#like oh you could never be a teacher and handle taking care of kids regularly but youre perfectly fine with having and raising them

[ironmanstan]

Hate people who choose to be around children but can't stand them. Why are you here. You're more annoying to me than any child could ever be. "They're so loud and won't listen to me!!" That's their parents faults not theirs. They're small capsules of energy and they're all very short of course they run around and scream do you know how far you can stretch that energy when your legs are like 2 feet tall.

[nastybuckybarnes]

In a Heartbeat  -  Four

Pairing: Fireman!Bucky X Reader

Summary: You’ve always been careful with your heart. With your condition, you don’t exactly have any other choice. The last time you let someone in, you paid the price. A price you don’t plan on paying again. Until Bucky comes in and shatters your carefully crafted world.

Warnings: Language, Fluff, Almost Smut

Word Count: 2.3K

A/n: hello I hope you all enjoy this!! I’m loving this series and I hope to keep updating it and Of Kings and Beasts regularly. Idk though. Anyway, I hope you enjoy!

PART ONE

PART TWO

PART THREE

~*~

“You’re sure I look good?”

Nat groans and climbs off your couch reluctantly, grabbing you by the shoulders and stopping you from pacing anymore.

“You look gorgeous.” You bite your bottom lip nervously, hands itching to come up to your mouth.

Your hair is pushed behind your ears, natural and beautiful, and your makeup is light. Adorning your body is a simple light blue dress that stops just above your knees, as well as a beige cardigan that hangs loosely off of your shoulders.

Nat grabs you a pair of beige heels and shoves them into your hands.

“Put your shoes on and stop worrying. He’s on his way up so even if you didn’t look good there’s no time to change now.” You nod, taking a few deep breaths before crouching down and putting your shoes on. Right as you’re doing up the clasp around your ankle there's a knock on your door.

You freeze in place, looking at Natasha in absolute terror, and she rolls her eyes.

“It’s open!” She calls. You shake your head, one shoe on and the other off as you run to your bedroom.

“I can’t,” you whisper as the door starts to open. Hiding away in your bedroom, you listen to Nat greet Bucky.

“She’s almost ready. Just needs to grow a pair,” The redhead says loudly, her footsteps clomping towards the bedroom door.

She whips it open, ready to give you an earful, but when she sees the genuine fear on your face she reconsiders.

“Beans, you’re gonna be okay. He’s a real gentleman and he won’t do anything that you don’t want to do, I promise.” You take a few deep breaths, trying to hold back tears.

“What if I get hurt again, Nat? I don’t think I could handle it.” The weak whimper that leaves you has her heart shattering in her chest.

“He won’t hurt you. If he does I’ll kill him, I swear I will.” You sniffle and chuckle softly, sliding your foot into your other shoe and doing the clasp up.

“Okay. I think I’m ready.” She nods, taking your hand and giving it a firm squeeze before stepping aside and motioning to the door.

You take a deep breath, lift your chin, then leave your bedroom.

Bucky stands in the doorway, a bouquet of flowers in his grasp. He’s wearing a pair of black jeans and a black button-up, as well as a leather jacket.

“Wow,” he whispers, eyes wide as he takes you in.

“You look... wow.”

You smile shyly at him. “You clean up pretty nice yourself, James.” He chuckles, then, as if remembering he’s holding flowers, offers the bouquet to you.

“I uh... I didn’t know what kind of flowers you’d like... and Steve said to get red roses but Nat said that red roses are for love and I think it’s too early for that because this is our first date and all and I really didn’t wanna scare you away and now I’m definitely talking too much but I’ve been looking forward tot his for.. since we set our real first date and-” Nat interrupts his rambling, hating and loving seeing her usually so confident friend stumbling over his words.

“You’re doing great, Casanova. Keep this up and she won’t even leave.” You glare at Nat over your shoulder, not wanting her to be mean to Bucky.

“Thank you, I love them.”

He got you a bouquet of beautiful lavender roses, white lilies, and an assortment of small little leaves that tie the whole bouquet together.

“Nat, can you put these in a vase for me please?” You hand the bouquet to her after taking a long sniff, smiling eagerly at her. She nods, taking them from you and handing you your purse.

“Now go on. Have fun kids, use a condom and all that.” You groan, risking a glance at Bucky to see that his cheeks are bright pink.

Feeling better at the fact that you’re not the only nervous one, you take his outstretched arm and allow him to walk you out of your apartment.

“So where are you taking me?” You ask, smiling up at him.

“Well, I know this little café that makes these nice little sandwiches. I figured we could start there, grab a bite to eat and see where the day takes us.” You nod, taking a few deep breaths to calm your heart.

~*~

“I’m really glad you gave me a chance, I know things started really rocky but I... I’m glad I get a second chance.”

You smile at him, setting down your cup of tea and nodding.

“Of course. I don’t think I would have ever heard the end of it from Nat if I didn’t anyway.” The two of you share a laugh, him smiling brightly at you.

“I’ll make sure I thank her.” You nod, taking another sip of the decaf tea, heart thundering in your chest.

“I-I’m sorry, I just need to take something. I’m very nervous and my heart-” He reaches across the table and grabs your hand, squeezing gently.

“You don’t need to explain it to me if you don’t want to. Do whatever you need to do to keep yourself healthy, okay? Your health and happiness... those are my top priority.” You swear if it wasn’t beating unbearably fast against your ribs it would melt.

You take your pills as discreetly as you can, but Bucky, being ever the gentleman, excused himself to the bathroom to give you space to do whatever you need to do.

~*~

“I uh... I pushed Steve out of the way when we were in a really bad fire. I saw the beam coming down and it would’ve killed him. So I pushed him out of the way and... took the damage instead. Doctors told me if I had waited a second longer it would’ve been too high up and would’ve got me right in the chest. Instead... it took my arm.”

You sit idling in Bucky’s truck in front of your apartment, the two of you talking for the past two hours.

“Oh James... I’m so sorry.” He shakes his head, smiling at you. “If it hadn’t happened then Steve wouldn’t be alive and I wouldn’t be able to live with myself knowing I could’ve done something. Besides, Tommy thinks it’s pretty cool.” You nod at that, fingers tracing small patterns on his metal hand.

“I uh... When I was younger my mom was really careful with me. She wouldn’t let me do gym class... I could never go out with friends... nothing. One day we got into a nasty fight before I went to school. We called each other names and said awful things...

“I stopped on my way to school and bought an energy drink.” He stiffens beside you, eyes wide.

“I’d never even had caffeinated tea before, but I was so... so angry. I thought that... ‘whatever happens will teach her’. And I drank it. The whole can. I started feeling it halfway through class and when I raised my hand to tell my teacher... I just passed out. Collapsed right there in the middle of math class. They rushed me to the hospital and... I’ll never forget the fear I saw on my mom’s face. They said I almost killed myself. My heart couldn't handle the caffeine and I almost died. So from then on I just kinda... listened to my mom. Lived my life in the safe lane.”

He’s quiet for a long moment, eyes on your pretty face as you continue tracing patterns on his prosthetic.

“I’m glad you took a chance with me,” he whispers.

You look up at him, a shy smile on your face.

“I am too.”

His eyes flicker from your lips to your eyes, and you do the same, silently granting him permission.

He leans in, and before you have a moment to second-guess your decision, his warm lips are against yours.

You whimper, hand grabbing his wrist while the other finds his hair. He leans forward, lips moving against yours as if that is what they were made to do.

After a moment he pulls away, eyes wide.

“I-I’m sorry! I should’ve told you. I shouldn’t have done that. I-is your heart okay?” You giggle, pushing him back into his seat and climbing over until you’re seated comfortably on his lap.

“It's gonna take a little more than some kissing to stop me,” you whisper, bringing your lips back down onto his.

He kisses you with newfound passion, hands gripping your waist and pulling you tight against him. His tongue explores your mouth, dancing with your own and making you feel things you haven’t felt in... ever.

When you pull away to breathe he doesn't stop. No, his lips, teeth, and tongue work their way down your neck until you’re quivering on top of him, body desperate for more.

“Come upstairs,” you whisper, panting against his mouth.

He lets out a weak chuckle then sighs, shaking his head.

“I shouldn’t.” You pull away, giving him a confused look. “Why not?” His hands find your thighs beneath your dress and he rubs his thumbs in circles on the soft skin.

“I... I wanna take my time with you. I wanna take you out again and I wanna wine and dine you real nice. If we just get right to it... It doesn’t feel right.” You go to climb off his lap but he stops you.

“This feels right. I didn’t mean that this,” he motions to where you are,” doesn’t feel right. I just... you already deserve so much more than I can give you, and I wanna do everything I can to prove that I’m gonna take care of you. Believe me, I wanna come upstairs and fuck you until you can’t remember your goddamn name.” You shiver at his words and he chuckles, pulling your hips forward a bit. You gasp as you feel his hard length through his pants, pressing up against you.

“I fucking want you,” he murmurs, leaning forward to press a kiss to your neck. “You’ve got no idea how bad I want you. But you deserve to be taken out and treated like a queen.” He pulls away, flesh hand coming up and cupping your cheek.

“I like you, (Y/n). And I don’t wanna ruin things before they get good.” You rest your hands against his chest, fingers splayed on the warm skin beneath his shirt from where you’ve popped a few buttons open.

“I like you too, James. A lot more than I thought I would. And... if I’m being honest... that scares me.” He frowns, looking up at you and waiting for you to continue.

“I just... what if something happens to you?” His heart melts and he leans up, pressing a soft kiss to your lips, and then another.

“Don’t you worry about me, pretty girl. I’m not going anywhere. Not as long as I’ve got you willing to wait for me.” You grin, nodding and leaning down to press a kiss to his chest. Your lips linger long enough to feel the steady pulsing beneath the skin.

“I’m gonna be waiting for as long as you’ll have me.”

“Good.”

He walks you up to your apartment, hand held tightly in yours and a goofy smile on his face.

When you reach your door you feel sad that the night is coming to an end. Slowly you turn to him, eyes filled with things you want to say but can’t explain.

He simply chuckles softly, metal hand cupping your jaw gently.

“Text me when you get home, okay?” You ask softly, eyelids fluttering closed as he leans down. His lips find yours and you never want them to leave.

They fit so perfectly against yours, you could spend all of eternity kissing him.

Unfortunately, he pulls away after another fantastic moment.

You pull your bottom lip into your mouth, eyes on his as he slowly stands up to his full height.

“You can still wine and dine me even if you stay the night,” you whisper, already knowing what his answer will be.

He laughs quietly, shaking his head while smile lines fan out around his eyes.

“You, (Y/n), are gonna be the death of me. But god, what a way to go.” He presses a gentle kiss to your cheek then a lingering kiss to your knuckles before pulling away slowly.

“I’ll see you soon, babydoll. And I promise to text when I get home.” You nod, watching as he walks down the hallway. He shoots a glance over his shoulder when he reaches the elevator, a smile spreading on his face and red coating his cheeks as he sees you watching him.

Only once the door is closed do you unlock your apartment.

You hardly have time to step a foot in when you hear the door behind you open up.

“Next time you put on a show like that let me know so I can make popcorn.” You giggle, turning to Gladys and shaking your head.

“If we had known you’d be peeping on us we wouldn’t have done anything.” She shrugs, smiling at you. “It’s hard not to watch with a man like that standing there.” You roll your eyes at her.

“Goodnight, Gladys.” She’s already back in her apartment.

“So I’m assuming it went well?”

You nearly scream.

“Nat?! What the fuck!” She laughs, throwing her head back and letting out a good belly-laugh.

“You should’ve seen your face!” You glare at her, throwing your purse at her.

“Not funny! Why are you still here?” You kick off your shoes and groan as your toes finally have time to relax after being in heels all day.

“After last time I wanted to make sure nothing went wrong. But from the sounds of it I almost caught something scarring, didn’t I?” You shake your head, sighing and plopping down on the couch with her.

“He’s a fucking gentleman. For better or for worse.” She nods, hand slapping your knee.

“I told you. He’s gonna treat you right, Beans. I promise.”

[abluescarfonwaston]

Anyway this is @sapphire-wine fault so blame her.

Detective conan ace attorney au where Edgeworth gets reverted to the body of a child after he followed after two men dressed in black he suspected were a part of a smuggling ring. Gumshoe lost him and when Edgeworth woke up he was like 5 again.

Gumshoe finds him in a pile of his old clothes that he’s MANY sizes too small for now. But Gumshoe can’t afford to take care of him! And he Definitely cant go home. He can’t even reach the door handle! Luckily Mia, Wright and Maya are all at this theme park celebrating Wright’s first case win! 

Gumshoe: Hey can you hold onto this for me for a second?

Wright: Huh? Sure?

Gumshoe: *Hands him tiny Edgeworth but in glasses and baby*

Wright: ... *Miles sweating bullets as Phoenix studies him* YOU’RE SO CUTE!

Edgeworth, master of being where the murders are gets Wright and Mia a Lot of work. Edgeworth is trying so hard to track down this smuggling ring and get his body back. Wright laments to... Tails (open to a better/worse fake name for Miles) that the man he studied law to met has suddenly disappeared. Phoenix and Tails share Wright’s bed the first few nights before they buy a second futon. Miles looks at him so sadly. Then Wright starts snoring and he looks less fond.

Miles regularly wakes Phoenix up in the middle of the night with nightmares. Phoenix cuddles him back to bed with all the Dad he will one day master. Talks to Mia about getting Tails into therapy because clearly that kid has seen some shit and is not handling it well.

Miles has to sit through first grade. It is a nightmare of children he does not know how to interact with (just like the first time!) and mind numbing boredom. (Just like last time!) Phoenix gets Many requests from the teachers to ‘just let the kids write his own reports please.’ Phoenix has no idea what they’re talking about.

He’s in a class with uhh Kay, Sebastian, Athena and Cody. They are very impressed by the fact he knows so much about the Steel Samurai and they make him watch the Jammin’ ninja as well. They solve kiddy cases as the Detective Kids. Sometimes these turn into murders/mafia/kidnappings. It’s Fine.

Franziska flies in to see her Father again. (Read: To look for her missing brother that she’s terrified her Father killed.) She is absolutely Brutal in court and Tears Wright and Mia apart. They manage to eke out a second day by the skin of their teeth.

Edgeworth sees her leaving. All rage and pain wrapped up in fury. Scrambles to remember what it was that kid called her that had her preening for Days.

“Hey Ms. Whip Lady!” Oh he was getting hit for that.

The hit never came. “... What is it small child?”

“Would you like to play chess some time with me?”

“... If you would like,” (I am so lonely here) “I suppose I could.” (I just want my brother back) “My little brother loves that game you know?”

“I do.”

Edgeworth sneaking into Lana’s office to find some key evidence about the smuggling ring. Gant Almost finding him. Badd searching for the same group. Shields returning and putting together who Miles is after like 0.5 cases with him and proceeding to almost blow his cover every single time they meet. Edgeworth questioning the system that corrupted him. Badd being Deeply frustrated people keep letting the 5 year old Tails run around the crime scene. (Gumshoe why are you letting this happen?!)

Miles learning that Kay’s father was killed by the smuggling ring to stop the investigation. That Athena’s uncle/brother was framed for murder by them. Realizing that Sebastian’s father is the head of the organization that attempted to have him killed (you thought it was a coincidence we went after you? You sniff around a little too much and Von Karma wasn’t moving fast enough) Cody is- well he’s just a very good boy with a camera and a love of the steel samurai and justice. Miles loves him very much.

Phoenix getting so desperate to just Know if Miles is alive or not that he asks Maya to channel him. (Mia already refused) Maya accidentally pulling Gregory instead and Gregory, lost and confused, comforting Phoenix.

Ema developing a ‘cure’ for his deaged state but unfortunately it only works for a little while. “Phoenix I-” Love you too. He wants to say. But their isn’t time. There is Never enough time.

Them all tearing down the entire smuggling ring and uprooting the deep roots of corruption in their system. The sword raised above the guilty chest of the corrupted and damned ready to plunge it in for one final victory over evil and madness-

When Von Karma kicks the feet out from under him.

And suddenly their whole case is falling apart because their Lead witness is suddenly pleading guilty to his father’s murder and there are so many voices demanding his guilt and so many more asking where Tails went- No one cared about Edgeworth. Edgeworth should just Die. Let him just die boy. Don’t make us force your hand.

Miles curling up that Same Exact way Tails does after an earthquake. Phoenix who was So ready to defend him realizing that Miles has been manipulating him for Months now and leaving the courthouse in a rage. Franziska holding her brother that she’s been looking for so long as his bones Melt back down to youth. A glazed eye boy taking the stand and confessing to his father’s guilt. Mia griting her teeth and not knowing how to proceed.

Von Karma demanding a verdict because It’s rather obvious isn’t it?

Franziska yelling out Objection! Standing against her Father. Shaking and demanding a fair trial for him. Protecting her Little Brother from her Father. From Papa with shaking hands.

(I spent the last months thinking you’d taken him from me once. I’ll not stand by and let you do that to me for Real)

He delaying the trial enough that Wright comes back. Them fighting side by side. The kids yelling out things that Miles taught them. The Ballistic markings Mr. Nick!

Coming together at the last minute to save Miles Edgeworth. Uncovering the truth and exposing the corruption of the system. Miles and Phoenix talking. I wanted to save you. You did.

Edgeworth taking the detective kids out for trips to the museum after its all over. Them being surprised how little their dynamic changes despite the fact he can now drive. He is still an absolute pushover but now he can buy them candy.

Lana and Mia reconnect over this kid they got very attached to (Miles vs Tails) and swapping stories and dragging him mercilessly. Maya dragging Edgeworth in his full adult glory to their (previously established) weekly steel samurai viewing party that Does take place in a mountain of pillows and blankets.

Phoenix sitting up late that first night that Edgeworth went back home and Missing. Missing all the space that was filled by another person. By caring for another person. (Shouldn’t it be a relief? Why am I so empty?) Mindlessly calling Edgeworth who answers because he can’t sleep even though he’s exhausted. (i don’t want to dream and wake up alone.) Come over Edgeworth. Edgeworth sleeping on the futon on the floor and Wright dropping his hand over the edge for Edgeworth to hold. Edgeworth not waking up alone.

Detective Conan au.

[unmaskedagain]

You had a Friend in Me

           I’M BACK!! Oh god its been two weeks since I posted a story. I missed you guys like crazy. Hopefully you like my newest piece. I went a... Unique direction. Enjoy!

 She didn’t stumble, fall, and break like they expected her to. There was no big meltdown or confrontation. No apologies. Or promises to do better. No, when nearly everyone in class made it clear they weren’t friends with Marinette anymore; nothing happened. They had accused her of being mean to Lila and a bully as the reasons they couldn’t be friends anymore and had expected the girl to defend herself at the very least.

           Marinette just shrugged, and that was it.

           Even when they asked her to resign from being class president, she easily stood up and said she quit.

           Most of the class, Alya, in particular wanted to be angry at her lack of reaction; shout and scream at the bluenette for seeming not to care about the severance of their friendships. But how could they?

           They knew it was their choice. They were mature enough to know that everyone reacted differently to things. And yelling at Marinette for not being emotional enough at the fact that they weren’t friends anymore just showed their own immaturity. And that would be like telling Marinette she won; and that wasn’t worth it.

           Besides, It was only September, they were sure Marinette would come crawling back to them soon.

…

…

           Marinette never did.

…

           On the outside, it didn’t look like much had changed with the class. While the class weren’t friends with Marinette, they still chose to be cordial. They still did assigned group projects with. Everyone doing their part. However, no one went out of their way to speak with the Bluenette. And she did the same and seemed content.

           Despite appearances, things had definitely changed in class. And it didn’t take long for everyone to realize it.

           The first was Alix’s birthday. Everyone had been so excited. Birthdays were always the best for Bustier’s class. The entire classroom would be decorated. There would be cake and balloons; a wonderful and thoughtful perfectly wrapped present.

           However, when the kids arrived that morning, it was too the same ordinary classroom as the day before.

           It was disappointing to say the least. The kids scrambled to try to throw something, anything together before Alix arrived. However, it was too late. Alix arrived not long after them, and seeing the smile fall from her face broke their hearts.

           No one knew what to say. Or how to explain why nothing was decorated. Why there was no cake and or gift. They sat awkwardly at their desks.

           It was only after Marinette arrived, just a few minutes before the bell rang, that they all got their answer.

           Marinette. Marinette had been the class president. The class president was responsible for any class birthday, trip, or fundraiser. She had always gone above and beyond. Unlike, Chloe, the previous class president, who only ever put in their bare minimum (and she made Sabrina do that); a cupcake, a balloon tied to their desk, and a card signed by the entire class.

           Marinette had been their friend so she always made sure to do her very best to celebrate. But she wasn’t class president anymore. And she wasn’t their friend. She wasn’t obligated to do anything.

           So she didn’t.

           And while the class had been meaning to, they never got around to electing a new class president to replace the one their forced out of office.

           It burned a little.

           Particularly, when the class realized they were hard pressed to find volunteer to assume the role. No one had that much time on their hands. No one wanted to be responsible for anything going wrong. Or not living up to expectations.

           Friend or not, they could admit Marinette was a hard act to follow.

           Unfortunately, to prevent Chloe from taking the job again, Alya was forced to step up.

           It didn’t take long to realize that planning for fundraisers and dances and parties was equivalent to the work of seven people. She didn’t know how Marinette handled it so well.

           School trips, once amazing and carefully planned to the last detail, now were boring and hastily put together; the best one was a trip to the museum, mostly because they got to have ice cream after.

           Fresh baked sweets on big tests days were gone too. It had become a tradition that on days of major, study hard and cram for weeks prior, tests that treats were brought in the morning. It lightened the tension of the day, and just made everyone feel better.

           The morning of a huge math test that had caused a few kids to hyperventilate the day before and of; delicious goods were nowhere to be found.

           When the bell rang, Kim had quickly asked Bustier where the food was.

           To which the teacher replied, “Marinette always asked me if she could bring them in for her friends.”

           And that was all they needed to know.

           It sucked but it was something they could live without.

           Favors were the next thing they realized were gone.

           Before whenever they needed something; they would automatically go to Marinette for help. A babysitter, sweets, costumes, dresses, set design.

           Alya and Nino found themselves spending their date nights watching their young siblings together. Most of their friends refused to babysit. And the few that were willing were far too busy.

           Mylene found that the school play’s custom designed costumes were a thing of the past. So were the artfully decorated set designs.

           Alix had to make her own banners. So did Kim.

           Rose couldn’t just run to Marinette when she need a new fabulous dress. Marinette had always made it clear that she was willing to help out a friend whenever they asked her about costs.

           Then the favors they never realized they even got were gone.

           Discounts at the bakery were only for friends and family. Unfortunately that also meant the discount for their families were gone as well.

           Ladybug suddenly stopped giving Alya interviews. And when Alya asked why, the hero said she only did it because the reporter was Marinette’s friend. It hurt the Ladyblog badly.

           Someone coming to defend them whenever Chloe threw a tantrum and managing to calm the blond down. Even Alya found she wasn’t as much of match as thought, when the spoiled rotten girl was on rampage.

           This effect class morale dramatically. And it wasn’t before long that the class shifted to what it was like before Alya or Adrien came to school, with Chloe trying to declare dominance every other second. But this time, the other students were cowed like they used to be. No, they had seen Marinette standing up for herself and them for years. If she could do it, so could they. Sadly, they weren’t enough. With just the right amount of effort, Chloe could intimidate anyone.

           Adrien who was soon confused about why the friend safe haven had suddenly turned hostile

           Marinette just shook her head. Chloe asked (ordered) Marinette to come to her penthouse one October morning. The blonde had realized the dynamic in class had changed dramatically and wanted to seize the opportunity with an iron first; and she knew she couldn’t do that if Dupain-Cheng was still her number one enemy.

Chloe proceeded to lay down an offer of truce. Chloe and Marinette would leave each other alone, would stay out of each other’s way, and didn’t interfere with anything the other did unless it was school related so they absolutely had to. There would be no threats, stealing, lies, or intimidation from Chloe towards Marinette. In return, Marinette would let Chloe do her thing without trying to defend or save anyone.

As long as both did that, there would be peace.

Marinette agreed.

Thus Chloe’s reign for her symbolic iron throne began. The queen bee had no illusions of who was who. Marinette was a Stark. Chloe: a Lannister.  But Chloe was a smart lion. She had no problems letting the North be independent away from the rest of the kingdom. Chloe’s kingdom.

And much like show, there was no win or lose. When you play the game of thrones, you win or you die. There is no middle ground. And Chloe would win.

Lila was the first to feel to the effects. Chloe refused to have competition for Queen Bee. And the Italian girl became took Marinette’s place as her new number one target.

Lila soon learned that dealing with Marinette was one thing, dealing with Chloe was a whole different animal.  While Marinette fought for peace, Chloe was more than willing to rage war. And unlike Marinette, Chloe didn’t care what anyone thought about her. Lila could scream to the world about how much of a bully Chloe was but what did it matter. Everyone in class knew that already.

She couldn’t threaten Chloe like she did Marinette. In fact, the Chloe regularly threatened her. In front of the other students, and Bustier.

She couldn’t try to get Chloe expelled as Damocles was quick to bend to the blonde’s will.

Chloe regularly “Accidently” tripped Lila, ruined her homework, stole any projects she had, destroyed her phone one time, verbally ripped her to shreds in front of everyone and even worse in private. Chloe would play mean and outright nasty pranks that would leave Lila in tears. More than a few sets of clothes were destroyed. To make everything worse, the blond brat routinely made her look like a fool in front of Adrien. She even got her mother to mock the Agreste brand about their use of a lackluster model to the point where Gabriel fired her.

Nearly everything Lila had accused Marinette of doing, she found herself actually having to face from Chloe. Who would’ve thought the bluenette was doing her a favor by being all moral and self-righteous that it would draw the attention of the evil that was Chloe Bourgeois.

The truce happened one grey October Morning, Chloe officially ruled the class again by November. Lila was seriously considering changing schools.

No one had the time to fawn over her. And she certainly didn’t have time to amaze anyone with her stories. No she was too busy fending off Chloe’s attacks. And wondering why the brat kept referring to her as a Tyrell. Or Alya and Nino as Karstarks. And the rest of the class as Freys’.

One by one, each student realized they had lost something else. Something they actually really missed.

When the class picture was taken, Juleka had been just late and no one realized it. Rose had comforted her again. But no one was able to get the photographer to take another picture. At the end of the day, Juleka still felt really bad about it and had to fight the urge to call Marinette that night. Marinette was always willing to just listen no matter the time.

And it wasn’t long where the other students found themselves in similar situations that all ended with them really wanting to talk to Marinette.

Alya after a fight with her sister.

Rose after Prince Ali wrote to her that he would be ending communication.

Nino after a gig went terribly.

Kim after he lost one of his games.

Alix after she broke her watch…. Again.

Mylene after a fight with Ivan.

Ivan after he failed a math test.

Nathaniel after Marc decided to end their partnership.

Sure, they went to their other friends for comfort. But Marinette was different. When one of them went to any of the other students with a problem; it felt just like that. Them complaining about their problems and the others doing their best to cheer them up and offer solutions. At the end, they still felt like they were on their own; like it was still just their problem. With Marinette…

She always made them feel like they were on the same team. She cared like they were her problems too. And wasn’t going to stop until they were fixed. Marinette was someone they could just talk to without judgement or getting harsh opinions; no criticism. With her, they never felt like they were being judged; even when pointed out that it might, in fact, be their own fault.

They missed Marinette when they afraid or nervous. She’d always manage to calm them down, assure them, be their biggest supporter if need be. And her just being them made them feel better; like they stood more of a chance. She take their mind of things, get them to relax, smile, and by the time whatever it was that made them so terrified came up, they had already completely forgotten why they were anxious.

The strangest part was they even missed her when things were happy as well.

           When anything good happened, one of their first instincts was to call Marinette; scream their excitement. And listen to Marinette scream back just as happy as they were, despite that she was in no way affected.

           No; on the outside the class hadn’t changed much. Everyone still did their own thing. Homework was done. Tests were dealt with. Sure class trips weren’t as wonderful as they used to be. Birthdays only with store bought cupcakes and maybe some balloons. Everyone who started out as friends were still friends by the end of the years. It was just like anyone other class in the world.

…

           Except they were never like all other classes. They had always felt like they were special. Most kids hadn’t looked forward to school day but the students of Bustier’s class had. There had always been something new and wonderful to talk about; some adventure to go on. Now there was nothing. There was still life in the classroom; still laughter and fun. But it was like something took the spark that made it come alive.

           And it was hard to pretend otherwise.

           And they couldn’t really figure out why.

           One or Two (Rose and Nino) could admit, whenever they found themselves alone with their thoughts in class and looked around, that were was a hollowness to the classroom that had never existed before. It didn’t make sense. Everyone (minus Chloe) was still friendly with one another. They all still cared about each other. They were all still really good friends. Good but not as good as they used to be.

…

           They’d never be as good as they used to be again.

…

           The class for their end of year party had gone to the pool. They all had a blast. On their way home, they walked by the park and heard music and laughter. It didn’t take long to realize that there was a party happening.

“Happy Birthday, Marinette!” Caught their attention.

           From where they stood, just outside the party, the students and ex friends of Marinette could make out other students from different classes from their school.

           Aurore the creator of the new blog BugOut. There was Marc, Claude, Mireille, Ondine, Bridgette, the Ice King that was Felix Culpa, and a bunch of other students they never knew Marinette was friends with. Even Luka was there.

“I didn’t know it was Marinette’s birthday,” Adrien frowned.

           So did Alya. Mostly because it was her job to remember as class president. Partly because it was the first time she ever forgot her former (best) friend’s birthday. “It wasn’t on the list,” She gave a weak excuse.

“It looks like fun,” Juleka whispered.

           And it did. There was a live band, a feast of food, people laughing and dancing; it all looked so… Alive.

           Alix stuffed her hands in her pockets. Her throat clenched at the sight of the laughing bluenette who didn’t look like she had a care in the world. “Who knew Marinette had so many friends?”

           Nino glanced down, “She looks happy.”

           And Marinette did.

           She looked like the happiest girl in the world.

           But she always did.

           Even after they ended their friendships with her.

           It didn’t seem to both the bluenette. She kept being her positive and cheerful self, except they couldn’t bask in her sunlight anymore.

           They watched when Luka got on their makeshift stage with his guitar, “Marinette you are the most special person I’ve ever met. You’re kind, sweet, and way too thoughtful for your own good. Which is why we all wanted you to know…” he started playing his guitar. A familiar tune filled the air, all the party goers starts to sings.

“You've got a friend in me

You've got a friend in me

When the road looks rough ahead

And you're miles and miles

From your nice warm bed

You just remember what your old pal said

Boy, you've got a friend in me

Yeah, you've got a friend in me”

           The song left a bad taste of Irony on their tongues.

           They thought they had left Marinette behind, somehow it had ended up being the opposite.

…

           They felt like forgotten toys.

[sanchoyo]

danny phantom episode 4-7 Thoughts: (under a readmore because, these got kinda long!)

-the outfit danny had to buy for dash's party. CLASSIC 2000S i cannot stop laughing. And also showing up to the party and everyone is dressed like the trio is hilarious. and further proof that everyone looks good dressed goth.

-dash has a closet full of cute lil bear plushies?? LOVE that. adorable. also his response to danny trashing his room fighting a ghost was SO valid if somone BROKE MY BED IN HALF ID BE PISSED TOO.

-technus being like 'oh smart, u should be a tutor!' then later being like 'forget tutor, be a teacher!' :) supportive king <3 I also really like his upgraded suit/design. AND SPOCK CAMEO??? HELLO??

-the music in this show is super. its so funky. I looked it up and the guy who does it, guy moon (awesome name) also did music for other cartoons like fairly odd parents, barnyard, chalkzone, billy & mandy, AND some actual movies like FIGHT CLUB??? the whiplash I got from reading that)

-sam being rich explains a lot about her, actually.

-I know the moral of the episode was supposed to be 'dont ditch your friends for popular people/spend a lot of money on clothes that arent You to Fit In'. but tbh. it wouldve been easy for danny to have been like 'well, okay, ill come but only if my friends can!' but I get. that hes 14. so. not a lot to say there.

-BOX GHOST IS BACK!!!!! also, danny sitting up and wearing the dress/wig/makeup. umm thats how I dress everyday LMFAO. unironically me. (hate the jokes that boil down to 'haha funney man in dress' tho. but this is a look)

-jazz being protective of her brother once again being like NOOO YOU GUYS BETTER NOT STAKE OUT HIS (actually haunted) LOCKER!! shes aware of how people perceive him and she wants to help :( which is also probably why she told dash to invite him to that party even tho she had no interest in going!! she wants to help him out :(

-gotta say im with tucker on the whole 'should danny use his powers to get back at bullies' debate. 100% yes. let him teach kids to fight back. making dash throw his food at paulina out of the blue? no. but when hes actually about to pick on someone? yeah! for self defense? YEAH! if dash and his friends just threw food at him, I think rather than. idk doing sneaky shit with frogs he couldve just threw it back and not pulled punches if they tried to fight. I kNOOWWW its a kids show so they are like 'if u fight back ur just as bad!! violence bad!!' but. theyre HIS POWERS. WHO CARES.

-like my only gripe is that dash really isnt LEARNING ANYTHING WHEN DANNY GETS BACK AT HIM IN THE MOST PETTY INDIRECT WAYS. whatever they had to add a bully psa episode I guess. I hate it and I hate the way cartoons usually handle it because these methods simply Do Not Work. 'aND YouRE USinG YOur poWErs FOR EVill???!' this is Not Evil. even when poindexter takes dannys body, theyre only being 'nice' bc hes stealing soda for them!! bitches deserve what they get (nothing too brutal bc theyre high schoolers but damn, if they pick on danny he doesnt need to be the 'bigger person' he needs to start biting people)

-SAM TRYING TO SMUGGLE FROGS OUT OF THE BIO LAB?? girl in middle school when we had to dissect frogs we could opt out, also, they came to us already dead and preserved...

-sidney's lingo and the fact hes in black and white is sending me. also, danny is a ghost celebrity apparently for being a halfa?? ok. thats interesting to know

-the DENTIST BEING EXCITED ABOUT THE COTTON CANDY FLOOD IS THE FUNNIEST THING SO FAR.

-I LOOOVE the trope of 'wishes gone wrong'. not crazy about the stereotypical genie, or the use of the dreamcatcher looking design. (also, I KNOW theyre scientists but the way theyre handling a cold...are the fentons ANTIVAX)

-the genie. she. whitewished paulina. JKASDFHKJ. (the ghost literally just being hello kitty???? im dying) 'why do i feel that im special and wonderful? because I AM! <3' paulina ilu self worth queen. felt bad for her also getting possessed by (2) boys later who were arguing INSIDE HER. WTF.

-imagine being the guy trapped in his now flying car. he thought danny and tucker were HALUCINATIONS. imagine being trapped in a flying car with two, what you think are imaginary arguing 14 year olds convinced ur gonna die. i WOULD say this dude is gonna need so much therapy, but he seemed totally fine and excited when they landed (I would be happy too if a chicken was on my head. chickens rule) stoner rights

-sam's bat slippers??? iconic. SO cute.

-I think desiree's backstory is so :( do all ghosts have messed up sad backstories?? poindexter's was sad too...cannot imagine box ghost has any kind of fucked up backstory. but what if. his mom got pushed off cliffs by boxes...........a la cruella... anyway her 'no man may lay a hand on me' iconic. ilu

-I know danny has no concept of how much bras cost but my god dont attack tucker with some girls bra. those are so expensive.

-its really. well its not a GOOD THING he went into the portal and got fucked up, but its good danny was the one to do it rather than sam or tucker. because even tho he was being influenced by desiree and kept getting more malicious and it prob wasnt 100% him...he sucked as a ghost like most the people he 'pranked' were innocent ppl just Chillin and he didnt want to help anyone at all. I think danny is the most responsible out of them but also, hes 14 and shouldnt HAVE to feel obligated to fight every ghost. hes a good kid and wants to, but I also feel like he feels like...responsible for the portal turning on?? because his parents did give it up,, but it was an accident and not his fault (if anything, why was the on switch on the inside. why was it that easy. why was there no safety measures. that seems like smth OSHA needs to hear about). like thats my son. hes a good boy. and hes never done anything wrong in his life, ever. if anyone hurts him im killing everyone in this room and then myself. etc.

-danny's curfew is 10PM????? DUDE. when I was 14...shit I couldn't be out that late, I had to be back at like, 8 at the latest, and my parents had to know exactly where and who I was going with, AND i had to call/text them regularly...is this a case of my parents being overbearing, or the fentons sucking??? the only time i could EVER be out that late was if I was at an overnight sleepover or smth...

-the vultures have lil fezes. why do they have fezes...theyre so fuckin funny 'ask him for directions' 'I KNOW WHERE IM GOING' these ghost vultures are my new grandpas. pick them up, put them in the adopt box.

-'I wonder why those guys were trying to waste dad!' THEYRE GHOSTS. YOUR DAD HUNTS GHOSTS. why is that not a conclusion you'd immediately jump to??

-*jazz voice, clearly disgusted* WISCONSIN???

-mrs fenton with the lab coat and leg warmers and PERM. YESSS STYLISH.

-was going to say 'ew billionaire' @vlad but. super valid he used his powers to assumedly steal and cheat to get that money, thats how all billionaires do it! but ew hes a SIMP. and spending your billions on FOOTBALL STUFF?? you are Not Valid overall. I DO respect the fact you have a castle instead of a mansion. in wisconsin. if youre going to be stupidly rich might as well go all out, torches on the wall and all. I DO like his ghost form's little kitty ears. catman. and his cape! every design can benefit from a cape. and how different his forms look, like danny looks the EXACT SAME IN BOTH FORMS ASIDE FROM COLOR CHANGES. vlad's is like,, I could believe they were different people!! also I love the drama. but dude you are fighting a 14 year old. lame. also he was like, telling danny he wanted his mom and him and like, wanted him to renounce his dad?? WHAT ABOUT JAZZ?? bitch. those r MY kids and they are both important and special. I do agree they need better parents but thats not u sir <3

-I thought vlad's 'little badger' nickname for danny came from the football mascot of the packers, but google says they have NO MASCOT?? so now I'm like?? is it because his hair is sometimes black and sometimes white?? I hate to give him props but thats a PERFECT NICKNAME. theyre also tiny and vicious!

-why did I get so excited that Skulker is back!! its been like. 2-3 eps LMAO. AND THE DAIRY KING. ICONIC I LOVE HIM. hes the nicest guy ever :) more nice ghosts please. danny cannot be fighting alone everytime with no ghost buds like every ghost being hostile sucks :(

-mr. fenton knew vlad was controlling him, but a few episodes ago he had no clue danny was doing the same thing...is it something about how malicious the ghost is?? he just seemed to think his memory had gaps the first time, this time he was INSTANTLY LIKE 'GHOST'. then again in this ep when danny did it again he was just slightly confused but not immediately freaking out like he did with vlad possessing him!!

-'my parents will accept ME NO MATTER WHAT' so. so why haven't you come out to them yet, danny?? if you really think that?? if theres no harm, and you're sure??? if vlad is a real problem, wouldnt that make dealing with him easier, to expose him???? SO WHY HAVENT YOU COME OUT YET?? COULD IT BE,, MAYBE YOU HAVE DOUBTS ABOUT WHETHER YOUR PARENTS ACTUALLY WILL ACCEPT YOU??? 🤔 ... 🏳‍🌈 I get why people say He Is Trans. I totally totally get u danny.

-sorta unrelated, but it just occurred to me in one of these eps they go to casper HIGH not casper middle school??? theyre 14?? dont highschools usually do ages 15-18? (I didnt go to hs so I might be wrong, if I am ignore this...) freshmen are usually 14-15, could just be a case of them not turning 15 yet but they will sometime in the school year (I say they because tucker said he was 14 too)? I know the show has 3 seasons, so by the end of it will they be older? thatd be neat but usually cartoon characters stay the same age...I love shows where you can see the characters age and grow up, though...three seasons seems like a long time to spend on like, 1 year...

[kabira]

02 | team project

pairing — spider-man!vernon x ofc

featuring — joshua, yeji (itzy), felix (skz), yangyang (nct)

word count — 2.6k

genres — spider-man au, marvel au, fluff, action, angst, humor

warnings — none

note — this is a little rushed, sorry ;-; i haven’t updated in two weeks despite only having posted the pilot so i was like !! ahh !! gotta update !! and here it is, your first ever (and very brief) appearance. i’ll edit it soon! as usual, send me an ask or dm if you want to be added to the taglist <3

go to fic masterlist | main masterlist

“Is this about me leaving Rhino on Midtown’s front porch?” Vernon demanded. “Because if it is, I’ll have you know that I left him in good hands—”

 "Calm down, Wonder Kid," Fury said. He didn't look amused like Vernon had hoped, which meant that whatever he'd come here to talk about was serious. Well, what else should he have expected from the head of S.H.I.E.L.D.? "It's not about that. Well—not entirely. It's about the good hands you mentioned."

Vernon narrowed his eyes. He'd met Fury a few times before, and never during favorable conditions. The last time he's seen the guy, Spider-Man had almost been pummeled to death by none other than the Goblin himself. "They said something about bringing him to S.H.I.E.L.D.," he muttered. "I should have guessed."

Fury didn't respond, instead reaching inside his jacket to bring out an envelope. He threw the open envelope onto the table in front of Vernon, making a few pictures half spill out from inside. "You know what that is?"

Vernon glanced at him suspiciously before slowly picking up the pictures and going through them. Each of them was a glossy shot of various locations in New York, and all of them had a major recurring theme—the places were completely trashed. Overturned cars, building walls with holes in them, bent lampposts. Wearily, he set the pictures down face-up on the table, then looked up at the man, who stared back with an unreadable expression on his face.

A beat passed. "Was that a rhetorical question?"

"Jesus, kid," Fury muttered. "All of those pictures were taken moments after a fight between you and one of your fanclub members. Now, I'm not saying I don't appreciate you taking care of a couple of minor criminals in the city—"

"Minor criminals?"

"—but I can't let you treat the place like it's your neighborhood playpen," he finished. Next to him, the pretty agent-slash-counselor sat with her legs folded, her surprisingly stern gaze fixed on Vernon. The attention made him squirm. "S.H.I.E.L.D. is a global defense organization, for god's sake. We don't have the time to clean up after kids who don't know even know their three Rs."

"Let me guess," Vernon said, "rock, roll, ramble?"

"Even your wisecracks aren't funny anymore, kid." Fury shook his head.

Ouch. "That hurt my feelings."

The man glared at him out of his one good eye. "You can't keep going like this forever," he said. "You're on your way to be one of the greats—don't look at me like that, hell if I'm gonna repeat that—but the big guys take care of their messes. They don't leave poor innocent civilians behind to get new paint jobs on their Kias. All that damage your careless fighting left behind, who's gonna take care of that?"

"Insurance?" Vernon suggested. Agent Fox cracked a smile, warming his insides. Her sitting aside in silence as Fury chewed him out was a little unnerving. He wondered if looking on silently while high-rankers lectured kids was something she had to do regularly. You gotta have a heart of ice to sit through that.

"You are," Fury said grimly, and Vernon blinked. "And you're gonna start today."

"What was it that you really wanted?" Vernon asked, crossing his arms over his chest, making his t-shirt stretch tight over his biceps. He really needed to go shopping. "You can't tell me the world's best spy came all the way to some backwater high school just to lecture a kid about cleanliness being next to godliness."

"You're a special case, Parker," Fury said, and Vernon placed a hand over his heart, mockingly going aw. "And you're right. I'm not here just to lecture you about your repeated careless mistakes, I'm here to help you fix them."

Vernon looked at him suspiciously, already wary of what was to come next. "And how do you propose I do that?"

"You've already shown me multiple times you can't do it yourself," Fury said. "Look, kid, here's the thing: you have a problem, and I have a problem. I also happen to have a joint solution to both."

Vernon slumped in his chair. Here it comes. "What problem could you possibly have? Nuclear warheads threatening to destroy civilians' Kias in Manhattan?"

"You really gotta work on those one-liners." Fury sighed. "There's a group of kids in the Helicarrier like you—up-and-coming superheroes in need of some real-world experience. They've got the training you need to handle jobs with efficiency, and you have the practical experience. They've got the goods—just like you—but nowhere real to practice them."

"You mean those guys," Vernon said, sitting up and recalling the three who had helped him in the fight against Rhino. "You mean—you want me to teach them?"

"I want you to work with them," Fury said. "Train with them, fight with them, lead what could be the next greatest team of post-humans."

"So basically, your solution is to sic a bunch of newbies on me as some kind of damage control," Vernon said angrily. "And what if I refuse?"

"Nothing," the spy answered simply. "You're not under S.H.I.E.L.D.'s official jurisdiction yet, so I can't do anything to you even if I want to—unless, of course, I absolutely have to. You're allowed to walk out of here right now, but I can't guarantee that that's gonna work out for you."

Vernon considered this. He knew a threat when he heard one, even when it wasn't a yell of SPIDER-MAN, I'M GONNA KILL YOU, but he also knew that Nick Fury's threats weren't always real threats. However, he did not like his chances.

"As long as they stay out of my business," he muttered, knowing that was the one thing they were least likely to do. He knew how closely teams operated, and it didn't take his spider sense to figure out that this team was going to be much nosier than that. He recalled the annoyed scowl on that Nova guy's face, and internally shuddered.

"It's a deal," Fury said pleasantly, as if Vernon had any choice but to accept the so-called 'deal'. "I'll be checking in regularly, so bear in mind that I'll know if you ever kill one of your teammates and throw their body into the East River."

"I would never go to that much trouble," he replied equally pleasantly, getting up. Then he glanced at the clock, and scowled. "I can't believe you made me skip my biology quiz for five minutes of parental guidance."

"Oh, I'd never lie to a teacher, kid," Fury said, patting his shoulder as he passed him. "A counseling session I promised, and a counseling session you will get."

Vernon glanced at the other agent in dismay, but she only smiled—whether in amusement or reassurance, he couldn't tell. She clicked her pen, picking up the pad, her eyes twinkling. "Settle down, Spider-Man," she said. "This will only take forty minutes."

Vernon almost considered opting out of eating in the cafeteria, but changed his mind at the last moment, knowing it was the only time other than first period biology he got to see Joshua on Mondays. He desperately needed to vent, and his bespectacled friend was the only one who even came close to understanding to the layers of his identity, one of which was a deep-rooted hatred for the universal authority on superheroes.

So he stalked right into lunch, barely noticing the gunk of whatever-it-was thwacking into his plastic tray, and headed for their usual table in the corner of the cafeteria. He didn't need to go that far to get to Joshua, however, as the blue-haired boy almost walked smack into him as he made his way there.

"Woah, woah, steady," Joshua said, grabbing his bicep to prevent them from colliding. "Why are you making like a steamroller towards that innocent little table? And what the hell were you during biology? What was that about?"

Vernon cast a careful glance around the cafeteria, at the crowd of people, one of which could easily overhear them in the close range. "I'll give you the details later," he murmured. "The cusp of the matter is: Fury blackmailed me into signing up for a team activity."

"Wait, wait, wait, Nick Fury?" Joshua asked in awe as they walked over to the table, gripping his tray tightly and hunching his shoulders, leaning slightly towards Vernon in interest. "You mean he was here, in this school?"

"Not even the first time, Josh."

"Not the—" Joshua shook his head, as if shooing away the thoughts. "Okay. Filing that information away for further perusal later. So you're telling me Nick Fury, super-spy, came to this place—" he spread his arms, indicating the school— "to talk to you. Man, sometimes I forget Spider-Man's supposed to be a household name."

"Shut up," Vernon hissed, casting a furtive glance at a heavily tattooed blonde who passed them by closely. "But yeah. And he asked me to team up with these noobs from the S.H.I.E.L.D. future program or something."

Joshua frowned. "But that's kind of cool, though, right?"

"Not if they're gonna slow me down," he replied. "Spider-Man's always operated alone, and—wait, what the hell?"

He stopped in his tracks right before the table, a stunned expression on his face. Joshua raised his eyebrows, following his gaze to the table, which was, surprisingly enough, already occupied.

She was there, of course, at her usual seat, the third from the left, except she was not alone. There was another girl, with dark hair and piercing eyes, picking at a soggy fry with her lips pursed. Next to her was a brooding blond with freckles that stood out against his shockingly pale skin. Last, but not the least, was the boy with the tanned skin who was making Vernon's best friend laugh so hard she was doubled over, a familiar cocky edge to his smile.

"Ah," Joshua said.

Lucy Langdon was one of Vernon's, and therefore Spider-Man's, biggest pressure points. She was also one of the only ones who had been left virtually untouched by all his superhero shenanigans, and he wanted to keep it that way. Though she was smart enough keep up with a few new trainees, as far as Vernon was concerned, she was strictly off-limits. Even to superheroes who could fly and called themselves Nova.

Vernon stalked over to the table and slammed his tray on the surface so hard he made everyone jump. Then he glared at the boy sitting next to her, the one with the bronzed skin, as Joshua stood by awkwardly. "You're in my seat," he said pointedly.

The boy cocked a lazy eyebrow, gesturing to the unoccupied seats opposite him. "I don't see your name on it."

Vernon ground his teeth, raising his hand (no doubt to petulantly slam it down on the table next to his tray) but Joshua grabbed his wrist, giving him a meaningful look. "Don't start anything that can be easily avoided," he muttered to the boy, and Vernon relented, albeit grudgingly.

"You're late," Lucy said conversationally, though your voice was higher than usual, probably because of the sudden tension that had descended upon the table. Vernon sat down slowly, still glaring at the boy, and she glanced at Joshua, who only shrugged. "These are, uhm, they're new."

"I figured," Vernon muttered.

"Three in one day? And this late into the year?" Joshua wondered aloud, raising his eyebrows. "Now I'm curious."

"Nothing worth your curiosity, I'm afraid," the new girl replied. Her eyes, when they swept over Vernon, were watchful and aware. "Just a coincidence. I was supposed to join earlier but there was a family emergency. As for these two, I can only guess." Her smile was small but sharp. "I'm Yeji."

"Felix," said the blond. He looked gloomy, but maybe it was just because of the unhealthy-looking pallor of his skin.

"And I'm Yangyang," the last boy said, with an impish grin that rubbed Vernon the wrong way. He already knew who these three were supposed to be—actually, everyone was supposed to know Felix, since Iceman was already a pretty famous member of the X-Men. Surely dyed hair couldn't be the only change needed to disguise that face? "Me and Felix are cousins, actually."

"Felix and I," Vernon mumbled under his breath, and Lucy gave him a look which he ignored. "Since when did you start taking people in for charity?"

She raised her eyebrows. "Be nice," she said. "They were in my Home Economics class, and if it hadn't been for Yeji here, I might have blown up the marble cake I was supposed to be making."

Joshua frowned. "How?"

"A story for another day." She smiled an unreadable smile, dark eyes sparkling. "Now—"

"No," Vernon said.

She glanced at him. "Excuse me?"

"No," he repeated. Then, as jerkily as he had sat down, he got up, and jabbed a finger at the new arrivals in turn, before pointing over his shoulder. "You three," he said venomously, "to the corridor. Now."

"Aw, man, I can't believe you're being so sensitive about this," Yangyang—Nova—complained loudly, though there was a shit-eating grin on his face as he followed Vernon into the hallway. "So Fury transferred us into your school without checking with you first. Big deal. What are you supposed to be, the queen of England?"

Vernon gave him a spiteful look, but otherwise ignored his remark. Instead, he focused on Yeji, who was watching him patiently, because she looked like the most sensible member of the group. He stared at her for a long moment, struggling to find the words that would convey the exact measure of his indignance. "Why?" he asked finally, giving up.

She shrugged helplessly. "Look, we didn't ask for this, either," she answered. "We're under orders, so it's not like we can just up and leave. Huddling in the hallway isn't a smart decision, either—we already have all eyes on us because of being the three new kids who randomly joined on the same day, and this is only making us look even more suspicious."

Vernon glared at her, trying to think of a good argument, then gave up. He turned on Felix, who was standing off to the side with folded arms, still looking uninterested in the conversation. "You," he said, narrowing his eyes, "you're Iceman."

Felix looked at him neutrally. "Yes."

"You're not under S.H.I.E.L.D.," Vernon said, pointing an accusatory finger. "And you have enough real-world experience, so there's no reason for you to be here instead of with the X-Men—"

"Dude," Felix said frostily; no pun intended. "Drop it."

Yeji nodded, giving Vernon a meaningful look he could not decipher.

"Aw, come on, web-head," Yangyang interjected. "We saved your life and you didn't even thank us, but I'll let that go since your manners aren't exactly polished. But this is just boring."

"It is not," Vernon seethed. "I'll talk to Fury—"

Yangyang snorted. "Good luck with that."

"—or the principal—"

"The new principal," Yeji muttered. "Agent Coulson."

Vernon made an exasperated noise. "The only reason I even agreed to Fury's stupid offer was because I thought it would get him off my case!" he yelled. "School is the only part of my life that's separate from all the wacky crap I have to deal with otherwise, and now even that—" He clenched his teeth. "If I'd known it meant having you people barge into my life like this—"

"Then you couldn't have done anything about it, even knowing," Yeji said, gently cutting him off. "Face it, hero. You're stuck with us as much as we're stuck with you—whether any of us like it or not."

[cheri-translates]

[CN] Shaw’s 2020 Birthday R&S

🍒Warning: This post contains detailed spoilers for an R&S which has not been released in EN!🍒

[Prologue]

The birthday event begins with MC in an antique store, in search of a moderately priced antique. She had asked Shaw for help since she’s been having difficulties finding one

Unexpectedly, Shaw gives her the keys to an antique store the next day, telling her to take whatever she wants

Even though MC knew early on that Shaw used to have a mentor who owned an antique store, she still feels strange about it - she’s unable to associate antiques, which are filled with rich history and culture, with Shaw

She wonders if Shaw visited this antique store regularly in his childhood

She notices that a drawer is open:

There are several yellowed exercise books lying inside, and “Shaw” is written on the bottom right corner of the covers in pencil.

MC: Could these be Shaw’s exercise books when he was young?

Curious, I take out these “major discoveries” from the drawer, my mind whirring with countless questions.  

At the back of my mind, I have a feeling that this place has a special meaning to Shaw.

MC: Maybe, for Shaw’s birthday…

While I’m thinking, something else in the drawer attracts my attention.

There are three copper coins, the colours antique, under sheets of writing paper. Covered in dust, they seem to be calling out to me voicelessly.

~

[Chapter 1: Exam Results]

At 4pm on a Friday afternoon, the math teacher wraps up her final point and closes the lesson plan.

The black board is decorated with the homework for the weekend. The teacher pushes up her spectacles. There is a big stack of exam papers on the table. “Last week’s exam scripts have been marked. Come and take them when I call your name.”

“This time round, most of you have improved. Only one student did not pass.” She takes up the exam script at the very top, flips it open, her eyes sweeping across the last row of the classroom, stopping at the seat at the very corner.

“Shaw.”

Hearing his own name being read, Shaw unwillingly stuffs the interesting comics underneath the table, taking his time to stand up. At the same time, the whole class cannot help but turn around and look at him evenly.

Sensing the surprised and teasing looks in their eyes, Shaw instead raises his head high and walks forward, stuffing a hand into his pocket with a devil-may-care attitude.

Taking the exam script from the teacher, Shaw stands in place, flipping through the script to look at the questions he got wrong.

Well, he did get more questions wrong than expected…

But math itself as a subject is annoying. It’s fine if he doesn’t do well.

He folds the exam script, folds it again, and again, before stuffing it into his pocket, turning around to return to his seat.

The teacher’s eyes unhappily trail behind Shaw, before she once again talks in a serious tone. “This time, everyone has to have their parents sign the exam script. I’ll check them on Monday afternoon.”

Shaw raises his eyebrows in mild disdain. It’s just a signature after all.

The old man copies the calligraphy of the Tang and Song dynasties so perfectly that even experts cannot tell. A mere signature wouldn’t be difficult.

He retrieves the stack of comics from underneath the table and puts them into his bag. With sufficient preparation for the end of school, he waits for the end-of-class bell to sound.

~

[Chapter 2: After School]

Entering June, the cicadas grow increasingly chirpier.

Over 60 years old, the antique shop shopkeeper sits on a rocking chair, fanning himself while checking Shaw’s homework. The prescription of his reading glasses is too shallow, and he has to squint. “The way you write this… Why does it look like a dog crawling. It’s so crooked.”

Shaw takes an eraser to erase a sentence he has copied wrongly. He cleans it till there is not a trace of it left. In an elevated volume, he answers, “It doesn’t matter if the words look ugly as long as I didn’t write it wrongly.”

While saying this, he feels through his pockets and takes out two exam scripts. “My teacher says this one needs a signature.”

Taking the script from him, the shopkeeper laughs until he rocks back and forth. “Kid, it’s fine if you don’t score well, but your luck couldn’t be any worse. Even if you take wild guesses, you couldn’t have gotten such low marks.”

He sits upright, sighing a few times. He folds up his fan and takes out a ball-point pen from his front pocket. With a practiced motion, he signs them.

He sighs deeply. “Shaw, since I’m not your parent, I shouldn’t be teaching you anything.”

Shaw had just closed his pencil box with a “pa”. Hearing his mentor sigh, he takes out his exercise books from his bag again, before returning to a state of studying. “All right, all right, I know what you’re going to say…”

“I won’t talk about big life lessons. Your school teacher would have talked about it more than I have. From today onwards, apart from the homework your teacher has given you, you are to write two pages worth of math questions, and copy a short essay every day. Only after you’re done will I teach you my craft.” He stands up, holding a tea cup and walking towards Shaw. “Whether you agree or not, give me an exact answer.”

Shaw doesn’t make a sound but merely furrows his eyebrows.

The shopkeeper laughs. “Just look at your capabilities - even a math question can stump you. If you can’t handle this small difficulty, how can you think of yielding something big?”

“I’ve never found math difficult. I simply don’t like math.” Shaw sets aside his exercise paper and takes out a brand new sheet. “Next time, I’ll let you sign an exam script that has 100 marks.”

“Wow, look who’s ambitious.”  

“Hmph, this is nothing.”

~

[Chapter 3: After School]

There is only one class on Wednesday afternoon. After school, Shaw carries his bag and runs towards the shop.

Once he enters, he sees his mentor eating some kind of medicine – small white and yellow pills in his palm.

“Why are you here at this time? Oh it’s… I forgot, it’s Wednesday today.” The shopkeeper talks while he turns around to walk into the kitchen. “Put down your bag and wash your hands. I bought a big watermelon!”

Shaw knows the old man has high blood pressure, some heart issues… He doesn’t have a concept of these things, but knows that it isn’t something good.

Without a sound, he puts his bag down and takes out his exercise books and practice questions.

“Don’t rush to do your homework, come eat some watermelon first.” The shopkeeper puts half a watermelon into Shaw’s arms and guides him to the outside of the store, bringing two small stools over for them to sit.

The watermelon, which was just taken out of the fridge, glistens with water droplets. The red flesh has a spoon stuck in it. Shaw scoops a big chunk from the middle. It’s very sweet.

The shopkeeper is also holding half a watermelon, but eats very slowly. Noticing Shaw staring at him, he sighs and shakes his head. “I’m old, so I can’t just eat these cold things…”

While saying this, he looks towards the drawer inside the store. “Your mentor is 62 this year.”

“When people become old, they love to talk about reason. They don’t want you to walk the crooked path they have because it’s a waste of time. You’re still young, so you think you have a lot of time to spare, so you don’t notice. I want to teach you that this is wrong. You need to spend the time of walking down a crooked path to do other things.”

After saying this, he points towards the whole street lined with antique shops. “You can’t just look at these. Learning calligraphy and painting today, and tomorrow jade, and thinking you’re living a serious life. Spending months and years to take care of this palm-sized shop – You can’t live like this. You are my disciple, and I will teach you all my skills. But apart from this, you still have to learn other things. Whatever you can learn, learn it all, and learn it well.

“You have to look at the big world, craft a career, aim higher, be more forward looking…”

He looks at Shaw affectionately. “Put in more effort, learn all my skills, and then get out of here!”

Shaw turns towards the watermelon and lets out a glum “humph”. “You’re old, but I’m still young. I still can’t differentiate plus minus multiply and divide. You’re old so you should be the one putting in more effort to live for a long time, so I can take my time to learn all these things.”

It’s summer, so the night comes late. The clock already signals the time as 6pm, but the light has not yet dispersed.

Shaw puts a brush back into the drawer, takes off his gloves and wipes the sweat off his forehead. “Old man, I’m hungry. Why not let me join you for dinner?”

In the kitchen, the shopkeeper is washing vegetables. He takes out a small box from the fridge, pulls back the curtains and returns to the shop.

“I didn’t cook your portion, but you can eat this if you’re hungry.” He removes the cover of the small paper box, and Shaw’s eyes widen.

“What, you think I wouldn’t remember your birthday?” The shopkeeper retrieves a cake from the paper box, and removes the plastic surrounding it. “Once you’re done eating, go home quickly!”

Shaw takes a spoon, muttering in a small voice, “It doesn’t matter if I go home late anyway.”

“Today is different. A child’s birthday is the same day as a mother’s suffering… But you’re too young and still can’t understand this. On other days it’s fine, but today is different…” The shopkeeper holds up his tea cup and goes to the counter.

[Note: The actual phrase is: “儿子生日母亲的苦日”, which doesn’t have a direct English translation. The meaning is that the day a child is born is also the day the mother suffers in childbirth to bring him into the world]

“I don’t know why adults don’t have an issue with you hanging out here all the time. But I can tell that you wear clean clothes every day, and that your shoes are polished. These are because of your parents. Let this old man add one line of reason – if you’re angry with your parents, you’ll regret it eventually.”

Shaw lowers his head, biting the spoon and says evasively, “No one’s angry with them.”

“You don’t call this being angry? It’s not that I’m picking on you, but boys should manage their tempers better. If you’re unhappy, you have to say it straight out, don’t just keep it boiling in your heart without a sound and then wait for someone to come coddle you. With your personality, in future, you’ll become a person who never speaks from the heart. Even when you’re with someone you like, you’d put on a front – That wouldn’t be good.”

“Old man, what are you thinking all day long?” Shaw retorts, not bothering to clean his mouth which has been dirtied with cream. “I will never have someone I like. I play soccer with a few guys in class, and they spend the entire day talking about who they like. It’s so annoying.”

The shopkeeper laughs at how Shaw says this with an air of righteousness. “Which is why I say you’re still young.”

Shaw digs into his cake and lets out a “hmph”. “I’m not young. I just haven’t grown taller.”

The shopkeeper sips his tea. “Guys do take longer to grow. Maybe you’ll be taller than me in two years.”

“Two years is way too long,” the plastic spoon dangles from Shaw’s mouth. “The best thing would be to wake up one day and suddenly be taller. Mm… I want to grow to this height. No.”

He stands on a chair, using his hands to gesture until he is satisfied. “At least here.”

The shopkeeper responds with a sweeping gaze, “That’s 180cm though.”

“180cm is very good.” Shaw sits back on the chair contentedly. “I’ll make a wish to grow to 180cm.”

~

[Chapter 5: Fate]

The shopkeeper looks at the clock on the wall, and slowly puts down his teacup.

“Since it’s your birthday, I’ll read your fortune.” He pulls open the drawer and takes out three old copper coins.

Shaw finishes up the last bite of cake and throws the packaging into a bin. “You’ve already read my fortune many times and the results are always the same. Yet you’re doing it again?”

The shopkeeper looks slightly down, but his voice remains calm. “I have nothing else to do anyway.”

The first throw, one heads and two tails.

The second throw, one heads and two tails.

The third throw, two heads and one tails.

…It’s really not much different from the last reading.

The shopkeeper shakes his head, his hand ready for the fourth throw. The copper coins fall on the table with a jingle, and a combination which has never been seen before appears – all three are negative.

“Wow, there’s a change!” The shopkeeper says in a higher pitch than usual.

In the middle of downing his drink, Shaw almost falls off his chair at the shopkeeper’s sudden outburst.

The jingles from the copper coins continue. The final two throws are no longer the same ones as before.

Shaw looks at the coins. “What does this mean?”

“It means that in the future, you will definitely not always be alone.” The shopkeeper rubs Shaw’s head with a bright smile on his face. “I was always worried about what would happen to you, with such a stubborn personality, if I weren’t around anymore…”

“Of course I wouldn’t always be alone. I’m not alone now.”

Shaw puts the three copper coins in his hands, looking like he doesn’t take the reading to heart – He has his family, pretty good friends, a few friends from the neighbouring class who buy tidbits with him. His life will continue this way.

Even though it’s a little boring, but he wouldn’t be alone.

“Also, old man, you won’t have any problems, and will definitely live for a very long time.”

Shaw speaks, and softly repeats the sentence, “You will definitely live for a very long time.”

The dusk has begun to settle outside. The shopkeeper holds the copper coins between his fingers, and gently sighs. “That’s why I say you’re still young.”

~

[Chapter 6: Birthday Present]

After packing his bag, Shaw looks at the clock on the wall – he should reach home by 7pm, just in time for dinner.

“You’re leaving already? You don’t want your birthday gift?”

The shopkeeper appears from behind the counter, tossing his gaze to the cupboard. “It’s been there for a whole day and you still haven’t found it yet.”

Usually displaying antiques, the drawer now has within it a box wrapped in colourful paper. Shaw curiously walks over and rips off the packaging, revealing a small wooden box.

A dark brown Rosewood bracelet rests in his hand.

In his eyes, this is something only an adult can have.

At his age, he would have received books, stationery, toys or models – none of which he likes.

He is always treated like a child, but he has grown up since a long time ago.

“This bracelet isn’t something expensive, it isn’t that much of an antique, but it is made of quality Rosewood.”

“If you’re bored, you can play with this, and learn to manage your temperament. You’re still young, so it’s fine if you’re still impatient and stubborn. But if you continue with this little attitude of yours, you’d lose out eventually.”

“In this line of work, you need to have patience. One, only when you manage your emotions would you remain focused. Two, good things come to those who wait.”

“The change in your life is also something you will have to wait for.”

These words completely fly over Shaw’s head. He puts the bracelet onto this wrist, coils it around multiple times until it can stay on.

“In future, no matter what you face, you have to be calm, and be patient.” The shopkeeper gently taps Shaw’s head, and frowns. “Have you committed all this to memory?”

Shaw rubs his head, his eyes still trained on his present, completely engrossed with it. “Ahh – yes I remember, I remember!”

“What do you remember?”

“Remember… that I have to hurry home for dinner!” Shaw turns around and grabs his bag, disappearing out of the shop. Before that, he raises the hand that dons the bracelet and waves.

The stars flicker, and the light is reflected in Shaw’s eyes. His eyes are smiling.

[shutupandshipit]

Friends in a Storm - Oneshot

Summary:  At the end of it all, the sky was always bluest after a storm.

.....

Or where Izuku is afraid of storms and Katsuki isn't.

Pairing: Bakudeku

Rating: T (just for language mostly)

Author’s Note: So, I recently went through the first hurricane of my life. Our good old Cat 2 Hurricane Sally. I'm wasn’t too far from where the eye hit, and we got a fair bit of damage done to us, but nothing too severe. It was really interesting. I don't normally get anxious during storm (I actually really love them, they make me feel alive), but there was a moment when I was anxiously staring out the window and just had the thought, "This would be a lot nicer if I had someone's hand to hold." That feeling is what spurned the birth of this fic.

I hope you guys like it even though it's just a piddly little one-shot. If not, I'll enjoy it enough for all of us.

Katsuki jumped as thunder rolled over the dorms. Immediately following, something slammed into the side, rattling the entire building. The first thought that sprang to mind was that someone wandering around outside had gotten thrown into their dorm, which he dismissed as ridiculous.

Snarling, he stalked to the balcony door, but simply glared at it. He couldn't see through the glass at the moment anyway.

The sky had been dark and threatening to crack apart for days before the wind finally kicked up. It had been more than a decade since Musutafu had gotten hit with a typhoon, not such a strong one at least. The city wasn't really prepared even though they had seen it brewing on the horizon. The city got hit regularly from May to October by tropical depressions and storms, but a Category 2 typhoon? Not so much. Most of their parents hadn't been through such a strong storm before.

Massive flooding and minor building damage had been predicted with possible power and water outages.

That Monday, they'd returned from lunch and immediately been dismissed back to the dorms with a blunt, “If there's something you can't live without for the next three days, get it now. You won't be able to go anywhere by tonight.” Then Aizawa left to go help the other teachers prepare the rest of the buildings and faculty living quarters.

No matter their differences, when class 3-A needed to come together, they did. All together, they fortified the dorm windows and doors with steel plates Yaoyorozu made. Those with more strength based quirks or with strength applications (Katsuki, Izuku, Kirishima, Sato, Shouji, and Tokoyami with Dark Shadow) heaved around the plates in teams of two. Uraraka and Sero worked together to lift the plates to the upper story windows and leverage them in place. Mineta made himself useful by plugging up any possible holes around the plates and helping them stick better. The others with bodies and quirks less suited to manual labor booked it to the store to stock up on water, candles, snacks and food that didn't have to be cooked or only needed hot water. When they returned, everyone created a line to stack sand bags around the first floor just in case they were unlucky enough to get flooded.

By the time they were done, the rain had begun to fall and wind ripped harshly at their clothing. Dorm 3-A had been transformed into a literal fortress. Nothing would be able to knock it down.

Except maybe a Cat 2 typhoon.

Again, something slammed into the dorms, right into the steel plate over his balcony door. Storms didn't make Katsuki nervous normally, but anxiety pooled in his stomach from the simple fact that he couldn't see what was going on outside. And if he was anxious, he knew there was a specific nerd probably pissing himself at the moment.

Huffing, Katsuki stalked to his door. Izuku had never liked storms as a kid, and still didn't like them now. He had walked in on Izuku with a blanket over his head, sobbing as he tried to lose himself in hero videos more times than he cared to remember. And those had been with minor storms. Something like this...

Another crash jolted him into action.

Ripping opening his bedroom door, he stalked through the halls. He wasn't sleeping anyway. He'd originally retired to his room because the rest of the class had insisted on having a storm party in the common room and they were bound to be loud as fuck. He'd been tired, but there was no reason to avoid them when he wouldn't be able to sleep with a stomach full of snakes. Or with the now blooming worry over how Izuku was handling it.

When he got to the common room, he had to take a moment to survey the absolute disaster scene that the space had become. Blankets were strung up from wall to wall, creating forts over the couches and tables. The center of the common room had become a tent city in just a few hours. Candles sat on every available surface, some already lit in anticipation of the power going out, some waiting patiently for their time to burn. Bowls of popcorn and cans of soda littered the area. Multiple rounds of Rummy, Poker and simpler card games were going on all at once. The television fizzed static, a beacon over them all.

Crouching beside Kirishima with a scowl, he cut his eyes over his classmates looking for green curls. There were none. There wasn't even a lump of blankets large enough to plausibly be the nerd.

“Where's Deku?” he growled, and Kirishima jerked towards him in surprise.

“Man, I didn't even realize you were there.” He sighed, pressing a hand to his chest. It took him a moment of steadying breaths to register the question. “Oh, Mido? I don't know. Said he was going to study or something. Right, Mina?” He elbowed Mina to get her attention.

The most annoying game of telephone ensued until, from across the fort, Ochako called, “He said he wasn't feeling well so he went upstairs to rest.”

“Idiot,” Katsuki scoffed and stood again. No one called after him as he walked back towards the stairs -no fucking way he was getting stuck in the elevators if the power went out-.

Izuku had no right to call Katsuki stubborn when his prideful ass couldn't even admit that he was scared to his friends. Not that Katsuki had any room to talk, but Izuku liked to pretend they weren't similar just as much as Katsuki did.

As soon as he stopped in front of Izuku's door, the lights flickered. A quiet whimper sounded in the room, and Katsuki huffed a sigh.

He and Izuku were what some would call friends now. Friends of a sort. Friends that sometimes did intimate things that 'just friends' weren't supposed to do. They still struggled every day with what had been happening between them for years. And they weren't the kind of friends who did the whole touchy feely comfort thing. Their form of comfort was argument, struggle, beating each other to a pulp. Still, Katsuki always found himself at Izuku's door when he knew the nerd was having a hard time, and vice versa. The only difference this time was that he couldn't just drag Izuku to the training fields for a sparring session.

Katsuki knocked lightly on the door so he wouldn't startle Izuku, but he heard a squeak anyway. “Deku, open the door.”

There was a scuffle from inside the room, and slowly, the door cracked for Izuku to peak out at him. Green eyes stared back, bloodshot and red rimmed. Nose just a cherry on his face. “Kacchan?”

“Let me in the room, nerd. You're just going to leave me out here?”

“N-no,” Izuku stammered before stepping back and opening the door enough for Katsuki to slip in. Rubbing at his arms through a hoodie that suspiciously looked like the one Katsuki thought he'd misplaced several weeks ago, he asked, “Do you need something?” He wouldn't lift his head, avoiding Katsuki's eyes as he shuffled back to his nest of a bed. The remnants of a cocoon was crumpled in the middle.

“No.” Katsuki leaned against Izuku's desk, watching as he clambered back onto his bed. “Came to check on you since you weren't downstairs.”

“I'm fine.” Mumbled absolutely unconvincingly under his breath.

“Sure you are, nerd. You're always peachy during a storm.” Overhead, the lights flickered as thunder rolled and the building shook. Off, on, off, on, off, on and off again. This time, they stayed off. A stifled whimper floated across the room towards Katsuki, only making his already clenching stomach clench harder. Rolling his eyes, he pushed away from the desk. “You're such a dirty liar, Deku.”

“Leave me alone, Kacchan,” Izuku sniffled.

Katsuki didn't move, but still said, “Fine. I'll just leave then.”

Thunder rolled. Wind howled. Something crashed against the steel plates outside on Deku's balcony, and then stayed to do it over and over again.

“Wait!” Deku shouted into the blackness around them. “I'm sorry. Don't leave. Please.”

Stepping to the bed, Katsuki sank a knee into the edge and grabbed the hand he could feel outstretched towards him. “I was only joking, dumbass, I'm not actually going anywhere. Chill.”

“How am I supposed to 'chill' when we could die tonight?” Izuku's breath was a rapid staccato of pants, fingers forming fists in the front of Katsuki's shirt. “Did you know that a typhoon is essentially just another name for a hurricane? They all do the same thing and are made the same way, but just develop in a different part of the world. They can dump more than twenty inches of rain. Storm serge can rise up to six feet. Not to mention the wind strength just for a Category 1. A Cat 2 can be upwards of-”

Katsuki gently placed his palm over Izuku's mouth, silencing him. He could see Izuku now, his eyes having adjusted to darkness. He could see the wideness of his eyes, whites more visible than usual and tears spilling over his lashes. An animal terrified. “Izuku,” he said sternly, but soft around the edges, “You're freaking out. You're going to pass out if you don't get your breathing under control. We're going to be fine. The dorms are made of pure concrete with a solid structure, and the typhoon isn't strong enough to even rip the roof off. Do you understand? This is just your fear talking. Are you going to let your fear control you?”

Prying Katsuki's fingers from his mouth, Izuku whispered, “Fear is a good thing. It keeps you alive.”

“Not right now. Fear is good in a battle. On the job as a hero. Right now, it's just driving you up a fucking wall.”

Katsuki equally was and wasn't expecting when Izuku pressed their mouths together. Izuku was breathless before the kiss, and he was only more breathless during the kiss as he tried to suck away Katsuki's breath instead. Their tongues moved slowly against each other, scorching hot and slick.

When Izuku pulled away again, he was still panting, but slower this time.

“What was that for?” Katsuki asked softly, carding his fingers through Izuku's messy curls with one hand and cupping the side of his neck with another. He'd been pulled further onto the bed while they kissed, and Izuku had found a home in his lap. He kissed several stray tears from Izuku's cheeks.

This was the intimate stuff Katsuki was talking about. The kisses. The softness of voices. Hands in hair and hands on skin. Falling into each other over and over again because they didn't know any better. Or maybe they did know better, and just didn't care to heed the warning.

“I needed to stop thinking.” Izuku's eyes were closed, his breathing slowing to something more normal. With legs on either side of Katsuki's waist, he cupped the hand on his neck with his own and leaned his forehead against Katsuki's collarbone. “And the only thing that makes me stop thinking better than fighting you is kissing you.”

“So you're just using me then, nerd?”

Izuku hummed a non-reply, leaning into Katsuki's warm hand.

“Well, that's fine.” Pressing his mouth into the top of Izuku's head, he whispered, “You can use me all you want, as much as you want. Anytime. Any place.”

“Pinky promise?”

“We're not five anymore. I'm not making a shitty pinky promise with you.”

Izuku laughed, and turned his lips back up for another kiss.

They fell into each other just like they always did, letting that all encompassing fire consume them from the inside out. Their classmates didn't understand them which was fine because they didn't understand themselves most of the time. They were the rise and fall of a stormy sea. The hungry flames of a forest fire. The raging winds and cutting rain of a typhoon.

But what people always forgot -and sometimes they forgot too- was that seas always calmed and rain dried up and wind slowed and fires ran out of kindling.

At the end of it all, the sky was always bluest after a storm.

…..

Katsuki hadn't expected them to fall asleep, all tangled up in each other, with the typhoon outside and what he would later come to find out was a piece of the gutter slapping against the steel plate. So, he definitely wasn't expecting to wake up to shuffling footsteps and weak candle light and giggling whispers.

With an arm over his eyes, he couldn't tell how many of his and Izuku's dumbass friends were in the room, but he knew it was too many. Just one of them would have been too many.

“Get the fuck out,” he growled lowly.

“Don't be like that, Kacchan,” Kaminari whispered jovially, “We just wanted to come check on you.”

“Well, you've done that. Now get the fuck out. Don't you have something better to do?”

“No, the storm is still going, power is still out and we got bored of games. You and Izuku weren't back, so we figured this would be a good alternative.” Mina's voice was chipper and far too loud for the bundle sleeping on Katsuki's arm.

He moved his arm just barely out of the way to glare at the assembled group; Kirishima, Mina, Sero, Kaminari, Shinsou, Jirou, Yaoyorozu, Ochako, Iida and lastly Todoroki. Half the fucking class was currently standing in Izuku's room like a bunch of dodos with a death wish.

Suddenly, Katsuki was very aware of his state of undress, and thankful Izuku hadn't hogged all of the sheets like he normally would. “Well, it was a terrible alternative. Find something else to go do before I blast every single one of you out into that storm to get thrown around.”

“Like a roller coaster. Sounds like fun,” Kirishima said, shit-eating grin plastered to his face. When Katsuki groaned, he laughed. Best friend that he was, he turned to herd the others out. “Okay, I think that's enough. Let them sleep or whatever it was they were doing. Who has whiteboard markers? Let's go play tic-tac-toe on the fridge.”

“We will absolutely not-”

Kirishima closed the door, silencing both the bereft groans of their classmates and Iida's reprimand.

Breath fluttered across the side of Katsuki's neck, closer than before, and he startled.

“Thanks for staying with me,” Izuku mumbled into his skin, closing the small distance between them. His eyes were still closed, voice soft with sleep. “You didn't have to. Storms are easier with another person though. I don't think they were meant to be gone through alone. Does that make sense?”

“Absolutely not.” Katsuki was lying, and Izuku knew as he huffed out a laugh.

“Can we go on a hike after this is done? The sky is always bluer after a storm.”

A butterfly fluttered against Katsuki's breastbone, just the lightest brush of wings, at his thoughts in Izuku's mouth. He hummed, an agreement to both the question and statement, and pulled Izuku flush against his body.

[thestarwrites]

All Right, All Might: Ch. 7

Word Count: 3,128

Rating: PG

Painting: Toshinori Yagi X FemOC

The UA Guidance Counselor, a quirk user with Pathokenesis, is shocked to find out her personal hero All Might is coming to be a teacher. The road they walk as a parallel starts to merge and there’s no telling what could happen. With the attack at the USJ over, what becomes of the friendship between Patho and All Might?

CHAPTER SEVEN: Don’t push your limits, Toshinori

“Hello miss, I’m Naomasa Tsukauchi,” he held out his hand to the woman, “its nice to meet you in person, Patho, but I wish it were under better circumstances.”

The woman shook his hand, “You… know of me?”

“Well of course I do, you’re a pro hero - not to mention Toshinori is my best friend.”

She blinked a few times, “Best friend— ah- listen, I don’t mean to be… but what about the kids?”

He nodded, “The rest of the force is heading over to the USJ now, but I wanted to ask you to accompany me to the USJ, I know you’re the guidance counselor. And I have some questions since you’re here.”

“Sure- sure of course Detective,” She blinked a few times again, walking with him to his cruiser and getting into the passenger seat - how could Toshinori have a best friend on the police force and not tell her?

He smiled warmly, trying to put her at ease, holding a hand to her arm, “Please, call me Tsukauchi.”

She nodded again, “What do you need to know, Tsukauchi?”

They started speeding toward the USJ campus, “How much do you know about what happened?”

“Not much, I was with Toshinori this morning- he was late to work, he — ah, he was…”

Tsukauchi gave a small smile, “I know about him, and One for All - you can talk freely with me, Keri.”

“O-oh,” she wet her lips and blushed, “He used too much of his strength, and Nezu had come into my office to give him a lecture. He was supposed to be at the USJ earlier… when I went wandering around wasting time I went out for a walk and that’s when young Tenya Ida ran up and alerted me to the situation. I didn’t get much out of him it all happened too fast.” Turning her head she saw a few ambulances rush by, eyebrows knitting together in panic.

“I wanted you to accompany me to bring some comfort to the kids.”

“Of course,” She watched as another ambulance sped by, “Do you know anything yet?”

“Not yet.”

She nodded, wringing her hands together, trying to compose herself.

The car skidded up to the USJ and both adults got out of the car. Keri ran over to where the kids had been gathered, her forehead and body already glowing, “Are you all alright!?” She called out.

“Miss Chairo!” Ochaco gasped, “Y-yeah we’re mostly all okay—“

“Where’s Tenya?” She said softly. Ochaco pointed, he looked to be fine, he was talking to Tsukauchi at the moment she sighed, “I’m the one who found Tenya first, I wanted to know he made it back here alright with the teachers.”

Keri made her rounds with the students, giving them all supportive touches and kind words — well, all except to Katsuki who she told he did a great job instead. But she could tell even he was shaken up, he didn’t use his usual insults.

Tsukauchi finally came over with the list of students, going over each one, “Everyone seems to be here, and uninjured.”

“What about Mister Aizawa?!” The girl named Tsu jumped forward.

“And Thirteen!?” Mina, stood forward to ask as well.

“And Deku!?”

“Yes— Midoriya—“ Ida chimed in.

Keri looked up at Tsukauchi, wanting to know the answers as well.

“Aizawa is in the hospital now, no brain damage apparent, but his bones in his arms are splintered and one of his eye-sockets is also shattered… we don’t know how his vision will heal in his recovery. As for Thirteen - apart from some lacerations on her back, she’ll make a full recovery,” the detective paused a moment, “Oh— Izuku, he is in Recovery Girl’s office, that should be all the care he needs, and he’ll be good as new.”

“What about All Might?” Keri’s voice cooed gently.

Tsukauchi smiled a little, “He’s in the nurses office as well, he’ll be fine.” The kids all breathed a sigh of relief, “Now, I’m going to head to the main campus, I want to speak with All Might — Patho, can you handle everything here?”

She nodded, “Of course, Tsukauchi.” Turning to all of the kids she gave a small smile, “Come on, lets all get back on the bus and head back to the school, I’m sure you’re all exhausted and ready to call it a day…”

—————

Toshinori clutched his fist and smiled, “Mark my words, these kids are going to be GREAT heroes...”

Deku beamed, wiping his eyes on his arm, he was about to say something else to the detective, until…

“Toshi!?” A woman’s voice, full of concern rang through the doorway as it almost burst open. Tears streamed down her face as she stood there looking in at her coworker covered in bandages, she was finally able at the end of this long day to come and see him. She had been so worried- even though she knew he was alright. She had been distracted with taking charge of the kids and the end of the school day to seek him out yet.

Recovery Girl looked up, “Keri—! Come now-  there’s no need to burst in here like that! Keep your voice down please,” She sighed, shaking her head. She knew she would be seeing Patho sooner or later, All Might was here, and injured after all.

There was no stopping her, she rushed to his bedside and under the surprised glances of the three others in the room, Keri sobbed as she collapsed by the side of him, crying in his lap, “Oh Toshinori— thank god you’re okay!! I was so worried!”

For a moment he was floored- no one had ever acted like this for him before. He felt the familiar nagging feeling bubble up in his chest as he gently pulled up her chin, ‘Hey.. hey… come here,” He helped her to her feet and wrapped his arms around her crying form. She was so warm, so kind, so concerned- just for him. With her, he could always find a reason to smile, “Hey now...” he lifted her chin once more and wiped tears from her cheek with his other hand, “What’s with the waterworks now, Ree? This old man’s just fine...”

She looked at him with a trembling lip, “I-I’m sorry I— Tsukauchi said you were here and you were injured... I got here as soon as I possibly could!”

“It’s okay, it’s okay Keri I promise.” He pulled her into another hug, “I’m alright, I’m right here. You can’t get rid of me that easy.”

Recovery Girl cleared her throat, Tsukauchi turned to speak to her in the other room, but Deku, who was bed-bound for the time being, watched as the two people he trusted most, embraced. His eyebrows knitted for a moment as he realized that All Might was gingerly stroking her hair and whispering in her ear. As the two adults shared in this intimate moment, he realized that their bond was more than friendship.

All Might, his mentor, whether he knew it or not- loved the woman in his arms.

Izuku’s highly logical skills of observation had finally put the pieces together. All Might kept insisting they were friends. Yet, he always had his hands on her, or his body tilted toward her. She knew everything about him, they were often together. They ate lunch together during break. Whenever his phone rang, and it was her, he grinned. He always remembered to bring her little snacks she liked to school. These were all the behaviors of a devoted boyfriend in Izuku’s mind.

The boy stared at Patho and All Might as they continued to embrace. He hummed gently and looked out the window, had they been secretly together all this time?

“Ree... I know you’re worried, but shouldn’t you be consoling the kids? They need it more than I do—“

She shook her head, “I’ve been substituting for Aizawa for the rest of the day, helping the kids and getting them set to change and get some food and get home. I told Nezu I’m going to start their counseling tomorrow, besides I— I couldn’t focus anymore on anything without seeing you Toshi.”

All Might blushed fiercely and he pushed her hair back, “I don’t deserve how much you care...”

Keri frowned, “You deserve it more than most. Besides... you’re my— best friend.” Izuku noticed there was a hesitation in her voice— she had to love All Might.

Sighing he smiled in defeat and wiped her cheeks again, “You’re my best friend too, but I’m gonna need you to pull it together okay? Young Midoriya shouldn’t see his guidance counselor crying.” He smirked, deflecting.

Blushing she swatted All Might’s hands away as she wiped her face and went over to Deku’s bed, “How are you doing, Izuku?? I’m so so happy you’re alright.” She smiled and Deku immediately felt a calming warmth over him.

“Im okay Miss Chairo, promise.”  He gave a sleepy smile, “Don’t worry about us, we’re heroes! Right, All Might??”

“That’s right, young Midoriya!” He grinned.

Patho let out an exasperated sigh and stroked Deku’s hair back, “You two are going to give me a nervous breakdown, you know that? You’ve been doing it for months now, and with your track record, it will probably get worse.”

The three of them laughed and carried on for a while longer before Patho was told she needed to let Deku get some rest so he could go home in a bit. She kissed Izuku on the top of his head and as she left, he saw her and All Might brush fingers.

Patho spoke quietly to Recovery Girl and then left with Tsukauchi.

All might watched her leave before laying back down with a grunt.

——

Tsukauchi looked over to her once they were outside, and he took a deep breath, “So… how long have you been in love with Toshinori?”

Her cheeks flushed a bright red, her body glowing pink instantly as she looked up, “Tsukauchi—! W-we just met— That’s a really forward question!”

He shrugged, “He’s my best friend, and he’s never talked to me to a woman before you. I see the way you look at him and tend after him. He even talks about how you make sure he eats and sleeps regularly - and how you are trying to make him realize his weaker form is beautiful as it is…” He wet his lips, “Something is going on.”

“So what is this conversation exactly…? A dissuasion?”

He chuckled, “No of course not… Toshinori needs someone to make him take care of himself, and to care for him the way he cares for others… no matter what comes of you two, I’m thankful you’ve been looking out for our number one hero, Keri.”

She nodded and smiled, “I’ve been in love with him since the day I first saw him when I was six years old… but a lot of people love him.”

“You know… I didn’t expect such deflection from a therapist.” Tsukauchi smirked.

Keri rolled her eyes, blushing, “Fine. He asked me to dinner the second day we met, and he’s just… he’s so much more than All Might. Not that All Might isn’t amazing! But… Toshinori… he’s so,” she paused for a second and felt her throat tighten, “He’s warm, and he’s generous, and he believes in a better future. Even when he’s melancholy he still has a childlike wonder!  I even think it’s funny how much he loves American movies and TV…”

Tsukauchi smiled brighter, “Yep. He needs someone like you.”

Keri looked up and just smiled a little, “Don’t say anything to Toshi?”

“Don’t worry, I’m not a tattletale.” He laughed and sighed, “He’ll probably be coming down soon, maybe he’ll need a calming presence when he does.” He winked and walked off toward his car with a wave, “Take care Keri.”

“Bye, Tsukauchi! Take care!” She waved and took a deep breath, pushing her long hair back, looking up to where the recovery office was before taking a seat on the front steps of the school.

——

Deku looked over and bit his lip, “All Might?” When he looked over, Deku cleared his throat, “Um... are you and.... Miss Chairo- dating?”

“Huh?!” The pro shot back up, “No— no? No! No...” he exhausted tones of voice before blushing and coughing up some blood, “She’s my friend! That’s all, young Modoriya. She’s a really, really good friend.”

He swallowed, “Oh… well okay, it’s just, you two are always together, and when you aren’t you’re always in contact. And you... introduced me to her before the entry exam…”

“BECAUSE SHE’S A GREAT ALLY IZUKU.” His cheeks were redder.

“No I know she is! She’s a great person! When we talk she’s always kind and helpful. I just.... the way you are together, and how she knows your secret, and about me… I just thought maybe it was a secret relationship?”

He pushed his hair back, “A-ah yes, well— No- no we’re friends! Besides I’m old enough to be her father so that’s just… ridiculous.” He laughed it off.

“All Might?” Recovery Girl came back into the room, “You should be healed enough to head home and rest- Izuku, it’ll be a couple more hours for your legs, dear.”

Toshinori nodded and slowly got out of bed, giving a manly thumbs up to Deku before he returned it with a smile. He took a deep breath, all the students should be gone by now.

Walking out of the front door in his small might form, he looked up at the sunset in the sky, the echo of Midoriya’s words in his ears; are you and Miss Chairo dating? He had not been the first to ask him a question like that. Maybe… maybe there could be something.

“Hey,” A familiar female voice called out softly, “Taking a risk walking out here looking like that, huh?”

Toshinori turned abruptly and then smiled in surprise, “Hey, Ree. Can’t be helped, I got an empty tank… What are you doing here?”

“I stuck around in case you got released,” she blushed, “I needed to be with you.”

Without thinking, he crossed to her and pulled her close, a sigh of relief leaving his lips, “I need to be with you right now, too.” He whispered.

“Come home with me tonight, you need to sleep in a real bed instead of that horrible futon you own for some God forsaken reason. Besides, then I can make sure you’re actually taking care of yourself instead of eating junk food and overdoing it.” She huffed.

Grinning he took a moment to cherish this. Maybe... maybe he did sort of love her. Not sort of. He did. He loved her.

Keri buried her face into his small but firm chest. Her heart ached to be like this always. The strangest thing was that, after today, she was even more attracted to him when he was small might. His heroic qualities shined through his blue eyes, his voice was like rough silk, so unsure of himself and sure about everything at once, “Gonna answer me?”

Toshinori smiled, “I accept.”

——

The walk back to her apartment near campus was a quiet one. After a few blocks she cleared her throat, “Toshi… you know that you— can’t keep going like this.”

He knit his brows together and looked over, there was a pit in his stomach, “What? Going like what?”

“You’re not strong enough to keep jumping in front of everyone like this anymore! First this morning draining all your energy - then, God, Toshi, this afternoon?”  

“Keri, come on now,” His tone was soft and he turned his body to face her.

“No! You have to listen to me!” She stopped on the sidewalk and her hands flew up to her eyes, she was desperately trying to hide her tears from him, rub them away, she’d already cried too much today, “Your heart has never faltered, never, not once! You are good, and kind, and honest, and true- but your body, Toshi, your body is faltering!” She let out a choked sob, “I can’t lose you!” She blurted out.

“Hey, hey—“ he swiftly came to her and wrapped his bandaged limbs around her, holding her close, he felt terribly that he was causing her so much pain. This reminded him exactly why he never got married or into a committed relationship. Stroking her hair she cried into his baggy shirt, his own eyes pricked with tears as she began to glow pink. He could feel her sorrow, “Please- please, baby, don’t cry...” he cooed softly. The pet name failing to reach either person’s brain, “I’m just fine... I promise..”

“THIS time,” she looked up at him, cheeks red, long hair sticking to her tear stained face, “THIS time you’re fine! What about next time! Or, or the time after that!”

All Might took a deep breath, “Listen to me Keri. Please? I need to do what I’m meant to do. You need to understand that, you need to. To /know/ that I /need/ to be this,” Pushing her hair aside he caught her chin to tilt her to look at him, “I was like Midoriya,” he admitted, “I was born without a quirk. And eventually the power I passed down /will/ leave me. And I /will/ be a quirkless, scrawny, old man. You gotta understand, I /gotta/ be All Might for as long as I’m able to be. I have to protect those kids, I have to protect Japan, I have to protect you, Keri. Until Izuku is ready,” He took a shaky breath, “Do you understand?”

The light of the setting sun danced across his features. He looked like a towering sunflower in the wind. She thought about what she had admitted to his friend Tsukauchi. She couldn’t be selfish enough to try to derail his life’s passion for her feelings. Taking her own shaking breath she nodded, “I understand.”

“Things will be different one day,” he started, “And when they are— when they are we can talk about it then.” He picked up her hand and kissed the back of it tenderly.

Keri wasn’t sure what that meant, but it was enough. She gave him a nod and took his large hand in her own, holding it to her cheek, a thumb came to brush a tear from her cheek. Turning into his touch she kissed his palm, “Come on, let’s go home, I’ll cook something for you.”

“Home. That sounds, really nice.” When she pulled his hand from her face, he held firm to her hand as they continued the final few blocks to her apartment, lacing their fingers together.

[unproduciblesmackdown]

another prompt saga

April 8th: Talk about friendship. How important are friends to you? Do you find it hard to make and maintain friendships? Are your friends generally supportive? Is there anything about having friends that confuses you?

another big question for me to go on plenty of tangents lol

well i haven't often had friends Really, there's like, being amicable with classmates, being friends with people While We're At School Together, being friendly acquaintances lmfao, or like, the occasional "yeah ig we're sort of friends, not exactly very close tho" lol and then rarely where yeah i'd call someone a close friend, although naturally, it's not like i completely discount those other, less close relationships. and, even more so, not like overall i'm like "oh friendship? yeah that's pretty frivolous and unimportant and it's just something mildly entertaining vs the Real Shit & True Emotional Support & Love of your biological family and romantic soulmate" lol, Friends Are Important and it's entirely serious 2 me

also natch i Do find it hard to make and maintain friendships lol. goes back to like, preschool and being around a bunch of age peers regularly for the first time, where my "best friend" defaulted to this one person who sought out interacting with me when i was otherwise doing my own thing during preschool recess, and i was pretty enthused about getting invited to a bday party one kid invited a bunch of us to, because that was like, a Friend thing, and a fun social thing, and i was included.....that i Do remember just feeling like, socially, everyone else was playing a game i didn't know the rules to and so couldn't expect to participate and, furthermore, i ought to stay out of the way of whatever everyone else was doing, where i Did often choose to do stuff by myself, but it's like, you know, the way "autistic" is even used figuratively (which. i have a lot of disdain for) because it's like oh the defining thing really is that telltale "doesn't want to interact with other people or form relationships, probably because also they have no feelings / normal and intrinsic qualities of Humanity" but it's like, if you pay any attention or god forbid ask autistic people about their own experiences, sure everyone has their own varying social approach and anyone might not always be raring to be the center of the party or Not want to do their own thing, but it's not that oh all autistic people aren't interested in social connection, but that like even when you are a small child it's like, oh all these other kids are interacting in this way that isn't really my social style and that shuts me out, and/or attempting to interact with people results in this even subtle, quiet rejection / exclusion that can be picked up on. i wasn't making friends and was often keeping to myself / keeping my head down as it were, but it wasn't because i didn't want to have friends or socialize. my mom was insistent i was a Shy Child lmao and i'd always argue that i wasn't Really, without further explanation though lmao, but it's like, again that i felt that sort of emergent exclusion, and there wasn't any space to interact much on my terms at all, and like, yeah i often stayed quiet / didn't want to mingle with other kids / if i was in a Situation i wanted to know the How To of navigating it / what to expect

being friends with people at school was fine, except the drawbacks of stuff like "we're only interacting at school, rarely hanging out outside of that" & "someone in the same grade is in a diff class in elementary school so we just never see each other now" & "for some reason that 2nd grade teacher made a whole giant Example out of me and a friend, god forbid, not paying attention or whatever the fuck, so now i feel like we can't interact at all anymore" & "changing schools entirely between elementary / middle / college" & "not being in school" lmao similar to work friends too, we're At Work, might not see each other outside of that, might change jobs & stop seeing each other, & still overall rare, b/c the Preschool Experience never Really stopped imo, had different versions of it even into college and like, being at jobs with other adults lmao, socializing is still Like That, came up with the Je Ne Hate Quoi where like, people kind of just Know to exclude you / consider you an exception to whatever other social stuff is going on.

and then like, the difficulties even when socializing / interactions Are happening, where like, it's always funny like. i'm very Verbose / Chatty and very opinionated but like, this will surprise people, that i Talk actually and have a ton of takes, b/c i was keeping to myself / not sharing that with them and so it's like well, that must of course be the realest version of me, no way i was filtering myself, i just must have Not Wanted to talk, and/or had nothing to say & hence no thoughts or feelings i might wanna share lol, of course....and tbh like, it sure Can be true that i don't wanna talk lmao like. i wanna talk About Stuff that isn't really "personal" generally, which can be like, yeah i wanna talk about this book, or about birds, or about this trivia topic, or whatever, whereas idk so much how to do like small talk about your day or otherwise share Casual things about Yourself, like, idk, being aware my interests are things about Myself but also aware that it's Weird / wasn't the kind of stuff you were supposed to talk about, and i felt that things about my life were otherwise Not The Right Stuff, or too boring (never hanging out, not doing much except being at home reading / doing shit by myself or w/siblings) or too Unfun (able to pick up the sense that At Home Shittiness was a private matter lol......) and it'd be like, idk what to say, things about myself don't seem to fit..........but also it can be that i do not enjoy the Vibe of an interaction lmfaoooo like, i truly do not want to talk to you people. like that i can sometimes vibe with someone inebriated people better lmfao because then, idk, they have some sense of humor and can muster some enthusiasm for anything, but also i'm not really a fan of knowing that someone isn't sober lmfao like. ppl will be like "omg were you drunk" like no, that was just my personality, whereas i am not Heartened to know other ppl Will have to have been drunk to get on my level, for example, don't understand when people cannot muster being even a little silly. it's goofaround hours. but then you have like, being around a bunch of cishet people when they're drunk, and their humor is as nonexistent and boring as ever but they're even louder / more insistent about it, nightmare. and, yknow, just people talking and i'm like "i'm not interested in this at all, whether re: conversational Style or Subject, i would not want to participate" and times when it's like. i know if i was gonna chime in with what i Would say you would not be able to handle me here lmfaoooo so. i truly would prefer examining the wall and thinking about my own shit or texting with someone i do like talking with

but that yknow, in groups / conversations i would be at least someone interested in, i can still be like, idk, Hesitant To Talk b/c of all the instances you've been taught like oh you're socializing Wrong and everyone hated that, sorta like the post about making a comment about salsa that brings the gc to a halt and you're wondering how you fucked up and if salsa killed someone's parents and forgot or whatever, i've been Disheartened re: hanging out when it's like, well, nice to be included, but i'm a friendship third wheel here, not being included in the entire convo and nobody misses it, there's been instances where it's like, two people talking, i chime in, i am completely ignored multiple times, this is frustrating lmao. or there's been times i've tried to put myself out there in a way, like yeah sure i'll hang out with this group, but also i'm anxious and it's like, if people are doing homework i'm also bringing this thing i'm working on as this parallel task, only to find out down the line like people then regarded you as a joke or something b/c it was Rude or Wrong when you know, actually that was you reading some weird shit that didn't exist into the situation, and just like, idk it's wild how people will have like "graciously" declined to express something to your face, and you either can pick up on shit at the time but not be able to say anything which just reads to people like "oh they didn't notice this / that means you can push it a little further next time even" or like, figure out later that something that seemed positive or decent actually ft. people not liking you / not wanting to include you Yet Again, and as a bonus you're left with you know, having to always worry about if people Seemingly being amicable & accepting is actually them wishing you weren't there or solidifying some Interpretations of you that they're then gonna Talk About or Act On behind the scenes, like, beautiful thank you, always very touching, so glad you were so Considerate of someone's feelings and Nice about this where it just ends up being this whole letdown / feeling like even more of a rejection if there was this weird like stringing along lmao like. can allistic people be normal for five minutes

anyways and tied to that sort of, it's also like, simultaneously Cagey About Things and always worried about like, i could tell this person this thing and maybe it'd be Incorrect for the interaction and they won't care, whether because it's too mundane and boring a thing about you or because it's too #Real, i think i glimpsed something a month or so ago about like "do other autistic people have trouble where like, you can be friends with someone a long time but not get particular Close to them" or whatever lol, where like, well i have to hold everyone at arm's length and often Then Some because there's just matter of fact stuff about me that i nonetheless think i can't or shouldn't share, if i talked about something it might be out of the blue b/c i just was hardly confiding in people about it, or it's boring, or it's like, i don't actually feel like i'm close enough with this person that saying this isn't gonna be like "whoa overshare!! i just feel awkward & weird!" lmfao like. there were people i hung out with in person the year i lived out of my car and i did not mention this at all to them / kept it a secret b/c it's like, not out of like ohh this is a secret b/c No One Can Know, some people Could know lmao (shoutout to the person i Did confide in about these problems and who talked with me at what must've been like 3am in that timezone when i was like "well the rich people around here made sure to get cops to harass an unhoused person, e.g. me, would you believe it, it sucked" lmfao) it's that i knew idk, it would be pointless, they'd just feel weird about it and switch into that "for some reason, this is being Nice" where everyone will go into full Putting On A Front mode to be Polite like, that really sucks actually lmao could you Not. but it's like, idk, all this stuff where it's like "this thing about me / my life would be too Boring or too Awkward or Depressing or Etc Etc" turns out to be isolating / alienating b/c like, of course it would be. and idk nobody i ever made friends with in person i was Confiding in, not a ton of them re: me either, because you know. being cagey and wary, on top of like ohhh this person is Standoffish if they're hesitant to interact with people generally or do their own thing or i don't think they're socializing Right / have incorrectly inferred their feelings/motivations/intentions or whatever

and furthermore on that lmao it's also like, again, while i'm Verbose & Opinionated people will think i'm quiet & have no takes to provide because it's also like, even when it comes to stuff i sure feel i Could talk freely about, it's like, if i have a different opinion here will that just be a conversational Interruption ruining things for the real participants, probably nobody wants to hear me talk about this Subject, probably nobody wants to / would let me talk about it at much length without interrupting, even Online lmao i can be just going all out in terms of [how much i can talk about something] and while people can be Into that at that time it's like, people aren't into that beyond that one back and forth on one day, shoutout when people do enjoy the extensive discussing and/or have patience for it other times lol.

then supposing i Am talking to people lmao it's like, idk i'm an acquired taste or what have you, like, on top of the Talking A Ton it's like, the being opinionated and argumentative and sometimes pedantic or whatever on top of being irritable, could stand to be a bit more patient lmao, The Hater Friend to use the figure of speech lmao i have hardly been in a Group to be The [Any] Friend lol, also if my sense of humor doesn't fit it's like well how am i supposed to be silly, if being sometimes Enthused doesn't fit, again kinda an issue......have described myself as A Bit Much, humorously, but already not doing that as Much b/c it's like, i think i'm still too much like considering other people's opinions too "objective" here when like, first of all that's never accurate lmao, second of all i can easily forget that idk, i can at least in theory expect people to just regularly Like me and Enjoy interacting with me lol so. an acquired taste few can sample..........like hey even if other people don't vibe with me, it can just as much be the case that i'm not vibing with other people, don't worry lmao. and yknow, kinda parallel to Masking to seem acceptable in any casual social situation it's like, if i feel i'm suppressing my whole personality here / putting up a front / like i have to Get Through what should be a friendly interaction rather than be able to enjoy it myself, it's not exactly that rewarding. and plenty of times it's like, i like to be around people, but it can be strangers, i don't feel like "oh i wanna go out to eat / see a movie / go to this event, but if i can't get any friends to go, guess i can't!" like get out of the way i'm readily doing shit alone, it can even feel Better that way if otherwise it's like, now this occasion is about performing peak Agreeability for this other person/people, and like, not like i have ever been like "yes i have people i can readily ask to hang out and they'll be like Ya" anyways lol so. used to operating solo, where you can't be like "aha this is because this person has no Human Interest in Human Connection" when it's like. well it was never all up to me was it

well and so also it helped when i was 14 and able to be Online consistently, vs at home lmao. time for online friendship, which i don't think is like, oh that's not Real, like what sorry have you never known about people who have Remote friendships before, phones & letters & telegrams and also [nowadays when many ppl are Remote even if they usually lived near enough to hang out with] where it's like, you have this different format for socializing that can sure play out differently than Real Time, In Person interactions, and ever since i'll be posting mostly to myself lmfao but able to thusly talk about Interests and like, people will come along who want to talk more about it, then we do. i suppose also it can sure help that i'll draw (and Only draw, lol) for said interests, although tbh i think most of the time it's the extensive text posts that do it? really and great litmus test or whatever lmfao like, well already this person must not hate the verbosity. and then you can end up vibing with these people further, or not, but it's like, again, there's this chance for From The Start like, oh this person Likes that i have this niche interest, they like &/or don't mind talking A Lot about it lmao, vs in person introductions where that can sure happen but it's like, that's gonna be chance & spontaneous, whereas ppl might have the opportunity to Seek Out this interaction / content of yours......even online though, i'm still like, not as inclined to reach out or make the first interaction move or whatever lmao so. and then it's like, people make galaxy brain remarks like "ohh people who are very Online don't have friends, irl, they aren't Personable, irl," like yes congratulations i'm autistic and i don't have many In Person friends generally, sometimes maybe not any, don't really know where people think they'll land their argument here. like, follow it through, are you just calling people losers. is it "social media makes peopel Not social" like nobody is Doing Anything when they're online or everyone is embracing strangers and having heart to hearts every weekday morning with whoever is nearby if only they weren't on twitter? plus the fact that like, if i don't have access to people i interact with online, that doesn't like, force me to become neurotypical so that i then have a thriving in person social circle, it just means i'm more isolated? meanwhile, turns out it helps a lot if it's like, yeah i can Expect to interact with people

and then still like, all the time it might be like i still can feel Confused as it were about How To Talk To People lmfao like. there's not much "Just Be Yourself" when being yourself has meant filtering yourself, actually, and being v self conscious about trying (and often failing) to appeal to other people (which, then if you do succeed, it's like oops this person likes me but if i've been putting up a front the whole time, not super Validating) and not exactly a ton of practice getting to do Otherwise, and it can again be like. is this too boring to talk about, or just somewhat arbitrarily like "oh i'd better Not talk / say whatever" for no real reason lmfao, i Can just get like. Real Time Chatty as it were, but it's difficult actually lmfao like i need a lot of momentum, and it's easy for that to be Not the case.......and just like, again that it's easy to forget you don't have to be in "nobody wants to hear you talk" mode, or think like, okay, i can't just say anything, i have to say something Good, aka of interest or funny or whatever lmao but then it's like well i guess i Can just say anything. don't much know how to do that tho

(also, sidenote from "wtf is thinking being friends w/someone online is faker than when you're friends with someone sort of from being in the same building every weekday, what is the conclusion of 'what a loser geek whatever if you care about connecting Online who can't be popular Offline'" where it's always funny when someone is also like "wow even in person Fandom is, like social media, something that only people who suck at socializing Normally are into" lmfao like. not very relevant b/c nobody wants to really be in a broader fanbase rather than find particular kindred spirits through it, and who actually wants to go to comic con or whatever, sounds like a nightmare, but it's still such a faux analytical perspective lmfao like, again, first of all, what's the Conclusion to your argument here? and secondly honestly like. all versions of Small Talk are kinda gonna be bullshit, even amongst say, nt people, there's nothing Universal, and people can certainly be inconsiderate / preclude any genuine connection via what they might consider to be this neutral part of the ritual, and yknow, i find it kinda exhausting like it's peak Time To Mask and then i'm hardly in the mood to Really talk further, like yknow what. idk i'd be annoyed if someone demanded i Correctly Complete some sort of fandom reference by way of greeting, but i'm also annoyed when someone demands i Correctly Complete whatever maneuvers you're supposed to do with a rhetorical "how are you :)" lmfao like. you're a cringe nerd in the rigid social ritual of pleasantries fandom)

anyways and uhh yeah i also yknow, hashtag alana beck, it's like, glad to pretend Friendly Acquaintances makes sense, i guess it can, but it's great when it's like, oh i Don't have to only expect to be really peripheral in people's lives, or to only be friends with people i don't feel like i vibe with That much or also talk to that much about anything, when i can definitely feel like Yes this person is a Friend, no "are they actually closer to an acquaintance at this point" disclaimers needed, again, taking it back to the fact that friendship sure is Significant to me and when i have it that's v important thanks

so it's like uhhhh yeah difficult to make friends, don't have general appeal or whatever lol, ppl aren't on my wavelength or i'm not on theirs, hard to talk to people even though it's not because i don't/can't talk plenty lmfao.......and re: being Supportive it's like well, i don't really tell people In Person i'm autistic but naturally if you follow me Online here i am talking about it lol, and not like anyone who already knew me & was friends with me was like "oh nvm don't like interacting with you now" and i also gotta mention the like Handshake Lgbtq lifehack, where plenty of times it can be like, oh if we vibe on That wavelength it can be easier to befriend people, and/or that people will at least be more like, amicable / supportive based on Knowing you're handshake on that lol. b/c really it's like, i'd also like to just be allowed to talk and/or simply be around people even if we are not Personal Friends, aka that you can expect to be treated decently with some basic respect / consideration and like you're generally allowed to exist and be present and interact with people where you're not only guaranteed to Not be punished / excluded for it if someone's your individual friend and allows you to be here, so. once again it's like, can allistic ppl be normal for 5 min

[eldri-sv]

4 - Shinsou

Kaori Shinsou has always been fascinated by people's minds. She is one of the best students in her Criminal Psychology course at U.A. and - being the lucky girl she is - her professor is not only one handsome dude, but is also working on the case of the serial killer Stain - a case that has been going on for years. As she is about to become Professor Aizawa's TA during the next term, a lot of other interesting cases start popping up all over the country...

AU, OC x Aizawa

Trigger warnings: gossip

(possibly incomplete, if you’d like something added, please let me know)

When the winter's in full swing and your dreams just aren't coming true

(Arctic Monkeys - Knee Socks)

There was some mystery around the food in the U.A. canteen. It wasn't your typical What the hell are they trying to sell us as food? type of thing. The mystery was how food this cheap was so incredibly good. Kaori Shinsou had always despised canteen food and had refused to eat at the canteen at U.A. for the longest time. She never went back to prepared lunches after she had eaten there for the first time. It was good and what was even better - it was cheap.

"So, what did he want from you?" Kaori heard her friend Uehara say. She looked up from her plate and into her round face that was framed by light brown hair. Uehara always did her best to look cute - long fringe, pastel colours, bows and hair clips - but once you had seen her upset about something the whole masquerade just wasn't the same anymore. Hana Uehara was a beast.

"Who?" Kaori asked, not quite sure what she meant. Uehara rolled her eyes and gave her a big grin.

"Professor Aizawa, of course!" Uehara replied. Ah. Right. Kaori just shrugged and tried to play it off. She knew that Uehara thought Aizawa was basically a male model and the pinnacle of sex appeal. She didn't want to encourage that by agreeing with her, even though she regularly caught herself thinking about how handsome he was during his lectures. After all, it was a fact that he was attractive.

"Not much. Just something about my assignments and how I keep procrastinating on them. And on my TA application. That's all." Kaori said and shrugged again. Uehara raised an eyebrow.

"Your TA application? What's he got to do with that? Aizawa has never ever had a TA and he never wanted one..." Kawano questioned. Uehara's mouth fell open and her eyes widened. Kaori braced herself for the flood of questions that was about to be unleashed on her. She looked over at Takami who just had a relaxed smile on his lips. How he managed to be in the law enforcement course and be high half the time was also one of the many mysteries in Kaori Shinsou's life.

"Oh. My. God. Kao-chan! He did not, did he?" Uehara asked, ready to burst with excitement. Kaori sighed. It was probably better to get it over with now than any other time. She loved Uehara to death, but she could be a lot to handle.

"He might have." Kaori mumbled. Uehara let out a loud squeal. Some people from the surrounding tables turned their heads and Kaori sank further into her chair. Hopefully she wouldn't be shouting any more now.

"God, Uehara, would you calm down? You're killing my vibes." Takami complained, giving her an annoyed look. She glanced over at him, looking a little guilty.

"Right. Sorry."

She leaned over the table and stared at Kaori intently, probably trying to read her expression. Uehara would never give up until she knew everything and Kaori was well aware of that. She sighed.

"So... he made you his TA? You're the very first TA he's ever had? Spill!" she whispered in a high-pitched voice.

"He saw my application and said he'd like to take me on for next year. That's all. Nothing more and nothing less." Kaori said. She really didn't want to get into this topic. She had her reasons.

"Yeah, sure. Tell us all the juicy details of your secret affair, once you get to that point." Uehara answered with a grin on her face. Kaori rolled her eyes. Of course. A secret affair where her hot, young prof fucked her on his desk in an empty classroom. As if that actually happened in real life.

"Pretty sure that would be illegal, Uehara." Kawano protested. Kaori shook her head. Of course it wouldn't be illegal.

"It's not. I'm way over 18 and so is he. Legally there is nothing anyone can do. Which doesn't make it morally right." she corrected him. Maybe she had been spending some time daydreaming about her professor and that's how she got to that conclusion so quickly. Who knew, right?

"Pretty sure there is some sort of policy against it, or something. There has to be. I mean, the whole thing would encourage favouritism and all." Kawano replied. Uehara huffed, as if she was laughing mockingly.

"Come on, as if Kao-chan isn't already his favourite student!"

"Yeah, you're kind of a teacher's pet, Shinsou." Takami agreed.

"Doesn't mean I'm fucking the prof." Kaori mumbled. She really didn't like the direction this whole conversation was going. Because they were right - she was a teacher's pet and she was utterly enjoying it.

"No one said you're fucking the prof. Why are you getting so defensive?" Takami asked with a shit-eating grin. Kaori shot him a deadly glance. One day. One day she was going to rip out his intestines. But not today.

She had spotted a familiar face in the canteen, looking a little lost and trying to find a place to sit. It wasn't really that face that she had first noticed, it was the purple mess of hair that stood out to her. Hitoshi Shinsou was standing around in the middle of the canteen, basically in everyone's way, and was just inviting trouble.

"Guys, shut up for a second and behave, I see my little brother and I'm going to get him out of harm's way and ask him to eat his lunch over here, alright?" Kaori interrupted the lively discussion about her and her (non-existent) sex life. She got up from her chair, waving at Hitoshi to get his attention.

"YO TOSHI, COME OVER HERE AND SIT WITH THE COOL KIDS!" she shouted when he didn't notice her at first. He turned around and saw Kaori with a big grin on her face. He lost his indifferent facade for a split second and looked pretty relieved about having a place to go, before he went back to his usual neutral expression.

Kaori sat back down when she saw Hitoshi walking towards their table. Uehara turned around and gave him a smile, Takami and Kawano couldn't really be bothered it seemed. They were curious, though, Kaori could tell.

"Uhm... hi, everyone." Hitoshi said when he got to the table. He scratched the back of his head, he always did that when he was really nervous.

"Everyone, this is Hitoshi, my little brother who only started uni this year. Be nice to him, he's my favourite brother." Kaori introduced him.

"I'm your only brother." Hitoshi replied, as he sat down and looked intently at his food. Kaori smiled. He always pretended like he didn't care about anyone at all, but he was really just a shy kid.

"You finally made it to U.A., Hitoshi!" Uehara said happily. She knew him because she'd sometimes come over to the Shinsous' house for study sessions with Kaori. She loved Hitoshi to bits.

"Yeah, you guys are definitely related. He looks just as tired as you, Kaori." Takami remarked, his detached grin still on his face.

"What can I say, guys, it runs in the family." Kaori answered and shrugged. Meanwhile, Kawano was eyeing up Hitoshi's purple hair. Kaori had to admit that it stood out like a sore thumb. It suited Hitoshi in a weird way, but it was just... LOUD. The thing was that everyone in the Shinsou family had this purple tint in their otherwise dark hair. Hitoshi figured, he wanted to try and see how he looked with actual purple hair. So one rainy afternoon during summer break Kaori had helped him dye his hair and he had been keeping it up ever since. It was his thing now.

"Is that your natural hair colour?" Kawano finally asked. Hitoshi looked up, as if he wasn't sure whether he was being asked that question.

"Uh, not... really. I have a natural purplish tint in my hair like Kaori, but I felt like going full purple one time and that's just been my hair ever since." he explained, his eyes looking a little self-conscious.

"So, are you starting out with Criminology, too?" Takami wanted to know, brushing some of his blond hair out of his face. The self-conscious look in Hitoshi's eyes grew with that question. Kaori thought of intervening, but maybe it would be better to let him talk about himself. She was trying not to be patronising, after all.

"No, uhm... I planned to, but I just failed by one point in the entrance exam. I'm in Psychology now. I'm going to try and transfer to Criminology next year, though." he replied, rubbing his neck again.

"Definitely, do that. You've got the midterms and finals and if you do incredibly well in those, they might let you transfer. They've done that in the past sometimes." Kawano agreed and gave him an encouraging smile.

"He will do well. He's been studying any free minute he has and he probably read my first year textbooks a million times at this stage." Kaori said. Maybe she could even try to get Aizawa on her brother's case. She knew that he liked students who put in a lot of work and effort and if she was going to be his TA next year, she would probably have some extra leverage with that.

"Anyone got some free time after this lesson?" Uehara asked, changing the topic. She knew exactly how self-conscious Hitoshi was about not being able to get into Criminology. Kaori appreciated her trying to make things easier for him by not talking about it at lengths in front of everyone.

"Nah, I've got First Responder training after lunch, sorry." Takami replied. First Responder training was for the people who were about to go into actual police service and would probably be called onto an active crime scene. Takami was training to become exactly that and also did regular weapon training, so he had a shot at getting into the "exciting cases" as he called them.

"What about you, Kawano?" Uehara wanted to know. He shook his head.

"I wish I did have time, but I have to do this seminar with Professor Kayama on forensic anthropology. I need the credits to be able to qualify as a crime scene tech. It's fucking disgusting, though." he answered and grimaced. Kaori often wondered why he wanted to become a qualified crime scene tech when corpses bothered him that much. It wasn't like he would be able to avoid them much.

"Kao-chan? Please?" Uehara asked. Kaori did have free time, but she was hoping to be able to spend that on her own and in some peace and quiet.

"What do you wanna do?" she wanted to know.

"Okay, this sounds creepy, but you know how Toshinori Yagi has started teaching here this year?" Uehara replied, sounding giddy.

"Everyone knows that. They might a big fucking deal out of it. He is extremely famous for his work on the Shigaraki case. Don't tell me you're a fangirl, too." Takami interrupted. Kawano shook his head.

"Don't judge her, I'm definitely a fanboy." he said.

"Well, I heard he's doing a PE lesson with the first years in basic training and I thought we could catch a glimpse, maybe...?" Uehara suggested. Kaori sighed. She really didn't want to do this, because she saw no point in this weird obsession with Yagi that everyone seemed to have, but... Uehara was her friend.

"Fine. I'll come with you."

[secondhand-trash]

Ineffable husbands being godfathers

A/N: These two practically brought back my ability to form setences after feeling like I’m getting closer and closer to becoming an illiterate for the past few months. This is inspired by this post and my little random thought about wanting ineffable husbands as godparents a while back. (At this point you should realise that this is purely for my self-indulgence but isn’t that exactly what fanfics are for?)

Ever wonder how these two got so good with children?

(Because I assume that demons aren’t commonly natural caregivers)

It was years before the whole antichrist shenanegan happened 

Sometime around the late 90s

Aziraphale was about to close his shop when Crowley flung the door open

“Crowley, can you be a little bit gentler with the door? What are you- What is that in your arms?”

Maybe all these years on Earth finally took a toll on him because Aziraphale thought for a moment that the pile of blankets the demon was carrying resembled a human child

Imagine the shock when he heard whines from the pile of fabric

“This thoughtless blob had been crying nonstop for the past hours and I’m very close to lighting it on fire, Angel, hELp.”

In the 6000 years they had known each other, Aziraphale couldn’t quite recall Crowley looking physically worn out

Except for this once

Even his hair was messy 

(Not that it didn’t look good on him, if you ask Aziraphale)

Despite being full of questions to ask and great suspicion as to the origins of the child, Aziraphale still took it from the demon

Crowley huffed when the kid immediately stopped making noises once they’re in the angel’s arms

“Oh, bloody-”

“NoT iN FrOnt Of THe bABy!”

Putting the child to sleep because he somehow MiRacUlOusLy had a craddle in the back room

Went back to the front of the shop to find Crowley quite literally sunked down into one of the armchairs

(One with extra pillows comparing to the rest, if I may add)

“So...”

“That’s my godson.”

(Hissed in pain because his tongue burned just from saying that)

(Stupid humans, putting sacred words into everything they say)

“Your WHAT???”

Crowley refused to tell him how he became the godfather(illegitimate parent figure as he called it) of a human child

Might had something to do with drunkness 

Or the man that sat next to him uninvited who was crying about how he wasn’t prepared to be a parent and none of the people he knew was willing to be the godparent

So he said yes without actually hearing what the man asked him to do

Ended up forgetting about it until he got a call asking from the man in the bar

The reality was, Crowley could have easily gotten himself out of it once he sobered up

But those idiotic humans went far enough to ask him to visit them after the child was born and he was curioused

Intentionally letting his sunglasses slipped down when the mother hand him the child, fully expecting them to cry from seeing his orbs

But that fragile bundle of cells had the decency to GIGGLE upon seeing his godfather’s snake-like eyes

And so he put away the thought of getting rid of the child

(Because that tiny action melted the heart he didn’t have, not that he will admit it)

Where were we? Oh yeah, book shop.

Truth was, the child’s birth parents were not the best at parenting and they were always going around the world so occasionally they would leave the child with their godfather without warning

Demons don’t take care of children and Crowley had way too little patience for this unpredictable creature 

But angels had to be good at handling babies to a certain degree right?

And besides, who else could he go to?

Aziraphale was still in doubt and quite confused but he helped Crowley with the baby anyways

He liked young children and the child seemed to like him as well

Crowley slowly getting used to babysitting

Things got easier once the baby grew into a small boy

The boy calling them “Uncle Crowley” and “Uncle Zira”

(’Aziraphale’ was too complicated for him to say and the angel was still trying to teach him how to properly pronounce it)

But then he reached the age where he started asking questions and the two tried very hard to not reveal too much to the young child

“Uncle Zira, why can’t chickens fly?”

“Because their wings cannot support thier bodies, my dear. (Definitely not because Gabriel was bitten by a chicken once and the archangel was petty)”

Extra struggle if the child ended up going to a religious school

“The teacher said that a demon tried to tempt Jesus by taking him to a high mountain.”

“Hm, is that what they think I was trying to do?”

The kid getting minor miracles for his birthdays

Swinging by the shop after school regularly to tell his godfather(s) about his day

He was puzzled by the looks he got whenever he told people his Uncle Crowley has yellow eyes

Being the old married couple they are, the two would often bicker in front of the child

Things got heated one time and those two only stopped when they heard a sob from the corner

Immediately went into protective parent mode and reassured the child that “Uncle Crowley and Uncle Zira were just joking with each other”

Never arguing in front of the child ever again

You bet these two are protective over the boy

When he got old enough to date, there seems to be a black snake nearby whenever he goes out with whatever person he is seeing

“You need to be careful, what if you frightened the poor thing he’s seeing?”

“Don’t you want to know what they did?”

“...”

They tried to hide their true identities from him but he kind of got the idea that his godfathers probably aren’t that normal

He never asked about it though

[raeofgayshine]

Charlie and Julius

For the anon who asked about Charlie and Julius:

This definitely got a lot longer than I intended, but I had a lot to say about them. So most of it will be under the read more. I do want to just put a few trigger warnings though. Nothing too in-depth, but there are mentions of: suicidal thoughts, character death (but not Charlie and Julius), a car crash, transphobia, and some less than great parenting (I think that’s everything, but if you need me to tag for anything else lmk). 

And if you would like to know more about them, you can check out the tags for them, I’ve mentioned them a few times here and posts that remind me of them. Or feel free to send me questions because I love to talk about these two.They are best boys.

So Charlie Austin and Julius Dauer

- The two of them have been best friends since childhood. I kind of go back and forth on what age/how they met (As I've used them in several stories), but officially the pair met when they were 4, in pre-k. And they became best friends almost instantly. A friendship that was only solidified by the fact they lived down the street from each other, which meant frequent playdates, and as they got older, the two of them constantly visiting each other’s houses (Although they did tend to spend more time at Charlie's house as Julius's parents were always... busy)

- Ever since they were young the two always had a knack for getting into trouble, with Charlie usually spearheading the way and Julius all too happily following behind him. 

- I honestly think of them almost akin to Phineas and Ferb in some regard. They definitely didn't get up to quite the scale of things those two did, mostly because they were scientists first and builders second. But like they were regularly creating explosions by age 8 and almost always challenging the laws of physics 

- (When they're 15 they may or may not have created a slightly unstable device that uh, destroyed a large part of a (thankfully deserted) island. But at other times couldn't create an explosion that even like, knocked over a fence. It was... unpredictable. But they worked out the kinks eventually)

- In high school, their experiments earn them the title of "Mad Scientists", with many people citing that Charlie is often the "mad" part of the duo because of his general recklessness. But it's just Julius is far quieter about his ideas really.

But uh, we'll get to high school in a moment. Let's back up slightly, back to childhood. 

- They got up to a lot of antics beyond their science experiments. 

- I mentioned that Julius's parents weren't around much? It's a bit more complicated than that. I don't want to get into too many details because that will make this a very long post, but basically, Julius's parents did not get along hardly at all. They had vastly different parenting styles, but honestly they also just really did not like each other. His mom mentioned once they had only got married because she had gotten pregnant with Julius. 

- Julius's mom traveled a lot. For work (and other things). She was hardly ever at the house, hardly spent time with Julius, but she did spoil him constantly in lavish gifts and would take his side in arguments only to piss off his dad. She always put on this show about loving him but also didn't know shit about him. 

- Julius's dad on the other hand... Well, let's just say he never made any time to spoil his son. He hardly made time to pay attention at all, it seemed to Julius, except to tell him that he could "do better" and not so subtly encourage him to hang out with someone better than Charlie. His dad had a lot of high expectations for Julius, from a young age Julius was placed in piano, ballet, as well as classes for several other instruments (violin, cello, guitar. As he gets older Julius also learns how to play other instruments to varying degrees, but the only one he sticks with is the ukulele). 

- Charlie had a habit of trying to cause trouble during Julius's lessons to scare off his various teachers, because he always thought it was too much pressure to place on a kid to do so much, and succeeds with most of them besides Julius's piano teacher. This is a big part of why Mr. Dauer does not like Charlie. He thinks he's a bad influence on Julius.

- It's not to say that Mr. Dauer doesn't care about Julius, it's just... he really wants Julius to be successful and get into an Ivy League school and have a good future. And he doesn't ever really understand he's pushing too much. He thinks because Julius is very smart and all of that, he can handle the pressure. 

- But he does care. When Julius comes out as trans (at 16/17), and his mom reacts extremely badly, Mr. Dauer does take Julius's side. Even though he doesn't really believe Julius is trans and straight-up says he thinks it's a side effect of having so many guy friends, you know he is willing to let Julius continue going to the same school and ride out this "phase" because he had been doing a lot better since starting high school (At an all-boys school, although he was originally meant to go to the sister school) and as long as he kept his grades up, Mr. Dauer didn't really care. 

- (And he does come around eventually to accepting Julius, but that takes quite a few years and it happens slowly over a long time). 

- And you know, Mr. Dauer was the one who raised Julius after his parents split up. When Juls was 11, they got a divorce and his mom left without even caring to fight for him. Sent occasional gifts afterward but Julius hardly saw her except for a week over the summer and sometimes around the holidays, if his dad pushed for his mom to take him.

- On the other hand, Charlie had a very very close relationship with his parents. And in many regards his parents kind of adopted Julius a bit as a second kid. They were the polar opposite of Julius's family. Not perfect, but pretty fucking close

- Charlie and Julius were nearly inseparable growing up, as I mentioned. They were together all of the time, never saw one without the other close behind. 

- Well, never saw them apart until they were 11. That's when Julius's parents got announced to him they were getting a divorce, and with very little warning Julius's dad informed him that they were moving. 

- And Charlie was on vacation at the time. They never got a chance to say goodbye. 

- Well, not fully. See, Julius wasn't stupid. He had heard his parents talking about getting a divorce, the pair fighting late into the night for over a week. 

- Before Charlie left on vacation, Julius did a bit of goodbye. See, Charlie and Julius's favorite movie as kids was Winnie-The-Pooh, they were very attached to the characters. They even called each other Robin (Julius) and Bear (Charlie). So before Charlie left, Julius as sappy as he was, he just asked Charlie not to forget him. ("And Bear? Promise you won't forget me? Ever?" "Oh I won't Robin, I promise." "Not even when I'm 100?" "How old shall I be then?" "99. Silly old bear.")

- The next few years were hard for the two of them. You know, they were best friends, and without each other, both of them felt lost. Julius really struggled in school to keep up with the pressure put on him by his dad, without Charlie there to balance him out, it got really hard. And he never really made any new friends, he was too busy just trying to cling the fuck on, and not let other people notice just how much he was struggling. Because he didn't want to disappoint his dad. 

- Things were... harder for Charlie in the end. He had other friends, kids on his soccer team, he was always outgoing and stuff, but never any as close as Julius. He probably would have been okay though but

- When Charlie was  12, his parents were killed in a car accident on the way to his soccer game. And Charlie walked away with a few cuts and bruises and a broken arm.

- Charlie wouldn't admit it, but for years he blamed himself for the death of his parents. It... took a few months for the guilt to hit him. For a while, he tries to push away the pain, the grief, the guilt. To the outside world, he seems to cope with it all remarkably well. 

- He moves in with his aunt, uncle, and cousin. He throws himself into school and into sports (Baseball, he couldn't do soccer anymore, not after...) and into student government, keeps himself busy all the time

- It's not enough. Of course, it's not enough. I mean, it's enough certainly to convince everyone else that he's doing okay. Charlie has always been really good about hiding his emotions from everyone who wasn't Julius (who was the only person Charlie ever let himself be vulnerable around). So no one seems to notice that Charlie has become suicidal. Living starts to be really hard for Charlie, and there's a point where the only thing that keeps him alive is that he doesn't want his aunt and uncle to have to find his body. He knows it's a problem, that he should tell someone, but he's too scared of how they'll react. And he doesn't really feel like he's worth being saved anyways. ("And the ghost of survivors guilt can be so kind") 

- Besides, Charlie knows he just has to make it until he gets to high school. Knows that he'll be attending the private boarding school his dad and uncle both did come 9th grade. It's states away. If he could just make it there... well at least his family wouldn't have to find him. 

- Of course, that plan all goes straight out the window when Charlie arrives and finds that his roommate is none other than Julius. And god knows Charlie definitely couldn't hurt Julius like that either. 

- And Julius needed him. All it takes is one look for Charlie to see all the cracks in his best friend, the pressure from his dad combined with a newer fear of being outed to his parents, of being trans in general (because that was still new for Julius. He had only found the word less than a year ago. And the school was safe but... he was so scared. And he hadn't had anyone to talk to about it).

- So maybe it takes a little bit for Julius to really notice the cracks in Charlie as well. Charlie was, after all, the better of the pair of putting on a brave face. In fact, even as kids Julius had called Charlie his courage, and this hadn't changed. Julius breaks down the first time that they meet again, and Charlie becomes pretty much determined to... stay strong for Julius. ("This is not what I intended. I always swore to you I'd never fall apart. You always thought that I was stronger.")

- Charlie really is Julius's courage though. He makes it easier for Julius to breathe again. For the first time in years, with Charlie by his side, Julius feels like he can do anything. 

- And eventually, when his world no longer feels now like it's falling apart, and Julius feels like there isn't the weight of the world on his shoulders, he starts to notice that Charlie isn't as okay as he says he is. And Julius is hesitant to bring it up at first, because he didn't want to push Charlie away, wanted to give him space to open up on his own terms. 

- But when it becomes clear he isn't going to, and Julius is so so worried, eventually... he confronts Charlie. And it takes hours and hours of wearing Charlie down before he breaks and finally admits everything he had been keeping in. Admits all of the guilt and self-hatred he had been holding. 

- For the first time in their friendship, it becomes Julius's turn to be Charlie's courage. He's scared, he's so fucking scared hearing the things that come out of his best friend’s mouth, but he is determined not to let Charlie know that. Because Charlie needed him now to be strong.

- After getting Charlie to open up, the next hurdle for Julius becomes convincing Charlie that he needs to get help. Charlie is terrified to tell his Aunt and Uncle because he doesn’t want to upset them. He doesn’t know how they’ll react. 

- But with Julius as his courage, Charlie tells them. Right before Christmas break, Charlie admits that he needs help to his Aunt and Uncle. They’re shocked and upset and blame themselves for not seeing that Charlie was struggling, but they promise to get him help. 

- They discuss, over break, they discuss Charlie not going back to school. They think that he needs time off and he needs to be at home to recover. Charlie argues with them constantly to let him go back. That he could see a therapist near the school and he had Julius to watch out for him

- They don’t relent until almost two weeks after the second half of the year had started. There were conditions and a lot of concerns, but everyone could see that Julius was important for Charlie to be able to heal.

- And it’s not like things get better overnight. Both Charlie and Julius continue to struggle, to have their bad days. But unlike before, now they have each other. And together they could do just about anything.

- As I said before, they become known as the Mad Scientists. They reign terror in the science labs, cause explosions and set off the fire alarm so regularly that the whole school just kind of stops noticing it. Most students avoid the science wing outside of class, and for those who wind up in a science class with them well... it’s certainly never a boring time. 

- Much like as kids the two of them are hardly ever apart, so much so that their friends frequently call them Chalius just because it was quicker. And everyone pretty much knew that if you told Charlie something, Julius was bound to know it as well and vice versa. 

- A lot of people assume that the two of them are dating. Or if not dating then they assume that they are just oblivious idiots, who are both in love with each other and just won’t admit it. 

- It’s because of the way they act. The fact that they’re always attached at the hip, hold each other hands nearly all the time. Always sit one pressed against the other, arms and legs touching, and oftentimes you would find the two of them just curled together. Charlie would easily plop into Julius’s lap to stay close, and Julius loves to lay with his head in Charlie’s lap so that Charlie could play with his hair. They hugged each other tightly, Julius always resting his chin on Charlie’s head protectively. They called each other by their nicknames and acted so soft and sweet sometimes their friends teased they were going to get cavities just watching them. 

- And of course, Charlie and Julius love each other, but what they had wasn’t a romantic relationship. The closest they can come to finding something to call it is Queerplatonic Relationship, but for the most part, they insist that they are just Charlie and Julius. Nothing more and nothing less. They can’t explain it. But it’s theirs. And they’re so so happy with it.

- (They only ever tell their friends about them being something akin to QPPs. They don’t really mind other people making assumptions, as long as those they care about understand and accept them. The rest of the world didn’t matter).

- They have a handful of ways in which they calm each other down, provide comfort, or even just provide a distraction from each other’s thoughts. Charlie very frequently plays with Julius's hair (which he keeps about shoulder length, he likes to have it long and he loves Charlie playing with it) which helps them both relax. Julius will "play the piano" on Charlie's arm as a way to help keep Charlie grounded, depending on what Charlie needs sometimes Julius attempts to have Charlie guess which piece he is playing, other times he simply just "plays" whatever piece comes to mind and occasionally will sing along. Julius will also play the real piano for Charlie if it is available, although he plays the ukulele when he's trying to keep himself distracted. And Charlie will sing to Julius if they're alone. "Their song" is Somewhere Only We Know, but sometimes Charlie will sing other things, including Return To Pooh Corner as another favorite. 

- Once they're reunited, the two of them even start spending the summers together. Charlie's family on his aunt's side runs a successful hotel chain and the two of them often spend the summer at one of those hotels in a tourist town beach. 

- They're actually kind of local legends at the hotel. Julius in particular is known for his karaoke skills. Despite years of training Julius does tend to be very anxious about performing in general. Except when it comes to karaoke.  He's performed a wide array of songs, some with Charlie and some on his own. My personal favorite of the ones I've thought of is That Don't Impress Me Much, which also happens to be the first karaoke performance his other friends get to see.

- Charlie can’t drive. In fact, he doesn’t even really like to be in cars ever since his parents died, it makes him anxious because he’s worried about another car crash happening. But it helps to have someone there to hold his hand, provide a distraction. He gets nervous when his friends and family are in cars too, always makes them text him when they arrive so he knows that they’re safe. But he refuses to drive. Period. He never wants to be in the position where he’s in charge of someone else’s life like that. 

- Technically speaking, there is a no pet/animal policy in the dorms. But Charlie and Julius tend to ignore that. Not for their own pets, but... They rescue lab animals. From the nearby college, other high schools. They find about animals being used for experiments and they take them in. Usually only temporarily, until a permanent home can be found for them. They work with a local group of college students who have been trying to protest this type of research for years and a local rescue. Sometimes they get non-lab animals, usually snakes or rats, animals other people wouldn’t take.

- (Their friends only learn about this operation in Charlie and Julius’s Junior year, when they have to recruit them to find a missing snake).

- The entire school kind of loves Charlie and Julius, because they will cause chaos if asked. Like slip them a note and $5 and they’ll set off the fire alarm right when you’re supposed to be having a test. A little more, a please, a good story, maybe they’ll even shut the school down for the day. And they get away with it because nobody thinks they’re doing it on purpose. They set the alarms off so often on accident, that no one would even consider that they were doing it on purpose.

- Charlie starts to play soccer again, in his sophomore year. It’s really hard at first, he almost quits after the first practice because it reminds him of his parents and it hurts. But Julius convinces him to stick it out, because Charlie loved soccer and Juls knew he missed playing. It gets easier with every practice, and in the end, Charlie is happy to be back on a team again but isn’t ever quite the same as before.

- Julius is the resident worrywart of their larger friend group. Their friends tease it’s because Charlie is the exact opposite, reckless, the type of person who acts first and thinks later.

- Julius is trans, aro? he thinks? And ace 

- Charlie is pan

- They have matching tattoos, Winnie-The-Pooh themed, although I’m still figuring out what exactly they look like. 

- Charlie has tattoos for his parents, although again I don’t fully know what those look like yet

- Julius’s birthday is September 2nd, and his name in their friend group chat is PianoMan

- Charlie’s birthday is July 25th and his name in their friend group chat is Exploding Charlie 

[jazy3]

Thoughts on Grey’s Anatomy: 16X13

I watched the new episode of Grey’s Anatomy over the weekend. I hated the opening, but I liked the rest of the episode. This episode made me laugh a lot too and I’m glad they’ve brought the humour back to Grey’s! After last week’s standalone episode were back to our regularly scheduled program! Meredith and DeLuca are making out in bed together. Yuck. A phone goes off. It’s DeLuca’s. His incurable patient Suzanne is being moved to the CCU. Suzanne still isn’t getting any better. DeLuca says he hopes Dr. Riley can help. Meredith asks who that is. DeLuca says she’s the doctor from San Francisco that he’s bringing in to help with the case. He thought he told her.

Mer points out that they didn’t do a lot of talking last night. I’m trying to understand her actions here. DeLuca breaks up with her over his own insecurities, then refuses to talk to her about it, and then barks at her about his case and so she sleeps with him? I get that she’s lonely but come on! He treats her like crap, they have nothing in common, and he told Maggie he meant what he said. This is why I hate them together. They make no sense and yet they keep breaking up and getting back together. DeLuca tells Mer that Dr. Riley is a diagnostic genius and that he used Mer’s name to lure her to here. Again, he broke up with her because he couldn’t handle that she was better than him but now that his patient is dying, he’s fine with it? WTF? 

As usual DeLuca is only interested in Mer for what she can give him. He wants to be with her not be a part of her family. Her superiority is a problem until he can use it to his advantage. What a leech! That being said I do know people who slept with or temporarily got back together with an ex because they missed them or didn’t want to be alone or because it was easy so I do kinda get that from Mer’s perspective. It’s still dumb though. Mer thinks DeLuca’s move was resourceful luckily for him. He follows that up with, “Look at some point we should probably talk about us.” 

NOW he wants to talk? He couldn’t give Mer the time of day last we saw him. What an ass. That’s one of the things I hate most about them. When DeLuca wanted to talk Mer wasn’t interested then when Mer wanted to talk DeLuca wasn’t interested. They’re never on the same page. It’s exhausting to watch. Just move on already. Mer says they will talk about where they stand but he should go save Suzanne’s life first. They kiss and he leaves. Thank god. We get a sweet Ben and Bailey moment and then Bailey goes into work and Ben goes off to sleep all day! LOL! 

Owen comes to talk to Richard at Pac North. Richard tells him that the hospital has been purchased by the Fox Foundation. Owen thinks he’s joking. He’s very much not. Richard tells him about his and Catherine’s fight and that now everyone has to report to Grey Sloan and interview with Tom Koracick to keep their jobs. Seriously? What is her problem? Owen asks if Alex knows. Richard says he’s still in Iowa dealing with family issues. He said he called to tell him Pac North was closing and in response Alex texted him a laugh until you cry emoji with a party hat! LOL! That is so Alex! Then Maggie walks in excited for her first day! Oh jeez! They have to break the news. 

Meanwhile over at Grey Sloan it’s Schmitt’s first day back. He’s nervous. Nico’s unhappy that Schmitt is still crashing at his place. He wants Schmitt to move out and get his own place because they’re not at the cohabiting stage yet. To be fair Nico’s got a point. Levi’s never lived on his own and that’s an important step in adulthood that everyone needs to take. I’m with Nico on this one. Next we see Hayes and his boys coming down the main staircase. He introduces them to Meredith. They’re bored and disinterested as teenage boys usually are.We learn some very important information about Hayes in this scene in that he and Mer have something else in common. They’re both white parents raising black children as both of Hayes boys are black.

I find this really interesting as it adds a level of complexity and commonality to Hayes’ story and to his and Mer’s relationship. And look at that smile! Look at how her face lights up when she talks to him! Swoon! It also tells us more about Hayes’ family because this means that either his kids are adopted like Zola was or he was married to a black woman. Being a part of a biracial family comes with its own unique challenges and seeing the characters explore that I think could be really interesting. It could also be good for Zola in that she would gain older siblings of the same race that could help her through stuff that her white family members can’t. Derek always said that he wanted her to have black people in her life that could help her.

I love the idea of them all becoming a family. Derek always said that if something happened to him he didn’t want Mer to be alone which is why he encouraged her to connect with her sisters and have kids and wanted Maggie to be there for Zola. Hayes fits the bill perfectly in that he’s exactly the kind of man Meredith needs in her life and that Derek would have wanted for her and I love that! Plus, he’s got Cristina’s stamp of approval! Hayes tells Mer that his boys used to love getting a tour of whatever new hospital he was working at. Now they just want to know where the cafeteria is. LOL! Mer asks why they’re not at school. Hayes tells her it’s parent teacher conference day. Hayes tells the boys to put back whatever they’re messing with and carries on. 

After he leaves Amelia walks up to Mer and says she saw DeLuca leave the house this morning. She asks if they’re back together. Mer says she doesn’t know and asks why she’s so interested. While I’m sad that we didn’t get to see more of Meredith and Hayes this episode and that Mer and DeLuca slept together I do like that they’re building Mer and Hayes’ friendship organically. One of my big pet peeves is that following her relationships with Derek and Finn every relationship Mer had was something they threw her into. There was no build up and they always pursued her. I like that they’re building her relationship with Hayes slowly over time. They’re becoming friends. We’re seeing all that they have in common and he’s not pursuing her like a cheetah chasing a gazelle on the savannah. 

Amelia tells Mer that she’s anxious and so she’s deflecting and looking for examples of love enduring hardships. Mer laughs and says she wouldn’t go that far yet concerning her and DeLuca but the sex is great. She asks if that counts. Amelia says it doesn’t hurt. I like that Amelia and Mer are friends now. It’s so much more interesting than watching them fight. And again we’re back where we started with Mer and DeLuca. She’s having fun and enjoys sleeping with him. He’s head over heels for her and wants a serious relationship with none of the strings. The strings being her family, friends, and kids. Sigh. Amelia runs into Jo. We find out that Amelia is getting the paternity test results back today and that she’s been avoiding Link ever since he asked for the test. Jo is upset about how Amelia’s been treating Link and makes this speech about how couples need to have all of the available information because if they do they can work things out and rise. Amelia asks Jo if she herself is going through something. Jo says Alex hasn’t been returning her calls. That he said that he’s going through something and needs time. 

WTF? Seriously? Are they really going to break up Jo and Alex because the actor has moved on? That’s so dumb! Why not just kill him off then? God this is stupid. Jo says she’s deflecting because she’s anxious. Her and Amelia have that in common. I like that they’re becoming friends. Next we see Jackson asking Tom for more information. Bailey asks what’s going on. He tells her the Foundation is absorbing Pac North and its employees. Bailey didn’t know. Seriously how could Catherine not tell her? She’s the Chief of Surgery! I get that Tom is everyone’s boss now but still.

Following that Bailey walks into a patient room to find three very smelly residents. Helm and Simms are still recovering, and Brody is there helping them do research Suzanne’s case. Bailey is not amused, “Oh god lord people just because you’re injured doesn’t mean you can’t shower!” Simms replies that, “Dr. DeLuca said we could only eat and sleep.” Okay seriously? That’s abusive and also foolish. They’re still recovering! What does Mer see in this asshole? As funny as that line from Bailey was the fact that DeLuca forbade the sick residents he’s in charge of from showering until they figure out what’s wrong with Suzanne is super messed up! No one knows what’s wrong with Suzanne at this point and a bunch of smelly, tired, and sick residents are not going to be able to solve it. 

We cut to a patient room to see Suzanne’s sister telling her about how her daughter kissed someone named Taylor at school. We then find out that her sister’s been digging up dirt on DeLuca and Grey Sloan. She’s not happy. She’s seen the hospital hell article. Yikes! That’s when Dr. Riley walks in! She sets up her tablet and DeLuca is confused. Then she starts signing. The tablet is to connect her to her interpreter so she can communicate with them. She says she’s here for a consult with Dr. Grey who as you recall has no idea who this woman is because DeLuca didn’t tell her!

I love that they’re showing the different ways Deaf people working within the health care system can communicate. The Deaf community doesn’t get as much authentic representation as it should! Very cool! Dr. Riley introduces herself and DeLuca explains why she’s there. Suzanne warms to her immediately. Riley has no time for DeLuca’s nonsense and I love that! She asks him to tell Dr. Grey that she’s here already. She clearly thinks this is Mer’s case and it’s not which is going to cause a problem sooner or later. Also, there’s a big difference between using someone’s name to entice someone and saying they’re going to be working with them which is apparently what DeLuca did. Idiot. 

I loved Suzanne’s sisters comment, “Wow. The competency is just slapping me in the face right now.” She is having none of DeLuca’s crap right now and I love it! Tom comes to interview everyone. Owen tells him that since Alex took a personal leave he’s been filling in as interim chief.  To which Tom replies, “Cool story bro.” Oh Tom. He’s like an elephant. He never forgets and he never forgives. Tom tells Richard what he thinks is good news. That his job is safe. Richard doesn’t see it that way. Tom tells him that Catherine wants him at Grey Sloan enough to buy a craptastic hospital and pretend it’s an investment. Richard’s a hard no on that one. He says, “I thought I could do this because I miss Grey Sloan. Because I miss Bailey and Meredith and Bokhee and OR 2. God how I miss OR 2! But if Catherine thinks she can just move me where she wants like she’s playing chess?” 

Richard refuses to be Catherine’s pawn. Tom tries to talk him down and does a terrible job of it! “You tell Dr. Fox she can go to hell!” Checkmate bitch! You go Richard Webber! Meanwhile in the ER Levi treats an old married couple. They’re in town to attend the Seattle Ballroom Dance Championships. They won 5 Championships back in their day! It turns out the wife has cancer and it’s terminal so they’re out living their best life. They’re very sweet and it’s very sad. Maggie is interviewing to get her job back. Tom’s on his phone. LOL! He hires her back but as an attending working under Teddy because she ghosted them. 

Bailey comes to see a patient of hers who’s a foster kid that Ben brought in. He wants to know where his siblings are. Bailey has to tell them that they were taken by child services because legally she has a duty to report. He’s understandably distraught. Maggie examines Suzanne at Dr. Riley’s request. She needs another procedure. Her sister is pissed. Dr. Riley explains their approach and Suzanne agrees to the procedure. Out in the hall Dr. Riley asks DeLuca where Dr. Grey is. He says she’s in surgery. Maggie walks up and says she’s not in surgery she right there and points to her. She leaves to book an OR.

Okay it’s one thing to lie to get someone to consult on your case which is bad enough but it’s quite another to lie and say someone is in surgery in front of their sister whose your ex when they’re actually standing two metres away. What the hell? DeLuca’s defining characteristic at this point in the series is that he’s an asshole. He does whatever he wants to get what he wants and he doesn’t care about the consequences. I wish they’d just write him off already! Dr. Riley walks over to Mer. She introduces herself and says it’s good to finally meet her. Mer thinks she’s her consult from UCLA. DeLuca tries to correct her and says she’s from UCSF. She asks if Suzanne is her patient and Mer tells her she’s consulted but that’s it.

Mer says she’s at a loss and that she’s heard great things about her. She says it was great to meet her, but she has to go because she’s being paged. She leaves and Dr. Riley is livid. She calls DeLuca out on the fact that he lied to her. DeLuca says he prefers the word lured. What an ass! Dr. Riley’s had enough. She’s leaving. DeLuca really has no redeeming qualities at this point. DeLuca stops her and says that if she leaves now the case will drive her crazy because it will keep her up at night because it’s too rare, they’re too lost, and she’s too good to just walk away. He’s projecting here. That’s how HE feels not her. God he’s such an ass.

Meanwhile Tom is making Owen wait till the very end to be interviewed because Owen was an ass to him and Tom’s petty like that. Amelia and Link talk in the green room. She says she’s getting the results back tonight. She wants to know what’s going to happen with them when they get the results back. Link says he doesn’t know. She asks him if he can try to know. She says he told her he loves her and asks if that’s true and if he wants to be with her and be in her baby’s life. He says that her and Owen have a complicated history and he feels that will shape her future if Owen’s the father. Links says he loves her, but he needs to know. Amelia says okay and leaves. I’m struggling to understand Link’s behaviour here. If he loves her it shouldn’t matter who the biological father is. 

Jackson runs into Maggie and they talk about Koracick as well as Catherine and Richard’s break up. They banter and laugh. I’m glad they’re not fighting anymore. I always liked them better as friends. I hope they get back to that. Meanwhile Hayes catches up to Meredith in the hallway. The way she smiles when he calls out to her makes my heart melt! Hayes asks Mer if she’s seen his boys by any chance. She says no and asks if they’re hiding or maybe just wandering? He says they’re trying to torture him by making sure they’re late for the parent teacher conference. The way she smiles while talking to Hayes about his boys and her kids gives me butterflies! She looks radiant! THAT is what true chemistry looks like!

Hayes says that sometimes he thinks he hates them. He says he doesn’t know how Mer does it. The kids, the job, staying sane. Mer’s response is “Who says I’m sane?” She says that the city shut off her water once because she forgot to pay the bill and she didn’t even notice. Her daughter had to tell her. Oh Mer! Never change. The two of them laugh about the joys of parenting and having to juggle it all. Just then Levi calls Mer to look at some scans. Hayes says he’ll leave her to it and goes to find his boys. I love the easy rapport they’re building between the two of them and I love the way she smiles when he’s around.

Levi brings Mer in to talk to the old couple. The wife’s cancer has spread to the rest of her body. If they tried to operate it’s unlikely she’d recover. This is it. Levi is moved to tears as are we. Maggie goes to operate on Suzanne. Dr. Knox welcomes her back and Suzanne is concerned. She tells Maggie that the Taylor her daughter kissed is a girl. She needs her cool supportive Mom not her uptight Aunt. And her other daughter was already an orphan once and she won’t recover if Suzanne dies so she really needs Maggie to save her. Maggie reassures her. They’ve got her. Suzanne’s speech made me tear up. She really loves her kids. The husband of the dying woman Levi’s been treating comes to talk to him. He says Levi reminds him of his grandson and asks him if he can help a sad old man with a very big favour. Levi says he’ll do anything. My heart! 

Maggie and DeLuca operate on Suzanne. Is this guy who can barely do his job seriously trying to backseat drive the head of cardio? For real? Who the hell does he think he is? As Maggie says Suzanne isn’t here for her feelings she’s here for her hands and her expertise and that is her focus and it should be his too. That is what separates a great surgeon from a hack. Maggie gets that, but DeLuca never will it seems. Following the surgery Maggie and DeLuca come to see Dr. Riley. She decided to stay after all. Dr. Riley says that when Suzanne wakes up they need to withdraw all treatment. Dr. Riley believes the medication is masking the cause of Suzanne’s illness and they need it to present itself so they can treat her properly. DeLuca is concerned because if they do what she’s asking Suzanne could go into septic shock and die within a short period of time. Maggie thinks Dr. Riley’s suggestion is reckless and cavalier. But it’s not her case or place to decide. She leaves and tells DeLuca to follow up.

DeLuca still disagrees but as Dr. Riley points out he asked for her recommendation and this is it. Levi comes in and asks to borrow the other residents. DeLuca tells him to go in his typical dismissive fashion. Owen is still waiting to find out if he has a job. Amelia comes to talk to him. Owen is enraged but as Amelia points out Tom hates him because he stole his girlfriend. He won. He got the girl, the family, the whole Megillah. Tom’s messing with him because he’s in pain and he’s lonely. Her advice is to let him have his fun. Owen asks how she does it. Feel everyone’s feelings so deeply all the time. Owen says it must be exhausting. Amelia says it is. She rests her head on his shoulder for a minute and then leaves. This scene was not as bad as I was anticipating from the thumbnail I saw. It was actually quite sweet. 

Over in the cafeteria the residents have lit candles and put out flowers. They bring the dying woman out to meet her husband who’s in a tux. They reminisce about the day they met. He asks her to dance. His wife is worried because she doesn’t have a gown and looks terrible. Levi hands her a floral bell sleeved feather trimmed robe that she can put on over her hospital gown. Her husband tells her she looks exquisite. Helm puts on the song Moon River and the two of them dance in a candlelit cafeteria like they’re on the world’s best stage! My heart! More people come to watch them dance including the cafeteria staff, some of the nurses, Nico, and Meredith. We find Richard sitting outside on a bench. Jackson comes to talk to him. He says he’s already been to a meeting, he doesn’t want to come home to an empty house, and he’s not sure where he works so he’s just sitting there.

Jackson says he works here and Richard says it’s not by choice. They were building something at Pac North and Catherine took it all away with a phone call to the bank. Jackson says it’ll pass. It’s bad now but soon enough him and Catherine will be joking about it over coffee. Wow. Jackson really doesn’t get it. Shaking my head over here. I loved his line, “Son, After Godzilla’s done stomping all over Tokyo the Mayor doesn’t take Godzilla to brunch.” Sing it Richard! 

Next we find Meredith in the Attending's Lounge. Bailey walks in. Mere talks about how she’s feeling. She says, “There was a time when I would have made a dance floor for the dying old lady. Andrew and I broke up the night of my trial and there was a time when that would’ve meant months of drama for me. But instead I went home and went to bed and I woke up and I was just excited to go practice medicine. I used to be a romantic. I would’ve been the one to build the dance floor in the cafeteria.” And now she’s leaving the dance floors to the residents. Bailey says she’s not lacking in passion she’s just grown up a little. I’m so glad they’re friends again! Next she asks, “What would you do if Ben dumped you?” “I’d burn him to the ground.” Sing it Bailey! They’re called exes for a reason! 

That’s what Mer needs to do. Burn DeLuca to the ground, move on, and start over. I like their talk here. Mer used to be a romantic. She used to be the person who built houses of candles and did big romantic gestures. But when Derek died she stopped being that person. She deserves someone who makes her feel that way again. And no one. Not Riggs or DeLuca or Thorpe or that transplant surgeon or anyone else has made her feel that way. The way that Derek did. She deserves to feel that way again with someone who truly loves her and wants to be a part of her family. I hope she finds it. I do. I hope she finds someone that makes her want to be a romantic again. I think Hayes could be that person and I hope that we get to see it!  

Because she deserves it and that’s what Derek would want for her. He wouldn’t want her to close herself off or settle for second best or some fling. He’d want her to find love again, true love, with someone deserving of her. Jackson comes in and tells them that Richard walked because he doesn’t want to work on Koracick’s terms and honestly neither does he. He asks if they’re just going to let this happen. Bailey’s all hell no! She’s not going to sit by helpless while her family gets split apart again. They’re going to do something about this. Finally!

DeLuca’s speaking with Suzanne and her sister. They’re explaining what they want to do. Her sister is pissed. She thinks they’re giving up. She pleads with Suzanne to let her transfer her to another hospital. That’s when Dr. Riley steps in. She explains that she has three sisters. She talks about each of them and then talks to Suzanne’s sister directly. She explains that she’s too sick to be moved safely and even if they could there’s no one better than her. She explains that because she’s Deaf she’s learned to listen with her whole body and that when the medications are gone the disease can start talking so she can figure out what’s wrong with her and hopefully save her life.

With that she convinces them. Suzanne consents to the withdrawal of treatment. Dr. Riley leaves the room and DeLuca follows her. He tells her that he also has a sister and starts to compliment her. That’s when Dr. Riley stops him. She’s an only child. Daaaamn. Look at her. Getting the job done. I did not see that coming. Dr. Riley you continue to surprise me. Well done! I really like the way they’ve written Dr. Riley so far. Her Deafness is one part of her but it’s not the sole focus. As it should be. She’s a real character with complexity not a stand in and that’s cool.

We cut to the boardroom. Where Tom has just been paged by Bailey, Jackson, Richard, Meredith, and Owen. Shit is about to go down. Buckle up. They tell him the hospital board of which most of them are members has come to a decision. They’re all prepared to quit. Mic drop! “I’m sensing a but.” Right you are Tom! They explain that Dr. Fox wouldn’t really like that as she wants them here at Grey Sloan and she’ll wonder why Tom didn’t do more to protect her Crown Jewel hospital. They’ve only just recovered from the hospital hell article and as Meredith says, “We could blame me for that or we could just remember that I’m a Catherine Fox Foundation award winner and a media darling and I mean you want me here.” Like a boss! And that’s why 16 seasons later we still love her. She gets stuff done like the badass she is. 

As Bailey as Tom can’t afford to lose all his best doctors and his inability to see that could cause Catherine to rethink the whole Chief of Chiefs title, salary, and benefits. Tom concedes. He asks them to name their terms. Bailey says they’re a family. He doesn’t get to rule with an iron fist, not anymore. Their terms are as follows. Owen and Richard get their jobs back. Teddy and Maggie become co-chiefs and he finds the money to cover it. Alex and Hayes become co-chiefs as well or they all quit. Boom!

If Justin Chambers was still on the show this is definitely a scene he’d been in. Fighting for Grey Sloan with the rest of them no doubt. Their deal is this: he agrees to their terms and gets to take all the credit with Catherine. They get their hospital back and he gets to save face. It’s a win win. Tom agrees. It’s a triumphant moment! Tom leaves the room and we hear everyone cheering. It’s great for our heroes but not for Tom. It must be hard hearing everyone cheer at your destruction. Amelia’s right. Tom’s in pain and he’s taking it out on everyone else. Tom is such a complex and interesting character. Greg Germann brings such beautiful complexity to his portrayal. 

Nico and Levi are getting it on in an on call room. But soon Levi stops. He says he doesn’t just want sex. He says he wants a dance partner. He wants what that old couple have. Nico asks if he’s reciting a poem or if he’s being literal. Levi is frustrated. Nico is confused. Next we see Link in the green room. Jeez there are a lot of plants in there! They’ve definitely added more. It’s getting a bit excessive in my opinion. I mean how many plants do you need? Amelia looks through the window at him. He doesn’t see her. She takes a shaky breath then walks away. Link gets a text. It’s from Amelia. She says she’s sorry but she didn’t run the test. She needs more time. This part really pissed me off. I get that she needs more time but Amelia should have told Link that sooner. I hate that they’re drawing this storyline out. Just get the damn test already! Ugh! 

As Meredith’s voice over plays we see Jo come home to a dark empty flat. The future for her and Alex uncertain. Meredith's voice over in this episode is about time and how we're struggling to overcome the simple inescapable truth that eventually everything ends. But that for every clock that counts down another restarts and when one thing ends something new always begins. I feel like this is one of those voice overs that can be taken in a variety of ways depending on how you look at it and which ships you're rooting for. You could take it as Meredith realizing that her relationship with DeLuca has ended and that she needs to move on. Or that Amelia and Link's relationship might be ending. Or that Jo and Alex might be over. Or you could take it the opposite way. It's very open ended. 

Until next time!

[surveys-at-your-service]

Survey #244

“you could stand me up at the gates of hell, but i won’t back down.”

What accent do you find most difficult to understand? Heavy southern. Has your music taste changed over the years? Not very. I do like more indie stuff now than I used to, though. What movie never fails to make you cry? The Notebook. What movies do you think need a sequel? Hm... I'm sure there's plenty, but they're evading me for now. Let's see... yeah idk. Do you have to see it to believe it? I mean it depends; see what exactly? But in general, yeah. I believe in spirits, maybe even auras, stuff like that. What was the last thing you bought for yourself? Food. Do you like 3D movies? Yeah, they're cool. Have you ever had breakfast in bed? Not the "my partner brought me food and it's romantic" type of way; I've just eaten breakfast food in bed. Have you ever practiced kissing on a stuffed animal? No, that's always been. p wild to me. Do you still talk to your childhood friends? A few. True/False: You live with your parents. Just one. At the dinner table do you always sit in the same chair? We rarely eat at the table, but generally, yes. Is your signature legible? I think so. Have you met any bands/singers? No. Have you ever witnessed a miracle? No. Do you know someone that looks better as they age? *shrugs* Do you know the order of the colors of the rainbow? Yes. Do you sometimes wish you were the opposite gender? No. Have you ever kissed a picture? of who? I don’t think so. Did/do you distract your teachers to get them to tell you stories? I didn't really speak in class unless I was pretty sure I had the answer to a question or had a serious question myself. Who makes you feel like you’re worth something? My mom, more than anyone. Do you remember a lot of your childhood? Yeah. I have a crazy vivid long-term memory. How many pets is too many? Depends on available space as well as what you can afford to care for sufficiently. Do you stare at dead people in a movie to see if you can catch them moving? lol no. Does your hand fit inside a Pringles container? Probably. I can curl my thumb really inward to make space. Do you know who your maid of honor/best man will be? Sara, unless I end up marrying her lmao. In that case, it'd be Mom. If you had the opportunity to be famous, would you take it? I don't like the term "famous" for me personally, but rather "well-known" for a photographer. What is your favorite healthy snack? Strawberries, I guess? What is the best song by your favorite artist/band? I HAVE TO???????? PICK???????????? Oh jeez. At least right now, "Time" is one that I hold incredibly close to my heart and usually brings me to tears because it reminds me of Teddy. It's just a beautiful song. I'd say overall, probably "Trap Door." It's cool as hell. How many times did your phone ring today? None. What theme do you want for your wedding? Halloween/fall-ish. How much do you spend a month on make-up? Nothing. Do you have any of your future children’s names picked out? I don't want kids, but if I did, Alessandra Quinn is the girl and my spouse cannot argue, and I'd love Damien Vance or Damien Victor for a boy. What was your favorite childhood meal? Spaghetti. Would you ever date someone over the internet? I don't *think* I'd do it again, no, unless it was Sara and we were actually making arrangements to move in together ASAP. Do you find it hard to believe that a dinosaur was once right where you are? No, but rather cool as hell. What is your favorite part of the movie “The Lion King”? The intro (up to where the title pops up, not just NAAAAAAAAAAAAASEBENYAAAAAAAAAAA). It's just... magical. I, without fail, get goosebumps all over and smile. Do you have any bug bites atm? No. Do you knock before entering someone’s room? Yeah. What was the last thing you shot in the garbage? Like, shot as a basketball? Probably just paper or something. Would you freak out if you saw a spider crawling on you right now? Fuck yes I would. Who did you last call beautiful? Venus, my snake. Have you ever used a tanning bed? Nooooooo. Do you think people will eventually stop believing in God? Oh, absolutely not. The belief in some sort of higher power has evolved since the dawn of civilization, so why would it stop? Do you and your best friend have the same favorite band? No. Do you prefer watching movies or playing video games? Vidya games. Have you ever been go-cart racing? Ha ha yeah, fun. Up in NY with my cousins. How many jobs have you had in your life? Three. Does your shower have a door or curtains? Two curtains. Do you have any posters of your favorite band on your walls? Metallica and Manson, yeah. Are you good at remembering names? NOOOOOOOO. Have you been outside today? No. Have you ever walked the opposite direction on an escalator? No. When making pancakes, do you try to make cool shapes/pictures? No. Do you use your hand when you’re explaining something? Oh yeah. Do you play a lot of video games? Not anymore, really. I would, but I can't afford a new console. I want a PS4 super badly (hell, even a PS3) to play new games, especially ones I haven't seen let's plays of. You can only replay a game so many times before you get bored, y'know? The only game I play regularly is WoW and that's because it has like... endless content to do. Who is your favorite Disney princess? Probably Jasmine. What word do you hate that people use often? (yolo, derp..) None off the top of my head. I just don't care. When was the last time you had hiccups? Idr. Have you ever thrown up from drinking too much alcohol? No. Do you ever buy the same piece of clothing, just in different colors? No. What is the last movie you saw in a theater? The live action The Lion King, I think. How many bank accounts do you have? I don't think I even have one... I know Mom was talking about opening me up one, but like, why. I don't make an income. Have you ever been falsely accused of starting drama? Oh sure. Do you attend church regularly? I never go. Have you ever been to Dairy Queen? Good. Shit. They have THE best chocolate milkshakes. Do you tend to worry a lot? Only always! How old were you when you lost your first tooth? Idr. Do you remember your first time on the internet? Not really, no. Which website do you email from? Hotmail. Do you enjoy receiving souvenirs? Yeah. Do a lot of people dislike you or is it the other way around? Idk. Have you ever had the flu? No, knock on wood. What about strep throat? Yeah. Would you ever consider going on a cruise? No. What is your biggest insecurity? My more "different" interests/hobbies. Have you ever painted a room alone? No. Speaking of which, when did you last paint your room? Never. Have you ever had a terrible hangover? No. Do you ever get migraines? Rarely. Do you know how to garden? I mean, I could put it together... What was the last thing you plugged into an outlet? A phone charger. Do people consider you to be a funny person? I don't know. Do you like children? No. If not, why is this? I'm just... uncomfortable and feel like I'm playing with slime against my will or some shit any time I'm in their presence. I don't like how they stare, I don't like how rude they can be, I hate how demanding they are of attention (YES, I am aware that is healthy behavior for the baby of a social species, I just can't provide it), they ask too many questions... I have a lot of reasons I don't like them. Is there a big age difference between you and the person you like? No. What is the most amusing thing on the internet, in your opinion? YouTube, I guess? Does the future excite you or scare you? Both. What do you plan on doing with the rest of your life? I don't want to think on this. How many huge secrets do you have? I don't know about *huge* secrets... How many people know these secrets? ^ How many times a day do you brush your teeth? Once. Do you ever floss? Not really, oops. Have you ever been in a long-term relationship? Two. Ever considered suicide? Yes. If so, did you try to commit suicide? Yes. Is there anyone out there who makes you feel completely useless? No. Do you like texting or calling people more? TEXTING. Don't call me omg. Have you ever painted something and been impressed by it? Yeah. When did you last babysit, if ever? I actually did last week in an emergency situation with my nephew. I was the one and only person capable due to everyone being sick. I was scared as shit and very anxious the whole time, but I did it. Ultimately, it was a good bonding experience for us. Do you have any younger siblings? Yes, one sister. Have you ever thought of someone as useless? I'm sure I've thought of myself like that before. Have you ever considered bleaching your hair? Not to remain blonde, no, but I did that on the occasion I dyed it purple, I think. Do you drink vitamin water? No. Are there any old movies you absolutely love? Well of course. Have you ever had a Big Mac before? No, it doesn't appeal to me. Do you think you attract the opposite sex at a reasonable rate? I don't know or care. Where is your favorite place to travel? Mountainous and wooded areas. What is your goal for the next few months? Do well in school, get back into driving, maybe get a job I can actually handle. Can you count to ten in another language other than your own? German, yeah. And I think Spanish. Have you ever played on a sports team before? Yeah. If you have, what was that sport and when? All of these are from when I was a young kid. T-ball/softball, basketball, cheerleading, soccer... I think that's it? Oh wait, dance for many years as a pre-teen/teen. Have you ever filed a lawsuit on someone? No. Do you think you’re a good singer? Not really. Do you think you have a good sense of style? I don't care. What matters is I myself like what I wear. Do you enjoy reading often? No... but I want to get back into it. Have you ever had a deadly illness? No, thank goodness. Ever had food-poisoning before? No. Where did you last eat dinner at? Like, eat out? I think it was a local Mexican restaurant with Mom and the sis. Have you ever shot a gun before? No. Where do you apply cologne or perfume? My neck and just generally around my torso. I don't really pay attention to exactly where. What completely and totally disgusts you and turns you off? Disrespect is what came to mind first this instance. What song makes you laugh when you hear it? I'unno. Do you take surveys hoping someone will see your answers or just ‘because’? Just because. It's a time-killer and a way for me to just. Talk. Not at anyone, just to get thoughts out of my head. It's therapeutic to me. What’s your favorite flavor of ice cream? Chocolate or vanilla, depending on my mood. What diet could you never do? "Raw." <<<< Yeah. Do you have a curfew? No, not that I ever leave the house. Do you actually like your job? N/A What is the last song you sang? I think it was "Ordinary Man" by Ozzy feat. Elton John. GOD I am ready for this album. Describe the best kiss you’ve ever experienced: Bro idk I've had a lot of those and I've never like ranked them in my head. Think to the last time someone said thank you to you, what had you done to earn it? I commented on my friend's picture that she was fUCKING BEAUTIFUL. Grab your cellular. When did you last receive a text message? Like three hours ago. Is there anything that’s worrying you at the moment? Just a lot. Honestly, do you wish there was someone still in your life who used to be but for whatever reason isn’t anymore? I mean yeah, there' s multiple people like that. Who in your household do you not have a good relationship with? My sister's dog. Who in your life are you scared to lose more than anything? Mom.

[trophywifejimgordon]

pre show hcs: jim & oswald

backstory headcanons under the cut; i’m putting these two together because they’re the most polished and also because i’m a gobblepot bitch at heart. a few barbara and fish ones snuck in as well, if that’s your cup of tea 👀👀👀

When Peter Gordon is still alive, he shows his sons (Jim and his younger brother Roger) his favorite western movies, which Jim retains a taste for all his life. Jim especially loves 3:10 to Yuma*, both back then and in the present, because of Ben Wade--honestly, he doesn’t realize it (and would never admit it), but his first crushes were on those gentlemen outlaw types. Seems like nothing ever changes.

Jim idealizes his father completely and withdraws into himself entirely when he dies. He’s angry & sulky as hell at first, which only gets worse when his mother remarries--he picks constant fights with his stepfather, who isn’t such a bad guy (he genuinely loves Jim’s mother and he and Roger get along, but then, Roger doesn’t have as many memories of Peter, and he doesn’t have Jim’s temper), but when years pass and Jim’s still in that angry, mourning state, things eventually get brutal. He leaves home senior year the second he turns 18, finishes the year couch surfing, and doesn’t look back. Enlists in the army because there’s no way he can afford college on his own and he stopped caring about his grades once his home life went to shit, so he’s not exactly first in line for scholarships. Spends the majority of his senior year with his high school sweetheart** Barbara Kean, whose parents tolerate him because he’s walking proof that she’s straight after all.

Ha.

Jim breaks up with her messily right before he enlists; she handles the breakup poorly (combining with her parent’s neglect to give her some pretty severe abandonment issues that will rock their relationship years into the future) and spends her first year of college at a prestigious school her parents kind of buy her way into (but kind of not, too; she’s a very talented artist with a passion for art history as well as a perfectionist driven by her parents’ expectations when she was in high school, and if things hadn’t gone as they did with James, she might have excelled at that university) completely wasted. She flunks her first semester and her parents pull her out in an outrage and stash her in a local Gotham school to save face, where she meets Renee Montoya, a very promising student with a criminal justice major who is brilliantly talented and in fact got accepted to Barbara’s fancy college all on her own, but couldn’t pay tuition. She pulls Renee into a toxic cycle of drug use and affairs and being miserable, tries to make her both everything Jim is and what he isn’t, and they circle around each other for the whole of their college careers through increasingly tumultuous make-ups and break-ups that wreak havoc on both their grades and their mental states. Finally, their last year of college, Renee breaks it off, apparently for good, and pulls herself up to good academic standing in the school and joins the GCPD soon after, while Barbara does nothing with her degree but laugh at it for a while, spending her life mostly between parties and hangovers.

Jim had one or two encounters in high school that might have been recognizably Not Straight, but he really finds out he’s bi when he’s in the army, stationed overseas with about 30 other men and no women whatsoever in his platoon. He fools around mostly--not particularly interested in falling in love or even really in lust--but accidentally forms a close bond with fellow soldier Eduardo Dorrance, with whom he starts sharing dreams and fears and hopes for after the war in between quick and cheap late night h*ndjobs. They fool around just enough that Jim knows it’s more than friendship for him, and for Eduardo too, he thinks, and that realization shows him what he probably already knows; this is nothing new to him, not really (understanding that puts everything in a new light for Jim and he looks back on some of the interactions he’d had and thinks oh--the way he’d always change fast in the locker room, looking at the walls and making no eye contact, making sure he’d never look around because he couldn’t bear for his eyes to linger and leaving as soon as he’d tugged on his shirt and tied his shoes, the uncomfortable attraction he’d had to that particularly strict football coach junior year, the claps on the back and knocks to the shoulder he’d give friends, feeling the contact for long afterward), and at the end of his service he just finds himself surprisingly comfortable with men, perhaps more than he’d ever been with girls back in school. That’s... pretty much the only thing the army makes him comfortable with. While he’s there, he becomes increasingly disillusioned with the United States military and the war he’s there to fight. He starts getting in arguments with superiors, and only escapes a dishonorable discharge by the fact that he’s shot in the stomach and sent home with a purple heart first.

(When Eduardo comes back to the States on leave and shows up at his doorstep hoping to reconnect, pick up where they left off, something, Jim throws him out with an anger he’s never quite felt before and can’t understand afterward, and that’s it for them... until recently.) 

Jim makes a full recovery and decides, while he’s in the hospital, that he wants to get a job where he can just help people--at first thinking idealistically, thinking about being a doctor or a lawyer or a case worker--someone he thinks could really make a difference. He starts trying to find a way to make this work in Gotham and inevitably runs into Barbara Kean, whom he reconnects with, and soon, she’s offering to fund his education and go back to school with him, and he can’t say no.

They move to Chicago, where Barbara goes to school and Jim takes night classes and works during the day to pay for their shitty apartment that he still couldn’t afford if Barbara(’s parents) weren’t footing the bill.

He gets through two years of school and leaves with an associate’s degree, feeling like he’s good for nothing. He wakes in the few hours he does get to sleep with nightmares from the army, and while Barbara is moving up, selling a few of her pieces and organizing galleries and rubbing elbows with high class people, he can’t find a career that does what he wants to do. Drinking in a bar one night (he does that increasingly regularly, coming home earlier and earlier in the morning and sometimes not at all), Jim sees a man trying to take advantage of some lady there and beats the shit out of him. The police are called, and Jim nearly gets arrested, but the lady steps in and begs them to let him go, saying he’s a hero. The cops give him advice: you want to be a hero, stop getting drunk in bars. Join the force.

Thinking that the army has ruined him for any career that doesn’t involve guns and violence, anyway, Jim joins the police academy. He moves back to Gotham while Barbara stays in Chicago, and graduates top of his class, the oldest recruit they picked up that year. He does his time as a uniform cop at a smaller precinct outside of Gotham, but his (sparse) education and military background, not to mention the reputation his father left behind as DA, mark him for better things, and within a year, he’s promoted to become a homicide detective at the GCPD. Barbara moves back to Gotham (back into the apartment she’d lived in since her undergraduate years, a big penthouse she’d never quite been able to let the lease run out on, for reasons that surely have nothing to do with the woman who still held the other key to it) and sets up her own studio and shit, and he moves back in with her, asks her to marry him, and everything gets all picked out. Jim starts the job investigating the Wayne murders. The rest, we know.

*The 1957 version, because somehow it seems like blasphemy to conceive of modern movies in the Gotham setting

**Okay, so this isn’t entirely accurate to Gotham canon. There’s a part in season one where Harvey is deconstructing Jim’s love life and says something along the lines of “let me guess: high school sweetheart, hoes overseas only made you sad, and then there’s Barbara,” which Jim more or less acknowledges. I guess the first time I heard it I misinterpreted the line and thought it meant that Barbara was the high school sweetheart, so by the time I realized that wasn’t it, I was already in deep with the headcanon... oh well. I explored that idea in this fic over here, if you’re interested. 

Now, Oswald, on the other hand... Oswald Cobblepot spends his childhood as the weird kid with the strange clothes and the faint foreign accent. He brings goulash to school in a thermos and is too close to his mother and has no friends whatsoever, but spends a lot of time at the library and, in his early years, gets top marks in all his subjects. He’d be a shoe-in for special attention or even a place at the prestigious private school on a merit scholarship, but that the teachers don’t like him very much (there’s some prejudice against him for his single mother and his accent, and for the smug way in which he knows everything they ask of him and more) and do nothing to help him get ahead. 

When he starts high school, Oswald decides to try and make friends. He kicks his accent to start talking more like the other students, and does his best to socialize, mostly with other kids in his smart classes. For one ephemeral semester, some of the girls find him cute and take him under their wings, inviting him to study and go to the mall with them. He’s definitely their “gay best friend,” although he doesn’t know that (doesn’t realize he’s gay) and in hindsight resents them for it. He does their homework for them and generally lets himself get walked all over in the interest of having friends for the first time in his entire life. It goes pretty well until they start inviting him to hang out with them when they’re with their boyfriends, and Oswald (who’s also never had a crush in his life) falls hard, still not realizing that what he’s feeling is attraction. He’s overly nice and asks the guys a lot of questions and offers them things and generally just fawns, which kind of freaks the dudes out (and naturally they get mad about it) while the girls get pissed off that he’s flirting with their boyfriends. Eventually, they just go back to bullying him like everyone else, and Oswald is alone again.

Oswald deals with Gertrude’s mental state on-and-off throughout his life. She’s a loving mother, and in her better times she reads to him and teaches him to cook and tells him stories of her childhood (though never of his father). In her worse states, she can tend toward paranoid and delirious, a product of her childhood fearing the secret police* while living in poverty, and can even lash out toward Oswald, thinking he’s someone else, or else refuse to let him leave their apartment, because she’s afraid he’ll leave her for better things like Elijah had. When he’s much younger, there’s a string of abusive boyfriends who give him a warped perception of what “love” and dating look like--ultimately, he’s pretty turned off to the subject. They either ignore or physically hurt Oswald, and hurt Gertrude emotionally, physically, and s*xually, especially when she’s in more vulnerable mental states. These states get worse as he grows up and starts coming home with increasingly bad injuries--she’s furious about the bullies, but doesn’t do much but smother Oswald in attention he grows to resent. 

Because of her instability, she’s in-and-out of jobs as a cook or a house cleaner, and they spend most years impoverished, Oswald having to mend his own clothes because they can’t afford new ones. Between caring for her and worrying about where dinner’s going to come from, Oswald’s grades start to slip, and eventually he drops out of school halfway through his senior year to work two jobs, as she’s too far gone to support them. He spends his days at a department store as a clerk (working retail is all the backstory Oswald needs to justify his misanthropy, lbr) and his nights as a dishwasher for some seedy bar he’s not old enough to visit. To make things harder than they should be, Gertrude is resistant to him going out, as she’s sure that he’s going off on dates with a hussy that he’ll eventually elope with. He still loves his mother, of course, but he’s starting to grow resentful of her mental illness and the degree to which he’s suffering--pushed around by assholes at work, up at all hours, hardly getting more of a rest than his lunch breaks and the hour between his shifts, and seeing his future as essentially ruined because of how high school experience turned out. Still, he has no obligations greater than his devotion to her, so he sets his teeth and bears it. Builds up a crazy level of patience, stamina, and pain tolerance, as well as a flood of negative emotions at the whole world. Every once in a while, on his rare day off, he’ll sit with Gertrude and and read her her novels, like she would read to him. She seems better during times like these; sometimes she’ll have him let her take over reading, and she’ll pet his hair. Sometimes she even has enough clarity to realize that she’s putting a huge strain on her son, and weeps, apologizing; he feels guilty, then, for all the resentment he’s got, all the times he thought about just running away. He works longer hours, tries to pay for medication for her. It’s showing improvement in stabilizing her moods, but at the same time, he’s operating on the edge of collapse.

Right when Oswald figures he can’t take it anymore, something changes: a young, fearsome Fish Mooney comes into possession of the bar Oswald works nights at and decides to change it into a respectable nightclub. She’s Falcone’s wunderkind, making him the highest profit margins, and so she gets pretty wide range for what she’s allowed to do. Most of the staff, she fires for boring her or for having the wrong “look” for her establishment, but when Oswald grovels to keep his job, she decides he’s funny, and besides, the groveling fuels her ego. She, like those girls at his high school, takes him under her wing; she first buys him a new suit (he takes eternal pride in it and washes it nightly; it starts off his obsession with fancy dress and presentation) and then gives him a list of jobs: he has to tend to various things around the bar and do a few humiliating chores, not the least of which include cleaning toilets, rubbing Fish’s feet, and carrying her umbrella. It’s demeaning, but honestly, he’s too thankful (then) to give much of a shit. 

She tells him to quit his other job so he can follow her around all day, and he protests that he’ll never be able to feed his mother--to which she responds that he’s getting a pay raise effective immediately. She’s got a soft spot for poor single mothers, after all. Now he’s got both a well paying job and more time on his hands than before--Fish is demanding, but not as demanding as two full-time positions. Used to working his ass off constantly, Oswald spends his newfound free time both entertaining his mother and studying to make up for the years of high school he missed--he gets his GED, and passes with flying colors. Thinks briefly of the life he could have had as an academic, but pushes that behind him. Too late to regret what’s already gone. Plus, he’s got a good gig--Fish is amused by him, but she’s also slowly starting to value his advice (if it’s given appropriately timed and with no one else around, a lesson he learns with great difficulty), and slowly trusting him with more of her secrets. Many nights it’s just the two of them at the club after hours, her complaining about some new issue, him doing petty accounting for her over a glass of wine. And as time goes on, Oswald starts to realize that Fish is Falcone’s most trusted ally, and he’s her most trusted employee. He’s got everything he’s ever wanted--his job’s enough to keep him and Gertrude above the poverty line, his mother’s mental health has at least partially improved, and he’s gaining influence in the mob. He’s not that surprised to find he’s got no qualms about this--the mob has given him shit he’s not gotten anywhere else, and after being put down and miserable for all his life, he finds no injustice in hurting other people to pave his way. When Butch Gilzean offers him a bat and lets him have a go at beating the shit out of some goon, the guy on the ground is everyone who ever made fun of his accent, every shitty guy who beat on his mother. It’s a good match for him.

So for a while, he’s content.

Then... Well, for the first time in his life, his basic needs are met without fighting every day to survive. Basically he’s tasted blood and he wants more, so when he realizes what Fish is planning to do about Falcone (sees it months before she even dares speak the concept out loud, in fact) he wonders if he couldn’t damn well do the same. 

So he starts listening. Writing notes at the end of the day, little tidbits of information. Who’s in on her scheme. How she’s going to do it. Moves she’s anticipating from him, and from Maroni. All the while, he’s planning. At the same time, the stress she’s under is coming out in the form of more abuse on Oswald’s head, and he’s growing more and more resentful of her. The first step of his plan becomes “replace Fish in Falcone’s inner circle.” He bides his time for nearly a year before the opportunity to set things into motion presents itself....

The Waynes are murdered. Gotham plunges into the deep. Oswald finds a way to survive.

*Isn’t there an episode where Gertrude talks about selling out a girl’s parents to the secret police? I feel like I distinctly remember that. Anyway, I’ve always felt like she was traumatized to a certain degree and the influence it has on Oswald is something we don’t talk about enough, so...