#i seriously think there needs to be some sort of investigation into the management

[navyhyuck]

literally zero management in sm. im convinced there is not a single person on nct’s social med team that knows what they’re doing or how to do it and this has been true since literally every single unit’s debut

[dreamescapeswriting]

Vanishing Act ~ HHJ

⤜WORD COUNT: 1.7K

⤜GENRE: Established relationship, mafia romance, mafia boyfriend! NON IDOL, Arguing couple, fighting, making up, cry baby reader, angst with a fluffy ending

⤜PAIRING: Hyunjin!Mafia x Fem!Reader

⤜Copyright: © DreamEscapesWriting - April 2024

⤜MASTERLIST

A/N: I lost the original screenshot! But I remembered cry baby reader so I hope this is okay! 

Hyunjin paced back and forth in the dimly lit office he'd spent most of the day in, his mind plagued with worry. You had vanished without a trace earlier in the day. You hadn't answered his calls or messages, and he couldn't shake off the feeling of dread that gnawed at him. In their world, disappearing like that wasn't just unusual; it was dangerous. His anxiety only grew in his chest the more he thought about what could have happened to you.

"Did you find her?" He growled out at your personal guard who had managed to lose you this morning. He'd hired Mark because he was supposed to be the best of the best, an ex-military man who was also a private investigator and you'd managed to get out of his sights.

"No," Mark gulped, looking around at the office and back at Hyunjin who looked as though he was about ready to throw up at the thought of something happening to you. Being who he was in this world meant anyone close to him had a giant target on their back and you were the closest person to him in the whole world. 

As the hours stretched on, Hyunjin's anxiety mounted higher and higher as he thought about everything. He imagined all sorts of scenarios - rival gangs, undercover cops, or some personal vendetta targeting you. He couldn't afford to lose you. You were his anchor, his solace in the tumultuous world they inhabited, you were everything to him and the thought of losing you was tearing him up inside.

Finally, as the evening descended into darkness, Hyunjin made his way home ready to find someone else to try and find you but when he walked through the door he couldn't believe his eyes.

You were sitting calmly on the couch, engrossed in a book, and his anger flared. No one had been able to find you and you'd just been sat there all day?

"Where the hell have you been?" he barked, his voice echoing off the walls. You jumped, dropping your book onto your lap and staring up at him with a mixture of surprise and confusion spread across your face.

"Hyunjin, I was just out for a walk. I needed some time alone." You breathed out, you assumed he was referring to you being gone most of the day. You just needed some time away from everything to relax and clear your mind. 

Something you used to do a lot before the two of you had moved in together, something you didn't think was that big a deal, especially since you'd stuck to the gardens of his mansion and just spent most of the days in there. The place he had once told you was the safest place in the country. 

"Alone?" Hyunjin's voice rose, his frustration bubbling over as he stared at you, how could you not be taking this as seriously as he was? Did you find this all funny? 

"You think you can just disappear like that? Do you have any idea how worried I was? Do you know many enemies we have out there that would love to get their hands on you!?" His voice bounced off the walls and you stood up, wanting to get away from his wrath since you knew he would go on a tangent for a while.

"Hyunjin-" He cut you off by shaking his head at you and scoffing loudly,

"Don't Hyunjin me! You know how worried I get when you disappear on me without a word!" He yelled, his anger finally getting the better of him as he lashed out at you, knowing deep down that it was wrong for him to do so. 

"What if someone had gotten to you? Huh? Kidnapped you?!" You stared down at the floor, feeling the tears starting to rush into your eyes as you did your best to stop it from happening. 

You were so insecure whenever it came to crying in front of anybody but especially someone that you were getting into an argument with. You hated that whenever someone was yelling at you your body's response was to cry, it was the same thing that happened whenever you were angry the tears would just stream down your cheeks. Hyunjin's anger surged as he saw tears rolling down your face, your shoulders trembling with silent sobs but instead of softening, his words only turned harsher, cutting through you like a knife.

"Stop crying!" He barks at you, his voice laced with venom and impatience.

"Is that all you know how to do? Acting like a damn crybaby whenever someone yells at you?!" You flinched at his words, your head shooting up and finding his eyes on you as you stared back at him. your tears flowing more freely now, your silent sobs turning into choked gasps as he turned your insecurity back on you. Something you'd never thought Hyunjin, of all people, would do to you.

You struggled to compose yourself, wiping your cheeks with trembling hands, but the tears refused to stop flowing. Hyunjin's heart clenched at the sight, a pang of guilt piercing through his anger and allowing him to see how much he had hurt you.

He knew just how insecure you were about it, how you saw it as a sign of weakness but his frustration had gotten the better of him and now he'd only added to your pain,

"Yn, I..." He began, his voice faltering as he reached out to you, but you recoiled, your eyes filled with hurt and betrayal. 

"Don't," You whispered, your voice barely coming out, you couldn't believe that he would do this to you.

"Just...Don't," You choked out, walking away from him as he called for you to go back to him but you couldn't. Right now you didn't want to be near him or face him after what he had said to you. 

After an hour or so Hyunjin decided to venture up to your shared bedroom, his anger had completely vanished the second he realised how hurt you were but he'd wanted to give you some time alone before he came up to your room. Entering the room, he found you curled up on your bed, your shoulders shaking with silent sobs. 

The sight tore at his soul, a painful reminder that he had been the one to cause all of this. 

"yn," He whispered as he approached you cautiously, his footsteps hesitant as he sat down beside you.

"I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to hurt you," His voice was barely audible over the sound of your tears. You flinched at his words but you didn't push him away. Instead, you turned over to face him, your eyes red-rimmed and filled with sorrow.

"You always say that." You murmur, "But it doesn't change anything." Hyunjin felt a stab in his chest, he knew he messed up and he knew that mere apologies wouldn't be enough to mend the damage he had created. He reached out to you, his hand shaking as he wiped away tears from your cheek. 

"I know," He admitted, his voice heavy with regret, "But please, Yn, give me a chance to make it up to you. I'll do anything, I swear," He begged. He wasn't below begging you, he would do anything for you, take a bullet, run in front of a car, anything for you.

"What could you even do to make this up to me?" You mumbled, your voice tinged with scepticism and he moved to sit beside you on the bed, looking at you as he sighed softly. 

"I had a whole evening planned you know, I was going to take you out to dinner...wine and dine you," He smiled weakly as you stared at him,

"When you weren't here I freaked out, I got scared that something had happened to you and I let my anger get the better of me," He admits as he looks down at your hands, intertwining his fingers with yours and squeezing softly. 

"You disappeared all day without a word...I was worried." He admits to you, not trying to get into another argument but just wanting you to understand his side of all of this.

"The thought of anything happening to you kills me inside." He whispered and you stared at him,

"I wasn't in any danger, I was in the gardens most of the day...I just took some time alone," Your voice had a tinge of frustration but you cuddled into your boyfriend's arms. 

"You can't just wander off without a word, in this world, I need to know where you are." He pleaded with you, his eyes finding yours as you bite down on your lip and nod at him. 

"I worry because I love you. I can't bear the thought of losing you." He whispers as you kiss his cheek softly, 

"I love you too," You whisper back to him as his eyes start to fill with tears.

"I...I just can't lose you, Yn. Not now, not ever," He whispers as tears start to fall down his cheeks, your arms wrapping around him and cuddling closer to him. Your chest hitting something hard in his pocket,

"What-" Your laugh cut you off as you felt the box inside of his pocket.

"Oh," He groans pulling the box out from his jacket pocket and holding out the small velvet box. It was something he'd been planning to give to you at dinner that night before all of this had happened.

Slowly he opened the box and revealed a delicate diamond necklace. 

"I got this for you, I wanted to give it to you tonight, but I messed everything up," He laughed softly as you traced your fingers over the intricate design. 

"Let me make it up to you. Let me show you how much you mean to me," He begged, your eyes shimmering with unshed tears before you nodded slowly, a small smile playing on your lips.

"Okay," You whispered, kissing him softly as he carefully put the necklace around your neck and made sure it was perfectly sitting on your skin.

@chiisaiblog@sw33tnight@kaitieskidmore97@laylasbunbunny@stayconnecteed@saymyspringrain@toplinehyunjin@katnisspeetaprim@acciocriativity@just-aelia@choisoorin@straykids5star@midnightfrog625@beccaskz@scarletemeterio@halesandy@junhannies@gothic4under4lord@lixie-phoria@soulphoenix1618@aerastus@jin-from-the-block@lensfilm@elizaschuyler18@piratequeen-impact@kpopsstuffs@chaeyoungs@delulu18@xyahrinx@katsukis1wife@anthropologymajorkpopmultistan@blairscott@4-chan-inpadella@niktwazny303@moonlight-the-writer@armystay89@hadassahchan@yxngbxkkie@myyouthdonut@extrhotjne@ca11me3mily@elissasimp@piercedddriver

[writingquestionsanswered]

Ambitions Story with Multiple POVs

Anonymous asked: I am trying to write a dark fantasy/cosmic horror story with a pseudo-anthology structure that is sort of like that parable about the blind men all feeling different parts of an elephant and thinking its a totally different creature. There are multiple POV characters (about 5-7) each are from very different walks of life, who the story cuts between as they all independently investigate supernatural stuff going on, each unaware of eachother and only getting a small slice of the mystery, while the reader who can see the whole picture that starts to form is able to put the pieces together to figure out what is really going on, as well as see how the actions of one character causes ripples that effect the others. I am struggling to: work out pacing of the individual revelations, avoid a gigantic cast that the reader can't keep straight (each POV character has their own supporting characters), make sure the individual stories connect (even if the characters themselves never realize it, etc.) How do I go about making this structure manageable without having to compromise on it too much?

[Ask edited for length]

I would suggest plotting out each of these POVs as though they were different stories. Then, create a timeline document and plot the major points of each plotline to see places where things might intersect. You could potentially have some of these characters cross paths--and even work together in some ways--without ever knowing the bigger connection.

As for the cast--not all of these characters need to have giant support casts. You could have a POV character who is working with one other person, for example. Or--let's say all of your POV characters are race car drivers, and they all have a pit crew, manager, etc. Consider the fact that you don't necessarily want 6 POVs telling different bus similar stories in a similar way... if all six of your POV characters are trying to make it to a particular championship race (is that even a thing?) and hopefully win the prize, you don't want to tell that same story six times following six different people. So, maybe one POV would be an old, legendary driver. One POV would be a young, green and untested driver. One POV would be the spouse of one of the drivers. One POV would be the manager of one of the drivers. One POV would be a pit crew member of one of the drivers. And, of course, these paths would all converge at the championship race. So, that way, instead of getting driver one's journey to the championship, driver two's journey to the championship, driver three's journey to the championship... all of which are going to look more or less the same, now you're getting these vastly different perspectives. Because the spouse of a driver can still tell the story of the driver's journey to the championship, but it's a different view of the story than the driver themselves, so it makes things more interesting. This also helps cut down on supporting cast, or at the very least creates variation so your reader doesn't have to remember six different drivers, six different managers, six different pit crews, six different spouses/significant others, etc.

I hope that helps!

•••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••

I’ve been writing seriously for over 30 years and love to share what I’ve learned. Have a writing question? My inbox is always open!

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[literaryavenger]

Ant-man

Summary: There's a breach in the Avengers Compound and Sam investigates while you keep an eye on him through the security cameras.

Pairing: platonic!Sam Wilson x F!Reader, platonic!Steve Rogers x F!Reader

Warnings: Language, I think. Descriptions of fighting. Best Friend Sam Wilson. My poor attempts at being funny.

Word Count: 1.1k

Masterlist | Series Masterlist

It’s been a few months since you’ve joined the Avengers. You spend your days training, team-building and going on missions. 

You still occasionally follow some leads about Bucky, but nowadays most of the team’s missions consist in tracking down Rumlow, the last Hydra asshole that somehow survived the Triskelion falling on his face. 

The guy that rebranded himself as ‘Crossbones’ is particularly hard to catch and the team's been just missing him for months.

On your off days the whole team just hangs out in the compound, taking turns to assist security and keep it safe, although hardly anything ever happens.

You’re in the Control Room, paired with Sam who’s flying around the perimeter when you see him on camera fly to a roof and look around.

“What’s going on down there, Sam?” you ask him through the comms.

“I had a sensor trip but I’m not seeing anything.” he says, "Wait a second.”

You can see him fixate on one point on the ground, but there’s nothing there. Just as you’re about to ask him what the hell he’s doing, he talks.

“I can see you.” he says with his eyes still pointed at the ground. 

You’re about to tell him that you’re gonna book him a room in a psychiatric center when suddenly a grown ass man appears seemingly out of nowhere.

“Holy shit!” you all but yell.

He opens his helmet and says “Hi.” then he waves at Sam "I’m Scott.”

“Seriously?” you roll your eyes. The man broke into the Avengers Compound, you’d think he’d have a little more common sense.

“What are you doing here?” Sam asks.

“First off, I’m a big fan.” Scott says back.

“Appreciate it. So who the hell are you?”

“I’m Ant-Man.” he says proudly and you snort.

“Ant-Man?”- Sam echoes, smiling.

“What, you haven’t heard of me? No, you wouldn’t have heard of me.” Scott says and you can’t hold back your laughter.

“Sam, this guy’s an idiot.” you say, but he ignores you.

“You want to tell me what you want?”

“I was hoping I could grab a piece of technology just for a few days, and then return it.” the balls on this guy. “I need it to save the world. You know how that is.” 

“I know exactly how that is.” Sam answers, then finally he acknowledges you. “Located the breach. Bringing him in.”

“Sorry about this!” you hear Scott say as Sam goes to grab him and suddenly he’s gone.

You see Sam fall back hard as if he got punched and then he starts flying around, looking for the insect guy.

“Breach is an adult male who has some sort of shrinking tech.” he feels the need to inform you.

“Yes, I have eyes, Sam.” you can basically hear his eyes roll as he lands on the ground.

He goes to step hard on the ground where you assume Scott is, but all he manages to do is get hit repeatedly.

Then the genius takes out his guns and starts shooting and this time is your turn to roll your eyes. “Sure, Sam, shoot at an ant-sized man.”

Sam keeps getting punches and trying to punch back, but all he hits is air.

“That’s enough.” Sam actually lands a punch and Scott gets back to normal size, rolling on the grass.

Sam picks him up and punches him, then grabs him again and takes flight, hitting him but as he’s falling Scott shrinks back.

Sam lands again as Scott enlarges and wraps his legs around Sam’s neck so the latter activates his jetpack and they slide on the ground locked together until Scott shrinks and Sam goes flying through the air.

Sam quickly gets up and hits little Scott with his wings, he gets big but shrinks right back.

You can see Sam looking around. “Do you need backup, Sam?”

“I got this.” is all he says as he flies towards one of the old storage buildings and, when you open the door for him, he goes in.

“Wow, not even a thank you. Rude.” you say, as the door closes behind him, knowing he’ll ignore you. “Sam, I don’t have eyes on you. Is everything alright in there?”

Less than a minute later he’s breaking through the door, his wings clearly malfunctioning.

“What the hell, Sam?!" you yell shocked.

“He’s inside my backpack!” Sam yells back.

He flies around for a moment and then lands on his back, sliding until he comes to a stop. He gets up, seemingly unhurt.

“Are you okay?” you ask him, trying hard not to laugh after the scene you just witnessed.

“I’m alright.” he says as he takes off his goggles.

“So, you still ‘got this’, Wilson?” you can’t help but tease him.

“It’s really important to me that Cap never finds out about this.” Is all he says and you can’t contain your laughter anymore.

“Oh, I’m definitely telling Steve you got your ass kicked by an ant!” you say between giggles and he groans in annoyance.

You’re so busy laughing while watching Sam’s walk of shame on the monitor that you almost miss the agents that come into the Control Room to start their own work day.

“Come on, Falcon, shift’s over.” you tell him as he mumbles about his broken wings. “Drinks are on me, Sourpuss.”

“We don’t pay for drinks. If anything, drinks are on Tony.” he grumbles and you roll your eyes.

“Just move your ass, Grumpy pants.” you tell him and leave the room to make your way to the Avengers living room where you sit at the counter of the bar.

Sam meets you there 10 minutes later, his face still as grumpy as it was on the security cameras.

“You’re pouting.” You point out. “It’s just gear, Tony’s gonna have it fixed in no time.”

“Whatever.” he says, not lightening up.

“Come on, man!” you try to cheer him up. “That could’ve happened to any one of us.”

When he simply glares at you, you try hard to contain the laughter so he won’t try to kill you tonight.

“I promise I won’t tell Steve, just please stop moping like you just lost your platoon.” you can’t contain your laughter anymore and thankfully he follows right after.

“Thanks for not telling Steve.” he says when your laughter dies down, bumping your shoulder playfully with his.

“Not telling me what?” you both turn around and see Steve standing there, arms crossed with a suspicious look on his face.

You and Sam look at each other before saying "Nothing.” in unison, then start laughing knowing damn well Steve’s not gonna buy it.

But the Captain lets it go, as he sits to your other side with an amused “Okay, weirdos.”

Sam leans in and whispers to you “Next pizza night is on me.” and makes you laugh again.

“You’re damn right it is.”

Requested taglist: @sapphirebarnes

[setagaya-division]

Yorii's Thoughts on Suginami Division

Ryuko Umemoto

"Ah, Mr. Big, Bad Animator, himself!" Yorii laughs at Ryuko's photo. "Would you all believe me if I told you I had to work with this guy once? Apparently, he and his team were doing some animated version of this highly-acclaimed manga. What was it called again... oh yeah! Red of the Ambitious, I think. I took a gander at it. It was alright, but once you've read one isekai manga, you've read them all. They're all the same, really. Some hero or heroine dies a sad death, they come face-to-face with their Maker or the God of that universe, get transported to a new world where their abilities are a lot better than they were in the old world. Same-old, same-old."

"Anyway, apparently one of the characters had my size and build, so they asked me to act as something of a model." Yorii then shows Ryuko's photo again. "And guess who was in charge of that. Boy, I had some fun teasing this guy. It was fun seeing his expression, and knowing he couldn't do much about it since he'd get into a lot of trouble! But still, I decided to cut him some slack at the end and do my parts correctly. ...For the most part, anyway."

"After that, we were both paid a hefty sum and went about our separate ways. I wouldn't have bothered with him after that, but I hear he works as a sort of babysitter for Kanra-chan and one of her friends. If so, I'll have to find a reason to bug him again!"

Maki Umemoto

"Maki-sensei? You mean he's joining this rap tournament too? Huh. Like Mina said, I'm surprised, but at the same time, I'm not. I mean, seriously, if you could hear some of the things this guy says about the government. I tell you, if he ever got tired of teaching, he could have a career as a public speaker or something. ...But still, for all his talking, you'd think he'd do less of that, and more action, you know? I mean, it's all well to talk about doing something, but if you're not actually putting your words to good use, then what good are you?"

"Besides that, Maki-sensei is... an okay teacher. I've noticed he gets a little bit nervous when it comes to teaching a large number of students, which doesn't bother me then. The more time he works up the nerve the teach, the more time I get to chill in the back of the classroom, playing on my phone and browsing PROFILE!"

Shuu Edogawa

As the singer looks at the photo of the detective, Yorii bursts out laughing. "Really?! Are you kidding me?! This guy?! I can't believe it!" Yorii starts laughing again, but manages to calm himself down. "Oh geez... sorry, sorry. I guess I should explain myself, right? Well, here goes. See, before I met Kanra-chan, you all know I liked to flirt and hang out with girls, right? Well... as it turns out, some of the girls I spoke too may or may not have been together with someone else at the time. And as it turns out... seeing their girls with a guy shorter and younger than them was bound to piss some guys off. But instead of doing the jobs themselves, they decided to hire this guy to get proof first!" Yorii points to Shuu's photo.

"Ever since then, he and I have been engaged in a rather fun game of 'Cat and Mouse'. There have been several times he's actually caught me, but it doesn't really do him much good. Know why? Simple. This is why."

Yorii then opens his mouth and starts singing an enchanting song, which makes the camera black out for a bit. As he finishes, you are left wondering what you were just doing and why Yorii is sitting smiling at you innocently, as if he has a dirty, little secret...

山茶花 Zombeez

"Do I need to say it? I like all of the guys from this team! ...Or rather, I like messing with all of the guys from this team! I mean, hey, can you blame me? They make it too easy! Especially Mr. Investigator here!" Yorii says, laughing out loud again. "Oh man, I cannot wait to face these guys in the tournament! It is going to be a barrel full of laughs for everyone involved!"

[brandwhorestarscream]

IDW starbee

Okay, let's get started

Starscream and bumblebee never said what they were but you could tell they were very close, and that generated a lot of comments.Bumblebee, affected by stress + expectations + desire to please, ends up breaking up with starscream and it was an ugly ending.

Star disappears after that and bee, filled with guilt and the realization that he fucked up, decided to "confess" during an interview. Obviously it's a scandal and there's dialogues like this:

Windblade: Y-you lied to us!

Bumblebee:No, I chose you and that was the most cowardly thing I could have done! I cared so much about being the leader you wanted that I made the worst choices possible! You guys never asked about what really happened because you automatically assumed I was the right one!

A few days later (still at the height of the collective scandal) everyone is surprised by ice and extreme temperatures around the leaders' buildings The building and surrounding street were completely frozen and riddled with spikes of almost black ice, the electronics were a lost cause and some areas were frozen to the point of being very breakable.

There are survivors, but many are trapped in the ice and in need of assistance. Cromia lost an optic and some of the surrounding metal was destroyed, w Windblade had one of his legs completely destroyed, Wheeljack lost the lower part of his jaw and Bumblebee almost dies with ice crystals on his neck.

Someone manages to find a working camera... and they see a dark blue seeker with yellow details that looks like a mixture of Star and bee (with the characteristics of star prevailing). Cybertron (smart enough to connect the dots) sits on what can only be defined as "a burning ship" and, despite heavy investigations, the "bastard of the two leaders" (as dubbed by the media and paparazzi) is not found.

(As the growth of sparklings is not something concrete, I'm going with the idea that they grow quickly to the standards of long-lived species.)

God, the idea of the entire building being encased in frightening black ice is so good. I love that imagery. It's so sinister and scary looking, but Starscream is as trapped inside as everyone else is trapped outside.

I like to imagine every seekerling born to the royal line of Vos is given some sort of special ability courtesy of Alchemist Prime (Vos's creator god)

I....... am seriously struggling to read this big body of text rn, but I don't think this mentions how old the twins are. I like to imagine they're very small and are struggling to control their powers; lashing out because they can sense their carrier's ire and pain and Jetstorm's ability has decided to try and shield them from everyone. I love this

[writtenjewels]

Hot Coffee

Day One of Hope-Tober (Yes I know it's for October but I'd rather not be constrained by the month)

Conrad did not want to open his eyes, but his pounding headache wouldn't let him continue sleeping. Why was the sun always so bright in the mornings? He groaned and lifted a hand to shield himself from the light. There was some movement outside his room. It confused him: he was pretty sure he lived alone. But no, that was definitely someone messing around in his kitchen.

He forced himself to his feet and opened the door to investigate. He was greeted by the scent of coffee. A few more steps into the room showed him Alex pulling out mugs from a cabinet. Conrad stood frozen, waiting for his brain to work around the headache so he could remember why his future brother-in-law was here. Alex turned and noticed him.

“Hey, I was just about to check on you.”

“Uhh.” Conrad massaged his forehead and shut his eyes tight to block out the light while he worked it out. He had invited Alex out on a night of drinks. He wasn't sure how they got from the bar to his apartment, though.

“Hope it's okay that I helped myself,” Alex went on, indicating the coffee currently brewing.

“Nah, of course not,” Conrad assured him with an easy smile. The response was automatic after so many years of practice. “You're practically family, after all. And I could use some of that coffee right about now.”

“Actually, you're drinking this.” Alex held out a bottle of Gatorade. “You need to get your electrolytes back.” Conrad stared at the Gatorade skeptically. He never heard of a sports drink being used as a cure for hangovers before. But then he breathed in some of the coffee scent and his stomach churned in protest. Fine, he'd take the sports drink.

“Thanks, doc,” he quipped. “What else is on the menu?”

“Chicken soup.”

“Where'd you get your degree again?” Conrad teased. “I'm hungover, not sick. How about frying up some bacon?”

“Greasy food's not really good for you in this state,” Alex lectured. “What you need are carbs, and the chicken broth will be bland enough for your stomach to tolerate.”

“Come on, are you serious?” Conrad cracked a little smile. “What am I, a little kid staying home from school with a cold?” Alex did not look amused. Conrad made his smile wider and cranked things up. “I'm all for mixing things up a little-- sure, Gatorade for breakfast, why not-- but bacon and eggs are a classic.”

Usually by this point most people would roll their eyes and go along with him, an indulgent smile on their faces. Alex was as stern as ever and only broke eye contact to pour himself a cup of coffee.

“You might not remember this,” he began gently, “but I drove you to your apartment. I felt really guilty about letting you drink so much and I was worried about you, so I stayed to make sure you were okay.”

“As you can see, I'm fine.” Conrad found the sofa and leaned against it, keeping that smile on his face. The one that projected a sense of ease and relaxation. He let it slip when he saw it wasn't working on Alex. It was a little unsettling; Conrad couldn't remember the last time this tactic failed him. “You're not my nurse so it's not like you can tell me what to do anyway,” Conrad snapped, pushing his way into the kitchen and grabbing a mug.

“Who can tell you what to do, then? Jenny May?” Conrad's hand knocked against the coffee kettle, spilling the hot drink everywhere. He barely managed not to scald himself. “You're a very chatty drunk,” Alex told him, offering a cloth to clean up the spill.

“Well, sure, I'm a chatty guy. I love talking to people. But you should know not to take anything a drunk person says seriously, Alex.” Conrad started mopping up the coffee, avoiding looking Alex in the eye. “They just make up all sorts of nonsense. And obviously if I'm the drunk person, you take whatever it is even less seriously. You should actually think about taking things less seriously in general. Being a nurse is a stressful job; you gotta relax when you can.”

“It's okay,” Alex soothed him. He knelt down and helped finish cleaning up. “I have nightmares about it all the time. So does Brad, and Julia. It's okay to not be over it.”

Conrad squeezed the cloth so tight the coffee he just mopped up ran between his fingers. It wasn't okay. He was the guy who put everyone in a good mood, who told the jokes, who made the party plans. From the moment they got off that ship he tried desperately to keep smiling, to make it all slide off his back and have another beer with his friends. Good old Conrad: you could always count on him to lighten things up. And if he couldn't, what was left?

“It's okay,” Alex soothed him. Conrad was shaking and his face was wet. Shit, was he crying? “I'll make more coffee,” Alex offered. Somehow his tone made it sound normal, like he didn't just make some and Conrad didn't spill it everywhere.

Conrad took a moment to compose himself. He wiped his face and tossed the coffee-soaked cloth into the kitchen sink.

“You know something, Alex?” This time his voice didn't carry the usual joking tone. “You're going to be a great nurse.”

[another-dr-another]

ok rq go talk w maki, tell her abt the change in plans!! -iris

Maeda, narrating - Before I go, I need to… actually tell Maki what my plans are.

Maeda - If she had agreed to take over for me, then she just left, I’d… really want to know why.

~*~

Maeda - Maki!

Maki - Maeda. Coming to take over for me?

Maeda - …

Maeda - Yeah, so, actually…

Maeda - …

Maki - …

//She looks at him- obviously aware of what he’s getting at, but waiting to hear him say it.

Maeda - …I have something I need to take care of first, if that’s okay.

Maki - Yeah, fine.

Maeda - Sorry…

Maeda - It’s just-

Maeda - It’s Hatano! She asked me to go and handle some stuff for her, and…

Maeda - It-It’s Hatano… I’d feel wrong if I didn’t go.

Maki - …Really? What does she need from you?

Maeda - Uh…

Maeda - She’s not really… confident about what Tsurugi and Uehara have been up to. She wants to know how Tsurugi’s feeling, what happened to him, and what he and Uehara did while in Uehara’s dorm-

Maeda - But, she said there’s other things she wants to go look at, so she asked me to talk to them instead.

Maeda - So…

Maki - …Huh.

Maeda - I would say you can go talk to them! But… I don’t think I really explained what she’s thinking-

Maeda - Since I was the one that spoke with her, I feel like I’m best to ask her questions…

Maeda - U-Unless you really want to go investigate now, because I understand!

Maeda - Honestly… getting their testimonies now probably isn’t as important as you getting to see Higa’s body-

Maeda - But, I don’t think it’d take that long to ask them questions… and I don’t want Hatano to be upset if she sees me sitting down…

Maeda - …Though, who knows what Hatano would think.

Maki - …Maeda, it’s fine.

Maeda - …

Maki - Seriously- I’m not upset over this.

Maki - Go talk with them, yeah? I’ll just… be here waiting.

Maki - I mean, you’re investigating, right? Getting new information out of it?

Maeda - Yeah, that’s true…

Maki - So, it’s overall a positive thing. 

Maki - …

Maki - Besides- now seems like a good time to be… somewhat prioritizing Hatano’s concerns.

Maeda - That’s- also totally true.

Maeda - Thank you for understanding, Maki…

Maki - Yeah, no worries…

Maki - Though, think you could do me a favor, before you go?

Maeda - Sure! …What is it?

Maki - Could you go over what you found while investigating? 

Maki - What you told us earlier wasn’t too in-depth, and… it’s starting to look like I may not get a chance to see, 

Maki - What with how long we’ve been investigating for, and the fact you have new things to look at.

Maki - Even if I can’t go look for myself, if I can know vaguely what I’d be looking at, it gives me something new to think about.

Maeda - Oh- I can absolutely do that, yeah.

Maeda - Uh…

//Finally, he takes a seat at the table.

Maeda - I’ll just- go over everything.

Maeda - …Seeing as I can’t remember exactly what I told her, compared to what I told Hatano…

Maeda - I’m not sure if you got to see inside Tsurugi’s dorm room, but Higa was found dead in the spot where he fell asleep last night.

Maeda - He still had his blankets, his pillows, everything of the sort… he really just seemed to be sleeping-

Maeda - But… then the body discovery announcement played…

Maeda - I’m not sure if you’ve looked at his Monokuma file, but there’s about as much information on him as there was for Iranami. 

Maeda - Including- there’s no cause of death. Tomori and I agree that it looks like suffocation, though.

Maeda - I thought that a pillow was put over his face, and he got smothered- mostly because we found a pillow nearby that had blood stains on it, so I figured that could be from Higa attacking the blackened, and managing to scratch them.

Maeda - But, Tomori says that’s unlikely, because the bloodstains on the pillow don’t seem to be in the right spots for that-

Maeda - It’s like… it dripped onto the center of the pillow, as opposed to by the edges, where the blackened would’ve been holding it… 

Maeda - So, even if it was used in the murder- which, Tomori doesn’t seem to think so- it’s unlikely that the blackened got attacked by Higa.

Maeda - At least, he doesn’t seem to have gotten blood out of them… and Tomori pointed out that a lot of people here already have bruising on their arms.

Maeda - What else…

Maeda - I can’t imagine that Higa didn’t react to getting attacked… but then again, I’d imagine he’d scream… and I think we’d have heard if that happened.

Maeda - Oh! There was marks on Higa’s body, too.

Maeda - No blood on him- from injuries, or attacking someone else…

Maeda - But- he was lying down on his back, and his hands were kinda- up by his face, like this…

//Maeda does his best to imitate the way Higa’s hands were splayed out.

Maeda - And, like… there was a patch on his throat that seemed… sort of rug-burned? Not that I think that’s what caused the mark, but it had that sort of pattern to it, y’know?

Maeda - Which, I think that works with the idea of him being strangled…

Maeda - But, what really keeps throwing me is this last bit-

Maeda - Along the back of his neck, and the backs of his hands and wrists, it was all discolored…

Maeda - Like- it was this… dark pink sort of color? And I don’t know what could’ve caused it…

Maeda - …

Maeda - I think that’s all I found- I can’t think of anything else… I went through the whole room, checked everyone’s belongings, and I didn’t find anything weird.

Maki - …You said the discoloration was along the back of his body?

Maeda - Mhm…

Maki - …

Maki - Like- the parts closest to the ground?

Maeda - I… guess?

Maki - …

Maki - Uh- could it have been the blood naturally pooling?

Maeda - …?

Maki - When you die, your heart stops pumping blood- without any force keeping the blood circulating through your veins, it naturally starts to pool.

Maki - If you were suspended, it would all drain towards your feet, because that’s… what gravity does. Since Higa was laying on his back, it would move towards his back- that’s what you see with most dead bodies.

Maeda - …

Maki - …

Maeda - That, uh…

Maeda - …Yeah, sounds like that might be it-

//Maki smiles, and Maeda rolls his eyes.

Maeda - You know- I tried to compare his body to Kurokawas! Since it took us a few hours to find her…

Maeda - But… honestly, I didn’t really remember what she looked like.

Maki - …I mean, I guess that’s a good thing.

Maki - Bad for your safety that you aren’t learning more about dead bodies- and don’t let Tsurugi know you aren’t that independent yet…

Maki - …But, it’s good if that isn’t how you remember people.

Maeda - Yeah…

Maeda - …Mekaru is still… so vivid to me.

Maeda - Well- her death, I mean…

Maki - Didn’t you… actually witness her death?

Maeda - …Mhm. Me, Kobashikawa, and Ōtori.

Maki - Ah… makes sense, then.

Maeda - …

Maki - …

Maki - Do you remember, like…

Maki - What everyone sounded like?

Maeda - …?

Maki - …

Maki - I don’t know. It’s just… I try to remember Kurokawa, or Inori, and while I can remember their faces…

Maki - I mean- even then, some of my clearest memories are Kurokawa’s photo in the file, or Inori’s expression when that collar closed around her…

Maki - …

Maki - And… I don’t think I remember their voices too distinctly.

Maeda - …

Maeda - Kurokawa was always talking about her streams… I guess that’s the nice thing about this era of the world, all the digital back-ups of things.

Maki - Mhm… the good think about being a SHSL, really. Lots of records-

Maki - Which, it’s typically a bad thing, for most people… but, even out of SHSL’s, we’re different from most right now.

Maeda - …

Maeda - I think Inori is the only one where it might be hard to find videos of her working.

Maki - Ah…

Maki - …Can’t tell if it feels comforting, to imagine seeing everyone again… or if I’ll just remember how they looked the last time I saw them.

Maeda - …

Maeda - Maybe it’d be a good idea, then, if you never saw Higa for yourself.

Maki - …Nah.

Maki - I’m uh… 

//She trails off- Maeda understands why she disagreed with his comment, though. She doesn’t have an issue with remembering him like that.

Maki - …But, anyways, I really do think it’d be good for me to look at Higa’s body.

Maki - Because- well, this is kinda the thing, y’know?

Maki - You didn’t understand what you were looking at when you were investigating, and just by your description, I think I know what’s going on.

Maki - Of course, I’d need to see for myself to be certain- for all I know, you could be, like… really bad at describing things-

Maeda - Okay. Okay. Sure, just say that.

Maki - But, either way, I know things you don’t, and can contribute a new understanding.

Maeda - Yeah…

Maeda - It all makes sense- I promise, I’ll come sub in for you once I’m done asking around in Tsurugi’s dorm.

Maki - Really, Maeda, I’m not worried-

Maki - Just… tap me out when you can.

Maki - …Hey, Maeda?

Maeda - Hm?

Maki - …Bet I could come up with a time of death, if I got to see Higa.

Maeda - Really?!

Maki - Mhm- I mean, I’m sure Tsurugi can do the same, but better to have two guesses than one, right?

Maki - I may not be able to get things down to the hour- but I bet I could tell you if he died before, or after Iranami.

Maeda - No- that’d be great!

Maeda - I’m not sure how, but I bet the times of death will end up being important… maybe that’s how Monokuma will determine things, like only the first death counts?

Maki - We'll find out in the trial, it seems-

Maki - But, either way, there's nothing wrong with having some more information.

Maeda - Yeah...

Maeda - Maki, does it seem to you like there's just...

Maeda - ...Like... you just have no clue what's going on here?

Maeda - It's so bad, it's like I don't even know what I don't know... I don't know what evidence I could be missing-

Maeda - There has to be something we haven't found regarding Iranami's cause of death, but I don't know where to look,

Maeda - And for Higa, it's not like strangulation really takes a weapon, so there's nothing I should be looking for there...

Maki - ...No, I get that.

Maki - I think a lot of this is going to come down to testimonies- we were all asleep in the same room, and at least two people left, and someone *fucking died*- there's no way that no one heard anything.

Maki - ...Plus, while I hate to say it- we do have a wild card.

Maki - I mean, what is Taira doing?

Maeda - I keep thinking she could be looking at something in the Rec room... like, maybe it was a slow acting poison that got Iranami, and the coffee was just some red herring, for some reason...

Maeda - But, I know that that's on Hatano's mind too- that's why she isn't going to talk with Tsurugi and Uehara herself, it's because she wants to try and find Taira.

Maki - Really?

Maki - I mean, not like I can think of anything else she could be doing-

Maki - Other than tapping out guards...

Maki - Well- hopefully it turns up something-

Maki - ...

Maeda - ...

Maki - …

Maeda - She looks…. odd. I wonder what she’s thinking about.

Maeda - Maki?

Maki - ...Maeda.

Maki - How, uh...

Maki - How fucked would it be if, say...

Maki - Taira was the blackened, and this whole time, she's just been off destroying incriminating evidence?

Maeda - ...

Maeda - Well. I've always been a pretty firm believe in jinxing things, and speaking stuff into existence...

Maeda - So- hopefully now that we've thrown it out there as a concept, we'll get proven wrong, and Taira will show up ready to accurately accuse the blackened.

Maki - ...

Maki - Maeda. I think now's a good time for us to stop talking, and start focusing on getting as much evidence as we can.

Maeda - Yeah, sounds good!

Maki - We didn't have that last conversation.

Maeda - Nope. We did not.

Maki - ...Bye.

Maeda - Yeah, bye- be back for you soon.

~*~

Maeda, narrating - ...

Maeda - Surely, she isn't...

Maeda - ...Well.

Maeda - ...Hey! A potential time of death! That's great news!

Maeda - ...Oh my god, what is Taira doing...

Maeda looks around, and is surprised to see {Hatano} is yet to {leave the dining hall.} He’d expect her to ask {Maki} or {Ōtori} about what happened last night, but… she may not want to walk over to that part of the room, due to who’s table they’re sitting by.

[overthinkingkdrama]

Jona's Top 10 Dramas of 2020

Is it too late to post this now? Too bad. I’mma do it anyway. I lived through the plague (so far) and I had a strange/sad/productive 2021. If I want to put together my top 10 list for 2020 over a year after the fact, then that’s between me and the drama gods.

Let’s get the disclaimers out of the way: When I put together these lists I try to only include dramas that FINISHED airing in 2020. Which means that I will occasionally include something that started airing in the previous year if it ended after January 1st. (Don’t think that happens here though. Don’t quote me on that.) These rankings doesn't necessarily reflect any sort of objective quality among the dramas listed below, but rather my personal enjoyment.

Also, it’s probably worth saying that I’m assembling this list with the help of hindsight in 2022, so I’ve come back and revisited some of these damages and sometimes my opinion of them has warped and changed in the intervening time.

Alright, let’s just get into it...

10. Nobody Knows

I came away from Nobody Knows with several major impressions. The first was a strong sense of atmosphere that nearly superseded for me the story of the drama itself. An eerie sense of foreboding and of things unspoken. The second was that I need Kim Seo Hyung in more roles like this, just all the time. Give them to me. There can never be too many of them.

The biggest issues I had with this drama, and the reason it’s appearing so low on this list, have to do with the plot itself. There turns out to be essentially 2 different mysteries, one that bleeds into and ultimately gives way to the second. The first is sadly stronger than the second, which quickly descends into contorted plot contrivance, and the primary villains end up devolving into monomaniacal cartoon characters, which somewhat undermines the dramas atmospheric strengths.

Although Nobody Knows cannot in the end match either the religious horror of Save Me or the morally fraught missionary killer aspects of Children of Nobody, it does a respectable job of both. The real highlight of this drama (aside from Seo Hyung’s incredible collarbones) are the ambiguous relationships it explores between the main characters. I love the slow-to-form partnership/comradery between Young Jin and Sun Woo, the tense rivalry/dependence between Young Jin and Eun Ho’s mother, and the surrogate mother/son merged with an unusual friendship-between-peers dynamic between Young Jin and Eun Ho himself.

9. Flower of Evil

I'm slightly embarrassed about how long I spent agonizing about where on this list to place Flower of Evil. The reaction of the fandom to FoE was pretty polarized, with one half enamored by easily the angstiest romance of the year and the other cringing at the regressive "I can fix him with the power of love" themes and the highly suspect police work. Trouble is, I can't help but kind of agree with both parties. I've managed to categorize this drama in my brain somewhere between Healer and Money Flower (which is already going to sound like heresy) because of its sexy, fast paced, makjangness.

The thing about FoE is that it doesn't really work as a thriller and it doesn't really work as an investigative murder mystery. There's just too much about the script that is over-the-top self-indulgent to be taken seriously. Objectively speaking, FoE is not a better drama than Nobody Knows. But I had way more fun watching it. I consistently enjoyed myself during the run time, and looked forward to it during the week. This was helped by the solid chemistry between Lee Joon Gi and Moon Chae Won throughout, as well as Lee Joon Gi's irrepressible penchant for chewing every piece of scenery in sight. Also, shout out to Kim Ji Hoon for his turn the hottest unhinged psycho of the year.

Flower of Evil watches like a fantasy wish fulfillment for a very specific kink. What if your husband was the perfect house husband? He cooks, he cleans, he's great with your daughter, and he's a babe to boot. Except he's secretly a psychopath with a dark past who is soft for only you. You pile on a whole lot of whumpy physical and emotional suffering for said husband and well...turns out I happen to share that kink.

8. When the Weather is Fine

In my MDL notes I called When the Weather is Fine the "generic coffeeshop AU of Kdramas" and now in 2022 I can't seem to come up with a more fitting description than that. Hats off to past me. When the Weather is Fine does also feel like the result of stretching 2018's Little Forest into a full length drama. It's a cozy drama, and it unfolds at a gradual pace. There are a variety of melo elements which I found to be appealing and well done, while the drama consistently continued to serve soft, healing romance. I did get the feeling that there was a little bit of something missing toward the end, and maybe the writer felt that too, as the plot seemed to shift its focus to the heroine's mother and aunt instead of the leads in the last week. That being said, I was still glad I watched it. This is the kind of thing that I wish Park Min Young would make, instead of the trendier office dramas she seems to favor that all blend together after a while.

Side note, in a twist that nobody could have seen coming in 2020, it turns out that WTWIF might actually be a better mountain rescue drama than Jirisan. Huh.

7. Mystic Pop Up Bar

Mystic Pop Up Bar has a premise that is pretty well trodden out both in anime and dramas generally, and for that reason I went into the show with zero expectations because as many times as I've wanted a really good "wish granting" drama surrounding some kind of magical business, it almost never works out the way I want. And there have been quite a few of them (just in the last year there was the drama special Handmade Love and The Witch's Diner). Much in the way that no matter how many times they make robot/AI romance stories, they somehow never manage to scratch the itch for me in particular, and so I keep waiting.

The thing that makes MPUB work is not that it's attempting to turn the trope on its head, or that it's doing something I've never seen before. The magic is that it plays its story almost entirely straight, even taking into account it's frequently comedic tone. It knew exactly what it wanted to be and it kept it tight and lean, telling the story it wanted to tell cleanly in 12 episodes and then gracefully bowing out. It escalates to a beautiful, emotional climax that kept me invested to the end. It served up some great found family material. It also gave me Hwang Jung Eum as the sort of heroine I've wanted from her for such a long time. And I was pleased to see Choi Won Young really living up to his full "daddy" potential.

6. Do You Like Brahms?

Do You Like Brahms? has a lot of the gradually paced, comforting romance elements that I liked in When the Weather is Fine, but wound up being a more fully fleshed version, in my opinion. I was a fan of both Eun Bin and Min Jae going in, but this drama really cemented Min Jae as a full blown romantic lead in my mind, which he went on to confirm was not a fluke in the far more comedic Dali and Gamjatang in 2021. Also, I think I might just be enamored with dramas that deal with classical music and the industry that surrounds it.

The things that really put DYLB? a cut above for me, came down to the character writing. I thought they really captured the wonderful mixture of longing and insecurity felt by each of the characters in different ways throughout the story. I was particularly struck by the heartwarming and heartrending incompatibility of the particular insecurities of the leads and how that took its toll on the relationship in a really realistic way, despite the fact that they clearly adored one another. I was also impressed by the handling of Jung Kyung's character. From scene to scene she swung radically from making me want to throttle her to breaking my heart, all of which was captured masterfully by Park Ji Hyun, making her one of the most interesting and fully fleshed second female leads in recent memory. Although the drama gets a bit bogged down in the last 3rd during the inevitable "angst arc" the ending was so satisfying it made me forgive everything.

5. Hospital Playlist

I've made it no secret either here or on twitter that I hate medical dramas. I can't stand them. It takes a lot for me to get over a dramas medicalness so that I can watch it. Usually that means there better be psychopaths or murder or it's gonna be a hard pass from me. So you can imagine my distress when this incredible cast was secured for not just one, but three seasons (though mercifully it wound up being only 2) of a slice-of-life medical drama helmed by none other than Lee PD and screen writer Shin Won Ho of Reply series fame. It felt like a cruel prank the universe was playing on me in particular. I knew that I had to watch it and I was quite frankly ticked off about it.

Hospital Playlist doesn't even attempt to be anything other than a medical drama focusing on the day to day lives of doctors, though the many fan-servicey scenes of the lead 5 friends playing in their hobby band worked as a sort of peace offering for me in particular. Virtually none of the character arcs or love lines panned out the way I wanted them to, and yet the trouble with this show is that no matter how hard I tried to be dissatisfied with it, it had my heart almost immediately. There was just something magical and profoundly human about it. I cried all the way through it, I loved every character in spite of myself. Touche, show, touche.

4. Kairos

Much like Mystic Pop Up Bar, Kairos is a drama that is playing with a very familiar concept in dramas of the past five or so years, that simply executes on that concept exceptionally well. As recently as 2021 with the drama Times staring Lee Seo Jin and Lee Joo Young we seem to fairly regularly get dramas involving supernatural phone calls from the past or the future allowing the characters to communicate crucial information and change the past before tragedy strikes. It's a compelling idea, but so specific that you would think it would be hard to wring much plot variety out of it. Plus, with the exceptional and beloved Signal sharing the same playing field, it's easy to make unflattering comparisons.

I think the real charm of Kairos resides in the cast and the (platonic) relationship that develops between two strangers, living three months apart, devastated by loss, connected only by the brief conversations they are able to have once a night. Shin Sung Rok and Lee Se Young are phenomenal here. For as much as she has gained recent attention with The Red Sleeve and I generally admire her body of work, I think her role in Kairos is my favorite to date.

This is also a remarkably stylish production, with some really clever and unique camera work. I appreciated the use of the orange and blue color grading to distinguish the past from future. If you're interested in a thrilling, twisty plot with a healthy dose of delicious melodrama, then this one for you.

3. Stranger 2

Second seasons are still fairly rare in Kdramaland (as much as Netflix seems dead set on throwing off the ratio) and truly excellent second seasons are nearly non-existent. The fact that Kdramas tend to be limited run series that tell a complete story is one of the things that attracted me to the genre. Even when they aren't complete recasts and misguided disasters, the sequel can rarely hold a candle to the original. (Spoiler alert for my 2021 list: Hosplay 2 is not gonna be on there.) Make the act you're trying to follow a near masterpiece in its own right, then you've really got your work cut out for you.

And yet, despite all this, I was looking forward to the second season of Stranger almost as soon as I finished the first one. Myself and its many other fans then waited patiently for 3 years for it to come out. And miracle of miracles, it did not disappoint me.

This drama does a wonderful job of picking up where we left off, not just in terms of the characters and their story, but more importantly in terms of tone and taut absorbing plotting. I watched this one breathlessly every week and despite its slow burn nature and the frequently technical aspects of the plot, I enjoyed ever episode.

Due largely to the choice to keep a certain favorite dirtbag prosecutor largely off screen for much of the season, and that of keeping the leads apart or in forced adversarial positions for the majority of the first half, I would still not say that Stranger 2 matched or surpassed its predecessor. But it came damn close, and I would recommend it without hesitation.

2. Extracurricular

In my time watching and commentating on Kdramas, I've watched quite a few shows about adults that behave like children. I've also watched quite a few dramas about teenagers who are written like adults. It kind of comes with the territory, to the extent that it feels notable when a drama comes out that writes its teenagers like teenagers, while portraying them as getting into decidedly adult trouble.

In general I have mixed feelings about the prestige television approach to Korean dramas through streaming platforms like Netflix, Apple TV and Disney+. On the one hand, many of the dramas I've watched on these platforms seem to have all the problems endemic of the Western shows that drove me into the arms of Kdramas in the first place. (Specifically, gratuitous violence and sex scenes that do not drive the plot and incomplete stories transparently angling for future seasons that may or may not materialize.) But I'm also conscious that the freedom and inflated budgets that such dramas generally afford their creators make it possible to put out dramas we would never get to see on Korean network broadcast stations. Extracurricular is one of those shows that I can only imagine watching on Netflix, and its an example of what such platforms can uniquely offer.

My memories of watching Extracurricular the first time involve binging the whole thing in a very short period of time with a sense of stomach-clenching suspense about what was going to happen to the characters. While I did go back and rewatch parts of it recently, and I'm not sure that the show stands up to multiple viewings, I still really respect what the show was trying to do. It was frequently dark, morally ambiguous, with challenging and unlikable characters doing bad things. It watches more like a piece of Korean crime cinema than a Kdrama. It kept me consistently off balance. Even though it ends on a cliffhanger and no future seasons seem forthcoming, the open-ended nature of the drama suits the material, making it worth the watch regardless.

1. It’s Okay to Not Be Okay

Every once in a while, I come across a piece of media that seems to have come about through my own unspoken desires. As though the creators went spelunking in my brain looking for material. It's Okay To Not Be Okay is one of those dramas. But don't get it twisted, this drama has definitely achieved something well beyond my own skills and imagination.

From the themes to the aesthetics, IOTNBO seems specifically designed to make me fall in love with it. From the gothic romance elements and twisted fairytale motifs to the unflinching yet supremely empathetic take on mental health and trauma, it had my number from episode one. It manages to both allegorize and deromanticize it's very heavy psychological themes in a way that I'm still trying to wrap my head around. Somehow through all of that it manages to weave a compelling and affective love story about two very flawed people slowly trying to get better. And that doesn't even really scratch the surface of everything that I loved about this drama. As much as Kim Soo Hyun and Seo Ye Jin absolutely devour their scenes, they aren't even the highlight!

Oh Jung Se as Sang Tae is nothing short of perfect. I believe that the writer and show runners as well as Oh Jung Se himself must have felt very strongly about representing this character in a fully realized, intensely human way. Clearly a lot of thought and love and research went into writing a character with autism and doing it right. The dramatic arc that character goes through, working through his trauma, growing and changing and becoming a better older brother is so beautiful. I've really never seen anything that holds a candle to it.

I could go on, and maybe I should do so elsewhere, but I just loved this drama from beginning to end. It really touched me. It took the top prize in 2020 easily, and became an immediate entrant to my top 10 dramas of all time.

[cathey-winchester-666]

Mikey x Mechanic!Reader

Summary: A list of headcanons about Mikey's relationship with his mechanic. Gn!Reader (I didn't bother to read through, please let me know if I messed up the pronouns!!)

Warnings: Swearing, some violence, mentions of kidnapping??? (but it's just a joke), reader is a badass

How you first meet:

The first time you two meet, it is because he's somehow managed to damage his bike.

Like, to the point where all of the mechanics he goes to are like:

"Dude, this is unfixable"

"There's nothing I can do to help you now"

"I'm afraid you're just going to have to buy a new one"

And he' getting increasingly frustrated, but still refuses to give up

But then, one of them goes:

"Hey, I might know someone that can help"

And they give the address of this small, rundown shop in the middle of nowhere

At first they think it's deserted and they're ready to go back to that mechanic and give them a piece of their mind

But then the sound of a long string of cuss words comes from within

So Mickey and Draken go in further to investigate and find you,

Stuck head first inside the bonnet of the car

And they're both thinking:

"Seriously, this is the one supposed to help us."

But then they pull you out of the engine and turn you to face the bike, explaining the hopeless situation

You take one look and go:

"Yup! Sounds like challenge!"

And instantly get to work

Whilst working:

During the time that you're spent fixing the bike, Mikey is a constant visitor

And it hits a point where you hear footsteps and, without even looking up, you instantly go:

"No Mikey, I already told you, the bike isn't ready yet."

But the footsteps don't stop

And now all 5 feet of his badass blonde hair is breathing on your collarbone

"Mikey, I can't concentrate with you breathing down my neck like that."

"Right, sorry."

And he pulls away.

But only a little bit.

And now he's breathing on the back of your shoulder.

"Mikey!"

"Alright! Alright!"

He pulls away and goes to sit down on a stool so he can watch you work

His dark eyes follow every little move you make

He flinches every time the bike makes a sound it doesn't usually

And you have to sigh and reassure him that everything is fine

Constantly explaining what you're doing as you're working

Without even realising you're using smart engineering language that he doesn't even remotely understand

but he listens anyway because he's starting to like the sound of your voice

Sometimes Draken will come over and you'll get to use your proper engineering language because he's able to keep up with what you're saying

You'll also sometimes teach him some new stuff he didn't know before

He also helps out with the stuff that he does understand, so the process goes a lot faster

Mikey sits there all jealous because you two are getting along so well and you're really enthusiastic about whatever it is that you're talking about that he doesn't understand

He wants to stop you two but he also can't get involved in the conversation because he has no idea what you're talking about and he's trying to hide he's obvious jealousy

Draken 100% knows

Some nights, Mikey even stays at the workshop with you

There's a small couch in the corner of the garage that he sleeps on

You used to have to call Draken to come pick him up

Now, you just throw a spare blanket over his exhausted form

One night, you even brushed a piece of blond hair away from his face and his nose scrunched up very cutely before he leaned in slightly to your touch

Cue you having an absolute seizure over how cute this man is when he's all relaxed and passed out

Anywho

Whilst fixing the bike, there would definitely be moments when he would hop up and lean over your working space

You would look at him

Give a small smile and ask

"Do you want to give it a go?"

Cue the biggest, brightest, happiest smile on his face as he enthusiastically picks up the closest tool on hand

Which is often not even remotely the right one

And you fall even further as you try to explain, in the most basic terms humanly possible, how to go about fixing this area of the bike

When trouble comes a-knocking:

Being affiliated with the leader of the Toman gang

Trouble is naturally going to find you

Especially when news gets out that you're the only one capable of fixing the leader's most precious and prized possession

His bike

Luckily for you, you're a certified badass

The first group that came in looking for trouble was a rather small one

However, you know the kind of neighbourhood you live in

And you always do research on your clients so you know what you're getting yourself into

You knew this would happen

And you came prepared. ;)

So when they first rocked up at your door

You came at them, all guns blazing

You ever seen Home Alone (if not, I totally recommend)

Well, it was basically like that

T R A P S

All the classics

Hot iron in the face

Marbles and nails on the floor

Paint can to the head

Glue and feathers

And then the more deadly ones

Kerosene, oil or petrol (you work in a garage my dudes, there's never a short supply) and then once they're soaked, an innocent match has them screaming to get away

For this next one, you need a layout of the building

There is a second level, which is all but busted and destroyed, you've laid out planks along the ground of the second level and you know which parts are safe

Through the holes in the floor, you can drop all sorts of things

Hammers

Poles

Wrenches

Rats and mice

Childhood trauma

You name it

And if anyone makes it to the second level, chances are, they'll end up falling through the floor

If they realise where it is safe to stand, keep in mind, you're super ripped from working machinery all day every day

And you've been practicing where it's safe to stand on this roof for a fight for as long as you can remember

Moving up there is second nature to you, an instinct, if you will

But it's all completely new to them

And, if I hadn't mentioned it before, you're a badass

So, by the time Mikey and his crew rock up at the garage, ready to take on a small army,

You've already got the entire enemy gang on the floor crying and begging for mercy whilst you stand over them, confidently swinging a mallet with a menacing grin on your face

And Mikey finds himself falling for you, just that little bit more

Once the bike is finished:

Once you've finally finished the bike

Mikey is instantly at your side

And you take a step back as he slowly examines every little section of the bike

And he's in awe

Not just because it's a spitting image of the real thing

But because it still has all the memories

The scratch from when he and Draken thought it was a good idea to attempt riding in the forest

That one time he tried to flirt with a lady by leaning on his bike, and inevitably knocked it over

All those little things

And you'd managed to keep them

"THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK-"

God, it takes forever to finally shut him up

"So, how much do I owe you?"

You'd thought about your answer to this for a while and finally come to the conclusion of what you really wanted out of this

"Well that depends, how much are you willing to pay?"

"Anything. You can't put a price on this bike, I assure you."

"Well in that case."

With a final deep breath, you place a hand on your hip and cock it, pointing a finger at Mikey's face

"I'd like to work as your gang's permanent mechanic!"

His reply startles you

"You heard them, Pah-chin, the kidnapping is off."

There's an audible sigh from behind you and the mentioned male slumps out from the shadows, a felt bag and some rope in hand

"... and this is???"

You turn to ask Mikey

"Well it was going to be a kidnapping."

A dejected Pah-chin answers for the blonde

Bitch, I beg your pardon, it was going to be a what now

"You were planning to KiDnAp mE???"

"Welcome to Toman!"

He cheers as he wheels his fixed bike out of the shop

"THAT DOESN'T ANSWER MY QUESTION!"

[qillmhi]

He likes that

2003! Raph x Reader

YAY I got another one! Slight NSFW action. The pic below is my all time favourite Raph moment😂

Raphael is one tough cookie. Always had and always will be.

He's brash. He's bold. Heck, his fists do most of the talking for him in basically every scenario that he finds himself in. He isn't afraid to show the bad guys just how bad he can be. For instance...

The Purple Punks has been quiet these past few days. Too quiet to be exact. Only to find out there's someone else taking them out. Although that would be good for the most part, his brothers would definitely agree. But Raph isn't very happy when someone else steals his prey. So just like any hot-headed mutant turtle would, he began his own investigation and tracked down the bozos that keeps on taking his fun.

Yeah yeah, say what you want but a turtle needs to bust some heads to unwind every once in a while too okay? Anyways, he started his own little hunting game. It took a while without Don's techno-geek machines but he found his way into an abandoned warehouse. Cliché. Now would he consider his options and call his brothers and prepare a plan?

Fuck no.

Obviously he came straight right in with his weapons ready to attack. He kicked the door and jumped right in, adrenaline pumping through his body. After that? To be honest, he didn't know what happened next. It was a blur to him.

And just like that, the predator became the prey.

Tied down to a chair, inside what looks like an interrogation room, making out, tongue and all, with a gorgeous girl on his lap.

Raphael felt his shell become tighter every time he heard those delicious moans of yours. (Damn that escalated quickly)

The kiss was hot and messy. He had no freaking idea who you are, how you manage to catch him off guard so fast or what type of interrogation you were doing, but damn did he like it. He liked the taste of your lips. He liked the way your hands sensually traced his arms and he is certainly enjoying the way your hips would occasionally grind against his.

It was addicting.

With whatever limited movement he was able to do, Raph pulled away from your lips and started attacking your neck with rough bites and kisses. You sighed dreamily when his lips came in contact with your skin. Everytime his tongue brushed against your sweet spot, you'd grip his shoulders tighter. The turtle in red smirked. He'd tease you by ghosting a kiss or lick your sweet spot on your neck but never gave you the satisfaction of actually touching you the way you wanted. You looked at his eyes and pouted despite drowning in pleasure. Raph loves that look on your face. Eyes pleading, cheeks as red as his bandana and neck littered with marks. His marks. You were just begging him to eat you alive, and who is he to say no to that?

"Ahh~!" You moaned loudly when Raph finally gave in and bit you there harshly. You couldn't help but grind against him even harder with the way he was abusing your neck. It was driving you crazy!

Raph cursed under using breath. He sunk his teeth into your neck again, sucking and tasting the sensitive flesh to leave more marks. Your nails were scratching his plastron, mewling in pleasure. Damn you were loud. And he liked that. He liked that he was the reason why you were making those noises.

"Ya' like that, sweetheart?" He chuckled lowly. His breath was sending shivers down your spine. God he was so hot. His brooklyn accent alone was enough to send your body to overdrive without even trying.

You bit your lip and looked down at him out of breath but begging for more. "Yes. I love it~!" You moaned out licking your lips hungrily as you looked at him in the eyes.

Raphael growled animalistically when he saw you bit your lip. He was the only one allowed to do that little missy! But the moment those words left your lips, Raphael felt his brain go blank. And as if that wasn't enough, you had the audacity to lick your lips with that look? Goddamn. You really know how to press a turtle's buttons. Oh how he wanted to rip out his restrains and take you right then and there.

Just as when things are getting even more heated, you felt the slight vibrations of footsteps on the sole of your feet through your shoes. They were light and quiet yet quick and swift, you almost missed it. They obviously belong to individuals who are masters in the art of blending in the shadows.

They're here.

Damn it. You knew you should have taken his shellcell before going in. But seriously, how can you resist when he's right there and all tied up exactly the way you planned it? Oh well it was worth it though.

You pulled away, making Raph confused why you stopped and was even more upset when you got off his lap.

"Hey! Where'd ya' think you're goin'?" He grumbled, slightly breathless as he tugged against his bindings.

You looked back at your angry turtle friend and giggled. Aw he looked so adorable when he's desperate! You walked back to him, placing your hands behind the chair.

"We have company... But it was nice getting to see you again Raphie!" You placed a small kiss on his snout "Don't worry cutie. I'll find you again soon~"

Raph had no idea what you were talking about. You guys have met before? He had no memories of ever meeting you.

"Who are you?" He asked. You didn't answer. Instead you gave him a quick one last kiss then parted with your now sexually frustrated hothead.

Before Raph could let a word out, you had already jumped out of the window. Raph struggled against his binds and almost as soon as he did so, his brothers came in kicking the door off its frame.

"Raph! There you are!" Donatello exclaimed in relief as he went to untie his brother. Leo looked around suspiciously, expecting some sort of trap or hidden enemies to come out. Mikey on the other hand was blabbing on how they should celebrate rescuing Raph by making him buy the special five layered pizza. But Raph couldn't care less about any of that.

He bolted up as soon as his restrains where loose enough and ran towards the window. He squinted his eyes at the dark alleys and streets but there was no sign of you anywhere.

"You okay, Raph?" Leo placed a hand on his shoulder.

Raph grunted "Yeah... peachy." He then reunited with his brothers, ignoring their questions about what happened. He was too busy thinking about his little minx to even care.

He was sure he'd ran into you again. And this time he will be the one to kiss you.

And there is no way he's letting you get away.

[lexosaurus]

Invisobang: Morge pt 2

It was a beautiful day outside. The birds were singing, the flowers were blooming...a corpse was found in the woods.

Or, Amity Park's local cadaver dog trainer was walking her dog in the woods when they discovered a little surprise waiting for them six feet under.

Pairings: none WC: 9886 read on: [ao3] part 2 of 2, read: [part 1]

---

some amazing accompanying art by @ghostkiin

---

“It’s like you’re not even trying!” Plasmius barked, throwing Danny an exaggerated yawn while blocking the ectoblasts thrown his way. “Really, Daniel, you were always woefully incapable compared to me, but this is just abysmal, even for you.”

Danny gritted his teeth and glared back, allowing his glowing eyes to glare to toxic levels. Plasmius picked the wrong week to try to steal blueprints from Fentonworks.

“What, are you going to hit me with a little ectoblast again?”

“Oh I’ll show you an ectoblast,” Danny growled, charging ectoplasm in his palms so concentrated that the green glowed a fierce white. He flung his hands out, releasing the energy with a venomous, “eat shit, Fruitloop!”

But just like the rest of his life, his attack was uncontrolled, wild. It flew several feet to Vlad’s side, nailing a road sign and burning it like acid until there was nothing left.

Plasmius grinned at its charred remains. “Was that supposed to hit me? My, Daniel, I’m quaking in my boots!”

Danny felt his aura increase.

This week had already been shitty enough, even without Vlad’s help. He felt like his brain was trapped in a hailstorm, with constant unavoidable attacks pelting him from all sides. His core was a ball of energy and anxiety, not allowing him to sleep or eat or even breathe without the constant fear about his body and how it was being messed with and he needed to protect it and how he’d failed so miserably at protecting it and now his secret was going to be revealed and he was screwed.

“Well? I’m waiting! Tick tock, Little Badger!”

Ancients, Vlad was such an asshole.

“Shut UP!” Danny yelled, releasing his ghostly wail.

Just as a pink blast slapped him across the face, sending him flying into a brick building.

Plasmius tisked, flying nonchalantly towards him. “We can’t have you using that particular power, now can we? Not while you’re so obviously in control of yourself.”

“Fuck off.”

The older ghost smirked and brushed dust off his red and white cape. “Teenagers. Always so hormonal. What, did a girl at school reject you?”

“What are you talking about?” Danny launched himself back in the air and powered an ice blast. “You know what? Don’t answer that. I don’t care what you have to say.”

“No, I’m sure you don’t,” Vlad said, releasing a plasmius blast just before Danny released his own. The pink blast travelled across the air like a bullet, punching Danny in the gut and sending him crashing back into the building.

Meanwhile, Danny’s ice blast flew a foot above Vlad’s head, webbing itself into a tree and coating the branches with thick icicles.

Danny tried to push himself back onto his shaky feet, only to be pushed back down yet again by another plasmius blast.

Brick tumbled onto his head, coating his vision with dust. His body ached, and his neck was sore from the whiplash.

From his clouded vision, a glowing white figure with red eyes and gaudy horn-like spikes for hair hovered closer to him.

“My, my. You really are out of sorts today,” Plasmius said. “This is almost too easy. I could just take you out right here and go take your parents’ entire spectre speeder straight from your lab.

“What do you even need a spectre speeder for? You can fly,” Danny asked, rubbing a lump from his skull.

“A simple minded teenager such as yourself couldn’t possibly understand my reasons.”

Anger flared through Danny. He gripped some wreckage next to him and forced himself back onto his feet. His legs shook and he felt something wet drip down his calf.

Great, he was bleeding. Just add that to the list of reasons as to why this week was the worst.

“Shut up. I won’t let you do that.”

“Oh?” Plasmius powered a pink blast in each hand. “Then prove it.”

Danny tried, but with each attempted blast, kick, or punch, it seemed like Plasmius was one step ahead of him.

And worse, it felt like he was reveling in the power trip.

A burn here, a kick there—everywhere Danny looked, there was Vlad, glowing fist at the ready. It reminded him of the first time he’d encountered Vlad, back at the mansion. Having Vlad so openly destroy him had been shameful.

Danny collapsed onto the pavement, heaving, his entire body searing in pain.

Plasmius paused to survey him up and down with suspicious eyes. Finally, just as Danny was one breath away from turning invisible out of sheer discomfort, did the ghost finally open his mouth. “Alright, spit it out.”

Anxiety gripped Danny’s stomach. “What are you talking about?”

“Something’s troubling you enough to make you pathetically weak. It’s honestly embarrassing. I can’t stand here watching my future ward make a fool of himself any longer.”

“I’m not moving in with you, creep,” Danny bit back.

“That’s what you think. No matter, tell your dear old uncle what’s troubling you.”

“Go play in traffic.”

Plasmius’ eyes narrowed. “I’d nearly forgotten what a brat you are. Now tell me before I take methods into my own hands.”

Danny sighed, and attempted to stand. But the moment his foot touched the ground, a sharp pain shot up his shin. He hissed, and lowered himself back to the pavement.

“Well? I don’t have all day.”

“It’s nothing,” Danny grumbled, glaring at the pavement. He felt small under Plasmius’ critical gaze. “Nothing at all.”

“It’s obviously something,” Plasmius said, landing in front of Danny. “Now quit wasting my time and tell me what it is before I—”

“Then why don’t you leave? If I’m just wasting your precious time, then go home! It’s not like you even care about me anyways.”

Vlad leaned in, flaring his aura. “In case it’s not clear to your simple teenage brain, your actions represent the both of us. You fuck up, I have to pay the consequences.”

“Who says this is even about ghost stuff?” Danny hissed. “For all you know, I got in a fight with Jazz.”

Vlad scoffed. “Do you seriously believe me to be that stupid? Of course it’s about your identity! Why else would your core be acting so wildly if its Obsession weren’t at stake?”

Danny flinched.

“You did something, and I want to know what it is so I can determine if I need to run damage control on you or not before you blow this for all of us.”

“It’s...” Danny felt his aura pull back. “It’s about...you know…”

“I can assure you I do not know.”

“I...I might have…the police may have found...it…’

Plasmius sighed and rubbed his forehead with his hand. “What did they find?”

“My—my, uh...body?”

“You mean your identity?” Plasmius’ eyes widened.

“Not exactly.” Danny felt his face burn. “You know...the body I left when I...after the accident.”

Plasmius reacted instantly. He shot up, glancing around, before grabbing Danny and pulling him through a hastily erected portal.

Danny felt his body squeeze through the portal and then seconds later, he was in Vlad’s study. The ghost threw Danny on his loveseat and heightened his aura. His brows creased, and his eyes glowed a dangerous shade of red. “What exactly do you mean when you say the police found your deceased body? How did this happen? What the hell did you do?”

“It wasn’t my fault!” Danny cried indignantly. “They found it with their freakish police dog! I swear I buried it deep in the ground.”

“Well not deep enough, apparently!” Vlad pinched the bridge of his nose between his fingers. “Of all the stupid, childish things you could do!”

“It wasn’t my fault!”

Vlad ripped his hands away from his face, his eyes snapping back to Danny. He took a step closer to the teen, his eyes narrowing until a red glow peaked underneath. “Then whose fault would it be exactly, hmm? What, is this yet another piece of blame you’re going to cast upon my shoulders? Me, the halfa who has managed to keep this a well kept secret for over twenty years when you apparently can’t even manage to keep it to yourself for one?”

Danny let his own ghostly strength shine through his eyes. “Quit acting like I invited them all over. I didn’t, it was a coincidence. A mistake.”

“Oh, goodness me!” Vlad let out a sardonic laugh. “I guess when the Ghost Investigative Ward appear at my doorstep in a month, I’ll just tell them it was all a mistake. That’s sure to turn them right around!”

“Shut up.”

“No I will not.” Vlad’s face set back into a scowl. “You have proven yourself to be a liability again and again, and every single time it’s me who has to clean up your little messes. Messes that you don’t seem to realize could be the end of our kind!”

Anxiety shot through Danny’s stomach. He gripped the arm rests of the chair, squeezing them so tightly he heard the faint sounds of cracking in the wood.

“And now you mean to tell me that the police have your rotting, ectoplasm-drenched inhuman corpse in their possession?” Vlad yelled. “And you’re really trying to argue with me that it was just a simple mistake?”

Danny’s shaking hand slipped, tearing off a chunk of the armchair. It clattering to the floor. “I don’t—I didn’t mean for this to happen. I don’t…”

Vlad closed his eyes, but Danny could still see the wisps of red shimmering through his eyelids. “No, of course you didn’t. But that doesn’t mean we can let them keep it.”

“I’ve tried.” His voice cracked. “I keep trying to convince them to stop, but they won’t—”

“What, you actually thought they’d listen to you? A ghost? My boy, I know you were dim, but this is truly extraordinary.”

Danny sniffed, keeping his head down. He felt like an egg boiling over, the yolk just one jolt away from breaking.

“No…” Plasmius hummed. “What we need is to take it back by force.”

“We can’t, they have the whole morgue under a shield. We can get in as ghosts, and it’d look too suspicious if we showed up as humans.”

“Unfortunately, you may be right about us appearing as humans. We can’t do that. But,” Plasmius’ tone shifted, “one thing we can do is break the shield.”

Danny froze. He gazed questioningly up at the older ghost, who was facing the window with a renewed sense of determination. “Break the shield? How? We can’t touch it!”

“No, but the shield doesn’t exist on its own. It has to be generated from somewhere, doesn’t it? Do you see? We break the device, we break the shield.”

Danny wasn’t following, and he was sure his face betrayed that much.

“Listen, Little Badger. Ghosts cannot touch the shield or the device, but who says—oh I don’t know—maybe a collapsed ceiling might do the trick? Some torn cables, perhaps? After all, with no energy supply, how could it possibly generate the power necessary to produce a shield?”

Danny felt his eyes widen. Something icy settled in his gut. When he spoke, his voice was hollow. “You want to destroy the building.”

“Well I certainly wouldn’t be so crude, but perhaps a few colleagues of mine might be swayed—”

“No.” Danny stood automatically.

Vlad’s head snapped over to him. “No?”

He could feel Vlad’s confusion, and it blended with his own. Deep down, he knew he needed to stop at nothing to get his body back, but collapsing the building? Putting others in danger?

Putting his remains in danger of ruin?

What if something happened? What if a brick fell on his skull? What if a spike tore his abdomen in half?

No, he couldn’t do it. It wasn’t worth the risk.

This was wrong.

“We can’t,” Danny choked out. “You’ll hurt it.”

“I don’t think you understand, Little Badger,” Vlad hissed, leaning down.

Danny could feel the heat of his red eyes on his skull.

“With the position you’ve put us both in? You don’t get to decide what happens to your corpse now.”

“No, Vlad. I’m serious. You can’t—”

“And so am I.” Plasmius straightened, and his aura tinted to a dangerous pink. “You’ve put us at risk one time too many. Now I’m taking things into my own hands. And no amount of scary eyes is going to sway me.”

In one motion, Vlad ripped open a portal and pushed Danny through. Before he could blink, he was back in the damp alley they’d just been in.

“Good day, Danny Phantom.”

Plasmius shut the portal, and Danny was alone.

---

“Thank you for taking the time to come talk to us about this,” Mark said, opening the conference room door for the consultant before him. “This case is unfortunately a bit out of my expertise, and the lab results are even more perplexing. Hopefully you’ll be able to parse through the documents much easier than I.”

Dr. Maddie Fenton, dressed in her typical turquoise lab attire, stepped through the door and took a seat at the table. “Of course, I’m always happy to help Amity’s law enforcement protect its citizens against ghosts.”

“Well,” Mark pulled out a chair for himself, placing the manila folders against the table. “This is actually a bit more complex.”

“Oh?” Dr. Fenton reached for the folders.

“To bring you up to speed, I mentioned on the phone that we needed your assistance with a murder case involving a ghost. But there’s a bit more to it.”

She opened the folder and leafed through the files.

“The truth is the body we uncovered we believe to be Phantom’s body.”

Dr. Fenton paused, her eyebrows shooting up. She glanced up at Mark. “That’s a rather serious case. What evidence do you have to support that?”

“Well…” Mark started. “When we uncovered the body, Phantom appeared above it, and was acting rather erratically. Like a cornered animal, almost.”

“He felt threatened.”

“Right.” He nodded. “But it’s more than that. When we ran forensics on the body, we found that all our lab results were corrupted with ectoplasm. Ectoplasm that when we ran the ectosignature for, turned out to be Phantom’s.”

Dr. Fenton looked back down at the files. “That’s highly unusual.”

“Well we were hoping you’d be able to piece this all together.” Mark gestured to the files.

“I see…” Dr. Fenton’s voice trailed off. Her eyes scanned the page, hungrily soaking up each word. The silence stretched on for a few minutes as Mark awaited her opinion.

Contacting the Fentons had been something Mark had been pushing off for as long as possible. The Fentons were loud, boisterous, and not at all known for their professionalism nor tact.

But it was either they contact the Fentons or the Ghost Investigation Ward. And despite Phantom’s cold demeanor towards the detectives, Mark still had hope that perhaps he could gain the teen ghost’s trust. And to do that, the GiW could not be anywhere near the station.

Of the duo, Maddie Fenton seemed the most level-headed. And it had just been Mark’s luck that of the pair, she was the one with a doctorate in ectobiology. Which meant that it was perfectly understandable when Mark had requested that she alone come into the station to review the files.

“We’re trying to keep this on the down-low. If Phantom feels like we’re going to turn him over to the government, he’ll clam up. As it stands we’re only barely getting information out of him.”

“Well, I wouldn’t trust anything he says anyway,” she said, not looking up from the paper. “He’ll do whatever possible to keep himself safe. Ghosts are products of their Obsessions, and Phantom is no different. If he feels like this investigation is going to come in the way of him being able to feed into his Obsession, then he’ll do anything to stop that from happening. No matter who he hurts in the process.”

Mark felt a shudder creep up his spine. “Do you think he could be lying about this being his body? Maybe he could have been the one to kill this boy and is trying to cover it up?”

“Hmm…no, that doesn’t seem likely given the labs. And besides, it would be highly unusual for Phantom to be summoned to a body that wasn’t his. Although…” Dr. Fenton mused. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen anything like this before.”

“Like what?”

“Well, when an animal dies near a cluster of ambient ectoplasm, their body runs the risk of forming a ghost. However, there must be a significant final moment for the neural pathways in the brain to bond with the ectoplasm. That moment translates into an Obsession, which forms the core that the ghost then forms around. If a human dies peacefully, there’s nothing to work with. But if the human dies violently, or if they die with unfinished business, that gives the ambient ectoplasm something to charge with.”

Mark nodded politely, not seeing where this was going. This was all common knowledge for the people of Amity, and Mark had certainly seen enough of the Fentons’ public speeches to understand these basics.

“The ambient ectoplasm comes from the electrical connections in the brain, unrelated to what’s happening in the body. It’s why a human can be paralyzed from the waist-down, but still form a ghost with functioning legs. Do you see what I’m saying?”

Mark nodded, then shook his head. “I’m sorry, I’m not seeing how this relates to Phantom specifically?”

“There’s no real reason that Phantom’s human body should have been corrupted by ectoplasm. In fact, there’s never been a case of a human body with an ectosignature embedded in its cells. It’s virtually impossible, in fact. Living cells are completely incompatible with ectoplasm.”

Mark stared down at his own copy of the reports, his mind reeling. “You’ve never seen this before?”

“Not in my twenty years in this field.”

“Do you have any idea what could have caused this?”

Dr. Fenton pursed her lips. “There’s one...it would explain a lot about him actually. Human experimentation.”

Oh.

Oh.

Shit.

“You don’t think…” Mark’s voice trailed off, his tongue incapable of finishing the sentence. To think that some sick individual would even attempt such a thing.

“It’s the only logical explanation here.” Dr. Fenton gestured at her folder. “Or at least, the only one I can piece together given this information. Phantom would have had to have died after interacting with an intense amount of ecto-technology. Technology with the power to chemically alter every cell in his living body just before finishing him off with electrocution. Of course, it’s just a theory. Only Phantom knows the truth.”

“Right.” He could hardly process what was being said. “But he won’t tell us the truth.”

“Well, I’m not surprised. Ghosts run a different social hierarchy than humans, theirs is far more simple. It’s entirely based on strength. The stronger the ghost, the better they protect their haunt, the more respect they’re given within ghost culture. If Phantom shows weakness, then the other ghosts can use that to dethrone him as the human world’s great protector.”

“But we’re not ghosts.”

“But he is.” Dr. Fenton cocked her head. “This explains other things too. Like the fact that Phantom, a relatively new ghost, is already a level seven on the ectoplasm power scale.”

“I assume that’s unusual.”

“Quite. It would have had to require an extremely intense death at the very least. But human experimentation with ectoplasm, feelling your body reject itself from the inside out, every strand of DNA being corrupted by the essence of death—that’s not an end I’d wish on my worst enemies.”

“And now we have his corpse. Phantom’s going to feel incredibly threatened. He’s bound to lash out.”

Dr. Fenton nodded gravely. “Then you better wrap this investigation up quickly, because Phantom is still a young ghost. He’s impatient, like a child. The longer you take to solve this case, the more unstable he’ll get. And I wouldn’t want to be on the receiving end when he finally snaps.”

---

A dull unease panged at Danny’s core. It was calling to him, trying to goad him to his corpse.

Trouble, trouble, trouble, it seemed to whisper.

But he ignored it, just like he’d been ignoring it all this time. Because no matter how much he tried, he couldn’t get past the shields, he couldn’t get back to his corpse.

He was powerless. Alone.

Scared.

He tried to focus on his math worksheet, but the numbers blurred together and he couldn’t remember what eight times seven was. He had a calculator, but it was in his bag and he couldn’t remember what pocket he’d shoved it into, or even if he’d remembered to put it in his bag last night after staring blankly at the homework assignment for an hour without lifting his pencil even once.

No, his calculator was probably still on his desk at home.

Trouble, trouble, trouble.

The voices were louder now, and the pull was more desperate.

His throat hurt, and for a moment he was convinced his lungs were collapsing before he remembered that he’d forgotten to release the air trapped in his lungs and he couldn’t remember when he’d stopped breathing.

“Danny?” Mr. Falluca said from the front of the room. “Is everything alright?”

He commanded his head to nod, but he wasn’t sure if he succeeded. Maybe he did. He couldn’t check, he couldn’t lift his eyes from the desk.

The voices were too loud.

The dull pang wasn’t so dull anymore.

Trouble, trouble, go now, go now.

The pang was solidifying, taking shape. It was becoming sharper, more urgent.

Go now, go now, go now.

The pokes turned into pricks, threatening to rupture his organs, sending needles down the nerves in his arms and legs. A headache sparked before his eyes and his vision swam.

The voices attacked him from all angles, and fingers brushed against his skin, tugging the sleeves of his shirt towards the window, the ceiling, the wall, the door— anywhere so long as it was away from here. Outside. To the morgue.

Go to the morgue.

Ignore it, be strong. Just ignore it and it’ll go away.

Go now.

No.

Go now, go now, GO NOW.

No, he couldn’t.

The pinpricks finally morphed into one sharp, icy cold knife.

It stabbed his core.

Go now.

He stood from his chair, knocking it back.

Vaguely, he could hear the alarmed cries of his classmates, but he ignored them.

The only thing that mattered was his body. His corpse.

Protect.

A hand grabbed his arm, yanking him back, but he could feel the warmth of the human blood running under its veins and he couldn’t be bothered with human problems right now. Not when he was in danger.

He phased through the grip, and ran out of the classroom. He sprinted down the hall, tearing open the familiar looking door and transforming and taking off into the sky nearly as soon as the sun brushed his skin.

This was different than all the other times his core had tried to coax him to his corpse. Something was wrong. Really, really wrong. His body was in danger, and he needed to save it.

He heard an explosion in the distance, and he increased his speed, feeling his eyes sting as the cool air slapped against his corneas. The world blurred, but it was okay. His core was guiding him now, not his eyes. He didn’t need to see, he just needed to close off and follow his ghostly instincts.

“That’s right!” A deep voice yelled from across the way.

Danny pulled to a halt, blinking the sting from his vision.

Then a boulder flew past his body, hitting the wall of a disturbingly familiar building.

His core yelled in protest. The body was in danger. His body.

“You thought a pesky shield could keep me out? Me, Skulker, the Ghost Zone’s greatest hunter? I’ll show you!”

Ice filled his veins, freezing his aura and building in power around his hands.

Skulker hoisted a parked motorcycle from the edge of the street into the air. “Take this!” he yelled, hurling it into the air.

It was heading straight for the door. It was going to break it, it might break the window, it could damage the body.

An icicle stabbed his core, and before Danny could blink, his hands were raised and jagged blue ice was shooting from his palms, catching the motorcycle in midair and pinning it to the street.

“What is the meaning of this?” Skulker roared, whipping around. His eyes locked on Danny and his confusion melted from this face only to be replaced by a triumphant smirk. “Well hello there, ghost child.”

Danny’s palms burned an even brighter blue. “ Leave,” he hissed, the Ghost Speak slipping off his tongue like butter.

Skulker’s grin widened. “It seems I’ve touched a nerve. Fear not, child, I’m just here to procure your pelt. Well, your other pelt.”

He flashed his aura in a showcase of power that would send most ghosts running for the hills. “Leave.”

A look of contempt replaced the humor on Skulker’s face. His eyes narrowed, and his voice lowered. “I don’t take orders from you, child.”

There was a natural balancing act between his human brain and ghost core, one that ensured that neither half of him was in full control one hundred percent of the time. No matter how human he was, his core still lingered in the background, and no matter how ghost he was, his human brain still kept tabs on his movements.

But now, as Danny watched Skulker rip a slab of concrete from the ground, he felt something snap inside of him.

“Then I have no choice.”

Green overtook his vision, and Danny Fenton simply disappeared.

Time passed—or it didn’t—in swirls of blue and green. If he looked out, he could see the power released from his gloves, he could see the mix of ectoplasm and ice that he was hurling at Skulker, to protect the building, to protect his body, to protect himself from Plasmius.

That vindictive, lonely asshole.

Who was Plasmius to encroach on what was his?

There were flashing lights around him, but Danny paid them no mind. The only thing that mattered was protecting his body.

Protect his haunt.

Protect his people.

Protect.

He could feel the newly pointed teeth pinch his gums, and the ghostly wisps of his hair fizzle around him. But oddly these changes didn’t worry him, instead they made him feel safe, secure. Like a child clinging onto their blanket.

He launched another barrage of attacks at Skulker, tearing holes through his armor. Panic struck Skulker’s features, and all Danny could think of was, ‘good.’ If Skulker wanted to try to claim dominance over his body, then he would suffer tenfold.

And just before he was about to launch a blast at Skulker that was sure to disintegrate his armor, an amplified voice behind him called out, “PHANTOM!”

Danny flinched, his power leaking out of its concentrated ball.

Weak.

“Phantom, stand down!”

Not a chance.

“We have the area surrounded. Stand down or we’ll be forced to shoot.”

“Better listen to your human puppets,” Skulker said, his voice too shaken to sound mocking. “I know when I’ve been bested.”

It took everything in Danny’s power to not launch himself over to Skulker and tear off his head. “You tried to steal my body.”

“That’s a fight between you and Plasmius.”

“Don’t try to get out of this.”

“Phantom,” Detective Johnson said. “Final warning. Stand down.”

Ectoplasm surged throughout his body. “Make me.”

Multiple events happened at once. Skulker motioned to leave just as Danny raised his arms, blistering white light moments away from release. Then, pain seared through his torso.

Danny yelped, jerking his hand back and releasing the ectoblast somewhere off into the sky. He fell back and hit the ecto-shield, sending electrical warnings through his bones.

Memories of the portal, of the thousands of volts of electricity, of the feeling of his bones and muscles and tissues and cells being ripped apart and stitched back together flashed before his eyes. It was too much, all too much too soon too present. He tried blasting the portal but his gloves were splattered with green and oh no, not good, not good.

He was dying, wasn’t he?

Again.

Would he have a second body?

His vision tilted, and finally he managed to rip himself away from the shield. He collapsed onto the cement and stared up at the sky, chest heaving.

He was paralyzed. He knew he had fingers, toes, arms, legs—but they didn’t work. He couldn’t feel anything. Couldn’t fly.

He was dying.

“Phantom?” Johnson’s cautious voice sounded from somewhere off to the side. “Sit up, let’s talk through this.”

There was a pregnant pause, and then Danny finally managed to blink. The world snapped back into focus, and his surroundings came with it. He looked down at his torso to see a little hole in his side of his suit surrounded by a trickle of green.

“What—?” Danny gasped.

“I’m gonna put the gun down, okay?” Johnson said. “I just wanna talk.”

“No.” Danny slowly pushed himself up. He surveyed the damage along the walls, the falling bricks on the sidewalk, the shattered windows and bent door. “No, no, no.”

His body wasn’t safe. Not anymore.

“Phantom, come on. Work with me here.”

But he couldn’t. That detective and his partner were just human, they didn’t understand. This was his body and Vlad knew about it and was trying to take matters into his own hands no matter the cost to Danny.

This was a disaster. He shouldn’t have told Vlad anything. He was so stupid for thinking Vlad could help him. He should have known, should have known.

“Phantom.”

“No.”

The cloak of invisibility covered his body, and he shot up into the sky.

Towards the city.

He needed to end this.

---

Sarah felt the chill first.

“You have to stop,” Phantom’s voice echoed behind her.

She sighed and put down her pencil. “Phantom, I thought I explained this already. The police can’t—”

“I don’t care about the police!”

The room grew cold.

“I don’t...ugh!” Phantom floated around her desk, clutching his forehead with one hand and his chest with the other. Mark had just called her with a warning, saying that Phantom was unstable. Looking at the ghost now, Sarah had to agree.

Phantom looked awful.

Dark circles pooled under his eyes, his hair stuck up in all directions, and his face lacked the green blush that normally sat below his skin. His jumpsuit was burned and dried ectoplasm crusted around the torn edges. He looked every bit the image of someone quickly coming undone.

Except this wasn’t just some random person, this was a powerful ghost. This was someone who could easily kill anyone who wronged him.

Or who he felt wronged him.

Deep down, Sarah knew Phantom wasn’t a violent ghost. It didn’t line up with his ghostly Obsession, or the theorized one anyway. But this was his corpse they were dealing with, it was an extension of himself.

Sarah had never confronted a ghost who had lost possession of their corpse. She’d never dealt with a ghost who willingly protected the shield that kept him away from his body if only to make sure it stayed safe. She’d never seen Phantom look so rattled.

At this point, there was no telling what he was capable of.

“Phantom,” she tried cautiously. “You need to calm down.”

“No, you need to tell your buddies to call off this investigation!”

“You know I can’t do that. I have no control over the department, and even if I did, we need to follow the law.”

His eyes flashed dangerously. “Why, because I’m a ghost? Because my words mean nothing because I’m not human? I’m telling you that I don’t want to press any charges, I don’t get why that’s not good enough!”

The room grew even colder.

“We’ve been over this. Please, Phantom, sit down—”

“No!” he snapped. “I’ve been telling you guys since the beginning that this was a bad idea, that people are going to get hurt! And no, nobody listened to me because I’m a fucking ghost! And now look, the building was attacked! My body was attacked! Do you—” his voice cracked, and the glow on his eyes wobbled. He drifted closer to her. “Do you even understand? Do you get how dangerous this is? Do you understand the people you guys have pissed off? Who you’re playing with now?”

Sarah took a deep breath. Even as a human, the power Phantom was emitting was palpable. “What people? You mean the ghost who attacked the morgue?”

“Not him. He—he’s just a lacky. Just following orders.” He let out a bitter laugh, running his hand over his forehead and smearing green across his skin. “You guys have no idea, you really don’t…”

Dread crept up Sarah’s spine. If what Mark was saying was true, then this could run deeper than they thought. “Explain it to me.”

“I’m…” He glanced up, looking ill. “I’m not…normal. For a ghost, I mean. I can’t explain it. I really can’t. But the other ghosts...they consider me a liability. And now that you guys have my—my body, they’re afraid.”

“Why are they afraid?”

“Because…” His brow furrowed. “I can’t—I can’t…”

She tilted her head, watching the ghost choke on his words. “Can’t, or won’t?”

“It doesn’t matter. They’ll stop at nothing till they get my body back. They’ll kill everyone in that building if it means nobody finds out my secret.”

What secret? Sarah wanted to scream, but she held back.

“Phantom,” Sarah lowered her tone. “Are they the reason you’ve been so afraid of us finding out the truth? Have they threatened you in any way?”

“No!” He backed up in shock. “I—I mean, sort of? Listen, it’s not because of him—them, I promise. It’s more complicated than that. He’s just protecting me, you know? If my secret gets out, that would put them all in danger, but it would put me in even more danger. I wouldn’t...I’d have to leave. I’d be on the run.”

“Why?”

“It’s so messed up.”

“Then tell me.”

She already knew. She just needed him to confirm it for her.

He looked to her, his bright green eyes seemingly desperate for help. But he shook his head. “I can’t do this.”

“Wait—”

But he was already gone.

---

“I’ve never seen him look so scared,” Abrams said.

“So you think he’s right.” Crowley took a long swig of his coffee, “Course you do.”

“It makes sense,” Abrams insisted. “Why else would Phantom be so terrified of people finding the truth?”

“Oh gee, I don’t know, maybe it’s because he’s a teen who was playing with electrical equipment he wasn’t supposed to be near and even in death doesn’t want to get in trouble for it!”

“Yes but how would that explain all the ectoplasm in his DNA? That doesn’t come from just any electric shock.”

“Who knows,” Crowley said. “The Fentons have always been crackpots. Always have had ludicrous theories. Now suddenly when it’s convenient, you’re all running to their side?”

Mark rolled his eyes. “We’re not running to their side.”

“Then what do you call this?” Crowley gestured to the duo. “Sure looks like it to me.”

“You have to admit that it makes sense,” Mark said. “I mean, get real. Doesn’t any of this smell fishy to you?”

Crowley slapped his empty coffee mug on the table. “You know what smells fishy to me? The Fentons are the only known ecto-scientists in this whole damn city, the only people who have lab-grade ecto-equipment in Amity Park, and suddenly right when they were getting into some financial trouble, Phantom appears out of nowhere from a death that reeks of forced ecto-contamination. That smells fishy to me.”

Mark paused, but then shook his head. “If that were true, then why would Dr. Fenton even offer human experimentation as a possibility?”

“To gloat? Gain our trust? Test our intelligence?” Crowley threw his hands up. “Who knows? They’re crazy!”

“So you think we need to investigate them?” Mark asked.

“I’d be a damn shit detective if I didn’t. They have the means and motive to create a ghost like Phantom. It’s just like Maddie said.”

“I think he’s right,” Abrams said, nibbling on her bagel. “If this is actually a case of ecto-experimentation, then the Fentons should be on the list of suspects.”

“Finally, some common sense around here. Just about the only case of common sense these days…” Crowley grumbled.

Mark chose to ignore that comment, instead checking his phone. No notifications, damn. The entire department had been on high alert for Phantom ever since the attack on the morgue. Mark was just relieved that the new and improved ecto-guns had finally been issued that morning. If not for the updated technology, that incident likely would have ended far less smoothly.

Not that it really ended smoothly. Phantom had yet again escaped Mark’s clutches, free to run off and break into Sarah’s home.

Guilt clawed at Mark’s stomach, but he pushed it back. Phantom was a slippery ghost, one that had escaped all levels of ghost hunters from the Fentons, to the Ghost Investigation Ward. Mark knew it would take a lot more than a few words of peace and one ecto-gun to stop that kind of raw power.

“What do we even know about the Fentons?” Abrams asked.

“They’re ghost hunters and mostly make weapons now, but before that they dabbled in all sorts of ecto-based technology. The husband, Jack, is the engineer and the wife, Maddie, is the biologist. They have two kids, Jasmine and Daniel. Jasmine, or ‘Jazz’ is supposedly top of her class, likely to graduate valedictorian, while Daniel’s something else. Bad grades, skips class, all around a bit of a loner,” Crowley said, regurgitating information like he was reading a case file.

Mark glanced at his colleague, giving him an impressed smirk. “Did your homework early, eh?”

“I told you, something aint right here,” Crowley said.

“And? What do you think?” Mark asked.

“What I think is that I’m shocked their house is even coded to have a lab inside. I’d like to know whose ass they kissed to give them that permit.”

Abrams snorted. “Jesus, Jacob.”

“What? I’m right!”

“Fine, whatever,” Mark stood, collecting his empty coffee cup and paper plate. “I godda head home, my sister’s visiting this weekend.”

“Alright, tell Susan I said hello. And say hi to her little demon child too.”

Mark rolled his eyes. “She’s four.”

“What, four year olds can’t be demons? I should know, I had two of them.”

Abrams swiped her empty wrapper and tossed it in the trash. “Yeah, I have to feed Atlas. I’ll see you both next week.”

“Take care!”

---

“Well at least we know Phantom didn’t change anything about his facial structure when he became a ghost.” Crowley’s small eyes swiveled between the photo of Phantom in one hand and the new sketch rendition of his human identity.

Mark grunted and stared at his own copy of the photo.

The corpse had been too decomposed to be able to distinguish a face, and ghosts often change their appearance in death. Sure, Phantom looked like a regular human, but it was impossible to know that for a fact.

Fortunately, modern research and re-composition was advanced enough that they didn’t have to wonder for long. Especially with this being such a high-profile case for the city.

And as it turned out, aside from the hair, Phantom really didn’t look all too different when he was alive. He had the same sharp nose, the same angular chin, the same boyish face. The only thing that was different was his hair and presumably his eye color, although that was still a mystery due to the corrupted DNA.

Even though there was little change to Phantom’s appearance, seeing the black haired, brown eyed human boy staring back at Mark was rather shocking, if he were being honest. There was something off putting about seeing this enigma quite literally brought back to life. It took away that edge of lore that the heroic town enigma had.

Now Phantom wasn’t some wild mystery. He was just...a kid.

“This really is something,” Crowley said. “Guess we should put it to good use.”

Mark sighed, turning his attention back to his desktop. Sifting through missing person’s reports was never exactly a fun way to start the morning.

“You think you can handle it, rookie?” Crowley asked.

“Yeah, I got it. I’ll let you know if I find anything interesting.”

Crowley let the photographs drop to his side. “Alright, I’m going to continue doing some digging on our suspects.”

“Good luck.”

“And you.”

The work was tedious and depressing. Face after face of missing minors flickered across his screen. It was almost too hard to believe that Phantom was a part of this list.

Caucasian. Black hair. Eye color unknown. Five foot five.

That was all they had on Phantom. For all they knew, he could have been from another city entirely.

But hopefully Mark would find a hit, at least one kid from Amity who fit the profile.

And in fact, there were a few...sort of. Four teens who had black hair and were about five foot five. But none of them looked quite like Phantom.

Which meant Mark had to widen his search.

How wonderful.

He leaned back in his chair, stretching his arms out wide. It was nearly lunchtime now and he felt like he’d gotten no further than where he was before. Mark stood from his chair, feeling a bit defeated. Hopefully Crowley would’ve had better luck on the suspect list than Mark.

He strolled over to Crowley’s desk, only to find the desk empty. Crowley had likely already left for lunch, the bastard hadn’t even bothered to grab Mark on the way.

Not that Mark could really blame him. He doubted Crowley wanted to use his lunch break to talk about the case after the tedious research they both had spent their mornings doing.

Mark dug his phone out of his pocket, intent on sending the older detective an update, when he stopped. Out of the corner of his eye, a familiar face stared up at him.

Mark slowly lowered the device and crept toward the desk, as if his mere presence would disintegrate the paper on his desk.

Inside Fentonworks: the Fenton family’s home-grown anti-ghost business!

It was an article printed from some online magazine that Mark didn’t recognize. Slapped on the cover of the page, just under the title, was a photo of a family of four beaming, waving at the camera. One of the members was a young boy—about Phantom’s age—with black hair in almost the same haircut as Phantom, with that crooked smile that Phantom had been caught adorning all too many times.

Waving at the camera.

Skinny, short for a boy, son to two ecto-science parents who fill their basement with dangerous high-voltage and easily combustible ecto-technology.

His name was listed as Daniel.

Mark glanced at the two images in his hand, and then looked at the article below him.

Holy shit.

No. There was no way. Crowley had been suspicious of them, and he had good reason to include them on his suspect list, but this kid was alive. He wasn’t missing, he wasn’t dead, he was standing right there.

It just wasn’t possible.

His apple watch pinged, alerting him of a ghost attack nearby.

Mark hurried back to his desk, swiping his coat off his chair.

This was impossible.

The police sketch and the copy of the article pressed against his fist.

Phantom was a ghost. Ghosts will do anything to protect themselves. They would lie, cheat, and manipulate humans in order to stay on top.

Mark was just seeing things.

There was no way that this was him.

He beelined for the door, tucking the papers into his pants pocket.

It wasn’t possible.

The drive there was short, and the fight even shorter. It had just been the Box Ghost, so nothing that Phantom couldn’t handle. The ghost gave his little song and dance, captured the ghost, and waved brightly to the crowd. But Mark could see right through it, right past all the cracks in his façade.

Phantom was losing it.

And Mark could end this.

“Phantom!” Mark called out through his cupped hands.

The ghost flinched, his cheery face replaced with a scowl instantly.

“Another time,” he said.

But Mark didn’t have another time. He needed to know now.

Because Phantom could end this insane proposition. He could laugh heartlessly at the mere mention that he was this random living child. He was Phantom, protector of Amity Park, not some human experiment.

Not some impossibility.

Not some kid who’s been dead for a year and only pretending to be human for his family.

Not the greatest act of manipulation from a ghost that Mark had ever seen.

Mark yanked the papers from his pocket and unfolded them with shaking fingers. He held them up hastily, knowing that they were too far away for normal human eyes.

But this was Phantom. He wasn’t human.

Mark saw the exact moment that Phantom recognized the photos. The ghost’s eyes widened, his face paled, his aura dimmed. Then, in the blink of an eye, the ghost vanished.

Mark was right.

---

The air was thick, tense. Phantom slumped in his armchair, his body the equivalent of a white flag. Even so, his eyes were bright, charged with nervous energy.

He was terrified.

Atlas must have sensed this, because the dog had decided to break away from being Sarah’s shadow to lay against the ghost’s feet.

“I don’t know where to start,” Phantom admitted after a few tense beats of silence.

“The beginning, maybe,” Jacob said.

Phantom looked sick at the suggestion, but relented. “You’re right. Yeah...I…” he glanced up at the two detectives and Sarah seated across the coffee table on her dull green couch. Phantom had appeared in her kitchen not even an hour ago, looking like he’d just seen the personification of death itself.

And instantly, Sarah knew.

She’d tried to coax him to let her bring him to the station so he could come clean there, but he refused. He said the information was too sensitive and he didn’t trust the station to not have cameras recording every angle of every room.

And so they settled on her living room instead. Mark and Jacob arrived, seeming none too surprised by the arrangement, and more than willing to follow Phantom’s direction if it meant they would finally get the truth.

Which Phantom didn’t seem remotely ready to give.

“I guess…” He tried again, closing his eyes. There was another tense moment of silence before a pair of white rings appeared around Phantom’s waist, traveling up his body and leaving behind a skinny black haired teenager.

Phantom cautiously opened his eyes. And, to Sarah’s surprise, they were blue.

“You’re Daniel Fenton,” Mark said.

She heard Jacob suck in a breath.

“Yes. I’m Danny Fenton.” Without the echo, his voice sounded much closer, much more down to earth than Phantom’s. “And a year ago, I was in an accident.”

His voice, like the rest of him, seemed softer without the powerful aura of Phantom behind it. If Sarah had passed him on the street, she wouldn’t have blinked twice. Gone was the cocky personality, the perfect posture, the floating white hair, the bright, determined expression. Gone was the jumpsuit, the logo, the strong voice that seemed like it could project for a mile, the banter, the confidence.

It was just a kid. A kid with baggy jeans, dirty shoes, and a plain shirt. He didn’t seem lithe, he looked weak. The green undertone to his skin was replaced with red, and his shoulders hunched in a way Sarah had never seen on Phantom before.

“What happened?” Mark asked.

“When my parents first completed their interdimensional ghost portal, it didn’t work. I decided to—it was my fault. I just decided to go in it. I don’t know why.” He looked up to the ceiling. “It was a stupid idea. The portal was plugged in, but there was a switch inside that wasn’t turned on, and I tripped over a wire and turned it on. From the inside.”

Sarah felt a pang in her chest. “That’s horrible.”

“Yeah. It was,” Phantom agreed. “And then I guess the portal stabilized the connection between Amity Park and the Ghost Zone, because ghosts started appearing in town. So I decided that if it was my fault that they were here, I was going to protect the town. And that’s what I’ve done.”

That’s his Obsession, Sarah realized. It’s protection.

“Why not come out with it?” Jacob asked. “Why bury your body? Why still try to pass as a human?”

Phantom’s head fell into his hands. “I didn’t know what else to do! It—I...you have to understand, my parents would never understand. They think all ghosts are evil. I couldn’t just come out and tell them what happened, they’d kill me!”

“So you decided it was safer to play human,” Jacob said.

“Yeah. I guess I did. Especially since...I sort of still am?” He lifted his head and stuck out his wrist. “I still have a pulse.”

No one moved.

“You’re shitting me,” Jacob guffawed.

“No, I’m being serious. The portal killed me, but then it brought me back to life. Except by then my body was already altered from the ecto-electricity, so the working theory is that I exist in this sort of limbo state between dead and alive. Hence why…” He transformed into Phantom and then back to Fenton. “Hence why I have two forms.”

“And the body,” Mark said. “The coroner report said it only weighed a little over half the weight of a normal body due to all the ectoplasm. But if you’re half alive, how would you have a body?”

Danny shrugged. “I don’t know? To be honest, that day was such a nightmare that I’ve mostly blocked it out.”

Mark finally reached over and took the boy’s wrist. He pressed two fingers against the skin and waited.

“Damn.” His eyes widened. “It’s actually there.”

“No way,” Jacob said, leaning over to take Phantom’s wrist. A few seconds passed before he was joining Mark’s reaction. “It is there.”

“I know.” Phantom tucked his arm back to his chest. “I don’t understand it. I have a heart and also a ghost core. I can feel it all the time, even as a human. I have human thoughts and feelings and ghostly instincts playing constantly.”

As confusing and morbid as this was, it made sense in a sort of twisted way that Sarah only reserved for the rambling logic of her paranoid, senior grandmother. It explained why Phantom, a ghost, would willingly risk himself day in and day out over the safety of humans. Phantom was a ghost who was driven to protect his home, and he was also a human who wanted to look after those he loved.

He was truly Schrödinger’s cat. Dead and alive inside his little box, his little town, with no one able to measure him.

“That’s the thing that sets you apart from the ghosts,” Sarah said, tapping her knee with her finger. “That day when you came to my house saying that you were different, this is what you were talking about. You also said it would be dangerous if this information got out.”

The question was implied, and Phantom seemed to pick up on it, judging by his grimace.

“You weren’t talking about your parents.”

“No, I wasn’t.”

“So then who is it? Who was trying to destroy the morgue? Who are you hiding from?”

Danny crossed his arms and glared at the floor. “Isn’t it obvious?” he said bitterly. “The government. GiW, all of them. Think of what they’d do if they knew someone could be both dead and alive at the same time.”

“Well fuck the lot of them,” Jacob said.

“Yeah,” Danny agreed.

“And the ghost who was trying to take down the morgue?” Mark pressed.

“I…” Danny’s eyes shifted. “I can’t say. It’s a ghost thing. All the ghosts in the Zone know about me, they call me a halfa. Half alive, half dead. Honestly, I don’t think it took much convincing for them to want to protect me.”

“But you were fighting against them,” Jacob countered. “If they were really trying to protect you, then why not go along with them?”

Danny opened and closed his mouth, the words seemingly stuck in his throat. Words from Maddie’s ecto-biology papers fluttered across Sarah’s eyes, about how ghosts were evil, they were liars, they’d say and do anything to keep themselves safe.

But as Danny let out a defeated sigh, his arms uncrossing to dangle at his side, Sarah couldn’t help but see the face of a scared teen who was just doing his best.

“It’s a ghost thing,” he finally said. “I didn’t like what they were doing because...because I needed to protect my body. If the building collapsed, it would have gotten damaged.”

Sarah blinked, and her and Mark exchanged a glance.

“I see,” Mark said carefully. “So if there was a plan to recover your...body...safely, you would have gone along with it?”

“I don’t know. Ghosts are weird, they all have their own agenda. I’d rather if it were just...left alone. In the ground. Untouched. Like it had been.”

They were silent for a moment, and Sarah watched as Jacob and Mark stared at each other in silent conversation. One that only partners could properly understand.

Finally, Jacob relented. “Okay, here’s the deal. Say I go talk with Chief Davis and he agrees to keep your identity secret. In exchange, all you’d have to do for us is tell your parents.”

For a moment, Sarah thought Phantom was going to bolt out of the armchair.

“Why?”

“Because you’re screwing around putting your life in danger every day, kid,” Jacob said. “Not to mention, your parents’ house is a walking minefield for you. You godda protect yourself.”

“I protect myself just fine.”

“Doesn’t dismiss the fact that you’re running off getting in fights every day with ghosts, and then coming home to a house littered with ecto-weapons that could kill you. You know, all the way.”

“My parents will kill me if they find out though,” Danny said darkly. “You don’t know them.”

“Which is why you won’t be alone. Crowley and I will be there with you. And I know a woman in CPS who can keep this on the down low too. We won’t let anything happen, promise,” Mark said.

Phantom glanced between them, his wide blue eyes betraying just how fearful he was. “You promise?”

“Yeah kid, we got your back.”

---

“It’s going way better than I thought,” Danny said, throwing the stick up the path.

Atlas didn’t hesitate, bounding after the object with an enthusiasm rivaled by no one.

“I’m glad,” Sarah said. “You deserve a safe place to go home to.”

Danny cocked his head. “Yeah. I guess I do.”

Getting to know Danny these past few weeks was surreal. For a year now, Sarah had a set mental image of who Phantom was. The hero, the great protector, the thrill-seeker.

But now, as she got to know the quiet yet snarky kid who went to school and stressed over his math exams just like any other teen would, she’d gotten to appreciate the person that Danny truly was, the person he became when he wasn’t trying to hide his ghostly persona or playing the larger-than-life character.

Atlas pranced back, the stick held high like an Olympic medal.

“Good boy!” Danny praised.

At Sarah’s nonverbal command, Atlas dropped the stick in front of Danny, who was more than happy to pick it up and hurl ahead of the dirt path again.

“It’s weird. It’s almost like...I don’t know, it’s just kind of relieving? To not need to hide? Like don’t get me wrong, my parents are still kinda weird about it. I still don’t really use any of my powers at home because I just don’t think I’m ready. But the other day I used intangibility to get a cup out of the cabinet instead of just opening the cabinet door, and my mom didn’t even say anything. I remember back when I first got my powers and I couldn't figure out how to work them. I spent so long trying to hide any weirdness, and to think that now I can just do stuff and nobody cares.” A blissful smile dressed Danny’s lips. “It’s just nice, is all.”

“I bet,” Sarah said. “Must be a huge weight off your shoulders. And your sister’s okay with it?”

“Oh yeah. My sister actually already knew about it.”

“You’re kidding. Really?”

Danny threw the stick again. “Yeah, but I already knew about that. She told me a few months ago. But she’s been really helpful at home with trying to get everyone on the same page.”

“That’s good.”

“And my dad’s already been begging to take me out to the field with him.”

“Have you taken him up on it?”

“No. Not yet.”

Sarah peered cautiously over to him. “Why not?”

“I dunno.” Danny’s eyes tracked Atlas’ triumphant return from the woods. “It just seems a bit weird still. And besides, it would be kinda odd if my parents went from trying to kill me to suddenly Phantom’s new best friend overnight. For now they’ve agreed to a public truce.”

Ah yes, the truce. That had been all over the news when the Fenton’s announced it, citing new research into ghost psychology that showed instances of benevolent ghosts. The news had rocked the city, some calling the duo crazy, while others praising them for their growth.

Even though Phantom and the Fenton couple were still in the growing pains of their new truce, no one could deny how much more smoothly ghost fights had gotten since it began. There was less property damage, less citizen’s hurt, and overall the process seemed far more professional than it ever had.

“I’ve noticed a change,” Sarah said. “I really think it’s for the best.”

“So do I. Even though it’s still kinda weird.”

“It’ll get easier, just give it time.”

Atlas dropped the stick, apparently distracted by some scent on a bush. He stopped to sniff the plant before wandering behind it, his nose glued to the ground.

“Wait, Atlas—” Danny started, watching as Atlas disappeared into the foliage.

Hearing his name, the dog leapt back onto the trail and over to Danny, who paused to scratch him behind his ear. “Good boy.”

Sarah grinned down at the duo.

Who knew a cadaver dog and a half dead kid could make such a good pair?

---

Thanks for reading!

[mrpenguinpants]

Albedo HCs: Coming Home [Christmas Celebration 🎉]

For the Christmas Celebration Requests, please read this [we have 2 more days but I’ll possibly extend the deadline to Jan 10. I’m tackling all the Mondstadt rq first before moving onto Liyue]

---

Ohhh, I love idea a lot (might have gone overboard anon haha). No worries about being specific, I love getting specific requests. I just finished a super depressing fic and I’m back at it again. Though I will do my best to make this one happy because that Mona fic hurt me. But I’m glad to hear you love my writing haha 💕💕

I also know nothing about Albedo and have never written this man in my life but I’m going to ignore everything because these are happy hours. I love his man so much so this is some self-indulgent stuff (if you couldn’t tell from the word count) istg hcs have turned into fics just without the dialogue. I took many liberties lol what the hell is formatting?  

Also, shoutout to @asheseiler​​​ A beautiful human being that started chatting with me because we both love Childe haha. But seriously, I appreciate you 💕💕💕

---

[taglist]  <- if you want to be added, please read this first.

@hanniejji​​​​​  @mikeysbike​​​​​ @unionwitch​​​​ @musekala​​​​ @twistedsunnshiii​​​ @stanzastic​​​ @akaasea​​​ @xoneaboveallx​​​ @adoring-ghost​​​ @asheseiler​​​ @childelover​​

---

Albedo HCs: Coming Home

As you finally reached the hill top by the Stone Gate, you could just make out the stone walls of the City of Freedom in Mondstadt. You were almost there and the butterfly’s racing through your stomach only seemed to fly faster. You had been on a long trip away by travelling between Liyue and Inazuma. From practicing your alchemy to finding new secrets, it had been awhile since you last saw Mondstadt. While it had been fun going from place to place and seeing all the new arts and techniques, you couldn’t stop the feeling of loneliness of not having an occasionally smug but talented ash blond companion at your side.

You hadn’t seen Albedo since Master Rhinedottir had left and sent Albedo to Mondstadt with a letter of recommendation. You travelled with him to the City of Freedom but you only stayed for a few nights before you departed to Liyue. Your master had different plans for you and you didn’t know how long your own journey would take but you both promised to stay in touch through letters. 

He was now acting as the Chief Alchemist and Captain of the Investigation Team of the Knights of Favonius. He managed to get a lab from Alice and he even had an assistant named Sucrose. He sent over some sketches for you and even if the bottom half of “Sucrose” was just a stick figure, you were happy that he wasn’t alone and cooped up in his lab all the time. You were, however, worried about these “Klee disasters” but happy that he still had the energy to write to you. At first it was hard, you found yourself talking to the air as if Albedo was still there but even after all these years, you couldn’t help but miss him. The occasional letter you received did help to lighten the mood however and you always made sure to store them carefully.

It seemed that your dapping mood was noticeable because even the ever stoic Zhongli asked if you were okay. He was nice and easy to talk to, even if he had a problem with Mora that you sometimes had to bail him out off, but you trusted him so you explained to him your growing loneliness. Which he simply replied that if you missed someone, you should go see them.

So here you are right outside the gates. The knights at the front were nice enough and let you through with ease once they checked that you didn’t have anything destructive. Now the hard part was actually finding Albedo. The knights had mentioned that despite being a highly respectable alchemist and one of the Captains, no one really knew where he was most of the time. Originally, you were thinking of planning some sort of surprise, even had made an entire game plan, but now that you were here. You just wanted to tackle the man, pride be damned.

You began to wander around the city, in comparison to Liyue it was quite small but so much more lively and warm. Christmas was right around the corner so everyone was rushing around hanging up lights and finding presents but it was nice. Everyone seemed to know each other and unlike Liyue, you didn’t need to be afraid if the walls were listening. You looked around for a man with bright teal eyes and ashy light blond hair, even asking around, but no luck. No one seemed to know where he was and if he was even in Mondstadt right now. You were beginning to loose hope and that your trip might have been in vain when you felt a small tap on your shoulder and-

Sweet jesus, what the fuck?

You were almost jealous at how good he looked now. He was always handsome when you were both younger but now it felt like cupid decided to descend from the heavens, laugh at you, then riddled you full of arrows. Was your pulse working? Brain still computing? You knew you had a small crush on Albedo when you were younger- who were you kidding, you were in love with this man since he helped you create cecilia flowers from a dead denro slime - but this was just unfair!

“Albedo! I was looking around everywhere for you. This place is actually a lot bigger than it se-”

“You’re back.”

Albedo was surprised to see that it was really you. He only caught a small glimpse of your profile but he knew it was you. He almost suspected that his vision was tricking him or that he might have accidently set one of his sketches of you to life but you were here. Albedo has always treated friendships with a constant degree of distance, always working or traveling to gathering materials to avoid social interactions even if it wasn’t intentional. He also had no memory of any family, only adventuring deep within the domains with his master and you. But when his Master left with one assignment left for him he couldn’t help but feel a bit hollow, but you were always there to lift his spirits up even if on the outside he didn’t appear upset.

But then you had left and gone on your own journey.

“Hm? Oh, sorry I didn’t mention it in my last letter. It was a bit of an impulse trip. But I’m not intruding in on anything right? You’re happy to see me...right?”

“You’re here.”

At first he was alright with it, even encouraged you to set off to Liyue since it was the closest. Promising that you would both keep in touch even if he found relationships a taxing cycle. But when a few months had passed and it began to settle in that you weren’t anywhere near him. That he couldn’t talk to you about new discoveries, that he couldn’t hear you voice anymore, that he had even forgotten how to sketch you. It felt...weird. He knew what he was feeling was loneliness, he wasn’t deluded or naïve, but even when he had Sucrose or Timaeus it wasn’t the same. But now you were here. He could see you and how the lines in his sketchbook were wrong whenever he attempted to re-create you. He could feel your warmth that sketches he brought to life couldn’t do. He could feel your presence and how it slowly but surely filled the void in him until it was bursting at the seams.

“Albedo? Are you alright?”

“You’re here.”

You were almost afraid that the holidays had broke Albedo. You knew he would sometimes get too deep in thought and wouldn’t register his surrounding but it was just you two. With the sun slowly going down, the snowflakes dancing around you both, and the Christmas light reflecting off his unique blue eyes. You took a slow blinked at him. Once. Twice. The same way you would when you were studying something, trying to unveil its secrets. Before sighing amusingly and opening up your arms to him. He was still the same. 

“I’m here.”

The final assignment Albedo received was too hard, too complicated, far beyond his own limits and he was worried that if he never completed it, would he ever see his teacher again? When you took your first step outside the walls of the city, waving back to him as you set off on your journey, he couldn’t help but feel that like his teacher, you were leaving him too. But when you looked at him with those warm but understanding eyes, opened your arms to him, he let go and stepped into your embrace. He was sure he was borderline crushing your frame but you hugged him back just as tightly. 

“My apologies. I got overwhelmed. Come with me, let’s get out of the cold first.”

You tried to hold it in but you laughed at his statement. He didn’t seem to mind as you felt him smile into your neck. Even with those words he hadn’t let go or slackened his grip in the slightest. So you both stayed there outside in the cold, the christmas lights reflected off snow, the sounds of laughter and singing playing in the background as you both embraced each other. 

I’m home

You’re home

---

Although Albedo was happy to see you again, he was wondering why out of all the years you had been away, all the other holidays you had missed, you decided to come to Mondstadt today. You were at his lab and marveling at all his new devices when he popped the question. You flushed a bit but quickly brushed it off, saying that after all the letters he sent you were finally curious as to what Mondstadt was like and the people he met. Plus, Liyue and Inazuma didn’t celebrate Christmas as much as Mondstadt so it would be nice to finally celebrate the holiday again.

He simply smiled smugly and nodded along before you eventually caved, because that look could steal your heart away, and revealed that honestly, you just really missed him and wanted to spend Christmas together. There wasn’t anything wrong with that was there? So what if you missed him? It was natural. It wasn’t like you were wondering what he was doing on slow days in Liyue. It wasn’t like you we- 

“You can stop laughing at me. I know you’re doing it even if I can’t hear it Albedo.” 

“I’m sorry you must be mistaken. Perhaps your observational skills have rusted?”

You huffed at him before turning your attention to a small but worn sketching book. It was different from the ones he had showed you and much smaller compared to the ripped out sketches he sent you. Albedo noticed your curiosity and almost flushed before striding over and showing you what was inside. It was either he do it now or you would constantly eye ball it until he finally let you see what was inside. 

He took out the old sketchbook and flipped all the way to the first page. They had been sketches of you. When it had just been you, Albedo, and your teacher he would often ask to draw you but he never showed you the finished product. What was surprising was they were all full sketches. No simple lines or unfinished colours. His interest in things, especially when he draws, were fleeting leading him to always create unfinished or basic lines. 

“Wow, was this your first sketchbook? Did you draw anything else? Oh, like your assistant perhaps?”

“No. I only drew one thing here. It’s been sitting here ever since but I tend to make sure it’s in good condition. Should I ever need to draw in it again.” 

Albedo almost reached for his pencil to sketch your smug but bright smile. But set his hand down. While he wants to capture moments so they remain forever with him, he felt that perhaps, it would be nice to live in them. Just for a moment. 

---

I never write at the bottom of my fics but I wrote too much at the start haha (plus tagging my screaming doesn’t work anymore). Not gonna lie, this was going to be different and you and Albedo would have role reversed AND I WAS GOING TO WRITE MONA IN but that didn’t happen. I made it so disgustingly sappy at the end that I want to throw up but when do I not? 

But I kind of like this version more. He’s super out of character but I don’t care and you’re gonna have to take this hcs out of my COLD DEAD HANDS. But I hope you enjoyed this and I’m using this as my Albedo catalyst so come home elevator boy. (cough celebration hcs are still open if you wanna feed me 👀 this )

[teenwolffan-with-nolife]

Fluff and Angst Drabbles for Derek Hale

Total Works: 13

Derek Hale Masterlist

1.) ---

Hey! Can I request a fic with Derek Hale where the reader used to self harm and still has some scars and like whenever she has a bad day or something, Derek always kisses them and makes her feel better? thanks!

2.) ---

Hiiii can i request something ? Derek and the reader (a witch or kitsune) are kinda of close like they manage to keep each other grounded when they loose control, they sass each other, the reader isn’t impress by his cold attitude... Deaton and Peter tell derek the reader (that stiles consider as his sister) is his mate. But he doesn’t want to say it because she is younger (even tho she’s 18) and doesn’t want to pressure her So he leaves at the end of season five and comes back in season 6 And she’s upset because she felt lost and didn’t understand why and he explains himself, a bit of angst and fluff please :) Sorry if it’s a bit messy, I hope it is understandable 😅 And your amazing !!! Thank you for the series 🤩

3.) ---

hey! can i have a request where the reader has a panic attack and derek calms them down? thanks xoxo

4.) ---

pleasee something where derek comforts reader after she goes through something. literally anything. i just need soft!derek in my life 😩

5.) ---

can i have a B with Derek Hale please😊 B: Birthdays

6.) ---

Derek x reader Instead of Derek going over when they’re fighting the alpha pack it’s his mate ? He’s heartbroken thinks she’s dead he messes up the loft in his grief and then he hears her say seriously I’m gone for a few hours and you do this to the house Happy ending !

7.) ---

hii can you please do a derek hale x reader where he's taking care of reader because she's been more tired lately?? 🙏🙏

8.) ---

hi! i looove your writing! i’m not sure if you still do the prompts, but if so could you do something with 115 & 49 for isaac or derek? thank you so much!

9.) ---

Hey! Could you do a Derek x reader one where Derek’s being vulnerable for once and telling the reader some of his childhood memories or things he’s never told anyone before and maybe breaks down a bit? Thank you, you’re amazing!

10.) ---

can you do a derek x reader where the reader is sick, is has some sort of illness and feels useless, derek is trying to take care of them but they get mad and they fight? thanks

11.) ---

Can I request a Derek x reader where he reassures the reader that their love is real as they’re doubting that they deserve it?

12.) ---

Hiii I see your taking requests again !

I was wondering if you can do a Derek x reader

She’s independent and likes to work alone sometimes

When a new threat comes to town and she’s out investigating she runs into the threat

When she comes home with a few scratches this worries the pack but her boyfriend most of all

He begs her not to go off by herself anymore and fluff

13.) ---

a story where reader is dareks mate but he doesn’t know so when he leaves for a while reader is like in a lot of pain and when he comes back he finds out

[bleachbleachbleach]

I NEED to know where the detective thriller comments on your last reblog put Kaname and Nemu the curiosity is intense 🤣❤ I think Nemu should be in tech/science too because equally mad scientist Nemu is my favorite. And Kaname...Aizen's best friend/partner? Or another detective who turns out to be covering for him? I just don't know! So many possibilities

Waaaaait can he be an investigative journalist with Hisagi????

reblog in question

OMG I really just took that story in the tags and ran with it, didn't I? XD Thank you so much for this ask. I would've continued talking in the tags but I felt like I was getting too carried away. I wanna say I loooooooveee the idea of investigative journalism Hisagi!!! It gives me many ideas ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

Here's my detective thriller AU cast:

Detective Kyouraku Shunsui: Grizzled police detective, partners with Ukitake. Has seen a lot of shit over the course of his career, which has left him with a dark sense of humor and a drinking problem.

Detective Ukitake Juushirou: Long-suffering police detective, partners with Kyouraku. His career has also left him with some troubles, namely chronic insomnia. His health problems leave him physically frail sometimes, but his mind continues to be as sharp as ever. Despite it all, he still manages to be the "hopeful" one in the duo.

Medical Examiner Kurotsuchi Mayuri: I'm of the belief that the best medical examiners are the ones that are slightly quirky (Woody from Psych is the best!). Mayuri is very very good at his job, but his fascination with death can be off-putting (to say the least). The more gruesome the method of death, the more excited Mayuri is when he delivers his findings.

CSU Forensics Technician Akon: Very competent; the tech person who is somehow always at the police station, so you can drop by to give him the latest set of evidence. A chain-smoker. If you ask him to enhance the image, he will be very happy to do so. He can also do some complex typing on a computer, which will quickly bring up any kind of triangulation analysis or quickly hack a partially destroyed hard drive.

CSU Forensics Field Technician Kurotsuchi Nemu: Nemu is the field tech who goes out to collect evidence and take photos of crime scenes. She is extremely thorough and handy with a camera. Might say "butter" to the dead victims while taking their pictures, as her idea of "humor."

Suspect Aizen Sousuke: The prominent society member who can do no wrong, in the eyes of the public. I don't know what his job is (maybe property investor, politician, lawyer, or hedge fund manager?), but he also somehow has time to run a number of local charities and attends high brow events like the opera and ballet. He is somehow connected to the murder mystery. At first it seems like he might just be coincidentally involved (maybe the murder happened at one of his buildings), but the deeper the investigation goes, an increasingly complex web of connections is revealed.

Editor in Chief Tousen Kaname: A seeker of truth and justice. During his tenure, Tousen has managed to take the Seireitei Bulletin from a small time entertainment rag to a well-regarded publication that prints hard hitting investigative journalism. He is respected not only by his staff (especially Hisagi) but also by the police and prosecutor's office because of his ability to blow a case wide open. It's not revealed until later that he has some sort of connection with Aizen... Tousen may be hampering the investigation in some way, if not doing something more insidious altogether!

Investigative Journalist Hisagi Shuuhei: A journalist at the Seireitei Bulletin, Hisagi takes his job very seriously. He greatly admires Tousen, whom he considers a mentor, and does his best to be half as good as him someday. Hisagi isn't afraid to take risks and will doggedly chase down any leads, no matter how seemingly inconsequential. It's during one of these wild-goose chases that Hisagi uncovers Tousen's connection with Aizen... which he must come to terms with, while also trying to get to the bottom of the mystery.

This ended up being way longer than I thought it was going to be (lol) but I couldn't stop myself (clearly). This was so much fun though!! Thank you for the ask!

[thevindicativevordan]

On Livewire

You know Leslie is probably the most popular and well known female Superman Rogue mainly because they use her so heavily in outside media.

Which makes sense given her debut in Superman: The Animated Series, but it still kind of fascinates me. They didn't bring her into comics continuity until 2006 apparently, with Gail Simone and John Byrne (Byrne of all the creators!) being the ones to finally fold her in. Even after they brought her in, they still have never given her that much attention or focus which is a disappointment for me frankly, because Livewire is honestly fantastic in Scott McCloud and later Mark Millar's Superman Adventures runs, and I would say with complete sincerity that those two are probably her best writers. "Millar writing a female character well?" you scoff at in disbelief. I know, I was shocked too! But she's funny, clever, and a huge pain in the ass for Supes. Reading how she was used there, and rewatching her STAS incarnation recently, really made a big realization for the character hit me like a lightning bolt (couldn't resist):

She's basically an evil superpowered Lois Lane! I know I can't have been the first one to realize that, although I haven't seen anyone else actually outright state it anywhere, but c'mon it's so obvious! She's a reporter of a sorts as well thanks to being a disc jockey, her debut in STAS even has her interviewing Lois and Clark! She's got strong opinions on Superman that conflict with the general opinion about him (Lois being pro-Superman when everyone else is more hostile towards him at first, Livewire being anti-Superman when everyone else has embraced him as their hero). She's rude and abrasive, and doesn't care if her opinions offend people, which sure does remind me of Lois at her meanest.

Livewire to me is an examination of what Lois would be like if she abandoned her morals or never really had them in the first place. Leslie doesn't care about the "truth" which is the big difference between her and Lois. Lois can be headstrong, willful, and outright rude, but it's all in service of her pursuit of higher ideals. Livewire doesn't care about that, she carries about getting people to pay attention to her, and getting the recognition and wealth she believes she's owed.

What I'd Do With Livewire

It wasn't until I had that big realization about Leslie that I figured out what role she should play with regards to Clark: She should be Clark's old college ex who was the one who got him into journalism in the first place.

Clark's college years are unexplored territory narratively, typically we jump from his childhood in Smallville right into his debut in Metropolis. Now I know Clark dated Lori that mermaid back in Pre-Crisis during his college years, and while that's a fun bit of trivia, it doesn't really add anything meaningful in the same way that I think Leslie and Clark dating could. So I'd rather go with Leslie because I think she makes for a better foil for Clark and because the two of them would benefit from having a deeper connection established, plus Leslie could get fleshed out as a character more.

I like the explanation that Clark chose journalism in part because it challenges him in ways his powers can't, but in the comics they've rarely bothered to explain how he chose that field in the first place. I would have meeting Leslie at college be that big moment where he starts to figure himself out. She's assertive and confident, and Clark is attracted to that for similar reasons he's attracted to Lois. Leslie would start out as an optimist and idealist in the same way Clark is, and the two would bond and go into journalism together, with Leslie being the one who really believes in the field initially. They'd both be big believers in the duty of the press to inform and the presses ability to shape public opinion, with Clark attracted to investigative journalism and Leslie attracted more to broadcast and digital journalism. They start to date and for a moment, Clark seriously wonders if this is the one.

The big break between them comes when Clark and Leslie go on a trip around the world during their senior year of college. That trip would be where both of them learn how crappy the world is. Clark always had some idea of how bad things were because of his powers, but the trip is where he really starts to realize that there is a real need for someone of his powers to step up, and that there are hard limits to just how much he can accomplish as a member of the press. That same realization is what shatters Leslie's idealism and optimism. She loses faith in the ability to make a difference, to punch through the wall of public indifference, and as a result she gives up that dream. Instead she decides that if you can't beat them, join them: she switches instead to telling the masses what the powers that be want them to hear in exchange for money, to saying whatever the masses will give her attention and prestige for, embracing tabloid journalism that prioritizes clicks and engagement over information. Ultimately it destroys the relationship between Leslie and Clark with her viewing him as a sap and him viewing her as a sellout.

I think that origin really would help flesh out her worldview and motivation a lot more. She's a former idealist who has been broken by the world in a similar way to Poison Ivy. Leslie thus acts as a foil to Clark and Lois in that she's someone who let the world rob her of her idealism and sold out on the truth in exchange for material success. She's what Clark or Lois could've been if they took Lex's offer to work for him, and they should recognize that to some degree. Clark should have conflicting feelings for her, not romantically that relationship is dead, but in terms of sometimes he wonders if he's just wasting his life trying to fight for truth and justice. So few people seem to care about those principles, why hold on so tight to them? Why not just look out for his own self-interest the way everyone else seems to? It's the refusal to give up even when it looks pointless that makes the two of them different, and makes Clark a hero and Livewire a villain.

How I'd Like Livewire To Operate

There's a lack of imagination in how Livewire is used on the comic side as I see it.

Like most Superman Rogues the typical Superman writer doesn't seem to have a clue what to do with her beyond generic "villain" stuff, but that does a disservice to what Livewire brings to the table. Livewire does want to fry Superman to a crisp, but that's not what her daily goal is to accomplish. More importantly, she wants respect and she wants money, and the way she gets both is not by trying to rob banks, it's by leaning into her background as a media personality combined with her new powers. Unleashing electric bolts is honestly the least impressive part of her powerset in terms of her ability to manipulate anything and everything technology.

The Internet? Livewire can crash the entire thing with ease, or restrict access to portions of it. She can do the reverse and smash through firewalls and encryption like it's made of paper. Imagine Livewire shutting off the power grid or causing it to explode, secretly using your "smart" tech to record your every move, uploading ransomware to every piece of technology in Metropolis, emptying the bank accounts of anyone who annoys her, or bringing Metropolis to it's knees thanks to the "City of Tomorrow" being a test ground for the Internet of Things, so everything is connected and thus easily manipulated. Smart cars crash into each other, elevators randomly drop, trains are unable to stop and simply accelerate onward unceasingly, plans attempting to land find their instruments on the fritz, anything and everything is Livewire's to control. But terrorism, while entertaining and occasionally profitable, isn't Livewire's main focus either.

One of my favorite Superman Adventures stories with her had Livewire manipulating TV broadcast signals so that any time there was a male news reporter on screen, the signal wouldn't come through. Stuff like that, where Livewire is making life hell for people in a way that isn't immediately life-threatening is what I envision as her day to day operations, but her bread and butter is fake news. What Livewire is REALLY good at doing is manipulating the public due to her journalism background plus her powers. She can make fake videos that look totally authentic, fake articles that seem to come from credible sources, fake voice recordings, she can make anyone appear to do or say anything through the Internet, and then she can upload that to the devices of every single person in Metropolis.

You can get stories about the mayor being framed for taking bribes, local activists cast as grifters, and supposed upstanding citizens such as Lois Lane and Clark Kent appearing to take orders from criminals like Intergang on what stories to run. Basically you lean into the journalism aspect for Livewire stories where Clark and Lois have to investigate to see whether what Livewire is putting out there is fake or legit, with peoples lives and reputations at stake (including frequently their own).

And when Superman and Livewire actually do clash physically? I don't care how it gets justified, Livewire simply being that powerful, her lightning being "special", she has the ability to manipulate Superman's bioelectric field, whatever: she can hurt him. When she hits Supes with lightning, it burns. It's painful as all hell. Livewire needs to be a threat and I'd like her to be treated as a powerhouse since I don't see a reason why that shouldn't be the case. Livewire is a really cool Rogue, there's a reason she's managed to keep getting used long after the DCAU ended. I hope the comics creators start utilizing her to her full potential.