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#edit: i managed to get on the bus idk how i feel like i could burst into tiny pieces any moment
we-love-morioh-cho · 8 months
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Theory - Usagi Is Meryl Mei's Son
From the first or second chapter of The Jojolands, I have had a theory that Usagi will be revealed as Meryl Mei's son. For the record, some of this could be me overthinking it BUT, just for fun, I thought I should compile my 'evidence'.
I should say that I don't follow the fandom much outside of Tumblr so idk if other people have thought of this.
Spoilers for the first 7 chapters of The Jojolands under the cut. Heads up that this post got kinda long and dense.
Visual Similarities
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I want to start off with some visual similarities between these two. While some of this could just be stylistic trends in Araki's art, I want to point out the general shape of their jawlines and their eyes. I think Usagi is meant to have a fuller face then the other teens but this is shaky. It does look similar to Meryl Mei's face shape though. I also see similarities in their noses and eyebrows BUT I do attribute that mostly to Araki's style given how similar a lot of his noses and eyebrows are. While Usagi is sometimes drawn with wider and rounder eyes, generally they seem to be more pointed/angular and (with the 'winged eyeliner' thing he has) they resemble Meryl Mei's eyes more than the other protagonists. Below I've put a photo of his eyes alongside Dragona's and Rohan's just to help illustrate this as best as I can.
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(This is a dumb point but while collecting photos I noticed Usagi and Meryl Mei both had ponytails which.... is probably nothing but I thought it was so cute.)
She Has A Mysterious Family
When we first meet Meryl Mei in Chapter 1, we get a description of her from Jodio. While Jodio does emphasise how mysterious and weird she is, one thing he mentions hearing a rumour about is her having a husband and child (as far as I can tell the sex of the child isn't specified). While this is just a rumour, I guarantee there will be some sort of follow-up to this. Early on, it introduces the idea that Meryl Mei has family that even her employees don't know about - I don't think it's too crazy to say she could have them in her business. Again, it could point to something else but it feels very early to be dropping info like that.
Introductory Scenes
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A very small thing but right after Usagi's introduction, like the very next panel, is when we first see Meryl Mei at the school. This would be a classic way of hinting at some connection between these two, but I actually want to go into the previous scene on the bus.
So the first scene we see of Usagi is him asking Jodio on the bus for drugs. Jodio is alarmed by this since they are surrounded by other students and responds by bashing Usagi. When they get off the bus though, Jodio and Paco do their routine to exchange Usagi's money for some drugs. While it's suggested Usagi is an addict, I think in hindsight it's clear that he isn't. Usagi is set up to be a fool but is then shown to be intelligent. He 'betrays' the gang but then comes back and proves his loyalty and 5000 IQ. I don't think it's crazy to say that the gang's assessment of him as an addict is inaccurate too, there's more to this but I'll get into it later.
My theory is that this scene isn't an addict asking for drugs on the bus randomly, I think this is some sort of test. Jodio is the youngest of the gang and, as shown in Chapter 2, his naivety and inexperience could cause problems for Meryl Mei. With the diamond heist coming up, as well as us hearing that Meryl Mei wants to expand her business, I think it's possible she got Usagi to ask him for drugs in a public space to see if Jodio would slip up. Just to make sure he has enough common sense and discretion to not reveal any info BUT that he still manages to make the transaction afterwards. Otherwise, it's just weird in hindsight that Usagi would do this.
EDIT: Didn't think of this until a few days after initially making this post, but if the bus scene was a test, it could be a parallel to the undercover cop scene in Chapter 2. He's being tested and lied to by both sides of the crime struggle and maybe his initial failure with the female cop is what prompted Meryl Mei's test (I think the undercover cop scene is a flashback but correct me if I'm wrong). Jodio's ego and self-worth seem like they'll be explored this part so maybe this reveal would be a bit of a blow to his confidence?
Usagi Joining The Mission
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So.... there obviously has to be something going on here right? Meryl Mei somehow knows about Usagi and trusts him! (Also I completely missed that she says here he isn't an addict!!! Paco still thinks he is one in Chapter 2 but come on now). She wants him to specifically go on this extremely important heist even though the others barely know him. There has to be something going on here, and I think that him being her son would be a good explanation! She would obviously know him, his abilities, and would trust him. It would almost be like having her own set of eyes on the group to make sure the mission goes well. I don't know if any relationship between the two could garner more trust than a parent and child. And given that Meryl Mei literally sells drugs to children, I don't think she'd hesitate to involve her child in the business and send him into danger tbh.
Before I move on, I quickly wanna mention 2 small things that I noticed but seriously doubt are intentional. First is that there is a rabbit-inspired outfit design behind Meryl Mei in one panel and Usagi means 'rabbit' in Japanese. (Remember how The Jojolands was first teased with the rabbit image?) It also happens to be right beside the panel mentioning her child BUT I'LL STOP.
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The second dumb thing in this scene I noticed is how Usagi suddenly shows up at the very end of the rundown of the mission. We get a panel specifically showing Dragona locking the front door after the customers leave, but then Usagi gets in somehow? Was he hiding inside already for the reveal? Also, he would've missed the briefing but doesn't seem confused and instead already seems to know what's going on? Possibly just Jojo logic though but I wanted to mention it.
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Weird Texting And Delay
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Not much to this, could just be a funny gag about Usagi being sillycore but I wonder if he could've been texting Meryl Mei here? Maybe with an update on the mission? I have no idea what the delay could've been about, we do find out later he got hamburgers at the airport (hence the bag) so maybe it's hinting at that instead? Idk to be honest, just think it's noteworthy.
The Car Place
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I forgot about this, but Usagi must be experienced at this sort of thing. How does he know about this criminal-safe car rental place? Was the texting maybe him getting this info from someone? It's also strange to me HE was in charge of getting the car - I doubt the other teens would've given him that responsibility so was that an order from Meryl Mei? That's super speculative though.
(Tiny thing since you can see it clearly in the panel above - is the weird logo on his shoulder meant to be model legs??? Like women's legs in underwear and high heels???? I have no idea if that's what it is and what it could mean but Meryl Mei is in the fashion industry *shrug*. My partner thinks they could be his stands' arms instead but we're not sure. I kinda doubt this point for the record, but it doesn't hurt to mention plus I'm interested in what others think the symbol is.)
Figuring Out The Cat Stand
Another thing which at least points to Usagi being more experienced than the others despite his age and demeanor - Usagi is the first to figure out that the string attack is a stand specifically. He also suspects the cats sooner than the others, Paco angrily insists the strings are some sort of security system (???????) but Usagi knows. It's not like the others don't know about stands, maybe Usagi has dealt with stand users on missions before? Also, goes without mentioning, but his 7D chess-level plan to defeat the cats later on is very impressive but maybe suspicious.
Quickly, other examples of Usagi's intelligence/possible experience are; going straight to cutting the painting in Rohan's house, scientific knowledge with the beakers and flasks, knows about birds in the local forest, also talks about the cat plan as an 'experiment' - could his scientific knowledge tie into being involved in the illegal drug business? They do compare Rohan's science set-up to drug making. Think 'Breaking Bad' essentially.
King Crimson Parallel
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So, full credit for this final point goes to @/pandoragigi who pointed this out on a previous post I made.
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They pretty much summarised it better then I ever could, this idea kinda blew my mind when they mentioned it. Sometimes it seems like Araki chooses song references randomly, but this could be a possibility. I don't have much to add besides the fact that 'Matte Kudasai' is a melancholic song which seems odd for Usagi, so maybe it has deeper meaning to his character.
To be clear, I'm not necessarily insisting with this theory that Meryl Mei or Usagi are gonna be villains. I think they could be mother and son and not be antagonists at all. I think it's unlikely Usagi is the traitor after already having a fake-out betrayal - but I do think Meryl Mei could be the traitor Rohan warned about. So if Meryl Mei is a villain then the possible parallel between Usagi and Trish could mean he remains loyal to the gang. Of course, it could also end up like Araki's initial plans for Fugo :( It's still too early to know where this story is going but I like to speculate and overthink things.
Conclusion
Ultimately, the next chapter could instantly disprove everything here. Araki has an... interesting track record with solving mysteries and reincorporating cool little details and I know theorising on this series can be pointless. I may in fact be Boo Boo the Fool for this making post :( But I'm having fun thinking about this and would personally be very excited if it came true! I have so many self-indulgent thoughts about angst possibilities and narrative parallels you could draw between Usagi+Meryl Mei and Jodio+Barbara Ann!!!! I think in a hypothetical evil!Usagi route, he could also be a great foil to Jodio. Also, what about the husband Meryl Mei is also rumoured to have? Will he appear and be relevant? But that type of speculating got things way too off-track so I cut them and might post them later. I feel like I could talk about the possible implications if this theory was true all day, but I'll cut it off here. All in all -
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Thanks for reading :)
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nevoadecaipora · 5 months
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Hiiii tagged by @xielianss (thank you darling! <3)
list 13 songs you’ve been listening to lately
Francesca by Hozier this song took me completely when i first heard it, i love the lyrics and the emotions Hozier puts in every verse. i keep singing it non-stop
Enamorado Tuyo by El Cuarteto De Nos that i've first heard in a sasunaru edit tiktok. i have no regrets since i always discover great songs by sns AMVs and they always manage to pull real human emotions from me when i'm feeling disconnected
Gimme Shelter by The Rolling Stones there's something about this song that sounds so crispy and good to me but like texture wise?? idk how to explain it but it sounds so so good to me
Maar Daala from the movie Devdas so Devdas is one of my favorite movies ever, is so dramatic and the visuals are beautiful, but this song in specific is the reason why i went after the movie to watch and it was super worthy, and this song is so good and the scene is amazing. seriously Devdas is a gorgeous movie and the songs are great, but this one is *chef's kiss*
...IN HEAVEN... by BUCK-TICK i just love the vibe of the song, and BUCK-TICK in general. as jade said, their vocalist passed away, sadly, but the great songs remain with his beautiful voice. since it came out i've also been liten to Mugen Loop a lot too since it came out
Identity by Sakanaction this song is soooo good. Sakanaction in general is a band that i've discovered a few years back and i love their songs and videos, but mostly i loooooove the baseline.
When I'm Alone by Twisted Nerve got addicted to this song since i first heard it in my friend's ig story. really good and idk i really like this texture of old recordings it adds yo the song.
Senhor cidadão by Tom Zé this song is a bit tripy and in general feels like a post-modern play written by liberal theater students and the lyrics are soooo fucking powerful and it never stops com making me feel punched in the chest when they get to "eu quero saber com quantos quilos de medo se faz uma tradição" (i want to know with how many kilos of fear a traditions is made) and after that is just non stop raw feelings
O Mundo É Um Moinho by Cartola i love the guitar of this song it's beautiful, but in genera this song is heartbreakingly beautiful and sad even if it makes me optimistic. i wish i could talk more about it but it's something that you have to listen and read the lyrics and you'll feel
What's Up by 4 Non Blondes i was singing the He-Man meme version of the song one day and then i stopped to pay attention to the lyrics and i thought "oh shit i'm going through this exact same thing right now what the fuck?" so this is the song i'm listening to lately to go through the very difficult days at work
Holy by King Princess i needed to chose a name for one of my fishes and this song was playing and i really liked the melody then i got really addicted to in and listened to it non-stop for four days straight
Baby sung by Gal Costa i love this song so much and i love every single version i've listened to so far, but to me this one is THE ABSOLUTE BEST because the strings and Gal's voice is angelical. and again, old recordings have a specific texture and this one i feel like im in a huge theater as the only person in public listening to them perform. in general is feels very dream like, an absolute fave. and i'm cheating a little bit because i'm always listening to this song not just lately, lmao, but it deserves to be mentioned
Tá Escrito by Grupo Revelação listen, samba and pagode in general are not music genres i'm really into, i have nothing against it, it's just not something that i listen. but one specific hard day i was taking the bus home in a bad mental health day and this song came randomly and saved my day. it's very optimistic and hyper, and now every time i'm needing some hope in my life i listen to it.
So, now that I see it, a lot of them are stuff that i've been listening since teenage years, but i always go back and forth when it comes to songs/artists/genres. this was so much fun!!!
thank you again jade for tagging me!
ill tag: @jcamilov06, @soda-limonada; @happyholand; @adimelo; @zapatism and @corrupted-willy. Feel free to do it if you want, I thought it was really fun!
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makeste · 3 years
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BnHA Chapter 291: The Endeavor Pamphlet
Previously on BnHA: Dabi showed up atop Gigantomachia’s back and was all “you’ll never guess who I really am!” and the readers humored him and were all “who?” and he was all “TODOROKI TOUYA” and we were all “WOW └(・。・)┘ OH MY GOSH I WOULD NEVER HAVE GUESSED”, except for Shouto and Enji who were GENUINELY SHOCKED. Anyway so Touya was all “and guess what I’m doing right now!” and before anyone could even try, he was all, “STREAMING MY EMMY-NOMINATED MINISERIES ‘HELLO, I’M EVIL BUT ALSO TRAGIC AND SEXY, NOW LET ME TELL YOU ALL ABOUT MY DAD WHO SUCKS’’, THAT’S WHAT.” And everyone was all “oh my god” and Touya was all “ヽ(⌐■_■)ノ♪” for basically the rest of the chapter, and that’s pretty much it! Oh, wait, except for the part where he also doused himself in bleach in a fit of pure theatrics, which is actually pretty much the main takeaway from the entire chapter really because it was just wild af. ANYWAYS.
Today on BnHA: Horikoshi introduces Baby Touya, the world’s most enchantingly sweet character, and is immediately all, “I sure can’t wait to tell you guys all about how his fucking jaw burnt off.” Thankfully he doesn’t (YET), and we cut back to the present pretty quickly, where Dabi explains how he took all of his brain cells that should have been used to stop him from pouring bleach over his head, and instead put them all toward his big brain plot of releasing an elaborate video detailing Endeavor’s various abuses and crimes, and even throwing Hawks under the bus as well because WHY NOT. He then leaps off of Gigantomachia’s back (like I said, no brain cells) all set to blast them with a Prominence Burn, only to be stopped by none other than THE LEGEND HIMSELF, MOTHERFUCKING BEST, PRETTIEST, NICEST, MOST OUTSTANDING MOTHERFUCKING JEANIST. Who’s no doubt outraged by the crime against hair he witnessed only moments earlier. GO GETTIM JEANY BOI.
so I haven’t had time to answer any of them because this has been the stupidest week, but I just wanted to tell you guys that I received no fewer than nine asks about Dabi’s hair. which, in a week filled with election memes and tumblr’s most cursed fandom briefly rising back up from the dead, is a pretty impressive feat for him if you ask me. like, I know I was making fun of it basically nonstop, but it sure did generate a lot of discussion so maybe I should rethink my opinions on Dabi’s PR strategies now, idk
anyway. it’s Saturday. time to catch up on this shit. let’s see how fucked the Todorokis are
OH NO HE’S CUTE
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HOLY SHIT THIS IS TOO MUCH TO FUCKING PROCESS. I’M JUST TRYING TO ENJOY MY DAY HORIKOSHI, ARE YOU REALLY GOING TO TRAUMATIZE THIS POOR CHILD RIGHT IN FRONT OF MY SALAD
“thanks for being all right” the fuck
who allowed this child to be so cute. I’m serious. who signed off on this
how could a child this adorable possibly want to murder his equally adorable baby brother. please, your honor. there must be some mistake here
guess how prepared I am to read all about Touya’s tragic past. mm. that’s right. zero ready. none ready
anyway. TWO THOUSAND DEGREES LOLOLOL. NO TRACE OF A CORPSE HOW CONVENIENT. A PIECE OF HIS LOWER JAW BONE FFFFMSGHKLSh. LOVELY. LOVELY
LMAOOOOO
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listen you guys. I just want to take a moment to appreciate that Horikoshi Kouhei did one of two things here. either (1) he planned it out FROM THE VERY START that Touya would be born with red hair Because Fire Powers, but would then have his hair turn white due to trauma, thus making the Dabi/Touya connection very slightly less obvious, although Let’s Be Real Who Are We Kidding. OR, (2) the anime got it wrong and gave him red hair, and rather than allowing this plot hole to continue to exist, Horikoshi took it upon himself to concoct this elaborate storyline and pretend it was never a plot hole at all! in which case I sure hope someone at Bones is sending him a VERY nice Christmas card this year. got this man sweeping up all your messes for you. you’re just lucky he has some sort of wild compulsion to address these things
anyways!!
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FATHER AND SON. how sweet. :| still zero percent ready for any of this btw
STOP BEING CUTE
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THIS IS RIDICULOUS. I’M SO MAD RIGHT NOW. HE IS THE SINGLE CUTEST CHARACTER IN THE ENTIRE SERIES, and do you even know how many other baby characters I’m betraying in order to say that?! baby Kacchan, baby Deku, baby Ochako, baby Shouto, Eri, baby Hawks. I’M LOOKING YOU DEAD IN THE EYE RIGHT NOW AND TELLING YOU THAT BABY TOUYA IS CUTER THAN ALL OF THOSE PLEBS. AND YOU’RE LOOKING BACK AT ME RIGHT NOW ALL “YEAH IT SURE IS A PITY ABOUT HIS JAW MELTING OFF THOUGH.” THAT’S IT, I QUIT THE SERIES
and Enji’s smiling at him. he’s so proud of him. but then Touya won’t be able to do it, and Enji’s gonna stop training him, and Touya’s gonna feel like a failure and keep pushing himself in order to try and win his dad’s affections back, because that’s all kids fucking want, all they want is just love, that’s fucking it, you couldn’t just give him that?? and then he’s gonna immolate himself fflkdlskfh THERE YOU SEE HORIKOSHI, I KNOW THE WHOLE STORY ALREADY, YOU DON’T HAVE TO DO THE WHOLE “SHOW THEM THE DEAD DOG” THING YET AGAIN YOU PIECE OF SHIT
OH SNAP THERE GOES THE TWIN THEORY. R.I.P.
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BABY FUYUMI. PRETTY CUTE. NOT AS CUTE AS TOUYA THOUGH. HEY LOOK, NO REASON TO GET MAD AT ME I’M JUST STATING A FACT HERE
YEAH THIS IS GONNA GO REAL WELL OH BOY
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I keep pressing the emergency stop button but this industrial tragedy machine just keeps on chugging along anyway, I’m pretty sure this thing is not up to code
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:| I am so sorry sweet boy, Horikoshi is only getting started with you
FUCKING HELL WITH THIS NARRATION
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but he wasn’t actually a child to you, he was just a little puppet child for you to live vicariously through!! and then you went and did the same fucking thing with Shouto afterwards and never learned your lesson until just six months ago!! fucking hell, Enji
so now he’s all “Touya is dead, that’s an unforgivable lie” fflkdhflk motherfucker does he look dead to you. if you really think that, tumblr and twitter have got a little over five years’ worth of archived theory posts to show you
oh shit Touya’s countering with “it’s an unforgivable truth”, which, damn. I actually think Horikoshi’s dialogue is one of his weaker points as a writer a lot of the time, but that comeback was snappy as fuck
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actually guys, now that I’ve seen how ridiculously fucking cute baby!Touya was, I can almost understand why Shouto and Enji never put the pieces together before lol. any passing similarities would have easily been dismissed on account of he’d need to be at least 10x more adorable in order to get the full resemblance
OH MY GOD
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NOW YOU SLEEP??? SO YOU POINT BLANK REFUSED TO PASS OUT WHILE YOU WERE BUSY MAIMING ALL OF MY FAVORITE CHARACTERS, BUT NOW THAT THERE’S AN OPPORTUNITY TO SEE YOUR REACTION TO THE “YOUR LIEUTENANT WAS SECRETLY RELATED TO ONE OF YOUR WORST ENEMIES THE WHOLE TIME” BOMBSHELL, YOU FINALLY DECIDE TO GET YOUR FORTY WINKS. I SEE
WOW DABI
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I’M SURPRISED YOU DIDN’T ALREADY HAVE YOUR ANCESTRY.COM RESULTS PRINTOUT READY TO FOLD INTO A PAPER AIRPLANE AND ZOOM ON DOWN TO HIM
LOL NEVERMIND
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gotta say, so far The Endeavor Pamphlet is just about as spicy as I could have hoped
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(ETA: Natsuo’s face as he watches his beloved dead brother come back to life only to literally and metaphorically set everything on fire in one fell swoop is :/. why must you do this to me Natsu. can’t you see I’m trying to throw a Welcome Back Jeanist party here.)
HAVE YOU READ THIS?! TODOROKI ENJI ABUSED HIS OWN HEIR, AND DABI WROTE IT DOWN RIGHT THERE
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WELL HE’S NEVER GON’ BE NUMBER ONE NOW / NEVER GON’ BE NUMBER ONE NOW / THAT’S ONE LESS THING TO WORRY ABOUT / THAT’S ONE LESS THING TO WORRY ABOUT
btw I neglected to mention this last week, but yes I do recognize and appreciate that this is Can’t Ya See-kun himself whom Horikoshi has chosen to be the face of this existential crisis which the general public is about to experience. rip CYS-kun
OOF
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excuse me. putting aside the implications of Dabi sharing this context-less murder video of Hawks with the entire world for a moment, I just have to pause for a sec here, because when exactly did he get a chance to edit this all in?? complete with voiceover that seamlessly ties in with the prerecorded footage of him with DNA test results sans shirt?? you’re telling me this motherfucker, with all the smoke that was in the room thanks to his own quirk, somehow got a PERFECT SHOT of the PRECISE MOMENT when Hawks drove his feather knife into Jin’s back, using his MAGIC CAMERA THAT HE I GUESS HAD THE ENTIRE TIME IN THE POUCH RIGHT NEXT TO HIS BLEACH BOTTLE, and then immediately somehow got this very next shot as well FROM AN ENTIRELY DIFFERENT ANGLE
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ALL THE WHILE IMMEDIATELY RUNNING THROUGH SCRIPT REVISIONS IN HIS HEAD, WHICH HE THEN PROCEEDED TO RECORD... WHERE, EXACTLY?? WITH SKEPTIC, WHILST RIDING ON MACHIA’S BACK??
AND THIS IS ALL YOU HAVE TO SAY FOR YOURSELF???
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and this after I just wrote that whole long paragraph positively GLOWING about this man’s ability to plug up a plot hole. jfc. just scratch out every damn word I said lol. just forget all of it
are you fucking kidding me, the footage was from the cameras Skeptic planted on Hawks??
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that’s... actually... okay you know what, it still doesn’t make any sense in the slightest, but the determination to address it nonetheless... just, dammit... I feel like I’m constantly at war with myself over whether or not I want to shake this man’s hand or slap him lmao. whatever, then!!
anyway, since Shouto and Enji can’t actually see the damage that Touya is dealing to the hero industry even as they speak, Touya is taking it upon himself to give them the highlights
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I think it’s a testament to how much Endeavor cares about Hawks that he managed to zero in on that comment even amidst all the craziness of his eldest son returning from the dead to announce how he’s been carefully plotting their destruction for years and years. like, he heard “Hawks” and his face immediately went like that. you think he’s worried that Dabi did something to him? because he’d be right to worry lol
so the Endeavor Pamphlet narration is now explaining all about how Hawks totally killed the Number 3 Hero Best Jeanist as well! yep... he sure did... totally...
OH MY GOD WE’RE CUTTING TO HIM AHHHHH
Hawks, that is. lol. not Jeanist. NO, JUST MY POOR HALF-DEAD WINGLESS BABY SON
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NOOOOO HIS LITTLE WING STUMPS. BUT SOMEHOW HIS FACIAL HAIR IS STILL INTACT. OH TO BE AN ANIME PRETTY BOY BEING SET ON FIRE. “HEY, TAKE IT EASY, WATCH THE FACE”
EXCUSE ME WHAT
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interesting! we suspected as much, I think, with the clues that Ending dropped, and the little flashback right after the name reveal. still not clear how Dabi found out about it though!
looooool okay here we go, breaking out the heavy-handed holier-than-thou shit now
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you know, I do find it interesting how trying to model themselves after All Might’s noble Symbol of Peace image has kind of ended up being the heroes’ undoing here. like, I could write a whole essay on this, but what it basically boils down to is that they were all trying too hard to be perfect. All Might went out there and did his thing and was amazing, and so the powers-that-be built an entire system centered around this seemingly-infallible person, and they acted like the system was infallible as well. and so most of the population ended up becoming complacent over the years, and meanwhile the people who were unfortunate enough to fall through the cracks understandably wound up disillusioned and perceiving the heroes as these false idols
anyway, but I think one positive takeaway from this is that the new up-and-coming generation of heroes represent a breakaway from that system. like, imo what we’re witnessing is the downfall of the Perfect Hero, and the rise of the imperfect hero. and this new generation doesn’t shy away from their failures or pretend like they never happened. they pretty much can’t pretend, because their failures are all right out there in the open for everyone to see. Bakugou Katsuki, just to name one example off the top of my very biased head, has had his own personal character journey basically play out right in front of the media’s eyes. his humiliation at the sports festival, his kidnapping by the League, and all of the fallout afterward. this isn’t someone who can ever go out there and convince the world that he’s perfect. but what he can do, instead, is show the world that he’s trying. that he’s trying with everything he has to do his best, to be the best. rather than this untouchable godlike image, it’s instead the image of someone painfully human who is nonetheless striving with everything he’s got to keep moving forward, flaws and all, and work his way to the top
and ultimately I think that’s going to be a much more positive image to send out to the world when all’s said and done. because rather than merely inspiring awe, heroes like that inspire people to take action themselves. or at least that’s what I hope! and not just Bakugou, but the others as well. we’ve got Shouto, whose own personal trauma is being aired in front of the whole nation even as I sit here ranting. we’ve got Deku, who cries at the drop of a hat, and who fought to become a hero despite being quirkless (and I think it’s only a matter of time before that eventually becomes public knowledge as well). tl;dr because I’m getting way too long-winded here, but these kids have effectively been humanized in a way that the old generation never was, and I think that’ll go a long way towards building trust between them and the people they’ll someday be protecting, and inspiring the next generation in hopefully a much healthier way
anyway so where were we. ...oh yes, Dabi was explaining that heroes only protect themselves, and is presumably building up to his grand conclusion of “therefore you should all just let the villains take over and burn down the world”
omfg. YOU GUYS
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DOES CAN’T YA SEE-KUN’S SHARK FRIEND ACTUALLY CALL HIM “CAN’T YA SEE-KUN.” HE HAS A NAME YOU KNOW!! UNLESS HE LEGALLY GOT HIS NAME CHANGED TO CAN’T YA SEE-KUN. OH MY GOD
ALSO, IS THAT CAN’T YA SEE-KUN CRYING IN THE BOTTOM RIGHT THERE OMG. GIVE THIS CHILD A HUG. EVERYONE STOP WHAT YOU’RE DOING RIGHT NOW AND HUG HIM
BAKUGOU IS BARELY HANGING ON THERE LOL. GOTTA STAY CONSCIOUS... SO MUCH TEA BEING SPILLED... FOCUS... CONCENTRATE
IIDA’S ANGLING HIS HEAD IN A WEIRD WAY, LIKE DUDE. LOOKING SUSPICIOUSLY SNUGGLY THERE. MMM THESE IIDABAKU CRUMBS
HADOU IS ALL “WHAT EVEN IS ACTUALLY GOING ON” LMAO
LASTLY, POOR SHOUTO OMFG. WHEN YOU’RE ALL FINISHED HUGGING CYS-KUN THIS CHILD NEEDS YOUR ATTENTION!!
so now Dabi’s leaping off of this ninety-foot-tall gargoyle man like that’s a normal, smart thing to do. unless he can fly too now? saw his dad doing it back at Fukuoka and was all “hmm”
OH MY GOD SOMEONE TELL ME RIGHT NOW WHAT WORD SHOUTO IS USING TO ADDRESS ENJI, THESE TRANSLATIONS LOVE TO MESS WITH MY HEAD
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ENJI GET MOVING DO YOU NOT SEE THOSE TEARS!!! SNAP OUT OF IT YOU BIG TREE
AHHHHH
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OH KACCHAN YOU WOKE UP A LITTLE MORE THERE, HUH
lol he and Deku both look so determined but they’re basically sitting ducks. their “oh shit” faces do look remarkably like their “TIME TO SWING INTO ACTION” faces but don’t be fooled, they have one good arm and about six pints of blood left between the two of them. looks like this one’s all on you Shouto
-- AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH --
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BAH GOD... WHAT’S GOING ON HERE... THAT’S BEST JEANIST’S MUSIC
y’all. can’t even talk right now, my brain has completely shut down lol. just. ...
  °˖✧◝( ̄▿ ̄)◜✧˖°
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serowotonin · 3 years
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LiPS𝐓1CK St4𝐈NS ! (💋)
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❝ having lipstick and giving him a kiss and he doesn't realize he has it on his face until his teammates are all like 0-0 ❞ — @/luna-in-luv
++ fem!reader x oikawa, kuroo
| wc. 1.3k 
| note. djslsdf it took so long to edit this post T-T,,,,, when ur indecisive af and can’t decide on a post format :D anyways just wanna say reblogs are greatly appreciated and i hope u guys like this<3
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( ➷ ); ― OiK4WA
another day of school, another day of.. well, another day of boredom
you had to admit though, school had become a lot more fun since you and oikawa got together;)
altho you were in different classes, you’d still pass each other in hallways and see each other during breaks
and ofc every interaction, no matter how small, definitely made your day brighter
the smaller interactions consisted mainly of random head pats as he walks pass by, or a smirk and a wink whenever you two make eye contact 
when there weren’t as many people around,,, maybe a hug or a kiss if either of you felt like it
and very rarely.. 
a makeout session in an empty classroom or staircase
its rare but it does happen
and it was happening… right now
school ended about half an hour ago and everyone either left or went to do their club activities 
which was what oikawa should probably be doing too,, but today he just “felt like going in a little later”
and so there you two were, in the dark corner of an abandoned classroom grasping at the other as if you haven’t seen them in years
idk how to describe a steamy makeout sesh okkk
anyways,, after about 6 ignored calls from iwaizumi tho.. you two figured it was probably time for him to go to practice
you two straightened yourselves out; cleared the ruffles from your uniforms, tidied your hair, etc.
oikawa texted iwa that he was on his way while you touched up your makeup
“you gonna walk me to practice?”
“of course,” you smiled. “altho i have my own club activities today too so i can’t stay and watch :( ”
“dont worry babe,,, just walking me there is enough” he replied with a grin
then he slung an arm over your shoulder and the two of you walked out of the classroom as if nothing happened
as you neared the entrance of the gym, you slowed to a stop and tugged at oikawa’s shirt
he turned and you leaned to give him a kiss on the cheek
“good luck with practice” you said before giving him a small wave and walking off
did you see the dark mark your lipstick left on his cheek?
yes.
were you going to say anything about it?
well,,,, you already turned to walk away and oikawa was already entering the gym
so no.
anyways,, as oikawa entered the gym, the first thing he saw was his beloved iwa-chan
looking not very happy
oikawa waved sheepishly as he turned his head to the side to look at where everyone else was
this for some reason made iwaizumi look even more not happy
makki and mattsun then walked over and snickered upon seeing oikawa
“ah was y/n here? why didn’t you invite her to watch hmm?~” makki teased
“she’s got club activities too you know..”
smh
they probably realize oikawa doesnt know bout the kiss mark
the three of them were just staring at oikawa like (¬_¬;)
and oikawa's just standing there like (◕‿◕)?
“can we go practice now..?” 
iwa: ( ̄︿ ̄) “wipe that stupid mark off your cheek”
huh? mark? he was pretty sure he wiped off any evidence from ahem what was happening earlier…
at this point some of the younger members started staring at them
and oikawa spotted them out of the corner of his eye and could practically feel the awkwardness in their gazes
he put a hand on the cheek everyone was staring at and removed it to see the same color that painted your lips
oh...
a slow smile spread on his lips at the realization of what you did
he laughed to himself
‘she’s gonna be the death of me..’
and with that he wiped off the remnants of your lipstick and hurried over to start practice
later tho, he asks you to kiss him again wearing that lipstick
and you do
and he snaps a selfie,,, which is now his phone wallpaper ;3
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( ❣︎ ); ― KUR0O
today, you’re boyfriend, the one and only Kuroo Tetsurou, had a volleyball match
and ofc being the amazing, supportive gf you were, you were present in the stands, cheering him on
you didn’t get to meet or even talk to him before the match started, save for a few quick texts 
so when he came on to the court for warm up and spotted you in the crowd,,,
he gave a cheeky wink and wave
you could practically feel the confidence roll off him in waves but you knew, deep down, he was the tiniest bit nervous too
afterall, the opponents weren’t a weak team by any standard
they were strong and known for their relentless attacks
which were put to display almost immediately after the game started
nekoma held on though, and managed to put in a few attacks of their own to level the game
you could see the hard work behind each of the members’ skills, having witnessed a lot of it yourself
it was most clear in kuroo tho
and as he jumped to block another spike, you were on the edge of your seat
the boys just needed one more point… which came when kuroo shut down the last spike
you and the rest of the people in the stands around you erupted into cheers
and as they were leaving the court, you ran to steal kuroo away for a more personal cheer
the two of you walked the halls of the stadium talking abt the game
you were gushing about this block and that and he was smiling at your gushing cuz damn was his y/n cute 
N E WAYSSS,,, he received a text from kenma saying that they were all waiting for him at the bus
“i should go.. don’t wanna keep them waiting long”
“yeah.. you should”
before he could move tho, you tiptoed and placed a big fat kiss on his cheek
you swear you saw a blush on those cheeks as you backed down
he grinned and gave you a kiss of his own on your forehead before saying bye and running off
as he did, you realized you forgot to mention the lip-shaped mark on his cheek 
oops… its too late now ┐(︶▽︶)┌
anyway,, kuroo arrives all smiles to where the team are waiting 
and make no mistake they all CLEARLY see evidence of ur “little” kiss from back there
they just kinda,,,, don’t say anything at first?
kenma rolled his eyes and went back to doing whatever on his phone
yaku glared at it out of spite or some similar emotion
the others just choose to ignore mainly cuz they assume kuroo already knows and chose to keep it there
to them its just kuroo being a cheesy mf who was rubbing the non-single life in their faces or smth
ofc he has no idea tho
which just makes it all the more better when lev says
“y/n has nice lipstick”
and kuroo’s just like wtf ?? whatcha goin on bout my gf’s lipstick hUH
and he says that.. or something similar at least
and lev just points to his cheek like
“duhh i can see it right there”
he grabs his phone, opens the front facing camera, and is met with the outline of your lips on his cheek
and thats when he obviously started blushing
but then he just kind of smirked once he realized you knew about the mark
when yaku sees the smirk he went “OMFG JUST WIPE IT OFF ALREADY !! WE GET IT !! YOU ARENT SINGLE YOU GET KISSES STFU”
not like that but practically exactly what he was trying to say anyway
tbh kuroo’s a little reluctant to rub it off cuz idk,, he likes it ?? 
but he does anyway cuz they were still in public and there were teachers who were gonna come soon and all the other reasons
once hes comfortably seated in the bus tho, with a clean cheek, he sends u several texts
‘ saw that gift you left on my cheek… ’
‘ wouldn’t mind if u gave me more tmr afterschool ;) ’
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| taglist. @lilikags @luna-in-luv ... send an ask if u wanna be added !!~
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obligatorynasty · 5 years
Note
Idk if you’re accepting prompts but—high school au w Badboy!Tony and soft!Peter and Tony like teases peter a lot and he says something or mocks peter (like peter stuttered talking to him cause he’s a bit shy and Tony jokingly mocks him) and peter starts to cry and Tony feels super duper bad about it and fluff fluff fluff!
Look at me. Filling prompts. Wow. Thanks for the inspo, anon.
EDIT: I made a part 2.
-
I’ll Be the Fight to Your Flight, Baby.
The school day was always the same for Peter – bus, class, lunch, class, bus – and peppered in there was always a good dash of bullying. Not that it was a surprise. He was a spectacle after all; possessing a much smaller frame than his cohorts, thick-rimmed glasses, zero fashion sense, a squeaky and high-pitched voice. He knew he was softer than the other kids too; more sensitive, an easier target, more likely to choose flight over fight. He knew that when Clint and Natasha tripped him in the hall, or when Bucky and Sam vandalized his locker, or when Flash called him names, they were doing it because his weak reactions made for a good laugh.
Peter wouldn’t say it didn’t bother him – because it did! It really, really did. Each teasing microaggression, each shove in the hall, each jab at his self-esteem made him want to run and hide. Bury his face in his hands so no one would see the tears pouring from his big brown eyes. But he didn’t. Instead, he endured it. Ignored it or pitifully laughed along with it to ease the sting of being socially ostracized. He didn’t want them to see him cry.
Even now, as Thor and Loki mocked every word Peter said to Ned from their place at the adjacent lunch table, he tried his best not to let it get to him.
“Don’t pay attention to them, dude,” Ned shook his head and shrugged, “They’re being assholes.”
“Okay,” Peter said with a forced smile, trying with all his might to ignore the relentless mockery. “So tell me more about the Lego Death Star? How many pieces is it?”
Thor’s roaring laughter cut through the bustle of the lunchroom. “Tell me more about the Lego Death Star, brother!”
Loki snickered, shooting Peter a wicked grin, “What would you like to know? How many pieces it has or, perhaps, how happy I am that my mommy bought me a child’s toy?”
Peter bit the inside of his lip, a tactic he used to hold back his tears. And Ned must have noticed because he turned to the older boys with anger in his eyes and said, “Can you guys just lay off? We aren’t even bothering you.”
“Brother, did you hear something?” Thor looked around, making a show of just how little he cared about Ned’s anger.
“Not at all, brother,” Loki laughed, playing along with his brother’s ignorance, “Tell me, what have you heard?”
“If I’m not mistaken, it had the distinct sound of a squealing pig!” Thor erupted in more laughter. His callous joke making every table in their vicinity burst into laughter of their own. And, if their sick humor was targeted at Peter, then he wouldn’t have opened his mouth. But it was directed at Ned and that was unforgivable.
“S-Shut up, T-Thor!” Peter yelled over the rambunctious crowd, his hands shaking and his heart pounding with fear as he, for the first time, chose fight over flight. His voice definitely cracked and his words held no real threat but, in the moment, it was exhilarating. Despite his fear, the crowd still went silent. Their faces stunned because Peter Parker never raises his voice. And just as Peter started to feel as though he’d won, it was ripped away from him.
“S-Shut up, T-Thor! D-Don’t talk to me and my pig like that!” Loki dramatically mocked Peter’s voice, bringing the crowd and Thor back into their laughter.
And Peter bit his lip again, hard enough for a faint coppery taste to rush his mouth. His eyes stung, and the trembles from his hands traveled up his arms and engulfed his entire being. He was upset, but his nerves kept him from choosing fight again. Instead, he stood from the table and ran. One foot in front of the other towards the cafeteria doors. Wanting nothing more than to escape the vicious scrutiny of his teenage peers.
But then, Peter was falling. His foot catching on some unidentifiable something and his face careening towards the off-white linoleum tiles. The impact hurt; more to his pride than to his body. And the laughter was louder, especially when Peter turned to see Clint’s outstretched foot and Natasha’s smug grin. Still, Peter chose flight. He clenched his teeth and scrambled to feet, and didn’t bother to look back as he finished his sprint to the doors.
Even in the calm of the hallway, Peter didn’t stop running. His body buzzed with an intense need to put as much distance between himself and his bullies as he could. His eyes were burning with the need to cry. His heart hurt and his mind was filled with flashbacks of every single time he endured, ignored, and struggled in silence. So he ran, and the only thing with the power to stop him was the sturdy chest of Tony Stark.
“Watch where you’re fucking going, Parker!” Tony yelled, making Peter flinch backward.
Out of all the people in the school, Tony Stark was the most fearsome. The most blood-hungry. The most respected. No one wanted to be on Tony’s bad side. The last guy who managed to piss him off doesn’t even go to the school anymore. Peter still remembers the day when the guy left on a stretcher, swearing up and down that Tony had nothing to do with it. But Peter knew, and so did every other student.
“S-S-Sorry, To-Tony. I-I didn’t- I w-was- I-” Peter stuttered, unable to get a coherent word out underneath the terrifying boy’s gaze.
Tony scoffed with an amused grin on his face, “S-S-Sorry, To-Tony.” He repeated with a laugh, bringing his hand up to flick Peter squarely on his forehead. “What the fuck is wrong with you, Parker? Just fucking speak.”
Peter brought a hand against his forehead, holding the spot where Tony’s finger connected. The dull throbbing pulled at his very last shred of self-control. He couldn’t take it anymore. His eyes betrayed him first as tears began waterfalling down his cheeks. Next was his voice. It turned to sobs and whines – all breathy and weak and embarrassing – but he couldn’t care. His body was the next to go. His frame visibly trembling and his hands covering his face as he just cried. Pathetically, and in front of Tony Stark.
“What the fuck, Parker?” Tony scoffed, “It was just a flick. Don’t be a little bitch about it.”
But Peter couldn’t stop his tears.
“Why the hell are you crying? Fuck-” Tony’s tone changed, dropping to something softer and a bit more frantic. “Seriously, Parker, quit it.”
But the tears kept flowing.
“Fucking hell. Just-! I’m sorry- just stop. Fucking stop-” Tony was rambling and if Peter wasn’t so lost in his overwhelming emotions, he would have taken notice of Tony Stark’s uncharacteristic apology.
“Peter.”
That did it. Peter finally glanced up, surprised to see a worried face staring down at him. He parted his lips, wanting to speak, wanting to say something – because holy shit, Tony Stark just apologized and called him Peter – but no words came. Instead, his eyes went wide and his tears stopped pouring and the wetness on his cheeks began to dry as he stared up into the taller boy’s dark eyes.
It was Tony who had the guts to break the silence. “Sorry,” He mumbled, stuffing his hands in the pockets of his leather jacket and looking away from the shorter boy. “I wouldn’t have done it if I knew you were going to cry like that.”
Peter’s face went hot. “I-I…um, it’s okay. I’m sorry for- I didn’t mean to run into you like that.”
“It’s whatever,” Tony shrugged, his eyes carefully moving back to Peter’s and his voice soft and worrisome. “You mad?”
Peter was floored by the older boy’s wary energy. He had never spoken to Tony before – mainly due to the horror stories of the vicious bad boy who only spoke with his fists – but now, Peter was starting to doubt them. “It wasn’t you!” Peter shook his head, his nervous stutter melting away as he became more comfortable in Tony’s presence. “I mean, the flick hurt but it wasn’t what caused it. I was already upset.”
Tony’s eyebrow shot up, “What upset you?”
“I just get picked on a lot.” Peter gave a weak laugh. His arms moving across his body in a self hug like he was trying to disappear. “It’s not a big deal.” Peter lied.
Suddenly, Tony’s hand was against Peter’s hair, threading through his brown curls in a gentle patting motion. The touch made Peter’s shoulders jump up in surprise but he didn’t move. It was soothing and kind and Peter thought of it as Tony’s way of comforting him.
“Who picks on you?” Tony asked, leaning down to be at eye level with Peter and never stopping his soft touch. “I’ll fuck them up.”
Peter gasped at the proximity. Tony was close enough to kiss – why Peter’s mind went there, he didn’t know. “Y-You don’t have to do that.”
“No,” Tony shook his head, “I think I do.”
“But why?” Peter whispered, scared to speak too loudly with Tony’s face so close.
“’Cause I like you, Peter.”
A warm hue crept up Peter’s face and his stutter came back with the vengeance. “W-Wha-? What are you- You l-like me?! We’ve n-never spoke before! W-Why do you l-like me?”
“Don’t know. I just do.” Tony grinned, “And I hated seeing you cry. So, I’ll ask again, who the fuck picks on you? Name some names, baby, and I’ll make sure they don’t even breathe in your direction again.” A wild look filled Tony’s eyes. “Shit, if you said so, I’d make sure they never breathed another breath.”
Peter stared at Tony with bewildered eyes. Not only did Tony Stark just confess, but he threatened to kill Peter’s bullies and he called Peter baby. Baby. Peter couldn’t believe this was even happening. “I- I don’t- um… I-”
“You know what?” Tony stood upright and threw his arm around Peter’s shoulder. “Come on.” He started towards the lunchroom, towing a reluctant Peter at his side. “You can just point those bitches out. I’ll drag their stupid faces across the floor and then, me and you, we can have lunch together.”
“T-Tony, wait. I don’t- I can’t go back in there.” Peter felt his eyes begin to sting again.
“Don’t you worry one bit, baby.” Tony didn’t stop walking, instead, he pressed a quick kiss against Peter’s temple. “I’ve got you.”
The kiss sent a wave of goosebumps across Peter’s skin, and despite his nerves, he let Tony pull him along. He felt safe, held against the older boy’s side with a protective arm around his shoulders. He liked it. He liked him. “Okay.”
Tony smiled, “That your answer then?”
“To what?” Peter asked as they rounded the corner towards the cafeteria doors.
“To being mine.”
“Being yours?” Peter blushed again, “Isn’t that a bit possessive?”
“Probably, but I can’t help it. When I see something I want, I take it. And I really want you, baby.”
Peter giggled at Tony’s brutally candid words, “Okay, sure. I’ll be yours.”
“Perfect,” Tony placed a hand against the double doors. “Now, you better not change your mind when you see me fight for you.” He smirked, “I’ll try not to make it too bloody.”
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justalitlecreacher · 4 years
Text
I’m here to prove that Andrew Garfield’s portrayal of Spider-man/peter parker in The Amazing Spider-Man is objectively the best love action adaptation of the character. In this essay I will....(yes this is really happening)
Edit: 10/20/20- i want to indulge myself in spiderman content but finding non mcu spiderman content is exhausting so imma update this instead
TL;DR
Andrew Garfield is my favorite of the 3 Spider-Man actors. TAS’s Peter is more fun and dynamic than the cookie cutter “shy introverted nerd that has a crush on a girl who’s way out of his league” Peter in Tobey Maguire’s movies. I enjoy Tom Holland’s portrayal of the character, but hate the way Disney has written the movies.  I enjoy the characters, plot, and humor of The Amazing Spider-Man far more than the other 2, and i deeply wish we had gotten the third movie with the canon BIder-Man of Andrew’s (and my) dreams.
[DISCLAIMER: I HAVE NOT SEEN THE AMAZING SPIDERMAN 2 OR ANY MCU SPIDERMAN MOVIES OUTSIDE OF CLIPS AND REVIEWS ITS ALSO BEEN A VERY HOT MINUTE SINCE IVE SEEN A TOBEY MAGUIRE MOVIE]
Characterization
  Most arguments against Andrew Garfield’s Spidey( AG’s from now on) begin and ends with “he was a good Spider-Man but a bad Peter Parker”. This references an outdated post comparing all three Spidey actors.(Id attach the image here but i dont want the post to be too long(thats a lie this is so long what am i doing with my life)) The post also claims that Tobey played a good Peter and a poor Spidey; and that Tom is good at both “roles”.(Honestly I think it seems silly that this seems obey the “third time’s the charm” rule but thats just me).  Most people using this seem to be Tobey stans who have forgotten or ignored the rest of the post funnily enough, but the ones that go further into the WHY AG is a poor Peter are also incorrect. This argument also ignores the idea that there can be more than one version of Peter Parker which is blatantly incorrect.  Just look at Into the Spiderverse or the PS4 game; these provide 4(5 if you count the pig) versions of Peter themselves, and that doesnt even include the comics. 
 Arguments that go further in depth claim that the AS Peter is too cool or well liked by his peer to be a “true” Peter Parker. The evidence for this seems to be that Peter has a skateboard.(which what? didnt realize that having a skateboard would instantly make you cool brb guys). Adding to that i dont really see where people get the idea that Peter is popular or well liked. While looking for complaints i found this qutoe from reddit(theyve since deleted it looks like but i’ll add a link in the notes) “He's angsty, pretty socially awkward, has an aptitude for science, and is kind of an outsider. He gets bullied by Flash and he gets his ass kicked after trying to stand up to Flash. He isn't a "cool" person in any way (until the ending, in which he's best buds with Flash, so I'll give you that). While Maguire is more accurate to the 60s comics where Peter in high school is just a fucking loser with basically no friends, in the ultimate comics, Peter is more of the kid who has a small amount of friends, but isn't popular.”. Honesty i fully agree with this because once again, other versions of a character are allowed to exist. You can dislike one version, but its silly to dislike something for not being exactly like another thing.
Ive also heard that Peter isnt “nerdy enough” in this movie which really doesnt make any sense considering the entire plot happens because Peter was looking into some of his parents’ research. If he wasn't interested in looking further into his father’s work what reason would he have to go to Oscorp where he’s bitten by the spider? Why would he have become Dr. Conner’s assistant? If he wasn’t intelligent how did he develop the web shooters?(something that Tobey!Peter doesn't have to do out of plot convenience might i add).  
 Another complaint i see is that the quips he uses in the movie(the first one specifically it seems) makes him seem like an asshole. Honestly thats a fair complaint, but i think its a good bit of characterization; espcially if he does get better about it in the second movie like the internet suggests.The Peter in this movie is a rightfully angsty teen; of course he acts a bit of an ass to criminals(also i feel like its important to mention that he’s like that to criminals? its not like hes being a dick for no reason).
  Compare this with the Tobey Maguire(TM) movies. Like i said i haven’t seen these in awhile but as far as i’m aware TM’s Peter doesn't really do anything particularly nerdy in the film? I may have forgotten something( ok in the scene before he gets bitten he knows a cool spider fact) but he doesn’t have to invent the web-shooters because they came with his powers and he’s only at Oscorp in the first place because it’s a school field trip that he appears to be taking photos for. This Peter does fit the definition of outcast(friendless and bullied for it), but honestly i just dont like him. He’s weird and something about the character makes me feel like i should be a little grossed out every time he looks at MJ at the beginning of the movie.  
   I honestly don’t have any complaints for Tom Holland’s(TH’s)Spidey. Tom is a great actor and from what ive seen i enjoy his portrayal of the character.( He made me cry when i character i actively dislike died).  
Story
  I cant really say much for TAS story. It’s interesting but nothing special really. However, there is one scene that i don’t think i’ve seen anything like since( the closest would probably be the train scene in the original trilogy). 
 The crane scene. Early in the film Peter saves a boy from a car that has fallen off of a bridge, and at the end of the movie this becomes relevant again when it is uncertain that Peter will be able to get to the lizard to stop him in time.(as Peter is already injured and pretty far from the lizard’s location). The boy’s father is then revealed to be a construction worker who recognizes that Spider-man is going to need help to get to the lizard; he remembers how Spider-Man saved his son and organizes the rest of the construction workers to build a path out of crane arms for SM to swing from. All of them are putting themselves in danger by not evacuating, but SM’s actions in the first act of the film motivate them to do what’s right. 
  I love this scene primarily because it highlights something that i think is a really important part of Spider-Man’s character; his connection to the people he saves. SM is often shown interacting with and chatting with the people he has saved after the fact. One comic shows Peter accidentally scaring some bullies and then taking the time to ride the bus to school with them to continue their conversation and educate the students on bullying.( There’s definitely more but this is off the top of my head).
  Another scene in TAS that i love is shortly before the crane scene when Peter is originally attempting to make his way across the city to stop the lizard, and he is shot down by the police. They manage to unmask him before Peter comes to his senses( he had just been shot and fallen pretty far out of the sky in his defense). From there Peter is able to deal with the police while keeping any of them from getting a good look at his face. The one cop he cant take out happens to be Gwen Stacey’s father who had previously had an argument with Peter about Spider-Man(Peter obviously on SM’s side and Mr. Stacey against SM). Peter turns and allows Captain(?) Stacey to see his face. I believe that this is an example of an unwilling identity reveal done right. i really enjoyed this moment because Peter had just shown that he likely could have gotten out of this encounter with his identity in tact as he had just taken down however many men. This implies that it was an active choice on Peter’s end to trust that Captain Stacey would ultimately do the right thing and allow Peter to go fight the Lizard, rather than a final desperate attempt to get away unscathed. Whether or not this interpretation of the scene is correct or not it still gives the character a bit more agency than some versions have done with their identity reveals.
  In Spider-Man 2 Peter starts to lose his powers because he’s having internal conflict about wether or not he should be Spider-Man. Honestly thats kinda neat and i might want to give that a rewatch. As for the one i have seen i don’t have any complaints. I do however prefer the way that Peter was bitten in TAS because it was a result of him poking around where he shouldn’t’ve been rather than him just happening to be standing in the right place for a spider to land on him. 
  Onto TH’s movies; the way Disney has treated Spidey in the MCU is why TH’s is my least favorite version of the character. I feel like too much of the story revolves around Iron Man; Iron Man made Peter’s suit and equipment, Iron Man introduces Peter to the MCU(via blackmail but thats another rant for another annoyingly long post), its Iron Man that “makes” Spidey in this universe rather than Spidey being self-made. In Homecoming(which remember i havent seen outside of clips so bear with me) most of the conflict is cause directly or indirectly by Tony’s refusal or inabilty to communicate with the teenager he’s meant to be mentoring
 For one the entire incident with the ferry could have very easily been avoided had Tony bothered to communicate with Peter enough to tell him that the situation was being taken care of. On top of that at the moive’s climax Peter is shown trying to get in contact with Happy(from what ive picked up isnt he a chauffeur? like idk his deal i just know he’s someone Peter got pawned off onto after Civil War). Peter even goes as far as to somehow hack into Happy’s phone(i think thats what happened it was a weird tech thing that shouldve been a red flag that the call was important though) but instead of listening; Peter is ignored. If this was a different kind of movie Peter literally could have died and itd be the fault of Happy and Tony like..... A large portion of conflict comes from characters being incompetent and not communicating and thats just poor storytelling.
Before this turns too much into an anti mcu rant id also like to say that the way they did Civil War was really dumb considering that Peter defects to Cap’s side in the comics, but whatever.
 Also i loathe the way they handled the identity reveal at the end of Far From Home. With MCU movies most people know to expect an end credits scene by now, but typically that scene is not important to understand what’s happening in the films; they just aren’t important. Putting an identity reveal here makes it seem significantly less important than it is. On top of that i dislike their use of J Jonah Jameson for this scene.
  JJJ is a character who has been repeatedly shown to have a genuinely good heart. All of his anger comes from a place of love for his city(he even says this hemself in the ps4 game when May writes in to tell him that he needs help). He hates Spider-Man because SM reminds him of the masked man who killed his wife; JJJ has never been able to get past that( and Peter’s antagonism of him definitely doesnt help) However, JJJ has been shown to care for people; he has a son who he often brags about, and one comic shows that JJJ is paying Peter for “amateur” quality photos because he knows that Peter is having a hard time and “just need some help”. JJJ has even learned Peter’s identity before and kept his secret for him(seriously though i cant remember the name of the comic but its defiantly worth the read), and in the original trilogy when Goblin threatens JJJ he claims that he doesn’t know who sends in the photos of Spidey because he does it via email( this is a lie). The MCU will have a very difficult time convincing me that JJJ would ever out a teenager’s identity and put him in danger like that. It goes too far against his character.(this could be hypocritical of me to say considering how i just insisted that multiple versions of a character can exist but whatever ¯\_(ツ)_/¯) 
This is accidentally turning into an MCU rant but id also like to say that i hate the lack of a TH!Spidey origin movie because it gives you no motivaion for Peter becoming SM or explanation of his powers; most people will know these things but if youre unfamiliar with the character its bound to be confusing(and im a sucker for origin movies)
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ahgastae · 4 years
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phantasm (pt.1) – namjoon x reader
➥ word count: 1.6k | fluff
➥ m.list
➥ a/n: this is a wip i’ve been saving for a while lol. it’s *technically* a rewrite of an extremely old one-shot i had that didn’t quite turn out how i wanted it so here we are!! i’m thinking of making it a series that i kinda just update whenever i feel like/have time to work on it but idk. feedback is always appreciated, and thanks for reading! ♡
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An aggravated sigh leaves your lips, giving up on yet another failed attempt to force the basement door open. The metal handle remains stuck no matter what you do or how hard you push, and at this point you’re starting to run out of ideas. 
Part of you wonders how you managed to get yourself into this situation; locked in the basement of some musty, old abandoned hospital. It’s not exactly everyday people willingly wander into places like this, and you would normally be one of the ones who stayed as far away as fucking possible.
So what changed? What made you take the risk? And how the hell are you going to get yourself out of this?
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“Why in the hell would I ever want to do that?” You quirk a brow at your best friend, popping another fry into your mouth as you do. “Actually, scratch that, why the hell would you ever agree to that?” 
The unamused look on Hoseok’s face makes you want to laugh, but you cover it up with another sip of your chocolate shake.
“Because,” Hoseok grumbles with a roll of his eyes, “those little shits can be very persuasive when they want to be. I didn’t want to be the only one in the group who didn’t go, you know?”
You nod your head understandingly, “So you didn’t want to be the one to pussy out.”
“Y/N!”
You burst into a fit of laughter, barely dodging the onion ring he throws your way. Hoseok rolls his eyes again, and the furrow in his brow makes you realize he’s a lot more serious about this than you first thought.
“Okay, okay.” By the time you manage to contain yourself, his scowl has softened slightly. “But if all the guys are going, why do you want me to go so badly?”
Hoseok scoffs, “Uh, are you kidding? That place is going to be creepy as all hell, and I need my best friend there to provide some serious emotional support. And to keep Jungkook from posting videos of me freaking out on Twitter again.”
You both cringe, clearly remembering the last time he got sucked into one of these “adventurous” outings. Jungkook got the silent treatment for a solid three weeks because that clip of Hoseok screaming at a pigeon went viral. The kid still apologizes to this day, but you have a sneaking suspicion he’s behind some of the (admittedly hilarious) edits that have cropped up.
It makes sense for that reason alone as to why Hoseok would want you to tag along, but you’re honestly just as much of a scaredy cat as he is. You’re a lot better at keeping it under wraps, though, always coming up with some excuse for why you can’t go exploring whatever creepy abandoned place his friends want to check out next. But Hoseok has never been the one to ask until now, and you’re more than a little conflicted about it.
“I don’t know, Hobi,” You sigh, glancing down at your half eaten burger. “This has always kinda been your guys’ thing, you know? I’m not really into any of that.”
“Honestly, most of us aren’t, either,” Hoseok shrugs. “The only ones who really like it are Tae, Yoongi, and Kook. The rest of us are kinda just along for the ride.”
“You mean the ride through every possibly haunted, definitely dangerous place in the area.”
“Yeah…”
A small silence falls in between you, and you briefly wonder how in the hell he ever thought this was meant to convince you. Sure, he took you out to lunch, said you could get as many milkshake refills as you desired, put on those heart wrenching puppy dog eyes that you always have to struggle to ignore. But is it really worth getting the shit scared out of you with him and his six friends? One of whom might “accidentally” post a video of you losing your mind over something stupid?
You aren’t ready to become a Twitter meme!
With that terrifying thought, your mind is finally made up. You’re just about to open your mouth and tell Hoseok you just absolutely cannot–
“Joonreallywantedtoknowifyouweregoingtocome!”
The words leave his mouth in a jumbled mess, but you make them out clear as day. You should’ve known that’s the game he was playing. There’s no way Jung Hoseok would come to you with a request like this without having some kind of backup plan. And, unfortunately, his role as your best friend means he knows all about your little crush on the de facto leader of his friend group. You just never thought he’d be so prepared to openly exploit it.
“So what do you say?” Hoseok bites his lip from across the table, and you have a sneaking suspicion he already knows what your answer is going to be.
“...Fine. I’ll go on your stupid ghost trip,” You grumble, a bright smile appearing on Hoseok’s face as he starts to thank you rapidly. “But I’ll break that kid’s phone if he so much as tries to record me!”
Your threat falls on deaf ears, Hoseok already whipping out his phone to presumably tell the other guys. Part of you wants to be mad that you let yourself get played so easily, but does it really count if you knew that’s what he was trying to do?
Eh, whatever. At least he’s happy. And who knows? Maybe you’ll actually end up enjoying yourself after all.
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So that was a fucking lie.
You haven’t even been out of the car for five minutes, and you’re already starting to regret leaving your apartment this afternoon. Hoseok said you guys were going to check out some old hospital on the outskirts of town when he picked you up, but you had no idea he meant this far out.
The woods surrounding the “hospital” aren’t particularly thick, but it’s just enough to where you know it’ll terrify the shit out of you when the sun starts to go down. You’re honestly not sure if you’d rather be stuck out here or in the creepy ass building in front of you when that happens. But, if all the guys currently standing around Taehyung’s truck are anything to go by, that decision might be made a lot sooner than you think.
 “Y/N!” One of them suddenly calls, breaking you out of your thoughts. “Stop being a weenie and get your ass over here!”
Rolling your eyes, you push yourself off from your spot leaning against Hoseok’s car and make your way over to the truck bed. The three younger ones are huddled around some sheets of paper in the bed while Jin and Hoseok fiddle with some flashlights and batteries near the open passenger seat. You head over to Hoseok first, curious about the two missing from your party. 
“Hey, where are Joon and Yoongi? I thought you said everyone was coming.”
“Don’t worry, they’ll be here,” Hoseok laughs. “Joonie just had to finish up some stuff at work real quick. I’m sure they won’t be long.”
You nod, crossing your arms and scanning over the building in front of you. It definitely looks old. What used to be white paint has faded to a dark, muddy grey, and the windows are either smashed to bits or boarded over with moldy planks of wood. There’s stray graffiti scattered all over the place, the parking lot barely distinguishable from the overgrown weeds and shrubs surrounding the area.
Honestly, everything about it just screams “Danger! Stay the fuck away!” to you. How in the hell did the guys even find this place?
“Ah, fucking finally!”
You’re jolted out of your thoughts once again by one of the boys shouting from the truck bed. It must have been Jungkook, since he’s the one who jumps out and starts running towards the car pulling into the clearing.
Wait, a car? That could only mean-
The car slows to a stop behind Taehyung’s truck, and sure enough, you can just barely see the two boys you were asking about waving to you all inside. Well, one of them is waving. The other seems to be focused on parking without running over the energetic Kook jumping around the car.
You can kind of relate to the younger boy’s excitement, but the butterflies in your stomach are for an entirely different reason.
“What took you guys so long?” Jungkook whines, greeting the two newcomers as soon as they step out of the vehicle. “We were supposed to get into the building before it got dark!”
“I know, I know,” Namjoon apologizes. “We would’ve been here a lot sooner, but-”
“But someone kept insisting on grading ‘one more spelling quiz’ before we left.”
Yoongi’s grumpy pout is as evident as ever as he wholeheartedly throws his roommate under the bus. The three of them have joined the rest of the group now, the other two youngsters leaning over the side of the truck bed.
“You weren’t thinking of ditching us for some second graders, were you, Mr. Kim?” Taehyung teases, quirking an amused brow.
Jimin falls into giggles, “That sounds exactly like something he would do!”
“Hey, I promised the kids I would have them all handed back by Monday!”
Namjoon’s desperate attempts to defend himself are ignored, and you can’t help but smile at the small pout that crosses his face. It’s short lived, though, as Jungkook soon calls everyone’s attention back to him as he hops back up onto Taehyung’s truck.
“Alright, losers, now that we’re all finally here,” A mischievous grin grows on the maknae’s lips. “let’s get down to business.”
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bravadoseries · 4 years
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i was tagged by @emiliachrstine and @chlobenet to tag ppl who make me happy! so i’m gonna do a bit of an appreciation post for some people i’ve been meaning to talk a bit more about since getting back into writing/ocblr :)  
@emiliachrstine ok first of all emilia i love you so much!! thank you for tagging me in this. i remember meeting you first through supernatural fandom and our mutual love and respect for jo harvelle and then bonding again over our mutual love and respect for the Queen sharon carter so i’m super happy that we’ve managed to stay in touch and always bond over our underappreciated faves. i’ve always loved your writing since i first encountered it i think (like when i was in eighth grade 😭 and i would read ur spn fic on the bus home from school) so it’s crazy to me that i can consider you a friend now. thank you for sharing so much writing with the world, and for being so open and kind. it’s always a joy to talk to you about writing, see your beautiful edits, and plan crossovers between our ocs. i love you 💓💓💓
@daaeleira pixie!! i know i’ve said this like a million times before but you have been one of my longest friendships Period like irl or online or whatever like i have known you so long and i’m so happy that i have. i love you so much and i am so grateful you’ve been there for me through so much of my life and when things get crazy i’m happy i always have the opportunity to talk to you about how dumb the russos are or hear you talk about your #problematic #faves or just vent. i’m so lucky to know you!! you’re such a kind and funny person, and you’re really supportive and also genuinely one of the most talented writers i’ve ever had the privilege of reading work from (fic or not). i feel like i’ve grown so much from being friends with you in my beliefs and my general outlook on the world which is not something i expected at all when i applied to be a mod for the winsisters blog but i am so happy and grateful that it was the case. i stan all of your ocs genuinely they’re all so good and you’re like. a legend in my mind i admire you so much
@perfectlystiles we are new friends but i love how easy it is to talk to you!  we get along super well and i love how we are both little bruce banner stannies and how we have such similar shipping interests lmfaooo i just really enjoy talking to you about giles and fandom and our messed up sleep schedules and how quarantine has really screwed both of us over motivation-wise.  i’m really glad we vibe so well because it’s always a joy to talk to you :~)
@kenobi-jinn we are also new friends!  i’ve been catching up on star wars media specifically so i can go HARD with stanning valencia when i start your obi-wan fic.  i’ve started your marvel story (and i’m planning on reviewing the rest of it too i promise !) and i am a huge fan of your writing style and your ability to hold up original storylines.  i admire your work so much and i’m really excited to get more into it :) you’re extremely talented! and also a very kind and easy to talk to person.  i’m really glad we’ve gotten in touch!  
@ocfairygodmother cass/jan!!!  okay i don’t know if you even remember this at all but i remember when elle’s story was first posted and i was looking for winsister stuff to read and i fell in love with it so early on.  we don’t talk too much anymore but i am so deeply admirational of how you have managed to build a real community out of ocblr.  you inspired me to write on an individual level when i was a kid and the community you’ve developed has kept me writing through these years, and so i owe it to you more than anyone or anything else that i’ve kept writing and that i’m pursuing a degree in writing as well.  idk if this is weird because we don’t talk too much but seriously, i owe so much of that to you.  you’re so positive and you devote so much time and work to being kind and supportive to other writers, and the impact you have had on my life and the lives of other people in this community is so large and positive.  thank you for being you, and for doing so much work that you didn’t need to do to help keep us together.  
@chlobenet ally i don’t think we have ever been super close but i’ve followed you for a long time and i am always stunned by how talented you are both with writing and editing! your ideas for ocs are so strong and distinct that they could clearly stand on their own as original pieces of fiction, but they also fit so well into the fandoms you write them for.  you’re incredibly creative and i’m grateful that you tagged me in this so i could have the chance to gush lol thank you!
@ahsokatonas joey i don’t know you super well but you are extremely talented and i admire your work so much!  you are a wonderfully talented writer and also incredible at worldbuilding.  not to mention amazing with edits and the like.  so thank you for sharing! 
@notaboutcat cat i have loved your writing and ocs since my supernatural days as well lol thank you for being such an inspiration to me ! and i’m really happy to know you and you know how big a fan i am of all of your ocs.  you’re a talented writer and you’re really good at building such unique and interesting characters that are a privilege to read!  
@suzieloveships thank you for being so supportive of my fic for so long! and for sending such interesting asks and leaving such kind comments on audrey’s story.  i appreciate it so much and i always look forward to seeing what you have to say when i see your username in my notifications :)
then there are a lot of people i’ve been admiring from afar!  so i want to say thank you to you all as well for sharing your writing or being supportive readers to others in the community.  sending love to you all <3 thank you for making me so happy
@lizziesxltzmxn @foxesandmagic @ultraocfury @aliverse @randomestfandoms-ocs @randomfandoming1 @feralcherry @celticboudicca @marvel-osity @sgtbuckyybarnes 
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residentanchor · 5 years
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Meet the Curator
A Moxiety one-shot with Single Parent Virgil and kid Logan. Not edited. IDK just had an idea. @altruistic-skittles Word count: 1.9k Warnings: brief mention of adoption and Virgil’s ex was bad but I don’t go into detail at all.
It was in rare moments that Virgil couldn’t regret the path he chose to get to where he was now. When little Logan was coloring with a single crayon across a page in his coloring book while singing the alphabet, he was content. Or when Logan gave Virgil a drawing he managed to sign himself, or even when Virgil helped Logan ride a bike without training wheels... Virgil held nothing in his heart but love. 
His ex who failed to convince Virgil to put Logan up for adoption after he was born had left them when Virgil wouldn’t budge. She vanished overnight so Virgil couldn’t even ask for child support while he struggled to keep a job and raise a newborn by himself. Virgil didn’t have much family left to help, though his good friend Roman was probably half the reason Virgil made out alright so far. Logan was a curious child, always asking questions but never satisfied with answers. Virgil would always try saving up to take Logan places like the zoo to let him burn his excess energy while being able to learn and ask questions. He couldn’t afford to do it as much as he would have liked, but he had managed a few small trips which Logan always enjoyed. When Roman introduced a friend to Virgil, it was a nice change of pace. Virgil spent so much time talking to Logan that talking to others his age was a nice break. Although, sometimes talking with Patton felt like he was still with his son. Bright eyes and burning through questions faster than he could answer, Virgil managed to keep somewhat of a conversation with Patton because of past experiences.  When Patton said he worked in a museum as a curator, Virgil was a bit surprised. He had mentioned how Logan liked learning and he was always looking for new places to take him that weren’t so strenuous on his wallet. “Oh!” Patton perked up, grinning. “I work at a museum! I’m a curator, you should totally bring Logan! I can get you special passes for the day, too! My treat!” Virgil tried turning down the offer, it was far too generous of him, but Patton insisted. He traded numbers with Virgil to keep in touch and set up a date. Of course, Patton had texted immediately with a joke. After hearing Virgil laugh, he continued to send as many jokes as he could. Virgil’s phone would go off so often that Logan would perk up and ask what the joke was, even when it wasn’t Patton.  They had finally set up a date to meet up in the middle of the week when it would be slow when Virgil discovered the first of many problems. When he explained to Logan that they were going somewhere special, he started asking questions. Virgil had no idea what the museum actually was, and a quick internet search came up rather empty. So, he told Logan that it was a surprise and that he would find out when he got there. Then after hearing Patton would be there, he asked if it was a playdate. Virgil tried not to panic at the mention of a ‘date’. Logan didn’t play with many kids his age and he had no idea of the small crush his father started to harbor for the curator. Patton was nice. He was easy to talk to and very friendly. He was great with kids, too! When he met Logan, he kneeled down and introduced himself and they got along so well! Patton wasn’t put off by Logan’s many questions and answered them the best he could. Heck, his son liked the man, that was impressive enough! Virgil couldn’t help it, his heart leaped and got excited at the thought of him sometimes. It was a simple crush, that much Virgil couldn’t deny. When they arrived at the location Patton had given, Virgil was very confused, to say the least. It almost didn’t even look like a museum. If it weren’t for the signs, he would have thought the bus dropped him off in the wrong place. However, Logan was excited and tugging on his father’s hand as he tried rushing into the building, staring up at the tall ceilings in awe. They found the desk and Virgil asked for Patton, just like he had been instructed. The woman at the counter immediately knew who they were and handed them badges. Logan was thrilled to get his and stared at it in awe. They wrote his name on it and put it on a star lanyard small enough to fit him. He thanked them and Virgil couldn’t hide the smile on his face. He owed Patton big time for this. Logan and Virgil gave their thanks and went to wait for Patton on the side before Virgil stopped. “Oh, sorry. I almost forgot.” He turned back to the receptionist. “What was the name of this place again?” “It’s the play museum!” Virgil froze and his jaw dropped a bit before Logan grabbed his hand, tugging at it and pulling him away. “Daaad, come on! I wanna wait over there by the fish tank!” Virgil stumbled and turned, allowing his son to pull him over to the tank built into the wall. “Ohh, cool! Look, that one looks like it has a funny nose! Oh, can fish get boogers?” Virgil humored little Logan by reading off the signs until they heard their names being called. Patton smiled and walked closer, his outfit much more formal than Virgil was used to. Though, the colorful tie sort of counteracted the button down Patton was wearing.  “You made it!” “This place is so cool! What can we do first?” Logan looked ready to bolt off, but Virgil was faster. He reached out and placed a hand on his son’s shoulder, adding a small bit of pressure as a silent warning. Logan kept glancing around, but he relaxed in response.  “Thank you for this, Patton.” “Yeah! Thank you Mr. Patton!” Logan smiled up at him before grabbing his father’s hand. “Can we go now, dad?” “Sure, buddy. We got all day, don’t worry.” Logan was practically sprinting as Virgil scolded him to not tug on his arm so hard.  “You’re too strong, you’ll rip it right off!” “Eww, no I won’t!” Logan giggled.  Eventually, they got to a section that looked like a massive play area. Everything seemed interactive and Logan didn’t hesitate to jump right in. He immediately tried to figure out how everything worked and Virgil could only think about how tired he’d be carrying him home and how well they would both sleep.  The light in Logan’s eyes as he played was enough to make every hardship worth it to see his son happy. Virgil knew he’d be smiling for a week after today. “Really, Patton, I can’t thank you enough. This means so much to me, I owe you one.” “Aww, of course not, Virge! Don’t worry about it none!” Patton was watching Logan discover a series of buttons before deciding which one to press. The lights started changing colors and he looked around in awe before pressing another one. “I love working here and seeing all the kids get excited. It’s the best part.” “So, you’re a museum curator in what is pretty much a giant playground?” Patton’s laugh caused Virgil’s heart to jump and threatened to flutter out of his chest. “Yeah, pretty much! Best job ever, right?” “It certainly is very you.” “DAD! Look!” Logan had climbed a series of stairs and found some levers that moved a giant statue on a wall. “Logan doesn’t have to clean his room!” The statue’s mouth moved up and down as Logan giggled. “Thank you, mister giant!” Virgil huffed and crossed his arms. “Well, he does today! That is if he wants to be able to come back, he will!” “Okay, I promise! I’ll make it so clean, you’ll see!” Logan hopped down the stairs and ran off. Just seeing him run around was enough to make Virgil tired. They followed along and Patton pointed out a few things while Virgil and Logan got a closer look. It seemed that everything was interactive in some way and Virgil found himself playing and following Logan as best he could. They were both having loads of fun until Patton suggested the food court for a break before they continued on. Virgil ordered a few slices of pizza and had to fight Patton to be able to pay. Once they got to their table, Patton huffed and stared Virgil down as Logan didn’t hesitate to eat.  “What? Are you really that mad I paid for my food?” Patton shrugged and leaned in a bit. “I mean, no? But I wanted to pay!” “You got us in for free today, Patton. I still owe you for that. I couldn’t let you buy us food as well.” Patton took a bite of his pizza before looking back at Virgil. He smiled and leaned in, the look on his face made Virgil’s heart jump in worry. “Okay, but I know how you can make it up to me if you want.” “Name it.” Patton’s smirk fell a bit and he leaned back, staring down at his pizza. “You don’t have to! Feel free to say no, but... Let me buy your food next time?” “Next time we’re here? Deal.” “No! No, though, that too if you’ll let me. I meant, uh...” Nervously, Patton licked his lips. “Next time as in just the two of us? Maybe this weekend? You could ask Roman to watch Logan for a little bit, maybe?” “Like a playdate?” Both adults turned to Logan who was about halfway through his slice of pizza already. “I can’t come?” “Well, not on this one! But you can definitely invite me out on other ones in the future if that’s okay?” Virgil’s ears and face felt really warm as Patton peeked up at him through his bangs. Patton’s glasses had slid down his nose a bit, his eyes silently asking for some sort of answer. “This, uh... would be a date, right?” Patton smiled a bit and nodded. “Oh. Uh... Okay.” “Okay?” Patton sat up tall, eager and excited. “Really?!” “Yeah. Yeah, definitely. I’d love that.” “Yes! Oh, I’ve been trying to get the courage to do that for weeks! I feel so much better!” Virgil didn’t get to ask anything else as he felt a tug on his sleeve. “Hey, dad?” Virgil smiled down at Logan. “Yeah?” “When you go on your playdate with Mr. Patton, can Roman and I come back here? This place is so cool! I want to show him the space room!” “Maybe, buddy.” Virgil smiled and brushed his hair out of his face. “You two might need a chaperone, though!” Patton chuckled and reached over, taking one of Virgil’s hands in his own. “What’s a chapter own?” Logan was a bit upset when they both burst out laughing, but Patton bought them a scoop of ice cream and Logan was gracious enough to forgive him. This time, at least.
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shhhhyoursister · 4 years
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hi friends i wrote this all yesterday and just never posted it i guess and these thoughts are definitely less coherent but!!!!! they’re valid!!!!! so here is the second edition of.....
MUSIC IN DRUCK (3x02)
quick musical doodles - i’m including this just cause it makes me laugh, cause it starts and the first notes hit kinda heavy, especially cause you can see matteo sitting on the steps just flopped over and it seems like it could potentially be the start to a serious scene, but then you see the BOYS coming in and then you see matteo looking slowly up at them and carlos’ fucking face kills me every time he looks like he’s trying so hard not to laugh but jonas and abdi are walking with like,, a hint of swag??? and then you can see the “what the fuck” on matteo’s face, that part is just hilarious and i had to mention it
obvs - so i didn’t think i’d have much to say about this song (plays during the scene where david and matteo are awkward gay stuttering and then leonie comes over) but i think the function of it is to highlight the whole nervous/stuttery/apprehensiveness of approaching/talking to someone you’re developing a crush on??? and how you can obviously hear the music during the moments of awkward silence and there are no words so you’re just kind focusing on the fact that they aren’t speaking and it plays until david is completely gone
8896 - so this song gets interesting when you look into the lyrics a lil more,, this song plays while matteo is watching david try to shove his bag in the locker (as this post said it’s heavy bottom imagery) and when i looked ho the lyrics i was like 🤔🤔🤔 because the first line is “you say there is nothing to hide” which is interesting because both matteo and david, at this point in the story, are hiding pretty big things about themselves!!!! it gets even MORE interesting later on when you look in the 2nd chorus and see “we’re running down roads and crossing track stones / pay for the ticket, just enjoy the circus / run away another day” that first line kinda made me think about them leaving leonie and sara to go to the pool (i know they were riding bikes but you get it) which is further cemented by the last line?? like how many songs did the druck crew manage to find that reference “running away”???? that must have been someone’s entire job!!!!!!!! (also the fact that this song that mentions hiding things and running away leads up to matteo googling how to have sex with a girl when you’re not into her.....)
go! - AKDKAKD okay y’all there’s not even that much for me to say about this one i just needed to include it cause the absolute CAMP of having matteo fantasize about david walking down the hallway staring at him and then twirling while a dramatic saxophone song plays in the background???? are you kidding me???? that’s comedy gold
where’s the catch? - this song goes from rap to basically a few different voices going “aaaAAAHHHHH” (in like a nice melodic way of course) as he sees david in the bus, and then they the beat kicks in again as matteo is doing his weird 👁👄👁 intense staring, and it’s a very steady beat and it was kinda making me think about when you’re standing near your crush and you can kinda feel your heart beating a little harder and faster and you can maybe hear it a little in your ears and your palms are sweaty (moms spaghetti) and you’re trying to not be weird (matteo definitely did not succeed at that) and you’re just excited?? that’s the vibe i got with this song in this part, esp cause it sounds like it’s in kind of a weird key so it’s really driving in that “this is exciting but strange and kinda nerve wracking but i don’t hate it” vibe ya know??
**jazz - okay so i think this was such a fucking good song to play for this part???? “drink more water” is just....idk really funny to me?? but also the song itself is really chill and playing a rap song if they knew they were gonna cut the sound of the dialogue out was a really smart type of song to choose!!!! like it’s obvious that matteo is just staring at him and losing his mind over having a cute boy at his place, and the way they cut the words out when matteo and david are talking and slowly fade it out....it’s good dude it’s VERY good
love$ick - this song starts with a very interesting lil percussion bit that really sets up the tone for this part of the clip??? it’s fun and catchy and has an interesting beat and mixes really well with the sounds of two high dumbasses cooking gross sandwiches and falling in love :,,) it’s also kind of interesting that they chose to play a part with no words while they are cooking because there is very little actual dialogue, so unlike before where they filled the silence with fast rap, here they really want you to focus on the smaller details and the way their bodies already naturally kind of move around each other very well?? and the way they end it right after the boys each take a bite of the sandwich is really funny to me just cause you can obviously hear the *crunch* and then it stops and you hear them both going like “hmmm” “mhm” and the “weird....but also good??” i think i love every single decision this show has made so far with the music tbh
**go rilla - this song starts playing like the second before matteo picks up davids beanie, and it definitely isn’t the happiest sounding song, but while it has kind of a sadness to it the music drives in a way that makes the vibe more that matteo is sad that david left, but seeing the beanie is a moment of “oh, but now i get to interact with him again” so it’s a hopeful kind of sadness?? i’ve definitely talked about the hopefulness of some of the songs before but i feel like its the correct word?? like as a viewer i’m hearing that song and seeing him hold the beanie and i’m thinking to myself “oh, davids gone, but it’s not over yet folks!!!!”
ahh hope this was okay hope y’all enjoy readin my stupud ass thoughts about this topic lol next one soon??? probably??????
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alvadee · 5 years
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Hello I absolutely adore how much you love victor can you please tell me all about him(cause im stupid and dont know too much lol) and what you love most about him or whatever only if you want tho i just think its really adorable
EDIT:  I found this in my drafts from half a year ago 😬 i forgot to finish my reply but i’m gonna post it now. ops…
💕💕💕 you know how happy you make me right??!!
idk, i feel like i’m repeating myself because i’ve posted like 85% of my research (in my vb tag) since february of 2018 but here it goes
i just adore his character, talent and beautiful/very goofy face!
when i first saw him in baby jane i immediatelly liked how he looked and after the movie i was amazed what a good actor he was. and then i read his bio and was positively surprised that he had a busy career until his much too early death at 43. then i went and listened to his comedic poetry on youtube. and i loved it! i thought it was so creative and adorable and just hilarious! it’s been months but everytime i listen to his album while riding the bus to work i catch myself grinning like a fucking idiot. the funny thing is i watched a video that also had a slideshow with pictures of him in a couple of his popular roles and i was like
here’s a list (probably incomplete bcs my memory is a mess) of reasons why i adore him so much:
the fact that he didn’t drive bcs he was scared of it so his little brother always used to drive him to film sets bcs that guy who played middle aged villains was actually a big baby who only got over his fear when he was like thirty
that he was such an amazing cook that he hosted weekly dinners which were a bribe to get his friends to drive him places, they all took that bribe gladly
his love for drama, before he decided on being an actor he wanted to be a priest (bcs of the fancy wardrobe) or a doctor (bcs of the heroic moment where he would save little Billy from dying and Billy’s father would shake his hand and congratulate him)
he fucking kept count of all the people he killed on screen so every couple of years he updated the number in the interviews he gave
he was anti gun and violence and did not only publish recorded poetry on that topic but also managed to change his screen career in the 70s to less violent roles and shows
the fact that he was never ashamed of being fat or apologized for taking up space, as well as making fat and body positive comedy publicly, on TV, in the 60s and 70s
womens reviews on him: gentleman, charming, the most beautiful eyes you’ll ever see, adorable, an “old soul”
mens reviews on him: hilarious, could make you cry on the floor laughing with just one word, poet’s soul, good heart
used the prestige from his oscar nomination at the age of 24 for “Baby Jane” to force the people behind the movie “The Strangler”, which was his first starring role, to cut the sleazynude scenes of his co-actresses from the script by walking off set and refusing to resume shooting. he won
how very passionate and educated he was about Shakespeare! and how much he wanted to make him accesible to everyone
his immense love and passion for acting and transforming himself. he once bought a very expensive bald cap to play Falstaff but decided it wasn’t good enough and was like “nah” and shaved his head anyway. and when he lost weight during rehearsals he wanted to be padded for the role. lol
the fact that he was already such a good actor as a child that people in the audience knew he’d become a fantastic character actor when he was in elemantary school. and as soon as he had his first starring role in a play at 18, he immediatelly won an award for it
that he had to abort his acting study at university because his father was sent to jail and he managed to be the bread winner of the family at just 21, taking care of his mother (her whole life), his little brother and another boy
that dumb baby face he had! such gorgeous, bright, twinkling, blue eyes, dark long lashes, extremely expressive eyebrows, noble forehead and nose, snappy beard, weird and endearing bird like mouth, roguish smile, adorable chin, cutest cheeks ever. ugh!!
his sonorous voice and the way he talked. so intelligent, witty and compassionate. i love the way he expressed himself in word and writing
his stature, elegance and perfect pear shape. that man had a booty and he knew it!
he named his dog Tosca, after the opera, and called it a “beghuahua” because it was a cross between a beagle and a chihuahua 
he occasionally sent Bette Davis yellow carnations
after being tackled by a catholic nun as a boy decided football wasn't for him
instead of partying on set he invited his co-actors to play board games with him in his trailer 
his wanderlust, he loved travelling and exploring different cultures
once got called out by a director because he was mugging. even though the director was on a boat on a river and Victor was in a crowd on the river bank bcs they were shooting a biblical epic. like, his talent for stealing scenes was through the roof!
constant Shakespeare quoting, even when drunk
him doing group water gymnastics at a spa to classical music
that he could go “into character” wherever he was and drew a crowd
the way he built his buddy Robert Mitchum up after he was fired from a movie by cracking him up with his witty quips
all his charity work, including many appearances as Santa 
his deep love and life long involvement with the Old Globe Theater where he had his start, he even was gifted an old door from it once, it really broke his heart when it was burned down by an arsonist
his immense love for teaching, which he said was really just “learning under the guise of teaching” and general love for people
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janiedean · 5 years
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the gwendoline christie meet-up of doom recap
... wow it’s been a week and I still hadn’t managed to do it hahahaha ops. okay I hope I haven’t forgotten any details klfjlak anyway HERE HAVE THE FULL-ON RECAP OF THE GWEN CHRISTIE EXPERIENCE OF DOOM.
so: of course the con had to be in dortmund which meant that getting there directly was Not Doable and I had to go to @incblackbird​‘s in belgium first and then take a bus with her to germany and back and guys let me tell you dortmund is a piece of work but it has a very nice subway at least. NOW, as everyone knows if they’ve been around here for more than one month I really have Personal Reasons To Be Into Brienne As A Character and since I was like ‘okay she does a lot less cons than most other got actors so idk if I’ll have a second chance to meet her I’m going all out on this’, instead of going empty-handed as I usually do because I have no imagination for gifts to the actors and I can’t exactly bring them fanfic I figured I’d polish some old meta, maybe write a bit about Brienne’s Importance As Rep For Not Standard Attractive People and give it to her. which was all good but since I also wrote some stuff on jaime and brienne for merel’s cersei book (which then obv. got edited to hell and back to fit that topic XD) I figured ‘heeey I can just put the unedited version in there as well’ aaaand.... then I was like ‘oh well if I went through all of asos then I should also do the jb-related parts in affc’ which added to the brienne-only related introduction ended up.... being..... long around 50k (with quotes of course but still) because of course WHO knows how to be a synthetic person around here? certainly not me. anyway, this was the thing:
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(yes the cover is what it is but you don’t even wanna know the levels of GOING TO SLEEP AT THREE AM FOR TWO WEEKS PLUS PRINTING IT THE DAY BEFORE LEAVING that preparing it reached flgdsk)
soooo I’m skipping on organization-related details/trip details because no one needs to know and on saturday I get into the con place with my trusted and updated catelyn cosplay like THIS IS POTENTIALLY THE MOST EMBARRASSING CELEBRITY MEETING MOMENT IN MY EXISTENCE, I go to the panel where someone asked her about how she feels playing someone described as *ugly* in the book and she gave a honestly touching long answer about how she felt like it was a privilege because you don’t get many not-standard-attractive characters, that she wanted the role and she thought actually it wouldn’t be popular because *ugly* female characters aren’t usually popular and that she felt it was important to have more of that variety on tv and I was about like ‘oKAY NOW I KNOW I’LL NEVER SURVIVE THE AUTOGRAPH’. hahaha. soooo I tried to go and get it so we could do the photo op later but obv. the queue was long as hell and I got there just when she left for lunch so I had to do the picture before the autograph, now sadly since there was a long queue you couldn’t exactly do anything too complicated with the pictures but she 100% was lovely to everyone, said hi and goodbye to everyone who came up to her and she totes recognized the cosplay my heart. (also in the panel she said she wanted to resurrect cat BLESS YOU GWEN BLESS YOU.)
aaaand. you can probably see that I was about to go like OMG HOW DO YOU EVEN EXIST YOU’RE TOO MUCH FOR ALL OF US MERE MORTALS but anyway:
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sjdgldsjk if I think about it I’m still like HOW DID IT HAPPEN HOW DID I SURVIVE IT. anyway.
after that I go immediately to autograph queue again and like I would like to specify that the queue was insane like there were a lot of people and while I was EXTREMELY happy to see it because your favorite getting long lines is always an extremely good thing I also was kinda worried they’d cut things short same as they did with the photo op and I wouldn’t have complained if they had because I totally get it was a lot of people but ANYWAY. I queue again (while @incblackbird was also there and probably being extremely amused at my distress), I get there, I miraculously don’t faint the moment we make eye contact (could have happened tbh) aaaand I go like ‘okay about that thing you said at the panel before when it came to representation, HMMMM I’ve got to tell you something’ and thank fuck no one stopped me, I managed to more or less tell her that I read the books before season two and I really had a not so mild case of relating to brienne because of shared life experience and I was really hoping that the show would find an actress who’d make justice to the character and she one hundred per cent delivered on that and then I probably went into a string of embarrassing compliments while still trying to sound like a reasonable human being (count that I hadn’t had time for lunch or anything so I was running on adrenaline lmao) aaaaand...... she answered going more in-depth about the stuff she said before in the morning for... a good five minutes actually? I mean we definitely talked about it and she said the same things except more one on one obv. and she also said that she had read the book and realized What She Was Representing but she wasn’t sure people would grasp it and I was like NOOOOO DON’T WORRY SOME OF US DEFINITELY DID and honest she really took the time to talk to me when there was a really long queue behind us and it wasn’t basic niceties - like I’ve done enough signings at cons to grasp the difference and it definitely wasn’t, I left her a copy of that meta in the middle of all of this and she was like ‘for one I wasn’t expecting for people to be as much into brienne to actually do this kinda thing’ or something like that and she also signed my copy... with the goddamned golden pen like after I show it to two people they go like ‘aw how cute she used the lannister pen’ and I was like ‘..................... LMAO I WAS SO STARSTRUCK I DIDN’T NOTICE’ ops /embarrassment anyway at some point saint merel goes like (because I had totally forgotten) ‘btw she came all the way from italy just to see you’ and she was like ‘WAIT REALLY OH WOW THANK YOU’ and I was like ‘NO THANK YOU IT WAS ABSOLUTELY WORTH IT’ aaand we shook hands and I left after some good five minutes I think which is... kinda more than I ever talked with anyone in an autograph line in my entire life lol honestly I was just glad I didn’t end up doing something terribly embarrassing like dunno getting too emotional but thankfully I didn’t and it was honestly... really the best autograph experience I’ve had I think? or better time #1 with alfie allen also was great but I wasn’t exactly you know discussing stuff that was personally affecting me so yeah haha that was it and she was absolutely worth getting there and back and this woman is too good for this world and yeah. best idea I ever had tbh or top ten ideas I ever had a+ would re-do it in ten seconds.
(if anyone’s interested in the lannister pen autograph:
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... aaand okay that was it when it came to gwen because she had no panels the next day and I used up both picture and autograph on day one but again, 100% worth it would re-do it immediately and she’s the best and yeah I’m still like DID IT HAPPEN and it’s been a week. she’s the best okay? k.
(also, someone’s already asked, so if anyone wants to know if I’m planning to share that meta: the ending was polished stuff that’s already on tumblr, I’m planning on posting the first part on here because it’s a question of principle and the rest I need to re-elaborate because at this point I might just throw in catelyn as well and do a full-on brienne text analysis idk but anyway at some point I’ll make it surface somewhere uu)
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uglypastels · 6 years
Text
The Origin - Peter Parker  (1/2)
(a/n) This story if for @starksparker 10k writing challenge (congratulations and wow, you’re awesome!! <3) The prompt I chose was: #80 - “I like that color on you”.  I hope it’s as much of a joy to read as it was to write. 
I also want to give a big (like galaxy sized) shoutout to @andwhatdostarsdobest for helping/editing the shit out of this. Thank you for making this story readable. 
word count: 9927 
warning: cursing, sick Peter (so maybe angsty idk), fluff, some horrible jokes and references. 
The story ended up becoming much longer than I had anticipated. So stay tuned for part 2!!
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“When do you think they will finally let us go home?” Peter heard the whispers behind him. He looked at his watch. It was around 2 o’clock. There was still two hours to go until the end of the trip. He had the urge to answer the question but knew it wasn’t directed toward him.
The girls behind him kept giggling, he wished they would shut up so he could hear the lab guide better.
“Hey, shut it.” Another voice spoke up from the crowd.  Peter, was, for a moment, convinced it was his voice but no, it couldn’t be, it was too high,  And it came from behind him. His eyes, which had been glued to the guide for most of the lecture, wandered off to the side where they landed on (Y/N). She was clad in her usual oversized sweater, fading into the crowd of bored teenagers. Her backpack casually hanging off one shoulder. The girls she had been talking to rolled their eyes and started laughing as they walked away to the side of the group. (Y/N) fidgeted with the sleeves of her sweater, pulling them down over her hands. She had been staring hard at the ground, but when she lifted her head, her gaze pierced right through Peter. It’s a weird sensation sensing someone watching you, Peter was sure that’s why she hadn’t looked him in the eyes. Not wanting to make her uncomfortable he mustered a half-smile before returning his gaze to the guide.
They had been sharing lessons ever since their enrollment at  Midtown High. Except for the conventional ask for a pen, they had never really talked much. In freshman year they did a project together for biology class, but in the age of Google Drive and shared documents, they barely needed to talk.
Still, Peter couldn’t help but feel intrigued by the girl. She had this something about her that made Peter want to get to know her. That something had always been there, nagging at the back of his mind whenever he saw her but each time his nerves got the better of him.  Peter mentally cursed himself for his anxiety
“Here at Oscorp Lab, we have spent many years trying to find out as much as we can about Vita Radiation,” the guide said,  moving to the side where a big window of, what Peter assumed to be, thick bulletproof glass,  separated them from a group of scientists in radiation suits.
“Our highest priority in this research has always been to try and recreate Erskine’s infamous Project Rebirth, of which you may have heard of in your history class-”
“-wasn’t that done in secret and illegally?” Michelle’s voice broke out from the back of the group. Their guide stared blankly at the group of teenagers before breaking out into an exasperated smile, disregarding Michelle’s accusation and continuing his story.. Peter snorted at the situation.
________________________________________
Half an hour later than planned, the group was finally standing on the steps leading to and away from the labs. Peter sat down on one of the higher steps, further away from the rest of the class. It would still be another minute or five before the bus would get there. He sighed, looking down at his fellow students... most of whom were on their phones. Joining them, Peter pulled his phone from his pocket and started scrolling mindlessly through his apps. There weren’t any notifications for him to check, so what else could he do?
A high pitched scream penetrated the silence, capturing his attention. A  few laughs followed. Peter’s gaze shifted from the screen in front of him. People were laughing even harder now, as the yelps and little screams continued. He scrambled up to get a better look. (Y/N) was stood a few steps below, moving vigorously, her arms flapping wildly around her as if she was trying to shake something off... It looked like she needed help.
Peter rushed down the stairs to help her, arriving just in time to catch her. Her chaotic movements had caused her to lose her balance and teeter dangerously close to the edge of the step... He reached out pulling her back before any harm was done.  Peter was a humble guy but he couldn’t help but expect some kind of thank you, even if it was only small. Instead, she whimpered, “gerroff! Gerroff!” He didn’t understand what she was saying until he noticed something in her hair. It was small, but the color contrasted deeply with her hair.
“Wait! Stand still,” he instructed. (Y/N) stopped moving. Her lip was quivering slightly, her hands shaking. Peter reached out to the strand of hair in which the small spider was hanging. He hated spiders, but that only made him understand (Y/N)’s reaction even more and he was determined to help her out.
Fighting back his own fears, he tried to keep his hand steady as possible. The creature scuttled up and down, causing (Y/N) to close her eyes and stiffen up. She bit down hard on her lip, attempting to hold in her brewing screams, and Peter was pretty sure she was holding her breath too.
Peter tried getting the spider one more time. He stepped a little closer and cupped the eight-legged abomination in his hands. When he stepped away, he saw all the muscles in her body relax.
“Thank you,” the words came out a mere whisper. They were looking at each other for a few seconds until Peter remembered that he could talk.
“Yeah, no problem” he breathed out a smile, “I- ouch! Oh shit!” A pain erupted from his hand and shot through his whole body. (Y/N)’s relief had made him completely forget about the spider encased in his palm. The spider was sick of being stuck in his grip too, apparently, because when he opened up his hands he saw the arachnoid poised in the middle... A red circle surrounding it. He looked at it in shock. The bastard had actually bitten him?! Was he going to die? Every possible outcome rushed through his mind, none of them resulting in a happy ending. How would he tell Aunt May? She would be so mad if he died on a school field trip. Nausea coursed through him and his head felt light. He couldn’t tell if it was from the bite or the prospect of his furious aunt. The spider twitched on his palm, making his skin itch. Without thinking, he shook his hand. The spider fell off and disappeared from view. Peter searched, but couldn’t see it anywhere. That’s what he always hated the most about spiders, the way they could roughly vanish into thin air. He felt very uneasy knowing it could be anywhere.
“Are you okay?” The soft voice brought him back. His eyes meeting (Y/N)’s.
“Huh? Yeah, yeah. I’m fine,” he paused thinking of the right words, not wanting to stir panic within her, “are you okay? you almost fell and you know...”
“Yes, I’m good. Thank you, again,” she blushed. Peter thought she looked really cute. The way her cheeks had this soft pink glow against hair fair skin. “But didn’t it bite you?” She raised her eyebrow. Peter hoped she hadn’t seen that. He pulled down the sleeve of his sweater so it would cover his hand. “Nah, I’m fine.”
“So, what was that ouch all about.” There was an amused expression on her face. Peter wanted to say something, but no words came out. After a while, he stammered out, “cramp.”
“Cramp?” she scoffed, clearly not believing any of it. Peter nodded to try and assure her this was the case. The sound of screeching wheels below interrupted the awkward conversation. The two of them looked down at the bottom of the steps where the giant yellow school bus had just rolled to a stop. Peter wanted to get away from the confrontation so he started making his way downstairs, walking fast, faces passed. Peter hummed the piano melody when somebody called out his name, in some way or another…
“Hey, Penis Parker!” Flash yelled out from above him. Peter stopped and turned around. “Do you want your stuff?” Flash was standing next to his backpack.
“Oh, yeah, thanks, Flash.” He was walking up to meet him, but Flash had other plans.
He picked up Peter’s bag and practically yeeted it down at his owner. There was a $200 graphic calculator in it and aunt May would most likely kill him if he broke it. Fearing Aunt May’s wrath, Peter jumped up trying to catch it. His usually horrible reflexes gone as he grabbed it just in time. Another shot of pain rushed through him. Why did he have to catch it with that hand? He almost dropped the backpack as his whole arm went numb from pain.
“Oh right, totally fine,” he heard (Y/N) mumble from the bottom of the stairs. She rolled her eyes and headed off for the bus. Feeling defeated and a bit humiliated, Peter stayed behind, frozen on the steps. There was this feeling at the bottom of his stomach. This mix of nervous nausea and general sickness feeling his guts.
Peter could feel the ground underneath him shake as the rest of his classmates walked to the bus as well. Ned walked up to him, “at least you tried.” Ned gave him a little pat on the shoulder and more uncomfortable sensations littered throughout his body. They felt like ten thousand knives stabbing him in the shoulder, traveling all the way to his fingertips. He had to hold in a groan and the few tears collecting in his eyes.
Ned turned around to look at Peter when he realized his best friend wasn’t walking behind him. “Pete, let’s go.”
“Yeah, okay.” But Peter didn’t move. Ned had to get up the stairs again and drag Peter down himself.
“You’re pathetic, you know that?” Ned said as he grabbed him by the arm. More pain flushed through Peter. Through slightly gritted teeth, he managed to say: “Yeah, I know.”
They made their way over to the bus, the last ones to get inside. Ned walked ahead of Peter, finding his way to their usual seats. Peter would normally join him, but his legs were buckling beneath him. He fell into the first seat he reached and sank against the window. The cold glass cooled down his now boiling face. It also sent chills down his spine. He was sure his body temperature would break a thermometer, and the pain was spreading from his arm to his chest and right through to his feet. Maybe he was really dying. All those jokes he made were coming to bite him in the ass. He definitely didn’t feel so smarmy now. Everything hurt so much.
His painful thoughts had to be interrupted when his whole body started to shake. Oh, he was having a seizure? Why not. Only he wasn’t, because he heard a voice: “Peter, Peter!” Two hands gripped his shoulders. Peter groaned, pain bursting into him again, as he opened his eyes. When did he even close them?
“What?” he mumbled, rubbing his eyes. His arm ached with every small movement. He could feel someone looking at him.
“You have to get up unless you want to stay on the bus for the whole night.” It was Ned. Chuckling. Peter didn’t understand, but then he looked out the window and saw that the bus was standing in front of the school. How? When? Did he fall asleep? Did he already die and this was heaven… no, this was school - he was in hell!
Very slowly, he managed to pull himself up, the pain not subsiding for even a moment. Cold sweat pooled at his forehead and begun to trail down it in small, uneven lines.  The feeling was so intense as his entire body began to shiver. One of his knees was shaking so bad that he almost fell over. If it wasn’t for Ned catching him, he would have hit his face in the seat of the bus bench.  
“Are you okay?” Ned asked, still holding on to him. Peter pulled himself together. Clearing his dry throat, he managed to make out: “Yeah, yeah, just a bit sick.”
He picked his backpack up from the seat next to him. Stupidly using that hand again. Ned was still looking at him, so Peter bit his lip and pushed through it. He pulled the backpack over his shoulder, it still hurt but not so intensely as his hand. Ned gave his friend a concerned look. Peter just smiled through his pain. Yes, just smile while you feel like you’re being skinned alive. Just like any other day. Except it’s much worse. So, so much worse.
His internal monologue almost blocked out Ned’s voice. Peter could see his lips move and he knew there were words coming out of them, but everything just sounded like an air horn. His head hurt. Not getting any answer, Ned walked away, glancing back at Peter a few times before leaving the bus. Peter was now the only one left in the vehicle. Even the driver had gotten out, probably ready to smoke a cigarette after a full day driving around teenagers.
Step by step, he made his way outside, clinging onto anything he could to steady himself. Immediately, he was blasted by the sun, and a blistering feeling covered his corneas. Since when was it so bright in New York? He almost tripped, forgetting the last step. Thankfully, there was nobody around him to bear witness to that.  Nobody to see him walk clumsily to the subway station, reminiscent of a Walker from the Walking Dead. Granted, he received a few strange looks from the people on the subway, but Peter had the feeling they had seen stranger things… oh, at least now he knew how Will Byers felt all through season 2. Was the spider possibly from the Upside Down? Was Oscorp a real-life Hawkins Lab? Were they also trying to make a passageway to another dimension? It all made sense...all those weird alien things attacking New York for the past few years… they were just Demogorgons and whatnot.
Peter almost missed his stop. He was falling asleep again. The conspiracy theory about his favorite Netflix show becoming a bit too much for his last two working brain cells, but he knew he had to get back home. If he didn’t, things might end up getting much worse. The doors of the subway slid open and he urged himself forward, head rush hitting as soon as he moved. But by some miracle, he managed to weave past the other commuters and stumble onto the platform... Next followed a walk of thirty minutes which usually took him about ten. Most of the delay was caused by his tempo, his legs hurt too much to keep up his normal speed, but there were a few occasions in which Peter just simply took a wrong turn and almost ended up on the other side of the city. On a few occasions, he actually walked into a dark alley on purpose, his eyes couldn’t take the firing sunbeams anymore. These were all signs, he knew it - death was upon him.
Finally, at his own door. He swallowed, hard, trying to muster the strength to search for his keys. None came. Instead, he weakly knocked on the door, waiting for May to open it. His face felt like a juxtaposition, hot and cold all at once. His knees were now shaking at the weight of the rest of his body and his arms hung heavy by his side. The only thing that was missing was Aunt May’s spaghetti. Yes, this is definitely the time to make horrible jokes. While you are dying in the corridor. If he had the power, he would have kicked himself. Thankfully, the door swung open.
Aunt May appeared in front of him. The smell of her walnut meatloaf perforated the apartment and now the corridor, filling Peter’s nostrils and he was this close to throwing up. It wasn’t even because of the meatloaf, even if it was always a catastrophe, it was more the change for his senses that caused it. The difference in smells made his head spin and his stomach turn.
Aunt May had not been paying attention to the state of her nephew. Peter assumed she was rummaging in the key bowl next to the door. He could hear the tingling of metal in porcelain. The high-pitched noises left a ringing sound in his ears.
“Did you lose your key again? I swear, Pete-” May’s last words faded at the sight of him once she finally looked in his direction. Peter knew he must look horrible. The right word was probably “dead”. He looked dead. At least that is how he felt.
“What’s wrong with you?” She pulled him inside as Peter tumbled into the apartment, his legs giving up on him. If it wasn’t for May, he would have fallen to the ground, face first. She grumbled as she tried to keep him up and steady. Securing her arms around his waist, she managed to direct Peter to the couch, which he fell onto immediately. His eyes closed the moment his head touched the pillow. He couldn’t wait for sleep to properly hit him now.
He could feel a blanket being wrapped around him and a cool hand touching his forehead. It felt amazing. For the last few minutes, he had been feeling like he was stuck in a sauna. He could hear May’s voice in the distance, even though she was right next to him. “Oh Pete, you’re burning up,” May’s concerned voice echoed in his head. He just groaned in agreement. Unconsciously he pulled the sleeve even more over his bitten hand, attempting to hide it from May. He felt the weight of the couch change, telling him that his aunt was now sitting on the other side. There probably wasn’t much space left for her, as he could feel the opposite arm with his feet. May tried to pull his legs up to place them gently on her lap, not wanting to cause Peter anymore discomfort. Except, when his limbs moved, more pain shot through him and Peter practically yelled out in agony. May dropped them in surprise, causing another surge to race through Peter.
“Peter?” there was no real question asked, so he didn’t respond. His eyelids were so heavy now that he couldn’t even blink them open. He didn’t know when, but at some point, he finally fell asleep.
________________________________________
When he woke up, Peter couldn’t move. His barely existent muscles were fiery from the intense pain. Breathing had to be kept to a minimum because heaving his chest hurt too much. His head was throbbing. He could practically feel his brain pulsing, each and every beat adding to his miserable state. His clothes felt drenched from the cold sweat.
There was a knock on the door. Without thinking, Peter answered weakly with a, “come in.” But wasn’t he in the living room? Why would he answer that? He opened his eyes. Above him was not the grey ceiling under which he fell asleep. Instead, he saw the bottom of his bunk bed. How did he get to his own room?
The door of his room opened. Peter closed his eyes again, the glare from the light on the bedside table was too bright for his eyes. It was too painful. Footsteps approached him, they were heavy, definitely not Aunt May’s. The voice that accompanied the steps, verified Peter’s speculations.
“Hey, buddy.” Uncle Ben bowed down to sit next to him on the bed. The switch of the weight in the mattress made Peter shift a bit, causing a wave of pain to run through his ribs. It wasn’t as bad as before, but a small cry still left his lips. He made another attempt at opening his eyes. The light still agitated him, but he worked through it. Soon enough, he saw the broad shape of his uncle sharply in front of him. His sympathetic smile poked from underneath his mustache. He was holding a plate in one hand. Peter could smell burnt toast. Was he having a stroke?!
“Once you feel like you can get up, eat some breakfast, okay? I brought you some toast.” Oh, that explained it. But one thing was still bugging Peter. “Breakfast?” he quizzed his uncle. He hadn’t even eaten dinner yet. Ben chuckled at his confusion. As always, his laugh was casual but mocking at the same time.
“You’ve been knocked out cold for a good fifteen hours, Pete. May called the doctors at least five times.” Peter rose so quickly he felt like he got whiplash. His vision spun for a moment. He was starting to feel sick in the pit of his stomach. He couldn’t have been sleeping that long. What was the last time he even slept more than six hours? He couldn’t remember.
“Fif-fifteen hours?” he mumbled as he held his head, trying to keep it steady. Everything was still spinning in front of his eyes hazily.
“Yeah, I brought you to bed after the first few. Thought it might be a bit more comfortable,” he smiled.  Small wrinkles spreading next to his eyes. Showing that even with his great looks, age would catch up with everyone eventually.
Uncle Ben put down the plate near Peter’s legs and got up. He reached out for the pillow lying on the upper bed of the two. After fluffing it for a while he put it behind Peter’s back, who leaned against it immediately.
“Thanks.” Peter sighed satisfied. The spinning in his head finally stopped.
“Well, call us if you need something. Get some rest, and eat if you can.” He leaned down to pat Peter’s knee. A high pitched squeal left his mouth at every touch. It hurt so much.
“Sorry.” His uncle gave him one last, apologetic, smile before walking to the door and closing it behind him, leaving Peter alone. Peter took a few deep breaths. Yes, his body felt like it was on fire and his clothes stuck to his sweaty skin, but on the bright side, at least he didn’t feel like he was about to faint from exhaustion. He was wide awake, in fact. He could finally think straight again.
The empty feeling in his stomach encouraged him to pick up the plate of toast. It was just plain toasted bread, but in his state, Peter knew that it was the safest option. He was hungry and he would like to actually keep the food he ate in him and not puke it out a moment later. He went to grab the plate but froze when he saw his hand. He almost threw up right there.
The red circle that had formed soon after the bite, was now dark purple, almost black. It had also spread over most of his hand drawing all the way back to his wrist - which had swollen tremendously. On the back of his hand, his blue veins taut against his skin and he could swear he could see the blood pumping around them.
But even with the horrible look of it, the hand didn’t hurt anymore. If he closed his eyes, it was almost as if nothing ever happened… almost. But really the pain had simply moved to every other part of his body and squared itself. And then there was the fever and vertigo. What did that spider do to him?
He didn’t want to think about it. It was best not to think about it. Too much thinking about it couldn’t help him anyway. Worst case scenario, he dies. Oh, well. It would happen sooner or later. Of course, later was always much preferred, but… oh, who was he kidding? Peter didn’t want to die. Not like this. Not a vi…
“Peter?” Aunt May’s sleek, brunette hair appeared in the doorway. Like a flash, Peter had buried his bruised and swollen hand deep under the covers. He could only imagine the reaction it would have on her. There was no need for that. Peter just hoped he was quick enough. Fortunately, she didn’t. Taking one step forward she wrinkled her nose, “ugh, Pete, open the window for once, would you.”
“Sorry.” With his free hand, he took one piece of toast off the plate.
May walked to the window and drew the curtains. The sun shone into the room, searing Peter’s eyes. It was a big change from the weak light coming from the small lamp on his nightstand.,  The light from outside was much too harsh, his eyes were still very sensitive. It was as if his eyes couldn’t take up all the light particles anymore. He whined as he hid his eyes away from the brightness, and then again as he moved a tad too quickly. His muscles still ached as much as they had when he fell asleep on the couch. When he opened his eyes again to look at Aunt May, the room got even brighter, as if someone had dialed up the brightness to over a 100%.
He saw her open the window and that is when everything really went berserk: A police car speeded by through the street nearby and Peter thought his head would explode at the noise. He had never heard anything louder in his life… and he had gone to a Metallica concert with Uncle Ben last fall. His ears were still ringing when May walked up from the window.
“Eat up. I’m gonna bring you some medicine and I want to check your temperature,” she eyed him up and down, “and put on some fresh pajamas.” Her eyes had that friendly sternness in them for which she was known.
“Yes, ma'am.” Peter smiled as he took another bite of his toast, the dry food hard to swallow but at least he wasn’t throwing it up. “Could you also bring some water?” He did his best to look as innocent as possible.
May gave him one last look before walking off to get the medicine and a thermometer.  Peter ate one whole piece of toast before struggling to his feet, fighting through the pain in his legs and arms the entire time. His eyes remained closed until he was upright, taking a few small breaths first. He made his way to his closet to get a pair of sweatpants and a t-shirt. Every step hurt, his joints grinding, it took everything in him not to scream. The short walk had already exhausted him and he still had to pick some clothes and then put them on! Not to mention, he also had to take off the gross clothes he was already wearing. Tentatively, he shimmered out of the sweater that was stuck to his chest. Just like predicted, he was glistening from the sweat that dripped down his body. He had a feeling that as much as he was perspiring, this was a fever he just couldn’t sweat out.
With his upper body bare, he could get a better look at the rest of his arm. The bruising around his hand had only reached his wrist so far. But the dark veins were already showable all up to his elbow. Thick and bulging. Was this poison running through his veins? Would it kill him the moment it would reach his heart?
Peter glanced at the shirt he picked. It was a white short sleeve. With this one, it would be impossible to hide his arm. He put it on and over that a red hoodie that was comfortably laying in reach on a chair next to him. Perfect to cover up whatever was happening to him. He wasn’t doing this because he didn’t want his aunt and uncle to find out… well, that too, but mainly, he just didn’t want to look at it himself. It looked disgusting.
So he put on the sweater and took his jeans off, exchanging them for some blue sweatpants. The door opened once more, didn’t people in this house know how to knock? Peter only had one pant leg on so he jumped around a bit startled, almost toppling over. It would have been funny if he wasn’t in so much pain. He could swear he could hear his heartbeat in his head. Was that normal? Could he usually feel that? Surely not. Was he losing brain fluid? Was he literally drying out? It would make sense from the way he was feeling.
“Hi there,” Peter said awkwardly while still jumping around on one leg. Each time hurt more than the other. The dizziness was also coming back.
May had stood in the doorway waiting for him to finish putting on his trousers. The little nurse cap on top of her head. After all this time, Peter still couldn’t believe she kept that ridiculous thing. It started out as a little joke. His aunt would wear it when Peter was little and feeling a bit under the weather. Over the years it had just stuck around and become their thing. Even Uncle Ben would put it on sometimes. But mostly when it was Aunt May who was sick.
“Alright. Here.” She handed him a glass of water and five different kinds of pills. Peter had no idea if the medicine would actually work. He didn’t know if something against radioactive spiders could be found in your average drugstore.  Radioactive, where did that come from? He had no idea, but it all made sense now. It did happen in front of the Oscorp lab. A company so toxic and poisonous from all the chemicals that Peter was surprised he hadn’t grown another set of eyes or something from just standing in front of the building.
He took the pills from May and was about to take the first one but she stopped him abruptly, “wait!” Peter didn’t know what to do. Was he supposed to take the pill or not? His hand was suspended in mid-air, mouth hanging wide open, Peter looked to his aunt. His arm starting to shake from the position it was suspended in, so he let it fall to his side. His eyes still locked with Aunt May’s.
“Let me first check your temperature.” She shoved the thermometer into his open mouth without hesitation. Peter almost choking on the metal end. He and May stood in silence looking at each other until the beeping sounded from the little device and Peter opened his mouth to pull it out. He handed it over, afraid to look himself. He already knew what to expect. He had been burning up the whole day. That could not lead to a normal body temperature.
And he was correct because when May  looked at the result, she gasped: “104 degrees!” Her hand shot to Peter’s forehead. Standing for so long was draining all his energy. When her hand reached face, he had to hold on to a bookshelf to stop from falling over backward.
Her eyebrows furrowed she let go of him. “Okay, that’s it. You’re getting in bed! Now!” Her arm was straight, Pointing in the direction of the heap of blankets. Peter followed her demand before she could do anything about it herself. If she had pushed just a little bit, he would be laying on the floor with a concussion. He was sure of that.
“You’ve been walking around without a jacket again, haven’t you?” she exclaimed once he was laying in bed again, tucking him in. Peter wanted to protest. To say that no, he has always had a jacket on. But what would be the point? He couldn’t exactly tell her that a spider bit him and that now its venom was flowing through his body. No, he could, but why would he give her, even more, to stress out about. Let’s keep it at one tragedy at a time.
May tucked him in so tight that he could barely breathe. He was lucky he had remembered to leave his arms free from the covers, or otherwise, he would have been stuck with the pills and glass of water underneath it. May stood up straight, looking rather proud of her job, but more than a hint of concern could still be seen in her expression. Peter expected her to leave now, but she just stood watching him. Like she was expecting something from him. Which she was, he remembered -
“Oh, right.” He put one of the pills in his mouth,  swallowing it down with some water. He did the same thing with the other four. The last one he had a particularly hard time with. It was disgusting! Peter gagged when the small capsule got stuck in his throat. May had to help him not choke. Once she was sure Peter was safe and could breathe properly again, she let out a sigh of relief.
“Ok, call if you need anything. I took a day of work. Ben will be leaving in an hour or so… uhm, your phone is on the charger. But I don’t want you staring at a screen the whole day so, read a book or something.” The stern look came back on her face.
“You got it.” Peter handed back the glass. He watched as she left his room, leaving the door slightly ajar so she could see if he needed her. He sighed, using his last bit of energy. Now that he was a bit relaxed, he felt how his legs were shaking from those five minutes of standing. His head felt heavier again, so he lowered it onto his pillow. It was so soft that he soon was dozing off again.
________________________________________
Peter stirred in his sleep. The clock on the wall ticked loudly. Each tick reminiscent to his own heartbeat. Steady, but too loud for his own ears. There was another noise that bothered him and in the end, also was what woke him up. Footsteps. They weren’t Ben’s or May’s. He knew those all too well from all the nights in which he had to look out for them walking in on him while he was watching youtube or Netflix in the middle of the night. No, this was someone else… And they were walking towards his door. How did he know that? He could feel his heart beating in his throat now. The steps were so clear in his mind that he could envision the person nearing him. Getting closer and closer.
He was ready for a knock on his door any moment now, but nothing came. Instead, he heard the doorbell. Then May’s footsteps making their way to answer. Those he identified easily. She unlocked the door and Peter could hear her talking loud and clear: “Hello, there.” He could actually hear the smile that he knew was consuming her face.
“Hi,” it was a girl, a girl he knew, “I’m (Y/N). I go to school with Peter.” Her voice sounded shy. The same way when she was taken aback by a teacher asking her questions in class.
From the few people who cared about his existence at school, she was probably the last person who Peter would expect to visit him. His heart skipped a beat. Because - (Y/N)!? What was she doing here? How did she even know where he lived? And wasn’t it a school day? Or did he sleep through the whole day already?  The questions made his head hurt again, so Peter stopped thinking. Instead, he tried to concentrate on listening to the conversation. It hurt his head but happened much easier than he thought. It seemed impossible to him that he could not only hear, but also understand what they were saying from the distance which separated him, May and (Y?N).
Their conversation continued with a gasping laugh coming from May: “Ah, (Y/N). I’m Peter’s aunt, May. Nice to meet you.” (Y/N)’s voice responded almost immediately, now sounding more confident. “Likewise.” He had the feeling that the two were now shaking hands. Peter heard a creaking sound, presumably the front door opening wider. Then May spoke again, “come in. Come in. Does Peter know you’re-”
“Oh no.” (Y/N) interrupted, with a small laugh, “Ned was supposed to bring him his homework, but something popped up for the decathlon, so…” her words faded in the end, probably not having prepared a full answer. May, however, wasn’t bothered.
“Right, right. Well, come on in. I think he is sleeping.” This was followed by a small giggle. It was hard for Peter to identify who it was coming from. May? (Y/N)? Maybe both of them were laughing?
Peter rolled his eyes. If he had the strength, he would have run over to them and interrupted this embarrassing moment. It was so unfair. Wasn’t he supposed to at least be in the room if his aunt was embarrassing him in front of his crush?
After a small silence that followed the giggles, May spoke again: “I’ll go check up on him.” Footsteps approached his door for real this time. May sauntered in, her eyes sparkling even more than usual. Peter sat up as straight as his aching body would let him. His jaw locked in frustration...or was it from the pain?
His aunt was beaming gleefully, closing the door softly behind her so she could talk to her nephew in private.
“May, what are you doing?” he asked, internally freaking out and the smug expression of his aunt was not making anything better for him.
“Nothing,” May batted a hand in his direction, although he was sure he saw the corner of her mouth turning up, “there’s a girl-” She pointed back at the door with her thumb.
“I know,” he blurted out. May was taken aback but kept going. The smile not even fading from the corners of her mouth as she talked.
“She’s cute,” she teased. Peter wished that his illness would hurry up and kill him already. Mentally, this was so much worse than any pain he had endured so far.
“I know,” he repeated through gritted teeth this time, “and that’s why I don’t want her to see me like this.” He pointed at his face, which felt hot and sweaty and was probably paler than paper. May rolled her eyes at his dramatics. Biting her lip, like she always did when she was joking and said: “You look adorable, I’m sure she won’t mind. I’m letting her in.” Before Peter could object she was bouncing off towards the front door where (Y/N) stood to wait. The footsteps on the hardwood floor were clear as (Y/N) made her way through the apartment to his room. Peter felt beads of sweat drip down his forehead. He didn’t know if it was the fever or the nerves causing it. He never had a girl standing in his room before. And this was not the way he had pictured he would look the first time.
There was a gentle knock knock on the door. Peter answered with a croaking: “Come in.” and the door opened. Her hair fell into view before the rest of her. She poked her head inside. Probably a bit insecure about walking into his room for the first time, not sure what to expect.
“Hey there,” her voice its usual softness. Peter could barely make out her small wave as, as usual, her hand was completely covered by her oversized sweater. Peter waved back awkwardly. She drifted around his room, observing all his little trinkets. He followed her with his eyes, hoping he didn’t leave anything humiliating lying around. From what he could see, he seemed to be fine.  Although that reassurance vanished when he took another look at her. She seemed to have lingered on one thing in his room for an extended period of time, “is that a Lego Millenium Falcon?” She pointed at the object. Peter followed her finger. He looked at the grey sculpture standing in the corner of the room, leaning against a stand that Peter build after the original had broken when he and Ned were building it.
“Uh yeah,” Peter blushed. He couldn’t gauge from her level tone whether she was impressed or about to mock him. He hoped the former.  Luckily, he wasn’t wondering for long, as she walked up to it and smiled, “how long did it take you to build it?”
Peter scratched the back of his neck as he watched her examine the small version of the iconic spaceship. “I don’t know. A few weeks, maybe. Ned and I did it together.” She glanced at him from where she was standing, but her eyes went back to the Lego not even two seconds after. Whit a smile she commented: “Aw, that’s so cool. I have the Star Destroyer set at home, been trying to build it with my brother.” She looked at the lego set in fascination.
As she was not paying much attention to him, Peter didn’t know what to do. Should he lay down or stay seated? Should he start a proper conversation? He had no idea. This was the first time he had ever been properly alone with her. Trying to think of something as a reply, he dried his clammy hands on the duvet.
“Oh, cool.” Probably the un-coolest thing he could respond with, but he did anyway. (Y/N) chortled at his words, attention still on the Falcon. When she had finished marveling at it, she came over and sat down on the edge of his bed.  
There was a sheepish smile on her face.“How are you feeling?” she asked, “Ned told me you were sick. Was it the spider?” The last part came out as a whisper, which Peter appreciated as she never closed the bedroom door behind her.
Peter shook his head.“No, just a fever. Nothing bad,” he assured her. She looked skeptical, not buying into his flimsy story, and honestly, he couldn’t blame her. He didn’t believe it himself, so why would she. But she didn’t question him any further. Instead, she changed the subject completely. “Well, I brought you your homework. Ned couldn’t make it.”
“Yeah, I know,” he said. (Y/N) raised an eyebrow at him.
“You do?” Oh, he messed up. How could he have possibly known why she was here without having listened in on the conversation she had with Aunt May? He couldn’t tell her that. He didn’t want her to think he was weird. “Yeah. Ned, uh, h-he texted me,” he stuttered out in the end.
“Weird. I didn’t tell him that I was coming to see you.” she bend down to look through her backpack, which she had put down next to her on the floor before. She had said this very emotionlessly. Peter started to worry again. He thought he had this under control, but oh boy, was he far from that.
“I meant, that he texted me that he couldn’t come himself,” he tried again. Her expression softened a bit with the new information, even laughing a bit. She sat up straight. Seeing the worry in Peter she laughed even more.
“Wow, chill out, Parker. Obviously, I did tell him,” her laughter filling up the room, melodic sounds that seemed to match Peter’s heartbeat perfectly. “Otherwise, how would I have gotten your address? Well, anyway,” she put her backpack on top of her lap and unzipped it, “here’s your homework.” She pulled out a big pile of papers and a small box of what seemed to be cookies, “and here are some chocolate chip cookies my mom baked last night. I picked them up on my way from school to your place. I don’t know if you want them, or even like them, but yeah...” She looked a bit unsure at the clear tapestry before handing it over to him.
“Thanks.” He took the box and stack of homework from her,  placing them down on the bed aside from her. He wanted to get rid of them quickly before his arms gave out but he didn’t want (Y/N) to know that. He looked down at his hands. The fingers of his left hand were trembling a bit. He glanced back at her, only to see her staring blankly at the open zipper of her bag.
“So…” he wanted to start a conversation, desperately trying to cling on to any good starters. At the sound of his voice, she eagerly looked up from her backpack. “Ho-how are you?” he asked, slightly cringing at his own words.
“I’m good,” she smiled sheepishly, “you?” She paused, cursing herself,  “that’s a stupid question. Sorry.”
“No. It’s- I’m fine. Just a bit tired, I guess,” Peter rambled. As if the bed was suddenly burning her, she shot up. Mumbling, “right, sorry. I should let you rest.” She was walking away. Peter’s eyes were glued on her. Cursing himself with every move she made away from him.
Her hand wrapped around the door handle, about to leave. Peter wanted to stop her. He didn’t want to be alone and those short minutes with her had almost completely distracted him from the imminent death he was sure was coming. But he couldn’t possibly ask her to stay. He would sound weird and pathetic. They weren’t actually friends, as much as Peter yearned for it. He opened his mouth regardless, “no, wait. Sorry, I didn’t mean it like that. I’m not that tired.” His incoherent babbling was making (Y/N) smile, every time he tripped over a word her smile grew bigger. 
“It’s okay, Peter. I have to get going anyway. I hope you get better soon.”
“I hope so too,” he laughed awkwardly. Before she left she had a few last words for Peter. She turned around. With a smirk, she said, “I like that color on you.” Her cheeks turned a soft shade of pink and Peter had the feeling his cheeks looked the same. Although, his face had been boiling all day, so who knows.
“What?” he asked with a small laugh. He couldn’t remember the last time he got a compliment from a girl - that wasn’t his aunt. It had also come so suddenly that he wasn’t sure if she had actually said or if it was just a figment of his imagination, resulting from him being so sick. He just looked at her startled.
“The blue and red,” she pointed at his clothes, “not a lot of people dare to color block anymore. It suits you.” Peter looked down at his hoodie. It was okay, he thought, nothing too special though.
“Oh, uhm, thanks, what was he supposed to say? He frantically searched his brain for something light-hearted, “you look good… too.” That was not it. Peter wanted to bury his head in his hands. Why did he have to be like this? Fortunately, she laughed it off and waved him goodbye,  saying, “bye, Peter, I’ll see you around.”
“Yeah, sure.” He said so faintly it was almost a whisper. He waved her off until she closed the door behind her. Falling back into his pillow, his spine cracked in a few spots. It didn’t hurt, but Peter had to admit, that did not sound healthy. But he had other things to worry about, so he pushed it to the side. For example: how was it possible that he could hear May and (Y/N) talk on the other side of the apartment? Was it a fluke? Peter needed to know, so he concentrated as hard as he could. More footsteps. (Y/N)’s footsteps. They were light and quick. Almost as if she barely touched the ground while walking. Then they stopped, but he didn’t hear the door open. Instead, there were voices. Just like Peter assumed, May said, “oh, are you leaving already?”
(Y/N) sighed. “Yes, I got homework to do, so I should really get going.” An airy laugh left (Y/N)’s lips. How can I possibly hear this, he thought - still very confused about the whole situation. He expected to hear (Y/N)’s gentle voice again, but it was May who spoke: “Well, thank you for stopping by. I’m sure Peter enjoyed the company.”  The two said their goodbyes and after a shuffle of footsteps, the door banged a couple of times, as May tried to close. Uncle Ben had planned on fixing the jammed door already for weeks. Peter let out a breath he didn’t know he was holding. He was glad that (Y/N) had left because he didn’t have to pretend like he was not in agony.. But, at the same time, he was sad. Because Aunt May was right. He did enjoy the company.
The next thing that happened was difficult to describe. It was… strange at the very least. The door to his room opened without a warning, but Peter was prepared, sensing it before it happened. It wasn’t that he knew it would be May, but he could feel it. In a very specific way that he just couldn’t explain to himself. It wasn’t that he heard her walk or that he could see her. He just felt the presence of someone nearing him. It made the hair on his arms stand up. Like all his normal senses blacked out and were exchanged for this other, new, sense, that he didn’t know he had. Did he actually have it before? It didn’t seem like it. The sensation was too bizarre. If he had ever experienced it before, he would have remembered.
May walked in, practically radiating from the opportunity she had to tease Peter.“Sooo,” May smirked as she rounded the door,. “who is she?”  Why could Peter feel his aunt coming to his room, but not expect this conversation? Even when he knew she wanted to talk to him.
“No- no one. Just- just a girl from school.” Peter scratched the back of his neck, not feeling like having this conversation right now. May crossed her arms as she leaned oh-so-casually against the door.
“Uh-huh, sure. So every girl at your school is cute?” her voice rising on the last word, eyebrows waggling wildly. Peter wished he hadn’t said that. He closed his eyes hoping to find an easy way out from this conversation.
The feeling from before came back. Even with his eyes closed, it was like he could see his aunt walk towards him. He could see her reach out for his hand. The bitten hand. Like a reflex, Peter pulled it away, still wanting to keep his secret. Opening his eyes again, he saw that May was, indeed, crouching at the side of his bed. Her mouth hanging open slightly and brow now furrowed. Luckily, she had misunderstood it as a moody-teenager-move. Her smug smile changed when she wrinkled her nose and she pressed her lips to one corner of her mouth.
“Pete, you don’t have to be ashamed. It’s natural,” she mused. “if you ever wanna talk about anything, come to me.” She laid a hand on his hair, before drawing it away when she felt how damp it was, ”or Ben, if you don’t feel comfortable. Just talk, okay?”
“Yeah.” It was a weak yeah, but it was enough to satisfy his aunt. He reciprocated May’s smile which only widened hers.
She sat down on her knees on the ground, her elbows on the edge of the bed, while she leaned her chin on her hands. With wiggling eyebrows she “So tell me, what’s she like?”
“Ugh, oh my god!” Peter rolled his eyes with a groan. He thought that would be the end of it, but apparently not...Was he really having this conversation with her right now? On his deathbed?
“Fine, fine. I thought I would at least try. She seemed nice though.” May backed off with the questions. Her eyes suddenly flashed to something laying next to him, “she brought you cookies?” May reached out for the little tapestry box. With a click, it opened and the smell of warm chocolate filled the room. Did she warm them up for him? Peter watched his aunt take one cookie out of the box.
“Oh, these are good!” she said, taking a bite, immediately followed by a small moan. “Did she make those for you?” She waved around with the remaining part of the cookie.
“No, no, her mom did. She just...brought them.”
“Right, well, I’ll leave them here then. But…” she took two more cookies, “I’m taking these with me.” Winking she got up and left Peter alone again. Not for very long though, as her head poked around the doorframe moments later, “how are you feeling? Steady enough to join us for dinner?” Peter just nodded.
“Yeah, I’m a bit better. Still a bit hot.” He rubbed his dry eyes. The rough skin on his fingertips didn’t make it much better. May had watched his every move curiously.
“Hmm, I’ll check your temperature again later, and give you some cold medicine.” She walked away, this time for good. Peter didn’t know what to do. From the clock on the wall he saw there would still be around an hour until dinner and from two whole days of sleeping, he was now wide awake. He hadn’t realized it when he had company, but his muscles weren’t causing him as much pain anymore. Now it was a mere myalgia. Like he used to have every time after Gym class when they were forced to do a PACER test. His body felt like it was starting to return to normal. Except for his face, but that was just the fever, he was sure of it. Well, pretty sure. Like 70% sure.
Peter’s stomach rumbled. The idea of dinner already sneaking its way into his brain. He hadn’t eaten properly since lunch of yesterday. The smell of the chocolate in the cookies filled his nostrils and made his mouth water. He couldn’t deny, they smelled delicious.
And they were delicious. Peter took one bite and the cookie melted in his mouth. The chocolate was hot, but not hot enough to actually burn his tongue. It was amazing, probably the best cookie he had ever tasted. Which was a bit suspicious. No cookie ever tasted that good after 24 hours. Good cookies were still good, but this was a bit too good. And they were warm. Not the microwave kind of warm, no, this was straight from the oven warm. Did she actually bake those for him?
Even though he was alone, he shook his head in denial. No, there was no way. When would she have gotten the time to do that? And why would she? They barely knew each other. It didn’t make sense. They weren’t on the ‘I’ll come over and bring you cookies when you’re sick’ level of friendship. Although, just minutes ago he didn’t think they were on ‘complimenting each other’ level, yet, that still happened.
“Hey, Peter?” Ben’s voice roamed the apartment. It shook Peter out of his paranoia. The small shock made him jump up in his position on the bed, throwing the box of cookies into the air. He moved around so quickly, that not even a crumb fell on the bed, including from the cookie he was holding.
“Nice catch.”  Ben’s voice was closer now. Peter turned around his uncle standing, smiling at him. “How are you, buddy?”
“Fine, better than before.” Peter put down the box between his legs. Ben glanced down at the plastic container, a bit confused about why his nephew had a full box of chocolate-chip cookies.
“Good. Your aunt is asking me to ask you if you are joining us at the table.”
“What are we eating?” Peter quizzed his uncle, who just sighed in response. Peter sighed back, understanding what that meant, “if I tell you that I’m too sick, are you gonna make me get out there and eat that?”
“No, but I don’t think you can escape the meatloaf today, bud.” ben huffed out a laugh defeatedly.
“Right, I’ll just come.” He threw the blankets off his legs and kicked them back to the end of his bed. The small cramp in his thighs and calves making it hard to walk, and his knees were still a bit weak. However, that could be the cause of laying in bed the whole day. Uncle Ben had already walked back to the kitchen to help his wife not burn down the apartment. Peter went out to join them. He passed the mirror and wanted to do just that, pass it, but something he saw from his peripheral vision made his double take. He took a step back so he was standing in front of his reflection. At least, it looked like him at first glance. With a  clearer inspection, the edges started to blur, minor details of his features morphing in front of him, or so it seemed. It looked like Peter if he had been amateurly drawn while sick. Everything was right, but just a bit wrong at the same time.
He was much paler. Hair stuck to his forehead. A vein in his neck was pulsing. It wasn’t dark though, like the ones in his arm. His arm. Peter pulled up the sleeve of his hoodie. To his surprise, all the veins were fading back to their normal color. His wrist was still a bit swollen, but the dark bruises had faded to a less threatening yellow hue with just a hint of red in the middle. The spot where the spider bit him. He stretched out his fingers to check if they hurt. Nothing. He pressed the middle of his palm with his ring and middle finger. Still nothing. The fingers didn’t hurt, but an intense pain erupted from the pressure point, through his arm, all the way up to his chest. But it was a different kind of pain. Not in his muscles. It felt like it was literally coming from his veins.
With all of this, freaking him out a bit too much, he pulled the sleeve back down and continued looking at his reflection. Except for the strange vein, there was something generally off-putting about his neck. Together with his shoulders, it all looked to be broader. He rolled his head from left to right, back and forth and then in a circular motion. He heard several cracks. They didn’t hurt. But when he rolled his head back again, it did a bit, like a horrible cramp. To stop the pain from getting worse, he pulled his head back up.
His eyes were back on the mirror. He traced his body slowly, trying to see every small detail. Now that he thought about it, the sleeves of his hoodie felt a bit tight. It was one of those things that you didn’t see until you realize it. The same went for his sweatpants. They were just a bit off. Maybe it had shrunk in the dryer? Clothes did that, after all. Hmm, the clothes. They were just a simple red hoodie and blue sweats. Really nothing special. A bit too bright, Peter thought. But for some reason, it did suit him. He had no idea why, but (Y/N) was right. With a smirk still plastered on his face, he walked away, ready to eat some “food” his aunt had prepared.
> Part 2  <
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iamrheaspeaks · 5 years
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per·i·pe·tei·a 2
Erik x OC! (Morrigan)
Word Count: 1.9k
Bold text: Erik
Regular text: Morrigan
Warnings: None
A/N: Idk why my crazy self just had to include DTG knowing I hate it but here’s a reminder DDHHMM(Z)MON meaning (day, 24 time, local, month). Here’s Part 1 if you need a refresher. As always lightly proofread/ edited 💋
The Beginning:
150847UMAR
Target: Morrigan James
28yo 61.23kg
Identifiable Marks:
•Raised lateral scar/ left shoulder above armpit
•Roman soldier’s uniform shoulder pad tattoo/ left shoulder cap
•Emperor’s Crown tattoo/ behind right ear
•Tiny cat silhouette tattoo/ inner right wrist
Occupation: Case Manager/ Human Services
Mission: Deep Cover Surveillance
Morrigan flies out of her apartment to a used Mitsubishi Galant. It’s black on black minus the silver tire rims and front grill. She’s supposed to report to work at 0930. Morrigan stops at the coffee shop five blocks up the road while I hang back outside. The windows of the coffee shop are large enough for me to see everything from inside the Standard Issue Saab Truck they gave me. When she finally emerges Morrigan is balancing 6 cups of coffee and large brown paper bag. After finally maneuvering everything into the car she finishes her trek to work. She’s definitely something.
March 15 9:35am
Target: Erik Stevens/ N’Jadaka Udaku
30yo 225lbs
Identifiable Marks:
Keloid scars/ Range unknown
Occupation: Special Ops / Deep Cover
Erik arrived in town late last night. Judging by the looks of it he’d spent most of the night staking out my apartment instead of sleeping. A man determined. Something told me when his file hit my desk that Laila wouldn’t be the right one for the job. She is lethal and a hard-ass however, Laila can’t control her switches when angry or cornered. She’d blow the mission in an instant and this has to be long term. Erik won’t open up if the trust isn’t there. Plus, judging by the way Laila keeps staring out the window I made the right decision sending him after me instead. It’s 9:45am when Erik finally pulls off down the street, no doubt headed to his cover job. ‘Have a good first day Professor Stevens.’
151936UMAR
Morrigan and two female coworkers are having drinks at a Mediterranean Wine Bar named Porto. It houses a lot of culture-based décor. Antique knick-knacks and brightly colored, hand-painted tiles could be seen all around.  Not wanting to draw too much attention to myself it took awhile to scope out a good seat. The bartender serving the back of the house must’ve been new. She kept over pouring portions and confusing drinks. If it wasn’t for her being so personable I doubt anyone would come back to Taylor. I could see all the exits and most of the patrons from where I sat. Morrigan seems normal. Most of my surveillance of her so far just yielded information I already knew. Basic job, raised in a two-parent household, doesn’t appear to be living above her means. Definitely not a threat. ‘Why are you so important?’
March 15 7:40pm
Laila, Claire and I try not to let on that we see Erik keeping a watchful eye from across the bar. We discuss where best to take the residents on their day out after the weekly house meeting. Like most teens they liked the mall except Landon, he hated everything about the place and would often decline going all together. Which left one of us stuck at the residence with him watching the same bad comedy movies till our ears bled from the sound of his shrill laughter. Lately I didn’t mind because it gave me time to brush up on Erik before his arrival but one could only take so much.
 Present:
071725UJUN | June 7 5:25pm
“I don’t know what you think you know bu–”
“Erik Stevens. Born in the ghettos of Oakland, CA. Mother died in prison and father murdered.” She paused noticing Erik’s demeanor shift slightly. If she didn’t have his attention before Morrigan certainly had it now. “Got bounced around after that but, for the most part stayed on the straight and narrow. Immediately shipping off to Basic Training in the Navy and later graduated M.I.T. with a PhD in Engineering. Am I right so far?
“All common knowledge baby girl.”
“You’re right, allow me to share with you what else I know. And I knew before I found your box. Good hiding place by the way.” Morrigan giggled at the last part. It may have been underneath the floorboards but the box was literally in plain sight. Undetected until just the right moment. “You’re the lost Prince of Wakanda. N’Jadaka Udaku. The abandoned child that wants to burn the village to feel its warmth.”
Erik’s jaw and fists tighten. It’s one thing to relinquish control, it’s another entirely to question if it was ever his to give. “But you forget, I know who you are too.”
“That’s where you’re wrong my love. You know what I needed you to know, let me properly introduce myself. Morrigan Ebert. Born in the small town of Cromwell, CT. I was raised by The Major, the only thing I know about my real parents is they died in a car wreck.”
“The Major? Nabs kids and turns em into Sleeper Soldiers right?  What does The Major want with me?”
“Sleeper Soldier? That’s a first” Morrigan scoffed. “And nothing, he’s merely apart of my backstory.”
“You really tryin my patience.”
“Stop interrupting me and maybe you’d learn something!” Morrigan could tell Erik was surprised by her tone. Never having had that voice of authority used on him by her. “I thought this would be more fun but now I’m kinda bored. Look. Everything I told you is true. But maybe you’ll be more willing to believe it if I tell you my other name. The Djinn.”
Erik shifted in his seat after that. Either this chick was fucking crazy or she was who she said, which would mean that he’s been the one at a disadvantage. Erik was more comfortable believing the first one. He knew Morrigan. She’d look for her phone while she was talking on it. Climbed on the fucking counter tops to get shit from the top shelf. Morrigan coddles adult children for work. There’s no way this is the person he’d been secretly searching for. The person that could get Erik that much closer to his goal. How could he be sleeping with the likes of one of the most sought after, dark wish granters and not know it?! He sat in silence and waited for Morrigan to continue her monologue.
“Before you, the only person to know my identity as the Djinn was The Major. I don’t actually meet the people whose wishes I grant. It’s best if people don’t know who I am. But I knew as much as they fiend for the opportunity, none of my charges would truly be up to that task that was Erik Stevens. And I was right. That flash drive–” pausing to point at the piece of metal and plastic still plotted in the crevice of his jeans “holds all the details of your revenge. Your fantasy. And as much as I would love to help you overthrow the Wakandan government I don’t believe that’s what you deeply desire.”
“You really expect me to believe that shit? ANY of that shit? After you JUST told me you one of the kids Major made? That you had me from jump? Nah! Now I know you reaching. You don’t know shit about what I want!”
“First of all, I have no doubt that revenge is what you want. What I said was it’s not what you deeply desire. Those are the types of fantasies that I grant. Your confidence in the old ‘too good to be true’ mentality is what makes you a victim of it. Everything I just told you made me The Djinn. What better person than someone who was raised to be anyone and blend in everywhere? Or do you feel that because you know The Djinn’s track record that it couldn’t possibly have been orchestrated by the frail woman that curls up to your side in bed at night? Like I said before. Everyone has their weaknesses.”
Morrigan allowed Erik to sit there with his thoughts for a moment. She was analytical. And calculated in a completely different way than him. It wasn’t enough to know what a person’s next move was. Morrigan wanted to know why they did it. The root cause behind it. And if that was the case then what the hell had she gathered about him? If revenge wasn’t what Erik deeply desired then what was?
“I really can’t see ya little ass doing shit I’ve heard about the Djinn but putting that aside for a moment” sitting up placing elbows on knees he looked at Morrigan with piercing eyes, “Tell me. What is it that I deeply desire?”
Morrigan licked at her bottom lip while holding Erik’s gaze. “You want the same thing as every other black boy from the hood Erik. A way up and out of the pit. Just on grandeur scale because you know you were made to be more. However death and destruction has taken you as far as it can with that task. You just don’t see it yet. If you really want to expose the truth and prove your birthright you need to try a different approach. That is a wish I’d grant.”
“Mmhmm. So what you get out of this?”
“You in my bed of course. Although. I’d understand if you wanna sleep down here tonight.”
“No grand fantasy of your own you chasing after, Djinn?”
“I was the Djinn before you got your famous moniker. You don’t think the first wish I granted was my own?” Morrigan challenged with quirked eyebrow. “Despite what I said to you the first night I invited you in, I fell long before you showed up with that brooding face of yours.”
~ ~ ~
Morrigan was staring down into the most captivating pools of chocolate brown as they stared back up at her while she balanced on one foot. She wore a smile on her face thanks to the victory of taming the beast in her bedroom. Even if it were only for a moment. Morrigan ran her hand down her frame before breaking away at the hip of the leg that rested on his shoulder. Using her thumb to stroke his jawline tenderly before gripping Erik’s chin. Slowly rubbing her index finger over his Adam’s apple coaxing a groan of appreciation out of him as his nails dug into her thighs at the scent of her essence getting stronger.
~ ~ ~
“I would fall from grace just to touch your face.” Erik hummed silently under his breathe in time with the memory of that night. “Convince me. Prove to me that you’re the Djinn.”
“Alexis. Your Teacher’s Assistant. She’s one of mine.”
“The girl that damn near took me down running out my office when I shut the light off on her?”
“Her mom used to lock her in the closet for extended amounts of time to keep her from tainting her brother’s innocence. The older her brother got, the more intense her punishment.”
“Wait? The Closet Slaughter. That was you?! The Djinn isn’t even credited for that.”
“Yes, that was me. And it wasn’t done for credit.”
“I see...Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light.”
Morrigan couldn’t help but chuckle before correcting, “Actually Erik, in Corinthians, the devil wasn’t transformed into an angel of light. He was disguised as one. But thanks for the compliment.”
“Well as helpful as this encounter has been I’m still seeking vengeance baby girl.”
“Then leave. Find someone who has no problem serving up the vengeance and death you seek. Wishes are for the living.”
Tags: @savagesensitivity @cancerianprincess @another-imaginesblog @loosewindmill @bidibidibombaclaat @muse-of-mbaku @chaneajoyyy @itsangeludaku @eriknutinthispoosy @im5ftbutmythroat66 @theunsweetenedtruth @blackpinup22 @fonville-designs @wawakanda-btch @scrumptiouslytenaciouscrusade @nickidub718 @dabluestsky
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rigelmejo · 3 years
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literally reading hanshe feels like reading one of those graded readers now. past self u would be so happy. like actually. that’s not an exageration. nearly all ‘unknown’ words now are words I know but still look up because I forgot the tones (mo, wo, zuan 攥 means squeeze by the way the writer likes to write ‘squeezed his phone’ like i’d write ‘clutched’ and i always look it up to remember how its pronounced). or its the words ‘suspicious’ or ‘uncertain’ - whenever i see THOSE two words specifically i am not quite sure which word means which until i click the definition. the entire experience right now is a LOT like when i read Mandarin Companion Sherlock and a few chapters in new most of the words vaguely but needed confirmation/clarification.
Also present self me is a freaking coward lol ToT. now that its easier my brain is like ‘oh man Guardian oh man Silent Reading oh man Qi Ye idk if we’re ready for that’
when like. 8 months into learning i picked up those books and tried to read with no dictionary and followed the plot. yes it was exhausting and idk how the hell i managed it. but it was something that Could be done. So of COURSE now that I know more words and literally know a chapter takes 15-30 minutes to read (compared to 1-1.5 hours when I started reading Tian Ya Ke at first), i’m too lazy.
back then, i know what i was thinking. i was thinking ‘if i read a priest novel in a dictionary Reader app i’ll have to click a ton of words and i’m lazy’ so ‘its easier to just read a page with NO dictionary and guess some stuff from context and slide past the rest.’ Which... no it was not easier. Yes it took less physical movement on the part of my hands lol and opening/closing a definition pop up. But reading without a dictionary reference was extremely mentally draining. Hence i eventually made myself go read with the dictionary Reader anyway lol.
now my brain is like ‘well look how easy reading is on the Reader - i know nearly all words and just click at a glance for anything that might take effort to guess and bam its figured out.’ versus ‘oh god if i pick up a print book i will just have to feel mentally drained as i try to puzzle this out.’ even though... i read print Guardian like... 3 weeks ago without a dictionary just fine. i’m just lazy. it wasn’t even that draining if i read the english translation chapter first. that gave me enough context to just relax and read. the Only effort i had to put in was seeing new hanzi and trying to remember them based on radicals/guess their vague pronunciation (since with my digital Reader app i just click at a glance for that). and i know... if i tried to do ‘guardian on reader app versus print guardian’ i would pick print guardian in a heartbeat. 1 because its STILL easier in my brain then having to click many words lol (truly just pausing my reading annoys me lol even if only for a moment), and 2 my print copy has scenes ONLY in the print edition of the novel and i want to know what they are. I read 3 print chapters so far and EACH of them had a few paragraphs to a few PAGES of scenes not in the webnovel version. 
anyway i’m just. going to keep reading hanshe for now. 1. because its getting very easy, and extensive reading (when you actually KNOW most words - not the ‘extensive’ reading i do where i just brute force it even tho i only comprehend like 80%) is supposed to be one of the easiest ways to improve vocab and reading skill. 2. because this baby is 155 chapters and im on chapter 41 and i want to FINISH it. desperately. 3. 155 chapters is a LOT of reading practice. the fact its now something i can read easier just means it will be less draining/more enjoyable practice. and the more practice the easier future reading things will be. better hanshe then to switch to a new story i know less of the author’s vocab for, and whats worse not getting to finish hanshe cause i’ve distracted myself ;-;. because i just love to jump stories but then i finish none that i want to finish since i read chinese so slow T-T. let me finish this oneeee. 
4. hanshe is ridiculously compelling? this writer GETS me. they know just what to write to keep me hooked. its like the perfectly paced mystery/supernatural situation with romance and found family and i ;-;. this writer is great <3. also i love original plots when done well and the many case arcs with their own morals and intensely memorable characters make me feel like im reading a really good mystery writer. 5. you have no idea how much i wanna go back and finish tamen de gushi - that was only 40 chapters i’d have had it done lol. BUT its not written this fast paced/want to know whats next like hanshe the mysteries fic, and i probably would start slow again due to author change of style and word choice. and hanshe has a happy ending whereas tamen de gushi may anihilate me. also i would. literally just restart hanshe Again if i left it ToT i dont wanna do 40 chapters again.
when will i suck it up and just read guardian? when will i accept i can’t be a perfectionist cause i’ll never understand it perfectly, so i should just read? when will i have the courage i apparently fucking possessed in month 8 knowing barely anything but am now too lazy for lol.
on a serious note though. i’m really happy with my reading progress right now. hanshe is really enjoyable to read, and i can’t believe i read 40 chapters in a month.
甭 fun hanzi i learned recently from hanshe. this one is ‘beng’ and is bu-yong contracted. its literally ‘bu’ hanzi on top of ‘yong’. saves space. saves how many words u gotta say. like ‘don’t’.  ‘bu yong - beng’ 甭 i love that visually its also a contraction since its just the usual hanzi only as a single one instead of 2. 
#rant#march progress#yes i realize all my self-notes are just??? whatever ???? whatever is going on in this brain#its a mess i am Aware lol#i find it Beyond funny ToT#that i know i KNOW i could read guardian right now but i wont. because i dont want to be done with guardian completely ;-; and once i read#the book theres no more content. same with silent reading i love mo du thats probably most of why i wont finish it#even though i now have the audiobook FULLY and ive HAD the print books for a year now#cause its so good i just. dont want it to end#and THIS is why i always skip between different things and finish so few#hanshe is genuinely so good though and im so glad its an au because all the characterizations are Perfect#but the details are a surprise. the plot is a suprise and its full of suspense since its supernatural murders#the themes are always a new surprise each case. the relationships develop unique to the au.#the author writes almost like a speaker. if that makes sense. so like over time i read dialogues#that i couldnt even explain to u why i can follow but i can follow them just in a glancing blur#i ran a few spoken lines thru deepl just to double check ive been understanding them right#i have. i guess ive just been surprised i have. since they word things sometimes in a broken up way. or slang way. like actual speakers#or like my own stories dialogues. so when i read i just 'get' it#unrelated but u know what else is fun my googles been in french for years#so whenever i use google translate and put in chinese i get french results and go ?????#half the time. or it expects me to put in french to chinese then i put in english and the translatior goes ??? that. is not french my dude
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365-money-diary · 3 years
Text
DAYS 15-21
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DAY FIFTEEN [JAN 15]
8:40 AM - Wake up feeling sore AF. I should’ve stretched after playing, but I obviously didn’t. I also feel like my stomach didn’t eat itself from the inside out while I was sleeping so that’s nice too. Make a chemex and get to work.
10:00 AM - eat plant yogurt.
11:00 AM - eat a few carrots and a clementine.
12:30 PM - make a greek salad for lunch with a La Croix - this is the last of the salad ingredients until Thursday essentially. Shed a singular tear.
3:00 PM - I am a tiny bit hungry. Eat a piece of rye toast.
4:14 PM - I wanted to start working out 45 minutes ago ugh. OK here we go. The hour goes by a lot faster than I expected which is nice. Rinse off and cook an early dinner – Reubens and potatoes.
8:00 PM - I wanted to drink alcohol but I’m too full from dinner to even enjoy it. Heat up chamomile tea instead. I want to work on my blog but K wants to hang instead and I’m in no position to deny the closeness. We play some Mario Kart, watch 30 for 30 about BC and the mob, and turn in early.
DAY FIFTEEN TOTAL: $0
DAY SIXTEEN
8:30 AM - Make chemex and eat a clementine. My sister (S) asked me and my brother (B) to listen to a 20 minute session on the app Mined about codependency. I take a stab at it and get some good notes. 
10:00 AM - Landscaper is going to show up any second so I move my car and pick up dog poop. Text with S more about my cousin’s virtual baby shower tomorrow and go in on some cute stuff from PBKids. Total is $64.05 and she venmos me $32. $32.05
11:15 AM - I actually have a lot of stuff I need to do this weekend though right now I’m too annoyed at my neighbor to focus. Long story short – he has been wanting our dead grapefruit tree for like 6 months and keeps asking if he can cut it down. I said sure. But then he asked our landscaper to do it for him? It’s weird. I mostly don’t care because it’s gone, but the nerve he had to insert himself is wild. $120
12:00 PM - Make Tofu tacos for breakfast and make a to-do list of stuff I want to accomplish today. (post cauliflower leek soup, put away records, barre throw away things my mom has forced me to take out of her house over the years, wipe doors)
6:00 PM - Eat 2 rice cakes. I only manage to get the cauliflower leek soup up, put away the records, and throw away the stuff mom gave me. I think today ended up being a little bit overwhelming emotionally with the landscaper plus the codependency session so I’m kind of burnt. 
7:00 PM - Make pad thai for dinner. Can’t stop snacking on Swedish fish. Drink an old fashioned while K and I watch Night Stalker. Realize part way through that the reason I keep eating Swedish Fish is because something feels off. I fall asleep around 11:30 knowing it’s my blood pressure and that if it doesn’t fix over night I’ll get right to it in the morning.
DAY SIXTEEN TOTAL: $152.35
DAY SEVENTEEN
8:00 AM - Wake up feeling like I’ve been hit by a bus. Ugh. I’ve been struggling with an iron deficiency for a while and have it mostly fixed but I still have occasional days where my blood pressure really gives me issues. 
9:00 AM - Peel myself out of bed and drink some soy sauce. Sounds disgusting but sodium is the only thing that truly helps AND it works fast. Drink a chemex and a boat load of water. Work on posting the cauliflower leek soup
10:00 AM - S calls and I take a walk to chat. I’m still feeling really down from the blood pressure but I know walking will help. It’s actually really nice to get outside. I should do this again later tonight.
11:00 AM - More soy sauce, more water, more coffee. Have a good direction for where I want to go today. Just taking it one task at a time based on how I feel and granting myself the grace.
12:30 PM - Feel good enough to start moving which is great because once I can get over the initial fog with this blood pressure stuff, moving is what keeps me feeling better. Wipe down the doors and then attend a virtual baby shower for my cousin E. 
3:00 PM - Make broccoli fried rice for lunch. I prefer the cauliflower but the store was out of it. I feel like this broccoli stuff would taste great with some kind of cilantro hummus situation but that’ll be for another day I suppose.
3:30 PM - Back to cleaning! The bathrooms are always terrible and today is no exception. It’s always hard to tell if I even make progress because everything is white and the grout is stained orange. Give up after an hour and a half.
6:30 PM - Tag team folding a couple loads of laundry with K while we watch NBA. This week ends bittersweet for my fantasy team. He beat me in one but I’m in first place in the other. Officially 3-1 and 4-0.
8:00 PM - Eat leftover pad thai for dinner.
DAY SEVENTEEN TOTAL: $0
DAY EIGHTEEN
8:30 AM - Wake up feeling like I was hit by a smartcar, so a little better! Today is MLK day and I’m grateful for the extra day off. Make a Chemex, drink some soy sauce, and watch an episode of The Challenge. Pure barre charge comes thru. $15
9:30 AM - Get started on dusting the entire house. It’s been a few weeks since I’ve done this due to lack of Swiffer 360 dusters. It takes forever but honestly our house hasn’t looked this good in years. Swap out the lightbulbs in the bathrooms and the bedroom, shower, and eat a plant yogurt.
11:30 AM - Have a sibling zoom call with S&B I walk while we chat and it’s honestly really nice to get outside. 
1:30 PM - Start shooting my recipe for lasagna rollups. Eat a cup of cauliflower leek soup and a few pretzel rods while I cook. It takes a while but I think they turn out great.
4:00 PM - Eat a lasagna roll and watch an episode of The Challenge. I haven’t worked out in 400 years (read: yesterday and the day before.) and it’s low key killing me, so I suit up and do the thing.
6:00 PM - That was mildly painful. Low cal burn, couldn’t focus to save my life - new moves so lots of pausing during transitions. Oh well. At least I did it.
7:00 PM - Eat two more lasagna rolls for dinner. K and I watch Terrorism Close Calls and I drink a vodka + vanilla seltzer + orange peel.
DAY EIGHTEEN TOTAL: $15
DAY NINETEEN
8:30 AM - It’s appraisal day. Ugh. So excited to get this over with. Make a chemex and open my work stuff. I have a lot to do but have a feeling I won’t be able to concentrate very well until after the appraisal is over. On a nice note - I am feeling leaps and bounds better from yesterday and the day before. 
10:00 AM - Eat a plant yogurt and finish out the rest of my coffee. Meet with my teammates about an outstanding task and then do the random stuff around the house to prep for my appointment.
12:00 PM - Here goes nothing! K and I leave the house with KP and walk her around the block a few times until the appraisal is done. As much as I feel like my anxiety should be gone, it’s not. I think particularly because today is really busy with work. K and I hang out outside on our laptops for a bit to let the house air out before going back inside.
1:00 PM - Eat broccoli fried rice for lunch with a Polar seltzer. Snack on a pretzel rod and some Swedish Fish while it heats.
3:00 PM - Eat the last of the cauliflower leek soup and a few carrots.
5:30 PM - Make a nuun and do a barre live stream. My focus today is so much better but my cal burn is abysmal again. Rinse off and heat up lasagna rolls for dinner. Snack on Swedish Fish while they heat. I really wish I had wine right now because I can feel my body could use the extra help blood pressure-wise but I won’t get my alcohol delivery until Thursday. Sigh.
8:00 PM - Idk whats up but my body is asking for more food so I eat tortilla crumbs and salsa and some dark chocolate. Make vegan ham brine for seitan. Realize I’m out of liquid smoke and buy a 6 pack from Amazon. $15.37
9:30 PM - It’s official, this iron thing is killing me. Ugh. Now I know. I’ll be more conscientious of my supplements, I promise! Finish editing photos of Thousand Island Dressing, watch The Challenge and call it a day.
DAY NINETEEN TOTAL: $15.37
DAY TWENTY
8:30 AM - Still feeling off from iron. This is seriously the worst it’s been in MONTHS. Worst part - it takes 4 weeks for you to produce new blood cells so I can only assume this will happen again since there was a substantial gap in my supplementing.
9:00 AM - Make a chemex, prep the seitan ham dough and bake. I chat with Google support for an account I’m having problems with. The person’s name is Swastika. Feels like a bad omen for inauguration day. Eat 2 clementines and pretzel rod.
12:20 PM - Starving. Decide on Lasagna roll ups for lunch with a Polar. 
2:00 PM - Finish my work for the day. I have on my list of things to do that I want to test this orange spice bread for the blog.
3:00 PM - Spice bread in the oven. Do a round of dishes to prep for tonight’s grocery run. It doesn’t come out great and I eat two slices.
5:15 PM - Do a barre live stream and it goes really well. Super focused, super strong, super sweaty. One more class to go for the challenge this month! Rinse off and continue prepping the kitchen and do the final bake on the ham. 
7:05 PM - Ensue grocery madness. Incoming of onions, bananas, lemons, limes, bell peppers, cucumbers, cheese, cheeze, tortilla chips, tomatoes, dark chocolate, green beans, broccoli, jalapeños, low carb tortillas, bread, oranges, potatoes, cilantro, chickpeas, romaine, celery, clementines, spring mix, frozen burritos, apples, oat milk, tofu, soyrizo, brussels sprouts, eggs, grapes, frozen peas, vegan sour cream, taco seasoning, tomato paste, chipotle peppers in adobo sauce, corn, black beans, avocados, mushrooms, snap peas, pineapple, vegan mayo, carrots, rice noodles, seltzer, beets, cauliflower, parsley, pumpkin seeds, thyme, plant yogurt, garlic, riced broccoli, white rice, gf pretzels, micro arugula, & black olives. $327.69
8:15 PM It takes over an hour, but everything is washed and put away! Make air fried broccoli with miso butter and veggie sandwiches for dinner. 
9:00 PM - Make a crappy drink with flavored vodka. The only thing I have in my house is shooters left over from my sister’s bachelorette party. She’s now divorced if that gives you any idea of how long this stuff has been sitting around. More alcohol comes tomorrow at least! Eat a few Swedish fish.
9:30 PM - Play Mario Kart, watch The Challenge, and call it a night.
DAY TWENTY TOTAL: $327.69
DAY TWENTY-ONE
8:30 AM - Chemex and work. Alcohol is coming sometime this AM from my friend J who has a wholesale hookup. Much like everything else in the pandemic, I just buy in bulk. It’s easier that way!
10:30 AM - Eat a slice of orange spice bread for breakfast. It’s definitely growing on me but I think I need to adjust a few things before shooting/posting. J drops off my booze order. I got 2 crates of wine (24 bottles total), a bottle of bourbon, rye, mezcal, rum, and st. germaine. She says it was $400 but I pay her more. $450
11:00 AM - Start prepping chile de arbol salsa & stuff for this week’s salad - spring mix, roasted tofu with taco seasoning, avo, chipotle ranch dressing, cilantro, green onion, black beans, tomatoes and corn. YUM. Eat salad with a La Croix. 
3:00 PM - I get the appraisal back! My house came in at $390k. (I bought it for $245k) OMG! Eat a celebratory slice of orange bread.
6:45 PM - Finish class 15/15 for the barre challenge. 11 more months to go. hah! Rinse off, roast potatoes for veggie sandwiches. Pour a celebratory glass of wine. 
8:30 PM - Pour another half glass. What a week! End up going on a walk with K & KP which was really nice. I need to get out more. This weekend I will. Stay tuned. ~*~*~
DAY TWENTY-ONE TOTAL: $450
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