#shakey foolish thumbs up

[eyyymackerana]

I love it when a small little flutter of a writing idea pops into my head and sends me spiraling into a fit of madness and screaming at my friend

[toastybbb]

Back to Me

Pairings: shoko x gn reader (they/them pronouns for reader)

Warnings: fluff (if that terrifies you)

Syn: Shoko never thought she would get you back after all these years

----

To Shoko, the years you two had dated were the best years of her life. Better than spending that time with Satoru and Suguru (although she wouldn't admit that to them).

When she broke things off between the two of you it was a shock to everyone, but mainly her.

Especially when after a couple weeks you fled the country, traveling anywhere and everywhere except for where Shoko was.

Agreeing to meet up with her when she had heard you were in town seemed too good to be true. Almost as if she were being pranked by Satoru.

But when she had shown up to the park bench where you two had agreed to meet and saw you sitting there, she'd be lying if she wasn't terrified.

Sitting next to you, she lit her cigarette nervously, pocketing the lighter with a shakey hand.

"You look different...but well" nervously she says before taking a drag.

Y/n nodded.

"I could say the same for you Shoko, you look well too".

Shoko took another nervous drag before speaking again, looking down at the cigarette in her hand.

"What brought you back here? I thought you'd never come back".

The last line was true. She thought once you had left not only would you never come back to the country, but back to her.

Y/n shrugged, gazing at the trees that loomed around them in the park.

"Just thought I'd pop through, see what's been going on the past three years".

Shoko knew deep down her feelings for y/n still flourished.

She was holding on to the slim chance that y/n felt the same after these years.

It was a foolish thing for her to think.

But why else would y/n agree to meet up with Shoko?

"Do you plan to stay for long?"

Shoko was hoping the answer would be 'yes' but that thought was soon ended by the touch of y/n's arm that now wrapped around her shoulders.

Was this a sign?

Does y/n still feel the same?

Or is this just a friendship type thing they're doing?

"Probably another week, then I'm off to Australia".

Australia.

Shoko's eyes widen slightly before looking up at y/n.

"Australia? What's for you there?"

"A fresh start".

Her stomach dropped.

A fresh start?

That means y/n wants to start over, forget everything they knew from here.

Forget everyone.

Including Shoko.

That's what had begun to run through her mind as she looked down at the now burnt down cigarette in her hand.

She hesitated a moment, her voice tinged with a hint of guilt.

"Why would you want a fresh start?"

Y/n chuckled lightly.

"No one knows me, doesn't know my story".

Shoko's heart broke at what came next, she didn't want to hear it.

"Find someone new".

If there was a glimmer of light in her mind that she could get y/n back it was now fading fast.

Shoko fought the tears that threatened to escape her eyes.

This was something she didn't want to hear.

She tensed slightly after feeling y/n's thumb rub circles on her shoulder.

The thumb attached to the hand that was part of the arm that wrapped around her shoulders.

"What if I could make you stay".

The words left her lips quietly, almost a whisper.

Y/n glanced down at her, a confused expression on their face.

"Stay here, with me".

Y/n pondered for what to say, unsure of what to do.

"Y/n, I'd be lying if I said I still didn't love you".

Y/n's expression softened, a small hint of shock lingered in their eyes.

"Shoko...I-"

Y/n's thought was cut off by Shoko's lips connecting with theirs.

Immediately, y/n cupped her cheeks as they kissed her back.

Shoko could feel herself relax into y/n's touch, knowing this may be her one shot of getting y/n back to her.

Y/n was the first to pull away, catching their breath as they looked at her longingly.

"Please y/n, come back to me".

Shoko looked up at y/n, eyes full of hope and love, smiling at y/n's answer.

"I knew there was a reason to come home after all these years".

----

[royalbelial]

@wrestleprompts || Prompt: Proposal at the Beach

Title: Not quite making it official Rating: Gen Pairing: Hook x Danhausen

The setting sun was tinting the world in red and gold, as they where walking down the beach. Everything looked so much more precious than when the sun was up high and the soft sound of the ocean's waves put Hook in a state of tranquillity he hadn't felt in a long time. Danhausen next to him was quiet as well, wich was rare. A gentle breeze got caught in his hair, as he looked at his partner. It hasn't been love at first sight. It was a slow process and it was still going, but now, as he looked at Danhausen, he was getting sure, there would not be anybody else who could make him feel that way. Maybe that thought was foolish, given that he was still so young, but he believed it to be true. In the end, having faith was all one got.

And if he had so much faith in his relationship with Danhausen, shouldn't he make it official? His heart jumped at the thought, but it also made him nervous. What if everything he got would be washed away because he was pushing things too far too soon? So maybe he should take it slow. „D? Have you ever thought about marriage?“, he wanted to know and Danhausen stopped in his tracks. „Marriage?“, he repeated, „No, that's not something that had crossed Danhausen's mind before.“ „But you wouldn't be opposed to the thought?“, Hook carefully asked. „Hm, Danhausen doesn't think so“, he answered, „Marriage is the human ritual to bind two people together until their death, yes?“ „Yeah, that's one part“, Hook confirmed, „It's also a promise to take care of one another, to share everything, the good and the bad.“

Danhausen looked thoughtfully at Hook. „Is Hook proposing the marriage bond to Danhausen?“, he assumed and Hooks heart skipped a beat. Okay, he better did not say or do anything stupid now. But actually... he swallowed and looked back at Danhausen. Slowly he got down on one knee and Danhausen raised his eyebrows, not quite understanding, but still feeling the weight of the situation. „Look, marriage is this huge deal, like really huge... and... and... I don't even have a ring“, he said with a shakey breath, „Oh, you usually propose with a ring...“ Hook took Danhausen's Hand and let his thumb slide over the ring finger. „But I'll get you one, not tomorrow, or this week, but we will get there... so this is not a marriage proposal per se, but a proposal, that I will, one day, propose.“

The smile on Danhauesn's face was soft and warm. „Then Danhausen will wait for that day.“

[hellzyeahthewebwieldingavenger]

Marvel Team-Up Volume 4 #2 Thoughts

Things get a little better and a little worse this issue

 With the shakey set up out of the way Eve Ewing gets to dive into what she and fans were actually looking forward to from this arc, Freaky Friday with Spidey and Ms. Marvel.

 The results are again...mixed.

 The art work is again nice and the typical Freaky Friday tropes played with in the story, whilst modest and not explored nearly as much as they could be, are touched upon enough to illicit a laugh or two.

The best moment is probably seeing Peter in Kamala’s body appreciate seeing Kamala in his body have fun with his powers. The subtext is it gives him some perspective on how cool it is to be Spider-Man really.

Another area the book succeeded in was deciding to dedicate the whole issue to the 2 protagonists living through one another’s lives as opposed to having other stuff distract from that.

The positives kind of end there though.

Like last issue Ewing pulls the dirty trick of introducing us to some important information about Spider-Man’s life that’s never (to my recollection) been mentioned before.

As bad as it was to say Peter had an old friend we’d never heard of last issue, this issue establishes that he took precautions to never again have his body swapped like in Superior Spider-Man.

There are a few issues with this.

First of all, whilst it’s nice and would be in character for Peter to do that, it makes him look foolish and irresponsible in the main titles for seemingly never doing that. indeed I can all but guarantee this piece of information will be forgotten or ignored in the main titles if anything akin to a body swap occurred again. Prior to this issue we presumed Peter didn’t take precautions but also that he didn’t do that because there was no way for him to do so.

Second of all, it’s really, really disingenuous for something as important as that to have just happened off panel without a mention until now and a mention in a title that is neither a Spider-Man centric title and isn’t even edited by the Spidey office.

Third of all it doesn’t even make sense. Doc Ock never actually swapped his and Peter’s minds literally. He created copies of their minds, uploaded his into Peter’s body and vice versa. The implication from this story seems to be that in fact Peter and Kamala are literally having their consciousnesses transferred back and forth.

Speaking of which, maybe issue #3 will address this but the fact that Peter and Kamala are swapping back and forth seems...contrived; as does Kamala’s neighbours happening to be away for awhile and happening to give her a key.

It seems like a conceit of the story invented just so that Peter wouldn’t have to pretend to be Kamala in front of her parents.

On the one hand that robs us of a lot of potential comedy and shenanigans. On the other the idea that Kamala’s family will be able to deduce something is seriously wrong is very likely and needs to be addressed.

However rather than go that contrived route I don’t see why Ewing didn’t just cut out the middle man and either have the swap happen on the weekend when Kamala could more reasonably not have to spend a night at home or, if she really wanted to have Peter go back to school, have the swap happen after Kamala leaves home at the start of the day but before she gets to school.

Off the top of my head you could have it be that the explosion doesn’t immediately swap them but that they wake up or en route to school/work get hit with the swap. Or have Dr. Rosario’s lecture occur in Jersey thus giving Peter a reason to be there and then Peter as Kamala has to get back to school for the rest of the day.

Putting all this aside perhaps the biggest sin of the story is the fact that it does the Freaky Friday trope but doesn’t really explore much of the obvious issues in this specific scenario.

Typically the Freaky Friday trope occurs between people of the same genders, and somewhat less typically of the same race.

Here the focus is upon the different AGES of Peter compared to Kamala.

Okay sure that’s a dynamic in play in this scenario, but surely Peter reliving High school or Kamala being thrust into the adult world of bills and job interviews is waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay less significant than Kamala reacting to how different it is being a white man with a penis or Peter reacting to how different it is being a Pakistani, Muslim girl with breasts and a vagina.

I’m not saying the story should be graphic about this but it’s really disingenuous and unrealistic to set up this scenario and then pretend either of these characters would be more focussed upon being younger/older than being different genders, races and how they get treated differently as a result.

I’m not asking for a sermon about racism, sexism, privilege etc, but just...I’m just asking the story to be believable and realistic. Realistically those issues would not just pop up but be much bigger concerns.

They don’t even try to raise the question of consent in this scenario. We focus more upon secret identities than even giving a throwaway line about Peter and Kamala consenting to let one another use their bodies to change clothes or go to the bathroom. That just happens and we don’t mention it.

Again, this doesn’t have to be graphic, it can even be funny without being crude, but like...just talk about it. Even that Ultimate Spider-Man arc with Wolverine and Spidey swapping bodies kind of touched on these topics a little and that was over 15 years ago.

The most we get is Peter noticing he got one racist comment and having a period, but it’s just glossed over a scene later. Peter meanwhile doesn’t get to teach Kamala about the perils of adult life, which is weird because at face value this is both their stories so you’d think Ewing would keep things ‘even’ in that way. More significantly really this is Kamala’s book but it leans towards Peter learning about being a girl of colour?????* Shouldn’t the focus be more on Kamala in this regard?**

What’s also weird is that the book tries and fails to give Kamala a taste of what being a man is like by painting the perils of shaving as the closest male equivalent to a period.

Let’s put a side a debate about whether that’s true, or indeed how the comparison is cliché.

My bigger question is...Kamala just...knows how to shave?

My even bigger question is...Kamala shaves incorrectly and it causes her to bleed...on a time delay?

Huh?

Yeah in the issue she starts bleeding during an interview because she cut herself shaving but that’s not how that works.

Yeah you can bleed AGAIN later if you cut yourself shaving but it’s written to imply she didn’t start bleeding until that moment when...surely she would’ve been bleeding beforehand when she initially cut herself.

Additionally there is this odd panel where Kamala is admiring Peter’s muscles in a mirror and being upbeat about being an adult...Maybe I’m being dense but how does that translate. I’ve got huge manly biceps...being an adult is awesome. What? It’s a twin of another panel on the same page where Peter as Kamala starts skipping for joy because...he’s young? And this is referred to as ‘the thing’?

Is that a thing?

Do teenagers typically skip for joy to school or anywhere for that matter?

I think the implication is that he’s relishing youthful energy as in an earlier panel he’s happy his knees aren’t aching. But that still doesn’t add up. As Spider-Man his powers afford him a lot of energy and that includes immense leaping abilities. Skipping isn’t something he couldn’t do or that would hurt him. it doesn’t even jive in the issue as Kamala never complains about aches and pains an clearly relishes her newfound acrobatic prowess.

Oh and on this same double page spread Kamala as Peter buys five scratchcards. What the Hell Kamala? When did Peter give you permission to waste his obviously limited funds? Like on the same two pages she took notice of his bills and his job interview.

There is also this weird characterization thing whenever Peter is in Kamala’s body where he suddenly becomes less like Spider-Man and more ‘the intellectual who speaks in a more high brow way but it’s funny because his appearance is at odds with that’. Like he puts his thumb on his chin as he thinks about and postulates about science stuff and talks about the nectar of the Gods when applying lip gloss. What gives?

Finally there is a bit of mischaracterization regarding one another’s secret identities.

Kamala in Spider-Man’s body immediately unmasks in spite of Peter’s protests, then he does the same against her protests to keep things fair.

Now not to be too harsh on Ewing in this scenario inevitably Kamala and Peter would need to unmask one another. In this sense you can cut Peter a little slack as he probably knows it’s going to be next to impossible to go about in Kamala’s body without seeing her real face.

But Kamala seems...rather out of character here. No expert on her character but given how she has her own secret identity would she really so cavalierly violate someone else’s...when they are asking her not to...and then she employs a double standard and asks them not to violate her own identity?

I really don’t buy this at all.

Again you could argue Peter’s actions were a little more justified but at face value it seems he was just being petty.

All in all...I guess this is worth a read for a few laughs and if you just wanna see some of the wackiness with this kind of scenario but over all it has a lot of problems.

P.S. Another issue with this...er...issue, as well as the last one was Ewing for some reason having dialogue that plainly should be though captions just spoken out loud. Why?

*Also is it just me or is it really weird that from now on its canon that Spider-Man knows what a period feels like and loves the taste of cotton candy flavoured lip gloss? If nothing else that’s gotta be something that will be on Spidey listicals in the future right?

**And yet in other ways the focus is more on Kamala, everything happens in Jersey City, it’s rooted in her status quo and supporting cast. Which again is a problem in one sense since this is at face value both her and Peter’s story but more realistically it’s her story, this is her secondary title.

[jeremysomethingwrites]

Samson and Lazarus piece.

First piece to start off the blog is a little thing about Samson and Lazarus from the Binding of Isaac! It’s a little rushed, I might go back and edit it more later, but for now, enjoy?

Lazarus sighed to himself as he sat on the grassy hill, several yards away from the field where the schools football team was running their usual drills. Despite it being summer, he was still wearing his favorite knit green hoodie. Even though it was made by his mother, it was far from a perfect fit. The sleeves were too long and floppy and he was prone toying with the yarn out of boredom. He liked the look, though. It made him feel cozy.

    No matter how hard Lazarus tried, his eyes always fell to the same person. Even from where he was sitting, he could see the stupid red headband he had always wore. Lazarus was pretty sure it didn’t serve much of a purpose outside of aesthetic, as his long, mostly unkempt brown hair still flew wildly about with each motion he made. Even though he was pouring sweat from every pore, he still held his large, foolhardy grin. Lazarus admired how strong he was. How well he kept up with the other athletes. His blind, occasionally foolish confidence.

    Lazarus was so lost in his own thoughts that he had failed to notice the man he had been so intently staring at was now taking long strides up the hill towards him. He snapped out of his trance when he noticed, and shot up from his position on the ground. Samson, someone who hung around with Isaac and the gang occasionally, stood before him. He was wearing his uniform, and still had on the familiar red headband. Despite just finishing a heavy workout, he still looked like he could run a mile.

    “Heya Lazzy! What brings you here?” Samson greeted merrily, patting Lazarus on the shoulder firmly.

    Lazarus’ face grew hotter than the air around him. Samson stood almost a foot taller than him, and his strong, stockier figure juxtaposed Lazarus’ lack of any form of mass.

    “Oh, um, hi Samson.” Lazarus stuttered nervously. He ran a hand through his short ginger hair, one of his numerous nervous ticks.  “I was… just, uh… I…” he struggled to find any excuse besides “I wanted to watch you work out.”

    “Let me guess: you decided to finally try to gain some mass?” Samson glanced at what he could see of Lazarus’ skinny form and flexed a bicep. While he wasn’t exactly a body builder, he still had a decent amount of muscle. Lazarus tried not to stare.

    “I… yeah, I guess.” it was true. Lazarus wasn’t exactly proud of being as scrawny as he was. He kept telling himself one day he would try to start at least taking a walk outside, but his overprotective parents wouldn’t dare let him out of their sight. It took some pleading to even let him stay after most days.

    “Walk with me.” Samson motioned for Lazarus to follow him down the hill. Lazarus did as he instructed, following at his side.

    “You know, if you wanted to work out, you coulda just asked.” Samson told him as they approached the now empty field. “You know, the secret to a good workout is balance.” Samson began a long tangent on the key points to a perfect workout, that Lazarus wasn’t listening too intently to. Instead, he was more focused on his facial expression. Samson had a look of pure bliss on his face, like what he was talking about was the only thing he could ever care about. The look in his hazel eyes was one of the cutest things Lazarus could have imagined.

    “You get all that?” Samson smirked at his much shorter companion. Lazarus nodded with a smile.

    Samson grinned. “How about we start with a small jog, then?” Before Lazarus could respond, Samson had taken off with the simple order of “Come along!”

Samson ran at a slower pace than usual, but even this was still uncomfortably fast for Lazarus’ out of shape body. Regardless, Lazarus still attempted to keep up, nearly sprinting.He put a hand protectively over the brown satchel he carried with him at all times. It contained all the various medications he had to take daily, along with a few for emergencies. He had opted to tell most people it had snacks in it.

What was probably just about a minute of speedy jogging felt like he had done the mile ten times over. Sweat poured from his forehead, from a mix of exhaustion and heat.  Right as he had just about finished one lap with Samson, his pace slowed rapidly, and he came to a stop. He bent over and put his hands on his knees, exhausted. Samson noticed his workout partner had stopped, and ran over to his side.

    “Come on! We just barely started!” Samson encouraged. He noticed Lazarus’ heavy breathing, and took a hint that he was exhausted.

    “I… think I’m gonna… pass out…” Lazarus panted between heavy breaths.

    “Here, lean on me.” Samson offered, putting an arm around the tiny ginger. He didn’t know exactly his condition, but Samson didn’t want to risk putting him in any danger. Lazarus’ parents would probably have his head.

Like instructed, Lazarus put most of his weight into Samson’s side. Unsurprisingly, Samson felt he was as light as a feather. Samson rubbed his shoulder comfortingly, smiling warmly.

“I think you need something to drink. Come with me.” Samson told him. Lazarus nodded, and attempted to start to follow. When Samson noticed his shakey, stumbling steps, he stopped him. “Hop on my back.” he said, bending over. The kid looked like he was gonna pass out, and if he was, he would rather have him be under his protection. Or rather, over his protection? He didn’t want him to fall on his face.

A little shy, and his face somehow turning redder than before, Lazarus placed two hands on his shoulders, and before he knew it, Samson was escorting him back into the building, taking swift strides even with Lazarus on his back.

When they entered the school, Samson took care to make sure Lazarus did not bump his head on the door, then continued his sprint down the halls of the school. Lazarus, though feeling half asleep, held on tightly to his shoulders. He noticed a few people giving them strange glances, but was far too tired to pay them any mind. Most of them were too busy with their own business to say much more, either way.

When they reached the cafeteria, Lazarus let out a comfortable sigh as he entered the air conditioned room; the cold was a relief from the hot summer sun he had felt for too long. He was pretty sure he was terribly sunburned at this point. His pale, freckled skin was prone to sunburns.

Samson set him down gently on one of the benches at a table, then rushed off to the front of the room, where a confused looking lunch lady was working the counter. Lazarus opted to rest his head on his arms, looking at Samson through tired eyes. His worn out brain couldn’t think much about the situation, other than he now felt he owed Samson his life.

About a minute later, Samson rushed back, carrying three juice boxes in his arms, which he set down in front of Lazarus. Feeling conflicted between feeling embarrassed that he was drinking something so childish and being relieved that he could finally drink something cold, he punctured the top and took a sip.

“Sorry, they’re the first thing I grabbed.” Samson said. He scratched the back of his head sheepishly. Still too preoccupied with trying to drink as much as he could as fast as he could, Lazarus just gave a weak thumbs up.

“I… I apologize. I shouldn’t have pushed you so hard.” Samson toyed with one lock of his hair nervously. Lazarus was surprised he had suddenly became so sincere so quickly, but he didn’t mind seeing Samson so serious so suddenly.

“No, you’re fine.” Lazarus told him in a small tone. “I’m just… weak, I guess” Lazarus laughed nervously as he started the second box.

“Hey, c’mon, don’t say that.” Samson patted him affectionately on the shoulder.

“I thought I heard two gays rampaging through the hall.” before Lazarus could say anything else, both of them became aware of the presence of Eve standing behind them.

Eve, despite what she claimed, was another friend of the groups. Eve had said that she started hanging out with the gang “because there was no one else,” but most of them had started to think it was just because she enjoyed their company.

“Oh, hi Eve!” Samson greeted, his tone now back to it’s overzealous self. He held up a hand for a high-five, but much to his disappointment, was denied.

“Is Lazarus dying or something?” Eve looked at Lazarus, her tired, cold expression not changing.

“Nah, he just ran a mile.” Samson gave Lazarus a firm clap on the back suddenly, causing him to jerk forward.

Eve raised a single pierced eyebrow. “Really?” She seemed to doubt Lazarus’ ability to stay upright, let alone to run a mile.

Samson nodded, seemingly proud.

Just as Lazarus was finishing the third juice box, the phone in Lazarus’ pocket buzzed. Taking it out and flipping it open, he jolted up.

“Sorry guys. My mom’s here, I gotta go.” he told them, before quickly hurrying off. Samson stared at him as he hurriedly ran out of the cafeteria, slowing his pace when he reached the hall as not to break any rules.

“You’re gay for him.” Eve told Samson.

“Perhaps.”