#Listen he is SO fine. Do not try to sell me some bullshit that in-world people dont like him

[alarrytale]

Seeing larries kissing Louis' ass in his new post honestly just grosses me out. Do y'all not have any self-respect? Why are so many larries fine with being his punching bag, his scapegoat, being gaslit and manipulated, and having him add fuel to the larrie hate train? I love him too. But at some point, he has to realize this shit isn't okay. It's not okay to speak to your fans this way and disrespect them. To single one fan out. And to do it so publicly where the media can pick it up, where the solo louies & harries, antis, and gf stans can use it as ammunition against us. I can't even go on the pop culture subreddits I like bc of how badly the hate is against us. Not only was this a stupid fucking move before trying to sell tickets in LatAm but why in the world would you treat the fans who have stuck by you since the beginning this way? We've seen through the bullshit in both 1D and his solo career. We've seen through the false image that was painted of him, although now he seems more than happy to play along. We've tried to be there for both him (and H) because THEY made it very clear for YEARS that they were together, closeted, and fighting back. Look, I get it some larries are doing way too much with their theories esp the ones that think Louis, Harry, and T*ylor are all gay beasties who are going to bring down the industry together. But they started this shit. They encouraged fans to look deeper. They came up with the name Larry Stylinson, not us. They got the corresponding tattoos and made it very obvious, not us. Louis got the dagger. They did rbb and sbb, which really caused fans to start theorizing. Louis did the Spotify canvases that connected back to H and Larry. Louis did the promo (was it for Walls?) where we had to find the different locations, and they almost always had a Larry reference nearby (I know I didn't explain that example well). Louis specifically puts H and Larry references in his music that he knows we know about. He's the one that put out the Just Like You music video. He's the one that put Style on the wall of the Miss You video. They're the ones that continuously use blue and green lights. Louis specifically interacts with Larries and Larry related signs and flags at his show. I mean, the list goes on and on. So, if you want people to chill out on Larry, how about you stop feeding it? Because this whole back and forth is exhausting and mentally draining. I'm really fucking tired of being made the joke of this fandom by Louis when we've done nothing but see him for who he really is and love him for that. And now the harassment and death threats have skyrocketed from solos, hets, gf stans, stans of other fandoms, and people into pop culture. I'm tired of seeing mental health being used as an insult against us as well because Louis and Harry not only started this, they encouraged this behavior from larries for YEARS. And then you have people who used to be around them (from xf times) Rebecca and mainly Katie talking about how truly horrible XF, Syco, and Modest were. How truly manipulative. How horribly they treated everyone, esp the boys. I mean, she's even talked about how the boys still have some of the same people around them since the early days. I know she went after larries one time (maybe more bc I stopped listening to her after that), but she made sure to talk about them and basically say without saying that a lot of our theories about xf, management, and syco weren't far off. Others around them have played into Larry. So, why doesn't he tell them to stop. Like, stop going after fans for something you created and encouraged for years. Just ignore it until you're ready to come out, if that ever happens.

I do have a question. I know stunts suck and Harry has been stunting a lot. I know H*livia was extremely upsetting. But why do larries seem to get more people upset at Harry for doing a pap walk with T*ylor, or even the ones he did with OW where he was obviously miserable, then they do with Louis outright shitting on us - multiple times? I'd much rather see Louis have to do a pap walk or two with some girl than throw fans under the bus, you know what I mean? Because while stunting sucks, it's playing the Hollywood game and something they probably are required to do to uphold the het image. Choosing to shit on fans shouldn't even be on the table if we mean as much to you as you say.

Sorry for the rant and rambling. I'm just really hurt and have so many feelings and probably didn't express everything properly. I don't recognize this "Louis," and it's really put me off. I thought we were a team, and now I just feel completely unwanted by him.

Let it out, anon 🧡

I know this hurts, especially for those of you who haven't experienced this before. We shouldn't have to deal with this. I think most people are able to ignore it and move past it because they know he's closeted and why he's doing it. They know that Louis doesn't love them any less, despite what his public twitter account might suggest. We know he's got little agency and we know he's being made to do things against his will. We see past his image and actions.

I would prefer him stunting over lashing out against his fans too. Maybe that's not an option or maybe he didn’t have a choice. Either way it isn't okay. It wasn't okay in 2012 and it isn't okay now. The only thing we can do is stop supporting him and giving him our money. Some love him and want him to succeed, and fight with him against the chains holding him back. He won't be able to do that without larries. So they keep supporting him and live in hope that things will change for the better someday. It's up to you to decide what your limits are and what you can and can't support.

#long post #louis underscore #louis image #fandom #solo louis

[writ-in-violant]

The Sharp-Eyed Stormwatcher meets a friend for tea, as they approach the second phase of the Marvellous:

“Professor,” the Lily greets. He pulls out a chair for Vivian, as though they were some society belle -- he always has. Vivian has stopped giving him shit for it. “How -- ah. I suppose it is foolish to ask how you are faring, as of late.” 

Vivian is aware they probably look…disreputable. Their cravat is askew and untucked. Their vest’s buttons may be mismatched. They’ve pushed up their sleeves, which helps them cool off but bares their scarred forearms to the world. Their hair might still be singed. They’ve never felt more alive. 

“I’m fine, Terry,” Vivian says, hoping their smile looks reassuring and not deranged. “I’m -- it’s close. I placed in the middle in the Honour -- you don’t need to know the details. I’m not even sure I can tell you,” they admit. The Lily -- Terry Leirion, their once-roommate whilst he was paying other bills and Vivian needed help making rent -- narrows his eyes at them. His past, checkered as it is, has given him a fine eye for someone who is bullshitting. 

“Word on the street is that you’re in and out of the Bazaar all the time, lately. Buying up secrets and rumours like nothing else, and selling even your Enigmata. What’s happening, Vivian?” His eyes are serious. He knows how carefully they saved every Searing Enigma they could find, the caution they always treated their hoard of London’s secrets with. Of course he would be the one who caught their behavior, who wasn’t willing to brush it off as the half-mad Professor off on another wild tear. Vivian sighs. 

“Terry. I’m fine. This is -- this is what I gathered everything for,” they admit. “This is it. Everything on the line. Everything on the line in every game. That’s what it’s all about, you see? A prize at the end and a challenge around every corner. My opponent -- no, I’ll not be saying who it is, you can guess if you wish to -- spread my secrets across London.” They smile again. They don’t know how it looks on them. “Now that I’ve dealt with that, I have to cut off his options before we meet for a match. That’s all. I’d be disappointed if he didn’t try something like this, honestly.” They would. They always considered the Bishop of St. Fiacre’s an intelligent, canny man; part of the joy of the Marvellous is testing themself against people such as him. 

“Well. God knows I can’t stop you, Vivian,” The Lily sighs, leaning back. “What else is happening in your life? I heard there was something about you returning to the Royal Beth recently--” 

It’s a mark of how long the Lily has known them, Vivian thinks, that he doesn’t seem too concerned by their return to a state of some confusion and what others term “insanity.” They smile and indulge him in some of their stories, and ask after his theater and his husband. They’re at an outside table at Beatrice’s; Vivian does their best to pay attention to the Lily’s speech, but their eyes keep drifting up, following the tall spires of the Bazaar into the dark. The tea with the Lily is good. Keeps them grounded, keeps them sharp, and they’ll need that for their next few weeks. 

“Vivian,” the Lily says, as they both collect their coats and begin to leave. His eyes are kind, which is never a great sign when someone is about to ask Vivian a question. “What are you looking for? Is it -- will it be worth it?” 

…what was Vivian looking for, huh. Their eyes drifted back along to the spires reaching up in the Bazaar. There were so many answers they could give: when I first came here, I listened to the drownies sing, and learned I was destined for Authority. When I was younger than that, I lived my life entirely at the whims of others’ kindness or lack thereof, and I refuse to do that again. There is a science down here that lets you become greater than what you were born as. There is power at the end of the game. There is a path to Authority. I do not know what it will make me but I would take so, so much to never again be who I was. 

But all of that, even to the Lily, is too much to admit into the stale air of the Neath, so Vivian only smiles. This one, they’re almost sure, is reassuring. “It will be worth it.” 

They’ll make it worth it.

#oc: the sharptongued stormwatcher #vivian is doing Just Fine all the time always #also yeah vivian is a generally magnanimous and kind person. that doesn't meant their goals are not self-serving #they're not a revolutionary or a savior #they're in the marvellous for themself and themself alone #they probably tell themself they'll use their power to help others. they probably even will use it to help others #but they're doing this for themself

[mishafletcher]

Are you a Gold Star lesbian? (Just in case you don't know what it means, a Gold Star lesbian is a lesbian that has never had the sex with a guy and would never have any intentions of ever doing so)

So I got this ask a while ago, and I've been lowkey thinking about it ever since.

First: No. I am a queer, cranky dyke who is too old for this sort of bullshit gatekeeping. 

Second: What an unbelievable question to ask someone you don't even know! What an incomprehensibly rude thing to ask, as if you're somehow owed information about my sexual history. You're not! No one—and I can't reiterate this enough, but no one—owes you the details of their sex lives, of their trauma, or of anything about themselves that they don't feel like sharing with you.

The clickbait mills of the internet and the purity police of social media would like nothing more than to convince everyone that you owe these things to everyone. They would like you to believe that you have to prove that you're traumatized enough to identify with this character, that you can't sell this article about campus rape without relating it to your own sexual assault, that you can't talk about queer issues without offering up a comprehensive history of your own experiences, and none of those things are true. You owe people, and especially random strangers on the internet, nothing, least of all citations to somehow prove to them that you have the right to talk about your own life.

This makes some people uncomfortable, and to be clear, I think that that's good: people who feel entitled to demand this information should be uncomfortable. Refusing to justify yourself takes power away from people who would very much like to have it, people who would like to gatekeep and dictate who is permitted to speak about what topics or like what things. You don't have to justify yourself. You don't have to explain that you like this ship because this one character reminds you a bit of yourself because you were traumatized in a vaguely similar way and now— You don't have to justify your queerness by telling people about the best friend you had when you were twelve, and how you kissed, and she laughed and said it was good practice for when she would kiss boys and your stomach twisted and your mouth tasted like bile and she was the first and last girl you kissed, but— 

You don't owe anyone these pieces of yourself. They're yours, and you can share them or not, but if someone demands that you share, they're probably not someone you should trust.

Third: The idea of gold star lesbians is a profoundly bi- and trans- phobic idea, often reducing gender to genitals and the long, shared history of queer women of all identities to a stark, artificial divide where some identities are seen as purer or more valuable than others. This is bullshit on all counts.

There's a weird and largely artificial division between bisexuals and lesbians that seems to be intensifying on tumblr, and I have to say: I hate it. Bisexual women aren't failed lesbians. They're not somehow less good or less valid because they're attracted to [checks notes] people. Do you think that having sex with a man somehow changes them? What are you so worried about it for? I've checked, and having sex with a man does not, in fact, make your vagina grow teeth or tentacles. Does that make you feel better? Why is what other people are doing so threatening to you?

Discussions of gold star lesbians are often filled with tittering about hehe penises, which is unfortunate, since I know a fair few lesbians who have penises, and even more lesbians who've had sex with people, men and women alike, who have penises. I'm sorry to report that "I'm disgusted by a standard-issue human body part" is neither a personality nor anything to be proud of. I'm a dyke and I don't especially like men, but dicks are just dicks. You don't have to be interested in them, but a lot of people have them, and it doesn't make you less of a lesbian to have sex with someone who has a dick.

There's so much garbage happening in the world—maybe you haven't noticed, but things are kind of Not Great in a lot of places, and there's a whole pandemic thing that's been sort of a major buzzkill? How is this something that you're worried about? Make a tea, remind yourself that other people's genitalia and sexual history are none of your business, maybe go watch a video about a cute animal or something. 

Fourth: The idea of gold star lesbians is a shitty premise that argues that sexuality is better if it's always been clear-cut and straightforward—but it rarely is. We live in a very, very heterosexist culture. I didn’t have a word for lesbian until many years after I knew that I was one. How can you say that you are something when your mouth can’t even make the shape of it? The person you are at 24 is different to the person you are at 14, and 34, and 74. You change. You get braver. The world gets wider. You learn to see possibilities in the shadows you used to overlook. Of course people learn more about themselves as they age.

Also, many of us, especially those of us who grew up in smaller towns, or who are over the age of, say, 25, grew up in times and places where our sexuality was literally criminal.

Shortly after I graduated high school, a gay man in my state was sentenced to six months in jail. Why? Well, he’d hit on someone, and it was a misdemeanor to "solicit homosexual or lesbian activity", which included expressing romantic or sexual interest in someone who didn’t reciprocate. You might think, then, that I am in fact quite old, but you would be mistaken. The conviction was in 1999; it was overturned in 2002.

I grew up knowing this: the wrong thing said to the wrong person would be sufficient reason to charge me with a crime.

In the United States, the Defense of Marriage Act was passed in 1996, clarifying that according to the federal government, marriage could only ever be between one man and one woman. It also promised that even if a state were to legalize same-sex unions, other states wouldn't have to recognize them if they didn't want to. And wow, they super did not want to, because between 1998 and 2012, a whopping thirty states had approved some sort of amendment banning same-sex marriage.

Every queer person who's older than about 25 watched this, knowing that this was aimed at people like them. Knowing that these votes were cast by their friends and their families and their teachers and their employers. 

Some states were worse than others. Ohio passed their bill in 2004 with 62% approval. Mississippi passed theirs the same year with 86% approval. Imagine sitting in a classroom, or at work, or in a church, or at a family dinner, and knowing that statistically, at least two out of every three people in that room felt you shouldn't be allowed to marry someone you loved.

Matthew Shepard was tortured to death in October of 1998. For being gay, for (maybe) hitting on one of the men who had planned to merely rob him. Instead, he was tortured and left to die, tied to a barbed wire fence. His murderers were both sentenced to two consecutive life terms in prison. This was controversial, because a nonzero number of people felt that Shepard had brought it upon himself.

Many of us sat at dinner tables and listened to this discussion, one that told us, over and over, that we were fundamentally wrong, fundamentally undeserving of love or sympathy or of life itself.

This is a tiny, tiny sliver of history—a staggeringly incomplete overview of what happened in the US over about ten years. Even if this tiny sliver is all that there were, looking at this, how could you blame someone for wanting to try being not Like This? How can you fault someone who had sex, maybe even had a bunch of sex, hoping desperately that maybe they could be normal enough to be loved if they just tried harder? How can you say that someone who found themself an uninteresting but inoffensive boyfriend and went on dates and had sex and said that it was fine is somehow less valuable or less queer or less of a lesbian for doing so? For many people, even now, passing as straight, as problematic as that term is, is a survival skill. How dare you imply that the things that someone did to protect themself make them worth less? They survived, and that's worth literally everything.

Fifth, finally: What is a gold star, anyhow? You've capitalized it, like it's Weighty and Important, but it's not. Gold stars were what your most generous grade school teacher put on spelling tests that you did really well on. But ultimately, gold stars are just shiny scraps of paper. They don't have any inherent value: I can buy a thousand of them for five bucks and have them at my door tomorrow. They have only the meaning that we give them, only the importance that we give them. We’re not children desperately scrabbling for a teacher’s approval anymore, though. We understand that good and bad are more of a spectrum than a binary, and that a gold star is a simplification. We understand that no number of gold stars will make us feel like we’re special enough or good enough or important enough, or fix the broken places we can still feel inside ourselves. Only we can do that.

The stars are only shiny scraps of paper. They offer us nothing; we don’t need them. I hope that someday, you see that, too. 

#queer stuff #lgbtq #gold star lesbians #long post #sorry #Anonymous

[stxleslyds]

Red Hood and the lost art of telling Joker to shup up.  

Okay, I know that I talked about Jason and Joker in a recent post but this is something different, I promise.

I really want to talk about how different Jason has been written since UtRH when it comes to him confronting Joker. Jason hasn’t been put in that position a lot but the times that he has, he lets Joker talk for far too long and actually pays attention to whatever he has to say.

The Jason vs Joker thing is basic in on itself and letting Joker talk isn’t exactly the problem here, the real problem is Jason letting Joker’s thoughts shape his future thoughts and decisions, I do understand that that’s exactly what writers want though, they want to build the problematic of: “Jason is just like Joker and the fact that he uses the name Red Hood only proves that Joker made who Jason is now”.

But the thing is that THAT problem is overdone at this point and the only time it worked was the first time it was brought up and it worked because Jason shut the Joker down.

Let’s see all the times (that I remember) the Joker and Jason have had a little chat and/or the times Joker’s words actually influence Jason’s thinking and decision making.

 Under the Red Hood – Batman (1940) #649

This is the first real confrontation we get to see between Jason and Joker after Jason’s death and it is beautiful. It's absolutely amazingly written, Joker goes on and on forever about how he killed Jason about how Jason is just as bad as him but that he is also just like Batman because he hasn’t killed him yet.

“You let me live after everything I did, you couldn’t pop my balloon. You just couldn’t. The apple doesn’t tumble too far from the paterfamilias. You are just like daddy-kins”

Jason lets him talk, yes. But he absolutely destroys Joker with what he tells him next.

“You couldn’t be more wrong about me. If right were a country on earth you’d be circling on the edge of the milky way. Yeah, I let you live but like always, every damned minute of your addled, posturing, psychopathic life, you think this is about you. You’re a worm. I’ve pitched you on a hook and dropped you into the brine. And I will beat the hell out of you Pagliacci because it was too much fun not to.”

“Listen to me Joker, I’m not you. I´m nothing like you. I know what I do and I know why I do it. You, you are, clinically speaking, a whack-job. But I know a secret, a good one.”

“You are not nearly as crazy as you would like us all to believe or even as crazy as you would like to believe. It just makes it easier to justify every sick monstrous thing you’ve ever done when you play the part of the mad clown. You are crazy, bubba, but you ain’t that crazy. Look at that. I wiped a smile off of Joker’s face. I have been waiting a long time for that.”

Everything about this is perfect, Jason gives Joker no room to mess with him. Whatever the Joker had planned on saying he had to eat because Jason wasn’t playing games and he was ready for any kind of lie the Joker had ready to tell. This is Jason Todd. He won’t let the Joker get under his skin because he knows the Joker and he, also, knows better. 

Red Hood and the Outlaws (2011) #15

Here Jason comes across Joker during the “Death of the Family” event. In this issue the Joker has information about all of the members of the “Batfamily” and he uses that to mess around with each one of them, in Jason’s case he insinuates that he was present in very specific moments of his life when Jason’s father got shot, when his mother overdosed and when he was on his own before joining Batman.

Jason doesn’t quite believe that Joker was there but as the reader, we can see this sort of sense of doubt in Jason. He hesitates a few times before resolving that the Joker is playing with him.

But as far as this issue goes let’s just say that what the Joker says doesn’t get to Jason, this changes though in the issue that follows up this story.

Teen Titans (2011) #16

This is where that story continues and where Jason starts to buy the story that Joker is selling.

Joker convinces Jason that he has his father and Tim’s father and that the only way for Jason (or Tim) to save their dads is by killing the other (Jason or Tim). Tim doesn’t believe it but Jason is ready to shoot Tim almost immediately.

However, Jason changes his mind about killing Tim just as Tim comes up with a plan for them to not actually have to kill each other. Here is where Lobdell’s writing shows all of its flaws, Lobdell is so desperate to show that Jason and Tim are besties that he forgets that Jason had no reason to stop trying to kill Tim to save his shit father because it is later revealed that Jason truly believed that Joker had found his father and had him captive. It wasn’t until Tim explained his thought process as to why those men weren’t their dads that Jason just goes “you realize, of course, the only reason I didn’t kill you right off is that I knew your big brain will figure out some way out of this” HA, nice save Lobdell but I see right through your bullshit.

Jason bought what the Joker was selling and that is the beginning of Jason’s downgrade when it comes to not playing Joker’s games.

Red Hood and the Outlaws (2011) #17

Well, in this issue Lobdell goes back to Jason kinda not believing what Joker told him, and Jason asks Bruce of all people if he thinks the Joker truly “made him or not”. Bruce says that he doesn’t believe that and that he didn’t have anything to do with the man that Jason has become either. For some reason, Jason is actually happy with what Bruce said and for a couple of moments, Jason goes back to being sure that the Joker knows nothing and that he is his own man.

It doesn’t last long though. At the very end of the issue, the trap that Joker had set up in Jason’s helmet triggers and Jason gets his face fucked up with acid or something.

But that’s not all because a hologram of Joker has something to say: “you were supposed to be my masterpiece from start to finish. But you were too stubborn to stay dead. So here is what we are going to do… You’re so determined to be your own man? Fine, let’s start with a clean slate”.

Basically, the Joker insinuates once more that he had something to do with who Jason was supposed to become and that Jason isn’t truly “his own man”, This is all a setup for a very dense storyline that will be continued in this run later.

Red Hood and the Outlaws (2011) #18

In this issue, Jason is in a coma after he is dosed with that gas in the previous issue. The Joker isn’t really present in this issue but he does make an appearance as part of Jason’s “nightmare” while he is unconscious.

That’s not all though, Jason has an illusion of Ducra (someone that he appreciates a lot), telling him that “after you left the All-Castle after you went back to the world you continued to let your life be defined by the actions of that man. You became a killer, lashing out at people who may or may not have deserved it. Eventually, you will hurt all those you have cared for. In that way, how are you any different from the Joker?”.

In this statement, there is a lot of wrongs that can come from two places, either bad writing on Lobdell’s part or just Ducra telling lies as a plot point.

“Let your life be defined by the actions of that man” is a sentence that horribly simplifies Jason’s thinking during the events of UtRH, because while he did resent the Joker, his real problem was with Bruce who had not avenged his death by killing the Joker himself. Also, Jason was doing other things back then, like being a pain in the ass for Black Mask and disrupting the drug trade in Gotham as well as trying to control the drug dealing to children. So that little sentence is just a gross misinterpretation of the true events which means that Ducra was wrong, and “she” continues to be wrong when she says that there might be no difference between Jason and Joker.

Luckily Jason thinks the same because he tells “Ducra”: “…don’t you dare compare me to that monster Ducra. I am nothing like the Joker! Nothing!”

Once again please don’t be fooled by Jason’s thinking because in the next issue it turns around really fast and really bad.

Red Hood and the Outlaws (2011) #19

Just a heads up this issue has a change of writer, Lobdell isn’t writing this arc, the writer that gives us this hellish story arc is James Tynion IV.

All that talk about Jason not being affected or not believing what the Joker told him is yeeted out of the window and it’s not a fun ride.

In this issue, Roy and Kory find a Jason that doesn’t know who they are or who he, himself, is. This is because S’aru that little floaty little shit took his memories away after Jason asked him to do so, well Jason asked S’aru to erase every memory that darkness has touched (Joker) and he does that. But him doing that is apparently erasing everything which, holy shit, how messed up is that?

But let’s take a look at what Jason says before he gets his memories taken away: “Not only did the Joker almost take my face, but he tells me he might have manipulated my entire life from the beginning! Even the good is tainted by him now. I can’t do it anymore. I can’t have that kind of doubt. If you take it away, I can go on living. I can keep fighting”. So, yeah that was a pretty emo speech. But the thing here is that if Jason is asking this dude to erase every memory that has been tainted by the Joker and he erases all of them then we might be facing one of two situations, either Joker has been messing up with Jason’s life from the beginning or S’aru is just a little bitch.

We will later find out in #20 that S’aru and Ducra planned the whole thing, meaning that they took all of his memories for ulterior motives not because the Joker had actually tainted all of them.

For many issues Jason has no memories and now that I am revisiting these issues, I now remember the twisted and completely insane plot they came up with for the “League of Assassins” and Jason being the “Chosen One”, everything was happening in this run, my god, it's like they wanted Jason to be the center of every single trope in writing history.

It’s in issue #26 that Jason asks for his memories back but the Joker having tainted his memories or not isn’t important anymore to anyone, including the writer (because he is too focused on telling this messy story), Jason (because he has enough problems at the moment) and the reader (because this book makes zero sense and it changes the story and motivations every single issue).

But there is another truth to be revealed in the next issue.

Red Hood and the Outlaws (2011) #27

Jason has planned along Ducra and S’aru to give up all of his memories to be cleansed so he could defeat Ra’s Al Ghul. But (there is always a but) Ducra says this: “Your greatest enemy returned and nearly took your face away from you. And in the process, shook your sense of identity to the core” “The final battle here will take place in the Well of Sins, and with all the doubt and fear clouding your mind, it would eat you whole”.

So yeah, now we have confirmation from Ducra that Jason had indeed let what the Joker told him cloud his sense of self and made him doubt who he was and if he really was in control.

All that back and forth for these many issues just to say, yes, Jason let Joker’s words affect him.

So here it is, let Joker get in Jason’s head to build the plot of a story, fantastic, the story was a mess because it had so much information, the mischaracterizations of Roy and Kory were at their maximum potential, and in this particular story arc not only are the events of Red Hood: The Lost Days officially erased from Jason’s canon but something quite out there is added to Jason’s canon from before he was even Robin (that’s a whole different story that I won’t be talking about here).

What an insane ride this arc was. Definitely not the kind of story I enjoy in a Red Hood book but that’s just my preference.

*This whole arc was written by James Tynion IV.

Red Hood/Arsenal #11

Joker is dead during the events of this run but the person who has something to say to Jason about how the Joker made the person that he is now is Duela Dent (“Joker’s daughter”, she isn’t his daughter she just found Joker’s face somewhere and she puts it on and “becomes” crazy, she is an incredibly weird character).

She says this, “You’re a lot like dad in that way” to which Jason says “He is not my father. He’s not even your father” but Duela continues by saying. “You’re kidding yourself if you genuinely believe that. Yeah, he took your life but look what you got in its place, you ingrate. You got your freedom. You were reborn.” 

Jason doesn’t fall for it or anything of the sort but once again writers are bringing up the Joker as the maker of the Red Hood and “suggesting” that what Jason has been doing and who he has become is all thanks to Joker. The idea of Jason having no free will is still present in this narrative, even when Jason doesn’t believe it.

Red Hood/Arsenal #12

I talked too soon because in this issue Jason is having some weird thoughts.

“Funny, isn’t it, so easy to call Duela “crazy” because she wears a dead man’s face. Because isn’t that what I’m doing? Before he was the Joker, he was the Red Hood. So maybe the line between men and the Joker’s daughter is a lot thinner than I’d like to admit.”

Here he is comparing himself to Duela and to the Joker to an extent, writers often bring up the fact that Jason uses the code name that his killer once had and they have people or Jason himself questioning why he uses that name.

Personally, I don’t think there is much to build from it (at least not from the perspective of Lost Days and UtRH), it was just a joke, a morbid one if you will. He wears the mantle of the person that destroys Gotham and fills its people with fear while he is trying to control the city’s drug trade and trying to keep the people safe in his own way. And the way he wanted to do it is almost the complete opposite of the way that Batman does things.

I just think that he is being ironic and acidic about the whole thing. He has obviously moved on from the fact that Joker killed him but he has issues with the fact that Batman has yet another child working with him while the Joker is still alive. And Jason really wanted to make Bruce suffer, so him taking the name and a similar appearance to how the joker used to look is also done to get a reaction from Bruce.

I really don’t think there is any sort of connection to make between Jason and Joker beyond that, much like there is no connection between the name Nightwing and the Court of Owls. Even though Lincoln March tried to convince Dick Grayson that he chose the name Nightwing because Owls fly at night and that meant that he was supposed to become a Talon and all that Dick still didn’t believe it because he knew why he chose that name and no one can twist his reason.

Red Hood and the Outlaws (2016) #10

Finally, I can stop re-reading New 52 books, I don’t enjoy it but I have to do it if I want to talk/complain about stuff.

This one is a little different because while Jason does talk with the Joker, the Joker isn’t really there he is just part of Jason’s imagination just like the Robin Jason that he is also seeing.

In this story, Jason is helping Artemis discover who she is but he gets captured in Qurac, yup that place, and worst of all from where he is being held, he can see the place where he died. All of that is helping Jason have some very vivid memories/illusions. He does actively hold a conversation with the imaginary Joker and Robin Jason though, and he is also having a lot of thoughts that let us know how the Joker affects Jason.

“This is why it was stupid of me to come back to Qurac. Even to help Artemis, even if I thought I could handle it. Physically, I am alone, but in my head? I’m drowning in memories of the worst day of what was my very short life. The day I was murdered.”

That’s what Jason is thinking but what I write next is what Jason’s saying as he talks to the imaginary Joker.

“Not interested in replaying this over again, like I have every night of my life since it happened Joker”

So, we are told that Jason thinks about that day very often, the Joker might not be involved much in Jason’s books but he definitely has a bigger role inside of Jason’s head. They chat for a bit up until Jason decides to “kill” the Joker, he knows, of course, that it is not real but it does give him satisfaction. (If only they would have let Jason actually kill the clown for real, or at the very least chase him just to show the reader that Jason does actually want to finish the job since the Bat won’t do it himself).

Having said all that, Joker’s imaginary death doesn’t last long because Jason is trapped in his mind and the Joker is basically functioning on a loop inside of it.

That is where the problem lies in this issue because Jason is letting us know that he is still heavily influenced by what happened that day and that he hasn’t been able to walk away from it. But once more that’s not the worst thing, because all of these thoughts have led Jason to think that he (in the present and as a fifteen-year-old) is the one to blame for having ended up dead. Yeah, it is messed up.

This is what Jason says to imaginary Robin Jason, “He is never going to die, Jason. Not here. Not in my mind, not if at some point I don’t stand up and walk away from my memories. From you.”

This is a major downgrade, from the Jason that we had in UtRH because that Jason had moved on from the fact that he had been killed what he was looking for was for Batman to avenge his death. He had other things in mind as well, like I said before in this post Jason had a lot of things going on, killing Joker wasn’t his only plan.

And this situation (written by Lobdell) is also very different from what was going on in New 52 where Jason being influenced by the Joker was used to build a plot. This is just a writer letting us know that this “new version” of Jason hasn’t worked out his problems when it comes to his death and his killer. That means that we are going backward.

After he realizes that he was unconscious all that time and that he was being tortured he does get his shit together in order to get out of captivity and go help Artemis.

The Joker and that whole thing that happened in his mind aren’t mentioned again, it was just for the reader to know that Rebirth Jason has unsolved issues with his death.

Batman: Three Jokers #1

Oh yes, here we are, we have arrived to that dreaded book, awful writing gorgeous art. In this book, the “Joker made Jason as he is now” trope is at its full potential; Johns drives this hellish truck of a book at full speed into our homes and then ends it by giving us one of the worst takes on Jason Todd’s characterization ever.

But first, let’s talk about the Joker and Jason interaction in the first issue. As Jason and Barbara are left alone with the Joker that they came across moments ago the Joker begins talking because that’s what he does.

He says this, “I’m the loop-de-loop, the hamster-wheel-of-doom. The cycle of pain each one of you is trapped in. Take “Red Hood” here, for example. Have you ever wondered why he uses my former moniker? Who in their right mind would take on the identity of their killer? Am I right?”

He is obviously being a little shit on purpose and is waiting to see if somebody will take the bait. Jason is the first to talk and he says this: “I took it because I’m owning what you did to me. You made me into this. I will be your destruction”.

Congratulations Jason, you took the bait, and now Barbara will fight with you over it.

Jason raises his gun to “break the cycle” and Barbara is like “please don’t do it” and boy is Joker having the time of his life! Both of these idiots are playing his game, Johns really did both Jason and Barbara dirty with this.

Here is where THE problem with letting the Joker talk is. This Joker got under Jason’s skin in seconds and Barbara did nothing while it happened.

This is what the Joker had to say. “Let’s look at the facts here bat-people. I bashed this boy’s skull in. I killed this Robin” to which Jason says “You didn’t kill me, you only made me stronger” which is weird because the Joker did kill him so I don’t know what kinda comeback that was supposed to be but Joker wasn’t done because he continues by saying “Yes, you crawled from the shallow grave I left you in. You lived on to fight another day. Hurrah! You survived because of your tenacity! Or maybe… maybe I beat you to a bloody mess… I took you right to the edge… because I wanted to leave you alive.”

Great that’s where the clown is going, just fantastic, more of the “I made you” but that’s not all because the Joker tells Jason that him having hurt Jason wasn’t because he didn’t like Jason, it was all about Batman, Jason doesn’t matter.

But that’s not the worse thing that was written in this awful book, Geoff Johns seems to have felt that the trauma that Jason went through in the original “Death in the Family” story wasn’t enough because he decided to add something new.

That’s why the Joker says this next, “Do you recall what you said to me while I was breaking your head in with that crowbar? As your blood streamed into your eyes and your skull cracked? Because I cherish those words. I’ll always cherish them. ‘Please stop! Please! If you let me live, I’ll do anything you say. I’ll be your Robin’” “And look at you now my little “Red Hood” shooting up people and making Batman’s life miserable! You are my Robin!”

What a nightmare Johns decided to put Jason and Jason Nation through huh? I hate this, this is the worst thing that has ever been written in a Jason Todd story (although I can say that about many things that were written in this three-issue book).

Jason kills the Joker after he says all that, Barbara does (for some reason) try to stop him from doing it but luckily, she can’t stop Jason.

But here is the thing, Jason killing the Joker doesn’t make me feel as satisfied as I would have liked, and it doesn’t feel that way because Jason let Joker talk for far too long and what Joker said ended up getting in Jason’s head and messing with him.

Batman: Three Jokers #2

Yeah, there is no rest for us, Jason Nation, in this issue Jason goes looking for another Joker to kill and he finds one but he gets captured. Johns really had to get Jason naked for Joker to torture him mentally and physically? Johns is, himself, a major red flag but that’s not what I am here to talk about.

In this issue the Joker that captures Jason has the same things to say as the other one, DC writers really have no imagination when it comes to building conflict between Joker and Jason, huh?

Anyway, Joker says this, “tell me something. Why would you put on that helmet and call yourself Red Hood after what we did?” Jason of course replies “Come on, is every one of you copycats gonna ask me the same thing? It’s a joke” the answer isn’t enough for Joker (the two of them that are here with Jason) so he continues talking. “A joke? We left you with brain damage and permanent nerve pain. Physical and emotional trauma so severe that the only relief you ever find is when you inflict pain on others. You and me, boy, we’re more alike than you’d care to admit. But you know that already. You nearly died and you blame the Batman. You hate him for it. Me too. You hate him most of all don’t you?”

Now, here is the thing, that whole thing is bullshit, none of it makes sense. From Jason having permanent nerve pain to Jason hating Batman the most, everything is a lie. And my confusion here is that I don’t know if I have to feel like Joker is doing it on purpose to be a little bitch or if Geoff Johns was on crack when he wrote this and he had actually never heard of Jason Todd in his life before.

The whole thing is a mess, it feels like he is writing Jason from an origin and story that we never read. I don’t know how to explain it, but the whole thing feels cheap, it’s a cheap trope and it’s a cheap take on who Jason Todd is, was, and will be.

The nightmare doesn’t end Jason Nation because these two Jokers have something else in mind, you see, if they said that they made the Red Hood when they killed Jason the first time, maybe if they kill him this time then he could possibly come back as the Joker. Yeah, this book did nothing for Jason.

Let’s make something clear, Jason does NOT hate Batman/Bruce for not being able to save him, he hates the fact that Batman/Bruce didn’t kill the Joker to avenge him. That simple thing doesn’t exist in Three Jokers and that’s why things like the ones that happen next are allowed to happen in this story.

Bruce and Barbara find Jason and when Bruce asks if he is okay Jason just goes berserk, he says: “Am I all right? What do you think Bruce?! You did this to me. You put me on this path. And I do hate you for it. For leaving me in the dirt. Replacing me one Robin after another without a thought.”

This, everybody is what you get when you mix bad writing with Jason being mentally manipulated by the Joker.

It's a shame that Jason is being treated this way at this point in time, in a book that came out in 2020 when Jason was able to shut the clown up with a knife and a couple of words back in 2005. What a downgrade.

At the end of this issue, Jason is safe and recovering but he still is in the same mindset, he says, “What the Joker said about how I’ve been on the path to being like them for years… they are not wrong. I don’t want to be like them though. I really don’t.”

It’s like a never-ending wheel of pain with this book. Jason is talking to Barbara when he says that and he is trying to look for comfort in her. And here is where the Jason/Barbara subplot begins and I only bring this up because something that happens in the next issue is based on the kiss that Barbara gave Jason but then was like “that doesn’t mean anything, I was just trying to comfort you”. Johns shouldn’t be allowed to write Barbara and Jason ever again.

Batman: Three Jokers #3

It’s in this issue that we find out the big subplot that Johns has prepared for Jason, are you ready for it? Yup, Jason should stop being the Red Hood because if he keeps it up, he will eventually become the Joker.

I know, I know! Jason would never stop being Red Hood, he is not on a path to become the Joker, that’s crazy! Jason’s Red Hood is a character on its own and he is amazing and just because he has different morals from Batman doesn’t mean that he is a bad guy! Right?...

“I’ll give up being Red Hood for us. I can be something else. Or I can be just Jason.”

To this day I cannot believe that those words supposedly were written by Jason Todd to Barbara Gordon after Barbara rejected him three times. The level of “what the fuck is this” is incredibly high with this one…

This whole book was a mess and I am so glad that it didn’t last longer.

Anyway, that’s it. In conclusion, Jason didn’t let the Joker get under his skin the first time they interacted after he came back from the dead but later when DC decided that UtRH was just too good of a book they came up with stories where Joker does get under Jason’s skin and Jason becomes convinced that he has no free will (or at the very least he doubts his free will) when it comes to him becoming his own man.

As I have said before, that for Jason Todd is a major downgrade. And it's one of the many things that hurts Jason’s characterization in current comics.

#jason todd #Jason Todd #red hood #Red Hood #red hood and the outlaws #red hood outlaw #three jokers #batman under the red hood #dc comics

[taleofharrison]

Why | Michael Clifford

Summary: You and Michael are on a relationship but he's forced to be in a PR for the album.

Warnings: language maybe??? kinda inspired in why by shawn mendes and secret love song by little mix ittalics mean twitter post and headlines on the tabloids.

Requested: Yes by an anon

Word Count: 1134

A/N: i know i haven’t written anything in a while but I was procrastinating both school work and writing and nothing got done and then The Irregulars came out and became my new obsession but if you are not going to spam your followers with your latest obsession then why do you a blog here? anyways enjoy.

MASTERLIST HERE

“Now with us in the studio 5 Seconds of Summer!” Jimmy announced and the guys appeared and sat next to him.

The guys had just released a new song, and this would be the first they were performing it live and talking about it.

“First off I want to start this by saying that this song is amazing, and I have had it on repat since it came out” Jimmy told them “now what was the inspiration for the song?”

“We kinda wanted to go old school on this one” Ashton began explaining “going back to some classic rock ballads. I think our main influence were bands like Journey and of course our experiences being in love.”

“Speaking of being in love Michael” Jimmy continued “you just recently were seen with Chloe Graham, the newest sensation on the modeling industry.”

“Yeah, we been dating for a couple of months now and it’s been great I’m really happy.”

After a couple of questions and some fun games Jimmy had prepared the guys finally performed the song, you were watching the whole thing on TV since Michael and you had agreed to keep the relationship on the down low. You felt beyond proud and happy to listen to the song that was written about you. Even though the world didn’t know it was about you.

“I love the song, but I smell bullshit. Chloe and Michael are clearly a stunt they became a public couple after the song was released??? a love song??? I mean come on.”

“No hate to Chloe but I believe the song is bout Y/N look at how they look at each other.”

“Can we stop talking about Chloe and just talk about the beautiful performance the guys gave us??”

You had been scrolling through comments like that from fans on twitter though you sometimes found weird how they found something to read between the lines all the time it was nice to know that if you came out with Michael as public after all this song release and all you’d have the support of the fans.

“Do you want to come with me to the pet store?” you asked Michael over breakfast putting your phone down “I thought we could choose some toys for Moose. Have some lunch.”

“I don’t know Y/N.”

“Come on! We haven’t had a hang out outside the house in ages.”

“I don’t think being seen just the two of us would be a good thing” he shrugged “I mean the fans already know something’s up.”

“But your fans think we’re friends and they know we’re roommates” you said slightly hurt “friends hang out together. Our relationship won’t be leaving these four walls.”

“I-I don’t know.”

“Fine” you huffed “I’ll just ask Luke I don’t feel like going by myself.”

“I’m sorry” he said “you know it’s the…”

“Label” you finished “it always is.”

“Michael Clifford seen at a jewelry store. Is he ready to tie knot?”

“Are Chloe and Michael getting engaged soon? 5SOS guitarist seen buying jewelry.”

“This isn’t going to stop, is it?” you said as you read the headlines on your phone as Luke sat down with your coffee order “the pr stunt.”

“It has to end Y/N” Luke assured you “we never thought our management would put us in something like this but here we are.”

You sighed. “We tried to talk Michael against it, but you know how companies work.”

Luke was trying what he could to cheer you up the guys knew how upsetting this was for you. You didn’t really have a problem with that because as long as you and Michael were real who cared about the world? But the last weeks and headlines had taken a toll on you.

“Hey! it’s just for the lead single” Luke tried to cheer you up “then everything will go back to the way it was.”

How you wished Luke were right. What was just for a song became a promo stunt for the whole album you didn’t know how it happened between Instagram that seemed to be written by someone else and not Michael and strategic public appearances to get paparazzi photos you were not only were you losing your boyfriend to the media you were also losing your best friend.

“Don’t you guys think is suspicious that all the content from Michael and Chloe comes from paparazzi?”

“I don’t like talking about the guys’ private life but there’s something about C & M that I don’t like.”

You sighed closing twitter again and putting your phone back in your pocket. It was your birthday and it felt like shit. Not the feeling you wanted that day.

“Happy birthday babe!” Michael exclaimed “I think you saw on your phone about the jewelry store, but I still hope this can surprise you.”

“Thank you, Mike” you smiled opening the box with a beautiful necklace “I love it.”

“Later I’m going to show you the song I’ve been writing” he said, “it’s about you but first what do you want to do?”

“I don’t feel like doing anything to be honest.”

“Come on! It’s your birthday” he pushed “I know I haven’t been there for you completely and today I’m all yours.”

“Wow” you dried laugh “I have my boyfriend all to myself for one day what a gift.”

“You know this will be over soon.”

“Soon when?” you snapped “soon when you have to go on tour? Soon when the album earns a billion streams?”

“It’s just promo nothing is real.”

“I’m tired of the promo” you told him “You told it was just for the lead single and I was okay with that now the album is out, and you still are in a pr stunt and not with me.”

“You know this is out of my control!”

“It is under your control. You are selling a lie” you cried “you know I think the song would’ve done great in the charts without this you have passionate fans they would do anything for you. For the band, yet you had to go there and build an act. I don’t know if you mean anything anymore.”

“Don’t be so harsh with me Y/N” Michael begged “You know every song I write is about you. You are my muse.”

“Am I? Then why don’t you put an end to this hell? Why do you keep hurting me?” you asked, “why do we still have hide?”

“I don’t- I don’t know.”

“I do know” you said “you and I both lost and forgot what was real. I think it’d be better if we take time to ourselves you figure the things with the label out and I’ll just try to fix my broken heart.

You kissed him on the cheek. “Bye Michael.”

#5sos imagines #5sos fanfic #5sos blurb #5sos blurbs #5sos imagine #michael clifford x reader #michael clifford imagine #michael clifford fanfic #michael clifford blurb #michael clifford angst #michael clifford blurbs #michael clifford imagines

[fandom-necromancer]

A thing of beauty

I stumbled about this post of @isibakeoven and I just had to write it! I hope you enjoy!

Fandom: Cyberpunk 2077 | Characters: nomad!V, Johnny and more

‘How could this even happen?’ ‘I don’t think I have to tell you of all people how something like this can happen’, V spoke loud for once. They were alone in their apartment, so why bother? V smiled, petting Nibbles laying next to her on the ground while the small kittens tried to clumsily climb on her outstretched legs. ‘No shit, V. I meant that this is now happening on top of everything else! We are supposed to get rid of the chip, save your life. And now we have to look after… kittens?’ ‘They are cute though.’ ‘Damnit, V.’ The construct likely had wanted to sound frustrated, but there was a certain softness in his voice too. ‘They look all wrinkly…’ ‘Don’t listen to him’, V chuckled and lifted up one of the tiny cats that had repeatedly tried and failed to get a good grip on her pants. ‘You are perfect.’ ‘Well, we can’t keep them. They will grow up and need more space. And I doubt some mercenary that could die any given day could take care of them.’ V sat the little one down on her lab and watched amused as it tried to get underneath her jacket. ‘Didn’t know you would care this much.’ ‘Hell, V, what do you think of me? Who doesn’t like cats?’

V couldn’t help but grin as Johnny sat down next to her, watching the kittens mill about with a tiny smile on his lips. He was right, of course. Even Nibbles herself had been a heat of the moment decision and it was better than leaving her out on the streets. They couldn’t keep them all. But what should they do with them? ‘You could sell them to some rich corpos’, Johnny shrugged. ‘I mean, we would make a fortune with real cats and they would have a nice home with everything they could ever need.’ And that was coming from someone who hated these people. It made V think about it, but ultimately their guts told them no. ‘Fine, any other idea then?’ V watched the kittens play and sighed deeply. Who in this rotten world could they trust still? And who could take good care of a cat? Instinctively a few names popped up in their head. ‘Really? Your mercenary friends?’ Johnny asked. ‘Come on, they are as bad as you are. And don’t you dare give one to- You’ve already made up your mind, right?’ V chuckled. ‘Yes. Once they are old enough, it’s time for a roadtrip!’

-

The meows of the kittens in the box on the passenger seat were almost heart wrenching, but they had grown quite a lot already and begun to rearrange what little furniture V had in their apartment. Besides, V knew they would find a loving new home. ‘But that’s not your only reason, is it?’, Johnny asked from the backseat. ‘It isn’t and you know that, you are in my brain’, V sighed and stopped at the red light. ‘So what? You really want me saying it out loud?’ ‘Maybe so you know it’s bullshit. I won’t let you die, V, and that’s final.’ ‘Even if we find a solution for the chip that works – and I highly doubt that – as you said, I could die any other day. Might as well give my friends something to remember me. Something good in a world that doesn’t give a fuck about you.’ ‘Hell, you’re getting my level’s of cynic here…’ ‘So far I haven’t had the urge to blow up a building yet, so I would say I’m good for a few more days.’ ‘Har, har’, the construct laughed sarcastically, but continued to look out of the window the rest of the ride.

‘Hey, V!’, Judy greeted them at the door and frowned as she saw the giant bow in their arms. ‘Woah, what’s that?’ ‘Complications? It’s a gift. Will you let me in?’ ‘Err. Yeah… Gifted complications?’ V just entered her flat and put down the box on the kitchen counter. ‘You know, the cat I told you about? Nibbles? Well, turned out she was pregnant and left me a bunch of kittens I can’t keep. You want one?’ ‘Do I… V, the only animal I ever cared for are fish and- Oh my god, they are so cute!’ She had already leaned on the counter, looking through the bars and watching the little cats stumble about. ‘Aren’t you just the cutest?’ She put a finger through the gaps and promptly pulled it back. ‘Ouch!’ She pressed on the small cut but smiled. ‘Oh, I definitely want one!’ ‘Then pick one’, V laughed and pointed at the box. ‘Who of you was the one to scratch me, hm?’ She pulled out one of the cats and held her up. ‘Gonna call you Limónita!’ V shook her head, but watched, as Judy was already cuddling with the little thing seeming completely enamoured. ‘Do you have someone for the rest of them?’, she asked. ‘I have an idea, yes’, V answered. ‘Gonna drive by a few friends, see if they would like one.’ ‘Alright! Tell me if you can’t find homes for all of them, I could ask a few Mox.’ ‘Thanks. I will come back to that!’

‘One gone, six more to go’, Johnny commented, as V sat back down in the car and drove off. ‘Yep. Next stop: My favourite Ripperdoc.’ ‘Really? You want to give that butcher one?’ ‘That butcher saved my life countless times. And he is one of the few actually decent people out there. He will take good care of a cat. From all of them maybe the best as he actually settled down and has a more or less safe job.’ ‘Whatever you say…’

V stopped as close to the clinic as they could and stepped out with the box, hurrying down the stairs. Misty was the first to greet them, surprised to see them there. ‘V. What brings you here?’ ‘Is Vic free at the moment? I have something. For both of you actually, if you are interested.’ ‘He should be, I can call him. A surprise?’ ‘Yes.’ V put the box down on a near table and nodded towards the ripperdoc that came out of his room. ‘My cat got kittens. I’m searching for people to give them a home. With the way I live, it’s… difficult to take care of even one, don’t mind all of them.’ They didn’t mention the biochip, but both of them knew what they were implying with that. Viktor took one of the kittens out of the box and scratched it behind the ear with his mechanical extensions. Misty took one, too, surprisingly catching the one that liked to ride on shoulders. She laughed as the kitten clawed the way up her arm and watched the other one that was calmly accepting the pets. ‘Any idea for names?’, Viktor asked, eyes not even taken off the cat for a second. ‘Ying and Yang would be fitting. See? Yours even has a little black spot at the ear.’ ‘Isn’t that a little cliché?’, the doc asked and earned an in-depth explanation from Misty why they were the perfect names. V watched them a little, but in the end just took the box and stole themselves away.

‘Who’s next?’, Johnny asked, arms crossed behind his head. ‘Goro.’ Wait, what? I thought you were against selling them to some rich fucks!’ ‘I am. Takemura is a friend.’ ‘He’s Arasaka.’ ‘He’s Ex-Arasaka at best. And he will take good care of them.’ ‘Maybe, but… God, you’ve doomed that cat.’ ‘To the nice life of a spoiled kitty?’ ‘To sit through hours of meetings…’ ‘He’s a… You know what, I won’t even try. He’s nice and will love a kitty.’

V was proved correct in the end. She met Goro in a flat in a shady neighbourhood, but he had managed to tidy his temporary home up as if it was the corpo mansions he must be used to. He had been sceptical at first but as soon as he had taken a look into the box, he was almost instantly smitten with them and had sat down on the sofa with the kitten on his lap. He obviously tried to keep up a professional, stiff appearance, but as V left, they could hear the delighted ‘I hereby swear to protect you and care for you, Kitty-sama-‘ before the door fell into the lock.

She was still laughing when she came back to the car and drove off to her next target. ‘A cop. You are giving your cat to a cop?’ ‘I’m giving my cat to a loving family that always will have someone around to play with. I grew up knowing a family and I will always treasure those memories. Whatever kitten they pick, it will have a great life.’

‘V!’ They hadn’t even parked the car yet as the kids had spotted them. ‘V is here!’ ‘Are you staying to play?’ They laughed picking up the box. ‘I don’t think so. I have to speak with your dad, is he home?’ The children ran off to fetch him and V followed them, hoping the kittens would stay silent for a little while longer with the kids around. ‘V! What brings you here?’, River greeted them with a wide grin. ‘I’m looking for a home for my kittens. I can’t keep them. You look more of a dog person to me, but I’m not sure, so I thought I’d try.’ The man looked at them wide-eyed, then looking into the box. ‘You think I should… You would give me one?’ ‘I trust you to take good care of them’, V just nodded. He reached into the box and carefully lifted out a cat as if worried to break something. ‘So small’, he laughed, looking at the kitten fondly. He got to his knees, so the children could get a good look and a few pets, too. When he stood back up, he looked at V. ‘I will. This little kitty will have the best life I can give her.’ ‘Thank you.’

‘Okay, that was nice and all, but I have to stop you right there’, Johnny commented once again, as V was back in the car. ‘Kerry… Hell, he can’t even watch after himself. You… You’ve been to his house, okay? This should be obvious!’ ‘We both know that’s you being jealous he actually got over it and is successful now.’ ‘Yeah, well, because we turned up! Who knows what happens when we are gone.’ ‘I thought you said not to think about that because you won’t let me die?’ ‘I… Listen, you said you wouldn’t let me die either. So, I already know this will go to shit.’ ‘Kerry changed, Johnny. I trust him with a cat.’ Johnny sighed and vanished. ‘Why do I even try?’

At least the house was in less disarray than when V had last visited. The security was less hostile, too, allowing them to pass by and park right in front. ‘Hey, V? What’s up? Come in!’ He didn’t even acknowledge the box, leading them inside and pouring them a drink already. ‘My new song may be the best one I ever made; I’m telling you. I’ve made great progress!’ ‘I’m happy to hear that. Maybe once it’s ready, you could celebrate with a feline friend?’ The Rockstar turned around and only then saw the box, curiously looking into it. ‘Where did you get those cats?’ He had already taken one out to get a closer look. ‘They are worth a fortune, somehow I can’t believe you paid for it. Job gone wrong?’ ‘No, I took in a cat I found and she was pregnant. Now I’m looking for a home for them. Interested?’ ‘Interested?’ Kerry pulled the cat to his chest protectively now that he realised, he might get one. ‘I would love to have a cat! I just always saw the costs and… Well I guess my life style isn’t the most stable one. You would just… give one to me?’ ‘Sure’, V shrugged. ‘I mean you have the money to care for one, a place to live and I know you are a softie underneath that craziness.’ ‘Oh, I will take so good care of you’, Kerry chuckled. ‘I don’t need half the space I have; I will transform this home to your wishes.’ He smirked at V and addressed the cat again: ‘You’ll be the most spoiled cat in the world, and I will call you Johnny, so it fits!’

‘Oh, you won’t, you son of a-‘ V had to will the construct away not to laugh and left Kerry with his cat. Back in the car they felt sorry for the last cat in the box. ‘Don’t worry, you will get a nice home, too. You will like it. Always on the move, seeing the world. You will have a big family and believe me, nothing is better than laying in the sun on a warm dashboard seeing the world pass by.’ V felt Johnny’s eyes on them and sighed. ‘What? Back with the Bakkers we constantly picked up stray dogs and cats. Not that there were a lot. But I remember one that loved riding with us.’ Johnny answered by lifting up his hands in surrender and looking out through the window once again.

The drive to the Aldecaldo Camp took quite a while and the sun was already setting, as they reached the edge of it. It was in the progress of settling down for the night, the few guards on post nodding towards her and greeting her friendly but brief. It wasn’t far to Panam’s tent anyway, so V just passed them. ‘V! What a surprise! How are you?’ ‘Good. And you?’ ‘Can’t complain. What do you have there?’ ‘My cat had a litter. I found homes for all of them except this one. Wanted to keep the ride out here for last, you know how the city can get at night.’ ‘Okay’, Panam said, waiting for more. ‘So you want me to take the kitten?’ ‘If you want it’, V nodded. ‘I think you would take great care of a cat. And the Aldecaldos are there too.’ ‘But we will be on the move constantly, do you really think I should take her instead of someone in the city?’ ‘No one I know has a stable life, Panam. And with you I know the kitty is safe. You can always put a tracker on her collar or something if you fear her getting lost. If you want a cat.’ ‘Oh, I would love to! Thank you!’ She took the last kitten from the box, pulling her close to her chest and already looking for one of the larger trailers to keep it in for the beginning. ‘I will take good care of you kitty, V!’

‘And that was the last one of your kittens, V’, Johnny concluded on their way back. ‘I think your friends will give them a good home.’ ‘I hope it brings them joy. A little bit of good in this world.’ ‘Don’t be so pessimistic. The world may be a disaster, but if you know where to look, there will always be a little bit of good.’ ‘A thing of beauty?’, V teased, maybe not nearly as jokingly as they might had wanted it to be. ‘Who knows? Maybe?’, Johnny sighed. ‘However this might end, they will remember you, V. You won’t be forgotten.’ V lowered her head, gripping the steering wheel of the Porsche a bit harder. ‘And neither will you.’

#Cyberpunk 2077 #CP 2077 #Cyberpunk #nomad V #V #Johnny Silverhand #judy alvarez #misty olszewski #viktor vector #nibbles the cat #goro takemura #river ward #kerry eurodyne #panam palmer

[dannyboy-writes]

Red stains darker in the snow

The white lights blinded you as they took you to questioning, every cold hall the same sad shade of grey, and at every corner a guard posted. So monotonous. 

Your arms ached from the pressure a random agent was applying, and you couldn’t help but notice the stares coming from every inch of the room. 

Everyone but her. 

On one of the never-ending corridors they opened a steel door into an interrogation room, where they left you there for some time. 

There was close to nothing in the room. One metal table to which you were cuffed to, one very uncomfortable chair on each side of said table, and a mirror. 

As you fiddled with the cuffs the door opened, letting Bailey- or Bell- Barton in with a frown, who looked at the mirror after sparing you a glance, and sat.

“y/n l/n, is that even your name?” He asked, dropping the file.

“Who knows,” you shrugged.

“...fugitive in fifteen countries, twenty two states, wanted for terrorism, murder and the hijack of a high tech plane,” he started as you reminisced on previous assignments. “Where did you take it, the plane.”

“Plage de Carras.”

“Hmm, France. Was it nice?”

“Lovely,” you said with a smile. “You should go, you look like you need more sun.”

He smiled, “I wouldn’t gloat much if I were you. Where you’re going there’s not that much sun.”

“Well, I doubt you found anything at the apartment,” you said as his smile dissipated into the straight line it was at the beginning. “And there’s nothing you can trace me to… So, how would you arrest me? Unless SHIELD has fallen into the dark side of intelligence, alongside Hydra and the CIA-”

“The CIA isn’t Hydra,” he interrupted.

“How not? Hidden government organization, check; based in world domination, check; has multiple hidden bases and severe human rights violations, check and check. 

“Would you stop with the mind games,” he said, resting back in the chair.

“They’re not mind games-” you started.

“You’re a liar,” spat Barton as you looked at him.

“Am I, though?” You nonchalantly asked. 

“You told her you’d change, you’d be better.”

“Oh, that you mean. No, yeah, that was a lie,” you chuckled. “But it’s not like it was a ‘lie’ lie, I mean, she knew I wasn’t going to change. I don’t think it counts as a lie that way, do you?”

“Yes!” He snapped, hitting the metal table. He pinched the bridge of his nose and spoke in a calmer voice, “It counts. Maybe not to someone like you, l/n, but it does.”

“Ooh, not to someone like me,” you mocked. “We’re all the same, Barton. You, her, me. We all sell ourselves, our information, our skills. You do it for your precious America, she used to do it for Russia, I used to do the same. It doesn’t matter who you do it for, you do it. Your SHIELD is not so different from the Red Room, or where I grew up.”

“Where was that?”

“Wouldn’t you like to know,” you stated. “The point is, Barton, in this line of work, you have to lie, or you die. It’s that simple. And if you think Natasha over there, behind the mirror, doesn’t lie, you’re dumber than I thought.” 

She had to be behind it, or listening somewhere. She should’ve had the courage to sit in front of you, but apparently she didn’t. Madame B. would be disappointed. 

Barton said nothing, and you continued, “She is behind there, isn’t she? Waiting, calculating. Trying to crack what I’m doing.”

“Maybe,” he said. 

“Well, there’s no need to dwell too much on it. I can tell her myself.” 

“You can tell me,” he said as he scraped the chair to the floor, making you wince.

“Now, where’s the fun in that.”

At that he left, maybe thinking you would crack under the pressure of nobody… What a dumb plan.

A few hours passed and as you were stretching your muscles, the door opened again, this time, with a familiar tone of red walking in. 

“I was beginning to think you were a no show, Red,” you said while she sat in the chair.

She said nothing. 

“What’s wrong, cat got your tongue or something?”

“No, I’m fine,” she said, reading the file Barton had left there. 

There was not much in it, only a few minor inconveniences; still, there were some things that you’d rather forget there too.

“Your new team sucks at making files, by the way. There’s nothing there,” you started, tapping an old rhythm on the table. “I’ve noticed you, Red. You’re becoming sloppy.”

“Maybe I wanted you to notice, hmm. Ever thought of that?” She retorted.

You scoffed, “Now, why would you want that? Got a death wish or something?” 

“You wouldn’t.”

“I’m a changed fella, time does crazy things,” you snickered. 

“Why are you here, y/n?” She finally asked.

“I mean, it’s not like I chose to be here. If I had, there would be less cuffs and more beaches,” you said, tugging the restraints. “Although I do enjoy cuffs under the right circumstances… Remember?” You smirked.

“Fondly,” she met your eyes for the first time since she walked in, making you smile. “So,” she started. “What’s your plan?”

“There’s no plan,” you shrugged. 

“Bullshit.”

“I’m serious, no plan. Not a single thing, nada.” 

“No plan,” she said, as you nodded. “So, you knew the team was there…”

“Yup. They’re very sloppy.”

“You let them capture you…”

“Clearly.”

“All for nothing,” she finished.

“Well, not for nothing. I just said I had no plan,” you said.

“So what for then?”

“I was bored,” you stated, wandering your gaze around the room.

“Bored?”

You nodded, “Bored.”

“What, do they have a bad retirement plan at Hydra?”

“Very funny,” you said, a resigned smile on your lips. 

“I’m going to ask again, then, and don’t lie to me. Why are you here?”

You took a deep, sharp breath before saying, “I need help.”

“Help?”

“Yep.”

“I’m sorry, I thought you said you needed help,” she said in disbelief.

“Well, there’s no need to be smug about it,” you said. “I’m only human, Nat.”

“Doubtful. Go on, help with what?”

“As you know, I’m a wanted criminal in many places,” you said, stopping for her to nod. “And, as you also might know or figure out, some of those places want me to go to their little dark prisons.”

“Which is understandable, considering everything you’ve done.”

“What about what you’ve done, huh Red? You don’t get to pay for those?” You accused, and when she didn’t say anything, added, “Joking.”

“Anyway, as I was saying, some of them want me imprisoned, most want me dead. And it’s catching up, and I can’t avoid it all on my own. So, I’m here in search of help,” you concluded.

“Why should I help you, y/n? We haven’t seen each other in years.”

It was a fair argument.

"I mean, you don't have to help me. By all means, you're free to let me go. In fact, you should. I don't bring anything good to this situation. I'm a fugitive with zero information on anything and a target bigger than my back. Just me.”

She stared at you for a second, “It's not like we had much before.”

“True, we were great,” you mused. “Whatever happened to us?”

“You kept working for Hydra as I left the KGB and joined SHIELD,” she reminded you.

“Well, it’s not like I had much of a choice, Natasha,” you said, getting serious. “You left without saying a word and I had to deal with the consequences. That mission was mine too and you messed it up. Just packed and left. I was left to fend for myself, and try not sell you out.”

She was quiet. Probably had no idea you had suffered for her departure; or that you didn’t sell her out, even if it would’ve meant much less pain for you. 

“I thought about doing it,” you continued. “Sell you out. It would’ve solved many problems.”

“Why didn’t you?” She asked without a second thought.

Now you were quiet. Very quiet.

“I- I guess I wanted something good to come out of that mess. I don’t know, I wanted to think you were out, and it was something less to worry about. But it backfired,” you finally said.

“Backfired how?”

“Well, you became the mission after your little escape. And who better than me to find you,” you scoffed. “I mean, they knew everything, Red. Every single thing. Every secret code we had, every place we met at.”

She shook her head, “There’s no way, how would they know?”

“I have no fucking idea how! But they knew,” you shook your head. “Now, there’s no need to get into that. Will you help me?”

She took a deep breath and nodded, “Yes.”

As you were thanking her a knock on the glass stopped you. Natasha left the room and met with a very angry Clint Barton.

“What are you doing, Tasha?” He asked while pinching the bridge of his nose.

“They need help, okay. I have to,” she said.

“You don’t have to do anything. They made their choice a long time ago.”

Natasha only shook her head.

“Why do you still have their back?” He asked.

Ah, the million dollar question.

“We go back, Clint. They've saved me countless times.”

“They’ve tried to kill you as many times as well,” he added.

“You don’t get it. It was my fault,” she said.

He raised an eyebrow for her to continue.

“When I left. When I decided to go with you, I- I didn’t even think of bringing them with. And they suffered because of that choice I made.”

“It’s not your fault,” he said and she looked at him. “Whatever happened to y/n when you left is not your fault.”

“But it is!” She shouted. “It is. And now they need help, and I’m not gonna turn my back on them again, Clint. I can’t.”

Barton was about to say something but he stopped himself. “Okay,” He started. “We’ll help them.”

-

Natasha entered the questioning room some time after leaving you with your thoughts, this time accompanied by Barton. 

“We’ll help,” she only said.

“We?” You asked.

“We,” said Barton. “I’m not going to let you be alone with her.”

“Scared I’ll steal your girlfriend?”

He grabbed the collar of your shirt, “Now, let me be clear with something l/n. Just because we’re helping, doesn’t mean I’ll let you run around like a child in a park. Do you understand me?”

“I understand,” you huffed, throwing your body backwards to get out of his grip. “So, when are we leaving?”

“Leaving?” They both asked in synchrony. 

"You didn't expect us to stay here, right? There's gotta be a safehouse somewhere harder to infiltrate than this place,” you said.

“This place isn’t easy to infiltrate,” Barton defended.

“It is. I did it twice,” you admitted. “Hypothetically speaking, of course.” 

Barton unclasped the cuffs, "Hypothetically speaking, huh? Was that a confession?" 

“No, simply a statement on the security of this place,” you shrugged.

“There’s a safehouse up north,” Natasha said. “But it’s cold this time of year.”

“Please, Red. You grew up in Russia, you gonna tell me a little snow is too much for you?”

“I don’t remember it was me whining about the cold in our stakeouts,” she retorted.

“No, that was because you stole all my jackets and covers and I was left with nothing but light sweaters,” you bickered back while Barton cursed to himself for getting in this mess with you both.

“Alright you two,” he interrupted. “We leave tomorrow.” 

You shook your head, “Now.” 

“We need to prep everything for the trip, and tell Fury about-”

“You’ll tell no one nothing,” you almost shouted, banging your hand on the table. “You can’t,” you said more calmly. 

“Why not?” Natasha asked. 

“Because- It’s imperative that no one knows about this.”

“We can trust Fury,” said Barton. 

“You can’t trust anyone,” you spat. “Not if you want to live. We leave tonight. Is there a car we can take?” You asked, looking at Natasha who was silent.

She knew you were right. After all, not long ago, SHIELD was infiltrated by Hydra. 

“There’s a car,” she said, while Barton stared at her. “That’s how we stayed alive.” 

He sighed loudly in defeat as you stared blankly at the metal table. “Okay, we take the car and head north to the safehouse. Then what?”

“Then we wait,” you said. 

“Wait for what,” asked Natasha.

“For my contact.” 

The mildly hard part of the plan was escaping from SHIELD headquarters, but even that wasn’t so hard. Next, you all found your way to a car parked at the last level of a parking lot, under some dusty blankets. 

Natasha started driving and when she got tired Barton took over, while she slept on the back, which made the car’s habitacle a tense place. 

Neither Barton nor you said a single word for the time Natasha was asleep; there wasn’t even a single stare between the both of you. 

When Natasha woke up you decided you were going to drive a bit, to get your mind busy on something; so with Natasha as the copilot you took the wheel, and it wasn’t until she was sure Clint was asleep that she spoke.

“Okay, what are you not saying?”

 “What,” you asked.

“Something is different,” she started. “What is it?”

“You mean besides the fact that multiple governments want me dead?”

“I don’t buy that. Countries have wanted you dead for years, why does it matter now?”

You sighed staring at the newfound snow on the route, “It’s nothing.”

She wanted to say something, to protest against your lack of answer but she didn’t.

You got to the safehouse after almost an hour of thick, sickening silence, and Natasha would’ve preferred a millennia of quiet instead of what she heard. 

One piercing bullet sound, and you falling to your knees.

While Clint left to find whoever had fired the gun Natasha froze still in the white before falling to her knees with you, cradling you.

“You’ll be okay,” she said, applying pressure on your abdomen. “Everything will be okay.”

You managed a crooked smile and a reassuring look before placing your hand on her cheek, “It’s okay, Red. It’s okay.”

She held your hand and kept repeating the same four words on and on, and she didn’t realise when you drifted off to sleep until it was too late; when she was covered in your blood on the white snow. 

She stayed there, by the car, covered in a mix of blood and snow and hugged you. It wasn’t until she saw Clint coming back with defeat plastered on his face that she realised what’d happened. 

He helped her into the safehouse and brought your lifeless body, covering it with a sheet. 

“Did you find whoever did this?” She asked after a long time of silence.

“I only found the gun,” he said.

“We’ll find them.”

#natasha romanoff x reader #natasha romanoff imagine #marvel imagine

[serifsans]

2007

“They fly in fish from the Toyosu Market three times a week. Every vegetable? Grown local. They bring out fruit after from Sembikiya: so damn good you’ll cry. Oldest luxury fruit market in Japan. They sell these melons that cost more than a car. You order the steak here and that’s Wagyu: real Wagyu beef, not that bullshit people try to pass off as Wagyu. You never tasted anything like it, kid.”

Vladimir eats a piece of smoked salmon nigiri (it’s one of the best things he’s ever tasted and he’s so sorry that he’ll never come back here if he has any say in the matter now that he knows it’s Syndicate-owned.) and feels his blood pressure rise.

“Yeah, I’ve been to Japan too,” he says. “It’s good. I’m a pescatarian now, so no more steak.”

“Is that some new kind of vegan?” Yura asks. “They keep inventing new ones, swear to god, I can’t keep track of this shit. Kat came home the other day, says she’s paleo now because it’s natural or some shit. What the fuck is paleo?”

“You only eat what a caveman eats. No sugar or grain. No alcohol either,” Vlad replies. "You can eat meat though."

“What the fuck.”

“Yeah, pretty much. I don’t do that shit. Pescatarian means you don’t eat meat but you still eat fish. I’m not giving up mayonnaise or lox, fuck that, not going vegan. You ruined all chances of me ever going full vegetarian, by the way, so fuck you for raising me in New York, asshole.”

“Fuck you too, you little shit,” his brother says with mock anger and Vlad has to remind himself of what happened to Leah because when he’s around Yura, it’s too easy for him to feel like a kid again, safe and happy, like before everything went to shit and he realized just what exactly his big brother was doing in America.

Yura is not safe to be around. He cannot forget that. He should not be someone whose approval he’s still so desperate to get, even as an adult, but here we are. Vladimir thinks there must be something wrong with him for coming back into the fold.

“Can you even get decent lox in Orlando?”

Vlad shrugs, picks at his daikon salad.

“No, the bagels are all pretty much shit. I find a place I like and then it just becomes a fucking Fanera within the year, so I don’t even try. Shit, the whole damn food scene is so touristy that any time I want a decent meal, I just go down to Miami.”

“I told you not to move to a tourist trap but you never listen to what’s best,” Yura says and despite the light tone, Vlad knows he’s still upset he didn’t move back to NYC.

“Yeah, well, that tourist money’s pretty damn nice, so I think we’re good, bagels or no bagels,” he says, sharper than he meant. God, when the hell will the waiter bring out more sake? He needs something to cool down his nerves or he’s going to say something he’ll regret. He can never tell if he wants to punch or hug his brother.

“Tourists come to New York too,” Yura says flatly like it’s the most obvious thing in the world, which, yeah, it is. Vladimir sighs and decides he might as well eat some of this daikon rather than stirring it around with his chopsticks.

“Sorry, that was rude of me. It’s been a really long day. Five hour conference call. No one needs to talk about silicon that long,” he says, cringing internally because he knows Yura hates reminders about what Vlad does for a living because shooting a guy between the eyes is completely fine but selling toys isn’t. Vlad’s the black sheep of the family for a lot of reasons.

"Look, Orlando’s been good for my boyfriend. He’s delicate, needs that warm air. And there’s less, you know, mosquitos.”

Yura gives him an incredulous look.

“What, are they spraying DDT again? You’re feeding me bullshit on that one, kiddo.”

“The mosquitos don’t like it because it’s sunny,” Vlad says. He tries the mackerel. This is the best sushi he’s had in his entire life outside of Japan and even then, it’s almost as good.

"Ah. That sort. So, this man you’re seeing. Is it serious? Have you been seeing him long? Will you marry? They say they’re going to make that legal.”

Vlad grits his teeth, hopes the waiter didn’t overhear that bit about vampires as he approaches the table. The man makes idle small talk as he presents a new bottle of sake and Vlad smiles as much as he can and does not hear a single word. He does not want to talk about his relationship. Yura doesn’t get to know anything about Jean-Paul, not that they’ve been seeing each other for years, not even his name. If he starts trying to get him to settle down again, he’s going to walk right out of here. He's going to finally work up the nerve.

"I have a company. I don’t have time for shit like that. I barely have enough time to go on a date once a week. No.”

There is not enough sake to deal with this.

“So what? We can arrange something, cut out all the hassle. You like men, we can set you up with a man of good character, get you a husband. Sokolov’s got a boy he doesn’t know what to do with, says he’s a fan of ballet. The Sokolovs are good people, loyal. It’d be a good match.”

Vlad groans and shotguns an entire glass because it might not be enough but it’s better than nothing. Cool, the fucking mob isn’t as homophobic as it could be, fucking superb.

“Yeah and how long has Solokov’s brat been legal to drink? How are his college courses coming along, huh? And what, what the hell does that even mean, a fan of ballet? Does he do pirouettes? Does he do that flippy shit? Does he have Mikhail Baryshnikov’s autograph? Is this even a little gay boy we’re talking about or does he just own tights? Look, your men might be into the trophy spouse thing but that’s not my style.”

Yura can, in fact, be cowed a little.

“Well, you know, I’m just going off of what Sokolov said,” he says, ears red. “Hey, I don’t know what you like. What, you like the Vincent Price type instead or something? Okay, that one’s a bit harder to find but I can work something out.”

Fuck, shit, damn, he loves him but why the hell does Yura always start in on this shit the minute he gets him into a room? Also, yeah, but he doesn’t need to know that.

“God, butt out of my dating life already, old man,” Vlad groans, going in for more sake. “What, do you do this to Leah too or-”

Vladimir cuts himself off suddenly and looks down at the sushi boat, does not look at his brother, barely dares to breathe. Silence weighs heavily in the air. They don’t talk about Leo and they don’t talk about the wife he left behind.

The wife he left behind. As if he had any choice in the leaving. As if he might come back. Leo had the backbone to make a stand for what he believed in but Vladimir? No. Call him pragmatic or call him a coward; Vlad knows which one he is.

“I’m sorry,” he says, and this time he's cringing externally, heart in his throat. Yura is his brother. Yura loves him despite everything. Yura never faulted him for leaving. But Leo had practically been a brother to them both. Leah used to be his only friend. Vladimir does not want to test the limits of his brother's patience.

"I'm sorry," he says again. His hand is shaking. Displays of weakness like this are not becoming of a Volchenkov. He's been away too long. He's not like them.

"What do you have to be sorry for? You didn't do anything wrong," Yura says and there is a hint of almost amusement in his face. "We don't talk these days. It's too bad. I always thought she'd be a good match for Maxim."

"Yeah," he replies because he does not know what else to say. His sake cup suddenly fascinates him.

"Hey, hey, chin up, okay? I'm making sure Leah's taken care of. It wasn't personal. It was just one of those things that had to be done. We run a clean operation. We're men of honor."

"I know. I don't doubt that. I just didn't need to bring up someone I had no business talking about. It was...painful."

Say it nonchalant. Eat a sushi roll. Try not to show weakness. They say Leo could only be identified by a single tattoo after Yura was done with him.

"Fuck, yeah, I miss him every day. Loved him like a brother. But listen," Yura says and then he reaches out to put his hand on top of Vlad's like he did to calm him down when he was twelve and uncertain.

"At the end of the day, he wasn't family. You are. I take care of my own house. You're soft but you're still a Volchenkov."

"I'm not soft. I'm not."

"Yeah, kid," Yura says as he pours more sake. "You are."

#ooc #drabble

[darkshadow90]

A very long Rant about Loki’s nerfed sorcery in the MCU and his show

Hey guys I wanted to make a post about a big issue I had with the Loki show. I still really enjoyed it, but I also wanted to share a major criticism I’ve had with MCU Loki for a long time. All my feelings about this over the years came to roost after the season finale. I know things are really tense in the fandom right now, and I don’t hate the show. I just want to share my criticism. I want to talk about how I’ve had this issue for awhile before I talk about it in the actual show because I’m hoping I’m not the only one who’s kind of pissed, considering I was hoping to finally see it happen in his show, and that would be the fact that Loki’s sorcery is STILL so fucking nerfed. First though, I’m gonna talk about Loki’s nerfed sorcery in the MCU, and oh boy there’s a lot. Get ready for an overly long rant. I’ve really needed to get this off my chest.

I’ve been on the Loki train since the very beginning. I’ve loved him since the first Thor movie. I may have mentioned this before, but a big thing that always irked me about MCU Loki was how nerfed he was in terms of his sorcery. We’re always told how he’s a very powerful sorcerer and he barely uses his magic. He does one awesome thing in each Thor movie. In the first movie, in the end credits scene it’s implied Loki was influencing Selvig while he was in another  dimension. Is it ever mentioned or seen again? No. There’s a scene in Thor: The Dark World where right after he finds out about Frigga’s death, he destroys his cell using telekinesis. Does he ever use it to fight? No, and if he does it’s just to throw his knives at people LOL. Or in Thor: Ragnarok when he looked into Valkyrie’s mind and saw her memories. Odin also mentions that Loki put him under a spell, and Frigga would have been proud because it took Odin a long time to break the spell. It really would have been nice to SEE that happen, but no, we just get to be told about it. Every time I saw Loki use an awesome ability, I would think “Oh wow, that’s so cool! I can’t wait to see more. I can’t wait to see what else Loki can do!” And then the MCU is like, “Yeah Loki can do all these cool things. But were not gonna expand on his abilities, and this is the only time you’ll ever see him use them. You’ll never see them again so just forget you saw anything LOL” God it’s such an aggravating tease. 

This isn’t a new issue I’ve had with Loki being nerfed in the MCU. It’s always bothered me. Yes, I know certain characters being nerfed isn’t new, that Loki isn’t the only one. But to me he’s one of the most nerfed characters in terms of being able to use his magic. I would always mention to people that I didn’t like how nerfed he was. What was the point of telling us he’s one of if not the most powerful sorcerer in Asgard if he BARELY uses it? And they would say, “Well, they can’t make him as powerful as he is in the comics because then he’ll overshadow the heroes.” Okay fine, I can cut them some slack there as we did need to see the Avengers come together. Or they’d say “Not everyone reads the comics, so MCU Loki isn’t gonna be exactly like comic book Loki.” Okay, but people shouldn’t have to read the comics to see how powerful of a sorcerer Loki is. Is there some kind of unspoken rule that says if there are characters who use magic or sorcery in the MCU, only the heroes are allowed to be extremely powerful? Because Wanda and Doctor Strange still get to use their abilities, and in Wandavision, Wanda becomes even more powerful, and it’s amazing. 

Why can’t Loki ever use his powers? Because he’s a “villain?” What would be so bad about allowing Loki be the sorcerer he’s supposed to be? You mean Loki would actually be able to be a powerful villain? Sorry, but I don’t see how that’s a bad thing. I don’t think giving people more of a reason to love Loki is a bad thing. If anything, if they do read the comics, or are at least somewhat familiar with what Loki can do, they might be a little upset about how much the MCU has nerfed him like I was, and still am. Maybe if Loki was actually allowed to use his magic, he wouldn’t get his ass kicked all the time, and he’d actually be a threat to his opponents.

 I don’t think Loki really needed to use the Mind Stone to control people in the Avengers, he probably could've done it using his magic. I actually think it would’ve been cool if Loki used his sorcery to amplify the negative emotions Bruce was feeling to manipulate him. Bruce knows something is wrong, and maybe Thor seeing Bruce struggling, trying to fight whatever is harming him is able to figure out Loki is exploiting Bruce’s negative emotions to manipulate him. Thor knows how powerful Loki is and he’s trying to help Bruce fight off Loki’s influence, but he’s too powerful. Bruce can’t fight the anger Loki is making him feel so he transforms into the Hulk and Loki is able to bend the Hulk to his will. I think that would’ve been a lot cooler than the Mind Stone being the thing that was responsible for amplifying everyone’s negative feelings, but that’s just me. How cool would it be not just to have a master manipulator but an extremely powerful sorcerer to deal with? I thought that was initially what was happening.  I thought at first Loki was using his magic through the scepter, that he was actually using his magic and his skills as a master manipulator. But no, apparently he was just using the Mind Stone. 

Also I know that there was only so much time for that small scene between Loki and Doctor Strange in Ragnarok, and it was really cool to see the two of them on screen, but Loki should’ve been more powerful than Doctor Strange. Don’t get me wrong, I love Doctor Strange. He’s very powerful and could put up a good fight against Loki if the two of them ever had to fight each other. But Loki should be more powerful. He’s a god. He’s lived for thousands of years and studied magic for a very long time. He should have centuries of not a thousand years more knowledge and skills with sorcery. I think he might find Strange’s sorcery impressive for a mortal, but in terms of his skills and abilities, Loki should be much stronger. I think the dialogue should’ve been more like, “Oh, so you went up against Dormammu? That’s cute. I’ve been able to do all the things you can do for centuries, but if it’s any consolation, your sorcery is impressive for a mortal.” But no, instead Loki is once again played for laughs and just takes out those useless daggers again before being yeeted though a portal.

 Also yeah I’m gonna say it. The fight with Valkyrie is a fight Loki should have won. If he used his magic he would’ve won. He wouldn’t even need to use violence. He could’ve just restrained her and put her to sleep and she could wake up from a nice nap or something. I’m so sick of Loki ALWAYS getting his ass kicked by everyone and being treated like a joke. He’s so fucking weak when he doesn’t need to be. He capable of so much more. We know he is because they always trolled us in each Thor movie when Loki would do one awesome thing one time in the movies and then never again, always hinting that he’s much stronger but they’re afraid to show more of it because god forbid he become even more popular. 

And the final part of the nerfing of Loki’s sorcery before I finally get to his show, and that would be his death in Infinity War. Now listen, my issues isn’t that Loki died. I understand the point of his death. They had to sell Thanos as the big bad. Infinity War was Thanos’ movie. Loki died trying to save his brother. Loki probably knew there was a very good chance he would die. My problem is with how it was handled. Loki is supposed to have tons of magical abilities, right? So why didn’t he at least try to use his magic? Why didn’t he cast an illusion, or shapeshift? Why didn’t he use a teleportation ability or something? Was I expecting Loki to beat Thanos? No, but goddam it, anything would’ve been better than those fucking useless butter knives. God, they couldn’t let him use his magic one last time before he died could they? Also I hate that Loki and Thor never got to have that brotherly hug and Loki never had the chance to reconcile with the Avengers. Wouldn’t it have been cool if Loki got the chance to fight along side the Avengers and died, so they could see he really did change for the better? Apparently not, I guess.

And now, we finally come to Loki’s show, which actually pisses me of more than the movies. You know, I would be more forgiving about all the bullshit excuses people have said or tried to give for Loki being so nerfed. I let it slide because the movies weren’t completely about him, and I could see where Loki’s popularity overshadowing Thor, the Avengers, or the heroes in general might be an issue in terms of sales and getting people to care about the other movies. Hell, Loki was the reason I watched the Thor movies in the first place. That was when he wasn’t the main focus. When I heard he had a show coming I had hope that I would finally get to see Loki be the sorcerer he was supposed to be. There’s no other characters to worry about Loki overshadowing, so now there’s really nothing standing in their way of showing how powerful he is right? After 10 years, I’d finally get to see all the focus on a character I love, he’d no longer be nerfed, right? Wrong. I was so excited, practically giddy when Loki fired green magic beams in a fight and used Telekinesis to stop a building from falling on him and Sylvie. I was so happy because it was a taste of what I had been wanting to see from Loki for so long. I was excited to see more.

Unfortunately, that was really all we got from Loki. Well, except for when he used teleportation to try and stop Sylvie from killing He Who Remains. Guys, I’ve loved Loki since the first Thor movie. It always bothered me that he was so nerfed in the movies, but I was able to look past it because he very well may have overshadowed the other characters if he was allowed to have all his powers. I can understand that. But the fact that he’s so nerfed, maybe even more nerfed in his own show than he was in the movies really pisses me off. I think it’s cool to see all the different Loki variants using magic, but there’s absolutely no reason for Tom Hiddleston’s Loki not having the same powers and abilities as the other Loki variants. What really burned my ass was in Episode 5 when Loki said he couldn’t enchant or didn’t know how to enchant. Fucking really? He did it to Valkyrie in Ragnarok. And before you come at me “Loki in Ragnarok was older than 2012 Loki so Loki probably didn’t know how to enchant before Ragnarok.” Okay fair enough. The thing is though Loki is thousands of years old. He should have centuries to at least a few thousand years worth of knowledge about sorcery. And we’re supposed to think after all that time studying it he wouldn’t know how to enchant someone? Bullshit. Loki should’ve had all of these abilities  and more all along in the MCU and especially in his own show. There’s no excuse for why he’s not just as powerful as the other Loki variants.

Look, I really hate that I had to make such a long post about this. I hate being negative. I really appreciate that we got a Loki show. I’m really happy to see Tom Hiddleston so passionate about it. There’s a lot I appreciate about this show. But the fact that Tom’s Loki was always so nerfed and not really allowed to be the powerful sorcerer he was supposed to be always bothered me. I’m not even saying I’m upset that MCU Loki isn’t exactly like Loki in the comics. I’m saying that  I always wanted to see Tom’s Loki kick ass as a sorcerer for the past 10 years. I was upset that I never got to see him do it in the movies. And when his show was announced I was excited to see him finally use his magic particularly in fights, and to see it even more underutilized was really disappointing. I was patient for 10 years and all I got to see was Loki firing green energy balls, and use telekinesis, and teleportation ONE time, and all the other Loki variants are so much more powerful than him. Not to mention he gets knocked around like a ragdoll all the time. Is it too much to ask to see Tom’s Loki actually be allowed to be a powerful sorcerer and be able to hold his own in fights? Can I see him use cool abilities MORE than once? Can I see more than just illusions and daggers? Can Tom’s Loki be allowed to be a threat instead of being used for laughs? If  the writers for the MCU are gonna mention that Loki is a very power sorcerer, then they should stop nerfing him, and let him be a sorcerer.

I know the first season was basically used to set up the multiverse and the next phase of the MCU which is cool, but I really hope they focus more on Loki and his abilities in season 2. I’m really trying to stay hopeful when people say Loki will use more magic in season 2, but I don’t want to get clowned again. But I’m also starting to think when they say Loki will use more magic in season 2, it won’t be Tom’s Loki. If Tom’s Loki isn’t allowed to be the awesome sorcerer he deserves to be in his own show, then at least we still have fanfiction and the comics. By the way, I’m not throwing shade at fanfiction writers a lot of them write great stories and do a far better job showcasing Loki’s sorcery than the MCU. I have a lot of respect for you guys :) Sorry this was so long, but after the finale I had a lot of frustration to get off my chest.

#Loki Laufeyson #Loki Fandom #MCU loki #loki (marvel) #loki disney+ #loki #loki series

[ikkaku-of-heart]

Her Brother's Blood is on His Hands

(Originally written for @heart-pirates-week for Ikkaku’s day with the prompt “Family” but ended up being delayed until now. Inspired by discussions with @shambledsurgeon and @medicus-mortem)

Ikkaku awoke slowly, the persistent beeping of a heart monitor resembling that of a particularly slow but annoying alarm clock. She tried to sit up but a sharp pain in her side dissuaded her, so she was forced to remain on her back, looking around at the sterile walls of the infirmary. She was hooked up to an IV, there were several machines monitoring her vitals, and she could feel the pressure of tightly-wound bandages around her torso and arms.

“Welcome back to the land of the living,” Law said from the chair at her bedside, putting down the medical book he’d been reading. The circles under his eyes appeared darker than usual, but his grin was comforting and sure. “I was beginning to wonder if we’d have to resort to drastic measures to wake Sleeping Beauty.”

“Law?” she asked weakly, grimacing at how hoarse she sounded due to the dryness of her throat. “The fuck happened?”

“Gonna have to be more specific,” he stated as he carefully helped prop her up enough that she could safely drink some water. “Do you mean how did you end up here? Maybe the extent of your wounds? Or how about what, exactly, I did to the fucker who hurt you?”

Her eyes widened as she recalled what had happened. She’d been taking a walk with Jean Bart, venting about how much she hated that they were now government dogs because Law’d insisted on handing the Navy one hundred hearts. They’d run into a squad of Marines. Her brother’s squad, to be exact. Ushi had decided it was pointless trying to climb the Navy ranks the normal way, and thus had come up with the idea of sucking up to the Celestial Dragons. And what better way to do so than to return to Saint Rosward his wayward slave?

Heart clenching at the thought of her shipmate being handed back over to those bastards, she asked, “Is Jean—”

“He’s fine. Discharged yesterday,” Law promised, nodding towards the empty bed on the other side of the room. He picked up a chart, studying it as he continued, “Needed a lot of stitches for the lacerations across his back and arms, but nothing life-threatening.”

“Good,” she sighed in relief. He hadn’t been killed or taken. Jean Bart would continue to live as a free man for a while longer. He deserved that much.

“Was quite the sight, seeing him charging towards the ship, covered in blood, carrying you like a baby while you bled out from a stab wound,” he commented, voice even, though there was an unmistakable tightness in his jaw. “I’m just glad he managed to tell me who’d done this to you two before he passed out.”

White teeth sank into her bottom lip, guilt pulsing through her. That’s right. It hadn’t exactly been a victory. They’d managed to take down most of the Marines, but Ushi had managed to get behind her, and then there’d been excruciating pain as he’d driven a knife deep into her side…

“I’m sorry, Captain,” she whispered, black curls hiding her face as she hung her head in shame.

“The hell are you apologizing for?” he asked, gold eyes flicking up from the clipboard and narrowing in displeasure.

She wrung her hands, anxious and guilty. “Jean Bart got hurt because of my family baggage.”

“He got hurt because of an opportunistic asshole who decided that Jean being under the protection of a shichibukai didn’t matter,” he snapped. Pausing, he took a deep breath to compose himself. “The fact that said asshole came out of the same uterus as you is irrelevant.”

“We both know that’s not true,” she countered, refusing to look at him. “He targeted the Hearts because of me. He always has. And he wouldn’t have been able to go after Jean Bart if I’d let you kill him years ago. Or killed him myself. You deserve a subordinate with the stones to kill her own brother.”

Internally, she berated herself for that last part. None of this would be a problem if she’d just toughened up and put an end to that bastard. Why did she always seem to stop herself? Morality? Because she knew how heartbroken her parents would be? Because even years later, she was still scared of her childhood boogeyman?

Her thoughts were disturbed by the clipboard lightly smacking her on the head in reproach. It didn’t hurt, but Ikkaku rubbed her head anyway, frowning up at her captain. “You trying to knock me unconscious again?”

“If that’s what it takes to get you to stop talking bullshit,” he retorted. He glared at her for a moment before letting out a sigh, a tattooed hand falling heavily on her shoulder. “Ikkaku,” Law stated, tone brokering no argument, “what I deserve is a subordinate with the stones to stand up to a power-hungry bastard looking to sell her nakama to a bunch of delusional inbred freaks, which that’s exactly what I’ve got. And what you deserve is to not get stabbed in the spleen by your own blood.”

Well. It was hard to argue that logic. “I guess. But next time—”

“There won’t be a next time.”

“You don’t know that.”

The hand on her shoulder fell away to flip through the pages of her chart. “Ikkaku, you nearly bled out before you even got to the sub. You’re lucky Shachi and Penguin share your blood type and were basically tripping over themselves to donate. I had to replace your spleen and left kidney, and if that knife had gone in at a slightly different angle, he could have punctured your stomach or lung. In other words, this bastard nearly cost me my engineer. You’ve known me for goin’ on five years now; do you really think that once you were stable I just sat around twiddling my thumbs while I waited for you to wake up?”

Dark eyes widened in realization. “Did you kill him?”

“Would you be mad if I said I had?”

No. Not at him at least, but she still felt like she’d let him down by not being able to do it herself. “He shouldn’t have been your problem to solve.”

“You’re right. He shouldn’t have been a problem,” he replied harshly. Before Ikkaku could internally berate herself further, though, Law ran a hand through his hair in frustration, and there was a spark of guilt in his eyes. “No Marine should have even touched you guys. That’s supposed to be one of the fucking perks of being a shichibukai. I told you when I took this damn title that you be safe and look how that turned out.”

Yes, that had been a major argument between them, hadn’t it? For Ikkaku, not wanting to be affiliated with the World Government hadn’t just been a matter of pride or general hatred for the bastards who ran the world – she’d been afraid. Terrified that her brother would be waiting for her around every corner. That he’d find a way to get her alone, to finish the job he’d started when she was seven, to finally get her out of his hair. Law had promised she’d be safe, that he wouldn’t let him so much as breath near her. Eventually, she’d come to believe him, but things hadn’t gone to plan.

“You can’t blame yourself for Ushi not following the rules, Law,” she insisted. Yeah, she could have berated him for not listening to her, but in reality, Law’s logic had been sound; Ushi shouldn’t have dared to try anything. Ikkaku didn’t just have the Hearts protecting her anymore – the Navy itself had become another obstacle in his way. She should have been safe.

However, even she hadn’t fully considered why Ushi would go this far, but in hindsight, it made sense. Last she’d checked, he hadn’t been promoted in a while. Hadn’t advanced as quickly as he wanted or earned any accolades for heroism like everyone back home had been expecting. He was a commodore still – not even a rear-admiral, and his name didn’t strike fear into the hearts of pirates like Smoker’s did.

Because he’d been put on a pedestal, her brother had always gotten away with everything, which had only enforced his cruel and abusive nature. The whole island had believed that he’d become a famous Marine and boost their reputation, which was why they’d been willing to overlook the bruises that littered his sister’s arms, or the fact that she’d gone missing for three days while under his care.

If he’d come home a failure, everyone would have to finally admit he was nothing but a twisted, cruel bully. And instead of accepting the blame for enabling, they’d likely make him answer for his crimes.

But more than that, he’d be forced to accept that he was never that special to begin with, and she knew a man as arrogant as him wouldn’t be able to bear that.

Shaking her head, she almost felt pity for him. “Ushi was desperate, and desperate men are unpredictable as fuck. You couldn’t have known he’d be crazy enough to try to suck up to the Celestial Dragons.”

“Neither of us could have known, but I still could have protected you better,” Law retorted, crossing his arms. He still didn’t look fully convinced of his own absolution, but he declared quite plainly, “The fact is, brothers shouldn’t murder their younger siblings, or even try to.”

Well, not even Ikkaku could argue that.

But actions had consequences, and there was still a strong chance Law’s retaliation, justified or not, would bite him in the ass.

“Ushi might have been no one special, but the Navy’s not going to be happy about you killing one of their own,” she said, genuinely worried. Even if Ushi had been going against orders, shichibukai weren’t supposed to attack their Marine allies. What if they decided to strip Law of his new title? Sure, she hated that he was a government dog, but it was a vital part of his plan to take down Joker, and if that had been stripped away because he’d recklessly pursued revenge on her behalf…

The way he smirked at her belied that he didn’t share even a fraction of her concern. “The Navy’ll have a hell of a time pinning a murder on me when there’s no evidence. It’s unlikely he was ordered to attack you and Jean Bart, so there’s no paper trail. The man was obsessed with advancing up the ladder, so likely only a select few are even aware you’re related, thus no one knows of his unfortunate connection to the Heart Pirates. And unless they plan on gutting a bunch of Sea Kings and piecing together chunks of half-digested flesh, I doubt they’ll find enough of his body to even determine his cause of death.”

“You fed him to Sea Kings?”

“His remains, at least. As for how I killed him…well, I won’t bore you with the details.”

It was highly doubtful what he’d done could be described as boring, but Ikkaku decided not to press him. Knowing Law, it had been slow, painful, and had probably involved dissection. “You didn’t have to do all that for me, Captain.”

He dismissed her concerns with a casual wave of his hand. “Of course I did. You’re family. Besides, if I hadn’t, the rest of the crew would have gone after him themselves, and they wouldn’t have done as good a job covering their tracks. Or made him scream quite as loud. No offense to them, but conventional torture methods just can’t match the agony of having your heart slowly crushed to a pulp.”

Was she a bad person for not feeling sick at the thought of her oldest brother—her own blood—being subjected to the Surgeon of Death’s sadism? That instead of anger or disgust, she felt relieved? Sure, he was a massive piece of shit who deserved to die for everything he’d done to her, her other brothers, and who knows what else, but he was still family, wasn’t he?

No. The Hearts were family. Law was family. He was right – Ushi was blood, but he wasn’t her brother.

Law’s brow furrowed with concern and he reached forward, cupping her cheeks and wiping tears away with his thumbs. Ikkaku hadn’t even realized she was crying.

“Shit, I’m sorry,” he said, looking genuinely guilty. “I shouldn’t have overstepped like that. I should have at least waited until you were awake and asked—”

Though she was tired and weak and it took far more effort than she’d like, Ikkaku lifted her arm and flicked Law squarely in the forehead. He didn’t quite flinch back, but he did give her an annoyed grunt, but his brow did smooth out when he saw her bright smile.

“Thank you,” she said, cheeks streaked with tears but voice warm with love and affection and gratitude. It might take a while for her to fully accept that Ushi was no longer laying in wait at every Marine base, but for now, she could breath a little easier. The monster from her childhood had finally been vanquished.

Trafalgar Law might not have been a knight in shining armor, but he was something better. He was the big brother she’d always wished for.

Relieved that she wasn’t angry, Law gave her a tiny but sincere grin back. His engineer was alive, safe, and giving him that sunny smile that could light up a room. Well worth the blood on his hands, and quietly, he vowed to keep her, and the rest of his Hearts, safe from whatever hell might come their way.

They were a loyal bunch of fools, but they were his family. He’d set the world on fire before allowing anything to happen to them.

A hand adorned with the word DEATH retreated from Ikkaku’s cheek to ruffle her hair. “Don’t mention it.”

#The Engine is the Heart of the Ship (canon) #Join the Hearts: We Have Uniforms #Heart Siblings #Drabble #(been wanting to go into what happens to Ushi during the timeskip) #(and how it would definitely be Law that kills him instead of Ikkaku) #(hope people like this!) #(not sure about the title but it's the best I could think of without being cheesy or cliche)

[words-for-holland]

Happier (4) | T.H.

Summary: Y/N & Tom speak to each other for the first time in 3 weeks! Tom is in talks of doing a new movie. Lots of yelling, painful pictures being sent. Harrison and Harry go on a trip. Does Kate finally tell the truth to Y/N?

A/N: Hmmm....seems like Natalie & Matt is everyone’s favorite/hated suspects. More theories lets hear em!!!

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8

Sanctuary

Its a word often used to protect those within a troubling world. For some it’s a church, a home, sometimes a family and friend. For Y/N and Tom, sanctuaray was no where to be found. Three weeks it’s been since the world felt like it collapsed on Y/N and Tom. Three weeks of feeling left in a troubling space that they could not get out of...until now. As soon as they heard each other’s voices on the phone, it gave them a moment of relief, but only for a moment.

“So...how are you?” Tom asks nervously. He wanted to pick his words out carefully in hopes that he wouldn’t upset her.

“Im okay.” Y/N responds quietly as she looks back at her phone. No message yet, maybe she was in the clear and that gave her a small boost of confidence. It was going to be okay. “How about you?” She asks back, not really sure how to carry the conversation. In any case, how does one continue talking to an ex without making it awkward? Let alone how does one talk to someone without the fear of being blackmailed.

“Yeah Im great...really great.” Tom lies and chuckles nervously.

Y/N could tell by the tone of his voice how nervous he was. A habit she always found to be adorable for him. Y/N rolled her eyes with a slight smile before she questions him in a serious tone “Why did you call Tom?”

Tom closes his eyes, letting out a stressed sigh. “I miss you Y/N and I dont care what you say or what you said to me that night, but this wasn’t supposed to happen.”

“I miss you too but things happen beyond our control, Tom. Sometimes it just can’t be helped.” Y/N responds nonchalantely, staring at her phone again. No messages still.

“Thats a load of bullshit and you know it. We were supposed to get through anything. Fuck the rumors fuck everything! This isn’t like you Y/N!” Tom vents out every feeling and thought he had since she left. “You say you miss me but then what are we doing? Why are we continuing to hurt ourselves like this?”

Y/N shakes her head, knowing deep down the reason why but could never say. Not unless she wanted to ruin his dream. She could never. “It’s not that simple.” She croaked.

“We would have found a way to get through it, but you gave up so easily. I know for a fact my Y/N never gave up without a fight.”

Y/N looks again at her phone, and no messages were to be found. Maybe she could tell him, and they wouldnt know, but Y/N knew better. Somewhere out there there was someone always watching her every move. “I cant do this right now. Goodbye Tom.” Y/N hangs up as she continues to cry herself to sleep. So much for sanctuary.

Its the morning after, and as Y/N heads downstairs, she hears soft laughter and conversations echoing through the halls. For a second it almost sounded like Tom’s, and she hurried toward the room only to be disappointed. In the living room was Matt and Kate as they made small talk awaiting for Y/N’s arrival.

“Y/N! You’re awake!” Kate exclaims as she gets up from the seat to give her a hug. “Look who decided to drop by!”

Matt looked up at Y/N and gives her a shy smile and wave. He’s dressed in his navy blue LBI shirt and cream colored shorts. It was typical high school Matt...nothing had changed with him.

“Yes I see that....I’m sorry did we have plans and I forgot?” Y/N asked confused.

“No actually uh I invited him over because I knew you wanted to catch up with him after last week..so I pulled some strings.” Kate whispers.

“You..what?” Y/N asked annoyed, her eyes glaring and her brows furrowed. If there was one thing Y/N hated it was blind dates. She had stressed that over and over throughout the years that she hated it, especially with people she used to have romantic feelings for. The keyword..USED.

“Cmon Y/N. Remember this was the time for you to move on and forget. Plus you wouldn’t want to send him away after he came here just to see you!” Kate tries her best to sell it, she had to...there’s wasnt really a choice.

Y/N looked back at Matt and groaned silently to her best friend. “Fine I’ll go, but this is the last blind date you’re ever setting me up on AND you’re doing the dishes.” She emphasized as she got ready and grabbed her purse.

To say Y/N was surprised was an understatment. For sure, she had a feeling this was going to be awkward in so many ways like any other first dates, but this...wasn’t too bad. Though she realized it wasn’t a date this was just two old friends catching up from the past.

She learned a lot about him and how his younger brother Steven was working on becoming an engineer and how his little sister Emily was also grown up and working towards becoming a physical therapist. As for Matt, he was working in the city too as an accountant for a finance firm. While they continued to eat their lunch at Chelsea’s Market, she couldn’t help but make the comparisons.

Matt didn’t dress up like Tom, didnt make her laugh like Tom does, didnt make her blush the way Tom does, didnt smile like Tom, and when he touched her hand...she didnt feel the goosebumps the way Tom would. It was clear. He wasn’t Tom and could never be Tom.

The date came to a close, but Y/N hadn’t really gathered much from it since she was so focused on Tom. Every word Matt had said to her barely made it through. She’d be lying if she didnt say the date was okay but she’d be lying even more if she had said she’d enjoy it.

She looked into his blue eyes as he looked into hers. Matt tried to lean forward to give her a kiss, but Y/N moved away. She couldnt. Not when Tom was still present in her thoughts and her mind. “Im sorry...I just got out of a serious relationship and well —” Y/N whispers feeling guilt in her heart.

“No no. It’s fine really. Maybe I was too forward with this and I had no idea....I’m sorry.” Matt laughs, feeling heavily disappointed. “I’ll uhh I’ll see you around?” Y/N nods as she waves him goodbye.

The next day, Tom wakes up in his bed still praying that this whole phase was just a nightmare he’s still having trouble waking up from. Today was not that day. He got up and dressed appropiately knowing that today would be a meeting for his upcoming project. He had forgotten all about it especially with everything going on. When he arrived and entered the room with Harrison, Natalie also appeared sitting in one of the chairs with a smile and coffee on hand.

“Jesus you’re like everywhere now.” Harrison speaks out taking the seat across from her, while Tom takes the seat next to Harrison.

“Well I mean I do live with you guys temporarily until my flat gets fixed, and I did get cast in the same movie as Tom.” She laughs pointing out the obvious.

Tom looked up, his eye wide open and brows raised. He completely forgot the fact that she was going to be playing his love interest for the film. He tried to recall if he had told Y/N about it before and if maybe that’s why she was also mad. Maybe if he told her now, that would make her feel better? Tom was lost in his thoughts he didnt hear the other publicists in the room calling out to him. “Tom are you listening?”

Harrison quickly hits his best friend to wake him up from his thoughts. “Huh? Uh..no sorry.” Tom confesses, looking down at the table.

The publicists, both roll their eyes in annoyance. “We’re telling you that you need to do a lot of PR for this movie in order to boost the sales, and recoginition for both you and Natalie. This means..you’re going to have to pretend you’re in a relationship for some time.”

Tom and Harrison are now fully attentive and furious. “What?! Im not doing PR for this. That is low for the both of us. We shouldnt have to fake a relationship to get our work across” Tom yells out fury burning in his brown eyes.

“I know Tom, but no one watches it for the films nowadays it’s about the image, and right now we’re trying to help both of yours and Natalie’s. You’ve been looking liek a depressed bloke this past month and Natalie is trying to get some exposure in the business.” The publicists expalin. “Harrison, help us out here.”

“Look mate, Im just his assistant. It’s up to Tom if he wants to do this or not.” Harrison speaks out as he points to his best friend. He faces Tom and whispers, “You don’t have to do this mate, there are other projects out there.”

Tom nods, as he looks at the room of people. He closes his eyes, but all he could see was Y/N. Deep down, Tom knew he couldnt do this to her. “I..I don’t think I can do this.”

Natalie and the publicists’ eyes shot up in fear, unhappy with the response given. They knew there was only one thing they could do now. “Ah I understand. It’s because of a girl isn’t?” Natalie’s publicist speaks out. Tom looks at her and then down at the table, as he slowly nods his head. “Yes well Natalie’s told me all about her. Seems like a bright girl, but believe Tom she doesn’t love you as much as you thought she did.”

Tom’s eyes dart towards the publicist as his eyes continue to stare down in anger. He was angry, pissed off that they could ever make that assumption. “Fuck you! You don’t know anything!” His tone set in anger.

“Oh..but we do. See you think Y/N is remaining as faithful as you after a breakup, but why is she already out with another guy.” The publicist continues. She hands her phone to Tom as he swipes through the pictures of Y/N and Matt’s date. He saw Y/N smile at Matt, laugh with him, and touch his shoulder. Yet, the one picture that broke him the most was the one where Matt almost kissed Y/N. While Tom didn’t know the backstory, he could very well imagine how it went. Everything in him shattered, and his eyes started to well up.

“Mate..there’s gotta be an explanation for all of this. Y/N wouldn’t move on from you that quickly. You know her..she wouldn’t. This is all rubbish.” Harrison tried to reason to his heartbroken best friend. For once, he couldn’t rule out Natalie. She didn’t blackmail Y/N, someone else did.

“Fine. I’ll do it.” Tom grumbles as he gets up and walks away.

The world was quiet for the next two days, and it almost seemed like a break from all of it. Back in the New York, Y/N was minding her own business in the apartment with Kate, when she got a text message.

Unknown

Answer the next phone call. ❤️

Y/N’s phone rings and it’s Tom. Her hands are shaking, afraid of what was going to happen. “Y/N.” Tom says shortly, tone filled with disappointment.

“Tom” Y/N replies, her voice shaking.

This wasn’t sanctuary anymore. This was hell.

“Tell me it’s not true.” Tom speaks out, needing to hear the truth. “Did you go out with another guy?”

Y/N hesistated for a moment, unsure of what to say. She could either lie or tell the truth but it didnt matter at this point she was fucked either way. “Yes.” She breathes out. “But — ”

“It’s not what I think? Right?” His tone getting louder. “So it’s okay for you to judge me with Natalie, but not okay for me to judge you with some bloke you’re with?”

“Matt is my friend and I had no choice in that matter!” Y/N yells out, unhappy with how Tom was confronting her.

“Did he threaten you?”

Y/N hesitated for a moment, not him but someone was threatening her. “No.”

“Then you did have a choice.”

As soon as Y/N was going to speak, she got a new message. This time it was a picture from Unknown. One of Tom and Natalie getting cozy as they walked out of a building. Natalie was smiling and Tom had his arms wrapped around her shoulder. “Yeah, guess you made yours too with Natalie.”

Tom was in shock, did she know about the him and Natalie. “Y/N it’s not what you —”

“What? What I think? Yeah that makes two of us, but you want to make assumptions? Fine. You look like you already moved on yourself, but moving on with a girl you know I can’t stand...that’s an all time low for you.” Y/N hangs up and throws her phone across the room. Kate quickly comes to comfort her best friend.

“He...he moved on.” She sobbed quietly in Kate’s arms.

“I know...it’s going to be okay.” Kate whispers. Tears started to also fall on Kate’s eyes as she saw how much pain her best friend was in. She looked at her phone and quickly deleted the pictures she had taken of Y/N and Matt. “Im so sorry. I..have to tell you something.”

Y/N had fallen fast asleep, exhausted from crying. Just when Kate was ready to tell the truth...the door rang.

“Kate!” Harrison and Harry said spoke out in relief as they hugged her.

“Hey..what are you guys doing here?” She asked surprised but also relieved.

Harrison and Harry looked at each. “We want to help find out the truth.”

Taglist:

@hollanddolanfangirl​ @ifilosemyselfagain @hevjadams @averyfosterthoughts​ @fangirl-with-a-mission @drishtisikarwar @eridanuswave​ @ifntelyinspirit​ @trumpettay @astridcommings @parkershoco

#tom holland imagine #tom holland #tom holland x reader #peter parker #peter parker imagine #peter parker x reader

[gayenerd]

This interview was the cover story for the 17th issue of Jaded In Chicago. It was conducted in September of 2004, several weeks prior to the release of American Idiot. It was a fitting end to the fanzine that was named after the band, as “Jaded In Chicago” references Green Day’s 1994 MTV concert special. To come full circle by interviewing the band that inspired the zine’s moniker was somewhat surreal.

With the release of American Idiot, Green Day has transcended punk rock. By crafting the first punk rock opera and fashioning what is likely the first tasteful concept album of the new millennium, they’ve provided pop punk bands everywhere with a blueprint for how to mature gracefully. Additionally, as much as American Idiot is about innovation, it’s also a return to the fundamentals of punk rock. The album sears with dissent, takes aim between the eyes of the Bush administration and contains a dangerous sense of unpredictability. It’s been ten years since Green Day was the most popular band in the world and with any luck American Idiot will allow them to recapture that title in no time. (Interview with drummer Tré Cool).

Bill – Before we talk about American Idiot, I wanted to discuss the infamous “lost” album first. About a year and a half ago, you guys recorded what was to be the follow-up to Warning, but reportedly the master tapes were stolen. What can you tell me about what happened?

Tré – We just knew that if it ever came out, we couldn’t do any of those same songs on the actual record. If somebody puts it out, like crappier versions of the songs, it’s going to totally ruin it. Plus, it happened right around the same time that Billie wrote the song “American Idiot” and most of “Holiday.” We were in the middle of working on those songs, so we just decided not to look back and we kept going forward.

Bill – I’ve read that you feel American Idiot is “maximum Green Day.” Why exactly do you feel this way?

Tré – Well, because we’re firing on all cylinders, ya know? Everything about even just being in the band now feels so right. Everything from the recording process to the live shows to our ambitions. This might sound kind of dumb, but even the clothes we’re wearing during photo shoots. It’s more together like a band.

Bill – People are certainly expecting this record to be political, but I think they’re going to be surprised when they hear how you really go for the throat with some of the lyrics. Examples of this would of course be the title track and also the breakdown section of “Holiday.” What are some of the main reasons why you’re so pissed off with this country?

Tré – It’s more like confused and jaded, if you will, (laughs). The bombardment of bullshit, fake news, like Fox News and CNN. All the reality-based shit that’s on television, stuff like Fear Factor that the government is using to keep everybody like good little sheep and not asking too many questions. It’s like how if a cop hears you use the word “terror” it basically means he can take any normal American citizen’s rights away from them. A cop can do that at his or her discretion if they think you might be a terrorist or whatnot. The whole Patriot Act. It’s like do we actually have any rights after all? We don’t have the right to a proper election, we already found that out. The fabric of our government right now is basically just made out of one hundred dollar bills that are drenched in oil. As far as this upcoming election goes, I know that John Kerry is extremely conservative and he’s nowhere near the liberal we need in the White House to clean up the mess. However, he’s not George Bush. Kerry’s money is in ketchup. Bush’s money is in oil and blood. I’d choose ketchup over that, (laughs).

Bill – How do you hope people react to these songs?

Tré – I hope they can look past the strong language and go into the meaning of it. I hope they realize there’s a bit of sarcasm. I hope they don’t feel that we’re telling them what to do. We’re just sort of pointing the fingers at ourselves, saying like “I don’t want to be an American idiot or I don’t want to be a part of this bullshit.”

Bill – Talk about the character called “Jesus of Suburbia.” What sort of journey does he embark on throughout these songs and what made you choose this type of format for your songwriting?

Tré – The album is sort of like a timeline of his life. Depending on where you’re at with your life, you probably fit somewhere on that timeline yourself. Whether it’s the “Holiday” party stage, or the “Give Me Novacaine” drug stage or the “Extraordinary Girl” being in love stage; all these different stages in life show that what paths you choose will inevitably lead you somewhere. It’s not necessarily the happiest ending in the world, but it’s pretty realistic.

Bill – Are you at all worried about some of your fans possibly being alienated by the two nine-minute rock operas found on the album?

Tré – I don’t think they’ll even notice they’re nine-minute songs. They’ll think they’re a bunch of short songs put together. It’s definitely short attention span theater. It’s not like Wilco, where they have a ten-minute song with the same drumbeat and the same chord progression. Not saying anything bad about Wilco, they’re a fine band. They’re great to relax to and drink iced tea to, (laughs). I think we’d get bored doing that. We just sort of get to the point, say what we want to say and move on to the next part of the song. The way the energy flows in the songs is sort of like the way America is now too, just so scattered. There’s a big misrepresentation of how we feel in this bullshit climate right now.

Bill – One of the most important topics you address on this record is the American media. Specifically, how it perpetuates fear amongst the public and does little to question the President’s follow-through on his promises. Do you think the average American is aware of how the wool is being pulled over their eyes?

Tré – No, not at all. Say you see some guy driving down the street with a Bush/Cheney sticker on his Chevy S-10, beat-up truck with a pair of flip-flops hanging off the back. I want to ask him, “Why the fuck are you a Republican? What’s in it for you, dude?” Bush isn’t doing a thing for those people. He’s not helping them get a better truck or put food on the table. He’s not going to give them a tax break. Republicans don’t care about you. They’re not going to try and help you in any way. They just want to use you and get your dead peasants insurance once you’re gone.

Bill – Tell me about the upcoming club dates that you have scheduled where you plan to perform American Idiot in its entirety. Who came up with the idea and what are you looking forward to most about it?

Tré – I’d credit Pete Townshend with the idea. We’ve always admired The Who and their lack of inhibition as far as going for whatever crazy idea they had. As crazy as something like Tommy was when it was just a small idea, compared to what it’s become now, it’s pretty insane. They did A Quick One, where they played that live. That was a quick one, but ours is an hour. Basically, we just want to kick The Who’s ass. I listened to Who’s Next yesterday, which a lot of people are comparing American Idiot to. We totally got them beat. I’ve always aspired to be as good of a drummer as Keith Moon and I think I’ve fuckin’ passed by him on this record.

Bill – Roughly ten years ago, Dookie was released and went on to sell over ten million copies and become one of the most notable albums of the ‘90s. A decade later, I think you’ve constructed in American Idiot what is arguably your strongest record yet. Is there anything specific that you hope American Idiot accomplishes?

Tré – Yeah, I think it’s about time that people think of Green Day in a different light. We’re not snot-nosed kids anymore, we’re men now. I want people to think of us more as one of the mainstay supergroups of today. I’m not asking for too much, (laughs). We’re superheroes in our own minds. We think we’re really cool, why doesn’t everybody else?

Bill – What was the weirdest thing about being the biggest band in America in 1994?

Tré – I don’t think we really had time to enjoy it when it was happening. We were just trying to pay our rent and be able to make records for the rest of our lives. We didn’t know anything like that was ever going to happen. It sort of freaked us out a bit, but at the same time I was kind of busy just moving and doing it. We didn’t have time to look back since we were doing so much. By the time we had taken a break to make Insomniac it was like, “Do you guys know what you just did?” We were like, “Oh…shit.”

Bill – Earlier this year, Thick Records released the Out of Focus DVD, which featured live Green Day footage circa 1992. What are some of your favorite memories from playing at McGregor’s in Elmhurst, Illinois?

Tré – Demetri. Demetri was this male stripper that came onstage for some girl’s birthday at McGregor’s one night. They had her sit in this chair and the stripper did his thing for her. It was fuckin’ hilarious. In the middle of our show too. We took a timeout and let her get her strip on. I think that was the last time we played McGregor’s actually. I remember seeing State Street and I remember taking acid in Chicago. I remember going to the lake and wondering why all the fish were dead. I was inside Buckingham Fountain too. It was real hot out and I got in there during the Blues Fest. There were like a million people down there, but just one in the fountain. Of course this cop was like, “Get the fuck out of there! What are you thinking?” I was like, “I don’t know. I’m fried, dude.”

Bill – Do you have any comments regarding the rumors connecting members of Green Day to the mysterious band known as The Network?

Tré – The only connection is that their record was on Adeline, which is a label run by Billie Joe’s wife. That’s a few degrees of separation if you ask me. I think they’re getting a lot of mileage out of telling people they’re Green Day or pretending to be Green Day. The Network is not Green Day. Bastards.

Bill – Growing up I know that bands like the Ramones and The Who were very influential for you. What’s it like to now be one of the biggest influences on an entire generation of punk bands?

Tré – It’s kind of wild. Especially when younger bands meet you and they’re all nervous and stuff. You sort of get a little paternal with it, like “Ah…my children.” I feel like Michael Landon from Little House on the Prairie.

Bill – What has been the hardest part about achieving all the success you’ve attained?

Tré – I think you can pretty much choose what you want to deal with. You can choose for it to be difficult or you can enjoy it. It’s kind of up to the person.

Bill – After seven albums, what aspects of punk rock are still fresh and exciting to you?

Tré – I like seeing new bands. Bands that aren’t carbon-copied pop punk bands. Bands like Dillinger Four fuckin’ excite me. I think the Rock Against Bush compilation is a pretty damn good CD. There are some older bands on there that are still going strong and some younger bands that are real fresh and exciting too.

Bill – What does the future hold for Green Day?

Tré – I think whatever we put out next has got to be really fuckin’ good. After American Idiot we set the bar so high. It’s kind of like, “Now what are we going to do?”

#i've never heard of this zine before but i guess it ended in 2004 #article #articles #interview #tre cool

[sirsparklepants]

Geralt walked into the bar just in time to watch his client take a half full solo cup to the face. Lucky for him, this wasn't a security gig, so he didn't have to do anything but settle in the corner by the stage.

The whole crowd booed as the client sputtered, moving his guitar away from himself as the drink cascaded down his face. "Well!" the man said. "Glad I could bring you all together like this!"

A Smirnoff Ice bottle flew at the stage this time, and the man caught it, shoving it into the front pocket of his skinny jeans. "Guess my set is over," he muttered, and scanned the crowd.

Geralt moved from where he was slumped against the wall, letting his white hair catch the dim light from the bar. His client brightened a little as he saw him.

"Geralt, right?" he asked. Geralt didn't answer - they'd already exchanged names and photos, though he'd forgotten the client's name already. Good thing he didn't try, though, because the other man was off and running.

"I'm so glad you're here early! I certainly didn't expect this kind of reception. People seem to like my recordings just fine, so perhaps it's my stage presence. What did you think, Geralt, is it my stage presence? Am I threatening to the heterosexual men of the world? Come on, you can tell me. Three words or less."

Geralt grunted. "Wouldn't know," he said. When Jaskier tilted his head, he added, "Just got here. Let's get your shit before someone takes it."

"Ah, yes, an excellent suggestion," the client said. He led Geralt back to the stage - unnecessarily, as it was barely five steps away - and began to pack up his more delicate equipment. This close, Geralt could smell the distinct tang of Natty Light in his hair, and wrinkled his nose.

"Did you park by the side door or the main?" the client asked, when everything was ready to go.

"Side," Geralt said. "Want to stay here with the rest of it so no one takes off with it before I come back?" he asked, nodding at the other half of the music equipment.

"Oh, no need!" the client said, hefting up the heavy speaker Geralt was sure he'd be schlepping. "I do most of my own fetching and carrying. I can't get it all, but I can certainly get it out to your car. That's the thing I'm missing, really."

Geralt grunted and started for the side door instead of talking.

He'd pulled out his tarp and ratchet straps when he'd gotten the client's email, so once they'd settled the speakers and other things in, he wrapped them up and tied them down. They didn't take up too much room in the bed of his old Ford Ranger, but it was enough he was glad to have moved his things to behind his seat. When he finished, he saw the client standing awkwardly by the passenger door, and he wondered if he'd forgotten to unlock the door before he went into the dive bar the client had been performing in.

"Sorry, it's just - do you want me to go back in and ask for a towel or something?" the client asked, gesturing at his wet face and hair. "It's a bit sticky, and I don't think your seats would get the same benefit from a beer rinse as my hair."

Geralt shrugged. "She's seen worse," he said. "Get in."

Normally, with clients, he fished a tape out of the shoebox he kept shoved under the seat. The musicians tended to sing along, though, so he pushed the fake tape that let him play from his phone into the tape deck and let the Coast to Coast AM rerun he'd been listening to on the way over keep playing.

The client seemed to enjoy it, only speaking up to give directions. He lived on the third floor of a run-down but not terrible apartment building, the kind that Geralt's brothers usually lived in when he saw them. The elevator was busted, so they had to haul everything up the stairs. Geralt was distinctly grateful this client did some of the work for himself.

When they had settled everything in the client's bedroom, Geralt turned to him. "Hundred orens, like you told me," he said.

The client bit his lip. "Well, you see, Geralt, my dear," he said, "I don't actually have a hundred orens." His hand settled on Geralt's arm, stroking up and down. Geralt suppressed the urge to flinch. "I was hoping we could settle up with an... alternative method of payment."

"I don't take bitcoin," Geralt said immediately. He'd had enough bad experiences with that.

The client laughed. "No, darling, I wouldn't do that to you! I'm suggesting something else entirely. My roommates are out for the night, after all. I put clean sheets on the bed. And I've been told I'm quite talented."

Geralt considered it for a moment. His client was pretty, with big blue eyes, long legs, and strong hands. He'd get a night of sleep in a real bed, instead of in the bed of his truck, out of it, and a shower, too. But the gas gage was nearly at empty, and there was shit for work in this town. He needed gas to move on.

"We exchanged emails, that's a written contract," he said instead. "If you can't come up with the money, you're in breach of it." He was bullshitting and he knew it, but hopefully the client didn't.

The other man's face fell. "I really don't have the money," he said. "Didn't even get paid tonight."

Geralt scowled and bared his teeth at him. "Lot of expensive equipment in here for someone who doesn't have the money," he said.

"Brought it with me when I left home, was all!" the client said, a little nervous. "Wait, wait, okay, I have an idea how we can get the money, alright?"

"An idea?" Geralt asked.

"Yes, an idea," the client said. "There's this commune on the edge of town, no one has ever been inside, but they say they're hiding from the government so they don't have to pay taxes on the big country mansions inside. We can sneak in and steal something from them! Be our own Robin Hoods, right? You can stay with me to make sure I don't run off on you, and if that doesn't work, you can come to the pawn shop with me tomorrow. I'll sell.... one of my amps to get the money I owe you, alright?"

It was a harebrained scheme, but at least the client had a backup plan. And in the likely case he chickened out, Geralt could still demand to sleep in his bed. "Alright," he said. "Let's go."

#gig economy au #my fic #the witcher #geralt of rivia #jaskier

[loveactionsspeaklouder]

one year - kylian mbappé and julian draxler fanfic

3|Paparazzi

We had been driving around Paris for thirty minutes, traffic was horrendous. The company wasn't better either. Kylian spent most of his time screaming at somebody on the phone, from the French I could understand, it was a woman. "Everything okay?"

"Bitch," he spat. My eyes widened at his comment, this day just keeps getting better. "Not you, sorry. Fuck. Can we go get something to eat? I'm starving."

I looked at him in silence. I had forgotten the amount of times he had apologised to me, he had quite the temper. Woman troubles probably. Not your issue Molly. "Fine, where do you want to go?"

"Any place they sell food," Kylian laughed. "There is a nice café at the end of this street, turn right for parking. We'll go through the back."

"You embarrassed to be seen with me?" I asked, rolling my eyes. Another laugh left the Frenchman's mouth. "Wouldn't want to ruin your image Mr Superstar!"

"I'd be happy to be seen with you darling," he cooed, I rolled my eyes. Again. "One issue, the paparazzi. Trust me on this, they can be a nightmare."

....

"Well that was the best meal I have had in a long time," I grinned. The café was beautiful, just like everything else in Paris. It was now 11pm, I was ready for bed. Unlike the footballer sat in the passenger seat of my car, he had finally grown a personality. "Home time, I am stuffed."

"Time to go see miss crazy, I hope she has forgiven me or else I'm staying with you tonight. Aren't you a lucky lady," Kylian winked. My god was he a flirt. After hours of trying it on with me, you would have thought he would have got the hint I wasn't interested. He was relentless.

"I'm sure my boyfriend would be happy with that!" I sarcastically laughed, his face dropped. Opps. "I would have mentioned it earlier but I had to listen to your persistent moaning about 'how I really need to fuck Rosalie but she isn't answering my calls'."

I mimicked our conversation from dinner, it was now his turn to roll his eyes. Here he goes with his mood swings, no wonder that poor girl won't speak to him. We were now pulled up outside the entrance to my apartment, I can hear my bed calling. "Merci for the lift and having dinner, see you tomorrow."

"Enjoy your night Kylian."

....

I opened my eyes to the bright Paris sun shining into my bedroom, I checked my phone and saw I had a lot of notifications. I was alerted when I saw eleven missed calls and four text messages from Adam. Bollocks, I forgot to ring him. Eugh. I scrolled down and checked his messages.

Adam <3: call me.

Adam <3: you better have a good explanation.

Adam <3: call me now.

Adam <3: assuming you're asleep, call me when you get this.

What was his issue? Was he really that angry that I hadn't called him? Luckily his caller ID appeared on my phone. I eagerly answered it. I wanted to hear his voice, I missed it.

A: Finally, where have you been? I thought you were going to call me when you landed.

M: I'm so sorry, I had to go straight to work. I had the most hectic day. I didn't get home until late and I was tired.

A: Just work yeah? So, I'm guessing your job now involves you going out for dinner with the players. Don't lie to me Moll.

M: What are you going on about? I went for food with one player, just friends that was it. How did you even know about that? I wasn't hiding it from you, it was a meaningless dinner. He's sleeping with somebody who lives around the corner anyway.

A: Your all over the news Molly!! Some paparazzi caught you, Mbappe strikes gold with a new girl. WOW.

I angrily scrolled through the news article Adam sent me. It was bullshit. I was more annoyed that he didn't believe me.

....

Closer

Is love in the air for PSG star forward, Kylian Mbappé? He was spotted leaving Café de Flore with a brunette bombshell.

The pair were seen exiting the small café through a back entrance. Onlookers say the pair looked very cosy together. Could romance happen for the world cup winner? 

Let us know your thoughts.

....

Just great, I had been in Paris just over twenty-four hours and my relationship was already suffering. I had to calm myself down before I started speaking again.

M: Honestly Adam, it isn't what it looks like. I'm sorry, I know I should have called. Things did get chaotic yesterday. Kylian asked me for a lift as his driver wasn't available, he was in such a stroppy mood so we ended up going for something to eat. He did warn me about paparazzi but I didn't think there would actually be any. I'm so sorry, I should have called.

A: You should have but I'm sorry for shouting baby. It's hard us not being in the same country and then I saw that and you hadn't called me, it set me off. I love you. Anyway, how was your first day?

M: It was really good thank you. I have a great team, it's a lot bigger than Chelsea. Luckily everybody speaks English, so I haven't had to embarrass myself with my French skills just yet. I need to get ready for work, I'll call you tonight. I love and miss you.

A: Enjoy M, I love you.

....

After that phone call I needed a long shower, mentally noting to not go out in public with a footballer ever again. I scanned through my wardrobe, looking for something to wear, how I wish I could wear a comfy tracksuit. I decided to go for a pair of blue jeans and a cropped white jumper, casual but sophisticated.

I made my way through the canteen until I saw Freddie, as usual the players were watching my every move. YOU PRICKS HAVE ALREADY NEARLY RUINED MY RELATIONSHIP, STOP STARING. I got over to the table and saw a coffee waiting for me, what an angel.

"I think you could use that," Freddie laughed. He eyed my every move as I sat down. "How are you feeling about the article?"

"I think I've spoken about it enough with my boyfriend this morning who, I may add, was not impressed. It was a harmless dinner and they turned it into something, lesson learned," I shrugged. As long as me and Adam were happy, I didn't care about the article or what people thought.

"Day one and you've already got an article about you, nice going Molly! Although, I am quite sad it wasn't with me."

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