#and then proceeded to go over to the guy that i had been actively talking to/messing around with

[amsznn]

FOOLISH - c. sturniolo

last part

warnings: y/n being dumb

-

waking up in your hotel room, you were greeted by the emptiness of your shared bed, where your boyfriend was supposed to be. maybe it was how many times chris had left before you could wake up in the past, but you didn’t bat an eyelash to this.

instead you shuffled out of bed and proceeded to get ready for the day. you had landed in Miami last night, and everyone was filled with jet lag, ready to knock out for the night.

nick had told everyone to be down in the lobby by 12 PM, so you could all start the activities he and madi had planned. it was now 11:30, so you assumed everyone was already down and just waiting on you.

so quickly, you got ready and took the elevator there.

to your surprise it was just chris in the lobby. he was never the type to wake up early so this confused you.

“good morning.” chris mumbled while softly smiling. you returned the smile and greeted him as well, even more lost as to why he was being so friendly.

“where’s nate?” you asked while taking a seat across from chris.

chris shrugs before getting up to sit beside you.“don’t know, didn’t see him.”

“what are you doing?” you eyed the brunette suspiciously, as he moved himself closer. chris said nothing but gently took one of your hands in his. caressing it gently before bringing it up to his lips to softly plant a kiss.

“chris-”

before you could protest chris cuts you off. “you’re not really happy with him, are you?” he asked while searching your eyes for anything. anything that showed him you weren’t as secure as you played to be in your relationship.

“chris what are you talking about?” you say before snapping your hand away from his. you were furious. what gave him the right to question your relationship? who was he to be ‘concerned’?

before this conversation could progress, nick and madi had made their way down from their rooms and greeted the both of you.

soon after nate and matt joined you all and off you were to your adventures.

-

“are you guys really gonna sit there and tan?!” nick shouts from the water.

after getting some breakfast and letting that digest, you all made your way to your resorts beach.

you and madi had decided to sit in the sun for some more before getting in the water with the boys. “be there in a sec!” madi shouts back from her towel.

as for you, you were catching up with some of your summer readings. you could feel madi’s eyes prying at you so you set your book down and looked at her.

“what’s up?”

“i should be asking you that.” madi chuckles while sitting up on her elbows. “you and chris?”

you awkwardly cleared your throat at the sudden mention of the brunette. “what do you mean?” you ask as innocently as you could.

“cmon y/n. you don’t have to hide from me. i am one of your best friends after all.”

you sighed before also sitting up. thats when you opened up completely about whats been going on between you and chris. madi was the first person you ever really told.

as for madi, she was upset as to how chris was treating you but could also see that with the way you spoke about him, your feelings never really vanished.

“and nate’s a great guy but..”

“you still love chris?” madi muttered, finishing your thought. you slowly nodded your head before sighing in frustration.

“i don’t know why madi. he’s such an asshole but for some reason i cant get over him completely.” you say while fighting back the tears that were threatening to spill. in all honesty you weren’t the best without chris. you liked to pretend you were, but you were a mess of emotions waiting to explode.

madi quickly embraces you in a tight hug. “its okay, love is really fucking weird.” you chuckled at her statement before pulling away from her grasp while saying thank you.

after your talk, you both made your way to the waters where the boys were playing, happily splashing in the waters and tossing each other around. this was what you needed.

once you made it back to your hotel room, you knew what you had to do. no more lying to yourself, and no more pretending.

nate came out of the shower to find you sat at the edge of the bed, seemingly waiting for something. your bags had been packed and organized near the door.

nate knew what was happening. “you still love him, don’t you?” he sighed while drying his hair off with a towel. he took a seat beside you. you were shocked at his statement to say the least.

“you..you knew?” nate only nodded and tossed his towel to the side.

“chris told me everything when we were coming back to the hotel, and everything then made sense.” nate explained while fidgeting with his hands.

you couldn’t shake the feeling of guilt that coursed through your body as you looked at nate. he further explained how he saw your quick glances at chris, and how you would always wonder if he would be around.

“im really sorry, nate. it just kinda all came back to me.” you say while awkwardly shrugging. not really knowing what to say.

“don’t be, i get it.” he said while running his fingers through his hair. “i take it you’re gonna go see him?” he says while pointing to your bags. you nodded before you stood up. nate did as well. before leaving the room, you both exchanged one last hug before you made your way to chris’ room.

when you arrived, you knocked three times. chris eventually swung the door open and froze up at the sight of you.

“you were right.” was all you said before you both met in the middle and exchanged a long awaited passionate kiss, not missing a beat. chris’ hands traveled to your waist before pulling you inside and closing the door to his room not once breaking the kiss with you.

your hands traveled against each other. you both melted into each others touch, not wanting this moment to end. but eventually you broke the kiss and looked into chris’ eyes.

“im scared. im scared to trust you again.” you mumbled. chris ran his hands from your shoulders, all the way down to your elbows before caressing them.

“i know, and i know ive said this a million times but m’ sorry y/n.” chris planted a kiss on your forehead before continuing. “when you were with nate i felt horrible. and i felt horrible for treating you the way i did. i never that you’d be back here but i promise to be better, for us.”

you softly smiled and wrapped your arms around chris’ waist. he hugged you back and rested his head against yours.

maybe this was your happy ending.

maybe chris would be better this time.

or maybe,

you’re still just

FOOLISH..

-

A/N: yall im sorry for taking so long on this ending. im not super proud of it, maybe ill make some edits later but i hope you guys kinda enjoyed it. ive been busy with school so my writing has been blocked this week. but more works next week. luv u guys <3

tags:

@junnniiieee07 @tillies33ssss @whore4matt @stellarsturns @summerl986 @inveigledvex @beccaluvschris @stingerayyy2 @bunnysturns @braindead4l @vickyzloserz @sturnzsblog

[pascallatte]

Little Duck

Pairing/s:Pedro Pascal x actress!reader, Sarah Paulson x platonic!reader

Summary: The pair, Sarah Paulson and Pedro Pascal were asked about their close relationship with the rising star Y/N L/N

Date: October 2012

Warnings: y/n isn't here but is mentioned (not a warning but it needed to be stated), other than that no warnings.

A/n: hi this is the first point for this series, they are still friends here completely platonic, just had to build up the series before you know. Also, feel free to ask questions about the series and hopefully, you guys like this. 

“ Hello everyone, we are here at the special red carpet event where dozens of artists from all over the country are coming together to enjoy such a great cause,” the female interviewer greeted the audience.

“ And it is with great honour, that I present to you our first pair on the red carpet, the one and only Sarah Paulson and Pedro Pascal.”

The camera zooms in on the pair before it follows them to the area where they were about to be interviewed.

Smiling to the camera the pair positioned themselves on the right of the interviewer and shook her hand.

“ Thank you both for talking with us, a while ago I said I’m gonna go and talk with the first pair that walks down that carpet before escaping and chugging down whatever’s in the drinks section,” The interviewer said that resulting in small laughs from the pair.

“ So uhm, what does it feel like to be the first ones to walk on this very special event tonight?” She then proceeded to ask them as the pair looked at each other.

“It’s pretty cool yeah like it’s an honour for us to start off this event as it has been highly anticipated in the past year,” Sarah softly said as she nudges Pedro to speak.

“Yeah it just makes us feel better than everybody else,” he casually states as the interviewer bursts out laughing.

“ Why did you both sign up for this, was it the attraction of last year’s special event or did you just get invited?” She asks

“For me, it was a little bit of both, but I mean-actually I wasn’t even supposed to be here Y/N was, but she got sick last minute so she called me and asked me to take her place,” Sarah nods towards the camera as she explained their situation.

“ Oh! That’s unfortunate,” the interviewer said as Pedro perked up and nodded.

“Yes, really unfortunate but we were kind of expecting that she would get sick after all those activities she’s done the past week, so she hasn’t really got time to rest.” Pedro then told the interviewer who looked like she was about to ask the reason for her sickness.

“And while we are on the topic of the Y/N L/N, I’m gonna take the chance to ask you what is your guys’ relationship with her, since you've been seen with her throughout the year, like when did it start? What made you guys add her to your little friend group?” She prodded as she looked at the pair.

The two burst out laughing as the past events filled their mind.

“ Yes, uhm we- rather I kind of adopted y/n back when we got cast together in the movie “Martha Marcy May Marlene", and at some point, we began to grow close and our bond really shook both our worlds.” Sarah shared their history with a large smile before pointing to Pedro who was standing there with a smile of his own.

“But this guy, only met her last January at my new year’s eve party but was seen with her too many times than I have been seen with her since last year,” she stated as a matter of fact as Pedro giggled at the memory.

Shocked the interviewer looked back and forth before composing themselves.

“Are you serious Pedro? I cannot believe that what you’re telling me is true. So, you just met y/n a few months back yet you two looked as if you’ve known each other for years. What can you tell me about this? Any story you can tell us?” The interviewer directed to Pedro who was seen shrugging with a fond look on his face.

“ Yes, uhm I- I mean y/n isn’t a hard person to know 'cause she’s like an open book and a very conversational person so you know as soon as we were introduced we just clicked and that lead to whatever you guys are seeing floating around now.”

“ Yeah, they clicked so much that they even hang out without me. IMAGINE THAT I, who introduced them to each other, was being left out. I sense a betrayal going on.” Sarah teased Pedro who started laughing as he rested his hands on her shoulders before kneeling down and begging for her forgiveness.

The interviewer laughed with them before asking a couple more questions about their future and current projects.

“So that is all for tonight, once again thank you Sarah and Pedro for your time and we’re hoping to see you guys soon and hopefully with y/n.” The interviewer closed up the interview.

“Ah yes thank you too, and we agree on the part that y/n needs to be here on our next red carpet.” Sarah pointed to the camera.

“ So little duck eat up and drink up, you are missing on a lot of fun, get well soon!!” Pedro screamed to the mic as the video slowly faded to black.

[metallicaislife]

My Nemesis, James Hetfield

A/N: ^^ such a cutie patootie I just wanna squish his cheeks

Requested by: Anon

Genre: Fluff

Word Count: 1,361

Warnings: Swearing

My Nemesis, James Hetfield pt 2

When I first laid eyes on James Hetfield, I thought he was so cute. The long wavy blond hair, beautiful blue eyes. He had a grin on his lips as he talked with the other members of the band.

My cousin Lars invited me to meet his band. I was really excited, he had said so many good things about them, especially James. 

Dave and Ron were nice, James only said ‘hi’, then proceeded to ignore me. Maybe he was shy. 

I started hanging around them more often, I tried talking to James, I really wanted to be his friend, him being cute was only an added bonus. One day he snapped though. 

“Look, unless you have something to contribute you should just go instead of hanging around us like a groupie.” He glared at me. I was so flustered and embarrassed. 

“Screw you, I was just trying to be your friend.” I snapped and left. 

I decided I wouldn’t hang around them that much. The universe had other ideas though. 

While I actively tried to avoid seeing Lars when he was around his band mates, I ran into them everywhere. The music store, the grocery store, my place- as Lars decided my apartment is the perfect hangout for him and his buddies. 

I tried reasoning that James was having an off day or something, but with every encounter he had to say something mean or do something to make me the brunt of his jokes in front of everyone. I’m tired of it. I hate him. 

“Hey we’re having a party tomorrow night, you’re coming right?” Lars asked over the phone. 

“Yeah, is it alright if I bring someone? Maybe then I’ll avoid the wrath of James.” I replied. 

“Oh come on, it’s not that bad.” Lars said. I rolled my eyes. 

“So can I or not?” I asked again. 

“Yeah, of course. I gotta go, see you tomorrow.” Lars said. 

“See you tomorrow.” I replied and hung up the phone. 

I’d been on a few dates with a guy named Bill, hopefully with him there James will just leave me alone. That’s just wishful thinking though. 

Bill and I arrived at Lars' place hand in hand. We meandered to the kitchen to grab some beer. I clenched my jaw when I saw James leaning against the counter. He looked up, a look of surprise flashed across his face before his eyes narrowed just slightly. 

“Hey man! I love your music!” Bill said, dropping my hand to reach out and offer it to James, “The name is Bill.” He grinned. 

James eyed it wearily then placed his hand in Bill’s. 

“Thanks, man.” James said. Then immediately pushed off the counter, exiting the kitchen. 

“I still can’t believe you know Metallica so well.” Bill said. Maybe it wasn’t a good idea bringing him here, but he would meet them sooner or later if we continued to date. I did appreciate that there wasn’t a rude comment from James though.

“Lars is my cousin, so they’re just like, around I guess.” I said with a shrug, handing him a beer. Bill continued gushing about the band as I grabbed myself a beer. I found Lars knowing he would be able to occupy Bill and entertain his questions without wanting to wring his neck. There was no bigger fan of Metallica than Lars.

I was bored as the two talked nonstop. Maybe I would need to stop seeing Bill. Find someone who isn’t the biggest fan of my arch nemesis. I think he is more interested in chatting with Lars than he ever has with me. Definitely dumping him after the party. 

“I’m gonna go to the bathroom.” I excused myself, neither acknowledged what I said as they were so engrossed in their conversation. I rolled my eyes and went to the bathroom. After I exited, as I passed the rooms one of the doors opened. Before I knew what was happening an arm shot out grabbing me and pulling me in. I squealed and the door shut. I looked to see who was responsible. 

“Dude! What the hell James!” I shouted. 

“Who is that guy you’re with?” He asked. 

“I know you think I’m some bridge troll, but to the rest of society I am actually quite a catch. Is it so shocking to your little brain that someone might find me attractive? Why does it even matter?” I snapped. 

“Because I’m in love with you.” He said exasperatedly.  

“Excuse me?” I asked.

“I’m in love with you.” He said again.

“Ha-Ha. Very funny.” I said dryly, rolling my eyes. 

“I’m serious.” He said, I searched his face waiting for him to say ‘gotcha!’.  

“What the fuck.” Was my honest response. I wanted to tell the butterflies in my tummy to stop flapping, this is not our ally. “Then why the hell are you so mean to me?” I asked. 

“You’re Lars' cousin, I’m not supposed to like you.” He replied. 

“Oh so you’re mean to me, because you like me? This isn’t kindergarten.” I snapped. 

“I know, and I’m sorry. There is no excuse for how I’ve been treating you.” He said softly. 

“Why the sudden change of heart?” I asked folding my arms. 

“I saw you with him, and I wished it was me. I’m tired of saying mean things and hurting you.” James said, his voice was sincere. I looked down, James stepped closer to me and placed a warm hand on my face. I looked back up, his eyes searching mine. I leaned in placing my lips on his. He froze for a moment before melting into the kiss. 

“So you like me too?” He asked as he pulled away. 

“I’m attracted to you.” I replied, his eyebrow rose in a questioning manner. “Give me a break, it’s a step up from hate.” I said, causing James to laugh. 

“That is fair, I definitely deserve that. I’ll change your mind though, just you wait and see.” He grinned, the first real smile I’d seen on his face since we met. I don’t think it’ll take me long at all to fall completely head over heels for him. 

“Shit, I gotta go let Bill down.” I said, I wasn’t all that torn up about it though as I was planning to after the party anyway. 

“Go, I’ll leave after you.” James said. 

“I don’t think he noticed I had left.” I told him. “I didn’t realize how big of a fan he is of Metallica. I think he’ll be more upset that he won't be invited to any more parties than me deciding not to get serious with him.” I finished. James shook his head with a chuckle. I leaned up and kissed him again before leaving the room. I was right, Bill and Lars were still chatting. 

“Hey Bill.” I said, trying to get his attention. It looked like it took all of his willpower to look in my direction.

“Yeah?” He asked. 

“I don’t think you and I are going to work out.” I said, clasping my fingers together. 

“Oh. Um, okay.” He said looking confused, “This couldn’t have waited until after the party?” He asked. 

“Sorry.” I replied with a small shrug. 

“Was it something I did?” He asked. 

“No, I just don’t think it’s going to work.” I said. 

“Is it someone else?” He asked. 

“Yeah.” James said as he came up wrapping his arm around my shoulder. 

“DAVE YOU OWE ME 10 BUCKS!” Lars shouted as he got up to look for Dave. 

“I can’t even be mad about it, I would’ve left me for James Hetfield too.” Bill said. 

“Good talk.” James said and steered me away. We laughed at what just transpired. 

“Wait, the guys were betting on us?” I asked. 

“News to me, I would’ve gotten in on the action if I knew.” He replied. 

“I think that is what they call a conflict of interest.” I poked his side. James laughed and kissed my forehead. 

I was looking forward to getting to know the real James, not the immature jerk who had made my life hell the past several months.

Thank you for reading! Feel free to request or chat :)

-Isa

[etirabys]

I've been absent from tumblr for nine days because I was in Philly for a 800 person twitter con (whose constituents roughly map onto the rationalist tumblr diaspora, culturally). I was tweeting up a storm in conjunction with meeting twitter people irl and barely checked tumblr.

The con itself stretched over a long weekend, but I arrived four days early for preparties and stayed two days for postparties. I am on the plane right now, returning home. I got about twelve weeks of normal socializing in nine days. In the last four days I was taking small amounts of Ritalin to get through the day. That sounds bad, but that's how much I valued talking to weird internet people and having unique interactions that you cannot have outside of festivals.

The last iteration of this con last year had 300 attendees. At the time, I had 180 twitter followers, mostly from the times tumblr melted down and everyone including me advertised where they were elsewhere, as insurance. I munchkinned the hell out of socializing at the first con, got an additional 100 active followers that provided enough attention for a self-sustaining poasting reaction, and am at 2500 now.

I'm approximately the same person on twitter that I am on tumblr, except I don't post my erotica (my twitter followers skew more heavily male, so I'm less willing to be sexual) and I'm more strategic about seeking clout. I like to think I stay away from the clout-chasing things I find really gross (like having takes about politics nonstop, or starting beef), but I currently treat getting twitter followers as an enjoyable game.

It's nice to have a place where I'm explicitly seeking power, as it is nice to have a place (here on tumblr) where I'm explicitly not. My tentative plan is to hit 10-20K and then push the "trying" lever to off. I know a number of "microcelebrities" who get no stalkers or murder threats, but can go to just about any major city and have a place to crash, or people to show them around. That is what I want for myself.

I explain this not very flattering thing as context for what the con was like for me.

Most of the time, I exist socially the way most people do – avoiding risks and being discreet with dissent to keep the peace. I think people go to events like this one or Burning Man to get a freaking break from having to do this – as long as the con is full of reasonably mature and interesting people, the atmosphere becomes wonderful when they coordinate to drop the pretense for a week. I ran into a person who had a bad interaction with my acquaintance a few years ago, and told him I thought poorly of his actions but wanted to hear his side of the story. (The ensuing interaction was illuminating and pleasant.) A guy came up to me and observed that he'd made several conversational bids this year and last year, I had seemed to dislike this every time, and asked if I would prefer he never approach me again. We proceeded to have an extremely autistic debugging conversation, in front of several of his friends, about whether we should speak again in the future. (The solution: yes, he can try again, but pick a question from Askhole – don't inflict small talk on me.) I ran up to Famously Evil-Alien-Vibes-Having Economist Robin Hanson and said, "I have nothing to say to you in particular, but I find you interesting and I want to hang out," and then we argued for an hour about the fertility crisis. After asking for blessing to say something negative, I told a blogger whose blog post that I'd otherwise really liked that there had been one aspect that I found disingenuous. We had a good back and forth after I said this.

What I found so addictive about this con is that my popularity-seeking drive and my honesty-seeking drive – both of which I somewhat repress most of the time – were not only expressible, but in harmony. It is quite inappropriate to be super open and openly autistic in most social contexts. Here, I could say exactly what I meant, and as long as I delivered it in the right way, people would like me for it. The conversation where the guy started with "You don't seem to like me, should I never talk to you again?" should by most predictive measures have been awkward and unpleasant – but I got the sense, steadily, that he (and his friend who eventually joined in) liked me for how I was responding to him. All I had to do was, literally, just say what I really thought, and it somehow all worked out.

[wizardnuke]

this is a short essay response of a meta this is batshit insane. im still on my shadowgast honeypot meta. this makes no sense. i have. citations.

also i wholeheartedly believe that up until the nicodranas incident, caleb was never fully himself around essek because 1) his latent spy training alarm bells went off as soon as he met him 2) caleb is an ex-volstrucker in an "enemy country" where he knows there's an empire mole and knew that essek was hiding something. he didn't know what. i don't believe that he thought it was All That. but caleb is extremely paranoid. right are we following. meanwhile he and the rest of the m9 were getting into essek's head bc essek had thee distinct disadvantage of being 1) alone 2) very nervous all the time 3) juggling contact with the bright queen and da'leth and just like, having a Bad Time, and the m9 popped in and he realized "ohh some people don't spend their lives in social espionage hell" and proceeded to, not at first but eventually, also assume that caleb was included in that statement (dairon implied that someone, likely the empire mole, had to have given that volstrucker the shank, and it's not confirmed that essek did but like. he did. and then he got over that paranoia a little bit because caleb is a good actor) and anyway my point is. i don't think essek really saw caleb outside of that double honeypotting scheme (which was beginning to devolve into a one-sided honeypot, with caleb still on the job while essek was slipping) and half-made plans to get caleb killed, and probably the false security of working with him (and veth) to make that spell, My Point Is. essek slipped. essek fell for it. he didn't fall in love with caleb, but he liked him and saw him as a peer and a friend.

and then the first really barefaced, honest thing that caleb ever said to him was "yes, friend, what are you doing?" echoing essek's mention of having friends to da'leth, and then following that with "i would love for you to see the sunrise, so if there is a reasonable explanation, we would love to hear it" anyway the first time that essek really saw caleb as who he is- an actor stepping away from a role, a spy, a grim counterpart to jester's concern and compassion ("what are you doing?"/"do you want to sit down?"/"i hold his hand")- and someone who still despite all that wanted to think the best for essek because he had more or less up until that point fully duped the m9! caleb didn't suspect a thing, he was just being paranoid!

the. the first time that caleb dropped some of the act- he went from honeypotting him to handling a crisis, the crisis being "essek is freaking the fuck out and we don't have time for this, we are actively in peace talks and essek could blow everything up if he slips, so im going to say what he needs to hear", paraphrased from a talks machina that's probably off yt and i don't really care to look up, but he wasn't lying to him. he wasn't telling him that it was all okay, because it wasn't, but "the difference between you and i is thinner than a razor" is caleb recognizing what essek is and saying that he's barely any different, both in terms of atrocities committed (whether that's true or not is another story but my point is that caleb believes it) and in terms of the game they were playing - essek lost that game. bad. he lost it real bad.

essek sees caleb for the first time when he's been caught and the person that he thought of as a friend sits in front of him and flatly tells him "i am going to kill you unless you give me a reason not to, right now". that's caleb. that's Caleb Widogast™. that's the guy that made a deal with beau and fjord that they would keep each other on the right path. that's the caleb that wants to get rid of ikithon. that's the caleb who misses his parents. that's the caleb who has hope for astrid and wulf. he wants to have hope for essek too- "you were not born with venom in your veins, you learned it". he's not lying about having hope for essek, he's lying about how much hope he has. and he's trying, desperately, to instill some of that hope in essek. and isn't that. like. thee caleb thesis. determination, despite a lack of hope. "you and i are both damned, but we can choose to do something and leave it better than it was before".

[axel-skz]

My perspective is broadening

A/N: so, I told my sister about some of this and now I’m scared it’s terrible :D if it is, don’t tell me! Now, the song we got for this fic is Scars.

You were someone who rarely trusted anyone. The friends you had were people you had found after a long time of being cautious. You had a lot happen in your past and you were ok with not making more friends.

This didn’t sit right with your family though because how would you find yourself a boyfriend this way?

So now, for months, you had been going on these random dates with many different people. It made your head spin. You said you didn’t want to but your parents would not stop setting them up.

You respected your parents but they never realised how gross and misogynistic most these people were. You had a hard time with people anyway and this was not helping you at all.

It took a while but after 3 months of constant annoyance, you went to your parents to finally put an end to it. They said they wanted you to go on one last date. You guys made the deal and you were relieved that this would be the last bit of torture.

Today was the day and you were looking forward to it being over. When you got to the restaurant, the guy was already there. At the table you guys had agreed to.

…You have got to be kidding me… He’s like a million years older then me…

You went over and politely introduced yourself and sat down. He looked extremely confused to see you and you explained that you were his blind date.

He proceeded to explain to you that he was here for a business lunch.

You were horrified :D

You apologised profusely before getting up and walking over to the restaurant bar and taking a seat. You called your date and the person didn’t pick up or reply to your texts.

You ordered a drink and sat there, miserable and embarrassed.

‘You okay?’

You jumped a little as someone tapped your shoulder. You looked up in confusion and saw a random, very handsome, man.

‘Um, yeah, sure…’ you sighed.

‘That sounded so convincing! I totally believe you,’ he smiled sympathetically as he sat down next to you.

You laughed, ‘I’m sorry, give me 5 minutes and I’ll try again.’

‘With that frown, you’re probably gonna need 10,’ he teased.

‘I’ll have you know, I’m usually very convincing,’ you turned when your drink was placed in front of you.

‘Oh well, my bad for approaching you when you’re so distraught.’

You laughed a little and looked down at your drink after you took a sip.

‘So, what are you doing here then?’

‘I hang around the plants till I see beautiful women at the bar.’

You looked at him with concern, ‘that’s… good for you?’

He laughed, ‘I’m sorry, I’m sorry! It sounded so much more creepy out loud then it did in my head. I also got stood up so I’m here.’

Also got stood up? But you hadn’t mentioned you had been… maybe you did and you were just very distracted…

You guys continued to talk and he was quite funny. You hit it off and planned another date.

He introduced himself as Jeongin, you called him joe and he judged you. It was a great start to your… situation.

He felt like a breath of fresh air to be around. He made you smile and always looked after you. Always listened and remembered the little things you said. Not to mention how much you loved just sitting and watching him concentrate on something he liked. He would be in the zone and his face would be all serious and that one stray hair would be annoying him and you could watch him all day. Something about him lured you in.

You hadn’t felt this way for a long time and you got so caught up in it. You spent months with each other, his friends absolutely adored you too.

You spent so much time doing the most random activities with them. You guys had gone to laser tag and you found that Seungmin and Minho were your best teammates. You loved gaming with Felix. He helped you with your Genshin account. It was especially sweet when he only laughed a tiny bit at your ultimate lack of knowledge in the game.

It was amazing. But there has to be a storm at some point. It’s only natural.

There came a day where he didn’t answer your texts, which hadn’t happened before and that’s when reality set in. You realised how attached you were getting to him. You hadn’t stopped to think about it and now you felt like the fun rollercoaster you had been enjoying, was dropping you off and leaving you behind.

You were overthinking and freaking yourself out and it resulted in you pulling away. You stopped visiting everyday and planning things to do. You weren’t replying to any of their texts nearly as much as you did.

Jeongin had seen enough and he was now fed up. He made his way to you one night when you cancelled plans. It was the last straw for him. You were getting ready to have a comfy night on your sofa with a tub of ice cream and some old movies when you heard the banging on your door.

You opened it with a blanket wrapped around you and a very confused look on your face. Even more confused when a very out of breath I.n stood there looking at you.

‘Hey, did you run here or something? Are you ok? Do you-‘

‘Do you hate me now?’

‘What?’

‘Am I not good enough? Did I do something to upset you?’

‘Are you-’

‘No, seriously! If I did something to make you feel any hurt or sadness, I’m sorry! Just tell me!’ He looked tired as he looked you in the eyes.

‘Are you… I don’t… you didn’t do anything…’

‘Then why on earth are you icing me out?’

You were unsure of what to say as you looked off to avoid his eye line.

‘Look, I wasn’t going to say anything. I was going to let it come up naturally but I like you. A lot. I care about you more then I have cared for anyone else in a while.’

You looked back at him, at a loss for words.

‘I can feel that you like me too. I know you do and I’m putting it all out there by doing this. I’m terrified but… I want to be terrified and at least have given it a shot…’

You stood there and contemplated what to do for a moment that felt like an eternity for him. You could see him about to pull away and the disappointment, edging onto his face. You panicked, you didn’t want him to leave and you had to face how important he was to you.

You grabbed his arm, pulled him down a little and kissed him. It only lasted a moment before you pulled away. You were also terrified but then he kissed you. It was amazing.

There was a very serious conversation that followed that but you guys were together. You loved him. So much. He had become such an important part of your life.

You spent the next few months in the most comfortable, happy bubble. Anytime you had a problem, he would be there for you. You guys worked through it together. Relationships scared the hell out of you, you had also been so scared that you would never have a healthy relationship but it was so easy with him.

Tonight, you had a dinner with your parents. He had met them before and everyone hit it off. You both got there on time and everyone was sat for dinner. Your mum had gone to go get dessert from the kitchen and your dad left a little while later to go see what was taking her so long.

You got up because this was your chance to use the bathroom. You kissed Innie as you went passed him. On your way up to the bathroom, you heard your parents speaking and they mentioned Jeongin.

You shouldn’t but your dad speaks like he has a megaphone, even when he whispers. You listened to what they were saying. It started with your dad saying he was just so happy that you were happy.

But then he praised your mother on how smart she is. The plan she came up with was genius. The fact that you wouldn’t have liked anyone they picked so they made it seem like I.n was your choice. Exquisite.

You felt sick.

Manipulated.

You went back to the table and started to pick all your belongings up. You told Jeongin to pick up all his stuff, you weren’t feeling well so he would come back to your apartment with you. You guys said goodbye to your parents in a hurry and left.

The car felt too full. Too hot but too cold. The air was stuffy. Your heart was beating out of its chest. You couldn’t stop picking at your finger nails.

There was a tension in the air and he kept looking at you whenever he had the chance.

When you got inside your apartment, he came in straight after you. Plagued with worry.

The rage slowly rose from your stomach to your throat as tears filled your eyes. The anger and frustration were like stepping stones for the helplessness to get closer and closer.

He was the last person you expected to lie to you.

He came and tried to rub your back and comfort you but him being close to you only hurt you more.

You stumbled away, ‘you liar!’

He looked hurt and confused, ‘what are you talking about?’

‘How we met… tell me you didn’t know me before we met that day…’ you looked up at him with tears in your eyes. He was a blurry image but still, you could clearly see the emotions change on his face.

‘What are you talking about?’

‘I know you lied… I know my parents sent you… that day…’

He looked panicked, ‘look, I’m sorry, I didn’t want to do it like that. But they said you wouldn’t give someone a chance if he came from them… they told me about you and you sounded so amazing…’

‘…no… You need to leave… I can’t be here-you can’t be here with me…’ you faced away from him as you tried to hold yourself together, if only for a moment. You couldn’t look at him.

‘Look, I know that wasn’t a good way for us to find each other but the most important thing is that we did!’

‘I can’t look at you right now… Trust is something so incredibly important to me… I’m gonna need time to get through this… I care for you… so much…’ you were crying again, ‘but all I see now is that you lied… god knows how much you already knew about me before we actually talked about it…’

‘I love-‘

‘DON’T! ITS BEEN MONTHS! YOU HAD EVERY CHANCE TO TELL ME!’ You took a moment to breathe and calm yourself down, ‘just leave. I need time. I don’t want to yell at you… please just go…’

You’re both heartbroken but he knows you need time.

‘I’m not leaving without saying I love you… I really do…’ and with that, he’s gone.

Repost and stuff *too lost in staring at him*

Jeongin: I think I can safely say I’m her favourite.

Minho: she’s irrelevant anyway *walks away*

I glare at him: I didn’t like you either!

Changbin: wow… always hostile… but like, I’m actually your favourite right?

Han: as if! She got me when she did that one quiz.

Hyunjin: look, she knows who the best is. *he points at himself*

Jeongin: yeah, me. *stealing the spotlight*

They all argue while Seungmin walks over to me: can you believe them?

I smile at him: I can never just have a script end in peace.

Seungmin: no, there was that one with Lix.

Ooo there was. *we turn and watch them all argue. Chan and Felix trying to stop it but being unable to with Changbin being too loud for them both.*

Me and Seungmin both look at you: who’s your bias?

(All jokes aside, I love them all! Even my angsty version of Minho 😂)

[mydaroga]

Fest for Beatles Fans 2024 Write-Up

In case anyone wants to know what goes on at these things, I can at least give you a run-down of what I did at this one, though as always there was far more going down than any one person could see. I tend to favor panels and discussions over bands, so I am sure I missed a lot of great music. Because the bands were great.

It was held this year at the TWA Hotel, which is part of JFK International Airport and has retained a lot of the features of when it used to be a terminal. I posted photos of it last year when I was there on a layover, and I still love it to death. They did NOT let me ride on the baggage thingy though. In addition, I was unable to secure a room at the hotel, though if they hold it here again I will be snagging one because, like I said, the place is bonkers.

Friday

I entered my cross-stitch in the art contest, because why not? While there ran into several people whom I had met last August at the Fest in Chicago.

Beatles Biography panel with Vivek Tiwary (The Fifth Beatle graphic novel) and Madeline Bocaro (In Your Mind - The Infinite Universe of Yoko Ono). Vivek comes off very passionate and sweet, very respectful of Brian Epstein and cognizant of the importance of telling his story right. Bocaro is also very passionate, but I'm afraid some of us present her personal Ono pendulum has swung too far to admit any human fault in her subject. I later bought the Brian book, but not the Ono.

First Generation Fan Panel was mostly Leslie Healy recounting her adventures, which are legion: she was at the Ed Sullivan dress rehearsal, and at Shea Stadium, and she's *also* the one who got that audio at Paul's house when she visited all four Beatles in 1967. Also, she had a Bearded Collie, which I also had growing up, so that gave me a thrill.

I entered the 60s dress up contest -- second time as Twiggy was the charm, and I won! And then there was a lot of dancing. Gogo boots, ironically, not so much made for such activities.

Saturday

Chatted with some folks because it was more interesting that listening to the speakers, oops. The guy from the Ranking the Beatles podcast is lovely and we've already been in touch since. Also Terry Crain who wrote a great coffee table book about NEMS Beatles merch, which I bought last year.

Went to the dealer's room and bought silly buttons, like TO HELL WITH THE 'BEATLES' and I ❤️ PAUL. There were butcher covers and all that jazz, and horrid dolls, and all the lovely awful things, none of which I could ever afford. But I can buy buttons!

Lovely friends entered the talent contest and proceeded to the finals, and they kicked so much ass and I am so proud of them.

Academic panel with Ken Womack, Christine Feldmman-Barrett, and Andy Nichols was pretty good, a lot of talk about how subsequent generations get hooked and sort of the state of Beatles fandom/academia today. Which feels fairly positive, in the sense that all present felt there is more respect now than there was--though still room to improve on that score.

As a side note, all of my interactions with Womack convince me he's a great guy, very passionate in his love for the Beatles and very devoted not only to doing this right but in elevating lesser-heard voices. He's a very likable man.

Speaking of, next he interviewed Laurie Kaye, who did the radio interview with John on his last day. Her story was very moving.

Tried to dance again this evening after the talent show but unlike the previous night, everyone thought we were weird and stared forbiddingly at us from their seated positions.

But my PAUL IS DEAD / IF YOU WANT IT / HAPPY CHRISTMAS FROM JOHN & YOKO shirt was a hit. Finally.

Sunday

Saw Jude Southerland-Kessler talk about the "birth of the beatles" but sadly it was NOT about the tv film of the same name. So I went to chat with Adrian Sinclair and Allen Kozinn instead, which they later tweeted about.

Beatlemania in the 21st Century panel was about, well, what it says. Next was Women's History of the Beatles which was also interesting and involved various writers, teachers, fans, podcasters, etc. I got to meet Erika from BC the Beatles which was very cool.

Then came the Laurence Juber and Steve Holley panel which I have mentioned elsewhere.

Jenny Boyd talked about fashion and the Apple Boutique, hosted by a lady who wrote a book about Beatles and fashion I would like to read.

Fantastic band with great additional harmonies, which I knew who they were.

I did not win the art contest. I did get a participation ribbon. I'm not even a millennial.

We then found a quiet place to chat, of which which the hotel had many, and then I needed to go to bed so I could be bad in like five hours for my flight.

I've probably forgotten lots of things but that is the general run down. There was also a video room, two stages for bands, more art, authors and guests at tables all weekend, and Mickey Dolenz, whom I did not meet but it's cool he was there.

[joltai-showa]

a bit more of a serious post today, but i was scrolling through some stuff before sleep and came across some certain sentiments which i would like to talk about

not outright reposting cuz not too sure if this person would be okay with me doing it, so i'll just say what i think should be said

please don't be ashamed of your hyperfixations. thinking of them and engaging with them is and always should be something fun and enjoyable for you. yes, they come and go, but the memories of them stay with you, the joy that you felt from it will be with you even if you change fandoms and many years have passed.

i've been in many fandoms over almost 10 years, for some of them I can even barely remember the names of the characters in them, but I still remember sending tons of pics of one same cutesy boy to my bestie, drooling over him and how we both joked about of current hyperfixations. since I was 14 I was studiying in some of the best schools in the country and proceeded to do a double degree bachelors. life has been stressful as shit, i am in my early twenties and already have a ton of gray hair, but unironically it was my hyperfixations that helped me to get through that all. i don't regret being unhinged about one evil guy for a year or two or five, because it made me happy in the moment. maybe i will no longer scroll all those thousands of pics of the same dude over and over, but they will remind me of the fun I had, no matter how weird or "cringe" I would get about it.

kill the inner cringe. be free to enjoy the moment. and who knows, one day this hyperfixation might just grasp you in its hold again. it did happen to me a few times :) keeping interest in the same piece of media is not easy, especially if there is barely any content on it. i try to juggle a few interests at the same time and have fun with each of them, it really helps with the possible burnout

p.s. and to the author of the tags, because i think the fics mentioned might concern my works: nope, you aren't cringe. long thorough comments are my (and I guess any authors'?) absolute favorites, because it not only shows that someone took the time to read through my work, but they REALLY resonated with it, they actually cared about a lot of stuff you've spent time putting into the work. you aren't stupid for showing your love for the work, in fact, you're already better than a lot of other people for actively engaging with the fic. i am not trying to shame people simply leaving kudos on the work, it's nice to see their count grow, but after a few days they turn into a single number that is simply there. comments, on the other hand, can be read and reread repeatedly, they're my little stars of honor that truly make my day better. and your comments are not deranged, it's lovely that you can write so much about many many scenes in a single chapter, because personally, I would not be able to do this, so you're awesome for that and a treasure for any author.

p.p.s. i also tend to remember "regulars" under my chapters, so i do get pretty worried that something might have happened to them irl if they don't interact with the new chapter for longer than usual :( you don't have to write extensive commentary every time, you can leave a short list of moments that you liked and maybe return at a later date with a longer comment if you wish so.

tl;dr all comments are valid

[huipinkhair]

Introverts - Zhang Hao x Reader

Chapter 6 - What’re you so smiley about?

Synopsis - Zhang Hao was made the student council vice president against his will, when all he wanted was to get through high school quietly. He found himself drawn to the shy member of a student-made band, and has been crushing on them for months. He knows he needs to get his shit together before they graduate and go their separate ways, but doesn’t know if he can break out of his shell in time, or even bother at all.

Taglist - @hwangsm1le @zerobaseonefics @mins-fins @kpoprhia @haesunflower @big-uwu-stan @harus-simp @seungminiesgf @cherriegyu

Written part at the end! dont miss it! - 1.1k words

The library bustled with activity as your group occupied a large table, surrounded by a sea of books strewn haphazardly across its surface. Your phone leaned against your bag, serving as a makeshift display for Hui, who sat at his own desk, engrossed in a flurry of typing and clicking. Despite your best efforts, your attention kept wandering, drawn to the mesmerizing hues of oranges and purples adorning the sky outside the window. Keita, ever vigilant, poked you in the side whenever he noticed your lack of focus, a gentle nudge to bring you back to your studies.

"Mmm, sorry," you mumbled apologetically, redirecting your gaze back to the textbook in front of you. A heavy sigh escaped your lips, the words on the page refusing to stick in your mind as you hoped they would. Just then, the library doors swung open, and your eyes darted towards the entrance. A laughing Hanbin strolled in, accompanied by Matthew, Ricky, Seunghwan, and Hao, who trailed behind them. Unable to resist, you found yourself admiring Hao's captivating features once again, especially as he engaged in jovial banter with his friends. Your eyes met briefly, and in a sudden bout of shyness, you quickly averted your gaze towards the table.

"Hey, Hui, did you come across this question last year?" you inquired, reading aloud a problem from the practice paper your teacher had distributed. Hui nodded, and proceeded to explain the most effective approach to arrive at the correct answer. Captivated, you listened intently, jotting down notes as he rambled on.

~~~

The tranquil atmosphere was suddenly interrupted by the thud of four boxes landing on your table, startling everyone from their diligent work. "Why do you all look so stressed? Did you miss me?~" Gunwook quipped, sliding into the seat opposite you. With renewed vigor, you and your friends eagerly scrambled to grab some food, seeking a burst of energy after hours of intense studying. Your gaze couldn't help but wander to the adjacent table, occupied by the love of your life and his companions, before returning to the assortment of pizzas in front of you.

Carefully arranging an assortment of slices into one of the boxes, ensuring everyone at your table had their desired portions, you cautiously made your way over to the neighbouring group. Placing the pizza box on their table, you couldn't help but feel a rush of nerves as their collective gazes turned towards you. "Just, um, in case you guys are hungry," you trailed off, your voice barely above a whisper, while your eyes darted downward.

"Y/N! You're so thoughtful, but you really don't have to," Seunghwan smiled warmly at you, gently pushing the box back in your direction. "No, really, it's fine. We weren't going to finish it all anyway," you gestured towards your friends, mustering an awkward smile in response. Hanbin reached over and patted your arm, causing you to jump slightly. You nodded and started to turn away, only to have your hand caught by Hao. Turning back, you noticed him standing up, briefly glancing at Ricky before locking eyes with you.

"Um, can I... can I talk to you?" he stammered, his gaze shifting to your intertwined hands before hastily letting go. A faint pink hue painted his cheeks. "Yeah, sure, c''mere," you replied, guiding him down one of the seemingly endless aisles of books. Both of you leaned against opposite bookcases, Hao's hands buried in his pockets.

"Sorry if I'm taking up too much of your time. I know we all have a lot to get through, but I just wanted to... well, first, I apologize for making things so awkward. I really didn't want to attend that party; Hanbin and Ricky practically dragged me there. But, uh, I have to admit, seeing you there was nice. You looked really pretty, and... um, not that you're not always pretty because you really are... What I wanted to say was..." His words trailed off, and you could feel your face growing warmer, your eyes instinctively glancing down the aisle, hoping to hide the pink hue rising on your cheeks.

Did he... Did he just say he thinks you're pretty..??

Your heart aflutter at the thought. Hao's voice broke through your reverie, his words stumbling out in a nervous rush. "I wanted to know... I mean, if you haven't already made plans with Gunwook or anything, y'know like you usually do, uh, would you... would you like to go to prom with me?" He scratched the back of his head, his gaze shifting upwards to the ceiling.

"Oh, wow... I mean, uh, yeah! Yeah, for sure, definitely, that sounds amazing," you breathed a sigh of relief, meeting his eyes with an elated smile. His hair delicately framed his eyes, that enchanting beauty mark accentuating their allure. His cheeks glowed with a rosy hue, shimmering under the room's lights. His eyes explored your face as well, and in that moment, he bestowed upon you the most genuine smile you had ever seen.

"Really? Okay, cool, great... Hanbin has been discussing it with the teachers, and he thinks it'll be scheduled around two weeks after exams end. But nothing's set in stone yet, so if you change your mind or anything, just let me know," he rambled, visibly more relaxed than ever before. You reached out, placing your hand on his arm and smiling up at him.

"Hao, I promise you, I won't change my mind. But yes, please keep me updated. Anyway, good luck with your studying, and try not to let Matthew distract you too much," you joked, relinquishing your grip on his arm and making your way back to your table.

As you slipped back into your seat, Keita prodded you with curiosity evident in his voice. Holding your water bottle against your flushed cheeks, you attempted to cool down, clearing your throat softly.

"Hao just... Hao just asked me to prom!" you exclaimed in a hushed tone, unable to contain your excitement. "Fucking FINALLY," a response echoed from your phone, prompting everyone at the table to exchange knowing glances and share beaming smiles. Your eyebrows furrowed in confusion. "Am I missing something? Why are you all looking at each other like that?" you queried, scanning the faces of each person at your table.

"Nothing, really. Don't worry about it. Hey, could you help me with this question?" Gunwook deflected, sliding his notebook across to you. Your gaze wandered towards the adjacent table, catching sight of Hao receiving pats on the back and excited whispers from his friends. The realization hit you like a lightning bolt.

Holy fuck, you're going to prom with Zhang Hao.

[that-one-anxious-mango]

Hi!!! I love the days of our lives oneshots and how it pieces together the main puzzle!! It’s really really good and I really like your writing style! If you’re taking prompts for it can you do one where austin helps with your hair on wash day and spend time together talking about what’s been planned for the rest of the week?

             

    Wash Day Whims              

 Summary: It’s wash day at the butler residence and you better believe Austin butler is involved.

Contents: Wash day Stuff! Shampoo. Product talk! Mad amounts of fluff. Little angst if you squint. Sleepy Magnus! Gooey Feelings.

Pairing: Austin Butler x Black! Reader

A/N: Hey guys! Arie here! To the person who requested this oh so long ago. Thank you so much for the love! I try my best and I really enjoy writing this series! Your words mean a lot! Also I am sorry lol I was trying to figure out the best way to write this and it accidentally started collecting dust in the drafts lol But hey we’re here now! So I hope you enjoy!

P.S I am still actively working on pushing out the drabble event things so bare with me. Comments are always encouraged as well as sending me letters with drabble and prompt ideas!

Much love! * Hugs*                                        

                                    _______

" The water's not too hot is it? " Austin questioned for what seemed like the hundredth time making you giggle. He was too cute sometimes.

" No Austin. The water is perfect. Thank you." You reassured reaching up to rub your man’s bare arm that was exposed due to his rolled up sleeves.

" Good. Now lean your head back for me, baby." Austin instructed softly cradling your head as you leaned your head back into the sink.

Doing as you were told you now closed your eyes and relaxed as Austin grabbed the TGIN moisture rich shampoo dropping some in his hands before going to work lathering up your hair.

You proceeded to coach him on how hard to scrub in some areas to get the gunk out and what areas he had to be especially careful with to avoid any bruises or tugging while he handled your springy coils.

All in all, it was a good experience. You loved the way he was in no rush and took his time with you. You couldn't help how ever so often you would let out the tiniest breathy moan or wiggle around a little bit at how good his hands felt on you.

They always felt good on you.

Especially in other places.

Austin couldn't lie and say he wasn't purposely scrubbing and massaging your head certain ways to provoke these sounds that was music to his ears. He enjoyed being with you like this. Taking care of you.

The intimacy of this act of service like this was what both of you loved.

He knew that his baby definitely didn’t just let anyone play in her head. So the fact that you were allowing him to do this silently told him how much you trusted him. 

He loved that.

After washing twice and rinsing twice. Austin shut off the water helping slowly guide you up while wrapping a soft microfiber towel around your head, making sure to wipe any stray specks if water off your lovely face.

Once you were all the way upright, you got out of the chair grabbing your honey manuka hair mask and going over to your side of the his and hers sink.

Taking off your towel you proceeded to section your damp hair into four parts ( of course with Austin helping you straighten and clean up the parts with your rat-tail comb) You attempted to apply a even amount ( it wasn't) of the hair mask to your hair while gently detangling along the way.

Situating yourself and popping on your deep conditioning cap you set the timer for thirty minutes and decided to venture into the bedroom to find Austin lying flat on his back with a content magnus perched on his stomach listening to unreleased Elvis tracks.

Walking over you tapped his leg grabbing his attention, " Baby?"

" Yeah, Mama? " He answered turning his attention to you.

" Do you maybe wanna...maybe....i dunno....order in some Celia's and watch Ozark." You sheepishly suggested putting a innocent smile on your face and swaying back and forth.

You knew in prep for Dune there were certain things Austin wasn't allowed to eat which included the glorious taste of the flavorful birria tacos from a little family owned shop around the way.

Popping his head up quirking a eyebrow to shoot you a knowing look, you did your best to keep us this sweet seduction you had going. You reached a hand out rubbing his leg in a soft way to match the cute pout you had going.

Groaning he smirked running a hand over his face.

This woman will be the death of me...but what a beautiful way to go. He thought.

Sighing he reluctantly agreed, " Of course babe...You already know I can’t say no to that face. Grab my phone honey so I make the order." He confirmed watching you giddily jumping up and down.

Anything to see his best girl happy.

Happily handing him the phone you left to go rinse your hair as he dialed the number of the taco house.

Upon thoroughly rinsing out the mask, you applied nice amounts of Shea moisture JBCO leave in conditioner, Jojoba oil, and Mielle Hawaiian ginger hair butter. You flat twisted twelve twists into your head for the twist out you had planned for this week.

And letting his scary accurate intuition kick in, on queue to you picking up the hair oil to oil your scalp Austin's voice bellowed from the bedroom, " You got to the part where your oiling your scalp yet? "

Grinning you responded, " Yeah babe I am. I got it."

Which you didn't know why you even replied because you knew he'd whine back a , " NO! Bring it in here so I can do it please, baby." He called back.

Knowing better than to argue with your man you gathered the needed items and entered the bedroom to a already, ready Austin who had a throw pillow set up on the floor for you to sit on in-between his legs.

Not wasting anytime you plopped down handing him the oil before letting him do his thing.

You both sat in comfortable silence for a minute until a curious question popped in your head, " So what do you have planned up for this week, honey? " You inquired.

Slathering his fingertips in oil he went on to say ," Well, tommorow Monday Baz has me heading to the studio to do some vocal corrections on that's all right and hound dog so I might be late coming home depending on how late he decides to keep all of us. Then Tuesday and Wednesday are going to be press days so interviews with E!, Mojo and all them guys. Thursday I'll be having a meeting with Ian and the team about things for Dune 2 and some other offers that have come in." He listed letting his hands slip into your now clean parted head gently using his fingertips to massage your scalp while being careful not to pull or snag anything loose.

" Mmhmm. You mumbled leaning your head back, eyes shut as you soaked in the feeling you were getting. It felt so good.

              Smiling at your face he continued, " And then.....on Friday I have dinner plans that more than likely will run later into the night... sweetheart. He finished.

Upon hearing his last statement you couldn't help the way your eyebrows bunched to accompany the frown that took on your face.

Dinner Plans?

On Friday?

Friday is date night.

Austin could feel your body tense up against him a little bit. He already could practically hear the wheels starting to turn in your head. So he opted to keep massaging.

At the start of your relationship you and Austin had hit some bumps in the road about time management and how often you guys were seeing each other. It was really bothering you both to not be together as consistently as you wanted to.

So you two came up with age old idea of Friday date night. A time where no matter if you guys were a whole ocean apart on facetime watching a movie together, dressing up and going to try some new restaurant, or even just staying in tangled up together while someone read to the other. Friday was your guy's night and usually nothing ever came between that.

Ever.

" Oh sounds like your super busy, babe." You whispered out wrapping your arms around yourself a bit.

He sighed noticing, " Yeah it's a jam packed week, honey. So that's why it'll all be worth getting through it to have dinner with you Friday night and then go back to my place to have some...dessert." Austin teased causing a heavy sigh to escape you as you hit him on his knee only encouraging his laughter to get louder.

" Austin don't do that! You had me thinking you had up and abandoned our date-night to have dinner with god knows who, you pointy eared elf. " You insulted never letting him forget his Shannara chronicles days.

Craning his head down laughing he assaulted your cheek and neck with kisses mumbling a " sorry." and a " You know Friday is all about me and my best girl, baby. Always." he affirmed.

And then there it was that gooey feeling that made your cheeks hurt and turned your stomach into a butterfly garden.

This man. That’s it. That’s the thought.

Reaching your hands up to cup his face and bring his lips to yours in a spiderman type kiss, you claimed his lips lovingly before pulling away and saying, " Yeah they are. And they better stay that way buddy."

[dailyhonakana]

admin 🎼 here - happy first week of daily honakana except not really because we missed yesterday, whoops! i’ll be trying my hardest to make an extra post (once i work up the motivation to)!!

anyway today im here to announce i figured out im bi and honakana was part of the reason why 👍 here’s, somehow, a five-paragraph ramble about that! this doesn’t really fit the blog’s usual posts but i figured i’d talk about it because i didn’t want us to miss posting two days in a row, and i wanted to discuss how special these two random ass girls are to me <3 this is pretty personal but i thought id get it out somewhere and this blog seems fitting enough. if its too long then just know the moral of the story is that honakana changed my life

okay so i do like guys, which is something i cannot deny. i hardly even considered the possibility of me liking girls as well, though, until i downloaded project sekai on my phone. Yes, until I downloaded project sekai. i was already a huge vocaloid fan (not to the ridiculous extent i currently am, but it was still one of my most important interests!), so of course i became a huge prsk fan, too. i immediately grew attached to nightcord, and kanade in particular! why her? i couldn’t tell you, but boy did i really like her. and i still do!

i was an active shipper of some characters from some different fandoms at this point, combing through google for ship art and reading tons of ao3 works and basically searching everywhere for scraps of content of them. all my favorite couples were straight, though - i was fine with gay pairings, but didn’t care all that much about them. now, i was thinking a lot about kanamafu (who i still love too!). and then i wondered if anyone was shipping kanade with her housekeeper. i proceeded to go to ao3 and read all of skwakr’s works, and then all the few other works tagged with honakana, and then i followed the tag and looked everywhere for honakana fanart to save and honakana AUs and canon honakana moments and whatever other content i could find of them. somehow despite the fact they had hardly anything together in canon or fanon (at the time, anyway) they were my new obsession.

why? again, i couldn’t exactly tell you. i think it had something to do with how sweet and uncomplicated their relationship was, though - it was easy to believe honami would always care for kanade, and kanade would always leave time for her, and both would unconditionally love the other with nothing stopping them. i also think it must have been because of how well skwakr portrayed that unconditional love (go read their works if you haven’t, they express such great love in so few words and they’re incredible!!!). it seemed so real to me, real enough i somehow managed to fall in love with honakana as much as each was in love with the other. oh yeah and this was while my first (male!) crush was raging on - i turned to a pair of fictional girls dating for comfort while constantly pining over him. that was incredible of me. i mean i still do that tbf

i eventually lost my interest in prsk itself and got rid of the game, but my interest in honakana didn’t waver much. i didn’t actively interact with the fandom or read every single honakana fic that was released - i didn’t even find out about their wedding event until a few months ago - but i continued thinking about the two of them frequently. recently, i started the game again, for a reason i don’t remember. i don’t think i was planning on playing it much; then, i learned about the event and that it was coming to the EN server in a few months, and after not playing for so long, i suddenly had a goal waiting to be completed in those few months. i needed to rank high on the leaderboard, and i needed to do it for those two fictional lesbians i loved so much, for some reason.

a new, more agonizing crush is currently raging on for me. i’m pretty sure the object of that crush now thinks i’m a lesbian after having explained my need to tier in the event to him (and also having an icon of marcille donato on discord). it’s now a day since the event’s ended and i’ve been thinking a lot about my orientation - yes, mainly because of him, but also because it’s something i haven’t really figured out about myself. i’ve never liked a girl as much as those two boys, but i consider way more girls from fictional media hot than guys, and there’s also … all of this to consider. i don’t know how else to say it: i do not think there is a heterosexual explanation for my two-year-strong obsession with the not-even-that-fleshed-out relationship of two girls who are not real and are not dating. somehow, they’ve been as much of a constant presence in my life as that first crush was! and so thinking about it today i have decided i do not give a shit if i’ve only ever liked real guys and fake girls, i am bi and nobody gets to decide that except for me. who cares? no one should, except for me! thank you for reading my pouring my heart out about two random anime girls and good night. i need to go to sleep save me honakana

[fuck-customers]

Two days ago:

This little old lady came through my line. I've dealt with her before, and it's never been fun. This day, she wanted to get some clothes. I said, "would you like a bag?" She said she did. So I charged her for a bag and gave her a bag. Upon finishing the transaction, she moved a few steps away and proceeded to examine her receipt while I took another couple customers. Then, she came back, cutting the line, and demanded I return everything. English is not her first language, and her accent is thick enough I can't understand her as well as I would a native speaker. Still, the impression I get is that she is upset that I charged her for a bag and she doesn't want to pay for a bag, so now I have to return everything so she gets her money back for the bag.

The bags are five cents each and nonrefundable.

I process the return; she basically shoves the bag at me and leaves.

Fast forward to today.

This same lady barges up to my register with her cart while I am actively helping another customer, and proceeds to yell at me for not returning the bag/stealing from her last time, and snatches a bag off my register while yelling that she talked to the manager and he said it was okay.

(He did, as one of the SPS guys verified, but also it was the manager who is just like "get the customers tf away from me" and since 5 cents isn't much ofc he'd say it's fine just to make her go tf away)

(I say yelling. She wasn't that loud, but I have a tendency to use "yelling" to mean "speaking forcefully")

Fuck her

A couple hours later, I'm on break with one of the SPS guys. He asks what was up with that lady. I tell him. He tells me that she'd expressed to SPS that she specifically wanted to take a bag from my register. She didn't just want a bag, she wanted to take one from me. Why, I can only guess-- maybe she thinks the cashiers profit directly from selling bags.

Anyways I would bet money that she makes significantly more than me. I make $15.65/hour, which comes to about 26 cents per minute, or about 5 cents every 12 seconds. I have done the math, and she literally took at least half an hour to an hour of time for which she was not getting paid-- $16 even if she makes only slightly more than me-- to annoy me for 5-10 minutes that I am getting paid for-- $1.30 minimum-- all over five fucking cents. Who wins here? Because it sure as hell ain't you, lady.

.... I still wish I'd had a monthlong vacation planned after Wednesday's shift, because it would've been fucking hilarious if she had to wait a month for her five-cent revenge. Almost as good if I'd been in stockroom or on the sales floor today and didn't have a register. Oh well.

Going to start keeping my bags in the drawer even though it's less convenient because people are so fucking annoying about them

[mangonatural]

Rules: Make a 24 hour poll with the names of your WIPs, let it run, then work for 10 minutes for every vote the winner receives.

Thank you for the tag, @angelcasendgame!!!!! I am not sure I will be able to work on anything very soon just because life came after me again, and turns out I'm gonna be moving over the next month or so, but I really do hope I can find time!!

None of these have names yet lol. I put the SPN ones first, but technically I've been trying to break my writer's block by returning to The Great Gatsby (It's all Nick/Gatsby btw, just realized that might not be immediately evident) with limited success. It's always come easier for me. But all of this is stuff I do actively want to work on.

Ohh I don't know who to tag. I'm sure everyone in this circle has been tagged already, and most of the people I talk to regularly enough to know about their projects have more or less left Tumblr... I do absolutely want to pass this your way though, @antique-ro-man!! (It's Wes, btw!) I also wanna tag @heyfagbutt! And then anyone else who sees this and wants to participate, I also encourage it!! This is such a cool idea :D !!

Long, rambling explanations down here ⬇⬇

I think the name is pretty explanatory? The gist of it is they go after the same guy and become pseudo-enemies but they keep bumping into each other like this and decide to work together after a while 👍 this is a really bad hook LMAO. Anyway, I'm trying to build on the idea that they work REALLY well together when they do it intentionally but fail comically when they don't.

Pretty much what it says on the tin as well. No Supernatural AU. Dean goes to a community college to get a certification to help with his work elsewhere, but Cas, a figure drawing model, catches him drawing (which Dean's been doing on and off as a hobby) and tries to get him to sign up for the arts program.

I technically only have a summary of this, and I'm not entirely sure if I will write it all out, but I do want to at least put more time into the development before I dedicate to giving up on it bc of scope lol. I just have SUCH a soft spot for fake relationship AUs. Also, I just found out that while I have FINALLY aged into independent FAFSA eligibility, I am once again tax bracketed out. Anyway, financial abuse is real and I want to project my suffering onto Dean. Also immigrant Cas, but I haven't decided where I want him to be from yet. I think this has a lot of potential for some pretty hefty character redesigns too so it's also compelling to me from that angle. I guess I could also write it for TGG, but I did initially think of it for Destiel, so.

I don't know how to explain this one very well except that I had unhelpfully written "poolboy au" in my notes and then proceeded to forget what the hell I meant. This fic was an attempt to resurrect that but ended up being a funky modern West Coast re-imagining where Gatsby can't even "make it" as much as he wants to, and Nick can't find a place to live except for a less-than-legally rented pool house. It's not meant to be a full rewrite or anything though.

Uhhh yeah, I'm keeping the details private for this one ahaha but that's just because it wasn't supposed to be a big deal and I told a friend she would see what it was when it was done...like oh god probably a month ago at this point... My original scope for this was quite small, but research for it, indecision, and a nasty case of writer's block that I've had for nearly a year now have kept development a bit slow. Hopefully, I'll finish it before the year comes to a close.

I also don't know how to explain this one well other than "after being rejected by Daisy (Canon Divergent), Gatsby attempts to buy his way into a bewildered Nick's heart. Though the fic is from Nick's POV, Gatsby's just had his worldview shattered and is in a bit of denial, but instead of pursuing Daisy harder, he channels all of that energy into Nick (though he's not really sure why he's doing it at first). I wasn't sure what to put up at the top because I absolutely don't want my code name for this public at least until it's done LMAO.

[i-love-sweet-william]

out of context pre-stozyers #7

with context post-stozyers: byler branch

a collective 6k words of fic+rant. I tried so hard not to add byler but here we are.

"You're not busy unpacking, right?" What a weird tone…Mike hadn't heard Will use it before. "I'm not sure how long this might last."

"I'm free!" For you, always. "What's up?"

"Do you still love me?"

Mike dropped his fucking phone.

But only after performing a shitty juggling act in an effort to catch it, and then proceeding to eat the floor. With the sudden barrage of emotional and physical and property damage, it really would have been no big loss if his phone had dropped right on his head and knocked him out cold. Unfortunately, he was fully conscious, and aching, and on the verge of a fucking heart attack.

Will's distant voice continued as Mike tried to recover, patting around for his phone. "—you okay? Mike, are you still there?"

"Yeah, yeah, I'm fine! I just…fell. Uh, can you repeat that?"

"I asked if you still love me." Jesus fucking Christ. "Like, do you wanna date and—whatever comes with that territory, I guess."

(As if he ever stopped.) "I, I mean…Territory? Is dating a quest to conquer?" Shit, that was stupid. Why did he say that. He rolled onto his side and muttered, "Never mind, ignore me."

"I don't think I can do that." God, he could hear that soft, reassuring smile through his cracked phone. "Besides, you're the only other person in this call, and…Listen, it's okay if you moved on already. But if you—"

"I haven't!" Fuckfuckfuck, that was too fast. He didn't even know what Will was going to say. What if Will wanted him to move on. The initial rejection was offensively gentle and hadn't affected their friendship for years, but what if Richie and his weird friends said something to Will over spring break? "I…haven't…" Real fuckin' smooth, Michael. "…Why?"

[disclaimer: Will doesn't have all the vocabulary to explain what he's talking about, but he's gonna try to describe having a poly relationship and being aro/ace. there's a rant about his mindset (and byler backstory…and stozyers context) that's over half of this post]

Will hesitated. "So…the thing El is doing with Max and Lucas, would you do it with me?" What. "If I was with someone else first, would you still—"

Mike sat right the fuck up. "Are you dating someone?!" When did this happen? Mike didn't even know Will was considering dating yet, let alone have suitors lined up! (Well, of course he did…but he didn't show them any interest before!)

"I…think so. No, I definitely am. In some way." In some way? What the fuck did that mean?! "And I thought, I don't know, maybe I could date you that way. If it's…okay."

Okay with Mike? Of course it would be, because Mike was currently having heart palpitations over the option of dating Will in any way, but also, just to be sure, "If what's okay? Like, if dating me is okay with your…" What, his first partner? Fuck, Mike did not enjoy how that sounded.

"Oh, I already cleared that with them." Them? Is it not a guy? [note: Will labels himself gay, and in past conversations he's generally used he/him for a hypothetical partner (because his only point of possible reference was Mike) and it was just easier to say "gay but not looking to date rn" than "not actively looking to date ever"] "It's just, uh…Okay, y'know how Richie"—please, god, do not be dating Richie—"supposedly has a looong history of sex experiences. I mean, claiming to have fucked every mom in the city is his peak of humor. But turns out, he hasn't had sex in, like, five years or some shit."

Mike took a deep fucking breath. "Please hurry and tell me what Richie's sex life or lack thereof has to do with us dating. Please." I am not mentally or emotionally strong enough for this.

"Okay, so what if we dated…but instead of kissing and having sex and whatever, we did something else. Can you still be, y'know, 'fulfilled' in a relationship like that—"

"Yes." Not a moment of hesitation.

(Honestly, Mike would be fulfilled if he got to touch Will's hands and share deep eye contact everyday. Simp.)

"Wait, think about it for a while," Will insisted. "It might be more important than you realize, and…I don't want to hurt you again. If I can't—do something."

The "something" in question was Will's first and last kiss. Everyone else had had their first kisses (even Dustin when he was off at camp), and Mike had hoped that…

Well, Mike wasn't exactly expecting movie sparks to fly, but he thought Will would at least like it. Or maybe be neutral. And if it was bad, maybe they could've awkwardly laughed it off. But instead, Will reeled back to wipe off his mouth, grimacing like he'd accidentally eaten something rotten.

It took Mike several days to recover from that, even though Will had started apologizing immediately afterward.

It took Mike several years to fully internalize the fact that Will wasn't grossed out by kissing him, just kissing in general. And when Mike reached that stage, he also realized that he didn't need that shit! Sure, it was nice, but honestly even the fantasy of being with Will was better than actually making out. (Unfortunately, such fantasies also needed to end. At least a physical kiss didn't lead to reality crashing down on him. The reality in which Will did not reciprocate whatever Mike was feeling in the past, and would probably never reciprocate in the future.)

If they'd had this conversation when they were younger, Mike might not have been so confident; he might've been scared shitless of feeling that deeply repulsive again. But now he knew how to separate himself from initial reactions, things Will had no control over. Mike was ready for it, if ever given another chance…if he'd ever asked for another chance.

He had planned to wait for Will to show interest in finding a relationship, and thought up hundreds of ways to have this conversation…but among all his hypothetical scenarios, not once did he imagine anything close to what was happening right now.

Despite his complete lack of preparation, he could not afford to fuck this up. "You won't hurt me again," Mike promised.

"But how do you know?"

"Because—" Maybe it would be best to have that talk after this one, or the anticipation might literally kill him [read: I need to contain the word count]. "Because meeting you was the best thing that ever happened to me…and no matter what happens or doesn't happen, that will never stop being true. Okay?"

Will fell silent…for an uncomfortably long time.

Fuck, was that too much? Did Mike get ahead of himself already? They were being so open and he—

"Okay," Will said quietly. "Then there's…one more thing I want to say. I've just…I'm not…I don't—"

He took a shallow breath. And tried again.

"I can't fall in love with you. But!" Will hurried to beat Mike's impending meltdown. "I think—I've already done the closest thing I'm…capable of. A long time ago, probably."

…Which meant those words were the closest thing Mike could get to a mutual confession! This was the best day of his life! Fuck!

"So, after hearing that, do you still…wanna try dating?"

Oh, there would be no fucking "trying" about it. They were gonna be SO good at this, immediately, without any challenges whatsoever. "Yeah. Yes."

This was happening. Holy fucking shit.

"Okay." The relief in that one word washed over Mike, and he almost felt bad for causing enough tension that Will could be relieved at all. "I just…I want to make you…so happy." Christ, how can you just say that shit without warning—"I think I can do that now."

Mike was going to fucking explode from the emotions rampaging inside. Each one was distinct and frantically clawing at his throat to be the first expressed, but they all sounded like I love you, I love you, I love you.

Unfortunately, before Mike could choose the perfect response, a distant door burst open, and Will let out a very tiny oh no.

"Will, what's wr—"

"Uh—"

"Oh shit, he said yes?" Richie's stupid voice. Of course.

Something fell with a dull thud, and the cord of Will's earbuds rustled in the mic as he moved. "Wait, Ri—"

"WELCOME TO THE HAREM!" Mike nearly threw his suffering phone against the wall to save his hearing. "We meet under every full moon to give thanks to William Byers for blessing our pathetic mortal lives," he informed, at a much more tolerable volume.

You only thank him once a month? Wait, that wasn't the fucking issue here—

Mike was so caught up in the euphoria of having Will's reciprocated love that for like a minute he lived in a world where he didn't sign up to share that love…but Richie made sure to give him a violent reminder.

"Give me my phone, Richard."

"Nooo, lemme bond with him, I'll be so civil, I promise—"

"Mike, I'm hanging up!"

"Mike, tell him not to!"

Hold the fuck up, did Richie just use his actual name? Was he being serious for once? "Wait."

And Will did.

After a few moments, Richie asked, "Is he still there?"

"…Ye."

"Okay, cool, everyone sit comfy for confession time!"

Richie really had to use that word right now, huh. If he interrupted this conversation just to ask Mike out as a joke—

Starting out with a dreamy sigh, Richie said, "Ever since I first saw your bitchy little face on that fateful video call, so many moons ago, I knew…" Mike braced himself. "I wanted to bully you. Relentlessly."

What the fuck.

"Bro, you got so pissy before I even did anything. I was just existing in this assigned room and you looked like I was fucking your boyfriend on camera—(Hey, was he like this with all your roommates?) Were you like this with all his roommates or did you just know I was special? That'd be some fuckin' ESP shit. You should've told me sooner, because then we…"

Richie trailed off and Mike could feel the intensity of a Will Stare radiating through the phone. Good. Keep him under control.

"Anyway, now that we are officially boyfriend-in-laws, I have taken it upon myself to begin the painstaking process of not taunting you on sight…no matter how fun and easy it is to piss you off. But also! Also! It's illegal for you to be jealous of me ever again, so jot that down."

Since when was Mike fucking jealous? Richie was just annoying as hell, why would he even think—

"I'm gonna be on your little screen, touching his hair and holding his hands, and you're gonna have to roll with that." Motherfucker. "But on the bright side, you've only got a couple more months to go before you can be here too! Well, not here, in this dorm, but somewhere…Eh, those details aren't important yet. What is important is I am going to befriend you by force, so be fucking prepared." Richie put on some weird villain voice, rasping out, "You have two months left to steep in your loathing before I drain it all out and flavor you with love. Enjoy being bitter while you still can."

So this was what Mike would have to deal with for the rest of his life. Agony. But it didn't matter because Will Byers could cure all his pain with ease and grace. (And regrettably he trusted Will's judgment enough to accept that Richie must have some redeeming qualities…deep down, beneath that obnoxious surface, so it might not be as excruciating as he anticipated. Hopefully.)

"Okay, that's all!" Richie said, returning to his usual aggravating tone. "Just wanted you to be aware that you will be fundamentally changed as a person soon. Love you, bye~🙈❤️🧂👌👨‍🍳😘"

…How the fuck did he say that out loud? And what did it even mean?!

And then Richie disappeared as abruptly as he'd intruded, and Mike absently muttered, "I'm going to suffer. So much." However, he made sure to speak up when he added, "But you are so worth it. I hope you know that."

"Um…thanks?"

"But also please, please, please, fill me in on why and when you started dating him," Mike said.

"Okay, so over spring break, I found out—how did he word it…I guess Richie and Stan have been 'courting' me. And they—"

"Both?" Where the fuck did Stan come from?

"Yeah," Will said. "For at least a few months or so."

Months?! At least? But he hadn't even known Richie for a year yet, and Stan even less than that, and—and Will was okay with it? Immediately after finding out? They just told him and he accepted? That was it? "What did—" What did they do that I couldn't? "Why exactly did you start dating?"

"I discovered a lot of things this week…about them, and about me. And I think you might learn a lot too, if you felt like talking with them." He paused and reconsidered. "Well, with Stan anyway—because with Richie…y'know."

Yeah, he knew. Yet despite this, Will chose to date that fucker before Mike. A tragedy and an injustice, truly. This was not at all like "the thing El is doing with Max and Lucas", and Mike had no fucking idea how he was meant to interact with them. He hardly knew a thing about Stan, and he only knew annoying things about Richie. (But remember, trust Will's judgment! Redeeming qualities, redeeming qualities, Richie has redeeming qualities…and Stan has…unknown positive qualities? Well, if nothing else, he has good taste in men.)

As if reading his mind, Will continued, "Now that I think about it, Stan isn't that far away from you. He's just a state over, if you happen to wanna meet him before graduation…But you're not obligated to have interest or go out or anything—"

Fuck it. "I want to."

"I mean, he's never talked to you directly before, and you probably want to have some sort of online friendship before meeting him in real life anyway, and there's not a lot of shared interests (except me), and—What?"

"I want to meet him." And see if he's really good enough for you.

"…Okay!"

BYLER BACKSTORY

okay so after the kiss (the kiss Mike asked for, the kiss Will agreed to, the kiss that was just supposed to be Getting It Over With so they could say they did it, the kiss without any explicit feelings attached to it), Will discovered he might actually be thoroughly disgusted by things he previously thought he was neutral about. he was forced to acknowledge how little he could assume about his own limits. before that, he thought "well I don't particularly want to kiss people but I think it'll be fine when it happens" and then it Wasn't Fine. what else would be like that? what else couldn't he do? he had no way to find out without Finding Out and he didn't want Mike to be on the receiving end of such a visceral reaction again (and also didn't want Mike to be the cause of such a visceral reaction again) which is why he rejected Mike later on. he thought that Mike needed the kinds of things that all their friends talked/joked about, and giving him that chance would probably just make them both hurt worse in the end.

Mike was about halfway through his personal journey when he decided to try to confess properly, he was working through what he really wanted in a relationship and wanted to see if they could figure things out, but Will didn't accept it. and made the rejection as gentle as possible and took all the "blame" and looked so fucking Disappointed in Himself that Mike just. chose to wait until Will was ready to pursue his own relationship…which he didn't do, up until now, when bringing up Mike's confession out of the blue. (even tho Mike was somewhat confident that they could figure it out, he didn't want to risk crushing their chances by forcing Will to do something like this before he was equally open to it)

in that time frame Mike did try to date other people eventually. at the start it was casual teenager shit to take the weight of his confession off Will's shoulders, but later on it was because he was mentally preparing for Will to never want a romantic relationship and was genuinely making an effort to move on and be able to just be his platonic best friend. he hadn't been successful, but he was still friends with those exes, because that's the kind of connection he created naturally when he actually chooses to date and isn't pressured into it without an escape. he is full of love and affection and support but in the end Mike's the one that Wasn't Enough because those partners could tell he wasn't fully committed emotionally

(actually they all went into it Knowing he wouldn't be emotionally committed at first because Mike's pining is radiating out of him at every moment. everyone at his college with bare minimum romantic attraction or functioning eyes knew he was fucking whipped for someone from home that he didn't seem to have a chance with. or else they would be together already. there is no way Mike "Where's Will" Wheeler could interact normally with this unfortunate one-sided love. and they thought they had a chance to help Mike move on, especially since Mike was also making a conscious effort to do so. but they gave up within weeks or months because it was honestly kinda depressing that even with his best efforts and genuine emotional connection, the pining for who he Actually wanted to be with was still blatantly clear)

(IMPORTANT NOTE: Will's disappointment was entirely built around "I wish I could make Mike happy" and not "I wish I enjoyed the kiss/I wish I wanted a normal relationship/I wish I felt what everyone else feels/etc". he didn't care much about his own enjoyment or being able to blend in. if he was at least Neutral about that kiss, he would've accepted Mike's confession and fully appreciated the emotional intimacy that came with the physical shit. but he wasn't neutral, and didn't want to submit Mike or himself to that.)

(bonus note: in this au, Ben is that type of asexual. having sex and anything relevant to that is pleasant only for the intimacy he gets with his partner. otherwise it doesn't matter and he has no need or desire for it. but also he is absolutely not anywhere on the aromantic spectrum he is All Romance All The Time. the main difference between how he and Mike see sex is that Mike does actively like the idea of sexual intimacy as its own thing despite not Needing it in his relationship, vs Ben never actively wanting sex itself but he always wants to make Bev feel as loved as possible and sex happens to be one option at his disposal.)

WILL'S MINDSET

okay so Will's not trying to invalidate being poly or aroace by not outright stating the terms or phrasing things oddly, he was just never really concerned with being able to discuss his sexuality with specific words (obviously if someone told him they preferred certain labels he would acknowledge and respect that, he just doesn't care about searching for more terms for himself. he So Much does not fucking care when he could spend his time thinking about like…monsters and shit). "I like boys" "I like girls" "I like both" "I don't think it matters as long as they like science" statements like that were enough for him to comprehend. and for him it was just "maybe I like boys (mike)?" until Stan exposed him to the option of not liking anyone, not in the ways people usually mean when talking about their sexuality (which probably contributed to why he gave so few fucks. everyone around him had preferences that could be labeled and worried over, while he had a severe lack of preference and didn't feel the desire to look for something that wasn't needed)

(also after everything he still calls himself gay and that's his Right, he doesn't have to change the label if it still does its job for him. and he's a dude that's now dating three other dudes. sounds pretty fuckin gay) ngl I didn't know I was aromantic until a friend was talking about their Stan for an au and called him aro and I was like. Wait. that?? counts as aro??? that's a defined thing???? so Will got my Stan Awakening in this au.

btw Will (and hanbrough, the Other Byler) is trans (but hanbrough Fucks, because 99% of the time I make a character trans they're also some kind of asexual. and I think they deserve to Want To Fuck sometimes) so Will's also passively aware of there being more than just two possible genders. but again, he isn't real concerned with learning or claiming specific labels, he just does what he wants. (he and El still look really similar but Also they're the same height now. and depending on who gets seen first when they're standing near each other, a stranger might think they're both girls or both boys, but willel isn't bothered by this. it just happens. then the difference in vocal range makes the stranger change their mind)

anyway finding out stozier had been happily dating for years also showed Will that even someone that really enjoyed sex and romance could be satisfied in a relationship with "someone like him". he didn't think he could do that before, he didn't think he was going to be "enough'', but Stan was more than enough, so maybe Will could be too. that was his thought process when deciding to start the phone call.

the way Will describes his feelings to Mike is partially copying how Stan described his connection with Richie (because Will didn't know they were dating and didn't even think it was possible for Stan, which is one of the things they bonded over, so Stan had to explain). Stan's not exactly In Love with Richie and probably never will be, but it doesn't matter because whatever feelings he has, it feels right for them. and they're all that matter in the relationship they've chosen to commit themselves to (well, plus Will now. and potentially Mike. if he gets there. he'll take a bit more time than Will for that tho…or he might only ever date Will, but he'll at least become less jealous of stozier over time)

(when Will was younger and other people talked about romance, he usually assumed "eventually that'll happen to me. it hasn't yet but it will, because everyone does that, right?" and once he became aware that he treated Mike a little differently than his other friends, he just Expected to fall in love with him. he was waiting for it to happen. he was waiting to wake up one day and just be like "aight cool. I feel distinctly different now". feeling like that is about the closest he'll get to actually Falling In Love. but even if he had fallen in love, he wouldn't have felt the need to ask Mike out. he'd still have been like "I'll keep all my emotions right here, and then one day I'll die". he wouldn't have wanted to date Mike until Mike wanted to date him)

when Will brought up the topic of Maybe Possibly being able to date Mike (he's dating for the first time in his life and it's with two people that have open communication down to a science, so yeah he's gonna bring up his hesitant Mike Thoughts), Stan emphasized that, naturally, they (stozier) don't know what Mike needs in a relationship and can't say whether Will could give it to him. Mike isn't Richie, he might not have any alternatives that Will could do with him. but they won't Know that unless Will asks and byler have an actual discussion about what they can and can't do/try with each other, a conversation that Will had closed off before (a conversation which…kinda becomes unnecessary because of the self discovery Mike had gone through already, but it's still a good conversation to have).

stozier didn't plan on their efforts causing Will to consider dating someone else, but they're definitely aware of Mike being "different" for Will, and they would rather give him the chance to find out if byler could survive than for Will to continue wondering about it. tbh they weren't even 100% confident that Will would choose them if Mike was an actual option but refused to date Will with other people involved. but I think the most simple kind of love is wanting someone to be happy, regardless of how it happens. and after finding out that Will deadass wasn't aware of a single mcfuckin stozier thing going on, they kinda feel like it wouldn't be the worst thing if all they did was teach him it was possible to have a relationship like theirs. (but Mike also wants Will to be happy in whatever way he chooses, so even tho he really fuckin wanted to be Will's only partner, he wouldn't ask Will to immediately dump stozier. his general displeasure with Richie's presence will be fucking suffocating, but he won't make it about Will's choice in dating. it will be entirely Richie's Fault Always Forever. and as long as Mike continues not to take his jealousy out on Will, Richie really isn't that bothered by it since he constantly provoked Mike before this all happened. but someday Mike will notice that Richie's no longer actively doing things to upset him.)

PREFERENCES AND SHIT

Mike can make out or have sex without repulsion but he doesn't require a particularly sexual relationship, his needs are primarily emotional and just having that general physical intimacy, which byler already did Without actually dating…but now they can get Even More Emotional!!! and Completely Erase their Already Minimal Personal Space!!!! they can add another dynamic to their life long friendship, and try out things that even Mike "I'm gonna get you home (to our nerd basement)" Wheeler couldn't pass off as platonic, and continue to discover shit about their boundaries and preferences, and it's gonna be a good fuckin time.

Will and Stan both lack romantic attraction but in different ways, and they chose to date for different reasons. Will was aware a lot earlier than Stan that he wasn't going to fall in love the "usual" way (tho he didn't have a word for it), but once Mike confessed Will Did actively wish he could date just to make Mike happy, and would have done it if they hadn't kissed. for him, the idea of saying "we're dating" is kinda like giving Mike a limited edition cd for a band Will thinks is average at best. he doesn't really care about it but he Does care about the happiness Mike would get from it. but dating isn't a cd, and he knows he has to address the expectations that come with that word before even considering using it (but he kinda shut down the possibility because he would rather Mike be sad from not dating him than purposely put themselves in the path of his repulsion).

meanwhile Stan was Full of dating thoughts but wasn't super interested in pursuing them, he treated them more like a blorbo thing than a personal goal. he wasn't actively disinterested (in fact he really wanted to have a romantic relationship "eventually"), he was just more preoccupied with the fantasy of romance. but when Richie asked him out he wasn't opposed to trying, and he became a little disappointed as he slowly realized he wasn't going to get to experience a romance out of a story, but he still enjoys doing some traditionally romantic gestures (and Richie likes them too)

(when it came to Will accepting stozier's confession/proposal, it was more like informing him that they were already acting like they would if they were dating. because before stozier did Anything, Richie basically asked if it would be okay to so much as flirt, just in case Will would be uncomfortable with an established couple having interest in him (Will is fine with it because people have Apparently flirted with him before and he's never noticed until told, so he figures it won't bother him if people are expressing their interest. it's not his problem if he's not aware. but he didn't explain this logic to Richie, he just said "it would be okay/fine" or "I don't really mind"). and after they had Permission to Pursue, they did just that, gradually building up their individual and shared bonds with him (with Richie increasing the intimacy and affection in his body language and crafting his own Soft Will Voice, since he already uses dramatic romantic/sexual displays with everyone, and Stan changing his actual verbal language, since he only had online contact). but they never stated in Extremely basic terms "we are already in a serious relationship but would like to also maybe date you. can we try that out and see what happens? also this is Not a joke." so Will just did not process anything as having actual romantic intent. oblivious aroace representation)

on the sexual side, while Will has felt "bad" about not being able to do something Mike would like, he's never felt guilty or wrong or anything. just disappointment or sadness. about equal to being disappointed he's severely allergic to Mike's favorite food or something, unable to even touch it let alone eat it together. not a personal failure, just an unfortunate fact. and after entering his first relationship(s), he continues not to have any guilt about what he can't do for Mike or Richie, because they are clearly satisfied in the relationship. he can make them happy. meanwhile Stan occasionally feels guilt about it despite how aware and accepting he is about shit. logically he knows that there's nothing wrong with not wanting to have sex or kiss or whatever, but he can tell himself that as many times as he wants and it won't stop the feeling from popping up (partially because he wanted it so much, and he can imagine Richie wanting it too. but unlike Stan, Richie actually Could have that kind of romance if he was with someone else). he's also open with Richie about when it happens and gets reassurance that he's enough

one big issue Will had with dating Mike was not wanting Mike to miss out on doing things. but stozier was literally already dating long term and had been gradually involving Will in the level of intimacy they were used to, so he wasn't worried about not being able to give them what they needed. he accepted without much thought. honestly Richie's type of personality is probably the only reason they were able to get to this point. Will wouldn't feel the desire to "try" dating if he wasn't already confident he could offer what the relationship required, so basically anyone could ask him out and he would immediately say no. but Richie didn't ask him out, he just asked for Permission to fucking Pine and Express Interest and Flirt and shit, and because Richie already made a big show of general physical and verbal intimacy with everyone, Will didn't even notice it shift from casual/joking to a genuine pursuit.

Richie (and losers in general) is a lot more experienced and chill with sex-repulsion (Stan and Eddie). that disgust is treated kinda like offering someone a really shitty candle and saying "this is so bad. you have to smell it." and giving them the choice to smell it or not. sometimes the scent is intense enough that they Know it's bad even without getting close, but with a weaker scent they can go into the situation knowing that it'll Probably be a negative sensory experience, while also acknowledging that candles only make it to the shelf because Some people like it, so there's a Possibility that it won't be that bad. because of that casual outlook, Will is eventually (Eventually) going to start his Fuck Around and Find Out phase with Richie, and slowly begin to define his physical limits more explicitly.

Will was fucked up about Mike getting that fucked up over their failed kiss, but also he was fucked up about Mike ever being a source of that kind of disgust and he doesn't want to be in that situation again. even if Mike thinks he can handle it now, that doesn't mean Will can handle it. he wants to know what actions he's capable of doing and what things he can never do. and for stozier, Richie Being Gross is like a core part of their dynamic. so Will wants Richie to show him the Shitty Candle Collection and be able to comfortably enjoy being disgusted or pleasantly unfazed (or maybe possibly find a slightly good candle) even if he gags or pukes, even if he can only smell one candle a day or week or month, he wants to know his limitations. he wants to learn that for Himself so he's never surprised by sudden repulsion again. and he wants to do it with someone that's not Mike. 

(about kissing specifically, one reason Will was particularly confident that it would just be neutral is because Byers openly do kisses on cheek/forehead/hand/etc and he never had any reactions stronger than exaggeratedly wiping off his cheek or fake gagging at Jonathan or some shit. he didn't think a kiss on the mouth would affect him like that. anyway plot twist even tho Will was always half-assed grossed out by kissing and pretended to throw up when he walked in on El and Max making out, now he's gonna be one of the the gross ones. he absolutely can't do mouth kisses and doesn't enjoy being kissed in general but he's fairly neutral about Giving kisses (Stan doesn't give or receive any kisses anywhere, stozier makeout session is pure forehead touch babey) and Will's gonna get to see Mike collapse to the fucking floor from a gotdam palm kiss. fucking simp.)

ONE FINAL NOTE

since byler are equally stupid and Mike got the majority of his stozier exposure either through Will or from Richie butting in on their calls, Mike Also did not realize that Richie and Stan were dating. literally from his pov rn, it just looks like Will's annoying roommate fell So fucking hard that he must have gone on lovesick rants that made a whole second person also fall for Will. and since Will's mostly talked about Stan in reference to roasting Richie together, Mike hasn't yet made the connection that Stan is the reason Richie hasn't fucked in "five years or some shit" (more like 3-4, but no one ever accused Will of being good at math) and is also the one that encouraged Will to try to explore multiple ways to have and define a relationship. not that Richie didn't also encourage him, it's just that Will never took anything he said seriously until Stan's comments made him realize that Richie was in fact Not fuckin joking or talking purely in hypotheticals over the past several months.

(for the record Will takes Richie seriously with other topics, it's just the romantic/flirty shit that he is fucking physically incapable of processing as genuine (especially when directed at him). it was like that with Mike too, Up Until he was forced to acknowledge that Mike was serious and actually did want to date and be gross)

aight if anyone made it to the end…god bless. I hope you're fed because this won't be happening again soon

my favorite parts of Mike's very uninformed narration…

"what if Richie and his weird friends said something to Will over spring break?" what if Richie and his weird friend told Will it was okay to ask you out a couple days after he started dating them

"please, god, do not be dating Richie" guess what bitch

"well, if nothing else, [Stan] has good taste in men." Guess What Bitch

[thebibliomancer]

Essential Avengers: West Coast Avengers #33: Tales to ASTONISH Part 1: The MAN in the ANT HILL!

June, 1988

APE ATTACK!

WONDER MAN to the rescue!

Comic book guy with a mullet beating up apes. What more can you want from your comic books?

Plot? Characters?

DOES NOTHING SATISFY YOU?

No but this is an interesting one. Because it’s not actually Wonder Man focused. Like the callback title Tales to ASTONISH Part 1: The MAN in the ANT HILL! suggests, this is a Hank Pym story!

Once again, a lying cover. Although mostly in who it implies the focus is on.

Last time on West Coast Avengers: Mockingbird planned a vacation to the Grand Canyon as cover so she can beat the shit out of Hamilton Slade. Moon Knight covered for her absence by claiming she was stuck under a rock and he saved her. In gratitude, Hawkeye decides Moon Knight’s probationary period is over!

Yay for Moon Knight!

Also, Wasp is hanging out with the team. She claims its because she was worried about how the team was holding up after Iron Man went rogue on his Armor Wars thing.

So the issue picks up with Moon Knight being named a full Avenger with all rights and parking privileges!

Also featuring Tigra mooning over Moon Knight, ha!

Each of the West Coast Avengers offers their two cents on Moon Knight.

Hawkeye reiterates from last issue that Moon Knight rescuing Bobbi from supposedly being trapped under a rock was the final proof he needed.

Tigra... Tigra just likes him. She doesn’t say for make out reasons but she says the rest of the team knows she likes him.

Wonder Man says he had doubts about Moon Knight because of his time as a mercenary but has decided anybody can become a killer if they go too far. “The thing is, we don’t!” Boy is Wonder Man going to become disappointed in the modern age of comics.

Mockingbird just says she’s in favor while thinking to herself that Moon Knight knows her secret about Phantom Rider. Implying that she’s worried he’ll spill the beans if she doesn’t approve him becoming an Avenger!

Dammit, Bobbi!

And Moon Knight adds his own two cents onto Moon Knight, saying that he’ll be a good replacement for Iron Man. A superhero team doesn’t need two strong guys! And he doesn’t say it but they have Hank Pym for science stuff. And Moon Knight adds something the team didn’t have before, a guy with the foot in the mystic and magical nonsense.

Wasp does not have a vote in these proceedings since she’s a special guest star but she says its good to see the Avengers tradition expanding to yet another person.

And Khonshu (in Moon Knight’s head) says something cryptic about how Marc Spector is as ephemeral as Steven Grant or Jack Lockley so “I am here now!”

Does that mean Khonshu is driving Moon Knight until otherwise stated? God only knows.

Him god, him only knows.

The only voice missing is Dr Pym who busts in to make this issue about him.

Before I let him get into it though.

The red jumpsuit is fine. It’s got a lot of pockets for him to keep his bat utility belt esque amount of random tools and gadgets. I kind of miss him dressing like Doctor Who or in random scientist duds, like the scientist equivalent of a trenchcoat hero.

Ah well.

Hank Pym manically explains that he was taking some Hank Pym time, doing some relaxing fun time activities, i.e. hacking a Soviet security network for shits and giggles.

But when he was wrapping up his fun hacking, he noticed a message on the network discussing what to do with Maria Trovaya!

DUN DUN DUNNNN!

The entire West Coast Avengers team: blank expressions

Wasp: “Oh, my god!”

See, Wasp knows her Hank lore.

And it has been decades and Hank doesn’t really talk a lot about his pre-Avengers days.

Maria Trovaya was Hank’s first wife. His supposedly dead first wife. His supposedly dead first wife who didn’t make good life choices.

The comic does a recap so conveniently, I can recap the recap for you.

Hank Pym was an antisocial researcher who spent all his time trying to think of ways to shrink stuff when he met Maria and her father, who was a Hungarian geneticist who had to flee the Eastern bloc because of a bad case of open-mindedness.

Maria was Hank’s manic pixie dreamgirl. Except not very manic pixie but same general idea. She pulled him out of her shell, similar to what Wasp would try to do later to mixed results.

(Later it would turn out that Hank and Maria had a daughter who is named Nadia and she is a delight. Jan basically adopts her. What with Hank being dead by the time Nadia shows up. Dead and stapled to Ultron.)

ANYWAY.

Hank and Maria got married. And bad life choice maker Maria Trovaya decides that they should honeymoon in Hungary despite her being a refugee from that country who had been a political prisoner once upon a time.

Her thought is that they won’t know its her if she goes by Mrs. Henry Pym.

She was wrong.

I don’t want to kick a dead girl while she’s down but she made the wrong call on that one.

Hank tries to get her back through legal channels at the American embassy. The embassy’s inquiries eventually turned up her body. And a note that says “this is what happens to those who attempt to escape the People’s Republic -- !”

Just to pile onto poor Hank, Maria’s dad is also dead. His lab blew up with him in it. Sabotage is suspected. Nothing is ever proven, it seems.

Weird. With a lot of other characters, that kind of thing would be a loose end that someone would pick up on in the decades of publishing Marvel has had. But Hank’s pre-Ant-Man life doesn’t come up a lot.

Anyway, as Hank is wont to do, he goes on a bit of a tear.

Of course, he doesn’t even know where to look for his wife’s abductors and he’s no Liam Neeson with a particular set of skills. So it looks like he mostly just goes and beats up a crowd of policemen.

Good try though!

I guess everyone is trying to avoid a diplomatic incident because Hank is released from custody to the embassy on the promise that he’ll leave the country.

So he goes back to America but he’s not ready to quit trying to avenge his wife. Based on her saying “Go to the ants, thou sluggard!” to him, Hank decides to study ants. Because that will help him find where criminals prowl!

I am reminded back in the early Avengers days, Hank was able to communicate with all ants in the entire world to try to find a missing scientist.

It’s a little sad that with that kind of capability, he never did track down the killers.

He does say that he used every resource he could as an Avenger. Sources with the government, with NATO, with SHIELD and only ever turned up ‘yup your wife is definitely dead, stop asking.’

(Which doesn’t seem like the question he should have been asking anyway? It sounded like his wife’s body was already found. Why are you looking into whether she’s alive?)

So now he’s very twisted up wondering why information is popping up now when he’s put the bad behind him and reinvented himself.

Belatedly, he also apologizes for showing up to Moon Knight’s induction and making it all about himself.

Moon Knight: “No, Dr. Pym! Marc Spector was -- I was -- a mercenary! I have spent much of my life fighting governments! What better way to become an Avenger than battling tyranny to save your wife?!”

You’re a heck of a guy, Moon Knight! ... Or Khonshu? You dammit this is confusing.

Anyway, Moon Knight is the 24th Avenger!

How highly specific.

So that’s Iron Man, Thor, Wasp, Ant-Man Giant-Man Goliath Yellowjacket Dr Pym, Hulk, Captain America, Hawkeye, Quicksilver, Scarlet Witch, Black Panther, the Vision, Black Knight, Swordsman, Mantis, Beast, Moondragon, Hellcat, Wonder Man, Ms Marvel the Carol Danvers version, Falcon, Tigra, She-Hulk, Captain Marvel the Monica Rambeau version, Starfox, Namor McKenzie, Dr Druid, Mockingbird, and now Moon Knight?

That’s 28 people. That’s too many people. Which four don’t count?

Hulk, Mantis, Moondragon, and Hellcat, maybe? Moondragon and Hellcat were only provisional members before Moondragon convinced them both to quit. Hulk had his founders status given to Captain America. And I think Mantis’ membership was honorary and awarded just as she was going on her space tree honeymoon.

And not counting any retroactive continuity like Avenger X.

I think its bunk not to count those four people who maybe don’t count. But whatever. What does this narrator know.

After all the congratulations are done being said, the West Coast Avengers take off in a QUINJET, Hawkeye declaring that this settles the debate whether the West Coast Avengers are supposed to stay on the West Coast.

A debate that nobody but you was having, Clint.

As they go, Mockingbird thinks to herself that she’s glad to get away from Phantom Rider for a while, just for Moon Knight to say to her that he’d bet she’s glad to get away from Phantom Rider for a while.

The look she shoots him. Perfection.

She has no idea what his game is.

And she doesn’t have long to worry over it because Tigra pulls Moon Knight aside to probably make out with.

Since Hank got to have a big flashback, Wasp decides she’ll have one too. A flashback to their shared history! Ha, take that, nerd!

Just like with Maria, Jan was introduced to Hank by her father who was a scientist. Because Hank has one and only one way to meet women.

Dr. van Dyne wanted Hank’s help with a gamma-ray beam meant to communicate with other planets.

Didn’t the Hulk teach people that gamma radiation wasn’t a toy?

Anyway, because Hank wasn’t an omnidisciplinary scientist at this point, he says he can’t help because gamma-ray beams aren’t his field.

But shortly after, Dr. van Dyne is MURDERED and his research destroyed and its Hank who Janet calls in a panic.

Hank being Hank, goes right to 11. He shows up, reveals that he’s Ant-Man, and asks if she wants to be his superhero partner.

This was before decompressed storytelling. Every story began and ended in like twenty pages.

Ant-Man: “Do you see those synthetic cells in the microscopic field? I can implant them below your skin! It will leave no scar, but when you’re reduced in size you’ll grow wings and tiny antennae -- like a human wasp!”

Janet van Dyne: “It sounds so wonderful -- !”

...

On their very second meeting ever, Hank Pym proposes to do mad science to her to give her superpowers and Janet is like hot damn sign me up.

She was made for the superhero life, I swear.

Also, she put together her first (of many) Wasp outfits from a pile of alternate Ant-Man outfits Hank had prepared.

They go, they fight an alien monster, they murder said alien monster, and Janet exuberantly declares she loves Hank.

Hank tells her he never wants to love again because of the tragic loss of his first wife but Jan is sure he’s just pretending not to feel anything for her.

And thus starts an ultimately unhealthy relationship!

Janet’s flashback narration calls the whole thing a fairy tale, her “wildest dreams, all rolled into one” but after she comes out of the flashback she wryly reflects it was a fairy tale after all.

Wasp: “It really was a fairy tale, wasn’t it? Couldn’t last after we woke up! But if there’s even one chance in a hundred that he can get Maria back, I’ll be cheering him on the loudest...!”

Aw.

Anyway, the West Coast Avengers land in Slovakia where they’ve arranged to meet with the American ambassador who has arranged visas for them.

Buuuut, those visas have been revoked. As the arriving People’s Defense Force notify the West Coast Avengers.

Now these are some characters.

I do love other countries having superhero teams of their own, even if they’re antagonist due to global politics.

The leader, Madame X, says that the West Coast Avengers are criminals and enemies of the state. They’re associates of Iron Man who did a diplomatic incident in Russia. Mockingbird is a former agent of SHIELD. And none of these guys like Hank Pym because he’s thwarted all of them.

Yeah, these are a bunch of old Ant-Man enemies! His older rogues gallery doesn’t get a lot of love.

An unnamed member of the Force is one of the Soviet spies Ant-Man thwarted in his first Ant-Man appearance.

El Toro was a super agent from Santo Rico who had rigged an election but was defeated by Giant-Man and the Wasp. He’s got a hat with horns on it. That is his super power.

Madame X was introduced as Comrade X and was disguised as a man. Ant-Man foiled her with ants. She has a gas gun. That is her super power.

Hmm.... starting to see why Hank Pym’s older enemies don’t get a lot of love.

BUT: there’s also the Beasts of Berlin! Gorillas given enhanced intelligence by Soviet scientists. Hank learned about them when he was breaking a friend out of jail, beat them up, and broke the ray gun that made them smrt smart. The group here is apparently a new group. But hey! Comic books are about fighting apes!

Given that the People’s Defense Force is packed full of old foes of his and that they knew he was coming, Hank declares that the whole Maria thing was a trick, a ruuuuuse to lure him into a trap!

The People’s Defense Force has no idea what he’s talking about. But they’re still going to arrest the shit out of the West Coast Avengers.

The West Coast Avengers Assemble to resist arrest and now there’s a fight scene.

I assume Tigra would rather do the designated animal person fight than the designated girl fight because she jumps right at the Beasts of Berlin. But, alas, she’s not watching her six. El Toro headbutts her from behind, poisoning her with the horns on his hat.

Hawkeye and Mockingbird fight Madame X. Since they’re doing it together, it probably doesn’t count as a designated girl fight for Mockingbird.

Wonder Man fights ALL THE BEASTS AT ONCE. Because working together, they’re nearly as strong as he is. That’s what we call a fair fight. Also, c’mon, a super strong dude fighting a bunch of gorillas. Amazing.

Moon Knight (Khonshu?) fights off the regular soldiers that came with the People’s Defense Force, thrilling at his first official battle as an Avenger.

And then he gets headbutted and subsequently poisoned by El Toro.

Wow, not having someone fighting this dude is really headbutting the Avengers in the butt.

Wasp zaps the Beasts of Berlin to save Mockingbird who is getting pummeled. Wonder Man starts fighting the entire ape group again (not sure why he stopped fighting them long enough for them to gang up on Mockingbird...) and Wasp flies off to see how Hank is doing.

Hank is doing good.

He’s still getting a lot of mileage out of his new superpower of infinite inventory space. He pulls out two pistols, claims they’re just toys when the soldiers tell him to stop pulling shit out of his pockets, and then grows them full size to spray the soldiers with rubber bullets.

Wasp shows up just in time to crack a joke that as Giant-Man he was “highpockets”, so now they should call Hank “hugepockets.” Hank adds onto the joke by suggesting “Captain Kangaroo.”

Y’know, despite following a lead on his definitely murdered wife, Hank is in good spirits. It’d be a justification to fall into anger or depression. While he’s clearly driven to find out whether this lead is anything, he’s keeping a good attitude.

Also, he pulls hedgetrimmers out of his infinite pockets and uses them to cut a hole in the fence so he and Wasp can fuck off.

Not ideal for the West Coast Avengers since El Toro has managed to headbutt each one of them and forces Wonder Man to stop spanking the apes if he wants his friends to be saved from the poison.

This dude is alarmingly effective for a guy who - and I repeat myself with some incredulity - has the superpower of wearing a hat with horns on it and he poisoned the horns.

Are the West Coast Avengers just having an off day?

(To be slightly fair, Hawkeye didn’t get headbutt poisoned, he got captured by the normal soldiers.)

The American ambassador assures Hawkeye that the US government will not rest until the team is freed. Hawkeye isn’t optimistic about that.

Madame X alerts all security forces to find Dr Pym and the Wasp. Because they fucked off, remember?

Anyway, they fucked off to a boarded up building. With Wasp as lookout, Hank breaks a board so he can sneak into the abandoned building.

Off the battlefield, Hank is having less of a good time. He tells Wasp she shouldn’t have come because he’s a danger magnet right now and he doesn’t want her to get hurt.

She points out that she’s the actual superhero of the two of them currently to his irritation.

Then they sulk for a panel before Wasp comments that nothing has really changed between them, prompting Hank to burst out laughing because she’s right.

But he insists that they act professionally, not personally right now, and get down to business. Not business of saving the Avengers team they both ditched to get captured. No, no. Hank wants to follow the lead about Maria Trovaya.

Wasp says that’s going to be a difficult task since they don’t have any contacts in the city and also they’re wanted by the law. It’d be easier if Hank was Ant-Man because he could use the power of talking to ants, which is the greatest power.

But Hank isn’t Ant-Man. But she’s and the Wasp. And the Wasp used to have antennae that would pop out when she shrank down and let her communicate with ants.

And here’s where things tie delightfully into the elaboration of Wasp’s powers that happened under Stern as well as Hank’s new powers.

Wasp barely used the antennae. As far as she’s concerned, they died by this point. But Hank claims that the way they were designed, they wouldn’t die as long as Wasp lives. But they’ve clearly atrophied since they don’t pop out anymore.

Its the opposite of how Wasp’s bio-electric sting and wings and shrinking have all gotten stronger since she kept using them. Those are the parts of her power set that she really leaned into. Leveled up. The ant communication power she barely ever used so the antennae are basically vestigial at this point.

BUT: While Hank can’t change his own size, his current powers are all about changing the size of other stuff. So he boops Wasp in the head and grows the antennae back to functioning size.

The signal quality isn’t great - the antennae did atrophy after all - but Wasp is able to use them to contact ants across Budapest.

(Apparently the way that the ant communication power has such a huge range is because the ants themselves act as rebroadcast antenna, passing the message on further afield.)

But anyway. Wasp gets word back from the ant network that Maria’s name was spoken in Bratislava Prison just this morning.

A lead! A good lead!

It takes them awhile to get to Bratislava Prison since Hank has to go slow and avoid the police. But they get there by nightfall.

Wasp flies in through a keyhole and beats up the guard before opening the door for Hank. Various ants guide Wasp through the prison to a high tech cell that’s very locked.

But when Hank opens up the cell, it’s not Maria Trovaya he finds.

HEY VISION AND SCARLET WITCH. ANOTHER CROSSOVER WITH THE WEST COAST AVENGERS, I SEE.

Okay, so what’s this about. The Maria Trovaya lead was clearly a ruse and bait. But who would have beef with Hank, Vision, and Scarlet Witch?

I’d guess Grim Reaper, since he was the guy last time the West Coast Avengers and the happy couple crossed over. But if it was Grim Reaper, you’d think Wonder Man would be more central to this.

Iiiiis it Ultron? I’m pretty sure he double died pretty recently but that means nothing in comics or for Ultron specifically.

Guess I’ll find out in two weeks. Curse you, East Coast Avengers and your alternating weeks!

Follow @essential-avengers​ because let us unravel this mystery together. Or you could read ahead or check marvel wiki. I can’t stop you. Like and reblog if you liked this post or think other people would like it. Leave a comment, maybe.

[interdimensionalcats]

This is a bit TMI so I thought I’d share with everybody but in February of 2019 I went on the worst second date I’d ever been on, this guy takes me to a bar in bushwick at 1 pm on a Thursday afternoon (despite me telling him I don’t drink) so he can do a beer tasting and I sat next to him glancing around this completely empty room nursing an apple cider I did not ask for while he keeps taking about beer which would have been interesting if he hadn’t kept asking me questions I couldn’t answer on what drink flavor profile I liked despite me repeatedly mentioning I’d never had beer before and did not want to try it anytime soon so he inevitably shifted toward talking about this app that tracks all the different beers he’s had before we left to get mediocre overpriced pizza at a place he wanted to go to nearby and I was already a bit annoyed at him because earlier that day at my apartment he had stained my mattress with his cum while I had him hog tied (I was in my Dom Top Era, which is no longer active RIP 🪦) on my bed and he just kept humping his cum into my sheets which tbh would have been very hot had I not just bought those sheets or had put down a towel before hand and I would have just ended the date after that but he had driven from Jersey so I felt obligated to spend time with him and I was thinking about how I’d have to go do laundry at the laundromat now while we ate the overpriced but below average pizza before we finally did something I wanted to do and went to a Dutch colonial house from the 1600s but after we paid he made a scene because the poor colonial woman gave him the wrong change and I just pretend I was very very interested in the ceramic plate display on the other side of this incredibly small one room building before he finished and i dragged us into the basement so I wouldn’t have to deal with the second hand embarrassment any longer then necessary (I bonked my head on the low wood ceiling though) and when we went to the attic we were alone with the sad dutch wooden doll form the children’s show and then he dropped me off at home and I proceeded not to think of him again until that November when he texted me that he’d moved to Brooklyn and wanted to hook up so the Monday before thanksgiving I went over to his place and I only really did that because he was absolutely obsessed with me and thought I was the hottest guy ever and my self esteem needed the boost but a couple of days later I went out to see my parents on Long Island and discovered in the shower that he had given me 🦀crabs🦀 and I spent the next hour in the bathroom silently crying while hacking away at my pubes with my 9yrd old brothers dull children’s safety scissors and wondering how my life could possibly get any worse and then thanksgiving morning I have to tell my mom to drive me to cvs so I can get lice killer (but I don’t tell her that part) and she doesn’t want to go and I’m not about to ask my step dad so I have to pull her aside and tell her I think I have an STD and we stand in the foyer in front of her framed wooden cross in mutual humiliation until she tells me to just wait in the car and we never talked about it again.

Anyway I only thought of this because my mom asked if I wanted crab legs for my birthday next week and I had to tell her no :( 🦀🦀🦀