#I didn't care enough to add blood in the last panel

[amphiptere-art]

[amomentsescape]

Wrong Place, Right Time

Billy Loomis x Reader

Summary: Billy wanted nothing more than to add four more teens to his killing list. However, you were the last one he expected to be there.

Warnings: Violence & death, fluff

Word Count: 1,231

A/N: It felt right to kick off my Slasher Summer writings with Billy. He's been a long time favorite of mine, and it just felt right. As a reminder, I am taking any and all requests. If you have a slasher you'd like me to write for, let me know!

He could already feel the adrenaline coursing through his body. He was practically shaking as he slowly crept in through the back door of a ridiculously decked out house.

"Idiots," he muttered. The people who lived here didn't even bother locking the door.

As he finally made his way inside, he could hear chatter and heavy music making its way from upstairs.

Billy smiled as he listened.

Word had clearly spread that there was some psycho murderer making their way around the area. It only seemed right for people to ban together at night, hoping that the large gathering would deter a killer from attacking.

But clearly this group wasn't being too cautious. Leaving the door unlocked and having the stereo on high wasn't exactly rule number one in any "how to stay alive in a horror movie" pamphlet.

With this being said, the group was doing at least one thing right.

They were all together in the same room.

This was going to make Ghostface's job a little more difficult, but not impossible by any means.

He quickly turned back towards the door and signaled that he was ready.

Stu nodded back at him, having been waiting outside for his cue.

Billy smiled as he watched Stu disappear. And that smile only grew when the lights all cut out, sending everyone into a hush.

He slowly made his way up the stairs in the dark, being careful not to make any sound.

He was close enough now that he could make out voices whisper-shouting to each other. One person finally groaned out a "fine" as they left the rest of the group.

Billy considered this for a moment and realized that they were likely heading outside to the electrical panel.

He let out a frustrated sigh at this, knowing that he was going to have to go after them quickly. Stu promised not to get in the way this time.

This was his night.

As he heard the front door slam shut, Billy continued his way upstairs. He'd deal with them later.

It didn't take long to get through the group. There were only three others besides whoever left.

Ghostface jumped out from the darkness and quickly stabbed the throat of some teenage boy he had seen once or twice in the halls of their high school.

The other two girls quickly jumped up and screamed as they witnessed their friend being slaughtered right before their eyes.

One headed for the front door, but he was quick to grab onto her hair and throw her hard against the ground. The wind was suddenly knocked from her and she barely had time to gasp out when the metal blade punctured into the middle of her chest.

She shook out a few spasms and coughed up blood before her eyes quickly glazed over.

Ghostface stood back up and made his way down the hall, having seen the second girl sprint in that direction just moments before.

He felt pretty confident as he walked, already knowing where she was hiding.

Only one door was closed and if Stu and him had mapped it out correctly, it was a small bathroom with a window barely big enough to fit a child through.

"Too easy," he muttered to himself.

With a few swift kicks, the door swung open to an empty room- or so one would think.

As he tore open the shower curtain, the girl jumped up and tried to slash him with a pair of pointed scissors she had found.

She was too slow however, and Billy was quick to grab her arm and throw her body against the tiled wall.

He grabbed her head forcefully and slammed it over and over before finally using his knife to finish the job.

Easy work, he thought.

With that, he suddenly heard yelling coming from downstairs.

"Guys?"

This made Billy freeze up.

That voice. How did he not recognize it sooner?

He slowly crept his way to the top of the stairs, carefully peaking over as to not be seen. And that's when he realized it was you.

For the first time that night, Billy was scared.

You were the only one that got to see a genuine smile from the boy, the only one who Billy thought was worth living.

You both had a couple of classes together, but neither of you said much to one another. Billy had to keep up his persona with Sidney, and he didn't trust himself to do that around you.

You were much too pretty and smart to talk to anyways.

Billy had overheard conversations you'd have with some of your friends during lunch or in between classes.

You loved the same horror movies as him and always glowed when talking about your favorite characters.

He couldn't help but smile almost every day while watching you, taking in every little quirk and laugh you'd let out.

Billy had no choice but to become smitten with you.

And this is why his dilemma left him at a standstill.

He didn't want to kill you. No, he couldn't kill you. You were just too precious in his world full of anger and pain.

But what was his other option? He just killed your friends.

In his defense, he'd seen you talk to these people once or twice at school. He didn't realize you actually liked them. He may be a murderer, but he's not heartless. He didn't want to kill anyone that you cared about. But it was a little late for apologies.

"Fuck," he whispered to himself.

As you stood at the bottom level, looking around for your friends, you began to hear footsteps descending the stairs.

You quickly spun to the side and saw him.

Ghostface.

Your jaw dropped as if preparing for a scream, but no sound made its way out.

What was the point anyways? Your friends were likely all dead, and that meant there was no one else to hear your screams for help.

But if he was going to kill you, he sure was taking his sweet time.

He was walking so slowly towards you. If it weren't for the current circumstance, you would have almost thought he was trying not to scare you.

As he got closer, you began to back away from him.

You kept going until your body hit the cold wall behind you.

This was it.

He finally found himself about a foot away from you, staring through you with whatever eyes were behind that mask.

Your breath hitched and your eyes began to water. Fear overcame you as you realized that you were going to die.

As the tears began to drip down your face, Ghostface closed the gap.

He raised his hand up towards you, and you flinched away knowing that he was going to grab you by the throat and crush the wind from your lungs.

However, this wasn't what happened.

You felt the leather glove softly graze against your cheek. You carefully tipped your head back in his direction, your brows furrowing.

"W-what are you-"

His hand suddenly caressed your face, his thumb running over the wet spots your tears left behind.

You watched his shoulders sag a bit, as if he finally let go of a breath he had been holding.

And without a moment to process what was happening, he disappeared into the darkness.

[20001541]

sometimes, I look at Yoichi’s death panel and I feel like AFO looks more confused than just plain possessive, and usually whenever we see AFO (or anyone) use a quirk there’s some drawing or little things to show that, but in this scene we didn’t…

so maybe it wasn’t AFO’s fault? Maybe it was the transfer??

like All might did say to Izuku that his limbs would burst off if he gets one for all without a good or trained body, and I mean Yoichi’s pretty frail, and this is my theory lmao that I thought of last night while trying to sleep, probably someone else has thought of it but 🤷‍♀️

I've heard of this theory before from other people, but it's one I personally disagree with for several reasons.

yes while all might did tell izuku that his limbs would burst if he received ofa without training his body to be stronger, ofa happened to be very weak during the scene in the sewer. there weren't any other quirks stacked in it like when izuku received ofa, the two quirks that had been inside yoichi combined into one. so yoichi only had one quirk in him at that time so don't think there would've any strain on his body from that.

you also have to take into consideration that ofa during all mights time was extremely powerful and had all the quirks from the previous users inside it. I think if ofa had been too strenuous for yoichi to handle he would've died the moment afo gave him the other quirk that combined with the one he already had, not randomly explode two months later. I think if it had been too much for his body to handle he would've died similar to the way shinomori died, but he didn't live long enough to see if that would happen to him or not.

there is also this scene at the end of 407, where we get a glimpse of afo's own thoughts as he watches yoichi run away from him in the sewers.

this shows that afo was already extremely upset watching yoichi run away with men who hate him. also just look how afo focused on yoichi holding kudou's hand right before we see that same hand be severed from yoichi's body with blood surrounding it. and the next chapter we see how it wasn't only his hand that was severed but that his entire body fell apart. so yeah I don't think it's a coincidence that yoichi fell apart right after afo was staring at their hands and says "enough of this". he probably reached out his hand to stop them only to accidently use a quirk in his distressed state of mind.

the biggest reason why I don't like this theory though has to be from more a narrative stand point. to me I think it is extremely ironic that the one person afo cares and loves the most is someone he accidently killed because he got upset that he didn't want anything to do with him anymore. his whole life he has maintained this grip on yoichi and he assumed that yoichi always be there for him, yet the moment yoichi found the opportunity to escape he took it.

just imagine how big of a slap to the face it felt to afo, who presumably had been hunting yoichi nonstop after he escaped, to see that not only is his brother running from him but that he refuses to look back at him. and there's something tragic in how he spends the next century chasing after one of the only pieces of his brother he has left and blames everyone but himself for the reason why yoichi isn't with him anymore. we know the vault is what ultimately pushed yoichi away from him, but if you add on that afo is the reason why yoichi is dead in the first place it just makes it 10 times worse.

if you turn this into a "yoichi only died because ofa was too much for his body" it erases all of that and takes the blame off of afo for yoichi's death. while he did give him the extra quirk, you can't find afo fully at fault if you claim the quirk killed yoichi because how was afo supposed to know that would happen? he even said he tried to get a weak quirk so his brothers body would handle it well so he took precautions.

I think it works better if afo's own inability to see yoichi as person with his own free will and not an object he owns is what ultimately killed yoichi. because that's how this whole conflict started right? afo wanted yoichi to conform to his will alone, he didn't care about how yoichi felt about the matter nor about his free will. he was only concerned with getting him to follow him and be by his side no matter what.

that's my thoughts on the matter though, thanks for sending the ask I've been wanting to talk about this particular subject for a while now

[sarahjtv]

BNHA Chapter 423 Spoiler Talk:

Testing, testing. Is this mic on? Hello?

Oh, hi! It's been a good *checks calendar* 1+ years. But, I just woke up after reading the spoilers for My Hero Academia chapter 423 last night and I need to process things here so, please indulge with me for a bit:

First off: What? Seriously, what just happened? I can't tell if I'm mad or happy with the way Shigaraki's story ended (at least for now I hope). It kinda just ended in 1 chapter; 3 pages actually... I expected at least one chapter focused solely on Shigaraki/Tenko stuff before he died, but nope. We didn't even get to see Tenko in the end. The way he went out was beautiful and poignant (and Horikoshi's artwork is phenomenal as usual), but I can't help but feel empty about this; like something is missing and I'm not sure how to find that missing piece.

I really hope this isn't final for Shigaraki's story and that we do get one final chapter focusing on Shigaraki's final, final moments and that we get to see Tenko one last time, but I'm not so sure anymore. Horikoshi's storytelling isn't perfect, but I know he cares enough about his characters to give them proper conclusions when he can, so I really hope this isn't it. I hope he doesn't skip this because he feels rushed to finish it or something.

Now, with Shigaraki and AFO dead in the real world, I guess we've reached the epilogue part of MHA unless Horikoshi throws a curveball at us. I assume Deku doesn't have OFA anymore either because Yoichi said that Deku transferred the last of the OFA embers to AFO and now he's dead which makes Deku quirkless. I really did think that Deku would still have OFA at the end of this, but we'll have to see. I do like the fact that Deku's punch changed the weather just like All Might did at the very beginning of the series.

I also need to add that I liked Shoto and Bakugo's last involvement with the final battle though I wish they did more overall since they're part of the Origin Trio and all.

But, yeah, AFO and Shigaraki are dead. The war is over. I think at least. It looks like it. Now we're in epilogue territory. I still think it was a great chapter, but I'm still unsure of how to feel about Shigaraki's ending. I do feel like more could've been done with his conclusion and maybe something will be done about it either in the next few chapters or in the volume release.

This makes me wonder how much of My Hero Academia we have left. It's been a while since I've been present for a long-running manga's conclusion (I think the last one was Haikyuu), but I have a sinking feeling we have 1-3 more chapters left with the final chapter being much longer than usual (30 or something pages to fill out the final volume?). We still have quite a few bows to tie in the series. The only thing announced was that we have a break next week, which thank god I need it to process all this more. Regardless, I am going to be very sad when this series ends. It's been a real bright spot in my life for the past 5+ years. I will be there when it happens, though. Maybe I'll make a post about it then too.

More Theories After Leak Day:

I wonder if the whole "Reconstruction" thing from Decay's origin is going to be brought up at some point. Remember that we learned that Decay originated from Overhaul which can tear apart and put people back together. Decay was the destruction part of that Quirk. Theoretically, the reconstruction part should still be in the Quirk's DNA. So, is it possible that Tomura Shigaraki died with Decay and gets "resurrected" somehow as Tenko Shimura with the last remains of the original Quirk? It would help with Deku "saving" Tenko. I feel like this is a detail that Horikoshi wouldn't just leave out and never come back to it.

There was one panel where Deku and Shigaraki did a fist bump. There was blood on their hands (at least Deku's) and since Heroes Rising is canon and we've seen Deku transfer OFA to Bakugo via blood, it isn't crazy to think that maybe Shigaraki transferred OFA back to Deku. For what reason, I'm not sure. We'll just have to find out.

IF Deku does get OFA back, people have theorized that it's possible that Tenko could live within OFA like the rest of the vestiges. That might be plausible, but I'm not entirely sure how to feel about it. I don't think Tenko/Tomura would really be "saved" like Deku wants if that happened. And even IF Deku had to kill Shigaraki to "save" him, I don't think Deku would be happy with that.

[novelmonger]

Thoughts on FMA: The Final Alchemy

tl;dr - All the live-action FMA movies suck like an industrial-grade vacuum cleaner, and watching them will only not be a waste of your time if you do so with friends who are already familiar with FMA so you can have fun bashing them with each other. Still, this one managed to suck ever so slightly less than the previous one...maybe???

Elaborating slightly on the notes I took while watching, here are my thoughts:

I can't get over how unbelievably stupid and nonsensical the title is! "ThE fInAl AlChEmY" What does that even mean? Not "The Final Transmutation," oh no; we can't make the title be an actual reference to a line Ed actually says in the original ("the last transmutation of the Full Metal Alchemist" or however it's worded). "The Final Alchemy." I ask you -_-

There were so many scenes where they didn't play any music at all, and it was super awkward! What kind of creative choice is that? Instead of it being used to make a statement or ramp up tension or whatever usual reasons people have for not putting music in, it just came across like they forgot to add any music in some scenes.

What on earth is up with Raven's actor? He was overacting so much, it was distracting - especially when contrasted with Mustang's complete lack of expression, lol. It's like Raven's actor just saw that one panel of Raven guffawing and decided that was his entire character. Like...there's overacting like some of the villains in the Rurouni Kenshin movies...and then there's this. Super weird and out of place.

Not that I'm surprised at all, but the CG looked really bad for the most part in this movie. By far the worst was Sloth, though. I can't remember when the last time was I've seen something that bad x.x Not only did it look super fake, it just looked...really low-quality even compared to some of the other stuff in this movie, like a child's scribble next to an art student's painting. All of the effects around Sloth (like broken pillars and crumbling walls) looked terrible and fake too, like he was infecting the entire VFX team with his mediocrity or something.

But on the flipside, I actually thought the effect of Ed, Ling, and Envy flaking away as they went through the Portal of Truth was really good! Guess that's where all their VFX budget went.

Al's actor was nowhere near emaciated enough. Sure, they didn't go into the whole thing about Ed eating and sleeping his share, and I get that they wouldn't want to make the actor starve himself or anything...but still. Just sayin'. Also...he had zero emotion, even after soul and body were reunited. What's up with that?

And speaking of which, just like in the other two movies, they hardly had Al do anything at all, nor did most of the other characters act like they cared about him much at all - not even Ed most of the time. If I didn't have such a wealth of other versions of this wonderful character, I'd probably think he was super boring. Which is a crime, I tell you! He's one of my favorite characters ever!

So many of the sets were so empty. You could really tell when they were using greenscreens.

When they showed Greed inside Ling's head, they made him blue??? When it's supposed to be depicting the torrent of souls that is a Philosopher's Stone, and the Stones are red??? Just...why?

Oh, also...when the Stones were in a liquid form, it totally looked like sweet-and-sour sauce you get from a Chinese restaurant ^^' It was like...almost pink! Weird. I always assumed the Stones were supposed to look red like blood.

Yet again, the way they messed around with the timeline is paying dividends of confusion in this movie. Because they shoved all of Scar's character arc into the second movie, and everybody's okay with him now, they have him just come out and show Ed and Al his brother's research notes, which is how they find out about the country-wide transmutation circle, and only after that discovery does Ed decide to go to Briggs. Or how about Greed just immediately deciding to leave Father practically the minute Ling accepts him? And Father doesn't do anything about it? And later on, Greed joins up with them for literally no reason other than "lol I'm a rebel," because there was nothing about Devil's Nest or the previous Greed, so he didn't have the realization that Wrath killed his friends.

Wait. They didn't do Devil's Nest, did they? They didn't do Devil's Nest. THEY DIDN'T DO DEVIL'S NEST HOW DO YOU MESS UP THIS BADLY ALDKGFJSLKDGJSLDKGJSDKLGF

Also, because they never bothered to put Yoki into these movies, Mei's brainwave for the secrets within the notes make waaaaaay less sense. Sure, you could say her figuring it out because Yoki sneezed is too convenient, but she had even less reason to think along those lines in this movie. Oh, and they never even tried to explain why she's the only one reading the notes, and Ed and Al can't.

Buccaneer's head looks just as lumpy and bulbous as Armstrong's. Why didn't they just shave these actors' heads instead of slapping a bald cap on top of their hairy heads, or whatever they did? It would have looked a million times better.

Okay, Olivier is practically perfect in every way. A+ casting job for once. She looks about as natural as a blonde Japanese woman can, and she gets across the disdain, poise, and hyper-competence of the character really well.

They never explained why Ed can't speak freely with Olivier about the Homunculi, etc. The revelation that Winry's being used as a hostage isn't revealed yet when Ed first shows up, and Raven's not there yet, so why did they have to go to the trouble of going into the underground tunnel to talk? Yet another example of the film creators trying to condense and simplify while still keeping in iconic moments from the anime, but showing a glaring lack of understanding of why those moments happened the way they did. Because now you've got a bunch of disjointed scenes that are supposed to be iconic, but will make no sense unless you already know the story.

Speaking of which...why did Ed go to Briggs in the first place? Because he already knows about the country-wide transmutation circle at this point, his stated purpose is to stop them from carving the last crest of blood they need at Briggs and completing the circle. And yet...the crest gets carved anyway, and Ed just sort of...leaves? Without much, if any, protest? At first I thought they were going to do the whole Briggs arc because they wanted to show what I would definitely classify as an iconic moment: Ed getting impaled. But they never did that scene at all! Kimbley is absent from this movie, so there's no scheme to get Winry away from him, Raven disappears as soon as he shows up (yeah, they don't even do the memorable scene of Olivier stabbing him and shoving him into setting concrete), so they don't even need to get Winry away from him, there are no chimeras (probably because it would be quite taxing on the budget, which I kind of understand), and they've already covered the whole Winry-forgives-Scar scene in the previous movie, so I guess they decided there was no way to work in Ed falling down a mine shaft, getting impaled, and then closing his own wound by using his own soul as a Philosopher's Stone. Nope, instead they just abruptly shift to a goodbye scene between Ed and Winry whose dark hair still bugs the heck out of me whyyyyyyy is she special like that.

Wait, let me reiterate: Kimbley is absent from this movie. I actually don't remember if he was in the second movie or not (it was that forgettable if he was). Yeah, they just decided that one of the most interesting and memorable characters from FMA didn't need to be in their movie. Besides the part I mentioned above, Kimbley's absence also throws a wrench into a very important part farther down the road: Ed defeating Pride. In the original, Pride eats Kimbley to take advantage of the extra souls he has in his Philosopher's Stones, but because he absorbed such a strong, rebellious soul, Kimbley is actually able to help Ed overpower Pride in the end. This is a very important factor in Pride's defeat, because he looks down on humans, while Kimbley points out that the way he's acting is actually dishonorable. "You are nothing to be proud of," I think is how he puts it. If you consider the thematic implications of the Homunculi and how each one dies, you'll realize that this is the only way Pride could be defeated, because Homunculi are defeated by their opposites. But then, I don't think the people who wrote these movies would recognize a theme if it smacked them in the face. Many of the events are the same in these movies as they are in the original, but they're stripped of any subtlety or significance.

Oh, also Pride's death is much stupider in this movie because it looks like he just stands there and lets Ed do it, rather than it being an actual fight with the shadow-spikes and everything, and Ed getting the drop on him because he knows what it's like to be shorter than his opponent....

Okay, but one thing I will say in favor of this movie is that Ryosuke Yamada was by far the best actor in the whole cast. He captured the various sides of Ed's character, and there were far fewer moments where it felt like he was an actor on a stage than anybody else. I believed him. I've thought that in both of the previous movies, but I don't think I realized just how good of an actor he was until this installment. Because he doesn't just have to play Ed. He also has to play teenage Hohenheim in the flashback, and Father's final form on the Promised Day. And in both instances, Ryosuke Yamada utterly killed it. He didn't just do a good job of delivering the lines with appropriate emotion and expression. He also made the characters feel like completely different people. Everything, down to his stance and the way he talked, was different! And I could tell that he'd studied the way Seiyo Uchino had done his performances as both Hohenheim and Father, and was trying to match them in his own performance. That was so cool to see. I've never seen Ryosuke Yamada in anything else, but now I kinda want to.

Oh, and while we're praising the cast, Kokoro Terada did such a good job as Pride! It's a tall order to ask such a young kid to act like such a creepy monster, but he did an excellent job. That kid's got a future in acting for sure.

They cut out soooooo many of the best scenes about Mustang and his team, and what they didn't cut out was so rushed and just gutted of all emotion T_T They didn't even bother taking the team away from him, which leaves the Homunculi looking a bit stupid and lax. Because the whole fight with Lust went down differently (in the first movie a;ldkjfa;dlskf;sdlkfj DX), Havoc isn't even paralyzed! I never thought I would be upset that he didn't get paralyzed! But because we don't go into any of that, a huge chunk of character development is just gone completely. And though they did do the whole showdown with Envy, which is one of my absolute favorite parts of the story, it was taken out at the knees by the actors being terrible and emotionless. Oh, and the coup is introduced very abruptly and just as abruptly forgotten about, and there's nothing about Mrs. Bradley. And the moment with Hawkeye's neck getting sliced open? Blink and you miss it. Mustang barely reacts, and they don't even use Hawkeye's life being threatened as a way to try to coerce him to do human transmutation! Hawkeye doesn't give him the signal with her eyes, Mei doesn't close up the wound...I honestly have no idea why they bothered wounding her at all.

They already did the zombie things in the first movie (ad;lkjfgda;slkjg;sdklfj;dskfl), so they show up in one scene in this movie, have little to no impact because we've already seen them, and then are never heard from again. What even.

Why in the name of Flamel did they wait the entire movie to reveal that Miles is part Ishbalan? Why did they bother revealing that at all? They literally could have just said they were going to help Scar rebuild Ishbal, and left it at that, instead of having Miles dramatically take off his sunglasses and make the audience try to figure out why because it's not immediately obvious that his eyes are red because they made the color much duller than it is in animation and a;lkdjfg;ladkjhg;dlksgjlsdgj;ldksfjdslg

Oh, and you wanna know what the biggest kick in the teeth is? THEY DIDN'T EVEN HEAL MUSTANG'S EYES. Marcoh isn't in this movie - I can't remember if he died or what in the first movie, and can't be bothered to check - so there's no one to use the Stone on him. So Mustang's storyline in the movie ends with Hawkeye saying, "Maybe we'll find a way to heal your eyes somehow." Maybe. MAYBE?! -_-

So yeah. To sum up, this is a terrible movie and an even worse adaptation. I didn't think it was possible to take such a phenomenally good story and butcher it this badly. FMA is one of my very favorite stories of all time, and even though I've read and watched it more times than I can count, the fight scenes and tense moments still grab me to this day. But I kept on finding myself bored while watching this movie, and checking to see how much time was left. I never thought I would be bored watching the Briggs soldiers or the Armstrong siblings fight Sloth, or Wrath and Scar duking it out, or the last stand against Father.

But here we are.

[terrence-silver]

Hi there :) I love your blog! Thank you for giving us this wonderful content <3

Could I request ❝  i don’t care if loving you hurts me.  the world already has enough pain to dole out for no reason,  at least i’ll have gotten these scars from something beautiful.  ❞ ?

I would love to see Terry finally finding somebody who would be with him for better or worse. After everything that happened between him and John im season 4, Terry must feel so lonely :(

―

There's a building adjoined to Terry's newly opened Cobra Kai dojo.

It wasn't the exclusive part of LA. Not until he arrived and bought the revenue. He made exclusivity. Gentrifying, they called it. He prefered to see it as ennobling. Giving things purpose. People live there --- an unfortunate fact of life, he supposes, as his workers install the colossal tinted windows, the decorative paneling and the logos of his studio space. He watches these people. Every rock has ants living underneath it once you lift it. Some of these faceless, nameless individuals drag groceries. Some, their children (ripe, potential new students for Cobra Kai --- something to remember as an untapped market), some head to their nonsense places of employment. Some are just taking walks, aimlessly. He has folders and files on everyone. Information. Addresses. He considered buying their building too, just because he could, and evicting everyone. Becoming their landlord. Raising the rent double and triple and culling their numbers. Turning the block into a recreational area of expansion for his Cobras, but no, Terry finds he's content just watching. John was in jail --- it's been three months, two weeks, two days, five hours and twenty eight minutes --- he's kept precise count --- and Terry found solace in the act of observation. He suspected he tended to imagine who of these people would betray who given the opportunity, figuratively speaking. What if you're lonely? He suppresses the thought. Sheds it, like a lone weakness. The last one he had.

There's also a person who walks past his space every day.

Routinely --- there's order to the schedule.

Terry watches them most keenly of all and he cannot tell why. Maybe they're the most annoying and the most frequent pedestrian of the bunch. Maybe he's just irritated that his perfect control over the city is disrupted and that people dare dwell here at all. Bulldoze the place, an inner voice demands but Terry merely keeps sitting there, in his glass office, at his desk, all chromes and blacks and neons and he watches the person outside, passing, like perfect clockwork. The streets on the other end of the window are light, sunbathed, in perfect contrast to the world inside and they pass like a ray. He knows their name. Of course. Knows their social security number too. Beloved, his blood dubs them. They're the only reason why he hasn't razed the place yet. He wanted them, right here, nearby. -"There's an old legend, you know."- -Kim Da-Eun is at the doorway of his office. She's travelled here from Korea as an additional Co-Sensei and Terry knows she's been noticing things. He pretended she didn't notice what she noticed. -"That lovers from a past lives recognize each other."- She continues, arms crossed. -"Maybe you've recognized yours at long last."- Her voice is impassive, cold, not a hint of jovialness to it. She meant every word she was saying in the most profoundly self-assured way imaginable. -"Bullshit."- Terry mutters back in English, not in the mood to indulge anyone, even himself. -"I've work to do."- He gets up from his desk, swiftly. -"The street view should be walled off. It is distracting."- He adds briskly, as a way of ordering, finally, sifting past Kim.

Within the next week, the tinted window is bricked up.

Terry doesn't want to see them.

Beloved.

Terry still sees beloved, though. Control, control, control, he must maintain it. Maybe he had something to get out of his organism, he analyses, so he could function more immaculately? Sex, he figures. Maybe he should make them into a one night stand and then he'd feel more like himself. He knocks on their door like a neighbour would (which he, in a sense was) and introduces himself. Ups his charm and invites them out. They're even warmer upfront and they radiate a light. Like an old snake attracted to the heat, he takes them out, again and again and again, while his Cobras are employed with the business of spreading out fliers for Cobra Kai's new re-opening. Terry wants to eat the restaurant meal they share out of beloved's mouth. He observes them chewing and he wonders how they taste from the inside. What sort of thing they like to be gifted. How their blood smells like. The place between their legs. How they moan and scream reaching their peak. How they beg. How they'd look with his cum splattered all over their face. Ways he could take their hand and place a kiss on it. I want you, his mind concludes. First couple of dates? Was what he said prudent? Perhaps. He wanted to say it while he was still observing beloved through the office window. -❝ I don’t care if loving you hurts me.  The world already has enough pain to dole out for no reason,  at least i’ll have gotten these scars from something beautiful.  ❞-

Terry whispers, eyes intent on the prize, entwining beloved's fingers in his.

He's licked clean each and every one.

Maybe there was something to Kim's words?

Maybe it doesn't take much when you recognize the one?

He moves beloved into his mansion within in the next few days, doesn't take no for an answer and by the time the last Cobra Kai dojo exclusively opens in The Valley, Terry would've commemorated his triumph by placing a coiled serpent promise ring on beloved's fingers. The inscription on the inside of the band says Mine. Terry keeps the building beloved lived in. He finds it has grown on him too.

[blackicewave]

hot take on the recent chapters

I came up with this while I was on too little sleep & after a friend caught up to the manga, it’s really long and I hope it makes sense - so, enjoy! 

I think what is happening right now, might be Ymir trying to re-establish her former form.

Because Eren has three out of nine titans right now - Attack, Founding, Warhammer. The Founding Titan was the very first of all titans before Ymir started gathering/creating all those other abilities. 

We currently have this written/known about it specifically on the official wiki page:

Its Scream can create and control other Titans, and modify the memories and body compositions of the Subjects of Ymir, but this power can only be used by the royal family under normal circumstances.

According to Marley's Titan Biology Research Society, the Founding Titan is the point where the paths that connect all Subjects of Ymir and Titans cross.

We have been known that only the royal family can properly use it, which is why Eren only managed to use the Founding when touching Dina Fritz's titan (the one that ate his mother) to protect Mikasa after Hannes was devoured and then when coming in contact with Zeke, seeing as he is from royal blood as well. However, the royal family is bound by a vow and the ideology of Karl Fritz - basically, he wanted the Eldians to be locked up and separated from the world because they had been too involved in wars before. So he wanted to protect them, essentially.

The vow is renouncing war to stop Eldia from using the Founding Titan to devastate the world ever again and it possesses the individual to follow the idea. That is why Frieda, even though she viewed the Eldians as sinners, still followed that protocol.

Now, with Grisha devouring Frieda and gaining the Founding Titan and passing it on to Eren, the chain of royal blood inheritors was broken. Which is why, paired with Erens own ideology to go behind the walls and see the world, Ymir zeroed her interest in him as it's seen in the recent chapters.

She herself wasn't of royal blood and being used to fight wars for that king in the backstory most likely built a hatred for humanity in her view - she was viewed as that slave, of which Eren broke her free. He's the only inheritor that hasn't been shaped and controlled by that ideology of King Fritz that she could get her hands on, so she can twist his views or add her own to it in having to destroy the world and humanity in it.

I think that she's using Eren as a vessel to collect all titans. He already has three, and with every other shifter present right now - Armin (colossal), Reiner (armored), Annie (female), Falco (jaw), Pieck (cart) and Zeke (Beast) - she can take them prisoner and force them to join with Eren. 

She basically already has Zeke in her control, having lured him into paths with Eren, and she just took Armin prisoner with another previous titan. Why else would she take him prisoner and bring him to "Eren's ass" as Levi said and separate them by a hoard of powerful, controlled titan shifters if not to ensure they don't get him back until she has taken all of them captive? She knows how powerful Levi and Mikasa are - most likely through Eren's memories. She most likely wants to create a vessel with all nine titans again to merge with Eren fully, maybe even devour him herself, to use her full former strength to get back on humanity and make them pay.

In the first chapter about her backstory it's shown that she was being punished and chased to her "death" because she let the pigs escape - in the last chapter 135, however, in the very first panel, it's shown that she willingly opened the gate to let them escape. She wanted them to run away. Whether or not it was planned that she'd be chased like that and would tumble into the tree trunk is questionable, but I think it has to do with it.

To add to my suspicion of not killing the current inheritors of the nine titans because she needs them later on, look at chapters 114-115 specifically.

Zeke blew himself up in the scene with Levi, and that entirely. He was torn in half. His spine was destroyed and therefore the titan in him "lost" because he had no one to pass it on to. He accepted that he'd die, told himself that. He did die.

But Ymir brought him back. She rebuilt his body and brought him back to life - if she really did that out of pure selflessness and devotion to her people, why didn't she do it with Levi? He's Eldian, too, technically, even if he's an Ackermann.

But Ackermanns are a byproduct and made to protect the royal family, and if we follow my thing right here, then she hated the royal family - she was forced to marry the king and give him offspring, after all. And she was nothing but a child. And she knew how dangerous Levi was - so she planned for him to die while rescuing Zeke, because she had a plan for him while Levi would have only endangered that.

In chapter 110, Zacharias refuses Mikasa and Armin to go see Eren - and promptly dies in an explosion. This might be a hot take, but I think Eren might have ordered someone to do so (because Ymir made him?) - because she needed to split the bond between them. And afterward, Eren escaped. Maybe it was used as a maneuver to get the attention off of him.

In chapter 112 he returns to meet Mikasa and Armin in the table scene - already threatening to transform if they make any move. "I am free. Whatever I do, whatever I choose. I do it out of my own free will."

That's what he says, entirely unprompted really. He proceeds to tell Armin that he's the one being controlled by Bertholt, and I think that mirrors the situation properly. Because it could serve as a parallel that it's not Armin but Eren controlled by "the enemy".

In that chapter, Eren effectively cuts all of the bonds to his friends even though in a few chapters before (when discussing who will inherit his titan once his time is over) he claims to care about them more than anything. And he does. He cares incredibly, he's a very emotional person - but suddenly, all of his emotions are gone. Seems fishy. ‘

He cuts Mikasa off by telling her he's hated her for his whole life, knowing it's her weak spot. He beats Armin up, knowing it's his weak spot because Eren was always there to take hits for him when he got beaten up as a child.

Once again, I think that's Ymir taking control of his memories and using them against him. That, or Eren used those purposefully to get them away from him and out of the danger zone, knowing that he's a time bomb.

In that chapter, it is thickly laid on that Eren "hates" slaves. "Do you know what I hate most in this world? Anyone who isn't free. That, or cattle. Just looking at them made me so angry, now I finally understand why. I couldn't stand to look at an undoubting slave who only ever followed orders."

Maybe, once again, that is Ymir speaking - she was reduced to a slave, and her creation of a titan made to fight was broken down by a vow the Eldian King created. The following inheritors only ever accepted that fate and didn't do anything to break free from it. 

In chapter 130 when Eren tells Historia his plan, he says the following: 

"The only way to put a final end to the cycle of revenge born from hate is to remove that history of hate from this world and bury it in the ground, civilisation and all." - he knows it's a repeating process, possibly because of previous memories handed down to him through the Attack Titan and looking through the royal bloodline with the Founding Titan (first seen when he kissed Historia's hand).

The cycle of revenge born from hate - gotta keep that in mind, cause I think it's very important looking at all of his actions. 

There's this constant reference with his friends. In so many flashbacks, it tells us that Eren wants his friends to have happy lives. To be free. To live long. He adores his friends and loves them with all of his heart. So why tell them he hates them? Why beat them? Why get them involved in all of this? 

Because it isn't him saying those things, and if it is there's more behind it.

In chapter 131 he apologizes to a child for everything he is about to do before it even happens. Maybe because he saw the outcome of it all?

He knows how much he will hurt the world and people, but he does it anyway because he needs this cycle to end.

 I'm not fully sure what the rest of his apology means, talking about how he was disappointed learning that people lived in the outside world. But what I do think is important is the last panel in that chapter, this one:

It views Eren with his eyes shut. Just his head. Usually, whenever he controls his titan, his eyes are open. His own body moves to control the titan. Here it isn't, though. I feel like that symbolizes how it's not him.

We established that he's a very emotion bound person that often rejects logic to follow his heart - he doesn't have his heart here. He can't listen to it. If you are manipulated the source of that manipulation always tries to break your mind first. Rob you of your beliefs and make you follow others. 

The contrast is right then and there - why would he apologies in tears to a child he doesn't know at all and explain his intentions and beliefs when once it happens, and once the child is murdered, he doesn't show any reaction?

Sure, one could argue that he's not conscious after his head was shot off, but who caused the jump and transformation into the titan if not Eren? Possibly Ymir. 

It is shown that the user has to focus on that goal to transform, as in season one with Eren and the well, so either Eren was conscious enough - somewhat doubtful - or Ymir had full control of him then and there already as soon as he stepped into paths.

In chapter 133 Reiner says something important; "If it was me, I'd probably.. want someone else to handle the power of the founder by now. And if I couldn't, I'd want it to be stopped by someone."

There's pretty much a direct contrast once again - are Eren and the Rumbling controlled by someone else? In my opinion, yes. 

Does he want someone else to stop it? He most likely does, why else would Mikasa, Armin, and co be able to move freely? Ymir not so much. 

I feel like he's putting up a resistance to them, which is why she can't control them properly despite them being Eldians. 

They get thrown into paths then, and when they see Eren it's him but his younger version. Around nine or ten, probably.

What I think happened here is that Ymir is keeping him trapped in a younger version of himself - similar to that one time he was wrapped up in blankets in his home and Armin was knocking on the window behind him, trying to shake him awake and conscious again.

She's keeping his conscience reminded of good memories to hold him there and be able to move freely with his body - like I said, she's using him as a vessel to push her actions, her dream, her ideal world and outcome into his hands.

"In order to gain my own freedom, I will take freedom away from the world." Sounds a lot like something Ymir could have been saying, in my opinion. But then again, who knows.

This panel is also important:

Eren, in his young form, is simply standing next to Ymir. And he doesn't do anything. He doesn't react or recognize his friends, and most importantly, he mirrors how Ymir is standing in the exact same way.

She's mirroring herself onto him, projecting her conscience onto his body. It proceeds with "If you want to stop me, then try to stop me from ever taking another breath" -  once again, and I cannot stress this enough, Ymir uses Eren's memories against him.

She knows his friends won't risk him dying. She knows they would do anything to protect him. This is her playing it safe; they won't kill him, ergo they won't stop her from continuing her plan by using him. 

Now in the recent chapter, she's standing on top of his spine and it becomes very clear that she's controlling it all. She's building former titan shifters from his spine, and controlling them to separate the team from Eren's location - and Armin's, most likely even Zeke's. 

She figured out that they won't give up until they found Eren and can talk to him, so she creates that barrier that she's sure they won't manage to surpass. Not with limited supplies. 

When Pieck becomes a danger, she eliminates her by impaling her on that trident - but she doesn't injure her beyond conscience or in a threatening state. She specifically uses Galliard and Berthold against Reiner, and throws those two on him to damage him in his abilities and trick his mind, to manipulate him.

Armin says it himself: "If Eren is only attacking onward like he said he would then this resistance is coming from Ymir." If Eren is attacking onward to follow the goal to end the cycle, then Ymir is the one bringing all the complications. They might work hand in hand, but I do strongly believe that all of the complications are solely on Ymir. Eren never wanted to risk hurting his friends.

In fact, and this is if he is conscious enough to pull any strings right now, I think he might be setting things up to ensure that his friends are the ones that kill him. 

[jimmygibbsjrrr]

I have a lot of thoughts about the Slaters

namely, I've been wonderin why the Fairfield Survivors got thrown off the boat in Death Toll

in this panel of The Sacrifice comic, Francis confirms the fates of three of the rescue vehicles:

Image ID:

A panel from The Sacrifice: Part 1. Francis is sat in the rescue vehicle from Blood Harvest, speaking to Louis. His dialogue is as follows:

"Louis, I hate to be the one to break this to ya, but we been heading to the safe zone four times now. Helicopter: crashed. Plane: crashed. Boat: kicked us out and left us to die."

/end ID

the chopper from No Mercy was confirmed crashed in Crash Course, and as for the plane from Dead Air, it was pretty easy to guess (and would have been confirmed in the cut campaign Dam It).

but the part about the boat? that's the Slaters' boat from Death Toll. this is the first time we learn this information.

so...why? what happened?

(more under the cut, ended up writing wayyyy more than I expected over these past few days and don't wanna clog people's dashes lol)

so. let's take a quick dive into the last chapter of Death Toll, to see what we can discern about the Slaters from their dialogue.

the rescue vehicle in Death Toll is a civilian boat, Saint Lidia II, owned by John and Amanda Slater, a married couple. Amanda is never heard in-game, but John's reactions to her can be heard over the radio.

the Slaters are explicitly looking for "anyone out there with firearms". John later adds that "once you get on this boat? Your job is keeping our asses alive". it appears that their motivation for saving the Survivors is selfish from the get-go.

this is undoubtedly true in Amanda's case, however, some of John's lines betray a more selfless attitude. he will berate Amanda for not "think[ing] about the little guy". he will ask, "So what, then? We leave 'em to die? I can't do that, Amanda." whilst Amanda is thinking purely of their own survival, John still feels compassionate towards his fellow survivors. despite this, he says that "I don't want our first act of kindness to be our last", acknowledging the conflict between his compassion and his self-preservation.

so. these are the Survivor's saviours in Death Toll. a conflicted married couple looking for bodyguards, offering to take the Survivors upriver to a military safe zone in exchange for protection.

as for why they get thrown off the boat...well, the easiest explanation would be Amanda.

but, stay with me here, because I think it's a little more complicated than that.

this boat? fulla tension. there's the obvious tension between the Slaters, who we've established seem to fight and disagree regularly. then there's the inevitable tension between them and the Survivors. I reckon Louis, with his generally positive and friendly attitude, wouldn't have much of a problem with them, might even attempt some friendly conversation or something. however, he's about the only one.

the comic fully establishes Bill as caring about nobody except the Fairfield Survivors - the most obvious evidence of this being the words he lives and dies by, "we look after our own". he isn't particularly interested in other people, unless they can help the group out. and he'd likely recognise the unstable and conditional nature of their rescue. while I'm sure he'd try and keep the peace, in any reasonable disagreement or fight Bill's likely to take his friends' side, and if anyone's getting thrown off the boat Bill is going with them. this goes for the whole group, to be honest; I don't think they'd want to split up at this point.

Francis hates boats, hates water, and can't swim, so (and I'm getting a little speculate-y here) would probably be in an even sourer mood than usual on the journey. being as abrasive as he is, plus this additional stress, it's fully possible he could piss off the Slaters enough to get himself (or all of them) thrown off the boat.

as for Zoey? well, I don't imagine a married couple who constantly argues is gonna sit well with her, considering her backstory. similarly to Francis, the situation they're in would make her far more stressed, making it more likely for her to lash out.

Amanda didn't want to save the Survivors in the first place, so while I think that John wouldn't throw them off the boat without reason, I reckon she could persuade him to throw them off if they 'caused trouble' - and they would get into an argument with her far easier than they would with John.

in short: yeah, I can see them getting thrown off the boat by the Slaters after some huge fight or disagreement. I think that's a reasonable interpretation of canon, and definitely an interesting concept.

...however, I do wonder if this tension would really be enough to destabilise their mutual need, after everything they went through to come together.

which is why I'm going to bring up The Last Stand!

I gotta quickly address something before this segment: yeah, I'm totally aware this campaign isn't canon. this evidence works with the fact that it exists in an 'alternate timeline'. also, I am missing a few citations for this section - if anyone can provide them I'd really appreciate it, but just a disclaimer that I currently can't prove some of the things the wiki claims members of the Last Stand Community Update Team have said. here and here are the wiki pages where I got this information. in short - the above explanation is simpler and more canon compliant, the conclusion I draw at the end of this post is backed by shakier evidence but I believe is more interesting, and you can make of all that what you will.

allegedly, members of the Last Stand Community Update Team confirmed a strongly-suspected fan theory about The Last Stand: that it branches off from Death Toll in some way, in a non-canon alternative timeline. as well as this, they allegedly confirmed that in this alternative timeline, the Survivors still end up in Newburg for Dead Air. even without the confirmation, this remains a solid fan theory, due to the constant references to Riverside and re-use of many of Death Toll's assets.

who rescues the Survivors in The Last Stand? John Slater. no Amanda - just John. despite her lack of voice actress, if she was still present John would give some indication of this at some point. it can be speculated that whatever happened to her contributed to the lack of rescue at the boathouse that forced the Survivors to take an alternative route. either way, he ends up at the lighthouse when the Survivors call for rescue, alone, and picks them up.

and then later...throws them off the boat. into Newburg.

what reason would John have to do that? without Amanda, surely he wouldn't have that push, as he wanted to rescue the Survivors for multiple reasons in the first place. without his constant arguments with Amanda, Zoey wouldn't be nearly as stressed. and between the three of them I'm sure the other Fairfield Survivors would stop Francis from pissing John off enough to get them thrown off the boat. in short, less Amanda = less tension, and no reason for the Survivors getting chucked off the boat.

...right?

I'd like to remind you that a symptom of the Infection is paranoia.

what if, in both The Last Stand and Death Toll, John and Amanda are infected by the Survivors on the way to the military safe zone? after all, the virus is confirmed to occasionally be airborne, and I doubt two civilians have completely effective, sustained protection against that. likely the only reason they hadn't already been Infected is because they got out on the water early on in the pandemic, and hadn't come into contact with anyone else since. it's unlikely that one of them is immune, and even more unlikely that they're both immune (especially considering those with XX chromosomes may be genetically less likely to be carriers). wouldn't Francis have mentioned it if their rescuers turned or were obviously Infected? yes, but it's possible that the airborne strain works slower as well, meaning that the Survivors are thrown off of the boat after the symptoms kick in but before the Slaters fully turn. even Church Guy had at least an hour from being Infected to turning, and he was bitten. Newburg isn't too far from where the Survivors are rescued in Death Toll anyway (the burning city in the background of the finale is Newburg), so the Survivors clearly didn't last long on the boat anyway. as a result, the Survivors wouldn't realise it was the Infection intensifying the Slaters' paranoia - they'd just think the Slaters were being dicks. Francis also explicitly mentions that they were "left to die", implying negativity or even hostility from the Slaters as the Survivors were being thrown off.

so yeah. that's why I think they got thrown off of the boat in Death Toll - a combination of the intense tension between the two parties, and the Slaters falling victim to Infection-induced paranoia. but an explanation minus the Infection is equally as plausible. it all depends on what you find most interesting, I suppose, and both feel like they fit pretty well into the world.

lord this is a long chunk o text. I know most fandoms prefer art and fanfic over this sorta thing, so please let me know in replies or something if you're interested in more stuff like this. also if any of this makes sense because I like to ramble.

oh and if you'd like to use any of my interpretations in fanworks like art or fic, I'd love to see it :)

[fexicontent]

stand by me

a little preview of the 1st part of chapter 2 before i post it in its entirety on ao2 tomorrow :)

Chapter 2: $11k short

When Fez steps through the door of his home the day he's a free man again, he expects it to be a mess. He expects to be confronted with the broken windows, a couch stained with blood.

But the house had been thoroughly cleaned. A new window had been placed where the shattered one once sat covered with a wooden panel. The couch was as good as new.

"We tried our best with whatever we could get," Rue states, reading his expression. "You're kidding now?" Fezco huffs, clearly impressed.

"Y'all didn't have to do none of this," He stares at the couch, nice and stain-free. A silence hangs over them.

"We wanted to," Lexi finally says.

Inside of her head, her brain was working hard to analyze the situation, and gather the appropriate response. She didn't want to hurt Fez, knowing that he was obviously still upset over Ash being in prison while he was roaming free.

"C'mon now, let me pour you two a drink. Lex, you want a beer? Rue, you not getting no alcohol, a Dr. Pepper or something will have to do," Fez turns himself to the two girls.

Rue grins. "Yeah, 'course, Dr. Pepper it is. But I do suppose we need to run by the gas station for it. Lex and I didn't restock your fridge over here."

Fez brings out a smile. "A'ight, now that's too bad, kinda disappointed here. Not gonna lie," He jokes, "But yeah, let's drop by the gas station. Wanna see what's Lexi done with it."

It's now Lexi's turn to laugh. "Don't worry, I haven't sorted your inventory by color or something. Left it exactly how I found it, promise." She blurts out.

Fezco shoots her a smile, and for a moment she feels her cheeks burn up. She quickly drops her gaze towards the floor, afraid he's caught her.

When Lexi thinks about the gas station, she feels an overwhelming feeling of guilt come over her. She took care of it, on her own accord. She had wanted to help Fez.

The gas station had been important to Fez, and it needed to stay open to survive. So as long as Lexi could open the gas station a couple nights a week, it would pay the place's bills.

But now that she was in actual need of money, the last couple shifts she worked had felt like she'd been doing it for her. She'd always taken a small part of the money, as Fez had insisted she'd do.

And she knew it hadn't really changed, she still took the same amounts of money. But she'd been opening the gas station more often, taking on more shifts. She wasn't really doing it for Fez anymore, it almost felt like she was really doing it for herself instead.

So when Fez once more thanked her when they made it to the gas station, a pit filled her stomach. "Yo Lex, I really do appreciate what you did here. Keepin' this place alive, that means the world to me." He says as they walk in.

"It was no issue! I'm happy to help out here, still, anytime." Lexi offers, secretly hoping to be able to get more shifts. She can't help it.

"No way, ma. You done enough," He shakes his head. "Now, did you want a beer or sum'?" He asks, heading over towards the fridge.

"Lexi will not drink beer to save her life. She will only drink one of those teeth rotting mix drinks, where you don't actually taste the alcohol," Rue truthfully speaks, half laughing.

"Hmm, Rue's right. Beer's not my thing, I'll have a -- uh, a Minute Maid," Lexi walks over to Fez, opening up the fridge to grab a bottle.

Fez glances over at her. "Guess I shoulda known that Lexi Howard don't drink beer." He speaks.

"She's way too smart for that shit, anyways," Rue adds. Lexi shrugged, "I don't know, a vodka cranberry doesn't seem that much smarter," She notes.

"Lexi wildin'." She hears Fez say, her cheeks turning red again. "No, but cranberry juice is like, really, really healthy. Helps with a UTI too," Rue says.

"Okay, alright. Whatever," Lexi shook her head, a playful smile on her face.

Fez threw a bottle of Dr. Pepper in the direction of Rue, and she gracefully caught it. He then grabbed a beer for himself.

"Fez, what'd you think of a party, tomorrow night?" Rue suddenly asks. Fez looks a bit taken aback by the question, but then answers. "I’on know. Whose party is it?"

"Well, it's not really like, planned yet. Just in my head. But I thought we needed a welcome back Fezco party, and I was thinking Lexi's place 'cause her mom's not home," Rue explained.

This was news to Lexi. "What?" She questioned her friend.

"Hell, Rue, maybe not the best idea." Fez huffed.

"I think a party would be fun! But at my place Rue? I don't know... Like how many people would be there?" Lexi furthered her questioning, while indicating her support of a party.

“Just a couple, it doesn’t have to be a lot. Like, you can invite Ethan, and BB. Maybe Kat, if Ethan’s okay with that. I can ask Elliott to be there.” Rue says.

Elliott had been back to being Rue’s friend for a little while, as he’d actually sobered up after seeing Rue doing so much better. Lexi had been a bit suspicious after seeing them hang out again over the summer, but she quickly came to realize that it was different this time, better.

“Hmm,” Lexi nodded. “I’m okay with that.” She says. The girls now looked at Fez.

“Yeah, let’s do it. Party time,” Fez drawled.

Rue raised her Dr. Pepper bottle in the air. “Cheers to that!” She exclaims.

[im-a-goner-foryou]

Thanks for voting everyone, it was a close tie but more of you guys wanted drunk! Tony taking advantage of Peter, so here's part 1 because it got longer than i expected :') let me know if you think it's worth continuing!

Warning: implied non-con

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

The condensation sliding down his drink in rivulets is startlingly cold against his skin, pooling around the base of the glass in a small puddle; Peter wipes the wetness off his hand absent-mindedly on his sleeve, gaze still darting around the crowded hall and taking in the finely dressed occupants with furtive eyes. To say he feels uncomfortable is an understatement, being the only teenager present at one of Tony Stark's renowned parties; a fact that Peter had brought up when the invitation had been extended to him, by the host himself.

.

"Thank you Sir, really, but why-- why would..." Peter had asked tentatively, setting down the coffee onto his bosses' desk as requested. He didn't finish his sentence- 'why on earth would you bring me?', but Mr. Stark shot him a knowing look over the rim of the styrofoam cup anyways.

"Well, you are my intern, are you not? And this is a corporate event after all."

To which Peter had then begun to protest that he had no experience with business parties, and even if he did- this part he had mumbled quietly- he didn't own any appropriate formal attire.

"So you need a suit?" Tony said, waving his hand dismissively. "Consider that taken care of, Parker. And I'm sure you'll catch onto 'business party' etiquette fast enough, just take this as part of your training. I'll see you then?" he finished with an unmistakable air of finality, and Peter couldn't exactly disagree, could he? Especially not after a sleek parcel had been delivered right to his doorstep the very next night, containing a deep royal purple three piece suit that fit him so perfectly it was as though tailor-made.

.

Idly fingering the cuff now, Peter was just about to turn back to his drink when he felt more than saw someone slide smoothly into the seat beside him. Groaning inwardly, he contemplates blatantly ignoring his new company altogether; but at the sound of a cleared throat Peter grudgingly turns around-- only to be met with startling cornflower blue eyes and a warm smile.

"Hello," Stephen Strange purrs in that silky voice of his, extending a hand for him to shake; the man's skin is cool under Peter's trembling fingers. "You must be little Parker, I assume? I saw you arrive at Stark's side earlier tonight." He had not even bothered to introduce himself-- not that there was any need to, of course. Like most of the other guests present, Strange was high-profile and rightly so.

"Oh, yes. I- I'm his intern," he says lamely, feeling the tips of his ears already begin to burn red; the older man is undeniably handsome, especially dressed a million-dollar outfit, and Peter is only a hormonal teenager after all.

Tearing his eyes away from the other with much difficulty, he raises his glass to his lips again and nearly chokes on a huge gulp. Strange raises his eyebrows, surprise evident in his words of, "you're old enough to drink?"

"Oh, no Sir" --Peter swears he can see the man's eyes darken at his use of that title-- "it's just... um. Sparkling juice?" Flushing impossibly warmer and feeling for all the world like nothing more than a foolish child, he braces himself for a cruel reaction; for a patronizing sneer, a snide comment. He's surprised, to say the least, by Stephen's responding chuckle of kind amusement.

"Is that so? Well then, do let me buy you a drink, will you-- one rosé for the boy," he calls out to the bartender, turning slightly to shoot him a conspiratorial wink. "Oh, don't you worry that pretty head of yours now, it's just wine. Mild flavour, great for beginners," Strange adds, though Peter's head is buzzing too loudly to register the words after 'pretty head of yours'.

"Uh--"

He never got to finish his sentence however, for at that moment a hand falls heavily onto his shoulder, causing him to jump in surprise-- then yelp softly as the grip tightens painfully. His heart thrumming wildly in his chest, Peter whirls around to face his boss. "Oh! Hi Mr. Stark," he greets politely, nerves instantly melting away to a relaxed smile at the sight of a familiar face; then he notices that the man's dark eyes aren't looking at him, but rather fixated pointedly over his shoulder at his present company. "I, um, I was just talking to Mr. Strange here..."

"Yes, I saw," Gritting this out through clenched teeth as though it pained him to do so, Mr. Stark continues glaring coldly at the other man while almost spitting out his next words. "Buying drinks for underaged interns now, are you Stephen? My, you're sinking even lower than I've thought."

Peter catches, even through the powerful rush of blood thrumming through his ears, the distinct drawl of Tony's speech; nervous gaze flicking away from Stephen's now icy cold eyes to his boss, he comes to the realisation that the latter is drunk. Very.

"Mr. Stark..." he begins hesitantly, and that burning gaze falls on him again, the glazed-over pupils sharpening abruptly.

"We're leaving, Parker," the man very nearly snarls, giving Peter no chance to prepare himself or to respond before he's being tugged violently onto his feet by an unforgiving grasp on his arm. Stumbling a little, he begins to trail after Mr. Stark, looking back at the last minute to mumble a 'it's nice to meet you, Sir' to Strange-- who regards him coolly and with a half-smile-- Peter immediately regrets doing so however, as this seems to anger his boss even further. Face now twisting to something almost monstrous, Tony drags him across the room and past silently questioning eyes to the elevators, stabbing at the button of the control panel; the metal doors barely begin to slide open before he's being practically flung inside.

As the doors slide closed behind the man, Peter can't help but feel a foreboding sense of fear overtake his body, and for a frightening second he's reminded of a cornered prey, trapped by some dangerous animal; the look in Mr. Stark's eyes seem wild enough, glinting intimidatingly under the dim light overhead. The heavy, tense silence between them is only magnified by the confined space, and when the older man begins to speak in a disconcertingly cold voice Peter's never heard before, the boy instinctively backs away. "So, care to share about the new friend you made, Parker?" Mr. Stark mutters quietly, advancing towards him in a movement that resembles a prowl much more than it should. "You two certainly seemed... cozy enough by the bar."

"Sir, I--" Peter stutters, unable to force out the words stuck in his closed-off throat; his apprehension fully giving way to sharp and blinding fear as his boss stalks forward with every timid step he takes back, slowly yet surely crowding him up against the wall. "I don't... we were just, he just wanted to talk--"

Mr. Stark barks out a mirthless laugh, and the sound reverberates chillingly around them. "Oh, I bet he did. That bastard definitely showed interest, I'd give him that. What were you planning to do, hmm? Let him ply you over with drinks, talk you into spreading your legs for him later on in the bathroom like a cheap whore?"

"Mr. Stark!" Peter gasps, horrified; the implication of his darkly uttered words fully sink in, and mortification burns hot in his veins along with the welling tears in his eyes. "It's not like that, I swear, I- I would never do such a thing!"

"I have a hard time believing that, sweetheart," the older man snarls. Closing the space between them with two final strides, he slams his forearm against Peter's chest- punching all the breath out of him- and leans further down until their faces are mere inches apart, breaths falling harshly across his cheek. "Always knew you were a slut, Peter, the way you act around me; fucking begging for it constantly, like a horny bitch. Just never thought you'd be desperate enough to act the same around others-- but I guess any cock will do for you, won't it?"

Openly crying now, pinned helplessly underneath the stronger man, Peter can only shake his head weakly in protest; he's never seen Mr. Stark like this, refuses to believe it. "D-don't know, wh-what I, act like--" he sobs. "Please, Sir... please, you're hurting me."

His pleads have no effect; if anything, Tony seems to savour it. Other hand flying up to clutch his quivering chin roughly, his boss turns his tear-streaked face this way and that, dark eyes drinking him in; his next slurred words are as bitter as the alcohol in his breath. "You were always too innocent for your own good, Pete."