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#anyways i really like the idea of perry being a good and supportive dad and you can pry that out of my cold dead hands unless explicitly
poetrusicperry · 3 years
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Running Towards Nothing
Chapter One
a/n: hello !! @noelliza and i fleshed out an idea about if todd came from out of state (specifically, somewhere in the southern united states) to attend welton, so i wrote it heh. i’m not sure how many parts this will be (if people like it enough for me to continue posting lol), but i have the first like... five written haha. so yes, todd is from the south (alabama) and i don’t know much about the south bc i'm from the west coast, but i tried haha. hope you guys like it !! xx
chapter summary: something in todd’s past is the reason for his family’s move, leading to a new neighborhood, a new school, a roommate he was never expecting, and an overall shift in his life.
pairing: todd anderson x neil perry
warnings: none (i don’t think there are any in this chapter, but if anyone spots something, let me know !)
word count: 2479
        If there was one thing Todd missed about home, it was the sky; the sun set differently over the rolling hills of Vermont than the grassy fields of Alabama. He was used to seeing all of the elongated, blue canvas sky that melted into bright shades of pink and orange along the horizon; there was nothing in the way of the creation, just a plain view of where the heavens met the earth. In the northeast, however, the sunset snagged on the seemingly-black pointed edges of trees and lush branches, interrupting the gradient leaving only soft blue and speckles of marigold.
        But he had experienced his last Alabama sunset two days ago, and there was no going back. Not for a really, really long time (if ever). After the events of the past few months, there was no way Todd could ever show his face again, even if he really wanted to. Now, Todd Anderson and his family were living in the suburbs of Vermont, where, as his parents hoped, the past would stay hidden and they could build a new façade for the one Todd had recently, though unintentionally, demolished.
        As Todd sat on the floor of his new, empty room, surrounded only by boxes and his bed (which didn’t have a box spring or frame yet), he gazed out of his window forlornly. Through the toothbrush-tipped trees that were jam packed along his new horizon, he could make out the silhouette of a church’s steeple. One that, no doubt, would be frequented by his mother and father while his brother, Jeffrey, was out of state at college, and Todd himself attended the prep school just a few blocks down the road. Out of all the cities in Vermont, Todd’s parents had picked the one with the lowest population and tourist pull, which meant not a lot of people inhabiting the city. However, on the flipside, there wasn’t a wide variety of schools to choose from. Back in Alabama, Todd had attended his local public high school, Nixon, and would have been an incoming senior there if certain... events hadn’t occurred. Instead, Todd was now forced to continue his education at what was deemed “the best all boys prep school in the United States” by his parents and surrounding boarding schools (no pressure).
        Todd’s mind wandered through the recent weeks, pulling apart everything that had happened like rotten cotton candy. This was his life now: a new state, a new town, a new school, brand new everything. And yet, Todd felt stuck between wanting to start over and aching to hold onto his old life. If those five seconds could have gone differently, he’d be preparing for his first day of senior year with all his friends at Nixon. But his friends would never speak to him again, and he’d never walk the halls of Nixon High School ever again. Todd wondered what he could possibly be holding onto? There was nothing in a place he considered home and nothing in a new place that would likely never be home. So much of his past, he wanted to leave behind, but he just… knew that he couldn’t.
        As he reached into the open box beside him, there was a knock on the door. When Todd didn’t answer, the door cracked open, revealing the familiar face of his older brother.
        “Hey, I was going to go on a drive around town, maybe see some of the cool hangout spots if you wanted to come. I know I’m leaving for school in a couple weeks, but might as well check out some places anyway?”
        Jeff always had a way of talking to Todd gently, never with any hints of condescension in his tone. After all, Jeff was the only person in the house who ever acknowledged Todd’s existence. And after everything that had happened, Todd was certain he was no closer to gaining support from his parents than a couple months prior; in fact, he’d been quite sure he was further from garnering any cent of respect, let alone support.
        “Oh, uh… right now?” Todd spoke, barely above a whisper. He knew he didn’t need to feel embarrassed or nervous around Jeff, but that’s just how things were for him now. Anything he said or did felt… wrong, and he didn’t know how to fix it.
        “Yeah, I think Mom and Dad went to pick up some dinner, so I was just thinking that we could head out for a few minutes. Maybe get a little familiar with town and stuff,” Jeff smiled at Todd, his perfectly straight teeth somehow still gleaming in the darkening light of Todd’s room, “Come on, I know you probably don’t feel up to it, but it’d be better than sitting in here while it progressively gets darker,” Jeff attempted to joke, laughing slightly.
        Todd gave him a half smile, half grimace, “Alright. Think I need a jacket?”
        “Want to drive with the top down, so probably,” Jeff smiled, smacking the doorway and turning down the hallway, “Leaving in five!” he called down the hall as he went.
        While they rode leisurely around town, Todd kept his head mostly turned to the side, leaning his cheek on his arm and taking in all the things they drove past. Lots of houses on moderate pieces of land lined the streets; they were nothing like the spacious farms and open pastures of Alabama. Up until recently, Todd had always considered the south home. But truth be told, he wasn’t sure what home was anymore.
        “Oh, sweet, Todd, look! There’s an arcade!” Jeff patted Todd’s shoulder with the back of his hand as he cruised down the street. The big neon lights were hanging over a brick building spelling “GAMES & POOL.” It looked like the marquees Todd had seen of New York City in the magazines. He just nodded at his brother’s sentiment as they pulled up to the red light. Glancing up at the bright sign once more, his gaze was torn away when the door to the arcade opened, revealing five lanky boys spilling out onto the sidewalk.
        “I told you I was going to beat the high score and you punks didn’t believe me!” one with sandy hair said, walking backwards and facing his friends. His face was twisted into a mischievous grin and his voice ricocheted across the street as the boys seemed to be making their way to the movie theatre a few doors down.
        “Charlie, no one cares that you beat the high score,” the tallest one replied; Todd noticed he had a flattop haircut, which is something no one in Alabama would have ever had; Todd thought it looked neat. The flattop’s sentiment earned a chuckle from all the boys, but a particularly loud laugh from a tall, dark-haired boy standing toward the front of the group. He wore beige slacks and a tucked in red flannel with black and white hi-top Chuck Taylor’s. And Todd noticed his dimples were deep into his cheeks while he laughed. As the boys walked down the sidewalk to the theatre ticket vestibule, the light turned green and Jeff began to drive. As the car passed the group, the dark-haired boy looked up and locked eyes with Todd.
        “Neil, still five for Gidget?” the ginger one with glasses said. The dark-haired boy (who Todd could now assume was Neil) held Todd’s gaze for a couple more seconds before tearing his eyes away and nodding at his friend. Todd’s cheeks were ablaze as Jeff drove further away. Trying to not move his head, Todd simply looked back at the boys in the side mirror until they were simply blobbed figures standing under the light of the theatre.
        When Todd and Jeff arrived home, their parents’ car was in the driveway, and the light in the kitchen was on.
        “Hope you’re hungry,” Jeff turned to Todd as he switched the engine off. He just looked at Jeff blankly; his appetite had still not returned, so he didn’t feel hungry much anymore, “I know I am,” Jeff smiled, ruffling Todd’s hair and easing the tension between them. He nodded a little bit and opened the door, Jeff doing the same. As Jeff made his way up the steps, Todd trailed behind him, not wanting to be the first person his parents saw.
        “Jeffy, is that you?” his mother’s voice called from the kitchen.
        “Yeah, Mom, we just went to check out the neighborhood a bit,” Jeff called, slowing his pace, falling into step with Todd and slinging his arm around his little brother’s shoulder.
        “Dinner’s on the table, dear,” she replied as the boys walked into the dining room.
        “Smells good, Ma,” Jeff smiled, taking his seat at the table after patting Todd’s shoulder. Todd sat down tentatively and stared at the spread in front of him. His parents had gotten KFC for the second night in a row, and Todd was about as excited as he was the first time (that being not at all).
        “I know we had it last night, but it really just reminds me of the food back home,” his mother said, pulling her napkin into her lap.
        “You boys eat up, now,” his father said, gesturing to the bucket of chicken and sides in front of the pair. Jeff grabbed his food, and took extra care to offer Todd all of the things he picked up for himself. While their parents busied themselves in a conversation about the pie their neighbors had dropped off, Jeff nudged Todd lightly,
        “Look, I know you’re not hungry, but have a biscuit at least, okay?” he muttered and held one out to his younger brother. Todd took it hesitantly, put it in the middle of his plate, and stared at it, “Come on, Todd. Please,” Jeff mumbled again.
        “What’s that, Jeffrey?” his father turned to him.
        “Oh, nothing, Pop, just telling Todd to have some dinner,” Jeff smiled small. Todd’s father looked at him with disgust.
        “Eat,” he grunted. At the timbre of his father’s voice, Todd flinched slightly and picked off a part of the biscuit to nibble on while the conversation turned to Jeff’s plans for the fall semester. Fading into the background (as usual), Todd tuned out the conversation and focused really hard on his white Chuck Taylor’s, getting a flash of the tall, dark-haired boy’s face in his mind. Neil. Shaking his head slightly, Todd adjusted his gaze to the plate in front of him and waited for another painful dinner to end.
        When the summer had wound down and the weeks in Vermont had become more familiar, Todd’s parents had busied themselves with getting Jeff ready for dorm move-in and paying little, if any, attention to Todd. Currently, Todd was up in his room, preparing for convocation the next day. Jeffrey had left the past Thursday, driving up on his own. He had told Todd to not take everything so seriously and to do the best he could (because he knew that Todd was capable of a lot of things). He also mentioned that he was just a call away if Todd ever needed anything (he wrote his telephone number onto a scrap of paper). Todd had searched the arcade and the theatre a couple times in the hopes of running into the group of boys he had seen on their second night in town, but to no avail.
        Sitting in front of the mirror, Todd analyzed himself. His hair had grown out kind of long, and his mother hadn’t taken him to get it cut, so he’d have to deal with that, but everything else looked normal. Things certainly didn’t feel normal, but he was used to the discomfort by now. The only thing he was truly worried about was his stupid accent. He’d spent the last few weeks hanging around diners and spots with Jeff, and hadn’t heard a single southern accent. He knew his drawl would just make him appear stupid to all these super educated kids, so he’d put a lot of effort into controlling it. He was actually doing okay at it, he just needed to make sure he didn’t slip up. Todd didn’t need any aspect of his personality or appearance to be called attention to. He got up from the floor and crawled into bed, dreading what the next day and year would bring.
        Convocation turtled by, two hours of sitting in a church pew and listening to some headmaster spout of statistics that Todd didn’t care about. As far as he was concerned, he wanted to finish his senior year and get the hell out of here; Todd had always wanted to go to California, but his parents told him it was a pipe dream (“After the stunt you pulled in Alabama, we won’t be funding your college anywhere!” his father had yelled).
        “Ah, Mr. Anderson, is it?” the headmaster questioned when it was Todd’s turn to be introduced after the ceremony.
        “U-uh, yes sir,” he mumbled.
        “Well, we don’t normally take public school transfers, but you will fit in well here. Any major problems you let me know,” he shook Todd’s hand rather harshly.
        “Thank you, sir,” he nodded and moved along.
        Feeling his chest start to tighten, Todd made his way out onto the grass where he sat down against a tree and waited for his parents. After an uncomfortable and awkward goodbye with them, he roamed the grounds a little bit, practicing his newly-fashioned accent quietly to himself. As he rounded a corner to the courtyard, he bumped shoulders with a boy, and turned to apologize, dead-set on making his southern accent unknown (or as unknown as it could be).
        “Ope- sorry about that,” the boy laughed nervously. When Todd looked up at him, it was the boy from outside the arcade all those weeks ago. Shit.
        “S-sorry,” Todd mumbled. The boy nodded a little bit.
        “It’s all good. I’m Neil Perry,” he smiled, holding out his hand, seemingly unaware or forgetting of the fact that they’d seen each other before.
        “Todd Anderson,” he manipulated his tongue to sit flatter in his mouth, so as not to let slip his Alabaman background. He had trouble looking into Neil’s eyes, but when he got a good look, he realized they were dark, dark brown and incredibly deep.
        “Oh, that’s you? I think that makes us roommates,” Neil said, patting Todd on the shoulder. Oh no, Todd thought, his cheeks flushing. Stop it, he thought to himself and cleared his throat.
        “Oh… cool,” Todd nodded a little bit and pursed his lips.
        “I gotta get going. See you soon!” he patted Todd’s shoulder again and took off in the direction he had been going when Todd bumped into him.
        Yep, Todd sighed. This is going to be a long year.
tagging some people (especially those of you who said i should post this heh): @queertoddanderson @babytoddanderson @cupiiid @justarandompjofan @charliedaltonofficial @pretentious-strikes @aedan-mills 
and a big thank you to @noelliza as always bc she’s the best and reads all my stuff before i even think about putting it anywhere on the internet lol <3
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wannabemobwife · 3 years
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Guns, Glamour and Goodfellas - Chapter 17
Chapter 17: Blood is Thicker than Water
Dad!Mob!Tom x Mom!Mob!Reader
-Pairings: Tom Holland x Reader, Rosie Holland x Henry Osterfield, Rosie Holland x Linus Perry
-Warnings: References to sex, language, typos, sad thoughts, attempted suicide, vomiting
-Words: 4.4K
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A/n: Thank you so mucg guys with all the live support. Finally done, yay, with part 1
Chapter 17: Blood is Thicker than Water
Words: 4.4K
Four years had passed and Rosie was the only one to stick around. Everything had changed. You and Tom were currently on your trip around the world. Traveling everywhere from Cuba to Greece. Taking in sights of the world.
Embarking on journey covering 3 continents and 10 countries so far. You had already visited the Taj Mahal in India, the Amalfi Coast for some sun, and Iceland just for the blue lagoon hot springs. You and Tom were having the time of your lives, it being the perfect distraction from everything back home.
Rosie was running the mob along with her new right hand and consigliere, Linus. Rosie had been taking on the mantle as the new leader of the Holland mob. Picking up where Parker left off. Trying to do him justice. Tom had helped her learn the ropes but she always had that fiery personality desired for a mob persona.
After four years, Rosie learned to embrace her grief instead of shoving it away, she began to visit Parker’s grave more and more. Tried to every week, but life got in the way. She would bring a new set of flowers to freshen up the old ones.
She knew today would be especially hard, every year it was impossible. Rosie could barely get through the day. Today was her 20th birthday, marking 4 years of celebrating without Parker.
Rosie and Henry’s relationship had grown into one full of misery. Trapped in a loveless relationship, but he was still her best friend. With just one look he would know what she was thinking.
Over the past couple years, Henry has been so obsessed with keeping her safe that it was driving her mad. Rosie understood that Henry didn’t want to lose her like he lost Parker, but Rosie ran a mob and danger followed her everywhere. They started drifting apart when everything happened with the Holland family, creating unfixable cracks in their foundation.
Lately, Rosie had been feeling someone watching her every move. Following her whenever she would be downtown. Feeling a presence she hasn’t felt in a while. Constantly shivering in fear, feeling as though she was observed. From then on, every move she made was calculated and thought out.
When Rosie first took on the mantle, she cleaned house. Eliminating those whose loyalty would always lie with Tom. Trying to affirm the fact that she was so much more than just Tom’s daughter. She had let William go and few others because she brought in Linus.
Even after starting her new regime, things have been a bit off, lately. She hasn’t been sleeping through the night. She’d jolt out of sleep, drenched in a cold sweat. Henry would be startled awake as well by her movement as move to comfort her.
“Roo, you okay?” Henry asked groggily, yawning a bit. Rosie gasping to catch her breath. Her dreams were supposed to be an escape but now they were doing more harm than good. “I don’t know. I keep having these dreams about Parker. Like he was trying to tell me something,” Rosie said, gathering her bearings. It wasn’t everyday she was visited by her deceased twin brother. “From beyond the grave?…Rosie, he’s gone,” Henry pondered. “I know, I just can’t shake this feeling. That he is… he’s.”
“What? Still alive? Honey, we buried him. You cried over him. If he was still alive don’t you think we would’ve shown his face by now. Wilson and Carter are gone, they have been for awhile now,” Henry explained, hoping it would bring her some solace. Henry wasn’t blind to the change in her demeanor, she did open up to him about being followed everywhere she went. “I guess you’re right. But my dreams feel so real,” Rosie whispered, lying back down. Ready to drift off into a deep sleep. One not tainted by the memory of Parker. “Go, back to sleep baby.” Henry said, he knew they would be getting up in a few hours anyway. Tomorrow was a very big day. Henry knew he and Rosie had been drifting but he was all set to give her the best birthday ever.
Henry had bought tickets for you and Tom to fly in for her birthday and stay for awhile. This time of year was hard for all of you but it wasn’t fair to Rosie. The day that is supposed to be about her has always been shared but now no one dared acknowledge it. It was just a reminder of what had been lost.
“Good morning, beautiful. Happy birthday,” Henry whispered, peppering her face in kisses as the morning sun shone through the curtains.
“Thank you,” Rosie sighed. Every year was a challenge. It got a little better every year but she knew she would never fully accept his absence.
“What do you have planned today?” Henry inquired, he was always one for big gestures. He absolutely hated that she no longer enjoyed her birthday.
As a kid she loved the idea of turning a year older, getting to grow up and getting loads of presents of course. You always made the priority of throwing the most perfect themed parties for Rosie and Parker. One year they had a pirate themed pool party with a treasure hunt and another a circus/carnival theme with fair games and a petting zoo. You loved going all out for their birthday. Just spoiling them in general.
Rosie and Parker, also Tom, can’t forget about him, made life worth living. You and Tom did everything for your kids, never wanting them to feel an ounce of sadness.
But the times had changed, you were no longer the mother to a son. It was just Rosie and you thanked God everyday that she was still there but your heart will forever be scarred.
Scars take forever to heal, sometimes never. There will never be a day when you don’t miss Parker or he doesn’t cross your mind. Everything you did from the moment he died was for him, in one way or another. You knew the grief would never stop but you hoped Rosie would one day be able to move on with life.
“You know…” Rosie murmured. “Oh yeah, say hi for me,” Henry nodded along remembering Rosie was going to spend the day next to her better half, Parker.
Rosie proceeded to get dressed and ready for the day. She wore a tight grey dress showing off the perfect curves of her body. And a pair of black high heels to complete her power woman ensemble. “Henry, you aren’t throwing me a party right? I really don’t want one,” Rosie inquired. Rosie would prefer to have all birthdays pass and wash away but she knew Henry wouldn’t allow that. At the most she would have a nice dinner with him and watch a movie.
“You’ll just wait to find out,” Henry grinned cheekily. In reality he was throwing her surprise party to help her find the joy in her birthday again.
“Henry seriously, not this year,” Rosie announced. “It’s never any year. You haven’t celebrated in 3 years. You need to get over this.”
“Get over what? The death of my twin brother?” Rosie asked, astounded at Henry’s previous statement. The nerve he had, wow.
“Roo, I’m sorry,” Henry tried to apologize but Rosie left in a huff.
“Talk later, Linus is waiting for me,” Rosie yelled, already walking out of the room. “Linus, you ready to go?” Rosie said, as she found him drinking coffee in her kitchen. He sat at the bar, legs dangling off the chair as she came down. “Yes, Roo,” he said, a little out of breath from taking the awe of her beauty.
“Please don’t call me that around Henry… What’s on the agenda?” Rosie asked Linus as she poured herself her own cup of coffee.
“Well, Shaw owes you 3 million and the deadline you gave him expired,” Linus explained, he knew Rosie hated having things held over her head. She would prefer to get them out of the way as soon as possible.
“Well then, let’s go pay him a visit. I could use a drink. Afterwards, can you drop me off at the cemetery?” “Of course, Roo,” Linus said. Rosie huffed in response, rolling her eyes at the name. Linus loved to get a rise out of Rosie. Her remarks to his comments were just a sign of their playful banter.Rosie’s relationship with Linus was complicated. They were partners, most of the time.
Rosie had gone really dark over the past years. There were days where she refused to get out of bed. Sitting in bed wasting the entire day away. Henry would come home from work and try his best to comfort her but after Parker he was just as lost as her. They lived in the same house but not truly together. Not as lovers, maybe as roommates.
All Rosie could feel were thoughts of hopelessness, desolation, and misery. Never being able to find that light at the end of the tunnel. She didn’t deserve to find it, thinking she was the one who pushed you and Tom away. Blaming herself for Parker. All these feelings and Henry wasn’t there, too busy with his own life.
One day, Rosie had gotten real low. Couldn’t find a way out so she went to the gun room grabbed the closest pistol, a bottle of scotch, a glass and sat in Tom’s office. She rested on Tom’s chair trying to find the will to end it all. To point the pistol and pull the trigger.
It would be so easy, the flick of a finger. No more pain. She tried not to think about everything she was giving up. Never seeing you or Tom again, or Henry. Never loving him again, if they ever did manage to find their way back to each others arms. Never experiencing the things that made life worth living.
All her thoughts were halted as Linus barged in. He stopped dead in his tracks as he saw the broken girl hold a gun unto her temple, its safety clicked off. The room was cold as an icy chill ran down his spine.
“Rosie, what are you doing!?!” Linus thundered, trying to stop her before she pulled the trigger. “I don’t know. I think I’m trying to end it all,” Rosie whispered as tears streamed down her face. Deep down she didn’t want to pull the trigger, she wasn’t ready to say goodbye.
“End what all? Your life?” Linus asked, trying to talk her off the metaphorical ledge. Something had to happen that pushed her to this point. Rosie had to be drowning and calling out for help but no one came. “No, it was never about killing myself. It was just about ending the pain and suffering,” she cried.
“Rosie, listen to me. There is so much more you have to live for. This will pass. Think about everything you are giving up.” Linus tried to appeal to the people she loved, you, Tom, and Henry. Losing Rosie would no longer make you a mother. How could Rosie take that away from you?
“I already have and it hasn’t, for 2 years. How do you know it will get any better?” Rosie begged for a true answer. She had been slumping around, letting the days pass her by as she stood silent, screaming non-vocally for help. Trapped in an asylum of misery. “I don’t. But I’ll be there to help you,” Linus exclaimed, giving her the truthful response she wanted. Rosie just needed to hear that she wasn’t alone in this world anymore. “No, you won’t. You’ll just leave like everyone else. Henry doesn’t love me anymore. My parents left. I’m all alone.” “Roo, you aren’t alone. Just hand me the gun and we can work this out. I’m not going anywhere. I’ll always be here,” Linus pleaded. That was the first time he had used that nickname. The name had been reserved for only Henry, Parker and you. In that moment Rosie saw someone she missed so dearly in Linus, Parker. Parker was the only person who was 100% there for her. He was there to talk her off the ledge. He was there at her weakest and in a split second he was standing in front of her.
Rosie gave in, removing the gun from her temple, clicking the safety one and handing it over. She slowly stood up, coming over to Linus and collapsed in his arms. Rosie whispered a small “I missed you” as he held the broken girl. He was the only one who could pull her out. Not Henry, god she wished it was Henry. Linus understood her pain and didn’t try to fix everything.
Henry was the opposite. Constantly worrying about Rosie and trying to find a solution for everything. Things from the slightest backache to feelings of hopelessness. Rosie didn’t need fixing she just needed to be heard and Linus made sure she was. At Harmon’s, the bar was quite empty. Just Shaw and a few of his men. Shaw has borrowed money from Rosie to clear of a few charges. The Holland name had some pull in the legal community. Dating back to Dom’s days but Tom mostly laid down roots.
Linus entered first, firing two shots to take out Shaw’s capos. “Jesus Christ,” yelled Shaw as his protection thudded against the floor.
Rosie followed Linus in, making her presence known, “Shaw, you know I’m not a fan of people not staying true to their word. Do you have my money?”
“Rosie, doll. I paid you in full already. If this just your sad attempt to stir something up we can work this out another time. Shoo, let me finish my drink,” Shaw snickered. “Shaw, I know your games. You have 3 minutes to transfer my money right now. One for each million. I have Linus checking for a deposit of 3 million, make this simple and do it,” Rosie stated with an unchanging expression. “I need more time, that’s not enough. It’s all in separate accounts,” Shaw asserted, his voice starting to waver as he stared down the barrel of her pistol. “Well then, I’d hurry if I were you. Here’s your phone. Just wire the money… Starting now,” Rosie exclaimed as Linus devoted his stare to watch. Glancing at the seconds tick away.
“Fine, I’m going,” Shaw screamed, about to crack under the pressure.
“2 minutes left,” Linus chimed in. “Okay, I’m just inputing the dollar amount, it’s a lot of zeros.” Shaw tried to explain. He was about to lose his life because he was slow.
“50 secs.”
“I’m going, I’m going.”
“10, 9, 8, 7, 6—“
“I’m done,” Shaw said, letting out the breath he was holding.
“That was fast but not fast enough,” Rosie whispered raising her gun square to the back of his head. Her finger slipped to the trigger and fired a shot.
BANG
“Wow, I didn’t think you actually kill him,” Linus said, impressed by her ruthlessness.
“He was getting on my nerves, besides he will never borrow money from me again if he is dead,” Rosie chuckled. “You know I found that really hot,” Linus whispered in her ear. “You always do.” Rosie grinned at his advances, trying to pull her close to his chest. “Hey, this can’t keep happening.”
“Oh, come on. You say that every time. I can’t hide my feelings for you anymore.”
“Well, you are going to have to. I was clear about what this was. So I’m going to ask you this once more time, what do you want?” “I want you.” “Well you can have me in the bathroom in 2 minutes.” “Roo, you’re too good to me,” Linus smirked, following her as she glided to the restroom.
Everything lasted about 30 mins. They were in and out in a flash. The bar now smelled of sex and a dead bodies. Linus was the first to finish, coming out of the bathroom looking disheveled as hell. Sporting the same juts had a quickie look. Linus went to pull the car around after fixing his hair in the mirror.
Linus would never be Henry and that was a good thing, Linus was different. By no circumstances was Rosie in love with Linus or will ever be in love with him, he was merely a distraction. Rosie knew her relationship with him was wrong but he made her feel alive once more.
Rosie emerged from bathroom breathing heavy, almost gasping for air, with sweat glistening on her chest. She straightened out her dress as combed down her hair. Stepping out of the doorway, the smell of a fresh rotting body hit her.
Rosie immediately turned around and lunged for the toilet. She had been in the business for 3 years and never before had her body reacted this way. She hurled into the toilet for a good ten minutes. Eventually bringing her head out of the toilet bowl to wipe off her mouth. The air was now coupled with sex, dead bodies and vomit. She was clueless to what forced her to keep her head in a toilet bowl.
After her nausea spell passed her, she had Linus drop her off near the cemetery. “Oh, you can drop me off here. I need something from the pharmacy anyways,”Rosie informed Linus. She was planning on picking up something for her stomach, it was very unlikely for her to throw up suddenly.
“Ok, Roo. Do you need a ride home?” Linus questioned.
“No, Jared is supposed to pick me up. Thank you,” Rosie exclaimed, getting out of the car. “Alright. Happy birthday by the way. Can I have a kiss goodbye?” “Thank you and no. I’ll see you later.”
“Yeah for the party,” Linus called out slowly driving away. “Wait! What did you say?” Rosie remarked but he was already long gone.
Rosie was mentally kicking herself, she didn’t have the willpower to deal with a party tonight. She specifically told Henry, not to throw one but since when did he listen to her.
Their road to ultimately heartbreak was a two way street. Both of them had done something to warrant the loveless relationship. Rosie admitted to herself, that she eventually did stop trying. She stopped constantly asking if Henry wanted to go out for dinner and what time he would be home. Rosie prefers to blame Henry but in reality, she was then one who let go first.
Rosie stopped showing him love, too distraught by his every move because it was a constant reminder her brother wasn’t there anymore. Henry would try to work him into every little conversation, remembering Parker in everything. It grew too much for Rosie. Rosie had never been one for confronting her feelings, preferring to shove them down but how could she, when Henry would never shut up about Parker.
Parker was the main reason a wedge had been driven between them, but she wouldn’t dream of blaming her dead brother. Who couldn’t even defend himself. Rosie needed a reset after Parker but Henry was stuck living in the past.
Rosie was ready to start her life with Henry after graduation but he couldn’t let go. After a while, Rosie became just like him. Stuck drifting into a void of pure sadness. Rosie couldn’t let go, along with Henry. Their lives went in different directions, Rosie was blossoming into a ruthless leader who would only act soft around Parker, vowing to visit his grave everyday. And Henry got left behind at some point, not seeing how he fit in her life anymore.
In the pharmacy she scanned the aisles for some sort of quick remedy. If Henry was throwing her a surprise party, one she specifically asked not for. Rosie didn’t have days to recuperate, maybe a few hours.
She found the largest bottle of Pepto-Bismol and stopped by the card aisle. Carefully grasping a birthday card for her favorite person. One that was funny yet endearing. Parker was addicted to all the corned jokes she would crack. She made her way to the register. In front of her stood a little old woman, she wore a purple floral dress and her white stained hair was pulled into a clip.
“Just this for you sweetie? Oh, who’s birthday is it?” Asked the little lady, referring to the birthday card Rosie grabbed for Parker.
“My brother’s and um, could I also get this,” Rosie responded as her eyes glanced below her. Skimming over the candy bars, gum packets and eventually landing on a pregnancy test. Come to think of it, Rosie was late about a week and a half.
“Of course, honey. Would you like to use the restroom?” Queried the lady. Rosie nodded in response. She finished paying and quickly made her way to the restroom. Following the directions on the box carefully, she needed to be a hundred percent sure, before she told anyone.
Right around the corner was the cemetery. She glided through iron gates, walking across the cobble stone path before she came upon the place she loved most in the world. The place where she would hold nothing back, spilling everything to him.
Life of a mob boss was dangerous but things started to seem eerie for Rosie. She would feel weird presences or someone watching her at eerie times. The same feeling plagued her at the cemetery, today. She knelt down to the headstone, engraved in it read “Here Lies Parker Jackson Holland, Taken from us too soon, a son, a brother, and a friend.”
“Hey, P. You probably get tired of me visiting you. Everyday I’m here and sometimes I think I do it for my benefit more than yours. I hope that wherever you are, you are happy and most likely you are with Charlotte. I’m happy for you, Parker. No matter how much I wish you were here with me, I know that you are happy that you escaped this life. Happy 20th birthday.” Rosie whispered, fixing the flowers that began to wilt from yesterday.
“I have some really amazing news to share with you, but it will have to wait till next time. You can’t be the first person I tell, I’m sorry. He deserves to know before you…. Oh my god, you’ll never believe what happened at work…”
This is the one thing that brought Rosie solace. She persistently blames herself for that fateful night 3 years ago. Rosie would spend hours kneeling next to his headstone. She would tell him about her life and read off the postcards you and Tom sent from your travels. Talking to him as if he was still there.
Rosie glanced at her watch, it was half past five and she hadn’t even called Jared yet to pick her up. “I’m sorry P, I gotta go. Henry, god love him but, that bastard is throwing me a birthday party. I guess I should at least make an appearance. I’ll see you tomorrow, I love you.” Rosie said, walking towards the parking lot.
She stood under the gate for ten minutes waiting for Jared to arrive and escort her home. The weather completely shifted as the sun set around her. The once blue sky changed to one painted with vibrant yellows and pinks. The sky was a sight not to be missed but she could do without the freezing winds that accompanied.
A chill ran down her spine as she waited in the darkness. Feeling a sensation that only warranted panic. Rosie felt someone watching her once again. Maybe from a far or up close, but she definitely wasn’t alone. It was silly that she let feelings like those get to her. She was a mob boss for god sakes, scaring even the most menacing of men into submission.
Rosie eyes started darting everywhere a noise left. In the corner of her eye she caught a figure drenched in shadows approaching. She tried to scramble for her gun, but soon realized she left it in Linus’s car.
The stranger kept making advances and managed to get to her. He wrapped his arms around her and pressed a cloth to her mouth. Causing her to be consumed in darkness as her body grew limp.
Back at the manor, Henry was setting everything up perfectly. His mission was to make Rosie love her birthday once more. While Henry was working hard at hanging the birthday banner and decorating every corner with balloons, Linus was no help at all. Lounging on the couch and finishing a beer.
“So are you going to pick up Rosie and get off your ass?” Henry barked, pulling the coffee out from under Linus, causing him to spill his beer.
“Seriously, dude. What’s your problem?” Linus snapped.
“My problem is my girlfriend isn’t here. Aren’t you supposed to pick her up?” “No, Jared is.” “Linus, Jared is here. He has been for a few hours. Where is she?” Henry questioned, starting to worry. “I don’t know. Last, I left her at the cemetery.” “Henry! It’s so good to see you,” you cheered as Tom and you walked in. Hugging Henry after not seeing him for awhile. It still pained you to visit, traveling was the perfect distraction.
“Hope you have been taking care of yourself, son. Where’s Rosie?” Tom questioned. “Yeah, I’ve been good. At the moment, I don’t know where she is. She’s missing,” Henry concluded. You and Tom stood completely still as you processed the news. It wasn’t everyday that your daughter would disappear into thin air, but her job did keep her life in danger.Rosie missing was uncommon. It had happened once or twice in the past but that was 3 years ago. So much had changed, for the better. Yet, you were once again in the same place, in the house you left because everything was too familiar. Rosie missing was all too familiar.
Rosie came to. Opening her eyes to a place she chose to forget. For all she knew it was an exact replica. Warehouses riddled all of London’s ports, she could be anywhere.
“Text your driver and tell him Henry picked you up for a special birthday dinner,” Rosie’s kidnapper barked, thrusting a phone in front of her.
“Really? You kidnapped me? After 3 years of being leader of London’s most feared mob, it’s like been there done that. Do you want money or something? I have a party to get to.” Rosie quipped, annoyed with they man’s pursuits.
“Oh, I know. I believe happy birthday is granted. 20 years is a milestone.”
“Whatever, I don’t really like my birthday anyway.”
“Wanna talk about it?” The stranger pestered on. Rosie had learned lesson from the last time she was restrained to chair, rope around her wrists and ankles, ceasing blood flow. This time it was zip ties, a little basic for any mobster she has had a run with.
“No. I want you to let me go. Seriously, what do you want? I don’t think you know who I am. Or who my father is,” Rosie asserted.
“A moment alone together is all I ask and I know exactly who you are and who your dad is. Correction, who our dad is.”
“Parker.”
A/n: Finally the end. Alright, I'm going to bed. There is no set schedule for the sequel series, I'm just going to post a chapter when I finish writing it. Let me know if you like to be tagged in the sequel chapters.
Guns, Glamour and Goodfellas Masterlist
Taglist: @thenoddingbunny-blog @adriannauni @dummiesshort @bi-lmg @allthisfortommy @quaksonhehe @housepartyprotocol
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My Superfamily Set-Up
By and large I’m fairly happy with the upcoming Infinite Frontier status quo for the Superfamily. Granted that’s in part because I’m still convinced Kara will get an ongoing or mini in 2021, probably to coincide with her show returning, and PKJ hinted at plans for Steel on Twitter. But Kon has escaped the Titans dumpsterfire for a little while, and I’ve heard good things about Thompson as a writer as well. Kenan is popping back up in a one shot written by Yang that will hopefully herald more appearances in Batman/Superman. Jon is still co-protagonist with Clark in the main books, Tanya is in the Future State Shazam book and also a candidate for the FS Justice League book, so hopefully she’ll be in Titans Academy, and Lois is poised to be a big player in the upcoming Checkmate mini by Bendis. So fingers crossed, all the core members of the Superfamily will be in stuff come end of 2021.
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Now that said, were DC to suddenly realize that I alone can save Superman, and asked me what kind of status quo I would like (whether for a mainline or Elseworld book makes no difference to me), this is the basic set up that I would go with:
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Superman - I’d do a traditional status quo. Superman is disguised as Clark Kent, mild mannered reporter, married to Lois Lane, etc. I’d have Ma and Pa go back to being dead since I still am not a fan of them being alive. Note that this isn’t a reaction against Bendis, I loved Bendis’ run, but I do want to play with the traditional status quo a little bit before diving into something different. Especially since so many Superman writers have traditionally completely wasted the potential of Superman’s status quo.
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Lois Lane - Similar to Superman I’d go with a more traditional status quo at the start. She works at the Daily Planet, she and Clark are married, she’s the best reporter in town, etc. I would eventually have her take over as editor-in-chief of the Daily Planet from Perry, I thought that was a great idea the New 52 wasted, and I love the idea of her and Cat Grant being rivals with the Daily Planet and Catco competing. 
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Jon Kent - I’d restore kid Jon and toss him back to the Super Sons, not because I think what’s been done with him has been bad, but mostly because I don’t want to write him as Superman, I want to write Clark. Jon seems to be being set up to be co-Superman, and I just don’t have any interest in writing that. To restore kid Jon without destroying Bendis’ run which I enjoyed, I’d explain that teen Jon is actually the “evil” Jon we saw from the Super Sons of Tomorrow future. He went back in time and rescued his kid self from Earth 3, and explained to him that he wanted to prevent that future from coming to pass, but that he needed to take his younger self’s place to do so. Kid Jon agreed, after all he was terrified of becoming evil in both Tomasi’s Super Sons of Tomorrow and Bendis The Man of Steel, and has basically been in hiding watching the events and also studying Hypertime so he can learn how to avoid ending up evil. 
Clark and Lois would blow up at the Jons for the lie when Teen Jon judges he’s changed things enough for his kid self to return, but both Jons could point out that both Clark and Lois have kept secrets when they deemed it necessary from each other and Jon. That would be a neat conversation to have, and a way to continue the untraditional family dynamic that Bendis set up. You could keep teen Jon as a time anomaly until Hypertime catches up with him and restores him to his timeline, with him continuing to be Superman as penance, while kid Jon goes and pals around with Damian in Williamson’s Robin or whatever.
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Superwoman/Kara Zor-El - I like the idea of Kara “graduating” to the Superwoman name. It’s open right now given Lana’s retirement, and I think it would suit Kara. I would keep Kara in National, it’s her own little corner to play in, but I would keep that development from (I believe it was) Andrea Shea, where Kara gets fired from Catco because she’s a terrible intern due to always running off to be a heroine. She and Kal talk, Kara admits she doesn’t really want to be a journalist, and so she goes and interns at STAR Labs. I hate how DC keeps turning all the members of the Superfamily into Clark clones. It’s goddamn stupid and I want them to please STOP. Why the hell would Kara want to go into journalism anyway? We’ve never even seen a damn journalist on Krypton! It’s a stupid thing they did on the TV show because they wanted to swipe Clark’s stuff. Let Kara be the scientist of the Els, the one who carries on the family tradition. What form that takes is something I’m open too, I liked Venditti making her interested in history in his annual, maybe make Kara an anthropologist? That would be hilarious. 
Also give Lena to Supergirl, they can be best friends, enemies, lovers, I don’t care. But Lena is wasting away in a vault under Lexcorp last we saw, and that’s a damn shame considering how popular CW Lena is. I’d also add Natasha Irons (who I’d rename Mastersmith) and Tanya Spears (Powerhouse) to Supergirl’s supporting cast, they could play off each other as three supergenuis women).
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Kon-El/Conner Kent/Scion - I’m really excited to see what Thompson is going to do with Kon on the Suicide Squad, but here’s what I would do with him. Kon would finally be able to shake off the Superboy moniker and leave that to Jon. Instead he’d take the name “Scion” as a reflection of his origins, and a tie-in to his new status quo. In the wake of Death Metal, Lex Luthor would abruptly step down as head of Lexcorp, stating that he needs time to redefine himself in the wake of his latest attempt to justify himself as the true hero by serving Perpetua, ending up with him needing Superman to save the day again. While he is away, he’s turned over complete control of Lexcorp to his sole heir: Conner. Conner is now head of one of the evilest megacorps in existence, and is one of the wealthiest men alive. Conner knows this is just another maneuver by Lex in his neverending crusade against Superman, but he’s determined to not just be another pawn. He accepts control, renames Lexcorp Superman, Inc. His mission will be to transform the megacorp into the force for good it pretends to be. Conner will have to take on not only Lex loyalists and traitorous underlings who would love to be CEO themselves within Lexcorp, but new megacorps who have flocked to Metropolis in hope of establishing themselves, now that the former Master of Metropolis has abdicated his throne. Threats within and threats without, but armed with the powers/morals of Superman and the charm/brains of Lex Luthor, Kon is just cocky enough to think he can handle it.
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John Henry Irons/Steel - It will be a big year for John Henry Irons. His private company Steelworks is about to go public and make him a billionaire. Lana Lang has accepted his marriage proposal and they’re due to be wed. His niece Natasha has left the nest and is off working at STAR Labs. Irons is posed to finally resurrect the decrepit Suicide Slum and allow it to catch up to the rest of the City of Tomorrow. However there are problems: new megacorps are moving into the city in the wake of Lex Luthor leaving, people are disappearing from Suicide Slum with dark rumors are spreading about the reasons why, and the people of Suicide Slum are accusing Irons of planning to gentrify the borough. Making matters worse, weapons that Irons designed as a young man are appearing on the streets of Metropolis, attracting negative attention from the media and putting Steelworks at risk. Irons is going to have to suit up and take up the fight all over Metropolis, from the darkest levels of the Undercity, to the bright deceptive board rooms at the top of skyscrapers in the city’s heart. Irons will have to reckon with his past to secure his future, and confront the evil Metropolis would rather pretend doesn’t exist.
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Kenan Kong/New Super-Man - Look just give Yang a damn Kenan book and let him go wild. Right now is either the best or worst time to give Kenan a book given the situation with Hong Kong, but if anyone is equipped to deal with it, it’s Yang. I’ll just add that I would love to see Kenan on a Global Guardians team, but I’d also love to see Justice League of China as a spinoff book of the main Justice League. Kenan is as close as DC has come to their own Spider-Man/Invincible take on Superman, Jon sadly hasn’t really differentiated himself from his dad while Kenan is VERY different. I would love to see Kenan pushed more and would buy a new book in a heartbeat. Also put out a damn New Super-Man omnibus Jim Lee, for God’s sake can’t you abuse your power to push the character you wanted created and is actually good unlike most of Wildstorm? You’re shoving Grifter back into everything but not Kenan? Christ.
So yeah that’s the Superfamily status quo I’d establish. Keeping my Clark and Lois ideas close to my chest for now, but I might go into more detail later.
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sepublic · 3 years
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Best Dad Perry Porter
           Anyhow, I think Perry Porter is up there as potentially being one of, if not THE best parent in this show? At least, potentially tied with Eda?
           I say this, because the state of a kid is usually a reflection of their parent’s skills in raising them. And Gus… Gus is honestly one of, if not the most, well-adjusted characters in the show! In Episode 6, he says he knows what he’s good at- Gus understands himself well and has no reservations about who he is, no insecurity. He has the charisma and self-confidence to be a leader and even an MC at Grom, skills he no doubt picked up from Perry. And Gus… This kid CLEARLY loves and looks up to his dad and thinks he’s the coolest person ever, with how much he emulates Perry, and how seriously Gus treats his interview in Understanding Willow! He really wants to live up to his dad’s legacy, but it’s not out of some sense of expectation from his father, either… It’s all Gus’ genuine choice, I doubt Perry is putting him up to it!
           Because again… Gus is clearly happy with himself. He outright alludes to being proud of his Porter lineage, as Eda jokes about him being a dweebus- And Gus proudly asserts that he comes from a long line of dweebuses! He knows who he is, Gus has no shame and openly revels in it. And that… that says a LOT about Perry, probably- As a parent who likely engages with his kid often and lets him know about their family lineage. As someone supportive of Gus’ interests, because Gus has no reservations about his intrigue in human culture… And as someone who Gus actually admires and wants to live up to, not because anybody is expecting him, but because Perry is his own role model! It all points towards Perry being someone who reassures Gus on who he is, that he doesn’t have to be what he’s not for others, and that he can take pride in it…
           And, sure. We can all look at Something Ventured, Someone Framed. Gus has insecurities about being overlooked because he’s younger than the rest, and moved up a few grades. But the thing is… well, Gus is a person. Everyone is going to have insecurities, no matter how good their life is. He’s not perfect, he’s flawed just like anyone else, and I doubt it points towards any bad parenting of Perry’s anyway. While there is SOME social apprehension that Gus has over moving up multiple grades, it’s still a decision he’s continued to stick with. If the show’s handling of Willow’s discomfort in Abominations is any consideration, then if Gus genuinely had issues with being in a higher grade, we probably would’ve had this addressed and changed by now.
           But despite the drawbacks here or there, I think it’s a decision that Gus willingly made and accepted, and I don’t think he regrets advancing a few grades! It’s what he wanted, it’s just that in life, not everything is perfect, not even the best option… And even if it was, again. Gus is still allowed to feel imperfect about things. And as a parent, there’s only so much that Perry can do for his kid… And as it stands, I think he’s done a LOT. Because when Gus hijacks Perry’s broadcast in the season finale, bar some embarrassment… Perry doesn’t seem too upset? He’s a very accommodating and open-minded father, which likely relates to his profession. Not only that, but he allows Willow and his son to take over the broadcast, and his expression and body language clearly allude to Perry legit listening to what these kids have to say, and taking that into account.
           Like Eda, Perry is someone who knows that he doesn’t know everything, neither as an adult nor as a parent; And while he knows a lot more than his son and is the one meant to guide and educate him… Perry still recognizes the value and worth of what his son and another kid has to say. He knows that good information and points can come from anywhere, and he’s willing to listen and take into consideration, and seems somewhat convinced no less! I can see him encouraging and feeding into the rebellion against Belos…
          Not to mention, as a reporter Perry no doubt has taught Gus a lot about how to be critical of authority and information, to always question what’s given to you, and to think carefully about things and the way a situation presents itself! While it’s possible he was never given the chance to say so, it’s worth noting that Gus never expresses any of Belos’ propaganda as a fact he believes in- When even Willow briefly alludes to Belos’ way of magic being the ‘correct’ way, even after suffering from his system for a while. As a reporter, Perry has probably done at least some research and investigation, or is at least more aware of what the Emperor’s Coven does an outsider, than anyone else.
           So, we have Perry probably educating Gus on anything sus on Belos’ behalf… In addition to encouraging his kid’s interests, probably having caused them as well; I can see Perry’s reports on abnormal things here or there (like a giraffe sighting as evidenced by one background detail) leading to a discussion of humans, which sparked Gus’ curiosity. I can see Perry doing his own research for Gus’ sake… Maybe enjoying hobbies and mutual interests with his son as both a father and best friend! Because Perry is clearly someone that Gus feels safe around, that he can be open and completely honest. Gus was someone who lit up Willow’s life and made her feel so much better, prior to Luz’s arrival…
          And I think we can guess where Gus got these welcoming qualities from, that willingness to engage with others socially and get them to open up more about themselves. Reporters tend to be great listeners or are at least meant to be… And I can see Gus’ receptiveness contributing to his desire to create a space where others can feel heard instead of ignored, as he once did with the H.A.S.! Gus is a supportive kid, someone who gives a voice to others… We see this literally in Episode 6, when his spell amplifies the volume of Luz’s voice. And his illusions can buff up Willow’s plants as well. As the son of a reporter, he gives people a platform to speak on, as he encourages with King during Grom… Gus clearly embodies the best qualities of his father’s profession, so I think it’s safe to say that Perry has been an overwhelmingly positive influence in his life!
           Not to say that Perry CAN’T have his faults… But so does every parent, and I think Perry is doing an amazing job as-is. I suppose in many ways, he’s like Eda as someone who likely interferes with the Emperor’s Coven in their own ways, while allowing a kid to feel heard and listened to, while reminding them of their value as a person and helping them acknowledge and embrace who they are! Granted, Perry doesn’t exactly have much competition either… There’s the Blight Parents, who are objectively the worst. Then there’s Camila and the Park Parents… And while those latter options are no doubt amazing, kind, and considerate people –if their kids are any indication- admittedly their parenting has been marred by a bad decision here, or there… Camila wanted Luz to suppress herself, and Willow’s dads encouraged her to join Abominations instead of her Plant passions, because it had better opportunities.
           Which, that can be its own discussion entirely, on how Camila and Willow’s Dads truly want the best and would love to let their kids be who they are and self-actualize, but because of their position in society, they need to prioritize their kid’s success in life… Because it’s obvious that Luz and Willow regard their parents with a lot of love, and with good reason! I think that Camila and Willow’s dads are just stuck in a scenario where they used to be super-supportive of their child and still are… But pressure by the system mandates that they want their kid to be less lonely, and there’s not much they know or can do in this circumstance. That gets into the idea of how being an ideal parent is difficult, when in order to survive in a conforming system you have to play by its rules… And how a lot of people just don’t have the luxury nor privilege to be the best parents they can be.
           So, I guess that could open up for debate, the idea that Camila and Willow’s dads could be just as good as Perry, if in the same situation as him… And, I’m not exactly sure of Perry’s social standing, and I don’t know how well-off being a reporter is. But with the evidence as it currently is, with what we’re working with? I think Perry and Eda are tied and deadlocked as the best parents in this show… Just as Luz and Gus are among the most well-adjusted of the cast, all things considered! They’re both kids who uplift others… Fitting, given Luz’s associations with flight and Owls, amidst the way the show’s own opening initially frames her!
          And these two kids serve as a contrast to the Emperor’s Coven, with its gilded, angelic imagery and wings meant to uplift others above the rest to a heavenly degree… But it’s a false uplifting based on forced hierarchy and putting others down, while Gus and Luz allow others to self-actualize, fly free, and be who they truly are! You can tell their parents really tried and left their impact, huh? Obviously Luz and Gus are their own people with their own agency in who they become- But having a healthy environment and support network is ALWAYS helpful in allowing others to utilize that agency. And I think Eda and Perry did good, if not great, in giving their kids the platform and environment, the safety net needed, to work and make themselves into the best witches they can be!
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idea: roger is queer & ace (i'm not sure about the romantic label) but hasnt quite figured it out yet, heinz is fully aware roger is Not Straight and ends up bonding with him via helping him figure out labels and terms, and taking roger to his first pride event w/ vanessa, norm and perry. tl;dr heinz gets bonding time with his brother, and roger is queer.
Y E S 
you know i’m a sucker for Heinz/Roger bonding time so i am so on board with this
I do have to admit that I like the weird relationship Roger and Melanie have going on, but I am totally on board with something like asexual biromantic Roger. Maybe he doesn't even realize that this identity -- or the split attraction model in general -- exists, and he lowkey thinks he's broken because he can see himself spending his life with a girl or a guy (I don't know if I expect him to know what an enby is tho he kinda gives off oblivious dumbass vibes) but he can't see himself sleeping with anyone? Yes this is the cliché asexual experience no I will not apologize for using it lmao.
We know Vanessa likes Uncle Roger but I don't really see either of her parents taking her to visit him much so I wouldn't be surprised if, especially as she gets older, they start talking over the phone more than anything else. Despite being such a popular guy, he doesn't really seem to have many friends, so I can see him kinda venturing into the subject with her just because there’s no one else he can really do it with. Idk how exact he'd go about it without being weird but maybe it starts with the bi label first? Maybe Vanessa comes out as bi first (after telling her parents obviously) and Roger wants to show that he's supportive and he kinda ventures into his own romantic orientation just a lil and Heinz just happens to be walking by during that part of the conversation and Vanessa just happens to have put her uncle on speaker so she could get ready for her totally-not-a-date with Candace (shhh let me ship in peace) and Heinz is like what the fuck and he can tell Roger's not quite sure what he's saying but that he's being honest and definitely not bullshitting it and Heinz is like 🤔🤔🤔 but he just walks by and doesn't say anything
And then like an hour after Roger gets off the phone with Vanessa, he gets a text from Heinz that says something like "You never told me you were bi" and Roger's like (●__●) because he had absolutely no idea his brother was going to overhear that. It would be awkward with anyone, but it's especially awkward with Heinz because a) they're not close and b) they're both from a country that gives off Very Homophobic Vibes™ and he doesn't expect that to make a good match, which is why he's so surprised when Heinz just takes it in stride (he probably cracks a joke about bisexuality running in the family or something idk) and it makes him feel a little better. He's never really been able to talk about this to anyone -- even with Vanessa he felt like he had to tiptoe around everything because she may be 17 (I’m assuming this would have to be at least a year after the show ends) but she’s still a child and you can only say so much to your niece.
I feel like even though he’s being nice to his brother, he still wouldn’t want to invite him to Pride, but Vanessa would absolutely make that decision herself. Roger would probably be a lil wary bc he doesn’t want the whole city to know yet, but Vanessa would remind him that as the mayor, people wouldn’t necessarily see it as his way of coming out; it could look like his way of supporting Danville��s LGBTQ+ community because he is absolutely still the mayor after the show ends and idc what MML has to say about it. 
And Heinz doesn’t find out until after Vanessa’s already invited him so it’s not like he can say no -- Roger’s the mayor, after all; he probably should go to Pride, if only for his public image -- so he just kinda has to suck it up (which is fine because he’ll have Perry the Platypus and Norm and he can ignore his brother the whole time. Just because he’s not actively planning the downfall of his brother’s career doesn’t mean he wants to spend time with the guy) and deal with it. 
But then he gets a letter from Perry that morning that he can’t come but that Heinz should go anyway (and Heinz doesn’t find out, but he reason he can’t come is that Phineas and Ferb are bringing him the Pride with them instead and Perry absolutely plans on leaving them halfway through to spend the second half of the day with the Doofenshmirtz family) and Heinz is like -_- and then Vanessa ditches a few minutes into it to hang out with her not-girlfriend Candace (and her brothers and their pet platypus in the rainbow get-up, and she’s decently sure that this is her dad’s ex-nemesis so she finds it hilarious but that’s not important) and Heinz is like -__- and then Norm runs into Chloe and he’s like :)))) and leaves and now poor Heinz is all alone with Roger and he’s like -___- And I feel like because Roger’s the mayor, there’d be a couple different reporters asking to get pictures of him and some kids who think it’s super cool to meet the mayor because they’re naïve enough not to realize that the government’s a platypus and Heinz keeps getting shoved out of the way and he’s like -____- and he’s this close to ditching his brother and peacing out because this is not the fun Pride he wanted it to be and then Roger starts talking about like actual things with actual substance and Heinz is like 0_0 because their conversations usually consist of small talk and only small talk and this is really weird but he goes with it anyway and then they end up talking labels and sexualities and romantic orientations and by the time Pride ends Roger feels like he knows not only himself but his brother better than he ever has and it’s a very wholesome conversation and they’re both completely oblivious to the platypus in the fedora with a rainbow band that looks at them for about 10 seconds and then walks away because he is not interrupting some much-needed Doofenshmirtz bonding time 
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toindeedbe-agod · 4 years
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so. neil motherfucking perry.
his father is forcing him into a career path bc of his own shortcomings as a youth and his mother looks idly on. she'll support her husband no matter what and the blind loyalty alienates her from neil.
neil would see her as an enemy no matter what, because she never helped him. she never saw him. she never spoke up for him.
she'll wonder what happened to her perfect little boy, wonder why she just doesnt get him anymore, why he never seems to be around, while his dad yells and doesnt understand.
neil feels stifled at home, and welton. is rhat thw name of the school i can only think of hellton. is his escape- if only a little bit.
he plays along with the boys, calls it hell and boring and hes so conflicted. an escape from his dad- a little. but he's only there to fit into his dads plan, so can it really be a safe space?
the rest of the poets are what make it feel most like home. they get him. they want to strike out on their own and have fun and not go into the family business even if theyve resigned themselves to it at this point
neil is constantly searching for an escape. its why theatre has always been so enchanting to him. no better way to forget your troubles than to become a new person entirely.
mr. keating is pretty much the complete antithesis of his dad. he encourages him, he basically tells him to start up the society again (a complete reverse of his dad telling him to drop newspaper (?) even tho neil enjoys it), tells him to think for himself and to live for himself, to take control of his destiny.
and thats why he looks up to keating so much. thats why he tries to emulate keatings spirit with the other poets, why he tries to stick up to his father like keating has stuck up to the rest of the faculty, etc.
todd is also a major point of neils character arc, bc todd grounds him. hes the logic, the reasoning (even if the majority of it is anxiety fueled overthinking), the thing that brings neil back to reality (see. the flying desk set scene.)
but ALSO. neil is an example of . things .
look he literally is like incapable of finding a balance. he cant rebel quietly, with just the socieyy, he has to sigm up for a play and forge a letter and back mr keating. but he cant stick up to his dad when it matters, he just backs down. he doesnt like listening to other peoples ideas, when he has an idea he sticks to it. i fully believe that during the argument, when neil is like "ask me how i feel" or whatever and then he just sits back down is EXACTLY the moment he decides to kill himself. the rest of the argument doesnt matter, he'll be dead in a few hours anyways. he doesnt argue with his mom, he doesnt want to waste the effort.
he figures that he has spent a lifetime being told what to do. told exactly how his life is going to go. and in that moment, when his ways to escape are taken away, when he cant cope and he'll never be able to see his friends again, he decides to take control of his life.
hes only done it so many times before, by recreating the dead poets society, by befriending todd and helping him become better, by joining the play, which were all some of the best decisions hes ever made.
so surely, the trend will keep.
people listen to his ideas, listen to Him, often unquestioningly. he knows he makes good decisions, has truly yet to be done wrong.
so definitely, he should do this.
its the only option.
its the best decision.
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wren-fell · 3 years
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Stuck in Borderland
Chapter 4: The Days In between
Thank you to everyone who’s read this so far! I appreciate all the support.
Madoka and Sayaka are my characters all the rest belong to Haro Aso.
Warnings: Language, talk of death, weapons
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* Day 1 (Morning)*
“Ughhhhhhhh…” Sayaka groaned as her head rested on the dining room table.
“Maybe you shouldn’t have had that extra two drinks after you ran after Chishiya,” Madoka commented as she sat at the table.
“Shhhhhh… you were the one who suggested we go back to the bar,” Sayaka hissed raising her head to look at her, but winced at the sunlight that came through the window and put her head back down.
“Didn’t mean you had to agree,” Madoka mumbled around a bite of toast, “you should eat you’ll feel better.”
“No if I eat I’ll vomit…”
“Weird. Eating makes me feel better after a night of drinking,” Madoka commented.
Sayaka raised her head to glare at her, “it’s because you’re 21 Madoka. When you hit 25, you’ll get it, until then fuck off,” Sayaka hissed.
“Yea… Well enjoy the youth right,” Madoka mumbled her mouth full.
Sayaka sighed and rested her forehead back against the cool table. The Beach was relatively quiet in the morning. Everyone was so drunk from the night before things didn’t pick back up until noon when people started waking up, so for now at least the music wasn’t pounding in their ears. Sayaka would’ve loved to sleep in more, but force of habit from swim practice had her up and at em at 8am.
“Here this will help with the hangover,” someone said and the sound of a full glass hitting the table made Sayaka raise her head. A tall girl with braids, a blue flowered bikini, and a cigarette hanging out of her mouth gave her a smile.
Sayaka squinted as her memory started to jog, “why?”
“What?” The tall girl asked putting her head to the side.
Sayaka glared at her, “why would you give me this? You’re the chick that’s always hanging around with Chishiya. So what? Is this some murder cocktail from him?” Sayaka nodded toward the tall glass filled with thick looking red liquid.
The girl blinked at her in surprise before bursting out laughing, “no, no. This is a hangover remedy a friend of mine taught me back in the real world. Chishiya had nothing to do with it,” she paused to look at Sayaka who still looked suspicious, “he isn’t exactly in the business of caring about people.”
Sayaka pouted as she watched the tall girl. “Just shut up and drink it Sayaka. Kuina is harmless,” Madoka said.
Sayaka eyed the glass before sighing and pushing herself up into a sitting position with her elbows, “fine…” She picked up the glass and sniffed it cautiously and gagged.
“Yea, don’t smell it just chug it,” Kuina advised.
Sayaka glanced at her hesitantly, but drew in a deep breath and threw the glass back chugging it as fast as she could. She slammed the glass back on the table and stuck out her tongue with a shiver, “oh god that’s nasty.”
“Yea, but it’ll help.”
Sayaka sighed leaning back against her chair and pulling her bangs away from her face, “thanks Kuina,” she glanced up and offered a smile, “do you want to sit with us? I’m Sayaka by the way.”
Kuina smiled, “sure.”
There was a long silence as they all sat and ate.
“So Kuina, did Chishiya say anything about Sayaka’s embarrassing confrontation?” Madoka asked.
“Madoka!”
“Hm? No I don’t think so, but I haven’t talked to him today,” she said thoughtfully a hand on her chin.
Sayaka turned to look at her, “you haven’t you two are always together. What are you dating or something?”
Kuina leaned back laughing loudly, “oh god no! Chishiya is definitely not my type!”
Sayaka gave her an unconvinced look.
“Besides I don’t think he’s the romantic type,” Kuina added.
Sayaka nodded slowly, “I can understand that he isn’t your type.”
“Yea, that’s good. Cuz he’s totally Sayaka’s type,” Madoka piped up.
“MADOKA!”
Kuina was laughing again, “what seriously?”
“No, not seriously! I’ve talked to him once, and if I had the chance I would deck him in the face!” Sayaka snapped. Kuina kept laughing.
“And what’s his fucking problem anyway?” Sayaka demanded leaning over the table.
“What do you mean?”
“Like what do you two want from me?” Sayaka hissed.
“Nothing that I know of. Chishiya just takes an interest in certain people,” Kuina shrugged, “he doesn’t usually tell me what his ideas are though.”
“Great. So I’m still just a bug under a microscope to him,” Sayaka mumbled snatching a piece of bacon off Madoka’s plate.
“Hey!”
“Stupid blonde haired stalker,” she grumbled.
“Honestly, if you confronted him like Madoka says he’ll probably lose interest,” Kuina added.
Sayaka rested her cheek on her fist, “can only hope. I don’t need a stalker when someone is already trying to kill me…”
There was a long pause, “what’s up with the cigarette Kuina?”
Kuina blinked glancing at Sayaka, “oh, I used to smoke, but I figured best to be in good health for these games. I have to get back home to my mom she’s bedridden, and she needs me,” Kuina replied.
Sayaka nodded, “makes sense,” she sighed, “I need to get back to my little sister… she’s all I have left, I can’t leave her alone.”
“I need to get back to my family… My mom and dad just got divorced, and mom wasn’t taking it well…” Madoka mumbled.
There was a collective silence between the three of them, before Madoka sighed and gave Sayaka a hard shove, “way to bring down the mood!”
“I didn’t mean to!”
“Haven’t you heard the Beach motto? This is a Utopia no sad faces here,” Kuina teased, and they all laughed.
“To fucking Utopia,” Sayaka raised her glass of water, and they all clinked their cups together.
“Cheers,” Sayaka mumbled drinking.
 * Day 2 (night)*
Sayaka hummed to the tune of the music kicking her feet as she laid back in the beach chair.
“How can you hum to this? There’s not even any words!” Madoka asked gesturing towards the speakers with a drink in her hand.
Sayaka shrugged.
“They should play better music,” Kuina said, “if we’re going to die. I don’t want the last thing I hear to be stupid techno music.”
“So true,” Madoka mumbled looking around the pool.
“Chishiya has headphones and music, but I’m not sure what he listens to,” Kuina pointed out.
“Probably something weird, like death metal,” Madoka muttered.
“Or Katy Perry,” Sayaka suggested with a snicker.
“Ha! Yea I can just picture him rocking out to ‘E.T’,” Kuina joked.
“Oh please ‘hot & cold’ would be his jam,” Sayaka snorted.
“What about ‘I kissed a girl’?” Madoka suggested.
“No way, he’s totally virgin lips,” Sayaka laughed.
“I bet you could fix that, Sayaka,” Madoka smirked.
“Would need a lot of drinks,” Sayaka sighed settling back into her chair again sipping on her drink.
“We’ll see,” Madoka cooed.
“You could be the one to break into that icy heart!” Kuina brought her hands to her chest dramatically.
“Yes! And then survive the borderland together!” Madoka leaned into Kuina as they both giggled.
Sayaka glanced at the two of them out of the corner of her eye and smirked, “wouldn’t hold you breath on that one.”
“I still think they’ll end up together,” Madoka pointed out, “I have faith.”
“In your dreams—“ Sayaka, Madoka, and Kuina all jumped as a loud shot rang out, and the pool went silent, except the music still beating in the background.
Sayaka sat bolt upright and scanned the pool. Standing at the far right corner was Niragi and a boy in board shorts cowering on the ground. Niragi was pointing his gun at the boy, and there was a noticeable bullet hole in the pool deck in between his legs.
“You really think you can just talk to whoever you want?” Niragi leant forward pushing the barrel into the guy’s forehead, “that girl is mine. Do you get it?”
“Yes, yes I’m sorry!” He replied frantically.
Sayaka slid to the edge of her seat tensing all her muscles getting ready to run, when a hand rested on her arm. Her head snapped to Madoka who gave her a slight headshake, “if you run. He’ll shoot you.” Sayaka felt her blood go cold, and she dragged her eyes back to the scene.
“I’m sorry!” The boy screamed again.
“And you think that will save you? I think I need to teach you a fucking lesson,” Niragi kicked him hard in the chin sending him backwards and his head cracked into the concrete.
“Not so talkative now, are you?” Niragi leaned forward over the boy’s unconscious body, and spit in his face. He turned around sharply throwing an arm around a girl with long curled black hair who looked horrified, and they began to walk away.
Sayaka felt like she was frozen solid, like her muscles would never move again; even as everyone started to talk and dance like nothing had happened. Very slowly she dragged her eyes over to Madoka and Kuina who were watching the boy be carted away with a solemn expression.
“Hell of a paradise isn’t it?” Kuina mumbled.
“What the hell? He’ll just go around shooting people?” Sayaka asked shakily.
Madoka gave a sigh and nodded, “there’s nothing we can do. If anyone stood up to him they’d be shot.”
“If you stay quiet and hide in the crowd you’ll be safe,” Kuina breathed.
Sayaka drew in a deep breath, and looked back to the pool. This place was like a game arena in itself, but at least in the games nobody was kidding themselves about this being a Utopia.
 Sayaka let out a loud groan as she tossed and turned in bed. She still had a lump sitting in her stomach, since Niragi’s outburst at the pool. Every little sound from the hallway made her jump, and it certainly didn’t help that they weren’t able to lock their doors.
She sat up and swung her legs over the edge of the bed wiping her face, and looked at the clock, 3:00am. With a groan she stood up and walked to the bathroom. She splashed water on her face, and leaned against the counter. Running water was nice, but not having to feel like she’d die any second would be much better. A loud slam of a nearby door made her jolt, and she groaned.
“Fuck.”
Staring at her reflection in the mirror she let out a sigh, “maybe a walk will tire me out enough to sleep.” She slipped on her flip-flops and opened the door to the hallway. Cautiously she peeked her head out, making sure that none of the militants were roaming around before slipping out.
Sayaka wandered around the hotel letting her feet guide her, and making sure to change directions when she saw any of the militants. Whooping and hollering sounded from the end of the hallway, and Sayaka made a sharp turn into the stairwell. Quietly she leaned against the cement wall listening to the laughs as they got closer. She chewed on her lip and looked at the wall across from her where a simple sign with an arrow pointing up read, “roof access”. Casting a glance over her shoulder towards the door Sayaka ran up the staircase hoping to avoid the incoming hyenas.
The stairwell was quiet and there was no sound but the slap of her flip-flops echoing against the stairs. Not even the music made it’s way into the dark concrete walls. She had to admit as spooky as the stairwell was the quiet was welcomed. Sayaka reached the top of the stairwell, and gave the heavy door a shove. Quietly she peeked her head through the door to look around the roof. It was fairly quiet. From the 7th floor the music at the pool was just a distant drumming. Sayaka slipped out onto the roof sweeping her gaze around. There was nothing up here except the air conditioning fans, the utility shed, and… Chishiya. The white hooded boy was standing over by the edge of the roof facing the darkened city of Tokyo.
Sayaka stared at him wide-eyed as he turned around, smirked, and waved. She fidgeted with the hem of her board shorts, “sorry. I didn’t know anyone was up here.”
“Who’s the stalker now?” he quipped turning back to the view. Sayaka drew her lips into a tight line, and stiffened her shoulders drawing in a deep breath.  
Slowly she walked to the edge of the roof to stand beside him. She had to admit, the lights not being on in Tokyo made all the buildings look like giant shadow monsters coming up out of the ground, but the lack of light pollution made it so you could see all the stars in the sky. She couldn’t help, but laugh. Chishiya glanced at her.
“Sorry, I just find it ironic,” she said looking up at him, “it took being in this hellscape to be able to see the stars. It’s actually beautiful…” she turned her head back to the city.
There was a long silence between the two of them, and Sayaka had to admit for once maybe she was enjoying Chishiya’s presence.
“You were a chemist?” he asked.
Sayaka glanced up at him, “uh… yea. Well,” she rolled her head on her shoulders, “kinda. I was finishing up my senior year of my PhD in Chemistry. I was an intern at a pharmaceutical company.”
He nodded slowly, “so you lied.”
Sayaka stared at him wide-eyed, “I… I guess? I mean my title was still chemist, and I was given the same tasks as the other chemists. So, call it what you will I suppose,” she mumbled.
“You lied.” Sayaka closed her eyes tightly. She thought she was actually okay with having Chishiya around, but then he opened his stupid mouth.
“Fine, whatever you want to call it. Are you going to go tattle to Hatter, Mr. Executive?” she grumbled rolling her eyes.
“No.”
She looked up at him surprised, “really? Why?” But of course he didn’t answer just smirked at her, and looked back at the skyline. Sayaka sighed.
“So, you lied about the chemicals as well?”
She felt a shiver pass through her, “I…” she hesitated, “I… I’m pretty sure they would be unusable,” she whispered.
“Pretty sure?” he quirked an eyebrow.
“Yes, majority of the chemicals need to be kept in a humidity and temperature-controlled environment. With the power out, and based on how dilapidated the city is they would be long decayed.”
Chishiya watched her.
“You don’t agree?” she asked looking up at him.
He thought about it, “I suppose it’s a reasonable explanation.”
“Yes thank you,” she nodded.
“That’s not what Hatter wanted to hear.”
“I noticed.”
“You should’ve just told him there was a possibility. He doesn’t take kindly to affirmative negatives.”
“Why are you going to tell him?”
“No, him throwing a fit doesn’t interest me.”
Sayaka looked up at him. Pieces of his white-blonde hair whipped in the wind, and she frowned, “what does interest you?”
His eyes shifted to look at her. Sayaka felt her cheeks starting to heat up as he stared into her eyes. She felt small, and not just because she was actually shorter than him. His gaze was scrutinizing like he was picking her apart bit by bit from the inside out.
“Why are you up here so late?”
Sayaka blinked snapping herself out of her thoughts, “uh… I just couldn’t sleep. After Niragi’s outburst at the pool…” she muttered looking away from him.
“You have to get used to that. It happens often,” he replied.
Sayaka knit her eyebrows together and wrapped her arms around herself, “how can Hatter claim this is a Utopia?”
“These idiots will believe anything even if it doesn’t exist.”
Sayaka frowned, “I hate it here,” she whispered.
Chishiya glanced at her, “don’t let Hatter hear you say that. You’ll be marked a traitor.”
Sayaka grimaced, “and the Utopia just gets better and better.”
“And yet you chose to join.”
Sayaka looked up at him, “I was more or less kidnapped.”
“Lucky you didn’t meet with the militants, you would’ve actually been kidnapped,” he pointed out.
“Technically still was just in a less hostile way,” she added.
“Judging by how calm you were, that wasn’t your first game. Where were your cards?” He asked.
Sayaka raised her eyebrows, “oh… honestly, I didn’t think about it. I was so focused on the fact that I was still alive I just left the game arenas. The cards seemed insignificant at the time. They still do honestly,” she added under her breath.
“You don’t believe Hatter’s plan?” Chishiya raised his eyebrows.
“Do you?” Sayaka asked, turning to look at him.
He paused considering her words, “I can’t say I think it’s the exact solution. But, we don’t have a lot to go on right now. Obviously the cards have some sort of significance,” he looked back at the cityscape, “it was dumb of you to leave them behind.”
Sayaka frowned and glared at him, “does every word out of your mouth have to be an insult?”
He glanced at her with a smirk, “don’t do so many stupid things.”
Sayaka huffed, “always so pleasant talking to you Chishiya.”
“Nobody asked you to come up here.”
Sayaka balled her hands into fists, “fine then I’m going to bed. At least talking to you was exhausting enough that I think I can sleep now,” she turned on her heel and headed to the door, “goodnight Chishiya.”
He held his hand up as she walked away, but didn’t speak. Sayaka walked down the stairs lost in thought. Just when she thought maybe he wasn’t so bad Chishiya proves her wrong and continues to be an asshole. She covered her mouth as she yawned, well, at least I wasn’t lying when I said he was exhausting to talk to.
 * Day 4 (Night) *
“So wait you two actually talked? For an extended period of time? And neither of you have a black eye or are dead?” Madoka asked leaning over the bar.
“Yep,” Sayaka replied sipping on her drink.
“I’m surprised you didn’t push him off the roof,” Kuina added.
“Trust me I thought about it,” Sayaka muttered.
“What did you two even talk about?” Madoka questioned, “like what do you two have in common?”
“Oh this coming from the one that desperately wants us to date?” Sayaka teased.
“Well yea, but I seriously doubt Chishiya is the small talk get to know you type of guy,” Madoka snorted.
Kuina laughed leaning over the bar, “yea definitely not. He’ll only ask questions if they’re about something that’ll benefit him.”
Sayaka snorted, “yea like getting me kicked out of the Beach,” she muttered swirling her glass before bringing it to her lips. Sayaka noticed two guys were snickering on the other side of Kuina, and leaned back to look at them. One leaned towards her and pulled at the strings on her bikini bottom. Sayaka opened her mouth to yell at them, but Kuina whipped around and grabbed the guy’s wrist. He stared at her wide-eyed as she bent his wrist backwards and he yelped dropping to his knees.
“What do you think you’re doing?” She demanded.
“Ow! Ow! Nothing! Nothing!” He screamed.
“Then what are your hands doing on my bikini?” She bent his wrist back farther.
“Ow! I’m sorry, I’m sorry!” He yelped.
“Good. Don’t be doing shit like that to other girls. Give them respect!” Kuina snapped and thrust him forward so he landed on his back. He scrambled to his feet and ran out of the bar, but his friend wasn’t so intelligent.
“You bitch!” He snapped and lunged for her. Kuina didn’t even bat an eye. She stuck out her leg putting him off balance, and brought her elbow hard into his chest. Much like his friend this guy ended up flat on his ass.
“You were saying?” Kuina said with an eyebrow raised. The man scrambled to his feet muttering under his breath, and ran out of the bar.
Sayaka and Madoka both stared at her wide eyed with mouths agape.
“Holy shit,” Madoka mumbled
“You can fucking fight?” Sayaka snapped.
Kuina tossed her ponytail over her shoulder and replaced the gummy cigarette in her mouth, “yea my family owned a dojo. My dad taught me to fight,” she replied with a shrug.
“That’s super cool must come in handy—“
“Teach me!” Sayaka said slamming her hands on the bar and leaning towards Kuina.
Kuina blinked, “uh, yea sure.”
“Yes!” Sayaka pumped her fist.
“How much have you had to drink already?” Madoka mumbled.
“Shut up. If I can do cool shit like that I’ll be unstoppable!” Sayaka laughed.
“I’m just going to take this away from you,” Madoka slowly scooted Sayaka’s glass down the bar.
“Don’t touch my drink,” Sayaka glared at her as she slid it back towards herself.
“That’s right don’t want to get bitten,” Kuina chuckled.
“Shut up.”
 * Day 5 *
           Sayaka bent over with her hands on her knees breathing heavily, “jeez I didn’t think this would be so hard.”
“Well what did you expect?” Kuina asked putting a hand on her hip.
“I don’t know, to be badass like you?” Sayaka breathed waving at her.
“Aw, so sweet,” Kuina cooed leaning back with a hand to her chest, “but get up we have 3 more sets to get through,” she gestured for Sayaka to stand up straight.
“Ughhhhh,” Sayaka lumbered over to Kuina and brought her fists up to her face. She drew in a deep breath and punched Kuina’s raised hands.
Punch 1, 2, 3, “duck!”
“Wha—“ Sayaka didn’t have time to finish as Kuina’s fist slammed into her cheek and she fell backwards. Sayaka laid on the ground stunned staring at the blue sky.
“I said duck,” Kuina put a hand on her hip.
Sayaka’s eyes darted to her and she raised her arms, “what the hell Kuina! That fucking hurt!”
“You want to learn to fight? You need to be ready for the unexpected,” Kuina replied giving her a hard look, “especially out here.”
Sayaka sat up rubbing her cheek with a pout, “yea, yea, yea. You have a point,” she muttered.
Madoka fell backwards onto the roof laughing hysterically, “oh god Sayaka you should’ve seen the look on her face,” she snorted.
“Shut up Madoka, you’re not even trying to learn,” Sayaka snapped her head around to glare at her.
“That’s because I’m not learning,” Madoka replied pulling her sunglasses back over her face, “I’m sunbathing. Gotta rest up for my game tonight, right?”
Sayaka watched her with a pout, that’s right her visa expires tonight.
“Come on Sayaka 3 more sets,” Kuina waved at her again.
“Yea, I’m getting up,” Sayaka said pushing herself up from the ground, and bringing her fists back up, “so am I allowed to sucker punch you now?” She raised an eyebrow at Kuina.
“Ha! If you can hit me I’m all yours,” Kuina smirked.
 Sayaka leaned against the balcony railing as she watched Hatter address the Beach members below. She let out a long sigh and rested her head on her arms. Scanning the crowd her eyes settled on Madoka in her purple one piece. She was towards the front of the crowd rubbing her arms with a nervous look on her face. Sayaka sighed, I hope she comes back.
“Not enjoying the show?”
Sayaka’s stood up straight and snapped her head around to see Chishiya, “well, I think his speech is bullshit. But, I’m just worried about Madoka.”
He gave a curt nod, and slid up to the banister beside her. Sayaka stiffened and watched him out of the corner of her eye.
“Now let the games begin!!” Hatter’s speech conclusion made her gaze snap back to Madoka as she approached the assignment table. Sayaka frowned watching as she joined her group consisting of three militants.
“You shouldn’t be so concerned about other people,” Chishiya said.
Sayaka turned to look up at him, “what’s that supposed to mean?”
“You’ll die if you keep being concerned for other’s wellbeing.”
Sayaka glared at him, “it isn’t a bad thing to want her to be okay.”
“It’s an unnecessary distraction.”
“So what? Betrayal and being a dick is the only way to be here?” she demanded putting her hands on her hips.
Chishiya glanced over at her, “you haven’t played a hearts game have you?”
Sayaka watched him, “just one,” she whispered.
“That’s the whole point of this place, self preservation. If you don’t put yourself above others you won’t make it.”
Sayaka stared at him. His brown eyes were cold and calculating. She didn’t have to ask whether or not he had let people die, whether or not he had saved himself above others, she could already see the answer.
“I think you’re a shitty person,” she hissed.
He smirked at her and chuckled, “not the first time I’ve heard that.”
Sayaka sighed and turned back to the now empty lobby, “she reminds me of my little sister,” she admitted. Chishiya watched her, but didn’t say anything.
She turned to face him with a hard look, “that’s why I’m concerned for her. Trust me if it comes down to you and me. I’ll kill you in a second,” she snarled and stomped away.
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2/2 and in a relationship with Tony (or Bucky) or B) figuring out his sexuality cause he's in love with his much older mentor so maybe it's better if I let May believe Ned is my boyfriend rather then tell her I wanna call Mr Stark Daddy? ...I mean something alone these lines pretty much, I just love that scene with all my heart
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I loved this prompt, actually. I watched the scene a few times and totally understand your love for it. Here’s hoping you enjoy what I came up with! 
warnings: (underage)Peter, mentions of NSFW stuff
Peter still felt a little like jelly as he swung back towards his apartment from Stark Tower – Tony spent an obscene amount of time licking him from head to toe. The thing between them was still pretty new, so the giddiness sitting in his gut added to the tingling feeling coursing through him. When they came up for air, Peter looked at the clock with a bit of panic and hastily put his suit back on – the majority of his clothes were probably still sitting in the heap he left them.
Waiting outside the window until he couldn’t see May in front of the door, Peter quietly got the window open, his foot dragging it back down when he got inside, got his mask off, and started to crawl across the ceiling. A carefully shot piece of web allowed him to get the door closed and any chance of being caught by her narrowed down from slim to none. Turning around, Peter almost shit himself when he noticed Ned sitting on the bed. His hand was quick to hit the release on the front of the suit, the incriminating garment falling to the floor at his feet.
“You’re the Spider-Man… from YouTube!” Ned exclaimed – the initial shock of dropping the Death Star they were building gone, the other’s attention solely on Peter now. “
Peter panicked, his eyes bulging – there was no talking his way out of this, but he tried anyway. “No! No, I’m not! This is just a costume!” Peter babbled, his heart racing as he stepped out of the suit and kicked it away.
“You were on the ceiling!” Ned retorted, his eyebrows quirking. Peter recognized that shit eating grin for what it was, the sinking feeling of being caught out weighing him down even more. Taking a step forward, Peter used the last defense he had.
“I wasn’t! I, wait, what are you doing in my room?” The words were lame coming out of his mouth – he felt his cheeks color a bit at the sound of them. Ned’s eyes widened, the knowing look on his face growing more certain by the second.
“May let me in, you said we were going to finish the Death Star!”
“You can’t just bust into my room – “ Peter started to reply, his heart smacking against his chest even harder when May busted into the room, his body turning completely until he was facing her. He didn’t notice his nakedness until that second, his hands crossing his body to cover the fresh mark on his hip – it wouldn’t do for her to see something like that.
Her muttered explanation about the turkey meatloaf and the fire alarm fell on deaf ears – Peter was still trying to come up with an explanation for Ned and nothing was good enough, her babbling was the last thing on his mind. He did catch the way she looked between the two of them, though – her eyes lingering on his sweaty half nakedness for just a second too long. “Maybe put on some clothes,” May said before leaving his room.
Both boys let out a collective sigh of relief – Peter glad to have his aunt out of the room. At least he wouldn’t have to be subjected to her finding out about his secret and freaking out, too. Ned gave him about a second before he launched into more questions – his friend more excited about what the knowledge he just received might due to his social standing more than anything else. When he eventually left, Peter sunk down against the door, his butt hitting the floor and knees coming up.
What an absolute mess.
The next couple of days, May kept looking at him oddly – her eyes seemingly trying to tell him something, or dig his deepest, darkest secrets from the bottom of his soul; which one, he couldn’t really tell. It didn’t take long for her to break, though – her tongue started to wag about a week later. “You know, Pete – “ she started, a hand patting his own across the small dinner table. “You can talk to me about anything.” Her voice was earnest, the type of tone she took when she was trying to be understanding.
“I know, May. Thanks. You’re always really great about that kind of stuff,” Peter answered simply, his head in so many places, he wasn’t getting the thing she was trying to spell out for him. He patted her hand and tried to get up. Her fingers tightening stopped him, his eyebrows raising.
“If you want to invite Ned over a little more, I don’t mind. I like him – he’s good for you. You’ve seemed a little stressed lately,” May said. She kept his hand in her grip for what seemed like forever before letting it go, the woman standing up and pressing a kiss to his cheek. “You deserve to be happy, Pete.”
Completely shaken, Peter got out of the apartment as fast as he possibly could after that. Jamming his earbuds into his ear, he let the sounds of Katy Perry get him to the bus stop and on his way to school before any other weird things could occur. Just for good measure, he avoided Ned for a little while, his brain needing a minute to process May’s assumption. Him and Ned? If she only knew his true tastes.
His aunt’s assumption came in handy a couple of weeks later when Tony asked to see him for more than a couple of hours one Friday. Peter figured that since Ned already knew his biggest secret, it wouldn’t hurt to let him in on his other Tony sized indiscretion. Catching up to him at lunch, Peter sat down beside him, their shoulders bumping.
“I need to tell you something,” Peter muttered, his voice low to avoid any attention being drawn to them. Flash Thompson was a dick and would jump at the first chance to humiliate him by any means necessary. Ned, being the great friend that he was, leaned in a little, his conspiratorial face on almost immediately.
“Your secrets are safe with me, Pete – I haven’t blabbed about the other thing, yet.” He smiled wide; a hint of pride evident in the glow of his eyes.
Peter shook his head a let himself chuckle, a little bit of the tension sitting on his chest fleeting with every huff of breath. “Don’t! I mean – thank you, for not telling anyone. It’s not about that, though. May stopped me before I left the apartment today to tell me she supports me and that you are welcome to come around more often because you are good for me.” Peter could see the tilt of the other’s head, his eyebrows knitted together in an attempt to understand. “I think she thinks we’re dating. Which is funny – “
Ned hit him on the arm, a mock offended noise coming out of his mouth. “The idea of dating me isn’t funny, Peter!” Ned exclaimed as quietly as he could, his face turning red from holding back the intensity of the words he threw in Peter’s direction. Realization hit him, Peter’s own cheeks coloring slightly.
“That’s not what’s funny. It’s funny because she’s right about the fact that I like guys – but she wouldn’t approve of the specific guy I’m actually dating.” Peter stated, his eyes rolling at the thought. There weren’t a lot of people that would understand Peter’s desire to call the older man Daddy and ride him until they’re both coming all over themselves. Older men intrigued him, Peter couldn’t help himself.
“Well, who are you dating that she’d be so against? It’s not like you’re dating Tony Stark, or anything.” Ned stopped when Peter’s eyes widened, the boy putting two and two together pretty quickly. “Holy shit! You’re serious? He’s like – old enough to be your dad.”
Peter felt himself color slightly, a smirk slipping to his lips. “I mean – exactly?”
The look on Ned’s face made him laugh outright, Peter for the first time in the conversation not worried about the people around them. His chest shook for a couple of minutes, the hilarity of the entire situation absolutely insane. “He’s nice, Ned. And so smart. It feels good to be with him.” He didn’t mention that the older man also made him feel better than he’d ever felt in his entire life – Ned probably didn’t want to know that tiny detail, anyway.
“If you’re happy, I’m happy.” Ned spoke simply, that quality one of Peter’s favorite things about him. They didn’t have to beat around the bush to be heard. Peter could be honest, and Ned didn’t judge. He just supported blindly – their friendship built upon so much more than the surface shit.
Peter wrapped an arm around him, the boy using a bit of his strength to pull Ned tightly against him. “I told May you and I were going on a date tonight. If she calls, tell her you had a fabulous time.” Peter muttered, his lips pressing a sloppy kiss to the side of Ned’s head.
“Best fake boyfriend, ever.”
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minaminokyoko · 5 years
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Captain Marvel: A Spoilertastic Review
Well, here we are. Our first female-led Marvel movie (unless you count Ant Man and the Wasp, which I kind of do because Scott was basically useless and Hope ran the whole movie like a boss, but too bad she ran the show on a dull, rushed movie). How does it measure up?
It's fine.
I'd coin Captain Marvel as good, not great. It's definitely a popcorn flick, in the same vein of Ant Man for sure in terms of where it fits in our giant pantheon of MCU movies. I'd rank it dead center, so slightly underneath Cap 1 and Thor 2, but above Doctor Strange. I think Ant Man is a good comparison for the tone and the enjoyment of this movie, although it does do more to characterize the main lead than Ant Man did for Scott Lang. To be fair, though, somehow they end up in the same spot for my personal rankings.
So let's dive in and see why.
Overall Grade: B-
Pros:
-Plenty of action. No shortage on that whatsoever.
-Lots of off-world adventures, for those fans who sometimes are annoyed that too many MCU movies are earth-based. We don't hit earth until about the halfway point and there are still some shenanigans then.
-The dynamic between Carol and Fury is a lot of fun. Larson and Jackson work off each other's energy very well and the banter feels fun and familiar without ever veering into any weird territory. Fury is just as effective as ever at her side, and it's before he becomes full on grumpy Dad Fury, so he's a lot less cold and it's fun to see.
-It was also delightful getting to see Coulson one more time, although it's a cameo, not a whole role as some of the trailers sort of imply.
-The female relationships are probably the strongest in the Marvel lineup, aside from Black Panther. Particularly Carol, her best friend Maria, and Maria's daughter. We don't see a ton of it, but it's just enough to put a huge grin on your face. It's very warm and endearing. I also like that Maria was not only a supportive best friend struggling to get over her loss, but she got to join the action as well, and it was badass. I really am happy with Marvel pushing forward to give black women more representation in the superhero genre. Too many folks think black women in film are only sassy best friends or baby mamas or Tyler Perry stereotypes. We love sci-fi/fantasy just as much as everyone else, and so I loved seeing two beautiful black actresses shining next to Brie Larson and Samuel L. Jackson. It lends the film a lot of heart.
-Brie Larson is relatively decent in the role. She has some moments better than others, but overall, she did a good job. It never felt like she couldn't handle the work of beating some ass, and she sold me far more than Gal Gadot did as Wonder Woman. Which, yes, I know, it's unfair and kind of tasteless to compare them, but I have to note it since I didn't care for the WW movie that this is what I was talking about with film presence. Gal Gadot, to me, looks like a supermodel wearing a Wonder Woman costume. To me, she never embodied the poise, agility, and strength that Diana has in the comics or in the animated series. I believed Gadot more during the softer parts of the WW movie, but she couldn't pull off the action because she just doesn't have the presence. Larson does, imo. She carries herself in a manner that makes me feel like she can kick your ass. She has a stance and a stature that allows me to feel her strength, and it's in line with other Marvel women like Widow, Okoye, or Scarlet Witch.
-My favorite part of the movie is hands down the "I'm Just a Girl" by No Doubt scene. Oh my God. I was internally squeeing and singing along with the lyrics while she kicked ass. I was so delighted to see them perfectly use that song that I already liked in high school anyway, and it just worked so well.
-I also liked the montages of Carol getting back up. That is a really, really important image for the girls growing up to see. It's not about how many times you fall. It's about how many times you still get back up. That's great. We fall and get dirty and scuffed and mocked and hated. But we still get up and try again every time. Love it. It's very empowering.
-The de-aging looked pretty good. Jackson is tougher since he's gained weight since the size he was back in the 90's but they filled in his wrinkles well enough. Coulson's looked better, although I did notice just it a tad bit during the stairwell scene, but overall, I thought it was well done.
-Gosh, her costume looks amazing. I want it. I want to wear it for Halloween. It's gorgeous.
-The sequence of the Skrulls acquiring her memories was very neat and uniquely done. Kudos.
-THE MOTHERFUCKING FIRST END CREDITS SCENE. Y'ALL. I SCREAMED. I SCREAMED AND CLAPPED MY HANDS SO HARD I HURT THEM. OH MY GOD. SHE'S ON EARTH. THE QUEEN IS ON EARTH AND WE SHALL ALL BE SAVED. SHE IS GOING TO TURN FUCKING THANOS INTO FUCKING PURPLE CLAM CHOWDER WITH HER BARE HANDS FOR KILLING FURY AWWWWWW YEEEEEEEEEEAH BOIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII. Ahem. Sorry. I am really goddamn excited about that tiny piece of Avengers: Endgame because Marvel and the Russos have been so fucking stingy with details. We still don't know the plot. We only have that 30-second Superbowl spot and the Sad Stark trailer. I was livid they didn't give us a final trailer in front of this movie, but I guess with it a month and change away, they're just banking on us frothing at the mouth wanting more. Jerks. But anyway, yes, this fucking scene is mint and I wish I could rewind it.
-Nick naming the Avenger Initiative after her was a great cherry on top moment.
-I fucking lost it when Nick started singing “Mr. Postman.” Deadass, I just started listening to that song about a month ago thanks to that one famous Vine where those dudes sung it acapella. I was dying. You go, Nick. 
Cons:
-This movie overall has a bit of a bland taste to it. It's most revolving around Carol. The problem is that I think they were too chicken to dive deeply into who she is and her personality and her desires because they were afraid the feminists would complain that they made her too soft, so they replaced it all with action. Which is fine, some people just want a girl kicking ass, but I think it did Carol and Larson a disservice by rushing everything and doing drive-by characterization. The dialogue doesn't stick as well due to the bland flavoring, for example. If you ask me who Carol Danvers is, I can't really tell you. I can tell you what she does, but not who she is. I regret that probably the most out of everything. This movie is a bit of a vehicle than a movie where we discover who she is. We discover what she is, but not who she is. She's kind of just every tough, stubborn, smartass female lead you could see in maybe an Avengers OC fic on AO3. She really needed more distinct quirks and likes and dislikes, and I really fault them for cutting out her life on the Kree planet. It would have shown us so much more about her if we knew what her Kree life was like juxtaposed against her original human life, and it could up the stakes and help them sink it, and give more immediacy and concern to the dangers she faced.
-The villains were telegraphed. Again, people ding Marvel for this all the time. It's because they seem to struggle with balance. Often, the villains are thin to cut down the running time by not developing them at all. It's a shame. I've always found Jude Law very entertaining and I think they should have given him something to work with other than Obvious Bad Guy Pretending To Be Good. It was so transparent, much like the bitchy sister villain from Incredibles II. He might as well have been twirling a mustache. I mean, any dude who tells you your emotions are bad is probably not on the up-and-up. And it would have been better to see him and Carol square off at the end in an emotional battle than for it to just be a cheap shot and a joke. But I digress.
-While there was a lot of action, aside from the "Just a Girl" sequence, I will forget it all by morning. I think they wanted the movie to have mass appeal, so a lot of it comes across as generic. The stuff that stands out more are bits like finally seeing what alien Goose actually was or some of Fury's quips and the bits with Maria's daughter and Carol. The action itself is serviceable, but I'd have liked it to have more flavor if possible.
-Not outlining the limit to Carol's powers. This is going to be tough lining up with Endgame because she's so god-like we're gonna wonder if she just bitchslaps Thanos and that's the end. She feels overpowered without the chip limiting her, so I would have liked them to give us some kind of idea as to how she won't just wipe the floor with him in retribution in Endgame.
-Nitpick: Nick losing his eye to Goose annoyed me. People called it. I didn't want them to be right, but ugh, they were. It was a bit too silly for me.
-Nitpick: They really didn't need to waste our time with the second end credits being Goose puking up the Tesseract. We knew he did. You didn't have to show it, dummies.
-Nitpick: Was hoping for some 90's era cameos from at least one other Avenger, but no such luck. Damn. What a letdown.
I had fun, and I am eager to see her fit into the rest of the MCU. And I am also selfishly even more interested in Kamala Khan someday popping in as the new generation of heroes. Please, God, give me Kamala Khan. I want her and my son Peter Parker to team up and be the cutest superhero dorks ever. But until then...God help us all. Endgame is coming.
Enjoy the sunlight coming off of Ms. Danvers.
Because it's finna get dark up in here, my children.
See you in Endgame.
Kyo out.
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asagi-s-garden · 6 years
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Labels can be important
So several weeks ago I was talking to someone about labels for fictional charectors and arguing about if they're important or not, I argued that some people found them very important to identify with, she argued that they shouldn't be important, but the thing is, it doesn't matter if they should or shouldn't be: They ARE, and until today I didn't know how to verbalize why or why it was under my skin so badly, the argument really upset me because "~no labels~" should probably be the more "correct" answer but ... like... there isn't really a wrong or right to the way people personally feel and identify... and now I know why it bothers me so much when people try to say that labels are never important: Erasure
Now before I go forward let me say: I am totally supportive of anyone who doesn't want to be labelled, good for you!! You're strong and awesome and confident for that! But what I take issue with is people who say that people who DO want to be labelled are wrong, as long as you aren't policing someone else's identity, we're cool
I've always liked girls, I distinctly remember when I was eight sitting down with my mom and having the "What would you do if I was gay?" conversation and asking her if she thought I WAS gay- "Do you like boys?" "Yes" "Then you aren't gay" (P.S. Dear Mom, you definitely weren't wrong) but the thing is .. that's kinda all there was when I was growing up: Straight and gay and a tiny population of ace (both things that my mom introduced me to by the way) Bisexuality though... wasn't really much of a thing
Bisexuality was a phase, a kink, a scandal, it was "~~~Oooooooh Angelina Jolie admits to being bisexual~~~~" like it was this sexually devious thing, that's all the media ever presented it as and there was never an easily accessible bi charector around that wasn't a scandal themselves (you know, The Promiscuous Bi Who Sleeps With Everyone) atleast not on the TV I watched, and I've always watched alot of TV so I was never exactly sheltered, so I spent most of my life going "Sometimes I feel gay and sometimes I feel straight and I don't know what the fuck that means" and it was really frustrating and lead to alot of confusion and annoyance and feelings of not being normal
It wasn't until I was a teenager and got on Tumblr that I even started understanding what bisexuality was, and it took alot of fanfiction and alot of identify-yourself posts and alot of "Hi, if you have these feelings you might be this and that's great, good for you!" posts before it ... really started making sense to me and I GOT it and I decided "Ok this is what I am", and I am so, so, LUCKY, that my mom is the "I'll march in the parades with you" type because if she wasn't then I maybe would still be questioning myself and saying I'm straight (wich, for the record, I never felt comfortable with, but I never knew what else to really call it either)
But, ya' know, here's the thing, I'm not really a sexual person, I'm not really a romantic person, I'm kinda on the grey/demi territory I guess? I'm 23 but have never been on a date- ever, and I'm not really bothered by that, but that can be difficult to cope with when someone is questioning their sexuality- especially a sexuality that isn't very black and white "I like girls and have never liked boys and I'm a romantic person who has already dated three girls"/"I like boys and have never liked girls and I'm a very romantic person who has already dated three boys" type of thing, it can feel kind of like Imposter's Syndrome, feeling like you haven't "earned" the label you call yourself because you haven't dated enough girls or boys or whatever other gender to identify that way, and in a hypersexualized society, it can even feel like you aren't allowed to call yourself X-Sexuality until you've had SEX with a certain number of  X-Gender
This is where identity and the importance of NOT erasing an identity come into play
Because alot of sexualities easily become stereotypes- and that's only if they aren't erased to begin with, using bisexuality as an example, there were, when I was growing up, two types of bisexuals: The Promiscuous Bisexual and The Kinky Bi-Curious, think Katy Perry's "I Kissed A Girl", one of the most famous- if not THE most famous- songs about bisexuality... isn't about bisexuality at all, it's about a kinky exploitative "bi-curious" exploration wile Katy cheats on her boyfreind ("Hope my boyfreind don't mind it") wich just keeps on going with the same nonsense that all bisexuals are hypersexualized and promiscuous and that's using the term "bisexual" very loosely because she admits in the song that she kissed her "just to try it", it wasn't a sexuality, it was an experiment, and to my knowledge (KP fans feel free to correct me if I'm wrong!) Katy has never returned to any kind of bisexuality: It was a phase, just like bisexuality is SO often called
The big reason why people need to see labels in fiction is to help figure out their OWN identities, we NEED to hear charectors say "bisexual" and the fact that, off the top of my head, I can't think of any fictional charectors (who don't fit the "promiscuous experimentation" type) who flat out label themselves bisexual is... very sad, especially since labelling as straight and gay has slowly become more popular lately
Don't get me wrong, it's always AWESOME to have charectors who are bisexual regardless of saying it or not, and sometimes not saying it can express a relationship that transcends sexuality (Will and Hannibal, Apple White and Darling Charming) wich is ESPECIALLY cool, but ... other times it can be really frustrating to see implications that charectors are a certain sexuality without having concrete proof of it- especially given that some examples are ONLY ever implied and not directly stated (an especially big problem in animated genres, be they anime or western cartoons) and media aimed at younger audiences, and wile I 1000000% get why saying an actual *sexuality* is frowned upon with material for kids and even pre-teens because censorship, it's important at times to blatantly say "I like girls instead of boys" or "I like girls and boys", instead of just having little hints like "I'm not interested in boys" or "Oh she's cute isn't she?" or whatever
There are sooooooooooooooooooo many fanfictions out there that handle the idea of sexuality (ALL sexualities) really beautifully, both in coming out and just in casual conversation, little things like wearing the bi flag colors or going "Excuse you I'm bi" or making an "I'm pan because I like all the cookware in the kitchen ;)" joke can be so helpfull to people who are exploring their sexualities, but fanfiction isn't easily available for tons of people- and most don't even know what it IS, wich is why it's up to mainstream media to take the step and make these things clear THEMSELVES
Anyway I said at the beginning I finally understood how to verbalize this and I'm finally going to tell you what it is that brought this to my attention: My mom
I've been openly bi for a few years now and until recently 100% of the bisexual comments have been from me (and if you're straight and *don't* think I constantly make bi jokes oh boy do you need to get some more queer freinds my dude) and my mom has slowly, over the years, gone from short responses like "Ok then" and "Yeah she's really cute" and "Now see if *I* was gay I'd go for *her*" to actually having real conversations about me having a crush on a girl, wanting to marry a girl, telling my dad and my grandmother "She's bi, she might end up with a girl, you need to understand that", but she still has never been *that* into using the term "bisexual" (and for the record I get that, //I// wasn't that sure about the term when I first started getting used to my sexuality either) and then a few days ago she made this corny bi joke, talking about when I was a toddler and went to see my grandfather drive a plane, she went "You know, that was a bi-plane, and you're a bisexual, it's like it was meant to be even back then!" and yeah it's a corny moderately funny joke but it just.... really, really hit me with this huge WAVE of validation, like yes, thank you, I *am* bi, this is a thing, I can be this, I can own this, I'm recognized, and it isn't a question anymore, it isn't a debate, it's like saying I have red hair, yep, that sure is some red hair I've got, yep, that sure is a nice bisexuality I have
And it's almost disgustingly simple, I'm 10000% sure she has no idea how much that meant to me because it was a passing comment in a conversation about airports, but it's the first time she ever just dropped my bisexualiy into a casual conversation and it felt SO good, SO validating, it made the Imposter's Syndrome I occasionally feel take a very long walk off of a very short peer
But not everyone has my mom
That's like... BLATANTLY clear from so, SO many people I talk to who's parents aren't accepting of them, not everyone is going to get a mom who talks to them about having a wife or points out girls she thinks are hot or makes bi-plane jokes, and because not everyone has a bi-plane mom- not everyone has family or freinds or anyone in their lives who make them feel validated, or who they're even out to- they NEED fictional charectors to be able to grab onto and go "Yes, this is me, yes, I can identify with them"
We need Korras, Harley Quinns, Jackson Whittemores, Annalise Keatings... and we need celebrities to come out and say the big bad B too, we need Halseys and Lauren Jaugeruis and Angelina Jolies
To all of my non-labelling freinds: Good for you! I am legitimately happy for you that you can feel comfortable without labels and that there are things out there that make you feel validated too! .. But there are still so many people who NEED labels to understand themselves and need to SEE people/charectors using labels in order to identify themselves and I really hope that you understand when we scream "Say 'bisexual' you cowards!" and beg for a cut-and-clear "I am bisexual, the end" statement of some kind, it isn't to erase YOU, it's to give US... *something*
Ideally, the world can have enough people and charectors that are LGBTQ+ that there can be tons who *do* use labels and tons who *don't*, ideally the world will stop being so blatantly idiotic with their insistence on erasure and refusal to accept non-straight sexualities, but no matter if that happens or not, I hope that there can be an understanding on BOTH levels, that some people DO need labels and that's ok, and some people DON'T need labels and that's also ok
I hope that everyone can embrace the charectors who don't have labels, AND the charectors who do, and understand WHY certain charectors are important to certain people, and WHY some people are so desperate to get clear, black-and-white identification, not to shun people who don't need labels, but to recognize someone like them, to identify themselves, and to feel validated
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stunudo · 7 years
Quote
There is one quality which one must possess to win, and that is definiteness of purpose, the knowledge of what one wants, and a burning desire to possess it.
Napoleon Hill
That Got Away: A Criminal Minds Fan-fiction Part 11
Inspired by: Katy Perry’s “The One That Got Away”
Pearl Jam’s “Last Kiss”
Featuring: Spencer Reid x Reader   Setting: Season 4   Rating: Teen
A/N: Hang on! Warning: 3500+ words xoxo Stu
Warnings: Bodily functions, violence
I do not own any of the characters, quotes, images or lyrics.
Part 1   Part 9   Part 10
Michelle was laughing now, a laugh that made you think about drowned puppies and debased children. You gave in and dry heaved into the corner you had peed in a few hours ago. Captivity was not as pretty as they made it look like on television. She tapped her heeled toe in annoyance.
“I am helping her because I finally get to do this, Y/N!” Michelle kicked your chest with all her strength. The back of your head crashed into the brick wall seconds before your shoulders, knocking the breath from your lungs. Your vision wavered, then you were weightless once more. Through the blackness your ears became clouded and you drifted away from the smells on the cold floor.
Penelope Garcia was ransacking public records like it was a sale on Pop! Figures. She was digging through building plans and notation of purchases on the buildings connected to the hotel and convention center. Her fingers flew and her brain pushed on.
“Greetings my League of Heroes!” Her voice called over speaker phone. “So it turns out that Y/N’s father wasn’t the source of all their wealth. It was from the family of the late wife, her mom. Once she died the businesses and money were run without the family involvement, directly. Apparently our unsub number 1, “Auntie Miriam” was on the board of directors for one of the companies, ‘Prokopios Costa Holdings.’”
“Alright Baby Girl, coming back from behind! How does that give us motive?” Derek pushed the skilled analyst.
“It means, that when Dr. Y/L/N, the first one, died,” Garcia took a pause for effect.”
“Y/N Y/L/N became the majority share holder.” Hotch concluded.
“That’s why you’re the boss, boss!” Garcia agreed.
“So why kill Dr. Y/L/N in the first place?” Spencer asked confused, a nearly disgusted look on his face.
“Maybe she didn’t know until Y/N showed up and spoke with the lawyers?” Rossi mused.
“Uh, guys?” Garcia’s fingers were still flying. “Costa Holdings owns the hotel and the connected storage facility.”
“Of course they do.” Hotch acknowledged. “Good work Garcia.”
We were out on a date in my daddy’s car We hadn’t driven very far There in the road, up straight ahead A car was stalled, the engine was dead
The drive to San Francisco was tedious, causing you to swear often and without direction. Your hands cramped with the amount of tension they had supported through clenched fists. California freeways were perfect avenues for your heartbroken rage to pour out. Driving through up the 280 and branching onto the 1 put you on track to reach Auntie Miriam’s by dinner time.
You had never driven the hills of the city before, your dad always insisted on driving when you had visited for the holidays. The trolley’s added to the anxiety of driving through an unfamiliar street system. You silently wished your dad was behind the wheel, then refuted the wish because your father was a banal dictator.
There was a girl running sprints back and forth between your aunt’s driveway and the neighbor’s. She wore Umbro shorts and a sports bra as if she was in a Gatorade commercial. Her sweaty skin was sinuous, mild offense at her athletic body registered internally. You had enough experience with jocks and scholarship athletes at school to groan at the sight of one in their natural habitat.
You pulled into Miriam’s driveway, honking your arrival because you felt like pissing someone off. Spreading the misery around. You sighed and climbed from the VW, time to face the nunnery.
Miriam’s conditions resonated through Spencer’s mind. No weapons, no tricks and no wires. He could do that, in fact he would do that. While Hotch, Rossi, Morgan and Prentiss were coordinating with Garcia, Detective Change and local SWAT. JJ led Spencer to the hallway she had crawled into the hour before.
“Spence, you know this is going to end badly.” JJ gripped his bicep forcefully. “Whenever we split up one of us gets kidnapped.” Her melancholy laugh a poor attempt to break the apprehension they both were feeling. Spencer looked into the concerned face of his colleague and friend. His lips twitched while he wrestled with how to explain the real reasons he had to save Y/N. How this whole nightmare was his fault and it went back farther than Saturday morning at 1 o’clock when Dr. Y/L/N was murdered.
“I think we’re even now,” Spencer teased, the light not reaching his eyes like it normally would. “JJ, get some rest, I’ve got voluntary confinement to get to anyways.” He wrapped her smaller form in a slight hug as he slid past her into the miserable closet. JJ watched his lean body climb down into the darkness. She shoved the stone hatch back into place, securing it beneath its camouflaging mat once more.
The even spacing of the ladder rungs allowed Spencer to focus on counting. His steps, his breaths, his heart beats. His hip felt lighter from removing his holster. He measured time in his journey to understanding why Y/N had been the target of Miriam and Michelle’s unchecked rage. Revenge for petty unrequited love had past the usual time frame for serial stalkers. Power and money for Miriam were more probable motivators. Though he doubted them, as killing her brother was an illogical way to begin the lengthy legal processes of property transfer.
His seething anger at the damage and fear inflicted upon Y/N was buried.  Instead he mentally measured the length of the slope in the small hallway. Spencer’s long legs had walked 207 feet at an incline of roughly 9 degrees. Upon reaching the knob-less door, Spencer noted his surroundings. The walls had fresh paint on them, the fumes lingered. The wooden door had not window nor sight glass. The security camera mounted on the wall showed no signs of power until it whirred to life after he knocked to the old rhythm of “Shave and a Haircut, Two bits.”
I couldn’t stop, so I swerved to the right I’ll never forget the sound that night The screamin’ tires, the bustin’ glass
It was the sixth day of your banishment to your aunt’s Parkside home. You were dusting her second office from the daily list of chores she left for you. Michelle was over because you weren’t sure how to get rid of her, like a reoccurring nightmare or pimple. She was relentless and continually made her presence known.
The week had started off fine. Auntie Miriam had meetings and usual adult weekday work stuff. Unfortunately she was under the impression that your stay was a punishment, so she confiscated your keys. Which was slightly confining, but you could handle it. You had only had the car to yourself for the past year, anyway. When Michelle started hanging around, she was a friendly distraction. You had nothing in common with her besides age and gender; absolutely nothing. You were just so lonely that you made nice.
She asked about school (Ancient Greek was not something worth studying, as if physical therapy was for everyone?) and what you did for fun (listening to rockabilly music and reading were for old people). Eventually your love life came up and you gave in and told her about Spencer. It was hard to talk about him because you were still angry and raw. You may have focused on the romantic stuff, just to impress her. You did not ask nearly as many questions about her life, you only realized after your short stay in San Francisco ended.
It was on that sixth day, the tipping point was reached. She wore her dark hair in a high pony tail and just nosed into ever object left out. “When do you think you’ll be done with the list today?” Her impatient voice asked as she sifted through a stash of paperclips. You had no idea, the lists were becoming more specific and time consuming the longer you were there.
“Probably not until I need to start dinner. Why?” You watched Michelle, her restless body pacing. “Were you planning on me being out of jail today?” You laughed forcibly. Michelle’s arms flopped down in frustration. She huffed.
“Why did you have to get in trouble to visit?” She was really pushing your manners with her accusation. “I mean, we could have had the whole summer and now I just have to watch you clean.”
“One, I didn’t get in trouble. Two, you don’t have to watch me do anything, Michelle.” Your voice was rising now. “I mean, who just hangs out in their neighbor’s house watching their family do chores. Get a clue. I am stuck here for another week and a half: then sayonara !”
Michelle’s gasp told you that you had gone too far, but you didn’t care. She wasn’t anyone important to you. If you were being honest, it felt oddly satisfying to get that off of your chest. She stormed out of the room letting the bird fly at you. When she was presumably out of the house, you went to turn up the radio.
As JJ returned to the conference room and temporary BAU headquarters, the team was strapping on their vests. Rossi and Hotch were conversing with Detective Chang, who was holding blueprints. Morgan caught JJ’s eye, his defined eyebrows umbrellas of questions. She shrugged her shoulders, the lingering feeling of failing Spence twice in one day floating in the back of her mind. Derek felt her dismay, he crossed the room to grab her in a quick hug.
“He’s going to be fine, JJ,” Derek soothed. “That kid is not going to let anything happen down there. Neither are we.” Her blue eyes looked into his dark ones, nodding. The tears gathering in their corners were quickly brushed aside.
“Hotch?” JJ turned. “Mind if I sit at the security station? I am in no shape to go with you guys, but I want to make sure you are covered up here.” Hotch eyed his young agent warily, he nodded, giving permission solemnly.
Rossi patted Derek on the back after the muscular man had holstered his second weapon. Prentiss walked JJ back out into the lobby. She made sure JJ had a seat and could see the monitors that the team had watched her captivity on. “You sure you’re okay watching us? The locals can handle this, JJ. It might be too much right now.”
JJ shook her head, “Emily, I’m fine. I will have Garcia on the line if I need anything. Besides, I will hear everything over the comms either way. Go get Spence and his “lady friend” back.” Her bad joke had both women exchanging awkward grins.
“Never thought I would be hearing that one.” Emily walked back to join the BAU and SWAT, rolling her eyes.
I found the love that I knew I would miss But now she’s gone, even though I hold her tight I lost my love, my life that night
Spencer was trapped in a cliche. There he sat at his kitchen table with crumpled pieces of paper lying in small piles around him. He was attempting to apologize to Y/N for missing her send off. He didn’t feel he could justify his absence. Besides his mother was a person, not an excuse. The words were not forming, thoughts and longings were burying him in guilt. He just missed her.
He decided to start with short, clear, honest sentences. That didn’t work, Spencer began to ramble onto the paper, his abundant thoughts overflowing and clouding his apologies once again. He sucked his bottom lip into his mouth, trying to remember their last kiss. It was a peck as he leaned back into the VW, his bottom half getting soaked in the downpour. She had grinned at him and he had smiled back without teeth, his eyes dancing in the streetlights.
It wasn’t enough. That shouldn’t be their last kiss, it was a quick goodnight. Not a goodbye. Spencer closed his eyes behind his glasses, shook his head for clarity and began writing his dearest again.
Spencer stepped back to allow the automatic door to open fully before stepping into the next bare, freshly painted hall. He saw the set of desks ahead, just 100 meters to go. Miriam Y/L/N eyed the tall man with quiet amusement; he had barely changed in years. Spencer tucked his hair behind his ear in slight self-consciousness. This woman resembled her late brother with her wide face and imposing presence. But the similarities ended there, Graham’s kind eyes and jovial air were not shared. Her cold stare and disdain kept with the chill of the surrounding brick.
Spencer stood with his hands in his pockets, nodding at his soon-to-be jailer. “Miriam.”
“Dr. Reid, at last!” Miriam stood quickly. “Arms up, young man. I need to check you followed my instructions, for once.”
Suddenly there were strong hands frisking Spencer’s narrow sides. He flinched away, seeing Kurt Hansen, the bellhop, in the flesh. Spencer held back his field training and let the man finish his search. He cleared his throat and calmed his breathing. “Satisfied?” Spencer spat as he glanced between Kurt and Miriam.
“Quite.” Miriam smirked. “Now if you would kindly follow Mr. Hansen, he will show you to your room.”
“Not until I see Y/N.” Spencer crossed his arms in defiance, his head tilting slightly.
“Oh, pish.” Miriam waved at him, “She’s just next door. Let’s all go and see what Michelle and Y/N have gotten into!” Spencer’s eyes popped in surprise, he had not thought she would let him near her niece. Her true target. He followed Kurt as Miriam marched behind them both. The hall was quiet, a small row of doors began, Spencer counted four before a wide metal garage-like door ended the hall.
“After we give you what you want, you’ll just what? Release us?” Spencer asked.
“After I have what I need and am far far away, yes.” Miriam specified. “I swear I will let you and your little minx go.” She nodded to her cohort. Spencer’s instincts were not accepting her vow as trustworthy just yet.
Kurt unlocked the large steal bolt on the first room. The sound reverberated through the small space and rattled Spencer’s bones of hearing. Standing on the other side of the door was Michelle Braxton, with her large hands on her hips. “It’s about time!” She huffed. “Princess over there has been out for five minutes. I thought you forgot about me.” She sounded like a child whining to a spoiling parent for more sweets. Spencer had to hide his instant annoyance.
As Kurt grunted back, “Deal with it, Mickey. We had another guest to attend to.” He held the door wider, baring Spencer to the scene before him. Y/N was laying face down on the damp cement floor, her mouth open and one eye swollen shut. Spencer’s arms flew from his pockets and he rushed to check on her limp body. Kurt and Michelle each grabbed one of his flailing arms, holding him just inside Y/N’s cell.
Miriam cleared her throat behind Spencer, “That’s enough, now let’s get down to business.”
Spencer knew not to argue now, his body walked dejectedly backwards as his eyes remained on the slight movement of Y/N’s torso. She was breathing! Once he was back in the narrow hall, he shook off the strong grips of the suspects. He held his hands up in surrender, following to his own captivity. Miriam was waiting for him in the dank space, almost smiling in anticipation.
“Dr. Reid, as I am sure you have deduced. I need your mind to access my brother’s fortune. I have a series of riddles, puzzles, what-have-yous that Graham designed for you. I also have a set for my impetuous niece. Now I must have both of you complete your parts to get what I deserve.”
Spencer was insulted by the trivial reasoning behind her fratricide. He huffed at her request. “How do you know your errand girl didn’t beat Y/N beyond reasoning? How is she going to complete her part unconsciously? You should let me check on her, ensure she can do what you need her—”
“That’s enough, Dr. Reid.” Miriam interjected. “Y/N will be fine, Michelle knows what she is doing. A brain like Y/N’s tends to prove more resilient than one might hope.” She approached Spencer with a sheet of paper and a simple number 2 pencil. “You may begin.”
The two guards at the door watched Spencer as he stood in the center of the room. Miriam left first, followed by a smirking Michelle and a bored Kurt. The metal lock shuttered into place.
When I woke up, the rain was pourin’ down There were people standing all around Something warm runnin’ in my eyes But somehow I found my baby that night
You arrived on campus just one day before classes started. The VW had handled the trek like a champion, but you were ready to leave her in the student lot for the remainder of the semester. After you had unloaded the last of your boxes, you decided to grab some dinner before the real unpacking was required.
You took your i.d. and keys to check the campus managed mail system on the way to the crowded eating/ studying space. Your box was jammed full. There were notices about x, y and z organizations, a couple of credit card applications and five letters from a certain scrawny guy with ridiculously soft lips. You sighed deeply, ‘Well, at least he’s not dead.’ You thought bitterly. You shoved your haul under your armpit as you headed to the cacophony of the cafeteria.
You quickly skimmed the fliers and advertisements, ripping the debt-magnets in halves. Finally, after your soup had cooled, you opened one of Spencer’s letters. According to the postmarks, they had begun arriving four days after you had left Pasadena. So he was thinking about you while you were gone, but he couldn’t bother to actually send you off. You tried to keep the negative thoughts away, but you were still hurt from his apparent abandonment.
When you shut off your attitude and read his letter, you began to weep. His gentle kindness begged for your forgiveness. Spencer knew facts and figures, but he also knew how to diffuse your temper. His message was simple, yet honest. You didn’t make it to the last paragraph before disregarding your meal tray to return to your room to call him.
“Hey, Sir-sir,” You smiled shyly into your suite phone.
“Y/N? Oh, how are you?” Spencer asked genuinely concerned.
“Better, I got your letters,” You cooed, “I only got through most of the first one before I had to talk to you again. So, it is safe to say you are forgiven.”
“You had every right to be angry,” Spencer admitted. “But know that I would have been there, giving you a more deserving farewell, if I could have. You must know that.”
You nodded your head, holding the lump in your throat as the bittersweet tears began to fall. “I miss you so much, how are we going to do this?”
“Just like this, mon cher.” Spencer’s voice softened at your distress. “As long as we can talk and write, we can do this.”
Spencer read through the riddles on the sheet before him. Why had Graham mentioned Spencer when he devised this seemingly juvenile test?
Why did I divide sin by tan?
Why should the number 288 never be mentioned?  AND
What is the difference between a Ph.D. in mathematics and a large pizza? There were seven blanks at the bottom of the page, with the decimal going into the ten thousandths place. After all of this anger, frustration and happenstance: Spencer was sitting cross legged in a cell chuckling at math puns. The gentle hand of grief constricted his throat as he efficiently finished the problem.
201.0966
Spencer stood, clearing the dust from his trousers. He walked calmly to the camera nestled above the doorway. He held the paper to the screen, awaiting his next assignment.
Someone said you had your tattoo removed Saw you downtown singing the Blues It’s time to face the music I’m no longer your muse
The first months of the fall semester flew by as Spencer dove into the new classes he helped facilitate. That with all the lab time to get through for his doctoral level chemistry courses, he was as busy as ever. He made a point to write to Y/N on Tuesdays over lunch, because it was now such a tradition for them. They also tried to have a consistent phone date on Friday mornings. But Y/N decided it was time she get a campus job, therefore the phone calls were usually brief or just short messages left with her suite-mates.
Spencer’s birthday was approaching and he was counting the hours until he could finally be recognized as an adult. This also meant that he would have to finally decide what he should do for his mother. The paperwork from the lawyers, (Diana’s doctors had recommended to Spencer after her incident over the summer) was hidden in his book bag, in a plain manila folder. He felt as if he were carrying thirty pieces of silver around with him at all times.
When his birthday arrived, his mother was lucid. She sat him down and told him his birth story, again. She was so proud of her brilliant boy and at long last here he was, a man. He didn’t have class or lab until the afternoon, so he stayed home and took turns reading and being read to by his mom. It was guilty conscious more than birthday tradition, but she seemed none the wiser. Spencer slowly relaxed for the day.
Y/N called at eight o’clock that night, just before he had to get his mom her night time medications. She sang a boisterous Happy Birthday having somehow convinced the other girls in her suite to sing along. Spencer blushed at the attention, even over the phone and across state lines. “Well, now you’re legal, Dr. Reid. Maybe I won’t get arrested for seducing you after all.” Y/N joked over the phone. They had never gotten to that level of intimacy, it was just her usual banter.
“It’s a good thing, too. Since my mother is very protective of me.” Spencer teased back. “I do need to get going though, Y/N/N. Talk to you on Friday?”
“Can we scoot it up to 9 am?” She suggested evasively.
“Ugh, I suppose, I don’t need sleep or anything.” Spencer chided, his grin fading as his mother called from her room. “I really should go, goodnight mon cher.”
“Nighters!”
Part 12
@sparkle-dinosaur, @dontshootmespence @reiding-and-writing @speedreiding @reid-my-fortune @sapphire1727 @holagubler @cherry-loves-fanfic @lookingforgalifrey @miss-gleek-freak-geek@criminal-minds-fanfiction @reidbyers @sortaathief @imagicana @milkandcookies528
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bigpileofgarbage · 7 years
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I saw we were talking about babies so I WANT TO TALK ABOUT THEM TOO!!!!
Dwight...wants kids? She TECHNICALLY can’t have them...but I give them to her anyway because I am nice. She doesn’t really like kids that aren’t hers though, they usually annoy her and she gets jealous of them even as a grown woman. But she tries really hard to be a good mom and give her babies all the love she can and to care for them the best she can. It just happens that she isn’t super good at it so really isn’t suited for having more than one or two babies....two is like...the absolute most she can have and be a successful parent and even that is a stretch! 
Mike doesn’t really...want kids at all. He has no desire to be a dad at all. But being a dirty uncle that lives in a van, that is super cool and he is all over that. However...when situations arise when he has a baby and can’t/doesn’t run away...he will give it the ole Sawdust try. He is about as good a dad as he is an uncle so...like...
Louis doesn’t want kids. The idea of being in charge of another human being and keeping them alive and safe scares him more than anything in the world HIM. Not only that, he doesn’t particularly like children either. They are loud and dirty and smell bad. Plus they are rude and throw things at him. Children are by no means his favorite thing in the world and has little to no interest in them...until his inTENSE mom instincts kick in. In situations where he ends up with a child in his care, whether it be his, or his bff’s baby niece, or what have you...when he feels he has responsibility or that if he doesn’t care for this kid then nobody will, he becomes a super dad and becomes super attached. It’s a bug scary world out there...gotta keep the babies safe.
Matt absolutely adores children. OH HOW HE LOVES THEM!!! He loves playing with them and goofing around with younger kids. Spoils them rotten, even kids that aren’t even his. He loves babies and knew he wanted to have kids for a while. Gosh you guys, when he has a baby of his own...that’s like...he was over the moon. So fucking happy.
Pretty Charlie is pretty MEH about kids. She likes them well enough, never really thought she would have one and was pretty ok with that. She could have gone her entire life without a baby and would have been perfectly happy. Never really plans on babies, but when they come...she is more than happy to bring them into the world and give them all the love she has. Very...go with the flow about it.
Perry does not like kids and does not want them. He doesn’t understand them. They don’t understand him. You might even say that he is suspicious of most of them. They are so small, it’s just not natural. That being said...baby dweet is pretty ok and the only exception to the rule and that is only because matt and pretty charlie forced her on him on many occasions so he grew to...understand her enough to almost enjoy her company.
Berrigan loves babies! He is ALL ABOUT THEM and raising them with all the love and support he can give! He has...bad genes though...makes monster babies...so he prefers to take care of OTHER people’s babies rather than having his own.
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I Kissed a Boy, and I DIDN’T Like It
First of all, before y’all lose your heads- I didn’t actually kiss a boy. I haven’t done that yet- ever. But I have been involved with one, my very first one, and the only way I can describe the two-and-a-half month relationship is like one big sloppy kiss, where it’s gross with his saliva goes all over your face and he dominates you with how he wants to kiss, not being gentle and kissing you the way you want to be kissed.
So, borrowing a line from the lovely Katy Perry: “I kissed a boy, and I didn’t like it.” At all. If anyone will ever asked me if I have ever been in a relationship, I will say no, even if- in technicality- I have been in a relationship. Here’s why:
He’s a fuckboy. I spelled it out here, even if the douchebag has denied it again, and again. He’s a fuckboy. But not the kind of fuckboy that has a lot of girls. He’s worse. He only has you and you only have him, but he has his special way of torture to keep you there.
He’s that guy who says “you’re really special to me, and we’re exclusive” but at the same time says “let’s not put a label on it”. Seriously. As he has messaged me multiple times on Facebook: “walang tayo”, or in English, “there isn’t an ‘us’”.
Problem is, even when he said there wasn’t an us (like, 20 times in the course of 2 months), you can’t help but think of guys like that as if he were your boyfriend because you’re supposed to be exclusive. I’m letting go of opportunities to get to know other boys because it feels a lot like cheating- even if you wanna get to know other boys as friends. Seriously, there wasn’t an us but it felt like he was always there looking over my shoulder to see that I haven’t stepped out of line.
He always sends me pictures of girls, calling them pretty, and I had no issue with that. The issue started when I started sending him funny convos I had with his friends calling them funny or crazy. He tells me that I shouldn’t be talking with them because I should only talk to him. I sent him a convo once, laughing, and he kept answering with stiff single-word replies before ignoring me the next two days, before popping up later having some lame excuse of him going out of town even if I knew for a fact that he wasn’t. He got angry at me later that day when I wasn’t replying to him because I was busy working on something personal. He knew I was working on it, but he still got angry.
Another thing, he’s your resident “bad boy” gangster type. The kind that has the worst permanent record but has good enough grades for his conduct to be overlooked.
He has so many types of blades like machetes, daggers, even swords, which he brings with him everywhere he goes. You have no idea how terrifying it is to have the boy you like message you that he got so pissed at a girl serving him in the mall that he wanted to stab her, and you know he isn’t kidding. Once, when the two rival gangs in his class had a scheduled smackdown, he was the supplier of brass knuckles for both gangs. He told me it was fun being a “gang in-betweener”, because he got to watch them beat the shit out of each other. He enjoyed it, and he even joined in when there was a gang fight between a gang from his school and a gang from another school.
He got angry at his father’s girlfriend once that he smashed the driver’s window of her BMW, suffering injuries to the hand himself. He proudly showed me the damage he had done to the car and to himself. I guess trying to show him what kind of macho man he was.
He’s also mean, pushing me to bully other girls from my all-girl school and guys from his all-boy school just so that I could feel his approval. I was pressured to call girls “pok pok” (Filipino for whore or prostitute) and make fun of a few guys who had a few physical defects, like a lazy eye or other such things. I admit I enjoyed some of it, especially when it was directed to the girls in school that I didn’t like, but that kind of person who calls them names just because they have wronged me somehow is not the kind of girl I want to be.
Despite all of this, I stuck around for two moths, which actually felt longer than it was. Because all through it all, he was vulnerable to me a total of three times, and I felt like he was finally becoming gentle. Boy, was I wrong.
The first time was when he attempted to kill himself (or so he claimed- but evidence really didn’t support it). His grandfather had just died and he left almost his entire estate to him, being the favorite, and his family was not happy, even his own dad. He exiled himself to a condo across the city until he just out-of-the-blue decided to come back home. Claiming that his dad, most importantly, didn’t care whether he was home or not.
The second was when he admitted to having Schizophrenia. He sounded so scared over the phone, saying that he was seeing so many things and he didn’t know what was real. At that moment, I felt needed. I felt like he wanted me to (figuratively speaking) take him into my arms, cradle his head, and tell him that everything was going to be okay, that I was there for him. But right after our long and deep conversation, without it having an actual, definite end, he sent me a picture of a girl, calling her slut. In that way, he ended the conversation and we never got back to it.
The third and final time was when I forced him to be vulnerable. I know, I stooped pretty low for that one but I was desperate. I asked about his situation at home. He evaded. So I asked if he wanted anything different, that if maybe, he was raised different, he could be different. He finally let up and agreed, admitting that he still got hurt a lot. Before the conversation could continue, he sent me a post praising this senator in my country who made fun of single mothers, claiming that they had no right to be “triggered”.
So, when faced with a boy who is rude and generally a bad influence, what does one do?
I broke it off.
But listen, this guy is powerful in his school, and I can’t just ghost him because if I did, he could do a number of my reputation in his school- my only contact to boys, both as friends or something a little more than friends. Also, if a single rumor was spread about me, about 9 prestigious schools will find out through the passing of stories, believe me, it’s happened to my friend who studies in one of those 9 schools, where I studied before. Despite studying somewhere else, my school is still also a part of those 9 schools. One mistake can do serious damage.
So I did it the best way I could think of, pulling out the “friend” card. I told him that so much stuff has been going on in my life and that I didn’t have the capacity to be so emotionally invested in something so emotionally demanding when there were more important things happening in my life. All of which, to set the record straight, is completely true. He agreed, saying we were better off as friends. He said, “relationships are stupid anyway.”
I’m sorry, what?!
Relationships were stupid anyway, but he said that we were exclusive and all that jazz. I just spent 2 months of my life invested in this guy who wasn’t taking me seriously in the first place. I decided I’m too young and immature to deal with things like that, another reason why I chose to end it. Besides, the whole situation is giving me a major headache.
He really is a jerk.
Peace, lovelies xx
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recentanimenews · 4 years
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The English Voices of Naruto, Boruto, and Sailor Jupiter Offer Their Advice to Aspiring Voice Actors
VIZ Media held their World of Voice-Acting panel this past weekend with special guests from the English voice casts of Naruto, Boruto, and Sailor Moon. The guests were led in a guided Q&A by Urian Brown from VIZ, and fans were given the opportunity to ask questions as well. The panel began with a rundown from Brown of VIZ titles releasing next year, such as Fushigi Yugi: Byakko Senki, How Do We Relationship?, and Ping Pong. He also announced that VIZ would be releasing Splatoon: Squid Kids Comedy Show and Junji Ito’s Venus in the Blind Spot collection in summer and fall of 2020, respectively.
  He then introduced the first two guests from Sailor Moon: Amanda Miller, who plays Sailor Jupiter, and Erika Harlacher, who plays Sailor Star Maker, and began the Q&A by asking how they became voice actors. Amanda said that she had always been a theater nerd, so she ended up taking some classes from Tony Oliver when he came to her college. She enjoyed dubbing over anime and video games in those classes and Oliver saw her talent and recommended she pursue voice acting. She ended up getting an internship at a studio in LA where she occasionally filled in for bit parts until they started letting her audition for better roles.
    Erika said she’d gone into college leaning towards graphic or computer design because she wanted a job related to cartoons and games. She also ended up taking classes with Tony Oliver who suggested she pursue voice acting as a career, got a studio internship, and filled in for bit parts before eventually auditioning for bigger roles. It just so happened to be the same studio Amanda was interning at too. “Know Tony Oliver is the secret here,” Brown added.
  He asked Amanda if playing a role like Jupiter is fun at all. “Jupiter was my favorite character as a kid,” Amanda answered. She’d grown up relating to her as a taller, more athletic kid, and Jupiter helped show her that you don’t have to be just a tough kid or just a soft kid. When asked about her first recording session for Sailor Jupiter, she admitted that the whole process had made her incredibly nervous given her history with the character and the fact that approvals for the dub voices had gone through the original creator Naoko Takeuchi herself. The director had to take her aside to call her down, and Stephanie Shea, the voice of Sailor Moon, had to call her and tell her to “suck it up.” 
  “Also, I accidentally punched her in the face at AX backstage,” she said. “I had just met her that day.”
    Brown asked Erika if she was as cool and aloof as Sailor Star Maker in real life. “I am the opposite of both those things,” she said. “I’m not cool at all and very high strung.” She said she had to reach deep down into her “acting database” for the role.
  When asked who their favorite weird monster they fought in the show was, Amanda said there was one monster they all called the Katy Perry monster because it was themed around sweets, which reminded everyone of Katy Perry’s “California Girls” video. “It’s true. All girls from California can shoot frosting,” Erika revealed.
  Brown pointed out that the Starlights in Sailor Moon are only around for one season but are still fan favorites, and asked Erika what she thought their appeal was. In addition to their fashion sense being “on point,” Erika said that their arc felt bigger and more impactful than one single season. Amanda added that there’s a “forbidden fruit” factor to it, given the season they appear in wasn’t originally dubbed before, meaning the only way to watch it as a kid was to somehow get your hands on the Japanese version. Erika admitted she hadn’t even known they existed before.
    When asked if there was any pressure coming into a role that already had so many fans, Amanda said there was “a lot of pressure” given how many fans relate to the character as she did, but that the fanbase has been extremely welcoming and supportive of her.
  Both were asked what their most practical advice for anyone serious about pursuing voice acting was. Amanda suggested that you pursue acting on a screen or stage first since the restrictions of voice acting add even more challenge. Theater and singing lessons are good for helping you maneuver your voice, and improv would help as well. Erika seconded the improv suggestion since oftentimes as a voice actor you won’t get scripts ahead of time or be forced to entirely change direction with a character on the fly. 
  With the Sailor Moon questions out of the way, Erika went backstage and Brown introduced another guest: Maile Flanagan, the longtime voice of Naruto Uzumaki. Amanda Miller, as the voice of Boruto Uzumaki, remained for the Naruto portion. A clip of the two performing together in Boruto: Naruto the Movie was played, showcasing their voices.
    Brown noted that Naruto is currently celebrating its 20th anniversary and asked what that journey from the very beginning has been like for Maile. “A long one,” she joked. “I’ve aged considerably.” He then turned to Amanda and asked her what it’s been like suddenly jumping in with Boruto. She said that it’s been one thing with Sailor Moon where it ran and ended, whereas Naruto has been running for 20 straight. Fans have grown up with Naruto into adulthood, she said, so they’ll chastise her for being mad at him as Boruto. “It’s good, but it’s also funny.”
  When asked about how she got into voice acting, Maile revealed she had never wanted to become an actor. She’d gone to college for math and polyscience, but ended up joining an improv group that did well and relocated to Minneapolis. She started working there before moving to LA and doing commercials. She eventually began taking voiceover classes and got her very first roles in the Men in Black and Jackie Chan cartoons within the same week.
  Maile was asked what the first recording session for Naruto was like, she admitted that it had been really hard and that she wishes she could do them over again since she hadn’t gotten to know him as a character yet. She’d also found out how huge the series already was in Japan and it made her nervous. 
    Brown asked Amanda if she tried modeling Boruto’s voice after Naruto’s. “I couldn’t even try,” she said. “Maile has such a unique voice.” The voice she uses for Boruto is more like her natural voice, and she also realized it’s nearly identical to her “making fun of people” voice.
  When asked if she sees Yuri Lowenthal as a rival at all considering he voiced Sasuke, Maile said she doesn’t consider anyone her voice acting rival, and added that men in voice acting get more work than women anyway, though the inequity is slowly getting better.
  Amanda was asked if she thinks Boruto has grown at all since his story started, to which she said that it’s still too early to really tell, though she sees his frustration with Naruto as motivated by the fact that he still remembers a time when his dad was much more present before he became Hokage. 
  Maile said her advice for aspiring voice actors is to have confidence, because if you don’t they’ll never give you the job. Amanda added that changing your posture can help change your performance. Erika came back out on stage, and as the panel closed all were invited to give some final advice. Amanda said to be yourself instead of trying to be like someone else. Maile stressed practicing and putting in the work. Erika echoed Maile, adding that it’s both a lot of fun and a lot of hard work.
    While the panel held a great deal of good advice for aspiring voice actors, it also served as a great example of how dubs can breathe new life into an old series. Sailor Moon may have ended long ago, but the recent dub delivered something entirely new to longtime fans everywhere. Meanwhile, Naruto lives on through Boruto, adding new members to its illustrious cast with every season. Who knows, maybe someday you could voice the same characters you look up to now. All you need is a little luck, a lot of hard work, and the personal tutelage of Tony Oliver.   
  Are you an aspiring voice actor? Do you know Tony Oliver? Let us know in the comments below!
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Danni Wilmoth is a Features writer for Crunchyroll and co-host of the video game podcast Indiecent. You can find more words from her on Twitter @NanamisEgg.
Do you love writing? Do you love anime? If you have an idea for a features story, pitch it to Crunchyroll Features!
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