#animal facts with mj

[robbie-roo]

bats are the freaking cutest! could you tell me something about them? 🦇💞

ABSOLUTELY HOLY SHIT

oh my god you have no idea we just started talking about bats recently in my advanced class!!

so aside from rodents bats contain the most species of mammals they have around 20% of all mammals in their family the Chiroptera (over 1000 species!!) and they're all pretty diverse!!

and I mean SUPER diverse these are one of the groups that people are still finding new species in- prepare for a LONG post this first one as an overview of bats and the next over some specific species I think are neat

OK so they are distributed worldwide (except Antarctica) and obviously have some pretty big adaptations around flight

right now there's some debate going on about classification because of their adaptations- mainly based around echolocation, I'll get into that a little more later on- but the old classification system was the mega bats (megachiroptera), which was only one subgroup, and the micro bats (microchiroptera). The genetics are still iffy and to this day its still a little confusing where everybody belongs but that old way has since been thrown out the window... but still likes to watch what's going on inside if you know what I mean (I don't know what I mean....)

but anyway! this was based also around their distribution so we have what are called old world mammals which are critters found mainly in Africa, Asia, and Australia but also Europe (hence the name old world) and new world which is the Americas. Mega bats were considered new world and only held one family which is no longer the case

anyway!

we don't actually know how we got bats

well we do but we dont... let me explain!

the earliest known bat fossil was a Eocene bat found in germany (I think?) from 52.5 Mya also called Icaronycteris gunnelli and it was pretty much already a bat here's a picture

so... we don't know what it looked like before it looked like a bat! we hypothesize that it was another shrew-like mammal that just transitioned to flying really quickly. after all- that's a big commitment if you want to catch flying prey!

flying also takes up a lot of energy so they have to be tiny (except for flying foxes but I'll talk about them later) they lose heat/energy really fast so that means they need to eat a lot of high value food this leads to nearly all bats being insectovores with a few notable outliers

remember bats are super diverse there's specialization in every way you can think! the only things they won't eat are leafy greens- even the herbivores require high sugar diets and they are too small to have specialized stomachs like other plant adapted mammals.

because these guys require high energy food they also love to stay in tropical climates which is where they are the most diverse- you'll find a whole lot of bats in South Asia and South America.

so let's talk about bats as a whole now that we have some background.

Chiroptera- (literally means: hand wing)

so bat wings. they are more maneuverable than a birds wing and will encase the whole arm and in-between the fingers. they have a super duper adjustable membrane that they can move around in really subtle ways to help them navigate in the dark. their radius/ulna bones (forarm bones) are somewhat fused together and their 1st and 2nd finger acts as that final support beam for the rest of their fingers. they also have a thumb with a claw that sticks out.

their torsos are also adjusted for flight they have a super broad chest with small hips and straight long legs. their claws are independent (not fused like their wings) and they sometimes have a spur off of their ankles to help support the membrane between their legs

some of them have tails some of them do not- when they do have tails the membrane will also be connected to that at the middle.

their shoulder girdle is also special they have a long clavicle a large/strong scalpula and a ridged sternum which makes their center of gravity over their shoulders- this is really important for momma bats! they can only have one young (pup) at a time and they must stay up pretty high on her chest when drinking milk so that she can still fly. that means her nipples are real high up too (eventually she will leave the kid behind and go hunt on her own to bring back food)

here's a few modern bat skeletons

(note the ankle spur on the left image)

ft. my phone in the glass reflection... my bad dog

and check out those Itty bitty hips! imagine how small those babies have to be at birth to fit through that! haha just kidding you don't have to imagine here's a baby bat

SO small (this is a species called Myotis lucifugus the common name is literally "little brown bat")

OK so flight-

I don't know much about aerodynamics so this is gonna be like a weird bullshit explanation on this

so bats have curved wings for lift and they get thrust from their muscles on their body- they can adjust the curvature of their wings which is called the camber (if I remember correctly idfk honestly) and the front edge of their wing will change their angle of attack. they also adjust their fingers for the same deal bpa bla bla you get the point they can move their wings like crazy

so a high camble or angle of attack means a higher lift. they have super tiny thin muscles under their wing membrane that will also adjust its kinda like when horses twitch their skin to get a fly off.

wing beat cycle- upbeat brings the wing in and downbeat spreads the wing. they get their main power from their chest during the up beat and have less power from their back muscles on the down beat

a lot of them also have like a locking mechanism in their shoulder that keeps their wings from like snapping back open from the wind resistance

variability in wing size is also crazy- so long thin wings = longer flight

their tails are also like rudders and help with lift free tail bats struggle with this especially and will roost super high up and just kinda fall into flight

heavy prey like fruit requires heavy lift and that means their uroptagium (membrane between the legs) needs to be specialized for their habits

some bats use their membrane as like a net to catch moths and other flying bugs and throw them to their mouths very few bats will actually pluck things from the sky with their mouth they use their hind legs 99% of the time

(bat wing anatomy)

notice those tail variations

ears.

ears on a bat are fucking crazy there's all kinds of different variations (there's that word again) but one main trait is an extended tragus which is used to deflect sound here's a picture of a few examples

aww Lil cuties

they also have a nose leaf which we think also deflects sound (or heat in some species) both are necessary for echolocation here's some nose leafs

so while we are up here at a bats head we can talk about their skulls for a second and I'll get back to echolocation in a second

so bat skulls are similar to dogs but they may have modifications in their nasal areas and their incisors and premaxilla specifically. this again.... is super diverse and hard to kinda group together but here's a few examples

they all generally have primative molars which is called dilambodont molars its kinda a W shape with their crests but some have some crazy teeth like vampire bats some may not have any front teeth at all! they might use their hard pallet as a grinding surface like echidnas do

again... please don't ask me about teeth this is really all I know they stress me out

their relative size is also crazy variable flying foxes are the largest and can have 4-5ft wingspans and be around 2kg while bumblebee bats stay around 2g some of those larger guys can hibernate and a couple of super social ones do too

so!! elephant in the room- echolocation.

this special feat requires good ears and a good larynx

sound is produced in the larynx and comes out the mouth or though the nasal cavities this is just anatomy but in bats their nose leaf will also direct high frequencies away from themselves

remember a high frequency means a short wave length so to detect distances they need two mobile ears on their head to figure out the direction of the sounds. these move and listen somewhat independently from each other

bats are also creative with their echolocation they use a lower call when flying around to make sure they don't run into anything and a higher and faster call when they have located prey- think of it like a sonar on a submarine. the lower call sweeps the area for something to bounce back against and when something moves around like a pretty little moth for example, they will hone in on that sound to make sure they hit their target. and as we remember, high frequency requires a shorter distance from their target.

now I want to break some misconceptions real quick- no bat is blind. some bats have very small eyes and they likely don't rely on their vision but they can all see! bats are also loud! not in frequencies we can hear them but they are basically shouting all night long. echolocation also doesn't present a map of the land like some cartoons may show- again, imagine a sonar from a submarine its pretty similar but we don't actually fully understand how it's processed in their brains- we aren't bats after all!

this echolocation thing is super precise they, can tell the shape, speed, texture, size, type, orientation, and distance of something from a single call and they can go up to 200KHz

hearing the bounced back auditory waves requires a specialized auditory bullae which is shown in this photo circled in red

so these suckers are not fully attached to the skull and are instead supported by muscles so that they won't deafen themselves with their own yelling. they will relax that muscle when yelling and retract it to listen

this is so precise that they can identify and avoid a .2mm wide wire from a full meter away and can detect a fruit fly from 1/3rd of a meter away

if a bat had their way they could catch prey every 7 seconds (and catch a fruit fly every 3 seconds)

alright I'm gonna leave it here as my overview on bats and next time I'll get into some specific species and the differences between yin and yang bats :)

I hope this post was interesting to you and I hope you learned something! please feel free to ask me anything else thank you for your question!

I've also maxed out on both images AND tags for this post so I'm likely going to try and split up these bigger posts more often

OH before I forget (and I'll do a post on bat conservation too) just a firm reminder DO. NOT. TOUCH. BATS.

they are cute! they are excellent bug catchers! we love them! BUT they are also carriers of lots of diseases that humans can get such as rabies, ebola, and yes covid-19 not only that they are also ILLEGAL to touch

if you see a hurt bat or if one gets stuck in your garage or something call animal control they will send out a LICENSED Profesional to handle it for you

here's some information on the federal laws surrounding bats but always check your state laws as well!

DO.

NOT.

TOUCH.

BATS.

OK that's all thank you :)

[redhead-reporter]

MJ supposed she had her friends in the spider society to thank for why she wasn't SHOCKED at the revelation that vampires were more fact than fiction in the multiverse. But if she was being totally honest? She'd been holding out hope that they WEREN'T one of the 'lucky' worlds that played host to them.

Hopefully this one wasn't as DESPERATE for a family as Blade's mother had been ...

"You're not gonna try to turn the whole city into an army of VAMPIRES, are you? Because we just went through that with this alien symbiote a few months ago and we don't even HAVE a neogenic recombinator to turn everyone back ..."

º ✧ 。actually doing some WRITING for @malka-lisitsa !

[violetsgayhouse]

If you have a spider-sona, does that make Cami Poison Ivy? 8D (I can’t rly think of a plant chara that’s not necessary a “villain” but think a lot of modern takes has her still doing things for the environment so kinda like catwoman but slightly less selfish ahah (that said nothing with the hero x villain secretly dating tropes lol)

(Ah there is nature girl who has antler ears lol, I think it mentions that she becomes a villain at some point but from x men so the villains are nuanced and usually right like Magneto was lol)

CAMI IN SPIDER-KATS UNIVERSE I HADNT THOUGHT OF THAT...... i gotta learn more of the more prominent characters that are (mostly) consistent in a spider-persons universe to figure out her exact spot there but i like that a lot

[the-cat-and-the-birdie]

Hey Writers of ATSV, STOP letting White Men off the hook and expecting me to clap.

The fact that Miguel is repeated dehumanized and called an animal even prior to him snapping but George Stacy's scenes are written completely sympathetic towards him -

It doesn't sit right with me. Look at this:

They call Miguel an animal in the opening scenes.

At this point, he's not a threat to anyone but Vulture. In this scene, Miguel is doing exactly what he's supposed to do as Spider-man.

He gets called an animal.

Two pages later it's literal George Stacy holding a gun to his daughters face, and yet it's written completely, 100% sympathetic towards him AND ONLY HIM.

Which like..... Girl... Let me adjust my spectacles because I cannot be reading this right.

He's pointing a loaded gun at his daughter. Gwen is undoubtedly more scared than she's even been in her entire life.

She's confused and desperate, one of our main characters is going through a traumatic event.

The script though? It only cares about George and how he was 'betrayed by his little girl'

As if Gwen isn't her own person.

As if Gwen didn't just save dozens of lives. In a situation where the police could do nothing.

Had Gwen not been there, the police would not have been able to handle Vulture. The threat is subdued - yet he still persists.

It doesn't matter that she just saved multiple lives. It doesn't matter that she's not a threat - or that she's his literal daughter.

What matters is how hard this is for the adult white man with the lethal weapon in his hands.

The scene SHOULD be written from Gwen's point of view. SHE'S the victim.

But no, the white male cop is going through it due to his own emotional incompetency so let's focus on that while calling Miguel an evil animal.

In ATSV both George AND Peter - the two white men in the movie - let Gwen down. They either put her in danger or do nothing as they watch.

George points a gun at her. Peter watches Miguel as he physically assaults Gwen and puts her in the machine, exiling her into homelessness.

Then, he gets to go home to his wife and kids, not even mention to MJ that Gwen and Miles were both assaulted and are now missing. And instead he whines about how he's 'not good at this mentor stuff'.

In ATSV the White Male characters repeatedly fail the people around them with no consequences at all - even from a lot of the audience.

And yeah - Peter Parker is completely neglectful.

To the point it's not okay whatsoever.

I've seen MULTIPLE people say that 'Peter is justified in not helping Gwen during the Go-Home scene. Because Miguel was obviously violent and he's probably scared of him plus he was holding MayDay.'

Which is an excuse that ignores the fact that it's pitiful that GWEN a teenage girl facing homelessness - who is likely weaker than both Peter and Miguel - is more willing to stand up to Miguel than PETER PARKER.

It ignores the fact Miguel would NOT attack a fucking baby. He's a FATHER.

But it's easier to assume the Latino man is a raging, angry, baby killer than to admit the white man is committing neglect.

It baffles me that people will really defend Peter saying 'he was scared - he didn't know what Miguel would do-'

Neither did Gwen. But she still did it.

Because she's a GOOD GUY. Because it mattered to her. Because the people she cared about were getting hurt.

She stood up to Miguel in the face of literal danger and homelessness.

Peter had nothing to lose. He make a joke and shut up when he was told.

Once again: If Gwen and Hobie hadn't come for Peter, we have NO IDEA how long he would've stayed with Miguel. We are given NO INDICATION prior to Gwen's arrival that Peter is actively going to change sides. Or is even really considering it in that moment.

Even in the script Peter shows no remorse or worry for Gwen or Miles at all.

It's as if they don't cross his mind. As if he doesn't care he led Miguel directly to Miles because he forgot he had on a tracking watch. As if what he just witnessed didn't disturb him, as if he isn't worried that Gwen is literally homeless.

All he cares about is him, and his image as mentor.

Like sir, I do not give a DAMN. I might not even give a fuck, if you will.

Shut the fuck up about that mentorship shit 😭😭😭😭 You tryna mentor niggas that's MISSING.

He's like that deadbeat dad that brought you a bike a decade ago at 6 and he still bringing it up asking you why you don't call him 'dad'. Like just because you taught Miles to swing over a year ago doesn't mean you're his mentor mfer. Miles would've learned to swing anyway cause it's literally instinctual and every person bitten eventually learns it by themselves so really Peter wtf 😐

People will scream 'But there's nothing he could do!! Miguel is too scary!!'

One: Peter is one of if not the Spider-person with the most experience. If we assume he was bitten at 18 and he's say 45 now, that's still over 25 years of experience. If he was bitten in high school, that's even more experience.

He has biological powers Miguel doesn't, plus he has years of experience over Miguel - who canonically got his powers as an adult. If anyone in that room can beat Miguel - it's him.

If you're telling me that Peter B. Parker is not only scared of Miguel but he's scared to the point he will not even attempt to question him, even though three people younger than him will - Gwen, Hobie, and Miles - that's pitiful. That's a sad excuse for a Spider-man.

Also He's Spider-Man. The whole point of Spider-man is he fights even if he isn't sure he can win.

Two: At the very least, he can show that he's genuinely concerned for the kids he wants to mentor so bad. But he doesn't even do that. Even bringing them up or saying their names doesn't cross his mind.

But once again, the white male character emotionally neglecting those around him - especially the children who depend on him - and both he are George are either shown as innocent, unwilling to act, or the script is outright sympathetic towards them.

It's easy to call the Latino man an animal but writing a scene in which a white cop is rightfully portrayed as selfish is too hard.

It's easy to call the Latino man a monster but writing Peter Parker as a heroic figure is too hard.

The racism is not just towards Miguel. It's also in the blatant favoritism the white male characters are given.

Both George and Peter actively endanger those around them and at no point do they do something on their own accord that helps anybody but themselves.

Gwen has to go to her father - by force. Gwen has to go to Peter - using Hobie's hard work.

What we NOT GONNA DO is give the white man praise when it's literally the black guy who did all the work.

Fuck - Hobie mentored Gwen TEN TIMES MORE than Peter ever did Miles. Hobie put a roof over Gwen's head and came to get her when no other person would.

Writers, stop trying to make me sympathetic towards the white men who actively hurt the people around them when there's good mentors like Hobie and good parents like Rio and Jeff.

I ain't with the shits'. If anyone is an animal in this script, it's the man who pointed a gun at his daughter.

I guess assaulting and mentally scaring children is only okay if you do it with a firearm? Or if you make this face while doing it 🥺*

(*coupon not available for the melinated)

I changed my mind i don't forgive Peter or George. Miguel who has a whole ass arc of life and death and loss gets called an animal while the white cop with six minutes of screentime gets shown as father of the year while holding a loaded gun to a child girl you must be kidding me

Maybe Gwen would be in a better mood if we let her kick their asses idk 🤷🏾

[taegimood]

hi mj!!

okay hear me out soobin and kai.. tag team.

like i know they would most likely never share anything like this but maybe the reader is the only exception in this case. ofc they share they’re favorite games and dramas but sharing kais gf is there new favorite activity?

hope you are doing well :))

-🖇️

nonnie this has me VIBRATING rn you have no idea i’m 👁️👄👁️ ughhhh sookai sandwich EFFF

edit: sorry for the accidental soob focus in the beginning, i got carried away i’m too mf obsessed w him 🤧

──────────────────────

soobin really didn’t mean to walk into kai’s bedroom without knocking, he just didn’t know that you were over… didn’t know that he’d find you getting split in half on his best friend’s cock, your body full nude and beautiful and all on display as he stands clenching the doorknob until his knuckles are white, frozen, eyes so wide that it’s comical. as if his cock wasn’t already getting hard enough in his sweatpants, the fact that the fucked out look on your face doesn’t change when you see him standing there — pools of need filling your gaze, in fact — well, hell; he sure as fuck is hard now.

soobin.exe has stopped working COMPLETELY, however, when he hears his own name fall from your lips in a soft whimper, and his eyes finally shoot to kai’s when the younger pants out, “hyung.. it’s okay, you can come in.” soobin doesn’t even process himself closing the door as he steps forward, doesn’t process how he approaches the bed, doesn’t process how he’s already gripping the hem of his shirt — “a-are you sure?” he whispers to kai, eyes locked on your dripping cunt as he watches his friend drill into it. he even has to stop the drool from trickling past his lips.

“please,” you moan out lewdly, breaking soobin’s momentary trance as his eyes flash back up to your face, your head thrown back as you watch him through pleading, lidded eyes. kai only chuckles and responds, “i’m sure. she’s been wanting this. you should see the way she looks at you, hyung.. isn’t that right, baby? want us both to share your pretty little pussy? hmm?”

soobin’s mouth hangs open at kai’s filthy words; what the fuck happened to his sweet innocent maknae???? but the guttural moan that erupts from your lips in response travels straight down to his twitching cock, and that’s all the confirmation that he needs as his clothes quickly find a home on the floor of his best friend’s bedroom and, in a daze, he’s quickly knelt on the bed beside you.

so thus starts the arrangement; kai kept true to his words, and now here you are being regularly shared between both men.

and you fucking love it.

soobin and kai aren’t new to the concept of sharing; they share video games, snacks, their passwords to anime sites, even some secret hentai links, all their usual favorite things; and now, their newest favorite thing to share is you, apparently.

it’s not uncommon anymore to be spending a night in with your boyfriend and have soobin come join; leaning back against kai’s chest while he tweaks your nipples as soobin languidly eats your pussy. or to be sandwiched between them in the shower, kai’s cock thrusting into you from behind as you hold onto soobin’s shoulder for support with one hand, the other jerking him off as your tongues tangle together. or when they’re busy playing video games and have you take turns cockwarming them — warm mouth wrapped around whoever isn’t buried inside you. later they reward you for being such a good girl when they’ve got you spitroasted on their cocks, your big strong men giving it to you so good, filling both your pretty holes on each end until your eyes are rolling back and your body is shaking. and who knows….

maybe they’ll reward you even better next time by filling all three.

[rosemaeridream]

seem to need you. || aespa - kmj

kim minjeong x reader

warnings: jealous!minjeong, extremely mild thoughts of death, oblivious!reader? (or are you?), non-idol au, college? au, mj just wants you to herself, should ryujin be a warning??, mj can be toxic about you a teenie tiny bit but she knows

A/N: HAHA ik i said jealous!minjeong but mj is a sad-jealous person it cannot be helped (she's a loser in my mind) :) sorry for the wait, i was too busy playing minecraft

Synopsis: 'Seeing you with Shin Ryujin was definitely making her mind reel.'

wordcount: 4.8k

Minjeong watched you from the other side of the room. It was murky, a haze of smoke — thick against the walls, and the bitter smell of weed permeating the air. The couch where she sat was sticky, whether it be from its leathery skin or from some kind of liquid spilt, seeping into the surface and leaving her mildly uncomfortable, she wasn’t exactly sure. Parties weren’t particularly her thing, it was always hard to breathe through the layering grey of the marijuana and the thud of the bassy speakers forced her mind to claw at itself, wanting just a moment of silence.

Nor were parties something Minjeong attended very often, preferring to stay at home playing Animal Crossing or Mario Kart with her roommate. Strawberry Milkis on the coffee table, drifting joysticks shared between the two of them as they throw playful insults into the space between them. But, (and this was a rather large condition), if you asked her to kick it at a party with her?

Only heaven knows the date and time she’d say no to you.

And so, Minjeong is at a party, despite it not being her thing, despite not being able to breathe properly, despite her tasks to do in her Animal Crossing island, despite the beginning of a pounding headache, and especially despite the fact that you had ditched her an hour earlier to talk to, (‘more like flirt with’), Shin Ryujin. She grumbles at the sight, no - the near mention of Ryujin’s name.

What did she have that Minjeong didn’t?

A driver’s licence? Pshh, she knew you liked taking public transport to places, seeing the world from the ‘ant point of view’. And she knew you liked taking the train from the student accommodation to the gardens just for her to walk around and point out flowers to you. Or rest your head on her shoulder aboard the bus home from university, practically shifting your entire weight onto her after an especially confusing lecture. So a driver’s licence wasn’t the sticky gold star that you were looking for on Ryujin’s suitor report card.

Sulking in the confines of the couch cushions, Minjeong watched as you laughed at a joke Ryujin made. The brash way your laughs pierced through the thumping beat of the music made her stomach roll with queasiness; but it wasn’t that either. She could make you laugh till the sun rose. She could make you piss your pants or laugh hard enough that a stitch would form in your side. That was easy stuff. But the way your eyes sparkled, like the glitter you applied to your upper eyelid, or the snowflakes in your beanie at last year’s Christmas party, practically confirmed to Minjeong that Ryujin had something on her.

She eyes the way your hand travels to rest on Ryujin’s collarbone, allowing you to lean part of your weight on her while you recover your breath from her joke. The girl has a smug, relaxed grin spread across her mouth and looks completely enamoured with you. Ryujin’s hair had grown out over the summer, back to the length it had been when you were freshmen; glossy black hair stark against her skin. Minjeong had considered growing her hair out too, but you’d been so adamant that her bob was perfect on her, that she’d chopped it off all over again - well, you had chopped it off. The hair had danced and twirled around her as you perfected her fringe, your eyes focused on the strands, while her own darted back and forth between the wall behind you and the shiny lip gloss spread across your bottom lip. When you had finished, she’d looked down at all the trimmings on the floor and mourned her loss, until you turned her around to look in the mirror and whisper in her ear that she looks ‘perfectly handsome’. Handsome? It wasn't usually a comment she took as a compliment. But whispered from your lips? Your voice? Her heart stammered, skipping not one but two beats, then making them up in double time.

Minjeong would compare her appearance with Ryujin more often, if not for the fact that you complimented her every day. Making sure to slip little notes into her textbooks or her pencil case scribbled with words of encouragement or doodles of puppies and rainbows. Her absolute favourites were the ones that made her cheeks sunburnt, even when she has an eight step skincare routine that most definitely includes sunscreen. They’re the ones she hides away in an old banged up shoe box she keeps tucked under her bed. The notes littered in the box like they’re littered in her mind and she pulls them out when she’s feeling stressed or anxious... or anytime you weren’t around.

Like now, Minjeong would kill to read one of your notes. She pictured your neat scrawl, fit with blue, not black – it was too harsh, pen and your name signed at the bottom.

‘Hey Jeongie !!!!! *doodle of a Maltese terrier* I know I’m not around right now, but you’re always my No. 1. No matter what, as long as the moon and stars chase the setting sun. P.s. There’s beer in your fridge.’

That’s the sort of thing you’d write, she muses, or something like that, probably less melodramatic. Maybe there is beer in the fridge of whoever’s house this is.

She rolls off the couch - it sticks to the skin of her palms like velcro - avoiding looking at how close your face is to Ryujin’s through the haze and walks into the kitchen, making a beeline for the fridge. There’s a six-pack, well- five-pack of beer shoved at the back behind a cabbage. Clearly someone had tried to hide it from the non-residents of the house, but failed to realise that the shelves in the fridge were transparent and the beer cans were bright green. Minjeong shoves the cabbage to the side without care, fingers grasping one of the cans and giving it a tug to pop out of the packaging. Maybe the alcohol would offer relief from the turbulent reeling of her mind. And seeing you with Shin Ryujin was definitely making her mind reel.

Knowing she wouldn’t have the guts, nor the ability to be sloshed enough to separate the two of you, Minjeong retired back to her spot on the couch, sinking squeakily between the faux leather armrest and the still sticky cushion and nursing her beer which is dripping with condensation. The droplets wet her hands while she glowers at Ryujin; it makes her uncomfortable. She’d glower at you too if you’d just stop smiling so much.

The rest of the night continued that way. Minjeong’s eyes glued to you, your eyes glued to Ryujin. So much for enjoying spending time with you. Her eyes droop, the rest of the six-pack empty and crumpled at various spots by the foot of the couch, having snatched the rest of them after a rather tense moment when Ryujin had squeezed your arm. Maybe she was being melodramatic now. Maybe she was-

Your face appears in front of hers, happy and smiling wide. “Hey Jeongie!” You giggle.

Minjeong grimaces in response.

“Not feeling so good?” Your voice lilts with laughter and she can see you glance at the multiple cans of beer scattered around her, then to the one in her hand. “You’re a lightweight, Jeongie, you know better than to down... six? No-” Your hand lightly points as you count the rubbish around her. “Five cans of beer.”

Instead of fighting back or even giving an explanation, she just holds her tongue. There’s a trail of beer dripping down the side of the can making her hands wet and sticky. You wouldn’t understand it. You’d just get more disappointed if she told you why.

Your eyes continue to twinkle with humour as you take in her slovenly figure sunk between the couch cushions. “Come on, drunkard, let’s get you home.” You offer her your hand, dainty but there was a certain confidence and strength to them. It multiplies in front of her, your real hand is the one on the left, no, the middle, then she blinks and it’s back to one.

Minjeong wants to sulk more. Clearly she was only worth your time when on the borderline of passing out in some random person’s house, where you had taken her even though she really just wanted to be at home buried under her weighted blanket while cursing at Tom Nook’s 3D sprite. But she can’t reject your hand. Not when you’re actually paying attention to her for the first time that night. So she grumbles and whines but she slips her hand into yours and feels her butt being ripped from the mildly uncomfortable clutches of the cushions.

You walk her through the house and out to the footpath, dodging far drunker people than Minjeong, her hand clutching yours while blindly stumbling behind you. The air out here only barely smells of weed, every couple of breaths it’s strong again but then it simmers back to nothing. But with the haze of the room gone, the fog in her mind began to thicken, forcing Minjeong to concentrate on where her feet were landing. Taking in a deep breath as you pull her along, she watches the way your smile sticks to your face, even when you stumble a little. She desperately wants to know why you were here with her, instead of sucking faces with Ryujin. It makes the alcoholic fog of her brain worse. Why? Why? Why?

“What happened to Ryujin?” And it’s left her mouth before she could stop it, like a runaway train hurtling down the tracks and she doesn’t even have a stupid lever to pull to save five people instead of her own measly existence and maybe she-

“She saw you were a little bit... okay, a lot drunk and excused herself. Ryu’s really nice you know and I think you two would-...” Minjeong immediately stopped listening to you when ‘Ryu’ dropped out of your lips. Ryu. R. Y. U. A nickname. A cool nickname too, not some cutesy shit like Jeongie or Minnie or Mindoongie. If Ryujin gets a cool name like a senior or a jock, where does that leave Minjeong? Why didn’t you call her Min? And the way the corners of your lips twitched when you talked about her? And the way your eyes almost glazed over dreamily like you were imagining some intimate scene between the two of you?

“Hey! Are you even listening to me?” Your voice pierced back through her haze of nicknames. You look concerned like when you had found her crying in the bathroom over her marks in Grade 10, a mix of pity and worry, swirling in your eyes like sand in the waves crashing to the shore.

78% is perfectly acceptable, Mindoongie. You just have to study harder next time. Your hand had brushed through her hair then fallen to rest on her cheek, thumbs brushing at the stream of tears. She remembers stopping the salty trails from running down her cheeks only when she got a glimpse of your own paper crumpled in your spare hand. Red pen was harsher than blue and black, and so was the shape of ink, forming a scratchy 53%.

Minjeong gives a weak nod and gestures for you to continue with an indiscriminate nod of her head. Most of this was going in one ear and out her ass, like it always does when Ryujin was brought up.

“Anyway, she asked me to go see a movie next Friday!” You check the street right to left, then take a step out, pulling her along with you. Ryujin’s going on a date with you. Wait- Ryujin’s going on a date with you. Minjeong’s eyes bulge and she stops, standstill, in the middle of the road you were crossing. Her hand falls out of yours, despite the strong grip you kept on it. The fresh air begins to feel murky against her skin, like she was still inside the house, wisps of smoke invading her senses.

“What?!”

“Ryujin? She asked me to hang. See, you’re not even listening to me!” Your laugh fades into the background again as Minjeong mentally throws darts at a board with Ryujin’s face taped to it.

And all Minjeong can force out of her mouth is a pitiful, “Oh.”

Minjeong sits at the precipice of murder. Whether that be herself or Ryujin she hadn’t figured out yet. She also sat at the edge of your bed, legs swinging back and forth in a rhythmic motion, like the pendulum of a grandfather clock. Tick. Tick.

She always liked your room. It was cosy, walls lined with shelves lined with plushies and CD cases. There were always CDs around, one in the player you saved up for, a couple carelessly laying on the table outside their cases, the wall behind your bed was a mosaic of painted discs, a project you completed with Minjeong’s help. Today’s album on repeat was something she didn’t recognise. Her mind had glossed over when you had explained to her the genre, all she knew was it had guitars and it sounded sort of ethereal; like she was half asleep listening to a band through a wall.

You stood in the mirror, looking at yourself. This was a normal activity for the both of you. She would sit on your bed, watching you watch yourself getting prepared for a night out. Usually, she pre-prepared, showing up to your home and trudging to your room complaining that you’re forcing her to go out again. It happened like clockwork every Friday night. Always the same motions; it’s muscle memory now, the same way that Minjeong can find the right frets on her guitar she can find her place by your side.

Except this time Minjeong isn’t coming with you. This time she’ll watch you get picked up by a taller, more confident girl and then hold back the prickling sensation of tears as she traces her steps back home.

“Jeongie, do you think she’ll like this top or the other more?” You voiced your concern, holding the top you previously had on to your chest, then moving it away to show the one tight on your body. Minjeong looked up from the floor with a tired huff, studying both of the shirts. Did she really care about helping you impress stupid Ryujin?

“The one you’re wearing now is fine,” And it was. It hugged your body nicely, highlighting your figure rather than hiding it like the other one would. Minjeong traced the outline of your chest, naturally following it to the small amount of cleavage the shirt created before removing her eyes and focusing on the top in your hands. “It’d go nicely with that necklace I got you last year.”

You twirled to gaze in the mirror again, standing tall and checking how you look from various angles. “Mmh, I don’t know. Isn’t it too much?” Your eyes find hers in the mirror and she just lifts her shoulders in a lazy shrug.

“If you like her then it shouldn’t be too much.” Minjeong’s voice is small and it twists in an unfamiliar way. It slides through a couple tones before landing on nonchalant. “And you’ll be wearing a jacket, the temperature drops after six.”

She hears an amused chuckle from you, looks to see the corners of your mouth twitching ever so slightly and Minjeong feels her stomach clench again. “You take care of me so well, Minnie.”.

Her lips slip under her teeth as she chews on them, an anxious habit she’s never been able to kick. “You’re my best friend.” And the answer slips out of her grasp again, much before she was able to stop it; sticking to her mouth like the strong taste of alcohol, everlasting and unpalatable.

Staring at the floor, she holds back another set of jumbled thoughts she’d regret. She already wanted to take back these words, adding more would just complicate things. And they were true too. What were you if not her best friend?

Your eyes meet through the mirror again and Minjeong rises from the bed, padding over to you, her red socks muffling her footsteps on your bedroom floor. The display of your CD player adds a number as the next song starts to play. Still the layered guitars, still the gritty, hazy sound. She cocks her head as she analyses your outfit. “The black denim jacket.” She suggests with a flash of her eyes, looking up and down.

Minjeong reaches under, past your body, hand colliding with one of your jewellery boxers on your vanity before finding the necklace she’d gifted you the year before. It was sterling silver; dainty, but not flashy. At the end of the chain was a hollow star embedded with tiny moonstones that glittered in the light of your room. The necklace had barely even dented her bank account, having impulsively bought it from a market, two weeks before your birthday. It reminded her of you, the glitter akin to the sparkle in your eyes when you smiled.

The chain was freezing in her hands, colder than the air in the room. She steps behind you, lifting her arms to move the necklace over your head. The movement was slow, deliberate, her breaths sending tingles up your ear. Notes of citrus and lavender wafted over your shoulder as her scent surrounded you. She wanted to hold the chain in her hand, warm it up so that the ice of the silver wouldn’t make you gasp when it laid against the skin of your collar, but there wasn’t time for that. Ryujin would call, or text, or honk the horn from her stupid Mustang, and you wouldn’t be with her anymore. Instead she moves your hair over your shoulder, out of the way of her workspace.

Minjeong keeps her eyes away from your gaze, as she pulls the necklace around your neck. Letting out a small gasp when the chain cascades against your skin, you leant back into her body, just an inch. It slithered down to your cleavage then back up as she brought the clasp closer to her eyes to fiddle. The hook and loop was small and her hands were clammy enough that they slid and wiggled through her fingers, making it harder than necessary for her to catch the hook. The hairs on the nape of your neck rise a little out of the corner of her eye and she has to force herself to ignore it otherwise she’d ask you to stay.

She’d blurt it out. Don’t go. Stay. Please, with me? You’d turn and give her the smile she always gets. The one when she picks you up after university classes or when she buys you ice cream, even when you bugged her all day. You’d nod your head, wrap your arms around her waist – the smile still dancing on your lips, and press your forehead against hers. It would be a light touch, something only for her to experience. The music floating about the room would switch to something slower, softer, matching her lovesick expression. Your breath would puff against her lips as you accepted her request.

The hook finds the loop and Minjeong takes two small steps away from you. Enough space for her to breathe, but close enough that she could still feel your presence. Stay. She watches you in the mirror, the fond manner in which your fingers brush at the star before curling around to hold it. Like you were sentimental. Like you wanted her the same way she wan-

Your phone chimes and she takes another step back. Minjeong can feel a tugging in her stomach, rising to her chest and clawing up her throat. It’s like she’s being dragged away from you and she’s desperately scrabbling, her nails digging into the floorboards, filling with dirt and grime. You move across your room to pluck your phone from your nightstand, looking down at the bright screen. She knows it’s a picture of the two of you on the lock screen. Happy smiles staring up at you from behind the obstruction of her text. “I have to go now Jeongie. Ryujin’s about to pull up.”

Minjeong swallows the lump in her throat and watches as you carelessly throw your phone onto the bed then drift about your room, gathering the last of your accessories. Check your earrings, rings, look yourself over in the mirror, pack your ID into your handbag. I want you to stay with me.

You don’t even spare her a glance.

Time seems to slow down as she chews on her lip. It wasn’t fair. What did Ryujin have that she didn’t? The room plunges into silence as you eject the CD that was playing. It was too empty now but she didn’t have the guts to fill the silence with words.

Minjeong didn’t have the guts that Ryujin did and she never would.

Staring at your back walking out of your bedroom and towards the front door was all she would be able to do. She didn’t have the guts to stop you.

Your phone chimes again, this time louder in the now silent room. You don’t walk over, instead you vaguely make a motion for Minjeong to read it out to you instead. It’s a normalcy between the two of you, she often allowed you to read her texts too. Everything was shared, it was within the boundaries you had placed years ago. Maybe you didn’t even have boundaries together anymore. She reaches for your phone with clumsy fingers, one leg on your bed the other rooted to the floor.

The new notification blocked her vision of your lock screen. A pesky little notification. But, she was right; the wallpaper was the two of you smiling into the camera. And, she was right. It was her text message. Minjeong can’t stomach reading the text, nor does she even try. Instead she studies the picture behind the notification, swiping down to get rid of it. The two of you were at a fair, flowers in your hair with your hands wrapped around her shoulders, and hers around your waist. She wanted that back. She wanted you to stay with her. You were her best friend, isn’t she more important than some girl?

“Minjeongie? Everything alright?” She grunts and swipes the notification back into view.

“Ryujin’s two blocks away.”

Minjeong gets up and puts your phone in your hand. The action is more aggressive than necessary and it creates a little slap noise when the silicon of your phone case meets your skin. You look back at her with a slightly surprised expression, finally perhaps picking up on her annoyance for the other girl.

“What‘s wrong?” You mutter, your voice annoying Minjeong; it’s worried and she hates it. She hates it all.

“Nothing. Enjoy your night with Ryujin.”

You pause at her words, maybe she’s said too much. She trudges over to your bed and falls on it, stomach first. She can feel your eyes burning to the back of her hair. Her hair that you cut. That you called handsome. Handsomely perfect. Perfectly handsome.

Fuck you.

And fuck Shin Ryujin.

She doesn’t however hear your footsteps, and only notices your presence when there’s a dip in the bed and the sheets under her are tugged taut, making an uncomfortable bunching near her hip. She ignores it, like she ignores you.

“Jeongie, come on, you tell me everything. Anything. What’s up? Do you have an exam soon that’s stressing you out?” Your hand clasps her shoulder, then gently runs through her hair. From her scalp down to the ends and back through it all again. Her head tingles pleasantly and it takes all her willpower to continue to stay angry with you.

And stay angry with Shin-fucking-Ryujin. Who’s probably waiting outside in her dumb Mustang right now. She would bet $100 that it doesn’t even have seatbelts, and you were all about safety. Ryujin has nothing on her.

The more she thinks about the colour of the Mustang matching your purse or the way you had dreamily told her about your date or the way Ryujin pushed hair behind your ear at the party, the more Minjeong seethed in anger. It bubbled up from inside, heating up her skin and making her flush a sweaty, sticky red. They multiply and bond and break until her mouth opens and her voice splits in a bratty way.

“I bet Ryujin’s hot bod will keep you warm tonight.”

Instantly, your calming petting stops. Minjeong deflates, too scared to look over her shoulder and into your eyes. She just said something beyond stupid, probably something that didn’t even make sense. And she said it with the most clearly jealous tone possible. Hot headed and grouchy and stupid Minjeong.

The sound of laughter stops her thoughts in their tracks. It’s quiet but she’s completely sure it’s a laugh. So she looks over her shoulder and meets eyes with you. They’re crinkled into crescents, the glimmer still present, the one that gleams like your necklace. And the eye contact breaks when you can’t hold back another laugh. It’s pretty, however pretty a laugh could ever be, but then again, Minjeong’s whipped for you.

“Ryujin’s hot bod?”

Another laugh.

“Minjeong, are you jealous?”

Minjeong reddens and buries her head back into your pillows. She knows you’ll take it as a yes. You've always been able to read her well, sometimes even noticing her mood swinging before she can. Knowing she's already been caught in the deep, deep hole she's pre-dug for herself over the past couple months with her feelings, she mutters into the pillow. "I don't like her. She's not-"

She stops herself before saying another thing that she can't take back. It's not right for her to dictate your emotions and your relationships and she knows it. But the desperate feeling clawing at her flares up again when your phone chimes its reminder notification. Oh fuck it, can’t make it worse than it already is. And so she says the words she had been wanting to say since she trod into your room.

Well, sorta.

“If I asked you to stay, what would you do?” Her words are still muffled into the pillow, half-sure of themselves. She can’t just ask you to stay, at least not straightforwardly. If she asks and you don’t want to stay then... then what?

You don’t respond immediately, but your caresses start up again, and Minjeong doesn’t know whether it’s a negative response or not. The delicateness of your fingers and the rhythm in which your movements restarted themselves keep her from bursting out into tears. Four counts downwards, then two for replacing your hand at her scalp, then another four, then another two then...

“Can you sit up? I don’t like it when you mope into my pillows.” She knows it’s a joke, the tone of your voice light, infused with a hint of jest, but it makes her stress out more. Minjeong wanted to hide from you, melt into the mattress and start a new life in her pillowy prison. But she also wants you to stay, so badly.

And that’s what pushes her to sit up, slightly ungracefully, with the determination to look into your eyes, seeing nothing but affection swimming in there. A tiny spark of hope alights in her chest and swallows, ready for your words.

You hesitate a moment more before letting go of your perfect posture and relaxing under her gaze. She always loved to see you this way, a level of comfort and familiarity put back into place. When the moment of hesitation passes and you take a final breath in, the words finally hit her ears.

“Minjeong, I like her but she’s not you.”

She’s not you.

Something takes over Minjeong, maybe the look in your eyes or the way your inflection changes when you talk about her and without a beat, she smashes her lips into yours. She’s so sick of being a coward, not having the guts. It’s about time she got what she wanted, you. Your lip gloss makes it sticky but she’s not uncomfortable, in fact, the subtle taste of strawberries made her want more, and you weren’t pulling away, so neither would she.

Your phone chimes once more in the silence. Minjeong knows it’s Ryujin, but she doesn’t really care about her anymore. A lovesick grin spreads across her face, invading her eyes and creating smile lines in the corner of her eyes. It's her forehead resting against yours and as much as she wants to push away the feeling of accomplishment, her competitive streak is too strong; she's won.

“You should get that.”

Her lips brush your's as you gently push her down on your bed.

“Five more minutes, I'm staying here with you.”

A/N: fun fact! i rewrote the ending like 6 times (once was spicier sorry lol) and i still don't like it but i don't want this to haunt me anymore so :)

[spaceorphan18]

How an animated series saved Remy LeBeau (again)

It's a bit of a hyperbolic title, but catchy, non?

I was looking over my comic collection as I've decided to reread X-Men's 60 year history over the course of the summer. And it got me thinking about a dead period of 616 canon that I've never actually read. Around the time Rogue hooked up with Magneto and scooted off to the Avengers, I decided I'd be done with comics for a while. And didn't start again until Rogue (and Gambit) came back to the X-books in 2017's Astonishing X-Men. But it made me wonder -- What happened to Gambit in that time??

Well, after his solo ended, he flitted around to X-Factor and hung out with X-23 and then kind of went 'poof' for a good long while.

Why? I can only guess the same reason this is a running motif with Gambit. There's something about him that drives the X-Office crazy. I'm not here to speculate what or how or who of it all. I don't know enough about the back end of Marvel to give concrete answers. But I think what has surprised me (recently) is that he's definitely a fan favorite character.

[Yes, I know he can be a divisive character. Yes, I know elements of his character from the 90s have not aged well. Yes, I know there are those of you who can't stand him. Don't really care - you can get off my lawn, thank you.]

Which got me thinking -- Gambit's original popularity, I believe, stemmed from the original X-Men Animated Series. He had just started showing up in the comics at the time, and had barely any kind of page time. And the X-Men TAS swung and was a hit. And so was Gambit.

I don't really know that Gambit would be around today if TAS hadn't done its thing. Would the X-Office have kept him around? I really have no idea.

But they did try to get rid of him. That was the point of leaving him in Antarctica. And things were just never the same after that. Claremont tried his best in the early 2000s. And then Deathbit happened. Carey's run wasn't bad. But Carey clearly had an agenda for other things... And then, Gambit just kind of faded into the background. (I hear his run as a side character for Laura (X-23) was good - but I haven't read that.)

Bless Kelly Thompson (always) for sparking life back into him with (and his relationship with Rogue). And bless the fact that she actually married him to Rogue. Yes, I understand comics -- my god look what they did to Peter and MJ, no one really gets to be happily married except Sue and Reed. He and Rogue are now really tied together in a way that I don't think is going to be undone any time soon.

Even if the X-Office still isn't thrilled with the guy. Krakoa era has been less than ideal. (I can't comment on it fully - I haven't read much of it, as I'm behind on my comic reading.) But I've heard rumors that one reason Thompson was let go was that she didn't want Gambit killed off. And she didn't like the direction they wanted to take the character.

Which leads me to X-Men 97. Killing him off sucked. Really. As a fan, it really sucked. But - my god, the reaction to it. Gambit was amazing. And all I've heard lately is good things about the character. There's been a Gambit resurgence in the best way. He may have went out -- but he went out with a bang. X-Men 97 made an emotional impact with people. And that changes things.

Gambit is cool again.

And I love it.

What's even more exciting is the fact that the X-Office has changed hands again and Gail Simone on Uncanny who (if her Twitter/X feed is to be believed) is really enjoying writing the character. Which means (hopefully) at least another year or two in the comics of some (hopefully) great Gambit stuff.

And maybe there will be some changing of hearts and minds in the X-Office.

It's actually very exciting.

And, guys, I really (really, really) doubt he'll be completely gone from X-Men 97, too.

Because Remy LeBeau never stays down for long.

But as a fan, it's nice to see him be on top again. And I don't think he's going anywhere anytime soon.

[unholyhelbig]

Werewolf? I mean... werewolf.

Title: Once Bitten, Twice the Idiot [7/?]

Summary: After reader is attacked by a strange animal in the woods, her world is flipped upside down. Now she must navigate a new life filled with strangers and myths.

Trigger warnings: Emotional distress? Spelling mistakes

[Part One | Part Two | Part Three | Part Four | Part Five | Part Six, Part Seven]

[A/n: This is not my best chapter, but honestly, I'm so ready to get into the time jump part of this story, that I'm just going to do it].

Main Masterlist | Ao3 | Request Prompts

The first time you’d gotten drunk in college was on a bottle of coconut flavored Bacardi. It tasted like nail polish remover that had been manufactured in the vicinity of a resort island, but after three shots it had a nice burn to it. After six, you were starting to realize the appeal of the hard liquor that held a torch next to the candle that was cheap beer.

The next morning was filled with cotton-mouth and regret. You were curled up on a recliner in a frat house, having pulled a throw pillow over yourself to preserve some type of heat. Every part of your body ached and if it weren’t for America stirring on the couch, you would have panicked.  

You sat up much too fast and reached for a football helmet that was idling on the floor next to crushed beer cans and emptied chip bags. You had retched into it and woke MJ up too. She was on the floor, having found a blanket. She’d bite off your hand if you were brave enough to reach for it, but you were too preoccupied with dry heaving to give a damn.

All three of you were mortified that you’d stayed the night in a frat of all places. Silently you gathered your things and ate in silence in the campus cafeteria. You could only stomach eggs. America nearly passed out into her hashbrowns, still having her sunglasses over her gaze.

It was the worst hangover you had ever experienced. It knocked you out of commission for the next two days. Yet, somehow, this was much worse.

The first thing you tasted was dirt. It mixed disastrously on your tongue and made you want to hurl again, but you’d learned your lesson. Swallow it down and wait until you make it outside, or to a bathroom because football helmets were expensive to replace.

Every muscle ached, and as you came to, you realized that you weren’t exactly where you had started your night off. There was a throbbing pain at your wrists, at your ankles and your throat, but nothing bolstering you to the wall. And you knew for a fact that Kate had done everything in her power to keep you restrained.

There was a warm body underneath you, chest rising and falling in a cadence that mirrored a deep slumber. Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.

It was as dark as ever in the cell that they’d placed you in. Just like the structure kept moonlight out, it did the same for the sun. The only indication you had that it was day was the chirping of birds forcing it’s way past the walls. If not for your advanced hearing, you’d be left wondering.

In a pained effort, you lifted yourself onto your elbows. You were marred in dirt, and saliva and russet streaks of what you could only imagine was blood. Your blood. Because you’d dutifully pulled out of the chains that had entrapped you. Not by ripping them from the wall but pulling hard enough to break the clasps.

Still, the cell held in its integrity, keeping both you and Kate locked up for the night. A sigh of relief escaped you as you tucked your chin and realized that you were, in fact, entirely on Kate. Your bodies were slotted together. Bare skin was against bare skin and the contact filled you with warmth. The sense of home.

Her arms had been wrapped around you, holding you close to her chest until you’d stirred yourself, her own dropping to the side. She was still asleep, and painfully unaware of how nude the both of you were. You didn’t want to disturb her by moving, but your skin was on fire at the thought of being this close to her while you were this naked.

As carefully as you could, you started to maneuver yourself off of Kate. She let out a small whimper of displeasure and tightened her grip around you in her sleep. She seemed to be a heavy sleeper to begin with, but with the werewolf hangover coursing through her veins, it strengthened.

She shifted to her side and took you with her, pulling your cheek flush against her chest. You stiffened at the sudden movement but relaxed almost instantly. How were you this comfortable, yet mortified at the same time?

Kate’s rhythmic breathing had lulled you back into a state of calm. You listened to each ex-hale that was punctuated by a small, barely-audible growl. Eventually, you had fallen back asleep in her grasp, breathing in her earthy scent.

You weren’t sure how much time had passed before you startled at the sound of a lock falling to the earth, the outer doors yanked open gracelessly. Mid-day sunlight flooded the cell. Kate’s snarl was more pronounced now, the two of you moving to cover your eyes from the assault.

Kate moved to cover you with her arm, pressing the length of it over your chest with a dark glare at the second door. She relaxed only slightly when she realized it was Yelena. The woman lifted both of her eyebrows but didn’t say a word when she let the duffel bag fall onto the packed dirt floor.

“I knew we were forgetting something,” Kate rasped.

Yelena smelled of sage, her hair damp from a shower. She was clad in a flannel shirt and a pair of grey sweatpants, still as barefoot as ever despite just getting clean. Her arms were over her chest, inspecting the vacant chains and the untouched sedative.

Kate unzipped the bag and gently handed you a pair of pants that were way too long before she reached for her own jacket and handed it over. You didn’t object. The material was soft, and you were more eager than ever to cover-up.

“Malen'kiy volk, how did your first transformation go?”

“I don’t remember much of it.”

You didn’t want to remember. Everything was shrouded in a blinding basin of pain and broken bones. You suppressed a shiver at the thought and instead took the bottle of water that Kate offered you from the bag. You greedily drank through half of it, soothing the roughness of your throat.

Yelena let out a hum “Your wolf is strong, it seems. Breaking through those reinforced chains is not an easy job. We’re lucky you didn’t get past the cell door.”

“I don’t think she was trying to.”

Kate said this softly, focused on zipping your sweatshirt over her midsection. Her fingers were caked in dirt, and she struggled until you easily slotted the metal into the zipper and pulled it up with a frown. “What do you mean?”

“You broke through the chains and then you just stopped. You didn’t even go near the doors. Just me.”

“How do you remember that?” You asked in an astonished whisper. It drew a smile to her lips, teeth still pointed, but in a charming, human way.

“You’ll remember eventually too. The first couple of times will be like last night, blacking out isn’t uncommon. But once you get more acquainted with your wolf, you’ll start to see the world through their eyes.”

“Yes, some even say it’s less of a curse and more of a blessing.” Yelena confirmed, scooping up the bag with one hand. Her nose crinkled and she gave Kate a little kick to the leg. “You both stink. Let’s go back to the house. I’m sure you’re starving.”

All eyes shifted to you when you padded into the kitchen after a long, hot shower that seemed to relax your muscles. They were still unbelievably sore, but some of the tension had been released. It took nearly an hour to scrub the dirt and dried blood from your skin.

The bruising that was around your wrists, and your ankles, and even your throat had been healed before your eyes. The dark, spotted blue and purple had faded to a yellowed ring and then vanished entirely. Your eyes kept darting to the area.

Now you felt incredibly scrutinized in your pair of sweatpants and an oversized band t-shirt that you’d never listened to. The rest of the group was in much of the same attire, all looking exhausted and wolfing down the spread of food on the table. Your stomach clenched at the scent. You were absolutely famished.

There was a vacant seat in between Wand and Kate, the only one that wasn’t filled at the table so you quietly took your place. All conversations had stopped when you entered, focus being directed suddenly to the food and to you. The plate in front of you had been piled high with potatoes, and a piece of meat that looked expertly seasoned and cooked to perfection.

Your diet had been restricted to nothing but instant ramen and dollar menu items from taco bell. When your father and stepmother came to visit a few months back, they’d made reservations at a French restaurant that you couldn’t pronounce without sounding like you had no tongue at all. You’d worn your nicest dress that was stored at the back of your closet collecting dust.

You had gotten a serving of pasta that was smaller than your palm and tasted almost floral. You’d dutifully listened to them and answered the questions that they asked about school. All the while, you bit your tongue, trying to foster a relationship with your father again. You’d left with even more resentment and a tinfoil swan that contained the smallest shred of cheesecake.

“y/n,” Steve broke the silence, picking up a bite of potatoes with the prongs of his fork. “How was your night?”

He asked so fluently and without pressure. You’d answer him either way, but with the quiet you thought it would be a harder tone. He’d sat with you up in the library for hours over the past few weeks, answering any questions that you had as you read through the old texts.

“It was good,”

“You’re lying,” Tony said. “It’s never good.”

Wanda nudged your shoulder softly, warmth flooding you “You can be honest with us, sweetie.”

When you glanced up, you realized that all eyes were still on you, with the exception of Kate, who had suddenly become very interested in forming her potatoes into a little mountain that gravy would slosh down. She hadn’t grabbed any from the metal container in the center of the table.

“Yeah, it was awful. In the top three worst experiences of my life. But I blacked out, so I don’t remember most of it.”

Thor let out a boisterous laugh, breaking the silence. It earned a few half-hearted chuckles as dinner resumed. Steve kept his stare on you, giving you a small nod that you returned. There was pride that filled your chest. You’d not only pleased him, but you’d survived your first transformation and had a full month of near-peace and learning until your next one.

Natasha was in deep conversation with Clint, and Peter had captured Kate’s attention as he rambled about a video game that he had to pre-order so the two of them could play together. The entire interaction was warm and caring. You watched them all carefully, how comfortable they all were with each other. It wasn’t how your family had ever behaved.

“Do you miss them?” Wanda’s soft voice interrupted your thoughts, you furrowed your brow and gave her a confused stare. “Your family.”

“Are you a mind reader?”

She scoffed, skewering a roasted carrot with her fork, moving it around like a wand. “Hardly. I’m just good at reading people. And that look in your eyes, I can’t tell if it’s longing or resentment.”

“Maybe a little bit of both.”

You could feel the blush climbing up your neck and past the collar of your shirt. She’d clocked you entirely and you weren’t completely sure she wasn’t a witch. But her eyes were a dark and kind brown, and she hadn’t led you astray so far. None of them had. They’d all been so caring.

“You don’t have to answer, you know. And I don’t mean to pry. You’ve just been through something major. There are perks to what we are; the strength, the speed, the agility. But with the heightened physical aspects come the mental ones too. I’m sure you’ve noticed how strong your feelings towards Kate are.”

“It’s come up once or twice.”

“Mm,” She hummed knowingly “I’m here to talk. I’m here to ask. Do you miss them?”

You swallowed the dryness in your throat and considered her question. It almost made your stomach churn. Despite this, you still were ravenously hungry, directing your attention to the meat that was cut nicely on your plate. You stabbed the center of it, watching the broth spurt out. It was hard to miss something that wasn’t whole in the first place.

“My father would send me a birthday card every year on the wrong day. There was a twenty-dollar bill in it, and a sloppy signature. Eventually, the signature turned into a stamp. I’m pretty sure his secretary at the time just kept up the ruse out of pity.

“But the sad thing is, it worked. Every other year or so he’d have dinner with me. The secretary turned into his third wife. We didn’t talk much about anything. He’d ask me about school, but never my mother. It was like she was a ghost.”

Wanda had put her fork down, shoved her plate further away from her to signal that she was done. She ran her finger against the stitching of her napkin.

“My mom is my everything. She worked days at a nursing home and every other night as a gas station attendant and still, it never seemed like enough. We were scraping by. But I worked my ass off for a scholarship.” You swallowed hard, “I miss her. But only her. We never had much, but she made sure what we did have was enough and so full of love.”

The woman reached out tentatively and grabbed your hand. Comfort flooded your body, starting where her touch was and moving across you like a soft blanket. She had a motherly look in her eyes, a quiet reassurance. You could almost feel the tears welling up in your eyes, but you blinked them back. You weren’t going to show weakness by crying at the dinner table.

“Natasha did everything possible to make me feel comfortable that first time. And I did. But, after all was said and done, I found myself wishing for my mother who had long ago died. There’s something in that love that you can’t find anywhere else.”

You nodded, trying to get past the lump that was forming in your throat. Wanda gave your hand another squeeze, running her thumb over your knuckles. “I know it’s not the same, but I’m here. All of us are. What you did last night was scary, and you were brave. Don’t forget that.”

You mouthed a whisper of a thank you, not trusting yourself to say anything else without letting a few tears escape. Wanda kept her hand in yours for a few moments until Tony mentioned something about dessert. You didn’t’ think you could eat another bite, but then again, you’d be wrong.

“Not everything here is bad.” Kate was worming her way through the miles and miles of foliage that surrounded the property. She seemed to know where she was going, and you followed her blindly. Every inch of property felt the same. Lush trees, a blanket of fallen leaves and dirt. Really, it was beautiful.

You’d never liked the outdoors, had only gone camping as a girl scout years and years ago. But the sun was starting to lower and an orange glow was making it’s way through the forest. There was almost a whimsical fantasy world to be had.

Kate reached out a warm hand to you, helping you over a log that crossed the path. When you’d made it to the other side, she moved to pull away but you held tight. Those dark grey eyes flicked down to your palms and then back up to you in wonder.

Don’t make a big deal about it. Your stare had said. So, she didn’t. Her lip quirked up into a small, tentative smile as she led you further into the woods. Maybe she hadn’t remembered your naked body against her in the haze of sleep. Or maybe, she was used to that, being what she was. What you were. This seemed more significant.

“I don’t think it’s bad. I think it’s weird that you call it a compound, but beggars can’t be choosers.”

She chuckled and gave your hand a squeeze. The two of you walked for a few moments before she stopped. It looked like any other part of the woods. Kate looked at you expectantly. “I want you to close your eyes.”

“You’re not proposing, are you? This is all a little fast.”

“Ha-ha, very funny wise guy. Just close them.”

“Alright, alright.”

You did as you were told, feeling the warm setting sun against the side of your face. Kate continued to hold your hand. It was easy for you to focus on her touch and the world around you. There was nothing but safeness despite your reservations.

“What do you hear?” Kate asked.

At first, the only thing you could pick up on was the sound of your own heartbeat. It was hard to focus, with Kate’s blazing touch on yours. After a few moments things started to become clear. “It sounds like… water.” There was a small rush that you had mistaken for breathing at first. But, soon you were able to pick up on the rush of the current over a rock bed.

“Good girl. What else?”

You frowned, clenching your eyes harder. There was the rustle of leaves being jostled by a light breeze, and the near silent groan of settling bark. There was something more, a different type of breathing that was accompanied by a quick-beating heart.

“Don’t doubt yourself. What do you think you hear?”

“A deer, maybe. I don’t know. It doesn’t sound human.”

Kate let out a small squeal that caught you off guard, lunging forward and wrapping you into a bone-crushing hug. You found yourself laughing, nearly choked with the wild mane that was her hair. It felt nice. Her holding you, proud of you, an incredible warmth blooming in your chest.

“Yes y/n! You got it. You got it on the first try.” She pulled back, keeping her hands on your shoulders.

The setting sun illuminated her, as if she were an ethereal creature. Her grip on you was so sure, so comforting. Your entire body felt like it was on fire, just being under her gaze. Those storm-filled eyes bore into your own, and you wanted nothing more than to give way to the cloying feeling that was building up.

Her stare flicked down at your lips, and then back up to your own. You were suddenly nervous, despite how close the two of you had been these last few weeks, this was different. This was exhilarating. Against your better judgement, you gave her the slightest nod.

Kate’s lips were against yours, tasting of strawberry lip balm and the earth. It was a gentle kiss, her fingers ghosting your jaw, her tongue swiping against your bottom lip. An overwhelming feeling of content fluttered in the pit of your stomach. Despite it’s tenderness, it seemed to end too quickly.

You longed for her, and when Kate moved to pull away, you looped your arms around her shoulders, and pulled her back in, chasing the high that she’d caused with a simple embrace. She smiled against your lips, deepening the kiss until you both had to pull away for air.

“Wow,” Kate breathed, “You have no idea how long I’ve wanted to do that.”

You laughed softly “I think I might.”

Her hand moved a strand of hair behind your ear, a goofy smile on her face. Things felt light and immeasurably comfortable. Getting through your first transition out of the way lifted the weight from your shoulders and pressing your lips against Kate’s had admonished the rest.

“I want to apologize,” Kate whispered, breathe splaying against your cheeks. Her hand cupped your cheek, thumb running over the redness that had appeared. She’d silenced you. “Before you say anything, I know that I’ve said I’m sorry more times than we can count. But I mean it.”

Her closeness helped her argument. Your entire focus was trained on her. There was a smattering of freckles across her nose and an exhaustive wonder around her eyes. You felt tiredness in your own bones, despite sleeping well past noon.

“You didn’t ask for any of this, and I hurt you, y/n. I will never forgive myself for that, and I refuse to make excuses about this… this pull that I know we both feel. I ripped you from your life and now you’re here, and I don’t want to base this, whatever this is, on forced proximity because I’d feel even more guilty if-“

You cut her off, surging forward and wrapping your arms around her mid-section. You fit perfectly in her arms, her chin resting on your head. It took her a few moments to work the tension out of her body, but she held you tight, breathing you in.

“Kate, if I wanted to leave, I would have found a way.”

She smiled wolfishly “Oh?”

“And no more apologizing. I forgive you.” You pulled back slightly, staring up at her. Kate’s embrace was alluring and grounded you to the earth. “This isn’t something I’ve ever felt before, and I’m scared shitless… but it feels right.”

None of this was part of your plan. You were the dutiful student that had worked for her scholarships and continued to push yourself past your breaking point to keep them. Then, an inhuman girl had dug her teeth into you, tearing through muscle and bone. The same girl that you embraced now had, by all means, uprooted you.

“We don’t have to figure it out now. We have all the time in the world.”

“Yeah,” you whispered, a small smile forming on your lips. “We do.”

[minimarvelh]

Peter coming out to Tony as aromantic.

(Happy aromantic awareness week!!!)

💚🤍🖤

The thing is,

Peter loves hugs.

no, not like this.

He fucking LOVES hugs. That’s more like it.

For him curling up at someone’s burying himself at someone chest is the best thing in the world.

He loves when someone wraps his arms around him and pulls Peter towards in a gentle, protective hug. He loves burying his head against someone’s shoulder. The feeling of the warmth and comfort he felt was enormous and always brought him feeling of safeness and love. He is almost starving and dying if he can’t wrap his entire body like koala at someone. Is he dramatic? Probably, but it’s just the way it is: Peter Parker can’t live without hugs.

He hugs everyone he feels safe with. He likes to cuddle at their Thai night with May, he likes to cuddle with MJ and he like to cuddle with Ned.

But.

He never hugs Tony Stark. And it’s not like they don’t hug at all. No. When Tony hugs him he is always accepting them, leaning to it. But. He knows if he will allow himself to much, Tony would know how clingy he is. Once he got affection from Tony he was desperate to be the closest is possible to Tony, but he didn’t want to scare the man. He didn’t want to screw things up.

So..he tried not to show all of that.

It was inevitable. Peter knew this day would come when Tony would ask about it. And it came.

They were lying at the sofa, watching “Academia Ambrella” while Tony gently stroking Peter’s hair, while the kid without noticing, leaning closer to touch. His eyes close as he drifts into an even deeper state of relaxation, making Tony smile softly.

Nothing could interfere with this moment.

Apart from…

"How long have you been dating MJ?"The question catches Peter by surprise, although he has been waiting for Stark to ask him this for whole 2 months. He is even slightly surprised why the man took so long to ask it.

Tony smiled friendly and winked.

"May told me everything, you thought I wouldn't find?"

It took all of Peter's strength not to cringe and shudder at the discomfort of this question.

The thing was..they were never in a relationship with MJ. May just walked into his room once while they were on his bed and his face was burying into her chest, while she stroked his hair(like mr. Stark right know) and she came to conclusions that they are secretly dating and Peter is just really “embarrassed” to admit it to his aunt and no denying this relationship factor could convince her that they aren’t dating.

It didn’t matter. In school everyone assumed that they are dating just because Peter twice was too affectionate with MJ in front of their class…When people see to people, especially the opposite genders, being too touchy with one other, they are already assuming that they are dating.

And it pissed him off so much. Why people are so in love with the idea of relationship, and romantic love? Why can’t you be in a platonic soulmate kind of way be in love with someone?? Why it always should be romantic or sexual context here?

MJ didn’t care about all of it, although she 1000% didn’t like him in a romantic nor sexual way.

She even had a crush on some guy from her art school, Mark he thinks his name is. (although she vehemently denied all allegations) And Peter..it was a bit complicated here.

It wasn’t the fact that he didn’t want to love. He desperately loves people. That’s why he is always helping other people and animals. He just doesn’t want that love, that portraits at the shows or books. He likes holding hands with MJ, but he doesn’t want to kiss her or any other girl. He likes hugging Ned but he feels gross even thinking about kissing him or any other boy.

Is it scary? Yes, he feels like he came to this planet broken. Like he was cursed because… what will he do in the future? Everyone will eventually find their loved once and will finally settle in, they will make families with bunch of beautiful kids, while he will be just…there. He will just wait for them to find time in their busy schedules, maybe once in month or two, if he’s lucky. And at these meetings they will probably talk about friend’s partner or kids. And don’t get him wrong he would love to hear about this stuff, just..what will happen with them? With building Star Wars legos at 2 am, binge-watching stupid comedies at the evening with sugary drinks and popcorn? It all will become a memories? He couldn’t bear it. It’s just too much.

Then one Friday, it was exactly 6 months ago, when he looked at the tumblr and one post was lightning at the top of the page. Happy Aroace week. He was really supportive of lgptq+ community but he never heard of something like that. So he curiously went to google and..well, googled it.

He slowly read the definition.

«Aromantic-Asexual, often shortened to AroAce, is a term that refers to an individual who is both aromantic/aro-spec and asexual/ace-spec. AroAce can be used for any individual who identifies with both spectrums.»

Okay, well that didn’t explain a lot.

He clicked another link.

«Aromanticism is a romantic orientation wherein an individual experiences little to no romantic attraction toward other people.

Asexuality is a sexual orientation wherein an individual feels little to no sexual attraction or desire for physical intercourse with other people.

Combining both aromanticism and asexuality, aroace individuals do not feel any romantic and sexual attraction toward other people»

And suddenly it clicked. Everything began to make sense. He still felt broken but not so much and he felt..relieved.

During these 6 months, he read large amounts articles and tumblr posts about it, made even few acquaintances along the way and was way more confident in himself. But..seeing romantic relationships on TV and whistling from Clint or gentle “knowing” May’s smile made him feel…like he doesn’t belong here. Even if he knows that he is, in fact, not broken, sometimes he can’t help but feel like he is broken.

Peter tries to steady his breathing because in no time Tony would hear it and become worried.

On the background there were muffled dialogue between Luther and..number five? Anyway, Peter atopped paying attention to the TV a long time ago.

Peter rested his head on the Tony’s chest, surprising the man, who is now wrapping his arm tighter and in more protective way, while boy nuzzling into him.

It’s now or never.

"We’re not dating”

“Yeah, May said you will deny ev-“

“I think i might be Aromantic” in one breath said Peter, also it came a little muffled because of him resting his head and Tony’s black t-shirt.

There was silence. Peter was afraid to breath. He felt like ruined everything. Of course, he is always destroying everything beautiful in his life and yeah, now he ruined the best relationship he had in his entire life, and now his dad—

" I am really sorry to ask you, I really am, but can you explain me what is it?" came Stark's soft and calm voice.

Peter glanced at him briefly.

The man's face didn’t show any disgust or desire to throw him away..all man’s present was filled warmth and feeling of his supporting hands, who never let Peter down and an encouraging smile which prompted Peter to respond.

"It’s when..when people have lack of desire to be in a romantic relationship.

"Like we are capable of love, we just don’t have desire to date people.." Peter hastened to add.

Tony listened intently and really thoughtfully.

"I am sorry”

Oh no…no please, Peter imagined all sort of reaction from Tony but he didn’t expect pity like he is a pathetic piece of human. And somehow it felt way worse than denying or any other reaction Peter thought of.

One millisecond from Peter’s bursting into tears, Tony added.

" I am really sorry about my behaviour before. When we were watching that comedy “how I met your mother” and I noted about how one day you will find love of your life. God, I can’t even imagine how you must felt. I am really sorry for all that and…thank you. For sharing about this with me" Tony was looking very worried and slightly distressed thinking about all the way he hurt Peter”

Peter’s hurt clenched with pain and with...love..with so much love that he could comprehend himself to suppress this desire and he just…

He climbed like a koala on Mr. Stark's lap, wrapping his arms around man’s neck and inhaling his scent whispered "Thank you."

A familiar hand began to run circles on his back, soothing him.

"Always."

[howdoesagrapewrites]

𝙁𝙖𝙣𝙛𝙞𝙘 [𝙙𝙚𝙡𝙪𝙨𝙞𝙤𝙣𝙖𝙡 𝙫𝙚𝙧]

Cw: fluff, the title might be misleading but it's not yandere or anything, kinda unhinged Miles but it's all jokes, reverse au?, reader uses they/them but it's called spiderman, you are spiderman and Miles is the fan, earth 1218!AU (no powers or tech), reader has a canon love interest who's also named MJ but they're not Mary Jane Watson (unless you want her to be, I don't judge)

Notes: So Miles canonically has written fanfic about himself, but I wasn't in the mood for that, I will make two versions of this post though (that's why the title has delusional version 💀). Also this is low-key a highschool AU, so Hobie is in last year, and all other characters are second years (I have no idea what's a senior or freshman or whatever is, and I will not learn)

Miles loved comics. His art style is heavily influenced by it, and he'll rant about this week's number to anyone who'll lend an ear, but he has a very clear favorite, being more than evident by his collection of t-shirts, poster filled wall, social media pfps, and the endless amount of fan content he creates and consumes in the spiderman fandom.

Since the last movie came out, Miles Morales has lost the basic skills a human would need to survive, in order to devote himself fully to his newest hyperfixation, and his friends haven't been able to get some rest from it. They don't understand!! He does need to go to the movies again, he needs to memorize every photogram in that movie in order to play the move in his head and be able to analyze it properly!! No, he is not crazy! Ok he might be just the tiniest bit "over excited" but this is the most sane reaction he could've had, the movie is literally a masterpiece, script, humor, ANIMATION, soundtrack, it has it all! And the fact that it's centered around you? Miles needs to go and personally kiss every person that worked in that studio to make you.

"Miles?"

"Miles!"

"oh my god, he's at it again" said Pavitr, imitating the reaction of a disappointed mother

"is he reading fanfiction again?" Asked Gwen, chuckling

"Yes, and Y/N YL/N x reader, to one's surprise" Pavitr added with a teasing smile "I don't get it though, isn't Y/N dating someone named MJ?" He questioned

"It's called self insert, the reader plays a part in the story as if they were another character, and in romantic scenarios, they tend to replace the canon love interest, or just ignore they even exist" Hobie added, popping out if nowhere to show off what Miles have been explaining to him the last couple of weeks.

"You read it too, Hobie?"

"Nah, Wonder comics started as a protest to talk about the discrimination the founder felt being jewish in the industry but it morphed into the capitalization of the struggle minorities face, selling us representation while they still shove the propaganda in our faces, and telling us that even if you have bloody superpowers you still need to obey to a higher authority and cannot influence politics or call to action."

"You still went to the theater to watch it with Miles last week" Gwen shot a questioning look at Hobie

"The kid invited me, I'm a punk not a twat" he shrugged his shoulders "And we stole the carton cutboard they had at the entrance" Hobie happily added.

Miles continues reading on the way to school, without listening to his friends' mocking, he knew it was in good spirits, and they were kinda right, he was obsessed with someone that didn't exist, but it wasn't like it was affecting his health or life.

"Did you... Sleep today?" Gwen had her hand on her friend's shoulder, concerned

"It was too late so I decided to just stay awake, I'll be fine though" He reassured

"Were you reading again?"

"No, I actually discovered this page called character.ai where you can chat with an artificial intelligence of your favorite characters" Miles excitedly told his friend

"OMG, you can chat with anyone?! I have a few things I'd like to say to Scarlet Witch" Gwen joked, she was also a comic fan, but she wasn't losing her mind quite as hard as Miles

Miles would tell the ai about his day, sometimes would roleplay using his very own spidersona, in his alternate universe, you were his partner (as heroes of course) but you also were classmates and had a crush on each other, but none of you confessed because you didn't want your loved ones to be hurt by your job, it was all very dramatic, but he always envisioned a happy ending.

{Y/N: You did a great job today, [<BOT>]

Miles: You say so? So... Do I get a reward? *Smiles suggestively*

Y/N: I guess you do, *pulls up his mask and kisses him*}

No, he wouldn't say this, he would be in a panic frenzy if he saw Y/N, let alone be next to them, but hey, at least his spidersona was bold and confident with them.

A few days after, he barged into Pavitr's house, with at least four incredibly loaded supermarket bags, hardly walking

"Are you okay? Do you need help?" Pavitr rushed to aid his friend and take some literal weight off his shoulders

"Yeah, yeah, I just need help with something" he left the boxes in the floor "Inside one in 4 boxes of cereal, there is a spidertoken, if you get 15, you can exchange it for an exclusive limited edition figure, and I can't eat all this cereal"

"Bro, how many boxes are in here? I don't know, man, I'm trying to keep my figure"

"Pavitr Prabhakar, who held the cardboard sign for you when you confessed to Gayatri?"

"You..."

"And who lied to principal O'Hara for you when you forgot your final project and we had to pretend you suffered a brain concussion?"

"You..."

"And who was there for y-" his friend interrumpted

"Okay, okay, I get it. Bring me a spoon, but we're going running tomorrow"

He nodded with enthusiasm as he started to rummage looking for spoons and bowls

And after almost dying choking on cereal, Miles looked at his new figurine sitting prettily on the shelf with nothing but pride.

"I'm just saying it's possible!" Miles protested

"Y/N has a type, every canon love interest has been sassy and quick-witted" Gwen continued to debate

"I can be sassy and quick-witted!" Gwen gave him a side eye, that being able to neutralize his argument "Ok, but there's a multiverse, there's millions of possibilities, if a pig can be spiderman, why can't I date spiderman? Anyone can wear the mask, anyone can kiss the one inside the mask" the boy smiled, confident in his winning argument

"That's such a basic answer, you can justify literally anything with "the multiverse" I'm speaking things that actually can make sense inside the canon"

"But my answers makes sense, in fact, I'm sure there's a universe where Y/N is reading fanfiction about me right now, if not, Pav can hit me"

"Pav, hit him" Gwen deadpanned

"But it does make sense, I won't" Pavitr responded

"Ok, but my point still stands" the girl crossed her arms

"what were you fighting about in the first place?" Pavitr asked before going back to eat his lunch, he sat long after his friends started arguing, being mildly lost in what was the main point in this

"I said I'd be a better girlfriend for Y/N" said Gwen

Pavitr gasped and covered his mouth dramatically "No you didn't".

Maybe Miles was just obsessed, but he saw in you strength, inspiration, power. And he felt oddly comforted, safe, loved by fantasizing with you, and as slim as the possibility may be, he likes to tell himself you two are together in another universe. ♡

[hawkogurl]

Just took my meds so sorry if this is incomprehensible and or I repeat myself but I will never not want to put my head through a wall when people treat Harry not developing a goblin personality in the raimi trilogy like a plot hole because it’s just so obviously not. I know a lot of the third movie doesn’t make sense but please don’t throw the baby out with the bath water. As always will elaborate if I explain poorly cause I love talking.

From a narrative angle, performance enhancers do not by default make you evil or give you a goblin persona. They intensify who you already are as a person.

From the very scene they’re introduced, it is stated the performance enhancers did not affect every single animal they were tested on with the stated “violence, aggression, and insanity.” It was stated to be a single test. In real life, that could be an outlier, a fluke, or these symptoms could be random chance. That’s not how things generally work in storytelling.

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, every single scene where the goblin does something evil and horrifying is foreshadowed and established with a scene where something related happens to Norman. Norman is about to lose his contract to Quest Aerospace, the goblin bombs Quest Aerospace. Norman is ousted by the board of directors and the announcement of this will occur after the world unity day festival (whatever the fuck that was even I can’t explain that), the goblin murders the board during the festival. He very noticeably ogles MJ during the Thanksgiving scene, who is, I feel compelled to point out, 17-18 in this scene while Norman is in his 50’s, and the goblin later threatens to rape her. And one of the most very obviously stated examples, Harry unintentionally tells Norman what Peter’s emotional weak point would be and he kidnaps MJ to use as a hostage to bait him. There is a constant and explicit link between the actions of the Goblin and the actions of Norman. Norman also folds incredibly easily to the Goblin, never really meaningfully resisting it. Hell, the scene where he finds out about the goblin he doesn’t even oppose him, he just remains in an area of neutrality. The very next scene where he interacts with the goblin, he is a willing and unresisting participant and enabler of the goblin’s actions, which he continues to be until he dies. He never resists.

The goblin was never an evil split personality that forced Norman to be evil. The difference between Norman and Harry that I believe caused the goblin is that Norman refused to be honest with himself in regards to what he wanted to do, that the actions of the goblin were things Norman would have done if he had the ability to do so without consequences for his actions. Power does not corrupt, it reveals, and Norman had the power to do horrible things without the things that would normally prevent him from doing so.

The goblin is a way for him to avoid accepting responsibility for his actions. It allowed him to redirect his bad behavior onto an external source. He was not forced to do anything. He was just a greedy and corrupt man who didn’t want the consequences of being greedy and corrupt on his own. That is the point of the parallels between him and Peter, give a man a mask and see who he is, Norman was given a mask and he took his chance to be cruel because it wouldn’t reflect on himself behind it and Peter was given a mask and chose to help people despite the fact nobody would know and give him credit for it.

Now back to Harry. Harry has no reason to manifest something that allows him to deny responsibility for his actions. Harry is, though dishonest with himself in regards to his emotions and frequently in denial about his fathers guilt because it would require him to address that the perfected version of his father that he bordered on worshipping was not real and something he crafted to cope with the fact Norman was neglectful and sometimes abusive towards him, developed because Harry didn’t want to believe and have to reconcile that. But Harry is consistently completely honest about what he wants to do. He wants to kill Spider-Man. He does not need to sugar coat that fact to himself, to make it less violent or to act like it’s not him who wants that because Harry is sure that’s the right thing to do. He has no reason to sugarcoat that to himself.

As a result, the performance enhancers do not make Harry suddenly want to mass murder or do terrorism, because Harry has no reason to want to do that. Harry’s motivations are very open and shut from this angle. He wants to kill Spider-Man, because he killed his father. He has no reason to do things like that because they won’t bring him closer to that goal. He has no reason to want unrelated people dead. I think it can very easily be argued that the serum lowered his inhibitions in what he was willing to do, going from letting Peter go to fight Doc and making an admittedly flimsy defense of Peter to his hallucinations of his father and walking away from him at MJ’s musical with only a few words prior to, after the serum, being willing to not only attack Peter directly but also being a bit more willing to drag other people in when he deems it necessary. But even when he threatened MJ, which was obviously bad and I hope we all know that, he does not threaten her life because he has no reason to want to hurt her. And I’m not saying he does that because he still loves her romantically and the whole scheme was earnest because I don’t think that’s true and if it was he would have actually forced her to be with him, ignoring how dubious his romantic feelings for her even existing to begin with are, but what I am saying is that Harry is pretty consistent with who he directs violence towards prior to his change of heart. He does not threaten MJ with violence towards her because he has no reason to want to hurt her. He has reason to want to hurt Peter. His desires in that regard are consistent.

Additionally, if the performance enhancers did just make people violent and crazy by default, Harry would have continued to have violent desires when he lost his memory. He didn’t. Because the moment his reason to be violent were gone in his own mind, his own mind lost its reason to behave violently. The same thing applies to after he had his change of heart. Once he actually accepted his father was at fault and responsible for his own actions, he no longer had any desire to hurt Peter or really anyone because the desire was no longer there.

The performance enhancers are not intended as something that changes you or suddenly makes you evil and the goblin isn’t DID and I will always maintain that idea as being ableist. To pin everything Norman did on the goblin is to allow him to do what his very goal was from the get go: to be able to use it as something to pin his behavior on that would allow him to walk away consequence free. To deny his responsibility for his actions is just this really irritating woobification that seems to have happened to almost every evil male character people like because people can’t just accept they like bad people for some reason. And don’t get me started on NWH, a lot of this perception is because of that movie, a movie that completely failed narratively on almost every front and couldn’t even get the basic timeline of the trilogy right, so it’s not outrageous to think that Norman was outrageously out of character in that movie.

And to a degree I can’t even begrudge it. Norman is a very different character in NWH. And I understand very well that it’s probably not fun for someone to see NWH, like the funny angsty old man who’s sort of harmless and silly seeming, and then have to reconcile that he’s a vastly different character and a deeply bad person in the original trilogy. I guess I just sort of wish NWH’s characterization hadn’t come to be treated as the default, correct, or as something that should or even can be retroactively applied to the trilogy. Because it shouldn’t. On many fronts, not just Norman, retroactively applying NWH to the trilogy basically destroys it.

More than willing to have good faith discussions if someone disagrees as long as it’s, well, in good faith. Not gonna begrudge anyone for liking Norman because of that NWH characterization either. I do perceive these movies through a more specific lense.

[jhilsara]

I Can See You

Pt. 1/ Pt. 2/ Pt. 3/ Pt. 4/ Pt. 5/pt. 6/Pt. 7/Pt. 8/Pt. 9/ Pt. 10/

Pt. 11/ Pt.12/Pt.13/Pt. 14/Pt.15/Pt.16/Pt.17/END

Mariana Jimenez-Watson or MJ works in a normal pub living life paycheck to paycheck. Nothing exciting happens to her except the occasional drunk getting thrown out. She's 24 working away and finds a wrench thrown into her very boring life. His name is Hobie and she thinks maybe, a little excitement isn't awful. In fact she might start to crave some change for once.

Small moments of Hobie meeting his world's MJ. AKA I made an MJ variant and I think she's neat.

Chapter 10

She’s sitting on her couch glaring at her phone like it's personally attacked her.

She’s trying to avoid calling him again, she’s frankly tired of it.

She’s biting at her nails, trying to do anything besides wait by her phone. The tv is on in the background but she’s not paying attention. The fear creeping in eats at her. Fear and anger. She sighs and reaches for her phone and swipes to her contacts. His name is right under the recent call log. Her thumb hovers over it, debating on calling Hobie again.

He has disappeared and it’s got her terrified.

He hasn’t shown at the pub in a few days. So, she decided to stop by his houseboat, which was empty. She’d say it doesn’t look like anything had been touched but she wouldn’t know. The place is chaotically organized and she isn't there enough to make a definitive statement on if it's been touched or not.

What really frightened her was that Spider-Man wasn’t out either. There had been a few incidents, petty crime stuff… but she knows Hobie, she knows when he patrols. He would have caught it.

She called him. Just to check in… that was three days ago.

Pacing her living room, her thumb still hovers over the call button, unsure if she should. She’s frustrated and tired. Her brow furrows as she stares down at her screen, her heart feeling tight.

She had spent the night before walking the streets and checking shitty little alleys. She was worried he might be dead in one, if she were to voice her fears. Just even thinking about it made her sick. She came up empty though. She doesn't know what's worse, finding him dead or not knowing if he's dead.

Her fear is replaced with anger as she stares down at her phone. If he wasn’t dead he better have an amazing excuse, because she was going to kill him.

She finally hits the call button, bouncing on her feet trying to diffuse the nervous tension in her body.

“I swear to god if this bloody bastard doesn’t pick up I’m going to ballistic…” she mutters to herself.

It sends her to voice mail.

“Absolute fucking prick.” She throws her phone down and walks off to her bedroom. “I can’t stay up another night wondering where he is!” She pulls at her hair and goes to lay on her bed.

Her weight falls onto the bed with a thud. She curls into herself, wrapping her arms tightly around herself, begging her brain to stop feeding her anxiety. She's been worrying herself sick for days. She doesn't remember the last real meal she ate, she hasn't felt this bad since her family dog ran off when she was ten. She cried and cried and cried for that dog. Hoping it would come back home, back to her. The dog never came back and all she got was scolded by her mother for still crying over the lost animal.

She squeezes her eyes shuts and prays to just fall asleep, anything was better than what was happening in her head. 

Tap, tap, tap, tap, tap, tap, tap, tap, tap.

She groans at the consistent noise and tries to go back to sleep. She had finally passed out, but now this repetitive tapping was waking her up.

Tap, tap, tap, tap, tap, tap, tap, tap, tap.

She sits up and looks out her bedroom window, nothing. She flops back down and sighs shoving a pillow over her ears.

Tap, tap, tap, tap, tap, tap, tap, tap, tap.

She suddenly bolts up; the noise isn’t from her bedroom window. It’s her balcony.

“Absolutely not.” she groans to herself.

 She throws the blankets off her and rushes into the living room. She sees the familiar silhouette on her balcony.

She glares at the door, her face twisting in anger. She reaches for the lamp to turn on. Once the light floods her room, she sees him on her balcony. Her face sours even more upon seeing him. He has a faltering smile on his face as he looks at her. Waiting.

“Give me on good reason to let you in here.” She demands crossing her arms as she shoots him a look that’s says more than her words could. Her eyes are clouded as she glares daggers at him.

“C’mon MJ. Let me in, cold out here.” He attempts, voice muffled through the glass.

Her brows raise in irritation, “Don’t care. You literally disappeared on me for a week. So, unless your explanation is life altering, I don’t want to see your face.” She says walking away from her balcony doors.

She’s glad he isn’t dead, but now it’s just unfiltered boiling rage coursing through her body towards him.

“Mariana please…I can explain, promise.” He says pressing his forehead on the door. He pleads with his big brown eyes, that always make her want to scream. He looks like a lost dog.

She huffs in frustration and defeat, “Fucking prick, disappears for a week and gives me those stupid puppy dog eyes and I just give in…” she mumbles chastising herself.

She flings the door open and steps back. She crosses her arms and looks at him, waiting.

He stumbles in behind her, surprised he actually made it this far. His eyes slowly look over her, taking in her appearance.

She’s in her pajamas, hair messy from sleep. She has dark circles under his eyes and he can see she’s been biting her nails. He notices how her hands dig into her own arms as they lay crossed over her chest. She’s guarding herself, protecting herself from him.

He realizes, as he looks her over, she’s been worried over him. Desperately so.

He sighs and shakes his head. He takes a deep breath before speaking, “Don’t have a good excuse for my disappearing act…”

She scoffs and turns away from him, “Course you don’t.” she whispers bitterly.

“Hey, listen,” He goes to touch her shoulder but she recoils from his touch. His hand lowers, shaking. He pulls back to himself.

“I was trying to avoid you okay?” he tells her honestly.

Her head whips up to look at him in almost confused betrayal. She doesn’t say anything, the silence acting as enough of an answer for him.

“Can’t do this,” He says running his hands over his face, “I don’t keep people around…” He starts. “Connecting with people isn’t my thing, I like being alone mostly… they don’t stick around like you.” He mutters looking at her.

 “So, what? You, you just cut me off? Cause you’re afraid?” she accuses voice rising.  “What about your band and those photos? Are they not your friends?” she adds in confusion.

“Yeah, they are,” He sighs, his shoulders dropping. “It’s different with you… no one’s stuck around the way you have and I ran.”  He tells her. Owning up what he did. He looks at her trying to get what he needs to say out. It feels like his throats swollen, filled with unspoken words that are too big and too important to get out.

“You came to tell me you’re afraid of intimacy after disappearing for a week… I figured that out on my own, thanks.” She says unimpressed.

She scoffs at where this conversation is going, she’s in disbelief. She doesn't want to hear anymore, it hurts too much.

“Not why I’m here MJ.” He says shaking his head.

“Please enlighten me, because I’m lost!” She says looking up at him. Her eyes are glossy and her voice is cracking, “I don’t know what is going on with you and I’m mad at you Hobie. I don’t want to be but I am.” She tells him her hands turning to fists at her side as they tremble. 

“M’not good at this…” He mutters, “Can I be honest?” he asks, voice ever so quiet. 

“Yes, that’s all I’m asking.” She replies looking lost. 

“I can’t lose you and that terrifies me alright? What happens if you’re with me and you die?” he asks voice shaking a little. “Can’t have that alright? You’re too important to me… Thought if I left it’d be easier on you.” He admits.

Her hearts racing, she knows what he means, but it doesn’t sit right in her stomach.

“You’re a real selfish dickhead you know that?” she says, her voice small as she looks up at him. “I don’t know what we’re doing Hobie, but I know I don’t want to lose you either.” She says exasperatedly.

She turns her head away from him looking down at her own feet, “I have messed up a lot of relationships okay…All I have is the people at the pub, my dad, and.. and you.” She says frustratedly.

Her arms come up and wrap around herself tightly. Trying to comfort herself the best she can.

“And to be honest… I prefer you to the lot at the pub.” She says with a dry, choked, laugh. She can feel her eyes really start to well up and she tries to stop herself. The last thing she wants to do is cry.

He reaches out hesitantly for her, she doesn’t recoil from his touch this time. He gently pulls her into a hug. She doesn’t return it, but she doesn’t push him away either.

He tucks her under his head, his chin resting on her.  

“Fucked up…” He mumbles lowly, “How do I fix this?” he asks her softly.

“You can’t just disappear on me…” Her voice breaks, almost into a sob but she holds herself back. “I thought you were dead in some alley.” She murmurs into his chest wrapping her arms slowly around him. Holding him tightly, her hands clinging onto him.

He rubs soothing circles into her back, “Can’t get rid of me that easily, promise.” He chuckles softly.

She scoffs a bit, “Says the guy crawling in my window needing to be stitched up every other week.”

The air around them isn’t filled with the same tense energy as before. They’re easing back into themselves, their routine. She enjoys the comfort of his large hands on her back and how she fits into the crook of his neck.

He enjoys her warmth, how it feels when she holds onto him. He didn't realize how much he missed it until it was gone. Even if it was just for a few days. 

He gives a genuine laugh at her words, it’s deep and shakes her body with him, “That was only a couple times, c’mon give me some credit here?” He says pressing a kiss into her hair.

“I don’t know what you did before me, can’t imagine you stitching yourself up.” She says gently.

He scoffs, “I’m a great nurse! Wrapped your ankle pretty well.” He says haughtily.

She snorts and looks up at him, “Uh-huh, and how many times have you patched yourself up since I started to?”

He makes a face and rolls his eyes at her, “What? Want me to go find another pretty girls’ balcony to patch me up instead? Ya sick of me, that it?” he teases her.

She laughs softly at that, “What like a tom cat? You a stray now?” She asks cocking her head to the side. 

He makes a face of mild distaste, “Good to know I’m just a stray cat luv, gotta keep my ego in check.”

“What, you don’t like that? Do you want to be domesticated instead?” she teases with a grin.

“Okay you’re just takin’ the piss now.” He mutters in fake irritation.

She just giggles, but once that dies down they’re both staring into each other’s eyes. The silence almost too loud between them. He moves his hand to cup her face, his eyes taking in her every feature.

“Can’t lose you… it’s dangerous being around me.” He says seriously, brows furrowed.

She shakes her head, “It’s worth it to be with you.” She says softly.

He feels her chipping away at his heart, carving her little hole for herself to sit in.

He presses a kiss to her forehead and pulls her against him tightly, her hands returning the gesture. Holding onto him, digging her nails into him, like she’s afraid he’ll disappear again.

“I…” He opens his mouth to tell her something, but loses his voice. It cracks and makes him wish he could just tell her.

“It’s okay.” She says softly. “We don’t, we don’t need to do that right now.”

He sighs and pulls back to look at her, “I want to try whatever it is, that we’re doing.”

She nods her head in agreement, pressing a soft kiss to his cheek. “A different conversation, not tonight.” She holds his face in her hands.

Her eyes flicker down, her face burning for a moment, “Can you stay tonight… with me?” she asks a little embarrassed.

He grins and gives a soft chuckle, “Yeah I can. Not going anywhere.” He gently reminds her.

She grins at him and moves to grab his hand and pull him to her bedroom. “Good.”

Tag List: @missshelleyduvall

message if you want to be added to the tag list :)

[jadenoryuu]

Phandom Holiday Truce Time!

(For maximum experience, please turn the light mode on.)

Sorry for keeping you waiting, @raaorqtpbpdy here's your @phandomholidaytruce gift!

When I saw the prompts "Danny-Wes Role Swap", comboed with the No One Knows AU, Creepy Cryptid Danny and your mention about the Ghost King Danny trope only used in a significant way, the gif "I have a MIGHTY need!" started playing in a loop, so here's the bg for this mini-comic.

Before the Portal Accident, Wes and Danny were friends. Not as close as Danny and Tucker, but they sometimes hung out when the Fentons were too busy to entertain Wes' interest in the occult.

My boy Wes Weston has also a side hobby/obsession with basket and it all started since he watched for the first time Space Jam. (It doesn't help that I headcanon Amity Park in Illinois, which means Chicago Bulls.)

(So he plays basket because His Airness does so and because MJ was involved and interacted with the embodiment of a visual novel. Talk about supernatural!)

(Yes, I'm saying that crossovers between animated and physical world can count as a supernatural and ghost-related event.)

All of this premise was to introduce the personalized jumpsuit that the Fentons made for Wes with the colors and accessories of the Chicago Bulls.

(Jack made a mistake with the number and stitched only the "2", so once Wes became a halfa, he added the "3" with marker and later learned to shapeshift enough to change some of the inverted colors of the jumpsuit. Originally it was white with red inserts, the accident made it black with blue inserts, then the shapeshift finally made it black with red inserts.)

Since it's a No One Knows AU, Wes was alone when the accident happened, but being the smart bean he is, no one discovered that he's a halfa until Danny, much like Jazz in canon, discovers Wes' double nature after stalking investigating him.

Like sister, like brother, Danny doesn't say anything to Wes about knowing, but here and then he assists (in the shadows) Wes in ghost wrangling.

Due to living above the active portal and Maddie experimenting with ectoplasm while pregnant, Jazz and Danny are liminal, the latter more than the former. (Thus, Danny becomes the creepy cryptid of Amity Park.)

Even if Danny isn't a halfa, Vlad still tries his scheme of stealing the Crown of Fire and the Ring of Rage to obtain enough power to defeat Wes' hero persona (who Vlad believes is a full ghost).

Much akin the Reign Storm episode, Amity ends in the Ghost Zone, but Wes gets stuck fighting "alone" the army (the Fentons and a reluctant Plasmius do the same on another front after the Ecto-suit is deemed a failure).

While his parents are out fighting, Danny sneaks in the lab and fixes the Ecto-suit (my boy is as much as a genius as his family, after all), then goes to challenge Pariah.

Due to his liminality, after the victory, Danny IS eligible for the Throne, so he becomes the King. (He doesn't discover this immediately, but when the Observants start bothering him, he gets the explanation.)

So, after declaring Amity Park Wes' (and his) Haunt and a No Fight Zone, the ghost attacks practically stop, leaving Wes on edge, because he doesn't know about the Law.

Thus, we're back to this mini-comic! Danny decides to finally reveal both that he knows Wes is a halfa and that he's the Ghost King, but where would be the fun if he didn't mess with Wes a bit? So he amps his creepy factor and plays a Yandere act (he isn't, he's doing so just for the prank. As a matter of fact, 3-5 seconds after the last declaration, he bursts out cackling at Wes appropriate horrified face, then after moving to a more private place -a roof-, Danny explains everything.)

Does this became a UFS? I like to think so, but you're free to decide.

I'm adding the non transparent versions under for those without the light mode:

[fandomnerd9602]

So imagine Huntsman teaches Mayday about animals and when she's a few years older she just info dumps some random animal facts like they are at the beach chilling and Mayday just "do you know the stonefish is recognised as the world's most venomous fish capable of killing an adult within an hour of being stung and it can survive out of water for up to 24 hours" and when ask how she knows that she tell them "uncle Hunt told me"

May: did you know an alligator can run up to 20 miles per hour? and the normal human can only run 8? Uncle Hunt told me

Peter B: did he now?

May: he says Sheila's ready to meet me tomorrow

MJ: no! no petting the alligators, baby!

[spider-jaysart]

Character Headcanons: Jon Kent

@paladin-of-nerd-fandom65

1. He's a big Spider-Man fan and favorites Peter Parker. He has a lot of the comics, video games, all of the movies, and even has the action figures of Peter, Spider-Gwen, Miles, MJ, plus the Sinister Six and owns a Spider-Man hoodie and beanie too

2. He loves eating many ice cream flavors and likes adding many different toppings onto them

3. He has a big phobia of Peacocks and hates the fact that whenever he's at the Zoo, he has to end up facing them in person at some point, since they're always allowed to walk around the place freely. When he was really little, he would usually scream and cry if he saw them and would try to run or even fly away, causing both Lois and especially Clark to have to hold him down as best as they can and quickly go to a different path with him to get away. Now that he's older, he usually just cries to himself on the inside about it while having obvious panic on his face, gripping onto both of his parents hands or sleeves, and staying super close by their side safely, trying to walk fast out of there with them

4. His favorite flowers are Sunflowers. He loves how tall and beautifully lively they are

5. He isn't just taller than Damian, he's also like a giant standing next to other kids too, even his own brother Chris. Sometimes other kids are very surprised by this while others are a little afraid to mess with him because of it, even though he's obviously very friendly, which he usually tries to show them to reassure them that there's no need to be concerned

6. He loves singing while washing the dishes or making something to eat by himself, thinking he's all alone in the kitchen. Clark and Lois can always hear him though and always giggle and laugh together about it. They even have past recordings too of him doing this when he was too busy to actually notice them

7. He loves chocolate fudge cake with buttercream frosting

8. Just like how girl friends do when hanging out, he and Kathy sometimes have talks with eachother about boys, especially whenever Kathy wants to rant about the other ones that she knows if they did something to bother her

9. His favorite animated Disney movies are The little mermaid (she's also his fave Disney princess), Wreck-it Ralph 1, Ratatouille, Wall-E, and the Toy Story series

10. He loves painting his nails sometimes

Thanks for the ask, buddy!!

[good7luck]

VNC non-animated manga latest (56, 57+) chapters spoilers

.

* my personal, negative long vent

about some fan reactions:

“Noe is terrible because he gets happy over Tarte Tatin when Domi is suicidal!”

(more under the cut)

.

* Sorry in advance that I failed to make my words organized and short. And I might be overreacting to some small minority. Still, I really wanted to rant for once, before the upcoming new chapter 58(?). Thanks for understanding!

.

.

I’ve seen some comments like:

“Noe and Domi are supposedly old, close childhood friends! Noe learned Domi has been suicidal inside the whole time, while he had no idea! He even saw her jump in front of him, her suicide attempt! And yet, now Noe abandoned Domi and completely forgot about her! He gets excited over stupid Tarte Tatin, how dare he?! He should’ve been concerned about Domi and only her! Actually, he should’ve just opened the door and talked to her already! Noe is so selfish and insensitive and immature! Poor Domi, Noe is a terrible friend and really doesn’t deserve her!“

uh

Not gonna lie, I feel so disappointed and frustrated that some people seriously accuse Noe like that, ignoring or forgetting everything he did for Domi’s sake and the full contexts in the entire Amusement Park arc.

I get that they love Domi and worry about her mental health. I’d love to see Domi/Noe have a deep talk soon, too, really. In fact, I myself got super worried if MJ-sensei would not allow the two to interact at all, by making Domi have to leave asap due to an emergency call from Luca or Sade Family XD Now I’m VERY relieved (and surprised lol) apparently this teasing isn’t happening, and Domi/Noe will do get to face each other and talk, according to the new chapter preview. So hopefully those accusations on Noe would die a little...

However, actually...even if the two were not to meet soon in canon, I still think it’s really unfair for Noe to get all the hate like that.

.

# Noe (probably) believes Domi jumped because of Misha’s forced order, NOT by her own (suicidal) will.

Even aside from all the stressful situation...Noe couldn’t properly process the shocking info about Domi’s inner guilt and pain, cuz Vani suddenly started to yell at him and provoke him. During the fierce fight (Noe vs Vani), due to Misha’s harsh demands, Noe couldn’t make complicated thoughts (as Misha intended), either. Misha himself outright threatened that Domi would jump right away “IF the 15 minutes passes” or “IF Misha gets hurt by someone” or “IF Noe makes a wrong move” etc. Besides, Vani was so strong, and Noe was definitely not winning.

We the audience watched Domi’s inner thought process, but the character Noe obviously can’t know it’s Domi’s own (suicidal) decision to jump early (much less “for Noe’s sake”). He was literally busy surviving from Vani’s attacks, not to mention he can’t read minds. If anything, it’s only natural for Noe to think Misha ordered her to jump at that moment, as Misha himself claimed. Honestly, I doubt if Noe realized Domi jumped “too early”. It’s rather amazing he even noticed she’s falling before she hit the bottom tbh.

I don’t mean he forgot about her secretly wanting to be dead in Louis’ stead. What I mean is - from Noe’s POV, whether Domi would jump or not was supposedly up to the controller Misha’s mind entirely, never the controlled victim Domi’s. Even the controller Misha himself couldn’t imagine his supposed puppet Domi would fall on her own without his order. Noe sure couldn’t guess, either.

.

# Noe himself already saw Domi being quite fine on her own.

When Noe covered Vani with his own body, Domi saved them with her own ice power. Noe noticed the huge and strong ice around them was from Domi. He soon went outside and checked her standing well much better than him, even after using her power a LOT. From Noe’s POV, he had no idea what happened to her (especially after she started to attack Jeanne). Even so, now it’s pretty clear Domi is safe and back to her own self and (physically) healthy enough. Noe understandably got more relieved about her in general, perhaps (and Domi wasn’t particularly harming herself then).

Noe would’ve talked to her more or even hugged her, but unfortunately Vani and Misha thing happened right away (that Domi noticed first in the manga).

.

# Amelia already told Noe that Domi is fine and that Noe shouldn’t interfere Domi talking to Jeanne.

When Noe woke up, Amelia assured him that everyone - including Domi - is safe. Amelia also actively stopped him cuz Domi/Jeanne was having a private conversation two of them (which again implies Domi is okay enough). Noe sees Amelia everyday, and he absolutely trusts her. There’s no reason for Noe to not believe Amelia’s words, even if he can’t see Domi right now (and Amelia was telling the truth). That’s why Noe went to Vani on the roof first, and later he waited for Domi (and Vani started to make Tarte Tatin).

If Noe still just goes open the door and starts to talk to Domi after all this, it means Noe ignores Amelia’s words and Domi’s agency and Jeanne’s presence. Which would be, uh, immature and even selfish and insensitive. I get that it could’ve dramatically shown how desperate and worried (and even “romantic”) Noe was about Domi, and it might not have been too bad actually, but still...

It’s Domi’s decision to not endlessly wait for Noe to wake up. Domi decided or agreed to have a long talk with Jeanne first, leaving injured and sleeping Noe to Amelia. All of it might be even Amelia’s suggestion (whether she secretly wanted to take care of Noe herself alone or not XD). Noe is being polite and respecting Domi and Amelia by patiently waiting for Domi/Jeanne conversation to end on their own, without making any complaint, without pressuring them to end it "asap” in any form, without trying to overhear what they’re saying in private. It’s bad and misogynistic to disrespect a woman’s own decision or ignore her agency, but somehow it’s wrong and horrible that Noe listened to Amelia’s request and didn’t interrupt Domi/Jeanne secret talk? lol :/

If we really try to play ~~strict~~ here, assuming Noe is terrible to Domi for such reasons uwu...then, isn’t Domi terrible to Noe, too, maybe worse? lol “Her old childhood friend got badly injured and almost killed because of her, to save her! Unlike Noe, both Domi and Jeanne were pretty fine, barely injured! And yet, Domi didn’t bother to stay with unconscious Noe! She abandoned her fiance to someone else and just went to have a chat with Jeanne instead, without caring about time! Now she’s even making Noe endlessly wait for her! Is Jeanne that important and urgent to her, more than her beloved friend who was about to die for her?! I get that Domi loves Jeanne, but how dare she?! She should’ve at least stopped talking to Jeanne and come to check Noe at some point!” <<<= I tried to imitate the accusations on Noe, and I sure hope this sounds annoying and picky lol :/

Seriously...it’s not like Noe carelessly left suicidal Domi alone in a room just because she demanded so, right after trying to kill herself. Domi is with Jeanne, none of them is hurting anyone, they’re talking in peace. Noe himself saw powerful Jeanne saving Domi in the park, he can trust Jeanne and leave Domi to her. He knows Jeanne is kind when on the same side as well.

It’s also not like Noe/Vani casually left Domi behind and happily went on a date or lunch two of them outside for 3 hours, in a fancy restaurant far far away lol Noe/Vani/Amelia are literally right near the door of Domi/Jeanne room, so that Noe could see Domi right away as soon as she’s done with Jeanne. That’s why Vani told Noe to lower his voice!!

Honestly, Noe could’ve just lied on the comfortable bed in his room (and had fun with Vani) as a patient, asking Amelia to bring Domi to him later or such...but he didn’t. He rather decided to actively go wait and see his dear friend himself asap! Noe isn’t even sitting on some chair, plz!!

I’d like to make it clear, just in case - I do NOT have a problem with Domi/Jeanne conversation taking a lot of time (it happens XD), and I believe Domi never intended to make Noe wait for her like that.

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# The Tarte Tatin is Vani’s voluntary present for his sincere apology and their miraculous reconciliation, and it all means a lot to Noe.

Noe and Vani had one hell fight yesterday that totally could have killed the other and their entire relationship, which left both completely wrecked. Now Vani was expressing his apology and their reconciliation by making Noe’s top favorite food. It’s not mere “damn stupid” Tarte Tatin. Not only Domi but also Vani is important to Noe. Noe has been stressed out the whole night, so he would get super happy over some(happy)thing he never expected from Vani, maybe even more easily than usual.

When Noe just woke up, Domi/Jeanne were talking. Even after Noe/Vani had their talk on the roof and visited Orlok’s office (to get scolded XD) and came back...Domi/Jeanne were still talking for like 1 hour, if not more. Noe kept waiting for Domi, even if not knowing when she’ll be out exactly. Vani started to make Tarte Tatin for Noe, rather than doing nothing. None of both ever complained about how long Domi/Jeanne conversation is getting or if they should wait there like that - they were simply spending their waiting time in their way. In addition...Noe got distracted and smiled in excitement over Vani’s Tarte Tatin for like 10 minutes or so...plz asdfg

Is it THAT “sinful”? cuz Noe wasn’t screaming, crying, throwing up for Domi every single minute?? Is it what she wants from him, being unable to smile over his favorite food even for a while??? I really don’t think so :/

It’s “funny” that I’ve never seen any of those people (who blame Noe) blame Vani (ex. “Why did Vani make Tarte Tatin NOW, before Noe/Domi talk?!”). Sometimes, I did see “Vani should apologize to Domi”, but somehow it’s never brought up in THIS context lol (ex. “Vani should get ready to apologize to Domi, NOT cooking for Noe!”)

It’s also “funny” that I’ve never seen any “criticism” that Noe followed Dante and later tried to go find JJ/Chloe: in both cases, Noe was physically getting away from Domi he was originally waiting for. If we try to play ~~strict~~ again uwu...isn’t it much more terrible than when Noe ~dared to~ get excited over Tarte Tatin? This happened at least physically near Domi’s location lol

Similarly, somehow Dante didn’t get any hate for taking Noe (and his attention) away from Domi, either, much less JJ/Chloe lol (ex. “Why must Noe get distracted by stupid JJ/Chloe and even smile at them and talk about his clan, when Domi is suicidal! Are they more important than his old childhood friend who wants herself dead?! No more JJ/Chloe, no more insensitive Noe being happy over them! Dante also should’ve known Noe/Domi need to talk asap!”) If anything, people rather wanted JJ/Chloe and Dante to stay longer and appear more lol

For some reason, Noe gets blamed (as always? lol), as if Noe himself asked Vani to make Tarte Tatin for him :/ Actually, to be very honest...even if Noe did demand Vani to make Tarte Tatin for him and become so joyful over it (for 10 minutes lol)...I think I still wouldn’t call him problematic, considering what happened between them? Noe has his own life and relationships, out of Domi (and he rather should?). It’s not like Domi is crying or bleeding right next to him now...Noe isn’t enjoying a party in such a serious / urgent situation, plz. I’m pretty sure Noe’s first words to Domi will NOT be about Vani’s Tarte Tatin, either, plz!! asdfg XD

I feel so salty, yep lol No, I do NOT think people should actually start to complain like my made-up complaints above!! Plz no asdfg I’d love to see more of Dante and JJ/Chloe and more in a peaceful situation myself!!

I simply don’t understand why those people basically insist Noe should be 24/7 depressed and hyper-focusing on Domi and only her, treating him like a heartless psychopath otherwise. To me, it sounds so unhealthy (and even unrealistic, oops), similar to “poor Louis meant nothing to Domi/Noe cuz they dare to have some sincerely happy days without mourning his death”? I highly doubt if a decent professional therapist could live like that.

Plz, it’s not like Noe made fun of Domi or joked about her trauma. It’s just that Noe couldn’t imagine Vani would do THAT much for him and their relationship, so he got extra excited over Vani’s (rare) explicit kindness and effort (in the visible form of his favorite food), after all the intense sufferings half a day ago. Does Noe have no right / freedom to feel any kind of happiness about anything or anyone in any moment now, until Domi explicitly approves it or she feels no longer suicidal? :((

(my apparently unpopular opinion on this crying Noe: I don’t think he’s crying because he got upset by Vani’s words. I believe he’s crying because he’s so happy to be miraculously allowed to stay by Vani’s side again like before, and uh...he probably didn’t seriously think he would have to kill him for real, oops ^^; Anyway, that’s why I brought this pic: Noe is happy to be with Vani here)

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# What Noe did for Domi’s sake in the Amusement Park arc

(I know one could argue if Noe did things “genuinely” for Domi’s sake, similar to when Louis!Domi criticized Domi’s suicidal choice in her mind...but let me skip that, oops XD)

(I must say, I do NOT necessarily mean Noe’s decisions / actions are genuinely good or positive. I just tried to collect Domi/Noe scenes where Noe cares about Domi, though I might’ve missed some ^^;)

[*] When Noe first saw Domi’s hair and Misha’s “invitation” letter, he didn’t hesitate and went to the park right away - without saying anything to Amelia, not even to Vani.

Amelia decided to go see Vani and tell him what happened on her own, NOT because Noe asked her to do so. Noe was fully occupied with Domi and so reckless that much.

[*] Noe got a lot of hate at the end of the arc, for ~daring to~ hurt the “kid” Misha’s face when trying to protect Vani from getting harmed / murdered by Misha, who was rushing with obviously dangerous weapons.

But actually, Noe was similarly in a vampire mode and about to aggressively attack the “kid” when he first met him, too, even when Misha didn’t make an explicitly suspicous move yet - because the “kid” was the culprit who dared to kidnap Domi.

(I wonder if the fandom hated Noe for being “violent” to the “kid” at that time, too lol I wasn’t in the fandom at that time)

Noe literally didn’t care if the kidnapper was a “kid”, cuz Domi was much more important to him. He didn’t even try to “talk things out”, unlike usual.

[*] Noe has some traumatic experiences in regards to blood-drinking, and he (usually) wouldn’t drink someone else’ blood without their consent or without his own want.

However, Misha threatened to kill Domi if Noe didn’t do as he wished, ordering Noe to drink his blood. Noe obviously never wanted any of it, but he had no choice but to break his own moral beliefs and rules, so he drank Misha’s blood against his own will - to save Domi. (and yet, some people call the victim Noe “rapist” and blame him, maybe because Noe is physically older, bigger, and stronger asdfg while completely excusing Misha’s problematic behaviors ://)

[*] Similarly, Misha demanded to go drink Vani’s blood in 15 minutes. Noe obviously remembered Vani’s rejection and warning, so he tried and literally begged Vani to tell Misha what happened on That Day, physically lowering himself. Noe knew Vani would hate all of it, but he wanted to save Domi THAT much.

[*] Noe ended up attacking Vani to drink his blood by force for real - going against his own moral beliefs and rules again, for Domi’s sake.

[*] Noe was super busy fighting against Vani, but he still noticed Domi was falling, and he ran to her right away. He totally forgot about the bloody fight, even after Jeanne safely saved Domi, to the point he got attacked by Vani from behind in the end.

[*] When Noe realized Domi used her ice power to protect him and Vani, he left Vani behind and went out of the ice to see Domi himself right away.

[*] Noe is waiting for Domi right near Domi/Jeanne room, not in his daily room, even if he’s not fully recovered yet and doesn’t know when Domi/Jeanne long talk would end.

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HOWEVER uwu Noe is anyway a terrible jerk who doesn’t really care about Domi at all uwu because he still dared to happily focus on mere Tarte Tatin for 10 minutes while waiting for Domi uwu which is an utter evil sin that completely invalidates everything he has done for her so far uwu Noe should’ve kept screaming, crying, throwing up over Domi and only her every second until they get to talk uwu

I can’t believe Noe is apparently sooooo “flawless” to them that they have to make a fuss over such a petty reason, idk lol :/

“You love Noe and so can’t see his flaws and can’t take any criticism on him!” LOL In this arc, strictly speaking - Noe was very reckless and arrogant (and so immature, mind you lol) to think he could handle the unknown kidnapper and save Domi safely by himself alone, even without telling anyone else about anything, especially when he couldn’t even use one arm and there could’ve been, uh, many kidnappers, even powerful evil vampires, for example... Noe was understandably very upset and desperate, but still.

Believe it or not, I’ve enjoyed Domi and Domi/Noe by some level. It’s honestly not so hard for me to empathize with both Domi and Noe in the Amusement Park arc. So...can those people please NOT ruin Domi/Noe for me?! asdfg XD

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Thanks for reading my long long vent subjective experiences & bitter opinions! I’m sorry I couldn’t write this nicer in general OTL