#you guys just love undermining teens

[questioningstressing]

Y'all love flip flopping between whether minors should disclose their age or not online, like, generally probably not, but you guys get into a tizzy when they don't, but when they do you guys push them out of spaces meant for everyone, or you consider them 'less than' it's really fucking annoying especially considering minors (especially teenagers age 14-17) don't really have anywhere but online to go.

You guys just hate people who are younger than you huh? All spaces have to be for adults and adults only, or you're angry.

[im-sleepdeprived]

Can you write something about co-workers to friends to lovers?

fix you up

pairing: peter parker x reader

a/n: i won’t lie to y’all idk how i feel abt this one. its cute dgmw but i hope you guys like it !!! ive had this request for an EMBARRASSINGLY long time, anon if you’re upset, i totally understand

warnings: mentions of injuries, burns, rude customers, bandaging some wounds n stuff, fluff and pining !!! (disclaimer: I’ve never been a barista so forgive me if this is a lil off)

masterlist, requests are open !!

Working in a rustic-vintage-corner-campus-cafe was definitely not how you saw your college years going. Your teen self would’ve killed to work at a place like this but when you grew up, you realized just how different the workload is between a high school student and a uni one such as yourself. 

You weren’t complaining of course. The pay was adequate, your manager was a simple old lady who never had much to say other than making sure all the equipment was clean, you got along with your coworkers pretty well for the most part and the customers were tolerable. 

But every once in a while, you’d get an entitled shithead who seemed to make it their life’s mission to ruin someone else’s day. And the problem with working a social job such as you did, is that you were an easy target. 

It started off as a fairly simple day, you clocked in and put on your apron ready to start your shift for the day. You preferred late morning shifts, leaving afternoons for classes (and the rouge 8am lecture every now and then) and nights for going out or studying. 

“Oh, Y/N! Thank god you're here,” Your co-worker, Vanessa, exclaimed.

Vanessa was a few years older than you. She actually wasn’t a student, she’d given college a try and it wasn’t her thing. Apparently, all it did was “try to undermine unstoppable greatness.” She was chatty, but you actually liked that about her. She could keep up a conversation with a statue. When you first started off here she’d been the one to show you the ropes and ever since then, you’d had a specific bond with her that you couldn’t really put a name to.

You gave her a small smile, “Yeah well, I do prefer to show up when promised. Especially when my paycheck depends on it,” you let out a small laugh.

“Yes! See, that's what I love about you,” she made a disgusted face, “Unlike Peter. Honestly, I don't understand how he hasn’t been fired yet! He shows up at least half an hour late to every shift yet Miss Hannigan still keeps him around.”

“Oh,” you stuttered, raising your hands a little in defense, “I didn't mean it as a jab at Peter, I swear.”

She tossed a curled blonde lock of hair over her shoulders while waving her other hand in dismissal, “Honey, don’t worry about it. I know you would never, you’re far too sweet for that. But I wouldn’t blame you if you did, you know, having to work more than half your shift alone? I swear if Bernard did that to me,” she made a big show of gesturing to herself, "I would not deal with it.”

While what she was saying wasn’t necessarily wrong, it didn’t feel right talking about Peter like that. Sure, he was late most of the time, leaving you to do most of the work while you waited for him to show up (somehow when he started working you two got the same shift together and it’s just been that way ever since) and while you, also, normally wouldn’t put up with this, there was something different about Peter. You never felt like he was taking advantage of you, and purposefully made you pick up extra slack. It was quite the opposite actually, he always apologized profusely and never slacked when he was on the clock. He always seemed so rushed and out of breath, you were pretty sure the poor boy just needed to learn how to manage time better. Plus, he always took it upon himself to unpack the orders because of all the heavy lifting required (you couldn’t tell just by looking at him, with all the sweaters he wore, but man was he ripped.)

“He’s actually really sweet.” You’re not sure why exactly you’re so keen on defending Peter. You two barely spoke, outside of work of course, and you don’t know much about him. But something inside you didn’t like anyone assuming anything bad about him. 

“Yea, well, he’d be a ton sweeter if he clocked in on time,” she laughed as she untied her apron, getting ready to leave. You faked a laugh as well, not wanting the conversation to progress any further. 

“Alrighty, well,” she heaved a breath, “I'm off, have a good rest of your day Y/N.”

You smiled once again and sent a wave her way before settling down in front of the register. It was slow today, not many people in the shop. A fellow student you only recognized from work sat in a corner booth with their headphones locked in and was working on what seemed to be some kind of essay. 

There was an older woman, however, looking incredibly irritated at the table closest to you. You’d never seen her before but that wasn’t too strange. It was a near-campus cafe, after all, lots of people passing through. She looked to be typing on her phone until, suddenly, she shut it off and made direct eye contact with you. 

If looks could kill, you would’ve dropped dead behind the counter, which wouldn’t be all that ideal considering you couldn’t remember the last time anyone mopped that side of the store. 

She stood up and walked towards you and you already dreaded the conversation to come.

“I have an order,” she spit out, as if she were disgusted to even be talking to you at the moment. 

No greeting or anything, wow. Someone wasn’t raised right. 

Nonetheless, you put on your well-rehearsed customer service smile and gave in. “Sure, I’d be happy to help with that. Can you just give me the order?”

She rolled her eyes dramatically. “I shouldn’t have to, I called in and placed it and it should be ready by now. I'm going to be late!”

You froze for a moment, not quite sure what to do, “I’m so sorry for the inconvenience ma’am, but I just got here and I haven’t heard anything,” you glance at the little whiteboard kept on the counter for these exact situations only to find it empty, “and I don’t see anything here about a phone-placed order. Are you sure you have the right store?”

Her face was so red and steam was practically blowing out of her ears, “Of course, I have the right store! Do you think I'm stupid or something?”

“No! Of course not, I'm so sorry,” you start to blabber off, not wanting to make her any angrier than she already was, “I’ll get things ready for you right away ma’am.”

You turned around and tried to make yourself not freak out as badly as you wanted to. It was so humiliating getting yelled at like this in public! And yeah, maybe if you had such a problem with unpleasant interactions like this, you shouldn't have taken a social job such as this one, but honestly, you thought people would have enough manners not to act up like this. Apparently not. 

It slipped your mind for a moment because of how scrambled you got when the lady flipped her lid, but Vanessa has been known to do this, forget to write down orders and leave you to fend for yourself (quite literally since your coworker was never really around) and you’re pretty sure that’s what happened here. Other customers were usually more understanding than this woman bordering on Kathy-Bates-movie-character-insanity over a drink order. 

You reached into your back pocket, deciding you’d try to send her a hurried text about any phone calls she might remember. That just seemed to anger your customer more.

“Excuse me?! I'm sitting here waiting for my order and you're too busy chatting away on your phone?”

You lose yourself for a moment and you can’t feel your face anymore. 

“I am so sorry ma’am,” you repeat, which seems to be your mantra since you started working today, “I was just checking to see if-,”

“I don't care what you were checking, or what you need to see! Give me what I paid for,” her hand started smacking against the counter loud enough for the only other person in the store to look up, broken from their reverie. They merely shot you an apologetic look before getting back to their work, leaving you to fend for yourself.

“You have terrible customer service, honestly. I come here every Tuesday with my book club, but never again. If I don’t get exactly what I asked for in the next five minutes, I'm calling your boss and not leaving until I'm sure you’re fired.” 

You shake your head, “There’s no need to do that ma’am, I'll get everything ready for you.”

You turned around once again, this time, heading towards the cappuccino machine. You’re not sure why you said that considering you have no clue what ‘everything’ is that has to get ready. 

In all honesty, there’s a low chance that a suburban-white-soccer-mom type would have any real effect on your employment. Miss Hannigan would surely not fire you just because some order forgot to be written down and some customer got pissed. Right?

But you really didn’t want to find out. 

So, you started up the machine and turned to grab a cup. Today, apparently, was just doomed from the start. As you turned to grab one of the cups placed on the shelf over the machine, your hand hit the button that turned on the steam wand. Which was aimed directly at your other hand. 

You bit down the yelp that threatened to escape and jumped back, the back of your hand now searing with pain. Instinctively, your other hand came to cup your injured one, which only made it worse. You fought back tears as you moved to turn the steam back off. 

Inhaling deeply, you took a moment to try to get your mind working again. “Hello?!” Of course. You turned your head and gave her the fakest smile you’ve ever mustered in your whole life. “One minute ma’am.”

You could hear her going off about how she doesn’t have a minute to spare, but you ignored her, trying to think of what the hell you could give her to just get her out of your face. You’d have to guess her order since I wasn’t actually taken. You’d started playing a game with yourself since you worked here, guessing people's drink orders, and you’d say you’ve gotten pretty good. 

You peeked a look back at her. You’d had customers around her age come in before and order, for the most part, the same thing. A plain cappuccino. Seemed like a safe bet.

Swallowing down the pain as best you could, you approached the machine again. This time, taking out the portafilter. It must’ve not been put in correctly because it clattered to the ground, coffee grinds falling around the floor. 

You wanted to cry. Your hand hurt like hell, there was a new mess to deal with, and that lady hadn’t stopped complaining since you stepped in. 

Frozen, you began to panic a little, breaths coming out sporadically. You’d leave the sweeping for later, but you had to clean the filter so you could use it because it was the only one. And the slightest brush of air made your hand burn even more. You had no clue how to go about this. Maybe if you-

Like an angel, Peter rushed in through the side door. Tying his apron around his waist, he looked towards you. Your hand flew up to your mouth at his perfect timing and you saw his expression grow more concerned. 

He rushed towards you. “What happened?” And for a second, you forget everything that was stressing you out just a few moments before. He grabbed your hand so gently, you forgot every ounce of pain. 

“I cannot believe this!” She wasn’t giving up and you shut your eyes in frustration, turning to reply to her again. But before you can open your mouth, Peter steps in. “Hold on, can’t you clearly see she’s hurt?”

She scoffed and crossed her arms, “That’s her fault. If she knew how to do her job, it wouldn’t have happened.”

You could feel the anger rolling off him in waves. His expression hardened and his mouth opened to shoot something back at her, but this time, you cut him off. You placed your non-injured hand on his shoulder and gave him a look. 

He stared at you for a few seconds before finally giving in, blowing out some air in a frustrated huff. “Go wait for me inside,” he told you, nodding his head toward the employees-only backroom. 

“What?” You asked confused. You didn’t wanna leave him alone. 

“You’re not working right now, there’s no way I’m letting you. I’ll deal with her. Go, I’ll be right there,” he said, shoving you away gently.

Once you heard that he’d be following you, you were more willing. You walked through the door and took a seat at the table usually used for meal breaks. The ‘break room’ was a small room positioned in the back of the store. You can’t remember what this place used to be (a diner maybe?) but this specific room was used as an office, but Miss Hannigan claimed she had no use for an office so it was used for employee breaks. 

Every ounce of you was grateful for Peter’s Superman moment back there. He came in today earlier than usual and he’d totally saved your ass. You were going to make sure to tell him. 

You weren’t waiting long before the door opened again and Peter walked in, holding a backpack you hadn’t seen on him before. In his other hand, he held a drink. He placed the drink on the table before he grabbed one of the chairs, bringing it close to yours, and you turned your body to face him. 

He picked up your hand again, just as gently as before. “Alright,” he let out a breath of relief, “it’s not as bad as I thought, but, it’s still gonna take a while to heal. Wait,” he leaned over, unzipping his bag and taking supplies out while you just stared at him.

“I thought you majored in biochemistry.” You blurted out. Your face heated up a little when he looked at you curiously.

“I- I saw your textbooks once when you left your bag open. And I’ve seen you around campus, near the science-y buildings…and stuff.” You shrugged and he chuckled. 

“I do,” he nodded, “any medical stuff is self-taught. I get into a lot of…accidents.”

“Oh.” You nodded at him. What kind of accidents would he get into? You’d never seen him hurt, but what did you know. 

“I take it you don’t major in anything science-y,” he said, grinning at you.

You shook your head, “No, I don’t. But I have a chemistry class I have to take for credit. Which makes no sense because chemistry has nothing to do with what I want to learn.”

He laughed and set his bag back down, everything he needed was now laid out on the table. “Okay,” he picked up a white tube with red lettering on it. “This is gonna help with pain and scarring. I’m going to spread some of this, then wrap it up for you.” You looked at the table and saw he’d also taken out some white gauze. What kind of ‘accidents’ did he get into?

You nodded, at a complete loss for words. You had no idea Peter knew so much about injuries and you were so thankful he was helping you out. You didn’t hate each other, but you weren’t close either.

He applied a small amount to the back of your hand, asking you constantly if you were okay as he rubbed it on softly. Honestly, even if it did hurt, you wouldn’t have the heart to tell him.

He finished up with the cream and moved onto the gauze, expertly wrapping it up to lightly cover your wound. When he was finished with that, he carefully tied it off, making sure not to tie it too tight.

“There,” he leaned back and smiled at you, causing butterflies to erupt in your stomach. “All fixed up.”

 “Thank you, Peter, really.” You reluctantly pulled your hand back into your lap, missing the warmth of his fingers wrapped around it.

“You don’t need to thank me Y/N, it’s the least I could do. I’m just glad I got here earlier than usual.”

You nodded and looked down. “Well thanks anyway, you saved my ass back there. Seriously, I have no idea what’s wrong with me today but I kept fucking everything up.”

“Hey,” he said softly, making you look up and meet his gaze. “You didn’t fuck anything up. Okay? You made a few mistakes, but that's not your fault. She shouldn’t have been treating you like that, especially when you’d hurt yourself.” He looked away and scoffed as he remembered the terrible customer that had ruined your morning. You would’ve felt extremely touched by his care if it weren’t for his next words.

“All that for a plain fucking cappuccino.” He mumbled.

“A plain cappuccino? Really?” You asked excitedly, forgetting about everything, and grinning at him wildly. 

“Um, yeah…why?” He asked you, confusion was written all over his face, but he couldn’t help his own smile slightly growing when he noticed your enthusiasm.

“Nothing,” you shook your head quickly, smile never fading, “I just…well, I play this game with myself where I guess people's drink orders. And I think I’m getting pretty good because that’s exactly what I was going to make her before you walked in.”

He laughed out loud and you joined in. “What’s my order?” He asked. 

You paused for a moment. “A caramel macchiato with extra caramel.”

He looked at you for a bit, “Close,” he admitted. “It used to be.”

“So are you gonna tell me what it is now?”

Shaking his head, he leaned over the table and dragged the drink he’d brought in earlier in front of you. “Here,” he changed the subject, “I made you this.”

You’d completely forgotten about it, and when you took a closer look, you realized it was your coffee order. 

Your mouth fell open, “How’d you know?”

He just shrugged, smiling slightly. He knew it was your favorite, but the confirmation was still nice. “I've seen you make it for yourself. Educated guess.”

“Oh my god,” you said, voice soft. It was a simple thing really, you had one most days at the end of your shift. But the fact that he’d noticed… It just meant a lot. “Thank you so much, Peter.”

He just waved you off, his smile growing when he noticed your reaction to the drink. He couldn’t believe he got a chance to speak to you. Truly speak to you. He was always too awkward or embarrassed or trying to avoid embarrassment. But now, while he didn’t like the circumstances that led you both here, he was actually talking to you. And it was nice.

“So,” he started, not wanting this to end just yet, “you said you’ve got a chemistry class?”

“Yeah,” you nodded, picking up your drink and taking a sip. “The one with Professor Hall. I actually have a class after this shift. I totally suck though, and he hates me. I just don’t get it, and he doesn’t explain it well!”

Peter nodded, completely understanding what you meant. It was a tough subject to begin with, and he knew not everyone was as into science as he was, add onto that a teacher who doesn’t really teach, it’s a recipe for disaster. 

“I actually had that class. Last year. I can help you, sometimes. If you’d like me to, that is!” He rushed out. Great, he thought, now I’m getting awkward. 

You looked up at him, eyes wide. “Really? Do you mean that?”

“Of course. I think I’ve still got my notes too, if you want ‘em.” He shrugged nonchalantly as if he wasn’t saving your ass again. 

“Oh my god Peter,” you placed your non-injured hand on his knee, not noticing the way his body stiffened and he gulped. “That would help so much. There’s a huge exam coming up, and it's a huge part of my grade so I have to pass. I started cramming earlier but—”

“I’ll help,” he reassured you, “I enjoy science anyway, so it’ll be fun for me.”

“Thank you,” you repeated. Staring at him so close, you realized you’d never noticed how handsome he was. Sure there were times you thought he was cute, from afar, but now…you could see the different shades of brown in his eyes, the way one of his eyebrows was slightly curlier than the other, unwilling to sit straight. You couldn’t help but stare-

“Oh my god,” you repeated, except this time, you had remembered something. “If we’re both in here, who’s outside?”

“What? Oh, um,” he scratched the back of his neck, still reeling from having you so close to him. “Freddy’s out there?”

“Freddy?” You asked confused. 

He nodded. “The guy writing on his laptop, he’s friends with my roommate, throws the craziest parties. He’s chill, I told him to keep an eye out if someone else walks in. But it’s been slow, so I think we’re good.”

“Oh, okay.” You said, standing up. “We should probably still go though.”

He stood up beside you, frowning. “I don’t think you should work with your hand hurt. I don’t want you accidentally making it worse.”

Your heart warmed at his concern. “That's really sweet Peter, but I’ll be fine. I don’t know what happened before, I never do stuff like that, even accidentally.”

He still didn’t look convinced. “Why don’t you just go home? I can take it for today.”

You shook your head quickly, “I’m not leaving. I have a class later and it would just be a waste of time going back and forth anyway.”

You walked towards the door, opened it, and exited before he had a chance to argue anymore. You stepped behind the counter while Peter rushed out behind you. You watched Freddy give him a thumbs up and Peter nodded at him before he followed right after you. 

“Are you sure you should go to class today? I can walk you home so you can take the day off,” he offered, and he looked so genuine you almost accepted. 

“Peter,” you laughed and he decided no matter what your response was, it wouldn’t matter because hearing you say his name like that was enough. “I’ll be fine, I didn’t break both my legs, it's just a small burn.”

He stared at you for a bit as you smiled at him, trying to get him to ease up. “Fine,” he gave in reluctantly. “But no going towards the cappuccino machine,” he waved a finger at you, “or the ovens. Or anything hot!”

“Fine,” you shot back, grinning wide and he couldn’t help but return it.

The rest of the morning had gone by easily and you thought maybe you didn’t have totally shit luck. Peter was way more fun than you ever thought he’d be and you wondered why you didn’t start talking to each other sooner. 

It used to be silently working together but after those few moments in the break room, you guys were laughing your whole shift. He meant what he said, and he kept you away from anything that produced heat (which you told him was an insane boundary to set in a cafe) so you had extra time to make quips here and there.

You started playing your order-guessing game with him, teaching him certain traits that gave someone away:

“Side part, beanie, and a crossbody? Oh, he’s getting a tall, dark, americano for sure.”

“She’s getting tea. No coffee, just tea. Maybe with a little lemon wedge.”

And he started to get the hang of it. 

“She looks like she drinks matchas right?” He said to you when a girl around your age walked in. He’d been right and you both laughed about it afterwards. 

When your work shift ended, you were actually upset. 

“I’ve got a class to get to,” you told him, lifting your bag onto your shoulder. You’d both cleaned up and gotten yourselves ready, now standing in front of the door. Something in you didn’t want to leave just yet, enjoying your time together far too much to end it so soon. 

“Yeah…” he trailed off, you waited for him to continue but he hesitated. 

“What is it?” You crossed your arms and smiled slightly, shifting your weight onto your other foot. He brought a hand up to scratch the back of his neck, “I just…well, I was just wondering—if it's okay with you of course!” He rushed out, quickly bringing his hands up. “That I could walk you to class?”

You laughed, “I’d love that Pete, thank you.” You turned to open the door to let you both out but he quickly moved forward, holding it open for you and motioning for you to move forward. 

Looking back at him, you smiled and noticed his cheeks were a little red. How had you never noticed how adorable he was?

The walk back to campus wasn’t long but you learned a lot. He told you where he went to high school, his friends he still kept in touch with, his Aunt May, some funny moments from parties he’d been forced to attend by his roommate, and you laughed together.

You told him about the book you were currently reading, your life back home and your family, and why you chose to go to this college. He went along with your jokes, which made it all the more better for you. “I mean if you think about it,” you'd said, “it is so much easier to romanticize your life  when your school campus is as pretty as this one, and that’s real motivation!”

The conversation flowed naturally between you two and it felt like you’d been friends for ages. He dropped you off outside of your class building with the promise of picking you up afterward so you two could study together. 

“So I’ll be back here in an hour right,” he asked. 

“Right,” you smiled at him. “And thanks again Pete, for everything.” You held up your bandaged hand, shaking it a little before setting it back down. 

He shook his head quickly, “Don’t thank me for that. Really.”

You stared at him with a warm expression. “Bye Peter,” you waved as you turned to walk into your class.

“Bye Y/N,” he returned. He watched you walk through the doors, shooting him one last smile before you disappeared from view, before blowing out a breath of air. 

He’d finally gotten a chance to talk to the girl he’d been crushing on for months, and he got to walk her to class! And they were meeting up afterward. After working so close to you and never having the guts to initiate a conversation, he’d settled for just admiring you from afar. But after today, there was nothing that could keep him away. 

You were not having a good day. 

You’d just found out that your chemistry exam was being bumped up to two days from now. Even with the early studying you’d done before, there was no way you could catch up with everything that fast. You were so overwhelmed you had completely forgotten Peter was waiting for you outside. 

You walked out, your bottom lip stuck between your teeth, and you practically jumped out of your skin when someone placed a hand on your shoulder. 

“Hey, don’t worry,” he said, his voice soft yet full of concern. Peter. “It's just me. What happened?”

The second he saw you walk out, he could tell something was off. He could literally sense the anxiety rolling off of you in waves. He had waited for you to look up and stop when you saw him, but you were just about to walk past him before he stopped you. Now, you were looking at him with distress coating every feature on your face. Your brows were pinched, your lip red from biting it, and your eyes wide and distant like you couldn’t even see him and he was standing right in front of you. Something had gone wrong and he wanted nothing more than to fix it. 

“What is it? What’s wrong? He asked frantically. 

“Oh my god,” you whispered, hands flying up to the sides of your head and gripping your hair. You weren’t looking at him anymore, “Oh my god.”

“Ok Y/N,” he said nervously, “you’re starting to scare me.”

“Two days Peter!” You looked at him wildly. “Two days! I can’t go over everything in two days, is he fucking insane? I didn’t even know he could do something like that, I mean, can he do something like that? I feel like that shouldn’t be allowed it should—”

You cut yourself off and started pacing back and forth in front of him. “Oh my god, I’m gonna bomb this. And if I fail, it’ll bring my whole grade down! I can’t afford that I—”

“Hey,” he repeated, placing a comforting hand on your shoulder again. “I said I’m gonna help you, and I meant it. So we’re gonna get through this together, even if we have to stay up all night.”

You stared at him, trying to wonder what you’d done in your life to deserve such an angel. 

You shook your head quickly, “I really appreciate that Peter, but I’m serious. There’s no way I can learn everything I need to know that fast.”

You tried to smile at him but it didn’t reach your eyes. 

He grinned, his expression the total opposite of yours. “Well, you’ve clearly never studied with me, so don’t sound too sure yet.”

Another thing you’d come to realize was just how smart Peter was. 

You really should’ve known when he told you he’d taken that advanced chemistry class a year ago. And passed. 

Looking through his notes, you could see his attention to detail. He really wasn’t a slacker in the classroom because everything was clearly laid out here. 

You’d spent that night going over everything and you’d actually started to feel hopeful about it. Peter was a way better teacher than Professor Hall, and it didn’t hurt that he was so cute. He was understanding with everything and was willing to go over any part for as long as it took for you to fully grasp it. 

At the end of the night, he’d undone the wrappings around your hand, reapplied the cream for you, and wrapped it up again.

“It’s doing okay,” he reassured you. “Like I said, it’s gonna take a while, but if it starts hurting or anything, take some medicine. Then find me.”

You were sure you’d just melted into his hands at that moment.

The next day, you couldn’t wait to get through everything and see him again, even if you were going to be talking about chemistry. 

You weren’t scheduled to work at the cafe today, so you’d only get to meet up after both of your classes. 

Lectures were a blur, nothing really catching your attention and you spent most of the time with your phone tucked in your hand texting back and forth with Peter, barely concealing your laughter when he sent you memes. 

It was like that all day, until, finally, you made your way over to his small apartment he shared with one of his friends. 

its very quaint 🤌

(totally NOT what we say to make ourselves feel better about this shoebox)

He’d told you over text, making you laugh out loud as you made your way over there. 

dw🫡 I was one of those kids who used to live in their play tents and hid in random corners and spaces

im totally ready for this

ok but be warned, we do not have a pet!!! they are not allowed per our lease!!! ignore the cat when you come in!!! tell no one!!!

what cat ??

good girl ;)

Your face flushed as you made your way up the steps to his door. You knocked three times and barely had to wait a second before Peter stood before you, holding the door open. 

“Hi,” he said, smiling at you. 

“Hi,” you grinned back. You heard a small ‘meow’ come from behind him and he quickly held up a finger to his lips. You covered your mouth, stifling a laugh as you nodded at him. 

“Come on in,” he said, stepping out of the way to lead you through the door. You stepped in and kicked off your shoes before looking around. It was plain, but that was to be expected really. 

There was a large poster hanging next to their TV, however, that caught your eye. “Big fan?” You asked him, shoving your thumb in the direction of the Star Wars poster. 

He shrugged nonchalantly, “Kind of.”

“Oh. Well, I was just asking because I love those movies. My little brother used to watch them and I got really into it.”

“Oh. I mean—I don’t know what I was saying before I love them too.” He rushed out, making you giggle.

He stayed staring at you for a bit, his eyes rounding out and his mouth gaping a little bit. 

You gave him a small smile, “Okay, well we should-” You let out a small yelp, hands flying to your mouth as you jumped back. 

The living room was small. The only things occupying it were the TV mounted to the wall, and in front of it, was a sofa. And on the sofa, was an unconscious body that you hadn’t noticed until it let out a low groan. You really weren’t sure how you missed it, there wasn’t much else to look at, but they had just been so still. 

Heart beating erratically, you turned towards Peter again, who was looking at you with all the amusement in the world written all over his face. “Was he always there,” you whispered, eyes wide.

He opened his arms, “Well, angel, I really don’t know. Did you see anyone come in?”

“Oh shut up,” you grumbled. “He looks familiar…is that..”

“Freddy.” He finished for you. Right. The dude from the cafe. 

“He crashes here sometimes.” He added.

You nodded. “Alright.”

“Shall we?” He opened a door beside him and looked at you. 

“Right. Yeah, of course.” You walked past him and into his room. You stopped after you entered, taking a moment to look around. His room was simple, with just his bed, a desk and chair, and a dresser perched next to another door you assumed was his closet. 

What really caught your attention, however, were the photos scattered all over the walls. The room was practically engulfed in Peter Parker’s memories, and you really liked it. Without thinking, you approached one wall, walking through them and taking each one in. 

There were some with large groups of people, those looked like school trips. Most of the photos were of the same two people, and based on what he’d told you, you assumed those were his friends. Ned and MJ. 

A lot of the photos contained an older woman, who looked stunning. That had to be his Aunt May. You were shocked by how many photos he had with the Tony Stark. He’d told you he had an internship at Stark Industries, but really, you sorta thought he just went on coffee runs all day. 

And then, you saw a couple shots of Spider-Man. It wasn’t unusual, you knew a lot of people snapped photos of the masked hero when they spotted him around the city. What was unusual, was the quality of the photos. You didn’t know if you’d ever seen such clear photos of him, even on the news, as he was always swinging and in motion. In these, Peter seemed to have caught him at just the right time. You wondered how long it took him to capture the photos.

“Big fan?” You smirked over at him from your spot by one of the Spider-Man photos as you repeated your words from earlier. 

Peter leaned against the doorframe, arms crossed, content with watching go over the details of his life. He felt a little naked, like he was bared out in front of you. But…it felt good too. He liked knowing you were learning new things about him, and curious to know more. It filled him with an anxious sort of giddiness.

“You first,” he said slyly.

Laughing, you said, “Well, I don’t see how anyone can hate on the guy. He literally runs around saving lives”

He laughed as he approached you, standing by your side. You’d be surprised. “True I guess.”

“We should get to studying,” you said, breezing past him, your hand brushing his bicep as you did. He sucked in a breath, his entire body feeling electrocuted after that one touch. He wondered how you seemed so normal, laying out your books and papers on the floor beside his bed. 

This was gonna be a long night. 

He cleared his throat and moved to sit across from you, hoping he didn’t look as flushed as he felt. 

After a few moments of him watching you get settled, you heard him start laughing. Looking up you asked, “What’s so funny?”

That only made him laugh harder. “Just thinking about how scared you got before. Did you really not see him?”

You felt your face go hot. “I didn’t! I had no clue he was there, and next thing I know he’s making lawn mower nosies!”

Peter was red in the face now. “The way you flew back,” he said between fits of laughter, “I thought you’d give yourself whiplash.”

“Shut up,” you grumbled at him, picking up one of your pens and throwing it at him. It bounced off without him even flinching. 

You looked down, avoiding his gaze by busying yourself with your papers. 

“Okay I’m ready to be serious now,” he said. The laughter was gone but amusement twinkled in his voice. 

“Great! Welcome back Pete, now hand me that pen, I’m gonna need it.”

Two hours later, you were both sprawled across the floor tossing Chess-Its at one another. 

“Come on!” You threw your arms up in defeat when you threw another cracker at him just for him to catch it again. 

Peter chuckled, “Sorry angel, I’ve just got killer reflexes.”

“Alright whatever,” You rolled your eyes. “Come on, throw some at me.”

You opened your mouth, ready to finally win one round of this nonsense…just for a Cheez-It to hit your cheek and fall to the ground with the rest of your tries. 

Peter laughed while you sat up, reached to grab the box of crackers, and poured some into your hand before putting it back down. 

“Okay, I’m done. I actually want to eat them now.” You said, munching on a cracker and sitting against the side of his bed. 

“Oh come on, don’t be a quitter Y/N/N,” he grinned, leaning over and pinching your cheek. 

You swatted his hand away with your empty one. “M’not.”

He smiled at you before sitting up. “Hit me,” he said, opening his mouth and pointing at it. 

You grabbed a Cheez-It from the palm of your hand and made a big show of trying to get your aim right. Squinting one eye, you stared at him, moving your hand back and forth before tossing it slightly more to the right. On purpose. 

That didn’t stop him from leaning over and catching it in his mouth. 

“I don’t like this game,” you said, narrowing your eyes at him. 

“Don’t act like I don’t know what you did,” he said back, munching on his Cheez-it. 

“Sue me,” you told him, brushing him off with a wave of your hand. 

He laughed before he settled down. “How’s your hand feeling by the way.” His voice was considerably softer now, making you smile softly at him. 

“It’s doing great, thank you again, Peter. I would’ve been totally fucked if it weren’t for you,” you told him honestly. 

He shook his head, “Don’t thank me at all Y/N. Hate seeing you hurt,” he mumbled, less to you and more to himself and he stayed staring at your wrapped-up hand. 

“Well don’t worry about that, it doesn’t hurt at all.”

“Yeah?” He looked at you suddenly, like he needed to know you meant it. 

“Yeah,” you nodded at him. 

“That’s good,” he breathed out and your heart squeezed at how much he seemed to care. 

“What's your plan? Y’know, for after school?” You didn’t want to leave just yet, even with your studying done. And you wanted to know more about him. You’d be lying if you said you hadn’t taken a certain liking to him lately. 

“Well after I get my degree, I’m going move up a little further in Stark Industries. I’m still undecided on grad school, I think I’ve got everything I need and I’m probably just gonna start saving up to pay off student loans instead of adding on them.”

You nodded at him, “So the Stark internship is going well? No offense, I sort of thought you were their coffee mule.” You grinned at him before popping a Cheez-It in your mouth. 

He scoffed, “No, I’m not. I mean, it did take a while to get them to take me seriously, but I got there!”

You laughed, “Well, very proud of you Pete. That’s super impressive.”

He grinned at you, his face heating up at your words. He wondered if you knew how much it affected him every time you called him Pete. Probably not, but he never wanted you to stop. 

You two stayed like that for another hour or so, time passing by without you noticing at all. You talked about your futures, where you say yourselves after school, and after that. Your admiration for him only grew as you got to know him more. You could talk to him all night and never get bored honestly, you-

Shit. 

A random notification lit up your phone, which lay beside you on the floor, making you take notice of the time. 

You sat up quickly, spitting out curses as you started gathering your belongings and shoving them into your bag. 

Peter sat up as well, helping you get your things together but in a calmer manner than yourself. 

“Relax Y/N,” he said in a soothing voice. 

“Pete I can’t do it.” You turned to him suddenly, dropping everything in your hands. 

“Do what, angel?”

“The exam is tomorrow. I’m not ready! I’m gonna fail, and that one grade, that one stupid grade, is gonna hold me back and ruin everything-”

“Sweetheart look at me,” he said, placing a hand on your shoulder. His grip was warm and reassuring. “You are not going to fail. And I know this because I’ve spent the last few hours studying with you, and I saw how smart you are, and how quick you caught on. You’re gonna walk in there tomorrow and ace that test, I know you are!

“And if for some reason you don’t,” he continued, “you gave it your best. You tried your hardest and you learned something, which is all that matters in the end. So breathe, stop stressing, and let me walk you home.”

“All that talk as an excuse to ask to take me home?” You snorted, “Peter you shouldn’t have.” Despite your jokes, you took his advice and took a deep breath. He was right, you’d studied your hardest, both with and without his help. All you could do was take the exam and hope for the best now.

He laughed and stood up, holding out a hand once he saw you all packed and ready. “Caught me. So is that a yes?”

You took his hand and pulled yourself up but didn’t let go right away. “If I fail, do we have to stop hanging out? Y’know, with you being a science prodigy and all.”

He laughed again and placed both his hands on your shoulder, staring straight into your eyes. “Never.”

“Ok, well, just making sure. I wouldn’t wanna give you a bad rep in the science community or something-”

You were suddenly cut off from your babbling when he pressed his lips to yours. You froze for a second, unsure what to do, but it didn’t take long for you to catch up and kiss him back. 

He pulled away after a few moments, “Done with the jokes?” His voice was soft and teasing.

“Uh huh,” you mumbled, eyes still closed. “But I think you might need to do that again, just to be sure.”

He chuckled murmuring something that sounded like ‘too cute’ but you couldn’t be bothered to hear when you felt his lips on yours again, this time, expecting them. 

You threw your arms around his neck, pulling him closer and canting your head slightly for better access. He groaned, one arm wrapping around your middle, the other settling on your waist.

You might have pictured kissing him before, just maybe. But none of your daydreaming could’ve prepared you for the real thing. The way his bottom lip covered your top one, the soft breaths exchanged between the two of you, the way he pressed himself further into you when you tugged his hair a little harder. This definitely beat all of your daydreams. 

You could’ve stayed that way forever, and you probably would’ve if Peter hadn’t taken one for the team and pulled away first. 

Or tried to, at least. 

“We should-” kiss. 

“You-” kiss. 

“I need to walk,” kiss, “-you home angel.” He murmured against your lips.

“Okay,” you whispered back but you didn’t move to pull away, and he didn’t push you. The two of you stayed stuck, foreheads pressed together, eyes closed, taking in the atmosphere of each other. 

“I should probably go now,” you said softly. Peter hummed in agreement, leaning in to peck your lips gently. 

“It’s getting late,” but your voice is more of a sigh. You don’t know what he’s laced his lips with but each kiss makes you weak in the knees and woozier than the last one.

“God, d’yknow I’ve had the biggest crush on you.” He said, completely disregarding your previous statement. 

That stops you. “What?” You asked him in disbelief. Peter had a crush on you? No way, you would’ve known. 

“Yeah,” he chuckled lightly, “don’t act so shocked. I was always a stuttering mess at work whenever you so much as looked at me.”

True. But you’d just thought he was a bit more on the shy side. 

“I’d seen you around campus before and I thought you were the prettiest girl I’d ever seen, and I still do, but I thought I had no shot in hell with you. And when I got the job at the cafe and saw I’d be working with you? I almost lost my fucking mind sweetheart.” You both laughed a little and you couldn’t help the way your cheeks flamed up because of his words. Did he have any clue what he was doing to you right now?

“So I just sorta kept my distance, y’know? Admired you from afar ‘cause I was too scared you’d reject me. Sadly, it only took you nearly burning your hand off,” he gave you a look and you burst into giggles, him doing you and slightly pinching your waist, “for me to get over myself and actually keep up a conversation with you. But now I’ve got you in my room, kissing me.”

“Hmm,” you hummed, “lucky you.” You joked as leaned in to press another kiss to his lips. 

“Lucky me indeed,” he murmured before pulling you in even deeper. He dipped you, making you squeal into the kiss. Then he pulled you up, unable to keep the kiss going any longer with how hard he was grinning.

“Oh my god,” you said, laughing breathlessly. 

“A lot more where that came from,” he smirked at you. 

“You know,” you moved to pick up your bag, “for someone who was so scared to talk to me for so long, you sure found the confidence now.”

“What can I say? You make it easy. Once I started I couldn’t stop.” You smiled at him as he gently placed a hand on your arm leading you to the door. The living room was empty now, no one to be found on the couch or otherwise and you wondered where their cat had wandered off to.

You bent over to put on your shoes, Peter doing the same. He stepped forward and opened the door for you, letting you step out before following you and locking the door. 

As soon as he was done with that, you reached over and grabbed his hand. “Hey Petey?” You said lightly. Oh, he was going to melt. From now on, he only wanted you to call him that.

“Hm?”

“I’m glad you finally decided to talk to me.” 

He leaned down and kissed the top of your head. “Yeah? Me too angel.”

The next morning, you awoke in the brightest mood, considering you had a chemistry exam later that day. All you could think about was Peter. You were going to see him later at the cafe and you couldn’t wait. 

You leaned over in bed to pick up your phone. Speak of the devil. 

GOOD MORNINGGGGG❤️

hope you slept well angel, can’t wait to see you today. and you’re gonna totally ace that exam!🥰

seriously you’re going to kick chemistry’s butt

A huge smile bloomed on your face, almost hurting from how wide it was. Usually, you'd stay in bed for a while, scrolling through Instagram or just going through messages or something. Not today, you couldn’t wait to get to work. Maybe Peter was a good influence on you. 

After getting ready for the day, you made your way to the cafe with a little bounce in your steps. The bell jingled above you as you opened the door and for the first time since you’d started working together, Peter was here before you. 

“Hey,” he smiled, holding up your usual drink order and waving it at you. 

“Hi Pete,” you approached his, leaning up to press a kiss to his lips. As you pulled away, you could see how quickly his cheeks pinked, making you grin. 

“No ‘Petey’?”

“Didn’t know you had a preference,” you said, grabbing his hand and pulling it towards you as you took a sip from the drink and then moved to get dressed for your shift. 

“Yeah,” he scratched the back of his neck, wishing he could feel your hand on his for just a little longer, “neither did I.”

You laughed lightly as you tied your apron, the sound hitting him like the greatest melody in the world. 

“Okay then,” you walked towards him, stopping right in front of him, “let’s start over. Hi Petey.”

“Hi angel,” he gave you a dopey grin and you returned it. 

“Great, now that we’ve got that figured out.” You patted his chest lightly before taking the drink from his hands and moving away. 

“Hey wait! Where’s my kiss?” He pouted at you and he looked so adorable, you just wanted to pinch his cheeks and kiss him till he begged you to stop.

“We’re at work, we’ve gotta be professional.” You said matter-of-factly. 

He rolled his eyes, leaned against the counter, and crossed his arms. “Professional my ass, no one is even in here-,”

Before he could even close his mouth, the bell jingled, and in stepped a boy about your age. The boy moved to one of the chairs, not moving to order just yet, giving you the chance to smirk at Peter, who just rolled his eyes again. 

“What do you he’s gonna order,” he asked you.

“Hmm…a cookie, probably.” You moved lean against the counter across from him and took a sip of your drink as you smiled. 

“Hey wait, you never told me what your drink order is.”

“Hmm…” he hummed in consideration before he moved towards you, grabbing your hand with the drink and bringing it up to his lips to steal a sip, maintaining eye contact the whole time. 

“I’ve got to say,” he said in a low voice, “this one has really grown on me.”

You couldn’t look away, all you could do was stare. And stare, and stare, and stare…

A stranger’s voice, and then, “Hey, can I get one of those double chocolate chip cookies?”

You were just on cloud nine today. 

You had taken your exam and for the first time ever in that class, you had felt confident in your work. 

And to top it all off, after you’d handed in your paper and packed your things to leave, Professor Hall had given you a ‘well done’ nod. You! He’d never noticed you positively before. You were going to need to drown Peter in thank-you kisses for his help. 

Speaking of Peter, you couldn’t wait to see him. He told you he’d be waiting for you after your class but when you stepped outside, there was no sign of him. You decided to sit on the building steps and wait. He was probably just running a little late, no biggie. 

Big biggie. After 40 minutes of waiting for him, during which you’d sent him a little text and he hadn’t responded, you decided to head over to his place. 

The walk was short and your little buzz had worn off after not getting to share it with Peter. After all, you kind of owed him most of the credit. You arrived at his apartment door, and when you knocked, it wasn't Peter who answered. 

It's Freddy. 

You throw on a smile. “Hi Freddy, is Peter home?”

He returned your smile as he said, “‘Sup Y/N.” He held out his fist and you stared at it for a while before you got the hint and bumped it with your own. “Pete’s not home right now, but you can totally come in and wait for him.”

You found it funny that someone who didn’t live there was inviting you in to stay, but you accepted anyway. You also had no clue how he knew your name. 

You knew little about Freddy, but you knew he was sort of a campus celebrity. Every raging party there was, everyone knew Freddy was behind it. 

“So,” you said as you walked in, “what year are you in Freddy?”

“Ah nah, I’m done with that shit. I took the bar,” he said casually, waving a hand and moving to sit on the couch. He kicked his feet up on the large Amazon box being used as a coffee table and picked up the open beer sitting atop it. 

You stood in your place, clutching your bag. He was in grad school?

“Oh that’s awesome dude, did you not pass or something.”

“Uh uh,” he shook his head, taking a swig of beer, “got a 350.”

Your eyes widened. What. You didn’t know much about law school but you knew getting a score like that on the bar was not an easy thing. 

“Wait when’d you take it?” You asked confused. The bar exam wasn’t scheduled for a few months from now. 

“Last year.”

“Do you like…work at a firm or something?” It was insane to you that the party animal of this school had already graduated, and with an amazing score nonetheless. 

He shook his head, “Workin' on my music right now, and if that doesn’t work out,” he gave you a wicked grin, “well I’ve always got my law degree.”

You nodded, stunned. “That’s sick dude. Good luck,” you told him, waving as you moved to wait in Peter’s room. 

“Keep the door cracked kids,” he shouted towards you and you huffed a laugh as you entered the room and closed the door (leaving it open just an inch) before you sat at the foot of his bed. 

You looked around for a second, taking it all in. It’s amazing how he managed to take this small space and make it so him. 

After a few moments, you took out your phone to shoot him another text. 

But before you could finish typing it out, the window beside you started opening and you watched as the Spider-Man fell onto the bed, not noticing you gaping right next to him. 

You stayed silent, unsure of what to do or say until he moved to take his mask off. That got you moving and talking. 

“Holy fuck!” You basically shout, moving away, hands flying to your mouth. 

He seemed to be just as shocked as you were because he scrambled up from his lying position. And staring back at you was Peter Parker. 

“What are you doing here?” He asked you, eyes wide. It wasn’t till then that you noticed the paleness of his features, his face lacking that usually healthy glow it held, the waver in his voice, and the hand clutching his bloody side. 

“Holy fuck,” you repeated, voice lower, and for a whole different reason this time. “Shit Peter, you’re hurt.” You moved closer to him, temporarily forgetting everything else as your hand reached to gently remove his so you could take in the extent of his injuries. 

“It’s nothing,” he said but made no move to shove you away or stop you. You moved his hand and winced at the sight that greeted you, “Looks like a whole lot more than nothing babe.”

“I’ve had worse.”

You look up at him, frowning slightly, “Not exactly reassuring Petey.”

“I feel all better now,” he said, shooting you a charming grin as soon as he heard the nickname leave your mouth. “Add a kiss in the mix, and I’ll be good as new.”

You huffed a laugh, shoving his knee slightly, “Shut up Peter. I’m serious. I’m sure you’ve got some experience with stuff like this,” you wave a hand towards his suit and injury for emphasis and he gives you a quick nod. 

“Over there,” he pointed toward his dresser, “top shelf, under the blue sweater.”

You rushed over there, opening the drawer and spotting the sweater he mentioned. “I’m totally stealing that from you someday, this is your heads up,” you told him as you grabbed the large box and completely closed the door before you moved back to his side. 

“You can have anything of mine, Angel. I’m sure you’d look better in it anyway.” His words made you blush, but you tried to ignore them so you could focus on the task at hand. 

Peter, however, found that he really liked watching your cheeks pink up. And he wanted more. 

“Lean against the headboard, now.” You said, trying to be serious again. 

“God, at least buy me dinner first sweetheart.” He gave you the dorkiest smirk you’d ever seen. You just glared at him. “On the other hand,” he said as he moved backward to lean against his headboard, “I don’t need dinner, I’m all yours baby girl.”

This got you to laugh, “Peter, be serious! You’re bleeding out!” You moved to his side, “take this off by the way.” You gestured to his suit. 

He hit the middle emblem of a spider and you watched as it loosened up and fell off his shoulders. You had started pulling it the rest of the way down, gulping when you realized he wasn’t wearing anything else, when he mumbled, “Not a terrible way to go.”

You refused to look up and meet his eyes but he knew he got you. Thank god he was wearing underwear, you realized, and you threw the suit to the side after you’d completely shredded him of it. He was definitely going to need a new one. 

Now completely facing the damage, your stomach churned, and you were hit with the hard truth. “I…I don’t know what to do,” you whispered to him. You wanted to help him, more than anything. This man who’s been risking his life, probably since he was a teenager you realized, as you did the math silently in your head, was hurt and right in front of you, needing your help. And you needed to help him, but you didn’t know the first thing about how to approach a situation like this. You were surprised you could stare at the wound for so long. 

“Don’t worry, I can do it,” he said gently, his bloody hand reaching for the huge first aid kit. 

“No!” You rushed out, grabbing his hand to stop him, “No way am I letting you do that! Just…just tell me what to do and I’ll do it.

Feeling more confident, you grabbed the kit and opened it. Shock coursed you as you realized just how much he went through and your confidence fell right back down where it sprouted from. The bag was full of all the medical tools and supplies you could think of, most of them completely foreign to you, and you realized how privileged you must be to not recognize any of these things. You can’t imagine the ‘worse’ he talked about having earlier. This must be those accidents he was talking about.

“I don’t usually have to use them,” his voice was soft, almost like he was reassuring you, “usually just water and a towel does the trick. Maybe a little numbing cream. And these,” he looked down at his wounds, “some bandages, sure, but I won’t need stitches or anything.”

You let out a breath of relief, you weren’t sure you could’ve handled that. You didn’t trust yourself.

“Okay,” you said, grabbing some wipes. You were going to do this. Based on what he’d told you, he was always stitching himself back up, just to hit the streets again the next day. This time, though, was different. This time you were here to help him, and you weren’t going chicken out of this. Even a little help was better than nothing at all. 

You started slowly, cleaning around his wounds so you could bandage them properly. “You sure you’re okay with this?” He asked you gently. “I totally understand if you need me to do it, angel, it’s a lot if you’re not used to it.”

“No,” you shook your head, your voice steady, “No way. It’s my turn to fix you up.” You told him, looking up to meet his eyes and smiling at him. 

He returned it and you went back to work. 

“So….Spider-Man, huh?” You peeked up quickly in question. 

“Yeah,” he took a deep breath, “it’s a long story. Basically, I was bit by some spider, that shit was powerful,” you laughed a little, making him smile. “And I got some. Of its powers I mean.”

“So you get bit by a spider, that spider gives you powers, and you decide to become a New York vigilante?”

“Pretty much, yeah,” he nodded, and you laughed again. 

“You’re a hell of a guy Peter Parker.” You said, shaking your head slightly. 

“Thank you, I try,” he smirked at you and you laughed again. 

“Okay,” you said, pulling away from his side. He almost whined in protest. Honestly, he wasn’t feeling any pain, not since you’d started worrying about him, and insisting you help him. Peter wasn’t used to that, he was always alone when it came to this part of the job. He’d never minded that before, just one of the things he had to deal with as a superhero, but now that someone else was taking care of him…it felt nice. Really nice. Especially when it was you. 

“Peter?” You looked at him questioningly. Shit. You’d asked him something.  

“Huh? I'm sorry, I didn’t hear you.” He said with wide eyes. He’d gotten too wrapped up in the feeling of being taken care of, not that anyone could blame him though, the girl he’d been crushing on forever was here, in his room, helping bandage him up! It's more than he could’ve dreamed of. 

“It’s okay sweetie,” you said, waving him off assuming he was in pain or something. Really, now he had something new to obsess over. Sweetie? While he was practically naked (albeit injured, but he wasn’t thinking of that right now) in bed with you? God, he could just melt.

“I was just wondering which bandages,” you said, holding up the different ones you’d found in his bag. 

“Oh,” he said lamely, “these ones.” He grabbed a few from you and opened them. 

“Look,” he said, leaning over himself to see his wounds properly, “you’ve got to bring together both sides of the wound, then secure the bandage so that it’s holding it closed.” He talked as he placed the first bandage with you watching and listening with intent. 

“Okay, I think I’ve got it,” you said as you took the rest of the bandages from him. You steadied yourself, straddling his thigh as you started placing the bandages down his wound. The biggest gash took about five, your elbow resting on his abdomen as you got lower…and lower. 

Conveniently, you missed the quiver in his breath, too focused on the work at hand, but you didn’t miss the small gasp he let out when your forearm reached right between his thighs. 

“Oh my god, I’m so sorry!” You said as you pulled away quickly, thinking you’d hurt him. “Did I pinch too hard?”

“No, no angel, you’re fine. Doing a great job actually.” He replied, trying to collect himself. He could not let himself think of that right now. There were more important things at hand. 

“You sure?” You asked him, not looking convinced.

“Positive.” He replied, grabbing your arm and pulling you back in (but making sure to keep you at a healthy distance from his dick). 

You added a few more bandages, most of the cuts only needing one or two, before pulling away again to rummage through his bag. “What do you use on your bruises?”

“This one,” he said, leaning over you and grabbing a tube from the kit. You turned, your lips almost brushing over each other with how close you were. 

“Hi,” you whispered, all thoughts completely flying out of your head as you realized just how badly you wanted to kiss him. 

“Hi angel,” he said smiling softly at you. 

Seeing you debate it in your head, Peter decided it would be easier for the both of you if he did it first. Leaning in, he closed the distance and smoothly took your lips in his. You melted into the kiss right away, feeling like you’d been craving this your whole life when really, you’d just kissed his a few hours ago before you’d left work. 

Your hands were on his bare chest, you could feel every muscle, every move when-

“Wait, you’re hurt!” You pulled away, leaving a pouting Peter in your wake. 

“My lips work just fine angel,” he said, trying to steal another kiss while you tried to avoid him. 

“But..let me finish at least,” you mumbled against his lips, barely getting a chance to pull away after he’d caught you. 

“You can finish, just lemme do this first,” he responded before kissing you again.

“Hey,” you mumbled against his lips. 

He hummed in response, moving to kiss your cheek, your jawline. If he kept this up you might not try to stop him. 

“Did you know Freddy took the bar exam? And passed?”

That got him to pull away. 

“I’m sorry,” he said, looking at you confusedly, “I’m kissing you and you decide this a good time to bring up Freddy?”

“Well, y’know,” you shrugged, “figured it was as good a time as any.”

He scoffed, “Unbelievable.”

You giggled, “I win.” You pressed a quick kiss to his cheek, pulling away before he could catch you and turn it into more.

“Now lay down, lemme do this,” you said waving the cream at him. 

He moved grumpily and you thought grumpy Peter was the cutest thing ever. The furrow of his brows, the slight pout of his lips. You could just kiss him. And you would’ve if you hadn’t known where it would lead you. 

You unscrewed the cap to the cream and started applying it gently. “So Fred’s a lawyer huh?” Peter spoke up. 

“He is!” You whispered excitedly, glad he was just as shocked as you were. 

“And you learned this how?” He asked, giving you a look. 

You shrugged. “He let me in and I talked to him, asked him a few questions to get to know him better since I see him everywhere.” 

“Wait, he’s here right now?”

“Yeah,” you said slowly, “I thought you knew?”

“No I didn’t-,” he let out a sigh, “whatever it's basically his apartment too at this point I guess.”

You laughed, “And you’re okay with that?”

He shrugged with his good side. “He buys the good beer.”

You laughed again. “He scored a 350 on the bar exam!”

Peter’s brows shot up. “Oh shit.”

“I know! The only thing I knew about him was that he blacked out in that frat house’s pool all night and the cops were called cause someone thought he was dead.”

“Yeah, he’s super lucky he was on his back. Just floated around the pool like a leaf.”

You shook your head, screwing the cap back on the tube of cream, “Crazy. But anyway, I’m done. And on the plus side,” you grinned at him, “if you ever get in legal trouble, you know someone!”

He laughed out loud, and you watched as his face scrunched up and he clutched his side in pain. Apologizing for the joke, you gave him a kiss on the cheek to make up for it. 

“Enough about crazy Freddy,” he let out a sigh, “I’m gonna go put some clothes on, and then I wanna cuddle with my girl.”

Your heart skipped a beat at his words and all you could do was smile as he stood up, giving you a kiss on the side of your head before he moved to pick out some clothes.

You watched him get dressed, biting your lip as you watched how his muscles rippled with each of his movements. You always knew he was strong but seeing him like that, was a completely different story. 

“Like what you see?” He asked, smirking at you before he lifted his shirt, holding it up between his teeth as he tied his sweatpants. 

Your mouth fell open. At being caught and also at…how absolutely hot he looked right now. If he wasn’t injured, you would be all. over. him. 

“S’alright angel,” he said as he stalked towards you. He was enjoying this, a lot. “I’m sure I’d be the same if the roles were reversed.”

That did not help. Now you were thinking about being naked in front of Peter and-

He laughed, kissed the side of your head again, and laid down, pulling next to him. 

“Careful Peter, you’re still hurt!” You chastised him. 

He shook his head, “You made me feel a hundred times better. Thank you, angel.”

“Of course Petey.” He smiled at you as he wrapped his arms around you, hugging you tight. 

“So, you came to see me right? Y’know, before the whole finding out I’m Spider-Man thing. What’s up?”

“Oh I almost forgot,” you perked up, tilting your head up so you could see his face, “I think I totally aced that chemistry exam!”

“Angel! I’m so proud of you!” He started attacking you with kisses, kissing you anywhere his lips could reach. 

You giggled, “Thank you sweetie, but seriously I owe you most of the credit, I couldn’t have done it without you.”

“Nonsense,” he shook his head, “that was all you. I barely helped, you learned everything and then took that quiz, and aced it.”

“Well I haven’t gotten my grade back yet, I just have a really good feeling, so don’t sound too are there's a chance I didn’t do as well as I thought.”

“Nope,” he said, popping the p. “I have a sense, a spidey sense. And my spidey sense is telling me that you totally aced that thing. No questions asked.”

You laughed loudly. “Spidey sense?”

“No questions,” he repeated as he nuzzled his nose into your hair. 

“Fine then,” you snuggled up further into him. “No questions.”

[mercurytrinemoon]

A lil guide to why you're not identifying with your natal chart

I've been thinking of writing this post for a few years now because this is one of the most common issues that people have when studying their charts and I feel like there's a lot of misconception around the topic sooooo I hope I can give you guys some ideas.

BIAS

As simple as that, people often have issues with taking a step back and really thinking about their life in relation to their charts. This is why astrology consultations (as opposed to reports) are often more advised. For most people, the way they are and the way their lives are is "normal", especially when we talk about things that are correlated with upbringing and culture. But also, your everyday life.

Just to give an example, I was once studying zodiacal releasing of my sister and I told her "seems like your peak period lasted from your childhood up to your late teens". She rolled her eyes and said that if that was her peak period then her life's a failure. But let me tell you how her teens went: she was super popular, everyone had a crush on her, one of her tattoos got an award at an international tattoo convention, she was one of the best dancers in her ballet school, she also has a brief history of being a metal singer and kind of by pure chance performed at Poland's Woodstock (now Pol'and'Rock - if you know, you know). I am probably missing something but my point is: she cannot look objectively at her life, for her that's just a normal teenage experience. But also, sometimes people's current aspirations often don't align with their past aspirations so when they look back, most events seem bland to them. And that is the case for a lot of folks.

Everyone has that friend who's always like: "I'm nothing special blehhh" and you just sit there and think of all their talents and accomplishments and just scratch your head. Or that person who always complains about having no money, yet they can live comfortably and can afford most of the things they want. And this goes for everything: talents, personality traits, home life and so on…

Remember, often times it's hard to really take a look at yourself in the mirror. And even if you do, you still see a flipped version of yourself.

MISINFORMATION, SIMPLIFICATION AND STEREOTYPES

I think this is a big one. And especially if your source of knowledge comes from the internet. When you learn about the signs and their characteristics, it's crucial to understand the nuances - and people pretty much always forget about it.

Every sign can have a certain trait: being driven is not exclusive to Aries, being sensual is not exclusive to Taurus, being talkative is not exclusive to Gemini and so on - it's all about the motives and the background of when and how that trait manifests.

For example, sure, one of the negative traits of Taurus is stubborness - because it's an earth sign and it's fixed. But Taurus is more than that, it's not just a one-ingredient sign. No sign is a one-ingredient sign. MOST people will be stubborn in some way: Aries will be stubborn if you won't let them do what they want, Gemini will be stubborn if you try to undermine their ideas and say they're wrong, Cancer will be stubborn about their grievances or about holding on to things tried and trusted and so on…

REMEMBER (and I want this plastered everywhere): no sign has the monopoly for anything. This goes the other way around: just because a Virgo was rude towards you, doesn't mean all Virgos will be rude towards you. NOT ALL *INSERT SIGN*.

Everything has a spectrum and everything has its place. Most Aries Suns are not full of anger and toughness all the time but maybe they love video games and they don't even realize that they're relieving their negative feelings by shooting everyone in Call of Duty? Or their job requires some martian energy, movement and discipline? Or they're very protective over the opressed ones and they're not afraid to fight for them when needed?

(And so yes, you probably do have that trait you claim you don't have in a certain context).

ASPECTS TO THE PLANETS AND OTHER INFLUENCES

"I don't feel like an Aries Sun", says a person with a Saturn square to their Sun, a Mars in Pisces and a Taurus rising. Well, first of all, I can guarantee you that you do act like an Aries in some ways but second of all - if your fiery and bold passionate lil heart is dimmed and harassed by Saturn, your Sun's dispositor is in a dreamy and passive Pisces and your Sun is in the 12th house AND on top of that, that slow Taurus rising is really clashing with cardinal Aries, then yes, this can make sense.

What can block or drastically alter a planet's infuence? Squares and oppositions, a contrasting stellium in another sign or house, sometimes being unaspected or occupying a house that is in aversion to other important points in the chart (so it's inconjunct), especially to the 1st house - you won't "see" your planets if they're in the 2nd, 6th, 8th or 12th house. Alternatively and interestingly, a planet (or more) occupying the 1st house may infuence and distort your view of things where you may not feel or seem to others like a "typical" exponent of your sign. Good example was when people weren't believing Halsey that she's a Scorpio rising - and with a stellium in her 1st house I don't blame them - her persona is influenced by Mercury, Venus and Jupiter, which is a pretty eclectic mixture.

HOUSE PLACEMENTS AND WHAT PLANETS "BELONG" TO

Not every planet talks about you because not every house talks about you. I've done two huge articles on house meanings and you can check them out here: PART 1 & PART 2, but to quickly sum them up:

1st: you 2nd: your posessions 3rd: your siblings/cousins, early education and neighbourhood 4th: your family and parents 5th: your children, sex life and fun activities 6th: your employees, pets and health 7th: your partnerships and open enemies 8th: your shared resources and inheritance 9th: your higher education, beliefs, travel 10th: your career and reputation 11th: your friends and networking 12th: your subconscious, loss, succlusion, sickness

So, as you can see, if you, for example, look at the planets in your 3rd house then they are largely talking about your family members or even neighbours. Have loud Aries Mars in the 3rd house but you're rather introverted and like to be left alone? Well, are your neighbours annoying? Is your neighbourhood a rather loud or even unsafe place? Do you feel a dislike towards your siblings cause they're always obnoxious when you're trying to relax and immerse yourself in your favorite book? Are your siblings sporty? Well, that's your Mars in the 3rd.

Have Jupiter in the 3rd house but you don't travel too much, you were never top of the class and you're shy? BUT how about your siblings, cousins or neighbours? Or maybe your school environment was very preachy or you even attended a catholic school? Look at the bigger picture because, newsflash, even your natal chart doesn't revolve all around you.

TIMING

If we're talking more about circumstances and events, this is a very important point to understand. You're not born with a load of experience and unless you're in your elderly age, you cannot ever say that a certain placement doesn't apply to you. You have Saturn in the 7th? Well maybe you went through that ONE bad breakup/divorce in your life - obviously you're not going through it for the eternity. You have Jupiter in the 7th house yet you struggle in relationships? But then you get into one in your 30s or even 40s and it's with the most jupiterian person in the world and you're happily together for the rest of your lives. You have Sun in the 10th house but you're whining that you're not acknowledged or popular or whatever? Well yeah, you're just being annoying, you know that not everyone can be a teenage superstar influencer or whatever - climbing the social ladder usually takes decades so don't even start with this one.

Nothing is constant. Things require time and that time is often influenced by, you've guessed it, ✨timing techniques✨ lol. So progressions, profections, transits, time lord periods etc. It may be that you won't even live enough to actually experience it. Some gain acclaim after they die, soz.

Other times certain events and traits only apply at certain moments in your life. I've mentioned my sister and her peak period in her teens. Well, she also happen to have Jupiter - her ascendant ruler - in the 3rd house, which may imply that she had the most luck and positive experiences during her school years. Same with other houses, If you have planets in the 7th house they may only be active while you're in a relationship. If you have planets in the 9th they may only activate when you're abroad or during your time in college. If you have planets in the 10th they may only switch on when you're on a high position career-wise. Not every house speaks of moments in life per se, but some do so keep that in mind.

WRONG HOUSE SYSTEM

Some of you stubborn lil kiddos might hate what I'm about to say… but if you're using the default placidus, I do encourage you to ✨open your mind✨ and check out your chart using the whole sign system. It's usually more straightforward and pretty much always more accurate from a constructive point of view.

✨ I GO MORE IN-DEPTH WITH THINGS LIKE THIS IN MY E-BOOK. ALSO, THE BESTEST ASTRO E-CALENDAR FOR 2024 THAT YOU CAN GET IS AVAILABLE HERE! ✨

[oneatlatime]

Journey to Ba Sing Se, Part 1: The Serpent's Pass

Alternate title: Gimme Appa Back, Take Two.

Bit of a mouthful for a title. I will definitely be watching this apparent two parter as two single episodes. There's commentary too, but that'll wait for a rewatch.

The previously on segment seems to point to Suki making an appearance. I didn't like her in her original episode, so this bodes ill.

That was incredibly ominous title card music.

Explain this to someone who's never seen the show. Also, air mattress made of ice is a very efficient way to get hypothermia.

Sokka saying "no more distractions' actually summoned a distraction. He should look into harnessing that power.

This brings up a point I've been thinking about. So the Earth Kingdom are smart enough to house refugee transportation underground, presumably because they've figured out that fire can't dig. So why didn't the entire population of the Earth Kingdom just become mole people at the first sign of fire nation attack?

Get yourself Iroh's brand of chill. It's dearly bought in his case, but he has such a good way of looking at life. Also, half of Zuko's face is like an inch higher than the other half, and that haircut is not doing him any favours.

Oh god it's fuckboy. I'd take a million Sukis over fuckboy. Nice to see that the majority of his posse seems to have come to their senses and deserted him though.

CABBAGE GUY!!! HI CABBAGE GUY!!! I MISSED YOU!!!

She's got a point about destruction of the ecosystem, but unless there was woodworm in that cart, that platypus bear is guilty of needless destruction of cabbage guy's possessions.

I loved this. The double punch of getting stymied by bureaucracy and undermined by cosplayers. There are some wacky ideas in this episode.

Aang! You may have lost Appa but you still have your glider! You don't need a passport or a ticket! Just fly to Ba Sing Se and make puppy dog eyes at the Earth King to make him send a boat to collect your friends!

You know that part in Harry Potter where Ron and Harry miss the train and decide the only logical course of action is to steal a flying car rather than, I don't know, wait for a responsible adult? I have a feeling this show is going to do the same type of thing with the whole Serpent's Pass. And I have to say, it's a brilliantly accurate way to do a plot that involves pre-teens, because they will often reach for the most out-there, illogical course of action no matter their intelligence. Curse those still-developing neural pathways. It also makes perfect sense in a kids' show, where the audience mostly wouldn't be caught dead turning down an adventure in favour of asking a responsible party (or a bureaucracy) for help.

"It is your pleasure" Get wrecked bitch!

I love seeing Toph weaponise that which previously kept her caged. I love to see Toph winning at life. Actually, I love to see Toph.

Get yourself some friends who'll commit to the bit no questions asked like these guys.

Get yourself a man who says your name the way Sokka says SUKI!!!:D Get yourself a girl who's so into you, she'll flirt with you in front of your entire found family.

Momo knows what's up. He's a good judge of character.

It's rare for me to advocate for criminal behaviour on this show, but after that bureaucracy lady denied them any sort of solution for the refugees who got their tickets stolen, I was kind of hoping that Katara would just say 'fuck it' and steal one of those ferries. Or even smuggle people on to them. They've got two waterbenders; they could make ice boats to take them out to the ferry, or even across the whole lake presumably. Plot dictates they go face this serpent thing, because this appears to be a monster of the week episode, but boy did that ferry lady need smacking.

Sokka's acting funky.

Is corniness one of the side effects of pregnancy?

No one in their right minds thinks that a pass called "the SERPENT'S Pass" in a universe like this one is named for its aesthetic qualities. Nice try at misdirection, but there will be a Sneky Boy in that water.

Aang's kind of right about the whole 'hope is a distraction' thing. Hope can too easily go from fuel to crutch.

It didn't occur to anyone to hide from the Fire Nation ship until it passed?

Toph's just saving everyone's bacon today huh?

Am I sensing some post-Yue trauma?

I would love to know the context behind Zuko knowing this very niche skill.

Jet has this fascinating ability to do objectively good deeds in such a sleezy way that you end up siding with the greedy oppressors. Weird.

This makes so much sense. Aang zipped into the Avatar State so hard and fast in the desert that he probably scared himself, so now he's keeping a lid on things so hard that he's scaring everyone else with his newfound apathy. He's 12, and this episode he feels 12. This is probably the first time he's met emotions this big; of course he doesn't quite know what to do with them.

You know, Katara doesn't get paid enough to put up with this.

Suki. Honey. I'm pretty sure there's a girl code about not flirting with a guy in front of his ex.

Has Suki been filled in on the whole moon thing? Or is she just really confused right now?

You know, Smellerbee is just as unusual a name for a girl.

Jet talks the talk, but I don't believe he'll be able to walk the walk, despite second chances being one of the big themes of this show. Something about him still feels off.

Hope you guys can swim!

Katara to the rescue again. I'm liking this new level-headed action-oriented Katara that appeared in The Desert, and I'm glad she wasn't just a one-episode character.

Momo here fulfilling one of my childhood dreams. There was an aquarium room at my local zoo that had a tunnel you could walk through. Seven year old me would have sold my soul to be able to glorp through the glass and swim with the fishes like this.

Once again, Toph saves the day. She's doing a lot of heavy lifting this episode.

Big Sneky Boy has the colour palette of an exercise video from the 80s aerobics phase. Kind of detracts from the terror when he's wearing a leotard.

Number one sign of irresponsible pet ownership: sacrificing your lemur to Cthulhu.

Aang just bitchslapped Big Sneky Boy.

Why didn't they go with a big ice bridge in the first place?

Yeah that's a problem. Could she make rock skate blades and attach them to her feet maybe? Would that help her see?

Guys. Just. Send someone out there for her. The ice doesn't have handrails. Come on.

Suki can swim in like half a tonne of armour. I bet they have swimming with armour on drills on Kyoshi Island.

"You can go ahead and let me drown now." That is EXACTLY my sense of humour.

Unlike goldfish, Big Sneky Boys can be flushed down the toilet.

"Now it's nothing but smooth sailing to Ba Sing Se." *Something immediately goes wrong* Has Sokka thought about harnessing his ability to speak things into existence?

Tragically, it makes perfect sense that Katara knows exactly how to deliver real human things.

"You know, as soon as I saw your scar I knew exactly who you were." Jet's little speech here got the biggest laugh out of me yet. I had to pause so I wouldn't miss dialogue. He's so deliciously wrong.

This episode's Beat Up Sokka quota is fulfilled by a baby that has yet to be born.

"I want our daughter's name to be unique" TAKE COVER FOLKS! UNNECESSARY VOWELS INCOMING!

Didn't you guys just nearly get killled by a pass that told you to abandon Hope? Are you sure about that name?

Ok it isn't pregnancy that makes you corny. It's being a character in this episode. While I'm glad to see the back of Stoic Aang, this is getting to be a bit on the cheesy side.

Hell yeah Katara deserves that cry. And that hug.

I'm watching this at my mom's house and I need to report that when Sokka said "You came along, to protect me?" my mom audibly went "awww!"

On a more serious note, this is exactly what Sokka needs after the Yue situation. A badass girlfriend who not only can and does take care of herself, but who also can and does take care of Sokka. Boy needs some pampering.

That is one hell of a wall.

That is one hell of a Big Sneky Boy.

"Appa's gonna have to wait" hit like a tonne of bricks. Another step in the journey to turn Aang from carefree monk to repsonsible Avatar. Appa having to wait is a genius story beat, but I want Appa NOW.

Final Thoughts

I had to check out my window for flying pigs before I started typing this section, because Zuko was consistently the most reasonable character in the B plot, perhaps in the whole episode. Apparently the 'make Zuko decent' project is finally seeing results. Have we turned over a new leaf? Dare I hope? It helps that he was juxtaposed with one of the single most batshit crazy characters from season one, but still.

I also need to issue a formal apology to Suki and all of her fans. I didn't like her in The Warriors of Kyoshi, and while I'm still not overly fond of that episode, I love what they've done with her character here. A good standalone character with her own strengths, goals, and responsibilities, and a good match for Sokka. I'd go so far as to say she's a better match for Sokka than Yue was, for all that both ladies have a startling amount in common: a position of responsibility, devotion to those who regard them as a leader, good taste in water tribe ass, etc.

I'm also going to hypothesise that Sokka is, in universe, the hottest member of the Gang. He's now had four girls expressing their interest: Suki, then Yue, then Azula's pokey pink friend whose name currently escapes me, and now Toph too! And she can't even see him, so his hotness is more than skin deep.

This episode was another stealth character episode in the style of The Blue Spirit. You think it's an action episode but it's actually character work with some fights for spice. It's got: -payoff for Katara's new-found levelheadedness -the other side of the coin on Aang's desert freakout -Toph doing just ALL the heavy lifting in the absence of Appa (seriously, teach her to fly and you won't need Appa as anything but a friendly couch) -Toph also getting an incredibly logical weakness that she learns she can rely on her friends to surmount -Sokka getting some Yue resolution from a frankly ironic source -Zuko getting what I'm sure is going to turn into a dark mirror

Speaking of fuckboy, there was nothing in this episode that hinted that Jet's turn to good was anything but genuine, but something about him still really makes my teeth itch. So I'm calling it now: based not on any evidence, but entirely on my own feelings, Jet's turn to good isn't going to stick.

There was some corny stuff in this episode, but it's a kids' show. It gets way more allowance for corny than an adult show does. I'll let it slide, so long as it doesn't become a habit.

This was part one of a two part episode, but it certainly didn't feel that way. There was the Big Metal Sneky Boy plot hook at the very end, but other than that it was a self-contained story.

I had predicted last episode that the rest of season two would be spent getting to Ba Sing Se, and they did it in one episode. So I'd like to announce my retirement from predicting the future because I am not good at it. I have no idea where we're going beyond next episode. I guess I'll have fun finding out!

[batsplat]

in a way valentino did himself a big disservice by undermining sete as a rider and a rival. like he pretty much erased that rivalry from his narrative and sete is now (mostly?) remembered as that one bloke that vale overtook in the last corner at jerez. like come onnn valentino now ppl think you raced against some very mid guys 😭. but that rivalry was great actually! love watching their on track battles. also it’s such a great foreshadowing for vale/marc and the marc/dovi parallels…….valentino was really doing thee most in terms of interesting feuds and narratives, always years ahead.

sadly the same anon so there are still only the 3 of us.

complete agree on everything in this ask. thanks anon it's fine if it's still just three of us. the growth will be organic I #believe. anyhow I find it funny he does this shit but it also drives me a little crazy. like... it's so obviously not self-serving... and gives you a real insight into his priorities. you see this stuff all the time... ah, sete was mid, valentino didn't rate sete (or biaggi) at all, it was such an easy rivalry for valentino which proves he competed in a weak era... terrible pr move, you'd think! such a fantastic on-track rivalry! why wouldn't you stand by it! and even if he did truly think sete was an unworthy rival, it would still be in his interest to give that man a little hype. you would genuinely be forgiven for thinking the 2004 title was basically wrapped up after welkom, which!! my man!! that's literally your best season, what are you doing!! istg you are making it HARDER to get people into what is straight up the best era racing-wise in modern motogp because half the fandom saw one clip of you calling sete mid and have based all their opinions on that. work with me you twat!!

it's also just so obviously not true. how valentino behaved over the course of that rivalry is not what you would do against someone you don't see as a serious threat. the massive reaction after sachsenring 2003, everything about that early 2004 trio of races (especially the last lap of assen), everything about his reaction to qatar, the targeted cruelty of the sepang celebrations, taking all those risks at phillip island, his panic at the idea of losing in 2005 at jerez, the ferocious determination with which he set about preventing sete from winning again for the rest of that year... sure, some of that is personal animosity post-qatar, but it's personal animosity that was in large part because valentino was spooked by sete. this was the guy who dented valentino's impeccable reputation in one-on-one duels, who actually managed to make him bleed when valentino wasn't expecting it - the first time somebody had managed to do it with anything approaching regularity at a bit of the season where it still mattered for the championship (though shout out to barros for motegi/valencia 2002). genuinely the first time it felt like somebody had valentino handled in direct duels since, y'know, 1998 harada when vale was a teenager. valentino may have fought for the title with biaggi in 2001, but in actual duels it was very one-sided. there's a pretty decent argument that sachsenring 2003 is the single wheel-to-wheel defeat that stung the most until phillip island 2015? like that fucked with him! it prompted a bigger reaction from him than any individual defeat inflicted by casey or jorge! (not that valentino ever really lost duels against jorge but that's a conversation for another day.) he was determined to NEVER fuck it again like he did at the sachsenring! he did this whole reclaiming the spirit of his teens at brno! he AGREED TO SIGN FOR YAMAHA! this was SUCH a massive turning point

he was struggling!! he was seething!! he's exceptionally good at not being a sore loser on a race to race level (always been more of an 'attack from a position of strength' type by disposition) but this is. genuinely. as close as you can run him this decade. maybe assen 2001 is the other one where the mask does slip a little. but apart from that

which objectively makes for a better rivalry! sete being that good bothered valentino, he really hated losing to him even before they were enemies! and the thing is, right, valentino is aware that great rivalries make great stories - that his opponents being strong makes him look stronger by reflected glory. he knows this! it's an own goal that he's just rolling with this tactic! it's so personal he's gonna take the reputational hit! it's night and day when you compare it with, say, the casey rivalry. basically the biggest most obvious tells valentino actually harbours personal animosity towards someone is if he a) blanks them, like just straight up ignores them unless he absolutely has to, and b) starts fucking around with his career narrative where he excludes them from his story in some way, even if at times it's to his own detriment. it's quite straightforward! that's why the moment you cut away all the noise, you can tell he never really had anything against casey - complete competitive happenstance, casey was just there. (you can also tell this how you'd be hard pressed to find anything particularly mean-spirited valentino has said about casey after, like, mid-2013, but that almost feels too simple.) valentino loves to yap and valentino loves to tell fun stories about his career. if he's not yapping with some bloke and he's not including them in his stories, you know it's something special

anyway obviously the fact that sete doesn't get rated also means a lot of people do miss the pretty glaring dovi parallels lol. like they're right there. here just again for reference:

sete never quite got valentino to a title decider, but 2004 is basically almost as close as 2017 and then 2003 is more of a title challenge than either 2018 or 2019, though 2005 isn't one at all... point is, these are broadly similar levels of threat vale and marc face at literally the same age. sete and valentino were closer on a personal level than marc and dovi ever were, but apart from that you've got two rivalries that immediately stand out because of how much more 'respectful' they were than what directly preceded it. I supposed marc does better pr for that rivalry because he doesn't dislike dovi and because it also did him a world of good to be able to point to a more 'respectful' rivalry in his resume, as a kind of 'oh look I can do that too, I'm not the problem' type thing. vale was very image conscious in the sete rivalry, but more in a 'oh I can use how image conscious the other guy is to suffocate him'. and I reckon that's one of the biggest differences between the two rivalries... because losing to sete was a real reputational hit for valentino, like that was a net negative, got the italian press calling him washed and all that shit. whereas marc and dovi... I honestly cannot recall people giving him too much grief for all the last lap duels he was losing? which is odd, in a way, but meant that broadly having dovi around was a good thing because it was almost like a built-in way of making those dominance years watchable. adds a little spice if there's always the threat marc might at least lose a last lap battle, even if unfortunately that might be the only competitive tension you're getting that season. for marc, just having the dovi battles was beneficial. for valentino, the only way he could benefit from the sete battles was by winning them

[doodlegirl1998]

Also...I may be the only one here but I do think Midnight was meant to be way worse. Look she is a walking talking fetish but sense this is a shonen " hot mady shows boobs" is the norm.

Except...they arent set in a new planet. This is the real world...why Midnight parade herself like that? Why she even works as a hero?

Yes. There Hc she is ace but I dont buy it. She keeps saying inappropriate shit to teens and its not as if she is well loved, her friends dont call much for her.

1) yes. We can blame hori

2) but no one else ever calls for her. Could be she is not well like as Aizawa?

Actually...Aizawa while should be dispised...Midnight is not miss popularity either.

Hi @mikeellee 👋,

Hori clearly wrote Midnight as a walking talking bondage fetish. She's fanservice for the "Hot teacher / bondage mummy" fetish havers out there.

Hori didn't give Midnight much thought beyond that. Then he just killed her off for shock value in the war arc to take her out of the narrative (that death was awfully written btw).

Mina and Momo she is meant to have had a close bond with but...this wasn't written beforehand and why include it right when Midnight is about to die rather than building it up?

Sure, the argument could be made that Mina is outgoing like Midnight so they could get on 'in theory' (because that is never shown) but Momo?

The Midnight and Momo bond makes no sense for Momo especially as Momo is regularly sexually harassed so I don't see her liking the teacher who makes inappropriate comments at things she and her class do.

Realistically, (I'm not saying this to be a hater) she wouldn't be popular as a teacher. Actually, quite a large majority of the class would be uncomfortable with her considering her act of saying that she's getting turned on by the things they do.

Then there's her friends. Mic, she seems to get on with and he is visibly upset by her death. Aizawa seems done by her act and presence 99% of the time they talk so him shutting Mic up instead of talking through that the loss of Midnight meant to both of them undermines the deep loss of another friend that they've both gone through.

To add on to this, Aizawa is shown to be more deeply impacted by Shirakumo's death (who has been dead for longer than he's been alive to him at this point) than Midnight's (that happened fairly recently in canon time.) That only serves to undermine their bond (and Hori doesn't bother to explore her and Mic's that much at all.)

There's also the question: Why is she a hero?

Three interpretations that could be taken here.

the innocent interpretation - she was told her quirk was great for heroics, put through the misogynistic hero machine and used her sex appeal as a massive and unique act "the R Rated hero" to get ahead. Everything is an act, she's really completely different as a person (most of the time Ace/Asexual too), basically the interpretation you see in nearly every fanfic.

The slightly darker interpretation - A exploration of point 1) above Midnight's own skewed experiences and possible past SA through childhood / going through heroics have thoroughly skewed her idea of what is acceptable around others hence why she has no problem acting the way she does.

'Dark Midnight interpretation' - *sigh* I'm going to get hate for this. And this obviously isn't the angle Hori is going but... An angle that could be seen is Midnight being a hero to be a predator and get away with it. Heroes are obviously idolised like celebrities in this universe so this would be the perfect profession to be abusive and get away with it (just like Endeav did.) And despite Endeav being a pillar of red flags he gets away with abusing his family for decades. Similarly, Midnight appears as a pillar of red flags in her act yet it's all waved off as "just a persona" (yes in canon it is but what if it wasn't? Imagine Midnight as a guy teacher for a second... There would be so so much outrage from the fandom at 'his' R rated behaviour especially if it were directed at the female students.)

TLDR: Midnight could have been a great and interesting character to explore the flaws of hero society in whatever angle Hori could have taken with her character. Yet Hori wasted this opportunity to trot her out as a "sexy teacher/bondage mummy" fetish whenever she was onscreen until he got bored and killed her off.

[captainkirkk]

okay, as someone with taste I respect, what did you see in Wednesday? I watched it and it's not... bad, the setting and plot are done well enough but the characters.............. wednesday herself is enjoyable to watch but it really bothered me that every other teen in the show were just. some guys. and none* of the people who are supposed to be her friends/love interests ever show anything better than tolerance for her hobbies and interests???? it's literally a school for monsters. where are the goths and neurodivergents that will actually appreciate or share her talents. where are the actual OUTCASTS,

*eugene is what im talking about. some guy just really obsessed with bees IS someone wednesday could respect and enjoy spending time with. but then he is treated in and out of canon as a loser to laugh at!

idk its like the writers are completely unaware of the way othered/outcast people like. exist. irl. and it really undermined the themes of the show imo

I agree that it would've been cool to see more of a commentary on real "outcasts" but I'm not sure if Wednesday was the right person to give that? She's very blunt and self-motivated, not the kind of person to seek out outcasts in solidarity

Honestly even though they were called "outcasts", the show seemed more like a commentary on prejudice and the importance of belonging. They could've taken it further, but tbh I think they also run the risk of trying to say something about too many groups, since "outcasts" include a very wide and diverse range of people

They felt like teenagers with all their flaws. I remember being 15 and everyone in my circle was obsessed with two incredibly mediocre white men. Any attention was exciting! And Wednesday seemed pleased by the attention but didn't fall over herself to date them you know?

The show was fun. It was entertaining and I liked seeing a female led who was independent and not sexualised

[spaceorphan18]

Glee Musical Retrospective: Hell-O Extras

Don't Rain on My Parade (Instrumental)

I couldn't find the actual scene - but I found this really fun karaoke version in case you guys wanna play at home ;)

Anyway... this song plays in the background of the opening scene when Rachel, Mercedes, and Kurt are all walking in the hallway. It's the only song that isn't related to the word 'hell' and is really a nod to the previous group of episodes, their sectionals win, and the fact that Rachel believes she's now a star -- her own triumphant music playing in her head. Of course that all comes crashing down as they get slushied, but it's a nice opening touch.

It's also quite the energetic and provocative piece even without the vocals and gives the reentrance of the show some oomph. I recommend taking a moment and just singing it for yourself! ;)

Hello, Again

Will and Emma dance to Neil Diamond's Hello, Again. I find it kind of interesting that they didn't let Will sing this to her -- and for that matter, Will (and Emma) don't have any songs to sing together this episode -- which shows the departure of the story from the adult world.

I think this is a really nice song for them, though. The lyrics reflect a man who's happy to be in the arms of his love and friend -- and the scene kind of does the meta'ing for you, actually. It's gentle and calm and kind of reflects the friends-turned-lovers relationship that Will and Emma have taken. Plus, the dancing together is somewhat reminiscent of those old school romantic films.

What I don't totally buy is that it's Will and Terri's prom song. Not only do I not buy that teens in the mid-90s would be into Neil Diamond, but I'd bet Terri would be much more vocal and dominating about that kinda thing. But it does very much reflect Will and his personality, so who knows.

I do think it reflects that the writers often write Will as being much older than he actually is -- since a lot of their choices often reflect someone who grew up in the late 80s. But I digress...

<>

Hello Twelve, Hello Thirteen, Hello Love

Oh my gosh, this scene.... lol

I can see why they cut it. I mean, it was probably for time more than anything, but I feel like this whole sequence really highlights how Rachel and Jesse 'get' each other. It might also be a lot -- too much too fast, especially when Finchel was a tirelessly slow burn over the previous 13 episodes -- so it's a bit head spinning.

But I do like the scene overall. The song is about growing up -- and discovering your sexuality -- though in the most theater kid way (which makes it kind of funny, tbh). And it's interesting to me -- that while Finn was the subject of Rachel's idolatry, Jesse is a very realized romantic partner for her. And I wonder if one reason they cut it is that it undermines the overall Finchel story when Rachel and Jesse click in a way that Rachel and Finn never have.

(I also wonder if this scene is too similar -- though in a more childish way - to the upcoming Like A Virgin montage that will be coming in the next episode - another reason they probably cut it.)

Anyway, the song is cute, but is a minor inlay of the major fabric of the St. Berry romance.

[bunbeeplays]

The Lemon Legacy: Generation 1, Chapter 17 - Tiffing with Tiff

The next day, the band, and Tiff, go to Miko and Penny's new apartment to talk about their song choices. Penny doesn't love the white features but Miko likes how clean it looks, and love is about compromise. Penny can at least have her eclectic furniture to brighten the place up.

Miko: Thanks for agreeing to meet us here. I know San Myshuno is far from Tartosa.

Drew: No worries, it's all the same loading screen.

Miko: Uh, Tiff? Where's the other violinists? They were invited too.

Tiff: As lead, I can relay any info back to my cohorts.

Miko: Okay then. Did you all have a chance to look over the sheet music we sent you?

Ophelia: Yes! Let's pull them up.

Tiff: You young people and your technology.

Drew: It's the same technology every Sim has had since 2014, Tiff!

Penny: You guys are the experts. What do you think?

Moses: They're all great songs! Unique but not too wild. You have no idea how many times we get the same old songs to play.

Penny: You know I've gotta keep it fresh!

Miko: I vetoed some of the more... outrageous suggestions.

Penny: Looks like out ceremony music requires violin and piano. You okay doubling up, Piano Man?

Moses: I get double the pay so you know it!

Penny: Tiff, you good to learn the sheet music? I know this probably isn't the type of song you usually play.

Tiff: Already memorized.

Ophelia: I love your first dance song. I've been singing it for days. It's starting to get on my girlfriend's nerves!

Miko: Oh, you and Libby made it official! Congratulations. You've posted a bunch of pics with her on Simsta lately, so Penny and I had a hunch.

Tiff: I see. You two are... very friendly with Miss Ophelia outside of work, huh?

Penny: Well, we kind of cornered her in a coffee shop. Hard to keep things strictly business after that. Plus, who else would I constantly text asking to go to the Spice Festival with me?

Tiff: I see. Well, I have connections of my own. Heard of Ty Harper? Head writer for PlumBright Magazine? I could get him to write an entire feature on your wedding!

Penny: The scumbag from that trashy gossip rag? No thanks. You're friends with him?

Tiff: ...I'm married to him

Miko: Uh, moving on. Were there any issues you all saw with the songs for the reception?

Drew: No, everything looks good. People might have song requests but we know a ton of songs.

Ophelia: My mind is a steel trap for song lyrics, I should be good to cover most requests.

Tiff: If young Ophelia doesn't have the range for a certain song you want I'd be more than happy to fill in!

Miko: Uh, thanks, but we made sure we selected songs in her range. I'm sure requests will be fine. You're amazing at violin, we'd like you to do that.

Tiff: I can do both!

Penny: Lady, we don't want you to do both, she's trying to be nice. You're lucky you're playing at all, after the way you treated Miko during our tour! Lucky for you, my fiancée is a lot more forgiving than me!

Tiff: In my defense, teens and young adults look exactly alike!

Miko: Honey, it's okay! Tiff, we're happy with the plan we currently have. We'd appreciate if you focused on getting your team prepped. You're an amazing violinist.

Tiff: Well your taste in singers is... different than mine but you sure know your stuff about string instruments.

The elevator ride downstairs is awkward. Tiff doesn't seem to notice or mind.

Tiff: The clients' questionable choices aside, I'd say that was a successful meeting. Gotta say, that Pizzazz girl has a screw loose. Guess that's why she's such good friends with you, eh, Ophelia?

Ophelia: Do you constantly have to undermine and insult me every chance you get? I've been trying real hard to be civil.

Tiff: I'm sorry, it's just really easy to undermine you, sweetheart. You still have your baby fat.

Ophelia: It was just the holidays. This is regular fat!

Ophelia: I'm singing at this one wedding! It sounds like you're going to sing at the rest of them after this! What's the big deal?

Tiff: You KNOW the big deal. This is a celebrity wedding. One of the guests could make me a star and you just stumbled ass-first into this gig!

Drew: Tiff, you're being more ridiculous than usual. The clients made their decision. You're not going to change their minds.

Tiff: Why's everyone on her side? This was supposed to be my big break. You don't know what it's like to have something so huge taken from you!

Ophelia: You don't know anything about me! If your husband is such a big shot, just get connections through him.

Tiff: He's too good of a man to abuse his power like that.

Moses: Didn't he send paparazzi to Judith Ward's second husband's funeral? Tiff: No one asked, Moses.

Tiff: Fine, if you're determined to embarrass yourself on that stage, be my guest. Don't worry, I'll stay away from you until the wedding. Worrying about you destroying the Laurents' reputation is going to give me stress wrinkles anyway.

Ophelia: UGH! What is her damage! Does she have some sort of tragic backstory or something?

Drew: Nah, I think she just likes being a bitch.

Moses: Look, let's not worry about her now, love. We've got your back. Let's go to the venue and practice, yeah?

Ophelia: Okay. Thanks.

[thesokovianaccords]

8. After working for six hours straight + 6. “Do I love you? Yes. Do I like you? That’s still up for debate.” for Steggy please :)

8. After working for six(teen) hours straight + 6. “Do I love you? Yes. Do I like you? That’s still up for debate.” 

(Justine please let's forget that this has been in my drafts for almost two years...have a follow up to this ficlet where I slightly changed the prompt)

“If you’re not my Chinese takeaway, you can bugger right off.”

Steve huffed out a laugh, dropping the carrier bags on the desk with a flourish. “Good news - I intercepted the delivery guy in the lobby, so I am in fact your takeaway and also your ‘staying-in.’”

“You’re not as funny as you think you are, Rogers, but I’ll let it slide because you have my egg rolls in your very capable hands.”

“Thank you…I think.” Steve dropped the cartons filled with Peggy’s favourites in front of her and backed away slowly, as if she were a bomb that needed disarming. A fair comparison, as that was what they had spent their afternoon doing.

“You know, you have awful luck on the job—” Steve scoffed over Peggy’s assertion, an old argument between them, “but you have the best radar for good Chinese food that I’ve ever encountered. How on earth do you find these places, even in the depths of wherever we are today?”

Steve swiped a bite of fried rice, narrowly dodging a hangry Peggy’s lightning-quick chopstick assault. “We’re in Argentina, and what I have can’t be taught, Peg.” 

Her glare over the carton was undermined by the smirk tilting at the corner of her lips. “So you say. I can’t imagine you were taught any manners either.”

He falls back in his chair, clutching his chest dramatically. “Direct hit, Peg, ouch. And after I disarmed a bomb for you and brought you Szechuan beef.”

“While I disarmed three others,” she huffed, tossing a piece of the aforementioned beef in her mouth. 

“Oh, I’m sorry - next time I won’t hack into the network to get those files we were there for in the first place.”

Peggy tossed a soy sauce packet at Steve’s face, snickering to herself as he catches it on his nose like a seal. “You’re incorrigible.”

“Only ‘cause you incorrige me.” Sixteen hours on the job for the fourth day in the row and he still hadn’t run out of quips.

“Steve.”

“You know you love me. Imagine how boring your missions would be if you were still working solo.”

“Do I love you? Yes. Do I like you? That’s still up for debate.” She pointed her chopsticks at him menacingly. “You’re on thin ice.” But rather than banter back, as he always did, as she could count on him to do, he just stared, his cheekbones staining a darker and darker pink by the second.

The silence was starting to become awkward now, and Peggy wracked her brain to try and figure out what she’d said that had set Steve so off-kilter. But before she could complete the thought, she was falling backward onto the couch, her carton of hard-earned spicy beef flying away without a care as Steve’s arms bracketed her head and his hips pinned hers to the cushions. 

His thumb swept over her brow tenderly as he stared down at her, his own furrowed in thought. “Did you mean it?”

Peggy gaped at him. “Mean what?” And then it hit her. “Oh—well, yes of course I did. I don’t just go around saying things I don’t mean, now do I?”

Their intimate position did nothing to stop Steve’s ironic smirk. “Peggy, you’re a spy. Of course you do.”

She jutted her chin out in defiance. “Haven’t you been listening, Steve? I’ve been telling you the truth for years. Why do you think we always have such bad luck—”

Steve cut her off, but Peggy had no inclination to complain. After all, things with Steve were finally according to plan. 

[cityandking]

8, 23, 34, 51, 63 for minah and bran!

thanks tabbyyyyyy // sixty-nine questions for your ttrpg characters

8. what songs remind you of them? if there are specific lyrics or movements, list ‘em!

MINAH — minah is still in the pretty early stages of song associations so her playlist is pretty thin. noah kahan's "part of me" often makes me think of her, especially in the chorus

Even through the pain, I can't recall your face Just the ache of knowing everything was gonna change I got so close to love with you, my dear But I don't miss you I miss the way you made me feel

BRAN — branwen's playlist is my pride and joy and "up and beyond" by wildcat! wildcat! is especially a branwen song

Take a look in the mirror So that you see it's all that you wanted to be You're not the scared old kid in the corner anymore Come on, come on, come on, we are going up and beyond

23. in what moment did they consider themselves to be “grown up”?

MINAH — there was a point in her mid teens where she felt quite grown up in the way of teenagers who think they know more than they really do, but then her folks died and she realized she was not grown up at all. I don't think she truly considered herself "grown up" until after she settled in with the troupe, so some time in her early 20s

BRAN — 17ish, around the time she fully understood what sorts of atrocities and systematic failures her family's business and relationship with the Empress was funding, and how her family was complicit, and how even her mother had been a part of that system. she definitely had more learning and growing to do after that, but it marked the end of her childhood

34. what languages do they speak? how did they learn them?

MINAH — speaks common, thieves' cant, antivan, and some native marcher language. bioware is pretty thin on the marcher linguistic lore so I don't actually know what language that would be, but it's probably whatever the thedas equivalent of scots gaelic is. she spoke common and the marcher language growing up and learned cant and antivan with the troupe on the road. she's got a decent ear for languages and they travel a lot, so I imagine she also has a traveler's hodgepodge of tevene and nevarran and orlesian—enough to get by when the troupe is in the region (buy a beer, get a room for the night, ask for donations, etc)

BRAN — speaks common and primordial, and that's it. she isn't great with languages, but she learned primordial on her own to show up a tutor who said it was hopeless to try teaching her. spite, it turns out, can get you pretty damn far.

51. what element of their backstory are you proudest of?

MINAH — she is a fucked up little theater freak and I love that for her. I'm very excited to get into her past. obviously she isn't, but sucks to suck

BRAN — I really liked her unsustainable and impossible need to be free. like what does that even mean? what is she doing? what does she care about and does caring about it enough to stay undermine her deepest desires? she's got some real funky stuff going on in that head of hers that I think would have been super neat to crack open (like her little brother). alas.

63. what’s a meme or tiktok or vine (or whatever) that you associate with them?

MINAH — in many ways, minah is the embodiment of the guy doing the peace sign and then vanishing gif

BRAN — I truly don't know. oh jeez. I don't even know. she'd fucking love vines tho she'd quote all of them and be insufferable. real millennial shit

[todayisafridaynight]

NO LISTEN. LISTEN. I CONCEALED THE TITLE ON PURPOSE BECAUSE... IDK what it is but I have a tendency to like things that would be hard to watch for one reason or another for MOST of the runtime but then by the end it's like Oh So This Was GOOD Actually? Oh So My Brain Is Rewired?

And then it just becomes IMPOSSIBLE to recommend because I have no idea if The Majority Of It would actually be worth the conclusion to anyone but me😭😭😭SP is along those lines, sort of, but I've at least seen success with that... but this is also the case for my favorite Tsutsumi movie of all time, actually... alas...

Nevertheless. The show is called After the Rain! I think it was originally a manga and it has a live-action adaptation too [criminal not to actually cast Tsutsumi in either In My Opinion but FINE I GUESS]. It's about a former track star in high school, Akira Tachibana, who works part-time at a restaurant and has the MOST EMBARRASSING crush on her manager, Masami Kondo, the character I showed you before, who is Tsutsumi But As A Middle-Aged Divorcee With A Son. They befriend each other and help each other come to grips with the future and the past, respectively.

I was afraid of the obvious because a lot of media that tries to do this ends up making it fucking weird... like, this sort of dynamic means a lot to me for personal reasons and I've been burned too many times by characters I'd come to love and trust... but naw... my man Kondo is Normal About It that's all that matters to me... I had to breathe SUCH a sigh of relief...

I really don't like that the camera is sometimes not normal about Akira, though, it undermines the actual themes of the show a bit. IDK, I'm hypersensitive, I expect it's nothing super egregious compared to a lot of other media, but it's just disappointing because SOMETIMES there's artistic merit in terms of representing what Akira's feeling and other times it's just totally unnecessary and introduces a tonal clash... SPEAKING OF THERE IS A GUY WHO IS NOT NORMAL ABOUT AKIRA AND THE ENTIRE PLOT THREAD IS BASICALLY JUST DROPPED BECAUSE HE'S HARDLY EVEN IN THE SHOW AFTER THAT... I WANTED CONSEQUENCES...

But if nothing else, that's not even exactly why I said it's a hard watch, the actual reason is the NUCLEAR levels of secondhand embarrassment for like two thirds of the show. Like GIRL he is NOT INTO YOU AND HE SHOULDN'T BE... GET A GRIP OH MY GODDDDDDDD................. but like, I was That Girl when I was her age, right, so the fact it had me imploding thinking back on everything is a testament to its accuracy overall. Probably.

And NGL that type of dynamic is basically how I conceptualize RGGJo and Arakawa when they first met... Jo and Akira may be cringe-ass teens but I got a soft spot for it I do... it can be FUNNY... it can be WHOLESOME...

All of that being said, the last third or so might as well be a different show, and it kind of blows the rest out of the water for me. Maybe because it focuses on Kondo and Akira separately? But it's free of literally anything I could possibly complain about. I ain't mad about the first two thirds, it does set up a lot of what made the last third so enjoyable... buuut...

ANYWAY that's ENOUGH OF THAT I am CUTTING MYSELF OFF THERE I've gone on for WAY TOO LONG ABOUT SHIT NOBODY ASKED ABOUT☠️Not like you can say anything to All That I just don't have anybody to talk to about it☠️and despite the fact I'm still not REALLY Recommending It and don't think it sounds appealing from my description, I feel like I probably shouldn't talk about the endgame stuff I'm obsessed with so☠️☠️☠️Anyway. If NOTHING Else. Funny as hell to have Tsutsumi as the basis for The Perfect Middle-Aged Man... SOOO true...

YAYA the DQXI demo goes like, up to just after you get the? Twins? in your party. And you can keep playing the game without progressing the story + continue your save in the full game so technically speaking I COULD grind until I'm overpowered... but I shan't... I'm not positive when I'm getting it since I still wanna play the series in order... For Ichiban... [<- see this is RGG-related now]

It is SO sick to actually get to play though, that's awesome! Toriyama's worked on some bangers what can I say... My first DQ was one of the DS remakes, probably DQV, but the only DQ game I've ever actually finished was the Rocket Slime spinoff. Very Fun By The Way genuinely one of my favorite DS titles... but THAT'S NEITHER HERE NOR THERE... regardless... Arachtagon is not in the demo but I can believe he's a bitch to fight given one of the top results is this ☠️

So I'm glad you're past it and are having fun with the game :] I loved your comic SOOO SO SO much so having that bit of background on makes it all the more enjoyable! I had my own comic about RGGJo losing his mind "babysitting" Ichi and watching him grind for hours on end which was also lowkey about my experience with DQI... lol... lmao even...

I'M SORRYYYYYY THOUGH I TOLD YOU SP WAS SLOW TO START FOR A REASON 😭😭😭😭It took me a while to notice but title sequences are always something like Episode III Part I so they're almost all multi-ep arcs... threw me for a loop... Okay that's enough from me Jesus fucking Christ I am SORRY for going on this long but just I have to say:

inoue's chara is so funny like He's Super Human um doc… i think he's just autistic lowkey….. he still a baller regardless tho

REAL AND TRUE AND REAL AND TRUE AND REAL AND

and i've already added it to the To-Watch list :) NO BUT REAL I UNDERSTAND HOW YOU FEEL- in trying to sell something but having to be like Here Me Out I Swear on it BUT I BELIEVE YOU THAT ITS GOOD. i know i can trust your word on something and i def appreciate the preemptive notes given before watching. im sure i'll enjoy it in the end: it looks cute and im glad it sounds like it's doing something better with a Touchy trope ٩(๑❛ᴗ❛๑)۶ biggest RIP to no tsutsumi in the live action but... cant be helped.....

NO BUT IT'S SO FUNNY CAUSE FOR MY COMIC I WANTED TO SEE WHAT OTHER PEOPLE'S 'HARDEST BOSSES' WERE AND I FELT SO SEEN IN SEEING ARACHTAGON AS AN OPTION..... funnily enough tho when i redid the fight it wasnt nearly as nightmarish as it was when i first did it but Again i think i was just better prepared... (also during my first attempt i had Literally the most fuck ass luck where my team kept getting stunned and dying but rab kept bringing them back to life and i Just Couldnt Die or even move so... Horrible First Experience Ruined A Game For Seven Months For Me ( ￣▽￣ ;;;;)). the first instance of DQ i remember seeing was DQIX and being liek 'hey they looks familiar :)' and ive just been watchin it since 🤭 ROCKET SLIME IS SO CUTE THOUGH if you had to finish ANY of the games im glad it was that one... i wish i got to play the series in order since I Like Doing That but im annoying about wanting to play things on The Official Console...

AH BUT IVE ALWAYS LIKED THE IDEA OF JO WATCHING ICHI PLAY A GAME i mentioned i had an abandoned comic about it but its still such a silly and cute idea.. id very much like to do something with it someday if not see others have fun with it cause i think they should have them silly family moments too..

NO IT'S OK I JUST FOUND IT FUNNY AN ARC WAS LIKE. 3-4 EPS WHEN AT MOST THEY'RE LIKE TWO i'm just about rapping up the ohashi arc and its SOOOOO good... i also love how the drama has a pretty diverse soundtrack that i notice a lot of other jdramas lack so thats DEF been a bonus plus all of the choreography (´▽`ʃ♡ƪ) and real. inoue Is Just Neurodivergent that got solidified within me after seeing him mess around with that riddle book ☠️

[angelfirstclass]

X-men 97: My favorite version of the X-men so far

X-men 97 is one of the best Marvel cartoons of all time and certainly my favorite version of a X-men project ever. That is saying a lot since there is the Animated Series, all the movies, X Men Evolution, Wolverine and the X-men and etc., but I stand by it. It is a deep, well written show that speaks to complex, real world issues of racism, gender politics, apartheid and genocide, and etc.

The storyline was rushed, but well written and interesting and the characters were captivating and fleshed out. I enjoy reading the comics, but for someone who likes to see and hear characters I love cartoons and live action movies. They make it seem more real for me. Hearing an accent or seeing an outfit or fight scene in real time makes things more real for me.

Firstly, the story was about mostly adults and not just about the Mansion as a school. When the focus is on the Institute as a school, it makes things juvenile and centered on teenage mutants and their problems. This might appeal to younger audiences, but I'm 37 so it doesn't for me and I also think adult issues are more interesting in general. In X-men 97, there are young people in the show like Roberto and Jubilee, but they aren't the main focus. This show hit hard immediately dealing with hate groups, race wars, and racial unrest. There was no pussyfooting around with high school problems and teen angst.

The problems that the X-men are dealing with are real and serious. Immediately, we see a hate group out to get mutants with sentinel technology. Even if you are unfamiliar with the comics or TAS you know that's bad and reminiscent of hate groups in the real world. Even the first time time you "see" Magneto, it's a simulation, but it's serious and speaking of being nature's favored children and of mutant-human coexistence which is what the show is all about. That topic alone is a big, complex heady one and that's why I love X-men 97. It pulls no punches, it starts off with big stakes for its characters and holds to that standard until the end.

Secondly, the characters are well written and funny. I read somewhere that the humor in X-men 97 is character driven and I agree. Morph is hilarious and it's not just self referential humor, but one based on knowing personality traits and etc. Teasing Scott will never not get old and Gambit throws in some good one liners. Also, Beast and his nerdiness is hilarious! The writers know how to balance humor with the dark or serious topics they write about without crossing a line or becoming corny.

Thirdly, the storyline is compelling and relatable. My only complaint being that the story was rushed a bit and I wanted more episodes instead of less, the story arc was very interesting. I loved Magneto's storyline of trying to redeem himself, the love triangle between Magneto-Rogue-Gambit, the Jean/Scott/Nathan/Madelyn storyline, Gambit's death, Genosha, and Bastion were all very fascinating. The whole series was tied up by explaining that Bastion was working with all the bad guys the whole time trying to undermine and disable mutants. Even knowing that the finale was three parts, I was left shocked and confused and surprised at what happened in them.

Finally, I love the complex and gray way that the writers handled topics and the very concept of right and wrong. I was very confused and conflicted at points of this show, but looking back I think that was very healthy for me. Life is often complex and gray and this series made me think a lot about oppression, human nature, revenge, and redemption. It often brought up more questions than answers, but I think that's ok too.

In conclusion, I loved X-men 97 and think it was a fantastically written show and will stand the test of time for well written cartoon series. It's up there with Batman TAS and Transformers. It made me think, feel, cry, and laugh and at the end of the day it was a cartoon about mutants. I never thought it would be this good when I heard about it, but it was, it really was.

[the-rotting-christ]

Ok bois time for a movie that frankly I'm mainly putting on for background while I read my quantum physics book, The Watcher (2000).

Movie with James Spader and Keanu Reeves, Spader being a detective who seems to be having a Bad Time and Reeves being a perverted serial killer targeting women.

Going into it frankly I find it a bit surprising that these actors are going into their respective roles. Out of the two the one to play a perverted serial killer with Issues I would have guessed would be Spader not Reeves. Not that I don't think they'll do poor jobs or anything, honestly glad they weren't type casted. Curious to see Reeves in a more antagonistic role, I've pretty much just seen him in good guy roles or morally grey.

From here on out it'll be a live blog I'll just be continuously updating

First off the early 2000s is really coming in strong in both the music and editing choices. It's edgy! He's edgy! He's dark and dangerous and emo! And in slow motion!

It kind of just seems like at this intro point they just said "Mr reeves could you do a weird little windmill dance with a gun in a room with candles while edgy music plays over?" And you know he did do that.

Hello Mr spader

I don't think they'll do this but if it's like, a double personality thing where it's actually spaders character and Reeves's was just a red herring, I will be upset. I don't think they'll do this but-

The editing is A Choice. Like I said very early 2000's. Not sure if it's good, not sure if it's detrimental to the movie.

I'm just gonna start saying Killer and Detective until I get a name for either.

I think Killers character would be a lot more effective if he was either a lot more goofy or a lot more intimidating. As is, he's kind of just a guy.

Mr detective is A Guy certainly. Eating an orange in perhaps the most deranged way.

Homoerotic tension? Maybe? I do love a good one sided homosexual codependency between a detective and criminal. This, we are only the way we are because of each other, the only person the other cares about for better or worse is the other, the only person who you can think about, the person you obsess about. It's good shit. Will my love of that trope be enough to enjoy this movie I have no clue.

It's still early but I think at the moment what I'm Predicting will continue to be my opinion is I think Killers character would work a bit better if the actor was either like, absurdly young and scrawny guy with incredible intelligence that would highlight the stark contrast that he's incredibly dangerous. But I think as is Reeves is just a bit too old for this edgy goofy killer mostly cause it feels like this was written for a teen.

I think he'd do better in a killer role if it was like, less audacious. Or at the very least less childish.

Joel we have name for detective

Something something killer is watching Joel like he watches the women he kills something something.

Ultimately I do think that in a general sense I think if they switched the actors for the roles they have I think it would have been a bit smoother, though in this case most of the issues seems to be with the writing and directing not the acting. Aside from the first concrete scene with Killer, reeves is doing good.

Mmmmm pancakes. Those looked good.

There's a lot of different editing and camera techniques going on that I'm a little surprised aren't grating. They're not sporadically placed, there's a pattern to it, it's consistent.

Killing them killing them killing them.

What a good cat!

Oh he pet the cat. What an unassuming cat.

He's got his time down pat. Right on nine on the dot.

Bitch do you not recognize his voice?

I also think Killer would be a lot more effective if when doing his killing if the editing didn't suddenly start playing like demonic noises and flashing lights. It undermines that it's just some guy.

"You notice me though don't you Joel?" Said as though he kicking his little feet twirling his hair. "Yeah I notice you" stahp

Dude did he fucking take the cat. Guess he's got a cat now.

Griffin. Ok we can call Killer griffin.

Griffin is in fact in love with Joel. Like, in love is not the right word. Obsessive in a somewhat sexual way id say.

What's his deal with dancing. And will he dance with Joel. Only time can say.

Playing it dangerous my my my is he. Oh Ho Ho. He just wants to see his friend in the fleash. Also to Get his therapist.

"Did you miss him?" Yesssss finally got another plot where they address how connecting hatred and how revenge can be so lustful in a way.

The music is a little over done me thinks.

Dude I Live in Chicago this is so wacky.

"Fuck you cop I don't know shit" ordinarily m a good response now however is not the time.

Good thinking Young Woman. Jessica, good thinking Jessica.

Car on fire. Neat.

There is time for this to change but I do wish there's been more interactions between Griffin and Joel.

Why would you broadcast that the detectives been hospitalized? Silly goofy.

Something something griffin going after the therapist because he wants Joel depending on him something something.

Bad gun etiquette, finger on trigger.

Face to face. Why now?

Brought beer, that's nice of him.

It is in fact insane for the detective to move to Chicago for this woman he was having sex with.

What a goofy fella.

"We're going to make it through this arent we Joel."

"You're like a brother to me" 🤨 eeeeeh

"I'm trying to have a conversation with you and you keep bringing work into this 😠 it's rude."

"What I need is you"

I do and fact think and will continue to think this is a smidge homosexual.

I want to meet the person that is scared of Keanu reeves dancing all emo like with a gun in a room full of candles. I need to know them.

"We need each other, we define each other"

"We need each other in order to give meaning to our lives"

Yeah man you gave him the gun don't know what you expected.

"Oh Joel you know me so well I can only kill her once."

"The mistake was turning your back instead of pouring everything you had into us."

This man is like wildly down bad for Joel.

"You're my job, you're paperwork" denial denial.

I think Joel should kiss griffin to distract him. Will he? No. But I believe. I believe in the power of imagination.

The fire effects are great no notes. It's not over exposed in the slightest.

Ok I stand by my earlier comment they really should have put more into the dynamic between Joel and griffin.

This was an alright movie. It was not Spectacular and was definitely a product of its time. Which everything is I suppose. Enjoyable but probably won't be rewatching anytime soon.

[that-thing-that-feeling]

Few things:

- Thoughts on daisycamila in the show vs the book?

- Besides Argyle and Vickie, and do you think any previous side characters will make an appearance in s5 however major/minor it may be? (Keith, Eden, Suzie, Kali, etc)

- I’m hoping for more Byhop interactions S5 plus ones that we haven’t seen as much (Joyce-El, Jonathan-El, Hopper-Will, Hopper-Jonathan, Joyce-Jonathan, I think ideally WillEl would be a given lol), though idk how that will play out in the apocalypse and the remaining 8-10* hours of the series (*I’m assuming one hour episodes + two hr finale off the top of my head)

—at first I was sad they cut the main Daisy and Camila scene in the book that makes Daisy leave the band (but also has Camila’s clear belief in her). I sorta see why they did it though and Daisy choosing to get help worked, but didn’t love that their last scene then was not a positive one. I don’t really agree with people that the show undermined Camila’s importance in the last ep; I thought Billy clearly chose Camila. And if anything Billy relapsing and only wanting to be with Daisy if broken was p terrible and I was glad she shut all that down. I wish Daisy and Camila had another scene but the one about motherhood earlier was sweet. I also thought the end was true to the book (did you also see TJR’s original ending; I loved it but love the book ending and was happy with the show’s ending). What did you think?

—I honestly hope not. I mean Kali could make sense ig but the last thing they need is more characters taking up time and I already wonder how Argyle and Vickie will be integrated. Like I assume Argyle is def in s5 but someone should have asked Eduardo directly at the con! But I think he could be fun with the teen group and I really like him, esp when they don’t just make him ‘stoner guy’ but show he’s v sweet and a good friend and is good with unconventional problem solving. Does that group become Steve, Nancy, Robin, Jonathan, Argyle, Vickie? Or are they kept pretty separate? I still want some non love triangle ot3 interaction and stonathan and ronance interaction too in addition to jancy and jargyle.

—I really hope we get those Byers scenes and Byers Hopper scenes! I don’t know if the writers understand they can’t go full circle to s1 without them and or have a central Will plotline without them (yes we def will get WillEl which is impt), but I’m not sure if they’ll come through with the rest; I’m just hoping they do.

[charonte-simi]

Duuuude this week's episode on boundaries/consent is so fucking relatable. I'm gonna ramble about it for a sec

Not being a very physically affectionate person most of the time and being known as "the guy that doesn't hug" has led me to identical situations as Dick in where affection is withheld because they assume you don't want it even though, in that specific instance, you actually would love to receive it.

But there's a fear that if you ask for or initiate an interaction that was a previously stated boundary that people will no longer respect it in the future just because you were okay with it *that one time*. That it will it undermine all the work you put into creating that boundary in the first place.

I've also just maintained that boundary for so long that I feel like it's tied to my identity/image so I'm very self-conscious and anxious about backtracking/changing that boundary. Like, I'm stoic and standoffish, those are character traits I've had since I was a teen, if I suddenly admit to liking hugs then that drastically alters a core part of my image and that's... bad for some reason? I know I don't actually believe that to be true.

And that ties in so well with the following segment about a kind of imposter syndrome when it comes to identity and how you feel like you have to act a certain ways in order to hold certain identities/labels to which I say, man fuck labels. Do what you love, do what feels good, fuck putting a neat descriptor on your actions/lifestyle/choices. It's restrictive af and you don't need to always behave in a specific way just because you think you're "suppose to" or because you want to be viewed in a certain light.

The compulsion to perform because of how others may perceive you. Yeah fuck ALL that.

Anyway I think I need to hug people more