#if this goes well i might wanna do a sequel for some of them (specifically reo and rin’s)

[yoisami]

˚₊‧୨୧˚ SWEET ENCOUNTERS !

[૮₍ ˃ࡇ˂ ₎ა]: meet cutes with your favourite bllk boy ! but of course, in a high school setting bc i’m a sucker for high school romance >:)

tags. isagi, kunigami, nagi, kaiser, reo, rin x gn!reader (separately), 1793 wc, idk what genre but no sad stuff hehe, first interactions, uh idk why reo and rin’s ones are so long lol, reader is called ‘pretty’ in kaiser’s, ooc mb ??, somewhat proofread ig

ISAGI YOICHI — (deskmates)

it was monday when your teacher decided to switch up the seating arrangements, and she scribbled all your names on slips of paper that were thrown into a hat. one by one, your friends were getting paired together, and you were pleasantly surprised when your name was called with isagi’s name. 

you’ve never really talked to him before, and the two of you didn’t have any classes in common. but, you knew that he was popular amongst your female classmates—they often giggled over his smiles and compliments.

you acknowledged that he was handsome, relatively popular, and a charismatic individual, but in all honesty, you didn’t find anything special about him. 

but when you brought your belongings to your allocated desk, isagi graced you with a smile that reminded you of the violet petunias in the school garden as he motioned to the empty desk besides him.

“you can take the window seat. enjoy the sight when it’s raining—i think it’s quite pretty.”

in this particular moment, you were beginning to understand why your friends have always appreciated his character.

like a flower in spring, something about isagi made him...

“thanks, isagi. i’ll make sure to.”

...alluring.

KUNIGAMI RENSUKE — (voluntary assistance)

given that your school’s volleyball coach had recently sprained his ankle and was now on crutches, your heart couldn’t bear to see him struggle to bring the equipment into the gym. so, as manager of the school’s volleyball team, you didn’t even have to think twice before providing the coach some assistance. 

but now it was your turn to struggle. to save yourself some time, you stacked two crates together and carried them to the gym at the same time. admittedly, it was a little hard—you were peering past the crates to see.

“h-hey! i’ll help you!”

confused, you looked behind you to find that kunigami was running towards you. behind him, you can see his friends following him from a distance, and he quickly removed the crates from your hold, taking them into his hands instead. 

“o-oh wait! i’ll take one.”

kunigami simply let out a friendly chuckle as he shook his head. “it’s all good. they’re not heavy. heading to the gym?”

considering that no one else has helped you bring the volleyballs, and you were just a couple steps away from the building, you genuinely appreciated kunigami’s chivalry as he waited for your answer.

“yeah.” you returned his smile. “thanks.”

NAGI SEISHIRO — (project partners)

unfortunately for you, nagi was placed in your group for the upcoming group project.

“nagi? we’d appreciate it if you could also help us research.”

initially, you were rather excited to work on this new psychology project. but with nagi seishiro in your group, who’s only ever been seen sleeping in your classes, you’re not so sure anymore.

“i’ll do it later,” he mumbled, nestling his head into his arms. your friend besides you rolled her eyes, jokingly raising her fist towards him once nagi had closed his eyes.

it was infuriating that he was unwilling to cooperate with you and your friend, considering that this was a group project, and not a solo task. what put you off even more was that your teacher has decided to assess you all as a group rather than individually.

you weren’t going to let nagi seishiro’s idleness bring your grade down.

“we don’t have time to research later, nagi. we actually have to carry out the experiment next lesson,” you stated firmly. your vexation was stained in your tone, yet the boy refused to read the room.

adjusting his head to look at you, nagi yawned. “stop stressing out, [name]. this isn’t even worth that mu—”

“it’s worth forty percent of our final grade, nagi. just because you don’t care about your marks doesn’t mean the rest of us don’t care about ours,” you hissed bitterly, snapping your laptop shut.

as you slapped the briefing paper before him, nagi stared straight at you. “i hope that you’ll come to realise that a group project requires everyone’s efforts—and that includes you.”

MICHAEL KAISER — (money’s on the line)

for him to win the twenty euros that were on the line, the condition was that kaiser must flirt with the next person who walks into the classroom for a week, strictly. 

and it was you who happened to have walked in after the bet was established.

“hey, [name]!” kaiser jumped off the desk he was sitting on as he approached you with a look on his face that clearly meant he was up to no good. “what class do you have next?”

you thought for a while before you returned to your seat, with kaiser tailing behind you. “history, i think.”

the boy simply nodded his head as he dragged a nearby chair besides you, comfortably inviting himself to be near you. “cool. want me to walk you there?”

considering that he offered to walk you to your next class, which is something completely out of the norm (you’ve hardly ever talked to him before), you gave him a confused look. with his tie loosely hung around his neck and the top buttons of his shirt deliberately undone to reveal a tiny portion of his physique, his appearance was enough for you to identify him as someone you shouldn’t associate with.

“...what?”

kaiser leant in closer with a smirk that was a trademark of his persona. “i’ll walk you to history. just in case you get lonely, y’know?”

“uh, no, than—”

“i’ll walk you. it’s not every day that i get to walk someone as pretty as you to class.”

MIKAGE REO — (playing messenger)

you failed to contain your sigh when your female classmate asked you for a favour—to give her confession letter that had little pink hearts littered over the envelope to mikage reo.

when you said no to her request, her only rebuttal was that you seemed to be acquainted with him (you weren’t). but you’ve watched her hesitate to give the envelope when he walked past her before, and since you still had some sort of compassion in you, you finally acceded. of course, you asked for something in return: the most expensive drink from the vending machine.

and now, with her letter in your hands, you peered from the classroom door as you located your target. the fact that he was surrounded by a relatively large number of his peers made you choke on your own saliva. and god—you were going to look like one of his dumb fangirls who usually confess with a bag of heart-shaped cookies or a love letter (you’d be in the latter category).

slipping the letter in your pocket, you approached him and grabbed his attention by patting his shoulder.

as reo turned around, waiting for you to ask your question, all his friends grew silent, gazing at you with disparaging eyes.

“could you come out for a second? i just need to give you something.”

and he nodded his head as he left his friends with you. scanning the hallway left and right, you and reo stood behind the classroom door.

“here,” you murmured, passing the envelope to him. ignoring the amused spark in his eyes, you cut him off with a raised hand before he could speak. “let me clarify—this is not from me. a classmate asked me to pass this to you.”

reo chuckled as he flipped the envelope over. “you don’t have to lie, y’know. i’ve received many confession bef—”

“since it seems like i wasn’t clear enough before, let me say it again—i’m not interested in you.”

and with that, you turned your heel to retrieve the drink your classmate owes you as reo hopes to see you around these halls again.

ITOSHI RIN — (athlete meets artist)

as a prominent member of the school’s art club, you were in charge of welcoming guests into the art room that the art teacher had meticulously decorated. even if you were slightly embarrassed to have some of your artwork pinned up on the walls, you took pride in your pieces as they were all a product of your passions and desires.

while the art room was not as popular as the plays and cafes that were set up in other classrooms, there were still a few people who visited with the intention of appreciating the intricate sculpture made by the captain of the art club.you expected your friends to visit (and they did), as did some of the second-year students you were acquainted with, but you definitely didn’t expect itoshi rin to walk in, mindlessly observing the room.

as you got up from your seat, you greeted rin with a polite smile.

“are you interested in painti—”

“no. i just have nothing to do right now,” he said curtly, passing you. as rin roamed around, browsing the drawings with one quick glance, his eyes landed on your painting. it was displayed right in the centre of all the other artworks, with a colour scheme that was much different from all the other paintings.

you struggled to hide your grin when rin paused to examine your art piece (you were happy to see another person acknowledging your art). “do you like it, itoshi?”

you pretended to brush off the awkwardness that embraces you as you’re met with silence. rin doesn’t respond for a while as he’s seemingly studying the brushstrokes on your painting. “what’s the point of doing this?”

you pondered over this question for a brief moment before you responded, tracing your fingertips over the edge of your painting. “because it’s fun, in my opinion. you can tell a story by creating an artwork using different colours and mediums, so it’s great for someone who might not be great with their words.”

“but doing all this...” he said, hovering his finger over the details on your painting. “looks like a lot of effort. i wouldn’t be bothered.”

“i suppose,” you shrugged, turning to face rin properly. “itoshi, you play soccer, right?”

rin finally looked at you, responding to your question with a terse “hmm”.

“it’s like you with soccer, i guess. every day, just like you, i’m also refining my skills so i can prove to my family that i’m an exceptional artist. then maybe they’ll let me fulfil my dream of going to art school.”

reaching for the tidy pile of art brochures you organised, you handed rin a copy as you spoke. “for you, all this may seem tedious. but for me, this is what i love. and i’m willing to spend years on this if it means that i can be one of the best artists in japan.”

© yoisami 2023. plagiarism, translation and distribution of my works outside of tumblr is not permitted.

#૮(ˊ ᵔ ˋ)ა — ୨୧ by saki #if this goes well i might wanna do a sequel for some of them (specifically reo and rin’s) #blue lock #bllk #blue lock imagines #bllk imagines #blue lock x reader #bllk x reader #isagi yoichi #yoichi isagi #isagi x reader #isagi yoichi x reader #isagi imagines #kunigami rensuke #rensuke kunigami #kunigami x reader #kunigami rensuke x reader #kunigami imagines #nagi seishiro #seishiro nagi #nagi x reader #nagi seishiro x reader #nagi imagines #michael kaiser #kaiser x reader #michael kaiser x reader #kaiser imagines #mikage reo #reo mikage #reo x reader

[karoochui]

I just wanted to say I am so enamoured with Binary Insurgence! I eat up everything, every little crumb, you drop about it and the entire idea is so interesting to me! I'm so in love with stories and worlds like this! I'm also curious to know about the relationship between Sun and Moon, if it's alright to ask. How was it before the fire compared to after? Does their relationship begin to mend (because I'm certain over the years it deteriorated) when y/n comes back into the picture? If any of this is too spoilery or you just haven't fleshed it out yet then you don't have to answer! I'm just super curious about the boys and how you see their dynamic/relationship. I just look forward to seeing how their bond has grown and/or broken and how it may be mended over time.

AHH im glad you like it so much!! Im happy to talk about what i've got, but you are right not everything is fully fleshed out. I have points i wanna get to but while im brainstorming and planning i make up a lot of stuff as i go and then go over it again later to see if i like it or can connect stuff in any way. I have 3 chapters for Arc 1 fully summarized as of now! (Which probably doesn't seem like a lot but i like my chapters long, so it's quite a bit actually).

I wanna say, too, that i'm planning for the first story to be more in the perspective of the reader, so most things about Sun and Moon's personal thoughts and feelings are gonna be more implied than said. I might have some switching points of view, i'm not sure, but i haven't found a place i'd do it or think it's relevant. The sequel is gonna be more from their perspective since it'll mostly be about them.

NOW! I see Sun and Moon as brothers, so they really treat each other in a way that's like that. Before the fire they get along pretty well. Most instances of issue would be when Moon blocks out Sun when he fronts, or just mutual panic over the fact Moon lost his shit w/ the virus. They'll have their disagreements about things (i havent planned specifics yet) but generally they're chill. Sun just worries about Moon hurting people, but Moon worries too. With the way the virus functions in this AU it's hard for Sun to fully fault Moon for what he does, especially because he's also affected by it but not nearly as bad. (I'm gonna explain this more in another ask i have).

Plus, even before the virus they were always glitch/bug-ridden because technicians fucked up their programming continuously after removing them from the theater to work in the daycare. So they had to kinda navigate through that together, glitches and errors on both ends (though not deadly). They hate P&S bc of this, obviously. Hardware fixes suck but they fucking HATE software examinations.

Later on though some issues come into play whenever Sun starts getting worse by being further exposed to the virus (it gets worse for him when they eclipse) because it presents itself in Sun differently than it does Moon. He gets snappier and angrier at times (that comic i made that's captioned "well someones snappy") and while they both understand he doesnt mean the shit he does it's still not great. And nobody's gonna just let themselves be talked to like a dog even if the reason it's happening is because of something the other person can't really help. They're still relatively fine at this point, though.

It's at the end when shit goes really bad, because this part of the story does end badly. I won't spoil specifics but after the fire Sun loses his shit. He starts trying to put the blame on Moon for everything (the virus enhancing his already bad habits/fucking with his line of thinking) out of grief and anger. That carries over into the apocalypse and he just gets worse in general. He gets irrational.

It's a long period of time though, so he eventually also manages it, in his own way. But! I did say before in an ask that in the sequel he's "not evil, persay, but he's a fucking nut". He damns Moon to an hourglass to just fucking get rid of him about 100~ years before they meet you again (he fully thinks he's in the right for this (and he also just hates him) and the only reason he really even stayed around after that was to make sure Moon didn't get out again). He's not a bad-intentioned individual, but he's off the fucking wall at many times bc of the virus having made him worse. He's stubborn as all hell to an infuriating degree, he's irrational, hard-headed, reckless, and while a good bit of his old, kinder self is still pretty prevalent he can be downright fucking mean if provoked. Again, worse than before, and it doesn't take much these days! I always imagined him to have more dramatic, snappy, diva aspects to his personality (even before Help Wanted 2 came out) bc hes so theatrical and intense, so basically take a Sun that's like that, crank it up to 100 and put him in a Bad Situation. That's what Round 2 Sun is like at his worst. He's not a complete lost cause though, and he's far from dumb when he does stuff, just clouded by his own judgement. He doesn't think anything's wrong with him (or does he?).

Moon doesn't really hate him like Sun hates Moon, because although he knows that what happened (the ending of the first story) is technically both of their faults he just feels guilt. They do fight a lot, though. Most of it is Moon trying his best to tell Sun that he's basically full of shit and not seeing things right after Sun starts something, but Sun's at the point where he's gotta learn by consequence. Part of the reason he's so bad is bc 1: hes been infected by the virus for so long now and 2: in his grief, anger, and resentment he's learned to live with it rather than fighting it.

But the sequel is gonna be a feel-good story! Falling in love w/ the reader all over again, i want things to get cleared up - or at least some kind of middle ground between Sun and Moon - the whole sha-bang.

#my asks #binary resurgence: round 2 au #binary resurgence

[vickysaurus]

If you’ve finished watching Prehistoric Planet, caught the dino bug, and want to watch more, well, I’ve got recommendations for some fantastic older Mesozoic documentaries and shows! I’m only gonna list my faves, but if you have good ones to add, feel free to do so!

Walking With Dinosaurs (1999)

The classic, the one I grew up with. A six episode miniseries that spans the entire Mesozoic, from the Triassic to the Cretaceous. Each episode focuses on a specific location and usually has one specific animal that’s more or less the main character, while also showing off others as they are encountered. The science and effects are 23 years old by now, so don’t expect much fluff or great CGI, but they used what they had very well. It helps a lot that the close-up shots are done using incredibly charming animatronics rather than CGI. The gorgeous music and Kenneth Branagh’s narration add a ton more personality to everything. You will cry about an Ornithocheirus at the end of his journey. There were three special bonus episodes released over the next few years that have Nigel Marven (more on him later) time travelling to see the dinosaurs in person. There are also two sequel series: Walking With Beasts and Walking With Monsters. WWM explores the Paleozoic but went through it too fast and suffers from some ‘Awesomebro-yness’ in my opinion but there’s not much else to turn to if you wanna see the Paleozoic unfortunately. WWB explores the Cenozoic and is every bit as good as WWD. When I had my recovery day after my third covid vaccine I put on all three in chronological order and just marathoned them and the various little aches didn’t bother me all day as I watched the history of the Earth from the Cambrian to the Quaternary.

Prehistoric Park (2006)

Time-travelling Nigel Marven returns from the Walking With Dinosaurs specials to bring back extinct animals to the present. As you might guess, it’s a bit more on the fictional side, but all the animals are really well done and scientific, as are the ecosystems they travel back to. The modern day parts are much more about actually properly running a zoo, including things like enrichment, proper animal care, and cranky zookeepers with a heart of gold becoming Ornithomimus parents than Jurassic Park type scenarios. Nigel doesn’t just get dinosaurs; he goes to the Cenozoic several times and even takes a trip to the Carboniferous for its giant arthropods. Recent enough that feathers are starting to appear on some dinosaurs, particularly the adorable Microraptors. Nigel is an absolute menace and I don’t know who gave him access to a time portal but i’m glad they did. The recent game Prehistoric Kingdom was strongly inspired by this one, to the point of having Nigel voice the tutorials and trailers. Features a friendly herd of Titanosaurs with a disregard for fences causing more havoc than any carnivores ever could.

When Dinosaurs Roamed America (2001)

America’s answer to Walking With Dinosaurs. A single two-hour long documentary spanning the whole of Mesozoic America and really focussing on how the dinosaurs developed between its segments. The only time I ever remember seeing the Early Jurassic depicted, and the only one on this list to treat the end-Permian and end-Triassic extinctions and how important they were for dinosaur evolution. Though it does blame asteroids for them. Very good stuff, aside from a scene where Velociraptors continue eating their prey even as a forest fire sets them on fire. It’s very America-centric, but that’s no weakness. John Goodman makes for a surprisingly good narrator and throws in a sneaky Flintstones joke or two.

Dinosaur Revolution (2011)

This is a bit of an odd one, and it might or might not be your jam, but it certainly is mine. It is essentially a mashup between a dinosaur documentary and dinosaur Looney Tunes. Very silly slapstick segments focussing on specific dinosaurs with somewhat anthropomorphic behaviours get intercut with scientists explaining the latest of 2011 paleontology. The animation is a bit naff but the designs are really good and there’s a lot of feathers. It highlights behavioural traits like intelligence and parental care a lot. Two of its episodes cover pretty much the whole Mesozoic in no particular order, two episodes do Walking With Dinosaurs style covering of a single animal’s story in a single ecosystem. Shunosaurus eats mushrooms and has a bad trip. Lots of mammals go flying after getting thrown about. In a true Blackadder Goes Forth type pivot, the final episode of this very silly slapsticky show has the most haunting and tragic depiction of the K-Pg extinction I’ve ever seen.

#prehistoric planet #walking with dinosaurs #prehistoric park #when dinosaurs roamed america #dinosaur revolution #dinosaur documentaries #feel free to add more

[purplekoop]

FINALLY saw Mutant Mayhem, and it was really good!!! I might wanna give it a second watch later along with other Turtle stuff rewatches and do a more in-depth review then, but I'll say the spoiler-free highlights now.

The obvious striking thing is the film visual style, which going in I knew broadly as "like Spider-verse", but that feels like a gross oversimplification for this movie's fantastic look. It's a mix between grungy realism, rough sketchiness (my mom said it looked like one of my drawings, which, yeah I'll take it), and oddly some vague claymation vibes? The turtles especially feel like chunky molded clay in the best way. It's a super cool style that definitely stands out on its own but still feels thoroughly Ninja Turtles despite not quite looking like any one individual prior incarnation. A bit of 2012 with the grungy blockiness, a bit of Rise with the vibrant expressive animation, and a heaping dosage of just general "this would've been the coolest thing ever in the 80's."

Other major high point is just how... exceptionally pleasant the movie is. It's arguably the most light-hearted Turtles incarnation to date, even beating out Rise in terms of friendly vibes... well, barring the bottom-shelf swears and on-screen puke, personally could've gone without the latter but oh well. From the moment we see the turtles we get to see how much this movie appreciates the mundane, with dialogue, visual details, and quick gags that just... I dunno, feel natural? Like, this movie pulls of an astounding amount of reference humor that feels like it'd be irritating if it weren't so believably honest. Yeah, if they were teenage brothers they would say Mikey's head looks like a mix between Hey Arnold and Stewie Griffin. Of course they would. Also the "cringy" music choices rubbed me the right way too, again this movie's tone is so sincere that I can't help but love these too. My mom also specifically cited this as a high point. The "pleasant vibes" praise extends throughout the movie, but I think going fully in-depth on that point would require spoilers. Rest assured, this movie's an exceptionally feel-good watch.

I guess only critique is one I saw coming but because I was dodging spoilers I didn't have the full expectations for. I heard vaguely that there were gonna be a lot of classic mutants showing up for this movie, hence the title I suppose, but I was worried it was gonna be a Spider-Man 3 kind of situation where it'd be constant bad guys that don't leave much individual impact. Which... is both true and not true for this movie. It's not THAT detrimental by any means, but I do still wish the individual characters got to do more. I like what they do get to do, but only a couple actually get to do much, even Bebop and Rocksteady barely have a few lines despite being THE mutant bad guys and having some of the biggest celebrity voices. I think maybe even two or three of them could've been cut and their presence wouldn't have been missed, but I can also appreciate the novelty that these characters probably wouldn't get a big screen debut otherwise. I dunno, maybe I'm just petty these are all classic picks and aren't new characters from my eras of turtles. Fishface for the sequel, come on folks if I believe then you can too.

On that note though, I am hoping that obvious sequel bait goes somewhere, because this movie deserves it. I wanna see this incarnation again, which... I mean I'm pretty sure did well enough to where it's already in the works? If Spider-Verse is gonna be a trilogy (still haven't seen Across yet btw) then this movie certainly deserves at least one followup.

But yeah, great movie! I think I do have to put this as my favorite TMNT movie ever now, so uh... sorry to the original two live action movies and none of the others.

(also I was gonna do a season 1 review of TMNT 2012 but I started it a while ago right as I finished it early in January but then it got overwhelming and I didn't have as much as I wanna say so I don't know what I'm doing with that yet, I might move on to season 2 but idk there's still a lot I wanna say about the show but I still don't know the format. Also expect Things I Love #4 about a completely unrelated show I'm due to finish a rewatch of soon)

#koop talks about things #tmnt #mutant mayhem #tmnt mm #tmnt mutant mayhem

[callipraxia]

oh!!! this is a few hours later, but i also wanted to ask what the lost-but-recently-revived project actually is, because i've never thought to ask in an ask box until now. when my tablet is dead. eugh. it must've been mentioned before, but if you'd like to say more, i'd love to learn about it!!! i feel like i've been talking too much about my own things lately, and i wanna read about others', specifically yours >:] (i remember something about gideon and the axolotl, but that might have been a different project---regardless that sounds whimsy af) if you dont feel like it or anything, you can ignore this :^

The lost project actually hadn’t been discussed much, if at all; it’s a post-canon one-shot where Stan and Ford go back to Glass Shard Beach, reasoning that Stan probably needs to see the place again for the good of his memory and that Ford should probably pay some form of respects to their deceased parents. Stan has a video camera. He ends up documenting just how much everything has changed. He and Ford have Feelings about this, and then they run into someone unexpected. It’s...hardly high drama, so it probably doesn’t make sense that it’s taken this long to start rewriting it, but so it goes with my short pieces.

The Gideon thing is a spinoff/sequel to FWJB I’m considering – specifically, what happened to him after the final battle. It begins ten years later, with Gideon waking up to discover that someone appears to have recently jammed the majority of a tube of drugged lipstick down his throat. Since said lipstick would knock someone unconscious and induce mild amnesia in a much smaller quantity, it’s done a real job on him, which leaves him trying to figure out where he is, how long he’s been there, who drugged him, why that person drugged him, and, in fact, most of who he is – he knows his name is Gideon, he knows he should really not tell anyone that, and very little else. Not even why it’s so important to hide his identity.

Naturally, once he figures even a tiny bit of that information out, he promptly finds himself with even worse problems than he started with.

Other ideas...what the heck, I might as well talk about them a bit, not least to, er, document them in some fashion. Been thinking that writing them down might be a good idea anyway, so here we go:

1) You once suggested I kill Ford and make Stan have feelings about it. I’ve started that one, too; it’s the one I wrote down a lot of and then typed up and then lost...last week? Week before last? Week before last, I think. In this sad little universe, Ford manages to break his neck and die like six months after Weirdmageddon. Stan takes this poorly.

2) In other possible returns to old stomping grounds, I’m intrigued by the idea of going further into how Agent Trigger, of all people, somehow managed to slip under the radar, climb the ranks of the DFSI, and end up recruiting Dipper. Similarly, I’d like to do at least a short return to the IG Epilogue situation, if I can think of a good plot for it beyond Dipper’s initial reaction to “...did that guy really just take his face off like a pair off sunglasses and call me by name??” Plus, of course, if I’m ever in a fluff mood, I gotta write what happened when Soos made good on his promise to loan Ford the deeveedees.

3) Road trip time with Fiddleford and the Stan Twins! What could possibly go wrong?

4) So, Powers. Tell us more about how your agency spotted signals from Gravity Falls thirty years ago. What did you guys do then?

5) Writing more of McGucket’s memoirs, and/or the horror novel about the building of the Portal that I’ve had in mind, and/or a between-the-episodes incident where Fiddleford, struggling to remember who the Author was and why he’s so darn difficult to remember, convinces Tate to talk to him about the past, resulting in them going over a bunch of letters Emma-May had kept and Fiddleford struggling to figure out what was real vs what he was lying about, all while he and Tate are having feels (and sometimes explosive arguments) in the present.

6) Some college years stuff. I have vague ideas for something about the construction of the mind-control tie, and for something else about That One Time Fiddleford Convinced Ford To Come With Him To Tennessee Over The Holidays.

7) More angsty one-shots...stuff like Stan pretending to be Ford at Filbrick’s funeral, and the first day Ford went back to high school by himself, and some stuff with small Tate, and...you get the picture.

8) I will admit this only because of your current tagline – I, too, have entertained the idea that Stan has actually read Moby Dick. Specifically, that in his last months in school, he and Ford ended up in separate classes for part of the day because Ford was taking calculus or something, resulting in Stan having to take the standard-issue American Lit class by himself, and the teacher essentially annoying him into making a good-(ish; it is Stan we’re talking about) faith effort to do his book report properly...only for it to all end on the most depressing note possible, of course. I’ve told myself I cannot actually write this, but… *shrugs*

9) Early in his years in Gravity Falls, Stan visits the library. The librarian is someone he finds attractive. Somehow, one thing leads to another and he finds himself being strong-armed into helping with the town science fair, despite a) him not really being a scientist, only playing one in front of tourists and b) his very specific hatred of science fairs.

10) It is September. Everyone is going back to school. Wendy discovers that Tracey and Quattro exist. This is the one that had me complaining about how I missed the apocalypse not long ago – it’s harder to 99% ignore their infatuation with her in a lower-stakes scenario, and I have no idea how to handle that.

11) It is the academic year. Pacifica struggles to deal with her new social milieu.

12) Some other AU ideas...mostly “what if someone didn’t think of [clever thing] in time” disaster scenarios. There’s also the Better World AU, where...let’s just say it’s not a very nice place at all, at least for some people.

So, there you are! It’s...the majority of the ideas floating around my head at the moment. Some could merge together into one project. Some might not ever see the light of day. But I’ve got plenty of material to work with, just have to get my head back in order for writing, and I’m pleased to say that my head is getting closer to order by the day.

#gravity falls fic #gravity falls fanfic #gravity falls au #too many gravity falls aus

[mysecretlittlelibrary]

Life Can't Get Much Better

Pairing: Loki x Reader

Word Count: 4.2k

Warnings: absolutely none this is so fluffy it's actually sickening lmao

Genre: fluff

Summary: Co-parenting with Loki, it's honestly going really well

A/N: several people requested a sequel to Maybe Not So One Night Stand so- I wrote one. Don't ever say I don't love yall

Part 1

***

Loki took every opportunity to be involved in Elias's life. He wanted to be an active father in Elias's life and proved that he was pretty good at it. Even still it took you six months after Steve and Bucky found out to be ready to tell Elias that Loki is his father. And to be fair you only told him when you did because of very specific circumstances.

You're in the kitchen making lunch with Elias sitting at the island behind you one afternoon when you hear him giggling.

"Mommy look! I'm floating like the kitchen stuff!" Elias says excitedly. You turn around to see him beaming at you as he tries to figure out how to balance in the air.

"Oh- oh my, you're in the air. Okay." You quickly wave your hand to put the knife and cutting board onto the counter. If your son is in the air knives should definitely not be.

"Mommy can you fly? I've never seen you do it but you make stuff fly all the time." Elias looks at you.

"W- I can yes, but I don't really- I find that walking gets me around just fine. Plus I can do this." You say snapping your fingers to move from one side of the kitchen to the other, "and that's much faster than flying." You smile.

"Woah! I wanna do that!" Elias points at you.

"It'll be a couple years before we get to that." You tell him.

"Why?" He tilts his head.

"It's a very hard spell- the last thing I want is for your head to end up in Mexico and your foot in Canada." You tell him wiggling his foot.

"That's- far." He laughs. You turn the stove down to the lowest heat to finish simmering while you take care of this new development

"Yes exactly- so we'll wait on that. Here grab my hand bubs." You say reaching up towards him. He does and as you walk out of the kitchen he slowly floats back onto the floor.

"Where are we going?" Elias asks.

"Just to my bedroom. You can fly some more in there but I have a gift for you and I need to be able to see you if you're gonna be floating everywhere." You tell him.

"A gift? Why? It's not my birthday." Elias says.

"I know but your powers have come in and that warrants a gift." You say letting his hand go. You snap your fingers and a large chest appears at the foot of your bed.

"Your magic chest!" Elias says.

"Yep. This is where your gift is."

"Why do you hide your magic chest?" Elias asks.

"For safety reasons." You hum.

"Flying is fun." Elias says- you look over your shoulder to see him doing flips in place and you chuckle at him as you find the small box you were looking for.

"Alright buddy I'm gonna put you over the bed." You say grabbing him and shifting him to float over the bed.

"Why?" Elias asks.

"You'll see. Gimme your hand bud." You say. He holds his hand out to you and you wrap the bracelet around his wrist. When you wave your hand over the bracelet Elias plops down onto the bed with a squeal.

"What's the bracelet for?" Elias asks.

"It's a magic training bracelet." You say.

"A magic training bracelet?"

"Well- you know how you put training wheels on a bike until you learn how to ride without them because you might hurt yourself?"

"Uh-huh." Elias nods.

"Magic is the same way. You wear this bracelet until you learn how to control it because you might hurt yourself or someone else." You explain.

"I could hurt someone?!" Elias blinks at you.

"If you aren't careful yeah.  You could get really mad at school and accidentally turn someone into a frog."

"A frog!!?" He gasps.

"Yep! I've done it before. That's why you wear the bracelet." You smile.

"Well- how long to I wear it?"

"Depends on how your magic training goes. Most people wear it until they're 13-15." You shrug.

"That's a lot of years!" Elias says.

"I know! But your powers came in way earlier than most. Although I probably should've seen this coming." You muse. Just then there's a knock at the door.

"The door." Elias says.

"Oh I think Loki's here. I'll probably have to tell him about this." You say.

"Loki knows you're a witch?" Elias asks.

"Yep! Just like uncle Stevie and uncle Bucky." You say.

"Should I call him uncle Loki?"

"Uh- no sweetie I don't think you should actually." You say, fighting a smile.

"Why not? He's just as important to me as uncle Steve and uncle Bucky." Elias says. You resist the urge to gush at his words.

"Well- how about we just talk to Loki about it then?" You hum and he darts out of the room to the front door. He waits for you to open it and practically runs at Loki.

"Loki!" Elias says wrapping his arms around the man's legs.

"Hello sport. How are you?" Loki ruffles his hair with a laugh.

"Look at what my mom gave me!" Elias says holding up his wrist to show off the bracelet.

"How cool! When'd you get that?"

"Like five minutes ago."

"Oh? What's the occasion?" Loki tilts his head. He knows it's not Elias's birthday or any Midgardian holidays.

"I flew." Elias says with a casual shrug.

"You what? He what?" Loki blinks at Elias and then looks up at you.

"I'll explain in a minute- come on in, lunch should be just about done." You say shifting out of the doorway so Loki can come in.

"What's for lunch?" Loki asks.

"I made chicken lettuce wraps! Did you want some?" You ask, grabbing plates and a serving spoon.

"Sounds good. I'd love some." Loki says lifting Elias into one of the seats at the island before sitting next to him. You grab the lettuce from the cutting board and set up four lettuce wraps for Elias and five each for you and Loki.

"Here ya good boys." You say placing plates in front of them. You sit on the other side of Loki with your own food.

"So- he flew?" Loki turns to you and leans against his hand.

"His powers came in." You say quietly.

"Oh- oh that's wonderful. He flew?"

"As odd as it sounds that's actually quite a common way for witches to learn they have powers. Although since levitation is the spell I do most often around him that might have something to do with it as well." You shrug.

"And you gave him a bracelet?" Loki asks.

"It's essentially magical training wheels we give them to baby witches when their magic first comes in. Until he learns to control his powers he wears the bracelet. Plus only I can take it off of him. That way he doesn't accidentally wake up on his ceiling or give someone rats for shoes." You explain.

"Fascinating. Sorry rats for shoes?"

"I mean yeah, before he learns to control it his magic will be pretty unpredictable." You shrug.

"So the bracelet-"

"Prevents him from doing magic by accident."

"How long will he be wearing it?"

"I'm not sure- most kids don't get their powers until they hit double digits in age- kinda like puberty and they wear the bracelet until they're like 15. He might still wear it that long." You sigh.

"Until he's 15? You don't think he'd be able to control it before then? He's incredibly smart."

"I know but he's also a kid and they're not exactly known for emotional regulation. One tantrum and he could cause a tornado or something." You say.

"Elias is not exactly a temperamental child." Loki says.

"I know- but better safe than sorry. The bracelet stays on until his training is far enough along and we both feel comfortable letting him use his powers freely." You say.

"Alright- when does his training start?" Loki asks.

"As soon as he'd like it to I guess. But Loki- I need to talk to you about something else." You say lowering your voice.

"Is something wrong?" Loki frowns worriedly.

"Well no- not exactly. I think it's time to tell Elias." You whisper.

"Tell Elias?"

"Yes- his powers have come in so- I feel now would be a good time to tell him about you. I don't want to wait too long." You say.

"If you're sure. You know I want to tell him more than anything, but only once you're ready."

"I'm ready Loki." You say. Loki nods and turns towards Elias who is just finishing his last lettuce wrap.

"Hey bud- your mom and I have something to tell you." Loki says.

"What is it?" Elias asks.

"Well hon you've never really asked me about him before but I have something to tell you about your dad." You say.

"My dad? What about him? Will I get to meet him one day?" Elias asks.

"You've- actually already met him Elias." You say.

"I have??? When?" Elias tilts his head curiously at you.

"Surprise." Loki chuckles a bit nervously.

"Wait- wait I'm confused." Elias frowns.

"Elias- I am your father." Loki says.

"Alright Anakin Skywalker." You chuckle.

"Anakin- who?" Loki blinks at you.

"Darth Vader- from star wars? Nevermind. Elias this is your dad." You say.

"Loki's my dad?!?! That's so cool!!" Elias hops out of his chair and jumps around excitedly. "Mom are you serious? He's my dad? Really?!" Elias asks excitedly.

"Yes. We wanted to wait to tell you until you got to know him better." You laugh.

"This is so awesome! Is that why you said I couldn't call him uncle?" Elias blinks.

"Yes pretty much." You say.

"You wanted to call me uncle?" Loki stands from his seat to better look at Elias.

"Well yeah because that's what I call uncle Steve and uncle Bucky and you're just as important as they are." Elias explains looking up at him.

"Oh- that's so sweet." Loki says.

"Can I call you dad?" Elias asks.

"I'd love it if you called me dad." Loki smiles.

"Cool." Elias says.

"I'm glad you're taking this so well Elias but there is more sweetheart." You say leaning down to be eye level with him.

"There's more?" Elias blinks.

"Remember when uncle Stevie and uncle Bucky told you that gods were real and that they even knew a couple?" You ask.

"I remember!" Elias nods.

"Well- Loki here is one of those gods." You say.

"My dad's a GOD?!" Elias's jaw drops.

"Yes." You nod.

"I have the coolest parents!" Elias says happily. "Mom can I use the phone to call uncle Steve and uncle Bucky? I gotta tell them about this." Elias asks.

"Sure- go ahead bubs, you know where the landline is." You chuckle. Elias runs off and you busy yourself cleaning up from lunch.

"He has their numbers memorized?" Loki asks.

"Yeah- they're emergency contacts for him. I made him memorize them along with my own." You explain.

"Oh okay."

"That went so much better than I could've hoped." You sigh in relief. Loki walks up behind you and wraps around your waist.

"Did you really expect it to go that bad?" Loki asks, chuckling as he kisses your shoulder.

"Well not exactly but he was way more excited about it than I would've thought." You smile turning around in Loki's arms.

"I dunno love, with how much he likes me we definitely should've been expecting that." Loki smiles at you.

"Elias is anything but predictable darling." You shrug.

"I know- given his parents it only makes sense." Loki smirks.

"Yes well, I suppose you're right."You hum.

"Next we'll have to tell him we're dating." Loki smiles.

"That one can probably wait." You laugh resting your head on Loki's chest.

~*~*~

Telling Elias the truth doesn't change very much between the three of you. He takes to calling Loki 'dad' and Loki spends even more time with the two of you. The biggest change is that Loki spends most nights a week at your apartment now.

"Elias sweetie get your shoes on we don't wanna be late meeting uncle Steve and uncle Bucky." You say putting on your jacket and grabbing your phone.

"You two ready?" Loki asks coming from your room.

"Just about." You smile as he kisses your cheek.

"Hey dad- when we get to the carnival will you get on the rollercoasters with me? Mom hates me going on most of them." Elias asks.

"Any rollercoaster you're big enough to ride I'll happily get on with you." Loki says.

"I do not hate rollercoasters. He's just too young to ride most of the bigger ones he wants to get on." You say. Loki laughs as he buckles Elias into his car seat and gets into the car.

"Of course darling. I won't let him do anything too scary." Loki says driving away from your apartment.

"Height requirements mean you literally can't." You remind him. Loki chuckles at you but doesn't argue as he drives to the carnival that Elias practically begged you all to go to, Steve and Bucky included- who could never say no to Elias. They'd probably let him take over the world if he asked them for permission. When you get to the carnival Steve and Bucky are already standing near the entrance looking out for you guys.

"Hi uncle Steve, hi uncle Bucky." Elias says from his spot on Loki's shoulders.

"Hey kid." Bucky says.

"Good to see you all again." Steve says.

"Let's go ride stuff!" Elias points towards the carnival and you all head inside, letting Elias dictate what you'll ride and in what order. For the most part you only ride the rides Elias asks to go on but at some point, Steve and Bucky drag you away from your son and boyfriend to ride a couple rides that Elias is too small for.

"Not that I don't love you guys but I did come here for my son you know." You tell them as they slot you in a line in front of them.

"And you'll get back to him soon." Bucky rolls his eyes.

"Just consider it giving them father-son bonding time- now that Elias knows Loki's his dad." Steve says.

"You're both impossible." You huff but realize complaining will get you nowhere with your two supersoldier best friends.

~

"Elias- you wanna help me surprise your mom with something?" Loki asks while in line for one of the kid-friendly coasters.

"surprise her how?" Elias asks.

"Well- I'm going to ask her to marry me." Loki says.

"Marry you? Really?"

"Yes- is that okay with you?" Loki asks.

"Do you love mom?" Elias asks back.

"More than anything- besides you." Loki's response is pretty much immediate.

"Then yes- it's okay with me." He nods. "As long as it's not near my birthday." He adds.

"Your birthday was last month bud- I don't think we're gonna wait a whole year to get married around your birthday." Loki laughs.

"Well how can I help?" Elias asks.

~

"That was definitely the better one." Bucky says.

"No no the first one we went on was way better. This one was shaky." Steve shakes his head.

"It was not shaky! This ride was faster." Bucky says.

"Faster doesn't mean better." Steve huffs.

"You two choose the strangest things to argue over." You scoff.

"Which one did you like better?" Bucky asks you.

"I didn't realize I was supposed to be ranking them." You shrug.

"Lame answer." Bucky rolls his eyes.

"This whole argument is lame." You stick your tongue out at him.

"What argument?" Loki asks when he and Elias reconnect with you, Steve, and Bucky.

"These two are arguing over which ride was better. I'm sure you had a more harmonious time than that." You say.

"We had a marvelous time. I'm pretty sure there are to be fireworks soon- shall we find a good place to watch them?" Loki asks.

"Fireworks? That's cool. Where should we watch them from?" You ask.

"My guess would be somewhere near the Ferris Wheel- as I'm sure they'd want the fireworks to be plenty visible from there." Steve muses.

"Good point, we'll head over there then." You say navigating through the crowd to a table near the Ferris wheel.

"Dad can we go play one of the games before the fireworks start?" Elias asks Loki excitedly.

"I don't see why not." Loki says as he allows Elias to drag him off towards one of the booths.

"All those games are scams." You muse quietly.

"As if your magic boyfriend will let his son be disappointed by any of those games. They're totally going to win." Bucky scoffs.

"Fair point." You shrug with a slight laugh. A few moments later Elias walks over with a stuffed bear in hand.

"Mommy mommy look what I got!" Elias thrusts the bear towards you.

"Wow! What a cute- bear." You frown a bit when you notice the small jewelry box between its hands. You've never seen a bear holding one of those. "Elias what's this little box doing between its hands?" You ask tapping on it.

"Oh that's for you." Elias says handing the small box to you and going to sit beside Steve and Bucky. With a confused look on your face, you open the box and gasp when you see a beautiful ring with a malachite stone in the middle. When you turn to look at Elias, you realize Loki kneeling in front of you.

"Y/n-"

"Oh my gods."

"Let me say it first." Loki laughs.

"Sorry- sorry go ahead." You chuckle a little before forcing yourself to be quiet.

"Y/n- this last year and a half has been absolutely wonderful getting to know you and Elias and be part of your lives. When we met over six years ago I had no idea you'd become the ones I love most in all the nine realms. I can't imagine my life without you and- I really hope you feel the same. Otherwise it's going to make this whole spending the rest of our lives together thing a lot more difficult. Will you marry me?" You can't help but laugh at Loki's joke near the end and you're glad he told it or you'd be in tears as you answer him.

"Yes. A million times yes." You say kissing him just as the first crack of the fireworks sounds somewhere around you. The light show currently taking place however is completely at the back of your mind as you pour all your love into your kiss with Loki. After a few minutes Bucky loudly clears his throat behind you.

"We are still in public you know." He teases.

"Oh hush I'm engaged, let me have this." You laugh resisting the urge to flip him off in front of Elias.

"Congrats y/n. You deserve every bit of happiness." Bucky says.

"Yeah congratulations to both of you." Steve says.

"Yay!!" Elias claps happily.

"Wait- were you two in on this?" You look at your friends.

"Maybe a little." Steve blushes. You shake your head and chuckle at how easily he gave that information up.

"Well- now I have a wedding to plan." You shrug.

"We. We have a wedding to plan." Loki says kissing your hand that brandishes the gold ring with its green and black stone.

~*~*~

As it turns out- wedding planning is a lot of details. Loki is more than happy to help with as much of it as he can but there are so many moving parts you can't believe that some people just plan weddings regularly- like for a career. Today you have a cake tasting then you have to finalize wedding invitations which Steve and Bucky have gladly offered to oversee- they just need your stamp of approval on the final design.

"Do you have any idea what kind of cake you want?" Loki asks as you enter the pastier.

"Well you can never go wrong with a plain white cake but I personally really love lemon cake- and I know you're a chocolate fan so in short- I have no idea." You say.

"Hello! Y/n right? It's so good to meet you finally and might I just say you are going to make the most gorgeous bride! You must be the groom I'm assuming? Quite a catch." The baker Louise comes bustling out of the kitchen excitedly.

"Hi Louise, it's nice to meet you too!" You chuckle at her energy.

"So- I have got half a dozen options for you to try out, just have a seat and we'll start rolling those samples out to you shortly!" She beams at you rushing back through the double doors she came out of.

"She's energetic." Loki muses. When you don't respond to him Loki looks over to you and notices you touching the bridge of your nose with your eyes closed. "Y/n, love are you alright?" He asks with a worried frown.

"Hm? Oh, yes I'm fine. I think I just need to sit down. I'm a bit tired." You say as he walks you over to the seats you were supposed to be going to anyway.

"Are you sure? We can do this another time if you don't feel well." He asks.

"I'm fine Loki really. No need to fuss." You wave him off with a smile. Truth is you felt a bit dizzy a moment ago out of nowhere.

"Would you like something to drink? Water maybe?" Loki asks.

"Water would be nice thank you." You tell him. When one of the other kitchen hands brings out the first half of the samples Loki is quick to ask her for some water as well. She returns with a bottle for each of you and the other three samples while you wait for Louise to return and talk to you about the samples. You sip your water contently until Louise comes through those doors again with a dramatic flourish.

"Okay so here we have a strawberry cream cake, a chocolate ganache, red devil's food cake, a white raspberry, lemon, and of course your standard vanilla. Take your time and I'll return for your verdicts soon." Louise says before disappearing again.

"Alright! Let them- us- eat cake!" You smile at Loki.

"Are you sure you're okay y/n?" Loki asks once more.

"I am just fine Loki now please, we have desserts to try." You smile grabbing one of the plates and digging in. The last time you had dizziness spells like this was when you were pregnant with Elias so you make a mental note to make a doctor's appointment as soon as you get done here. After trying all the flavors you decide on a four-tiered cake with Vanilla as the largest bottom tier, followed by lemon, chocolate, and the last tier being half red devils and half white raspberry. With the cake out of the way you check in with Steve and Bucky to approve their invitation designs and head home- mostly because Loki is still convinced something is wrong and wants you to rest for the remainder of the day. While he's in the kitchen making dinner you quickly set up a doctor's appointment online for the next morning. It could honestly be nothing but as they say better safe than sorry.

Visting the doctor turned out to be the right move as she confirmed your suspicions. You're pregnant, again. Now you just have to find a way to tell Loki. You didn't have to worry about this last time so you'll admit you're a bit nervous when you eventually make it back to your apartment later in the afternoon.

"Hello love, running some errands?" Loki asks when you walk into the living room to greet him.

"I had a doctor's appointment this morning." You tell him.

"What? Why? Is it about yesterday? You swore you were fine." Loki's frantic now.

"And I am fine please calm down." You place your hand on his arm.

"Then why did you go to the doctor? And why didn't you say anything?" Loki frowns.

"I didn't want to mention it in case it was nothing-"

"Which means because you're mentioning it, it's something right?"

"Would you just let me finish my sentence Loki." You scoff with a light chuckle.

"Sorry- you're just making me really nervous. I wish you would just come out and say whatever-"

"I'm pregnant." You cut him off because you know if you drag it any longer he'll keel over or something.

"I'm- I'm sorry you're what?" He blinks at you.

"I'm pregnant Loki. We're having another child." You say. Loki practically leaps off of the couch and pulls you with him.

"You're serious?! You're pregnant? We're going to have another baby?!" He asks with wild excitement that almost mimics Elias's when he gets good news.

"Yes I'm serious Loki-" you squeal when he picks you up and spins you suddenly around the room.

"This is amazing! Oh wow- this is incredible. Y/n I get to be there from the start for this one." Loki beams at you.

"I know."

"How far along are you?" Loki asks.

"Just over a month." You tell him.

"The wedding! What does this mean for the wedding? Do you want to wait until the baby is born or have the wedding before you're showing?"

"We've already gotten so far into the planning process- wouldn't it make more sense to do it before the baby is born?" You ask.

"Who cares what makes sense,  I only care about what you want to do." Loki says grabbing your hands.

"Alright alright- before I'm showing then. That gives us about three months to get everything in order." You say.

"I'll tell Steve and Bucky to change the date, and call the venue, you call the pastier, and the florist- and update your bridal party." Loki says.

"It's a good thing the date hasn't been announced yet." You muse.

"Good thing indeed." Loki hums.

"We'll have to tell Elias he's getting a baby brother or sister." You say.

"Do you think he'll take it well?" Loki asks.

"Probably. I think he'll prefer a brother but it's not like we can promise him that." You chuckle.

"Personally- I'm hoping for a girl." Loki tells you wrapping his arms around you.

"Really? A girl?" You can't even pretend that answer doesn't surprise you.

"Yes, some of the people I admire the most are women. My mother, Thor's friend lady Sif, you, my wonderful fiance." Loki says placing soft kisses against your skin. You giggle to yourself as you think about it. With a god for a dad, another for an uncle along with two super soldiers- if you had a daughter she'd surely be more protected than the president. It doesn't matter though really, no matter who this child turns out to be they'll be part of your family and that makes them perfect already.

***

#loki fanfic #loki #loki x reader #marvel #marvel fanfiction #loki laufeyson #loki fluff

[theres-an-impulstor-among-us]

*claps*

So, sequel ideas. Specifically for Wormman shenanigans. What if he goes to scout out the Evil X shop to see exactly what’s going on, and he spots the exploiter himself and just tackles him because friends

Also I can imagine Zed is literally the only one who knows that they’re different people, so EX just thinks it’s Zedaph and won’t show any weakness, so he pushes WM off and Helsaph is just like “Dude we’re friends :DDD, what the hels”

i love Raven ideas :D

this is a sequel to this one

...

Helsaph has absolutely no trouble finding the right building. After all, it’s got a giant statue of his old friend atop it, towering over the surrounding area. As he approaches, he’s delighted to see his friend themself just leaving the building. “Evil X!” he calls, picking up speed. “Hi!”

EX turns but their impassive expression doesn’t change. “Uh… Hello. Can I help you?”

Helsaph grabs them in a hug, delighted to see his friend again. “It’s been so long! How’s it going?”

“Um…” Clearing their throat awkwardly, EX detaches themself from Helsaph and pushes him away. “Sorry, I’m a bit busy right now. If you want to buy some derpcoin, there’s signs inside instructing you how to do that.”

“Why are you being so weird?” demands Helsaph. “I thought you’d be happy to see me again. It’s been years.”

“Years?” EX stares at him as if he’s crazy. “I’m sorry, I don’t know what you’re talking about. I have to go.”

As EX turns to walk away, Helsaph suddenly realises exactly what’s going on. “Oh, wait, no I- EX, wait!”

They pause, glancing back at Helsaph with a slightly suspicious look. “What?”

“You think I’m Zedaph, don’t you?”

EX blinks. “Who else would I think you are?”

Helsaph quickly digs the pink mask out of his pocket and holds it up to his eyes.

EX’s own eyes widen and they quickly drag Helsaph into the building. After locking the door, they pull Helsaph up some stairs and into an office overlooking the rest of the interior.

They stand in front of the closed door and cross their arms. “Explain.”

Suddenly put on the spot, Helsaph stammers over his words. “I’m, um… I’m Ze-Zedaph’s Hels counterpart. He recruited me to be Wormman back in Season 5. The “Zedaph” you befriended and battled was me.”

EX stares at Helsaph. “You’re NOT a helsmit.”

Not expecting this reaction, Helsaph frowns. “I am.”

“Helsmits are evil,” says EX. “Helsmits don’t run around in pink spandex and yellow underwear pretending to fight a quasi-evil clone.”

“I AM a helsmit,” Helsaph insists. I’m not sure if I can prove it but I am. My name is Helsaph.”

EX scrutinises Helsaph closely, causing him to feel slightly uncomfortable.

“I can’t go get Zedaph to prove that there’s two of us because I’m not actually supposed to be on this server so only one of us can leave the base at a time.” He hesitates. “I could take you there if you wanted? To prove that there’s two of us?”

“Oh I believe there’s two of you,” responds EX. “Knowing Zedaph, I’m not surprised in the slightest that he’s managed to clone himself. I just don’t quite believe that YOU are a helsmit.”

“Not sure I like the way you said “you” there but okay,” Helsaph says slowly. “How can I prove to you that I’m a helsmit?”

EX doesn’t even hesitate in their answer. “Kill me.”

Helsaph considers this for a moment. “Will you respawn?”

“Yeah.”

“Okay.”

Helsaph draws his sword and slices it straight through EX, killing them immediately.

He nearly has a heart attack as he suddenly remembers that his name might show up in chat. But when he hastily checks the communicator Zedaph lent him, he sees something entirely different.

EvilXisuma was slain by [Entity]

“Oh my god,” he breathes.

Imagine if my WHOLE existence on this server was exposed and ended by me killing EX just because they asked me to.

It takes less than a minute for EX to appear back in the office and start to collect their items.

“It occurred to me about half a second after I did it that my name might’ve shown up in chat killing you,” Helsaph says, watching them. “Went through the five stages of grief in less than three seconds.”

EX chuckles, straightening up. “I’m guessing you were reduced to [Entity] because you’re not registered to any server so it didn’t recognise your code. Well anyway, I’m impressed. Now why did you kill me?”

“WH-?!” Helsaph yelps. “Because you asked me to!! What the frick is this?!”

“You could’ve refused,” EX points out. “Why did you actually do it?”

Helsaph stares at them for a moment, then sighs. “Because I want to prove I am who I say I am and I knew the real Zedaph would never in a million years kill you like that.”

“You’re right,” responds EX, nodding approvingly. “I believe you. So what on earth persuaded a helsmit to dress up in the world’s most ridiculous superhero outfit and chase me around for several months?”

“Honestly, just the fact that the prospect of THAT was better than my current life at the time,” says Helsaph honestly. “Which really says something about how I was living back then, doesn’t it?”

EX scoffs. “Oh boy, it sure does. Where’ve you been since Season 5?”

For the briefest of seconds, EX thinks they see a flash of red in Helsaph’s eyes. But it’s over so quickly that they can’t be sure of what they saw.

Helsaph clears his throat. “Not really something I want to get into now. The point is I’m back and I heard on the grapevine that you’ve been running a little scam.”

“S-Scam?!” splutters EX.

“I’m guessing that this derpcoin thing is that.” Helsaph points down at the shop floor. “I came over to find out if it really is a scam but I’m not really sure how to do that.”

EX crosses their arms. “Why don’t you just ask me?”

“Okay,” says Helsaph. “Is it a scam?”

“No.”

A pause follows this.

“I’m really not sure what I expected there.”

EX lets out a chuckle. “Heh. Witty, goofy, gullible. You really are Wormman, aren’t you?”

Helsaph frowns. “Why does that feel suspiciously like an insult?”

“It wasn’t really. You know, I actually kinda missed having you chase me around all day.”

Helsaph’s frown clears into a smile. “Aww, you missed me?”

“Nope!” EX says quickly. “I said I KINDA missed you chasing me around. It was kinda fun.”

“That means you missed me,” responds Helsaph sweetly, rocking from his heels to the balls of his feet.

“It really doesn’t.”

“You said you missed ME chasing you around. Not BEING chased around. Therefore, you missed me.”

EX rolls their eyes. “Add “annoying” to that list too.”

Helsaph beams innocently. “That’s something we helsmits have in common.”

“I’m not a helsmit,” EX responds.

Helsaph opens his mouth to respond that he had meant helsmits in general when he properly registers what EX just said. “Wait… y-you’re not?”

EX shakes their head. “Nope. Xisuma’s hels counterpart is Helsuma. I don’t actually remember how or why or when or where I was brought into this universe.”

Silence follows their words as Helsaph’s gaze flickers to the ground. EX isn’t a helsmit. What are they then? Are they a clone? Where did they come from? How did they come into being? What are they made of? Helsaph’s mind is racing with all sorts of experiments he could perform on his friend to find out the answers to these questions.

“...Helsaph?” EX prompts after a moment. “You still with me?”

“Huh?” Helsaph blinks himself out of his thoughts. “Oh, yeah, sorry. That’s cool. Anyway, I’m gonna need to investigate your little not-a-scam. Mind showing me around?”

Still a little shaken by the sudden darkness they had seen in his eyes, EX nods. “Sure.”

…

EX finishes up the tour back at the front door. “-so that’s pretty much it. Any questions?”

Helsaph nods. “Yeah. How is this not a scam?”

EX gives a chuckle. “Tell you what, since you’re clearly still not convinced, how about you take this premium derpcoin for free?”

They hand Helsaph a coin the size of their palm.

“I gotta head out now but take a look around for yourself, read the signs and books, then decide what you wanna do. Okay?”

“O-Okay.”

Helsaph watches EX leave, before turning his attention back to the coin they gave him. He can’t stop staring at it, turning it over in his hands, admiring the way it glistens. There’s no way he’s going to spend this. Not because this is a scam - because obviously it is. For a different reason.

This is the first gift EX has ever given him.

#hermitcraft #evil xisuma #helsaph #worm man #vaunna’s requests

[funnyincorrectmcu]

Saw you were doing an ask spree so I have a question! What are your ultimate favourite Marvel fanfics? (Ao3 answers preferable!)

OOOH!!! 

I ALWAYS LOVE THIS QUESTION!! But it’s also always SOO hard, because I have SO many fics that I ADORE! <3 <3 <3 

Okay okay. Since you’re asking for ultimate favorites, but since you’re also in a sense kind of asking for recommendations, I’ll do you a solid and give you a list of fifteen (which is really doing myself a solid because it means there are fewer that I have to narrow down). 

That said, if you really want my full list, go to my AO3 account and check out my bookmarks (and some of my works, if you’re interested!). Because there truly are a LOT of AMAZING writers out there. <3 <3 

Alright. Here goes nothing. 

Also, I am SO sorry this took me so long, but it took me forever to narrow down to fifteen, and even with THAT, I cheated. XD

Also also, fair warning, 95% of these are Tony and Peter centric. <3 

Also also also (lots of also’s, oops XD), I’m gonna give a little bit of info on each one for anyone interested, but PLEASE, read all tags and warnings before you actually start reading, because some of these are a little rougher than others. (Btw, when I say “major warnings”, I’m referring to AO3′s “major archive warnings” list.)

1. More Ancient Than Magic by @ironfamjam 

This is a mini Hogwarts AU that I absolutely ADORE and think about at least once a week. The way the author melds the two universes is incredible and so well done, and I quote it all the time.  One-shot, IronFam centric, featuring Ned and MJ, with special guest appearances from the other Avengers and Peter’s classmates. No major warnings. 

2. Everybody Loves Skip by @baloobird

Okay, Kris is my favorite MCU fanfic author of all time, so you’ll see her on here a couple of times. This is by far my favorite story of hers, and it’s what made me fall in love with Interwebs. <3 <3  Multichapter, Peter centric, featuring Ace!Peter and Interwebs, with special guest appearances from Tony, May, and Tracy Leeds. Minor sexual harassment/non-con, but it doesn’t get too graphic. 

3. Ohana by @jen27ny

I read this story as a part of last year’s Irondad Big Bang, and let me tell you, I was SOOO invested. I got to the point where I had to send in play by play reactions because I was so emotionally invested. The story is so well told. <3 Multichapter, Tony and Peter centric, featuring Pepperony, Spideychelle, and minor Stucky, with special guest appearances from the rest of the Avengers, HYDRA, and my fast beating heart. No major warnings. 

4. Come, My Darling, Homeward Bound by @i-am-irondad

ANOTHER Irondad Big Bang 2020 story that I became OVERLY invested in to the point that I had to send play by plays in to the author. It’s a Room AU, and she NAILS each and every one of the character dynamics. I never even saw Room, and I loved it. <3  Multichapter, Tony, Peter, and Morgan centric, featuring the rest of IronFam, Spideychelle, and adorable sibling moments, with special guest appearances from Quentin Beck and my tears. Minor implied sexual harassment/non-con. (She also has a prequel and a sequel, just so you know.) 

5. The Lightning Strike by @booksxtvxsupernatural

Yet ANOTHER Irondad Big Bang 2020 story that hit me right in the feels. This is a canon-divergent post-Infinity War fic, and the way the author shows how events could’ve transpired is so realistic and beautiful. <3  One-shot, Tony and Peter centric, featuring Harley Keener and Nebula, with special guest appearances from IronFam, May Parker, and several other Avengers. 

6. Family Doesn’t End with Blood by @baloobird

This is a series of one-shots by my girl Kris based off of the Irondad Bingo prompts, so there are a lot of different prompts and themes, but they ALL rock.  Multichapter, Tony and Peter centric, featuring Ace!Peter, IronFam, and Interwebs, with special guest appearances from several other MCU characters. Warnings vary, so pay attention to the tags and read the notes. 

7. I love you more than anything (bio dad AU) by @iron--spider

Okay, so maybe this is cheating, because it’s technically a series, but every fic in it is so good that I couldn’t possibly pick just one. I just love the whole series, because I love how the author builds their relationship. It’s so cute. <3  Series of one shots, Tony and Peter centric, featuring the rest of the Stark and Parker family and baby Peter, with special guest appearances from Obadiah Stane, James Rhodes, and Happy Hogan. No major warnings.

8. sometimes, people just die (and sometimes, they don’t) by @snarky-drabbles

This one was for the 2019 Irondad Secret Santa (huh. No wonder so many of them are Tony and Peter centric. XD), and it’s an amazing time loop story that takes place during Endgame and has an ending you might not expect, but it ROCKS.  One-shot, Tony and Peter centric from Peter’s POV, featuring Pepper Potts and Stephen Strange, with special guest appearances from a whole lot of fighting. XD 

9. A Rite of Passage by @baloobird

Another ADORABLE Interwebs from my favorite person, because she made me obsessed with this ship and now I can’t stop. XD  One-shot, Interwebs centric (wait, did I actually find one that isn’t Tony and Peter??), featuring Ace!Peter and Bi!Ned, with special guest appearances from Brad Davis, Flash Thompson, and Betty Brant. Minor sexual harassment/non-con, but nothing graphic at all. 

10. Where Dreams are Nightmares in Disguise by @baloobird

This one was actually written for me, by Kris, so obviously, it made this list. I seriously cannot thank her enough for writing this amazing fic for me based on my prompt, and for writing it so well! I LOVED IT! <3  One-shot, Tony, Peter, and Morgan centric, featuring Pepper Potts and lots of LEGOS, with a special guest appearance from a really bad dude. No major warnings. 

11. harm and foul by @iron--spider

You know, there’s a lot of Tony protecting Peter out there, but sometimes, I just really wanna see Peter protecting Tony, and this is a GREAT example of that.  One-shot, Tony and Peter centric, featuring IronFam, Ned Leeds, and bada** mofo Peter Parker, with special guest appearances from Justin Hammer and a few Avengers. No major warnings.

12. Sugar, Butter, Flour by @doctornineandthreequarters

Another one written for me, this time by the incredible Jaime for the 2019 Irondad Secret Santa, and I couldn’t have asked for anything better. She took my prompts to heart and created some BEAUTIFUL sibling bonding and I LOVE it!! <3 <3  One-shot, Peter, Harley, and Morgan centric (whoa. Another one without Tony. See? I have variety! ...kind of. XD), featuring Pepperony and adorable sibling love, with a special guest appearance from a Karen. No major warnings. 

13. Bite the Bullet by @baloobird

In case you haven’t figured it out, yet, I love you, Kris. XD <3 Another amazing ace story that gets me feeling all kinds of validated and loved. <3  One-shot, Tony and Peter centric, featuring Spideychelle, Ace!Peter, and Ace!Tony, with a special guest appearance from BFF Ned and lots of lovely ace acceptance. No major warnings. 

14. what is stronger than the human heart which shatters over and over and still lives by @lyssismagical

So, I started reading her works solely through Tumblr, and when I finally realized that she had an AO3, I went on there and bookmarked a TON of her stories immediately. This is one of her more recent ones, but it’s one of my faves, even with all the whump (being Whumptober and all). It has a positive ending, I promise.  One-shot, Tony and Peter centric, featuring amazing BFF Michelle Jones, protective Peter Parker, and adorable little sister Morgan Stark, with special guest appearances from Pepper Potts, May Parker, and a lot of family love and support. Rape/non-con, but it isn’t super graphic. 

15. Peaches by @peterparkrr

This was yet another Irondad Secret Santa 2019 fic, and while this one wasn’t written specifically for me, I freaking loved it. There’s so much tension and mystery in this, and I seriously thought I was gonna pass out reading it from all of my worry. But, luckily, it has a happy ending.  One-shot, Tony and Peter centric, featuring canon divergence and lots of references to other Avengers, with a special guest appearance from a terrible government. No major warnings.

And there’s my top 15! But, because I said I was cheating, here are two bonus fics that cannot be found on AO3. I know you prefer AO3, but trust me when I say you cannot pass these up. 

1. This fic by @loubuttons

This was posted directly to Tumblr, but I have it saved in screenshots on my phone and I re-blog it all the time because I absolutely ADORE it. I will always be down for Peter and Morgan fics, especially when Tony is involved, and this one touches my heart like no other.  One-shot, Tony, Peter, and Morgan centric, featuring protective big bro Peter Parker and Tony being an amazing parent, with special guest appearances from equally awesome Pepper Potts and May Parker. No major warnings. 

2. He’s My Intern? by losingmymindtonight (if they have a Tumblr, I don’t know it, so if anyone knows it, please find them and tell them they’re awesome)

This one was posted on FF.net, and it was actually one of the first Tony and Peter stories I ever read, and it BLEW me away. This one is another series of one-shots, but each one is filled with soft Tony and Peter moments and I love it.  Multichapter, Tony and Peter centric, featuring Happy Hogan, Bruce Banner, F.R.I.D.A.Y., and all the hurt/comfort you could possibly want, with special guest appearances from Pepper Potts, May Parker, Ned Leeds, and several other Avengers. No major warnings.  

Okaaaaay. I think that’s it?? 

Wow. That took me FOREVER. 

And I’m not even sorry, because all of these authors deserve ALL of the credit I gave them. 

Thank you so much for asking this! I hope I didn’t bore you or babble too much. XD 

All of you should definitely check out these amazing fics! They 100% deserve the praise! <3 <3 

Thanks again for asking! <3 

#asks #personal #not an incorrect quote #still mcu #fan fiction #fanfic #fanfic recs #mcu #mcu fanfic #fan fiction recommendations #mcu fan fiction

[iamnotawomanimagod]

If I Can’t Have Love, I Want Power - A Reluctant Ranking of Every Track

Disclaimer: This entire album is incredible, truly no skips, and I also think it’s an album that is hard to separate into individual tracks, because it all goes so well together. But I still wanted to try! This is just my personal opinion, and it’s subject to change. (Also I surprised myself. And I bet I’ll change my mind by tonight.)

Please feel free to do your own and tag me in it!! I wanna see!!

13. Girl is a Gun

It’s not that I dislike this song, it’s just a sound that I didn’t expect on this album. I think it would’ve fit in better on Manic. I don’t love how it kind of just repeats over and over again, especially on an album so full of complex, intricate lyrics. But it’s a really upbeat, sexy song and I bet it’s going to be so fun live.

Favorite lyric: 

Time is a blessin', to me, it's a lesson And I can't be stressin' to give you attention 'Cause, oh, it's never enough, so I'm givin' you up And you'll be better with a nice girl, darlin'

12. Lilith

Similar to “Girl is a Gun,” I simply wasn’t expecting this kind of sound on this album - could’ve seen it on Hopeless Fountain Kingdom though! The bass is amazing and I love the rhythm.

Favorite lyric:

You know I get too caught up in a moment I can't call it love if I show it I just fuck things up, if you noticed Have you noticed? Tell me have you noticed?

11. Darling

This song is so sweet and charming, especially if you compare it to “More,” which I think it acts as a sort of sequel to. Something about the melody hits me just a little wrong. When they start singing, I can’t help but hear the verses of “Hopeless.” That might’ve been intentional, but I can’t get past it to hear this song as its own thing.

Favorite lyric:

Never knew the feeling of a stable home Been a couple years of living on the road Couldn't really tell you where they'd leave a stone To visit me when I am dead and gone

10. The Tradition

I love the haunting piano and vocals. It feels like a song that was written for the film specifically. (Was it even in the film, lol?) I really love the sound of it, but the lyrics don’t do very much for me.

Favorite lyric:

And I hope what's left will last all summer long And they said that, "Boys were boys", but they were wrong

9. The Lighthouse

This song reminds me the most of a Nine Inch Nails song - fitting that Trent Reznor provides backing vocals on the final verse. I love the grimy guitars, and and discordant beat, and the way it builds up. The melody is cool and liquid. The final verse really feels like waves crashing. It’s a well-written song that really shows off Halsey’s alternative side.

Favorite lyric:

Well, that should teach a man to mess with me He was never seen again And I'm still wandering the beach And I'm glad I met the devil 'Cause he showed me I was weak And a little piece of him is in a little piece of me

8.  Ya’aburnee

This song makes me really emotional. It makes me think of all the people I love the most and it makes me want to cherish my time with them even more. That’s an incredible feeling for an artist to create. It’s such a bittersweet song. I wanna cry but it also makes me smile.

Favorite lyric:

But what's worse? Telling you my feelings or to die without revealing That you crawled inside my head and set a fire there, instead Letting all my insecurity Devour me with certainty

7. honey

If you’ve ever felt this way for someone, this song stings in the best way possible. I love the rhythm and the drums and the guitars - this is peak pop punk and Halsey fits right in. I love the honey imagery, especially that she included some imagery about bees and the way honey clings.

Favorite lyric:

And now she's impatient and I'm complacent With just a little taste of wasting time Looking for honey But she stings like she means it She's mean and she's mine

6. 1121

Now this is the sound I expected from this album. Cinematic, dark, dramatic. The piano is so haunting and so beautiful. It evokes so much imagery through sound alone, even with the lyrics being relatively simple. And their voice is so incredible. The song overall reminds me a lot of Evanescence, which is high praise. And I really appreciate the “self-loathing in love” theme, I can relate to it a lot. I’ve already been singing the chorus at the top of my lungs whenever I play this song.

Favorite lyric:

Take one in the temple My tongue is a vessel I try to be careful with The thing inside my chest You shoot for the memory So you can forget me I'd leave if you let me, oh

5. Bells in Santa Fe

Ever since we heard a snippet of this song in the first film trailer, I’ve been desperate to hear the rest of it. It didn’t disappoint. I love her lower register vocals, the tinkling piano and the frantic rhythm. And I relate too much to the message of the song - loving someone so much but refusing to accept that they want forever with you, insisting that they’re better off without you, warning them that you could slip away at any moment. It hits me where I live.

Favorite lyric:

Jesus needed a three day weekend To sort out all his bullshit, figure out the treason I've been searching for a fortified defense Four to five reasons But, Jesus, you've got better lips than Judas I could keep your bed warm, otherwise I'm useless I don't really mean it, 'cause who the fuck would choose this?

4. I am not a woman, I’m a god

This song fucks. Claiming their power to create life - recognizing that as godly and divine, while also insisting this is not a power that makes them a woman. I can’t wait for it to become a smash hit and for people to be singing about a nonbinary/trans experience without even knowing it. I honestly have trouble even articulating why this song is so awesome, it just is. I’m pumped every time I hear it.

Favorite lyric:

Oh, I just wanna feel something, tell me where to go 'Cause everybody knows something I don't wanna know So I'll stay right here cause I'm better all alone Yeah, I'm better all alone

3. You asked for this

I really like the 90s alternative sound of this one, it reminds me of Alanis Morrissette and certain No Doubt songs. I think it’s a very realistic depiction of how settling down in life can be very bittersweet, and the things that we ask for are sometimes not what they seem to be. But we also come to realize that settling is a part of growing up. Still, Halsey sings about wanting everything, knowing there are contradictions in that. The chorus is fun and easy to sing to, and the final verse is so amazing.

Favorite lyric:

I want a beautiful boy's despondent laughter I want to ruin all my plans I want a fist around my throat I want to cry so hard I choke I want everything I asked for

2. Whispers

This one hits hard, but god, it’s so good. The way they whisper certain phrases. The simple piano under the first verse, the way it becomes more complex, the way the beat comes in. You want to dance and cry at the same time. The lyrics - I know so many of us can relate to them. The themes of self-sabotage and self-loathing are so strong in this album, which definitely hits me right in the chest.

Favorite lyric:

I've got a monster inside me That eats personality types She is constantly changing her mind on the daily Think that she hates me I'm feeling it lately Might have to trick her and treat her To 70 capsules or fly to a castle So at least we could say that we died being traveled

1. Easier than Lying

I’ve had this one on repeat since the album came out, and that surprised me at first, but god, this song is addictive. The crunchy guitar at the beginning, the driving rhythm, the way her voice contrasts with that. The scream-singing on the chorus. It’s the kind of song you want to drive way too fast to. The bridge!! Aaah! It’s just so badass and listening to it now gets me too hyped!! Also the way it can kind of be seen as a sequel to “Lie,” - the growth of going “if you don’t love me no more, then lie” to “losing you is easier than lying to myself” is so meaningful and so empowering.

My heart is massive but it's empty A permanent part of me, that innocent artery Is gasping for some real attention Some undivided hypertension I tell it "quiet down, you're being loud" But it beats harder every time you come around But do you love the sound?

I’m gonna tag some mutuals, just to share, and also to see if anyone else wants to do this! Also you don’t need to go as in-depth as I did if that’s intimidating or too much, I’m just wordy.

@demonzplay @easiersthanlying @ttpane @yoursalwaysleo @anarkyandmadness @feelingsiwontforget @tolerateit @tommyhardyx @elysiems @imacreepygirl @finallybeautifulstranger @inthenameofloveforthesakeofpower and I know I’m forgetting some folks, I’m sorry! Please feel free to steal this and also tag me in yours!

#stephspeaks #halsey #iichliwp #if i can't have love i want power #suicide tw #for some of the lyrics

[dtrhwithalex]

TV | Leverage (Season 2, Rewatch)

Rewatch of the second season of TNT's LEVERAGE (2008-2012), created by John Rogers and Chris Downey together with Dean Devlin and his production company Electric Entertainment.

In anticipation of the show's reboot / revival / sequel LEVERAGE: REDEMPTION coming to IMDbTV on 09 July this year, I am rewatching the original 77 episodes and writing about my favourite moments and things from each episode, season by season.

201: THE BEANTOWN BAILOUT JOB

D: DEAN DEVLIN. W: JOHN ROGERS. Original Air Date: 15 July 2009.

We here at the Rabbit Hole adore the Beantown Bailout Job very much (and by we I mean me). It is such a great season-opener and everything about it sets up the season so nicely. Also let me just say, I love the cheesy intro. I like to imagine that this plays on whatever website the clients usually end up finding the team. It would be so confusing. And wonderful.

This episode, of course, also introduces another of my favourite characters: Lt. Patrick Bonanno, State Police. And I am very sad that there is zero chance we'll ever get to see him in the reboot, since the wonderful Robert Blanche has unfortunately passed away last year. Bonanno was such a fantastic addition to this show and I love him very much. He is just brilliant in every episode he is in.

Aside from the introduction of Bonanno, Beantown is a brilliant episode for various reasons, but I wanna talk about this one most of all. John Rogers talked about this on his blog, I think -- not one member of the team can come straight out and admit that they need the others. It is the impromptu meeting at Sophie's performance that brings them together again (very much against Nate's best attempts). Only once they're at McRory's and Parker suggests stealing something to cheer up Sophie is when they all fess up and tell Nate that they want this team back together again. And then, of course, we have one of my favourite sequences in this entire show: Nate forcefully being bullied back into this family. They do exactly what he did to them in The Second David Job -- they get him to contribute knowledge to the case that they, allegedly, lack. And he knows what they're doing, of course, he's not an idiot. Well played, indeed.

I would also like to personally thank one Nadine Haders, this show's most brilliant costume designer, for every single piece of clothing she put on Christian Kane for this episode. That green sweater with the brown jeans jacket? All my love to you, Nadine. All of it. Also, uncharacteristically, Nate has some very good looks in this episode (the man looks healthy for once!) and I am unreasonably mad about it (actually, he has some very good looks this entire season).

One last thing: I would like to have a word with whoever decided to play the Andy Lange song here that Sophie's departure in The Two Live Crew Job is set to. It makes this first half of the season a circle. Who do I need to have words with? Who?

202: THE TAP-OUT JOB

D: MARC ROSKIN. W: ALBERT KIM. Original Air Date: 22 July 2009.

An absolutely amazing episode for Eliot but also very much for Sophie. They are the Conference Of Mom Friends, and I adore them very much, thank you. It is a fantastic episode for them individually, but especially also for the specific relationship these two people have. There is an amazing post floating around on this website (this one here) talking exactly about this episode and Eliot and Sophie in the role of protectors in their team, their family.

There are a few scenes here that I really like and really, most of them are about or with Eliot. I love in the briefing at the hotel that Eliot does not just dismiss Sophie's misunderstanding of wrestling, but takes the time to explain to her what the sport is about -- and she listens. We also here get a nice glimpse at the fact that Eliot teaches them certain fighting skills and self-defence techniques, which I just love so much. Just as Sophie coaches them all in their grifts, he makes sure that they all have a certain know-how in fighting and protecting themselves. It's so good.

I am also very fond of both the moment where Eliot brings Sophie to the restaurant to meet with Rucker, but also Sophie showing up at the gym at night to talk to Eliot while he's preparing for the fight against Tank. Eliot gives away so much of himself in this episode, and it is very interesting to me that the person he does this with is, continually, Sophie. The others may be on comms, and might be, for all we know, listening in, but it is Sophie he tells these things to. It's like Hardison says later in The Two Live Crew Job: "We trust Nate to make sure the plan works, we trust you (Sophie) to make sure we're all okay." While I would not necessarily call Sophie the heart of the group (that's Hardison), she is very much the emotional centre of it.

This episode is also just very lovely to see how they all take to an environment that is, for once, not big city life. Eliot takes to it immediately, which makes sense, because he probably is from a town not much different from this one. Parker, somehow, fits in immediately as well (I love her I <3 Nebraska shirt). I feel like Nate never has any issues fitting in anywhere, he just takes things as they come. It is Hardison and Sophie who have difficulties -- Sophie because she is, after all, a bit posh and needs certain standards met, and Hardison because his world of technology does not mix well with a small, rural Midwestern town ("Can't hack a hick" anyone?).

203: THE ORDER 23 JOB

D: ROD HARDY. W: CHRIS DOWNEY. Original Air Date: 29 July 2009.

I occasionally see some posts on here that call what the team does to Charles Dodgson in 512: The White Rabbit Job the worst thing the team does to a mark. I have to say, objectively, I think what they do to Eddie Maranjian in this episode is much worse. Of course, Dodgson is a good person, and Eddie is a crook, but still. Objectively? This episode is more evil.

Anyway, this episode has some fantastic moments that I adore a whole lot. I love Eliot and Hardison as cops, Sophie's act is absolutely amazing, and I have a super soft spot for both Nate teaching Parker what he is doing, and also Eliot and his side quest of helping Randy.

I am so incredibly fond of all these little moments where Parker's eventual role of Mastermind is already being planted. She always asks Nate questions, if she doesn't have a part to play in the con, she is with Nate, learning. She says it in the pilot episode already: "I'm really good at one thing, only one thing, that's it. But you, you know other things, and I can't stop doing my one thing, can't retire." And then she does her best to learn the other things Nate knows. This episode particularly, how Nate explains to her how NLP works, that what he is selling is fear. Nate is so patient with her, too. I love them both so very much.

Eliot's side quest with Randy and his abusive dad is an absolutely excellent addition to this episode. Especially after the previous Eliot-centric episode, this small thing just goes to show that, at their core, these are good people. Yes, they are criminals, the lot of them. But they are not bad people. Things like this just make me think that, it had to have been this exact combination of people Dubenich put together. Any other thief, any other hacker, and Nate would have walked away from this alone. It had to be Parker, Hardison and Eliot for this to work exactly as it did. And Eliot looking out for Randy even though they are in the middle of a con, taking his time to make sure Bob, the U.S. Marshall goes to see Randy, is exactly something that brings this point home.

Lastly, I adore that everyone shows up at the court house when Eddie goes to find his money. He knows they all conned him, but they know no one is ever going to believe him. It's a fantastic gloat scene. And I also really love that Nate explains why this works to the others: "So, here's everything you need to know about criminal law. Every crime has two elements, Actus reus, the act itself, and mens rea, Literally "The Guilty Mind." ... Now, for escape, the prisoner has to both break out of custody and show the intent to escape. ... Which brings us back to our friend Eddie and how the brain reacts to fear. In the heat of the moment Eddie didn't ask himself a simple question, who would doubt his guilty mind?"

204: THE FAIRY GODPARENTS JOB

D: JONATHAN FRAKES. W: AMY BERG. Original Air Date: 05 August 2009.

This one was Bernie Madoff inspired, if I recall correctly, who was arrested in 2008, around the time Berg, Downey and Rogers were already bouncing ideas back and forth for this season.

There is so much to love in this episode! Where to even begin. Maybe with Parker replacing Sophie at the client meeting? Or Sophie immediately heading for both popcorn and the cookie tin after the breakup? How about Parker perching on Eliot's arm rest with her food? Nate's headmaster act? Eliot as Coach Brewer (red is a fantastic colour on him, thank you Nadine)? Hipster rich newlyweds Parker and Hardison? The return of my beloved FBI fools McSweetheart and Taggert? Taggert being McSweetheart's biggest supporter in his affection for Parker? Sophie and Widmark? The actual science-sical with all these adorable kids singing about science?

So much to love. Chock-full of greatness, this episode. Also Frakes, once again, directed the hell outta this. I love this episode so very much.

One moment that does, however, absolutely win out over everything else, is the scene at Nate's apartment after Hardison and Parker meet McSweeten and Taggert again:

Eliot: One of you two can identify the gunman, right? Hardison: Oh, yeah, sure. He stopped and let me take a picture of him as I was chasing him. Eliot: Hey, you know what, man? I've been around little kids all day. I don't need to come home and do all this crap.

That line, Mr Spencer? "I don't need to come home and do all this crap"? Home? Sir, we are four episodes into the second season, and you are already calling Nate's apartment home. Honestly, that boy has been invested into this group as a family from the moment Hardison hands him a check in the pilot episode, if not earlier. And I am very much here for all of it.

205: THE THREE DAYS OF THE HUNTER JOB

D: MARC ROSKIN. W: MELISSA GLENN & JESSICA RIEDER (GRASL). Original Air Date: 12 August 2009.

This is another one of those episodes which, when I think about it, I am not entirely into, but then when I watch it, I always love it. It's a brilliant episode, but the mark rubs me in all the wrong ways and I think that's why my general reaction to this episode in theory is mostly "ew". Which I think is kind of the point, as well.

There is much to love in this episode, though. Sophie being Nate in this one, Nate being very wary of this concept and also having difficulties letting someone else take control ("If you don't mind, I would still do the 'Hardison, run it' thing" Nathan you precious little man, I love you so much). I think it's so nicely done. I mean Sophie has run cons before -- she was the Mastermind behind the First David Job, and she runs their con in the Second David Job as well -- but then she was confident, now she is going through things, on the brink of rediscovering herself for who she is. And of course, it bites her in the ass a little bit.

I absolutely adore Conspiracy Nut Hardison and his fantastic apartment. Set Design did a magnificent job here. I am so fond of Parker asking Eliot about the different things -- the council, the moon landing, Loch Ness monster -- and also very much the bit at the end where he and Hardison answer Parker's questions while he prepares food. That ending bit overall is just absolutely excellent and I love it with my whole heart. Eliot cooking for all of them in Nate's kitchen, giving Parker stuff to try, while Hardison sits there and sips his orange soda out of a wine glass. Meanwhile Nate pouring wine for Sophie, and then going over to her to make sure she is alright. For his slightly more sadistic streak in this season, Nate is so good with Sophie here. And honestly I think this conversation here is one of the reasons why Sophie feels able to leave them for a while. It is Nate's reassurance of "Whatever you need, I'm here for you" that lets her take this leave of absence.

206: THE TOP HAT JOB

D: PETER O'FALLON. W: M. SCOTT VEACH & CHRISTINE BOYLAN. Original Air Date: 19 August 2009.

I adore this episode! The fantastic Veach and Boylan on the keyboard for this one (who, I've had to find out, are both tangentially involved with my latest hyperfixation, SHADOW AND BONE -- Veach having written my favourite episode, and Boylan being married to the showrunner), which is just lovely, because they are both excellent.

First off, I would like to, once again, give all my love to Nadine Haders for that Pizza Guy outfit she put Kane in for the recon sequence. A+ costuming, thank you Nadine.

This episode has so many excellent comedic beats and a wonderful many Hardison/Eliot moments. Sophie trying to set up Nate with their client is absolutely hysterical -- especially considering that she had just been broken up with and had been urging Nate to figure out what it is that is between them since day one. I especially love her attempt at finding things Nate has in common with Jameson: "She's a scientist. And well, you're a bit nerdy, aren't you? ... And food, she works with food. Well, you eat, don't you?" Like, girl, what are you trying to do here, really?

I absolutely adore Hardison and Eliot trying to get into the server room so Hardison can access the data they are trying to get before anyone can get rid of it. Eliot hooking Parker's rope to Hardison's belt, Eliot's complete awe at Hardison's ability to remote access their mark's phone ("You can do that?" Eliot, honey, he can do so much more), the two of them wedged underneath the desk, and then, of course, Eliot's huge smile when Hardison hacks the scanner at the door with the help of his gummy frogs. I love these boys together so much, and this episode has given me so many great moments.

I am also incredibly fond of Nate's magician act. That is a brilliant role and it suits him so well. And I love how genuinely enthusiastic he is about magic.

207: THE TWO LIVE CREW JOB

D: DEAN DEVLIN. W: JOHN ROGERS & AMY BERG. Original Air Date: 26 August 2009.

This is an absolutely brilliant episode for so many different reasons. Let me get two things out of the way straight off the bat: 1) Where do I address my "Chaos For Leverage: Redemption" campaign to? and 2) Where do I address my "Apollo Robbins For Leverage: Redemption" campaign to? I want both of them back desperately!

Of course, this episode is important as a major stepping stone in Sophie's character arc. Because of Chaos and his bomb, she has to kill off one of her aliases which is the last thing that then leads to her taking a leave of absence to figure out who she is and who she wants to be. That scene in her apartment with the bomb is also just an excellent moment for the team as a family. The care with which everyone interacts with Sophie, Parker's instant pudding hack, Eliot's instructions on how defuse this situation, Sophie's immediate shift into protector mode once it becomes clear that the only real solution is to run and telling everyone to leave immediately, Nate staying behind and even when Sophie tells him to leave, waiting for her by the apartment door -- they care for each other so much.

I also really love the con-off with Starke's crew. It is so nice to see how similar yet different he and Nate are, and the same goes for the other crew members. I adore their individual confrontations a lot. Eliot's non-fight fight with Mikel Dayan, Parker's thief-off with Apollo, Hardison and Chaos' baby monitor fight. It just really highlights who our beloved characters are and what makes them them, now that we see them, metaphorically, in front of their mirror.

And then, of course, the actual heist is also just amazing. I adore that Starke chooses Nate as his alias to gain access, it is such a great move. Parker and Apollo talking in the ventilation shaft about birds is also just so lovely. And as an admirer of Eliot's arms, I am also very fond of his fight with Mikel. Good choices have been made, I appreciate all of them. The reveal at the end is also absolutely amazing. To beat them they had to save them? Brilliant.

Lastly, of course, Sophie's goodbye at the graveyard with Nate. What a spectacular moment. Also just, the visuals are so beautiful. I love the lighting here. And of course the return of Andy Lange's song, which is just perfect. I am so happy that this is the journey they decided to give Sophie when it became clear that Gina would not be able to be in the full seasons due to her pregnancy. They accommodated her so beautifully and gave Sophie such an amazing moment of character growth. This is why I love this show and the people who made it so much. All my love, to all of them.

208: THE ICE MAN JOB

D: JEREMIAH CHECHIK. W: CHRISTINE BOYLAN. Original Air Date: 02 September 2009.

We love The Ice Man Job! Another fantastic episode by one Christine Boylan who we love in this house. Our very first episode without Sophie being there, and it's a great one. I absolutely adore how they worked in moments with our favourite grifter in a way that so wonderfully accommodates Gina's pregnancy.

I absolutely adore the moments where all of them eventually end up calling Sophie. Parker, hiding underneath the bar after Nate tells her she'll be the grifter in this one, calling her mom Sophie in a panic without wanting the others to know, but still needing her advice and missing her so much. Then Eliot, calling to complain to his mom Sophie about Hardison going overboard again with the grift, needing the knowledge that his concerns are being heard and aren't unfounded, needs to hear the other protector of the family acknowledge his rightful fear that things will go sideways. And of course also Hardison, calling mom Sophie so she can pick him up from the party help him out of the mess he's made, hoping against all hope that she'll be able to help without having to involve Nate. The others both had the luxury to ask Sophie not to tell Nate -- Hardison had no other choice but to let her call it in. Lastly, Nate too, at the end, calling his wife Sophie. And honestly, I love that Sophie drops her phone into her drink after the call, because Nate is the only one not giving her what she wants to hear. The kids, all of them, called with an "I need you" and that is the one thing Nate doesn't give her.

There are many other things in this episode that I love very much. The opening briefing, Parker feeling alone on the big empty couch, trying to sit next to Eliot, but he makes her move. Nate's big DadTM moment of "Eliot, can you please sit next to Parker" and Eliot's very long-suffering oldest child answer "No! I'm sitting here now."

Then of course Eliot and Hardison's two moments -- Eliot telling Hardison "I ain't bailing your ass out" and then when he eventually does anyway, Hardison's smug joy, forcing Eliot to sort-of-hug him back at McRory's. Eliot's unsuccessful attempt to make him helping Hardison a decision forced onto him by Parker, and Parker refusing to accept the "blame" immediately. Their whole dynamic this episode is just so good. Neither Eliot nor Parker being happy with Hardison in this role (Parker's refusal to ride with him in the Ferrari), Eliot proudly watching Parker do her thing over the security camera ("Stuck it!").

Lots of love also to Pasha Lychnikoff as our main Russian goon, who is just fantastic here, our much beloved Lt. Patrick Bonanno, and also Nadine Haders for so many amazing looks, especially on Eliot.

209: THE LOST HEIR JOB

D: PETER WINTHER. W: CHRIS DOWNEY. Original Air Date: 09 September 2009.

Court-room episode, which means we have our friend Chris Downey on the keys here, and he gave us an absolutely excellent introduction for Tara Cole played by the lovely Jeri Ryan. Honestly, the more often I watch this episode, the better it gets. Tara is just so good.

Highlights of this episode include: Sophie's immediate "who died?!" when Nate shows up at her apartment in London, Hardison playing "Where is Waldo Ford," Hardison and Eliot in prison, the first appearance of Nate's lawyer alias Jimmy Papadokalis who wears brilliantly loud and obnoxious suits in outrageous colour-combinations, Hardison stalling Blanchard at court security with his keys, Nate's reveal of Ruth as Kimball's daughter (I am fascinated that he completely drops the character here -- he is just Nate now), and of course, the reveal of Tara at the end.

Honestly, this is such a magnificent episode to introduce Tara's character. We have just watched the team scramble and fuck up without Sophie, and then their next job gets more complicated because of this random lawyer who shows up. And she's so righteous and law-abiding and absolutely not someone they should be taking with them on their job. And Tara plays it perfectly. Her honest try at getting Orson to talk to them, her confusion about her "dogs", her excited smile when she gets to con Blanchard and be a bit dishonest -- it is so good. And then we get that complete 180° when the team finds her in Nate's apartment. Not just visually, but the personality. Her voice drops a bit too. Jeri fucking rocked this introduction. The reveal is so damn good.

210: THE RUNWAY JOB

D: MARC ROSKIN. W: ALBERT KIM. Original Air Date: 13 January 2010.

I have zero interest in fashion but I honest to God love every single one of these characters at fashion week. Fashion!Eliot is absolutely fantastical and I love him. Julien, my beloved. Fashion!Parker is very cute with her braid and even before she gets the model makeover she outshines every single other person at the event. Fashion!Hardison is surprisingly understated but I dig it. Tara as Caprina is also just excellent. And I absolutely, un-ironically adore Fashion!Nate. Jacques is such a character. Nate exchanged the usual "obnoxious and greasy" with "gay," slapped some would-be-French that sounds like German on top of it, and called it a character. And I love it.

I also very much love the three video calls with Sophie in this episode. The kids calling in the beginning, complaining about Tara. I absolutely adore both the "she's hot" moment and Eliot's "...and all the way to Europe?" when Sophie says Nate lets what is good for him walk out the door. Parker's little "I just miss you" before they hang up has me all the way up in my emotions every damn time. Tara calling Sophie to complain about Nate is also just excellent. The whole bit with Nate's "I'm sexy because I'm broken" thing is just *chef's kiss*. And of course Nate's call at the end. I love that Sophie hangs up on him, it is so fair, it is absolutely justified. And I think he knows that too.

So many great other moments too -- Hardison's Steven Seagal comment about Eliot's clothes, Nate's "Julien, sweetheart" and Eliot's little clap before taking the money, Nate and Parker at the mark's house, Eliot and Tara vs the Triads, Eliot and Parker at fashion week together ("It's a fashion show, not Thieves'R'Us"), and of course Tara's "For what it's worth, Sophie was right. You guys are the best I've ever seen ... But no one in the world, is as good as you think you are."

211: THE BOTTLE JOB

D: JONATHAN FRAKES. W: CHRISTINE BOYLAN. Original Air Date: 20 January 2010.

This episode has got to be one of my favourites, if I were forced to chose some. I love a bottle episode, and this one is just magnificent. Excellent client, great mark, fantastic additional characters, wonderful episode for the team. All around just, so good. Not surprising if Frakes and Boylan are at the wheel together, of course.

The addition of Cora is so lovely. I would have loved to see more of her, to be honest. She is such a great character. I love what her presence does to who we see Nate as. I adore when characters get to show new sides of themselves, it's so nice. Also, Nate's comment to Eliot about him not wanting Eliot to like Cora because she's like his niece? Most excellent.

I adore our three police officers too. Mickey, Danny and Johnny are such great additions. I really liked them. How they just went with whatever Nate was planning and in the end decided to just pretend none of this ever happened, it's just so good.

Doyle and the Liams as our villains of the week are also just fantastic. Also I just love Irish accents, it sounds so good. I love to hear it.

Other highlights of this episode include: Tara's "I'm Trish and I'm lonely", the kids going for their individual emergency funds stashed in Nate's place (they are all so fantastically in character, I love it), Nate using his dad's name as his alias, everyone stopping to see if Nate is going to succumb to the booze again, Hardison's excitement about pulling off the wire in under 2h, Hardison faking the weather, Eliot and Parker on safe duty. Also, rewatching this episode, I am absolutely 100% convinced that what Eliot is doing to distract the Liams from Tara conning Doyle, absolutely categorises as flirting. The way he throws that dart at the board and then buys them beer? Mr Spencer, sir, you are flirting with these guys.

212: THE ZANZIBAR MARKETPLACE JOB

D: JEREMIAH CHECHIK. W: MELISSA GLENN & JESSICA RIEDER (GRASL). Original Air Date: 27 January 2010.

The wonder twins with yet another magnificent episode. No surprises here. We have not just the return of Maggie but also of Sterling! We love this!!! (Seriously, I want both of them back in the reboot. I don't care that they're most closely tied to Nate. Bring them back.)

This episode has so many absolutely excellent moments as well. I love the opening sequence in the bar, with them going over possible next clients together, Nate kicking Eliot for flirting with the bartender, and then of course also Sterling walking in. The interaction Nate and Eliot have here is just fantastic.

Sterling: *walks in* Nate: Eliot, I'm gonna ask you not do do anything violent. Eliot: Wha-what are you talking about? I only use violence as an appropriate response. Sterling: Hello, Nate. Eliot: *responds appropriately*

And to think that Sterling only gets beat up here because Mark Sheppard's son was visiting the set that day and wanted to see his dad get beat up by Eliot. We stan one Sheppard Jr.

I very much love the scene where Nate and Sterling go over what they have on Lundy, and then Parker interrupting them out of nowhere, just sitting there on the counter, like she's been there forever (which she probably has). Also just, fantastic clothes on Parker, thank you Nadine. Maggie showing up here is of course also brilliant and I am very fond of Parker making Maggie a fugitive bag. It is so completely adorable. I love my girl so much.

Another favourite moment is, of course, Tara and Eliot getting Chernov to tell them where the sale of the Fabergé egg will take place. Tara not saying a damn thing, Eliot grumpily doing what Tara tells him to ("Do that thing with your eyes that scares people" / "What -- I don't know what you're talking about"), Chernov's complete unease about this whole entire situation, and then of course Tara and Eliot's other interaction:

Tara: What we imagine is always so much better than reality. Eliot, with the tiniest voice possible: Like love? Tara: *just stares at him, confused*

Just, *chef's kiss* this scene.

The scenes in the embassy are also just excellent. Tara and Nate pretending to be a couple, Nate's inability to deal with the idea of Maggie and Alexander, Maggie and Tara hysterically giggling while talking about Nate, Sterling pretending to be drunk (and incredibly gay) to get Parker access to the egg room -- brilliance, all the way through.

I adore Eliot taking charge of the situation once it becomes clear that Maggie and Nate have been taken hostage. Parker doing her magic and switching the bomb with the empty briefcase in the elevators is beautiful. Maggie kissing Nate instead of Lundy in what could have been their final moment and regretting it instantly the moment Parker shows up is excellent.

And the final scene back at McRory's is also just wonderful. The kids watching the news about Sterling with Tara ("I hate this guy" / "Now, you're part of the team"), and Nate talking with Maggie. I adore Maggie in this scene so much. Her and Nate's relationship is so lovely. We know Sophie understands how Nate ticks, but Maggie knows him so well too, still.

213: THE FUTURE JOB

D: MARC ROSKIN. W: CHRIS DOWNEY & AMY BERG. Original Air Date: 03 February 2010.

This episode is so good for so many reasons. First off, I adore Luke Perry (I'm still sad about him) even if he plays creeps like Rand in most everything I've seen him in. He was just so good. Second, Medium Tara is probably my favourite role of hers. It's a lot softer than many of the other characters she's done, and I love it. Also the costuming is just excellent.

But I want to talk about Parker most of all. The scene where Rand cold reads her is so well done. Riesgraf knocked it out of the park here. Also, I love how Nate, as soon as Rand starts approaching and doing his act, barely ever takes his eyes off her. He occasionally glances at Rand, but his attention is on Parker at all times. And it just makes me feel things.

The team coming back to Nate's to find Parker sitting on the floor in front of the couch, crying also makes me super emo. They are all so very careful with her here. Even Tara, who hasn't been with them for that long. I quite like how Eliot and Hardison choose to sit a bit away, giving her space, and Nate carefully approaches and sits closest to her. They are all so good with her here, I love them all so much. And I absolutely adore this part of the conversation:

Tara: So what do we do now? Parker: Cut off his arms. And his head. Yeah. I wanna kill him. Can we make that happen? Eliot: Yeah, I can...I mean, I could...

Also earlier, after Tara acknowledges that Rand is good at what he does, Hardison says "He should be shot." I adore how both our boys would not hesitate to end this man for hurting Parker like this. That's their girl and he went too damn far. And even though Nate suggests a way of retaliation that is less final, he isn't above hurting the man either. Because that's his girl, too:

Hardison: Nate had me rig the table with a mild electrical current. Eliot: You electrocuted him? Nate, smugly: Yes, I did. It helped sell the bit. Parker: I approve. Nate: Thanks, Parker. Eliot: No, her agreeing with you is not a good thing. Nate, whispering to Parker: Thanks.

And add to that the absolute joy each and every one of them have when fucking with Rand to fulfil Tara's predictions? *Chef's kiss.* Absolutely beautiful.

There is so much more absolutely fantastic content in this episode, but I just wanna point out the ending where they meet with the client again. Nate is so good with them here. The way he talks to Jodie about her baby and how she will see her late husband in the child, makes me cry every damn time. Just like Tara says, "Yeah, now I see why you do it," this is why this show is so damn good. It's because of this exactly. Because for one shining moment within so much suck and tragedy, there is goodness and a wrong that has been made right. They help people and it isn't just fleeting momentary relief. They change people's lives for the better. I love this fucking show so much.

214: THE THREE STRIKES JOB

D: DEAN DEVLIN. W: JOHN ROGERS. Original Air Date: 10 February 2010.

First half of the second finale! Patrick Bonanno my beloved! I get so sad every time he gets shot here. My man deserves better than this. I love Bonanno so damn much, man. I absolutely adore that Nate goes to see his family at the hospital. Like, this is a cop. The very opposite side of the law Nate and his people operate on. But he goes to see him anyway, because this is their cop. And I love that Bonanno's wife recognises Nate's name. "He wanted to buy you a drink. And then arrest you." That's just so good.

I also absolutely love Richard Kind as Brad Culpepper, the corrupt mayor. I would love to see him back in the reboot, but I doubt there'd be any reasonable explanation why on earth they'd have to see this particular mayor again. I just think Richard Kind is an absolutely fantastic actor.

Anyway, favourite moments. Hardison and Eliot at Bonanno's house is beautiful. I am so fond of how Hardison deals with law enforcement while impersonating law enforcement. He tears them down and builds them back up again, every single time. And I adore how Eliot just smiles at his antics. He crawls around on that carpet with the young cop and Eliot just stands there and smiles. I love them, guys. I really do. Parker pretending to be Brad's pregnant lover with Tara's help is also just most excellent.

And of course: Roy Chappell. Baseball Eliot, my most beloved. There is so much to love about this whole concept. Eliot's reluctance at first because he doesn't like baseball. The discovery that baseball is actually something cool and something he is good at. His absolute childlike joy at the energy drink commercial Hardison made him. His damn hair during the actual game. The sandwich! The enthusiasm about the sandwich. Hardison admitting that the sandwich thing is cool.

I also absolutely love Hardison and Parker as Beavers Fans. The badly photoshopped picture of Dean Devlin and John Rogers as the radio hosts makes me smile so much. So does hearing their voices on the show. Both Hardison and Parker's phone calls to them are also brilliant. Parker speaking Spanish? Marvelous. The two of them demonstrating the Beavers leaving? *Chef's kiss.*

The final showdown with Brad and then the FBI is also just most excellent. Nate going ballistic on Brad because of Bonanno. Hardison and Lucille. Parker giving Lucille a little kiss before they send her to explode as a distraction. Hardison quoting Spock to say goodbye to Lucille. Hardison being pissed at Nate about Lucille. And of course: Jim Sterling, Interpol. The bastard. I love him.

215: THE MALTESE FALCON JOB

D: DEAN DEVLIN. W: JOHN ROGERS. Original Air Date: 17 February 2010.

Second half of second finale! And it's a good one, too. This show has absolutely brilliant finales, lemme tell you.

What do we love about this episode? MUCH. Tara's naked bit is excellent. Eliot and Parker sharing a look after watching Tara's naked bit is even better. Parker turning on the porn channels on the hotel tv is hilarious. Eliot talking to the receptionist about the gym is hysterical ("Ah, the fitness spa. Isn't the Zen Steam Garden divine?" / "Yeah....delicious").

Nate on stairs vs Sterling in elevator is probably the pettiest thing I have ever watched on television and it is absolutely amazing. I don't think anything can ever top this as pettiest moment. It is just so good.

Sterling, of course, is always great fun. I love that he has his own little villain theme that announces him before he even enters the screen. Love a good villain theme. And I adore his moment with FBI Bob outside Brad's hotel room.

Sterling: Name's Bob, right? Bob: Yes, sir. Sterling: You've been here the whole time, Bob? Bob: Yes, sir. Sterling: And nobody's gone in or out, Bob? Bob: No, sir. Sterling: Then would you mind explaining, where the HELL THE MAYOR IS?!

Absolutely perfect.

Nate going back to his place always has me all up in my emotions. Also, I think Sterling here absolutely believes that what he is offering Nate, is good for him. That he can save him from himself or something. They were something like friends at some point, after all. And of course, Nate calling Sophie. She is, of course, unbeknownst to him, already on the way to save his ass. But he calls her and finally tells her exactly what she wanted to hear at the end of The Ice Man Job: "I need you. Not the team, me." Sir. I am emo about you.

And then of course the final con and the reveal of Sophie's return. I absolutely love that Parker's first reaction to Tara possibly betraying them was to try and throw her off the roof. That's my girl (I love Tara, but that was fair). Also just, if you pay attention on the boat scenes, you can see Sophie from as early as Kadjic hearing Nate's offer and then leading Nate and Eliot below deck. If you can pick out her hair and know the colour of her coat from the scene in the helicopter, you know that she is there. And then, below deck, you can see her so many times -- at one point essentially back to back with Nate -- before any of the characters know she's there. And can I just say, I absolutely love Nate's completely shocked face when he hears her voice. Those comedically big eyes are just excellent.

Everyone seeing Sophie again is done so well. Hardison and Eliot's confused "Sophie?" when she walks past. Eliot winking at Sophie after they free Nate. Parker hugging her immediately once her and Tara arrive on the ship. Hardison putting his hand on the small of her back as he passes by her to go down the stairs. I just love them all so much.

And lastly of course, the reveal of the plan, Nate cuffing himself to the railing and making Sterling leave his family alone. What Nate says to them always makes me so emo too: "You guys are the most honourable people I have ever met in my life. You have become my family, my only family. And I will never forget that." John Rogers, sir, we need to have some words once I get this lake out of my eyes. And I obviously can't not mention the kiss. Finally, finally Nate gets his shit together. And she slaps him and it is perfect. And then they leave and he sits down and bleeds and Sterling, for a moment, is genuinely concerned about Nate as a person and not merely about Nate as his only way to nail Kadjic.

Bob: Who the hell is this guy? Sterling: I have no idea. Nate: My name is Nate Ford. And I'm a thief.

Yes. Yes you are, you magnificent bastard.

[image taken from the electricnow website]

#tv blogging #rewatch blogging #leverage #leverage tnt #nate ford #tim hutton #sophie devereaux #gina bellman #eliot spencer #christian kane #alec hardison #aldis hodge #parker #beth riesgraf #john rogers #the beantown bailout job #the tap out job #the order 23 job #the fairy godparents job #the three days of the hunter job #the top hat job #the two live crew job #the ice man job #the lost heir job #the runway job #the bottle job #the zanzibar market place job #the future job #the three strikes job #the maltese falcon job

[katara0524]

Impromptu Ramblings about the NEO:TWEWY Demo

In case y'all weren't aware, I've been a pretty big fan of TWEWY for a couple years now, and with the sequel coming out next month, the excitement I feel for this game is greater than ever :) I played the Demo for the first time yesterday, and following a couple views of some livestreams of others playing it, I felt like sharing my (very ramble-y) thoughts prior to the release of the full game. This post WILL contain spoilers for both TWEWY and NEO:TWEWY, so if you want to avoid those from now on, please block the tags: #twewy spoilers, #ntwewy spoilers, #neo twewy spoilers, #ntwewy, and #neo twewy ^_^ Oh, and if you wanna keep up with any other posts I make about my experience with this game, please refer to the tag "kat plays neo twewy" :)

-First things first: I have not watched the Final Trailer and I don't plan on doing so to avoid spoilers, especially after the pre-release era of KH3 where a lot of the later trailers spoiled a lot of the endgame content. That being said, I've seen some minor screenshots from the final trailer including what many believe to be characters from the original TWEWY, namely Shiki and Joshua. That is all I know about the Final Trailer and I would very much like to remain as blind as possible going into NEO :)

-The very first cutscene was quite ominous in the sense that this game is likely going to be about "changing fate" (a recently common theme in Squeenix games, which I do appreciate), perhaps leading off from the end of A New Day in the OG and trying to stop an Inversion of Shibuya. Also worth noting that A New Day had similar aspects in which the main character experienced "future visions" of tragic events, although in A New Day these events were not able to be changed, while in NEO it seems like one of the main "powers" our protagonist has is specifically to rewrite these events and avoid a "bad ending." Very interesting indeed!

-I really like the revamped comic book style dialogue scenes, it's much more fluid and modern, which is an excellent direction for the series to take!

-I would love to have an actual PokemonGO knockoff of Final Fantasy creatures, please Squeenix that would be incredibleeeeee

-Also the LINE stickers??? Are so cute???

-I would just like to point out that Fret is an absolute treasure throughout this entire demo, he's hilarious and I will protect him with my life

-UHHHH don't like that Fret picked up some Reaper Pins just out of nowhere.....or the fact that they're apparently popular all over Shibuya.............did y'all not learn anything from the OG game or what lmao

-Okay so when I first got the "curry or ramen" scene and heard NPCs talking about the new curry place replacing the old ramen place I became IMMENSELY distressed that Ramen Don was totally cut from the game because....well, Ramen Don is a King okay?? But I'm glad to learn that no, he didn't fall off the face of the earth, he's still in business and he's the one opening the curry restaurant lolol. PHEW, crisis averted!

-.....I don't like the sudden appearance of a Wall Reaper and being able to read NPC thoughts. Wtf happened when they left the ramen place??? Are they playing the Game alive somehow?

-Okay so I have my own theories about this "Swallow" character and what they're up to but considering this is only the Demo and I still Have No Idea What's Happening, I'm just gonna say that I think Swallow intentionally led Rindo and Fret to the Crossing so they could join the Game. I mean, add in the fact that Swallow still communicates with Rindo during the Game and you've got yourself a suspicious character right there lol

-"Hey they're shooting off fireworks!" Fret honey that's not fireworks oof (see also: "*laughs* I'm in danger")

-WOOOOOO way to traumatize Rindo right off the bat like that LMAOO

-The visuals for the intro are VERY GOOD, the song is pretty decent until it gets all "screamo" (which I absolutely cannot stand sorry lol)

-Shoka is every Customer Service employee ever and I respect that

-Susukichi went from being "meh" to "WOW THIS GUY IS FUN" in the span of 10 seconds and I also respect that (he is also built like an Absolute Unit which is hilarious)

-The Wall Reapers (and just Reapers in general) seem.....way nicer and more helpful this time around?? Like in the OG the Wall Reapers were SO RUDE gfhjgjdfkhn and yeah I'm sure we'll get some like that but the juxtaposition of the first Wall Reaper in the OG compared to the first one in NEO is insane.

-The puzzles are quite a bit more entertaining this time around even if it's generally the same "fetch quest" formula lol

-"Rindo's Group" way to go Fret HFKJDGHSDFKJ mans really left the default name in there lmao

-OKAYOKAYOKAY so to those who aren't aware I am a MASSIVE SIMP for Sho Minamimoto, he's my absolute favorite and I think about him daily. HIS INTRODUCTION IS. INCREDIBLE. I LOVE IT SM.

-GOD hearing him actually SPEAK FULL SENTENCES is just SO SURREAL I love this sm

-Also the remix of his theme???? NEO TRANSFORMATION????? IT'S SO GOOD????????? It's like gone from a Boss Theme to a more triumphant sounding theme and I am HERE for it (every version of Transformation is just INCREDIBLE and getting a new one is even better)

-I Love Him, Your Honor

-Also idk how exactly but it's kinda weird seeing Sho in the OG vs NEO, cuz while he's mostly the same Insane Math-Obsessed Catboy, he's.....calmed down quite a bit?? Like OG made a whole point of how poorly he cooperates with others (not to mention just being completely unhinged and trying to kill everyone), whereas here in NEO he's......actually kinda working with others??? HELLO???? Sir what happened to you and Neku during those 3 years I would love to know all about it

-I guarantee you Sho is still probably scheming shite and will likely pull some total insane BS later down the road, and I am very much looking forward to that. Also, is he looking for a certain Pin or something??? Cuz he keeps talking about different Pins and even mentions "this is just another Psych Pin" like he's actively looking for a Pin to do something with. Maybe it also has to do with the "latent powers of Players" thing he mentioned as well??? What is this dude UP TO oml (also is he in contact with Neku at all?? they're both technically fugitives at this point right?? WHAT HAPPENED AFTER A NEW DAY I AM BEGGING YOU)

-I seems like Sho ALSO has an idea of what's going on in this specific game (even if he won't admit it straightforward). Per his quote "The game's 142,857. Factor it out," he's essentially saying, "This game is a neverending cyle, figure out how to get out of it" (or at least that's what I got from his "cyclic number" nonsense lolol)

-I do like how Sho mostly stays out of sight until he's needed for a battle or assisting with a mission, that's kind of on par with his whole "uncooperative" quirk from the OG, plus he might literally have to stay out of sight of other Reapers and Players considering he's likely breaking the rules of the Game (not surprising considering him and Neku broke practically every rule in the book during OG)

-The nicknames for Sho- I can't- They're so FUNNYYYY GFHJSDFKJ

-He goes from being called "Pi-Face" and "Tabooty" in OG to "Mr. Minami" and "M-Teezy" in NEO LMAOO

-(Wowee I just realized I've been mostly talking about Sho oopsies sorry y'all, this is what I meant by thinking about him almost daily he is THAT much of a fav of mine ghfkjsd)

-Okay RIP Fret and Rindo for not getting literally ANY explanation as to how the Game works OOF, that is kinda cringe that whoever gets the Pin earns points, not whoever erases the Noise (which like I understand but also URRRGGHHH I WANNA SEE THE SQUAD SUCCEED)

-"I should be going home now it's getting late" Oh you sweet summer child-

-Also love the mention of parents in this game???? KH you could learn a thing or two from TWEWY (poor Rindo's mom fhgjkdh)

-KUBO IS HILARIOUS I SUPPORT HIM AND HIS GROSS FACE (also thank you Final Trailer thumbnail for spoiling my suspicions about him very cool smh)

-Kaie is a LAD I also support him, go King type those funky texts I believe in you

-FRET PLS STOP SCANNING FHGJKSDHKJFGHFKJ he's like me when I scan in OG during Weeks 2 and 3 and see Taboo Noise coming after me ghfjdshfj

-Also Rindo can you stay off your phone for TWO SECONDS ik you're trying to figure things out but Fret is a jelly boi and I don't want him to be upset with you my guy

-Sho being an actual sorta mentor to the kiddos?? Who are you sir this is so unlike you ghfgskj what happened to the guy who tried shooting children in the face 8 times over LMAO (granted he's probably just using them but it's still nice to see him actually cooperating and sharing knowledge with the kiddos aaaaa)

-EYO EIJI OJI THE TIKTOK INFLUENCER IS BACK LMAO

-hgjkfshgkjf "we aren't glorifying capitalism on my watch" THATS SO FUNNY TO ME GFHJFSDGHJKS (also an all-orange ensemble is disgusting you deserve jail for one thousand years fkn Cheddar Goldfish Cheezit ass woman)

-WICKED TWISTERS NAME DROP EYOOO we love to see it

-gfhsgjf Poor Rindo embarassing himself for the sake of the Game that's incredible

-R e t u r n t o M O N K E. That is all.

-Dialogue during boss battles is HELLA cool i love that

-HHHHH THE KANON SCENE MADE ME A N G E R Y FRET STOP SIMPING MY GUY says the girl with a Literal Simp Encyclopedia and simps for pixels on a screen daily

-Can't wait to see the other Reapers :eyes emoji:

-CAN'T WAIT TO SEE NAGI MY BELOVED YEAHHHH WOOOOOO AAAAND that's about it for the demo lolol, I absolutely CANNOT wait for next month, this game is gonna be INCREDIBLE holy hell Prepare for more simping, more screaming, and more vibing from Yours Truly :) I fully intend on sharing more general thoughts like this on both Tumblr and Twitter so it's not just reblog-retweet-reblog-retweet with the occasional comment fhgskjd

If you wanna witness my insanity up close and personal I have a Square Enix Discord server called Sea Side Dreamers! You can look it up on Disboard, or you can add me on Discord @Katara0524#9244 for a direct link :) We have topics about Kingdom Hearts, Final Fantasy, NieR, and ofc TWEWY (as well as other topics!), so if you want some good ol' chaos and chitchat, you're more than welcome to join!

#neo twewy #ntwewy #neo twewy spoilers #ntwewy spoilers #twewy #neo: the world ends with you #the world ends with you #twewy spoilers #twewy rindo #rindo kanade #twewy fret #tosai furesawa #twewy sho #sho minamimoto #long post #also shameless Discord plug lmaooo #kat plays neo twewy

[wickedobsessed101]

Fanfic Writer Asks

[SOURCE: criminal-minds-fanfiction: Most of the writer ask posts I come across are only like ten or so questions long so I thought I’d try to make a longer one because we like talking about our writing! Feel free to reblog!]

I’m answering all of these b/c I love Q & A’s about my writing, both for my fics and other things.

1) How old were you when you first starting writing fanfiction? It was 2013, so I was 14 years old. I’m now almost 23.

2) What fandoms do you write for and do you have a particular favourite if you write for more than one? I’m mostly in the Wicked Musical fandom, but I like to read for other fandoms, like Harry Potter, Percy Jackson, Chronicles of Narnia, ect.

3) Do you prefer writing OC’s or reader inserts? Explain your answer. OCs, but I’m more than willing to create an OC for someone based on characteristics they give me.

4) What is your favourite genre to write for? I love me some fluffy romance and hurt/comfort, but I also love some angsty drama.

5) If you had to choose a favourite out of all of your multi-chaptered stories, which would it be and why? OMG, don’t make me choose! They’re all my babies! I love all my children equally! They all hold special places in my heart.

6) If you had to delete one of your stories and never speak of it again, which would it be and why? Goodness, most of my stories prior to 2017, because I was in high school and had no idea what I was doing because I was just getting my feet wet with writing.

7) When is your preferred time to write? Anytime really. The latest I’ve stayed up writing a fic was 4AM. *Glares at ‘Threads of Truth’*

8) Where do you take your inspiration from? Where ever it happens to come up. I’m not picky. Movies, music, people I’ve seen on the street, random thoughts that enter my head, anything.

9) In your xxx fic, what’s your favourite scene that you wrote? In ‘Threads of Truth’, it’s a tie between Villy’s first date, and an argument that happens in an upcoming chapter. And that’s all I’m saying about that.

10) In your xxx fic, why did you decide to end it like that? Did you have an alternative ending in mind? In ‘Play The Game’, I liked the epilogue ending that I gave Elphaba with her family, even without Fiyero. I like writing her with kids. Another ending would be with the Fiyeraba still together, but I’m satisfied with the ending it has.

11) Have you ever amended a story due to criticisms you’ve received after posting it? I’ll go back and fix typos that are pointed out, but I don’t change plot stuff. Like, I wrote what I wrote and I will amend my technique in future stories.

12) Who is your favourite character to write for? Why? Other than my OCs, because I get to fully create them and my lowkey babies, I’d have to say G(a)linda. She has so much potential and she’s so much fun.

13) Who is your least favourite character to write for? Why? Boq. Not because I hate him (I don’t!), but because I don’t normally know what to do with him. If he’s not with Nessa, he’s literally just standing there like a brick wall. No offence, Boq!

14) How did you come up with the title for the xxx? - You can ask about multiple stories. [Ask me about a specific story(ies)]

15) If you write OC’s, how do you decide on their names? I usually change consonants and vowels to already existing names, or add unnecessary letters because... reasons.

16) How did you come up with the idea for xxx? [Ask me about a specific story]

17) Post a line from a WIP that you’re working on. “Hopefully, this will soak up any more leaks.” (Upcoming Wicked fanfic)

18) Do you have any abandoned WIP’s? What made you abandon them? Yes, 2. Both of them are a few years old and I’ve grown as a writer since then. Maybe one day, I’ll edit them and repost, but not anytime soon.

19) Are there any stories that you’ve written that you’d really love to do a sequel to? Not everything can have a sequel, y’all! XD

20) Are there any stories that you wished you’d ended differently? Yes! Around 60% of them.

21) Tell me about another writer(s) who you admire? What is it about them that you admire? @vinkunwildflowerqueen @raven-curls @mylittleelphie @weaselspeedfanfic Ultimate Queen of Cliffies

22) Do you have a story that you look back on and cringe when you reread it? This goes back to Question #6; most of what I posted prior to 2017.

23) Do you prefer listening to music when you’re writing or do you need silence? Silence. I need to focus.

24) How do you feel about writing smutty scenes? I can’t write it. They’ll make out, and then be pregnant in the next chapter. Y’all can do the math for yourselves.

25) Have you ever cried whilst writing a story? YES! Yes, I have! Both sad tears and tears of joy. I’ve also cringed from second-hand embarrassment at the things the characters do and say. I’m not in control of their actions all the time. Sometimes they tell me what they’re gonna do, and I’m like, “Well, alright, then.”

26) Which part of your xxx fic was the hardest to write? [Ask me about a specific story]

27) Do you make a general outline for your stories or do you just go with the flow? I write bullet points of things I want to happen in a chapter on the Word Doc, or in the story as a whole, and I try to keep those bullet points in order. And the Notes App on my phone holds a lot of my ideas, and sometimes full scenes.

28) What is something you wished you’d known before you started posting fanfiction? That I’d become obsessed with writing and continue doing it for almost ten years, as well as expanding to writing plays and musicals.

29) Do you have a story that you feel doesn’t get as much love as you’d like? Yeah. I’m not gonna say which one, but just know there’s one... or a few.

30) In contrast to 29 is there a story which gets lots of love which you kinda eye roll at? Yes, and I’m still not gonna say which one(s). I want all the love!

31) Send me a fic recommendation and I’ll post it for my followers to see! (The asker is to send the rec, not the answerer) Yeah, sure!

32) Are any of your characters based on real people? Yes. Villy Doiir from ‘Threads of Truth’ is based on 4 people I know in real life, all mixed together into one wholesome, mother figure/ mentor. Perhaps that’s why I like writing her so much.

33) What’s the biggest compliment you’ve gotten? All reviews keep me going, no matter the length. But I love it when people review saying that they picked up on little references that were really just for me. It makes me feel like we’ve shared a moment.

34) What’s the harshest criticism you’ve gotten? A guest reviewer once said, “You tend to write Fiyero as an abusive person”. It wasn’t harsh, just... NOT TRUE. Especially for the story they were reviewing.

35) Do you share your story ideas with anyone else or do you keep them close to your chest? Close to my chest. I’ll share it with the world when I’m ready.

36) Can you give us a spoiler for one of your WIP’s? NOPE! You’ll just have to wait and see! LOL!

37) What’s the funniest story you’ve written? I... really don’t know. My stories all have their funny moments.

38) If you could collab with any other writer on here, who would it be? (Perhaps this question will inspire some collabs!) If you’re shy, don’t tag the blog, just name it. I’m very busy, and collabs aren’t really my thing, but I’m always willing to lend an extra pair of eyes pre-posting.

39) Do you prefer first, second or third person? I’ve written one story in the first person and it was fun to get into the character’s head, but I love third person, cause I like knowing what everyone is thinking. Second person makes me feel a certain way and that don’t really like.

40) Do people know you write fanfiction? IRL, no. It’s not something I bring up over dinner. I’ll talk about my plays and musicals, but not fanfiction. I like keeping my fics for the online peeps and my more personal writings for the RL peeps.

41) What’s you favourite minor character you’ve written? My OC, Princess Hannalyn, from ‘A Royal Romance’. She was so much fun!

42) Song fic - What made you decide to use the song xxx for xxx. I haven’t done a song fic.

43) Has anyone ever guessed the plot twist of one of your fics before you posted it? Not fully, but they’ve had little inklings, but certain details were still a surprise. And I’m not mad about it.

44) What is the last line you wrote? “I don’t want this to be the last time we see each other.”

45) What spurs you on during the writing process? When I’ll have one idea, and it spirals into many others, and when the characters write themselves. It makes it so much easier for me. Sometimes they tell me that they’re about to make a bad decision, and I just go along with it. They need to learn and grow somehow.

46) I really loved your xxx fic. If you were ever to do a sequel, what do you think might happen in it? [Ask me for a specific story]

47) Here’s a fic title - insert a made up title. What would this story be about? [Ask me]

48) What’s your favourite trope to write? I love a good Royalty AU (not fully AU ‘cause of our princey-prince, but still) and Holiday AUs. And I’ve never written a Coffeeshop AU, but I LOVE reading them. I’ll read anything. I’m not picky, and I love to see what ideas others have.

49) Can you remember the first fic you read? What was it about? Yes, and both of them were Gelphies: 1 - “Easier Said Than Done” by mecelphie - It’s part of a long, wonderful series of Elphaba and Glinda together at Shiz and how their lives evolve together and has many lovable OCs. 2 - “The Thropp Diaries” by denpa wave chick saki - It’s first-person Elphaba POV of the book. It expands on lots of mentioned moments and we get to journey through Elphaba’s thoughts.

50) If you could write only angst, fluff or smut for the rest of your writing life, which would it be and why? I’d have to say fluff, so I can get my escape from reality. But it’s hard to write pure fluff without a little bit of conflict.

If you wanna read my stories, they’re all right here: Fae’sFlower

#wicked the musical #wicked #wicked fanfiction #fiyeraba fanfic #faesflower #Q & A #Fiyeraba #gelphie #Elphaba #Fiyero #Glinda #Galinda #fanfiction #fanfic #fanfiction.net #let me tell you about my writing and my stories #writer #Q & A with Nia

[raveneira]

Since Yashahime is such a dumpster fire Im just gonna rewrite the sequel to what I THINK would have been the better alternative to the whole SessRin situation and also some story elements that could really be improved and would make this series alot better.

For starters, if we HAD to go the SessRin route then I would make it take place 21 years after the end of final act, Kagome was 18 when she returned to the feudal era and 3 years had passed at the end of the final act which made her 21, Rin should have been about 11-12 at that point, if we count 21 years from then, Kagome would be 42 while Rin would be 32-33, meaning when the twins were born Rin was 18-19, I know that might make ppl a bit uncomfortable still but atleast she would be a legitimate adult where you can atleast say "alright...Im KIND of ok with this, I still dont like it but atleast she is technically an adult capable of consenting and not a literal child being taken advantage of"

Thats if they HAD to go the SessRin route, then I would atleast make it done tastefully where it doesnt promote pedophilia, plus the old gang being in their 40s wouldnt be that big a deal because they'd still be capable of fighting.

Now for my PERSONAL take on how the sequel should have taken place, SessRin wouldnt happen at all, because the beauty of their relationship stemmed from this ruthless cold hearted demon who hated humans, learned to love and care for a small child to the point of nearly crying when he thought he lost her for good, there are all different kinds of love and the love Sesshomaru had for Rin was pure and innocent. He was someone she adored as her savior and caretaker and she was someone he cared for and wanted to protect, to me that bond was far more impactful and meaningful than anything romantic or sexual building up between them, but simply two people whom the other simply cannot live without because they mean THAT much to eachother. Such a pure and sweet relationship did NOT need to be twisted into a romantic and sexual light. Rin could have continued to adore Sesshomaru and he could have continued to check up on her and bring her gifts as he did in the final act until Rin decided she wanted to travel with him again.

Now onto the rewrite, as I stated SessRin WOULDNT happen and their bond would remain as it was in the OG series, so who would be the twins mother? well if we HAD to go the half demon route to show Sesshomaru's development full circle, and we didnt wanna undo Kagura's death because it was a critical moment for Sesshomaru's development, there were several other routes that could have been taken.

1 Create a new character and develop her over the course of Yashahime through a series of flashbacks as we unravel the mystery of what happened to everyone through the girls travels. If you want to go the angsty route you could have her die giving birth and have Rin raise them as a sort of surrogate mother figure, kind of like Clementine with AJ.

2 Use an already established character, one possibility being Nazuna, a human girl that debuted back in the early OG series, she had black hair and black eyes but as we see from Yashahime, the girls clearly didnt inherit their mothers looks as in the OG series Rin's hair was black and her eyes are brown while Setsuna's hair is brown and she has blue/purple eyes while Towa has red eyes, features that neither of their parents have. They also have a random red streak in their hair for some reason. 

So based on this, Nazuna would be a good possible candidate as she was a teenager in the OG series and would be an adult by the end of the series when she would give birth. [Correct me if Im wrong about her age but she looks like a teenager, but if Im wrong then I would just adjust the timeline to where she would be an adult at the time she gives birth]

Another potential candidate would be Momiji, true she may have been anime only but since this is an anime only sequel she is a plausible candidate. She has red/auburn hair which would explain the strange red streak in the twins hair. Like Nazuna, she was a teenager in the OG series so she would also be an adult by the time she'd conceive and give birth.

Another candidate would be Kaname Kururugi, a game exclusive character, but the fact that they went through the trouble of creating a complete OC and fleshed out her backstory to such a degree and allowed her to build relationships with established characters, including Sesshomaru, its safe to say they could have incorperated her into the anime canon considering they already had an established foundation they could have just built off of and meshed it into the anime. Plus she has brown hair and blue/purple eyes just like Setsuna.

Now that we have all the potential candidates, who's the one that seems the most plausible? In my opinion, I would personally go the Kaname route because she has such a deep and fleshed out backstory and they actually took the time to even animate scenes specifically for this game, so she does TECHNICALLY make an appearance in the anime, just not in an actual episode. And just like Kagome, she could have grown fond of the feudal era as well and wished to go back and somehow found a way to do so at the end of the Final act or maybe a month or year later after Kagome returned.

So going with the Kaname route, I'll begin my rewrite.

Being as Sesshomaru hasnt seen her since she was 15 like Kagome and vanished for several years, when he finally sees her again she will now be 18-19 when they reunite and a relationship would start to build and ensue.

Continuing where the game left off, Kaname would continue on with her normal life as Kagome did and eventually graduate when she is 18. She would still often think about her time in the feudal era and miss all the people she spent time with and bonded with there, one person specifically being Sesshomaru.

^ A refresher for those who forgot the Sesshomaru ending.

As she comes home from graduation, another Doll Festival of Wishes is being held and it reminds her of Sesshomaru whom she wishes to see again, she goes and buys one of the dolls and writes his name on it as she did when she first returned home, thinking to herself that its no use and is probably a waste of time, but with what little hope she has left, she does the ritual anyway.

Afterwards she goes over to her father to help him with the festival, who like last time asks her to go get something from the storehouse. As she enters the storehouse, the hole in which she fell through before has been patched up, as she walks through the storehouse, she walks on the patched up floor which caves in when she walks on it and she is once again transported to the feudal era.

She once again lands in a forest not far from where Kaede lives, as she wakes up, she is greeted by Sesshomaru, who had saw her unconscious on his way to visit Rin and watched over her till she woke up. Overjoyed and also in disbelief, she hugs him which surprises Sesshomaru who isnt used to recieving this type of affection but he doesnt push her away, nor does he reciprocate by hugging her back.

As she lets go she tells him how much she missed him and everyone there, then, noticing Rin wasnt with him, asks him where she was, worried that something might have happened to her. He reassures her that Rin is fine and that he was just on his way to visit her at Kaede's village which relieves Kaname. She goes with Sesshomaru back to Kaede's village where she reunites with everyone much to their surprise but they are all very happy to see her again.

Anyway Im not gonna do a play by play step by step storytelling so Im just gonna mention the main story beats and you guys can fill in the blanks for yourself.

Anyway after the happy reunion and catching up, Sesshomaru prepares to leave back on his travels which saddens Kaname who had longed to see him again and only got to be reunited with him a short time. Reluctant to be apart from him again, she asks, or rather insists he allows her to come with him on his travels. He tells her that if she comes with him it'll be a dangerous journey for her, she replies confidently that she can take care of herself and promises to not be a burden to him. Reluctant but not willing to argue, he tells her to do as she wishes and flies off. Kaname hops on A-Un and soon follows, and the two begin their travels together.

Thats pretty much how'd we leave off the final act, atleast a month or two after, you can decide your own timeline.

As for what happened on their journey and how their relationship developed will be shown through a series of flashbacks over the course of Yashahime as we solve more of the mysteries.

In episode 15, we'd get the same flashback but with Kaname being the one to give birth to the twins with Rin, Kagome, Sango, and Kaede there for her as support. It is said that when Sesshomaru and Kaname found out she was pregnant, he brought her back to the village where she could have a safe pregnancy and birth. Of course Sesshomaru isnt the mushy type to stay there with her through her pregnancy, but he does visit from time to time when giving gifts to Rin but also goes to check on her and see how she’s doing, although he doesnt admit thats what he’s doing.

After the twins were born, everything plays out relatively the same, but instead of just taking the twins without a word to her, he atleast reassures her that he's taking them someplace safe from harm, although he cant explain to her right now what that harm is, Kaname says she trusts him.

As I said, things play out relatively the same after that.

As for Rin, what exactly happens with her? well if we MUST pair her off with someone, it should be Kohaku, someone she has an established relationship and bond with that is closer to her age. Whether or not they have kids I'll leave up to you to decide, but I like the idea of Kohaku having a little demon slayer son to carry on their legacy. It would be interesting seeing his bond with Setsuna since Rin would essentially be like a sister figure for the twins although they dont remember her, it would be interesting and sweet to see Setsuna develop a bond with their son who for the sake of simplifying things, we'll call him Korin.

Korin, if we want Rin to be an adult at the time she gives birth, would be 4 years after Kaname gives birth to the twins when Rin is 18-19, making Korin 10 in the present. Like the twins, Korin has no memories of his mother since she was sealed away in a tree for whatever reason, so the only mother figure he's ever had has been Setsuna, which would be an interesting dynamic to explore since it would be similar to how Sesshomaru filled a parental role for Rin who didnt have anyone at the time.

Moroha would NOT be this uncaring about her parents, infact she would be insanely curious, maybe even furious wanting to figure out why they abandoned her and vanished without a word since nobody seems to have told her anything that happened. She would want answers and wouldnt stop until she gets them. The OG crew if we MUST have this mystery drawn out, would tell her that it would be better if she found out the truth for herself and that any answers they give her wouldnt be the answers she wants. So Moroha's driving force in the story wouldnt be about some stupid bounty hunting debt, although she could still be a bounty hunter, but her main motivation would be trying to discover the truth about her parents and why they abandoned her.

Also this BS with Koga giving her up would NOT happen, it just wouldnt, that is BEYOND OOC for him to do and I will not be having it. Instead, Koga would be IN character and not let Moroha out of his sight, he would treat her like kin like the rest of the wolf demon tribe, maybe even give her special treatment because of her connection to Kagome. Koga would train Moroha himself, not going easy on her because he wants her to be strong enough to fend for herself, concerned because of her being a quater demon and having her demon powers sealed, he’s hard on her to toughen her up to not have to rely on it. 

If we must include Yawaragi, then she would be sort of a bodyguard assigned to watch over Moroha by Koga for when he cant. The storyline of the rat armor would still relatively be the same but instead of selling Moroha off to some shady bounty hunter which Koga would never allow or forgive her for doing, she simply introduces him to her as a long time friend, Moroha would take interest in the bounty hunting business as an opporunity for training, and potentially finding info on her parents since Jyubei seems to have alot of connections and intel that’ll be useful in her journey. Yawaragi instead of pursuing the key alone would bring Moroha with her when they are approached by the shady demon whos name I cant be bothered to remember, he blackmails her with the key telling her to fight Moroha if she wants it, Moroha scoffs at this telling him that she wouldnt do that and that they’ll both fight him together to get the key instead, but to her surprise Yawaragi attacks her.

Everything plays out relatively the same, Moroha is hurt at her betrayal and lashes out at her. Yawaragi, like in the episode uses this fight as one final lesson for Moroha, with full intention on dying by the end of it. Moroha is hesitant to fight her because she still cares about her as she was like a second mentor and somewhat mother figure to her. So to get Moroha to fight seriously she lies to her by saying that everything was a lie and that she never cared about her etc I wont go into a ton of detail, Moroha is reluctant to believe her but is eventually convinced when she attacks her full power, seemingly with the intent to kill her. This pushes Moroha to fight seriously as well, remembering what she taught her about using her clever thinking and successfully strikes her down. 

After this she goes over to her and Yawaragi admits to lying to her so that she would fight because she knew chances are the shady demon wouldnt have given her the key and since the rat armor was close to killing her anyway she decided she would rather die by Moroha’s hands rather than being crushed to death by the armor. Moroha would be devestated and guiltridden since she is the reason she was in the cursed armor to begin with, but Yawaragi reassures her that it isnt her fault and that it was her own negligence to see through the trap that resulted in this outcome. As a reward for defeating her, she gives Moroha her sword [yes Moroha wouldnt have her sword until now] and tells her to get stronger with it so that she wouldnt have to rely on her rouge, but win using her own strength. Moroha promises her that she will and Yawaragi passes away shortly after that. Everything plays out relatively the same after that.

As for the twins their motivations can mostly stay the same, but they also wouldnt be so uncaring about their parents, or specifically Towa wouldnt. Towa would be furious at her father and want to find him and maybe even kill him for abandoning them and causing them to be separated with seemingly no regard for their safety. Setsuna can maintain her non caring attitude, but given Towa's upbringing in the modern era, it makes sense for her to be furious at her birth father's neglect after experiencing what a loving home and father feels like.

As for what happened to Kaname, like I said you could go the angsty route where she died giving birth, or you could have her be kidnapped and used as a bargaining chip to blackmail Sesshomaru into doing the enemies bidding. You could have it where Sesshomaru was able to prevent Rin from falling into the enemies hands but not Kaname. Or maybe Kaname sacrificed herself for Rin, agreeing to go with the enemy in exchange for them sparing Rin, which is what leads Sesshomaru to sealing Rin in the tree to prevent them from potentially coming back for her. You guys can come up with your own conclusions there, these are just some scenerios off the top of my head. But for the sake of the rewrite we'll go with Kaname being kidnapped and used to blackmail Sesshomaru.

I’ll make an actual rewrite in a separate post with how I would PERSONALLY make the sequel, this post is just me tweaking and making slight alterations to the way Sunrise chose to write the sequel, the separate post would be how I feel the sequel could have played out instead for the better.

#Anti-sessrin #anti sessrin #Hanyou no Yashahime #Yashahime: Princess Half-Demon #rewrite

[atlafan]

My Everything - Part Seven

A Take it Slow Sequel

What happens with Harry and Y/N after he proposes? How will the two navigate the engaged life while also continuing to juggle their jobs, friends, and families? Let’s find out.

Warnings: Angst, fluff, and smut! 

a/n: not proofread fam, I didn’t have the strength.

Masterpost

It was Louis and El’s first real weekend without Eliza May. Eleanor was taking it much better than she thought, probably since she’d be able to drink alcohol, and then she could just pump and dump. Her and Louis were getting their costumes on while you and Harry were doing the same.

“Will people even know what who we are?” He asks.

“Of course! We looks so cute too.” You kiss his cheek. “Now hold still so I can put your makeup on.”

You both walk out of your bedroom and see Lou and El in the living area, hanging out with Buster. They were dressed like their favorite soccer players. You and Harry were dressed up like Max and Roxanne from a Goofy Movie.

“You two look so cute!”

“Thanks!” You beam. “It was so easy to put together too.”

“You both ready?” Harry asks.

They both nod. You and Harry say goodbye to Buster, and across the street you go. When you walk in you see Niall dressed as The Flash and Wonder Woman.

“Now these are costumes.” You say, hugging them both. “Well done.”

“Look at the two of you! Very creative.” Sarah says. “Go get a load of Rachel and Mariah, they’re Harley and Black Canary.”

“Why did we not get the super hero memo?” Harry asks.

“None of us discussed it I swear!” She says.

You got find the two of them and say hello. You take a ton of pictures with your friends, and they make sure to take plenty of you and Harry. You feel sad when you see your friends taking tequila shots. Even Harry and the guys were drinking heavily.

“Everything okay, Y/N?” Eleanor asks you.

“Um…not really, no.”

“What’s wrong?”

“Nothing, it’s a stupid thing to be upset over.”

“I’m sure it’s not.” She smiles.

“I’m…on a specific type of medication that I have to take every day, and I can’t drink alcohol while I’m on it. I haven’t really drank since my birthday, and this is the first time I feel sad about it. I’m having fun, but…” You both look over at everyone. “I’m not having that kind of fun.”

“Well, I haven’t started to drink yet, so I won’t.”

“You don’t have to do that.”

“I really don’t mind. I made it nine months, remember?”

“Thanks.”

Niall and Sarah’s place was packed with people, and your very drunk fiancé was grinding on you while you danced. You could feel him growing harder against your ass, and it was starting to annoy you rather than turn you on. You turn around to face him.

“I’ll be right back, I need to use the bathroom.”

You step away from him and go down to the hall bath. You take a deep breath as you look at yourself in the mirror. El grabs Harry’s wrist before he can follow you.

“What?”

“I think you should start drinking some water.”

“Why?”

“Because…she told me she’s sad everyone’s having more fun than her.”

“She did?”

“Yeah…everyone’s pissed but her, Harry. Look around.” She gestures around to the people at the party. “She feels left out, H, and you’re not helpin’.”

“Shit.”

Harry stumbles into the kitchen and gets some water. You find him in there.

“What are you doing?”

“Nothin’, just think I’ve had enough is all. I have a plan to catch tomorrow, no need in havin’ a hangover, right?”

“Y/N!” Sarah says. “Come do a shot with Rach and I.”

“I can’t, Sarah.” You mumble.

“Why not?” She pouts. “Oh! Are you still taking that medication?” Your eyes widen and you look up at Harry.

“Sarah.” Niall grabs her by the waist. “Leave her be, alright?”

“Yeah, leave it alone.” Rachel says.

“All I did was ask her a question.”

“An invasive one.” Niall says. “If she doesn’t want to drink she doesn’t have to.”

“Will you all please just stop?!” You had enough. “I’m not some child you have to overprotect! You wanna know why I can’t drink? I’m on a medication to make it so I don’t black out and hurt Harry again, okay? I had a really bad flash months ago and I slapped him! My therapist prescribed it for me, and I can’t have alcohol with it because it’s also an antidepressant. Are you happy now?! I’m so fucked up in the head that I need pills to keep myself from doing something stupid!” Your eyes were glossy, and you were filled with rage.

You brush past all of them and make your way to the front door.

“Fuck, Sarah, you can have a real big mouth sometimes.” Harry says. “You couldn’t have just listened to your boyfriend for once? You’re always doin’ that to him, as if he doesn’t know what he’s talkin’ about.”

“He doesn’t know her better than I do.”

“No? I’m startin’ to think he’s the only real friend she has. Excuse me.”

Harry goes after you and leaves.

“Babe! Babe!” He runs down the hall and catches the elevator door. Your arms were crossed and you were crying.

“I feel like such an idiot. I ruined everyone’s good time.”

“No, honey, it’s okay.” He wraps his arms around you and pulls you to his chest.

“You were having fun though, and then I just blew up. I should go apologize.”

“No.” He shakes his head. “Maybe tomorrow when there isn’t a huge party happening you all can talk, but right now we should just go home.”

“What about Louis and Eleanor.”

“I gave Lou a key in case we left at different times, it’s all good.”

You and Harry get in the door, and you both say hello to Buster before going to wash all your makeup off. You hear Louis and Eleanor at one point, and Harry goes out to say goodnight to them. He kisses you to sleep. You would have let him love on you a little more, but you had your period. Not great timing before his trip to Wisconsin. He didn’t mind just holding you close to him though. It was what you needed more than anything.

//

“You’ve barely said anything to me since they left…” Sarah says as her and Niall get into their bed.

“I’m not quite what to say…”

“I’m going to apologize to her tomorrow, I know I was wrong.”

“Yeah, you were.” They both lay on their backs. Niall turns to look at her. “You really don’t listen to me often. You always think you know best…it bothers me. It’s like you don’t value what I have to say.”

“I’m sorry.” She turns to face him. “I don’t mean to make you feel that way.”

“I know you and Rachel are her best friends, and I know you both mean well and care about her…but Y/N and I got really close after everything happened. I’ve seen her in some different ways. I just wish you had let her tell you instead of making her so upset she blew up.” He sighs. “And now Harry’s goin’ away for a few days…you’ll need to fix this, Sarah.”

“I know, I know. I feel terrible okay? I got too drunk, and-“

“Yeah, but you should have known not to bring it up from when we went to Homecoming. That’s the annoying part. You were told to let it go, and you didn’t. It’s like you’re not used to bein’ told no.” He huffs.

“Well, to be fair, I’m not.”

“What?”

“Oh come on, Niall. I was an only child, I was a rainbow baby…admittedly I was a little spoiled.”

“Yeah, well, you’re a fuckin’ adult now. You’re twenty-five years old, grow up.” He huffs and turns away from her, leaving her speechless.

She sighs and rolls to her other side. Niall rarely got mad at Sarah like this. She was his baby girl, and she knew she fucked up with you.

//

“Please call when you get there.” You tell Harry and Louis the next morning.

“We will, love.” Harry says, giving you another kiss goodbye. “I love you, be good.”

“You be good too.” You wink at him.

“My Lou.” Eleanor and Louis share a nice embrace, and just like that the boys are out the door. You sigh heavily. “They’ll be back before you know it.”

“I know. I’m more so sighing because Sarah will be here any minute.”

You and Sarah sit out on the balcony while El FaceTime’s with her mother and Eliza May.

“I’m really sorry, Y/N…I shouldn’t have pushed you like that.”

“I just wasn’t ready for you all to know. It’s embarrassing…”

“No! It’s not, it’s super normal to-“

“I know it’s normal, okay? I just feel like it’s another thing with me. I feel like there’s always something going on with me so I didn’t want everyone to know just yet.”

“I’m sorry. I think I got pushy because you didn’t tell us about what happened to you right away, so any time I feel like you’re keeping something I think it’s the worst possible thing and-“

“But that’s still something I needed time to tell you.”

“I know.” She looks down and then back to you. “I wasn’t a very good friend last night…I’m sorry.”

“It’s okay…you were drunk.”

“That’s not an excuse. I had no right.” You smile at her and give her hand a squeeze. “So…the meds…they help?”

“Mhm, a lot. I haven’t had a flash since I started them.”

“That’s great!”

“It wasn’t all on you last night either. I was jealous that you all were having fun. I was having fun too, but I do miss getting buzzed. And Harry was drunk, and I love him when he’s drunk, but I got annoyed, and-“

“It must be really hard…we can all try to stop.”

“No, I don’t want that. None of you need to change things up for me. Just stop asking me if I want a drink.” You smirk.

“Deal.”

//

Louis taps on Harry’s shoulder to get his attention. He takes his earbuds out and pauses his movie.

“You know you don’t have to ask if you want to cuddle.” Harry smirks.

“Maybe later.” Louis laughs. “I thought since we’re up in the air now and you can’t escape, I could talk to you about somethin’.”

“Oh Christ, what is it?”

“Well…you know how mine and El’s wedding will be in the U.K.?”

“Yeah…?”

“We won’t be comin’ back to the states after.”

“Yeah, you mentioned you might honeymoon in Spain, right?”

“Yes, but after that…we still won’t be comin’ back to the states, mate.” Harry’s face falls. “Her entire family is over there, we don’t have anyone here.”

“You have Niall and I…”

“You both are two hours away, you might as well be across the pond with her family. We both want Eliza May to grow up with family. I may not have a mum and sister anymore, but Eleanor does. This is important to both of us. I can freelance anywhere, that’s the beauty of it. And she’s already lookin’ for jobs in London. We’re hopin’ to live just outside the city near her family.”

“But…what about Freddie?”

“To be honest Bri was only stickin’ around here for me…she works remotely, and she said it would be easy for her to switch to London time. She’d move out there, I think she’s been wantin’ to go back too. It’s time, Harry.”

“Lou…I…”

“Just think, when you take your long trips we’ll be able to see each other. I’ll be able to see Mitch and Sarah, and I can check in on your mum.”

“I guess that’s true.” He sighs. “I know this is somethin’ you have to do…but I’m not excited about it. I mean…”

“I know you’ll miss Fred and Eliza May, but we can keep FaceTiming like we do now. Not much will change, you’ll just need a plane when you want to come visit, and so will I.”

“Suppose I’m used to missin’ yeh already.” He shrugs. “Have you told Niall?”

“Yeah, he knows. Told him over the phone. I knew you’d need a bit more attention.” He smirks.

“Gee, thanks.” He rolls his eyes. “So…you’re not movin’ before the wedding?”

“No, El wants to make sure she has a job lined up and all that. I mean, we could, but we have an infant and it would just be a lot. She’ll be goin’ back to work soon…it just gives us more time.”

“Well, we better fuckin’ hang out a ton while we’re still in a close proximity to each other.”

“Deal.”

//

After Sarah left, you and Eleanor went take Buster for a walk. The air was brisk, but it was nice. You loved the fall weather. She looks at her phone and sees a text from Louis.

“Y/N?”

“Yeah?”

“I have somethin’ to tell yeh, and Lou just texted sayin’ he told Harry, so I have the go ahead now.”

“Alright.”

“After the wedding, we’re movin’ to the U.K.”

“Oh my!” You stop to look at her.

“My whole family is over there. Bri’s even been wantin’ to get back there too, so it just makes sense for everyone. I start work back up in a week or so, and I’m already lookin’ for jobs in London. We just don’t have anyone here. You guys are great and all, and I know Harry’s family to Lou, but-“

“I get it. I’d wanna be close to family too. It would kill me if I had a baby and my parents rarely got to see them. Louis told Harry on the plane?”

“Yeah.”

“Smart.” You chuckle. “Probably didn’t get too upset then.”

“I don’t think so. I’m sure he’ll call you later and blubber like a baby in true Harry fashion.”

“You’re probably right. I know it’ll suck, but you guys are doing what’s best for your family.”

“Exactly.” She sighs. “Plus, going back for the healthcare alone just made a lot of sense to us.”

“And Bri’s just able to move with Freddie?”

“I guess she’s been wantin’ to move back for quite some time, but she didn’t want to take Freddie away from Lou. She’s nice in that way. I think that’s what really started the entire conversation. We’re hoping to all live outside of London so we’re still in a close proximity. Fred should be with his family too, you know?” You nod and keep walking, Buster right at your side.

“You know, when I first really got close with Niall my biggest fear was that he was going to move back to Ireland, and he very well could do that someday. I couldn’t imagine always having to fly out to see your family, and only for special occasions.”

“At least video chattin’ is a thing. It helps you feel not so left out.”

“Right…now sometimes I get nervous that Harry might want the same thing…but at the same time it would be really silly. He’s made a life for himself here.”

“I don’t see Harry goin’ back. He loves London and his family, but he’s better here, from what I’ve been told. If he really wanted to move back there, he would have after grad school.”

“You’re right.” You smile as her words put you at ease. “Well, I’m happy for you guys. It’ll really be a fresh start to your lives as a married couple.”

“Exactly! A whole new adventure.”

//

Harry and Louis both call you and Eleanor once they’ve landed. They check into their hotel, and have fun eating and drinking at the bar downstairs. What they didn’t know was that you had arranged for some other things for them. The game was two days away, so you had arranged a stadium tour for the two of them tomorrow.

They were both in awe as they got to walk through and listen to the history. Harry bought a new sweatshirt, and some other memorabilia. He finds a Wisconsin key chain he thinks you might like.

“Just a key chain?”

“I think she’s kill me if I got something that had the Packers logo on it.”

“Oh right, she’s really into the Patriots.”

“You have no idea.”

That night, they check out the night life, and have a great time just getting to spend time together one on one. It was rare, and they both enjoyed it.

“So, you’ve set the date and all that. You must be really excited.”

“We’re thrilled, mate. With you, uh, movin’ back and all, will you still have time to be my best man?”

“Of course! I may not be able to fly back for every little thing, but you’ve got me in your pocket if you wanna FaceTime me in. I’ll of course come for the bachelor party, that’s a given.”

“You better.” He laughs.

“Have you two asked Niall about officiating yet?”

“Not yet, I think when we get back we’re gonna take him to dinner. It’s hard gettin’ him alone now that him and Sarah are livin’ together.”

“Has Y/N decided who she wants her maid of honor to be yet?”

“No, she said she wants to talk to Rachel and Sarah about it. She doesn’t their feelings to get hurt if she chooses one over the other.”

“They should just make it like a rotation, so when they all get married some day they can take turns. Like if say Rachel is Y/N’s maid of honor, then Y/N could be Sarah’s, and then Sarah could be Rachel’s.”

“That’s what I think the conversation is going to look like. We’re goin’ cake tasting soon, that’ll be fun.”

“You’ll love that. It was a lot of fun for El and I.”

“You must be getting excited to make things official soon.”

“We’re very excited. Fred’s gonna look so cute walkin’ down the aisle with the rings. He tells me all the time how he’s gonna do it, and then when it comes over he struts around.” He laughs. “Here look.” He takes his phone out to show Harry a video.

“Oh my god, he’s too cute. I know it’s a lot of work, but I can’t wait to have one of my own.”

“How soon after you get married do you think you’ll get to work on that?”

“Pretty soon since the wedding is nearly two years away. I’ll already be twenty-eight, and she’ll be turnin’ twenty-seven that summer. I was hoping to start havin’ ‘em sooner than that, but she said when we go on our honeymoon we could start trying.”

“There’s really no rush for it, Harry. I love Freddie, but if I could’ve waited longer to start havin’ kids, I would have. Enjoy the time that you have less responsibility, yeah?”

“Yeah.”

The boys cannot wait to get to the stadium again for the game. You had gotten them really good seats.

“She did a great job, if you weren’t already marrying her I’d say you’d need to wife her up immediately.”

“Yeah, she’s pretty amazing.” Harry sends you some pictures of them in front of the field, and it makes you smile.

This was the first trip where Harry wasn’t totally sad to be away from you, probably because he had his best friend with him. He missed you of course, but he was with the other person he liked spending his time with. You were having a great time with Eleanor too. She stayed home with Buster during the day while you were at work. You found her to be an incredible cook as well.

The Packers didn’t win their game, but it didn’t matter to Harry. He was just so thrilled that he finally got to see them play, and didn’t have to watch on the small screen of his phone. They had to catch their flight out almost immediately after the game ended. Harry and Louis couldn’t stop talking about the game almost the entire flight home. It was a great little trip. As they touched down in Boston, they couldn’t wait to get home to their girls.

//

“Night, El.” You yawn.

“You’re not waiting up for the boys?”

“It’s getting late, and I have to work tomorrow. Harry’ll come in when he gets home.” You smile.

Your period always exhausted you. You wanted to stay up a bit longer, but you knew you’d be a zombie tomorrow if you did. You were just about to fall into sleep when you heard the door creak open. Harry was tip toeing in, and you smile when you see him quietly go into the bathroom. He slips into bed with you and wraps himself around you. You sigh happily.

“You’re awake?” He whispers.

“Mhm. How was it?” You whisper.

“Amazing. I’ll come see yeh for lunch tomorrow to tell you all about it.”

“You and Louis had fun?”

“We had the best time, thank you so much.” He kisses your cheek and then your lips before settling back in to spoon you.

“You’re more than welcome.”

“The stadium tour was so cool. I can’t wait to show you the pictures I took.”

“I can’t wait either.” You adjust back against him, and you just feel so cozy. “Missed you, baby.”

“Missed you too, angel.”

//

It was a tough goodbye the next morning after breakfast, but so it goes. You let Buster go to work with Harry. He actually missed his daddy for a change.

“Hey, Harry’s having lunch with me today, just FYI.” You tell Niall once you’re at work.

“Alrighty.” He smiles. “They had a good time?”

“Mhm, I think they both really enjoyed it.”

“I knew they’d need the alone time. When Lou told me they were movin’ back home…well, I just knew they’d need to be together a bit. And now they have these nice memories.”

“Yup. So, what are you doing this weekend? Speaking of alone time, Harry and I have been craving some Niall time.”

“Just me?”

“Mhm.”

“Friday night is usually date night for Sarah and I, but I could probably do Saturday.”

“Great! We were thinking of just going out for a simple bite.”

“Cool, yeah, I’m sure she wouldn’t mind the alone time, or maybe her and Rachel could hang out.” He shrugs.

“Perfect! Just let me know once you confirm it.” You smile and leave his office.

Harry shows up at noon like he said he would, with Buster, and you two eat. He tells you all about the tour and shows you the pictures.

“Oh! And I got you a little key chain too.” He pulls it out of his pocket and hands it to you.

“Aw, thank you, sweetie.” You give him a peck on the lips and add the chain to your keys. “I love it.”

“I can’t thank you enough for putting all that together for us. It was a great few days.”

“It was my pleasure, Harry.” He stands up and puts his hands on your hips.

“You look really nice today.” You had a pencil skirt and a blouse on, nothing out of the ordinary.

“Thank you.” He kisses you and you kiss him back, but you press against his chest. “That’s enough of that.” You giggle.

“One of these days I’m gonna get you bent over this desk, just you wait and see.” He smirks.

“Mhm, sure. Niall said he might be able to go out with us Saturday night.

“Oh, great! I gotta go, I have a one o’clock. I’ll see you at home, love you.”

“Love you too.” You kiss one more time before he leaves with Buster.

//

Harry’s hands were on you the second he got through the door. He missed you so much, and your period was over, so you were game for whatever he wanted to do. He had you on top of the kitchen counter, your skirt bunched up at your hips, and was thrusting in and out of you. You hand one hand in his hair and one hand on his shoulder. Both gripping at him furiously.

“Feels so fuckin’ good.” He groans. You moan your response when you feel his fingers rub your clit. “Need you naked, now.” He pucks you up, staying inside you, and waddles down to your bedroom.

You can’t help but giggle, but you’re left whimpering when he pulls out to set you down. He unbuttons your blouse and gets everything off of you. He strips himself as well, and then he’s back inside of you, one of your legs over his shoulder to get in nice and deep.

“Oh fuck!” You cry out as he hits your g-spot.

“Right there, baby?”

“Yes! Right there! So good, Harry.”

He drives in deeper and faster, making your body start to shake. You moan out his name as you release around him. He drops your leg and gets closer to you. His chest flush with yours. Your nails run down his back as he rocks in and out of you. You wrap your legs around his waist, the two of you were as close as you possibly could be.

“Love you so much.” He says into your ear.

“Love you too.”

“Love you forever.” He groans. He was starting to come to his own release.

“Forever and ever, Harry.”

He loses it and grips one of your hands as he fills you up. Your fingers intertwine as you both catch your breaths. You move to cup his cheeks so you can kiss him. Your tongues mold together and you both just enjoy the taste of each other. He pulls out of you and lays next to you, his hand drawing shapes on your stomach.

“I mean it you know?” You look at him. “I’ll love you forever, Y/N.”

“Well I should hope so because I plan to do the same.” You lean down and kiss the tip of his nose.

He watches you get up and slip into the bathroom. He lays on his back with his arms behind his head. He had the life he always wanted and dreamed of. His career was a successful one, and he was going to marry the perfect woman. You were the person he had waited his whole life for. Every person he had been with prior was just his journey to you, and only you.

#harry styles #harry styles imagine #harry styles fic #harry styles x reader #harry styles x y/n #harry styles y/n #harry styles angst #harry styles angst fic #harry styles smut #harry styles smut fic #harry styles fluff #harry styles fluff fic #my everything #take it slow sequel #fluff #smut #angst #hope everyone has a great friday! #feedback is always appreciated!!

[captainillogical]

Home Ch.2

The domesticity of living with an alien who hasn’t quite had the chance at a normal life.

Distant Lands sequel.

Spinel/Reader

collab with my lovely wife @firstofficertightpants​

The door in front of you is red.

The two of you are standing outside the entrance to, er, what the both of you will now be calling home. It’s.. a strange feeling. You’re excited to be here. And although you’re eternally grateful for the crystal gems for taking you in when you needed it, you’re also happy to be starting a new chapter in your life. 

Pearl should’ve had the last three of your boxes brought up already for you, as you didn’t really feel like doing that all yourself all the way up to the 9th floor if you’re honest with yourself. Your body is still pretty sore in general, especially your legs.

You watch Spinel pull keys out of her pocket and go for the door. 

"Why weren't those in your gem?" You ask as she fumbles with said keys in hand. "I didn't even know you had pockets.."

"Sometimes I forget." She furrows her eyebrows, a bit of her tongue peeking out as she squints, trying to get the key into the deadbolt right. It's kind of comical. "Don't act like you're expecting me to lose 'em already."

"Eh." You shrug, and watch her struggle for a couple more seconds. "Did you want help with that, orrrr,"-

She opens the door, interrupting your sentence with an enthusiastic whoop, and you can see the formidable stack of boxes in the small living room. You take one last look at the long sprawling hallway and the many, many doors on this floor and wonder what your neighbors are like.

"Are 'ya gonna just stand out there or what?" She says from inside the doorway. Looking a bit further down the hall, you can see that one of the doors has several strange notes taped to it - as if there's some sort of weird neighborly interaction going on there.

One of the other front doors opens just as Spinel wraps her hand around your wrist, and she nearly yanks you into the apartment. She slams the door shut behind you almost forcefully.

"You're not even gonna let me introduce myself to the neighbors?" You say, like you had any intention other than to snoop a little. Spinel fixes you with a look. It makes you feel a little giddy when she looks at you like she’s full of impatient affection, which makes you want to be a little obtuse on purpose.

"You can do that later." She folds her arms in slight irritation that you can definitely see in her eyes. "I've been wanting you alone for what feels like weeks now."

"You're a little dramatic," You walk further into the living room, taking note of the small deck outside the sliding glass doors. "It's only been a few days, and we've texted."

“I’m not, and you and I both know that it ‘ain’t the same.” She says from behind you, following you closely. You’re pretending you have no idea what she’s talking about.

You take a peek inside the small kitchen, and you love it. It’s cute. Gems don’t need to eat or store food, but these particular apartments have small amenities in place, as well as a bathroom and bedroom just to keep up with building code. You think it’s kind of hilarious that regular city ordinance gets a say in how aliens should build things, and you kind of wish you were present for the meetings that Bismuth had to have had with them.

You open the fridge, and realize nothing is in there. Oh, right. Of course. You don’t know what you were expecting.

Closing the fridge door, you feel a presence next to you and turn to realize that Spinel is RIGHT there. Like, maybe six inches from your face.

“What,” You say, feeling your heartbeat pick up a little. She’s watching you expectantly, as if she’s waiting for something. “Am I not allowed to check out our place? You’ve already been here for the last few days.”

She takes a half step closer, and grabs your face with the both of her hands to kiss you.

Ah. 

Her lips are soft. 

You won’t lie, you’ve been thinking about her like this on a constant feedback loop ever since the both of you confessed your feelings. 

You exhale out your nose and tilt your head enough to deepen the kiss, and she hums against your lips. She slides down one of her hands to the small of your back, and presses you flush against her, almost possessively. Your face heats up a little at the lack of space between you two.

Your phone dings twice in your pocket, and Spinel makes some kind of displeased sigh against your mouth as if you were even going to answer it. One of your hands finds its way to the side of her face, and you trail it over to the edges of her hairline just to touch more of her. She leans into it automatically. Her hair is soft to the touch, and you wish you could run your fingers through it. 

The hand on your back is searingly hot through the shirt you're wearing, and you can only focus on that and the sensation of her lips on yours.

Your phone dings three more times, and Spinel growls impatiently, and well, that certainly doesn’t do anything to you, no sir.

She pushes you against the fridge, and you’re extremely embarrassed about the groan that comes out of your mouth - she doesn’t seem to care because she’s kissing you a lot more forcefully now. It’s like she can’t keep her hands off you. 

“Spinel,” You pull away to breathe, lips wet. She goes right for your neck.

“What?” She hisses against your skin, and you shudder. A gloved hand slides up your shirt.

“I should probably run to the store for a grocery trip before it closes, there’s no food here and I’d like to eat this week.”

She pulls her mouth away from your skin, and your neck feels a little exposed.

“Can’t we do that tomorrow?” She sighs, giving you another look.

“If I wanna starve tonight, sure.” You reply, deadpan. It's not like you actually want this to stop..

“Uggghhhhhhhhhh FINE.” She rolls her eyes, and removes herself from you like it’s the worst thing to ever happen to her. “But we’re continuin’ this later.”

“You mean I’M continuing this later,” You poke her right in the gem, and she glares at you. Her cheeks tint a darker pink, and you find yourself grinning. “If I have anything to say about it, anyway.”

“Is that a challenge?” She replies, lowering her eyes at you in a way that makes the little hairs on your neck stand up. 

“Maaaaaybe.” You side step her, walking back towards the living room before you decide that actually yeah, maybe fucking her in the kitchen is a great idea right now. 

“I hate the tone you’re using.” 

“Why, does it make you nervous?” You open one of your boxes of clothes, looking for a sweater to wear out. A specific one. The one with the strawberries on the front. 

“No, you’re just smug.” She says, and you bark out a laugh.

You can’t find the sweater you want, which means you put it in a non-clothing box, or you left it at Steven’s. Ugh. Actually most of the clothes you’re rifling through kind of smell weird even though they should be clean. You shrug, coming to the conclusion you’ll also have to do laundry tonight.

“Do we have a washing machine?” You ask her. She looks at you a little confused.

“A what?”

“Y’know, like for washing my clothes. These smell funky and I’d like to wear something tomorrow.” You open one of your regular boxes, but it’s just filled with books. Many, many books.

“Oh! Yeah, Bis mentioned something about there bein’ one on the first floor. Although, I wouldn’t exactly mind ‘ya not wearing anything tomorrow.” She grins, canines shining in the low light of the apartment. 

“I’m not walking around naked, idiot.” You sigh at her, trying to keep your blush at bay. She’s so blunt with her affections now that you don’t really know how to deal with it. “Let’s just go to the store and get it over with.”

You grab your bag, making sure you have your wallet on you, and the both of you head out the door.

Spinel locks the door behind you, and the both of you make your way back down to the base level via elevator.

-

There’s a nearby market that’s still open for the next two hours, and the two of you end up walking there as it’s only a couple of blocks away. 

You look over at the neon sign saying ‘Open’ with the hours listed, and can see quite a few people and gems inside. Eugh. You were kind of hoping it wouldn’t be busy at like, 7pm, but here we are.

“I hope this won't take too long,” You head inside, Spinel trailing next to you. “I don’t even think you have toilet paper, so I’m gonna have to get quite a few things.”

“Toilet paper?” 

“Exactly my point.” You look around, seeing the cash registers at the front and the produce section immediately to your right. It’s.. a little loud in here.

Spinel is looking around in curious wonder, staring pretty hard at some of the sale display signs with obnoxious print.

You grab one of the carts off to the side, and make a beeline directly for the toiletries section, because you don't want to forget anything like you usually do.

"Hey! Don't leave me behind," You feel a hand grab yours, Spinel jogging briefly to catch up with you. "Why are 'ya being so fast? We've got time."

"Sorry, stores make me a little anxious when they have quite a few people in them," You narrowly avoid a few teenagers joking loudly and passing next to you. "I hate busy places."

"They ain't so bad. It's kinda lively." She replies, squeezing your hand. 

You pass four different aisles until you get to the one you're aiming for, having to maneuver around a couple gems that are in the way. You catch one of them looking pointedly to the hand you're holding with Spinel, and you try to ignore the way it makes your stomach lurch a little. 

You hate shopping.

You stop your cart in the toothbrush area, because you might as well get a new one as well as some toothpaste.

"Ooooooooh." Spinel reaches out beside you, grabbing one of those sonic kids brushes with all the lights. "What does this do?"

You grab what you need, throwing it in your cart and looking at your girlfriend (even just referring to her like this inside your head makes you unbelievably giddy) who's.. intensely studying the characters on the toothbrush. She presses the button in the middle, and the whole thing lights up and starts playing music. Her eyes go wide.

"Is this some 'kinda torture device?" She pokes the spinning bristles, eyebrows shooting up inquisitively. She then presses it against her face, and her reaction to it is immediate unpleasantness, and you laugh at her.

"It just cleans your teeth, weirdo." You grab it from her, turning the annoying music off and placing it back onto the shelf. "Although, I bet I could find a way to torture someone with it."

"Let's test it on Peridot." She grins, eyes a little gleeful.

"Do you really want to try her? See what she's capable of?" You ask her, trying to stifle your laughter.

"Oh, jeez, 'ya probably right. Pretty sure she'd tie me to a chair and make me watch reruns with her." She answers disdainfully. “Maybe Lapis, then.”

“If you want to drown, sure.”

She continues to peer at the many kid’s toothbrushes on this shelf, and you walk a couple feet over to grab shower supplies. You toss a couple more objects into your cart, nabbing a pack of toilet paper as well and tossing it in.

“What’s this?” You hear her ask, and when you turn to glance at her she’s got a bottle in her hand. It looks like some ibuprofen or tylenol.

“Painkillers. Toss that in the cart will you?”

“It.. kills pain?” She stares at the bottle. “Why do humans need doctors if they have this?”

“They only temporarily ease pain. Mainly for headaches and a sore back and stuff.”

“You meatbags come up with some weird stuff, there’s so many different types..” She grabs another couple bottles, squinting at them and them placing them back on the shelf.

“Yeah, well us meatbags had to create solutions to make our lives a little less awful.” You roll your eyes at her terminology. “Not that I’d expect a fucking rock to understand.”

“A fucking rock,” Her mouth is agape in offence, and she crosses her arms in a huff. It’s so fucking cute. “At least I don’t gotta eat.”

“You could. I bet you’d liiiiiike it.” 

“Yeah I’m ‘gonna pass on that one.” She scrunches her nose, as if the thought is wholly unappealing. You want to laugh.

“You liked sex.” You say bluntly, giving her a knowing look. She sputters, cheeks turning a much darker shade of pink.

“Shut upppppp! We’re in public, Y/N!” She glares at you, and you can’t stop yourself from grinning. 

A couple turns their cart into the aisle you’re in, and you decide to say nothing further.. For now.

You push your cart out of the aisle, Spinel instantly grabbing for your hand again. You like that she just does it whenever she wants to. 

You’re in the refrigeration section, and there’s a couple people here much to your displeasure. Some lady is loudly talking on the phone with one of her kids on speaker, and you glare a couple daggers her way even if she can’t see it.

Side-stepping a gem, you grab a block of cheese and some butter and you’re looking at the eggs when Spinel scoots right up to your side. She places her chin on your shoulder, and watches you open a carton to check the contents. The gesture has your heart doing a couple flips inside your ribcage.

“What ‘cha doooooin?” She inquires quite cutely, and you realize this probably looks weird to her.

“Trying to get a full, non cracked container of eggs.” You state. She grabs one from the open container you’re looking at. “Careful, only the outside is hard. The inside is kinda fluid-like.”

She squints at it in her palm. “That sounds disgusting. You eat these things like this? ‘Aint that crunchy?”

“You don’t eat it raw, normally.” You shoot her a quick look, and she’s looking at the egg like its existence disturbs her. “Most people cook them or add them to other things for consistency. Stop being so judgemental.”

“I’m not being judgemental..” She mutters, placing the egg back into your carton. This one’s got an egg that looks like it’s about to crack so you decide to put it back on the shelf. The woman talking on the phone near you howls out a laugh. “That lady sure is ‘annoying.” Her breath tickles your neck, and you hold back a shudder. 

“Yeah, I hate people like her. It’s fucking rude honestly.” You mutter back, grabbing a different carton. The last three had eggs missing, weirdly enough. Are people just taking single eggs and sticking them in their pockets? “Like how hard is it to just place it against your ear? Why do the rest of us give a shit about what you’re eating for brunch tomorrow?” Spinel chuckles, vibrating against your shoulder. “I ever tell ‘ya that you’re amusing?”

“No, but I’ll remember that next time you call me unfunny.” This carton has all eggs intact inside, so you place it gently into your cart. 

“Psssshhh.” She replies, and you move over to grab a half gallon of milk. You open the door to where all the milk is refrigerated, and Spinel makes a weird noise of disgust. “What the fuck is that? Why’s it white?”

“It’s just milk.” You give her a look. “And it’s white because of the proteins, chill. It comes from cows.” You point to the cow on the carton of 2% you’re buying. “Fucking judgey-ass gems..”

“That animal is in there??” She makes a face. “You guys are so weird.”

“No, idiot,” You laugh, trying to not lose your shit at her conclusions. You point to the udder. “They produce it, it’s not their flesh. Humans can do it too..”

“Can you do it?” She stares at you strangely.

“I don’t want to talk about it.” You say, not wanting at all to elaborate on this and she barks out a laugh. You put the milk in the cart.

You’re in the bread aisle trying to figure out what kind of bagels you want, and Spinel is.. deeply studying the colorful bag clips hanging off the display strip on the side. You hear her grabbing the package and snapping the clips like crab claws, and you can’t help but snicker a little to yourself. 

She doesn’t seem to notice when you wander off to the other short bread aisle, because there's a few more options here that you want to look at. You missed bread so much that you’re feeling like you could eat all of them.. So you grab three different kinds to toss in the cart.

“Y/N?” You hear shuffling from the other aisle, and the rising panic in Spinel’s tone. “Where’d you go..?”

You walk back over to where you left her, and she looks slightly stressed out. She makes eye contact with you and visibly relaxes immediately.

“Sorry, I was just grabbing something from the other side.” You say to her, and her hand shoots out to grab onto your arm. “I wasn’t going to leave you, if that’s what you’re worried about..”

You raise an eyebrow, and she rubs the back of her head, embarrassed.

“Sorry, I know it’s irrational.”

You move your hand to lace your fingers with hers in comfort, palm fitting nicely against it. She seems a little taken aback with your gesture, but she doesn’t say anything by it.

“It’s not irrational.” You squeeze her hand, and seeing no one else around you, you lean in to give her a kiss on the cheek. 

“Y/N!” She hisses, looking around the aisle frantically as a small blush forms on her face. She places her other hand against where you kissed, like it’s somehow sacred. “In public?!”

“It’s not like there’s anyone around to see,” You can’t help the grin forming on your face. The lines on her cheeks look a little bolder with how flustered she is, and honestly? If you could pepper her face in kisses right now, you would. You’ve got this overwhelming amount of affection you’d like to give her, with nowhere to put it. Not until later, anyway. “God, you should see your face. It’s cute.”

“Will ‘ya shut up?!” She pointedly looks away from you, and you laugh. “I’m not cute.”

“I’ve got loads of proof that you are, but okay.” You give her hip a little bump, and her face looks back to yours to shoot out a glare that you’re not intimidated by in the least.

“Yeah, like what.”

“You know..” You trail off, and lean in close to the side of her face. You whisper something to her about the other morning, and she chokes, face going completely red. 

“I’m going to KILL you one of these days, Y/N.” She retorts, avoiding your eyes on purpose. You give her another nudge, and you can see her try desperately to stop the grin forming on her face.

“Let me at least finish shopping,” You reply, grabbing your cart to swing around to get a few more things on your mental list.

It doesn’t take that long to get the other staples you need, and before you know it you’re standing in line at checkout. You start placing your items on the belt once the other customer is finally paying, and you watch Spinel as she hilariously just tosses the items out of the cart and onto the conveyor. Ahhhhhh yeah you knew she wasn’t exactly graceful, but still.

“You find everything you need?” The cashier makes small talk with you, as you see her eyebrow raise at Spinel’s heart-shaped gem. Said gem seems utterly fascinated by the clerk’s bagging speed. 

“Yeah.” You politely answer, grabbing for your wallet as you watch the total rise. You maybe need another job, ugh..

Spinel raises an eyebrow and looks like she's about to say something asinine, so you step on her foot lightly to shut her up.

She yelps a little, and glares at you. You stifle a snicker, finishing the transaction so you two can get out of here. 

Once you're done, Spinel makes the effort of just placing the bags of groceries inside her gem conveniently, so you don't have to carry anything the short distance home. 

-

You don't give yourself the chance to relax much though because as soon as you get home and the groceries are put away, you've left Spinel to unpack your stuff as you go do a quick load of laundry.

The elevator dings and you're on the first floor again, hamper in hand. Opening the door to the communal washing room, you see several units here. There’s no one else around, and you’re so glad for that, honestly. Now you can look at memes in peace.

You fit all your clothes in one load thankfully, and you lean against the machine in wait after you fill what you need with soap. The wash cycle shouldn’t take too long, and you’ll go back upstairs briefly to help your girlfriend after you leave it on the drying cycle. You’re maybe in here alone for five minutes when a man and a giant basket of laundry comes in grunting. It’s another human.. You try not to stare too much.

“So, you live here?” He turns to say to you after dumping half his clothes in the machine in front of him. Of course he’s chatty.

“Yeah. Just moved in today.”

“Sweet, another human here! Now I won’t have to feel so alone.” He replies, swiping his brow lightly. He’s a bit older than you with some dark facial hair, and you don’t know how to say this.. He’s just extremely nonthreatening. “I live up on the 5th floor! Convenient for me since I work nearby, and the rent is so cheap..”

“How long have you lived here?” You ask, typing out a reply to Steven’s messages from earlier.

“A few months. It’s not as quiet as I hoped, gems are a bit on the wild side sometimes but everyone’s friendly!” He grins, pouring soap into his machine. “My boyfriend thinks it’s too loud, but he doesn’t pay the rent so he can’t complain. You live here alone?”

A boyfriend, huh? Maybe you can be friends with this guy.

“Nah, I moved in with my girlfriend.” You state, and the man just kinda stares at you for a moment, as he’s putting two and two together, realizing you’re the only two humans in the building.

“Are you dating a gem?” He asks a little apprehensively, and while you think you might be a little offended if someone else asked this way, the look on his face makes it obvious that he’s just extremely curious. “What’s that like?”

“Yes, and uh.” You stop, not knowing exactly how to answer, and the man barks out a laugh at the look on your face.

“You’re the only human I’ve ever met that’s dated a gem. I’m so telling my boyfriend, he’ll freak. He might have a buttload of questions for you next time I see you. Name’s George, by the way.” He holds out his hand in greeting.

“Y/N.” You take his hand to shake it, and the two of you talk for a little while as he asks you a few probing questions.

After ten minutes or so, your load is done and you put it in the dryer, saying your goodbyes to your new human neighbor.

On your way back upstairs, you manage to bump into a gem right as you turn to the hallway into your apartment.

“Oh! Pardon me,” The gem apologises, looking up from their cell phone.

It’s that same Rose Quartz from earlier.

“It’s you!” She says, slightly taken aback, but nonetheless pleased. “What do you happen to be doing here?”

“I live here.” You give her a small smile, and you notice her eyeing you up. Uh.

“That makes me very happy to hear.” She says in a way that kind of makes you a little nervous? 

“Well, it’s nice bumping into you here, I’ll see you around!” You make quick for your door, and she watches you the entire time, smile on her face. 

It gives you a bit of the heebie jeebies.

You slam the door behind you, and Spinel’s excited face greeting you immediately puts you at ease.

#spinel x reader #spinel #steven universe #spinel steven universe #home #my fic #su

[missjanjie]

Hold Me Tighter (Even Closer) | (9/9)

Title: Hold Me Tighter (Even Closer) Summary: A sequel to Hold Me Closer, Tiny Dancer. Brooke Lynn and Vanessa are back at NYU, but with new and improved positions. Brooke’s ready to start her career as a professor when, as fate would have it, she realizes her TA, Jackie, might have the hots for a student named Jan. The couple just might see it as a sign to give two new girls the love story they found in the same place. Word Count: ~2.7k (this chapter) / 26,700 (total) Relationship(s): Branjie (Brooke Lynn Hytes/Vanessa Vanjie Mateo), Jankie (Jan Sport/Jackie Cox) Rating: E

read on ao3 | ko-fi

Chapter Summary: We pick back up a few months after Jackie and Jan make their relationship official and Brooke Lynn and Vanessa set their sights on their future daughter. Everything finally falls into place.

-

Three Months Later

It was nearing the middle of January, in the midst of winter break. Katya, Jan, and Jackie were in Brooke Lynn and Vanessa’s apartment, busily decorating and making sure every little thing was in place according to the couple’s specific instructions. This was the day they had been anticipating for quite some time, after all.

The three of them were setting up for a welcome home party, as while they were doing so, Brooke and Vanessa were on their way home with their daughter. The papers were signed, the documents were made official, they were finally going to officially welcome Ana Sofia into their family.

Although it did feel like they already had her – the moms-to-be had talked about her at length, read them every detail of her biography until they could recite it from memory. She was three years old, half-White and half-Puerto Rican – when the two of them read that on her file, they thought it had to be fate. The story of the girl’s parents wasn’t uncommon, but it was a situation they could feel sympathy towards – a nineteen-year-old girl had been in a relationship with a man nearly twice her age, who left once he found out about her pregnancy, only for the young mother to find out the father was leaving the country. With his wife.

Brooke Lynn and Vanessa had been contacted by the woman while they were in the midst of the adoption process. She was kind and soft-spoken and it was clear she had only wanted the best for her biological child. They had agreed to visit the idea of allowing a relationship between her and Ana Sofia when she was old enough.

“God, she looked so young,” Brooke Lynn had said once they had left the meeting. “Like, shit, she was Jan’s age when she had her… that’s how old you were when we met.”

“Can you imagine if I was pregnant when we met?” Vanessa asked, shaking her head.

“With the number of men you’ve threatened to castrate? No, not really.”

But even though they had gone through all of the preparation, had meticulously completed every step, the day of their new daughter’s arrival felt unreal. After the bedroom had been painted and carpeted, after all sorts of toys and stuffed animals had been purchased, after every inch of the apartment was childproofed, wrapping their heads around finally bringing their little girl home felt hard to do.

It wasn’t the first time they had met her, of course. They’d been having supervised visits for nearly two months. They had bonded with Ana Sofia, they loved her. She’d met the people in their lives – Jan, Jackie, Katya, she even got to meet Brooke’s mother when she visited for Christmas and Vanessa’s when they went there for New Year’s Eve.

“You ready to go inside?” Brooke gently asked the little girl, though she was the most nervous out of the three of them.

Ana Sofia looked up with her big, brown eyes and nodded, one hand holding Brooke’s and the other carrying the bright pink teddy bear they had bought for her. “Yeah!”

Vanessa opened the door to a cheerful greeting of ‘welcome home!’ and looked at the way her new daughter’s eyes lit up with enthusiasm. She carried Ana Sofia’s suitcases into her bedroom, letting the young girl run around and greet everyone. “Go on and make yourself comfy, Sofie,” she encouraged.

It didn’t take long for Sofie to get acclimated to the apartment she had already started to get used to, winding up on the couch with their cat on her lap.

“How are you guys feeling?” Katya asked the new mothers. She was calm in a way that would otherwise be unnerving, but without the normal ulterior motives, it was a welcome change.

“I haven’t been this excited since our wedding day,” Brooke replied with a broad grin, her arm looping around Vanessa’s waist. “It feels like this is what everything was leading up to. Like we’re finally whole.”

Vanessa nodded in agreement. “You shoulda seen her when we picked her up and told her she was coming home for good. You’d think we live in Disneyland or something,” she chuckled.

Katya grinned. “I can’t begin to tell you two how proud I am. You’ve come such a long way from two kids struggling to confront how they felt about each other, I don’t think I’d have ever predicted this.”

“We wouldn’t have been able to without your flagrant disregard for our personal boundaries, so thank you for that,” Brooke teased. “Though I guess we did learn from the best as far as that goes,” she added, cocking her head towards Jan and Jackie.

“They were worse than us, you gotta admit,” Vanessa chimed in.

“Yes,” she conceded, “which isn’t an easy task with what a nightmare you guys were. But I think they’re in it for the long haul too.”

Jan and Jackie were sitting with Ana Sofia on the couch, talking animatedly about all of the fun things they would be able to do, how much they were looking forward to babysitting her.

“We have to take her to a show at some point,” Jan mused, “maybe f-r-o-z-e-n,” she spelled it out, knowing better than to say it in front of a child and set her off in excitement.

Jackie chuckled softly in amusement. “Yeah, maybe for her birthday,” she mused, then looked down, clearing her throat. “Baby… can I talk to you privately for a moment?”

Jan’s brows knitted in concern, but she nodded and got up, following her girlfriend into the guest room. “What’s up?”

“I was gonna wait until later, but I can’t wait any longer,” she replied, rocking back and forth on her feet. She was always so careful with her words, especially with Jan. But she’d also learned from Jan that sometimes it was best to be direct. “I want you to move in with me.”

There was a beat of silence, a surprised Jan needed a moment to process what's been said. But then a broad grin spread across her lips and she nodded brightly. “Okay,” she threw her arms around Jackie, “I’d love to.”

Jackie’s entire body relaxed as a wave of relief washed over her. “Great. Amazing. Perfect. We can go back to your parents’ place to pack up your things whenever you’re ready. I mean, I don’t wanna rush you or anything, but I think it’d make sense before the semester–”

Jan cut her off by kissing her deeply. “Baby, I love you, but you talk way too fucking much when you’re overthinking,” she chuckled. “My parents will be thrilled to not have to pay for room and board, they’ll happily cover my share of the rent. We can go tomorrow or over the weekend, whatever,” she assured and kissed her again. “Just relax, we’re doing this. Everything is fine.”

“You’re right,” she exhaled, hugging her tightly. “I love you so much.”

Their tender moment was interrupted by a loud banging on the door. “Y’all better not be behaving inappropriately during my baby’s party!” Vanessa yelled.

Jan giggled and opened the door. “We’re not,” she promised, even though Jackie was blushing. “Actually… Jackie just asked me to move in with her.”

Vanessa’s scowl was instantly replaced by a bright grin. “For real? Congrats!” She turned to yell into the main room, “Brooke Lynn! Jan and Jackie are moving in together!” She then dragged the couple back out, holding each of them by the wrist, not that either of them were putting up any resistance. They both knew better than that.

Brooke looked up, chuckling warmly at the enthusiasm her wife had for the couple. “You guys are moving in together? Congrats. We’d offer to help but, you know, very busy with the new child.”

“Don’t worry, we’ll coerce Gigi and Crystal to help us. They can be bribed with weed and snacks,” Jan replied with a shrug and a light laugh.

“Oh, are we finally getting proof that Crystal exists?” Brooke asked with a light laugh. It had become something of an ongoing joke – Gigi talked about her all the time, often relentlessly, but none of them, other than Jan, had ever met Crystal. And even though Jan had, she liked to play along for the sole purpose of annoying her friend.

Jan laughed and nodded. “I promise we’ll FaceTime you when we have her here in the flesh.”

------

Jackie caught her breath as she came back upstairs after taking a pile of boxes to load up in the back of Jan’s father’s van. “I still can’t get over how nice your parents’ house is,” she remarked as the two of them sat on the floor of Jan’s bedroom, folding her clothes to pack into boxes. “I know you said your family was well off, but damn.”

Jan shrugged and awkwardly rubbed the back of her neck. “It’s not something I try to make a big deal about,” she explained, then looked up when the door opened and let out a soft laugh. “There you are. We were starting to worry you two got lost.”

“In our defense,” Gigi said as she and Crystal walked in, “we’ve never made this commute before. And we warned you neither of us have any sense of direction.”

“The Amtrak and I are enemies now. But at least we got Krispy Kreme while we waited,” Crystal added cheerily.

Jackie chuckled lightly. “And you didn’t bring any? Rude,” she clicked her tongue then looked to Jan. “Don’t forget, we promised Brooke and Vanjie we’d call to let Gigi prove Crystal isn’t a figment of her imagination.”

“Can you really prove I’m not?”

Jan and Jackie giggled while Gigi rolled her eyes and waited for Jan to get her phone out, calling up Brooke Lynn on FaceTime.

“Hey hun,” Brooke greeted. She was sitting with Vanessa and Ana Sofia, the sound of cartoons playing in the background. “How’s the big move going?”

Jan pushed herself to her feet. “Can’t complain, we’re not making ourselves crazy considering it’s not too bad of a commute. For us, anyway,” she pointedly looked at Crystal and Gigi at the last part.

“Show us the imaginary girlfriend!” Vanessa interrupted, leaning further into frame. “Katya thinks it’s gonna be Jackie with a wig on.”

“Oh for fuck’s sake,” Gigi muttered under her breath, taking the phone from Jan and holding it up so she and Crystal were in the frame. “Vanjie, Brooke, tiny child, this is my girlfriend, Crystal. Who does exist.”

Crystal laughed softly. “Wow, this really bothered you,” she observed. “Why didn’t you just FaceTime me sooner?”

“Because we woulda called you a hologram,” Vanessa retorted before Gigi could answer, eliciting laughter from Brooke as well as Jan and Jackie.

Gigi pouted and crossed her arms. “I hate all of you,” she muttered, then added, “except for the kid, she’s cool.” And with that, she hung up and handed the phone back to Jan.

Jan chuckled and put her phone away. “You’re so cranky,” she cooed, getting up and grabbing her purse. “Here, let me smoke you out now. It’s the least I could do,” she offered, placing a joint between Gigi’s pouting lips and lighting it, watching her friend relax and smoke in spite of herself.

Jackie watched in mild amusement before glancing down as her phone went off. “Aw, Jaida just got back from Milwaukee and Nicky was waiting for her at the airport,” she read off her phone, then held it up to show the selfie Jaida had taken of the two of them.

“Wonder whatever happened to Nicky’s ‘no dating until graduation’ rule,” Jan mused with a laugh as she went back to folding shirts and packing them away. “Or are they still ‘not putting a label on it’?”

“The latter,” she confirmed. “But I know Jaida, she’s not gonna put up with that forever. She called me out on my bullshit plenty and she’s not the ‘do as I say, not as I do’ type.”

“I just love that Nicky’s role in your life is essentially the girl that fucks the women closest to you. It feels like a metaphor or something. Frankly, I think you need to have sex with her just to bring it all full circle,” Gigi mused, to which Jackie responded by throwing a pair of jeans at her.

“Fuck off,” Jackie laughed. “I’d much rather her fuck my best friend than my girlfriend any day.”

Jan offered her a reassuring smile and nod. “There’s no plans on that happening again, don’t you worry… unless you want a threesome,” she joked.

“Hey Jan,” Crystal interrupted, “when do you hear back from that thing you auditioned for? What was it again?”

The calm smile on Jan’s lips shifted into a nervous one. She stopped folding, instead fiddling with the fabric in her hands. “It’s an official shadow cast production for The Rocky Horror Picture Show, a solid five week stint. The website is posting callbacks on Thursday morning, then they post who made the final cut I think… four days after that.”

Jackie scoffed playfully. “Right, ‘if’. Baby, you know you have that on lock, just like you got Veronica without breaking a sweat.”

“I broke many sweats, but I appreciate the vote of confidence.”

------

Perhaps unsurprisingly, Jan did receive a callback and, four days later, was incessantly refreshing the company’s website waiting for the cast list to be posted. The list was set to go up at nine in the morning, but she had been checking since a quarter to, just in case. “God, what’s taking so fucking long?”

Jackie watched, trying her hardest not to laugh. “Honey, it’s five after. Take a breath before you pop a blood vess–”

“It’s up!”

She rushed to her girlfriend’s side, hand gripping onto the back of the desk chair tight enough to turn her knuckles white. “Well?”

“I got Janet!”

The two of them jumped up in tandem, hugging and squealing in pure elation. “Oh my god!” Jan beamed, “this is so exciting!”

Jackie pressed kisses over Jan’s face, culminating with a tender kiss to the lips. “I knew you would get it. I’m so happy for you.”

“Thank god I’m living with you now,” she mused out loud, “juggling this with classes, as excited as I am, I just know I’d let myself get way too overwhelmed and no one keeps me grounded like you do.” They had learned about this in the last few weeks before Heathers. Jan had been on the brink of a nervous breakdown and only Jackie had been able to talk her down.

“I’m happy to be that anchor for you,” Jackie smiled. “And if this ends up being like Heathers and you need help rehearsing the ‘sexy’ song…”

Jan giggled, hiding her face against the crook of Jackie’s neck. “Yeah? You’re gonna be my Rocky while I work on ‘Touch-a Touch-a Touch Me’? It’s a very different sexual energy than ‘Dead Girl Walking’.”

She tilted her head. “I don’t think they’re that different, but the end goal of using it as foreplay remains the same.”

“I can’t argue with that,” she conceded, sitting down on the bed. “Did you ever think this would be where we would end up after that night? When we thought we’d broken down a big wall by giving in to our unavoidable lust?”

“Not for a second,” Jackie admitted with a laugh, sitting beside her. “I hoped it was the start of something, but falling in love with you was never in the cards.”

Jan smiled and rested her head on Jackie’s shoulder. “Me neither. But I wouldn’t change a thing. The rollercoaster we were on brought us right to where we needed to be.”

“It did,” Jackie took Jan’s hand in her own and squeezed it. “It really did.” She looked up and out the window. “Do you think history will repeat itself again? That a few years down the line we’ll find our own pair of useless lesbians to play dysfunctional cupid with?”

She chuckled softly and shrugged. “I dunno. I remember Vanjie told me how once you’re in love, it’s easier to see it happen to other people. I guess anything is possible.”

#jankie #branjie #rpdr rpf