“Sir, in my heart there was a kind of fighting That would not let me sleep.” - William Shakespeare, Hamlet

— juansen dizon

imdb’s highest-rated movies in the MCU (inspo.)

Hero at Knifepoint by Stalker Villain Continuation #2

Post 1 here

Tw: for possessiveness and evil ‘partner’ if you could call them that. Character death without gore description.

Villain thought hard, and they thought fast. They had to stall, at the very least that sham wedding, give Hero a chance.

“Fine,” they said, stepping to the side. “You win- but you do know they’re already married, right? If you were to marry them right now, it’d be void.”

Hero’s eyes grew wide and they glared at Villain. No, they weren’t married, not even close. Villain’s confident calmer manner seemed to give them a little faith.

“What are you talking about?” Other Villain snapped, “Of course they aren’t- do you think I wouldn’t know?!”

“A.Another country,” Hero cheeped. “They’re living abroad, it was a bad marriage, didn’t last long. I tried to forget.” They flinched badly as Other Villain yanked them closer.

“You married someone else?” Other Villain seethed. Villain saw their fist clench.

“Hey, hey! Don’t be getting angry at them,” they reasoned. “You said it yourself, you know best- [Hero] won’t have known what was best for them. But now you’ve got them, you can do what’s best for them. Do [Hero] a service, bump off that horrible spouse. Hell, I’m sure they’ll fall for you then. They’ll finally realise how great you really are.”

Villain didn’t want to look at Hero’s face, the way they mewled and sent pleading looks. Looks for them to shut up. Villain could only hope their own expression read ‘trust me’.

“You’re right… I can free my lover- we can be together!”

“Yes,” Hero whispered. “Please… please move the knife. Y.You’re scaring me.”

Other Villain hesitated, seeing the gun in Henchman’s hand. They looked to Villain who nodded and the gun fell to the floor. Henchman scooted it away to the side and Villain tossed their knife.

“I’m not here to stop you, mate. I see now you’re the perfect fit for [Hero], but don’t hurt them though, yeah? I’m sure you know you need to look after them now, you won’t need to fight with them any more. They’re yours.”

Other Villain moved the knife a from their throat and Hero released a breath they hadn’t realised they were holding.

“[Villain],” Hero choked out a sob.

“Tears of happiness, I see?” Villain lied. “Trust me, [Hero], you’re going to be okay. Give it a day and you’ll be even happier.” Hell, they hoped they got that message.

Other Villain grinned and dragged them away. “We’ll postpone the wedding until we get rid of this nuisance,” they murmured in Hero’s ear. “You’ll have to tell me all you can so I can find them.”

“They’ve probably hidden by now- they probably didn’t even tell me their real name.”

Villain watched powerlessly as Other Villain took them tightly by the hand and led them out. 

Villain grabbed their knife off the floor. “Call the lads, they’re looking for a car.” Villain watched carefully as Other Villain and Hero came into view, getting into a car. Villain rattled off the colour, brand, and registration plate.

Henchman hun gup the phone. “What the hell was all that about? They ain’t married!”

“Time, [Henchman]. I had to buy them time. I fully plan to get them out of there by tomorrow morning, but this means they’ll crawl back to their cave and wait there while they’re asking [Hero] about this mysterious spouse. Come on, we don’t have long.”

[I’m gonna miss out the search and jump straight to where Villain finds Hero. Hope you don’t mind.]

Calling Other Villain’s base a cave hadn’t been that much of an exaggeration. They had the long-forgotten basement of a historic hotel, or perhaps they owned the hotel too. Villain wasn’t sure but their only priority was finding Hero and getting them out of here. This had already taken far too long, and they could only hope their plan hadn’t blown up in Hero’s face. If they were hurt- Villain shuddered. No, Hero was clever, they’d be able to look after themselves.

Getting into the hotel was easy, all they had to do was pose as a customer, but the basement was a little harder to get to. It took knocking out a similar-sized member of staff, taking their uniform and hiding them in a cupboard to get through to the kitchens. The door that led to the basement was locked, rusty, and long since forsaken judging by the crates piled in front of it. There was no way they were going to get through unnoticed.

Plan B. They took their lighter and snatched up a pair of blunt scissors, retreating to the empty corridor where the fire alarm was. Working fast, they wedged the tissue in between the scissors, set a tissue on fire and held it up to the alarm. It screamed beautifully. Villain hid in the same cupboard as the unconscious staff worker and the building was emptied.

Villain asked fast, dragging the crates of vegetables away and smacking the old lock off the door with a meat cleaver.

“Sesame,” they murmured as it swung open. They just hoped the noise hadn’t put Hero in any further danger.

Time wasn’t on their side anymore. They rushed down the stairs, quickly realising there was no light to greet them. Villain paused in the basement, Hero wasn’t here, there had to be something they’d missed. Using their lighter, Villain looked around. There were footprints in the dark, some barefoot. “[Hero],” they realised. They bent over to follow the tracks and found that they suddenly stopped by a tile. Trap door; a basement in a basement.

Villain carefully lifted up the tile, groping in the dark for the edges of the tile, the best handholds. They gritted their teeth and lifted using only their fingertips. It took a great deal of effort but they managed to move the tile ever so slightly, lifting one corner onto the edge of the next tile. From there it was much easier to drag it away. Beams of light rushed up to meet them.

With one last glance to the darkness around them, Villain climbed down.

The sight repulsed them. Hero was curled up in the corner of the room surrounded by articles of gold and silver and jewels. The bed was untouched, despite a long chain tethering them to the bedpost by the wrists. They’d been too frightened to even think about sleeping. There was a desk with writing materials strewn about, Villain guessed Hero had been told to write everything down about their mystery spouse. But the thing that made their stomach curdle was the mannequin, looking terribly similar to Hero, wearing wedding clothes. A threat of Hero’s fate if Villain wasn’t able to get them out of here.

“[Hero],” Villain said gently. They flinched, showing a few more bruises than when Hero had left them, more swelling as the hours had passed by and now they looked so much worse.

Hero lifted their head up slowly, their glassy eyes widening. “You came…” 

Villain rushed to crouch down beside them. “Of course I came for you. What you thought I meant what I’d said up there? [Hero], I despise myself for that act I had to put on.”

Hero stayed quiet, looking away. Villain pulled them close, stroking their hair. “I’m sorry. I just wanted to stall for time and not get you hurt- they haven’t hurt you more, have they?”

Hero shook their head tiredly. Villain nodded slowly. “Okay, okay, good. Can you give me your hands? I’ll unlock these for you.”

A mistake. Villain was facing away from the trapdoor, oblivious as Other Villain crept inside, making eerily no noise as they landed on the floor, raising the meat cleaver above their head. 

“I knew you couldn’t keep away,” Other Villain growled. Villain turned quickly, only just managing to avoid the blade and shield Hero from harm. Hero screamed in fear and Villain leapt up to their knees to fight for control of the weapon. It was a losing battle, Villain knew that from this position they were helpless.

They fell back with a grunt, waiting for the blade to come crashing down into their chest, maybe even their face. It never came. Other Villain stood in shock, the cleaver falling from their hands and landing on Villain’s shoe. How it didn’t go through and hit their foot, Villain had no clue. Other Villain’s face distorted with pain, and that’s when Villain saw it.

Henchman. They’d stabbed Other Villain in the back.

“You get your filthy hands away from my boss,” they seethed. Henchman drove Other Villain down to their knees and let them fall onto the floor.

“[Hero]…” they breathed. Then they were gone.

“Are you alright?” Henchman said. “I saw them coming into the building, thought I’d warn you. Looks like I came in the nick of time.” 

“You sure as hell did… thank you.” Villain scooped Hero up again, turning their face away from Other Villain’s body. They were shaking. Villain could only imagine how terrified they’d been, of Other Villain, of being lost to them.

“Shh,” Villain whispered. “Come on, let’s get you home. This is all over now. You’re safe.” Henchman searched Other Villain’s body for the key. Finding it, they quickly released Hero from the chains. They collected a blanket from the bed and wrapped it around them for the shock.

“You’re alright now, sir/miss,” they reassured them. “Boss, we should get moving before the fire engines get here. If they see the door open…”

Villain nodded, helping Hero up on shaky feet. “I’m never going to leave you when you need help. I promise, [Hero]… I love you.” Hero wrapped their arms around them tight, hiding their face in Villain’s chest. Villain kissed the top of their head, but their eyes could not help but slip over to Other Villain, glaring at them.

“Thank you… for everything,” they whimpered.

both at the first and now, was and is, to hold as ‘twere the mirror up to nature
 [Hamlet Act III, Sc II]

I want to thank the fans who made this all possible starting back in 2008. 
Robert Downey Jr. Acceptance Speech at Disney Legends Awards 2019

“It’s ok to be gay ♡ God loves his LGBT+ children”

Scribbled this in the bathroom of my homophobic school in central Texas after a bad sermon on sexuality, in case anyone needed it. 💜

Trans women are real women Trans women are real women Trans women are real women Trans women are real women Trans women are real women Trans women are real women Trans women are real women I stand with my trans sisters

“I’m gay” - “same”, “same bro”, “me too! ♡“, “me too ♡“, “I accept you ♡“, “me 2 ♡“

“I am not gay but it’s ok!”

“pretty fly for a bi guy :)”

“♡ pride!”

found in a bathroom stall in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, USA

May I add something, because I will never shut up about this book (Writing Tools by Roy Peter Clark):

Finally, some good fucking advice

don’t!!! fake!!!! your!!!! interests!!!! to!!!! make!!!! someone!!!! like!!!!! you!!!!

don’t!!! bury!!!! your!!!! interests!!! to!!!!! make!!!! someone!!!! like!!!!! you!!!!

“what happened to you made you stronger” 

i was a child. i didn’t need to be strong i needed to be safe

why do people get so whiny when a nb person uses he or she pronouns. like it's not a problem, go get a hobby

pronouns don't equal gender. if a nonbinary person is more comfortable with he or she it is not your place to tell them they can't do so. not all nonbinary people are required to go by they/it. again, if you got a problem with it, try a hobby.

Heroes who saved the world in AVENGERS: ENDGAME (2019)

Can we all just…. collectively respect and agree that fanfiction writers shouldn’t feel pressured into doing hours and hours of research to make sure their stories are more “realistic?” Can we mutually respect the effort some writers CHOOSE to make by researching tons of details to their heart’s content, as well as the ones who just make it up as they go along? 

Lately, I just really feel like fandom culture places an unrealistic emphasis on research, and is often used as the dominant compliment towards those writers who are more inclined to do so. But, as a result, there’s both indirect and sometimes direct shaming towards authors who simply don’t have the time, energy, or desire to over-complicate the already emotionally exhausting task of creative writing by adding extensive research and details to their fics. 

Research should be a choice, not a priority or requirement. Some people are mega nerds when it comes to research and get pleasure out of it as much as (if not more so) than the act of writing itself. Others, like myself, already deal with crippling anxiety over writing ANYTHING at all, and the moment I think of “accurate” details and “realism” to my story, I crumble under the perceived pressure. 

I’ve personally been shamed by anons in the past for my apparent “laziness” when I last ranted about the injustice of expecting tons of research into my fanfiction, and it’s haunted me ever since. It’s a big reason why I’m stuck on my ongoing AU, because I keep lamenting over the lack of knowledge I have over drug lords, corrupt underworld organizations, etc, when, at the end of the day, it’s a goddamn Inuyasha fanfiction featuring demons and humans alike in gangs! Who gives a fuck?! There are TONS of professional authors out there who put little to no research into their PUBLISHED works, and yet, most of the criticisms they get are usually not based in the lack of research, but in the writing itself. 

And even though I know I can also write whatever the fuck I want and however I want, that pressure, that invisible wall continues to block me. 

Just….. let fanfiction writers do their thing, okay? Whether or not there’s research used in small or nonexistent doses, or immense amounts, that does not define the quality of the writing of the fic itself. It’s time to stop this notion that if you’re writing an anime fic that every single nuance of Japanese culture must be included in some shape or form. It’s time to stop expecting exact historical accuracy in a historical AU. It’s just….. not fair and it’s incredibly emotionally/psychologically exhausting to place that kind of pressure on any fanfic writer who’s only writing the fics for fun, not for profit.