#[ooc: it's probably not visible all the time but when it is it would definitely look like a boss healthbar]

[stardust-kenobi]

Nerves

Crosshair x F!Reader

Warnings: SMUT, angst, fluff, friends to lovers, soft and slightly ooc Crosshair (not much though, I think he really is a softy)

Word count: 2.7k

Summary: You'd been helping Crosshair work on his aim after his traumatic experience being held captive by the Empire. After not much progress, you get into a heated discussion when he tries to give up, which turns even more heated after he admits his feelings for you.

Read on AO3

“Try it again” You paced behind his stoic stance, doing your best to encourage him without showing any sign of your very present empathy. The slow-setting Pabu sun would still provide you both with another hour of visibility. The amber glow warmed your skin, which was a welcomed change of environment from being cramped on the ship for days on end. 

“Why?” Crosshair growled, fueled by the burning rage built up by his defeat. The tremble in his fingertips broke your heart, but you could see that he’d made progress from the exercises. It was slow, sure, but there were definitely improvements. T

“Because I said so. You won’t make any progress if you don’t keep trying” You emphasized, doing your best not to express your impatience with his pessimism. 

“It’s useless, Y/N” He lowered his blaster from his shaking hand and let it fall from his grasp before lowering himself to sit on the rock beneath him. You sighed, but this time your breath didn’t hold any frustration, only disappointment in his self-defeat. You couldn’t even begin to imagine what he’d been through, and you still didn’t know the extent of the torture he’d endured. Months had passed since he and Omega escaped. Omega had worked with him a few times, mostly with meditation, but you were better skilled with blasters and aim. 

Crosshair held his head low, focusing his vision on the sand beneath his sore feet. You joined him without another word, sitting next to him on the rocks that scattered the shore. There were no words to comfort him in this moment, so you opted out of a conversation this time. The breeze from the ocean enveloped your frame, almost as if pushing you closer to Crosshair. 

The seconds passed. Then minutes. All the while you soaked in each other’s company, for good or for bad. He was growing annoyed with you lately, despite being one of his closest friends, all because you were insistent upon helping to heal his trauma from his captivity with the Empire. 

As the moments passed, Crosshair never tried to leave his spot next to you. He didn’t push you away this time. This, you decided, was an achievement. 

The half-hidden sun drifted slowly below the horizon, replaced then by a casting a blue-toned light from the rising moon. It was peaceful, sitting together, communicating without saying a word. 

“I’ll probably head back soon. We’ll try again tomorrow” You spoke gently when breaking the silence.

“I’m done” Crosshair spoke softly, his tone was firm and assured. 

“Cross-” You sighed.

“I said I’m done” He reiterated, interrupting your plea. 

“You’re just going to give up?” You scoffed. 

“Seems so” He shrugged. 

You crossed your arms to your chest and stood in front of him now, staring at him in disappointment.

“You can stand there all night if you’d like. I’m not changing my mind” He muttered, finally looking up to meet your gaze. 

You pondered your next breath, but ultimately fell short on your words. With a subtle nod in his direction, you began walking away from your peaceful corner on the beach. 

“I’m sorry for what they did to you, Crosshair. But you can’t punish yourself forever” You spoke calmly as the distance between you grew. 

“What did you say?” He sneered, turning his body toward you, still sitting on the rock. 

You froze in your tracks. You’d struck a nerve. Good. 

“You heard me”

He slowly stood up and turned to you, “You think it’s my fault that I’m not improving?”

“You are improving, Crosshair. But, you’re giving up too easily”

“You don’t know what you’re talking about”

“I care about you, Crosshair. Believe it or not, I do. I know you’re not used to that but…you’re going to have to get used to it because I’m not going anywhere. And I’m not giving up on you”

His eyes grew subtly sorrowful as he stared into you, absorbing your words slowly. His head drifted from your gaze over to the open water that was now glistening in the moonlight.

“It's..my nerves” He said shamefully.

“Okay…” You tried to understand what he meant. Maybe you’d been pushing him too hard “Would it help if we took a break for a few d-”

“You. You make me…nervous” He admitted with a loud sigh trailing the end of his words like he had to force himself to say it. 

As you pondered what he’d just said, your heart fluttered with unexpected excitement. 

“What? How do I make you nervous?” You breathed out with what was almost a chuckle. 

“Forget it” he scoffed, picking up his blaster and turning back toward the island, passing you in the process. You grab his arm to stop him. He doesn’t resist even though your gentle touch should not have stopped him in his tracks, but it did tonight. 

“No. Tell me what you mean.” You demanded. 

Crosshair contemplated it for a second before yanking his arm from your grasp, “You really want to know? Fine”.

He looked toward the island as if to check and make sure you were alone. 

“I can’t…I can’t think around you. I can’t focus” He lowered his head,”I’ve tried to ignore how I feel around you, but it’s been just as useless as you training me”

For the first time in a long time, you were speechless. Crosshair was not a man of many words, nor was he one to express his feelings.

“Crosshair-” You tried to answer but he was uninterested in your counter argument. What he didn’t know was that there was no counter argument to be had. 

“Don’t. Just don’t” He groaned.

“I love you” You hurriedly responded spitting it out like it was stuck on your tongue. You laid  it all out plainly and simply. You loved him. You had for months. 

Crosshair’s expression held a look of pure disbelief that quickly transformed to warmth and content.

Your longing gaze pierced through his tough exterior. Something ignited within you as a tension pulled you into him, leaving hardly any room between the two of you

“I…” You whispered softly, but lost yourself in his eyes.

Without another breath, Crosshair curled his finger beneath your chin, pulling your lips up to meet his.

Nothing this electrifying had ever grazed your skin before. His lips pressed passionately against yours as if he’d waited years to do this. You leaned into him, resting your hands on his shoulders as your mouths became intertwined so rhythmically. 

Every fantasy you’d ever had of a moment like this that had always been shoved to the back of your mind came flooding back. Never did you think he’d feel the same way, but everything about his lips on yours just felt right. His finger beneath your chin trembled, and you were unsure how much it was from the overwhelming nerves of kissing you or the already present shake in his hands. You wrapped your hand around his, intertwining your fingers to calm him. The kiss was deep and raw, devouring each other as the motions intensified. A warmth spread through your body while your heart nearly lept from your chest. 

Slowly and hesitantly, you pulled away from the kiss to look up into his uncertain gaze. 

“You have no idea how long I have wanted to do that” He whispered, and a smile crept upon his face. Something rare and welcome that you never saw too often with him. 

“Me too” You smiled back, holding his hands in yours.

You wasted no more time before pulling him for another kiss. It was heavy and breathless. Your hands wandered from his to the firm muscles on his chest. Crosshair let his hands wander, too, until they hovered gently above your breasts. 

“Touch me” You breathed in between the motions of your lips. 

Your permission was all he needed. His hands explored your body like he was lost in the dark. Like he was starving for you. The boulders on this corner area of the beach kept you hidden in your own oasis, with very little concern of being discovered. Your fingertips found the hem of his black shirt, and tugged at it gently. 

“Here?” He pondered. 

“Why not?” You smirked. He nodded and helped you remove his shirt, revealing his battle scars and perfectly carved muscle. You admired it, trailing your hands down his abdomen. 

Conveniently, you had a blanket in your satchel that you brought with you. Crosshair rushed over to lay it out. He then took your hand in his and guided you to it.

“Lay down,” He instructed. As you did so, he hovered above you, his lips exploring your exposed neck and chest just above the neckline of your dress. You whimpered softly, unable to contain yourself even with the slightest of his touch.

His nervous touch was endearing as he traced up your thigh, searching for your most sensitive area. You shuffled your hips a bit, encouraging him to keep going 

“Are you sure?” He asked, his brows furrowed. It was a look of longing, concern, and desperation all in one. Crosshair needed you, but wouldn’t dare touch you like this without assurance. 

“Yes,” You breathed. 

He pulled your panties down, and you lifted your hips to help him remove them completely. 

He returned his fingers to your aching heat and discovered your arousal for him, which earned a small whimper from his lips. Crosshair knew exactly what he wanted to do to you. He’d surely thought about it enough in his head while he sat alone in his quarters, pumping himself to the fantasy of having you in his grasp like this. But, he was letting his nerves get the better of him now, and felt weary about how he’d perform for you. 

“Cross, please” You begged with a tone of reassurance. His hand rested on your thigh, just beneath where you craved his touch.

You felt his hand tremble subtly against your skin.

“Hey,” You started, pulling his attention to you, “it's just me and you” 

He nodded and kissed you hard, letting himself dive into you again, and found his fingers sliding through the wetness between your legs. He rubbed your clit in delicate circles and you bucked your hips up into his touch. He found a perfect rhythm and responded to your body’s signals as he felt them. 

“Maker…You’re so wet for me” He muttered in total awe of the effect he’d had on you. Looking down to your exposed cunt as the bottom of your dress now rested against your abdomen. Suddenly his middle finger found its way to your entrance and slid inside, pumping slowly and pushing you to the edge while his thumb kept working at your clit. 

Crosshair was propped on his side next to you, and instinctively ground his hips against your body, overcome with his desire to feel friction. He added another finger inside and fucked you as you rolled your hips into his hand. Each thrust of his curled digits grazed your most sensitive spot against your walls. A tingling sensation bundled and tightened in your lower belly, pushing you closer to your climax. 

“Don’t stop” You begged, and he listened.

“Come for me, darling” He instructed, which sent chills down your body. Hearing him say something so arousing was unfamiliar but absolutely intoxicating. 

With his lips at your neck and his fingers working eagerly inside of you, your release was so close now. Your senses were deliciously overwhelmed. 

“Crosshair” You cried his name before rolling your eyes into the back of your head, seeing stars, overwhelmed with the pleasure that flowed through your body as your orgasm overcame you. Your hips rolled up into his body still hovered above you and your back arched in response to the sensational feeling radiating through you. Your fingers dug into his arm but he never slowed his pace. Crosshair was absolutely infatuated with watching you fall apart for him. You came down from your euphoric high slowly, catching your breath in the process. 

“Are you alright?” He whispered. This was a side of him you never expected. You knew he could be caring and kind when he wanted to be, but seeing that translated to handling your body was a pleasant surprise. Your cunt hopelessly clenched around the emptiness as he removed his fingers. 

“Never better. Now, please fuck me” You demanded, chuckling softly. 

“Only because you asked so nicely,” He wasted not another moment before helping you lean up to remove your dress completely. Your breasts fell from the restraint of the fabric and caught his eye immediately. He took them into his hands massaging them gently before bringing his lips to your mounds and kissing them. 

He pulled his pants down just enough to release his length that begged to be touched. You stared in awe of his size. You opened your legs slightly, allowing room for him to adjust himself in between your legs. 

As he lined himself up with your entrance, he looked into your eyes and devoured you with a loving gaze. He kissed you softly before slowly sinking his cock into your wetness.

Crosshair choked on his next breath, your warmth encasing him perfectly as you took his length with ease. Once he bottomed out within you, he whimpered softly and buried his face into your neck. He was slow at first, allowing you to adjust to his size, which you probably needed as he was bigger than you expected. 

“Fuck, Y/N” He cursed, overwhelmed by it all. To be able to take you like this, having you begging for his cock, you writhing beneath him…it was all wonderfully too much, and he loved it. 

“Maker, it feels so good, Cross” You encouraged him. His cock stretched you open with each thrust as he picked up the pace. He fit inside you like you were made for each other, and you felt a closeness and intimacy you’d never experienced before. It was indescribable. 

You held his face in your hands as he thrust into you faster and harder, holding his gaze while you both let profanities and cries of pleasure fly from your lips. If there was anyone nearby, they would have heard you, but it was a remote area, and you could feel safe. Each curl of his hips snapping into you sent your mind and body into a frenzy of pleasure.

“You take me so well, sweetheart” He praised, turning his attention to looking down where he disappeared inside of you. Crosshair was no virgin, but he’d never experienced such intimacy and passion for someone like he did for you in this moment. He wanted this for so long, same as you. The months of lingering glances at one another, your heart racing each time your skin grazed his on the ship, the way you’d cared for him since he’d escaped Tantiss. It was all leading up to this moment of pure desire for one another, and you wouldn’t have wanted it any other way.

“I won’t last much longer” He 

You nodded to assure him it was okay. It was then that you felt another orgasm quickly creeping up on you. He could feel you tightening and knew you were close. 

“Come on my cock, that’s it” He spoke softly, his words sending you over the edge. 

It burst open, washing over your entire body, more captivating and intense than the first release. You dug your nails into the rigid muscles of his back, pulling him into you as he kept his pace. You cried out, feeling overtaken by the pleasure that electrified your entire body. His thrust began to falter and his body shook beneath your fingertips. 

Crosshair’s moans were low and rough as he reached his climax, spilling his release deep inside you, his brows furrowed and face twisted in pleasure. 

You both took time to catch your breath, soaking in the highs you were riding and taking in this feeling of closeness with one another. He was careful to remove himself from you, knowing you were both sensitive. 

He lay beside you, wrapping his arms around your body and pulling you into him.

“I love you too” He said suddenly, confusing you for a moment, before realizing that he was finally responding to your declaration of love to him earlier. 

You smiled up at him and laid your head onto his chest. As you listened to a combination of the gentle waves and the beating of his heart, you felt warm and loved for the first time in a long time.

[ashthemadwriter-archived]

Two Peas In A Pod

—A blessing... or a calamity in disguise?

Fandom: Blue Lock

Pairing: Nagi X Fem!Reader

Genre: Crack, Humor, Horror

Format: Short fic

Warnings: Breast feeding, Jealousy, Probably ooc!Nagi

Word Count: 1.5K

A/n: Idk I just thought this would fit him lol. Might remind you of boss baby.

There are moments in life which can never be forgotten. Long awaited moments that leave a sweet velvety taste in your mouth and get engraved on your memory,

Moments like this.

Nagi is in hospital, standing next to the delivery room with his infant in his arms. He's wearing the most genuine smile he could ever wear, staring at his baby boy's angelic face. The baby has the tiniest hands ever that would get lost in his if he were to hold them, and the cutest chubby feet ever. He could just eat them right away.

"Wow Nagi, he looks just like you!" Reo says, smiling at the sight while snapping a picture. "You two are like two peas in the pod, except that his hair isn't long enough to be as messy as yours"

"I know. I did hope he'd take after y/n, but he's still cute"

Your husband looks so grown up like this with a baby in his hands. That's what makes Reo to snap another picture, this time in full frame of both Nagi and the baby. His smile is as soft as when he watched him saying his vow to you, and he can't help but to feel happy for his best friend.

"I'm gonna go get a cup of coffee and call Isagi and others. They've been waiting for the news"

"Ok"

Nagi's gaze doesn't leave the baby's face to follow Reo's footsteps walking away. He persistently stares at the baby's closed eyelids, wondering if they're hazel colored like his, or have the color of your eyes. Maybe it's a mixture of both, he thinks, if it's possible. He doesn't have to wait for long to find out though, because suddenly, the baby's eyelids start shuddering and in less than a second, they're wide open, displaying the warm chocolate brown color of his eye balls.

Every inch of his figure resembles his father. Even the look in his eyes is curious, just like Nagi's is right now.

"Welcome home, little thing. We're gonna have so much fun together, me and you"

…

"I don't think that's gonna happen"

Nagi doesn't know whether he should believe his ears, or his eyes. A talking baby? That's a miracle! Babies don't start talking until they're two years old, but this one in his arms was definitely the one talking a little while before, since his intense stare is piercing through Nagi's heart.

I must have very strong genes.

"What do you mean, that's not gonna happen?"

"Oh sorry, I guess I wasn't being clear on the matter" The baby speaks in a semi-grown up voice. "I meant that, you won't be having much fun from now on"

"How come?"

The baby's innocent expression is all gone. Now there's a straight yet devilish look on his face which Nagi doesn't find charming. "I thought you would already figure out that much, but I guess I was wrong. Heh...what a pain"

"Stop giving me that shit and tell me already"

"You don't care much for sharing; do you, my dear father?"

Oh.

Nagi doesn't like where this is going. He feels an unwelcoming sense of threat in his heart.

"So what? Are you saying you're gonna steal y/n from me?"

"No..."

The grin on the baby's face isn't casual. All of a sudden, Nagi doesn't find a single thing resembling him. The baby looks more like... Light Yagami from death note, the blond version.

"...I'm saying that I already have"

This can't be happening.

"Tough luck. You'll never be able to split us off. Y/n's love for me is boundless. I'm her one and only"

"You were her one and only" His gums are visible through his demonic smirk. "Now that I'm here, you won't get a quarter of the attention you used to receive. From now on, I'll be the one who sleeps in her arms at— well all the time. She'll always be near me, looking after me since I'm just a fragile little thing. The time she used to spend alone with you is gonna be limited to less than ten minutes, and your share of affection will also be mine. Even if you two do get the time to be alone with each other, she'll be too exhausted to even look at your face. She wouldn't miss it, since she gets to be with me all the time"

The world comes crashing down on the white haired man. Through his storming mind, he can see himself curled up under the strangely ice cold blanket while staring at you frustratingly, asking you to get in the bed with him already. But standing on the other side of the room, it feels like you're a thousand miles away, voice barely making its way to his hear yet so destructively striking him, saying you have to put the baby to sleep first. Even after doing that, you're so tired that you pass out on the bed before Nagi can even lay a finger on you.

"Not only that, I'm gonna take away all the other things you enjoy as well"

Another illusion appears before his eyes, only this time he's sitting on the couch, and you're standing in front of him, wearing a somewhat annoyed expression.

"I'm sorry Sei, but we can't afford to buy more video games anymore. We have to start saving up for Light's college"

No.... that can't be real. He can't give up on his video games for a serial killer's his child's future. That's absurd. You're not expecting him to do that, are you? You know how video games are important to him.

"Just you wait my stupid father, I will take everything you cherish in your life, and it starts from this very moment, with your most loved one"

His most... loved one?

Just as he's about to ask the little demon about his intention, the door to the room opens and a nurse comes out. "Alright! It's the baby's lunch time"

No. Not that.

"His lunch time? You mean, y/n's gonna feed her...?"

Nagi's voice is shivery, like he didn't know about how the babies drink milk. The nurse is a little taken aback by that, but still keeps her smile on.

"Yes sir, he needs to be fed right now, so if I may..." She reaches out to take the baby from his embrace, but fails when Nagi steps back.

"You... can't do that. I mean, this baby looks like he should drink formula milk instead of breast milk. It'll be better for him"

"The hell are you talking about, Nagi? Let the nurse take him to y/n" Reo suddenly appears next to him, giving him a questioning look.

"No— You don't understand— I—"

"What's up with you man? Here, ma'am; take the little thing to his mommy"

Nagi feels all the misery existing in the world raining on him as he watches the nurse take the infant to you. Reo looks away when you pull up your hospital gown to reveal the enchanting sight of your breast that are bigger than usual and are full of milk, all ready to be devoured in the baby devil's throat. This is it. The beginning of his torment, the sight of his most comforting treasure being possessed by another person, shattering his heart into a zillion pieces.

"No..."

The baby squeezes your right nipple with his hand, letting out a small whine.

"Stop it... No..."

You softly caress his cheek and baby talk him to enjoy his meal.

Why can't all of you people see his devilish smirk?

"No..."

The baby looks at him from the corner of his eyes. He's taking his most special thing, his stress balls, his warm pillows he snuggles his face into at nights, his soft squishies he plays with whenever he's bored, his delicious jello balls he sucks on to help him go to sleep...

"No... No... No..."

You hold your left boob and snuggle him closer to help him drink, and he helps himself out, by brutally taking it into his mouth.

It happens.

"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO"

Then Nagi wakes up from his sleep.

Through his blurry vision, he recognizes his room in the middle of the night, and of course, your kind hand on his shoulder.

"Sei? Are you ok sweetheart?"

Nagi keeps panting. He hurriedly looks around the room to see any sign of the baby, but thankfully, he finds nothing. He can't ignore the cute bump of your belly under your oversized T-shirt though.

"Y/n?"

"Yeah?"

"If the baby looks like me we'll give it away"

"Excuse me??!"

All rights reserved © 2023 AshTheMadWriter. Please do not copy, repost, translate, or modify my works on any platform.

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[the-s1lly-corner]

Telling them you love them for the first time

Some tooth rotting fluff to make up for the angst last night!!

Shorter hcs cuz I'm EEPY, apologies for any OOC stuff <\3

Slenderman;

Hes good at reading you, so he already knew that you held at least some considerable amount of affection for him

And sometimes, inside your head, he'd tell you how much he adored you... but either of you ever said the L word

You'd think that an ancient forest cryptid would be prepared for such a word, and yet..

when you first said it, he visibly froze. For the first time since you've met him, he seemed to be.... lost

He didnt say anything, but that wasnt out of character. . He hardly spoke, even in your head

After a moment of processing, his body eased, and he simply. Pulled you close, with his tentacles. Still not saying a word

It was a rather bizarre experience, actually, especially considering he began to cacoon you in his tendrils

Definitely one that needs to get used to it, but doesnt seem to take it negatively

Please hes still learning human romance

Splendorman;

Unlike his brother, Splendor has a better grasp of what human romance is like, what with him mingling with people all the time

Hes much more vocal, too, so when you finally say the three words..

He squeals after processing what you said, before giggling, and beginning to bounce on his heels

He doesnt care if hes being... embarrassing? Hyper? Giddy?

Hes over the moon, scoops you up if he knows you'd be comfortable with it-

-boundaries are important!

Hes giddy for the rest of the day

No

Hes giddy for the rest of the week

Also admits he loves you as well, probably says it everyday at least once tbh

Laughing Jack;

Comically stops in the middle of whatever he was doing; even if he has to break the laws of physics (clown logic)

Eyes you for a minutes

Snorts

"Aww! I love ya too toots!" Stretches his arm over, likely across the room, to lightly pap your cheek before snapping his arm back into place

Easily one of the most chill about it

But you can see a new pep in his step afterwards and his giggling seems to ramp up

Sorry his is so short but I really think this is all Jack would react with 😭😭

Eyeless Jack;

Given how I usually write for him, you can bet that his reaction will be...

Well he just doesnt expect it, ever. He truly thinks that hes unlovable, given that whole "hey I'm turning into a man eating monster" thing

So when you say it, hes stunned for a few seconds like slender was. Dead quiet for another couple of seconds

Rather than holding you, though, he just asks why

I mean you could have gone out with anyone, you could have left and never came back; he was certain you would eventually

But this..

Complicates with his current doubts..

He'll ask you if you meant it, too

Despite the... initial response, with the denial, his behavior around you seems to become more relaxed

Let's loose, really

Well not totally; it's a process!

He'll ask you for reassurance a fair number of times

Masky;

Masky already shows wordless affections a lot

From cheesy gifts like flowers and (stolen) treats

To..

Sitting at the foot of your bed watching you sleep at night

Hey hes protecting you!

Realizing that I kinda write him like a stray cat

Gives you birds and rats every morning/j

No but back on track, you two are already fairly affectionate to one another in your own quirky ways

He'll never say the words verbally, as I personally hc he doesn't talk (if he does, its RARE), but he'll sure as hell express it in his own ways

He doesn't seem phased when you say it

You mean to tell him that anytime you reciprocated his kind gestures that wasnt you letting him know you love him?

You notice his gift giving seems to pick up

Otherwise, nothing seems to change

.....he does seem more open to physical affection.... more likely to hold and cuddle you..... that totally isnt related...... totally......

Hoodie;

Very similar to masky but his way of affection is more.... not watching you sleep

He was already open to physical affection, he cant seem to keep his hands off you

Now that just be my way of writing brian bleeding into how I write hoodie

Which

Considering they're kinda... the same person(?), it makes sense that some mannerisms would overlap

His back straightens up and he seems to.. brighten up when you say it though

He points to himself, and you repeat the phrase

He'll sign it back, and the two of you just

Carry on

Very anticlimactic, but I also feel its realistic in a way; you both already love each other and know it, saying it out loud doesnt really change a thing if its already a clear truth; at least for Hoodie

[coldinternetllama]

My take on the epilogue of LN 5

Spoilers until the prologue of LN 6!

So I have been thinking about the choking scene at the end of volume 5 of TAD, as it has been bothering me a lot, since it seemed too OOC for Jinshi, at least in my opinion. I mean, sure, he does have some borderline toxic tendencies, but that was a bit too much, even for him. I have tried to think of an explanation that would fit him, but all of my theories didn't quite fit in with the story and the characters. That is, until another user pointed out how frustrating it is that Maomao sees herself as completely expendable and is even convinced that Jinshi would kill her, if he saw fit. We (and Jinshi) are aware of that ever since the time she requested to be killed with poison. Generally, this is part of her apathy towards her own life, as she always goes with the flow and tries not to stand out too much. A core part of her character, and yet one that frustrates Jinshi more than anything.

To explain what I mean, it has always appeared to me that Jinshi wants Maomao to make her own choices and, basically, take charge of her life. For example, after the incident with Fengming, he let Maomao go, because he thought that was what she wanted, and he wanted to respect her wish. The same goes for the time he refused to let Lakan visit her, as his name made her visibly upset. Jinshi does obviously care for what she wants.

On the other hand, her passiveness upsets him. The fact that she sees so little value in her life and assumes he does as well angered him a lot during her request to be executed with poison. Her lack of any (!) reaction to his advances later in the novels also upsets him in the same way. So I have been thinking, what if the choking was him trying to see how much he has to push her for her to retaliate, to try and fight for her own life, which she sees as so expendable. A reminder, but Jinshi also said he didn't want her to poison herself for her experiments. Maybe he was hoping that she would push him away and finally understand that she indeed has a choice regarding how her life and her relationship with him goes. Of course, Maomao being Maomao interprets this as some sort of punishment. And maybe she is right, we never get to see much about Jinshi's thought process during this particular scene. Obviously, it was wrong, and I am not excusing him, however he himself obviously does not know how to express himself or his emotions correctly, and thus his actions gain a possessive, even scary twist. And this is also how I would classify the choking: a twisted attempt to push her to actively participate in their relationship. To me, it definitely sounds more likely than a petty "punishment" out of jealousy. At least that is what makes sense to me and what I want to believe for the sake of him being one of my favourite characters (yeah, I might be biased).

To reiterate, he was probably trying to show her what could happen if she continued letting people decide for her. If we think about it, even her dance with Rikuson was not something she actively wanted to participate in. Maomao's passive behaviour might be alright for a commoner servant (and she loves to see herself as just that), however at this point of the story she is seen by everyone else as part of noble society and feigning ignorance the way she does it is extremely dangerous for a noble. Granted, Jinshi should have tried telling her with words and not violence, but she is also notorious for not listening to people, especially when she doesn't like the topic, so I can see why he might have thought this was the only way.

Anyways, thanks for reading, if you made it that far, and do let me know if all that makes sense to you.

[izzyspussy]

and now for more of the exact same thing.

late s3 canon divergence au in which we all live in a world of sunshine and daisies where mickey is allowed to a) be more three dimensional and b) have positive character development that isn't directly connected to his relationship with ian and also it happens when i say it does even though it's kind of really unrealistic and probably slightly ooc but again it's a world of sunshine and daisies and also it's been literally a full ten years since i've so much as heard his voice. cough.

uh so. yeah. late s3 canon divergence au in which mickey fights with ian about how unfair ian is being re: terry + svetlana + mickey staying closeted-ish + etc. idr the order of things but lets just say for the concept's sake that the divergence happens before the whole ian: you love me -> mickey: kicks him in the face thing because. *megamind voice* listen i don't really know where to go with that.

anyway so mickey tells ian to shut up and listen for once in his fucking life and then goes tf off about how marrying svetlana, claiming yevgeny, and staying closeted-ish (for now) is The Right Thing To Do, for various reasons. his own safety first, which it's pretty fucked up for ian to seemingly not care about, and ian's safety too, which is possibly even more fucked up for ian to seemingly not care about.

and then we have like four(?) options going from there.

so option 1 mickey's like: and also hey, he said he wanted to make sure mickey was okay but then three fucking seconds later started berating him. yeah, mickey was being stubborn and cold or whatever but jesus christ. and on that note, why was it so easy for ian to Be There for mandy when this happened to her but not mickey?? and then ian maybe is like that's not the same/that's not what happened (because it really seemed like he didn't realize that. it is the same and that is what happened. and like lmfao from later stuff in the show that we will simply pretend to have not seen, i know that's mainly because the fucking writers don't realize it is the same and that is what happened, and you know what they probably would not give a shit even if they did LOL. but i'm not bitter about it or anything. and since i'm ascribing to murder in real life death of the author here, we're going full watson here and. ian doesn't Get It because lots of people don't - obviously lmao - but he will!!!)

anyway so mickey is visibly devastated by ian saying this, and then he's bitter (just like meeee- wait i mean-) and laughs without humor about how ian is such a hypocrite. about how oh saint ian doesn't have any internalized homophobia. and ian is like what the fuck does that have to do with fucking anything, and mickey tells him oh nothing of course mickey is just talking shit like always since he's sooooo morally inferior and/or stupid and he definitely doesn't understand any of this. but hey! just as a totally unrelated thought experiment, why doesn't ian picture it with lip in his place and mandy in mickey's and with a male whore instead and just see what he thinks is so different/what he thinks happened then. and ian does and mickey sees in his face that he's realized, but he still wants to know. so he asks again why ian cares about mandy more than him. and ian is like well first of all i definitely do not care about mandy more than you and second we should talk apparently talk about this for real for real let's go upstairs for some privacy. and they do and it doesn't solve everything but by god does it help.

okay well that one's not really about anything being The Right Thing To Do, but you know. it's important to me! like i totally get that ian was going through multiple crises at the same time and dealing with the same traumatic event as mickey and also having an actual legitimate clinical mental break and experiencing a state of mind he had never dealt with before. it's not his fault. BUT. even tho it wasn't his fault he was still being completely unfair and none of any of that was mickey's fault either and it always bothered me that only ian ever got to be angry about it. but i digress.

now back to actually the sunshine and daisies unrealistic positive character development (but honestly like........ not really THAT unrealistic. To Me. like the only really unrealistic part is for mickey to be like. Informed enough for this. i think. but like. maturity and self awareness and honesty and courage and a moral code, all that is just maybe a little bit early to arrive here. i think it's an optimistic but not completely unbelievable divergence is what i'm saying! anyway).

so option 2A is like: instead of talking about What Happened and how much ian does or doesn't care, mickey starts talking about The Baby (who at this point is of course not born and i think probably too early along to be gendered let alone named). he's like what do you want me to do man. be just like your piece of shit parents and just abandon this kid because i don't want it? you want to be with a guy like that? and ian's like well it's probably not even yours, considering all the Factors. just get a paternity test and then you're off the hook. and mickey says, "don't be a fucking hypocrite, ian clayton gallagher." and ian's like damn. i want to but i absolutely cannot argue with that huh.

option 2B is more hurt/comfort than that and it goes: mickey starts talking about The Baby. and he's the one to point out it's probably not technically His or whatever. but. the chances that it's still a milkovich are. basically 100. and he points out if he marries svetlana, and he's on the birth certificate, and all around is legally the kid's FatherTM, then terry can't get his fucking hands on it. mickey has full parental rights. he couldn't completely keep the kid safe from terry, not without causing everybody - including the baby - a whole lot more danger right now, but he'd have so much more power to protect it than he otherwise would. he could make sure terry can't be next of kin if something happens to svet and mickey. he could make sure teachers and doctors and whoever else know not to leave the kid in terry's "care". even if terry himself changes his tune later for whatever fucking reason, if svet and/or mickey piss him off and he tries to take their kid away as punishment, or if he just fucking decides he wants another victim/pawn, or whatEVER, and he's the one to demand a paternity test, or if any other random john does, even if it ends up legally documented somewhere that mickey isn't the biological father as long as he and svet are The Parents from the start he would still retain custody and parental rights.

so. mickey marries svetlana. he's put on the birth certificate. he is legally the baby's father until such time as he and/or svetlana decide otherwise and a judge agrees. svetlana gets a marriage visa or green card or whatever the fuck and is now a legal resident. they stay married long enough for her to get naturalized as a us citizen. they get divorced, mickey no-contest hands over full custody to her, she moves to fucking socal or some shit and they never ever ever ever have to fucking see each other again. all her problems are solved, and none of the horrible shit terry put the rest of them through ever has to happen to the baby.

he can't let terry have the baby, mickey says. he can't. it's not fair, he says. it's not right. nobody deserves to be terry milkovich's kid. and sure mickey doesn't want it. he doesn't want to have to sleep next to his- you know, and no doubt svet doesn't want to have to do that either. but even though the baby may or may not be a result of. That. it didn't do it. it didn't do anything. it's just a baby. and mickey's voice is all raised - he's angry, he's scared, he's fucking righteous about this. it's just a fucking baby! its only fucking crime is being born wrong!

and. well. that kinda takes the fucking wind right out of ian's sails. mostly cuz it sucks all the air out of the room altogether. and mickey realizes too, right after he's said that, why he's so. uh. passionate about this. i mean not all the way, or just... he doesn't want to look directly at that yet. but ian can see it on his face that deep down he knows. ian can see it on mickey's face that what sounded like to him is exactly what it was. and maybe he breathes out the softest italicized oh (non-romantic) that has ever been spoken while mickey cringes a little bit and looks away, looks down, ducks his head enough to hide his face, enough to muffle his voice slightly against his own chest. he mumbles, "it's not his fault." he whispers, "he can't help it."

and what thee fuck is ian going to say to that? no? no, i won't support you protecting an innocent kid out of the long-buried goodness of your heart that i always knew was there and reparent yourself in the process? no, i refuse to be involved with you while you make an agonizing sacrifice in the name of kindness and healing, the way i've been demanding you do in my favor for months? no of course not.

but wait hang on i can fix this with the romantically-tinted option 2C, which goes like: mickey says he can't back out, he can't come out. he has to do this. and ian rolls his eyes or scoffs or both or gives mickey the fucking chin or whatever he does to indicate he thinks the reason mickey "has" to do this is because mickey's a fucking pussy and the only other option is to stand up to his dad. and mickey snaps that actually he has more than one (1) fucking motivation dickhead. and ian challenges him, all oh yeah like what. and mickey gets nice and right up in ian's face and gives him the fucking rundown.

i'm doing this because of you, he says. and ian scoffs again of course, but this time mickey just ignores him and steams right on. he says i'm doing this because you are. fucking self-righteous. and spiteful. and controlling. and fucking sadistic. and ian's like is this supposed to make me less pissed off. but mickey goes on. and you're kind. and generous. and god damn chivalrous, for fuck's sake. and so fucking brave. which finally shuts ian and his very, very loud facial expressions up.

so, mickey says. i know that you couldn't give less of a shit right now if svetlana has her kid taken away, gets deported directly into a russian prison, and never sees the fucking sun again in her life. maybe you even wish that on her. maybe i kind of do too. but i also know that if it hadn't happened to you, if you weren't there... if we were friends, and i didn't do this, we wouldn't be friends anymore.

he says, yeah, i love you, you love me. big fucking whoop. that happens to the fucking worst of us.

he says, i want you to like me.

he says, i'm just trying to grow the fuck up, okay? i don't want to be a fucking shallow selfish stupid god damn teenager for my entire fucking life like our piece of shit fucking parents. i want to be a man. and i- even if it's too late or this is too much, i want to be the kind of man that you would like.

so obviously ian is struck completely dumb. he just stares, wide-eyed and amazed and so absolutely wooed, while mickey finishes his fucking. grand speech. while he adds, quiet and exhausted and somewhat resigned, i'm not fucking ready, if i was ever gonna- but. it has to be done. she can't do it by herself. and there's no one else.

and. i mean really the inherent romance of "i want you to like me" and "i want to be the kind of man that you would like" would have been enough. but now here's this killer finishing move too. because you know fiona is ian's hero. and isn't that exactly what she did for all of them? with one fucking choice, mickey has already become the kind of man ian would like. and beyond! he's become the kind of man that ian respects. that ian admires.

and yeah, he'd like to still be angry. he'd like to still be exactly the selfish teenager mickey has decided he no longer is. and they are teenagers, still, so really that should be their fucking right! and also ian's fucking brain is on fire and he doesn't know what the fuck is going on!! but. well. he doesn't want it to be too late. he doesn't want this to be too much. he wants to grow up too, he's always wanted to grow up, to be a man. to be a good man. an honorable and reliable man. he doesn't want to be like- he doesn't want to be like their parents either.

and he wants mickey to like him too.

anyway. i think i'm clinically insane.

[catcze]

⠀「 Feel my heart 」 

Reblogs are greatly appreciated !!

「 FEAT : 」 Diluc. Childe, Kokomi, Thoma (separate) x gn! reader

「 ### : 」 Fluff ! Comfort, cute smooches & just good feels all around. A little ooc? Because of softness. ‘Love’ used to refer to the reader. 

Collab entry for my beloved @anantaru​ & @bluexiao​ ‘s Sweet N Spice collab ♡

Catch me cramming these like how I crammed my paper last semester lmao

⠀ 「 DILUC 」

Parties ! Absolutely fun and festive ! A grand excuse to dress up and mingle, and the promise of an enjoyable time! And free food ! To everyone except Diluc, maybe. Though he can appreciate a good party, the crowdedness of it (not to mention how his time wasted there could very well be more useful hunting the abyss order) was often a turn off.

Not to you though! The moment you caught sight of the fancy-schmancy party invite at the Goth Grand Hotel that he was prepared to throw out, you asked and asked and asked him to go. Pleaded. Whined. Pulled out every trick in the goddamn book to get him to bring you as his plus one.

“Do you even know how to dance?” You still remember him asking, arms crossed and a quirk in his brow. How naive of him, thinking such a menial thing would deter you. “Nope!” You say, smiling. “But you’re going to teach me.”

And this is how you find yourself getting the crash-iest crash course on dancing for rich people that you’ve ever heard of. Day in and day out for the last three weeks— Diluc Ragnvinder, the supposed love of your life, has put you through some of the most grueling shit you can ever dream of. It almost makes you think twice about going, but no way in hell are you about to see him be smug over you accepting defeat.

But, to be fair, merely three weeks into it, and according to Diluc, you probably won’t get roasted by the other members of society attending the event. Not to your face, at least. Probably. Hopefully.

“Caught your breath?” Diluc asks, approaching your starfished form on the ground. There’s an empty glass of water not to far away— a good sign, despite the almost-corpse of his beloved currently unmoving. 

You don’t respond to his question, merely moving to roll away from his voice and grumble some non-savory words under your breath. 

“You can always call it quits, you know. There isn’t even any practical need to go.” Even without seeing his face, you can practically hear the amused little quirk at the corner of his mouth, and by the archons, feel free to call it petty, but you feel life rush back through your cold, dead limbs, if only to stick it to the amused redhead looking over you. 

Getting to your feet is a chore and a half, and you’re definitely going to pass out the moment you get to bed, but you still manage to get back up. Diluc looks impressed, if anything. Either from your stubbornness or your drive, you’re not entirely sure. At the very least, your short water break had left you slightly better off with less sway in your step.

“You’ve made good progress, love. I think we can try to dance the full length of a song today, just before we finish up,” Diluc says, taking your hands in his.

You perk up at his words, exhaustion momentarily gone. “Really? But… there’s no music, though.”

“Music.”

“I mean— yeah.” You shrug. “It would be good for… for immersion.” Then you double down on your bullshit. “Mhm. Yup. Immersion.” You’re nodding to yourself now, self-assured in your words. Diluc just looks on for a second before he sighs, all too easily bending to you when you want something.

“Alright,” he acquiesces, looking like he’s trying very hard not to drag a hand down his face. “Well, what do you propose we do about this lack of music.”

“Youuu… could sing for me?”

It’s like he visibly blanches at the prospect.

All your exhaustion gone at the opportunity that presents itself, you easily sidle up to him, intertwining your fingers together. “C’mon ‘Luc, please? Just this once, I swear, then we’ll go to sleep and go at it again tomorrow and you won’t have to sing! I promise.”

Another deep breath, and Diluc looking like he’s weighing the choice between doing as you ask and jumping out the window right then and there, but eventually— “Alright, fine. Just once.”

Immediately, your grin is blinding, like you’ve just been hooked up to a power source. You giddily press a kiss to his nose, already spewing out your thanks.

“Just this once, really! You’re the best, Diluc.”

He sighs, knowing that, despite what he’s said, if you ask again, he’s too whipped to ever tell you no. Not that he minds too much, if it makes you so happy. “Love you, too.”

⠀ 「 CHILDE 」

He’s a harbinger— someone who’s made his fair share of enemies and seen his fair share of shit. Undoubtedly, there’s a long list of people that he has to watch his back for.

And now that he’s dragged you into his mess (though you’d argue that you willingly walked into the shitfest that is dating a harbinger) he’s extra jumpy when nighttime comes.

It didn’t bother you at first— it was kind of along the lines of Childe to be like that. But it did become worrisome when you see the bags under his eyes darken, and the weariness in his smile grow.

“Childe,” you call, brows furrowed. “Come inside— it’s late.”

From where he stands at the balcony overlooking the harbor in all its nighttime glory, Childe turns back to smile at you over his shoulder. It would be a pretty picture, you think— the person who treats you right and makes you happy, illuminated by the glowing lights of the beautiful city of contracts. The only thing that detracts from it is the heavy bags under his eyes, visible in even this low light.

“I’ll be right in. Feel free to go to sleep ahead of me,” is what Childe says, and a muscle in your jaw twitches.

Each step you take on the floor is audible in the silence that grows between you. When you’re just a few steps away, you scoff, eyes narrowing. “You look like shit, you know that?” Childe doesn’t even bother to rebut with an easygoing quip, knowing that it’s all too true.

“C’mon, Childe. Even you have to sleep sometime.” Gently, you take a hold of his wrist, tugging him backwards and away from the balcony rail. He doesn’t even bother to put up a resistance— maybe it’s because he’s too tired and he knows you’re all too right, but he lets you pull him back into the warmth of your space and to your bedroom, where you sit him down at the edge of your bed and stand before him. With a concerned frown, you reach up to cup his face and gently rub at the bags under his eyes with your thumb, and he lets you, head going limp against your hold. 

“You’re very overdue for some long, uninterrupted sleep,” you tell him matter-of-factly, cradling his head. “Is there any way I can help?”

“Sing for me?” He asks quietly, eyelids already drooping. “That Snezhenayan lullaby that I taught you. Please?”

“I… don’t know,” you tell him. “I doubt I can even pronounce all the words correctly—”

“Please?”

“…I… Alright.”

And by the archons did you try your hardest for him. Despite tripping over some of the more unfamiliar words, and fumbling the tune once or twice, damn it, you tried. And when you stopped for a breath and glanced at your redhead curled up on the bed, you could deem it all worth it— seeing him finally getting some rest was all you ever wanted.

⠀ 「 KOKOMI 」

A visitor to Watatsumi island. That’s all you ever were, at first. A traveling musician making the most of the Sakoku decree being lifted to finally see the entirety of Inazuma. Who would eventually leave to find other sources of inspiration.

That is, though, until the day that Kokomi wanders the streets of Borou Village and comes across the children laughing and dancing. In the center is you, playing your music and singing songs of adventure from far-off lands. 

“Feel free to seek me out whenever you’re in need of music, divine priestess,” you had told her that day.

“Good morning, Kokomi— I see you’re once more in need of my songs,” you greet with a smile, easily spotting the figure robed in pink and purple. As you approach, it’s like your very presence brings a song— one that soothes her stresses and has her forgetting the work that she had escaped from.

The divine priestess sighs, her poise slipping from her just the slightest bit. It’s a sight you can never grow tired of, seeing her so relaxed in your presence. “You can certainly say that,” Kokomi replies, already beginning to instinctively walk in the direction of the tree with the nook that she had begun to call her own space. You easily keep stride with her, already familiar with the path after so long. “It seems that there are problems popping up around Watatsumi one after the other. I always try my best to remedy them as soon as possible but alas— there is only so much even a divine priestess can do.”

“And it seems like you’ve still be trying to do more what you can do despite many people telling you to take it easy. Myself included, I’ll have you know.”

The divine priestess laughs, shaking her head, though you both already know that it’s true.

The walk to Kokomi’s hideout is a quick and easy one, and in no time at all you find yourselves at the foot of the beautiful tree. Kokomi finds her place on a fallen log, her view consisting of both you and the sprawling sight of the island. 

“So,” you start with a smile, settling down beside her, close enough that your sides touch and you can smell the ocean breeze on her clothes. “What kind of story are you interested in today, dearest priestess?”

As you count off all the stories you know —both ones that you’ve already regaled to her and ones that you haven’t— you count them off on your fingers. “There’s the story of the fair, tragic maiden who used to sing at the fountain in Mondstadt, or the green-clad hunter who once roamed the forests of Sumeru, or, actually, I don’t believe I had told you the story of Guili Assembly yet—“

You’re cut off, though, when Kokomi places a hand on yours, preventing you from holding any more fingers up. Your mouth dries, eyes staring at her in both surprise and intrigue.

“Actually the song I want to hear about today… would be about you, actually. If you don’t mind, of course!” She’s quick to correct herself. “I just realized that you’ve told me so many wonderful stories of the places you’ve been but… I don’t know as much about you as I would like to. A song about yourself— are you… would you sing that for me?”

It takes you a moment— one that you spend staring at her, wide eyed as you process her request. Then you smile, intertwining your hand with hers, reveling in the blush you see grow on her face. “I’d be more than happy to, priestess.”

⠀ 「 THOMA 」

It’s no secret that Thoma is a hard worker. He cooks, he cleans, he attends to the Kamisato Clan to the best of his ability. He does his best, but sometimes even he —the housekeeper extraordinare— falls a bit short.

The days have just been a bit busy, and with another festival coming up, the entire Yashiro commission has been in a tizzy trying to get everything sorted out. It certainly hadn’t been his intention to leave you for so long (even though you told him you understood.)

So as soon as he could, he cleared his schedule for you. Took you out for the afternoon in Inazuma city, spending time together petting the dogs and eating good food, with the intention to end it off watching the stars together in the cliffs by the estate.

“Today was really nice, Thoma,” you tell him, hand in his as you both sit on the cliff, legs dangling in the wind as you gaze upon the stars.There’s a small smile on your face as you glance away from him, too bashful to meet his gaze. “I’m… really glad we did this. I missed you a bunch, you know?”

Thoma gives your joined hands a squeeze, leaning in to place a soft kiss to your cheek that only serves to fluster you even more. “I’m glad too,” he admits, giving you back your space, but not letting go of your hand. “I was scared you’d want to break up with me after all that, y’know?”

At this, you snort, having to reign yourself back from bursting into laughter. “Really? Please, it’s gonna take much more than that to make me wanna break up with you.”

“Like?”

“Like stealing my food for example.”

Now it’s his turn to snort, jokingly shoving your shoulder with his own. “Even if I’m the one paying?”

“Hey, the moment that food is on my side of the table, you lose all custody, my guy.”

He laughs, then, and you join him not a second later. The two of you go back and forth for some time— bantering and joking and (on occasion) stealing quick kisses from the other. It’s something you had missed greatly when he was busy— this ease of being together. How it feels so easy and fun to talk about even the most mundane things with him.

“You know,” Thoma says suddenly, cutting into your previous topic. His eyes are trained on the ocean and the stars that settle in the sky, a wistfulness overtaking him. “When I was still with my mom in Mondstadt, she taught me this song. I only remember bits and pieces of it now, but she said that it was something that my dad had written for her, as a sign of his love.”

“You only remember bits and pieces?” You echo, and he nods. You fall silent for a while, mulling things over. “Can you… sing it for me?”

“Even if it’s not whole?” He asks, tilting his head, though he hadn’t refused. 

“Yeah! And I mean—“ there’s the bashfulness again, creeping back in little by little. “I mean, we can… try to fill in the gaps ourselves? Kinda like we’re writing our own song, you know?”

Thoma’s silent for a moment, still as he looks at you, and it’s almost enough to make you nervous and apologize instead. But he takes your joined hand and squeezes it, smiling to himself. “ Our own song… yeah, I’d like that a lot, actually.”

[bunnypansy]

This is How to Fall in Love With Me! (Pt. 1)

Rated E, for EVERYONE!

A short film detailing how our cast acts when they're in love with you, with a little confession at the end!

Featuring: Riddle Rosehearts, Trey Clover, Cater Diamond, and you, dear viewer

Beware! This film contains: fluff mostly, most of these are probably ooc because I haven't even played ch 1 of twst, accidental Cater favoritism?, tiny bit of angst in Cater’s, a miniscule bit of spice in Trey’s

Riddle Rosehearts

To call Riddle inexperienced in matters of the heart would be a serious understatement

Riddle's only experience with romance would be crushes on portraits in textbooks, cus Lord knows he hardly interacted with others his age

So when Riddle gets feelings for you, he's not even sure what's happening

It starts small, he finds himself flustered at little things you do for no reason

He's more lenient with you, always finding a little excuse as to why you didn't have to follow this particular rule

He helps you study, parts extra close attention, and actually feels bad if he scolds you too harshly 

Riddle doesn't even notice until Ace complains, loudly, and ruins everything for you

After that, Riddle swings in the opposite direction- hard

His expectations for you become harsh, nearly impossible, and his gentle scolds become downright brutal

Riddle becomes stricter with you than anyone else in Heartslaybul 

He feels guilty for being so hard on you, of course, but he has a reputation to maintain!

It takes Trey sitting him down and having a nice long chat with him before Riddle actually realize how he feels

Congrats Riddle, you're officially the last person to figure it out 

In terms of confessions, I think Riddle is very traditional; he doesn't know a lot about romance, and assumes the classic way is the best way

Riddle would ask you to meet him somewhere romantic after classes and apologize for the way he's been treating you

But then he brings out the roses and chocolate (definitely not made by Trey) 

He's very nervous, but tries to stay straightforward and clear

Even though he's a flustered mess 

The woods behind campus could be beautiful at the right time of day- just a week or so ago Riddle had taken you out here to study. How things changed so soon; you hardly had time to recall such memories with all of the reprimand you've been receiving. Riddle had gone from roses to thorns so quickly, and you just couldn't place why, but the turn stung. 

Of course you're angry, you'd been led on and rejected in less than three full weeks, it was enough to make one- well, mad as a hatter. When Riddle had summoned you out to woods at sunset for a "private matter", you nearly ghosted him. What had he done to earn your time and attention as of late? But, even angry, the truth rang clear; you were weak for Riddle and you still wanted to give him a chance. Part of you hoped Riddle would take it all back, and things would return to the way they were.

So you showed up- late, because you were still hurt, and that felt like a tiny revenge. By the time you arrived at the requested spot, Riddle was leaned back against a tree, a pensive expression over his soft features and an obscenely large bouquet of roses in guys arms.

When you get close enough, Riddle visibly perks up, a fine twitch in his lips hinting at a smile. "You… you're late."

You're unimpressed, crossing your arms with a displeased look. "You're lucky I showed up at all."

Riddle wilts the smallest bit and you catch a flicker of guilt in the stormy blue of his eyes as he lowers his head. "I know I've been harsh towards you recently, I'm very sorry." The plastic surrounding the roses crinkles as he tightens his grip. "I was overemotional, and immature and I vow on the Queen's name to change my behavior, so I will never hurt you again." 

Riddle looks up from the grass to your face; he's biting his lip, waiting for a response. You don't give him one, only gesturing for him to go on.

"But," he swallowed hard, going red and sweaty in the cheeks as he held the bouquet out to you, "I feel quite deeply for you, and I hope my recent poor behavior doesn't stop you from at least thinking about reciprocating my feelings?" Riddle looks so red you're worried he'll catch fire. 

You're petty, but you're not a moron. Being lenient, then harsh, now a confession? You can connect the dots. 

You've been silent for too long now, it's making him nervous, and Riddle starts to back peddle. "I'm, I'm sorry," he starts pulling his bouquet of roses back towards his chest, "you're upset with me, I realize now that the timing is poor, please forget-" 

"Let's go on a date." You quickly catch his hands, watching Riddle flinch lightly. "This weekend."

Now it was Riddle's turn to stare, to swallow hard and nod. "Yes… let's." 

You carefully maneuver the ridiculously enormous bouquet from his arms into yours. He'd clearly picked the very best from Heartslaybul garden, some of the blooms rivaled your face in size and the menagerie was a struggle to hold with one arm.

“Now get those chocolates out of your blazer pocket,” you held your palm out to Riddle expectantly, “They’re going to melt like that.”

He’s still dumbfounded, gawking like a moron before he finally snapped to it and dug the box out of his inner breast pocket, placing it in your awaiting hand with an apprehensive look. “I- I had Trey make them, since I’ve never made chocolate, and I wanted them to be good… But I picked out the box, tied the ribbon and picked the roses myself.” You nearly chuckle at his fragile display of pride. The box is small, a red-velvet color topped with an ivory ribbon that had been knotted so many times over it resembled the bloom of a rose. You pulled on the ribbon’s tail, watching the bow slip loose and give you access to the box. “Yeah, I know. I saw you do all that.” You popped a chocolate into your mouth. “I figured out you were gonna confess days ago.” “You what?” At this rate, Riddle’s head might explode.

“Well first I saw you pacing in the garden and picking the biggest roses you could find, then when I saw you trimming the thorns in the kitchen,” you swallow your chocolate before you continue, “and Trey making chocolate, which he never does, I caught on. I was mad at you so I didn’t say anything.”

Riddle brushed his hair back with a flabbergasted look, this was much more of an ordeal than he’d expected. “Oh-kay, then do you also…?”

“Yeah.” You close the box of chocolates, and tuck it into the ribbon holding the bouquet together. “Obviously I like you too.”

Trey Clover

I don't think he's inexperienced, per say, just a bit disinterested

He's never had much time to pursue the crushes he's had, and he's always been acutely aware that a relationship at young age is likely to end quickly anyway

Trey's been too busy taking care of his siblings and helping out with the bakery to think about anything else

Trey got a lotta nerve telling off Riddle for not recognizing his feelings -_-

Dealing with Trey is a bit like pulling teeth (pun intended)

At first, Trey is going to baby you. 

Reminding you brush your teeth, do your homework, wake up on time- it's like having a parent

Not sexy Trey :/

His first instinct is to just take care of people he cares for, and you're going to have to smack him out of it

Once he stops treating you like his little siblings, things are much better

He's flirty in a subtle, might-just-be-friendly way

I don't think Trey would like a traditional confession

It's much more likely you two are gettin' a lil touchy when you're hanging out and somehow things turn into Trey kissing you

That's when he confesses. 

Is it particularly romantic? No

But I think Trey believes the best relationships come from the strongest of friendships

You and Trey were closer than close, it was probably annoying to everyone else. All the touching, the teasing, the lingering glances; tension was clearly heavy.

On this particular occasion, Trey was working his way through a large batch of chocolate croissants and had asked you for help, though you wouldn't describe your role as "helpful". Perhaps entertaining, or maybe distracting.

By now, Trey should be done piping the chocolate into his pastries, but he found himself a bit preoccupied with your antics; it was a full time job chasing you away from the chocolate sauce.

You were sat down on the counter, positioned on the only remaining clear space, between bags of sugar and a puddle of flour- Trey had yet to clean that up, he liked the doodles you made in the flour too much to erase them so quickly. The man himself stood beside you, less than a yard away as he hunched over a tray of croissants, pressing one end of the piping bag into the pastry and squeezing the middle to fill the pastry with chocolate.

Trey had this lovely little quirk when he’s deeply concentrated, poking his tongue between his lips. He was too focused on his piping to pay attention to you, right…? Your eyes darted between Trey and the bowl of chocolate cream, a hand slowly slithering towards the mixture. Trey wouldn’t mind if you snuck just a dollop of chocolate. Sure you'd gotten away with your crimes, you flicked your fingertip through the whipped chocolate, only to feel a pressure around your wrist a heartbeat later.

"You're worse than Ace and Deuce." Trey had set aside his piping bag to trap your wrist in his strong fingers. "You could just wait for me to finish and eat a croissant instead of the filling, you know."

You wrinkled your nose at his teasing, lunging forward to smear chocolate across his soft cheek. "That's for saying I'm worse than Tweedledum and dumber."

Quick to retaliate, Trey swiped up a fingerful of chocolate and plopped the dollop on the tip of your nose. "Stop wasting chocolate." He scolded gently. 

"Says you, hypocrite." With a wide smile, you scooped the chocolate from your own nose and jabbed at Trey once more, giggling as he veered away from your attack. 

Though you aimed for his nose, hoping for revenge, but with Trey's attempt to dodge, you ended up painting the corner of his mouth in chocolate.

"Ah - come on…" Trey sighed, raising a hand to touch his chocolate face paint. "You're such a handful, you know that?" He sounded tired, but he smiled anyway.

It was hard not to roll your eyes. "Oh whatever, come here and I'll clean it up." You motion for Trey to come closer, a hand resting on top of a kitchen rag.

Getting Trey to comply was far from a difficult task; he leaned in close, bracing himself on the counter beside you. Your fingertips brushed his jawline, angling his face to better give yourself access. Gently, you dabbed at the chocolate at the corner of his lips with the washcloth, the two of you so close you could smell the cinnamon toothpaste he used. 

With that simple gesture of care, the air felt heavier, like a blanket of tension had settled over the both of you. No words were exchanged, these motions seemed to come to you as naturally as breathing or blinking; the two of you drawing nearer to one another on instinct. Your hands find a resting place on his shoulders and Trey’s settle upon your hips in a way that makes you feel at ease.

His lips are soft and warm, and when you pull apart can’t help but note that Trey tastes like chocolate and mint-cinnamon. You subtly swiped your tongue over your lips to catch the traces of his taste, watching as Trey did the same. A heavy silence hung over your shoulders, a weight that held you both in place.

“I’m sorry,” Trey’s voice comes out as a quiet rumble, his face a soft peachy flush as he turns away, “I didn’t ask.” You squeeze his shoulders reassuringly, pulling Trey’s amber eyes back to you. “Hey, I didn’t either.” You point out with a good-natured chuckle. “Would-” he cleared his throat, unhappy with the way his voice came out, pitchy and hoarse. “Would you wanna go on a date sometime?” In Trey’s head, it sounded much more romantic and less embarrassing. The way you smiled, wide and excited, soothed his worries. “Took you long enough.”

Cater Diamond

Cater is probably fairly experienced with relationships, but I think it's more along the lines of celebrity crushes

Someone having a crush on him based on his online persona, dating for a short while, breaking up

Or it goes the other way, where he has a rabid crush on someone unattainable, then gets over it

But it's different when it comes to you

The feelings hit hard and fast, as always, and they dull down, as always

But that fiery feeling never really dies, it just gets gentler, flaring up when you do things he's fond of

Cater immediately panics and tries to avoid you when he catches on

Instead of communicating like a rational human

Good luck getting a confession outta this guy

Call him Danny Phantom cus he's about to go ghost

Cater is deeply torn about his feelings, on one hand he really likes you and wants to open up to you

On the other, he’s afraid you’ve grown close with Cay-cay and not Cater Diamond, and he’s scared that if he opens up, you’ll decide you’re not interested

Basically, you’re gonna have to chase him down and corner him

“Sorry, I have to study with Trey today, ttyl? #onthatgrind #grindset” Monday. Tuesday it was “I promised Lilia and Kalim I’d practice extra with them after class, how about Thursday? I pinky swear we’ll chill then!”

During lunches he avoided eye contact, scarcely responded to conversation, and paid attention to  anyone but you. By the time Thursday rolled around, Cater came up with a new excuse- he was too tired, or something similarly weak. 

You gave up any attempts by the weekend, too busy and too naive to do anything but send a text, which was coldly left on “read”. When the Monday after turned, you gave it a second try, but found Cater impossible to reach. In classes you shared he stayed silent, and left quicker than a blink; during lunch he disappeared, eating in some secondary location he hadn’t deigned to share with his so-called “best friend”. 

That day you made a silent vow; should Cater keep this act up for the rest of the week, you’d simply have to track him down by force. If you were to be honest, Cater’s newfound coldness was disheartening to say the least- just a couple days before you’d been closer than ever! Now you couldn’t even hold a conversation long enough to know what you’d done to offend him.

Cater successfully kept up his silent streak for another full week, it was a struggle to stay optimistic in the face of his rejection, part of you just wanted to give up; if Cater didn’t want to be friends anymore, then so be it.

The library seemed like a proper place to be morose during your lunch period, and if you were so desperate for companionship, you supposed a local painting would make for entertaining enough conversation. You wandered about the library aisles in search of a comfortable spot to wallow in, pausing when you saw a particularly gloomy corner; perfect.

Of course, you expected your misery nook to be devoid of life, perhaps another student you hadn’t yet met who had come to commiserate. Who could expect your shock when you rounded the corner and-

“Cater?” The eye contact shared between you was nothing less than awkward, both frozen in your places.

Cater was leaned up against the wall, cross-legged with his lunch tray perched on his knees and his phone in his hand, halfway through chewing when he paused to gawk at you. He swallowed slowly, lips stretching into a nervous smile- he had the odd feeling he’d been caught red-handed.

“Oh, hey…” Cater’s face creased in discomfort, his grin wobbly. “It’s been, like, forever! How are you bestie?”

His stilted words only make your scowl deepen. “What do you think?”

The silence fell once more as Cater cast his gaze to his tray. He tucked his phone into his pocket and slowly got to his feet, food in hand. “Well… Cay-Cay’s gotta run, but we should talk soon-”

When Cater attempts to slither past you, you side step to block his path with a stern refusal. “No.”

Again, Cater awkwardly shuffles to the side, avoiding even looking at you. “But I really should-”

“Run away from me again?” The tension is heightening now, you’ve had quite enough of his flaking and now that you’ve got your prey cornered, you’re not about to let him go. “You gonna make up another lame excuse just so you can get away from me?”

A nervous habit, his hand snakes up to the back of his neck and threads his fingers into the ginger hair on the nape of his neck. “I know it sounds super sus, but I swear we’ll totes hang out soon I’m just-”

“Really busy right now?” You finish his cookie cutter explanation for him and a guilty look passes over Cater’s features. It’s infuriating, it’s painful; salt in the wound and sand in your eyes. “At least tell me what I did wrong.”

“You didn’t do anything wrong!” He’s quick to blurt it out, but his words fall on deafened ears. “I swear.”

“Then why won’t you talk to me?” You watch the way Cater opens and closes his mouth, green eyes trained on the floor in shame, his performance has earned him a scoff. “I’m getting tired of you lying to me.”

That’s enough of this, there are other places on campus to eat alone. You turn on your heel to leave, expecting to receive no resistance from Cater, on account of his treatment of you; but instead, his hand locks around your wrist.

“Wait!” Cater’s well manicured nails bite into your skin, then ease up. “Please wait, I’m sorry.”

For some reason, your shoes are rooted to the dusty navy carpet, throat swelled shut with tears; but you don’t tug your hand away from his grip, even when Cater paces a bit closer and lays his head against your shoulder.

“I really suck.” This tone is one you have yet to hear from him, muffled in your blazer.

The admission of guilt grants you your voice, at least enough to make a snarky response. “Have to agree.”

You feel the warmth of your body against his back, wondering if it’s for you or for him. Cater’s voice sounds thick and wet, choked out around bottled up feelings. “I really like you.” The words hang in the air like a spell, rendering you speechless. “I feel dizzy when you laugh or smile, I think it’s cute when you look like a mess, I tell you things I don’t tell anyone else.”

His tropical gum breath trembles against your neck, and the softness of his hand slowly retracts and drops your wrist. “I don’t think I’ve ever felt this way about another person.” You think he doesn’t sound quite like Cater anymore, and then you think he sounds more like himself than he ever has. “It’s a stupid reason, but I’m crazy scared that if I let you in, you won’t like what you see.”

Then he lets out a dry laugh. “I guess I already screwed that up.” Cater’s warmth left your body as he stepped away.

You’re at a loss for a moment, apparently a moment too long because Cater claps his hands together to break the silence. When you look back at him, he’s smiling like he always is. “Well! Sorry I was a tooootal drag there, but that convo was like, super healing!”

“Cater.” If you let him go now, you’ll never get a chance to talk to Cater about his confession again- he’s hardly letting you talk about it now. “I like you too.”

More quiet falls over you as Cater’s carefully constructed personality seems to crumble; his lips tremble, his eyes water. Cater opens his mouth to say something, but he can’t seem to force noise from his lips. You’re not sure you understand what’s happening in his head, but you’d like to, you want to be there for him. The least you can offer in this moment is comfort, warm as you wrap your arms around Cater, desperate to get him to concede to a hug. You squeeze tightly, a promise that you’re not going to leave, a request for him to let you stay. 

Finally, Cater manages to choke up one frail word from his tight chest. “Really?”

As always, thank you for coming, readers! I think Cater’s ended up so long because uhm. We are very similar people. Writing for him was almost cathartic.

[the-shield-anon]

Rules + About

((Updated June 10th 2024 (Just some minor edits)))

((Hi, mod Humble here. I decided to make a quick pinned post for the rules and info about Shield. Let's get this bit over with, shall we?))

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About me:

((First things first: this is a sideblog. My main/personal is @iambutahumblememe, so if that blog follows you, that's me following you. Hello! 👋))

((I'm autistic, so I may misread situations or messages. Feel free to tell me if it seems like I've misunderstood something or said something wrong.))

((I use double brackets when talking OOC. There's also the chance I'll talk OOC in the tags sometimes. You don't need to talk back or anything, I probably just felt like getting my current thoughts (or bad jokes) out of my head.))

((While my schedule is pretty clear at the moment, it's important to remember I've still got a life outside of this and quite enjoy doing other things too. Also, I can feel anxious when writing with others (especially new blogs) which can make me slow to interact, if at all. And I simply may not have the energy to write much, particularly at this point in time. Please keep all this in mind.))

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Content warning/Rules:

((This blog has the potential for things like swearing, blood, gore, abuse, mental health issues and death, given the fandom this was born from. A warning for anyone not wanting to risk seeing that.))

((Shield's not interested in any romantic or sexual stuff, but I don't mind suggestive talk or jokes as long as it doesn't go further than that. I also don't mind someone else's character having a one-sided crush on them if that's how that character feels, but like. Who would crush on this loser-))

((Killing them without my say so is a big no-no. I feel that should be obvious, but you never know.))

((Final thing that comes to mind, don't take control of my character to make them say or do things without my permission. I don't think I need to explain why that's annoying to deal with. Stick with the character you made, pal!))

((And that's everything that comes to mind! I just wanna make sure I'm clear about these things. Some facts about Shield Anon are under the read more, along with a picture @mod-teacup made as a gift. ❤️))

Their name is simply Shield Anon or Shield for short (Shield!Anon if you're feeling spicy I guess). They don't exactly have a "normal" name, given what they are.

They're 6'0" exactly.

They're a AAA battery (AroAceAgender) and go by neutral pronouns. They're used to being mistaken for a man due to having a male sounding voice and being on the taller side.

Not in the picture due to it being old, but they have a visible mouth now, thanks to Smith Anon.

Surprise surprise, they're good with making and using shields of all kinds. They can do some pretty ridiculous things with one too. Not that odd, given shields are their thing.

They can do M!A stuff (Magic Anon for those unfamiliar). They usually don't see much of a need though.

They can store and pull random objects out of their nonexistent pockets. They can even make objects with their magic. It's not always precise though, it depends on factors like size and power.

They can make force fields with their magic, tough ones to boot, no M!A required! But they honestly tend to forget this, hence why they aren't really seen doing it much.

They have a habit of rambling. It comes out easiest when they're scared or particularly excited/interested in whatever they're talking about.

They can use swinging weapons along the lines of a crowbar, a staff or even a blade, but they'll most likely use a shield as a weapon instead. It depends on the situation.

Enjoys talking to new people, but they also sort of don't. Nothing to do with them, they just fear putting their foot in their mouth, so to speak. Definitely not projecting here-

Unsurprisingly to anyone who knows the blog where they first originated, their favourite Smiling Critter is CraftyCorn. She's a unicorn, an artist and generally very nice, so she's cool in their books. They just think she's neat. (They also think she needs to stop getting put into situations.)

[covecampfire]

So I watched the new ATLA

{SPOILERS AHEAD}

Preface: I just finished binging it with my Mom. It's been AGES since I've watched The Legend of Kora, so I've forgotten pretty much everything about it. I haven't done much research past the lore already present in the show. Cause of everything above, this is gonna be a preeeetty basic overview, but I needed to get this out or I'd INTERNALLY COMBUST.

The Good:

The MUSIC oh my GOD. Same composer as last time if I remember right, and it's WONDERFUL. It mimics the same motifs present in the original show, but it has its' own special twists - either being played in a slightly different note, or contining a whole new additional composition. [For more neat stuff about the original shows' score, check out this video by Sideways:

Generally, the costumes are great, and pull a lot of inspiration or directly copy many different Asian cultures, ranging from Japanese to Indian.

The CGI is AMAZING most of the time. All of the elements look and behave realistically, and look like they do ACTUAL damage. The fire actually burns, and the severity depends on the length of exposure to the flame. The water dampens clothes. The earth looks IMPENETRABLE. The air causes such a physical recoil to whoever encounters it that it LOOKS painful. Not to mention the water healing scene with Katara was done beautifully - as if the wound melted away with the water.

Most of the casting was great physicality-wise: Jett, Aang, Katara, Sokka, Iroh, and especially Ozai and Suki.

Momo was a cute little bean, aw.

The fight scenes were engaging due to the choreography, use of quick camera angles, and pace of time.

Jetts' fight scene had me geeking out because I've always LOVED his weapons, and he did the SPINNY THING WITH THEM!

The slight humor in it was usually enjoyable.

The scenery was PHENOMENAL. Drop dead GORGEOUS.

I loved Monk Gyatso. That's all. To play Pai Sho with him and a cup of tea would be a day well spent.

HEI BAI. OH MY GOD.

The Ehh:

At least for Katara and Sokkas' clothing during the initial "Aang waking up in village" bit, it looked too clean. No visible stitching, wear and tear, or anything. It meant to be handmade, and yet it looks more like a costume. Later on, it improves.

Another nitpick on the wardrobe: I hate Sokkas' shoulder plates. They look like they're made out of painted styrofoam.

Generally, it felt like the acting fell flat a bit. The tone didn't land right most of the time, and the only way I can put it is it seemed "disingenuous". (There's definitely a better way to word that lol.)

Sokkas' humor. :( Barely there. I understand that this show is toneally different from the original, but :(.

Katara isn't as "snippy" or loud as she was in the original - and that's one of the reasons why I loved her so much in the original. Another :(.

Irohs' moments of wisdom early on felt very forced. As if he was putting on a "wise voice", and moving his eyebrows to sell the point.

Irohs' humor also felt forced, when it came to tea among other things.

General Zhao wasn't intimidating at all. I feel the casting was poor for it, as he came off as more of a slimy, sleezy politician (which, yeah he is), instead of a mostly strong, intimidating, warmongering Admiral. Was generally uninterested in his character.

Many of the characters felt OOC. (Ex: Sokka and Katara in the Secret Tunnels, with Katara being more "science-believing" in the glowing stones, while Sokka fully believed in the "light of love".)

In exchanging the story for the runtime, it often felt confusing and odd with the pacing, especially for people like me who have watched the original show. Mushing up multiple episodes (some not even from the first season!) into one episode felt rather messy and disjointed.

ZUKO ISN'T ANGRY. Like ???. Literally most of his arc??? Where'd it go??

There's probably more I could say on this, but it's getting late and I'm tired. Overall, I'd say it's:

Zukos' scar looks more like a birthmark than anything? In the show, it was shown to literally change the way his eyelid functions, and it is puckered on his skin. Plus, the whole "oh they got some healing salve so you can see fine lol" felt like a weird way to solve that issue that people have been talking about for years? Idk.

Appa looks odd. I want to say it's the animation of the fur? Like, it catches the light in an odd way, and it moves weird. I know fur is super hard to animate, but- still. Odd.

~Odd, but Entertaining~

Would I watch it again? Yeah, probably. The visual effects really tied it in for me, since I'm a sucker for it. But most of the performances and storytelling causes it to fall flat. Overall, I'd say it's a 7/10. I'm still glad I watched it - I enjoyed it. Happy to hear what y'all thought too! :)

Edit:

I FORGOT THIS I WAS LAUGHING MY ASS OFF AT THIS - BEST PART IN THE ENTIRE MOVIE! 😭

[bugeyedfreaks]

Previous anon about ppgxrrb post (the first one lol)

I agree with a lot of what you say about the shipping of ppgxrrb and how the fans just depict them as ultra hot bad boys. Its a breath of fresh air to see others’ perspectives on this, cause as I said before I admit I am a fan sometimes but even seeing a lot of ooc works puts me off. I understand if older fans/people only like it because of nostalgia (I’m one of those) but I’m more baffled with seeing new/younger that also likes to ship them, I can see them just liking the Boys cause they think gender bent/evil/alternate versions of the main protagonist are just fun in general, but I don’t understand why a lot of new fans that also ships them, maybe its because of fanart/fanfic.

In regard of that fic (assuming we’re talking about the same thing) I think the reason why it was praised so much and put on high pedestal was because the standard of the ppgxrrb fics were pretty low (at the time anyway) and for me personally it does felt I’m watching the original when I read it, (aside from the shipping thing, but I only read it for the character writing mostly) imo probably the closest thing I can get to what an older/teenage ppg would sound/read like, it just had shipping… lol but also yea I agree with you about the other villains not getting enough fanfics for themselves, its unfortunate cause ppg has so many great villains and the fandom just chose the least interesting ones (rrb)

Also I love how you described Boomer, he’d definitely be a whiteknight type then probably go “bubblevicious” when he doesn’t get what he wants, in fics he’s usually the first, quickest and easiest to be redeemed which is just very boring and probably the reason why Blues (BubblesxBoomer) is the least favorite of the 3 ships.

Yeah, I think on the most basic, superficial level, taking NOTHING about the personality or history of the characters into account, if you were to show someone who never saw the show a lineup of the Powerpuff GIrls characters and ask them, "Who are the girls' boyfriends?" they would choose the Rowdyruff Boys. Just because of their character designs they're the easiest characters to pair them off with. And I don't use "superficial" or "easy" as an insult, like... it just is what it is by the very nature of it. On a little less of a basic level, they're probably the only boys in the show (including the boys that are in the girls' class like Mitch and Elmer and Harry, etc.) that would be considered "attractive" enough to match up with them. Which, y'know, I could go into a whole rant about the superficiality (negative this time, haha) of that and how that way of thinking feels very creatively limiting... but, yeah, when you're a new fan and you see all this fic/fanart, not to mention how the ship is ultra visible and popular, it's the simplest entry point.

We're totally talking about the same fic. 😂 Again, I've really tried to read it and have an open mind about it, and I guess the mere fact that (from what I remember) the girls occasionally do have fights in it is enough to make it different from a standard PPG/RRB fic where the girls' superpowers are completely forgotten about (a la the City of Clipsville girls)... but the villains and the crimefighting STILL just feel like an afterthought (and maybe it's just my pretentiously high standards for them talking, but I remember really disliking how the dialogue of some of the few villains that are even included in the story was written). For the most part it just seems like it's all just fancy set dressing to disguise your average high school teen fanfic. I remember trying to read it again a while ago and I got to an early point where like some characters were suddenly like making out and I was just like... ew, no, not for me. 😩 That doesn't make me feel like I'm watching the show, that just makes me sick to my stomach! Stuff like that just pulled me way out, I couldn't enjoy it.

And I guess that's also a thing I dislike about some of the fanfics, like... if the RRB are going to have any similarities to the girls it's going to be their negative attributes, but that doesn't seem like an issue that ever gets explored. It seems like, despite whether or not people write them as still having problematic misogynist qualities, Brick always just turns out to be the hot intelligent one, Butch is the tough dude bro, and Boomer is the sweet, sensitive boi. How boring IS that?! 🤣 It doesn't seem like anyone's really challenged themselves to see things from any different, meaningful perspectives, and I have always felt that way. It is a bummer though that, when I have found the rare fanfic that has great writing and feels like the show characters and tells a story that's interesting and new (or even has a ship for the girls that's completely off the wall but... somehow actually works!)... it's because I had to dig through all the PPG/RRB content to find it. And I've seen many people who've written cool stuff get frustrated enough about that difficulty of visibility that that they take down their fics, or they get discouraged from writing anything else, or they even get harassed for daring to write anything against the norm. It bums me out.

[diaco1968]

hii could i request the same plot of "The knight in the baggy shirt" in that scene where dyl hugs the reader and happens the same thing as in the abi and nick scene but making it longer?? like, just that scene, pls ignore this if u can do it ty 💗

I actually enjoy talking a lot about a scene I like ;) but I changed the plot a little for ... uh ... story purposes... and Dylan is a little ooc but because he is turning so... (and I had seen THAT scene with Miles Robbins in Daniel isn't real 🥵)

I don't think there WARNINGS? He is a bit rough and forceful, nothing naughty happens...

The sharp pull around your lower abdomen and chest ripped a sharp gasp from your throat and you had to take a step back bumping into Dylan whose arms were ready and immediately wrapped around you tighter.

"Holy shit... be careful (y/n)..."

He whispered softly and your confusion disappeared once you saw the glinting of metal right where you almost stepped a few seconds ago. A bear trap, barely visible among the greens of the forest floor.

"I... I almost... thank you..."

You were speechless trying not to imagine the pain that was to come had Dylan not reacted quickly enough and hadn't pulled you back.

"Almost got bear trapped the shit out of?... yeah you almost did..."

You could feel him all over you from where you were engulfed in his embrace, his right arm wrapped around your front all the way from your right hip to your left hip bone and his left hand was placed on your side probably to steady you so both of you don't fall back on the ground.

His chest was flush against your back and you were only now noticing just how lean and firm he was, since his baggy shirts never gave anything away from what was underneath.

In your attempt to steady yourself you had reached down and grabbed his right wrist and involuntarily you were digging your nails in his forearm so you loosened your grip but didn't let go yet. Cause he hadn't let go of you and you kinda liked it. A few more seconds went by apparently both of you enjoying the situation, until you felt his nose poking around in your hair at the top of your head. It was so awkward you let out a nervous giggle and tried to look up but his hold on you was firm.

"Dylan? What'cha doing?"

That's when you heard the deep whiff he took of your hair and the rapid sniffing that sounded like a nosey dog. You tried to step away from him but his hold on you only tightened further.

"...uh... Dylan?"

"You smell so good."

His voice was barely above a gruff whisper in a tone you had never heard him use, too serious and too demanding.

"I... thanks? Not really the time, Dylan..."

You tried to use your hold on his wrist and pull his arm off of you so you could step out of his embrace but no matter how hard you pulled, his arm around your waist didn't budge.

"I want to taste you."

"Definitely not the time for that, Dylan! Let me go!"

Your other hand that was free up until now joined the right one and with a hard grip on Dylans right forearm you tried to pry his arm off you with both hands to no avail. The strength he had was confusing and frustrating you. His left hand moved from your side to grasp your left wrist and yank it back and away from the both of you, holding it tightly in mid air almost hight enough as your head, and no matter how hard your tried to pull your left hand back towards yourself you couldn't.

The body heat he was emitting was also adding to your frustration and you were starting to sweat, over all very uncomfortable situation.

"Dylan! What are you d-doing?!"

"Are you scared?"

You froze at the cold tone of his words, not even recognizing his voice at this point, he sounded like he would enjoy your positive answer but couldn't be bothered to care much anyway.

"...Dylan... please..."

"Why would you reject me? You love me don't you, (y/n)?"

You pursed your lips and closed your eyes shut, letting a shaky sigh leave your lips. His hand suddenly moved from your hip to your neck, gripping it tightly and pulling you back into him even closer than before, as he growled loudly in your ear.

"Don't you?!"

"I d-do!... I do love you..."

"Then you wouldn't mind me having a tiny little taste."

His fingers around your neck tightened and as they started to become suffocating you could feel his nose move down your head and behind your ear, his tongue dragged over the shell of your ear and he let out a satisfied sigh, squeezing your neck harder. You started jerking your left hand again and trying to free it as the air left your lungs and your vision became blurry but his grip was iron hard and he pulled your hand back harder, exposing your left shoulder and neck further.

"I scare you, huh?... The more you struggle the sweeter you smell... if you could just... ugh...just one little bite..."

"This is not you Dylan! Please! You should-...I can't! You're not Dylan! You're hurting me!"

You were so terrified for your life that the words just aimlessly fell out of your mouth using your remaining breath but all that got you was that he removed his hand from your neck and pressed his palm against your mouth effectively shutting your mouth tightly.

"Shhh I am Dylan. I just feel much better ...and stronger... and significantly hungrier... and...and somehow way more into you than I was before... so much I want to just... mmmh..."

His voice cut off into a needy moan as his lips connected to the side of your neck feeling your pulse on his lips, his tongue rolled out and licked a long wet hot stripe up your neck, his unnaturally sharp fangs scraping over your skin that shivered in response. You whimpered pleadingly but he just pulled you in harder, his hips moving forward as he grinded himself forward onto you. It felt like he was humping you and when you felt the bulge in his pants rub against your ass, you struggled to step further away from him, he moved his left hand, that was still holding your wrist tightly, downwards and folded your arm over your own middle, using it to pull you back to himself, immediately sinking his teeth in the juncture of your shoulder and neck.

The scream that errupted from you was muffled by Dylan's palm on your mouth, and when your knees buckled from the pain and the shock he simply just wrapped his left arm around your middle and picked you effortlessly off the ground, his teeth still sheathed deep in your soft flesh.

You didn't notice you were crying until he pulled his hand away from your mouth with a loud hiss as his teeth released you and he let you fall on your knees on the ground merely inches away from the same trap he had saved you from not too long ago.

You put your hand over the bleeding burning pulsating bite on your neck as you heaved short breaths to try and compose yourself, you didn't dare look back at him.

"I... I...(y/n)... I'm sorry! I don't know what took over me! I'm so so sorry..."

He dropped to his knees next to you and you lightly flinched away from his outstretched shaky hand. His hand faltered at first but then he decided he needed to comfort you so he tried again.

"C-can I... can I hold you? I hate seeing you so...like...I just...please..."

You didn't know what he was blabbering about nor what he was pleading with you. Hell he didn't know what he was begging for either. He just needed to know you were okay... that even though he did something horrible you two were still fine. Farfetched but he needed it.

And so this time when his hand connected with your shoulder and you didn't react, he immediately wrapped his arm around your shoulders and pulled you back away from the bear trap and into himself, placing you in between his legs as he sat back on the ground and cupped your head to his chest gently rocking you while his fingers carded through your hair soothingly, as you shed uncontrollable tears of pain and frustration on his shirt.

"I'm sorry... I'm a mons- I... it wasn't me... I understand if you hate me now... fuck ... I hate me for what I did to you..."

You sniffled and nuzzled further into his chest, finally relenting and hugging him back, hearing the sigh of relief that he released. You didn't want him to think he had lost you. As awful as everything was, on the bright side he would not kill you now if he was to turn, you smelled like one of them, as distorted as it was, he had protected you from something worse.

"Dylan?..."

"...yes, (y/n)?..."

"Shut up?"

"... alright... sure... okay..."

A few moments passed in silence, nothing in the night's air as he absent-mindedly rocked you and pet your head and you tried to ignore the sharp ache of your neck. Then you decided to break the silence again.

"...so?..."

"Ye-yes?!"

"How did I taste?"

[feitans-sweet-lover]

Chrollo’s Pregnant S/O

I keep seeing a lot of different ways that this is taken from a lot of amazing writers so I wanted to try my hand on this topic. These are just my thoughts on the matter. Sorry if it’s too OOC. (Also, this is so much longer than I intended, haha)

-Chrollo is not one to have sex or intimacy with anyone unless he truly loves them or if it’s for the sake of the Spiders. 

-For you to even get to this point you would have to have been together for a very long period of time. In addition, I don’t see his S/O having any involvement with the Spiders. It’s more of a secret. 

-Kids don’t generally like him all that much and he can say the feeling is mutual. 

-However, since this is a child between someone he truly cherishes he doesn’t seem to mind as to be indifferent.

-He has a lot going on his mind that he would never tell you. These thoughts range from your body being ruined to being proud and slightly possessive that there’s such a visible marking of him in you that’s obvious for anyone to see.

-As previously stated, he’s more indifferent to having a child leaning more towards the definitely never wanting them. Mostly because they take so much time, care, and can’t do anything. Plus, he’s not stupid. The lifestyle he leads is not one that a child could easily belong in without getting hurt or worse, killed. 

-He has these worries for you too of course but you can handle and fight back more than an infant could. They would be absolutely defenseless. Relying only on it’s parents to protect them from the dangers of the world. There’s something about that which terrifies him to his soul.  

-So when you tell him your pregnant he looks surprised but not totally shocked. His attitude more aligns with ‘it is what it is’. He will smile softly at you while grabbing your hand, hugging you close to him, thinking of the exact choice of words he wants to say to you. It is obvious that you were nervous and still on edge by sharing this information.

-He would ask you what you want. Do you want to keep the baby? Abortions? Adoption? This is one of the few scenarios where he doesn’t feel that his say goes as much as what you want. Your his darling. Your body, your rules. He will still love you, support you, respect your wishes no matter which way you choose to go. You’re stuck with him for life; (whether that is a good or a bad thing I’m not sure)

- In addition, he won’t be mad about whatever way you decide to go. He would be curious and want to know your thoughts behind the decision but you would never be punished or abandoned by him whatever way you end up going. 

-You on the other hand, will probably never know what he truly wanted or his opinions on the choice you made. Partly because he honestly doesn’t know what he really wants. The other part being that he doesn’t want to sway or cause you more emotional torment because of your decision. This is especially true if your decision differs from what he decides he wants. 

-If you decide to have the baby and put it up for adoption Chrollo would without a doubt keep close tabs on the child. He doesn’t necessarily intervene in his child’s life but he does look out for them and sometimes they will find interesting gifts left for them in front of their door with their names written in beautiful calligraphy. He’s open to meeting them later down the line but hesitates to reveal his true ‘profession’ to keep the child safer as well as to keep them from being terrified of him.

-He sometimes feels a pang of something close to remorse giving up his child when he observes from the distance. An emotion he is not comfortable with and one that with either drive him to getting to know the child without them finding out who he really is or drive him out of the kids life.

-If they do figure out who he is and wants to join the Spider’s Chrollo will feel a weird proud parent moment and let them whether they are really powerful or not, much to some of the other Spider’s annoyance. Not that they would ever voice it, haha. Some (not all would care) would be curious on what the boss's child was like no matter if they were given up or raised by Chrollo and his S/O.

-If you go through abortion, Chrollo would respect your wishes. Part of him would probably be relieved. He would assure you he still loved you and that he supported this decision.

-He would ask Feitan to do it due to his experience and knowledge, plus it’s someone he trusts to help his S/O. However, he would probably be the only one out of the Spiders to know of Chrollo’s S/O due to this.

-He would support you. He would hang around for a month or so to make sure you were recovering fine. When it seems you have recovered he would take his leave. Don’t be surprised if he disappears for a while. He has been so focused on you he has yet to processes his own emotions.

-He would be the type to be sitting on his bed alone, trying to process what he was feeling before he realized there were tears streaming down his face. This would make him laugh. How could he feel sorrow and remorse for someone he never knew? It would take him a long time to realize how he was feeling, possibly a long time for him to truly come back to you or share even with his own troupe whether it be next moves or otherwise. Chrollo would just let himself feel and when he sees his S/O and troupe again he would be more distant, colder, possibly crueler with his victims. But I don’t think he’ll ever truly understand why he feels remorse, sadness or anything of the sort. He will spend a lot of time contemplating and trying to understand it though.

-When you say you want to keep it that is when Chrollo lets himself feel more emotions about having a child together. 

-It is one of the only times you will be able to clearly see his emotions and thoughts. No walls or defenses up. He would grab you and pull you onto the bed laughing. Exclaiming with almost childlike excitement that you were having a baby together.

-He wouldnt take a full break from the Spiders but would delegate the jobs more so, letting Feitan run as temporary leader due to knowing what was actually going on. 

-Whatever you want you got it, unless it’s super unhealthy junk food. He is for indulging you once and a while but not that often with that stuff. 

-Chances are, you would not go to doctor’s appointments unless you truly insisted (please do). It will always be by yourself or accompanied by your “friend”. 

-He wouldn’t want to know the babies sex. Ever. Don’t try to find out. He would understand but not appreciate going behind his back to try and find out. ‘Patience my love, we will find out soon enough’

-Reads every parenting book he can get his hands. No book is left unturned

-Birthing Classes are interesting. Chrollo has read so many books and watched so many videos by the time the classes come he is calm, prepared and even corrects some of the teachers methods introducing more efficient ways. The only reason why you don’t get kicked out was because he is a charming bastard and the teacher thinks it’s adorable how cute he is about being excited for the birth.

-He more so wants to be prepared as possible for anything and everything to go wrong. 

-He would not miss the birth of his child for anything. The birth would most likely take place at home (wanted criminal with no identification might be a little hard to get into the hospital). Would make Feitan deliver the baby. Either that or would have someone he trusts be around that he knows would pay (and threaten) that he knows would not sell them out to the officials. Most likely the first option would happen. This is the only thing during your pregnancy he would not negotiate on due to yours and the baby’s safety. 

-Only if you were dying would he contemplate but even then he has more faith in Feitan than anyone else to be able to save them. 

-He cannot express the words when his baby is born. He is happy and fearful. His philosophical nature cannot even begin to comprehend the psychology behind this feeling. ‘So this is the love of a parent’ would be what he decides on the emotion. 

-For a man who read so much on birthing, pregnancy and the preparation needed for that he happened to forget to read what happens after the baby is born. 

-Please send help for this poor man. He is lost. One of the only times in his life he is completely unsure of what to do.

-After a couple weeks he gets the hang of it. 

-He would prefer milk formula so he can feed their child. He barely sleeps as is so he wants to help take care of your child. Never asks you to get up, if the baby is crying. 

-If you hear crying you will often walk into a swee scene of him holding the baby close to his chest, shushing them and softly speaking to them.

-He definitely hums to your child while swaying in their arms.  

-Definitely plays classic music all the time while swaying the baby in his arms almost as if their dancing together. 

-His baby will grow up with the finest tastes without a doubt. 

-The only thing he doesn’t like to help with or do is feeding when their baby switched to soft jar food ‘mush’. Everytime he tries the food just oozes back through his child’s lips and he can’t get them to stop. The only time you have ever seen or will see this man in tears is trying to do this the first time. And it takes forever. He doesn’t care what he has to do instead but he will not be doing this. 

-He also doesn’t read children's books but books on poetry, tales of the Spiders (only when they are not old enough to remember), classics such as Dickenson and original Grimm Brother’s Fairy Tales. 

-If you thought he was overprotective before he has intensified so much more after birth. This little baby was the center of his world. 

-He will go back to the Spiders around 6-8 weeks after the baby is born but comes home much more within the first year the child is born.

-While he still isn’t positive you made the right decision keeping the baby, he figures only time will tell.

-On a less pleasant note, he is more interested in the psychology of the child and how they think than necessarily the child itself as they get older but he does feel a very heavy sense of what he can only assume is love and protection even though he doesn’t generally say it to 

-He would gladly die for the both of you.

I hope you all liked this! If there are any other things you want me to expand upon, imagines, requests or characters you want me to write for let me know!

-Vera

[glowingbadger]

Now, I’m not saying that you do or do not have to do this but: may I ask about that Sylvain x reader x Felix x Dima HCs? SFW and nsfw? I feel like you’d get it. 😉

Man the toughest part about these poly and poly-adjacent asks is figuring out how this would even shake down without someone dying lol this is probably gonna have to be a tiny bit OOC by my standards. Anyway, let's chat~

[spicy hcs will be below the cut and tbh it's a lot lol]

Sylvain x Felix x Dimitri x AFAB Reader HCs

- As I'd said last time this came up, Sylvain is definitely the first person to catch on to what's going on here. Over a late night of talking through war relief and diplomatic policy, a quiet finally falls among the three of them. Clearly, a change of topic would be appreciated, but Sylvain chooses to go about this by saying, "Soo... Y/N, huh?" Which leads to the first time all three men manage to grasp and discuss the situation. They all care for you. They all want you. But how could they force you to make that choice?

- Frankly, you're shocked that this is the solution they've come to when they approach you about it. Surely it must only be the lifelong familiarity and friendship between them that would cause them to even consider "sharing" you. But of course, they're each gorgeous, each charming and sweet in their own idiosyncratic ways. Perhaps this could work...

- The best part of being (more or less amicably) pursued by all three gentlemen is how wildly different they are in personality and temperment. Sylvain is an expert of fun, lighthearted romance- surprising you with a kiss to the side of your neck and whispered words and a single plucked flower tucked behind your ear. Dimitri's approach is gentlemanly and traditional- kisses atop your hand, lingering stares over private tea dates, book recommendations and so on. And of course, Felix is as coarse and fiery as ever. He'll never say it outright, but his feelings for you are paradoxically the most evident. He's even a bit of a mother hen with you, scolding you when you don't take care of yourself, and initiating quite a bit of physical affection in private.

NSFW 18+

- For some time, all bedroom activities with the three stay fairly separate- and as different as their relationship styles are, their love-making styles are just as varied. Felix is passionate, intense, and if you can take it, quite rough. Dimitri does his best to be gentle with you, but it's clear that there's a fire in him that he keeps strictly in check. Sylvain's expertise is truly impressive, his smooth and effortless eroticism never failing to leave you trembling.

- It's his idea for the three to try pleasuring you together one night. He says with a smirk you "deserved a treat for putting up with us all the time." Dimitri is clearly interested, but reluctant due to his sense of propriety. Felix is the hardest to convince though- he already has to deal with Sylvain and the Boar more than he's like to for your sake, why should he have to share you in bed as well? But, the idea of trying it just once, just to see you absolutely shaken to your core with overwhelming pleasure, turns out to be motivation enough for all three in the end.

- They start by preparing you, Dimitri and Felix lying on either side of you and greedily caressing every inch of you they can reach. Dimitri eventually settles at your chest, gently kissing and nipping at your nipples and the surrounding flesh with an arm around your waist. Felix, meanwhile, is nestled against your neck, visibly marking you with his teeth as if in direct defiance of this whole arrangement. Then, Sylvain lowers his head between your thighs and puts that expert tongue to work. In no time, you're trembling and gasping between the three men, absolutely overstimulated but giddy beyond belief. It's almost too much to bear, but Felix's free arm wraps around your leg closer to him and lifts it, keeping you nice and spread open for Sylvain to work his magic until you're soaking wet and ready for all of them.

- Felix is the first to take you for real. He grumbles something about everyone wasting time and climbs atop you. The leg he'd been keeping in place for Sylvain now rests up against his shoulder, and he bucks into you with harsh, deep movements of his hips. He fucks into you as you lay on your side, and as he does, Dimitri kisses you sweetly and asks if you wouldn't terribly mind using your mouth for him, and even asks Sylvain if he doesn't mind having to wait a bit. The redhead is actually more than happy to kneel at the foot of the bed and enjoy the view, lazily stroking his own twitching cock as he watches you being ravaged by the other two men.

- You spend a good while getting steadily pounded by Felix's veined cock while struggling to take as much of Dimitri's rather large member into your mouth as possible. Sylvain jokingly remarks on how well everyone's getting along, but you can hardly process words in that moment. Your senses are overwhelmed by stimulus, by the masculine scent of your lovers, by deep, pleasured groans and your name in the air.

- When it's Dimitri's turn, you ride him, which he generally prefers. You're actually somewhat grateful that this time, you had Felix to rough you up a little and make you cum once or twice first, to prepare you for Dimitri's size. When you ease down onto his throbbing manhood, Sylvain positions himself behind you to fondle your body and periodically grind against your ass, all while Felix recovers for a moment. Sylvain's voice purrs in your ear, "Ah, our King is nice and big, isn't he. You're taking him so well, Y/N..." the blonde blushes a dark pink, but Sylvain is clearly enjoying the depravity of the situation immensely.

- At long last, with two down and one to go, Sylvain directs the other two to either side of you again, and finally takes you in the same position he went down on you in earlier- on your back, with your other two lovers at your sides. He's absolutely rock hard, having clearly enjoyed the show leading up to this moment. By now, your so over-full with your lovers' release that it acts as a lubricant, which Sylvain doesn't seem to mind in the slightest. Dimitri lines your cheek, your jawline, your neck, everywhere with kisses and gentle bites, while Felix's hand strays between your thighs to circle a single finger around your clit. This almost immediately pushes you over the edge, your eyes rolling back as you feel pleasure beyond what you thought possible. Certainly it wouldn't be with only one man.

- Having all filled you thoroughly, the three fall into a panting, satisfied afterglow with you. Felix is the first to get up to clean, but he does eventually return to check in on you. You're beyond exhausted- and all of them can obviously tell. You're not sure if you would be able to handle this becoming a regular occurrence, but... maybe every now and then.

[inukag]

I wanna say that finding your profile really saved my day! I've finished the anime and I was so disappointed and heartbroken by the way they treated Inukag relationship...at the point I didn't even appreciate the kiss for the way they have depicted them in the last arc. After reading some of your analysis I'm so relieved 😭💞

I also wanted to ask you your opinion over the first Inuyasha movie "Inuyasha the Movie: Affections Touching Across Time". I really liked the Inukag interaction and find really enjoyable the 'tree thing', in fact I don't understand why their relationship is so much more clear in this film than the original anime. I also really liked that Kikyo appears like the complex character she really is and the dialogue with Kagome is not so bad compared to the only anime talks they have. (At least for me)

Again, I really love your work and you made my day 💞

Hello! That's so awesome to hear, I'm so glad my analysis helped you enjoy Inukag a bit more! I'm definitely not 100% satisfied with the way everything was handled even in the manga, but I do think a lot of people in the fandom overlook important things, especially when it comes to Inuyasha's feelings. Expecting him to say "Hello Kagome I choose you over Kikyo" is unrealistic, you have to pay attention to what he does and understand that the situation is more complicated than "choosing between his ex and her reincarnation".

As for the first Inuyasha movie, I would say it's my favorite out of the four Inuyasha movies we got! I heard Rumiko Takahashi (the author/creator of Inuyasha) was more involved in that one than the others, and I think it shows. I loved the scene at the sacred tree as well, because the tree is one of the most important symbol in their relationship: it's where they first met, it's where Kagome brought Inuyasha 'back to life', there's a scar where Inuyasha was pinned that is visible 500 years in the future that reminds Kagome of Inuyasha's existence in the past, etc. It made sense for the tree to be used as actual, connection between them that allowed them to talk when they were separated (we don't talk about how the tree was bastardized in yashahime). I also loved the hug and Inuyasha admitting that he needs Kagome by his side, it felt very in-character. I think you find this scene enjoyable and it makes Inuyasha's feelings clearer than it is in the anime because it is very close to a manga-only scene that happened early in the series:

Him admitting that he needs Kagome is something that he did canonically, in chapter 72, but unfortunately it wasn't included in episode 21 of the anime where it should have been. Maybe the movie was a way to fix this "mistake" Sunrise made while adapting the early chapters of the manga 🙃

Kikyo was also not portrayed accurately in the anime, they made her a lot more "villainous" than she is in the manga. Things like laughing maniacally after trying to kill Kagome or pulling a knife on Inuyasha never happened in the manga.

She's definitely still morally grey and antagonistic at the beginning, but the anime made her.... cartoonishly evil, which I didn't like at all. Her portrayal in the first movie being closer to her manga characterization is probably why you find her more interesting there, I think. The only part I didn't like was her screaming at Kagome to leave, it felt ooc to me, but the rest was good.

So overall I will give you the usual recommendation I give to everyone: read the manga! 😁 It's not perfect either but I enjoy it a lot and it's what made me love Inukag so much. I hope you have a great day!

[wikiangela-fanfics]

"You should smile more" - sambucky

I’m a sucker for Bucky’s smile so obviously I had to project that onto Sam and write a fic - I use the word ‘smile’ waaaaaay too much in this fic, but whatever

This is my first ever marvel fic, so sorry if it's too ooc but I actually kinda like this one hah

Big thank you to @tasteslikestrawbebbies for beta-reading ♥♥♥

Here it is on Ao3

part 2, part 3

Enjoy ♥

***

One of the things that really struck him was that he kinda loved Bucky’s smile. Once he saw that real, genuine, happy smile on Bucky’s face… all he wanted to do was to make him smile again and again. Which was a crazy thought. Insane. He should not be thinking that, and he tried not to. But then Bucky would smile again, and Sam would melt.

His smile was… really nice. And beautiful. And it was impossible not to smile as well when you saw it. He seemed so relaxed and at peace… Sam has never seen him like that before, but he definitely liked it. He knew there was still work to do, and they would have to get to that sooner or later, but for now, he really enjoyed just hanging out with Bucky, fixing the boat together, talking, which apparently they did now, another surprising thing. Bucky opened up to him, and that meant he trusted him, not only in battle. This made Sam almost giddy.

He wasn’t ready to say goodbye. He knew they would see each other soon, but he selfishly wanted Bucky to stay, to keep him company… to smile at him. God, he was gone on that fucking smile.

He almost considered making up something else that needed repairing that Buck could help him with, but that would require actually having something to do… and he was not about to break something on purpose. Not that that hasn’t crossed his mind… but he wasn’t that far gone. Or that desperate. At least yet.

He convinced himself that he was fine, that not seeing Bucky for a while wasn’t a big deal. Because it shouldn’t be. They had barely talked before Walker was given the shield. And it was fine. It would be fine now, too.

But then, as Bucky was about to leave, the words just slipped out of his mouth.

“You know, you could stay for a while. If you want.” he wasn’t looking at Bucky, his eyes focused on the trees they were passing.

Bucky was quiet for a moment and Sam was afraid he fucked up their relationship, which has improved significantly over the past few days.

“Uh, I’d really like to.” Bucky started. “I would, but I think I need to go. In New York there’s someone who really needs closure, and I’ve been putting it off long enough.” he sighed, and that’s when Sam looked at him again. He seemed nervous and Sam understood.

“Of course.” he smiled. “But, you know, you’re always welcome here, man.” he added.

“Thanks.” Bucky smiled, and Sam’s heart fluttered. Damn, this could not be happening. “I guess I’ll see you- What?” he stopped mid-sentence to look at Sam in confusion.

“What ‘what’?” Sam raised an eyebrow.

“Why are you looking at me like that?”

“Like what?” Sam felt his face heat up and looked away. He kept his cool since Bucky showed up, and now he’s getting caught at whatever his face was doing while he was admiring Bucky’s gorgeous smile? He was pretty sure he was smiling, but what else could be visible in his expression, he had no idea. He was fucked.

“I don’t know, but it’s weird.” Bucky was frowning, his tone slow and confused.

“Bad weird?” Sam couldn’t help but ask, looking back at Bucky, who just shrugged.

“Just different. What’s up?” he asked, not wanting to let go. And of course Bucky, the expert of staring and observing, noticed the difference in Sam’s expression. Of course.

“Nothing, it’s stupid.” Sam laughed, feeling more than ridiculous.

“Now you gotta tell me.” Bucky nudged his arm. “What was that look about?”

“I was just thinking. Forget it.” he shook his head, he tried to brush it off, but he knew it was pointless. One more smile from Bucky, and he was going to melt into a puddle.

“Okay, well, I’m not gonna push.” he lifted both hands in defeat, but he was smiling. Whatever he saw in Sam’s face, had to be positive. Of course it was, he had been thinking about Bucky’s smile. “I’ll get it out of you another time.” he winked, starting to walk again, and Sam wasn’t sure when they stopped walking. “Call me when you have a lead.” he repeated his previous words, clapped Sam on the shoulder, and was about to walk away.

“You should smile more.” Sam said before he even realized he had opened his mouth. How was it that suddenly he couldn’t think around Bucky?

“What?” Bucky turned around, Sam was staring at him, probably looking as surprised as Bucky. But he said it, so there was no backing away now.

“I mean, that’s what I was thinking about.” he swallowed hard. “It’s a good look on you. When you smile.” he said, trying to sound as confident as he could. Slowly, another one of those amazing smiles showed up on Bucky’s face.

“Wow, I did not expect that.” he said, his expression smug.

“Shut up.” Sam rolled his eyes, forcing himself not to smile back.

“You thinking about my smile often?” Bucky then asked, because of course he had to tease Sam about it now.

“I haven’t seen you really smile until, like, yesterday, so no.” Sam answered and thought, damn, where is this conversation going and how did we get here. “And I’m just saying,” oh God, he so needs to shut up already, but his mouth is still moving and the words are pouring out despite his efforts to stop it. “I wouldn’t mind if you did that more often.”

Bucky chuckled, and boy was that a nice sound, and looked down for a second. Seemed like someone was shy about getting complimented. Alright, Sam got it, Bucky probably hasn’t been complimented at all for the past seventy years. But Sam also kinda liked making him blush - because that’s what was happening, Bucky’s cheeks were starting to get pink, and now Sam couldn’t contain his smile.

“That’s, uh, nice.” Bucky said, looking back at Sam. “I just feel really good here, you know?” he confessed. So now they were seriously going to start talking, huh? Sam couldn’t say he was complaining.

“So you gonna come back?” the question was out of his mouth before he could stop himself. Again. Damn, what was happening to him?

“I haven’t even left yet, Sam. Relax.” Bucky chuckled again, his beautiful, teeth-baring smile not disappearing from his face. Then he sighed. “I promise, once we deal with Karli, I’m gonna visit again and I’ll stay so long you’re gonna beg me to leave.” he added, teasingly. Sam just involuntarily smiled.

“Imma remember that. You better keep your promises.” he said, finger pointed at Bucky to accentuate his words.

“Always do. But now I really gotta go if I wanna catch my flight.” Bucky added, almost apologetically.

“Right.” Sam wanted him to stay, but he already said that, and he wasn’t about to beg. He wasn’t that desperate. And he knew Bucky had to go, he had things to do, people to see, he had to do the work and get better, and it seemed like he was really going to. “Uh, answer my calls and texts this time, will you?” he tried to sound casual and exasperated, but the longing and a bit of hope was audible even to him.

“You plan on contacting me a lot?” Bucky raised his eyebrow.

“Maybe.” Sam was suddenly all too aware of the distance between them. He would have to take two, maybe three steps, to get to Bucky and… and what? He wasn’t sure. “Are you gonna answer?” he asked again, taking a step towards Bucky. What was he doing?

“Of course.” Bucky answered. Sam must’ve looked surprised, because Bucky snickered. “How else will I know that you have a lead?”

“You’re an ass.” Sam rolled his eyes, his cheeks heating up. And here he was hoping they would actually start talking on a regular basis… not that he wanted that. Definitely not. Why would he?

“But if you call me without a lead, I might not hang up on you.” Bucky said, a bit reluctantly, a teasing smirk still on his face. “Depends on my mood.”

“You can call me, too. If you ever wanna talk. No matter what time it is.” Sam took another step, while Bucky watched him curiously.

“I’ll keep that in mind.”

“And, uh, thanks. For all the help, you know.” Sam shrugged. There was still a small distance between them, and he was contemplating crossing it and hugging Bucky.

“Of course.” he said, as if him helping Sam was the most natural and obvious thing in the world. “Anytime. But now I really have to-” he didn’t finish his sentence, because Sam took the final step. But instead of hugging Bucky, he pressed his lips against Bucky’s.

It was a split second, rash decision, he did not intend to do it. At all. It was either letting Bucky go and dreaming about that smile and longing for him for the next indefinite period of time until he saw him again… or kissing Bucky and possibly changing their whole dynamic, risking rejection and making things weird again, possibly weirder than ever.

But Bucky immediately kissed him back, as if he was expecting it. And Sam could feel him smiling, which only added to the fluttering feeling in his stomach.

At first, it was chaste, just lips against lips, but that lasted a whole two seconds before Bucky opened his mouth, deepening it. He dropped his bag, his metal hand finding its way to Sam’s hip, while the flesh one cupped Sam’s cheek. Sam’s hands were in Bucky’s hair, running his fingers through it, and trying to bring him even closer. Honestly, Sam wanted to stay in that moment forever. Bucky’s lips not only looked good and irresistible - the man was an amazing kisser. Sam wanted more. He needed more. And one of his hands started trailing down Bucky’s arm to the hem of his shirt, but then… Bucky broke the kiss.

“You really want me to miss my flight, huh?” he asked, his forehead pressed against Sam’s. He was smiling, and both their breaths were quickened.

“I told you, you could stay.” Sam said, not able to contain a smile either. “We could… uh, have some fun, if you stayed.” he added, his tone deliberately suggestive. He decided to stop being tentative about his feelings. They just made out, he was aroused, and he was pretty sure Bucky was too. He desperately wanted him closer, wanted their bodies pressed together. Preferably undressed. Oh fuck, when did he go from Bucky has a beautiful smile to I wanna fuck him ? This was happening fast. Or maybe those thoughts were always there, lurking, as he tried to convince himself he’s not attracted to the guy. Maybe.

“I would love to.” Bucky said, sighing, and his breath hit Sam’s mouth, making him shiver. He wanted those lips on his again. But Bucky pulled away, hands still on Sam, but now his piercing blue eyes were staring at him again. This time, Sam didn’t mind. The staring stopped bothering him a while ago.

“But?” Sam tried to keep disappointment out of his voice.

“But, before this,” he waved his flesh hand between them. “Develops any further, I need to deal with some stuff.” he said, and Sam felt his heart swell. First of all, Bucky seemed so sure that this thing between them would turn into something, so Sam didn’t have to worry about what the kiss meant, they were both on the same page. And second of all, Bucky actually wanted to work on himself first before getting into a relationship. Which filled Sam with pride. He knew that it wouldn’t be a problem for them - he knew a lot about Bucky and his trauma, and he would love to help, in any way he could. But if Bucky thought it was something he needed to do by himself, and was actually willing to do the work, that was amazing.

“Okay.” Sam said, smiling fondly. “Just, you know, not all the stuff, yeah? I’m not gonna wait for an eternity.” his tone was jocular, but he needed Buck to know that he was in, despite all his shit. He hoped his message was at least a bit clear.

“Yeah.” Bucky smiled, leaning in for another kiss, this time brief, leaving Sam chasing after him as he was pulling away. “I’ll see you soon.” he added, finally picking up his bag and starting to walk away. Again.

“You better answer your phone or you’ll see me sooner than you think.” Sam yelled after him. Bucky turned around to shoot him one of his genuine, amused grins that made Sam’s knees weak, and made it impossible not to smile back.

Yeah, he definitely loved Bucky’s smile. And he already couldn’t wait to see it again.

[2manyfandoms2count]

uhhh is it bad that i'd rather accept physical abuse over the sentidrien theory? anyway, that's something i've always wondered about, since adrien usually seems so tense/on edge around his father, but i figured it either doesn't happen (except 'chat blanc'), or it's not shown because of the nature of the show (a light-hearted cartoon). however, i think the problem with this theory is that adrien is a model, and as such any bruise will be immediately noticed by professionals in the field, or he might just not get modeling jobs. gabriel does seem to idolize his son's looks/career. is there a way your theory can work around this aspect of adrien's life?

Given that the physical abuse/Gabriel's anger management issues and all around bad parenting really don't come out of nowhere in the show and have been set up neatly over all seasons, and as long as you don't condone physical abuse irl, I'd say you're fine haha

Firstly, I think that Adrien's attitude vis à vis Gabriel in early seasons isn't necessarily a reflection of ongoing physical abuse, but rather of not knowing where they stand after Emilie's death (I can't remember if it was also said directly in the show, but Adrien says that Gabriel changed after she passed away in one of the Webisodes). That doesn't mean that there is no abuse going on, since there's definite emotional abuse the rest of the time; Gabriel manipulates Adrien and even others (e.g. Marinette in Chat Blanc) on several occasions, notably using preventing him from going to school as a threat. And after the Collector and his "anger fit" (since that's what Adrien thinks it was, and I think I said before that it can't have been something that was ooc of Gabriel, otherwise it probably would have made Adrien tick), Adrien could still be afraid of the damage Gabriel could do, even if it's not directly targeted at him.

Now to come back to actual physical abuse, I also did wonder about the model aspect when writing my previous post, and my conclusion was that Gabriel would be the type who takes his ring off (with a focus on the gesture) to slap Adrien's face (which in my mind is the "best" way to represent physical abuse, considering the context of the show) - it would be less likely to leave a long-term mark than keeping the ring on (which Gabriel would have thought of before hitting Adrien because of the image it would give out, and the scandal it could potentially cause). This would probably be followed by Gabriel apologising profusely, maybe saying something about being on edge lately, but not developing that point (or saying that it's hard without Emilie), that he really can't stand him standing up to him, but getting an icepack for Adrien's red cheek; I could see Adrien being good about it, apologising himself, but still being rightly emotionally scarred by the slap, to the point of not wanting it to happen again, hence Ephemeral.

The other possibility is Gabriel kept his ring, but struck Adrien somewhere that's concealed by his clothing, e.g. the top of his arms (since apart from that bathing suit photoshoot in Mr Pigeon 72, all of his photoshoots were dressed up), so a bruise wouldn't be visible, and Gabriel wouldn't have to stare at it every time he sees Adrien until it healed.