This Blog Only Exists Because I Forgot My Email

warning: blood, and Grace frying the ever-loving heck out of his arm

In the end, their souls were all touched by each other

kind of more in depth version of this post.

Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5

Colt and Ryland graduate from high school with matching smiles on their faces. In the crowd, there is a man who looks like a copy of the boys, or they are a copy of him. Court watches from the back as his baby brothers graduate, Colt with a hockey scholarship and Ryland with an academic one to the same university. Package deal.

Court helps them move in, though its in the form of the completely paid for moving van that shows up to their grandparents house and the pizza that arrives later that night with a pack of watermelon gum on top.

They couldn't swing being roommates, and end up on opposite sides of campus. Ryland ends up with some business major who is rarely their, determined to join one of the frats first thing. Colt, however, ends up with a guy named Mark, also a STEM major, but studying botany.

Ryland doesn't like him. He is loud and arrogant, and thinks he knows literally everything. It's not enough that he is living with his brother. Oh no, it's only fair that they end up with a group of mutual friends, putting them at the same tables in dining halls and for study sessions in the library.

By the end of the first semester, Ryland is about to lose it. The whole drive back to their grandparents house for the holidays, Colt is subjected to his brother ranting about how insufferable his roommate is.

Little does Ryland know, in their friend group there are several bets placed. Colt has at least $200 on one specific bet, and he is sure he will win.

He genuinely hates being there, but he’s also not really being given the option to leave. He’s not interested in being on the Hail Mary (he thinks what they’re doing is barbaric. He doesn’t care if it’s the only option, he can’t bring himself to support it.)

Mark and Grace have been kind of fighting, being flirty asses to eachother, ect.

The explosion happens (this time though, Ilyukhina was there too) and for whatever reason Watney learns that Grace is being forced on. Mark is pissed. (Maybe Grace confides in him that he’s going to say no. He’s not happy about it, but he’s wayyy more mad they’re going to force Grace to go anyways).

He’s so angry. Someone has to keep him from attacking Stratt. He’s threatening to tell the entire world the moment he’s out of their sights.

Mark doesn’t know that this whole time, he was the second backup for mission engineer, just like Grace was the second backup for the Hail Mary’s scientist don’t forget, Mark had his bachelor’s in engineering. Only his PhD was in botany). He doesn’t know that he, just like Grace, also has the coma resistance gene.

With every spiteful word and curse he throws at Stratt, he’s sealing his own fate. Stratt realizes that short of killing Mark or having him locked up in some CIA black site for the rest of his life, there’s not going to be anything she can do to keep him from telling the whole world what’s happened today. Even the memory drug isn’t really a choice. It’s not perfect- we literally see Grace regain all of his memories.

So, if he’s as good as dead anyways… maybe she gives him a choice. He can either let them put him on the Hail Mary, where they think he’ll be able to help Grace since they are, at least in a way, friends. Or, he can stay on earth and endure Stratt doing whatever she thinks she needs to do to keep the truth from getting out.

And since Mark knowns Grace is being forced on…he can’t let him go alone. He just can’t.

It works because the back up engineer, thankfully, didn’t ask too many questions as to why he was being skipped over. It works because while Mark and Grace fought like cats and dogs, they’re friends. And it works because Mark is an experienced astronaut. If he’d wanted to go, he would’ve been easily chosen as their first or second choice. He survived on Mars for over a year, for Christ’s sake.

danny phantom absolutely SWEPT this poll (shoutout @dp-marvel94) so i've dug through my ao3 bookmarks to find yall the goods. fair warning- i haven't read most of these fics in a while, even though i still remember how much i love them, the descriptions might be a bit vague

Something's Wrong With Danny Fenton Vol. I by Ghostly_Cabbage ( @ghostly-cabbage) is a no-one-knows au where danny transfers to casper high as a junior and meets sam and tucker. as they slowly become friends, tuck and sam realize something isn't quite right with this kid. this fic is such a vibe- the mysteriousness of sam and tuck interacting with the ghostly and the slow somber build from danny being alone to having supportive friends absolutely MAKE this fic. volume 1 has a satisfying conclusion but when i say i have author notifications on so that i get an email the second any potential vol 2 drops...

Dying To Know You by Fridurmus ( @fridurwrites with art by @faerynova) is an absolute delight of a fic wherein valerie ends up half ghost too after the events of Reign Storm and deals with it with the help of danny. the writing in this fic is so well done, perfectly capturing the horror of the situation. this fic is nearly entirely from valerie's pov and it is so so good. the art is also fantastic, i'm such a sucker for less-human ghost designs and faerynova's art and fridurmus' descriptions absolutely kill it (pun intended) here!

Undercover Phantom AU by artistfingers ( @artistfingers) is a comic series, a no one knows au where sam and tucker independently befriend both danny phantom and danny fenton. more lighthearted than Something's Wrong With Danny Fenton, and currently incomplete, this collection of comics so wonderfully captures the teenagerness of danny, sam and tucker. the art is so wonderfully adorable.

Dancing Around the Truth by Taliax ( @dannyphandump) is a very cute gray ghost fic ft paulina! Paulina discovers Valerie is the Red Huntress and blackmails her into getting a date with phantom. which is suddenly a much easier (or maybe harder) task once valerie in turn finds out danny is phantom. the reveals in this fic happen in the first third, and the rest of the fic is glorious glorious scenes of these three characters talking out their feelings. obviously i adore the danny/valerie of it all, but the aroacespec!paulina here is ABSOLUTELY DIVINE, such a great insight into the character!

for just a moment longer

[you were loved]