#needless to say i am a big fan of that guy

[mothmanmalewife]

I haven't really started transitioning beyond telling a few friends which pronouns to use, and broadly getting a gender neutral nickname on all my school documents, and yet somehow the transsexual energy is so potent that people just fucking know. had a lab partner a couple weeks ago who kept calling me "they" because he had no clue what was going on with my gender (this does not seem to be a default assumption he makes with everyone), and this kind of thing happens More Frequently Than I Know What To Do With

[darkpitlesbian]

watched go rush episode 80 last night. Yeah

[fernsnailz]

take this ask as a free ticket to freely hate on elemental (WE SUPPORT THE HATER GRIND WOOO)

ok so to preface. i have only seen elemental once. it was in theaters. i did NOT pay money to see it (my friend worked at the theater and we got in for free). we also saw it in 3D (would not recommend). i chugged a canned margarita beforehand (WOULD NOT RECOMMEND). i sobered up halfway through the movie and had a terrible time. needless to say i am not a fan of elemental (2023)

below is an edited version of the review/rant i sent to the group chat afterwards. BE WARNED IT'S REALLY LONG.

much later edit: personally i think i did a very bad job of critiquing this movie in this ask, and some of the opinions i expressed below are some pretty bad faith takes. i still think this movie is worthy of criticism, but not in this form and not from a guy who chugged a margarita before seeing it.

ok so the big point of discussion with elemental i've seen is usually around the allegory it uses to portray its themes of race, immigration, and prejudice. generally speaking, it's my opinion that trying to portray concepts of this weight and depth with an allegory or metaphor is already a terrible idea*. this isn't stuff that you can make simpler to understand by portraying minorities as fire people or predator animals or whatever great new idea disney is cooking up next, because this isn't stuff that can just be MADE simpler. if anything, allegory makes discussion about race more complicated because you have to explore why racism and prejudice, an inherently illogical belief, exists within said allegorical world. usually said fictional explanation just seems to justify prejudice - for example, the allegory in zootopia is straight up DANGEROUS to compare to real world racism because predators, aka zootopia's minorities, literally used to hunt and eat prey animals (the majority). with this in mind, elemental is already off to a bad start since disney has a bad history with allegories of this kind.

(*EDIT: this is gonna eat me alive if i don't clarify this because i realized too late that i spoke WAY too generally here. to clarify, i'm mostly talking about creating an entire allegorical world that lacks humans here - allegory can be a very powerful way to portray a human experience, and i don't want it to seem like i'm arguing that allegory and metaphor can't be used at all to create a powerful story about race and prejudice. for example, here's a short film that i really like called OverWeight. it's about losing one's culture and identity, and that theme is explored entirely through a bag of luggage. and it's really good! just want to clarify that i'm not advocating for only extreme realism and a lack of magic here, but instead against using huge, non-human allegorical worlds that replace these human experiences. thx bye)

thankfully, elemental never got as bad a zootopia in its portrayal of prejudice (at least in my opinion), but that's not saying much. it mostly just feels kinda confused - as far as i know, fire people are supposed to serve as a sort of "immigrant everyman" allegory which is. not how that works. immigrants of different races and ethnicities are going to have different struggles and experiences, and trying to boil everything down into four different elements that fit every kind of person under an allegorical umbrella is over complicating everything again through a veil of simplicity. it's almost like all of this would be fixed if they just told a story about real human people instead of turning them into water and fire people but i mean WHAT DO I FUCKING KNOW!!!!

oh also the worldbuilding of elemental is. kinda ass. to further explain: fire people are the only immigrant characters really explored in depth, and a good amount of the worldbuilding around them is actually pretty interesting. they have their own language that the characters speak every now and then, they have their own foods, customs, and culture that you can definitely tell a decent amount of thought was put into. which i liked! and then you learn that the country they come from is literally called Fire Land. just Fire Land. i doubled over when they said that because compared to everything else, it’s so out of left field and just. GAHH. it really reeks of "exec in the disney board room wanted to make part of the movie about prejudice easier to understand for The Kiddies" and i hate it. god.

this is consistent throughout the film, a lot of genuinely interesting worldbuilding is intermingled with surface level, bottom of the barrel ideas that just feel. so confusing. like a big theme the movie centers around is gentrification and how the city (called “Element City,” by the way (SCREAMS)) is not built with fire people in mind. i like this concept a lot and they show this in some interesting ways! a main conflict centers about how water is flooding ember's home, and there are multiple moments where high-action scenes are revolved around ember just navigating the city and trying to avoid water, something that most of the city’s residents wouldn’t have issue with. i thought that was really good! it was something that, surprisingly, was very relatable! and then the movie goes full zootopia and just like. has one of the characters call the fire girl a slur (the slur was “fireball”) which, reasonably makes ember mad, but then the character that did the slurring faces NO narrative repercussions for her actions because. ???????????????? i don't know??? you would think that a movie that turns issues of class and race into a fun cutesy little allegory would at least take the time to go "hey kids! let's not call minorities slurs" but instead the Slur Woman ends up helping ember and wade on their shitty little romantic sidequest and never once seems to express any remorse. cool! great!!!! WHO'S IDEA WAS THIS???????

by the way who fucking wrote this who put all these element puns in here. there are so many element puns in the movie i want to eat the writers of elemental. i’m mostly made of carbon but i do not walk around like “wow what a long workday we have fellow coworkers, i guess we have to CARBON diem, amirite?” please kill me

the varying quality in the worldbuilding and allegory of elemental just goes to show that this movie would have likely worked better if it focused on humans on earth rather than elements residing in a confusing elemental world - previous pixar works like bao and turning red show that pixar movies that focus on real experiences told from a human perspective with a magical realism twist can work really well! the allegory of elemental makes its characters and experiences feel distant, i spent more time trying to understand the world of the movie than the characters and their struggle. that could be a me problem, but the world was so goddamn broken in the first place that i felt like i COULDN’T focus on anything else. idk can we just tell like actual stories about actual marginalized people without turning them into The Trope of the Week i’m so tired

and by the way. i do not like the character designs in this movie one bit. ember looks like if you asked a middle schooler to design a fire woman. "ohhhhh we're pixar and we have to give all of our woman characters a pencil thin waist and big feminine eyes and skinny little legs" i want to explode.

ok we're getting into just batshit insane rant territory here now. so with that in mind I FUCKING HATE WADE. from the moment he appeared on that screen i knew i had it out for that motherfucker. the first thing he does is start crying over a situation that HE CAN SOLVE. he’s a city inspector that gets caught in the flood overtaking ember’s home, and the FIRST thing he does is start writing up violations he sees in the basement of ember’s family home. and then. he has the audacity to CRY ABOUT IT because it’s sooooooo tragic that her dad’s shop is going to be shut down because of HIM. the movie frames the water people as overly emotional because they cry alot (because they’re made out of water, of course!!! isn't that so funny!!!!!!!), but wade’s actions make it clear that those tears are FAKE because he does NOTHING to help ember in the first scene they meet. then, only after ember explains to him that there’s LITERALLY NO OTHER WAY her family can survive if the shop is shut down, does wade agree to help her out. kill me

oh btw wade being very emotional and crying a lot is NOT a bad thing and imo most modern stories need more emotional male characters. but. elemental treats wade's crying mostly as a running gag more than anything. which just kinda doubles around to being misogynistic again

wade continues to be a fucking nuisance to my psyche, even after leaving that theater. i did not enjoy the romance between ember and wade because i hated 50% of that duo. ember was ok i liked her enough bUT I WANTED TO KILL WADE. they try to spin him like “ohhhhh hes a little bit clumsy and goofy and a little bit dorky ahah don’t you like him?” as if that doesn’t describe most of the male love interests in every movie released after 1990. the two sit on a beach where ember is on the verge of a meltdown because they haven’t been able to save her dad’s shop, and one of the things wade says to comfort her is “i think you’re beautiful like this tho uwu” HUH????????? who tf is trying to make moves while someone is having an anxiety attack i SWEAR to god. i want to use wade as bong water i hate him so much

and then. ember gives him some glass that she sculpted to look like a flower she likes. it’s a nice sculpture. later in the movie, wade is like “hey ember i have something for you” and then just. gives her the sculpture back. and they treat it like he gave her a gift of his own like bro SHE gave that to YOU WHAT ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT????

the one act wade does for ember before the big climax revolves around taking her to see some underwater flowers - it’s a nice sequence, but it’s not a gift that’s exclusively from him. they have to get the cloud lady that called ember a slur to help make an underwater bubble to contain ember. fucking. come ONNNNN

wade dies in the climax of the movie. straight up he evaporates from heat and they’re like “awww he’s gone :(“ and they manage to bring him back but i really wish he stayed dead. would have been worth it if he died. but no. there's so. many weird little things in this movie that make my blood run a little too hot. can the genre of kindergarten racism movies please stop here. i am begging i can't do this again please

completely forgot to mention this at the beginning: my friends and i refer to elemental as "The Movie of All Time" because the concept of "element people" or general element-based characters is such a common story trope within young animators and storytellers (at least in our experiences). the number of pitches we've seen about "this character is made of water/has water abilities and this one's made of fire/has fire abilities and they need to find a way to work together/it's a love story!!!" is uncountable. we could not believe this movie was a real pixar production when it was first announced we thought it was a joke

in conclusion. i wish i had another canned margarita halfway through elemental. might have been bearable that way

[wood-white-writer]

“Didn’t mean to make your heart Blue” || [4.5/...]

- OPLA! Buggy x F!Reader

Pairing: Buggy the Clown (Live action) x F!Reader

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6

Summary: In which Buggy discovers that he’s in over his head while making a deal with Arlong the Saw.

Warnings: LA! One Piece, Canon typical violence, slight canon divergence, Arlong is his own warning

A/N: Unfortunately, part 6 of "DMTMYHB" is a little delayed and won't be out until at least next week. However, I began working on this initially out of boredom, so at least you can read about Buggy's POV after the events of chapter 4 and before the events of chapter 5.

Life sure is a shitshow sometimes, Buggy thinks to himself while spitting out a few grains of sand. For fish people, there’s a certain irony with pulling over a bag propped with sand over his head.

Then again, it could’ve been considerably worse.

They could have decided to water board him, or maybe take a decent chunk off his nose. It’s not too outlandish to assume that these kinds of people prefer the taste of human flesh, and although he considers himself fairly experimental man on occasion, that one is not on his kink list.

He might be big-headed sometimes, he’s man enough to admit as much, but even Buggy knows better than to underestimate the fish people. He’s had his fair share of encounters with them before, and needless to say, mixing a Devil Fruit eater with people who primarily live and breathe in the sea is a bad combination.

A very, very bad combination, especially if you throw Arlong the Saw into the mixture. Buggy’s not a recluse; he’s heard of his reputation as the self-proclaimed ruler of the East Blue. Ask just about anyone who he is, and they’ll whisper his name while pissing their pants like school children.

A misanthrope with a less than discreet disdain for all things human, and a face only a mother could hope to love, the guy does not fuck around with what he considers his, which approximately covers all of the East Blue. And the people in it are merely collateral.

If anything’s a testament, it’s his bounty. Twenty million berries for his head, doesn’t matter if it’s attached to his body or not. The highest bounty on this piece of the ocean.

Well, second highest. The top spot belongs to you, but that’s a thought Buggy has tried desperately to bury in the sand for the past few days. He doesn’t need to think about you, least of all now.

He has bigger fish to deal with, and it blows.

It’s his fucking luck that this is happening specifically to him.

No, it wasn’t enough that he got his ass handed to him by a bunch of scrawny nobodies.

It didn’t suffice that he had to watch you turn your back to him twice in a lifetime.

He’s managed to evade the saw-nosed fucker’s eye up until this point, and so, of course Fate would deal him this final one.

Just as the cherry on top of the shitty sundae that is his life.

So, to conceal or own terrified state when faced with the darkened stage room, Buggy decides to do what Buggy does best:

Fake it ‘til he makes it.

And he sure as fuck hope he does.

“Is this the best way to ask for an autograph?” His echo bounces like a ball through the darkened room. “I mean sheesh! Fans have gotten so toxic!”

The eerie silence is his only companion now, and he finds that he can’t stand it. Not even the two fishy folks standing guard at his side offers him more than rolled eyes. Rude.

This place — his stage — which once served as his sanctuary, might soon become his tomb. If Arlong lives up to his rep, he’ll ask the clown to dig his own hole before chomping on his jugular.

Curtains for him and all fucking that.

“Alright, what do you want?! Tickets to the show? I can get you house seats, they’re pricey!”

A loud thud emerges from the shadows behind him, and a cold breeze brushes against the the exposed skin on his face.

“Oh, I am no fan of yours.”

He knows a beast when he hears one, even better when he sees them. He spent the good portion of his youth alongside one, and witnessed first-hand just how they could be. Beasts are strong, and brutal, and precise. They can tear you apart if they deem it necessary because it’s in their nature, but that’s all it is. Nature.

However, Buggy’s also come to discover that beasts have also the capacity for kindness and love. A beast is someone he can fall in love with.

This thing that emerges from the dark at his side, on the other hand, is no mere beast.

Hell, he can’t even qualify it as such. This creature at his side, one he doesn’t dare to face at first until he notices it’s gradual approach, is a monster.

Ain’t no way in the blue hell he’ll ever consider tapping that the way he would with a beast.

“I run things here in the East Blue,” the fish-man speaks, voice grating Buggy ears as he circles the clown. “I’m here to remind of you of your place in the food chain. You pull a job in my seas, you gotta pay tribute.”

Despite the fact that he’s nervous as shit, there’s a certain taunt crystallising in Buggy’s brain that he’s subconsciously urged to free against his better judgement.

Arlong’s place is second in this so-called food chain. Yours is the first, and if it wasn’t for the fact that voicing this would guarantee his premature death, Buggy would’ve reminded the fishy shithead of this.

Despite whatever grievances you two share, Buggy knows that he won’t mind not being at the top as long as it means it’s not under Shark-boy’s hierarchy.

The East Blue is, per Arlong’s definition, yours, whether you know it or not, and he’d much rather comply with that.

But Buggy keeps his act going. “But Arlong, baby, you don’t gotta worry about me. I’m small potatoes. Pirating’s more of a side gig.”

As much as he tries, and he does try, Buggy knows his words can’t keep the shark’s teeth at bay for much longer. Arlong is not a patient type, and it just about snaps when he reaches for his throat and prepares to chomp.

Buggy doesn’t intend to die now. He can’t. He’s got unfinished business to attend to.

“Wait, wait, wait, wait!”

Maybe fate is actually on his side for fucking once, because the fish man actually does wait.

He has a shot.

“You know who’s out there really disrespecting you? It’s that little Rubber-Prick in the straw hat, goes by the name of Luffy.”

It doesn’t work, because it seems Arlong is more of a recluse than him. Has never heard the boys name. So, he tries a different approach before the teeth settle in again.

“He— He’s not alone.” Fuck, he’s losing air, and he kinda needs that to get the primary point into Arlong's thick, scaly head. A point that he’ll be sure to catch the asshole’s attention. “Cross-Hairs is with him!”

Arlong halts, and his lips don a sneer.

Another thing Buggy has discovered in all of this is that Arlong is an inherently proud guy, and believes himself superior to others not only because of his fishy nature, but due to the fact that he has among the largest bounties on this piece of the map.

Yours is the only obstacle keeping him from completely claiming that title.

“The Captain of the Cross-Haired Pirates has been absent for the past decade.” Arlong lets up on the pressure around his neck, enough to let Buggy grasp a few fistfuls of air, but his feet still dangle above the ground.

“Y-Yeah—,” Buggy heaves. “But her— b-bounty hasn’t changed, has it? And the kid, he just knocked over a marine’s base in Shells Town, then he stole a map of the Grand Line and now he’s talking shit about finding the One Piece.”

This seems to be enough reason for Arlong to finally drop him, and Buggy struggles to retrieve all the air he’s lost.

“The One Piece, an excuse for humans to spread their filth across the seas.” Arlong is less than impressed, but what he says next opens a door. “Why should I concern myself with the ambitions of a mere human boy?”

“Because that map is useful,” Buggy regains some semblance of balance on his knees. “The kid is not, but I have unfinished business with him. What’s more, if Cross-Hairs is with him, then that’s your chance to get the highest bounty in all of the East Blue. Think about it! You’ll be at the top of the list if she’s out of the way.”

Arlong doesn’t like the implication laced in Buggy’s words, the possibility that he’s in any way lesser than a human. “I am already at the top of the list, clown. The Cross-Haired Pirates are disbanded, and humans tend to age so quickly compared to fish men. I’m sure she’s grown old and weary in the last couple of years, hardly worth my time.”

Buggy wants to smile. Smile as he thinks about just how fucking wrong this guy can be. The years have not drained you, nor weakened you, nor made you any less hot if he does say so himself.

Oh, if anyone can wipe the floor with Arlong, it’s you. That’s why he’s not afraid of revealing your current whereabouts, because he already knows fishy over there will get his ass whopped big time.

“How about this: you let me live, and I’ll help you find Luffy and Cross-Hairs. Two birds with one stone, so to speak.”

Two birds, one stone, and one fish filet, to be more specific.

Arlong grabs him by the neck. “And how do you plan to do that?”

“I've got eyes and ears everywhere.”

The fish takes the bait, and Buggy can't help but laugh.

Laugh, not because Arlong agrees to his plan, but because the guy is going to be struck by lightning so fucking hard that in the end, there'll be nothing left of him save for that ugly-ass tool he calls a nose.

The moron has deliberately put himself up for slaughter, and personally, Buggy can’t wait to watch the show unfold.

The stage is yours.

He’ll watch from the front rows and give you an upstanding applause once the curtains falls.

---

Taglist: @kurinhimenezu, @carpinchootaku, @ay0nha, @teh-vampire-bunny, @lokiscure, @internationalsuper-spy, @detectivesparrow , @yuriwk , @notyuralycat , @angeli-fucking-cat, @machinema7k, @shuujin, @avatar-lover, @gingernut1314, @autumn-slaves. @marvelouskatie, @floristoflillys, @dizzyenby, @redpool, @deliri-yum22, @aemondsb1tch, @ackroxia, @gayandfairycore (If you want to be tagged for this story, just send me a message or leave a comment :))

[luminouslywriting]

Hi. I just came across your blog from your domestic Brady headcanons and I must say I have immediately become a fan! Would you consider expanding on the fights/makeup sex with John Brady? Please. 🤭

Also I am now going to be going through all your writings bc I think you’re a fantastic writer!! 😘

I hope you’re doing well.

Ahh Nonny this ask had me giggling the entire time excitedly! Because I do have some thoughts on this! My requests are open so keep sending in these asks or requests :) I got a little carried away with this one—oops??

Cut for length, spice under the cut!

-So I previously said that John Brady hates to argue but LOVES makeup sex and it's always really hot. He definitely doms in that situation and enjoys being possessive and making you lose control.

-Expanding on that haha.....

-He's really not all that into conflict and I think that a really big part of him HATES even disagreeing with you about something. But if he feels really strongly about something, then he's going to stick by it and be really stubborn.

-Which is not to say that he would ever say anything out of anger—he's the type of guy who needs to take a walk and clear his head and just process things.

-Will usually apologize first, especially if he knows that he messed up

-I don't think the fights are usually over things that are really bad or serious...except for maybe one or two things

-So some of the fights that have ensued have been just a little petty

-For instance, the color of the drapes, whether or not to get a pool (he didn't want one and he lost that one), whether or not to go and socialize at the neighborhood party (wherein one of the ladies there flirted with him), etc.

-Now here's the thing....in these situations, the makeups usually go one of two ways:

He realizes that it's not worth it to fight with you about something and it's altogether likely that you're still very angry at him. So in that case, this man is forgoing the communication aspect of the relationship (for the moment anyway, you can come back to that during pillow talk lol)....and he's seducing you to get you to calm down and then you can have a talk about it.

-In this instance, he's crossing the floor quickly and beginning to just kiss down your neck

-He's playing with the hem of your dress and the straps of your bra

-Is just a general menace about it

-And is a huge tease the entire time about how you just need to behave and listen to him and learn your lesson about communication

-There might even be one or two spankings involved if you were the one in the wrong

-His entire goal going into this interaction is to make you orgasm as many times as possible so that you're so relaxed that you can talk like adults during pillow talk haha

-He's gonna make you beg for the things that you want

-It's very very hot and is a great conflict resolution for the two of you—works every single time

2. Now given the fact that he can't ALWAYS get away to think things through, sometimes you two will still be in the middle of an argument and voices might be getting a little raised and it's at this point that one of you is going to rush the other

-It's a frantic makeout with clothes being discarded quickly and is generally more rough than the other one

-It's been done against the wall, atop the piano, in the kitchen, against the grandfather clock (though don't ask me why haha), atop the credenza, and many other things

-This one includes biting and leaving hickies, back scratching, scalp and hair pulling....

-Needless to say, he loses all control in this situation and so do you. He's only a tad bit mortified the morning after when he realizes that it looks like a damn raccoon fought him and he lost and you look like he's painted your neck and inner thighs

-There will be an actual apology and conversation after this one since things got a *little* carried away

-He definitely likes to kiss your hand whenever he's apologizing for that

-Some serious fights though have been about three things (Religion and God OR it's about whether or not to have kids/if the timing is right for that OR to move for work)

-Now if it's a serious fight...I don't feel like he's the type to just have sex as a form of coping or to get you to listen or for him to think through things

-In these particular instances, it takes working through the problem and actually talking with one another (maybe over the span of several days, weeks, or even months) for things to feel healed enough for that

-And the thing is, I think he really revels and loves having physical affection, so the longer drawn out the serious arguments are, the more bad he feels about not being able to be there for you physically and emotionally

-So this is where the really soft and tender, maybe even emotional, sex would come into play

-Depending on the severity of the argument, and at what point during sex it is haha, he might even cry a little about how he just wants you to be happy and how he wants to make the marriage work

-This involves a lot of eye contact, a lot of hand holding, and just being gentle with one another and taking your time to really memorize the other person

-The aftercare is the best with this type of makeup sex and it's definitely more intimate

-Sharing a bath and cleaning one another up

-The soft spoken pillow talk accompanied with lingering kisses in the afterglow

-Showering one another in compliments and praises and reassuring one another that you love each other so much

[svfttachi]

when they come across a cat - hq boys

wc ━ 636

type ━ k. tetsurou x gn!reader, b. koutarou x gn!reader, k. kenma x gn!reader, o. tooru x gn!reader (separate)

tw ━ n/a

✎ i love my cat, and when i was watching him look out the window, i came up with this set of scenarios for our haikyuu boys. dw, i am still working on finishing the rest of the requests so i can open the ask box again. lmk if you want to see more though, and i hope you enjoy!

───── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ─────

➽ KUROO easily attracts cats anytime he walks or goes for jogs around the neighborhood. As a result, he carries treats in his pocket to feed the hungry felines. However, when he reached the front door of your shared home, Kuroo noticed a small, black kitten with bright, yellow eyes walking up to the porch ahead of him.

He couldn’t resist, so he picked up the cat and entered the house. When you looked up from the TV in your living room, you spotted your partner carefully walking up to you, and instantly, your eyes widened. Needless to say, the two of you kept the cat that oddly looked similar to a certain rooster-haired former middle blocker.

➽ BOKUTO would be the quietest he has ever been as he’s entering your shared home. You’re usually cooking dinner in the kitchen for when Bokuto comes back from his volleyball practice and are used to the boisterous sound of your partner entering the house.

However, when you heard the front door open and close with not even a single shout towards you, you turned curiously in that direction. Bokuto quietly greeted you as he entered the kitchen, carefully holding onto a tiny, tabby kitten. When you questioned your partner about the origins of the kitten, he told the story about how he found the kitten cuddling with his fresh, warm clothes in his gym bag. You looked down at the cat, and the multi-colored haired kitten stared at you with big, round, blue eyes. Just as you were about to make your decision, you looked up to find a matching set of eyes peering over at you. It’s very hard to say no to two pairs of cutesy eyes.

➽ KENMA was streaming when he spotted a feline from the corner of his brownish eyes. His window was open to allow some of the cold, night air in as he was streaming since it was hot in his office. Kenma had never expected to see a cat try to squeeze itself through the small opening between the window and the windowsill. He had to ask chat whether he should bring the cat inside, and a string of positive replies rolled down one of his monitors.

So, he proceeded to take his headset off and bring the cat inside of the office, showcasing it to the camera that was set up above his monitor. And, just like that, Kenma continued playing his game on stream with the kitten now comfortably sleeping in his lap. When his stream was over and you had come into his office, you were shocked to see a new member in the room. There were no words exchanged between you nor Kenma about the mutual agreement to keep the cat.

➽ OIKAWA had just escaped from the paparazzi and his screaming fans after he had won another game. It was a tradition for him to go to some restaurant near the arena he just played in to get some takeout for you and him to have dinner at home with. When he was coming out from the restaurant with the bagged food in his hand, Oikawa heard something messing around with objects in the alleyway next to the restaurant.

Curious, he walked into the alleyway, and immediately, his eyes landed on a tiny, tuxedo patterned kitten nibbling on a piece of raw, skinless fish. Oikawa carefully approached the little guy and began to untie the bag to feed him little pieces of the food he had ordered. The kitten would not stop rubbing against Oikawa’s feet and legs, so like many people, his hand reached down to pick up the cat. Needless to say, the conversation he had with you upon arriving home with a kitten was an interesting one, and thankfully, you were on board with keeping him.

───── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ─────

navigation ✧. ┊ gen. masterlist ✧. ┊ haikyuu!! writings

[lyrenminth]

Quiet love 2/?

For this chapter I highly recommend to listen Ariana's song - we can't be friends - to get in the mood

And yet, Justin wasn't the type to make a move. So, you were screwed up.

"I had a great night" you said, heading toward your room. "What are you plans tomorrow?"

"I'm gonna go golfing with the guys"

You nodded.

"Have fun"

"We can have dinner here" he added.

"Yeah, sounds good"

And the sudden thought caught off guard. Did his friends knew about you? Tate knew because it was obvious. But people here in LA knew?

"Justin, your friends know about me?" you asked, regretting it at the moment.

He frowned, confused.

"What do you mean?"

"Your friends in L.A, not in Eugene"

"I don't think they care or why they should know?"

"Because it makes me feel unwelcome. The fact the you prefer to hide our friendship"

"That's not true" he argued "I don't want nosey people in my life, our friendship is something I treasure"

"And what's wrong with people knowing about me?"

"I want privacy in my life"

"I'm not going to spill anything"

"It's not about that!" he raised his voice, frustrated. You flinched and he ran his hand through his hair with exasperation. "The fanatics are crazy. And I don't want people stalking you, telling you insults and threatening you when things aren't pretty during the season"

You stayed in silence. You were arguing before bed again. How funny.

"I'm not talking about the fans, I'm talking about your teammates, people you know here in L.A"

He gulped, and crossed his arms against his wide chest.

"Mmm it's not common to present a friend" he said, suddenly shy "Only girlfriends and wives"

"Only...oh" you felt dumb, of course you wanted a space reserved for another person.

You let out a sigh. You were so stupid.

So, so stupid.

"Well, that's clarifying" you said, trying not to cry.

Really? Crying because your friend is your friend and gives you friend treatment? Then why...why he does those things that confuse your brain? Why he treats you so nice, invite you dinner and let you stay all the time you want? Made you feel wanted and loved?

You felt your eyes burn and blinked to keep the tears away.

"Are you ok?" he said, worried getting closer to you. You gave a step back, and he looked hurt.

"Yeah, it's...summer allergies I think"

"You don't have allergies"

"Mmm L.A weather is intense" you changed the topic. You looked at your room's door and bite your lip "I'm tired, see you tomorrow"

"Wait..." he call you but you were closing the door already.

Needless to say you couldn't sleep so much that night.

You couldn't stop thinking about what would happen if you tell him the truth. You dreamed about him a lot. You dreamed about his affections changing its course and realizing it has been you the whole time. You wanted to be his special person because he was yours. He was yours since childhood. He was yours since the gave you a Star Wars band-aid when you scraped your knee playing or when you searched for frogs during your walks in Oregon. He was yours during the Christmas exchange, and the family meetings. And what would you do with all your affection if he said no?

The thought made you cry harder.

You were bleeding your love at 3 am.

The next day, you avoided him like a plague. Yes, it was childish and immature but you couldn't look him in the eye without feeling a turmoil of emotions inside you, good and bad. If you dare to look at him you would started crying or threw him a shoe. You went straight to work, and since you seemed in distress you co-worker, Lydia asked you what's up.

You tell the story, his name was omitted in purpose. All the emotions, his behavior, your confusion, your friendship. At the end of your story, she wasn't happy.

"I'm sorry, but I think you should put your big girl pants and ask him" she said, sounding rational "it's not healthy for you staying in a situation like that. Pretty cool of him letting you stay, but if it's something bothering you, you should talk to him. The worse thing that can happened it's knowing you can't prolonged that situation anymore"

"How am I suppose to do that?"

"Hey, I think I catch feelings for you but we really haven't spoke about it so tell what do you feel so I can make decisions "

"I'm not brave like that " you regretted.

"You must, baby. You are dying in a "what if"

"But he is my friend, I don't want to lose him" it was true, you had so much story.

"It's better for you. You deserved to be loved by someone without limitations"

You were crying at that point, feeling pathetic.

"If he says no, where am I going to stay?"

"I have a friend who is looking for a roommate, the apartment it's closer to work, so you don't need a car" she said, compassionate about you.

"Can you send me the number?" you cried.

"Yeah"

When you arrived at the house he was in the kitchen which surprise you because you purposely took the longer route. He should be sleeping by now. WHY HE WASN'T SLEEPING?

You said the driest "hi" and went to your room. You felt his stare burning your skin. Your heart beating so fast you were scared of having a heart attack.

You changed your clothes for something more comfy, you grabbed a book and sat on your bed to start reading. You were two chapters in when Justin knocked your door.

"Come in"

He appeared, in grey pants and a blue shirt.

"If you are hungry there tacos and soup" he said "Keenan's wife made it"

"Thank you" you said, still reading your book. Words didn't make sense but it was better than look at him because it was painful. He leaned at the door.

"Can we talk?" he asked. You stomach twisted.

You feelings were to intense after the talk with Lydia, but what she said it was true. You were dying of uncertainty.

"About what?"

"About...us" he replied.

You gulped, and it was like passing a stone through your throat.

"Okay"

He moved again, somehow staying in the same position. He put his hands in his pockets then decided it was better to cross his arms. You waited patiently.

"Are you mad at me?" you sighed.

"No, Justin" your voice was soft but firm. Good.

"Yesterday you were mad" he stated, you didn't blink. "What did I do?"

"Nothing" you felt like someone was cutting through your chest to get your heart out. "I'm more annoyed with myself than with you"

"Why?"

Why it was so difficult to talk about it?

"I misinterpreted our situation" you voice trembled and you cursed at yourself for being so weak around this man.

His face was blank. The same face he puts when a journalist ask a stupid question.

"How so?"

Oh, dear. If you could only talk without fucking crying. It was happening, wasn't it? Revealing your feelings and potentially losing a friend.

You were so scared.

You deserve a love without limitations.

"Gosh, Justin. I came here, you lend me your car, you bought me pickles, you treat me like more than a friend and then you say you want me to stay..." saying it out loud made you feel worse. It was nothing, it was kindness. It was friendship, wasn't it? "I... I know we haven't seen each other in years so I thought...I thought that you may feel something for me as I feel for you"

His throat bubbled. His gaze was on the floor.

Of course, how could you forgot? He was a man.

"I don't know what to say" he started. "You know, my work, my life is very different from yours"

What the actual fuck? What was he trying to say? Was a Mr Darcy type of proposal?

"Justin tell me the truth, do you like me back? Yes or no?" You asked, getting angry. You didn't deserved such disrespect. If he didn't like you back, well you would deal the heartbreak but prolonging these feelings until the end of season and beyond was madness.

"I'm not sure" he replied, you almost didn't hear him.

But it was all you needed to know. You exhaled deeply, feeling all the emotions at once. Luckily your face remain blank, you grabbed the sheet with such force your knuckles turned white.

"I guess... that's ok" you looked at your watch only to see it wasn't night yet. "Well, I'm going to continue with my original plans" you opened your book again trying to play it cool not reading a damn word "If you need something send a message"

"What do you mean?"

You raised your eyebrows in confusion.

"By original plans?" he prompted.

"Moving out, I mean" you replied not glancing once. You were acting petty, but he just said he didn't like you back. Of course you were ashamed, angry and desesperately in love.

"Oh, alright" he looked around, not even giving you a glance.

His short answer was like a stab in your heart. Sometimes he was so cruel, but he had the right to feel what he was feeling too. You could not force him to like you and that was even worse. Your eyes were burning, tears blurring your vision.

"Good night" he had the audacity to say before leaving.

And when he closed the door, was like closing all the posibilities you had to be something for him. Throwing years of friendship only because you misread him.

And you felt so so stupid. Of course you were only his friend. How could you even think to be more than a friend? He was Justin Herbert, young, rich, athletic. He had all the options in the world, why he would settle for you?

You started crying, leaving all those emotions out.

Just another sleepless night.

[grumpycat994]

So, I got into watching nhl hockey for the first time this season and this is how it went:

1. The New Jersey Devils quickly became my favourite team. Big mistake as this meant watching very sad lil guys give post game interviews that made me want to fight anyone who ever made them look that miserable.

2. Pittsburgh Penguins were my second favourite team. It was actually cruelty having to watch that late season surge only for them to fall short anyway.

3. Third favourite - Detroit Red Wings - Needless to say I am terrible at picking teams if I ever want to experience joy in my life.

4. The only thing I knew going into playoffs is that I couldn't stand the Bruins.

5. ...I am now a Bruins fan. However since I am cursed, they lost right after I decided I liked them.

6. Thought I liked the Oilers (though I couldn't say for sure as time zones meant I hardly watched their games). Discovered through watching them in the playoffs that I can't stand the Oilers. Naturally they are now in the Stanley Cup Finals.

How do lifelong hockey fans do it? I'm meant to be normal after watching Jeremy Swayman cry after carrying his team and still being eliminated? You watch the Stars talk about Joe Pavelski and then what??? Just go on with your day??? Your team maybe wins the Cup once in your lifetime and the rest of the time you're just? Miserable??

So jealous of people who don't care about sports.

[theunstuffedpepper]

Still over here waddling around, still doing the once-a-week commute to the city for work. In between I’ve been managing to keep some flowers alive (big deal for me!) and am spending a lot of time with my little guy.

We just celebrated our 11 year anniversary the other day.. hard to believe it’s been that long. Last year, I was less than a week from giving birth to pip and so we said we would delay doing anything big for our 10-year until this year. Fast forward to this year and I’m pregnant again. We couldn’t have ever predicted that this last year would go the way it’s gone. Needless to say we didn’t do any big celebrating this year either. It was a quiet day, the three of us went out for dinner at a nice place here in town.

PA is continuing to feel more and more like home. It’s incredible - we only moved 1.5 hours away but the people here are so much more friendly and kind and thoughtful than back in NY. A funny story: a week or two ago, I got off the train after my long ass commute home and hopped in the car (at the station which is located in NY state, to be clear) to come home and… the engine wouldn’t start. Nothing. Turns out I guess pep had “driven” my husband’s van, which I was driving that day, and must have flipped some switch which is wired incorrectly so the fan was on all day long, draining the battery, unbeknownst to me. Cool cool cool. After calling B, I decided to try and get a sympathetic passerby to help. I even had jumper cables.. just needed a helpful person with a running car. I approached one guy just sitting in his car and he said no, it would be “too difficult” to help me. Mmm, okay. Mind you, it’s now getting dark in not the best part of town and I’m a very pregnant woman asking for help. But okay. I asked a second guy who pulled up and was sitting waiting for someone to get off the next train. No, he didn’t have cables. But I do! I told him. No, he didn’t want to help because he just got this car. Mmm, okay. Thank goodness just then I saw a state trooper pull up who was more than happy to help me and I shortly got on my way. But I had to laugh: classic NY moment. If I had been a half hour away in my hometown here in PA, I wouldn’t have had any trouble finding someone to offer help, at all. I just know that. This place is such a warm and welcoming community.

I haven’t met many other parents/people my age here just yet, but I’m hoping to as the summer season continues. It’s a bit lonely for me these days, but I’m filling my time mostly just being a mom.

We’re off to the lake today to spend some time with some friends who are visiting, staying in an Airbnb nearby. Gonna enjoy soaking in some sunshine and watching the kids play together.

[fandomsandflyingstingrays]

The potential for Will and Nico being Star Wars fans in The Sun and the Star has my brain going crazy, so please enjoy the tale of how I think Will got Nico into it

Will lasts exactly three days into his friendship with Nico before making a Star Wars reference

It’s on Nico’s last day in the infirmary. Will, in trying to impress on Nico the benefits of adequate rest, tries to explain how much better he looks by saying he could pull the ears off a gundark

Nico just stares at him blankly before half-jokingly offering to take his temperature

And Will remembers, oh yeah, he grew up in the forties and spent most of his time in the twenty-first century among the dead

And Will is ecstatic

Because no one gets to experience Star Wars with no spoilers. No one

Needless to say Nico leaves the infirmary under strict orders to join Will in the Big House for one Star Wars movie every weekend until he’s seen them all

If you asked Nico what the plot of The Phantom Menace is, he’d never be able to tell you

Will, anticipating his confusion, explained everything to the best of his ability (no, it was not nervous babbling. It was explaining), but it was still a lot to take in. Also, Nico was mostly focused on the sound of Will’s voice and how close he was sitting

Attack of the Clones went similarly, although watching Anakin’s attempts to seduce Padmé did make Nico feel better about his own romantic crisis

He genuinely did get invested during Revenge of the Sith, mostly because Order 66 felt like familiar territory

(“You get so offended when I call you Death Boy, but this is what gets you interested?”) (“Listen. It’s more realistic now”)

As he gets more comfortable around Will and more invested in the story, he’s actually able to pay attention during A New Hope and his genuine interest in the saga begins

And then comes the moment Will has been waiting for

He literally cannot sit still for the entirety of The Empire Strikes Back

But honestly? It’s kind of a letdown

They get to the “Luke, I am your father” bit and Nico just goes, “huh”

“Huh? HUH?! Obi-Wan was lying the whole time! Luke’s father is alive! And he’s the galaxy’s second-most-evil-guy!”

“You’re talking to the guy who found out three years ago that his dad is the lord of the dead”

“…Huh”

Nico’s actually pretty sad when they finish Return of the Jedi, but this bittersweet feeling does not last long

One: because Will asks Nico out, so Nico gets to see him way more often outside of movie night

And two: at least a third of their dates are the two of them cuddled up making their way through every episode of the TV series

I’m gonna say one of the sequel trilogy movies comes out before ToA and they definitely sneak out to see it

(Will has Opinions)

Will probably bribes Nico to go with him as Han and Leia for Halloween 

(You get to decide who’s who)

Will also definitely gives Nico the sand speech at some point and Nico gives him these flipflops for Christmas

Will laughs his head off and wears them every day in the infirmary

He probably wears them to Tartarus tbh

[panzershrike-pretz]

DARTY

Source: x x x | x x x | x x x -> song: Tongue & Teeth

I've grown a mouth so sharp and cruel It's all that I can give to you, my dear And when you come in quick to steal a kiss My teeth will only cut your lips, my dear And I know that you mean so well But I am not a vessel for your good intent I will only break your pretty things I will only wring you dry of everything And if you're fine with that You can be mine like that Abandon all your stupid dreams About the girl I could have been, my dear 'Cause in the night I know you burn with feelings I cannot return, my dear Oh, my dear

- About;

- Darty - they/them

Dart's name wasn't this until about ~2 months ago. Their original name was D'Artagnan, because at the time I gave their name I was exTREMELY into The Three Musketeers - but I realised their nickname, Darty, would fit better and changed to it.

Story-wise, they weren't born with this name, but instead changed it when they became a pirate.

- Musician

Darty is no God of Music, but their main job aboard of Blithe is sitting around, looking pretty and playing for the crew's delight. They have a pretty singing voice, so everyone is more than glad to have this walking radio as their friend (sort of? It's hard to know if anyone truly likes Dart for anything more than their songs).

- God of Beauty, of Dreams and of Eclipses

Darty is a minor God, with not much power or followers - known for their rage and too-big of an ego, people are mostly scared of doing any wrong to them. They do not hold back in cursing people.

Dart's main power is that of entering and manipulating people's dream - be that for good or for bad. They don't have the need for sleep, so the night is mostly spent peeking at their crewmate's minds - which makes Dart not exactly popular among the others; not everyone likes to have their dream watched by a God. But, if someone's having trouble sleeping, Darty is always there to help (not without a price, obviously. Who'd use their powers for good without gaining nothing? Certainly not them.)

They're able of hipnotizing people to do their biding using their eyes or tail feathers - ohhhh, and Darty takes advantage of that. They always end up doing nothing while their crewmates assume their responsibilities without even knowing. Yeah, needless to say this bitch is not the most liked one.

Finally, turning into a peacock. Dart mostly uses that to show off and get all the attention while the others steal and do shit. It works a lot more than they expected.

- Personality

At this point, can you tell I inspired Darty off of Narcisus? This guy is narcisistic and a hypocrite, which is expected at least.

They take their beauty for granted, besing extremely interested in looking pretty and nothing else. Their ego is huge and whatever attempt from someone of looking better than them is considered a personal attack - and may or may not end badly for the other person.

That being said, Darty still has their moments of kindness; they absolutely adore helping their crewmates look pretty when they ask so and bonds with Horace over pretty clothes and stuff. In fact, both are very good friends, given Horace's peculiarity and Dart's dream related power.

They're a big fan of gossip and, well, that may not look cool for most of the crew but at least Darty is useful sometimes, so everyone lets their nasty personality slide. Kind of. They're able to peek in other's mind even from far away, although it requires too much energy, so it's useful having Darty around to at least get an idea of what goes on in their enemies' minds. And their love for gossip just helps with it.

Dart knows they can do better and sometimes tries to work on it - well, they're improving bit by bit. They know the limits and won't cross them (mostly). They may be a liar and a manipulator, but they know that they're only here today because the crew can still stand them. Darty won't ever do anything really bad to them, if that means they can stay.

- Funfact: I almost had a stroke with that muche they/thems. I actually love writing for them in English; my language doesn't have a pronoun that can be used to non-binary people so it's a breath of fresh air actually being able to do that for Darty. I was mainly using the equivalent of he/him, since that's what I have, but now I figure that since they're supposed to be a model of beauty standard for any gender, I can FINALLY do what I wanted and have them being non-binary. They're a fucking dick. I love them.

- Relationship: -----

This is The Bitch. While doing this I noticed they don't have a reference sheet- my lazy ass will have to do it. EvEnTuAlLy.

TL;DR: Darty is an ass but that's okey because they can sing and that's enough.

(Not me almost forgetting I need to finish the posts abiut the lil' guys. More to come soon :] )

[nerves-nebula]

not to plug for my own au or anything (bc it literally hasn't been posted yet lol) but like... as a mainly 2012 fan, seeing all of this with the knowledge of what happened to Yoshi and Saki in that timeline is. damn. okay yeah 12 Splinter could've been So Much Worse. by no means is he a good dad but at least he's trying to do right by his kids rather than emulating 1-to-1 what Yuuta did to him and his brother. still makes me so sad that he died before he could successfully unpack all that trauma so he just kinda said "well shit I don't have time so I better make one of them even more emotionally fucked up to protect the others For The Greater Good" and in that sense followed in Yuuta's footsteps at the very last moment. really pulled a Saki there :/

so! on that note! it made me curious, what with all the crossover stuff going on, what would happen if someone tried to kill your Splinter. idk if anyone else wants the glory so I'm just gonna say that my Splints did it because he regrets chickening out when Saki nearly died to Yuuta back in the day yada yada plot stuff. needless to say he would fail miserably, there's a reason he's in hiding these days. so how would Splinter react? like, if he survives, but it was close and there is a credible and very aggressive threat to his personal safety (which he can defeat pretty easily but it's still inconvenient and frightening), but for Multiverse Reasons he can't just pick up the kids and leave.

the other important question is... how would the kids react? especially Mikey. something has just shown that their dad is not invincible, but he is still a problem. how would he respond to that?

haven't watched a lot of 2012 but i am eternally amused that he was like, kind of a shit dad and then just DIED about it haha fsdfdsf.

anywho, to get into your question-

Splinter is already pretty paranoid, he wont step foot in the hidden city for fear that Big Mama's goons will get him even all these years later. if someone tried to kill him and knew where he lived he'd grab his boys and SKEDADDLE. and if they DIDNT know where he lived he'd force donnie to up the security on their lair by like 1000%.

as for mikey, I think it's different to wish your dad would die and actually see someone try to do it. even though Mikey wouldn't be SUPER broken up if Splinter died, he'd still be traumatized, and he knows it would hurt his brothers a lot if they lost Splinter. he's also not prone to trusting adults, especially those who just (seemingly) randomly attacked his caretaker.

Donnie would be panicked about it and feel unsafe until they figured out who tried to kill splinter and why.

Leo would be fuckin furious and decide to be Splinters personal body guard for the foreseeable future.

Raph is always tired and would continue to be tired and irritated. he probably wouldn't change much, except that now he's extra high strung cause what if the guy who tried to kill splinter comes back for the rest of them?? and if splinter dies, where will they go?? will Draxum take them in? stressful.

[brw]

Simon Williams, Marvel's Wonder Man, their first evil Superman, or why out of all the obscure characters I could have latched onto, it's fucking Wonder Man.

I'll preface; the first reason why I ever gave more than a cursory glance at a wikipedia page at Simon was because he was attached to my favourite character, The Vision, and was heavily related to my other favourite character, Wanda Maximoff. I'm not going to lie & say that it was love at first sight or anything; I was a fan of Vision & Wanda for a while, & upon discovering Vision had a whole twin brother I never knew about, but one who had also dated Wanda later, I found it weird that I could find almost jack shit about the character online.

In the fandom spaces I was in, Simon was mostly "that asshole Vision is kinda related to and was weirdly quick to start flirting with Wanda when Vision got Byrne'd". I, new to marvel comics, was curious about this mystery man, and fell into a strange world of Marvel before the MCU was really the big thing people knew about it but also still sorta... there, as this is before they got completely overshadowed by the surge of new fans coming in from an increasingly amibitious production who were not versed in comic lore & therefore did not know nor care about Simon Williams, Wonder Man.

Anyway, I made it my mission to learn more about this guy because of my involvement with Vision & because it's just generally weird when you discover your favourite has an entire twin brother who had not one, not two, but three whole solo title runs where he headlines the comic (by the way, if you're not counting Vision & the Scarlet Witch or Ultimate Vision, is more solo runs than what 616 Vision has.) and appeared in comics almost 5 years before Vision was ever a thought on Roy Thomas' mind or before the man was even fucking hired at marvel. Needless to say, I became obsessed, and as of writing this am on my second comprehensive readthrough of every issue he's appeared in since debut in Avengers Vol 1 #9.

This out of the way, here is my very long & indulgent essay on why I think Wonder Man is great, subversive & when done right, a really good commentary on comics generally, with some vague gestures that I really hope some of these aspects will live on in the fabled Wonder Man series which I'm almost convinced is a psy-op to get me to do more unpaid work analysing Simon fuckin' Williams.

First point of this; Simon is an evil Superman. We've seen this trope a lot recently but I think it's always been a concept since conceptualisation of a character like Superman. A character must have an adversary for conflict, and while villains serve that purpose well initially, eventually the Man vs Man conflict enters into play; for what is more potentially crippling than ourselves?

Now, Simon isn't actually evil (usually), which kind of knocks him out as a proper evil Superman, but he is certainly a failed one. Superman gets his powers from the sun & from birthright, being the sole (ish) survivor of a tragedy that wiped out almost all of his people. It's what he chooses to do with these powers that truly define the character; his innate compassion & kindness towards others. Simon gets his powers after getting bribed from a weird Norse goddess after getting arrested for embezzling, and then gets experimented on & subsequently empowered by a weird Nazi scientist. He does betray these guys almost immediately after realising hey, maybe the Norse goddess & Nazi scientist don't have the best outcomes in mind for the Avengers, but still, it's not a flattering start to the character.

In Superman comics, his powers are something great that he has to be careful where he applies them to do good for other people, to create the best possible outcome for others. For Simon, they're something he's quite literally bribed into, experimented on with a definite lack of strong consent, & is unfamiliar with & doesn't even really use for good when he formally joins the Avengers. They're not something he works towards through intellect like Hank Pym and Tony Stark, it's an unnatural state for him to be in that kind of informs his actions unlike Vision & Thor, and it's kind of an accident he ended up as incredibly overpowered & superman-like as he has.

At the core of the character, there's this skeevy, unearned way in which he gains his powers, and there's this element that Simon doesn't even want them in the first place which I think get's stronger after his secondary character trait becomes defined. It's interesting, in that he sort of more simiarly references Beast in his power acquistion, of making a stupid decision in a moment of panic, drinking the beaker of glowing green/allowing yourself to get bailed out by some random woman you don't know but knows you well enough to bail you out, and having to deal with powers far greater & lifechanging than what you intitially wanted. Of course, in publication dates it's more like Beast references him, but either way it's an avenue I'm suprised no writer has taken their friendship.

Simon is also an evil Superman because ultimately, there's no nobility or inherent desire to help people that Simon has. At least not in the same way. Clark Kent will throw himself in front of every danger he can to protect those without the invulnerable skin or flight or eye lazers, and even his day job is protecting free speech & informing the people. Simon has a noted anxiety disorder in almost every fight he's in when he's first in consistent Avengers publication, and was raised an entitled rich kid who embezzled everything away & tried to run with the cash when things fell apart. His nobility was only achieved in his death, giving up so the Avengers could survive, and he's rewarded for that narratively with... a near crippling fear of death & of dying that prohibits him a lot from standing up or applying himself. In all fairness, he does get over this in ways, but it still remains something worth talking about; Simon has to work way harder, in my opinion, to act as a good person, that Superman, but even in universe, than the person who's brainwaves / soul they share, Vision. You know, there's a reason why Simon has murdered people in two separate comics by two separate writers in two mainline 616 comics in cold blood, and they fit in with his character & not just edgy bait for Superman or alternate universe shit. Simon is an incredibly anxious, very privileged boy who tries to scheme his way out of bankruptcy, fails, gets powers he can't imagine, and immediately dies & stays dead for like 13 years, and when he returns is a nervous wreck. It makes sense that Simon is easy to trick emotionally or, when just having a bad day, might punch too hard & kill someone. He was doing this in 1991.

Why is Simon like this? Well now we get into the other cornerstone of many evil Supermen, and indeed many general evil comic men; bad parents. It's not fair to say this only applies to villains, as many, many heroes can attest, having bad parents is not a trait exclusive to the baby-eating genocidal manics. That said, the ratio of villains having a happy & prosperous childhood to heroes is quite staggering. Superman is always notable for his origin with Ma & Pa Kent in Smallville, to the point of which they made a very long tv show just about Smallville Superman. Superman grew up to loving parents. Simon grew up to an abusive father & to a mother, who while loved him, never seemed to be able to connect with him before Simon died in the way she'd wished possible. Clark Kent grows up in Smallville, a well-named small town in Kansas. Simon grows up wealthy, the heir to a well-off company in New Jersey. Clark Kent's background unquestionably influences him as a person, his values and his interactions, and ... Simon's can, and almost does, but obviously the bar for consistency in background isn't as high for random C-List Avenger Wonder Man than the single most archetypal hero ever, Superman.

See, Simon being a victim of abuse both at the hands of his father and at the hands of his brother have very interesting potential implications for his relationship with afterforementioned Vision. The reason why I found nothing about Simon in my standard Scarlet Witch and Vision centered fandom experience is because he's an asshole to them. Specifically, in the John Byrne WCA run, the tragic ending of the long time staple of Avengers B-plots that was Wanda Maximoff and her synthetic robot lover, the Vision. Specifically, he doesn't give Vision back their emotions & memories when Wanda asks him too, because he has a crush on her and that gives him the right to effectively ensure the death of his own sibling & Wanda's spouse, something that yeah, will definitely make her start viewing you as a potential boyfriend. I think there's a very interesting potential narrative here about cycles of abuse & how in his own relationship with Vision, Simon becomes the perpetuater of the abuse rather than the victim. He gets into a big aggressive fight with Vision during the events of Operation: Galactic Storm, and even says right there and then that he considers Vision... his child. You would think with such a big weird statement that there would be a narrative about how both Simon & his brother, Eric were abused by Sanford, and how Eric in turn and as a response abused Simon. It would say a lot about Simon's relationship to the very concept of brotherhood & fatherhood, but it's just a bizarre throwaway line in a random event nobody remembers and there's just this entire fucking decade where Simon does a completely 180 in characterisation and there is zero effort to explAIN OR EVEN TALK ABOUT THE FACT THAT IT HAPPENED, WE JUST SWEEP IT UNDER THE RUG EXCEPT FOR MULLET FLASHBACKS, I FUCKING HATE JOHN BYRNE SO GDDAMN MU--

Another element to consider; even beyond just being personally unfit for the job of Superman, Simon has other engagements. Simon has dreams of being on the silver screen, a big movie star! This is probably the second thing you know about Simon other than the relationship to Vision & Wanda; he's an actor, and trying to make it big. This is often either played as Simon just being a sellout with no artistic integrity, or Simon actually having too much integrity, and struggling in an industry that takes big action sequences over moving, heartfelt Shakespearean dramas or whatever. Whatever the case, what makes Simon feel different to other similar characters in my opinion is that the superhero gig is the day job he puts up with to support his REAL love, acting. What makes some of Simon's contemporary depictions unfulfilling is that they swap them to the more conventional way, that he's bogged down in acting work but really wants to be taking on Galactus. This is a problem we run into where Simon is given an opportunity to be a genuinely interesting character subverting very common tropes & doing it well & in a satisfying way, only for the next schmuck who just got Simon's name out of a random hat of names and did whatever they saw written on the Wonder Man tin; shit Superman.

Not only does Simon not have a heroic origin of his powers, not only is he as a person is fundamentally unsuited to superheroics because he refuses to go to therapy, but Simon doesn't even have enough committment to the superhero gig to make it his primary job, instead choosing acting, which isn't even something he has a stake in. It's a completely new field for him, and as Simon soon learns, the world of acting is not as welcome to a complete newcomer & novice with very little actual professional work to his name. Not only does he effectively give up being an Avenger to persue acting, he's not even that good an actor. Simon has powers he doesn't want, is associated with a team he doesn't really want to be in, and puts all his eggs in the acting success basket and really it's a miracle it takes Deadpool to officially bankrupt him. We open up with his first ever appearance with him getting arrested & found guilty of embezzlement, it's not like he's established to be financially safe or intelligent with his money.

Simon, I genuinely think, fits the bill as an evil Superman. I mean, he's even got a solely red & black colour scheme with a weird trademarked symbol on the chest. He is the opposite of Clark Kent in so many ways, and yet somehow... tries to be heroic? And hero Simon is way more interesting than villain Simon, I mean, that's why after the character reaches the end of his arc in Wonder Man '91 he almost immediately just fucking blows up in literal issue 1 of Force Works until Kurt Busiek, an obvious big fan of the 70s & early 80s stuff brings him back completely reimagined and firmly established as a good guy, evil Simon is just too obvious a route. What keeps me coming back to this character enough to do two comprehensive readthroughs though, is the fact that in being so much an apparent antithesis of Clark Kent, he's a subversion of most comic book hero tropes, while remaining a hero. Were this character created today, I imagine after coming back he would just stay... an antagonist. Red & black colour scheme, yup, disinterest in helping others, yup, horrible traumatic upbringing, yup, an arguably power-hungery acquistion of his abilities, yup, antagonistic relationship to a primary coloured, established heroic character, in The Vision. In fact, I think having a gothier, more evil big brother archetype in the Grim Reaper / Eric Williams is a contributing factor as to why Simon ends up a surpisingly nuanced portrayal of the conventions of the superhero genre and how a character who goes against that can still be a hero when he's given time to breathe & not given a random time travel / future plot mixed with Big Brother, thanks Peter David--

Simon Williams, Wonder Man, is to me the best case scenario when rehashing old ideas. It clearly wasn't LeeKirby who figured "yeah let's bring back the guy we created to die in issue 9 of Avengers", but as time went on & more ideas were tacked on but never really expanded upon it's created this incredible incident where we have a bunch of really good ideas in a shared soul in a gay anxious ball of ionic energy who has tricked itself into sentient thought and an android associated with Marvel's first Human Torch who is also famous for their connection to the now incredibly recognisable Scarlet Witch. Simon is the evil Superman trope, but a hero still. Simon is a failed actor who actively prefers that to being an Avenger. He doesn't like helping people and has panic attacks and stops fighting vs supervillains more than once. His best friend is furry ape mutant who he's got this bizarre sexual dynamic with. He's dating Carol Danvers & Scarlet Witch, but his position as a C-List character means he's fundamentally never going to have a real shot with them, and he seems narratively relieved whenever they break it off. He's related to an evil necromancer with a scythe hand who abused him as a kid & felt so bad about that he dedicated his life to bringing Twink Simon back without ever changing his relationship dynamics with Simon when he comes back. And yet Simon remains often a footnote, and occasionally gets some focus when people remember he was supposed to have gotten Hulk to a stalemate once. Thanks again, Peter David.

I'm not insane enough to argue that Simon was secretly Marvel's best character all along. Most of this is honestly due to Simon being too obscure to majorly fuck up because that would require insider knowledge. These are just mind-bogglingly happy accidents that resulted in an actually okay deconstruction of the evil Superman trope like 20, 30 years before that was actually the thing to do. Simon is a character honestly prime to enter the spotlight, which is exactly why it’s so terrifying it’s happening. On one hand, largely what we have heard about the production & rumours surrounding the show is positive. We have an established actor in the comic book adaptation genre, and experienced writers in comedies. On the other hand, Simon is not a major enough character to attract ire if core aspects of him are lost, and I will mourn certain things that may be lost like the evil Superman of it all, the fact that Simon was pretty much established Jewish in 2005 & has a history of queer-coding that warrants it’s own post that I may one day get brave enough to write, with certainly more panel input than this. I don’t think Simon is a character with genius writing or implementation, but I strongly believe he has potential. There are so many potential storylines just by asking the fundamental question, “What if Superman was gay and had an anxiety disorder and was also a theatre kid and actively avoided the Justice League?”. The answer, somehow, is Simon Williams, and that’s an opportunity for stories that Marvel has sat on for a while, and while this may start to change I am wary of getting my hopes up about a character who I initially was calling D List when I first started writing this.

Ultimately, Simon Williams is what most characters are; a character glued together by fan speculation & connecting the dots from various storylines to make an attempt at a linear narrative when the writers do not care and will continue to not care. Still, I found that, as fans of Vision and Scarlet Witch, but also as an Ant-Man fan, the reaching I have to do to make everything in Simon's publication make sense is me hunched over my laptop like I am right now compared to the ritualistic intensive yoga I have to do to make the 90s & 2000s make any sort of interpretation of those other characters intelligible. Simon is a character with a rare potential in comic books; to make sense. Maybe not by ordinary standards but it's easier to argue that Simon would recreate a toxic relationship with his sibling who he considers a child given his own relationship to his elder brother & father, than whatever horse shit Avengers Disassembled & House of M are supposed to be. I want to believe badly that this vision is getting seen; why else would Simon get three different solo series & an entire fucking show with an actual good actor if there wasn't some understanding that this was a potentially interesting character. I want to believe. so badly.

This is my end, I guess, & I'll say that if you're interested in any specific sources for something I've said send an ask & I'll dig out the panel somewhere. A problem with reading a character with exactly 666 appearances in like, one month like I did the first time around meant I didn't save a lot & limits of my technology that haven't translated well to where I am now. My second time around, I'm being much more methodical with posting panels, which you can see in @wonderbeast if you're interested. But I'll be happy to dig out Marvel Premiere or Avengers V1 #184 or #15 of Wonder Man (1991) for you. Really. It's fans like us who REALLY make this company go around & man I'm not letting marvel forget that. Especially with an MCU project attached.

[saitama-division]

It was close to midnight when the birthday woman, Lola Takahashi made her way back to her penthouse in Saitama. Like all her birthdays, it was filled with good food, good drinks, and good times galore. It was only a shame that it only came around once a year. But that was what made them so fun and memorable because you could hardly wait for the next one.

As she arrived back at her apartment, the model spotted dozens of gifts and presents scattered in front of her door, no doubt from dozens of fans, friends, friends of friends, acquaintances, etc. Really not in the mood to go through them all, she decided she'd leave them all there for tonight and get to them in the morning. Opening the door, she sighed as she stepped inside, turning on the light. As she did, out of the corner of her eyes, she immediately noticed something on the kitchen counter. Turning to view it fully, her eyes widened at what she saw:

Not one, but two cakes were placed side-by-side with each other. One was noticeably more taller than the other with more design and thought put into it, but that didn't diminish how delicious each one looked. And if she wasn't in shock enough, Lola looked as behind both cakes was a bouquet of roses.

These roses weren't regular roses either. No, these were Juliet Roses, perhaps the most expensive flower ever to appear on Earth. And they certainly were sweet as each one gave off a faint apricot smell, making the entire apartment smell like fresh apricots.

Needless to say, Lola didn't know what to be more shocked by: the cakes and flowers, or the fact that someone had gotten into her apartment again, though she already had a clear idea who. Seeing a note in front of the gifts, her suspicions were proven correct as it was addressed by a certain bodybuilder from Aoyama making her smirk as she read his letter:

"Happy birthday, Lola!

Man, it feels like a lifetime ago since we met! But it's only been two years since then! My only regret is not getting to meet you much sooner. But better late than never, am I right?! Anyway, I hope you enjoy the cakes and flowers! Luis worked hard to make both for you, and Tomi searched high and low for those roses for you. I love both of those guys so much! But my liking for them doesn't compare to you, babe! I hope you enjoy them both! Happy birthday again!

Sincerely,

Karada Kessaku"

“Honestly…how big of a sweetheart can one guy be?” Lola chuckled as she placed the roses on her coffee table in her living room so that the fragrance can spread all over the penthouse, taking a whiff of the sweet smell the roses gave off, the blonde sighed in bliss before heading towards the kitchen where the cakes were still sitting, she took a piece off the smaller one and popped it in her mouth, nearly moaning at the taste, she could always count on Luis to make a high quality cake that tastes as good as it looked. Rereading the letter, Lola’s smirk faded into a soft smile though she couldn’t help but feel a twinge of guilt, has she really led him on for two years? More importantly, has he really spent two years pursuing her? And only her? Any other guy would’ve gave up a long time ago, so why not him?

The model bit her lip as she felt her heart pound, making her frown a bit. “This is…” She didn’t had a word to describe what she was feeling, it wasn’t bad but she wasn’t feeling good either. Looking back at the letter, she sighed and placed it on the counter, “You dumbass, why do you like me so much? I just don’t understand…” She gave another sigh and placed both cakes away for later, she didn’t want to dwell on this any more, it was too late and she could feel a headache coming from all the alcohol she had pounded back. Walking in her room, she caught sight of the Aphrodite statue Karada had given her on her last birthday and once again her heart pounded.

Ba-dump.

Thank you for the gift!

[ciaossu-imagines]

ohhh thanks for letting me know that the au is already taken. then can i request again for ouran high school host club and battle royale/hunger games (your pick)?

No problem at all, my lovely anon! Though this comes to you very late, I hope you'll enjoy the headcanons for this really fun, if angsty AU!

Okay, but this was actually a really hard AU for me to really decide upon ideas for and in the end, it kind of ended up being a combination of several different kind of battle royale type universes and ideas, mixtures of things influenced by various pop culture hits.

So, I did stick with the one general consensus among most battle royale type medias. This is definitely treated as a game of sorts, a game that is advertised and watched by everyone. it occurs once yearly and the contestants are always teenagers. Once you turn thirteen until the day you hit nineteen, you are eligible to play the game. The game is used to both keep citizens of a very dystopian society in line and under the power of the ruling monarchy and as a sick type of entertainment, the only televised thing other than news broadcasts, emergency bulletins, and daily reminders from the government on the weather and the expected role of each citizen within this dystopian world.

Needless to say, this game is a big deal. Now how are people selected, you might ask? Now, despite not being a huge fan of The Hunger Games (as in, I really don't like the books or the movies at all), I really am a fan of the district set-up, and I decided to incorporate that into this AU. So a champion is selected from each of the twelve districts that make up the world and, much like The Hunger Games, the districts are each responsible for one sole part of the world's economy and each districts champions really come with that specialized knowledge and skills.

The game does offer fame, riches, and good fortune to not only the winner but their entire district so, while you would assume that nobody would volunteer for the game, given that it is literally a life or death situation, a winner-take-all, kill or be killed game, there is always at least one champion who willingly volunteered to play the game each year.

And volunteering - actually a necessity. Each district is required to have someone 'volunteer' each year to be the champion. The government decided, after the first couple games, that randomly picking people made the government look like the bad guys, no matter the outcome, and so they make each district volunteer so that it looks like there's more widespread support for the game than there is. And how can you force someone to volunteer to potentially be slaughtered or to have to commit mass murder to survive? Easy…each district is given 24 hours notice of the selection date and they must, in that time, come up with a volunteer for champion. If the district refuses or cannot come up with a volunteer, the government helps them decide…usually by starting to kill off citizens until a volunteer comes forward. But all that is ever publicized and shown to the other districts is edited footage showing the champion supposedly bravely and confidently volunteering themselves for the game, all a PR spin.

This year's champions? From District 1, which makes luxury items and expensive jewelry, is Tamaki Suoh, who willingly volunteered for the games to prevent any slaughter in the district.

From District 2, which manufactures weapons, comes Mitsukuni Haninozuka, who prefers to be called Honey. Honey is a strong contender and one of the favourites to win the whole thing, especially with his immense strength despite his tiny stature.

From District 3, which manufactures electronics, comes Renge Houshakuji. A hardcore fan of the game, she also willingly volunteered. She has watched the games obsessively throughout her life, studied the strategies and is sure she can win this all.

From District 4, which specializes in fishing, comes Mei Yasumura. Mei was bullied from the time she was a child, rather friendless and very much a loner, despite her brash confidence and outgoing nature. It didn't exactly shock her or her family when she was told she was to volunteer or face death from her own neighbours.

From District 6, specializing in transportation and infrastructure, comes Kyoya Ootori. The son of a well to do family, it's always been expected that he would someday play and win the games, like his brothers had before him, and he has been training for this since he was a child.

From District 7, specializing in lumber, comes Ritsu Kasanoda. Despite his terrifying appearance, Ritsu is scared shitless of the games. He only stepped up and volunteered because he'd heard among the townfolk that his best friend had been decided amongst the district's citizens as this year's volunteer. Ritsu really does love his friend and though he is sure that volunteering will spell his certain death, he's just happy knowing he allowed his friend to have a future.

From District 9, which produces all the grain used, comes Umehito Nekozawa. A strange boy with an aversion to sunlight, he hides under a big cloak and seems to keep his distance from everyone, mostly speaking to a cat like puppet he wears on his hand. If his behaviour in the games is any indication, it's safe to say his district thought he was nuttier than a fruitcake and decided to make him volunteer to be rid of him.

From District 10, which specializes in raising livestock, come Akira Komatsuzawa. Though he knows his future will be decided for him based on where he was born, Akira is jealous of those lucky enough to be born in the most well-off districts and yearns to win the game and get the money and fame and fortune. He definitely volunteered before anyone else could.

From District 11, responsible for agriculture, comes Takashi Morinozuka, who prefers to go by Mori. A quiet and serious boy, Mori tends to disappear into the background of the game, something he does learn to use to his advantage.

From District 12, specializing in coal mining, comes Haruhi Fujioka. Haruhi is vehemently opposed to the games and had no intention of volunteering. Then again, neither did anyone else in her district. It took a full day of the government slaughtering civilians before Haruhi sacrificed herself as a volunteer to make it stop - she would either die in the games or die avoiding volunteering, and by volunteering, she could save many other people. Responsible and determined, she chose the path that aligned most with her moral compass and is walking into the game sure of her decision.

It's a funny story about the champions from District 5, which produces all electricity, and District 8, which produces all textiles. In a 'coincidence' orchestrated by the government, who thought it would make the game even more entertaining, the two champions are not only brothers but twin brothers, Hikaru and Kaoru Hitachiin. Though they are both originally from District 5, Kaoru had been in District 8 at the time of the selection, visiting his father as their parents are divorced and living in separate districts.

The game itself is brutal. But, being the biggest source of entertainment, there's no shortage of funds for it and the champions are decked out in the finest of battle outfits, each representing some aspect of their district, and are provided with the best of weapons fitting their districts. On top of that, each year's game setting is completely different, unique and totally new each year. This year's playing field? It is a secluded area, largely without trees and with no obvious sources of water. It kind of resembles a dystopian city, bleak, desolate, but with lots of buildings to hide in and take shelter, maybe find supplies to keep you going.

In between the deadly game of hide and seek each player must play against the other, four times a day, an alert goes off and one area of the playing field is set for destruction, with everyone in the area only having thirty minutes to escape the area before it is destroyed. Anyone left in the area is almost certainly guaranteed to die.

On top of this, throughout the course of the game, there comes additional 'mini-games', challenges that the players must participate in and beat. These challenges can, of course, be played and won alone, theoretically at least. In actuality, it's far easier to win these games if the players either group up into small groups or all cooperate together to beat the challenge. At the end of each challenge, the group of players must all choose a 'weakest link', the player who was the worst at the challenge or provided little help in beating it. That player will then be executed.

The first player to die in this game was Kaoru. He had immediately partnered up with his twin from the beginning, a strategy that worried Kyoya greatly, especially that early in the game. Single players are far easier to eliminate than groups working together, something all of Kyoya's training for the games had taught him from an early age, and Kyoya pulled some trickery. He pretended to want to form an alliance with the Hitachiin twins, which the twins bought…kind of. The twins are, after all, suspicious of anyone that isn't each other. They did hold Kyoya at arms length, didn't take any food or drinks from him, and held back a lot of their plans and game strategy. What they didn't take into account is how physically exhausting the game would be, especially the terrain, and it was when they needed to take a break that Kyoya attacked, without warning. He had honestly meant to kill both of the twins…however, by the time he had swung the crowbar and hit Kaoru hard enough in the head to kill him, Hikaru had definitely noticed what was going on. Enraged by his brother's sudden and gruesome death, Hikaru went a little crazy and was prepared to taser Kyoya to death. Kyoya proved too quick for the remaining twin though, running away.

Hikaru refused to leave Kaoru's body…to him, it was more a priority that Kaoru's body be given as proper a burial as possible. Kyoya could would and Hikaru swore to himself that he would survive the game long enough to kill the boy who took his brother from him. Kasanoda was the next to die, his quick temper getting him into an altercation with Komatsuzawa, who was itching to prove himself in the game anyway. Komatsuzawa played dirty during the fight, something Kasanoda could not bring himself to do with his strong moral compass and unfortunately, Kasanoda met his maker. His death was quick and painless though, a small blessing considering that Komatsuzawa figured out after that first kill that he rather enjoyed the thrill and rush of murder and that such a short death wasn't really satisfying - he wanted that pleasure to last a little bit longer each time he did it.

Nekozawa is the next to die and not even at the hands of another player. Nekozawa fell victim to his own habit of avoiding people. He had figured it would be safest to hide out and avoid everyone, letting them all kill each other while he and his cat puppet stayed safe, out of sight, and kept each other company. He had honestly had a really good plan, but he wasn't the smartest when he came to picking hiding places. While the building seemed in relatively solid shape, a rotten bunch of floorboards collapsed, sending Nekozawa plummeting down from the fourth level of a building to the basement. He was dead upon impact.

Haruhi is the fourth to die, a lesson in how serious those area alerts are. She died helping evacuate the area, saving Tamaki, Renge, Mei, and Honey's lives by getting them out of the area. Doing so, though she would have regretted not doing so, meant that she left herself no time to escape in the end and was caught and killed in the blast as a preplanted bomb detonated to destroy the block.

Renge kills Komatsuzawa after he attacks and almost butchers and assaults her. She was badly wounded in his attack, brutally so. Akira had not held back, emboldened by his previous kill and wanting so badly to experience that high, but in that desperation he had gotten sloppy and Renge used a piece of jagged, broken glass as a weapon, shoving it up through his eye and into his brain. She, however, bled out from her wounds within a matter of hours, making them the fifth and sixth casualties of the game and bringing the game's participants down to the halfway point.

It was at this point that one of the mini-games happened. To complete the challenge, Tamaki really did manage to convince almost all the players to work together. Mei, Mori, Honey, Hikaru…and supposedly Kyoya. However, Kyoya refused to really work well with the group, sabotaging the others if it meant a chance to weaken them, playing cut-throat and dirty like his father had taught him all his life to do. Kyoya's plan backfired when he found out how very easy it is for a group to vote you the weakest link, though all the other players hated to do so, even with Kyoya's cut-throat strategy. A lot can be forgiven, after all, when you know it's motivated by the desire to live.

Having seen so much death at this point though was starting to really take its turn on everyone and there was definitely some sanity slippage starting for several of them. None more so than Mei though, who reached a point where her mind just could not take anymore. She opted out of the game via suicide, jumping off a very tall building.

Honey and Mori had teamed up from the word go, much like the twins had. They'd also included Tamaki in their group and now the three of them are so close to the end of the game. It's no wonder Hikaru was the next to die - a group of three against one player? Not even the very confident and crafty Hikaru can survive those odds.

Honey is another casualty, much like Haruhi, of the area limits. And exactly like Haruhi, he died protecting someone. In Honey's case, it was his best friend Mori, someone he really loved. The moment was made even more tragic and touching by Honey's last act, putting Honey's prized pink bunny plush into Mori's hands, just as Honey pushed Mori out of the area range before the area was filled with a downpour of sulfuric acid that Honey was unfortunately caught in.

And then it was down to two…but Mori, after Honey's sacrifice, had a little bit more to live for. All he had to do was look at the pink bunny in his hands, after all, and he knew exactly what he had to live for. He had to live to win the game. And once he did? He swore to himself as Honey died that once Mori won the game, he would devote all his remaining life to figuring out a way to overthrow the government and dismantle the game for good.

Tamaki does die, making Mori the winner. Does Mori ever succeed in destroying the game and its legacy?? Who knows?

[gvftea]

Okay, so I want to start this off by saying that all this happened a while back and when it happened I told my best friend who is on Greta twitter because I knew she would freak out and she told me about this blog and told me I HAD to submit my story for you guys to read, and I felt like enough time has passed since it happened, so here it goes. So I am a student at Vanderbilt in Nashville and on the nights and weekends I sometimes drive for DoorDash. Typically I don't have a ton of time on weeknights to do deliveries especially in Nashville traffic, so I maybe do 5-6 orders on a good night.

So on this night it was raining and I almost didn’t go out because I didn’t particularly want to drive in the rain but, money talks I guess, so I opened the app and set myself as available and started to drive around until a dispatch inevitably came in. As I circled the parking lot of my dorm I got a delivery for Panera Bread and headed to pick it up. Thankfully I like to listen to music and drive so going a little further than I typically do didn’t seem like such a big deal. So I go in a pick up a Steak Sandwich and a Chai Latte with Oat Milk ( I don’t know why I remember that, I guess because I feel like those 2 things don’t go together?) anyways, so I pick it up and DD gives me directions to the house. Now I typically avoid this part of Nash because the streets are not very wide and they are poorly lit, couple that in with the rain and its a perfect storm, but it was too late. I had this persons food and they had already tipped me, so I drove down this dark ass winding street looking for the numbers on the mailboxes in the pouring rain and I actually drove past it the first time but the second time I got it and pulled into the long drive way that led up the the house. This house was massive and super hidden from the road, I was actually a little nervous going to the door. Now it didn't occur to me at that moment that the delivery for 'Josh' could have ever possibly been for Josh Kiszka but, a mans gotta eat I guess. So I checked the delivery preferences as usual and saw that they didn't have contactless delivery selected which meant I had to physically hand it to someone at the door. So I jumped out of the car and ran up to the porch and knocked on the door, and waited for what seemed like years for someone to answer. They finally did and I said "Hi, I have an order for Josh" and the guy that answered said, "Oh, yeah he is around here somewhere." and so I reached out to hand him the bag. He took it with a smile and thats when I saw Josh walking up behind him. He smiled at me and I realized instantly who he was and where exactly I was at. The guy who answered, handed the bag back to Josh, and so I then handed him the drink carrier which he also passed back to Josh.

See, I would call myself more of a casual fan of the band, but like, my best friend knows and loves them and talks about them all the time and so I knew who he was as soon as I saw him. Paired with the delivery name of Josh, it all made sense. I'm not going to lie I was a little starstruck and didn't want to look him in the eye so I instead stared at the other guy.

I had no idea why this part was "interesting" as she said, but when I told her what the guy looked like that answered the door she gasped and was in disbelief. He was average height I would say maybe 5'8" maybe a tad shorter, very short brown hair with a fairly recent looking hair cut. He had a colorful bandana folded up and tied around his head, which I thought was weird for at home lounging but what do I know... He had a very memorable smile, with a slight gap in his front teeth and really nice blue eyes or maybe green. It was hard to tell and I was trying to get out of there asap. They both said thank you, and I turned around and sprinted back to my car. I called my friend immediately to tell her what had just happened and she couldn't believe it as much as I couldn't. Needless to say I don't accept deliveries on that side of town anymore.

So that is the story of the night I accidentally delivered food to Josh Kiszka's house in the pouring rain, and I hope you all find it as fascinating as she did.

.