#// he also is unable to feel physical pain so if he actually gets injured it has very little meaning to him because he can't process it

[lilghostiequinni]

Sick & Injured

Main Masterlist Lando Masterlist

Pairing: Reserve Driver!female oc (Alessia) x Lando Norris

Warnings: Fluffy, Established relationship, Injury

Summary: She's a reserve driver for McLaren and was called upon when Oscar had fallen ill, now he's done something to get injured that he physically can't be in the race for most of the rest of the season, McLaren understands this and tells him, it's okay and nothing will jeopardize his current contract because stuff happens. But she's called upon again to take Oscar's place, per his request.

Requested: NO / yes

It started with the race in Australia, Oscar didn't feel the greatest going into FP1, but raced anyway, then before FP2 was determined to be unable to race because of illness.

Oscar was told he wouldn't be able to race for the rest of the weekend, and before anyone could get to a reserve driver Oscar asked for Alessia Maes, a Belgian-Peruvian driver driving under the Peruvian flag.

She had the chance to be a driver before but turned it down saying she was fine driving for free practices and as a reserve driver, not wanting all the glory that comes with being a full time Formula One driver.

When she was told that Oscar asked for her to drive in his home race, she at first refused, but with some convincing she did race in FP3 and for Qualis, ending P6.

She raced on Sunday for the actual race too, many fans were rather confused as to why she was racing and not Oscar, many were mad or upset that Oscar wasn't racing, many happy that a female driver was racing in a Grand Prix.

Before the race on Sunday, McLaren took to social media saying that Oscar was sick and unable to race and that Alessia Maes would be taking his place over the weekend.

When fans learned Oscar was sick, they sent the support to him, and supported the driver they were told Oscar requested.

They learned that Oscar requested her, though his own social media profiles, with him saying, "Sadly, I am unable to race for the rest of the weekend, but the reserve driver of Alessia Maes will be taking my place for the weekend, per my request as she and I have become great friends in the last two years and I have no doubt in her skills as a driver."

So, with fan support, Alessia Maes made P3 behind Lando and Max, P1 and P2 respectively.

After the weekend many fans supported her on being a driver when Oscar couldn't, or Lando.

In Shanghai, Oscar returned to the Grid as Alessia went back into the garage.

During the week of Japan, Oscar was again unable to compete in the race weekend, this time it was some injury he had sustained falling from his bike when he went biking with Alessia and Lando, Lily too.

Fans speculated that Alessia intentionally pushed him off the bike to get his spot, but when the video from McLaren came out the next day after it was announced that Oscar couldn't compete in Japan fans realized that she was ahead of Oscar and wasn't anywhere near him when he fell.

But she did warn about the spot in which Oscar fell at.

It was seen in the video that Alessia came straight over when Oscar yelled out in pain.

Fans realized it was Alessia who told the camera crew to turn off the cameras and help get Oscar to a car.

It was on social media that fans learned that Alessia originally didn't want to drive in place of Oscar and that Oscar told her to.

It was also on social media that Oscar announced he wouldn't be driving for the rest of the season saying, "I will not be driving for the rest of the season, the injury from biking put me out for about 5 months, which would be some time around Monza. The amount of time I would need after to help fully recover is another 2 months, leaving only 4 races left in the season from there. So, I have made the decision that while, I will be in the garage sometime to help, but not drive that I have recommended Alessia Maes as my replacement for the season, a driver that has already scored points towards the championship."

For the rest of the season Alessia did PR and races in Oscar's place, scoring ahead of Mac Verstappen in some places and behind him in other's with Lando taking P1 in many races.

With the final race in Abu Dhabi, she scored P3 with Lando P1 Max P2.

Getting 3rd in the World Championship overall with only one point between her and Max Verstappen.

At the World Championship ceremony Lando proposed to his girlfriend of 2 years, Alessia Maes.

Afterwards many fans went back through videos and photos with her to see if there was any indication that the two were together

A/N: I used the 2025 calendar for this.

Tags: @poppyflower-22 @samantha-chicago @barcelonaloverf1life @tallrock35 @hellothere9597

If you want to be removed from a tag list, let me know so I don't keep tagging you. If you are striked through, I don't know if you want to be tagged, but just let me know if you want me to continue or stop

[queenvhagar]

hi I totally get if you've already touched up on this. but what are your thoughts on how people call Aemond Cruel, Arrogant, Cocky. I've touched this subject myself but You usually go more into a deep dive so I'm curious.

Arrogant as in "having or revealing an exaggerated sense of one's own importance or abilities" and "cocky" as in "conceited (excessively proud of oneself) in a bold way".... I think that in the show, Aemond comes off as believing he is more capable of leading the Greens to war or able to control his dragon than he actually is... and I think in the scenario that Lucerys' death was actually unintentional in the original source material then this might be the case.

Generally, in the book, I think Aemond might have been overconfident in his ability to lead the Greens, but he also didn't really get that much of a chance to do so before the Greens became scattered. I think Aemond from time to time could be capable of believing himself to be more powerful or invincible than he actually is, since he is a Targaryen and the rider of the largest dragon alive and I'm sure that probably gets to you a little bit. So maybe arrogant could describe some of that. I wouldn't say that Aemond feels proud of himself, however. I think he feels guilt for his actions indirectly Blood and Cheese, and following Rook's Rest, he likely felt some responsibility for what happened to his brother the king during the fight, in that he was unable to take out Meleys before she could injure Aegon and Sunfyre. I think Aemond also carries a lot of shame from his childhood thanks to his bullying, his eye being cut out without any consequence, and his father's neglect.

Aemond could be cruel as in he willfully caused pain and suffering in the Riverlands, but it also wasn't like he just randomly decided he wanted to do it for no particular reason. That is to say, he burned settlements in the Riverlands after the Blacks took the throne, his family's whereabouts were unknown and their lives in danger, and him, Cole, and Daeron with the Hightower Host were the last main players for the Greens in the war effort. His intention in burning of the Riverlands was to draw out dragonriders from Team Black and engage them on Vhagar, as the power of his dragon was what he could use to try to seek vengeance for what his family had lost and try to win the war against the Blacks.

In the show, Aemond certainly is intended to be viewed as cruel above all else, apparently burning a city just to feel powerful or because he was angry and physically harming his own family members for personal gain.

Essentially, show Aemond is supposed to be seen as cruel, arrogant, and cocky, but while book Aemond could act in cruelty and arrogance, he was not necessarily cocky, and the three qualities combined I would say are not the most accurate description of who Aemond really is as a character.

[cubesugarss]

twitter broken so i'm going to introduce an ALKALOID-centric soccer AU i've had in my head for a while!

This AU includes every character in ES. The teams are split up by agency! ALKALOID are the newest members of Starmaker Production's team, and they are.. quite a bunch!

HIIRO AMAGI - #1 - FORWARD

An extremely talented player with incredible willpower, despite being a complete newbie to soccer. Starpro is his first time playing on a team.

Lacks in game sense and technique but makes it up with his explosive speed and physical strength. He has a very reckless playing style; oftentimes, upon receiving the ball, he does not pass to anyone else and instead dribbles directly towards the goal, no matter where he is on the field (it works sometimes).

Has a surprisingly accurate & dangerous shot.

Despite being a first-year player on starpro, he improves so quickly that he becomes a starting player by their first game of the season (which makes Aira feel all sorts of things).

Starpro top 3 goal scorer. A good chunk of them are from Mayoi's assists. They work very well together

His teammates say he is very easy to work with because he has a very loud voice.

AIRA SHIRATORI - #10 - WING DEFENDER

An average player who has been playing since middle school but could never manage to stand out.

Was initially very wary about joining the team, as he did not particularly want to continue the sport into high school due to past experiences, but something held him back from quitting. He gives Starpro a chance in hopes that it will change his mindset for the better.

Lacks in physical strength and technique but has good endurance and game sense. A very careful player who lacks assertiveness, which is his downfall.

The only member of ALKALOID who does not become a starting player by their first game. His teammates tell him that he has time to improve since he's the youngest on the team, but it doesn't sit right with him.

Has a very intense girl rivalry with Hiiro.

MAYOI AYASE - #8 - MIDFIELD

A mysterious but incredibly skilled player who, like Hiiro, has never played on a team before Starpro.

A very versatile player who can play any position besides goalkeeper, but excels as a wing midfielder due to his speed. He also has very strong technique and makes very smart plays.

Almost all of his experience came from watching recordings of professional players. He is very talented and passionate about the sport, but never had the opportunity to play with an actual team.

Often gets very nervous before games, being unable to think about anything else several hours or even days before they happen. However, once he steps on the field, his teammates often say that he becomes a completely different person.

He and Hiiro are often grouped together as Starpro's "golden newbies".

Likes to braid ALKALOID's hair before games. He buys them matching accessories.

TATSUMI KAZEHAYA - #6 - GOALKEEPER

Reimei Academy's former star player. He previously had given up on playing after sustaining a serious leg injury. His return as part of ALKALOID came as a surprise to many

Became Starpro's starting goalkeeper after Eichi Tenshouin became unable to play for an extended period of time. He has very big shoes to fill, but is able to shoulder his responsibility (most of the time).

Incredible game sense, technique and physical strength. He can punt longer than 50 yards very easily. His strongest quality is his ability to remain level-headed in any situation.

Wears a sleeve over his injured leg; it occasionally flares up in pains. He has a bad habit of playing through these pains, which will come back to bite him in the future.

NOTES

Their jersey numbers are based on the enstars 7th anniversary playing cards merch!

Like in !! main story, ALKALOID are initially accepted into Starpro as an opportunity for them to prove themselves as soccer players & to make their mark as quickly as possible to avoid being kicked off the team. Good luck soldiers

I hope to post more about this AU once I have actual jersey designs! Thank u for reading <3

[pocketramblr]

for the hc game: au where one for all doesn't actually work for quirkless people, Toshinori just had an invisible quirk the whole time; the ability to do anything if he believed he could

this is like the opposite of that no quirk au...

1- ok, so you need to have your own pre-existing plus alpha factor in order to activate any quirk in your body. Have no plus alpha factor or no quirk? Quirkless, you need both in order to actually manifest a power. Some quirkless people do actually have quirks, but no factors to activate, and some vice versa. One For All quirk works like a car, but doesn't come with the key to activate. Toshinori had a key, and also a second, secret car that protected him all along from dying of having two cars, or getting his limbs blown off by the new car. The metaphors getting away from me.

2- Izuku, however, has no plus alpha factor because i know thats what you wanted out of this prompt. (he has a quirk- his hair is a visual indicator of this, but alas, no key.) Which means, he's going to be unable to actually use OfA once he has it.

3- but since his New Quirk Car is Totally Haunted and full of Secret Smaller Cars... i mean, does the can-do-anything quirk from Toshi mean OfA would let Izuku do anyhing if he thinks he can? No, since Izuku can't turn on the can-do-anything quirk to let that happen. hm. BUT, but, Toshinori does have a key, and Izuku's got part of his genes now, so can Izuku do anything Toshinori believes he can, just not anything Izuku thinks he can? I mean that'd probably just open more doors for izuku since his own self worth wouldn't hold him back. So actually what's going to happen is related to how Toshinori can feel his vestige self, but only when in contact with Izuku- Izuku can do anything Toshinori thinks he can, as long as Toshinori is physically touching him.

4- so..... that entrance exam is going to be frustrating. OfA just doesn't activate. Uraraka is injured by the zero pointer, but RG heals her up. Izuku goes home and after several hours of sheer dread, eventually musters the courage to tell All Might he needs to meet him at the beach, intending to give OfA back. All Might arrives, and tells Izuku that he is the right choice, still. He only had a few hours with the Quirk in his system, and only fifteen minutes to figure out activation, so All Might is fully ready to blame his own teaching on it. They try a few times to activate it on the beach that night, and nothing works. Toshinori puts his hand on Izuku's shoulder and says it's alright, they can try more later, but Izuku wants one more shot - and shatters his arm in the process.

5- he hardly feels the pain, overjoyed it worked even if All Might has to rush him to RG for more healing and a very irritated lecture about the hour. Still, they're in good spirits when they meet the next day for training, not at the beach (too popular now) but a room in Might Tower. And yet... Izuku can't do a repeat. Toshinori suspects he still needs more muscle mass and his body is instinctively preventing activation to avoid injury. He begrudgingly gets Gran's help, and everyone's trying to figure out what the pattern is. Gran bullies Toshi into asking Nedzu for help, which he does after an apology for resigning before the school year even started. But Nedzu likes puzzles, and he eventually suspects the reason, but isn't sure why physical contact is enough to override it, and if that will continue to work once Toshi burns through his share of OfA (or dies). He does, however, have an idea- would a support item with Toshi's DNA be able to replicate the effect? What good luck that UA has a hero student and a support student who can help- Mirio Togata and Bibimi Kenranzaki! (Izuku doesn't know why All Might looks so nervous at the suggestion that they meet to ask for help...)

[mamuzzy-creates-stuff]

*chins hands* Could we learn about about Pons and Angel? (:

Uffff this one took a long time, but I finally finished it!!!! ⸜(⸝⸝⸝´꒳`⸝⸝⸝)⸝

Thank you for this lovely ask, @riinoaheartilly and thank you for your patience! (っ˘з(˘⌣˘ ) ♡

Pons and Angel are kind of neglected characters at this point, and since I came up with them, I know literally nothing about Angel aside from that he is a little wacko who loves affectionately terrorizing the the troopers. Oh and his nickname is "Angy". His design is also still a mistery for me (I gave him a default clone trooper design so far).

But I have more info about Pons. :))))

Pons: I achieved divinity. I'm transcending the mortal realm with higher purpose. I can hear colors. Headshot: Go to sleep before Angy makes a needle-cushion out of you, will you?

EDIT: @ithillia said that's not how "cushion" is written. I say, fuck my life, he is space-french. Sprench. Whatever. (Thanks for telling <3)

More info under the cut!

⚕️ He is the only Medic in the CG who has an actual battle-scar. One in the temple from a knife-cut. And one in the nape, from heavy physical injury.

⚕️It all happened while extracting an injured trooper during a fight between the CG and a criminal gang. Since medical officers don't have combat skills beside basic self-defence, normally they don't leave the walls of the Guard compound, but this matter needed immediate treating and safe extracting.

⚕️The CG low-key celebrates him as a hero and Pons tries not to take it as a mockery, comparing to his brothers who are constantly under the threat of getting shot down while he couldn't protect himself from that attacker. This injury actually caused him pontine stroke and throughout the years of war, he is still in rehabilitation.

⚕️That trooper he saved? One of Fox's boys from the Planetary Defence. Spinal injury treated in bactatank, otherwise he managed to get out from the Medbay after 1 month of rehabilitation (why is it so hard to write down this word???), but the trooper always checked back on Pons, keeping him company, keeping him entertained with the latest gossips or books, taking a walk with him through the compound, forming a life-long friendship with it. I don't know too much about this particular trooper, not even a name, but I already love these two.

⚕️Pons didn't have a name before this incident and the surgery. But hearing the word pons pons pons all over again during his rehab, really clicked him, and named himself as such after the organ. Some hidden superstitious part wishes that naming himself such as the damaged part of his brain would manifest in his recovery.

Pons is a latin word for "bridge", also the name for that part of the brain that responsible for unconcious processes and involuntarily movements, eg.: blinking, swallowing, pain processing, breathing, digestion, heartbeat, regulating sleep-cycle, even dreaming!

Pontine stroke causes motor and sensory impairment, weakness or paralysis in parts affected by cranial nerve, clumsy voluntarily movements, inability to control muscles for swallowing and speaking, and can be responsible for sleep-paralysis.

I actually came up with Pons while watching a documentary eries about the brain and wanted a clone character who sleepwalks. I'm not sure I'm keeping the sleepwalking part though.

⚕️He just can't have a good night sleep and haunted by night-terrors and sleep-paralysis. Always tired, basicly lives on caf and stims.

⚕️Pons hates himself for being unable to maintain his duty as a medic, not in serious matters that need steady hands and focus. instead he is the one who needs contant treatment and attention. Still, Headshot gives him reading materials to study to keep him mentally fit, often ask him for advice when he is stuck and does everything to make Pons feel, he is still part of the team and he is waited back.

⚕️He develops love for painting which started as an exercise for improving on his motor movements. His pictures depicting monsters, inspired by his nightmares became posters decorating various barrack rooms in the CG.

⚕️I drew this picture about him weeks ago, but thinking on actually giving him signs of stroke next time I draw him.

⚕️ @ithillia said I should name Pons' friend Jason. I don't know if he is a Jason-type of guy. But I used to know a Jason when I was a kid and have fond memories of him, he drew very cool stuff, and he is working now as a pharmacist. Maybe this is fate.

Hmmm... that's it so far. If you have more specific questions about him, don't hesitate to ask! <3

[mermaidsirennikita]

Could you rec HR with the hero having a...idk, I don't want to say disability (?) Idk if that's the correct word, but the hero has a limp, or a backache or he can't walk that much without getting tired, he needs a cane, can't see properly, something like that, he ain't that healthy like the usual males from the romances

I'm not an expert on the terminology, but I do think "disabled romance heroes" is an acceptable term based on what I've seen in discussions. However, it's not universally agreed upon (nothing is) and in real life it would obviously very case by case. Gently, I would suggest not using terms like "healthy", etc--I have a condition that qualifies as a disability, but I'm not really comfortable with identifying myself as disabled (at this time in my life) and physically I'm overall pretty "healthy". I wouldn't begrudge anyone with the same condition for feeling otherwise, etc. Like I said, things like this are super individualized! But I appreciate you wanting to use the correct terminology, there isn't a single right answer but we can (and should) always try.

But yes! Historical romance heroes with disabilities. I'd check out:

Rules for Engaging the Earl by Janna MacGregor. The hero is a veteran with chronic pain and a limp/mobility issues. He uses a cane, and this is something that affects his sex life with the heroine--not a lot, he just can't do certain positions, and it doesn't negatively impact them. They get more creative (it's hot). It's a really sweet, gentle read; there's a lovely scene where she takes care of his leg when I think he's initially anxious about it. Obviously, this turns into a BJ, because... why wouldn't it...

My Darling Duke by Stacy Reid. Super romantic one here, with top tier tension. The hero was injured years ago in an accident, and though he can technically walk, ride, and stand, it's very difficult and he uses a wheelchair most of the time. He also has it in his head that he's impotent--I'll add that Reid does make it clear that one of his more progressive doctors is like "yeah I'm pretty sure that you have a mental block and CAN have sex" but, what with the mental block, the hero is like "NO I CAN'T WHICH IS WHY I CANNOT BE WITH HER".

Surrender to the Devil by Lorraine Heath. The hero has progressive vision loss; he will eventually be completely blind, and he's really upset about it. I will add a TW--this book does deal with childhood sexual abuse experienced by the heroine, as well as the domestic abuse of a supporting character.

Flowers from the Storm by Laura Kinsale. Probably the best example of this! The hero is a famous rake, but he has a stroke at the beginning of the book, which leaves him in a state the people around him call "madness". He initially can't speak and has some mobility issues. Mentally, he's totally there--he has issues processing language. The heroine ends up seeing him in a asylum (they met before his stroke) and ends up helping him. It's super romantic, and Kinsale writes his experience in an incredible way.

Dearest Rogue by Elizabeth Hoyt is known for the heroine being blind, but the hero actually has a mobility limitation due to an injury he got on the job. I forget exactly what it was, but it took him off said job, so.

Edit, silly me, forgot:

When The Earl Met His Match by Stacy Reid. Hero was born unable to speak--he's verbal, but he lacks speech, so he writes and signs. The heroine ends up learning how to sign and it's super romantic.

Still haven't read these yet, but Joanna Shupe's A Notorious Vow has a deaf hero, and Romancing the Duke by Tessa Dare has a blind hero.

[digimonloving]

Tentomon, IceLeomon and Cherrymon with tamer, who is unable to feel pain, please?

Tentomon

Tentomon finds that fascinating. Asking if it's some kind of condition of their nerves or something that made it to where they just... couldn't feel any pain. He always loves to learn, and this information interested the little Digimon quite a lot. Everything could feel pain, how could his Tamer not feel it though?

Tenomon would probably try to do some research on his Tamer's condition. Trying to see just what was up and if there was a way to fix it. Sure, not being able to feel pain might be nice, but something seriously bad could happen to his Tamer and they wouldn't even know it if nothing alerted them beforehand! Tentomon never plans to let anything really hurt his Tamer but... still!

IceLeomon

IceLeomon finds his Tamer's lack of being able to feel pain quite interesting. He can near claim he has the same condition they do, as his training in cold climates made it to where he became much more able to take a hit and near not even feel it. He points it out just more to share the connection they could have when it comes to such a thing.

IceLeomon would invite his Tamer to train with him in the cold. He'd be aware of their condition at all times, for even if they wouldn't feel the pain of the bite of the cold they could still get quite injured with potential frostbite. If they both were to advocate for justice, he'd do everything to keep his Tamer safe, and to train them to be able to use their lack of feeling pain in a way to do more. Of course, he still silently worries... which is why he keeps such a close eye on them at that.

IceDevimon

Oh, he's quite intrigued. His Tamer can't feel pain? Really? In what way, though, he wonders. It must be physical only, everyone can feel a type of emotional pain. Even a Digimon much like IceDevimon has moments of wounded pride that could be considered moments of "hurt and pain", even if he'd never admit to it. He wants to see just how it works if his Tamer doesn't feel pain, but wouldn't go as far as to actually put them in danger. He's just curious on if they're right about it.

IceDevimon doesn't forget such a thing whenever his Tamer does something that could hurt them. They won't complain, but he still watches them closely. Humans were so fragile, no matter if they couldn't feel any pain he still silently worried in his own way over them. At least they wouldn't scream and cry whenever they broke something, surely their lack of feeling with pain could also quell that.

Cherrymon

Cherrymon is a lot like a grandparent to his Tamer. It doesn't matter how many times his Tamer tells him that they can't feel pain, Cherrymon still tells them to be careful every time they do something that could result in them getting hurt or injured. Just because they can't feel pain doesn't mean that they're invincible! They can still break something or get incredibly hurt in other ways!

Cherrymon just worries on what could happen when it came to his Tamer and their lack of feeling pain. Pain meant that things were wrong and could be fixed, but if his Tamer doesn't feel it, then things could be going on that they'd never know about. He keeps a close eye on his Tamer either way.

[komakomacora]

sonic forces au that I've had for a while

So I've seen a lot of fics of sonic being tortured with the phantom ruby. What if it was the opposite?

Hear me out okay, sit down have a seat, listen, hither.

Okay so basically short version, the illusions of the phantom ruby is basically keeping sonic in this illusion that nothing's wrong, and he's fighting along side the resistance. The times where he is not under it's influence is the actual torture.

Long version (keep reading)

Okay so, this requires me to list out the capabilities of the phantom ruby, that are mostly head canons. Basically the phantom ruby can do

-Make alternate dimensions(canon)

-Augment Reality (canon)

-Alter physical appearance and injuries (semi-canon?)

-Alter perception of pain (Semi-canon)

-read memories (headcanon)

-brainwash into believing the illusion (headcanon ish)

Not saying that the world sonic experiences is an alter dimension but now that's out of the way here's the big thing.

After being captured by Infinite and Eggman, instead of waking up and finding himself in a cell, he finds himself in a medical bay ran by the resistance instead. He figures out that he basically got his ass kicked by Infinite lmfao but his friends got there in time to get him before Infinite could. After being patched up, he learns they're all also at war with Eggman and Infinite. A city has already fallen in this illusion, instead of the multiple in that reality.

In this illusion, Sonic is fighting with the resistance and each questionable action, such as them being more standoffish, out of character actions, slip ups on certain memories, and more, is considered to just be an aftermath of the stress occuring. The most significant thing is the absence of Shadow. At first it's seen as Shadow losing his memory and switching sides, but then it's learned that Shadow is taking the place of Sonic.

The illusion also takes place over that duration of 6 months and is a mixture of what sonic wants to happen and things infinite thinks can negatively effect him.

Now when he's not experiencing this specific illusion, the times where he's out of them are considered to be dreams to him. Or more aptly, nightmares. Sonic often gets pulled out of the illusion when it's night, when he is injured in the illusion, or randomly to just fuck with him. Usually when he is pulled out is when the illusions are harsher or he is tortured. Because he sees these as dreams, later on he becomes desensitized to them, or plays them off as being able to do what he wants, which helps explain his candid attitude when he is introduced again after his capture.

After the rescue mission though, Sonic makes a comment about him dreaming once he realizes 'long the dream feels'. The team hears the comment and they're like 'huh?' trying to convince him he's not dreaming. And that gets even more weirder because Sonic is still stuck between thinking that he's dreaming, but then when he actually goes to sleep and has different dreams, he's even more confused, and then as much as he can be convinced that he's not dreaming, he still feels he's going to wake up and think it was all a dream.

It'll also talk about Sonic being unable to come to terms with a lot that happened in reality, and him getting mixed up with his illusions, his reality, and his actual dreams in reality. If this is confusing you GOOD! CAUSE IM FUCKIN CONFUSED TOO.

But yeah that's the au, what do you guys think 😋

[hellguarded-moved]

𝐈𝐍 𝐁𝐀𝐓𝐓𝐋𝐄  [ … ]   𝐘𝐎𝐔𝐑 𝐌𝐔𝐒𝐄

bold what applies - italicize sometimes - repost,  don’t reblog.

fights honorably / fights dirty

prefers close - quarters / prefers range

chats during / goes silent

low pain tolerance / high pain tolerance

attacks in bursts / attacks steadily

goes for the kill / aims to disarm / fights defensively / strikes first

is provoked easily / provokes their opponent / teases

gets visibly frustrated / shouts while attacking

uses strategy / focuses on the battle / experiences conflicting thoughts during battle

rushes in recklessly / tries to read their opponent before engaging

fights wildly / fights calmly / fights apathetically / fights with anger / fights with excitement

fights because they have to / fights because they want to

fights without regard to wounds / runs away when wounded / hides wounds / takes a blow to protect another

prefers a blade / prefers a gun / prefers hand to hand combat / prefers a bow / prefers a shield / prefers a personalized weapon / prefers magic, alchemy or spells

their greatest weakness is physical / their greatest weakness is mental / their greatest weakness is emotional

transforms for battle / fights as they appear

relies on strength / doubts their strength / relies on speed

uses everything they have / proceeds with caution / hides their full potential

exhausts quickly / has high stamina

behaves arrogantly / brags after landing a hit / belittles their abilities

uses psychological tactics / uses brute strength

avoids civilians / strikes down civilians

damages surroundings / avoids damaging surroundings

signature fighting style / makes it up as they go

mastered skill - set / learning their skill - set

fancy footwork / sloppy footwork

messy fighter / elegant fighter

accepts defeat / refuses defeat / begs for mercy

compliments their opponent / insults their opponent

uses unnecessary movements / moves efficiently / barely moves

prefers to dodge / prefers to block

defends their blindside / has no blindside / leaves blindsides vulnerable

uses all available advantages / strictly uses one main method

plays around / holds back / fights ruthlessly / shows mercy

waits for an opponent to be ready / strikes when opponent isn’t ready

fears death / fears pain / fears killing

has ptsd / avoids fighting

has lost a fight / has won a fight

has killed / refuses to kill

wants to die standing / would succumb slowly

tagged by:  @caemthe​

[maoam]

WHY HINATA IS NOT A GOOD CHARACTER

INTRODUCTION

I wanted to take a deeper look at Hinata’s character, considering there are a lot of claims about her out there, that she’s strong, that she’s kind, that she’s complex and relatable, that she’s the perfect woman and that she’s at least better than Sakura. I don’t really think so, and I’ll explain why. I’ll be focusing on canon, so no fillers or novels will be included in this post. I’ll say this as a warning, if you’re a fan of her character this probably won’t be something you’ll like. This will be tagged with the anti tags and put under read more so please do not complain if tumblr somehow puts this in the normal tags, it is not intentional. Also Sakura stans please don’t write lengthy comments about Sakura under this, I’m not a fan of her either and I’ll write about her later. Make your own post instead.

”HINATA IS STRONG AND THE BEST KUNOICHI”

Hinata is generally really bad as a shinobi and I’m not sure where the claims that she is strong come from. Hinata's entire character revolves around her being weak. This could have been fine if she actually developed, or if she found some other area for herself, yet she's mediocre at best and a waste of panels at worst, because she never becomes good or strong at anything. She’s not only physically weak from start to finish, but she’s also the equivalent of a damsel in distress. Everytime Hinata attempts to do something, she ends up failing, getting beaten up and having to be saved. She lost to her sister who is five years younger than her, which is what marked her as a failure in her clan. She tried to fight Neji in the chunin exams and ended up coughing up blood and losing her consciousness, and Naruto had to beat Neji for her. After Kabuto heals her fully, she spends the rest of part 1 either sleeping or missing in action. Very underwhelming.

If this had been only the beginning, it would have maybe been fine, but it’s a reoccuring pattern with her character. She throws herself in front of Pain, managing to do nothing but get one-paneled and almost killed. Even at the start of the war she had to be saved by Naruto. She tried to run to Naruto and tripped over a rock. Actually, she’s so weak she got Neji killed, when he had to jump in front of her so she wouldn’t get impaled. Why is she even in the front lines when she can’t fight? Even in Naruto the Last movie she had to be saved multiple times. In Boruto the movie she is still useless and reckless, leaving her daughter’s side to help Naruto, ending up defeated and having to be healed by Sakura once again.

I can’t say she’s mentally strong either. She has the personality of someone who hates conflict and tries to avoid it as best as they can, to the point of agreeing with others on everything, as Neji pointed out. Even without him saying it out loud, most of Hinata’s moments that aren’t her thinking about Naruto are her doing exactly this. This is not the personality of someone who is strong mentally. It’s the personality of someone who is too weak to have their own mind, someone who will go with the flow and is easily led and convinced. It can be dangerous the more you think about it. Hinata is also the bystander who never stands up for Naruto despite liking and admiring him. If she’s a compassionate girl, why isn’t she showing this by reaching out to Naruto and befriending him? Why doesn’t she show he’s not alone? Why is she only drawing inspiration from him? I don’t normally watch fillers, but there was one filler scene unrelated to Hinata where this girl says if you only look at the loser and do nothing, you aren’t much better than the oppressors, which probably wasn’t meant to be a call out for Hinata, but ended up being so anyway. Another thing that’s annoying is how she is berating herself often, yet doing nothing, it comes off as self-pity. Even in the Last movie, she is talking about how she must be a bad sister for knitting a scarf when her sister is in danger. Then why are you doing it and not stopping? Of course everytime this happens Naruto must cheer her up because she just can’t stop moping around and doing something herself.

Aside from all this, from the very beginning Hinata’s honor needed to be defended by Naruto because she couldn’t stand up for herself. Of course, after Naruto’s words she did stood up for a moment, and that was good, but it should have been a wake up call which altered her course. Instead, she kept doing the same she always did. If we take the Last movie into consideration, she’s still not strong enough to do anything even about her crush on Naruto. She needs genjutsu and Sakura to do the work for her. So even when it comes to the only thing she cares about 90 % of the time, which is Naruto-kun, she can’t do anything about it. That’s really sad.

”HINATA IS KIND AND SELFLESS”

There’s one mistake I see people make often, and that’s assuming characters that are quiet and shy are automatically kind. I wouldn’t say Hinata is as kind as the fandom makes her out to be. She simply comes off that way because you don’t really see her have her own opinions or disagree with the other characters. Hinata’s shyness on the other hand is most of the time a fetishized quirk to appeal to certain subset of fans. Her shyness doesn’t stop her from taking exams or hanging around Shino and Kiba, or talking to characters other than Naruto. She also has enough attitude to rub Neji’s status as a house slave in his face during their match, but because she stutters Naruto-kun every five minutes she’s supposedly kind. Kindness is shown through actions, not through standing around and stuttering. For comparison, we see Ino befriend an unpopular kid like Sakura, and give her confidence. That’s an act of kindness. Did Hinata ever cared about helping the branch members in any way? No.

She's supposedly "kind" but like I mentioned before she never shows this kindness by standing up for Naruto, or reaching out to him. She simply stares at him behind a tree and draws inspiration from his suffering. The only time she can actually stand up is to selfishly confess her love and die. She even said she felt like being selfish, and like I said she knew there was nothing she could do, she was told she’d only be in the way. She came there only to confess and commit suicide. This actually reminds me of another anime where this female character, after being unable to receive a male character’s love killed herself in front of him and said ”now you’ll never forget me”.

In the end, she cares about nothing but her own hormonal urges. Hinata tried to help Naruto cheat to pass an exam at the risk of disqualifying her whole team. This is the first individual action we see her character take. Did she consider Shino and Kiba during that moment? No, she didn’t even have an inner conflict on whether she should do this, whether it’s right towards her teammates. Even Naruto considers he might get Hinata, Sasuke and Sakura all in trouble if he accepts Hinata’s offer, which is why he doesn’t do it. Then when Hinata wonders if she can cheer for Naruto during his and Kiba’s match, she thinks Kiba might get mad. It’s more about how Kiba views her rather than whether she should cheer for Kiba because they are in the same team and should support each other. During the Pain attack, she left an injured shinobi, who couldn’t move, to go to Naruto, even when said shinobi told her she would only be in Naruto’s way. She didn’t try to save people, she simply wanted to confess and act in front of Naruto. This is about a threat to the entire village, which includes her comrades and her sister and she’s thinking only about her romantic feelings towards a guy she had maybe two conversations with and who barely remembers she exists. How is she better than Sakura? War arc really was the icing on the cake that Hinata’s character is only about Naruto. We should not forget the infamous ”Naruto-kun’s hand is so big… so manly...” is that really the right time to be thirsty? When Neji just died? Shikamaru mentions that he could help out Naruto as a right-hand man and then Hinata thinks “I-I want to be by Naruto-kun’s side too.” Then there’s of course the scene where she starts running to Naruto, leaving her post and teammates, even when Naruto is a mile away and already in the hands of medical ninjas, and even that ends up her pathetically tripping over a rock. Kiba has to remind her to use her byakugan because she is too busy gushing about Naruto. Eventually her only last line is “Naruto-kun”, when everyone is put into IT. It’s like a parody by this point. She doesn’t have any concern for her sister, her father, her teammates, Kurenai or her baby. It’s just “Naruto-kun” like it always is. Even in the Last movie, she is knitting a scarf for Naruto during the mission where they’re supposed to save her sister. Who brings a scarf on a mission? Why is she thinking about her romantic gift to Naruto so much she has to take it with her on a mission which focus is saving her sister? She even looks more devastated when Toneri tores the scarf apart than she ever does for Hanabi’s sake. It’s just silly and selfish.

”HINATA IS A COMPLEX CHARACTER”

Is she complex though? Her development goes from standing behind a tree looking at her crush she never talks to, to committing suicide for feelings that could never be reciprocated, to… waiting that a genjutsu and Sakura guilt trip Naruto enough for him to be with her? Like I already mentioned her character revolves entirely around Naruto, she has no hobbies or interests we know of aside from him. She has no motivations aside from being by Naruto’s side. She once had an interesting goal and backstory, but that was never fully explored, and it turned into her wanting Naruto’s attention and thinking about him. Her clan plot was irrelevant, she showed no interest in wanting to be a leader or even wanting to make things better for the branch members. It’s funny because immediately after the ending, no one cared about the Hyuuga branch and how the storyline was dropped and had no resolution. It was only when Hinata was being attacked for not showing to care did her fans start to over-analyze all the panels looking for the tiniest little clue that might hint at some changes.

It’s possible to be both shy, anxious and quiet and also to be strong, motivated and have interests and dreams. Hinata is never strong for herself, she’s only strong to be with Naruto, to die for Naruto, to motivate Naruto, to have Naruto look at her even for a moment. All the while Naruto doesn’t pay much attention to her unless she’s literally dying in front of him or she slapped him. Even when a big climax is happening, what’s on her mind is always her romantic feelings and her crush. I saw someone say if she were a male character, and she pulled this pointless sacrifice and theatrical confession in the final fight of an arc, she would’ve been universally mocked. Actually, I think even if it was Sakura who did this instead of Hinata the former would have been mocked, because their stans are unable to see the same flaws in their own fave as they see in the other girl. Naruto is a battle manga, characters are supposed to contribute to the defeat of the villain in some material way. The only reason people praise Hinata for what she did in the Pain arc is because they either pity her or because they’re men who think women killing themselves for a man is great because it boosts their ego.

I also notice many Hinata fans don’t notice the vanity in their own fandom. They call Hinata “princess”, ”heiress”, ”Konoha’s first lady” and draw fanart glorifying these concepts and how it makes Hinata good, because they like the superficial status, what they don’t care is the titles are unearned. I thought Hinata’s appeal was that she’s the underdog and a loser? Or maybe her real appeal is the idea of getting everything you want without doing much in order to get it?  Another claim is that Hinata is the perfect woman, which you might see from men. This is what I might dislike the most. Men judge Hinata’s worth and whether she’s a good character based on what kind of woman they want and think is the right kind of woman. Hinata has big breasts, she’s submissive, she has no other interests than the man she likes, and she’s the only girl in her class who didn’t go for the popular guy. Many men hate Sakura, Ino and Karin for being fangirls but praise Hinata for being a fangirl. Basically to them if a character is a fangirl of the wrong guy, she’s a stupid slut. If she fangirls their self insert, she’s wife material and the ideal woman. If Sakura has to be saved, she’s useless. If Hinata tries to kill herself for Naruto, she’s ”so kind”. Rin is a one-dimensional character, but Hinata saying Naruto-kun for the 50th time is depth. Hinata is also claimed to be better than the other girls because she had more kids and thus is more ”fertile”. It’s like feminism never happened and we are back to the 16th century. Why are we judging women’s worth on how many kids they have and how much they can please a man?

I could also talk about how Studio Pierrot turned Hinata into a hentai bait for otakus, which also plays a part in her popularity, but I don’t think it’s necessary, so I will just offer this picture which speaks for itself.

END NOTE

Hinata is simply just a sexist stereotype, a shadow of a real woman, with not much depth, and who is certainly not better than Sakura either. Both of them are fangirls whose characters revolve around men. It’s wild to me how there are women who genuinely act like one must be a misogynist if they reject Hinata’s superficial, one-dimensional and boy crazy character. Her character itself is misogynist for crying out loud. And honestly, what does it say when even the creator himself assumes that Hinata is someone’s favorite character because he must like big boobs?

[writefightandflightclub]

I really enjoyed your Nathan fluff 🥺 we love this angry peach fuzz king 👑💖 would you ever write him being comforted after having a nightmare? 💕

First of all, LOL @ “angry peach fuzz king” 🤣🤣🤣

Second of all, here you go! 🧡 I will warn you - I think I forgot the fluff a little bit though. It became more hurt / comfort? More angst than expected? It ends nicely though and comfort is given to Nathan - but only after I’ve subjected him to rattling around in his own head and house for a bit.

Through the looking glass (Nathan Bateman x GN!reader)

Summary: Nathan has nightmares after The Incident. After so long alone, he doesn’t realise how badly he needs a little comfort - and maybe he doesn’t believe that he deserves it.

Author’s note: hopefully this isn’t too similar to All Better. I know they both take place post-stabbing, but I tried to give this a different focus. I know I could have made the nightmares based off of anything given the ask, but this timeline / focus seemed most sensible to explore the character.

Warnings: nightmares following traumatic incident (a stabbing); mentions of blood and injury - not graphic. Self-harm (punching the bag until injury); Body horror if you squint (some gruesome descriptions occurring in-dream, but fairly abstract); swearing; implied alcoholism recovery if you squint; mentions of therapy; Nathan mildly injured in fic; reader offering comfort.

Rating: MATURE for themes mentioned above.

GIF: by @santiagogarcia (this whole gifset is magic- check it out + reblog!)

Nathan wakes up breathless, plastered to the covers by a sheen of sweat - and not in a good way. On instinct, or out of habit by now, or maybe somewhere between the two, his palm slides over his body to the site of the wound.

He is so slick that he half-believes he is soaked with dank, deep blood again, until his fingers trace over nothing more than a half-concave, half-ridged scar. The lack of searing pain is the next point of evidence leading him towards an alternative conclusion. He’s not dying (again).

It’s just another gruesome nightmare.

Although… there is nothing “just” about it.

The nightmares are pretty brutal. Brutal enough for him to wake with ragged breaths and a hammering heart, his sheets dampened and coiled up around him. Enough that it takes effort to sift through the layers of terror and distinguish reality.

With what can only be described as a whimper, Nathan swings his legs over the edge of the bed, bringing himself into a seated position and bracing his head in his hands until his racing heart levels.

In his mind, he’s telling himself to be logical about this. That Ava hasn’t truly arrived to finish the job she started; but logic is not the safe haven it used to be.

She could come back.

She’s still out there, somewhere, and Nathan distinctly got the impression, last time, that she was vehemently not a fan of him.

His hand trembling, Nathan reaches for the glass of water by his bedside, glugging it down so eagerly it spills into his bushy beard.

Since the… accident? Malfunction? Functioning just fine, actually? Failed experiment? Greatest achievement known to man? Attempted murder? (Truth be told, Nathan isn’t quite sure what to call it, so he simply calls it The Incident.)

Since The Incident, Ava has begun to regularly visit him in his sleep.

The visitations are not waning with time. In fact, they are happening more often, not less. They are happening more since you moved into the house.

It’s a bad fucking time to have quit drinking.

You’d been sent by the board. Something about Nathan taking “tortured genius” a slice too literally. Something about him being in isolation too long and needing another human around in the compound.

Well, that’s not technically true, is it? The shit all started when he opted to get social, after all.

Fucking Caleb.

Before that, he was doing just fine.

Nathan doesn’t like it at all - having you here. Being watched. Observed. Having someone monitoring his actions. Waiting for him to either fuck up or prove himself.

Ironic really, considering where he kept Ava. The experiments he ran on her.

She’d probably find it poetic, if she could truly understand such a concept.

At the thought of her, Nathan physically shudders, and reaches for an old vest to haphazardly mop the excess sweat from his skin. Then, he balls up a change of clothes and tracks nude to his wet room, feeling relief as the luke warm water sluices over his skin.

He watches himself in the mirror as he stands there naked. It’s not a vanity thing - at least not any longer. These days, he examines the way his form has changed since it happened. He lost some of his muscle and bulk during recovery, whilst unable to exercise, his arms slightly smaller and his abs softer. His stomach a little more rounded.

There’s also the puckered scar, of course - that permanent reminder of where he was skewered through the chest like a piece of kebab meat.

His gaze travels up over his body, until his eyes settle on his still haunted face. He doesn’t have his glasses on, and somewhere between the blurred vision, misted mirror, clouding steam and sluicing water, his reflected face distorts. It transforms - for the briefest of moments - into her.

Still amped with adrenalin from his harsh awakening, this briefest flash sends a surge of panic zipping through Nathan’s chest, his heartbeat racing so hard he can feel the pounding of blood in his ears.

Fuck, he curses, reaching his arms out to brace himself against the shower wall above him, his body trembling and his head dipping down between the cradle of his broad shoulders as his legs threaten to buckle.

He turns the water cold, until it is practically glacial and thundering on to the back of his neck, subduing this spiking heat.

She really did a fucking number on me, didn’t she?

It’s true though.

Ava is haunting him. When he sleeps - and at other times too.

Nathan didn’t know robots could do that. Didn’t know they could spawn ghosts.

Nathan doesn’t believe in ghosts, of course… but he does believe in trauma and its effect on the brain. He at least concedes that it is natural to continue to feel afraid; but this?

Being dogged by the spectre of her taps into Nathan’s deepest insecurities.

After all, there is nothing a genius fears more than doubting his own mind.

Nothing a God fears more than his own mortality.

And the man? Turns out, there is nothing he fears more now, than dying alone.

With a ragged breath, Nathan towels off and pulls on his grey sweatpants, tugging on his black zip-up hoody over his bare chest. And then, keen not to return to his damp, tangled sheets, he tracks towards the kitchen - mainly for want of any more favourable option.

Of course, he had returned to the compound after The Incident. Something about that many fibre optic cables being a bitch to lay down. Sunk cost fallacy and all that - too much already invested.

But it possibly wasn’t the best choice for his recovery.

Nathan has certainly gotten more used to walking down that hallway since he returned from the hospital, and yet he still finds himself holding his breath until he is free of it. Still finds his pace is just a little faster as he passes through. His gaze deliberately averted from that spot.

Once, you’d found him lying in it.

Lying in that exact spot, his body arranged like a crime scene photo, his eyes closed.

Hey, it’s hardly his least healthy coping mechanism, is it?

What in the fuck are you doing, Nathan?

Re-enacting my death, obviously.

Uh-Kay…. A beat. A devious smile. Shall I get some popcorn?

Absurd as it was, he had laughed. Laughed for the first time since it happened, and, with an extended hand, you had helped him up off the floor.

Still, now that he’s alone, he does not dwell in the corridor, colder and darker as it is without your light in it, and he tries not to think about your face or hers as he pads to the kitchen.

When he arrives though, he bypasses it entirely - heading out on to the decking, the crisp night air soothing his hot skin.

He wants to be outside.

There are too many ghosts in his house now.

He has tried to shake it. Tried to desensitise himself to Ava’s face. Spent longer than strictly necessary poring over footage of her.

He built her. Shouldn’t that take the fear out of things? Not to mention the fact Ava’s face was simply a composite of some manipulable nerd’s wank bank browsing history.

Fucking Caleb.

Still, once Nathan had looked her in the eyes and seen a rage that was all too human, things seemed a hell of a lot different.

Nathan crosses to the punchbag on the deck -lit by creeping dawn- on instinct, or out of habit, or maybe some combination of the two, his unease riling him enough to sock some punches at its midsection. Right at the equivalent site of his corporeal puncture.

He punches so hard that the skin on his knuckle splits, but Nathan doesn’t stop. He throws punch after punch until his hands are scathed and bloodied, and a trail of spit hanging from the corner of his mouth. Until he hugs the bag - the closest thing he has to a warm body to hold - and slides down it, coming limply to his knees, wiping his face on his sleeve.

He stays there, dead eyed and still for some time, the pain in his hands raw and singing. Unpleasant, but better. Better than what he was feeling, and worse all at once.

He considers his tired, cumbersome body, and contemplates remaking the world one more time. Uploading his mind into a machine or some shit, so that he doesn’t have to contend with the fragility and failings of his own existence.

He stays there, until some motion in the interior of the compound causes the light and shadows to dance differently over him, and he looks up to see your figure there, cast in a soft halo of yellowed light.

He tips his head up slightly, opening his mouth as though he might cry out to you for help, but no sound comes out - only a thin, dry croak.

So, instead, Nathan watches you for a moment, moving seamlessly around his kitchen as though it is your own. Maybe it is - more yours than his now.

Observing you like this, through the tall, cinematic windows, it is as though he peers in on another world entirely. Something less resembling a nightmare.

Lighter than that. Something more like a good dream, albeit a good dream that Nathan cannot be part of. One he can only ever watch, from the outside looking in, always fated as he is to be on the other side of the glass.

Truth be told, you haunt him too. You represent everything he could have and yet doesn’t deserve.

You appear in his nightmares and his dreams, in various terrifying and beautiful incarnations. Many variations of which his therapist would have a field day with, he’s sure - or, she would, if he’d ever fucking call her.

When you first arrived here, he was plagued by grotesque visions of you. Grotesque visions of the skin being peeled back from your body. Sometimes, circuitry beneath, and other times, muscle and bone. Sometimes, Ava’s face was buried beneath the chilling slip of your fleshy mask.

Sometimes it is a better dream. Sometimes you save him. Sometimes he saves you.

Sometimes it is a good dream. Ava isn’t there at all. But the good dreams never seem to last for long. 

Sometimes you kill him, and sometimes...

The glass door slides open.

“Reenacting your own death again, are you?” you tease, though not unkindly, interrupting the spiral of Nathan’s incessant thoughts.

A lump forming instantly in his throat, Nathan swallows thickly, and looks up at you helplessly with a thin, joyless smile. He snorts as though it’s funny, but it really isn’t. “Over and fucking over.” 

You nod once, and, without hesitation, you extend your hand towards him. Your gaze cuts through him as you search his face and he feels suddenly see-through, as if he’s about to be hit with some Shyamalan-esque twist. Was he the ghost all along? Did he die here after all?

If so, is this purgatory because Ava is here too, or heaven, because you are?

Christ. So fucking schmaltzy, Bateman.

After hesitating, Nathan takes your hand and you yank him to his feet, drawing him inside, through the looking glass.

The room seems warm on the other side. It feels… safe.

“What happened?” you ask, as you look down at your joined hands, your thumb painting a smear of red across his split knuckles. 

You mean now. What happened now, but Nathan’s mind harks back further than that. In his mind, everything is connected. Every thing threaded to another. This one smear of blood to that weeping flower of red.

The thought -the thoughts, all of them- halt him in place, his feet firmly planting on the ground. Nathan’s hand clenches tightly around yours as though it is a lifeline, as he is cast adrift on this familiar crimson tide, his face growing increasingly angular and stern.

“She...” He swallows, unable to complete that precise thought, his eyes dropping down to his feet.

You turn your body towards Nathan as he croaks, still not letting go.

Your eyes flitting around his face, attempting to search his eyes, you tentatively step closer, sliding your palms slowly over his tense shoulders, feeling them rise with an uneven, stuttered breath as you do so.

He’s so tired. He’s so very, very tired.

And it happens all at once on the exhale.

Suddenly, your arms are tugging him closer, and his face is contorting as a violent smattering of tears beads in his long lashes. You are encasing his body in your embrace and rubbing circles into his back as his buzzed head sags all too willingly toward the junction of your shoulder, your fingers splaying along the smooth flesh at the nape of his neck and pads dancing over the gentle prickle of his hair. You are shushing and soothing and reassuring and squeezing and smoothing and cradling and Nathan can feel it. Can feel his heart race in his chest and…

Finally.

Finally, his heart is not pounding because he is reliving his death.

It is pounding because he feels alive again.

When was the last time he cried, even? The last time someone really hugged him? He doesn’t remember the last time. The serendipitous combination of Nathan willing to be vulnerable, and another being willing to hold space for his pain is an all too rare thing.

There’s a reason -or several - he’s so emotionally constipated, after all.

Fuck. I’m taking a huge emotional shit right now.

Nathan remains in the welcome circumference of your arms longer than is strictly necessary - until the tear trails over the bridge of his nose begin to feel cloying. Until his breaths steady, and until his thoughts and ego creep back in. Until he notices the way his hands are clasped at your waist like claws, fingers sinking into your softness, and he thinks to release you.

Then, he leans away, a weight on his brow making his expression stern.

He waits for you to judge him, another swallow trailing thickly down his throat.

However, your eyes are kind and level, dancing with soft concern. Not with judgement or satisfaction or pity, or with anything he fears.

It is refreshing not to feel so afraid.

Finally.

“She…” Nathan begins again, finally finding courage. All at once his eyebrows shoot up towards his hairline. “She fucking stabbed me.”

You take his words in. You listen.

His “reveal” is simple. Plain and factual. A little indignant. Kinda salty. It’s not overly emotional, or articulate.

But it is enough.

Your eyes narrow, and you nod slowly, trying to understand the true meaning beneath his words.

You even reach up to cup Nathan’s face, his springy beard a cushion beneath your gentle palm as you hold him. “Yeah, genius,” you tease, with a tentative, lopsided smile, dropping your arm all too suddenly, perhaps as you catch yourself. “I got that from context.”

In response, Nathan chucks air from between his teeth, bringing his hand up to comb through his beard - perhaps to obscure his involuntary smile, or perhaps chasing your tender touch, the impression of it left warm on his cheek.

As he brings his hand up, your brows draw together, and you hook his bloodied paw delicately in yours, examining the wound, and leading him gingerly across to the couch as though his whole being might be hurting along with it.

It is.

You order him to stay put while you fetch the first aid kit, and then, in stages, Nathan watches you with fascination as you painstakingly clean and tend to his wounds, without ever being asked to.

He watches you carefully swipe the angry red away from his skin, and, to his overactive mind, it’s all connected. This red is one and the same with the flower of blooming red from The Incident.

Ava hurt him then, and she is hurting him now too.

And you…

“Going to tell the board about this?” Nathan asks, his voice weak and scuffed.

You search his eyes, holding your words back for a moment before answering. Then, you launch them on a big breath. “Fuck the board, Nathan. I told those assholes to stick it.”

Nathan blinks in confusion, shaking his head, his hand flourishing emphatically through the air. “Then… what the fuck are you still doing in my house?”

“Well. I’m… here for you,” you admit, sucking in air through your teeth, your voice shrinking. “If you want that.”

Well, that’s news to him.

Welcome news, perhaps?

You’re not watching him at all, are you? Not observing. Not asking him to evidence his humanity. Not waiting to see whether he fucks up or proves himself.

Instead, you’re seeing him. You’re seeing him and you’re not running.

Nathan had begun to think that maybe he was the nightmare. He’d begun to think he might always be haunted.

Always alone. That he might die that way; again.

And now, here you are.

Nathan thinks about that. He could so easily revert to his old ways, in this moment. Of pride and ego and stubborn independence.

But, perhaps those assholes from the board got a few things right - he’ll admit.

Maybe he had been in isolation too long. Maybe he didn’t need to take “tortured genius” quite so literally.

And so, Nathan almost protests. Almost rejects your presence and your comfort and pushes you away. But the truth is, he’s just so… tired. He’s had so many nightmares, and this time, he’d like to be on the other side of the glass. He’d like to step into that dream.

Nathan takes a deep breath, and releases on the exhale. Releases more than air.

He slowly, ever so slowly, shifts towards you on the couch, angling his body until he can safely dip his head towards your lap, his nose pointed in towards your abdomen and his knees curling around you.

“Th.. this okay?” he asks weakly.

You throw your splayed hands up into the air in surprise as the weight of Nathan settles there, but as he curls his arms around your middle and shuffles closer, you ease into it. You snake your fingers in intricate caresses over his head and neck and shoulders.

“Yeah, Nathan. This is okay,” you soothe gently, voice taut with emotion.

You comfort him.

And finally, Nathan does not need to peel your skin back to know what’s underneath.

He knows you’re not a robot, and that, as your kind touch finds him corporeal, that he is not a ghost.

He closes his eyes. And this time, when he next wakes, he knows that whether the dream is bad or better or good, it doesn’t matter. Because you will be there with him.

He wants you with him.

It’s not at all natural to him, to have you around. For the longest time, he didn’t like it. It didn’t come instinctually, and he has formed no familiar habits.

It isn’t easy - he doesn’t make it easy.

But he wants it to be.

And, in your arms, he can finally dream that it will all work out. What’s more; he can dream he deserves it, too.

[linkspooky]

Who is it who really needs saving? 

is the question Dabi asked when Tokoyami came to rescue Hawks in the middle of the raid war arc. Dabi asks this question just after Hawks stabbed twice in the back with the justification that it would save people, despite the fact that Twice was also a victim too, and also someone in need of saving. Dabi’s question is especially poignant because it asks who is hero society invested in saving, a question that is repeated by Twice who believes Hero Society only saves the good victims, and Himiko as well who asks if Heroes save people, then was Twice not a person. 

I bring this up because chapter 299/300 end on another parallel between Dabi and Hawks. Both of them have their backs being shown, however, Hawks is already healing due to the nature of his quirk, whereas the permanent burns on Dabi’s skin has already gotten worse. Hawks and Dabi also have opposite goals at this point, Hawks to support Endeavor, and Dabi’s ultimate goal is to bring him down. However, Rei’s words over Endeavor’s panel add another layer of complication to this. “Those regrets and guilt, the rest of those have borne that burden much more than you have.” Endeavor is suffering, but he’s not the one most in need of saving. I believe next chapter rightly, Rei is going to point out that the ones most in need of saving are the ones who suffered the most because of Endeavor’s actions. Endeavor was never the one in need of saving, and in need of redemption in the first place, rather it was Dabi. 

1. Started From the Bottom Now We’re Even Lower

Hawks and Dabi are seeming opposites even from their origin points. Hawks was born in a poor household the son to a minor villain, Touya a rich household the son of the number two hero. Hawks family name basically means nothing to the point where the hero commission easily erased it, whereas Dabi’s family name has dominated his entire life. Touya from a young age was given everything he needed to become a hero and his father even encouraged him, while Hawks was on the run from the law and couldn’t even leave his small house without getting yelled at. 

At first, Hawks was born with a quirk that both of his parents disapproved of as they constantly asked him what his wings were even for, and seemed disgusted by his mutation. While at the same time, Touya was born with a quirk that his father was happy with, a fire quirk even stronger than his own which Enji thought gave him enough of a potential that he didn’t need to worry about finding an ideal hybrid quirk. He could pass all his techniques onto his firstborn son who seemed eager to learn. 

The only real similarity between both of them was that for both children, Endeavor was clearly their favorite hero. Touya was eager to please his father and train with him in order to inherit his hero techniques, and when Endeavor captured Hawks father, it convinced Hawks that heroes were real. 

However, both of them experienced a sudden reversal of fate. This is where circumstances for both of them flipped. Touya’s quirk was in fact revealed to be a very harmful hybridization of his parents two quirks, he inherited his father’s flames but even hotter, while at the same time inheriting Rei’s sensitivity to fire which made th overheating flaw even worse on him causing his quirk to deliberately harm his body. Hawks however, is an ideali hybridization of both of his parents quirks. His mother Tomie has a quirk that creates eyeballs and seems ideal for searching, watching and locating things, while his father’s feather quirks on his arms that could sharpen into blades turned into wings on his back that were both capable of searching and detection like his mother’s eyeballs and sharpening into blades like his father’s. 

At first it seems destined that Touya was ging to become a hero, while Hawks had no hope for him, but because of the nature of their quirks the opposite happened. When Hawks was young he was able to save a busload of people from crashing which got him recruited by the hero commission. While it’s implied that Touya kept trying to train on his own even after Endeavor stopped the training and abandoned him in favor of Shoto, and because of that Touya had his training accident at Sekoto peek and burned to death. 

Dabi and Hawks are seeming opposites, but they’re actually quite similar if you think about it. Both of them grew up in abusive households that are intentionally paralleled, they have controlling and physically violent fathers, and mothers who are coded as mentally ill, Tomie was unfit to take care of a child, and Rei was eventually pushed to a breaking point where she was unable to anymore and then forcibly separated and institutionalized by her husband. Both, also experienced a separation from their mother, Rei was hospitalized around the time Toya finally died, and the Hero Commission promised Tomie support if she cut all ties from him. Both of them also dreamed of becoming heroes, and tried their best to, even Touya after his father rejected him kept training on their own. 

The only difference between them is circumstances, Hawks was saved because he was born with a useful quirk, Touya despite his father being the number two hero was never saved. 

2. We’re the Heroes, Who Don’t Do Anything

In fact it’s implied that Enji intentionally looked away and forced himself to forget Touya’s suffering. For instance, the first time Touya trains with Enji he’s shown wearing a sleeveless shirt. Every time after that, Touya has long jacket sleeves on. When he’s crying to Natsuo, when he’s pulling out his hair, and the last memory from before his death, every time Touya is shown hiding his arms. We also know that Dabi, has burns that go all the way up his arms which is exactly where his flames emerge from. It’s also the place where Touya burns himself when Enji remembers training with him for the first time. 

It’s likely that Touya was walking around with burns up his arms from the training he was inflicting on himself, and Enji simply didn’t notice because his unreliable narrator status, he forgets everything he has done to other members of his family, or intentionally downplays the severity of it in order to avoid the guilt and consequences of his actions. Hence why he can say things like “I never meant to neglect you” to Natsuo, when we saw him call Natsuo and the others failures from Shoto’s perspective, because in Enji’s perspective he’s just a good father who went wrong somewhere along the line, whereas from Natsuo’s perspective he never really acted like a father towards him at all.

Enji only ever sees his own intentions, and not the impact his actions had on others. He only saw his heroic ambitions, and not the way he taught Touya that his only value was his quirk, and then completely tossed him aside as a failure and ignored all his suffering when Touya kept trying to get his attention. That he intentionally neglected Touya until either an accident or a suicide claimed his life. 

Either way it’s a running theme that Endeavor hesitates when it comes to saving his own sons. Despite seeing himself as both a hero and a father, he completely fails in both roles to them. 

He froze when it came time to save Natsuo from Ending, and the second time when Shoto was begging Endeavor for help against Dabi, Endeavor chose not to do a single thing. In fact the only thing that moved him was Deku’s pep talk that exclusively stoked his ego and called him a good mentor, which caused Endeavor to finally move into action. 

Endeavor is a hero in name who has no interest in directly saving others, because his number one priority has always been to stand at the number one spot and feel like he’s accomplished something. He didn’t notice Touya was most likely continuing the training on his own, and was spiraling that badly until after Touya had died, and even after that happened he still continued the training with Shoto like nothing happened, even mentioning that Touya was a small mistake. 

When the wounds from Touya’s death were still fresh, it seemed like barely anything more than an afterthought to him. There are some people who even theorize that Enji only believed Touya was always alive because he had never truly faced the guilt of Touya’s death and his role in it, that it was a comfort to him to believe his son was still secretly alive out there. 

The signs were obvious that Touya was spiraling, but he was neglected so much that Endeavor the number two hero who prides himself on most cases resolved didn’t notice what was going wrong with his son until he literally burned himself alive, and even then that wasn’t enough to stop him from mistreating his other son and forcing him into painful training. 

Touya’s neglect is as much abuse as Shoto’s favoritism and training, that’s the point of the golden child / scapegoat dynamic, they are both being abused. Enji was the only parent in the household, and if his kid was burning himself, and injuring himself all the time and it got to the point where the child literally died because of a lack of adult supervision, Enji could be prosecuted for manslaughter in a court of law. There are cases where adults just, do absolutely nothing for their kids, and those kids sometimes die of neglect, starvation, because of their parents completely failing to take care of them. It’s just as sinister a form of abuse as physical abuse. In both cases a child’s needs aren’t being provided for by their parents. 

Dabi is someone who could have been easily saved by his father paying attention to him, and should have been saved by the man who prides himself as the number two hero, but he was left to rot. This is a running theme with Endeavor, he’s a hero who continually fails to save his family. 

Dabi’s situation is also a metaphor for hero society at large. Who are the types of people that Hero Society prefers to save? Those who are useful to it like Hawks. It intentionally turns a blind eye to cases like Touya, Tenko  or Twice. If Touya did have burns on his arms from training but was able to cover them up just by wearing long sleeves, and Natsuo was the only one who knew then that goes even further to explain Dabi’s specific obsession with discrediting Endeavor.

If Dabi’s father had just acted like a hero, or acted like a father then he would have been saved. If Dabi’s father had noticed the person most in need of saving was right next to him, the incident where he burned to death never would have happened. Which is why Dabi’s grudge is specifically against heroes who do not act like heroes. Heroes who, cannot save anyone because they are too self involved to perform the duty of saving. He shares Stain’s obsession with ideologically pure heroes, that only heroes who put saving others selflessly over everything else should be allowed to exist and the rest are pretenders to the title.

Notice how Dabi pulls on the scars on his face when begging the people to think about this, about who should really be allowed to call themselves heroes. 

Dabi’s entire arc revolves around this question. Who are the real victims? Who are the ones that really need to be saved? Dabi is a character of mystery and subversion who is constantly hiding his real feelings. 

Dabi is commented on being heartless about Twice’s death, but his actions contradict his words. Dabi goes out of his way trying to avenge Twice even after it’s already too late to save him, even burning up his own body to do so. He tried so hard we see literally there are new scars growing on his back the next time we see him Post-War Arc. 

I’d also like to bring up that while Hawks accuses Dabi of feeling nothing about Twice’s death, Hawks is the one who killed him, and who after the fact shows no regret in his actions because he’s completely justified it to himself. He even remembers Twice like he’s some kind of old friend he took inspiration from, and not a person he manipulated into trusting him then killed. My point is it’s a reversal, Hawks is set up as the one who cares about Twice as a friend, but really was only using him. Dabi claims he was only using him, but he’s the one who showed an actual emotional reaction to Twice’s death and made an effort to save him. 

If I were to say this is one more point of foiling between Dabi and Hawks. They both don’t see themselves as victims and because of that they deny the victimhood of the other. 

Dabi accuses Hawks of becoming a murderer because his father was a murderer. Hawks when he learns the truth about Enji, takes Enji’s side over Dabi’s, believing Endeavor being the true victim in need of help in that situation. This is because Dabi and Hawks both deny their own victimhood, and they project that on each other. Dabi denies his victimhood and pretends to be the villain instead, he’s the villain who is going to take down Endeavor and therefore he’s not suffering. Hawks denies his own victimhood and his abusive past and pretends to be a hero, he’s helping Endeavor become a better hero, so therefore all the abuse Endeavor committed is in the past so therefore he doesn’t have to think about it. Both deny themselves and therefore deny any similarity in one another. 

They’re also two people fatally wrapped up in their own circumstances they turn a blind eye to the suffering of others. Dabi assumes that Shoto is “good” and therefore, must have been raised with love and had it better than him and was raised with love. Whereas Hawks assumes that Twice is “good”, and therefore worthy of saving because he helps other people. In both cases, neither Dabi nor Hawks really understand Shoto or Twice, they’re just judging them by their own projected standards. Dabi only understands his childhood as Touya desperately trying to work for Enji’s attention, so Shoto who had Enji’s attention must have had it good. Hawks was saved because of the bus accident where he saved people as a hero, so obviously it makes sense he reach out to try to save another good person who just had bad luck. 

Despite the fact that both of them are pretty much emotionally dead and in deep denial of their true feelings. 

Dabi has also made a show of how little he cares about Natsuo, while at the same time his most famous line from the pro hero arc is “overthought things and snapped...” 

Dabi is also the only one who notices it’s dangerous to bring Tokoyami onto a battlefield. This is when he asks the question, who is it who needs saving. 

We learn at around the same time, the hope from the Pro Hero arc was intentionally a set up by Dabi to bring Endeavor down, and show everyone eventually that Endeavor hadn’t truly changed. 

These are all small details yes, but keep in mind we’ve really only gotten crumbs of Dabi’s characterization so far because his perspective is one that has deliberately been kept from us. We see his past through almost everyone else’s eyes but his own - because so far the focus has been on Endeavor.

Just like Dabi set up Endeavor’s earlier success only to bring him down, this might also lead to a reversal in the narratives. In 299, Hawks believed Endeavor to be the one in need of help. We are also as an audience set up to believe that the narrative arc will focus around Endeavor’s redemption. This is before the series revealed the circumstances of his son. 

However, Endeavor and Dabi are literal opposites. They’re inversions of each other. Dabi pretends he doesn’t care any more for his family and will go out of his way to hurt them, that all he cares about is revenge, but at the same his ideals are heroic. In his actions and ideals he’s the one calling for a better society. Dabi is the most independent and distant from the league it’s true, and so far he’s denied their friendship, but at the same time it’s Dabi who is the most idealistic of the league. Shigaraki wants to destroy the current society, Himiko wants a society that’s easier on her, but it’s Dabi who has the ideals for a society he wants, one where heroes are held to standards and act like Heroes. It’s dabi better than anyone else who makes the standards for mass appeal. Because, deep down Dabi still has heroic aspirations and drive even if it comes from Stain of all people he’s inspired by. He has some sort of ideals, a world he’s trying to create.

Whereas, Endeavor doesn’t have any heroic ideals at all. His idea of being a hero has always centered around fame, status and the ranking of number one. He’s a hero unconcerned with saving people, only defeating villains to prove his strength. Endeavor presents himself outwardly as someone who is trying to do what’s best for his family, and working towards being the best hero he can be but his intentions are revealed to be selfish, at the same time as Enji’s narration is revealed as unreliable. It may have been set up for an inversion all along, with the setup being that Enji is the one who needed to redeem himself, when Dabi was pushed to the background. Around this time Rei also tried to reassure others, that he was trying to carry his regrets with him. 

However, as soon as Touya’s identity is revealed, Rei’s stance reverses. Now she properly calls out that, Enji hasn’t been carrying his regrets at al.. Instead, he’s been forcing his family to carry the burden of it while he gets to go play hero in front of the public. 

As soon as Touya is revealed to be alive, it’s not Enji who is the center and focus of conversation but rather Touya. In 299, Hawks believes that it’s Endeavor whose in need of saving, but we’re shown that Endeavor only really seems to pity himself in this situation. 

It’s Rei who shows up to remind us, who really is in need of saving in this situation. Not Endeavor but rather those who have been burned the most by Endeavor’s actions. 

Which may be the ultimate parallel between Hawks and Dabi as well, Hawks can’t see himself as a victim so he can’t realize who the victims who need his help the most is. Whereas, Dabi in the future may receive the change of heart he needs to reopen his heart again and accept others, and therefore learn to accept himself. Dabi is set up for a reconciliation between his two selves, Touya the victim and Dabi the villain. While ultimately, Hawks will intentionally turn his back on Keigo the victim, because he can only ever see himself as a hero.

 I’m not suggesting that Dabi is good or Hawks is bad, or the other way around, not something as simple as that but that Dabi is open to change, and this will lead to him eventually opening up to others. Whereas, Hawks who is given practically every opportunity to change, and even escapes killing Twice with no permanent consequences, (his wings are growing back, and he even is freed from the hero commission) chooses to support Endeavor once again. It’s Dabi who calls others to think and reevaluate, and is actively trying to create a change in the world, whereas Hawks only interest is protecting other heroes and not the victims that heroes themselves create. Because in his mind heroes are good and that fact will never change. 

Because Dabi is the one trying to create change, while Hawks continues to cling to Endeavor I believe we’ll eventually receive a reversal for both of them. Just as the narrative around Dabi has changed from irredeemable villain to person in need of saving, we may see exactly what was foreshadowed in this panel happening. Dabi walking towards the light, while Hawks falls further and further into the shadows - because it’s Dabi who is looking for that light, while Hawks chooses to remain in the dark. Hawks was saved once, and now he believes that everyone who is good gets saved, unless they are unlucky like Twice. It’s Dabi who knows the truth, that there are heroes who don’t save people, and it’s Dabi who is at least trying to confront that truth head on and change it rather than just ignoring it. 

In a way Hawks is someone who has gone blind from looking too closely at Endeavor’s light, whereas because Dabi was failed by Endeavor and fell into the shadows he at least knows the truth about what it’s like for those who don’t get saved, and unlike Hawks can’t keep deluding himself that this is a world where everyone who deserves it gets saved. 

[sunnypogue]

unequivocally.

coho!rafe gets injured a lot. his girlfriend doesn’t like it.

some soft, sappy & sweet coho!rafe. happy valentines day babes.

by the time you got to him, the cut above his eyebrow had reopened, a rivulet of blood streaming down the bridge of his nose.

he had a thick wad of tissue in his left nostril, gauze wrapped around his knuckles, neosporin seeping out the sides of the bandage. the athletic trainer moved to clean up his forehead, ignoring his hiss of pain.

you swung your keys around, not looking at him directly as you asked if was ready to go home yet.

the car ride was silent, save for rafe’s occasional grunts when you took a corner too fast, or hit a bump in the road. you kept your gaze on the road, hands clenched around the wheel at ten and two.

you asked him to hold tight when you parked the car, rushing around to the passenger side to help him out of his seat.

“It’s a bloody nose, babe. I can walk.” he teased, still taking your outstretched hand, letting you lead him inside.

you wordlessly brought him to the bathroom, nudging the toilet seat closed with your knee.

“sit.”

rafe obliged, watching as you dug the first aid kit out of the cabinet, washing your hands vigorously in the sink.

“gonna patch me up nurse?” he quipped, the blood soaked tissue falling from his nose onto his shirt.

“jesus rafe.” you grimaced at his stained shirt. “just take your shirt off and look at me.”

“what’s next, a sponge bath?” his joke was muffled as he tried to strip his shirt off without knocking into his facial injuries. you guided the offending fabric the remainder of the way off, unamused when you saw that his forehead was bleeding again.

“quit moving and look at me.” you instructed, angling his chin so he was staring up at you, his bloody face on full display.

you didn’t know where to start.

“I think there’s blood in my eye.”

leaning forward, you took a washcloth, cleaning the fresh trail of blood from his brow bone, before sweeping it across his closed eye.

“better?” you hummed, watching his eyelid twitch.

rafe blinked his eye open, offering a toothy grin when he realized he could see. “all better. you’re a miracle worker.”

rolling your eyes, you continued patching your boyfriend up in silence, butterflying the cut on his eyebrow closed, cleaning the dried blood around his nose, inspecting his bloody knuckles to see if they had stopped bleeding.

as you were smearing fresh antiseptic on his knuckles, rafe whispered your name, catching your attention.

“yeah?” you mumbled, glancing down at his mangled hands, pressing gauze onto his fourth knuckle.

“you okay? you haven’t said much since we’ve been home.”

a sigh escaped your lips, louder than you intended. “I’m okay.”

rafe gave you a sideways glance, knowing that was a complete lie. “babe.”

“what?” You scowled, annoyed at how perceptive your meathead boyfriend was. “I’m fine.”

“hey.”

his firm tone had you lifting your chin towards him before you realized what you were doing, your glare connecting with his soft gaze.

“just tell me what’s wrong.”

you melted, hands falling to his knee caps as you released a shaky breath.

“i’m just so sick of this.”

“of what?” rafe startled, hands scrambling for yours, long fingers wrapping around your wrists. “of us?”

“no!” you yelped, tugging your hands back. “not of us. of this - of you coming home bloody and battered. of me having to see you this way and not sob my fucking eyes out.

you glanced up, unable to interpret rafe’s calm look. his prolonged silence gave you space to continue, your hands moving back to his as you spoke.

“i’m so fucking scared. you’re on your third concussion, you’ve broken more bones than I can count, and your knuckles are so scarred I’m convinced him just patching up scar tissue at this point.” you sighed, hands squeezing tight around his middle and index finger. “I don’t think you realize how much it hurts for me to see you like this - even for something as minor as a bloody nose or a cut eyebrow.”

rafe let you squeeze his fingers once more, before tugging you onto his lap, shoving the remaining gauze to the floor. you briefly protested, arguing about how you needed to finish, before he quieted you, pressing you firmly onto his thighs.

“I love you, you know that? you might be the only person in my life that can look at me with two wads of cotton up my nose and not laugh, but feel actual, genuine concern for me.” rafe grinned. “the amount of empathy you have - it’s such a fucking gift.”

“but I -“

rafe shushed you again, pulling you into his chest. “I’m serious. I hate that I make you worry, but I’m also in love with the fact that I managed to snag someone who cares this fucking much about my wellbeing.” he placed his thumb under your chin, lifting your gaze to his. “you love so fucking hard, and so fucking well. I am so lucky to have even a fraction of your love.”

you went to speak again, completely overwhelmed by the sentiments, only for rafe to physically close your mouth with his thumb and forefinger, still lingering on your chin.

“I can’t promise I won’t get hurt again. but I can promise that I will spend the rest of my life loving you as much as you love me - fuck, loving you more than you love me.”

you giggled, shoving his hand away from your face. “it’s not a competition, dumbass.”

rafe smiled, leaning down to meet your lips, “love you.”

you leaned back. “love you more.”

rafe rolled his eyes, sliding his hand behind your neck to pull your mouth to his.

“love you most.”

[daiseasy]

sakura’s character development

okay so sakura is one of the most hated anime characters, i went into naruto expecting to hate her but she ended up being one of my favorite characters. it really bothers me when people hate of her without understanding her characterization/character development so here’s why i think sakura is one of the best naruto characters. (although she’s my fav i’ve tried to be as objective and unbiased as possible)

part 1: land of waves arc

so even though i love sakura now, i will be the first person to admit that she was absolutely the worst in the first arc. first of all, she was quite mean to naruto and even made fun of him being an orphan in front of sasuke. additionally, she never helped during an of the fights, and was mostly just standing to the side. the most important thing to keep in mind here is that she is just 12 years old. as children, we all say bad things that we shouldn’t have said. i’m not trying to justify her comments, but i am saying is that it’s ridiculous to judge her entire character til adulthood for a lapse of judgment she made as a child. also, it’s the most natural thing for children to be afraid. no matter how much training you have, it can never fully prepare you for the actual thing. when compared to sasuke and naruto, she looks weak and pathetic. the thing is, sasuke and naruto both are extremely brave and have a huge amount of agency, thanks to their determination to each of there respective goals. if sakura wasn’t with them, she would appear as a normal 12 yo, not just as a useless addition to team 7.

part 2: chunin exam arc

this is the arc where we see sakura go through the most character development. we can see that she actively feels discontented with her performance on the last mission. during the chunin exam arc she tries to not hold back naruto and sasuke by standing up for herself. after they get attacked by orochimaru, sasuke and naruto are unconscious and sakura has to defend against 3 skilled sound ninja, while already exhausted and with limited chakra. she eventually gets help from inoshikacho but this is understandable given the circumstances. even they could only defeat the ninja by working together. in this scene, sakura is held by the enemies and cuts off her hair to get away. she gets a lot of criticism for this scene. her captor explicitly stated that if sakura tired to stab her, she would attack her. furthermore, this scene holds a lot of symbolism. sakura never used to cut her hair because of a rumor that sasuke liked girls with long hair. the act of her cutting her hair symbolizes her letting go of her childish selfishness and putting her team first.

part 3: kazekage rescue (sakura vs sasori)

this mission is where we really got to see how much everyone has improved, especially sakura under the training so tsunade. her main role is working with chiyo to defeat sasori. initially, she acts as as chiyo’s puppet to dodge and destroy sasori’s puppets. although at this point chiyo is doing most of the work, it is explicitly stated that this would not be possible without sakura’s physical abilities. after chiyo’s gets injured she is unable to properly guide sakura and sakura does more of the work. at this point neiji uses byakugan to monitor the fight and states that it is equally matched. let’s say that sakura is doing about 60% of the work, to even be 60% as strong as an extremely skilled and strong akatsuki member is a feat by itself. towards the end of the fight, sakura is doing most of the work because chiyo is extremely injured. she is often criticized for being chiyo’s puppet by people claiming that she isn’t doing anything, i would like to point out that at this point naruto was working with kakashi to defeat deidara, a weaker akatsuki member who ended up getting away.

part 4: her relationship with naruto

at first, sakura doesn’t like naruto, she thinks he’s an annoying no good troublemaker, she is by no means the only one who thinks like this (i believe this is partially because of the konoha’s treatment of him and also because she believes he is getting in the way of her and sasuke). after the go on more missions and she able to get past her preconceptions of him by going through major character development and seeing how determined and hard working he is. they both clearly care for each other, always expressing concern when the other is injured. she does hit him when he is doing something (she thinks) is wrong; this is added for comedic effect, a technique often used in anime. she even defends him when he’s not around, for example when sai said something mean about him when naruto was training to develop the rasen shuriken.

conclusion:

overall, sakura is often hated for because people overlook any and all of her accomplishments and character development. she is an amazingly strong medical ninja without whom many main characters would have died (sasuke, naruto, hinata, etc.) i would also like to point out that medical ninjas have different standards than regular ninjas, they don’t focus on strength or jutsu, their strength lies in healing and chakra. she is a strong loyal friend who is not afraid to back down from a challenge and is able to stay calm in high stress situations. even if you don’t like her character, a least acknowledge her development and strength and the fact that she isn’t useless, she’s merely human. at the very least please leave sakura stans alone and don’t give them shit for liking her just cause you don’t.

sorry that this was really long but anytime i try to talk about this i am immediately shut down. it’s okay if you don’t read this all it was mostly just for me to rant (also i’m only at the pain vs naruto fight so please do not spoil anything)

[glitterge1pen]

When You Open A Pudding Cup Is It Loud?

tw; for general body injuries (once again nothing too explicit) 

Keigo Takami x reader, sfw, fluff, word count 1,683

“It hurts”

“I know”

“It pisses me off”

“I know”

You move around the room, closing curtains but opening up windows. Wanting cool spring air, but not anyone to pry into the view of your apartment. The lights were off and only the sticky afternoon sun illuminated the room. Your tone with the currently exhausted man on your couch was between stern and affectionate. Like a sweet orange stinging a cut on the roof of someone's mouth.

Usually you were more attentive to Keigo when he wandered into your apartment like this. But today you had actually been able to catch the news. Coverage was relentless in showing the wounds on him. You had been in the shower during the height of whatever action was happening downtown, but you had seen enough.

You paced around your living room unable to turn the TV off, having to turn away to walk to your bedroom, to check the fridge, to make sure you turned the water off in the bathroom. You kept coming back to the TV. You thought about running out to where Keigo was. To drag him out there and onto an ambulance yourself. But you wouldn't make it in time.

He had been impaled with a knife of some sort fairly early in the fight. While the wound was at first, not as serious, Keigo had refused to back down, or stop, give himself a break, anything that would have allowed him to even attempt to try to help himself.

"You got any ice?"

You say nothing in response to him. When you grab the ice pack from the freezer you don't even hand it to him. You toss it sloppily onto his face.

"Hey! That fucking hurt!"

His voice is angry, confused, bitter, you grit your teeth and bite your tongue knowing you've done something wrong. You breathe in harshly, trying to steady your thoughts before opening your mouth. You don't want to do any more damage to him, that wasn't your intention.

"I shouldn't have done that"

You say as easily as you can, but your tone is flat and your lips are pressed into a tight line. Keigo lays with one arm off the couch, fingers pulling at the threads of carpet. His other arm is holding his injured side. It's been wrapped in bandages, he's been taken care of best he could have been by healthcare professionals. But there is still a battered look to him. His hair in disarray, bruises scattered over him, the blood dried on his lesser wounds.

The blood. If you close your eyes and seek out the scent you can smell it on him.

"Can you move the ice? I'm still pretty sore"

You do as he asks. When you move the ice you lay it down gently, making sure he's comfortable. You sit on the ground next to the couch. Your hand dancing around his in the carpet. He struggles to look at your hand so close to his. He settles for the ceiling.

"Are you mad at me or something?"

"Give me a second"

He does as you say. Waiting for you to speak. Eyes flicking to steal a glance at you and then back to the ceiling.

"I forget that this is how the world is sometimes. I've seen you beat up before. A lot. Remember when you got punched so hard part of your eyelid-

"Yeah, yeah, I remember, please don't make me relive that"

He says, relieved that you're loosening up into your usual self.

"I saw some of what happened today on the news."

This phrase of yours hangs in the air for longer than you want it to. Your next words are strained and you worry they give too much of yourself away.

"If things had gone a little differently, you wouldn't even be here,"

"I don't get it-"

"You don't"

You are firm. You are stating a fact, not retiring his point of view but opposing it. His eyes widen and he pushes himself up with his spare arm.

"If you had given yourself five minutes to get this,"

You poke at his side and he winces, breath racing through his teeth.

"Fixed up, you would have done better. If you had taken care of yourself better, things would have gone better"

He slowly lowers himself back down into the more comfortable position he was in before. You see his hand go to touch you, but it flicks down to the carpet again. You are afraid to move. You want to look at the kitchen stove, see how much time has passed, but you feel like moving will break the now peaceful silence. Keigo breaks it for you.

“I had it you know”

His words have their bite again. The puff of his voice. That playful prick of sound.

“Sure you did”

“What's that supposed to mean?”

“It means that I had to help you get on the couch”

His hand softly smacks the back of your head. You briefly lean into the touch. For a second too long the contact remains. His hand awkwardly moves to rest in the little space between you, the edge of the couch, and his leg. When you speak you can feel his hand there.

You sit with him as the afternoon fades into evening. The stress and havoc of that morning fading. The more you talk with him you don't even notice how you lean to rest your head on his leg. How his hand will nip at your shoulder.

There is a lull in the conversation and Kiego takes the opportunity if you have anything for him to eat.

“Should you even be eating?”

His reply is mumbled and quiet but you do hear ‘soft foods’. In the kitchen you decide to put on some music as you rummage through the cabinets and fridge. You don't have much he can eat. You could mash up some fruit for him, or you could give him a pudding cup.

“Do you like pudding?”

You ask.

“Is it chocolate?”

“Yeah,”

“Then I like pudding”

You get him a spoon and a glass of water. Standing over him on the couch there is the daunting realization that this won't be easy for him. You could watch him struggle to eat and ask for your help, or you could just help him yourself.

“Hey what song is this?”

He says as he pushes himself into the corner of your couch where he can lazily sit up. His body doing its best to not disturb the heavy wrap of bandages on his side.

“I've shown you this band like a million times”

“Show it to me again”

He says feigning a clueless quirk of the voice. You open the cup of pudding and put it in his free hand but you keep the spoon.

“You don't have to feed me-”

He's so earnest here, like he doesn't want you to do it, like he's scolding himself for making you even think you have to.

“And how exactly were you planning on feeding yourself?”

He pulls his mouth into an actual clueless smile this time.

“I didn't think that far”

You dip the spoon into the pudding cup and bring it up to his mouth. He looks at you blankly.

“You have to open your mouth if you want to eat”

His teeth scrape against the spoon. You try to get more pudding but Keigo moves the cup this way, and then that way. A laugh blows into his face and now you're aware how close you had gotten to him. You pull back.

More aggressive with the spoon you stab the cup. Some of that bite gets onto his lips. You go to swipe it off but his tongue licks the spot at the same time.

“Keigo! Gross!”

He rolls his eyes dramatically. This happens several more times. Him trying to lick your hand or bite the spoon before you can pull it away. You try the best to act exasperated but you laugh still.The one time he does bite the spoon, it's so hard that the pain surprises him and he chokes on the bite of pudding.

“Shit that hurt,”

You don't let him catch his breath all the way, you shove another bite of pudding in his mouth. He struggles to suppress his smile and chocolate smears his mouth again. This time you get to it first, using the back of your hand to brush it away. You see him gulp down so hard you think he might have choked again.

“That was the last of it”

You take the empty pudding cup away from him and offer the water. He simply nods. He's less resistant to your help this time. He lets you hold the bottle to his lips, you tell yourself not to shake as you hold his chin in place. You're careful with the water titling the glass as needed. He's gulping it down though.

“Holy shit you were thirsty, why didn't you ask for water earlier? Do you want more?”

“Yes”

You fill up the glass of water again. You worry that he should have been here resting, sleeping, not chatting with you for hours. This time you don't even think about your hand on his face. That is until you see him looking at you. His expression was one you hadn't seen from him before. You pour the water a little too fast and he chokes again.

“Do you know how to eat food or-’

“Hey that time it was your fault!”

You finish giving him the rest of the water, pretending to be more meticulous in the pour while you try not to catch his eyes again. Now that he's been hydrated he looks somehow more tired, like his body had just been waiting for water before he fell asleep. You shut off the music. Stuff a pillow under his head. Drape him in a blanket. You're about to head into your own bedroom when his tired voice pulls your attention back.

“Thanks. Really, thanks”

☽༓･*˚⁺‧͙·͙*̩̩͙˚̩̥̩̥*̩̩̥͙　✩　*̩̩̥͙˚̩̥̩̥*̩̩͙‧͙ .·͙*̩̩͙˚̩̥̩̥*̩̩̥͙　✩　*̩̩̥͙˚̩̥̩̥*̩̩͙‧͙ .‧͙⁺˚*･༓☾

A/N: Having a physical form to exist in is the burden of both dead and living, anyways currently eating a fudge pop and trying to find good turnip prices in animal crossing. Also??? Me?? Posting on a week day??? What is this??? The beginning of a 2000s teen film were my life starts getting wacky and weird??? I need sleep jesus fucking christ. Peace and love or whatever they say <3

[detectivereyes]

Even If You Stumble A Step, You’re Still Moving Forward

Summary: TK and Carlos move into their new home post-finale and TK doesn't exactly make the best first impression on their new neighbors...

Notes: this was like a fever dream i had a few months ago and then i stopped writing but decided to revive it last night so... here we are. also title creds (and emotional support creds) to jillian @marjansmarwani​ because this fic wouldn’t exist without her. and also s/o to brit @moviegeek03​ for being extra supportive of yet another fic where [spoiler] tk falls down the stairs again :/

read on ao3

TK shuffles through the maze of boxes stacked several feet high throughout their new home. The scene shouldn’t surprise him considering it was only a few months ago he was moving his own boxes into their old home. However it feels different knowing that most of this stuff isn’t actually theirs.

Well, it is theirs now he figures. But the fact remains that most of the stuff filling the space was either given to them by various members of the extended 126 family, or was recently purchased by TK or Carlos on one of their many trips to Bed Bath and Beyond. 

They had taken their time searching for a new place to live. Owen had made it clear that they were both welcome to stay with him (and Mateo) for as long as they needed, but TK had known it was time.

So when a townhome popped up on Zillow that met all their criteria, they wasted no time booking an appointment with the realtor. They both had instantly fallen in love with the open floor plan and deck out back. Plus they knew the extra bedrooms upstairs may come in handy someday.

While they knew the vertical layout of the home itself wasn’t the best, having more stairs than either of them were used to, it checked every other box and was right in their price range so they had wasted no time signing the lease.

A few days had passed since settlement and now most of their days were spent trying to unpack and make this new house into a home. It would never replace the one they had lost, but it had been exciting to build this new home together.

Though on this particular day, TK found himself alone in trying to get settled in since Carlos had a shift. With the 126 still out of commission, possibly forever, and the department not having any openings for paramedics, most of the unpacking was left for TK.

After getting a good chunk of the living room done, he checks the time and decides to go out and see if the mail has come yet. Not that he’s expecting anything with their address still being so new, and not getting much physical mail anyway to begin with. But it still provided a good excuse to take a break.

TK opens the front door and starts to make his way down the set of stairs leading down. 

He makes it about halfway before his attention is caught by one of his new next door neighbors, Mr. Martin- if he remembers correctly, exiting at the same time. Mr. Martin gives a friendly wave and TK goes to return the gesture.

Except, he’s not paying attention when he takes the next step, and he misses, his heel just barely hitting the edge of the step before he starts to go down. He tumbles until he comes to a hard stop at the bottom, with most of his weight coming down on his right knee, sending shooting pains up and down his leg.

The rest of his body is sore, and by the time his ears stop ringing, he can just barely make out a new female voice asking “Sir, are you okay?”

He opens his eyes, which he had not even realized he had squeezed shut at some point, to see his neighbor, Mrs. Bailey- his brain supplies, from across the street making her way over to check on him, worried lines painting across her forehead.

“Yes, ma’am. I’m fine,” he grimaces while pushing himself up to a seated position. He tries to hide the blush forming on his cheeks. Not the best way to make a good first impression on his neighbors.

“Are you sure, son? We can call for help if you need it. Someone you know, or 9-1-1?” Mr. Martin joins in the conversation.

“No!” TK interjects too quickly, startling both neighbors. He panics for a moment when the weight of the predicament settles in. He meets the gaze of both figures still staring at him, clearly concerned and waiting for him to say something. “I mean, I’m a paramedic. I’m fine. Or I will be fine. Thank you,” he flashes them both a quick smile before pushing himself up off the ground, ignoring the sharp pains that radiate from his knee when he tries to put any weight on it.

Getting back up the stairs is no easy feat, and he doesn’t have to turn around to know that both Mr. Martin and Mrs. Bailey are still watching him, concerned. Fortunately, they don’t know him well enough to try and follow or help. He’s not sure he would feel comfortable enough receiving help from some strangers. Half the time he doesn’t even feel comfortable receiving help from the people he does know.

He leans heavily on the railing, refusing to turn around out of fear of further mortification. Once he’s inside the home, he collapses right inside the hall, unable to go any further since his knee decided to stop cooperating.

A few tears pool in his eyes, and he’s unsure if that’s due to the pain or embarrassment. Not knowing what else to do, he takes out his phone and shoots a quick text to Carlos.

TK: we have to move

It doesn’t take more than a few seconds for the three dots to pop up before being replaced by Carlos’ response.

Carlos: ???

TK sighs and rubs his face, trying to figure out the best way to explain the situation.

TK: i feel down the stairs out front and all the neighbors saw

Carlos: Holy shit, are you okay??

He lets out a puff of air at that.

TK: you mean besides my bruised ego?

TK: no, i hurt my knee but i’m fine. that’s not the issue here.

Carlos: Okay, I’ll be home in an hour and you can let me be the judge of that. If I see any swelling, we’re going to the doctor.”

He rolls his eyes at Carlos’ worry. At worst, it’s a bad sprain, nothing that can’t be fixed with some icing and wrapping. But there are other things they need to worry about.

TK: you’re missing the point, carlos. the entire neighborhood thinks i’m an idiot. we can’t live here anymore.

TK knows he’s being dramatic, but the more he thinks about it, the more embarrassed he gets. The idea that these are people he’s going to have to continue to face everyday for the foreseeable future. And that now all they’ll be able to think about when they do see him. Now he’ll just be known as the guy who can’t walk down stairs.

Carlos: Relax, TK. I’ll be home soon.

TK: you mean our temporary place of residence which we will soon be moving out of

He doesn’t get a response after that. 

His mind continues to spiral while he waits for Carlos to arrive. He knows the other man is likely climbing the walls trying to leave his shift early but it would still be awhile before he could be allowed to leave.

Left alone with his thoughts, his mind keeps playing out the series of events that happened minutes ago. He can't help but beat himself up over embarrassing himself like that. Ironically enough, it’s not even the first time he’s fallen down stairs, having taken a tumble down the stairs in Carlos’ place a few months back. And of course he would manage to injure himself that time, and this time as well.

He should at least try to get up so he can find an ice pack to lessen the swelling. Sitting on the floor up against the wall can’t be doing his knee any favors. Yet he can’t bring himself to move, instead resting his head back against the wall and sighing.

TK pulls out his phone again, cycling through the apps until he hears the tell-tale keys jingling in the already unlocked door.

As soon as Carlos steps through the door, he nearly trips over TK in the doorway. “Woah, hey! TK, are you okay?” he crouches down to TK’s level.

TK shrugs. Now that he’s face to face with Carlos, he can’t help but feel suffocated by another person judging him, even if Carlos’ worry comes from a place of concern.

“Can I take a look at your knee?”

TK nods, allowing Carlos to gently inspect his swollen joint. He winces as Carlos traces his hand around his kneecap.

“This doesn’t look good, babe. I think we need to go to the hospital.”

“No, it’s fine,” he quickly shakes his head. The worried look in Carlos’ eyes only makes his heart ache, and he can only try to find ways to make it go away. “Just help me up and we can ice it. It will look better once the swelling goes down a bit.”

Carlos gives him a look that screams I don’t believe you but sighs. “Fine, but if it doesn’t…”

“I know, I know. You’ll drag my ass to the emergency room,” TK gives him a reassuring smile.

Carlos returns the smile, and extends a hand to help TK up. TK accepts, and allows Carlos to take on most of his weight once he’s standing. They slowly make their way over to the living room, with Carlos softly depositing TK onto the sofa. He then disappears into the kitchen before returning with an ice pack in hand.

“Thanks,” TK smiles, trying to mask the wince as Carlos places the pack onto his knee.

“Do you want to watch an episode of The Office?” Carlos asks, picking up the remote and settling in the spot next to TK.

TK shrugs, knowing that Carlos is just trying to appeal to him by offering to put on his favorite show. The other man doesn’t even like the show that much, often finding the humor dry and tasteless, but TK thinks he just doesn’t get it.

“Do you want to talk about what happened?”

There it is.

“I just can’t believe I did that in front of our new neighbors. They probably think I’m an idiot.”

“I’m sure no one thinks you’re an idiot, TK,” Carlos gently reassures him.

“Yeah all the neighbors saw me make an idiot of myself,” TK sighs exasperatedly. “God, how am I supposed to face these people everyday now?”

“Hate to break it to you babe, but this is not a valid reason for us to move.”

“I know,” he sighs again.

“Besides,” Carlos continues. “If your track record has proven anything, it’s that this won’t be the last medical emergency at our new home. It’s good that the neighbors are getting used to it now.”

TK gives him a pointed look.

“I’m pretty sure this is the second time you’ve fallen down the stairs since we’ve started dating,” Carlos says with a light chuckle.

“Whatever,” TK scoffs. “At least the other time it wasn’t in front of total strangers.”

Carlos softens. “That’s true. But I’m sure the neighbors just care about you. I don’t think this is that big of a deal, TK.”

“You weren’t there though. It was mortifying.”

“What did they say, exactly?”

TK nervously looks down. “They asked if I was okay. And if I needed any help.”

Carlos raises his eyebrow, waiting to see if TK continues. 

“They offered to call for help but I said no and went back inside.”

“See? They just care about you TK. I haven’t really talked to anyone yet but they seem like nice people.”

“I guess,” TK shrugs.

“I know, you’re still embarrassed. But if nothing else, they’ll probably forget about it by the next time we see them.”

“You don’t think I’ll be known as the ‘clumsy neighbor who can’t walk down stairs’?”

“Maybe the ‘cute clumsy neighbor that can’t walk down stairs,’” Carlos says with a smirk. “But we could always change that.”

TK cocks his head to the side. 

“You think our new neighbors might enjoy some peach scones when we go over and have a proper introduction?”

“You really plan to charm our new neighbors with your baking?” 

“You think it will work?”

“Absolutely.”

“Then yes, I do,” Carlos grins proudly. He then leans over and gently removes the ice pack from TK’s knee, grimacing at what he sees. “This still looks pretty swollen, babe. I think we need to go to the hospital.”

TK gives him a pained smile. “You sure I can’t talk my way out of this?”

“Nope,” Carlos says, popping the p. He stands up before extending his hand to help TK do the same.

TK accepts, shifting his weight and leaning into Carlos once he’s fully upright. 

“You know, I think you may have a paramedic blindspot when it comes to your own health.”

TK lets out a light laugh. “Yeah, I’ve been told.”

A week later, Carlos softly knocks on the door of Mrs. Bailey’s home across the street with one hand and a plate of peach scones in the other. TK had offered to hold the scones but when they went over to Mr. Martin's home earlier in the day, it was quickly discovered it was too difficult for him to manage getting up the stairs and holding the plate.

So he settles for letting Carlos do most of the work while he awkwardly limps up the stairs, leaning heavily on the railing to keep some pressure off his knee.

After their quick trip to the emergency room, it had been determined that TK’s initial assessment was right and it was just a bad sprain. He was given a brace to help reduce the pain and a pair of crutches, which (much to Carlos’ dismay) he abandoned after only two days, citing that they only made it harder to get around their home which he can now say for certain has too many damn stairs.

A problem which seems to follow him as he also has to get up the stairs to greet his neighbors.

“Maybe we should have moved to a neighborhood of single level homes,” he states with a wince as he joins Carlos at the front door.

Carlos snorts. “We can take it into consideration if we ever have to move again.”

“God, please don’t say that. I don’t want to think about moving ever again.”

“Good,” Carlos gives him a soft smile. “Because I’m planning on staying here for the long run.”

“Me too,” TK returns the smile just as Mrs. Bailey opens the door.

“What a lovely surprise!” she exclaims taking in the sight of the two men. 

“Hello ma’am,” Carlos says with a polite smile.

“We brought you some scones,” TK adds, gesturing to the plate in Carlos’ hands.

“Oh how thoughtful of you. Please come in. How are you doing?” she asks, turning to TK. “I’ve been worried.”

He exchanges a look with Carlos, the other man's face clearly saying I told you she cares, before turning back to Mrs. Bailey.

“I’m fine, ma’am. Thank you for asking. It’s just a bad sprain. But I do appreciate your concern, especially the other week.”

“Oh, of course dear,” she says with a warm smile. “Now, you boys aren’t going to make me eat these scones all by myself are you?”

They both let out a light chuckle and exchange another glance before following their new neighbor, and friend inside.