#and the majority of that time was spent paying for a crime

[creepling]

˗ˏˋ ★ ˎˊ˗ dating digger harkness headcanons

this is a very specific reader because i love the idea of this grimy hobo having a cute, smart girly partner that is the candy floss to his raccoon energy OKAYYY. also tcm shenanigans will be back shortly, i just had to give some love to a dc rogue like the old times<33

tags: feminine reader (wears dress, skirt, heels, mild makeup and has breasts and v) but gn pronouns. sugar daddy digger if you squint. reader is a jailbird. cuddling. pet name: birdie. smut under the cut - minors dni. polaroid nudes. (m) masturbation. thoughts of: oral (m receiving) and cowgirl.

If you were to ask Digger the first thing he noticed about you, his caveman mind would be objectifying. But your ass did look very flattering in your skirt and the smile you shot his way was the cherry on top. He likes them sweet and innocent, you like them rugged and dangerous. It was a match made in hell heaven.

After a few dates spent in dingy pubs and lover’s lanes, he was enamoured by you. He’s never had someone look at him the way you do. Eyes full of light, glistening at the sight of him. You always welcomed him with open arms, practically throwing yourself at him. He liked how easy you were to pick up, and the way you wrapped your limbs around him. How your soft skin blushes red against his scruffy neck. No matter the setting, you sat so close to him that you were more or less on his lap. He wraps his arms around you, or has a hand on your thigh, letting nearby acquaintances know you belong together. Digger thinks to himself, “I got so fucking lucky.”

His love languages are primarily gift-giving and physical touch. More times than you can count, Digger has fallen asleep on top of you. Either on the couch, while watching a movie or he found a way to snake between your legs while sleeping, he has a habit of using you like a pillow. You developed a kinship in moments like this where you play with his hair, massaging your fingers into the nape of his neck or twirling the strands that curtain his temples. You muse at his sleep-full hums, watching this rogue unwind under your touch, satisfied like a dog receiving pets. The gift-giving is when his rogue side is on high voltage. He wants to give you the world, shower you with jewels, let you wear the best of gear. “You want diamonds? Yeah, I’ll get you diamonds,” He’ll muse, mixing his pleasures with yours. When he robs a bank, the majority of his stolen dollars has been spent on you since you met him. Did your car get towed? He bought you a new one, along with the insurance. Need a new dress for the weekend? He’s got you sorted, along with heels and a bag to match. “Can’t have my bird in peasant clothes!” He protests, “Not with that cracken’ bod.” Queue the wink.

He loves showing you off, chuffed that he proved his doubters wrong that he could settle down and have a gorgeous significant other. “What they see in you, I don’t know . . .” They say, whether that be Deadshot, King Shark, heck even Amanda is amazed by it. He keeps candid polaroids of you in his pocket on the job, looking at them when he misses you. He squeezes the unicorn plushie you gifted him when he is stressed, anything to feel your presence when you’re half the world away. A shit-eating grin on his face when people tease him about his love for you, using it to embarrass him. “Awh, it’s puppy love,” Harley cooes, and Digger nods, all chuffed with himself.

Digger gave you the nickname “Birdie” because well . . . You’re a jailbird. He is in prison for heinous crimes, after all! Oh, is he touched-starved when you’re standing there, pretty face to the phone, separated by glass and talking in your voice that melts him like butter. His eyes are eating you up, desperate to have his hands on you. He’ll do all the suicide missions going to shred off the jail time, to get closer to the day his lips are kissing yours. Blackmailing Amanda to get you the best of the best, pay off college debt, holidays abroad, and spoil you when he cannot. “Oh, Birdie, when I get out of here I’m not letting you out of my sight, you’re stuck with me.” He groans, drunk on love. All you do is smile, sliding a pack of Polaroids under the screen when the guards aren’t looking. “Have these to tide you over in the meantime,” you tease. Digger rushes back to his cell, flipping through the photos. First were of you in dresses that were his favourites, the type of ones that are flowy and floral, framing you so delicately. They get more desirable as he flips them over, and his eyes lull in lust.

Digger loves the dirty photos you send him, it drives him fucking insane. It’s good to keep you fresh in his mind, but it borders on teasing just having you to look at. He didn’t have the brightest imagination, but this was good practice. Imagine how soft your thighs are under his callous hands, what your lips taste like with the lipgloss you have on. Your delicate hands trace his bulge, your touch replacing his heavy-handed grasp. Bucking into your hands as he sucks your breasts, teasing your nipples, muttering how perfect you are. His sweet little birdie, all belonging to him. Your eagerness proves your devotion. You take his infamous size so well, your spit coating his cock as your tongue swirls around his pulsing tip. As he wanks himself off, muffling his groans, he has the faintest memory of your cunt. How wet you always were for him, how eager you bounced on his cock. His eyes closed as he pumped his cock faster, edging to the echoes of past moans you chanted in his ear.

#digger harkness x reader #captain boomerang x reader #ssktjl #ktjl #kill the justice league #arkhamverse #fanfic #smut

[mamasbakeria]

hey, what's your major again?

summary: my credible expert opinion on what the aot characters would study in university. what are my qualifications? the dozens of hours i’ve spent staring at my school’s program bulletin trying to figure out what i’m majoring in

genre | includes: headcanons, sfw, minor language, uninformed percy jackson reference (pls don't hate me if im wrong)

characters: eren jaeger, mikasa ackerman, armin arlert, sasha braus, jean kirschtein, connie springer, historia reiss, ymir, reiner braun, annie leonhardt

author’s note: had this in my drafts for months now. i just need to post it so it stops haunting me. might do the rest of the marleyans and vets in the future! lmk your thoughts, my only tumblr notifications are from p*rn bots, so i'd love to hear from real people lol. enjoy <3

eren: sociology and public policy, 4+1 program for a social work masters

there’s only so many times you can hear “you’re gonna be a doctor just like your dad” before you start to believe it. that’s why eren started out with biology on the premed track. the thing is, he really didn’t care for it. eren is really passionate about lessening equity gaps and is a firm believer in “if you want something done right, do it yourself”. this is why i see him making the switch to a double major in public policy and sociology. he wants to know about how society got to the point of perpetuating disparities so that he can fix them. but he also knows that the government fucking sucks and thinks its naive to expect policy change to be the only method of change. and like the maniac he is, eren is enrolled in a 4+1 program so he can get his master’s in social work when he’s done with his undergrad. he’s determined to graduate with both degrees in just 4 years though. rip his summers.

armin: international relations and military ethics, minor in communications or smth

everyone always says armin would study marine biology or oceanographic studies, but i honestly think that it’s a passion that he pursues on the side. he takes marine bio courses for his breadth requirements, but knows he’d end up hating the ocean if he spent the rest of his life studying it. he also strikes me as someone who would rather run buck naked into traffic than sit through multiple semesters of organic chemistry. armin was always a good public speaker, though, despite being a bit insecure. that’s why his speech and debate teacher during sophomore year of high school recommended model united nations to him. he was hooked after his first conference and now genuinely sees the path of international diplomacy as his calling. that’s why he’s majoring in international relations. his concentration in military ethics is something he tacks on in his junior year after taking some courses and publishing research with dr. erwin smith. he probably minors in communications because he can.

mikasa: forensic science

mikasa had no idea what she wanted to do when she started uni. she’s good at nearly everything. like never gotten a B in her life and is the student who the curve is based off of. but excelling in every environment you’re put in often means you don’t know what you’re best at. she knew deep down that she wanted to do something justice related like her childhood best friends did, but she’s no public speaker and has no interest in political reform. she was, however, emo in high school and heard a fair share of undertaker jokes at her expense. it wouldn’t hurt to look into right? as cool as the title sounds, morticians don’t make enough money for the job they have. fortunately enough, forensic pathologists do and mikasa looks good in a lab coat. she would never admit it to spare armin and eren’s feelings, but when they, as children, recreated the crime-solving shows mrs. jaeger always had on, mikasa always wanted to be the brains. so criminology and forensic science it is. (side note: she definitely joins the military and they pay for her education)

jean: structural engineering and industrial design with a minor in studio art

more than anything, jean wants to provide for his mom and knows he can’t guarantee a retirement of luxury for her as the freelance artist he wishes he could be. he’s decent at math when he tries and doesn’t hate physics, so he decided he’d give structural engineering a try for at least a semester or two. he wasn’t expecting to get much from it, to be honest. he had a plethora of backup plans waiting for his supposedly inevitable distaste for engineering, but he found that he didn’t hate it at all. someone once told jean that he had the makings of a great leader and he didn’t believe them until he started taking the lead on design projects and producing incredible results. his only qualm is that he just doesn’t get to be as creative as he wanted to be. that was easily rectified by an additional major in industrial design and a minor in studio art. he’s unbelievably busy, busier than he anticipated when he started his post-secondary journey, but he’s content and there’s nothing some extra coffee can’t solve. 

sasha: environmental science and sustainability

sasha spent her childhood ankle-deep in mud and fighting her way through forest thickets without a compass. an upbringing like that doesn’t leave your spirit, no matter how far into the city you go for school. so sasha’s always been passively passionate about the environment. that passiveness became significantly more prominent when part of the woods she grew up in was cleared out to build an industrial complex. it was then that she started researching and writing petitions about preserving wildlife and making environmentally conscious decisions. her work actually got her the scholarship she’s on (because god knows it wasn’t her grades). and she genuinely loves what she does, so why wouldn’t she keep learning about it? the environmental science and sustainability program at the school is small, but tight-knit and known for churning out changemakers. sasha knows she’ll be one of them one day. just hide your plastic straws from her, okay?

connie: computer science and chinese

stick with me here okay? everyone expects connie to be a douchebag marketing major whose hardest assignments are graphing functions and making posters on photoshop, but he’s a lot more invested in his education than he looks. don’t get me wrong, connie has always struggled academically, but that’s because so much of early education is pre-determined. he performed way better when he could choose what courses he took. it’s kind of like percy jackson being dyslexic in english because he was wired to read in greek. connie can’t keep his eyes on a history textbook for shit, but will gladly sit in front of the c++ code on his pc for hours. he doesn’t even get mad when he realizes that he was missing a semicolon. connie loves how versatile of a future he could have with a compsci degree, because, let’s be real, he could never survive in a typical office environment. definitely takes a bunch of chinese classes and doesn’t realize that he has enough credits for it to be a minor until his second to last semester.

historia: political science with a minor in international relations and child development

historia is a lot like eren in the sense that she knows her time is best spent doing hands-on work in the fields she cares about. she realizes this sometime after reconnecting with her estranged father and volunteering at the orphanage she grew up in. but now that she’s publicly associated with a powerful political figure, historia doesn’t get to do what she wants, only what is expected of her. that’s how she ends up on the pre-law political science and public policy route. the nickname “ms. president” that connie and sasha give her only further reminds her that she’s heading down a path she never wanted for herself. after lots of encouragement from ymir, historia decided to take child development courses on the side. even if she doesn’t take on the full minor, she’s taking some classes she cares about. maybe she’ll find use for it someday. at the very least, it’s her first step in becoming the most selfish girl in the world.

ymir: data science and business management

ymir is smart. much smarter than she presents herself to be, almost as a form of protection. nobody expects much of someone who is aloof, so it makes it easy to slip through the cracks to remain safe and comfortable in the shadows. business management is notoriously low commitment and easy to skate by with. guaranteed internships, post-graduate employment, and so on. To anyone who doesn’t know ymir well, it’s perfect. but they have her mistaken, ymir will do as little as possible to go as far as possible. sure, she can live comfortably with a business degree, but it could be better with a little bit of data science in her arsenal. she’s intelligent enough to pick up on it, and determined enough to make it her bitch. yeah, academia is a money-sucking pipeline into the capitalist hellscape, she doesn’t believe in it yada yada, but at the end of the day, ymir’s gonna get the bag. so what if she’s gotta sleep through some stats classes to get it?

reiner: behavioral economics

reiner’s mother had convinced him his whole life that getting a high paying job would fix their lives and bring his father back. believing “perfect grades lead to a perfect life” made high school tough for reiner; gifted kid burnout is no joke. it really messed him up. he wasn’t sure if he could withstand the pressures of university, but here he is. reiner was never allowed a therapist, so he figured pursuing psychology would, at the very least, give him some answers and be a good pathway to a medical degree. he loved getting to understand how people work and why they act the way they do, but something was missing. he found out what it was when a guest lecturer spoke in his economics class. he knew making the switch would be risky, it’s a new field and his current career options are really only research, academia, or government, but the interdisciplinary study of behavioral economics is calling reiner’s name. 

annie: biomedical engineering and kinesiology

annie’s entire life revolved around her father, including the injury he was never able to heal from. the one she gave him. he’s claimed to be over it, she’s forgiven, but annie will never feel like she’s earned that forgiveness until she gets rid of the problem entirely. how is she going to do that exactly? with biomedical engineering. she has years of hell in front of her, especially with her concentration on biomechanics, but she doesn’t care. annie will throw herself into her work to get the results she wants. she takes the highest amount of credits possible every semester so she can graduate early. you’ll most likely find her chained to a study cubicle at the library at all hours of the day and running on 2 hours of sleep, but it doesn’t faze her. she tacks on a minor in kinesiology because it makes sense and she had most of the credits for it anyway. and as if it couldn’t get worse, she probably TAs for a thermodynamics course or something crazy like that.

© mamasbakeria 2023. do not repost, translate (without permission), or modify

#gbemi.writes #aot #attack on titan #snk #shingeki no kyojin #aot headcanons #snk headcanons #college au #eren jaeger x reader #eren x reader #mikasa ackerman x reader #mikasa x reader #armin arlert x reader #armin x reader #jean kirschtein x reader #sasha braus x reader #connie springer x reader #historia reiss x reader #ymir x reader #reiner x reader #reiner braun x reader #annie leonhardt x reader #eren headcanons #armin headcanons #reiner headcanons

[feminismisstillahatemovement]

So overall you think men have things worse off than women? You don’t think that DV statistics, rape statistics, the wage gap, harassment statistics, lack of power/representation etc might run contrary to your claim?

The internalized model you've taken on from feminism/Marxism/identity politics is what is underpinning your faulty assumptions about reality here: I don't think of men and women as warring nations, but rather the human family: it's not a "who's the biggest victim" competition: If your father and brother are suffering, it's not a triumph for you; If a man's mother and sister are being abused, they're not going to applaud or celebrate.

Feminism itself created "the gender war", and this model of thinking about ourselves has been incalculably corrosive and destructive to all human relationships.

So it is not my intent to replace the narrative of perpetual female victimhood with one of male victimhood. The only reason i argue against feminist claims is because they are harmful lies, and because feminism itself is the most sexist movement that has ever existed in the history of the human race, whereas I support equal rights, opportunities, care and concern for all.

The "wage gap" has been disproved endlessly:

but feminism relies upon this narrative of injustice and oppression, even when it's not there: it's been illegal to pay women less than men for the same hours at the same job doing the same task for over 50 years everywhere in the western world. Women on average work fewer hours, and gravitate towards careers that pay less than work that is harder, more stressful or dangerous. They also take years out of their working lives through maternity leave, and after giving birth often come back part time: women work the majority of part-time jobs, which pay less because of how much easier and comparably free from responsibility they are.

All these things on average add up to a lower total of lifetime earnings than the male column, even though there is no month-by-month "wage gap" at all, and in fact childless women in their twenties have been out-earning men of the same age for a couple of decades now. It should also be obvious that the older men who are working longer hours in unpleasant conditions to increase their paycheck are usually doing so because they have a wife and children to support, so the money they make is going to, and being spent by, women (women make 80% of all purchasing decisions in America and presumably most of the rest of the world).

Once again, everything is interconnected: human beings are not nations at war against each other but families and friends helping and relying upon each other. The "class war" lens through which the feminists and others look at the human race is evil and only destructive.

As for domestic violence and rape and harassment, etc., it's been gone into here and elsewhere in great depth, but in all cases, men are not counted or treated equally to women in the eyes of the law (or by society) in any of them, and there have been many instances where a man has been assaulted in his own home by a crazy women, and when he called the police, they arrested him instead of her. Feminists pushed for this sexist "primary aggressor" law, which urged police to arrest men rather than women, even though any woman can pick up a knife or a gun or a frying pan and kill someone they're with just as easily as a man, and only someone who sees all women as innocent children incapable of any violent thoughts whatsoever would maintain otherwise.

Women coercing a man into sexual activity against his will is in most countries not counted as "rape" at all, but rather one of a variety of lesser charges with names like "forced envelopment" or somesuch, so it's hardly likely that the rape statistics reflect such a great disparity when one half of the population cannot be charged with the crime. Right?

Now, I personally think quite a lot more men rape women than women rape men, but then on the other hand, I've seen with my own eyes far more women hit men than men hit women. Intimate partner violence is about equal between the sexes, although interestingly enough, the highest rate of domestic violence reported is by lesbians, with straight couples in the middle and homosexual males coming in last.

The fundamental truth is that people pheromonally bound to one another are sometimes terrible to one another. I wish they weren't, but they always have been, and it's idiotic to try lay the blame at the feet of one half of the human race and not the other.

But what political hold would feminism still have in the world without asserting otherwise?

[ssaflorencem]

The thrill of killing you| BAU x unsub reader

Warnings: This chapter briefly mentions Spencers drug addiction. Towards the end there is the illusion to smut (that will be the next chapter). This chapter makes it seem the BAU team are just as bad as the reader.

Summary: The reader talks about what they know how the team, and follows them to a bar.

Chapter four: The narcissist

I know I said I wasn’t going to leave anything at the crime scenes, but the FBI are letting me get away with what I am doing far too easily, and I can’t let an innocent person get put away for the crimes I have committed. Also, I’ve heard stories of SSA Aaron Hotchner and Dr Spencer Reid. They aren’t innocent men, are they? I heard what Mr Hotchner did to that man who killed his wife, and well Spencer, he’s spent time in prison, and he’s made friends with someone like me.

 

I knew it wouldn’t be too long till they were on my case, I mean some of my friends had been trying to kill someone on their team. Miss Garcia, the smart, computer nerd. She’s the one who solves the majority of the cases, but everyone else takes credit. I kind of feel bad for her, I mean she was once on the right side of justice, but then she joined the FBI. Miss Prentiss, she once worked with, well actually dated, someone who was once in the IRA, so she doesn’t have the best track record either really. Mrs Jareau, someone who was once a media liaison and then got taken away from the FBI to a war zone. Mr Rossi, the man with so many ex-wives and a racist past, who fought in a war and helped create the BAU, not much to be said about him. And finally, Mr Alvez. He’s my favourite, war veteran, with a love for his dogs. He seems like the nicest out of all of them, I wish he wasn’t in love with Garcia.

 

All of them think they are better than me, what because they work for the law. But how many people have they killed because they have been certain they have committed terrible crimes. They all have troubled pasts, and that’s what led them to join the BAU. But so did I, and so did basically everyone I knew, but none of them joined a government agency and none of us had ever killed someone who was innocent.

 

The more I thought about it, the more I realized that they were all just hypocrites. They were supposed to be the ones upholding the law, but they were just as flawed and twisted as the criminals they were trying to take down.

 

Though I liked paying cat and mouse, I was going to take a break from killing for a while, just so they wouldn’t catch me before I wanted them too. I also wasn’t worried about them trying to connect me about my job, like they did with Cat Adams, because unlike her I thoroughly screen the people asking for my help.

 

For my time off, I went to Washington. I needed to keep a close eye on them, I mean I knew them, but they had no idea who I was. I saw they would visit this bar regularly; it was cute to watch them all sit around a table and drink, share jokes, and laughs like they weren’t all killers.

 

As I observed them, I noticed something interesting. Dr Reid was always the quiet one, the observer, the thinker. He would take in everything that was happening around him, like he was seeing through people's masks and into their true selves.

 

Then, I saw SSA Hotchner enter the bar, his eyes scanning the room until they landed on the table where his team sat. He walked over to them, his demeanour serious, and they all seemed to straighten up in their seats. It was like they knew he was the boss, the one who held all the power.

 

But as I watched them, I realized something else. They were a family, dysfunctional and flawed, but a family, nonetheless. They had each other's backs, no matter what. It was nice, sometimes I wished I had a team like that, but I knew I worked better on my own.

 

I continued to watch them, intrigued. They were all so different, yet they worked together seamlessly. They were all intelligent and skilled in their own ways, but Dr Reid stood out to me. There was something about him that drew me to him, something vulnerable, something broken. I wondered what it was that had led him down the path he had taken.

 

I knew his basic history, his troubled mother, his absent father, the bullying he had faced and how he had then lost his only other father figure, Jason Gideon. But I wanted to know about him.

 

I decided to approach Dr Reid. I knew he was smart, but I didn’t expect him to see through my disguise so quickly. He looked at me with his beautiful brown hazel eyes, I knew he was sizing me up.

 

“What can I do for you?” he asked, his voice calm and measured.

 

“Are you Dr Reid, I know this may seem creepy, but I saw you standing here I couldn’t believe it, so I’m just making sure it’s you.” I said with a soft smile.

 

“I am indeed. What’s your name?” He asked in a neutral tone.

 

I hesitated for a moment. I knew I had to be careful. “My name is Emily.”

 

“Well, Emily, what exactly can I do for you?” He asked with a smile, well more like a smirk.

 

“I wanted to talk to you about your work with the BAU. I’ve read some of your papers, and I think you are pretty amazing” I said, hoping to gain his trust.

 

Dr Reid raised an eyebrow in suspicion, but he didn't seem to be hostile towards me. "Thank you. But what do you want to know exactly?" he asked, his gaze never leaving mine.

 

"I'm just curious about the work you do, the cases you solve. I find it fascinating, and I thought it would be great to pick your brain a little," I said, trying to sound as friendly as possible.

 

Dr Reid gave me a small smile, and I could see the gears turning in his head. "I see. Well, I can't talk about ongoing cases, but I'm happy to chat about the work we do in general," he said, his tone polite.

 

I nodded eagerly, feeling a rush of excitement. Dr Reid was actually talking to me, and I could feel a strange connection forming between us. "That's great. So, what's the most challenging case you've worked on so far?"

 

Dr Reid's face grew serious as he thought back on his experiences. "There have been many challenging cases, but the ones that stick with me the most are the ones involving children. It's heart-breaking to see the amount of suffering they go through and the pain it causes their families," he said, his eyes filled with sadness.

 

I nodded, feeling a pang of sympathy for him. "That must be tough," I said, my voice soft.

 

He looked at me, his expression curious. "Why are you interested in this? Are you a student of some kind?"

 

I shook my head, trying to keep my composure. "No, I just find it fascinating. The human mind and what drives people to do the things they do," I said, hoping he wouldn't see through my lies.

 

Dr Reid continued to study me, his gaze piercing as he tried to determine my true intentions. I could feel my heart racing in my chest, wondering if he could sense my true nature.

 

Finally, he seemed to relax slightly, nodding in understanding. "I can certainly understand the fascination. It's a complex and often troubling field, but one that can also be incredibly rewarding," he said, his tone thoughtful.

 

I smiled, relieved that he didn't seem to suspect anything. "Exactly. I've always been drawn to the darker side of things, I suppose," I said, trying to sound casual.

 

Dr Reid's expression grew more serious, and he leaned in slightly. "Be careful with that kind of fascination. It's easy to get lost in the darkness, and it can be hard to find your way back," he said, his voice low.

 

I couldn't help but be intrigued by Dr Reid's warning. It was like he knew something about me that even I didn't know.

 

"I'll keep that in mind," I said, my voice barely above a whisper.

 

Dr Reid nodded and leaned back, seeming to relax once again. We continued to chat for a while, discussing various cases and theories about criminal behaviour. I found myself drawn to his intelligence and passion for his work. It was like he could see right through me, like he knew my every thought and desire.

 

As we talked, I couldn't help but feel a growing attraction towards him. There was something about his vulnerability and his intelligence that made me want to know him more intimately. I knew I should be careful, but the pull was too strong. I had to have him.

 

 

I could see the desire in his eyes as he spoke, the way he looked at me with a mix of curiosity and intensity. It was like he was trying to figure me out, to understand me on a deeper level.

 

I knew I had to make my move. "Hey, do you want to get out of here?" I asked, my voice low and seductive.

 

Dr Reid looked at me, his expression unreadable. "What do you mean?" he asked, his voice cautious.

 

"I mean, do you want to come back to my hotel room with me?" I said, my hand reaching out to touch his arm.

 

Dr Reid pulled back slightly; his eyebrows furrowed in concern. "I'm not sure that's a good idea. I hardly know you," he said, his voice hesitant.

 

I leaned in closer, my lips almost touching his ear. "You know me enough. Trust me, it'll be worth it," I whispered, my hand sliding down his arm.

 

Dr Reid hesitated for a moment, his gaze flickering between my face and my hand on his arm. I could see the conflict in his eyes, the desire warring with caution.

 

Finally, he made his decision. "Alright," he said, his voice low.

 

I grinned triumphantly, leading him out of the bar and towards my hotel room. As we walked, I could feel his eyes on me, studying me intently. It was like he was trying to figure me out, to understand the darkness that lay within me.

————————————————————————–

Taglist:

@marvelwoman-sugarbaby

@ellieslver

#criminal minds #spencer reid smut #spencer reid x reader #aaron hotch x reader #aaron hotchner #aaron hotchner smut #emily prentiss #jenifer jareau #luke alvez #spencer reid #criminal minds x you #criminal minds x reader #spencer reid fanfiction

[lassieposting]

Serpine in therapy for the asks :)

Okay so my headcanon is actually that Nef doesn't get a choice about going to therapy. It's part of the parole agreement he makes with the Sanctuary when he immigrates to Roarhaven. Whether or not he is answerable for our Serpine's war crimes, and whether the Sanctuary here can try him for his war crimes back in Leibniz, is still up for debate by legal professionals and he'd rather not risk it, so in exchange for his freedom he agrees to comply with weekly check-ins with a parole officer (which ends up being Skug, because China is spiteful), regular therapy, and location monitoring.

And like. Honestly, he thinks the whole thing is a massive waste of time - the Sanctuary flexing its power over him to make a point. He shows up, he's charming and personable, he flirts with the therapist and the girl on reception and anyone else he happens to bump into - but he thinks that before long, he'll have them convinced that he's psychologically normal and doesn't need their services, and they'll discharge him.

But like. The thing about Nef, aside from having a sadistic streak a mile wide and Chronic Backstabbing Bitch Disease, is that he's spent the vast majority of (at least) his adult life surrounded by people who would turn on him in a heartbeat if it suited them to do so. He comes from a world where abuse, manipulation and betrayal are not only common, they're the norm. That's the only way to relate to the world and to others that he understands. The Faceless worshippers are a nasty bunch who all encourage each other's worst impulses and learn to care only for themselves, and on the rare occasion that they break those habits, they tend to get hurt by those who haven't. So like, Nef's normal meter is completely and utterly broken. In his Handbook backstory, his childhood was unstable and emotionally damaging. As an adult, he has nothing to do with his family - all he had was Mevolent and the Church. His relationship history is littered with violent psychopaths like Christophe Nocturnal and Jaron Gallow, people who approved of and supported Serpine's own sadistic tendencies, but also tended to vent theirs on him when it suited them. This. Man. Is. A mess.

The therapist suspects complex trauma - although, that's not as unusual a diagnosis as it is for mortals: it's a given for millions of sorcerers who survived the 500 Year War - narcissistic tendencies, though not to the point of a full blown personality disorder, and an obsessive focus on/one-sided rivalry with Skulduggery.

Honestly, I think Nef would mostly use it as an opportunity to annoy Skug. He pays attention, but mostly so he can take what the therapist tells him and put it to use while Skulduggery is stuck in the car with him for an eight hour stakeout. Psychoanalyse him. Armchair-diagnose him. Treat him to a three hour monologue of "My therapist said..."

But like. You know that thing where you start saying hewwo to mock other people who say hewwo, and it's kind of a mean-spirited joke at first, but suddenly you've unironically adopted hewwo into your daily vocabulary and can't stop saying it? Yeah.

Some of it starts to get in via osmosis and sheer habit. He spends so long mockingly telling Skug about all the problems that he (Nef) thinks he (Skug) has, that he actually starts to notice things for real. He can tell when Skug is dissociating. He can point out to Val that she has a tendency to pull away from and lash out at the people who want to help her, because she's terrified to be seen as anything other than competent and capable, and then he'll think, hold on, I do that too.

A lot of therapy goes in one ear and out the other because it doesn't work for him - complex trauma is just Like That. The standard practices - like CBT - seem like platitudinous drivel to you, and the fact that everyone else seems to think they work often feels like a great big joke everyone is playing on you. But he takes in enough to start making some small changes to how he interacts with others and how he behaves. He starts learning how to react appropriately to distress signals in the people who are becoming his friends, rather than seeing those signals as something to take advantage of, a soft spot to sink a knife into and twist. He's developing basic empathy, which actually helps him, because for once in his life he's in a situation where bonding with others is The Way To Get Ahead, rather than something that would get him killed.

And he's getting a better grade in therapy than Skug, by virtue of actually agreeing to go, so he gets to be smug about that.

#skulduggery pleasant #nefarian serpine #sp headcanons #100% tho hes storing it all to use to get into peoples heads in the future if he needs to

[chaifootsteps]

So this has been bugging me for a while as I've noticed the taxidermy thing has become a bit of a meme, but can we not shame the hobby itself? I thought the goal was to target Viv's blatant overspending, but it seems like every time it's brought up, the joke becomes more and more about how she bought dead peacocks (and how EVIL that makes her look because dead animals = evil) rather than "she spent 10K on an unnecessary luxury for herself instead of paying her employees properly."

Taxidermy isn't inherently a bad thing and the practice is an art and science all on its own. The preservation of bones, furs, and animal forms is something that shouldn't be shamed, especially considering it's mostly done by hobbyist craftsfolk, rural hunters, and nature conservationists.

Of course, like ALL crafts, there are the upscale expensive practitioners who work with the stuff that rich people like Viv buy and then actual assholes who engage with the practice through unethical means (such as farming animals for slaughter and or using endangered animals/illegally poached game). But that's not representative of all people who make or buy taxidermy. The majority of the time these animals are either already dead, collected specifically as scientific specimens (remember, a LOT of museums use taxidermy animals for their displays), or were hunted legally (and before you anti-hunter folks come to bitch, legal hunting is good for the environment and keeps down both invasive species and herbivores who would otherwise DECIMATE their ecosystems through overpopulation).

Anyway, just wanna remind people that the issue at hand should not be "she bought dead peacocks". The problem is that "she splurges on herself while underpaying staff". Unless someone can prove that those peacocks were made through unethical means, I'd say her bigger crime against animals is her participating in all those glorified exotic petting zoos in Japan. Now that's some shameless animal cruelty on display.

This. Vivzie's taxidermy collection is cool as hell and if her employees were paid well or even fairly, there would be no issue.

In fact, I'm pretty sure she did make some mention of buying taxidermy animals that died of natural causes. She cares more about her dead peacocks than living animals, and that includes living humans.

#anonymous #vivziepop critical #actual blog post

[kararisa]

marigold promises

— coffee addicts ([name]'s friends)

— masterlist || donut disco

[name] - 1st-year chemistry major. our resident academic overachiever with a lot to prove. as one of the few scholars, they have their eyes set on becoming top 1. if only a certain blond-haired, blue-eyed boy from their past didn't get in their way.

ganyu - 1st-year chemistry major with a minor in business. one of [name]'s best friends since middle school and hardworking to a fault. remember to check up on her and ensure she gets a decent amount of sleep, alright?

gorou - 1st-year marine biology major. here's a secret: he likes reading during his spare time and wants to become a journalist. roommates with albedo and grew up with kokomi in watatsumi.

heizou - 2nd-year criminology major. somehow knows about anything and everything that happens on campus. currently the events manager of the debate club and works a part-time job to pay the bills. (dorm expenses aren't cheap!)

tighnari - 2nd-year botany major. not the most talkative in the gc. a highly competitive scholar and one of the few people who can keep up with [name]'s wit. participates in a lot of science competitions so he's very well-known throughout the school.

yanfei - 1st-year criminal justice major. barely has any free time with the number of readings she has. another one of [name]'s best friends since middle school and heizou's partner-in-crime.

summary: it was evident that you and albedo have changed in the five years you’ve spent apart, but you know better than to view him through the lens of nostalgia. with one goal on your mind – graduate valedictorian – who better to stand in your way than the studious, intelligent, ice-cold albedo? one thing’s for sure: he’s going down.

author's notes: an honest question, should i keep the colored text? while it's here for decoration purposes, i want to make sure the text is accessible for everyone reading. that aside, the first set of profiles is here! do let me know your thoughts, they're always welcome ^^

taglist: @fvkkyu @mintreen @edreee @khyllynnn @xxmirrorballxx @aiikalvr @yaefics @ch35hir3 @aequha @alch3myy @lovely-althxa @nei-rinn @cridtiins @zestrya @skylions-den @moriiartt @theother-victoria @sunsethw4 @dazaisfavgf @serossidechick @koiir @lazy-sanns

— the taglist is currently open! if you’d like to be added feel free to reply or send in an ask! – if your blog isn't highlighted it means i can't tag you.

#genshin smau #albedo x reader #albedo x you #albedo smau #genshin x reader #genshin x you #genshin albedo #genshin fluff #albedo fluff #genshin imagines #albedo imagines #genshin scenarios #genshin modern au #marigold promises smau

[charlesjosephwrites]

[image id: text that reads "Murder on the Starship" over a picture of space featuring a bright red nebula. smaller text in the corner reads "a wip by @charlesjosephwrites"]

a wip intro—

Murder on the Starship

(This is my side wip. I'm not putting as much of my time into this one as I am in my main wip, but I wanted to introduce it to y'all so I can talk about it on here when the hyperfixation strikes)

genre // sci-fi cozy mystery

pov // third person limited

status // planning

summary // Minerva’s trip on the Starship Calliope was supposed to be her chance to relax after a long career in investigative journalism. When the nice young man who showed her how to navigate the computer system is accused of murdering his boss, it doesn’t sit right with her. As her inquisitive nature gets the better of her, Minerva finds herself scrambling to get to the bottom of things before they have a chance to hand over an innocent man to the authorities at the moon base.

Major Characters

Minerva "Minnie" Russell // she/her // our sleuth // Minnie spent more than forty years working as an investigative journalist back on Earth before she was forced to retire. Her family got her tickets for the Starship Calliope's maiden voyage in the hopes that she would actually take the time to relax for once, but of course she's a nosy old lady who can't help but want some real answers about what's going on around the ship.

Pluto Lang // he/him// a maintenance worker on the Starship Calliope // Pluto is just doing his best to provide for himself and his spouse with his job on the ship, but he’s suddenly found himself as Chief Orcus’s prime suspect in this murder investigation.

Jove Lang // he/they // a stowaway // Jove is currently on a gap year from school as he’s trying to “find himself.” They are super eager to help Minnie clear his brother's name, especially since she was so quick to help get him out of trouble by paying his fare after he was caught hiding in Pluto's cabin.

Orcus Scott // he/him // the Starship Calliope's chief of security // Orcus is already stressed out that his staff isn’t equipped to handle this sort of crime, so he is Not Happy to have some old lady trying to butt her way into his murder investigation.

Juno Fong // she/her // captain of the Starship Calliope // Juno has spent the last fifteen years working her way up to the position of captain, and she is currently struggling to maintain order on the ship as the murder sparks panic amongst her passengers and crew.

Murder on the Starship Taglist (lemme know if you want to be added or removed) @enchanted-lightning-aes, @sm-writes-chaos, @chayscribbles, @kahvilahuhut, @graveyardescape

#wip: murder on the starship #wip intro #writeblr #writing #my writing #current wip

[blubushie]

pig story ?

You're chosen the [DEATH BY EXSANGUINATION FROM PIG GORING] route!

A TALE OF PIGS

Warning for: graphic description of exsanguination (bleeding out), what goes through your head while you're bleeding out, and descriptions of stabbing a living animal.

27 December, 2021. Two days after Christmas. I was in northern WA and made camp near Wunaamin after travelling the bush tracks for a while.

If you know me well enough, then you know I don't lose my temper except in very specific scenarios. I cop a lotta shit because the outback's Just Like That and it's worse if you've got some easily identifiable characteristic for people to hang shit on you. For example: I am short. I get called "shrimp" and "prawn" a lot. Short stack. Sawed-off. Nipper. Lad. This is a normal thing for me. I don't let it get to me. People commenting on my heights hurts--a lot--because it's due to my medical condition and it's not something I can change. I didn't ask to be born short. But here I am. I try not to let it get to me. But there's one term what does get to me.

"Poacher."

Little fact about me: I am a staunch conservationist. I donate to WWF. I've done work with biologists up in Kakadu to help survey croc populations for conservation. I love nature and hunting and animals. (If you didn't know, the majority of hunters are also staunch conservationists.) I've wanted to trophy hunt Africa for the longest while because not only do you get a trophy, but the programs are run by local wildlife conversation, they only let you hunt certain animals, the meat feeds the local people, and the money you pay them goes directly back into conservation for the animals.

AND I FUCKING HATE POACHERS.

They give people like me a bad name. I have a job. I have licences I have to qualify for. Everything I do is legal. So the only word that instantly gets me into the mood for a fight is being called a fucking poacher. And sometimes that gets me in trouble, because I'll go to great lengths to stay within the law when it comes to hunting animals. Sometimes to my own detriment.

Which is how our story starts.

You can't hunt Crown Land in WA. Most other states you can. All other states you can, I reckon, with a licence. But not fucking WA. WA is like the California of Australia. Insane firearms laws. It's bollocks. You can only hunt feral animals on private property with the owner's permission.

I boondocked, as I usually do, and wandered off into the bush, as I usually do. And pigs are big up there. Everything's bigger further north you go. Something in the water maybe. I blame Ngalmudj. So I make camp. And it's late in the night and I've always been a light sleeper, and I hear this snort. The sound a buck makes. Almost a whistle. An exhale. Sharp.

When I sleep in the bush I don't move. That and trees are the only time I sleep completely still. I sleep on my back. And I sleep with my rifle in the bush. Butt tucked into my right armpit, right hand under the forestock, so if there's an emergency I can lift her up with that hand and shoulder her. And it keeps my left hand free for my knife.

I sat up, shouldered Winnie, and aimed her where I heard the sound.

Unless you've got infrared it's impossible to hunt pigs at night. Cuz pigs are like us--they don't have a tapetum and can't see in the dark. There's no eyeshine, like us. So you can't aim for eyeshine. That pig saw me bout as well as I saw it. Which wasn't much at all, in the dark. And I had maybe three seconds to make a decision. I saw it turn toward me.

My first few months in Australia were spent waiting for approval for my firearms licence. And you can't hunt pigs on Crown land. And I was on Crown land. Breaking that law wouldn't just get my hunting licence revoked, but my firearms licence too. They would confiscate Winnie, and by law since was used in a crime she would be destroyed after the case ended, whether I was found guilty or innocent.

I panicked.

I didn't shoot.

Next thing I know I'm on my back and the pig's on top of me, and I get this sharp pain in my side and I think he's just scraped me with a hoof or something. But I also know he's trying to kill me, because he's making that sound what pigs make when they charge dogs. Luckily for me he didn't aim well, probably cuz of the dark.

I fumble for my knife, get it out, and I stab it down into his neck. He goes from roaring to squealing, that sound domestic piglets make when you pick them up. I do it again. I don't know how many times I stabbed him but he wouldn't fucking die. I pull the knife out and adjust it. Slam it as close to his spine as I can get it. He pulls off me and topples me over. Bolts. With my fucking knife still in him.

I grab my rifle. I'm leading him by the sound of his squeals. Miss. Miss. Then I hit him. He's still squealing but he's not getting any farther. I run up to him and put another bullet in the side of his head and that time he stops squealing. I get my knife back. And I catch my breath. And I realise I'm wet. Thought it was him, but I look down and there's a hole in my shirt, and I kinda poke at it because I'm still high on the adrenaline and not feeling much else, and I realise the hole goes through my shirt. And my undershirt. And my skin.

And that's not good.

And then the panic starts to set in. Rest in peace Blu, 2001-2021, killed by a fucking pig.

I read books and shit growing up, right? Murder novels and shit. But nobody ever discusses what hypovolemia actually feels like. Or how much abdominal trauma bleeds. And I'm making a two and a half hour drive in 2 hours, I'm pushing Matilda as fast as she can go, I'm talking 125kmh down a bush track, I've got blood all over the inside of the cabin and I'm trying to keep pressure and you can't put a tourniquet on a fucking torso.

And I'm just... covered in blood.

Tiller's all sticky, because people never mention how sticky blood gets in that quantity. My fingertips are going blue. They're numb. My lips go numb the same way pineapple makes them go numb. And I recognise it, because my dad was a Marine, and he's told me stories of what people look like when they're bleeding out, and I have an epiphany of the very real fact that I am actively dying.

And you hear the obvious things, right? Obvious symptoms of shock. Got a copy of Grey's Anatomy, got a trauma kit with directions. Cold skin. Clammy. Weakness. Pallor. Increased respiration. Sweating. Tachycardia. Confusion. Don't have that yet. What road sign was that? My vision's fuzzy. Delirium. Heh, what're the chances I pass an ambo with O blood out here?

I'm tired. Maybe if I pull over and have a kip I'll wake up fine. Maybe it's just a bad dream. Just a bad dream. Just a bad dream. Why aren't you waking up?

And I used to think it was cheesy in movies. When someone's shot and dying and they say they're cold. You're in the middle of Texas, partner, what're you cold for?

I felt very cold.

Start of summer, it's the middle of the night, steady 25c, I'm sweating like a whore in church, and I felt very fucking cold.

They don't tell you about the trembling. Or how dry your mouth gets. Or the pins and needles that start in your fingers and then your toes and move up until everything in your body's numb except whatever you're bleeding out of. And the one symptom no one ever talks about is that dread. Hypovolemic shock's tell-tale symptoms is a sense of impending doom. I think that's one helluva understatement to whatever I felt.

But when the dread passes there's this weird sense of calmness. It's an acceptance. Last boost of adrenaline in a dying heart or something. Just calm. Like the eye of a cyclone. I don't remember pulling into the carpark. One minute I was on the road trying to ring my mum and the next I'm waking up in a hospital bed with three stitches and feeling like I was hit by a truck.

I ended up fine. They gave me O- blood. I was out of hospital in 3 days, much to their displeasure. On the plus side I was complimented on my quick thinking because I shoved a tampon into the hole before I made the drive, which stemmed some of the bleeding. That and keeping pressure. So here's your reminder to keep tampons in case of penetrating trauma, and to always donate blood because you never know what dumb bastard you might be saving by doing it.

Also uh, don't give a shit about what people say about you. Shoot a pig that attacks you, don't freeze up about it because of your own convictions about morality and the law. Your life's more important. Better judged by twelve than carried by six, or whatever the saying is.

#blu whos #bushman

[jwonsociety]

strictly professional // psh

pairing ➼ athlete!sunghoon x tutor!fem!reader

genre ➼ strangers to lovers, fluff

word count ➼ 1.6k

warnings ➼ mild profanity, sunghoon is bad at math, y/n is bad at feelings

You need extra credit, and Sunghoon happens to have a C in calculus.

a/n ➼ i’m writing a multi-chapter niki fic at the moment, so here’s a little something with sunghoon while i work on that :) i’m a sucker for the tutor trope and we all know hoon’s bad at math so this felt obligatory

As you sat isolated in the library with only a hangnail to accompany you, you reflected on the life choices that led you here.

You considered yourself a perfectly normal high school student. You got straight As, were loved by all your teachers, and turned every assignment in on time. Even outside of academics, you had a good amount of friends and plenty of interesting hobbies to pass your free time — so, once again, how did this happen? What malicious forces aligned that led you to pretending to be captivated by the nutrition facts of your drink so that people didn’t realize how awkward you felt?

The answer was actually rather simple: a negative six.

Just the thought of that godforsaken negative six made your blood boil. You clenched your fist tightly as if you were a super villain reflecting on the tragic backstory that led them to a life of crime.

Last Monday, there was a huge test in calculus — “huge” as in “30% of your grade” huge. Suffice to say, you were nervous. You spent the entire week leading up to it studying your textbook, meeting your teacher after class, and making your friends quiz you during lunch. Hell, you even color coded flash cards! *Color coded!*

When the day of the test finally came, you felt confident. All of your hard work would surely pay off. The final question of the exam consisted of four parts and was worth the majority of the points on the test. Confident in the material, you jumped right in. It wasn’t until you went back to check your work that you realized that in the first part, you had misread a negative six in the equation as positive by accident, consequently throwing off your calculations for the entire question.

Before you could fix it, the dismissal bell rang like the trumpets of judgment day. There was no turning back.

You had begged your teacher to let you retake the test — honestly, *groveled* was probably a more accurate way to describe the level of ass-kissing you deployed.

“Please, ma’am,” you had pleaded. “It was one simple mistake. Can’t I have another chance?”

Your teacher had not been impressed in the slightest. “I’m sorry, y/n, but you know I have a strict no retake policy in this class. However, there is one thing you can do for extra credit, if you’re interested.”

“Yes, I’m interested!”

She’d sighed. “One of the boys on the soccer team currently has a C in my class. As you know, athletes at this school must maintain at least a B-minus average in all subjects in order to play, so he’s looking for a tutor.”

So, yeah. Negative six. Library. Hangnail.

The mysterious boy you were patiently waiting for was Park Sunghoon. You had certainly heard about him — just about every girl in your school had a crush on him — but you’d never really interacted with him personally. You had seen him run out with the rest of the soccer team during the pep rally, but that was about it. You supposed he seemed like an alright guy.

However, Park Sunghoon was currently fifteen minutes late for the tutoring session. You thrummed your pencil against the table. Where the hell was he? You almost considered leaving when you heard the library doors swing open.

“I am so sorry,” you heard a breathless voice say behind you. “I know I’m super late.”

Rolling your eyes, you whipped around to face him. “Sunghoon, where were…”

Woah. He’s definitely a lot more attractive when you’re not looking at him from a set of bleachers. Silky, chestnut brown hair framed his face, slightly windswept from the hurry he had just been in. His forehead was obscured by wispy bangs that settled over his brows and his dark eyes were wide and pleading, like he was afraid that you were annoyed with him.

His expression morphed into one of confusion, probably because you trailed off mid sentence literally just to stare at him like an idiot. “Uh,” he began, visibly perturbed by the fact that you were burning holes through him with your eyeballs. “You’re y/n, right?”

You stared some more. “You know my name?”

“Well, Mrs. Jang told me you would be my tutor, so…”

Right. Tutoring. This was a tutoring session. “Oh, yeah. Duh.” You cleared your throat and straightened your posture in an attempt to gather yourself. “Here, sit down.”

He smiled shyly and settled down next to you, slinging his backpack over the back of his chair. He pulled out a notebook and a pencil case and set them down on the table before turning to face you. “So, where do we start?”

Now that you could observe him up close, you noticed a lot more small details about him — specifically, the small freckle that was on the side of his nose. Truly, Sunghoon was a beautiful person.

“What do you struggle with?” you asked, trying to sound as professional as possible.

He cringed. “I don’t know. I guess kind of… everything…?”

That wasn’t helpful at all, but Sunghoon was one of the cutest guys you’d ever seen so you were going to let it slide. “Let’s just start with the chapter we’re learning in class right now. Is that okay?”

He agreed, and you flipped open the textbook to the content you had been assigned last week. As you explained you could tell that Sunghoon wasn’t fully processing the information you were telling him, but he was still making an effort to understand. He nodded at everything you said and even asked clarifying questions when he missed something. You knew this was an educational context, yet you couldn’t help but get butterflies at the undivided attention he was giving you.

You pointed at a problem on the page. “This question is asking for you to find the integer part of this expression. How would you go about doing that?”

Sunghoon stared at the question for a few moments, chewing his lip as he thought of a solution. You couldn’t help your gaze from traveling down to his mouth as he worried his soft, rosy lips between his teeth. You noticed that his canines were considerably sharp, like a vampire’s. For some reason you found it extremely attractive.

“You should use the density of the rationals?” he answered hesitantly, eyes flitting up to yours in search of approval.

You grinned. “That’s right, Sunghoon! See, I knew you’d get the hang of this!”

He smiled back at you bashfully, running his hand through his hair. “Ah, it was just an easy question. I’m kind of hopeless when it comes to this stuff.”

“Aw, come on, that isn’t true,” you insisted with a frown. “Clearly you’re not completely hopeless. You just answered a question correctly!”

He shrugged, casting his gaze downwards. “The only reason I’m here is because I’m totally flunking calculus. Mrs. Jang is so pissed at me because she thinks I’m not trying, but I swear I am! I just genuinely don’t understand most of this stuff.”

He looked so defeated, it kind of broke your heart. Wanting to comfort him, you reached over and gently placed your hand on the side of his arm. “But you’re still trying, Sunghoon. That’s what really matters. Some people just aren’t built for a traditional classroom, that’s all.”

Sunghoon gave you a small smile. “Thanks, y/n. We should definitely have another session together sometime soon. You’re an amazing teacher.”

“Aw, thanks,” you replied sheepishly, cheeks turning a warm pink hue at the compliment. “Just don’t be late next time!”

He giggled and rubbed the back of his neck in an embarrassed manner. “Yeah, sorry about that, by the way. It was a family thing.”

“Is everything okay?”

“Everything’s fine, don’t worry,” he assured you. “My mom was stuck in awful traffic so I had to go pick up my little sister from her school and take her home. I was really worried about her — I didn’t want her waiting there all alone and confused, you know?”

You nodded in understanding. “Don’t worry, I get it. You really care about your sister, huh?”

“Yeah,” he replied in a soft voice. “She’s such a goofball. I love her.”

He smiled to himself, as if he were musing on the many fond memories he shared with his sibling. You could feel your heart melt. It was sweet to see Sunghoon be such a doting older brother.

Suddenly, you heard your phone buzz and turned to look at it from its place on the table. When you saw the time on your home screen, you tensed.

“Crap, my bus is going to leave soon,” you said, panicked. You gathered your materials and turned to him. “This was great, Sunghoon! I’ll see you—”

“Wait, y/n,” he interrupted. “I should probably give you my number, right?”

You blinked. “Oh. Yeah, that would probably be a good idea.”

He smiled, amused by your disorderly manner. “Give me your phone.”

You complied and he quickly entered his information. When you took your phone back, you could see he saved his contact as “hoonie <3”. The heart made your face heat up.

“It’s my nickname,” he explained. “But only people I like can call me that.”

This boy seriously made your brain malfunction in every way possible. Was he flirting with you? “Th-thanks,” you stuttered. You started for the door but he grabbed your hand, causing you to stop in your tracks. When you turned to look at him, he had leaned in closer. So close that you could count his eyelashes if you wanted to. You hoped he couldn’t hear the pounding of your heart.

“Listen, y/n,” he started, voice low. “We should hang out sometime, outside of school. Just the two of us.”

He looked straight into your eyes, searching for a response. The feeling of his hand in yours nearly made your knees buckle. Your faces were mere inches apart; you felt so tiny under his gaze.

“I’d love to, Hoonie,” you answered, voice so breathless it was almost a whisper.

“Great,” he said, smiling. “It’s a date then.”

#sunghoon x reader #sunghoon x y/n #sunghoon x fem!reader #sunghoon oneshots #sunghoon #park sunghoon #enhypen #enha #enhypen x reader #enhypen oneshots #sunghoon fluff

[luvyutae]

THE SLEEPERS (00line ver.)

An 00line fan fiction

Summary; boys that just wanna have fun,boys that get into trouble, boys that had to pay the price. They regretted their stupidity that day and wished they never done it

Warnings/major trigger warning; Angst,major violence and harm,blood,crime,very triggering,Don’t like it? Please don’t read!

Side note:This series is very triggering and I advise you that if you get triggered easily,please do not read. Also the boys are half Italian in this fiction.

{BOOK ONE} coming soon…

Preview;

WINTER,1993

Haechan sat across the table from the man who had battered and tortured and brutalized him nearly thirty years ago. Hyuck had imagined him to be in his sixties – he had seemed so old to Hyuck back then – but, in fact, he was in his late forties, less than a decade older than hyuck. His thinning hair was combed straight back, and his right hand, trembling and ash white, held a filtered cigarette. His left clutched a glass of ice water. He looked at Hyuck from behind a pair of black-rimmed glasses, his brown eyes moist, his nose running, the skin at its base red and flaky.

'I don't know what you want me to say,' he said in a voice devoid of the power it once held. 'I don't know where to start.'

In Hyucks memory, he was tall and muscular, arrogant and quick-tempered, eager to lash out at those under his command at the juvenile home where hyuck spent nine months when he was 16 years old. In reality, sitting now before him, he was frail and timid, thin beads of cold sweat forming at the top of his forehead.

'I need to keep my job,' he said, his voice a whining plea. 'I can't lose this one. If any of my bosses find out, if anybody finds out, I'm finished.'

Haechan wanted to stand up and grab him, reach past the coffee and the smoke and beat him until he bled. Instead, he sat there and remembered all that he had tried so hard, over so many years, to forget. Painful screams piercing silent nights. A leather belt against soft skin. Foul breath on the back of a neck. Loud laughter mixed with muffled tears.

Haechan had waited so long for this meeting, spent so much time and money searching for the man who held the answers to so many of hyucks questions. But now that he was here, Hyuck had nothing to say, nothing to ask. Hyuck half-listened as the man talked about two failed marriages and a bankrupt business, about how the evil he committed haunts him to this very day. The words seemed cowardly and empty and Hyuck felt no urge to address them.

The man and the group he was a part of had stained the future of four boys, damaged them beyond repair. Once, the sound of this man's very walk caused all of their movement to stop. His laugh, low and eerie, had signaled an onslaught of torment. Now, sitting across from him, watching his mouth move and his hands flutter, hyuck wished he had not been as afraid of him back then, that he’d somehow had the nerve and the courage to fight back. So many lives might have turned out so differently if he had.

'I didn't mean all those things,' he whispered, leaning closer toward haechan. 'None of us did.'

'I don't need you to be sorry,' Hyuck said. 'It doesn't do me any good.'

'I'm beggin' you,' he said, his voice breaking. 'Try to forgive me. Please. Try.'

'Learn to live with it,' Hyuck told him with an nonchalant tone, getting up from the table.

'I can't,' he said. 'Not anymore.'

'Then die with it,' Hyuck said, looking at him hard. 'Just like the rest of us.'

The pained look of surrender in his eyes made Hyuck throat tighter, easing the darkness of decades.

If only his friends had been there to see it.

***

#nct #nctdream #nct 00 line #renjun nct jaemin nct jeno nct haechan nct #nct127 #wayv #nct fanfiction #Kun #Johnny #Jungwoo #haechan #renjun #jeno #jaemin #nct series

[b4mpyre-k1zz3s]

Wanted

Y/N, a bounty hunter in the old west, finally captures her mark she’s been chasing for ten long years.

Bam Margera X Fem!Reader

(Cowboy!au, Fluff, Angst)

3.1k Words

Warnings: Highly suggestive content, guns, enemies to lovers, stalking, injury description, alcohol, bondage, gun play

An: Thank you so much for your requests!! This fic was inspired by this message I received from my AMAZING friend @camariesintrusivethoughts!! They are so sweet, so please go give them some love!! I was so happy that they enjoyed my cowboy!au so much, and if anyone would be interested I would love to continue this series further! :D This is a sort of loose sequel to my first cowboy fic if you wanna understand it’s place in the serries lol anyways thank you so much for all your requests and messages and please keep sending them!!

TCK- POW! The ear splitting gunshot cracked loud through the dusty, Navajo sandstone canyons, and you knew this was the opportunity of a lifetime. Just your luck, to find yourself in town when a major crime was committed- made things real easy. Your ears perked up like a trained hunting dog at the telltale sound that echoed outside the saloon you were passing the time in, and quicker than you could think, you abandoned the drink you were nursing and dashed outside. Danger was pay dirt, and every foul deed thwarted was another dollar rolling in from the sheriff to line your pockets, those dollars becoming more and more vital given the dry spell you were going through. It seemed that, for the past two months, not one soul in the west felt the urge to do wrong. As you hurriedly approached the scene, you gathered that it was a bank robbery- a garden variety crime you debated whether or not was worth your time. Cautiously resting your gloved hand over where your .44 sat in its holster at your belt, another shot went off, turning a window into little shards that glittered gold in the late evening sunset as they shattered outward. Screams from frightened patrons flooded out the open window, accompanying a sound that made your fingers white knuckle against the grip of your piece and your blood run cold.

It was an all too familiar noise- the kind of cackle that you would expect to hear out of an animal, primal and triumphant in whatever cruelty it was inflicting. Steadying your breath, you convinced yourself that this was your mind playing tricks on you- that it couldn’t actually be him, but your suspicions were all confirmed when the very man you were dismissing kicked open the door of the bank, overfilled burlap sacks of cash tucked under each arm spilling onto the ground, followed by his posse who had equal or larger hauls than him. Instantly, you recognized him for who he was- the infamous bandit king of the west and his gang of followers, who were equally nefarious in their own right. Even the town sheriff was intimidated by these men as they ran off to their horses, laughing and cheering with their spoils. In all of the desert you called home, you were maybe the only person who was disappointed in the crime rate- well, you and the handful of other poor saps who patrolled the sand looking for criminals. The bounty on the head of the bandit king was pushing seven digits, enough to retire on and then some, and he had his back turned to you.

Frozen in place, the desperate yell that sprung out of your throat from where it was coiled up in your stomach was the only coherent action you could muster. “Brandon!” You didn’t call him Bam, which was the name most people, including his closest comrades addressed him as. Slowing down before he stilled on his feet, the bandit king’s head turned slightly toward you at the uttering of a name only his mother ever used to call for him and he looked at you with this glimmer in his eyes- those damn blue eyes that were burned into your vision by one too many whiskey fueled, angst saturated nights spent staring at his wanted poster. Meeting your gaze, he flashed you a crooked smile, just enough for you to get a look at a too sharp canine that made him look more like a rattlesnake than a man. Oh, but just as fast, he kicked up with one foot as if he were a desert hare and landed square on the back of his bay mustang, joining his men as they rode away with their riches to leave you standing there, speechless, furrious, and alone in a cloud of dust. At that moment, you decided it was time to leave town once again.

This woman was making it way too easy for him, Bam thought, grinning to himself as he rode off. Y/N was in love with him- she had to be, because he hadn’t met a lady who didn’t fall for his charms yet, and despite her little vendetta against him, he was currently very much alive and in one piece. It was as if, no matter what obnoxious crimes he pulled, she would always let him get away. However, his little ego trip was put to a halt as he grimaced, pain shooting through his shoulder and into his chest, a product of the bullet which still sat wedged inside his muscle: a souvenir of his last run in with the law, albeit a painful one. The kind of thing that reminds you that you're really alive. “Where d’ya suppose we head to next?” Bam’s closest confidant, Ryan, broke the silence after an hour or so of aimlessly riding away from the scene. Squinting into the now setting sun, the bandit king thought back to every burnt out town he stowed away in over the years, and there was a clear, authoritative tone in his voice as he reached in his pocket to shove a cigarette between his teeth, “I gotta place.”

Maybe you were getting a little obsessed, but who in their right mind wouldn’t be in this situation? Picture this, you had the chance to bag the most notorious criminal in the west, the guy you spent the better part of a decade following, and you fumble it. That fucker didn’t even need the money after so many years spent robbing banks and hustling- he had no reason to be tormenting the land the way he did. There was no way you would let a mark of this caliber slip through your fingers, especially after his recent crime spree following his big jailbreak outta some town in New Mexico. No law enforcement had made their bid for the bandit king’s hide yet, incompetent bastards, even after his crimes started growing grander and grander. He was doing it for the attention, and judging from how the newspapers printed bold headlines about his exploits and town preachers across the west gave colorful sermons about how there’s a special place in hell for criminal scum like him, he was surely receiving it. In fact, in an odd parallel of sorts, this whole ordeal of you going after him also started the same way any of your previous marks had- for the money, but after you began tracking him, this developed into something more. Never once had this man laid a finger on you nor your kin, but still you felt that he had wronged you, in some way- that vengeance must be delivered to right his crime of occupying your mind and time to such a degree.

He made his most recent appearance, after his big prison break outta some little village in New Mexico three weeks prior, in some dusty ghost town that frequently served as a hideout for bandits, situated along the beautiful Gila River- that shimmering ribbon that ran all the way up to Colorado Territory. It was a well needed oasis in the sandy hell that is Arizona, you thought, hopping off your saddle as your horse Adilaide stopped for a drink. Kneeling by her side, you held your hat in one hand as you eagerly sipped from the cool, crisp stream before righting yourself and wiping your mouth with your sleeve, savoring it as if it was the last drink you’d ever take, which it very well may be depending on how this went. Resolutely tying your girl to a post on one end of town in case things went south, you took a deep breath as you started off, scanning porches and peering into windows for any sign of that so-called bandit king. There were too many familiar faces in this town for your liking, you decided, meeting eyes with a few of your past marks who didn’t stray from their spots because they knew who you were looking for, and they didn’t take too kindly to flashy career criminals like him. The first place you decided to check was a deserted looking boarded up house across the street- a place you could see a man like him hiding out in. Gripping the handle of your gun protectively, you approached the dilapidated shack cautiously and crept up to a window- the one with a gap in between the boards just wide enough to shove your barrel into, peering with one eye through the gap.

“You lookin’ for someone?” His voice nearly made you jump, a nonchalant rumble from where he stood there, leaning against the wood siding with his revolver held low against the side of his hip and that wolf-like smile on his face as if he was happy to see you. It made you, a skilled bounty hunter worth your salt, fumble with your gun all wide eyed before hurriedly jamming it against his forehead. Bam didn’t even flinch. Stepping forward, he taunted you, standing mere inches away with his barrel digging into the flesh that rested right above your belt as he pressed his forehead against your muzzle teasingly. He was begging you. Bam’s eyes glimmered with confidence, these piercing blue things that sent chills through you as the air between you hummed with tension, all warm and wrapped around you, serpentine. The bandit king’s voice shifted, now no longer the growl of a predator but instead a low, sly purr that slithered into your ears, “C’mon. Do it.” You couldn’t bring yourself to. He knew you’d only get your money if you brought him back with all pieces intact, gray matter included, and as much as you wanted to lob a few of his bits off for the hell of it, you held yourself back. Everything was silent for a moment, save for the sounds of Bam’s breathing, shockingly gentle for a man with a loaded gun to his head. Even so, it was your hands that were shaking as he kept you busy while his gang had surrounded you over the course of your conversation. The metallic click of a hammer being pulled back alerted you to the fact that no matter where you looked, there was a muzzle in your face, leaving you outgunned fivefold. Breath hitched in your throat and there Bam stood, with that fucking smile he got when he knew he had you pinned. Withdrawing his revolver, he spun it around his index finger before shoving his peice back into his black leather holster across his body.

“It’s been fun, Y/N- Really.” The sun silhouetted Bam as he walked away with a flourish while speaking with words that oozed with amusement and something darker. Christ, you had your gun, loaded and at the ready in your hand and you still couldn't do it. Something in you urged you to just throw yourself forward, pin him to the sand with your body and grab a fist of his hair to yank his head back and tie his wrists. To make him pay for all those sleepless nights, those wasted years- to finally capture the prey that was rightfully yours after so many years, and to take in that look in his eyes as his world crumbled in front of him in a matter of seconds. To really see that image that you fantasized about so fervently play out would be enough. But something stopped you again, an emotion that you couldn’t easily identify. He was an outlaw, not loyal to anyone but the men he traveled with, who all shared in his lacking of even an ounce of charisma or intellect and who also only bathed on the occasion they came about a body of water (which was rare), and yet you found yourself, if you could call it this, admiring the audacity of this vermin. Any positive emotions towards your marks were dangerous, you thought, but still you couldn’t assuage the feelings that stirred deep within you as the weight of defeat sat heavy in your chest, adrenaline fading.

In his words, the inn Bam and his gang stopped in was a nice place to visit but a better place to hold up. Unfortunately, they had important things to take care of in the morning and needed a place to sleep for the night, so that plan had to wait. It was deemed far enough away from anywhere their name would be known, so it wouldn’t raise any eyebrows if they showed their faces. Walking up to the counter, the bandit king didn’t bother to count as he unceremoniously dropped a handful of dollar coins to the wooden counter with a clatter, more than enough to cover their bill. Glancing up from his newspaper, the owner of the inn’s eyes went wide, first at the fact he could buy a couple acres of farmland with the money on his counter, and second for the fact that Bam was currently reaching for the shiny piece of metal that sat on his belt in case the money he gave him wouldn’t be enough to cover it. His gang all stood around, grinning like wolves as the innkeeper handed them their keys with shaking fingers, before heading off to the tavern that sat on the lower level for a few drinks. It was the kind of sleazy, low brow place that these fellows really felt at home in, and they were warmly welcomed by the other nerdowells, especially after the bandit king got a few drinks in him and got to telling these sensationalized tales of thrilling adventures and conquest to distract as he and his men colluded to swindle the pot of the poker game they were sitting arround. But as the night wore on, Bam was growing increasingly more tired and decided to retire to his room ahead of his crew.

You got word that those bandits were on their way to California- something about a train they were planning to rob. Exhaustion clawed at the corners of your eyes as you tried your damndest to ride on after them through the night, but it was nearing midnight and judging from the way Adliaide was dragging her hooves, you weren't the only one who needed some shut-eye. Stopping for the night, you settled down at this little inn that looked like the kind of place bad things happen. Your suspicions were confirmed as you scanned the crowd when you stopped in at the bar downstairs for one last drink before you hit the sack. But as you were still on the clock, you felt obligated to ask around a little, which is why you stopped the barmaid after she handed you your whiskey, “Hey, have you, uh- have you gotten any word about some bandits comin’ through these parts?” She shrugged, pretending to be busy with something behind the counter- that is, until you dropped a quarter dollar onto it. “Well, I might know about ‘em.” You dropped a few more.

You left Maisie at the bar a sizable tip that night for dropping the room number of the elusive bandit king, and you could barely contain your emotions as you rushed up the stairs after him. Popping open with little resistance, the lock on the door of room seven was broken with one swift kick next to the handle, and there you stood in the doorway, chest heaving with breath as if you were a hunter about to capture his long tracked game. Startled by the loud bang, Bam went to sit up before he winced, a shallow gasp escaping him at that lightning bolt pain shooting up his wounded arm again. That delayed him enough that he didn’t have a chance to reach his gun that was resting on the bedside table before you threw yourself onto him, pinning his body down to the sheets. Your heart was beating out of your chest as your grip shook with anticipation around his wrists when you grabbed them, shoving his hands through the bars of the metal bed frame and tying them with the rope you kept on your belt. Bam didn’t even struggle as he stared up at you with a barely perceptible smile crossing his lips at the way you were straddling his hips, watching you. Reaching for your holster, you roughly jammed the muzzle against the bandit king’s royal temple, pinning his head to the pillow as you leaned down to growl into his ear through gritted teeth. “Ten years- ten long years, and I’ve finally gotcha’.” Bam looked up at you with half lidded eyes as you slowly ran the cold, hard, eager steel of your gun down his face, caressing down his cheekbone to his neck. Still, with a gun to his head, he found a way to be defiant, “Took’y long enough…” Jabbing your barrel against the bottom of your chin to put him back in his place, you could see his Adam’s apple bob as you murmured bitterly, “Time ain’t got nothin’ t’do with it. I dunno if you can tell, but I got’cha tied.” Inch by inch, your barrel trailed down Bam’s bare torso as he breathed in the adrenaline soaked air, his chest rising and falling shallowly under you. Wasn't that a sight.

Stopping right above his belt buckle which glinted in the light of the gas lamp that lit the room, you got up from where you were now sitting back on your haunches, and all the words and feelings that were festering inside of you poured out, “I’ve followed you t’hell ‘n back, and finally-“ You started monologuing, standing up as you continued your brooding rant, “I’m puttin’ an end to this little cat ‘n mouse game.” Just as you turned your back for a moment, you heard this clamoring, and when you whipped your head around, the only thing you saw was the window Bam leapt out of shattering out, flock of pigeons style into the night. While you weren't looking, he had wriggled out of the ropes you didn’t tie tight enough magical style to make his grand escape. Leaning out the window with wide eyes, you watched as he rolled down the slanted tin roof of the stables to land on his feet. Bam stood up from where he was kneeling, brushing the dust off of his trousers as he looked up to the illuminated window you were leaning out of to tip his hat towards you before the bandit king hopped on the back of his horse, riding off into the night.

#jackass #bam margera #ryan dunn #jackass fanfiction #jackass fanfic #fluff #angst #cowboy!au #jackass x reader #bam margera x reader

[anthonybialy]

Israel Battles Evildoers Who Got Rich for Some Reason

Hamas doesn’t switch to a rainbow avatar for June.  I’m trying to get liberals to hate them.  These are tough times for the anti-Semitic.  You don’t have to feel bad for the worst sort of haters.  Save concern for an assaulted nation that is demonized for existing.

Baseless vitriol has escalated to monstrous action.  Slaughtering people going about their lives constitutes the clearest violation of life itself as possible in case anyone’s unclear.  One party seems disturbingly so.  The sole country in the Middle East without oil functions the best, which enrages those whose faith revolves around jealousy.

One side created civilization out of nothing. The other tries to turn civilization into nothing.  All-time lies accusing Jews of doing awful things while actual awful things are done to them is one of humanity’s most appalling regular occurrences.  The latest war could only seem worse upon realizing it’s nothing new.

Half of the sides are fiendish.  Invading terrorists may just be the bad guys.  Forget gruesome nonsense about Israel stealing land nobody wanted and that they just might have resided upon a few thousand years ago: acting like both attacker and target are perpetrators is the sophisticated way to lie.  You just know Israel’s foes were asking by noon on September 11, 2001 why they hate us.

“Cycle of violence” is the dark magic phrase to spot.  Anti-Semites realize how unpopular they are right now, so they conceal their bigotry by condemning an alleged cycle instead of the terrorists who began it.  A mugger attacks victim.  Said victim defends against threat to life, property, and liberty.  Liberals shake their heads at the actions of both.  The phonily high-minded would’ve lamented the cycle of violence on D-Day.

Israel’s antagonists pair pretend outrage with actual harm.  As usual, Democrats spurred agony by trying to help.  That’s sadly the best-case scenario.  You might be more generous than deserved and presume they’re not actively encouraging mayhem.  The best case is that doing such would require planning ahead.

Stimulus checks for Hamas got their sole industry humming.  A foreign policy that was already discredited has added granting an allowance to barbarians as a bullet/low point.

It turns out there are worse bribes than giving liberals useless degrees at taxpayer expense.  You’ll be shocked to learn those who shriek about paying back money they borrowed to major in political science so they can afford to keep patronizing artisan baristas don’t grasp how budgeting works.

Blaming the police for crime has devastated countless innocent humans.  The principle has gone international.  The baffling view that cops were the ones causing problems enabled subway-shovers. Its daft holders covered Iran’s discretionary rocket budget.

The White House did their part to wreck society and inhabitants by bailing out America’s sworn enemy.  That’s America’s White House, for the record.  The typical excuse is their usual one, namely that they had no idea their ideas would unleash perniciousness.  Ruining budgets for Americans is accompanied by tossing cash at lunatic mullahs.

Democrats believed Saddam Hussein was building a chocolate chip factory, too.  The only thing keeping Iran from prompting more devastation is ineptness.  Joe Biden is here to help them.  Claims that Iran’s trust fund won’t be spent irresponsibly are based in a Post-it stuck on the cash sacks noting it’s for humanitarian aid, which would be laughable if not for the blood splattered on Israeli streets.  Their pet terrorists attacked Israel less than a month after funds suddenly became free. This presidency strongly discourages noticing consequences.

Earth’s most nefarious terror state used different bills to fund terror, so tell your conscience to pipe down.  Take from this pile, not that one.  A notion that’s either disingenuous or ignorant sums up liberal thinking.  The mob budgets in the same way, with the difference being they can operate businesses.

Iran’s centrifuges spin in celebration.  The usual mendacious scumbags cherish the subsidy, although they won’t send a thank you card.  Democrats have gone out of their way to enable shoplifters, violent agents of urban chaos, and border-hoppers, so the terrible assault against Israel is no more surprising than who facilitated it.

Leave it to liberals to not grasp how loosening up dollars permits spending on other things.  Why would anyone stick to some lame budget?  Iran could’ve just printed more money.

An unwillingness to modify a budget because it would mean less fun is the signature economic principle from the adult children staffing this White House.  You might have to choose grilled cheese instead of Chuck E. Cheese if funds are tight unless you live near the Tehran location.  Under Biden, bread is a luxury, but only in his home country.

Iran’s hobby is funding terrorism.  Their free-time pursuit was funded by Biden putting them on the honor system.  Aiding maliciousness while hassling the decent is regrettably natural from an administration through its consistent opposition to reality.

Biden’s pals are being uncool.  His fervent dedication to attempting peace by befriending the sinister hasn’t quite convinced them to behave.  He’s still lunching alone in the cafeteria.

Inflation making money worth less finally helps, as medieval intruders couldn’t buy as many implements to inflict atrocities.  Liberating funds on September 11 for a real cartoonish villain was not just symbolically disgusting.

Heinous Hamas will find a new homeland in the sea.  The prototypical human demons are as evil as they are stupid.  An excuse for Israel to remove a roving gang of serial killers will be executed with no help from a feckless president that allows mayhem like a substitute teacher.

Hamas failed to anticipate Israel’s righteously swift response for the same shortsighted reason lottery winners who don’t plan ahead spend until they’re broke.  They just bought rockets with the Biden cash infusion instead of McMansions.

Opening wallets so terror benefactors can grab walking-around money turns out to not be a super strategy for finances and pace.  A president who wants to disarm law-abiding Americans coordinated Venmoing the Hamas rocket fund.  Add “fungible” to the ceaseless list of words liberals don’t understand.

#Israel #Iran #Joe Biden #Hamas #terrorism

[nitrozem]

The BOLD THE FACTS

The Rules are simple! Tag people and name a character you want to know more about! If you want to let the person you tagged decide who to showcase, then don’t name a character and they can pick somebody. Easy! The person who is tagged will then bold the remarks below which apply to their character &, if they want to, include a picture with their reply!

omg thank you for the tag @theosconfessions I love these!

Anthony "Tony" Leeds

[ PERSONAL]

$ Financial: wealthy / moderate / poor / in poverty

✚ Medical: fit / moderate / sickly / disabled / disadvantaged / non applicable

(he's mostly alright besides his smoking habit)

✪ Class or Caste: upper / middle / working / unsure / other

✔ Education: qualified / unqualified / studying / other

(High School Drop out)

✖ Criminal Record: yes, for major crimes / yes, for minor crimes / no / has committed crimes, but not caught yet / yes, but charges were dismissed

(Spent much of his youth stealing cars, been in drunken fights, he's probably done it all except a murder maybe)

[ FAMILY]

◒ Children: had a child or children / has no children / wants children

(one daughter, Juni Que, the only other human he genuinely loves/cares about, spoils that kid)

◑ Relationship with Family: close with sibling(s) / not close with sibling(s) / has no siblings / sibling(s) is deceased

◔ Affiliation: orphaned / adopted / disowned / raised by birth parent / not applicable

(using the term raised loosely, they spent more time drinking and arguing with each other to pay much attention to him)  

[ TRAITS + TENDENCIES]

♦ extroverted / introverted / in between

(hates interacting with people, but charismatic when he needs to manipulate someone)

♦ disorganized / organized / in between

♦ close minded / open-minded / in between

(He's very stubborn, only those he care about can get him to somewhat have an open mind)

♦ calm / anxious / in between

(he's got enemies so he's on alert for himself but mostly for his kid)

♦ disagreeable / agreeable / in between

♦ cautious / reckless / in between

♦ patient / impatient / in between

(the DMV is his hell)

♦ outspoken / reserved / in between

♦ leader / follower / in between

(He does not like to lead nor does he like to follow, he is his own boss)

♦ empathetic / vicious bastard / in between

(his empathy is only reserved for his daughter, everyone else can kick rocks)

♦ optimistic / pessimistic / in between

♦ traditional / modern / in between

♦ hard-working / lazy / in between

♦ cultured / uncultured / in between / unknown

♦ loyal / disloyal / unknown

(would sell you to satan for one corn chip)

♦ faithful / unfaithful / unknown

(9/10 he is unfaithful, but it is possible for him to be faithful if he finds the right match...)

[ BELIEFS]

★ Faith: monotheist / polytheist / atheist / agnostic

☆ Belief in Ghosts or Spirits: yes / no / don’t know / don’t care

✮ Belief in an Afterlife: yes / no / don’t know / don’t care

✯ Belief in Reincarnation: yes / no / don’t know / don’t care

❃ Belief in Aliens: yes / no / don’t know / don’t care

(dude be reading the conspiracy theories a lot)

✧ Religious: orthodox / liberal / in between / not religious

❀ Philosophical: yes / no

[ SEXUALITY & ROMANTIC INCLINATION ]

❤ Sexuality: heterosexual / homosexual / bisexual / asexual / pansexual

❥ Sex: sex repulsed / sex neutral / sex favorable / naive and clueless

♥ Romance: romance repulsed / romance neutral / romance favorable /naive and clueless / romance suspicious

(truthfully he is pretty sus of everyone, especially anyone who wants to actually date him? Has no idea how to handle that lol)

❣ Sexually: adventurous / experienced / naive / inexperienced / curious

⚧ Potential Sexual Partners: male / female / agender / other / none / all

⚧ Potential Romantic Partners: male / female / agender / other / none / all

[ ABILITIES ]

☠ Combat Skills: excellent / good / moderate / poor / none

(has been in a couple fights, good swing with a baseball bat, carries a pistol as a precaution cause he lives a dangerous neighborhood)

≡ Literacy Skills: excellent / good / moderate / poor / none

✍ Artistic Skills: excellent / good / moderate / poor / none

✂ Technical Skills: excellent / good / moderate / poor / none

(he was a devious little hacker in high school and is very good working with computers and programming still, an aggressive nerd honestly)

[ HABITS ]

☕ Drinking Alcohol: never / special occasions / sometimes / frequently / Alcoholic

☁ Smoking: tried it / trying to quit / quit / never / rarely / sometimes / frequently / Chain-smoker

✿ Recreational Drugs: never / special occasions / sometimes / frequently / addict

✌ Medicinal Drugs: never / no longer needs medication / some medication needed / frequently / to excess

☻ Unhealthy Food: never / special occasions / sometimes / frequently / binge eater

$ Splurge Spending: never / sometimes / frequently / shopaholic

♣ Gambling: never / rarely / sometimes / frequently / compulsive gambler

I am bad at tagging people but I will try lol (i feel awkward, anyone disregard if you already did it/don't want to do it, or do it if you see it and consider yourself tagged, boom!) @simarcana @simulation-machine @weisskralle

#tagged #oc: tony #i love any opportunity to talk about my silly little guys

[rappaccini]

something more notes.

only one masterpost this time, because this thing isn't nearly as dense as arachnophobia.

first of all, this is a companion fic to arachnophobia.

everything that happens here is canon to that story, and everything that happens there is canon to this. each chapter roughly syncs up between fics as well (arachnophobia 1 takes place at the same time as something more 1, etc).

the canon divergence can largely be summed up as 'gwen isn't into miles; she gets her own arc that centers her and not her relationship with him' and 'miles's arc is extended over a year to give him time to befriend more characters and dwell on certain plot beats.' if you want the month-by-month breakdown of where his atsv elements are rearranged, it's here, under the 'miles tangent' section.

chapter 1

margo goes to the peter parker institute of science and technology in the comics. (it's not clear if it's a high school or university)

spider-byte is her alter ego, who fights crime and helps people in virtual reality.

"her parents world" -- in atsv, margo always refers to her dimension as her 'parents' dimension' -- i try to do that here.

in margo's comics, she's introduced hunting down an identity thief. her vigilantism is more small-scale and mundane, being online.

so, things like password recovery, hacking, identity recovery, getting rid of bot farms. not really combat based.

the cyber crimes investigation is a police force in margo's comics. we so incognito is on a poster on movie margo's wall; it's either an organization or a piece of pop culture.

atsv-margo lost a captain of her own. she's one of the figures in that canon event montage. no clue who it is though so i simply made the rest up. (makes you wonder: how exactly does someone die in a virtual world?)

margo's rootkit will come back.

margo's tiger: tiny, tiny ref to mj's 'face it, tiger' line.

i spent a lot of time thinking about how a world where people spend all their time online works. people work and go to school at home, they receive all their purchases by delivery, and odds are, family dinners aren't really a thing, at least for the kesses.

major motif for this fic: margo feeling unentitled to her own feelings, both as a side character in a story she isn't allowed to have a major role in, and as a girl who's always interacting with people through a screen.

i'm not sure when earth-22191 is meant to be. presumably in the future, further ahead than miguel. my guess was 22nd or 23rd century.

margo sees miguel as a father figure.

miguel recruited margo for her coding skills in atsv. there's more to it than that in this fic.

being invited: miguel finally gets margo what she wanted from the organizations in her own world. she is seen, valued, and included.

ultimately, margo joins the ss because she wants to find people who care about her. all it would have taken to stop her was her parents being concerned.

"won the jackpot" ... tiny tiny ref to "face it tiger, line" x2.

according to atsv, margo's already in the ss by the time gwen joins.

web-slinger and spiders-man were featured with margo in vault of spiders, the comic where she debuts.

margosoft is in atsv-- it's on a few of the ss screens. presumably the software the watches, portal tech and go home machine operate on was designed by her.

'blow up the building'-- tiny detail on one of margo's screens. she's not just operating the go home machine; she's sending orders to members in the field.

margo wears glasses in this fic. she's blasting blue light into her eyeballs at point blank range 16 hours a day. that eyesight's fucked.

miguel stops paying attention to margo after he's gotten his os out of her, and once he knows he can trust her to follow orders. it actually has nothing to do with gwen's arrival, but margo doesn't know that.

there's no info on gwen-22191. made it up for this fic. presumably she dies young, as usual. and she's peter's science whiz girlfriend, as usual.

peter-22191 has no details about his life, apart from him being dead by the time margo's going to the school named after him. being an arachnologist was just a spider reference.

mary jane watson-22191 is a dead end instead of dead because she's not dead; she's margo.

i figured margo would probably be very protective of her little workspace so she does not like other people touching it.

margo's first impulse being to reach out to and befriend gwen is going to come back later.

gwen looking up her dead selves is expanded on in arachnophobia; this is just margo's side of that event. margo avoids gwen because 1) it understandably freaks her out.

2) she has very low self esteem and has picked up on how the society has put gwen on a pedestal; she assumes (wrongly) that gwen wouldn't want anything to do with her.

3) she's jealous. i think the margo-gwen jealousy onion is fascinating, and everyone does it a disservice by reducing it to ~two girls fighting over a boy~ or overcorrects by insisting they be ~two girls being bffs because they're two girls~.

no. let's peel this thing: margo and gwen both want what the other has, and that tension would've existed even without a boy in the picture. we'll go more into gwen's side later, but for now--

a) margo wants functional parental figures, and she views being discarded by miguel and ignored by jess, right as they give gwen special attention, as them choosing gwen over her.

b) margo joined the society to feel included, and everyone ignores her and lines up around the block to see gwen.

c) margo's uniqueness in the society is ignored. gwen's is celebrated. no one cares that there's only one spider-byte. everyone is invested in the one spider-gwen.

d) margo comes to hq to get away from a shitty home life and a dimension she feels like she doesn't belong in, but she hasn't actually physically left earth-22191. the society let gwen stay at hq full-time. margo would kill for that.

e) margo believes society propaganda about suffering being what makes you a better hero. there's no way she wouldn't look at gwen abandoning her world and her responsibilities as a moral failing, and being bitter that gwen is being 'rewarded' for it with special treatment.

f) margo wants to be loved by spider-man. gwen is the famous dead girlfriend on a pedestal. the same attention that gets gwen killed and makes her miserable would make margo happy, and she's bothered by how gwen takes it for granted.

margo is a teenage girl with low self esteem. she isn't considering that the attention and special treatment gwen's getting isn't a good thing, or that everyone would have ignored margo anyway. that's still to come.

on margo being a nobody: she's not, but she doesn't know it yet.

we end where we started: on margo, alone, feeling like her emotions about the way she's being treated and her desire to connect with people isn't valid.

chapter 2

i'm guessing the society started a little after itsv, so by the time gwen joins, it's been just under a year since it was founded, and by the time miles arrives, it's been a year and a few months.

one of margo's skills is creating digital doppelgangers of herself to outsource her work and be more efficient.

margo's fully tuned out. she has the work figured out and she knows no one's paying attention to her, so she's numbing herself to the situation by distracting herself.

she's watching streamers and reactors as ways to pantomime human interaction.

great, okay, fine comes from arachnophobia chapter 2. a motif that worked here too.

like in chapter 1, margo joined the society to lash out at her parents and test if they'd care. they still don't.

the web. play on world wide web and web of life and destiny.

thought i'd expand on how the spider-society has a hierarchy. yes, elite spider-people are members, but there's another rung up that ladder, and that's miguel and his inner circle-- the best of the best, who actually make the decisions. if the ss is obsessed with preserving canon, it follows that the people whose lives check off the most canon boxes are higher up on the totem pole.

so margo's at the bottom.

margo isn't the only one of her kind at the society. you'll know who they are by the end of this chapter.

like gwen, margo's an outlier in the society. unlike gwen, nobody cares about finding a place to make her fit. they've already dismissed her as only good for grunt work.

"pushing buttons and making vague gestures of support" -- what i'm worried the sv movies will make of margo. also, what the fandom thinks of margo.

margo's an avatar, yet she can interact physically with objects in hq. using miguel's holosuit as a reason why-- her avatar's made of the same stuff.

spinneret and the spider-women from 2301, 8545, 42124 and 12041 are all mj variants. they can tell she's one of them, even if they don't know what it means yet.

jessica's motives get a big exploration in arachnophobia 4, but the gist is: she decided to put herself over solidarity with her fellow jessica variants so she could get a high rank in the society. she's the only jessica and the only spider-woman, who matters. ignoring margo is an intentional choice on her part.

miguel dismissed margo once he was through using her. at least he's consistent. and hey, if he doesn't pay attention to you, he can't hurl verbal abuse at you.

look you can't tell me there wasn't at least one time where peter b accidentally handed margo the baby on autopilot, and margo accidentally accepted, and both forgot for a split second that margo can't actually hold mayday so they ended up technically dropping her.

taking that tiny moment of margo being annoyed at miles walking into her and pumping it full of air? hell yeah i am.

first moment of true canon divergence reached: miles joins the spider-society formally instead of inviting himself there.

the moment of ~mysterious connection~ between miles and margo set my brain on fire. this fic exists largely because i just wanna tinfoil about what the hell that is.

margo's constantly on the society computers, overseeing the anomalies. she has to know miles is one. which means she's also complicit in the big lie about him.

margo has no peripheral vision in a vr headset.

miles is the first person who can actually capture margo's full attention because of that connection. she wants to be fully engaged by and vulnerable with him.

spider-byte is a pun on spider bite. great name!

miles likes smart girls: thinking gwen was a fellow gifted kid helped him develop his crush on her. it'll draw him to margo too.

overall in this fic i'm trying to balance margo's actual behavior at home with how she presents her avatar. since she spends all her time alone online, this girl's gonna be awkward.

margo has no spider-powers. the avatar has all her abilities.

you can't tell me miles's lightning palms wouldn't absolutely fuck margo's gear up. or that she wouldn't be pissed about it.

when margo's moving so fast she spits out other versions of herself, that's called an echo trail.

i simply think it's relevant that miles has the power to turn invisible, and margo's invisible whether she likes it or not.

margo's trying to warn miles that miguel and the society aren't great company.

remember, miles wanted to join the ss and thought the place was awesome at first. i'm just taking that beat and expanding it since his arc's getting stretched from a few days to a few months. therefore, he's gonna drink the society kool aid.

... it must take gwen and hobie fucking forever to put those shoes on, though.

it's a running joke in this fic that people keep fucking with margo's hq workstation.

there's concept art floating around of miles watching titanic and crying. referenced that here because i think it's funny.

one of the most important things about miles as a character is that he's all about inclusion. thematically, and in terms of personality: if he sees somebody being left out, he wants to bring them in and make them feel like they belong.

it's also a compelling flaw: he wants to be included. miles doesn't just want to be a good spider-man. he wants to be the best. that meant wanting to join the society. that'll mean, if he did get to join, wanting to be one of its leaders.

background note: in this fic, the ss does have mileses in it. they're just minor members who have little sway and are typically looked down upon.

had to bring up the 'is miles spider-man' debate. the ss is an allegory for society as much as it is for the spider-man canonmakers and fandom. they'd get into discourse about it.

in arachnophobia, miguel lets miles in because gwen kept asking him to. more on that there.

the source of gwen's jealousy's going to get a focus later.

at least in arachnophobia, gwen's comphetting her way through her miles crush.

"no one notices because there aren't many girls in the society" -- sorry! getting salty! you can tell gwen's written by dudes in these movies.

this fic is a metatext on how margo's treated by canon and fandom. she knows she's the disposable second girl in the love triangle who'll be expected by the fans (... and possibly written by the writers) to inexplicably be the supportive bestie who wingmans her crush into getting with another girl.

gwen and hobie. margo knows about them. more to come on that.

detailed earth-8 hate can be found here under "earth-8 notes"

margo having a courtside seat to this drama means she can be objective about it: the earth-8 speed date is creepy, cringy and gross. and gwiles as a couple are not the fairy tale ending everyone wants them to be.

salt! of course a bunch of white nerdy guys think the best canon subversion for spider-gwen is swapping out what guy she belongs to.

salt! it's not a coincidence that the white nerdy guys writing these movies (and the comic the gwiles romance is based on) gave miles a white girlfriend, or made their kids (their daughter specifically; their son's just blue-eyed miles) racially ambiguous. when writers create bad romances, its often because they force the character they identify with to pair off with the one they're most attracted to.

settler and sellout: what gwen and miles-8 are.

the unbreakup is much more detailed in arachnophobia ch 2.

the society were listening.

a hill i intend to die on: margo is an mj variant.

chapter 3

characters in alternate comics worlds tend to appear in cohorts. peter, gwen and mj are usually always a set, as are miles and ganke.

but there are exceptions: on earth-65a, flash thompson is gwen's high school gym teacher instead of her classmate, for instance.

and on earth-22191, margo is 200-ish years behind all her friends.

margo-is-an-mj is just a headcanon (for now 🤞), so knowing her peter parker is definitely dead led to a bit of extrapolation: if margo's totally alone in her world, then the rest of the empire state gang are probably gone too.

being left to one's devices. wordplay is fun.

in an all-online world i figure memorials are probably interactive. like facebook pages full of messages, videos and photos.

fic-gwen-22191 died in the 80s (her birthyear is the year of her first appearance, 1965. add 19 years to get to her death age), so she would be gone before that would have been possible. therefore, she doesn't get one. (+another gwen who's totally in the shadow of her boyfriend.)

in a world where everyone interacts via avatars, i figure facetune/image manipulation is the norm. nobody shows you their actual, unmanipulated face until you're very close friends.

so margo had a lot of culture shock at the society. being around masked people would've felt more normal than seeing all those faces.

and therefore, seeing the gang in photos pre-image manipulation, around the 1980s, would have a strong effect on margo. in a way, she is getting to see her friends' faces.

people typically aren't gorgeous in their natural states. they look better that way, when they're real.

ai: i figure margo's world is so deeply entrenched in tech that it's taken over entertainment. there aren't any career actors or musicians anymore; you just prompt an ai to give you what you want.

therefore, an 80s sitcom starring margo and her dead friends. it's very macabre.

the silver spoon is where the 616 empire state gang hung out during the college years in the late 60s.

i figure margo's probably programmed herself a few artificial boyfriends and friends over the years. if she's that talented at coding and she's that lonely, she would.

margo isn't thrilled about going to college because in her world, it just means staying at home even longer.

mj and harry both have dysfunctional families.

if mj and peter parker are such a universal pairing, margo would wonder if she and her peter would've fallen in love.

... and if she and her gwen would've fought over him. it's wild that the mj-peter-gwen love triangle was two best friends who are technically dating the same guy and competing for him. it is WILD that peter and mj get together because she swoops in on her best friend's boyfriend right after she dies.

"painting our nails and sharing secrets" will come back.

margo's the hero of her world. she wouldn't assume peter's the spider; she'd assume she still would be.

margo trying to make a connection in her world and failing was important to include.

in a world where everyone's online, the city's probably very quiet.

the fact about stars is true.

miles morales is an anime fan. there's no way he wouldn't try to get peni to watch it with him.

and there's no way peni wouldn't have opinions about it.

real friends aren't people you can turn off or reprogram when they annoy you. getting to know them takes effort, which is why the connections matter. margo's starting to learn that.

margo probably gets no sleep. that girl's chugging monster like it's water and making energy drink jungle juice in her spare time.

margo would probably be a gamer. thought it'd be fun if she and peni swapped recs. (the one they're talking about is hatoful boyfriend. the doctor route is indeed batshit crazy.)

i think peni and margo would be great friends. i wanted to give them that here.

also: miles hanging out with peni and margo is a ripple effect from arachnophobia-- i hate that the writers made ambiguously queer girls' girl gwen into someone who only interacts positively with men and has only male friends. the bare minimum would've been giving miles a female friend group to balance it out. so for these fics, that's what i did.

post-unbreakup miles is not taking it well. there's one more big event between it and this scene between margo, peni and miles that'll be mentioned later.

as a reminder, this is a canon divergent au where gwen and miles do not get together, and gwen gets an arc on par with miles's. that's in arachnophobia.

and since this is a companion to arachnophobia, a lot of character and plot beats rhyme-- like miles and gwen both interacting with their earth-8 selves. in miles's case, he admires him and wants to emulate him.

because he views gwen's rejection of him as a sign that she thinks he's an incompetent hero who can't save her, he's trying to overcompensate by showing everyone how great a spider-man he is. it's wearing him down.

ss as an allegory for the writers and the fandom: miles getting gwen as his girlfriend makes him more impressive to them because she's the shiniest, most conventionally-attractive, most unattainable love interest. if he can't land her, they'll look down on him.

(which is why earth-8 miles is both gross and fascinating: literally, when the writers created their ideal miles, they made him joined at the hip with his gwen.)

kid arachnid, spy d and spin are all alternate names miles has had in continuities where he and peter are heroes together.

the spider-society only legitimizes miles-8, the palatable one who sold out his authenticity for greater appeal and uses gwen as a symbol of that.

there's no way margo doesn't have a folder of security footage highlights featuring the cringiest spider-person moments.

jess in the comics eats butter to cope with pregnancy cravings

hobie's facial hair: ref to earlier concept art of him. it did not look good.

hobie's doing disruption in plain sight: intentionally covering up security cameras while pretending it's just vandalism.

re: miles and hobie. people forget that miles spends all of atsv hating on the guy (he only changes his mind when hobie helps him escape). extending that out = miles wasn't exactly friendly with him for that month before the earth-8 blowup. and there's no way a 15yo boy is gonna be nice to the guy he thinks his crush rejected him for. there's a bit more that happened there, but that'll be discussed later.

"betrayal" -- salt about the fandom's take that gwen and hobie having a relationship would somehow make them traitors to miles. what betrayal? she was never miles's girlfriend (if anything she friendzoned him) and hobie never met the guy. they don't owe him shit!

re: miles's feelings. one of the biggest issues with atsv is it wants so badly to critique the spiderman canon without acknowledging that it is a part of that canon and not the exception to it. miles is spider-man, a superhero who takes after that old western storytelling tradition of 'super special male protagonist whose actions and desires are more important than everyone else's.' if he really wants to be different, we have to unpack that idea too.

so, miles, like miguel/peter b/jess/the elite ss members, thinks that his feelings are inherently more important than everyone else's-- important enough to somehow convince gwen, who hasn't seen or spoken to him in 1.5 years, to put her entire life on hold and never move on with anyone else. (... yes it's salt at the writers. she would've moved on.)

he's also a 15yo boy. so he woulda thought that regardless.

another plus of miles hanging out with girls: they can help him understand how bullshit the gwen stacy hero complex is (no girl would want to fall off a bridge so her bf can look cool saving her) and how creepy being tied across dimensions is.

gwen-65 canonically hates babies and has no maternal instinct. motherhood is something she isn't interested in and would never choose. makes the 'perfect future' where she has a nuclear family with miles all the more questionable. it's not HER perfect future, it's his.

it also makes comics-gwen's reaction to it (confusion, then immediate revulsion) make sense. the best possible future for her and miles is one that would make her miserable so of course she runs for the hills.

comics-miles, though, gets most of what he wanted out of it, so naturally, he keeps a torch lit for a while.

examining that here: fic-miles can kind of tell that something about earth-8 is off, but since that future still looks on the surface like everything he thinks he wants (respect and renown from his public and his peers, a team of heroes to work with, kids someday, and a romantic partner who is a fellow superhero), he's clinging to it.

margo regresses to tabsurfing to pull her attention away from this conversation because it's too emotionally draining.

and miles notices because it's unusual for her to do that with him.

i'm sorry! i hate gwiles! gotta point out all the fucking problems with it! shit like, they genuinely don't know anything about each other.

one of the reasons i want mj variant margo so bad is the thematic relevance it would have. one would think that the logical next step in a trilogy of movies all about the importance of a black spider-man would be including a black mj.

miles and miguel are alike in a lot of ways. including how they both think they're better than their own canons and want to be the exception to it (in order to obtain or keep a gwen/gabi).

miles is mostly offscreen in arachnophobia, so his arc is mostly implied. since margo spends most of her time with him, this was a chance to touch on it: he needs to understand that he isn't the exception.

22191 worldbuilding: one would think in an all-online world that social interactions can be archived. ergo, margo can watch her parents chatlogs and social media posts like they're home movies.

and in an all-online world, you meet and date online too. meeting up in person is probably like moving in together, if not synonymous.

and as is often the case... sometimes, the person you think you're meant to be with turns out to be someone else when you spend more time with them and your mental picture of them has to reconcile with the real thing.

and sometimes it's too painful to admit that, so people don't, and they keep clinging to their idea of the person even as it gets further from the truth.

miles and gwen are this in a nutshell. the most positive i can be about sv gwiles is that they seem like they would've made great high school sweethearts post-itsv. if they'd stayed in contact, they would've paired up, stayed together for most of high school (... to me, that 17 month timeskip feels like the amount of time they'd have lasted), and eventually drifted back into friendship.

but they didn't. they spent a year and a half with zero contact, romanticizing the idea of each other. now that idea is stronger than the connection they made originally because they don't know each other at all. if they get together now, they'll just be chasing romances they made up in their heads, and the longer they stick together the more unfulfilling, stagnating and ultimately toxic that dynamic will become.

add that to miles's spider-man complex: he thinks of himself as a good person, and is mistaking that for being good for gwen. those things are different.

margo gets this. she is a product of that kind of relationship.

margo making ai boyfriends is a parallel to miles sketching gwen: it's art, but it's also not the real thing.

margo's ai sitcom of her dead friends is what solidified that for her.

miles has further to go before he gets it. his feelings for gwen are so wrapped up in a need for belonging and validation that he has to satisfy that first before he moves on.

we arrive at the part where margo's supposed to give that motivational speech that gets gwiles together.

this is a meta text, and margo's role in the story, at least as of atsv, is 'disposable second corner of the love triangle.' the expected outcome for her character is that she'll do something selfless to make gwiles get together, step out of the way for them and/or conveniently no longer be competition.

if the sv movies really want to break canon, then they should do the opposite. let the hero and his designated girlfriend decide to stay friends, and make margo the endgame love interest instead.

taking shots at the fandom for reinforcing the idea that margo's a supportive bestie, ~sister-coded~, a matchmaker, the butt of some joke about miles wasting his time before he pairs off with the fandom-preferred girl, or the disposable black love interest. (... and possibly firing off a warning shot at btsv if that's what they do with her)

discovering she's an mj made margo realize she isn't a nobody and gave her the confidence to demand better treatment. she might not be miles's mj, but she still is one, and she's going to claim all the things mj is entitled to.

so she uses some of that mj fire and stands up for herself. no, she's not going to help him make nice with gwen, and she's making it clear that she's a contender for his feelings.

miles can clearly tell that margo likes him. so if in btsv he treats her like that disposable friend, keeps flirting with her, and gets with gwen anyway? dick move.

dick move here too. he isn't maliciously playing with her feelings, but he is hanging out with a girl he knows is into him (and doesn't think will stand up to him about it) to make himself feel good.

"don't be mean" = subconscious little women ref.

because it IS mean. the mj-spider-man-gwen love triangle is, when not written well, such a shitty treatment of these girls.

margo's given miles a lot to think about. more on that soon.

"knowing it's not supposed to count, wanting it to, and doing it anyway" will come back too.

chapter 4

'abyss' is a term that comes up a lot in arachnophobia. thought i'd add it somewhere in this fic

so's 'i'm you and you're me'

margo getting on with her life and focusing on her own situation will pop up again soon.

this chapter concerns why margo's status as an mj is so controversial and why even her own alternate selves can't wrap their minds around it.

for better or worse, margo's more visible now. which means she's visible enough for miguel to get angry at her.

re: jess. one of the biggest things about her canon characterization is her lack of solidarity. she didn't protect gwen, she didn't protect miles. she wouldn't protect margo. at least in these fics, jessica drew-404 cares so much about the mission that she'd throw anyone under the bus for it, and she believes as long as she personally gets a comfy spot at the top of the hierarchy, she doesn't mind what happens to anyone else.

also given timeline creep, jess had her baby by now.

the anomaly that's dimension-jumping will come back.

margo's home is minimalist and full of soft things and dull colors because for people who are constantly stimulated by the internet, they'd probably want somewhere calming to escape to. gotta extrapolate those white bedroom walls somehow.

touch as a motif pops up again here.

peter having photos of gwen in his house is first mentioned in arachnophobia.

peter parker gives me overworked ta vibes, and if mj's based on raimi mj, then she would've been a model/actress for a while.

og 616 gwen stacy was a football fan.

peter b recognizing his wife in margo is what made him stick up for, and bend the rules for her.

had to use that hologram effect of the portal watch for something. why not margo making house calls?

... something tells me margo makes ai art. and miles has opinions about it.

margo recording her conversations for later comes back at the end of this chapter.

mj facts: she was originally intended to be a running joke about 'the girl next door peter's aunt keeps trying to hook him up with' before she became The Love Interest, so mj has a history of knowing about peter but being unacknowledged by him until college. i've always really liked this. important people creep up on you.

'she's not the only one'-- another arachnophobia motif

in this chapter, we need to demolish the gwen jealousy. best way to do that is 1) let margo have a big jealous rant, get those feelings out, and

2) have the source refute that idea and tell her that the situation's more complicated: gwen isn't some superior girl waving her boyfriend in mj's face; they were best friends who respected each other even when they liked the same guy, and while gwen and peter were together, mj got on with her life. the ~catty jealousy~ was a misunderstanding of the situation, usually by the men reading and writing those comics who like watching two hot girls fight over their self-insert.

since the society's based on those guys, it follows that margo would learn about the love triangle in that context, and her insecurities would be inflamed by it.

(i'm not thrilled about mj chastising margo. but if a girl starts talking shit about your dead best friend, you're gonna shut her up.)

'love's not a competition' comes back in 5.

'in name only' -- margo isn't. the more you examine her character and where she appears in the sv narrative, the more in common with mj you find.

it's important to note that the mjs aren't rejecting margo out of malice, like miguel is. they're just so set in their perceptions of themselves that it's hard to imagine something different-- much like how margo was in denial about being an mj at all.

(sidebar: or like how it took gwen months to realize gayatri's a gwen variant)

in these fics, meeting your alt-self tends to be a good experience. that's you, after all. of course they're going to instantly empathize and care about each other. but there are going to be bumps in the road.

also. fandom salt! at the people who won't let a certain black spider-man character be called by that title, and keep insisting, sometimes with good but misguided intentions, sometimes knowing damn well what they're saying, that they should ~be their own person.~ you know who i'm talking about.

miles babysitting mayday comes up in arachnophobia. fun to see it here.

bringing back margo's eavesdropping habit.

if miles is at the society, he's gonna ask at some point why his universe is 1610b. which means he's gotta learn about a.

new holes in the multiverse: coming back later.

btsv is absolutely going to do a metacommentary on how shitty it was to destroy 1610a to force miles into 616a. thought i'd incorporate that here: miles is starting to catch on that nobody wants him to have his own world, and now that he knows that the last miles who did lost his, he's getting paranoid.

and peter b, while well-intentioned in wanting to look after him and promising him a place in 616, doesn't get it.

atsv salt: makes no sense to me that peter b would be so hands-off when he had such a great bond with miles in itsv. part of the reason for having him join the ss was so they could reestablish that mentorship.

including miles dropping into peter's dimension when he needs space, like he does here.

peter and mj are 100% talking about miles and margo. and putting it together that they aren't giving them the best advice.

the captain event: in this fic, miles's father is promoted a few months later than normal, and his death event is even further ahead (and not calculated yet). this was so he wouldn't flip his shit and ditch the ss before he could explore it.

the earlier mention of margo breaking her own distancing rule to help miles figure out when he'd die referred to this. she's been there too, she's a kind person, and she cares about him. she would.

now, after months of drinking society kool-aid, running himself ragged trying to prove himself, slowly realizing he'll never belong, and now learning that one of the deaths he's most afraid of is on the horizon (but not imminent), miles is cracking up. hence, wearing his spider-suit all the time, fighting with his dad to get him to quit. ignoring that he's grounded to keep spider-manning.

another divergence: pav's captain event is pushed back too. you'll see why.

... look if miles finds out an alt-him has a baby sister, he'll definitely put his foot in his mouth trying to figure out if he's gonna get one too.

mj and peter b put together what they were doing wrong. "i feel it" is both an apology and an acknowledgment of what margo's looking for.

margo not being physically present in any of her interactions with miles, and the disconnect that causes, comes back at the end of this chapter. the lack of reaction to the humidity is just setting that up.

fun fact: back to the future was originally meant to star eric stultz. michael j fox replaced him.

the 1610 to 616 salt was also a way to help margo put together that she wouldn't mind sharing a world with someone.

however, she still believes the ss doctrine about being miserable making you a better hero.

margo doesn't look at the love triangle as a competition anymore, so she's able to talk about gwen without getting mad.

'doing both' -- motif from atsv. and what all the society mjs are in fact doing-- being love interests AND heroes.

an aside, to list all the things margo kess has in common with mj watson.

both are spunky young women from dysfunctional families who badly want affection and a functional, loving home.

both are introduced in the narrative after spider-man has already formed a romantic attachment with gwen stacy, and though they have instant chemistry with spider-man, he prioritizes gwen over her.

both are pitted against gwen stacy over spider-man's affection. sigh.

both already know spider-man's secret identity (... and in margo's case, that miles is an anomaly) when they meet him. and neither acknowledges this information for a long time.

both have a love of fashion and visual aesthetics-- mj's a model; margo's constantly changing her hair and makeup.

both keep spider-man's secrets and intimately understand his struggles in a way nobody else does.

both have the capacity to become superheroes in their own right.

both aren't at a risk of being fridged.

(beyond here's all relevant to the fic only.)

both take a while to be noticed by spider-man. in mj's case she was an invisible neighbor for years. in margo's, she's a friend who isn't taken seriously as a romantic option for months.

both are up front about having feelings for spider-man.

both get on with their lives while they wait. mj sees other people, margo hangs out with peni and tries reaching out to the mjs.

gwen ultimately brings them together. for mj, it's her death. for margo... it'll be something else.

it's a rocky road to getting together, but at the end of the day, spider-man always comes back to them, and they end up together.

thank you. back to 4:

anyway. it's insane to me how textbook an mj variant margo is.

which makes you wonder: why doesn't anyone talk about this? i'm absolutely not the first person to come up with this idea (i got it from a convo with a friend), but it's very rare to see anyone consider it.

rhetorical question. look, if margo were a white girl with red hair, or even just a white girl, the margo's-an-mj theories would be a lot more popular and so would interest in her character.

the disconnect is that margo's black. simple as that. this is a meta fic. had to bring that up. the ss is a stand-in for the writers, audience and fandom, so all the hangups they have will be reflected in the society.

if spider-byte's an avatar that can look like anything, then margo made her recognizably black for a reason. it is important to margo that the people of her world know their spider-hero is a black girl.

it's important for the people watching these movies to know that mj can be a black girl too.

miles and margo are in the same boat. both of them are their canon's incarnation of an iconic character in the spider-man story, but both are disrespected and ignored by both writers and fandom because they're black.

therefore, margo's the person who can help miles piece this together.

which is where the meta comes in: yes, it matters that margo has her own world and her own identity as byte... but that world and identity aren't particularly respected. it would be very easy for her to fall into obscurity and vanish, which is often the fate of marginalized characters with original stories; they get an initial push, then fall away and vanish.

spider-man and mj are indisputably vital characters to the spider-man canon. they'll always exist, and always be retold and reinterpreted in new stories. they have gravity and reach. their stories are agreed upon by EVERYONE as important.

and if the story's important, then anyone should be able to take part in it. that is why a black spider-man matters.

mj, in spider-man stories, is typically the pinnacle of love and desirability. she's not just a love interest; she's the love interest. she's the girl the hero ends up with who's so irreplaceable and beloved by the writers and fandom that they keep being drawn to each other whenever the story's retold. when you gatekeep what mj's allowed to look like, you are telling people that only one specific kind of person is worthy of love. that's why a black mj matters.

it's also why a romance between a black spider-man and a black mj would be so groundbreaking. (... more groundbreaking than the black spider-man sticking with a white gwen stacy he barely knows and puts on a pedestal.)

sidebar: diverging from sv canon here to change the ss's perception of miles. it was important that he be able to interact with other mileses, so they had to be in the ss, but also to acknowledge that even though miles-1610b was blocked from entry because of 42, they're all dealing with the same shit.

... even miles-8. even the ~perfect future~ for miles is one where he can't keep his own world and has to end up on earth-8, sharing it with gwen. she's definitely not his equal there, but he still has to have her (aka proximity to a white person) to have the status.

sidebar over. that staticky feeling is miles's hand zapping margo's with a bit of bioelectricity. he's trying to hold her hand, but she doesn't pick up on it.

anyway, because of this conversation with margo, about the importance of claiming these legacy titles in spite of who's gatekeeping them, miles is ready to ditch the society.

he's just got one more hangup: he's worried that on his own, he won't be able to help his father and gwen, people he cares about, from dying.

which margo helps him with as well: the society won't help, so you might as well do it yourself.

which brings us to pav. when miles interferes with his captain canon event in this fic, he's making an intentional, informed decision.

and he's also fully aware that he'll get kicked out for it, so he's trying to let margo know that he has feelings for her without leading her on given that 1) she just chewed him out for doing that, 2) massively misreading shit with gwen fucked up their friendship and he doesn't want to repeat that with margo, and 3) he thinks he's getting kicked out. bad time to start something you can't finish.

"seeing me" -- lifted from the atsv script.

margo watching her old conversations returns. more on what exactly she's doing this for next time, but essentially, with distance, margo now realizes that miles has reciprocated her feelings.

chapter 5

"wrecking ball" -- lifted from arachnophobia.

margo was rewatching that rerun to look for signs that miles was going to fuck up pav's canon. she found them, and now knows he did it on purpose.

the fic-equivalent to miles's conflict at hq is him returning after intentionally ruining the captain canon event, getting chewed out publicly by miguel for it, starting a fight with him, and getting suspended.

changes as follows: miles isn't a rogue anomaly who escaped his dimension, turned up in another, and fucked up the story there after a nuclear threat to the multiverse (the spot) escaped; he's a well-known member of the society who broke a big rule-- don't interfere with someone else's story. and the spot wasn't responsible for the captain's almost-death, so there wasn't even an anomaly angle to it. and, jeff's death doesn't have a set timer on it to lock miles up to keep. therefore, there's no hundred-spider chase to the moon. it simply never gets to that point.

also, peter b pulls rank to protect miles because i'm salty about how atsv made him useless when he (not gwen) should've been the one most in miles's corner.

hobie gets involved in the fight to preserve the element of hobie having miles' back in this moment. here, instead of refusing to take part, he intervenes to protect him.

miles is getting a suspension... that miguel will never end.

this fic extends the narrative elements of atsv-- like hobie immediately wanting to befriend miles... and miles disliking hobie out of insecurity and jealousy until hobie sticks up for him at hq. this was that moment.

hobie brown was the original 616 prowler decades before miles (and aaron) came along. he was almost always the prowler, and punk is the only time he's a spider-man. contrast to miles, who's usually a spider-man and rarely the prowler.

all hobie's big disruptive actions are to cover smaller strategic moves.

i figure the same solidarity margo and hobie feel towards miles they'd feel towards each other. hobie's always in the field and margo's always at hq, so they don't interact much, but they won't tell on each other.

hobie's from '78. he's a genius, but he's still gonna take a second to adapt to future tech.

running joke: people fucking up margo's computers.

miles was avoiding hobie. hobie wasn't avoiding miles.

in the comics, jess uses a donor to get pregnant.

arachnophobia goes into this more, but the angle i'm going with for gwiles-8 is that they are not the happy supercouple everyone thinks they are.

in these fics, i'm swapping gwen's feelings for peter, miles and hobie. ergo: she's comphetting her way through her friendships with peter and miles, and she wants a relationship with hobie. more on that in arachnophobia.

i do find it fascinating that both gwen and hobie are so physically affectionate with all their friends... except each other. probably the animators wanting to make sure miles's designated gf can't get too touchy with the guy he's worried about. but fuck it i'll make it mean something.

also, margo fixating on touch.

meta time: margo is ignored or looked down on by fandom at large because she's a black girl. hobie was perceived as a threat because he's a black boy.

(miles is also treated badly for this reason and a lot of his character's execution is the way it is to make sure the white audience isn't too uncomfortable with him. including the gwen ship. his atsv metanarrative's about a black boy struggling to find acceptance from white people, and weighing how much of himself is worth giving up in order to get it. translated here as miles' antics to get the society to tolerate him.)

with hobie, that's a steeper hill to climb (on top of racism, there are the added factors of classism and homophobia), and it's built into his character that he'd never climb it.

it's not surprising that people reacted to the possibility of gwen and hobie being a couple (which is teased in the comics) with confusion that they would be capable of being attracted to each other, shitty jokes about the relationship being superficial, or disgust at the thought of them being together.

all that pearlclutching about hobie being an adult somehow... gee. wonder why people have trouble believing he's a teen.

plus all the 'boys and girls can be friends' statements that only ever get thrown at them and margo/miles and never at gwen and miles, who ended itsv by telling each other they wanted to stay friends. nice sentiment, but if you apply it selectively, all you're doing is trying to police shipping.

fandom treatment of hobie's a seesaw: to some fans he's a hypersexual predatory douchebag who only keeps gwen around for sex, to others he's a wholesome, nonthreatening, asexual ~big brother~ who'd never lay a finger on her.

the second camp sprung up in response to the first, and are so busy patting themselves on the back for not being blatantly racist that they haven't considered that they've done nothing to address the actual problem: the expectation that a relationship between gwen and hobie would be inherently predatory. (if anything, all they're doing is agreeing with that statement, and sidestepping it by saying "but don't worry, it didn't happen...")

... but if it did, it wouldn't be a bad thing. it just wouldn't.

miles will be defined by his achievements, so a romantic endgame that isn't the preferred option will be looked down on, but not overshadow him as a person. gwen will be defined by her relationships, and her role in the story (in the society) is dependent on choosing the right boy to be with. if she ends up with the 'wrong guy,' people are gonna be pissed.

feeding that meta into the society = if hobie and gwen pair off, there will be consequences.

hobie knows this, and is evasive for their safety.

margo and hobie are in the same position: they're the disposable corners of the love triangle who have better chemistry and stronger potential with the main pair than they do with each other. they're here to incite jealousy and then be wingmen.

if the sv movies really want to challenge canon, they should be the ones to win out in the end.

credit to atsv for subverting the idea of hobie as a mean older ~bad boy~ rival for gwen's affection by making hobie supportive and kind to miles (and gwen. he's not a manipulative or shallow bad boy miles needs to ~save~ her from. he's a good guy who DOES have her best interests at heart, probably more than anyone in the entire film, including miles).

... that being said (@ the fandom:) hobie is not a yes man. look at how he treats gwen when she does things he disagrees with: he voices his disapproval, encourages her to stop, and refuses to go along with it.

if he's like that with a girl he's been friends with for months, who's slept over at his place many times, who he might have a relationship with, he'll probably be tougher with a boy he doesn't know well.

especially when that girl is the topic of conflict, as it goes in this fic.

so: when miles comes to hobie and asks him to respect society hierarchy and end whatever it is he's doing with gwen so miles can have her, and to help get them together, hobie refuses.

there's more to the fight than that, but that's the basis of their falling out.

chapter 4, ii

people have a kneejerk hatred of love triangles. part of it's a response to bad writing, part of it's twilight backlash, part of it's wanting their fantasy couple to get together with no competition or conflict.

it's also that people want for the character they project onto to end up with the character they're personally attracted to the most. which is why internalized bias is so important to confront: it's real fucking clear why margo and hobie aren't considered as serious contenders.

margo's peter and hobie's gwen are both dead. technically, they're out of the running.

hobie's rant: he's dealing with the same shit as margo. both joined the ss looking for community, both found out it's full of bullshit, both met someone who sees and appreciates them, both start to develop a bond with that person... and are told by everyone that what they have isn't legitimate, because it's not the romance the general audience want.

hobie seesaw vent ii: even the less misogynistic corner of the hypersexual hobie brigade see him as a shallow fling for gwen to ~get her bad boy phase out on~ before she departs for a 'respectable' relationship with miles. never mind that spider-gwen is a character who doesn't want and doesn't do well in 'respectable' heterosexual relationships. ffs read the comics.

(which is ironic because hobie's the one who meets gwen's dad in atsv.)

the other end of the seesaw: hobie's a chaperone to keep gwen in line until it's time for miles to come take custody of her. there's such a strong 'gwen needs to save her body for miles' vibe to the way people talk about her relationships with other guys that i find disgusting.

once more: if they have/had a relationship, that doesn't make hobie a sleazy predator, or gwen a disloyal slut.

like. why would the spider-punk believe in bro code.

miles-hobie fight dripfeed 2: the falling-out was over gwen, but it was about hobie's disappointment in miles for becoming the kind of guy who'd view a girl he likes as a prize to win. that's why he put his foot down and said he wouldn't budge.

hobie and gwen's dynamic is more central in arachnophobia 5, but the gist is they're doing relationship anarchy. no labels, no commitment, no exclusivity, no making a big deal of it. if being spider-man's girlfriend kills gwen stacy, if she's not his girlfriend, then technically she's safe, right?

in these fics i to walk hobie's development back from the atsv incarnation to give him an arc. he's great in atsv! he just doesn't grow or change at all. not doable here.

he starts these fics as an isolated kid with a martyr complex ready to devote himself to spider-punk and the ideology he represents. through gwen, he realizes how harmful his death wish is, pulls back, starts embracing his humanity again and fine-tunes his mindset into the "love each other" message he has by the time miles shows up (which is what he has in atsv).

hobie's methodical nature probably makes him an overthinker. which leads to being a worrier.

the h/g emotional angst is an onion:

layer 1: it's very punk to take in a homeless girl and deprogram her so she'll leave her abusive cult. it's not very punk to catch feelings for her and want her around just because you like her.

layer 2: the meta. he's spider-man and she's gwen stacy, and this relationship tends to end terribly. he's firmly in the camp of fuck canon, but on the off chance that he's got it wrong, the girl he loves could die a terrible death because of that relationship. challenging canon has high stakes.

layer 3: the miles. gwen falls for spider-man, but hobie's not the one people think she's for. he hates the idea that some spider-society-approved guy's entitled to her... but then that guy shows up and it's miles. and miles is great! and hobie wants to be his friend! it's a mess!

margo's never actually considered if the attention she envies gwen for getting was a good thing, or if it was ever wanted. now she understands that it isn't.

mega salt: they're definitely gonna do the death of gwen stacy canon event in btsv. whether she dies, or gets a death fakeout, it's coming. and it'll almost certainly be miles, who barely knows her, who's given the greatest emotional weight in that scene. as opposed to (possibly jess or) hobie, the person who has the deepest bond with her, who will probably have to comfort miles.

mega salt: hobie can have a girlfriend AND take down the government, guys. your personal connections fuel your politics. it's not one or the other.

but hey. it's a cool flaw to give hobie. realizing that is essentially his arc in these fics.

and it circles back to margo. punk and byte are important, but so are hobie and margo. their societies (and the society) only care about punk and byte because they can use them for their labor, which means they have to work especially hard to protect their human sides. they can do both.

and by holding on to these relationships, they can. being in love humanizes them.

that is why flipping the outcome of the love triangle would be so subversive. whoever 'wins' at the end is the person the story deems the most attractive and loveable. margo being preferable to miles over gwen, and hobie being preferable to gwen over miles, makes you reexamine your ideas about what makes the best relationship and who makes the best partner. miles and gwen getting together only reinforces our expectations.

comics-hobie is informed by an extradimensional being that he's doomed to die young. it happens in these fics too.

his arc, mostly offpage in both fics, is about rejecting that idea and accepting shades of gray into his philosophy that'll make it possible to live long without losing hope.

margo needs confidence and hobie needs contradiction. both find and embrace those qualities in spite of the society. both find it because they fall in love with someone they're not supposed to.

what is love? it's not a competition. it's not chasing your crush into another dimension because you can't bear not being near them. it's making a choice to build a relationship with them with care, intention and effort. it's accepting that doing so will change you. it's putting what they need above what you want.

.... in across, hobie is the person who does this for gwen, not miles.

hobie making the portal watch exemplifies this: he spent months showing up at a place he hates because gwen's there, supporting her, building a bond with her, listening to what she needed and getting it for her. and then he gave it to her with no strings attached and got out of the way so she could use it for whatever she wanted, and trusted her to do what was best for herself even if it meant they wouldn't be together.

margo's jealousy towards gwen getting to leave her shitty home life is alleviated, along with the last of her spider-society indoctrination. no, suffering is not okay.

comics-earth-138 has radionet. whatever that is.

margo's too dependent on the internet to want to shelter there.

part of hobie's motive for making the watch was making it possible for them to stay together without the society as a go-between. but mostly, it was about giving her autonomy.

the miles-hobie fight: in the sv movies, miles is the protagonist. hobie's likability is literally written into the story as dependent on how supportive he is of him. if hobie denies miles something he wants-- like gwen-- he will be framed as a bad person.

chapter 5 iii

... if in btsv the anti-authority spider-punk encourages a girl to enter a het relationship that'll only end in her losing her autonomy... that's some bullshit.

so when he's given that choice in these fics, he tells miles as much.

hobie has miles's back. he is not miles's yes man. he would not do that shit.

"when two girls fight about a guy, it's never actually about the guy" -- something margo's realized after visiting mj-616b. it's true of any relationship squabble: it's about the underlying issues in the two people doing the fighting, not the person they're fighting over.

miles and hobie were using the topic of gwen as a way to get mad at each other about their respective insecurities, and how they've failed to help each other get over them.

the rootkit returns: miguel noticed margo for her coding skills. in the fic, he chose her because he realized she was capable of zoning out, following shitty orders and desensitizing herself to their consequences.

hobie needs no persuasion to rebel against the society. margo does, and got it from their conversation. conversely, margo needs no persuasion to embrace her feelings for miles, but hobie's not quite there yet with gwen until margo gives him a push.

hobie making the portal watch is paralleled to margo making miles the admin key. both consciously choose to build something that will give the person they care for what they need, and are changed by the process of building it. both are in love.

margo loves miles, but she's not dependent on him. if letting him go leads to him never returning, she'll move on. she's affirmed in who she is, she's confident, she knows she'll find someone else.

miles got his ass kicked by miguel. not as bad as in atsv, but he's still a little fucked up.

miles is fully past his need to prove himself to gwen.

part of me still wanted to preserve that plot thread of a girl who loves miles needing to come clean to him about the society's deception. couldn't be gwen, because she's on a completely different plot of her own. margo ended up working well-- she's a member of the society, she definitely knew, and she's a secret-keeper.

and margo, as in atsv, is the one to send him to earth-42.

"i'm glad i met you" is as close as these awkward teens can get to "i love you" at this point.

gwen's arc in arachnophobia was constructed in part to mirror miles's in atsv and btsv, and miles's in turn was altered to mirror hers-- but they differ in a few key places. for instance: both need to find validation in themselves and not the society. gwen's arc is about finding her autonomy and going it alone, miles's is about embracing his community. so in this moment where they both are given something by their love interest that offers them a chance to meet their villainized alternate self, gwen goes alone. miles brings some friends.

chapter 6

earth-42's as much an anomaly as miles is.

margo coming in person is a culmination of her arc: she's finally ready to fully commit physically and emotionally instead of keeping herself detached emotionally and behind a screen. all the more impactful because as far as she knows, this world is dangerous.

margo's also never been in another dimension where she can smell, taste and feel. up until now all the sensory details in other worlds she's visited have been restricted to sight and sound. naturally, she's gonna be a little weird about it.

since she's never gone worldhopping before i figure she'd probably come prepared. she's got a big bulky backpack full of stuff, including the tech she needs to access her powers.

miles pissed off his parents a lot this summer.

it's a given that they'll be found out and punished for coming to 42.

margo's never been in the same physical space as the boy she likes. it's gonna make for some charged interactions.

tied in with margo's eavesdropping habit: yup, she heard gwen and hobie getting nasty. before, she didn't get it at all. now, when she can experience touch for herself, she gets why it's so appealing.

margo and miles are awkward teens. naturally they're gonna stammer their way out of a Real Date and end up inviting a friend as a buffer.

and miles is all about inclusion. he wants to be on everyone's team. he wants to bring everyone along with him. of course he'd bring as many friends as he can... which unfortunately is just two, in this fic.

also i wanted peni and margo's friendship back in focus. important for margo's first time physically in another world to be about more than just romance. it's connection of all kinds, including friendship.

the parallels between miles winning the visions lottery AND getting bitten by the spider, in both cases technically 'taking someone else's spot/opportunity' make me insane.

they're teenagers on a spur of the moment mission. of course they're gonna fuck it up.

so much of the city in earth-42 is on fire. someone's gotta bring it up.

margo's the guy in the chair. she has no idea what to do in the field. it's safer for her to be away from the action.

thought it'd be funny if all the outlets on 42 don't work on her tech, so she's truly depowered.

this is a world where there presumably aren't many heroes. people would probably assume the worst of peni.

this being margo's first outing, she's naturally going to be insecure about not being able to operate as byte. and this chapter's all about the importance of margo sans powers-- just her personality is enough.

margo, like a lot of terminally online teens, is a lot more confident online. in person, she's much more awkward.

boy it WOULD be some bullshit if btsv confirms that margo's an mj only to say 'whoops! this is the ONE time spider-man sticks with gwen instead!'

it's bs that gwen, hypercompetent spider-hero, wanders around 1610b for a whole week without accomplishing anything when she's so on the ball during her screentime in itsv. justified here as an effect of being in a different dimension without a portal watch: it kinda fries your brain for a while. it's not your story, so the default is you're not allowed to make choices that matter. it takes time to break through that boundary when you're new at it. like margo currently is.

also adding a bit more creep factor to the society: hq's in 928 so miguel can be extra sharp in comparison to everyone else.

margo's a spider-person. she might not have the powers, but she's got the nerve for what they do.

tiana toomes is miles's current love interest in the comics, and far and away the best one he's ever had. she's not in these movies because she was created after atsv was too deep into production to add her, but there's a chance she could be in btsv. i want that badly. she's the vulture's antiheroine granddaughter, and 42's run by the sinister six cartel, including him, so earth-42 presents a good opportunity for tiana to cameo.

since miles is a hero and tiana's an antihero in the comics, and miles g is (probably) an antihero on 42, i figure tiana also gets a slide down the morality scale. here, she's an antivillain. working for her grandpa, but with conflicted feelings about it. (miles can fix her.)

thus her cameo here: if she sees an unidentified mecha zooming past her grandpa's business, she's gonna knock her ass out of the sky and steal her shit. but she also won't let margo die.

margo dropping a tiana ref in her salty call to miles is what gets g to pick up. that, and mentioning his dad in danger: it confirms that miles is being honest about his intentions.

speaking of, presumably g ambushed miles like in atsv. not for being at his mom's, but for being an unfamiliar villain (he thinks) in his territory. and presumably, there's still a punching bag interrogation from which miles escapes.

past that, who knows. insert the events of btsv here. kept off-page for that reason. that's also why the girls take ages to find them-- so they have time to fight, gain each other's trust, and bond.

that's g on the line. the girls are close enough to miles to recognize that it isn't him instantly. they're gonna come looking.

the hoops i jumped through in this chapter to avoid writing miles g bc i don't know what his personality is yet. whew.

anyway off the crumbs of info we have on him, we know that he acts similar enough to miles1610 that rio can't tell the difference when they interact at first, therefore miles g is, at least around his mom, sweet, nerdy and a bit of a dork. and the prowler act is just that-- peacocking to make himself seem tougher than he is.

all the same, i figure he's probably a bit more cynical/suspicious. he comes from a rougher world, his dad died recently, and he's taken on the prowler mantle to (based off some concept art:) engage in vigilantism against the cartel. he's hardened a bit as a result.

anyway: tianamiles crumb. in this fic, i think these two have a situationship going on on the side. something batcatty. uncle aaron finds it hilarious.

he also doesn't know what tiana looks like, so he's going to assume margo is her.

which means miles g can let his mask slip around a stranger he'd otherwise be cautious around.

no dramatic face-off between 42miles and the spidergang here. the fight's over before margo even turns up. her confidence and determination is what matters, not an actual threat of violence. she's fully formed.

first hug! first kiss!

the original plan was for margo to draw the davis's attention away so peni could move into position to bust up the apartment. narrowly avoided.

chapter 7

bringing back the flash drive from chapter 1: margo's first trip to another dimension didn't rely on a watch. she still has the code, so she can replicate it. therefore, she can drop in on miles and peni even without a watch, but she's stuck as an avatar again.

miles is an artist. he's gotta hate ai art.

irony: margo's right back where she started, an avatar with a digital boyfriend.

miles reconciling with hobie happens after his conversation with gwen in arachnophobia 7.

which means he's getting a bootleg, and margo's about to get one too.

cue margo getting to explore the multiverse in person. and she's less dependent on constant distractions and a life of constant internet stimulation to keep her from feeling bad. she's starting to embrace real life too.

which makes her an oddity in her world.

timeline: miles and margo are juniors at this point. which means their futures are starting to loom.

and since school's online on 22191, margo's not getting a break from her family situation... unless she decides to go elsewhere.

enter gwen: arachnophobia goes into why she's like this. the gist is, she and a group of her alt-selves are planning to take out the spider-society. also she has a symbiote.

rootkit returns. gwen needs it to fuck up the computer system, and margo's bitter that her software's being used without her.

timeline jump: and now it's the end of the school year.

the jealousy's gone. margo doesn't want approval from the society or its leaders anymore, and has no desire to stay there. she doesn't need validation from anyone but herself, and the boy she loves isn't putting her behind gwen.

gwen's em jay in the movies is black. it makes sense that she'd catch on first; the thing that makes margo being an mj unbelievable to most people is a given to her.

gwen and miles were never together in these fics, but they behave like they went through a breakup, so they might as well have been.

gwen's end of the jealousy: gwen never wanted to leave her world or her family, so she resents that margo gets to go home at the end of the day. she doesn't like the attention she's getting and would rather be left alone to do her job, which is exactly what margo gets.

and margo's an mj. editorially, gwen was killed off because the writers were bored of her and wanted to make room for mj (and instead of letting gwen move on with her life, they had to make sure she'd never move on from peter. ugh.). so in a literal sense, mj's introduction to spider-man starts the clock on gwen's death. that's the source of gwen's hostility: feeling like if margo and miles get close, her time will start running out. it's less jealousy, more self-preservation.

love triangles done wrong are about fluffing the ego of the person in the middle by making two people fight over them. it's especially gross when it's two girls being pitted against each other for a guy. sir, you're not that impressive.

when two girls fight over a guy it's not about the guy. it's about the girls feeling inadequate. the boy's not the reason, he's the excuse.

there is actually a world where mj kills gwen with fireworks. wild.

margo and gwen don't have to fight because they're girls. they also don't have to be besties just because they're girls. there are months of cold shouldering to get over, and they have very different personalities.

but gwen CAN help margo with a unique problem.

(gwen-457's in arachnophobia. i figured two tech-based heroes would get along, thus the mention of a margo friendship)

gwen fled a dysfunctional situation into another world... but who also eventually went home. if margo's going to do the same, she needs to know why she went back.

gwen's dad having a potential cop relapse is a ref to the spider-gwen mcguire run, where george... sigh. goes back to being a police chief.

so's the "commuting" ref. gwen does this in the mcguire run-- going to school in 616 and living in 65. it does not work!

as this fic is written, gwen's getting tossed into 616 'for good' in the comics to synergize with the sv movies. it's going to be a disaster for her character because she doesn't function without her own world.

it absolutely feels like they're planning to force her and miles together. major salt at that.

more salt: you can't call gwen a hero in good conscience if she ditches her world for an easier one. that's not heroic.

spider-gwen, and arguably gwen stacy as a whole, is simply not a character a married-with-kids ending works for. hobie's the same, which makes him one of the best options for a love interest for her. both aren't the domestic type, both aren't ~relationship~ people, and both need their own worlds. it works.

gwen in general can't find that balance between hero and love interest. movie salt: even when she's the hero, all it takes is for one spider-man to get a crush on her to strip that away.

mj can make that balance. she's been a hero, she's been a love interest, she gets much more agency in her appearances.

margo approaches gwen for advice on her plan to move dimensions.

but she's apprehensive because she's worried about how doing it for a relationship will land with gwen, given her baggage with that motivation.

another dig! this one's at the fandom: the council of spider-women is an all-spider-gwen secret society from the comics. it does not exist so they can wingman gwen as she feeds herself to a relationship that'll take her autonomy away. it is literally there to do the opposite. they wouldn't support gwiles, they'd get her an escape plan out of that relationship.

possible preemptive salt at btsv: i swear to god. if the council appears there, and gwiles support is the purpose they serve, i'll go rabid.

if miles g is how we nickname miles42, gwen m would be the nickname for an alternate gwen. a pun on gwenom, too. i didn't think of that when i was writing arachnophobia, but i have it now! damn!

tianamiles crumb. gotta give em where i can.

it is worth noting that "everyone gets a gwen and an mj" is a shitty idea. that's for peter. let the other spiders have their own distinct love interests... like tiana, for miles.

the counterpoint, for this fic, is that margo does qualify as something new, since miles has never had an mj, and there's never been one like her before.

margo loves miles and they're great together. they're also 16 and each other's first romance. it's better not to assume they'll last forever. thus, apprehension is appropriate. moving dimensions for a relationship is shaky. doing it for a variety of reasons is much more stable.

finally, gwen stacy gets mj and spider-man together in the end. that still happens here. and instead of margo having to wingman gwen and miles together, gwen performs that role for margo.

chapter 8/epilogue

i feel it in my soul that margo would hate irl concerts. she's short, it's loud, it stinks. no thanks.

koca-soda= miles's coke.

the bugs margo prefers are digital ones. excuse for spider-puns.

i'm recycling the rooftop party scene from atsv here: it happens a year later, and it's not about jeff's promotion, but it still happens, and miles still awkwardly introduces his girlfriend to his parents.

margo's gonna be awkward in person if she spends all her time socializing online.

miles drew gwen. he'd draw margo too. and rio would definitely look at his sketchbooks.

a year ago, after gwen dumped miles, he went home and cried about it. thus, rio wants to hunt gwen for sport.

miles counts the relationship from when they started meeting in person, in january, when he got his bootleg watch. margo counts it from the earth-42 mission.

recycling miles's 'my interdimensional girlfriend is just from out of town' excuse from atsv

like in atsv, rio's initially hostile to miles's love interest because she's afraid she'll take him away from her.

rio comes around to margo because margo also wants miles to be happy and close to home. jeff comes around to her because she seems practical.

... miles did a lot of unhinged shit over the summer to protect his dad after his promotion. stuff like trying to get him out of the captain position by screwing him up on the job.

the spot's back! more on this in arachnophobia 8.

didn't write the fight because idk what happens there other than that miles definitely saves his dad and reveals he's spider-man to his parents. we'll wait for btsv i guess.

anyway, margo's tipping point for deciding to move to 1610b after graduation is meeting his family and realizing that she wants to be a part of it.

(if you'll recall, margo comes from a world where meeting with a romantic partner in person is indicative of serious commitment.)

she's taking from gwen's commuter idea, and the assertion that a relationship/dimension move doesn't have to be permanent as well. margo will live and go to school in 1610b, and perform vigilante services as byte on 22191. she can do both!

again, margo and miles are 16/17. they're great together, but they still might not last. and that's okay. margo can have a full, rich life on 1610b or beyond, without him if she needs to, and since this is a margo fic before it's a flowerbyte fic, i wanted to underline that one more time. getting the guy is second to finally feeling good about herself and like she belongs somewhere.

movie night's from the spider within short film. it's a tradition miles and his dad have. by including margo, jeff's letting her know he's accepted her and wants her to be a part of the family.

#arachnophobia fic

[thirtecnth]

(Kieran Culkin) THE SARCASTIC. Please welcome DORIAN BLACKWELL (HE/HIM) to Huntsville, WV. They are a 36-year-old VISITOR who lives in TOWN. You may see them around working as the DISPUTE MEDIATOR / LAWYER at TOWN HALL. Poor unfortunate soul. We’ll see if they survive.

( *tw - Parental Death, Parental Abuse, Sibling Death, Overdose mentions, Alcoholism, Drug Addiction... He's a mess. )

GENERAL

FULL NAME: Dorian Michael Blackwell NICKNAMES: DB, Asshole AGE: 36 years old DATE OF BIRTH: April 1st SEXUALITY: Pansexual STATUS: Neither

APPEARANCE

HEIGHT: 5′ 7″ HAIR: Dark Brown EYE COLOR: Brown

BACKGROUND

HOMETOWN: East Greenwich, Rhode Island INCOME STATUS: High Class FATHER: Michael Blackwell MOTHER: Beth Blackwell (deceased) SIBLINGS: Twin sister, Denise Blackwell (Older) (deceased) SIGNIFICANT OTHER: Was married in Vegas once (divorced) HOBBIES: Drinking, Drugs, Parties, Film

TRAITS

[+] Honest, Comedic, Observant [-] Blunt, Manipulative, Depressive

STORY POINTS

Was technically the last Blackwell child born given that his mother passed immediately afterward from complications of his and his twin sister’s birth.

Dad never forgave and he definitely never forgot. He would frequently abuse Dorian verbally, mentally, and physically growing up for being a “fuck up” in everything he ever did.

However, in the public eye, he was raised to be the perfect son. He had to be. Their family had status and old money, which meant embarrassing the Blackwell name wasn’t an option.

Dorian’s father was also the Governor of Rhode Island and had ties to a wealthy crime boss to help fund his campaign and dig up dirt on his opponents. As it was explained to him, nothing is ever squeaky clean.

Because of this, Dorian and his sisters frequently spent time with the boss’s family to keep the connections strong.

His older sister practically raised him in her own way. He remembers back fondly to when she would take him to get ice cream when things were especially bad. This was on the down low, however, since she hadn’t wanted to upset their father.

Spent a majority of his life trying to prove to his father that he wasn’t just a fuck up… It was to no avail since his sisters always outshined him. They had medals, grades, scholarships— he had none of those things. He was worthless to his father even being his only son.

Moved to NYC and was known to be a major party thrower in college for attention. Almost got arrested numerous times. He just didn’t really care what happened to him or others. Eventually, he knew everyone and all their weaknesses… Then after that, how to use them to his advantage.

When his Dad decided to eventually try to run for presidency, he jumped at the opportunity to be his right-hand man and went to law school to help with his eventual candidacy. It helped some… And he actually was a pretty great lawyer. Things were looking up. His father was actually paying attention to him.

He just didn’t know how much his older sister was struggling with the stress until it was too late. She died of an overdose before the election and it shattered their whole family and the campaign.

He began drinking more and got back to the party life. He was still a decent socialite but his sharp tongue definitely got worse. His twin sister was also neglected quite a bit during this time as she had decided to fill the role of their older sister and he hated her for it.

His Dad had just about given up on him at this point and he was beyond broken because of it. Even as doped up and drunk as he was, he still wanted to prove he was worth something. He lost all his progress and was forced to watch him dote on his twin sister instead.

Eventually, when someone died at one of his parties via overdose, that was the last straw. His father told him to fuck off and lay low— he’s been in Huntsville for three years now... Seems Dad never came to try to find him.

WANTED CONNECTIONS

1. Rich friends from the Outside

2. Rivals/People that hate him

3. Friends that can put up with his sass

4. Coworkers

5. FWBs, Hookups… Be mean and he’ll fall in love with you.

…More to come, I’m sure!

#dorian blackwell. / intro #huntsvilleintro