besides the subunit listing, which is normal, there was: blood type, likes and dislikes, family origins, aliases, height, weight in both lbs and kg, even closest allies. “Huh- never knew my blood type before-.” I mumbled. “Yeah- this thing is kinda weird.” Aim noted. “It has info on everything and everyone.”.

“Well, according to this, I’m also under the student council subunit..” I looked up at them. “So we’re on the same subunit?” Oriana asked. I nodded. “That’s soooo cool!!” Aim’s eyes lit up in joy. “We finally have another addition to the unit!!” He cheered as we began to walk into the hallway in search of other students.

“Like I said, he's baby.” Oriana shrugged before laughing. I couldn’t contain my laughter and began laughing as well. “Hey! I don’t really appreciate that..” Aim scoffed dramatically before running in front of us. “Mhm, yeah- okay. Talk to us when you’re older, young one.” I patted his head jokingly. “I’m barely any younger than Oriana! We’re the same age! Just a few months difference!”. Maybe this wouldn’t be that terrible.. I’ve already figured out people to stick with in this game.

I completely forgot..

We’re in a killing game..

Nobody can be trusted, not any of the students.

But maybe… These people are different...

They must be… right..?

- NEW MEMORY UNLOCKED: STUDENT COUNCIL SUB-UNIT -

(I got artblock, so the art will be reblogged w/ the post)

[alotsgonnachange]

Mystic Messenger Saeran’s AE Thoughts (.......And Prayers..) #Spoilerz

Hello, I just finished Saeran’s after ending and I have a lot of things to say and I am going to write it down while I'm still all keyed up about it.

First of all… Please DO NOT ask me how much money I spent to finish this as fast as I did…. I’m grown but my bank account is certainly going to have a good ole fashioned CHUCKLE at this….. It’s been a long quarantine I deserve a lil happiness as a treat methinks!

I have been playing this absolutely insane game since I think 2016? When I first started playing the deep routes had JUST come out I think? And I was just finishing up high school and am now a college grad...lmao

I’ve played all routes at least once except Jaehee but i’ve seen walkthroughs of her route (I’ve heard it makes you hate Jumin and he’s my favorite so um. hehe). V’s and Saeran’s routes I found to be so emotionally intense and just….a lot and I've been waiting a long ass god damn time for this after ending okay…. I would theorize and make up an ending in my head but i’m no writer so it was hard to figure out lol. I’m a Jumin stan mostly but I love everybody and yeah I should probably play that jumin dlc too but I need like a DAY to recover from Saeran’s AE. Enough about me HERE are my thoughts on it overall

Major Saeran AE Spoilers under da cut!

Can we please discuss V showing up to the C+R conference room with basically chloroform and made everybody Pass Out like??? I was alone in my room at like midnight just SCREAMING at my phone???? And the creepy ass CG ???? It’s like that gif of sarah paulson from ahs being like “I put arsenic in the wine….and the pasta”

Anyway I screamed at V a lot during this process!!

Loved RFA being sweet and kind to saeran (before V fucking drugged them…)

This is such common V behavior “I have to do it all myself...there’s no other way..” GIRL SHUT UPPP You do this every route....

SO many CG’s and I enjoy them a lot

Saeran’s sprite looks a little TOO crisp compared to everyone else but maybe its a glitch??? V next to him is in 480p while saeran is like 1080p

Hearing both Saeran and Saeyoung missing the other brother the whole time??? PAIN. All my homies know is PAIN

BOSS and his V for Vendetta ass guy fawkes mask??? I literally yelled “this game is TERRIBLE!!” several times at my phone

Their dad is so>??????? When he was sitting on the couch with saeyoung in that one CG while simultaneously telling him to kill himself?????????? Maybe chairman han is actually the best dad in this game somehow

When V and Rika were like we’re back together teehee teehee okay pack it up bonnie and clyde ..

When chairman han calls u and says hes jealous of u and saeran…..HUH????? I’m calling HR

When they go to the apartment and see boss and vanderwood and poor saeyoung is sitting there seeing his brother for the first time in years i wanted to D word sooooo bad like PAIN...PAIN….

Can we HAVE A DISCUSSION ABOUT JUMIN HAN BEING THE BEST CHARACTER IN THE GAME AND HE LOST EVERYTHING IN THIS AE……. he just took the blame and moved on jumin what the hell….. I love him so much r we serious? He watched his 2 closest friends betray him in the worst way and found out abt how Rika abused Saeyoung and Saeran???? I felt just AWFUL. Terrible ...Terrible….

Rika’s change in demeanor from Saeran's actual route is certainly a Choice. I find her much more bearable this time around and unfortunately i think I was too nice to her and ended up with a bad end LMFAO

I was happy to see Saeran stand up for himself and become stronger and confident. You go king!

The CG of Yoosung laying in Zen’s lap is everything to me…

HOWEVER YUP I sure did get a bad ending and I was so mad fdsafdskfdhsf ! (I would be happy to clarify how I got the good one the second time.) MAKE SURE To SAVE EARLY in days 2 and 3 bc the branches on day 4 is where the bad end will show up. For me it was the first day 4 chat and then a story mode titled “SAVIOR”.... If you see that RUN FOR THE HILLS!!

I was so mad! But I had saved in day 2 and replayed and MANAGED to get good end

I’m obsessed with everyone calling V and Rika “that psychotic couple” like…..its true its true…

No those two are so toxic… V’s route was torture watching them go on and on about the sun like yo can yall just call each other babe like normal people.

I respect straight people but not V and RIka that shit was just wrong… Straight marriage was a mistake

Oh lord i also FULLY Forgot Rika killed the twins’ mother…. Yeah that scene was um Certainly a lot but it needed to happen eventually

Like it’s good they know but damn that storyline is just so bleak

I think it was satisfying TO A DEGREE….To see Rika understand where she was wrong, why she was wrong, fess up and even APOLOGIZE! I was very surprised.

Saeran and Saeyoung are Certainly twins with the amount that those two self sacrifice in every route MY GOD…..

The scene with Jumin talking to his father and the other scene of him praying oh my god I cannot tell you how happy I was to see him begin to understand and address his own feelings in a route that was not his own. My main problem with Jumin’s route has always been the trapping MC in his penthouse aspect.. This way Jumin understands love and emotions without being overly possessive !!! YAY also loved seeing him be on good terms with his dad who was surprisingly profound

That last Story mode was Really a Lot…. and Strange things occurred which I will get into in just a minute

Jumin becoming a politician is so funny but ngl … i see it.

Yoosung going to france to study pastries ok king I see u! (it made more sense to me than the vet thing anyway)

Lastly Zen FURRY ERA

MY BEEF With the AE

I was happy with how they handled it for the most part. I think Cheritz heard our feedback about V’s after ending and was like okay….let’s try something different

HOWEVER

Saeran…. Sweet kind saeran… IS SO AFFECTIONATE HAHA….

He must have said I love you like 300 times…..very mushy gushy flowery language...and maybe that’s just his personality but for me it was like eating cake with buttercream cake. It means well, but god damn is it sugary and going to cause a stomach ache later.

He was just… SO MUCH! SO forward and ON all the time in his affections. I honestly felt kind of smothered and by day 3 and 4 I was sooooo over all the compliments… King you’ve come a very long way, but ur still putting MC on a pedestal and probably need to see a therapist.

Nextly….Rika and V….. Naw that knock out gas really ...that hurt lol. Coming from “I would do anything to protect RFA” V? Idk like…. EYE felt betrayed reading that. It was just hurtful. I can’t even imagine how the members would have felt as they were passing out. It was just so cruel. I suppose I understand why but like?? Just TERRIBLE

Them being in cahoots with the agency and the prime minister..HUH??? Also too much

V just felt so irresponsible like I do understand that he ended up in a weird web of secrets that’s hard to untangle but he’s so fucking stubborn he’s SO stubborn it makes me insane. Like sir… It seems like in other routes he wanted to try to protect Rika and the RFA.. But in this AE it seems more to me that he was like yeah i’m protecting Rika and That’s It… so fucking hurtful to me. Both of y’all apologize ESPECIALLY to the twins and Jumin..

The forgiveness thing…… Okay so I think some people will not like that Saeran decided to “forgive” the people who hurt him (Rika, V, Saejoong, his mother). I would point out that I actually think this was approached somewhat well. He says at one point that he doesn’t think they’re good or bad, just people. I think he sounded mature and like this was the way for him personally to accomplish his healing process. Would I have loved for Saeran to flip V and Rika off and kick Saejoong off a cliff? Yea I really would. But like…. If that’s what HE needs to do to heal then who am I to judge?

HOWEVER…. Everything Eye just said goes out the window when the scenes at the end with Saejoong come up… I was PERPLEXED. Like why did he HUG his deranged father who just kicked the shit out of him??? Also all the chat options that MC has with him r like blah blah you’re like this because no one loves you were so corny to me LMFAOOOO?

AND WHEN HE WAS IN THE ROOM LATER WITH SAERAN… i’m sorry but if that were me I would have called a nurse to deck his ass. Cool he turned himself in YOU SUCK SOOOO BAD AND I NEVER WANT YOU TO COME NEAR SAEYOUNG AND SAERAN AGAIN THANKS.

*scratches ass* I wish I got to see saeyoung and saeran finally sit down and have that first conversation after a long time and hug CG but the ending was fine I GUESS….. I dont care about ROMANCE I want those boys to be happy brothers together

Anyway that was really emotionally exhausting but I fr think I got it out of my system after literal years… And I can rest in peace knowing the choi twins are happy. THATS ALL I WANTED TO KNOW!!!!

[jess-rewatches-prodigalson]

Head Case (S2, E6)

My time-stamped thoughts for this episode. As always I reference Malcolm’s mental health. A lot. So if that’s going to be a trigger for you, don’t keep reading.

SPOILERS AHEAD:

0:03 - This clip of Malcolm in the car is from the pilot episode. I was so betrayed by this clip. Full disclosure - I’ve always had a thing for Malcolm’s jacket from the pilot episode. I just love it and I think Tom Payne looks cute in it. BUT - I was betrayed because Malcolm isn’t wearing my favourite jacket in the next scene (I was disappointed but not surprised). Rant about wardrobe over. 

0:20 - This is weird to me. In the clip right before this, when Malcolm was coming to Claremont (wearing the awesome jacket) - Malcolm is clearly in emotional distress. He’s not in a good mood. BUT right here, when Malcolm is chatting with Mr. David he seems like he’s in a good mood. Not one of his manic good moods - just a regular good one.

0:32 - Anyone else notice how visibly uncomfortable Jessica AND Malcolm are? This whole Ainsley situation is literally going to destroy them both. :(

0:34 - sooooo Mr. David knows by now right? He has to? ALSO when the European FBI guy shows up in a few episodes this is going to be bad for Malcolm and Jessica right? The FBI guy will probs talk to Mr. David who will be like - oh yeah, they’ve had more ‘family meetings’ in the past 6 months than in the past 20 years. 

1:22 - Sooooo this whole family honestly thinks Ainsley’s going to become a serial killer. From the tidbits of her childhood that we’ve seen, the way she treated Malcolm in Q&A, and generally how she acts when she wants to get a story - I’m not surprised. Read my thoughts on older episodes (1x7, 1x20, 2x5), I’ve always thought Ainsley was a sociopath or psychopath. The girl doesn’t show a lot of moral backbone or sympathy for anyone. 

1:33 - Wait. Does this montage of Malcolm’s erratic behaviour mean that Malcolm killed someone as a kid? And doesn’t know it? Or is this just a reference to the whole ‘girl in the box’ trauma arc from last season?

1:44 - “I wish I didn’t know that you were a killer.” Anyone else get major flashbacks to the movie Santa Clause 3: The Escape Clause? “I wish I had never become Santa at all” then we get an AU for 40 mins? Just me? Cool - excuse my bad taste in Christmas movies. 

1:50 - hahaha Martin is so bitter.

2:25 - You know, as much as I love to hate Martin - he has a point. Malcolm loved his Dad (still does whether he wants to admit it or not) in 98′ - why is Malcolm chill with Ainsley killing but not Martin? Is it because with Martin, he found a poor girl tortured in a box but with Ainsley he saw her kill a man that was threatening their family? Or was it because Martin tried to kill Malcolm but Ainsley hasn’t (yet?) **honestly - that would be such an interesting episode - if Ainsley tries to kill Malcolm**

2:33 - THANK YOU. Someone finally thanks Malcolm for trying to protect Ainsley (and in extension Jessica) from the emotional trauma he’s been dealing with since the age of 10. EVEN THOUGH PROTECTING THEM IS MAKING HIS MENTAL STATE WORSE. Seriously - Malcolm is going to snap soon I honestly won’t be surprised if we get some suicidal ideation from him this season (especially if things don’t improve). Look at those big sad puppy dog eyes when Jess thanks him.

2:38 - hahahaha that side-eyed glare directed at Martin. 

2:53 - I know Jessica had good intentions here - she’s trying to protect both of her children but honestly, this whole interaction was probably super upsetting for Malcolm. Think about it - BOTH of his parents haven’t tried to have a serious discussion with him at the same time since he was at 10 years old or younger. This interaction is probably bringing up some memories for Malcolm and making him grieve for the childhood he lost all over again. 

3:06 - “You’re gross.” followed by a very regal wave at Mr. David. YES. Queen Jessica. <3

3:25 - Malcolm startling JT is pretty freaking cute. Look at how JT’s expression immediately changes from startled to concerned. I don’t blame him. Malcolm gives off major manic energy in this scene. The visit with the parents did not leave him in a good place. Also - Malcolm straight up admitted that he’s had a ‘rough morning’ this boy almost never tells the truth when he’s struggling. He’s fine. He’s always fine. 

3:30 - “Rough month.” IS THIS IT? IS THIS ALL I’M GOING TO GET? JT had a baby THREE EPISODES AGO. ‘rough month’ is a reference to the fact that he’s a new dad and he’s struggling with lack of sleep, leaving Tally alone with the baby while he’s a work, being a good husband, adjusting to dad life, ect. RIGHT?!? We’ve literally had no mention of the baby since 2x3 and I’m losing my mind. I just want someone to say, “Hey JT, how’s the baby?” that’s it. I want 5 seconds of dialogue. Just an acknowledgment that the child exists. 

3:54 - “Sooo bring me up to speed.” OMG. That smile is both extremely manic and completely adorable. Seriously - why is no one on the team more concerned about Malcolm during this episode? AND WHERE THE EFF IS EDRISA IN THIS SCENE?!? We’ve been robbed. 

4:21 - “What? I liked math class.” OMG. JT is a closet math nerd. You can’t take this headcanon away from me. 

4:24 - hahahaha look at Malcolm absorbing the new information about JT. He’s like.....yes. I will keep that information for later. Very good. Will pry further. 

5:04 - I love Dani. She’s perfect. She can see that Malcolm just checked out into his own horror of a memory. So she gently teases him to bring him back to reality. <3 This is true friendship. <3

6:00 - Was I the only one who thought it was weird that Gil asked Malcolm to help with the canvasing? Like - doesn’t Malcolm always help? Isn’t that part of what he does to build his profile?

6:12 - “KGB agent” Yes. Malcolm is still annoyed that Ainsley was so competitive about a literal murder last episode. I promise you. Ainsley’s probably still annoyed too. 

6:26 - This is why Malcolm is considering telling Ainsley the truth. He’s already losing her. May as well rip off the band-aid. She might not react as badly finding out from him as she would finding out by herself.

6:51 - “That is my vagina.” hahahahaha OMG. As a woman I must say: HOW?!?! As someone who adores JT:  hahahahahahahaha OMG. 

7:23 - “You’re getting a lot of mileage out of that tidbit”. lol. JT gently teasing Malcolm is one of my favourite things. Hands down. Especially since they’ve reached a point in their friendship where Malcolm doesn’t seem scared or offended when JT makes fun of him. They’re acting like brothers and I LOVE IT. <3

7:25 - “That’s the tip of the iceberg my man.” I have no idea why I am so amused by someone calling Malcolm “my man” but I am. 

7:36 - “The Bowery Ripper” hahaha the look that JT and Dani exchange when Malcolm starts nerding out.

8:00 - Wendell is kind of creepy. But like a weird, non-threatening creepy?

8:22 - OMG. JT let the vagina sculpture go. hahaha Look at how grossed out Dani is hahahaha she’s like, “Ugh. Men are gross.”

8:30 - This is why I love JT. He knows that that elevator is sketchy as hell. Plus it’s some (less than subtle) foreshadowing for what’s to come in this episode. 

8:41 - How did Dani find out he was at Claremont?! Does Mr. David call Gil every time Malcolm visits?!? ......this is my new headcanon. You will have to pry it from my cold dead hands. 

9:00 - This is a really cute moment between Dani and Malcolm. Regardless of whether or not you ship Brightwell - it’s really sweet to see Malcolm interacting so honestly with someone. He’s telling Dani the truth about something and she’s not making him feel bad about how messed up his family is or how weird his situation is. She just listens and teases him to make him smile. That is a good friend. IDC how you feel about Brightwell - right now - this is a GOOD FRIEND moment and Malcolm deserves more of them. 

9:10 - Annnnnnndddd this is why Brightwell shouldn’t happen (right now). Dani is still hurt that Malcolm doesn’t trust her enough to tell her everything. She still doesn’t completely trust him after what happened last season. A romantic relationship without 100% trust will fail. End of story. They’re great friends but right now they can’t be in a romantic relationship. It’ll end poorly. (Damn, I hope Brightwell is endgame though).

9:38 - hahaha Greta Swan is a perfect comedic relief for the Dani/Malcolm tension we just witnessed. This girl is a little nuts and a lot funny. 

10:00 - “Dad’s lived here his whole life” - wow. The writers really left us some big bread crumbs. We go from the scene where someone mentions a serial killer who killed someone (who was abducted from this hotel) in 1963. THEN we find a strange, gossipy woman and her grumpy father who has lived there his whole life. Coincidence? Nah. 

10:17 - SERIOUSLY?!? The Whitly home is ENORMOUS. WHY IS JESSICA LETTING AINSLEY WORK IN THE MURDER BASEMENT?!?!?! We literally just found out that Jessica has a SOLARIUM somewhere in this house. 

10:40 - “The guy definitely seems like he kills people.” Oh the irony here. 

10:55 - “Are you upset with me?” This is soft and I love it. Malcolm is being vulnerable with his little sister and it warms my heart. 

11:07 - “Insomnia sucks.” “Who knew?” Again. Irony. 

11:18 - “Anything you want to talk about?” This is precious. Malcolm loves Ainsley SO FREAKING MUCH. He has major Dad/Big brother/concerned school counsellor energy here and I’m here for it. 

11:38 - Malcolm’s soooo going to replay this conversation in his head about a million times. He’s going to blame himself for Ainsley’s murder victim of this episode. He’s going to play the “what-if” game. What if - he told her the truth here? Would she still have killed someone tonight? 

11:52 - Look at Ainsley’s face here. She seems sort of confused and comforted? Like maybe the fractions of memories that she’s admitting to having are making her believe that she killed Endicott and it scares her. Malcolm telling her otherwise is probably comforting on some level. It’s helping her convince herself that she’s done nothing wrong. 

12:25 - According to IMDB - this isn’t the episode LDP directed SO WHY IS THERE SO LITTLE GIL CONTENT IN THIS EPISODE?!?!?!

12:27 - What the hell is the puddle on the floor btw? Is it paint? Tar? Blood? I thought construction hadn’t started on the hotel yet?

14:14 - Malcolm. You. Are. A. Moron. Why go towards the creepy elevator that opened by itself? Why did you think that was a good idea?

14:29 - The Bowery Ripper is pretty strong for an old guy. I mean, Malcolm isn’t that big and he was caught off guard but still.

14:38 - I wanted this scene to be reality SO SO BADLY. I don’t even care about the Brightwell interaction in this scene. Malcolm is on a hospital bed. With an ice pack. I could’ve watched 45 minutes of “Malcolm in the hospital” content. The fact that this boy didn’t spend longer than a 30 second scene in the hospital is a CRIME. Why does Fedak hate giving us the whump aftercare?!? WHY?!?! Doesn’t he know like half the fandom LIVES FOR IT?!?

14:40 - You know how I knew this was the start of Malcolm’s AU dream? 2 reasons: 1) Dani has her hand on the ice pack on Malcolm’s head, even though he totally doesn’t need her help to hold the ice pack to his head. 2) GIL ISN”T HERE. .....although this episode did us dirty with the lack of Gil content (I miss Papa!Gil so much)

14:46 - There’s something about dream JT. I can’t quite put my finger on it. Real and dream JT are almost identical. But dream JT seems to be more open with Malcolm? IDK - he’s more relaxed around Malcolm? I can’t quite describe it. Did anyone else notice that there was just something a little bit different about dream JT? Not even in a bad way. Just different. 

15:15 - “Noooo she said it could’ve been worse. Not the same.” hahaha YES DANI. Good looking out. Call out this boy for neglecting his health. 

15:24 - This whole scene where Dani and Malcolm do a joint interrogation was awesome. They were talking pretty fast which I found a little distracting but JT said it best, “They were on FIRE”.  One thing I REALLY liked about the scene was the dynamic between Dani and Malcolm. Neither one of them was really taking a lead in the interrogation. They were equal partners and I think that says a lot about Malcolm’s romantic desires. He doesn’t want to dominate anyone. He doesn’t want to be taken advantage of. He just wants someone he can trust and respect. Someone who will trust and respect him. He wants a partner. An equal partner. I think that’s a really healthy desire for anyone in search of a relationship. 

16:12 - an affair? Did we know that Lyle and/or Katrina were married?!? If they weren’t married it would just be a relationship. Not an affair. 

17:01 - Is this honestly the first time Dani has called Malcolm by his first name? In 26 episodes? It must be right? Because I swear I was so shocked my heart skipped a beat (also my Brightwell heart melted but that’s a whole different thing). 

17:06 - .....so in Malcolm’s dream does he still work for Major Crimes? Is JT running the department? I need some more details here. 

17:12 - Soft!JT <3 <3 <3 How cute is it that in Malcolm’s AU dream, JT (and Dani) don’t actually change (in terms of personality). Their roles in his life just intensify. Dani becomes his significant other and JT becomes a much closer friend/brother. It’s precious. <3 <3 <3 

17:52 - Something about the fact that Jessica isn’t drinking liquor in the AU is hilarious and depressing to me. It’s funny because, well, it just tickles me. It’s depressing because Malcolm understands that Jessica drinks to dull the pain. In this AU, she isn’t in pain. She’s happy. Therefore, she doesn’t need alcohol. I don’t know about you but the fact that Malcolm’s subconscious wanted his mom to be happy so badly that she became (more or less) sober - is heartbreaking and heartwarming all at the same time. 

18:11 - “No one in this family is scared of a little blood right?” The irony here is THICK.

19:23 - The fact that Ainsley is a doctor just like Martin in Malcolm’s AU is terrifying and hilarious. This whole “I watched Ainsley kill a man” thing is really destabilizing Malcolm’s questionable mental health.

19:27 - “Please Ainsley is the talented one. I’m a distance second.” ....does this mean that Endicott isn’t the first person Ainsley has killed? Does this mean subconsciously Malcolm somehow thinks that Ainsley is a better serial killer than Martin?

19:56 - “No phones at dinner okay?” Something about the way Martin is looking at Malcolm at this moment and Martin’s tone of voice made me think - “Shit. Martin’s still a serial killer in Malcolm’s AU.” Especially since they Ainsley literally just announced to the room that he’s getting a from Claremont. 

20:06 - Yep. That’s a nightmare. From the back, Claremont!Gil probably looked like Martin circa mid-2010s for Malcolm. 

20:09 - Look idc who you ship on this show. But I will fight you if you don’t think that Malcolm being comforted after a nightmare by someone he loves is the sweetest thing ever. Look at how Dani gently rubs his arm and back. Ugh. This is the kind of safety Malcolm DESERVES. 

20:43 - Dani lying on Malcolm’s chest. <3 It just makes me so happy. Not even necessarily because it’s Dani (although I do ship Brightwell as end game) but because Malcolm’s subconscious is showing us his ideal relationship and we don’t see anything wild or questionable - we just see G-rated cuddling. And damn if that doesn’t say a lot about how much Malcolm just wants to be loved. 

20:53 - .......Can we have a full episode’s worth of footage where Malcolm is unconscious on the floor? I know I’m a basket case but it would make my whump heart so happy.....even happier if that footage was immediately followed by 40 mins of hospital care/comfort footage.

20:59 - I know that time has sort of slowed down for the purpose of plot in this episode but ngl - every time we saw the elevator approaching passed out Malcolm all I could think was “this is the slowest elevator in the world.”

21:26 - Malcolm is so so relaxed and comfortable in this scene. I want him to be this happy forever. 

22:07 - “You deserve all of it.” Malcolm subconsciously just wants permission to be happy. He doesn’t think he deserves to be happy (especially after Endicott). That little revelation broke my heart. Also the Brightwell kiss was adorable. Dani takes control because, Malcolm wants to feel wanted and this is how his subconscious is manifesting that desire. I will argue that Malcolm doesn’t necessarily want a relationship where his partner takes charge or dominates him. He made coffee of both of them. They’re living in his apartment. They’re having calm, mature, adult conversations. They are both equal partners in his dream relationship. 

22:45 - Dani isn’t scared of Malcolm when his hand starts shaking. She isn’t judging him. She’s just concerned. <3

22:47 - “Existential ennui”? Soooo much french in this episode. Damn. “Jamais vu”, “Quelle suprise”. Now “ennui”. 

23:35 - “I don’t fit your profile.” ....am I expected to believe that Malcolm didn’t realize this was a dream until this moment? Dani calling him “Malcolm Whitly” in the last scene wasn’t a red flag? Or the fact that Ainsley is a doctor. Or that Martin isn’t in Claremont? Or that Jessica isn’t drinking booze by the bucket? I mean, I know he has a head injury but these are big red flags. 

24:15 - Sooooo is Wendell dead irl? Because this is technically a dream. 

25:02 - “I thought we were looking for an inexperienced psychopath. A first time killer.”......this is him projecting about Ainsley right? Am I overthinking this? And now he says, “I was wrong”. Is that supposed to suggest that Malcolm thinks Ainsley has killed someone before Endicott?

25:07 - “The blows are confident. They were having fun.”.....couldn’t the same be said about how Ainsley stabbed Endicott? They were definitely confident stabs (plus a confident throat slitting). 

25:14 - “We’re looking for a serial killer.” Istg the writers are hinting that Ainsley is a serial killer (or will become one soon).

25:27 - Mr. David appears in the AU but Edrisa doesn’t. We were ROBBED.

26:07 - I’m not the only one who thinks that beard makes Gil look like a werewolf right?

26:33 - Claremont!Gil is creepy. LDP’s performance here is really really good. Also - I hate it. Because serial killer Gil is just not my Gil and it upsets me to see Gil chained to a wall. 

26:56 - Sooooo in the AU “The Surgeon” is still at large right? ....you’d think Malcolm would be trying to solve that case with Dani and JT. You know, an active prolific serial killer in New York?

27:34 - The way that Martin, Gil, and Malcolm interact in this scene is really interesting to me. In a lot of ways, this isn’t an AU. Think about it. 

In the dream: Gil is frantically trying to convince Malcolm that Martin is a serial killer. In a way, Gil is trying to protect Malcolm from Martin.

In reality: Gil just shoots Malcolm disapproving looks when he mentions seeing Martin. Gil desperately tries to protect Malcolm from Martin.

In the dream: Martin is trying to convince Malcolm that Gil is a monster. He’s trying to convince Malcolm that he’s a Good father. That he would never hurt Malcolm. That he loves Malcolm. 

In reality - Martin is the same. 

The only main difference between AU!Martin, AU!Gil, and their real counterparts is their temperaments. AU!Martin has Gil’s calm, comforting, and rational temperament while AU!Gil has Martin’s angry, manic, and controlling temperament.

What is the same between the AU characters and their real counterparts? 

Martin is still a manipulative killer.

Gil still shoots Malcolm looks of concern (27:45). 

Gil and Martin still hate each other. 

28:30 - Even dream Martin tries to gaslight Malcolm. 

28:56 - “You can always count on Dad.” ....is this how Malcolm really feels about Martin subconsciously? It kind of makes sense? Who did Malcolm turn to when Ainsley did the unthinkable? Not Gil or Jessica. Malcolm said it in 1x12 - (I’m paraphrasing) “The child in me thought he cared. Loved me even.” I think there’s still a part of Malcolm that believes that. Or at least a part of Malcolm that desperately wants to believe that. 

29:17 - “I’ve never been to a crime scene before.” That’s because you create the crime scene, Martin. In all versions of reality. 

29:20 - annnnnnd AU Martin shares regular Martin’s weird fascination with Dani. 

31:00 - JT being buddy-buddy with Martin is hands down the most horrifying part of the AU. 

31:10 - “I think he’s having a psychotic break.” ......I want this to be foreshadowing so so so badly. I think it would be so interesting to see how the team, Jessica, Ainsley, and even Martin deal with Malcolm just having a total breakdown. Maybe not a full psychotic break. Maybe a nervous breakdown? Or he succumbs to his suicidal ideation? Probably a little too dark for network TV though.

31:34 - “I’m very protective of her and her boots.” Does Malcolm see himself as the Bowery Ripper, trying to protect Ainsley as opposed to his daughter? Or is the Bowery Ripper supposed to be a metaphor for Martin protecting Ainsley? Is Malcolm going to take the fall for Ainsley and all her murders?!? 

32:45 - “Why did you kill again? After all these years.” istg this is hinting that Ainsley killed someone as a kid and Martin knows about it.

33:00 - “I can’t let my daughter know what I was.” .....is the Bowery Ripper supposed to be Ainsley? Is Ainsley killing people to try and protect Malcolm? Ugh. I’m totally overthinking this.

33:02 - Even in his dream, Malcolm can’t bring himself to kill his father. Wether that is by cutting off contact with Martin irl or letting the Bowery Ripper kill him in the AU.

33:07 - Actually though - why doesn’t Malcolm carry a gun IRL? We know he’s trained to use one. We saw him use one in the pilot on a case for the FBI. Is there some sort of NYPD rule about consultants carrying weapons? Is it a rule that Gil has imposed on Malcolm? Is it a rule that Malcolm has imposed on himself? A mixture? I want to know. 

33:38 - OMG. Is Malcolm going to try and kill Ainsley?!?! What a twist that would be. AU Malcolm just killed a killer. He doesn’t seem to feel bad about it and he agrees with Martin that “everything is okay now”. 

33:55 - This hug deeply moved me. Malcolm is fully aware that this hug isn’t real but he looks so content to be hugged by his father. Malcolm is finally getting a proper hug. <3 It honestly makes me wonder what Malcolm would do IRL for his father’s approval though. He’s clearly sooo desperate for Martin to love him. Who knows what Martin will be able to convince Malcolm to do in this season? Malcolm’s not all that mentally stable right now and he’s really vulnerable emotionally. I’m worried.

34:26 - “Not that it’s a competition.” ....yep. Ainsley wants to be better than Malcolm even in Malcolm’s own subconscious. 

35:00 - Heart. Breaking. Watching Ainsley, Martin, and Jessica tell Malcolm how good they think Dani is for him breaks my heart. Look at how happy Malcolm looks. Look at how desperately Malcolm wants this to be real. Ugh. My heart is shattered. 

35:20 - “You’re the best, big brother.” Even Malcolm’s subconsious knows that he’s an excellent big brother. Seriously, I love my younger brother but I don’t think I could ever cover up a murder for him. Never mind dispose of the body. Maybe I would? IDK the situation has never come up (thankfully).

35:25 - .....aaannnnnndd we’re back to the Girl in the Box.

35:58 - “Why would you ever want to leave?” “Because it’s all a lie.” Isn’t Malcolm living a lie IRL too? He’s pretending that Ainsley is a law-abiding citizen. He’s pretending that he isn’t an accomplice in a murder. He’s living in constant fear because of his secrets. They’re going to destroy him. This is why I think a suicide attempt is a possibility for this season. This trauma is a lot bigger (in some ways) than last season’s. Plus - Malcolm has a lot of pre-existing trauma. This could be the metaphoric straw that breaks the camel’s back.  

36:45 - “Even in my wildest dream. I’m still a detective. I need to seek the truth. No matter how painful.” That’s it. That’s Malcolm’s character in a nutshell. “Traumatized boy who intentionally puts himself through more trauma for the sake of seeking the truth.”

37:01 - “You’re right. I need to work on that.”.......if Malcolm tells Gil and/or the team about Ainsley next episode I will lose my mind. 

 37:15 - TOM PAYNE. YOU ABSOLUTE TREASURE. THIS IS SUCH A GREAT PERFORMANCE. THOSE UNSHED TEARS. THAT DESPERATE ANGER. THAT HOPELESSNESS AND DESPAIR.  <3 <3 <3 <3 

38:21 - Look, I’m a mechanical engineering student (not an expert) but if that was a wooden stick like I think it is - that would’ve NEVER stopped an elevator (at least, not long enough for Malcolm to escape). But I’ll overlook it for whump. Because Malcolm has a head wound and I’m loving it. 

38:33 - I’ve rewatched this clip of Malcolm with a bloody face meeting JT and Dani about 50 times (wish I was exaggerating that number). There is something so gorgeous about this scene. I mean - the fact that Malcolm is clearly in physical and emotional pain is enough to make my whump heart sing but it’s more than that. Listen to the genuine concern in JT’s voice when he says, “You okay?”. Look at Dani’s concerned face. Listen to how soft and desperate Malcolm’s voice is when he says, “When was the last time I talked to you?” Look at how concerned and confused JT and Dani are when Malcolm says, “I know who the killer is.” They’re not scared of Malcolm. They’re scared for Malcolm. Malcolm just showed up covered in blood, he can’t walk straight, he’s clearly confused, and now he’s claiming that he’s solved the case. They’re worried about him and they have every right to be. Listen to how broken Malcolm sounds when he says, “Long story.” <3 <3 <3 I’m in love with this scene. 

39:19 - “Are you sure about this?” “I have no idea.” This. Is. Important. JT and Dani have every reason to believe that this old man isn’t a killer but Malcolm’s head injury is making him confused. BUT they choose to trust Malcolm (or at the very least, humour him). They trust him enough to take a risk on him and I think that’s beautiful. I think that’s exactly what Malcolm needed after his nightmare of an AU dream. He needed to know that they care about him IRL. I hope he notices their behaviour despite the head injury. 

39:35 - Malcolm puts the skull down with his ungloved hand. I’m blaming the head injury. 

39:55 - Look this was a really moving scene. The parallel of Malcolm arresting a serial killer in front of the serial killer’s child and Martin being arrested in front of Malcolm is haunting. HOWEVER, when that old man stood up from the wheelchair my stupid brain went “THAT ASSHOLE NEVER EVEN NEEDED THE WHEELCHAIR?!?”.....even though he literally wasn’t in a wheelchair in Malcolm’s dream. 

40:40 - WE WERE ROBBED. I want to see the scene where Malcolm explains his dream to the team. I want to see GIL. WHERE THE EFF IS GIL IN THIS EPISODE?!?! FURTHERMORE - I WANT THE IRL VERSION OF “MALCOLM GOES TO THE HOSPITAL FOR A HEAD INJURY” SCENE. WTF FEDAK. GIVE ME THE AFTERCARE. 

40:47 - “That man will be buried in a turtleneck.” hahahahahaha OMG. Iconic. 

41:27 - “Goodnight Malcolm.” <3 <3 <3 She called him Malcolm IRL. Excuse me while I go and stoke my slow burn Brightwell fire. 

41:36 - “Goodnight.” This is the face of a man who just accepted the fact that he will never be happy. Malcolm honestly doesn’t think he deserves to be in a relationship. Especially with someone as beautiful, kind, and talented as Dani.

41:40 - THAT HAT. Was this really in Season 1?!?! I don’t remember it? But holy hell - I want to see Malcolm wear it. Like now. It’s going to make me laugh. I can feel it. 

41:53 - Immediately you can hear that something is wrong in Ainsley’s voice. She sounds distracted, dissociated, and scared. 

42:14 - Give. Tom. Payne. An. Emmy. Listen to his voice breaking here. He’s so close to tears and it’s genuinely beautiful. Such an astounding performance. 

42:51 - I honestly think Ainsley is shaking her head because she realizes that she made a mistake. She came to Malcolm because she thought he killed Endicott. She thought that he’d be able to understand. That he’d be able to help her because he had committed the same crime she just committed. She was wrong. He can help her - but legally, he really shouldn’t.

43:08 - Look. A new scene for Malcolm’s night terrors. 

43:15 - Yep. This is going to drive Malcolm into a mental breakdown. This is bad. 

43:20 - There’s a part of me that wants Malcolm to tattle on Ainsley. Just so he doesn’t have to keep the secret any longer. The secret is killing him. Telling won’t make the situation any better though. Gil and the team will react horribly and it’ll make Malcolm feel like garbage. Plus I can only imagine how the press would scrutinize the Whitly’s again. It won’t be good any way you slice it. 

I have a love/hate relationship with this episode. On one hand - it’s the cannon AU episode that every fanfiction lover dreams of. It’s also a really compelling episode complete with some excellent acting and great insight into Malcolm’s psyche. HOWEVER: 1) not enough Gil, 2) WHERE IS MY WHUMP AFTERCARE?, and 3) I wanted to see Malcolm at the base of that elevator for longer. The whump wasn’t prolonged enough for my sick soul.