#so I think she might be bi and just now discovering herself

[aflawedfashion]

I think it's good that Shelly hooked up with that professor woman. Shelly's been having sex with a lot of random men, but she's been terrified of her relationship with Bambi. It's the early 1970s and she's realizing she's queer later in life, which is understandably scary.

She also has genuine feelings for Bambi which she doesn't have for this woman or any of the random men she's been hooking up with, but ultimately, I think it's good for Shelly to treat sex with a woman the way she treats sex with men. It'll normalize it for her, and I think it's an important step for her to grow as a person. Once she comes to terms with her queerness and normalizes it, she can address her feelings for Bambi and figure out what she wants from that relationship.

[savedbythedrafts]

I have many thoughts about Bridgerton.

Was it the perfect season? Absolutely no.

But it quite honestly is my favorite season so far because it made me realise how the enemies-to-lovers trope has rotten my brain when this is what I want to see. Gentle love, best friends becoming partners.

Things that I absolutely loved this season:

-Pen's arc: In the book she gives up whistledown to become a romance author which is nice, but now we have a legitimate journalist in the house who has proved her accuracy at such a young age. People who are worried about how she's gonna get her info now that people are guarded? Um her main sources were always the maids and footmen and she is observant enough to run a column. Plus now that everyone knows who she is, people might anonymously send her reports (as happens in journalism) which gives her SO MUCH POWER. I am a journalist and I can't stress enough how incredible that is. I know book fans expected the last speech by Colin but imo her taking full control of her decisions and willingness to face the consequences makes it so much better.

-Eloise and Pen patch up: Both of them going to each other for comfort and support when the shit hit the fan made my heart warm. When Eloise comes back, I hope she knows herself a bit better and actually brings her grand ideas to reality.

-Benedict going about his viscount duties in absence of Anthony without the rage of responsibility whilst discovering his sexuality 10/10. Man was also fully involved in all of his siblings feuds, mainly whatever the fuck Gregory and Hyacinth were upto. CUTE. Actually shoutout to all the Bridgertons, they were so perfectly chaotic.

-THe FEATHERINGTONS OMG: I am the youngest daughter of my family as well as the black sheep- so unpredictable, unconventional that no one in my family gets me. That's why I relate to Pen so much and I'll defend her to death. To see the sisters and Portia realise Pen's worth made me sob. Phillipa saying I hope my daughter becomes a writer? Cherry on cake. But Portia opening up to Pen and being vulnerable and proud at the same time was so bloody well done.

-Polin: Fans being livid about the lack of spice in part 2 (minus the incredible sex scene in ep 5) is understandable but I blame the marketing for it, not the showrunners. Over the course of part 1, we saw Colin's relationship with intimacy change drastically. His want for connection becomes a necessity and if they just jumped into angry sex without actually resolving anything, it would have ruined his character development. I think it's the incredible chemistry between Nic and Luke in general and the heavy emphasis on the horniness during the press tour left the fans understandably wanting for more. But in general, their romance felt quite authentic. The Pride and Prejudice 'dancing in the room alone' callback, goofing around in the church, Colin coming to terms with what Whistledown meant to the ton and himself, Penelope's newfound confidence thanks to Colin's frequent words of affirmation, it was all good.

Things I would change to make this season better (this is turning into a full article now but read ahead if you have been here so far):

-The bloody editing: Pardon my french but why the fuck Benedict's prolonged threesome scenes not edited out? He has a whole season coming up so I don't understand so much focus on that weirdly edited scene amidst the drama. Just one shot of establishing his pansexuality (or bi but I am hoping it's pan) would have been enough? I love Ben, he is my favorite brother but this gave me the ick. To think these 3-4 minutes could have been used to extend the last Polin intimate scene. We could have had a good 5 minutes of Pen topping Colin after the BIG REVEAL but noooo. Even the subplots should have been kept short and sweet. Unlike some fans, I am not completely against the inclusion of the Mondrich family, Cressida's back story, the build up to Benedict's and Fran's actual stories, and more. But I believe too much footage was given to these even though the show clearly focuses on one couple per season. Get your shit together Shonda, this is not 20 episode Grey's anatomy, we can't focus on EVERYONE.

-Colin's anger after the wedding: Now I understand why he didn't want to have the wedding night given the stressful circumstances but him being angry till Francesca's wedding made no sense. How I would have written the resolution would have been something like this- In the hours before Rae leaves the house at night, Colin would have been reading the letters, figuring out how Pen is so whistledown at core (like he actually does the very next day but in absence of Pen). And instead of coming into the room to get a blanket, he could have brought in his own manuscript, asking her to read it as promised and taking up her offer to let her edit. This scene was literally in the book and was so easy to adapt. I would give my left kidney to see Colin sitting near Penelope, watching her powerful writing in action. Again, no spice required, just this. This would have made Pen's 'just love me' speech to Colin so good, but alas!

-Cressida: This is the arc I am most pissed off about. Eloise's reconciliation with Pen was great but completely abandoning Cressida to misery was so outta pocket. I realise Eloise is still not a fully realised character and is barely 20 (she's just a girl) but she was always kind. If I was writing Cressida's arc, I would have had Eloise come to her rescue at the end by borrowing some money from Pen and helping Cressida escape to Vienna or better Scotland. I highly doubt Pen would have minded if she knew how similar both of their circumstances were. I detested Cressida in the books because I'll be honest the books were pretty two dimensional with no real character development and just grand gestures (I'll understand if you come for me but this is how I feel, sorry). But the show made me care for her and I wished she could have found some happiness in life.

Overall, I'll rewatch it because the tiny details were so good this season I believe I can relish those till the next season. And I'll miss Polin immensely. But Shonda please, you can do better.

[camrensrealbish]

Hello, hope you are doing well, I have a theory.

Remember when Camila said she had sex for the first time with that old dumbfuck idiot?(LMFAO). Anyways, this makes sense. Not because it is true of course not, it’s false because 1) that was PR 2) Camila will never fall for his dumbass 3) Camren was actually together during the PR ( AMA, 2018! And number of indirects which were not coincidental) 4) this is subjective because I believe Camila is a lesbian. It makes sense because the narrative made by her team is that she was never in love before Matthew and then again changed it to Shawn( lmfao, they can’t keep it consistent) C being a romantic hopeless fell in love with Matthew and “gave her virginity to him” (🤮) and then she always had a crush on Shawn and ended up being with him after dumping Matthew. That didn’t work out, she tried to move on with a dude who made an app or something (don’t know don’t care) Shawn and C tried again didn’t work out again because he is a person who needs help( lmfao, he does need help with singing especially) and now is in a era of basically just being happy with herself and exploring.

Now, this is interesting(I think), basically the narrative is saying she didn’t explore her sexuality until she was 20( funny how it also destroy the myth of those leaked texts between her and Michael from 5sos) this could be potentially used when she will come out of the closet. Saying, “ I am exploring my sexuality now and I discovered I like women too so I am bi/ pan(whatever her team thinks suits her better)” this also just proves( at least for the GP) there was nothing between Camren back in the band days (sure, Jan), leading to the future where they could come out as a couple without exposing their past. (If they are still together) . I believe this for one more reason as recently in an interview, Lauren said “I was the only queer in the group….AS FAR AS I KNOW” I think it is self explanatory why that is important. Another thing is how much Gaymila has been out. I could be wrong, but then again nothing is coincidence with these two. What do you think?

😅😅 he does need help with singing especially 😭

I love you 😅

Thanks for submitting this, I had a great time reading it. And yes, I think your theory is correct.

Speaking of one more thing that doesn't make sense in this timeline, Camila wrote "Camila" before Matthew. She sings about sex there, and not in a metaphorical sense or whatever nonsense they are trying to call it now, and I'm pretty sure she was talking about it in interviews at the time (Zach Sang interview if I'm not mistaken).

Coming back to your ask, they've been covering the grounds in case she decides to come out one day since 2019. They can keep advising her against it, but ultimately they can't stop her from coming out if she decides to do soq. So they made sure it doesn't turn against them (Epic, managers, etc.) when she does. Lauren saying multiple times by now that there might be other 5H members who weren't queer back then but might be now (literally why would you say that 😅) is a big clue for us that they're planning for this eventuality that Camila might come out.

I think she's a lesbian too, but if/when she does come out it will be as bi, to fit all her PRs and everything people know about her so far into this story. And this way it's less risky too, because it doesn't alienate straight people as much 🙄. They really care about seeing themselves represented in media 🙄🙄🙄.

The thing is, I'm not so certain she wants to come out anymore. She definitely doesn't seem as keen on it as she used to be. But I truly hope she does one day, simply because I'd like to see it 🥹.

[meirimerens]

hello Meiri... It has come to my knowledge (saw your tweet about it. on the saturday account) that you at least in some way enjoy what I imagine is girl burakhovsky (burakhovskaya?), which led me to wonder... Do you ever think about girl peterstakh as well? (Petrastakh? I wouldn't even know.) And if you don't, why not? (Asking not because I feel like you should or anything, but just out of curiosity) / And if you do, well... thoughts? Please? what are the thoughts

good  #evening meirination and happy mabon... now... i'm an enjoyer of many things but before anything i'm a #consideror and i do consider woman burakhovsky (burakhovskaya) indeed (also mentioned it here for those. not in the know about the saturday account). i've seen a multitude of it around and while many iterations i kinda don't fuck wit personally because i don't think they'd be that feminine (sorry. butchakovskaya sweep i guess) it's in my brain. i'll say it is yes.

now petrastakh. you know yourself i have considered it. i'm considering it rn. between us and the 3,000 other people who might come across it i considered it yesterday even while writing notes on my phone.

now for the petrastakh, same as for the burakhovskaya, it's a matter of: the same but women now. petra is still as unhinged, still has unhinged of a sister who gets in her business, still sniffs out stanislava (grieving and mad) at the bar to tiptoe to her and be like Has anyone ever painted you. would you be interested in being painted [PSLR events]. stanislava still wants to be artemis' sister, or artemis herself, and have her place as a doctor in this town. etc. petra still killed or had her sister kill an architectural rival (sad! well there will be other architects). petra still came back from being taken by the army to stanislava's apartment naked and covered in blood (if you in the saturday account. you've seen this scene).

you know this?

^ i've used it for peter. made it say "all architects are bi [...]". well know that's petra. no need to change anything. also she still has her unibrow and her plunging V neckline shirts. i know how stanislava feels. i've been here.

now. now listen. i know stanislava has her problems & issues and i think she's shy (not in a 🥺😔👉👈 way. but in a 🧍🧍🧍🧍🧍 way) about being painted. now peterstakh? the normalverse ones? rubin gets painted naked. right. no he does. i'm writing it. he's shy (in the 🧍🧍🧍🧍🧍 way) about it. but then he discovers a whole new world of. shan't even say. relating to oneself and to another. that happens to stanislava. no it does. i'm seeing it.

not many thoughts rn. except this one.

this is how petra stares at stasia while she waits for her to sit comfortably so she can talk to her about gustave courbet's L'Origine Du Monde :

[renegade-skywalker]

Ghost in the Machine

Summary: The Jedi Exile discovers and decides to fix up the clearly-tampered-with HK found in her cargo hold to less-than-stellar results, and to further find that she is forever haunted by Revan's ghost.

Rating: T Word Count: 3,875

~~~

“Not bad, Exile!” Brianna applauded, miming clapping her hands together though the Echani did nothing of the sort. “No really, please try harder.”

“Damn, I didn’t realize you were also a professional insult comic,” Eden breathed, still winded from Brianna’s surprise roundhouse kick to the face. “But sure, I’ll try again.”

Eden fell into formation, trying not to relish in the smile threatening to spread across the Last Handmaiden’s face as she fell into stance across from her. The cargo bay was the perfect place to spar, so it was no wonder Brianna had found refuge here. Aside from it being the last claimed space on this tiny freighter, the room was spacious enough to roam and not feel boxed in, whether you were fighting real or imagined opponents. Or simply just trying to sleep. 

Eden remembered the sad excuse of a room Brianna had tucked away in Atris’ secret academy, and though Brianna hadn’t adorned or claimed the cargo hold in any way other than by sleeping in it, it still felt more lived-in and homey than whatever the girl had back on Telos. 

“Alright, promise not to go lightly on me, okay?” Eden pleaded. “I really want to learn. I mean it .”

“If you say so,” Brianna shrugged, the pleasure clear in her eyes even if she had the discipline to control her expression. The Echani immediately feinted left and jabbed right, high then low. Eden caught both jabs but fumbled on the second, losing her footing by the time Brianna grabbed the arm Eden meant to block with, intending to upend her center of gravity. But this time, Eden countered by shifting her weight, disorienting the Echani enough to catch her off guard. 

“An improvement, certainly,” Brianna said, even-keeled. Eden was already out of breath and wanted to laugh. “But there’s one thing you haven’t considered--”

Just as Brianna moved to knock Eden down again, the Hawk jostled, sending both women against the far wall and onto the floor in a painful heap.

“Okay, now that, I didn’t do,” Eden said, grunting.

“I’m going to kill that pilot of ours,” Brianna seethed as she peeled herself off of Eden, gravity still forcing them downwards even as they struggled to right themselves. “That idiot doesn’t know how to-”

Eden was about to laugh despite how much her ribs hurt when a flickering on the wall above her alighted in her peripheral vision. 

“Wait a tic,” Eden interrupted, now pushing Brianna off her with more force than intended. With a half-hearted sorry, Eden stood and, fighting gravity as the ship’s g-force stabilized again, approached the flickering wall with great interest.

“I shouldn’t be surprised that moron damaged something,” Brianna said, setting herself upright beside Eden and dusting herself off. “Wait, is that supposed to do that?”

Eden was fidgeting with the wall now, which she quickly realized was a panel. She rushed across the room to her pile of clothes, finding her hydrospanner within seconds, and with a little prodding the loose panel soon became an entire secret compartment, now no longer hidden.

“Is that-?”

Before Brianna could finish her thought, both women had fetched their weapons from across the room and had them drawn, at the ready, aimed at an opponent they quickly realized was--

“I think it’s deactivated.” Eden said tentatively into the tense silence that followed. Brianna shook her head, unsure, keeping her staff poised towards the dilapidated HK that slumped in the now-open access hatch behind the secret panel. Eden tip-toed forward, hand extended half-expecting to be vaporized before she got a chance to truly examine the thing. 

“Are you certain?” Brianna asked, her voice a cautious whisper, as if the droid might overhear them. “These machines have been hunting you across the galaxy. Seems a bit of a coincidence one turns up hidden on the very ship you stole as a getaway. I think it’s a trap.”

Brianna held her quarterstaff aimed at the HK’s half-collapsed intelligence module, but Eden deactivated her lightsaber as she stepped closer. Switching out her saber for a blaster pistol, its nose edging toward the droid, Eden’s eyes scanned the entirety of the HK, keen on finding any signs of life.

“Key components are missing,” Eden said, her voice faraway, her mind racing. For a moment, Eden felt as if she were back on Tatooine again, inspecting a shipment of junk dumped on her doorstep by either a dehydrated scavenger eager for credits or a bargain-hungry Jawa, their glowing eyes alight like a used landspeeder salesman keen for a good trade. Part of her was comfortable, an old self settling into new skin like a fond memory. But another part of her knew Brianna was right. “Someone dismantled this thing, deliberately.”

It wasn’t the usual pieces that were missing, not the parts someone might grab for when in a tussle. The vocabulator, control cluster, droid processor and the chassis were all missing. Either someone needed a lot of credits, and badly. These parts didn’t come cheap, but they also weren’t easy to access. Especially for an older model, by the looks of it. Only someone with a lot of time - and a lot of know-how - would think to pilfer these parts over other chunks of the bronze plating that were much easier to get to and easier to fence. Or, whoever did this didn’t want the droid to be restored at all, short of destroying it entirely, knowing the parts would be hard to find.

“This doesn’t make any sense,” Eden whispered, frustration already washing over her as the cargo door swooshed open. 

Brianna swung around, her quarterstaff still aimed at the HK but revealing a small knife from her boot to point at the door yelling excuse me! just as Atton’s head poked inside, his mouth opening and then promptly closing upon taking in the scene as well as Brianna’s and Eden’s attire. Or lack thereof.

“I’ll just… see myself out,” he said, his face turning red, but before he could disappear, Brianna had wrangled the pilot into the room with her knife-laden hand and pointed him towards the dilapidated droid.

“I’ll forgive you for your inane maneuver a moment ago if you can tell us anything about that !” The Last Handmaiden hissed as Atton was thrust into the room, his face growing redder by the second. Before his eyes could roam too freely across any part of Eden as they had back on Peragus, Atton’s gaze fell on the droid, and as if under the same spell drew out his blaster and nearly fired before Eden placed a hand on his wrist, setting his aim askew before he could do any potential damage. 

“He wouldn’t know anything about this, Brianna,” Eden said, never taking her eyes off the HK. It was familiar, but not in a way that was remarkable enough for a specific memory to return to her. The HK’s that had open fired on her on Telos had been of the same make, and even if the rest had been silver -- HK-50’s -- something about this particular HK-47 did not sit well with her.

“Brianna?” Atton balked, blaster still poised as he spun around to look at the Last Handmaiden, “Your name is Brianna ?”

“Really? That’s what you’re taking away from all this?” Brianna snapped, her knife-hand now planted on her naked hip, annoyance radiating off her in waves of heat and undulating rage. “You just had to say my true name in his presence, didn’t you?” This last jab Brianna aimed at Eden, her voice softer now, as if not only to relay the difference in her brand of annoyance but also in the hopes that Atton might be too stupid to pick up on it despite standing right there. 

“Atton, how fast can you get us back to Onderon?” Eden asked, ignoring Atton and Brianna’s usual back-and-forth as her memory raced, recalling every merchant they’d encountered and their respective inventory.

“We’re already on course to head back to Dantooine,” Atton said after gawking between both women, unsure of where to keep his eyes and who to respond to. “Why do you want to go back to Onderon?”

“I need to buy something.” 

“Buy--?” Atton echoed before connecting the dots. “Oh.”

“Do you think this wise?” Brianna asked, the consternation still clear on her face as well as in her voice. Despite Atton’s confusion as to what was going on otherwise, his expression changed to match the Last Handmaiden’s.

“Yeah, what if this droid takes a shot at you the first chance it gets?” Atton said, gesturing with his blaster. “That’s what they’ve all done so far.”

“Not the one on Peragus,” Eden mused. “Besides, if I can get one of them to talk, maybe I can figure out who’s been sending them after me in the first place.”

Atton and Brianna exchanged looks, ultimately shrugging in unison before eventually relinquishing their weapons. 

“If you say so,” Atton resigned, leaving the room before heading back to the cockpit to adjust the Hawk’s coordinates. Without a word, Eden began shouldering on her clothes again, but Brianna just watched.

“It’s more than that,” she surmised, Brianna’s eyes reading into every minute action Eden’s muscles made as if it might betray some clue. “It’s not just about the assassin droids, is it?”

Eden only smiled, knowing the expression did not meet her eyes. 

“No. No it’s not.”

~~~

“You never did tell me exactly where you got this ship,” Eden pressed, her elbow leaning heavily into the door frame leading into Kreia’s quarters as Atton so affectionately called everyone else’s haunts aboard the Hawk. “But you didn’t know about the secret compartment, did you?”

“It’s no wonder it’s there,” Kreia admitted, though no emotion betrayed itself over her placid face. Her exposed mouth remained still beneath her lowered hood, the old woman’s head barely moving as she acknowledged Eden’s otherwise unannounced entrance. “We learned it belonged to a one crime lord, Davik Kang, did we not?”

“That we did,” Eden sighed, already annoyed. Her gaze bored into the upper part of Kreia’s hood, where she knew the woman’s eyes were, dormant in the dark, wondering if she could see her through the Force as Visas did. “But you didn’t examine the thing before taking off? There was no sign that you might not have been alone?”

Kreia shook her head. There were plenty of times where Eden was not sure if Kreia was lying or not, or at least sheathing the truth beneath a veneer of half-truths and vague notions. This time, she felt it. The woman was earnest in her ignorance. In fact, Kreia hated it. A wave of unease radiated off of the woman as Eden thought it, validating her claim as well as resenting it, sensing both Eden’s accusation as well as her attestation in one fell swoop.

“Perhaps it is the doing of the HK that bested us both aboard the Harbinger,” Kreia offered with an air of corroboration, though Eden still sensed the ire in the old woman’s words. “That machine was full of secrets and subterfuge, far more advanced than the others we’ve encountered.”

“True,” Eden agreed, pushing off from the door frame and crossing her arms over her chest. “So, that’s it then -- you know nothing?”

Kreia almost sneered, but she hardly had to. Eden felt her disdain through the Force, a ripple of apprehension fluttering towards her in the open room, before dissolving into tired calm as Kreia inhaled and exhaled with purpose.

“To my displeasure, yes.”

“Understood,” Eden said, taking her leave, meaning it but also not. She knew the woman was keeping something from her still, but her surprise at the news of the droid hidden in the cargo bay was enough to tell Eden that at least Kreia had no knowledge of its presence before being told moments ago. The woman knew something, and was hiding it. Just… not that.

Eden did not know if it made her feel better or worse.

~~~

“Was this really worth the effort?” Bao asked slowly, his voice even softer than usual at Eden’s side as she slid the chassis into place, the final piece of the HK puzzle. 

His question wasn’t so much about his own curiosity as much as it was an observation, his uncanny knack for speaking Eden’s deeper thoughts into existence despite her denial at the reality of it all. While Bao rarely spoke of his own inner world, he was always gently coaxing Eden out of her own, knowing full well the tumult that stormed within -- even if he was not ready to let her do the same for him. At least not yet.

The module clicked , satisfying some baser part of Eden, at least enough to soothe her nerves before the anticipation simply ate away at her to nothing. 

“It delayed us quite a bit, nearly costing us the situation on Onderon,” she admitted. “So it better be worth it. Have your saber at the ready.”

Bao nodded. Eden swallowed, nodding back at him, and turned to the HK. Its eyes were vacant, dark, but once she flipped the switch they grew from hollow brown to bright amber. It awoke.

“Diagnostic: HK-47 activated. Running checks through primary systems,” the droid began in a low gurgle, its voice modulator growing smoother with each syllable. A low hum began in the belly of the thing, eventually encompassing the entire workspace as circuits lit up and several sparks snapped as old wiring finally came to life. Eden and Bao exchanged looks, only this time Eden enacted her lightsaber so it glowed a deep molten orange, setting the HK’s bronze plating aglow.

“Assessment: It appears I have suffered considerable damage and dismemberment. I can feel all the cracks in my motivators,” the HK drawled incredulously. “And my control cluster seems to have taken several repeating blaster shots at close range. How crude.”

Something about this HK was… off . Much like the HK-50 that tried to shuttle her off of Peragus at the expense of everything else living on the station, this model had the same brand of snobbish superiority. The other HK’s they’d encountered were frank, sure, but none had this much personality right off the bat. Most of them just had a single quip ready for her before opening fire, but like the one that had managed to hold Eden hostage, this droid had quite a tongue.

“Why were you in our storage hold?” Eden asked, her voice more timid than she’d intended. Her brain was too busy making calculations to cast her voice more commandingly, but she cringed nonetheless. 

“Answer: I do not know, Master-” Don’t call me that, Eden hissed before the droid rambled on, “It is curious I was here - although this place does seem familiar.”

The droid’s intelligence module spun about, its eyes flashing as if taking in the scene like a person awakening from a coma.

“Extrapolation: Perhaps someone was already in the process of rebuilding me. It may be that I was needed for some task.”

Eden’s mind swam with so many questions but there was only one that made its way to her mouth. 

“Are you… okay?” she asked, her eyes still pausing over the droid’s exposed bits and rusted portions of its outer shell. There was evidence of blasterfire but Eden wasn’t convinced that was the machine’s cause of death, so to speak.

“Answer: If by ‘okay’ you mean the loss of almost all my existing assassination protocols, then no, I am not okay. Furthermore, I seem to have no discretionary control over my vocabulator, causing me to reveal my true function as an assassin droid of unrivaled sophistication.”

Eden crossed her arms over her chest, though she sensed Bao bristling at her side. “You look a lot like a series of droids that have attacked me. Anything to say about that?”

“Answer: Oh that is impossible, Master. If I were out to kill you, you would not be speaking.” Eden shot Bao-Dur a pointed glance, not that she was happy or proud about the fact just relayed to them both. Bao held his weapon ready nonetheless. “And regardless, I am a unique model. Why, to think that there would be other versions of me would be unacceptable. 

“Well, there’s at least four other now-defunct versions of you in the galaxy.” Eden huffed a laugh, to which the droid only balked.

“Master, I must inform you that your attempts at humor are wasted on such a droid as I. As I have expressed, I am unique .”

“I can just blast him, General,” Bao whispered sidelong to her. “By rifle or by my arm, we can be rid of the thing sooner than you can say the word.”

Eden appreciated the offer but shook her head, hoping the sentiment translated as Bao unwittingly backed down yet again.

“Trust me, there’s a series of HK-50 units sharing your model and function that we have encountered on multiple occasions,” Eden said deadpan, though the suspicion did not leave her voice. The droid perked up at that, either noting her observation for future personal investigation or taking it as an affront.

“Very well, Master,” the droid drawled, “Though please know that this discovery is also causing me some degree of anger. And humiliation.”

“ Are you alright?” Eden echoed from before, this time not stopping Bao-Dur as he took another step closer to the droid, his right hovering over his blaster as his left hovered precariously over the button of his lightsaber.

“Mockery: Am I alright? Oh yes, Master, why, I am fine,” the droid groaned, looking at Bao’s display as if it were merely an inconvenience and not a direct provocation. “Statement: I mean, I have only just been re-activated, only to find that there are sub-standard duplicates of me running around all over the galaxy, corroding my good name. But if they are in fact hunting you, then I look forward to the opportunity to meet these units - and educate them in proper assassination protocols!”

If the HK could huff in indignation, Eden imagined the droid would have.

“Conclusion: So it seems I need you - for the time being.”

“So it’s true?” Eden pressed. “You’re an assassin droid?”

“Recitation: Yes , as I said, I am an assassin droid. It is my primary function to burn holes through meatbags that you wish removed from the galaxy… Master .”

“What did you say?” Eden asked, her voice a husk of a whisper now.

“Master,” the HK repeated. “Oh, how I hate that term.”

“No not that, Maker never say Master again,” Eden said, finally disabling her saber and slumping to what was eventually to the floor. Bao-Dur moved to catch her, but Eden preferred this, the ground, as ridiculous as it was. “The… the other thing.”

“Query: Meatbag?”

Eden nodded, though her head felt detached from the rest of her body as she did so. Bao-Dur moved awkwardly beside her, still hovering as if he might catch her though she’d already descended to the floor and made a temporary home there, so after bending and unbending, Bao finally decided to crouch by her side and place a hand on her shoulder, anchoring her to the present if anything. 

“Hey did you manage to--?” Atton’s voice spirited into the room, cutting the silence like a knife. Eden’s eyes darted up towards the garage entrance just as Bao’s did, the droid spinning around on its core hinges to face Atton directly at the intrusion. Atton’s eyes widened to disks as he took in the scene. “Uh… activate the droid?”

“What does it look like?” Bao-Dur asked, his voice even though Eden sensed the bite in his words beneath every syllable.

Atton swallowed as he entered the room proper, looking as if he wanted to do the opposite despite taking a few steps closer. “I’ll take all of whatever’s going on here as an uncertain but unmistakable yes.”

The HK extended an arm, as if a blaster were attached though no such thing was equipped, and instead held an empty socket aloft in Atton’s direction. 

“Offer: I can dispense of this meatbag if you wish,” the HK suggested, “Just give the order--”

“No!” Eden hissed, shooting to her feet. “No and no.”

“Affirmation: As you wish,” the droid surrendered, sounding thoroughly disappointed as it turned back to Eden.

“Did you find out who’s been sending these things after you?” Atton asked, taking a step back as if the droid might rescind its offer to spare his life for now. Eden shook her head.

“It’s not one of them,” Eden said. Bao spun around to look at her now, just confused as Atton was.

“How do you know that?” Bao-Dur pressed, careful to ensure that his inactive saber was still facing the droid just in case it became a threat. “You asked the machine no such thing.”

“I know because I remember this HK unit specifically,” Eden said. She glanced at Atton this time, making sure she caught his eye before adding, “Unlike the one on Peragus.”

“What does that mean?” Atton asked.

“I modded this droid, twelve years ago,” she began, her voice hitching as the memory returned to her in full. Don’t call me meatbag, Alek had seethed. Eden had merely laughed, but it was the last thing she wanted to do now, despite the howl building in her throat at the irony of it all. “For Revan.”

“Revan?!” Bao-Dur and Atton both repeated at varying volumes and levels of surprise.

“Attestation: Revan, yes, that name does ring familiar,” the droid said in what Eden could almost call fond recollection.

“Just because you modded this droid to kill for Revan doesn’t mean she didn’t specifically want this droid to kill you, no?” Atton asked, eyes blazing as he reached for his blaster.

“For once, I agree with Atton,” Bao said as he enacted his saber, while Atton mouthed a despaired Hey! “I knew her as well as you, and after the way she set us up at Malachor? I wouldn’t doubt she meant for us all to perish on that moon.”

Bao-Dur’s lightsaber raged a silent sapphire in the din of the garage, and for once so far the HK was speechless.

“You may be right,” Eden sighed, her hand thrumming the button of her own saber but failing to flip the switch. “It can’t be a coincidence that a series of other HK’s were modded to assassinate in the wake of this one.”

Whoever did this knew me personally, Eden thought, the idea still too new, and too painful, to consider out loud. Or Revan.

“Admission: I recall Revan, but I do not recognize your face, Master. Despite my referring to you by such a title. I can call you something else if you wish.”

The droid almost sounded apologetic, but Eden knew it was only her perception. Or wishful thinking. 

“You can call me Eden,” she sighed. The HK nodded, its eyes blinking once before verbally confirming her request.

“Confirmation: I shall call you Eden,” it echoed. 

She should have felt relieved, but Eden only felt hollow, forever haunted by Revan’s ghost and cursed to follow her memory no matter what she did. 

~~~

Notes: I posted this to AO3 in 2022 but never posted it here. I still rather like it writing-wise, but like a lot of stuff I write/post for kotor 2 this is a future snippet from my ongoing novel-length fic Out of the Abyss that can be read/enjoyed without the greater context of that retelling.

[chocolate-cringymuffin]

Amon tries to convince Korra to learn bloodbending, so she could defend herself from bloodbenders and more advanced benders in future. She's against it, but she appreciates his concern. In the similar fashion, she wants to teach him healing, but Amon isn't patient enough. And it would remind him of the few times when Tarrlok or the village healer would heal his wounds when he was a kid, and it makes him sad :(

Korra and Amon love traditional Water Tribe food. Mako, Bolin and Asami don't like it though, and it disappoints Korra. Sometimes Tenzin makes Korra some traditional recipes which Katara has taught him, since it's her comfort food, and she shares it with Amon. And yes, Amon will cook for Korra whenever she wants 💙

Amon always thought he's asexual, but after meeting Korra and getting close to her, he realizes he's actually demisexual. He was just lonely for many years, without any close bonds 🥺 but the whole newly discovered sexual attraction is weird and overwhelming to him, luckily Korra, who is just as awkward like him, is there to help 👀

Korra doesn't want to get pregnant, the whole idea is scary and uncomfortable to her (and she doesn't know how the Avatar state will impact the pregnancy, there's no information about it). Meanwhile Noatak turns out to be infertile, so they both decide to adopt. I like to imagine they would adopt a waterbender, non-bender from Water Tribe and a firebender. And they would settle in Korra's hometown in the South Pole, while often traveling with their kiddos 🥺 and the idea of uncle Tarrlok babysiting his nephews/nieces is funny

Not gonna lie it would be interesting to see Korra learning blood bending, especially with Amon/Noatak as her teacher, but I think he would be REALLY hesitant at first. To me, he would do EVERYTHING in the world before teaching his cursed skill, (thanks to Yakone), and I think he would do it only if it was truly needed, otherwise he wouldn’t… especially with Korra.

The second ABSOLUTELY❤️ to Amon is nostalgic due to his childhood memories and for Korra is everything, I headcanon Asami and Mako enjoy spicy food and Bolin is more into sweets but yeah they don’t share tastes 😅

About Tenzin I am not sure because he could prepare watertribe food yes but I think he follows Aang’s vegetarian life style, so I think he only might prepare recipes that don’t have meat.

About cooking… well I hc Amon is paranoid af and has been cooking for himself for years but is not one of his favorites tasks, he will eat whatever is available in the kitchen (making a revolution takes a lot of time and energy 😬) but sometimes he and Korra will cook together and sometimes something god might come of it <3

Korra can cook too but her food is… not the best, she needs help at first and eventually she gets decent food for the family.

I used to hc Amon as Ace too! Gimme five 🖐😎

Now I hc Amon as bi but I love your hc too! He became Demi for our little Korra 🥹

About the pregnancy… I think Amon and Tarrlok might be terrified by those topics, mainly because they fear repeating the cycle as Yakone did with them and they do not want any little creature to result like them, (actually that’s one of the theories behind the boat explosion, it happened because they wanted to close the cursed blood bending cycle forever ;((

But coming back to the kids I am sure they would get one or another eventually, either planned or not they would become a sweet family ;)

Oh and you are one of the few I who gives them an adopted child love that! I haven’t seen many give them adopted kids but I have one too!

They have a biological child, (Anoki), and an adopted child, (Nilak), if you investigate a little bit more in the gold era of Amorra Nilak was a pretty common name for Amorra children, so I decided to keep that little detail in honor to the good old fandom?

May I ask if your kids have names yet?👀

[mythicaldemigoddess-of-deltarune]

Crossover: Everyone & Mugman x Clara Carmine (2024)

-------

[Note: I plan to use this as a Cover for one of the Crossover stories I'm working on over at Quotev, so while I'm free to use this for both here and over there, please respect the whole "do not reblog without permission" tag thing...Oh, and it is best to click on the drawing to get a bit of a better view of it to see it better.]

Credit for Hazbin Hotel & Helluva Boss goes to Vivienne “Vivziepop” Medrano

Credit for Cuphead goes to Studio-MDHR

Credit for Undertale goes to Toby Fox

Credit for Steven Universe goes to Rebecca Sugar

Credit for Red Vs Blue, RWBY & Camp Camp goes to Rooster Teeth

(and even though Monty Oum, we can only hope his legacy that is RWBY will always live on for many years to come...)

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

well besides Kaikaina being confirmed to be Bisexual, and she can make that whole "bi-phase excuse" all she wants, she can't hide the fact she's into girls as well...

but anyway Fan-Headcanon about Nerris and Ruby, is that Nerris is a Nonbinary-Girl and their pronouns are She/They.

and Ruby Rose is Transgender and Asexual, oh yeah and she is Nonbinary as well, but it is a part of herself she has yet to fully discover.

Kaikaina being like another Big Sister Figure to Ruby, could be interesting in a fan fic.

anyway I don't really have a name for that Hellhound that is suppose to be OC, doesn't really have a name, but I might have her appear in That "Third Bride Of The Garden" over at Quotev, just not right now but maybe later on...which means this drawing could end up as one of the covers for the future chapters of that story.

and I might end up add a bit more worlds to Crossover into that story.

it might be weird, but I couldn't help but like the idea about Older-Mugman and Clara being ship together, even if it is in a fanon timeline and the ship isn't canon.

if they got married, Mugman's Mother-In-Law would be a Overlord.

the female version of Moxxie, who can be thought of as a version from one of those Alternate Universes in one of the Fanon Timeline.

her name is Moxxanne, like being a mix of Mox and Roxanne put together.

Moxxanne has her Mother's Flower in her hair, and her outfit is a bit different from her Canon Male Counterpart...

and I don't think any of the other Female versions of Moxxie, would have their outfit like the one in this drawing.

anyway in a hour or so, I will work on the next chapters of some crossover stories over at Quotev that I haven't updated since maybe a few months ago...anyway hope some like this drawing. :)

[suitsusboth]

It's a cliffhanger because we'd love to read more, Olivia.

From the writer's point of view it was the perfect place to finish the chapter with Kate's panic attack stopping at the sight of Anthony. Her nerves were frayed throughout this chapter with Edwina's return, the scandal that might brew if anyone discovered the elopement (and servants gossip added more layer of uncertainty), the worry Kate felt regarding Edwina's reaction to Kate choosing Anthony and what he would do about it now too, and Edwina's attempts to "stop" the wedding.

Now Kate saw Anthony waiting for her by the altar and she is calm and lets herself be happy and excited for the next chapter in her life and she steps towards her future. It's a poetic way to round up her emotional journey for this chapter, one that I absolutely loved. Especially that Kate addmitted, to herself AND her family outloud, that she's not doing this for Edwina. It's not a sacrifice anymore, it's almost an adventure that Kate's excited for and wants to start as soon as possible. It's her heart calling Anthony's name amd bis mere presence soothing her.

From the readers perspective however, it feels like a cliffhanger because it feels like it was cut in the middle of the scene, with the wedding only seconds away as Kate walks down the aisle. Maybe it's the experience watching tv shows a few years ago, where there was a drama before the wedding and characters' happily ever after was threatened with a new development (re: Castle where Castle got kidnapped, or The Flash where villains from alternate universe crashed Iris and Barry's wedding), when the screen went black and credits started rolling in, and we were left wondering "what now? Are they getting married? Will we get the happy ending we hope for in the next episode?". It's a cliffhanger, I think, because we just want to see our favourite couple married and happy as they deserve to be. I guess it's part the tv experience we have that I mentioned, and an impatience (especially now that the whole season streams all at once and we don't have to wait long for the answers).

And your writing is so good and engaging we can't help but be excited for more!

Fair enough 😅😅😅

It has been a long time coming, both in the fic itself and real life as I’ve been working on this for a year now. We’ve finally made it though! Thanks for hanging in there lol

I’m excited to show the wedding chapter, I think you’ll like it— no drama here though. I think it’s time to give them a bit of a break 😅

The wedding night though 👀

Thanks again for reading!!! I’m glad you’re enjoying it!

[aromanticmina]

Coming out and what followed: my experience

tw: vent,biphobia,guilt,mentions of transphobia (non-binary centric), homophobia,and suicidal thoughts.

It was almost two years ago,and yeah,it didn't went as expected.

I came out to my mom as bi,she said things like "you're just confused" "how can you say that?" and,my personal favourite(/s) "is because something I did?" (as if my bisexuality was a product of her raising me wrong or something)

at the end she was,supposedly, "open to the idea that I might be bi" but I just knew she still thought I was confused, actually, she said it herself: "I'm really wishing that you're just confused,otherwise,well,I guess I'll have to accept it" (as if my bisexuality was a deathly illness and she had to go through like, the 5 stages of grief before accepting it)

and to say that her reaction fucked me up wouldn't be surprising to anyone,she shattered almost every ounce of confidence I had in my identity and my hope for the future (now I can't say I'm bi out loud without crying),imagine how I felt when she reacted that way to me coming out as bi,I could only think "if this is how she reacts to my sexuality, what would happen if she knew I'm trans? genderfluid? maybe greyromantic? (I was still questoning I belive)" even if she said she still loved me, I was devastated.

I'm not going to talk in depth about the six months of daily suicidal and self-destructive thoughts, I'm just going to say: my mental health was really damaged (I'm better now,but I'm easily triggered,I need therapy)

a lot of conversations later,she apologized for everything she said,even if she insisted she didn't remember everything she said (how can you be genuinely sorry for something you don't even remember?,how can you forget the words that make my life hell?) and she said that I should be more sympathetic to her,that I should be more understanding of her because she grew up in a time when none of this things were normalized, that she's trying her best,and I get it but I just can't I can't forgive her I can't I can't- and I feel so guilty for it because she loves me but that is not enough,I feel guilty for feeling this way because I love her too,so much,I can't not love her.

but she has to calm herself down when I say I'm bi,she gasped in horror when I mentioned to her that I had kissed a girl before, and then just tried to convince herself that it was just because I was "young and curious and confused", she says she accepts me now but I don't think she's ever tried to educate herself more about bisexuality or how to support me better.

have you ever met someone who's a good person but the only thing they have wrong is that they are (however mildly or strongly) queerphobic? and because it affects you you suddenly can't see that person in the same light but you feel bad because you really liked that person?

anyways,she also discovered that I'm aromantic through my old twitter account,but I don't think she really understood what that means (which,I honestly prefer,I can't imagine how she'll react to knowing that I'm not romantically attracted to people but I still feel sexual attraction)

and in one conversation we were having the topic of nonbinary people came out and even when I tried to explain it to her she said: "if they're not woman,or men,what are they, animals?" (as if our gender is the thing that makes us human) and at that moment I knew that if I tried to come out as genderfluid to her,she wouldn't understand it.

the worst thing is that she may be the best reaction I get from someone of my family,my aunt is religiously homophobic (god created man and woman blah blah blah),my family from my father's side (and himself) are as well,my mom's cousins may be more understanding,but I honestly can't bring myself to trust anyone of my family with this after what happened with my mom

I don't know how to end this,I just feel really lonely and like everyone I'll ever meet will be mildly queerphobic at best and that I'll never get to be fully comfortably myself with someone.

[thesweetpianowritingdownmylife]

(Disclaimer: I have only watched the show, not read the books, and the info about the books comes from the wiki. If you see any inaccuracies regarding them, let me know)

So let’s talk about Heartstopper.

It was recommended to me as a show that had everything! Lesbians in love! Gay guy! Bi guy! Trans girl getting a romance! Something for everyone!

You know. If you’re thin.

This caveat is always there, to the point that I’m used to it. The glittering world of movies and tv shows exists only for thin people. If there is a fat person, they are only going to be there to be made ridiculous, evil, gluttonous, or all three, so at this point I’ll take a full thin cast and try not to think about how I don’t exist there.

Enter Isaac.

Isaac... reads. And is fat. And those are the only things we know about him.

Charlie says “he doesn’t talk much”, and yeah, we know that too, since he barely has any lines and his main role is to stand there and smile awkwardly in the background. He is literally asleep in one of the scenes. The writers seem to forget he even exists during the later part of the show, and honestly, it unintentionally makes his friends look like total jackasses.

Tao’s fear of being alone, now that Charlie has got a new friend and Elle has gone to another school? BRUH ISAAC IS RIGHT THERE.

The triple date? Elle and Tao didn’t know it was a triple date. From their perspective, Charlie had invited them and not Isaac to hang out with some of his other friends. Rude??

Isaac has no storyline, no wants, no passions, barely any lines, and he disappears as the story develops. He just reads. And is fat.

Alice Oseman, the creator of the book/writer of the show didn’t want one of their original characters (Aled) there because they wanted to use him for something else, so it was decided they needed an extra person to complete the friend group, hence Issac. Fine, sure, that’s not bad. But if you wanted to make a character who doesn’t pass the flowerpot test, you might as well... not have put anyone there. It would make Tao’s fear of loneliness seem that much more realistic. And Isaac, with his lack of....everything, sticks out like a sore thumb, and is understandably hated by fans of Aled who see him as his replacement.

When Tao referred to himself as “the token straight friend” in the first episode, I perked up. “Oh? Oh? Is Isaac going to be some flavour of Not Straight? A fat queer character? I wonder how this will develop?”

The answer is it didn’t. That’s all we heard from it. Alice Oseman simply said on a tweet that Isaac is aro/ace. It’s worth noting that Alice herself is aro/ace; before I discovered I was baffled, thinking “you really can’t think of anything for an aroace character to fucking do??”, but no, I think this is more likely to be an identity assigned to Isaac as an afterthought.

Everything about Isaac seems to be an afterthought.

Now, there is not a problem inherently on making a fat aroace character... if you have other fat characters. Otherwise, it just looks like you can’t possibly imagine a fat person falling in love and having sex, which is, you guessed it! Really fucking fatphobic.

Let’s go back to the characters from the book that didn’t make it to the show. There is one other, apart from Aled. Sahar Zahid. Let’s take a look at her.

Ah.

According to the wiki, "out of the main eight members of the Paris Squad, Sahar is the least explored member". Jesus Fucking Christ.

So. You had one (1) fat character that you decided to cut off for no given reason, and who was the least developed to begin with [EDIT: Apparently she doesn't appear until later events of the book, so she wasn't cut off for no reason, but she is still the least developed]. And then you added another fat character as a space-filler, without bothering to give him a personality other than “reads” and “is quiet”.

As I said, I usually ignore that there are no fat characters in sight, and that shows only show the rich inner lives of thin people. It’s harder to do when there is a fat person right there, having barely any personality and 0 impact on the plot.

You can have all the letters of the alphabet soup, but it is useless unless you have different body types. What use is it to have a trans girl who looks like a supermodel to a fat trans teenager watching this show? Remember that being fat is the number one reason kids get bullied. Fat people are taught from a young age that shows and movies are not For Us, same as any other marginalized identity.

Heartstopper will continue to reinforce that lesson.

[marauderundercover]

Taking Chances Chapter 3: Happy Little Accidents (Identities)

Prev

AO3

@maribat-bdbwm

Marinette stared at the man in front of her, trying not to let her jaw drop. Sure she’d seen pictures of Bruce Wayne last night, Adrien made sure she was well educated on the man’s less than ideal fashion choices. But his choice of a sharp suit or his eyes that too closely matched hers weren’t why her jaw dropped. No, her jaw dropped because-

“Batman!” She says, in a wonderful moment of word association added to the man’s height and build. Mr. Wayne’s eyebrow quirks up and Marinette’s face instantly turns bright red as she hears the snickers of her classmates around her. Marinette immediately wishes that they would have left her and gone back to the bus without her, but no such luck. Instead they got to see her embarrass herself in front of her bio dad for the first time. Not that they knew that, but still. It was the principle of the thing. 

“I-” Mr. Wayne starts, but she cuts him off. 

“Oh, no, oh my god, I’m- no, I’m so, so sorry. I just, you’re- and you- and well yesterday, um, so I just, you seemed really familiar and I saw Batman yesterday so I said it and I shouldn't have and I'm so sorry I'm just freaking out cause my bi- ohhhhh….I mean-” Marinette rambles on, her blush darkening as she tries and fails to let out a coherent sentence in front of the man. She’s mercifully saved by the sharp blare of an akuma alert, the phones of every one of her classmates blaring at the same time. Mr. Wayne and the other employees in the lobby of Wayne Enterprises look confused, but Marinette is relieved. 

“What-” Mr. Wayne tries to ask, but is cut off yet again. 

“Oh well that’s not good gotta go call Paris-bye!” She yells, rushing away from the group and towards the bathrooms. She groans at the look Kaalki give her when she opens her purse. 

“That was a disaster.” They say simply with an unamused face. Marinette groans again. 

“Please don’t remind me. Tikki, spots on! Tikki, Kaalki, unify!” Marinette yells before calling a portal and falling into Paris, the awkward situation pushed to the back of her mind while she pours her focus into her Ladybug duties. 

---

Bruce Wayne was confused. And worried. But mostly confused. Or, the confusion overweighed the worry until he asked about the alarm on the French class’ phones. That’s when the worry began to take center stage. A supervillian? In Paris? For almost two years? Why was the League not informed? 

“Um, would you like to watch the battle, Monsieur Wayne?” A blonde boy asks, holding his phone out and rubbing the back of his neck in a nervous fashion. Bruce studies the boy for a moment and recognizes him as the one who hugged Miss Dupain Cheng the day prior. His daughter. Who is currently living in a city with a supervillain and no League intervention. Nodding, Bruce takes the phone and watches the battle, his horror growing. There was one hero, rushing around the scene, one of her pigtails singed and soot covering her face. What the hell kind of villain was this? And why did the hero look so small? Bruce flinches as the hero, Ladybug the comments called her, is thrown against a building roughly. He waits with baited breath until she stands back up, her face set in a grimace before she went on the offense with a vengenace. 

“Who is this villain? I’ve never heard of them?” Bruce asks Adrien, not bothering to look away from the fight. 

“I don’t know this one’s name, Akumas all have different names and powers.” Adrien replies. Bruce’ gaze snaps up to meet Adrien’s as his blood runs cold. All. As in, multiple. 

“How many villains?” He asks, thankful that his newly discovered daughter is currently in Gotham instead of Paris, a sentiment he never expected with the crime rates of his beloved city. 

“Oh, there’s only one villain. Hawkmoth. Akumas are just people who’ve had a bad day.” Adrien explains as if it’s a simple concept. 

“And what does that mean?” Bruce asks, feeling frustration creep into his neutral posture. 

“It means that what you’re seeing right now is a normal citizen who’s being controlled. Hawkmoth…. He has the power to control anyone who shows an extreme negative emotion. Heartbreak, anger, sadness, lonelines, anything negative can be used against you. We, Paris that is, don’t blame those who were akumatized. They can’t even remember what they did when they were under his control. It wouldn’t be fair to hold them accountable.” Adrien explains, and Bruce can’t help the feeling of complete and total helplessness that rushes over him. If he went to Paris, even with the intention of helping the hero in order to protect his daughter, he could become an even bigger obstacle. He could hurt her. He could hurt others. 

“Is that why the Justice League isn’t there?” Bruce asks, slightly amused at Adrien’s face rapidly changing from understanding to shocked. 

“I-um, probably? If you want more information, miraculousparis.org or the Ladyblog would be your best places for information.” Adrien offers. Bruce nods, mentally making a note to check out those sites later. 

“Very well. Thank you. I hope the rest of your trip to Gotham is enjoyable.” Bruce says, careful not to slip into a threatening tone. The boy hadn’t done anything to him, and while he might want to play the protective father, he knew it wasn’t his right. Not yet, anyways. Now he had a supervillain to destroy from behind the scenes. 

---

Opening a portal into her hotel room, Marinette sighs tiredly. The battle had been tiring, especially since she was on her own. Chat Noir had some kind of trip that he couldn’t get out of and had aplogized endlessly for it. She had reassured him that she could do it, but now… she knew she could do it but she really missed her partner. Letting both transformations drop, she sighs, relieved that the odd number of girls in their class allowed her to have her own room. Until a gasp filled her ears. She instantly shifts into a fighting position, shoulders tense as she stares at-

“Adrien?!” She yells in shock and confusion. What was he doing? In her hotel room? Without her? How did he even get a key? How was she supposed to explain this? Well, he did know the basics from his time as Aspik but-

“But you’re Multimouse!” Adrien yells before clapping his hand over his mouth, his cheeks instantly turning red. Marinette’s eyes widen. 

“How do you know about that?” She asks, panic rushing through her system. 

“Oh my god.” Adrien says, his eyes widening as he glances from Marinette to Tikki and back again. “Oh my god.”

“Please don’t tell anyone! I know you don’t owe me anything, but I just really don’t know if I can handle being the center of attention and then my family would be in danger and I know they wouldn’t approve because it’s dangerous and I-”

“THE TWO GIRLS I HAVE A CRUSH ON ARE THE SAME GIRL?” Adrien says, his eyes wide as he cuts off her rambling. 

“I- wait what?” Marinette sputters, completely shocked at this turn of events. 

“Well I’ve had a crush on Ladybug for forever and then like a month ago, I was talking to Plagg about how mad it made me that people weren’t listening to you and how hurt you were by the whole high road advice which was, honestly, not my best moment. And somehow, I started ranting about how pretty your eyes are and how kind and amazing you are and so then Plagg told me that that’s a crush, and I thought he was wrong. Until I saw you the next day and realized that he was right but then I felt bad because I felt like I was betraying Ladybug by having a crush on you instead, but Ladybug is you. Which makes sense, now that I think about it and-” Adrien’s cut off by Marinette covering his mouth with her hand, desperate to get him to stop talking. 

“Plagg?” She asks, jumping back from him as the Kwami flies out from Adrien’s pocket. 

“Good job kid, you broke pigtails.” He says, gesturing at Marinette who suddenly felt like the human version of the windows error screen. Could this trip get any weirder?

Next

Tag List: @vixen-uchiha @liquid-luck-00 @stainedglassm @jayjayspixiepop @jjmjjktth @mizzy-pop @trippingovermyfeet @queenz-z @thepaceperson @iloontjeboontje @waiting247 @laurcad123 @when-no-wings-do-broomsticks 

[dickwheelie]

real quick before pride month ends I wanna post this thing about jon being bi that i've kind of been trying to write for months now. I think I've finally managed to articulate how I feel about jon being bi and how I feel about being bi, and this is very much a melding of the two. a lot of this is very specific to me and I can only hope other people find it interesting, and maybe some of you out there will share some of my experiences. anyway please enjoy, and happy pride all <3

___________

He supposed that there must have been a part of him, deep down somewhere, that had always known. That was how it worked, wasn't it? Something in his DNA, or a hardwired part of his brain; it must have been in there somewhere, all his life.

But of course, in the world he was raised in, he'd never had much of a chance to investigate that sort of thing. Before he went to uni, all he knew was that men liked women, and women liked men, and there was a small group of people somewhere else, off to the side, who did things differently. A strange, exotic group of people that had nothing to do with him.

Uni had been less of a wake up call and more of a gradual rise to consciousness, a slowly dawning awareness that most of the people around him were, in fact, members of that strange group that did things differently. And they were all perfectly ordinary; not exotic at all. Many of them were like him; they went to the same classes, the same pubs, studied the same subjects. He remembered once, in his first year, speaking to a woman he'd sat next to in class for half a semester and being shocked when she mentioned, off-handedly, that she was trans. All he could think for the rest of class was, I had no idea.

He also remembered the first time he'd ever considered that he, himself, might actually be one of these people who did things differently. The thought had never really crossed his mind, despite the fact that he was surrounded by them, and that he felt at home with them, somehow, more than any other group of friends he'd had before. It was shortly after he'd met Georgie, when they were friends but not yet dating, that she was sitting with him in a pub and pointed out for him all the people in the room she thought were cute. She pointed out a couple men, and then a few women, and then someone whose gender was entirely a mystery to him. And then she'd asked him, what about you? And he had looked around the pub, at all the various types and shapes and colors of people, and he'd pointed out a few women, and a couple men, and a handful of people whose genders were a mystery. It was easy, he realized then. He hadn't even had to think about it. It had been there, somewhere deep down, all along.

He didn't tell Georgie right then, but later, when they were together, he'd confess that that was the moment he'd realized. Georgie laughed, kindly enough, and told him she'd been surprised herself. I hadn't pegged you as queer, she'd said, but when you said it I thought, of course he is. I know how to pick 'em.

Which got at one of his problems, post-realization. He wanted people to know, to be seen as part of that group that was once so strange to him, but for the most part, people just . . . couldn't tell. He dressed a certain way, and spoke a certain way, and though he'd never been the most masculine person in the room nobody ever suspected he was anything but a hundred percent straight.

And it . . . hurt, in a strange way. He'd look around at all of his loud and proud friends and classmates, people who dyed their hair and dressed in fantastical outfits and spoke in particular ways, people who you couldn't mistake for anything but who they were, and he would feel somewhat apart from them. Compared to all of their colors, he felt very grey.

He made attempts at flirting with men, but he had never been very good at that sort of thing and none of them seemed to notice. It didn't help that he knew, no matter how good he got at flirting, there was a part of that scene he'd never really belong in. By then he'd discovered that about himself, too, though strangely it was less of a revelation. He supposed some part of him had always known about that, as well.

His attraction to men, he found, was rarer than women, which might have been why he hadn't noticed it for so many years. It wasn't that he disliked men at all, he just found them harder to trust. With men there were certain expectations, of masculinity, of sexuality, of language, even, that Jon couldn't even begin to fathom. It was just easier, with women. He liked the way they spoke, and how they moved their hands as they talked, and all the various ways they'd wear their hair. He wasn't the sort to kiss many people, but when he did get the chance, he liked that their lips were soft and that they often smelled very fragrant.

Of course there were exceptions to all of these things, but in general, he found he was more comfortable with women. He worried, for a time, that perhaps he had internalized some sort of heteronormativity from his youth, that maybe liking men was just a frightening discovery about himself that he was still trying to process.

But liking men didn't frighten him at all. Maybe some men intimidated him, maybe he didn't feel entirely comfortable with some of them, but the idea of liking them was . . . it was nice. It made him feel sort of warm, when he thought of it. He'd daydream sometimes about kissing someone with a beard, or a larger hand holding his own.

He never got the chance to do anything like that in uni. He wouldn't get the chance for many years. Instead he sat quietly off to the side, in his grey little corner, hoping that someone would see him for who he was. It was, he would be the first to admit, a poor way of going about things, but at the time he wasn't sure what else to do. The idea of changing his wardrobe was already too much for him, let alone marching around with a flag in his hands. He wished there was some kind of secret code, known only by those who were like him.

Then he left uni, and suddenly all the colorful people he'd been surrounded by were gone, and the backdrop of his world felt as grey as he was. And that was fine. He was an adult now, he didn't need reassurance or external validation. It was fine.

He was working in research when he met Tim, and suddenly there was color back in his life. Tim was like the people he'd gone to uni with, loud and proud, with the hair and the clothes and everything else. He began to feel that strange longing again. I'm like you, he wanted to tell Tim, have you noticed? Can't you tell? He said nothing, of course. It would be weird to say something, and probably inappropriate.

But then a day came when Tim just . . . asked him. They were getting drinks with a few other coworkers and Tim leaned over and pointed out the bartender. He's cute, right? he'd asked. Are you into guys?

And he hadn't known it could be that easy. But it was. It was the easiest thing in the world to reply, Yeah, I like men. Women, too. And yes, he is sort of cute.

It was easy, but it felt unbelievably warm to say aloud.

It didn't change anything, not overnight. There was still that underlying greyness he felt, that invisibility, when he was on the train or standing by the copier or ordering from a restaurant. But with Tim, and then Sasha, and much, much later, with Martin, he felt noticed, and known.

He never did end up marching around with a flag, or changing his wardrobe. Instead he carried it with him constantly, in the feeling in his chest when he saw a pin on someone's bag and in the way Martin looked at him and in the way his coworkers laughed when he made dry little jokes about liking only two things.

Which made sense, didn't it? After all it had always been there, deep down. It had always been his. And it wasn't going anywhere.

[sorry-i-ship-drarry]

38. Set it up, break it up

For everyone who's been supportive of these| fluff |making out |harry set draco up with someone Only to realise he liked draco all along |

" when was your first time ?" Seamus smugly asked Draco as he drank his butter beer from across the room sprawled over the bean bag

" I will prefer not to answer the question. It is highly confidential and that information shall only be revealed to Someone I'm with. So dear Seamus you can enjoy asking this question to other, while I would refuse to answer " Draco sophisticatedly replied, tilting his head to put on more emphasis upon his words.

" Merlin, you could've just said I'm not answering that. No need to go all Shakespearian " Ron rolled his eyes at Draco.

Harry chuckled as he joined Draco over the couch, putting his legs over Draco's laps, not that either of them ever minded that physical touch " that's Draco for you. He'll never give a direct answer. I can bet, if he were in an English Muggle class, he'd top "

" I topped nonetheless " Draco rolled his eyes, his hands automatically falling into a pattern of softly stroke the bottom of Harry's leg, a habit he's grown attached to.

" really? From what I remember I got 7 owls while you got only 6. It's just as if I was infact better than you " Harry smirked

" whatever Harry. I was the headboy " Draco rolled his eyes at harry, yet again but then again he liked these small bickerings with him. Blaise eyed them from the corner of the room, enjoying it himself, not Daring to say anything.

" and I was given the opportunity, I just denied "

" as if "

" whatever helps you sleep at night darling" Harry teased as he pinched Draco's cheeks softly

" don't " Draco growled as he swatted Harry's hand away

" one angry kitten aren't you " Harry chuckled, picking up his can of butter beer and drinking it.

" don't call me that " Draco sneered, not in a furious way, just slightly threatening way.

" anywaysss " Seamus echoed, breaking off their not so private conversation " when was your first time harry ?"

" Ron, you might wanna cover your ears for this one " Harry chuckled. Ron gave him a look but refused to do so " it was after war, when I got back with Ginny, in the time we were going out for a short time "

" what about in 6th year ?" Dean asked snuggling closer to Seamus on the bean bag

" we couldn't really ever get to it. I mean for one neither of us were ready, and we were just kids. Although when we did it after we got back together, we realised almost instantly it wasn't something we enjoyed, not that part, just with opposite sex kind of thing. Well mostly her, no offense. Or it could've been we weren't just attracted to each other that way " Harry explained

" really ? I always thought you guys would work out you know " Dean said. Harry looked at Dean amused but didn't say anything.

" I never thought you guys would end up together really. Never seemed as if so " Seamus added

" interest me in why ?" Harry asked

" it just, I always knew you were sort of bi even before you started going with Ginny. It was Evident really sometimes. And with Ginny herself, she didn't seem like a person to be with a guy. I mean coming from I figured my sexuality really early on, I just sometimes knew it.. besides after the first time you guys broke up, it seemed almost impossible for it work later on " Seamus explained. Everyone including Draco thought about what he had said and nobody could even deny that it was a lie.

" what's your dating track anyway right now Harry ?" Blaise asked standing over the chair behind Ron.

" oh it's not that bad. I do go out on a few dates. I went on a date last week infact and believe me that guy was really good, dashing, almost ced- well Cedric diggory Kinda hot but right in the middle of the date, I feel something going up my leg. I almost choked on my Tuna fish and he goes, do you like it ? I was more shocked than anything else. It was weird if anything "

" so what next ?"

" I didn't call him back. I think somewhere along the date, he might've said he had feet fetish.. he would much rather make love to my feets than me and it was just plainly weird "

" people have all different sorts of fetishes " Ron frowned

" yeah, I respect them but feet fetishes just creeps me out " Harry almost shivered at the thought of it.

And everyone soon fell into talking about weirdest kinks and fetishes, something they all were rather amused to be in conversation about, except, Harry.

Draco stopped stroking Harry's leg for a moment to softly clutch on them to seek his attention.

" it's alright Harry.. you can't change anything.. besides I think he lived a good life" Draco softly said.

" I still can't forget though. It's almost as if I can still see it happening in front of my eyes " Harry Whispered back.

" I know. He was a brave guy though. You can't do anything anymore. I'm sure- he'd want you to get over it too " Draco whispered. Harry bit his lip softly before nodding. To provide comfort, Draco again started stroking Harry's legs.

" feels nice" Harry smiled at Draco, who simply smiled back.

" talking off that, what say about going on a date with someone ?" Harry asked Draco but had inevitably grabbed attention from a few others in the room.

Draco raised his eyebrows in strange surprise " really ?"

" I met some guy at the animal shop across the street. He seemed like someone you could date " Harry replied

" why me, why not you ?" Draco defensively asked

" well, he's not my type but he's yours and he did seem to notice you with me a couple of days ago, so I thought maybe you could talk to him and see if you'd like to go out with him " Harry suggested.

Draco frowned at harry before clearing his throat " I'll pay that animal shop a visit then "

" great " Harry grinned

" I'm gonna use the loo " Draco sighed and got up abruptly

" unbelievable " Blaise announced. Harry looked around the room to receive strange looks " what are you all staring at me for ?" Harry asked confused

But nobody responded except that most of them groaned, leaving Harry more confused. Draco returned a few minutes, chatted a bit and then left claiming he had to feed his cat.

As a few weeks goes on by, Harry discovered that draco did started going with the guy he had told him about and was infact in a happy place to be with him. And it was all fun and games until Harry was offended that Draco no longer gave him that much time anymore or the fact that he kept cancelling on him over and over or that he longer was interested in watching movies with harry but sure had fun plans with his so called boyfriend or the guy he's dating, he cared no less. By which he meant, he did cared. To say his friends were tired of Harry ranting on about Draco cancelling on him that one time Ron even put up muffalito charm on him. It was splendid how things were going, in a sarcastic way of course until Draco decided it was time for him to make everyone meet his boyfriend, and harry wanted to burn himself on flames.

" I frankly don't understand why the expensive dinner, I mean, couldn't he had just invited us to his place or his so called boyfriend's place " Harry vented air quoting boyfriend

" Harry you were the one who set him up in the first place, stop being mad at him and jealous not to mention " Hermione rolled her eyes eating the chips off the packet

" jealous, I'm not jealous " Harry defensively said

" sure " Ron rolled his eyes.

" look Harry, you're clearly jealous that he isn't spending as much as time with you and its bothering you, so just talk to him about it " Hermione suggested shrugging her shoulder

" look, I don't know what's cooking in both of your brains but I'm-not-jealous " harry slammed the cloth over the counter and went inside his bedroom

" I miss the time when he wasn't such a dramatic ass " Ron taunted

" I can hear you " Harry yelled from inside the room, hearing faint whispers from Ron and Hermione in the living room..

And the truth infact was that Harry was jealous, which he Only discovered over the dinner when Draco was practically almost all over him that harry wanted to tell him to just sit in his lap, didn't of course. And to make it worse, he was jealous of how good they actually looked, which resulted in harry losing his appetite and almost groaning every five minutes. Hermione had to kick him under the table to behave a couple of times.

Spending the night in his thoughts, Harry came across things he wished he had known earlier or things he never felt but whatever it was, he felt frustrated in himself to set Draco up and he had no idea what to do next, so he decided to take advice from the only man he knew the best was at.

" Harry ? What a pleasant surprise. Ron's not at home though " Blaise said as he opened the door for him

" I actually came here to talk to you " Harry sighed as he went in. Blaise frowned in surprise before walking behind Harry himself

" well what can I interest you in, a joke, a mimickery,-"

" an advice actually " Harry groaned as he slumped down on the couch.

" oh- Ron's better at that-"

" he isn't, he told me to talk to you " Harry replied. Blaise walked into the kitchen, opening the window to the living room to converse through the kitchen.

" did he ? What can I help you with then ?" Blaise asked as he poured water for Harry and walking in to give it to him.

" I think, that I might have feelings for Draco" Harry replied

" you are officially the last person to know that " Blaise chuckled as he walked back into the kitchen and fetched something to eat.

" what ? You guys knew that ?" Harry sat uptight

" of course " Blaise scrunched his eyebrows as an obvious face

" why didn't you guys tell me ?" Harry asked agitated with his friends

" because these are the things we're not supposed to tell you, you're the one supposed to tell us, you dimwit " Blaise rolled his eyes, throwing his hands in the air.

" well you could've at least warned me " Harry groaned

" how could you not have known !! When did you even figure It out anyways?" Blaise asked as he shut the cabinet for the last time, bringing a packet of cookies and chips with him and slumping down in front of Harry.

" I think I've known for a bit since he started going out, but last night i was pretty confirmed that I was jealous " Harry Told him

" well I'd like to say you are that ruined your chances but guessing you came for advice, you came here to know how to fix it and I'll tell you, I do not have even the slightest idea how to fix your shit soup "

" what ?" Harry emphasised

" Harry, you yourself set him up with someone almost exactly like you. If Draco even Liked you at some point, now he knows that you don't like him and he's probably moved on and supposedly happy in his newfound relationship "

" Blaise, If I wanted to listen to how I fucked it up I wouldn't had come to you. I need to know how can I fix this " harry sarcastically responded raising his eyebrows

" look the easiest way is to simply confess or move on. I can't help you harry even if I wanted to. Draco seems happy " Blaise told him emphatically.

Harry was disappointed but knew Blaise was right, there was possibly nothing he could've done to make it right, at least not something that would sabotage their relationship.

It took harry a couple more days to become normal with the fact that draco was dating and finally paving his way to move on, which was definitely hard. And harry could've assumed he was doing good until Draco invited him for a picnic, claiming they haven't gotten out individually in a while. Normally harry would've been very ecstatic about it but considering the phase he was going through it was hard but didn't deny his sweet offer.

" took you a bit long- and your boyfriend's here too " harry pressed his lips in a thin line when he saw them coming together.

"it was just us but his plans got cancelled last moment so he tagged alone.. i hope you don't mind " Draco plead guilty

Harry sighed before giving him a firm smile and nodding " it's going to be one hell of a day "

Halfway through the picnic, harry Would've assumed he would be the thrid wheel but it was infact quite opposite, his boyfriend, jake was infact the third wheel who basically had no idea about draco's life which surprised harry a little more than it should have.

" you- jake, you alright ?" Harry asked looking over draco's shoulder at his boyfriend who looked puzzled

" what? I'm fine, just thinking " he gave them a firm smile.. draco leaned a bit into jake as if to give him the feeling he was still here but jake rejected it, much to draco's surprise.

" what you thinking about ?" Harry asked furrowing his eyebrows.

" what exactly I'm doing here?-"

" shit- I'm sorry for making you feel as if I'm intruding-"

" no, it's not that. It's just so clear that you both are so meant to be together, yet here I am on a picnic with two people who are supposed to be together but are not because of me-"

" that's not true " draco interjected

" is it not ? " Jake asked more firmly than before, not forgetting to give a smile so as to not sound harsh.

Draco opened his mouth to say something but closed it again.

" even if it is true for me, I don't think Draco feels that way . Besides you guys are dating, I don't want to be the reason for your break up" harry replied sympathetically

" you're not harry. I just- I can see it, maybe you two are blind but I'm not.. Enjoy yourselves " jake said as he abruptly stood up

" jake don't be like that " draco too stood up

Jake sighed taking draco's hands in his own " I'll stay if you admit you don't have any feelings for him, if you've never wanted to be with him, if you've felt anything closer to what you feel for him about Me. Admit it freely and I'll stay"

But draco couldn't say anything..

" thought so. I'd be fine by the way. I don't think I've seen two people belonging to each more than you two " and jake departed.

Draco stood there a few minutes watching him walk away, his shoulder slouched as if not believing that he'd just been dumped.

" draco-"

" you're a jerk " draco turned around

" what ?" Harry asked confused

" you're an insolent jerk " draco picked up from dry leaves from the ground and hitting harry with that.

" what the fuck did I do ?" Harry shielded himself as draco threw more and more leaves and grasses

" you fucking moron, you were Flirting with me " draco huffed stopping for a moment

" I wasn't flirting " harry whined. Draco gave him a look before picking up more leaves and throwing it at him

" okay, okay. I was but hey it's your fault to go along with it " harry stumbled back over the ground

" well it's not my fault if you're bloody good at it "

" is it my fault that you enjoyed and I'm not the only victim here, you were flirting too " harry looked up at Draco from the ground

" I wasn't flirting " draco narrowed his eyes. Harry hooked his leg around that of draco, making him trip over and fall over harry, who he instantly rolled over, pinning draco to ground.

" were you not ?" Harry breathed

" it doesn't matter-"

" you were flirting back" harry commanded

" okay, fine I was but you had no right- hmph" draco moaned softly as harry kissed him over the lips, kissing until the need for oxygen finally had made sense again.

" now tell me, how long have you wanted this?" Harry huffed.

Draco rolled his eyes, still pink from all the kissing " I haven't wanted this "

" okay " harry frowned as he leaned down, his lips lightly brushing over that of draco's " you sure ?" Harry asked not moving an inch closer or further

Draco's breath choked down, desperately wanting to lean forward to kiss him again but didn't to avoid giving harry the satisfaction of having the upper hand.

" you don't want me to kiss you again then? That's right yeah " harry whispered as he bit Draco's lower lip, earning a soft moan and his body involuntarily pressed against harry's

" seems otherwise " harry whispered.

" merlin " draco moaned. Smirking harry pulled away looking at Draco from a distance.

Sucking his cheeks, draco immediately pulled harry to him and kissed him again, this time in more desperation and rush.

" guess who's got the upper hand now " draco moaned as he freed his hands and put them in his hair.

" you" harry chuckled, Thoroughly enjoying kissing draco himself.

" jerk " draco chuckled

" you're the jerk " harry chuckled

" and you broke his heart " harry whispered against his lips smiling

" eh, he always knew it anyways " draco shrugged

" you really are a jerk then " harry smiled as he pulled away a bit, admiring draco.

" and you're the jerk who just broke my relationship and has basically manipulated me into kissing you " draco raised an eyebrow amusingly

" I don't regret it " harry regret

" me either " draco smiled and leaned in again.

Requests open

Day 37- you're my home, draco | Day 39- cuddle me in

[hecatemoon87]

A Heathcliff story

Chapter Three - Heathcliff’s Story

For more chapters (x)

After work, at six-thirty exactly, Freya was downstairs in the lobby. She was surprised to see Heathcliff already waiting for her there. Together they walked over to a fancy French restaurant not far from their office. The restaurant was semi-crowded, so they got a good seat in the corner where it was a bit quieter. The lights were dimmed and soft classical music played in the background. Heathcliff pulled out her chair and she sat down. The waiter came over and asked if they would like wine. 

“A bottle of Chapoutier Ermitage Rouge,” Heathcliff said in French. 

“Excellent sir,” the waiter replied back in French. 

“A whole bottle?”

“You speak french?” he asked. 

“I can understand it, I’m rubbish at speaking it,” she said. “But I’ll probably just have a glass.”

“I think I can convince you to have at least three tonight,” he said with a devilish grin.

She laughed and shook her head with disagreement. But within half an hour she was already on her second glass. She was a lightweight when it came to alcohol. The wine went to her head, dissolving all her inhibitions and allowing her to feel more comfortable with herself. 

“Enough with the pleasantries, I want to know more about you, Freya,” Heathcliff said. 

“Me?” she asked.

“Who else am I talking to?”

She giggled. “Right, sorry. What do you want to know?”

“Where did you grow up?”

“I grew up in Jørstadmoen, Norway, it's a very small village. When I turned seventeen I went to university in Oslo. Then at twenty-three I moved to London,” she said. 

“Hmmm, and you’re father, what did he do for a living?”

“He was a minister,” Freya said. 

Heathcliff’s eyes lit up with interest and a slight smile played on his lips. 

“Ahhh, there it is,” Heathcliff said. 

“There it is?” she asked, confused. 

“Why you’re such a goody-two shoes,” he said, smiling. “You’re a darling church girl, afraid to sin, aren’t you?”

“Oh,” Freya said, blushing. “Yes, I, um, grew up in a very religious household.”

He settled back in his chair, getting a good look at her. Finding out that she was a minister's daughter had made him rather randy. Heathcliff had thought Freya a stunning woman, an exquisite beauty. His mind ran wild with the fantasy of corrupting an innocent church girl’s mind, soul, and of course, body. He took in a deep breath to steady his pulse, he was getting a slight erection at the table and needed to control himself. Now that his body was under control, he wouldn’t allow the same for his mouth. 

“When did you lose your virginity?” he asked. 

Freya had been taking another sip of wine and almost spit it back into her glass. 

“Pardon?”

“You heard me, when?”

Freya paused and contemplated about revealing such private information about herself. 

“I was twenty-four,” she said. 

His eyes widened and he looked at her in disbelief. 

“Twenty-four? Good heavens woman, what kind of life are you living?”

“It took me some time to break away from the ideology I was taught during my upbringing. I stopped believing in god when I was twenty years old. But the guilt of committing sin was kind of an obstacle for me,” she said, sheepishly. 

“Hmmmm, well, I was seventeen when I lost mine,” he said. 

“Which time?” Freya asked. 

He looked confused, then he caught her meaning.

“Ah, with a girl. Now, with a boy, I was nineteen,” he said. 

Freya was drunk and it interested her on how he discovered that he was bi-sexual, so she decided to ask him. 

“How did you know you liked boys? And with your first experience, how did it happen?”

“To tell you that, I would have to tell you a bit more about myself…” Heathcliff said. 

“I would like that, if you wanted to tell me,” she said. 

He smiled and his face appeared in deliberation of whether to do so or not. Then he spoke. 

“It might shock you, but when I was a child, I was a very bad boy,” he said. 

“Nope, it doesn’t shock me. It makes perfect sense,” she said, smiling. 

He chuckled at her comment. 

“Yes, I suppose it does,” he said, with a smile. 

He took a moment to drink from his wine glass before he continued. 

“I was adopted when I was five years old, by a man who already had two children. His children, my adopted siblings…they hated me. I supposed that caused some of my rambunctious behavior.”

“I’m sorry your siblings weren’t very nice to you,” Freya said, sympathetically. 

“My father was a rich man. Yes, my brother and sister were difficult, but I was raised in wealth. Hardly much to complain about,” he said, shrugging his shoulders. 

“If they hurt your feelings though, I would still say all the wealth in the world couldn’t mend emotional pain,” Freya said. 

That comment bit at Heathcliff’s heart for a brief moment. But he pushed the pain away and continued. 

“Sure, but money doesn’t hurt,” he said, then thought of how to proceed before speaking again. “As I grew up I got myself into plenty of trouble. I drank, broke curfew, smoked and started stealing cars,” he said. “Then I got into more trouble when I started falling in love with my adopted sister,” he said. 

Freya was on the edge of her chair, him telling his life story was enthralling. She knew he was complicated and was excited to hear his origin story. 

“You fell in love with her? What was her name? Did she love you back?”

“I did, her name was Catherine and…she said she did,” he said. 

“Was she the one…you, um…” Freya said, trying to ask if she was his first.

“That’s right, I lost my virginity to her in the green grasses of our father’s estate,” he said.

“Oh, and…where is she now?”

“She died,” he said. 

Freya was taken aback, not expecting something so terrible as a response. 

“I’m so sorry, I shouldn’t have pressed,” Freya said, bringing a hand up to her mouth.

“She passed away five years ago. It wouldn’t have worked out anyways. You see, she said she loved me, yet still thought she was better than me. She intended to marry another for the sake of her status,” Heathcliff said, a hint of bitterness in his voice.

“Heathcliff, if you don’t want to talk about it anymore…” she said.

“Actually, I do, I would like to talk about it further, but not in this blasted restaurant. Shall we go back to my place?”

“Your place?”

“Yes, Freya, that is what I said, now come along I’ll pay at the front,” he said, getting up and making his way toward the exit. 

“But we haven’t eaten,” she said, watching him leave.

“Nevermind that,” he said, briskly walking to the front so that he could pay for the wine. 

Freya’s head was heavy with drink and when she stood up, she was dizzy. But Heathcliff was already placing his credit card back into his wallet. He glanced at her and motioned his hand for her to come. She made her way to him and they exited the restaurant together. Freya didn’t know how much longer she could stand on her own. Luckily, Heathcliff finally noticed she was unbalanced. He slipped his arm around her and drew her close to him, stabilizing her as they walked. 

Freya was enjoying being so close to him, the wine allowed her to snuggle into him without shame. Heathcliff’s flat was just down a couple of blocks in a very impressive fifty storied Highrise. In a bit of a blur, Freya got onto the elevator, followed Heathcliff down the hall to his door and entered his flat. Inside, Freya was amazed by how expensive and luxurious everything appeared to be. He indeed was very wealthy. 

“Would you like something to drink?” she heard Heathcliff ask. 

She snapped out of her mesmerized state and looked over at him. 

“Actually, could I have some water?”

“Of course,” he said, extracting a water bottle from the fridge and walking over to hand it to her. 

He in turn made himself a whiskey on the rocks and they sat down on his black leather couch. She on one end, he on the other. They sat in silence for a moment. He, sipping from his tumbler gazing off into the room and she nervously drinking from her water bottle. 

“My brother was a deplorable fellow, I should say he still is, but we no longer speak. It was his close friend that I lost my second virginity to,” Heathcliff said, suddenly. 

“His friend?” Freya whispered. 

His tale was getting better than any soap opera she had ever watched. She so wished Melanie could hear all this. 

“Yes. But let me explain when I first started my attraction to men. I was fifteen, I knew I fancied girls, that wasn’t a question. But then I started to notice that some boys made me feel a certain way. I wasn’t all so sure about my sexuailty, but after having Cathy, I felt more confident and then knew I liked both girls and boys,” he said, bringing the glass up to his lips and finished his drink in one go. 

“So, your brother’s friend, he came on to you?”

He gave her a wicked grin. “Come now, Freya, do you really think that?”

“Now that you ask, no, I can see you being brash enough to ask first,” she said. 

“Precisely. I found out his dearest friend was gay. How, you might ask? By snooping around his tennis bag. At the bottom of all his clothing and equipment was a gay porno mag. It was like discovering gold,” he said.

“The porno mag?” Freya asked. 

“No, no. I mean, discovering that my brother’s friend liked cock. You see, my brother is a man’s man. He wasn’t someone who tolerated poofs or dandiness. But lo and behold, the man he took showers with in the gym every day after playing sports probably fancied him,” Heathcliff said, a smug look on his face. 

“So, you had someone safe to share your own secret with, that’s good,” Freya said. 

Heathcliff looked at her like she was a sad little kitten on the side of the road.

“Oh, Freya, don’t be daft. I wanted revenge,” Heathcliff said. 

“What?”

“My brother was a brute, beat me mercilessly and now I could hurt him more than he’d ever hurt me,” Heathcliff said. 

“So, you…didn’t even like his friend?”

“I wouldn’t say that. His friend, Richard, by the way, was very attractive. I like blonde men, he was blonde and five years older than me. He made me randy in all the right ways.” Heathcliff said. 

“You asked him out?”

Heathcliff laughed at her innocence. 

“Oh, Freya, no. I didn’t want to hold hands and kiss, I wanted him to rail me and go on my way,” he said. 

“Then how did it happen?”

“He was in the stables, returning from riding that afternoon. He was in his full gear, looking dashing as ever. I simply sauntered up to him and told him what I wanted. He was in shock and pretended he didn’t know what I was going on about. He liked women he said and rambled on about other things in order to protect his secret. But I wasn’t letting him off the hook so I kissed him. He pushed me back at first, but then, oh how he wanted me,” Heathcliff said, grinning. 

“Was…was he on top?”

“Of course he was, he’d been with other men before, I had not. I let him do as he pleased and I liked it. Bottom is very good especially when your partner gives you a reach around. His friend certainly knew what he was doing, and as he pounded my ass he tugged my willy. He destroyed me and it was brilliant,” Heathcliff said.

She could tell that he was relieving the event, his eyes seemed distant and were filled with lust. She was also starting to sober up and she was feeling guilty that this story was turning her on as well. She wondered if she should ask for whiskey. 

“Did your brother find out?”

“Yes, that was brilliant too. Seeing him in a rage…he hit me, but I didn’t care. He always hit me, just another beating. At least I had solace in knowing I had damaged his ego,” Heathcliff said. 

“And..Cathy? What about her?” Freya asked, then wished she hadn’t. 

“Cathy…” Heathcliff said, his smile fading from his lips. “She found out, cried when she did…but I explained everything to her, that I loved her. Sex with a man was just that, sex. Nothing emotional for me. She didn’t entirely understand and that only gave her more reason to insist that I wasn’t good enough for her,” Heathcliff said.

Freya could see him ball his hand into a fist, his knuckles white. 

“She said she loved me, but she didn’t really. But I loved her without hesitation and she betrayed me,” Heathcliff growled. 

“How did she die?”

“Car accident,” he whispered. 

Freya was now fully sober and the story was getting very emotional for her. The wine though had affected her enough that she wasn’t able to hold back her tears. Big wet tears began falling from Freya’s eyes and she frantically wiped them from her eyes. Heathcliff looked at her in surprise. 

“Freya, what…are those tears for me?”

“Yes, sorry, I just…oh, you poor thing,” she said through her tears.

He continued to look at her, confused at what just happened. He was telling her this story because he wanted her to understand him, not pity him. That made him angry and he stood up and walked over to the kitchen. He poured another glass of whiskey and downed it entirely. He walked back over to her and glared down at the weeping woman.

“I don’t want your pity, Freya. You being this sweet…it’s utterly nauseating,” he snapped. 

“I’m sorry,” she said, getting a hold of herself.

She was shocked by how his mood changed. He seemed very annoyed and she tried to dry her tears quickly. 

“I can…I mean, I’ll just go,” she said, grabbing her purse and getting up from the couch. 

He gently placed his arm out blocking her from leaving. 

“No, I'd rather you stay, if you’d like, that is,” he said, softly. 

“I upset you, I didn’t mean to,” she said. 

“I know. But please know that I don’t want your pity or your sympathy,” he said, looking into her eyes. 

They were right up against each other, his hand coming to rest on her waist, his face inches from her own. She gazed into his eyes and then at his lips, the overwhelming need to kiss him consuming her. 

“Then…then why tell me any of this?”

“Because you fascinate me, Freya. I am cruel and unreasonable and yet you still weep for me. I’ve stressed you out at work more often than not and you have never been wicked toward me in return. Why?”  

“I dunno, there is already so much hate in the world…I just don’t want to be part of it. I don’t like that kindness is seen as weakness, it shouldn’t be that way. I rather be the light when there is just so much darkness,” she said. 

Heathcliff’s eyes danced over her hazel ones. He was touched by her words, so innocent yet so bold. He felt compelled to kiss her and he did. His lips lightly fell upon her and Freya swooned. Her legs almost came out from underneath her, but Heathcliff caught her and gently placed her on the couch.

“Are you alright?” he asked with concern. 

“I’m fine, I just…the wine,” she said, lightly fanning herself with her hand. 

“The wine?” he asked, implying that perhaps that it wasn’t. 

She blushed and giggled a little. “Your kiss.” 

“Mmmmm, you do me no good inflating my ego like this,” he said, smiling then coming to kiss her again. 

He pressed her against the back of the couch, tossing her purse to the side and bringing a hand up to her cheek. He gently cupped her face and kissed her with his pillow-like lips, his kiss light and gentle. She kissed him in return, but he could feel her timidness. He laced his other hand behind her back and he pressed her body against his as he forced his tongue in between her lips. Freya moaned and her hands shot up to grip his back tightly. She turned to her side and he followed her down to the couch, her on her back and he adjusted her legs to wrap around his waist. She was wearing a dress and it slipped down to rest on her hips. Her panties and the cloth of his trousers the only thing dividing his cock from her quivering cunt. 

He moved to begin kissing her neck, tracing her jugular vein with his tongue. Freya let out a sexy little moan and she could feel his erection complete, hard and bulging against her femininity. 

“Oh, Freya, I fear my darkness may consume your light,” he whispered into her ear as he pressed his hardened cocked against her and trailed his thumb across her covered breast. 

“Or you fear that my light might push away your darkness?” she whispered. 

He languidly kissed her collarbone, his thumb tracing the hardened nipple on her breast. 

“We will see who triumphs over who,” he replied.

[yjwhatif]

Traci is canonically a lesbian in the comics WHY is she dating Jaime tho. We really can’t have any decent lgbt rep all we have are cheating bisexuals, a nonbinary character who keeps getting murdered, MAYBE Ed and Bart but probably not, kaldur dating an undersea racist, and traci either having her lesbianism ignored or Jaime used as her coming out story

Hey anon. Thanks for the message - it kinda sent me down a thinking rabbit hole - so I’ll apologise now for how long this might get. (I can make a long rambley post about anything 🤦‍♀️ It’s a curse!) Anyway, take these thoughts as you wish…

On the matter of Traci, while I can’t speak to comics/wider DC canon (I don’t know much about that stuff), from the people I have heard talking about Traci, I was under the impression she was Bi - thereby making it valid that she’d have feelings for Jaime. Also I believe her dating Jaime is something that happens in wider canon as well so I personally don’t see a problem with them currently being together in the show. With what we saw of them in S3, I actually find them to be quite a sweet couple - though that doesn’t mean I expect them to stay together for ever - they’re still teenagers who are growing and learning about themselves through the connections they make. I honestly think they’ll start growing apart sooner or later - not all relationships last because as time goes by you learn that some connections don’t remain as strong as they were. The spark fades but that doesn’t mean the breakup has to be messy or framed in a way which implies it’s Traci’s fault because she likes girls too - if it did get framed like that I would absolutely acknowledge there’s an issue with that.

Of course, I’m saying all this under the assumption she is Bi, which I think is the way YJ canon will eventually confirm her to be - we just haven’t been given that confirmation yet. We don’t know if she is out in universe yet or still discovering herself - we haven’t been shown much of her personal/non heroing life to get much of an in-depth read on her as she interacts with people outside of her hero life. (I think this is a really long rambley way of me trying to say - I don’t think they’re “ignoring” her being a canonically LGBTQ+ character just because she’s currently in a relationship with Jaime and I don’t think they’re “using” him for a coming out story - but that’s just my personal perspective on the subject. I totally acknowledge I could alway be wrong though.)

All that being said, I do agree that the show is still majorly lacking in it’s positive onscreen LGBTQ+ representation - especially considering Greg’s comments on the subject for s4. While I hadn’t thought about when I was watching, after reading this comment I did realise there hasn’t been anything new yet and we’re almost at the end of the first half of the season. After ep. 1, I thought we’d be getting content with Violet as she gets a better understanding of her identity - though that’s not happen - she wasn’t even apart of Artemis’s arc despite their bond and being a member of the team. I think they were also setting up Harper having feelings for Violet with their little exchange - but again that’s not seen any exploration either. Though I do have to say I’ve never felt any romantic chemistry between the two - Harper clearly has some attraction to Violet - but I have never been convinced Violet reciprocated. Obviously that beach scene was really badly done - so if they want me to connect with and root for their relationship - they’re gonna have to do a hell of a lot of work to make that happen.

It’ll be interesting to see if the representation all turns up in the second half again - like in s3 - as that’s where Kaldur’s arc will be, and I have a feeling the Violet and Harper stuff will be explored then as well - though I would have thought they’d have learnt from doing that. I feel the focus on the original team members causes a bit of a problem in the fact that most of those characters are heterosexual - or at least have only ever been depicted in hetero relationships in YJ canon - so we’re not gonna see much representation from them… There’s Conner and M’gann, Artemis and Wally, Artemis and the new boyfriend I can’t remember the name of, Will and Cheshire, Dick and Barbara, even Gar’s relationship with Perdita keeps being brought up. That’s a lot of hetero and other than Kaldur and Wyynde, I can’t think of any other LGBTQ+ relationships that are confirmed in show that could help balance out the scales - which really isn’t great considering all Greg’s said about increasing the representation. I think this is one of the reasons I’m more interested in following the Outsiders and the newer characters - because there’s a greater chance of diversity between them with their being constructed in a less restrictive time… and hey, we very almost got official Ed and Bart if it wasn’t for the ridiculous final restriction set by TPTB who won’t let Bart be depicted as gay. (I’m never not gonna be annoyed by this.) At least Greg confirmed Ed as LGBT and is clearly as infuriated as we are about the Bart fiasco. Though of course they still need a lot more if they’re are going to fix the imbalance - which means explicit in show confirmations and not just implied behaviour - because there too much room for that to be missed or labelled as ‘wishful thinking’ or ‘reading too much into it’ by those who don’t want to see the representation. (I honestly don’t know if that makes any sense at all. Anyway, moving on.)

The last thing I want to comment on is the idea that Wyynde is nothing more than an “undersea racist”, I’ve seen this said a few times before before and I personally don’t think it’s fair to continue labelling him as such. Obviously, we don’t know much about Wyynde, so all that I say now could wind up being proven wrong with a mole styled betrayal storyline when we get to Kaldur’s arc - but for now I want to defend him. Obviously, in the comics Wyynde aligned himself with a very hateful group of people and took part in the discrimination of those who he deemed lesser than himself and his fellow purists. Yes, he was a racist during the time of s1 and that shouldn’t be unacknowleged, but within the small amount of content we got with him in s3, it is clear to see he has grown and seemingly gained some new perspective on his fellow Atlantean’s. The purists despised anyone who possessed any kind of aquatic qualities - no matter how small. This includes someone like Kaldur, with his webbed hands and feet, and gills - and yet, 8-ish years later, he’s now in an open relationship with Kaldur and neither seems uncomfortable with that fact. He’s trusted by the king to be a member of his royal guard. He chose to help Kaldur with his rescue mission on the surface world and even returned for the party at Bibbo’s where he looks to be enjoying himself amongst the range of people he’s with. 8 years have past since his comic appearance, and while we don’t know what happened in those 8 years - a lot can change in that amount of time - enough to help him see the error in his past judgement and accept everyone as equal - no matter their appearance/status. Unless he does something in the present which shows he hasn’t changed as much as he seems, I don’t think it’s fair to solely label him as nothing more than the mistakes of his past - especially when he’s showing genuine positive change… but that’s just my opinion on the matter - and I’m here just hoping Grandon don’t absolutely betray me by doing something sinister with his intentions. Guess we’ll have to see what comes in S4b.

Anyway, this has gotten so ridiculously long again (as usual). Apologies, I can’t stop myself from rambling on when no one asked for it - like I said, I can make a long post out of anything. It’s kinda a patchwork post of different thing I’ve had passing opinions on and they’ve finally been stitched together here. Thanks for your message - I hope you don’t mind me giving my overly lengthy perspective on the matters raised - feel free to point out anything that might be inaccurate (I am in no way an expert on anything I’ve talked about - so I’m open to correction.) Hopefully the representation problems will start being acknowledged soon - but I guess we’ll see what happens.

LB 💛

[tapping-away]

My take on a potential Santa Clarita Diet season 4, in the form of episode synopses because I’m terrible at committing to writing long things, but I also really wanted to explore how a fourth and final season could have gone. Let me know what you think of it.

Santa Clarita Diet S4

1. Joel is now a zombie; things are pretty good, he’s a bit looser, a bit more carefree, slight undertones of being a bit more dangerous than anticipated. Sheila and Abby decide to keep a close eye on him (sorry I didn’t go into a lot of detail here, wasn’t sure how to start it all off)

2. Sheila and Abby think maybe things will be fine; it takes some getting used to, but they end up having a lot of fun and think that’s just how it’ll go; Joel gets his motorcycle back out and starts using it; he and Rick talk motorcycles, and Joel is revealed as bisexual as he flirts with Rick. He goes for a ride and comes back at night, when no ones awake, covered in blood under his helmet and jacket; there’s a report on the news the next day of a brutal crime scene and a missing person, Joel turns the tv off before anyone else sees it

3. Abby begins questioning her relationship with Eric and struggles to figure out how she feels for him; learning her father is bi has made her start to consider other options she hadn’t had time to consider before then; Sheila learns about the murder that happened in the next city and is starting to worry; she goes to their storage unit to get more food and is shocked to find there’s another body in there; Joel reassures her that it was a bad person and that it wasn’t planned, but it worked out; Sheila can’t argue when she knows she’s done the same; She keeps it from Abby

4. Abby is flirted with by Winter who then asks her out and is uncertain how to respond. She tells Winter she’ll let her know; Eric notices acting odd when he comes by and Abby tries to steer the conversation away, to Eric’s confusion; Sheila tries to talk to Joel about where he was two nights ago and he says he’d just been out riding until he ran into a supposed drug dealer who he killed; Sheila asks Anne and Rick about the bloody crime scene that happened and what they know about the missing person, she learns it was someone from Joel’s high school and gets further suspicious of her husband; Joel says he had nothing to do with it and gets angry that Sheila suspects him, and Abby overhears while on her way to talk to her parents about things; Joel storms out when Abby starts questioning him as well. That night Joel pulls up outside an apartment building, he takes off his helmet and grins

5. Joel doesn’t come home the next day and Sheila and Abby are getting very concerned, they talk to Eric and try to get back in contact with Dr Wolf. Learning that they found the reason for the metamorphosis, the clams, Dr Wolf decides to look into them and attempt to figure out a true cure. Sheila goes looking for Joel with Abby and Eric, and is concerned when she’s a tv displaying news of another reported bloody scene with no body in sight. Joel is revealed to be at Ron’s place

6. While at Ron’s, Joel starts questioning him, revealing that he thinks Ron or someone Ron turned is behind the murders happening in town. Ron tries to deny it but Joel terrifies him into revealing that he turned Chris and Christa, he doesn’t know their connection to the Hammonds but did tell them everything about being undead. Joel remembers what Sheila said about the first person who got killed being from their high school and realizes Chris and Christa are responsible. He threatens Ron with death if someone else dies because of what he did or if Sheila or Abby end up hurt. Ron is left terrified and makes a phone call.

7. Dr Wolf calls Sheila and tells her she managed to locate some of the clams and is running tests. She posits the theory that the undead could possibly be able to consume the clams instead of humans, after seeing a clam ingest a finger of an undead person. Sheila is excited at this prospect but still hopes to find a cure. Abby and Eric talk about what’s been going on after Eric sees Abby staring at Winters name in her phone. Abby admits she isn’t sure about who she is anymore or how she feels about him, and Eric- while clearly disappointed- tells her that she should take the time to figure things out and that he’ll always at least be her friend. They hug but before Abby can do anything with the number, Joel finally returns. She runs up to her dad to confront him, and follows him into the house with Eric. Sheila thinks it’s only Abby and starts talking about Dr Wolfs findings before she sees Joel. The episode ends with them all looking at each other

8. Sheila tries to make up an excuse to keep Joel from realizing she is looking for a cure, uncertain of how the new him would react, and is shocked when he seems almost hopeful about the idea of not having to murder people anymore. Abby demands that Joel say where he’s been and if he had anything to do with the murders, to which Joel is still angry they suspect him but tells them that he went to Ron’s to ask if he had anything to do with it. He reveals that Ron turned Chris and Christa and told them everything, and that he thinks they’re behind the recent murders happening. Sheila wants to tell Anne or Rick but Joel is worried about what would happen if they did, as weapons won’t work and it could result in zombies being discovered by the police. Eric reminds them that that might happen anyway if there are any clues found that lead to the true culprits. Joel and Sheila decide they’ll have to kill Chris and Christa, but Abby doesn’t want to leave Christian an orphan even if she hates him. The family are unsure what to do.

9. It’s two days later and the Hammonds are still undecided on what to do; meanwhile there have been two more murders that have occurred- making four total- of someone from their high school. Anne is getting suspicious of the fact the Hammonds went to school with the missing victims, but her faith in Sheila has her believing that it’s a devil of sorts trying to go after Sheila. Abby meanwhile decides to call Winter after deciding she wants a break from all the weird shit happening. She sets up a date for that same afternoon and ends up kissing her. Abby finally gets a chance to talk to her dad about the fact he’s bi and discuss her own uncertainty of where she’s at. The two reconnect over the conversation as Joel shows he’s still her dad even if he’s different, just like Sheila is still her mom. Cut to Dr Wolf in her lab as she manages to synthesize a cure that completely reversed the undead state

10. Sheila talks with Joel about Abby and about what they should do. He says they’ll figure something out and that Abby will be fine. Eric comes in at the same time Abby appears and it’s a bit awkward , but Eric reveals that Dr Wolf is on her way there with a synthesized potential cure and with some of the clams in a farm to see if they can eat them instead of people. The Hammonds are overjoyed at the idea of getting anywhere closer to normal, but before they can get too excited there’s a knock at the door. Joel goes to answer it and is promptly stabbed in the chest and shoved out of the way to reveal Chris and Christa, who close the door behind them. They reveal to the Hammonds and Eric they are the ones behind the murders and that Ron called them after Joel left to warn them that he was on to them. Joel, after yanking the knife out, asks them what exactly they plan to do. Chris says that they are going to frame the Hammonds as the murderers, kill them, and set the house on fire to make it look like they went on the run after disposing of evidence. Abby tries to get them to see sense, tells them to think of their son, but the two seem indifferent to what may happen to Christian. This makes Joel and Sheila furious, and Joel tries to stab Christa- who’s closer- with the knife, but Chris manages to pull a gun on Eric before Joel can do more than cut Christa’s face. Abby is terrified and Eric tries to tell her it’s okay, but Chris hits him with the gun to make him be quiet. As this is all happening, Dr Wolf arrives outside but hears the commotion and tries to figure out what to do. She notices Rick in a police car next door. Inside a stalemate is happening as the Hammonds try to get Chris to release Eric. A knock at the door interrupts them all.

11. Chris and Christa tell them to answer the door, as the fact their cars are outside would make it suspicious if they don’t answer. Joel goes to the door and finds Dr Wolf on the other side. She hurries to pretend to be someone from the neighborhood and makes conversation while subtly asking Joel what’s happening through her phone text. Joel mouths the word ‘zombies’ at her and gestures to the newspaper sitting at their door with the murders on the front page. Dr Wolf seems to understand and opens her briefcase. She hands Joel a syringe and mimes poking it in the neck. Joel realizes she wants him to use it on Chris or Christa to because Dr Wolf said that previous tests resulted in death of the clams and that working tests still resulted in pain during the transformation back. She also gestures at Rick next door and Joel nods at her, telling her ‘You’d be better off asking my neighbor Rick for help about that kind of thing.’ Agreeing to her getting Rick to help. Joel closes the door and hide the syringe in his back pocket, before walking back. Outside Dr Wolf makes her way quickly to Ricks house and knocks on the door, proceeding to tell him that she thinks someone dangerous is in the Hammonds house. Back inside Joel returns and says it was someone new to the neighborhood asking for directions, and that he sent her away, tacking on that she introduced herself as a doctor or something so the others know who it actually was. Joel moves towards Sheila and Abby and shows them the syringe, while Chris and Christa talk about what to do next. Joel catches their attention telling them to let Eric go and take him hostage instead, saying that a bullet to the brain is just as effective on him as it would be on Eric. Christa doesn’t think it necessary but Chris overrides her in an urge to have his old rival in such a vulnerable position. Joel walks forward and suddenly yanks Eric out of the way before jamming the needle in Chris’ neck. Chris’ gun goes off as he collapses in pain. Joel turns to go after Christa next but she’s coming at him with the knife, right before she can stab him another shot goes off and Joel turns to see Sheila holding the gun Chris had. As Christa falls dead, Rick comes in with Dr Wolf and takes control of the situation. He asks what’s happening and the Hammonds tell the truth, for once, that the murderers aren’t them and that they were about to be framed. Rick calls in backup after cuffing Chris, telling the Hammonds that he’s glad none of them were hurt. They all hug, including Eric, the screen fades to black. Two months later shows things back to normal again, as Abby comes down in the morning to tell her parents she’s going out with Winter on a date and has plans with Eric later as well and so won’t be home till night. They tell her to have fun, and not to do anything they wouldn’t do. The scene ends with Joel and Sheila shown either eating normal food or eating the red clams, implying the cure didn’t work or that they didn’t take it.