#and like yeah boys will be bugs is criticizing teen boys for getting away with being assholes but. literally he’s 14 and traumatized

[daringdarlingdt]

Guys I cracked the code as to why Mike is like totally a dick in season 3 and 4 even though he was such an earnest generous and good friend in season 1 and 2. And it’s not just about the internalized homophobia and whatever. It’s not that deep. He literally just turns 13. Like he hits puberty and it’s true that all of his friends are handling their hormones—plus all the trauma which we can’t ignore as a factor—a lot better than him but he’s literally just a 14 year old boy and he’s doing his best. He’s in his boys will be bugs era, just turned 14 thinks the world revolves around him etc etc. it’s fine he’ll be traumatized out of it in season 5 just wait and see. there will be bonding and apologies and we can all genuinely love Mike again without having to preface with “I know he’s kind of a jerk, but—” and I’m so excited for us.

[okaybutlikeimagine]

Come Inside, It’s Ok

Desc: Hop realizes that Billy is a lot like him when he was a teen- based on the song Thirteen by Big Star (bc that’s a Jopper AND a Harringrove anthem, tell me i’m wrong)

TW: referenced past child abuse, referenced homophobia, every dad in Hawkins sounds like an abusive asshole in this fic i didn’t mean it 😞

you can also read this on AO3 right here!! ♥

~*~

James Hopper hated his father more than anyone else hated the man. More than his uncle who had to grow up with the jerk. More than his mother who threatened to divorce the deadbeat seven times. More than anyone.

Hopper’s father was abrasive and loud. He joined the army because he wanted to. He gave up his individuality willingly. He shaved his head and licked the boot of The Man and acted superior for it. He looked down on a young Jimmy Hopper and barked in his face and ordered that he become a man. Quicker. Jim was only 7. He had just broken an arm at football practice. He needed reassurance and comfort. He got condescension and a mother threatening to leave. Loudly.

James Hopper was sure he was the only son in the world who hated his own father. He felt sure as hell about it when he stuck his jaw out and looked past his nose at his father who always seemed to tower over him. Even when the man only had an inch on him, he was larger- always looming. He felt sure as hell about it when he’d narrow his eyes and refuse to listen. He felt sure as hell about it when he talked back to him, and got into yelling matches with him, and slammed the door on him.

He felt even more sure the one night he got hit.

He was more than certain he was the only one. Standing there, staring this horrible bulk of a man down, Jimmy knew no one else had ever felt such a thing before. This wasn’t TV or the movies. This wasn’t a family love you cherish by the fire on a cold Christmas night. This wasn’t a father with kind eyes and a stern voice who comes into the house in the evening with his suit on and his briefcase in hand, kissing his kids and smiling brightly. This was different and he knew it.

And all of that anger and stress and feeling of certainty made him take too long to realize something crucial. Because he didn’t realize you can know something and yet still be so wrong.

That is, until Phil didn’t come to school one day.

Jimmy figured he was sick. A couple days later he figured it was that nasty stomach bug. A week later and he figured his family took a trip. A week and a few days had him itching with worry. He asked his best friend as calmly as he could. That friend looked at him like he was nuts.

“You didn’t hear?”

“Hear what?”

“He moved away. His mom took him out of the state last weekend. They just left.”

Jim couldn’t understand the words for a second.

“Why?”

“You didn’t know? His dad has been roughing him up for years now. He got the mom too, I think. Why do you think he was always wearing sweaters all year long?”

Jim’s heart stopped.

“His mom finally got him out. They left.”

“Why did no one say anything about it?”

“Because you don’t talk about that stuff.” Jim’s friend said, hushed and knowing, eyes turned solemn and hiding a world Jim didn’t know lived in there. In his most outspoken, lively friend. In his friend he’d known since they were toddlers.

You don’t talk about that stuff he said like he had a whole world of pain to tell. Jim knew his friends were like him- dads who were tough as nails and grunted more than spoke. It was why they all got along so well. But they never mentioned their fathers being… Jim was so sure he was the only one. Everyone else did things with their family. Everyone else seemed so perfect. At the very least they seemed better. Jim was sure.

Why did no one say anything about it? quickly morphed into Why did I never even ask?

Starting there, Jim kept a critical eye out. He watched his friends and what they were wearing. The way they moved and the changes in those movements. The words they spoke about their parents. He noticed differences and fluctuating emotions. But stil, he was only a young teenager- he never knew what to do. His mouth couldn’t form around the words he felt he should say. His brain could barely provide them. So he did for them what he would have liked- just took them out to empty fields and deep into the woods. He provided them beer and music. Sometimes, when they were splitting at the seams, he’d fight them a bit. He’d egg them on so they could fight it out. Get the anger out. Help, somehow. Inadvertently. Lord knew Jimmy sometimes just needed to punch shit. Turns out, his friends felt the same way, and often.

When his daughter Sarah came, he handled her gently and spoke to her even softer. He got into fights with his now ex-wife over his not being strict enough but Hop couldn’t find it in himself to have any kind of gruffness toward someone so soft and so innocent and so pure. She was the light of his life. She left so quickly. Even his softness and kindness couldn’t save her, and he couldn’t very well beat the shit out of her enemies like he had wished to.

And when he met Billy Hargrove on the side of the road that one dark night, having pulled him over for speeding drunkenly down the lonely streets on the outskirts of town, every red flag flew up. Every worry and fear he found within himself when he was a teen found its place once again inside of him for this boy. For his bruised face and exhausted eyes. For his lightly cut chin and short breath. Hop became young Jimmy yet again, analyzing and fearing for a world of pain he couldn’t see and couldn’t ask about. He searched hard for words this time and found all the wrong ones. He exhausted the poor boy with his inability to articulate his fears and was successful in taking him in only because he had worn him out so badly.

Still, since then, he’s been here. He’s family now. He’s out of there. In all his fumbling Hop did something right.

And yet, things still feel wrong. Billy still walks tentatively around him, like the cabin is going to crash down above him and any relationship they’ve built up is going to shatter.

Hop thinks about it so often. He thinks about Billy and sees his own friends from high school. He sees parts of himself, but sadder, angrier… more helpless. He thinks endlessly on what he can do to fix it.

~Won’t you let me walk you home from school~

A song starts playing through his record player and he’s lost again in the world of Jimmy vs. Billy. He thinks of how life used to feel simple.

This song always whisks him away to high school. The early days when life was confused and wandering and he was just coming into his own with football, not nearly a “star” yet and Joyce… Joyce was young and wide eyed and wandering just the same. By that point she hadn’t even met Lonnie yet. She was awkward and yet still so beautiful. So quiet and so stunning. Her laughter rang through the hallways and he swears he can still hear it.

This song feels like it’s for them. When he first heard it, he saw her face back when they were freshmen and then sophomores, when he used to walk her home. He always used to walk her home, before he got his car and before she got Lonnie. They’d walk so slow, wandering through the streets, lazily strolling past stores and getting slightly distracted by the people zooming past on their bikes.

He sits forward on the couch and he looks down at the tattered carpet and he hears himself as Jimmy.

”C’mon Joyce… we can hit the pool this weekend.”

“I’m busy.”

“Then… then maybe Friday I can get a couple tickets for that dance.”

“What?”

He gave her his biggest, brightest grin, knowing he caught her off guard. He smiles a little now at the thought.

”Yeah, c’mon, Joyce. I’ll take ya. I’ll get a monkey suit and you can wear a dress-”

She had laughed that bright, ringing laugh. It made him smile every time.

“Yeah, I think I’ll pass.”

“You’re gonna pass up a chance to dance with me?”

“Don’t tell me, you’re the best dancer in Hawkins?”

“You’ll never know if you don’t come find out.”

“You’re really full of yourself, aren’t you?”

Hop has a hard time thinking of himself back then. He felt so sure of everything. Of himself and what he was doing, even if he knew he didn’t know anything at all. Still, he chuckles now as he sits here, thinking about Joyce’s smile and her little nod. Thinking about him buying those tickets. Thinking about the night they had together, awkward and fumbling but bright still. His first real kiss that had real feelings to go along with it. The way Joyce walked so quickly as they headed to her home because she was so nervous. The way she never let him walk her up to her house because she was so scared her parents would ground her.

Lord does he remember the fights. The stress and the struggle of dealing with Joyce’s parents. When they came to an after-school event and Jimmy said hi to her and her dad gave her hell for it and her mom worried herself sick for a bit. She got grounded and started avoiding him. He got angry and figured fine because Gloria from his History class had been eyeing him up lately and helping him with a pretty friendly smile so it didn’t even matter.

It wasn’t more than a week that had passed before he cornered her after school and convinced her to let him walk her home again.

They wandered downtown and he guided her behind a store building, the store she now works for if he remembers correctly, and asked about that night. Asked about what he said wrong. Asked about what he did wrong.

She shook her head, said it was just her parents being “crazy, I don’t know”. He couldn’t find it in him to worry that much. When they kissed, it was still with so many feelings attached. Hop can’t remember when those feelings faded.

It wasn’t until a couple years later when a rumor started going around about Joyce’s dad being a grade A asshole like Phil’s was all those years ago that made Jim take her aside very seriously and ask her if she was okay- those couple of years ago and that day. By that point she was with Lonnie and he was getting serious about Diane. He and Joyce hadn’t talked for over a year. Still, he was worried. She insisted that her dad just liked to huff and puff and yell enough to shake her ears, but he never touched her. It wasn’t until years and years later that Hop realized that really isn’t any better. Nowadays she insists she was and is fine and he’s just found it in himself to believe her.

When Hop finally got a car, they would sit in it and listen to the radio and talk music. She was the only person who’d sit with him and actually think about lyrics and feelings and words. She was always so headstrong about… well everything but especially human rights. She wanted equal rights for everyone. She fought so hard it made Jim tired. Maybe it started with her father but it truly never seemed to end. They used to sit and theorize about meanings behind words and the messages of songs.

”Tell your old man what we say about Paint It, Black. That’ll mess him up.”

Joyce hit him with a chuckle. That was the last time in high school they really laughed together. He can still remember her laugh back then- light and free from any weight these years have brought to it.

But now Jimmy is Hopper, and life isn’t the same. It doesn’t wander and linger and hide behind stores for extra kisses that feel electric. He knows life just doesn’t work that way anymore. He feels like life has only continued with all of the bad parts and none of the good.

In the slow guitar interlude of the song, he hears voices where they shouldn’t be- distant and slightly muffled and outside the window that’s opened a bit to let some air in.

“Yeah, he’s home. The cruiser is there.”

“Then I should go-”

“No, wait-”

It’s Billy and another voice Hop thinks he can recognize. Sounds like the same cocky, lilted tone of Steve Harrington. He knows they’ve been fighting for months now. They always seem to be fighting. Hop used to get called into the school because Billy was always shoving him around that one year. Since then there’s been whispers of them causing a ruckus all over the place but Hop never gets called to check it out. He doesn’t like to ask too much about it. He’s still trying to handle Billy gently and there’s so many more things to worry about. He doesn’t have the words to ask about that.

He doesn’t have the words to explain why they’d be here, together and clearly not at each other’s throats. Why bring a fight all the way back home?

“You uh… got anything planned this weekend?”

“Nope, nothing planned.”

A pause.

“There’s uh… a stupid dance or something-”

“Billy-”

“Look I just… we can’t go, obviously but maybe… we can do something on our own?”

There’s another pause. Longer this time. Hop used to be so sure and suddenly he’s realizing yet again maybe things are the same as they were when he was young- because yet again, he doesn’t know anything.

~Won’t you tell me what you’re thinking of~

“C’mon Harrington….” there’s the confirmation Hop didn’t need. “Say something at least. Don’t just stand there thinking.”

“Billy we can’t keep running around and hiding.”

“Why not?”

~Would you be an outlaw for my love?~

“What if people find out, that’s why not! What if my dad-”

“Tell your dad to fuck off.”

“And Hop?”

Hop’s heart stops. Everything comes crashing to a halt because suddenly he’s being made to face the very harsh fact that he’s not Jimmy anymore. He hasn’t been for a long while. He’s Chief Hopper and Chief Hopper belongs to the “other” part of these young kids’ minds. Billy’s and Steve’s and El’s and Mike’s. He’s the man they’re meant to rebel against. He’s the one that doesn’t “get it” like they do.

And apparently he’s the one that Steve is worried about.

He doesn’t blame him. He doesn’t even know what to think. He knows people like that exist. He thinks he used to go to school with a few guys who were… well, into other things. He never had much to say or even think about it. Joyce was friends with them. She went out to a protest or something once in their senior year. He saw her in a car with them while he was taking Diane to the movies.

It’s not the fact that they like each other or that they want to spend time together. That’s better than them beating the snot out of each other and getting his guys called on them. It’s the fact that they’re worried about him and the fact that they have every reason to be. Hop is part of “The Man” now, and people around here don’t exactly like differences.

“I’ll figure it out.” Billy says, but Hop almost misses it, it’s so quiet.

“Billy-”

“Are you gonna fight for this, or what? Or is this just a one time thing for you to find yourself or some bullshit?”

Hop hears Jimmy in Billy’s words

”Are you not gonna fight for me?”

“Fight for you?!” Joyce had yelled. Oh, how she yelled. ”Are you serious? I… I pick and choose my fights Jim, okay? I have to.”

“That’s not very fair to me.”

“Not fair? No shit it’s not fair, it’s not fair for me either! And you… you’re not being fair to me, y’know!”

And that was it. They went separate ways. It’s so vivid in Jim’s mind- the way she stormed away and Jim drove himself home. He doesn’t remember how long it took until Lonnie joined Joyce’s picture, but it felt too soon in Hop’s ever bitter mind. He couldn’t look at her for weeks. He shoved Lonnie in the hallway any chance he got. The kid would snarl and sneer at him, but he was as scrappy as a dog and scrawnier than a toothpick- no way did he ever pick a fight. He spat words and Jimmy lunged and that was that. Hop doesn’t remember when the feelings faded, but he knows he never stopped hating Lonnie’s stupid face.

Then he started to date Diane and things were just… over.

“Alright Steve, I see-”

“It’s not that easy for me, Billy.”

“And you think this shit is easy for me?”

Hop feels bad for sitting here, still listening, but he can’t get his muscles or limbs to move him. He feels stuck, somewhere between here and the past, picturing all the ways he’s still the same and yet so wildly different.

“Well it is different for you.”

“Just because my shit’s different doesn’t mean my shit’s better. Shit is still shit, Steve.”

All the times Hop thought he had it the worst anyone could ever possibly have it.

“You don’t know what it’s like.”

“Try me, Harrington! Just try me.”

All the times Hop thought maybe his friends were exaggerating about Phil’s past. Maybe Joyce was being dramatic about things at home. There was no way a kid could feel so threatened. Not a kid as big as Phil. Not a kid as headstrong as Joyce.

There’s a longer pause from the two outside the window. The voice that comes is quieter now.

“It’s scary Billy.”

“I know it is! I… fuck I know it is.”

Not a kid as big and headstrong as Billy. It took years for Hop to believe it could happen and still, with an example living in his own house, it’s still hard to understand.

“Don’t you think it could be worth it?” That’s Billy’s voice. Hop feels his heart sink even deeper. They’re talking like they’re going to die if they’re caught. How many more times can he tell this boy he’s safe here? What does he have to do to convince him? To convince them both?

“Maybe… I think so.”

“Look, I can’t make you do anything, Steve. But if you wanna try… then let me know, alright?”

Billy sounds so tired. Hop wants to tell him to lay down and take a nap. There’s such a long pause that follows and fills the space between them.

And then suddenly there’s something blocking the sun from the window. Jim gets the wherewithal to turn and see that the two boys have got their hands tangled in the front of each other’s shirts, just like they would if they were gearing for a fight, but instead of fists flying it’s their lips locked- worlds of frustration still heavy on their brows.

Jim wants to protect these kids until the day he dies. They’re here and they’re wandering too, but their walk home is covered in speed bumps and potholes and hell maybe even spikes that he and Joyce never knew. Whatever he can do to give these kids the time and place to wander like the kids they are, he’ll do it.

Then they separate, their breathing clearly labored and mingling. Then they turn and see Jim in the window, caught like two deer in big bright headlights.

A split second later, Steve is running for the hills and Billy is left with his fists grasping at the air. Hop can’t help but laugh.

[miraculouscontent]

Ask Explosion #6

Asks answering previous posts:

Oh, okay! I’m glad, thank you!

(the post this anon is referring to)

Ohhhh.

And fjbgjnfkjgfg thanks >////<

I don’t think there’s much wrong with liking the design itself; I prefer Riposte personally, but that’s just me.

The best way I could put the “insensitive” part (I’m sort of dumb when it comes to this stuff and I talked about it before when I was working on that 3D model of Marinette) is that it’s so heavy on Japanese. I mean, they already have Kagami constantly wear what looks like a school uniform and Tomoe is just like--super heavy Japanese. It’s like the show doesn’t know how to balance “can’t tell at all” (with Marinette) and then “okay this is WAY strong” (with Kagami+Tomoe+Kung Food).

That makes sense! I guess the only problem then would be that the kwami can’t really act as mentors of any kind because “you’re saying this just because that’s all you can say” (like Sass, hypothetically, always willing to give someone a second chance, no matter what; I know that’s not what his power specifically entails but it’s just an example).

I would however definitely lean towards kwami being very strict in one alignment, so Tikki would always be on the path of pure good and thus never want to take/steal/whatever, whereas Plagg is always on the path of “bad,” but there are times where Marinette will have to ignore Tikki while Adrien will have to listen to Plagg.

And yeah, the guardians existing and the kwami not having so much control... not a huge fan.

Someone asked about Chat Noir’s flirting and he claimed that it was “on purpose” (you know, while throwing episodes like “Felix” at us but okay) and then he followed up with this:

There was also this other comment he made a while back when someone tried to make a suggestion to him:

Except he’s missing the point completely. When he talks about constructive criticism, he acts like it doesn’t matter, especially not anymore now that they’re working on Seasons 4 and 5:

(I mean, personally, I don’t think I need “engineering knowledge” to know when a rollercoaster I’d ridden nearly tossed the cart off the tracks and had questionable design decisions, but you do you, Astruc.)

Yes, constructive criticism is mainly for seeing a product improve, but that doesn’t mean ignoring it because, “well you haven’t seen the full product.”

“Animaestro” even has a bit of commentary on it:

Ladybug: What's with that trailer too? I am not scared of cats, at all.

Animaestro: You haven't even seen the movie and you're already slamming it?

Chat Noir: He does have a point, you know.

Ladybug: I wasn't slamming it. It's called constructive criticism!

(firstly, of course Chat Noir bows to Astruc on that one because he’s Astruc’s sunshine boy, ugh)

Ignoring the fact that a movie/printed book is usually a “full product,” criticism is also to say “you did this thing wrong, don’t do this in the future.” It doesn’t have to be referring strictly to the show. It’s just, “you did this thing wrong and here’s why, try to catch yourself if you accidentally do it again in the future, whether in what you’re working on now or otherwise.”

(He’s also talked about “unsolicited critique” before and I don’t know what that means? Like, dude, this isn’t someone’s fanfiction where I’d actually agree that you can’t go after them for their work. This is professional work.)

Anyway, remember “Chameleon”? When everyone saw the trailer and absolutely flipped out over it, then there were people who were like, “Wait for the full episode!!”?

Guess what? The full episode came out and people were either just as mad or even madder than before.

Astruc wants to have his cake and eat it to. He wants to say that his episodes are “stand-alone,” and that the order isn’t that important, but when people start pointing out issues, it becomes, “No! You have to wait for the rest of the episodes to come out!” and when people do that, it’s gonna be like, “Well, we already did the whole show so it’s not like I can change anything. *shrug*”

Also, just blaming it on “the industry” when everything else has been exhausted:

(He’s literally brought up before that the New York special was meant to have subplots about other characters, so it’s not like he can never say anything when something didn’t fit the “original vision”; I’m not asking him to get on his knees and say he’s sorry - plus, I do recognize that a lot of influence comes from the industry and people like Jeremy - but I expect a little more than the “whoops” he gave when people pointed out that “Weredad” contradicted his statement on Miraculous Ladybug.)

I think the reason people see it the way they do is because of Fu’s line in “Robostus” seems to imply the exact opposite thing happening.

Master Fu: Universe must always stay in balance. For every action, there is a reaction. For every wish, a price to pay in return. Had your robotic friend asked to become a real boy, someone would have lost his humanity in return.

New Asks:

Marigami is acceptable. I’m not crazy about it but it’s likable enough.

Lukadrien though... no, absolutely not. On a conceptual level, because it’s such a slap in the face for Marinette, and on a fanon level, because most of the jokes around it is Luka going to Marinette like he’s about to ask her out and then just asks for Adrien’s details. It’s just... ugh. I hate it (throwing Marinette into the ship still doesn’t help for me though because I’m not into the love square).

Bi erasure is my least favorite thing.

And yeah, it’s like--they set the love square ship(s?) out onto the water, then the Lukanette ship later with the plan to either sink it or just kinda... return it to the harbor if they don’t make a huge fuss about it?

Meanwhile, the love square ship has been in piece this whole time, and instead of letting it sink, they put it on a raft to keep it floating.

Depends.

In LadyBugOut? It’s already written and I haven’t posted it.

For canon? Like, Marinette being super disappointed at her view of Adrien being shattered or? :P

That’s accurate. I dislike about a fourth-ish of Season 1,then about half-ish of Season 2, then like... almost all of Season 3.

So we’ll just have to see what happens in Season 4.

I like Adrimi, but I’m not crazy about it and I don’t really write for it unless Lukanette is already the main ship (making Adrimi just a background ship). Adrien tends to dismiss Kagami a lot (like in “Frozer” and then “Miracle Queen” with him not committing) and I don’t want to see Kagami hurting like that (I agree with the anon completely that Adrien is more at fault than she is). They’re both emotionally-stunted so I usually have them wait it out or something to have them get together.

My ideal endgame is Lukanette while Adrimi is more like “let’s wait, let’s work on ourselves (especially Adrien; Kagami at least has on firm crush and wants to commit to it), and we’ll see where we go down the line.”

I don’t know if they really have the guts to arrest Gabriel. I also think that Lila might pick up the butterfly at the end of Season 5 or something after she’s been “dealt with.”

Chloe also is the mayor’s daughter so even if the law was that strict on teens, nothing would happen to her unless Andre got replaced.

Big yikes.

Maybe that the thing forcing Marinette away from Adrien and causing things to go wrong is the part of the curse trying to prevent the ladybug and cat miraculous from coming together?

So, close enough to be attracted and want to work together, but forcing the ladybug away from the cat to prevent the miraculouses from being used to make a wish?

I CHOKED ON MY DRINK.

ugh

ugh

ugggggggh

I’m 100% sure that Marinette wouldn’t be as uncomfortable around Adrien if Alya hadn’t constantly intervened. She’s the enabler of both Marinette’s anxiety and her crush on Adrien.

I went back and looked at the scene and it does kinda look like it, yes, because it basically goes from the intersection Marinette is in to another intersection that looks very, extremely similar and I don’t see Marinette in that intersection.

It was just a really, really bad transition. I remember being thrown off for a second too so I don’t blame you, anon.

I think Bob Roth’s intent was to scare Marinette away from showing that proof? He probably knows very well that Marinette has all the evidence she needs to make a case and already had a story planned for the press about how “the young talents they found didn’t measure up and the people deserved better.”

He just needed enough pressure on them for them to believe that he had enough authority to silence them.

And then Silencer tried to silence him instead. :3

I don’t think Marinette’s relationship with her parents would change too much. Like, they already let her just go out whenever she wants which obviously Plagg approves off, although Marinette might become more numb to the idea of being grounded because Plagg just teaches her, “hey lol Ladybug isn’t grounded tho,” so Marinette sneaks out all the time.

Yeah, Tikki would probably justify Gabriel’s behavior, and she wouldn’t really be able to get on his case for flirting as Mister Bug because she’s not aware of it.

lol it helps no one to have Tikki I guess.

Adrien overall and then honorable mention to Alya for Winny’s comment about her being Marinette’s conscience (which is probably why they almost never nail Alya for stuff she does).

KHNJFDNGFD THE LUKANETTE QUEEN MONIKER RETURNS >///<

And ugh, the absolute level of bias in that. Even if the video was made in, like, Season 2 (don’t know, didn’t see it), Season 2 still gives examples of why Adrienette isn’t making Marinette happy at all (and has some of the love square failings too).

The name and the fact that they gave it that name tells me everything I need to know.

Goodness gracious.

Yeah, people can talk about character’s flaws. I mean, we talk a lot here about Marinette’s struggles in getting over Adrien (partly brought on by a lot of outside factors but still).

Also, sure, Luka is a “pushover” because he’s one of the few characters who understands Marinette’s tunnel vision and isn’t bothered by it, okay. :P (Interesting that the topic of Chat’s entitlement towards Ladybug but Luka respecting her choices and just enjoying being around her makes him her punching bag).

Every time I hear, “Adrien needs more spotlight!!!” I lose a part of my soul. How people can’t see that Marinette is the show’s true punching bag is beyond me.

[julday4]

Aight! Hey ya'll! Long time no see, whoowee-

Aight how do I start this-

So some of you might know goodnightverse by now! (If not, here) the post is a bit old so uh @awelldressedtornado fucking edit it.

And well, since I'm now co-owner of it (wowie) I DECIDED TO MAKE A GNV2 MUAAHAH-

Aka, Goodnightverse: Bed Bugs.

And yes, these are all of the refs I've been talking about. (Warning: some of the refs gotten lazier over time cause I got feddup with drawing the clothes and stuff.) and plus, most of the templates here are copied from discord ahaha aight let's go!

(Also i didn't do everyone refs yet but I did most of them! I'll do the others soon if ya'll are interested-)

—x—x—x—x—x—x—

Name: Boots (Aka, Goodnightverse!Rust)

—x—x—x—x—x—x—

Creators: Knife and Rose

—x—x—x—x—x—x—

Age/Years lived: 13/16 y/o

—x—x—x—x—x—x—

Rank: Gaurdian

—x—x—x—x—x—x—

Gender: Male

—x—x—x—x—x—x—

Weapon or Magic (Specify): A pirate sword that can easily cut through Shadow Demons and are really good for battle. (Especially sword fights). The pirate sword has an Iron blade thats bending a bit and golden plating on the handle.

—x—x—x—x—x—x—

Human they protect: Jesse

—x—x—x—x—x—x—

Allies: Shine, Flare, PI.FI, Floral and Bush

—x—x—x—x—x—x—

Boots acts exactly like a pirate and loves anything pirate related. He says "YARR" unironically, when something intensive is happening or when something awesome (in his opinion) happens. He can get angry sometimes and is very attached to Jesse, Shine and his twin siblings Floral and Bush. He also LOVES fighting shadow demons with his pirate sword :).

—x—x—x—x—x—x—

—x—x—x—x—x—x—

Name: Shine (Aka, Goodnightverse!Lukas)

—x—x—x—x—x—x—

Creators: Heart and Lighter

—x—x—x—x—x—x—

Age/Years lived: 13/16 y/o

—x—x—x—x—x—x—

Rank: Gaurdain

—x—x—x—x—x—x—

Gender: Male

—x—x—x—x—x—x—

Weapon or Magic (Specify): A microphone that blasts out colorful musical notes, once you press the star button, which explode once they touch a surface. (He can also control how many musical notes that can come out, if he holds in the button, he can swing his microphone and a bunch of musical notes will come out. If he just touches the button once, only one musical note will come out. Its like those mechanics in games). The microphone is like those microphones you see on the news with a singular button. The microphone can also be used for singing and making special effects like: Gasping, laughing, screaming, oof, yay, ect.

—x—x—x—x—x—x—

Human they protect: Emerald

—x—x—x—x—x—x—

Allies: Boots, Flare, PI.FI, anyone

—x—x—x—x—x—x—

Shine is a lil colorful boy who loves singing and making new friends. He loves learning new things and is very energetic! He talks alot like his dad, Lighter. Aka: Yo, bro, dude, BROSKI, broseph, pog, swag, ect. His aswell very attached to his bro, Boots. He loves going on pirate adventures with him, singing with him and everything else. Their the bestest of friends :). He aswell loves fighting Shadow Demons by his Bro's side. Thou sometimes his a bit soft with Shadow Demons and will comfort them if their hurt.

—x—x—x—x—x—x—

—x—x—x—x—x—x—

Name: PI.FI/Pinkie Finger (Aka, Goodnightverse!Hypernova)

—x—x—x—x—x—x—

Creators: M.W/Milky Way and Blade

—x—x—x—x—x—x—

Age/Years lived: 13/16 y/o

—x—x—x—x—x—x—

Rank: Gaurdian

—x—x—x—x—x—x—

Gender: Female

—x—x—x—x—x—x—

Weapon or Magic (Specify): A wand made out of magic that can be used to summon and levitate things and blast out sparkly magic. Thou she needs to train the wand so she can summon more and levitate heavier things over the years. (Once she becomes a guardian, her wand can levitate a closet or two and summon a brush, rope and shit. Thou she only uses it when necessary). The wand has a baby blue handle with a lil yellow glittery star on top that has a bunch of spikes around, looking like a pretty rock. (Hehhe Sprinkle).

Also uhh, her goop is made out of strawberry sauce. D. Does that count-

—x—x—x—x—x—x—

Human they protect: Abigal

—x—x—x—x—x—x—

Allies: Flare, Shine, Boots, anything.

—x—x—x—x—x—x—

PI.FI is a sweet, lovely, calm but also bossy lil girl. (She's mainly bossy towards Boots and Shine due to their immaturity and stupidity). Shes loves EVERYTHING girly and especially loves sparkly things, like fairies. She's very protective over her friends and especially Flare because how how shy and easily frightened she is. She's very calm towards Flare aswell and tries to make her feel comfortable. She also loves singing with her wand with Shine, their a pretty good duo! (Not as good as Shine and Boots thou). And she loves trying out new things.

—x—x—x—x—x—x—

—x—x—x—x—x—x—

Name: Gold (Aka, Goodnightverse!Drake)

—x—x—x—x—x—x—

Creators: Indigo and Monarch

—x—x—x—x—x—x—

Age/Years lived: 16/19 y/o

—x—x—x—x—x—x—

Rank: Gaurdian......? (Yeah no his a fucking butler now)

—x—x—x—x—x—x—

Gender: Male

—x—x—x—x—x—x—

Weapon or Magic (Specify): Holographic purple or golden shields that are good for blocking off attacks or Shadow Demon essence. Gold has really good reflexes so his shields are pretty powerful at battles. He can also summon holograms that he uses to code so he can break through the barrier that's stopping him to travel through the multiverse.

He also has the ability to move his rat tail.

(also the reason he doesn't have any eyelights is well uh.. It happened when he started to slowly despise Jesse and despise gaurdians, like the eyelights started to slowly dissappear and they completely disappeared once he argued with Jesse and left her the next day.)

—x—x—x—x—x—x—

Human they protect: Used to protect Jesse.

—x—x—x—x—x—x—

Allies: Chloe, Floral.

—x—x—x—x—x—x—

Gold is a very formal but ALSO EVIL ASS boy. He used to protect Jesse when they were 8-12 y/o until he started to get tired of them. He started to get tired of their same everyday problems, angryness, annoyance, everything. He was tired of humans. One day, he met Chloe and she started telling him her plans and thoughts about gaurdians and humans and about destroying and taking over the gaurdians, Gold, agreed. Gold started to despise gaurdians, despise humans, despise protection. He believe Shadow demons were victorious and were a better future for this world then gaurdians and humans. So one day, after an argument with Jesse, he abandoned them and left them for Chloe and started being Chloe's minion/butler.

—x—x—x—x—x—x—

—x—x—x—x—x—x—

Name: Chloe

—x—x—x—x—x—x—

Creators: Neptune and a bunch of glitches

—x—x—x—x—x—x—

Age/Years lived: Forever 13 y/o

—x—x—x—x—x—x—

Rank: Fucking Shadow Demon Outcode thing

—x—x—x—x—x—x—

Gender: None but she calls herself female.

—x—x—x—x—x—x—

Weapon or Magic (Specify): Dark pink Gasterblasters and Bones. The same dark pink as her eyelights. That glitch out depending on how long their used. For example: One hour, they'll be glitched out af, and if she hits the victim with them it'll be a PAINFUL CRITICAL DAMAGE SINCE THE VICTIMS BODY WILL START GLITCHING A BIT. Thou she uses Gold, aka her butler/minion, to attack for her since she's also a bit lazy lmao.

She has the ability to enter humans' dreams like everyone else but SHE'S VERY DANGEROUS CAUSE SHE CAN MAKE THE DREAM BECOME MELTY AND GLITCHY, DAMAGING THE HUMAN BRAIN A BIT WHICH ISN'T GOOD.

She has the ability to travel through multiverses and enter shadow pipes like other shadow demons.

Her voice and body will glitch out sometimes and when she teleports inside a dream, she might glitch out a bit aswell like if a gaurdian is failing to enter a human dream.

And her Shadow Demon form is behind her, which she rarely forms into, but it's always behind her, mimicking every action she does. Thou, only Shadow Demons can see her form.

—x—x—x—x—x—x—

Human they protect: None. Fuck protection.

—x—x—x—x—x—x—

Allies: Gold, Flare, Grain, Alexa, Charlotte(?).

—x—x—x—x—x—x—

Chloe is an outcode who's quite lazy and doesn't really care about anyone. She plans on destroying this world and let Shadow Demons rise. But for now she's starting small. She has Gold by her side to help her in battles and give her souls to eat. Other then that, she's just a glitch, a very dangerous glitch. Her main enemy is Boots. (She's also the main villian, lmao)

—x—x—x—x—x—x—

(Female)

(Male)

—x—x—x—x—x—x—

Name & Last Name: Jesse Cherry Smith

—x—x—x—x—x—x—

Parents: Chara Cherry Smith and Alec Margo

—x—x—x—x—x—x—

Age: 15 y/o

—x—x—x—x—x—x—

Sexuality: Transgender

—x—x—x—x—x—x—

Gender: Male (But currently female)

—x—x—x—x—x—x—

Hobby: being dead Drawing sometimes and playing the guitar a bit. They mainly just like laying on their bed and doing nothing.

—x—x—x—x—x—x—

Personality: Anger issued closeted teen who dislikes being social and will beat up someone if necessary.

—x—x—x—x—x—x—

Allies: Emerald, Kyle, Boots, her cat plushie Bow

—x—x—x—x—x—x—

(Yes this is a Alec x Chara shipkid stfu it's apparently canon now -)

—x—x—x—x—x—x—

Name & Last Name: Kyle Cherry Smith

—x—x—x—x—x—x—

Parents: Chara Cherry Smith and Alec Margo

—x—x—x—x—x—x—

Age: 8 y/o

—x—x—x—x—x—x—

Sexuality: Straight

—x—x—x—x—x—x—

Gender: Male

—x—x—x—x—x—x—

Hobby: Writing and GOING ON IMAGINARY ADVENTURES ANYWHERE and playing outside.

—x—x—x—x—x—x—

Personality: A sweet energetic adventurous imaginative boy who will always find a way to annoy someone and somehow sees good in anything people say. Like seriously how the fuck do I bully you you piece of-

Also he can't read.

—x—x—x—x—x—x—

Allies: Abigal, Jesse/Jess/Best sissy in the entire world-, Flare/Flarey/Best partner in the entire world-

—x—x—x—x—x—x—

(woah another alec x chara shipkid woa-)

ANNND THAT WAS EVERYONE!! WOOOWIEEEEEEEEEE THAT TOOK FORVER.

Anywho, I hope you guys like them and if you have any questions just ask away! (So sorry that it's so long like jesus-)

Anywho, Alec signing off 😎

(also goodnightverse belongs to @awelldressedtornado)

[photolover82]

The Masked Singer Season 3 Episode 13: The Battle of the Sixes (Commentary & Guesses)

Hello my Masked Singer loving friends! It’s that time of the week, time for Ana’s Masked Singer Recap. We are nearing the wire with the Masked Singer, now down to the top 6. So, ya, now the judges are like in their aha moment & they are going on the same page as me (and most of the internet as I saw from YouTube & Twitter comments), so we are going to honor the judge who got it with a trophy emoji because they deserve a trophy & a round of applause yelling FINALLYYYY YESSSS! Anyway, the guest judge for this episode was pro chef & the Simon Cowell of the culinary world (think about it, that’s a pretty accurate description for him), Mr. Gordon Ramsey, so the contestants had food clues called “Masked Munchies” which we will be talking about. Anyway, let’s get started! (Disclaimer: Spoilers ahead, proceed with caution.. don’t say I didn’t warn you)

Alright, so let’s start with the elimination/mask coming in 6th place (I kind of wanna do their places from now on) was: 

*SAD DRUMROLL PLEASE*

THE ASTRONAUT 🥺😭

Ok, so yeah I was really upset by this one. Seriously?! He went out wayyyy too early in my opinion... his performance of Story of My Life by One Direction was amazing & it showed his vocal range, I loved it. He was one of my favorites on the show (only him & Turtle are my faves), so I am so sad to see him go. I adore him & not like just Astro but also who he is (which I knew from his first performance... actually from the promo of his first performance haha) 

Having said that (and cried a bit out of disappointment), he was revealed to be...

HUNTER FREAKING HAYES

Notice how I said freaking in between his name. It’s because I genuinely adore Hunter Hayes. I am not a country fan but I like love him. If I were older (we are 8 or 9 year apart age wise), I would 100% wanna date him, because I genuinely think he’s super cute and so talented... and did I mention that I love him? Because I do! Ok, anyways, having said that, bitch ofc I knew who he was from Day 1 baby! His voice is so distinct & the new clues gave it away as well: 

Masked Munchie: King Cake = Hunter is from Louisiana where this cake is a delicacy for celebrations

Crawfish= his hometown is the crawfish capital of the world (again I say Louisiana baby!) 

Alright, not a clue, but let’s give the 🏆to Nichole because she ended up guessing as her final guess Hunter Hayes, hallelujah! To the other judges, it was a no from me, dawg. 

Alright, so here we have it our top 5, baby! It’s not the top 5 I would’ve hoped for because Astro isn’t there, but it’s fine, I still am routing for my main man, Turtle.

Anyways, let’s look at the remaining 5 & do some commentary on their performances/reiterate why my guesses are all spot on: 

1. The Kitty 

Performance: Ok, so she sang “Diamonds are a Girl’s Best Friend” by Marilyn Monroe and I really don't think this was her best performance (not her worst either, but not her best). I was expecting more from her to be honest. It wasn’t her best in terms of vocal ability. I just don’t feel like the song fit her voice nicely or as great as others she has done in the past. I think the song choice was a bit off for me.  

Guess: Jackie Evancho  

Clues: 

Masked Munchie: Cake identified by Gordon as an Opera Cake= Jackie is known to be an opera singer 

Silver Apple= album called Songs from the Silver Screen 

Nobody gets a  🏆 because none of the panel guessed it even though Gordon Ramsey was the closest. 

2. The Rhino 

Performance: First of all, I am a bit salty that he didn’t leave so I am going to be a little more critical with him because I thought he should’ve been eliminated & not Astronaut. Ok, so he sang Die a Happy Man by Thomas Rhett and yes it was his best performance yet, but it doesn’t compare to the other contestants. He’s great and all but the other masks have more personality than he does and more vocal ability too. 

Guess: Barry Zito

Clues:

Masked Munchie: Spaghetti & Meatballs= reference to his last name Zito, Italian & sounds like Ziti (baked Ziti, get it?) 

Yoga clues in the package= Zito is really well known for doing yoga & meditation before and after his games.

Alright, for this one, let’s give the 🏆 to Jenny McCarthy-Wahlberg for finally connecting the clues. *round of applause* 

3. The Frog 

Performance: Ok, again, I am gonna be critical, but this is mostly because I don’t like Frog and that he’s way overhyped, sorry I said it, if you like him, good for you, but no I don’t (I know a lot of people who do but I personally don’t). However, I do gotta say that this was his best performance and he did do something different which is what I wanted him to do in the previous round. He sang “Whatever it Takes” by Imagine Dragons, and it was surprisingly really good. I just, I don’t know, there isn’t any versatility in his vocal ability like some of the other contestants who can go into falsetto or a high note (or actually sing and not just rap, no shade just facts). 

Guess: Bow Wow  

Clues:

Masked Munchie: Cat Fish= someone pretended to be him on the show Catfish & also it is southern (he lives in Atlanta) 

Holding a basketball= “basketball is my favorite sport, I like the way they dribble up & down the court” 

Alright, not a clue, but let’s give the 🏆 to Robin, YESSS I am so proud, I could cry (but I won't because I saved my tears for Astronaut’s elimination, yes I am still salty). What I really liked from him getting it was that Nichole was like ya it could be Bow Wow and there are a lot of Bow Wow clues, but no it ain’t Bow Wow, it’s Omarion... really Nichole?! 

4. The Night Angel

Performance: Yeah, oh no I am going to be critical again, yikes. Yeah, she can sing and has a great voice, she sang “Black Velvet” by Alannah Myles, which showcased her vocal range. I don’t know I just think that she is trying so hard to belt every note out that it’s getting repetitive. Omg, yikes I feel like I am being harsh, I swear I am not, I just don’t think this was her best performance. 

Guess: Kandi Burruss 

Clues:

Masked Munchie: Crickets on a stick = co-wrote “Bug-a-boo” by Destiny’s Child

Rotary phones in the clue package= reference to her group Xscape’s 2nd album off the hook  

Alright, not a clue, but let’s give the 🏆 to Jenny again but I am not surprised she guessed it because she kind of got it previously but second guessed herself a few times so.. I kind of believed in her. I was losing hope in Robin tbh. 

5. The Turtle 

Performance: Ok, I saved the best for last aka my favorite ever! Did I think his performance was his best one yet? No, by any means, but I was happy to see that he did choreography. I loved the dancing, he really was being competitive with Frog, which I think is super smart of him to do. The singing is amazing, like always, but it didn’t show as much of his vocal range that I know he is capable of freaking doing some beautiful falsetto and I kind of missed it a bit. However, he really did stepped it up and performed the crap out of that song, which was Stay by Alessia Cara & Zedd (not my favorite song tbh). 

Guess: Jesse McCartney  

Clues:

Masked Munchie: Chips & Apple Salsa = he is from NY aka Big Apple 

King chess piece with a heart over it= he voiced 2 characters in the popular video game Kingdom Hearts 

Stuffed Ram= he’s an Aries 

Chess game= he has a song called check mate 

Nobody gets the 🏆 because lemme reiterate this for the people who are as clueless as the judges IT IS NOT ADAM LAMBERT, THAT DOESN’T SOUND LIKE ADAM LAMBERT, ADAM LAMBERT DOESN’T SOUND LIKE A TEEN HEARTTHROB OR A BOY BANDER 

Alright, so we are done! Let me know your thoughts! See you guys next week! Top 5 wow, my prediction is that Rhino will leave next. Bye!! 

[underoosweb]

Salvation Ch.6

WARNING: CONTAINS ENDGAME SPOILERS

ANGST

Tags are open

Pairing: Tony Stark x Stark!reader, Peter Parker x Reader (eventually)

Tony, Steve, and Thor looked around when portals started to open. T’challa appeared along with Okyere, Shuri and the tribes. Other portals started opening up, Tony scanned every single one, he slowly started to panic when he didn’t see Y/N. He did sigh in relief when he saw Peter come out of the portals. Tony looked back at T’challa. T’challa smiled at the man and moved to the side. There she was, staring at Peter and Peter staring back at her. Y/N looked around and was met with her father’s brown eyes filled with tears, her eyes filled with tears and she smiled at him. Tony smiled back at his daughter. Y/N wanted to make her way towards him but was stopped by T’challa, Y/N looked at him and he handed her a shield along with a sword. Steve stood in front of the group.

“Is that everyone?” Dr. Strange asked

“What you wanted more?” Wong asked annoyed

Scott appeared from the rubble dropping Rhodey, Rocket, and Bruce. Y/N smiled at her uncles. Pepper appeared in her suit, she turned back to look for Y/N and she smiled a let out a sob. Y/N months

‘'I’m ok.” Pepper nodded turning her attention back to Thano’s army.

“AVENGERS.”

Everyone took a ready stance.

“ASSEMBLE.”  

They were off.  Y/N could feel her legs burn as she ran through Thano’s men. Nat taught her how to find, she always told her you may never know when it might come in handy. Tony and Pepper fought alongside each other, he landed on the floor blasting the aliens when he got hit and smashed into the rocks. Tony tried to fire at him when a web caught onto the creature and pulled him away, Scott finished it off by stepping on him. Peter looked around for Y/N when he found her, he shot his web at her and pulled her towards him. Peter swung them to Tony, he lifted him up and Tony’s masked come off

“Hey, holy cow. You’re not going to believe what’s been going on. Do you remember when we were in space?” Tony’s eyes filled with tears

“And I got all dusty? And I must of past out cause I woke up and you were gone, but Dr. Strange was there and he was like it’s been 5 years come on they need us and then he started doing the yellow sparkly thing that he does all the time.” Peter started doing the hand motions. Tony stumbled his way

“What are you doing?” Peter asked. Tony wrapped his arms around the boy and Peter did the same. Tony could feel the tears running down his face

“Oh…oh… This is nice.” Tony hugged Peter harder. Tony pulled away from Peter and looked at his daughter

“Hi, dad.”

“Bug.” Y/N cried as she ran into his arms.

“I missed you.”

“I missed you too.”

The two pulled away from each other and Tony caressed her face. Y/N let out a small laugh

“Dad, you look older.”

“Hey, I look great.” Y/N rolled her eyes

“Always.” Y/N turned to Peter checking his face and sighed in relief that he wasn’t hurt. She turned back to her father and look at the cut on his head

“You gotta be careful old man.”

“I’m always careful.”

“Sure.”

“Y/N I need help.” Y/N turned back and looked at Shuri

“Go.” Her dad said, Y/N nodded and ran towards Shuri

“Hey, Pete.”

“Mr. Stark?”

“I know you like my daughter. Take care of her. Treat her right.” Peter blushed

“Mr. Stark, I-”

“You have my blessing to date. Just take care of each other. Promise.”

“I promise.”

“Good. Now let’s get this son of a bitch.”

Clint ran through the battle

“Hey, Cap? What do you want me to do with this damn thing?” Clint motioned to the gauntlet.

“Get those stones far away as possible.”

“No!” Bruce yelled

“We need to get them back where they came from.”

“There’s no way to get them back. Thanos destroyed the quantum tunnel.” Tony replied

“Hold on,” Scott shrunk down

“That wasn’t our only time machine.” The car alarm went off. Steve looked around

“Does anyone see an ugly brown van?”

“Yes, but you’re not going to like where it’s parked,” Valkyrie replied.

“Scott how long till it works?” Tony asked

“Umm, maybe 10 minutes.”

“Get it started, we’ll get the stones to you,” Steve replied.

Tony landed in front of Dr. Strange and asked

“Hey, you said out of 14 million we win 1. Is this is?”

“If I tell you it won’t happen.” Tony nodded.

Y/N could feel her body giving out, but she had to continue, she couldn’t stop. She had to keep fighting for her family.

“Sir.” Thaos turned towards Clint, he made his way over and Tony made his way to stop him.

“Clint, give it to me.” Clint passed the stones to T'challa and he ran. Thanos knocked T'challa over and Wanda appeared in front of Thanos. Y/N looked at Wanda

“Oh shit, she’s pissed.”

“Yup.” Pepper replied

T'challa made his way back to the stones and Peter took it out of his hands.

“Activate instant kill.”

Peter kept giving himself a pep talk

“Hey, Peter?” Y/N asked

“Yeah?”

“You sure you got this?”

“No yeah, totally.”

“Uh huh.” Y/N rolled her eyes

“Men…” She mumbled

She made her way to help Peter, she killed every single alien that headed her way.

Thanos yelled out for his minion to rain fire, next thing Y/N feels is being knocked to the ground

“Y/N!” Peter made his way and dragged her out of the firing zone and hid by a rock, Peter covered her with his body as the lasers kept shooting. Then it stopped, the shots turn to the sky

“F.R.I.D.A.Y what are they shooting at?”

“Something just entered the upper atmosphere.”

Then the ship went down, Carol made her entrance and everyone smiled. Y/N groaned and coughed, Peter looked down at her.

“Hey, hey… You okay?” Y/N opened her eyes to meet with Peter’s brown ones, now that she got a closer look they were the color of the earth, but just as rain hits, they were warm and inviting, they made her feel like home. Peter could feel Y/N’s breathing getting heavier, he looked at her with worry.

“Y/N, you ok?” She blinked

“Yeah..I’m fine.” They continued to just stare at each other until they heard a cough. The two teens turned their attention to the person. Carol stood in front of the teens.

“Hi… I’m Peter Parker.”

“Y/N Stark. Umm Pete, you can get off of me now.”

“Oh right.” Peter quickly stood up

“Sorry.” Y/N shook her head and stood

“Hi, Peter Parker, Miss Stark. You got something for me?” Peter grabbed the gauntlet and looked towards the army coming after them

“I have no idea how you’re going to get it through that.”

Wanda, Valkyrie, Pepper, Okoye, Mantis, Shuri, Hope, Gamora and Nebula appeared

“Don’t worry she’s got help.”

Y/N looked at Peter

“You’re bleeding.”

“Am I?” Y/N nodded

“Is that because of me?” Peter shook his head

“No, got it earlier.”

“Looks like I’ll have to patch you up.” Peter smiled at her

“Yes, ma'am.” 

They watched as the group of women warriors made their way through the field, then the van exploded. Thanos destroyed the van. The gauntlet landed in front of Tony and Thanos and they fought. Thanos grabbed the gauntlet and Carol stopped him, he tried and tried to get rid of her but he couldn’t then he grabbed the power stone and moved it to his other hand, punching Carol knocking her out. Tony stared at Thanos and looked at Dr. Strange. Strange held up 1 finger. Tony gulped and nodded. Tony stood and grabbed the gauntlet, Thanos kicked Tony away. Thanos smirked

“ I am inevitable.” He snapped his fingers and everyone winced but nothing happened. Tony kneeled and held up his arm, the stones fitting perfectly on his iron suit. Y/N looked at her father

“NO!” she screamed and ran towards him.

“And I….Am….Iron…Man.” he snapped his fingers. White, white was all Tony could see, his body felt like it was on fire; he wanted to scream out but he couldn’t.

“NO!” Y/N screamed and fell to her knees a couple feet away from her father. She watched as Thano’s army turned to dust. Thanos looked around with a defeated look on his face. Y/N laughed through her tears

“You. Lost.” Thanos stared at her, he slowly made his way over to sit on the ruble and turned to dust. Y/N stood and made her way to her father, Rhodey and Peter appeared next to her. Rhodey caressed Tony’s face.

“Mr. Stark. Hey,” Peter said in a shaky voice

“Mr. Stark, can you hear me? It’s Peter.” Tony said nothing and stared at the boy. Peter’s voice became strained and tears slowly ran down his cheeks.

“We won, Mr. Stark. We won Mr. Stark. We won. You did it, sir, you did it. I’m sorry… Don't…” Peter couldn’t even finish his sentence, Y/N placed a hand on Peter’s shoulder and he moved over.

“Dad… Hey dad.” Tony looked at his daughter, Y/N could see a flash of sadness in his eyes

“Bug..” He barely managed to say

“I love you..” Y/N said as she caressed his cheek

“I….love…you…forever….and….always.” Y/N let out a choked sob and smiled

“Forever and always.” she kissed her dad’s cheek one last time. Pepper placed her hand on Y/N shoulder and she moved to sit next to Peter. Peter wrapped his arms around her and they both silently cried while holding each other.

“Hey,” Tony turned and looked at Pepper

“Pep..” She placed her hand over his

“F.R.I.D.A.Y?”

“Life functions critical.” Tony smiled at her and looked at his daughter, tears filled his eyes and he gave her a reassuring smile, Y/N gave him one back.

“Tony.” Tony looked away

“Look at me.” He turned his gaze back to Pepper

“Hmm..”

“We’re gonna be okay.” Pepper smiled and Tony looked away. All he could think about was them, Pepper, Peter, Y/N, and Morgan. He kept them safe, he kept everyone safe, he felt at peace. Tony smiled.

“You can rest now,” Pepper said while running her fingers through his hair and Tony breathed in one final breath and then the light went off. Pepper cried and kissed his cheek, everyone around them started to cry. Y/N felt her heart shatter into a million pieces. Peter just sat there and held onto the broken girl. Steve made his way towards Pepper and hugged her. Y/N unwrapped herself from Peter, stood while holding his hand and made their way to Steve and Pepper, they hugged. They all stood in silence, all you could hear were the sounds of whimpers. Steve made his way and lifted Tony up, he carried him away from the battle and carried him home. Everyone quietly followed the Captain.

Tags:

@ziggyspurplehaze

@ghost-brocolli

@a-sweet-little-fangirl

@imafreakingtaco

@karlitabi-rrito

@rexorangecouny

@outsider-underwater

@alisoncdariel

@too-involved

@laurxn-robinson

[lady-charinette]

ML AU - Minibug vs Kitten Noir

"You don't stand a chance bugaboo." Chat Noir crossed his arms, standing tall in the face of his wife.

Ladybug smirked, resting a hand on her hip. "Oh? Why not show the kittens what we can do, minibug?" the woman glanced down at her protege, who smiled nervously and took out her yoyo shakily.

"I-I'm not sure of this m-master." the younger girl shyly glanced at her opponent, a boy no older than her, equipped with his own master's weapon, a staff.

"Uh...is this really okay, mister Noir?" the young boy nervously twirled his staff, nearly hitting his forehead if it weren't for Chat Noir's hand intercepting it.

"Purrfectly! Now, go out there and show them what you can do Kitten! Paws crossed!" He pushed the nervous boy forward, jumping back away from what was their students' training field, the superheroine coming to stand beside him. "You are so going to lose, m'lady."

Ladybug huffed and bumped her husband's shoulders. "I don't think so kitty, I trained her for weeks! You'll see how good minibug is!"

Both heroes watched the two young teens with hawk eyes, waiting anxiously for them to start.

"Uh...um...s-should we start?" the girl glanced to her mentor for guidance but she just pumped her fist in the air and nodded at her confidently.

Oh if only she could get her mentor's confidence. She watched her opponent, the staff held loosely in his hands. Biting her lip, she started spinning her yoyo, secretly elated when she saw it spinning into a pink circle just like her mentor's when-

It hit her in the nose. "Ow!"

"Now!" Chat Noir shouted, watching how his student hesitated before charging forward.

"Hey! That's cheating, we're not supposed to give them pointers!" Ladybug rounded on her husband with a critical look and he smiled sheepishly.

"All is fair in love and war, bug." Ladybug rolled her eyes, before cupping her hands around her mouth.

"Dodge and counterattack, minibug!"

The girl leapt to the side just in time, the staff hitting earth as she swung her yoyo and got it tangled to his legs.

The boy growled, making a wide step and causing the girl to lose her footing, both falling to the ground as they wrestled with each-other, a matter of pure strength.

"Ha! My kitten's gonna win, I trained him to be strong too!" Chat Noir grinned proudly before Ladybug bumped his bell.

"Strength isn't the only way to beat your opponent kitty, watch and learn." Ladybug smirked when her protege managed to free herself and hide, leaving Chat's still struggling with the yoyo around his legs.

"Oh no, where did she-?" the boy yelped in pain when a harsh kick to his back disrupted his balance again, after just having freed himself from the persistent string.

"That hurt!" he growled and charged, staff swinging left and right. The girl ducked and yelped, hearing the sounds the staff was making as it sailed through air at high speeds, trying to land a hit on her.

Her foot caught on a small pebble on the ground and she screeched, the staff coming down towards her in what would be a painful hit.

She squeezed her eyes shut, bracing for impact, until she waited for several heart wrenching beats but it never came.

When she opened her eyes again, a hand was in her vision. "Here." The boy smiled softly down at her and she blinked owishly, robotically taking his hand and letting herself be pulled up.

He scratched the back of his neck sheepishly, staff held low to the ground. "Err...you...um you got me good, earlier with the kick and the yoyo."

She blushed, shyly shuffling her feet. "Y-You were not bad yourself, you almost g-go-got me staff the few times a! No-No, I-I mean you almost got me a few times with the staff!"

They both looked at each-other before they chuckled, smiling at each-other.

Until they heard footsteps approaching and the clearing of a throat. They froze, backs straight before sheepishly looking back at their masters, expecting a scolding.

They were smiling.

"Good work you two." Ladybug praised them both with a warm, encouraging smile.

"You were great." Chat Noir gave them a wide grin, all perfect white teeth and a wink.

"....W-Wait, what?!" "M-Master Noir?"

Both older heroes shared a look the kids didn't quite understand, before they nodded, reaffirming their earlier words.

Chat Noir ruffled his student's hair. "Of purrse! Being a hero isn't only about fighting well but about saving too. The Black Cat's power may be destruction, but a responsible holder must use that power wisely, there are times for destruction and times where you have to show mercy and abstain from using it."

Ladybug smiled kindly down at the shy girl, bending down to be at her eye level. "Chat Noir is right, being a hero isn't all about who's the strongest or the wisest. Heroes have many faces and secrets and we saw you guys using your skills without superpowers. The makings of a superhero aren't just powers and a mask." she glanced meaningfully at her husband, who released a low, short purr in the back of his throat with a dopey smile.

The boy wrinkled his nose in disgust, recognizing the purring master did whenever he was being lovey dovey with Ladybug again. Chat gently thumped his head. "Hey!"

"You'll understand once you're old enough. Now go and get some rest, we trained enough for today."

Ladybug affectionately pinched her protege's cheek. "Why don't you get some ice-cream? It's on us, come on!" with he offer of ice-cream both young teens wasted no time in dropping their weapons and running for Andre on the other side of the park.

Ladybug picked up her yoyo, the weapon transforming into the red and spotted black it originally was. Chat Noir's staff transformed back from the wooden stick to its sturdy metal form with the paw symbol.

"Kids." Ladybug said fondly and Chat Noir smiled, kissing her forehead affectionately.

"Mhmm, but they're fast learners."

Ladybug smirked, flicking Chat's bell. "He reminds me of someone."

Chat mirrored her smirk, playfully curling a strand of dark hair around his gloved finger. "Yeah, she seems just like someone I know..." he rubbed his chin thoughtfully, a slow smirk curling his lips. "That's right! There was still that really sweet bakery girl I used to have a crush on!"

Ladybug froze, nearly choking on air as her husband laughed and walked off to Andre and the children.

[blacknight1230]

Damsel - Hiro Hamada Imagine

Despite only being in your teens, you’ve been accepted to the San Fransokyo Institute of Technology, and  on your first day  you run Hiro Hamada. As you continue your education at the school, you and Hiro not only become fast friends, but you started to gain feelings for the fourteen year old. Yet, you have no idea about Hiro’s activities in Big Hero 6. Unfortunately, this leads to you being put into danger one day. Will your live being in danger finally allow both of you to voice your affections for one another, or will it be too late?

Original story on Quotev

You walked through the hallways of San Fransokyo Institute of Technology, also called SFIT for short. A schedule and map in hand,  you were trying to find your way to your private lab. Since you were so focused on your map, you weren’t looking where you were going. You ran into a hard chest and fell to the floor. Your things went everywhere while you fell onto your bum. “I’m so sorry! Are you okay?” a male voice asked. 

You looked up to see a young teen looking at you with worried eyes. You noticed his unruly hair and that he was really young to be a college student, like you (btw you are 15, 1 year older than Hiro). “Yeah, I’m okay. Sorry from bumping unto you,” you said, getting onto your knees and trying to gather all your papers. “Here, let me help you,” the messy haired boy said. He bent down and helped you to gather all your things off the floor. “Hey, these blueprints are pretty good,” the boy said. 

“Thank you. I’ve been working on them for a while now. They’re actually what got me into this school,” you admitted, taking the objects he collected back. “You’re new here?!” “Yeah. I was looking at a map trying to find the labs when I bumped into you.” “I’ll show you! I’m actually on my way there now!” the boy exclaimed and smiled. 

You noticed he had a gap between his two front teeth, making him look adorable. “Well, thank you. I’m (y/n) (l/n),” you introduced yourself. “I’m Hiro Hamada. Follow me and I’ll take you to your lab.” He helped you up by grabbing your hand. The contact sent butterflies fluttering through your stomach. Anyway, he led you down the hall and toward where the labs were, you following him. 

~ Several Minutes Later ~ 

Hiro opened a door and strode into the room. “Hey, guys! I’m back! And I brought the new student!” Hiro exclaimed. You looked at the people in the room. There was a tall skinny blonde girl in a lab coat messing with chemicals in beakers, a black haired girl working on a yellow bike, a big African American huy organizing his tools, and a long haired blonde guy sitting on a couch wearing what looked like a reptile mascot. All four of them looked at you and Hiro once you stepped into the room. 

The tall blonde girl walked over to you, seeming even taller since she was wearing pink heels, and smiled kindly. “Hello! I’m Honey Lemon! What’s your name?” she said excitedly. “I’m (y/n),” you replied looking up at her because of your short height. “This is GoGo,” Honey Lemon said pointing to the black haired chick. “This is Wasabi,” she said pointing to the big African American guy. 

“And I’m Fred!” the blonde guy said jumping up from the couch. He put his mascot head back on and started to swirl around a sign with the college’s name on it. “I’m not actually a student here, but I give the guys ideas.” “Which we never listen to because they’re all about turning him into a superhero,” GoGo said as she walked past, hitting Fred on his mascot’s head. You heard a “Hey!” come from inside, causing you to silently laugh. “Here, I’ll show you your lab,” Hiro said. “Okay. I was great meeting you guys!” you shouted to the others as you walked away. 

They all said their goodbyes as you followed the little Asian teen. You both stopped at a transparent glass door, which only showed you the outlines of objects. Anyway, you both went inside and you looked around. The room was all white, with light wooden floors. There was a wooden long desk and a steel workbench placed on opposite sides of the room. There was a big glass window facing the door, allowing natural light to come in. I’ll definitely will customize this place to my liking later, you thought. 

You placed your blueprints on your workbench and your papers on your desk. Right before you started to organize your tools, you turned to Hiro. “Thank you, Hiro, for helping me out. Maybe we’ll become friends during our time here,” you said. “No complaints there. You seem like a nice girl. I’m sure the others will become your friends too,” Hiro replied.  “Anyway, I have lots to do so…” “Oh, okay. See you later, (nickname)!” Hiro called as he turned to leave. You giggled at the new name and turned back to your work. 

~ Several Months Later ~ 

You were walking the streets of San Fransokyo to the Lucky Cat Café. Since becoming a student at the SFIT, you have become friends with Hiro, GoGo, Honey Lemon, Fred, and Wasabi. You even met Fred’s butler, Heathcliff. He barely showed any emotion, but would give you a kind smile from time to time. Anyway, as you were walking, you were going over something in your head. It wasn't something to do with your inventions, but was about your best friend, Hiro. Earlier that day, you realized you had feelings for Hiro. 

Romantic feelings where you want to kiss him and make him smile. You were walking past a store selling TVs, when the news popped onto all the screens. A female announcer started to talk to the camera. “Hello, San Fransokyo. This is Valmera Kaba bringing you breaking news. In downtown San Fransokyo there is a battle between what appears to be a rip-off look-a-like of Godzilla against the city’s Big Hero 6,” she said, reading off a bunch of papers in front of her. Live footage showed the superhero teens fighting a giant lizard. 

Their helmets hid their faces from the public making everyone curious about whom they really were. Even you. Your respected them and thought they were doing the city good, unlike some people. Critics complained their appearance causes villains to emerge and disastrous events to proceed. The news announcer continued to talk, warning people to steer clear of the downtown area. You continued to walk, since Hiro’s Aunt Cass’s café wasn’t downtown. You were distracted as you continued to think about Hiro. 

Sadly, since you were distracted, you missed the turn that brought you in the direction of Hiro’s and Cass’s house. You didn’t even notice your surroundings until people started to rush past you faster than normal, all screaming in terror. The rushing people sent you against the hard walls of the nearby building. It hurt you, scraping against the rough outer of the building. Luckily, you weren’t crushed by the mob. When the scared crowd left, you fell to your knees and huffed for breath. 

You looked around to see what they were running from when you saw a terrible sight. You were in the destroyed downtown of San Fransokyo. The streets were ripped up, cars flipped over, electrical wires and telephone poles on the ground, holes here and there, and small fires everywhere. “What the-” Your sentence was cut off when a giant hand grabbed you and picked you up. You screamed as the monster brought you to its face. You started to squirm and kicked at the hand, but its grip was strong and its skin was like metal. 

Actually, now that you think about it, the visible texture and the touchable texture was that of metal. You looked into the yellow eyes of the ‘monster’ as the yellow disappeared. Inside the head was a man behind clear glass at a control panel, directing the so called monster. The monster was actually a giant robot. “Sees like I caught the perfect damsel in distress,” the man said, smiling creepily. “Let me go! I don’t deserve to be manhandled!” you yelled at the man in frustration. “Be quiet, girly. You’re my ticket to getting away. So, I would be quiet before I decide you’re not worth the hassle,” the man threatened. “Suck a lemon’s ass!” you screamed. The man growled and was just about to do something on his control panel, when a voice called out. “Stop right there, Dr. Silva!” the make voice said. That voice is familiar. Too familiar. It can’t be… you thought. 

You looked at the person, who was in purple battle gear and on the back of a robot in red battle gear. You recognized the big brown eyes, messy black hair, and gap tooth mouth. It was Hiro! And his brother’s health care robot Baymax! Hiro recognized you shown by his eyes widening. He didn’t say anything and neither did you. “Let the lady go, Dr. Silva. She’s not involved with this,” Hiro said, his voice strong. “How about, no. This girl has become part of everything right when I landed sight on her. So, little hero, I suggest allowing me to leave or else I’ll crush this girl like a bug!” Hiro frowned, glaring at the evil doctor. “Sorry, Silva, but I can’t let you escape. Honey Lemon, now!” he shouted. A pink ball hit the eyes of the robot and pink foamed covered it. You heard the man inside scream in frustration as Baymax quickly broke the metal hand holding you. 

Sadly, Baymax didn’t think about making sure you didn’t fall, so as soon as the metal around you was gone you started to fall to the hard pavement below. It was a long way down, making you scream as your stomach felt like it was in your chest and the air rush past you. “Baymax catch her!” you heard Hiro yell. Suddenly, you stopped falling and were in the arms of the health care robot. “Hello, (y/h),” Baymax said calmly, as if he didn’t just catch you from falling to your death. “Hi Baymax,” you said. “Guys, I’m going to bring (y/n) somewhere safe. I’ll come back with Baymax as soon as I can,” you heard Hiro say, seemingly to himself. 

He must have a comm-link in his helmet. And our friends are the other members of Big Hero 6, aren’t they? you thought as you went over what happened in your head. You thought you recognized the familiar qualities of the team members to your friends. So, they have all been lying to me. As you proceed through your own mind, Baymax flew off into the sky. You noticed you were now near the San Fransokyo Bridge, the sun setting in the distance. “Baymax, land on top of the bridge,” Hiro commanded. 

The normally marshmallow-like robot landed on the central pillar and set you down on the orange metal. Hiro climbed off Baymax’s back and made his way to you. “(Y/n), are you alright? Did he hurt you?” he worried, inspecting you for any injuries. Your hand formed into a fist and punched Hiro in the arm, hard. “Ow! What was that for?” Hiro exclaimed. “Why didn’t you even tell me you were the leader of Big Hero 6? Is this why you’re always bailing out on helping me with my inventions?” you yelled at him. “(Y/n), listen-” “I heard a sound of distress. What seems to be the trouble?” Baymax interrupted, walking up to you both. “It’s nothing, Baymax,” Hiro protested. “On a scale of one to ten, how would you rate your pain?” Baymax continued. 

“Zero. Now can you-” “I’ll scan you both for injuries.” “Don’t you dare scan me.” “Scan complete.” “Unbelievable,” Hiro muttered, running his hands down his face. “According your statics, I have concluded that you are feeling fear, worried, and love caused by each other,” Baymax said. Both yours and Hiro’s cheeks were red. “O-Okay, t-that’s enough now,” Hiro stuttered and turned to Baymax. “I even have a pre-recorded confession towards you, (y/n),” Baymax continued, ignoring Hiro. He started to play an audio recording. (Y/n), since I first landed my eyes on you, I knew you were the one- the recording said. “Baymax, stop, now!” Hiro yelled his whole face red. Baymax listened and turned off the recording. 

“I leave you two alone to speak about your feelings,” Baymax said. He shuffled away and sat on the edge of the pillar. “Hiro, is what Baymax said true? Do you really have feelings for me?” you asked. Hiro sighed and nodded his head. “I’ve kind of had a crush on you since I first met you,” he said bashfully, not looking you in the eye. “Baymax said you felt the same. Is that true?” Hiro asked. “Yes. I haven’t been able to tell since something always comes up or I chicken out,” you replied. Hiro took off his helmet, his wild hair springing back into place. You noticed you were really close to Hiro, an inch or more between your faces. “(Y/n)?” Hiro asked breathlessly. “Yes?” “Can I kiss you?” 

Instead of replying, you closed the distance between you. You closed your eyes as you lips met Hiro’s in a kiss. Your hands rested on his shoulders as Hiro’s came to hold your waist. He started to kiss, a smile on his lips. The kiss was sweet and full of love, tasting like the gummy bears Hiro probably ate while ago. You both broke away for air a short while later. Hiro laid his forehead against yours, trying to regain his breath along with you. “I love you, Hiro. I may be worried about you putting yourself in danger, but I trust you,” you whispered. 

“So, you’re not mad at me?” Hiro asked. “Of course, I’m mad at you. Lying to me along with my other friends is wrong. But I think you can earn my forgiveness on two conditions,” you said. “What?” “One, no more lying, which means you have to tell me about your hero duties. Two, you have to date me and continue to give me kisses,” you joked. Hiro chuckled and said, “Nothing to complain about there.” He caught your lips in another kiss, both of you smiling while doing so. You continued to kiss on the San Fransokyo Bridge as the sun set over the horizon.

[p-artsypants]

P-Artsypants Fanfiction Masterpost!

I feel like I’m always making a new one of these posts every few months, but I honestly just write so much that it makes sense...

Updated so most recent Fandom is at the top. 

Find most, if not more, of these fics on:

Fanfiction.net | Archive of Our Own | Wattpad

 (~AU’s, *Finished, ❤️Author's Favorites)

Kingdom Hearts

~❤️Rage Awakened AO3 | FF.net- Ten years ago, Terra, Aqua, and Ventus lost their fellow apprentice, Sora, in Deep Jungle. Now, they are to return with two new students, Riku and Kairi, to lock the heart of the world. All the while, something watches from the trees. Feral!Sora AU

My Kingdom for a Heart AO3 | FF.Net - The curse of being one of the Princesses of heart, is that there’s always someone out to get you. As Xemnas looked failure in the face, he reached out in a last ditch effort and destroyed Kairi’s heart. Now her friends must travel the worlds again. Sora, to find a way to recover Kairi’s heart, and Riku, to make amends to those he has wronged. All the while, the darkness grows.

Miraculous Ladybug

One Shots

*❤️Amalgam- When an young man is rejected for being ‘incompatible’ he turns into the akuma ‘Amalgam’ able to fuse two people together. And later Adrien and Marinette would debate if it was lucky or unlucky that they got hit.

*Sing We All Noel- After receiving the worst Christmas present ever from his father, Chat Noir finds himself out on the streets with nowhere to go on Christmas Eve. Thankfully, Ladybug finds him and brings him home.

*Speechless- In a world where everyone has a soulmark, the first words their soulmate will say to them, Marinette is born without one. But Adrien Agreste has two. Curious, considering he’s mute.

*❤️Tunnels of Love- The night started out with an accidental kiss from Adrien Agreste, and ended with her bleeding in the Catacombs of Paris. Ladybug, the wielder of the miraculous of good luck. Yeah right. (Some blood)

*The Reveal That Wasn’t- First Parts My ending to kittybug’s Tumblr Prompt

*What A Mess We’re In- Ladybug has a lot on her mind, and when Chat Noir bugs her enough, she tells him she’s going to confess to her Crush, Adrien Agreste. Chat’s reaction is not what she’s expecting.

Long Fics

*❤️Nine Lives- (FF.net) When Adrien Agreste is scheduled to go to a Military School in Germany, Chat Noir must make a critical decision. Does he give up his Miraculous? Or does he give up his life as Adrien? I’ll save you the trouble of guessing, he gives up being Adrien.

*Tender Words- When Marinette finally gets the guts to confess her feelings for Adrien, some things go so wrong, and other things go so right.

How To Train Your Dragon

One Shots

The Vikings Have Their Tea (FF.Net | AO3)

Arranged Marriage- Takes place at the beginning of HTTYD

❤️Breathe- Survival of the fittest

~Childhood Friends- At the Sandbox

❤️Easy Fix- In which Hiccup has a bad day

~Fashion Designer- Astrid needs a fill in

❤️Frozen- In Which Astrid takes a Dip and things get frisky (Rated M)

❤️Headache- In Which Hiccup hits his head….really hard

❤️Heir- In Which Hiccup is Picked (Longer version by FateCharms) 

Illness- In Which Stoick is a dad

~Illusionist- Trick gone wrong

~In the Walls- In which there’s a poop ghost

~Knocking On The Wrong Door (2) - A chance encounter

❤️Messages- Astrid is Frustrated with Hiccup’s obliviousness

~To Mirkwood- Hiccup is not a dwarf

~Monster Falls- Hiccup and Astrid take a dip

❤️Mute- In which there’s a quiet stranger

~Music Video (ImgHS)- He didn’t expect it

❤️Operation: Lovebirds- In Which the gang makes a plan, and Hiccup gets Drunk

~Over- Too many nightmares

~Partners in Crime- A normal day at work

~Pirate- Astrid is the greatest treasure

~Prince- He doesn’t want to be a broken King

❤️Sorting Things Out- In Which Astrid gets her ducks in a row

~The Dragon and The Dame- Beauty and the Beast Au

The Pit- In Which Hiccup is rescued

Hide and Seek- Part 1

Lost and Found- Part 2

Long fics: 

*❤️Infernal Responsibility- Being the son of the chief takes brains, courage, and a lot of patience. But at his father’s the request for marriage, Hiccup decides he has had enough. When he seeks out a life of ease, he runs into more than what he bargained for. 

*❤️Roses and Lilies- “Astrid, you and I both know you’re much tougher than I am. You’re more brave, and a better fighter…but just for a little while…could we pretend that I’m the one protecting you?” “Oh gods yes!”

*~What the Water Gave Me- The sea is a wild and dangerous thing, something that cannot be foretold or predicted. Hiccup discovered this many years ago, in human naiveté. Yet, what was meant as a sacrifice became a new life, one like no one could comprehend. He now finds himself once more in the unknowing hands of those that sentenced him to death. He only prays things will be different this time. Merman!AU

*Parasite- Soulsnatcher Dragons are rare but deadly. But, As Hiccup finds out, it’s the eggs you have to watch out for.

*~320 State Street- Gobber’s Goods. A Hardware Store that was rumored to have everything you needed. She thought she only needed a job. Turns out, she needed a lot more than that. (A Modern AU no one asked for)

*~❤️The North Tower- When Finn Hofferson died, Astrid inherited his castle in Wales…and a whole lot more. Something sinister lurks in the North Tower.

*~❤️Boy Toy- AO3 - At the age of 21, Princess Astrid lawfully has to pick a husband. But when the perfect groom is nowhere to be found, she requests the toymaker to create one for her. It’s safe to say that everyone in the kingdom is a little concerned. (Pinocchio!AU I guess?)

No, You Go First- AO3 - The Chief of Berk was a headstrong viking, stubborn and full of pride, and willing to do whatever it takes to keep his village safe. But for a moment, he puts that aside, and listens to his son. In which Hiccup convinces his dad not to make him go through Dragon Training, and the subsequent changes that follow.

*In Due Time- AO3 - As another illness sweeps through Berk, Gothi needs another ingredient for her medicine…one that doesn’t exist anymore. Fortunately, she kept that old spell book around for such an occasion. Big Hiccup is sent to five years into the past, and his younger self sent to take his place in the future. But it’s only a few days, what could go wrong?

Trollhunters: Tales from Arcadia

❤️Arcadia or Bust- In Which Arcadia welcomes back it’s underground citizens.

Teen Titans

Oneshots:

~Big Brother- Don’t turn out the light (Horror)

Dear Jason- Bruce Writes a letter

Just Drawing- Bruce thinks about Robin

The Prisoner- Starfire is Guilty

Of Mustard and Three Foot Purple Tongues- A collection of Oneshots and Drabbles

Long Fics (*Finished): 

*~❤️Carol of the Bells- High in the dark Bell Tower of Notre Dame, there lives a mysterious bell ringer. Legend tells of the angel who fell from the sky, and the curse she bares. There are few who know her true identity though; her master, the priest, and the acrobat that performs on the streets below. Based loosely on ‘The Hunchback of Notre Dame’ RobxStar and slight BBxRae

*No Escape- Three years ago, Starfire escaped an Alien race called the Gordanians, to arrive on Earth. They’re back, and ready to put Starfire back where she belongs, behind reinforced Titanium bars. Robin’s not about to let her go…if only he hadn’t got captured first. How does it feel to be the alien, Robin?

*Now you Know My Pain- When the new Villain, Gender Bender, comes to down, the Titans find themselves in an odd situation. They’ve been turned into the opposite gender against their will! Now in order to change back, they must learn to understand the gender they’ve turned into. Rated T for obvious reasons. A great read if you’ve ever wondered why girls or guys do [blank].

*Paint it Black- Robin disappeared three months ago. Now, Jump City’s crime rate is mysteriously being taken care of by a normal, albeit strange, teenage boy who goes by the name Black. As the Titans befriend this lunatic, they begin to see a relation between him and their missing leader. Will they be able to find Robin, or will Black turn them all insane as himself? Actually, contains NO OC.

*Saving Grace- “When I’m done with you, you won’t be able to walk upright or speak coherent sentences and all you’ll see is my mask and my voice repeating in your head…Weak. Richard Grayson, I am not tough, I am everything that you fear.” Happy Ending! Smudge of RobStar. NO Slash!

Other Fandoms

Final Fantasy XV

❤️Requiem for Pitioss-“O King. The god’s have heard your cries. Know that we weep with you. The Oracle’s calling has not yet been fulfilled. But…Lunafreya as you know her cannot return the way she was.” Noctis looked up, hopeful. “But she can return!” Canon divergence from Chapter 9. Happy ending. Some spoilers.

Beauty and the Beast

*❤️Behold the Beast- A Oneshot alternate ending to the Animated Film

Cinderella

*❤️Midnight- “When the clock strikes twelve, the spell will be broken,” the fairy godmother had warned. A retelling of the story, when Cinderella doesn’t escape the ball in time. Oneshot

*So This is Love- What if Jaq and Gus hadn’t made it in time to help Cinderella? A new twist on the ending of the classic Fairytale, and what lies beyond the story. She still gets her happy ending and her Prince, and her step family gets their just deserts.

Sleeping Beauty

*❤️A Love Song Back To Me- Maleficent saw the loophole that stared her in the face. Prince Phillip would break the curse in time, for sure. After all, he was betrothed to Aurora. So in an effort for her evil plan to stay in action, Maleficent takes care of the young prince herself. Phillip never imagined having to live off the land like the birds above. Alternate twist on the classic Disney tale.

Escaflowne

Down Feathers- Hitomi’s depressed. She’s been away from Van too long, he comes back to visit her…but what if something went wrong with the transfer? (Not finished. Never will be finished. Mwahaha) Circa 2012 

*Angel’s Wounds- Fanelia’s been victorious in their most recent battle with Basrum. Unfortunately, someone is wounded and just seeks solace in his love that lives so far away. Post Anime.

Momma Look Sharp- With the war between Fanelia and Basrum finally coming to a close, the kingdom is celebrating. The young king, however, is suffering from an experience unlike any he had before. Van finally seeks solace in his wife.

[avalancheobsessed]

Special Pt 2 - Tyson Jost

Warnings: None

WC: 2849 

[Part One]

Christmas Shopping | December 18th

You didn't really know what to get for your parents. They never asked for specific presents or really for anything at all. So you got what you always got for them and what they always asked for. Biking clothes for dad and some new fuzzy boots for mom. Your niece, on the other hand, she just got into watching and playing hockey which left you feeling like it was your duty to spoil her with everything hockey related. Even as a college student you were researching the best equipment from the best brands, constantly bugging your brother, Austin, about what position she wants to play, and if you could come to see her play. So that is how you find yourself at Dicks, looking over all the equipment reminding yourself that just because it's more expensive doesn't mean it is better. You still have no idea what position your niece, Chloe, was going to play and you were beginning to get frustrated with your brother because he wouldn't tell you. You were still aimlessly looking at equipment when someone starts talking to you.

"Can't find what you're looking for?" An oddly familiar voice chimes. You turn and see two of the three of the "frat boys", Alexander Kerfoot and JT Compher watching you. Kerfoot's voice was recognizable anywhere, but you were still slightly surprised that it was him. You were confident that they saw the Avalanche logo on the front of your sweatshirt the second you turned, but you were so frustrated with your brother that it didn't matter if they knew you were a fan.

"I don't even know where to begin looking. My stupid brother won't tell me what position my niece is playing so I have no clue how to spoil her with hockey equipment." You tell them, completely exhausted from staying up all night looking at stores online trying to find the perfect gifts for your family members. Not to mention the butterflies that flutter in your stomach every time you think about the New Years Eve game and what Tyson has in store for you. You hear them chuckle as they come to a stop on either side of you. 

"How old is your niece?" JT asks, looking at all the sticks and pads. You were standing in front of what appeared to be for kids 4-6 years old but you couldn't tell if they would fit Chloe.

"She's 5, turning 6 on New Years Day." Now that you think about it, maybe you should be looking in the 6-8 section. 

"Do you know her height? It'd be hard to find a stick just based on her age." Alexander says, pulling out a couple of the little sticks. He tested their flexibility, bending them gently with his hands.

"I'm not entirely sure, but that might be something my brother would be willing to tell me." You reply, pulling your phone out and texting him.

(Y/N): 'How tall is Chloe?'

Austin: '42 inches. Why?'

(Y/N): 'No reason. Thanks!'

You power off your phone before Austin could respond again.

"She's 42 inches tall," you state, putting your phone in your butt pocket. Alexander nods and you both start looking at the different sticks and their recommended heights. Alexander fumbles with the tags, grunting each time it wasn't the right stick.

"You want the stick to be at your nose unless you're a goalie. Is she gonna be a goalie?" He looks at you while holding out a stick that looks like it'd fit your niece.

You shrug your shoulders, "Like I said my brother is refusing to tell me what position she is playing. I can try asking him once more, maybe he'll give in a little." Alexander nods and you pull out your phone again.

(Y/N): 'Is Chloe gonna play goalie?'

Austin: 'Why do you want to know?'

(Y/N): 'Because I want to be a supportive aunt and buy her equipment!'

Austin: '(Y/N) you're still in college. There is no way you could afford her equipment.'

(Y/N): 'Idk Austin, I'm looking at the equipment in her age at Dicks rn and it looks like I can'

Austin: 'You're looking at equipment? How do you even know where to look and what to look for?'

(Y/N): 'I'm getting help from some professionals. Now, will you please tell me what position she is playing? Or at least if she is going to be a goalie?'

Austin: 'What do you mean professionals?'

(Y/N): 'Oh my god Austin is she gonna be a damn goalie or not?'

Austin: 'No she doesn't want to be a goalie. She wants to be like MacKinnon. What do you mean professionals?'

(Y/N): 'Thank you! And by professionals I mean JT Compher and Alexander Kerfoot are helping me look for equipment at Dicks right now.'

You sigh in content when you turn your phone off again and put it away. "My brother said that she doesn't want to be a goalie and that she wants to be like MacKinnon." You can't help the smile that grows on your face. At least your brother was raising Chloe somewhat right. Alexander nods once more and then pulls away from the shelf with the stick. You had expected there to be a difference between girls and guys stick and that girls would be all pink and pretty because that's just what the world does to girl's sports equipment, which is stupid. Instead, it was a simple looking CCM stick, and you realized you forgot to ask one more question. "Oh shoot I need to find out if she shoots left or right," you hurriedly pull your phone out once more and see three unread messages from Austin.

Austin: 'JT Compher and Alexander Kerfoot are helping YOU find hockey equipment for MY child?'

Austin: '(Y/N) why didn't you just say that before?! This is insane.'

Austin: '(Y/N)?'

(Y/N): 'Yo one more question. Does Chloe shoot left or right?'

Austin: 'Right. She's been using a really shitty stick that we got at Toys R Us. It came with a left and right one and she has only chosen to use the right one.'

(Y/N): 'Okay thank you! I can't wait to see her play. She's gonna be awesome.'

For the third and hopefully final time, you turn your phone off and put it in your pocket. "She shoots right," you say, glancing around and seeing that JT had gone off somewhere, "Where's Compher?" As the words leave your mouth he rounds the corner of the aisle you are in, carrying gloves, a helmet, shoulder pads, elbow pads and every type of pad that any hockey player needs. Your jaw drops a little at the sight of him carrying a mountain of gear.

"Holy shit dude," you laugh, getting a smile in return. He makes his way over to you and gently sets the pile down in your cart. One by one he goes through the gear explaining how to put it on and recommending what to put on first to last. After he goes through it all, you get a chance to hold each piece, learn the brand and unfortunately the price.

"Gonna put a girl out of college Chloe," you mutter under your breath. Or at least you thought it was under your breath until JT spoke again.

"Here, we'll cover the cost. You're just missing one more thing," this time, your jaw hit the floor. That did not just happen. They did not just help you find all the gear in the world for your niece, and say that they were going to cover it.

"You don't have to cover the cost, I can just get my family to chip in. No big deal," you say nonchalantly. You were floored by their offer to pay for you but it just didn't feel right. To be honest, you wanted them to because you know that you can't pay for it on your own, but it didn't feel right to use their money.

"I heard what you tried to mutter under your breath. Trust me, I don't mind paying. Your niece shouldn't be stopped from playing because her equipment is expensive. You're still missing a critical piece though," now it was JT's turn to speak nonchalantly.

"Thank you, JT. It means a lot to me and it's going to mean a lot more to my brother and niece. I guess I need to find skates now." He gives you a warm smile.

"Bingo! Do you know her size in skate?"

"Nope. Hang on." You groan, taking your phone out again.

-------------------------------

You internally cringe as each piece of gear was swiped and as the total kept rising and rising until you were sure JT and Alexander were in way over their heads. They just gave you smiles and shrugged their shoulders.

"We'll make more money, don't worry about it." There were a number of bags, and you were confident that you could carry them all but the two insisted that they help carry the bags and walk you out to your car.

"How long have you been a fan?" Alexander asks as you walk out the sliding doors. The wind had picked up since you'd entered Dicks, and the temperature had dropped. You pull the bags you're holding close to you, shivering as another gust of the cold Colorado air washes over you.

"Since I was a teen. I got into hockey late because my brother played it, and I was that kind of sister who had to hate everything my brother liked. Been a fan ever since." You always got a little embarrassed that you hadn't become a fan when you were younger, but it didn't seem to bug anyone except you.

"Well, better late than never," You nod in agreement, definitely better late than never. You collect all your bags into your left hand and pull your keys out, unlocking your- well, your parents' car. Your car was in St. Albert, safe in the garage under your apartment. You opened the trunk, and carefully set the bags down. JT and Alexander put they bags they were holding in as well and you slammed the trunk door shut.

"I think Tys has the same car as you," JT says, observing the car.

Alexander nods in agreement, "Yeah I think you're right Comph. At least, it's the same type."

You fumble with your keys, "Oh really? That's pretty cool. It's not my car though, it's my parents. Mine is back at my college in St. Albert." JT's eyes widen slightly and his eyebrows raise. Was he okay? He didn't look okay.

"Tyson was telling us about a girl he met on a plane from St. Albert to Colorado," oh so that's why he looks like that, "Was that you?" They both look at you, waiting for your response.

You fumble with your keys again, "Yeah that was me. He told you guys about me?" They keep watching you for a second, straight-faced, no signs of emotion. Then two big smiles break out on their faces.

"Hell yeah, he told us about you. He can't stop talking about you!" JT barks, making you shuffle your feet and bite your lower lip. Tyson was telling his friends about you. You wonder if he told the whole team or just a couple guys. You couldn't explain how that made you feel either way. You were happy and embarrassed and wanted to run around like a crazy woman. There are a lot of emotions flooding through you at the moment and you aren't quite ready to deal with them.

Alexander has a goofy grin on his face, "He gets all flustered when he talks about you. He's like, 'And when she fell asleep, her legs would randomly twitch which was really cute cause then she woke up and her legs were on my lap. She got all flustered and embarrassed and I just wanted to-'" JT punches Alexander in the shoulder, cutting his sentence short. Alexander shot him a glare and JT nodded his head towards you, silently telling Alexander to not tell you something. Your cheeks heat up and you hide your chin in your sweatshirt, partly because of the cold air, partly because you were dying inside.

"Oh my..." you laugh awkwardly like you always do, "Well I guess I better get going. Thank you both for helping me find the gear and for paying, Chloe is going to be so happy. It was nice meeting you two."You turn on your heel quickly, trying to contain the smile that wanted to break out on your face. You wanted to jump up and down, scream or something to get all this giddy and happy energy out of your system.

"Hey (Y/N)!," JT calls out behind you. You spin around again and see him slightly jogging up to you, "If you want, I could give Tyson your number? I mean, if that isn't weird to you or anything." He offers a small smile.

You give a breathy laugh and nod, "Sure. I wouldn't mind." JT smiles again and pulls out his phone, handing it to you. You graciously take it, and put your number in, along with your first and last name.

JT still has a smile on his face, "Thank you."

You smile back."No thank you. Both of you. For everything." They nod at you and step away from your car. You get in and start it, smiling way too big and feeling an entire zoo erupting inside of you. You hold the brake and put the car in reverse. Backing out slowly you wave to JT and Alexander, still smiling. Driving home, you try not to get too distracted by what just happened and don't allow yourself to fully experience it until all the bags are safely inside your house and you confirm no one else is home.

You start dancing around, smiling and shrieking and freaking out your dogs.

"Oh my gosh he- and they- and now- aah!" Complete sentences were no longer existent as you released all the energy inside you. As you finally slowed down you let out one final scream of joy and began laughing hysterically. You laughed for what felt like forever until you could take a deep breath and calm down. What had begun as the most frustrating time of your life, had turned into the happiest. You bring the bags to your room and grab multiple rolls of wrapping paper, along with a lot of boxes to put the gear in. After you finish wrapping, you put all the separate boxes into one big box and set it in the corner of your room. Your phone buzzes and you saunter over to it with exhaustion after wrapping for hours and sitting on the floor. An unknown number is calling you and you reluctantly pick it up.

"Hey (Y/N), it's Tyson. I hope it isn't weird that Compher gave me your number," Tysons voice comes through the phone. The exhaustion runs from your body as your heart starts pumping faster and a giant smile breaks out on your face.

"Hey, Tyson! What's up? And no, it isn't weird at all," You reply, sitting down on your bed. You admire your handy work from afar and smile as you are blessed with the sound of his voice.

"Okay cool," you hear him chuckle, "I was just wondering if maybe you wanted to get coffee or something?" His deep voice calms your nerves, as you process what that means. Does he mean get coffee like a date? Or is this just to get to know each other better? Or is this something completely different?

"It wouldn't be a date right? I mean, I don't think it's a date but I just want to make sure so we're on the same page," Your voice squeaks out as you speak quickly. He laughs on the other side of the line.

"No, it wouldn't be a date. Just want to get to know you better," it's like you can see him smiling when he says those words.

"Oh yeah, I'm definitely down for getting coffee or something."

"Cool! I can pick you up? Or do you want to drive?" As tempting as having Tyson Jost being in the same car as you, you barely know him and don't feel like giving your address out to strangers. Even if they are a hot NHL player that you have a crush on.

"I'm fine driving myself. When and where?" You smile as you realize that you were planning on seeing Tyson again. Just the two of you. Getting coffee or something.

"How about Christmas Day? I'll tell you where when I decide," you can hear the slight smirk on his face.

"Christmas Day sounds wonderful. I've got to go, unfortunately, duty calls." You reply, hearing your parents come home and realizing your room is a mess.

"Okay. I'll talk to you soon. Bye (Y/N)."

"Bye Tyson," you end the call and lay back, sighing loudly in content. Your stomach was twisting and turning and your heart was palpitating. This didn't feel real, no part of it felt like a reality you were living. You had dreamed about this forever, and now it was coming true.

"(Y/N)? Are you okay?" Your mom calls out, hearing your sigh.

"Yeah, mom. I'm great," you reply, smiling yet again, "I'm fantastic."

[moomooblackshep]

My dysphoria

Well... I'm 26 and so very fucking trans. Ftm. Pre everything. Fuck. It finally makes sense. For the longest time I've always identified as a crossdresser when much younger and then gay as a teen. As gay I've been out to most of my friends, took a while to come out to the family. I hate the word lesbian because it's a label that just doesn't fit and now this. I've only told my closest friends about the trans thing right now. Hopefully I can tell my mom about it later on when I finish my schooling again. Be warned this is long to whoever reads this.

The community has been very visible lately, YouTubers are also getting in on that band wagon. Media over all is so vocal about it now. Also, my mother used to watch a lot of trans surgeries for a solid year and would make me watch it with her. Those were disturbing but dear God like a train wreck I couldn't look away. It wasn't the surgeries that made me realize but they did open up my mind about researching and just looking into what trans is. Looking back there are many red flags. My dysphoria was generally supressed. I remember when I was young, around 10, I considered myself a crossdresser. I was new to the internet then since we just immigrated to Canada and I couldn't stop reading psychology books, journals, articles, anything I can get my hands on to put a label on what I am. I didnt make sense so I settled for something that seemed the closest thing I could find, crossdresser. I internalized that and moved on. We also didn't have much money at the time so I started wearing my brothers clothes and it felt right. Prior to moving into a new country my clothes consisted of dress like uniforms for school and shorts and t-shirt for home/play clothes. My classmates here then started asking me why I dress in boy clothes and I always said I was a crossdresser. They'll have a look on their face but I wasn't making a big deal out of it so they didn't either. I was also the kid that's good at art and I used to give them away a lot when done which people always wanted for some reason. I was also pretty calm and just took a lot of things at face value so people knew they could tell me whatever and I won't freak out, it apparently helped because I was told a hella amount of secrets. Graduation came and yearbooks were signed. Some even said I was the coolest crossdresser they knew and that hopefully everything worked out for me. Then highschool hit and suddenly the whole gay thing cropped up. I realized I didn't like boys early on. It was weird. Everyone tells me that I should and that I have to but I knew I didn't like boys like that at all. When I was younger still, by the pics probably as young as three maybe five, I had a playmate that everyone and their grandmother keep saying that he's my boyfriend. As far as I remember I've always denied it. I had mostly boy playmates but the few girls around I always took special care to make them feel included or give them attention. I didn't understand them. I didn't know why they liked only certain games like the dancing, skip rope, the make up or why they prefer dresses or various things I can't even remember now. I always chalked it up to my two older brothers will beat anyone up that doesn't include me in their games or are mean to me. It was a small enclosed neighborhood. My brothers were in the older crowd and knew everyone being 7 and 9 years older than I was. It still didn't make it any less confusing to me tho. I questioned a lot of things but no one would give me answers or they'll just ignore me. It didn't help that my mother always said disparaging things towards gays. Things about religion and how shameful it is. I don't want to get into it but I ended up internalizing it. We're also Catholic so the Catholic values of how we are in God's image, we should treat everyone as how we would treat ourselves and how God loves us clashed horribly with what she was saying sometimes. I was confused for a while but I tried to rationalize it myself and came up with "he's (the gay man my mom criticized and the only gay person I knew growing up) happy, he seemed comfortable with himself, he's not hurting anyone, he seems like a good person. So I said to myself that if he's all that then it's okay. It's his life and it's his choices. But even when it's okay for him to be gay I knew I wasn't allowed to be gay because of the homopobia my family was showing. I was probably around 7-8 at the point when this all went down. This is also why I stay away from church now. The hypocrisy is something that gets to me but I have my faith and I just try to live as "good" as I can while still being human. I'm probably missing a lot of the stuff because I don't remember much of my childhood. Anyways, that's the internal homophobia and why I couldn't be comfortable with it until later on in my life. By the time highschool rolled around I've immersed myself into the internet and have accepted my love for the female form. Also porn and Anime was a great motivation for an asian teen. Went to an all girls school for highschool, met my best friend in grade nine and proceeded to date her the following year. We lasted all of highschool but I knew I wasn't the best gf at the time or ever. We broke up because she was moving on to better things and I was lost and not going anywhere, I wasn't gonna hold her back to not experience stuff, so we split amicably. We're kind of friends still and adulting sucks. On that note, my dysphoria. In all honesty I never took it as that because my mental and emotional coping mechanisms are suppression and distraction. Anyways, as a kid I always envied the boys. They're always portrayed as being stronger, bigger, the hero, they seemed to have more freedom. As a kid I wanted that. Everyone treated me like such a delicate girl when I didn't feel like a girl at all much less delicate. I was a crybaby sure but that was because my brothers teased me relentlessly and the only time they'll stop at all is if I cry. I wasn't allowed a lot of freedom for expressing myself either because it was met with indifference or anger from my family so I had to figure a lot of things out by myself. Mom isn't the most affectionate or vocal person about feelings either so it's just been me for a long while. Looking back it was a steady progression and the feeling of helplessness that I can't change my sex. It permeated my entire being so I supressed and distracted myself and accepted that I can't do anything about it. Until I was 10 I tollerated the dress ups mom used to put me in, the expectations of being a girl was just another duty I had to uphold as the "youngest daughter" even the long hair was a point of annoyance for me. It was grown past my butt and I hated every second of it. I used to bug mom to get shorter hair, to have a cut like the guys and she gave in once when I caught her on a good day and she cut it to my shoulders. I was happy. It was a step in the right direction. Now if only I can get pants and a dick I'd be happier. Fast forward to puberty and lord was that a thrilling ride. Labelled myself as crossdresser in elementary and now Im gay leaning to Butch lesbian in highschool. Fuck I hated that but again it was another thing I had to tollerated because I couldn't change my sex. I knew transexuals existed mostly I thought that only applied to effeminated men. Aka gay men crossdressing. It didn't connect in my brain that women can be transexuals too. I thought they were just butch/ stud women. I was sheltered and very big on the internal homopobia okay. Now, highschool brought more insecurities. My chest grew like what it does during puberty. I wasn't happy about that. I was a chubby kid but fuck that was such a bad time. I hated them. I strapped them down as much as I can with tape or ace bandages, we had med kits everywhere, when that didn't work I'd wear something to try and flatten them or super baggy clothes. Also I had smaller bras than what I needed so it made them smaller. Had to hunch to hide them. I couldn't figure out why girls bought lingerie for them or why the hell they show it off. I forget a lot that people don't feel what I feel and that I'm not normal. Even with me wanting my chest to be gone but mostly be more male type I also wanted bigger shoulders, a few more inches in height (I'm 5'6), a deeper voice, my jaw and cheeks to be chiseled like the males I see in media. Yeah that was a trip into a rabbit hole. When I was younger I wanted to be like the guys in anime with the body builder like body, the voice, the heroism, the super powers because it's anime and surprisingly how they get the loyal girl. I learned all the chivalry because I always see myself as the guy in the relationship. Flowers, compliments, do nice things even if I don't say my feelings, open a door, pull out a chair, make a girl laugh. Then being a bit older still made me want all those things but now I have certain preference for girls, I wanted to be tall dark and handsome. It's more about being debonair with chivalry thrown in together and having adventures with my partner. It just became more age appropriate as time went on. It was all so confusing but I took the idea and ran with it. I couldn't change my sex? Fine. I'll suppress the need to cry and the depression until I can be free to be myself. Also known as me living by myself. I was terrified of what my family will say and how they'll react. They tried hard to make me girly during highschool and I just repeatedly said no. I never said I was a boy but I saw the need for them to turn me into this girl that I've never felt I was. I hated it. Then I fixated on the aspects I can change. My hair, the way I dressed. How I presented myself. I didn't change my pronouns or name because while I didn't like it it was negligible in the whole. There wasn't much to change to begin with since I already dressed as a male most of the time. Crossdresser in elementary remember. Wasn't much of a shock to the family really, just more annoyance cuz I took my brothers clothes. I sound like I hate everything but aside from a few things that I just glaze my eyes over now I'm pretty laid back and chill. It's just the way I present myself that really gets to me. Ive never given a fuck on why or how others percieved me aside from my family. 15/16 was a rough time. Suicidal thoughts started and escalated. I started self medicating in that I took up smoking cigarettes and weed to dissociate from everything. For a while it worked. Suicide was very close to happening, had it all planned out but when I came home mom was weirdly home. Once we were in Canada my brothers disappeared mostly because of college/uni and work. Mom was the same, she had three jobs at one point to cover all our expenses and Dad hasn't been in the picture for a long while. But yeah, mom was home in a rare off day. We somehow watched a documentary or a show that had suicide in it and she started talking about it. Could've knocked me over when she said that she wouldn't know what to do if she ever found us, mostly me, like that. How she would be devastated and everything. Things like that. It fucking threw me for a damn loop. But I was fucked up and that night I just kept writing and writing and writing until the sun was up and I had to go to school. When I came home no one was there again and I just broke down. My emotional instability, my hopelessness that I can't have the body/sex I want and need, my loneliness, thinking that my family doesn't love me just finally broke me. So I cracked. I cried and I screamed and I just fucking let go. At one point the neighbours even knocked on the door to see wtf was happening. Wiped my face, plastered a smile and said I was practicing for drama class and sorry that I bothered them. I had drama anyways with a play that year so when the neighbours brought it up with mom it was a solid excuse. After that the supressing habit became so strong that for example when I glance at my chest it just disappears from my mind that I even looked at them. There are days where I'm 100% okay with them ( or any part of my body that I can't deal with)for several minutes and I'll look at them and inspect them then later on I'm back to trying to find something to strap them down because the anxiety and panic is back that I don't have the right body. Once the break down was over I couldn't function for days. The dysphoria and depression just consumed me so I figured I needed to do what I needed to do. I cut myself off from that part of me emotionally and mentally. I hid it and I ran. I distracted myself with bad relationships,bad friends, the drug habit kicked up and I even became entangled in the crowd I never wanted to be in. I was a mess and as long as there was something else to worry about I didn't have to deal with myself. It worked for a long ass while but I was never happy. I've never felt joy after that breakdown. I had some contentment but that was it. The lows were manageable because once it starts I pick up a new thing to distract myself. Adult me discovered binders, bought a bunch of them with my first credit card. I was 18/19 and in college. I couldn't wait for it. Finally! I get to have a flat chest. They came and I couldn't be happier. I wore them every day from the time after I shower to just before I slept. Sometimes my mom would wake me to go to the store and I'll throw it on before my clothes. For a solid two years I wore it like my second skin. I went out to my first drink with my second brother with it on. Went to a gay club and picked up someone with it on. Worked in it even though that was a bad time. I was confident as hell. I was finally a step closer to myself. I was mistaken for a guy more often than not and that was fantastic. Then the inevitable happened. I lost them when my mom raided my room with no warning to clean it because it wasn't up to her standards and took all my laundry. I was frantic in looking for them. I was desperate. I kept asking mom where they are. I only ever got one of them back but I went into such a depressive state that shame and guilt and self doubt/hate came crashing back down on me and I couldn't wear it anymore. I went on a drinking bender at that point and I moved out at 20. 21 and I became an alcoholic for the next year. The truth that I'm stuck in this body slapped me so hard I slipped. I dropped out of college, drank from morning till night, was even drunk when I was at work. I just slipped. It was so easy but in the end I had to pick myself up. My family didn't notice much. Just that I was never home and mom and I had a blow out because she expects me home when no one is even home. When there's no food in the house because I didn't know how to cook at the time. She also kept pushing if I was gay and i admitted it. I was never gonna be ready so I just sucked it up and said it even though it felt wrong. Let me be clear as a transman man I'm not gay but right now I'm still seen as a cis woman. Im pre everything so I will, for now, say I'm gay. However, I'm a man trapped in the body of a woman and there is not much I can do until I start transitioning. After that horrible dip in my emotional instability I stopped binding. I just picked up shitty girlfriends after shitty girlfriends. Girls who were selfish and immature and made it all about them without giving back to me. I got stressed over that instead of my body and managing them is more doable than my body. Don't get me wrong I could've dropped them any time since I knew what I was getting into. My need to run from my dysphoria intensified my so called "need" to have them around. Did I love them? No. They were a means to an end and a way to distract myself. Have I ever loved any of them? I did love my first girlfriend but I never gave her what she deserved. When she broke up with me I was sad but I knew that she needed to grow into the person she wanted to be. I wanted her to find happiness even though it wasn't with me. So I let her go. Not completely tho. We're ish friends and I'd rather have that than nothing at all. At 24 I went back to school to finally graduate college. I picked up another shitty girlfriend for 7 months and 2 months after I ended my last relationship. My best friends just laughed and shook their heads at me because they can't believe I'm doing it again after I'm trying to get my shit together. But that was the last relationship I went into. The trans community started being more visible then. Acceptance for LGBT+ was at an all time high. Mom and I were okay. Things were looking up. Me being single was terrifying because I slowly started to unpack all my issues. I had supportive friends who won't leave me, my family is okay with me, I lived alone for a while but came back to mom's because her house is closer to the school and they've been trying to get me to move back in for the last four years. At 25 I just started unpacking and unpacking and unpacking and dear God the amount of issues I had to resolve with myself was a fucking lot. But the biggest is my dysphoria so I researched and read and watched a ton of vids to finally come to the conclusion that I'm trans. I'm trans not because I hate my body but because I believe I'm in the wrong one. It's terrifying to know that because there's no immediate remedy. I'm trapped and the process to switch is long, expensive and not permanent in a way I won't ever have the biological markers without outside influence. Having biological kids will be an issue too but I've always thought that I would never give birth to one, I've always assumed that I would adopt or somehow one of my friends will make me the guardian for theirs if they ever pass away. I've never felt compelled to have one of my own. A family yes but I would love any child in my family whether it's biological or someone else's. At 26, just had my birthday last month, I'm contemplating transitioning in the next year or so. I still have issues to work through but I think when I talk to a psychiatrist or counselor I would be okay. It's a lot to consider and I need to be sure it's the right way for me. In all honesty I'm pretty sure I'll transition. I've waited long enough I can wait a little longer to make an informed decision.

To whoever is reading this just know that it was hard and difficult journey for me but if you can accept the situation even just a little, enough to get you through until you can deal with it financially, emotionally and mentally it gets easier. Self hate is a very heavy burden to carry I wish it could be easier but youre a stronger person for it in the end. It helps to focus on other things to build your life. Finish school, have a good job, maybe a relationship because if you focus too much on the dysphoria once it's taken care of you will still have life in general to deal with and it's good to have the ideal life you want ready for you because you built it and you changing your body is the last piece to make it perfect.

[queen-busybee]

Christmas Together

Hello @ilydowa​ ! I’m your Secret Santa! You mentioned some Dupain-Cheng and Adrinette in your requests, as well as some Family Bonding, so here is your gift! Happy Holidays and I hope you have a great rest of the year <3

Sabine pursed her lips and watched as the children gathered around in her living room. There was a raucous laughter rising between them as they pulled ornaments and tinsel out of the boxes usually kept in the attic when it wasn’t the holidays. Marinette tossed a handful of crumbled newspaper at Alya, who was holding up a baby photo ornament that celebrated the girl's first Christmas. Nino threw his head back and laughed as Adrien chuckled softly behind his hand. Then there was Chloe, who plucked the photo from Alya's hand and started laughing. Marinette pouted and held out her hand for it, which Chloe handed over to her, saying something.

"Darling," Tom whispered, coming behind Sabine and leaning down towards her. "If you keep looking at them like that, your face will get stuck."

She blushed a little and turned away from the living room, reaching for more dishes she had soaking in her sink. "I just don't get it," she murmured back to him. "Marinette and Chloe have been at each other's throats for over four years--and now we have her over for Christmas." Sabine sighed and rinsed a plate under warm water. "I should be happy, shouldn't I? That my daughter is making friends and that they clearly get along. I just... don't understand."

"Maybe you're not meant to," Tom told her, laying a reassuring hand on the small of her back. "I think Marinette is a very good judge of character, if not overly critical sometimes. Don't you think that if she has decided to be friends with Chloe, to forgive her for the past few years, that it's something we should trust and support her with?"

Sabine pursed her lips again and grabbed the towel laying on the counter, drying the plate. "I suppose," she sighed, glancing over to where Chloe was tossing a string of tinsel around Adrien's neck. "I think that we should get an explanation, though, don't you? After all the times we've had Marinette come home crying or yelling in anger. I think we've suffered from their fights as well."

Tom chuckled and the side of her head, turning around and grabbing a pan from the oven and setting it on the stove top. "Chloe seems much better than all the stories we were told," he commented, pulling his oven mitts off. "She brought us a bottle of wine as a thank you for having her. I think she knows that we're not the biggest fans of her. Did you see the look on her face when Marinette took Alya up to her room and the boys ran downstairs for some cookies?" He grinned at Sabine and reached out, brushing her hair out of her face. "Just try giving her another chance. For Marinette and Adrien."

She sighed and turned her head, kissing Tom's fingers as they slid past. "For Marinette and Adrien," she relented, looking past her husband to see Adrien leaning against Chloe as they laughed at something. Sabine knew that they were childhood friends, before Adrien was allowed to go to public school and before he started dating Marinette; Chloe was his oldest and, at some points, only friend. Adrien was sweet and gentle and Sabine supposed he should know what kind of person Chloe was the best, and if he has been friends with her for so long, then maybe she should trust his judgement as well.

Marinette popped her head up from where she was laying on the couch. "Oh! Are the cookies ready, Papa?" she asked excitedly, hopping to her feet and rushing into the kitchen. At the mention of fresh cookies, the laughter and talking died from the other teens and they watched intently as Marinette started plucking hot cookies from the baking sheet and onto a freshly washed plate.

"Be careful," Tom scolded her, laughing as she let out a hiss and waved her hand in the air. Marinette smiled sheepishly at him and then grabbed a spatula that Sabine held out to her.

"Marinette is a little sugar bug," Adrien called out, entering the kitchen and sidling up next to her, grabbing a cookie from the plate. "She's always so impatient when it comes to sweets." He grinned cheekily when she gave him a droll stare and he slid the whole cookie into his mouth. "Mm, hot," he whined, mouth full, and headed back to the couch.

"Literally the biggest dork," Chloe said, rolling her eyes, crossing her arms. "Marinette just burned her fingers. You two are completely made for each other." Adrien laughed as he walked up to her, kissing her cheek.

Marinette walked back to the living room, setting the cookies on the table. "Alright, be careful because they're hot," she said, wiggling her red finger tips at them. "Don't be like--"

Outside there was a loud rumble, and the lights flickered in the house. The smiles on the teens' faces died and became solemn frowns as Alya's phone lit up and chimed. "An akuma," Alya told them, grabbing it and typing away on the screen. "Downtown, near the hotel--powers unknown, but they're saying it's big."

Marinette grabbed the plate of cookies. "Oh hey, guys, I forgot something upstairs, let's go, come on." She grabbed Adrien by the arm and all of the teens started rushing towards the stairs. Sabine and Tom watched, curious and confused, when Marinette stopped Alya from entering. They spoke in hushed voices that they couldn't hear and then Alya slowly made her way back down the stairs and towards the half decorated tree again.

Tom and Sabine shared a look. "You're not going up with them?" he asked Alya. She looked up from her phone, which was playing a video, the sound of loud crashing and some screaming distant and quiet; Sabine assumed she was watching some live footage from her Ladyblog.

"Ah, yeah," the girl said distractedly, sitting on the couch. Her brows drew together in concern when she heard someone shout out that Ladybug had arrived. "I'm on distraction duty." Tom and Sabine looked at each other again as Alya jerked her head up from the phone. "I-I mean I was sent to keep working on the tree! They don't want the decorating to fall behind because they're busy, you know?" She laughed nervously and set the phone on the coffee table, grabbing some tinsel and starting to lay it on the tree.

Tom chuckled and headed over to help her, steadying her as she wobbled on her tiptoes and grabbing the tinsel to drape over the top of the tree. "Thanks, Mr. Dupain," Alya said with a laugh before turning to her phone and frowning.

Sabine turned off the running water and walked over into the living room to join them. "I know you usually run off and record for the blog, but I just don't feel comfortable knowing something bad could happen and you could get hurt," Sabine told her, handing her a couple ornaments to hang on the tree. "I wouldn't know what to tell your parents."

Alya shrugged. "It's fine, really," she said, hanging the red ball and fabric bread on the fir branches. "I can see what's going on with the blog. I don't actually do most of the live-blogging anymore. I have a bunch of people who applied to be reporters since the other heroes joined the mix--it's really hard to keep a tab on all five of them, so I needed to expand. It's a great volunteer opportunity to add to a resume and I had kids my age to university students sending in applications and sample videos. Marinette helped me pick out around six of them."

There was a sudden noise from Marinette's bedroom and Alya winced. Nino popped his head out from the door and gave a sheepish grin when everyone turned to look at him. "Uh, hey Mr. and Mrs. D-C. Hey, uh, Alya, can you come up here, babe?"

Alya rushed up the stairs and the two spoke to each other quietly before she slid into the room and he came down towards them. On the coffee table, Alya's phone lay forgotten, voices coming through, talking about how Carapace was missing now, but there were reports about Rena Rogue headed their way.

Sabine and Tom looked at each other in surprise as Nino grabbed some ornaments. "Sent to trade places with Alya?" Tom asked. "For--what was it she said--distraction duty?"

Nino tripped and caught himself on the arm of the couch, eyes wide. Sabine gasped until she realized he was fine, then giggled behind her hand as she gave Tom a fond look. She really did love her daughter's friends. Nino was the quietest of all of them, but he was sweet. "Uh what? Distraction duty?" he laughed nervously. "Why would we--" He paled a little and swallowed. "Ah-ha. Yeah; you got us. We're wrapping presents for you guys upstairs." His tense smile was little to be believed, but Tom just laughed.

"We're teasing you. It's fine," he assured the boy, clasping his shoulder. "You kids have your secrets, and that's okay." He shared a look with Sabine. "We know we aren't always in on the know, no matter how cool of parents we might be."

Nino laughed a little again, looking down at the phone still playing live footage of the akuma battle happening as they spoke. His brows drew up a little in concern. Sabine and Tom frowned at each other and Sabine handed him an ornament. "Marinette has told me that you made a holiday playlist--will you play it for us when the kids return from... wrapping presents?"

Nino looked up and shrugged. "I don't know if it's ready yet," he said quietly, hanging up a green bow.

Tom gave him a gentle smile. "I get that," he said, reaching up to hang some ornaments near the top of the tree. "I feel that way whenever I try making a new recipe too. I'm sure Mari feels like that whenever she designs too." The man looked fondly at the baby ornament of Marinette. "There comes a time where there's nothing more that you can change or fix--because it's not wrong anymore, even if it doesn't feel perfect. It may never look like how it did in your head, but I have found that people will see the perfection you tried to do, instead of all the mistakes you're seeing."

Nino paused and looked at the tree thoughtfully before smiling a little. "Thanks Mr. D-C. You're the best," he grinned. He went to grab for more ornaments when there was a another loud noise from upstairs.

A breathless, red-faced Marinette popped out from her door. "Nino!" she called, panting a little, her pigtails messy and some dirt streaked along her cheek. "A little help, yeah?" He nodded and rushed upstairs. With their hushed voices too quiet to hear, the only thing audible was the cries from people asking where Ladybug had gone through the Ladyblog live stream.

Then Marinette came down to join them. "Hi Maman, hi Papa," she said, leaning over and kissing their cheeks. "The tree looks beautiful. Will we wait until it's dark to put on the star?"

Sabine walked over and rubbed at the dirt on her cheek. "I think we should wait for you friends," she told her daughter, "and Chloe."

Marinette pouted a little at that. "Maman," she whined, rubbing at her cheek more vigorously. "I know it's weird having Chloe over, but she's a good. We're fine now. I promise. She's a really good friend."

Her mother hesitated and pulled her into a hug. "I know. I'm sorry," she murmured. "You can't blame me for being worried. After everything."

"After everything, we're friends," Marinette said. "I think that should mean something."

Tom smiled at her and rested a hand on her head. "Of course it does, dear," he told her. "You know your mother worries a lot. Chloe has been very sweet--that was an expensive bottle of wine she brought us."

Marinette laughed and grabbed a couple ornaments. "I told her she didn't have to bring anything, but she insisted." Her eyes wandered over to the phone on the table and she paused, biting her lip nervously. "It looks like a really tough akuma," she whispered, eyes wide and her fingers holding onto small reindeer tightly.

Sabine followed her gaze and she saw Chat Noir get slammed against the wall of a building and Marinette whimpered a little. "I'm sure they'll be okay," she offered in reassurance as Chat pushed himself to his feet and ran off to join Rena Rogue and Queen B behind Carapace's shield. "Sometimes I get really worried about them--they're a bunch of kids around your age, but I think they do a very good job of keeping each other safe, especially since the others have joined." They stayed close together, clearly talking, before Chat and Rena Rogue withdrew, the high noise of a flute filling the air before a smokey haze covered the street and obscured the vision from the camera.

"It was hard at first," Marinette said, voice far-off and her attention fixed on the screen despite the fact there was nothing to see. "I don't think the public took very well to the idea of having new superheroes--not that I really blame them. It always seems like when a new one pops up, they end up getting akumatized, so I understand everyone's hesitations."

Tom hummed thoughtfully and started closing up the empty boxes. "It was hard to trust other people after we've been relying on two for all this time--but I think the kids have more than proved themselves, don't you?"

"Yes," Marinette agreed firmly.

She looked up to where her stairs were when once again a faint thump echoed through the house. Marinette rushed over the the stairs when the door opened to reveal a winded Adrien. They spoke heatedly, even in hushed tones, then Marinette disappeared into her room again and Adrien joined them downstairs.

"Still working on those presents?" Sabine asked, laughing softly. Adrien grinned sheepishly and sat heavily onto the couch.

"We're almost done," he promised.

"You've all taken turns being with us tonight," Tom laughed. "Will Chloe be next on distraction duty?" Sabine gave a worried look and Adrien frowned, making a sad noise in the back of his throat.

"Look," Adrien said softly, not looking at them. In the background, there was the faint cry from the live stream of Ladybug calling for her Miraculous Ladybug. "I know you guys aren't totally comfortable with Chloe being around." He paused and looked at them, frowning a little. "I know Chloe isn't perfect--I've known for a long time. But she's trying now. She's trying hard and she's changing in a lot of ways and sometimes it's slow and rocky and still not exactly good, but she's trying and I am really proud of her for that. It's not easy for her and I know some people will never forgive her, but we have. And I hope that you guys do too."

Adrien fell quiet when there were a series of bumps from Marinette's room, and then a line of the kids came down the stairs, talking and laughing. Marinette walked up to Adrien and gave him a kiss on the cheek, hugging him before walking to the kitchen to place the plate from the cookies into the sink.

Everyone took a seat on the couch and the neighboring chairs to watch Tom hang the light on the tree and plug it in. The room filled with a soft, warm, gentle yellow glow from the lights wrapped around the branches and from the star itself. With the tree finished, Sabine went back to the kitchen to work on making some dinner. She paused when she heard the kids start laughing again, and she saw just how at ease Chloe was and how much she looked like she belonged with them.

"Chloe," Sabine called out. The girl looked up from the where she sat on the couch, face hesitant. "I've told all the rest of Marinette's friends, but I'd like to tell you that you are always welcome here," she told her softly, and Sabine smiled gently when Chloe's face split into a grin. "Any time. Just leave us a note if you had to come in during the middle of the night. We want to know who is here and if you guys are safe and all that."

She turned to look at her friends, Nino giving her a thumbs up and Alya smiling and Marinette and Adrien looking proud and it made her smile sweeter. "Thank you, Madame Cheng." Chloe bowed her head in thanks and turned back to the rest of the kids.

Tom grinned at Sabine and cleared his throat as he sat on the chair next to the couch. "So did you guys figure out what kind of akuma it was today?"

"Angry shopper," Adrien told him. "Upset because they had run out of a certain toy he had wanted to get his son for Christmas."

"I don't know why people don't just order online," Chloe said, rolling her eyes and looking at her nails. "I shop exclusively online during this time of the year--going to those crowded stores, ugh, I'll probably end up with people shoving me and pulling on my coat." They laughed and she rolled her eyes again, shaking her head slightly.

Sabine walked over to the sink to wash the dirty plate Marinette had brought down from her room. "It seemed like a longer fight than normal and those Ladyblog streamers kept mentioning that the heroes were leaving. I'm just glad everything was okay in the end."

"Of course it was okay," Chloe said, leaning back in her chair and looking over at her. "They're superheroes, Madame Cheng. They're fabulous and will always kick major butt."

Turning on the water, Sabine chuckled a little. "A hero fan, are you?" she asked Chloe, who nodded enthusiastically.

Chloe took out her phone and gestured to the hero-themed case on it. "All the heroes are extremely fashionable and smart--but especially Queen B." The kids at the table shook their heads and laughed affectionately at her.

"Ah, a Queen B fan?" Tom asked, and Chloe smirked, flicking her honeycomb earrings. "I think Sabine and I are more Ladybug fans." Chloe's smirk fell a little and she pouted as the others laughed, Marinette looking a tad smug. "After all, she's our daughter."

The room fell silent as Tom stood and walked over to Sabine, offering her a dry towel for the plate she was watching.

"Ah, what did you say, Papa?" Marinette asked nervously.

He looked back at the table of kids, whose faces were tight with worry. "Hm. Oh," he said, "That Ladybug is like our daughter--black hair, blue eyes, beautiful, kind--we think she's an amazing role model for you!" There was an audible whoosh from the sigh of relief that swept through the kids at the table and they laughed nervously. Tom looked down at Sabine and winked. She just turned back towards the sink and giggled to herself.

@mlsecretsanta Main blog: leoqueen082

[yellowsugarwords]

Walking Dead Game FanFiction - "The Same Team"

Title: The Same Team Characters: Clementine, Javier, Gabe Summary: Javier tries to play matchmaker with Gabe and Clementine only to learn she’s gay. The discovery, taken place in Richmond, is met with criticism by a member of the community. In order to defend their new-found friend, Javi and Gabe step up to tell the guy off. Author’s Note: A special request for pride month :) Requested By: Anonymous ———♥️♥️♥️———- “What if you two went on a dinner date?”

“What?” Clementine turned, halting the action of cleaning her gun to respond to the odd question. With a cloth in one hand and weapon in the other, Clem did a once-over of Javier in confusion. The request seemed to be out of nowhere. She couldn’t quite figure what he was suggesting.

“Oh you know,” Javi nodded his head forwards, gesturing to the teen who had just parted ways from speaking with her. Gabe had only just began to walk away, going to assist a mother carrying a box of supplies into a small medical tent. Before he vanished he had been speaking with Clementine, asking her the backstory behind her prized weapon.

“Gabe?”

“Obviously.” Javi shrugged, settling his hands on his hips. “The guy has a major crush on you. Why not give him a chance?”

Javi’s arms deflated, his body sagging in disappointment. He could already knew how crushed Gabe would be when he delivered the news. “Not at all?”

Clementine shook her head, her hands swinging to now be in front of her body. “Not really. I don’t really uhm,” she cleared her throat, rubbing at the back of her neck. “Swing that way.”

Javi paused. “Are you trying to make a baseball reference?”

Silence.

“I mean, I guess yeah.”

“Because I don’t understand.”

“Of course you don’t.” Clementine sighed, hands now setting against her hips. It didn’t seem like there was any other way she’d be able to explain herself without spelling it out clearly for him.

“So,” he began again, snapping the teen out of her cautious daze. “Do you mind explaining it?”

Yep. She would spell it out plain and simple.

“I’m gay.” Her heartbeat escalated dramatically, slamming itself into her throat and causing her to choke on the sensation. She coughed to brush the feeling away. “I like girls.”

Javi stood in silent shock, arms swaying limply by his sides. “Oh.” He breathed, nodding his head and hoping to force himself out of the awkward position he had wedged himself into. “I see.”

“Yeah,” the girl sighed, eyes wandering around Richmond in hopes of not meeting his gaze. “So when I said I don’t swing that way–”

“Okay, now I gotcha.”

She gave a small nod, stifling the laughter she could feel bubbling in her chest at how slowly the puzzle pieces were clicking together for him. The reaction was actually better than what she was expecting. She had braced herself for anger, even the usual 'it’s a phase you’ll grow out of' spiel but, yet again, she didn’t have anything to fear around Javi. Yet again, he understood her.

Behind her, Clementine could sense the faint crunching of footsteps and watched as Javi’s eyes darted past her shoulder only to meekly shake his head. Still, she knew exactly who it was. Turning around she met the gaze of Gabe, red in the cheeks and meekly shifting from foot to foot.

Reeling in the second-hand embarrassment, Clementine spoke. “I’m sorry, Gabe. I’ve known for a little while now but I just,” she shrugged. “Don’t like boys.”

In the same manner as Javi’s, Gabe’s eyes widened in surprise having not heard that piece of info. “Oh.” Sometimes it was painfully obvious as to how the two were related. Quickly, as if bouncing back an instant later, he offered her a kind smile and patted her on the shoulder as he drifted towards Javi. “It’s fine, Clem. I understand.”

“We’re glad that you could tell us.” Javi offered a kind smile. “We love you all the same.”

Clementine could feel a warm smile grow against her. While the two men would argue that they saw a glimmer of happy tears in her eyes, they wouldn’t dare say it. Besides, she would deny it all the same.

Knowing that they accepted her with such ease filled her with pride. They were the first to know the secret she had been burying in her chest, the one she wasn’t sure what to do with or how to handle. For a while, she didn’t have an adult to speak to about the issue or to help guide her through what she was feeling. She was forced to figure herself out alone without guidance, reassurance, or acceptance. In a way, it made discovering who she was easier. But it also made coming out that much harder.

“What?” A voice behind them, one filled with tension and bitterness, sounded. “That’s disgusting.”

The group turned their attention to where the voice resonated from, spotting an older man leaning against the gardening shed to their left. He was tattered and haggard like a handful of Richmond members who had yet to find new clothing after the walkers flood a few weeks prior.

“How about you keep your opinions to yourself you old creep.” Javi spat, arms crossing over his chest. Lord knows how many people Clementine had told before the two of them, she didn’t need potentially one of the first confessions she’d ever had been squandered by a random asshole.

“It’s not an opinion if it’s what God wanted.”

Clementine rolled her eyes, stuffing her hands into her pockets and drawing away from the group, deciding to venture to the park in the centre of the town. “It’s better to ignore people like that.” She claimed.

“Why’s that?” Gabe asked, the hands which had been thrown into angry fists softening seeing her calmness.

“They’re crazy.” She shot a playful wink. “God only ever wants people to be happy. If I’m happy the way I am, that’s good enough for him.” She crossed her arms, hoping to prove her point to the bitter stranger.

Clem had never really been a religious person. Her parents would take her to church now and then when she was little but rarely did they venture farther. So, growing up in a world that seemed to be void from any kind of God, Clementine learned to form her own kind of belief system.

“I don’t know what you believe in girly but it sure as hell ain’t right.” He shot back, pushing himself off of the wall and venturing closer.

In precaution, Javi stood taller, hands falling to his sides ready to reach if the man dared move closer to Clementine. “You’re going to have a real sad life if all you ever do is critique who other people are.”

“I’m trying to fix this hellish world as much as I can.” He countered, resting his hands on his hips. “The world is as broken as it is because of us. All I’m doing is trying to fix it.”

“Turning on other people isn’t going to do anything.” Gabe countered, stepping out from behind Javier to state his case.

The stranger eyed him up and down, scoffing under his breath. “It will if it’s to people like her.”

Gabe stepped forward again, opening his mouth ready to continue when a voice spoke from behind them.

“If there is a God out there, he’s fine with me just the way I am.” Clem commented, capturing the gaze of the trio. “He made me after all, didn’t he? If he didn’t want me being this way, he would have made me differently.”

“Even God makes mistakes.”

“Clearly.” Javi shot back, shooting a glare at the peculiar man and directing the quip towards him. Seeming to be the final straw, the man’s brow furrowed and he hauntingly drew closer to the girl once more.

However, Gabe stepped before him and shoved a hand into his chest, stopping him right in his tracks. “I suggest you back off.”

“The rest of Richmond isn’t going to be happy with you if you dare attack a young girl just because she’s gay.”

“The rest of the town will stand with me.”

“Then clearly you don’t know this town very well.” Javi countered back. “Back off before you do something you’ll regret.”

“Guys, it’s fine.” Clementine assured, drawing closer with ease. In her motions there wasn’t a trace of fear or hesitation. It was as if this man didn’t phase her in the slightest. “Just leave him.”

“No way!” Gabe retorted, turning to face her with a look of passion. Reassurance. Even a hint of worry. “We’re not about to let him get away with saying this crap.”

“Don’t worry Clem, we’ll handle this.” Javi said, setting a hand against Gabe’s shoulder and shooting her a sincere smile. He gave a small wave, assuring her she could continue on her way out as she had intended to do so earlier.

As she turned, her back now facing the group of three, she could already hear their bickering words surface into the air once more, only fiercer this time. More heated.

“You’re going to leave her alone, alright? Don’t go around bugging her again.” She heard Gabe shoot, his voice far tenser than from when she had been watching.

“If we hear that you’re on her case again, I promise you, you’ll be hearing from us.” Javi spat, his words poisonous to the taste. “She doesn’t deserve that.”

Clementine hugged her arms to her chest the entire while. Not in fear, but rather in comfort and hope. It was amazing that the group she had known for such a short amount of time was so quick to defend her, especially for something that apparently so many deemed as controversial.

Every day she would be thankful that she was blessed with a new family that accepted her for exactly who she was. Even better, they defended her. They defended her for being herself, and that was the greatest gift of all.

Even if they were threatening violence against a homophobe, she couldn’t care less. Their heart was in the right place. ———♥️♥️♥️———-

[reactingtosomething]

Reacting to Baby Driver

The Wright Amount

The Setup: For this post we’re thrilled to bring you two Guest Reactors, both former film school classmates of ours, and both Edgar Wright aficionados. One is Andrew, one half of the Punder Twins (we hope you’ll meet the other half in the foreseeable future), and the other wanted a codename like Bats and Buddy, so we’re calling him BOB. All caps, because BOB likes that it works as an acronym for “Boring Old Bob.”

SPOILERS -- and fan/re-casting -- after the jump!

MIRI: Ok, so what did we think of Baby Driver?

ANDREW: Oh we're starting this? It was very, Edgar wright-y

KRIS: I don’t know how much this will matter, but for context I thought it might be fun to start with everyone’s favorite (pre-Baby Driver) Edgar Wright movies/moments

MIRI: I went into the movie not really expecting to like it (the trailers just didn’t grab me the way they did SO MANY people) so I was actually really pleasantly surprised by how much I liked it

Ooh, I like that

What are yours?

BOB: "You ain't ever seen Bad Boys 2?" - Hot Fuzz

KRIS: With the caveat that I haven’t rewatched any of them, I think my favorite is Scott Pilgrim

ANDREW: The entirety of Scott pilgrim vs the world 

KRIS: which admittedly has the unfair advantages of Anna Kendrick and Aubrey Plaza

But also “Chicken’s not vegan?”

Just an insanely stacked cast

ANDREW: I was about to say that!

MIRI: I’d have to go Sean of the Dead

*Shaun

BOB: 

KRIS: Of the Cornettos I do think Hot Fuzz is my favorite

ANDREW: Mine too! I still wish he directed ant man. I mean, I liked ant man. But...

MIRI: Hot Fuzz is excellent, but Shaun of the Dead just surprised me so much in so many delightful ways

KRIS: Oh also I liked that in the big GQ interview Chris Evans did when he got cast for Captain America, he mentioned that his friends thought his Scott Pilgrim character was hilariously spot-on, though maybe they thought this ironically

I’d have to revisit the piece, which I feel like is semi-legendary in entertainment journalism circles

BOB: I really like how he took that film and made it both a reflection of the action genre as a whole while also making it very much so an original film 

KRIS: I’ll try to find and link

MIRI: Yeah, he does great things with loving parodies

KRIS: Shaun of the Dead was definitely revelatory, although I probably saw it a year or two too early to fully appreciate it

BOB: Which when I watched Baby Driver, you could say he does the same to an extent with heist and car chase movies

MIRI: This didn’t feel as much like a sendup to me as it did just an example of the genre

BOB: It has a little Reservoir Dogs / The Killing (Kubricks) feel to it with the nicknames

KRIS: Guillermo del Toro’s very complimentary Twitter thread about the movie made a point of stressing that where Wright has previously been ironic, Baby Driver was newly and lovingly earnest

MIRI: Yeah, I’d agree. And in some places that worked better for me than others

ANDREW: I concur with the famous director.

MIRI: I’m curious--on a scale of 1-10 how much did you guys love this movie?

BOB: 9.5 

ANDREW: ...8?

BOB: Maybe cause i am sucker for the non verbal acting in the first half and the syncing of music with action 

ANDREW: That's true. The non verbal acting was top notch.

KRIS: I’m probably a 6.5 - 7? I liked but didn’t love it, and the framing for my expectations is that I follow approximately 3 million film critics on Twitter and everyone who saw the movie screen at Austin L O V E D it

MIRI: I’m somewhere around a 6.5 or a 7. It’s totally fun! The performances are great! But it’s also pretty lazy in some ways and has some plot issues. But the action is GREAT

KRIS: The physicality of Baby was definitely great

(Do we know that actor from anything?)

BOB: Fault in our stars

MIRI: Kris, I love you

He’s also in the Divergent films

and he’s the new Han Solo

ANDREW: He is also in baby driver

MIRI: This definitely seems like a step away from the teen heartthrob of it all for him

KRIS: The new Han Solo is Alden Ehrenreich. Same initials, different dude

MIRI: Ohhh oops

BOB: Fact check - han solo is alden something

They look very alike though!

MIRI: Was Elgort in the mix at one point or am I 100% wrong?

BOB: However... he is credited as Ansolo in Bad Santa 2

Yes he was

MIRI: Ok, that makes me feel slightly better

BOB: Damn this guy is only 23!

MIRI: OOOhhh, Alden Ehrenreich is the kid from Beautiful Creatures

I’m never going to get them fully separate in my head now

ANDREW: Bob! Don't look at ages!

It's depressing.

KRIS: (To our guests: we also have frequent and lengthy digressions)

(we very briefly tried to fight it but we know our limits)

MIRI: My favorite person in this movie was definitely Joseph, the foster dad

ANDREW: My favorite was Kevin spacey's kid.

KRIS: I kind of wished we’d gotten more of Jon Bernthal but I did love the Joseph scenes

OH YEAH

He was great

ANDREW: Oh my god, yes! I thought Jon was gonna come back!

I almost forgot he was in the movie.

BOB: Back to BD, BOB is very interested in getting his hands on seeing how much of the movie was motivated by the actual words on the page. A bevy of characters like the nephew and Jon Bernthals limited scenes. Heck even the small bits like the postal worker were interesting

MIRI: I liked the interactions with the postal worker

The headshake played really nicely

BOB: One plot hole for me was who was the hero that tried to ram them (The Flea/Brian Tee trio) because that guy had some guns on him

KRIS: I did really like how IMMEDIATELY everything went to shit in that moment

The second act really dragged for me but I thought this started and ended really strong

MIRI: That’s the plot hole that bothers you?

KRIS: Say more BOB

ANDREW: Damn you good Samaritan! 

BOB: Seemed like a setup that wasn't fully explained. Was Brian Tee's character in on it? Is that why he got s bullet in the head? Or was it more so over the fact that he fucked up 3 times

MIRI: He seemed like an ex-military hired security guy to me

BOB: Mike myers, dragged getting into car, left his shotgun

KRIS: I think he was just a Good Samaritan but he had a Marine Corps hat

BOB: I noticed that hat too but unsure if there was a fix there

MIRI: Oh, I thought it was additional hired security since there had been so many robberies lately

BOB: Miri good point!!!

KRIS: Oh, I didn’t think about it after the movie but in the moment I thought the lost shotgun would come back to bite them

ANDREW: Ooooh that's smart. ... I hope that it.

BOB: Yes likewise about the shotgun 

MIRI: Yeah, I definitely thought the shotgun would come back

I did like the clear willingness to take out allies like that

BOB: What plotholes bugged you MS?

MIRI: BUT that makes me buy Doc helping Baby TO THE EXPENSE OF HIS OWN LIFE even less

BOB: Yes that was good. Start of seeing how Bats was real fucked up

KRIS: Yeah, I did like the setup of Doc’s operation a lot

BOB: Bats killed him

Not Doc

MIRI: I get the weird affection, but that carried it way beyond believability to me.

There’s no planting of that (at least not any that works for me)

ANDREW: I don't know. I bought doc helping baby.

MIRI: Oh, Bats killed him? How do we know that?

BOB: "Moment you catch feelings, moment you catch a bullet."

KRIS: But it would’ve been on Doc’s orders, right?

MIRI: But the guy didn’t catch feelings, he was just bad at his job

BOB: He was already riled up. And he is very trigger happy

Perhaps Docs orders but he didn't seem type to get dirty.

He caught a feeling of being dumb then! Lol

MIRI: I don’t buy Doc helping Baby. Baby destroyed his whole operation, put his actual loved ones in jeopardy, and is now leaving him meaning he can’t pull any jobs for/with him ever again. Plus Doc definitely seems like a survivor above all else, which helping Baby totally invalidates

BOB: Would it have made sense if say Doc was like a relative ala how we see him train the nephew?

MIRI: Sure, but he’s not

BOB: I thought it was gonna go in that direction

ANDREW: You’re right, but he essentially raised Baby and worked with him for like a decade. Albeit forcefully. Do you really think after all that doc would just shoot baby in the face?

However logical it seems?

MIRI: For the level of betrayal Baby has just given him, maybe

ANDREW: Doc seems likes family man to me.

MIRI: Or at least let him twist on the rope he’s put up himself

ANDREW: A sick

KRIS: I buy Doc not killing Baby, if not the risks he then takes on Baby’s behalf

MIRI: He definitely seems like a family man, but I don’t think he treats Baby as family enough to justify the turn for me

ANDREW: That fair.

MIRI: Agreed

KRIS: I think meeting his son, and seeing how the kid is totally well adjusted, is part of setting that up

BOB: Doc shooting up people was a stretch 

MIRI: The kid was his nephew, I think

BOB: I buy the take this money and run angle a lot

Yes nephew

ANDREW: Then baby is the son he never had!

Son of a bitch!

MIRI: But he’s clearly close with him--watches movies with him, etc. He doesn’t spend time with Baby outside of business

BOB: He bought him dinner!

ANDREW: He bought him dinner!

MIRI: i’m with Kris--I don’t think he would have killed Baby necessarily, but he goes way further than I believe

He bought him dinner once, and partially as a chance to threaten Debbie and get Baby back into the game

BOB: He talks to him perhaps more so whenever he picks up him for a job

KRIS: I can sort of see dots to connect from Doc being willing to order terrible things but deliberately distancing himself from them to avoid catching feelings, because he knows or suspects that if he gets too close then he’ll stop being the criminal mastermind he wants to be

MIRI: He’s clearly closer with him than with most employees, I’m not denying that!

I just don’t think they put in enough groundwork to make me believe the turn

KRIS: I don’t think the movie does that work for you

MIRI: The movie expects me to buy emotional connections that it doesn’t show on a couple of fronts

The fact that Deborah is willing to run away with a guy she BARELY knows is ridiculous

BOB: Stop trying to catch feelings Miri!!! Bats may be listening!

ANDREW: Bro, that train I can get on.

MIRI: Even without the bank robber, just shot someone right in front of her thing

ANDREW: I kind of wanted Debra to say "thanks but no thanks" in act three.

That would have been a funny twist.

MIRI: I would have been into that

BOB: It happens... maybe she felt protected?? But they do have moments where they are similar. The love for the road, the music, the need and want to escape 

Maybe she was tired of the old humdrum reality of things

ANDREW: But baby just shot a man at the diner

BOB: Ala Thelma and Louise

MIRI: Right, they have the building blocks for dating, but not “Run away from everyone you’ve ever known with me forever”

Thelma and Louise were lifelong friends

BOB: I'm comparing the desire versus status of relationship length

MIRI: Baby and Deborah have had like 7 conversations

KRIS: (Oh god for like days I’ve been confusing Lily Collins with Lily James)

ANDREW: Most of them are about names.

MIRI: (Me too! Can I blame you this time??)

KRIS: (Yes, because you were there when I did it out loud)

BOB: Too many Lilys and Han Solo look alikes!!

MIRI: BOB: Right, but the “you jump I jump” of it all makes sense because of the love that’s already there. You don’t risk it all for a virtual stranger Basically, I think some of the relationships are weak. They knew what marks they wanted/needed to hit, but didn’t do the work of getting there well

KRIS: I think they do establish that Debora doesn’t have anything in her life early on, but I agree that across the board the movie wants me to make emotional leaps that it doesn’t work to achieve

HOWEVER

MIRI: When there’s an actual depth of relationship like between Baby and Joseph it WORKS

Buddy and Darling work

KRIS: For the sake of argument, there’s this “all the characters in Baby Driver are archetypes” case I’ve seen floated

MIRI: (we have three spellings of Debora’s name going and Kris is right about it)

KRIS: Which doesn’t work for me, but I want to know how you feel about it

In fairness, I have IMDB open

MIRI: Eh. Feels like an excuse. Especially when there are the examples of genuine emotional connections

ANDREW: Can we talk about how there are only two female characters in the movie? 1 is a love interest and the other is fodder for Jon Hamm to be the villain?

MIRI: I would say that Debora and Darling fit the Madonna/Whore archetypes to a disturbing level

KRIS: AND EIZA GONZALEZ IS 20 YEARS JON HAMM’S JUNIOR

ANDREW: Genre be damned. That's a little ridiculous.

MIRI: more than a little

BOB: Hmmm interesting point Andrew! But what about the Mom? So 3?

KRIS: She’s not a “character”

MIRI: The mom isn’t a character

ANDREW: Fodder for baby to have tinnitus?

MIRI: she’s an excuse for maintain

*manpain

BOB: Ahh man pain 

MIRI: She has no arc or actions, and her only voice is filtered through Baby

Also, they do an interesting thing of rarely showing her face fully, which I assume is due to his memories being limited/fading

and it’s very cool on that front

BOB: Ditto with Miri

MIRI: but also she’s about 1/4 of the women in the entire film and we barely see or hear her

it’s not great

Can we take a moment to imagine how much more interesting the Buddy/Darling dynamic would have been if their ages and roles were reversed?

Just for fun

ANDREW: No. I was kind of hoping for something more out of Darling. But then she got shot... a lot.

BOB: Maybe if Doc was a female then perhaps the whole giving themself up in Act 3 seems more believable

MIRI: Because I would have been totally there for that

ANDREW: I was just thinking that Miri!

BOB: She got shot the fuck up

This movie put the female characters through the ringer in terms distress and pain

MIRI: The whole benevolent tolerance of Baby thing that Buddy does would have hit so harder from a potential mother figure when it went away

Yeah, it’s very lazy on that front. And--much as we love him!--not super surprising from Wright

He doesn’t seem to hate women by any stretch, he just doesn’t really seem to think of them much

KRIS: I want writer-directors like Edgar Wright and Christopher Nolan to have to take a seminar co-taught by like, Ava Duvernay and Patty Jenkins

MIRI: Is there more than one female character of note in any of the films he’s written and directed (not based on preexisting property)?

BOB: Now you have me catching feelings... questioning my overall thoughts

MIRI: YES

Also, I want to take those seminars too!

Sorry, BOB

BOB: Sign me up

MIRI: But also not sorry because it’s important to be critical of the media we love!

And the dude is clearly smart and awesome and I expect better of him

ANDREW: True that!

MIRI: Female Baby would have been interesting too

BOB: Very true... i guess I was caught up with the beauty of the action and syncs with music. Didn't take a step back to examine the archetypes 

I'm down to an 8 now

KRIS: I do think that Lily James and Eliza Gonzalez both do a lot with a little, but I also want to point out that that’s something actresses in every genre and every budget range have to do all the time

MIRI: SO true

KRIS: Also here is a tweet for Miri:

https://twitter.com/carolineframke/status/880639492025090048

MIRI: HAHAHHAHAHA

BOB: Still thinking about your posed question

MIRI: I love Caroline Framke

KRIS: About reversing the age dynamic?

BOB: I loved Lily James in this

KRIS: I’m trying to think of who I’d like to see in that reversal

BOB: Daisy Ridley?

MIRI: Ooh

BOB: Or in the Buddy / Darling?

MIRI: Wait, Daisy Ridley as female Baby? I’d be into that

KRIS: Buddy/Darling I mean

Ohhhh

BOB: Helen Mirren / Dave Franco 

KRIS: I don’t know that she’s my first choice but I could see it

MIRI: Ooh, interesting! Even more of an age gap, but I’m not it

ANDREW: No... James Franco. 

Spring breeeeeeak

MIRI: Maybe Marisa Tomei and someone?

BOB: Susan Sarandon / Zac Efron

MIRI: (Spring Break fo’evaaaaa)

BOB: Ahh Marisa! Aunt freaking May

KRIS: I almost went with like Kate Beckinsale/anyone but then I thought about all the thinkpieces about movies/TV that keep pairing brown men with white women

MIRI: She’s a similar level of hot and unexpected for a vicious role like this

GINA TORRES

GINA TORRES AND SOME HOT YOUNG DUDE

BOB: Hmmm let's switch it up.... Viola Davis / White dude

KRIS: Or like Jennifer Lopez

Jennifer Lopez would’ve killed in this

BOB: Ahhh J Loooooo

MIRI: Omg yes to both of those

BOB: J lo and Drake

MIRI: Drake’s not young enough, is he?

ANDREW: De age him 

MIRI: Ooh ooh ooh, John Boyega

JLo and John Boyega

BOB: No he seems to big in size

For J Los taste

MIRI: This tangent has gone wildly afield and I like it

KRIS: This is making me think we should make fan-cast pieces a regular thing on Reacting to Something, not that it’s super original but it would be fun

BOB: But i like that it'd be interesting to see her be the one in control and she is super tiny

MIRI: YES LET”S DO THAT

BOB: slap hands!! Yes

MIRI: I think JLo could play that

KRIS: It’s also making me think of a writing exercise Writing Teacher likes to suggest, where you have a stack of locations, a stack of actors, and a stack of genres on index cards, and you draw randomly and have to come up with loglines

BOB: 

MIRI: Wait why are we not doing that as a party game?

KRIS: Oh she also always includes tequila when she says this

MIRI: I am IN

KRIS: Literally always

BOB: I like tequila

That would be a fun game 

MIRI: I might do gin instead sometimes, but I am IN

KRIS: We’ve never actually done it but she likes it as a brainstorming thing

MIRI: ok, we should maybe talk some more about Baby Driver

Let’s talk about the awesome music some, because it really was great!

KRIS: Yeah

BOB: Actually I have a game like that minus the whole actors/ actresses names

KRIS: You still have to write a Saoirse Ronan movie, BOB

Film school cohort reference, sorry readers

ANDREW: I would like to talk about something I did really like though, and that was the use and portrayal of tinnitus. I know a few people with the condition, one more severe. But whenever there isn't music, there is a faint ringing in the sound.

KRIS: (I like that the all caps just comes off as accusatory)

MIRI: Say more, Andrew

ANDREW: How it’s something he lives with, but it's also his biggest weakness.

Like when Jon Hamm blows out his ducking hearing at the end.

BOB: Don't remind me Kris :-(

MIRI: Oh I misread that as something you DIDN’T like, whoops

ANDREW: Fucking*

MIRI: OMG that was such a vicious move!

Honestly, I didn’t expect it

And I may have jumped in my seat a little

BOB: It was vicious and a great line/scene

MIRI: Totally

KRIS: Yeah

MIRI: I expected the whole kill your girl thing, but the hearing was a great touch

ANDREW: It's just nice to see people acknowledge that it exists. And having it shown with accuracy.

MIRI: Did anyone else not super buy his whole Quirky Thing?

ANDREW: Which quirky thing? There are like 30z

MIRI: Exactly

KRIS: And whose quirky thing?

MIRI: Baby’s

It felt like a very deliberate persona

ANDREW: It did, yeah.

KRIS: I mostly bought the mixtape stuff etc. as an extension of his obsession with music between both the tinnitus and his mom

MIRI: I liked him a lot when he wasn’t performing--when he’s dancing around in the apartment, etc--but as just a dude on the street who doesn’t care that he’s walking out in front of people all the damn time it’s a bit much

The mixtapes I buy

ANDREW: I liked that he had 5 pairs of sunglasses.

KRIS: I actually bought his clumsiness on the street because I read it as a cost to having to pump music into his ears all the time

MIRI: And the iPods, now that I’ve read the Edgar Wright explanation that he finds them (and the sunglasses) in cars

BOB: I can understand it as him thinking its a little game the first time he does that

But yeah running into people is just rude!! Expected someone to deck him

ANDREW: Ooooh I like that he finds them in cars.

MIRI: He just felt like he was trying really hard to be weird a lot of the time

(Right? that’s a nice detail!)

ANDREW: I didn't even think of that. But I love it!

MIRI: But then again, he only feels comfortable with a very small number of people, so I guess a persona is not surprising

BOB: Just thought of anther Baby - Chloe Grace Moretz! 

KRIS: I’ll say I didn’t really buy him as turning out to be a badass

MIRI: And the bigness of it all makes a lot of sense with Joseph, since ASL relies pretty heavily on exaggerated gesture to convey tone

KRIS: I’m going to pitch Saoirse Ronan, who is also 23

MIRI: Really? It semi made sense to me as an extension of his driving insanity

KRIS: Not just because I’m giving BOB shit

Hmm

MIRI: omg YES to Saoirse Ronan

KRIS: (BOB have you seen Hanna yet?)

MIRI: Like, he’s super willing to take risks and put it all on the line when driving. He doesn’t have a desire to be violent, but when put in the position to be I believe him capable

BOB: Yeah not a badass. The him running and jumping scene when he escaped and jumps over the car was a little crazy. Only reason I could see it being believable is because he had a pull up bar in hid kitchen and he might work out or like to swing around and shit.

MIRI: (I haven’t seen Hanna yet and I know I need to)

KRIS: (I FORGOT YOU HAVEN’T SEEN IT)

BOB: (no ... stop making BOB feel bad)

MIRI: Him being able to outrun the cops surprised me some

(I KNOW, I KNOW)

ANDREW: I... also haven't seen it.

BOB: (Let's watch Hanna Miri)

MIRI: (Is ist streaming anywhere??)

KRIS: I almost bought the parkour-lite, because it seemed to be an extension of how in tune he is with his physicality

ANDREW: Sorry Kris.

BOB: (Checking Netflix)

MIRI: Yeah, that makes sense. Except that I’m also supposed to be ok with him being super clumsy and unaware other times

KRIS: I forgive you Andrew

MIRI: Maybe it’s all a matter of focus?

KRIS: (Miri/BOB Guest Reaction!)

BOB: (no sadly)

MIRI: (I’m checking Amazon)

BOB: Yes matter of focus like an adrenaline rush??

ANDREW: Yeah, probably.

KRIS: That and it doesn’t involve him in direct confrontation with another human

BOB: (No to amazon)

KRIS: the same way driving is impersonal

ANDREW: I empathize with that.

MIRI: (rentable, though. We could do a watching party sometime)

KRIS: I own Hanna

MIRI: (Oh, sweet)

KRIS: should’ve led with that

MIRI: Way to abandon the parentheses convention too

KRIS: SORRY

MIRI: 😉 

SOMEONE TALK ABOUT THE MUSIC IN BABY DRIVER

I liked it

ANDREW: Is there a reason half the convo is in parenthesis?

MIRI: Yes, because it was an aside about Hanna, not anyhting about Baby Driver

KRIS: I thought it worked the way Wright wanted it to, and BOB and I talked about how it’s almost like the logical next step of what Guardians of the Galaxy does with its music supervision

MIRI: it theoretically helps keep this tangle all straight when you read it

Does it, readers?

BOB: I liked how he used the music to drive (pun intended) a lot of the action and dialogue 

MIRI: Hmmm, how so, Kris?

ANDREW: Ooooooooooooooh. I get it.

MIRI: Also, how many steps between this and the jukebox musical format? Because I feel like it’s getting close

KRIS: But we’ve previously established on this blog that I much prefer instrumental scores to needle drops, and at some point that’s more a taste thing than an artistic criticism

MIRI: Not that I mind that

ANDREW: Like one. Baby needs to actually sing.

BOB: Wright had the music in mind as he wrote it ala James Gunn but it does more than just be backdrop music or something that comes on when play is clicked

MIRI: Kris hates excessive needle drops so much, you guys

BOB: I love needle drops

MIRI: Does the fact that it’s all diagetic make it more palatable, Kris?

KRIS: I guess what I mean -- and BOB please interject here -- is that Guardians uses really well chosen needle drops as a critical part of Peter’s emotional arc

Yes

ANDREW: I agree with that too, actually.

KRIS: And Baby Driver takes that to 11 by syncing it to the physical action

MIRI: I’m with you

BOB: Like the Jamie Foxx scene where he tells him to play something funky --> shootout --> Tequila line

KRIS: That like half-second shot of Buddy cocking Darling’s pistol in time with the music in the warehouse gunfight is super cool

BOB: The music itself lended to the shootout scene

KRIS: And of course the timing of Buddy’s shots in the shootout with the cops when Darling gets killed

ANDREW: That was pretty sweet!

MIRI: I also liked him making them wait for him to restart the song on the second job

BOB: Whenever a drum banged, a gun shot rang out

ANDREW: That's me. That's what I would do.

MIRI: God, that one was screwed from the beginning, wasn’t it?

KRIS: Yeah, and I read that partly as a way he has to compensate for his hearing being compromised

BOB: Haha yes it was Miri

MIRI: Yeah, the shooting synchronization was obviously awesome

KRIS: Presumably he knows all the streets of Atlanta really well so he figures out his route ahead of time and syncs it to his playlist

Have any of you been to Atlanta?

Or I guess spent serious time there?

MIRI: Yes, but it was about 6 years ago and I didn’t drive

So no

ANDREW: Nope!

KRIS: I’ve seen/heard different opinions on how well it’s used as a location

And I was just curious if any of you knew it well enough to comment

BOB: I've seen the show... that count?

MIRI: Yeah, lots of relief that something shot in Atlanta is actually being presented as Atlanta instead of New York or whatever

But some people feel like they kept it very surface level, right?

KRIS: Right

Almost touristy, I guess is that line of thought

MIRI: I’ll agree that it didn’t have a particularly Atlanta feel in anything other than Baby’s accent (which ALWAYS surprised me every time he opened his mouth)

BOB: Yes much relief!! I liked that. Wish they had used Ludacris now that i think about it in the soundtrack... but perhaps since he is in F&F probably thought otherwise

KRIS: Hahaha

BOB: It felt somewhat like a different city when he walkef around during the coffee runs

Driving on the highways too.

This move may have been Miri’s favorite thing Baby did all movie

So it didn't have the NYC or LA feel to it

KRIS: Yeah, the first coffee run scene for sure definitely felt distinct in that way

“for sure definitely”

shut up Kris

MIRI: Don’t tell yourself to shut up, Kris

ANDREW: I didn't really realize it was in Atlanta. To me it was nameless city.

But, I don't know anything about Atlanta, so... *shrug*

Can I tell Kris to shut up?

KRIS: I also had that!

The not realizing where it was exactly

And yes

BOB: (Gonna be driving for next 10 mins - so a little radio silence on my part)

It felt like a Southern city though

Thanks to the accents

ANDREW: Good! I'm glad I'm not the only one, Kris. Now shit your pie hole!

KRIS: I need to get better at placing accents

MIRI: I guess the food didn’t feel very regional to me, and I would have expected it to

Better like you didn’t pick up that they were Southern? Or better like you didn’t read it as Atlanta specifically?

ANDREW: The second one, for me personally.

KRIS: Both that I definitely didn’t read Atlanta specifically, and that while I recognized Southern accents I didn’t connect the dots to “oh this is in the South”

MIRI: I don’t think most people not from the South would read it as Atlanta specifically, so I wouldn’t worry about that

KRIS: Partly because I think Southern accents are sometimes used in kind of a tropey way with characters like Debora

MIRI: They so are

ANDREW: Right!!

KRIS: And I guess I’m also just used to hearing Kevin Spacey as Frank Underwood?

MIRI: Yeah, I think I am too

ANDREW: Me three.

MIRI: Ok, any points (or random thoughts) left to address? 

ANDREW: Man, the last two action films I saw had Kevin Spacey and Robin Wright in them respectively...

MIRI: What Does It Mean??

I thought the dude describing guns as cuts of meat was incredibly Extra and I liked it

ANDREW: That we are in... a house of cards?!?!

KRIS: That we need a movie where Robin Wright punches Kevin Spacey in the throat

I also liked the gun thing

Although it’s hard to beat John Wick 2 for that

BOB: Lol a house of cards?!

Need to see that still

MIRI: “we need a movie where Robin Wright punches Kevin Spacey in the throat” YES YES YES OH MY GOD YES

I just need there to be an Antiope movie

And for most if not all of it to take place on Themyscira

I NEEEEEED it

KRIS: I feel like most people would agree this is a very surface-level movie, and that where opinions diverge is on whether that’s A) deliberate and especially B) a good/cool thing

MIRI: That’s fair

Where does everyone stand on both points?

KRIS: I have definitely liked style-as-substance things very much before

I mean again, John Wick comes to mind, at least the first one for this point

MIRI: John Wick might be style over substance, but I think it’s consistently so

KRIS: And Tarsem Singh’s wild Greek mythology action movie Immortals

But I don’t know, this lost me for a good long while in the middle

ANDREW: It also very auteur. In the sense of, if you watch this film, you either learn what wright is like as a director, or recognize his directing.

KRIS: For sure

MIRI: That’s the hanging point to me--if you want that as an excuse, you can’t go deeper on some parts. You have to stay on that level and have fun there 

ANDREW: Even if there are better films in his roster.

MIRI: Yeah, you always know you’re watching an Edgar Wright film

ANDREW: For me, it's more surface than anything else. Stylish and fun, but there are much better films of his, and better stylish films in general.

I guess it depends on how much you like Edgar Wright.

KRIS: Yeah, I definitely wouldn’t put this in the upper half of his filmography

MIRI: It’s definitely a fun movie. I enjoyed the whole thing in the theater, with some moments of having to just accept the flaws. 

KRIS: Which I guess is why the reactions out of Austin surprised me in hindsight

Oh I did really like that Baby didn’t get away

MIRI: Basically, if you can resist pulling the threads and you want a car chase movie it’s exactly what you want

KRIS: Although I don’t know that I loved him getting out of prison early

ANDREW: Me too!!!

MIRI: Yeah, I’m surprised it’s been as critically loved as it has (and largely without caveat)

ANDREW: What a twist!!!!

MIRI: Yes, that was an actually unexpected beat and I really liked it!

KRIS: Yeah I was really like “Man, how is he going to end this?” and then he really did the right thing and went with something that felt both surprising and inevitable

MIRI: Props to Mr. Wright!

ANDREW: I was still expecting him to escape Bourne style into the water until he got the cuffs thrown on.

MIRI: That would also have been a turn

ANDREW: Like Debora would smile as Baby swims away and the action music will play.

And credits.

KRIS: And the structural success there again makes the characterization choices frustrating to me

https://twitter.com/tvoti/status/881358030016618497

MIRI: HAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHHA

KRIS: I didn’t actually CARE that much about Baby

MIRI: Well that’s not a great thing, is it?

KRIS: I would’ve dug a Bourne style ending

Although I could also see it feeling tonally more like previous Wright films than this one

Because it was such a “Fuck yeah!” moment in Ultimatum

MIRI: I think Debora should have busted out unexpected abilities and gotten them out

KRIS: And I guess this was generally more elegiac

ANDREW: The Baby Ultimatum.

MIRI: hahahahaha

KRIS: A+

ANDREW: Or the Bourne Driver?

KRIS: We need a Punder Twins reaction at some point

I’m out of stuff but I want to wait for BOB to get back to check in one more time

MIRI: Btw, if Baby’s Saoirse Ronan I still want Debora to be a girl (which I know surprises no one)

ANDREW: The Punder Twins will always be there Kris, when you need us.

MIRI: Hmmmm, what should we have them React to?

KRIS: Something they could use as a Nostalgiology tie-in

#crosspromotion

ANDREW: *Shrugs* I'm up to anything.

MIRI: ANASTASIA

Because then there can be gifs of the dress to fully convey the wonder of it and I can talk more about Anastasia

Which is always a goal

KRIS: I have not seen Anastasia

MIRI: KRIS

KRIS IT’S A GODDAMN DELIGHT

ANDREW: In the dark of the night... Kris will watch it!

Watch it!

You'll get that someday, Kris.

MIRI: ❤️ ❤️ ❤️ 

KRIS: BOB I am starting an arbitrary countdown

I am not sure what the units are

Or how many of them

But it is happening in my head

MIRI: That is the most arbitrary of arbitrary

I like it

KRIS: What was the first song in Baby Driver? Let’s do the runtime of that

MIRI: I don’t know

KRIS: 

ANDREW: I think "Bellbottoms?"

Oh hey!

KRIS: THIS IS A VERY GENEROUS COUNTDOWN BOB

ANDREW: Let's hope he doesn't... bottoms out?

IM NOT SORRY!

KRIS: Oh now that I’m listening to it this was a REALLY fun opening wasn’t it

MIRI: You’re never sorry

ANDREW: It was!!!

MIRI: It really was

Although!

KRIS: Offscreen action is almost always a fun choice

MIRI: Him operating the windshield wipers dry BOTHERED ME

KRIS: Like in Mission Impossible 3

ANDREW: They didn't do a good amount of off screen action.

KRIS: I guess it wasn’t really offscreen here

But it sort of feels like it in my hazy memory

MIRI: But it was removed--we were seeing it from a distance

KRIS: BOB has 2 minutes

ANDREW: And the heist gone wrong had off screen action too. Before the Good Samaritan got involved.

KRIS: Oh yeah and that was used pretty well as a dramatic beat rather than a comic one

MIRI: The Heist Gone Wrong is a good title

What genre would we put this in?

ANDREW: Rom com

MIRI: I’ve seen it described as a comedy and it isn’t to me

Andrew

ANDREW: What?

MIRI: If it was a rom com she’d have held him not talking to her in front of his friends against him way harder

KRIS: Oh maybe that was also part of why it didn’t totally work for me, in terms of expectations

BOB the song is over

BOB

ANDREW: I was taking about the Heist Gone Wrong as a rom com!

MIRI: A lack of communication gone horribly awry is fundamental in rom coms

Ohhhhhhh

That makes sense

I meant to ask about Baby Driver

ANDREW: Oh! Action... thriller... musical?

MIRI: Is The Heist Gone Wrong our alternate universe version of this film with Ronan, JLo, etc? Because I’m into that

It is now

KRIS: Hmm

MIRI: Yeah, I’d put Baby Driver as action drama, not comedy

ANDREW: Yeah, it wasn't really funny.

KRIS: I’m thinking of how the Golden Globes lumps musicals and comedies together

MIRI: I mean there are definitely comedic beats! But they’re not the focus. Plus way too many people die if we’re going classical on our definitions

KRIS: There’s an element of genre snobbery

MIRI: Very much so

ANDREW: A lot of people do die in Shaun of the dead though.

KRIS: I like action musical

MIRI: But it’s not actually a musical

KRIS: Hmm

ANDREW: Its more of a... ballet

But with driving

MIRI: Yes!

Very apt description!!

ANDREW: And murder

Why thank you!

KRIS: Yeah, that’s good

MIRI: A...Ballet but with Driving and Murder for sub-heading?

KRIS: BOBDAMMIT

Yes

MIRI: hahahahhahahahha Bobdammit

Ok, we may just have to call it, guys

KRIS: I won’t hold anyone else hostage here if anyone needs to bail but I’ll wait it out

MIRI: Ok. I have to get my Orphan Black thoughts in order to post, so I’ll be around

ANDREW: It's up to you two. I'm a guest here.

BOB: Sorry reading 

KRIS: BOB!

MIRI: BOB’s back!

BOB: What's the question?!

KRIS: Just anything else you wanted to bring up

MIRI: We just didn’t want to wrap up without you

BOB: In a different life I am Baby

Very interested in the idea of reclassifying films such as this one with an alternate casting

Got me thinking all types of things now

MIRI: We should definitely make that a thing we do

KRIS: I actually really want to hear more about you-as-Baby, if you have more to say about that

BOB: Overall down to an 8 after the very Wright-ful comment on lack of women

MIRI: Andrew, he’s coming for your pun king crown!!

BOB: Well based on him driving and my life as a Lyft driver i started thinking about what I jam out to

ANDREW: Welcome to the fold, BOB.

BOB: But I enjoyed the film thoroughly and as mentioned yesterday want to get my hands on the script

To see how the link up and syncing up with action and music

MIRI: I wonder if Wright is a better director than he is a writer

BOB: I believe that despite its flaws with some characters and a few plot holes, as a whole should be considered for something award worthy because of its ingenuity with music and action

ANDREW: A Wright... er.

MIRI: I wouldn’t say it deserves best screenplay or anything, but a sound design nom would be well deserved

Especially factoring in the ringing

(Is that sound design or sound engineering? I always mess them up)

BOB: I think a Golden globe nod

ANDREW: I think design!

I could be wrong.

I'm probably wrong.

MIRI: Whichever I mean, that one!

KRIS: For the Oscars, Sound Editing is for making effects, Sound Mixing is for how you layer them together

So I could maybe see nods for both in this case

MIRI: So design isn’t even an option

That seems right

KRIS: I tend to say “sound design” as a safe/cop-out catchall

Oh I could totally see a Globe nod

BOB: How about its cinematography?

KRIS: in that weird Best Musical or Comedy category

MIRI: Hmmmm. I never really noticed the cinematography the way I did the sound

(don’t tell my dad)

Miri’s dad is a camera operator

KRIS: Same, except in that single shot coffee run

MIRI: Yeah, that was fun

BOB: It was shot really well

KRIS: But I would believe it was a hard movie to shoot, since most of the effects/stunts were practical

MIRI: They ought to get recognition for the stunts/driving

ANDREW: It was shot very stylistically too.

MIRI: Is there a stunt Oscar or Globe?

ANDREW: How many cars were destroyed in the making of this film?

BOB: Not yet

KRIS: I feel like I’ve heard that stunt people have been pushing for an Oscar?

Which should definitely be a thing

MIRI: Yeah, looks like no go yet

BOB: The Wright amount of cars were destroyed

KRIS: Oh my god

ANDREW: Son of a bitch!!!!

MIRI: Roughly 150, apparently 

ANDREW: Is that really the number?

Holy shit!

MIRI: http://www.cinemablend.com/news/1665810/the-crazy-number-of-cars-edgar-wright-used-for-baby-driver

Not sure they were all wrecked!

Just used

KRIS: I think we may have a new title contender

That’s also going to be hard to beat as an exit line

ANDREW: I will play Angel by Sarah McLaughlin as I think of those cars this evening.

Thanks very much to Andrew and BOB for Guest Reacting! You will almost certainly hear from them again.

For even more pop culture reactions -- just, uh, mostly from people who aren’t us -- follow us on Twitter!

[terrieallison510]

Trans in the South: Meet Kids Finding Acceptance in the Bible Belt

Awesome Black Metal Stuff!

Fluttering around her balcony garden, Allie pauses to check on her plants and herbs, her long golden hair spilling over her shoulders and down her back. She beams, marveling over her growing cabbage plant.

“I got this from school,” the nine-year-old says proudly. “That’s the first plant we ever had in the garden.”

Allie, whose name has been changed to protect her privacy, then bounces across the balcony to see if any eight-legged tenants had checked into her bug hotel, then back again to run her fingers through a hanging Boston fern named Max.

With her booming personality and bubbly chatter, Allie is an exuberant, confident third-grader. She is also a transgender child living in southern Alabama, a bastion of conservative values, gun shows and Republican voters.

“I have so many friends like, ‘I can’t believe you live in Alabama, especially having a child that’s transgender,” says Allie’s mom Kimberly, who was instantly smitten with Southern hospitality. “When we go out places, everybody’s so friendly and so nice. They all want to talk to you.”

After all, Alabama is home to Roy Moore, the embattled Senate candidate who campaigned on anti-LGBT vitriol and still garnered 48 percent of the vote. Alabama was ranked the number-one most religious state by the Pew Research Center and the state doesn’t have a non-discrimination law covering gender identity or sexual orientation.

Yet southern Alabama has been a kind of haven for Allie and her family.

“Since we’ve moved here it’s like almost every stereotype that I’ve had about Alabama has been kind of destroyed,” Kimberly says. “I definitely worry about her safety here, but honestly she is at risk in even the most liberal areas of the country as well. There’s hate and misunderstanding in regards to the transgender community in every part of the country.”

The warm welcome Allie has gotten in southern Alabama was a far cry from the chilly reception the family received at her former New Hampshire elementary school. Her transition from male to female at the age of six was begrudgingly tolerated at best, Kimberly says.

The principal’s response, she says, was “‘We’ll comply with what you want but we’re very clearly not excited about it.'”

When Kimberly and her fiancé, Joe, met with the principal of her new school in Alabama, they were fully prepared to homeschool Allie if her transgender status was met with criticism or judgement. Instead they were greeted with open arms by the school’s principal.

“She was like, ‘”Look, a student’s a student. My job is to take care of all the kids and make sure they’re all safe and they are all in an environment where they’re comfortable and they can learn,'” Kimberly recalls the principal telling her. “‘And just cause your kid’s transgender doesn’t change that.’ I was like, ‘Hoo, are we sure we’re in Alabama?’ It was awesome.”

All over the Bible Belt, transgender children and their families are finding acceptance and support in traditionally conservative towns. The tide is slower to change here than in more liberal locales, but there are signs that even the most conservative areas are not just tolerating the LGBTQ community, but laying out the welcome mat.

In Mississippi, the controversial H.B. 1523 law is still in effect, allowing legal, religious-based discrimination against LGBTQ people and families, yet the small town of Starkville proudly put their rainbows on display this year for its first-ever Pride parade. It was the largest parade in the city’s history, according to local reports.

Transgender advocates say each experience of acceptance creates a ripple effect that helps bust stereotypes about both transgender people and Southern values.

“The stereotype of conservative communities, [that] there’s an outcry against these young transgender kids, it’s just not true,” says Jennifer Grosshandler, mother of a 12-year-old trans daughter and co-founder the the GenderCool Project, a newly launched nationwide nonprofit that works with transgender children and teens to help them share their stories. “Conservative towns and conservative communities are full of awesome people who are going to support these children. The more stories are told, the more we normalize this conversation.”

There are no hard numbers on the population of American children who identify as transgender, but a 2018 study published in the journal Pediatrics found that of nearly 81,000 ninth and 11th-grade students surveyed in Minnesota, about three percent – or more than 2,100 students – identified as transgender or gender nonconforming.

“What we are trying to show is that there’s no harm in acceptance or simply tolerance,” says GenderCool co-founder Gearah Goldstein, who is herself trans. When communities accept transgender children, “the end result is a thriving child, a thriving family and in essence, a thriving community. Because no one is being harmed.”

Nearly 500 miles away from Allie’s balcony garden, 15-year-old Landon is living openly in his suburban east Texas town. He was chosen as one of The GenderCool Project’s five champions – trans teenagers from across the country that are excelling in sports, school, activism and the arts – and has been been advocating for transgender rights all over Texas, from speaking out against the state’s bathroom discrimination bill at the state capitol to posing for photos with actress Laverne Cox at scholarship event.

“People definitely have these stereotypes about what it means to be a queer person in the South,” Landon says. “I even have these perceptions of the South: extremely conservative, Trump flags around every corner. And, in some cases, that’s true.”

But living in plain sight, he says, are legions of LGBTQ southerners and their allies.

“What I found so surprising is the massive community that we have here,” Landon says. “People that are proud and out and who are able to live their lives at work, at school and with their families.”

It’s only when transgender people bump up against outdated fears and opinions, or are grilled about how and where they use the bathroom, Goldstein explains, that they are forced to validate their existence time and time again.

“It’s so important that people can see Landon and go, ‘Yeah he’s a good dude, whatever. Oh he’s trans, OK,” Goldstein says. “And you can say, you know, nothing to see here. It’s not a big deal.”

That’s what makes Landon such a good role model for his entire community, says Aaron, his dad, and for everyone else who might not have met a transgender person.

“People have given him a chance and gotten to know him, just as a kid,” Aaron says. “And then he just gets gets to be another person judged on his actions, his character his accomplishments.”

Landon himself doesn’t view himself through a trans lens, and he doesn’t want other people to, either.

“I’m not Landon the trans guy,” Landon says. “I’m so much more than just my trans identity, such as an artist, a musician. I play the trumpet in my school band, I like to write poetry, I like to take pictures, I like to work out with my dad. It’s so much more than just being trans.”

Aaron admits he had a learning curve for parenting a transgender child. As he and his wife Erika watched Landon repeatedly throw fits over dresses and skirts as a young child, and demand a “boy short” haircut, they assumed Landon would eventually come out as a lesbian.

For Aaron, the struggle to accept the idea that his child might be gay stemmed, in part, from being raised in the deeply conservative Pentecostal church.

“It was probably an annual, if not more frequent sermon on the evils of being gay,” Aaron says in a soft Texan drawl. “I was kind of told what I should believe on it and once those sermons were over I didn’t have good reason to think about it again.”

Landon began his transition at age 11, with an email to his parents to finally share his secret — that he was meant to be a boy. He agonized over each word, terrified of what hitting “send” would mean for him and his relationships.

“It was such an uncertain action. I remember writing in my journal that I was pretty sure my parents would be supportive, but I was still scared to death of how this coming out and how these few words would change my life forever,” Landon says.

The email was as life changing for his parents as it was for Landon.

“The three of us just hugged and cried,” says Aaron. “We assured him that everything was going to be OK and we didn’t know what we needed to do, but we were going to find out.”

Though Aaron left the church 10 years ago over a difference in ideologies, the idea of a transgender child seemed completely foreign – and terrifying. He carried a lot of fear of what Landon’s life as a trans man might hold.

“I had to let it all out so I’d go outside or in my car,” Aaron says, “and I mean I would just cry and cry.”

It was meeting a transgender man who had built a successful life for himself at a local PFLAG chapter that convinced him to let go of his gripping fear and see that Landon’s life could be just as rich and full as he’d imagined. They’ve also found a tremendous amount of resources for Landon, all just a short drive away, including a medical clinic that specializes in treating transgender patients.

As Landon began his public transition, he and his parents realized almost everyone was willing to embrace him for who he was.

“I have had almost no detrimental experiences in my personal life with those I interact with daily,” he says.

Still, he’s had his identity questioned since he was a child, from the grandparents that insisted on gifting him a pink bike instead of the blue he asked for to the anti-trans bathroom bill supporters who want him out of the men’s room. Even his otherwise supportive high school pushed back, telling Aaron and Erika that Landon needed to use the nurse’s bathroom. His parents told them, firmly, that Landon would use the boy’s room or the school would face legal action. 

Acceptance at school, by their peers and the faculty, is a critical step to success for transgender children like Allie and Landon. But even more important than acceptance, Goldstein says, is inclusivity. “That’s where it’s truly important, where, if you do not feel like a connected part of society, that damage is really unimaginable,” says Goldstein, “You’re not just helping the trans kids, you’re helping the entire school by being inclusive.”

Yet the family isn’t blind to the safety concerns that transgender people face daily as they decide when to disclose and to whom. In eastern and southeastern Texas alone, there have been four murders of transgender people in just over a year, including one just miles from Landon’s home.

As a “cis-passing, white male,” Landon says, “I am far less vulnerable than so many transgender individuals. [But] I recognize that these privileges very much impact how innately safer I am, and at a lesser risk of being physically harmed.”

Still, avoiding risky situations is an ongoing conversation Landon’s parents have with him.

“I am aware of how I need to navigate potentially dangerous situations,” Landon says, “and I acknowledge that I may not always be safe, especially with how openly I share and disclose my trans identity and experiences.”

Landon has become an outspoken, go-to voice for transgender rights. After his transition, he got his principal’s support to open a middle school Gay-Straight Alliance chapter.

Last year, at just 14 years old, Landon testified before the Texas legislature against the state’s so-called bathroom bill that would prevent transgender people from using the restroom that corresponds with their gender identity.

“Because I have a strong support system at home and in my community and among my friends, it’s important for me to be open and be vocal and fight for those who can’t,” he says. “Being visible in the South for me is not a choice.”

Earlier this spring Landon took the stage to share his story at an area Human Rights Campaign gala. “His success is a credit to an entire community of support. It just wasn’t one person or one family,” Aaron says. “When people come up to us saying, ‘Oh you must be so proud of him.’ We thank them as well for their part to play in who Landon is.”

Like Landon before her, Allie began blazing her own path from a very young age. “She’d put on a dress and then play with cars,” Kimberly says. By the age of two, “it kind of started turning into princesses and tea parties and she always wanted to do dress up stuff.”

By four, Allie began referring to herself as a girl during playtime and would role-play female characters, such as a mom or sister. Kimberly floated the idea to herself that Allie might be gay, but didn’t give it too much thought. Her concerns were more for the reception that Allie might get while out in traditionally feminine clothing.

“I didn’t know what other people were going to do. Where we lived in New Hampshire, it wasn’t the greatest area,” she says. “I was afraid, too, that she would feel bad about herself. That people, other kids would tell her the opposite of what I’d been telling her her entire life which is you do you, you’re fine.”

Then, when Allie was six and in the first grade, she chose to dress up for Halloween as a female character from the fashion doll franchise Monster High, complete with a wig and makeup.

“When we were out trick or treating, she ran into several kids that she knew from school and they didn’t recognize her at all,” Kim says. “That, I think, was one of the key things that got her to finally be like, ‘This is who I am.”

A few weeks later, Allie’s struggle with her gender identity came to a head. “She told a teacher there that she wanted to die because everybody thought she was a boy and she was a girl,” Kimberly says. “It was terrifying. You never think a child that young is going to have thoughts like that.”

Kimberly wracked her brain and blamed herself. “I was like, I’ve been as supportive as a I can and my kid still wants to die. What did I do wrong?” she says. “And how do I fix this?”

Their pediatrician diagnosed Allie with gender dysphoria and told Kimberly and Joe to follow her lead in terms letting Allie live openly and fully.

“We asked [Allie,] ‘Do you want us to refer to you as she and her, and a girl? Do you want me to say my daughter instead of my son? And she was like ‘Yes, that’s what I want.'” Kimberly says. “And I said OK.”

They started by taking her on a shopping spree for a new wardrobe.

“It was all the sparkly tutu-y skirts,” Kimberly says, “and anything that had sequins and glitter and bows.”

When she went back to school as Allie and with she/her pronouns, the reaction was mixed – and not just from the school staff.

“They decided that I could go to the girls bathroom,” Allie says. “There was this girl. I was in first grade, she was second grade and she didn’t like that I was transgender. She was like, ‘You’re supposed to be a boy, you’re supposed to go in the boys bathroom.'”

When asked what she thought about that, the light dimmed from her eyes and she dropped her voice.

“Didn’t really like it,” she says, before quickly changing the subject back to her garden.

When Kimberly and Joe decided to move from their rough-edged New Hampshire neighborhood, they cautiously took up an offer from Joe’s brother to join him in Alabama. “The stereotypes about Alabama are, we hate the gays, and rednecks and Confederate flags,” Kimberly says. “I was like we’re going bring this kid to the school and they are going to be like, “That child is an abomination’ or something.”

But the exact opposite happened.

While Allie’s principal in Alabama, her teachers, the school nurse and the secretary that handles student files knows that Allie is transgender, they have not disclosed to anyone in the community, including her friends and classmates.

Allie is free to disclose that she is transgender, Kimberly says. “I dread the thought that friends might reject her or someone might harm her in the future,” she says. “As of right now, she understands that not everyone agrees with and accepts who she is and that while she shouldn’t be ashamed of who she is, she should definitely be cautious.”

But for Allie, being transgender is almost an afterthought in her daily life. She’d much rather talk about her cats or her latest comic book ideas.

“I wouldn’t go up to somebody and be like, ‘Hi my name’s Kim and I identify as a female and I have a vagina.'” Kimberly says. “Anybody that’s cisgender doesn’t have to tell their friends what genitals they have, so why does somebody who’s transgender have to do that?”

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