#Zee’s kinda high

[pawzofchaos]

based off that one image

[absolutebl]

This Week in BL - There's so much airing even I'm struggling to keep up

That's why I'm late.

Aug 2023 Wk 3

Ongoing Series - Thai

Laws of Attraction (Sat iQIYI) 6 of 8 - Oh no. I am totally in love with the escaped young master & his smitten bodyguard. How did that happen? (Be careful P’Thee the broken ones are the most tempting. Tin understands.) NO SINGING! Trust Thai BL to destroy any moment of sentiment I might have by picking up a damn guitar. And we finally get Charn’s Batman villain origin story. Good use of back hug! This is a GREAT show. Melodramatic as fuck, but GREAT. Gotta say this pair in NOT Thailand’s best kissers but not everyone can be Zee++. Still I think that + singing + a touch of overacting is likely to keep this out of the 10/10 club.

Dangerous Romance (Fri YT) ep 1 of 12 - Rich /poor dynamic with characters & set up exactly as expected. Chimon is great. Perth is good too. A real rich-kid bully, Heirs level or Japanese F4 evil. All the teachers are also corrupt (that’s kinda a Thai thing, I think because they can't call out the government). I gotta say, Marc is doing a bang-up job as the jock friend, too. And the kiss twist was fun. All in all, this is good. And you know me, I love a high school BL.

I Feel You Linger in the Air (Sat YT) ep 1 of 12 - The time travel historical romance many of us have been waiting for. Adaption of y-novel by Violet Rain, from the producers of Lovely Writer. Heartbroken architect is transported to the 1930s. Nonkul (actor playing Jom) keeps reminding me of Cho Han Gyeol from Love Mate. It’s a bit slow to start but interesting when it hits its stride. The pacing feels like a Chinese historical (makes me wonder if this with be 4 or 6 act structure). Nonkul is a wonderful actor. They weren’t sharing the screen for long, but the leads seem good together. I’m in. 

Only Friends (Sat YT) ep 2 of 10 - Well. It’s entertaining, I'll say that for it. Addiction. Manipulation. Queer as folk & all that jazz. (No jazz for you, Thailand. Oh no! I’m giving them ideas.) I would like it to turn out that Mew is actually manipulating everything. This is his revenge con on Top. Mew is, after all, supposed to be "the smart one." Gotta say, this is darn near perfect casting. But honestly? This show could just be about Ray & Sand. Their story (and them in it) is easily the most riveting. Sand better be careful, the wildly broken ones are always the best in bed, because they don’t care ao they have no shame and that's HOT.

Hidden Agenda (Sun GMMTV YouTube) ep 6 of 10 - I like how soft Joke’s version of seme flirting is. It’s mellow, like his voice gets with Zo. I also liked Zo casually chatting to his friends about how he feels about being flirted with. His friends gave good advice & were supportive. Oh no! A boy in a BL went into the rain ALONE. What ON EARTH will happen next? The argument was interesting, because it gave us insight into Zo’s maturity & ability to handle a relationship. I’ve been wondering why anyone would like him, and now I know. Joke & Nita’s backstory is fun. I like the gay boy protecting the straight girl reverse beard action. On a complete aside, I really like Dunk’s makeup in this series. It’s very Kdrama.

Low Frequency (Sat iQIYI) ep 7 of 8 - The house ghosts trying to help are cute. The plot is at least... a plot? I don’t know. Dias Ex Mafia is a new one on me. (COME ON THAT’S A GREAT PUN, PRAISE ME!) I’m ready for this show to be over. 

Be Mine Super Star (Mon Viki) ep 7 of 12 - Honestly, the whole time I’m watching this I’m just thinking I wish JaFirst got better scripts. Speaking of, I don’t object, but these characters sure moved into sex fast. I really don’t quite understand how Daddy & Hot Doc got together so fast either. It feels like their story was meant to be spread out into the other episodes but didn’t get cut in properly, so it ended up all in this one? Or is it just the pacing is particularly bad in this show?

Dinosaur Love (Sun iQIYI) ep 8 of 10 eps - I have no idea what is going on. What are all of Dino’s friends doing? What do they want? what’s their point in the story? I’m even annoyed by Peak, and love him. Sex scene which they tried to make sexy. Operative word being tried. Although, there was some interesting after sex discussion about mechanics. And there was a cute bathtub chat about pet names. But this show is a lotta work for very little pay out. 

Wedding Plan (Wed YT & iQIYI) ep 5 of 7 - I like the sunshine sides? PUNCH LOM 2023! Trash watch here!

Love in Translation (Sat iQIYI) ep 1 of 10 - Pushy older bro is Earn from Love Sick, yay! And he’s the hyung of a side couple, which is "best friend’s older brother" trope! My favorite!!!! Have we seen this in BL before? I don't think so. Anyway, DOUBLE YAY! The main couple… eh. You know I loathe stalker characters. And I viscerally HATE this one. Almost as bad as SCOY, not sure I can take it, actually. The squealing of "Tammy!" is worse on my ear than any off-key guitar strumming. I may have to DNF or fast forward through all his parts… but he’s the lead. What to do? I do like the “Chinese” businessman actor. He very cute. (On an aside, I was just reading about commercial real estate as the loophole for foreign property investors in Thailand. Cool plot point.) I’m getting a Taming of the Shrew vibes from this. Just me? For now it's living at the bottom of the list for sheer unadulterated loathing of Phumjai. Not the actor, he was my favorite and only good thing about Our Days. But this character? NO.

Ongoing Series - Not Thai

Jun & Jun (Korea Thur Viki) ep 5 of 8 - This is basically the gay Boys Over Flowers of my heart. Or as close as I think we’ll get from BL. I like both of the 2nd leads, even though I suspect Simon of actually being into everyone’s fav hyung. Cute to see the Mr Heart boys back on my screen, oh so briefly. Such a Taiwan trick, reusing a beloved couple like that. Nice gimmie to the fans. Meanwhile, Choi Jun - boy sure knows his angles but his motives? Please don’t let this be another arranged marriage beard situation? I can’t take 2 in the same month. 

Stay By My Side (Taiwan Fri Gaga) ep 8 of 10 - The boyfriends ep! JC is biggest simp spoiling his baby EVER. Taiwan = the sappiest of saps. “Owning the same key” is such a cute way of putting it. Also I love the "knew all along" twist, made me happy. The angst is silly but that's normal in Taiwanese BL. 

Love Class Season 2 (Korea Fri Viki) eps 3-4 of 10 - Pair 1: Lee Hyun is such a wide-open, bleeding, no-shame romantic. It’s kinda great. Boy has a poet’s soul & NO artifice. J-Min is startlingly good, very nuanced. I know I keep saying that, but I’m v surprised by his skillz. And… add in creepy stalker, goody. Pair 2: The "other student couple" I’m not into, also NO SINGING. Pair 3: The underwear gift was so fucking funny. “I’m going reap the boxers I sewed” is next level script excellence. These two are brilliant at gayest-of-gay flirt-negging, I'm INTO IT. One of my housemates said, in response to my audible cackling, "You seem to be enjoying your shows extra much tonight."  

My Personal Weatherman AKA Taikan Yoho (Japan Sat Gaga) ep 2 of 8 - Oh I love love love them. It’s so old school yaoi and SO JBL. No other country could produce this kind of show. I love this little feminist aspect where the weatherman treats his boy like a 1950s housewife & said boy thinks that makes him an indentured servant. Clocks. But also, the way our weatherman LOOKS at his boy. He is so in love. (It looks like we skip next week for holiday reasons?) 

Sing My Crush (Korea Wed iQIYI) eps 5-6 of 8 - It remains enjoyable. 

Minato's Laundromat Season 2 AKA Minato Shouji Coin Laundry Season 2 (Japan Thu Gaga) ep 6 of 12 - At least we know Minato actually desires Shin, he just won’t do anything about it. Also, Minato chose the perfect person to come out to. That's nice for him. Finally, Shu & Asuka are glorious. Sides are winning these days.

Stay Still (Hong Kong Tues YouTube) ep 3 of 5 - A proper faen fatal has entered one of our couples. She won too, since she ended up marrying the boy. Still not sure about this show (and it should have convinced me by now). I definitely like the tattoo couple better than the reunion couple. Still, not a lot happened in this episode and this is short series, they don’t have time to waste. It remains intriguing but not... erm... good.

In case you missed it

River Knows Fish Heart is leaving Gaga soon. It's a decent little bully romance Chinese BL (pulp) - yes, you read that right. Actual CBL. Not great, but if you're into the CBL stuff, especially the early stuff, this has some of that tenor only made in 2018 (I have a feeling it was shot in 2017 and skated through). Anygay, just staying. Catch it before it disappears because with CBL once they gone, often, they gone forever.

Friend. Boy Friend a new Thai BL pulp was supposed to start airing on Aug 19th. I can't find it. Neither can MDL.

Next Week Looks Like This:

Everything from Thailand seems to be dropping on Sat & Sun this month. It's a good thing I got quiet weekends for a while. Also the BL firehose is upon us, so much content.

Starting this week:

8/20 (tomorrow) My Universe series (Sun iQIYI) 24 eps - This is sampler pack BL, 12 pairs, each pair gets 2 eps, not sure on the order they’ll drop. Known couples include EarthBank from Destiny Seeker and KaownahTurbo from Love Stage!!!, fresh faces otherwise. Jane to direct.

8/22 Kisseki: Dear to Me formerly known as Miracle (Taiwan Tues Viki & iQIYI) 13 eps - From screenwriter Lin Pei Yu (We Best Love, H3: Trapped) features a student doctor forced to take care of a gangster. I love the premise and like the writer.  

8/23 Why R U? (Korean remake iQIYI) 8 eps - I find everything about this hilarious. I mean if Korea remakes it, we lose all the sexy and then... would we have a story at all? No we would not. Not even for 8 short eps. It’d be like one of those mesh shopping bags.

8/24 Man Suang (Thailand movie, domestic cinema release) - historical drama about Thai burlesque with KP’s MileApo. 

2023 forthcoming BL master post (see comments, some are inaccurate, NOT KEPT UPDATED).

THIS WEEK’S BEST MOMENTS

Another show reviewing itself. (Dino Love)

Don't insult bastards, Lom. (Wedding trash)

I would like this adorable romcom GMMTV, please and thank you.

See what I mean? Trixy.

Thanks boys. (All Only Friends)

(Last week) 

[goldfishontheceiling]

some random reboot headcanons because I just finished season 1 but you can clearly tell who my favorites are

Lauren/Scary Girl is so transfem demigirl to me and I can't explain why

Lauren showed Damien smile HD and/or cupcakes and now he's traumatized

Damien got into science from those grow your own crystal kits

I feel like he has a favorite word

Lauren got Damien a cactus and he named it after the shade of green it was

Raj taught Bowie how to ice skate

Raj has absolutely no storage space on his phone so Bowie's always the one taking photos

Wayne will tease Raj about literally anything but if he notices Raj getting upset he immediately stops

They play wrestle CONSTANTLY (and Bowie has to watch and make sure nobody breaks anything)

Wayne LOVES pies

He actually gets pie for his birthday more then he does cake

Bowie wears perfume (sometimes)

He eventually starts understanding Wayne and Raj's hockey lingo after hanging around them so much

He most definitely took Raj clothes shopping atleast once

Bowie got Raj a fidget slug and he fucking loves it and takes it everywhere

Wayne and Raj started collecting fidget toys after that

Axel keeps having this recurring dream where she cooks and eats her neighbor's cat (this started as an inside joke but I kinda see it)

She cuts her bangs herself

Chase livestreamed himself reading fanfictions about himself with Ripper and Zee (it ended with Chase curled up on the floor crying, Zee trying to comfort him, and Ripper going on a rant about why Andrew Tate isn't an alfalfa male)

Chase has been banned from multiple public places including but not limited to: Disneyland, Disneyworld, every Walmart in Canada, most Targets, about 5 McDonald's, and two malls

Chase has low empathy, while Emma has high empathy, which leads to a lot of disagreements

This mf is like the JayStation of Total Drama of course he makes 3am challenges and dark web videos (and of course has gotten canceled)

His parents most definitely said that "boys will be boys" bullshit

Zee most definitely likes the emperors new groove

Actually, he likes a lot of movies, but he sometimes forgets that he's watching them halfway through

Zee's a skater, and really well liked at the skate park he goes to

Everyone assumes he hates water because of how much he drinks soda, but he doesn't and says that soda is just "more his vibe"

Zee's absosexual and agender with all pronouns

When I tell you Emma has Chase blocked on EVERYTHING I mean EVERYTHING

She has slight anger issues (and trust issues)

Emma really likes sunsets

Ripper has dandruff and I can't explain what makes me think that I just do

He's also dyslexic because I said so

Priya's parents were friends with Sierra and were super jealous when she got on the show, which led to them falling out

Sierra actually recognized Priya for this reason, and got into contact with her after s1 ended

Sierra is basically Priya' crazy aunt

Priya ran away after s2 because she didn't want to face her parents after losing, and she moves in with either Millie or Sierra

Millie makes video essays where she just infodumps

Nichelle is so cupiromantic idk why

MK has been wearing that same beanie since they were 9

They had an emo phase in middle school

Also non-binary they/she/he MK is so real

Julia and MK have so much Twitter beef

Julia sold her crystals after s1 (Damien bought all of them)

If you recognize her in public she will RUN

Blaineley is her wine aunt and you can't tell me otherwise

and some random charts

[historia-vitae-magistras]

Because of an old shitpost- now I wonder what Kiwibird would be like if she had gotten her hands on Matt's... "brownies" and the aftermath of such. Lol

She's one of those shockingly high-functioning stoners who can smoke a joint, write, speak, and think pretty clearly, except she's a bit gigglier, sillier, and buzzy. The girl is so buzzy. Zee, by and large, is a hard-working, ambitious little shit. She'll get up at 5 am to go hunt rats with her old trench knife if one's been at her kiwis again, and she'll work long hours in service of causes from everything from environmentalism to conservation to abolition to sufferage or anything else. Moal or amoral, if she believes in it. But she'll get baked, using the spots method Matt taught her a while back (seriously, it's only NZ and Canada who use that method, and it's kinda fire) and just lay in the sun eating everything in sight. Her personality loses its sharp edges and softens down to that very compassionate, curious core.

Also she turns into a fucking garbage disposal. Y'know those seagulls who will stalk you like they're carrion birds and you're a carcass while staring at your fries at the beach? That's the kiwibird. She has been known to cry when Jack or Matt don't share their snacks fast enough. Will go through the entire cheese platter and down three rolls of hobnobs. She's 'invented' several new types of cheese toastie while on the green.

[kitzatara]

We know the basics. The limitation of magic is that it will always come with a price. But I have this very interesting idea that with each unique magic user with a unique type of magic, it should have its own unique kind of price to pay. What would be an interesting kind of consequence that would fit well with her backward magic?

In canon it’s sorta hinted at that the price of her magic is the loss of her father/parents and then one other time jokingly implied that her bad luck in love is the price lol. Because in DC it seems to be more abstract prices, like i know with John it’s a big implication that everyone close to him gets hurt in some way.

imo this is fine, it’s not terribly creative but it’s a weird nebulous price that doesn’t really hinder her much. But i think there’s maybe different avenues we could explore?

My thought is that each magic user has a limit, a natural magical supply they can draw from to channel spells. And when you reach a spell that is more than what you possess naturally that’s when you have to start drawing power from different sources and “paying” for that magic. Kinda like a loan. That magic is the one with the weird costs, whereas depleting your normal supply just leaves you drained and needing rest. My HC is that Zatanna has a very unnaturally high limit, it’s one of the reasons she’s so “powerful” because the limit for her is far above everyone else, like John and why he’s labeled more an occultist.

you can draw power from beings like fae, gods and demons because they offer a convenient trade off as the cost. A little favor, worship, a sacrifice of some sort. Pretty straight forward bartering you give me this i lend you power. Magical objects are reserved for one type of spell/magic, the trade off being in needs to charge or it’s limited to the object, or you need to bond with the object, etc.

Then there’s magical dimensions you can draw energy from, and that cost can vary depending on the dimension, like maybe your sanity for a day, a week of nightmares, bit of bad luck, etc. Using John as an example again being who often does rituals or uses objects to sort’ve bypass the nastier costs/sources of magic so that he doesn’t deplete his natural reserve given by his demon blood, and so he doesn’t have to make any more deals than he already has.

Personally i don’t much care for the idea that the price of magic always had to be some depressing awful thing, i think that it should just be explicitly more transactional. And Zatanna is privileged because she inherited a lot of natural magic from her parents and being part homo magi and having a powerful medulla jewel in her brain. This also just plays into the notion that she’s a bit of a nepo baby and can inform how she interacts with the magical community since she has a “magic privilege”. I think that would be very fun to explore since she’s really well liked and trusted and seen as a great hero, but maybe there’s some resentment to how good she’s got it. Which has sorta been echoed in the past by John and Nimue Ravensong who had to work a lot harder to get good at magic and learn its secrets. Could definitely inform her more villainous rivals and how they might envy her like Allura or Tannarak. Even brother night who had to sacrifice all those kids for his power only for Zee to force him to recant it.

But if you have ideas for more specific costs id love to hear em. And thanks for the ask!

[courtney-deserved-better]

i’m curious, do you have any like super obscure td rarepairs you like?

ooooooooo let’s see

i really like the idea of a rivals to lovers courtney x emma (rr) ship, logically i know their similarities would probably make it difficult to get along but idk i think it could work in a weird way. they’re both one of my favorite character archetypes (im a sucker for the type as) so i’d love to explore how they would interact. honestly i should write a fic for them

beth x sierra is another rarepair i like! they’re both seen as Weird Girls (derogatory) who get crushes easily and i think they could have a cute little thing going on.

i also like beth x katie (& sadie?), they all hung out during the aftermaths for tdwt, i could see it as a poly thing or as a similar dynamic to wayne & raj where katie is realizing she’s a lesbian and sadie is supporting her

this one actually has some basis in dramarama of all things, but harold x lightning. i thought it was really cute how tdr harold had a crush on lightning and i would love to play around with that dynamic within the main canon. ooo especially with the inclusion of transfem harold (bc lightning don’t judge!)

ella x sky! i think their ship name is ellsky? anyway they should’ve cut out the axis of the brief tdpi love triangle (dave) and just had ella think of sky as her knight and sky learning to relax a bit with ella

while i don’t really ship either of them with anyone, i do like the idea of zee x damien. i think zee’s chillness could help balance out damien when he’s a little more high strung, and damien could help ground zee. after all, zee was damien’s biggest supporter to help get himself voted off! i also headcanon damien as a trans guy and zee as nonbinary so t4t couple rights lol. ngl every time i see someone shipping zee with chase or ripper (or both!) i shed a silent tear. zee deserves better (im mostly joking)

(i’m not sure if these count as rarepairs but i also enjoy nichaxel/axelle and mkulia from the new season)

this is very silly but a goths + best friends polycule where devin goes goth after his breakup and ennui kinda digs it, carrie wants to support devin, crimson is down for whatever, and oh would you look at that they’re somehow all dating.

jacques x ryan. idk how it would work but they have stuff in common (athletics + dealing with josee & stephanie) so i think there’s potential there

jacques x josé. as in alejandro’s brother. don’t ask me to explain myself.

kitty x crimson. they could be cute together.

sanders x emma (rr). somehow i think they could make it work.

honorable mention of rarepairs i like that aren’t super obscure: lesheather, djuncan, trody, dawnkota, brott, justowen, jasammy, bridgney, dashawn/shave (idk their ship name), shawn x jasmine x sammy, jomaria (is this even a rarepair? are any of these rarepairs? idk man)

[dual-fantasy]

Thinking about how Chase's parents didn't feed him enough so he's likely used to not eating for long periods at a time, so he's actually pretty light as a result. Like, it's kinda scary how light he is.

Also thinking about how because of this, he's not at all picky and will eat most things served to him, given that 1. One of the Beach House Channel gimmicks is eating weird stuff and 2. He spends the first few minutes of episode 9 eating a bowl something likely made by Chef, even while Bowie and Emma are persuading Zee to join their alliance.

Bottom line, Chase's eating schedule is fucked up.

oh my godddd. oh I'm unwell about this. you're so real he is incredibly light. not only is he the shortest man in the cast he's also the lightest by a. terrifying amount. genuinely scary amount. and also given that the beach house probably has enough money that he's been able to live off of high quality/good tasting food for the past few years it's kinda weird that he would be able to eat chefs food without complaining. kind of strange. he would surely be the first to complain.

and he only lost in the wheel of vomit because he gets into a fight with emma. AND ALSO the reason he thought that the half chocolate bar was a good enough apology for Emma was because he wasn't given food by his parents so he still considers it a massive act. god I am. so unwell about him. youre always so correct

[ep2nd]

I REMEMBERED

And had time-

Comment/Reblog who I should do next<3

MCYT PJ AU

Aphrodite and Hephaestus Cabins

Doc- Defines Mad scientist. Was responsible for the Accident of 1999. We don't talk about it. Half his body got destroyed, pulling an iron man and barely living. Actually was granted one of his dad's Workshops. Creates world destroying machines, and that's why Hephaestus keeps a close eye on him. The only who can get into contact with him is Ren and Mumbo. Given immortality at some point. Old.

Eret- Old leader of Aphrodite cabin. In college. Gives amazing fashion advice. Bisexual ICON. Better at wearing sunglasses than Apollo, but don't tell him that. #Traitor. Like Silena Beuragaurd, but wasn't forced to... just did it.

Fwhip- What is the sun?? Man hasn't seen it for long time that's for sure. Gem reminds him to eat and you know- live. Loves to teach Zedaph engineering and science stuff. He and Wilbur started a Salmon cult. Loves messing with Jimmy. Not strong for a Hephaestus kid.

Iskall- Lost an eye. His father gifted him a new one for his birthday- great parenting guys. Leans more to computer and software engineering. Lives with Stress.

Joey- Aphrodite Cabin head counselor. A love Aura like every second of the day. FLIRTS. In love with Xornoth, they don't reciprocate. Older brother of Scar. Horrible at fighting and please don't trust him with fire. Man has been spotted countless times without a shirt. Clung to Pete like a leach- only person he listens to probably. Bromance with Sausage. His dad hates him.

Keralis- Best fliter. Has a charming sense of aura. Best Aphrodite kid at telling others emotions. Empathy levels are high. No one understands his relationship with XB, not even each other do. Became an interior designer. Comes to camp to help with any building projects.

Mumbo- Really smart. Man can build and fix anything he touches. Humble little thing. Covered in soot 100% of the time. Came to camp with Grian and Scar. No Grians not letting go he's kinda stuck now. Went out on a quest and almost died- saved by Doc. Doc took one glance and said- "wet cat" and officially takes care of him as his guardian. Brings him to their father forgers during winter months.

Sam- New leader of the Hephaestus cabin. Helped design a prison, requested by the gods. Only Hephaestus kid who weilds a Trident, designed by him. He really likes Poseidon, kinda wished he was his dad. Hangs with Punk.

Zee- Great inventor. Understands any machine. Thinker and tinker. Always planning a new build, seeing the possibilities. Disappeared one day, still missing.

Scar- Oblivious beautiful boy. Joey's younger brother, loves his brother very much. Has very powerful Charmspeak. Got away with so many crimes. Step-mom and Dad separated, his Step-mom took him away. That's why Joey and him didn't go to camp together. And they tend to keep that a secret, their dad and step-mom wouldn't allow them to be with each other. Joey teaches him things he shouldn't be taught. SCAR PUT YOUR CLOTHES ON.

Skeppy- Great skin. Wears Jewlry 24/7. Walking diamond. Man is great with people. Bads personal emotional support friend. Love his mom. They talk a lot. Loves shipping his fellow campers. Literally the Fandom in person.

Netty- Great at fashion. Married Martyn. Finishing college. Loves dresses and skirts. Sassy when she wants to be. Always has the gossip and news, even when she wasn't there.

TFC- Another Hephaestus kid granted immortality. An incident made him lose a leg. Spends his days mining ore for his father's forges. The only person to be able to freely move throughout Labyrinth. Met Deadelus personally. On okay terms. Loves to help out other Demigods.

[pyroreadscomics]

What are your thoughts about Howard's Catwoman run?

The run being really gay doesn't save the writing from being really mediocre.

(More nuance below the cut)

Well that was snappy, unfortunately my thoughts are many and complicated and probably won't be entirely ironed out until a few months after she leaves the book or I reread the run again, or both. That phrase was something I said while reading through the series for the first time a some months ago that I still mostly stand by, but now feel the need to caveat and add nuance.

(Also, it feels weird that, because I put off answering this for months, the end of Howard’s run is just a few months away now, but I’m just going to assume the ending is neither so good it retroactively makes everything better or so bad it tanks the run with guilt by association)

When I say mediocre, I very specifically don't mean bad. I'm using mediocre to mean it's average, ordinary, of moderate quality. Not bad enough to hate, or even particularly dislike, but not good enough for me to shed a tear if it was suddenly canceled (which… seeing as it’s end is now on the horizon… I’m actually filled with anticipation as to what comes next.)

And like many multi-year runs, Howard's Catwoman has had it's ups and downs while it's low points are i think widely known: Her dialogue tends towards what i can only describe as AO3 generic, the plotting itself is sub-par, Gotham War disappointing even though there was no way to go into it with high expectations (joint effort i know, but even taking only half blame for it Tini Howard doesn't come out of that event looking remotely well), and I have an entire rant ready for how I dislike how Black Mask is used in that series.

1. The reintroduction of Eiko

But, that said, at this moment I do feel like calling out some highlights of Howard's run (or at least, the bits of it I really liked.)

Also yes, alot of this could be considered fanservice, but I’m at least acknowledging that things that make me happy don’t inherently make a run good. (but at least more enjoyable to slog through than Tom King’s batman or most of her New 52 stuff)

Okay, let me be clear, Eiko in this run is a shadow of her debut in Valentine's run but Selina's supporting cast has a worrying tendency to disappear without a trace after one, max two runs, so damn if it wasn't nice to see Eiko suddenly reappear in a major role in the Catwoman run after a 6 year absence and not have her confined to the dustbin of comic history alongside other Catwoman supporting cast members such as Gwen, Alice, Zee, Clutterbuck, Wilder, Arizona, and Cassandra Cartland (If you knew every single person i mentioned without having to check, I like you, and you like me also know too much about Catwoman)

If nothing else, if Eiko's appearances in this comic, and her guest appearances in other current Gotham stories (like Punchline: Gotham Game or Ram V's excellent Gotham Nocturne) manage to cement her as a persistent part of Catwoman's cast, this run will have done enough for me to earn a passing grade.

Also I like Eiko's new catsuit and not just because it makes it easier to tell her apart from Selina

2. Catwoman #43 & #44 (The Harley Quinn two parter)

Judging by the mood in the room, If anything gets me an angry response it's going to be this.

It's fun, it was a fun two parter, and honestly there are times when I wish more writers would stop trying to do the high drama stories they're kinda bad and instead write fun inconsequential side stories.

Also yes I do ship it. What of it?

Actually speaking of

3. The queerness.

It’s not a lot, but for a character who’s been out as bi since 2015 Selina is never written that way (at least in the main comics, I understand the HQ show and the recent movies have either explicitly or implicitly had bi Selina). Like it’s so bad Selina doesn’t even get pride tie in stuff, no appearances in the pride anthologies or even pride variant cover. JFC Nightwing gets one every year and last time i checked he was still canonical cishet. And… a bit like Eiko, but less important, it’s nice to have another run where Catwoman is canonically queer. Selina acknowledging Eiko as an ex, flirting with other women, that Selina and Harley sharing a bed scene. It’s just nice to have that part of Selina’s character acknowledged.

Also it’s so minor but the gay bar called Conroy’s got me just a bit.

4. Knight Terrors

On balance, despite me having criticisms of it, I did like it as a version of “What does Selina’s worst nightmares look like”. It’s not quite as good as Devin Grayson’s take on the matter (and ain’t that a sentence) but I’m a big fan of Selina’s mind dark fears conjuring force a lot of catholic imagery and doing something actually interesting with the Sister Zero concept. (It’s really just a shame that this story is clearly setting something up for Gotham War that never actually gets paid off, which is wild considering that was literally the month after Knight Terrors)

Lastly:

5. Valmont

Look, I really liked Valmont for two reasons, one of which is superficial, one of which actually had thought put into it.

Superficially: Selina deserves a whipped subby bisexual twink, as treat. Sure he's a cocky asshole, sure he looks like pirate au ghostmaker, sure he's ready to murder anyone who looks like a threat to his dom love (and honestly anyone in general), but honestly that's all part of the charm.

Because Bruce, as the whole wedding thing shows, is big on these concrete declarations of affection, even as he’s really bad at actually expressing his affection in more casual ways. And Eiko, as she says, is “comfortable with these declarations, names. Things like titles and vows.” So in dating either of them Selina would be consenting being put into a box and labeled, even if it's a box as unconstrained as “dating” and a label as loose as “girlfriend”.

But, putting a bit of thought into things, Valmont has this really interesting role in the story. He's the obviously incorrect choice in a love triangle, but also the one who Selina would pick anyway.

Like, the issue before he dies the story teases a bit of romance with Bruce and Selina, and earlier there were some teases (or.. maybe acknowledgement is the right word?) between Selina and Eiko. There's two existing love interests for Selina, Bruce, who's the moral and safe choice, the wedding bells and gaggle of step kids choice. And there's Eiko, who's a major crime lord, one who's conducting business with some of the worst in Gotham. If it was just the two of them (especially if Eiko was closer to her Valentine personality), it'd be a pretty classic "the good boy and the bad boy girl" love triangle but Valmont is here, and he adds an interesting angle onto that love triangle(?) (is it still a triangle when there's three potential lover interests?).

(A reversal on Eiko and Selina’s very undefined relationship in Valentine’s run, which could be seen as divergence for the character but also kinda makes sense. With Eiko ending that run by shedding Catwoman (and identity that embodied personal freedom and also rebellion against her father) to become the head of the Hagisawa family (an identity marked by responsibility to the family and her place as her father’s heir) that going forward she’d be a lot less likely to engage in a nebulous undefined relationship when her life is now, by choice, very defined. It’s still however one of those things that assumes a non-zero amount of character development happened off screen.)

But Valmont? Valmont doesn’t ask anything *of* Selina.

Sure he does initially, “hey here’s this cat, I know where you live, join my thieves guild”. But this tactic gets him shot down by Selina and at best relegated to “untrusted ally” status (and more likely “useful but dangerous”). But after this, and after a brief break during the CatQuinn two-parter, Valmont’s back with a new tactic called “I’ll do literally anything you ask of me, including stopping killing people, and ask for nothing in return.” Which… with Selina being somewhat adverse to long term commitment (or commitment in general depending on the writer) this works.

Valmont’s hardly a healthier romantic option (he might not be the worst person Selina’s ever dated, but he’s still at the end of the day an arrogant invasive assassin) but he puts a spin on himself that makes Selina let her guard down around him and they do eventually become some vaguely undefined item.

And then in his final issue, Bruce accuses him of still being loyal to the league of assassins and of manipulating Selina. Then he kills again in the process of undoing a problem he caused, and gets in a big fight with Bruce about it. And when Valmont goes to kill Bruce, she kills Valmont which… It’s a weird moment for Selina, she’s normally very reserved about killing people and while yes needing to save Bruce could theoretically push her far enough. But also, it’s the best thing this run could do with Valmont.

Because Bruce’s accusations (along with Valmont’s general sketchiness) lead to this question with Valmont: does he genuinely love Selina, or is he using her for some unknown end? Because he know what he’s naturally like (down with murder) and we know he’s changed his behavior, but we don’t know whether it was because he wanted to be with Selina enough to change himself for that chance (which… understandable) or, if he was on some deep cover mission to manipulate Selina towards and he changed behavior in order to further his own covert ends. And… imo the possibility of it being one or the other is more interesting than any story you could get out of committing one way or the other.

And by killing Valmont, the run gets out of having to answer this question, which, again imo, is the most intelligent narrative decision this run made aside from bringing back Eiko.

That said, If in the last two issues Howard answers the question of “what really was up with Valmont” I’m retroactively taking back all of this praise and will be downgrading this run to "of poor quality but at least Eiko's here"

[citrusacidic]

TELL ME ABOUT ALL OF THEM.

REHEHEHEHEEEEE EVIL CACKLE OKAYYY ZEE SHIP TIMEEE

firstly i do love the Zee ships that are like.. normal??? the ones that make the most sense at least, which tends to be with Chase (self explanatory), Damien (“he’s my biggest supporter”), and Scary Girl (he is generally unbothered by her batshit insanity). like. that shit is cute. love. especially him and scary girl like tehehehe its so good

after that my brain starts turning into mush and i just be shipping him with whoever tf. Ripper? yeah. Caleb? sure. Julia? why not. Emma? giggles and kicks feet.

With Ripper, its very much a “high energy and aggression with most laid back person ever” dynamic, which is silly. Also that specific scene where Ripper is flexing in front of the “ladies” and one of them is Zee.. like okayyy yeah.

Caleb? idk, he didn’t get a chance to be on the show at all really, or make any close friends, so i feel like as Zee is the most friendly and easy to get along with character ever, who better to become close with first.

Julia? again the jackass x unbothered and laidback. and also Zee is probably the only kinda person to be able to actually like Julia WHICH SOUNDS MEAN but shes rlly just a jerk. also the eating episode was so silly, she was egging his ass so bad with that milk lmao.

Emma with Zee LORDDD I really like this one guys. This is very much the “fuck Chase” route but its cute to me. Like Emma has had HORRIBLE history with Chase. and Zee and Chase are pretty close WHICH IS INTERESTING because Zee is SO KIND and SO FRIENDLY and Chase is so none of that. So its like IDK she interacts with Zee and is like “woahh... men can be.. nice..*mind explodes*” and its like a startling but nice change of pace being friends with him. Then it could.. idk.. teehee *kicks feet* get romantic or smth. Also the fact that Emma offered up the idea of flirting with Zee instead of Chase in the show like oh yeah baby time to overthink that big time.

[chesblob]

WARNING THIS IS A RANT ❗️❗️❗️❗️❗️❗️

my opinions on every total drama reboot character yippeeee

these are js my opinions, im rewatching it rn so i can analyze the characters better

rajie ? best boy. BEST. BOY. MY FAVORITE BOY ON THE ISLAND. HE IS AMAZING. HE WAS ROBBED.

wayner : also a best boy , BEST ALLYYYY WE STAN HIM BEING SO SUPPORTIVE OF RAJIE

if chris ever tries to separate rajie n wayner im OFFING MYSELFF THEYRE SO WHOLESOME TOGETHER PLEASE FRESH DONT DO ANYTHING TO THEM

bowie : an actual slay queen. prom king AND queen. he shouldve won tbh i would pay sm money thag i dont have rn to see that

zee : yes. he acts high but lowkey hes cool and js overall a good character with cool development, js a likable guy

julia : ooh GIRL. SHE HAS BEEEEFFFF WITH THAT DINOSAUR. when me and my boyfriend watched the season for the first time on a teams call , the dino scene came up and we laughed for an hour straight about it 😭😭 shes iconic. “ crystals are real. prayer hands emoji.”

priya : tbh , i could tell she was gonna win from the first episode. it was really obvious tbh and i feel like the plot wouldve been better if bowie won? her characters cute tho fsfs

emma : girly ate those lil dancey dances UP. her friendship with bowie was so good. and also her mocking mk was so yes “i thought it was haalff 😖”

ripper : HE TOOTS. HE FLASHES. HE THINKS HES A GYM BRO. POOKIE I HATE HIM IDK

caleb ( HELP I ACCIDENTALLY PUT JUSTIN INSTEAD OF CALEB LMAO) : i wish wish wish he wasn’t eliminated first. he had no character development other than being a token hot guy, he had MAYBE 3 lines in the entire first episode before he got ELIMINATED

nichelle : she ate everything up , but what if shes js jerry in a wig. im paranoid.

chase : ehhhhh ew ngl cos he drove emmas car into a pet store and now shes pressed

mk : i feel like she couldve been cool if she had more development, i feel like she was kinda a wasted side character ://

millie : i have beef with millie for no reason. 😭i js hate her and she pretends to be loyal but girly was so terrible

damien : not bad tbh ! hes nice too so yk

scary girl / lauren : she’s interesting defooo!! im sad that she didnt get that much screentime this season , and im so pissed that shes getting voted off first next season. ALSO THE THEORIES THAT SHES DAWN IN DISGUSE SHDHDNDN 😋😋 ID BE SO HAPPY IF THEY WERE TRUE

axel : wanted to see more of a personality from her, for now shes known to me as a saner version of jo or eva 🥲

chris : NO BFO YOUR VOICE ABSOLUTELY SUCKS BOOTYHOLE TFFFF

chef : consistent since 2009, biotches

[inkandpaintleopard]

OKAY SO-

When I first saw that the ad got changed for a missing person's report I just thought "oh, Dexter's been out of commission for a year, of course he wouldn't be running ads," but it being changed SPECIFICALLY for something in future episodes is just??? Hello??

Also on the ad itself- yeah! In his ad in the phonebook he uses "wasps" instead, too

Definitely seems like "cats" was a slip of the tongue

Is Dexter ok (no)

Wasps doesn’t even rhyme dude

Ok but in all seriousness; the first time something like this happened to me was back in Piggy’s prime. ‘Cause there’s these two zebra twins (I’ve shown them here before: Zee and Zuzy) who are sort of major characters in the story, and in the first cutscene they’re ever in, Zee is the first to speak; I think she talks more than Zuzy actually. When the sequel rolled around however, it was always Zuzy who spoke, with Zee just kinda standing around watching everything. She didn’t even make in game sounds (everyone else has an activation/attack noise, it’s their animal sound), she was just completely silent. In one update, the original cutscene was reworked so that only Zuzy spoke.

Eventually, all of this was brought up in lore. I’d honestly called a bit of a dropped plot line, but there was a bit of pay off. Basically long story short, the main villain gives his Tragic Backstory where he talks about how he was once a lonely quiet kid, and how he specifically preys on Zee because she reminds him of himself and wants this other shy child to become like him. He also mostly used this to further break down Zee’s older sister. There was never really a coherent ending I think, but I took what I could get. EVERY LITTLE DETAIL surrounding Zee eventually built up to that one moment, even when it had to be changed. And that was all crazy cool to me

Anyway I have high expectations for Dexter lore now so-

[real-total-drama-takes]

im bored and kinda high so heres my opinion on all the reboot characters

caleb - is a character

axel - im just as gay for her as the next guy but there's no way in hell she's final two next season lol but i wanna hold hands w her

nichelle- yass girl give us nothing 🥰

scary girl - idc idc she was funny asf but i am glad she went early bc if she stayed any longer i wouldve hated her lol

damien - one of the best things to come from the reboot and yall are doing him a huge disservice shipping him w priya 🥴 that shit is so boring but honestly? there might be something there somebody's gotta make me a believer tho. CONVINCE ME

mk - as a bitter, annoying, sarcastic individual myself i could not stand this bitch omg 💀 her character has a ton going for it but all they did w her is make every single one of her lines sarcastic n shit and i was BORED

raj - dumb gay man i love him

wayne - dumb ace man i love him

ripper - bro just wasnt funy. i dont get why they make characters who just pride themselves in being nasty n shit kind of a waste of development idk

zee - we can all agree that he was great but he gives me early boot vibes for next season bc like if we're demanding development for all the first season early boots then he's just gonna be there ig. dumb can only get you so far yknow?

chase - him and emma both are such wasted potential like BREAK THE HETEROS UP OMG their relationship dragged the second half down so bad like chase is just bad for the sake of being bad. like he wasn't even funny either just a waste of space by the time he was gone 😭

emma - first i'll say im glad we got a plus sized girl w some fucking athletic ability beCause THEY EXIST yay happy but anyway she was so funy until she got back with chase and that whole shit w him throwing that challenge for pizza was so DUMB like she honestly thought he did that shit for her 💀 like she was CONVINCED bro the straight delusion was insane

julia - she was the bad bitch we all needed and deserved but i cannot sit here and let you mfs say that she played the game well bc she absolutely DID NOT. girlie had no actual strategy other than winning and thas not even a strategy. even her trying to "manipulate" chase that one time sucked too lmao. bro her goal was to get everyone to hate her and win out of spite that shit is so dumb but it's so her so idc we love her anyway

millie - there were so many times where i lowkey forget she existed lmfao i don't even dislike her it was just "oh yea she here too lol" but i gotta say it kinda feels like they used her as a scapegoat to make writing her outta the finale easier idk maybe it's just me. but her crying after bowie clowned her ass when she was eliminated was the funnies bit in the entire show i was giggling n shit bc she honestly did that to herself lmao rip

priya - people compare her to zoey and sky way too much honestly (its me, im people) but when you look at it we have a mary sue that was infuriating to watch , the same girl but olympic flavored whos existence i have to be reminded of every two months, and priya. priya is perfectly fine and she was a nice winner even if i knew she was gonna win the second she was onscreen lolZ but when she read millie's notebook and absolutely demolished her ego i was living. like girlie ate her up w absolutely no crumbs left idc

bowie (the real winner) - i was fully prepared and ready to hate this twink istg. like i was in my homophobic era and ready the second his name was called but omg i love him sm. he was the queen i never knew i needed in my life. and to all the mfs who say his gayness is his entire personally have never met an fem black man and it shows 💀 idc what anyone says he's the best writer character in the entire show 🤭 as much as i love him i cannot let his fit slide. the pearls can stay bc those were a serve but the pants??? THE FUCKING PANTS??? THOSE FUCKING FLOOD WARNING HIGH WATERS.?? why would they do him like that omg. fits like that are why we get hate crimed 😔

ok im done good luck to anyone who actually reads this lmao

.

[quackle]

How would you rank the first 8 episodes of season 2 if you had to?

hmmmm, i'd have to go in this order, from best to worst: 7, 4, 2, 3, 1, 5, 6, 8. long rambling reasonings below cut:

7: because holy shit this ep was so fucking funny for no reason. definitely a perfect ep. to me. we got mkulia looking soooo real here. we got peak damien finding the immunity idol. we got a hilarious challenge with that whole hilarious ass hunger games-esque segment. we got ripaxel (and lost them, which... pfft sorry i laughed a little even though i also felt bad). and we got OWEN!!!!! like.... idc this has been the best ep by farrrrrr.

4: hated the elimination so much but everything else was kinda sorta really perfect. the challenge gives this ep soooo many bonus points like i LOVED learning character lore. and that cheating plot? the internal struggle within team skunk butt?? especially bowie's internal struggle after lying to his boyfriend??? CHEF'S KISS. also ripaxel made me cry laughing so there's that.

2: i also really loved this challenge. like when julia joined the clogged toilet with raj, wayne, and bowie, and she was like "SOMEBODY. HELPPPP ☹️" or every time someone hit the damn basketball rim. or wayne's laugh at julia's scream. or when chris counted the bear as a point for team skunk butt, just because. ugh it was soooo total drama. i love this show.

3: ok the rat faces + that whole ripaxel moment were admittedly less interesting here to me, but i loved the cheat vs no cheat side of skunk butts. it was SO enjoyable to watch this unstable ass team, and the intro to bowie's dilemma was sooooo good. and those mkulia moments... ugh fun fun fun!!!! (also nichelle ladonna slayed and my fav rare pair duo damichelle was born sooooooo yippee!!!)

1: this ep was a nice intro to the season. drama was at an all time high. granny ax was an absolute icon. nichelle ladonna GAGGED EVERYONE. so fun. (also i'm personally biased to this ep because i'm always thinking about the short lived parallel between scary girl and nichelle in particular, but that's a topic i can ramble about elsewhere lol)

5: FUCK THIS ELIMINATION (hashtag i'm biased). otherwise an okay ep. team rat face was sooooo found family here. to me. and the cheating plot was once again fun to see unfold. and this was quite possibly the only time we got to see ripper participate with his team without axel as a distraction and... i kinda wish we got to see that more from him? but alas.

6: i... personally don't care much for the priya/caleb plot? and a lot of this ep had that. so. eh. damien got immunity tho and that whole "juliaaaaaa, i'm your partnerrrrr 😈" bit from wayne had me rolling and that rajbow moment where they carried the canoe was sooooo cute. so it gets a bonus point for all that (hashtag i'm biased).

8: i... didn't really care for this challenge at all actually. and once again, a lot of priya/caleb. like. most of this ep had me going "oh. miscommunication incoming. how fun. 🫤" did i wish caleb went home instead of zee? uh. yes actually, if only to escape miscommunication! if i could cut a plot point this season, that would be number one. but that's another ramble for another time.

[lunars-frogs-owls-2]

I know I’ve talked about my au loooong time ago but I kinda wanna keep talking about it like I’ve made changes like my au helpi being a little bit more assertive, lunar just being flat out emo and au castor being able to show more emotion mostly because this is a silly human high school au and nebby is actually able to be fleshed out and I also gave them different like lavender, vesper, zee, and aster (you can tell where my name ideas ran short) but still i like talking about this silly au of mine and stuff… that’s it

[madaboutmunson]

Again - Part 9

Part 1 | Part  8 | Part 10 | Full list of Again series links inc AO3 Link

Steddie fic where Steve and Eddie are in their mid 30's and everyone has sort of drifted apart

Taglist: @adaed5 @grtwdsmwhr @swimmingbirdrunningrock @mightbeasleep, @jewellthebooknerd

================================================

"Shit, Steve. That's like half a court!" Eddie exclaims, looking over the court where Morgan and Corey are playing a little one-on-one.

"Was almost a full court, but thankfully Jenny talked me out of it." Steve decides to try and put something out there and see what happens, "It's not really my nature to do things by half, you know, so I'm glad she made me see sense before I wasted all that money and space." Then quickly moves on to something else, "You can sit wherever, but there is some seating out of harm's way if you prefer?"

"What kinda violent basketball do you play out here, Steve?" Eddie chuckles as he sits down on the grass and reclines back on the slight hill with his mug as he waves Steve on, "Go do your sports ball, don't mind lil' ol' me."

Steve walks over to Morgan and Corey and looks around at the distinct lack of Zee but figures she'll be down when ready. On his approach to the boys, he notices Corey is laughing, and he wonders if it's at Morgan's expense, but he's smiling too, but they both spy Steve, quickly stop whatever they are about to do and exchange a look causing an eruption of laughter again. Corey wasn't mean, not by a long shot; he had a big heart, but things had changed over the last two years. He'd toughened, and Steve supposed that comes with growing up, but he hadn't wanted that for his kids. He'd protect them from everything so they could keep that gentle innocence for as long as possible, but it hadn't worked out that way. At least they weren't on track to become the bitter condensing asshat he was in his teens. That was his hope, anyway. He supposed Zee was experiencing the same as Corey and couldn't help but feel hugely responsible. Sure, the divorce was peaceful enough, but it still took away something the kids thought they would always have. The home life they were used to. But who knows what environment it would have been if they hadn't decided to separate. At least their home wasn't full of spite and lies. He wonders if Eddie's separation had been as smooth.

Eddie could be a real firecracker sometimes. He was a little sharper than he needed to be, but none of that appeared to have passed to Morgan. Even though Eddie said Morgan didn't touch the stuff, he did give off that stoner vibe. For the most part very chilled out, funny, and prone to moments of anxiety, but overall seemed like a sweet kid. Steve claps his hands together, "Alright, gather round! So I figured we do some drills and see where your strengths are. Unless, of course, you have something in mind, you want to work on, Morgan?" Steve asks pleasantly.

"Yeah, drills sound good, Mr Harrington, but can you teach me how to do that spin Corey does? He's so fast" Morgan smiles down at the younger boy.

Corey bounces the ball on the concrete a few times, "Hell yeah, I'm fast, but if it weren't for that, I wouldn't get past this guy. He's like a wall!" Corey smiles up at Morgan, "We were working on something fun, but it would probably give you a heart attack, Dad" Corey smiles up at Steve before thumping Morgan in the gut with the back of his hand.

"Corey!!! That's enough!" Steve reprimands, motioning towards his son, but Morgan interrupts.

"I'm fine, honestly. Didn't feel a thing" He laughs and ruffles Corey's hair.

Corey ducks away from Morgan's hand. "See what I mean? A wall, Dad. What high school are you going to? They better put you on the team. They'd be idiots not to."

"I still don't want any of that on my court, Corey. This is basketball, not MMA or whatever, ok?" Steve walks into the little storage area under the hoop and retrieves a net of balls. He passes one to Morgan, takes another out and looks around. Still no sign of Zee, so he just keeps this one for himself. Steve demonstrates some drills by bouncing the ball at different heights, sock, knee, thigh, and hip, then dribbling the ball around the perimeter of the court, and lastly, just taking some shots. As Steve had anticipated, the game elements came easily to Morgan because of his build. It was clear he enjoyed playing, and honestly, wasn't that the key to success?

They are amid some rapid passing exercise when Morgan stands up bolt straight and whispers, "Whoa!". But, unfortunately, it's at the same time as Corey bounce passes to him, and the ball hits him right under his chin, and he drops to his backside on the floor.

"Oh shit, sorry, Morgan!" Corey exclaims.

"Morgan! are you- Corey, watch your language! Morgan, are you ok?" Steve rushes over and checks him for any cuts or bumps. He catches a glimpse of something on Morgan's chest, a vertical scar.

"Yeah, I'm good sir, sorry", Morgan gulps at Steve, but his eyes return behind them. He laughs nervously, returns to his feet, and retrieves the ball. Steve looks over his shoulder and sees Zee sitting beside Eddie and talking. Eddie, aviators back over his eyes, seems to have spent his time making daisy chains and shows Zee how he created them. Neither of them any the wiser to Morgan's misfortune. Steve notices Zee isn't dressed in her basketball gear, and he's a little disappointed, almost the three of them doing something together again, but he understands she's already had quite a day of it. He checks his watch and thinks it's a good point for a time-out. Zee squints at the sun, and Eddie offers her his glasses, which she puts on. They are too big for her face, and Steve hears a huff beside him. Steve turns to it and notices a flush on Morgan's cheeks. "Thank you for all your help, Mr Harrington, but maybe we could break now, sir?" Steve nods and watches Morgan find the nearest window, to neaten himself up before jogging over to Zee and sitting directly between her and Eddie. Zee's attention immediately shifts to Morgan, and their vast smiles mirror one another. Morgan picks up one of the numerous daisy chains Eddie had made, completes a circlet, and places it on Zee's head, and Eddie reads this as his cue to leave the area and head back inside with his mug.

"Oh my god, can't we have fun around here without people being gross? First, you old fogies, now the teenagers." Steve puts his hand on Corey's shoulder, looks at him adoringly, and is about to say something, but he's stopped by his son's raised hand, "Do not even try to tell me I'll understand when I'm older. I can think of a hundred things better to do with my time than lose my mind over someone."

"I haven't lost my mind over someone" Steve snorts a laugh and shakes his head. Corey responds by simply looking at him from under raised eyebrows. 

"Call me when there is something to do that doesn't involve me wanting to hurl everywhere. Beans! Let's go!" Corey shouts, and from out of nowhere, the black ball of fur appears and bounds up to him, only to follow him back inside. Steve rechecks his watch. It was unlikely any more training would occur today, so he starts packing everything away, occasionally glancing over at Zee and Morgan, even though He was honestly trying his best not to. They are now lying on the grass, pointing at the sky and occasionally laughing, cloud-watching. He wanted to show Zee he trusted her. Eddie had said Morgan was a good kid, and he knew they were just teenagers, having dumb teenage crushes. However, the whole thing still worried Steve, thirteen and fourteen. It was too young for romance and dating, wasn't it? He should speak to Jenny. She'd know best. 

As Steve approaches the backdoor to the house, he can hear Eddie's wild laughter and Corey complaining. Steve finds them both cross-legged on the floor in front of and laser-focused on the TV, with console controllers in their hands. Eddie seems to be rapidly hitting buttons whilst Corey occasionally looks down at his pad, trying to make it do something to no avail, making him grumble, "Aww come on, man!"

"What's going on here then, hmm?" Steve says, watching the violence erupt on screen. Which suddenly freeze frames and gives a 360-degree view of the aftermath of the carnage.

Eddie turns his head to Steve, "Oh nothing, Just spending some quality time with Cyborg here" Eddie starts laughing again.

"Your friend here is a button basher, and somehow the game is letting him completely get away with it, even though I'm using exactly the right combos!!!" Corey complains, but Steve can tell even though he's complaining, he's having the time of his life. No one beats Corey on this thing.

"Maybe you play something a little less violent, like that nice little go-cart game with the Italian man on?" Steve suggests as blood splatters across the screen, and Eddie punches the air in celebration.

"No way!" Corey answers quickly, restarting the game, and Eddie nods approvingly at him. Steve notices Corey shuffles around a little more towards Eddie, and Steve’s heart releases a what-if that his brain refuses to consider. He shakes it from his head and heads to serve up the dinner. Steve diligently checks over the beef and removes it to rest. Next, the roasted potatoes, honey-coated carrots and parsnips, and broccoli and cauliflower cheese bake. He pouts a little that he hadn't made Yorkshire puddings, but there was enough food here, he reminds himself as he whisks together a beef gravy. He's desperately trying not to read more into what this might be, but it was difficult not to.

Eddie playing computer games with Corey and getting on so well with Zee, and he got to help Morgan out, and gosh, if he wasn't a sweetheart and competent athlete in the making. What if it could always be like this? All of them together, one happy mini Brady bunch. Steve shakes his head at his ridiculous daydreaming. He didn't know this Eddie, and Eddie didn't know this version of Steve either. Maybe they were both holding onto the versions from fifteen years ago. The versions that always voted for one more movie, even when everyone else was tired, so it left just the two of them. Even if that resulted in one of them falling asleep on the other within ten minutes of everyone leaving. The ones that would listen to music on the same set of headphones to not annoy Wayne. The ones that couldn't sleep because of haunting nightmares, so they'd get high together and create a dreamscape in the stars on the hood of Steve's car.

"Oh great!" Steve grumbles as he realises his daydreaming has made a casualty of his shirt. He pours the gravy into a serving jug and assesses the damage. He should probably get changed anyway, but he should set the table first.

"Hey Steve, is it ok if I…" Eddie appears in the doorway, stops what he's saying, and looks at Steve's t-shirt, he leans his head against the door frame and pouts, "Oh no, Steve, this won't do! You can't sit at the dinner table like that!" He looks behind him and then back at Steve before walking over and taking the material in his hands again as he takes a closer look. "You should really get this washed right away. Otherwise, it'll be ruined!" He says, looking back up to Steve's face, biting back his bottom lip in mock distress, as his fingers run around the bottom hem of the garment again, and for a second, Steve almost thinks about it. Letting him undress him. Instead, he says something that is even a surprise to himself.

"Are you flirting with me, Eddie?" He feels the words rush past his lips before he can stop them. Eddie's eyebrows raise in surprise, his bottom lip pops back out, and Steve can just make out his tongue glance behind it. 

"That depends, Steve. Is it working?" Eddie says gently with a smile that reads he knows it is. Steve can't help but laugh and looks away at his audacious behaviour, but Eddie dips his head and chases his smile. "Gods, how did you get cuter?" Eddie whispers, making Steve tut, roll his eyes and turn away from him to get the dishes.

"Ok, you don't have to lay it on that thick, alright? It's not the same under there anymore, anyway." He says, brushing a hand down his t-shirt to gently move Eddie's hands away and  winces at the self-deprecation he didn't mean to let slip. Calm down, Steve. You've got this. Just try to get the link between brain and mouth working. 

"What are you doing?" Eddie complains, and at first, Steve thinks he's noticed the inadvertent self-sabotage, "You've cooked the dinner. Are you setting the table too? No! There are four other people here." Eddie rushes to the kitchen door and cups his hands to his mouth, "KI-" he manages to shout before he's interrupted by Steve's arm around his waist, instinctively pulling him back into the kitchen.

"Come on, man. It's fine. I'll do it quicker than if I have to explain where everything is, anyway." Steve convinces and tries to release him, but Eddie's arm holds his in place. Steve looks at him, and Eddie's eyes have gone to that magical place. Big, dewy, innocent eyes tracing Steve's face, like he hadn't just been pawing at Steve's tee. The look that makes some primitive masculinity surge through Steve. Urging him to scoop up this delicate creature into his arms. A cheer from the living room breaks the spell, "Sorry." Steve says, turning back to reach for the cupboard. Eddie's hand gently meets his forearm, and Steve does not resist lowering his arm again.

"How about you explain everything to me? That way, I'll know for next time?" Eddie says quickly, and Steve knows he's talking about the crockery, but it feels like so much more to him now because he does. He does want to tell Eddie everything. Purge all of these hidden things, make his soul clean, so he could know if this could work, but it's too soon. So, Steve nods, directing a beaming Eddie around the kitchen, and soon enough, the table is set.

"Tell me to shut up if I'm out of line, but do you want me to grab you some sweatpants or something for dinner? I'm going up there anyway," he says, pinching at the stain on his top, "and you said you skipped breakfast for part of your, er, current outfit?" Steve offers kindly, if a little awkwardly, due to thinking about those jeans of Eddie's.

A huge closed-mouth smile spreads across Eddie's face as he leans against one of the chairs, "Are you inviting me upstairs, Steve?" He says, forcing Steve into a blushing buffering mode, trying to compute why he was repeatedly setting these things up so Eddie could fluster him. 

"Ah-no. I, er, that's not what-. Sorry." Steve struggles through with a deep breath and turns back to the food for safety. Eddie's tone changes from mischief mode to compassion central.

"I was just kidding, Steve. I blurt things out sometimes because I think they're funny. I'm sorry, I didn't mean to make you feel uncomfortable…again." Steve can almost feel the eye roll Eddie is probably doing right now, feeling like he messed up. It makes him swallow down a laugh. How could they both still be so awkward, like this? Steve decides to smooth things over. He didn't want Eddie to think he'd done anything wrong when he hadn't. He turns back around to Eddie and spins the serving spoon in his hand before walking over to pass it to him.

"Didn't hear you decline though, Munson", he tries to say with some of that old King Steve smoothness, making Eddie laugh, "Oh wow. Thank you for that boost to my ego. I'll bring something down for you."

"As if!" Eddie says before barging Steve out of the way and running up the stairs, and Steve follows hot on his heels.

"Hey! No running on the stairs, guys!" Corey shouts at them without turning away from the tv.

Eddie stands in the hallway at the top of the stairs and taps his chin thoughtfully as he walks past the closed doors upstairs, "Ok, so guests are down the far end. This one is Cyborg's for sure", he gestures at the Keep Out sign adorning it, before pointing at the extra set of stairs leading up with torn fairy lights spilling out of it, "Princess Zee is obviously in the tower" He turns around again, and spreads his arms out like he's measuring the distance between Corey's bedroom door and the stairs to Mackenzie's room. He moves so he's in the middle of them both, looks at the two doors in front of him and reaches out to a door handle. He looks to Steve to confirm his guess, but he only gets a shrug in response. Of course, Steve could stop him or tell him which was correct, but selfishly he loved this. Eddie was possibly at his most cute when figuring something out or concentrating. He quickly looks down at the floor, wagging his finger, "Oh, almost got me there", and reaches for the second door handle, turns it and steps inside.

An audible gasp comes from Eddie, and Steve knows why. The last time Eddie saw a bedroom of Steve's, it was devoid of any personality, like one of those fake bedroom sets in a DIY or furniture store, but this room was definitely all Steve now. It had taken him a few months to start making changes after Jenny moved out, but after some time, he began to find it fun and, in some ways, therapeutic. Everything in this room had a home. Yes, that meant many storage items were in here, but he'd hidden them all behind doors or curtains. All the furniture was made of rich golden oak that complimented his room's two opposite racing green walls, the others a soft white. The overly large bed in the middle of one wall was covered in a mixture of greens, dark to light, deep soft cushions and bedding.   The kind that if you pressed your hand to them, they would try to engulf it. It was the same story in the window seats. Next to either side of the bed are two discrete speakers facing inwards, connected to a stereo hidden away in the lower part of a bedside table. Opposite the bed was a small sitting area, a love seat and a table with a decanter and tumblers across from a TV cabinet. The vanity area was a full-length mirror next to some apothecary style drawers containing a myriad of hair products and aftershaves gathered over the years. A chest of drawers sits between the two windows. Of the two other doors in here, one leads to the bathroom, the other to a walk-in closet. 

"Wow, this is as big as my whole place, almost" Eddie jokes as he turns around, looking around at everything in there, "Hmmm", he muses theatrically, "what is in Steve's decanter? Something cask matured for over a decade, no doubt." Steve just smiles, "No, that smile says I'm wrong, ok…ok. I'm driving, so I can't drink any, but…" he goes to pick up the decanter, and a panic floods Steve for a moment.

"Maybe another time? Don't want the food going cold, do we?" He says hopefully, and though Eddie eyes him and the decanter suspiciously, he obliges and moves his hand away. Steve's shoulders relax with gratitude, "Closet is just through there. The more casual stuff is just as you walk in" Steve smiles as Eddie opens the closet door.

"So full of tempting little secrets, huh, Steve? Well, there is one you can’t keep from me because I can see it all over." Eddie calls out from in the closet as he rummages around, and Steve takes off his t-shirt throwing it in the laundry hamper, before grabbing an exact duplicate from the chest of drawers. Halfway through putting it on when he hears Eddie's voice a lot more clearly, "You still can't sleep sometimes because of the nightmares" as Steve pokes his head out through the top of his t-shirt, he sees Eddie's head looking around the doorway at him. Steve sighs a little and nods with a smile as he pulls down his t-shirt quickly. Eddie disappears again, rummaging around more, "You should know my intention is to pluck all of these secrets from you, Steve. So, you are gonna have to be the bigger person and let me know when to stop because I cannot resist a mystery!" 

"I will", Steve quietly laughs.

"Promise?" Eddie asks, emerging from the closet, still sporting his own sleeveless t-shirt and some black sweatpants, but on his head is a small white hat that says Ahoy on it and on his face an impish smile. Steve's hands go to his face, and he can't help but laugh.

"You should have applied, it suits you," Steve says gesturing at the hat.

"What and break up the dynamic ice cream slinging duo? Never!" He says, agast, "Besides, I probably didn't have the legs for those shorts back then. Now…maybe. Shall I find them out and try them? I know if the hat is here, so is the rest." Eddie says, looking back into the closet.

"I think we've had quite enough dress-up time now, don't you?" Steve says with a smile moving towards the hallway door.

Eddie, overly downturns the corners of his mouth, puts the hat back in the closet and follows Steve with his jeans draped over his arm.

Once downstairs, Eddie helps Steve plate up the dinner, and the kids join them at the table. The eight-seater table was set out with five places but not as Steve had expected, not as he usually sat other parents. Only one end of the table had a place setting; the rest were along the longer sides of the table.

"Say, Eddie, don't you wanna sit at the top of the table?" Eddie looks at the place settings and then at the other end of the table.

"Er…do you want me to sit all the way at the other end of the table?" his question is a genuine, and the look on his face appears he doesn't quite understand the significance of seating at the table. Which surprises Steve. As a leader of Hellfire Club, who used to sit on a wooden throne, you'd think he'd get it. Or maybe it was that a dinner table had no significance to him? Whenever Steve's parents ate at a table with him, that's where they sat. They felt like the adult's seats to him. That's where he sat the other parents when one visited.

"No, I, er, sit wherever you like. Sorry, it was a dumb thing to ask." Steve says with a laugh, bringing over a jug of water and topping up the glasses. Then something occurs to Steve. Eddie had said all the way at the other end like it was a million miles away or something. He smiles as he sets the jug down. "Where did you wanna sit?" 

"Next to you, of course," Eddie says quietly, so the kids don't hear him like he just answered the most obvious question in the world, but Steve notes he doesn't look at him when he answers and is preoccupied straightening a knife, "If that's ok, that is."

Steve stands behind his seat, one hand on his hip, dish towel slung over the opposite shoulder, as he rearranges the seating. 

"Ok, Eddie, you're here" He points to the seat on his right. "Ah, ok, so one of mine next to me, please" Corey rushes up to claim the seat, glaring mischievously back at Zee, who shrugs like she doesn't care "ok, Corey, great. Thank you. That means Zee is next to Eddie because I do not want to deal with an all-out brawl because your brother nudged you. So, Morgan, you're next to Corey. If he nudges you, let me know, and I'll take away all his power supplies." Steve says like he was just talking through a play to his team, and Corey sinks in his seat with a groan of unfairness.

Everyone finally sits down, and Steve holds out his hands, one to Eddie and one to Corey. Zee sighs, "Dad, no, please. With guests?"

"These aren't just any guests," Steve says but doesn't elaborate. Eddie is more than just another parent invited around for dinner. They fought next to one another. Endured unknown horrors together. He couldn't call him family because that felt strange for several reasons, but he was important and by proxy so was Morgan. Corey holds Steve's hand and extends one out to Morgan. Zee falters for a minute. Her left hand extends to Eddie with no trouble, but her right, across the table, hesitates part way across. Morgan's upturned hand moves out gently and captures her fingers softly in his palm, and without tearing his eyes from Zee, he holds Corey's hand too. Corey observes the two of them and makes a dry heave sound, and Eddie can't hold back a laugh as he easily takes Steve and Zee's hands in his own, with Corey giggling back at him. "Ok. Now the awkward part is over." Steve looks around the table, "I'm really happy we did this today. Your turn, Cor."

"I'm really happy I got to run rings around two other basketball players today despite them both being much taller than me. Morgan?"

"Er, what do I do, just say something I'm happy about?" Morgan asks.

"Yeah, that's all" Zee smiles over at him.

"I'm really happy I don't look where I'm going sometimes," Morgan sighs. Eddie acts out a closed-mouth heave, and Corey starts giggling.

"Hey, it's his turn. We don't make fun here," Steve reprimands both of them.

"Thanks, Mr Harrington", Morgan says politely. Steve nods back with a smile. "Also, I'm really happy Beans has good taste in people", Morgan adds, raising his eyebrows in Eddie's direction before turning back to the object of his affection, "Zee?"

"I'm really happy you don't look where you're going, too," Zee says, and they laugh together, making Steve shoot a warning look at Corey and then Eddie. "And I'm also really happy my Dad knows how to braid," she says, smiling down the table at Steve for a split second before returning to Morgan. Steve feels like he might just burst into tears, and then he feels Eddie's thumb rub the back of his hand, almost like he knows how overwhelmingly happy that comment would make Steve feel, "Eddie?" Zee asks

"Oooh, I'm the headliner? No pressure. Ok, there are so many things I'm happy about today, but mostly…yeah. Mostly I'm really happy that all the choices I've made led me right here…" Eddie says, looking around the table at everyone's smiling faces. His eyes widen as they finally land on Corey opposite him. He continues, "...To this delicious, huge meal because I am absolutely ravenous," He says in a pirate voice, leans down to his plate, and picks up a slice of beef in his teeth, shaking it around like a rabid dog, making Corey start giggling again, and Morgan tuts.

"Well, on that note, let's all dig in shall we?" Steve says, and his eyes turn quickly to Corey, "And before you get any ideas, just because Eddie does something doesn't mean you can or should do that too."

Eddie finally swallows his food and looks between Steve and Corey, "I feel that should be a life lesson for everyone, honestly", he says genuinely, releasing Zee's hand. Corey lets go of Steve and Morgan simultaneously and grabs his cutlery to tuck into his food. Morgan and Zee reluctantly follow suit, and lastly, Steve lets go of Eddie's hand or at least tries to, but before he can, it gets a soft squeeze and a glance out of the corner of Eddie's eye. Instinctively Steve sends one squeeze back before letting go, making Eddie smile as he goes back to looking at his food.  Then something weird happens, almost like someone rapidly changed channels in Steve's head. His mind sends him back to some place but doesn't give him time to look around before he's back in the present. That didn't feel weird, and it should have. He looks down the table at Morgan and Zee and remembers her hesitation, that must be the first time they've held hands. This was the first time he'd held Eddie's hand too, but he didn't have the same reaction. He didn't have the same nervousness as when he held his t-shirt or made a flirtatious comment. It felt comfortable, not charged. Steve looks at Eddie curiously for a moment, and his brain finally gives him something, a fragment of a memory flickering on and off in a deep, dark, dusty corner of Steve's mind, replaying a second's worth of footage over and over, forwards and backwards. They're holding hands, but it's not now. It was long ago, but when or where precisely Steve couldn't place it. Maybe he'd just thought about it so much at one time it had planted itself as a false memory. Or has the impossible happened? Could he have wholly forgotten something as huge as that?