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searidings · 3 years

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this is what happens when @ekingston and i get our hands on the prompt “that's my wife!” and agree that she'll draw my idea for it and i'll write hers (aka hearing kara call it out as she watches lena being wheeled down a hospital corridor)

“Excuse me, you can't go through there!”

Kara growls. The woman blocking her path is short and gently rounded, the kind lines of her face drooping in disapproval above her nurse's scrubs. “No visitor access beyond this point, dear. Immediate family only.”

“Immediate— you're joking, right?” Kara cranes her head, peering through the closing doors to catch a last glimpse of Lena's gurney as it rounds the corner at the end of the hall. “That's my wife!”

The nurse gapes at her. “Your—?”

Kara growls again, louder. It's a good thing she'd blown out her powers twenty minutes ago, or she would not be held responsible for the Kryptonian-shaped hole in NC Memorial Hospital's expensive surgery doors. “Yes, my wi—”

Her snarl is cut off by a hand clamping down firmly over her mouth from behind. Kara's first instinct is to bite it. She resists, narrowly, as the familiar scent of shea butter moisturiser registers in her adrenaline-fogged brain.

“You sure about that?” Alex squeaks around a nervous laugh, voice pitched a half-octave too high. She removes her hand from Kara's mouth, wiping her damp palm on her pants with a wrinkled nose. “Get hit on the head during that fight, did you?”

Kara whirls on her sister, eyes blazing. “Am I sure?” she parrots incredulously. Alex cowers a little beneath the force of her stare. “Unless you're trying to tell me I hallucinated my entire wedding—”

“Supergirl isn't married,” Alex stage-whispers loud enough to be heard in Florida, glancing pointedly down at Kara's ash-caked body and oh yeah, she's still wearing her supersuit.

Right, right.

The nurse – Rosemary, her badge reads – finally picks her jaw up off the floor long enough to speak. Her eyes are wide, sparkling with sudden glee. “So Lena Luthor and Su—”

Kara's hackles rise at the suggestion in her tone. “Lena Luthor and Kara Danvers are happily married,” she interrupts sternly. “You might have seen the wedding photos in last month's Vogue.”

The nurse smirks. At her elbow, Alex drops her head into her hands.

“Kara Danvers, hm? Amazing what a pair of glasses do for you, dear.” Rosemary's brow quirks with impish satisfaction and, oh. Whoops. It would appear that in her haste to quash any potential rumours of Lena's infidelity behind the back of her very recent, very publicly human wife, she'd forgotten about the other delicate matter at hand.

Alex sighs so long and so heavy Kara legitimately marvels that she doesn't pass out from the strain. “I knew keeping a spare NDA in my back pocket would pay off,” her sister groans, thrusting an official-looking, if crumpled, contract beneath the nurse's nose.

“Sorry,” Kara murmurs sheepishly as Rosemary signs away page after page of her right to ever disclose Supergirl's identity in any capacity. “I wasn't thinking, I can't— Alex, it's Lena.”

“I know, I know,” her sister soothes, frustration dissipating as she reaches out to pull Kara into her side, ignoring the soot and grit that smear across her jacket at the contact. “She's gonna be okay.”

“But what if she's not?” Kara asks and the sobs arrive then, the last remnants of the fight or flight response that had propelled her this far dissipating beneath the weight of her terror. “She stepped right in front of that bullet, Alex! Of all the stupid, reckless—”

“If I recall, she was pushing you back after you shoved her out of the way in the first place,” Alex hums thoughtfully. Kara's tear-filled eyes snap to her face, incredulous, and her sister grimaces. “Right, right. Not the time.”

“She has to be okay,” she gasps, clutching hard at her sister's jacket as her knees threaten to give out beneath her. “She has to, I can't— I feel like I can't breathe. Like my heart's been ripped out.”

Alex clicks her tongue in sympathy, wrapping a firm arm round Kara's waist and guiding her to a nearby row of chairs. Rosemary deposits the signed NDA wordlessly on the hard plastic beside them, reaching into her scrubs to produce a pack of tissues.

Alex accepts, extracting one to dab at Kara's snotty, tear-stained face with her free hand. “Welcome to married life, kid,” she chuckles, pressing a kiss to Kara's matted hair. “It can be a real bitch.”

It's a long night.

It's a long night, a night of anxious waiting and barely-restrained nausea and vending machine coffee so bad even Nia won't drink it. Her family, their family, crowd the waiting room, dozing across the rows of seats as the hours drag on and on.

Alex tries her best, at varying intervals, to force her back to the Tower for a stint under the sun lamps. Every time without fail, Kara sets her jaw, then sets her feet in the middle of the surgical wing waiting room and refuses to budge.

This leads to several arguments, and a lot of impassioned shoving.

“What if she needs me?” Kara laments tearily, pout activated and puppy dog eyes firmly in place. Alex, mid-football tackle with her arms and right shoulder braced against Kara's torso as she attempts to use her entire bodyweight to force her sister toward the exit, only grunts with exertion. Behind them, J’onn dozes in the corner. Brainy and Kelly and Nia continue their conversation without batting an eyelid.

“No, scratch that, she does need me,” Kara corrects, unaffected by her sister's NFL-worthy body slam. “She's been shot. I'm not going anywhere.”

Alex, perhaps finally sensing defeat after her fourth unsuccessful attempt, gives one final shove with all her strength. Kara doesn't so much as wobble, and her sister releases her with a huff. “Fine. But for the love of God, change your clothes before you start shouting about your wife again,” she pants, red-faced and sweating as she collapses into a nearby chair. “That was my last NDA.”

That's a compromise she can make. Kara accepts the bundle of clothes Nia presents her with, stripping out of her dirt-caked suit and re-donning her glasses. Thankfully, the only person around to witness Kara entering the bathroom as a superhero and re-emerging as a Catco reporter is Rosemary.

The updates on Lena's condition are sporadic at best. By the time the first surgeon emerges to say the bullet has been removed from Lena's chest cavity Kara's accidentally cracked three plastic chairs, advanced all the way to Lollipop Land on Alex's Candy Crush, and worn a groove into the waiting room linoleum with her nervous pacing.

When another doctor emerges three hours later to tell them Lena had developed a tension pneumothorax and needs additional treatment, Kara's made it to Rainbow Reef and chewed her bottom lip bloody.

When, at five in the morning, yet another doctor appears to inform them that Lena is being placed on anti-radiation medication to counter the Kryptonite that had coated the bullet, Kara's finished all nine thousand nine hundred and thirty-five levels of the damn game. The doctor leaves, promising to be back with more news soon, and Kara squeezes her sister's hand so hard poor Nurse Rosemary has to be called to administer an ice pack for the bruising, solar flare be damned.

Dawn breaks to find Kara scratchy-eyed and grumpy, worn ragged with worry. The waiting room begins to fill up around them, new patients and their relatives coming and going, and still there's nothing new on Lena. Every time another scrub-clad surgeon pushes through the doors Kara's heart skips a beat, all of them sitting up straighter in their seats, but every time the doctor passes them by.

Kara's just wolfed down six cold breakfast sandwiches procured by Brainy on his sojourn to the hospital cafeteria and is debating the relative merits of starting Candy Crush over from scratch when another young doctor appears. Her scrub cap has avocados on it. Kara likes her already.

“Family of Ms Luthor?” she calls, looking around, and Kara pushes up hard from her chair to the resounding snap of cracking plastic. Whoops.

“It's Luthor-Danvers,” she gabbles as she bounds over to the surgeon, palms sweating. No matter how many times she hears it, it never loses its thrill. “I'm, I'm her wife.”

The young doctor's features soften. “Of course. I've come to let you know that it looks like Ms Luthor-Danvers is out of the woods. She's sedated and still on an anti-radiation drip, but she's through the worst of it.” She appraises Kara, gaze lingering on her chewed-raw lips and clenching fingers, then leans closer conspiratorially. “It's not general visiting hours yet, but you can see her, if you'd like.”

“Yes!” Kara's shouting almost before the surgeon has finished speaking. “Yes, please, yes.”

She hugs them all, Alex and Brainy and Nia and Kelly and J’onn, and leaves them in the waiting room as she follows the doctor's sunshine-yellow crocs down the hall.

They round corner after corner, an interminable maze. Powerless as she is, she can't hear Lena’s heartbeat, and the absence of the steady beat that has become the soundtrack to her existence sets her even more on edge.

But at last they turn a corner, and there she is. She's pale and bandaged and her eyes are closed, creamy skin streaked with dirt and bruises, but she's there, she's alive, she's Lena.

The surgeon holds the door open for her with a smile and Kara's across the room in a heartbeat, smoothing a hand over Lena's warm cheek and pressing kiss after kiss to her forehead and hair.

“I love you, I love you,” she whisper-cries against Lena's temple, tucking her matted curls behind her ears. The smell of blood and dirt and antiseptic is almost overwhelming, but beneath the dust and debris caught up in her hair Lena's scalp smells the same as always. Kara presses her face to the crown of her head and inhales deeply, soaking it in.

“Why'd you have to be so damn brave?” she whispers, nuzzling her cheek against silky softness. “I love you so much. Please don't step in front of any more bullets. Please learn to be a coward, occasionally.”

The singular relief of having Lena living and breathing and in her arms again is so complete, so compounded by the fear and the adrenaline and the sleepless night and the solar flare, that she feels suddenly that she may crumple to the ground from the force of it all.

Unwilling to relinquish her hold for even a second she appraises the bandages covering Lena's right side, then crawls onto the hospital bed on her left, careful to avoid her many wires and monitors. She tucks herself in beside her on the wide mattress, chin hooked over Lena's shoulder and face pressed to the side of her neck, and lets the tears that haven't really stopped falling since that bullet had left its chamber fall for just a little longer.

Nothing matters outside of the two of them, outside of the warmth of Lena's body and the softness of her skin beneath Kara's lips and the steady thud of her heart beneath Kara's palm. Nothing else in the world exists, so when an unfamiliar male voice sounds from the doorway it takes her a moment to register the intrusion.

“Excuse me, ma’am, you really can't be on the bed with her,” the strange, disembodied voice calls from behind her and Kara frowns tiredly, unable and unwilling to acknowledge anything outside of the woman in her arms.

But before she's even managed to raise her head another voice sounds, the soft tones of a young surgeon in an avocado scrub cap.

“Oh, honestly, Peter,” the kindly doctor says with gentle reproach, a quiet calm washing over the room as the door is pulled closed and she and Lena are left alone. “Leave them be. That's her wife.”

#check out easter's incredible art! as usual she absolutely nailed it #in my humble opinion you can simply never have too many 'that's my wife!' concepts in the world #it just never gets old #ridings writes #supercorp #supercorp fanfic #kara danvers #lena luthor #supergirl

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grimtrespasser · 3 years

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Okay so,, I kinda,,,, came up with a whole au in which Anakin and Padmé are t4t, cause I was mad at Star Wars again, dicking around in my friend’s DMs, and I joked they’d have a way better relationship if they were and it kinda,,, spiraled skdks. It just dredged up a lot of follow up questions about how that’d affect the continuity and now it’s my self indulgent Anakin/Padmé/Rex fixit. So uhhh… some notes I have about the t4t au!

• obviously, first off, Padmé is a trans woman and Anakin is a trans man

• Luke and Ahsoka are also trans in this au because I said so

• When Luke officially comes out as trans Padmé jokes that he gets it from Rex’s side of the family much to Anakin’s delight and Rex’s complete confusion

• I’m under no circumstances killing Fives in this au that shit hurt me, so in this one he’s frazzled by the discovery of Palpatine but Rex and Anakin actually listen when he calls them to that warehouse and when authorities arrive they claim he was shot and fell over the edge into the center of Coruscant when in reality they call in some favors to smuggle him away safely

• Because they discover the chips through Fives so early on, they’re able to start covertly de-chipping some of the clones (with a lil jedi assistance à la Anakin and Shaak Ti), they obviously don’t manage to remove the chips of all the clones but they get a fair chunk saving themselves a lOt of pain come Order 66

• Mmmm big fan of Rex’s stiff awkward phase when he first starts attempting non-professional relationships, he’s a bit better by the time he starts crushing on Anakin and even more so when he falls for Padmé but bOy howdy does it take him awhile to just fuckin relax around them

• Rex, consistently getting crushes on badass dudes: I think I’m gay

Padmé: Hello, commander :)

Rex: hahaha bi panic: activate

• Legit he’s so awkward and uncomfortable in casual contexts I love him for that

• So I think a few critical changes are what push Anakin away from the dark side in this au:

1) When Fives uncovers the conspiracy, though by this point Anakin is friends with Palpatine and has a hard time reconciling what Fives saw and the existence of the chips with who he’s come to know Palpatine as

2) His decent fucking support system because holy fUck how do you have a whole found family network and yet they stILL fail to actually support you the whole damn way?? Obi-Wan doesn’t tell him his emotionality is dark side stuff! The council doesn’t just tell him to repress shit! His relationship with Padmé gets actual fuckin development and is actually healthy in this au!! FffUck

3) The twins, cause duh. They obviously happen at the very end of the Clone Wars so Anakin getting pregnant is what leads up to his final loss of trust in Palpatine and his decision to stick up for himself and his family against what the council might potentially say.

• Ahsoka still leaves the Jedi Order in this au cause I think it’s just too pivotal an aspect of her character, and at first Anakin is angry and betrayed but eventually he comes to accept it was the best option for her and doesn’t resent her for her choice. Especially after finding out about the twins and realizing his family won’t be readily accepted by the Order even though both are incredibly important to him

• Ahsoka is the one who tells him it’s twins, I just think it’d be hilarious if Kix’s initial tests really early on didn’t reveal that so when Anakin got Obi-Wan and Ahsoka together to break the news Ahsoka sensed both the kids through the living force and just went “Oh my gosh you’re having twins!” Right before Anakin could say he was pregnant, and his brain just breaks cause like…. Twins?? Oh god, twins????

• In turn Padmé almost chokes on her tea and Rex nearly fuckin faints when Anakin has to tell them it’s twins, like they had jUst come to terms with one baby and now they know it’s gonna be two and they are going thrOugh it

• Really want Anakin to just,,, go off and get really anti-government at some point. Like the more he becomes aware of his garbage circumstances at the Order and working for the Republic, the more he starts to recognize his childhood experiences in the clones’ situation, and the angrier he gets at the systems in power that facilitated all this injustice. He’s just never been afforded the chance at being free, so once he starts asking questions, he starts seeing what’s behind the curtain real fuckin quick. Except this time he’s got the support system to channel that anger into productivity rather than letting it consume him.

• I’m a big fan of the Anakin Doesn’t Turn But The Empire Still Rises AUs so this one follows a similar continuity. After all, Anakin was just a particularly close pawn, Palpatine still had a million other ways to ensure he came out on top, so when everything breaks bad Anakin escapes with Padmé, the twins, and his battalion. And because they were alerted to Palpatine’s plans by Fives they had an extended escape plan with a handful of other battalions, including the 212th and the Wolf Pack. A lot of them help build up the rebellion or become involved with it later down the line, once the movement starts to gain more traction.

Will I do anything with this au? Who knows! Buts it’s certainly fun for me to think about and I’m always coming up with random new details, so we’ll just see where my spite and curiosity takes me with this one. At the very least I’ve already got some doodles I might post later

#star wars #t4t au #clone wars #toxic gatekeeper Star Wars fans do nOT touch this post #this is my dumb lil sandbox and I get to choose the transification beam coordinates #anakin skywalker #padme amidala #rex clone wars #fives clone wars #luke skywalker #leia organa #ashoka tano #palpatine

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not-close-to-straight · 4 years

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Soul-Bonded (Spideypool)(Broken Wings)

Welcome back to the Broken Wings Verse! We meet Spideypool in this one and they are so fun!

PART TWO

SERIES MASTERLIST HERE

************

*Note- This chapter starts in January after ‘All We Are Thankful For’ and before ‘May Flowers’

There wasn’t much room for a life outside the compound, not with Thor and Loki moved in semi-permanently and baby Maria being an adorable handful, or with Steve going through the worlds worst case of morning sickness and Tony running around taking care of the new baby and newly pregnant mate.

Sam and Natasha were constantly off on missions, Bucky was still working through his post partum depression and Bruce spent hours alongside him in companionable silence, the scientist well versed in the some of the worst depths of depression and knowing that sometimes only a quiet presence was needed.

Pepper spent her days working at Stark Industries but after the Tower had been compromised, she’d moved full time into the compound to manage their functional chaos. Colonel Rhodes had a full career in the Air Force but after Obadiah had come for Tony, Rhodey had moved a little more into the compound every month until he finally set up an office in his suite of rooms and spent more days there than gone.

So no, there wasn’t much room for a life that didn’t involve each other, that didn’t involve the entire family, that didn’t involve an activity inside the compound and the community and safety they had built together.

In fact out of everyone in their home, Clint was probably the only one who ventured out just for fun.

“Heads up, bird boy!”

Well, fun and for the occasional conversation with the always wacky and almost always hilarious Alpha Wade Wilson.

Clint tilted his head and listened to the whoosh that was Wade coming in for a no doubt terrible landing, scooted exactly six and a half inches down the bench, and waited with an expectant smile as the approaching Alpha tucked his wings and slid on the sidewalk gravel, missed the bench altogether and splatted onto the ground with an over loud ooph.

“Every time.” Clint went back to eating his sandwich calmly. “Every damn time. You know, if you slowed down your entry thirty seconds sooner you wouldn’t end up eating dirt every time we hang out.”

“But then I wouldn’t be able to impress you with my super slick moves.” Wade popped back up and brushed the gravel from his clothes, pushed his hoodie off just enough for Clint to see his smile, then pulled it back low over his face. “How’s it going? How’s that sandwich? I’m starving, gimme some.”

“No way, my Alpha bought me this sandwich.” Clint scowled and batted Wade’s hands away. “Don’t you have an Omega to buy you food?”

“My Omega is a starving college kid, now some hot bodied billionaire who somehow supports a weird sister-wife style harem in his super secret compound.” The Alpha said flatly, and then belatedly, “And also Pete isn’t my Omega.”

“Sure he’s not.” Clint broke off half of the purposefully large sandwich-- he always got extra when he was meeting Wade-- and passed it to the mercenary, careful to not touch him more than necessary. Not that the Omega minded the way Wade’s skin was calloused and rough and ruined, but he knew Wade was self conscious about it just like the Alpha was self conscious of his tattered wings, so Clint made sure to drop the food right into Wade’s palm so the Alpha wouldn’t jerk back if their fingers brushed.

“You could come around you know.” Clint tucked his own wings back a little so they wouldn’t get in Wade’s way as they shared his lunch. “To the compound, I mean. I know you’re sort of anti-team work for some stupid reason, but you could bring your Omega and come to dinner. You said no to Christmas, but our regular dinners are pretty chill.”

Wade made a one handed motion that was the equivalent of hell no and Clint signed back a quick, frustrated why not?

“Why are we friends, Clint?” Wade wiped his mouth with his sleeve and felt around for the Omega’s drink, slurping at it loudly. “Beyond me being hilarious, you always having really great food and both us using sign language to make fun of people without them knowing.”

“Only you do that, Bud. Not me.”

“Omega, I learned how to sign just so I could talk shit with you about your teammates.” The Alpha countered. “And by the way? You were funnier before you got all mated up. You came around more often too. Where have you been?”

“Having lots and lots of sex with my Alpha.” Clint was only half joking, but the smile on his face was wholly adoring, his cherry blossom scent soaking with happiness as he tilted his head to show off his silvered biting mark. “Ever since Afghanistan, Tony likes everyone to be home as much as possible and after we bonded and baby Maria came around, most of us just like to stay home anyway. You should try it some time.”

“Bonding?” Wade asked blankly. “Staying home? Hanging out with Tony? Getting knotted up by your Alpha and having a kid? Which of those things should I try?”

“This is why nobody likes you.” Clint huffed an amused chuckle, and the Alpha flashed him a ‘fuck off’ motion. “Seriously though. Come by the compound some time. Bring your non-mate. My Alpha is awesome, we’ve got plenty of extra room and trust me when I say you and the wall crawler won’t even be the weirdest ones around. The twins aren’t home right now but you’ll meet them eventually and Thor brought his sibling Loki for the holidays so it’s like having a Chippendales Dancer and a super sexy Morticia Adams hanging out all the time.”

Wade made an unimpressed noise and Clint finished, “If the Chippendales dancer made thunder every time he got naked and if Morticia answered to they/them pronouns and had an actual insane amount of magic. Your Omega would have a good time and you and I could talk all sorts of shit about them in sign language.”

“I thought you didn’t talk shit about people in sign language.” The Alpha mocked, and Clint just rolled his eyes. “Yeah, I knew you were lying about that.”

“If I admit I talk crap about all the wacky people I know, will you consider bringing your Omega around to meet my family?”

“Pete’s not my Omega.” the answer was almost routine by now, the Alpha’s rough edged scent dipping towards melancholy for just a split second before lightening again so Wade could deliver his usual load of bullshit-- “Annnnnd I mean, I’ve seen your Alpha and don’t get me wrong, Tony’s hot and his butt is ridiculous and I have always considered a billionaire sugar daddy crucial to my life. But I’m not one of those Alphas that is okay letting another Alpha do the uh--”

This time Wade’s motion was less of a signed word and more of a crude gesture. “-- you know? And your Alpha seems like the type to be… Alpha-y.”

“First of all, my Alpha’s gorgeous and everyone in the world knows it.” Clint readily agreed. “Second of all, if you think Tony is all Alpha-y all the time, you should see him with Sam and Thor. And third--”

“--wait seriously, Ol’ Ironsides takes it from Ye Olde Thunder God and the red-feathered counselor guy?”

“--third, I didn’t mean for you and your Omega to come around in any romantic way. Peter is younger than the twins and I know you don’t do the whole multiple partner and poly thing, and that’s fine.” Clint held up both hands peacefully, feathers flicking out to brush just lightly against Wade’s arm in understanding. “It’s fine, we don’t expect everyone to be even remotely okay with how we live, but hey. You’re still welcome at the table and in the compound. We’re sort of the patron family for misfits and lets be honest, Wade. You and your mate are freaking misfits.”

“Thanks for that.”

“No it’s fine.” Clint insisted. “You guys would fit right in with the former Winter Soldier, the basement dwelling genius with the anger issues, the twins with their whole mutant thing and the trickster god that babysits my niece-y.”

The Omega finished his sandwich and licked his fingers clean. “And that isn’t even mentioning the recently defrosted super soldier, the ex-super spy and world’s deadliest ballerina, a bonafide full bird Colonel in the United States Air Force and of course Pepper, who is an enigma all on her own. It would be fun.”

“It sounds like it would be fun.” The Alpha admitted begrudgingly, and Clint raised his eyebrows hopefully, “So you’ll come around?”

“I’ll see if it fits into my shockingly busy social calendar, I might be able to fit it in between staring into the abyss and wallowing in self loathing.” Wade rolled his shoulders and shook his charcoal wings out, the tattered edges nearly touching Clint before falling away. “It’s my night to get burgers for the best booty in the city, so I gotta run. I’ll buy you a cheeseburger first though, if you want. You still hungry? Pretty Omega like you needs to keep his strength up.”

“I’ve got an Alpha who buys me all the cheeseburgers I could possibly want, remember?” Clint pointed out. “And by the way, what’s with you not calling Peter your Omega? Aren’t you two basically soul bonded?”

“Soul bonded, schmoul bonded.” The Alpha scoffed, but his frame hunched and feathers fluttered uncertainly. “That’s not a real thing.”

“It’s absolutely a real thing.” Clint countered right back. “You’re going to sit here and tell me you don’t think I’m soul bonded to my Alpha?”

“Well--”

“Or to the other Omegas?”

“Sheesh Clint, I dunno--”

“Or to Sam and Tasha or Pepper or Bruce or Rhodey just cos I’m not physically mated to them?” The Omega’s blue eyes flashed in annoyance and deep within his hood, Wade’s shifted red for just a second at the open challenge. “That’s the dumbest thing I’ve ever heard. I’d call any one of them mate just like I call my Alpha mate.”

“Not all of us get multiple mates.” Wade stood to his feet rather abruptly, and pulled his sleeves down over his hands, secured his hood closer around his face. “Hell, some of us were lucky to get a first mate and know there’s no chance at a second.”

“Is that what you think?” Clint’s wings dropped in sympathy for his friend. “I bet Peter feels different.”

“I’ll never know, cos I’ll never ask.” Wade might have been volatile and wild, but he was still an Alpha so he stood with damaged wings spread wide and protective while Clint stood up and patted at his pockets to check for wallet and phone. “You want me to wait with you until a cab comes?”

“A cab.” Clint outright laughed at him. “I’m bonded to Tony Stark, Wade. Do you think I take a cab anywhere?”

A sleek limo rolled up to the corner and the Alpha sighed, “Right. You took a limo worth more than my entire life just to share a sandwich with some asshole on a street corner.”

“Damn right I did.” Clint lifted his wings in a friendly goodbye. “Think about what I said, Wade. You and Peter would be welcome in our home.”

“I’ll think about it.”

The Alpha stood there on the corner until the limo disappeared into traffic, wings hugged close to his body and skin covered as possible so no one would get close and stare. He didn’t really need to worry of course-- people generally gave Wade a wide berth even if they didn’t notice his fucked up face and mutilated wings. Wade scented like danger and his mutation made him scent like wrong and if his scent wasn’t enough, his size and glare was usually enough to keep people walking.

But there was one person, one Omega in the city who not only seemed to enjoy the way Wade scented but seemed to almost crave it, who didn’t shy away from the Alpha’s skin but was always trying to curl in closer.

Clint was nice and honestly the Omega had come to be a hell of a friend, but Wade had his heart and eyes and soul set on someone else, even if deep in the center of his being he knew it wouldn’t ever work out.

From Peter: Where are you, Merc? I got our food nights mixed up and bought food when it was your turn, and I’m not saying I’m gonna eat eight burgers, but I am saying I’m freaking starving so maybe get here before the food disappears.

From Wade: On my way.

****************

It was always like this.

“Omega.” Wade never meant to address Peter as Omega when they met up after not seeing each other for a few days, and he never meant for his wings to present but that’s what happened anyway. Omega and shabby feathers opening wide in a hopeful greeting and even though Wade always meant to hide and play it cool, to call the Omega Pete and scoff at the way Pete said he’d missed him--

--it was always like this, and Wade could never hide.

“Alpha.” Peter was gorgeous, all long legs and lean limbs and beautifully full wings, maroon feathers and only the very tips of his primaries colored so dark blue they were almost black, big eyes and a bigger smile as he all but ran across the rooftop to get to Wade. “Alpha.”

“Hey baby boy.” Yet another thing Wade never meant to say, but it came so easy just like it was easy to gather Peter up into a hug and lose himself in the warmth of the Omega’s arms for way too long.

“Did you uh--” it was always like this, Wade clearing his throat and trying to act unaffected and failing spectacularly because there wasn’t an inch of his body that wasn’t dialed to a thousand in Peter’s presence. “--so did you save me any food?”

“I….” Peter hesitated, drew the word out. “I planned to? But you took so long that I ate all the burgers and had to go get you more food.” and then softer, “Sorry?”

“You’re not sorry.” the Alpha shoved Peter away, and then just as quickly grabbed him back and Peter laughed in delight and pressed up to his side as they headed towards their regular hang out spot up against the massive AC unit. “What’s up, why are you so hungry?”

“Heat’s coming up.” Peter flopped gracelessly down onto the roof and dug into the newest bag of food, tore open a taco and crammed half of it into his mouth then passed the bag over to Wade, tucked his wings in and patted the floor so the Alpha would sit down right next to him. “I’m starving all the time right now, so whatever you don’t eat just throw my way.”

“When are you due?” It was absolutely crazy that Wade could even get a sentence out right now, because the thought of Peter in heat never failed to make his blood pressure sky rocket. To make matters worse the Omega was always so damn casual about it, always so damn nonchalant as if the word heat didn’t make Wade half feral with immediate need.

“Early next week.” Peter swallowed an obscene amount of taco and grabbed for the soda, draining half of it in one go. “You uh--” the Omega wiped his mouth and shot a curious look over at Wade, his wings lifting hopefully. “You want to help?”

Shit.

It was always like this.

Peter would ask Wade to share his heat, Wade would come up with some bullshit excuse--

“Nah, Pete. Next week I plan to be tanning my ass on the beach.”

“Nah, Pete. I’m practicing abstinence, Sister Margaret's is actually a convent, not a bar.”

“Nah, Pete--”

Just nah, Pete because even though Wade took great pleasure in knotting the super powered Omega up outside of heat, inside of heat was a different story.

Peter’s heat meant rut for Wade, meant that the Alpha’s already volatile emotions would lash out of control, that when Peter said more Wade would give him too much, that when the Omega gasped yes Wade would lose his mind, that if Peter so much as offered up a square inch of his neck Wade would bite him and mate him and then the pretty perfect Omega would be locked into a bond with a monster like him and that was just awful.

“Nah, Pete.” he said today, and it was always like this, soul deep loathing and heart ache that made his head spin when the Omega’s bright eyes dimmed and slid away. “I uh--I already made plans for this weekend. Other friends.”

“You don’t have friends other than me.” Peter accused good naturedly, but his honeysuckle scent had already dipped in sadness, his feathers rustling uneasily as he gathered them tighter around himself. “If you aren’t ready to hear me challenge your manhood by shrieking you aren’t knotting me fast enough, that’s fine. Just admit it.”

“I can fully admit that my manhood will not survive being shrieked at because I can’t pop a knot fast enough.” Wade deadpanned and Peter laughed and Wade laughed, and they moved on because that’s what they always did.

After a moment Peter even relaxed enough to let his wings down again and he was gratified when Wade immediately moved close enough for their feathers to mingle.

It had taken a long time for the Alpha to get to the point of being comfortable showing his wings and skin to Peter, and it had taken even longer for Wade not to jerk away every time Peter got close. It had been countless conversations and reassurances, quiet admissions in the dark as they patrolled the city, louder arguments when their partnership tipped towards friendship and Peter didn’t have to mince his words so much and it was the night Peter tried to kiss the Alpha that Wade had finally snapped and shouted.

“I’m ruined, Omega, pretty Omega. Ruined and I don’t want to ruin you by getting too close so leave me the hell alone! Back off!”

But there wasn’t a shy bone in Peter’s body, and he might have been an Omega but the spider-y mutation and instincts led him towards predator so he’d matched the big Alpha step for step, inch for inch as they back tracked through an alley and up to a brick wall.

“I’m not much in the habit of running away.” he’d hissed into Wade’s ear, held his wings back and away so they didn’t touch but dug his own fingers into the Alpha’s feathers and ripped a groan of pure arousal from Wade’s throat. “Not from bad guys, not from monsters, not from the Alpha I want as mine.”

“Pete--”

“Show me your wings.” Peter demanded and the Alpha had growled at him. “Show me your skin. Show me your ruin and see if I don’t find you beautiful.”

They had kissed then, kissed and kissed and kissed, bit at each other and growled and wrestled because Wade was strong but Peter was stronger and the Omega pushed the Alpha right to the brink and then a little bit further until Wade had roared, ‘Settle’ and charcoal wings burst high above his back and arced over their bodies, cast Peter in a shadow and blacked out the moon and it was just them.

“Beautiful.” Peter had whispered, and Wade’s kiss had left him bleeding, aching, yearning for more.

“My Alpha.” he’d whispered and the weight of the Alpha’s knot had left him sore and limping and ready to bare his neck and beg for Wade’s bite.

But it wasn’t meant to be, not yet, so instead it was always like this.

Rooftop meet ups for dinner before patrol. Late night scans of the city. Chasing down baddies and laughing at each other for being dangerous dorks. Going two or three nights without hanging out and Wade’s voice was a rumble when he called Omega and Peter could never stop his wings from snapping out wide to present for his intended mate. Sex that was the only time Wade wasn’t shy about his skin, about his mutation-ruined feathers, about eyes that stayed blood red more often than they were hazel because he ran so close to feral.

...heat that the Omega spent alone because it was the only thing Wade ever said no to, the only thing the Alpha ever denied him, the only time Peter’s smile ever dimmed or his wings ever fell away or there was ever an awkward silence.

Soul-bonded, Auntie May called it, in all her infinite wisdom. Peter and Wade were soul bonded and that mattered more than whether or not the Alpha would ever be ready to bite him, whether or not Peter ever got tired of waiting and tried to move on to Harry or Matt or even Eddie who knew and understood his life and would have been so pleased to have an Omega like Peter at their side.

Soul-bonded, Clint had called it. Peter and Wade were soul bonded like he and Tony’s other Omega mates were soul bonded, like he and the Betas were soul bonded because at some point it stopped being about the actual act of mating and biting each other and became more about what their hearts needed and souls fulfilled and that was what mattered.

Soul-bonded, like Vanessa used to say before she’d gone and taken everything beautiful about Wade’s world with her. Meant to be together even when the world looked on and couldn’t believe it, drawn together beyond anything that made sense or felt normal, made for each other and suddenly whole.

Soul-bonded and both Peter and Wade knew it was true, and the knowing had to be enough for now.

This had to be enough for now, so Peter spent January’s heat alone, calling Wade in between rounds to talk and laugh and maybe just once, just twice reminding the Alpha that he could come over and it would be fine, that they could get lost in rut together and it would be fine.

But Wade said no because he always did, then he made up for it on Valentines Day when he bought Peter no less than three dozen different bouquets of various flowers, paid a barbershop quartet to serenade Peter at his day job for the Daily Planet and then bought out an obscene amount of chocolate so they could eat it together beneath the stars on their favorite rooftop.

It wasn’t heat and it wasn’t a bite, but it was Wade being willing to be bare with Peter later that night in his apartment, nothing but maroon feathers brushing against tattered charcoal wings as they dug quickly healing bruises into each other’s hips and let kisses get sharp and messy. Peter showed off that endlessly acrobatic agility and jaw dropping strength to take exactly what he needed from his Alpha over and over until he was heavy and full and Wade was still driving into him because soul bonded wasn’t close to enough but they had to pretend it was enough for now.

Spring in the city brought earlier sunrises and warmer nights and sometime around Spring Break when the colleges emptied and their usual patrol routes were slower, Peter and Wade found time to be slower too. They lingered over meals and lingered over kisses and sometimes when the Omega moved just right the Alpha would catch him up closer, Peter would tip his head and purr and Wade would come within a fraction of giving in to every instinct in his body and taking what his Omega was so ready to offer.

Spring heat was harder than the others, an Omega’s body surging with the same urges and needs that had filtered through every piece of creation since the beginning of time. Spring meant new life, meant survival, meant a second chance at what the Winter had kept so cold. Spring meant mating, it meant bonding, biting and breeding and the Omega was lush, he was lush and his wings were full and presented upwards whenever Wade so much as smiled at him.

One Spring night they were lost in a kiss that was set to consume Peter’s very soul when Wade yanked away and stumbled back, the Alpha wiping his mouth and bending over to drag in a harsh breath and Peter self consciously adjusted his half torn shirt, his pants back over his hips.

“Alpha?” he asked softly, and Wade made a noise like he was choking. “What-- what’s wrong? It’s not super great for an Omega’s self esteem for you to go running like that, what happened?”

“You’re ripe.” Wade ground out. “Ripe, baby boy.”

“I stink?” The Omega’s voice rose in alarm, and he backpedaled several steps to sniff under his arms. “Shit, sorry. I’ll go and get a shower before patrol, it’s only gonna get worse once we’re out running around.”

“No.” it was Spring and the Alpha felt the same things Peter did, the same urgency to bond and bite and breed so when Peter started to turn away, Wade lunged for him, charcoal wings flared high and aggressive for only a moment before they wrapped possessive and protective around the slim Omega and hauled him up close. “No.”

“You said I stink!”

“I said you were ripe.” Wade’s teeth scraped over Peter’s bonding spot, and the Omega went very very still. “I said you were ripe, you don’t stink you’re-- you’re--” A half a snarl and the Alpha clutched him up tighter. “You’re gorgeous Pete. Pretty Omega, such a sweet Omega, smell so good. Smell ripe, Fertile.”

“Oh.” Syrupy thick desire wound through Peter’s veins and poured through his honeysuckle scent. “Oh yes, Alpha. That’s all for you. That’s-- you-- I’m yours, Wade. Yours.”

“Sure smell like mine.” Wade dragged his mouth up the Omega’s throat, huffed at his hair, at the softest spot by his ear then teeth closed blunt and shocking at his pulse. “Smell ready. Good enough to eat.”

“Well I’m-- I’m right here.” Peter swallowed, tilted his head to the side against the pressure of the Alpha at his neck. “T-Take a bite.”

Spring was rough, the heats hard and the rut close to the surface and if the Alpha and Omega weren’t plastered to each other trying to make their enough really truly feel like enough, then they were snapping at each other, popping their teeth and growling because too much of a good thing was a bad thing and if they couldn't have everything, they didn’t want to be together at all.

“Good god, you’re cranky!” Clint exclaimed one day in early April when he reached for a bag of french fries they were supposed to be sharing, and the Alpha actually snarled and rustled his wings warningly. “You’re supposed to give pretty Omega’s food, not withhold it from them!”

“Sorry.” Wade’s wings lifted only briefly in apology as he hurried up and shoved the fries at Clint. “Sorry. Don’t tell your Alpha I snarled at you. The last thing I need is Ol’ Iron Sides unleashing one of those gauntlets at me cos I made you sad or something.”

“Look, I might be a bratty Omega but I’m not a bitchy Omega.” Clint took a handful and pushed the rest back at Wade. “I’m not going to go crying home cos my friend didn’t want to share his food. So don’t worry, your ass should be gauntlet free for the foreseeable future.”

The Alpha smiled only the tiniest bit, and Clint brushed lightly at Wade’s side with his feathers. “Seriously, what’s going on? You’re stressed enough to snap and you scent like death. Not like your usual smoke and fire but honestly like death. What’s up?”

“It’s Pete.”

“...oh.” Clint swallowed his food around the lump suddenly in his throat. “Shit, Wade is everything okay? Is he alright? What happened? Is it something my Alpha could help with?”

“It’s cute how you feel like your Alpha can solve any problem possible.” Wade hunched over on the bench and rubbed the heel of his palm into his eyes. “And Pete’s fine, it’s just ah-- he’s just--”

Clint waited, and after another minute of stammering Wade finally made the sign for heat and then alone and then for himself fucking horny.

“Oh.” The Omega blinked, and then, “OH! Oh Peter’s in heat and you’re out here trying to drown your horny in a bag of french fries. Got it.”

The mouthy Omega snorted a laugh when Wade’s wings fluffed out in immediate annoyance. “Put your wings away, man. You couldn’t possibly believe I wasn’t going to make fun of you for this. Why the heck are you out here getting lunch with me when you should be taking care of your mate?!”

“He’s not my mate.” Wade ground out, and the words were like broken glass in the Alpha’s mouth. “Pete’s not my mate, that’s why I don’t stay with him for heat. I’ll knot the shit outta him as soon as he’s done cos that’s what--”

“--if you say that’s what friends do, I’ll throw my soda at you.” Clint interjected. “You two are soul bonded, remember? Ask him to wear a collar like my Alpha did for us, then you can bite him all you want without worrying about some non existent issue about actually bonding. Plus, Omegas are gorgeous in collars. Sometimes I wear mine and nothing else just to drive my Alpha crazy.”

The Alpha scowled at him, hazel eyes flickering red beneath his hoodie. “Is everyone in your harem family this nosy and open with TMI details?”

“Yep.” Clint popped the ‘p’ of the word. “You can’t share a home and share beds like we do and keep secrets, that’s crazy. Secrets lead to insecurity and insecurity leads to jealousy and we just don’t have room for that sort of thing in the compound. Not with multiple Alphas and various super powered people and Tony as head of the family. No way.”

“You could not have sounded more like a cult right then if you tried.”

“Yeah, I know. We talk like that just to piss Pepper off. Tony keeps telling her to buy us robes and take the tax right off, but she doesn’t think it’s as funny as we do.” the Omega swirled his french fry through a glob of ketchup. “Have you put any more thought into coming by our place? I know upstate is a journey but Tony would let you use one of the helicopters. It’s almost our Alpha’s birthday, so maybe if your Omega isn’t in heat next month you could come up then?”

“Pete’s not my--”

“Sure he’s not.” Clint opened his dark brown wings and let one rest gently, friendly over Wade’s bowed shoulders, his cherry blossom scent lightening sweet and comforting when he saw the misery on the Alpha’s face. “Sure he’s not.”

*************

Chapter Notes:

Hawkeye and Deadpool have teamed up in the comic books before, and I thought Clint was the perfect person to bring Wade around vs the usual “Tony knows Peter” arc!

How much do we love sassy Omega Peter?

SAY SOMETHING ABOUT THE CHAPTER! *************

#ncts fics #spideypool #abo dynamics #wing fic #peter parker #wade wilson #clint barton #poly avengers #bonus chapter #broken wings verse

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fandom-necromancer · 3 years

Text

Coffee, crushes and Complications Prequel

This was prompted by an amazing anon! just a warning, this short got dark real quick. So please, heed the warnings and stay safe! It has a happy ending, but I have said in the other parts Gavin hit rock bottom, so I had to make him hit rock bottom. He does recover in the end and gets back on track that has him being happy as we know from part 1 and 2. It’s just a hard contrast, therefore I wanted to warn you. I hope you still enjoy heavy angst!

Fandom: Detroit become human | Characters: Gavin Reed, Tina Chen (Warnings: depression, description of depressive behaviours, Character thinks about suicide, implied suicide attempt (that doesn’t happen, not even the attempt!), suicidal thoughts) If you want to skip the suicide related part skip from “It was two weeks...” to “Tina! Tina, don’t say anything!”

[Part1] [Part2] [Part3] [Part4]

‚Hey, Boss, what’s up?‘ Gavin marched into Fowlers office with a grin and a spring in his step. He had all his cases solved in record time and had finally endured the cry-babies of machines that had come in lately with stories of assault and attempted murder. What had they expected simply stopping to work to looked like? But he had done nothing wrong, at least nothing Fowler could prove, and that was the most important thing. ‘You are fired, Gavin.’ Gavin blinked. He must have misheard something. ‘The phck?’ ‘You are fired, Detective Reed. Hand in your badge and pistol and pack your things.’ ‘What? Why?’ ‘Why?!’ Fowler stood up and leaned over the table. ‘You really even dare to ask that?’ ‘Errr…. Yes?’ ‘Well, then sit down and get comfortable, because I have a whole fucking list!’, the Captain shouted. ‘And I finally can say what I wanted to tell you for so long, because I will finally get rid of you now!’ Gavin did sit down, but not because he wanted to. His knees had suddenly failed him.

‘First of all: You are a real asshole.’ ‘Yes, I know but-‘ ‘I don’t mean it in a funny way!’, Fowler interrupted. ‘You are a true asshole. A bad person. You treat your co-workers as if they personally attacked you. You are unable to work in a team without sabotaging the whole mission for your benefit. You actively try to make others look worse than you are so you seem like the best one. You are so obsessed with getting promoted you fail to do your work, you are constantly breaking protocol and don’t think I didn’t realise! I did. I just never said anything because, shit, sometimes that was an advantage. But this was the final misstep, Reed! I can’t tolerate your shit any longer!’ Gavin swallowed, then threatened: ‘And what should that be exactly?’ He let his anger speak for himself, but deep inside his guts had twisted into a tight ball.

Fowler leaned back. ‘Your anti-android behaviour. Fucking hell, I thought you would learn with time. I thought you would catch up to the others. But no, you continue calling androids names, calling them “it” instead of he, she or they and treating them like malfunctioning machines. These people come to us for help and you laugh them in the face!’ Gavin huffed amused, then outright laughed in Fowler’s face. ‘Captain, that’s a good joke. You don’t actually believe… They are not human. They will never be. Phck, I wouldn’t even consider them persons. They are some fancy part of machinery, so complexly programmed that maybe they even believe themselves to be persons. But they are not! They are objects, robots. And some fancy revolution and new laws can’t change that simple fact!’ ‘And that’s why I have to fire you. I can’t have you interrogating someone knowing you will personally dismantle them if they don’t talk! They are machines. But they are persons too. And you have to respect that. Fuck, Gavin, what did you think?’ ‘I thought and still think they are not alive. It doesn’t matter what you do to them, it’s just simulated. They don’t feel a thing.’ ‘Are you really sure about that?’, Fowler asked, weirdly calm considering he had been furious just before. ‘Even after Connor?’ ‘Connor is a big reason for me being absolutely certain’, Gavin said.

‘Then hand in your badge and service weapon.’ Gavin stared at the outstretched palm. ‘Oh, come on, Jeffrey, you can’t do this to me. I’m your best man!’ ‘I can, I will and I must. And you haven’t been my best officer for a long time. Hank is back – thanks to that apparently lifeless android Connor – and the RK800 is the best Detective you can wish for. Now, I won’t repeat myself.’ Gavin was sitting there completely numb. He didn’t even have energy left in him to complain and that was saying something. He pulled his pistol out of the holster and handed it over, before unclipping his badge. He looked down on the polished metal with his name on it and thought back to the day he had been handed it. How proud he had been. How much of his pride still was engraved in this piece of metal. He had worked hard for this and by now… Shit, this little piece of leather and metal basically was his whole identity. He pushed his thumb over the letters. G. Reed.

‘The badge, Reed.’ He blinked, took a deep breath, held it and pressed the badge into Fowler’s hand. Then he stood up and pressed out: ‘That’s all?’ ‘That’s all.’ Gavin contemplated saying something. Something witty maybe, or something mean, something that would hurt and gave him that little satisfaction of revenge, even if it didn’t mean much. But he couldn’t think of anything, his head was filled with cotton and everything tingled with numbness. So, he just nodded and left, trying to keep up his composure. It was hard without the added weight on his hip that had made his step a bit broader than it normally was. He stared at the ground not to have to look into their faces. Would they laugh? Would they care? Or worse: would they pity him? Whatever they might feel towards him leaving, he couldn’t face it and so he just took what little possessions he had decorated his table with and left. ‘Hey, Gavin, what’s-‘ That was Tina, but Gavin had already passed the security gates and as soon as he was outside the building he ran to his car, dropping his things on the passenger seat and starting the engine to speed off. He was just moments away from a total breakdown, the fact that others might see him and that he couldn’t drive in that state the only thing keeping his composure up. He parked the car messily in front of his apartment, took his things and stumbled up the stairs in a hurry. He barely managed to unlock the door, dropping his keys once and failing to pick them up first try as his eyes had blurred over.

Then finally he was inside, had closed the door and dropped his things on his sideboard, before leaning on it heavily finally allowing his feelings to spill over. He knelt in front of the small wooden furniture, his hands holding onto the edge to keep him steady somewhere. How could this happen? He was untouchable. He was good at his job. He was damn good at his job. He wasn’t good at anything else. He had only ever been a Detective and… Oh god, he didn’t have a job anymore. He wouldn’t be able to pay his rent. He could make it a few months, but he would have to find something else soon and oh god, what if he had to give his cat away and phck he didn’t have a job anymore and… Did the whole world hate him?

He half kneeled, half sat there, crying, his stomach cramping and heaving and trying to keep his meal down through it all. His shoulders shook and he didn’t trust his hands or his legs for that matter. Standing up was out of question. He crawled over to the wall to prep himself up against it and the sideboard, that was about all he did that day, crying until no more tears would come, his nose was hurting and the muscles of his abdomen aching from overuse. He was thirsty, but at the same time it didn’t matter. He was cold but hell, what did that mean? He needed a shower to get out of his partially wet clothes and maybe feel human again. But he knew he wouldn’t even make it to the living room. So why bother? He didn’t move and tried not to think.

He woke up still in the same position and sat up with his back cracking. Something warm shifted against his legs and stretched. He looked down on his cat, who looked up to him as if asking why her human was so upset. ‘I phcked up, Bready. I’m sorry.’ He scratched her behind the ears. ‘And I haven’t given you anything yet, have I? Sorry. You must be starving. Come on, daddy will get you something.’ With that he finally managed to stand up, but still had to lean against the wall, waiting for his circulation to catch up. He carried himself into the kitchen, gave Bready her food and threw himself a frozen pizza into the oven not wanting any poor delivery guy to see him like this.

He rubbed his forehead that by now hurt like a thousand needles from his dehydration headache. So, he opened the fridge and his eyes fell on his liquor collection. Should he… But it would only make things worse. Could things go worse? To be honest, he just wanted to sleep. He should save the alcohol for tomorrow when he would need it. He ate his pizza, drank his water, forced himself to take a shower and dropped into bed. Maybe this was all just a bad dream.

It wasn’t. He was awoken by his alarm, had sat up and halfway left the bed as he remembered that right, no work to go to. Rubbing his face and scrunching it up as he rested his face in his hand, he thought about what to do. In the end he did stand up to give Bready her food and retreat back to bed. She soon joined him, a welcome weight against his legs. As he woke up hours later, she was still there, and Gavin watched her for a while. Damn, why couldn’t he have been born a fat, carefree housecat? He fetched his phone, tried to switch it on and sighed as it wouldn’t. He struggled to get the charger out without disturbing Bready. When he finally could switch on his phone, he immediately was bombarded with messages and missed calls from Tina. He read over them but deleted the notifications from the calls and left her on read. He didn’t feel like talking. He didn’t feel like anything at all. In the end he flicked through the same apps on his phone, fell asleep and circled them through again once he woke up. He stood up to get his cat some food, then went straight to bed. He didn’t want to eat, so he didn’t.

The next day he managed to eat breakfast, but only because he had switched off his alarm and his cat woke him up with screaming. He threw some water in his face, then returned to bed. Tina had called again. Had messaged too. Gavin put his phone on his nightstand face down.

In the evening he couldn’t lie in bed anymore, never feeling comfortable and always sore. He faced his fridge again and took the next-best bottle. When he fell asleep on the couch hours later it was empty.

The hangover was hard, but Gavin liked the sobering pain. He didn’t like throwing up in the toilet first thing in the morning though. He skipped breakfast and lunch lying in bed. As Tina had called for the millionth time, he finally got the energy to answer the call, shout: ‘Phck off, don’t wanna talk!’ into the mic and drop it back down. Dinner was some instant noodles. With lots of alcohol.

When the weekend came, his reserves had been depleted. He was left to water and stale coke. Maybe that was something good? Gavin didn’t think in these categories anymore. Then the doorbell rang. And it rang again. And again. Gavin would have appreciated it staying this way of it ringing and him not answering, but then the call came from outside: ‘Gavin, you absolute fuck, I know you are home and you know I will kick down this door, now open up before you have to pay for a new door and lock without a job!’ Way to go Tina. Gavin just sighed, but obeyed, opening the door. He had planned to tell her to go, but she somehow already had made it past his sluggish reflexes. ‘Holy fuck it reeks!’ The first thing she did was opening the windows, letting in fresh air. ‘How the fuck did you live like this?’, she asked pointing at the dirty plates on the floor. ‘And fucking hell, you look like death!’ Gavin just shrugged. ‘Feel like death too.’ She took him by the back of his shirt and pushed him towards the bathroom. ‘You will take a shower and if I have to watch you do it!’ Gavin tried to protest, but somehow he was already standing under the stream fully clothed. His hoodie began to weigh him down, but he didn’t care. ‘Gavin, I won’t mother you. You will get out of your clothes on your own. Call me if you need anything, I will cook you something.’ Gavin shook his head violently. ‘Tina!’ She turned around to look him in the eyes sternly. ‘You should go. I need more time.’ ‘You got plenty of time. I won’t let you destroy yourself like this! You got fired. That’s all. No one died. No one is ill. You will find a new job and better days will come.’ ‘Someone died’, Gavin disagreed. ‘I did. I died when I handed in that badge, Tina.’ ‘Oh fuck off you melodramatic asshole. I am speaking to you right now. So you fucking are alive and need to wash yourself. And you need food, so I will cook. And then we will talk.’

She had left, but Gavin still winced as if she had struck him with a knife. Talk. Oh, please, anything but that.

‘Any plans what to do now?’ ‘Any idea what kind of job you would like?’ ‘How about going out to a movie tomorrow?’ ‘Gavin, fucking talk to me!’ Gavin swallowed hard. ‘You should leave, really. Thanks for the food and for kicking my ass, but I’m not ready yet. This job was all I ever wanted and all I ever had.’ ‘Bullshit.’ ‘No! No bullshit! For once I’m completely serious Tina! What do you think I have except for it? Everyone phcking hates me, I can’t do anything else and I don’t have anyone to help me! All I have is this flat and my useless phcking cat! I. Have. Nothing! And I’m sorry if a few nice words from pity-party Tina won’t suddenly make me function again!’ ‘Pity-party?’ ‘That’s what this is, isn’t it?’, Gavin shouted. ‘You secretly enjoy it, don’t you? Oh, look someone that has phcked up! Let’s pretend we actually like the guy and don’t just profit from him! Then we can say: see? See how he got better? That was me!’ ‘Gavin!’ ‘What?’, Gavin spat back. ‘Tell me that’s not what you are trying to do! Tell me you mean it, it will be a real nice joke, I can tell you that!’

Tina stood up and in exactly that moment, Gavin had realised he had made a mistake. Another mistake. He had wanted to be angry, about who and what didn’t matter. But well, it did. ‘You know what, Gavin Reed? I’ve been your friend for a long time. Do you really think I listen to an asshole like you, to talks like this and fake being your friend? What weird twist of logic is that? I wanted to help! I really wanted to. But if this is how you respond to that, I clearly wasted my time! Goodbye.’

And Gavin’s days turned back to lying in bed with his cat and stupid phone games, getting up only when he needed to pee, when Bready needed food or when he couldn’t postpone eating any longer himself. One day he actually went out to get some canned food that was easy to prepare, food for Bready and alcohol. Lots of alcohol.

It was two weeks after he had been fired, that he sat in the corner of the living room, a bottle next to him and the shards of a broken glass in his hand, that he carefully pulled out. He didn’t even feel the pain. Not really. Should he… It was tempting. He had no one, he had no job, no goals… Was it even worth it? He had looked far too long at the blood pooling in his hand and the largest shard in his other. It was just a movement after all. But then Bready’s head suddenly appeared and Gavin cursed. ‘No, bad! Shoo! This is dangerous! Damn cat!’ He let the shard fall to the ground and picked up his cat with his uninjured hand, carrying her over to the kitchen and keeping her busy with some treats. Once he was sure she was occupied, he returned to his corner outfitted with a dustpan to pick up the shards so Bready couldn’t step in them.

Only when he saw the bloody shards, he flinched back. He had seen these pictures far too often. Had filed them away as evidence. Had asked himself how people could do something like this, often leaving family and friends behind. And now… Phck no! Phck no, not him! He wouldn’t… He had always been a fighter, hadn’t he? Then why had he given up just moments ago? No, he wouldn’t… He would. He would finally get his ass up and act! What had Tina done last weekend? What had she done…

Open the windows. He retraced her steps after he had gotten rid of the shards and bandaged his hand. He opened the windows, looked to the ground and fetched the dirty plates. He put them in the dishwasher. He cuddled his phcking lifesaver of a cat extra-long and took a shower – this time without his clothes. Then he took his phone from the shelf he had put it on to ignore it and sat down on the couch. He dialled the number on autopilot and waited until he got an answer. It didn’t take long.

‘Tina! Tina, don’t say anything! I don’t know if I can build up this courage again if you say something. Just listen, please. I was an idiot. I was a total asshole to you, and I understand you completely if you don’t want to talk to me or ever see me again. But I really need your help and I want to make up to the terrible things I said to you. I may not have much left, but I have my fantastic cat, I am still alive, and I hope I still have you. I need someone to kick my ass and I know you are best in that. I need you right now. I want to look for a new job, I want to start again, and I don’t want to lose you as my friend.’ He pressed his eyes closed and waited for an answer. ‘Tina?’ ‘What? You told me to shut up and listen! I’m already on my way over to your place with job offers from a few newspapers, you giant asshole. Should I get takeout? Are you hungry?’ ‘You are not mad?’ ‘Oh, believe me, I am mad. But I am also proud of you, Gavin. And if you think you can get rid of me, you don’t know me!’ Gavin audibly exhaled. ‘Oh, Tina, I don’t know what I would do without you.’ ‘Yeah, sometimes I wonder, too. I’ll hang up now, okay? Gotta go place our order. Just wait for me, okay? We’ll fix this shithole of a situation you are in in no time, believe me!’

Gavin smiled, the first time in two weeks. The call had already ended, but he still whispered: ‘Yes. I believe you.’

[>next part]

#detroit become human #dbh #Gavin Reed #Tina Chen #I cried two times while writing this story #bonus points to the person who finds out where XD #Dont worry I'm good I like writing angst but aaaaaaaaaa #might overdid it with this...

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inkribbon796 · 3 years

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Like a House of Cards Ch. 1: Showtime

Summary: Four heroes have been replaced and their intentions are less than pure. The city is dangling on a knife’s edge over a precipice. Dominoes knocked over as the city tumbles like a house of cards.

Chapters: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13

It was a long time coming. A long time coming.

It was early, almost sunrise when Logan and Ethan walked into the base. The door opening like the curtains of a show for them. It was early, the only people who saw them walking in who weren’t already gone on the early patrol were Chase and J.J.

So needless to say, they weren’t in danger of getting caught.

Because the four of them weren’t who they were pretending to be. They were the Suits, sent to replace and impersonate certain heroes they were similar to.

Hearts, Diamonds, Spades, and Clubs. Disguised as heroes meant to protect and save people.

Logan and Ethan walked in, Logan casting a glance to the hidden camera he knew for a certainty was in the entry hall, his pupils displaying with robotic precision and aura tapping against the barriers Marvin and Nate had long since set up as a defense, but since Mare and Lunky had passed by the sensors so many times it didn’t trip an alarm.

Chase and J.J watched them from the communications room, not altering the cameras so that Bing wasn’t tipped off. He’d been conducting his private investigations recently and none of them wanted to tip him off while he was so suspicious of all of them. Since talking to Joan, the android had cleared those in Dark’s family, and Jackie but that was it.

Ethan went into the kitchen to make some coffee as Logan relieved Chase and J.J from the watch and slid into the seat where he performed the duties that the real Logan was supposed to do. This close to their mission point precision was crucial, and any time wasted fighting Bing was a detrimental loss.

Logan was sitting in the communications room, working at one of the computers, when Ethan brought him a coffee. The room was empty except for him.

Ethan walked in, sipping on his coffee, smiling as he set one down for Logan, “So, how’s it going?”

“Without incident,” Logan answered. “You should get to bed, get ready for the next mission?”

“Geez, Sargent Frowns, it’ll all be taken care of,” Ethan took another sip. “Bastards won’t know what hit them.”

Ethan chuckled as he took a couple sips of his coffee, “Well if you don’t mind me I’ll just “go to bed” or whatever.”

Logan nodded and as Ethan was leaving the room, Joan was coming up the hallway.

“You seen any of the Sides recently?” Joan asked Ethan, looking worried.

“Yeah,” Ethan pointed to the door, “Logan’s in the comms room.”

“Is Patton in there with him?” Joan looked a little bit relieved.

“I saw him while I was out on patrol,” Ethan lied to them. “Why? Is something wrong?”

“Get everyone in the base together, we’ve got a security problem,” Joan explained.

“Got it,” Ethan hurried away as Joan walked into the comma room.

“Fucker’s gonna get us caught,” Ethan muttered angrily under his breath, tipping back the rest of his coffee.

Bing and Jackie joined Joan in the comms room with “Logan” and they started talking about another sighting of Spade in downtown Brighton and they wanted to compile information.

Something that was eyebrow raising to Spade because he’d been making his way from Janus and Remus’s house to the heroes’ base. But the real Logan wouldn’t be privy to that information so Spade, pretending to be Logan, did a pretty good impression of being surprised as he exchanged places with Bing so the android could take a seat in front of the computer.

“An’[1] that’s the report,” Jackie concluded.

“It certainly is good information to have if they’re becoming more active again,” Logan told them.

“My thoughts exactly,” Bing pointed some finger guns at Logan. “Here, I’ll get some images I got of the guy.”

“Hey Logan,” Joan smiled at him as Bing was integrating himself with the computer to look for something. “How have things been?”

“They could certainly be improved upon,” Logan commented, turning towards Joan and letting out a long, tired sigh.

“Yeah, I bet they could,” Joan agreed before a blast of magic hit Logan square in the back. Pain rocketed up the Suit’s body and his nanites glitched as Joan and Jackie threw down a disc on either side and Bing’s nanites came up and wrapped around Logan so that when the Suit stopped feeling like he was being used as a live wire, he was trapped.

When Logan turned his head he saw that Marvin was standing at the door, magic at his fingertips. The Suit was literally and figuratively surrounded. His eyes and glasses glitched, “Something always gets in the way.”

“He’s covered in nanites,” Bing warned.

“My spell should have ripped his illusion off,” Marvin told them. “I can hit him again.”

Logan looked down at the nanite constructed wires and cords trapping him and rolled his eyes, then he looked up at Joan, “Do you mind telling me what gave me away, for data correlation’s sake?”

Joan held up their phone, “Morality doesn’t use punctuation when he types, he barely uses words at all.”

“Ahh,” Logan commented cooly, smiling. “My mistake. I always tend to forget his atrocious insistence against punctuation is the only awful part of him.”

“Where’s Logic?” Jackie demanded. “Why are yeh here? Are yeh Spade or some demon? ‘Cause this is a shite time ta do this.”[2]

“Now why would I tell any of you,” Logan threatened.

“Yeh can tell us or we’ll beat the shite outta yah,”[3] Jackie threatened right back. “Logic’s been through enough shite lately ta e’en tolerate this.”[4]

“Oh trust me,” “Logan” frowned. “He hasn’t even begun to suffer.”

“An’[1] why should we trust yeh[5]?” Jackie demanded. “What’d yah do ta the real Logic?”[6]

The false Logan let out an amused chuckle, “You all have never even met the real Logan. I’m doing all of you a favor.”

“It’s Spade, fry ‘em[7],” Joan decided.

The snare lit up and electricity began coursing through the Suit’s nanite body, frying his nanite shell by inches.

Locket Payload: Critical Failure Imminent!

In a panic, that was visible on his face, Logan let out a scream as he curled around his chest and an EMP blast came from him that fried almost every electronic in the room, Bing only managing to not have to reset himself. By the time Bing was recovering, he was able to watch with the other three organic beings in the room as “Logan” burst into pixels and a cloud of nanites and shot into the light switch to hide. The young glitch demon curled around a central point of aura protectively in case Bing came after him.

Those precious seconds of hiding let Bing force the controls back on line and initiate a complete physical and electrical lockdown of the base. People, texts, calls, all unable to leave the base.

“Emergency lockdown engaged,” Bing’s voice rang out through the base just as an explosion rocked the building.

It was a small explosive charge that had been placed by Hearts, not enough to blow a hole in the side of the base but enough for the contents of the bomb to set the room on fire.

To set Marvin’s library on fire.

To Marvin’s good luck, Wade was close by and saw the fire starting up as magical tomes and spell ingredients, turning a normal fire into a popping magical one that was threatening to burn the entire base down.

The fire alarm and the sprinkles kicked up, causing further damage to the books.

Wade swore as he tried putting out the magical fire.

At the sound of the explosion, Marvin and Jackie raced over and Marvin screamed in agony as he helped put out the fire. Nate racing in to help. J.J, Chase, and Ethan came over to help but were pushed back by the others.

It took another minute to get the fire contained and Marvin was kneeling in front of the doorway to his library and looking at the ash and burnt books in horror.

“Sorry, Marv,” Jackie sat down next to his friend.

“They burned my library down,” Marvin said in grief.

“What is going on?” Wade demanded. “Last I heard there was some kind of meeting but when met with Crank, Nate, Average, and J.J the fire alarm went off. Who called the meeting?”

“We did,” Jackie told him, standing up. “It was just bad fookin’ timin’. Spade’s in the base, he got in. It must’a been him who caused the explosions.”[8]

“It’s not Spade,” Bing shouted as he ran down the halls, his nanites still fixing up the patches of metal and wires that had died in the EMP blast. “Or if it is the situation just got much worse ‘cause[9] that’s Logic.”

“What do you mean that’s Logic?” Joan demanded in a panic.

“Either Logic’s been Spade the whole time or Spade infected him with somethin’ ‘cause he’s been actin’ weird for a while,”[10] Bing said. “Lo’s still in the base. I’ve got him cornered in the sprinkler system, but he won’t stay there.”

“How could it possibly be Logan?” Joan demanded in irritated frustration. “He would never.”

“We might not be dealing with the actual Logan,” Nate spoke up, his mind already racing with possibilities. “We might be dealing with the same guy who attack me outside of a bar over a camera of all fucking things.”

“That was his suit right, Logic’s fine,” Joan defended.

Then Nate thought about that, it had been a question that Logan had always been dodgy and evasive on how the logical and scientific hero had wound up with a cursed soul splitter that didn’t work . . .

“Either way he’s got my nanites,” Bing interrupted. “Which explains how Spade got them in the first place. His suit is laced with them.”

“Are yeh[5] sure?” Jackie demanded.

“I’d recognize them anywhere, my Bluetooth was even tryin’[11] ta[12] connect with them,” Bing asserted.

. . . That didn’t . . . Nate was still trying to reason in his head.

“Which is weird because humans can’t use nanites raw,” Bing replied. “Only the Googles an’[1] Anti have the ability ta[12] use my nanites like that.”

“Shit, he’s a glitch!” Mare warned internally. “A damn smart one since he was covering his tracks as he was turning. I knew something smelt off about him. He always smelt like burnt wires and electricity.”

You tell me this now? Nate cursed himself for not realizing it sooner. While Nate was thinking the rest of the heroes were talking.

Nate felt the eye roll, “I always forget you sacks of meat can’t smell aura. I just figured, since he was supposed to be a null, that some other demon or one of the other Sides had their claws in him. The rest of them are dripping with aura.”

“Joan,” Nate spoke up, his voice soft and almost scared.

“Yeah?” Joan sat up.

“How long has Logic been Logic?” Nate asked desperately.

“Always, what kind of question is that?” They asked in return.

“I just have to rule it out, does Logic come from a family of mages? Is anyone else in his family magical.”

Joan paused for an abnormally long amount of time. “No.”

“Okay, that makes sense, being null is recessive,” Nate reasoned. You needed and aura and magic for a soul to become a demon. Logic didn’t have that, ergo he wasn’t a demon.

“Nate,” Mare tried to urge.

“He only targeted Marvin, nothing was stolen, nothing was taken from the computers, he just impersonated him and took off,” Wade reminded.

“The Sides are still gone, what are we gonna do?” Jackie demanded.

“Well when we find him, we’ll ask,” Joan reassured. “Logic’s a level-headed guy, I wish I knew where Morality was, or Princey. They’re able to calm him down.”

“Nate, let me go, and I can scent Logic out, if I don’t find him, then I’m wrong and he’s clear,” Mare tried to bargain.

“Fine,” Nate agreed and Mare broke free and looked around.

“Great,” Marvin growled.

“I’ll be back soon,” Mare didn’t spare Marvin a glance, “sorry about your cache.”

Then Mare stopped and looked at a corner of the wall and floated up to tap at it. “Hey there, don’t think I don’t see you.”

Then he ripped a camera out of the wall.

“Mine are visible,” Bing told him as the demon tossed the camera to the android.

Mare stood next to Nate, “I know, bet you that there are more, and there’s a glitch in the walls. Probably has been for a while now.”

“Is it Anti?” Jackie asked.

“Nah, Anti smells like a thunderstorm that was cooked in the oven too long,” Mare reported. “Young, likes to identify as a male; so King’s kid is out. It’s Logic, I’ve picked up that scent on him before. Maybe it’s a Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde thing, or Logic’s always been a spy. Can’t say.”

“Maybe that soul splitter did work after all,” Nate reasoned. “Which means that he’s not wanting to come out ‘cause[9] he’s scared, so I can’t blame him. Just where’d he find the camera? That probably turned him, which makes sense why he likes to hover around the thing, he probably wants the fragments of his soul back.”

“First off, morbid,” Joan held up one of their hands. “And second, I found it at an estate sale. I gave it to Thomas, who—”

Joan trailed off, already knowing they’d made a mistake.

Nate stared at him, “Logic’s name is Logan, who’s Thomas? Is that Princey or Anxiety?”

“Not exactly,” Joan tried to evade.

“What does that mean? Is Logan like a middle name or a name he just prefers more?” Mare asked. “Or was Thomas, Logic’s name before he was split?”

Joan really didn’t want to have this discussion without any of the Sides, but Logan was apparently hiding in the walls and the other Sides were all missing. So maybe this was as good a time as any. “Look, if you’re right and Lo is some kind of demon, which he’s not because Logic is a harmless sweetheart, then we didn’t know because a soul splitter is only supposed to make one demon right?”

The room descended into chilling silence.

“The fook yeh mean one, Logic got like a twin or somethin’?”[13] Marvin demanded.

“More like septuplets,” Joan admitted, holding up seven fingers.

“Oh shit,” Mare realized.

“They all came from the same person?” Nate gasped. Logic. Morality. Creativity. Deceit. Anxiety . . . A glitch. Two showmen. Two empaths. A deal maker. And whatever the hell Orange is.

“I’ve never seen a spilt this clean, or create so many, usually a splitter just makes one and it can’t even do that right,” Nate commented. “But they’re all so lifelike. How powerful of a mage was Thomas?”

“He wasn’t,” Joan tried to explain. “Or at least, I never saw him do anything.”

“Well, at least we know where the other Sides went,” Mare spat through clenched teeth.

“No, no,” Nate cut him off. “That’s not a fight a glitch can win, not on their own. We should just focus on finding Logic and containing him before we accuse him of anything.”

“Yeah, that’s a good idea,” Joan agreed.

The heroes and Mare began completely cleaning the room of any cameras or listening devices, whether they were Bing’s or not. Then they made a plan to ensnare Logan. They started by taking out the cameras and bugs in the major room before Bing began actively trying to catch Logan.

It was an endeavor that Bing was not successful in. But the Suit saw an opening and went for the unlocked front door.

When he did, Logan slammed into an invisible barrier, sparks and magic arcing everywhere.

Nate quickly moved in to seal off the containment circle with more salt as Logan was picking himself up.

“Hey, Lo,” Nate knelt down, “rough week?”

~~~~~~~~~~~

Accessibility Translations

1. And

2. Why are you here? Are you Spade or some demon? Because this is a shit time to do this.

3. You can tell us or we’ll beat the shit out of you

4. Logic’s been through enough shit lately to even tolerate this.

5. you

6. What did you do to the real Logic?

7. them

8. It was just bad fucking timing. Spade’s in the base, he got in. It must have been him who caused the explosion.

9. because

10. Either Logic’s been Spade the whole time or Spade infected him with something because he’s been acting weird for a while

11. trying

12. to

13. The fuck you mean one, does Logic have like a twin or something?

#Superhero AU #Masks and Maladies #Thomas Sanders #Jacksepticeye #Crankgameplays #Markiplier #Natewantstobattle #footnotes #kidnapping mention #Jackieboy Man #Bingiplier #Natemare #Logan Sanders #Joan Stokes #Chase Brody #J.J

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mail-me-a-snail · 4 years

Text

Sobriety

Chase Brody has been doing everything to combat his alcoholism; going to AA, therapy, being social, exercising...and yet it still isn’t enough. One afternoon, a year after his divorce, Jackie drives him home. tw: alcoholism, panic attacks, car accident ment, suicide ment.

"So, how was it?"

Chase shrugs, both to slide his backpack off and to answer. He puts the bag in the backseat, then twists back around to buckle himself in. Jackie, mask off and in a plain red hoodie and worn jeans, as opposed to his jumpsuit, sits in the driver's seat, fingers drumming against the wheel in sync with whatever metal is playing on the stereo, Chase doesn't know—he's too tired to go through the challenge of deciphering the lyrics. The chaotic banging of drums and rippling guitar riffs about sum up the state his head's at.

"It was fine," he says coolly, "I guess. Todd brought his guitar this time." Todd—Todd Danvers—being the head of the group. Great guy, might've made it as a part of the church ensemble, if he hadn't drunken so much wine like every meal was communion. Washed his face in the tub of holy water they have at the door, that's what Todd had told them all, that first day, when Chase was still having the shakes.

"What'd he sing?" Jackie glances over at him as he twists the key in the ignition. The car hums to life, and they pull out of the center's parking lot with a low rumble.

"Pretty cover of What Have They Done To You Know. Daniel Knox? Funny, you wouldn't think a guy like him would be into that kind of indie music."

Jackie laughs, though it's not as bubbly as Chase thought it would be. It's more like an exhale Jackie leans into.

There's no conversation that follows, so the clicking turn signal, honking cars passing by, and radio fill the silence. He's gotten better at his anxiety with cars. Chase picks at the neon bandages on his fingers—the story is that he tried rather unsuccessfully to build a shelf—nails, all that, you know—but that's not what happened.

Promise a man, a very wasted, high off his rocker man, a few hundred bucks and he just might cut his whole hand off for you. He'll play the knife game like a roulette wheel, spinning and spinning, until he hits the jackpot, or until he has no fingers.

Nicks for nickels, that's what his buddies down at the bar say. Nicks for nickels. Money isn't easy to come by lately and he doesn't want to have to depend on Jackie's or his brothers' help for the rest of his life. It isn't fair.

So, he works, doing odds and ends and stupid dares, because the companies in the city aren't hot on having a recovering alcoholic under their brand. We'll call you back. Your resume looks great, Mr. Brody, you'll be at the top of our list. You'll be a fine employee.

Ha. Right. Three weeks later? Not a single call, nor email. Nicks for nickels again those nights that followed.

"Where's your mind at, Chase?" Jackie says amiably, once they're on the long stretch of road heading towards the house. "What're you thinking about?"

"My shelf," Chase answers, trying his best to sound mournful, stretching his bandaged fingers out in front of him, "Hurt like a son of a bitch to put it together."

Jackie's mouth presses down into a flat line. He says nothing for a few moments. He changes the station. Something light and electric plays.

“You know, you could've called me," Jackie says eventually, when they've hit the chorus. "I'm a champ at furniture building. You should see Henrik's desk now; beautiful, if I do say so myself."

He may sound proud, but he's still frowning.

Chase picks at the hem of his ratty grey hoodie; he doesn't even remember where he got it.

"I handled Patricia myself," he shrugs.

"Patricia—the shelf has a name now?" That gets a laugh out of the hero, and Chase smiles a bit. Jackie's laugh had always been infectious. "Well, you did a fine job, in any case."

"You're right, though: I'm not as good as you and JJ at that furniture stuff," Chase admits, and cuts Jackie off before he can protest. "No, no, it's true. I've always been the tech guy."

"'suppose so," Jackie amends. He pauses, turns the radio down, then asks hesitantly, "Chase, how'd you hurt your hands?"

The lie comes instantly. "I told you, Jackie—Patricia fought me tooth and nails!"

"No, Chase, that's not what happened." Jackie's voice is firm, if not stern. It's a scolding tone of voice that only Henrik uses with Chase, so it makes him look away in guilt. "Please. Tell me what's really going on. If—If someone's hurting you, or something, I'll—"

"—No, Jackie, it's not like that! I..." Chase rises on the defense.

"Then, what is it, Chase?"

"It's none of your damn business!" He can't stop his voice from raising. He's quick to anger these days—an after affect of the drinking.

"I'm your brother!" He's still looking at the road. His grip is tight on the steering wheel. "Of course it's my damn fucking business! I'm worried about you Chase, and—"

"I don't need you to look after me!"

"Then, who will, Chase? Henrik? Marvin? Jamie? Fucking Robbie? If I don't look after you, you'll...you'll hurt yourself again and I can't let that happen!"

"I can handle myself."

"Clearly, you can't."

"Oh, because I'm a screw-up, is that it? I'm a nobody who isn't good at anything, who almost killed himself—"

"Stop it."

"—is that it, Jackie? Is it because I'm a suicidal disaster?"

"You know what?" Jackie punctuates, "Maybe that is it." Maybe you are a fucking screw-up."

The anger and disappointment in his voice is so raw it silences. He knows that this is just a row, but it still terrifies him, the way Jackie sounds so much like...Anti.

Blood rushes through his eardrums and it feels like he's about to burst. His heart runs a hundred miles a second and it hurts. He can feel his pulse behind his eyes, in his fingertips, in his mouth. Jackie disappears from his view as the edges of his version grow black.

He can't breathe.

Is this what a heart attack is?

The world shifting in and out of focus, like a bad camera, and the road disappearing, like the headlights were never there, like he isn't in a car again, barrelling down a street he can barely see, with the kids in the back, and God, Stacy, I know, okay? I know! Please, don't yell—please don't yell at me! I'm trying not to drink anymore—N-No, I'm not drunk— in the front seat, and his hands are gripping the steering wheel tight, and he is, in fact, drunk, so the world is swimming around him and, CHASE—!

The windshield shatters into a million pieces.

It happens so slowly Chase can touch the glass as it flies past him. He's in the driver's seat now. He looks to his right, and Stacy is there, beautiful Stacy, her face smacking into the dashboard. He looks down at himself. He's uninjured. He's wearing a ratty grey hoodie, red Converse, blue jeans. In his reflection in the rear view mirror, his brown hair has green strokes; he had done a poor dyeing job.

Chase closes his eyes.

"What is real?" His therapist's voice comes back to him, clinical and calm. In this moment, in this panic—ask yourself, "What is real and what isn't?"

He opens his eyes.

Real: He is uninjured.

Not real: Stacy and the kids are here at this moment.

“R-Real," he whispers, "I am in a car. Not real: it's S-Stacy's car." He looks around to the backseat, but can't bear to look at the kids. He keeps his gaze on the floor. "Real: m-my backpack is on the seat. Not r-real: the kids are here."

He dares to look up. His backpack is there, black and canvas, with multiple patches. It's half open. Inside are comic books and his laptop. He twists back around, staring head-on at the blank, empty road, like someone forgot to continue building the rest of the world. Either that or there is no world outside of this one car crash.

A car crash that happened all of two years ago. He's surprised that his other regular nightmare isn't here.

One night in March (it was now September), he had gotten a visit from their eldest brother. Chase had been drunk at the time, swearing and bawling, so when Anti showed up...Chase did the stupid thing: he took a swing at the demon, thinking he was going to take something else away from him. Of course, he didn't like that.

A scar, eight or nine inches deep, on his abdomen twitches. He puts a hand to it. That had been the night he swore off drinking, for good.

"Lots of good it did you."

Chase jumps, and screams when he catches two empty black pits staring at him intently from the rear view mirror. That voice. Speak of the damn devil and he shall appear.

"Y-You're not real," he says, voice cracking out of pure terror, "You a-aren't real!"

:Oh, I'm very real, Chase," Anti appears beside him in the passenger seat, clipping through Stacy, who's blood drips in slow motion. He is just as demonic as Chase remembers him; black, empty eyes that dripped like ink down his pale cheeks, all black attire, his Converse up on the dashboard, and the grossly shiny red gash across his neck. He almost looks like Jack, in a way.

"N-Not real, not real—"

"Say it all you want, Brody, but I am real. I've come to finish the job."

"W-What?"

"Hold still."

A hand closed around his neck, pushing him back, his head smacking into the car door. He cries out, arms lashing wildly and legs thrashing, but Anti isn't deterred. The knife glints above his head. The shards of glass reflect upon it, making it shimmer in all sorts of colors. The radio goes wild; static, static static, filling the world, making Chase's ears ring with its volume.

"D-Don't do this, please, God, fuck, don't—What do you want from me?!"

Anti smiles. His eyes turn grey-blue, white scleroses. His gash disappears.

He's a perfect reflection of Jack.

"Sobriety," he says, in Jack's achingly calm, innocent voice, "Is that too much to ask, Chase?"

"Fuck, no, no, please—!"

The knife comes down into his heart.

"Chase?"

Anti's...Jack's voice echoes in his ears. It sounds so far away.

Not real: Jack talking to him.

"Chase?"

Real: he's about to die.

"—CHASE!"

He jolts awake, panting for air like he had been drowning. His face, neck, and shirt are certainly wet; he's sweating bullets. His hands are shaking something awful. Chase swings his gaze around, trying to take in everything at once.

"No, Chase, please—l-look, look at me!" Hands touch his cheeks gently and he flinches. They return, directing his eyes forward. Jack...no, not Jack—the hair is a neon green...Jackie. Jackie looks at him in worry, blue-grey eyes looking over him. His touch is warm. His hands are shaking. He's got tears in his eyes, but his breaths are controlled. That's the Jackie he knows—never truly removing the mask.

"J...Jackie?" His heartbeat is still thumping wildly, but it's slowing down, as he can feel it in his jaw. His brain feels like molasses. "I don't...what..."

"I pulled over," Jackie drops his hands, but holds Chase's in both. "I didn't mean to call you that, I'm sorry!"

Chase blinks slowly. He looks out the windshield, unbroken, rain dropping in fat splats, the window wipers working overtime—when the hell had it started raining?—and they are pulled over. They're in front of a house he recognizes as being part of the neighborhood. They're not too far from home. The sun is setting, but the sky is too grey to tell where. The clouds are dark and stormy. People rush by the car and into their homes, some with umbrellas, others caught without.

"N-No, Jackie, it's...it's my fault. I shouldn't have yelled at you." His words come back to him and they fill him with shame.

"I shouldn't have gone off on you like that, either. I didn't...you're not a screw-up."

"I am." He shakes his head, tears blotting his eyes, drops falling onto his pants. He hiccups. "I'm s-such a fucking m-mess, Jackie."

The seatbelt unclips beside him and warm arms envelope him. He lets Jackie hug him, unclipping his own seatbelt. They stay there for a moment. Two.

Chase comes clean.

Nicks for nickels. The bar. His "friends."

Most importantly of all, the drinks. You don't go to a bar and not have a drink. He doesn't drink until he's blackout drunk anymore, but he drinks enough to be numb. He's relapsed. He was only able to slip in AA the following day after a strong shot of vodka and some breath mints. The whole session, he had been hammered by a hangover.

Jackie listens silently, but the weight of his disappointment bears down on Chase's shoulders like an anvil.

"Chase..." He starts, but the other shakes his head frantically.

“I know."

"You're not supposed to drink anymore."

"I know."

"I'll... I'll talk to Todd tomorrow, your therapist, too. They have to know about this."

"N-No, Jackie, I have to tell them myself." Having their disappointment on his mind would destroy him, but he needs just a little bit of control of what's happening. "But promise me one thing?"

"Anything."

Chase bites his lip.

"Don't t-tell the others." Jackie opens his mouth to protest. "No, Jackie, y-you have to promise me this. Not Henrik, Marvin, or any of the others...I don't want them to know about this. I don't w-want them to think I'm weaker than they already think I am. And I know they do. I know all of you do. And y-you're all right."

"You are not weak."

"I relapsed." Chase rubs his face with his palms. "It hasn't even been six months."

"Chase," Jackie says firmly, "Look at me."

When he does, hesitantly, the hero takes a breath.

"Chase Brody Mcloughlin, you are the strongest person I know," he starts, "because despite all you've been through, you are still here. You are still living and breathing and I know it hurts, but you are so incredibly brave for surviving. I am proud of you, even if you've relapsed. This road you're driving down, it's not an easy path. I don't have to tell you that for you to know. There'll be bumps and detours but...I'll always be here for you. We'll always be here. Anytime you need us. I'll help you get back on the road. I promise."

That is why Jackie is Chase's hero. Despite everything, anger and pain and injustice...he still manages to be kind.

Chase nearly starts bawling. He bites down on his knuckles and just nods. He can't say much, so Jackie turns the engine on.

"Let's go home."

They park near the sidewalk. The rain has lightened to a drizzle. The clouds are clearing. The stars are coming out. The lawn is wet with dew. The lights in the living room are on.

Chase feels sick looking at the house. His eyes and nose are stuffy and red and he has a headache coming on. He can't hide the fact that he's been crying. Years of dealing with Anti has trained his brothers to notice the smallest of details.

"Chase," Jackie murmurs, "if...if you are serious about being able to handle yourself, I...well, it was supposed to be a surprise, but there's this apartment in the city that I've saved. I haven't spent anything on it, but...if you want, I can help you get it. Contribute a little. The rest can be up to you. I'll help you get a job, even."

Chase looks at him, unsure. "Really?"

“Yeah. I know you've spent most of your life away from us and it's a bit of a shock to be caged in with us again, so..."

He loves them, but the house is stuffy. He misses his old apartment, but he had missed his brothers, too.

"Thanks, Jackie," he says, "I'll...I'll have to think about it."

"Okay. Take your time."

At dinner, no one suspects a thing.

Jamie fills him in on Robbie's garden—it's going smoothly, with beautiful, flowering succulents. For a zombie, it's no surprise he has a green thumb, he jokes, and Chase laughs.

Marvin teaches him a card trick, much to Henrik's disdain; no magic at the dinner table, he scolds them like a mother hen.

Jackie watches him from across the table. He can feel his gaze boring into his skull.

The dining room is warm and full of life. Chase isn't completely involved mentally, but he's enjoying the sounds of dinnerware and conversation. He's not sure what they're having for dinner, either, but it's good. He just feels so out of it because of the emotional roller-coaster that was today.

The prospect of having a new apartment and a stable job...it terrified him, because what would happen if he relapsed again?

He tries to still his hands when he drinks water.

"Goodnight, Chase," Jackie kisses the top of his head, then goes to the doorway of his room.

“Goodnight. Thanks, Jackie. For today."

Jackie smiles and says nothing. He shuts his door.

Chase goes into his room and closes the door behind him. The bed is messy, but he doesn't care. He slides right into it, tossing his phone onto the desk, and closing his eyes.

He feels the small grooves of scars along his fingers—he had finally taken off the bandages. More scars, more tallies. One on his abdomen, a few on his wrists...a bullet scar on his scalp. He doesn’t even have the gun anymore. Jackie had surrendered it to the police. He still feels the ghost sensation of cool metal on his palm.

He sits up and crosses the hall, knocking softly on Jackie's door.

"Come in," the hero's voice floats from behind it. He opens the door.

Jackie is lying on his bed in his somehow neat room, with a shelf full of comic books arranged by series and brand. His hoodie is slung over the back of his desk chair. He looks up from his phone when Chase stands in the doorway.

"What's up, Chase?" He asks, eyebrows raised.

Chase shuffles his feet.

"Can I...can I bunk with you tonight? It's just that I, I can't stop thinking about it all, and I'm...I'm scared."

"It's no problem, buddy," Jackie's expression softens, and he moves over, patting the space beside him. "Come 'ere."

Chase settles in, hesitantly, putting his head on Jackie's chest. He can hear the hero's heartbeat and breath. It's a comforting sound.

"Thank you," Chase whispers.

"Anything for my little brother," Jackie smiles. "Goodnight."

"Goodnight."

He's terrified of building a new life for himself because if he relapses it will all come crashing down again. He doesn't know if he can handle that.

But he has to try.

As much as it hurts, he has to. If not for himself, for Henrik, Marvin, Jamie, Robbie...and Jackie.

For Jack.

It's what he would've wanted.

And that’s what makes his relapse so crushing.

#writersofjack #jacksepticeye #antisepticeye #chase brody #jackieboy man #jbm #fanfiction #fanfic #suicide ment #alcoholism tw #mine #my writing #this one was a DOOOOZIE

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tsuki-chibi · 4 years

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Blackberries (Adrinette April) Day 30: Ice cream

Or start from the beginning on AO3: Blackberries

--------

"Use your Lucky Charm before Antielle gets here," Chat urged.

Ladybug nodded. "Lucky Charm!" she cried, throwing her yoyo aloft. It burst into red sparkles and then a red, black-spotted ice cream scoop fell into her hands. She blinked at it for a moment, belatedly noticing but disregarding the twin baffled looks on Chat's and Queen Bee's faces, then looked around. A soft jingling sound caught her attention. She walked to the edge of the roof and peered over.

"Is that André the ice cream guy?" Queen Bee said in disbelief, having followed her.

"Yeah, it is. Okay, I know what to do," Ladybug said, eyes darting around and focusing in on first Chat, then Queen Bee, André's cart, and the scoop in her hands. "Queen Bee, I want you to hide. You have to be ready to sneak up on Antielle with your stinger. As soon as you take her down, grab her earrings, her hair ribbons, and her mask if you can get it off. We're not sure where the akumatized object is and we might only get one chance at this so we're going to have to be fast."

"Got it. You can count on me, Ladybug," Queen Bee said.

"I know I can," Ladybug said, surprised to realize that it was true. She thrust the ice cream scoop at Chat. "Go down there and borrow André's cart. Scoop as much ice cream on the ground as you can. Make it nice and sticky and slippery, and maybe even keep a few scoops to the side to throw at her. I'll be the bait that gets Antielle down there."

"You know, I much prefer it when our roles are reversed and I'm the bait," Chat said, but he turned to do as she'd asked. Ladybug watched them both go and then forced herself to turn away, scanning the horizon. It shouldn't have taken Antielle that long to crawl out of the dumpster. She had to be planning something. But what? Not knowing made Ladybug nervous. Antielle was by far the strongest akuma they had faced so far.

But it was little wonder. Lila had plenty to be angry about. Not only had the miraculous and her chance at fame been taken out from under her nose, Chloé had shown her that picture of Marinette and Adrien and Alya had been pressuring her about another interview. It was probably a good thing that Lila hadn't known that Marinette had suggested the interview, or Antielle would've been after her too. For that matter, it was frankly surprising that Antielle wasn't trying to kill Marinette - but then maybe Marinette was number three on her list...

'Okay, stop it. Thinking about someone trying to kill Marinette is freaking me out,' Chat thought.

'Sorry,' Ladybug thought, realizing that she was letting her mind get away from her. 'I just wish that Master Fu had been more careful about who he chose as Coccinelle. I'm sure Lila would've gotten akumatized eventually, maybe even today... but she wouldn't have become Antielle and so maybe she wouldn't have been such a problem. Those Anti Charms of hers pack a real punch.' She rubbed ruefully at her shoulder.

'I don't know what he was thinking. All I can think of is that Master Fu was desperate. He did say he hadn't had the chance to look at any candidates. Pretty sure he just picked the first person he came across that day. Plus, you know how good Lila is at lying,' Chat thought.

Ladybug did know, and she could easily imagine Master Fu being suckered in, like so many other adults at the school, by Lila's faux sweet nature. Still, that made it no less frustrating. She paced around the roof, wondering if they would be facing an akumatized Lynx next. She really hoped not. Antielle's Anti Charm was bad enough; Ladybug couldn't fathom what Cataclysm would be like in the hands of an akuma...

"Ladybug, look out!"

Queen Bee's warning came just in time. At the sound of it, Ladybug reacted instinctively and threw herself to the ground. Something passed over her head so close that she could feel it and hit the roof behind her. She pushed herself up and turned, eyes widening at the sight of an honest-to-god arrow. The tip was sunk several inches deep in the roof and the shaft was still quivering. Ladybug gulped and touched the top of her head, realizing that the arrow had come so close it had actually touched her hair.

"Damn," Antielle said, and Ladybug spun around to see that the akuma was standing behind her wearing a cruel smirk. "Just a little bit lower and we could've had Ladybug-shish-kabobs. What a shame. Guess I'll have to try again." She hefted the black, red-spotted crossbow she was holding.

"Because I'm really going to stand here and let you shoot me," Ladybug said sarcastically, backing up a step. It took everything she had to maintain her composure and not let her fear show on her face.

'Okay, ice cream is on the ground and Queen bee is hidden. We’re ready,' Chat thought.

"It would be nice if you did, but that's okay. I don't mind a hunt!" Antielle fired again and Ladybug dodged again, this time throwing herself off the roof. She threw her yoyo out and saw it connect with a tree branch -

And an arrow flew through the air and cut through the tree branch.

"Ladybug!" Chat's cry rang out as she hit the ground with a pained groan, having fallen a good three stories.

"Anti Charm!" Antielle cried as she landed several feet away from where the ice cream was - so much for that plan.

"Get up, Ladybug!" Queen Bee was suddenly there, grabbing Ladybug's arm and dragging her to her feet. Over Queen Bee's shoulder, Ladybug caught sight of Chat grappling with Antielle. He was using his baton and Antielle was now holding a black, red-spotted spear with a razor-sharp edge.

"I'm fine," Ladybug said shakily, gently pushing Queen Bee away. Her mind raced in search of another plan, but she was coming up blank. The smart thing to do would be to slip away, let her transformation run out, feed Tikki and regroup - she only had about three minutes left anyway. They would need a new Lucky Charm if they hoped to beat Antielle. But she didn't know if she could leave Chat...

"Go," Queen Bee said, putting a hand on Ladybug's arm and meeting Ladybug's gaze. "I'll help him. Just hurry."

"I'm counting on you," Ladybug told her; she put her hand over Queen Bee's and squeezed briefly before she ran, heading for the school. Behind her, Antielle let out a scream of rage that sent chills down her spine.

Ladybug rushed into the empty school and ducked into a classroom. "Spots off," she said.

Tikki appeared, looking worried. "Oh Marinette, I'm so sorry! I should've told you it was Lila when you asked!" she cried.

"It's okay, Tikki. You couldn't have known what would happen. But please, eat as fast as you can. Chat and Queen Bee need me," Marinette said, wincing as she crouched down. Her side really hurt from where she'd landed on the ground. She took a cookie from her purse and gave it to Tikki.

"Right," Tikki said, taking a huge bite of the cookie and chewing furiously.

Marinette closed her eyes for a moment, taking a few seconds to catch her breath and work through the pain from her side and her shoulder. There was a way to get to Antielle, just like there had been every other akuma they had faced. She just had to remain calm until Tikki had finished eating. Then she could transform and use whatever Lucky Charm she got, as well as Queen Bee's stinger, to get the akumatized object away from Antielle. Chat could Cataclysm it, Ladybug would purify the butterfly and cast the cure, and this would all be a bad memory. Right.

And then it went quiet outside.

Antielle broke the silence by laughing and calling out, "Oh Laaaaaadyyyyybuuuuug. You should really come out."

"She's taunting you, Marinette. Don't listen," Tikki said between mouthfuls of cookie.

But Marinette had to look. She carefully turned around and slowly sat up until she could peek over the sill. Her eyes widened in utter horror at what she saw. Queen Bee was all wrapped up in Antielle's yoyo, tied to a tree - she was struggling to get free, but she couldn't. Blood was running down her face from a deep cut across her jaw. Antielle was standing in the middle of the yard, one strong arm wrapped around Chat's body. He was pinned against her, unable to move... because the tip of Antielle's spear was jammed up under his chin.

"Come out here, Ladybug," Antielle commanded, losing her humor. "Or I'll put shish kabob kitty on the menu tonight."

#miraculous ladybug #marinette dupain-cheng #adrien agreste #chloe bourgeois #ladybug #chat noir #queen bee #antibug #antielle #lila rossi #blackberries #soulmate au #fruitful verse #adrinetteapril2020

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destiny-smasher · 3 years

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My personal 2020 GOTYs

1) Hades

This game, dudes. THIS GAME. A fraction of the budget, a fraction of the dev team size, reportedly HEALTHY development schedule and management...and imo it offers at least some of everything I want out of a single player video game. I have poured over 60 hours into this and I see myself putting in some more over time and ALL of the time I have spent has felt rewarding and edifying. Clever design, smart writing, organic voice acting, sharp gameplay, and all done at a fraction of the resources of these big budget, bloated games. You love to see it.

2) Final Fantasy 7 Remake (Part 1?)

I went into this year not caring much about this game at all. FF7 was a game I played as a teen, enjoyed, respected, and moved on from pretty easily. This Remake, so far, has done more than I could’ve expected in terms of actually REMAKING a game. It’s literally a new adaptation, and I as pleasantly surprised at just how hard it went. From realizing the world of Midgar into something so full of detail and plausibility, to reiterating and doubling down on its postmodern anti-corporation themes, to making Barret the character I loved the MOST somehow?? Combining everything I love about real-time RPG action with a tactical strategy element long missing from the genre, reimagining and fleshing out characters and concepts into something deeper and more meaningful...I’ve never considered myself a huge FF7 fan but this game was really something, and I absolutely cannot wait for more (and praying they do my girl Yuffie justice). I’ve been super skeptical of Nomura as a director given...the mess that has become Kingdom Hearts, but as it turns out, when he has others to reign things in, some surprisingly nuanced stuff for an anime game can come out of it. It has its flaws, to be sure, but it’s still the most enjoyable experience I had with a big budget game this year.

3) The Last of Us Part 2

I feel conflicted over this one in particular - I feel Neil is not longer a director I respect the way I did back with the first game. I feel Naughty Dog is falling victim to all of the late capitalist issues plaguing big budget game dev. But I also love this game. It’s much more flawed than the first, but that’s mainly because it’s more ambitious and complicated. It’s THE most flawed game on this game, honestly, but overall as a game I am compelled to respect its writing, its gutsier decisions, its art direction, acting, presentation, etc. It’s an impressive game and the most technically impressive game I played all year if not all generation. Props where they’re due, but at the same time, I think this game was poorly directed and I love it in spite of issues with its production, rather than because of some strong vision. That’s the big Sony bucks, I suppose, matched with a dev team willing and apparently somehow able to fulfil what they want to create. I still get the impression there was a bit of ‘design by committee for a mainstream audience’ kind of shit going on - how could there not with something this big? - and as a result I think the game is a bit bloated. Shave off about 3-5 hours from a few spots and it’d be a more focused game, and maybe I’d feel more edified and satisfied rather than weirdly conflicted. Even so, a huge accomplishment and I hope to see more games tackle premises as ambitious as this down the road.

4) Bug Fables

This game technically launched last year but it debuted on console in 2020, and I didn’t play it until then. This is as close to a follow-up to old school Paper Mario as it gets, while simultaneously doing a lot to forge its own identity and even improve on the formula presented in the previous games. Its rough around the edges but that’s mainly because it’s an independent game, and it’s amazing just how well the dev team was able to reproduce the scope and details of this specific subgenre of RPG, all while continuously implementing new game design elements and multiple features that make it feel more modern in its direction. Fantastic stuff, I’m still not even finished with it because I’ve been taking my sweet time, though I intend to finally finish it this month, and I have to say, it’s quite a special game in my opinion.

5) Fall Guys: Ultimate Knockout

Absolute banger of a multiplayer game, really love the presentation, the concept, the overall execution, the way the team has been updating the game every month or so in response to feedback and implementing new content. So good to see the battle royale genre FINALLY pushed beyond just...arena shooting. Can’t wait to see where else this game can go over time.

6) Animal Crossing: New Horizons

Somehow this one slipped my mind when I first wrote this up, despite having poured well over 100 hours into it this year. I think part of it is that New Horizons did a lot of things I’ve wanted the series to do for so long, and yet is still far behind in terms of so many other things I wish they would do. Quality of life things prevent me from really re-investing into it, and yet despite that I have to admit it REALLY sucked me in for a solid few weeks and I continued to play off and on for months. It was the perfect game we collectively needed right when it came out and graphically I can’t think of how to really improve on that style. A really relaxing getaway I needed earlier this year, though like with previous AC games, I don’t find myself going back to it as much as I’d think I would.

7) Going Under

A surprise hit for me, this rogue-like swooped in from ‘heh that looks amusing’ to ‘oh wow this is legit just a great game.’ Its weird visuals, funky 3D gameplay, and surprisingly sharp storytelling make for a rogue-like unlike any other and one totally near the top for me.

8) Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales

Squeezed this in just this past week or so, and this one also satisfied me greatly. I wish we’d see more big budget open-world games like this -- laser focused, not wasting any time, and not being repetitious aside for completionists. So cool to see another team’s take on Miles after how much I fell for Into the Spider-verse, and very glad the team both homages that movie while subverting some expectations fans of the film might have, all while continuing to adapt Insomniac’s take on Spider-Man from a couple years ago.

9) Demon’s Souls (Remake)

As a big fan of FromSoft who never got too far into this one originally, it’s been great to visit it as if it’s a new Souls game with an alternate art style. And a very clean art style it has. This was a good pick to be remastered because many, even FromSoft fans like myself, missed out on it, and it feels unique from its predecessors while still showing a solid foundation they’d go on to build from.

10) Crash Bandicoot 4

An amazingly well done follow-up to the original trilogy, this game GETS what makes old school Crash games good, and it improves upon things in a number of ways, from making Coco the alternate hero, bringing back old faces in new lights, going ham with the visuals both in raw art and unique filters when replaying stages, and giving incentive for completion with so many great costumes. Well done, great old school platforming with modern design sensibilities.

Honorable Mentions:

CrossCode

This also technically launched before 2020 but I didn’t play it until this year, and I don’t think it hit consoles until this year. I wasn’t exactly sure what to expect going in, just remembering that I had enjoyed the demo well enough. This game delivers in most ways you could want from an indie game, with an expansive world of sidequests and RPG growth, a flexible combat system that can be nailbiting and engaging, and old-school dungeon designs with lots of environmental and elemental puzzles that really ask a lot of you. All of this capped with a surprisingly great narrative with characters I grew to love, including a much needed protagonist with a unique identity unlike any in games that I’ve played, as well as extra bits of detail and production values invested at JUST the right moments where the story needs it the most. It feels a bit tedious at times and part of me wishes more of the sidequest content involved direct interactions with the named, recurring characters, but it’s still one of the most impressive and well-done indie games I’ve ever played.

Katana ZERO

Razor-sharp game design, this one. It’s a brief but intensely focused experience that feels like the video game equivalent of a slick, experimental indie film. Could do with some more replayablity for those who want it but what’s here is just damn good and I gobbled this game down like a fantastic, hand-cooked meal at an atmospheric dive bar barely anyone knows about.

Necrobarista

Haven’t quite finished it yet but this is definitely one of the best visual novels I’ve ever experienced just due to how hard it goes on presentation and pushing for a more cinematic and thoughtful vibe than any other VN I’ve ever experienced. The characters and writing feel ripped out of an early 2000′s webcomic, for better and for worse, but all the same, it’s some fantastic stuff and it’s so refreshing to see a game set in Australia tackling a well-worn genre by giving it a new spin.

Slay the Spire

Another personal pick since this released in 2019, and I’m not quite sure which consoles it hit or when, but I didn’t get into it until early this year, and was totally hooked. Fantastically addictive, probably the most well-design deck-building rogue-like I’ve seen, certainly one of my favorite deck-building games in general. Apparently I’ve sunk 50 hours into it this year, more than most on this list, and I wouldn’t be surprised if that number spikes up again at some point.

#personal #GOTY #long post

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thanagariansnarebeast · 4 years

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Top ten fallen heroes

These are not reformed villains, though they may go into that role after, or at least an anti-hero, but most of these I prefer as villains.

10. Ozymandias (Watchmen). While you don’t see him do his heroics much in the comics, because he is pseudo-retired at this point, you do know what he did in the past to some extent and you know he’s still trying to make the world a better place. (spoilers for the comic that you really should read because there is a reason why it is considered a masterpiece) Ozymandias sacrifices his own morality to try and stop the world from destroying itself, its an awful thing that he does and thinks its for the greater good, and he clearly feels the weight of what he’s done but still stands by it; which is what makes him a fallen hero.

9. Griffith (Berserk). Now Griffith has many heroic qualities, but he always seemed to have a bit of a dark and selfish nature; but that being said his betrayal still really hurt both the audience and the few surviving main characters; and what he did was so profoundly selfish and evil that he becomes a fantastic villain.

8. Light Yagami (Death Note). Light does his fall really hard and really fast, but it takes a bit before he becomes completely evil. His mental chess game with L is one of my favorite story arcs in all of fiction, and it all started because this seemingly innocent boy found a notebook. There are definitely times when you are rooting for him even though you know you shouldn’t be, and I think that makes for some of the best villains. I was going to put Walter White on here, but I feel like Walt was always just a likable villain, you just didn’t know he was an egotistical dick until much later in the show.

7.Artorias the Abysswalker (Dark Souls). Artorias in any other game would probably be a hero you follow the footsteps of, or just play as; but in Dark Souls you slowly piece together the tragic story of a hero that tried as hard and as long as he could to win an unwinnable fight and in the end succumbed to the very abyss that he was fighting. Having to fight his best friend and protector of his grave is just heart breaking, and fighting him in the DLC was almost as bad. He’s not a character that I prefer as a villain, but he is a fun boss.

6. Angelus (Buffy/Angel). Now Angel is my favorite main character in my all time favorite show, but Angelus is a lot of fun to watch. He just loves being evil so much, he relishes it and is almost cartoonish at time with how fucked up he can be; but he has done far too much damage to the main characters of both Buffy and Angel to be taken lightly (I mean most villains in the show ether respect or fear him, and that’s pretty impressive when he’s been gone for hundreds of years). Having a main character who can go so completely evil if pushed is such a fun dynamic and when he gets to come out and play for real in season 4 it is a hell of a show. He’s such a good villain because he gets to sit and watch in agony watching Angel and friends do good all the time, but the whole time he sees how to push buttons and manipulate people so that when he gets free he can get what he needs out of them.

5. Jason Todd/Red Hood (DC comics). Jason was not a well liked character when he first appeared, or even after Crisis on Infinite Earths, but his death was still tragic and made people really question how good of an idea having a teenage sidekick really was. It was only after he came back to life and starting messing with Batman that I really liked him. Most of the villains on this list have questionable at best motivations, but if I was Jason and Batman didn’t kill Joker to avenge me, I’d be pretty pissed off to. He’s a great foil for Batman because he knows him so well, knows how to hurt him, and is pissed enough to really hurt him. He did eventually become an anti-hero and sort of DC’s answer to the Punisher (though they already had Huntress for that) but I like him more as a villain than I do an anti-hero (though he can be written well when he’s not in New 52). I was torn between him and Winter Soldier, but I think Bucky’s story isn’t quite as tragic because of the amount of time that had passed between him dying and him showing back up, and I like him more as a hero; both in the comics and in the MCU.

4. Two-Face (DC comics). From this entry and the last one you might think I’m a Batman fanboy, but I’m not; he just has damn good villains. There are many Spider-Man villains that were good guys to some extent before something terrible turned them into a villain, but Harvey Dent has the edge for me because of how much good he was trying to do before he became a villain. In his many incarnations you can always see a dark side to him before he falls, but seeing him actually become evil is still painful to watch. He is a fantastic villain because he’s so twisted and evil, but there is still a chance for him to be redeemed. He’s a constant reminder to Batman of his failure to help his friend, and he also has a very unique visual style to him that a lot of different creators have had a lot of fun playing with.

3. Arthas Menethil (Warcraft series). Arthas had your classic heroic backstory; young, handsome, talented prince who cared about his people would stop at nothing to protect them. He was brave and a very powerful paladin, but his arrogance would prove to be his undoing. He started down a path of doing worse and worse things to try and accomplish his goals, and eventually became fully corrupted once he got Frostmorne. Once he got his armor and became the Lich King, he became one of the most powerful villains in all of Warcraft, and the sword and armor he had made him very cool (no pun intended). His role as antagonist for a whole World of Warcraft expansion just shows how powerful he was, and being able to piss off pretty much everyone shows how good a villain he was.

2. Anakin Skywalker (Star Wars). Now the prequels are very flawed films, but I don’t find much fault in Anakin’s characterization throughout them. He starts off just a sweet and innocent child longing for adventure, but the next time we see him he’s a cocky teenager with enough power to back up his attitude. He’s very high on this list because while he did do some evil things before his actual turn to the dark side, he was manipulated into most or all of them; that doesn’t excuse him completely because in the end he still had agency over his choices, even if it wasn’t full agency. Some people say that his turn was too quick, but I think what happened is after he made that split second decision to protect Palpatine, he realized he was pretty much stuck with what he did. He did what he did because he was naive, manipulated, and wanted to save his wife and child. I’m also a sucker for a Greek tragedy and a self-fulfilling prophecy. Everything he did after the death of his wife and supposed death of his child was because of his rage and sadness at what he had lost, and clinging to what little he had left. He’s one of the best villains in all of fiction, and is so incredibly visually striking that even if you’ve never seen a Star Wars film, you know just by looking at him who he is.

1. Superman (Injustice games/comic). Who could possibly be a more tragic fallen hero than the symbol of hope and peace losing all hope and becoming a fascist, murdering dictator. Superman needs no introduction, but the Joker tricking him into murdering his wife and unborn child, and blowing up Metropolis sure is a different take on the character. Its not entirely surprising that something so tragic could make the Man of Tomorrow loose what made him a hero. As you read the comics you see that he started off just wanting to kill supervillains, and slowly he had to compromise more and more to get what he wanted. He never completely lost his morality, just slowly changed and warped his view on it until he became so scared of losing what he had left that he became a dictator.

#my lists #top ten

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kinsie · 6 years

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Overly Belated Game Impressions from PAX Aus 2018

Every year I go to PAX Aus with some close friends to check out the Incredible Future of Games that everyone else already checked out six months ago. This is usually coupled with checking out some wonderfully well-preserved old games and hardware, along with some typically wonderfully weird indie stuff I've never heard about before. Every year, I've written up a little review of things I've played (or watched get played) on an old private forum some friends maintain, but this year, I've figured, fuck it, I might as well post it publicly, right?

Not Indie Games

Super Smash Bros Ultimate sure is a Smash game. That's not a bad thing, but since this was the same demo build from E3 (so before the Castlevania reveals) there wasn't a huge amount of surprises - just a damn good fightfest. Amusingly, the demo booths were split into two groups - For Fun (items on, Switch Pro Controller) and For Glory (items off, the new Gamecube controllers). New Super Mario Bros. U Deluxe has a nonsensical name and spawned an even more nonsensical meme. The demo had six levels to play - three from the base game, three from the Luigi expansion - with both the new and old characters to play. It doesn't look like anyone other than Toadette can get the meme crown, meaning players using that character won't have to jostle for powerups in multiplayer. I didn't play Pokemon Let's Go Eevee because the queue was like 90 minutes long, but my friend braved it and gave it a resounding "ehhhh" with a hand gesture resembling a teetering see-saw. Apparently the co-op stuff wasn’t available in the demo, either, which concerned my friend since that was specifically what he was interested in.

V-Rally 4 looks nice aesthetically, but the gameplay seems pretty "eh". The name seems to be about the most interesting part. Dragonball FighterZ for Switch seems like a pretty decent port. I don’t know much about the source material or original game, but it ran fast and I didn't notice any obvious hitching or whatever.

Luigi's Mansion for Nintendo 3DS is... a 3DS port of the Gamecube launch title. It ran at a solid 30fps... a whole lot better than I recall Luigi's Mansion 2/Dark Moon running, but I was also using a vanilla 3DS for that game while the demo units at PAX were New models.

Indie Stuff

The Xbox Adaptive Controller was present as part of a demo setup for a version of One More Line. I wasn't expecting to have to push the Big Novelty Button as hard as I did, I thought it'd be a lighter touch for some reason. Although I know the button kinda isn't the point of the thing...

Supertrucks Offroad is a PC adaption of a mobile take on old top-down racing games. There's promise here, but the current handling and physics leave a lot to be desired. Hopefully it continues to develop and evolve.

Infinity Heroes is a card game with some simplified mechanics and animated versions of all the card graphics. Has potential, but still plenty of rough edges and pre-alpha grit to sand out.

Metal Wolf Chaos XD sure is a port of an Xbox game. It feels pretty well done, all things considered - the framerate is great, the controls are responsive, and the English subtitles are sometimes even connected to what's being said by the characters!

Ghoul Britannia: Land of Hope and Gorey is a point-and-click adventure game that, unexpectedly, uses a Fallout-esque isometric perspective instead of the usual side-on.

Table of Tales is a VR tabletop RPG where you control an entire party of Scoundrels by moving pieces around a constantly-changing board and playing ability cards. Since it was a VR game, there was a long sign-up queue to play, so the developers set up a little booth where Arbitrix, the game's DM (and, incidentally, a mechanical talking bird), would cheerfully explain the game for you. He said my goatee was perfect for a pirate adventure. It was probably intended as a compliment.

Supermarket Shriek is very similar to a game I prototyped years ago, except it's got a Supermarket Sweep theme and shrieking goats. Also, it's actually getting finished and has more than one level, which is another differentiator. Use the shoulder triggers to make the characters inside a shopping trolley scream their lungs out, propelling the trolley and allowing you to steer it through silly retail-themed obstacle courses.

You probably think, based on the squat protagonist and camera angle, that Tunic is a riff on Zelda: A Link to the Past. Surprise! It's actually a riff on Zelda: Ocarina of Time! The combat is very similar, with a dodge/roll button and Z-targeting (although I guess it's more RT-targeting now) that jumps to the next enemy upon beating your current one. I can't say enough nice things about the graphics... One thing that's interesting is that the entire game is in a fictional language. This includes stuff like the pause menu!

Dash Blitz is a pretty amateurish attempt at a Smash-esque platform fighter. The "feel" just isn't there, sadly.

Nom Nom Apocalypse is a top-down dual-stick roguelite about fighting off food monsters. It looks pretty interesting, but sadly I didn’t get to go back and give it a hands-on look.

Henry Mosse and the Wormhole Conspiracy is a good old-fashioned point and click adventure. The graphics are wonderfully drawn in a cartoon style, but they suffer from really puppet-y animation like an old Flash cartoon, and it breaks my heart.

No Moss Studios bought along Beam Team, a couch co-op game about fighting a giant donut that I didn’t get to try, as well as a collection of weird little Patreon-funded oddities like Sprout Up, a simple little mobile game about weaving through vines, and My Magpie, a bird-aiding simulator of sorts.

Little Reaper is a platformer with a fun movement twist in that you can throw your scythe - which travels in an arc like a hammer in Mario - and teleport to where it lands. I'll have to give this a closer look.

Mars Underground is an Earthbound-esque RPG-style adventure game with a Groundhog Day-style conceit of being stuck in a time-loop. I can't really say it struck me, to be honest.

Scout's Honor is a co-op party game where four players team up to set-up a camp-site in a limited amount of time while dealing with hazards and such. It looks kinda cute, reminds me of Overcooked a bit.

Ice Caves of Europa is a rather odd-controlling game where you pilot a hover-drone controlled by an artificial intelligence. This one probably takes a bit more time to wrap your head around than a convention center allows.

Introspect looks really cool - a Shadow of the Colossus-style boss rush with an emphasis on movement tricks and agility. I didn't get to play it while I was there, but the developers were handing out download codes for the show floor build. It seems pretty fun, although it still needs a good deal of polish.

Soundfall is a dual-stick rhythm-shooter where you have to get to the end of a course before the song ends, with rewards for shooting and slashing to the beat ala Crypt of the NecroDancer. One to watch.

Ticket to Earth is a tactical strategy RPG ala Fire Emblem with a tile-matching mechanic that makes how you move to your enemies even more important by limiting your movement and charging your special abilities. The comic artwork is nice, although the talking heads only seem to have one or two facial expressions.

Nova Flow is a first-person speedrunner that reminds me of a blend of Mirror's Edge's DLC maps and that one paint game that got incorporated into Portal 2. One of the demo levels was apparently one of the hardest levels in the game, and the developer was quite impressed at my getting within inches of completing it before the demo timer ran out...

Dawnblade seems to be an attempt at doing the whole Diablo thing on a phone, with the player hacking their way through short, pre-made maps. Visually, it looks like any of a million other games riffing off of Warcraft 3, and it seems to have some weird mobile game trappings like a stamina system to limit the amount of time you can play in a period of time.

Little Bit Lost is a survival game where you've been shrunk down to the point where ants tower over you and are powerful monsters. This one felt real early. It has promise, but needs a lot of polish to truly deliver on it.

Rogue Singularity is a 3D platformer with procgen levels. The feel didn't gel with me, and I can't really say I liked it all that much. It didn't help that the Switch port I played seemed to lack anti-aliasing entirely, giving the entire scene an unpleasant jagged look.

Ashen looks utterly fascinating - an open-world Souls-esque action RPG with Journey-style "passive" co-op where you can occasionally meet other, anonymous players out in the world and either help them or leave them to their fate. It looks really pretty.

Speaking Simulator is a hilarious puzzler where you have to manually operate a human mouth in order to say Entirely Normal Phrases in order to convince people that you are absolutely a human and not a murder robot in disguise.

Untitled Goose Game had a massive queue that I was absolutely not going to fuck with. :(

yeop

#gaming #paxaus2018

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beastgamerkuma · 5 years

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Good Morning fellow gamers and Happy New Year. We made it once again and of course it is a New Year to look at some titles that you might want to keep on your radar. So, this Beast gamer right here is here to tell you my personal list of games that I am keeping a close eye out on. Just a heads up that some links will take you to Play-Asia.com which helps us in the long run. All right shameless plug over lets get to that list.

Anthem First Up!

This is one of the highly anticipated games that also has me worried. You know that feeling when something looks damn good and the developers show actual gameplay from jump. It just looks way too good to be true, but I am still all in since this might be the game I am looking for. It has that nice Iron Man feel to it and a hint of Fantasy as each soldier has their own special abilities.

This new Bioware title will be available on Xbox One X, PlayStation 4 Pro and PC. Thankfully you obtained more time with a February 22, 2019 release date.

“The game features a shared-world where players can either play it solo or through a co-operative multiplayer. Team up with up to four members of your squad and fight savage beasts and ruthless marauders. Explore lost ruins and encounter massive, world-altering terrain occurrences.”

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Looking forward to that and of course we have to share some of the features.

Venture into danger – In this shared-world action-RPG, you and your friends are Freelancers – the bold few with the courage to leave civilization behind, explore a landscape of primeval beauty, and confront the dangers you find

Unite with friends – Up to four players band together to take on whatever perils you discover as a heroic team. As your friends support you in your journey, so do you victories and rewards benefit your friends

Rise to any challenge – Wield an arsenal of Javelin exosuits, each equipped with unique weapons and abilities. Customize them with gear you earn and craft, then use them to fly, leap, and climb through a contiguous open world

Chart your path – Experience massive, world-altering occurrences like Shaper Storms. Fight savage beasts and ruthless marauders. Delve forgotten ruins as you seek to defeat the forces plotting to conquer humanity

Control your fate – Your power grows with every step into the unknown. Whether plunder, revenge, or gory lures you onward, your choices will irrevocably change you – and the world around you.

Be sure to pre-order here.

Devil May Cry 5

This is a long lineage going back from the PS2 days and now with the fifth installment will it live up to the legacy? It was a hit or miss with the DMC titles, I am one that enjoyed the reboot which had more of a badass western feel towards it. The combat has always been my favorite and of course the monster designs were top notch.

Several years after the Order of the Sword incident… An unusual phenomenon suddenly appears in Red Grave City. A gigantic tree pierces through the surface in the middle of town, attacking with roots that drain the poor citizens of their blood. Young Devil Hunter Nero races into Red Grave aboard the mobile Devil May Cry vehicle with his partner Nico, a self-styled “artisan of arms” who provides Nero with his new weapons.

Nero seeks to recover many things in Red Grave: Lost pride…stolen power…and a man left behind. Brandishing his beloved Red Queen sword and custom Blue Rose revolver, Nero plunges into Red Grave, routing the demon hordes as he makes for the menacing phenomenon in the city center. All the while, a new power crackles through his right arm. The all-new anti-demon arm known as the Devil Breaker. “Not bad…let’s see what this can do!”

Now there is a playable demo on Xbox One, but many of you might not have that chance, so check out this video.

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Features:

Legendary action series returns – The 16 million unit selling series is back with original Director Hideaki Itsuno at the helm of development

A battle of good and evil – A demonic invasion begins with the seeds of a “demon tree” taking root in Red Grave City. This hellish incursion attracts the attention of the young demon hunter, Nero, an ally of Dante who now finds himself without his demonic arm, the source of much of his power. The supernatural family drama also continues as Dante, the Son of Sparda, seeks revenge for his brother’s corruption and mother’s murder

High octane stylized action – Featuring three playable characters each with a radically different stylish combat play style as they take on the city overrun with demons

Groundbreaking graphics – Developed with Capcom’s in-house proprietary RE engine, the series continues to achieve new heights infidelity with graphics that utilize photorealistic character designs and stunning lighting and environmental effects

Take down the demonic invasion – Battle against epic bosses in adrenaline-fueled fights across the over-run Red Grave City

Demon hunter – Nero, one of the series main protagonists and a young demon hunter who has the blood of Sparda, heads to Red Grave City to face the hellish onslaught of demons, with weapons craftswoman and new partner-in-crime, Nico

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You will be able to fight your own demons come March 8th, 2019 for the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One. Be sure to pre-order here.

Dead or Alive 6

This is a personal favorite of mine actually being a fan since day one since it has an interesting fight system. The counter attacks are one of the best in any fighting game and going back and forth is where the challenge begins. So what do we expect for this sixth installment and hopefully it is not a cash grab like Core Fighters was.

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After a sinister incident in a village… Kasumi, a successor of the legendary Mugen Tenshin ninja clan, abandoned her clan and became a “runaway ninja,” secretly living in a hermitage in a mountain village. Meanwhile, Helena Douglas, president of the new DOATEC, is involved in an incident…And yet another…. A so-called genius chuckles at a mysterious light emitting an aura… Behind a quiet time, a sinister plan is set in motion.The passing days are about to be unduly overturned due to an open desire. As Kasumi writes to her mother, her pen overflows with hesitation. …It’s not over yet.

Features:

Break Gauge System – A Special Attack meter new to the series. use the Break Gauge to Execute new tactics such as a Break Blow or a Break hold.

Break Blow – A Break Blow is a special skill which has a powerful smash while parrying an enemy strike.

Break Hold – A Break Hold is the ultra hold which returns upper, middle, and lower attacks.

Fatal Rush – Fatal Rush is a powerful combo attack of up to four neatly animated punches and kicks making a first time player look like an expert.

DOA Central – The new DOA CENTRAL mode is open! Customize your favorite characters before joining the fight!

Danger Zones – These are special regions found in most stages that cause heavy damage when a fighter gets knocked into them. Danger Zones can range from basic walls to blockbuster explosions and careening cars. Some Stages also have Danger Zones within the Floors as well.

Rumble Danger – If a fighter is blown into the crowd, the spectators around the edge of the ring can push the fighter back in and will lose their balance and stagger. This creates an opening for the perfect chance to attack.

Mass-Destruction – Stage Objects such as boxes or jars are destructible. Earn extra damage by blowing opponents into them. Broken items do not regenerate, but you may want to break them before your opponent decides to use them on you.

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Be sure to pre-order your copies here.

Ace Combat 7

Hitting the Danger Zone is a nice thrill for any pilot looking for a mixture of Ariel combat and Sci-Fi creativity. You will have access to maybe planes with a rich story to get a hold of.

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“ACE COMBAT players and fans looking for more ACE COMBAT 7: SKIES UNKNOWN goodness will want to reserve their copy of the ACE COMBAT 7: Aces at War Bundle which will be produced in limited quantities and offered exclusively on the BANDAI NAMCO Entertainment America Official Store. The ACE COMBAT 7: Aces at War Bundle will include the game, a special SteelBook® case, and a 150-page ACES at WAR: A HISTORY 2019 art book containing exclusive illustrations, interviews, and four short stories written by Japanese writer-director Sunao Katabuchi. Players can check out the goods for both the PlayStation®4 and Xbox One versions of the Aces at War Bundle.”

Features:

INNOVATION IN THE SKY – Breathtaking clouds coupled with highly detailed aircraft and photorealistic scenery make this the most engaging Ace Combat to date.

RETURN TO STRANGEREAL – The alternative Ace Combat universe composed of real-world current and near-future weapons, but with a history steeped in Ace Combat lore.

VIRTUAL COMBAT – VR missions made exclusively for the PlayStation VR that provide unprecedented immersion.

Ace Combat 7 will drop on Janurary 18th, 2019 and please pre-order here.

Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice

It is not Tenchu but it is as close as we are going to get and I am impressed. Saw Sekiro first at the Sony Experience last year and I was quite amazed by the action and story lore that goes with it.

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Features:

Kill Ingeniously – FromSoftware delivers their best in class combat in this fast-paced, action-adventure game featuring all new mechanics.

Exploration is key – Players will experience the thrill of exploration and discovery in Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice like never before. Through exploration, players can uncover new items, meet new characters, and encounter hidden enemies.

Armed – Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice gameplay is centred around sword combat, enhanced by a variety of prosthetic arm attachments that supplement or change the way a player fights. Achieving strategic mastery of “Sekiro” or the “one-armed wolf’s” techniques and abilities, from prosthetic tools, swordplay to stealth and the grappling hook is no easy feat. To overcome difficulties and bring each situation under control, gamers must discover, integrate and use a variety of new tools when heading into combat.

One-armed wolf – Play as a highly talented shinobi in the service of a young lord raised in isolation. After suffering defeat at the hands of a shadowy Ashina samurai seeking the unique heritage of your master, the two of you are separated. Deep in the mountains, in a dilapidated temple, you reawaken to your fate. You must take back your master and exact revenge on your enemy at all cost.

Hard to the core – Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice is a hard-core game worthy of the name FromSoftware. Miyazaki designed Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice this way! Fans of FromSoftware will find the gameplay challenging, yet fun and rewarding. The quality of combat, level of challenge, and creative enemies and bosses are something that can only be found in a FromSoftware title.

Reimagined world – This reimagining of Japanese aesthetic blends a withered, yet vivid, world of the late 1500s Sengoku Japan as the age of warring states nears its end. Witness a world brought to its knees by constant bloodshed; a ravaged world on the brink of destruction. Explore these environments, rich with FromSoftware’s intricate design and steeped with secrets to discover.

Larger than life enemies – Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice features fantastical fearsome enemies and bosses. Players will battle with larger-than-life enemies that will test their mettle in a variety of situations. From hidden enemies to discover to 3D combat, the quality of creative enemies and bosses are something that can only be found in a FromSoftware title.

Resurrection – Used as an opportunity for a tactical retreat or to deceive an enemy and go on the counter-offensive, this new combat strategy allows players to resurrect on the spot, even after a hasty death.

A fantastical, dark, and twisted new gameplay experience awaits you in Sekiro Shadows Die Twice. It is developed by the notable dev team, From Software, and published by Activision. It is an action-adventure game combined with RPG elements. The game is directed by Hidetaka Miyazaki and is played in a third-person perspective.

March 22nd, 2019 is your day to deal with the Shadows so pre-order here.

Fae Tactics: The Girl who Destroyed the World

Indie titles are always on the list because the creators have a lot of heart and catches my eye.

Team Vs Speed – Endless Fluff Games went back and forth on this idea on how their game would be. Luckily they settled on a Hybrid style makes it the best of both worlds. “The combat is still locked into rounds and each unit only has one turn per round. The Speed stat determines where they are on the turn order, so having a higher speed gives you the advantage of going first or the flexibility to delay your turn until you feel the moment is right to make your move.”

Spell Talisman – You will be allowed to have up to 3 spell talismans, but there are over 40 spells in development. As of right now, there is 29 which gives gamers a lot of room to strategize on what they will need and utilize. Either be defensive or offensive or mix it up as well as support spells. Keep in mind you and the enemy can only use one spell per round so think on that. Expect some cool down with spells as well.

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As prior post stated you will be updated as time goes on but for now keep an eye on on Humble Bundle. Coming Soon.

Hades – Battle out of Hell

Defy the god of death as you hack and slash your way out of the Underworld in this rogue-like dungeon crawler from the creators of Bastion and Transistor.

Rogue Like video games are quite fun in a frustrating way which is hilarious to me. Hades Battle Out of Hell shows the fun in rebelling against your parent and this time you will have to deal with the entire house. I find that funny because all you want to do is leave!

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Right now there is an Early Access Offer for PC which goes for 20 bucks and that not that bad.

We got to work on Hades less than a month after our previous game, Pyre, launched on July 25, 2017. Each time we’ve completed a project, we’ve found ourselves eager to dive into something new. This time around, we wanted to make something that combined aspects of all the best ideas we’d picked up over the course of working on our three previous games: the immediacy and accessibility of Bastion, the rich atmosphere and combat depth of Transistor, and the big and colorful cast of characters and forward-moving story structure in Pyre.

Hades is also our first game adapted from an existing mythology — the world of Greek myth. We felt we had a unique perspective on this theme, and saw the adaptation process as a new and exciting creative opportunity to explore. Our take on Greek mythology assumes no prior knowledge of the subject. Yet, those familiar with Greek myth should find our take on it to be true to the spirit of the source material, from Homer to Hesiod. Greek myth comes from stories of ancient gods and heroes filtered through new points of view; we’re excited to share ours.

Epic Games website can provide you with Early Access and you can check that out here.

Crackdown 3

It was a smart move on Microsoft to have Terry Crews as the front runner for an explosive action packed game! I still remember the first time trying out crackdown on because we got an opportunity to play a new Halo title. Too our surprise Crackdown was actually good. They kind of dropped the ball on the sequel but I still had my fun. Here is to hoping with Crackdown 3.

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“Our fans’ response to the signature antics and explosive gameplay of “Crackdown 3” has been incredible. To ensure we deliver the experience they deserve, “Crackdown 3” will be launching in Feb 2019. We look forward to sharing more on “Crackdown 3″ this Sunday during the Xbox E3 2018 briefing.” – via WindowsCentral

As an Agent it is your duty to take down the criminal element even if the city must go through a lot of collateral damage. It was supposed to be slated for release in 2018, but I stated before I rather developers take their time on video games instead of rushing them out the door.

Features:

Skills for kills – Level up your super-Agent skills to jump over skyscrapers, hurl trucks at your enemies and fight like a boss

Dangerous open-world playground – Play with up to four friends over Xbox Live to take out a violent criminal empire and use the city as a weapon against your enemies

Crime claps back – Lure vindictive crime lords out of their strongholds by roughing up their street soldiers, attacking criminal operations and taking out high-value gang captains

Boom goes the dynamite – Join with up to 10 agents online to tear the city apart piece by piece in a 100% destructible multiplayer arena, available with your purchase of Crackdown 3

Pre-order here!

Resident Evil 2 Remake

Our very own Kikee took first jabs at this new in her previous post last year which you can check out here.

In Resident Evil 2, the classic action, tense exploration, and puzzle solving gameplay that defined the Resident Evil series returns. Players join rookie police officer Leon Kennedy and college student Claire Redfield, who are thrust together by a disastrous outbreak in Raccoon City that transformed its population into deadly zombies. Both Leon and Claire have their own separate playable campaigns, allowing players to see the story from both characters’ perspectives. The fate of these two fan-favorite characters is in players hands as they work together to survive and get to the bottom of what is behind the terrifying attack on the city. Will they make it out alive?

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Features:

A spine-chilling reimagining of a horror classic – Based on the original PlayStation console release in 1998, the new game has been completely rebuilt from the ground up for a deeper narrative experience

A whole new perspective – New over-the-shoulder camera mode and modernized control scheme creates a more modern take on the survival horror experience and offers players a trip down memory lane with the original gameplay modes from the 1998 release

Terrifyingly realistic visuals – Built on Capcom’s proprietary RE Engine, Resident Evil 2 delivers breathtakingly photorealistic visuals in 4K whilst stunning lighting creates an up-close, intense and atmospheric experience as players roam the corridors of the Raccoon City Police Department (RPD)

Face the grotesque hordes – Zombies are brought to life with a horrifyingly realistic wet gore effect as they react in real time taking instantly visible damage, making every bullet count

Iconic series defining gameplay – Engage in frenzied combat with enemies, explore dark menacing corridors, solve puzzles to access areas and collect and use items discovered around the environment in a terrifying constant fight for survival

See favorite characters in a whole new light – Join rookie police officer Leon S. Kennedy on his first day in the job and college student Claire Redfield, who is searching for her brother amidst a terrifying zombie epidemic

Step into the rookie shoes of both heroes – Enjoy separately playable campaigns for both Leon and Claire, allowing players to see the story from both characters’ perspective

This is an exciting time for horror fans and I do hope it keeps to its style of fear and great jump scares. In that definitely pre-order your copy here.

Jump Force

This one is pretty simple to get into. What do you get when you add all the Shonen Jump characters into one Universe to brawl and you get something intriguing.

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Standard Edition ($59.99)

JUMP FORCE software

Deluxe Edition ($89.99)

JUMP FORCE software

Character Pass

Nine additional playable characters post-release

Access each DLC character release four days before they are available on digital storefronts

Ultimate Edition ($99.99)

JUMP FORCE software

Early access to full JUMP FORCE experience three days before official February 15, 2019 launch date

Character Pass

Nine additional playable characters post-release

Access each DLC character release four days before they are available on digital storefronts

16 Avatar T-shirts used for Avatar customization

Jump Start Pack

Includes various consumable in-game items to give players a jump start at the beginning of their journey

Jump Force will star the world’s most popular and classic anime franchises such as Dragon Ball Z, One Piece, Naruto, and many others. Players are tasked to form their three-character anime dream team and bring them into battle. Get ready to fight in Jump Force’s unique setting. The game introduces you the merging of the Jump World and the Real World. Battle with your foes with stunning backdrops of various landmarks around the globe. This includes New York City’s Times Square and the Matterhorn in the Alps.

The borders that separate our world from the Jump world have been destroyed. With this, the evil forces from the other world are spreading all over the real world to rule over mankind. Now, the greatest manga/anime heroes such as Goku, Luffy, Naruto, and others must work together to turn down the evil forces of the Jump World.

Features:

A unique setting, merging the Jump World and the Real World

The Jump Force, an alliance of the most powerful Manga heroes from Dragon Ball, One Piece, Naruto and much more

Realistic graphics bring Manga characters to life like never before

Jump Force releases on February 15th, 2019 for Xbox One, PlayStation 4 and PC. Grab your pre-order here.

BONUS STAGE: Kingdom Hearts III

This was an obvious choice, but I can’t help but add this title to the list. Kingdom Hearts has always been a unique title being that it is a mixture of the Final Fantasy universe and the Disney Universe. I think they go hand in hand with dreams and fantasy as well was tragedy. There is a sad story to be involved with, but it is a strong story of friendship.

KINGDOM HEARTS III tells the story of the power of friendship as Sora and his friends embark on a perilous adventure. Set in a vast array of Disney and Pixar worlds, KINGDOM HEARTS follows the journey of Sora, a young boy and unknowing heir to a spectacular power. Sora is joined by Donald Duck and Goofy to stop an evil force known as the Heartless from invading and overtaking the universe.

Through the power of friendship, Sora, Donald and Goofy unite with iconic Disney-Pixar characters old and new to overcome tremendous challenges and persevere against the darkness threatening their worlds.

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Features:

Adventure in Disney and Pixar Worlds – Embark on an adventure that spans the Disney universe: Travel across Disney-Pixar worlds to protect them from the Heartless invasion, and befriend and join heroes from Toy Story, Big Hero 6, Tangled, Hercules and more

Unlock the Power of the Keyblades – The powerful Keyblade can now transform into additional forms with new attacks, moves and animations. Players can equip multiple Key-blades, and combo their attacks between different themed Key-blades.

Experience the Magic – Cast visually stunning, powerful magic spells to battle the Heartless. Call upon Disney-Pixar friends and partner with them for support. Turn the tide of combat by summoning theme park inspired attractions using the all-new “Attractions.”

Prepare for Battle Interact directly with the Disney-Pixar world. Players will fight off swarms of Heartless as they scale massive cliffs, dive deep underwater or even as they fall freely through the air

Relive Classic Disney Shorts Through Mini-games Take a break from saving the world with mini-games inspired by classic Disney short films.

Kingdom Hearts III finally embraces fans on January 29th, 2019 so please pre-order here.

This is just the beginning of the new year and please feel free to share your own persona list in the comments below. I hope everyone has a great New Year and lets make 2019 popping. – Beast Out –

Beast Top Ten Games for 2019 to Grab Good Morning fellow gamers and Happy New Year. We made it once again and of course it is a New Year to look at some titles that you might want to keep on your radar.

#Ace Combat 7: Skies Unkown #Anthem #Crackdown 3 #Dead or Alive 6 #Devil May Cry 5 #Fae Tactics: The Girl Who Destroyed the World #Hades: Battle out of Hell #Jump Force #pc gaming #Play-Asia #PlayStation 4 #Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice #Video Games #Xbox One

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incredibeale-archive · 6 years

Note

Beca stops taking her anti-depressants. Trouble is, none of her friends knew she was taking them in the first place.

They don’t notice it right away, because it happens gradually and then suddenly.

At first, Beca seems her normal, grumpy self. Snarky comments are made with no real malice behind them, just the usual tease that is her normal way of showing affection. Her patience is there, as always. (It’s something she’s learned to have when dealing with the Bellas). Nothing seems all that different.

But then they all start to notice how the tone in her voice changes and every sarcastic remark sounds meaner and less joking. They notice how her patience is so thin, that even the littlest thing sets her off.

They notice how she constantly rubs at her forehead and clenches her jaw, how she seems to be just– constantly angry and on edge. Their concern grows when she snaps at Chloe after she tries to calm her down when she goes off on Fat Amy for making one of her usual off-handed comments.

“Why don’t you just mind your own damn business, Chloe!” Beca yells, fingers going up to massage her temples. “Stop fucking undermining me!”

Everyone save for Chloe takes a step back. “Whoa, Becs–” Chloe stares at Beca in surprise, hands out and open in placation. “You know I’m not trying to undermine you.” She starts, taking a step forward. “I’m just trying to help.” She says calmly, a worried little frown marring her features. Beca isn’t sure why, but it pisses her off that Chloe doesn’t seem too phased by Beca’s outburst– surprised, maybe but not entirely upset.

Beca stares at her for a moment before she shifts her gaze to the rest of the Bellas. “Yeah, well maybe I don’t want your help.” She spits out, though her voice sounds more hurt than angry, now. “Whatever. I’ve gotta go.” She turns to leave, ignoring Chloe’s please for her to come back. Never mind that practice had barely just begun– Beca couldn’t handle it.

She makes it back to her room and slams the door before she leans against it and slowly slides down to the floor. She closes her eyes to try and stave off the inevitable tears as her hand comes up to her forehead. She knows she shouldn’t have yelled– shouldn’t have left, but everything was just– too loud.

It feels as if there’s a tight band around her head and an ache behind her eyes that gets worse when people are too loud. She’s angry, and tired, and fucking sad and her body hurts. She hasn’t made a mix in days – hasn’t even tried to, because the motivation or need to do so isn’t there. And that stresses her out even more, because she wants to.

After a moment, Beca stands and kicks off her shoes before she crawls into bed, where she cries quietly until she falls asleep.

–

For the next few days, the Bellas all take turns trying to get Beca out of bed– to talk to them, but no one has any luck.

“Well, if Stacie and Chloe both can’t get ‘er to come out, then nobody is.” Fat Amy says on a frown.

Chloe worries her bottom lip as she settles on the couch and glances around the room at the Bellas. “It’s time to call in the big guns.” She says, finally.

Stacie winces. “She’s gonna be pissed.”

“I don’t care. We’ve tried coddling her and being nice, it’s time to get tough and fight stubborn fire with stubborn fire.” Chloe huffs.

Jessica and Ashley both gasp. “Aubrey?” They ask in unison.

Chloe nods. “Aubrey. Beca might not show it, but she’s a little bit afraid of Aubrey.”

“I don’t blame her.” Emily says quietly, eyes wide.

Aubrey arrives within the hour with Chloe leading her upstairs almost as soon as she walks through the door. Aubrey knocks but there’s no answer. “You’re just going to have to go in.” Chloe says, reaching out and turning the door knob.

“Beca?” Aubrey hedges gently as she steps in, eyes moving to the Beca sized lump beneath a mound of covers in her bed.

“What are you doing here?” Beca asks without moving, her voice muffled and scratchy, as if she’d been crying.

Aubrey moves toward Beca’s bed, leaving Chloe in the doorway. She comes around to see Beca’s face as she stares at the wall. Her face is emotionless save for the silent tears that fall down her cheeks. “Why are you in bed at 2:30 in the afternoon?” The blonde asks, ignoring Beca’s question.

“‘M tired.” Beca mumbles with sniffle.

There’s a small pause where Aubrey just quietly studies Beca’s face. “What kind of tired?” She asks gently.

Navy hues finally snap to Aubrey. Beca visibly swallows as she stares at the blonde, but doesn’t answer.

“Beca,” Aubrey starts gently. “You need to get up and shower. I promise it’ll make you feel a little better.” She moves toward Beca’s bedside table and allows her hand to linger over the drawer as she meets Beca’s gaze once more, giving her a chance to push her hand away. Beca doesn’t. Aubrey pulls the drawer open and finds exactly what she suspected. Empty pill bottles. “How long have you been off of your medication, Beca?” She asks calmly, noting that one is for depression and the other for anxiety.

Beca looks away guiltily. “A week and a half, I think.” She mumbles, eyes closing to seemingly try and stop her tears.

“Why?” Aubrey asks, setting the empty pill bottles back on the table. She sits down on the edge of the bed, brow raised expectantly.

Beca lets out a shaky sigh. “I ran out and– I guess I just got busy with school and Bella stuff, and I kept forgetting to call them in.”

Aubrey sighs. “Chloe, come here. I know you’re still standing in the doorway.” Chloe is in front of both of them within seconds, her eyes are glassy and her brows are furrowed in concern. “Call these in and have one of the girls pick them up. Then you’re going to help me get Beca showered and hopefully feeling more like a human being.”

Chloe slowly takes the pill bottles from Aubrey’s hand, but doesn’t move right away. “Becs– why didn’t you say something?”

Beca doesn’t looks up at her with a slight scowl. “’Cause I didn’t want you looking at me like you’re looking at me right now. Full of pity. I know, I’m screwed up– I don’t need a constant reminder via your little kicked puppy face.” She snaps.

“Beca.” Aubrey warns.

The tiny brunette sighs. “I’m sorry, Chlo. I just– I’m–” Tears spring into her eyes once more and she swipes at them angrily.

Chloe smiles something soft and empathetic. “It’s okay, Becs. But for the record. I don’t feel sorry for you or pity you.” She sighs and holds up the pill bottles. “I’ll call these in and have Stacie pick them up.”

–

After a lot of convincing (and some teasing threats on Chloe’s part on how she’d drag her to the tub herself), Aubrey and Chloe manage to get Beca to shower.

Chloe lays her out some clothes while Aubrey retrieves Beca’s medication from Stacie and a glass of water. They allow Beca to get dressed once she’s out before both of them step back into the brunette’s bedroom. Chloe brushes her hair gently while Aubrey hands her her pills and the glass of water. “Take it, so it can start to get back into your system.”

Beca wordlessly throws the pills back before she takes a few sips of water. After Chloe finishes brushing out all the tangles in Beca’s hair, she proceeds to braid it.

After setting the water on Beca’s bedside table, she takes a seat beside the brunette. “How are you feeling?”

“A little better, thanks.” She smiles weakly as Aubrey nods.

“I know you’ve been in bed for days, but– you should probably get some rest– some actual rest.” Aubrey says gently. “You’ll feel better in the morning.”

Beca nods and moves to settle herself back in the center of her bed. Chloe and Aubrey make a move to go, but Beca stops them. “Wait– uh–“ Her cheeks flush slightly as she glances away. “Will you guys sit with me? You know, until I fall asleep?”

Chloe’s answer is automatic as she moves to lay down beside Beca. “Of course!” She reaches out and takes one of Beca’s hands, fingers tracing shapes into her palm.

Aubrey looks a little hesitant, but ultimately settles on Beca’s other side, choosing to sit up with her hands in her lap. She’s surprised when she feels a warm hand latch onto her own. “Thanks for today, Posen.” Beca says quietly, lacing their fingers together.

“Uh– of course.” Aubrey stutters, still surprised by the hand in her own. She glances down to see Beca’s eyes closed. “Beca?” At Beca’s questioning, ‘mmm?’, Aubrey gives her a soft little squeeze. “Don’t forget your medication, next time.”

“And don’t be afraid to ask for help.” Chloe adds on, resting her head on top of Beca’s shoulder.

Beca sighs softly. “I’ll try not to forget next time, and Chloe– I’ll work on that.” She mumbles, tiredly. The three go silent and it’s not long before Beca falls into her first fitful sleep in days, and whether it’s because of the two women on either side of her, she’ll probably never know.

#pitch perfect fanfiction #( she makes us better || triple treble ff )#<-- if u squint #could even be seen as either mitchsen or bechloe if u want #but i hope you like it #i can relate a lot to this #if i get off my meds ppl know bcs i get irritable and mean and stand offish #and i get sad and angry #and then i eventually have like a mental breakdown and nothing is ever good when im off my meds #so i just kind a wrote what i usually feel

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whitelippedviper · 7 years

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Mobile Suit Gundam: The Origin. Fuck war, love comics.

So I’m making my way through Yoshikazu Yasuhiko’s Mobile Suit Gundam: The Origin and like I’ve seen Yaz’s work before. I have the first volume of Venus Wars--but it just didn’t click for me. MSG: The Origin tho is goddamn sorcery on the page. You need to know this first off, you don’t need to know anything about Gundam to read this. The whole thing is this is the book retelling the story that started it all but like Yaz’s from the heart version. And two volumes in, which is like...1000 pages of comics, and this is a masterpiece.

I’m mostly going to talk about the art, but story wise, military stuff is generally not my bag. Unfortunately, it’s a genre that is grossly popular in American comics, not just in straightforward military stories, but superhero comics as well. Too often these heroes have design updates that are all too happily to enlist heroes whose past models leaned more heavily into daredevil circus performers or wrestlers. You know the look. When your favorite hero goes from tights and a cape look to body armor looking shit everywhere. War on crime right? And then these companies on their film side have all kinds of connections to the military industrial complex--hell these companies often employ ex-military, or in some notable cases ex-CIA to write the damn books. And when you couple that with how interested the military has always been with warping people’s brains to keep the war machine humming(they once put acid in a whole town’s water supply just to see what would happen!) it’s quite unnerving! So besides being extremely anti-war in practice, I’m also pretty tin foil hat when it comes to seeing the edges of the military in pop culture, particularly when the message is like “look how cool this is!”

Which as a sidebar is one of the things that makes the Aubrey Sitterson GI Joe thing complicated to me, because like...I don’t think GI Joe is a good thing, and I don’t believe leftists should be getting their pay pushing paper for something that could not BE more military industrial. Like let's make kids think how cool being a soldier and going to war is--and then those kids grow up, and what a surprise we are in like ten wars that we know about, and will be for forever--and you get this kind of brainwashing that turns Kapernick trying to say “hey, maybe cops should stop shooting black men” into a debate about “respecting the flag” because the NFL is in bed with the military….agh. I hate it. I hate it all. From Operation Condor, the firebombings of dresden, hiroshima and nagasaki, the genocide of the american indian, fallujah, Abu Ghraib, our complicity in Saudi atrocities in Yemen and Qatar...we are not the good guys of history! We kill for empire, but our empire isn’t colonies, it’s more war. Our chief export is war. And I would love to expatriate to a country that doesn’t have these values, but I don’t know if even then I could shake that shit from my stomach. And even more insidious than our war is our financial arm, our banks and investors who have killed as many people with pens as any soldiers with guns. We are an empire of atrocity!

So when I see military comics, or cop comics, it just reminds me that I live in the most warlike country of the last 100 years, and all of those innocent people that are caught up in our bombs, and the way we turn whole regions into chaos to serve our ends and make more money--my relative prosperity as an American is built on the bodies and bloodshed of innocents the world over. I mean why is America what America is? It’s because WW2 basically moved europe's wealth to the US, and then we spent it on more bombs and we stepped in not because of any real moral thing--we stepped in because england owed us too much for us to let them go down. We as a country became a world superpower, the world superpower, through war profiteering and slavery. That’s a huge aside, but I’m saying, I fucking hate war. And maybe find ways to not contribute to more of those sort of comics? But more than that in an aesthetic sense, the codes for military in American comics are so bland and it seems half the time to justify not having to do interesting character designs. So surely there is a better fit for someone like Sitterson who has the politics I do, I think, than writing war comics to a patriotic pro-military audience, so I wish him the best, but fuck GI Joe. (And as an aside aside, if it were Frank Miller and not Aubrey Sitterson with the controversial opinion that book isn’t getting dropped--these companies only do these things as financial calculations, and if you are a big enough cash cow you can say or do whatever you want in comics for the most part but if you aren’t--you better protect your neck because these companies don’t have your interests in mind. And we live in stupid times) So I can fuck with Gundam because 1) it hates war as much as I do. And 2) they’re not trying to make everything look like utilitarian military shit. They’re about looking goood while they are hating war. The story is really rich, background characters positively radiate and each have their own character which comes to the fore at different parts. In some respects, Amuro Ray haunts this comic like death, because he’s the end of so many terrific characters that you really grow to love, and the Federation cause is somewhat murky at best, as is their exploitation of kids like Amuro. I kind of think Yaz does my favorite faces in all of comics, unseating Jose Munoz:

This kind of caricaturing is really lovely for a story this rich and dense, because you get so much just from how a character looks and the faces they make, and it’s quite appealing to look at I think. There are characters you fall in love with just because you want to see Yaz draw their face again. The range of expressions he has in the toolkit is amazing to me. Yaz’s style in general to me is like magic. Lines don’t connect, and it’s like he can just shift around these minimal set of lines and accomplish anything on the page. It’s like he has a set number of lines that he’s working with on every page, and he just dips his brush into the page and waves it around and those lines bend and contort into perfection. He’s one like Kirby where he kind of just sits down at a page and the images come out of his brain.

It’s not overly rendered, but it still is textural and inky. I think this also has my favorite lettering in comics. I don’t know who was responsible for it in english, but I love the obvious care that went into varying the lettering, and just how gentle and elegant it is. It probably was just a font in a computer--but it doesn’t FEEL like that, which is cool. Oh also Yaz watercolors various pages in the book, and they are almost all stunning. I’m planning to read his Joan of Arc book which is all watercolored, so that should be interesting. But I think what comes across more than anything reading these books, because of not only the comic, but the production value of the books themselves--the hard cover, the essays at the back, the slick pages, the thoughtful lettering--what comes across from stem to stern is that these books are a labor of love and passion in a way that you would not expect from the retelling of a decades old giant anime franchise!

Hideaki Anno said in his essay in the first book: “And I sense a certain good grace. He decides to draw Gundam--well known to the masses as a premier franchise of the plastic model and anime industries--not from weariness, not as expiation, nor to return to his roots, but in earnest as a work of his own” and I think he’s absolutely correct. There’s a love and attention to every inch of these books that is really inspiring to behold whether as an artist or in whatever you do to fill out your days--seeing something, anything, done by a master, with care and concern is a special thing to behold. I mean I don’t know for sure that Yaz actually gives a shit about this book--but that’s what comes across on the page. It comes across that he cares about these lines, about these stories, vividly, and even more surprising, the people whose charge is getting the work out to others, they seem to care just as much, so what you get is a very very special book.

In some ways, these dueling masters, Char and Amuro Ray, also express this concern and care. At one point Char loudly criticizes Amuro Ray for his lack of style. And while Char’s vanity, his secrecy, his romantic rogue ideal is extremely alluring, and any scene he’s in, I’m pretty glued to the page--he’s like Harlock or Queen Emeraldas. We don’t have these kind of artist villains in American comics for some reason. The closest I’ve seen was Ron Wimberly’s Prince of Cats which has characters who besides their bloody monstrous ideas, consider style to be important.

But even with all of that going on with Char, I’m surprisingly drawn to Amuro Ray--who is a character even without watching the original Gundam series(something I’m planning to rectify this winter--trying to finally knock out all the Gundam I’ve put off for years) that you just kind of know even without ever knowing why. He’s a legend. Like Luke Skywalker. Even his name when you say it, you feel like you are speaking the name of a god. But he’s a punk kid who has been dragged into this war against his will, and is desperately trying to balance doing the right thing, and keeping his identity. I love that sometime he just refuses to go out in the Gundam which puts Ltg Bright in these particular binds(Bright might lo key be my favorite character in the series weirdly, for how he kind of morphs through being a snotty prick, to being in over his head, to being someone capable of real genius creativity. I’ve been watching Iron Blooded Orphans which is a Gundam series about child soldiers and is really brutal and depressing, and Orga is kind of like Bright mixed with Char.) His mercurial nature speaks to the nature of his art versus Char. Amuro Ray belongs to the fickleness of inspiration, so because of that he’s not really reliable, but when he shows up he’s capable of things Char isn’t, moments of improvisation and grouchy genius that are the linchpins of the romantic appeal of the series.

Versions of this character archetype I feel usually are supposed to be incompetent or dumb to those around them, but their conviction carries them, they have the most will--but in Amuro Ray’s case, he’s just an asshole. The despair of it all, which is never lost on Amuro is that whether he does something, or doesn’t do something, people are going to die and it’s going to hurt. And knowing that, that in the end horror is inescapable, and that death is undefeated--like what do you do? How do you function? What do you choose when there are no good choices? Char is a little different, because his aim is revenge. Which that side of Char that he hides behind his rogue’s grin, and devilish acts is really stunning when it first comes out in these early books. He’s so careful to let that out, and when it does, you’re like “oh man, Char isn’t playing the same game the rest of you are”. Agh. It’s soo good. Comics like these keep the fires going. There’s an infinity of them out there to be sure, but nothing makes me happier than a truly great comic. Those comics that years after you remember the experience of reading them, where you were, what music was playing. A great comic is a great lover. It won’t last forever, though there’s a LOT of this book still for me to read--and I get in this mode where I both want to just inhale the whole comic as fast possible, and I don’t want this experience to end. This is that sort of thing. Which should be evident, since I bothered to write about it, haha. I could never just review comics. I’m like Amuro Ray with comics criticism, I need the right situation to be compelled to climb in and do it. I don’t fundamentally love writing comics criticism--but when I experience something great, I have to talk about it and write about it. Comics like these affirm everything about being involved with comics for me. Check it out, see if you feel the same way.

If you liked this essay, and want to see more like it, subscribe to Sarah Horrocks’s Patreon. For as little as a dollar a month you can help a comic topic in need get the coverage it deserves.

#My Writing #Sarah Horrocks #Mobile Suit Gundam: The Origin

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ansgiftexchange · 6 years

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Radiate

The radiologist that Shirayuki worked under was said to be the weirdest guy in the world. Obi had heard all of the little mutterings and musings that had filtered down the system and into his ear with a curiosity that had been hard to ignore. They said that the man came and went as he pleased, that the board allowed him to do whatever he wished because of his genius. People who had never even seen him confirmed that he could be awkward and off-putting, never able to have a real conversation with him due to his abrasive attitude. He tended to avoid people and became a shadowed being that people couldn’t positively identify, save for glimpses and glances, kind of like Bigfoot or the Loch Ness monster. Well, that just made the unspoken challenge all the more fun.

The man was definitely a little weird. Doctor Lata Forzeno didn’t avoid people; he just considered the majority of the earth’s population lacking in its ability to provide him with stimulating conversation. If he considered someone boring, he simply walked away. There were no grey areas, only black and white. Facts were facts and beliefs were not, so either one could accept the man for his quirks, or they couldn’t. Either way, the doctor would not stick around or bother conforming to other people’s standards of normal in order to make them more comfortable. He was simply too busy living his life to be somebody that he wasn’t. Obi liked him. He wasn’t exactly sure as to why he tolerated the eccentric and awkward radiologist sometimes, but he liked him all the same. It might have had something to do with the fact that he didn’t give Obi a hard time over his unrequited pining that he was harboring for his roommate. The man had strange skills at dissecting people’s mannerisms and hidden feelings at just one glance, something that would normally set Obi on edge but instead fascinated him to no end. Most socially awkward people tended to read people incorrectly, their abilities in that department usually lacking while their scholarly skills soared higher than the heavens. “My mother originally wanted me to be a psychiatrist,” he’d informed the paramedic one afternoon as he’d quickly flipped through a few X-RAY files he’d pulled up on his computer screen, not shy and willing to give away any details of his past after Obi had teased him about his gift. “Technically I am one- have the diploma to prove it,” he’d mumbled over his shoulder while ignoring Obi’s somewhat shocked look at his casually spoken statement. “Didn’t want to spend my life listening to people’s boring problems, though. I have better things to do with my time.” “Like study bones, doctor Forzeno?” Obi had quipped with a smile. “Yes, actually,” doctor Forzeno said as he’d turned around in his chair, fixing the paramedic with that radioactive stare that seemed to weigh and measure people’s souls with minimal effort. “And it’s Lata. I’ve recently branched out into forensics. Care to donate your body to science to serve a greater cause?” Most people would either laugh and consider the man’s genuine question a joke, or blink before heading for the door in a stunned stupor. Obi had given his head a small shake as he’d hopped down from his perch upon one of the many stacks of boxed books that were slowly taking over the radiologist’s office space. He was more than used to this by now. “Nah,” he’d grunted as he’d stretched, happy to be done with his shift and eager to take Shirayuki out to lunch once she was finished with her patient. “Think I’ll keep this ‘ol bag-o-bones a bit longer.” “Too bad,” the doctor had murmured as he’d turned back towards his computer, tall frame slouching slightly over his keyboard as his fingers landed back upon the mouse. “Cadavers are expensive and I’ve always wanted one of my own.”

Maybe it was because he was the only doctor in the entire hospital who didn’t give him shit about his caffeine addiction. “‘M not technically a physician,” he’d mumbled around the cigarette perched in between his lips one evening, his hands delving into the pockets of his lab coat to protect them from the cool evening air out in the ambulance bay. “I mean- I am, but I don’t practice internal medicine. There are worse things than replacing your blood with coffee, anyway.” Obi had nodded as he’d lifted the nice to-go-mug of good coffee from the physician’s lounge up to his lips. He’d made a friend when no one else had bothered and apparently, it came with its perks. “Got big weekend plans, doc?” The radiologist had soured at the nickname, mumbling that he preferred to be called Lata, dammit. He had then scoffed, chuckling before blinking and tilting his head. “Oh…you were serious…?” Obi had suppressed a yawn as he’d blinked away the bleariness clouding up his vision. He couldn’t afford to be tired yet- only five hours to go until freedom. “I can’t tell anymore, to be honest.” Lata had merely blinked at him with a blank expression before shrugging a shoulder and allowing their conversation to morph into comfortable silence, something that never truly bothered Obi while the doctor found peace in it. The man seemed to work whenever he wanted to, coming and going at his leisure but never really far from the hospital. Sure, he may have been a bit of an eccentric recluse, but he was as real as it got, no pretenses or angles. The man had no hidden agendas and it was common knowledge that one always knew where they stood with Lata Forzeno, even if what he had to say wasn’t exactly the nicest thing in the world.

“You’re a damn moron.” Yes, that was the general consensus. Especially when one did chest compressions on a code blue non-stop, failing to switch out and putting a strain upon one’s (only recently) healed shoulder in the process. Ah, well. He tended to do stupid shit when he was tired; everyone knew that. Obi ran his hands down his face as he groaned, trying to will away his current state of delusional exhaustion by sheer force of will and finding himself lacking. A twenty-seven hour shift in the back of an ambulance wasn’t exactly his idea of a good time, but putting the down payment on a ring for Shirayuki certainly was. “Could you be a bit more specific with that ruling, judge?” He winced at the pull in his sore shoulder and bit back a hiss as doctor Forzeno pushed against his chest, urging him to recline back upon the table, his hands deceptively gentle as he assisted the paramedic and ordered him to lie still. “If I’m a judge, then what does that make you?” Obi grinned wryly as his eyes watched the doctor adjust his own machinery with careful precision, wondering idly when the man had last done this as he sighed, “I’d like to think of myself as a knight in shining armor, riding in to the rescue and all that jazz.” Lata scoffed and snorted as he headed for the little room that housed the controls, pausing to gauge Obi’s own amused reaction and allowing the laughter to fall from his face at the paramedic’s flat look. “Oh…you were serious…?”

The films showed only a strain, luckily, but the doctor still wanted him to take it easy for a few days. Rest and anti-inflammatories were issued, along with a weight-lifting restriction that had Obi’s shoulders sagging in defeat. Looked like it would be another few weeks until he could fix his hasty-proposal and make it right. Shirayuki deserved that much, at least. He bemoaned his fate as Lata clapped him lightly on the shoulder with one hand after Obi had winced his way into his coat, his other hand extending out to shake his. Obi blinked. Usually the radiologist avoided touching people if he could help it. Odd, but whatever. Obi supposed that if the man wanted a handshake, it was the least that he could do, seeing as how the doctor had offered to check him out ‘under the table’ and free of charge. Obi blinked and frowned in question at the feeling of something rectangular being placed into his palm, the corners pricking and poking at his skin as the radiologist turned and headed for the door. “Tell him Lata sent you,” he’d called over his shoulder as Obi’s eyes scanned the jeweler’s minimalistic and sleek modern card. “He’ll give you a good deal. He owes me one.”

“Well, isn’t that a pretty little piece of carbon,” Lata murmured appreciatively as his hand gently held Shirayuki’s, watching the diamond sparkle upon her finger in the dim light as he tilted her wrist every which way. “Looks like Shikito was able to point you in the right direction?” Obi hummed and smiled as Lata realeased his fiancée’s hand, allowing Shirayuki to rock back on her heels in her happy excitement. She excused herself in order to show the rest of the radiology department her new engagement ring, leaving the two men alone in the space. Obi opened his mouth to break the silence, to offer his gratitude in the matter and inquire as to how he could ever repay the doctor for all that he had done, when Lata turned back towards his computer screen and waved the paramedic off, his voice sounding almost bored as he stated that if Obi didn’t hurry, she might just change her mind and leave him. Obi smirked and gave his head a small shake as he backed out into the hallway, poking his head in through the doorway. “Thank-you, Lata.” “You’re welcome, Sir Obi.”

Happy holidays @vivianwisteria!

#ss17 #submission #gift

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franklyshipping · 7 years

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His Crimson ~ A Markiplier and Jacksepticeye Ego Fanfic

It’s time for some ROMANTIC DANTI YALL 😍 i’m so happy that this lovely little fic has been birthed from my subconscious👌there may be a bit of “implication” if ya catch ma drift BUT it is still filled with sfw lovey dovey floof with emo boi and the glitch bitch being absolutely cheeky goofs 😍 SO LET US BEGIN!

Let’s be real, they weren’t an ordinary couple. They didn’t go out for picnics in pastured scenery or for candlelit dinners at five star eateries or michelin star establishments. They didn’t need to, each of them just being themselves was enough for the other. Although they did partake in certain soppy things, in complete and utter secrecy of course. The figments known as Darkiplier and Antisepticeye did have very specific images to maintain. Not now though, since Anti was sat atop Dark’s lap as they both inhabited a comfy couch.

‘Open up…’

Anti grinned as Dark fed him a green grape, grinning as Anti yanked it off the stem with an exaggerated wink. Dark shook his head before pecking the giggly man with a light chuckle, the deep tone sending warmth down Anti’s spine; they withdrew, Anti with a gentle flush. The green-haired man giggled heavily as he nibbled his bottom lip, breaking off a piece of chocolate from the 75% cocoa bar he held in his hands. He held the piece up in between his fingers.

‘Okahay you nohow!’

Dark chuckled as he opened his mouth to let Anti slip the piece of chocolate into his mouth, his eyes glittered deviously as he pretended to try and nip at Anti’s forefinger.

'AH!’

Dark laughed melodously at his boyfriend’s yelp, smirking widely as Anti narrowed his eyes with a gentle pout.

'Well that was rude…’

Dark snickered as the chocolate melted in his mouth, he swallowed lightly with a teasing grin.

'You loved it really.’

Anti sneered as Dark smirked teasingly.

'Shut up.’

Anti stuck his tongue out and went to break off another chocolate piece, but Dark placed his hand under his chin gently. Their eyes met and Anti found himself leaning forward until their lips met, Dark ran a hand through his messy locks and caressed the back of his neck. They hummed as they kissed. Dark’s eyes fluttering shut as he let Anti push him down deeper into the couch, said man was enamoured at the bittersweet taste that coated Dark’s lips. Anti withdrew only to peck lightly down Dark’s jaw, he let his lips trail up to his ear, but then Dark seemed to…flinch?

Anti leant up to look at him, and was made curious to see him biting his lip harshly.

'You okay Darky?’

Dark swallowed gently before setting his expression into that of a calm suavity, he smiled.

'But of course, don’t stop now…’

Anti was still a little unsure, but he smiled back before going back to his neck and relishing in Dark’s relaxed sighs. But….his curiosity was insatiable. Anti let his eyes fix on his lover’s face as he moved to the back of his ear, and he grinned when Dark flinched once again as the corners of his lips twitched. Oh my god, this was priceless.

’D'ya like this spot Darky?’

Dark cleared his throat as he kept his eyes shut, his lips twitching as Anti’s lips traced the shell of his ear. He didn’t want his composure to break, he didn’t want Anti to find out about his…sensitivity.

'It’s fi-ine…’

Dark cursed the little blip in his voice, but Anti rejoiced in it as all the puzzle pieces fell into place in his mind. Dark, his brooding and sulty Dark, was ticklish. Anti would be damned if he didn’t have some fun with this, he giggled and felt a wave of exhileration when Dark shivered fractionally.

'Are you suuuure?’

Anti smirked before nuzzling behind Dark’s ear, which made the owner jump in surprise before breaking out into a stream of chuckling.

'Ahahahantihihi!’

Dark tried to clamp his mouth shut as he fought the urge to scrunch his neck, but Anti’s soft lips and rough stubble meant he couldn’t stop himself. Anti giggled furthur as he nipped teasingly at the shell of his ear.

'Yes Darky dearest?’

Dark cackled as more vibrations spread through his ear and down his spine.

'Stahahap thihis ihihimmehediahatly!’

Dark felt his cheeks going a light pink when Anti laughed loudly and mischievously before rearing up with a feral grin.

'Oh baby I’m just getting started…’

Dark gulped when Anti took hold of his wrists tightly before pinning them under his knees, Anti was straddling his thighs now with a strong excitement.

'Now Anti, there is no reason for you to do this-’

'Oh I can think of plenty!’

Dark bit the inside of his cheek as Anti’s wild irises darted over his torso, he shivered as he felt like he was being scanned. Anti placed his fingertips on Dark’s sides and stroked with a curious grin, which only grew when Dark descended into gentle laughter.

'Why didn'tcha tell me you were so sensitive?’

Dark’s chest shook as he tried to force away his mirth, but it was no use.

'Fuhuhuhuckihing guehehess!’

Anti cackled at Dark’s frustrated state, he hummed in thought as he moved his hands so they could scratch over Dark’s belly. Dark yelped and flushed as his laughter jumped up and transformed into highly pitched giggles. Anti was shocked, but infinately more gleeful.

'Awww, you’re so cute like this! All giggly and giddy at my touch….’

Dark avoided his boyfriend’s taunting gaze as his flush worsened, his giggles flowing freely as sparks and spirals shot through his abdomen.

'Shuhuhuhut uhuhuhuhup!’

Anti’s eyes widened. This was so much better than he’d first thought, Dark wasn’t just really ticklish…he was embarrassed about it too.

'Why? Don’t you like my voice?’

Anti pouted in mock upset as he skittered over Dark’s waistline, immediatly smirking joyfully at Dark’s rapid bucking.

'Dohohohohon’t!!!’

Dark was blushing forcefully and tugging at his arms, but he was already beginning to tire from Anti’s torture as well as his embarrassingly effective teasing. He glanced up at Anti for a moment, which he immediatly regretted.

'So hot and flustered, I quite like it when you’re like this. All trapped and all mine…to do with as I please…’

Dark let out a strangled noise as Anti’s eyes bore into his teasingly, his teeth gleamed out through his devilish grin as he circled a fingertip round his navel…before dipping it in.

'STAHAHAHAP THIHIHIHIS!’

Dark’s laughter bounced through the room in echoing cackles as Anti burrowed a finger into his belly button, swirling and scratching deviously.

'Coochie coochie coo! What a ticklish little thing you are…’

Dark grunted and growled as Anti demeaned him, he tried to glare through his wild laughter.

'IHIHIHI’M GOHOIHING TOHOHO GEHEHET YOHOU FOHOR THIHIHIS!’

Despite Anti’s position, Dark’s words still sent shivers through his nervous system as his intimidating demeanour flickered for a moment. But Anti soon smirked and leant over him.

'I might as well make the most of it then!’

Dark squealed harshly as Anti suddenly flew under his shirt and dug into his ribcage, he belly laughed as Anti worked over and in between the bones.

'NAHAHAHAHA FAHAHAHACK!’

Dark shook his torso about, but nothing could halt Anti’s devious fingers as they rubbed and pinched endlessly.

'Tickle tickle Darky!’

Dark threw his head back at Anti’s childish teasing which, much to his annoyance, only darkened his flush. Anti soon reared up again.

'Oh where oh where to go next?’

Anti pondered out loud as he trailed his hands over Dark’s chest, feeling his own heart swell at the feeling of Dark’s beating rapidly.

'Hohow abohout nohowhehere?’

Anti grinned with a fond edge as Dark spoke imploringly, he let it dim to a gentle smile as he leant over his lover. He kissed Dark’s lips softly which surprised him, but he still reciprocated gently. Anti’s lips however, soon curled into a smirk as he spontaneously rubbed his thumbs over Dark’s hipbones.

'AHAHAHA YOHOHOHOU LIHIHIHITTLE SHIHIHIT!’

Dark squeaked and laughed into Anti’s lips making the latter smirk, he moved his thumbs to the deep bowels beside the bones and massaged slowly. Anti pecked little kisses over his burning cheeks as he teased.

'You didn’t reaaally think I was done did you?’

Dark bucked heavily as Anti’s thumbs teased the soft bundles of nerves, he yipped furthur as Anti’s lips trailed over his cheeks.

'AHAHAHANTIHIHI PLEHEHEHEASE!’

Anti was taken aback, was Dark actually begging? He softened his touch and gazed lovingly at him as Dark gasped and took in oxygen heavily, his eyes were lidded as Anti still hovered mere inches above him; Dark nibbled his bottom lip nervously.

'So beautifully sensitive….’

Dark opened his mouth to speak, but closed it with a slight grimace which made Anti snap to attention.

'Hey….hey what’s wrong? Do you really not like-’

'I-It’s not that….’

Anti kept silent as Dark collected himself, there was a moment of silence before the suave man spoke quietly.

'You don’t think this….makes me weak?’

Anti felt his heart shiver at the genuine shame lacing Dark’s voice, he narrowed his eyes harshly as he steadied his voice.

'Now you listen. You are not weak. This….thing…’

Anti flapped his hands about which brought a gentle smile to Dark’s lips.

'Is beautiful. Y'hear me?’

Dark nodded gently as a new smirk grew on Anti’s face, Dark gulped and shivered when Anti reared back up slowly.

'Good, besides…now I know about this…’

Anti traced a finger over Dark’s jaw and flicked it under his chin, humming contentedly when Dark giggled lightly.

’….you’re never going to hear the end of it.’

Dark’s eyes widened as Anti suddenly affixed his lips to the shell of his ear and blew harshly.

'WHAHAHAHAT THEHE FUHUHUHUCK IHIHIS THAHAHAT?!’

Dark wailed as Anti withdrew, licking his lips gently with amazed confusion.

'What? You’ve never had a raspberry before? I’ll have to fix that…’

Dark couldn’t utter a protest in time before Anti blew continuous raspberries over his ears and neck, overjoyed at the deep, desperate cackles.

'IHIHIHIHI FEHEHEHELS WEHEHEHEIRD!’

Anti snickered as he whispered into his ear, nibbling at his earlobe.

'Ohh just wait till I go to your other tickle spots-’

'NAHAHAHAHAHA!’

Dark shuddered and grinned nervously as Anti withdrew, smirking as he shuffled down towards his torso. Luckily for Anti Dark was clad in a simple grey t-shirt and shorts, he pushed the fabric up and bent down to kiss Dark’s belly.

'Ah-hmm….’

Anti felt his chest swell as Dark giggled and hummed, clearly enjoying the light affection as he shut his eyes. Anti snickered against the quivering flesh as he took a deep breath….and blew.

'NAHAHAHAHAHA STAHAHAHAHAP!’

Dark was wrenched from his dazed state as he twisted and shook, the vibrations and shivers from Anti’s lips swept throughout his torso and round to his spine….and he couldn’t escape.

'Mmmmm what a yummy tummy you have, I think I’ll keep it….’

Dark yelped and cackled as Anti knawed and nipped at his tummy, giving special attention to the rim of his navel which rewarded Anti with wild screeches.

'DOHOHOHOHON’T DOHOHOHOHO THAHAHAHAT!!!’

Anti snickered before growling harshly.

'I thought you liked my biting Darky….’

Dark stammered and spluttered whilst trying to hide his deliciously crimson cheeks, Anti hummed again as he pecked over the sensitive area. He flicked his eyes towards Dark who was eyeing him nervously, Anti grinned as he took Dark’s wrists in his hands.

'What are you….going to do?’

Dark almost cringed at the way his words wavered as he gazed at his boyfriend, whose eyes glimmered and jumped with joy. He shivered gently, not with fear, but with security. He knew he was at Anti’s mercy….but he was just fine with that. The trust that was built between them was unlike anything else in the world….but he was still enraptured with anticipation.

'Something agonisingly torturous I hope….’

Anti shifted and rested his chin on top of Dark’s knees, the latter fixed his focused gaze on him. However, as soon as Anti’s lips met with his knees and thighs he was lost. Dark utterly melted at the gentle, innocent kisses and nuzzles which lulled him into a state of relaxed oblivion. All the while Anti plotted his finishing move.

The green haired man tightened his grip on Dark’s wrists as he paused at the back of Dark’s knee….and took a deep breath. Dark’s reaction was instantaneous.

'NAHAHAHAHAHA FAHAHAHAHA!!!’

His entire body jolted and a scream flew from his throat as he laughed and wailed, Anti raspberried maliciously behind his knees as he slowly moved to nibble at his thighs.

'Such wildness from you Dark, and all from a little tickling….’

'FUHUHUHUHUHU YOHOHOHOHOHOU!!!’

Dark was incoherent and slowly beginning to wheeze amidst his insane mirth, in that moment it was all he could feel. There was nothing else in the world except that. Anti could see his ravished state and diminished his torment to mere pecks on his inner thighs.

'What ticklish thighs you have….I think I’ll keep these too!’

Dark giggled and smiled widely as Anti peeked at him and gave him a teasing wink, ecstatic at how he reduced Dark to such a rough mess.

'Buhuhuhut thehey’re mihihine!’

Anti laughed at Dark’s childishness as he still giggled wholeheartedly, he sneered and kissed both thighs warmly before pulling away.

'Not anymore they’re not!’

Anti’s bouncy giggles joined Dark’s deep ones as he released his wrists, but despite that, Dark let them lie at his sides as Anti crawled over him.

'This is mine…’

Anti left a sloppy kiss on his tummy as Dark grinned bashfully, the former crawled closer as he kissed different parts of his body. Anti was blushing just from his unadulterated happiness as he leant forward to smooch Dark’s blaring cheeks.

'These are mine too!’

Dark chuckled, finally back to his regular cool state as Anti’s hyperractiveness swarmed around him, making him buzz internally. He narrowed his eyes before leaning forward and capturing Anti’s lips forcefully, he grasped the t-shirt he wore as he took back a glimmer of control.

'So just so I know….is there anything I get to keep?’

He murmured against Anti’s lips, the owner of which shivered before grinning cheekily.

'Yeah….me.’

There was a short silence as Anti’s words sunk through, Dark broke it with a gentle laugh as he muttered gently.

'I think I can live with that.’

They both giggled before kissing again, so passionately and so happily that one would think that maybe they were an ordinary couple. But let’s be real…they were so much more than that.

Whooo boi another long one and I AM HAPPY WITH THIS MY DUDES 😄 tell me if you are too and yeaaah, luv yous xx

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