#i know she isn’t likely to really say anything beyond ‘go vote’

[wavesoutbeingtossed]

.

[shekeepsmeworms]

Had some wine feeling good made a really shitty bowl in ceramics class this morning that I’m really worried has a bunch of air holes in it and had a really crappy therapy session where I didn’t talk too much but was honest about some other stuff which is good overall I guess but now I’m doing drunk crochet and watching the Duggar family documentary and probably going to stop watching soon once they start talking about the awful stuff but yeah day in the life of a woman doing her best I guess

[snailsandpuppy-dogtails]

Mr. December

Flufftober day 22 Have you heard? Garvez WC: 840

“Did you hear?!” Scurrying excitedly into the bullpen, Penelope glanced around expectantly at the familiar faces. When nearly everyone sat quietly in confusion, she went on. ”Theeeeeeey’re heeeeerre!” she squealed, “Or, they will be later.” The group of profilers looked to one another then back to her, blank expressions indicating she’d clarified nothing. 

“The Agents…Of The FBI Calendar…?” she went on.

“Oh-ohhhhhhh!” Prentiss exclaimed. While JJ, Spencer, and Rossi made sounds of understanding, Tara and Matt’s demeanors hadn’t changed much beyond amused smiles. Luke however looked…nervous? Concerned? Clearing his expression, he tried for a curious playful tone hoping he hadn’t given anything away, that these trained professionals hadn’t read him like a book. “What do you mean they, Garcia?” JJ jumped in explaining for the members who clearly had not been around for the experience in years past. “Penelope buys a case every year they produce it and passes them out because the profits go to charity, but the Bureau hasn’t done it in a few years, right, Pen?” “Correct my beautiful blonde friend, but it’s baaaack! Which means, all of you will once again be treated to the fine faces and -ahem- bodies of the Bureau.” As she said it, Luke would swear she winked at him. Going on, “And this year every agent selected to participate got to choose a charity where a portion of the profits would be donated to! They even asked them to write a little bit about why they chose it. How sweet is that?” He chuckled, tamping down the anxiety suddenly growing. Jesus, that was such a bad idea, why did he do it?! Why had he let them convince him to do it…Now everyone he currently works with was going to see…well quite a bit of him eventually. “Sounds like you know an awful lot about it Garcia…Now why would that be?” “…I’m friends with the Bureau’s digital artist who compiles it and has it sent out for print?” she answered immediately. “And it was my idea. I mean, after my second year here I figured we could be doing something really good for charity with the physically fine people we have around here, so I figured if New York’s fire fighters could do it, so could we.”  “Why are you so concerned? It’s not like you’d ever pose for something like that, Alvez.” Tara piped in. And she was right of course, except for the fact that he had, in fact posed. It seems he and Penelope had a friend in common… one who knew he’d do anything for retired working dogs, including posing nearly nude in a calendar to raise money for them.

“No, I just…I mean…isn’t it a little… a little objectifying?” He stammered out. “I wouldn’t say objectifying, more like… appreciative of people’s hard work and dedication. And everyone in it volunteered and the photo shoots are totally professional and we have broad representation and it’s all for good causes! Plus, I heard someone even brought their dog this year. I can’t wait to see that one.” Luke flushed, shit.  Looking around for support, “No one else is weirded out by this? Like you get a calendar and then Bob from IA is hanging in your office?” Crossing his arms, Matt mused “I think it’s great this year’s models got to select a charity to support, when I posed it was still down to a democratic vote and one lucky charity.” Luke laughed in disbelief, “You-” But Penelope cut him off, realization hitting her. “Ohh! That’s right! Aww, you were such a baby then, Matt Simmons!”  This revelation however did not help matters, Luke was only feeling more desperate at the anticipated endless hazing he’d be getting shortly, making it harder to disguise his emotions. “Well, it’s clear this conversation is making Alvez uncomfortable, so i’m shelving it for now and heading off, I suggest you all do the same.” Emily smirked sipping her coffee as she and Rossi headed up the stairs to their offices. With a few more comments everyone else followed suit, dispersing to retrieve their own caffeine fixes, turn on computers, or work on reports. Suddenly, it was just Luke, and Penelope who had taken up residence on his desk. Raising the ceramic unicorn mug to her lips, she spoke quietly, “If you feel that strongly about it, I can always have made a mistake or not received them at all…”   Luke sighed, visibly relaxing. He wouldn’t have to explain or tell her at all, she’d just back down. Very unGarcia-like, but he wasn’t about to look a gift horse in the mouth. “Thanks Chica, as much fun as we have here, I don’t like the idea of seeing my co-workers hanging around half-naked at the office.” 

“Mmmm” Penelope’s mouth pursed, biting her cheek in thought as she stood to leave. Leaning in, breath tickling his ear she whispered, “I do have to say, Roxie as Rudolph was quite inspired…Very good photo set, Mister December. It’s a shame I’ll be the only one to see it.” 

@flufftober

[glassautomaton]

Prompt: Drunken Iris is affectionate and giggly with Jackie and Anne. :]

At the moment, I feel like I’m not quite there yet, narratively speaking. Iris isn’t quite at the point where she’s comfortable enough to let he guard down like that, nor would she take a ‘risk’ like getting drunk. Writing it now would feel kind of awkward - I think getting there naturally over the course of the series would give me a better idea of how it plays out.

Going to put some more thoughts related to the whole “affectionate” angle under the cut as well.

So, I know a lot of people here ‘ship,’ for lack of a better term, Iris, Anne, and Jackie. I’m going to level with you and say that it’s a little up in the air as to how far I might actually be able to push that angle on the main site. People can post whatever they want on offsite spaces like AO3 or Tumblr, but anything on the main site is subject to deletions based on votes and general reception.

I’ve seen that reception towards romance on the site, specifically with SCPs, can be a little icy. This isn’t without reason, though, as way back when, a lot of people would make self-inserts and mash them together with humanoids like action figures, which ranged from eye-rolling to downright creepy. Take a look at some of the old edit logs for humanoids like Vector and even Iris specifically if you want specifics. People don’t want that happening again, myself included, and so the common knowledge is “Don’t ship SCPs.”

That said, I think that being so far removed has sort of softened things up a bit. 7910 and its attached tale feature a romance between an SCP and her assigned doctor, with more tales planned. Most notably, Hawaiian Shirts, one of two tales about Iris Thompson liking girls submitted to ColdpostCon, prominently featured a romance between two series one SCPs and did pretty well for a tale, with the only real complaints about it being more about its structure than its premise.

All that is to say that I’m not really sure how anything romantic with the SCPs in Devil’s Advocate would be received. If I’m being totally honest here (if anyone from the main site sees this no you didn’t), the plan is more or less to slowly develop things, which I feel like is just a good thing to do narratively anyways, and see how far I get. Either I find the line and leave it at “And they were squadmates” or I slow boil the audience like frogs in a kettle.

For that reason, I’m hesitant to post stuff showing Iris being openly affectionate or inwardly yearning. Like I said in a previous post, I’ve got this stuff sitting around, but if that ends up not being very well-received and I have to ditch it, I’d hate to make it seem like I was baiting my audience and then not end up delivering.

If everything goes to plan, though, we might just be able to scratch a square off of the Bingo board:

Since you’ve read this far, though, I’ll give you a little scrap of what you asked for, from the notes app on my phone. It’s too late for me to write this out into a full scene so it’s really just and idea with a specific line or two I liked, as is most of my stuff. As I said before, these are just interactions I thought might be good down the road - the series might not end up going in this direction.

Iris gets drunk, a little handsy with Anne. Anne’s like “Jesus fucking Christ what the hell is this” and Iris is like “Wow I should get drunk more often” because Anne is rarely on the back foot. Wakes up and is embarrassed but thinks she could get one over on Anne by just not acknowledging it beyond saying she remembers it perfectly.

And for fun since I do kind of like this line:

Anne is dejected for some reason, kneeling on the ground, probably after an operation. Iris decides to try to cheer her up while still acting like they dislike each other, so she walks up to her, lifts her chin up so they’re looking at each other, and says “No one should be allowed to wipe that smile off your face but me.” Anne bluescreens and Iris realizes, perhaps too late, that that was kind of an odd thing to say.

Hopefully that makes things behind the scenes a little more clear.

[firecrackerhh]

I don’t think sending people death threats is right or whatever, but I’m not gonna pretend like the people crying about our very fucking existence haven’t done the same exact shit.

But of course, antis don’t have shit to say when WE get fucking harassed, fuck us right? Maybe we would be kinder to them if they showed any respect for us! But noooooo, fuck that, god forbid they don’t virtue signal every wretched hour about how every little aspect of the show, fandom and creator included, pisses them the fuck off at all times and how awful we are and how dangerous to society we are or whatever the fuck you mentally ill weirdos believe.

But the second we give them back that energy they wanna play victim? Spare me. Play in fucking traffic or something.

“But that’s-“ what? Is it mean? Am I hurting your wittle fee fees? 🥺 oh you poor fucking babies. Cry to someone who gives a fuck.

It’s not like any fan who tells these people to off themselves is gonna actually do it, antis live off of spite and hatred and frankly anyone with such rancid opinions as them tunes us the fuck out anyway. It’s the ones who don’t y’all should be worried about.

I just wish these people could stop being such fucking hypocrites. Like you can’t bitch and moan about death threats when you’re in a group of people who routinely say that others should die over fictional fucking bullshit.

May I remind you all that this fandom wasn’t half as bad before these miserable fucks came in and started their whining and crying over their bad faith takes on everything involving the show? If anything, these people love the drama, they love the attention, it’s probably the only reason why some of these bastards wake up in the fucking morning! But sure, cry like our negative attention isn’t what you want.

Sure, it’s the hazbin fans that routinely send death threats, say racist shit, act homophobic, whatever, yeah, it’s always the fans right? Never antis, no, not them, pure cinnamon rolls they are./sarcasm

Clean up your own fucking house before you judge other people’s dumbfuck.

And yeah sure, Squidiot apologized for whatever bad shit she’s said and done in the past, but to be honest with you folks, I don’t believe this bitch for a second.

Lmao the same bitch who claimed that Viv was going to destroy society with her fucking cartoons thinks sending death threats is bad when by her own ‘logic’ (if you could even call it that) the only way Viv’s “society ending” cartoons would stop being created is if she died.

I can’t imagine being such a fucking tool to where I don’t fucking realize “hey…maybe this group of people routinely sending death threats to people over fictional bullshit isn’t the group I belong in” but then have the balls to say to the world “Vivziepop’s cartoon empire should fall!!!” Or whatever wacko shit without realizing the consequences of such a statement.

And just for the sake of clarity, yeah, clearly I’m not the pinnacle of kindness myself, I’m beyond aware, but Christ, at least I don’t directly send people death threats or whatever, like yeah, I’ve said bad shit before, I’m not denying that, but at least I don’t send it to the people I’m mad at.

If an anti sees my posts and that makes them angry that’s their own fault for looking at my shit to begin with.

Honestly the fact that most of those pictures of “harassment” the anti showed of non-Hazbin fans is at most fans telling the person “can you shut the fuck up” is kinda evidence to me these people are babies.

Like statistically I know there’s gotta be some subsection of fans who do send death threats on the regular and that shit isn’t ok, but shitty people are in every fandom my dude, it’s kinda inevitable, maybe stop whining that the hazbin fandom doesn’t do enough to remove people from the fandom and focus on your fucking behavior.

As if removing people from any fandom is even really possible, definitely for a fandom the size of Hazbin. It isn’t like we vote in leaders or something, it isn’t like Viv is Zeus and the big Hazbin accounts are Olympians, at most you can warn people of a person’s behavior, ostracize them even, but that doesn’t guarantee they’ll stop watching the show or engaging in fandom in other ways or with a different group of people or something.

People are awful, so most fandoms are toxic waste dumps, the hazbin fandom isn’t special, neither are antis, we’re all varying degrees of awful, it’s just a matter of what degree you are, and I think being an anti is significantly worse than any fan of a stupid fucking cartoon.

Giving off some real “I have the right to free speech!” Energy tbh. Like we all have an opinion my dude, doesn’t mean we’re obligated to endure your horseshit.

But on the bright side, that free speech bullshit applies to us as much as them, truly nothing is more American than telling a bitch to shut the fuck up over their bullshit-ass opinion. God bless America.

🧨🔥~Firecracker out~🔥🧨

[brightnshinythings]

AU Meme - Day 26 - Doppelgangers

Doppelgangers are a trope for a reason.

And are canonical in most of my fandoms (like the moment I saw the Gangers in Doctor Who, I knew there'd be a Doctor Ganger because if I was the SFX crew I couldn't have resisted the opportunity.  Something about Matt Smith's skull fascinates me.)

And there's two ways you can do a doppelganger story - looks alike and acts really similar or looks alike and acts really differently, and sometimes that is affected by the why of why there's a doppelganger (accidental cloning, evil cloning, evil robot building etc).

Then you can also get the "which of us is the real one?" and identity and self and stuff.

I have chosen to go slightly silly with this one.  There is some sci fi background.  And I don't go beyond Doctor Who canonical levels of Jack making it obvious exactly what he, his doppelganger and Ianto will be doing.

~~~~

Torchwood fic, early season 2.

****

"I want to defect," was not what anyone was expecting Jack to say as he came back through the portal to Orlat space.

Then again, they didn't expect Jack to be followed by a second Jack.

Torchwood, understandably, has procedures for this.

Both Jacks were locked into separate chambers, until Ianto could confirm which one was which.

Then again, Jack 1 was insisting he wasn't Jack.  He was singing like a canary about the Thezut plan to infiltrate Torchwood.  He'd been taken from his moon, and been transformed into Jack by untold painful surgeries, and then had faking being Jack beaten into him.

After the procedures had been completed, Ianto let the Jacks out of the holding area.  As he'd been the one running the tests, he was also in charge of the betting pool Owen had insisted on.

"It's got to be him.  He already knows."  Owen looked at Gwen, "and no bribing him to tell you which one's Jack."

"As if I would."

"I remember the World Cup sweepstake."  They all remembered what happened with the World Cup sweepstake.

Tosh gave her vote first.  "Left."  

Gwen took longer to decide.  Right Jack winked at her, but that didn't mean anything because she's reasonably sure Left Jack was busy making improper suggestions to Ianto.  

She walked round them.  She's not sure.  The Thezut did a very good job faking Jack, good enough that she's no idea how they're going handle whichever of the two isn't Jack going forward.  She's no reason for it, but she feels like it's left too.  "Left."

"Right," snaps Owen.

"Have you just gone with right because we've both gone left?"

"I might have.  Or I might have my reasons."

They turned to Ianto and the Jacks.  Ianto was putting on his coat, and had pocketed the money from the bet.

"Well?"

"You all owe tea money so I'm taking this for that."

"And we all have better things to do tonight."  That was a Jack, but they'd both moved so it wasn't clear which one it was, and even if it was either of them could have said it.  The two of them, and Ianto, were going to the exit.  "We'll see you tomorrow."

[tulipjeanohare]

Pulling a Houdini

premise: So here's that continuation I'd promised for Hospital Jail Break. Eddie's been broken out of the Hawkins hospital but now comes the hard part. Including one final goodbye we all deserved to see and a little surprise cameo in this part to make right another Duffer wrong from Vol. 2.

pairing: eddie munson x dustin's sister!reader

word count: pairing: 3089

warnings:  none

notes:  I was going to wrap it all up in this part but I've gotten so inspired I've got more to write for this little group...Eddie's getting out of Hawkins safe and sound if I've got anything to say about it lol Again, let me know what y'all think!

Read Part One  Part Three  Part Four

“Could you move a little faster,” Steve called back. “We’ve got an extremely short window to get you off this roof and away from this place before someone finds out you’ve pulled a Houdini.”

An exaggerated huff came from behind him, “Harrington I’m not sure you remember where you’re breaking me out of but I wasn’t in that hospital room for fun.”

“Well,” he started to argue back but when he glanced back he got the full scope of how bad the poor guy was still hurting. He remembered the way those bruises from the demobat’s tail felt, the way the bite marks stung beyond belief. “Yeah, yeah I remember but it still doesn’t make the fact that we’re on a tight deadline any less relevant.”

There was no more protest from Eddie but Steve could still hear him mumbling under his breath as he followed closely behind him. The two were hunched down enough that no one below could see them making their way across the roof to the rickety fire escape on the back end of the building. Every once in a while the walkie talkie Dustin had forced Steve to carry would crackle with static making one of them jump.

It wasn't a massive hospital by any means but when you’re trying to sneak an accused serial killer out of it it sure felt like a mansion. Steve could’ve sworn they’d been up there for 30 minutes before he finally reached the ledge again, his finger hovering over the button of his walkie before turning to look at Eddie. “We gotta get down this then around the corner to the car,” he explained. “I wasn’t really expecting you to still be this messed up when Henderson cooked up this plan, it was a pain in the ass for me to get up here and I’d say I’m in a lot better condition than you.”

“Gee man, thanks for the vote of confidence,” Eddie said flatly, bouncing up onto the balls of his feet to get a better look over the ledge. “It’s not like I wasn’t the nurses’ favorite patient in there, they really loved coming in to give me more pain meds. You know, the town murderer.”

Steve could have kicked himself in the ass at this point, “shit, Munson, you know I didn’t mean it like that. I just- this isn’t going to be easy because I don’t think they’ve fixed this particular part of the hospital since it was built.”

“Uuh Steve,” Robin’s voice came over the walkie talkie. “I think we gotta speed up this little adventure…a very important looking cop car just pulled into the lot.”

The two on the roof turned to each other in panic mode before answering, “Robin, cool your jets, we're on our way down now…you can’t rush the process.”

“I can when we’re all risking jail time,” she squeaked.

Before Steve could answer another voice came through, “just make it snappy, Dustin is losing his mind down here and I don’t have the heart to tell him his idol got re-arrested along with his babysitter,” you finished.

Without another word Steve gave Eddie the direction to follow his lead down the fire escape and they started their descent. And Steve hadn’t been kidding about what a piece of shit the thing was. It swayed here and there as the two of them made their way down it at a snail’s pace thanks to just how many rungs and steps were missing from it. God forbid there was ever an actual fire emergency at this place, there’s no way anyone would make it down this thing alive.

By the time they were nearing the bottom Eddie could hear a very familiar bickering coming from just below them. It sounded like you were less than excited with your little brother and he didn’t really seem to care all that much, he was too worried about making sure his friend got down in one piece. “You know, I’m not sure but I don’t think we’re supposed to be drawing a crowd, right Harrington,” Eddie spoke through gritted teeth.

“Damn it Dustin,” Steve grumbled, taking the last rung of the ladder before jumping down right in front of you. “I told you all to stay by the car, I’ve got this under control.”

And just like some kind of sick cosmic joke Eddie’s foot slipped and almost sent him falling a few feet earlier than he needed to. Your eyes darted from where he clung tightly, a desperate laugh coming from him, then to Steve. “Oh yeah, there’s nothing to worry about here.”

“He’s fine,” his voice cracked. “Look, take the kid back to the car and get ready to hightail it out of here.”

Looking up for a little reassurance you received an extremely nervous smile followed up by a thumbs up, “all good up here!”

You couldn’t help but laugh at just how annoyed he sounded even though he was trying his best to make sure Dustin wasn’t worried. One hand on your little brother’s shoulder and you guided him away from the scene of the escape and back to the getaway car. 

By the time you reached the back of the parking lot Robin was pacing from the front end of the car to the back, mumbling something to herself, and Nancy looked about ready to strangle her. Then there was Max leaned up against the back door bruised and bandaged but still in one piece, sort of. “They should be right behind us, let's get everyone in the car, quickly,” you urged.

The next few minutes felt like hours as you waited as patiently as possible only to see that mangy head of hair flying around the corner of the big brick building followed by Steve yelling for someone to start the car.

You exchanged a look with Nancy before she dove into the front seat and turned the key twice in the ignition before it started. A loud voice rang from behind them before you saw the gangly cop chasing after the two barreling towards you. Steve made his way to the driver’s seat, pushing Nancy to the middle of him and Robin while you shoved Eddie onto the floor of the backseat before folding yourself up onto the seat next to Dustin and Max.

Every single person in the car was yelling for Steve to step on it, including you because now the cop had backup and they were approaching the car at an increasingly fast pace. Steve cranked the gear shift into drive tossing everyone back in their seats as he pressed the pedal completely flat to the floor. 

“You can let me out now and save yourselves,” Eddie yelled from the floor, his face level with the toes of your shoes.

Max scoffed, kicking at his feet shoved up next to hers, “fat chance, we all escaped Vecna and you think we’re going to wuss out over a few cops?”

“She’s got a point,” you grinned. “We didn’t pull your sorry ass out of the upside down for nothing!”

The chase hadn’t lasted long seeing as, at some point, Max had snuck off and flattened a few tires on the police cars. There’s only so far a couple of Hawkins, Indiana cops could chase a car on foot. And it didn’t seem anyone in town had been alerted to the breach of security at the hospital yet either. Steve slowed to a normal pace once he’d gotten far enough from the hospital to not draw any further suspicion.

Resting your head back on the seat you finally took a second to take a breath, this wasn’t the end of this little ruse but it was one of the more nerve wracking parts. There was always time to worry about the rest of the plan later now you could revel in actually getting Eddie out of police custody safe and sound. The orange and yellow leaves still clinging to the trees lining the road passed quickly by as the car quieted down from all the excitement.

There was just one more small step in the grand plan before actually getting Eddie out of Hawkins. It was a step that you found inherently necessary but had to convince Steve and Robin of the benefit. They’d wanted to get him out of town as quickly as humanly possible but Nancy had been in your corner, the next step in the plan was just as important as any other part of it. 

The car wound around the long roads on the outskirts of town until you neared the next stop on your mission. The sound of the gravel crunching under the tires of the car made the moment feel more ominous than it should. Your eyes darted around the thick line of trees as Steve drove on making sure there wasn’t someone sneaking around out there, someone who might see one of you and ruin this entire scheme. Dustin had been squirming in the seat next to you the entire drive from the hospital and you were just getting ready to yell at him when you felt the smallest of taps on the toe of your boot. Looking down at where Eddie had stowed himself away you cocked an eyebrow, “y’alright?”

“Where…exactly are we,” he asked, worry evident in those big eyes of his.

You looked from Steve’s eyes in the rearview mirror and back before answering, “it’s a surprise but, well, we’re just about to that wooded area behind the school. We had to take the scenic route.”

“Wha-what,” he almost squeaked. “Why the hell are you taking me anywhere near that place?!”

A full round of ‘sush’es sounded from everyone in the car at the rise in his tone, “Eddie, seriously trust us! We know what we’re doing,” Robin called out from the front seat.

“Do we,” Steve questioned, finally slowing the car to a stop.

Your eyes went back to Eddie to give him a sympathetic look, “we do know what we’re doing…for the most part.”

As easily as you could, you slid out of the back of the car, turned to grab hold of Eddie's forearm and pulled him out as easily as you could with the way he’d stuffed himself in there. Before he could steady himself Dustin came jumping out behind him causing him to lose his balance just enough to stumble right into you.

“Whoa there big guy,” you giggled, the worry leaking out of you just enough to relax for a split second, simply from the way his large hands gripped your shoulders to steady himself. 

Those big doe eyes softened a bit as he looked down at you, “watch it, Henderson.”

And for just a few more moments the two of you stood there, stuck. It was like that small moment shielded you, for the time being, from everything crumbling to shit around you. You felt his thumbs gently rub the spot they lingered at before your little brother yanked him away behind him.

“Sooo,” the redhead that slid out behind Dustin finally spoke, drawing out the word in anticipation of you inferring what she was trying to insinuate. “You and Eddie…”

You squint your eyes at her, her left arm still in a massive cast and held tightly to her chest by the hospital sling, “Max, please get back in the car…I’m starting to think maybe Vecna did more than snap your arm.”

A huff and roll of her eyes and she was jumping back into the car, those headphones secured back to her head.

The familiar rambling of your little brother was just ahead of you when you turned to catch back up with Eddie and Dustin. Your boots snapped twigs beneath them as you came up behind the two causing Eddie to freeze in his tracks. “It’s just me,” you called out. “I thought maybe I should walk you the rest of the way…that way Dustin can keep watch for anyone who might be sneaking around out here.”

Dustin opened his mouth to protest but you quickly shoved him along a few steps to where he could still see the parked car down the hill. “Anything suspicious, give me the signal.”

He begrudgingly nodded and shuffled back down the hill a little ways until he had a good view of both you and the road.

And for a few more moments you and Eddie walked silently side by side until you came to the designated clearing. It was open and quiet where the two of you stood, the sun peeking down through the falling foliage creating an almost idyllic scene for the occasion. 

You could see from the corner of your eyes that Eddie was kicking at the thick clumps of leaves at his feet, his hands shoved in his pockets. “Eddie,” you finally broke the silence.

“Hmmm,” he hummed, his eyes still glued to the ground.

One deep breath and you started the little speech you’d practiced in your head the entire car ride up here. “Uhm, well, I know that everything is kind of turned to shit right now for you and you’re, like, an escaped criminal. And I thought since that one was on us maybe we should let you have one last goodbye. I know…”

His gaze quickly turned from the fascinating leaves on the ground to you in an instant, “wh-who?”

As if on cue Eddie’s Uncle Wayne stepped out from the line of trees, clearing his throat to bring his nephew’s attention to him. It almost broke your heart to see the look of desperation on Eddie’s face. The guy the entire town had officially pegged as a satanic serial killer broken by just the sound of his uncle’s voice.

You didn’t need to say anything else, you just stepped back and let the two close the space between them. It was a rush to reach one another and then like they hit an invisible wall when they were face to face. Like that unwritten rule of ‘manliness’ blocked them from the embrace that was hanging in the air. Both of the men opened their mouths to speak but then couldn’t quite get the words right until finally Wayne was able to break the silence. 

“Hey kid,” his voice cracked. 

In a flash Eddie flung his arms around his uncle and pulled him in for the most desperate hug you’d ever seen. Their big bodies clashed together with a thud, Wayne cupping the back of Eddie’s head so gently it was like he might’ve been holding toddler sized Eddie like he had all those years ago.

Your eyes went to where Eddie’s fingers were digging into his uncle’s shoulder blades, the tips going white from the pressure. It felt wrong to watch this. Such a private moment between them. So, you turned yourself around so you were staring at one of the trees in the distance. A tear fell down your cheek before you could wipe it away, leaving your skin streaked in its image. The actual escape from the hospital wasn’t the part of the plan that you’d been worrying about. It had been this. Nancy had told you how sure Wayne had been about Eddie, about how he refused to believe his nephew could ever even think of something as vile as what had happened to Chrissy Cunningham.

“I’m so sorry, Wayne,” you could hear Eddie whisper, his teeth clearly gritted together trying to stop the sob in his throat. “I fucked everything up.”

A deep grunt, then shuffling came from behind you as Wayne pulled back from his nephew and took his face in his hands, “you didn’t do anything anyone else wouldn’t have done, Eddie. These people have always looked at you like you were a monster but I know who you are. Your friends, they know who you are. Get out of Hawkins and never look back, promise me that.”

“I-I can’t just leave you like that,” he argued, his grip tight on his uncle’s arms as they stood in an embrace.

Wayne pulled him in quickly for one more hug, his calloused hand grabbing a hold of that familiar mess of curls at the nape of his neck one last time, “Eddie, I love you like my own kid but you’ve gotta go. Save yourself from this place and the brainwashed people in it.”

Through bleary eyes you could see Steve and Robin sitting in the front seat of the car impatiently trying to see what was taking so long, Nancy’s head poking out from between them. On your right was Dustin kicking at the stump of an old tree long since chopped down. He was mumbling something under his breath and his cheeks looked as flushed as yours felt right now. You gave the two one last fleeting moment together before wiping the tears away from your eyes and turning back to them. “Sorry to break this up but, uh, we should probably get going before anyone happens to see us,” you announced, your eyes finally catching sight of the two for the first time since you’d turned around.

Eddie’s bottom lip was still quivering from trying to stop himself from fully breaking down and Wayne’s eyes were red and puffy, his hand still resting on one of Eddie’s shoulders to give him a reassuring squeeze before pushing him towards you. “Take care of him for me,” he looked at you now. 

“I think I can handle that,” you forced a smile, the lump in your throat unbearable.

And just like that the moment was over and the older man was walking back into the tree line where he’d come from. A soft sniffle came from beside you as the two of you fell back into step together, “thank you,” he whispered.

There was so much you wanted to say to him. You wanted to promise him that he’d get to see his uncle again, soon. You wanted to promise him that everything would turn out alright. But you couldn’t do that, not truthfully at least. So you settled for a simple smile before giving his hand a quick squeeze of reassurance.

“The next part of your little plan better not include anymore crying,” Eddie announced loudly into the open air. “I think we’ve all had enough of that shit.”

Dustin laughed as he joined the two of you carefully shuffling down the hill, “all we have left to do is cross state lines.”

[samuel-de-champagne-problems]

You Remind Me of You

Summary: Spencer Reid is good at many things, but he just might be too good at pretending to be in love with Reader.

Pairing: Spencer Reid x Female Reader (She/Her)

Word Count: 2.3

Warnings: One use of f*ck (non sexual sense)

Author’s Note: This is the second installment for the 500 Followers Co-Celebration. Thank you to everyone who has voted, read, liked & reblogged our fics. Spencer’s thoughts are shown in italics. This title comes from the Jack Johnson song, I know it’s about his kid, but I was listening to the song and was like hold up, this works really well for a title!

You Remind Me of You

In retrospect, Spencer probably should have seen it coming. He should have realized that the floaty feeling he gets where he Y/N waltzes into his apartment was something beyond the scope of friendship. He should have realized that her laughter, even when he was tired and beaten down from work, could make him feel like he could take on the world. He should have realized that Y/N makes him want to kiss in the rain without a care in the world.

He should have realized that he loved her before he had to pretend to be in love with her.

Or rather pretend to be in love with her, while simultaneously pretending to not actually be in love with her.

Spencer always considered himself an excellent multi-tasker, however this task was proving to be a little worrisome. He backtracks, thinking back to what got him roped into this mess in the first place. Like most misadventures he’s gotten himself into, they all start with Y/N asking him to do something with her and him not being able to say no.

“Spencer,” Y/N groans, her legs rest on Spencer’s, both of them tucked underneath a blanket watching Reputation Stadium Tour for the 14th time, “I need to ask you a favor,”

Yes, anything. I’ll do anything for you, Y/N.

“What is it?” Spencer croaks, just stopping himself from saving what he actually is thinking, “How can I help you?”

“I have family reunion,” Y/N laments, throwing her head back dramatically, “and I might have told my parents that I was dating someone,”

“Well, you’re not. Right?” Spencer asks, for a second believing that in the less than 45 hours he last saw Y/N, she’s already dating someone, “I mean, I think I would be one of the first people to know if you were dating someone. We’re neighbors and I have a key and you’re...well, you’re”

You

“Relax, Spencer,” Y/N says, sitting up to rub a reassuring hand against his arm, “I’m not dating anyone. We really don’t have to worry about that problem,” Y/N mutters under breath.

“So, let me guess, they want you to bring this boyfriend to your family reunion?” Spencer questions, he hugs Y/N’s blanket covered legs for what he tells himself is for warmth, but he knows better than anyone that the weight of her body is like a therapeutic blanket hugging him and keeping him safe.

“That’s exactly what happened,” Y/N says, sinking down into the couch and letting the blankets cover her face, “and I might have mentioned that you’re my boyfriend,”

There’s a beat of silence where isn’t sure what he is supposed to say. He doesn’t want to appear too eager, as if he’s jumping at the chance to be Y/N’s fake boyfriend. And he also doesn’t want to play it too cool, like the idea of being Y/N’s boyfriend, albeit faux boyfriend, is something akin to a chore. Luckily for Spencer he’s rather quick on his feet, yet unluckily for Spencer his quick feet turn into two left feet the moment his brain is flooded with domestic imagery of him and Y/N.

“I’ll do it,” Spencer says, and judging from the look on Y/N’s face it is the right answer, “I’ll do it. You name the date and I’ll be there,”

“Well it’s like a whole weekend. Like this weekend,” Y/N says nervously, looking up at Spencer with a curious expression.

Spencer rests his hand on Y/N’s knee, drawing stars and nonsensical shapes with his thumb absentmindedly, “of course, Y/N. I’ll be happy to go. Anyway it’s been awhile since I’ve seen your moms,”

“And they’ll be thrilled to see you again,” Y/N says, looking over at him almost like she could really love him, “they were actually kind of excited that my boyfriend is you,”

If there ever is a statement that stumped Spencer, it’s this one. How can he respond to this without wanting to hold her face in his hands and kiss her everywhere his lips can reach?

“Were they really?” Spencer asks. Being a child of a divorced marriage and a member of the BAU, Spencer never got a chance to see what a loving, healthy relationship looks like. Y/N’s parents were nothing short of being absolutely in love.

“Yup, Momma was all like ‘I always knew I liked that boy’ and Mom was like ‘he’s a sweetheart, Y/N/N and you better not break his heart,”

Spencer ducks his head away from Y/N’s knowing gaze. She’s the kind of person that could tell exactly what Spencer is thinking with a single look. Spencer just supposes that she’s amazing like that.

“I think my mothers in-laws like me better than my own wife,” Spencer teases, wrapping his hand around Y/N’s hand and squeezing. She laughs loudly, like Spencer has just told the funniest joke she’s ever heard.

“They did through around fiancée like it’s a piece of candy,” Y/N says, “fiancée, that’s such a strange word,”

“Actually,” Spencer says, gesturing with his hands, “the word fiancée has etymological origins in both French and Latin. In around the 1840s the word morphed from it’s Latin root, which was roughly translated to “promise” or “trust”, or even according to some scholars, “faithful”, to mean betrothed. That translation is more closely related to its modern usage,” Spencer, still talking, gets up from his spot on the couch, and dashes off to his bedroom.

“Where you going?” Y/N asks, straightening out the blanket and pausing the television, “Spence, please don’t tell me you’re getting a dictionary to tell me more about the root of fiancée, I might just call an annulment,”

Spencer comes out from his bedroom with a little velvet box in one hand. He sits back down on the couch next to Y/N, who looks over at him with a confused expression on her face.

“This was my mother’s,” Spencer explains, “after my dad left, she got their rings. Both of them, I guess she wanted me to have them in case I did get married one day. I suppose she thought they’d be put to good use. You know, used by people that love each other deeply and unconditionally,” he explains, sneaking a glance at Y/N.

“So we’re gonna pretend to be engaged?” Y/N asks, “I guess that could be arranged, but we need to get our story straight,” she agrees, holding her hand out like she expects Spencer to put his mother’s ring on her finger and wants him to take it off after this weekend.

“Here,” Spencer says quietly, he can feel his heart pounding in his chest. He can’t believe how he’d be able to handle this if it was real, when he’s shaking like a leaf when it’s all for show, “You look-it looks beautiful,”

“Thank you,” Y/N says equally as quiet, a sudden shyness cloaking her usual cheerful, upbeat demeanor, “your turn,”

Y/N takes the other ring from the small velvet box and grabs Spencer’s hand. Spencer knows an awful lot about fingerprints, but even though he knows it’s impossible, he’s sure that Y/N’s fingerprints will be burned onto his skin after she lets go. She hardly touches him, but her fingers leave his skin tingling in the spots that she leaves her mark.

“That ring suits you, Spence,” Y/N says, sitting back in her spot. She rests her legs on Spencer’s again, settling easily into the couch, “so our story,”

“Our story,” Spencer repeats, his mind already weaving a fantastical romance between the two of them. It’s strange though, reality and fantasy don’t usually blend, but when it comes to Y/N, Spencer reckons that their story is a perfect tapestry of reality and fantasy.

“Tell me when you first realized when you loved me,” Y/N says.

I’m fucked, thoroughly and completely fucked.

***

“Spencer, tell me again how you proposed,” Lucy, Y/N’s mother asked him.

“Well, I kind of had it all planned and-” Spencer starts, but Y/N’s hands around his neck that travel down his chest silence him immediately.

“I’m so sorry, baby. But I want to tell the story,” she says, planting quick kisses on his cheek. Spencer wills blush on his cheeks to die down. The last thing he needs is to be embarrassed around his fake future wife’s (but very real love of his life) mothers.

“It was perfect, Mom,” Y/N says, sitting down very close to Spencer on the porch swing, “we’d spent all day at the Farmer’s Market and it ended up raining on the way home. We were soaked and just a mess,” she says, smiling so brightly that it makes the story seem authentic, “and I was in the bathroom and Spencer came in and just told me that there wasn’t another day that he didn’t want to not be married to me,”

“Oh Spencer, you’re a romantic?” Hazel, Y/N’s other mother says from the stoop.

“Not really, I think Y/N just brings it out of me,” Spencer says, pulling Y/N tighter into his side.

“I’m just really happy that you both are happy,” Hazel says, tears filling her eyes, “I’ve told Luce so many times that you two were made for each other. And now look at you!” she says, wiping her eyes, “after all those shitty boyfriends Y/N has had, I’m glad you found someone that is sweet and kind, Y/N”

“Oh Momma, Spence is the best,” Y/N says, smiling up at him. Spencer brings her hand to his lips, kissing the back of her hand in quick successions.

“Hazel, let’s let these young folks enjoy the peace,” Lucy says, ushering her wife into the house. Hazel and Lucy each kiss Y/N on the forehead and hug Spencer before heading back into the house.

Spencer and Y/N swing silently on the porch. They’re alone, for what seems like the first time that day. Between nosy aunts and curious cousins, Spencer put on quite the act of a loving boyfriend, even though it wasn’t that hard to pretend to be in love with Y/N.

“I can move if you need me too,” Y/N says, a little apprehensive about encroaching on Spencer’s personal space. To answer her question, Spencer starts to draw stars on her arm. He’s reminded of the day when Y/N asked him to pretend to be her boyfriend. He wonders if that could be considered their proposal, despite it not being an actual proposal.

“You’re perfect just where are,” Spencer says, trying to not sigh when Y/N’s head rests peacefully against his shoulder. It’s almost like she belongs there, next to him as equally and perfect as he belongs there next to her.

“You remind me of you,” Spencer says quietly, yet it’s the loudest thing he’s ever said.

“What?” Y/N says, twisting to look at Spencer, “is that supposed to be a good thing?”

“The best thing,” Spencer says, “You remind me of everything good in this world, because you’re the good thing in this world. You’re the best thing in my world, Y/N,”

Y/N gets quiet, which tells Spencer two things. She’s ready to run away without him, or run away with him. He personally hopes that it’s the latter rather than the former, but he was never one to dream.

“Spencer,” Y/N says, her voice just a whisper above the crickets, “you can’t say that stuff to me and not expect me to fall more in love with you,”

“What?” Spencer asks, not trusting his ears to hear what he thought he heard, “you’re in love with me?”

“How could I not be, Spencer. You’re-you’re you,” She says, like it’s enough of an explanation as to why she loves him back. It shouldn’t matter why she loves him back, but Spencer doesn’t ever want to not know an answer.

“Y/N, I’d really like to kiss you right now,” Spencer says, his heart soaring as Y/N nods slightly. She smells of honeysuckles and peach tea. Her lips are softer than Spencer ever could have imagined. Kissing her is something he’s thought of to fall asleep, to think of something other than finding terrible criminals, to think of something besides the pain of being painfully Spencer. Kissing her is nothing like he expected. He doesn’t mind when she takes control of the kiss, setting the pace as her mouth glides over his. She pays attention to the nape of his neck as her fingers tug and pull gently at his hair. Y/N is the first to break the kiss, not to Spencer’s surprise. He’s always told himself that if he ever got the chance to kiss her, he’d never be the first to let go.

“I always thought you’d be a great kisser. Your lips are very nice, Spence,” Y/N says, resting her forehead against Spencer’s. Spencer’s arms are tied around Y/N’s body, while she hangs her arms lazily around Spencer’s neck. It’s hot and sticky out on the porch with bugs the size of quarters buzzing around, but Spencer couldn’t care in the slightest. He kisses her lazily, like he’ll be able to do it again and again, no matter who’s watching or if they’ve gotten into a fight moments before.

“I love you, Y/N,” Spencer says, kissing the tip of Y/N’s nose. She settles back down on the swing, resting her head on Spencer’s lap. He brushes her hair from her face, not wanting her eyes or her face to be obstructed. Spencer is done with abstaining himself from beautiful things and beautiful people, even if the only person he ever wants, he already has.

“I love you more,” Y/N says, booping Spencer on the nose with her ring finger, as if she’s showing it off “do I have to give the ring back?”

“It’s your’s, Y/N. It’s always been yours,” Spencer says, as he litters Y/N’s finger with kisses.

“That’s good, because I’m pretty sure I didn’t want to take it off,”

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

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[saintofanything]

“why isn’t anyone who was mad at the syndicate mad at tubbo?!”

um, because they’re not the same situation?

i mean, beyond “so and so went on someone else’s land, so and so interrogated someone” as if that doesn’t describe half the situations on this server lmao

tubbo is missing a NUKE.

the damage it did was BIGGER than Doomsday and it did it in like, a minute. dream had to go back to blow L’manberg to bedrock, after a full day/night of withers and tnt duplicators. this nuke could do a lot of damage and kill everyone if it goes off at the right time in the right place. and it’s HIS. he owns it, it was stolen, he’s trying to get it back. 

(he’s also on the verge of a mental breakdown, if not in an active one, and i don’t think that’s irrelevant but im not gonna go into it, tho i will say if the nuke goes off and kills people, tubbo will bear the guilt and responsibility and he knows this)

first he chases after hbomb, to niki’s city. niki’s city, by her own statement, is an open city. it’s closer to an actual commune. she has no problem with anyone coming and going. she does not, at any point, ask them to leave.

anyways, they run around for like, five minutes? they don’t break anything, they don’t go into any rooms that aren’t open, and they tell niki that tubbo is missing property and they are looking for hbomb. niki lies. they leave, and tubbo catches her in the lie, saying they saw him there with her, and to please send him OUT of her city into the nether portal. they go back when she doesn’t and hbomb is right there around the corner.

and tubbo TELLS NIKI WHAT’S UP. he tells her a dangerous weapon is missing. the reason for their search is clear - they want to talk to hbomb and get some answers and find out if he did take it. they do threaten hbomb with a bucket of water but don’t do it, just block him in. she repeats that she’ll tell him they’re looking for him and that the person there isn’t hbomb. and they leave.

like, this is pretty standard for stolen property on this server? you go after the person who took your shit if you have the means to do so.

this isn’t at all comparable to the syndicate visit! this is comparable to when techno and tommy went to l’manberg to get techno’s weapons back!

techno and tommy kidnapped connor to use him as a hostage, tortured him, interrogated fundy to the point of “drowning in his own tears”, and then AFTER techno got his stuff back he STILL released the wither and then kept the nether star. techno wanted his shit back, he committed TERRORISM to do it, and succeeded. 

and guess what? I DONT BLAME HIM. he had zero reason to be nice from his perspective. those weapons are HIS. they were stolen from him, and he knows they’re not just going to give them back. he and l’manberg and its residents are enemies! and i would also fuck shit up to get my stuff back! 

tubbo and techno have a RIGHT to their possessions. it’s a societal rule in the dsmp that “individual property” exists and while theft is rampant and most people brush it off, there’s also nobody really blaming anyone for getting their own stuff back if they choose to do so!

why this isn’t actually comparable to the syndicate visit:

first off, the syndicate has no consented authority. none. nobody elected them, nobody voted for them, nobody even says they support them because they’re a shadow organization. their only authority comes from their power to assert their chosen ideology - anarchy - over other people through their means of choice. there is a precedent of violence who oppose them, and they historically have operated on that threat of violence: if you’re a government, we will blow you up or kill you. 

we have no indication otherwise, in-canon - our examples of techno enforcing anarchy are the pogtopia war and doomsday. maybe he wants to be diplomatic now, but we have no evidence to support it because tubbo was able to convince them it wasn’t a government. we literally have no idea idea what the reaction would have been if he had stood his ground and said they were an independent nation. maybe they’d have tried to reason with him, offered a speech about why anarchy is better, but...we don’t know. and tubbo (and ranboo!) have no reason to believe that violence wasn’t the main option.

"techno wasn’t threatening” his presence, by his own history with tubbo, is a threat. they are not on good terms, their relationship is negative. tubbo was MURDERED by techno - an event that has proven to be incredible traumatic to him, and he holds a very heavy amount of fear/respect for techno because of this. let alone it was actively a 4 vs 1, ranboo unable to really help defend tubbo without admitting his relationship, and if it went south, they had a son to protect which puts them at a home-field disadvantage. 

and let’s clear this up real fast: just because someone doesn’t raise their voice or explicitly say “this is a threat” doesn’t mean it isn’t one. sometimes it’s even worse than an outright one, it relies on double-speak which intentionally comes off as non-threatening to anyone who doesn’t have the context or history to understand it. the syndicate says “guess there’s no government here” but tubbo hears “if there was, you’d be dead or your home blown up” (and is he wrong?)

they also asked lots of questions and techno repeatedly needled tubbo about his past, and when tubbo warns him they have weapons, techno says “you’re really making this hard on yourself” as if tubbo isn’t ALLOWED to arm himself? and how is that NOT a threat? he’s criticized for wearing the armor of the man who killed his best friend and nearly killed him and they won against. he’s asked about his military, as if techno doesn’t have enough skulls for dozens of withers and an entire hound army? they don’t even know about the nukes at this point (THAT i understood them getting freaked out/upset/worried over, but i also see why Tubbo wanted them. it’s not called a deterrent for nothing)

if we’re gonna try to compare, well, tubbo NEVER does ANYTHING like this in talking to niki. he doesn’t bring up their past, doesn’t deliver any snide comments or veiled insulted/threats, he doesn’t critique or disparage her at all! he very firmly reiterates his demands and calls her out on her lies. he never raises his voice, he doesn’t threaten her or her city, and there’s no precedence for it with him - as of that time, he and niki have a neutral relationship. yes, he’s in full netherite and armed, and absolutely says he wants to be intimidating - but he says that to foolish, in private, not to niki, and again, he clearly reiterates he only wants to talk with hbomb about the missing weapon. 

counter to that, the syndicate came to snowchester with the intent to find out if there was a government, and to then ‘deal’ with that government if it existed. who the gave them the right to do that? to choose what is right for other people, regardless of those people’s opinions on it?

but when tubbo and techno want their stuff back, that’s a societal rule! it is something agreed upon by everyone, that in general, if someone steals from you, you can try and get it back, and the lines of what’s “too far” is pretty subjective between the characters! (coughsamcough) 

these two situations just don’t have the same context, both in the relationships between the characters and in the justifications and reasons for the visits. 

someone getting something back that was STOLEN from them is NOT the same as a shadow organization deciding if your current home is allowed to continue existing as-is. 

[stop-breaking-my-heart-telltale]

I’m sorry, but can I just go on a little rant about the Louis, clouis, and the Clem comic...? 

I didn’t really talk about Louis in my overall review of the comic because I wanted that to be more contained to the content shown on the pages, Clementine’s relationship with AJ, and her as a character.... but the more I think about these comics and Louis, the more frustrated I become thinking about what Clementine abandoning everyone would do to him. 

[... okay it’s not little anymore since I guess I can never just do anything simple when it comes to Louis, sorry my bad]

So, no surprise, we all know the comic’s bullshit by now. Clementine leaving everything and everyone behind because she’s not happy is dumb, AJ just letting her go is dumb, and Clem going to the mountains on crutches and a peg leg to find this so-called happiness is dumb. 

Now that we’ve established it’s dumb, I wanna talk about Louis because I got a lot of built up feelings about how bullshit this storyline is with how Clementine would not only abandon AJ, but also abandon Louis. 

Because let me tell you..... his heart would be broken beyond repair and I need to talk about why.

Sigh.... so.... muh boy. 

Before he met Clementine, Louis was this laidback, irresponsible, but caring and musical person who kept his head down to avoid conflict and never looked at the future. He was the kind of person who took things one day at a time, saw survival as a day-to-day task, and said that the future doesn’t exist, there’s only today. You get the point, he was never too concerned with things because they always seemed to work out, and if they didn’t, then that sucks and that’s why we should appreciate every day while we have it. 

Louis is shown to be charismatic and friendly, he spends his free time playing piano and card games, but no one really takes him seriously. Not even Marlon, his best friend for 8+ years. While he doesn’t seem to be on bad terms with anyone [including Aasim, they just act like people who disagree with the other’s point of view and have had the same argument many times, but that doesn’t mean they hate each other, y’know?] he also doesn’t appear super close with anyone outside of Marlon and possibly Violet, but even then. 

Marlon’s shown to have little faith in him with the way he talks about if Louis will even show up to hunt. He has a controlling grip on Louis that’s prominent during the confrontation scene when he uses intimidation to try to convince Louis to not interfere. Oh, and there’s the fact that Marlon’s been lying to Louis for the past year about the twins and then continued to lie to his face about what really happened to Brody... which isn’t great when you consider how Louis was the only one who had blind faith in him as a leader and, according to Marlon, was the only one who couldn’t see how pathetic he always was. 

Violet, while having a few more nicer moments with him than Marlon, still invalidates him and his feelings several times throughout the first half of the game which makes me wonder how close they ever were, or at least if Violet ever considered him a close friend to begin with. And no, a small monologue in the dorms doesn’t make everything better or confirm they were brotp the whole time... especially when once they’re on the boat, Louis might as well not exist because Violet can’t be bothered to acknowledge what happened to him or inquire about how he’s doing. I guess she just didn’t have time react while standing in her cell for several unbothered minutes-- no wait, it’s she already reacted off screen. Right. Good writing is good.

What I’m getting at here is that even though Louis is surrounded by people who he genuinely cares about, there is an argument to be made that he’s a lonely person. Hell, he’s aware of his loneliness when he says that no one hears past his music and jokes. I mean, how many nights do you think he spent by himself playing the piano because no one wanted to hear it? Are they like Violet and crack jokes about how he doesn’t have actual talent? Probably, given that someone literally carved “you suck at playing” onto the side of the damn piano. 

Oh, and let’s touch on that backstory of his. Louis grew up wealthy with two parents who loved him and each other, and they gave him anything he wanted except singing lessons. Louis says he wanted to be a real musician. But I guess his father didn’t like that idea and told him no, with the [as Louis puts it] dumb dad lesson of, “You get to be happy, or you get to be rich, can’t be both.” ...which is interesting given that Louis and his family were stupid rich but also.... were they not happy? well, that doesn’t make sense because little Louis knew that if he broke up their marriage, they would be hurt. 

So yeah, Louis was so upset that his father continually refused to let him take singing lessons that he broke into the man’s credit cards and faked an affair, which led to his parents divorcing... and then he spit his father’s words back in his face. 

Then they dumped him at Ericson. And the walkers came. 

There’s so much to unpack from the story he tells that it could be it’s own analysis, but basically.... Louis is aware of why what he did was fucked up, and he carries it with him every day. 

He regrets what he did, chews himself out for being such a “vindictive fuckhead” [and the amount of force used in that line tells you a lot, like how it’s not the first time he’s chastised himself like this] and he admits that he doesn’t even know the person he’s talking about. Yet, he still sees himself as bad, saying that they [I assume the staff] told him and the other kids they’re bad people. I don’t doubt that Louis internalized that which played a huge role in the confidence and self-esteem issues he has during tfs. 

Anyway, I’ll come back to this later, but when you take that amount of guilt and regret, and mix it with the fact that they dropped him off at this school that was supposed to make him better.... then the walkers came and those teachers, staff, and headmaster? Gone. Left a bunch of kids to fend for themselves, with the exception of Ms. Martin [but given how she looks when we find her I doubt she lasted that long] and I cannot imagine how horrifying that was for all of them. The dead are up eating people, and if you die you become one of them... and the people you thought you could rely on just fucking left you to die at this school. 

Every kid in that school has trauma and abandonment issues from before and after the world went to shit, every last one, and Louis isn’t the exception here. Over the years, a lot of kids died and they’ve all seen horrible shit. They all knew they were never going to see their families again, and as far as we know, no one came to get their kids at the beginning. They had to find ways of coping while trying to survive, and all they had left was each other. 

Louis copes with music and games and jokes. He’s built up this persona where it seems like he’s unaffected by the comments the others make, that the death and suffering he’s gone through is in the past, that he is confident and open to those around him.

But then Clementine and AJ show up, and Louis grows close with both of them. They had immediate chemistry upon first meeting, he was the one who looked after AJ since it seems like everyone else saw him as a little terror, and he went out of his way to be kind and make them comfortable. 

When they go hunting with him, Louis and Clementine have a moment after taking care of the walker where they lower their guards a bit-- Louis gives her more in-depth reasons for his views of survival, and going off her expression, it gets to her and makes her think.... but they’ve know each other a day and he’s not quick to infodump his life story or let her in, so he cuts the conversation short.

Then we have the Marlon confrontation scene that I have gone over so many times in the past. I won’t dillydally with it too long but..... Clementine appeals to Louis, who curls in on himself because of the control Marlon has on him. He wants to help, and hell, he knows this is wrong but he’s so used to not getting involved that he gets defensive.... plus, he’s known Clementine for two days, and he’s known Marlon for 8+ years.... he wants to believe Marlon but you can tell he doesn’t want this, either. It takes Clementine talking to him to give him courage to stand between her and Marlon’s gun and it’s a lot.

AJ shoots Marlon and everything goes to shit, and Louis is a goddamn mess. His best friend was murderer right in front of him, so add that to the trauma list, and he’s overwhelmed with all these feelings that again.... they keep getting invalidated by Violet because “Marlon was a liar and murderer, therefore you shouldn’t feel bad about his death. Get over yourself, Louis, you can be such a shithead sometimes.” 

Oh yeah Vi, I guess he should care more about two people he’s known for a total of two days rather than for the safety of the people [including you] he’s grown up with and cared about for 8+ years.... makes sense. 

So yeah, little to no support during this time. Alone again. 

And just because I have to make this clear so no one gets a hair up their ass-- both Louis and Violet are wrong here. Kicking them out isn’t the solution, but neither is acting like AJ was right to commit murder just because it was Marlon.

 But plots gotta plot, so they get voted out and you can see that Louis is conflicted about the whole thing. He wants them gone, but at the same time, he knows what kicking them out means. You can see it on his face that he’s not okay with kicking them out. He’s hurting when he’s there in the dorms telling them how the vote went... he literally doesn’t know what else to do. He just knows that everything hurts, Clem and AJ caused it, and he wants the pain to stop. He even tries to justify it to himself by figuring that they’ve done this before so they’ll be fine. Not a great thing to say, Lou. 

Anyway, we know the story, Clem and AJ come back and Louis once again sees the consequences of acting out of pain.... AJ is shot because Louis was hurt and he made a bad decision that he’s gotta live with.... something that he’s done before, and this affirms to him that he’s bad. He wishes he could take it back, and goes as far as to admit that to Clementine during the archery scene. 

By the way, credit to him for his apology to her. It’s rare in these games that Clem gets a genuine apology from someone who hurt her and doesn’t turn around to repeat the hurtful behavior, y’know? Plus, I can think of plenty of characters who owed Clem an apology in the past or if they did apologize, it was half-assed. 

You can feel how conflicted he is with this whole thing-- learning who Marlon really was and what he did, feeling something for Clementine before everything went down and not knowing how to handle those feelings afterward, caring about AJ and understanding why he thought shooting was the best choice but still hurting that his friend is dead.... 

And the thing is.... Louis forgives her for so much, as she does him, and through all of that bullshit, they manage to develop that strong connection that turns romantic. Louis lets himself be fully vulnerable with her and is honest about his feelings, how she listened when no one else did and seeing him for more than just the persona he put on. 

This works on Clementine’s side, too. Clementine has been through her own fair share of bullshit-- trauma, abandonment, loss, injury, you name it. She’s made mistakes, done terrible things, and has been in enough groups to know that romance usually ends in heartbreak.... and yet, she’s willing to open herself up to Louis and admit she feels a lot for him. 

Is it a little rushed? Yep. Could it have been handled better? Of course, most things this season could’ve, but what we got was pretty good. 

So Clementine and Louis are romantically involved now, the raiders attack, and she saves him... and boy does Louis feel guilty about that one, too. He feels bad enough that he questions why she would pick him because he can’t fathom his life being worth saving over another’s. He doesn’t see himself as useful, and even though Clementine is literally his girlfriend at this point, his self-esteem is so all over the place that he can’t understand why she would have him at her side. 

And when Clementine tells him that he’s too important to her, he’s too baffled to even give a response. He looks at her in disbelief like he wasn’t expecting her to say that.  But this shows that at the beginning of their relationship, he still doubts himself, and through her working with him, he begins to build up that strength in himself. 

He becomes brave enough to share what got him sent to the school with her, and he plays Don’t Be Afraid for everyone at the party and like.... for once, everyone is listening to him. Really listening to him. They’re not talking shit about his musical skills, they’re not ignoring him or the feelings he’s putting into the song, they’re sitting there with him and I just..... if you watch him, you can see that his eyes get pretty glossy throughout the song. The moment meant something to everyone. 

There’s also the fact that Clementine asked him to come with her and AJ onto the boat, and to be the one in charge of the bomb... that’s a huge responsibly and he feels the pressure of that. He starts to panic a bit about if he can do it, because what if he fucks up? What if he gets them caught and makes everything worse? What if something happens to Clementine and he can’t do anything about it? 

She’s there to reassure him that she believes in him, and that he can do this. They’re going to get everyone back, and he needs to focus... then he asks her to slap him which why would you? that’s dumb, so Clementine smooches him instead and like.... he physically relaxes into her because he’s comfortable and trusts her in this situation. 

Also, he loves her and cares about this mission enough to cover himself and his fancy jacket in walker guts.... sure, he complains while doing so but how else is he gonna cope with rubbing rotten guts on himself to blend in with a herd of walkers? 

Skipping ahead so that we’re not here all day, I wanna talk about the walk back to the school because it’s one of the most important clouis moments in the game and a huge reason that solidifies why the comic is bullshit.

Louis went off on his own to go out and find them. He didn’t know where they would be, he just knew that he had to go out and find them after making sure everyone was okay back at the school because he couldn’t bare the thought that he had lost them. And the way the AJ gets so excited to see him? and the group hug??

At this point, Louis has grown so much as a character. With Clementine by his side to support him, he’s grown stronger and more reliable. Remember how he never thought about the future? Well, now he is because his relationship with Clementine has given him a reason to long for a future. He talks about building this imaginary house with her, one he knows they can’t physically build... but it’s his way of saying we can build a home together, that he wants a future with her and AJ and everyone else. It’s such a personal conversation that flows so easy between them. Louis is more comfortable talking to her about things from his past, which is something he didn’t want to do back in ep1. 

He confides in her how he’s feeling after he shot and killed Dorian, he tells her that having a home means protecting it and I just.... it’s so good, okay? And from Clementine’s side, you can feel how at ease she is with him, too. Just the way she smiles at him as they’re walking? like he’s the cutest thing and she’s so happy to have him with her? 

But then we gotta deal with Minerva’s crazy ass on the bridge and well, AJ shoots Tenn and Louis is having flashbacks to Marlon and it’s not great. That’s a whole thing, and he ends up separated from them while escaping.

We don’t get to see Louis’ reaction to Clementine getting bit and losing her leg since I guess that puts a damper on the overly happy ending. But, going off of what we know about him and what I’ve explained [which isn’t even all of it, this isn’t a full Louis character analysis. if it was, it would be much longer and in multiple parts... believe it or not, I’m trying to not make this too long and only sorta failing...] we can get an idea of how he would react. 

Um, to say he was upset is an understatement.

Because remember, he had no time to think and climbed over the fence, thinking he could get them to climb over and they could get away, but it didn’t work. He ended up leaving them in order to save himself since walkers were closing in on him.

But you know that he’d blame himself for the bite. A lot of, “if I had just stayed” and “I should’ve climbed back over, I should’ve stayed with you.” I’m sure there were points where it looked like Clem wouldn’t make it and I can’t imagine how much hurt he went through watching her suffer and heal from losing a leg like that. 

Not only that, but knowing that AJ was the one to do it? And him thinking about what Clem’s death would do to AJ after all this? There isn’t a doubt in my mind that Louis would take care of AJ if she died. He cares about AJ, and he loves Clementine, so he be there for both of them, even if he’s still hurting from Tenn’s death. 

However, Clementine didn’t die. She survived the bite and amputation, and when we flashforward, she and Louis are still happily together. Louis is right there next to her at dinner, and he’s the one to help her with her crutches. He’s there to go over future plans to meet the traveling caravan, and Clementine wants him to be the one to go. 

Oh, and Louis once again forgives AJ for shooting Tenn, claiming that he understands that AJ saw something that he couldn’t. Like with Marlon, he’s not happy Tenn’s dead but he can see why AJ did it to save his life. 

I just..... happy ending. Clementine and Louis are together and she’s truly happy to have found a home for her and AJ with him at Ericson. 

....But then the comic thought it would be fun to say “nah.” 

The comic isn’t canon, I’m still insulted that it would ever consider itself as such, but even so I can’t help but feel so frustrated about how this would destroy Louis. 

He finally found someone he would consider his best friend, not just his girlfriend. She saw past that funny man persona and he trusted her enough to let her past this wall he built around himself. He let himself become vulnerable around her, he named his song after her. Their initials are carved into his piano with a heart surrounding them. He loved her. 

Clementine left him feeling loved, something he probably hasn’t truly felt since he was a little boy with his parents before their divorce. She loved him even after hearing his past because she knew that wasn’t him anymore, and she helped him build the confidence he needed to step up. Because of Clementine, Louis wants to enjoy every day while also looking at the future. He isn’t lonely anymore, he has her and AJ. He’s truly happy.

So to tell me that Louis would wake up one morning only to have AJ tell him that Clementine’s gone, she’ been planning an escape without telling anyone because she wasn’t happy...? I’m sorry, but if you think that wouldn’t leave Louis absolutely devastated, then you know nothing about him as a character. 

This idea is just.... look, Louis is perceptive. That’s a big part of his character, he’s perceptive of those around him. If Clementine was showing signs of being unhappy or depression, he would see it. He would notice a change. He would be able to tell if something was off, and he would ask her about it. Louis is the type of person to ask you what you need. What can he do to help? What do you need to feel better? And if you don’t know, it’s okay, he’ll help you figure it out in any way possible. 

Plus, the comic suggests that there are times where she went off on her own but came back [probably doing her escape prep ugh] and you expect me to believe that Louis wouldn’t notice that or wonder what she’s doing? Wouldn’t sense that something’s going on? 

After she’s gone, he’s going to blame himself for not being enough. He couldn’t make her happy and he was a fool to think he ever could. AJ lost the only family he’s known since he was born because Louis couldn’t help her, couldn’t do anything to stop her from leaving. 

And for him to realize that she didn’t love him? Clementine, the girl he thought the world of because of how strong and confident and in-charge she was, because she saw him for who he was..... she left him, abandoned him... and she couldn’t even be bothered with a goodbye.... that says that she didn’t care all that much about him in the end.

You KNOW that he would think he had this coming, too. How could the universe allow him to fall in love and be happy with someone who loved him back after what he did to his parents? He would feel so heartbroken that he would see this as some sort of karma for breaking up his parents happy marriage as a kid years before he ever met Clementine and before the apocalypse.

I fucking can’t.... I don’t have the words to fully explain how much I hate this. Louis wouldn’t be okay afterward, and I doubt he’d ever fully recover. I wasn’t joking when I mentioned before that Louis would stop playing piano. How could he sit there and play when I he can see is their initials and remember the night she confessed to him? When he named his song after her? Clementine left and took the music with her because Louis wouldn’t have it in him... something that he used to cope would be ruined and that’s just.... it’s fucking awful. 

Not only that, but now he has AJ who I assume is hurting just as much [though the comics inaccurately assume he would just let Clem go sooo... yeah] and he would be the only one Louis would really talk to about it, but then again.... what if AJ doesn’t wanna talk about it? What if AJ starts to act out and things just become terrible and Louis is just too overwhelmed? 

I just.... UGH. That’s how I feel. UGH. 

Clementine from the comic? Not her. She would never fucking do this to Louis, AJ, or anyone else at Ericson, and you would know that if you played the tfs. 

Sigh.... sorry, I just needed to get this all out. I haven’t seen anyone talk about how Clem leaving would affect Louis and I’ve gotten some asks/come across some posts about Louis that have left me incredibly annoyed.... well, I was annoyed before because of the comics, so my annoyances with those things were only heightened. So yeah... I wanted to talk about Louis’ character in hopes of explaining why he would be so hurt if this comic was canon. 

Which it’s not. So it’s fine. 

How are we all feelin’ at this point, by the way? I know I’m not the only one still annoyed with the comic, so I hope y’all are doin’ okay. Hope you’re stayin’ chill and thinking about your faves to help cope with this mess hahaha

[jiminrings]

why do i feel like even if tae is the one who's injured AND caught between stem koo and senior oc's tension, jungkook would STILL be the one who's crying

cold senior!y/n x stem major!koo masterlist :D

there's fINALLY some sort of peace and redemption between them

taehyung has never been indirectly involved in a palpable situation like this

the last time he was involved in anything remotely close to this, it had something to do with his field trip in second grade

whew god that was a rEALLY pressuring experience for him

it was a split vote to whether they should go to a strawberry field or a newly-opened futuristic kid-friendly interactive dinosaur museum SLASH theme park!!!!!!!

then taehyung picked the strawberry farm that was about 70% dirt

tae's put into a situation again and he doesn't know how to act lmao

"y'okay sweetheart? what's your relation to them?" the kind nurse that's obviously the maternal figure of the emergency ward asks him as she assesses him, a bit of a queue before he could get his leg patched up

he is beyond glad that she asked :D

tae's here to get his leg casted and entertain himself for the meantime!!! his fun isn't exactly correlated to that brooding fucking stem nerd's definition of it!!!

taehyung points to you directly, a cheeky grin on his face as you tilt your head in alert from your seat beside him

"she's my girlfriend!"

you chuckle at his playfulness and even the nurse does so with how proud he sounded, about to scribble it down on her clipboard when someone clearly sounds panicked about it

"she's not his girlfriend," jungkook rises from his slouched position on his seat, wide eyes fixated on the nurse as he shakes his head, trying to make her believe him

it isn't true!!!! that's misinformation!!! that's a crime!!!!

tae snaps his fingers, solemnly shaking his head

"right, my bad!! the two of us aren't in a relationship. actually, the three-..."

god oW

jungkook can't help but whack the back of taehyung's head, their boundary from being semi-strangers in your year you see like twice a day now crossing into semi-friends who aren't reserved with each other jUST because of kook's smack

that's a silent understanding, basically

tae smacks jungkook right back, only stopping on bickering when you intentionally clang your watch on the bedframe to spook them, exiting from the curtain so you could talk with the nurse

being caught in the middle of things cOULD really be fun!!! tae should get involved more often

"so tHIS is why you were outside y/n's dorm when i gave yoongi the cookies!!"

"... you know?"

kook freezes at the possibility that for some way he can't think of, taehyung somehow knows what happened between the two of you

was that why he just hAPPENED to drop by cookies when he was talking with yoongi??

yeah uhm not really

"no. i just know that yoongi hung you out to dry," he snorts because as he recalls it, jungkook looked as pale as a ghost

he didn't really plan to arrive at that time either!!! taehyung just wanted to knock on your door and hopefully drop you his treats then he'll be off his way

he didn't exactly expect to walk in on yoongi looking like he's gonna deck jungkook if only he hadn't yelled out his senior's name

see? it's like the universe just wants taehyung to be at the right places at the wrong times in order for them to eventually fall into place

okay he kinda did take a major L for having his ankle busted but that only means that you and jungkook (even if he doesn't know anything) better make up!!!

“is it bad that i wanted yoongi to punch me that time?” jungkook wonders out loud and he almost wishes he hadn’t, getting an immediate reaction of agreement

“i’ll fill in for him!!” tae half-jokes, getting yet another smack to his shoulder and at that rate, they’d be brothers by tomorrow lmao

“anyways,” he sighs as he leans back to his pillow, keeping his foot elevated. technically, this isn’t his business at all, but what could he do?? he’s sort-of-involved now and jungkook looks like he’s gonna cry out of all people, “you just want yoongi to deck you because that’d absolve you of your guilt.”

kook sighs at that, gripping his hair to keep himself from crying

“but i already know i’m guilty. not only with yoongi, but y/n especially!!”

he whistles at that, getting a mental image with your fists balled because he’s hung around enough practices to photograph all of you for the school paper, knowing that you dO pack a lot of power

“so them decking you is the only way you would feel guiltless?”

jungkook shifts at that, murmuring his answer to the question he’s got thrown

“w-well getting my apology accepted by them would be much appreciated.”

taehyung practically spoon-feeds the answer jungkook need to hear, shrugging carelessly as he watches the boy’s turmoil

god what does he dO?? this is his first interaction with you ever since the incident and he doesn’t know how to act

of all places and scenarios, it just hAD to be in the hospital because stoopid taehyung here decided to run to you while in the rain

as if on cue do you return to the curtained area with a nurse, forms between your fingers

“time to get your x-ray done, tae,” you almost sing-song to him in cheer, being relieved that things were picking up faster than you intended it to

you pat him on the head in an attempt at affection, oblivious to the curious glances that jungkook gives you while he assists the nurse in transferring taehyung to the wheelchair

it’s not until the curtain closes again and taehyung’s gone that you move, hand outstretched to give something to jungkook

.... which is just his share of taehyung’s forms that he needed to fill out so you could get on faster

the two of you are sitting beside each other, chairs close but not exactly close, clipboard in hand and taehyung’s phone at the middle edge of the hospital bed so you could copy his information

jungkook kNOWS he should be focusing on writing tae’s blood type right now, but the spur of the moment nudges him on entirely

"i'm sorry. i'm so, so sorry."

he squeaks and he has to breathe out after that

well there it goes :-)

you knew that the day wouldn’t have finished without jungkook’s input, having avoided him long enough that you didn’t know what to feel

were you expecting an apology from him??? uhm not exactly

are you commending him for apologizing??? not at all!! thanking someone for apologizing over what they’ve done to you in the first place is just a new low

“i know i can’t take back what i said now, but i truly didn’t mean it. i-i was just so confused but — b-but i’m not making excuses!! what i did was beyond shitty of me.”

oh hold on a second

that’s the first time you heard jungkook cuss

you wring your hands as you try to absorb his apology as much as possible without feeling awkward

ok you’re not as good for tHIS type of confrontation

it’s not the first time you’ve been wronged but this is perhaps the first time someone owned up to their wrong and apologize for it face-to-face

,,,,,, and not just because yoongi gave them a piece of his mind

yoongi likes fighting battles for you at times, even if you don’t necessarily ask him to

you appreciate it, but you kNOW he did not get jungkook off the hook so easily!!!!

you honestly thought that with his temper, he would’ve punched jungkook even if it was gonna make you mad

“it’s totally up to you if you don’t want to forgive me, b-but i figured i could die trying, y’know? you can reject me a couple hundred times and i’ll retry a couple thousand.”

jungkook adds and it makes the corner of your mouth raise in the tiniest most miniscule way

he knows that not only does he need to apologize with words, he also nEEDS to make it up to you with his actions!!! that’s why he plans on-

you pause your writing on the form, the act of you doing so making him freeze all the same as you try to carry on with speaking as inaudible as possible

"well you know now. i like you, that was my fault," you offer in response to his apology, coughing when you realize your mistake. "i liked you, i mean."

ok he deserved that

jungkook knows you probably figured out the hyeji situation already through yoongi, cutting his explanations down because you don’t even wanna hear her name

was it the truth? do you really not like jungkook anymore?

....

......

.........

you simmer in the own silence you’ve created, only being broken when jungkook shyly murmurs

"can't you like me some more?"

you snort at what seemed to be his playful suggestion, chuckling to yourself

jungkook was only hALF-kidding and he bows his head in embarrassment over your reaction, the pen in his hand feeling extremely light with how his hand’s trembling

you resume your writing wordlessly, not even daring to look at your right because jungkook’s trying to make himself as small as possible too

the words are just dying to fall out from his mouth, an unhinged trap he could no longer regulate when it comes to you

"you're loveable. extremely loveable."

jungkook says out of nowhere and you falter at writing taehyung’s supposed food allergies, a quiet curiosity to your words

"how would you know that?"

there’s no thought process behind it as he speaks surely this time, only taking the slightest bit of courage to look at you from the corner of his eye

"because it's you."

,,,,,

HOW are you supposed to react to that,,,

the curtains peek open and a grinning taehyung on a wheelchair estatically waves his hand

you and jungkook split from each other even if you haven’t been that close enough immediately, thankful for the welcome interruption

tae outstretches his arms for you to hoist him up the bed and you agree instantly, oblivious to the fact that he’s sticking his tongue out to jungkook who’s giving him a mean glare for his playfulness

his x-rays are all finished and he’s just waiting for the doc to come and interpret them (even if it’s beyond obvious that his ankle’s broken!!!!) so he could get on with wrapping his leg with a cast

jungkook takes this as a chance to rise up from his seat, snatching the opportunities he can within the timeframe

"what do you guys want from the cafeteria?"

tae beams at that, grateful because fINALLY someone’s asked him

"ooh!! i want-"

"what would you like, y/n?"

jungkook continues as he effectively interrupts taehyung who’s squinting and looks beyond offended ay the moment

his motive is buying <3 you <3 dinner!! not mr. ankle-breaker over here

you catch on to what he’s trying to do immediately, rolling your eyes with a hint of amusement when you plop back to your chair

“i'll have what taehyung wants.”

huh....

so he has no choice then but to ask,.,.,

jungkook clears his throat, his lips curved to a smile but his eyes looking the furthest thing from friendly

"what would you like,,,, taehyung?"

the boy pretend to be deep in thought just to waste kook’s time even more, even throwing in the humming to sell the idea

he’s been humming for half a minute now

“pasta. i want pasta. like, the most expensive pasta they have,” he nods at the amazement he has for himself, sneaking a look to a narrow-eyed jungkook

“c’mon, kook. think about y/n. she’s getting what i’m getting!!”

jungkook’s eyes instantly become brighter, realization sweeping over his features as he tries to hurry because you might be hungry at this point

“right, of course!! i’ll even get dessert :D”

well wasn’t tHAT easy hee-hee

hey maybe getting your ankle busted does lead to better things!!!

jungkook’s never been more excited to pay for overpriced pasta in cash (!!!) and carry up multiple paper bags of food and drinks on the stairs because the elevator’s taking too long

he’s only slightly confused when he walks to your spot that taehyung wasn’t there, even kinda being relieved actually

tae was whisked away for the second and final time to have his leg wrapped up, leaving you and jungkook alone once again

“that looks expensive.”

you remark the moment you see the fancy paper bags, bringing your wallet out to atleast take out a few bills that you think would cover the cost for this hospital dinner

jungkook incessantly shakes his head no, instead making you sit in place so he could turn the area to be a cozy dinner place as best as he could

"i mean it. i'm gonna make it up to you, i swear."

he speaks sometime in the middle of your silent meal, waiting for the time that it’d feel more sincere and not a little forced

ya know he didn’t want to make it seem that buying overpriced dinners correspond to him making it up to you!!!!

"i know."

you answer truthfully because you might have saw this coming, knowing in the back of your head that you wouldn’t put put it past jungkook to be sincere

you hear a noise of surprise when you reply, jungkook immediately putting his hand inside the pocket of his hoodie to fish out something

“your eyedrops, by the way. i meant to give it back to you earlier.”

your eyes skim on the dainty-looking handmade origami box on jungkook’s palm, a fond look he could atleast distinguish

you take it from him nonetheless, unaware at the multiple layers you have yet to know inside said box

“i can always buy a new one.”

he shakes his head at that, scrunching his nose as he mindlessly pokes at the chicken

he thinks back to what he put inside that might’ve been the reason why he didn’t just buy you a new stock in the first place

“i like giving back.”

giving back as in returing feelings too or whatever maybe!!!!! just maybe

he waves you off when you thank him for giving it back, his next words becoming a little weighted on your mind

"open it up when you feel like it. it's up to you."

that was that then

okay maybe not

you’re almost finished with your dinner and you know that you’re about to come home anyway, getting a text from tae that he’s done being wrapped up and is just waiting for his reminders now

why not say what you want to anyway??

"thank you for the lunchbox yesterday, by the way."

jungkook’s the one who’s caught off-guard this time, choking on his rice briefly before questioning you wITHOUT looking pathetic

"h-how did you know it was me??"

your hand only skims to the right of him, having to slightly lean against him to get what you need

it’s tae's record that jungkook had to fill up

you’ve just realized it a little while ago when jungkook was downstairs buying from the cafeteria, the distinct way of how he writes his A’s and curves his Y’s being embedded into your mind

:)

"because it's you."

[inkandpen22]

The Princess and The Pogue (Pt. 9)

Pairing: JJ x Reader / Topper x Reader

Word Count: 3.0k

Warnings: swearing, mild smut, angst, fluff

Part Summary: Y/N goes to see JJ after the party and she begins to think everything will work out

Masterlist

The Pogues are gathered around the bonfire, chatting over a couple of beers and joints. JJ keeps checking his phone every few minutes, wondering why you haven't texted him yet. You agreed for him to pick you up at your house at eleven, but he wants to wait for your text saying you're home. He's considered just going over anyway, assuming you're already there since dinner would've ended at least two hours ago. Before he has the chance to even rise to his feet to go, you and Topper roll up the driveway. None of the Pogues recognize the gray BMW, except Sarah. 

“Is that Topper dropping off Y/N?” She frowns in confusion as the car comes to a steady halt at the end of the gravel drive. 

Pope presses his fingers to his temples, wide-eyed. “Am I hallucinating?” 

“Okay, enough weed for me," Kiara declares, passing the joint to John B. 

Topper stops the car and turns to you. “You’ll be okay?” 

“Yeah, I’ll be fine,” you nod, collecting your bag between your legs. 

“Call or text if you need me,” he instructs, still somewhat reluctant to drop you off. 

“Will do,” you offer him a reassuring smile. 

“Okay, I’ll see you tomorrow," he complies, leaning over the divider and planting a quick peck to your cheek. “Love you.” 

“Love you too,” you return, granting him a kiss on the cheek as well. You climb out of Topper's car, walking toward the fire pit where JJ and everyone watch you utterly dumbfounded. “Hi guys,” you greet, slinging your bag over your shoulder. 

“Topper knows his way around The Cut?” John B pokes fun. 

“Did he drop you off to scope out the place?” Kiara grumbles. 

“He didn’t want me driving," you explain as you take a seat next to a silent JJ. "We went to Kelce’s for a little after dinner and I’ve been drinking." 

“What a gentleman,” Sarah mumbles sarcastically. 

“Hi Baby,” JJ greets you with a soft smile, wrapping his arm around your waist. 

“Hi,” you grin, leaning in and planting a kiss to his lips to which he reciprocates. 

“I could’ve picked you up,” he whispers against your lips. 

“I know," you state, parting from him for a second. "I just didn’t want to make you do the drive." 

“I’m surprised Topper let you out of the car,” Sarah snickers. 

“We came to an understanding,” you describe vaguely. 

“Oh yeah?" Kiara raises a brow. "What’s that?” 

“We’re just friends,” you reply confidently. 

“I don’t just kiss my friends goodbye...” John B mumbles under his breath. 

“We’re just friends," you reiterate, starring the boy down warningly. 

“You bet you are,” JJ agrees, pulling you into his side. “I missed you today.” 

“I missed you too," you blush, peering over to meet his gaze. 

“Movie anyone?” John B suggests suddenly rising to his feet. 

“Yes!” Sarah bursts. 

“Comedy!” Pope votes. 

“Romance!” Kiara challenges. 

“Actually," JJ sighs, standing up next to you. "I was going to head to bed, wanna come?” He asks as he glances down at you.

You hum. “Yeah, I’m pretty tired actually." 

____________________________________________

You and JJ lay in bed, facing each other as you talk about everything under the sun. You could've watched the movie considering you've been up for hours talking, not once trying to fall asleep. Yet, spending hours laying in bed, talking to JJ, is a much better pass time. 

“Fish tacos from The Wreck,” JJ answers without a moment's hesitation. 

“Ooo, you know I’ve never been there,” you confess, intrigued. 

“Really?!" JJ's eyes grow wide. "We’ll have to go ASAP! Kie’s dad makes the best hush puppies,” he dramatically gestures with his hands. 

You giggle, “sounds amazing.” 

“Okay, now your turn." JJ's arm drapes over you and rubs his hand up and down your back. 

“Hmm," you hum, thinking it over. "My grandma’s chicken and dumplings. She always made it when I was sick and it’s like a warm hug.”

“Yum," he grins. “Dream vacation?”

“Anywhere with a beach,” you answer easily. “I love to travel, but I also love the ocean so can’t be too far from it. You?”

“Surfing trip around the world," he nods, clearly having thought about it before. "I’m talking Australia, Japan, Brazil, all over.”

“Surfing world tour. Very surfer Pogue of you,” you tease playfully. 

“Would a Kook Princess like to come?” He offers with a sly smirk as his eyes fall to the small space between you. 

“Sure I’ll follow,” you accept with a soft smile. 

JJ jokingly nudges you on the shoulder with a slight blush to his cheeks. “Stop," he chuckles. "If anything you pick the places and I follow. Follow you around the world.”

“You would?” You narrow your eyes at him with a smirk. 

“What’s that Carol King song?” He tries to recall and whispers some of the words. “Where you lead...”

“I will follow," you add in a sing-songy tone. 

“Anywhere!” You both say in unison to each other, causing you two to laugh. 

JJ exhales deeply, catching his breath after laughing.“Talking to you is so easy it’s scary," he confesses, taking your hand in his between you two. 

“I never felt so understood until I met you,” you tell him. 

His brows scrunch together as he watches your hands move around one another. “You don’t think Topper understands you?”

“I do... to an extent,” you shrug, not fully convinced. “He’s known me longer, so he knows why I am the way I am, but he’s not necessarily accepting of all of it.”

“What do you mean?” JJ wonders aloud.  

“If I told him that I don’t want to go to every party and rather stay in, he’d wonder why. If I said I don’t like the Club and rather spend a day on some remote island somewhere he wouldn’t relate. I could tell you that I want to move to Guam and you’d be game for it. Some days I don’t want to have any responsibilities or social obligations which confuses Topper. He’s satisfied where he is. He’s satisfied being stationary and though I’m told I have everything, I don’t want any of it." You pause, finding yourself coming to a hard conclusion. You peer up at JJ who's eyes have left your hands and pour into you. "There has to be more right? There has to be something different out there.”

“Life beyond the OBX?" He seek to clarify to which you nod. "Yeah, there’s an entire world outside of here!”

“That’s what I want..." You whisper. "Something entirely my own and somewhere where no one knows me.” 

“Maybe we should explore it together,” he smiles gently with content. “I mean, as long as it’s okay for one person to know you.” 

“You don’t count," you blush. 

JJ releases your hand, bringing his own to caress your cheek. “I want to see the world with you." 

You lean into his touch, his warmth making you feel safe, seen, and understood. “I think that can be arranged...”

JJ shakes his head, as though he's come to a profound realization. “You’re everything to me." His words slip by in a whisper as he leans in and presses a gentle kiss to your lips, sealing his statement. 

You run your fingers through JJ's hair, pulling him in deeper. He smiles against your lips, loving your reaction. He moves to hover over you, encompassing you with his body. You take matters into your own hands and press JJ down to lay down beside you. Swiftly, you move to straddle him. A grunt leaves him and you cower slightly. 

"Did I hurt you?!" You nearly panic. 

“No, no,” he’s quick to assure you, bringing his hand to your face and brushing your hair back. 

You hadn’t noticed when he got into bed, the bruises and cuts scattered across his torso. You remember them from the Boneyard and in the hot tub. You had thought perhaps they were from Topper. 

JJ can tell that your mind isn’t satisfied. "What else is troubling you?" He frowns. "Babe, look at me, please."

"If these weren't Topper, what happened?"

"I don't want to talk about it,” he scrunches his face with a shake of the head. “Don't worry, it's taken care of,” he tries to change the subject, reaching up to kiss you. 

You gasp. "Did someone do this to you?!" You quickly realize. 

"Y/N..."JJ exhales deeply. 

"JJ, I have to know!” You argue. “If someone-"

"It was my dad okay!" He confesses. 

You heart sinks has the dark reality hits you like a ton of bricks. 

"He... he gets mad sometimes..."JJ describes, looking anywhere but you. He begins to fidget with the hem of your shirt. When... When things weren’t good between us... I picked a fight with him. It was stupid. I shouldn't have done it, but I did! I think I wanted it. At least then I could control the pain,” he explains, killing you.

You lean down and plant a gentle, comforting kiss to his lips. When you pull back, JJ stares at you, stunned by the action. You swallow hard as you slide down, keeping eye contact with him as you plant a kiss to his bruised peck. JJ’s heart begins to race as he watches you. You continue on your path to his multicolored rib. JJ’s hand brushes over the top of your head gently. Your fingers curl under the hem of his boxers as you leave a trail of kisses over his cut and bruised stomach. 

"Y/N..." He breathes heavily as his eyes fall shut. 

"Never again,” you tell him warningly as a demand. “You never go back there. Here, Kie's, Pope's, my place, anywhere else but there. Morning, noon, or night, you need a place, come to me. You hear me?"

JJ nods, too consumed in you to voice anything. 

"I see marks like these on you again, I'll kill him and they won't find the body. I've seen enough crime documentaries. I can be like Liam Nison in Taken,” you joke slightly. 

"I'm sure you could," JJ smirks, peering down at you. 

You lift yourself up to hover just above his face. You cup his cheeks, making him look you in the eyes. "I'm never going to leave you, ever! You never have to suffer alone again. I promise. Your pain is my pain. Whatever you inflict on yourself you also do on me."  

"I promise too. You're my world, Y/N,” he tells you and you know he means it. “You're my life now."

Suddenly, there's a ruckus coming from outside in the hall. The sound of the screen door slamming against the frame and shouting. 

“Hey! Hey! Hey! I’ll go get her! You stay here!” You hear John B yell. 

“Like I’d listen to you!” Another voice barks. 

You break from JJ, trying to listen. “What’s going on?” 

“I don’t know,” he frowns, peering over at the door. He climbs off of you and slips out of the bed. He grabs a t-shirt from the chair in the corner and pulls it over his head, his boxers still slightly exposed. 

“JJ, be careful!” You beg, worried that it could be someone looking for trouble. 

"I will, Baby. It's okay," he promises, heading toward the door to check it out. 

“Cool off Topper!” Pope shouts before you hear a bang. 

“Topper?” You mumble in disbelief, flying off the bed and toward the door.

“Y/N!" JJ grabs your wrist as you open the door. "Baby, wait!” 

Before he has the chance to stop you, you stumble into the hallway. JJ rushes out of the bedroom, nearly running into you. Standing at the end of it, in the archway of the living room, Topper turns his attention away from the Pogues. His eyes land on you and a wave of relief consumes him. 

“Y/N...” Your name falls from his parted lips faintly. 

“Topper...” You stand frozen. 

“There is almost an equal Kook to Pogue ratio in this house and I don’t like it,” Pope huffs from behind Topper. 

“I need to talk to you," the tall blonde announces urgently. 

You speed walk down the hall, despite JJ's efforts to stop you. “Is everything okay?” 

“Yeah, I just... I... uh...” Topper stutters, nervously avoiding your gaze, and focuses on the small floor space between you. 

“Have you been drinking again?" You question, coming to the conclusion he has. He smells of beer and weed, more than he did hours ago. "Did you go back to Kelce’s!” 

“I was losing my mind, Y/N!" He bursts, uncharacteristically, causing you to jump and JJ to step forward toward you. "I needed a distraction, but nothing was working!” Topper explains in a rush, all fidgety. “Can we just go somewhere to talk?” 

JJ immediately steps in, moving to stand between the two of you. “You’re not going anywhere with her!” 

“Oh shove it,” Topper snaps at JJ. 

“You forget you’re on my side of the island, Kook!” JJ barks, shoving Topper in the chest. 

“Enough!” You scream, pressing a palm to each of their chests. “For Pete’s sake!” 

“Back off JJ!” Kiara yells. 

“I just need to talk to you,” Topper pants. 

You exhale deeply, glancing between JJ and Topper. You know JJ won't approve and won't allow it without a fight, but you agree to speak with Topper. “Okay, let’s go outside.” 

JJ laughs, pacing around. “You can’t be serious-” 

“Ten minutes!” You shout at him, escorting Topper toward the door. 

“She sure told you,” Topper mocks JJ as he backs up to the exit. 

“Oh shut up,” you grumble, urging Topper through the doorway leading to the front yard. 

You and Topper settle down on the hammock, swinging back and forth on the edge, side by side. The sun has long since set and the lights in the large tree illuminate the yard. Unable to sit still, Topper rises from his spot and paces in front of you. 

“What’s going on Topper?” You ask worriedly. 

The boy stops, rubbing his hand across the back of his neck nervously. “I’m losing my mind, Y/N!" He finally breaks his silence. "I feel like there are weights strapped to me and I’m being pulled to the bottom of the ocean, struggling for air!” He rushes out in a pant. “I’ve been an arrogant ass and too scared to pay attention, but now I’m just scared and I’m afraid if I don’t tell you this now that I’ll never get a chance like this again!” 

You stand, taking his hands in yours. "Just take a deep breath!" 

He yanks his hands free of your hold, running his fingers through his hair as he paces away. "I'm about to be the most selfish person on the planet!" 

“Topper, just say it! It can't be that bad!" You try to reassure him, the pit in your stomach growing with each passing minute. You can only assume the worst. 

“I love you!” Topper bursts out, meeting your gaze pleadingly. 

A weight lifts off your shoulder. You thought it was something bad. “That's it? I love you too,” you laugh lightly. 

“No!" He stops you. "Not the way you mean it... it’s not the same! I love you!” 

Neither of you notice the Pogues hiding in the enclosed patio, watching everything go down. 

“I knew it!” Pope announces from his spot by the window. 

“Pay up!” Kiara holds out her hand to John B. 

JJ's heart sinks when he hears the confession leave Topper. He wants to run for the hills, but he can't help but observe you stand there in shock. 

Topper's chest rises and falls rapidly. “I didn’t realize it fully until I dropped you off and saw you with him. I know what I said earlier, that I’m okay with this!" The words fly out of him like a freight train going full speed. “But I’m not! I’ve been in love with you for two years! Before Sarah, during Sarah, after her!” 

“Okay ouch...” Sarah mumbles from her spot on the patio. 

“I’ve loved you since the moment I met you, I’ve just been too caught up in everything else to notice!" Topper's voice cracks with emotion. 

"You tell me this now!" You shout, growing more frustrated with each passing second. 

He sighs, "I know, I know, I'm sorry-" 

"No! You don't get to apologize!" You snap at him, utterly pissed off and frankly hurt. "You could've had me! You had me, Topper!" You correct as your eyes begin to swell with tears. "You had every opportunity to change the status quo and you didn't! You let me feel like a toy, there to satisfy you when you needed company! Yes, it was fun! Yes, it was great sex! Yes, I fed into the holding and touching, even when you and Sarah were on a break because I thought..." You swallow hard, processing what you're about to say. "Because I thought that eventually, you'd love me!" You break, tears falling down your cheeks. You finally let go of a truth you've been holding in for years now. "If I kept sleeping with you that one day you'd realize that we were more than just friends! Everyone else thought it! But you were caught up on Sarah and then it became not letting Sarah be with John B! I had to break it off after Bermuda because it was killing me! I couldn't take it anymore! I had to begin to move on!" 

"I'm sorry, I'm so sorry, I'm such an idiot!" Topper rushes up to you, taking your hands in his pleadingly. "Tonight, feeling you again, I saw the rest of our lives and I want it! I don’t give a shit about our friends or golfing or the Club or Sarah because none of it matters if I don’t get to experience it with you!” He begs, “so pick me! Be with me! Love me!” 

You whimper, unsure of what to do or say. Everything is happening so fast. 

"You slept with him?" 

You turn over your shoulder to find JJ standing just a few feet away. His eyes glisten under the lights of the tree. He swallows hard, taking your silence as enough of an answer. He nods his head, pressing his lips together to hold back his emotions.

“You’re exactly as everyone says!” He yells, pointing at you aggressively. 

In a second, he's sprinting away down the gravel drive. You step forward, ready to run after him, but Topper grabs your wrist. 

"Y/N, don't!" He pleads. 

You yank your wrist free, before running him. "JJ!" You call, "JJ wait!" 

"Y/N!" Topper shouts, running after you. 

"JJ!" You beg for him to stop. 

"Y/N, wait!" Topper grunts, sprinting. 

"JJ!" You struggle to keep up with the boy. Soon, he disappears into the dark woods across the street and you have no choice but to halt, losing all hope. 

You fall to your knees on the gravel. The sound of Topper's feet hitting the gravel quickly approaching. You slam your fists to the ground with a scream, hitting your boiling point. How much is a girl expected to take? 

______________________________________

Masterlist

Tags: @starkeythinker @bethii1 @thegunnerkelly@cc13723things@hockeybabe87 @jolomez @plutooryectors

[why-this-kolaveri-machi]

just because you’re afraid it doesn’t mean you’re broken.

Titans 3.05

once more into the cold dark void of the internet with my stream-of-consciousness take on a superhero tv show...

spoilers ahead.

1. i cannot believe that among the first things i get to hear in this episode with my own two ears is the line 'eluded our overdudes'. why must you give me such pain along with so much joy, show?

1.5. scarecrow stringing jason along on this path to red-hood-dom is not something i would’ve ever expected, but does kind of make sense. 

1.55. i don’t know all the details of the original resurrection arc in the comics but i like that jason, weirdly, has a greater role to play in his own demise and rebirth? i think it makes it easier to draw a line between his past trauma, the demonstrably shitty and terrifying responsibility of being robin, the ways bruce and the titans wronged him, his responses to that, the reasons he turns to scarecrow, and his final evolution to red hood. it makes for a smoother character arc rather than a one that was interrupted for two decades before somebody went oh hey let’s resurrect that kid that the audience once voted to kill and make him an anti-hero!

1.75. what’s crane giving him? anti fear toxin? anyway, crane is a fucking creep and i’m not sure i want to see a whole lot of him on my screen.

2. oh, um, heads up: there’s a long sequence of unsteady cam + flickering lights right after the title card upto the 3:16 mark. it’s a bit headache-inducing so if you want to skip, you can go ahead and do that. 

2.45. that’s... weird... why would he dream about... donna...

ok, who am i kidding. i’m going to jump right into my theory about Why Titans Makes Sense Actually because the show itself is apparently not interested in explaining itself:

a) it makes no sense for jason to be conjuring up donna--who famously did not care much for him!--in his dreams. (he wasn’t even there when she died.) or for her to be telling him don’t go or there’s still time.

b) this leads me to think that that’s actually donna, in some sort of limbo between life and death, the kind of place where jericho used to be

c) rachel has demonstrated that she has the power to link the minds of the titans across great distances--she called jason and hank/dawn for help in 2.01, she linked up everybody later in the season, projected dick’s hallucination of his father into their brains without even realising she was doing it, and in the finale, she managed to get dick into conner’s brain. she’s in themyscira now. is this how she gets donna back to life? but reaching out to her in that non-space between life and death?

d) the next obvious question is: why isn’t donna appearing in the dreams of the other titans? she probably is, but they have better reason to be dreaming about her since they were actually close to her, unlike jason.

e) but why would she warn jason in particular? does she foresee jason entering the afterlife--however briefly? does she have an idea of what jason plans to do and what he will become?

f) anyway, more trippy mindscapes and weird psychic powers, yay!

2.5. my heart clenched when bruce comforted jason post-nightmare: clearly i’ve been reading way too much batfam fic. this is a side of bruce we haven’t really been told to expect by all the characters on the show calling him a ‘psychopath’ (*cough*unreliablenarrators*cough*) and him getting jason to speak to a professional speaks volumes about the kind of self-reflection he’s done post dick’s departure, and maybe some of the regrets he has with regards to how he dealt with dick’s traumas.

i mean, just look at him when jason dismisses his concerns! BRUCE IS TRYING JASON

anyway, i have a whole lot more i want to say about this, but i’ll save it for later. 

also: LESLIE THOMPKINS!!!!

3. i really like molly--and i love that she’s a friend from before jason got taken in by bruce, the implication that they meet up regularly and that she’s a grounding influence on him (tho clearly not grounding enough to not go along with his dumbass idea about confronting a child trafficker alone). 

3.5. aw, jason. robin was his armour against everything in the world that would throw him down and chew him to bits, but san francisco proved that even robin wasn’t enough to protect him. it’s really interesting how ‘disillusionment with the idea of robin’ is so integral to the traumas of both dick and jason but in such different ways. 

4. LESLIE!!!!!!! i even forgive her office being so goddamn blue because leslie! 

4.5. it makes so much sense for titans!verse leslie to be a therapist, because this show is so inward looking anyway, and therapist sessions are a useful tool to showcase this character work in a story. besides, at least in fanfic, leslie often seems to double up as a counsellor anyway. 

4.6. oh man. i’m not terribly convinced by walters’ red hood (tho i think that may be the point--argh. i’ll come back to this thought later. have to stop getting distracted!) but he plays the asshole kid that’s trying not to let any real emotion seep through really well.

“you’d like me to punch you, wouldn’t you”

5. not sure what to think of batman’s little trophy case other than the show winking unsubtly at us and going look look - catwoman! the riddler! two face! you excited yet?! it’s like the scene from the end of amazing spiderman 2 when they were trying to drum up excitement for a sinister six spinoff by having harry osborne walk by a bunch of display cases with stuff from iconic villains in them.

... but then again, bruce does like to display a lot of shit in his batcave, including his dead robin’s bloodstained costume, so.

5.5. bruce is so soft with jason it’s killing me. beyond just trying to learn from his mistakes with dick, it speaks to his own genuine desire to balance his dedication to gotham with doing the best by his sons, although he’s often not successful with that. 

i love that titans is really playing the long game with bruce wayne, with each season and character-perspective sliding in fresh pieces of a bigger puzzle. titans’ bruce has always been a phantom of other peoples’ making, but now we’re getting the idea that he’s a whole lot more complicated than other people make it seem.

5.75. it really recontextualises some of his actions from previous seasons: the fact that he locked dick out of his security systems in 1.06 is likely his way of respecting dick’s independence and his desire not to be associated with batman/gotham anymore. jason knowing about bruce’s tracker while dick doesn’t is probably bruce trying to be more honest and upfront with his charges. bruce sending jason packing off to sanfran to spend time with the titans is probably not him passing on a big responsibility to dick (as i first uncharitably thought) but him trying to get jason out of the toxic influence of gotham for a while and a sign of his trust in dick as a leader and a mentor,

5.8. i mean, bruce is a prick, but he’s also human.

6. i think leslie is doing some good work with jason here, though she may have overstepped the line with her line about robin as a construct being projected by a man with BPD. her speculations about bruce’s diagnosis have no place in her session with jason, and if bruce confides in her, an egregious violation of patient-therapist confidentiality. 

(about the diagnosis itself... i don’t know. i can’t really confirm or refute this without a whole lot more information, and i’m not sure if the writer of this episode means BPD in the same way an actual professional might.)

6.5. i think a huge thing that gets missed out in a lot of recent comics as well as movies/shows is that bruce didn’t create the robin persona out of whole cloth. dick did. he’s the starting point of that legacy and to call it entirely bruce’s creation is blatant erasure of that. in fact, i’m surprised that dick doesn’t feature more in the conversations they’re having about the pressures of being robin. after all, the guy had been robin--bruce’s partner--for such a long time before jason. 

6.8. (and here’s the primal part of me that resonates the deepest with dick grayson--the Eldest Daughter part--that’s sort of resentful: that jason gets the therapy and softness and the learning from mistakes when it took years and years for bruce to reach out in any meaningful way to dick.)

7. oooh that was a great scene!

it’s fun to do these stream-of-consciousness live reactions, because the moment you step down from your soapbox, the episode goes right into tackling what you were just complaining about. bruce means well, he’s learning, but he goes about exactly the wrong way to help jason: taking away robin now can’t be read by jason as anything but a devastating judgment call from bruce. and iain glen really sells the moment that bruce realises this--too late--and his helplessness in trying to get jason to see that it isn’t jason’s fault that he’s trying to do this. he loves jason enough that jason is enough. 

7.5. aaaah so jason brings up the elephant in the room at last. dick got everything makes sense from his perspective, where getting to put on a costume and fight crime means approval, means being something stronger and better than you are. dick got to be robin, then nightwing, and a leader of a whole team of other costume-clad heroes. 

8. ... how did jason just walk into arkham????? this is ridiculous.

8.3. i mean, clearly jason’s not thinking straight, but betraying batman like this puts his possibilities of being robin again even further away. 

8.5. watching that chemistry experiment montage was strangely funny. this guy is looking for an antidote to fear? well, constantly mixing up and inhaling gases concocted by a mad-scientist supervillain is something only the very fearless--reckless to the point of foolishness!--would do. what’s to say crane’s not given you a formula for a drug that will keep you tethered to his every will and whim? hmmmm?

8.7. so he sought out the joker to... test the formula??? 

9. wow the “loud and clear... boss” hits different after a whole episode of them referring to each other as father and son.

9.3. waitwaitwait HOLD UP. wait a DANG MINUTE. you’re telling me that scarecrow had enough resources that he could not only have folks on the outside steal jason away and dunk him in a lazarus pit (i TOLD you that this show would bring up and dismiss ra’s al ghul in a ten second aside! I TOLD YOU) but also have his own little chemistry lab in the basement, AND have enough resources for jason to build his red hood persona???????? all of this in barely twenty four hours?

well there goes my ‘jason orchestrated his death’ theory. it was nice while it lasted. *cups hands to the sky* fly away, my baby.

9.6. a part of me is gleeful at the rushed nature of such an iconic transformation though, especially when compared to all the character work that went before it. we’re so used to getting the opposite that it’s fucking delightful to have a show that’s more interested in exploring its characters’ minds rather than battle scenes or recreating transformations from the comics. that’s taken such bold and exciting steps to fully convey all the nuances of its most recognisable character, bruce wayne, from casting an older actor to play him to unflinchingly showing just how damaging the vigilante lifestyle has been to him and the people he loves. BRILLIANT

*sporfle*

10. again, heads up: a whole lot of flashing lights between 40:28 and 42:00. 

10.3. i guess it’s the super-compressed timeline that’s really throwing me off. where did he have the time to get/develop the mind control thing from? or is it something that he got from the cabal of villains that he intimidated at the beginning of 3.02? very messy.

10.5. i love molly, i hope she shows up again this season.

11. aaaand that’s it! that was a solid episode as flashback episodes go, but now i can’t wait to return to the present.

[forasecondtherewedwon]

Only in a Sitcom

Fandom: WandaVision Pairing: Darcy Lewis/Jimmy Woo Rating: T

Summary: Darcy has no idea what the hell’s going on with this WandaVision thing, but neither does Jimmy. It’s kinda fun to have somebody to binge-watch alternate reality TV with.

read ch. 1 one / 2 two / 3 three / 4 four / 5 five 6 six / 7 seven / 8 eight / 9 nine / 10 ten 11 eleven / 12 twelve / 13 thirteen / 14 fourteen 15 fifteen / 16 sixteen / 17 seventeen / 18 eighteen

this fic is now complete!

Darcy, Jimmy, and Monica have been working their way across Westview in as straight a line as possible, knocking on every door in every cute little cul-de-sac in their path. It was Jimmy who asserted they should never put their backs to a dangerous situation, but Monica who overruled that statement, pointing out that they were more likely to stay focused if they didn’t keep staring at the fight in the sky.

Darcy thinks they were both right. There’s a tingle rippling up and down the back of her neck, like she gets when she’s up in the middle of the night, spooked by shadows her anxious, overtired mind is too eager to turn into monsters, but the heebie-jeebies give her the energy to work quickly. She takes on an entire crescent on her own, readying people for a departure she’s certain they’ve been longing for. As she’s coming out the crescent’s other end, she realizes the Hex is getting brighter; the red storm clouds are being sucked back into themselves to leave a thin daylight.

Standing at the corner, she watches Jimmy and Monica emerge from the street opposite. Darcy jogs over, wincing. Wanda could’ve put orthotics in these Escape Artist boots. They’re blistering her feet.

“This has to be a good sign, right?” she asks, motioning to the calm skies.

“Look,” Monica instructs. She jerks her chin and Darcy and Jimmy follow her line of sight to see Wanda, Vision, and the twins coming up the main road.

Darcy gasps.

Wanda’s gone from bumming-around-the-house sweats to battle-ready chic. With her armour-like bodice, gloves that leave those magic fingers free, and an usually-shaped tiara framing her forehead, she’s both intimidating and otherworldly. But she’s smiling. Darcy would call it a sad smile and it hurts her heart to see it, even though she doesn’t understand.

As Wanda passes them with her hand held fast in Vision’s, she turns her head to nod at Monica. It’s in her eyes too, the same thing that’s in her smile. Something tired but present. Gone are the comedically darting glances of her persona as the bumbling new girl in town and the frazzled energy of a mom trying to corral a couple of superkids. It looks like she’s finally letting go of the illusion/delusion.

“Can we do anything for her?” Jimmy asks as the family continues on down the middle of the street.

“No,” Monica says. “The rest is for Wanda to do on her own.”

“We might as well head back towards the center of town,” Darcy says. “We don’t need to waste time at the edges. They’ll be the first to wake up.”

She points to where the Hex is shimmering on the horizon. The seconds pass and the shimmer looks messier, a weave of overlapping wires fritzing with energy. The edge is coming closer, but unlike when Wanda pushed the boundary farther, closing it around Darcy and her S.W.O.R.D. nemeses, this isn’t menacing. Wanda’s powers are no longer looking to consume more territory, they’re contracting. Faster than the incoming wave of the walls, the Hex goes dark. The red glow is intensely magical in the sudden night.

The three of them fan out, hitting the houses in their new route, and make their way back to the town square. They’ve been telling everyone to remain in their homes until they receive further instructions to evacuate, but Darcy spots a figure on the sidewalk by the department story. It’s Agnes, except… not as they saw her lately. No wild hair or billowing, layered outfit. No levitation. Darcy’s wary in the face of the woman who appears so much like her former self, the one supposedly under Wanda’s control. This Agnes has a damn Peter Pan collar poking out of her sweater! She couldn’t look much less threatening.

“What do you think?” she asks Monica when she joins her.

“I don’t know.” Monica peers across the street at Agnes in the dark and when Agnes notices, she flashes a wide smile.

“Well, maybe we should— Hey, no, wait!”

But the Captain strides across to meet Agnes. Darcy almost follows in her idol’s wake, but she quickly remembers that Monica has powers to protect herself that far exceed the right hook Darcy used to drop Agent Handcuffs. Whatever Agnes’s deal is, Darcy knows she’s an entirely different kind of beast from an asshole S.W.O.R.D. agent.

“What’s going on there?” Jimmy wonders, coming up beside her.

Thanks to the stress of trying to speak to as many citizens as possible in a short amount of time, including looking dozens of people still under mind control in the eye and aching for their lack of agency, the fear of and for Wanda as she witnessed that clash in the sky, and, really, the car crash that’s still pretty recent, Darcy reacts to her boyfriend’s presence by wrapping her arms around him tightly. With his tie pressed to her cheek, she feels him hug her back.

“I don’t know,” she says, carrying on the conversation without pulling away an inch, “but Monica’s finding out.”

“Agnes looks like an average Westviewer again. It’s disconcerting.”

“She must’ve been faking right up until she went head-to-head with Wanda.”

“And now she’s one of them for real.”

“Seems like,” Darcy agrees.

When Monica returns to confirm Agnes’s newly mind-controlled status, Darcy peels herself most of the way away from Jimmy, leaving her arm around his back, beneath his FBI jacket. He rests his arm around her shoulders.

“I don’t know what we do with her,” Monica says, hands on her hips. “We can’t undo what Wanda did, but do we leave Agnes here in Westview, trusting that she isn’t able to hurt anyone? Do we bring her in?”

“If it’s beyond our power to help her, maybe we just leave her here,” Jimmy suggests. “Wanda knows where she is, so we let Agnes stay in a place she can be found when or if Wanda decides to release her.”

“It’s tricky,” Darcy says slowly. “Agnes is capable of doing so much damage, and I’m sure she’s going to get good and angry while Wanda has her trapped inside herself. You and I know how that feels,” she says to Monica. “But that Agnes is secure—as far as we know—inside Sitcom Agnes, like little Agnes nesting dolls. I don’t know if this is the kind of punishment she deserves for pushing Wanda to the brink, but I do know it’s not going to be pretty if that inner Agnes is unleashed with nobody around to mitigate the consequences.”

“Sentient Weapon Observation and Response Division,” Monica says softly.

“Hmm?”

“S.W.O.R.D. That’s what we’re supposed to stand for. I think, without Tyler Hayward around, it’s high time S.W.O.R.D. went back to its roots of trying to understand exceptional people, circumstances, and technology instead of just attacking them.”

“Sounds as though you might have a plan, Captain,” Jimmy says. Darcy glances at his face and catches his small, knowing smile.

Monica beams back.

“The former Director may have kicked me off the base, but I’m still S.W.O.R.D. and I still believe in my mother’s original goals for the organization.”

“Hey, it’s your legacy,” Darcy says. “You have my vote for Director.”

“You want to put Agnes under S.W.O.R.D. observation?” Jimmy asks.

“Not just Agnes. Not if Wanda’s willing to listen.”

With the sky rapidly lightening, Monica roughs out a plan that involves a partnership between S.W.O.R.D. and Wanda Maximoff. A partnership because any other dynamic would surely fail. After what they all witnessed today, it’s obvious that someone as powerful as Wanda can’t be held against her will. In exchange for Wanda making reparations to the people and town of Westview (not the least of which will be repairing all physical damage, which Monica knows Wanda’s capable of, since there’s no longer a Monica-sized hole in her living room wall) and an agreement to be held in the custody of S.W.O.R.D., under the leadership of Director Monica Rambeau, Monica thinks she has plenty to offer Wanda.

“You think she’ll do that deal?” Jimmy asks.

“That’s my question too,” Darcy says. “I mean, without the deal, Wanda can go where she pleases, right?”

“But she’ll be alone,” Monica counters. “We know what her loved ones mean to her. That’s what all this has been about—Wanda doing whatever it takes in order to go through life less alone.”

“What can you give her?”

“Vision,” Jimmy says abruptly. “The other one, the one who left. You think he’ll be back.”

“I think he’ll want answers,” Monica agrees. “Whatever Hayward did to him, he did at S.W.O.R.D. and I’m betting that Wanda will see that’s her best chance to reunite with Vision.”

“Vision will come back,” Darcy says, putting it together, “and Wanda will be there waiting.”

“And in the meantime, we use her expertise as we continue our work in a… more transparent vein. Give her access, keep her busy.”

“Keep her happy,” Jimmy cuts in. Monica nods her acknowledgement.

“Yes. Show her what it’s like to help people again. What better way to remind her there’s more to the world than her artificial paradise than to have her consult on the work we’re doing in space?”

“If you need somebody to sell Wanda on the space angle, I’m your girl,” Darcy volunteers.

“I’ve already had some ideas about that,” Monica promises with a smile.

Her eyes focus beyond Darcy and Jimmy and they turn to see what she’s looking at. Black hood drawn up over her head, Wanda’s walking back into the downtown. Alone. Darcy hopes that the fact that she’s black-hatted doesn’t mean she’s already decided against working to redeem herself to rejoin the good guys.

“You better stay in touch too,” Monica tells Jimmy, shifting as she prepares to intercept Wanda.

“If you reach out to Darcy, I’m sure I won’t be far,” he says. Darcy’s heart performs quick, happy thumps.

With that, Monica walks purposely towards Wanda. Darcy watches her cautious body language and Wanda’s tension in response to being accosted, but there isn’t any visible escalation. When FBI vehicles and the team Darcy assumes belongs to Major Goodner roll up the street, Wanda doesn’t flee. Darcy looks to Jimmy.

“You better go take charge,” she suggests.

He gives her a bashful smile.

“I will in a minute. The evacuation should run like clockwork after all the prep we did. With the Hex removed, everyone’s free.”

“They’re free, I’m free…”

“Are you free Saturday?” The smile’s a little slyer now.

“After all this, I don’t even know what day of the week it is,” Darcy admits, “but yes.”

He laughs.

“What are you thinking?” she asks, twisting to face him as his hand moves from her shoulder to her waist. “Quiet night in watching TV?”

“You know, I think I need a break from TV for a while. How about a movie?”

Darcy grins.

“You buy the tickets, I’ll buy the snacks?”

“Deal,” Jimmy says, and smiles against her mouth when he ducks his head to kiss her.

[diochain]

Omg LORE! LORE! LORE! LORE! HOOOH OUGH AYAYAYA! >:0

KDSJFKSDJF THE ENTHUSIASM IS OVERWHELMING!!!! what lore would you like?? :D i can give some fun notes on the Pentagram and who/what they are!!

old unfinished drawing from may 2021 but i erased the "g" in trang lol

Rather than being a loose nickname for the top 5 witches, The Pentagram is an actual unit whose members are assigned by Salem Collective. The system is pretty straightforward: Whoever has the most stars and has a good enough name in the jujutsu/witchcraft world is put in. They hold authority but they are more like the top soldiers than the top authority, not too unlike the system in Japan. The Pyre, Salem's "higher-ups", are ultimately those who call the shots.

While I did imply that popularity/reputation don't factor nearly as much into being S-rank as a witch, it matters a LOT when it comes to being part of the Pentagram. As a member of the Pentagram, you become the face of the Salem Collective. You become more or less a celebrity, and that means appearances. It's a pretty sketchy world, really.

The 5 members of the current Pentagram are pretty honest to who they really are (they're too powerful for the Salem Collective to be able to afford taking them off the main quintuplet) but in the past it's been pretty rough and rife with lies, corruption and a lot of doubt. The Pentagram was seen as a joke, also because rarely do the members of Salem get to vote or have much say beyond popularity in who becomes a member. This mostly ended in 2002, when Christopher Hennessy, the longest-time PGM (Pentagram member) of the current lineup, only 10 years old at the time, destroyed an SR curse meant to embody the fear of witches themselves, being the first sign of a “return to grace.”

The current members:

Christopher Hennessy, 26 years old, he/him, became a PGM in 2001, when he was 9 years old. He is the most powerful witch in North America by a significant margin. Christopher has an extraordinary innate technique, or unique witchcraft, which operates by the principle of erasure. It’s complicated but not, just think of it like the /kill command in minecraft lol

John Lee-Tran, 20 years old, he/she/they, became a PGM in 2016, just after returning from Tokyo Jujutsu Tech at 18 years old. Their bloodline witchcraft is explained in relative depth here!

Rachel McKenzie, 31 years old, she/her, became a PGM in 2011, when she was 24. Her bloodline witchcraft is actually extremely similar to that of Shotaro Seita, the special-grade jujutsu sorcerer from Japan, in how it operates by the principle of pulling. She likens it to how muscles only contract, though she dislikes any analogy using muscles in general.

David Chen, 40 years old, he/him, became a PGM in 2003, when he was 25. His unique witchcraft is so far undocumented and no one knows anything about it aside from the Pyre.

Josh Woods, 23 years old, he/him, became a PGM in 2014, when he was 19 years old. He has a simple bloodline witchcraft, which is more or less just Giorno Giovanna’s Stand copy-pasted in the animal department. Reflected damage isn’t something that he can do unless he keeps his hands clasped together. Then, any damage to him or his animals is reflected back.

Fun facts:

David Chen is the undisputed father. They’re all pretty friendly with one another but David is a whole new kind.

Christopher is married to a retired jujutsu sorcerer and has 1 kid on the way :D

Rachel’s gf Tina is not a witch but is aware of everything that’s going on. Tina is BFFs with Josh. They love to irritate the fuck out of Rachel.

John’s the only first-generation American.

John and Christopher first formally met in Japan, weirdly enough. They bonded over having no idea why canned bread exists. They are now best friends.

[logicalstansadvice]

Why do some fans believe all of seb’s potential relationships/love interests are PR? He’s in his 40s, successful and handsome - it shouldn’t be unbelievable that he dates attractive women solely because he is attracted to them and likes spending time with them rather than a calculated career move.

Anon 2: Deanna is Sebastian's friend. They're all friends, he's not fucking Annabella, he's with her so he can win the Emmy. // Sure, and what's going to be the pr-reason when he and Annabelle are still being spotted acting like a couple months from now, long after the emmys are over and when truly no one is thinking about Alejandra anymore (since Alejandra's damage to his reputation is the other pr-reason I see being mentioned a lot, lol).

Anon 3: If dating Annabelle is the secret to winning an Emmy, why isn’t her “real” boyfriend Drew using her for PR for his own campaign? And if Seb and Annabelle continue to see each other after 8/23 when the Emmy voting is over, what will be the next excuse?

Anon 4: Seb’s friends did keep it locked down tight and thank goodness they did. Some of these “fans” are freaking stalkers.

Anon 5: Sebastian and Annabelle are both in open relationships that's all

Anon 6: Anything other than sustained media coverage isn't going to resonate with voters.// And who's going to say "Oh I'll vote for Sebastian Stan instead of Michael Keaton. He's dating Annabelle Wallis." I swear people just throw the word PR around without even thinking for a second what they are saying.

Anon 7: it can’t be denied that AW came in the pic at the right time for getting some extra media attention during the Emmys campaign 🤷‍♀️ / didn't know Emmy campaign began in February lol. In fact, there's hardly any Emmy campaign at all. Nothing outside a few screenings and one roundtable.

Anon 8: Deanna is Sebastian's friend. They're all friends, he's not fucking Annabella, he's with her so he can win the Emmy. He's still going to date a woman who really loves him, for now he's just doing pr. / Girl, I don't meant to be rude, but you can't be that fucking delusional.

Anon 9: Amazing with so many talking about PR rs that they have no clue how they really work. There are so many 'experts who work in PR' on Tumblr (don't look at IG/TW) that spread misinformation that is accepted as fact by too many. PR rs have many many pap shots, not one. No, fan sightings are not set ups for PR. Don't care what expert said this, it's not true. Ever. Media is talking about them. Constantly. Think Ben/Anna. Not happening here. PR rs are for the general public.Only fans know about S/AW.

Anon 10: Regardless of any opinions, it can’t be denied that AW came in the pic at the right time for getting some extra media attention during the Emmys campaign 🤷‍♀️ / I actually agree. She gets talked about even if just by us fans (so basically introduced to new people) and gets featured on gossip favorites such as dmoi which I’m 100% sure wouldn’t have happened if it weren’t for this thing with Sebastian because he is literally the sole reason she even gets mentioned there. I don’t want to seem harsh but she literally had no job for about a year now, no new projects announced even, I’m yet to see at least just a single dmoi sighting of her without Pine or now Seb, or any of the trash media even such as Daily Mail talking about her without mentioning any man past or present. Sure, she’s a Cartier ambassador, which is good for her, but when it came down to highlighting the event they had in Madrid just recently she wasn’t even featured in any publications beyond a last mention of a name if even that (some publications didn’t even mention her at all). This is her life and I’m not one to judge just merely stating my opinion here and it’s sad to see someone who seemingly lots of people see as established in the business being reduced to association with a man’s name basically all the time. If it weren’t for that conveniently “leaked” pic from RPatz’s party she would’ve still been just a blonde girl in Seb sightings. So I can see how the timing of Seb’s Emmy and her association with him are beneficial to her. Not to claim she’s after Seb’s fame (we do not know her motives if there are any) but I can see the op anon’s point and I have to agree. Those things might seem small in comparison to the bigger stuff like it was for example with Alejandra but it is better than nothing at all for her esp in the biz where you need to be talked about and noticed. I just fail to see how it’s beneficial to Seb and his Emmy nom? That one I do not understand.

Anon 11: People thinking Annabelle is there to make him win an emmy is so funny to me. They truly don’t know how those things work and can’t even form their own opinions and guesses because if they could they wouldn’t be so willing to trust certain people’s theories. Annabelle is not making people talk about sebastian, they are not even being public with their rs. Nobody is talking about them even after the pap walk. Emmy voters don’t care. Michael Keaton will win and this is why nobody is putting effort in campaigning in that category.

Anon 12: I’m all for everyone having their own opinions…. It just seems like anytime someone sends an ask that doesn’t vehemently agree that they are in a serious relationship, it’s met with a defensive response. My reason for believing the pap walk was a response to cosmo was the timing and the fact that the retraction/correction came just after the pics came out, but like I said, to each their own in how they want to interpret it….

Whatever your opinion is, we are of the mind that there is no professional benefit for Sebastian in dating Annabelle. Whether it’s serious or not, who cares as long as they’re both enjoying each other? Speculating on their status is only interesting for a minute before it gets real boring, real fast. Like Juicy Fruit.

💄