#but seeing a character sorta struggle with that happening as a side effect of their main issue (vash's self worth) makes me feel seen??

[anachronistic-falsehood]

tristamp vash being hinted at having an ed is something that can be so personal (<-struggled with disordered eating in eight months of college and already related to vash in a lot of ways and this is just the icing on the cake)

[bingoboingobongo]

task force 141 + ice skating

Characters: Simon "Ghost" Riley, John "Soap" MacTavish, Kyle "Gaz" Garrick, John Price, Alejandro Vargas, Rodolfo "Rudy" Parra

Warnings: none

A/N: screaming crying throwing up i have my two hardest finals tmmrw halp

guys we've finally got the gang back together

alright so let's be real for a minute

the 141 is definitely not the kind of group to coordinate an ice skating date outside of work

i mean can you imagine like six grown behemoth men at an ice skating rink with like some rando child whizzing around while half of them struggle to even get on the ice

yeah right

so when they do ice skate i see it happening while they're on duty

it's winter (duh) and they're up north so it's extra cold

the base they're staying is right next to a giant lake, which has finally frozen over

gaz was the first to notice

he was eating some breakfast (cocoa puffs) and he looked out the window and saw the lake all icy

and he pointed it out to price who was drinking some coffee and reading the newspaper on the couch

price got up to go check it out too (and u bet he did that thigh slap grunt combo men do)

and gaz was right, the lake was completely solid

and i like to think that the 141 usually has breakfast together/hangs out in the commons in the morning

so price asks if everyone wants to go skating

ofc most of them are happy to say yes

ghost needs some convincing but he gets there eventually

for some reason that base had a bunch of skates

but it worked out so no one's complaining

and don't ask how they had the right sizes or why they would be there in the first place (it's through the power of i have to sleep soon and i can't come up with an explanation rn)

so everyone starts making their way outside to the lake

alright time for some super speedy individual headcanons

simon "ghost" riley:

sorry but ghost definitely does not know how to skate

that's one of the reasons he was so apprehensive to join

it's hard to look intimidating when ur falling on ur butt

and it's not like he has a wall to hold onto

this is also his first time ice skating because he never got to do it as a kid

so yeah going into it he was pretty nervous

he doesn't even have the best balance to start out

but he's a fast learner and he was able to get the hang of it pretty quickly

definitely fell over a few times

much to the delight of soap who got to gloat as he helped him up

and ghost definitely said something like "watch your tone sergeant im still your commanding officer" to try and defend himself

it was not very effective

but once he gets the hang of it he can actually skate surprisingly well

he doesn't skate very long though until he goes back inside

much to the disappointment of everyone else

definitely skates with his hands at his side or in his pockets tho

except one time he almost face planted bc he couldn't use his hands to catch himself

so now he's extra paranoid about skating with his hands in his pockets (as he should don't skate with your hands in your pockets, it's dangerous)

john "soap" mactavish:

surprisingly good at ice skating

skated around a lot when he was a kid

roller skating and ice skating

so it comes pretty natural to him

he hadn't done it in a while but skating sorta like riding a bike in that you never really forget once you know how

he can do the like crossovers and stuff but not any super fancy tricks

def knows how to skate backwards tho

likes to skate super fast and then just go around in loops

laughs at ghost whenever he falls but ways helps him back up

he also had to teach ghost how to even skate

ghost was not very happy about that arrangement

but only because soap kept joking that ghost looked like bambi

ghost got his revenge though when after soap laughed at ghost for falling, he immediately faceplanted

and it was like a comical faceplant

his legs almost went over his head and everything

soap had to go inside after that because he got a bloody nose

in the end it was fine though and he went out and kept skating

soap's definitely the kinda guy to build up speed and then coast on the momentum with his arms out to his side

it makes him feel cool what can i say

kyle "gaz" garrick:

alright so gaz is a pretty decent skater

he's gone a few times recently with his younger siblings

so he knows the very basics

he's definitely a little more timid about it though

especially after watching everyone else keep falling over

for what it's worth he never fell over once tho

but he was also super duper paranoid about falling through the ice

he had to help out price a little bit too at the beginning

he wasn't very good at it though so soap ended up taking over

definitely is a more mild skater

he's just down to coast and do whatever

he gets cold pretty easily too so he's usually rubbing his arms or his hands together while he skates

also is really really really bad at stopping

especially since there's no wall

so he just kept continuously skating like the entire time

and then he had to coast until his momentum ran out when he wanted to go inside

john price:

alright so price skated a little when he was younger imo

he went on a lot of roller skating and ice skating dates back when he was a young adult

but it's been a long time since then and so it was kinda hard for him to get back into it

so he had gaz and soap help him at the beginning

after a while though he got back into the rhythm

and he started to get more and more gutsy

and started to try little tricks that he was able to do before

skating backwards, turning a little, those fancy stops where they like skid on the ice

at one point he messed up and fell though

and like a true old man he hurt his back

and lord was it a struggle to get off the ice

he had to get gaz and soap to come help him up

when he went back inside ghost was drinking some tea and asked him why he was holding his back like that

for fear of sounding like an old man, price told ghost it was nothing

the next morning though his back was super stiff though

but nothing he's never experienced before

alejandro vargas:

bro man's is actually cracked at skating

like price he definitely went on ice skating dates back when he was a young adult

but unlike price alejandro has actual moves

like he can skate backwards, forwards, on one leg, he can do turns, jumps

it's actually insane

like nobody knows how he got this good and he refuses to tell anyone anything except that he just went on a lot of ice skating dates

because the truth is that one year he had a crush on this girl who was super into figure skating

so he spent like the entire year watching figure skating clips from the winter olympics and stuff and practicing and his local skating rink so he could impress her

she ended up moving away before he could show her though

but he still kept on practicing because at that point he had just sorta fallen in love with ice skating

so yeah when he pulled up on that lake he shocked everyone

alejandro spent a lot of time helping rudy too

and yes they did that thing where alejandro held rudy's hands and skated backwards while rudy got pulled forward

i mean it's a skating staple it has to happen

rodolfo "rudy" parra:

alright so like ghost rudy's never skated before

he didn't realize they had a skating rink and he's also not really a fan of the cold

like i said before he tends to run cold so he needs a lot of jackets when he goes skating

alejandro had to teach him bc rudy truly had no idea how to do it

unlike ghost he was not successful quickly so alejandro spent most of the time holding his hand and guiding him

he definitely fell down a lot of times

wanted to give up at one point but alejandro made him keep going

and it was worth it because pretty soon after that he started to get the hang of it

he actually really enjoys ice skating

what can i say it makes him feel like elsa

definitely jokingly did elsa's hand movements and pretended he was controlling the ice or something

he had to start off skating super duper slow though because he was really nervous about falling

but by the end he was able to speed up and live his ice queen dreams

[jeweledstone]

Recent Trayte Dream I Keep Forgetting to Fucking Post

DATE: 2/4/2024

OKAY. SO.

This dream post is basically context for a doodle from that drawpile I made involving one of the newest characters in my dream lore, Trayte. Specifically this one.

For those not in the loop so to speak, Trayte was a character from a recent dream I’ve had who apparently knew me since my early childhood and had a tendency to have rather severe, sometimes violent, mental breakdowns. In the dream he was introduced in, he ends up being unwillingly transformed into Pizzelle from Sugary Spire, which caused his mental state to become even worse. He ended up blaming me for the whole incident and swore he would one day take revenge on me for it, thus becoming a re-occurring villain in later dreams.

This post is regarding one of those revenge attempts.

So basically his thought process behind this “revenge” was that since “I” turned him into the character he was now permanently stuck as, he might as well try turning me into some other SS character as a sorta ironic karma thingy. Originally he was gonna have me turned into Rosette because apparently he used to have an unreciprocated crush on me, but I guess the hate/spite became stronger than the crush cause he eventually changed his mind and decided to tf me into Pizzano.

This (technically) makes the 4th character from a media I like to invade my dreams and try to turn me into a different character from their source material.

My brain has recycled the same plot element. Four (maybe five) fucking times.

Which is what we in the industry like to call

FUCKING BULLSHIT

Anyway, back to the plot summary. Since Trayte didn’t have access to any sorta reality warping abilities like “Dream” and Elias or weird black magic like Pizzahead, he ended up taking a more science-y approach to his little revenge scenario by sneaking into my house while I’m asleep and injecting this weird serum into me that would not only turn me into Pizzano physically, but also eventually take me over mentally as well. (The mental part was so I could feel the same pain Trayte felt over his own mental struggle between keeping his old identity and slowly being taken over by Pizzelle that he’s had since his own transformation)

So that happens, and at first the serum seems to work as intended and of course, that’s got me freaking the fuck out. And it only got worse when one of the serum’s unintentional “side-effects” began to show.

You see, turns out the whole transformation thing Trayte designed…

Was contagious…

So yeah, fuck me, it’s the Spamton Virus all over again, and my family ended up being the first one to have it “spread” to them despite me trying to isolate myself from them in hopes they wouldn’t get hurt by me once I finally lost control. It was around this point I kinda-sorta blacked out as Pizzano took full control only to miraculously regain lucidity several in-dream months later.

By then the infection had spread rather exponentially and there were very few uninfected humans left. I remember at first trying to “blend in” with the other Pizzanos hoping they wouldn’t find out I wasn’t “one of them” anymore.

They… actually found out pretty quickly and I ended up being outcasted by them. The normal humans wouldn’t accept me either since even though I was lucid, I was most likely still contagious. So I ended up spending a good portion of the rest of the dream as a loner, trying to survive in this post-apocalyptic world of sorts. At one point, I was looting an abandoned grocery store looking for food and such when the plot started up again.

Turns out, some members of the government were still alive and trying desperately to find a cure or something for the infection, and they just so happened to be bunkering in a building right next to the store I was in. (No idea why they chose GROUND FUCKING ZERO outta all places to hide out at while the rest of society suffered but since when has a politician ever made an actually smart choice in their life, y’know?) I ended up encountering them while exiting the store and their first instinct was to basically take out their guns and unload a shitton of lead into me.

Now, if you know anything about JeweledStone dream journal lore, you’d know that one of my abilities as a reality bender is that I’m basically fucking invincible (or at least, I can take a lot more damage than a normal person could, there HAVE been some recent dreams where I have died from being injured and stuff) (bruh I can’t believe my own subconscious fucking nerfed me lmao) so the bullets basically did nothing but slightly annoy me a little. For some reason, they ended up becoming less hostile towards me after that. (Could just be cause I wasn’t actively being aggressive towards/trying to infect them tho tbh)

The dream ended with one of the politicians revealing that they were also invincible and trying to order for a fucking nuke to be dropped on us to prove it.

And yeah, that was it, kinda disappointed it ended on a cliffhanger like that, but whatever.

[espectres]

🔥 ABT CANON cause i like hearing u talk abt it

THANK U FOR ENJOYING MY SALT FILLED RANTS AHKSGFHKJS LOVEEEE

I enjoy mp100 a whole LOT I really do!! But there is always something to say when it comes to background characters, and especially shou lmao. Something I'm still surprised about is how open-ended and on a bad note his story seemed to be when compared to how everyone else's arcs went, to me, that's my opinion, LIKE ... main dudes aside, Tome for an example got to experience her dream and realize it wouldn't have been remarkable without friends by her side, she reached a fullfilling note in her narrative despite how little screen time she had and how minor her role in the story seemed to be, and most importantly, she is in a better place! Heck, even the dudes from the seventh division ended up starting a new life, with what little detail we were able to tell they are safe, independent, and becoming better people. Cuz that's what mp100 is about! Reaching a point in your life where you're at peace with yourself and appreciation of the good people who care about you, getting to a better place as a person.

Shou meanwhile? Everything about him is so vague! We got to see Sakurai and Koyama working at a convenience store. Why couldn't we know if Shou is going to school or not? If he's maybe with his mom? How is he doing? Why is no one concerned if the 13 y/o with dad in jail is alright or not? It's either vague or downright concerning. "Oh, his fire hair is gone, and that symbolizes letting go of the self-sacrifical tendencies becuz the rabbit jumped into fire." That's not enough!!! " Psychic powers sure are scary." "I'm not going to use them again." Now just tell me, isn't being afraid of powers and denying them what led to nearly every single bad thing that happened to Shigeo? Wasn't the whole gd story abt learning to accept these scary af powers and yourself and no longer supressing them?

In Shou's case it makes sense that he isn't fond of the side effects of being an esper, all the problems it brings, it's fair, you can see all the shit it made him go thru since so long, BUT. Having his story "end" on the same decision that made things start going bad for Shigeo is so disheartening, seeing how apparently everyone else is doing better by the end askjdfhsgka sad peach noises?????

You see, lack of story time isn't an excuse, Shou being a background character isn't reallyyyyyy an excuse. Half of the story wouldn't have been the same without him! Yet characters with less importance plot-wise didn't get the short end of the stick. As for a better conclusion, a simple thing as a single conversation with Ritsu would have done it tbh, they are both there, they already share a really strong bond, Shou sharing his new anti-powers rule to Ritsu and Ritsu, now aware of his brother's struggles, tells him to maybe not do that?? there are better ways to deal with your crippling trauma???? That's an open-ended sorta thing I can accept, cuz we wouldn't know how things would go for Shou, but at least he's not out there doing what the story strictly told us it's bad to do !!!!!! One-sensei, hear me out-

[yjwhatif]

in the comics, Bart once got shot in the knee point-blank and had to get a prosthetic knee (accelerated healing doesn't always mean healing CORRECTLY). everything surrounding it wasn't very good writing and it didn't really actively effect Bart in any way it felt it should've (was rarely brought up not long after), and anyways i bring this up because i'm worried an injury of equivalent severity will happen to Bart in YJ, and i don't think this show would brush that kinda thing under the rug

Ooh if they did do something like that, it would be really interesting to see. Bart has always been so reliant on his accelerated healing to justify his maybe not being as careful as he probably should be, so to see it actually cause him permanent physical damage which needs external medical treatment would likely have a massive impact on him. Not only could it affect his physical mobility as he’d potentially need to retrain himself to use his speed in a way which comfortably works with the prosthetic - something which would take time and patience - a quality not so heavily practiced by speedsters. It would also have a big effect on his mind - realising he’s not invincible, maybe second guessing himself and becoming more cautious, or maybe he’d find himself getting frustrated more often as he struggles to come to terms with the changes that are now apart of him. Depending on how extensive the injury - how would he respond to the prospect of potentially never being able to run again - or at the very least, not at the high speeds he’s used to? What is a speedster if they can’t run? Who are they if they can’t be who they’ve always been? These are ideas I would be so fascinated to see the show explore - not just from the perspective of the person injured, but also the people who surround them and how one change can have a ripple effect which cascades a lot further than is potentially realised.

We’ve seen characters thriving and comfortable at the other side of a major physical change - but we haven’t really explored the lengthy journey one must go through to get to that point of comfort and acceptance… I guess we sorta have with Vic’s journey in S3 but that’s no reason to not explore another’s journey with a different experience.

So ye, I’d love to see something like this explored in depth and I think Bart would be the perfect character portray it through…

LB

[gamerwoo]

[Tales from the Pack] Seungcheol: Stubborn (Bonus)

Characters: Seungcheol x female reader

Genre/warnings: werewolf au, fantasy, fluff, smut during the second half (fingering/eating out, a lot of praise, just cheol being really soft, unprotected sex [remember to use condoms friends!!!], unintentional sorta exhibitionism?????)

Word count: 4,544

Summary: You’ve heard the stories your relatives told you about werewolves when you were younger, but you always thought it was just a scare tactic to make kids behave. Well, up until you woke up in a den full of werewolves.

a/n: this part takes place further into the future during seungkwan’s part, and since it contains spoilers for the future, i recommend skipping this and reading up to part 8 of seungkwan’s series, and then coming back when you’re done!!

Previous | Stubborn Masterlist | TftP Masterlist

Maybe it was because everyone was on-edge about Seungkwan’s condition that was rapidly decreasing. Maybe it was because everybody was still a bit shaken up over Eunjin being what she was. But something was making your old habits of being a thief kick in. You hid in shadows, snuck around the house, and came and went like the wind. Hardly anybody saw you, including your mate.

You weren’t avoiding Seungcheol, not at all. You were just uncomfortable, and that made you want to stay hidden. You assumed it was the tension in the house, but you just didn’t want to be seen, heard, or noticed. Unfortunately, this also happened to effect Seungcheol who now usually had to sniff you out or simply follow the imprinting pull.

The last couple weeks, though, Seungcheol had gotten down your typical hiding places – although, he did almost trip over you while trying to find you because you were crouched down behind the counter while you sharpened the kitchen knives for fun. Today, though, he found you upstairs in Seokmin’s room.

Seokmin was a very positive person in the pack, and all he wanted was for everybody to get along. But because things weren’t working out between Seungkwan and Eunjin and there was nothing he could do, he typically hid away in his room and kept himself busy with reading or singing to keep his mind off of it. But today, you were hanging out with him while he tried to practice his weather power since he hadn’t intentionally used it before. It was only during those nights he had nightmares when it was developing that he’d used it -- but he didn’t even know it was him doing it -- and the few days he was first coping with the situation with Seungkwan. But none of those instances were intentional, so he wanted to hone in on his new power.

“Does it change the weather in town or just in our little area?” you wondered as Seokmin stared out the window, holding his hand out palm-up as his fingers slowly curled inward. Clouds started forming in the blue sky, turning it a grey color.

“I don’t really know,” Seokmin said absentmindedly as he watched the weather start to change at his own will. He suddenly looked over at you with a warm grin. “Do you like snow?”

You frowned, shaking your head. As a thief, you only had bad memories with snow. You didn’t really have a place of your own before, so you associated snow with being cold and struggling for the next few months. Sure, it was kind of pretty, but you never actually enjoyed it.

“What, really?” he asked, surprised that you didn’t like it. “Why not?”

“I was always stuck outside in the cold,” you said with a small pout, looking away from Seokmin and at the familiar grey sky that indicated snow coming.

Seokmin just smiled, “Don’t worry, I’ll show you how to enjoy it.”

“You’re really going to make it snow?”

“Just here – I think…”

Soon enough, little snowflakes began to fall from the sky. All you could do was frown as you watched, dreading when it would start accumulating. You knew you could just come back inside when you got too cold, but it was just the bad memories that were dragging you down.

You heard a soft knock at the door before you heard it open with a very quiet creak. You didn’t even have to turn around to guess who it was.

“What’re you two doing?” Seungcheol chuckled as he walked over to where the two of you were sitting on the floor, staring up at the window.

“Making snow,” Seokmin reported, letting his hand fall into his lap as he turned to look at the alpha. “You like snow, right, Seungcheol?”

Seungcheol shrugged as he crouched down behind and between the two of you, “Yeah, it’s fun – especially seeing the rest of you run around in it.”

Seokmin turned to you excitedly, “We shift and run around outside when it snows. The pack loves it.”

You just nodded, mumbling, “Good for you.”

“_____, do you not like snow?” Seungcheol wondered.

You shook your head in exaggerated movements to really get the point across. Seungcheol just smiled in amusement, putting a warm hand in the center of your back as he stroked it with his thumb.

“You can play with us in the snow tomorrow when it accumulates on the ground,” he suggested, “and if you hate it, I’ll bring you back inside and make you soup. Okay?”

You shrugged, mumbling an, “Okay…”

Thankfully for Seokmin, he didn’t have to sit there and constantly make the weather do what he wanted. Once he got it going, he didn’t have to do anything else until he wanted it to stop. 

“C’mon,” Seungcheol stood before he helped you up, “I need to get food in you.”

“Are Mingyu and Danbi back from Jiung’s?” Seokmin wondered.

“You just want to play with Jiwoo,” he chuckled. “Yeah, they’re back.”

“Finally!” Seokmin grinned, hopping up from the floor.

-

The next morning, you were awoken by the sound of howling and excited yipping. You groaned and rolled onto your other side, burying your face in your pillow to drown it out. You felt Seungcheol’s arms encircle you and pull you to his chest, pressing a soft kiss to the crown of your head.

But then you heard Yeji from downstairs shriek excitedly, “There’s snow everywhere!”

Your eyes opened, staying narrowed. You were definitely awake now.

“Guess the pack saw Seokmin’s little surprise,” Seungcheol said, his voice raspy and deep from sleeping.

Everyone had obviously noticed the snow falling the day prior, but about a foot or two had accumulated quickly on the ground around the house. A few of the wolves had already run outside to play, but apparently some people had just woken up and noticed – and by some people, you meant your overly-excited sister.

Soon enough, you heard feet bolting down the hall before throwing open your bedroom door.

“Seungcheol!” Mingyu was panting. “Seokmin made it snow yesterday, and look outside!”

“I didn’t realize snow on the ground meant everyone forgot how to knock,” Seungcheol said as he sat up and stretched his arms above his head.

Mingyu blushed a bit even though he knew he wasn’t interrupting anything, “Sorry. Are you gonna come outside?”

“In a bit. Let me bundle up _____.”

“_____, we can have a snowball fight!” Mingyu gasped excitedly. “I bet you’ll be really good at it.”

You rolled over, looking up at Seungcheol, “Is that the thing kids do?”

Seungcheol chuckled, nodding his head, “Yes. In case you haven’t noticed, we’re all just very big children.”

-

After being put in five sweaters, two pairs of pants – one pair being yours and the other being Seungcheol’s just because he thought they might somehow be better for you – and a hat, Seungcheol brought you outside with him while he wore just a sweater and a pair of pants. You looked up at the sky, scrunching your face as snow hit your skin. Seungcheol chuckled as he watched, taking note of how beautiful you looked with fresh snow falling into your hair.

The entire pack was out in the yard, even little Jiwoo who was bundled up in multiple blankets and was being held on Minghao’s hip while her father was enjoying the snow. Most of the boys were in their wolf forms, running around, rolling in it, or trying to catch snowflakes in their mouths. Mingyu was rolling a ball of snow with his muzzle while he helped Danbi make a snowman. Minghao was softly talking to Jiwoo about how pretty the snow was as her large eyes looked around in wonder, it being the first time the young child had seen the white, fluffy stuff. Those of the pack in their human form were tossing snowballs at each other and others while they laughed loudly.

The only person who wasn’t playing in the snow – that you could see – was Joshua. He just said the last thing he wanted was to be pelted with cold things. You couldn’t say you disagreed with Josh.

“How is this fun?” you grumbled, looking back at Seungcheol as you blinked snowflakes off your eyelashes.

“Well just staring at it isn’t fun,” he told you. “Go make a snowman or a snow angel or–”

“_____!” you heard Chan call. You turned your head just in time to catch a snowball to the chest. You froze, staring at the same spot while the youngest giggled. “Come play with us!”

“Ah, maybe after she gets used to the snow, Chan,” Seungcheol told him pointedly as he grabbed your arms and pulled you over to where Wonwoo and Danbi were now making snow angels together. “Why don’t you stay with Wonwoo while I go get changed. He’ll make sure you don’t get hit with anything.”

Wonwoo nodded up at you from where he was squatting down on the ground, not even looking as he put up a hand to block the stray snowball coming his way. As soon as it splattered against the side of his arm, he let it down and looked back down at his sister on the ground.

“See? You’re in good hands,” Seungcheol grinned as he pressed a kiss to your temple before he went back into the house.

Mingyu, who was watching the siblings make snow angels, pressed his snow-covered nose against your cheek as he sniffed your face. Even that made you make a face and recoil away from him, shoving his furry face away.

“So,” Danbi sat up with snow in her hair, “you really have never played in the snow?”

Wonwoo chuckled at his sister as he began to brush the snow from her hair, saying, “Not everybody likes snow, Danbi. Lilly was allergic.”

You furrowed your eyebrows, “How can somebody be allergic?”

“I believe the doctor in town called it cold urticaria.”

“Excuse me?”

Wonwoo just laughed softly, shaking his head.

Seungcheol came back outside quickly, but he was in his wolf form this time. He ran up to you and nuzzled into your hair happily, excited to be able to play outside with his brothers. You couldn’t help but laugh at how happy he was, but it stopped when he moved his nose to nudge you in the side, moving you closer to the chaos of the pack.

“Whoa, what?” you asked as your legs were forced to move forward. “Seungcheol, I didn’t agree to this!”

Still, your mate continued to move your forward so you could properly experience the snow. Of course, the pack noticed this and started to get even more excited. Soonyoung bounded over to you, skidding to a stop and kicking up snow. 

The first thing Seungcheol tried to get you to try was making a snowman. He started by poking a snowball on the ground with his nose, nudging it around until it started to roll into a bigger ball. He looked up at you expectantly before he gestured to the growing ball with his head.

You huffed, “Seungcheol this shit is cold. I don’t want to touch it.”

He let out a huff of his own before pointing at the ball sharply with his nose.

You grumbled to yourself about how you didn’t want to, but you did it anyway. You bent down and began rolling the ball around until Seungcheol decided it was big enough to be a snowman base. Then he helped you make the middle and managed to maneuver it on top of the first ball with his muzzle. Then he let you make the head and put that on as well.

Yeji had ventured into the woods earlier with Hansol and Junhui to find pebbles on the ground since the property was completely covered in snow. So she gave you a few from her pocket for eyes and buttons. Then Seungcheol trotted over with a stick in his mouth and handed it to you. You very un-enthusiastically jammed it in the poor snowman’s face. Your fingers were numb, your nose and cheeks were red, and you just wanted to go inside and curl up under some blankets.

To add insult to injury, the wolves were playing too rough with each other, and Junhui skidded straight into your snowman, knocking it over and causing its snow body to splatter on the ground. Seungcheol looked down at the dead snowman body before he growled and leaped at the younger werewolf, wrestling with him for ruining your hard work.

You wished you were the snowman.

-

You walked into your bedroom with a towel still between your hands as you dried your hair, damp from the snow. However, when you walked into your room, Seungcheol was in there, still without clothes on. He had shifted back downstairs while you went to go get a towel to dry your hair, and now he was digging through drawers to find new clothes for the both of you.

This wasn’t the first time seeing Seungcheol naked. You’d taken showers and baths together plenty of times. But for some reason, your cheeks were heating up – and not just because you had been playing out in the snow.

You walked over to your mate – you knew he could hear you enter – and wrapped your arms around his waist, pressing your nose into his back to warm it while your hands clung to his toned stomach, making him shiver from how cold they felt.

“I feel like an ice cube,” you whined.

“Yeah, you do,” he chuckled. “Do you want me to warm you up?”

You nodded, your nose rubbing against his back. Except, you were thinking of other means of warming up than he was. Most of the pack was still playing outside anyway.

“Alright, let me just find some–”

“Seungcheol?” when you spoke this time, your voice was a lot smaller than it had been. 

“Hmm?”

“Y-you don’t have to, like…put clothes on if, y’know…this is more comfortable…”

Seungcheol laughed softly, turning in your arms to face you. He cupped your face between his hands, eyebrows raised, “Is this your way of telling me you want to do something?”

You’d done things with Seungcheol before, sure. But you’d never actually had ‘proper’ sex with him before. It wasn’t that you were scared or didn’t know how, you just always felt a little uncomfortable knowing that the rest of the pack would be able to hear you. But now that they were all preoccupied outside…

You nodded, “I’m cold, it’s for my health.”

“_____, you’re not going to get hypothermia,” he laughed, rolling his eyes playfully. “What do you want me to do?”

“Well…” you began slowly, trying to ignore the heat that was now crawling to the tip of your ears, “I-I think I’m ready for marking.”

Seungcheol’s eyes widened, though he looked more surprised than afraid. The statement just took him off guard. You’d never even mentioned marking other than when you asked about how it worked and if the pain was bad, but you hadn’t mentioned it in a while.

“Are you sure?” he asked, his hands stroking up and down your arms. “You don’t need to feel pressured or anything.”

“Seungcheol, I really want to,” you insisted. “I love you and I want to be yours.”

“You are mine, with or without a mark,” he promised, a soft smile on his face as he placed the bend of his finger under your chin. “Look at Danbi and Mingyu – she wasn’t marked for a long time.”

“I promise, Cheol, I’m asking because I want it.”

Seungcheol nodded, “Okay. Then I’d be more than happy to mark you as mine.”

He smiled as he leaned down to press his lips to yours, softly and playfully at first but slowly growing in intensity and desperation. Your back hit the mattress, making both of you giggle as he toppled down on top of you, making sure to catch himself with his hands as to not actually crush you. But still, his lips never left yours.

“Guess it’s a good thing you don’t have all those layers on anymore,” he chuckled against your lips, one of his thumbs stroking your cheek that was still flushed from the cold.

Seungcheol sat up just enough to pull your shirt off over your head. He let his eyes scan over your body, a warm grumble resonating in his chest as his hands wandered over your soft skin, “You’re so beautiful, you know that?”

“Only because you never stop telling me,” you laughed softly, rolling your eyes.

“And I’ll never stop telling you,” he insisted before he was leaning down again to meet your lips.

His lips moved feverishly against yours like he couldn’t get enough of you. One hand cupped your cheek while the other held him up, his tongue pushing passed your lips to explore your mouth. Your arms were around him, fingers tangled in his hair to keep him as close as possible. 

Seungcheol’s lips began to trail downward, leaving open-mouthed kisses down your neck, nipping and sucking on your skin on their way. His hands moved to take your bra off, unclipping it behind you before sliding the straps down. That was tossed off the side of the bed, Seungcheol not even paying attention to where he threw it.

His lips went to one of your nipples, one hand massaging the other and brushing your nipple with his thumb. You moaned out his name softly, arching your chest up as your eyes fluttered closed. His tongue flicked over the hardening bud, looking up at you as he did so to watch every little movement from your face.

Seungcheol’s mouth continued its decent, his hands also moving downward to pull off your bottoms and underwear. You lifted your hips to help, and then he tossed those off the bed to join your bra on the floor.

Now, Seungcheol was laid down on his stomach between your thighs, pushing your legs open to make room for him. Seungcheol had seen you like this before already but it didn’t stop the heat rushing to your cheeks or the urge to close your legs and hide from his eyes that were locked on your heat as the yellow began to dot red.

“So beautiful…” he whispered, brushing his index finger through your folds before teasing your slit.

You whimpered softly, covering your face from embarrassment.

Seungcheol chuckled seeing your expression, dipping his head closer to you, “You’re cute when you’re shy.”

You felt his tongue lick a stripe from your slit to your clit, and you bit your lip to keep from moaning. Your hands went to his dark hair as his lips wrapped around your clit and sucked lightly, flicking his tongue over the bundle of nerves. You already knew what Seungcheol’s tongue was capable of, and yet, it still took you by surprise.

“Don’t keep in those noises, baby,” Seungcheol cooed as he teased his finger at your entrance again. He slowly slid it in, smirking a little at the way you said his name in a quiet moan. “The pack is outside and they’re not paying any attention – nobody will hear you.”

He began pumping his finger slowly, curling it to reach all the spots he’d learned you liked while his lips and tongue worked on your clit. You let out a moan that was a little louder this time, your hips starting to grind up into Seungcheol. 

He added a second finger, curling them the same way as he pressed his tongue flat against your clit and let you grind against his face, growling softly as your hands tugged at his hair. He started scissoring his fingers in you, stretching you out for what was to come once he decided you were prepped enough. For now, he just wanted to enjoy the soft moans and mewls that fell from your lips.

You felt a knot starting to tighten in your lower abdomen, so you started rocking your hips faster. Seungcheol noticed the signs of your incoming release – your hips speeding up, the way your eyebrows knitted together, the way your whines started to get higher – and removed his fingers, sitting up and away from you. Had you not known Seungcheol planned on giving you exactly what you wanted very soon, you would’ve never let him hear the end of your complaining.

You watched as Seungcheol stuck his two fingers in his mouth, lapping up your juices as he smirked at you with red eyes, “You taste so sweet, princess.”

“Cheol…” you whined, covering your face with your arms.

He just chuckled, leaning down above you to move your limbs away from your face, pressing a kiss to your lips. He kissed you softly for a moment as to try to get rid of any nervousness you might’ve had before he gripped his member, stroking it a few times to get it fully hard before he was teasing your folds with the tip. He smirked at the way your hips wiggled and bucked up slightly.

He pulled back just enough to look at you, all of the playfulness melting away, “Are you ready?”

You nodded, moving your hands to grip his shoulders.

“Just tell me if you want to stop, okay?”

You nodded again, so Seungcheol lined himself up with your entrance. Then he was slowly pushing into you, letting out a soft groan and an even softer “fuck” as his head dropped into your neck. Your fingers dug into his shoulders as he stretched you out, your eyes squeezing closed. It definitely hurt a little but but not enough for you to want him to stop.

Once he was completely inside, he stilled, his lips brushing across your neck in small kisses to help you relax. When you finally gave him the okay, he moved at a slow pace, trying to make sure you weren’t uncomfortable in any way. You’d done other intimate stuff but he’d never been inside you – and he knew you’d never had sex before – so he didn’t want to hurt you. He was even honored you trusted him with this.

“You’re doing so well, baby,” he hummed, capturing your lips in a sweet kiss as his hips continued to rock at a steady pace. 

You let out a quiet moan at his praise, your arms wrapping around his neck to keep him close to you. He smiled against your lips, the happy grumble in his chest vibrating against yours. One of his hands moved down your body, raising goosebumps until he reached your clit. His fingers worked circles into it, drawing soft mewls from you that were music to his ears.

“Do you feel okay?” he asked quietly.

You nodded, biting your lip softly. The pain had slowly gone away, leaving you with only pleasure that was slowly building the knot in your stomach back up. The look you gave him with your eyebrows knitting together in pleasure but your eyes almost begging him to do more was enough to almost send him over the edge, especially with how amazing you felt around him.

“You’re so pretty,” he whispered, using his thumb to gently tug your bottom lip from between your teeth. “My beautiful little mate.”

He sat up as his own orgasm began to approach, determined to get you to cum before he did. He knew it would distract from the pain of marking and that was his biggest priority. Seungcheol wanted to avoid hurting you at all costs, at least for your first time. 

His fingers started moving quicker as he started aiming his thrusts into a new spot, making you moan out his name and grip the sheets beneath you.

“You’re doing so good for me, baby,” he moaned, his dark bangs sticking to his forehead with sweat. “Fuck… You take me so well; you’re so amazing.”

Your orgasm started to approach a lot faster than you thought it would, your moans and whimpers growing louder and more needy. Seungcheol could tell you were getting close from the way you clenched around him, but he couldn’t have you cumming just yet.

Seungcheol removed his fingers from your clit, placing both hands on your hips as he rolled his hips into yours. You whined, the quickly building high dying down a little bit because of the loss of stimulation.

“Just hold on a little longer, love,” he grunted, trying to get himself closer to his own high. His eyes closed as his head dropped back, the sight of his toned body shining from the light sheen of sweat on his body making him look godlike. “You feel so amazing, I’m almost there…”

Your high was still building with every thrust of Seungcheol’s hips, though. You pulled him back down to you, trying to distract yourself by leaving little kisses and love bites along the column of his neck and across his collarbones. Seungcheol groaned at the feeling, his hips suddenly sharply thrusting forward into you. With the burn of your orgasm approaching, you bit on Seungcheol’s shoulder – not enough to break skin or anything – to hold yourself back, clenching around him.

That was enough to tip him over the edge, one hand going back down to your clit and rubbing into it quickly. Your eyes squeezed shut as your body tensed with your orgasm.

“Let go, baby,” he said softly, but his voice was a growl.

It hit you harder than any other high you’d had, but it was the second wave that really got you. It came with a sudden sharpness in the crook of your neck, but it had you crying out Seungcheol’s name as your toes curled and your thighs locked around his hips. It felt amazing.

After riding out both of your highs, Seungcheol took his teeth out of you and dragged his tongue across the wound to help it heal. You whimpered at the feeling of him pulling out of you, his release and yours dripping slowly down your thighs.

“It didn’t hurt too much, did it?” he wondered.

“No,” you sighed, letting your fingers drag through Seungcheol’s dark hair. You smiled up at him softly when he pulled away to look at your face. “I love you.”

He grinned, bumping your nose with his own, “I love you, too. Thanks for letting me do this – it means so much to me.”

Your sweet moment was cut off by a knock at the door, which had Seungcheol’s head whipping around to look at the door.

“I want you guys to know,” Joshua’s voice came from the other side, “that I didn’t go outside, and I heard everything. Also, you’re lucky Seungkwan’s on his deathbed or you’d have two disgusted wolves here.”

Your face turned completely red as you hid in Seungcheol’s neck while he laughed at you.

“You said nobody could hear!” you whined.

“Yeah, well,” he shrugged, not seeming to care if his brother heard or not, “I guess I forgot about Josh.”

[marvelyningreen]

Aftershocks - Night 1

Night 1 | Night 2 | Night 3 | (deleted scene)

[Summary: Peter Maximoff is an unflappable sorta guy. He’d never let anything get to him before, and this recent misadventure will be no different. ...Right?

Warnings: mild language, references to injury, general trauma-related angst

Notes: Peter Maximoff x reader, of the established relationship variety. A ‘what if Fietro really was Peter?’ scenario. Same continuity/reader character from Linger and Late-bloomer. ]

On your first night back from Westview, you hesitate at Peter’s door. You’ve gotten so close to saying goodnight to each other half a dozen times, but here you still are.

“Why don’t you stay for a while?” Peter asks after an awkward few seconds of silence. “I’m not really all that tired. Are you?”

“Not really,” you lie.

Judging by the dark circles under Peter’s eyes, he’s not being entirely honest either.

It was late afternoon when you’d gotten back. Well, it was late afternoon here, at least. The passage of time in Westview was nebulous, to say the least.

Hank had been there to meet you when you all emerged from the portal – Peter, yourself, Mr. Lehnsherr and the professor, and the newcomers: Wanda Maximoff and her twin sons, Billy and Tommy. Hank summarily hurried you all off to the lab for debriefing, and also for a precautionary exam. Who knew what side-effects there could be from traveling between realities?

None, as it turns out. Wanda and the boys were just fine. Peter was a little dehydrated and underfed, but was otherwise in good health. You were ultimately the most scuffed-up from the experience.

In addition to the same issues as Peter, you’d amassed a fair amount of cuts and scrapes and bruises. Thankfully, the worst of it is just a badly sprained knee that’ll take several weeks to heal. Inconvenient, but bearable.

Peter has been pretty positive the whole time. If anything, he’s maybe a little too chipper, all things considered. But then again, he was immersed in playing cool uncle to the twins, and was probably just trying to keep their spirits up. They’d been through quite a lot, too.

“You should at least try to sleep, though,” you say, as you limp into Peter’s room.

Peter scoffs good-naturedly. “Are you trying to baby me?”

“Well, one of us has to be the responsible one.”

Peter rolls his eyes. Before you can blink, he’s changed into shorts and an old Pink Floyd t-shirt. He leans in to kiss you.

“I’ll try to sleep if you’ll at least sit down,” he says. “Deal?”

You smile. “Deal.”

As Peter climbs into bed, you settle yourself on the sofa. To say that it’d been a long few days would be understating things to a criminal degree.

You’d stepped through a mysterious portal to rescue Peter from wherever he’d been abducted to. You’d found that the culprit was a witch who’d taken him in an attempt to steal the power of another witch, and that witch is an alternate reality version of Peter’s sister… sorta? Or maybe not. You still aren’t completely clear on how any of this works.

Regardless, you’d ended up helping a woman named Captain Rambeau – who has powers like a mutant, but apparently isn’t one – to free Peter from the witch’s control. And then the young sons of Peter’s not-sister were in danger from some military creep, because said military creep had apparently made a cyborg zombie version of Wanda’s late husband.

Or something. Again, this was a lot to take in in a short period of time.

And no sooner had the business with magic and the military been cleared up than the professor and Mr. Lehnsherr appeared, intending to serve as backup. Luckily, there was no need.

Peter went to make his goodbyes and, in true Peter Maximoff fashion, wound up inviting Wanda and her sons to come back to the mansion with all of you. You weren’t the least bit surprised that the professor was fully on board with this. He’s always the first to reach out with compassion to a soul that’s lost and hurting.

What shouldn’t have surprised you as much as it did was hearing Mr. Lehnsherr do the same. Between the three of them, Wanda was convinced to come to the school and to learn about her powers in a place where she and her sons would be safe and among friends.

It was at this point that Peter was trying to be in two places at once – serving as liaison to Wanda and the boys, and also making sure that you were alright. He only succeeded in making everyone dizzy, until Mr. Lehnsherr stepped in. He instructed Peter to focus on guiding the newcomers and volunteered to look after you himself. You found yourself leaning on Mr. Lehnsherr for support as you limped through the portal and back to your own world.

“Y’know what I can’t stop thinking about?” says Peter.

“Hmm?”

He turns to grin at you. “Your strawberry rhubarb pie.”

“I know I canned some of that this summer,” you say. “Do I have any left…?”

“If you don’t, one of the students has plant manipulation powers. I’m just sayin’.”

You laugh, and the conversation goes on in much the same vein - talking about a hundred little things that don’t matter.

Westview isn’t brought up, and neither are witches and magic. Nobody mentions Wanda and her twin sons in the room down the hall.

Peter hadn’t been able to give very clear answers to Hank’s questions about his experience. He said that it was all pretty blurry, and chalked up to a side-effect of that weird mind-control necklace thing.

You aren’t sure whether this is cause for worry or not.

The conversation with Peter has been fading in and out for a while now. Typical sleepover experience, really. Silence for a few minutes, and then a bit of banter, and a scattered response here and there, and then more silence.

It’s… It’s actually been silent for a while now. And when did your eyes close, anyway?

You look at the clock to see that over an hour has passed since you last checked the time. But you’re awake now, and you find that you’re not tired anymore. Moonlight streams through the windows, falling across Peter’s bed. He’s still sleeping, thank goodness.

At first you think that the sudden sense of reassurance is just because Peter’s getting some rest. He’s had quite the experience, after all. But there’s more to it than that. You realize that you’re just glad that Peter’s home and safe.

You haven’t really thought about it before, but part of you had always seen Peter as, well, sort of invincible. He’s clever, and capable, and impossibly fast. He can outpace an explosion. He can redirect bullets as easy as breathing. Nothing outside of a godlike entity or an otherworldly power had been able to touch him.

But you can’t stop thinking about this other man – this Pietro. He was fast, too, and he was probably just as capable. That didn’t prevent him from being shot to death while saving the lives of two other people.

Odd coincidental similarities aside, Peter and Pietro aren’t the same. You know this. And yet… You’ve already almost lost Peter once.

In Westview, once you’d found yourself abruptly separated from Vision, you’d realized that you were in way over your head. There was something sinister going on, and you had no idea whether Peter’s kidnapping was a part of it, or if it was something else entirely.

You’d wandered the streets, trying your best to look like you were supposed to be there. At first glance, everything seemed normal. But the more you looked, the more things just felt… off.

It seemed to be summer, but there were no kids at the pool, or in the park, or riding their bikes up and down the block. All the cars looked just a little too shiny and new for a small town. All the yards were too perfectly manicured. Every single person wore well-coordinated outfits. It all felt staged.

Down the block, you noticed a mailbox labeled with the name “Vision,” and-

You hesitated. Maybe best not to go barging in, right? Leaning against a streetlight, you pretended to rummage for something in your bag while you kept an eye on the house. Again, the oddly regimented behavior continued. People walked past the house at intervals that seemed random at first, but weren’t quite. It was more like they were spaced out intentionally to seem random.

Aside from that bit of weirdness, nothing unusual had happened. You hadn’t seen any trace of Peter in your wanderings. This Vision guy was your only lead. Steeling yourself, you started walking down the street, intent on knocking on that door and figuring out the rest from there.

And that’s when somebody clamped a hand over your mouth and twisted your arm, pinning it behind your back. Before you had a chance to struggle or even scream, the scenery in front of you blurred and darkened.

You blinked. The world was still again. You were in a dark, oddly-shaped room. It might’ve been hexagonal, but you couldn’t move to look around. The person who’d grabbed you was still holding you immobile.

“So, they sent another one in, huh?” said an unfamiliar voice. “You’d think they would’ve learned by now, but that’s military types for you.”

The speaker stepped into view. It was a woman – middle-aged and dark-haired. She wasn’t worried like Vision had been, nor was she blithely serene like the other people you’d seen. Her presence was commanding, unconcerned. There was something about the way she sized you up that unsettled you.

“I’ve got it from here, thank you,” said the woman.

The other person released you, and you immediately felt some strange energy wind around you. It tightened around your wrists and ankles, binding them fast, and yanked you several inches into the air.

“Who are you? Let me go!” You struggled to free yourself, but you couldn’t budge the restraints even an inch. Even your powers seemed to glance off them ineffectually.

The woman raised an eyebrow.

“Now that’s interesting,” she said. “How did you manage to get into Westview with your personality intact? Even he was calling himself ‘Ralph’ at first. You’re not with S.W.O.R.D., are you? And I can tell already you’re not a witch. Let’s see…”

The woman made some complex gesture with her hands. A purple mist crept across your vision. You felt something wrapping itself around your mind – covering it like a net, humming like an electric current. You shook your head, trying to clear it away, but it clung like a spider web.

The professor. Just before you’d left, he placed some sort of psychic shielding around your mind, just in case. He wasn’t sure what sort of dangers you’d be facing. You doubt this was what he’d been anticipating, but whatever this woman was trying to do to you, the shield resisted it.

The woman’s eyes narrowed. You felt the web’s grip on your mind tighten, vice-like. At first it was just uncomfortable, but the pressure increased until it was a stranglehold on your consciousness. The edges of your field of vision started to go gray. There was a pounding in your head, a ringing in your ears. You tried to scream.

You couldn’t breathe.

You couldn’t breathe.

And then its hold released, leaving you gasping for air. If you hadn’t been suspended in midair like that, you would’ve collapsed. The woman watched you with something like fury in her eyes.

“What are you?” she demanded.

Dazed, you blurted out an answer. “I’m nothing. I’m nobody. I’m just trying to find my friend.”

You nearly ignored the movement in the corner of your eye as you tried to pull yourself together. You’d honestly forgotten that there was somebody else in the room. You looked up, and-

Your blood ran cold.

“Peter!”

He was there. He was alright! He-

No. No, he wasn’t. Something was wrong.

Peter watched you with the blank, nonchalant gaze of a stranger.

“Sorry, babe,” he said, shrugging. “Peter’s not here right now.”

“Wha… What did you do to him?!”

You wrenched uselessly at the restraints and Peter… he actually laughed.

“What, him?” said the woman. “He’s fine. I needed a replacement Pietro, and he was the best I could do on short notice.”

She eyed him critically, reaching up to adjust his hair like some sort of demented stage mom.

“Get your hands off him!” you snarled. “And who the hell is Pietro?”

The woman laughed incredulously. “You’re really not from around here, are you? You followed him from that other reality, and- Oh. Oh… I see it now. Oh, that’s too adorable. You’re in love with him.”

Her laugh turned into something that was almost a cackle, and Peter joined in. You felt sick.

“I don’t know what you’re trying to do to this town, but Peter’s got nothing to do with it. Let him go.”

“What I’m trying to do-? Oh, pumpkin, you have no idea what you stumbled into.” The woman shook her head in feigned sympathy. “Sorry, but I’m not done with my Fietro yet. And as for you… I won’t be able to get rid of you, but I can’t have you running around getting in my way. I’ll just have to put you someplace for safekeeping, and I know just the spot.”

The woman raised her hand again, and smiled menacingly at you.

“You can try to tell them who you really are,” she said, “But I wouldn’t count on anybody believing you where you’re going. Buh-bye, hon!”

Movement in the room catches your attention, drawing you out of your reminiscing.

Peter stirs in his sleep. He reaches out for a moment, and then his hand falls back onto his chest. He exhales heavily – not quite a sigh – and is still once again.

Then, his hand moves restlessly towards his throat, fingers gripping at nothing like he’s trying to pull at the collar of his shirt, or-

“No, please,” he mumbles, “Please…”

Your knee is stiff from being motionless for so long. It just about gives way under you as you scramble to Peter’s side. You stumble, falling rather than sitting on the edge of the bed.

You catch Peter’s hand in yours and smooth his hair back from his forehead.

“Peter?” You’re surprised at how frantic your voice sounds. “Peter, wake up!”

Peter snaps awake with a gasp. He yanks his hand free of yours, scrambling to push himself back towards the headboard and staring wildly around the room.

You hold up your hands where he can see them, careful not to reach towards him at all. “It’s okay! It’s okay. It’s just me.”

“You…?” Peter stares at you for a moment, as though trying to remember where he is. “Listen, I know this is gonna sound crazy, but can you tell me something only you would know? Anything. Please.”

For a second, your mind goes blank. Something only you would know? You’d spent enough time with Peter that there has to be…

You’ve got it.

You look Peter in the eyes, giving him a little smile. “Who else would know that you’re my hummingbird?”

Peter’s laugh is brief, but genuine. You’d called him that once as a joke – saying that it’d be a fitting codename with his speed, attitude, and love of sugar – and it’d since become your teasing pet name for him. You’d never said it in front of anyone else, though. You may only use it to get a rise out of him, but you never wanted it to become an embarrassing nickname for him or anything.

Peter’s initial panic is replaced by an apologetic smile, but you’re certain that his heart is still racing.

“Thanks. And I’m sorry,” he says. “Bad dreams, y’know?”

“No kidding. You wanna talk about it?”

“I…” Peter looks away, frowning slightly. “I can’t say I actually remember what I was dreaming about, to be honest.”

If you were unsure before, you’re definitely starting to worry now. You make up your mind to talk to Hank and the professor about Peter’s memory lapses. Maybe it’s nothing, but for your own peace of mind, at least…

Still, you don’t want to let on to Peter that you’re worried about him.

“Are you gonna be okay?” you ask. “Need me to get you anything?”

Peter musters up a grin. “Oh, I’ll be fine. And there’s no way I’d send you off to get anything for me with your knee all messed up. But… would you mind staying a little longer? Or you don’t have to leave at all. I mean, it’s already late, and it’s pretty cold out there.”

“I don’t have anywhere to be,” you say, smiling gently. “You just lay back down, alright?”

Peter nods. Once he’s resettled himself under the covers, you lean down to kiss him.

“I love you,” you say.

“I love you, too.”

Peter reaches over to hold your hand. He takes a deep breath, and closes his eyes again.

That Peter falls back asleep within the hour is a testament to how wore out he must be. As for yourself, you remember seeing the horizon brightening outside the window before you finally drift off.

[bansheeoftheforest]

Uh, is there still an angst break? Ignore this ask until your ready if so 👉😎👉

-

What was the au where Jekylls pushed down the stairs and experiences a skull crackening again? Oh well but I've been thinking of a branch of that where Jekyll doesn't know hes dead like all day. I also cant remember if that was already discussed or not

The lodgers patch him up, he complains of a headache, and goes on his merry way! He's confused why all the lodgers are so nervous and being nice to him all of the sudden, why creature is looking at him with a stange mix of empathy and pity. He was told he fell down the stairs, fell unconscious, and obtained a bit of an injury. He cant fathom why Frankenstein is "The only doctor who can treat him" why he has to constantly go to her for checkups. Why Maijabi is suddenly following him practically everywhere.

Hyde squeezes back control for a moment and tries the potion but it doesn't work. Maybe a bit of pain but certainly no transformation. Jekyll assumes his injury or whatever medication they're giving him to treat it somehow negated the effects

Jekyll complains about "suddenly blacking out" the lodgers know its because his soul is slippery. They tell him it must just be a side effect of the injury and not to worry

How long can they keep it secret from him? When does he find out? Does he? Does it get to be years only for him to realize that he hasn't aged? That he still needs checkups from Frankenstein? Does he learn sooner? Does a lodger crack and say it? Does he rot? Does he notice how so very cold he is. How animals act around him? It's all very interesting,,

-

I actually did think a bit of Jekyll's kidnappers for the amnesia kidnapping au! When drawing that lil sketch of Henry and O'Leary meeting Robert I had considered making it so O'Leary was suspicious of Lanyon like "Oh theres no news anywhere of someone matching Thomas' description who's missing. But some random people walk up claiming to know him? Begging to take him back with them?" And he'd think they were the kidnappers. But ultimately I decided against it as I felt Lanyon and Rachel were pretty clearly, genuinely concerned for "Thomas" :p

-

I tried playing assassins creed once, the first(?) one. But the controls were confusing and everything was sorta thrown all at me at once, and I got bored of it quickly

But! I went to the store the other day and just so happened to notice Syndicate was being sold for 15 dollars 👀 So I bought it because funky Victorian assassins and your influence! It's a bit less confusing then the first ac game I tried but why is going down or dropping so hard bdksnks. I'm having quite a bit of fun! If you dont count my rage and annoyance-, the B button refuses to cooperate with me unless I'm looting corpses >:(

The b button being the bane of my existence aside, I AM having fun! I like the funky outfits and I want to play as the girl twin (evie?) forever because her clothes are good and shes better at attacking than jacob(?) For some reason. Probably the stun her weapon has? Oh well! I have not unlocked any new outfits yet, nonetheless I wish there were more.

Also! I was thimking, and my current quests are taking place at 1868? Did I get that right? And Jekyll is like 35 in 1885. So in game he'd be 18! An au like I believe you mentioned sounds very interesting 👀 but I must play more to know what's going on and daydream about it

That would be the resurrection au <3

But god, I really like that branch! Especially combined with the hc that he can't feel pain bc the HJ7 and the transformations made him immune. Frankenstein patched him up and made fleshweaver to heal the crack in his skull but it still has to be bandaged, he surely broke a few bones, yet all he has to do is to be careful because it doesn't even hurt. He doesn't even realize how severe the injuries are because it doesn't hurt, it very well might just have been that he accidentally slipped at the bottom of the staircase and accidentally hit his head on the railing during his fall, rather than getting physically pushed and flying down the stairs, shattering his skull upon impact with the marble floor. Y'know what would be extra fun? If he only starts getting a bit suspicious about how severe the injury was once he realizes his lungs stop breathing for minutes at a time when he gets distracted, or his heartbeat stops dead in his chest. I know that that's not how biology or even creature works but lets say the HJ7 is funky, Zombie Jekyll my beloved. Perhaps he would only fully grasp what had happened once he blacked out too much and 'passed out', but his soul slipped out enough to leave his body unconscious on the floor while his soul/ghost was just... Watching. And it's not until Maijabi (who, as you said, follows him everywhere) immediately calls for more Lodgers saying that Henry's soul is getting unstable and Frankenstein's lousy job is starting to shine through that he fully understands that it was not a mere hit to the head. Or maybe it is when days, weeks, maybe months has passed and the headache never goes away, he only feels how his body starts feeling so much more... Fragile and delicate, that the guilt has eaten Helsby up alive and he corners him and spills everything, knowing he is going directly against what the group agreed to but not being able to keep it a secret much longer-- or maybe Creature would tell him immediately, once Henry is, for once, alone perhaps days after the initial accident. He cannot see Henry struggle to understand what is going on when he already knows what's happening to Henry, his mind, and his body. He doesn't listen to the plan that Frankenstein and the Lodgers has set up and immediately tells Henry the first moment they are alone. That would certainly be horrifying, I can only imagine how the Lodgers would find Henry after that, once he actually knows and manages to process everything. He would be so mad, not only to have been killed in the first place, but also because he was robbed of an afterlife because the Lodgers were selfish and could not accept the consequences of their actions. He would be mad, he would be so pissed and I have no doubt he might actually be mad at Maijabi too for even agreeing to help Frankenstein and the rest of the Lodgers. That anger would not stay long, though. That anger would soon turn into misery and sadness and paranoia so even as Henry has tried to push Maijabi away, Henry still ends up on his doorstep begging him to help him make sure he is not rotting, because no matter what anyone says, he is sure he can see rotten spots and patches on his skin and he is just so scared and jdhfjsdfdsfsfs... <3

--

Ooooooohhh, I was actually daydreaming about this just this morning! Granted, I woke up at 5 and began to daydream to fall asleep quicker but I still like the thought of O'Leary being suspicious of Robert/Rachel/Jasper/the Lodgers bc he is protective of 'Thomas' and doesn't want anything bad to happen to him and especially with the idea that Henry still has hallucinations and they both think he was abandoned by his family, left to rot at a mental asylum. O'Leary might very well think that it might be Henry's friends and family that dumped him that Henry had 'escaped' the hospital and that's why they knew he was missing since the Asylum itself obviously wouldn't have posted the news... I really liked Jeks idea, okay? Like a lot, I absolutely love it <3

--

Oh, the oldest AC game I played was Unity bc it was free after the Notre Dame fire, and I can confirm, I played 15 min and could not get through it even if i would have wanted to, it absolutely sucks so i have no doubt the older games are just as frustrating <3

BUT!!!! I'M SO GLAD MY CORRUPTION IS SPREADING AND YOU BOUGHT AND PLAYED IT AND ARE ENJOYING IT SO FAR!!! Trust me, Syndicate truly is an absolutely amazing game and is definitely one of my top 3 games of all time. I sometimes play it w my friend watching me play and trust me, I know that rage of trying to do smt but the character does smt else... or you try to do smt but the game doesn't react and you miss your chance... Oh well, still a wonderful game <3

My friend loves to play as Evie as well but I'm definitely playing Jacob every chance I get and I honestly get a lil pissy when I have to play as Evie bc I always prefer to play male characters, plus, I just like Jacob better bc he is a sweetheart. He is also canonically bisexual as hell!!! Have you met Abberline yet? The police officer? Him and Jacob together is one of my fave ships for the game. I also bought the ultimate/golden/whatever name it was edition so I had a bunch of extra outfits, I love the sherlock holmes outfit for Jacob but my friend keeps bullying me for it </3

Honestly? The time difference is the bane of my entire idea for the au bc if it's during their time Henry hasn't even graduated yet, and definitely not well-known enough for them to actively meet for whatever reason, and if you use the timeline for the jack the ripper dlc (in 1888) a lot of... Less than pleasant things happen so it wouldn't really make a lot of sense for a crossover to happen at that point but maybe it's just bc im a pussy and refuse to play the dlc. Rn, while imagining the au, I just imagine the 1868 timeline to be the same as the TGS timeline. I like to imagine the Frye Twins hearing about Henry and the Society and promptly breaking into his office to ask him to make poison and stuff for them. I also have a feeling that Jacob would flirt wildly with Henry and that Henry would be less-than-amused. It would also be a very fun thing with the fact that there would be two Henrys, with TGS Henry Jekyll and AC Syndicate Henry Green, soo... XD

[myersesque]

Tell me about how telltale batman has the most in character bruce despite being divergent to a lot of established lore - more so than a lot of the comics themselves imo

YES YES EXACTLY YOU GET IT

quick disclaimer that my comic knowledge will obviously be limited to the comics i've personally read. comic writers love to take characters and do their own thing with them, so i know for a fact there are probably a million comics that contradict this post, but that's not the point.

even the telltale side of things in this are gonna be a little biased and full of personal interpretation, because telltale's game format means that everybody's bruce wayne is gonna look a little different. but, i mean, i guess the way i play bruce is the way i see him anyway, so whatever.

ANYWAY! i hope you wanted an essay because oh boy did i get carried away:

one aspect of bruce's character i think is important is his motivations. he didn't just wake up one day and decide to be batman - he made that decision for a reason, and i think that reason is inherently important to his character, because having a different idea on his origins can give you a completely different idea of how his character should act, if that makes sense?

in my personal opinion, bruce wayne should always be motivated by love. he's motivated to fight crime by his love for his parents, and his love for gotham city, and his love for innocent people who don't deserve his parents' fate. my favourite comic panels are always the ones where bruce lets his scary persona slip a little, where he cradles a child against his chest to comfort them; batman was created to be scary, yes, but he's intended to scare criminals, not innocents. whilst bruce's parents' deaths definitely jumpstart his vigilantism, they are not the centrepiece of his entire morality - he doesn't care about gotham's citizens because he's imagining his parents in their place, he cares about them because he genuinely loves his city.

i think a lot of comics i've read have sorta forgotten that aspect of his character. white knight's entire plot revolves around the idea that bruce, blinded by his own anger, has become just as brutal and careless as the criminals he fights, and has ended up causing harm to innocent civilians because of it - whilst i think that's certainly interesting, and i am a sucker for a good "heroes aren't always good people" storyline... it feels icky. i struggle to reconnect that bruce, snarling and chained and unable to sympathise with the innocent people he's hurting, with the bruce who held children to his chest and promised they'd be okay. a lot of comics don't consider bruce's motivation to be his love, they consider his motivation to be his hatred, which leads to characterisations of bruce that are cruel and uncaring and, in some instances, outright abusive. it's like they frame his entire morality as "getting revenge for his parents' deaths" - which is funny, because i think it's pretty commonly agreed upon that bruce wayne shows his parents' murderer mercy. i think a lot of the issue is that people dehumanise batman, and bruce in turn; he's not a man, he's a monster.

which brings me to telltale bruce!

i think what makes telltale bruce work so well is the way they instantly humanise him. the opening scene of season 1 flickers between batman's fearless crime-fighting and bruce wayne gritting his teeth through an injury and getting ready for a gala. his relationships with the other characters - harvey, selina, john, tiffany, everybody - are shown in halves; you see just as much of bruce as you do batman. you'll see batman shielding harvey from attacks followed by bruce sitting by his side in his hospital room; batman repressing fond smiles behind his cowl as he talks with john; bruce at lucius' funeral, filled with despair, knowing that batman is to blame. it is incredibly, painfully clear that batman is not a myth or a monster - he's bruce wayne, the same bruce wayne who flirts with reporters and makes bad puns and goes on fake-dates with his friends to help them learn how to talk to girls. he's human, in a way that comics often seem to forget he's meant to be.

(part of the draw of batman, to me, is that he's human. he's got fancy gadgets and a cool suit but underneath it all he's just a man, just a human being driven by emotion like the rest of us. he feels real, in a way. i used to look out of my bedroom window and imagine batman coming to save me from my problems; i could never quite do that with superman, or wonder-woman, or any of the others.)

not only that, but thomas and martha wayne are removed from bruce's motivations pretty effectively - they're outed as awful people, the kind of people bruce fights against. they did to oswald what joe chill did to him. so rather than falling into blind rage, rather than the unfortunate "batman fights for revenge", you get a bit of nuance - bruce has to come to terms with being wrong, and learn where he stands, torn between awful people who he loves and good people who hate him. he's fighting not to avenge his or oz's parents, but to prevent any innocents from meeting the same unfortunate fate, and to redeem himself.

they let him be wrong without totally becoming a villain: they let him punch out oswald cobblepot on live TV and deal with the consequences; they let him instigate riots for his own benefit; they show him crouching in the back of a truck, surrounded by criminals he's been willingly helping, staring guiltily at a bat-signal he's ignoring; they let him feel guilt for all the friends he couldn't save.

he doesn't beat his friends-turned-enemies with glee. he doesn't take joy in putting them away. he doesn't use them as punching bags for his own anger and trauma.

he keeps harvey from committing suicide and tells him, earnestly, that there's still hope for him. he sits across from john and admits, hoarse and teary-eyed, that he truly did consider them friends. he gives up being batman for alfred's sake. he visits john in arkham, with an honest smile, despite all they went through. these choices may be optional, yes, but with the way telltale writes their characters, every one of these options is perfectly in-character for their bruce. you may play him a little angrier, a little more vengeful, a little less sympathetic - but at his core, he's the same. at his core, he still looks at gotham city, and the villains he goes up against, and says "i'm sorry this happened to you, i wish i knew how to make it better". he cradles them against his chest.

i don't know if any of this made sense, but tl;dr: telltale writes bruce as a flawed person, yes, but at his core he is loving and charismatic and bittersweet, and that's who i've always thought he should be.

(this kinda turned into bruce loveposting halfway through, but hopefully i still got the point across.)

[loosescrewslefty]

Miraculous Ladybug- Fixing the Powers

I’ve been very much bothered by the way that the writing team for Miraculous Ladybug has been handling powers for a long time now. It might not be as frustrating or offensive as how they sometimes treat the characters and their relationships, but it BOTHERS me. Because it doesn’t make sense that Adults are more powerful than kids just by the grace of being an adult if the magic comes from a kwami and the jewelry and as such the age of the wearer shouldn’t matter as much. And objectively speaking, there as several ‘minor’ miraculouses that seem WAY more powerful than the two that are supposed to be the most coveted, the Ladybug and Chat Noir miraculouses. Also both the addition of the potions AND the distinctions given to some of the miraculouses/kwamis (Such as Pollen being the ‘Kwami of Subjugation’) are just... ODD. So a while back I sat down and charted out a way to ‘fix’ the powers in Miraculous Ladybug, much like I’ve seen others fix plots and characters.

More Clearly based on Yin/Yang, Wu Xing, and the Zodiacs

I can’t tell you how much it annoys me that Astruc clearly chose these Chinese motifs for the aesthetic, and didn’t bother researching or properly applying any of the theology attached to them to his show. Ladybug and Chat Noir SHOULD be equal, and balance one another out, but they’re not. Instead, Ladybug gets way more power and importance than Chat Noir does. And the Wu Xing Cycle is an important one too, because that’s nature holding itself in check. 

The Wu Xing has four different cycles attached to it; the Creation Cycle, the Destruction Cycle, the Insult Cycle, and the Controlling Cycle. It could have been interesting to lean into this, so that pairing two miraculous heroes together can lead to new powers being unlocked, depending on the two in question, and that if a  Hawkmoth happens, there are two heroes other than Ladybug and Chat who’d be able to step up and confront him.

New Stations/Distinctions for the Kwamis

It bothers me that the distinctions chosen for the Kwami feel extremely random, and don’t fit together at all. Nooroo is “Generosity”, Trixx is “Deception”, Pollen is “Subjugation”, Wayzz is “Protection”, and Duusuu is “Emotion.” Like, on their own these are fine. But none of them really relate to one another in a way that makes sense, which the Wu Xing SHOULD. As much as it annoys me, I can sorta understand why it would be a bad idea to attach the specific elements themselves to each Miraculous, because then people will expect the powers of that miraculous to relate to that element, which is very limiting. The Wu Xing is about much more than just nature and the elements. It’s also used to reference the passing of time, physical parts of the body, emotions, cardinal directions and so much more. 

But I still feel that the Distinctions for each Kwami and their powers should be presented in a what where it makes sense to see them relating to one another. One way I’ve suggested for people to do this is to include Ladybug and Chat in the consideration and base each of the Kwamis off of one of the Seven Chakras. But another way I like much better is to consider the kwamis in relation to what area their abilities will affect. For Example; Fox- Mind (Wood) Bee- Energy (Fire) Turtle- Body (Earth) Peacock- Soul (Metal) Butterfly- Heart (Water)

These are things you can tell at a glance relate to one another, without limiting the kwamis too much to being one trick ponies. And speaking of limits...

Limits are based on internal balance, not age

In an effort to make the sage figure that is supposed to be Fu NOT look like he has sand for brains and decided it’d be a good idea to give his chosen heroes a massive handicap against the villain right out of the gate, we’re going to change up the limiter for the Miraculouses. Rather than being based on age, the thing that determines how well you use a miraculous is your affiliation with the element/distinction that the Miraculous represents. Let’s use Kim as an example here. He’s very energetic and driven, so he’d have a great time with either the Bee or the Turtle, but give him the Peacock, the Butterfly, or the Fox, and things will get a hell of a lot harder for him. On the exact flip side, Juleka would be great with the Peacock, Butterfly, or Fox, but would struggle with the Bee or the Turtle.

Having the powers draw off of being able to synchronize with that power/ability due to personality makes sense, and is more true to the concepts that Miraculous Ladybug is trying to present than claiming that it’s because of age. And the beauty of this is that people can grow and change at any point in their life, which means that they can learn and change and miraculouses that they once struggled with can become easier for them to use while ones they once used easily can slip from their grasp if they begin to neglect that aspect of themselves.

More Clear and Understandable Power Pyramid

This is one of the things that bothers me MOST about how they’ve been handling the powers. We’re supposed to see Ladybug and Chat Noir’s miraculouses as the be all/end all, but many of the zodiac miraculouses seem much more powerful than them, and even the Peacock and Butterfly can create opponents that are more than a match for the Lucky Duo. Not to mention the fact that, as I said before, the Lucky Duo itself is imbalanced due to Ladybug getting all the power in their relationship. So the best way to fix that?

Power Pyramid.

By this, I mean that instead of all miraculouses just getting one power and calling it a day, it makes more sense to present the powers as an almost ‘trickle’ effect. To start off, Zodiacs get defined by a single element and whichever side of Yin/Yang they fall on, and get their power based on that. For example, the Dragon. That is a Yang/Earth (Body) Personality, who uses the elements in an aggressive way. Meanwhile, Snake is a Yin/Fire (Energy), so they require someone who comes across as passive, but is actually patient and knows to wait for the precise moment to strike.

Next level up from the Zodiac Miraculouses, we have the Wu Xing/Elemental Miraculouses. Rather than just one power, each Wu Xing Miraculous should get two, one based on it’s “Yin” Abilities, and one for it’s “Yang.” the way I broke it down when I was working this out for examples went like so;

Trixx

Fox Powers/Mind

Yang- Mirage 

Creates an illusion of the user’s choosing.

Yin- Outfox

Gives the user the ability to convince the victim that anything they’re saying is true.

Pollen

Bee Powers/Energy

Yang- Nectar

Ability to heal injuries and cure illnesses (not as strong as Miraculous Cure)

Yin- Sting

Causes temporary paralysis

Wayzz

Turtle Powers/Body

Yang- Shell-ture

Creates an impenetrable shield

Yin- Withdraw

Teleportation ability that allows the user to put people and object of their desire in a pocket dimension of their own making for protection.

Duusu

Peacock Powers/Soul

Yang- Good Spirits

Creates a golem/familiar of sorts that is bonded to a certain person or object and protects them at all costs.

Yin- Soul Search

Allows the user to leave their body and enter another persons to take control of their actions and peer into their memories.

Nooroo

Butterfly Powers/Heart

Yang- Metamorphosis

Creates heroes to fight alongside the user

Yin- Butterfly Effect

Allows a brief glimpse into the future

And then after the Elements, at the top of the Pyramid we have Ladybug and Chat Noir, who get a whopping FIVE power each, but can only access those powers when they are in tune with that aspect of themselves, much like using the lesser miraculouses. For Example, Marinette’s Ladybug Can easily do the Mind, Energy, and Heart powers, but has a much, MUCH harder time with the Soul one, because she tends to read people at face value rather than trying to see beneath the surface. Adrien’s Chat Noir is excellent with the Body and Energy powers, but struggles much more with Mind (linked to one’s creativity) and Heart (Based on people’s abilities to connect with others, something Adrien struggles with after being home schooled his entire life) My idea for the Ladybug and Chat Noir powers look like this;

Tikki

Ladybug Powers:

Positive Heart- (Healing) 

Miraculous Ladybug/Miraculous Cure

Heals all wounds, restores everything to its proper state

Positive Mind- (Inspiration) 

Lucky Charm

Grants Ladybug an object to help her win

Positive Energy- (Creating) 

Wish Come True

Allows Ladybug to will into existence something of her own choosing

Positive Body- (Protecting) 

Elytron

Allows Ladybug to recreate both her own suit and the suits of her allies to help them fight (space suits, ice skating form, underwater suits, ect)

Positive Soul- (Life) 

Red Thread

Ladybug has a limited ability to communicate with plants and animals, extending some of her power to them. Also works on humans, if the person trusts Ladybug enough to basically let her see into their very soul.

Plagg

Chat Noir Powers:

Negative Heart- (Toxicity) 

Cat Scratch

Curses the victim with a lingering sickness that can only be healed by Ladybug.

Negative Mind- (Madness) 

Cheshire Cat

Causes temporary insanity, which varies from victim to victim.

Negative Energy- (Destruction) 

Cataclysm

Destroys anything the user touches.

Negative Body- (Weakness) 

Catatonic 

Puts the victim to sleep.

Negative Soul- (Death) 

Catacomb

Allows the user to see, touch and summon spirits/ghosts

And that’s the basic breakdown of how I feel the powers of the ML universe SHOULD be handled instead. Feel free to comment with thoughts and inputs of your own and ask questions if any of this doesn’t make sense! ^^

[ser-rctslcyer]

Sweet Home (2020)

First of all this is going to major major spoilers from the show, so don’t read if you are still trying to finish!!!

I’d like to start off by saying that this is my opinion, thoughts and feelings about the show(I watched all of it). I will be comparing events in both the Webtoon comic and the Netflix TV series. Also again it’s been awhile since I have read the Webtoon from beginning to end so sorry if there’s some misinformation (apologies if any of the names are spelled wrong or out of order too, I using the wiki page to write out the characters name from the show as they changed names a bit)  but here we go. 

(1) Pacing Issues

I’d like to start off and say the show has a lot of pacing issues. Throughout the show there are a lot of events that happen so quickly and sometimes bizarrely. From the transformations, to the introduction of characters, and the movement of the plot. One of the odd things that stood out was the bizarre news broadcast which was showcasing weird and scary visuals, as it explained the ‘rules of monsterization’ (you think that for global news that big, you wouldn’t want to cause global panic, but insist on showing the visuals that would put even more anxieties in the people at that time. Also why didn’t they cut it off when the dude first started having a nosebleed). 

Next I know Hyun was only supposed to be there for a week before everything started going down, but literally it just felt like a day. It didn’t seem to establish enough of his situation for the audience. I understand that adaptations like this are made for the niche audience of those who have either watched/read the original source material, however everyone should strive to have a story for anyone to view that they could understand and follow. It feels like immediately we get into the craziness that is thrusted upon all of the characters. 

Another thing that threw me for a loop was the way the ‘Blind Monster’ quickly transformed, it was just so fast. One moment he is the random human and then the next he’s standing up full monster. I think it would’ve been way cooler to see him transform fully, which I think would have been the first (full) transformation to see on screen. It’s one of the coolest monsters in the comic AND IT GETS PUNKED SO QUICKLY IN THE SHOW!!!

I get making the montage when Hyun met Du-sik, and how he went there to get his weapon made but it felt weird that they quickly figured out that they could use the phones to detect the monsters. It seemed so very rushed, and again one of the many things that probably would give the audience whiplash. Then when he meets up with Ji-su(Ji-soo) and Jay-hun did he teach them that the phones can work to detect monsters??? I mean they talked to each other all of two seconds before going back out to save the kids.

Hyun also went so quickly into his madness phases (his alter)? I swear they just really threw that in there so early by episode 2-3 . It seemed so random again as there wasn’t really much build up to show his ‘desires’ side. It was so abrupt especially because they hadn’t ‘laid out’ Hyun’s character yet, enough to introduce his alter ego fully like that. It didn’t really showcase Hyun’s struggle a lot to defy the his alter; mainly seemed like they used the alter to explain why Hyun is the way he is, which happens in the comic but again the show just kind of makes it feel like the alter is sorta just there to give us more exposition. 

There’s a lot more pacing issues which I could get into but I think that would make this entirely much longer than it has to be.

(2) Continuity Issues 

There’s also a ton of issues with continuity of the story too. The first glaring one that comes to mind is this both the power issue and the no internet service. In the show it establishes toward the end of episode one that there is no service, as the big group is on the first floor wondering why they are locked into the building. That’s at episode 1, which then in episode 2 opens up to Hyun still playing games on his computer, the group watching the news broadcast and Hyuk reading the initial first article about the outbreak being a ‘curse’. Now I’m not a tech savvy person, but when there’s no service, I’m pretty sure you aren’t able to do any of those things. Then when the Netflix original character, Seo Yi-Kyung, the ex firefighter/special forces decides to send a picture of the dead guy’s body to his family when there is no service; how is that possible? (Also was I the only one who found that to be completely odd and mean, as she saw a picture of his family? I understand it set us up for her story and how she’s trying to uncover secrets from her long lost fiance but it seems out of pocket as well as a dick move.) But that again loops back to the point that there is no service in this place, it’s been said many times so it just irks me more because that is such a big glaring issue, which should’ve been caught by someone reading the script.

Then there is when the power goes out. It shows Hyuk at the cameras when the powers go out and the cameras all shut off. But when he comes back to the camera with Seo Yi-Kyung, the camera’s are back on. Is it possible for them to be running on a separate generator, perhaps. However they showed the cameras going so then again, I can’t believe that there is a separate generator because again they showed them all shutting off; so again another continuity error. During that same scene I also could have sworn the lady also was looking at the cameras and saw the monster on screen, but apparently not because as she returns she punches Hyuk in the chest. I thought it was really weird because again he pointed and even showed which camera it was where she had to turn the power back on, yet she didn’t see the monster at all? Not only that too but I thought too she knew the risk she would be taking, as they were unaware of what other monsters could be in the building, however I guess not since she came back so defensively.

Another issue I have is the strength of Protein. Protein is first shown in episode 3 when Hyun has gone to rescue the kids and bring them back to Dusik’s room. Hyun begins to have a nosebleed and then his alter comes to him in his head and he tells the kids to go on without him. They run into Protein who if I remember correctly knocked Hyun through the door.  As Hyun is still dazed and the kids are dragging him away, Protein takes about 5+ hits… to break through a wall. This giant hulking mass of a monster, takes more than 5 hits to finally bust through a wall, does that seem right to you? The later when he fights [the lady who lost her baby] and when he pouches her, it almost feels like a push with how far she flies, even though he reared up for that punch. Anyway later on in episode 8 I believe, when Protein comes back, he quickly demolishes their armored car, so much that it looks nearly if not just like a pile of scrap. One could argue that yes, when he comes back and attacks the group, he’s supposed to be in his ‘rage mode’ of sorts, so that could be what makes him stronger. However he’s a towering hulking monster, seems to not do that much damage, to both the surroundings around him and then to the few people he smacked around. It just seems weird how he had different strengths each time he appeared. I know again that sometimes adaptations do tend to nerf characters, however I found it weird how they seemingly tried to do that in the show. I was sure that Jae Heon’s sword wasn’t able to slice Protein at all in the comic (or maybe he was in his rage mode at that point) either way though the nerfing of Protein’s character seemed to flip flop from whatever they seemed fit. 

(3) Monsters 

Which this can lead into the monsters. Now each monster in Sweet Home has different power sets and abilities than the other, however one consistent thing in the comic at least is that most of them are actually pretty sturdy and tough for the group to beat. A lot of the monsters, it takes time, effort, and a lot of learning for the group to figure out how to kill them. 

Let’s start off with the Tongue Monster. The Tongue monster is one of the first ones the group initially encounters; its terrifyingly tall stature is already unsettling enough, there’s the gaping hole of a mouth with a powerful tongue. Now the effects that for the opening of the mouth were a little wonky, but something I could look past. However my main problem was that this monster single handedly got the most kills in the show out of all the other monsters. In fact he was the only monster to get kills, which is very disappointing to see when you have all these cool monsters that could have different and interesting kills. (I’m not counting Mr. Kim and Jay hun’s death simply because that was a self sacrifice on Jay hun’s part. Nor am I counting any of Jung Wooi-myung kills because he was a half monster also he didn’t go full monster to kill anyone). In the comic, the Tongue monster had gotten 2 kills which one of those happened to be another monster (Mr. Kim).  

Eyeball monster was alright, and did what it needed to do. 

The Blind monster, who is for a doubt, one of the most terrifying and troublesome monsters in the comic. Like both in the show and the comic, he originally attacks Ji-su first, but then Jayhun comes and saves her by slicing off it’s head. The two leave think it was dead but that’s when the true terror starts as he was monsterized enough to survive it’s head being cut in half but unable to regenerate its head fully. Since it fully relies on sound, it makes it more deadly as it shoots out branch-like tendrils with great speed. This is deadly for the group as they have to make sure they travel quietly as possible to avoid being killed by the agonized creature. I did enjoy how the show included when Hyun first opened his door to it being right there, as that was a very suspenseful moment, and showed us another big threat that the people in this apartment building would face. The Blind monster is only around for 23 chapters in the comic which is roughly he’s in there for about  16.43% of the story (not including the flashback in the later chapters). While that number is small to you, the Blind monster is one of the iconic monsters as well as one that sets an even bigger tone for the dire situation the characters are in. He didn’t feel like much of a threat in the show, as I think also in episode 3 he gets killed by Protein after their ‘cheesy’ fight. In the comic, the Blind monster only killed one human (shown in a flashback as it was the slime monster’s mother) and was killed by Eun Lee. I will say he was one of the better looking monsters in the show and I give props for both the practical effects and special effects they used to create him.

The one I hate the absolute most is, Speed monster. His design was awful to me and sort of out of all the designs in the show he was the most out of place for me and just weird. He served his purpose though, the design they did for the show makes him comical rather than scary. In the comics, he does kill one in a flashback and then is killed by Hyun Cha. 

Reach monster is another one I think the show did really well, design wise. However the narration when reading the guys journal to figure out why he had become a monster was a good idea how the execution of it seemed so jarring as we were already moving back to the characters of that scene and ultimately doesn’t get the audience to really get invested into the thought that anyone could turn into a monster over seemingly any desire. 

Protein or the Steroid monster is another great and iconic monster from the comic, which in the show he seemed much less of a big deal than in the comic. The continuity with his strength seems to vary all throughout the show. He takes 5 hits to break one measly apartment wall, 1 attack to almost demolish a car (which I think he just smacked away because it didn’t seem like he rushed it), and he ended up getting crushed to death by on-fire debris. The strength and speed of Protein is what makes him another big problem for the group yet in the show, they sort of deal with him quickly. In the comic, Protein kills the Tongue monster in a fit of rage and also Seop Ahn (Seob An) who he crushes his skull with one singular punch. He’s later killed by the criminals that invade the apartment as they ram him with a bus and then eventually set him on fire. Protein was seemingly lack-luster in the show and honestly wasn’t as terrifying as I thought a 10 foot monster should be. 

Mr. Kim (Security Guard) is another monster that comes back out of nowhere in the show to kill Jae-heon (Jayhun). I found it weird that they didn’t show Mr. Kim, as in the comic he’s seen a couple times wandering before it comes to the other realization that he’s in fact a monster. Also in the comic, Mr. Kim is a strong and sturdy monster, his thirst for vengeance against the tenants whom some harassed him make him out to be a very tough monster for the group to beat. When he starts rampaging to kill the other survivors it is Jayhun who rushes to try to stop him by tackling him however he’s unable to move him. Mr. Kim threw him to the ground and then stomped on Hayhun’s head, crushing his skull. It takes the Tongue monster for Mr. Kim to finally be weakened enough for them to kill him. Jayhun’s death impacts the group but also mainly impacts Ji-su and Hyun both, however in the show they don’t really show it changing Hyun. I do appreciate the different take of this in the show, in fact I think that is one of the best scenes in the show. I also think Ji-su’s pain and anguish after was really well done.  I’m fine with the debuffing of Mr. Kim but I do kind of wish he played a bit of a bigger part. 

The live actions’ original creepy crawly monster I thought was a pretty decent design although some of the cgi for it is a bit of an eye twitch but again I can look past it. The monster itself resembled a spider, it uses webbing to capture and hold it’s victims.

The Slime monster I think was also another monster I like how the show did. It served its purpose well, and helped a bit show how some of the monsters aren’t necessarily as evil as the survivors may think. 

Seok Kim monsterization form was awful, he just looked like a giant walking talking hairball. At first I didn’t know who it was, and I found it stupid Sun Ahn (Seon Ahn) knew it was him; like how do you tell from underneath all that hair? I’m glad they kept it the same and had his wife kill him. Also wish they showed more of him losing his mind and talking to his alter, as in the show he really turned out of nowhere, kinda odd.

(4) Military Subplot 

I hate the military subplot, it’s such a stupid and overused trope especially with adaptions like this and honestly in never really works for it. The whole thing with the military knowing about this monsterization process before the initial outbreak and them trying to weaponize the ‘special infectees’ just really bogs down the story in my opinion. One of the reasons why I love and adore the comic is because it’s about a group of strangers, who don’t really know each other, trying to work together as a unit to survive. They have to learn how to use the materials around them and each other to fight off the monsters. Which they do in the show but when the show’s ‘criminals’ show up and they all have guns, it gets boring for me there (I’ll go into them later). The military subplot I know is setting the series up for a second season and probably will introduce other elements as well but ultimately it takes away what the comic had originally built; the suspenseful tension of being trapped in a building with people who could easily turn on you or turn into a monster and kill you. 

(5)Characters and Relationships

Now let’s talk about characters and relationships. Brace yourself, this is going to be a long ride. 

Hyun

Hyun was honestly I think is the worst adapted character in the show. The show felt like it dumbed down his character greatly. He’s the main character of the comics but the show treats him like a side character, especially at the beginning of it, as it tries to push some of the other character’s narratives first. From a creator’s standpoint I think it was a poor decision because I didn’t build up the same attachment to him when I had read the comic; most of the time he was on screen I completely didn’t care. The way the show portrays him is almost delicate since he’s pretty socially inept but the show makes him feel boring and plain by this fact. In no way am I saying he was a happier more confident person in the comic but the comic had clearly shown his character development and how his growing confidence pushed him to be a better person. The show however speeds past this process which again gives the audience no emotional attachment to the character. If there had been more scenes with him and his internal struggle, that were fleshed out it would have changed his character development immensely.

 Because of how the show did him, he also ends up not making friends with some of the group members as he did in the comic, Ji-su being another one of the things that irked me about the show. Hyun’s and Ji-su’s growing relationship in the comic is a big reason for his character development. Ji-su pushes Hyun socially but also Hyun finds strength to stay human as long as possible and help others. Not to mention Ji-su is one of the few that actually cared for him when everyone was against him. In the show they barely have any interaction and  Ji-su acts way more defensively around Hyun. I found it so awkward when Hyun lost control to kill the other half monster and Dusik, and she was talking about how she was glad Hyun wouldn’t have to remember all of that. I know the show was trying to show her caring side for him but ultimately it’s lost to me because they never built up a relationship between the two of them. Jayhun and Ji-su’s relationship completely overshadows anything they had tried to do with Ji-su and Hyun. Hyun and Eun’s relationship in the show is kind of mediocre and I don’t really care for it since Eun’s character is very annoying to me throughout most of the show. Hyun’s closest relationship in the show was with Du-sik and even still they didn’t really build up the relationship that much. They had a couple scenes here and there but they never really showed that connection that the two of them built in the comic. 

Hyun’s quick flip into madness or his alter happened relatively fast and also it didn’t seem like he was fighting internally with himself much; again something I wish they went more in depth with, showing how strong Hyun’s character really is. Even with the flashbacks to his past, that they only used for a couple of episodes, they didn’t still do much to grow his character. 

The show makes him a total blank slate and a completely flat character throughout the show. He never grows to really be much of a character  and is definitely a weak spot in the show. 

Ji-su

Ji-su gets a decent amount of focus and attention in the show but her character does seem to be different than her comic counterpart. I think they did a good job on showing the relationship between Jae-heon and Ji-su. I think they capitalized really well on showing that working relationship. I wished they showed more of the growing relationship rather than kinda taking Ji-su out of the game with both her having her first nosebleed and then having her bursting appendix problem. Which I  don’t understand why they didn’t have her get hurt in the garage raid like in the comic? They could’ve kept the reasons the same to have the group attempt to go outside but instead they took her out, just to get the group to go out? I get maybe they were trying to ground the show in a bit more of reality by trying to show how no matter what situation anything is truly possible. Still however it kinda suck not seeing Ji-su in action

Another part I didn’t understand is Ji-su’s reaction to people around her turning into a monster. When Jae-heon and her come to Hyun’s rescue and find out he’s becoming a monster, she becomes aggro and tells Hyun that she’ll kill him. However later with Im Myung Sook (the lady with the dead baby girl) who she goes to check on after she watched her attack Protein, she seems so worried. Then when she sees the claws, she goes back to being aggressive and defensive towards her becoming a monster. It seemed odd to me because why was she so harsh with Hyun but then acts worried for a lady she’s seen get tossed by a giant monster? Did she really not think that she wasn’t becoming a monster after that? Those small little character decisions really threw me for a loop because I couldn’t wrap my head around how any other person who acts these two distinct ways to both people they don’t really know. Again I wish they also tried to pursue that relationship with her and Hyun. Overall her character is done pretty well in the show, I still enjoyed her character. 

Jae-heon (Jayhun)

The show I think pretty much nails most of Jae-heon’s character. I think they honestly did a great job of adapting his character. Jae-heon’s character is definitely my second favorite, as I liked the way they built him up in the story. I did enjoy the way they killed him off the show, that noble sacrifice was very well suited for him.

Lee Eun-Hyeok(Hyuk) 

Hyuk is the most comic accurate character for me and definitely was my favorite from the show. I think they did a great job establishing the coldness of his character but also growing to show his true caring side. One thing I don’t understand was the fact he decided to stay behind. I understand he was going back to see first if he could convince Hyun to go with the group but also that he was turning into a monster.  The rest of the group knows Ji-su was becoming a monster, why did he not just go with them as well? I didn’t see the point of letting himself get crushed by rubble whenever the group is also escaping with another person who is turning. I know this is probably to set up Eun’s sort ‘redemption’ arc in the next season and also maybe he could potentially return if they decide to bring him back. Overall I think that they did his character justice for the most part of the show, he was really well done. 

Lee Eun-Yu(Eun) Eun is a completely different character than her comic counterpart. She’s a total asshole throughout most of the show up until the last 2-3 episodes though until she finally decides to show an ounce of human emotion. Honestly I have no clue why they changed her character, it seemed like such a weird thing to do for this adaptation. Her character also stays pretty flat too which is seemingly funny because when she tries to do nice things, like comfort Ji-su after Jae-heon’s death, and explain her story of how she’s trying to repay her brother, it all fails to make me want to care for her. She was so aggressive from the jump and insanely rude to everyone. Usually the ‘take no shit’ kind of characters I do tend to enjoy, if done right they can be both badass, hilarious, and one of the greatest characters in any series. In this case however I just wanted her to stop being an ass to everyone. In the last few episodes, I see how they were really trying to show the change that was going to happen to her character but at that moment I couldn’t bring myself to even try to care really for her character. She’s definitely one of the worst adapted characters in the show. 

Wook

Wook I feel is an entirely different mess than Eun. I get changing things to make certain, not as fleshed out characters who are prominent in series have more importance but honestly I found it interesting they made Wook one of those, because he has a perfectly fine backstory in the comic. In the show they call him a ‘gangster’ a lot (which happens in the comic) but unlike the comic they never state that he’s an ex-police officer. It seems that in the show he’s sort of like a private detective (if you wanna call it that). The show makes him seem like this cool and collected tough loner who kinda just takes everyone else’s orders. In the comic he’s more of a secondary leader for the group which would have been a good element to see in the show is him and Hyeok butting heads. His character seems almost pointless, as he’s really only there to also do the ‘heavy lifting’ (missions) with Hyun. His character was another sort of 180 from his comic counterpart. I found his character to mainly be comical because he was unbothered by everything; he just didn’t give a fuck. 

Seo Yi-Kyung

I’m probably going to be the only one that says this but I did not care nor like her character. It’s because I hate the military subplot to this story and since that’s mainly where her story lies, I can’t honestly bring myself to like her. She’s too plot convenient and honestly I’m still trying to figure out what she’s going to gain when she finds her fiancé she knows was turning into a monster and apparently ‘changed’. I understand it’s probably closure but to go as far to sell out a child who you barely even know, to people you barely even know in hopes of maybe finding your fiancé, to only be again sad when you discover you aren’t going to be able to save him as he’s already a monster, I just don’t get it. It’s a very weak plot line in my opinion and again wish they didn’t add the military subplot. Her character too is another flat character, as she doesn’t go through much change only in changing her mind about selling out Hyun to the military when she realizes that it’s essentially not worth it. 

Criminals The criminals are just basic, on their very copy pasted stereotypical villain shit that we must ‘kill all monsters’ but oops we accidentally invited a half monster into our group. They annoyed the shit out of me and angered me even more as they somehow collectively got more kills than the monsters in this show. 

Jung Wooi-myung (the other half monster)

So from what I could tell Jung Wooi-myung is like this leech monster that didn’t die when Hyun stabbed him with his arm wing. He also probably infected Wook’s body in the end. He plays the generic role of convincing Hyun to join his side since people won’t ever accept monsters which is true. Ultimately didn’t even care for him.

(6) Hyun’s Monster Transformation

This needed to be its own category for the simple fact that the whole scene sequence was utterly atrocious. For starters why did there need to be a mini eclipse for Hyun to transform ONE arm into this barbed spiked wing? That seemed to be thrown in for aesthetic purposes more so than having an actual reason behind it, as this was something that did not happen in the comics. Hyun’s arms transformation just seemed so bizarre. I would have been perfectly fine if the show black veins rushing through his body and him being stronger because of it, sort of like how the comic does it. However this one arm wing just seems completely dumb to me. Why would you make it a barbed wing? Why not at that point do a blade arm or like something that’s also better at bludgeoning monsters with?

(7) Final Consensus 

I had initially come into watching Sweet Home with low expectations as time has taught me before that things I want that get live action adaptations may not always be that good. I set the bar low in hopes that the show would do something ultimately to get me happy and excited for watching it. Sweet home never hit that spot for me though. As I was watching I began noticing how the pacing seemed to just go out of it’s way on some points and there were continuity errors staring me right in my face. The story didn’t captivate me like the comic did, not even in the slightest. I spent most of my time watching, laughing because of the absurdities and then pondering why certain events had gone down the way the show did them. I understand that with adaptations things may change but I feel like with the adaptation with Sweet Home it changed too many key elements of the main story that were important for making the story what it is. My rating for Sweet Home is a 1/10. This definitely is not something I would watch again.

[peace-coast-island]

Diary of a Junebug

The trail of the Whispering Winds 

The Moonlit Woods transforms into a different place after midnight. It's still as eerie as ever, but in a different way though - as in different vibes. I hardly venture out here for good reason so when I do, it's usually with a group, preferably those versed in magic and supernatural stuff.

Last time I came to the Moonlit Woods was with Team Magic - Pippa, Mariposa, Angie, and Willow. While hunting for gyroids we came across an old travel log and found a cocostar tree, which is super rare, so we struck gold with that discovery. Being with the girls made me feel a bit more confident about venturing into the woods so since then, planning out my next adventure has been in the back of my mind.

Speaking of Team Magic, the girls are looking forward to coming back for another gyroid event. Mariposa's been working with Daisy Jane on gyroid designs since then and they're pretty much ready to go. We just haven't been able to set a date yet because the girls are busy with school and college apps but they're hoping to drop by sometime in the near future.

Instead of Team Magic, we have a new group accompanying us in the woods. They don't have an official name but they have been working as a team for years. There's Taiki, a freelance exorcist who comes from a family that has dealt with the supernatural for generations. He's a friend of Miki's, having gone to the same university together.

Nene's his best friend from his hometown - she actually spent a semester at Tome U so she also got to know Miki a bit. She's also the artist Rika has been following, the one who just set up a Patreon and is in the process of getting her webcomic, Seven Wonders, published.

Haru is what they call an untethered spirit. He used to haunt the halls of the school Taiki and Nene went to before it was demolished. Basically Taiki contacted Miki who contacted her brother and his friends at the consultation center so they can find a way to keep Haru around. I only know this because Mikayla asked for some sparkle stones and essences a while back.

Then I got curious and decided to do a bit of research. Turns out there's a lot of different kind of procedures that have varying results. So what Taiki and the others did was no easy feat and they succeeded either by luck or some other factors. In other words, Haru's still a ghost or a spirit, but now he also has a physical form. He looks young - 13 or 14 at the most - but he's obviously a lot older than that - though for the most part he's like any other guy as far as I can tell.

Nene is an artist and the author of Seven Wonders, a webcomic about a girl who befriends a spirit who resides in her school. The story's loosely based on her life - as well as Taiki and Haru's. She started writing it a few years ago, originally a side project to keep herself busy. Then she began updating it regularly and grew a following, prompting her to expand the story. The webcomic then reached international audiences when Taiki offered to translate her work into English so that's when it really started taking off.

The three of them go way back, having first met almost a decade ago. Nene managed to summon Haru in hopes of granting a wish, similar to what happens with the main characters in Seven Wonders. The two end up in a series of misadventures that result in them being bonded by a curse, resulting in Nene being connected with the spirits of the school. Then Taiki came along with the intent of exorcizing spirits such as Haru, only to end up befriending him.

They've been through a lot together, even defying fate (Haru's words) so they can have this future they're living in right now. From what I've heard, dealing with the supernatural - willingly or not - always has a price to pay. It's one of those things where no matter how lightly you tread, you'll step on a landmine either way.

In other words, there's always something to lose.

Taiki was never one to have a "normal" life considering that he comes from a family of exorcists. He has an older brother and younger sister, both who are powerful and pretty well known back home. Miki mentioned that he hasn't really spoken to his family much since moving out. According to Nene and Haru, Taiki was close to his brother, having looked up to him a lot back in the day. Nene and Miki have both speculated that the rift between Taiki and his brother was probably one of the reasons why he decided to stay in Mina Creek instead of going back to Inazuma.

Nene stuck around Inazuma before deciding to join Taiki. Even after graduating she stuck around the school to see Haru, working as a janitor so she'd have an excuse to be there. But when Taiki graduated the following year, the trio didn't see much of each other. Taiki went abroad to Tome University and while Nene still visited Haru and the other spirits, she had to focus on her studies.

Then Nene signed up for a study abroad program, which happened to take her to Miki and Taiki's school. I remember Miki talking about helping out this freshman who was an international student. She said he was struggling quite a bit so it was lucky that they ran into his old friend - his senpai, as he called her back in the day. During her time there while reminiscing with Taiki, Nene was inspired to write Seven Wonders so that's how it all began.

Nene ended up dropping out of university after that semester so she became an artist/content creator while working as a school janitor. Along with that she was also the bridge between the living and the spirits, a role she carried since becoming Haru's assistant when they first met.

In the years that followed, Nene and Haru got involved in supernatural affairs while Taiki offered his assistance once in a while. Things were going well until the school had to close due to financial problems. If that wasn't bad enough, the city was going to demolish the school and a bunch of other old buildings in that area. So Haru was in a tight spot as he would have nowhere to go since he couldn't be outside of the school. And as for Nene, she didn't really have anywhere to go either since being a janitor was what kept her afloat.

Thankfully Taiki and the others were able to come up with a solution or else Nene and Haru wouldn't be here with us. Taiki made the offer for Nene to join him in Mina Creek, something which she was understandably on the fence about. She says she's been adjusting to the move a lot better than she thought, probably because she has been here before so it's not too drastic of a change.

However, it's a big leap for Haru considering that he's been restricted inside a school for years and now he's in a foreign country surrounded by a lot of unfamiliar things. He does seem to be a fast learner - Nene and Taiki were surprised at how quickly his English's improving and if I didn't know, I'd think he'd been studying the language for at least a year or so. Taiki's obviously quite fluent while Nene's sorta in between - Taiki serves as an interpreter when they need a bit of help, which is pretty much what he does during his non-exorcist job.

So far Nene's enjoying life at Minai Creek, though she admits to missing home. She finds the change in scenery intimidating but also necessary. On one hand she's sad to leave the school and the other spirits but at the same time she feels it's probably for the best. Haru's holding his own, though Nene worries about him as the changes they're going through can't be easy on him. She's also worried about Taiki too, especially since it seems like he's completely cut off his ties from his home - by that she means his family.

Nene definitely comes across as a big sister/mom friend. Taiki sometimes calls her onee-chan, which is a way one addresses their older sister in Japanese. I've met Taiki a few times before and I see a different side to him when Nene's around. Or maybe it's because this is the first time I've really gotten to know him? He just seems more ...himself? open? ... when he's with Nene and Haru. It's sweet how much he looks up to Nene - whenever he talked about her in the past you can tell how much he respects and admires her - and now that I finally meet her, I can see it. I think Nene and I are gonna be good friends.

Taiki's had his eye on the Moonlit Woods for a while as there's a section that's kinda dangerous to tread if you're not well versed with spirits and such. Only the bravest exorcists venture there to help clean up the place a little and contain the bad karma by doing what's necessary. He did his research extensively before considering going to that place due to rumors of seasoned exorcists being ill prepared and becoming corrupt, which is the worst case scenario.

Since strength lies in numbers, Taiki needed a reliable team to keep things under control and make a speedy retreat if necessary. Haru and Nene's connections to the spiritual world are valuable, especially since Haru has a bit of a pull with certain higher status spirits that can come in handy in case things go south. As for me and the campers, we're kinda the brute force, serving as the muscle and sort of an anchor to keep the others grounded. Something about certain spirits having an effect on those who can see and interact with them and taking advantage of that by blurring the lines between reality and delusion so we have to keep them from straying.

I don't know how the trio does it, especially Taiki and Nene. To live between mortals and spirits is not easy, more of a curse than a blessing to many. For people like them, they have no choice but to fulfill their roles - Taiki in damage control and Nene in being the communicator. And for Haru, being a spirit who voluntarily chose to stay in the world of the living after being bound to one through a curse, I can't imagine that being easy on him either. There's a lot to unpack with these three and whether I'll get to know the full story or not, it's clear that there's a lot on their shoulders.

Like I said, there's always a price to pay when it involves things beyond our understanding. I just hope that it was worth it. Me being cautiously optimistic, I'd like to think it was or else they wouldn't be together.

The Whispering Winds trail, as expected, was full of perils. On one hand, it was kinda good that I was kept in the dark in an ignorance is bliss sorta way. But that also makes it a bit harder to know exactly what's going on. In a place where the spirit world and mortal world becomes blurred, it gets disorienting, to put it simply. We know we're there when us mortals can see some spirits so it's important to keep our guard up.

There's a reason why they call this trail the Whispering Winds. I heard voices from all around - it wasn't a pleasant experience, to say the least. It was jarring at first but then I grew numb to it. Still, it was an unsettling feeling - 0/10 do not recommend. This is why it's best to go in a group because unexpected things will happen so it's better to be (over)prepared.

In between exorcism rituals we did a bit of sightseeing, which helped lighten the mood. Haru introduced us to some spirits he knew to be harmless and they served as guides through areas they were familiar with. Taiki and Nene did most of the heavy lifting when it came to the rituals while the rest of us stood guard. From what I've seen, it looks like a lot of work - the kind of thing you should leave to the professionals.

All around us were these blue light orb things - spiritual remnants that serve as trail markers according to Haru. Depending on the traces the remnants can leave behind, Nene can manipulate them to open up new pathways. The deeper we go into the trail, the harder it is to navigate as it's supposed to be like that for good reason. Nene's the only one who can directly interact with stuff like that so people like her are the ones who really are granted access to forbidden parts such as these. According to Haru, he and Taiki can't touch them because it can cause trouble due to their blood - meaning it's off limits for exorcists and spirits.

The light orbs also gave us some much needed visibility as well as an eerie glow. When things got quiet, it sorta felt like we were just walking down a long, dimly lit path. When things start to get a bit hazy, that's when it was time to investigate. The feeling is heavy, almost suffocating - a heavy burden to bear indeed. When the heaviness is gone, we move forward, going as far as we can before hitting a dead end. From there, our trek is over and instead of venturing a different path, we go back the way we came, careful not to disturb the newfound peace.

It was an interesting experience - again, it's probably for the best that I don't know too much about it. There's a whole 'nother world out there with exorcisms, spirits, psychics...as curious I am about these sorts of things, I respect that it's not my place when it comes to certain aspects. It's a fascinating world out there but we can't experience or begin to understand certain things that are beyond our scope. It sucks sometimes being just a bystander or outsider but it is what it is.

[natsubeatsrock]

Should Lisanna have come back? (Part 2)

This is part two of a three part series answering the question. Yesterday, I talked about the sensibility of Lisanna’s return in canon. Today, we ask a different question.

Question: Has Lisanna impacted the series much since coming back?

Answer: Sorta...

I feel like this will be the question that gets me in trouble with the Lisanna fandom.

I want to get this out of the way now. Lisanna was always going to be a side character. That's not to say that there aren't characters outside of the Strongest Team that impact the series and are important, both good and bad. 

But I'm worried about how much people talk up Lisanna's pre-Edolas mentions as if she was being built up to join the Strongest Team. Lisanna before Edolas is brought up in a handful of chapters. If she's isn't being directly talked about, we see her through flashbacks lasting one panel. (I'm not including Natsu and the Dragon Egg in this.) Consider that the first time we see Lisanna talk is when we first meet her in Edolas.

For the life of me, I'll never understand how the genre of fanfiction that turns Lisanna into a member of Team Natsu as a replacement for Lucy became so prolific. I've talked about these stories in great detail already, but this always baffles me when considering Lisanna's place in the series. The only reason I can imagine people would do this is that they believed Lisanna to be a serious threat to the dynamic of Nalu. How that interpretation of canon evolved into the trope we know today is beyond me. Thankfully, these stories are much less common than they used to be.

At any rate, Lisanna's not a part of any major fights. She's not directly responsible for major plot changes. Nothing she does directly affects the series in any major way. It's not as if Lisanna helps Natsu find Igneel or Gray get over Deliora or anything like that.

Again though, Lisanna didn't do much before the Edolas arc. Obviously, I care about the stuff she did with Natsu and have often talked about its relevance. That aside, Lisanna not doing a whole lot isn't terribly inconsistent. 

Lisanna was always written as a character who was important to a handful of characters. In fact, this is the key to understanding her post-Edolas. Lisanna continued to serve as a key link to understanding those characters she was linked to. Though, I can't say that I particularly love how this manifests.

In Tenrou, we see how much Mirajane cares about her relationship with her siblings. (Remember her fight with Elfman and Evergreen?) This is shown in how she's willing to sacrifice herself to save her sister. Lisanna, in this instance, was... effectively held hostage as an excuse to get a good fight from Mira.

In Tartarus, we see how Elfman still considers himself to be weak. He's also unable to protect his sister and it almost costs her life (for real this time), as well as the entire Fairy Tail guild. And here, Lisanna is... rendered a pawn in Seilah's scheme and thrown in a cell.

To be perfectly honest, I don't really have a problem with either of these moments. It is worth recognizing that in both of these arcs, Lisanna does get the opportunity to fight opponents in minor fights. Also, these situations are the result of strong opponents using unfair tactics. If Mira and Erza struggled against both Azuma and Seliah, Lisanna wasn't going to stand a chance fighting against either on her own. 

At the same time, I wish that there was a case where Lisanna served a more active role in benefiting their arcs. These instances are more passive roles, where she shows their philosophies without acting. This isn't necessarily out of line with what we've gotten from the past uses of Lisanna. But I would have liked it if things changed now that she was present with the characters.

Think of Levy as an example. People argue that her character has been reduced to her interactions with Gajeel. At the same time, she takes actions that confirm her feelings about their relationship. In Tenrou, she gives him extra iron for him to eat. In Tartarus, she does the same, but with air.

You'll notice that I haven't talked about how she's interacted with Natsu in this regard. 

Well... 

She kind of... 

Hasn't.

I mean, there was the one conversation in the anime regarding the extra gravestone they made for her. But that didn't really go anywhere. Their conversation in Tartarus was more about the present situation than anything else. 

We didn't get a situation where Natsu saves Lisanna, aside from being saved from Edolas. We don't get serious deep conversations involving their past relationships and their current prospects. Lisanna isn't given many opportunities to interact with Natsu and Natsu doesn't think about Lisanna much.

A lot of fans take this to mean that their relationship was displaced because of Nalu. Other fans argue that Mashima would have done more but backed away from it because of Nalu fans. I don't go very far in either direction. However, I think it's a shame that Natsu and Lisanna's relationship hasn't been explored further since Edolas. I hope that fans, regardless of their views on the Natsu ships, would enjoy seeing more Lisanna and Natsu interactions.

Though, it might have been for the better.

Not long after Fairy Tail ended, Mashima admitted that he had the idea to put Natsu, Lucy, and Lisanna in a love triangle of sorts. (I'm choosing to ignore the rest of his comments.) As much as I would like to see more Nali, I don't think fandom could bear a legitimate threat to Nalu happening. Fandom has barely treated Lisanna well over the years, to begin with. (Another rant for another day.)

To be concluded...

[jinmukangwrites]

Hi Jin! Since you are looking for some DC hc what's your opinion on Flash? Honestly I like his character and his interaction with other heros, esp. Batman. I like to hc that sometimes Flash says/does something so deep and profound completely accidently but it shocks and touches others and they see him in renewed light. If you don't feel like Flash, what about some grandpa Alfred and his horde of superhero grandkids? xD Just some options for you, have fun and thank you for your amazing writing!

So I... don't reallllly have much experience writing for Flash or the Justice League in general? I based Flash's characterization off from what I remember from watching various cartoons and from pannels I've happened across over the years. I need to read his comics. He's such a dork. Anyway, sorry this took a million years DF, hopefully this is sorta what you were wanting <3

Also if you're wondering when exactly this takes place, just know I am constantly rejecting canon and substituting my own 😤

-o-o-o-o-

When Dick was nine years old, he wanted to join Bruce on a Justice League mission.

Bruce—being the clear-headed, calculative, newly foster father that he was—panicked and said he couldn't go on an official League mission until he was twenty-five years old... which is what Bruce was at the time. When Dick tried to argue back, well, Bruce pulled some strings—meaning he glared at the other League members until they agreed—and made it official.

No one under twenty-five would join an official Justice League mission.

Bruce wishes now he set the bar higher and told the young man to just deal with it. Because Dick is twenty-six now, and that's all Bruce can think about as Batman punches his way through an alien spaceship. Twenty-six, somewhere on this ship where Bruce can't see him with a different team comprising of newer members—not because he's untrained, but because there's no one else Bruce would trust to keep the newer recruits alive.

Meanwhile, Batman and other original powerful members of the League fight their way towards the leader of these attacking aliens. The mothership is large, practically a maze, and filled with soldier creatures with no individual agency to note. They're not an Apokolips level threat, but it would still be preferable to stop them before they enter the solar system.

Batman stops in his tracks, slamming his back against the wall to avoid getting blasted by an enemy soldier around the corner. Then, after a beat, he jumps out and launches a baterang at the attacker and takes them down with a few well placed jabs. There's the sound of something creaking violently somewhere behind him, probably Superman or Wonder Woman deciding doors are too tedious to find and the walls are weak enough for them to just plow through.

Which is why Batman is paired with none other than Flash for the moment. Despite his abilities, he can't go vibrating through walls whenever he finds it quicker to do so. He needs to save his strength; which means he's in the same boat as Batman, finding tedious doorways and navigating winding corridor filled with flashing red lights and steaming pipelines.

There's the sound of a blaster loading up to his right where he didn't notice another soldier hiding in the shadows. He just manages to pull up his cape in an attempt to lessen the damage when there's a blur of red and a flash of yellow lightning, the alien goes flying against the wall with a snap, falling limply to the ground.

"You good, B?" Flash asks, stopping in front of Batman with a grin. His voice is light, a little joking. Batman rolls his eyes. "I mean, it's a good thing I was here, It's not normally me who's doing the saving for destracted teammates."

"Let's move," he replies before moving on.

Behind him, he hears Flash sigh dramatically. "Good talk."

They move further into the ship, the blue glow of a fuzzy, half-detailed map hovering from Batman's wrist computer. Flash is a constant chatter behind him, which only serves to remind Batman further of a certain talkative, pun-slinging acrobat somewhere on the other side of the ship, taking down the ship's main controls.

Then, suddenly, the holographic map glitches violently like an old corrupted silent film as the entire ship jolts. A large boom crashes through the air, creaking pipes and tilting the entire gravitational system, causing Batman and Flash to throw their bodies towards the nearest wall as the ship struggles to realign itself.

Batman keeps his grip firm while Bruce keeps his eyes on the map, his stomach dropping when he sees a flashing red dot appear near the ship's main control room.

Nightwing...

"What was that?!" Flash wheezes as the gravity returns to something similar to what it should be, but it's shaky now, like one wrong move and everything will be sent spinning.

"Something exploded in the control room," Batman growls, pushing all thoughts that don't involve the alien leader and finding said alien leader out of his head.

"'Wing's on the other side," Flash says, his voice suddenly devoid of his constant joking and light tone. "You think they're oka-"

"We need to finish this."

And Batman is moving before Flash can argue. He doesn't say he's sure they're fine, or we should turn back, or let me attempt communications; he just moves forward because the mission is important. The world is important.

Whatever trouble the other's have gotten into... he is positive they can handle it.

Then, just moments later, they run into more trouble. Only this time, it's not just one or two mindless soldiers, but a whole group of them. Immediately, Batman launches himself into battle, cape fluttering behind him like an omen, using the shadows between the flashing lights to his advantage. He can hear the static of a speedster's energy all around him as Flash winds between bolts of enemy fire. Batman pushes his companion to the back of his mind, throwing his fist out into slam the door deformed jaw of an attacker.

The ship jolts again, along with the floor beneath him. He grunts as he's thrown into the wall, the explosion sounding like it came from the same area as before. Everything's sideways now: the ship, the gravity, his train of thought. He just manages to grab at clawing hands as an alien jumps on top of him, snarl in its lips and teeth dripping with drool.

The alien screeches, it's taloned feet digging into the Kevlar over his stomach, practically doing it's damnest to gut him open. Batman growls, his stomach twisting as the ship's gravity tries to fix itself once again, causing Batman and the alien to go rumbling from the wall into the floor. Batman grunts as he crashes through a branch of pipeline, landing harshly on the ground and sucking in a breath as his ribs scream at new bruises.

What is going on over there?!

And he doesn't even have a chance to think more into it, because he realizes he's been laying on the ground, worrying, when he should have noticed the alien finding it's bearings and scrambling forward with a scream to attempt to pin him down again.

He bunches up, preparing himself to defend himself at last moment, before there's Flash, once again, coming in at the perfect time. Flash slams the alien into the wall, it's skull making a terrible thunk noise, before it slides to the ground unconscious.

Batman pushes himself to his feet, his ribs throbbing, and opens his mouth to command they keep going, but Flash—in the blink in an eye—ends up right in front of Batman, his mouth twisted in a rare frown.

"What is wrong with you," Flash demands, grabbing into the clasps of Batman's cape and holding Batman in front of him so he can effective snarl in the other man's face. "I was joking before, about you being destracted, but now I think you actually are."

"I'm not destracted," Batman growls back, moving to shove Flash off of him, but the Flash doesn't back down. He tightens his grasp and glares.

"You are. You're destracted and worried for Nightwing because you're a dad-"

"We have a mission to finish-"

"The mission is a failure if you die, Bruce! I can't watch them be told you've died again!"

Everything goes still, nothing but the flashing lights and creaking pipes exists while Barry clutches the clasps of Bruce's cape and breathes hard. Barry swallows roughly, and then gives Bruce a narrowed look.

"When will you realize that?" He asks, sounding close to hysterical. "That your self preservation is worth more than the world to them?"

And Bruce remembers Wally, and Bart, and Iris, and their plans to have kids and find a better house with a bigger lawn. Bruce takes a deep breath and lets Batman take the backseat.

"What do I do?"

Relief flashes through Barry's face. He lets go of Bruce's cape and a smile twitches in his lips. "Go find him. Check on him. Get yourself un-destracted."

"What about you?" Bruce asks, and Barry shrugs, looking way too relaxed now. Like a weight is off his shoulders. Like he can really run now.

"I'm sure Oli is around here somewhere. I'll meet up with him." Barry looks Bruce right in the eye. "We'll finish the mission, it'll be a done in a flash. Just go make sure your kid is okay first."

And for once, Bruce doesn't groan at the pun or argue the phrase his kid. He just nods and turns back the way he came, his legs pumping, to make sure his kid is okay, which he should have remembered in the first place was always the mission. Always the top priority.

He'll have to thank Barry later... and send Iris some flowers.

[you-a-southpaw-doll]

Deaf ~ A Max (The Resident) One-Shot

Summary: Max gets a new tenant...and maybe a new family? With all the silence, will Leigh be able to draw Max outta the walls and into her life? 

Warning(s): Angst. Happy ending. Single mother OFC. Mentions of cheating. Bisexual OFC. Hearing issues. Deaf infant. Implied PTSD. Implied childhood trauma. Panic attack. Self-harm. First aid. Non-canon. OOC Max. Slight voyeuristic tendencies. OFC’s P.O.V. Soft Max. Hurt Max. Scared Max. Touch-starved Max. Max just needs some love.

Author’s Note(s): So, I watched The Resident (2011) a couple nights ago, and got this idea. I don’t do rape, so I changed Max’s character so he never goes that far. I also decided to do this from the OFC’s P.O.V. and show a different side of Max, one that would hopefully, kinda sorta, explain why Max seeks the refuge the walls give him. For people that suffer from PTSD, and other mental illnesses, everyone finds their own way of coping with their struggles. I’m not in any way condoning what Canon Max did. I just wanted to try and a different, less creepy, softer side. Also, in this story, Max is not a rapist, nor is he a murderer. And...I wanted a happy ending for Max, so that’s what I gave him.

Word Count: 7,982 words.

Relationship(s): Max x Leigh Sullivan (OFC) [romantic]. 

Characters: Max. Leigh Sullivan (OFC). Maxwell Dean Sullivan (OMC). Chris Sullivan (OMC). 

Taglist: @negans-network @prettyboynegan @mychemicalimagines @spnnnxangelsx @rockinkel21 @misskittycat02 @band--psycho @ofxallxwexlost @iron-halt @thamberlinawrites @ravenwings73 @lettherebepink @stoneyggirl @sebs-padawan

_______________________________________________________________________

Story Time:

Leigh’s P.O.V. ~

It’s been two weeks since I moved to New York City to start my new job at the museum and try to get on with one of the numerous publishing houses for my next books. Two weeks of sleeping in a cheap hotel room. Two nights of frantically searching for a somewhat cheap apartment that would be big ‘nough.

Two weeks of missing having his little body snuggled up next to me. Two weeks worth of triple FaceTime calls to my brother back in San Deigo just to see his cute little face. Two weeks of missing my baby boy. Two weeks of missing my adopted, six-month-old son, Maxwell. Two weeks of being completely alone in a new place for the first time in years.

It’s been two days since I saw that flyer pinned up on the hospital bulletin board after passing out from dehydration. Two days since I went to that old building that’s close to the huge bridge stretching out over the river. Two days since I saw the fancy apartment still being renovated that was clearly well outta my price range.

Two days since I met him and saw that beautiful dimpled smile hiding under the construction mask. Two days since I felt my heart flutter for the time in nearly half a year. Two days since that deep, slower than molasses but sweeter than honey voice told me it was mine for only $3,800 a month, minus utilities. 

It’s been two hours since he, my new landlord left my apartment after sitting down to enjoy a dinner of takeout from the nearby Chinese restaurant once we’d finished moving my meager belongings in. Two hours since he and I opened up a little bit to each other, getting to know the other person. 

It’s been two hours and I still haven’t stopped smiling. 

Leaning back in my chair, I slide my iPhone outta the pocket of my men’s holey, Skinny Flex American Eagle dark blue jeans. Holding my thumb down on the button so it recognizes my thumbprint, I wait for it to unlock before I click on the FaceTime app and call my brother. I take a deep breath, relaxing, as I wait for him to answer. 

Only...he doesn’t. Instead of my slightly younger brother answering, I get the best thing that’s ever happened in my life. The moment I see my son’s face fill the screen, I tear up and smile. 

“Hey, baby boy! You playing with Uncle Chris’s phone?” I coo in a soft voice.

I don’t get an actual response, but that’s ok. My son Max is deaf. He was born that way and the doctors said it’d be a few more months before we could even try to get him fitted for hearing aids. The said it was a side effect from where his birth mother had been using hard drugs for 99% of the pregnancy, even though I tried to get her help.

Max makes a bunch of soft, cooing noises as he holds the phone close. I realize that he hasn’t noticed that I’m the phone yet. Especially once I see his gums get closer to the camera. I laugh, knowing he’s trying to gnaw on the rounded corner of my brother’s iPhone. Hearing movement on the other end, I watch as the phone jostles, and a loud thunk echos to my end. 

A moment later, two small, chubby hands grasp the phone and my son’s face fills the screen once more. I watch as his eyes widen and he lets out a high pitch squeal, giggling, and it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to know that Max has finally noticed that I’m on the phone. Smiling, I wave to him and blow him kisses.

It just makes him squeal more, louder, and happier. I giggle and happily listens to his giggles, squeals, and babbles. After nearly 15 minutes of listening to him, and slouching in my chair, the phone jostles once more and I hear Max let out a whine and hear him sniffling, knowing his ‘bout to start crying. 

A second later, my brother’s face fills my phone’s screen and his eyes widen too, making him chuckle.

“Hey, sis. Sorry. Didn’t realize you were on the phone. I guess Max got ahold of mine when I went to fix him a bottle and a small jar of that mushy baby food you picked up for him before you left.” He says.

I smile. “Nah. Max didn’t call me. I called. He answered. Took him a hot minute to realize I was on the phone. Then he started telling me ‘bout the stuff y’all did today. Sounds like a productive day.”

Chris laughs and I watch as he gets settled on the couch in his apartment, holding my son in his lap, keeping him to where he can still see me on the phone.

“Oh yeah.” He chuckles. “Real productive. 3 naps, 6 poopy diapers, and a few bottles.” 

I giggle. “Sounds like it.”

He chuckles more and shakes his head. “Anyway. How’s the city? D’you switch motel rooms? That don’t look like the one you’ve been staying in.”

I grin from ear to ear. “That’s actually why I called you. I found a place. By the river and train tracks.”

“Yea? That’s great! You all moved in?”

“For the most part. All that’s missing is little man. Oh. And the actual furniture. I was thinking...think you and Max could be out here tomorrow?”

“Uh...yea. I still got 3 more weeks’ worth of vacation time saved up at work. Give me a sec to pull up flights and shit.”

I smile and nod, waiting as Chris sets his phone down. After listening to some shuffling and the protests of my son, my brother and my son’s faces are visible once more. I help guide my brother through the process of looking for, booking, and getting two cheap plane tickets. I tell him my card info so he can type it in.

“Alright, sis. It looks like we’ll be flying out ‘round noon our time. And, after a 5 and a half flight, we should be to the city by dinnertime. How’s that?” Chris double checks.

“Sounds fuckin’ good to me! I can’t wait. I’ll meet y’all there!” I grin and cover my mouth as I yawn.

Chris chuckles. “Good. Looks like you need to get to bed. It’s what, 11 there?”

I nod. “Yea...I think so. It’s been a long day.”

“I can tell. Well, get some sleep. We’ll be there tomorrow.”

“I can’t wait to see y’all. It’s been a long two weeks.”

“I bet. I honestly don’t see how you’ve been a single mom for the last 6 months. I’ve been watching this little monster for 2 weeks and I swear, I’m never having my own kids.”

I laugh. “Shut up! He’s not that bad. He just misses his mommy. And, you never wanted your own kids. You’ve always been too scared. Couldn’t even sit down if there was a kid in the room.”

“Hey! I just didn’t want to risk accidentally sitting on them and squishing them!” 

I giggle as my brother grins. “I know, bro. I’m just giving you shit.”

“Yea. Just like your son’s been doing all day.”

I laugh, yawning again. “Shouldn’t have given him the sweet potato mush. I warned you.”

He rolls his eyes, chuckling. “Whatever.”

“I am proud of you, bro. You’ve done so well with him, and I appreciate everything you’ve done to help me. I know it’s been a long couple of months, not just the two weeks I’ve been out here.”

“I just wanna see you happy again, sis, and I’m always here for you. That’s why I’m more than willing to help you.”

“I know. And it means the world. Give him kisses for me and tap his little tummy twice to tell him I love him?”

Chris smiles. “I will. Be careful, yeah? We’ll see you tomorrow.”

“I’ll try. Love you.”

“Yea. Ok. I know.”

He grins and waves, getting Max to copy him as he hangs up the call. I smile to myself. My brother’s never been one to say “I love you” to someone. He’s been like that since we were little when he was 5 and I was 6. So, I don’t take it personally when he just responds as he does. I know he still loves me. 

He’s been there for me, just like I’ve always been there for him. After my last relationship hit the fan and I caught my fiancé cheating on me with a man and said she no longer felt like being a mom in a same-sex relationship, just a few weeks before Max was born and we were supposed to gain custody of him, Chris offered to let me move in with him once Max was born. 

So, that’s what we did. Max and I left Kentucky where I’d been living all through and well after college and moved to San Diego to live with my brother. The 5.5 months we were there, I looked ‘round for a job that I could use my history degree in, while also working on my last novel. After getting an offer from a museum in New York, I broke the news to Chris that Max and I would be moving to the city.

He’d been shocked at first since we were both from a small town in the mountains of Western North Carolina, and I’d sworn I’d never live in a big city. ‘Specially one in the North since it got too cold in the winter and I’d always been made fun of for my strong Southern accent. I’d explained to him that I had to do what was best for Max, that I had a son to think ‘bout now.

He’d understood after that and was willing to watch Max while I traveled back across the country to a new place, to look for a good living arrangement, and get settled in for my new job. He told me that once I got settled, he’d bring Max out and then help me get all moved in and everything. Which is what led us to tonight. 

After hanging up with my brother and my son, I plug my phone up, set a few alarms, and curl up in the chair to try and get some sleep, knowing that tomorrow’s gonna be an even bigger day. All while never knowing that I was being watched by landlord peeking through a strategically placed and well-hidden hole in the wall.

When I wake up the morning, well early afternoon really, groaning and blindly reaching out for my phone to shut up the annoying alarms, I stretch and rub my eyes. I’m definitely not a morning person, and usually, get my best work done between the hours of 1 and 7 am. It’s been great since Max still hasn’t picked up on the whole sleeping through the night thing.

I finally push myself up outta the chair, my joints protesting the clearly uncomfortable position I just spent the last six hours in while curled up. Making my way to the kitchen, I get a pot of coffee going before padding back across the apartment to the bedroom and bathroom. I shoot my brother a text, letting him know that I’ll still pick him and Max up from the airport. 

After my shower, and downing the entire pot of coffee, I put some music on as I start to plan how I want the apartment set up and start looking up furniture stores on my phone, even ordering a few things online to be delivered in a couple of days.. I get lost in my search, that it takes me several long minutes to notice someone’s knocking on my door. 

Clicking my phone off, I tuck it in my pocket and make way to the door, opening it to find my landlord.

 He and I talk for a few minutes until I suddenly realize the time.

“Oh shit! I gotta go!” 

Max, my landlord, raises a brow. “Hot date tonight?”

I smile. “You could say that. I gotta go pick the love of my life up from the airport.”

I watch as Max’s face falls and he gets a sad look in his eye. 

“I thought you were single?” He asks. 

Scrambling to put my boots on, I reply to him. “I am. But, I still gotta pick him up.”

“Oh. Well, alright then.”

I look at him as I grab my drawstring bag that I use instead of a purse and put it on my back. 

“I’ll be back soon. If you wanna come over, I’d love to introduce you. You’ll see him ‘round a lot.” I say, grabbing my key.

“Um. Maybe. I know I’ll be busy with the renovations in the other apartments. I just thought I’d stop by and check on you, see how you settling in.”

I smile and gently place my hand on his shoulder, trying my best to ignore the rush of excitement that courses through my body at the touch. My landlord is not only smoking hot, but he’s also well built and I can feel his muscles under my hand.

“Thank you, Max. I greatly appreciate it.” I say.

He just nods and stares at my hand for a moment. 

“Oh...sorry.” I apologize, dropping my hand, quickly remembering how shy he is. “I’ll...uh...see you later, maybe? I’d really love for you to meet him. He’s a sweetheart.”

He shrugs and rubs the back of his neck. “We’ll see how the renovations go.”

“Sounds good! Don’t work too hard!”

“I am working too hard!”

I giggle, playfully smacking his shoulder. 

“Don’t do it.” I giggle.

I quickly leave after locking my door and hurry downstairs, hailing a cab and head to the airport. Thankfully, there doesn’t seem to be too much traffic, which surprises me since the first I noticed when I got to the city was all the traffic. When I get there, I realize I’m still a few minutes early, so I make my way over to the gates to wait. 

Nearly half an hour later, I spot my brother, holding my son, carrying only the diaper bag and a small book bag, and rush over. As soon as I reach them, I happily take my little boy in my arms, peppering his chubby little cheeks with kisses, which has him squealing happily and patting my head. I giggle and tilt my head back to look at him, despite the happy tears rolling down my cheeks.

Tapping my finger against his belly twice like I’ve done since the moment I first held him and the moment the docs told me he was deaf, I let my son know I love him. He giggles and curls his fingers ‘round mine, holding it tight. I lift my shoulder, turning my head in an attempt to wipe my tears away. Once I’ve done that, I look up at my 6’2” tall brother, grinning from ear to ear.

He just smiles and pulls me in for a hug. I lean against him since my arms are full from where I’m holding Max. Laying my head against Chris’ chest, I smile. He just hugs me a little tighter, but not too much ‘cause of Max.

“Missed you, sis.” He says.

“I fuckin’ missed you too, bro.” I reply. 

He laughs and lets go of me, looking at me. “You look happy.”

“I am now! I’ve got my little boy in my arms, and you’re here. But, I’m sure you’re hungry?”

“Always am!”

I laugh. “C’mon. Let’s go get some food and head to my place. You’re really gonna love it!”

He chuckles and follows as I carry a giggling and snuggly Max outta the airport. I look up Chris. 

“You’re taller. Hail a cab.” I say.

He raises a brow. “How?”

I giggle and tell him since it’s the time he’s ever had to do it. Growing up in our small town, we didn’t have taxis, and then when he moved to San Diego during my senior year of college, he already had his own car, so he didn’t have to worry ‘bout taxis out there. It doesn’t take long before one comes to a stop in front of us.

Piling in, I give the driver my new address, and we set off towards home. Well, my home. Chris and I spend the time talking while I just hold Max close, patting his butt. Right as the driver makes it to the apartment building, the air suddenly smells shitty. I know Max has pooped himself, and I soothe him before he can start crying and apologizing to the driver, giving him a decent tip.

Ushering Chris out the cab, so I can get out with Max, I shift my son in my arms. 

“Don’t worry, baby boy. Mama’s gonna get you upstairs, and get you all cleaned up!” I coo, softly, my lips near his ear so that he can feel the vibrations of my voice as I talk.

Max settles down a little as he sniffles, clinging to my shirt. I kiss his head and led the way inside and up to my apartment. Shifting him once more, I dig my key out, unlock the door, and step in with Chris right behind me. 

“Let me get him changed. Feel free to look around. There’s not much, but we’ll fix that tomorrow.” I say.

Chris nods and drapes the strap of the diaper bag over my shoulder. I carry Max into the bathroom and set him on the tiled floor. I keep him distracted while I change his diaper, and tap his tummy twice after buttoning his onesie and slipping his little shorts back on. He lets out a giggle, holding his hands up.

Giggling myself, I scoop him back up in my arms, tossing the dirty diaper in the small trash can as I walk out. 

***

Over the next couple of weeks, Chris helps me move furniture in, get the apartment set up, takes turns with caring for Max, and even teaching me some of the new recipes he’s picked up. He’s come along way, considering that the kid used to burn cereal when he tried to make himself some when we were kids.

We take a few days, once the apartment’s set up, to explore the city. I haven’t done much sight-seeing myself since I arrived. It was mainly ‘cause I was too busy trying to find a place and everything. A few times, I spot my landlord while we’re out and about, and I try to wave him over so he can meet my son and my brother.

Especially since he never showed up the night Chris arrived. I’d been really excited to introduce them. I couldn’t explain why, other than the fact that I wanted Max to meet my son and my brother. Yet, Max never comes over. He always pulls his phone out when our eyes meet and presumably takes a call, walking in the opposite direction.

Two and a half weeks after Chris arrives in New York, Max and I take him to the airport to catch his flight back to San Diego. We stay with him till it’s time for his plane to be boarded. As he hands his ticket over, he assures him he’ll text me when he lands in California and when he gets home. I give him one last hug and lift Max’s hand in a wave.

***

After Chris leaves, Max and I settled into our normal routine. I wake up shortly after he does, get him changed and dressed for the day, and then lay him down on the living room floor for tummy time while I get to work. The position I have at the museum allows me to work from home, occasionally going in once or twice a week, with Max, to take care of some things there.

When I’m not working for the museum, I’m attempting to work on my novel. After I get done with work, I feed Max and me, before we settle on the couch with a Disney movie or one of the three Despicable Me movies playing for naptime. Even if Max can’t hear, he still loves watching the screen, giggling. 

He absolutely loves the minions and squeals every time he sees them on the screen. After naptime, he and I lay on the floor for more tummy time while I try to teach him the sign language I’ve been learning. My baby brother, Eli, was also born with hearing issues, so thankfully I knew some when he was growing up, but I’ve also been teaching myself more since I found out Max was deaf.

At the end of the day, and getting some more work done, along with dinner, I give Max his bath. He’s always loved bath time, except for the few times water lands in his ears. Since it’s his favorite, I give him one every day, which doesn’t put too much strain on the water bill ‘cause Max’s baby bath is small and doesn’t take a lot of water.

When bedtime rolls ‘round, I curl up on my new bed with Max cuddled to my chest with my shirt tightly gripped in one hand and his shark blankie in the other. I rub his back and hum softly so he can feel the vibrations from it as he drifts off to sleep. We keep the routine up for the next month a half. During this time, I never talk to my landlord, not even when I go to give him the rent.

I mean, yeah, I’ll see him occasionally ‘round the building, but he doesn’t say a word. He just looks at me for a moment, before dropping his head and walking away. It breaks my heart ‘cause I want to talk to him. We had so much fun talking and goofing off the night he helped me move in. But, since that day I had to rush off to the airport, we haven’t spoken.

I just resigned myself to knowing that he obviously thinks we’re nothing more than landlord and tenant. Which, honestly, make me sad ‘cause I thought we’d have become friends. He was the first person that was actually nice to me after I moved to the city. I also tuck down the feelings of the crush on him I have.

He reminds me a lot of Papa Winchester from my favorite tv show, Supernatural, and I’ve always had the hots for the oldest Winchester. Even my ex-fiancé knew that, and she agreed. See, we’re both bisexual, but I’d always thought she was the one. Until I caught her in bed, our bed, with a man, and she’d told me what she did.

The six months after we broke up were the hardest, ‘cause I’d been ready to marry her. But it didn’t work out. And after I’d moved to New York, met my landlord Max, and realized I’d had a crush on him, I was starting to come to terms with maybe moving on. Getting back out there. I mean, I knew there’d probably be nothing more than a friendship with my landlord, but I was ok with that.

But, I don’t even have that anymore. I sigh to myself, urging my thoughts to go down a different road, as I pull the clothes out the dryer. Just as I finish pulling the last few clothes outta the dryer, I hear whimpering. I listen for a moment to try and figure out where the sound’s coming from so I can go get my son.

After a moment, and the realization that the sound of whimpers is coming from the falls, I try to tone down the feeling of panic that’s quickly spreading through my body. Max started crawling shortly after we moved here, and I know he’s been exploring the apartment. I just hope he hasn’t gotten himself stuck somewhere. 

I quickly leave the clothes on the dryer and walk further into the apartment, closer to the sound of the whimpers.

“Max? Honey? Don’t worry, ok? Mama’s coming to get you.”

I call out, without thinking ‘bout the fact that my son’s deaf. I call the words out based on instinct and the need to assure my son that he’s gonna be ok. I follow the noise, getting closer to the kitchen and my eyes widen. Did I forget to put the baby gate up so he couldn’t get in there? When I reach the kitchen and realize that I did indeed forget to put the baby gate, my heart drops to my stomach.

“Fuck!”

I step into the pantry where the sounds of the whimpers are louder and look ‘round. I don’t see my son anywhere. Then I hear the whimpers again and realize that they’re coming from the other side of the wall. I gently push against the right wall, to give myself leverage, as I keep looking, thinking there’s no way that the whimpers are coming from the walls.

My eyes widen as the wall shifts a little with my touch, and they nearly pop outta their sockets when I realize the wall isn’t just a wall. It’s a door that’s already slightly open. My heart starts beating faster as I realize that there’s a slight chance that Max could’ve crawled in here, and through the small opening.

I take in a shaky breath as I push the door open enough for my small frame to fit through. Once I’m through, I notice two things from the get-go. One, the whimpers get louder. Two, the door leads to what looks like an old set of maintenance hallways. I know older buildings used to have them, so it makes sense that this building would have ‘em too.

I just never really put the thought into asking or caring if the building had them. I make my way deeper into the hidden hallways, being careful not to trip or hit my head on anything. Keeping my eyes peeled for my son, I get closer to the sound of the whimpers until I finally reach the source. My eyes widen when I see who’s making the sounds.

“Max?” I ask, softly, getting closer.

My landlord doesn’t even look up as he flinches at the sound of my voice. He just whimpers and bites harder into his wrist. 

My heart breaks and I crouch down next to him, gently taking his hand and pulling his wrist from the tight grip his teeth have on it.

“Max? Honey, it’s ok. You’re safe.” I murmur.

He whimpers a little more and hides his face. I immediately realize what’s going on. He’s having a panic attack, and it looks to be a bad one. Rubbing my thumb across his knuckles, I lean closer to him, gently wrapping my arms ‘round the slightly older man, and pull him close to me. I reach a hand up and run my fingers through his hair, softly and silently convincing him to lay his head on my chest.

I soothe him, calm him, and help him relax ‘nough that he slowly eases outta the panic attack. Not stopping my fingers as they continue to run through his hair, I start humming softly. I know panic attacks are one of the worst things to go through. Especially all alone. It takes several minutes, but I eventually feel Max relax, sagging against me as the panic attack leaves him.

Even though he’s outta it, I continue to run my fingers through his dark curls. 

“Better?” I ask softly.

He nods, just a quick, subtle little jerk of his head against my chest, but it’s still a nod. 

“Will you come back to my apartment with me? I wanna take a look at your arm. You bit down on it pretty hard.” I explain after he looks at me with uncertainty swirling in his muddy water brown eyes.

He takes a deep breath but nods again. I smile.

“That’s a good boy. C’mon. We’ll get you all fixed up.” I say, not sounding patronizing, but rather motherly.

I smile to myself as a light blush covers his cheeks at my words. I gently pat his shoulder before we stand up. As I lead him back through the maintenance hallways to the door that leads into my pantry, I notice other little holes in the wall, discreetly checking them out. When I realize they show off different points of my apartment, I raise a brow but don’t say a word.

After peeking through one of the holes, I see Max, my son, sleeping peacefully in his little playpen and let out a soft breath of relief, remembering that I’d laid him in there when I went to do laundry. I hold my landlord’s hand the entire time we walk through the hallways if nothing more than to keep him calm.

When Max and I get to the door leading to the pantry, he suddenly stops, jerking me to a stop too since I wasn’t expecting it and had been leading him by the hand. I turn ‘round and look at him.

“What’s wrong?” I ask, confused.

“The love of your life? Where’s he at?” He asks after, nervously, after a moment.

I smile. “He’s sleeping, in the other room. It’s ok.”

I watch as more hesitation and uncertainty fill Max’s eyes. I give his hand a gentle squeeze. 

“Hey. It’s ok. He won’t mind you being in there. He gets a bit protective over me, but I just know he’s gonna love you.” I assure him.

“I...I don’t think so...guys typically don’t like me. Neither do girls. I’m a loner.” He mumbles, looking at his feet while flicking his thumb against his finger on his other hand.

“Max?”

He lifts his head, looking at me. “Hmm?”

“Trust me. He’s gonna love you.”

He shrugs. “Nah. He won’t. ‘Specially not since he has you.”

“Hey. Stop doubting yourself, ok? He’s gonna love you ‘cause I like you.”

“You...you like me?”

I smile and nod. “I do. And you’d know that if you hadn’t been avoiding me since I had to leave so quickly to get to the airport.”

A small smile tugs on his lips. “You’ve been busy.”

“I’m never too busy for you, Max. Now, c’mon. Let’s get your wrist all cleaned up, then you meet the person who stole my heart with just one look. And, he’s gonna steal yours too.”

I giggle and gently squeeze his hand as he looks nervous. I lead him into my apartment from the pantry, and into the living room. 

“Have a seat on the couch, ok? I’m just gonna go grab the first aid kit. Don’t try and leave. I’ll follow you and kick your door down if you do.” I playfully threaten. “I don’t mess around with first aid.”

Thankfully, it gets a chuckle outta him and he takes a seat on the couch, holding his hands up in surrender. I grin and head to my bathroom to grab the first aid kit. Walking back through my bathroom, I stop by the playpen, lean down and kiss my son’s head, covering him up more with his shark blankie.

Watching him for a moment, I smile to myself and head back to the living room. Max is still in the same spot he was when I left him a moment ago, but this time, he has his hands on his lap as he picks at the bite mark on his wrist. I gently slap his hand away. 

“Stop that, mister. You’ll do more damage than what you’ve already done.” I say, kneeling on the floor in front of him, between his knees. 

He raises a brow and mutters a quiet, “I’m sorry.”

“Good boy. Now hold your hand out so I can look at it.”

He blushes a little but does as I ask. Gently taking his arm in my grasp, I inspect the self-inflicted bite mark on his wrist. After cleaning it with some alcohol wipes and putting Neosporin on it, I gently wrap some gauze ‘round his wrist and tape it so it stays in place. Without thinking ‘bout it, I place a gentle kiss on over the wrapped wound.

It’s outta habit that I do it since I do it whenever my son gets a boo-boo. I hear Max suck in a deep breath and my eyes jerk up to meet his. His bottom lip is captured between his impossibly white teeth and his cheeks are a shade pinker than they were before.

“I...I’m sorry. It’s outta habit that I do that.” I mutter, trying to explain as quickly as I can.

“I...it’s fine. I’ve just never had anyone do that before.” He mumbles.

I raise a brow. “Your mama never kissed your boo-boos?”

His eyes get that sad, lost look in his eyes. He pulls his arm outta my grasp and, not answering, he walks over to the window. I sit back on my ankles, packing the first aid kid up. 

“Max...I’m sorry. I didn’t...you don’t have to talk ‘bout it.” I say quietly.

He just sighs and stares out the window, not saying a word. 

“My…” He starts, still staring out the window. “My parents died when I was 10. My grandfather, August, he’s the one who raised me.”

I stand and gently pad over to him. “I’m so sorry, Max. I didn’t know. I didn’t think before I asked that.”

He glances at me then looks back out the window. Without thinking, and just doing it, I wrap my arms ‘round his waist and lay my head against his chest. He tenses up immediately at my touch.

“What...what are you doing?” He asks.

I tilt my head back to look up at him. “It’s called a hug. It’s supposed to be comforting. I can stop if it makes you too uncomfortable.”

I watch as his facial expression changes with several different emotions before a smile finally settles on his lips.

“Nah. It’s not too uncomfortable. I’m just not used to this.” He says after a few moments. 

“This?” I ask.

He nods. “Hugs. I can’t even remember the last time I had one.”

I tighten my arms ‘round him and lay my head back on his chest. I feel his arms slowly make their way ‘round me, loosely holding me close, and I smile. 

“Whenever you want one, just come to me and I’ll happily give you one.” I say. “I’m not really much of a hugger, but with you, it just feels right, so you can have a hug whenever.”

“Really?” He asks.

I nod against his chest. “Mmhhmm.”

“Thanks...but...what ‘bout...the love of your life? Is he ok with you giving random men hugs?”

I giggle and look up at him. “You’re not a random man, but yes. He’d be ok with me giving you hugs. He loves them, so he’ll probably try and give you one too.”

“Um…” He hesitates, slowly dropping his arms. “I dunno how I feel ‘bout your man giving me hugs.”

I giggle. “You’ll change your mind when you meet him.”

“I dunno.”

“I do! Stay here. I’ll bring him out to you.”

“Ummm…”

I giggle and lean up to kiss his cheek. “Just wait here.”

He swallows deeply, making his Adam’s apple bob up and down. “Ok.”

“Good boy.”

I giggle and leave him in the living as I walk into the other room where I know my son is. Reaching into the playpen, I scoop him up, making him giggle. I heard him cooing to himself a few moments ago, so that’s how I knew he was awake. I kiss his cheeks and gently tap his tummy twice. He makes a happy noise and snuggles to me.

I smile and hold him close as I walk back out to the living room. Max is looking out the window again, this time, though, he’s got his arms wrapped ‘round his torso, almost like he’s giving himself a hug. I giggle softly and make my way over to him.

“Max?”

He lifts his head and turns his gaze from the river to me. His eyes widen as he sees my son in my arms. Shock, confusion, and another emotion flash across his face. 

“Who? Who’s that?” He asks.

“Max, this is the love of my life. My son.” I say, grinning from ear to ear.

“Your son? Love of your life?”

I giggle and nod. “Mmhhmm. I adopted him when he was born. I can’t have kids myself, and my ex-fiancé and I had talked ‘bout adopting. So, we decided to do it. Found out that this little guy’s mama was putting him up for adoption before he was even born. Then, just before he was born, my ex-fiancé and I split. I still adopted this little monkey and it’s just been he and I against the world since.”

“But...that man...who was here...was that your former fiancé?”

I giggle and shake my head. “No! That was my oldest younger brother, Chris. He’d been watching Max for me while I got settled in the city. After I moved in here, I called him, and he brought my son out here and helped me get furniture and whatnot. I really wanted you to meet him while he was here...but you kept getting phone calls…”

“Your brother?” 

I smile and nod. “He’s the oldest of my two brothers, and I’m the oldest of all the kids.”

“Oh…”

I giggle. “Yea.”

“Those phone calls...they weren’t actually phone calls.”

I raise a brow. “You mean to tell me you faked ‘em just so you wouldn’t have to come over?”

He looks down, nodding. “You just seemed so happy with him. I thought y’all were together and that the kid was y’all’s. It…” He shakes his head, cutting off the rest of his sentence.

“Max, I wasn’t lying when I told you I was single the first night I spent here. But I also didn’t tell you that there is a guy I like.”

“Oh...well...I don’t wanna meet him…”

I giggle. “Too late. You already have.”

He frowns. “I have?”

Nodding, I grin and take his hand. “C’mon. I’ll show you who he is.”

“I don’t wanna…”

“Tooooo bad, mister.” 

I giggle and lead him to the bathroom, standing him in front of the mirror as I stand next to him, holding my son.

“I thought you were showing me someone I don’t wanna see.” He says, his voice quiet.

“I am. Tell me who you see.” I say, grinning.

“Me. I see me, you, and your son.” 

“Exactly. So, you see the guy I have a crush on.”

“Isn’t that a little weird to have a crush on your son?”

I giggle. “Yea. So, it’s a good thing he’s not who I have crush on.”

His brows furrow in confusion and I giggle and gently turn him to face me.

“You’re adorable.” I say.

“How?” He asks, confused even more. 

“You’re just not getting it, are you?”

He shakes his head. “No?”

“Max, you’re the guy I like.”

“Me?”

Nodding, I smile. “You.”

I watch as he gets the cutest, dimpled smile on his face, making me giggle more. He blushes and ducks his head down for a moment before looking at me.

“You really like me?” He asks, softly.

“Mmhhmm. I do. I just thought you didn’t like me since you kept ignoring me.” I say.

“I was just trying to distance myself...I thought you were with that guy, who’s actually your brother...I thought he was your ex-fiancé that you’d mentioned that first night...that you’d taken him back.”

I giggle. “Oh, Max. My ex-fiancé was a woman. Who cheated on me with a man. In our own bed.”

His eyes widen. “You were with a girl? But...you like me?”

“I’m what you’d call bisexual. I play for both teams. I like guys and girls.”

“Oh!” He lets out a soft chuckle. “So...what’s this mean? For us?”

I giggle. “It means, that I’d like to date you. If you want that.”

He grins, making his dimples show more. “I’d...I’d like that.”

“Me too! We just have to get someone’s permission first.”

“Permission? From?”

I smile and turn my son ‘round to face him. “Max here has to approve first. I have to think of him now, especially when it comes to relationships.”

Max nods and looks at my son, then back at me. “Wait. His name’s Max?”

I smile. “Maxwell Dean Sullivan. Sometimes, though, I’ll call him Deaf.” (Deef.)

“Why?”

“Oh. He’s deaf.”

“Oh!”

I smile and nod then look down at my son as he wiggles in my arms, reaching out for Max. I giggle and gently hold him out, waiting for him to take him. Max gently, and somewhat nervously, takes my little boy, and cradles him.

“Awww! You’re like a pro!” I grin.

“I’m not gonna lie. I’m scared shitless. He’s so small.” He whispers.

I giggle. “You’re also really big. Max and I are both small compared to you. And you help me close and gently.”

This gets a soft chuckle from my landlord and he visibly relaxes, shifting Max so he’s a little more comfortable. My son giggles and reaches up, patting Max’s cheeks, squealing at the feeling of the short beard tickling his tiny palms. I smile and lean against the mirror, watching them. 

“I think Deaf likes you.” I say.

“Yea? You really think so?” Max looks up and he visibly tenses as he soon as he sees me leaning against the mirror. “Don’t lean against that. Please.”

I raise a brow, but step away from the mirror. “Why not?”

“I don’t want you to get hurt.”

“I won’t, Max. It seems like a sturdy mirror. Plus, the wall behind it keeps it up.”

He lowers his gaze and hands my son back to me, much to my son’s protests and my own confusion. 

“I...I should go...just please don’t lean against the mirror.” Max says quietly and turns to leave.

I reach a hand out and curl my fingers ‘round his upper arm. 

“Hey. Stop. You don’t have to go.” I say.

He nods. “I do. There’s stuff you don’t know ‘bout me...I’m not a good man…”

I raise a brow. “Max. Aside from ignoring me for the last several weeks, we’ve still been good to me. You are a good man. I know you are.”

He shakes his head. “I’m not. I’ve done things I’m not proud of, but can’t help.”

A thought hits me and I look up at him. “You mean the holes in the walls? That allows someone to peep through into my apartment?”

His face pales and I get my answer. I reach up and cup his cheek. 

“Max. It’s ok. I saw him when I was leading you back to my place to fix your wrist. The walls...they’re your safe place, aren’t they?” I ask, softly.

“It’s quiet in there. I like the silence.” He mumbles, closing his eyes. “I can watch...and it calms me.”

“Have you watched me?”

He swallows deeply. “I tried not to...but I…”

“Shhh. It’s ok, Max. I’m not mad.”

“You’re not?”

“No. I’m not. Some might think it’s creepy, but in a way, it’s like you’re watching over, protecting me. Me and Deaf.”

“I...I didn’t think of that.”

I smile and tuck a strand of his hair behind his ear. “It helps you stay calm, watching me?”

He nods. “I can’t hear the voices…”

“What voices?”

“The ones telling me…” He shudders.

“Breathe, Max. It’s ok. What do they tell you?”

“That I’m a coward. A pervert. A creep.” 

His reply is so quiet I almost don’t hear it. But I do. I place my palm back against his cheek.

“Is that why you bit your wrist earlier?” I ask softly.

He nods. “To make them shut up.”

“Well, you don’t have to do it alone anymore, ok? I’ll tell those voices to shut up too.”

He opens his eyes and looks at me, unsure. 

“I will.” I assure him.

“But...why?” His child-like voice breaks my heart.

“Because, they’re lying to you, Max. The things they tell you, they’re not true. You’re not a creep. Not a pervert. And you are definitely not a coward.”

“But...I am.”

“No, Max. You’re not. You’re not any of those. You’re just a man who needs someone to show him what it’s like to be loved. You didn’t have a good childhood. Losing your parents, and having your grandfather raise you. But you survived. You grew up. You coped with everything thrown your way in the ways that you knew how. You’re a survivor, Max. And, that alone makes you the furthest thing from being a creep and a coward. As for being a pervert, I don’t think you’re that either.”

He doesn’t say a word, but he leans into my touch more.

“How do you know?” He asks after a few minutes.

“I know, because I can tell you’re not. Believe me, I grew up ‘round ‘nough perverts to know that’s not you. You’re nothing like them. That’s how I know.” I whisper.

“You still like me?” He lifts his eyes to meet mine.

“I do, Max. And, I’m gonna show you what it’s like to be loved. We’ll get there. And Deaf here, this little boy in my arms, he’ll show you too. I told you he’d love you when he met you.”

“He does?”

I smile and nod. “He doesn’t reach out to just anyone. It took him months just to go to my brother. But it took him maybe 5 minutes to go to you. And, kids are usually really good judges of character. Just like dogs. So, I can assure you he doesn’t think you’re anything like what the voices tell you.”

He nods slowly and looks down at the little boy in my arms. 

“He is cute.” He mumbles.

I giggle. “Damn right he is! He’s my son.”

Max chuckles softly. “That’s true. But...you’re not cute.”

I raise a brow and look at him. “That’s not exactly the best thing to say to your new girlfriend.”

He grins. “Girlfriend? I like the sound of that...but you’re not cute. You’re beautiful.”

I blush. “So are you. Ain’t you can’t argue with me. The girlfriend’s always right.”

He laughs softly. “Is that so?”

“Mmhhmm! Now. I believe there’s a little boy who wants to be held by you.”

He smiles and kisses my palm before standing up straight and gently taking Max from my arms, holding him close. 

“As for the mirror, Max. We’ll just board up the other side.” I say, getting the picture, from his reaction, that it’s one of those mirrors like police station interrogation rooms have. “And, you won’t have to go back into the tunnels anymore. You have me and Max now. We’ll be here for you.”

He swallows deeply and nods. “Promise?”

“I promise promise, Max. But, know that if you ever cheat on me, I’ll cut your dick and balls off.”

His eyes widen as he nods. “I...I wouldn’t do that to you.” 

I smile. “Good. And I wouldn’t do it to you either.”

He lets out a breath of relief. “So...does this mean...that I have a family?”

I smile. “Yes, Max. It does. We’re your family now, and you’re our family.”

[kaibacorpbros]

❉ What is a dream AU for you? If you haven’t done it yet, why not?

❝ ❞ Is it easy for you to write dialog for your muse? Do their speech patterns come naturally to you while writing?

◑ What is a side to your muse you want to show off, but haven’t had the chance to yet?

| It’s Munday! | @mxlik​

❉ What is a dream AU for you? If you haven’t done it yet, why not?

// Hmm I’ve not really got one? All the AUs I have right now just sorta... happened. Either by kicking around ideas with another mun or something that’s just taking up a lot of my brain cells at the time (pokemon, etc). This is mostly when talking about AUs that drastically change things--like demon AUs or something like that. 

Canon divergence AUs or something that changes one little thing and then we see the ripple effects of what happens (such as the Yami AU) I often have more ideas for because it happens within relation of the canon and I find it fun to play around with if I can plot it out with someone. 

That’s nothing against the first type of AUs, it’s just often I don’t have too many thoughts right off the bat without a lot of plotting with someone. If it’s just “Seto and Mokuba--but they’re in (book universe/TV show/historical setting/are a different species) I just kinda shrug because often nothing jumps out to me that makes me go “Ah-hA yes they would most certainly be like X and have Y plotline!”. I’m not against these though! I just like having someone to plot out these things with otherwise I just blank on ideas or don’t really wanna carve out a whole new plotline by myself. I’m always open to hearing people’s AU ideas!

❝ ❞ Is it easy for you to write dialog for your muse? Do their speech patterns come naturally to you while writing?

Most of the time yeah! Sometimes there’s something that can’t really be gotten across well with words and thus I have to turn to description and nonverbal communication and that’s the biggest struggle I’d say. Or the balance of still having it sound like my muses (but they may be IC confused or have mixed feelings on something) but be clear for the other mun to understand.

I’ve been writing the bros for so long that 8 times outta 10 the words just flow out. Sometimes a little too fast and I can’t keep up with what they’re saying XD. Seto’s cynicism and deadpan snark is very opposite to Mokuba’s bubbly friendly speech and yet they both come to me pretty quickly. I do try and put a lot of effort into the “Voice” of my muses so to speak, not only though dialogue, but how they describe things, how they see things, where their minds go first (pessimist/optimist/logic/emotions/etc), how casual they speak, etc. because at the end of the day if your character doesn’t have a distinct voice they’re just kinda spitting facts and information for plot to happen but it doesn’t show who they are.

◑ What is a side to your muse you want to show off, but haven’t had the chance to yet?

A Moki answer to this here [X]. 

For Seto though... hmmm maybe more instances where he’s out of his depth and has to think on his feet? I’ve only really done it in ficlets and such and hinted to it mostly in his dimension travels, but he is seriously playing with fire sometimes. And it’s interesting to see how he behaves under pressure. In most crossover or dimension shenanigans threads my Seto tends to be the one with the advantage or more knowledge how all that stuff works (for obvious reasons) but there’s been plenty of Dimension Slides that he narrowly got out of and also the whole process in farther away dimension is most often a 50/50 chance for whether the repercussions (whether physical or mental) are really bad after a long trip.