#his mental illness does not wave away all the bad things he did obviously.

[hootiee]

friendly reminder

[nitpick7]

Ayo anyone wanna see my essay on why removing Anybody Have A Map made the Dear Evan Hansen movie worse? It is slightly long

Disclaimer: I did like the movie (I cried three times), but I think they made some stupid decisions with it.

Dear Evan Hansen movie + musical spoilers under the cut, plus a fair amount of DEH neg/crit

Instead of Anybody Have A Map, they just have Evan's mom say "Hey are you writing those letters to yourself? Also you should ask the kids to sign your cast" before he goes to school and sings Waving Through A Window. They ignore every other part of the song and quickly insert the only thing from the song that's absolutely needed to understand the story so Evan can go be angsty at school. We don't even meet the Murphys until they meet Evan in the principal's office to tell him about Connor.

Disclaimer part 2 electric boogaloo: I complain about Evan a lot here. It's not because I think his experiences aren't valid and it's not because I'm trying to demonize people with mental illnesses or something. I know that his own struggles influenced his bad decisions. That doesn't mean they weren't bad decisions. He still did shitty things and he wasn't justified (listen to Words Fail), but I know it was influenced by his mental health.

On with the complaining!

First of all, the movie opens with Waving Through A Window? It feels like they're putting the most popular song first as a desperate grab for your attention to convince you the movie is good and like... they really didn't need to do that. Waving Through A Window is right after Anybody Have A Map, it's not like anyone's gonna walk out of the theatre after one (really good) song.

Anybody Have A Map establishes a few things: it shows us that both of these families are struggling so that we know immediately that the Murphys' perfect facade is fake, it shows us that Connor was a dick to his family (this is very important), and obviously it tells us why Evan was writing letters to himself. It also introduces us to the two main families at the same time so we know this story isn't just about Evan.

By starting the movie with an Evan solo song instead of the group song, they frame Evan as the one main character, the only person whose perspective we need to understand. But Evan is incredibly flawed, just like everyone else, and by making us think the story is only about him, it immediately makes us (the audience) more inclined to believe that Evan is always in the right and less inclined to consider everyone else's side of the story. Evan is an incredibly unreliable narrator, he's always going to frame his actions as correct, or at least excusable, even when he's actively hurting/lying to other people.

All of the Murphys get introduced through interacting with Evan instead of interacting with each other. This makes it seem like the Murphys only exist for Evan, but the entire point of the climax is that everything doesn't exist just for Evan! Evan is not part of their family, he can't just use everyone around him for his own benefit, and all of the Murphys have lives outside of him. When they're introduced through Evan, they're introduced as existing for Evan. Anybody Have A Map introduces them separately from Evan instead of attached to him.

Without Anybody Have A Map, we never actually see Connor being mean to Zoe, so she just looks like an asshole for not being sad about her dead brother. To make up for it, she's constantly having to tell the audience why she hated him, tripping over herself to talk about all the shitty things he did to her because we don't have Anybody Have A Map to show us their interactions. Zoe ends up complaining about her brother the entire time, so when it gets to Only Us and she says that she doesn't want everything to be about her brother, it seems out of character for her.

And with the removal of Anybody Have A Map, we don't ever see Connor interact with his own family in the movie. Anybody Have A Map is the only time we get to see Connor with his family. It shows us that Connor really was an asshole to his family, it justifies Zoe hating him, and it gives his mom more dimensions by showing her struggling to keep her family together even with everyone fighting against her. Without that, the writers ended up ignoring the most basic piece of writing advice - "show, don't tell" - to fill in the missing information from the song.

In the movie, all we get of Cynthia Murphy is... her being sad about Connor and refusing to admit that he ever did anything wrong. She's just boring and annoying in the movie, but in the musical, we get that bit at the beginning that shows her as an actual person with actual motivations! By cutting Anybody Have A Map, they made her into a more one-dimensional character.

So in a bit of a conclusion: Anybody Have A Map establishes the Murphys as main characters separate from Evan and shows us Connor's relationship with his family instead of telling us about it. It sets the scene for the story before just jumping into "Evan is sad and alone uwu anxious depressed soft boy" and makes everyone a better, more three-dimensional character. Getting rid of it meant that they had to do backflips to justify everyone's decisions during the movie instead of setting everything up at the beginning.

I do think the movie could've benefitted from Disappear but then again, it could've benefitted from the whole "Connor being the visual/vocal representation of Evan's justifications for why keeping up the lie is helping people" thing in general, but they got rid of that so Disappear wouldn't have worked. (I am salty that they got rid of that thing but whatever) The Anonymous Ones worked instead and it was a good song, so sure, why not I guess? /neutral

I could also complain about how they got rid of To Break In A Glove, Disappear, and Good For You, but none of those decisions actually impacted the story too much. To Break In A Glove and Good For You both got replaced with some tell-not-show cutscenes that gave us the same information in a less interesting way (and Larry got less character development without To Break In A Glove), and Disappear got replaced with an Alana song which was honestly pretty good so i'm fine with that one.

Now for some good changes that the movie made!

The Anonymous Ones was a good song, I actually really liked that. I'm disappointed that they got rid of Disappear, but they replaced it with another song that served the same purpose while also giving Alana more screen time and character depth! And it was a genuinely good song, I really enjoyed it and it made me like Alana more!

I really liked the ending of the movie. In the musical, there are literally no negative consequences for Evan, Zoe even forgives him at the end. She fucking forgives him for lying to her entire family about their dead son and and taking advantage of them because it "brought them closer together". And the internet never finds out what he did! He does all this terrible shit, lies to the entire fucking world, and gets away scot-free. And he never learns anything real about Connor. The movie changes all of that.

Connor's song was also a great addition! Every time we saw Connor in the musical, he was either being a dick or he was a fantasy version of himself made by Evan and/or Jared. Seeing that Connor can, in fact, be a nice person, that Cynthia's belief in him wasn't misplaced, was so satisfying. He really was just a meaner version of Evan a troubled kid lashing out at the world in self-defense. He wasn't an entirely bad person.

The Murphys still decide not to tell anyone what he did, but then Evan decides (on his own!) that he needs to own up to what he did. He records a video of himself admitting to what he did, shifts all the blame to himself, and then goes out of his way to fix his mistakes in any way he can. He says that his biggest regret is not getting to know Connor while he had the chance, so he goes online to find anything he can. He reads Connor's favorite books, tries to find anyone who might be able to tell him what Connor was like, and when he receives a video of Connor playing his song in rehab, he takes the time to send the video (through the mail, on a flash drive) to the Murphys, Jared, and Alana.

Evan doesn't contact Zoe at the end, she contacts him instead. She doesn't forgive him, and he doesn't ask for forgiveness. He knows what he did was wrong and he owns up to it and tries to fix it as much as possible, knowing full well that it could ruin his life. He does the right thing for the first time in the entire fucking movie (that's hardly even an exaggeration) and it's such a good ending. It makes more sense and is more satisfying than the musical.

The Dear Evan Hansen movie was not nearly as bad as the reviews say it was. It wasn't as good as the musical, it had its own problems, but it also made some good changes that I think made the story better. It wasn't perfect, but I enjoyed it and most movies aren't perfect anyway. It really could've benefitted from Anybody Have A Map, though.

[stillness-in-green]

MVA In Memoriam (3/5)

The Comprehensive Account of the Butchering of My Villain Academia

(Introduction and Part One, Episode 108: My Villain Academia) (Part Two, Episode 109: Revival Party)

Part Three, Episode 110: Sad Man's Parade

Chapter 229 – All It Takes Is One Bad Day

• The full first page, of Jin getting mobbed by Puppet!Jins, them tearing his mask off, and flinging it and then him away. Saved them a bit of budget, I suppose, but it’s a shame to lose the drama and the violence of Twice having his mask pulled away, since it’s decent foreshadowing (indeed, possibly intentionally so, on Skeptic’s part) for the violent bewilderment he’ll be subject to shortly.

• Re-Destro’s line, “Not when he’s using his meta-ability to puppeteer, unless you want another nagging lecture.” They didn’t keep the first nagging lecture, so of course they wouldn’t keep this. I’m still annoyed, both on general principle and at the loss of RD’s implication that these nagging lectures are a regular occurrence, especially if one tries to bother Skeptic when he’s using his meta-ability. Has RD himself been on the receiving end of one? Possibly so! But you’d be less likely to think so just from the anime.

• Re-Destro’s line, “This allowed our warriors to momentarily hold back and stay out of danger.” Because why would the audience need to know that Skeptic planned for and Re-Destro cares enough to observe something like that lol?? Obviously the MLA is perfectly content to just throw their peoples’ lives away because, whatever, more where that came from! Dammit, anime, the fandom believes this enough as it is without confirmation bias from your cuts!

• Skeptic’s “fufufu” laugh, because the anime is allergic to the MLA having fun.

• The police officer’s line, “Sure, but in a case like this, you’re still to blame.” The rest of the exchange hints at it, of course, but there’s a horrifying callousness to a police officer just saying straight to the face of a teenaged orphan facing his first offense, “Yes, you were obeying the law perfectly and this guy just ran out in front of you, but it’s going on your criminal record anyway, whatever.” A weight the anime lost, and another that makes me very suspicious of the patterns behind what, precisely, was put on the chopping block.[1]

• Jin’s narration, “That police officer couldn’t have known. Me neither.” Demonstrates that Jin doesn’t really hold his fall against the one policeman. It’s a consistent thread with Jin’s character that, while he’s very jaded, he’s not actually vengeful, nor is he looking to enact systemic change. While he’s very defensive of his friends, people who hurt Jin himself are never in any real danger of him coming to collect his pound of flesh in return; he just rolls with it as part of how the world works, in the way of someone who was never given reason to believe any different. This line is a good example of that.

• From Jin’s old employer’s angry rant, deletes the note that the client that called is angry, and that the client said, “That young punk of yours did this!” It’s nothing that wasn’t obvious from the rest of the conversation, but I do I think cutting it loses a sense that this guy is just unloading all of his frustration and fear on Jin. The length of the screed, the extra details—it clearly communicates that Jin’s boss is so angry and upset he’s not paying any real mind to filtering, but just recounting every point of contention the moment they come into his mind.

• In modern society, when you’re someone without roots… Well, not a lot of people can relate to that.” It isn’t just the police that failed Jin; it’s a whole society that’s distrustful of people who don’t have a place in the fabric, and thus are unwilling to try and bring them into it. Like Tenko, there are a thousand little places where someone could have reached out a hand, but no one ever did. The audience can intuit this, but I feel it’s better to be clear about it—it’s not just the legal system that screwed Jin over; it’s every other person that never tried to help him because they were afraid of his eyes or distrusted a guy who had no connections. When Shigaraki comes, he’s not going to be coming for heroes alone; he’ll be coming for this entire tapestry of indifference and timidity.

• Skeptic’s lines, “Hrm? Fighting back? I was sure he’d either flee or cower in place... We didn’t anticipate such unity between them.” This gets at two things. Firstly, and once again, that the MLA did their research; that they came into this with educated expectations and a definite plan. Secondly, an in-character observation of what the arc has been showing the audience all along: that the League isn’t just a disparate gang of hoodlums anymore; that they’re developing real bonds. Those bonds mark them as unusual—Re-Destro comments on it in 223, as did Overhaul in 147; even Mr. Compress remarks disapprovingly on Twice’s “habit” of getting overly attached to people. It’s striking that, even though the MLA knew from Giran’s records that the League was uncommonly well-bonded, Twice’s devotion still fell outside Skeptic’s parameters.[2]

• Again Skeptic’s line, “Now his legs.” The drones don’t actually get this far (though you can see them gearing up for it on the next page), so it’s a reasonable enough cut, but it does emphasize the ludicrous, over-the-top extremes Skeptic in particular is willing to go to in securing what he wants. If, you know, “Kidnap the doubler so we have a method to make copies of the Grand Commander at our leisure,” wasn’t bonkers enough.

• Twice’s line, “Even against Gigantomachia!” It really highlights just how much mental energy Twice has been dedicating to avoiding injury, that he was able to keep it in mind even fighting a foe as overwhelming, and for as extended a period, as Machia. And like, the anime blitzed over the Machia fight so quickly, and with so little visible wear and tear to the League, that it really could have used all the reminders it could find room for about how intense those six weeks were.

• Twice’s line, “I won’t watch a friend die!” Such an important line that the composer named an entire track for it, not that the anime gave us that track in the moment it was clearly scored for. They added in a new line later in the scene which mostly gets the important sentiments back in, but loses out in being slightly less fitting to his breakthrough. See the Additions portion of the write-up on Chapter 230, following.

Framing Shifts

• The policeman in Jin’s flashback looked up at him in the anime, where in the manga, his eyes stay down on his paperwork the entire time. I realize that anime can’t just still-frame every panel of a manga and call it an adaptation,[3] so characters will do things like move and look around in different directions just in the course of inhabiting a room, Still, in this case, it has the effect of making the officer look more alert and engaged than he was in the manga, and given that this whole chunk of backstory is about Jin slipping through the social safety net, it feels appropriate to me that the officer should be completely checked out.

Additions

• A new shot of Jin(s) in his pre-massacre doppelganger army days. Didn’t tell us anything we don’t already know—it’s little more than a new angle of the gang in the truck—but it was nice to see.

Bonus Note

• They left Re-Destro’s phrase, “My company,” alone when he was talking about the micro-transceivers Skeptic was using. That’s accurate to the manga, but I’d like to remind everyone that, at that point in the anime, viewers whose only reference is the anime itself have no idea that Re-Destro is a businessman. The show skipped the commercial, RD’s intro, the dinner scene where his company comes up, and Giran’s association of RD with Detnerat; it will further go on to skip Shigaraki recognizing him from the commercial. The news report mentioning Detnerat was ten full episodes prior to Episode 110, and was followed up on in not the faintest degree. For heaven’s sake, would it have been so hard to have Hirata Hiroaki say, “My Detnerat’s,” instead of just, “My company’s”?

Chapter 230 – Sad Man’s Parade

• Deleted the MLA members that are attacking Compress as they get pushed off by the Twice wave. Not the first time, and not the last, that the anime didn’t animate the random MLA people on the street. It’s hard to take the threat of their numbers seriously when the anime kept deleting them from what are supposed to be crowd scenes, you know?

• Mr. C thinking worriedly about Dabi as he’s mulling over Geten’s strength and disregard for catching his own people in the collateral damage. It’s just a, “Dabi—!” but it’s yet another tiny cut that shaves away at the manga’s clear depiction of Leagues’ concern for one another—even Mr. Compress, who claims that such things aren’t very villainous.

Framing Shifts

• Changed the random MLA’s exhortation to kill all the Twices to a generic, “Damn—!” I know American censors have often taken issue with the words “Kill” and “Die” in kids’ cartoons, but I was never of the impression that that was the case in Japan. And it’s not like the show made any bones about Curious planning to kill Toga. A rephrase to save a second and a half on dialogue, maybe?

• Had Skeptic give his lines about failure on the way over to the elevator instead of stalking over in silence, and then dumping the whole monologue all at once. The manga’s extended silence over three identically sized panels is much funnier and more characterful. I grow ever more confident in my assessment of Skeptic as the second-most ill-treated MLA character in this adaptation.

• The return of the Doom Choirs for the Twice Parade. I really wish the anime would lay off slathering Doom Choirs all over everything, especially a moment like this: a triumph for Twice, and, true to form for Twice, also crammed to the gills with visual and verbal gags. The Doom Choir is out of keeping with both the victory and the comedy—Mine Woman, later on, served the Parade much better.

Additions

• Gave Twice a new line, “I will protect my comrades!” It was nice to make up for his, “I won’t watch a friend die!” but the latter is more characterful, especially since a more literal translation is, “I won’t kill my friends!” Which is, you know, relevant to the fact that Twice has problems telling himself apart from things that just look like him, and he just had to intervene to stop some of those look-alikes from killing one of said friends. At least it got his use of nakama back in.[4]

• A new little cut of animation as the action went back to Geten and Dabi. I suppose the Dabi fans liked it, and it was nice to see more of Geten’s ice dragon, but I’d have much preferred they could keep the scenes we already have before adding new ones.

Chapter 231 – Path

The scene of Hawks wondering why he hasn’t heard from Dabi and his subsequent flashback to the last time they spoke were relocated to the beginning of Episode 102, the first thing the audience saw after the prior episode ended with Shouto inviting Bakugou and Deku to come intern with him at Endeavor’s. In the manga, of course, it’s not “a few weeks ago in Kyushu,” it’s “meanwhile in Osaka.” Also, the order of the scenes was flipped—the episode led with the flashback, then returned to the modern day. It really makes the timeline needlessly confusing—the viewer has no real context for what we’re seeing and when, especially since the anime neglected to specify how much time passed between the two scenes. You have to assume it was enough time for an outcry to be raised over Jeanist’s disappearance, but the random shot of a bird flying over was not at all helpful there.

          Alterations included (as usual, outright removed material is in bold text):

          1. Cut Hawks’ thought, “That’s why you keep calling,” and his line, “What’s the job?” I know I should give a breakdown here about Hawks’ mentality and training, but I’m afraid I don’t have it in me to complain about any lines Takami Keigo loses. God knows the anime gives him plenty enough bonus material.

          2. Spliced in the flashback scene of Hawks reporting to the Commission from Chapter 243, but subtly changed it to suggest that it took place after the phonecall in which Dabi demanded Hawks kill a non-Endeavor top hero, rather than it taking place right after Hawks and Dabi’s first contact, which is what the manga implies.

          3. Deleted several key shots in the Jeanist apartment scene, with the effect of making Hawks way less creepy. We got an anime-original shot of his eyes, narrow and serious, but not either of the shots of his big, off-putting grin and widened eyes as he pulls a feather-blade on Jeanist. We also lost a shot of Jeanist turning to face him, framed between extended primaries of Hawks’ Fierce Wings. It’s not like the anime dropped the fake!Dead Jeanist plot, so I’m not sure why the shift, unless it’s just that they wanted to keep Hawks likable for the merch-buying crowd, not creepy and unsettling. And while I personally never believed that Hawks really killed Jeanist, a lot of people thought it was plausible, no doubt based on how off-kilter he comes across in this scene. It loses a real frisson, to just play it straight.

• Shigaraki decaying a missile in mid-air. So Dabi can get those little animation flourishes but Tomura can’t, huh, anime? I see how it is. I. See. How. It. Is.

• Spinner’s little side comment about all the ice everywhere. A nice demonstration that Geten and Dabi’s fight really is affecting huge swathes of the city; that’s certainly apparent already in a bunch of the wide shots showing exactly that, but it’s helpful to have the more zoomed-in moments, too. Also, I do enjoy those little side quips wherever we get them, and the anime often removes them.

• Thinned out the crowd guarding the route to the tower somewhat (it’s particularly noticeable on the mid-distance rooftops) and, as best I can tell, removed Shigaraki and Spinner from the shot. Why keep all the lines harping on the 110,000 number when a) it’s not even accurate to the MLA’s forces, just the League’s assumptions, and b) the studio doesn’t even have the resources to adequately convey the numbers the manga does portray?

• Somebody in the crowd being defiant about Twice’s multiplication and vigorously declaring that the League are all just sacrifices for the MLA’s Revival Party anyway. The background nobodies? Allowed to express even bog-standard over-confidence? Well I never. How dare those people think their lives count enough for them to get dialogue.

• Spinner’s, “This keeps happening!” Of course he couldn’t have that line in the anime, since the anime cut the other big place Trumpet clearly used his power to rile up his followers. What other times were you even talking about when you said, “Every time he talks,” Anime!Spinner? That scene was the first time we even saw Trumpet since he welcomed you guys to town.

• Twice calling Re-Destro a cult leader. He just called him a damn moron (bakayarou) in the anime; he uses the considerably more specific baka kyouso (Google Translate gives “guru”; jisho gives “founder of a religious sect”). He uses the same term again immediately afterward—Viz’s translation gives, “More like chrome dome cult!”—which the anime also deleted.

          So here’s another example of the anime doing everything it could to erase the presence of cults in the HeroAca world. The easy assumption to make is that this was tied to broadcast standards about the depiction of what Japan refers to as “new religious movements,” which—and pardon the brief swerve into real life historical horrors here—have been very unpopular in Japan since Aum Shinrikyo and the sarin gas attacks in 1995. But were these elements removed because the anime didn’t want to represent anything that smacks of new religious movements at all, or because the depiction of both the MLA and particularly the CRC are explicitly villainous and calling religious movements, even made-up ones, evil on TV leads to a lot of angry phone calls?

• Re-Destro’s line, “Unlike my good Miyashita, there’s nothing charming about you.” Of course they’d cut this, having cut the Miyashita scene, but I hate it anyway. As I said earlier, RD’s invocation of Miyashita in front of two people who are going to have not the slightest clue who that is tells me that Re-Destro really does miss and feel bad about killing the guy. Cutting the reminder that RD still feels that sting makes it much too easy to assume that Shigaraki’s right about RD hiding up in his tower, uncaring of the blood shed on his behalf, when if you read Re-Destro with even the slightest of attempts at good faith, it’s clear that those losses weigh very heavily on him.

          Incidentally, and not to harp on the art again, but in the manga, Stress is still visibly spread down from RD’s temple to the ridge of his brow over his eye socket. The anime returned it back to its normal resting state, again suggesting that the death toll mounting in the streets below (as well as, possibly, the new stress of confronting a quirk as powerful as Double) left RD completely unmoved. The spread was back in the following shot, so it was probably just an art error, but it would be nice to have had fewer of those, especially when they impact characterization as much as what RD’s Stress blots are doing at any given time.

Framing Shifts

• Had Machia doing this weird cannonball skim just over the ground, when in the manga, he’s still half-buried, spraying earth and stone everywhere. The manga never namedrops Machia’s Mole quirk during the story itself, but it’s important to know for later that Machia can not only tear through obstacles, he can tear through obstacles extremely quickly.

Additions

• Gave Hawks a few new lines about how too many unexpected things happened for their last arrangement, and that Dabi should have given him more warning. Largely seemed to be there to give the anime an excuse to flashback to the High End fight, in case the viewers had completely forgotten about Hawks and Dabi having a clandestine meeting and sniping at each other in the aftermath of that event. An understandable addition, but deeply frustrating in the context of all the lines that got cut.

Chapter 232 – Meta Abilities and Quirks

• Dropped a third instance of Twice calling Re-Destro a cult leader. I don’t know what the S&P restriction is on this, but given that the movie was allowed to create and villainize an entire international terrorist cult, it is really incomprehensible that the MLA doesn’t get to keep their designation as such. Why?? Because the movie involves going out and defeating its cult, but the series is going to engage in a more sympathetic treatment?[5] Because the self-selecting movie crowd is less likely to complain than the TV audience? Did they just not want to draw attention to how much the movie was ripping off the MLA’s whole shtick? What??

• Missed that RD’s swole arm swipe wipes out the puppets Skeptic left behind; they just vanished from the scene entirely after Twice’s arrival. It’s hard to blame the anime for this; the manga also seems to lose track of the fact that they’re right there in between RD and the elevator—they’re nowhere to be seen anywhere between the end of Chapter 231 and the aforementioned arm swipe, where you can see them getting obliterated. Both versions could have stood to be more attentive to this; indeed, the anime could have fixed it, small error though it is.

• A sort of twitchy sparking around Shigaraki���s hand right after he decays the tower. This is foreshadowing that Shigaraki’s big AOE decay attacks are hard on his body, which will become extremely apparent after he unleashes it on the city at large during the climax, and factors into his decision to accept the mysterious power Ujiko offers. The damage Shigaraki sustains there doesn’t come out of nowhere; Horikoshi is, on the whole, extremely good at layering in foreshadowing many chapters before the foreshadowed elements come fully to light. It makes the writing look much messier than it actually is—more convenient, more pat—to delete this stuff.

• Shigaraki recognizing RD from the Detnerat commercials. Well, they ditched the Detnerat commercial, so of course they ditched this. Still, it lost one of the indicators that Shigaraki is, despite not receiving a formal education, actually quite up to speed on current events—even, apparently, when those current events are happening while he’s been fighting Machia in an isolated stretch of mountains for six weeks! I already suffer enough through fanon characterizations of Shigaraki in which he’s a basement-dwelling feral manchild glued to his gaming console whom AFO bans from accessing information about the outside world, anime! I don’t need you dropping the scenes that most clearly demonstrate otherwise!!

• In the anime, Baby!Chikara’s face was unmarked, just a normal infant face—you’d never even know the kid had a meta-ability just to look at him. In the manga, the skin of his face is clearly darker, contrasted against the paleness of his mother’s hand. It’s obvious that he’s not “normal” looking, and thus equally obviously would have attracted negative attention in his era.[6] Also had his mother smiling; her face in the manga is too shadowed and vague to make out an expression, befitting the murky tragedy of her story and the fear she must have been living with.

Framing Shifts

Additions

• A little thing: they had Twice echo, “Cushion?” when Clone!Shigaraki told him to get ready to cushion Giran’s fall. If anything, Re-Destro and his little thought-bubbled question mark is probably the one who should have had this reaction line.

• Added a visual for Clone-araki catching himself on the window. A perfectly reasonable way to fill screen time while a dialogue beat was ongoing.

• Added a panning still over a reaction shot from a bunch of Twice clones when the tower came down. It had a few good faces in it.

                                                           ---

So, generally, this episode was better. I definitely still had issues with it, but compared to what came before, when they were trying to cram 5+ chapters into the episodes, there were far fewer cuts, and what cuts and tweaks there were, were relatively minor. Definitely nothing that made me want to throw chairs Jerry Springer-style the way 108 and 109 did.

Sadly, I can't say the same for the remaining two episodes. Come back next time for Part Four, Episode 111: Shimura Tenko, Origin.

FOOTNOTES

[1] After witnessing the massacre that was Episode 108, I was convinced they were going to cut the policeman scene entirely, and just go right to Jin getting fired for hitting someone with his bike, letting the audience think it was his fault completely rather than cast aspersions on police and the justness of the law. I was pleased they kept it at all, but less pleased with the steps taken to soften the sharpness of its accusation.

[2] Of course, it’s not like the MLA themselves don’t understand the willingness to give everything for the people who matter. They just label those feelings Devotion To The Cause, and don’t think the League is capable of such resolution.

[3] Netflix’s Way of the House Husband, be told.

[4] Nakama is, of course, a shonen standby, but, to the best of my knowledge (which is admittedly limited; I don’t follow a lot of shounen series), it’s pretty rare to hear the word coming out of a villain’s mouth! Jin calling the League his nakama ties into how the League are both sympathetic villains in the larger story and also the protagonists of the current arc, thereby operating under a lot of protag tropes for the duration—foreshadowed by Spinner’s earlier talk of Shigaraki and his boyish, dream-chasing eyes.

[5] Sometime after the mass arrests, one hopes.

[6] This could well be a coloring error in the manga, but if so, you’d think they’d have corrected it for the volume release. Especially given that, again, the color is in a different shade/screentone than the shadow that covers most of his mother’s face, and her hand stroking Chikara’s chin isn’t shadowed at all.

[kitkat1003]

our mans mk asking spirit the dumbest question imaginable about their eyes — prompt 79 pls

Oh boy

79. How did you get that scar?

Or...

MK likes dragging Spirit out on walks. According to him, Spirit needs sunlight, and needs to be more sociable in general. Apparently, working mostly behind the counter all day and disappearing into Pigsy and Tang's apartment the moment the day is done is a sign of being a recluse.

Spirit just likes it when there's very little people and very little noise. Going outside is the opposite of that.

Spirit thinks that MK like that they know every random hole in the wall place in Megaopolis. They did memorize the layout of the city, after all. Though it was for markedly different reasons.

Because they're taking back streets, and are staying away from the busy areas, MK manages to convince Spirit to, you know, look like themself. Being in human form isn't all that bad, but MK says that they shouldn't hide so much.

"This Rou jia mo is really good! You should try it," MK holds out the latest culinary discovery with a wide grin.

Spirit leans away from the encroaching hands. Always toward the face-they don't take it personally, but every time they get a jolt of terror from the memory that plays in the back of their mind.

"Ah-no thanks. I'm not hungry, and, uh, you're probably enjoying it more than I would," They wave a hand.

MK shrugs.

"Alright," He shoves the rest of the burger-esque food into his mouth, somehow managing to fit it all in his mouth in one bite. "But," his voice is muffled as he chews. "You're kind of never hungry. Pigsy says you need to eat more."

Spirit blinks. Sure, they don't eat three meals a day, but they eat at least once a week. Macaque says that a good warrior doesn't need to eat for months. So they trained themself not to eat so much.

"He does?" They ask, a little self conscious. They thought they were being helpful. If they don't need to eat, then Pigsy can save money. He always talks about MK wasting money by messing up deliveries, and while Spirit hasn't seen Pigsy hurt MK in front of them, they're sure if MK's mistakes make a considerable dent in profits, Pigsy won't be so charitable.

"Yeah, when you're out on breaks or not in the room he'll tell Tang that you look like a scarecrow. I think he's worried," MK shrugs again.

"Oh," Spirit replies, for lack of a better response.

They rub at their eyes-their vision is all blurry, that's weird-and sniffle a little bit.

"Uh, anyway," MK takes their odd response as a cue to change the subject. "I've been kind of curious actually. Why'd do you have 3 eyes?"

A change of subject indeed, but no less anxiety inducing. Spirit feels like ice has been poured down their back.

"Um," They start. "I was born with them."

They're not lying, per se, though they're definitely not telling the truth.

"I mean, obviously," Mk continues, ignorant of Spirit's growing discomfort. "But like, you'd think you'd have four, right? 3 is kind of lopsided. "

"I mean, a little," Spirit agrees. "Sometimes my vision gets all blurry."

They hate this line of questioning, are terrified of the implications, the memories, but something they've learned to do when they can't escape a horrifying situation that isn't causing them physical harm is to step back, mentally. Place the most of themself somewhere safe where the conversation can't reach and then keep the bravest part of themself out to handle it.

"Yeah, so it's weird! Being born with 3 eyes like that is, like, an anomaly or something," MK says this all without cruelty to his tone, just with curiosity. Fascination, really. It is true, that Spirit is odd.

Out of place.

But MK is just interested in them, not being mean. Spirit would know if he was being cruel. Sometimes MK just says things without thinking.

"Well," They say. "Sorry, for being anomalous."

They mean it as a funny thing, but they don't have enough of themself paying attention to use the proper tone. It certainly snaps MK out of his line of questioning, a look of horrified realization crossing his face.

"I didn't mean-I, uh, I mean, if they work they work!" He waves his hands as if to dispell any notion of ill intent.

They've just about made it back to the shop.

"And, I mean, uh, I like them," MK continues. "They're cool, and I like them. Your eyes, I mean."

Spirit smiles.

"That makes one of us," They respond, cheerful as ever, and disappear into the noodle shop before MK can say another word.

[starprin101]

Soundscream Week

Day 4: Ideal

Nothing is perfect.

It's a nice thought to have, that the object in question could be any sort of ideal. But the reality is that it's not. Nothing is.

Starscream had learnt that early in his life, and it made him feel wiser than everyone else. He put himself on a pedestal because he claimed to understand it.

Oh? Someone can't do their job properly? Well, nothing is perfect.

Oh? The Vehicons had to blow up a small portion of energon to attack an Autobot? Well, nothing's perfect.

Oh? Megatron's back after being conked out for weeks and is just as mad as ever although it might be worse? Well-... well actually that could've gone better.

But the point is: that was the law of the universe, nothing is perfect.

Except Soundwave.

When he does his tasks, multiple at a time I remind you, he completes all of them flawlessly. When he goes on the rare mission, he always -always- achieves his goal. And when complications get in the way, he successfully maneuvers around them with ease.

Soundwave is the very definition of the word and that's why Starscream despised him. One of the reasons. Another one was how despite that, he still admired him.

There was a sort of... fluidity to his actions. Every click of a button, every gliding step, every movement he made mesmerized anyone who watched. That just infuriated him more.

That's how it used to be, when it was just simple mutual hatred. Now, it had become so much more complicated there couldn't be a label. It wasn't terrible per say, it just frustrated him how confusing it was.

Sometimes they were nice to each other, like they were friends, and other times it was that same rivalry from the beginning, though that was happening a lot less.

And it was all because of Soundwave's favour.

After that night he thought they weren't going to do it again. Obviously it was just a one time thing for his apparent sake.

But they did. Again, and again, and again, and again. He doesn't even know how it happens anymore, it just does.

But afterwards, that's usually the strangest time he experiences. The first few times they'd lie there, mentally gather themselves, then leave and carry on as before. But then Soundwave started cuddling him. Starscream just went stiff the first time, not knowing what to make of it, and occasionally tried to push him away only to give up and just take it. But the more it happened, the more comfortable he became. Then they started talking to each other. It was nothing important, they just spoke whatever was on their mind. It's fun.

Now was just like that.

"- and then, when he's at his weakest, I'll fire the missile and BOOM!" Starscream waved his arm in an arc above him, careful not to slap Soundwave in the process. The two were lying in the TIC's berth, wrapped around each other. Starscream's arm under Soundwave's head like a pillow, Soundwave's arms holding his chassis close, and a pede each hooking together. Neither seemed to mind their position.

"Incorrect."

Starscream's smile dropped and he looked back at Soundwave. "And why's that?"

"Where will the missile even come from!?"

Starscream frowned. That was in his voice. "When did I say that?"

"You're changing the subject Starscream."

He smirked. Lowering his arm back around Soundwave's waist, he continued. "Well, obviously the missile will come from the Nemesis!"

"Which is already keeping the Autobots at bay."

"No, the Vehicons are taking care of them!"

"Which are also supplied from the Nemesis. -and you're already halfway across the planet."

"Have you forgotten we have a groundbridge?"

"We have a limited amount of drones. Statistics show we'll eventually run out- and the Autobots will come to the rescue- before you complete your plan."

He glared at him. "... well obviously there are going to be a few holes in my plans. I hope you know that's not the best I can come up with. It was made up on the spot."

"Of course it was."

Starscream playfully slapped his aft and Soundwave sent an outraged burst of feedback. He chuckled. "Alright then smart mouth, how would you defeat Optimus Prime?"

"That is not my interest."

"Then say, for the sake of hypothetical, he destroyed Megatron. What's your plan of action?"

"Revenge is a waste of time."

"Just try to indulge me will you?"

Soundwave fell silent, considering it, then planning it. The silence allowed Starscream to hear the gentle purring of Soundwave's engine.

The first time he heard that, he doubled over laughing, calling him a cat. He laughed until his throat hurt, though that was mainly caused by Soundwave throttling him. Afterwards he stopped laughing (as hard) whenever it happens. Even now he let out a small snicker. Soundwave's head shot up and he could feel hidden optics glaring threateningly at him.

"What?" He asked innocently. He'd never say it out loud, but it was... endearing when he made that noise. It was almost comforting.

Soundwave just answered with an image flickering on his visor, with a whole description next to it. Starscream wasn't going to read the whole thing, but he got the basics. "A virus? I hate to sound rude, but viruses and poisons are a coward's weapons."

Images of the rest of Team Prime surrounded the virus, and Starscream understood. "Ah, take the lackeys out of the picture. You could infect the medic first so they won't find a cure in time. Do we have any viruses like that?"

"If I did I would have used it by now."

"Good point. And what of Prime? Are you going to fight him or something?" A nod. "Megatron can't even defeat him one on one! I must ask what you'll do that's so different."

"Lord Megatron is a great fighter- but he lacks tactic." Starscream's gasp was comically exaggerated.

"Soundwave! I have never heard you speak so ill of our great and glorious leader! How could you disregard such a wonderful, powerful-" A smack to his head and he burst out laughing.

"Heheh. But- but in all seriousness, I have never heard you say anything bad about Megatron before."

"I only speak the truth. -an' the truth is he be bat-shit crazy!"

Starscream laughed again at that ridiculous voice, whatever on Earth that was, and pulled him closer.

"My my! Is this Soundwave finally showing his true colours?" He chuckled, while said bot just tucked his head under Starscream's, probably to hide his (already hidden) embarrassment.

"You will not repeat what happened."

"I know. 'What happens in the berth, stays in the berth'." He recited.

The chuckling died down, and he couldn't help but think.

"Soundwave... if you really think he's gone mad, and his plans are ridiculous, why don't you stop him? He listens to you doesn't he?"

"Once he starts, you can't stop him."

He hummed. "I suppose that's true."

A moment of silence, then his smile came back. "Well, if you ever feel like it's time to get rid of Megatron and anoint me as the new leader, we could always team up." Soundwave hit him again and he laughed.

"I'll leave the offer open if you change your mind." He thought he would receive another smack, but instead Soundwave just buried himself in Starscream's chassis.

"Hm. Now would be a good time to recharge actually. It'll be suspicious if you're late tomorrow." His chronometer told him it was around midnight. He nuzzled his helm on top of Soundwave's.

"Goodnight Cat." A static huff with a knee jabbing his thigh, and he snickered.

Soundwave is phenomenal at whatever he does. And as an individual bot? Who purrs, and cuddles and, apparently, has the tendency to drop his apathetic act and be ridiculous? He'd say Soundwave is still ideal, though this time Starscream wouldn't mind it too much.

[ghostcribs]

supporting role

maplekeene

2635 words

Fitzroy wakes up from his post-curse nap and Argo is there.

—

Fitzroy can’t really remember ever opening his eyes while waking. Usually when he exits his trances, the world just sort of snaps into clarity and his full consciousness comes back to him, but it never really completely left to begin with. This time, it’s very different, and very disorienting. When his consciousness returns, it feels like he’s floating to the top of some dark body of water, like his mind is fighting to emerge from a pitch-black sludge and he can’t remember what he’d been doing. He’s had no awareness of the world at all for the past… Well, he certainly doesn’t know how long it’s been.

He’s so tired. He doesn’t even realize his eyes are closed for a little while, and when he does, it feels like it takes all the strength he has to open them. His surroundings are blurred slightly, at first, and for a brief moment he’s afraid the curse hadn’t been completely dispelled and he’s going to be pulled back into a nightmare. But then his head clears a bit and he finds his faculties fully returning, even if it feels like his bones are lead and every part of his being hurts.

He’s in their tent, he realizes. The canvas walls are alight with the sun outside. He’s pleasantly warm under a light blanket on the cot. He sees his cloak, vest, belts, and boots piled on the ground against the far wall and makes a mental note to scold whoever decided to just drop his expensive wardrobe in the dirt, but he doesn’t have too much time to get worked up over it because then there’s a sound of shifting fabric beside him and he looks up to see—

Argo. The water Genasi is sat in a wooden chair beside the cot, arms folded over his chest and one leg propped up on the other, dozing lightly. His head is bobbing a little, like he’s nodding off in class, and Fitzroy can’t help but smile at the sight.

He takes a moment to appreciate it. Argo couldn’t look unattractive if he tried, honestly, which is a real feat considering he has a goddamn mustache—Fitzroy hated it when they’d first met, but somehow over time he’d come to think it was kind of hot and now hates himself for that. But he thinks Argo looks the most attractive when he doesn’t know anyone is looking at him, so he really drinks in the sight of his toned arms, evident even through his loose tunic, and the smooth chest that’s pretty much always on display since he never laces up his shirts. His navy hair is tied back as usual, the dark curls cascading over his shoulders and back in casual waves. The way the soft light coming through the tent falls on the planes of his face and makes his blue scales shine like water really starts up the butterflies in Fitzroy’s stomach and god, he probably needs to not be staring like this at his friend and coworker—

And then, just like, a memory comes rushing to the forefront of his brain complete unbidden and echoes loudly in his ears. He can hear it as clearly as he can hear his own breathing.

“I know all about ya. I know… I know you’re not the fancy lad that you put on. You come from, y’know, kinda lowly stock. Your mom and your long haul truck driver dad, and… I know this ‘cause I was investigatin’ ya. I was checkin’ up on ya, keepin’ an eye on ya.”

Something sour curls in Fitzroy’s gut. Of course, he’s known that something was up with Argo for a while now, and he can’t be completely sure that this is what he’s been up to, but to know that his friend, his sidekick, has been secretly digging through his past and personal life… The betrayal from that is only rivaled by his utter embarrassment and—he hates to admit—shame. He’s spent a considerable amount of effort to keep anyone from learning about his background, and for Argo to be the one to find out is…kind of catastrophic, if he’s being honest. For different reasons.

He’s really not looking forward to the talk they’re going to have to have in the near future.

The longer he looks at Argo, though, the more memories begin to come back and there’s a large part of Fitzroy that just can’t be angry with him. There is no part of Argonaut Keene that has ever been mean or petty or vicious, which Fitzroy can’t say of himself, and in his heart of hearts he knows that Argo couldn’t have had ill intentions. Was it kind of shitty? Yeah, but Argo must have thought there was good reason. He’s a rogue, but he’s never struck Fitzroy as nosy. Not when it comes to his friends.

And that brings back more of Argo’s one-sided conversation with his lifeless body.

“You’re a good dude. You’re a really good dude, and you’re my friend, and I believe—I believe in ya.”

“I’m your friend, and Firbolg is your friend. And I think you’re gonna be remarkable! I think you’re gonna be just an amazing person! Because, you just… You have it in ya.”

“Don’t let your failure dictate what you’re gonna be. Y’know, when you fail at somethin’ the only way it defines ya is if you give up! And you haven’t given up!”

“Look, you gotta come back to us. We can’t do this without ya.”

A flood of warmth rushes through Fitzroy, then. He’s said in the past that he doesn’t trust Argo, but he’s not sure if that’s really true. Even when he acts shady and keeps obvious secrets, Fitzroy would still trust him with his life. The utter adoration that blooms inside him at just the sight of the rogue is enough to quell his unease about their current standings, at least a little.

He’s glad he was unconscious while Argo practically bared his heart in front of him, and he’s even gladder that he heard everything. He’s never really known someone with a heart of gold before, not like Argo’s. Affection swells alarmingly within him as he continues to gaze at the Genasi’s sharp, handsome features, dark eyelashes fanning out across his blue skin, shiny lips parted slightly, strong chest rising and falling with gentle breaths—

Before he feels too flustered, he coughs a little and, as he’d thought, Argo starts and wakes immediately. When his sea green eyes fall on Fitzroy, Fitzroy smiles and hopes it doesn’t look as awkward as it feels. “We’ve got to stop meeting like this.”

Argo smiles, too, a softer version of the relieved expression on his face the last time Fitzroy had woken up beside him. “I spend a lot of time at your bedside.”

“I know.” He laughs a little. “I’m, uh, I’m a frail—”

“It’s a little creepy,” Argo says with a kind grin.  

Fitzroy shifts and tries to prop himself up, but his arms don’t seem to want to hold his weight very well. It’s embarrassing, being this weak in front of Argo, but it would’ve probably bothered him a lot more if his sidekick hadn’t looked at him with such soft kindness and wordlessly reached out to support him until he was sitting.

He takes a breath and tries to get his head on straight. It’s probably a good idea to get right down to business—there are far more pressing matters than his and Argo’s relationship and it’s the next thing weighing on him. The past twenty-four hours have been…a lot.

“Um, Argo,” he says, fiddling with the edge of his blanket. “I heard…what you said to me, in some far-off, distant part of my consciousness while I was suffering from the curse. And… We obviously have a lot to talk about. But I just have one thing to say to you right now, Argo.”

The suspense is palpable between them and Fitzroy almost wants to say something else entirely, but he shoves that aside.

“Tell me you picked up the pieces of the apple that I took a bite out of.”

—

After making sure the apple is mended and safely stowed away, Fitzroy leans back in the cot for a moment. Exhaustion really has set deep in every fiber of his body and he aches all over.

“Ya doin’ alright?” Argo asks, a concerned frown coming over his face. “I mean, that was… That was all pretty intense. Are you feelin’ okay?”

“I’m…very tired.” Fitzroy runs fingers through his hair, suddenly aware that he probably looks like a mess and undoubtedly has bad bedhead.

“I’m sure.” Argo looks a little uncomfortable for a moment, his gaze falling and his hands fidgeting in his lap. “Can—can I ask you a question, Fitz?”

Fitzroy isn’t sure why his stomach drops, but he nods. “Uh, sure.”

“If you heard me talkin’ about—about, y’know, that, then… Did ya hear…everything?” He looks equal parts anxious and hopeful as he asks it, like half of him is dreading Fitzroy’s answer and the other half is hoping he’ll say yes.

Fitzroy looks at him for a moment, contemplating and trying to figure out how to go about answering the question. He’s not surprised Argo’s asking, but he’s not sure what he’s hoping he’ll say.

He takes a breath. “Yes, the adventures of Larry the Lime were…extremely riveting.”

A blush slams into Argo’s cheeks and he laughs loudly. “Yeah, I know!”

Fitzroy laughs too, feeling a blush crawl up into his own cheeks. He loves seeing Argo laugh.

After another moment, though, the laughter dies down and the actual topic at hand still hangs between them acutely, unaddressed. Fitzroy combs through his hair again. “Um, but seriously, Argo, I—yes, I heard everything. I should… I should thank you for what you said. I didn’t know you felt that way, and I’m… Well, thank you.” He clears his throat awkwardly and feels the blush heat up. Expressing genuine, heartfelt emotion has never been especially easy for him. “It probably didn’t seem like it, but your presence helped a lot. I could…feel your support and that meant a lot to me.”

When he looks up, Argo is smiling from ear to ear. It makes Fitzroy’s stomach do another somersault. “I helped? I mean, you really feel like it helped?”

Fitzroy blinks and nods. “Yes, I—”

“Ha ha!” Argo, seemingly without thinking, reaches over and grabs Fitzroy’s hand with both of his. “I felt so helpless the whole time. I mean, the Firbolg went lookin’ for Calhain and Althea had that ward and I just—I felt like I couldn’t do anything to help except sit there and talk, so I’m really glad that I—that I could help ya, even a little.”

Then, he looks down and realizes he’s got Fitzroy’s hand. His eyes widen and he lets go as if it’s burned him. “Oh… I’m sorry, Fitz, I didn’t mean ta—”

The sudden absence of the rogue’s palm, of the cool, scaly skin against his own hand is surprisingly jarring. To Fitzroy’s horror, he finds himself chasing Argo’s hand and grabbing it. “Argo, I—”

Argo, I what? What exactly is he planning on saying? What the hell is he doing?

“Argo… I…” He swallows thickly. His gaze is trained on their hands, on his sidekick’s blue fingers curling around his own. “When I say your support meant a lot to me, I mean that… Well, you mean a lot to me. You mean a lot more to me than I can—” He stutters, completely unsure what his mouth is trying to do. But it’s sure as shit too late to back out now, isn’t it? “Do you… Do you understand where I’m going with this? It’s—I—”

The other scaly palm is suddenly on his cheek and he looks up with a start. Argo’s face is very close, close enough that Fitzroy can smell the salty ocean scent that follows him around, like he’s constantly being chased by a sea breeze. “Are ya sayin’ that ya like me?”

Fitzroy’s face is on fire—it must be. This is definitely not how he imagined this conversation going and yet… And yet, Argo is so close. His heart is pounding. His breath is coming quicker and he feels like any second now he’ll explode all to pieces. The only thing keeping him together is the fact that Argo’s touching him and somehow it feels right. It feels safe. It feels…kind of like the home he’s always wanted.

Slowly, Fitzroy nods. “I—yes, that’s what I’m saying. I…” He takes another deep breath. “Like you, Argo, and I think I have for some time now. It’s okay if you don’t feel the same, I don’t expect you to—”

“Fitz.”

Fitzroy blinks, confused. “Huh?”

“Will ya shut up and let me kiss you?”

His heart is hammering away at his ribcage and it feels like all his insides are melting into goop and his head is spinning so fast he can hardly think, but his body reacts almost on its own. He whispers, “Yes.”

Argo’s lips are dry, but smooth, and cool like the rest of his skin. It’s quite pleasant. Fitzroy had never allowed himself to entertain the thought of kissing him much, for the fact that he was almost certain his feelings were unrequited, but if he had imagined it, this would probably be exactly it. Argo’s hand is still cupping his face, and without really thinking Fitzroy’s hand rises to his shoulder, up his neck, and into his hair. There it tangles into the damp, beachy waves that are just as soft as he would have guessed.

The kiss isn’t long, even though Fitzroy would like it to be. But there’s activity on the other side of the tent, and they both seem to remember that there’s business to attend to at the same time.

When Fitzroy opens his eyes, Argo looks just as breathless and stunned as he feels. There’s a handsome flush in his cheeks and a sparkle in his eyes that Fitzroy doesn’t see very often. A curl has come loose from his ponytail and dangles in his face and it’s honestly kind of adorable.

“This doesn’t get you off the hook,” Fitzroy says, still trying to get his breath back.

Argo winces a bit. “Yeah… I know.”

Fitzroy swings his legs over the side of the cot, grimacing at the ache in his body when he does. “And I guess we have even more to talk about now.”

“I guess we do.”

“But, um. That was…very enjoyable. I’d like to do it again sometime when I don’t feel like death warmed over.”

Argo smiles. “That would be great.”

They each take a moment to collect themselves. Argo re-ties his hair and Fitzroy stands to put on the rest of his outfit and comb his hair with an actual comb that he keeps in his belt pouch. He’ll really have to compartmentalize this, he thinks, if he wants to finish this assignment strongly.

As they’re about to exit the tent, Argo clears his throat and leans in close to Fitzroy’s ear. Tingles race down his spine when he feels that stupid mustache tickle the side of his face. “Just in case it wasn’t clear, Fitz, I like you too.”

With that, the Genasi pushes aside the tent flap and departs in one quick, fluid motion, leaving Fitzroy standing there with steam coming from his ears. Althea is worried he’s gotten sick when he finally joins the rest of the group, and he makes a point of remembering to strangle Argo later for winking at him.

[shypotato-translations]

QTVW Chapter 1

Future* President Fiancee (I)

----

A young girl with a bit of youthfulness on her face, leaned in and kissed her on the lips, with a smile on her lips, she said: "I... love you"

Mulan blinked, lips trembling, she wanted to say something, but was interrupted by the voice inside her head. That voice was cold and mechanical, without the slightest emotion, it said:

【Mission accomplished, cutting the corresponding memory of system host Mu Lan ; System host Mu Lan, This body withdrew from the role of cannon fodder "Yao Mu Lan".】

【Earn Points: 100 Points ;

Accumulated Points: 100 Points ;

Skill Collection: Beginner Cookery ; 】

【Forcing entry to the next mission world ;

Random selection of new missions in progress….

New mission download completed, official host time transfer. 】

After a moment of heavenly distortion, Mu Lan opened her eyes.

She sat up and took a quick look at her surroundings.

This is a bedroom of about 50 or 60 square meters, a luxurious bed beneath her, which occupies a not insignificant space on one side of the room, a white wooden closet on the right side of her body, and on the left-hand side, a half-covered light blue curtain.

A few sunlight shines through the curtains into the house, reflecting the whole room eerily.

This room is arranged very monotonously, cold tone is the theme color, although gloomy cold silence, but from its details, it is not difficult to see that this is a woman's room.

After Mu Lan finished viewing it, a huge wave of plots and memories came to her mind.

Mu Lan collapsed helplessly on the ** and endured the headache-inducing pain. When the pain faded away, Mu Lan breathed a sigh of relief from exhaustion.

From the plot, it is known that she is now crossing this novel world, the background is set in the future world more than a thousand years later, that is, the thirty-second century.

From within the plot, it is possible to know, the novel world she is crossing now, The setting is set more than a thousand years in the future, that is, in the thirty-second century.

In this world, the setting mentions: because of the uncontrolled exploitation and destruction of the environment, finally in 2372, an extremely severe existential crisis broke out, after this three-hundred-year-long crisis, all women have lost their fertility, after a long research, human beings invented genetic fertility technology.

And after five hundred years of development, mankind abandoned the male-female marriage system and changed it to a society where women and women, and men and men could legally marry.

Although this society is set up very new, the content is completely old-fashioned.

The plot is similar to the modern society of the president's maid novel, the novel tells the story of a tangled love between the young and wealthy president of a rich family and the poor and beautiful maid thousand years later.

After reading the plot, An Mu Lan, her throat spurted out a mouthful of old blood.

Such a stupid and brain-damaged novel, coupled with countless depictions of bad scenes, It is obviously an NP□□.

An Mu Lan felt that this plot was not too helpful to her, so she began to absorb the memories of the original owner.

The name of this body that Mu Lan crossed this time, after the system forcibly changed, is called An Mu Lan, the real sister of the president of the An family.

In the original novel, it is written that this An Mu Lan is a very dark character, always trying to destroy the love between the brothers and the lovely maid, and finally thrown into the mental hospital by the impatient brothers.

And in the original owner's memory, it is rather a detailed filler of the plot that was skipped in the novel.

In the An family, although An Mulan has the status of a young lady, An Mulan is not liked by everyone in the An family.

Because An Mulan's mother, who was picking her up from home, died in an unexpected car accident. This led directly to, An's father's dislike for this daughter.

The father's behavior directly affected the attitude of her four brothers, who either beat or scolded An Mulan, while the servants also did not look at her as a young lady.

When An Mu Lan reached the age of eighteen and was officially able to live alone, she was unknowingly betrothed by her father to a woman who had come up through the ranks of the commoners, the president of a small company that cooperated with the An family, the villainous BOSS of this novel.

The villainous BOSS herself is very good, but the original owner, An Mulan, does not like women, and although An Mulan grew up in a bad environment, she was also raised by a wealthy family, and she has a physical aversion to those commoners.

Thus, An Mu Lan was completely desperate after learning this news.

She took it upon herself to plead with her brothers, but they ignored her completely and made mocking and sarcastic remarks.

Then she went to beg the fiancée, and the woman was quick to agree, immediately.

But An Mulan ruined Father An's plans and brought his displeasure with her to the forefront, and he locked An Mulan in his home, forbidding her to go anywhere or see anyone.

After four months of perseverance, An Mu Lan begged and cried to her father, saying that she was willing to marry a woman. But it was too late, her fiancée had already married someone else.

Father An had to look for a new marriage partner and ended up marrying An Mu Lan to an old man in his fifties.

An Mu Lan muddled through her marriage, she was worn down by life and had resigned herself to her fate.

But on one of her visits back to the An family for the holidays, she meets the heroine, the maid, who begs to her for help in a low profile.

Seeing that she was in the same situation as herself, An Mu Lan took pity on her and offered her a helping hand.

The maid escaped and was captured by forces outside the An family, and it took a great deal of effort on the part of several male protagonists to get her back.

After the maid was rescued and confessed to those in her harem, she washed herself out and discredited An Mu Lan, crying as she told the so-called 'truth', An Mu Lan was hated by her four brothers. They teamed up to bring down An Mu Lan's husband's company and put the isolated An Mu Lan in a mental hospital.

And even in the mental hospital, An Mu Lan still had a very hard time, because the maid's harem was not only the brothers of the An family, but also the young masters and sons of other powers. They had arranged for many people to torment her and make her life worse than death.

When An Mu Lan was dying, she was only thirty years old, but had aged as a woman of fifty, and she died with her soul as the price of revenge on those who had harmed her, to repay it all to everyone who had wronged her.

This is the system's choice out of the cannon fodder female counterpart, as the price of using each other's body, she must fulfill the female counterpart's wish to do so.

For Mu Lan, this task that the female counterpart, An Mu Lan, wants to take revenge on, is not too difficult. She had crossed over to this world just a short time after her eighteenth birthday, still early in the plot, and she would have a long time to plan.

And according to the original owner's memory, in a few days' time, Father An was going to tell her that she had been arranged to be the fiancée of a president.

After learning this news, the original owner became very ill, and so she was deeply affected by this event.

But for Mu Lan now, it's a good time because this fiancée, who is also the main object of her mission, is the villainous BOSS she needs to raid.

In the novel, there is no direct description of this villainous BOSS, only a few side-stories.

In the novel, the villain is a fatherless orphan who has worked her way up through the common ranks and has been involved in the mob and the military, both of which are very powerful.

At the age of twenty-one, she created a new clean identity, with which she started a company and then, a few years later, she built a huge business empire.

By the time she was twenty-seven, she had used that money for, again, to enter politics and make her way in this future world.

Overall, she is an amazing winner in life. Even by the end of the novel, the character's role is only downplayed and even the heroine's powerful harem doesn't dare to take it head on

In contrast to her glorious life history, her personality is depicted differently. When she is mentioned in the novel, she is always associated with the words sinister, cunning, murderous and bloodthirsty.

There is no doubt that this woman is a very qualified villain boss, but as the target of the raid, it is a total headache, leaving Mu Lan with a burning feeling of having nowhere to go.

Mu Lan sighed helplessly, then got up and got dressed and washed up. When she looked up and saw the young figure in the mirror, she silently told herself: from now on, she was An Mu Lan, and she would make those who had harmed her, all pay the price.

After this, she walked to the living room, where, fortunately, she did not see the leading characters, and she sat alone at the table to finish her cold meal before returning inside her room.

She turned on her computer and wrote down everything she remembered about what was going to happen.

The trade secrets and evidence of the crimes, all of which she outlined, were sent to a newly registered private email address. Then a list of several major powers in this future world, all detailed down.

After this, she looked through her □ and found an extremely large sum of money in it, some of which she used to buy things like surveillance cameras and the rest was transferred to a new account to prepare for the transfer of her assets.

That afternoon, she dressed up and went out and spent a small amount of pocket money to ask some children aged seven or eight to help her send the confidential emails anonymously to a designated mailbox.

For example: she sent confidential documents related to the An family to the opponents of the An family; she sent evidence of crimes committed by the mob forces to the opposing forces ...... She sent all the company secrets that had harmed the original owner to the arch rival company, and after this, she just had to watch the progress.

Later that afternoon, An Mu Lan returned home, placed the sophisticated surveillance cameras she had purchased in various corners of the house, filmed the heroine's love affairs with her brothers, and spent several days stitching together the videos and sending them anonymously on the heroine's campus network.

I believe the heroine will be in trouble for a long time after this.

Whereas in novels, when the heroine is written, she is portrayed as a virgin and pure, etc., the exposure of this video will make the brain-dead male protagonists, realize the truth of the matter.

After An Mu Lan had done all this, she was temporarily relieved, no matter what, this task of revenge for the original owner had made initial progress. Next, it was time to raid the villainous boss.

At dinner that day, Father An told An Mulan about her ''fiancée'' at the dinner table and warned her that she would be a guest at the house the next morning, so she had to behave herself.

An Mu Lan's face was expressionless by habit, and she nodded in response.

After dinner, An Mu Lan returned to her room, where she lay down on her ** and began to think.

From the plot of the novel, as well as from the memories of the original owner, it can be concluded that the villainous boss herself, is a very outstanding character, she is tough and has built a career with her lowly origins; she is bloodthirsty and cold, and will do anything to achieve her goal; at the same time, she is also a woman with a very strong desire to control, and is used to having everything in her hands.

Such a woman, to rip her off and go against her will only lead to a worse death, so one has to choose to act in the opposite direction, that is, everything to her liking.

The villainous boss, who grew up in a poor environment due to her living in a slum, hates men and prefers a small, soft girl who must be clean and well-behaved, but must have been brought up in an excellent education, with refined taste and decent behaviour.

This being the case, a decision was made in An Mu Lan's mind.

At around 10am on the third day, An Mu Lan sat quietly on the sofa, her long, black, cascading hair adorned only with a diamond crown, the rest of her hair falling smoothly over her shoulders. She wore a beige bubble dress and looked as delicate and small as a doll in a window display.

The doorbell rang and behind Father An came a tall, voluptuous young woman with a cool, pretty face.

An Mu Lan stood up with graceful posture under the beckoning motion of Father An and walked up to this woman.

Her round, dark eyes fell gently on the other woman, and without waiting for a response, she immediately lowered her head slightly, her long, arched eyelashes trembling gently, her fair, baby-fat cheeks tinged with a blush that aptly showed her shyness.

Father An smiled with satisfaction as he introduced her, "This is the president of Qitian Company, Ling Xihan, President Ling, and this is my daughter An Mulan"

Ling Xihan pursed her lips in response and said, "Hello, Miss An."

An Mulan raised her head obediently, with a smile at the corners of her mouth, revealing two small dimples on either side, slightly opening her lips and greeting politely, "Hello!"

[pa-panda-heroes]

The “Two” of Us ; Bakugou x Reader Songfic

An anoni requested this a while back, and now here we are ^v^ I was really nervous about it, but @queensynderella was so kind as to beta read this for me! Many, many thanks to you, Allie! Sincerely! I literally wouldn’t have posted it otherwise because I was so nervous OTL

Warning: Slight language (Kacchan swears like twice), kinda sorta sad/angsty but kinda sorta fluffy!

Song: “Two” by Sleeping at Last

Edit because i’m a silly bean and forgot word count: 1,671 words

Sweetheart, you look a little tired

You could faintly hear the sound of rain pattering against your windows, flicking through the channels on TV and trying to find something to watch. Even shows you’d normally enjoy weren’t appealing. You’d pick up your phone and try to find entertainment on it if it weren’t for the articles strewn everywhere about Bakugou Katsuki, the pro hero with an infamous temper and a volatile quirk. You knew him as something entirely different. Someone you could go to for a good cry, or someone who could cheer you up by just being around. He was also someone who had his own feelings, too. It wasn’t uncommon, as a hero, for him to feel down and unappreciated for the things he does, the things he sacrifices for the public. 

Lighting struck and thunder soon followed, and while the sudden boom gave your heart and body a fright, it was probably the twelfth  time you’d heard it in the past hour. Needless to say, you couldn’t bring yourself to think about it. Although, you did hope not to lose power.

A knock at your door nearly made you jump out of your skin, though, and you jumped up to go answer it. The knock had been loud but... weak somehow. 

When did you last eat? Come in and call yourself right at home Stay as long as you need

You looked through the peephole and instantly your fingers were fumbling with the locks and doorknob to let the unexpected visitor in, your brows furrowing out of concern all the while. As soon as the door is open, he lets himself in without a word. 

Tell me, is something wrong? If something’s wrong, you can count on me You know I’ll take my heart clean apart if it helps yours beat

“Katsuki, are you alright?” you ask, watching him kick off his shoes. He pauses at your question for probably a second or two, then shrugs. 

“I’ll be fine. Long day at work, ya know?”

It’s okay if you can’t find the words Let me take your coat And this weight on your shoulders

He begins to shrug off his coat, but you jump in and help him, taking it and hanging it on the rack as he makes his way to your living area. You knew damn good and well that “I’ll be fine” meant “I’m not fine right now, but I don’t want to worry you because I just want it to pass.” It was better than when he would cover and say he’s fine, which was initially a bad habit you lectured him on who knows how many times. You eventually got him to be more honest up front. You wanted to help him, give him everything, but he wouldn’t let you.

You follow him to the couch and sit next to his left as he picks up your new habit of flicking through channels mindlessly. You sit close to him and wrap your arm around his while resting your cheek on his shoulder, but he doesn’t react. 

Like a force to be reckoned with A mighty ocean or a gentle kiss I will love you with every single thing I have

You considered pushing him into the shower while you ran a hot bath for him, or possibly getting food for him to eat, be it home cooked or take-out. But you knew he wouldn’t be quick to accept being coddled or spoiled. 

Like a tidal wave, I’ll make a mess Or calm waters, if that serves you best I will love you without any strings attached

He stopped at a news channel - at least it looked like one, until you read the phrase “Bakugou Katsuki. Pro Hero name: Ground Zero. Ill-Tempered Hero, or Soon-To-Be-Villain?” A lump developed in your throat and you felt him tense before the TV screen went black. 

“They did this shit in high school, and they just don’t wanna let it go. Assholes!” he hissed, setting the remote down on the coffee table roughly. “So what if I yell sometimes? Yeah, I get mad. Who doesn’t!”

Ah, that must be it. Articles, headlines, and gossip like that had suddenly began circulating recently, but despite that you hoped he’d ignore it or wouldn’t happen to see. Apparently he has. 

“What they say doesn’t matter,” you say, not matching his volume yet voice remaining firm, “You know why? They’re only looking for a good headline and online attention. It’s all money, no matter who they have to degrade.”

It’s okay if you can’t catch your breath You can take the oxygen straight out of my own chest.

Katsuki finally looked at you, and you sat upright to give him a gentle grin. It had crossed his mind countless times whether or not they’d brought you into their little mess, or if they had harassed you with interview requests. He knew undoubtedly that it bothered you, too, being his lover. You were right - what they said didn’t matter much - albeit it was extremely frustrating - but that did. Katsuki knew by your texts throughout the day that something was off-centre about you.

I know exactly how the rule goes Put my mask on first No, I don’t want to talk about myself 

But you’d put his feelings first. You were always griping at him about his feelings, yet you put yours on the back burner for him.

Tell me where it hurts I just want to build you up, build you up ‘Til you’re good as new One day I will get around to fixing myself, too

The pro hero before you leaned in to give a tiny, almost shy kiss to your forehead before resting his hand on the back of your neck to pull you in further. His chin rested atop your head, his hand remaining on your nape still. “Hey, tell me. And be honest. It bothers you, doesn’t it?” he queried hoarsely. ‘Tell me where it hurts,’ he thought.

“I’d be lying if I said no, obviously.” You fumbled with your thumbs, trying to find the right words, while he leaned back to look you in the eyes. “It bothers me that they paint you as a demonic hero or villain in-the-making, because I know you’re neither of those things. But at the same time, it doesn’t bother me because I know you’re not like that. Does that make sense? I don’t think it-“

He interrupted you with an uncharacteristically sweet and calm kiss, albeit a short one, and then pulled back with a minuscule appreciative grin. “I get it, idiot.”

“Okay, I wasn’t done!” you protest, wriggling your nose. “It doesn’t bother me that much because I also know that you’re constantly putting yourself at risk and endangering your life. And for civilians who are sometimes quicker to be afraid of you than they are to thank you, at that.”

Katsuki’s face drops and he’s quick to look away, but you run your fingers through his spiky hair anyway as he lets you go on. 

“I know heroes get a lot of publicity and fan clubs, but they don’t seem to care about the hero’s mental and physical well-being very often,” you continue. “Not many take the hero’s feelings into consideration, which is why articles and whatnot trashing them are frustrating.”

The look on his face hasn’t changed from downtrodden much, and for a second you think you’re making him feel worse. Because he knows you’re right. Being a hero can be thankless work sometimes. 

I don’t even know where to start Already tired of trying to recall when it all fell apart I just want to love you, to love you, to love you well I just want to learn how, somehow, to be loved myself

“I’m telling you this because I do,” you say, your voice almost a whisper and breathy. “I know you better than anyone, and I know you’re human just like the rest of us, with human emotions. I know you didn’t become a hero just to get praise and attention.”

He finally looks back at you, and you smile wide, letting the gesture and the fond look in your eyes emphasize what you’ll say next. But you won’t say anything before your hand is dotingly caressing his cheek, your thumb grazing his cheekbone. “I know you’ll do whatever you can to save someone, and above all that, I know I love you so much.”

It’s almost as if your mere words blew the weight off his shoulders when they sink and his posture relaxes. “Thank you,” seems to be all he can bring himself to say.

Like a force to be reckoned with A mighty ocean or a gentle kiss I will love you without any strings attached And what a privilege it is to love A great honor to hold you up

Katsuki shakes his head, clearly not at you, and shows you a soft, almost barely there smile. “I love you...

“Idiot.”

“Hey!” You slap his arm at the “insult,” and he chuckles at the contact.

Like a force to be reckoned with A mighty ocean or a gentle kiss

The two of you just sat there, listening to the rain and thunder and ignoring the bright flashes of light coming through the window. All that exists in the world, in this moment, is you and Katsuki. The two of you as one.

I will love you with every single thing I have Like a tidal wave, I’ll make a mess

Katsuki brings you close to his chest, a slight warmth emanating off his body.

Or calm waters, if that serves you best I will love you without any strings attached

You accept and reciprocate the embrace without hesitation, sighing into his shirt. 

“I’m always gonna love you, no matter what. Got that, Kacchan?”

I will love you without any strings attached

“I do, as long as you know that I’m always gonna love you, y/n.”

[starmxras]

The Ghost Of You | Ch 1

Once a proud queen and later senator, all that's left is an empty shell of whom Padmé Amidala used to be. Navigating lies, deception, and newfound motherhood, can Padmé escape the clutches of Darth Vader, or will she die trying?

Story under the cut! 

Anakin ran to Padmé, and the two hugged for a brief moment.

"Padmé, I saw your ship. What are you doing out here?" he asked, worriedly.

Padmé's eyes were red and puffy; she had obviously been crying. "I was so worried about you. Obi-Wan told me terrible things."

Anakin's alarm spiked through the force."What things?"

"He said you have turned to the dark side . . . that you killed younglings."

"Obi-Wan is trying to turn you against me," Anakin replied softly, attempting to console her.

"He cares about us," Padmé said hoarsely.

Anakin was growing more and more upset. "Us?!"

"He knows . . . He wants to help you," she said, her grip on Anakin tightening.

"Anakin, all I want is your love."

"Love won't save you, Padmé. Only my new powers can do that," he stated firmly.

"At what cost? You are a good person. Don't do this!" Padmé pleads.

"I won't lose you the way I lost my mother!" hissed Anakin. "I've become more powerful than any Jedi has ever dreamed of and I've done it for you. To protect you."

"Come away with me. Help me raise our child. Leave everything else behind while we still can," she pleaded.

"Don't you see, we don't have to run away anymore. I have brought peace to the Republic. I am more powerful than the Chancellor. I- I can overthrow him, and together you and I can rule the galaxy. Make things the way we want them to be." Anakin said, talking about it like a happy fantasy.

"I don't believe what I'm hearing...Obi-Wan was right. You've changed!" she said, taking a few steps back.

"I don't want to hear any more about Obi-Wan. The Jedi turned against me. Don't you turn against me!" Anakin warned, his eyes flickering yellow.

"I don't know you anymore," Padmé cried, taking a few more steps back. "Anakin, you're breaking my heart. You're going down a path I can't follow." Tears shine in her eyes.

Anakin was suddenly interested in something above Padmé. "Because of Obi-Wan?"

"Because of what you've done, what you plan to do. Stop, stop now, come back...I love you."

"Liar!" Anakin shrieked.

Padmé turns to find Obi-Wan standing in the doorway of her ship. "No!"

"You're with him! You brought him here to kill me!" He circles Padmé dangerously, like a predator about to ambush its prey.

And then, he reaches out his hand and squeezes.

"No!" Padmé gasps, shaking her head, trying to get the pressure off her throat. "...Anakin-"

"Let her go, Anakin!" Obi-Wan yells.

Anakin increases pressure on her windpipe.

"Let. Her. Go. " Obi-Wan yells again, firmly.

Anakin finally lets go, and Padmé gasps for breath before falling unconscious.

---

Padmé wakes with a gasp.

Her head is pounding, and in fact, her whole body aches - opening her eyes feels like a daunting task.

Padmé's thoughts are swimming as she shifts where she lays, groggy and weak. Duly, she notes that she's wearing different clothes, a light blue nightgown with long sleeves.

She coughs, grimacing when she realizes how sore her throat is. Sore...because she got choked. Anakin had choked her in a rage.

Wait.

She pauses, waiting to feel the baby in her womb give a sign of life...and feels nothing. There's the familiar weight there, most definitely, but everything is still.

Padmé pokes at her belly. "Hey in there, Mama is really worried about you...can you please give me a sign that you're awake?"

A few very tense moments pass, and then she feels a familiar kick, and relief washes over her. As long as her baby is alright, she has a fighting chance, a reason to continue.

Back to her other problems. Anakin used the dark side, Anakin slaughtered Jedi at the Jedi Temple...Anakin more than likely killed Obi-Wan...

A wave of nausea wears over her. This is bad. This is very bad  - catastrophic , even.

The baby kicks in a way that provides a reassuring distraction to Padmé. It's a brief, but much welcome distraction from her own inner turmoil.

More importantly, what happened to Anakin? Is he on the loose, wreaking havoc across the already war-torn galaxy? Is he nearby? Did he fight Obi-Wan, and if so, did Obi-Wan defeat him, and are they now off in a starship somewhere?

Conceivably, that third scenario is unlikely at best. Padmé takes in her surroundings, and it's most definitely not a starship, rather it's a lavish bedroom.

More than likely, she is in Anakin's custody, which could potentially have some...repercussions.

Certainly, there was still some good left in Anakin...there has to be. Surely, he'd explain that this is all some horrible mistake that he was attempting to fix, and Obi-Wan was wrong somehow.

A grave feeling in the pit of Padme's stomach tells her this is not the case.

Sometime later, the door to Padmé's bedroom hisses open, revealing none other than Anakin.

In an instant, Padmé recoils to the corner of the bed, arm protectively around her stomach, other hand gripping a lamp on the nightstand in a defensive position.

"Padmé...you don't have to do that. Put down the lamp," Anakin says, his tone betraying no emotion.

"No. Not until you tell me what's going on," Padmé replies, grip on the lamp tightening.

Anakin takes a step closer. "I'm not going to hurt you, Angel."

"How am I supposed to believe you? I- I remember what happened. You...you choked me. Your eyes-...your eyes were yellow like Dooku's were. You used the dark side," she retorts, tone accusatory.

Anakin sighs. "You don't understand, Padmé. It was a moment of weakness...the dark side of the force is intoxicating, and I embraced it too much. I promise you, I won't do that ever again." He takes a couple of steps closer, now within arm's length of Padmé.

"A moment of weakness," she echos bitterly. "You almost killed me- and more importantly, our baby."

"I know how to control the dark side now." Anakin declares. "I won't let it happen again."

“I’m not going to sit and watch you destroy yourself, Anakin,” Padmé states, swinging her legs over the bed. "I'm going home."

"No, you're not," Anakin asserts, grasping her arm. "You're staying right here with me. Where you belong, where I can protect you."

Padmé twists her arm in a failed attempt to get out of his grasp. "I am going home, Anakin. If you love me, you won't stop me."

"You're being ridiculous, Padmé," Anakin says calmly; as if speaking to someone mentally ill. "Where are you even going to go? You're eight months pregnant. You need me, Padmé."

"No, I don't! You nearly killed me! Now let me go right now or I'll-"

"You'll what, Padmé?" Anakin challenges, blue irises slowly bleeding yellow. "Go on, tell me what you'll do. Go ahead, show me." and to prove his point, he gripped her arm harder.

“Do you think that your mother would have wanted you to act like this? Or Qui-Gon?” Padmé’s fists are clenched to keep from shoving him. “Because I don’t!”

Anakin raises his voice. “Don’t you dare tell me what they would have wanted."

Padmé wrenches her arm from his tight grip. "I don't feel safe with you anymore! The Anakin I knew would let me go because he wanted me to feel safe. Remember when we took that break after Clovis? You let me go then; so why is now any different?!"

"Because you need me more than ever now," he responds smoothly. "because I love you more than anyone else would," he slowly circles her. "We're soulmates, Padmé...we stay together."

Padmé purses her lips. She doesn't have any other options at the moment, does she? For now, it seems the only safe option for her baby is compliance.

"...Okay," she says simply. "We...can make this work," she affirms, feigning a smile that doesn't quite reach her eyes.

If Anakin notices, he says nothing.

"Where are we?" Padmé asks, changing the subject.

"A secure location," Anakin answers flippantly. "I can keep you safe here."

"What planet?" she questions, noticing the room has no windows.

Anakin shakes his head. "I can't tell you, Angel, for security reasons. You understand, don't you?"

Padmé frowns. "So I'm trapped here?"

"No, Padmé, no. Trust me...please. There are so, so many moving pieces. The Galaxy is at a standstill and frankly, I don't know who to trust. You know that you can trust me, right?" Anakin replies, cupping her face.

Padmé eases away. "I'm hungry. Where can I find food in here?"

"Right, let me give you the tour."

Padmé has to admit, it's certainly a nice place. Lavish and mildly impersonal, but still...she could think of worse places to be trapped.

"Almost everything here is either black or white. Why?"

"I'm not too sure. I suppose the previous owner had a certain taste. If you don't like it, once things are more secure we can move somewhere else," Anakin responds.

"And when exactly is that? When you-" Padmé stops her sentence, clearing her throat. "When will things be secure?"

"I don't know," returns Anakin. "Sooner than you think, I'm sure."

There's clearly more than what Anakin is telling her, but whatever it is, he's clearly not about to share it with her.

Their little tour ends as soon as it begins; the "home" that Padmé is now staying in for an indefinite amount of time is one-story, Padmé has a sizeable bedroom with an ensuite bathroom and a nursery attached, her bedroom exits into the kitchen which exits into a dining room and a living space. It's comparatively smaller than Padmé's Coruscant apartment.

It's only when they get to the front door that she recognizes her first obstacle.

"Why isn't the door opening? There aren't any handles, either...why?" Padmé asks, brow furrowed. She feels the door, which is a heavy, solid metal. Beskar, perhaps?

"It can only open with the force," shrugs Anakin. "It's more secure that way."

Padmé stills. "I'm a prisoner," she whispers, sinking to her knees. The realization that she is completely trapped, only to be let free on Anakin's whims, is deeply troubling. "You're keeping me here as a prisoner in my own home."

"You're not a prisoner, Padmé. Don't be ridiculous." Anakin chides. "If you ever need out, I'll let you out, or if I'm not here, the Clone Commandos will. You don't have anything to worry about, Angel."

Padmé is still on the ground, horrified. She finally has realized the gravity of the situation; this was a prison and Anakin was never letting her free. Her baby would be raised as a Sith, and she'd have to watch as her husband and child wreaked chaos and war upon the galaxy, all while she would be locked away, wondering where she went wrong.

Anakin's commlink beeps, and he looks at the message with a groan. "I have to go, love. I'll be back as soon as I can, I promise."

Padmé says nothing in reply, watching him effortlessly move the massive door open and closed with just a flick of his wrist.

She's alone, truly alone.

And as soon as the door closes, Padmé screams. She lets her anger, her sadness, her confusion, her fear, her everything out.

And Padmé screams, and screams, and screams until her throat is raw. She bangs her fist on the door with every cry.

Eventually, her screams meld into weepings.

She presses her back against the cool metal of the door as her body shakes with every sob, and all she can wonder is, what happened to her Anakin?

Eventually, Padmé begins to calm down somewhat, tears still running down her cheeks, and her hand drifts to her swollen tummy; finding herself talking to the baby.

"Don't you worry...Mommy's gonna find a way to fix this," she says hoarsely, her throat dry and aching. "I promise you, you won't be raised like this. Your Daddy...he's just...confused. I'll-... We'll find a way to fix everything."

She doesn't know if she will ever be able to 'fix' the situation, but she'd be damned if she didn't try.

---

[skypagex]

let me see you get yourself out of this situation

aka three unlikely allies ditch detention and go on an adventure

word count: 2320

trigger warnings: stds (aids mention), drugs, nsfw mention

Okay, so maybe the detention is fully deserved. Sky probably shouldn’t have hotboxed his bedroom and expected to get away with it. In fact, he was pretty lucky to get away with detention, although he suspects that’s related to his mother’s call to the school and probable sizeable donation. (He should never have texted her. He knows that’s a bad idea. Thanks for the soccer team uniforms or whatever, mom.)

But regardless of how much he deserves to be in detention, he can still think of about a billion things he’d rather do than come into an almost empty room to the sight of Jack fucking Kelly (or is it Fielding? To be honest, he remains wilfully oblivious to the Jack updates. Like if he ignores him he’ll cease to exist) sprawled across the back row of seats with a smirk on his lips that so obviously says that this is his domain and Sky is trespassing. As if he owns the whole fucking room.

(Knowing Jack, he probably thinks he does. Not that Sky has had much personal contact with the boy besides an odd rumour that he died. But the boy’s reputation seems to carry through the school like a biblical plague of locusts. And besides, Sky’s friendship with Juliet gives him equal parts way too much information about Jack’s personal habits and currently, post break up, far more information about how disgustingly horrible he is. Either way, he’s well aware that there’s a sizeable ego present. He’s almost jealous, to be honest. Sometimes Sky feels like if he had Jack’s ego he’d probably be a rock star already.)

Still, he’s hoping that maybe he can pass under the radar of the British boy long enough to make it through at least half of the detention, maybe more, considering that the teacher has already apparently left - probably done with the delinquents before having even begun to lecture them on their crimes - so if Jack so much as starts a conversation Sky’s pretty sure there’s nothing present to hold him back from absolutely verbally annihilating Sky, which will therefore mean there’s nothing present to hold Sky back from tears and public humiliation. It’s hard being a crybaby, you know?

Such hopes are almost immediately dashed when Jack turns and gives Sky the most ravenous look he’s ever seen another human come up with, like Jack is starving and Sky is a walking hamburger about to satiate him. Yum.

“Pagey,” well there’s a nickname Sky didn’t know he had, and to be honest it makes him feel slightly nauseous even knowing that Jack has whole separate nicknames for him that he doesn’t even know about. How the fuck does Jack know everyone at the fucking school anyway? “How’d you end up here? Cried so much you flooded your bedroom?”

(Which would be insulting enough even if it wasn’t a plausible suggestion and didn’t need the rude addition of Jack proceeding to laugh at his own joke.)

Fortunately Sky’s saved from the perils of having to answer the question by the slamming of the door, which indicates the arrival of a third addition to the detention squad: a blonde girl, he thinks he’s seen her in a shared class (Helena or something along those lines, definitely the same name as a My Chemical Romance song since he remembers thinking that at registration) and a disgusted look upon her face as she has the same realisation as Sky upon seeing Jack’s face: that they are well and truly fucked.

“God,” Helena (if that’s really her name, Sky hopes it is because he suspects from her demeanour that she’s not the type to take a misnaming incident lightly) “was detention itself not punishment enough? Are they truly going to make me  look at your ratty little face for an entire forty five minutes? I feel ill just thinking about it,” she placed a hand over her chest as if the sight of Jack was causing her physical pain. Relatable, to be honest.

“I know,” and in that moment Sky feels more grateful than ever because it’s clear from Jack’s tone of voice that his admirably short attention span has now passed Sky straight over in favour of a pretty worthy opponent. “You really should complain, love. Like, how is getting to look at me for free a fucking punishment? It’s like getting to go into the Tate Modern for nothing.”

“The Tate Modern is already free,” Sky says helpfully. He is ignored.

“Your confidence,” Helena blasts back, “is truly insane considering how absolutely disgusting your physical appearance is. Have you considered being committed to a mental asylum at any point?”

“I would,” Jack counters, “but how could I? When the population of Luxor would just pine for me. Nothing would be interesting if I left.”

“Contrary to your totally unfounded belief, not everything in this school involves you.”

“Possibly,” the boy reasons, and then the smirk returns. “But you have to admit the majority of things do.”

Seemingly done with the conversation, Helena stomps over to the desk next to Sky and sets her things down. Her meaning is pretty clear to him: you’ll do, in comparison to being sat next to rat man.

The ticking of the clock succeeds in covering for their lack of conversation for all of about five minutes before Jack apparently just cannot keep words in his own head anymore and has to interrupt the perfectly nice silence again: “so how did you end up in detention, princess? Kiss a frog?”

“I don’t recall having any physical relations with you,” Helena says haughtily. “If I did, I can assure you I must have been under some sort of influence unwillingly and therefore I shall be suing imminently. And if you must know, I am being unfairly victimised for skipping my medieval lecture for a perfectly valid reason.”

“To get a nose job?” Jack asks innocently, “or was it Botox?”

That elicits a slight smile from Sky, which reminds the other two that he does in fact exist and it’s almost funny the way they both turn to face him as Jack continues his questioning, “what about you, Pagey?”

“Uh,” his mouth goes dry and he gulps, “weed… stuff,” he finishes lamely, shrugging as if that’s completely self explanatory. It should be. He damn well hopes it is, because frankly Sky does not have the strength to take part in this conversation and he’s really hoping that Helena can carry the anti Jack side of it without him. “You?” He asks hopefully, as if turning the conversation back to Jack will immediately throw him out of it and he can go back to his people watching.

“Oh, I jumped out a window,” Jack says airily, apparently oblivious to the looks of total confusion both Sky and Helena give him. The resulting silence proceeds to allow the clock ticking to become audible again.

“Are you seriously telling me,” Helena asks after about ten minutes have past and Sky can just about see Jack, out of the corner of his eye, beginning to meticulously colour in something which looks suspiciously like a poster, “that I have woken up today and willingly come to this godforsaken room and sat in the company of absolute dimwits and the teacher in charge is not even going to deign to show up?”

“Sometimes they just don’t,” Jack shrugs as if this is a usual occurrence. “Especially if they see me on the list.”

“Can’t blame them for that,” Helena mutters.

“Well, it would be hard not to treat me like the god I am. Can’t be unfair to the other students.” He grins. “Nah, guess they get lazy. I dunno. Most of the time I just leave.”

“Well that’s a wasted day of mine then.” She scowls. “Don’t they know time is money? Although I do have plenty of both.”

“That was the most ungraceful segway into a brag I have ever heard,” Jack observes, “and this is coming from me.”

“What can I say? I’m pretty, it allows for more leeway.”

She actually gets a laugh out of Jack from that, and it kind of fascinates Sky. Partly because he’s always assumed that Jack was more aggressive. He gets into enough fights for that. But he seems more… amused than anything else by the back and forth. Like he’s less of a punching devil and more of the type of person to push buttons out of enjoyment and amusement. He supposes that’s one way to get out of boredom.

“Hey, crybaby,” he’s so caught up in psychoanalysing the other two that he doesn’t realise for a minute that Jack is addressing him, and before he can say anything the other boy is waving a hand in front of his face. (He flinches back, predictably. God, he’s always so fucking predictable.) “You got any weed?” Jack asks, his face inches from Sky’s, close enough that Sky can see a stray eyelash on his cheek (would it be ridiculous to point it out considering that Jack would undoubtedly take that as Sky confessing his undying love for him?) and the freckles littering his cheeks.

“Uh.” Truthfully, Sky’s pretty sure this is going to end in him having to share so he’s really not willing to answer, but he’s never been good at lying so instead Jack gets a slow nod by way of response.

“Well there we fucking go,” Jack takes a step back thankfully, so he’s no longer close enough that Sky can literally smell whatever cologne he puts on (ugh, straight men) and glances back at Helena, gesturing wildly to Sky. “Don’t have to be a fucking waste of your day, princess. Or are you too good to come smoke a joint with me and Page?”

“My name’s Sky,” Sky offers. He is ignored.

“As long as nobody sees us,” Helena sniffs, but she gets up all the same, sliding her things into her bag. “And for the record, I’m a Queen, not a princess. I understand that your male mind finds words difficult though,” she adds with a condescending smile.

“I’m the British one,” Jack argues. “I’d know about fucking Queens.”

“I’m literally half English, you absolute cretin. My surname is literally Spencer. Like Princess fucking Diana? Ring any bells?”

“Nah,” Jack says with absolute conviction, “her surname was Wales.”

“No she was the Princess of Wal- oh my god,” Helena rolls her eyes with such energy that Sky is amazed that her eye muscles don’t straight up propel her out of the door. “Sky, can you please back me up?”

“I’m from Chicago,” Sky says helplessly, and gets two very dirty looks as they leave the classroom.

“I’d suck your dick,” he’s lost count of how many hits he’s in and the rooftop is starting to take on a hazy quality, which Sky attributes to the fact that he’s actually confident enough to laugh out loud at Jack’s comment, leaning back and looking up at the sky, “no you wouldn’t.”

“Sure I would,” Jack insists. “I’d try anything fucking once. And I never sucked a dick. Maybe it’s my fucking talent.”

“No, you wouldn’t,” Sky’s words are coming out sing song and he lays back on the roof now, shaking his head still, “you’re such a straight boy it’s not even funny. Straight, straight, straight,” he takes a long drag on the joint and holds it out between two fingers to Helena, who is giving both of them another disgusted glare.

“Two boys talking about their penises. Exactly the company I desired. Not.”

“We could talk about vagina instead,” Jack offers diplomatically, so Sky mimes gagging. “Yeah, okay crybaby. We get it. You patented the fuck a boy at church camp vibe, we understand.”

“I didn’t fuck a boy at church camp,” Sky says indignantly.

“No, he probably fucked you,” Helena hisses.

“I thought you were too good for this conversation,” Jack observes.

“Do you see another conversation happening?”

“You could just shut up.”

“And let your disgusting accent ring in my ears? Horrific.”

“My accent is sexy.”

“I like Kai’s more,” Sky gets a glare from both of them for that. Oops. Supposes that’s what he gets for interrupting the bickering. “Yours is fine too,” he says quickly.

“God, just take a side,” Helena mutters. “It’s fine to admit Rat sounds like a coal miner, you know?”

“Isn’t that a bit….” Sky searches for the word. “Classist?”

“No, it’s a fact. Anyway,’ she points to Jack accusingly, “he didn’t even know Princess Diana’s surname. So his national pride is absolutely a farce.”

“She died in like, nineteen ninety whatever? That’s old news,” Jack argues.

“She,” Helena says hotly, “remains an international style icon.”

“Can we get back to vagina and/or dick yet?” Jack enquires hopefully. Sky resumes the pretend gagging.

“You become more disgusting with every waking moment,” she mutters under her breath. But Jack will probably take that as a compliment either way. “And I need to go.”

“Don’t miss me too much,” Jack looks up to bat his eyelashes at the girl, resulting in her flipping him off.

“I think I would miss the dog shit I stepped in more than you,” Helena informs him, before glancing at Sky. “You, though. We’re going shopping tomorrow.”

He gives her a confused look.

“You have potential,” she decides. “Like style wise. As an aesthetic and thankfully quiet sidekick.” He can take that. “Like a Harry Styles vibe but unattractive.”

Okay, Sky’s starting to regret listening.

“Or Timothée Chalamet minus the bone structure and redeemable features.”

He really regrets listening now.

“Doesn’t Timothée Champagne have chlamydia?” Jack asks with a gleeful smile.

“Didn’t everyone say you have AIDS?” Helena snaps. “Goodbye, male specimens. It is starting to rain and this blouse is vintage.”

[oswildin]

Wanderer {Dhawan!Doctor x F!Reader}

~ I know it’s been so long... I’m so sorry! I’ve just been so caught up in life and situations going on in the world. I will try and do some requests since I have some motivation, but I think I’m going to be writing when I want rather than when I need to if that makes sense... I hope you are all staying safe and well during this madness in the world. Please donate to any BLM organisations if you can and raise awareness. ~

Summary: The Doctor’s just regenerated... Into a face he knows too well...

The Doctor stumbled, falling about the TARDIS, regaining his energy as he clutched onto the console. Gasping he realised his ship was once again...

“Crashing!”

He exclaimed, yelping slightly at sparks that flew in his direction from the panels.

“Why does this happen every time!?” He questioned aloud, not taking any notice of the fact there was in fact no one with him. “Why can’t you just land when I’m in a crisis?! Why is it always crashing?! What is with the crashing!” He ranted, trying to grasp a nearby lever, as he finally managed to pull it down. He could feel the regeneration energy flowing through his veins as he was thrown back, landing roughly on the hard floor. He hissed as his ship finally settled, humming.

“Thanks for that dear.” He mumbled, groaning as he stayed still for a moment.

You were walking home from work, exhausted from the long day you’d had. You sighed to yourself as you neared your estate, checking your phone briefly to check the time. 7:14pm. Looks like takeout was on the menu.

As you neared your building, you noticed a fog of smoke coming from nearby. You immediately leaped into action, noting it was right next to your home. You really couldn’t be dealing with your home going up in flames. You rounded the corner, finally seeing where the smoke was coming from, coughing as you saw what appeared to be a blue phone box, the door slightly ajar as the smoke was pouring out. You immediately rushed into your apartment building, grabbing a fire extinguisher as you ran back outside, heading towards the box that was lit up by a street light.

You tried to cover your mouth as best you could as you approached, kicking the door open wider as you quickly let off the extinguisher, hoping you were getting the blaze.

The Doctor furrowed his brows as he woke from his slumber. He coughed as he noted the room was covered in smoke.

“Extractor fans on!” He exclaimed, jumping up as he pressed a button on the console, as a breeze rushed through the room, clearing the smoke from within. He wafted his hand through the air as he decided it was best to let the TARDIS clear fully before attempting to do anything. He headed towards the doors, but before he could reach for them, the door flew open, and he was greeted with white foam, covering his clothing as he spluttered.

“Oi!”

You jumped back, dropping the extinguisher in surprise at the voice. Eventually a face appeared as you furrowed your brows.

“Do you mind?!” The person asked, looking down at his clothing, unimpressed.

“What do you mean do I mind?! There was smoke!” You cried. “Never mind that what the hell were you doing in there?!”

“This is my ship!” The man exclaimed, disgruntled as he stepped out, waving the smoke away as he closed the door behind him. “And I know there was smoke! Suppose it was my fault really. Wasn’t really looking where I was crashing.” You raised a brow, confused by the mans words.

“Mate, this is a police box.” You folded your arms. “Never seen it before either. Dunno why the police are bothering with this thing. We’ve all got mobiles now. Bit outdated really.” The man suddenly looked offended, before turning to the box.

“Don’t listen to her.” He muttered quietly as you blinked at him. “Where am I?” He asked, turning back to you.

“Er, London... Heavy evening was it?” You laughed, wondering if the man was intoxicated.

“Something like that.” He shrugged.

“Look, sorry about your clothes.” You gestured to his white covered outfit. “Do you live nearby?”

“Not really.” He muttered. “Don’t really live anywhere actually. Bit of a wanderer.”

“Is that a hipster way of saying homeless?” You raised a brow, a small smile on your lips. He seemed to think about it for a moment, as you noted something was obviously on his mind. “Right. I’ve got some spare clothes at mine. Considering I ruined yours, I may as well give you something clean to wander in.”

You unlocked the door to your flat, letting yourself in with the stranger following behind. He seemed harmless. It probably wasn’t the brightest idea you’d had but you felt bad. Plus the big brown eyes he was giving you didn’t help.

“Wait here whilst I go grab the clothes.” You told him as he nodded, watching you leave him as you went into another room. He pursed his lips as he turned to see a mirror on the wall in the hallway. He stepped up to it, finally able to see his new appearance. He looked surprised and confused.

“What?” He muttered, putting his hands up to his face, pushing his cheeks about. “Why would I choose this face?” He furrowed his brows, eyes scanning the face that was staring back at him. “Or did he steal my face.... That sounds like something he would do...”

You cleared your throat, seeing the man staring at himself in the mirror, mumbling away. You couldn’t make sense of a word he was saying. He was quite strange. He definitely the ‘strange’ in ‘stranger’.

“If you’re done admiring yourself...” You held out the clothes in your hands as he cleared his own throat awkwardly, before bounding towards you. He stared down at them, before taking off his now ill-fitted grey jacket, throwing it on the floor as you watched irritated that he had just disregarded his dirty clothes on your clean hallway floor. He reached for his shirt, going to take it off as you stopped him.

“Woah, woah, woah!” You exclaimed, laughing lightly. “Please don’t undress in front of me.” You pleaded, pushing the clothes into his hands and shoving him into your bedroom to change, closing the door behind you. You let out a breath as you shook your head at the mans antics.

A few minutes later the man reappeared, wearing the clothes you gave him. You wolf whistled jokingly as he looked confused. You rolled your eyes before offering him some water.

“So, what’s your name wanderer?” You asked, peering at him as you handed him the glass.

“The Doctor.” He told you. “I think. Although with this face I’m not too sure.” He paused. “Getting mixed signals.” He frowned as you nodded slowly.

“Okay... Funny name. Wandered so much you don’t even have a name?” You teased, as he watched you closely. “I’m (Y/N).” You told him.

“Why do you have men’s clothes?” He asked, as you laughed.

“My exes.” You told him. “Left some here. I’m not gonna use them so you can have them if you want.” You shrugged, taking a sip of water.

“Do you often let strange men into your home?” He asked bluntly as you nearly choked on your drink. You gave him an insulted glare.

“What are you insinuating?” You asked defensively. He immediately looked taken back by your harsh tone. “Do I seem like the type to just let random blokes into my home?” He gawped awkwardly, trying to find the right words in his brain.

“I-I just meant-“ He sighed, shaking his head. “Look social activities aren’t really my area of expertise.” He admitted.

“Neither are they mine!” You exclaimed, as he seemed to mentally facepalm at his choice of words.

“That’s not what I meant either!” He sighed. “I just meant I’m socially awkward.” He commented. “I mean at least I think I am.”

“I’d say so yeah.” You laughed lightly. There was a moment of silence between you two. “So... A wanderer huh?”

The strange man, the Doctor, told you of his adventures. You obviously didn’t believe him. He didn’t quite seem right... You just nodded and smiled awkwardly as he spoke. But little did you know, your beliefs were all about to change...

That was 3 months ago. The man who called himself ‘The Doctor’ stumbled into your life. You got caught up in his wanders. It was a life you could’ve never even imagine. It was wonderful, scary, exciting, dangerous and most of all... Amazing. He was amazing. You would often chuckled to yourself at how you thought he was insane at first. But now you knew his life, and that it was all real... He was rather sane considering his lifestyle.

“When you were in my flat... The first time we met...”

You began, grabbing the aliens attention as he peered up from the console.

“You were rambling about your face...” You raised a brow. “About how it isn’t your face?” His eyes darkened for a moment before he forced a smile.

“My people, we have this trick... To cheat death.” He began. “We change our bodies... Our faces to survive. We call it regeneration.” You nodded, listening to him.

“But you said about someone else... And how he may have stolen your face?” You pressed, curious. He sighed, before leaning on the console, facing you.

“I had an old friend. Well, I say friend loosely.” He sounded bitter. “He was like me.” He looked down at you. “He could change his face... And this face you see now... Was his.” He admitted.

“And... now it’s yours?” You asked, confused slightly.

“Not literally. I mean looks wise. And I don’t know whether I chose this face for a specific reason, or whether he stole it from me... Whether he chose it because he knew it was mine.” He rambled as you listened intently. “Lets just say he wasn’t the nicest of people.” You smiled slightly at him.

“Well, whatever the answer is...” You paused. “I’m sure you’ll figure it out. And either way, you’re still the Doctor.” You smiled. “Maybe it’s to remind you to never become like him...” You suggested. “I know you lost people very close to you. And maybe it’s there to remind you to be the best you can be, rather than giving into the grief and rage.” The Doctor stared at you, his lips twitching into a small smile.

“Oh (Y/N).” He sighed. “Always so insightful.” He complimented as you smirked.

“Oh you know, I’m wiser than I look.” You teased.

The Doctor stood over the creature, anger racing through his veins. He was shaking from rage. You’d never seen him like this. He was... Terrifying. You felt your heart rate increase at the thunderous look in his eyes...

“You were going to kill every single living thing on this planet!” He hissed. “Burn it all down to the ground! And for what? Hmm?” He raised a brow. “Profit!?” You swallowed the lump in your throat as you looked at the creature, it was cowering in fear from the man before him.

“Doctor...” You called, trying to get his attention. You could see his shoulders moving up and down with his heavy breathing. “Doctor, please can we go?” You asked, voice wavering. He seemed to relax slightly at your voice, as he blinked, looking down at the creature. “Remember what you told me... Back in the TARDIS a little while ago now... How you thought you chose this face for a reason?” You tried, as you noticed he had relaxed further, stepping back from over the creature. “To be better than him. To never be like him.” You slowly stepped towards him. “And right now... I don’t see the Doctor.” You admitted, tears in your eyes as he slowly turned to look at you.

The thunderous stare had gone, left only were those big brown eyes you recognised. You gave him a watery smile as held out your hand.

“Let’s go. He’s learnt his lesson.” You glanced at the creature who was shuffling away from the pair. The Doctor tightened his jaw as he accepted your hand, leading the way back to his ship as he left the creature behind.

You entered the control room, seeing the Doctor sat on the steps, staring at nothing as you bit your lip. You cautiously approached him, perching yourself beside him as he didn’t turn to look at you.

“I’m sorry.” He said quietly. “I never wanted you to see me like that.” Your heart ached for him as you reached out, placing your hand on his own.

“We all have bad days.” You said gently. “Hell I have a lot of them. We all make mistakes, Doctor... It’s how we overcome them.” You told him sincerely. “You could’ve gone further... But you didn’t.” You squeezed his hand. “And that’s the kind of man you are.” He peered down before turning to look at you. “You’ve done more good than bad in this universe, and for me that’s enough to determine who you are and what you stand for.” He gave you a small smile.

“Oh, what would I do without you?” He joked, as you pursed your lips.

“Hmmm... Flail around the universe, lost and very bored.” You laughed, as he smiled wider. “That old friend of yours....” You paused. “What happened?”

And so he told you of his history with the Master. You could understand his complex of having the mans face. You’d probably feel the same if you suddenly had your greatest enemies face.

“I’m sorry.” You told him. “For everything.”

“What are you apologising for?” He furrowed his brows.

“For what the universe has handed to you over the years.” You shrugged. “I dunno... Just... Everything.” You sighed. “But it all happens for a reason. Even if you don’t believe in all that, it really does. Everything happens to teach us a lesson in life.” He nodded at your words.

“It’s getting late, you should probably head to bed.” He told you, giving you a small smile.

“You sure you don’t want the company?” You asked. He shook his head.

“Na. I’m fine. I’m always ok. King of ok.” He smiled as you returned it.

“Okay! If you want me to leave you alone I will!” You teased.

“Thank you.” He said sincerely. “I’m glad I met you.” He smiled, a smile that made your heart stop for a second.

“As you should be.” You smirked, as you leant over and gave him a kiss on the cheek before getting up and heading to bed.

“I am.” He muttered to himself as you left, smiling as he watched you leave. “I really am.”

[writingithink]

The Doctor’s Domestic Nightmare Pairing: Ten x Rose Rated: G Wordcount: 2,542 Summary: They visit Jackie to do some Earth-wedding planning. Notes: This is for Day 5 of @timepetalsweek ! I used two of the prompts, the picture prompt and 'family'. A fair amount of the other fics in this series get referenced in this one, but I still don't think you'd be lost if you haven't read them. Extra special thanks to @hey-there-juliet , the best beta ever <3 All mistakes are mine. I own nothing.

READ IT ON AO3 -> copy/paste link: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25478851

The Doctor landed the TARDIS outside the flat this time. Anything he could do to make this whole thing go easier (and hopefully quicker).

“How long are we staying?” He turned toward Rose, who was still sitting on the jumpseat, doing something on her phone.

“Thought we might stay the night,” she slowly replied, attention obviously otherwise involved. “Mum’s been lonely.”

“What are you doing?”

Normally she was out of the ship in a heartbeat when they landed at the Estates. This time she didn’t look like she’d be moving anytime soon. Their bond wasn’t providing him with anything useful, just a mix of concentration, mild frustration, and sympathy. They had agreed to both put their barriers up decently high shortly after she woke up, when they started to create a stress feedback-loop in each other's heads. He sat down next to her and leaned over her shoulder to see that she was texting Jackie.

“You know, you can talk to her in person right outside these doors,” the Doctor felt the need to point out.

“No, no, however my phone works now, the sonic or the TARDIS or whatever, it, like- it blocked my texts until I woke up this mornin’. But if you look at the little time stamps, it’s sendin’ my replies as if I didn’t wait a month to answer. I’m texting my mum three days ago,” Rose explained.

“Oh. Huh. Must be the TARDIS. Have you been doing this all morning?”

“Yeah. The first text came through as being from about, I dunno … an hour after we left last time?”

“Well, knowing your mother, she’ll be outside the door any minute. Doubt you’ll have time to finish the week,” he admitted with a frown. The Doctor hoped that all of the guilt he was feeling at keeping the two of them apart was safely behind the walls he’d erected in his mind. Of course, traveling, being away from her mother, that was Rose’s decision (and one that he was immensely, immensely glad for).

But still.

He and Rose had talked, back when they were at the Olympics, after the Isolus. About things, family things, Gallifrey things that he didn’t want to talk about. Thankfully, with the bond, he was able to show her more than tell her, because the words wouldn’t come half the time - a real shock, with his gob. And he’d admitted to her how much he wished things had been different with his children. That he’d been more like them, or they’d been more like him - but they had taken after their mother, who was a very respectable Time Lady, and fit right in. Whereas he never had. Things had brightened up a little when he told her about Susan, but overall the whole thing had made them both very sad, very ill timed conversation to have on a honeymoon.

And now he felt guilty, much more so than usual, at the thought of Jackie being lonely while they gallivanted about time and space.

“I need to change,” Rose announced, jostling him as she stood and bringing him back to the present.

“What?”

“She’s made some appointments at some very nice places and I have to change. Ahh, I don’t even know what to wear!” she exclaimed, quickly exiting the console room but pausing at the entrance to the main corridor. “If mum shows up, can you stall her?”

“ What?!”

But his wife was gone, apparently off to change out of her jeans and hoodie. The Doctor sighed, circling the console, mentally calculating what repairs he might be able to make some progress on in the time that he would be waiting on her. It really was a shame that humans tended not to pick an outfit and stick to it - things would be so much simpler. Not that he didn’t enjoy all the fun, different things Rose wore. And she did seem to really enjoy dressing up for all of the different places they went to.

Just as he was considering perhaps changing his tie, knocking started up on the TARDIS door.

Oh, bloody hell.

He flinched, expecting a mental zap, but it never came. Right, they were blocking most things out. Ehh … 

The benefits of mental privacy - today, at least. Well, it was obviously necessary but he really didn’t like it. What did it say about him that he preferred to be telepathically reprimanded than to not be telepathically noticed at all?

Probably nothing good.

The Doctor shook his head as the knocking continued, and then jogged down the ramp, grabbing his coat as he went. He opened the door just wide enough to slip out, slamming it closed with his back as soon as he’d cleared it.

“Hello, Jackie!” he greeted his mother-in-law with a wide grin.

“Doctor,” she responded, crossing her arms. Ohh, and he’d been hoping she would have warmed back up after last time. Then again, what had been a month and a half for them had only been a week for her. “Where’s Rose?”

“She’s still getting ready. I never can tell how long it’s going to take her, so I may have landed us a bit, er, prematurely.”

“You’re not lyin’, are ya? She’s not in there sick, or injured, or- or-“

“No no no no no,” he quickly interrupted, waving his hands about, “I would never lie to you about something like that! Rose is fine. She’s just- just- picking an outfit or doing her hair or something.”

“Alright then,” Jackie said, finally seeming to relax … a bit. “Maybe I can give her a hand.”

The Doctor knocked her arm away as she reached for the door, and that was quite rude, wasn’t it? Definitely not doing anything to get back into her good graces, but if Rose was still texting and Jackie had her mobile on her, he wasn’t sure it would still work if her mum entered the TARDIS.

“If you go in, it’ll take even longer!” he insisted, not knowing if that was necessarily true but assuming it was. Jackie had never been in the wardrobe room, so he could only imagine. “Why don’t we head inside? Otherwise we might be standing outside the TARDIS for ages.”

“ You want to sit around the flat with me, no Rose?” She seemed skeptical, and he really couldn’t blame her.

“Yeah! Of course!” The Doctor pasted on what he hoped was a winning smile.

The things he did for his wife.

“Riiiight. Okay, then. Fine. She better be quick about it, though, otherwise we’ll be late. You shoulda waited for her to land that box of yours,” she scolded him as they headed up to the flat. He took the time to really look at her, and realized that Jackie actually looked quite nice today, for once not wearing one of her velour tracksuits.

It was too bad he couldn’t tell her that of course he’d waited for Rose before landing.

“Won’t happen again,” he said instead, hoping that was true.

They entered the flat and the Doctor was sincerely at a loss as to how to proceed. He projected everything that had happened to Rose, just getting an ‘okay’ in response. Her mental presence was frenzied, and he wished he knew how to be more helpful. The fact was, he had wandered into something very human that he had never thought that he’d ever be a part of.

“So, how’s it been?” Jackie called out from the kitchen.

“Hmm?” He wandered into the room to see her moving about, fixing tea.

“I said, how’s it been, the two of you. With your first week or however long it’s been for ya, dating.”

“ Dating?!” the Doctor repeated, and now she was facing him, looking at him like he was an idiot for some reason, but excuse her, what?!

“My daughter?”

“No, I know your daughter, but we’re not dating! We’re married!”

“Right, sure, so you’ve been sayin’, but the fact is you two weren’t even properly together before your alien voodoo ended up accidentally getting you hitched. You can’t go from nothin’ to married like that, relationship-wise, no matter what ya got goin’ on with your shared brain whatever you call it.”

What?

“Bond,” he found himself mumbling, “it’s called a bond.”

“Though if you ask me, you two did go on about like you were together, even if Rose was constantly denying it. I’m not blind, y’know. And it wasn’t just me, either. Ask anyone around here, watchin’ you too making doe eyes at each other.”

“ Doe eyes?! I don’t make doe eyes,” the Doctor denied, though he still was trying to process the whole beginning of her speech. “Wait, did you say alien voodoo?!”

His words fell on deaf ears.

“And don’t get me started on the constant touching. The both of you had to realize that normal friends, platonic friends, don’t carry on like that, clingin’ to each other.”

“Clinging?” He didn’t even have it in him to scoff anymore. This was exhausting. Jackie pushed past him, handing him a cup of tea as she went. “Erm, thank you.”

“Use a coaster,” she told him, pointing at the couch.

Forget the beast in the pit, this was hell.

“Right, yes, of course,” he nodded, quickly sitting down and placing his mug on a coaster as ordered. Ugh.

Still, it was better than the interrogation she’d given him the last time they’d been here. And at least this time Jackie didn’t seem to expect him to say anything at all. Though she had asked him a question. And people called him rude!

His mother-in-law took a seat in the chair with her own mug, giving him the same skeptical look that she had after catching him modifying her toaster. Thankfully, before she could start up again the door opened and Rose walked in.

And she was breathless, panting, having obviously ran all the way from the TARDIS.

And from what little he could get from her over the bond he could tell that she was incredibly stressed and anxious.

But she looked gorgeous.

Her hair was done in soft curls, and she had on a TARDIS blue dress and the same little pink heels she’d worn when they’d failed to see Elvis. He really needed to get back around to that. Might not have time until their second honeymoon, though. Too many different plans. The Doctor couldn’t take his eyes off her.

“Mum!” she exclaimed, immediately wrapping Jackie in a hug.

“Finally! Thought we’d miss our first appointment! I told him, wait ’til you’re done before gettin’ you here, especially if he’s going to cut it so close. I wouldn’t be surprised if he didn’t pass his test, you know, the way he lands willy nilly, and a year late, don’t think I’ll forget that! Who in their right mind woulda given him a time machine if they knew he’d be carryin’ on like that,” Jackie nattered on.

Not a word, he bit out to Rose across the bond and was actually quite pleased with the resulting mental laughter (despite the fact that it had really been a dire warning).

“Sorry for takin’ so long. I think we should still be fine. We’re getting a cab, right?” Rose asked, and they both began heading right back out of the flat.

The Doctor picked up his tea, blew on it, and put his legs up on the coffee table.

“What are you doin’?” Jackie asked him, holding the door open. “Shake a leg!”

“What?”

“You’re coming with us!”

He looked at Rose, who mouthed ‘sorry’, pointed at her phone and shrugged before remembering that they could speak telepathically.

Mum never said she expected you to come with us until the texts from yesterday, she explained, and I was in such a rush to get here by the time I got those ones that it slipped my mind to tell ya.

“Oh … right,” he tried to cover, “I just … thought we were having tea. And you know how great I think your tea is, Jackie. Saved the world, your tea did. Well, helped my regeneration sickness, which amounts to the same thing in that situation. Free radicals and tannins, have I properly explained the benefits to you? You see-”

“Wait a minute!” Jackie interrupted him, staring at Rose’s hands for some reason. “Where’s your ring?!”

Ring? Ring. Oh bloody, fucking hell.

“Oh, we haven’t-”

Her mother didn’t even give Rose a chance to speak. “We’re to go to all of these places, wedding planning, and he didn’t even have the decency to get you an engagement ring?!”

Exchanging rings. He knew that one! It was a human marriage custom so pervasive that it remained a part of their wedding ceremonies throughout time and space. And he’d forgotten.

“We just haven’t had a chance to go looking yet, that’s all,” Rose lied. “If anyone asks, we’ll just say it’s off gettin’ sized.”

Jackie huffed before stomping out of the flat, his wife trailing behind. The Doctor sat for another moment, positively baffled at how this day was going, then bounded out of the flat after them. When he caught up to Rose, he took her hand and pulled her to a stop.

“I’m so sorry,” he told her, and really, he didn’t even know where to start.

“Doctor, it’s fine, I don’t care about rings and stuff.”

“Not just that, though. But still, that too! I’m sorry for- for not doing this properly, not dating you, jumping straight into everything. I waited too long to tell you how I felt, and now I’m completely rubbish at doing all of these human courtship and marriage things, and you deserve-”

“Doctor,” Rose interrupted him, putting a hand over his mouth. “Y’need to stop listening to my mum. We’re fine. We were fine before you left the TARDIS, and we’re still fine. Better than fine, even. We’re fantastic. And let’s get this straight now, I’m the one who gets to decide what I deserve.”

“And what’s that?” he asked, words muffled by the hand she still hadn’t moved.

You, she declared over their bond, barriers dropped so that a tidal wave of love and affection poured into him.

And then he effortlessly nudged her hand out of the way, pulled her even closer, and kissed her.

The Universe was not kind. It owed him nothing. If anything, he owed it. Because it gave him her.

The hand not clutching her lower back tangled into her hair as he deepened the kiss, his own barriers crumbling as he tried to express everything he was feeling in that moment. Her arms wrapped around his neck and it was perfect. Everything was perfect, and the Doctor had no idea why he’d ever thought otherwise.

“OI!!”

They sprang apart as if a bucket of water had been poured over them.

“None of that!” Jackie yelled from across the way. “Get a move on! I swear, this is gonna be worse than all of the lovesick mooning.”

He was mortified.

Rose’s barriers had already locked back into place, her face red.

Tell your mum I’m off to get your ring, he projected before running back to the TARDIS as fast as he possibly could.

[keelywolfe]

FIC: Sticks and Stones (standalone)

Summary: Edge isn't sure what to call his relationship with Stretch. Not yet.

Tags: Spicyhoney, Developing Relationship, Hurt/Comfort

Notes: Written for The Nursery Rhyme Project!

The rules state that it has to have a nursery rhyme for a title and has to be about an injury/illness, either real or metaphorical. This is on the metaphorical side, I hope it's what they were looking for! 

Read it on AO3

or

Read it here!

~~*~~

Edge wasn’t sure what to call it, his relationship with Stretch.

It wasn’t precisely dating, not as it was shown in his dating rulebook back in Underfell. They’d skipped most of the steps, started with arguing rather than flirting and somehow, they’d tripped and stumbled their way into whatever this was that allowed them to offer insults to each other at the same time they gingerly held hands and stole kisses whenever they were alone.

He didn’t know what to call it, that was true. But whatever it was, Edge certainly liked it.

Tonight was their regularly schedule movie night, this time in Underswap. Stretch was usually in the thick of things, exchanging moronic puns with Sans and Red, making ridiculous jokes as each of them tossed popcorn at each other.

It was annoying, yes, but somehow on their journey to become…whatever they were…it changed and twisted into nearly endearing. That never stopped Edge from slapping all of them on the back of the skull and ordering those who were, in age, the older brothers and who were, in reality, the least mature, to clean up. But he was gentler when he did it.

But today, Stretch seemed distant, sitting curled up in a corner of one of the sofas, his normal humor muted, and Edge wasn’t sure why. A mental review of the night led him back to when Blue came out of the kitchen with the popcorn and called out, “Papy, come help me with this!”

Before Stretch could reply, Papyrus leapt to his feet with a cheerful, “Coming!” and that was that.

Was he upset that Papyrus helped when Blue asked for him? That seemed likely, but the real question was why. Stretch was far more likely to playfully whine and come up with increasingly ridiculous excuses as to why he couldn’t help— he was too sore from Quidditch practice was a recent one—than to actually provide any real assistance. Perhaps he was upset that Papyrus ruined his joke? But that never stopped him before, he would simply hold up one croc-encased foot and claim he would have helped, but he had a flat.

Whatever the issue, he seemed determined to marinate in it. Sitting quietly rather than tossing out opinions of the movie, his popcorn sitting untouched. Halfway through, he finally stood and went outside without a word, cigarettes in hand.

Blue was no fool, he’d obviously noticed his brother’s mood and started to stand, his starry eye lights shading to pale, worried globes. Edge waved him back, signing, I’ll check on him.

Blue nodded, sinking back next to Papyrus, but that worried gaze followed Edge out the door.

He didn’t need to go far. Stretch was sitting on the front steps, a lit cigarette dangling between two fingers. He glanced at Edge and didn’t say anything, only took a long drag from his cigarette.

“Stretch?” Edge asked, cautiously. He sat down on the stair next to him, wincing at the chill seeping through his trousers. These days he left his uniform at home, dressing more casually in the safety of Underswap. Perhaps Blue would have handled things different, coaxed and cajoled a response, but Edge wasn’t one to dither. He preferred to be direct, even if the answer wasn’t. “Are you all right?”

Stretch puffed out a perfect smoke ring, exhaling the rest of his breath in a cloud as he said, “you can call me that all you want, but it’s not my name, is it.” He slanted Edge a look, his eye lights narrow and distinct. “my name is papyrus and your name is papyrus, and they can dress it up any way they like, but what happens is you and i are the extras.” He stood up and twirled, the tip of his cigarette zigging through the darkness and his slippers going dark and soggy in the snow as he bowed mockingly. “we’re the red headed stepchildren, the clones, the fucking spares. whatever you want to call it, but it all boils down to not the real papyrus. he’s the ‘real papyrus’.” Stretch hooked his fingers into air quotes. “he gets dibs on papyrus and paps and now even papy, isn’t that great.”

He sagged back down on the stairs, fumbling for another cigarette and Edge watched as he lit it, chasing the flame as the lighter trembled in his hand.

“I’m sorry,” Edge said at last. “I wish I knew what to say. I suppose it doesn’t bother me the way it bothers you.” Perhaps it should have bother him more, but it didn’t. In Underfell, he was the Great and Terrible Papyrus, and here he was Edge, here he was a friend and a rival, depending on the day, an antagonist and a companion, perhaps even a lover, someday. It was better for him, in some ways, to not be called Papyrus while he was sitting on a sofa in Underswap or helping chop tomatoes in Undertale, a line of demarcation that allowed him to be…well. Someone else.

To his surprise, and pleasure, Stretch shifted to rest his skull on Edge’s shoulder, his hand seeking Edge’s, curving their fingers together as he sighed out, “thing is, it shouldn’t bother me. it’s stupid, i know it’s stupid. but every time i go to call my brother sans, every time someone says papyrus and i start to reply, it’s like getting slapped in the face and i feel sick in my soul.” He laughed, a little, shaking his head and his skull scraped lightly against Edge’s shirt, “when my bro was a kid, sometimes he’d get picked on a little. nothing bad, but once he came home crying and i taught him that ol’ saying: ‘sticks and stones will break my bones, but names will never hurt me.’”

Red’s version had been more along the lines of ‘and my bones will break yours,’ but Edge understood the sentiment.

“guess i was wrong, names can hurt, even when you’re all grown up.” Stretch leaned away and doused his cigarette in the snow, tossing the butt into an already overflowing ashtray. “sorry, you didn’t come out here to listen to me bitch.”

“Actually, I did,” Hesitantly, Edge slid an arm around Stretch’s shoulders and pulled him back in. He came immediately, leaning all his light weight against Edge, even snuggling in closer. “Or perhaps I was hoping to cheer you up.”

“Talking to you does make me cheerful,” Stretch sighed.

Edge closed his sockets briefly against the tremor in his soul from those soft words, quietly absorbed in the feel of that slight body settled comfortably against his own. He dipped his head to murmur close to Stretch’s auditory canal, “If nursery rhymes don’t bring any comfort, perhaps this will? ‘What's in a name? That which we call a rose, by any other name would smell as sweet’.”

To his dismay, Stretch pulled away from him, staring at him with wide sockets. He laughed suddenly, his eye lights flaring brightly with humor, “wow, edgelord, that was actually…romantic. didn’t know you had it in you.”

A thousand defensive words rose in his head and none made their way to his mouth, because it was currently occupied by Stretch leaning in to kiss him sweetly. When Edge pulled him closer, deepening that soft touch of mouths, he came willingly, eagerly, sharing breathy laughter between them as he settled into Edge’s arms.

Perhaps there wasn’t a word for what they were to each other, not in any language Edge knew, but that was all right. Named or not, it was theirs. They could figure out what to call it together.

-finis-

[magicmastered]

@darealbellabelleoftheball

About this post you tagged me in, which I’m screenshotting because Tumblr never lets me link posts:

(Should I have scribbled out the url? I don’t want anyone getting harassed because of me, regardless of whether I agree with them....)

Anyway, thanks for thinking of me.

I try not to reblog people’s original posts to start arguments with them, so I’ll respond here.

Reinvent Thor as being a more relatable and fun character

Relatable to who? At some point I might make a post asking people why they found Ragnarok Thor more or less relatable than pre-Ragnarok Thor. I’m curious as to what the response would be.

Personally I found Ragnarok Thor to be insincere, arrogant, and manipulative, though his “save Asgard” thing was obviously good. I agree with the goal, but his means...not so much.

ALSO. “Reinventing” a character is the exact opposite of what should be done at the end of a trilogy. At that point, you wrap up the plot threads and character arcs. You do NOT throw them all out and start with something that’s regressed even beyond where the character was at the beginning. It’s just not how trilogies work.

If you want to reinvent the character for LOLs, call it what it is—a parody. Parody is a perfectly legit genre. It just makes it clear that it’s not to be taken as part of the original canon.

With a far more extensive power set

Thor was already really powerful. Yeah, the Thor-nado is pretty cool, but he was doing fine without it...?

As well as making him the star of his own GD movie for once without worrying about some other character overshadowing him

You know how you make a character more interesting? It’s not by just flattening all the competition. It’s by giving them more internal conflict. That’s one of the reasons Loki’s so popular. He’d had internal conflict to deal with from the get-go.

They could’ve had Thor finally realize that Odin did screw up, and it wasn’t just a one-time thing, and he wasn’t actually a great parent (or person in general). Through that, he could realize that maybe the things Odin always told him were wrong. Maybe, for instance, Loki wasn’t 100% evil and Thor’s inferior. Maybe that Thor had himself made some mistakes at least as bad, and come to terms with that. He could’ve broken out of his toxic family dynamic.

That would’ve been a lot more compelling than erasing everything that made Thor, Thor.

And established that his arcs from the first two movies were realized on the level of him assuming control of his powers on Odin’s level—assuming ultimate worthiness

....

Why is aspiring to be like Odin in any way a good conclusion to Thor’s character arcs? And “worthiness” is entirely based on Odin’s professed values.

What would’ve been better is if Thor had finally broken free of Odin’s arbitrary worthiness paradigm. He’d been letting Odin define his worth for the previous movies. He realized that Odin was flawed for a bit in TDW but was back to submitting himself to Odin’s judgement at the end of the movie. It’s time for him to finish that journey. Yet in this movie it’s Odin (or rather Odin’s memory) that Thor turns to for strength.

And Thor honestly does not seem to change at all throughout the movie, character-wise. He starts off snarky and arrogant. He finishes snarky and arrogant with a throne and a missing eye (and no planet).

Introduce Valkyrie

Love the character, don’t love how they used her. Seriously, “and suddenly you’re overcome by the urge to do the right thing?” Five minutes after she did just that? Please.

Give Heimdall more than two minutes of screen time

Admittedly I like Heimdall better in this movie, so I’ll leave this alone.

Destroy Asgard

Why is this a good thing?

No, really, why is destroying Asgard better than, say, exploring its culture and history—and the people the movie repeatedly refers to—in a more nuanced light?

Reintroduce Hulk with the ability to speak and show emotion beyond smashing things

If I remember correctly, Hulk is a manifestation of Bruce’s anger and fear from his abusive childhood. (I don’t know if I’m phrasing this correctly at all. Someone who’s more into Bruce and Hulk could probably help. :/)

Ragnarok did not exactly explore that in any way.

And Hulk HAD emotions besides “smash”. Look at his reaction when Tony was falling out of the portal in Avengers. Hulk has real intelligence to him.

F colonialist lives!

This really isn’t my area of expertise at all...but I’m pretty sure the thing they were saying was bad was the imperialism, not colonialism. They’re not the same thing. And even that was confused by the whole venerating-Odin thing. I believe others have gone into this in more detail.

Korg is skinny!

I don’t even know what this is supposed to mean...?!

Contain good and funny jokes

This is entirely subjective. For instance, several people I know find butt jokes funny. I find them kind of immature and prefer dry humor. Neither of us is wrong in our preferences. It’s just not something you can argue.

Conversely, this movie also has Loki joke about his own suicide attempt. So.

Was directed by the MCU’s first director of color

I didn’t even know Waititi was a man of color when I first started disliking Ragnarok.

Controversial opinion here, but a movie that contradicts previous canon and has a plot as airtight as a colander is still a crappy franchise movie no matter who wrote it.

Fix Loki’s sad broody boy problem

Loki does not have a “sad broody boy” problem. He’s genuinely mentally ill, in no small part due to spending over a thousand years as the scapegoat in a narcissistic family. It’s also due to spending who-knows-how-long falling in space (see how that affected Tony) then another who-knows-how-long getting tortured by a purple space grape. That’s a lot more than going through an emo phase or something.

And this movie does not “fix” Loki’s mental illness. It waves it away like something that was never that bad to begin with, which is very much not the case.

It also erased Loki’s fierce intelligence from the previous movies, and his anger, and his strategy. It turned Loki from courageous to cowardly (except when the plot said so). It ignored Loki’s old reserve and trust issues.

Examples: You can’t tell me he couldn’t have thought up a better plan than “get help”. He could’ve disguised both him and Thor as more Sakaarian guards with his illusions. I just came up with that in five seconds. No way would that not occur to him at least as quickly.

Loki had the nerve to sass Laufey and the Other and Odin even when any one of them could’ve hurt him in previous movies. In Ragnarok he’s terrified of the Hulk to the point of trying to run.

In previous movies, Loki didn’t trust anyone enough to talk about any of the things that’d happened (aggravated since no one had even asked). In Ragnarok, as mentioned above, he joked about his own suicide—to a bunch of strangers.

Make fun of Thor: The Dark World

Again, why is this a good thing?

Ragnarok is one of the best Marvel movies for the “prisoners with jobs” joke alone

Subjective, again.

[angelinarecs]

Updated Pacific Rim Recs

Organized by pairing (or gen) and then alphabetized by title. Summaries (which have been copied from their respective stories) and descriptions are provided. Notation at the end of the description indicates if a story is completed or a WIP.

Gen

Take Up Your Spade and Break Ground - Tendo Choi is a 911 dispatcher because it pays well and because he’s damn good at it. He doesn’t take the job with the expectation of finding a family – but sometimes the people who call end up up meaning a hell of a lot, and Tendo’s never been one to stay detached. Friendship/Family. Tendo POV, very well written and the plot is original. A great AU overall. I really loved following Tendo and his relationships to the Shatterdome people through his work at 911. One-shot.

Hermann, Newton Friendship

All the Colors of the Rainbow - The first thing Newt noticed about Hermann was that he was a neat freak. Well. Okay. Maybe not a neat freak. Maybe just an ordinarily-neat person who didn’t like kaiju guts in his work space. Sharing a lab was going to be a challenge … Drama. Am I reccing this because Newt is autistic? Yes, yes I am. Also, these drabbles do wonders at showing the day-to-day struggles of Newton and Hermann sharing a lab. One-shot.

Hush Now - Hermann is upset and Newt tries to cheer him up. It either goes horribly wrong or horribly right- he’s not sure. Hurt/Comfort. Hermann gets an unfortunate phone call from his father and Newt is there to pick up the pieces. Drabble length, but still sweet. One-shot.

Not Unwelcome - Set directly after the events of the movie. Hermann leaves the celebrations to give himself some space, away from the loud people clapping him on the back, away from the happily drunken crowd, and, maybe, a bit of space away from Newt. Naturally, the moment he disappears, Newt goes after him. Minor angst ensues. Friendship/Angst. Cute, fluffly, indulgent, everything you want out of a feel-good story. An enjoyable read. One-shot.

Tröstung - When Hermann is three years old, his mother gives him a stuffed lamb. Angst/Friendship. Following Hermann through the years in his interactions with his  comfort object (an adorable sheep names Oskar). The premise and structure of the story really does a nice job at providing snapshots in Hermann’s life and development as he grows into the brilliant scientist he is. The story also provides a brief insight into Hermann and Newt’s relationship. One-shot.

Hermann/Newton

a ghost will be here in my stead - Hermann is feeling under the weather. Hurt/Comfort/Fluff. Post Uprising. Hermann falls ill after pushing himself too far to save Newton from the Precursors. Newton picks up the pieces. One-shot.

A Hand That Hold No Weapon - On their way back to the Hong Kong Shatterdome, Newton helps Gottlieb adjust to the after effects of drifting together. Drama/Hurt/Comfort. A much needed story after Hermann and Newton drift. Fun story, okay writing. One-shot.

A Momentary Lapse of Reason - It’s Newton’s fault, really. That Hermann is stuck on the floor of the Kwoon, feeling more than a bit useless and broken. Fluff/Hurt/Comfort. Hermann pushes himself too hard trying to physically work out his self-loathing. Newton is there to pick up the pieces. One-shot.

A Not so Simple Cold - Herman is sick. Really sick. He, however, is choosing to ignore how sick he is which Newton does not agree with. Fighting ensues but some realizations about their feelings for one another also come to a head. Fluff. One of those sickfics that’s not particularly original nor well written, but definitely scratched the hurt/comfort itch when needed. One-shot.

A Warm and Gentle Tug -  Hermann has a fear of having his blood drawn due to the fact that he always passes out or gets sick while it happens. This time around however, Hermann takes Newt along with him to his appointment to help ease him. Hurt/Comfort. Not the best writing here, but the relationship is fun. Mainly reccing because I have the exact same problem getting my blood drawn. One-shot.

Battered and Bruised - When Hermann comes to Newt’s defense, it doesn’t end well. Hurt/Comfort. Short and somewhat sweet. Newton and Hermann try to fix each other up after getting into a fight at a bar. One-shot.

Blue All Over - The worst one was recorded on a cold dreary day in the autumn of 2021. Hurt/Comfort. One of their many, and possible one of their worst, lab accidents. Herman is a self sacrificing idiot and Newton is at least fast on his feet. One-shot.

Collision - A kiss gone wrong. Romance/Humor. Hermann and Newton being dorky and clumsy. Cute, but short, story. One-shot.

Dehydration Sensation - Hermann doesn’t handle heat well. Hurt/Comfort. Hermann doesn’t take care of himself in the middle of a heat wave and Newt once again has to pick up the pieces. Including obstinate, delirious, and dissaproving Hermann alongside exasperated Newton! One-shot.

Homeostasis - The K-science laboratory stands on its own plane of existence; life within its concrete walls runs in parallel to life in the bigger world of the Hong Kong Shatterdome. Yet even here the laws of physics apply. Whenever Hermann’s body isn’t failing him, Newton’s mind is on the verge of breaking. Hurt/Comfort. The scientists have a rough day in the lab. I really enjoyed the contrast of the mental and physical given that each Hermann and Newt suffer from their own handicaps. Seeing the ailments as both a foil and a complement to each other was a very compelling look into their relationship. One-shot.

Incessant - Hermann’s physical limitations frustrate him to tears. Angst. Newton tries to help Hermann after a fall, Hermann is frustrated that his body won’t cooperate with anything. Poor Newt has to make this situation at least bearable for both of them. The selling points for this story is mostly domestic science boyfriends and an accurate depiction of the frustrations that come with being disabled/handicapped. One-shot.

Keep Your Mouth Shut, Keep Your Guard Up -  Hercules Hansen does not understand why Hermann won’t just tell him why he got in a fight with the new J-Tech. It’s obvious who came out worse for wear. Hurt/Comfort/Romance. Hermann just wants to protect Newton, they just keep getting into trouble. So wonderfully in character. I love these two. One-shot.

Laundry Day - “I must have almost popped the question a hundred times, but the timing never seemed…right, you know?” “And you decided nearly killing me in the middle of laundromat was the Platonic ideal of romance, did you?” Aka the one where Hermann launders Newt’s jacket and finds rather more than he bargained for. Hermann/Newt. Romance/Humor. This story is just so cute. I love how the everyday interaction between Newt and Hermann turns into such a touching/adorable moment. One-shot.

Oh, They’re Gonna Have to Fight Me - The Drift makes them realize they belong together. Now that they cancelled the apocalypse, there’s nothing left for them to do but live out their lives in happiness. That is, until Hermann realizes there’s more to the nightmares that Newt keeps having. (In which they don’t spend those ten years apart, and Hermann is there to figure it out and save Newt when the Precursors start taking over him.) Fluff/Angst. They win the war, get married, and live happily ever after until they don’t. If you were anything like me, the sequel really disappointed on the whole “haven’t seen you in ten years” bit. This is the fix-it that we needed for our science husbands as Hermann has to navigate his relationship with Newt while realizing exactly how compromised his husband truly is. Complete.  

Pride - Newmann oneshot. Newt takes Hermann on a date to his first LGBT parade- fluff through and through, except for a little reference to acephobia. Romance/Friendship. Am I reccing this entirely because Hermann is asexual? Yes, yes I am. Also features cute relationships, Newton coming up with a bunch of “queer” orientated pet names for Hermann, and some good points about sexuality. One-shot.

Somewhere, Something - Newt and Hermann start dating in the rush of change the end of war brings. Each of them is frightened that the other doesn’t realize what he’s in for. Hurt/Comfort/Angst. The science boyfriends help each other out as they grow closer in their relationship. I really appreciate the take on both mental and physical health issues. Two-shot, complete.

strange perceptions - The most essential question to pose, obviously, is why is Hermann presently finding himself contained in a shut-down emergency decontamination unit with only his lab partner as company, having forgone not only the process of actual decontamination but also the process of being noticed by anyone at all. The answer is frustratingly straightforward: because Newton. Angst/Hurt/Comfort. In which feelings are shared and realizations come to. I really love the dialogue, character introspection, and use of flashbacks in this story. I also love the fact that it literally took getting stuck together and completely helpless to force them into a conversation about feelings. One-shot.

Strong Enough - the Precursor in captivity, nobody knows exactly how to get Newt back to his old self, if that’s even possible. But Newt was always stubborn, and damn if Hermann would ever give up on him, or, worse yet, let him give up on himself. Emotional Hurt/Comfort/Angst. Hermann is going to get his husband back, even if he has to fight the entire Shatterdome, the alien possessing his love, and his own nightmares to do it. Another precursor!Newt fix-it, but we need all of those that we can get because I want my science husbands to end up happy. One-shot.

Taken Care Of - Newt helps out Hermann when he’s having a bad day. Hurt/Comfort. A short and fluffy slice of life story that follows the companionship of Newt and Hermann through a rough day. One-shot.

The Ghost and Dr. Priestly - Newt is pulling an all-nighter in the university library studying for a chemistry test, when he begins to hear strange sounds. Good news: it’s not a ghost. Bad news: he only finds out after giving his lab partner, Hermann, a mild concussion. Drama/Romance/Hurt/Comfort. Newt is an unbelievable idiot and poor Hermann suffers the consequences. Or, Hermann is concussed and is probably not thinking properly, but he still kisses Newt even after the daft man nearly brained him with a book. One-shot.

Tricks and Treats - Seven fics for the seven days of Gottbleed week (Oct. 5th-11 2015). Each story: 1. Is Gottbleed 2. Fulfills an OTP prompt from tumblr 3. Is newmann and 4. Is Halloween related. Trick or treating, costumes, haunted houses, ghosts, too much candy - and much more! Cute, funny, with a side of seriousness. Humor/Drama. Hermann and Newton make such a fun couple and these somewhat Halloween themed shorts perfectly show off their characters. Complete.

You and Your Dog Teeth - Desperate to find ends and solutions, Hermann wears himself out to exhaustion looking for answers, especially his already lame leg. Being around as his usual working late night companion, it’s up to Newt to help take Dr. Gottlieb home. What seemed entirely like a normal night only ends with two scientists realizing there’s a lot more between them than they thought. Angst/Humor. Such a fun story, this has a good balance between emotional tension and moments of hilarity that only the K-science boys can fully pull off. The awkward approach to romance in this story works very well for the characters and give an authentic feel to the whole thing. Two-shot, complete.

You Know I Love You: I Wrote It Down - Drs. Geiszler and Gottlieb’s relationship goes back almost ten years. We know this because the paper trail goes that far back, too. Romance. Where do I begin with this story? It’s so well done and amazingly written. I can’t get enough of it. The idea to follow the relationship of Hermann and Newton through their paper trail was brilliant and well executed. The sheer nerdy romance is amazing. I don’t even care if it has smut in it, it’s still well worth the read. One-shot.

[captain-mcdavid]

word count: 2.9k

smut: yes | no

warnings: angst, swearing, mentions of mental illness

“Baby, c’mon!” He yells, and you roll your eyes, pulling the popcorn out of the microwave, yelling back at him while you fling the bag onto the counter so you don’t burn yourself.

“Just a minute!” It comes out harsh, and you shake your head, muttering to yourself afterwards. God he was impatient.

Then there’s a knock on the door, and with an annoyed groan you begin to turn, but only until you hear him call out, “I’ll get it!”

Well at least he’s good for something.

He saunters through your apartment and out of sight to the door like he owns the place, and it annoys you. Just like almost every other thing that he does.

You really shouldn’t have let him back into your life. He cheated, which is reason enough, but he’s also just an asshole.

But here you are, recycling.

You can hear hushed voices from the entry way, but you don’t bother to leave the kitchen to see who it is, cause if you do he’ll just complain about the popcorn not being ready again.

The door shuts and then he walks stiffly past the kitchen, and you call out, “Who was it?”

“Just uh,” He starts, and doesn’t finish, making you furrow your brows, “Just the neighbour. Wanted to let you know he’d be gone again.”

You think about Mr Danby and for the first time since he got here, you actually genuinely smile. The sweet old man next door went was a frequent flyer and usually came to tell you when he left, quote, “Just so you don’t think I died,”

You take the popcorn out with a small laugh, “He must have a good pension. He goes on a lot of trips.”

When you look up at him he looks tense, shoulders and jaw squared in an angry set, it reminds you so much of someone else, and then you’re floating towards him with a cautious gaze.

“Josh?” You say, and he looks over at you.

“What?” His voice is harsh and your mood instantly declines. Not this again.

“What’s the matter?” You ask, and he laughs. Here we go.

“You know what.” He spits back, and you stand up straighter, preparing for the fight.

“Why do we keep coming back to this?” You say, and you can hear the deflation in your own voice.

“How can we not?” He growls.

“We can move on!” You cry back. “I’m trying, but you do this every fucking night!”

“That’s rich!” Josh says with a laugh, “You haven’t moved on, you’re still just as pissed as I am!”

“Maybe I am!” You shout, “But I have a right to be, you cheated on me, and then you left for months. Of course I’m mad!”

“You say this like you think I don’t have reasons to be upset.” He argues.

“Don’t put words in my mouth, I never said that,” You state calmly, holding up a hand.

“But you imply it all the time! And it makes me feel like an asshole. I get it, I fucked up. But you sulking around here like I killed your fucking family makes it really hard to get past this whole thing.”

“I don’t sulk-,” You start, but he cuts you off.

“You’re miserable all the time, and don’t try to tell me you’re not. I can’t even make you smile anymore.”

“That’s not true.” You try to insist but he’s dismissing you quickly.

“I’m sorry.” He starts, holding out his hands. “I’ve said it a thousand times and I’ll say it again. But I’m done feeling like shit for this, because it wasn’t just me that screwed up.

“You should feel like shit!” You rasp, tears stinging your eyes. “What you did was horrible.”

“So was what you did.” He interjects.

You sigh feebly, shaking your head while you hold the popcorn bowl tighter. “I don’t want to fight Josh.”

“Yeah you do.” He says, and you furrow your brows.

“Huh?” You say, but you know what his answer is going to be. You’ve done this before.

“You do wanna fight with me, cause it means that you’ll still see me. You’d rather play out this scenario in your head, where we scream ourselves voiceless, because you don’t wanna deal with the fact that you actually lost me.”

And then you’re snapping back to reality, and the person sitting in front of you isn’t Josh, it’s your ex, Blake.

“Jesus, you zoned out there.” He says, still sitting rigidly on the ouch, and you stand there clueless. “What are you waiting for? Come here.” He says, and it’s meant to sound funny, but it just sounds rude.

“Who was at the door?” You ask dumbly, taking a seat on the couch.

“I told you already, neighbour.” He grunts, shoving a handful of popcorn in his mouth.

“Right,” You whisper, leaning back into the cushions. “Sorry.”

He winds a stiff arm around you, and you look up at his tense jaw line. “Are you okay?” You ask curiously, “You seem kinda off.”

“Says you,” He fires back. “I’m fine.”

“So am I,” You defend. “You were good like five minutes ago, what happened?”

“Nothing!” He insists harshly. “That old guy just gives me the creeps. He’s like, praying on you or something.”

You scoff, scooting away from him. “Don’t say that about him. He’s the sweetest old man. He’s never been anything but polite.”

“Whatever,” Blake waves you off, “Now are we gonna watch this? Or are you gonna keep talking?”

You don’t answer, you just move further away while you direct your eyes to the screen.

You watch without paying attention, your thoughts miles away from your body.

It’s been this way for the last four months. You’ll see Blake out of the corner of your eye, or when you walk into a room, and his tall build and brown curly hair fool you into thinking he’s someone else.

It’s insane really, and you probably should see someone about it, but in your mind, Josh is right. Actually dealing with what happened seems far too hard, so you’ll just imagine that nothing actually ended. The fights are painful, but much less painful than just getting over it.

Even just thinking about what you’re doing to yourself makes you feel insane, so much so you actually think you might be driving yourself crazy.

Between fake scenarios and all the time you’re spending with Blake, you rarely have clear thoughts.

Everything about Blake makes you so annoyed. Every time he speaks, his voice sounds wrong. And every time he touches you, his hands feel wrong. All of it is wrong because he’s not Josh. But you still keep him around, because even though he’s an asshole, spending time with him is better than spending it alone.

You’d initially reached out to Blake about two weeks after Josh had left, when the lonely nights became too much. You missed Josh’s body on top of your own, and you thought getting underneath someone else would mute that, but it only made it worse.

You’re pulled out of your thoughts again, when Blake shoves his hand in between your thighs, he looks at you expectingly and you’re about to stop him when he comes at you fast, pushing you down while he presses his lips to yours.

Every time he kisses you, you get more and more disgusted with yourself. Trying to pretend that he’s someone else is unfair, and even though he’s a complete dick he still doesn’t deserve to be played.

Although why should you have a problem with fucking with someone now? You obviously didn’t before.

With a grunt you push him off you, and he looks at you with a mix of curiosity and disgust, and in the moment you really just want him out of your apartment.

“I’m not in the mood tonight.” You tell him, standing up.

“Then what am I here for?” You hate that he actually has the audacity to ask that question. Who does he think he is?

“To hang out? God I don’t know. Don’t get so disappointed, you get laid like every other night.”

He shakes his head and stands, muttering something under his breath about putting out, and you have to hold back from punching him in the throat while he walks out of your apartment. “I’ll see you tomorrow.” He grunts, slamming the door on the way out.

About a minute later there’s another knock and you roll your eyes, stomping towards it, jeez, he can’t take no for an answer.

You swing the door open, ready to yell but when you see who’s behind it your breath catches in your throat.

Emma.

“Did I just see motherfucking Blake Wilson walking out of here?” She says the words while she saunters into your apartment and you don’t know if you should be happy or sad.

“Uh... yeah.” You say, kind of ashamed.

“Y/N, when you fell off the face of the earth I knew it was bad but I didn’t think it could be that bad.”

You shrug, and then she pulls you into a hug. It’s the first hug you’ve had since Josh that actually made you feel okay. You were comfortable in her arms, Blake was a different story.

“What happened? What’s going on with you?” She asks, leading you to the couch to sit down.

“Just having a rough couple months.” You answer.

“Lindsay told me she moved out, but she won’t say why... Does that have anything to do with it?”

Just the mention of her name makes you tense up, and you clench your jaw to keep from rambling swear words. You look up at Emma, studying her face for emotion. You honest to god have no idea if she knows what happened or not. She was always closer to Lindsay than you, what if she was the same kind of person as Lindsay? Cunning and manipulative.

She looks genuinely concerned, so you sigh before saying, “It’s got everything to do with it.”

“What happened with you two?” She asks quietly, voice dropping while her eyes spark with something you can’t quite put your finger on.

Your furrow your brows and then say, “She slept with Josh. While we were seeing each other.”

You’re surprised when she starts to laugh, you look at her like everyone else has been looking at you for the past months, has she lost it? That’s not a laughing matter.

“God. Some people really never change.” The words come out almost like a snarl, and your eyes widen when you realize that Lindsay was probably a repeat offender.

“Bitch stole my boyfriend in high school.” She explains, and then extends a hand to put on your knee. “I’m sorry, I know how you feel.”

“She’s psycho.” You say, and Emma laughs.

“You got that right. I don’t know how I stayed friends with her for so long. I actually thought maybe she had become a better person.”

You chuckle, and Emma shakes her head, in awe of the situation.

“I’m really sorry Y/N, I know you really liked Josh, are you okay?”

You pretend to shake it off, shrugging like it’s no big deal. “I wasn’t that invested, I’m go-“

“You don’t have to lie to me,” She interrupts and you bite your lips, embarrassed.

“It’s been hard.” You say quietly.

“Is that why Blake was here?” She’s not trying to sound judgey, but it still comes off a little so.

“I haven’t really had anyone to talk to, okay? I know he’s not the best person for that, but he’s someone.” You defend, and she’s quick to stop you.

“Okay well you have me now. So you can stop clowning around with him. He’s a loser.” She states, and you can’t help but laugh a little.

She reaches out to wind an arm around you, and you lean into her. “I’m sorry you were alone for this long.”

The next month is better. The fights with Josh have stopped, but not the nights with Blake.

They should stop, and they are less frequent, but you still find yourself opening the door for him at eleven o’clock at night, and he follows you down to your bedroom and then leaves in the morning.

You really don’t know why you keep him around, Emma questions you all the time, but for now, seeing him less seems like an accomplishment so you’ll take the wins one at a time.

“Okay, I don’t understand why you always drive to this one. There’s one way closer to your house.” Emma chirps, getting out of your car.

“This one has better produce.” You lie, and Emma rolls her eyes. You’re definitely not gonna tell her that you come to this one because it’s closest to Josh’s. You’re also not gonna tell her that you go to the gym closest to his house, and the Starbucks, and his favourite Thai place. The last month you’ve been praying for a run in, but nothing has happened.

“We’re not getting produce. We’re getting Ben and Jerrys.” She reiterates, but follows you into the Safeway none the less.

You look up and down the isles long after you’ve found your ice cream, and Emma stalks behind, mumbling about being hungry. You leave the store disappointed again, but she doesn’t take notice, talking away for the ride home.

You get home and start the princess diaries, you’re deep into your pint of cookie dough ice cream when your phone buzzes beside you.

You still get really excited whenever you receive a notification, and you still feel really let down when it’s not who you want it to be.

Which is the case tonight. Emma looks down at the screen too, on reflex and when you pick it up you see her sit up in her seat.

You read the message from Blake, waiting for her to say something.

“Okay I’m sorry,” She starts, and you strap in. “But I can’t watch you do this to yourself any longer.”

You hope she can’t see the way you roll your eyes, you’ve heard this lecture numerous times, and it’s not helping so you don’t know why she bothers.

“Don’t you see what you’re doing here?” She asks, and because you’re actually kind of curious about the answer you shrug. “He’s the rebound that never ends. I let it happen when I thought you needed to get over Josh, but this has gone on long enough. You’re using him and you know it.”

“I’m not-,” You start to say, but then she gives you a look, and you stop.

“You’re doing to him what everyone else has done to you, and I know that he’s a jerk, believe me, I know that, but he still doesn’t deserve to been on the back burner.”

“It’s not like either of us want a relationship!” You say back, getting defensive.

“Do you know who would say that?” She asks, and you raise a brow.

“Josh. To one of his friends when they roast him for doing this to you.”

“Em,” You start, but she just keeps talking.

“You’re being naive-,”

The word nearly drags you over hot coals, and you don’t hear anything she says after it, that one word stuck in your head. It’s like she sees the change in persona immediately, and then stops talking.

“I’m sorry if I’m overstepping.” She whispers, “I’m just trying to look out for you.”

“Yeah, that’s what Lindsay said.”

The words fall out of your mouth and you see Emma’s shoulders slump. That was something you definitely shouldn’t have said.

“Okay, I think I’m gonna go. Give you some space for a little while.”

You don’t say anything, you just let her go, feeling like shit all around. Once she leaves you cry for a solid ten minutes, a frequent occurrence in the last four months, and then you pick yourself up and head out for some Thai food, which is also a frequent occurrence. The spice just seems to brighten your mood ironically enough. And so does the thought of maybe seeing Josh.

You listen to sad music on the drive over, spending way more time in the car than necessary. And when you pull up to the restaurant, your heart almost stops, cause there’s a car out from that looks just like Josh’s.

But still, you get out, and walk into the restaurant, trying not to get your hopes up. He’s probably not even here.

But once you enter you’re greeted by the amazing smell, and blue eyes and curly brown hair.

He turns when you walk in, and this time, your heart actually does stop.

You stare blankly at each other, and you’ve imagined this moment a thousand times but you never actually thought it would happen.

And now that it has, your stomach is on the floor and your heart feels fragile enough that it could break with a single beat.

You don’t know what you were thinking you’d feel, but it’s certainly not this. Cause all you see when you look at him, is cloudy vision from endless tears, Lindsay’s smug face, and that pink jacket.

You were sure you wanted this but now you’d give anything to take back the last thirty seconds. You’d never have walked in that door if you’d have known this is how you’d feel.

And then he says your name and his voice floats in your ears, only it’s not gentle, it’s harsh and loud and all you can hear is him yelling.

It’s only when he steps towards you that you have the mind to turn around, and run out the door.