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sweettjrose · 3 months

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Quick question for you cuz you seem to know very well the little guy

Do you think Mickey has any bad sides? Bad qualities/Habits

Ooh! I was hoping someone would ask this question. It was sitting in my mind for a while. I love sharing my thoughts on this little guy.

I do think it is important to remember that when it comes to characters like Mickey it can be challenging to ascribe specific traits to him since there are so many interpretations with differing personalities. Mickey in the black and white shorts is different from Mickey in the Gottfredson comics who is different from Mickey in the Paul Rudish shorts and etc. So some traits may fit better for some versions than others.

I don't know if I can say I am the Mickey expert. But I do think about him a lot and if I came up a list of what I think are bad habits or flaws that he has, based on how is generally portrayed and my own personal interpretation, I would say:

Stubborn - To start off, I feel like a common flaw for Mickey is his stubbornness. Once he sets his mind on a certain idea or situation, he has a hard time being convinced of anything else. It can be really difficult to change his mind, though not impossible. I don't think it comes from a place of seeing himself as better than anyone though, but rather from his desire to hold fast to what he believes in. And in some cases, it can have beneficial results. Such as when he is investigating some kind of mystery he tends to drop everything else, unable to change focus until he finally solves it. This usually gives him the push to solve problems most people give up on. But unfortunately, it tends to result in him ignoring the world around him which can be frustrating at times, especially for Minnie. Sometimes I think Mickey even uses these situations as an excuse to push aside things he doesn't want to do and focus on something he would much rather do.

Untamed Curiosity - I feel like this is actually an offshoot of his earlier personality. He was much more mischievous in his earlier appearances, but that was somewhat tamed over the years. However, I do think one element that has remained is this mouse's curiosity for the unknown. It seems like Mickey can't help himself but stick his nose into things he probably shouldn't. Whether it is listening to a conversation, checking a locked room, testing out a weird machine, or even following an odd feeling. I also feel like his stubbornness doesn't really help as it seems like once a curiosity is in his focus, he can't let it go. Mickey rarely likes to cause problems, but if his curiosity overtakes him, he usually ends up being a troublemaker. Sometimes this usually leads to him catching a crook. But other times it results in a big mess that he would have to clean up. I do think though that his mischievousness isn't entirely gone and does pop up every once in a while. Especially when trying to get out of things he finds boring or doesn't want to be in. And sometimes he just wants to be a prankster and have fun with his friends and family. Which is funny until things get out of hand.

Overthinks - Mickey is very intelligent and can come up with pretty clever plans when trying to solve problems. Unfortunately, this comes with the side effect of him overcomplicating even simple situations. This is usually why Goofy is such a vital friend for Mickey. Mickey tends to come up with complex solutions while Goofy tends to show the easier option Mickey tends to overlook. I think part of this does come from Mickey being afraid of being wrong and making mistakes, so he tries his best to be as thorough as he can be, which unfortunately can lead to more mistakes.

Lack of Self-Protection - One positive about Mickey is that he cares about others and would stand up to protect them. But unfortunately, this doesn't always extend to himself. He is not a doormat but tends to lean more "Turn the other Cheek" approach when he is the only one getting bullied (unless things go too far or if others get involved). To be fair, it is important to know when to pick your battles, but this tends to lead into other areas as I feel like he doesn't really share his problems and tends to keep personal issues to himself. I personally see him as the kind of guy you really have to pry to get him to talk about what he is feeling as he would much rather bottle it up to not cause any trouble. I also feel like he rarely is one to ask for help and tends to try and solve it all on his own, especially if he is worried that others may get hurt. The issue is, he doesn't seem to worry about whether he would get hurt.

Takes on Too Much - I also feel like this connects to another flaw as he tends to take on too much and constantly puts himself in risky situations. Whenever a life-threatening situation comes up that could help everyone but is extremely dangerous, he is usually the first in line to do it. It feels like Mickey doesn't even consider his own safety or limitations at all. Sometimes it feels like he is overconfident in his abilities and just believes that he will be okay, which works until it doesn't. It also doesn't help that Mickey has a hard time saying "No", so even if he didn't want to do something or knows he is not capable of doing it, he would probably still do it, not wanting to disappoint anyone. He rarely thinks of himself. And seldom considers what would be best for him. Usually, his friends are the ones to think about his safety and needs.

Need to be Perfect - Though I feel like part of the reason Mickey takes on so much is his need to be the hero. He feels like he has to be a perfect, selfless, and brave role model who does everything without a single complaint. I feel like he overexerts himself because he is afraid of what happens if he doesn't. He is afraid of not being needed or wanted. He is usually the underdog, a small mouse in a world with characters twice his size, and if he isn't constantly proving himself people will leave him behind. I also feel like he has a hard time admitting to mistakes (which connects to his stubbornness) because he feels like he can't make mistakes, or that would show that he isn't as capable as people think. I also think this explains why he has more of a heated rivalry with Mortimer. Mortimer somehow taps into his insecurities in the ways others don't. I feel like Mickey is kind of jealous of Mortimer because he tends to be taken seriously (at first) while Mickey usually needs to earn it. I also kind of wonder if he is worried that if he starts messing up, Minnie and the others will leave him for someone like Mortimer, so he feels like he can't mess up. Ever.

Lack of Self Worth - Unfortunately this means that he is very reliant on others for his self-worth. Luckily Mickey is really good at making friends. But he tends to rely on the existence of his friends for his worth. I can imagine that if for some reason they all stopped existing, I don't think he would even know what to do with himself. While he doesn't need everyone to like him. He does need at least one person to like him to help ground him or I can see him going into a deep depression. I feel like he would really struggle with being alone for too long unless there was some hope of being able to be with his loved ones soon.

But yeah these are the bad qualities that I feel like Mickey generally has. There are probably more, especially ones more specific to certain interpretations, but these are the ones I was able to come up with. As nice as Mickey is, he isn't perfect and his insecurities, overthinking, stubbornness, and curious nature tend to get him in trouble. But fortunately, he is also just as capable of getting out of trouble.

I would honestly love to see other people thoughts on this as well.

#mickey mouse #mickey thoughts #you are going to learn that I cannot write anything outside of an essay #but this was fun to write #i love the little guy #disney #ask #answered

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saphushia · 4 months

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I know very little about the DCU but everything about DP but for some reason your fic recs intrigued me and now I’m in dcxdp hell and I was wondering if you have more recommendations especially for finished fics 👀 you have opened a can of worms in my brain and I must feed them

ok but i literally got into this shit the same exact way aubdskjfg. literally fell ass deep into this from sheer curiosity barely knowing fuckin anything abt batman and now i've read more batman comics than i ever thought i would in my life.

anyways! yeah i think i've got a couple! apologize if there's a couple duplicates from my last recs i can't be bothered to go check it lmao

⭐= my absolute favorites

=ONESHOTS=

Late Night Talkin' [danny/dick] there-was-only-one-bed get-together wheremst danny n dick r hero partners

The Stiches That Bind Us Together [danny/dick] dick's not feeling well, so danny shows up at his apartment to take care of him. and danny knows well enough what hero-ing injuries look like to take a well-educated guess

Consequences danny + fear gas. bad combo

the case of the serial killer dick befriends wierd homeless teenager danny

It's a Small World Afterall [tim/danny] tim convinces danny to take him to amity on a date. he of course then gets kidnapped- by technus, of all people

Can You Fly Without Wings? circus gothica episode but danny gets taken all the way to gotham with freakshow

Cold nights and warm hands danny's sick, so dick of course invites him to stay at the manor, and they relax together

⭐Hollow the bats encounter one danny masters at a gala, and they're all immediately concerned about how blank the boy seems. danny's missing something, something important to him, and he's missing too much to even know what

Baby it's Cold Inside [tim/danny] danny unknowingly gets hit with cuddle pollen, and tim fulfills his boyfriend responsibility of providing snuggles

Surprise Halloween Haunting jason gets kidnapped to be a sacrifice in a ritual, and hijacks it to dial up a friend

4 Times Dick Grayson met Tim Drake's Partner +1 Time He Met Them All Together [tim/danny/tucker/sam] cute tim dating all the amity trio and confusing his brothers. also furry convention scene <3

⭐Bait and Switch thanks to a cult, danny ends up possessing jason, and neither are very happy about it

=FINISHED MULTI-CHAPTERS=

Last year, I starved. This year, I devour without guilt [danny/jason] danny takes one look at jason and decides he's in need of urgent ghost medical care, so he takes matters into his own hands

The Misadventures of Cosplay Man danny gets stuck in the DC universe for a little bit, so he goes around befuddling every villain and hero he comes across, with the power of bad cosplay.

⭐Satiate jason runs into danny while danny's having a little 'nice to meet you' ravenous brawl with the spirit of gotham. as ghosts do.

Vacation Crashers the fentons' camping trip goes south for all the usual ghost reasons, and that's before the batman crash lands in the middle of all of it. cue a teamup between jazz, danny, and all the bats, to take down vlad

Wanted: Dead and Alive tim rescues an injured teenager he found in a glowing green vat in an unknown experimental facility. proceeds to lose the injured teenager. loses his shit trying to find said teenager who is hiding way too effectively for a guy whose guts were on the floor a few days ago.

ok i'm only like halfway thru my bookmarks but i'm tired now kdsjbfgjkdsfg have fun~

#answers #fic rec #dcdp #nutrition-starts-with-nut

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gagsolineoilrefinery · 12 days

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brian headcanons? pretty please

Smiles so big and wide at you yes absolutely I love that little freak

putting under a read more for convenience's sake

- I'm 100% a Bug Brian truther, that man is an insect you can't convince me otherwise, I like to think he can make weird little chittering noises and climbs up walls with his hands and feet for enrichment

- He's trans and has no last name because he didn't care enough to pick a new one so he went with none, acts all mysterious about it because he thinks it makes him look cool

- This man needs glasses so fucking badly but after a litany of "nerd" comments growing up he refuses to wear them, has attempted contacts but cant get them in his eyes for the life of him

- He would genuinely rather die than go to the factory, he does all his needed repairs on himself unless he's forced to (usually by Ben or William)

- He gets along with his co workers in, his own way when he's forced to interact with them. He does not understand how to behave "appropriately" around other people, he's my favorite rude autism icon (he is going to insult your intelligence at any given opportunity with what he sees as good intentions and does not understand why everyone hates him)

- I'm also a Bellthinker truther I think that british man should kiss that bug right on the brain dome and make him so flustered his systems soft reset

- Every time theres a meeting that he's in the second he's at the front of the room the entire mood changes because everybody knows he's gonna have a whole presentation planned thats no less than 1 hour long, and he will yell at you if you try to stand up for any reason

- I like to think living in the heart of toontown (right in the playground no less) definitely has some side effects on him, the silliness is rubbing off on him more than he realizes, most obviously things like his brain exploding comically when he starts baby raging

- Im sorry this man is absolutely a cog reddit user (coggit? idk) you can't change my mind, hes a power mod and proud of it, keeps getting talked to for using it on company time though

- He's very attatched to the Desk Jockeys but absolutely hates to admit it, I like to think its a Dr. Robotnik with Scratch and Grounder type dynamic (thinking especially like that one scene where Robotnik says "I don't even know why I bother to repair you guys, I suppose I'm too sentimental" shit like that)

- With his dynamics with the other toontown central managers, I think he actually feels very guilty about the incident that happened with Buck- but instead feigns a petty hatred for him so nobody will ask him about it and he doesn't have to admit how monumentally he fucked up

- He's on relatively chill terms with William, they're both angry big mouthed autistic people who do not know how to shut up so they mesh pretty well, I think they like to fight eachother to let off steam and then makeup immediately after, Brian isn't too fond of the whole oil leakage problem thing though because it makes a mess of his basement but he doesn't exactly hold it against him since he knows he can't help it

- When he can spare the time he loves poking around in the systems of his co workers just to see how they operate out of morbid curiosity and to see how he can make the jockeys more efficient, he's on that medic tf2 shit, not many of them let him do it though (understandably so)

- Probably went to whatever the cog equivalent of medical school was but lost his medical license after The Buck Incident™️

(And I think thats probably good for now because I am dangerously treading the line of infofumping about my AU sorry I have so many thoughts about this creature)

#sludgetalkz #answered asks #prethinker #brian ttcc #fuck it yknow what this is getting character tags. look at my thoughts boy

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lykomeraki · 10 months

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Carl Grimes Deserved Better

I first mentioned this in an earlier post after I finished the Walking Dead for the first time, and my thoughts about the show. If you're like me, you probably agree that what happened to Carl was the worst story decision ever. So here's a lot of thoughts I've been sitting on for a while. If you'd like to read or commiserate with me about my rant/character study please continue reading. Caution: Spoilers Ahead

First off, killing off one of the main characters, particularly in this way, did nothing but damage the story. I read that they were trying to gain even more viewers in a similar way to game of thrones, a book and TV series unafraid of killing off main characters. In the case of Game of Thrones however the main character deaths made sense for the story, the individual storylines for these characters were complete, and their deaths could contribute to the stories of other major characters. the Walking Dead failed at this a myriad of times, giving smaller characters good development, then killing them just for shock value. Carl's death in particular. It provided no true motivation for any characters, he still had unfinished storylines, it only damaged the story itself, and there was so much potential and so many places his character could go.

in the comics, there didn't need to be a major death for Rick to spare Negan, his mercy was actually a punishment. the world would grow, improve, and repair itself, and Negan could only watch, never be a part of it.

If there needed to be a death to convince rick to have mercy, it is my opinion that Morgan would have been a far better choice, particularly as his ideologies kept shifting between kill everything and life is sacred. His character would be leaving the show at the end of season 8 anyway. It makes more sense story wise, it could have been that Morgan got bit or fatally injured, and in his last moments of life he encouraged Rick to have mercy. This makes a lot more sense then Carl's sudden turn to pacifism at the beginning of season 8, particularly since he fired the the first shots of the war in 7,16.

Carl played a key part in Negan's character development, being the first one to actually reach his small ember of humanity. Judith took over this particular storyline, and while I think she is a cool character with a phenomenal actress, she simply isn't the same. Carl actually has a history with Negan, both with him being the villain, and also with him having an almost mentor-like attitude towards him, touching on Negan's past as a gym teacher.

Rick Grimes leaving the show was also a bitter pill, one whose negative effect could have been lessened with Carl's survival. The only original group members still present are Daryl and Carol. and while they're great, it now feels like a completely different show. Michonne leaves too, so the only Grimes are Judith and RJ. Neither of whom had any real development. RJ simply existed, and Judith's skill level and character didn't make sense for her age, and the relatively easy life she must of had during the time skip bar being kidnapped by Jocelyn. Her shooting ability and skill with her little katana didn't make sense living in a place where she didn't have to grow up fighting and in danger like Carl did. Carl could have provided that feeling of the original Grimes family who were the ultimate focus and purpose of this story, a father and his son suriving in the apocalypse, and the friends, family, and enemies they make and lose along the way. with the loss of both rick and especially Carl, (since Rick didn't even die so his new story would still make sense even if Carl survived.) the walking dead no longer feels like the same story, and not in a way where it naturally evolved. it simply doesn't make as mush sense anymore in regards to the characters they have.

Carl ultimately had the best character development, growing from an annoying bratty kid who doesn't understand that there are new dangers in this world, to a teen who is wise to the world and it's dangers, and is capable of protecting himself, and helping his loved ones. he is also able to retain a sense of compassion, not becoming a soulless killing machine like Morgan did briefly, Herschel intervening and helping with his development to keep him off that path when he shot the teen from Woodbury. towards the end, he was really coming into himself, becoming a very fleshed-out character and becoming a very good leader in his own right, he could have helped Michonne and/or Tara after Rick and Maggie left and they took over Alexandria and Hilltop respectively. I believe that despite Michonne orders of complete isolation even from their friends, Carl still would have visited and reached out to Hilltop and Kingdom, even being a friend and mentor to Henry, who I personally think was a little whiney. Henry still could have had the romantic storyline with Lydia, because Carl would likely continue to pursue Enid. but he could have been a friend and ally to Lydia in a similar way to Daryl.

the manner of Carl's death was also dumb to the point of disrespectful. he got pinned by one walker and bitten by another when a few years ago he was able to get out from under three without a scratch. while Siddiq did become a good character, his death (which was also pointless) rendered Carl's sacrifice completely pointless. they also didn't even need to be killing those walkers, Carl was helping Siddiq honor his mother's belief that killing walkers released the dead souls. an interesting belief and concept Siddiq never brings up or seems to follow again.

Carl's death was anticlimactic, cheap shock value, and again I state: pointless. He is possibly my favorite TV character ever, with some of the best development I've seen, similar to Sansa Stark, going from annoying and inflated self-confidence to wisdom, capability, and experience. truly growing as a character with believeable flaws and relatable growth.

Losing Sophia, costing Dale his life by treating walkers like a game, Losing Shane and his Mother, Killing the teen and Herschel's intervention, losing the prison, Herschel, and temporarily Judith, the Claimers, the Termites, his interactions with Ron and the loss of his eye, Glenn's and Abraham's awful death's, his desire for revenge and his failed attempt on Negan's life, and the following consequences and interactions with him that followed. all of these experiences contributed to his growth. he learned his capabilities, and when he got too cocky, he was knocked down a peg by real consequences. when Judith acted out, rebelled, took on an enemy, or got cocky, there were no consequences, direct or otherwise. when Carl's skill, self-confidence, or ego grew, there were still consequences that made sense. this gave him a better character and more relatability and humanity, making mistakes and learning from them.

I never expected to get this attached to a character, and will be salty about how they treated Carl and Chandler Riggs for a very long time. (I'm not even going to get into how they treated the actor but it was awful) thank you for listening to (reading) my rant, feel free to commiserate about Carl or other undeserved TWD character deaths in the comments.

#twd deserved better #twd #carl grimes #carl grimes deserved better #character analysis #spoilers for twd sort of #spoilers kinda #spoilers #venting about losing a character #rick grimes #judith grimes #michonne #glenn rhee #the walking dead #negan #negan smith

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practically-an-x-man · 4 months

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👻💢🍧🍁🌏📣 💗 for Nikoletta and Katherine? (Sorry it's a lot lol)

Ooooh thank you!! And don't apologize for it being a lot, I love a chance for a good OC ramble :D

OC Emoji Asks

👻 GHOST - do they believe in ghosts? what are their "ghostly experiences", if any?

Nikoletta: No. She's so deep in "haunted history" from her voodoo scam in New Orleans, she's fully convinced it's all a load of shit. Once or twice, she's had an experience that's rattled her a little more, but she'd never admit that.

Katherine: Yes. At this point, she's had so much exposure to magic and gods and other supernatural events, it would be almost stupid to try and claim ghosts couldn't exist when so much else clearly does.

💢 ANGER - what are some habits they have that will take some getting used to?

Nikoletta: She subconsciously tries to control the conversations she's a part of. It's mainly a survival reflex, but she'll duck around questions she doesn't want to answer and try to flip the focus back to the other person instead. It makes extended conversations a little difficult with her, at least at first.

Katherine: She takes on way more projects than she can actually balance, then gets frazzled and scatter-brained about finishing them. If she's bouncing off the walls with some unexplained anxiety, it probably means she's stressing herself over finishing something and can't handle anything else right now - even just suggesting going out for a walk is another thing to think about, so it's best just to let her take the lead for a while.

🍧 SHAVED ICE - do they still have any objects from their childhood? what significance does it have to them? what would their reaction be if they lost it?

Nikoletta: No. She had hardly anything growing up, which already makes it more difficult to hold onto things for sentiment, and on top of that her personal belongings were lost/stolen while she was captive in STAR Labs and she had to start completely fresh once she escaped.

Katherine: Oh, of course! She's got her old comic book collection, a lot of childhood drawings, some stuffed animals... she probably wouldn't be too upset about losing one of those things, shit happens and objects do wear out over time, but it would crush her to lose it all.

🍁 MAPLE LEAF - what is their favourite season? why?

Nikoletta: Early fall. College football and milder weather brings in a lot of tourists, so it's usually her most lucrative few weeks out on the street (it's about the only time of year where she can count on 3 meals a day and a decent roof over her head). And in Belle Reve, the seasons don't matter much since she's effectively always inside

Katherine: Summer. It reminds her of home, and she can't stand how cold New York gets in the winter anyway (especially compared to Memphis)

🌏 EARTH - will they give up the world for someone they love? is this decision easy for them?

Nikoletta: I think she wouldn't realize how attached she is to the person she loves to even make this decision. She's so used to being alone that she's more than a little rusty with having someone to care about like that, so she's more likely just to freeze up entirely.

Katherine: She would, and not even in a romantic-love context. She'd do anything for her friends or family... and actually gets awfully close to this sort of decision in the climax of Who Waits Forever Anyway?. She doesn't give up the world, but she does come awfully close to giving up her life for the people she loves.

📣 MEGAPHONE - how loud are they? what do they speak like? got a voice claim?

Nikoletta: Not very loud. She speaks clearly, but she only speaks when she needs to (in her mind, superfluous chatter makes her seem less powerful or respectable, it breaks the illusion of her being "above" the others). She has a clear New Orleans accent (not Cajun, but Deep South) since she spent her whole life there, and her voice claim is tied to her face claim: Teyonah Parris.

Katherine: A little louder than average, mainly because she gets very exuberant when she's excited. She also has a Southern accent, though hers is a slightly milder Tennessean drawl as opposed to Nikoletta's Deep South. I don't have a particular voice claim for her right now.

💗 GROWING HEART - if they have a crush, is it noticable? what changes when they're in love?

Nikoletta: As I said before, she doesn't really process how much someone means to her since she's spent so much time on her own and putting a mask up over her emotions like she does. Still, though, I think it's obvious to others - when the antisocial ice-queen that is Nikoletta suddenly starts lingering near another random, equally-antisocial prisoner, even performing such bizarre acts as smiling and holding hands, you know something's up.

Katherine: Oh, it's so damn obvious. She's the queen of pining. She doesn't do flings since she's ace, so a genuine crush is a very deep, emotional thing for her. It's very obvious: she's all smiley, she keeps talking about them, her art ends up being a lot more romantic for a while since she's always thinking about them. When she's genuinely in love, she's settled a bit from that whole butterflies-crush stage, though she still talks about her S/O a lot

#my friends!!!#answered asks #ask game #my ocs #oc katherine johnson #nikoletta bordeaux

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hello-nichya-here · 1 year

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My thoughts on Netflix’s Wednesday - Season One

(Minor spoilers)

The Good

The Main Character - This was the point that could have killed the show if they had gotten it wrong. I loved how Jenna Ortega played the character, most of the writting for her ranged from great to at least okay, and the aesthetic was perfect. The morbid interests and dark humor were spot on, and she managed to stay true to the character’s “cold” demeanor even in scenes where she is happy, sad or angry.

Protective Big Sister - I loved seeing how much Wedsnesday and Pugsley cared about each other, even with her being “emotionless.” So many people forget that her “torturing” him is really a way of showing affection, so it was nice to not only have him say he missed being waterboarded, but also have her go out of her way to defend him when he was actually being mistreated. It is a shame that he wasn’t in more of the episodes. I think the show would have been better focusing on Wednesday, but still having her little brother going to the same school as her, so they could interact more.

A Helping Hand - While it would have been nice to have Pugsley form a trio with them, Thing and Wednesday as a duo was a lot of fun. The show really did a good job at making him very expressive and with a ton of personality, even though he is just a hand (who is allowed to tell people to go fuck themselves now, so thanks for that, Netflix). The scars were a cool touch, the effect was good, and they made the right call by NOT explaining why/how he is alive - and even going as far as making it so even the current Addams don’t really know it either.

Seriously, I could make a post all about how much I love Thing, not just in this version, but in the comics, 60′s show, and 90′s movies. It’s absurd how charismatic a HAND can be. I cannot believe THE most emotional scene in the entire show was all about him, and I 1000% bought it.

Points for the actors for making it believable that they can understand him, bond with him, be annoyed at him, or scared of it, because half of Thing’s performance is on the people reacting to him - again, gotta hand it (hehehe) to Jenna Ortega since she interacted with him the most, and I never questioned how this was happening or that he was family to her.

Daddy’s Girl - Gomez calling Wednesday things like his “little scorpion” and her assuring him that he was a good dad was really sweet, and it was his best scene in the whole show.

Proud Mama - There’s something too cute about Morticia loving to see her little girl digging a grave.

The Cello Scenes - They were dramatic and cool and made Wednesday happy. Everything I could ask for. Obviously, the best one has to be her playing it while causing mayhem at a celebration to a pilgrim - it just reminded me of that epic scene of the Thanksgiving play in Addams Family Vallues.

Her Friends - It is always nice when the normal (or not so normal) people bond with the Addams, and I love Wednesday’s struggle to understand/experience emotion while bonding with them.

Uncle Fester - Pretty much everything about his part on the show was great, I loved him bickering with Thing and spending some quality time with Wednesday, and it was cool that they actually used his power to conduct electricity in a way that was both useful to the story AND funny.

Morbid Fun - Obligatory for any minimally decent story that involves the Addams. Personal favorites have to be Wednesday’s birthdays, her making her roommate pass out by being too excited to talk about violent murders, and her trying to murder the swim team with piranhas because no one tortures her brother except for her.

Nods To Past Incarnations Of The Addams - They put a big, dumb smile on my face whenever I spotted them. There was just the right amount to pay sweet homages without it getting annoying or too meta.

Christina Ricci - I can’t be objective about this. Her character didn’t always work, but I love Christina, and she can make even the dumbest parts sound either convincing or at least enjoyably bad (especially her defending herself from angry bees by shooting them, Florida Man style). It is also great to see her and Jenna play off of each other on screen. My brain sometimes forgot that I wasn’t seeing two Wednesdays interacting.

The Narration - Any opportunity for Wednesday’s dry, dark humor is a win in my books.

The Bad

The Narration (Again) - When they use it for a generic detective monologue to make the cliff-hangers more “important”, it kind of ruins the vibe.

Mommy Issues - Really? THE ADDAMS FAMILY has a problem of the parents expecting the kids to follow on their foot-steps, regardless of their wishes and explicit verbal objections? REALLY? The family whose whole deal is “Happier than all the normies because they actually LISTEN and appreciate each other the way they are?” Fuck off!

Even in things like the 90′s movies, when they send the kids to summer camp, they only do it because they were tricked into thinking that’s what Wednesday and Pugsley want, and when their baby magically turns normal, they’re not happy but try to adapt for his sake. You can’t force the Addams Family into a typical family drama and play it straight, it just flat out doesn’t work and goes against the very core idea of the characters.

The Tone/Teen Drama - I was going to put this on the Meh category, but it got annoying real fast, especially when centered around characters that were not as interesting or well written as Wednesday - who like I said, was already struggling to make that shit work.

The Addams Family started as satire. It’s strengths are on THAT genre. It can be light-hearted, or morbid, but it has to be funny and not take itself too seriously, even when taking the drama up to eleven. The show really should have kept that in mind. I’m not saying there were no fun moments, but they played the drama too straight in some situations, and by doing so they leaned on the character’s weakenesses.

Gomez & Morticia’s (Lack Of) Chemistry - This one is painful for me to write. Gomez and Morticia are one of the best, if not THE best, couples in any media, so to have an adaptation in which every declaration of their undying love for each other feels fake is just sad. We even had an entire episode focused on what was supposed to be a super romantic moment for them, and I was counting the seconds for it to be over. If it had been Angelica and Raul, or Carolyn and John, it would have been the most romantic thing ever, even with...

The “Gomez Might Be A Murderer” Plot - Really? Gomez and Morticia never told ANYONE about the time he let people believe he was a “murderer” (it was self-defense for God’s sake) out of love for Morticia? Not even to their eldest child, who mutilated and nearly killed people to protect her brother?

And come on, WEDNESDAY is shocked that her dad might have killed someone? WHY were the Addams taking that shit so seriously? Their family tree has ALL kinds of lunatics, killers, and psychopaths, plenty of which were either locked away forever or brutally murdered, and they CELEBRATE IT. Why are they ashamed/scared now, and ONLY for this plot, which was so banal it was resolved IN A SINGLE EPISODE?

This was completely out of place, to the point that if someone told me this idea was meant for some regular teen drama, was never used, and the writers just slapped a supernatural aspect to it as the last second to force it into this story.

Random “Woke” Lines/Plot - Netflix, stop trying to pretend you give a shit about things like oppression and bigotry, or at least get better at pretending you care. It’s so fucking fake and distracting, it completely took me out of the show, though thankfully it wasn’t that frequent, and was often dropped almost right away - but it just highlights how out of place it is.

Again, one of the few moments that actually worked was Wednesday playing the cello while she burns everything down, especially because that one also had the aspect of “Don’t force Wednesday to do things if you’re not ready for her to retaliate and then rub some harsh truths in your face”

Gomez’s Kiss Sounds - WHY? JUST WHY? My autistic ass couldn’t stand that shit.

Zeta Jones’s Morticia Voice - What happened here? Did she try something and no one had the heart to tell her it wasn’t working, or did Tim Burton force her to do it? Who should I blame for this? I want answers.

The Ugly

The CGI - Plenty of it looked bad, but the monster in particular was fucking hideous, like holy shit, couldn’t Netflix have TRIED a little? That was part of why the serious tone of some scenes didn’t work - HOW am I supposed to take that fake-ass shit as a threat? Thing could have been the stuff of nightmares if he wanted to, while this poor fucker couldn’t scare an infant.

Morticia’s Look - Who the fuck was responsible for this? I’d like to have a word with them. Was the budget REALLY so short that they had to dress Zeta Jones up in a crappy Halloween costume they found at the last second? The dress didn’t suit her, the make up could have been improved, and the wig looked ridiculously fake. Sometimes the lighting also made things worse. I’m not asking for a Bela Lugosi effect on her eyes like the 90′s movies, but still, they could have put some care into it.

Gomez’s Look - Not quite as bad as Morticia’s, but still not great. I’ll give them points for trying to be faithful to the original comics’ design, but they went a little too far with it, and it got uncanny - not the good kind, like Uncle Fester. At least it just looked weird instead of cheap.

The Meh

We Have Hogwarts At Home - The school and all of it’s drama just wasn’t weird enough to be cool, or normal enough to clash with Wednesday. I think the short number of episodes really limited how much the writers could explore the other students’ powers - for fuck’s sake, they have a kid who can make his drawings come to life, that’s cool as hell, but it comes up ONCE.

The Love Triangle - Did ANYONE like this? Even Jenna Ortega said it sucked. I guess, if you put a gun to my head, I’d pick Tyler to be with Wednesday, but I really think the romance wasn’t needed, and it took me four episodes to be able to tell the guys apart. The only thing I’ll say, is that is not as bad as the fandom as a whole claims it is - either that or I’ve seen so many worse love triangles that this one looked better in contrast. Regardless, points for them.

The Mystery - I don’t fucking care. It got obvious, repetitive, and convoluted real fast. It was just harmless enough that I could turn off my brain while watching.

Conclusion

This wasn’t the worst adaptation/remake with the Addams Family’s characters, but it was also far from the best, which is a shame because it has potential. I’ll probably not rewatch this season, but I will at least give season 2 a chance and hope that they fix some of the show’s problems.

I know it will still be a mystery, but it might be a better one, and perhaps it won’t take too much time away from the best part of the show: just seeing Wednesday going about her day, doing weird or straight up evil shit, awkwardly interacting with normal people and bonding with them, then introducing her new friends to the loving, fun insanity that is her iconic family when they show up to visit her.

#wednesday #the addams family

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reficu1 · 2 years

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heyy!! how r u today? hopefully well, i hope you dont mind if i request somethin' to you rn, btw your an amazing writer (: but anyways ill just start saying this...

ca you do Aoi Asahina, Sonia Nevermind, miu iruma and maybe Monami with a reader who has a noelle personality from genshin impact??

thank youu and i hope you have an amazing day (:

Aoi Asahina, Sonia Nevermind, Miu Iruma and Monomi with a reader who has a Noelle personality.

I'm embarrassed, I hope your day is good too. Thank you for your inquiry, happy reading.

Aoi Asahina.

No matter how difficult your name is, the girl will not forget. Because such a cool and sweet person is hard to forget. She and Sakura are always ready to help you. At first, Aoi wanted you not to help so much and especially to some individuals who are "not worthy of it". But Sakura always added "Asahina, it's part of Y/N's personality, we can't tell her."

Aoi is always happy to see you, so she will always take you with her and Sakura. But this does not look like "friendship with the third extra person." You fit in very well. Now this is the most powerful trinity, you understand that?

"Hey! Y/N, can you help me with this assignment because I don't understand this subject at all?" One student complained.

"Oh, you've been asking for far from the fifth time, can you explain and help you understand how, what to do?"

"Uh, I don't have time for this," this student wanted to say and immediately leave, leaving you alone with their task, but there were angry Aoi and Sakura behind your back, but Ogami was more frightening. "What did you say about helping explain? Yes, of course, I had free time, even right now."

But Sakura's gaze was still heavy, and the swimmer approached you, distracting you with sweets that she wanted to share with her friends at recess. "Oh, you know, I think I just figured out how to do my homework, so take it easy, thanks, bye!"

"What was it?"

"A new way to quickly learn, just like frame 25, but even more effective." Sakura joked and she went to the dining room, and you follow her.

Sonia Nevermind.

She is here to take a break from her parents and servants who run after her, watch and teach "how a real princess should behave." And the fact that you are so friendly, but especially helpful. This makes her mentally return to the castle, at a time that was unbearable for Sonya.

"Dear Y/N, please sit back and relax, I admit, no, everyone here recognizes you and your talent." Says Sonya as she pours a second cup of tea for you.

"Oh, thank you very much, I'm glad to try for all of you, but then I have to try even harder so that I don't fail in difficult times and you don't get disappointed." You answer the princess with a smile, thereby refusing her offer.

"Oh, I was hoping for your company." Dramatically, the princess raises her hand to her forehead. This is followed by a tea party for two with cookies and funny stories from both sides.

Yes, she will sometimes say something that sounds like "manipulation" if this statement is true. But Sonya does not want to do anything bad to you. It's just the one way that works for you. At the beginning. But she herself is very ashamed, therefore, in ordinary conversations, Sonya will try to convince you that you do not need to work so much. And when enough time has passed for you to accept that fact a little. These "manipulations" will go away completely. Then Sonya herself will not hate herself for making you feel.

She will do her best to answer you with the same good that you give to everyone. If she finds out that you're in trouble or you just want something. She will find it and bring it to you, even if you refuse.

After all, "Y/N, you are such a wonderful person that this gift is enough for me to express my gratitude."

Miu Iruma.

Your communication from the outside looks very comical. Usually the other classmates look at the two of you and smirk. Especially because of Miu.

"Oh go fuck me suck me hahahaha." Once Miu said this to you in front of the others, when she got tangled in the garden and fell, and you offered your help.

"Suck? Are you hurt? Is there poison? Oh God, wait, please, I'll bring everything!" You almost ran away.

"Okay, that's it, c-that's enough, I was joking, it's okay really, don't worry, look, I'm fine." Miu stood up and twirled in front of you and left quietly.

Usually she does not act vulgarly around you, because you take her literally. And after one incident, she really watches her tongue.

"Help? Help fucking yourself, and then help others, but definitely not me." She said emotionally and immediately regretted it when she saw your expression. "Oh, I-I'm sorry, I'm sorry, wait!"

After this incident, the girl became a friend-mother. She's not trying to change you or anything. Miu only scolds those who ask you too much for help, even if they see that you are already tired. And for you, she is simply trying to improve your vacation or simplify your work.

Bonus.

Monomi.

Rabbit loves you as much as his other classmates. But your kindness makes me shed tears.

"So did you find out anything new? How do we get off this island?" The meeting of classmates began.

"Let's be quiet, otherwise this Monokuma will hear his assistant Monomi." Hinata began to speak, when suddenly a rabbit appeared.

"Guys, I could help you." Monomi says happily, but no one pays attention to her.

"Hey, what do you want to tell us?" You asked good-naturedly, sitting down on the floor at her level. While others were looking at you.

"What are you doing, Y/N? She works with Monokuma, and will you listen to her as well?" Souda asks suspiciously. And in the crowd you can hear Saioji chuckling.

"She was with us before he came, she suffers from his appeal to her, she takes care of us and the local nature. Why are you so callous to her? She tries to help all of us and we are here to save us, but the mastermind was on the move ahead!" You are hugging a white rabbit, who was previously very stiff and constrained due to social awkwardness, and is now ready to cry from such a speech.

Maybe the trick caught some by surprise, but still made someone at least listen and feel sorry especially when the rabbit was no more.

#danganronpa #danganronpa goodbye despair #danganronpa x reader #danganronpa trigger happy havoc #danganronpa v3 #danganronpa thh #aoi asahina x reader #sonia nevermind x reader #miu iruma x reader

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moviewarfare · 9 months

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A Review of “The Flash (2023)”

The Flash is a hero I adore from the comics. It is crazy that it took this long for him to have a live-action movie. Unfortunately, the DCEU Flash movie went through development hell. It had multiple directors leave the project, multiple delays, multiple reshoots, the Ezra controversy, and constant changes in leadership at WB. Despite all these shenanigans, does this movie manage to deliver a great Flash movie?

Firstly, they do deliver some strong and emotional moments. It's hard to be angry at Flash for wanting to save his mother and prove his Dad innocent. Seeing Flash cope with the unintended butterfly effects of going back in time and saving his mother, is a great concept. Barry's desperation to save this timeline because his mother still lives is powerful stuff. It has a heartfelt story of grief which I liked. Funny enough, Ezra has great chemistry with himself. Ezra plays the original and new timeline Barry who both interact with each other throughout the movie. I like the contrast between a slightly more mature and serious original Barry compared to the younger whiny new Barry. There are some genuinely funny moments between the two. I am also impressed by how convincingly they made it seem like there were 2 Ezras on set.

One of the biggest selling points of this movie is Michael Keaton's return as Batman. It is great seeing him again even though his performance can feel a bit stiff and wooden. I was worried about how they could convince me that a 70-year-old Batman would still be capable of fighting. However, the action scenes with him are awesome and very enjoyable. Ben Affleck also returns as DCEU Batman for 1 last time. He is not in it for long but he is good as well. His action scenes are pretty entertaining and his scene with Barry is a highlight. The music score by Benjamin Wallfisch is wonderful and I love how he incorporates the classic Danny Elfman Batman theme. The greatest part though is Sasha Calle as Supergirl. She is terrific despite not being in it for long. I also think the costume team nailed the Michael Keaton Batsuits and the Supergirl suit as they both look exceptional!

Unfortunately, the Ben Affleck Batsuit looks terrible. It is ugly and doesn't even feel like a proper Batsuit. Likewise, the Flash suit just doesn't look great. It looks too polished and very plastic looking. There are scenes where it looks like a guy in a giant red condom rather than a proper superhero suit. On that note, I am very mixed about Ezra Miller as Flash. He was all right in Zack Snyder's Justice League as he was more of a supporting role with a better script. However, his performance in this film comes off as way more obnoxious and annoying. It doesn't help that new timeline Barry is meant to be annoying on purpose but the result is both Barry's are infuriating. He does deliver during the more emotional moments but at other times, not so much.

I am also very disappointed in the action scenes with the 'Flash'. While the Batman action is awesome, the action scenes with Flash are just not that satisfying. They are bland to look at, especially when compared to speedster scenes from X-Men and even Avengers. The 3rd act in this movie is a little overwhelming with the amount of things going on. There are some things concerning the multiverse that occurs as well but feels kind of contradictory to the rules set. I also find the ending terrible and contradicts the whole message of the movie. Additionally, they do something in the ending that raises more questions than answers and feels a little dumb if they are rebooting the universe. My major gripe though, is the atrociously bad CGI. A lot of the shots in this film look very ugly thanks to poor CGI. Some scenes look like it is straight out of a video game than a movie. They also use it to recreate people's likeness including dead people and it is disgusting to look at.

Overall, what a massive disappointment this ended up being. You can see some element of great in it but it is all overshadowed by the bad. It is sad to see how poor the last couple of entries in the old DCEU are. It makes me more appreciative of James Gunn rebooting the DCEU. We still have 1 proper DCEU movie left with Aquaman 2 but my hopes aren't high.

For more reviews like this visit:

https://moviewarfarereviews.blogspot.com/

#dceu #batman #the flash #the flash 2023 #the flash film #the flash movie #movies #film #Movie Reviews #Film Review #michael keaton #ben affleck #dc #DC comics

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redux-iterum · 1 year

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Alright a bit of a weird question about RUNNING Iterum vs the iterum itself. was wondering as an online ‘creator’ (I hate that word but you know what I’m getting at), especially in a fandom such as warriors, how do you avoid the whole ‘pedastaling’ thing, overfamiliarity, and parasocial interaction? I’ve noticed it sooooo much in the warriors community, so I’ve been hesitant to try and out myself out there out of fear LOL.

Don’t feel obligated to answer! Also sending off anon if you’d rather keep it private. Thank you for your time, I hope your day is going excellent!

Well, truthfully, I didn't manage to avoid any of that! I can't tell you any cure-all way to escape them entirely, but I can give you my experiences in dealing with these things and my overall philosophy when it comes to putting out things online.

Firstly, the original Redux was held on a VERY high pedestal - people proclaiming it to be the true canon, at least one person trying to get the actual Erin Hunter team to read it and "take notes", little makeshift books being printed out for it, etc. - and, in the fashion of anything Tumblr held on a high pedestal in that era, it inevitably crashed and burned and led to a lot of drama and disheartening conflict. I won't say people were worshiping the ground I walked on, but they certainly gave me more credit than anyone should give a writer as inexperienced as I was. I think it's just the nature of fandom to get extremely excited about something even mildly good and the cumulative effect of thousands of people getting excited with each other causes a herd mentality that gets only more extreme over time before someone pipes up to the contrary and is actually listened to, whether or not their argument is legitimate, and then THAT becomes the most popular idea. It's way better now than it was back then, believe me - people seem to register when I make mistakes or have flaws without hating me for them, and it's been an overall very healthy perspective from readers and fans on who I am as a person.

To a degree. That's where we'll get into the other two.

Over-familiarity, as well, I certainly have had to deal with, and still do, and this kind of bleeds into parasocial relationships, so I'll tackle them both here. People nowadays seem to have forgotten the most important rule of being online, which is that you need to assume that the stranger you're talking to does not have your best interests at heart and you need to exercise a bit of caution before you get to personal stuff. I've had at least four separate people jump at me with their problems, troubled backstories and traumas (one incident being so severe I don't even want to describe it, and that was their opening line). There are some folk who genuinely want to start a dialog with me and exchange thoughts on things or ask questions about my writing, which is totally fine! That's how I met a great deal of my friends and have a friendly relationship with plenty of fans. I won't say that's invalid. But there are people who seem to think I'm a free therapist or that I know them like they're my buddy, when neither is true. I just recently put up a warning on the About page of this blog that I'm no longer tolerating that shit and will block if one pushes those boundaries. Which I should have done earlier, but I have a bad habit of being too passive and sensitive to strangers.

So those things do exist and can happen to anybody. I won't even try to convince you otherwise. However, they're a really small part of an overall great time I've had putting out fanfics and comics and general creative work. I've made amazing friends (and if it wasn't for me meeting Lynx via the Redux, this whole rewrite would never have happened), I've learned a lot about myself and how and why I create, and, most importantly, I've had people come to me and tell me I've inspired them to do their own thing and give it their all. My effect on the fandom was sizable, whether it was White!Scourge or rewrites as a whole, and it's been a great deal of fun to check my inbox and see enthusiastic messages or questions about lore or even seeking advice, like your ask. I can't give you any sure-fire road to success - I only have a very small idea of why I did as well as I did - but I can vouch for being brave enough to start creating and sharing it with people. If for nothing else, to prove to yourself that your work has worth and can brighten someone's day, even if they don't comment on it (and a lot of people who love stuff, including me, don't say a single thing ever to the creator!).

The piece of advice I would give, if I am to give one, is to establish boundaries. Block whoever makes you uncomfortable or is making your life and enjoyment of your stuff harder. Tell anons when they're being inappropriate or offensive. Delete asks that are probing or trying to get a rise out of you. Put a notice somewhere on your blog if you need to that you're not tolerating whatever it is you're willing to block over. It doesn't have to be some deep-seated trauma of yours. It could be talking about beagles, for all I care. You don't have to discuss shit if you don't want to. Be firm and assertive, especially with aggressively friendly strangers. You don't owe them a god damn thing, whether they think otherwise.

That's about all I can think of to say right now. I hope this answer helped! I encourage you to start posting stuff and just focus on enjoying yourself, rather than any ambiguous problems that could theoretically show up (and they may not ever!). Good luck!

#ask #advice #real talk #seawoven #i speak

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project1939 · 8 months

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Day 21- Film: Outlaw Women

Release date: April 4th

Studio: Lippert Pictures

Genre: Western

Director: Sam Newfield, Ron Ormond

Producer: June Carr, Ron Ormand

Actors: Marie Windsor, Richard Rober, Carla Balenda

Plot Summary: A woman in the Old West known as Iron Mae is sick and tired of never getting anywhere in life. She founds her own town run entirely by women, populated 9:1 by women. Success is more important to Mae than men or rules. Inevitably, they face threats from all sides- from roving bandits to local politicians. Can the town actually survive?

My Rating (out of five stars): **½ for the actual quality of the film, ****½ for my enjoyment of it

I had to do a little digging before I found this film, but I’m so glad I did! Yesterday’s movie was so bad it was just... bad, but this one is so bad it’s fabulous! (Except for the stupid ending, unsurprisingly.)

The Good:

It was a low-budget film, but it often didn’t look it. It was shot in color, and although it wasn't Technicolor, it wasn't bad. The acting could be quite good (although there was some cringey stuff), and it even had some decent musical numbers in it.

Iron Mae! I loved her. She was a tough talkin’ tough livin’ dame who ran the whole town. She still dressed in glamourous traditionally feminine clothes, even if other female residents did not. Yes, she was a little harsh- I think that, and her distrust of men, was supposed to make us dislike her... but it didn’t work for me!

Dora! Dora! My new love, Dora! She was one of the women who dressed like a cowboy, but she also smoked cigarillos, lit matches with her teeth, and kicked the shit out of more than one man. She even threw one over her shoulder to take his gun away. At the end, she remained unpaired with a man. I know she’s just a character, and she existed 71 years ago, but I’m not totally convinced she isn’t waiting in some saloon to marry me.

The female empowerment in the whole thing. You could tell the filmmakers were trying to subtly say throughout the film that something wasn’t right about it, but I didn’t care.

Did I tell you about Dora?

The Bad:

The ending! I knew it was probably coming, because a movie in the 50s could not allow for a woman-run town to be successful. It was especially infuriating because the government came in and demanded there be local elections, which meant women could neither vote nor hold office. They were cruelly screwed by the system they were trying to escape from. Virtually every woman was shown pairing off with a man at the end, as well.

The kind of demeaning “Men will rightly be in charge of everything, but wives and mothers sort of run the show” wink-wink at the end. Have a little consolation prize, ladies.

There were some comical sound effects in the fight scenes. The slaps and punches were way too loud.

The background music was often overpowering and not always appropriate.

#project1952 #1952 #project1952 day 21 #outlaw women movie #100 films of 1952

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shititbe · 3 years

Text

Anyway, Peter Parker is Bi, and I Won’t Be Convinced Otherwise.

Firstly, we have to get our bases covered. What exactly is Bi-sexuality? What is sexuality?

Sexuality is defined as a persons identity in relation to gender(s) they are attracted to. Why is this important? Peter’s sexuality has never been specifically stated in the comics, nor in any other form of media. It’s assumed that he is straight because of his popular relationship with Mary Jane Watson in the comics, and the movies.

Now that we have a bases for what exactly sexuality is and how it’s defined, let’s go over Peter’s partners.

Obviously Peter and Mary Jane are a piece of comic book history. They eventually get married, though sadly, during the events of Civil War II (I think, don’t quote me) Peter and Mary Jane sell their marriage to Mephisto in order to save Aunt May

They later had their memories of their marriage restored, they have yet to get back together and it’s been a few issues if I remember correctly. Next we have Peter’s first, and most unfortunate love, Gwen Stacy.

They dated in high school where she later died. Of course, Peter has dated other people (namely, Black Cat, Betty Brant, Carol Danvers, Anna Maria, Cindy Moon, Lian Tang, and so on). Since we have his known history of heterosexuality out there, we need to move onto another important part of Peter’s Bi-sexuality. An important implication in any media, especially queer media though, and that is the homoerotic subtext.

Homoerotic subtext is important part of queer culture, a lot of the time it’s used to portray a characters queerness without saying it out (see: Dorian Gray by Oscar Wild or Great Gatsby By Fitz). In current decade, homoerotic subtext is often used for queer baiting or creating more realistic male friendships.

So what’s the difference between someone creating a health male friendship (or a character comfortable in their heterosexuality) and implying a character is queer?

Here are some examples of a healthy male character, both with himself and his friendships.

Clearly he’s just taking the shit, and messing around with Reed. He’s comfortable enough (or as I like to see it, so traumatized because good god this guy has been Spider-Man since he was 15 good god that’s awful. He probably doesn’t care anymore). Here are some examples of Peter a little more than just a straight man shooting the shit.

This has three meanings. Two of which I will take, one of which is just deeply embarrassing. Despite Peter’s history with humiliating events, I don’t think he would get his own spunk in his eyes. Leaving the other two options, he has experience getting spunk of - some kind - in his eyes, and/or he’s taking the shit again. Which is very likely.

Kissing a cop? For....no reason? A little not so hetero of you Peter.

You can practically hear his disappointment in his voice. Also could be read as taking the shit, but why would you.

Making out with The Thing? Gay.

This one is the most important. Peter is clearly tired, annoyed by his teammates (see wolverine being wolverine in the corner). Shits on fire, its mid battle, and Peter has the audacity to mutter “I hate men” to himself. The only people I have every heard say this in that was are lgbt and straight women, and lgbt men. This kind of expression only comes from people who date, or deal with men in a completely different world than straight men. Straight men use this phrase as an endearment, “Oh have you seen Bill today, I hate that guy.” “Man Jerry can do so many push-ups, I hate that guy.” Very different language, and implications (I also, obviously don’t know how straight men speak).

Now that we’ve gone over our bases, and homoerotic subtext. How else could we gather that Peter Parker is Bi? There are many tropes in media - queer media - that allure to a characters queerness. Like homoerotic subtext, there are ways to tell an audience something without specifically saying it.

This is a gay wedding Peter went to in the recent comics. I don’t know if any of you have been to a gay wedding recently, but Peters face (the first panel above the wedding) is the same exact face I made at my first gay wedding. It’s the face of excitement for not only the couple, but for yourself. The hope that maybe, you too can actually be in a same-sex relationship.

I’m also going to allure to queer tropes as stated previously. Such as the real, and fictional trope of lgbt people sticking together. Thousands of years of belittlement and oppression will make groups of people not want to wonder out, and subconsciously look for others like them.

Johnny Storm (and Wade Wilson since he comes in later but I couldn’t find a picture of the confirmation) is cannon Bi-sexual (Pan-sexual).

Their friendship is deeply homoerotic as most queer friendships in media and real life are. Johnny flirts with Peter on many occasions (saying his ideal women is a female version of Peter, inviting him over to watch is sex tape, and so on) and of course oh my god they were roommates.

Some other popular queer tropes are: Found Family, Soulmates, and Enemies to lovers. Because it’s superhero related, this includes the Identity Porn tag as well.

Peter Parker and Wade Wilson have a famous Love/Hate relationship. I mean, how could you expect anything less when your first meeting with this known mercenary is him throwing your civilian persona out the window of a car. Now, Wade still doesn’t know Peter is Spider-Man in the current run of comics, but that doesn’t make anything about them any less gay.

For the Found Family Trope:

Because it’s Peter and Wade, their whole development can be read as Enemies to Friends to Lovers, so I wont bother backing that up because, uh, it speaks for itself. One panel really does to add that cause though

I’m not going to explain what a free-pass list is.

The Soulmates part I know I have to back up.

For SoulMates:

Now this panel requires a little explanation. Wade kills Peter, not knowing he’s Spider-Man. Weasel takes over for Peter (they don’t know its him) so no one suspects he’s dead. Deadpool begins to feel guilty he killed his best buds best bud, so he tries to bring Peter back to life. Losing his stunning good looks (switching back to how he looked before Weapon X making his wife Shiklah estranged (then she married Dracula but thats beside the point)). Spider-Man is Peter’s “true self” or patronus for Harry Potter fans. Wade is stupid and hasn’t connected the dots yet, effectively making him the biggest simp in history. Seriously, who destroys their marriage for the c h a n c e for getting some with their idol? A Simp, that’s who.

Peter forgives Wade for killing him (and for saving him from killing their genetic daughter itsy-bitsy). If someone killed me they better be hot as fuck before I even thing about forgiving them. Ignoring Peter’s super sexy forgiving nature, uh, he’s kinda simping.

Died in each others arms. Nothing else is needed.

They’re heartmates. From what I read, the feeling has to be mutual in order for it to work. The witches (long story, comics are hard to explain) that captured deadpool were expecting his wife so they could get the headmistress back. Instead, they got Peter. Basically Heartmates = soulmates but chosen for you instead of chosen by you.

To conclude my point:

Thank you for coming to my TED Talk.

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icollectyoursins · 3 years

Text

Jotaro Relationship Head Canons SFW

Because I’m a self indulgent little shit and just love to ignore all of the work I have to do, have some Jotaro head canons. I am but a humble simp, and love this man. So much.

Update as of writing this. Somehow, it got very angsty, so... yeah. Sad man vibes. Also rambly. I just kinda kept going.

Wanna know what I’m willing to write? Rules here!

Have a character, but no idea? Prompt list here!

Looking for more? Master post here!

WARNINGS: None, just angst, but nothing too serious.

Word Count: 2,985

Jotaro’s type is... I mean, it depends, like most people. I don’t think he’s super picky over appearances or things like that, it’s more whether or not he gets along with you and how long he can put up with you. He’s polite (well, as polite as he can be) and courteous, but probably a little more apathetic when you’ve first met. Once you’ve been around for a while he’s more relaxed and almost a little more critical. Mostly because you’re his friend now and he expects more from his friends.

While I was writing this I sort of realized that he could be aromantic. Maybe it’s just my own aro tendencies coming through, but I thought it sort of lined up with his personality. Or at least from my experience with romantic attraction.

Eventually, though, he’ll admit he cares about you a little more than he cares about others. It comes through in little almost compliments. “You did good. Keep it up” or “good job, dealing with this” are common phrases that sound nice on the surface, but it almost feels like he’s trying to pressure you to do more, which is far from the truth.

If it’s not awkward compliments like that, it’s awkward gifts. Always something you had briefly mentioned wanting or stared at a minute longer than you usually do, wrapped in a paper that’s your favourite colour or pattern. Sometimes, though, it’s something you’ve never mentioned that he somehow guessed would be something you wanted.

At the same time, though, he’s oblivious or at least acts like he is. There may be times when he goes home after you said something exceptionally sweet to him or that just means so much and he’ll just take a moment sitting at his desk to mull over what you said.

With a grunt, Jotaro rolled back into the armchair with a cup of tea in one hand and today’s newspaper in the other, since he didn’t get to read it this morning. It’s late with the sun almost completely set, giving his room an orange hue. He tries reading the first column, something about a cat being saved from a sewer grate, but after about a minute, he catches himself drifting away, sort of staring blankly at the paper.

He blinks hard, taking a long sip from his coffee. He must be tired. Another attempt is made at reading, this time the comics. They’re not his favourite thing, but short enough that he can focus on them. Or so he thought.

He zones out again, face suddenly feeling very hot.

He was thinking about you. Or, rather what you said.

It was something so simple, so mundane.

You had been talking about family together, exchanging drama, if you will, and he had brought up how his father had left his mother when he was very young. It didn’t bother him, he had said, after all, it was years ago and if he was being honest, he didn’t really need a father. Then, you gave him this look. It wasn’t pity or something like that. You put your hand on his knee, staring deep into his eyes.

“Jotaro,” you said, voice soft and sweet. You struggled to say the next words, opening your mouth, sighing, then finally: “I’m not leaving you.”

“Why would you be leaving?” He said, confused, taking it literally. Or, he pretended to be confused. It had made his heart warm with affection.

What Jotaro hadn’t noticed at that moment was that his eyes seemed to gloss over with wet tears while talking about his father. He wasn’t over it, you understood that. How could he be? He was so young then, he probably didn’t understand what was happening or why and now that he’s a father himself, there had to be so much guilt about being the same way. It was only now that he was realizing how much you had an effect on him.

It didn’t make him sad, by any means but... loved. He’ll say thank you tomorrow with a gift or some flowers. He hadn’t planned on meeting you for the rest of the week because he was busy, but work could wait, right? Yeah. Tomorrow.

God, it would take so long for him to get you to move in together. He’s so used to living on his own that I think he’s a little self-conscious about it. He’s not a slob by any means, but certainly a bachelor. I mean, he lived (assumedly) on his own from probably around or earlier than DiU right up until Stone Free, so it’s been a while and he’s certainly comfortable with his mess of clothes lying on the floor in the corner, but you won’t be. He cleans up before people come over, obviously, but how many times did he actually invite someone in?

When you start staying around more, he starts cleaning more, which makes him a little frustrated both coming to terms with liking someone enough that he’s actively cleaning for them once a week and also discovering that he’s a lot more gross than he thought. You would not believe how stained the counter was from coffee or how gross the filter was on the coffee maker. He takes his coffee very seriously. You begin to notice how clean everything is, well, how consistently clean everything is and it even starts to smell nicer, more floral and fresh. He bought a lavender air freshener. “It’s supposed to be calming,” he’ll say with a hint of annoyance. It’s not a bad smell to him, better than vanilla air fresheners, but it does give him a headache when he first sprays his place. You seem to like it though, so he’s willing to put up with it.

I honestly believe this man can cook, but nervous when cooking for other people. His food when he was a bachelor was good enough for him and I’m sure Holly would have shown him a lot too, but it’s not the best food. He definitely steps up his game when you’re over and even more so when you move in. He’s better with dishes that have pasta or noodles because it’s easy, but he’s not too bad behind the grill either.

When you guys finally live together, he tries to keep the cooking even, with you cooking some days and him doing the rest, but I honestly feel like unless you are a hazard in the kitchen, you would do most of it.

Jotaro would be like that with most things around the house partly because he doesn’t want you to do all the work if you don’t want to but he enjoys having a little more time to himself to either do work or... yeah, it’s just work. There are a few things that he’ll never make you do because it’s either too hard or he’s built up a routine of doing that thing a certain way and he’s convinced no one else will do it right. Like his laundry. He won’t let anyone else clean his clothes. He tried once and nothing dried right, he swears that his jacket is still damp to this day. You can fold his stuff or hang it up, but he’s running the washing machine and dryer. Also picky about how his office is cleaned.

If you asked and gave a legitimate reason for not doing a certain chore, he’ll do it, but be prepared with an excuse as to why you can’t wash the dishes or fold the laundry. He’s especially resistant if he’s working whether that be gathering information for the Speedwagon Foundation or editing his latest Marine Biology book.

Actually, can we just talk about how much this man hates folding laundry? It’s so pointless to him. Why fold it and put it into neat little piles when you’re just gonna rummage through the drawer and mess everything up? Sure, it looks nice, I guess, but not for long. He was for sure a floordrobe kind of guy, especially in his early years. He knows which ones are clean, it’s fine, just leave it. Of course, he would get better the longer you’re at his place, but still. It’s not that he’s lazy, he’s just busy and putting clothes away takes way too fucking long. (which, honestly, agreed.)

Date nights with Jotaro are... rare. I mean, you live with him, why would he want to go out and pay for something when he could do the same thing at home? They’re nice, of course, but it’s more common for him to take you out to dinner while you guys are on vacation or in a location other than home, because he doesn’t feel like cooking and it’s more special when you’re supposed to go out. Eventually, it clicks in that you are supposed to make each other feel special and will surprise you with an expensive dinner or a short cruise. If you suggest the aquarium he’ll think you’re just saying that because he’s into aquatic wildlife, but honestly doesn’t put up much of a fight and will answer any questions you or anyone else has about the fish.

He does enjoy a good relaxing movie (or documentary) night at home, though. It’s so nice to finally be finished work, settle into your super comfy couch and just chill until he gets tired. Even better when you’re lying on top of him with your head just under his chin. There’s something so soothing about smelling your perfume, shampoo, conditioner, cologne, etc. To just smell you so close to him and feel your weight. Aaah. So nice.

The microwave beeps faintly from the kitchen signalling that popcorn was done. You trailed out soon after, tossing the bowl to mix around the butter. You smile sweetly at him, leaning down to plant a gentle kiss on Jotaro’s lips before settling into his lap, nestling your head just under his while stretching out your legs. His arm instinctively moves from the back of the couch to drape over your back, rubbing circles into it with his thumb.

He sighs; relaxed, finally. He allows himself to kiss your forehead, closing his eyes for a moment, just basking in your comfort. When he opens his eyes, he pulls you closer to him, feeling your heart beat almost in time with his. It was moments like these that eased his panic of losing you. You were here in his arms, safe and sound and vice versa. He was safe in yours.

Yeah, he’s a little angsty. But, can you blame him? He’s getting better, though. With help, of course. With you being around so often (and being very adamant that you’re not going anywhere) he’s able to let go a little. He’s not perfect, by a long shot and progress is slow, but it’s the little things like these that makes you proud of how far he’s come.

PDA is common, but a little restricted. When you’re out together, Jotaro’ll always have his hand on your back or shoulder. Hand-holding isn’t really a thing for him, but he will make sure you know he’s there. He’ll kiss you in public, but it’s not nearly as intimate or special as when you’re at home. Still, it’s a sweet reminder that he loves you, seeing as words of affection aren’t really his thing.

I mean, he can express himself just fine, but he still gets a little nervous saying things like ‘I love you.’ It’s more along the lines of ‘I care about you.’ Or, well. “of course, I care about you. You wouldn’t be here if I didn’t.” Which... thanks. I think.

Kissing him is so nice, so you’re not too mad about him doing that instead of words. When Jotaro kisses you it’s full of a mix of emotions. Mostly caring, but on his rough days, there’s something else there. It could be worry or whatever the emotional equivalent of never letting you go is. You can always tell that he wants it to last a little bit longer. There’s something in the sad look in his eyes when he or you has to pull away. Sometimes he’s overly gentle like he’ll break you somehow, especially if you’re not a stand user or fighting-inclined (whether physical or otherwise). It’s not patronizing, or at least he tries not to be patronizing, he just prefers you safe.

It started out simple enough. You and Jotaro were just sitting at the table, eating dinner when he got this... sinking sort of feeling. There was something in the silence between you that just sent his mind spiralling. Thoughts of you someday dying too soon for whatever reason or leaving him because he’s not there enough, stand users, car crashes, divorce. They all started to flood into his mind, fabricating that you would somehow be taken away from him.

“Jotaro? Are you okay?” Your voice rings through; a bright light breaking the storm. He’s been staring at his plate for a while now, his eyes are dry and itchy. He looks at you and tries to say something, but the words don’t come. Is he okay?

You stand up and walk over to him, cupping his face gently. You rub the dark circles under his eyes while kissing his forehead. Jotaro slowly wraps his arms around you, letting his face fall into your hands. You’re pulled into his lap after a few minutes, running your fingers through his hair next. Finally, he sighs, burying his face in the crook of your neck.

“Thank you,” he mumbles and though you’re not quite sure why, you still say a quiet you’re welcome, silently soothing him through whatever happened.

If you couldn’t tell, he needs a lot of reassurance. Not so much words, but actions like the snippet above. I mean, he can be as strong as he wants but we all know he’s got some baggage and while he’s able to put it aside, for the most part, I think when you’re at home he’s just a little more vulnerable.

Now, onto happier things! If you like coffee or tea, he will always make you a cup in the morning. Jotaro is a very early riser except on the weekends, so he usually gets that done while reading or watching the news and when you come down, he’ll ask if you want breakfast then make it for you seeing as he’s more awake.

He loves coffee. So much. He might have a caffeine addiction, honestly. At all times of every day, you can see him with a black coffee in hand and a book or phone in the other. He will switch to decaf at some point, but you might have to switch it for him. He’s forgetful when he gets busy.

Sleeping in on the weekends is like heaven for him. The two nights (or more on holidays) that he gets a full nights rest, breakfast in bed and a warm soul to cuddle into. He’s usually big spoon with a hand just resting on your side, but please, for the love of god make him the little spoon once a week. Will never admit it or vocalize wanting it. He just grabs your hand and drapes it over him with a “good night” and then promptly passes out.

He’s a heavy sleeper but doesn’t sleep often. Once he’s out, there is nothing that could wake him up except the fire alarm or something like that. It just takes a while. Not because of trauma, but more just internal clock is delayed.

Not a bath guy, strictly showers ‘cause they’re quicker. Most of the time he’s in and out before you can invite him into yours. When you do he’s “reluctant” but showers with you are a favourite of his. He gets his hair washed for him (if he bends down), he can wash you. It’s great.

I don’t think he would want more kids. He’s getting older, busier and just doesn’t think he has the time to care for a baby, even with help. Plus, if they were anything like Joylne or god forbid him when he was younger, he might start greying sooner than he thought. Joylne is a great kid, but... she’s definitely got some of his defiance in him. One kid is fine.

He doesn’t really like pets either, hates when there’s fur on all the furniture. But, if you came home with a stray cat or two, he’s not gonna put up a fight if you say they’re not going to the pound. “Just as long as you take care of them yourself.”

You got him a betta fish once because Jotaro. Fish. Makes sense. He thought it was a little pointless at first. You can’t pet them or play fetch (not like he does those things anyway). All a fish does is sit there and look pretty. You were a little disappointed, but whatever, you’ll take care of it. Then he comes home one day with a 30-gallon tank, freshwater plants and fancy lighting to help them grow which he quietly sets up in the living room. He spent at least a half-hour deciding on where to put it.

A week later, after he’s pleased with how it looks and the tank has been cycled he puts in an order for more fish then lets your betta acclimate to the tank. “There, he’ll be happier in here. The idea of bettas not enjoying or panicking in larger tanks is a myth. He won’t be alone for long anyway. He also won’t kill everything in the tank.” Well, he hopes he won’t, each fish is different. Thankfully, the small school of tetras get along with your betta just fine. From then on, he’s in there once a week, cleaning everything, trimming the overgrowth. It is officially his tank.

#Jotaro is probably my biggest comfort character and the first one I really fell in love with out of jojo so this had to be done at some poin #jotaro kujo #kujo jotaro #jotaro kujo x reader #jotaro x reader #jotaro headcanons #sfw prompts

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yourfandomfriend · 3 years

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The Magic Theater || Loki Meta

(This is a thing I wanted to write after the premiere but was at work and then too tired. Enjoy!)

Ahh, meta analysis! For some citizens of Fandom, it's just a way of one-upping other fans, making it look like you have all the answers and get all the references. For others, it's about projecting what you wish was true to validate your feelings, starting from the desired conclusion and working backwards.

But to me, quality meta is like frozen yogurt: taking something you love and ruining it a little so you can have more of it! And the first episode of the new Loki series is some quality fro-yo.

**SPOILERS** For Loki: Episode One, and Loki: Agent of Asgard **SPOILERS**

The God of Stories

So Agent of Asgard is a very meta comic title. It's a story about stories, about a perennial villain trying to break out of his pigeon-hole as the God of Lies. To make the greatest of all escapes and begin again as something new. But in order to achieve this, he has to literally fight himself first.

King Loki (Loki’s future self) loops around the timeline, contriving the world of his past, and convinces an uncertain All-Mother that the future stability of the Aesir depends upon Loki being a villain, on him failing to redeem himself and remaining the enemy of Asgard, hated by all.

I was reminded of that because... When Mobius tried to get Loki to confront the wicked things he’s done in the time theater, and especially the reason he did them, he doesn't talk about him like he's a person, he talks about Loki like he’s a character in a story, claiming that his place in it is to challenge other characters to reach their potential as heroes.

“Antagonist,” that’s what he’s describing, someone who forces the protagonist on their journey.

According to the Sacred Timeline, Loki will play the antagonist, over and over for all eternity. Because some higher, unseen beings decreed it long ago. It isn’t until Loki’s knocked out of his timeline and forced to look at himself, examine himself outside his “God King” narrative, from the perspective of an audience in a theater, that he comes to the realization of why he keeps losing.

His fearful scrambling for control of his story -- selfishly, recklessly, at the expense of the lives of countless others -- has made him a villain, and thus inspired heroes to rise up against him. He's fated to attempt a... shall we say, unexamined redemption arc, but when the consequences of his deal with the devil inevitably catch up with him, it literally gets him killed.

But not this Loki. Not our new Loki. This one is on a different path.

It's so cool, so weird and meta, that Loki gets plucked out of his story before he dies and is given the chance to change how it ends. To become, if not the hero, then at least the main character.

Hear that sound? The loop is breaking.

Mobius

No matter how much Loki hurts because of who he's been, an audience who selfishly stans him won't want him to change, even to save his own life. Even if he's obviously miserable. No, stans are like the kind of people who give their dog chocolate "because he wants it". And anyone who actually cares enough about the pup to wrench that Snickers bar out of his mouth is going to be hated for it.

As such, Mobius M. Mobius has some fans split. They want to believe he's a villain, an abuser, that he's using Loki. And, sure, it's technically possible he's a secret villain. Any twist possible in an MCU show. So I won't talk too much about whether he's good or bad, but more his actions, his place in the story, his abilities, and his effect in the first episode.

To begin with, Mobius specializes in dangerous variants, but he's not a hunter, doesn't seem like he's considered a fighter by TVA standards. But what he does seem to have that the hunters lack is the ability to understand and show compassion for someone who's nothing like him.

And that seems to be his defining trait: empathy. This is demonstrated in his big character introduction, when he stops the hunters from attacking a child, choosing instead to comfort and to gently question. And he's assured by Hunter U-92 that the kid has nothing to tell them that they don't already know, so it's not really due diligence on Mobius’ part. It's just his modus operandi.

Right after this, he sits in on Loki's trial, and just when our boy's being sentenced to a reset, Mobius puts his own ass on the line to save him. Under the promise that Loki will behave and be helpful, Mobius becomes Loki's handler for the time being, responsible for whatever havoc Loki wreaks. Then he takes him to a "time theater" to work through some issues he knows the God of Mischief has.

Just wanna point out, this is clearly not TVA protocol. They don't snatch variants out of their timelines and try to use them to crack cases, they reset them, they prune them, they don’t trust them. Mobius isn't just being a good time cop, he's saving Loki's life. Unfortunately, he needs Loki's help to do it, and that means rolling up his sleeves and yanking the snickers out of his mouth.

Unlike almost everyone else in the MCU who have decided Loki's just insane, Mobius wants to know from him why he does what he does. Mobius seems to know, but he wants Loki to know. And while Loki's very resistant to having his narrative challenged at first, he clearly wants to spit the chocolate out, especially after seeing what it'll do to him in the future.

And to my delight, (and strange parasocial pride) Loki ends up doing the rest of the work on his own. Even if it's all just a plan to escape or betray the TVA, he's still been confronted with the truth he’s been running from: that he’s just a frightened little godling, puffing up to fool people. He's willing to be honest with himself just now, and in doing so, he begins to tell a different story.

Mischievous Scamp

I'm so damn happy about this. One of the things Loki very nearly lost (after the revelation of his true parentage turned his topsoil) was his love of good old fashioned silly time. There may be more heavy stuff on the horizon, but the blood-soaked nightmare boy seems far away now. Funny, annoying, cute, frustrating hijinks are back on the table. And I love it.

"Nah. No more evil. Mischief, now. That's still got legs." -- Loki, God of Stories

#loki #mobius #tva #meta #the loki show #spoilers #loki series meta

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amjustagirl · 3 years

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CHAPTER 2 - FALLEN

Fic Summary:

The sky Oikawa Tooru’s heart seeks is a world away from the earth yours is buried in. You are a fool to trust him with your heart anyway.

Where Oikawa Tooru tries to recapture your heart.

Chapter 1 // Chapter 2 // Chapter 3

Pairing: Oikawa Tooru x fem! reader

Genre / Wordcount : Angst (7k words), cameo from MSBY 4

Warnings: One non-explicit bedroom scene.

Masterlist link here!

Tag list link here!

You catch sight of Oikawa Tooru as you bustle through the hospital’s sliding doors, your usual cup of coffee in your hand that you buy on the way to work. He’s seated in the waiting area next to a middle aged man you guess must be his manager, from the way he jumps to his feet immediately to act as a human shield as you call out breathlessly -

“T - Oikawa? What are you doing here?”

Tooru’s head swivels around to meet your gaze, and you’re shocked by the lifelessness in his eyes until you glance at the bandages wrapped around his swollen knee.

Oh.

You try not to stare, but you do so anyway. The sight of your ex-boyfriend makes you feel as if you’re seeing a ghost, a specter from some past life. You last saw him when he was twenty one, young and proud, wax wings fully spread, a speck in the skies. What a difference five years makes. His shoulders are still broad, and the tilt of his jaw is still proud, but the light in his eyes has faded to darkness, and the pallor of his skin suggests far too much time spent away from the sun.

Icarus, Icarus. Your hubris has led you to such heights, but look how far you’ve fallen.

It’s surprising there’s no news of his injury, considering he’s one third of Japan’s trifecta of setters in the volleyball scene’s monster generation. With the Olympics rapidly approaching with just over a year to go, an injury must be devastating, especially to Oikawa Tooru, with dreams of Olympic greatness and victory on his native shores.

A nurse materialises to usher Oikawa away for surgery before he can respond to the pity in your gaze. You look around. He’s alone, save for his manager. No one deserves to be wake up alone after surgery, so you call after him -

“I’ll check in on you after you’re done! Gambatte!”

He responds with a thumbs up and a weak smile.

You flip through his medical files once you get the chance.

Oikawa Tooru, twenty six. Pro-volleyball player for EJP Raijin previously, currently playing in the Argentinian league. Narrowly missed out on making the cut for the previous Olympics, but went on to represent Japan in the last three World Cups, alternating with Miya Atsumu and Kageyama Tobio. Obviously hoping for another shot at the Olympics, but that’s looking bleak from what you’re gleaning from his medical records.

His right knee has always bothered him, even during his high school days. Now, a decade later, it looks like he’s managed to tear his tendon to shreds.

Volleyball is a cruel, demanding mistress, especially for one not born a genius.

The surgery to repair a torn knee ligament is delicate work, requiring an experienced surgeon, and the road to recovery requires extensive physiotherapy. It’s no wonder he’s resorted to the modern Tokyo hospital you work in rather than returning to his native Sendai to recuperate. The downside of doing so though, is that he’d have to recover alone.

You wrinkle your nose. He may be your ex-boyfriend, but he doesn’t deserve that.

The sun is setting when you finally find the time to slip into his room.

As expected, he’s still asleep. The anesthetic will take some time to wear off. From the looks of the surgeon’s notes, the surgery was a success - though you know from the nature and extent of the injury that his road to recovery will be long and winding.

So you seat yourself in the visitor’s chair with a hot cup of tea and an onigiri to stave off your hunger at not finding time for a break any earlier. You had an awful day at work today, two of your patients puked on you, another tried to fight you when you drew his blood, and the senior registrar in the ward assigned you a mountain of paperwork that you only just managed to complete, so you give in to sleep yourself as exhaustion settles into your bones.

“Princess?”

You snap awake at the familiar nickname, ignoring the flush working its way up the back of your neck as you leap to his bedside to check his vitals, only relaxing when you’re satisfied everything’s fine.

“You’re just waking up after a surgery, Oikawa”. When his forehead crinkles in confusion at the sound of his surname, you correct yourself. “I mean - Tooru”. The corners of his cracked lips tilt up in satisfaction.

“Will you stay with me?” Tooru murmurs, eyelids beginning to droop again.

You smile fondly despite yourself. “Do you want me to?” you ask.

He manages to pout even as he’s falling back asleep. “I asked, didn’t I?”

You smooth his hair from his forehead, slotting your hand into his. “Fine, fine. Go to bed, sleeping beauty”.

He huffs an amused breath from his nose before he closes his eyes, contented. Trust Tooru to be shameless enough to cling on to his ex-girlfriend without a shred of awkwardness. You end up staying in his room for hours, watching him sleep.

The heart that you’ve locked away behind bars of bone and steel twitches, just once.

You frown when the nurse catches your sleeve. “A patient’s looking for you” she says, just as you’re about to go off on a short break.

“Who?” you reply, wondering whether it’s Sato-san who vomited this morning, or Imai-san whose blood pressure niggles at your mind. You do not expect the nurse to flush pink as she replies - “Oikawa-san”, describing the sweet young man with lovely brown eyes and such a charming voice.

You slip back into his room when your shift ends. You expect to see a shadow of a man with broken wings, and you do catch a fleeting glimpse of Tooru staring wistfully out of the window, face tilted towards the sun before he turns to you with a wide smile and a pleased - “you came!”

This is the Oikawa Tooru you are accustomed to dealing with. “Stop flirting with the nurses”, you tell him briskly, bustling over to look at his files. “They have jobs to do, don’t use them to carry messages to me.”

“But I’m boredddd.”

“I’m sure you have volleyball videos to watch.”

“I watched them all day today. ‘Sides, I watched all the matches on today already, twice – and I have plenty of time to watch them a third time. I have plenty of time to catch up with you, I haven’t seen you in so long!”

Five years since you broke up to be exact, but you sidestep that fact neatly, pouring over his medical file instead. His doctors’ notes indicate his recovery is promising. He brightens up when you tell him so, playfully complaining that hospital food is shit in a thinly veiled attempt to steal your food, a habit he’s clearly not outgrown. But you’re not all that hungry anyway, so you split your pork bun in half and hand it to him, dropping into the visitor’s chair.

“So how’re you feeling?”

“Like shit. My knee hurts so muchhhh.”

You shrug, careless. “That’s pretty expected, to be honest.”

“Hmph. I thought they’d have taught you some bedside manners in medical school”, he snipes, though the effect is rather lost when his cheeks are comically round and full of food.

You laugh, the stress from your day lifting from your shoulders.

“I seem to forget them when it’s you.”

“So mean”, he pouts, hiding the familiar gleam in his eye that appears whenever he’s trying to analyse his opponents, take them apart. “As punishment, tell me about yourself. What have you been up to these days?”

You decide to treat him like any old friend, giving him the condensed run down of your professional life, how you’ve graduated from medical school (with top marks I bet, he interjects), how you chose to stay in Tokyo instead of returning to Sendai (your parents must miss you he says, and you brush him off with an airy they have other children, they’ll survive), how you chose to work in this hospital because you’re considering a specialisation in Orthopedic surgery (because of your grandma, I bet, he says, and you choose not to correct that, using your silence as a lie).

He in turn tells you about the highlights of his career, how he’s spent a year at EJP Raijin before he was headhunted to the Argentinian league, how he spent four years overseas save for summers back in Japan to train with the national team, how he’s hopeful, even now, of recovering and fighting for his spot on the Olympic roster next year.

You already knew all of that from news alerts on your phone you never forced yourself to delete, diverting him instead with a question about life in Argentina, nodding as he reminisces about his apartment in San Juan where he gets to watch the sun set over the Andes mountains, the kitchen that he stuffed full of Japanese groceries like daishi and mirin and sake and miso in his first year there just so he has a tangible reminder of home.

You stop yourself from wondering whether he thinks about the little home he shared with you with such fondness. That time has passed.

His voice wavers as he spins you stories about his teammates - Matteo, whose family owns a vineyard and taught him to appreciate wine like a proper Argentinian, Miguel, who makes the best empanadas and gets roaring drunk every time they win a match, Gabriel, who takes him to his family’s home in the mountains every other weekend because his grandmother is convinced that a single young man without family in the city will starve if he’s left to his own devices.

It seems his wings were durable enough for him to soar across the oceans, his grit and determination the foundation of the new life he’s built, whole continents away.

“It’s funny how the world works”, you remark off hand. “I never expected to see you again.”

His eyes gleam again. “The universe seems to work in funny ways.”

You start spending breaks in his room, scarfing down your lunch and dinner while he talks your ear off about the horrible sitcoms or ridiculous game shows he’s watched today. You catch him watching a video of Kageyama’s serves and you’re amused when he practically hisses when you comment idly that his kouhai has certainly improved since his high school days.

You ignore his spluttered protests that service records aren’t everything and besides, his own spike serves have definitely won Japan a game or two last year until, with the air of a boy king, he commands you to sit next to him on the hospital bed so he can pull up a compilation of his serves and his best moments.

Years might have passed, but you’re still hopeless at refusing him. Besides, isn’t it better that you distract him from the sorry state of his knee? So you do as he says, ignoring the faint flutter of your traitorous heart as he leans into your side.

“See? I told you my spike serves are amazing?”

“Yes, yes. I already knew that. I watched so many of your practices in university, remember?”

He looks at you strangely. “Did you?” he asks, leaning his head on his hand, eyes boring into yours.

You think of evenings spent sitting on the bleachers, homework in your lap as you watch as the boy you love builds the strength in his wax wings in preparation for his eventual flight. “Yes”, you admit, sheets rustling as you shift away from him, avoiding his perplexed frown. “You were probably too focused on practice to notice.”

You already know you shouldn’t spend so much time in his room, but you’ve spent most of your life doing what you should instead of what you want to so just this once, you ignore rational thought in favour of sentiment.

After all, he’ll be discharged from hospital in a week, then you’ll never see him again.

Tooru promptly proves you wrong the day before he’s scheduled to be discharged.

“I need someone to help me move into my apartment.”

“Hire a mover”, you tell him. You don’t even look up from your notes.

“Already did”, he chirps, undaunted by your apparent disinterest. “But it’d be nice to have a friend who I know will be nice enough to help poor old crippled me put my stuff away.” Then he grins cheekily, “plus I checked with that pretty nurse – Yuna-san was it? Anyway, she told me you’re off tomorrow, so you might as well spend the day with me.”

There goes your excuse to wriggle out of having to spend your rare day off with your ex.

“I have a mountain of sleep debt to pay off”, you protest, but faced with wide brown eyes and an embarrassing wobble of his lip, you comply. Still, you manage to get the promise of a free dinner out of him, so you suppose it’ll do.

Tooru doesn’t have much to unpack, a couple of cardboard boxes of clothes and books, probably because most of his belongings are still in Argentina. He laughs and raises his hands in an attempt to placate you when you lift an eyebrow, first at the lack of kitchen equipment in his furnished apartment, second at the weights and volleyball he tries to smuggle in behind your back.

“You’re not supposed to exercise for at least a month or two”, you cluck your tongue, sighing with disapproval at the furtive look he casts at the volleyball sitting at the corner of his living room.

“I can set while sitting on a stool! Don’t scold me, my heart can’t bear it”. He throws a hand across his face, brow creased dramatically.

Icarus, Icarus. You’ve already fallen once. Will you seek out the sun again?

A string of familiarity loops into a knot over your heart. If you close your eyes and count to ten, you can imagine that you’re eighteen again, chiding the boy you love for practicing too hard. But you’re twenty six now, a full fledged adult who should know better than to dabble in sentiment again (especially when it comes to brown eyed boys who only dream of the sun), so you slash through the threads connecting you to him with a flash of your teeth, bury your beating heart deeper into the dungeon you’ve built years ago of white bone and solid steel.

“Do what you want, but your neighbours will hate you if you keep thumping that damn ball against the wall.” You say, simply, dismissively.

“No one could ever hate me”, he declares with bravado. “I’ll charm them all with my charm and good looks.”

“Ridiculous”, you huff, dumping the last of his clothing into the cupboard. “Where’s the dinner you promised? I want ramen and gyoza at least.”

“So demanding”, he lilts. “I’ll order in. Tonkatsu ramen with char siu, bamboo shoots, extra spring onions with gyoza on the side?”

Your heart struggles against its shackles. He still remembers your order.

“Yes”, you finally say. “You got that right.”

He grins at you cheekily, as if to say of course.

After you gulp down your ramen, devour your gyozas, you pack up, ready to leave. You have an early shift tomorrow, and you’re already dreaming about your soft bed whilst dreading the cup of coffee you’ll have to down tomorrow morning just to stay awake.

He catches your wrist, presses the spare key to the apartment into your hand. “Come back. I want to see you again”, he says, an order and not a plea.

You are about to make up an excuse, tell him anything but the truth that you suspect it’s bad for your heart to keep seeing him again.

“Please” - he adds with a tint of fragility to his voice.

“I’ll be back when I can”, you finally say.

“Tomorrow?” he looks up at you with hopeful eyes.

“We’ll see”, you pry your hand loose from his grasp, slip out the front door.

You stay away for two days, citing your work schedule as an excuse until he wears you down with a barrage of cutesy line stickers aimed at driving home how lonely he is and how much he misses your presence. You’re being dramatic as usual, you text him dryly, but you turn up anyway at his apartment on a Friday night, letting yourself in with an armful of reports and a bucket of oden.

“How’re you doing? Are you listening to your physiotherapist? Eating properly? Sleeping well?”

“You sound like my mother”, he grouses, rolling his wheelchair to the dining table.

You flick at his forehead, he slumps back in his wheelchair. “Stop bullying the cripple’, he wheezes through his chortle.

“You deserve it”, you retort. “Don’t run away from the question. How’re you feeling?”

“It still hurts”, he admits with a mock sniff. “It should stop hurting by nowwww.”

You push your glasses up the bridge of your nose. “That’s to be expected. Your sinews just got stitched together two weeks ago. Not sure why you’d expect any less.”

“Bah, rude. At least you didn’t say I told you so”, he grumbles, spooning oden into his mouth. “That would be insufferable.”

“Well, maybe you’ll listen to me now that I’m actually a doctor”, you inform him pertly, batting away memories of a teenage boy with hazel eyes shouting indignantly at you after practice in the Seijoh gym.

Tooru snorts. “I can’t believe my eighteen year old self was dumb enough to open my future self up to a jab like that”, he complains, chewing on a cabbage roll grumpily.

“We’re all dumb at eighteen”, you remark. “You’re no exception.”

“You were dumb enough to date me”, he teases with a mocking smile.

Your spoon slips from your hand momentarily. It’s the first time he’s alluded to your past relationship.

“I was, wasn’t I”, you say lightly, before turning the conversation to Tooru’s physiotherapy sessions.

You have no wish to delve back into the past, but you’re willing to be his friend since he seems to need one for now.

Tooru’s knee recovers enough for him to shift from his wheelchair to crutches, which he points at you playfully, mimicking a gun every time you pop by for a visit. He seems to plan his physiotherapy session around your schedule, just so he can wheedle you into paying him yet another visit when your shift at the hospital end, bribing you with a cup of coffee with a hint of chocolate from the café across the street that you’ve never found the time to visit.

“Thank you, kind sir”, you say, accepting the coffee with a laugh.

“You’re welcome, my lady”, he answers with a smirk, motioning you to follow him for yet another evening to be spent in his home sitting across him, red ink smeared on your hands as you mark up the reports in your lap.

His façade that he’s coping with his injury just fine slips every so often. You catch him more often than not watching compilation videos of Kageyama and Atsumu at the World Cup this year with a strained expression on his face, or resting his chin on the windowsill whilst staring wistfully at the birds in the sky.

He does not confide about his worries to you. You’re not sure you want him to.

But you can’t explain to yourself the impulse to purchase a bird feeder for his balcony, nor the glow-in-the-dark poster of the constellations that you cart into his bedroom until your heart has to scramble for equilibrium when he thanks you, his smile soft.

“In exchange for all the coffee you’ve bought me”, you reply, turning away to hide all evidence of your heart’s betrayal, the diffusion of blood in your cheeks.

A month passes. Then another.

The crutches get kept in the storeroom. A limp remains, but the degree which his knee can bend increases by the day. His mood improves even further, and you constantly find yourself swerving to avoid his affectionate gazes, his attempts at flirtation.

“You’re looking so pretty today!” he lilts, fitting his arm snugly into the crook of your elbow as you walk down the neon lit streets of Tokyo. He insisted on this outing, and in the custom of your rekindled friendship, managed to convince you to accompany him on your off day so he can get crepes from Harajuku notwithstanding the fact that it takes forty five minutes on the train and his knee still acts up from time to time.

“It’s my first time downtown in a month”, you tell him. “Of course I’m going to dress up.” You don’t tell him you spent far too long in front of your closet, tossing outfits on your bed until you found one that complements you just right.

He buys you trinkets, hair accessories that you’ll never wear, tries to win you ridiculous stuffed toys from the claw machine.

“You’re wasting money”, you scold, wiping the whipped cream from his mouth.

“It’s not a waste if it’s for you”, he tells you, with startling sincerity that you still doubt.

He doesn’t mean it, you tell yourself. It’s just Tooru being Tooru.

You refuse to admit what’s staring you in the face until you have to duck your head to avoid his attempt at pressing his lips to your cheek.

“Goodnight, Tooru”, you manage to say before you bolt off into the night. You check to make sure your heart is still under lock and key.

It is, but it beats resentfully. Tooru, it beats against its bars with frightening intensity. Tooru. Tooru.

You ignore it. You know what’s best for it.

You stay away from him for a fortnight, requesting for a change in your schedule without updating him, taking the other exit from the hospital so you don’t have to see him. You stay away until he manages to wear you down yet again, texting you the most ridiculous conspiracy theories about your absence from his life – you must be abducted by aliens, he texts you once, or your mother forced you to marry some stranger, I can break you out if you just say the word.

He has a guest, you hear another voice, deeper, filled with gravel and intensity, so different from Tooru’s lighter lilt. You do not mean to eavesdrop, but you don’t want to interrupt Tooru when he has a rare guest over, and there’s nowhere else for you wait save for the dusty front step, so you settle yourself in, pen poised to continue your work.

“What did the doctor say? When are you coming back for practice?”

“I’m doing good! The physiotherapist thinks I can try light exercise next week. If all goes well, I’ll be back to practice in a month.”

“Sounds promising.”

“I had a good medical team. And I’m actually resting properly!”

“Shittykawa. Stop sounding so proud about doing what’s necessary for your recovery.”

“Iwa-channnn, stop being mean to meeee!”

Ah, Iwaizumi, of course. You haven’t seen him in years, but you remember him from school, a stoic boy with a good heart. You wonder if he’s changed.

“Are you planning on heading back to Argentina?”

Tooru answers without hesitation. “Of course”, he says airily. “As long as they take me back.”

Your foolish heart shudders with disappointment. Of course. If you run your fingers down his spine, you’ll probably find blooms of wax attached to his very bone.

You are about to stand up and leave when Tooru speaks up again.

“But I’m going to enjoy my time in Japan while I’m back. Did I tell you I reconnected with my ex? She’s great, it feels like I never left.”

The firestorm of blood in your ears nearly drowns out Iwaizumi’s growled ‘piece of shit’ (he truly hasn’t changed after all), the clatter of glassware as Tooru protests that he’s not playing with your heart, he truly cares about you, his sullen silence when Iwaizumi demands what’s going to happen when he leaves Japan for Argentina, when he inevitably leaves you behind (yet again).

Of course.

You know his heart longs for the sky. There is no space for you.

You barely have time to react when the door swings open, Iwaizumi on the verge of storming out. You plaster a smile to your face that does not fool him, but you hang on to it nonetheless, cracks appearing only when he gives you a wide eyed look of sympathy that only pours oil onto the flaming war between your brain and your heart.

“It’s fine”, you say, and though he clearly does not believe you, he bows and leaves anyway.

Tooru stares at you, mouth open, stumbling over himself with apologies and demands for you to tell him what you’ve overheard, but you motion for him to just stop with your hand, wave aside his protest that he means what he said, he truly likes you.

Your heart screeches in delight, but your mind is firmly in the driver’s seat.

“Let’s just pretend I never heard you say that, and we can continue just as before.”

“As friends?” he says, twisting his lips as if the words taste sour in his mouth. He clutches at your shoulders.

“I want more. I want you.”

Your heart thrums in agreement, but you recall assembling the remains of your heart back into your chest whilst kneeling on the cold bathroom floor half a decade ago. The span of five years should have molded you to view your shared past with pragmatism, but your heart seems to have forgotten its lesson. You shake your head.

“There’s no way you truly want me. I don’t think you’ve only ever had space in your heart for anything but your goals.”

Your response emerges more bitter than you intend.

“That’s not true”, he weakly protests. “I care about you.”

Not enough, you refrain from telling him. “Let’s remain friends”, you do say, and he opens his mouth to object again, but at the hard look you give him, he slumps back with a defeated nod.

He tries to respect your decision, never complaining when you keep a careful arm’s length distance from him, though you can feel his heated gaze on you whenever he thinks you won’t notice, hear his quiet sighs whenever you shy away from any accidental touch. He droops when you turn down his invite for lunch with his family when they come down for a visit, citing work even though he knows you’re off for the day.

Still, it’s manageable and he says he needs you, so you return for visits, at least twice weekly, offering encouraging smiles and friendly words when he returns first to light exercise, then to rehabilitative practice a month later, just as he predicted.

He carves out time for dinners with you, taking care to ask about your day, preferring to spin you stories about the pigeons and doves and crows crowding his balcony rather than talking about volleyball or his practice. He insists on escorting you to his apartment after work when you allow him to, offering you his arm with a soft smile that disarms you, dissolves any resistance.

It’s an uneasy equilibrium, but it’ll suffice.

The careful balance you’ve maintained in the space between you and Tooru is shattered when you find you’re not the only one who’s decided to pay him a surprise visit on a Friday night.

“Tooru, ya didn’t say ya got yerself a pretty girl during yer break”, a man with bleach blonde hair wolf whistles appreciatively when you step into the apartment.

“I’m just a friend”, you reply confusedly before Tooru’s shout “Shove off, Miya” confirms that one Miya Atsumu has decided to invade Tooru’s apartment. Well, him and what seems like half the MSBY team, with Hinata Shoyo, Bokuto Koutaro and Sakusa Kiyoomi squashed uncomfortably on Tooru’s tiny sofa, long legs stretched across the living room.

It turns out the MSBY team just finished a game in Tokyo, and Hinata dragged his teammates to visit Tooru in a wholesome bid to cheer him up. You try to excuse yourself after exchanging nods with Sakusa (he hasn’t changed much from his university days) when Miya Atsumu blocks your retreat with a drawled invite for Izakaya and the promise of karaoke after.

Tooru mouths playfully at you don’t leave me alone with these clowns (you’re tempted to point out that he’s very much one himself), and before you can even blink, you find yourself dragged along to the nearest Izakaya, impressed by the amount of food each man polishes off - skewers of chicken hearts and cartilage, bowls of potato salad and rice with braised pork belly, listening to stories of their exploits on the national team together, stumbling into the karaoke bar tipsy from the beers that Miya Atsumu pressed into your hand, head heavy enough to allow him to wind an arm around your waist.

“She’s too old for you, ‘Tsumu-kun”, Tooru trills, inserting himself in between you and Atsumu, mouth taut with aggravation.

“I’m not old, just a year older”, you roll your eyes, as the blonde setter backs away, lips turned up in amusement. Tooru is not placated, muttering how the younger setter is a douche and a sleeze bag as he drapes his jacket over you like a blanket. You nestle against his side, head on his shoulder as his arm rests protectively around you.

Atsumu watches this with raised eyebrows, whistling slowly, opening his mouth to remark that he’s never seen Oikawa so smitten before when Hinata interrupts with a chirped “‘Tsum-Tsum, join me!”, handing him a microphone while bouncing on the balls of his feet.

Karaoke is the most fun you’ve had in ages. Hinata and Bokuto and Atsumu sing all their favourite anime theme songs with gusto - Atsumu even gets misty eyed when he croons Sparkle by Radwimps, reddening when everyone teases him for being a romantic sap, Bokuto shaking his hips to Western pop hits, Hinata showing off his Spanish skills. Sakusa refuses to even touch the microphone but you suppose it’s a win that he’s even in the karaoke booth with all of you.

Tooru slaps away Atsumu’s attempts at handing you any further alcohol, forcing you to down cups of water until you are no longer glassy eyed, but still tipsy enough to agree to sing ridiculous K-On songs with Hintata and Bokuto, not stopping even when Tooru whips out his phone to video the entire performance with an indulgent smile.

“Delete it!” you squeal, losing your balance when you try swiping the phone out of his hands, tripping into his lap instead.

“In your dreams, princess”, Tooru chuckles, his arms snaking around you like a vise.

“Anndd that’s our cue to call it a night”, Atsumu quips, herding Hinata and Bokuto out onto the street, Sakusa heaving an audible sigh of relief. “Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do, kids!” he calls over his shoulder, throwing you a wink.

“I’m technically his senpai, cheeky brat”, Tooru mutters, the irritation in his voice washing away as you giggle. “C’mon, it’s too late for you to get home and my place is nearer to the hospital so you might as well stay over tonight. You can take the bed, I’ll take the sofa.”

You shake your head, arguing that you couldn’t possibly turn an invalid like him out of his bed but he huffs at the insinuation that he’s anything but well, his knee almost whole again. You give in after he convinces you that it’d be more inconvenient for him to escort you all the way to your own home rather than put you up for the night, and you allow him to loop his arm around yours and lead you back to his apartment.

It’s not the first time you’ve been in his apartment this late, not by a long shot, but it is the first time you’re over with the intention of staying over. The t-shirt you borrow from Tooru hangs off your frame, the scent of the fabric softener Tooru uses is familiar. You would’ve preferred being tipsier to dull your senses, but alcohol would only impair your logic, allow your heart to prevail, so you try to quell the thrumming of your blood in your veins by curling up on a seat by the window with a cup of tea when Tooru emerges from his shower.

“Ready for bed?” he asks, towelling off his hair, frowning when you shake your head. “It’s late, you have work tomorrow, even if it’s the afternoon shift.”

“It’s fine”, you say without turning your head to face him. “Go to bed, I’ll take the couch.”

“I’m insulted, princess. What kind of a man d’you think I am to make his guest sleep on the couch? ”

It’s less dangerous to ignore him, so you pay him no mind, choosing instead to lean your chin in your hand and look up towards the night sky. It soothes you, the moon an old friend, reminding of five years’ worth of quiet nights spent in your own flat, filtering your younger self into adulthood.

“What’re you looking at?” He takes a step forward, kneels down next to you.

“The moon and the stars”, you say dreamily. “They’re pretty tonight.”

A myriad of weather conditions must coincide to allow the stars to even be visible in the polluted Tokyo night sky, but tonight of all nights fate intervenes, the stars align. The sky is cloudless, the full moon hangs heavy, the stars shimmer and dance.

“Are they?” Tooru whispers. “I haven’t noticed.”

You finally turn to look at him. “Why’re you staring at me?”

The unconscious echo of your past - a boy and a girl, falling in love under the same night sky makes his mouth twist wistfully, eyes faded gold.

“Because you are my sun, my moon and my stars. I love you better than anything in the sky.”

Your mouth falls open, your heart suddenly roaring, pounding against its restraints.

“You can’t mean that”, you whisper. “Don’t say it if you don’t mean it.”

“I do”, he says, with heartbreaking sincerity. “And I always will.”

Nostalgia, aided by the lingering alcohol in your veins opens the gate to your foolish heart. You want to pretend that you are eighteen again, without a care in the world, indulging in the warmth of his hand on the small of your back, the caress of his breath on your cheek. Your lips beckon his, swallowing the catch of his breath when your hands slide under his shirt.

“Are you sure about this?” His eyes are hungry, almost ravenous, but his hands still hover at the hem of your top.

“Yes”, you murmur, pressing open mouthed kisses to the column of his neck. “Please, Tooru - please.”

He carries you into the bedroom, undresses you with shaking hands, chanting your name with reverence, almost a prayer. His eyes darken with desperation and need, unwilling to allow himself any release until you fall apart boneless, caged in his arms.

“Stay with me”, he murmurs, after you’ve both cleaned up a second time, tugging you into bed.

It’s laughable. Five years on, Oikawa Tooru still has the power to make your mind lose all reason (however temporarily). With a single heated look, he commands your heart to break willingly in his hands. How could you not have learnt your lesson? The conversation between him and Iwaizumi merely confirms what you’ve known all this while.

(The sky his heart seeks is a world away from the earth yours is buried in)

Even now, you can see the glimmer of golden wax feathers budding along his spine, gleaming under the pale moonlight.

You lie under the covers until his breath evens out, then you stumble out of bed. You force your heart to relinquish the keys to its freedom, handing it back to logic and rationality, pulling on your clothing, folding your borrowed clothing aside.

Tooru mumbles your name, his hand outstretched towards you. “Come back”, he says in his sleep, fragility tinting the edges of his words.

Your fingers miss the doorknob by an inch. You dash your foolish hopes against the darkness of the room, put on your resolve like armour, leave your spare key on the kitchen counter.

Without looking back, you slip out into the night.

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