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dvar-trek · 3 months

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February Romance Roundup

what a fucking month! most of these books were bad, but the good ones were so fucking good that i got scared to read anything else in case i had to knock them out of the top spots. mostly what i did instead was learn too much about real hockey players. i, uh. i don't want to talk about what my wikipedia history looks like right now. ANYWAY!

the best of:

there's a tie for first place. sorry. it's my roundup and i make the rules.

Season's Change by Cait Nary- book one in the Trade Season series. if i can convince you to read one hockey romance book, please let it be this one. the yearning. the fucking tenderness. fuck. a veteran player (who is Going Thru It after having been harassed off his previous team) catches feelings for his roommate/teammate, who is. definitely for sure straight don't even worry about it. they help each other, like, grow as people and rebuild their lives, and it's funny and fond and it made my fucking chest hurt. it is really nothing like the captive prince trilogy, but the vibes are the same. i always read my faves multiple times, but i don't even want to tell you how many times i've already re-read this book. i am so fucking soft for these characters i can't even tell you.

Unwritten Rules by KD Casey- bounced off of this twice before i got sucked in, and then it rocketed to the top of the list. another one that is so fuckign tender. two guys who love each so goddamned much, but break up because one of them is entirely unable to stomach the idea of anyone else in the entire world knowing that he's gay (like, including other gay people), and the other one is suffocating under the pressure of not being able to be out to even his family or closest friends. and then a year and a half after the breakup, they see each other again and it is. exquisitely painful. and they have to decide how to work through it. yes this is another sports romance. don't @me. (also, pro tip, pretty reliable way to make me cry: give me a story with people who are so fucking in love, but the love isn't enough. whether or not it has a happy ending, i will cry every time i talk about it forever.)

the rest of:

loved | liked | okay | didn't like

hockey

●Contract Season by Cait Nary (second book in the Trade Season series. obviously had high hopes, considering, as discussed above, the first one wrecked me, but it is simply not as good. country singer and hockey player who hooked up one time get outed. in order to try and keep this from torpedoing their careers, they agree to pretend to be dating for the cameras. the plot had some weird back-and-forths, like, they both just kept fucking up the relationship in the same ways over and over. also, one of them was named Seamus, went by "Shay" for short, but spelled it "Sea". authors, please do not fucking do this. i have 25+ years of practice reading the word "sea" and it was so much work to get my brain to read this with the intended pronunciation.) ●Game Changer by Rachel Reid (book 1 in the Game Changers series. i had high hopes for this one too, because book 2 of this series is one of the most beloved stories in m/m hockey romance. however. it's not great. closeted hockey player fucks his way into a relationship for the first time in his life. but then after like, 2 fucking months, the boyfriend is like "if you don't come out, you have no integrity and also i will need to break up with you because i'm suffocating" which! the narrative treats as being the straightforwardly correct opinion! like, i'm sorry, queer couples have been dealing with not being out, or not being out to everyone, since forever. and the disagreement is not handled anywhere near as well as it is in Unwritten Rules. very difficult to take it seriously. idk. the writing is. fine. still on the waitlist for book 2, but 😕) ●Winging It (2015 edition) by Ashlyn Kane and Morgan James (i'm giving myself credit for this even though i read the 2022 edition last month because it is essentially an entirely different book. the sex scenes are hotter than in the new edition, but it is otherwise weaker in every way. i give you permission to just skip this one.) ●Crushed Ice by Ashlyn Kane and Morgan James (the newly released Hockey Ever After book 4. not as good as the first 3, but still basically enjoyable and funny. just features way too many things that are extremely unlikely. this one is about an incredibly uptight veteran player and his rookie who is. uh. well, his nickname is Trouble, if that gives you an idea. loved the characters, did not love the romance.) ●Road Rules by Brigham Vaughn (nothing really wrong with it, but also nothing in particular to recommend it. novella-length story about best friends/teammates/roommates who start sleeping together even though they are both straight. and then it takes them basically the entire book to figure out that they're probably not straight, and also that everyone already thought they were dating anyway.) ●Hockey Guys by Sarina Bowen (these books feature very different characters, but have basically the same premise (closeted nhl player starts an ill-advised secret relationship with another man that they maintain is casual even though they catch feelings way too fast) and the same weaknesses (incredibly awkward and unnatural dialogue, and sex that's still hot enough but pretty formulaic). every time i start a sarina bowen book, i think it's going to be so much better than it is. i don't know why i'm still doing this to myself either.) ○The New Guy ○I'm Your Guy

sports that are not hockey

●Dirty Players by KD Casey and Lauren Blakely (two baseball short stories in the same universe as Unwritten Rules. first one is about players on rival teams in the same city that have long-standing sexual tension. second one is about players in different divisions who have a one-night stand, and then end up traded to the same team. it is incredibly rare ime to find original romance novellas/short stories that still have good pacing, especially if there are sex scenes, and these both fucking nail it. not exactly groundbreaking works of fiction, but top marks for what they are.) ○Dirty Slide ○Dirty Steal ●Top of Her Game by M. Ullrich (y'all i tried so fucking hard to give this a fair chance because i know how embarrassingly little femslash i have on these lists, but i only made it halfway through. which is better than i did on any of the other femslash books i tried to pick up this month. it's not even that bad, it's just not any fun. at all. Kenzie is a rookie soccer player who ends up on the same professional team as Sutton, her idol/celebrity crush. Sutton already has a girlfriend, and also has a bad habit of falling for rookies who worship her, but ? it's different this time ??? because Kenzie's not like other girls????? i don't know, man.) ●Playing for Keeps by Riley Hart and Neve Wilder (story time: my mom grew up in china during the cultural revolution. foreign literature and anything that wasn't communist enough was illegal, and having it in your possession could get you arrested or worse. but my mom had a classmate whose dad had been a bookseller, and had a secret personal collection of great literature that he couldn't bear to part with, including shakespeare, tolstoy, dostoevsky, and verne. and this classmate used to smuggle in books that she would lend to my mom for one day at a time, and then return them before her dad noticed they were missing. so my mom read a lot of classics really really fast. the way she finished war and peace in one day was, in her words, by "skipping all the war". similarly, the way i got through a mediocre gay (american) football romance series was by skipping all the football. anyway, these are fine, but the writing quality takes a dive in the third.) ○Rookie Move (rookie player ends up on the same football team as his older brother's best friend, on whom he has a long-standing crush. they get assigned to be road roommates—which, side note, football players make hundreds of thousands to millions of dollars a year, there is no way they make standard-contract players have road roommates—and start having casual sex, which obviously leads to no complications or emotions whatsoever.) ○False Start (mid-career player gets traded to the city his ex used to play for (and still lives in). ends up moving in to his spare room until he can find a new place, and they start having casual sex, which is always a good idea, and of course leads to no complications or emotions whatsoever.) ○Illegal Contact (rival players who grew up in the same town have hate sex that gets very intense and possessive very fast. and. as you might guess. definitely leads to no complications or emotions whatsoever.)

everything else

●String Theory by Ashlyn Kane and Morgan James (i'm just gonna link you the goodreads description because i honestly don't know what else to say about this book. it's fine. the sex scenes are nothing special. there's a fair amount of therapy-speak. honestly not sure how these writers produce romances of such incredibly variable quality.) ●His Leading Man by Ashlyn Kane (tbh i have the exact same comments as above. here's the summary. nothing major to complain about or compliment.) ●Winner Bakes All by Alexis Hall ○Rosaline Palmer Takes the Cake (single mom competes on what is, for legal reasons, not the great british bake off. about what you expect from an Alexis Hall romance. sweet, so fucking funny, and a little awkward. the characters that suck really fucking suck, and the characters that you like are imperfect and lovable. doesn't quite measure up to my other Alexis Hall faves, but it's been a rough month. i'm grading on a curve.) ○Paris Daillencourt is About to Crumble (takes place on the following season of not-bake-off. uhhhhhhhhhhhhhh. this book is very funny and well-written, but i found it so incredibly painful to read. the pov character has the kind of undiagnosed, untreated anxiety that results in him constantly crying and apologizing profusely for how much he sucks, while continuing to make life very difficult for the people around him. when i got past the halfway point and he still wasn't in therapy, i seriously considered stopping. if you are a better and more patient person than i am, you may still love this book.) ●Roommate by Sarina Bowen (two guys in a small farm town rent a house together and fall in love. simply not very good! i don't think the author knows anything about the jobs she gave her main characters. it also does the thing where they both know they're into each other, but they won't just be together because ??? hand-wavey reasons ?? and then for other inexplicable hand-wavey reasons, they decide to just go for it. this is infuriating to me.)

thank you for participating in this roundup of highly variable quality! as a reward, please accept this special-edition photo of polwygle.

#romance roundup #do NOT @me about my dumb cultural revolution joke #i am fully aware that nothing on this list is great literature #thank you 😌

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forcebookish · 11 months

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Tag people 10 you'd like to know better/what's up!

@jonginnation thanks for tagging me!

Last Song: Cutting My Fingers Off by Turnover

Currently Watching: My School President, GAP the series; trying to finish Arrow and Xena: Warrior Princess (rewatching them up to my last stopping point). I miss watching anime idk why I haven't been :(

Currently Reading: The Ruby Circle by Richelle Mead (rereading) and A Dance with Dragons by George R. R. Martin. Funny how they're both the last/latest in the series and I'm taking forever to finish them... I don't like finishing things.......

Also recently got back into manga: Dengeki Daisy (reread/trying to finally finish it but I'm stuck on the same arc I did last time lol), Citrus+, and Sasayaku You ni Koi wo Utau.

Current Obsession: ForceBook. (Obviously.) Really, they're at the top of the list because my foray into them is fairly new so I'm still at the "I need to catch up and therefore learn everything about everything" stage. But other than Thai dramas, it's my old mainstays: EXO, BLEACH, and Marvel/DC. They've been my current obsessions for 10 years 👁️👄👁️

I also play a LOT of video games, although I've cut back recently since I got sucked back into fandom (and writing!) - mainly Overwatch, Animal Crossing: New Horizons, Hades, and Catherine: Fully Body.

@ellasaru12 @laowen @athousandbyeol @forcebookbrainrot @force-book @fireworksgalaxy @blkgirlmahou @carcharias-11 @a-jaggedpulse @thiscouldbeacity

#the person who tagged me (what do u like to be called? JN? nation? flower?) did 9 but i'll do 10 #tag game

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hexfloog · 7 months

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🍀🍋🌚

hi kuro ⸜(*ˊᗜˋ*)⸝

🍀 what is your comfort show/series and why is it your comfort show? How has it helped you?

uhhhh bbbbbb i've brought it up a few times before but for real it's the closer. except for early detco there's no other show i come back to more frequently. aside from it just being a banger (read: well-written) police drama with an extremely organic-feeling and cohesive cast of diverse characters, brenda is a flawed, unabashedly female-- and human-- protag in a position of power who probably served as a window into recognizing some of my own internalized misogyny growing up.

i wish i had literally anyone to talk to about it. it peaked in the mid-aughts on primetime tv and idk if it has a surviving online fandom

🍋 favorite genre to read / watch / write

to read: horror

to watch: action/adventure

to write: also horror lmao

🌚 a show you’d tell people to stay away from

so not that anyone asked but generally a piece of media has to really offend me in some way in order to wind up on my shitlist. the vast majority end up in various tiers of "okay" - which is not necessarily a bad thing, it just leaves more room for things that truly leave a lasting impression on me in either direction.

now uhhh i don't watch too many shows period (it would be easier to do this with film) but deadass the only show i can think of that i've both watched all the way through and come out hating is probably hellsing ultimate SORRY EVERYONE

i watched it because (1) it was distantly influential (like... omnipresent but only in my periphery) when babby hex was still pulling inspo from the anime scene of the time and (2) i got so, so many reccs for it from the people around me who knew i loved horror. i wanted to like it but very quickly discovered i actually hated it.

i've kind of put it out of my mind but off the top of my head, it shot way past my (admittedly very low-tolerance) suspension of disbelief very quickly, sucked really hard at being funny when it tried, and actually felt all-around distasteful in its... choices with the baddies. if you know you know

edit: to actually answer the question i would not recommend hellsing ultimate on account of its egregious tone problem and other distasteful story choices. i've seen the counterargument that its attempts at humor are "the point," that it's "supposed to be making fun of itself," but if it is it fails on just about every level. i don't even consider it a fun watch as camp horror schlock.

oops the post got long actually skjdhfksdj thank you for letting me ramble!!

ask game

#ask #ask game #kuroko99

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virgilisspidey · 2 years

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Warning, this gets pretty long (because I suck at short things, and because I just had a lot to talk about) so I split it into multiple Asks.

Man, meant to send this ask before you got the next chapter (Ch8) out, but you got that thing done so fast; like wow! Anyways, I did say in my last ask that I had more to say in another one, so here I go!

Anyways, TMNT-Obsessed-Ace made a Rise and 2012 Crossover list doesn't bash 2012 (Thank you for ur own list: https://at.tumblr.com/virgilisspidey/any-other-good-2012-and-rise-crossover-fics-you/s5f89m2us3yl , that you made too. It introduced and/or re-introduced me to some new 2012/Rise crossover fics and that makes me super happy. I love good, non-bashing 2012/Rise crossover fics and/or stuff so much), and they mentioned u and ur fic!

And I already knew about ur Mama Leo fic (which I love) and ur Harry Potter and TMNT crossover one (which, I haven't read that much yet really), but I didn't know there was now a third in the Mama Leo series; that being the 2012/Rise crossover fic "Two Souls"! And I like I gushed to TMNT-Obsessed-Ace in ask(s) of mine to them, I fell in love with it! It is so good, and I love Rise Leo and 2012 Leo (Aoi) in it and their interactions!

The other boys have been great too, and Donnie like, freaking out about his twin being possessed and/or connected to a ghost/spirt (or like how they called Aoi in Ch7, a demon. Which, is a pretty bad and worrying sign for what Donnie might do) has been great. And I am with you and it being so funny and stuff everyone freaking out about Donnie (and what he might do in the comments), because like, I am with them on that matter too, lol.

Also, Leo not really "liking" Rise Splinter and some of the reasons as to why were really interesting (and sad). Back onto the Leos again. I really love how you characterize them! You do them so well, and it pleases me.

Plus, their bond/connection (both literal and not) is so good and interesting (they are very sweet together. They care about each other so much), and I really like how you are expanding on/diving into the lore of their powers and abilities and the lore in general. It is so cool. Ask 1/2.

NSNFJFJFELWOFJ THANK YOU FJFNNF

Tbh my worse insecurity is about their characterizations nfifkf. I feel like i've also been abandoning Rise Raph and Mikey— but i promised myself i'll work more on them as the chapter progress. I'm flapping my hands in excitement rn because someone liked how i write these guys andkfjodjff

#tmnt 2012 #rise of the teenage mutant ninja turtles #rottmnt two souls #teenage mutant ninja turtles 2012 #rise of the teenage mutant ninja turtles two souls #rottmnt #two souls ask #two souls writer's rambles

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0ssianic · 10 months

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finished Rythym of War!! many rambly thoughts below

this was def Navani and Venli's book. immediately just before this book, i also read all of oathbringer, so not having the regular Dalinar povs felt like the homer-simpson-disappearing-into-a-bush meme.

I knew navani was going to become a bondsmith too! i knew it!! it was pretty nice that all the events in urithiriu resolved without their armies needing to come back and help. and kaladin finally said the fourth ideal!! it was a long time coming

even before the end of the book when odium and dalinar finalized the contract, i knew something had to go wrong because there's still 6 books in this series left.

it's still so funny to me that we get to see 2 very different ways an encounter with hoid at a perpendicularity can go (especially if your name starts with a K). option 1, a story and a meal. option 2, get your ass beat

the adolin and maya stuff was good. i figured maya would end up doing something (even if i wasn't sure what that something was) by the end of the trial. adolin was already able to summon her faster by the end of oathbringer, so i wonder if there will be more changes to how she behaves as a "dead" shardblade

having read most of the cosmere stuff already, it was cool to make all the connections to previous books and knowing (in general) how investiture & connection work.

vasher & hoid using breaths, Nightblood and vasher sucking the color out of things, hoid's smoke storytelling (it was in oathbringer too) -> Warbreaker

the ire and their tech and the seon (as soon as it was shown faces appeared, i knew it was a seon) -> Elantris

i'm pretty sure Sazed/Harmony was writing to hoid during part 2, kelsier and the ghostbloods -> Mistborn

i read yumi & the nightmare painter before row, but design showing up in both books

odium casually namedropping Cephandrius

other random thoughts:

i hadn't really thought about it before, but Wax's coinshot powers (the lines that he can see from him to the metal) sounds a lot like how dalinar was seeing the Connection between people

i liked that the radiants powers being partially taken away means they had to get more creative with what was left, like with how kaladin was forced to practice adhesion. its a little silly, but my favorite marvel movie is iron man 3, mostly for the scene where tony uses stuff he got from the hardware store for the final fight, because he's forced to rely on his ingenuity and creativity under limited resources

i wonder when tress happens in the overall timeline. i havent seen hoid using the dor, but that doesn't he mean he doesn't have it. yumi & painter seems to be after the way of kings series (or maybe the time skip?)

the obvious timeline connections i can think of (-> = 'before'):

elantris, warbreaker, the emperor's soul, 1st mistborn trilogy -> way of kings

way of kings -> yumi & painter (bc design is present in sp3)

2nd mistborn era -> tress (bc the kandra are free to move)

emperor's soul -> 2nd mistborn era (but probably not by much, it depends on how old shai is)

i'm not sure when the 2nd mistborn era and way of kings happen in relation to each other. hoid was on scadrial for mistborn, but i don't think he had design yet

#spoilers #galore #cosmere #rhythm of war #rhythm of war spoilers #i can finally unblock that tag #many cosmere spoilers in general

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toomanylegos · 1 year

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Back at it again with another post about my journey through/thoughts on The Magnus Archives! This time, I'm tackling Season 2 of the horrifying podcast : )

Also, a small warning, this post is much more wordy than the last Magnus Archives review. I felt like sharing a lot of my little experiences this time and I didn't know how to shave the writing down 😅 So, yeah, it's gonna be a read.

Without further ado, I present...

My Journey Through Season 2 of The Magnus Archives!

!!!MAJOR Spoilers for MAG S2 Ahead!!!

So, I gotta admit, it was really hard to get back on the MAG train because I just needed a break after S1. That and school picked up for me again, so my free time got eradicated. The thing that got me hopping back onto the train was Eggo, my other lovely friends, and my bad habit of accidentally spoiling myself 😅

I roleplay with Eggo frequently and we like to use MAG characters in our roleplays. I like having a full visual of what a character looks like, so I obviously looked up some fanart to see how other people have drawn the MAG characters which, uh, gave me many questions and even more encouragement.

On top of that, my other friends were zooming through Magnus Archives like nothing and I certainly didn't want to be left in the dust! Not to mention that Eggo kept dropping little hints about future events without spoiling too much; even warned me about how Jon will get "very paranoid and turn into a bit of an ass in Season 2."

Damn you Eggo you magnificent bastard-

Anyway, I continued the second part of my auditory journey on March 27th and finished it on April 12th; I decided to take notes on each episode as I listened to help keep my thoughts together. Notes which I then polished up and am now going to share since I thought it'd be funny to expose my mostly unfiltered thoughts about this lovely series :D

My Silly Notes~

Ep. 41

Damn Jon sounds tired already I just want to give him a hug

Oh no, the paranoia arc has started oh shit-

Ep. 42

Pretty cool story but I'm waiting for the supplemental

NO NOT MARTIN!! JON NO! HE'S JUST AN INNOCENT BEAN!

Ep. 43

Man, even the police is pulling cover ups. Makes sense though.

Oh shit he got access to Gertrude's tapes oh shit!

Ep. 44

Oop- Gertrude recording 👀

Okay apparently body horror is the thing that fucks me up

Patience is a virtue Jon, and I'm worried about how paranoid you're getting. I've seen Marble Hornets I know the writing on these walls

Ep. 45

Ima be honest I spaced out in the middle of this statement, and then came back to right when the guy got all the blood sucked outta him exCUSE ME-

Every time Jon comes on with his frantic voiced supplemental I always sigh heavily

Oh shit Martin caught him-

Jon, my brother in Christ, you're stalking Tim???

Ep. 46

My flight or fight response went off at both the mention of a bookstore and the name Michael. Bro the statement just started-

"It was February when I got the Leitner book." moTHERFUCKER NOT AGAIN-

Figured it was The Vast yikers

Considering Sasha got fucking bodysnatched last season, I think I have a good idea about who's going into the tunnels

Oh shit spiders? The Web?? Funky monkey time???

Ep. 47

Oh, this poor woman. She went through a real House of Leaves situation

Nice hearing Jon say he believes a person's statement out loud

Eggo mentioned something about Micheal and doors and now I know what they meant and I am so down

Whomst??

Oh fuck it's Micheal-

OH. MY. FUCKING. HELL MICHEAL!

I take it back I'm not down-

Ep. 48

"...he felt he should at least let me know that I was marked." "...telling me to remember my mother. To keep her face in my mind." Oh. Oh, this sounds familiar...The Stranger?

I was incredibly wrong, but the statement is still terribly nerve-wracking since I'm not fond of large crowds

Well, at least Michael warned Jon about Sasha albeit vaguely

Oh shit Jon got told on!

Not Elias being on the suspect list. It's gonna get wild

Ep. 49

Butcher shop? Cannibalism?? We doing a cannibalism???

Nope it was way worse

Oh Sasha's computer keeps breaking I wOnDeR wHy-

Tim being the honeypot of the group has me cackling-

Elias being a pothead in college also has me cackling

Ep. 50

Love hearing more about Robert Smirke. I'm genuinely curious about him and his weird architecture

Damn this statement has me at the edge of my seat! Jonny Sims truly has a gift for storytelling dear goodness

Oh Tim! It's nice to hear his voice again : )

Tim completely misunderstanding why the policewoman keeps coming around to see Jon made me laugh into my pillow

Oh my Lord I'm sobbing Tim my beloved-

Ep. 51

Ding ding ding! Another name drop: Simon Fairchild! Last time I heard that name a guy got eaten by the DAMN SKY

Oh shit that means this is gonna involve The Vast fuck-

It seems Jon has caught Sasha staring at the table and got a recording of them chatting about it. Very glad about that

Ep. 52

Damn! Another name drop: Robert Montauk! I'm super interested in this statement

Oooh! Jon's getting another Gertrude tape let's go!

"No, the hot one" lol I'm crying

And the awkward explanation y'all I'm dead-

The lights are blowing and the water is bad I am seeing patterns

Thank you nightlight for turning off right when the statement mentioned the completely dark ass room; very appropriate

Another name drop: Maxwell Rayner. I don't remember where I've heard it before though...

Jon just sounds so tired. Please rest my dude

Ep. 53

Woo-hoo! Another statement with Gertrude! And it's both direct from subject and recorded on my birthday :D

Oh this one is rough

Ep. 54 to Ep. 68

Notes have been lost due to failure to save my draft before closing out Tumblr (I'm on mobile)

Ep. 69

Oh Martin, Jon... 😢

Jon why in the hell would you think it's a good idea to go alone oh my god sir

Ep. 70

The statement just started and I'm already being mildly jerked around by the dark humor

This journal is giving a particular energy

...well shit, rest in peace Christopher...

Yup this has gotta be another damn Leitner

Oop- I stand both corrected and disturbed

Ep. 71

New fear unlocked: Subway trains

Annnnnd we're back on the body horror hnnnnngh

This is the most straightforward statement I've ever heard damn

There's someone living in the tunnels, but at least Jon decided to stop going down there 😂

Ep. 72

Revisiting Maxwell Rayner the cult leader let's go!!

👀 🍿

And we back on the cannibalism ho boy

This statement writer thinks like me and I'm kinda unnerved by it...

"Meat is me" I felt my veins turn cold shit-

Holy. Shit. So many name connections!

Ep. 73

Hell yeah! We getting Basira's account of Maxwell Rayner's arrest!!

Okay, I already don't like the dark; this whole statement is just making my minor fear towards it worse

A cult never dies, Jon. It just sleeps for a while...

Ep. 74

As someone who likes to stay up, this one is...deeply upsetting

I also woke up sick so the description of physical fatigue matched up perfectly with how I felt this morning so that added some eerieness-

"Sleep is for the weak," is something I quote often as a joke. This statement made me shiver at the phrase.

Micheal scares the shit outta me

Welp I knew Not-Sasha was lurking in the tunnels, but who the hell is the other guy???

Ep. 75

Man with a lightening scar...why does that sound familiar...?

Ooooooh I remember now

This just made my fear of heights worse ack I do not like Michael Crew

Oh shit! Officer Basira came through hell yeah!!

Ep. 76

Yoooo the ghost hunting lady is back! Melanie King!

Haunted train you say?? 👀

My jaw is dropping at the first hand account from the guy on this train Holy crap!

It's. Not. Sasha. Jon! Listen. To. Melanie!

Ep. 77

Let's hope this Gertrude tape can help give Jon the push he needs to take care of Not Sasha

Hell yeah!! Thank you Gertrude you just gave Jon some very good information!

A proper name for the creature: The Not-Them. An aspect of The Stranger. So much good information...

I'm sorry, it travels??? Horrifying

Jon, my brother in Christ, please don't do this on your own

Ep. 78

The amount of concern I have for Jon, oh my gosh bro-

Something about this scenario just sets off a primal fear in me

Decker...why does that sound familiar too?

AHHHHHH!!!

And now I know why it was in the damn table

Oh, oh Jon....

Please listen to Jon please please please

Ugh or don't cause he shouldn't be alone I'm so torn-

Jon no nononONONO WRONG MOVE!!!!!

Hello Michael 👋 how's it going

hahaha I'm dying

Ep. 79

...are we really opening with one of Martin's poems right now?

Oop- never mind Tim and Martin are on their way! Haha

This is gonna be bad

Oh Martin, my heart goes out to you-

AH SHIT JUMPSCARE

Tiiiiim you can't leave him bro-

Yeah, you kinda jumped the gun Jonny boy...

Oh shit-

Boys, please stop fighting-

Micheal I swear to everything-

I'm not okay Holy shit

Jon, I love you dude, but shut up you'RE TRYING TO HIDE

I'msotenserightnowmyhandsareshakingholyfuck-

"The house of its enemy with the biggest eyes you've ever seen" oh how telling! I'd be intrigued if I weren't fucking terrified

I can't handle Jon breaking down I'm about to cry oh my god-

WHOMST IS THIS NOW!?!

I feel like I need an oxygen tank cause I can't breath enough holy fuck bro-

Ep. 80

I figured Sasha was dead, but...damn, it still hurts a little cause I liked her.

Leitner? As in the Jurgen Leitner?? Are you fuckING KIDDING ME BRO??!?

At least he's...helpful so far...

Yes, your master, Jon...hehe

At least Leitner is taking responsibility for his actions. Can't hate him for that.

I absolutely adore how everything is tying together in this episode. It feels so neat yet still so mysterious, like I'm getting answers, but not as many or as fast as I would like. I love it!

"...something with too many teeth and limbs like knives" "...ran into a door that shouldn't have been there" 👀

Damn, 20 years?? Goodness, Leitner...

"I-I didn't know Gertrude had assistants." "Of course, three of them. Each meeting an unpleasant end." For the sake of both Jon and his remaining assistants, I pray he's not part of a chain either...

Mr. Leitner you are a well of much-needed information huhuhu~

So that's where Eggo got the ant analogy...

Micheal is named The Distortion and The Spiral. Good to know.

I had a feeling it was Elias- wait Gertrude was going to destroy the archive??

Jon, we don't have time dude

Oh shit oh fuck I have fear-

The Unknowing???

THE WAY I FUCKING JUMPED EXCUSE ME WAHT-

Oh Martin, you sweet bean...

Bro, days??? He's been gone for days???

Oh no....

TL;DR

I firmly believe that the goal of any series should be to improve as they tell their story; The Magnus Archives achieves that goal beautifully. Last season, there was some episodes that I didn't find very entertaining. This season, however, I was enthralled by nearly every episode.

The writing, the reading, the sound design, everything just got better and better!

I felt my blood run cold and chills run up my spine several times throughout this season; I was all in on the mystery of Gertrude's murder; I was nervously biting my nails as Jon slipped further into paranoia and Not-Sasha continued to be more suspicious...

I am beyond excited to move on to Season 3 and, eventually, finish the entire series! I have truly and wholly fallen in love with this series 💚💜

#the magnus archives #magnus archives #dear lord this podcast got me fucked up #i love it

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multi-lefaiye · 2 years

Note

1, 7, 13, 22!

thank u thank u!!!

Give short descriptions of all your current WIPs.

Well. Okay. We're gonna be here a while- okay I won't count the WIPs that are bare concepts/just lists of characters so far, to make this easier on myself.

A Modern Ghost Story - A group of semi-famous ghost hunters meets a group of semi-infamous immortals, and the two clash and bicker as they try to find a way to help a family deal with their ghost problem.

Bleeding Over Eden - Local man has so, so many problems, and he's going to put off addressing them for as long as possible and instead try to help everyone else with their problems. Also his ex, who was supposed to be dead, is back in his life now.

For We Are Both Fragile Things - Two gay guys, one trans and one cis, meet in college and fall in love, but everyone else realizes they're dating long before they do. It's a cute, classic slowburn! Except oh no things are TOXIC!!!!!! Also supernatural bullshit is happening but don't worry about that.

The Ruins of Memory - Fantasy sapphics, or: local woman is stressed and sad and has no memories, so she and her girlfriend are helping everyone else with their problems while trying to find the truth of who she is.

God Died With Wooden Bones - Local radio intern wants to stop his boss from summoning the old gods, and he's kind of upset about it, but really he probably shouldn't be doing that while he's at work so who's the real bad guy here.

Blackwell & Linwood - Mean spitfire of a private detective gets drawn into a supernatural adventure against his will, and by god if he isn't going to spend the whole time bitching about it.

CUDAAS - A group of angels and demons (well, not really, but they're at least the equivalents of that) become friends, several of them fall in love, and on the way they realize the power of working together and unionize. Also they kill a god or two.

Rook - A murder victim wakes up after their murder and decides to go on the hunt for their murderer, with the help of an amateur psychic.

I feel like I'm missing one. But this is a lot so that's all I'll do for now.

What books have shaped the way you think about writing the most? Why?

Okay here me out. Warrior cats. Warrior cats is the reason I started writing, and it's had the biggest impact on me as a writer.

I recognize that the writing in Warriors fucking sucks at the worst of times, and at the best of times it's.... decent. However, it was the first book series that got me super super invested, and it had a huge influence on me b/c I'm forever attached to animal fantasy and it influenced my writing in ways I don't fully know how to explain!

Also it kinda.... in a weird way, as I've gotten older.... has given me pretty strong opinions about What Not To Do. Namely, holy shit did Warriors teach me the importance of keeping track of your characters from the beginning of the story oh my GOD. Like I'm not perfect but OH MY GOD.

Other series that have definitely influenced me are Tales From the Gas Station (obviously lmao), the Fablehaven series, The Da Vinci Code and related books, Penpal by Dathan Auerbach, aaaand I don't remember a lot of their names but all the horror books I used to fucking devour and scare the shit out of myself with.

Describe your writing style.

Wow, those sure are sentences sometimes!

Jokes aside, I'd describe my style as, like... I like close POVs, but not close enough for first-person (I hate writing in first-person), I enjoy playing around with grammar and I try to have variety in my sentence length but I find myself tending towards long-ass sentences, aaaaand I like to try to be funny. I find sarcastic narration a delight to read.

How much of your own self/experiences do you believe pours into your projects? If this differs per project, which projects have the most and least of you?

This definitely differs per project, but I tend to put a lot of myself in my characters and storylines because for me, much of the time, fiction is how I process shit. I love to explore grand ideas, but sometimes you gotta just make a sad little guy and either give them the life you want or the life you've had and hope things get better.

I think the project that this is most apparent in, though, is one that I've kinda put to the wayside for many years now because it's SO personal that I actually don't really enjoy working on it usually. But that story deals a lot with some personal trauma, as well as in general is based on my complicated relationship with my gender and being an older sibling.

(And without going into it too much b/c I don't want to share too much personal trauma stuff publicly, the main idea of that story is an idea that I find myself really drawn to in fiction, which is the struggle of being an older sibling who couldn't protect their younger sibling.)

I think the story that has the least me in it would be CUDAAS, but even then it carries a lot of my perspectives on the world, people in power, and what makes someone truly human.

And also yeah the latest kinda-not-really WIP idea that crawled into my brain last night is also, if I go through with it, probably gonna be based pretty heavily on some shit I've been coming to terms with recently.

#talk to the bunnykitty #ask game #per ur suggestion i am now going to give u a new tag #nciko #as someone whose sense of humor is based like 80% on shit my friends and i misspell on discord #i feel this #anyway #long post #sorry i don't know how to be concise <3 #god died with wooden bones #bleeding over eden #blackwell and linwood #fragile things wip #cudaas #a modern ghost story #the ruins of memory

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gotham--fc · 2 months

Note

❤️-🍀yes im being a little shit about it and asking everything. So you can choose the ones you want to answer if that's easier or are more comfortable with

I’m gonna skip the ones I already answered and probably skip the ones I don’t feel like answering rn

💛: what is your favourite feature on yourself?

Honestly probably my hair (I do have nice hair it just gets greasy quickly) or my eyes

💚: where are you from?

Canada! I grew up a few hours from Toronto

🩵: do you have any pets?

Yes! I have 2 cats and a bunny currently

💙: do you have any siblings?

Oui I have 2 sisters and a brother

💜: describe yourself in five words or less

Funny, short, awkward, caring, creative

🖤: favourite hobbies outside your blog

I play soccer and recently have gotten into axe throwing, I like to watch movies and tv shows, watch sports, read, stare at my cat as she sleeps

🎂: when is your birthday?

May 17

🚗: can you drive?

I can I do have my full license

✈️: favourite place you’ve traveled

Def Las Vegas

🎤: have you been to a concert?

I have been to several, most recent was Scott helman

🎧: last song you listened to

Grammy Weeknd by Lucidious

📺: last show you watched

I watched jeopardy earlier with my mom

🍅: least favourite food

Onions if I eat an onion I’ll throw up

🍊; favourite season?

Autumn it’s not too hot not too cold and it’s not as rainy and muddy as spring

🍋: favourite genre to read/watch/write

I love watching a good psychological thriller, but also something stupid like the Simpsons, for reading I’ll read just about anything I’m an English major so I’ve read everything from literary fiction to shitty romance to kids books, and for writing lowkey I am so good at writing angst like I know y’all think I’m really good at fluff and I am but it’s also so hard for me to write bc I feel like nothing is happening like angst always has a good plot

🫐: some place you’d love to visit

I’d love to visit Europe some day

💌: why did you start this blog?

I got really into woso and I wanted to connect with some woso fans on here

🪐: favourite shows/series of all time

Orphan Black hands down no contest it’s Orphan Black (runner ups x company and killjoys)

🍄: what is something that’s happened in your life that you wish you could go back and change?

I’ve lost some friends where we’ve just drifted, I’ve also lowkey caused problems on purpose which has led to the end of friendships (mine and others) and I wish I handled the situation differently

⭐️: what is one of your biggest accomplishments? Why is it so important to you?

Honestly probably graduating university, I was so burned out by my last year that I could barely put in effort to get my assignments done and I’m shocked that I passed but I’m also proud that I was able to push through and get it done (and graduated cum laude)

🪻: what is the toughest thing you had to go through, but can say you’ve successfully overcome?

Childhood cancer 🤪 but I’m 7 years out now

🌺: what is the best gift someone has ever given you and why is it so important?

My aunt made me a quilt when I was in the hospital (for the cancer) and my mom made me a blanket last Christmas and I really appreciate them both bc I know how much time and effort it takes and it just shows how much they care about me

🍀: what is your comfort show/series and why is it your comfort show? How has it helped you?

Okay no joke and I’m aware how scary this answer is but my comfort movie is The Sixth Sense it’s my favourite movie of all time and it just really sucks me in every time like when I watch it I just zone out and forget everything else it’s really helpful when I’m having a bad day and every time I watch it I notice something new and it just always hits

#asks #simp4panos #sorry for the long post for everyone who isn’t me or simp #🤪

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rendevousz · 3 years

Text

the favourite

avengers x fem!teen!reader

summary: you are the baby avenger and everyone is platonically whipped for you.

genre: fluff, crack

warnings: none, maybe just my inability to write good endings

word count: 3497

note: um second oneshot hope this one's good gaaah

"hey, doll. whatcha' reading?" you glanced up to see bucky, who then plopped down next to you on the couch in the common room. "it's called 'shadow and bone'. it's a novel that's turning into a netflix series in like a month," you smiled at the super soldier, lifting up your book a little to show him the cover. his eyebrows raised at the information, lips tugging into a knowing smirk.

"yes, bucky, i'll watch the series with you." you rolled your eyes playfully at him. ever since he officially became an avenger and moved into the tower with the rest of you, you've been helping him 'get with the times' —as sam likes to call it— just as you did steve a few years prior.

steve had told his best friend that you were the best at stuff like this. after all, you were the youngest avenger. and you had a lot of free time on your hands; having no school since you were pretty much the only one besides vision who could compete with tony's or bruce's intelligence.

so really, school wasn't mandatory for you according to tony. at least, after you had asked him if you could just not attend and he cracked ten seconds after you pulled the puppy dog eyes.

you also had significantly less trainings than the rest of the team. this one wasn't because you were an expert on the field or something —well, you were, but so were the rest of the team but they still had almost daily trainings while you had half the amount they did— this was because you had cap wrapped around your tiny little finger.

and as for the team, they couldn't even be mad about it because if they were in the captain's position, they would probably be the same. everyone just loved you too much.

"do you mind if i turned on the tv?" bucky asked, afraid that you wouldn't want background noise while you were reading but obviously you didn't mind so you shook your head as you continued to read. not long after, you closed your book with a bookmark between the pages you stopped at before shoving in into bucky's hands and running up into your room to quickly grab your blanket.

he watched you run out of the common room in confusion before chuckling when he saw you run back in looking tiny with a huge, fluffy blanket in your arms. you went back to your spot on the couch next to him, spreading the blanket over both your laps, bucky smiling fondly as he watched you fix it before turning to him. "comfy?" you asked and he nodded, giving you back your book as you cuddled up to him. he smiled down at you and wrapped an arm around you while you leaned against his chest.

"what's this? movie night without me?" you two looked up at the owner of the voice and saw sam walking in, making his way to the kitchen, probably to make himself some coffee. "what movie are you guys watching?" he asked, leaning against a pillar to look at the tv, trying to figure out what movie was playing.

"actually, only bucky's watching the movie—it's mean girls, by the way—and i'm just reading my book." you told sam without looking at him, lifting your book up high to show him before lowering it back down to continue reading it.

"barnes, what are you doing watching a movie while y/n is reading? she won't be able to focus with all that background noise, shut it off." sam told him off, now back in the kitchen to make his coffee. you shook your head at the man's antics. "sam, it's fine. i told him it was okay,"

"of course you did, you're too sweet to say no to anyone." he quipped back, now standing nearby, watching the tv too, seemingly interested in the movie playing. you only rolled your eyes playfully at him before going back to the book. after a few minutes of him just standing, bucky spoke up. "just sit down if you want to watch the whole movie, birdbrain."

and sit he did. on your other side, snuggling comfortably under your blanket after putting his now empty mug on the coffee table. this caused bucky to huff as he pulled the other end of the blanket which led to them having a tug-of-war over the blanket, you unfortunately stuck in the middle of it. deciding that it was too distracting to read while squished between two grown men who were also fighting for the blanket, you finally closed your book.

"sam, can you help me put this on the coffee table?" you handed sam your book and he immediately took it, stretching his body forward to place it on the coffee table. with the book out of the way, you could finally settle comfortably and the blanket was now shared between the three of you equally. not long after, your head was back against bucky's chest with his arm around you while your legs were over sam's lap under the blanket, one of his arms resting over it above the blanket. if it had been someone else doing that to sam, they probably would've had their legs chopped off already.

"movie night and you didn't invite me?" you chuckled at the question by the newcomer, tony, finding it funny how sam said almost the exact same prior to him. "you're welcome to join us, tony." you offered kindly, to which he replied with a small chuckle.

"i'm just kidding, cupcake. i came up for a drink and a little snack but that's it, i have stuff to finish down in the lab." you nodded understandingly, turning back to the screen in front of you.

"hey, stark, while you're there can you grab me a bottled water from the fridge?" bucky asked him. "oh yeah can you grab me chips from the snacks cabinet too?" sam added.

"you guys have legs for a reason, get them yourselves, i'm not your maid," tony sassed and you bit back a chuckle. bucky and sam then decided to rock-paper-scissors the situation to decide who had to get up and get the water and chips. bucky ended up losing and he begrudgingly got up and came back quickly with his water and sam's chips.

shortly afterwards, tony approached the three of you on the couch, with a juice box and a small bag of pretzels; your go-to movie snack. "here you go, cupcake." he handed them to you and you accepted them happily, beaming at him while he ruffled your hair.

bucky and sam shared a look of disbelief at tony's actions. "what gives, man? we asked for stuff and you didn't want to do it but y/n gets her stuff without even having to ask for it?" sam complained.

"that's because y/n's my baby. now shut up and let her watch the movie in peace." he scolds before leaving the common room, leaving the two men to huff in annoyance. it soon washed off though when you laughed out loud at a scene and they returned back to normal, loving the sound of your contagious laughter.

when the movie ended, it was already late and you had fallen asleep on an also asleep bucky. sam took a look at you and chuckled. he slowly removed the blanket from over himself and you, gently scooping you up into his arms and taking you back into your room, laying you down on your bed. he noticed the lack of blanket on your bed and remembered the blanket you brought down to the common room. he opened your closet for a spare blanket, retrieving it before covering you with it, tucking you in. "night, kiddo." he whispered, kissing your forehead before leaving the room.

next morning came and you groggily stretched, noticing that you were in your room. last you remembered was falling asleep mid movie. you deduced that it was most likely either bucky or sam who carried you back to bed. you went to your closet to grab work out clothes since you had training today, before realising what day today was. wanda's breakfast day. you quickly ran to the bathroom and got ready.

once you were done, you dried your hair and left your room, practically bouncing with excitement when you thought of what wanda probably made for breakfast. the week had been a bad breakfast week since everyone who had so far been tasked breakfast duty, sucked at cooking. the only good cook of the team was wanda, explaining your overexcitement.

before you could get far though, you slammed into a solid body, being caught by your wrists before you could fall. "be careful, lady y/n!" a deep voice spoke and you look up, a large smile on your face before you jumped happily, taking the man into a big hug. "thor! you're back!"

he laughed, returning the hug, you almost disappearing due to his big frame before you let go of each other. "where were you headed to so eagerly?"

"it's wanda's breakfast day, thor! i haven't had a decent breakfast all week because no one in this tower except wanda can cook to save their lives. come on, big guy!" you cheered, trying to get onto his back for him to give you a piggy back to the kitchen but he was too high for you to reach. he watched your attempt in amusement before bending down so you could get on his back. you gratefully got on, lightly patting his back and dramatically pointing ahead of you. "to the kitchen we go!"

when you two arrived in the kitchen, clint and wanda were talking as the latter made breakfast. thor's booming laughter echoed through the room as he zoomed with you on his back, laughing your heart out. "we have arrived to our destination, my lady." clint and wanda turned to you, adoring smiles on their faces when they heard you giggling uncontrollably.

"i thought you had more important things to do that you couldn't even walk 10 feet to grab me a spoon." clint raised his eyebrows at the demigod. "yes but y/n needed a ride so i provided her one." thor gave your hair a ruffle before he left the room, going to do what he initially left the kitchen for before you managed to get him to bring you back there.

"morning, kiddo." clint ruffled your hair right after you just fixed it, causing you to glare at him before fixing it again. "morning," you grumbled, sitting down next to him.

"morning, y/n!" wanda greeted, placing your plate of perfectly made blueberry pancakes with extra blueberries neatly placed on top, butter in the middle of it with maple syrup dripping down. your mouth watered. had it really been that long since you had a good breakfast or was it just because it was wanda's creation? or was it both? "here ya go, bubs. your favourite," she grinned at you, placing your glass of orange juice beside the plate.

"thanks, wands! i love you!" you thanked her, already beginning to dig into your breakfast.

"what the heck? you gave me burnt pancakes and didn't let me have extra blueberries because you said there already were some in the pancakes," clint whined to wanda from beside you, watching you eat happily.

"that's because the extra blueberries were for y/n, she loves them. and about the burnt pancakes...yea i just didn't want to give her burnt ones. look how happy she looks," the two turned to you, looking at your cheeks being filled up, making you look like an adorable squirrel.

"okay, fair point." clint slumped down on his chair, continuing to look at you fondly, like a proud father.

after breakfast, you made your way down to the training room where steve, nat and peter were training. when you entered, peter immediately noticed, waving and you from the treadmill with a huge smile on his face. nat, having just flipped steve over her her shoulders, smiled at you. "hey, bub." you smiled back at her and steve who struggled to give you a wave but did it anyways from his position.

"alright, y/n, you can warm up and run 2 miles first before we start." steve says once he had gotten up from his position on the ground. you mocked a salute before walking to the treadmills.

"what?! how is that fair? i'm running 5 miles!" peter exclaimed from beside you just as you started your run. "you're enhanced, peter. if anything, it's unfair for y/n/n. actually, that's right, it is unfair for her. y/n/n, you can go ahead and just do a mile."

peter's jaw dropped at this, his mouth opening and closing like fish out of water. "b–but.."

"get back to work, peter. once you're done, we'll start both your and y/n's training." the boy only huffed in annoyance, focusing back on his run while you smirked, internally cheering in victory.

"boy, that was tiring!" you dramatically plopped back onto the mat, limbs spread out as you tried to catch your breath. it had been a gruesome 3 hours of training and you were beat.

"y/n/n, get up. sam, bucky and clint's gotta train soon," nat tells you after steve and peter left and you were still sprawled out on the ground. "but i'm tired!" you whined childishly.

"y/n, if you don't get up, i'm gonna leave you here to be trampled on by the boys when they train." nat nagged, hands on her hips as she made a disapproving face at you.

"no you're not. you're gonna carry me to my room so i can shower and sleep soon." you tell her, eyes already closed as the fatigue washed over you. after a few seconds of silence, you heard her sigh out loud before you felt her crouching down beside you.

"get on my back in five seconds or i'll leave you." she threatened. you quickly opened your eyes, grabbing your small towel and water bottle before getting on nat's back. she mumbled something about you being lucky that she loves you or else she really was going to let sam, bucky and clint trample on you.

"what's wrong with her?" you could hear steve's concerned voice asking nat when you two reached—you assumed— the lobby. you were too tired to keep your eyes open so you left them closed while your arms were around nat's neck.

"nothing," you heard nat reply as she walked you both into the elevator. "kid's just too lazy to get up and walk on her own so she made me carry her." you internally rolled your eyes. she made it seem like she was forced to do it when everyone clearly knew she would do anything when it came to you.

you heard steve chuckle before nat started walking again, probably towards your room. you heard the door open and nat finally let you down, prompting you to open your eyes.

"do you want some food after you shower?" she questioned as you looked through your closet for comfy clothes to change to before ultimately deciding on cow print pyjama pants and an oversized tee you stole from steve.

"i'm good, nat, thanks. i just wanna take a nap." as if on cue, you yawned right after. "okay, bub. you'll have to get up later for dinner and movie night though, okay?" she reminded and left the room after you replied an 'okay' back.

when you were woken up a few hours later, it was by an annoying scream and a body bouncing on your bed. "y/n/n, wake up! it's dinner! mr stark ordered your favourite!"

you groaned, putting your pillow over your head to block out peter's annoying voice. "come on, y/n/n wake up! you haven't eaten since breakfast and it's movie night tonight!"

"okay, okay, i'm up. you can shut up now, pete." you grumbled crankily. it was quiet for a few seconds before peter yelled out once again. "wake u–"

he never got to finish though because you kicked him off the bed. "i said i'm up, dude." you then sat up, stretching before getting up to wash up, ignoring peter who was on the floor rubbing the side of his head which hit your lamp when he fell off your bed. he then got up, deciding to tidy your bed up a bit while he waited for you to finish washing up so that you two could go down together.

"is that my shirt?" was the first thing you heard when you walked in with peter. the team were all sitting, eating your food from your favourite place. "i uh, maybe?" you answered sheepishly, sitting down next to sam and peter settling down on your other side. "i've been looking for that shirt since forever."

"aw, let her have it, steve! she looks better in it than you do, she looks so adorable!" wanda screeched, absolutely adoring how tiny you looked in cap's enormous shirt. she continued to gush over you, even taking out her phone at one point to snap a picture of you. you chuckled at her antics, proceeding to eat your dinner while the team talked.

after dinner, everyone slowly made their way to the common room for team movie night. you guys collectively agreed to watch 'white chicks' after steve revealed that he hadn't watched it.

you sat down next to bruce, who gave you a tired smile when you smiled at him. he must've been working in the lab all day, you thought. halfway through the movie though, a bathroom break was called by tony. a few took the chance to get up and get snacks while you told bruce you were gonna sit closer to the tv since you couldn't hear properly with sam and bucky squabbling over every little thing they could. you could even hear them arguing in the kitchen at the moment over hot chocolate.

when tony came back, you told the two bickering children in the kitchen that you were starting the movie again. not long after you started, you could hear them still bickering, except now they were closer, probably back in their seats. poor bruce, you thought. you escaped the two but he was still stuck next to them.

meanwhile in the back, sam and bucky were still busy fighting over the hot chocolate. you paid them no mind as you focused on the movie, having not watched it in a hot minute.

"dude, i made this for myself! go make your own hot chocolate!" bucky whisper-yelled, moving his mug away from sam's reach when the latter tried to reach for it. "you took my snack now i'm gonna take your drink so it's fair!" sam countered.

before the two of them could stop it, the steaming hot chocolate spilt. not on the carpet, but onto the doctor whose patience had already been running thin with the two quarrelling next to him for the past hour.

his face slowly turned green, clearly a sign that he was fighting so that the other guy didn't come out. the team stared in horror, preparing for a fight to break out with the big green monster.

you, being the closest to the tv, didn't notice this all happening as you happily watched the movie that you couldn't hear properly for the past hour.

you laughed joyously when your favourite scene came on, trying to control your giggles that were starting to get louder and louder. bruce was currently hunched down, trying to even his breathing. but when he heard your laughter, he immediately looked up at you.

the team panicked, thinking that you could be a target for hulk since you just attracted attention to yourself. they were about to get up to protect you as they looked at bruce apprehensively, when the doctor smiled, the green on his neck slowly, but surely disappearing.

the team looked at each other in confusion and bruce smiled weakly at them. "sorry about that. i'm...i'm gonna move up and sit with y/n." he got up and made his way to you. you smiled when you saw him. "got tired of them too?" you joked and he nodded, making himself comfortable next to you.

you nodded and turned your attention back to the tv. it was clear you were oblivious to whatever just happened and the team couldn't help but chuckle at the situation. you really just unknowingly calmed down the hulk.

the team didn't know if you were aware of how much power you actually held over them. nevertheless, you were their little baby and they were willing to do anything for you.

#avengers #avengers x reader #avengers x teen!reader #tony stark x teen!reader #steve rogers x teen!reader #bucky barnes x teen!reader #sam wilson x teen!reader #natasha romanoff x teen!reader #wanda maximoff x teen!reader #clint barton x teen!reader #bruce banner x teen!reader #marvel x teen!reader #peter parker x reader #thor odinson x teen!reader

7K notes · View notes

xreaderbooks · 3 years

Text

Paradise On Earth (2)

Chapter: 2. The lucky compass

Pair: JJ Maybank x Routledge! Reader

Warnings: Language

Summary: This is an X Reader insert rewrite of the series Outerbanks, following the plots and events of the series, with certain twists to fit the reader into the story and to make things interesting.

Also available on wattpad and AO3

A/N: Hey guys, 2nd part posted! Thank you all for the support of the first part, it really keeps me motivated to keep writing. I'd appreciate it if you all could let me know what you think down in the comments or in my messages, reblogging is a good way to let my work get seen, and if you enjoy the series let me know if you want me to continue writing it. I will not continue writing it if no one is interested. Other than that comment if you want to be tagged in the next part, and hope you enjoy <3k

Chapter 1 - Masterlist - Series Masterlist - Chapter 3

Word count: 7k

You were never one for holding out hope when you knew shit is doomed. You found it best to just accept defeat and carry on to find ways to cope, your brother was the opposite. So when you were told that your dad went missing, you took missing as dead, you mourned for a while in secret and went on with life finding all types of things to deal. John B on the other hand, well, he was in denial.

He still believed your dad was out there somewhere trying to find his way back to you both, but your dad was a smart and resourceful man so if that were true he would have shown up by now. Just when you thought John B was willing to accept the loss of your dad, this compass shows up. He was set on trying to find him, and you didn't want any part of it. This led to multiple arguments with John B behind closed doors and in front of the other Pogues. He thought you were being heartless and accused you of not caring about your father and you thought he was going crazy by opening up old wounds that you had just healed from.

He did have a point though, your dad was the last person who would ever get lost at sea. You rid your mind of that thought, you would not let John B get in your head. You woke up drenched in sweat, groaning you turned to your alarm clock, it read 6:02 am. There would be no point in going back to sleep since you had to go to work at 7:30, your alarm would've gone off at 6:30 anyway.

You got up to walk around the house, searching for any sign of life. You saw a note on the table, 'went to drop the gear off at the druthers, be back soon -JB.'

You hoped that there weren't any complications putting it back, he got this far without getting caught. You also hoped he would get back on time to drop you off, if not you would tell JJ to borrow the twinkie and drop you off instead. You took the rest of the time that he was gone to shower and get dressed, putting on makeup to make yourself look decent for the guests at the country club, knowing you made more tips when you put more effort into your appearance. It sucked but it was true.

John B came back and slumped on the couch when you were in the shower so you didn't get to talk to him until you heard a pounding at the door.

"DCS, I know you're in there!"

You come out of the bathroom and there pops up JJ pouncing on the window making a loud banging noise, almost giving you a heart attack.

"Gotcha, slick." You heard him say, laughing at John B.

You stomp to the door, opening it wide open. JJ giggles his way to the door stopped by your smaller frame blocking the entrance attacking him, "That wasn't funny, asshole." You say between punches.

He continues to chortle, "You should have seen your face!"

"No, you should see your face when I'm done beating you up." You remarked, "C'mon let's go I don't want to be late."

On the way to the country club, you spoke of their plan to go to Lana Grubb's house to see what she knows considering you all found the compass on her late husband's boat. You doubted she was gonna tell them anything, with how random it would be two teenage boys showing up asking questions about something they found on her dead husband's boat but hopefully it would give John B the answer he would need to give whatever this was, up. You were too lost in your head to notice the topic had shifted.

"I don't understand why you don't at least try with Kiara, she clearly likes you." JJ states, "She's like, 'Oh, John B'" He fake moans out.

"How mature of you," you say.

"Is that what she does?" John B inquires amused.

"She's sketching about you diving and she kissed you," JJ observes, you understood his point. Kie always does things for a reason, you couldn't point out why she had kissed John B on the cheek but you also didn't see what the big deal was.

"She kissed him on the cheek, J," You pointed out, "That's hardly a hugely romantic gesture."

"See, and it's not like we were making out or something." John B says.

"Low-hanging fruit, bro," JJ pushes. "Don't pretend you don't notice, I see it in your eyes, you're like 'I kinda like that' and you start blushing."

"I blush?" You smiled a bit, you did notice how John B's cheeks turned into a slight red tint whenever Kiara showed him attention. You couldn't decipher whether it was because he liked her or because he was getting attention from an attractive female. You weren't too sure about the latter, due to John B's experience with girls. He wasn't a complete man-whore but he did get around when he was lonely.

"Yeah," JJ confirmed. John B rounded the round-a-bout to the entrance of your job.

"Well, boys." You saluted them, hoping out the back and pointing at John B with a look, "Behave."

He rolled his eyes, "Will do, Mom."

"Oh and JJ?" You came up at his open window, "Huh?" He turned his head to you, you took your chance before you changed your mind, and gave him a kiss on the cheek.

His cheeks flamed the same way you noticed John B's did, "Made you blush!" You commented on it before making your way inside, smiling to yourself. John B probably wouldn't appreciate the action but if he were to tell you anything later you'd use the excuse that it was in his favor for JJ giving him shit about Kiara.

~~~

The day was slow, not many people were at the country club, and thankfully none of the asshole kooks were there. You gave back a customer's card after charging it for their order, they were the last people left, then you would be stuck here for another couple of hours until you could leave. You've been here since 7:30 am and it was already 12:40 pm.

You called over a busser once the family of 4 left, you were about to sit down in the kitchens until one of your co-workers tell you, you had a table. Your boss came up to you, looking through papers on his clipboard. "Routledge, you're off, Sammy just came in and asked to put her on a shift."

"I still have 2 hours left though," You mentioned.

"You already worked your hours for the week, you're good."

"But-"

"Go home, Y/N, before I add to those two hours." Yeah, you needed the money but you were not gonna put yourself through sitting in boredom for hours. Especially when JJ wasn't there, usually when you worked shifts together it was full of goofing off, having deep conversations sometimes, and poking fun at the kooks. You still fit in work there somehow, your boss purposely separated your work schedules even though he knows you still got shit done.

Tossing your work apron into your locker, grabbing the keys to the chateau, and changing into the pair of shorts and shirt you packed into your bag, you stuff your uniform in your bag. You head out, texting John B that you left early and he doesn't need to pick you up anymore. You figured he was still on his little adventure so you settled on walking instead of waiting around for him and JJ.

On your walk, your mind wandered on how the day would've been better if JJ was there with you. You had this game you would play where you would observe the table you were waiting on and play out their lives, guessing everything about them or you would put yourselves in their positions making fake accents pretending to be them. You remembered the times where you would wait at a table of a couple, in their mid 20's celebrating their anniversary. Both you and JJ made a bet on the guy proposing, JJ acted it out and everything. He got down on one knee, kissing your hand, calling you Princess in the softest voice. His gaze stuck on your eyes and you could've sworn there was something there.

Sadly, the moment was interrupted by the loud echo of a slap. Turns out the guy was going to propose but only because he felt guilty for cheating on her, one of the waiters that were at the table next to them told you. It made for a good laugh later.

You smiled to yourself at the memory, "Finally went crazy, Routledge?"

"You're one to talk, Rafe," You retort. "What are you doing on this side of the island? Oh, that's right, you're a junkie."

"Hey!" He snatches your forearm roughly, spinning you around to meet his eye. "You don't get to talk to me like that, Pogue."

"It's a free country, I get to speak to you however I damn please." You tried to yank free but his grip only tightened.

"Where do you think you're going?" He pressed you closer to his chest, half whispering into your ear, it gave you chills. You didn't know why he had this effect on you, you weren't interested in him, in fact, you hated the entitled prick. Yet sometimes your interactions with Rafe awakened some twisted part of you where you liked the cat and mouse games you played with each other.

"Home, care to join?" Your face was inches apart from his, one tilt and a light push, and your lips would meet. His grip loosened a bit, you took the chance to set yourself free.

"It's best if you don't test my patience, Y/N," He warned.

"You came up to me remember? don't pull if you don't wanna get pushed," You kept walking through the neighbor's houses, you didn't want to be alone with Rafe in your house. Rafe was unpredictable and being around him with no one around is not a good idea, plus if John B were to show up and see you were hanging around Rafe you would never hear the end of it.

"This isn't the way to your house," He became aware of you not leading the way to your home.

"Wow, Rafe, wanna sound anymore like a creep?"

"Shut up, come with me," He suggested, you looked at him skeptically.

"First of all, that's no way to ask a girl to go with you somewhere, I thought you of all people would know that kook." You stopped walking, turning to him "Second, go with you where?"

"You'll see," He nods for you to follow him. "I just want to talk."

"We can talk out here in the open," You keep your feet planted.

"What do you think I'm going to do to you, Y/N," You didn't want to answer that, truthfully he's never done anything to you personally except for call you a few insults that you didn't really care about.

"I don't know, maybe nothing," you hesitate.

"Look I'm not going to hurt you, I promise," You held eye contact, reading him.

"Fine, but just so you know John B knows where I'm supposed to be right now, and if I'm not thereby a certain amount of time, he will send a search party." You warned him just in case. The whole search party thing was a bit much, the most John B would do is worry and call your cell, which you were pretty sure you could answer if he truly meant no harm.

"Yeah, alright whatever."

You followed him to a tower in the middle of the woods, this made you question the decision of coming with him.

"You made me come all the way out here so you can murder me, Rafe?" You asked, not really sure if you meant it as a joke or not.

"Funny," He chuckled. He didn't answer your question, he made you nervous, so nervous it didn't make you think straight and now you were possibly going to die at the hands of Rafe fucking Cameron.

"Wasn't joking," You muttered. He climbed the ladder to the tower, again, you followed.

"I wanted to talk to you because I needed someone to talk to about my... problems," His voice sounded so small and vulnerable. Something you didn't think, you of all people would hear from Rafe.

"And you thought I'd be a good idea," You snorted.

"Believe it or not, I feel like we're one and the same," He looked at you with a dead serious face. You did not think this was real, Rafe Cameron, your brother and friend's main terrorizer had chosen to confide in you about his problems. Sure, you've known him for a while but out of all those years you've held at most 3 civil conversations with him, the rest being snide remarks or full-on heated arguments.

"Hardly," You rolled your eyes, "but continue."

"I- It's my dad," He sighs "he just drives me crazy sometimes."

"What, daddy didn't pay you enough for breathing?"

"Cool it with the attitude, Pogue."

"If you're gonna keep calling me that as an insult, I'm just gonna leave," You make your way to leave when he blocks your way. "No, don't. I promise to keep it civil from now on."

You inhaled, taking a seat with an open mind. He did well on keeping his promise despite how difficult you made it, making subtly rude comments on his privilege. You couldn't lie this gave you more insight into the life of a kook, it was annoying but you'd prefer the annoyance with financial stability rather than hoping you could make enough to buy food or shower with hot water. But as you said to yourself, you kept an open mind and listened to him talk; Rafe was complicated. He couldn't handle the stress of being an adult or the responsibilities his father entrusts him with.

"I just need a break sometimes, you know?" He met your eyes with his red ones, looked as if he had been smoking. You guessed he was holding back tears.

"Yeah, I get it," You spoke softly.

"I come here sometimes to get a breather, and for a while, it worked but now it's like the effects of something is wearing off."

"Is that why you do coke?" He shrugs.

You blame it on bad parenting, maybe if Ward didn't coddle his kids so damn much when Rafe was a kid, Rafe would've been able to handle things better instead of venting to you, a girl he never wanted any affiliation with due to where you came from. But now, since nobody can change the past, Rafe feels the need to act out. It doesn't give him an excuse to treat people the way that he does but now you know he's misunderstood and maybe with your help, he could get better.

He ended up walking you home 2 hours after he was finished talking, said he needed to take care of something. You didn't care to ask knowing you were supposed to be home a while ago.

"Routledge!" You look back at him, "tell anyone about this and you're dead."

"Wouldn't dream of it!" You call back.

You go through the back porch expecting to have a more discreet entrance only to hear your friends immersed in a deep discussion.

You saw JJ yell at Pope "Dude, I wasn't taking little mental polaroids the entire time, I was under duress. Okay?"

You walk up the steps of the porch, opening the screen door in confusion, "Why were you under duress?"

"Look, who finally decides to show up!" Pope says gladly, JJ ignores you and Pope. "Listen, I can tell by the way Ms. Lana was screaming, that these guys are serious, serious hombres, man."

"Can somebody catch me up, please?"

"And where were you?" JJ asks accusingly, you couldn't tell them you were with Rafe so you used the work excuse.

"I was at work," John B looks at you quizzically.

"You said you got off early," He calls you out.

"Yeah, but I decided to stay and chill with Irene for a little and we got caught up talking." You named some random person you worked with that you never spoke to, he seemed to buy it.

"Alright well, It's a heavy vibe right now, okay? I'm not liking this very much." JJ spoke up after informing you of the events that happened after they dropped you off.

"Why do they want the compass?" Kie asks, "It's a piece of shit, you could pawn it off for five bucks if you wanted to," Pope notes. "No offense guys, I know it belongs to your family."

You shrugged, "I don't care, it really does look like junk."

"The office," John B announces, "My dad. My dad's office. He always kept the office locked because he was worried about his competitors stealing his royal merchant research," He leads the way to said office.

"We used to laugh at him like he was gonna find it, but now that he's gone, I've kinda- we've just left it as he kept it." You recall, piecing together what John B was trying to say. You never wanted to clean out his stuff to not disrespect his memory or maybe cause even though you let go mentally, you didn't want to let go emotionally.

John B kept it as it was for the same reason Kie just said, "Just in case he comes back." She smiles supportively, staring the guys down to intimidate them into agreeing.

"I've slept over here like 600 times, and I've never seen this door opened," Pope reflects.

"Here, look. This is the original owner, right here." John B sets down a bulletin board with your family tree.

"Robert Q. Routledge, 1880 to 1990. There's the lucky compass, right there." You point out in the picture next to the name, "He was shot after he bought it."

"Then the compass was shipped back to Henry," John B continues for you. "He was killed in a crop-dusting accident when he had the compass. After he died, the compass was given to Stephen. Then after Stephen passed the compass down to him, my dad." He points to each picture, stopping at the final picture of You and John B as kids and your dad.

"Hm, sounds like there's a reoccurring theme here," JJ denotes.

"Yeah, you guys have a death compass," Pope remarks.

"We do not," John B denies.

"Get rid of it," JJ advises. "It's cursed and it's made its way back to you."

"Look, my dad used to talk about this secret compartment here where soldiers used to hide secret notes." John B unscrews the cap of the compass, he flips it over to reveal the word, Redfield.

"That wasn't there before," JB says.

"That's dad's handwriting," You comment.

"How can you know that?" Pope doubts. "Because he does these weird Rs... See it?" You take the compass from your brother's hand to show Pope.

"Can I see it?" JJ steps closer from behind you, his chest hitting your back. He tries to pronounce Redfield and fails.

"Maybe it's a clue to where he's hiding," John B theorizes making you roll your eyes.

"A clue, come on that's-" Pope again doubts, at least you're not the only one, Kie gives him a look that dares him to continue. "But if it is a clue, maybe it's an anagram?"

John B eats it up, "Yes, perfect. An anagram, you need paper." He gives Pope a paper to decipher the "anagram".

"How can you concentrate with that thing crowing at you?" Pope questions annoyingly to which you take offense.

John B answers, "JJ loves the Rooster."

"I love the rooster," You say at the same time as him. You preened at the thought of liking the same as JJ, even if you had loads of similarities this was one of those things that only you and JJ shared. Kie liked the rooster too, but then again Kie liked all living things. It was weird but the rooster felt like it had a deeper meaning to it.

Pope concentrated on the supposed anagram, while you JJ and Kie came up with different words to help him out.

"Guys, Guys!" John B shouted urgently, "Somebody's here."

"Is that the guys you were talking about earlier?" You asked nervously.

"Is that them?" Kie questioned with you.

"John B I told you, Why does it always--" JJ starts, John B pins him to the wall with a finger to shush him whisper shouting "JJ, hey, look at me. Where's the gun?"

"Gun? I, uh, I can't-"

"Now you don't have the gun, the one time we need the gun?" Kie begins to freak out, you're right behind her in that department. Your heartbeat spiking up, you try to keep yourself calm knowing you need to find a solution first panic later.

"It's on the porch," JJ remembers, rushing to get the gun then comes barreling back almost slipping on the wooden floors. One of the men calls out for your brother threateningly.

"Where's the compass and the gun?" John B and JJ whisper to each other, "They're out on the front porch, guys."

You hear the loud clanging of the men trashing your house, probably tearing it apart in the search of the compass. You and the others head straight for the window in an attempt to pry it open but it wouldn't budge. It must've been sealed permanently due to the lack of use over time.

Kie finds something sharp to unshut the window, you can hear the men getting closer to the room. John B stands with his back to the door to hold it shut. You're frozen in place watching this all take place not knowing what to do. The door handle jiggles and the man is kicking the door down, a strip of wood comes out of the door.

They continue to kick down the door, you stare at it in fear. You didn't even see when they opened the window, JJ appears in front of you grabbing your face in his hands. "Y/N, we gotta go c'mon," He drags you with him and out the window.

You all crawl into the chicken coop in your backyard, John B sitting by the "window" with Kiara next to him, Pope across from them and you're next to JJ, your chest heaving.

The rooster calls attention to where you're all hiding, "Shut that thing up!" JJ demands.

"What do you want me to do?" Pope asks, Kiara begs in tears "Pet it, talk to it, I don't know."

John B, who was looking out the "window" presses his back to the wooden wall next to Kie, afraid to get caught.

JJ reaches to grab the rooster by its neck, snapping it dead. Your cheeks are now wet with streaming tears, you're careful not to let out a sob. You see how John B holds Kiara's hand and you suddenly wish someone was holding you so you could feel safe.

JJ looks up to where you're hugging your knees, your eyes meet and you see his silent apology. You hear the men get into their truck and drive off. John B is the first to step out letting out a deep breath, "Alright, we're outta here. I'm gonna get the keys, you all go wait by the twinkie."

Pope and Kie lead while you trail behind them, lost in your mind you scold yourself for not being much help to the group. The fear consumed you to the point of paralysis, you promised yourself that you would do better if a situation like this were to happen again.

You were pulled out of your thoughts by an arm slinging around your shoulders, "I'm sorry, princess." It was JJ who pulled you closer to him, whispering in your ear.

"'S fine," you were too caught up with what just happened that you didn't have the capacity to care about the attention JJ was giving you, but it seems as if your body had a natural reflex to respond to his touch making you lean against him.

John B unlocked the doors of the Volkswagon, soon you were on your way to the Redfield Lighthouse.

"I mean it's obvious right, a family heirloom. What better place to hide a message?" John B brings up the conversation of the compass after everyone had calmed down. "He had to know it was gonna get back to me, right?"

"Yeah, it's possible," Kie sympathizes with John B.

"It could also be possible that you're concocting wild theories to help, you deal with your sad feels," You speak your mind.

"Bro, you know how I process my sad feels; dank nugs and the stickiest of ickies, that's how I do it." JJ tries to lighten the mood.

"See the healthy way," You agree with JJ.

"I'm concocting, okay?" John B gets defensive, "My dad's trying to give me a message."

"If it helps you believe, John B," Kie says to show her support.

"Look, I-I don't need a therapy session, okay? I'm not tripping out."

"It's okay to trip, bro but-" John B cuts JJ off, "Look, my-- our dad is missing, okay? missing. You don't know what it's like to have the person closest to you vanish and then have no idea what happened. Just wake up every morning wondering."

"Oh, cause I'm not gonna know how it feels for dad to go missing, very nice John B." You said sarcastically, "It's been almost a year."

"Hey, he could have been kidnapped, that's definitely a possibility." You shot JJ a glare, you knew JJ was trying to help but he was not helping John B get in touch with reality.

"So, this is what's gonna happen. You're gonna post up and look out for bogeys, okay?" John B orders looking at JJ, when you make it to the lighthouse.

"Wait, why me?" he asks confused.

"Because you're not coming," Pope says simply.

"Why?"

"There are independent variables and dependent variables, you're an independent. We don't know what you'll do," Pope explains. JJ protests only for JB to bark out orders again, "Y/N, Pope, you stand to look out with JJ. Okay?"

"I want to come with you guys," You insist. John B dismisses you, you always hated when he did that, he played the 'I'm the oldest so I make the decisions card' with you all the time.

"If we get split up, we meet back at JJ's house."

"Great," Kie gets walks towards the fence. "No, not great, I'm going!" You follow, John B pushes you back causing you to stumble into JJ who steadied you by your forearms.

"No, Y/N, you're not. JJ keep an eye on her, actually Pope you're better at handling her." He says with finality, jogging to catch up with Kie.

"What an asshole!" You yell so that maybe John B could hear the name you called him.

"Hey, what are you doing?" Pope shushes you, "You trying to draw attention to us?"

"Did you not see what he just did?" You defend, "it's not fair."

"Well, you didn't exactly show that you were on his side," JJ jumps in.

"Side, what side?" You say exasperatedly, "We're all on the same side, he was my dad too!"

You sit at the edge of a tree, putting your head against the trunk. JJ comes to sit beside you, resting a hand on your knee.

"I'm gonna work on my merit scholarship essay, I'm trying to keep felonies down to a minimum." Pope states.

"All right, would you just shut up already?" JJ disregarded Pope, "You good?"

"No, I'm not good JJ. My brother's being a dick about our dad dying and making me seem like the bad guy for just trying to move on with my life before I lose my fricking mind." You respond, "Not only is he making me the bad guy but is he treating me like a little girl and punishing me for not being on his side like you said when we're literally not going against some enemy, and this isn't about fucking sides. God, I can't even go with him to find information because he's being a petty bitch."

"Geez, Y/N," Pope says "That was-"

"A lot I know," You sigh.

"Maybe just go along with it," JJ shrugs "He's not going to quit, you know how he is, so just go along with the ride see where it takes us."

"So we're gonna pretend what just happened, didn't just happen?" You glance between Pope and JJ looking for one of them to give you an answer, when they stay quiet you continue, "We're going to get killed."

"Let's just hope it doesn't come to that," Pope replies.

Five minutes later, you hear the sound of police sirens close by, You, JJ, and Pope bolt to the twinkie.

"Shouldn't we wait for JB and Kiara?" You question as JJ drives out of where you parked, "No time the cops are wildn' right now." You prayed John B and Kie would be fine on their own. JJ drove you and Pope to his house, and then you waited.

Kie ended up calling you, half an hour later saying John B was being detained at the police station. She said she convinced her dad to pay for his bail to which you couldn't thank her family enough. You told JJ to drop you off at the police station, you hopped out with a quick thank you, sprinting to the entrance to find John B. Only to stop in your tracks when you see Mr. Carerra walking out pissed.

"If you skip out on your bail and I lose my money, I'm gonna hunt you down and skin you." His voice is stern and serious, Kie tries to get him to stop but he shuts her down. "Cut it."

You follow them silently, John B keeps his head down but says "Thank you, Mr. C."

"Don't thank me," He responds harshly. Honestly, you'd be upset to of your daughter was running around with a bunch of boys (pogues no less) when you spent your entire life trying to keep her out of the cut. You walk up to her dad's truck, Kie smiling when she sees you, reaching into her back pocket to hand John B the compass. "Get in," Her dad demands.

"Give me a sec," She gives John B the compass "you're gonna be good."

"Kiara!" She sends an apologetic look you guys' way, "Sorry."

You didn't miss what Mr. Carerra said to Kie when she got in the car, "I told you, you hang out with trash, you get dirty."

It was a hard thing to hear, being so prideful about where you came from despite the stigma. Trash, part of you was angry knowing you were better than that word he called you and your brother. The other part of you wondered if you really were better than what he said, in the end kooks are kooks and pogues are pogues, kooks are always going to have better opportunities than pogues. Unless you're like Pope of course in which case you'd have to work blood, sweat, and tears or hope for a miracle to get to where the kooks are. Even then you didn't know if you had the capability for that, meaning you will always be this, trash.

You and John B walk side by side not saying a word to each other, both lost in your own worlds. John B decides to shower at the pier where there was a hose, you used the five bucks that you had on you to buy a pack of three gallons of drinking water for the chateau, knowing you didn't have any.

"Hey, employee of the month, where the hell have you been?" Some guy shouts at John B, "You takin' some me-time? Ward C's lookin' all over for you, you know he don't like to wait."

"Hey, Y/N, you think you can get home okay from here?" JB asks while drying himself off with a rag, you nod. "Yeah, I'm good. Try not to get into trouble again, yeah?"

He nods back at you smiling and you were off.

~~~

At some point hours later, you began to worry. John B hadn't gotten home and he was supposed to just go to the Camerons and come back, sure it would've taken a while anyway since he didn't have the twinkie but still. In the while that he was gone, you picked up the mess that the men made. The number of times you rolled your eyes at how extra these people were for throwing everything around. You're life getting interesting, to say the least, and you didn't know how much more interesting until John B busted through the door looking rough.

"What happened to you?" You asked as he pushed past you to go into Dad's office grabbing the bulletin board and throwing it outside with the trash you had piled on.

"What are you doing?" You saw John B with a lit match about to set your family tree on fire. He tossed it onto the trash and it immediately went up in flames.

"Are you going to explain to me what the hell is going on?" He adds fuel to the fire, then stops as if snapping out of whatever he was on and pulls the board out of the fire stomping on it to put out the flames. "Okay, so you have officially gone crazy, good to know."

He stares at the picture of the one female family member before you, "I'll explain this when we're with the other but, just a heads up, Ward fired me, the guys cornered me and I got electrocuted. Also, I gave the compass to Sheriff Peterkin."

"Christ, you really can't be left alone," You joke then backtrack to when he said he got fired. "Wait, why the hell did Ward fire you?"

"Two words; Sarah Cameron."

"What about her?"

"When I went to put the gear back on the druthers she was there and saw me putting it back, she must've told Ward because there was no other way he could've found out."

"What a bitch," You rage. John B getting fired means you have to work extra shifts until he finds another way to make money. Any other time, he would've been able to find a job but now that John B’s set on this mission, you had to pull weight. Not like you minded, in the end, you had to do what you had to do but you couldn't believe the bitch that was Sarah Cameron had gotten your brother fired. This was his life, your life she was messing with. Entitled ass bitch.

"Nothing more to do now than follow this lead," John tells you.

~~~

John B asked you to go inside the wreck to get Kie, you had already collected JJ and Pope from JJ's house, now the only person left was Kie who was resisting coming.

"Is it because of your parents?" You question, "Cause' I can talk to them and pull the I need help with the summer assignments."

"No, it's not just my parents I can try to get around just," You sense her hesitation. "I don't want you to get mad at me, okay?"

"Of course not, what is it?"

"John B kissed me before he was taken by the cops," She blurted out.

"Holy shit!" Your mind was racing, "I-I don't even know what to say, W- was it weird?"

She laughed, "Totally, and it came out of nowhere too."

"How did you guys even find time for that?"

"More like, how did he find time," Kie sets her bucket of paint down. "Look, I just feel like it's gonna be awkward and my parents are pissed, it's like a sign."

You knit your brows, "Seriously Kie? A sign. It was one kiss, was he that bad of a kisser?"

She chuckles but says nothing, "Fine then. Good day madam," You pretend to leave for good when walk out the back door, coming up to the driver's window "She said she's not coming."

John B steps out of the twinkie, you give him a smirk. "I know what you did," You whisper in a sing-a-song voice.

"Just sh, please."

"Relax, I wasn't gonna say anything. That's your business," You hop back into the Volkswagon next to Pope.

The sun had almost gone completely down by the time you drove to the cemetery, John B was driving, Kie in the passenger, Pope in the back with a row with you next to him, and JJ in the trunk.

"Mind if I just relax on this one, it's been a long day and a lot of weird stuff's gone down," JJ holds up a joint. "I'm just gonna lay low, oh did you want a hit of this?" He offers it up to Pope who held up a hand and said, "I keep the signal clear."

"Dude, do you understand that your problem is, you don't get creative," JJ explains, you groan at JJ trying to peer pressure Pope.

"JJ, if he's not gonna take a hit give it to me," You pluck the roll from out of his fingers, inhaling the smoke letting it go into your lungs for a few seconds, and exhaling. "Leave poor poopy alone, Jesus."

It felt like it got even darker by the time you got to the cemetery, you grabbed helmet lights and flashlights, going in deep.

"Hey, come on," JB rushes you.

"I'm coming geez, this place is scary, what are we even doing here?"

"You know how you're trying to remember a song and you can't remember who sings it?"

"Yeah," You urge him to continue.

"So, Redfield. This whole time, I thought it was a place right?" He guides you all to a large stone crypt, holding a lantern up at the name written atop it. "It's a person."

"Voi-effing-la," JJ said, impressed.

"That's our great-great-grandmother, Olivia Redfield." You examined in awe, there were vines covering the entrance, "Wait, Redfield so she was the clue that dad gave? What're we gonna do steal her body or something?"

"No, I don't think so," John B shook his head "But help me with the door, come on."

"I- what?" You were puzzled but help push, it was large and must have been shut for ages, it was a challenge.

"This door is like 700 pounds man, it's not gonna budge." Pope expressed grunting while pushing on the stone.

"We didn't come this far to get this far, alright?" JJ signified, "We got this."

The sound of hissing came out of a crack in the door, a snake slithered out and landed directly in front of you all.

"That's a moccasin, all right," JJ stated the breed converting to a country accent, he was speaking gibberish to you at this point "Ye old dr. cottonmouth, death in the tall grass." He began to bark at it, Pope yelled at him to keep quiet.

"You're gonna wake the freaking dead, man."

"They're afraid of dogs," JJ defended "everyone knows that wait, hold on." He stopped John B from going closer to investigate the tomb. "If there's one, there's probably dozens."

"Okay, stop." Kie interrupted "you're scaring me."

"It's alright Kie," You touched her shoulder to console her "if other snakes come out we'll just let them eat JJ."

JJ who was barking at the crack stopped turning towards you with a glare, "real nice, Y/N."

"You're the one that's attracting attention and calling out the snakes to attack, so nice one, J"

"Guys, shut up." Pope whisper shouted, "We're not gonna get in there, alright? It's not budging. We should probably just go."

By the sound of the urgency in his voice, he was probably just as tired as the rest of us but you know he also doesn't want to get caught breaking into someone's grave, even if one of your families. However, JJ was right, you didn't come this far to only get this far.

You managed to spot an entrance that you could get in, "I can get through."

What? No, no, no, no." John B denied," You think you're gonna fit through the hole?"

"Look, this whole time we've been at each other throats because you think I don't care enough and I think you're gonna get us killed by asking too many questions," You exhaled. "While I still think that and don't believe in all this, this is me proving that I do care and that I'm all in with you, big bro. You- We deserve to know the truth."

You sent him a tight-lipped smile to make him and yourself feel better about what you were about to do, "Can you help me?"

The guys pulled out the vines that were in the way, "I'm gonna boost you, alright? I've seen this in a couple of movies, you ready?"

You shined the light at the tomb, "Remind me what we're looking for."

"You'll know when you see it," said John B. His tone was dramatic but you went with it, you were a bit nervous going into a dark hole with who knows what inside it alone but this was for John B.

"Hold my flashlight," You told Kie, handing it to her with shaky hands. She gave you a pitiful glance, sending you a silently telling you 'you don't have to do this'.

You went for it anyways letting JJ instruct you on where to put your hands and feet so that he could boost you up.

"Okay, on three," You used him as your ladder and boosted yourself up with his help earlier. You climbed in and landed inside hearing him say, "Alright, forget about three then.

"Can somebody hand me the flashlight, please?" It was so dark, it felt like you were blind. You were given your flashlight and you turned it on, flashing it at the stone wall.

"Y/N, you alive? You got like, a heartbeat and everything?" John B calls out nervously.

"Nooo, I just died without screaming, you're hearing my ghost right now I hope you know that." You reply sarcastically.

"Oh so you're still a bitch in the afterlife, good to know."

"Shut up, I need some more light." John B holds out a lantern that brightens the tomb. You search around for anything, coming across a crack with something in it.

"Did you find something, gold maybe?"

"Oh my god."

Chapter 3

Tag list: @deanwherescas - @iamthatbitchhh@nerdypartytrashpsychic - @random-girl-army - @siresweeney - @simpingbutch - @obx-pogues-4-life - @mitchloveswriting - @john-benderr - @p-prettybitch - @mischiefdz - @quillsandtyposx - @ellallheart

(if you're name is crossed that means tumblr won’t allow me to tag you)

#jj maybank x routledge!reader #jj maybank x pogue #jj maybank x reader #jj maybank x y/n #jj maybank x you #jj maybank imagines #jj maybank #john b x sister!reader #john b x reader #john b x sarah #john b routledge #pope x kie #kie x reader #rafe cameron x routledge! reader #rafe cameron x y/n #rafe cameron x reader

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makeste · 3 years

Text

BnHA 326: What’s up Kids, It’s Me, Your Old Pal Stain

Previously on BnHA: Ochako shamed the U.A. Clown Mob into letting Deku go back inside his own fucking school by giving them an hour-long speech about how not to be humongous dickheads. Kouta and Gigantic Fox Lady saved the manga by being the only ones brave enough to give Deku a hug. Shouto was all “man, all this togetherness sure does remind me of that promise you made that we would handle Touya together which you immediately bailed on, doesn’t it, Dad.” Aizawa was all, “for the one and a half people out there who thought that my losing an eye and a leg might actually make me less sexy, I’m very happy to prove you wrong.” All Might was all, “[standing outside the U.A. fortress alone in the rain talking to someone or something??].” Like seriously, what was up with that though.

Today on BnHA: All Might is all “here I am in Kamino having a belated mid-life crisis because Deku abandoned me and I’m a terrible mentor and everything sucks and I hate myself.” Stain is all, “don’t make me come over there and give you a ten page speech about why you’re still the goat while menacingly holding you at swordpoint the entire time” because idk if you knew this guys, but Stain is pretty crazy actually. Anyway so he does that, and then All Might gets all emotional, and then the lady from chapter 92 shows up and gives All Might’s statue an encouraging pep talk, and then Horikoshi is all “and it even stopped raining lol can you believe this shit I’m not even a little bit subtle,” and he really isn’t. But I still got emotional anyway, because seeing people reassure All Might that everything he’s struggled for his entire life hasn’t been in vain just got to me okay. Horikoshi knows I am weak to the All Might feels and he just goes for the jugular every time, that bastard.

lmao. “in the neverending downpour, All Might is...” yeah, thank you, glad we’re getting right to that then

“All Might is driving 95 mph in his busted ass car in the pouring rain, is what he’s doing.” huh

so basically a day or two after his adopted child refused to accept the handmade bento that he packed with love, my man is out here acting like he’s got nothing to live for anymore. this sure bodes well for certain prophecies on which the clock is still ominously ticking down

his fucking face though omg. is it weird that I’m kind of hoping more people ambush him just because I think it’d be funny to see them get their asses kicked like the last bunch

(ETA: or maybe he will just stand there openly not giving a fuck and basically daring them to stab him!! get it together please All Might.)

side note, “anti-hero supporters” is such a strange way of saying “people who hate heroes”, which I’m assuming is what they actually wanted to say?? this makes it sound like it’s a group that really loves antiheroes. “these Hannibal stans have been a real menace lately. time to go deal with them”

ha ha ha, fucking ouch

are you really gonna do it Horikoshi you bastard. are you really going to let that be the final encounter between the two characters whose relationship you once described as the vertical axis of the entire fucking story. are you really gonna?? huh??

huh

you’re telling me you were driving 112 mph and you still didn’t get there in time. you’re losing your touch old man. lol Todo’s ice is almost fully melted already, how late were you

(ETA: so apparently this is taking place after the end of chapter 325, meaning he went to U.A., hung out for a bit, saw the kids come back with his bedraggled half-dead protégé in tow, watched as they shamed the civilians into some long-overdue character development, and then was all “welp, time to go argue with the hero-hating faction or something because I’m feeling useless.” and Edge just let him go, just like that. though to be fair I have to imagine it’s pretty hard to say no to All Fucking Might.)

also belated lol at the fact that the kids were all “yeahhhhhhh we are definitely not gonna touch that thing, let’s just leave it here, he doesn’t need it anyway.” probably the right call to make since they couldn’t get a hazmat team on such short notice

fuck. ha ha ha fucking ouch part two

All Might please put that thing down before you get gangrene. also yeah, you dropped the ball, good for you to acknowledge it. nobody’s perfect and you did your best. but yeah you could have handled a lot of things completely differently. but I still love you

is Horikoshi really putting this flashback here. are you serious. what kind of fucking sadist

look, I swear I’m not one of those people that runs up and down the street shouting “DEATH FLAG!!” at every third panel lol. but this shit screamed Death Flag when we originally got it, and it’s screaming DEATH FLAG!!! even more now. like with the capital letters and exclamation marks and all. and that’s just a fact. I don’t like it but that’s how it is

ffkdjslk

“DID YOU READ THE SIGN??!” Horikoshi asks while zooming in maniacally because he thinks we’re blind or something. lol what

-- though actually, it only just occurred to me that this sign is actually written in English. I never really paid attention up until now and had been assuming it was written in Japanese and translated by the scanlators, but the writing here is clearly part of the original image. anyway so maybe that’s why he’s zooming in?? just to make sure everybody pays attention lol

okay fuck this

see, this is the whole problem right here. once again All Might is all on his own. Deku’s self-destructive angst spiral was fortunately brought to a grinding halt because he actually has support from his friends and family and teachers and classmates. but All Might never had that same kind of support, and it’s made all the difference between the two of them, and not in a good way. Katsuki wasn’t wrong when he said All Might and Deku were both cut from the same cloth. but now when it’s All Might’s turn to go all “I WALK A LONELY ROAD~~” once again, there’s nobody in sight

just, after forty plus years of him carrying this torch, I just wish someone would finally come along to let him know he doesn’t have to. all those things that he wanted to say to Deku are also things that he needs and deserves to hear himself. Aizawa was making a little progress there, but now he’s got his sad zombie cloud boyfriend situation to deal with, and we can’t expect him and his perfect hair to solve all our problems. someone else has gotta step up

oh my god

“you rang?” never mind I take it all back sob

omg why am I laughing. shit

this man truly has the best PR game in the series. we were truly convinced he was gonna suddenly become a good guy and defend All Might against the other villains or some nonsense. as if this wasn’t the same man who decided on a whim that Iida Tensei deserved to be paralyzed, and that his fifteen-year-old brother deserved to die for daring to be upset about it

lol even All Might is all “I genuinely never saw this coming” lmao

just want to say, for the record, I have always harbored a very sensible hatred toward Stain. feeling very vindicated right now. good job Past Me

adsfklwkfsdwgkj

ffffwefjslkg. ghsdlkg. dsfkkkslkjldwkjrg

STAIN: heard you talking shit old man

ME: smh that’s what I thought you’d say you dumb fucking Stain

STAIN: how dare you talk about All Might that way

ME: gljfljgk

(ETA: in hindsight I have no idea how I didn’t clue in sooner that he didn’t recognize him -- or, well, ~didn’t recognize~ him, to be more accurate lol. I think it was the whole “is that a slight against the heroes?” thing that threw me. Viz’s translation makes it much clearer that he’s offended on behalf of All Might specifically, not heroes in general. anyways.)

sob. so All Might is all “yeah I don’t blame you for not recognizing me in this sweet leather jacket”

good thing he still knows how to do this party trick

A+ reflexes on Stain’s part presumably pulling the sword back a few inches to keep this dumbass from impaling himself with his whole pufferfish routine. can you imagine if that was the gruesome death Nighteye foresaw. and he was just too embarrassed to say anything

lol anyways guess I was wrong about Stain everyone

way to fucking go, Past Me. you really biffed this one

oh wait

Stain sure is one wacky rollercoaster ride

oh fuck me lol I forgot how much I did not miss this

(ETA: “this here is the sacred ground where All Might gave up the last of his power and turned into a shriveled old man!! please ignore the part where I admit to knowing all about that, and yet pretend not to recognize said man when he’s standing two feet in front of me.”)

Past Me, I know we’ve had our ups and downs these past ninety seconds, but I’m really starting to think you were on to something. this dude has always been kind of insufferable. always acting like his high horse is a fucking giraffe when it’s actually a Shetland pony

dammit now he’s got All Might going off on a depressed monologue

oh my god my heart

shit

why the fuck does that hit so hard. he became a hero because he couldn’t bear to just sit back and let bad things happen to people who didn’t deserve it. I mean that’s basically the same as every hero ever, right? so why does it still hit so fucking hard every single time though. what is it about seeing someone so determined to stand up for other people and fight on their behalf. it just never loses its impact no matter how many times I see that determination mirrored in so many of my favorite characters

“I wanted to make the world a better place.” omg. but you did, though. like seriously, I feel like people are always dogging on him for not being 100% perfect, and fandom really doesn’t give him enough credit for everything he still managed to accomplish. this man came of age at a time when Japan was by all accounts a total shitshow, and singlehandedly managed to bring about an era of peace that lasted for four fucking decades. can you imagine having peace for that long?? that’s longer than I’ve been alive. shit

and he gave people hope. he inspired them and protected them and made them feel safe. and no, he couldn’t save everyone, because he’s only one fucking dude (and also because the whole time AFO was also out there desperately working to undermine him so that he could keep preaching his narrative of “heroes are bad actually”). but you know what he did do, is inspire multiple new generations of heroes who, if they can all manage to work together, will finally be able to accomplish everything he never could

so yeah. forty years of peace, and inspired the “that’s how we all became the greatest heroes” generation -- that’s a fucking win in my book. talk about having a net positive impact on the world. lol anyways now I’m all fired up and ready to fight anyone who tries to talk any shit about you, All Might

“but what if I talk shit about myself” okay listen up All Might I’m gonna need you to try just a little bit harder to work with me here okay. please calm down and stop blaming yourself for every single bad thing that’s ever happened in the world. do you remember that time Bakugou was blaming himself for Kamino, and you gave him a hug and told him it wasn’t his fault, and that he was only a boy, and that even though he was strong, even strong people can struggle with the burdens they place on themselves, and that you were sorry for not seeing that earlier? do you remember all of that? that’s what I want someone to tell you too, dammit. anyway please stop breaking my heart please and thanks

wtf

are you dead All Might

I don’t even have the slightest idea what’s happening lol

oh snap did he grab him so they could hide??

hold the fucking phone. don’t tell me this person in the background with the umbrella is here to actually do something decent??

oh my godddd

and here come the feels. oh boy. okay don’t mind me, I’m just gonna sit here sobbing over this fictional lady and her simple act of kindness in this weekly shounen manga that I care about way too much

FUCKING DAMMIT AND HERE’S A SECOND HELPING

DON’T MIND ME, I’M JUST GETTING DISPROPORTIONATELY EMOTIONAL OVER THIS WOMAN’S DETERMINATION TO HONOR A MAN WHO SACRIFICED EVERYTHING TO SAVE HER AND COUNTLESS OTHERS. I’M JUST HAVING SOME FEELS OVER HERE ABOUT HER HEARTFELT, DOESN’T-EVEN-KNOW-ANYONE-ELSE-IS-WATCHING FEELINGS OF GRATITUDE THAT COMPELLED HER TO COME OUT HERE AND MAKE THIS SMALL BUT POWERFUL GESTURE. I’M JUST OUT HERE GETTING ALL PROFOUNDLY WORKED UP ABOUT STATUE MAINTENANCE AND THE HUMAN RACE. NEVER MIND. JUST IGNORE ME AND CARRY ON

holy shit. I was not even remotely prepared. you can’t just do that to me. you can’t just leave all these death flags on my lawn and then suddenly shift gears to show me the best of humanity in a chapter where I was expecting the worst. that fucks a person up lol

OH ARE WE STILL GOING

my heart. you see that, All Might. your legacy is so much more powerful and meaningful than you think

...has. has Stain actually been giving All Might a pep talk this entire time

I give up lol. this dude is a fucking enigma

YAYYY

it may just be a metaphor panel, but I’ll take it lol. I missed them. nice to see the traffic light trio front and off-center. I know the whole “this is the story of how we all became the greatest heroes” thing had left some questioning whether certain characters would continue to play a central role in the narrative, and hopefully this will help to ease those concerns just a bit

anyway, so idk if it’s getting a bit chilly down there in hell, but damned if Stain didn’t just give an actual decent fucking speech

I have to say, earlier when I was whining about All Might not having a support squad, I really was not expecting Stain to be the one to come over and pat his head and reassure him that he made the world a better place

-- okay LISTEN

YOU CAN’T JUST COME INTO MY HOUSE AND HIT ME WITH THOSE ALL MIGHT TEARS AGAIN GODDAMMIT THIS ISN’T FAIR. my god. first 317 and now this

holy fucking shit

“I’m just gonna pretend like I haven’t been stalking him for two days and didn’t see the entire Deku bentogate thing go down, and then I’ll give him the whole big speech that I rehearsed, and then I’ll turn around and be all ‘BUT IF YOU’RE A TRUE HERO’, and then I’ll toss him the super-secret AFO wifi password that I stole from Tartarus. god I’m such a badass. fucking give myself chills”

so basically what you’re telling me is that this whole time my “what’s up kids” characterization of Stain from this shitpost has actually been 100% accurate. just want to make sure I’m understanding this right. okay then

“and then I’ll dramatically spin around and be all NOW COME KILL ME BITCH”

it must be so much fun to write Stain. drawing this coked-out maniac who talks like a chatbot that was trained to speak by reading Alan Moore monologues. that must be a trip

anyway so All Might is still crying, the awesome lady from chapter 92 is admiring her handiwork totally oblivious to the batshit insanity going on fifty meters to her right, and it’s finally stopped raining lol

“THE RAIN WAS A METAPHOR YOU SEE” yes, yes, we got it lol. thanks for that Horikoshi. don’t think we needed any help putting the pieces together on that one but I appreciate the effort

so that’s the end! and as I mentioned in another post, I had the count off by one chapter, but next week should be cliffhanger week! so break out your U.A. Traitor bingo cards, friends and fiends. either that or something else happens that I’m completely not expecting at all. which, based on my success rate with Stain predictions, I’d say is more than likely lol

mmm but anyway, so now that the Hug Deku 2021 campaign has finally come to an end, what’s it gonna take to get a hug for my struggling bento-preparing jacket-rocking world-weary death-flag-waving husband who is the worthiest man to ever live and deserves the fucking world, goddammit

#bnha 326 #all might #yagi toshinori #stain (bnha)#bnha #boku no hero academia #bnha spoilers #mha spoilers #bnha manga spoilers #makeste reads bnha

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