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bylersecretsanta2023 · 4 months

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from @mikebabygirlqueerler, to @autistic-katara

Chapter 1: Merry Christmas

Christmas time has arrived.

It was snowing, the houses where beautifully decorated, the churches choir was singing christmas songs to the people, and everyone was in the mood for christmas.

But the most decorated house was the home of the Wheelers. Thousands of christmas-lights were surrounding the house. But the inside was even more decorated.

Inside the Wheeler-residence were even more lights hanging from the ceiling, a huge christmas-tree was put up by Karen and her only son, Mike, and even mistletoe's were put up everywhere. Holly, youngest Wheeler and the only one still believing in Santa, was insisting to put them up, much to Mike's displeasure.

It is part of the Christmas spirit, Mikey. Don't be a party pooper!

That being said, the Mistletoe's where put up by Karen and Nancy.

But that is not the reason for Mike's incredible nervousness. This year the Byers and Wheelers were going to celebrate Christmas together. And that would mean: Mike could spend a little more time with Will. Though, the problem was for Mike that he was so in love with William Byers that he couldn't stop thinking about his best friend since 12 years. Mike was definitely down very bad for him, he might as well go crazy.

This reminded him of the one thing Mike and Will promised each other on Halloween 1984: Crazy together!

Thinking about that time was no help though. Thinking about the time he first realized some indication for his queerness - which for Mike is already bad enough - and his crush on the one and only Will Byers, aka Will the Wise, was definitely not helping.

His realization for his very obvious feelings for him where on the summer 1985, though. That was a time where he was so bad in denial that he was just plain ignoring Will and his feelings at the same time. At this time he was still dating Eleven Hopper. He did love her, don't get him wrong, but it was not the way he was expected to do. He loved her as a friend, even still does, but not as a girlfriend. That place in his very gay heart was reserved for Will Byers, her step-brother.

Now that they were officially broken up, he didn't have to keep pretending to be something that he definitely isn't.

He can still remember the breakup clearly, since he was the one breaking up with her, after having a crisis in front of Dustin. He told Mike to just break up with her and tell her the truth about this whole dilemma he has, so he did just that.

Mike told El that they could date anymore, because he just didn't love her the way she wanted him to, because he was gay and in love with Will. Surprisingly, she was supportive of him and told him to go get his man, which is definitely something that Max had taught her, who finally woke up after Vecna was defeated. Mike and Will nearly died in the Upside Down, but thankfully made it out alive. Yeah, Mike may have nearly lost an eye and Will is missing about three of his fingers, but they were alive.

Vecna was defeated, the Gates to the Upside Down were closed and Hawkins is in the middle of being rebuilt.

Yet the only thing on his mind, was the near-kiss Will and Mike had shared in the Upside Down. They nearly had kissed in the Upside Down version of the Wheelers Garage. And if El hadn't interrupted them, they would have shared an actual kiss. Dang it, Eleven!

But maybe Mike should stop laying sideways on his bed, having a Gay-panic attack over Will-fucking-Byers, when the Byers were here any minute. Of course he had already decided that he would drag Will to the basement for the next fourtyfive minutes, to catch up and keep being attached to the hip, like they always have been (and always will be, thank you very much). He can already hear Hopper yelling at them to not be too loud and to keep the door open five inches. They aren't even dating, so why do they have to keep the door open? Did Eleven spill the beans on him? No, she wouldn't do that to him, right? No, of course she wouldn't.

He should really stop thinking about anything, but that Will is nearly here and is spending Christmas with him.

That alone made him get up and pick all the presents up that he had gotten for Will, El, and even one for Joyce and Hopper. He really tried to find something fitting for them all. Will was the easiest, even if he had so many ideas, he just bought him all he could think of and what he knew would make him happy. He made him even a mixtape (with Jonathan's help) that included songs that they both called their songs.

Just as he was picking them up, the doorbell rang. He ran out of his room, giving Karen his presents for everyone, and opened the door in a fast motion.

"Hey Mike, merry Christmas!" They said in unison. "Merry Christmas, come on in," Mike made as step to the right and let the Byers enter.

They all greeted each other, while Mike not surprisingly took Wills hand immediately, pulling him to the basement.

"Leave the door open at least five inches, Wheeler!" Hopper yelled, as Mike expected.

"You didn't even give me time to hang my jacket up and put my shoes off, Mike," Will grinned, after they were down the stairs and Mike let Will go. He was definitely not missing Wills comfortable warmth from his hands. Of course he didn't.

"Sorry, I'm just so excited to see you and fucking Christmas, I just couldn't wait," Mike explained, while a slight blush was creeping in his face.

"Really?" Will asked, "We've literally seen each other yesterday on the last day of school for the year. Have you really been missing me so much that you had to pull me away from the rest of our families?" That made Mike blush a bit more. Will was right, they have seen each other on friday, sharing every class. "Well, duh! Of course I missed you, Byers. You are my best friend!" He said. "Glad to hear that nothing has changed between us," Will grinned and put his jacket on the basements rack. Below his jacket, he put his shoes.

Mike noticed the new Chistmas sweater Will was wearing. It was dark blue with a yellow 'W' written on it. Mike thought Will looked beautiful in it. Though Will looked beautiful in absolutely anything, really.

"Cool sweater! Looks good on you," Mike said without thinking. "Thanks Mike, Mom bought it for me about a week ago," Will answered happily. "Cool," Mike felt stupid. He felt so stupid, but he just couldn't help himself.

"Hey, even the basement is decorated. Did you hang that up?" Will noticed the few lights everywhere, the most being at the places with Will's art on the wall.

"Yes, I thought it would set the christmas spirit more easily. Also mom subconsciously gave me the idea," Mike admitted to him. He really is unable to lie to Will, unless it's about... his queerness that included Will himself. Even then, most of the time he was just a few inches too close to spill the beans.

"It's absolutely beautiful, Mikey," Will was busy marveling the decorations that he didn't realize that he accidentally called his best friend by his childhood nickname.

"Thanks," Mike was going crazy now, that's for sure. Usually, whenever someone - even El - tried calling him Mikey, he would tell them to stop that. But whenever Will did it, he couldn't help but get flustered. It's just the way Will called him Mikey that made him loose his mind internally.

"By the way, I am really happy that you could make it. I really looked forward to it. You being here is already making this year the best christmas in history!" Mike smiled and Will turned around to face him. "I am happy that I could spend my christmas with you too. I mean, it's gonna be awesome. Just you and me and our families. Also, your mom seems so much happier after the divorce of Ted. And you also seem more filled with life," Will smiled sweetly at him, slightly red on his cheeks, which Mike at first didn't notice. "Yeah, he really was an asshole to all of us. I'm just happy that mom is not drinking that much anymore, because of him," Mike exclaimed. That made Will smile more.

A little while later - more like 30 minutes later - they were all seated on the table. Karen and Joyce were seated on either end. Next to Joyce were seated both Mike and Will, while Nancy and Jonathan were seated on Karen's side. Between Mike and Nancy was Holly, while Jane was seated in between Will and Hopper, who also sat next to Jonathan.

The table was filled with tons of food that Joyce, Karen, and Hopper had prepared together, such as a turkey, mashed potatoes, regular salad, potato salad, cucumber salad, and many more.

While the rest was having their own big conversations, Mike and Will were, as they usually were, in their own little bubble.

They were laughing at stupid jokes, geeking about Dungeons and Dragons, and even jokingly made fun of each other or another party member.

It was going amazingly for all of them, everyone had fun, and everybody was happy.

Of course, Will and Mike couldn't help themselves, so they always had to touch each other in any way possible, as much as they were able to touch. That included legs touching, arm brushing, wiping food off of the others face, and alot more.

After dinner, where everyone handed Karen the plates, who washed them, then to Hopper, who dried them, and lastly got passed to Joyce, who put them away, everyone went back to spending time with their favorite person. That meant that Nancy and Jonathan went to Nancy's room, Mike and Will had a race to Mike's room, Jane atood with Hopper and Joyce, while Karen took care of Holly.

In Mike's room, Will immediately saw the painting he had gifted Mike right above his bed, hanging proudly and neatly on the wall.

"You hung it up?" Will asked surprised. Even after years and years of friendship, he was still surprised that Mike had hung his artwork up on every possible surface.

"Of course I hung it up, Will. It's a painting that you made, so duh," Mike answered him, like it was the only logical conclusion of Will gifting Mike a painting.

"I guess you are right," Will looked down, still not having told Mike the truth. That the painting was not commissioned by Jane. She wasn't even in the painting, nor was she ever interested in DnD.

"I know that El didn't commission the painting, Will," Mike just blurted out to him. "What?" he was flabbergasted. How could he possibly have known about that? Had he talked to Jane about it? Had he asked her? Will asked himself so many questions, he thought hia brain would explode.

"El wrote me a letter, right before I flew to California. She wrote that she had no idea of what you were painting and that you would not let her take a glance of your masterpiece. Also, those words you said in the van, didn't align with anything El had told me. Like when she said that I made her feel like she's a monster, since she is so different, but you said that I made her feel like she is better for being different," Mike explained him. He didn't expect that to be the answer to all of his questions.

"It took me a while to understand the reason for your lies and I still don't understand all of it. I understand that you wanted to make me feel better and that you wanted me to be confident and less unsure. You wanted me to feel like I am important to her, but those aren't Elevens feelings, are they?" His questing didn't really sound like an actual question, but Will still answered him.

"No, they aren't!"

"Then who's feelings are they? Are they even anyone's feelings or did you just make them up?" Mike sounded curious. He wasn't mad, nor disappointed.

"I'm sorry, I can't answer that," Will said, looking down, while blushing out of shame.

"Why not? It's a simple question. You can really tell me, Will," Mike said.

"Mike, you wouldn't understand. You would be disgusted and wouldn't ever talk to me anymore, if I'd tell you. I don't want to lose you," Will confessed.

"I could never ever in my life be dosgusted of you, nor would I for any reason stop talking to you. You won't lose me in a million years," he assured him.

"But in this case you would! Anybody would," Will insisted.

"I wouldn't, Will! I would never!" Just in this moment, Mike realized what Will might be hiding from him. It was so obvious, yet so well hidden from the rest of the world. Mike couldn't believe that he could be so oblivious to the obvious truth of Will's words.

"Could it be that these are your words? And please tell me the truth, Will," Mike begged. Will looked at him in surprise, but couldn't say a word. No matter how hard he tried, he couldn't say it. He couldn't confess it.

"Please, say something," he begged.

"Yes," Will whispered. He could just doe at this point. He had just confessed his feelings for his 'straight' best friend, who now looked at him in surprise. May the Upside Down and Vecna take him now! Only they couldn't take him away, for they were gone.

"Why didn't you just tell me they were your feelings? I would have felt better, if you would have told me from the beginning," Mike exclaimed. "What do you mean, why didn't I just tell you? I was scared and afraid that you would leave me, the moment we would set a foot in Hawkins or Lenora! I was terrified of your reaction, so I just didn't let it come to that point," Will now yelled. How couldn't Mike understand that? "Will, I can't live without you! I couldn't when you went missing, I couldn't when you got possessed, I couldn't when the Mind Flayer attacked us, and I especially couldn't after you went to Lenora. I couldn't speak to anybody, I couldn't even get out of bed. I was in such deep depression that I didn't move for the majority of the time. I called every single damn day, I tried to write you letters that didn't end up being a confession or ended with a 'Love Mike' instead of 'From Mike', but it was hard. Whenever I could write to El it was easy, but to you these letters were pages over pages long, while El had like a post card or something. I have tried everything to reach out to you, to hear your voice, to read a letter, to get anything that was from you, but it was hard. Joyce had the telemarketing thing, I couldn't get my shit together and you seemed to hate me for what happened that summer!"

Will stood there in utter shock. Did Mike just confess that Will's feelings were the same as his? Was Will delusional? He had to be, this can't be right. Or can he?

"Mike, you must be confused, you aren't acting like yourself-" but Mike didn't let him finish.

"No, I haven't been truthful to myself about my attraction towards you for my whole entire life! I just want you to understand that for the first time in my god damn life, I am in the knowledge of who I am! I am gay and in love with you, William Byers!" And there it was, the confession. But Will didn't know what to think. "Are you pulling a prank on me? On christmas? If you do, then it's not fucking funny!"

"I am not jocking, Will. I would never joke about such a thing. Especially after I seem to not be good at hiding it! Literally my whole family knew about it, without me knowing. You can ask anybody. Even Dustin or Lucas! Ask El, or ask Max! I have been head over heels with you for as long as I can think. I can even show you the letters!" Mike said, beginning to rummage through his papers. "I believe you, Mike," Will said and slowly went towards him. Mike, who stopped searching for the letters, turned around and was staring into the beautiful green eyes that belonged to Will Byers. "What?" Mike finally said nearly inaudible. "I said, I believe you, Mikey," Will repeated and smiled at him. And of course, Mike smiled back on autopilot.

"Can I kiss you?" Mike asked shyly, to which Will just nodded. As Mike leaned in, the door opened, interrupting their near-kiss.

"Joyce said that you two should come downstairs," Jane said, before leaving the room again.

"Maybe later then?" Mike huffed annoyed, which made Will giggle at his maybe-boyfriend.

"Before we go downstairs, do you wanna be my boyfriend?" Will asked, to hopefully scratch the maybe out of the maybe-boyfriend.

"I thought you would never ask, my cleric," he smiled again.

"So we are boyfriends now!" Will smiled.

"Boyfriends, sounds perfect," Mike smiled back.

As they went downstairs, they were wondering what Joyce wanted from them.

But all she did, was point at a spot over their heads, where a mistletoe hang.

"So I do get my kiss now, don't I?" Will whispered in Mike's ear, who blushed like crazy. In just a few seconds, Will pulled Mike by his sweater and gave him the sweetest and greatest kiss that Mike could have ever experienced. He loved it and already had gotten addicted to it. He was addicted to his chapped lips, to the automatic synched rhythm of their lips moving, and the roaming hands of Will, all over his upper body. Mike loved it and never wanted it to stop.

Unfortunately, there was this thing called Oxygen that a human needed. They had to end the kiss, but now were able to stare into the eyes of their loved ones.

Joyce, who had left the scene for a little bit of privacy, went to Hopper and Jane.

"I love you, my cleric," Mike whispered and kissed Will again. He was definitely not gonna stop that for a very long while. And if Will knew anything about Mike, it was exactly that.

"I love you too, my paladin," he whispered back, right in between kisses.

"Can you suck each others faces in your own room maybe?" an annoyed voice came from behind Will. "Hey Holly, sorry Holly," Will grinned and pulled Mike up the stairs again.

"Do I have to tell every damn couple to not suck their faces right in front of me?" Holly complained, while continuing her way to the kitchen for a few christmas cookies and some water.

Mike and Will were sitting on Mike's bed, while continued their make out session.

Sadly, they were getting tired, so they silently cqme to the agreement to end it and to sleep.

Mike just didn't want to fall asleep yet. He was so happy that he finally had gotten his boyfriend, aswell as his shit together. And now he couldn't wait for tomorrow morning. He already knew that everything will be perfect. He would just know that they would be able to cuddle and kiss Will for as much as he wants to, in private and in the safety of both of their homes. He knew that none of them were against them and loved both of them even more for being themselves.

Mike was finally unconditionally happy and he was allowed to be happy.

Will also didn't want to sleep quite yet, but wanted to be clingy with his Mikey. He wanted to give Mike all the love he deserved, but could never get from Jane. He wanted to make Mike happy and himself aswell. He wanted the best for both of them and never wanted to let Mike down.

Fortunately, there was nothing Will could do to let Mike down. Absolutely nothing, and Will knew that. Will knew that very well.

Will just couldn't wait for the morning to come, where they were gonna cuddle the ever living shit out of each other. Everybody knew they were attached to the hip, but now that they were dating, they were even closer attached. It would be a disaster, yet ao perfect.

And with that in mind, both fell asleep, in each other's arms, Will's face in Mike's chest, with detangled legs. And they were happy, finally unconditionally happy. And they held their promise from Halloween a few years prior. They indeed went crazy together.

#byler secret santa #mia on the mic #st #stranger things #byler #byler fanfic

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trolley-problem-polls · 11 months

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------------------------ Welcome to the trolley problem polls!

Here I strap various characters into the trolley problem and let you all decide if you flick the lever or not.

------------------------ How the Trolley Problem works: The trolley problem is an ethic thought experiment designed to cause an ethic dilemma. The core premise of the trolley problem is do you save five people by killing one person or kill five people and do nothing. The dilemma typically arises in the fact the you are required to actively kill the one person by flicking the lever. Many studies have been done on the trolley problem and it seems that about 90% of people will flick the lever to save the five people. However, this number typically drops when the person they are choosing is a friend or a family member. It is for this reason that adding a well known characters is expected to skew the results and create more conflict. The main conflict typically arises in the trolley problem with a conflict between the utilitarian idea of saving as many people as you can and the morality of actively killing people. Due to this different variations where the person involved has more agency over killing the one person typically have more conflict involved (see fat man or medical variations). ------------------------ Submissions:

If you want to submit a character just send in an ask and I can setup a poll for them. It'll usually take a few days to get around to as I often make the posts in bulk.

When suggesting a trolley problem the character you send will be a single character on the secondary track against five random people by default. If you have any specific conundrums you wish then please specify, otherwise I'll just try take a best guess as to what you want. You can also submit in characters that have already been placed in the trolley problem but there needs to be significant change to the trolley problem as whole. Feel free to suggest the most absurd trolley problems you can thing of really, the more wild the better! Currently there are no standardized rules on submission but I may still avoid putting a character if I deem it a bad fit for the polls. Might also be worth noting I am not always the most in on fandom stuff so there is a good chance I have no clue who the character you are submitting is so keep that in mind. Once a submission has been made I will respond to you ask either saying the post has been added to the queue or that I require more information (This will not occur you request on anon).

------------------------

Blog is run by @autistic-autumn

#Trolley Problem Polls #Not a poll

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dekarios · 19 days

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this might be a bit of a random question but what do you think about demetrius from sdv? i've heard a lot of neurotypicals not liking him for his treatment of sebastian and even robin. i'm adhd not autistic like demetrius seems to be, but he never seemed that 'bad' to me? though i recognize i could be missing something because it happens a lot.

hmmm ok so i normally mod him to be different . like uhh as some example mods since theres quite a few actually

demetrius on the spectrum - literally makes him autistic written by someone who is autistic. mod desc:

While it's clear that Demetrius is supposed to be socially awkward, the man did manage to get married and father a child. He had to have learned some social skills over the years. This mod tweaks dialogue, festivals, and events to make Demetrius a little more realistic (and, incidentally, a little less of a jerk.)

robin and demetrius's better bed discussion

demetrius event edits

demetrius's tomato dilemma

tolerable demetrius

something i thinks quite telling of my opinion of demetrius is i have nearly all of these as downloaded before. there's also more that change him a little bit more than these so i won't list them but like. yeah idk.

i've never like. seen his events and talked to him and thought "oh he's just like me! he's autistic too!" that doesn't come to mind. to me it's "oh.. he's overbearing to maru and is putting a lot of pressure on her as his science smart and thus preferred child and doesn't give a flying fuck about his son, and also he's combative and dismissive of robin and every damn opinion and feeling she has." like.. i don't like him lol. and to think that this is what some people think autism is.. hurts me. if anything it is poor representation that is offensive (imo) and damaging to autistic people. you said NTs don't really like him and to then also say they don't like him for traits that are autism coded.. i dunno man. we're not that bad lol. we don't ignore one child over another.. we don't shutdown our partners for feeling differently to us...

to me he's a dickhead and a twat. i think he's a bad parent and a shitty husband. i think mods that make him gentler or nicer are cool because it makes him ..as per one of the mod names... tolerable. like the spectrum demetrius mod author said, he got married, had kids.. he has social skills enough to PULL ROBIN who is so confident and attractive and skilled.. like she could have the fucking PICK you know what i'm saying....... anyway where was i.

uh yeah no i fucking. dislike him immensely. and i have to actively Try to like him when i play without mods for him cuz if i don't he actively ruins the experience for me cuz i don't marry seb so i can't fucking rescue him from his father and god forbid robin get a DIVORCE and marry me instead. ahem

#fray.txt #ask #Anonymous #idk i think the idea that a man who is that cold and unloving to his family except his daughter he's shaping into a mini-him who hes #immensely controlling over and possessive of until she tells him off straight up #AND U COULD NOT HAVE THAT HAPPEN BY PROTECTING HIM? THATS AN OPTION????#being autistic is. so fucking insulting to me. is that what people think autistic people are like?#is that how people assume i would be with a spouse or a child?#fuck off. fuck right off. makes me angry. really really angry

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alex-dontknow · 8 months

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Faraday Heath ramble under the cut because i love him so much uaauauauaua

@taterswithranch @k1rameki

Faraday is an experienced drama teacher and stage actor, favouring in musicals and non-naturalism to engage his audience and students. He has been teaching for a decade and acting for 15 years. His soul genre is Gothic Rock, although he enjoys dressing in the romantic goth substyle. He is Shakespeare-passionate and will defend many theatrical plays over his dead body.

Faraday offers after school drama sessions as a form of "stress release" for students and teachers alike. He knows about the pressure put on everyone in school (including himself) and sometimes acting is a really good outlet.

He is demisexual and transgender (FtM). He's also autistic with misophonia.

in addition to the gothic rock, Faraday has a British dad music taste. /hj

He also has the ability to disperse and throw his voice, meaning he can basically be his own choir. Why he didn't become a choir conductor will forever be a mystery /j

He used to work as a daycare assistant, henceforth he is really good with children.

He has few memories about his family, but what remains are memories of kindness and childhood joy.

His favourite food is bucket cotton candy and his favourite drink is lychee ramune.

He is 43 years old and his birthday is the 2nd of November. He speaks with an Oxfordshire accent and has a sophisticated, yet laid back vocabulary.

He will follow through with bets and student / teacher pranks and shenanigans, although begrudgingly.

Faraday is a mentor teacher to both his colleagues and students, and while he appears sardonic and critical, he does have a kind, caring, almost paternal personality if you embed yourself into his good books. He has a habit of calling anyone significantly younger than him (students and teachers alike) "kid".

He suffers from severe hayfever in the summer and has an ungodly heat tolerance. He doesn't fair so well in the cold.

This man is 43 and he cannot tie shoelaces.

He used to have an adopted child when he was in his early 20s. Unfortunately they ended up passing due to an incident involving the Deadly Musix: their soul genre was stolen and absorbed entirely, killing them immediately. Faraday himself was caught, a small fracture of his soul being stolen and, along with it, his memories of childhood. He no longer remembers his family. He only lives with the guilt that he failed to protect his child.

The device used to drain his soul genre would progressively absorb and transfer it directly into Aori wirelessly, no matter the distance between her and Faraday. When Faraday escaped, he unknowingly took the device with him, for it had been surgically implanted into his body. All this time, it has been ticking down and eating away at his soul genre for two decades.

Due to the degree of consumption his soul had been under, especially with how little is left, it won't be long until it begins to physically impair him. Technically if the device used to drain his soul was removed it would cease the process, however by the time he realizes what is happening even if he were to remove it he's too weak to function normally. He'd be forced to give up his passions and so much more in life.

He wouldn't be able to teach or act anymore.

Additionally, considering how much is now within Aori, the only way for him to retrieve it is to destroy the prison it is contained in.

... Time for a moral dilemma.

The way to keep him alive would be to restore his soul genre to its entirety. Aori would have consumed that lost majority by now, killing her could potentially return it to him, however she also has several other soul genres combined with hers.

If she were to die right there, Faraday would absorb all of them.

Those are other people's souls that he would be absorbing alongside his own. Would it be wrong? Would it be unfair? Would it be painful?

#oc: faraday heath #oc #my oc #oc rambling #heheueueheurheurhrehee #crow rambles

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thehighestoctave · 1 month

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Now im gonna break down my exact reasoning for why the Byers family is autistic

Joyce will fixate on things spontaneously whether that be a trauma response or not. Her magnets fell off her fridge, so what does she do? Read 8 books on magnetism and then consult a professional. And guess what? She was right! She will also miss key social cues- this is evident again in season 3 where she stands up hopper to meet with another man, scott clarke (yes this is about the same magnet dilemma). It wasnt until hop pointed it out that joyce realized and let out an annoyed sigh.

Will is not as obvious, but its still evident. he's tough at communicating and struggles to express himself properly to people. He's also constantly fidgeting and has a special interest in fantasy (as do his friends). He also hyperfixates on playing dnd in season three, which points out two things- the autistic urge to take control of the entire situation and insist on a specific activity, and, again, fixating on the idea of playing. Hes also very blunt at times, especially when he's annoyed about mike being obsessed with eleven (gay).

Jonathan is extremely self-explanatory, from his constant blank expression to his special interest in photography. He also has a knack for missing social cues, like in season two when Nancy expresses her dissapointment in him not reaching out to her as much, and he nonchalantly tells her it had only been a month (yeouch.). In general, this detail is super noticable when you look closely at the way he interacts with and talks about Nancy.

And Lonnie can go die the end!! Like subscribe and hit that bell

#stranger things #rant post #autism #actually autistic #neurodivergent

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semper-legens · 4 months

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193. The Changing Man, by Tomi Oyemakinde

Owned: No, library Page count: 382 My summary: Ife is a scholarship student at the prestigious Nithercott Academy - and she's not dealing with the pressure of being one of the few working-class Black kids in school. But something strange is afoot at the school. Kids are disappearing, and either they come back...different, or they don't come back at all. With outcast Bee and brother of one of the missing Ben at her side, can Ife solve the mystery of the Changing Man? My rating: 3.5/5 My commentary:

I was expecting this one to be a bit more...horror, than it was. That's not a criticism, it was just a surprise. Urban legends and cryptids are an interest of mine, so this story about the 'Changing Man', a being that supposedly lurks around Nithercott and takes lonely kids, is right up my alley. I found it to be really fun, honestly, if a little weird at times. But I'd prefer weird and fun to polished and boring. It was a good read!

Ife, our protagonist, is one of those classic heroines of this sort of story. She's struggling under pressure from both her parents, who expect great things from her, and the school, which might expel her if her grades are poor. She also feels disconnected from her home and friends - an attempt to smuggle herself out to see her best friend fails, and she's increasingly isolated as one of the only Black kids in a sea of white posh kids. If you've ever been a lonely teenager (which, let's be real, most of us have) you will relate to Ife. She's isolated, awkward, and troubled even before the Changing Man nonsense happened. And I find her to be a really credible protagonist. She's in over her head, and has a lot of moments where she's overwhelmed or breaking down over everything she's seen and done. She makes mistakes and further alienates herself from the kids that would naturally be her allies. But she keeps going, she keeps fighting, she doesn't back down, because she sees an injustice and she can't give it up. I loved her a lot, even if her narration was a little selfconsciously teenagery at times, the narrative leaning on a few teen cliches to characterise her in the earlier parts.

I also really liked her friends. Ben is the brother of missing kid Leon who bears a lot of guilt over Leon's disappearance. He's a weird kid, a bit of a delinquent but not a bad person, and adds a sort of quirky charm to the proceedings. Bee, meanwhile, is an awkward ambiguously-autistic nerd who finds herself alone because other people often find her offputting, and she latches onto other social outcasts to befriend out of a sense of desperation. They're both credible teens, and despite how I'm describing them here, they don't really fall into any of the classic Teen Story stereotypes. Sure, Bee is an awkward nerd, but her love of the school's history and self-awareness about Ife being cold to her at first elevate her. Ben is also complicated by his love for his brother and his big heart. They make a really cute trio!

Finally, let's talk about the Changing Man. Not the alien cryptid creature that forms the centre of this story, but the idea of change as a whole. Ife is worried that, being at the Academy and separated from her old friends, they will change without her and grow to not like her. She's also worried that she will change, and be left behind. The kids who disappear come back as pod people who act exactly as they are supposed to, a change that is clearly unnatural. Change is a huge theme, and the shapeshifters preying on the kids just underscore the point. Change is inevitable, and not necessarily to be feared, but too much change too quickly can be a red flag. The messaging is obvious, but not so on the nose that it gets in the way of the story, which I liked. Overall, it was a good story! I'm glad I picked it up.

Next, the pharmacist in a bunker beneath the world is facing a moral dilemma.

#The Changing Man #Tomi Oyemakinde #bookblr #book blog #book blogger #3.5

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womanexile · 10 months

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Scary- twitter.com/TansuYegen/status/1680902345817837570?s=20 (Too bad not many will see this). But in the beginning- it seems harmless. Kids are more tech savvy too.

One time my dad was a victim of identity theft. A Nigerian Ring scam- he found out when NY cops contacted him. His name was listed in some engineering magazine and all the scammers had to do was have his mail forwarded to a NY address (I don't think ID was checked to verify). They'd cashed credit card promo checks (30-40K?).

TS had to buy web links & this wasn't long before the KW wax mv. time.com/3753687/taylor-swift-porn-adult-domain/ Also Ellen clip youtu.be/yPGrJCbaKB4 She can control only so much as a public figure.

There were a couple weird, inappropriate interviews bits by a photographer (neighbor's son-worked in Hollywood, mom babysat her). He took her childhood pics (personal & professional) from age 4 or 6 to 16- like debut album cover. Yikes- he has Andrew name- hope she didn't crush on him -he'd stay at their TN place to take pics- trusted.

Also the Red tour videos didn't come out because of the guy involved. Hard to vet everyones' background when they work with high-profile celebrities who may be people you know & trust.

Ugh- it makes me think of her 7 song and how she mentioned one time to a reporter that the last time she was really happy was at 6. Also I think of the Matilda song by HS. Kids need to be protected.

Years ago I babysat an autistic kid & his sister. He was playing a pretty innocent kids online game- one of the characters (maybe another player) was saying something weird (adult?) when I went to check on the boy. Troubling dilemma.

I worry about this all the time with my daughter. She’s 12 & has her little online friends. I was just very blunt with her. I told her do not tell anyone personal information cause they could be lying. About 10 years ago in my town a 13 year old boy got killed going to meet a girl he met online but it wasn’t a girl. It was a grown man & he killed him. I think it made national news. I told her you don’t want to happen to you what happened to that boy.

You never think about posting pics of your kids that that could happen.

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immortalsins · 1 year

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autistic dilemma which i’m going to rant about here because my go-to autistic friend has pneumonia so i will not be bothering him.

it’s the easter holidays at uni and i’m still here. there’s a muay thai class on today which i usually love, but nobody has confirmed whether it’ll be run by the same guy who always does thursdays or if it’s an open mat situation. only two people on the groupchat have said ‘yeah bro yeah man i’m down’ so idk whether it’s okay to go ... nobody is stopping me of course but i don’t want to show up to a free sparring session with like 5 people from the inner circle

#i was wondering why i'm so nervous about this and then it hit me #i've got no idea what to expect and i have a diagnosis that says i don't like that #helpful having one sometimes ksdhjbckj #i could also ask the groupchat but i've done that many times now and just got standard mma lad responses #yeah man brother no strength & conditioning could be on my man. yeah fire #<<<mma lad response #they're so useless #i want clear information!!!

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n0isetanks · 2 years

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man i’ve never realized how little i interact with the fandom outside of stonathan things—why did i never see all the jonathan hate??? people are so shitty about him like whyyyy

like clinging to the thing about the pictures and calling him (a literal 16 y/o at the time) a sexual predator??? like bitch? and then blaming him alone for all the jancy drama in S3? and then whatever ppl are pissed at him for now?

it’s all such surface level hatred for him like did we watch the same show?? hello??

jonathan hate........ literally the stupidest shit ever. people who still equate him to his season 1 self (as if he didnt suffer and understand the consequences of his actions in that season anyways) are really blind. they're literally just wildly ignorant because they either just don't really care for his character or see him as someone who gets in the way of ships or whatever. you can not like a character but to use faulty and rather unstable reasoning that has been dismantled by canon is really stupid.

jonathan is definitely nuerodivergent and can even be seen as autistic coded, especially with his actions in s1 with the whole taking photos of nancy thing. he didnt know what he was doing was inappropriate at the moment because of how focused he was in his photography and he explains how his brain functions with his artistic lens later with nancy. eventually he does understand what he did was wrong– and honestly it was a very realistic reaction for steve to have broken his camera and make him pay for the consequences that comes with taking those pictures. jonathan never had any nefarious intentions over the pictures, and to say that he was a sexual predator is totally just..... out of left field. bro he was 16 and didnt understand the consequences of his actions like how did that not convey.

and okay, the s3 jancy thing. both of them were wrong and right which is what made the conflict very interesting and torn between the two. nancy will never understand how it is to come from a poor household and jonathan will never understand the discrimination of women in the work place. both are very real issues and are two parts of a jancy Dilemma of season 3.

people just hate story telling or something ...

#ask

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genuinelyshallow · 3 years

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Do you ever think about how Adolin and Renarin complete each other intellectually ?

Adolin is an emotional intelligence genius! Truly a genius. How he sees through people. Understood Sadeas better than a man who was his friend for decades. Took him only a few weeks to know that Kaladin is hiding something but IS trust worthy. Understood Kaladin’s depression and knew exactly what to do. Saw through Shallan’s SOUL when he only knew her for a few mouths. And knew to suspect Taravangian. And How he makes everyone just simply love him. And while I refuse to call him a himbo. Because hello ? The man proved he’s a remarkable strategist and basically used science he learned from Shallan in the battle in WOR. Numbers .. and letters do go over his head.

And Renarin? We are sure he would be a genius mathematician or an engineer if given the right opportunity. He’s autistic. social interactions is a dilemma to him. He understands and has so much empathy and sympathy , but doesn’t have the ability to show it.

Together they’re the two half of a once in life.. Genius.. A remarkable king even.

We have all the evidence we need that Evi had hidden talents. Because Dalinar’s children are above his Alethi genes.

#the stormlight archive #stormlight archive #adolin kholin #renarin kholin #evi kholin #dalinar kholin #words of radiance #oathbringer #rhythm of war

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heraldofzaun · 3 years

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This is a post I’ve been thinking about making for quite some time, especially due to looking at how my own personal depiction of Viktor differs from what seems to be the general fandom interpretation - especially after the LoR cards released and gave us a few canonical acolytes.

I won’t beat around the bush here: this is going to be about why I personally believe that associating the Glorious Evolution specifically with headcanons about Viktor or his acolytes being trans, or Viktor performing gender-affirming surgeries, or things in a similar vein is a poor decision, and why I don’t include this interpretation in my writings. This isn’t meant to discourage people from writing Viktor or his acolytes as trans, of course - my Viktor is agender, although he’s not aware of it, and it would be absurd to say that his followers have to be cis - but I think it’s important to look at the implications that come from writing Viktor as explicitly someone who helps people relieve and manage their dysphoria through his work with the GE.

Firstly, no matter how you spin it: Viktor’s idea of the Glorious Evolution has always been painted in a negative light. I’ve done my work to portray it as idealistically as possible, but at the end of the day his goals have always been about removing (at the very least, negative) emotions from himself, as well as mechanizing himself and others.

“Desiring both to revolutionize his field and to eliminate the jealous human emotions which festered inside him, he engineered parts to replace and improve his own body... He saw himself as the patron and pioneer of Valoran's future, a future in which man would renounce his flesh in favor of superior hextech augmentations.” (Original lore.)

“He saw human involvement in any part of a process as a grossly inefficient aberration - a view that put him at odds with a great many of his fellow students and professors, who saw the very things Viktor sought to remove as the source of human ingenuity and creativity.” (New lore.)

“Jayce reported the incident [of Viktor creating a device that allowed someone to “effectively control” another person] to the college masters, and Viktor was censured for violating basic human dignity - though, in his eyes, his work would have saved many lives. He was expelled from the college, and retreated to his old laboratory in Zaun, disgusted by the narrow-minded perceptions of Piltover's inhabitants. Alone in the depths, Viktor sank into a deep depression, enduring a traumatic period of introspection for many weeks. He wrestled with the ethical dilemma he now faced, finding that, once again, human emotion and weakness had stood in his way. He had been trying to help, to enhance people beyond their natural capabilities to avoid error and save lives. Revelation came when he realized that he too had succumbed to such emotions, allowing his naive belief that good intentions could overcome ingrained prejudice to blind him to human failings. Viktor knew he could not expect others to follow where he did not go first, so, in secret, he operated on himself to remove those parts of his flesh and psyche that relied upon or were inhibited by emotion.” (New lore.)

This, when combined with how Viktor has also always been intended as a more villainous character - his visual design language, voice lines, and how he leans into the “evil Russian scientist” stereotype all confirm that - mean that from an out-of-universe standpoint, we’re meant to see his ideas as wrong and misguided. Multiple other champions have lines specifically about how he’s wrong - Ekko calls him “everything wrong with Zaun”, Camille (who is morally grey at best, and a cold-blooded killer at worst) calls his work “quaint”, implying that it doesn’t go far enough for her liking, and Heimerdinger makes the point that without humans, no one will be left to appreciate Viktor’s work. It doesn’t matter if Viktor has good intentions - the narrative tells us time and time again that his path leads to a very dark place, especially in new lore where he’s comfortable with violating free will for the sake of preventing death.

It seems obvious to me that a character who auto-amputates as a way to cope with overwhelming emotions, who decides that emotions themselves are a burden, who is repeatedly described as having an obsession with the Glorious Evolution regardless of lore, who is described as who you go to when you’re desperate in new lore... is clearly someone whose surgeries (at least of himself, where they are implied to be unnecessary - again, auto-amputation) and end goals are supposed to be read as a violation of human nature and dignity. Here we pivot to talking about trans issues in specific.

I’m of the firm belief that it’s not a good idea to associate gender-affirming surgeries, HRT, or any other thing used for transitioning with a character whose surgeries are supposed to be read as a violation of the human form. This plays directly into the anti-trans idea that transitioning is, well, a violation of the human form. It is not a good idea to write the man who cuts off his own limbs to poorly cope with his emotions as a patron of trans rights. It’s drawing a direct parallel between Viktor’s auto-amputations, which we are supposed to read as not only a very bad thing and the product of obsession, but arguably self-harm, with life-saving medical care.

(There’s also the issue that some people seem to assume that transhumanism is, in any way, inherently related to being trans - but that’s a whole other topic that I don’t feel very qualified to write on. I consider myself someone interested in transhumanist concepts, when applied appropriately (i.e. not ending up in eugenicist territory), but I am far from an expert on transhumanist thought. I think it’s enough to say that no, they’re not related. They’re just two things with the same prefix. Please don’t confuse the two.)

In my opinion, Viktor should not be seen as someone whose work is a direct benefit to trans individuals. (Again, not to say that Viktor can’t have followers who are trans. But please, please consider before making him the person that they go to for help with transitioning. The man doesn’t even have a medical degree, and his canonical work is described as being all about function over form. He’s not the surgeon you want.) I don’t think that Viktor’s gender identity, whatever it may be, should be associated with his obsession with the Glorious Evolution - or at the least, it shouldn’t be portrayed as a positive association. (In the sense of Viktor using the GE/his own surgeries as a positive affirmation of his gender... I’m struggling to precisely define this at the moment, apologies.) The GE is, textually, an unhealthy coping mechanism.

(There’s maybe something to be said for a Viktor who has disassociated himself so far from humanity that he no longer considers gender applicable to himself... but please, be careful if you write this. I’m speaking as someone who’s agender: I’m tired of my identity being used as shorthand for someone or something becoming or being nonhuman. I’m tired of people treating Blitzcrank being reskinned as a they/them pronoun user as something revolutionary, if they themselves don’t use those pronouns or aren’t nonbinary. I’m not going to pretend that I’m the arbiter of what people can and can’t write, but I’m tired of seeing myself - as an autistic and agender person - represented solely by unfeeling aliens and machines and whatever else, and being told that it’s good, actually, because any representation is good representation. I’d like for people to be more mindful in what they write and promote, but I think that this is becoming a tangent.)

I guess it comes time for me to defend my own depiction, then, since as I’ve mentioned above I do write Viktor as agender. I admit that I want to see aspects of myself in the characters that I like, but I also strive to be aware of the implications that these aspects may have. My Viktor’s gender identity has absolutely nothing to do with his idea of the Glorious Evolution - he has no dysphoria that he attempts to relieve through his surgeries, he does not see roboticization as a way to move past the gender binary... he doesn’t even realize that he’s not a cis man, because he hasn’t had the time or tools to introspect on that aspect of himself. (He’d be rather confused if you told him that people generally tend to feel as if they’re a certain gender - he’s just... himself.) I’ve written him in this way to try to make it clear that he has always felt this way about himself - that the GE has nothing to do with it - and that it has no influence on his actions as the Machine Herald.

There isn’t really a good way to wrap this up. Again, I am not saying that Viktor or his acolytes shouldn’t be written as trans, nor trying to stop people from writing that - only that their transness shouldn’t be directly associated with his idea of the Glorious Evolution. I think that we need to be mindful of what kinds of tropes that our depictions can fall into, and in this case a non-mindful depiction of Viktor as trans can seen as equating being trans to what’s easily read as self-harm/a violation of human nature. I doubt that anyone genuinely intends this association, but it can be made regardless, and so I prefer to keep the two concepts wholly separate in my depiction.

If you’ve made it this far, thank you for reading. I’m willing to answer any questions that arise from this.

#headcanons | beneath the mask #//not really a headcanon post i think but like... it's something i've been thinking a lot about.#//i've been a fan of viktor for years so it's been interesting to see how perceptions of him have changed.#//and while i'm all for fan interpretations that allow you to relate to a character - and no stranger to them either - we need to be careful #//when writing things because otherwise we end up creating implications that we probably didn't intend.#//i don't know what to tag this as triggers-wise but i do mention the concepts of self-harm and transphobia #//so if that's upsetting to read about even very briefly i'd pass on this?

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divine-motion · 4 years

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don’t fucking interact if you ship t/cest and minor/adult ships

more shitty phone photos of sketchbook sketches for my tmnt fan incarnation/tmnt 2012 rewrite bc i have no shame and i’m having fun with it! pictures should have captions since i spent time writing them out, but tumblr might mess it up, so in case captions doesn’t work: 1. left to right: leo, donatello up, raphael down, michelangelo 2. Casey Jones up top, April O’Neil to the right, donatello in the middle and karai at the bottom 3. casey and don again, raphael to the left, mikey at the bottom just bc i liked how their their expressions turned out and didn’t want a bunch of negative space so don and case appear again 4. size chart featuring turtles. left to right: leo, don, mikey, raph 5. sketchy Slash design. big boy.

general thoughts character stuff below the Keep Reading. A Lot of rambling below so beware!!

April: 15 years old, trans and bi. local fifteen year old telepath finds out that not everyone is able to feel what other people are feeling, something she’s been able to do since she was six after she played in that one weirdly glowy puddle (early Kraang mutagen attempt that only managed to mutate April in the sense that it gave her telepathy, was originally intended to make humans become part of the Kraang hivemind). she’s largely unfazed by the existence of mutants and aliens, taking it in stride, and finds out about the Kraang - and meets the turtles - while snooping around TCRI business (aspiring journalist that she is) and accidentally witnessing the mutation of Snakeweed. her telepathy, which later as she grows in power alongside the turtles extends to telekinesis and basically possession, is very useful whenever she gets into a scrap since she can predict what moves her opponent will make, thus letting her dodge their blows effectively. personality wise she is a very determined and driven young girl, incredibly curious (and cannot mind her own business, she wants to know all the drama while not having to be part of it... which makes her very fortunate to be a telepath. listen she’s 15 she’s allowed to misuse her powers a little bit. as a treat.), playful, and cheerful, and she’s an extroverted autistic. in her spare time between her studies, she likes to play bass, sing, read, and write. that, and investigating whatever shady business is going on in town, and she makes it very clear to the turtles that even if they weren’t going to deal with the Kraang, she’d continue to try to stop them herself. she would like to not live under the threat of her or her loved ones getting mutated, thank you very much! and, you know, it’s kind of exciting. kind of.

i know it’s bc i have brain issues when it comes to parent figures but i am very much leaning towards Splinter not being... a good dad. i don’t think 2012 Splinter is a good dad anyways but i’d probably amp it up, make him a mix of 2012 and idw probably. i’m still mulling it over but like, remember in the season 1 finale when leo is watching his show and thinks the captain guy making a totally unnecessary sacrifice is a heroic move, and then Splinter tells leo (his fifteen year old child) that leo should know what or who to sacrifice, more or less telling him to sacrifice his brothers’ lives, potentially?? i know there was a lot at stake but hello??? i remember watching it and being like me: ah i see, this is showing that splinter is wrong and there is no need for any sacrifices as seen in the show when the captain Goes Down With His Ship for no reason other than just sacrificing himself, and leo will see that- leo: *tries to sacrifice himself twice in the finale, both times being kind of unnecessary/seemed like if he had just hurried or done something slightly different there would be no need to stay behind, and he gets out fine with no consequences, seemingly no injuries, and does Not learn anything, his brothers don’t even get sad when they think he died or get mad at him for pulling such a dumb move) me: surprised_pikachu.jpeg

like that moment haunts me. has any other splinter told their sons to sacrifice himself or his brothers? has any other splinter put that on them??? idw doesn’t count if he has bc he’s more explicitly supposed to be bad so???

sometimes writers think they’ve made an uncle iroh but they really, really, really haven’t. also his backstory is the same as in the show

anyways. Donatello: 15 years old, bog turtle, nonbinary (he/they, doesn’t mind being called brother but doesn’t like to be called “boy” or “girl” or whatever), bi. he isn’t in love with April. no creepy incel shit here. donnie is instead more like a mix between his Rise and 2003 self. he has trouble expressing himself and is pretty introverted, but he is very altruistic, kind, and compassionate. a lot of his inventions are made to help people and he was driven to learn about science and engineering because he wants to find a way to reverse splinter’s mutation, to give splinter his life and humanity back. he feels like he needs to know if splinter would just abandon them if he wasn’t a huge rat man, needs to know if there’s any part of splinter that blames them for being constant reminders of his mutation. other than that, he also likes to make inventions because he’s a dreamer and wants to experiment to see how much of the unknown he can push beyond. also, the best liar out of the turtles. also fairly good at compromising and prefers to solve conflicts without violence he can get a little... “obnoxious 15 year old genius” at times. even when he’s helpful it can come off as a bit “poor dear isn’t as smart as me”, and while he usually gets along well with Raph, he doesn’t handle Raph’s temper well at all (calls him “Wrathael/Wrath” and thinks he’s being super clever) and gets really dismissive of Raph’s “outbursts”.

Michelangelo: 13 years old, diamondback terrapin, unsure about the gender and sexuality thing but he doesn’t think he’s exactly cis and definitely not straight. a bouncy ball of sunshine and surprising emotional maturity and emotional intelligence! more so than his emotionally constipated brothers, at least. it’s on his thirteenth birthday (it was leo’s idea for them to pick dates that would let them have their own birthdays instead of sharing the “Mutation Day”, Mutation Day being another special “holiday”) that the Plot would be set in motion, as he’s finally allowed to go to the surface same as his brothers, and on this first night out they meet April and the Kraang and other mutants. he is a goof still, but he’s capable in his own right and gets frustrated when people treat him like a baby or an idiot because he’s not. he doesn’t always treat everything with the seriousness it should but like. he’s thirteen, he’s having fun. even so, he’s very insistent of taking responsibility whenever he does do something wrong and gets mad if someone tries to take the blame for something he’s done. definitely the most compassionate and empathetic out of the turtles, he’s quick to make friends and is very persuasive due to his earnest nature and good heart. much like donnie, he prefers to solve conflict without violence but does enjoy knocking skulls a lot more than donnie. unlike donnie, though, he is almost overly forgiving and not petty at all. he’s well aware that his kindness and forgiveness may be taken advantage of, but he still likes to approach people with an open hand, even if he knows that it may end up getting bitten. oh, and his hobbies include drawing, cooking, singing, and dancing. he likes to express himself!

Raphael: 14 years old, mississippi map turtle, trans, bi. all his fury is compressed within his tiny body, that’s why he’s so angry all the time! no, he’s not angry all the time, but he does have a short fuse. he absolutely hates his anger issues which leads to a lot of self-loathing, and a lot of frustration as his family members either don’t take his anger seriously or don’t have the tools to help him with it. he’s the physically strongest out of the bunch and the least agile. he loves animals and plants a lot and keeps a lot of flowers in his room, hoping that he can one day become a gardener. as his idw self, he wants to watch things grow, but no matter what he does he seems to be best at destroying things. he’s also the one most self-conscious about how the human world perceives them, as he greatly fears rejection, and is the first one to see something positive with people getting mutated - namely, that maybe this way mutants will be more well known and finally accepted by society, so he’ll no longer be trapped in the sewer until the end of his days. so yeah, he’s a huge optimist, in truth. also he’s great at knitting - great at creating and taking care of things in general - and there’s no leo and raph rivalry this time around. he can get mad at leo but not really more than he gets with his other brothers.

Casey: 15 years old, nonbinary (they/them), bi. teen vigilante who gets inspired to fight mutants and the big time criminals (no beating up pickpockets or shoplifters or whatever, just the ones that are really hurting people) and gets roped into the turtle fam after meeting raph and becoming unexpected friends (everyone was expecting it, once Casey realized that mutants are people and not weird monsters. well, not all the time, anyways). they struggle a bit in school not because of a lack of trying but a lack of time, as their parents work full time jobs and someone has to take care of casey’s little sister. their parents are very loving, but they only have so much time, so casey takes it upon themselves to take care of their little sister when their parents are busy and/or burned out from work. that, and they run into the classic dilemma of vigilante work clashing with school work. as always, they have a short fuse, they’re pretty cocky, they like beating ass, and they like hockey a whole lot. hockey, vigilante work, school, and taking care of their little sister... yeah, they have a lot on their plate. oh, and making their little inventions like the taser glove and their puck bombs, something that they bond with donnie over.

Leonardo: 17 years old, Central American wood turtle, trans, gay. he doesn’t fall in love with his sister oh my god. ahem. so, leo is raised from the start to be a Leader and has to mature very quickly, learning to be an adult way earlier than he should’ve, and as such he is very stoic and quiet, and doesn’t seem to have any hobbies, instead just doing chores and training almost constantly, and when he’s not doing that he’s reading or sleeping in his free time. he’s incredibly protective of his younger brothers and his other allies/friends, even if he acts distant and detached most of the time, and removes himself from situations where they’re having fun to not be the stick in the mud. he loves his brothers and admires them greatly, believing they could be So Much if the surface world would just accept them, and as a result he tries to be The Soldier so his brothers won’t have to. alas, they still get caught up in the Kraang and Shredder business, which frustrates him internally. he is the best fighter out of the turtles on account of having more years to train (and convincing Splinter to wait a few more years before they got Real training bc Come On Dude They’re Kids) but it’s the Only thing he’s good at, along with stealth and his sharp eyes. he absolutely sucks at talking when it isn’t about a mission or something he can script easily in his head. in his mind, he’s supposed to be more of a weapon than a person, an idea that isn’t exactly encouraged by Splinter... but not exactly discouraged either. his arc would be very paralleled with Karai’s, as they would both learn to hate their dads... also, absolutely down for murder, and a lawful neutral at best, putting his family and friends’ safety above all other things and following a strict personal code. doesn’t care too much for society’s laws, though.

Karai: 16 years old, demigirl, lesbian. same backstory as in the show, she’s born as Miwa but gets taken by Oroku Saki and raised as his daughter. however, she doesn’t exactly want revenge against Hamato Yoshi because she believes that he killed her mother. she never knew her mother, so it’s much more difficult to hate someone for taking her mother away, even if it does mean that she never got to know her mother. especially since her father rarely spoke of what her mother was like, and much more about how much he hates Yoshi. instead, her need for revenge is more for the possibly idyllic life she was robbed of, since she believes that maybe, just maybe, her father Saki would’ve been a kind father that would’ve let her have a normal childhood and not be molded into a warrior from the start if her mother still lived. and hey, maybe Tang Shen would be a nice mom too. being trained in the art of deception, Karai has a tendency to talk a lot and say very little, or at least very little that is true. she is rarely ever sincere and acts as if she’s taking nothing seriously, which is part of her defense mechanism to never let anyone close or see her true self. she mocks pretty much everyone, ally and enemy alike, but especially likes to make fun of her father’s henchmen and is always the first to point out their failures. while she does value honor to some extent, she is a bit “flimsy” when it comes to loyalty, especially after the truth about her father is revealed. when that is revealed, she at first just feels very numb, learning that not only has she been nothing but a tool and a weapon for the Shredder from the very start, but also that the idyllic fantasy where her mother still lived, perhaps her life wouldn’t be so different after all. she looks at leonardo and sees a reflection of herself, that her “real” father chose to train his sons the same way the Shredder trained her. she feels stupid for feeling like she’s been robbed of even a fantasy, but it still enrages her. of course, this also inspires her to stay with the Foot Clan... just to get the kill on Shredder.

... yeah. that got long. ahem. i’m very passionate about this unfortunately!! anyways i might draw/write more for it because no one can stop me and i’m having fun

#tmnt #leonardo #donatello #raphael #michelangelo #april o'neil #casey jones #karai #tmnt 2012 #tmnt au

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yes-i-am-happyaspie · 4 years

Text

How We Got From There to Here

April is Autism Awareness Month. This is the one and only fan-fiction that I have ever written featuring Peter Parker with Autism.

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Summary: When Peter, who has Autism, tells Tony that he quit his schools FIRST robotics team because 'they didn't like him' and he didn't get to work with Ned, the man gets to work to find solution. This leads them to join a small community team that suits their needs perfectly. Together they navigate the world of robotics from build season all the way to World Chapmpionships.

Tags: Autistic Peter Parker, Tony Stark Acting as Peter Parkers Parental Figure, FIRST Robotics, Platonic Cuddling... ...

Word Count: 7015

Warnings: No Rated: G

Link To Post On AO3 [2019-5-20] How We Got From There to Here- happyaspie

When Tony first met Peter Parker he had noticed a few things. The kid was jittery, stuttered and avoided eye-contact as if it would burn. He didn't think too much of it. He was Tony Stark. People often acted nervous around him. A result of being well known, always in the face of the public and even more so since taking on the moniker, Iron Man. He didn't notice a whole lot outside of that for a long time. After all, his contact with the kid was limited to a very few interactions and most of them were brief or he was too angry to pick up on anything else other than maybe, that the boy has some serious issues with following directions.

It was later when the kid had slipped up and his aunt found out about his extracurricular activities that he started to pick up on more. Peter was spending a good bit of time with him in the lab now. As he did so, he started to notice more and more things about his new mentee. Like, the fact that he could talk circles about whatever subjects he wanted to talk about but the second Tony would change the subject the kid would revert to one-word replies. The repetitive fidgeting the kid did with his hands and fingers had also caught his attention. He definitely noticed that the boy never asked for anything. If he did it was just on the verge of frantic. Like the first time, Peter had ever had to ask where the bathroom was or when Tony lost track of time one Saturday and the boy hadn't had anything to eat or drink in hours. He eventually learned that Peter was just in general... awkward, from the way he moved to the way he talked. It was subtle but he could see it now. Not that he minded in the least, the boy was wicked smart and his smile was damn near contagious.

It was when he was sharing coffee with Peter's Aunt May, one afternoon that he learned that there was more to the kid's awkwardness than just being a bit of a nerd. He had mentioned something about the kid's constant fidgeting when May had corrected him and used the word stemming. He hadn't really known what she meant until he got home and looked it up. Then it all started to fall into place. Peter wasn't just awkward, he had Autism. When he had called her later to verify she was shocked that he hadn't already figured it out. They stayed on the phone for quite a while discussing it. After that, Tony became much more tuned-in to Peter and his idiosyncrasies.

One afternoon as they were working together in the gym, Peter was rambling on and on about robotics. Nothing specific, just robotics in general. He seemed to know an awful lot about it as the words flowed out of his mouth in rapid succession. When Tony finally felt like he could get a word in he asked him why he'd quit the robotics team at his school if it was something he was so into. Peter had grown quiet for a moment before expressing that the team didn't like him. That had Tony's attention. How could anyone not like Peter?

"I thought your best friend, whats-his-face, was on the team with you?", he asked.

"Yeah, Ned. He does the programming. I like engineering. We didn't work together.", Peter said offering Tony a rare split second of eye-contact. That was happening more and more often and he loved it because May said it meant that the kid trusted him.

"You're a natural at Robotics, the team would be lucky to have you on it." After that nothing else was said about the subject and discussion when back to Peter rambling on about pneumatics and hydraulics, something he had taken a recent liking to. Tony finally had to cut him off to ask him if he needed some water. When the boy enthusiastically downed the entire bottle in one long breath, Tony, gently reminded him where the bottles were kept and he could get one whenever he wanted it. He almost laughed when Peter gave him an indignant 'I know' because he'd never once gotten one by himself despite knowing where they were.

After Peter had gone home that evening, he made a phone call. A guy he had gone to college with had started a small community robotics team right there in Manhattan a couple of years ago. He'd been quietly sponsoring the team since it's rookie season, however, he'd never actually gone out to the shop they used to meet any of them. After talking to Rob about Peter, it became clear that this was more than likely a much better fit for the kid that his school team had been and he was excited to check it out.

The first time Tony had entered the workspace, he expected to be surrounded by a bunch of hero-worshipping teenagers but it seemed that they had been prepared for his visit and all he got was a multitude of thank you's and handshakes before being led on a tour of the facility and introduced to the robot they had built for the previous season's game. It was all very impressive. All of them were so polite and friendly that he was actually kind of sorry he hadn't brought Peter with him.

The next week, with May's blessing, when he did bring Peter to the shop he was sort of expecting the kid to see the large group of teenagers gathered in the smallest meeting room and turn on his heels. When he didn't Tony was thrilled. In fact, if the fluttering of his hands by his sides was any indication, he would say the boy was excited to be there. As they were shown around the workshop portion of the building, no one seemed bothered by Peter interrupting whatever they were saying to insert information that he already knew, nor did they seem fazed when he criticized their choice in wheel design or climbing mechanism. They thanked him for his input. By the end of the night, Peter was ready to come back and be apart of the team.

By the time January rolled around and the build season really started, Tony was starting to wonder what he'd gotten himself into. Meetings went from once a week to nearly every day. Most days Peter wanted to be there, he had become an intricate part of the team, especially during the design process. Some days he fought it saying that Patrolling was more important. Other days he was conflicted to the point that Tony or May had to pry his hands out of his hair and coach him through it. They never did find a perfect balance but by the time the six week build period was up and competitions were starting, Peter was eager to see the robot in action.

The team attended two district competitions and won both, once as the alliance captain and once as the first choice of the top team. They had also gotten an award for quality at both competitions. There was a great deal of excitement when they made it to the state competition. It was by far the best season the team had ever had. Tony wanted to believe that it had everything to do with Peter but he never said it. It was called a team for a reason.

The state competition had been iffy at best with Peter. It was much larger than the district competitions. The crowds were a little tighter and it was loud, even for Tony. He was glad he's packed the kid his sound-canceling headphones, he wished he'd packed himself some. By the end of the event, the kid was getting tense and cranky but they made it. When the team lost in the first round of the finals, Peter was in shambles. Tony had to take him outside where the boy found a place to hide and quietly cry as Tony reassured him that they'd had an awesome season and that he had two medals to show for it. Once he had the kid calmed down enough to go back inside he was pleased to see that the team greeted him pleasantly while Rob invited him to come help pack up the pit area with them.

When the announcement at the very end of the day had them listed with enough points to just make it over the threshold of making it to the world competition, everyone was shocked and Peter, despite having his ears covered firmly with his hands had a smile on his face that was so wide you would think it would have split his face in two. Once Tony managed to slip the headphones back over his ears, Peter used his now free hands to hug Tony so tight that he could barely breathe. This was followed by multiple high-fives with his teammates.

That win had led to a dilemma. The championship was held in a giant convention center in Detroit. The venue was huge, the crowds would be large and it was guaranteed to lead to overstimulation even with headphones and fidgets. Peter insisted he had to go, while May questioned whether or not it was a good idea. "Tony, it's four days of constant crowds and noise on very little sleep. He's not going to sleep well in a hotel. I'm not sure you can handle what may come out of this..."

"He's done large events with me before, granted they were only for a few hours but we managed."

"You did but think about it. What did you do when he started to get overstimulated?"

Tony didn't even have to think about it. Terms like meltdown, stemming, sensory-overload and overstimulated were everyday words for him now. "He sat outside with Happy for a bit... when that wasn't working anymore we left." Then he saw her point. There would be no going home because he was ready. If they went they were there for the duration. Of course, he could get a private plane or take his car and get them back to New York whenever they needed to go but there would be no instant gratification.

This left Tony was torn on the matter. He'd seen the kid sit on the verge of a sensory overload at the last competition and this one was bigger, longer and further away from home. But for all they knew it could be a once in a lifetime opportunity. Eventually, it was decided that if Peter wanted to go, he should get to. It would be a good experience and Tony could tag along as a chaperone, since May had to work and there was literally less than two weeks' notice.

After talking to Peter and May, it was decided that Tony would be there but in the background. Peter would have independence while on the trip. He would ride in the car with his teammates and stay with them in the hotel as well. They were meant to be set up as four boy's per room but Tony paid double to keep Peter's room at three to make it less crowded and Tony would stay in a room in the same hotel so that Peter had somewhere comfortable to escape to. They had gone over everything with Peter and he seemed more than confident that both adults were overreacting. He went out as Spider-man nearly every night with no problems. Neither adult felt the need to explain that he never left his own neighborhood and had the option to come back home whenever things got to be too much. Instead, they just agreed with him.

And all of that led up to where they were right now. Tony, standing outside of the conference center watching Peter bang his head up against a tree and cry that he wanted to go home while the rest of the team was inside cheering. He wasn't even sure what had led up to this moment. Not for certain. It had been going well, the first day went by like a breeze. The second was almost as perfect, outside of a few small anxiety-inducing moments, such as having to order off of a menu at a completely new restaurant. They had worked there way through it and his team was nothing but supportive.

Day three got a little rough towards the end. Peter was adamant that he wanted to go back to the hotel by lunch and seemed to be on the verge of a breakdown so Tony had given in. That was probably his first mistake, but the kid looked exhausted. In his head, it made sense, let Peter go back to the hotel and catch up on some sleep then the next day, the most important day, he would be more ready to go. It hadn't worked out quite that perfectly.

Peter came back to Tony's room and they both slept, curled up beside each other on the king-sized bed until dinner time. Then after eating with the team, the kid seemed to be in a much better headspace so he had encouraged him to sleep in the room with his friends for the night. They had to get up extra early to be at the venue for the final alliance selections. While they were placed towards the bottom of their field, they had a lot of things going for them and being chosen as a partner by another alliance was a possibility. He really wanted Peter to be there for that.

That might have been his second mistake because when he came down to meet the team for breakfast it didn't look like Peter had slept. Then when Peter's face scrunched up at the portable breakfast he had been handed, Tony thought they might have already hit the end of their rope for the day. However, rather than toss the bag filled with a Tampico orange juice, a cup of yogurt and granola bar on the ground he handed it to Tony telling him 'no'. Tony not wanting the day to go sour, handed him a bottle of Pepsi and promised to show up with a breakfast that he did like soon. That seemed to work and Peter followed his team out to the cars without another word. The silence should have clued Tony into just how off the day was going to be.

Tony arrived just in time for the alliance selections to start with a McDonald's Sausage McGriddle in hand. At first, when he didn't see Peter on the stands with his team he panicked. Checking his messages, there was nothing from Rob indicating that anything was wrong so he took a deep breath and climbed the ungodly amount of stairs up to where Rob and his wife, Joyce, were sitting with the other adults behind the kids. "Where's Peter?", he asked trying to sound casual. Joyce smiled and pointed a few rows over to where several teenagers from various teams were gathering on the benches around several Nintendo Switch systems. Peter was right in the middle of them. "Katie talked him into going with her to play with them.", she said proudly and rightfully so. Peter six months ago wouldn't have talked to anyone he didn't know more than a few words here and there without the mask of Spider-man. The mask seemed to open something up in him. Maybe it was the barrier of the person not knowing who he was. There was no expectation. Whatever the difference was, there was no denying the changes that had come about in maskless-Peter since joining the team. He was far less shy around new people and with the encouragement of a few select friends he was joining in on more and more social opportunities.

Hating to interrupt but also not wanting to hand the boy a cold sandwich later he slipped over towards the group and quietly handed the bag to Katie to give to Peter. When she did, Peter's eyes flickered up towards Tony and looking him right in the eyes he thanked him. "You're welcome, Buddy. I'll be right over there", he said gesturing towards the other adults. It was then that, the boy finally looked back down at the screen.

Once everyone had been told to put the games away and come sit together for the Selections to start he could see Peter's face fall. He was worried he was going to have to jump in. The kid didn't always do well with changing activities so abruptly but with Katie's help, he seemed fine. Though rather than going to sit with her, he carried his bag over and squeezed himself indirectly beside Tony. Eating his sandwich, Peter would periodically look over at Tony and just as he was starting to wonder if the boy was trying to suggest that he needed something, Thunderstruck came blaring into the room and the announcer started talking. Everyone, including Tony's, attention went to that. It was amazing how quickly he had been sucked into the whole competitive robotics culture. He certainly approved of the soundtrack... mostly. He could have done without a few of the songs. Mainly the Macarena and that mostly because once Peter had mastered the dance, it became a running joke to add said dance to every song that ever played from that day forward.

During the video explaining alliance selections, Peter started getting restless. Tony offered to take him to walk around but he declined, apparently, they had been told that they should stay in their seats for the process. Even with reassurances that it would be fine to get up, Peter stayed still. Alliance selection lasted way longer than it had at any other competition they had been to and he could feel Peter tensing up beside him. Just as he was about to try to talk the kid into going on a walk with him again, the third seed team called out their team's number as a third pick. The whole team erupted into cheers around them causing Peter to violently flinch and cover his ears before registering what all of the yellings was about. Scrambling to get his headphones out of the backpack, Tony quickly set him on his ears and watched Peter visibly relax before everything clicked. "We got picked! Oh my God, Mr. Stark! They picked us!", he laughed, hands flying wildly in the air before coming to a still around Tony's neck in a hug. It really was something.

After that, Tony let his guard down. That was mistake number three but just like the other mistakes, it wouldn't add up until later. The kid smiled through all of the matches and cheered when they won. Then as if by some miracle the little community team and it's three allied forces managed to win the field. That would mean, moving on to The Einstein Round Robins. No one had expected that and it was exciting beyond measure. Peter nearly couldn't contain himself. It was an honor to have gotten that far and much to Peter's excitement, it meant another medal to add to his growing collection.

Once things had settled down and Peter was happily playing Uno with his team Tony gently patting the boy on the shoulder, he had been reminded that he was in charge of the team's lunch that day. It was time for him to leave to go get it. Peter nodded and Tony walked out of the conference center with Joyce and one other adult to collect the multitude of sandwiches he had previously ordered.

When they returned the message was sent out that they were in the courtyard outside and everyone should join them. Tony wasn't concerned, the team had an established buddy system and Peter was good at following those kinds of rules. When more than twenty minutes had passed and there was still no Peter, Tony started to get concerned. Looking around, it appeared that the majority of the team was there already there, save for the drive team and a few mentors. Asking around, no one had seen him. Then one of the boys piped up and said that he'd seen Peter leave with another team member. When Tony questioned that kid, he said that Peter had started with him but then ended up leaving with a different group. It ended up being a wild goose chase and Tony was getting frustrated. He had already texted the kid seven times with no reply, a quick check later and he'd figured out why. The battery on Peter's phone was dead.

He wasn't panicked but he was getting there. It was an insane amount of people exiting the building at the moment. Tony knew that Peter knew where to go for lunch and figured he would show up eventually but not having a direct line to him was kind of nervewracking. Just when he was about to go try to track him down himself, Joyce grabbed him by the arm. "He's fine, Tony. Rob found him in the bleachers. Apparently, he got separated from his group and went back there since he didn't have a buddy anymore. He's in the pit area with him and the drive team. I've already sent two of the kid's to get him."

Tony thanked her and relaxed. When Peter got to the courtyard he looked a little worse for wear. He wasn't smiling anymore and he was staying at least five steps behind the two boys who had gone to collect him. "Hey, Kiddo. How was the pit?" Peter didn't answer. That was fine, he was probably stressed. "Look why don't you go get a sandwich.", Tony suggested. When Peter whispered 'no' he tried again. "Okay, I'm going to go make you a plate. If you eat it, cool. It not then that's fine too. Yeah?" Peter nodded in the affirmative and Tony took that as a win.

After some quiet debate, Peter wolfed down both of the sandwiches Tony had brought him as well as a bag of chips and two cookies. Tony hoped that was enough to perk him up a bit but it wasn't. He wanted to go back to the hotel. He asked at least seven times and Tony deflected each one. "You let me go yesterday!", the boy finally shouted, hands full of his own hair.

"Yeah, I did, Buddy. We can't do that today, though. We need to cheer for the team.", he said calmly. His good deed from the day before was now getting throw back in his face. He'd accidentally set a precedent that they could just return to the hotel on a whim.

Being told 'no' seemed to agitate Peter even more. He watched as the boy started to pace and backed off. Sometimes, Peter just needed time to process everything. He hoped that he would calm down on his own. Before he had a chance to find out, one of the mentors was grabbing Peter by the arm and tugging him towards where they were taking pictures with the new banner and handing out medals. For his part, Peter did really well keeping it together for the pictures, though he was about two steps from the rest of the group and there was no convincing him to get any closer.

As everyone else started to mill inside, Tony stayed in the yard with Peter. The kid was getting more and more worked up. After fifteen minutes of watching the kid cry, Tony really wanted to relent and take the boy back to the hotel but that would defeat the purpose of them being there. The team had made it to Einstein and it was a big deal. Peter would be so mad at himself later if he missed that, he was sure of it. "Pete, we need to stay here. Look, let's take a break, yeah? We can get some shaved ice and then see if we feel like going back inside."

"No!", Peter screamed. "No, I don't want to go back inside. I want to go to the hotel! I hate robotics, I hate this team, I hate being here. Take me home!"

Tony was at a loss. The kid was standing in front of him completely broken and crying. He found himself having to glare at people as they walked past too stare. Especially when Peter started his routine of self-harm. Tony had never seen it get this bad. He was used to the hair-pulling but seeing him scratch his arms and hit his head on things was different. May had reassured him that if it ever came to that, the best thing to do was to let it run it's course unless he was becoming a serious threat to himself or others, not that, that had ever happened. Watching the boy repeatedly hit his head less than gently on the trunk of the tree beside the path while begging to go home was heartbreaking. With his own eyes watering, he did as May had suggested and turned his back, only glancing behind him occasionally to make sure that Peter hadn't gone too far. He finally understood May's concerns. No one but him could have handled this. He loved Rob and he loved Joyce and the whole team was fantastic but they wouldn't have been able to handle this. Looking at his watch, they were already missing the first match.

Next time he turned around, Peter was no longer hurting himself had gone back to pacing. Tony casually mentioned that he was going to get in line for some shaved ice. The boy followed him at a distance. Tony would randomly point out different things for Peter to look at. Like a dog or a cloud that looked like a rabbit. Just talking to talk. Helping things go back to normal. By the time they had gotten to the front of the long line, Peter was almost calm. Tony was getting answers out of him anyway. Even so, it was clear he was still extremely tense.

Shaved ice in hand, Tony started to wander to a less populated area of the field. It was quieter. Eventually, Peter started talking more normally, yet his posture still screamed anxiety and tension. Looking at his watch again, they had now missed three matches. Sighing, Tony looked at Peter and decided to bite the bullet. "Are you ready to go back inside? This is pretty exciting stuff. Don't you want to go watch some of it?"

"No", Peter curtly answered. That seemed to be his word of choice for the day.

Tony gave it a few more minutes and tried again. "Should we go back inside?" The expected 'no' came without hesitation. Tony was starting to think that something else was off so despite the fact that they had just had lunch and the kid was still holding a small dessert in his hands. So, he started offering things. Sometimes listing out different possible solutions got the kid thinking about how he was feeling and usually, that helped sort out anything else that might wrong. "Does your head hurt?", he asked first. It wasn't unusual for Peter to get headaches when he was tired or overstimulated but he would keep quiet about it until it was unbearable if no one asked.

"No. I'm fine.", he grumbled.

"Alright. Good. Did you get enough to drink at lunch? Do you need some water?"

"No", Peter answered more calmly that he had anything else in the last hour. He was more than likely already clued in on what Tony was doing. That meant that this was helping.

"Okay... did you get enough to eat? I can buy you a slice of pizza or something.", he tried fully expecting the kid to decline that too. He'd had a big lunch.

"I need to pee!", Peter exclaimed in reply, dropping his unfinished cup of shaved ice into the grass as if the urgent need has snuck up on him. ...it probably had. He'd been so focused on fighting back the anxiety and sensory input while trying to regulate his emotions that the state of his bladder had probably been placed on the back burner. That is until he'd started to calm down and Tony had started forcing him to take inventory of his own body.

"Okay", Tony said. He hadn't been expecting that but if the boy was offering that information on his own accord it meant he needed to act fast. This was going to have to be handled delicately because the bathrooms were inside the building he was currently refusing to go in. "If you need to pee, then we need to go inside. The bathrooms are inside."

"No", Peter whined as he started to dance from foot to foot.

"Listen to me, Bud. If you need to pee, then we need to go inside. We can come back outside after if we need to. Yeah?" He held his breath as he waited for Peter to reply.

"Yeah. I need to pee. Let's go inside.", Peter pitifully decided, allowing Tony to let out the breath he'd been holding. He wasn't actually sure what his next move was going to be if the kid continued to refuse.

As they made it to the front entrance, Tony managed to skip through the bag check line. All he'd had to do was flash his media smile and gesture towards the kid behind him who was now holding himself. The security guard in all his wisdom suggested that Tony leave the backpack with him and pointed towards the closest bathroom. Peter was antsy about leaving the bag with the unknown person. Tony assured him that it was fine and getting to the bathroom was the priority at the moment.

While Peter was taking care of his business, Tony had time to go through the day and was starting to piece the events that lead up to this point. He was pretty sure he had it nailed down. He already knew that the kid was tired. After napping all afternoon he probably didn't sleep much that night and they'd left really early. When lunch came around, Peter was going leave with one group but had then changed his mind to go with another. Probably because the second group was going to stop by a bathroom. Then he'd gotten lost and he was all of the sudden out of compliance, with he buddy system rule, so he hurried back to the bleacher rather than trying to catch up to the other boys, even though he knew where they were going. That had more than likely been a panic move, especially if he knew his phone was dead. Then when Rob found him, he had taken him back to the pit where everyone was probably in a hurry trying to get things packed up to be moved to the assigned alliance pit area. It was probably close quarters and a little chaotic. Both of those things would be enough to raise Peter's already triggered anxiety. After lunch, while trying to process and internally deal with all of that, he'd been pulled into pictures and still needed to use the bathroom. At some point, it all became too much to deal with at once and holding back the tantrum had been a lot of work. Meaning that when the coast was clear and everyone else was back inside, he'd lost it.

Tony was just thinking that if anything he should be slightly proud that the kid had held it together as long as he had. Then Peter rapidly exited the restroom and was bouncing in front of him. "The bag. Mr. Stark, we need to get the bag. My things are in it."

"Yeah, alright, let's go get it.", he said swinging an arm over the boy's shoulders. "Since we're inside, why don't we go see how the team is doing."

"Okay, but we have to get my bag first. I need to get my things."

"Of course, first your bag first, then we can go see the team", Tony reassured.

Bag in hand and headphones in place, Peter was more relaxed then Tony had seemed him all day. When they joined the group in the VIP area with the team. Peter sat beside Tony and rested his head on his shoulder. Tony didn't mind. The kid was already tired and he knew an emotional outburst of that caliber had to be draining all on its own. As the weight on his shoulder became heavier and heavier he turned his head to check on the overextended child. While he wasn't asleep, he did have his eyes closed and was taking deep even breaths. His eyes would periodically crack open when the crowd got particularly loud to see what all of the fuss was about.

When all was said and done, their alliance hadn't made it to the highly coveted honor of getting to play on the Einstien Field but it had been an amazing season. To have gotten as far as they had something to be so proud of. He thought Peter would be disappointed but he seemed fine. "You did good, Kid. Look at that. You're part of an Einstien team now. How about that?"

"Mm-hmm", Peter hummed tiredly. "Can we go to the hotel now, Mr. Stark?"

"No, Pete. We're going to go to Ford Field to watch the final match." When Peter whined, Tony continued. "I know you're tired. So here's the deal. First, we're going to watch the finals, then we can go back to the hotel. We can eat and go to bed right after if you want. You can even stay in my room if you'd rather."

"Promise?"

"I promise. Let's see this through, alright? Part of gracious professionalism is cheering for the other teams, yeah? When Peter nodded his head Tony sighed. That had been a lot easier than he thought it was going to be. "We're fixing to walk over to the other venue Do you need a drink or a snack? Need to pee?" When Peter confirmed that he didn't need any of those things they started walking to catch up with the group. No one batted an eye at the way Peter was clinging to Tony's hand both of his. It was probably clear to the rest of the group that Peter was not having a great day.

Sitting in the chairs at Ford Feild was interesting. It was almost comedic to see the robotics playing field set in the corner of a huge arena. While everyone was finding their seats music started playing. It was all of the usual dance songs they used at every competition they had been to. Tony smiled at the screen as dozens upon dozens of teenagers and did the Cupid Shuffle and YMCA. Then that god-forsaken Macarena song came on and rather being annoyed, Tony was elated to see Peter perk up and join some of his friends in the ridiculously repetitive motions. He took a quick video and sent it off to May. He was sure she was worried. He's sent her several messages that day and hardly any of them had been great.

Once the speeches and awards started the arena grew somewhat quiet and Peter ended up asleep slumped down in his chair, still holding Tony's hand. Just before the actual match was about to start Tony reached in his pocket with his free hand and got out his wallet and handed a fifty-dollar bill to the kid beside him. "Think you could go get me one of those large popcorns and two bottles of water? You can even keep the change.", he smiled.

"Of course, Mr. Stark!", The boy beamed.

"Hey, hey! Take a buddy with you. I don't want to get in trouble for this!", he called after the kid who then quickly grabbed a buddy.

Once he had the goods he woke Peter up. "Hey, Kiddo. Wake up time. I got you some popcorn and a drink." Peter groaned but accepted the snack. Tony was sure he would, it was way past the time they would normally eat dinner. By the time the match actually started Peter was wide awake and in a good mood. They cheered for the Red Alliance because that was Peter's favorite color and when they won he was ecstatic.

The night was set to end with fireworks but he didn't know how Peter felt about that so he gave him the choice. "Do you want to stay for fireworks or do you want to go to the hotel now?" He was surprised when the answer was 'stay'. He was even more surprised when he stood there face all aglow from the sparkling lights, with a smile. Not the wide grin Tony was used to seeing, it was more of a relaxed, contented smile. He took several pictures of that too.

Peter ended up riding back to the hotel with Tony rather than the team but that was okay. Once they got there, everyone was already outside by the public grill fixing hotdogs and grabbing chips. Peter casually joined the group and held out a plate to receive his dinner and Tony just sat back and watched.

"Are you going to eat too, Mr. Stark?", Peter asked through the hotdog being stuffed in his mouth.

"Yep, just waiting for all of the ravenous teenagers to get their's first."

Peter just nodded and continued to eat his way through his plate. Tony eventually made it into the line at the grill and got an extra hotdog for Peter before rejoining the boy at the picnic table. "Thank you, sir.", Peter said when Tony added the new hotdog to the plate. "I can still stay with you tonight right?"

"Of course, wouldn't have it any other way, Kid. It's our last night here. We get to go home tomorrow."

Peter smiled as he wiped some stray mustard off his chin. "This was fun but I'm ready to go home.", he admitted.

"Me too, Bud." Then as soon as their plates were cleaned up they were both excusing themselves to their room. It was a little after ten but Tony was pretty sure he could sleep for an entire week at this stage. Peter had collected all of his things from the other room and was in the bathroom getting ready for bed while Tony texted May with their travel plans. As soon as he came out, Tony went in and got himself ready.

Soon they were both in the bed and rather than curling up beside him like he had the day before, Peter rested his head right on Tony's shoulder. When Tony looked down at him, Peter looked up and their eyes met. It was the second time that day, that Peter had looked at him so directly for such a long stretch. "What are you thinking about, Buddy?", the man whispered. He could see the wheels turning in the boy's head.

"That you helped me today.", Peter said with no real context.

"Yeah?", Tony answered, not really sure what to say to that.

"Yeah. I like it when you help me.", he yawned.

"I like helping you.", Tony said in earnest because he did. He hated to see the kid struggle and watching him fall apart today had been one of the hardest things he'd ever witnessed. He didn't know how May did it all the time. Sighing a contented sigh, he continued, "I like it when you help me too." Peter just smiled at him and yawned again. "You should go to sleep, Kiddo."

Peter readjusted himself on the bed before he answered. His head was still on Tony's shoulder but now his arm was stretched out across the man's middle and one of his knees were bent over Tony's outstretched legs. "May says that People who love you want to help you. Do you love me?"

The question made Tony stiffen a bit. He'd never thought about it before. When they had met it was out of necessity. When he had started hanging out with the kid it had been out of duty. At some point, the feeling of responsibility to keep the kid safe had started to tightly intertwine with a completely new feeling. One that wanted him to be more than safe, but also happy and successful. He wanted to see him thrive. He had to take a deep breath to keep these new emotions at bay. "Yeah, Kid. I love you a whole lot.", he finally managed to get out.

"I love you too... a whole lot.", the boy sleepily replied as he pulled himself in a little more closely. "Ned stays at his dad's house every other weekend. Can I stay with you every other weekend?"

Tony couldn't help but smile because it sounded like the kid had basically just asked him if he would be his father. "Yeah, Buddy. I would love that.", he whispered.

"Me too. Good night... Dad."

Tony picked his head up off the pillow and looked down at the head pressed tightly into his collarbone and stared for a moment. He and Peter's relationship had been evolving for some time now. They had been slowly building up mutual trust and Tony knew that they had gotten close enough that the boy would meet his eye sometimes when they spoke or would occasionally ask him for things and share secrets. Their world's had slowly collided into one and this trip must have proven to solidify everything they had been working towards. Peter loved him... and he loved Peter in return. He'd called him dad. The idea was breathtaking. Leaning in to kiss the top of the boy's head he smiled to himself before whispering to the boy, "Good night, son."

#marvel fanfiction #irondad and spiderson #tony stark & peter parker #peter parker #Tony Stark #autism #autism acceptance #inclusion #first robotics #frc robotics #all inclusive #autism awareness month #aspergers #cross-posted #ao3fic #mcu fanfiction #fanfiction #peter parker & tony stark fanfic #dad!tony

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kingofthewilderwest · 5 years

Text

Things I Fucking LOVE About VLD S8

Katie watching freaking Defender of the Universe and marveling at how Pidge’s voice actor sounds.

Katie Holt looking adorable wearing ponytails.

Mrs. Holt totally momming Katie.

GIRL’S SHOPPING DAY GIRL’S SHOPPING DAY GIRL’S SHOPPING DAY!!! Getting together Nadia, Ina, Allura, Pidge, and Romelle?!!

Pidge and Nadia being such gaming nerds.

Pidge exploiting her fame as Pidge and dressing up as freaking Darrell Stoker / Retro Pidge. Like you have no idea how much I wanted to scream in happy seeing her with the old outfit and hairstyle, this is such a blessing. SUCH a blessing holy crow.

Allura wearing one of her old outfits from the 1980s too! So many DOTU references this season!

Coran is having way too much fun with Lance.

Lance and Keith chilling out together on top of the lion watching the sunset and having a good convo. Look how far these two’s relationship has come. Look at them. It’s so good.

Dinner with Lance’s family is so pure.

The visuals with Allura and the tree are so beautiful.

Cute photograph moment!

There’s an entire episode dedicated to Honerva’s past, showing her struggling emotions now that she’s remembering everything that’s been, showing her internal conflict and struggle, giving us a clear and deep understanding of her hurt and hate.

Baby Lotor is fucking adorable. Like look at that kid. Look at those big eyes. Oh my gosh he’s adorable.

Lotor’s past is painful and it’s exactly the sort of crap I expected. Received no affection from his father. Was pushed into a Galra empire that didn’t value mercy. Watched the place he cultivated destroyed. Exactly the sort of thing I was expecting from his past to lead to his current state of mind as we meet him in S3. It shows how he’s someone who wants to revolutionize the empire, but is someone whose mind and ideas have been clearly influenced by his culture and upbringing.

I like how the robeasts have been developed throughout the series. How they clearly evoke the past ideas from DOTU/BKG of turning biological creatures into mechanized weapons. How the first season starts with Voltron doing lots of single episodes one-on-one fighting the robeasts, akin to the 1980s show. How the robeasts grow into an increasingly great problem by S8, and are now piloted by brainwashed Alteans. It’s a legitimately cool progression and makes the robeasts feel like a threat even while not repeating the same episode format over and over.

So many Altean warrior ladies on the forefront of Honerva’s forces.

“The Prisoner’s Dilemma” is a fan-fucking-tastic episode all around. One of my favorites for this season for sure.

It starts with Voltron, the ATLAS, the rebels, and the MFEs working together to take down a base. This is an amazing fight moment. It’s showing how far everyone has come since the start, how much they’ve grown, and it sings. And it’s showing REALLY cool team coordination. This is like. All around epically cool I fucking love it.

Matt Holt and his ponytail <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3

I love how this episode focuses on trying to end the Galra Empire’s remaining power but also trying to show mercy to the Galra. I love how it shows a Galra leader who’s had help from Voltron before still being doubtful - and how more acts from Voltron bring him around. It takes time to convince someone who’s been part of the Galra Empire that Voltron is okay to ally with - and it shows how the Voltron Coalition is gaining ground.

There is some serious nice creepy tension in this episode.

KEITH BLASTING THROUGH THE DOOR WITH EPIC BIG GUN!

I love how Lance’s characterization feels like they took him and turned him more into his DOTU self over the course of the series. Honestly, as with all of them! The characters grow into those positions and selves.

“Battle Scars” is probably the episode that got me the most emotional. Olkarion is a planet and culture I loved, too. Watching it fall - watching that beautiful planet actually get destroyed along with many of its citizens - was painful. This is a good way to show Honerva’s power and the high-stakes dangers of her actions.

The idea of Pidge watching the past to learn what happened was a cool narrative effect, and also had good long-term story arc development since she learned how to track the robeasts, too.

Also amazingly good lesson / theme for that episode.

“The Grudge” is another cool episode that’s got the unique twist of the Paladins relying not on their typical weapons, but on having to be resourceful with the minimum. Another good, original premise.

Acxa and Veronica. Acxa and Veronica. Oh my gosh Acxa and Veronica. Acxa and the rest of the MFEs. Acxa and the humans. It’s so great. Acxa saying everything and it’s coming out SUPER edge-lord and everyone’s trying to figure out how to handle it.

I fucking love Ina Leifsdottir. I love her personality so much. And I’m 99% sure the writers intended her as autistic representation and I think they did a good job with her.

Okay but this season really has a lot of fun with the MFEs. They don’t steal the show and take too much time, but we get a GREAT sense of personality from them. Rizavi and Kincade together is a delightful combo. I love her energy and love of action. I love his nerdy passions. They’re so fun.

Let’s be real: one thing Voltron does consistently well is that, no matter how much screen time we have with a character, we get a GREAT sense of their personality, and we love them. There are so many different, lovable, often quirky personalities in Voltron. It’s so rich with its character personalities. I love how there’s a broad cast of characters and yet I can still connect to them all.

I appreciate how S8 wrapped up the story of Lotor’s generals. It would have been easy to have them die, just be casualties, and not have them or their narrative go anywhere. Instead, we get a wrap-up. They’ve been through a lot of twists, turns, and confusing life choices. Now they finally find a place. I like that Lotor’s team (who followed a man who was extremely misguided but wanted some good things) ended up being able to find a productive cause in the end.

SPACE GALRA LESBIANS RETURN!

I honestly love the dynamic of ATLAS + Voltron. The Castle of Lions is really cool and I felt extremely sad and nostalgic when they lost it. But ATLAS + Voltron has a legitimately awesome sci-fi, mission-oriented dynamic. The Castle of Lions felt like there was always a home, whereas ATLAS gives the sense of being in space on a journey and mission. It gives me Vehicle Force Voltron vibes, ESPECIALLY with the inclusion of the MFEs.

Speaking of the 80s show and retro Voltron references, we got Merla!

This season focuses a bloody fuckton on Allura, but it shows a lot of depth and conflicted thoughts with her. It shows her as a woman of power. It shows her as someone tempted with problematic solutions or darker powers. It shows her loving, being loved, finding family, and marching ever-steady onward with her purpose. There’s a lot of complex psychology with how Allura’s handling these latest events and it’s written in a way we can understand exactly why she’s making the choices she does, good and bad.

“One... two... three... ALUMINUM!”

I love how Sam Holt overall gives Slav good respect for his more “superstitious”-esque approaches to things, and also valuing Slav for his powerful mind and abilities.

Lots of things from earlier seasons get remembered - Olkarion, Slav, Matt Holt, Shay, the Balmera, and more - and continue to play out in the final conflicts.

I legitimately love seeing Voltron team up with ATLAS in its transformed form. Shiro and Keith working completely equally. Keith’s become a fully-fledged leader. Shiro’s got hoards of respect and leadership power. Together everyone coordinates and kicks butt.

HOW have I not mentioned the visuals yet in this season? This was the most colorful and visually appealing season in Voltron YET - and we’ve been given season after season of really beautiful images. I love how, even though Voltron is set in SPACE, which is so full of voidness, we get so much color and light and appealing color pallets. Voltron is a visual delight.

“Day Forty-Seven” has got to be one of my favorite episodes of this season, if not a stand-out for the entire series to me. Some people might feel differently about this episode than me, but I honestly find it so unique and fun. It’s legitimately hard to try to write an episode following one camera for twenty minutes, while also telling a coherent story. And yet it DOES. We get a good narrative - while at the same time it feels so REAL. “Day Forty-Seven” gives us the ability to watch the entire ATLAS crew work, and allows us to watch Voltron from an outsider’s perspective as they go on dangerous missions - without the music, fanfare, camera angles, etc. And it’s so amusing getting everything from a dog carrying a camera around to Rizavi being upset that yeast is part of the documentary. And it shows so many characters and character dynamics and a sense of a full crew where everyone knows each other. And Rizavi and Kincade together are such a DELIGHT. And oh my goodness I could gush incoherently about this episode for a long time. It’s so much fun.

Keith and Hunk stuck on a musical ride. Love it.

The bargaining Pidge and her mom do!!! The Holt family photograph!

Epic arm wrestling competition is epic. And I love how it all started because Shiro felt abashed being called “old.” Poor guy’s still in his 20s! And I love how it turned into all of Team Voltron CELEBRATING THE FUCK out of Shiro winning. Like, these guys have fought countless dangerous foes across the universe. And these dorks get over-the-top excited at Shiro’s accomplishment of winning an arm wrestling competition at a fair.

I laughed so hard at the Warden talking about how he found a purpose in arm wrestling.

The Voltron team joining up with the original Voltron team was pretty cool. I also love how it was animated where we would see the original Team branching off like apparitions out of Voltron, or how we’d see the pilots in the cockpit fading from one to the other.

Allura and Alfor reunion!!! I think this was done right. I am not a fan of stories where a character seems to lose someone, only for that person to magically be brought back. In this case, given the location of where Allura and Alfor unite, we know they’re not going to be able to resume a life of father and daughter. It’s a temporary reunion, and it happens a VERY LONG time after we’ve suffered through all of Allura’s pain in VLD about leaving Alfor behind. It doesn’t compromise the integrity of all the seasons that have come before it about their loss of Alfor and the Alteans, but it also gives us a touching moment of Allura seeing someone she’d never thought she’d see again.

VLD S8 shows that people aren’t cut-and-dry “always evil.” It shows how it’s a complex combination of your environment and your choice. Zarkon isn’t someone who is innately evil pure and simple, nor is Honerva, nor is Lotor. It also makes sure to remind us of the power of choice. Zarkon and Honerva also aren’t JUST victims of the entity - S8 reminds us that they pursued quintessence and poor choices that led to further bad consequences, too. And just because someone might not have been a villain with alternate choices, and just because someone DID become a villain... S8 reminds us that they still took this particular path. It doesn’t erase that Lotor might have wanted to make some positive differences, but turned into a villain. It looks at the complexity of people, how they have both goodness and badness within their potentials. And... it lets it be shown that just because you make a bunch of bad decisions doesn’t mean that it’s impossible to leave those choices and turn around. People aren’t “just evil.”

How have I not yet mentioned I love the uniforms that the Paladins wear when they’re not in their Lions?

THE ATLAS-VOLTRON FUSION. THE ATLAS-VOLTRON FUSION. THE ATLAS-VOLTRON FUSION. THAT IS AWESOME AS FUCK!

The S3 idea of alternate realities gets brought back in QUITE the way as Voltron chases Honerva through many realities.

I appreciate how Honerva spends so much time trying to find the perfect reality... and when she thinks she’s found it, it doesn’t do what she wants. It’s exactly what we would respect she’d reap. You can’t just tear across space and time to find happiness. At the same time, we can also feel her pain.

Okay but Honera? I love her armor in this season too. Man I just. Love lots of what people wear this season.

I love Allura’s send-off. I love that the stakes got so high in VLD that we had to lose a main character, but not in a way that felt like a painful death. I love that Voltron was willing to give us a concrete ending where there’s no “going back” to the way things were before. I love that they still give us a sense of hope and growth even with the hurt of losing a main character. I love how it takes Allura, who always had such a strong sense of responsibility, and act on that responsibility in the most responsible and selfless choice possible. I love that she got to embrace every Paladin and say how much they mean to her. I love that they cried. I love how this was done. That’s a proper send-off, one filled with heroicism and selflessness and responsibility and power and strength and emotional pain and also a sense of HOPE.

There are some fucking powerful quotes this season.

I love how we got Altean Lance? Like honestly, when I first heard fans theorizing about it, I thought it was wishful fantasy and the typical desire for AU characters. But the way this was incorporated into VLD actually in canon was really cool.

I love seeing Pidge create Chip. DOTU REFERENCE!!!!!

I love how the Galra Empire has been shown fracturing for seasons, and how it’s finally come to a point Keith can naturally talk about needing change - and it’s believable to think that the Galra would now be open to this change happening.

I love seeing the entire team together after everything’s ended.

I love how in S2 characters talked about defeating the Galra Empire would mean that Voltron was no longer needed. I love how the writers stick with that. I love how the Paladins choose to retire from being Paladins, but intentionally go forth to make the universe a brighter place - there’s still so much to do. I love how the lions themselves choose to fly away.

I love seeing their selfies. I love that they intentionally make sure Allura’s in their Paladin team reunion selfies. I love seeing how the characters age.

I love how Keith’s hair just keeps growing.

I love that ENORMOUS fucking Vehicle Force Voltron reference with the Holts! Holy crap! I’m actually seeing characters like Cliff and Wolo in the background!!! And given the premise of Vehicle Force Voltron seeking out a new planet after humanity has contacted alien civilizations, it feels entirely fitting that this is how Vehicle Force Voltron gets incorporated into the VLD timeline.

I love how the Holts, such a POWERFULLY BRILLIANT family, are the people who keep exploring technology and build the next round of Legendary Defenders.

I love seeing how Hunk’s passion for cooking isn’t treated as trivial. It’s treated as a means of creating intergalactic peace and happiness. He uses it as a way to treat the Alteans with kindness when they’re prisoners on the ATLAS. He uses it to create a culinary revolution after Honerva’s defeated. Hunk is revolutionizing society and making an enormous positive difference because of his passion. That’s majorly epically awesome like fuck I LOVE it.

I love everyone’s endings, honestly. I love how Lance chooses a quieter ending. He wanted a lot of glory as a fighter pilot at the start of VLD S1. He grows into someone so much more mature. Now he’s someone who understands he’s impacted the universe. He’s willing to talk to Alteans at school and spread positive messages with the people in his life. But he’s also taking quiet time for himself. The homesick boy from the early seasons isn’t feeling that more - he has a concrete embedded home to return to, valuing family ever onward. And it’s all embedded in him surrounding himself in the memory of people like Allura he’s held dear. It’s bittersweet and one that happens when someone you love is gone, but it’s not a sad ending, and it’s one that will turn into a lot of happiness, peace, and meaning. This boy’s got a good ending.

I love that we even see where Krolia and Kolivan end up.

And dude. Keith continuing to work with the Blade of Marmora but turning it to humanitarian relief??? This guy’s amazing. So amazing.

I’m a Sheith shipper but I never expected a canon-concrete Sheith end game, so I’m totally happy seeing Shiro’s ending. They gave this guy the happiness he needed. This is someone who’s been trapped in war for so long. He’s had to work so hard without break because of the necessity of defending the universe. This is someone who can finally leave the battlefield and rest. Anyone who thinks for a second Shiro and Keith are any less close just because it’s not romantic is kidding themselves - their relationship shall be as pure and close and powerful and deep as always. And we get an on-screen gay kiss! An on-screen queer marriage!

This is a good ending in that it wraps up all the conflict... but it gives us a look at the hope of the future for everyone’s lives.

I’m here to spread positivity and excitement for the good Voltron Season 8 did. A show doesn’t have to be “perfect” (nothing’s perfect) to be awesome, meaningful, and enjoyable. This show has been SUCH a wonderful ride, start to finish, and I can’t be more grateful to have been an audience member for this story. It’s going to last as one of my favorite animated series of all time.

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