#‘fine he can stay only because he looks very polite’ LOL

[todayisafridaynight]

for an actual crime lord, daigo looks like a very polite guy

i wish he got to interact with civilians in canon more because i'd love to know what he's like when he's off the clock

big agree on letting daigo relax more.. i wanna see him let out in the wild and he like. Can just go to smile burger and order a number seven and he eats by onea them window seats in dead silence

[lucifers-rubber-duck]

hazbin crew with a reader that died in modern times and like somehow a song from modern times starts playing (idk fanfic magic 🤷‍♀️) but it's like cpr or wap or something and reader just knows every word to it. idk if you would consider this nsfw cuz i just consider it like kinda crackfic type energy but if you don't then just delete this lol

Characters: Charlie, Vaggie, Alastor, Husker, Angel & Lucifer.

Warnings: None I guess.

A/N: I think it's funny, lmao, I cannot take any song with sexual lyrics seriously. Thanks for the ask anon.

𖤓Charlie

• Charlie may be thousands of years old, but she knows how to catch up with new times, slangs and trends.

• She's not very used with songs of the human realm tho, most songs that they have in Hell were made right there. But there are some occasions were a Succubus will record their own cover of a human song since they can travel there and back.

• So when the voice of Verosika Mayday starts singing CPR on your headphones, you can't not sing along, the main reason you started listening to her is because she does these covers. You don't even try to sing quietly, you're just going all out.

• Charlie doesn't know how to react well to sexual situations, be it a sudden porn commercial with Angel that decided to pass on the TV, random posters with nudity on the streets or even songs. So when you hear you sing explicit lyrics she does panic a little.

• She would politely ask you to lower down your voice, she wouldn't forbid you from listening to your music, especially if it is something that reminds you of earth, but she does want you to be a little more quiet with those suggestive words.

𖤓Vaggie

• If she heard you singing anything like that she would first give you a harsh look and cross her arms from the other side of the room, she does not enjoy how explicit you're being but Charlie said to not cause problems with the other members of the hotel.

• The second time she listens to you sing like that she snaps and grabs your phone away from you, scolding your and saying that if you want to stay in the hotel you'll have to behave and that those songs are against what the hotel stands for.

• She's very passionate on making Charlie's dream come true and will try to do anything in her power to ban stuff that resembles sin from the hotel, she already couldn't get rid of the bar, at least she can put a stop to vulgar songs. That causes some minor conflicts between you both.

• And don't even try to explain that it is a song from your period of time and that is just fine from where you came from on earth, she'll not listen and still say you can't listen or sing to those songs anymore. You resort to only listening to them in your room.

𖤓Alastor

• I think it's no surprise that Alastor dislikes anything that resembles modernity, he hates the annoying picture boxes, the noisy rectangles that people carry around, and of course, he hates the newer songs as well.

• When he hears you sing any song that has sexual connotation he rolls his eyes in annoyance and lowers his deer ears, he gives you a death stare and makes sure to show he's annoyed. He doesn't get why you listen to that instead of classier music like jazz.

• He would first try to be the polite gentlemen that he is and gently ask you to turn the volume down, but if you keep doing it you can say goodbye to your phone, he's going to burn it or at least break it.

• He's a man that loves the old fashion and doesn't want frivolous modernity to ruin anything in his little theater of hopeless souls that is the hotel. You better never play those songs around him again or a broken phone will be the least of your problems.

𖤓Husker

• He already has to deal with Angel being his annoying self and always being vulgar with him, the moment he realizes he'll have to deal with you too he's going to try and ban you from the bar and tell you to stay a 5 meter radius away from him.

• He's just so done with everyone's bullshit, he doesn't care that it's a modern song and that reminds you of home or that some fancy Succubus is the one singing it; he's going to shoo you away from his sight of view.

•That only makes you want to annoy him more to be honest. You normally either team up with Angel to stress the shit out of him with a improvised karaoke at the bar or make Niffty get the song stuck in her head, she spends a lot of time around Husker and making her sing while she works close to him always makes him give you a death stare.

•Simply putting, there's now a banned sign with your face in the bar's wall and he gave Niffty permission to stab you if you stepped too close to it and now you have to say sorry to Husker if you want to ever have another drink.

𖤓Angel

• This man does not care in the slightest that you're singing a song with explicit words, in fact, I believe he actually knows the lyrics as well, he's the only one that listens to pop songs on a daily basis and is more used than anyone else at the hotel with more modern human songs.

• You two would be karaoke buddies, even if the karaoke is at your rooms in the hotel, or literally in the lobby. The moment a song he likes starts playing he'll pull you with his arms and start singing with you.

• You two mainly do that to annoy Husker at his bar, you two make a poor bartender deal with two drunk people singing something like CPR weekly. He doesn't trust you both on the bar on Fridays anymore.

• Songs are the way you both bond, he likes your vibes but when you two sing is the moment he knows he can just be himself without being judged or called a whore for a moment.

𖤓Lucifer

• He secretly listens to his songs. He has been alone for a long long time, he has listened to multiple types of music genres and heard everything, he just enjoys having music on the background while he does anything else.

• He's kind of surprised when he listens to you singing, Charlie told him you died very recently but he didn't imagine it was that recently. He thinks it's a good idea to try and start a conversation with you about you similar tastes in songs, that's how you make friends after all.

• After some practice on what to say and not just be a complete mess in front of you, he starts the conversation, you two actually get along pretty well, you're surprised someone as old as him listens to such recent songs and actually knows artists like Verosika.

• He's pretty chill about the lyrics, but will ask you to tone it down a little while singing to not disturb the other people at the hotel.

[nejiverse]

I know that this could be kinda imposible, being in the bsd universe, but imagine s/o has parents, can i request hunting dogs meeting their inlaws?

MEETING THE INLAWS

Jouno, Tachihara, Tecchou

I thoroughly enjoyed writing this lol. Fem! Reader

cw: just the boys embarrassing you (both intentionally and unintentionally)

775 words

When you told Jouno your parents would like to meet him, he had no objections at all

You had to make him pinky promise that he wouldn’t do anything to embarrass you because he had a really bad habit of doing that, he enjoys seeing you all flustered and embarrassed

He greets your parents normally with a handshake and a warm smile which makes you hopeful that everything would go smoothly

Spoiler it doesn’t

He’s comfortably sitting on the couch next to your mother as he rambles on about every single embarrassing thing you’ve done

Your mother on the other hand is doing the same thing except only telling stories of when you were younger

It’s as if both of them had a vendetta against your or something

“Mom please stop..”, you drawled out the last word of your sentence as you attempted to drag Jouno off the couch and out the door.

You two had stayed long enough and you were tired.

“Actually that reminds me of another time Y/n wasn’t looking where she was going”, Jouno remarked.

You knew what he was gonna say cause he always brought it up 25/8

You glared at him. “Don’t you dare!”.

“It was on a cold Winter’s day that—”, you placed your hands over his mouth, telling him to shush.

Your mother only laughed.

She didn’t need to know that when you two were walking idly one day that you were on your phone and weren’t looking in front of you which ended up with you bumping your head against a sign pole and a big bump on your forehead which Jouno laughed hysterically at every morning he saw it.

He did try to warn you but you were too immersed in your phone.

Your mother didn’t need to know that though.

Tachihara is seen as a quite confident person but upon mentioning your parents wanting to meet him, he’s a nervous wreck at first but eventually he’ll calm down

He just wants to live up to the expectations your parents had for him cause if they didn’t approve of him, he wouldn’t know what to do with himself

His words are endearing

He promises them that he’ll take good care of you and that he’ll never make you cry

He’s very tense until you place a reassuring hand on his

“I would do absolutely anything for your daughter!”

If for some reason your parents didn’t approve of him best believe he’d get on his hands and knees and literally plead

“You’ll be fine, they don’t bite”, you patted Tachihara on the shoulder.

“I dunno. I’d say they would if worse comes to worst”, he began wringing his hands.

When you noticed this, you took on of his hands in between your own and placed a kiss on his knuckles, resulting in a light shade of pink coating the apples of his cheek.

“You haven’t even met them yet, how would you know?? Just calm down alright?”.

As expected, your actions and words were able to calm him down.

Tachihara was polite throughout and had his way with words. So much so that your parents immediately took a liking to him.

“See? All your worrying was for nothing!”.

He was smiling like an idiot all the way home.

Tecchou is very formal about it

Like boy’s on his knees and everything

He ends up saying a lot of things that embarrass you but he doesn’t do it intentionally, he trying alright!

He firmly believes that all his respect should go to your parents since they were the ones who created you (his words not mine)

Tecchou immediately sat on his two knees and bowed his head.

Your parents blinked at you but you only avoided their confused gazes and put a hand over your face. You knew you should’ve warned him before leaving home..

“Thank you, Mr. and Mrs. L/n”.

Your parents were reluctant to as but “For..what?”.

Techhou raised his head and placed a hand on his chest. “For creating such an amazing woman like Y/n. I’m forever grateful”.

That was your queue to butt-in cause if you didn’t, who knows what words would come out of his mouth next.

“Woah would you look at the time! We have to go”, you chuckled haphazardly, pulling Tecchou behind you.

“Go where Y/n? It’s eight pm—”.

“Shh!”.

Despite the fact Tecchou was a bit over the top sometimes, you still found it a bit endearing.

Masterlist :)

[julilovesyou444]

the only exception ~ tom kaulitz

background: you and Tom had been hooking up for a while now, probably close to around half a year. you had a big crush on him but were very aware that he didn’t do relationships, so even though you were ‘physically’ with him, you never let yourself get super emotionally attached. Tom couldn’t say the same for himself, though. He wanted you, and only you.

warnings: nothing much just kissing and swearing lol

a/n~ sorry for being m.I.a!! I had to visit my dad in serbia and it sucked because I hate my dad and he hates me lolllll speaking of I wrote a fic that was requested where like the ready has daddy issues and tom like helps her through it but I think I made it wayyyy to like serious I think the word is? and its very long so I’m considering scrapping it idk, also I’m getting to all ur requests that I wanna do dont worry !!

~

“hello?”, i said, picking up my phone. it was tom, my long-term fling. I can’t remember exactly how I met him, or exactly how we started hooking-up. I had heard about his band before we met, and I thought they were cool, but i didn’t quite understand just how popular they were. Until after meeting Tom, i didnt know about his ‘reputation’ either. I didn’t know until after the first time we hooked up. He had made us trade numbers, and i was expecting a call at least a day or two after we had seen each other, but nothing. I decided to do some research, just to find out that the boy i was crushing on was in fact a hardcore player. A womanizer, if you will. Part of me wanted to never go out with him again, the smart part of me. But another part of me wanted him so badly, so overwhelmingly bad that I went with my heart instead of my head. I liked Tom, I really did. I couldn’t help it. But I didn’t want myself to get hurt, so I expected just about nothing from him. We fuck and then it’s over. Whenever he would ask me to stay the night or do any of that stuff, I would politely decline and leave. Sometimes we would go out and do non-sexual things, but they always ended sexual. I learned to become okay with that, and I ultimately stopped expecting us to do anything that was hooking up.

“Hey, are you busy?”, he asked.

“Hmm, i dont know, maybe, depends on why you’re calling.”, I teased. he chuckled.

“Uh-huh… well I was thinking, that if you’re free, I could take you out somewhere.”

“take me out, huh? is that code for fucking?”, this earned me another laugh.

“no, no, it can be, but I want to actually take you out.”, he chuckled.

“are you asking me out on a date?”, i asked, a little confused.

“…yes?”

I was quiet for a second, apparently a second too long.

“look if you dont want to, we don’t have to, I just thought-“, he started.

“no, no! sorry! I was thinking but yes, I’m free and we should go out!”, I interrupted. I heard him release a breath he was holding, probably one he didn’t intend for me to hear.

“okay, yea, cool. when can I pick you up?”

“hmm let’s say in about 30 minutes? does that work?”

“perfect.”

“mhm, I’ll see you then.”

“bye.”, he said just before I hung up.

tom kaulitz. taking me out on a date?? what????

I got up almost immediately and started to get ready. I wanted to look as cute as possible. I ran over to my wardrobe and searched through it for a good five minutes. I found this super cute, also pretty tiny, pleated denim skirt and this purple and black top that had a lot of lace detailing and these little puffy princess sleeves. I put on some jewelry, makeup, and these black boots I had. I left my hair down, i noticed that when I did, Tom always complimented it. I grabbed my purse and threw some gum, lipgloss, my phone, and my little digital camera in there.

I glanced at the clock and saw that he should be here any minute. I stepped outside and waited for about 3 minutes, which would’ve been fine, if it wasn’t as cold as it was. I didn’t feel like going back in, just in case he showed up right as i did. I was shivering a tiny bit and got some goosebumps, but to my relief, and pulled in front of my house not too much later. I got in, the warm air of his car heaters hitting me.

“shit, you look freezing. how long were you out there for?”, Tom asked, looking genuinely concerned.

“I’m cold but I’m fine.”, I laughed it off.

“okay, do you need a jacket or-“

“No!! I’m serious! I’m okay.”, I laughed some more.

“okay, okay! just checking.”, he smiled. I watched as his eyes did a quick scan over me.

“you look pretty. your hair looks really nice too.”, he said, his eyes averting back forward as he began to drive away.

“thank you. you don’t look too bad yourself.”

he playfully rolled his eyes but he couldn’t help but smile as well.

“sooo… where are we going?”, I questioned.

“you’ll see.”

“Oh, c’mon. I hate surprises.”

“You’ll like this one, trust me.”

I sighed and faced myself back forward. Some radio station was playing softly in the background as we raced down the highway.

the drive to the mystery place wasn’t far, only a 20 minute drive, which I filled with a lot of talking. mainly about random stuff, Tom telling a few jokes which never failed to make me laugh. He pulled into a parking lot which only had a few other cars. I looked around, it looked like we were at some kind of fancy park. A garden maybe? He leaned over the center console and grabbed something from the backseat.

Tom dropped a large black zip up jacket in my lap.

“My jacket, so you aren’t freezing your ass off the entire time.”

“Oh, thank you.”, i said quietly. He got out of the car and made his way to the back. I followed his lead, getting out of the car, putting on the jacket but not zipping it. I walked around to the back of the car where the trunk was open. There were two big woven picnic baskets. Tom grabbed both and I shut the trunk door as he began to walk off. I caught up with him.

“Do you want me to carry one?”, i motioned to the baskets.

“It’s okay, just follow me.”, he said, continuing his venture into the park. I followed close behind.

We didn’t walk for long, it was a really beautiful park. There were lots of flowers and little benches everywhere. Lots of really big and beautiful trees too. We stopped in front of this big pond, the water was so clear you could see the miniature fish swimming. there was a swan that swam around too.

Tom opened one of the baskets, revealing a big blanket. Without a word, I helped him spread it out over the fluffy grass. He sat down on it and patted the little space next to him, indicating for me to sit down as well. I did. He grabbed the other basket next to him and moved it to be in front of us. Tom opened it and inside were a ton of snacks. All of my favorites. I was shocked to say the least.

“Oh my god, how did you know?”, i said, mouth slightly agaped. He looked proud of himself.

“You mentioned some of your favorite snacks once or twice.”, he nonchalantly shrugged.

“This is lovely, Tom.”, I replied, sounding as genuine as I ever had. His eyes met mine and I gave him a little smile which he returned.

“What is all of this for?”, i added.

“Just wanted to do something nice for you, I guess.”, he mumbled and looked away.

I gently placed my hand over his, his head turned to mine.

“I appreciate it, I really do.”, i smiled. my thumb caressed his hand for a second.

“I like spending time with you, y’know? even when we’re not…”, he trailed off. I laughed, taking my hand off his, an action that didn’t go unnoticed by Tom.

I grabbed one of the many snacks he packed and started to eat. In between bites, I would ramble about different things. He always would just listen to me talk, admiring me as he did. This went on for a while. Tom started eating some. Somewhere in the midst of this, my position changed. I now had my head laid across his legs, my legs stretched out and my hair splayed all over his lap. i stopped eating and just started talking. Tom gazed down at me. Eventually he lit a cigarette and started smoking. He held the cigarettes between his pointer and middle finger, moving it down for me to take a puff. I did, peering into his eyes as I did so. They weren’t filled with their normal lust, but they looked like they had something else in them. I couldn’t figure it out.

Tom talked some too, mainly making crude jokes. I always laughed, no matter how stupid. I think he enjoyed that.

He took a hit and then leaned over, his mouth hovering over mine. I opened and allowed him to blow the smoke in my mouth. He sat back up and watched as slowly blew it out.

“I know this isn’t a normal thing to do when we ‘meet up’, but i really like it.”, Tom said, his fingers intertwined with the ends of my hair.

“Really?”, i asked. I knew for a fact he enjoyed my body, but I wasn’t aware he liked spending time with me when we weren’t doing one another.

“yea… why’s that so shocking?”

“Um, i dont know. I guess I thought you really only wanted sex from me.”

“Oh.”

“Yea..”

“Uh, I guess that’s just what I wanted at first. But the more I started seeing you, the more I wanted to see you again.”

“Oh?”

“Yea, and whenever I would invite you to stay over or do anything like that, you would always say no. Kind of assumed you were the one who only wanted me for sex.”

“I don’t, I just assumed you were trying to be polite or something. It’s stupid, I guess.”

“No, it’s not. At this point, you know me and you know the reputation I have, so i understood why you thought that.”

“Sorry…”, I muttered, feeling a little embarrassed.

“Don’t be sorry.”

We sat in silence for a few moments, but it wasn’t awkward.

“I was thinking about maybe doing this kinda thing more often with you, I mean, we can still do our normal things we do, but maybe we can start doing more of this too.”

“What? Like go on dates?”, i furrowed my brows.

“Yea, something like that.”

“I feel like that’s something only couples do.”, i sorta laughed. He was quiet, which made me sit up, I looked over at him. He was staring at his lap in my absence.

“Is that… not a possibility?”, he murmured.

“But… I thought you dont do commitment? and relationships?”

“Yea, i dont usually.”

“I can’t go on dates with you and act all boyfriend-girlfriend unless you are actually going to commit. I’m not going to do that to myself, Tom. I can’t let myself get hurt like that.”, i said quietly but sternly. I had to be sensible, i didn’t want to be just another girl that got fooled by Tom Kaulitz.

“I know, but i want to try.”, he looked up at me with pleading eyes.

“What changed? What’s different now than from when I first met you?”, I asked, still unsure.

“I hate talking about my feelings.”, he huffed.

“I’m not gonna judge you or anything, I just need to know.”

“You changed me. You did. I didn’t want to date any of the girls I hooked up with for one night because they just weren’t worth it and they didn’t mean that much to me. You’re one of the only girls I’ve consistently seen for more than a month. I haven’t gotten with any other girl than you for like 4 months. I don’t know what it is about you, but I can’t ignore it. And I want more of you. More than just the physical aspects. Dont get me wrong, I love those parts of you too, but i want you for more than just your body. Dude, I can’t stop saying stupid ass jokes to you just because I want to hear your laugh. So yeah, I haven’t ever really commited before because I didn’t really do relationship. But, for you, it’s different. You are the only exception.”

“What? Really? I had zero idea you felt that way at all…”, I replied, astounded.

“Well I do feel that way and have for a little while now.”

“You aren’t playing with me, right?”, i asked, still not believing it.

“Really?? I practically just confessed myself to you and you still don’t believe me?”

“Okay, I’m sorry! You’re right, this was just, unexpected from you.”

“So… what do you think?”

“I want you too, Tom.”, I managed to say. A smile grew on his once nervous face. He cupped my face in his hands and began to lean in.

“Can I kiss you?”

“Mhm.”, i responded. He kissed me so passionately, I felt like I was floating. My hand went to his jaw, my thumb subconsciously tracing little hearts on his lower cheek. I could feel him smile into the kiss. I pulled away, my forehead still connected with his. I started giggling a little, looking away and hiding my face.

“Oh, c’mon. Dont be shy, now.”, Tom pulled my back towards him so I was leaned against his frame, his arms wrapped around my torso. He left little kisses on the top of my head.

“Wow.”

“Hm?”, he hummed.

“Can’t believe I was your only exception.”, i said with a cocky smile in attempt to poke fun at him.

I could feel him roll his eyes.

“Uh-huh, whatever. Its true.”

“I kinda never thought this day would come.”, i said, my finger trailing up and down his, that rested on my stomach.

“Yea, me too, I guess. But I’m glad that it did.”

I smiled, turning my head around to kiss him again.

A new beginning.

His first real relationship.

It was me, I was his only exception.

Something about that phrase made me feel like the most special girl in the world.

~

[sneezemonster15]

🥴 in the fic naruto says sakura and ino were the prettiest girls in their class and somehow sasuke has the balls to ignore them following him around like puppies. he says hinata is really pretty lol. itachi is apparently the second prettiest after sasuke and he thinks it might be a tie between him and kakashi. gaara, neji, tsunade, tenten, kiba and lee are all apparently pretty to him too. there's this scene where he gets drunk and kisses ino, kiba, sai and lee, no internalised homophobia in sight. sasuke goes on and on about sakura and how he has a deep love for her, longs for her and feels affection for her, though he admits it's not in the way she wants. he even thinks she sees through him lol. but the really weird thing is how sasuke doesn't understand how he feels about naruto in the fic. he can admit he loves sakura in the start of the fic (and he can tell that it's not romantic on his end), but he has to have this big epiphany about loving naruto only at the end lol. and sakura obviously becomes so much more understanding lol. I think they're talented and i did enjoy reading the story, but they said they were writing everyone in character so this stuff bothered me 😞

What has always bothered me about fanfics is how they simply do not get how closetedness functions in a homophobic and heteronormative society. I don't know if the writer is American or from some other western country. But as long as you are claiming to be canon compliant, maybe actually research how homosexuality or coming out of the closet would look in societies where it is not acceptable. Konoha/shinobi world is not only heteronormative, but downright homophobic. I mean, Sakura thinks they are brothers because she doesn't know what else to call it, she is homophobic herself, and she knows Sasuke and Naruto are just way too close for being just friends, she could have told Sai they were very good friends, but one of the problems in this world is also a lack of terminology, resulting from a lack of familiarity and comfort with the topic of homosexuality but which is essentially required in order to assign names to certain feelings and relationships and dynamics that are seen as unconventional or different from the norm. Developing a certain terminology is important in order to understand interpersonal issues that are deeply embedded in the socio political fabric. You need a certain level of comfort with the idea of it to introduce and develop this terminology. I have a few gay friends in my circles and one of them has been in a long term partnership with a much younger man. The younger man is closeted and they live together, but he hasn't come out to his family or close friends. Although his family does stay over and they think their son lives with his Teacher. And they are fine with it. They are deeply conservative people and staunchly heteronormative, which is why he hasn't come out and I am pretty sure they have an idea about his sexuality, even if it is unsaid and full of obfuscation. But they don't wanna take action because being with the Teacher has been good for his career and he is able to send money to them to contribute to their household. There isn't just one reason of course, but invariably, whenever his friends or family come over, they never acknowledge their relationship even though it is so obvious. They call it a teacher student relationship who incidentally also cohabit. There's a lot of denial going in there, but it's understandable in their circumstances.

I get the feeling that they aren't totally comfortable with the idea but they are also under certain obligations themselves and they are grateful to the Teacher. But you see, the terminology is missing. There's also a major class difference.

Often in homophobic societies, and I live in one, there is so much taboo, prejudice, obfuscation and lack of information/comfort/familiarity around the idea of same sex relationships, that it's difficult to carry on a dialectic with the proper assignment of terms. Gay or homosexual is not a word anyone will use here. They will use a slang word, which denotes something derogatory. Or if they wanna deny it altogether, they will use some other word for it. Like brother or sister. Or best friend, or room mate, or Teacher. It's such a common phenomenon to reduce, invisibilise and trivialize homosexuality by giving it names that are incongruent with the actual nature of the relationship. It's almost criminal how much this invisibilisation is normalised.

I remember when I was very young, like 12 years old, I was in the car with my mother and her friend. And her friend was crying because her sister was not agreeing to marry. Marrying here invariably means heterosexual, heh, it's just a social reality. Because she had shacked up with her 'best friend', another girl, her college friend. They lived together and she would keep rejecting offers that the parents suggested to her. She was of the perfect age to marry and they were worried her golden age would pass her by and she would become a spinster, of course they blamed her best friend for it. Lol.

Now the thing is, there was a strange tonal quality to the term 'best friend' in her voice. She was weeping and I just couldn't understand why it would be a problem if her sister wanted to stay with her best friend. Lol. I thought it would be so much fun. Hahaha. I was very young. I remember asking my mother about it later and she shushed me telling me it was none of my business and not to talk to anyone about it. And it puzzled me even more.

Make no mistake, language is an inherently important and indispensable part of postulating and hence comprehending socio-politico-cultural issues and concepts, and as a result, navigating interpersonal dynamics and understanding. It's not a coincidence that this manga stresses so much on the importance of 'communication', and Naruto's character is point blank shown to stress on it, it's one of the most important lessons he learns in the course of the manga. You can't understand emotions without verbalising them in your head. Linguistics is an inseparable part of comprehension, whether it's about computing internal or external data, or both in conjunction. And when it comes to storytelling, it becomes one of the most important building blocks of expression and getting the story across to the readers or viewers. Naruto is shown to stress on communication in Boruto as well. And we see throughout the course of the Naruto and Shippuden manga, how Naruto comes to learn about and understand different characters' and especially anti heroes' feelings and resentments directed towards their dystopian world. In the kage arc, he says to Sasuke on the bridge - Sasuke, we will never be able to understand each other by words alone, we can only communicate properly by using our fists. Maybe if we can understand each other, I can change all that hate, like Iruka sensei did for me.

And yet, in the climax of Shippuden, at Sasuke's insistence, it was Naruto's words that finally resulted in Sasuke's resolution, which finally broke through to Sasuke. Because those words showed his understanding. His feelings. His love. For Sasuke.

Kishi is a well read, well informed author. It shows in his work, even the different sources he takes inspiration from, such as Monzaemon Chikamatsu and acclaimed seinen mangas. Stories and characters don't come out of oblivion.

Homosexuality having the status of taboo itself means that there will be a dearth of conversations around it, there will be a lack of normalisation around it. It will carry a weight of malignance around it, something unnatural, something dirty, shameful. There is a lot of shame attached to this topic, which explains the lack of terminology around it, or appropriate wordage around it. Calling them boyfriend or girlfriend is not so acceptable in conservative societies. Or lovers, same sex partners. 'Partners' is something that I have noticed to be more prevalent in current times around me. But it's also evident that it is vague. Purposely so. It's to minimise judgment.

And this is something I see consistently in this manga. There is so much going on throughout, as to what term to assign to this relationship between Naruto and Sasuke. Sakura calls them brothers but she knows they aren't. She is suspicious of Naruto when he says Sasuke is much better looking than Sai and then backpedaling about it. She fake smiles. Also, if she thought they were brotherly, she wouldn't have felt so threatened by Naruto. She tries to create distance between them, all to no avail sure, but she is obviously insecure about her own position in their equation. She doesn't stand anywhere in it, but she does think Naruto comes between her and Sasuke, and their special relationship threatens her intentions towards Sasuke. Similarly, Kakashi thinks it's because they are 'rivals' and tells the same thing to Jiraiya, who compares Naruto and Sasuke with himself and Oro, when Naruto and Sasuke's relationship is not really like theirs in essence. We also know that Kakashi is not the most reliable person when it comes to understanding emotional and interpersonal nuances. Just like Sai isn't, who thinks Naruto loves Sakura. Similarly, Minato tells Naruto that his 'best friend' is about to arrive on the battlefield. People in Konoha give so many names to their relationship and yet, Sasuke insists Naruto define it for him in chapter 698, because he wants to hear it from Naruto.

Naruto himself struggles so much in this regard. It always bothered me why Sasuke was not affected positively when Naruto wondered if Sasuke was like his brother. Sasuke had a brother and then, he almost as good as lost him in a way. He was certainly very fond of Naruto, if he thought of Naruto as brotherly, he should have been pleased, no? Narratively, even if he tried to deny feelings that might potentially weaken him, he is pensive or annoyed or even displeased when Naruto says they are friends or brothers. Never pleased, not even a smile. And he is capable of smiling when it comes to Naruto.

But he never does. He keeps asking Naruto to define the relationship, he isn't happy even when Naruto says they are friends. Which is why Sasuke is PUSHED, albeit with reticence, to ask - You have said that before but what does it exactly mean to you?

This is so nuanced and so understandable. He wants Naruto to assign a term to it. It's significant, it's important. A term that explains their feelings accurately so they both know. They live in a world that doesn't have the terminology to support same sex relationships, they have no frame of reference as to how to talk about it. They struggle with talking about their feelings in the first place. Their communication game is lacking. Their world only taught them how to exchange blows, not words. So a perceptive Sasuke demands a term that rightly defines it. Because 'brotherhood' or 'friendship' is not cutting it. Obviously. Naruto had been calling him a friend all this time.

Even here, the dissonance. The words Naruto uses feel incommensurate with the term 'friend' no? Like seriously what other friends in this manga act or talk like this for the other? Sasuke is his 'friend' and a bond like that can Never be broken. But we as readers, know from context that bonds of friendship were broken in this manga, what with Oro and Jiraiya or Sakura and Ino (for very frivolous reasons too), and later, with Kakashi and Obito. If there were no nuances to their relationship, I would have gladly ignored it. But then Naruto goes on to say what he would do to Oro (shivers, lol) to protect Sasuke. Like just the lengths he is ready to go to. And it fits with the idea that Naruto's feelings for Sasuke are way more intense than just friends, consistent with how they seem with each other in part one, especially vote one. Naruto dilly dallies between so many terms for Sasuke. A friend. A rival. A comrade. A brother. On the one hand, Sasuke consistently uses very emphatic terms for his feelings for Naruto when he says Naruto is his closest friend or his one and only friend, Naruto's terms for Sasuke are always a lot incommensurate with his actions towards Sasuke. And it invariably creates a dissonance in the reader's mind. Kishi manipulates the reader very successfully. Also, we all know that Kishi uses his kanji for these two characters very carefully, as he has said in his interviews as well. Apart from visuals, this is also written media, language and wordage is indispensable to storytelling.

But AT THE END, Sasuke gets mad, and asks him point blank, as to what exactly it means to him and right on cue, given this is a conclusive chapter and Naruto can't say the same shit he has been saying before this (which DID NOT satisfy Sasuke), that even if Sasuke were ask him to explain it, he doesn't know either.

He doesn't know. He has been going through the motions for such a long time. We have seen him getting insecure about his sexuality many times. Like Kishi made so many of his scenes layered, just to point it out to the reader. That he is a closeted homosexual, he suffers from comphet and internalised homophobia as a result. This panel, which is towards the very end, explains so much.

Kishi is not a fool. He is a very clever author. This depicts Naruto's struggle about his sexuality so much. He obviously wants to make sure that his LAST conversation with his father is meaningful and that everything his parents wanted Naruto to be and achieve, Naruto will satisfy. Naruto wants to assure Minato, and he doesn't wanna lie. But he also cannot make himself say it. This boy who always wanted family, finally met them through a stroke of luck (or fate) but his was still a special case. He goes into such detail about everything, everything Kushina asked him to do, all the ninja taboos, but he broke down at that moment, about women. That it should be a woman he must marry is pretty much implied no? More than implied, it's a heteronormative society after all. Kishi is NOT stupid, this was a very smart way of layering his internal turmoil, his struggle with his sexuality because he loves a BOY. Not a woman.

And thing is, all this is very realistic. Very. It has been a persistent element/trope in most coming of age films that I have seen about homosexuality. Except for films like Love, Simon (very surface level and simplistic) or 'Call me by your name' because Elio has very forward thinking parents and he lives in a very affluent and liberal society. He doesn't have the same kind of hangups about his sexuality. But films like Esteros (Brazil), Eternal Summer (China), Beach Rats (America), Giant little ones (Canada), Posledice (Polish), And then we danced (Georgia), The Blonde one (Argentina), Brokeback Mountain (America), Free Fall (German) and more, all of these films are about sexual coming of age drama or sexual awakening and have the same tropes. Comphet. Denial. Internalised homophobia. Emotional turmoil. Dilemma. Burden of societal expectations. Pain. Misery. Confusion. Even rage.

And these are really good films too. Very thoughtfully made.

There are so many complex facets to homosexuality and coming to terms with or even acknowledging it is such a complex and difficult process for young, naturally insecure, and dilemma ridden (moral dilemma included) individuals in a conservative society. Naruto always wanted to be acknowledged and not shunned from society, he didn't want to be ostracized, not after everything he went through, and certainly not to disappoint his parents. In fact, kage arc was very definitive for Naruto. But throughout Shippuden, he has been going through the motions. When Sai seems like he has defected to Oro, Team Kakashi, Yamato specifically, confronts him, and Naruto is like - Who cares what he has to say, Sai is a traitor.

He has strong feelings about Konoha.

But when he hears about Sasuke joining Akatsuki, he is worried. Puzzled, in a quandary. So many people, people he likes and respects, tell him to make the right decision, it being to capture or kill Sasuke. But he cannot do it. He goes through a very terrible time, he is wracked with worry and conflicting emotions and internal struggle. He takes his time to come to terms with all his emotions. And then finally, when he hears that Sakura is out to kill Sasuke (lolol, sorry couldn't help it), something snaps in place inside him and he makes his decision. No matter what, no matter what, Sasuke will not be hurt. Naruto will take care of it. The idea of Sasuke being hurt imminently makes the decision for him and it just clicks to him where his priority lies. He will not kill Sasuke. And if it comes to that, that it's between killing him and protecting Konoha, he will protect Konoha but also, die with him. He is not your typical hero in that sense. He takes the middle path. A hero would typically let go of his personal wishes for the greater good. But Naruto's personal wishes are for Sasuke to live and be happy, no matter what happens. He told Itachi that when the time comes, and if Sasuke attacks Konoha, he will make the right decision. This is his decision. The point is, he will simply not live in a world without Sasuke. He refuses. He will remain a fool and die but not live without Sasuke. He doesn't care about any fucking thing if Sasuke isn't in his life.

Kage arc made him realize that his feelings for Sasuke were bigger than being hokage and Konoha. And so he chose a path where he didn't compromise with the safety of Konoha's people and yet, didn't let Sasuke down. Sasuke must live or he will die.

So by now, Naruto certainly knows that his feelings for Sasuke are not 'normal', even if he didn't say it, but that's the feeling the reader gets. And because we know the context of shinjuu, we know it's supposed to be romantic. The idea of double suicide carries a lot of heft in South East and East Asian literature, classic and popular, whether it be Chikamatsu, the greatest Japanese dramatist who wrote almost exclusively on the subject, and South East Asian stories such as Heer Ranjha, Mirza Sahiba, Sohni Mahiwal, Sassi Punnun, etc. And these stories are part of the popular romance lore, they are extremely popular.

So when Sasuke asks him angrily and insistently (the kanji that Kishi uses here depicts Sasuke to be emphatically triggered), Naruto knows what Sasuke is referring to and he knows he cannot lie about it. But he also cannot say it. He has a lot of responsibilities on his shoulders. But he also cannot lie to Sasuke. Of course, this being shounen, Kishi also had to navigate carefully. But the BIG difference is that Naruto stops lying. Lying probably is not the right term. Misstating. He owes it to Sasuke to tell him the truth. And he tells him, that he doesn't know what to call it, but he knows how it feels. So what he essentially does is that he explains the underlying sentiment to Sasuke by telling him that he hurts when Sasuke does, but that he won't name (explain it) it because he doesn't know it himself. It's such a feeling that Naruto cannot name it. Now, we as readers ALREADY know that he has already used terms like brother, rival and friend. But he deliberately moves away from all of those. Let's not forget that Naruto's most important strength was his talk no jutsu, his ability to connect and put it in words that finally affected the antagonist or anti hero archetypical characters in such a way, that would lead to their resolution. Naruto is different from others in this very sense, to be able to communicate in the right way. But Sasuke was his greatest test in this manga. And he couldn't convince him, he kept misstating the nature of their relationship, but towards the climax of the story, it was important for him to say the right words to Sasuke, especially after Sasuke asked so insistently, so passionately. Because he owes it to Sasuke to tell him the truth. He cannot deny it anymore. Not after all that has happened. So we know from context that it isn't any of those terms or feelings that he used before. But it's something else altogether. What else could it be? Sasuke obviously suspected it. Or else he wouldn't have gotten triggered like this. And with exactly these heavily heartfelt words of Naruto's, when he tells Sasuke that he hurts when he sees Sasuke carry his burden, so much that he just can't leave it alone, and that he would keep fighting for Sasuke, no matter what it takes, Sasuke is finally, finally also led to his resolution, no? He says with such a peaceful expression on his visage - I have lost.

He finally accepts Naruto's love, he finally lets the love in.

Dialogue is very intricately linked to narrative and visual language, but it's so evident, it doesn't need to be said.

We also cannot ignore the way they speak to each other. Kinda like, in codewords.

When two world class shinobis trade blows, they can read each other's thoughts. So tell me, did you see what's in my heart Sasuke? How I really feel? We are not the same kids who fought here once, you know my heart, and I yours, right Naruto? If you know, then why are you doing it? That's exactly why i am doing it. Don't make me repeat it Sasuke, you already know, don't you? Now that I think about it, you were always stupid. Those feelings, those things you once talked about, now I understand what you meant by them, Naruto.

The point is, by the end of chapter 698, Sasuke knows Naruto loves him. Naruto also knows Sasuke loves him, he had known to a large extent since vote one, but his feelings got solidified as he went along his life journey. This is the resolution of this story, this is also a story about their coming of age. It wouldn't make sense for both of them to be oblivious of each other's feelings at the end of it, it will be a failure of both their painfully developed character arcs and the narrative itself. And 698 highlights how they both come to know about their feelings for each other, after so much that they both went through. Properly this time. Explained in more words that they were ever able to use before. This isn't a topic that they can talk about so freely. They don't have a terminology for it, but they somehow managed. This is what all this narrative development led to. This is how storytelling works.

Chapter 699 gives the reader a hint of what's to come after this resolution. The nightmare. Everything that went wrong. Everything that left the resolution of their character arcs awry. Not meaningless but certainly disparate. Naruto and Sasuke talk to each other like they have talked more about what transpired with them in 698. And both have come to a position where they are going to capitulate to the circumstances.

Because at the end of the day, they are shinobis. The motto of a shinobi is to endure. Shinobi is a well established phenomenon, it's not just meant for shounen or otaku. They are real. Not like Naruto world ninjas, but Naruto obviously takes its inspiration from this phenomenon. The implications of being a shinobi is very well established in the story itself. Kishi made Naruto to deviate from its conventional meaning from the start so he was written as very unlike a ninja, loud, visible and non conformist, at least initially and for the most part, except towards the end. Shinobis/ninjas are supposed to endure. Following are screenshots from an acclaimed Japanese ninja series of films called Shinobi no mono.

Happiness and pride are not for the ninja. He doesn't live for himself. He lives for others. A collective is more important than the individual. He is born in darkness and he will die in darkness. He is literally a tool. That's what a shinobi is, from a modern ethical understanding, which is valid.

But Kishi couldn't have shown a happy ending for the boys, not with the sequel that essentially required their capitulation to this world to be able to make the new gen happen. The ending has shades of existentialist themes, which are pretty much present throughout what with the cycle of hate and revenge and infinite tsukuyomi, but that the manga ended it on the same note doesn't come as surprising does it?

Kakashi, a loyal, unawakened and complacent slave of the system climbs the rungs of power and becomes the hokage. Suck up to the right people and you will get places. Top administrative power. And he never really changed, he tells Sasuke at the end that it was because of his and Naruto's efforts that he didnt end up in jail and then proceeds to tell him to be good and careful not to regress, but still never acknowledged his mistreatment and insensitivity to Sasuke's feelings and motivations and very valid reasons. Sakura expected Sasuke to apologise and repent when it was she who was clearly in the wrong, who never understood him. She keeps pulling the same shit she always does, neither her nor Kakashi are made to pay consequences for their actions, instead, they get rewarded. Itachi is venerated, his truth is still hidden and Uchiha clan never got justice or even vindication, given they never summoned the kyuubi, its secret still being kept under the shadows.

( *Note - Nobody start with me as to how it was the right thing to do, you do NOT want to get me started there because you don't know what you are talking about. )

And how will any vindication happen when the world they live in doesn't really celebrate individuality? In fact, supresses it. It was funny to me when Bee reprimanded his brother telling him he was not his tool, that he was an individual who couldn't be suppressed but then Darui tried to convince himself that he was Raikage's left hand (or right) and that he wasn't a tool. Heh. Sarutobi is still revered as the ideal leader, when he himself admitted his complicity in Uchiha massacre, Tobirama was glad Uchihas were shown their place, and Oro, the outlier, the one who is objective because his reasons are revolutionary in his own desensitized way, a result of this heartless corrupt system that gives birth to undesirables like him, who collects other undesirables, the wretched, outliers and rejects, and makes his own village, is shown to be under surveillance, but he supported the war effort crucially, deviating from his objectives (even if only because of his interest in Sasuke and not because of the village), so he gets his redemption. So does Kabuto. Neji dies as a slave, something he was determined to fight against, and Hinata got her win, she got rewarded when she didn't work for it even a little bit. But she is rich, from a major clan, an heiress. A princess. The daimyos were shown as entirely privileged, uncaring and blasé about the war, carefree, playing cards or whatever, while the shinobis that were guarding them grumbled but then just accepted their fate, to the way of this world. Because that's what happens, doesn't it? It's very realistic.

Kishi didn't write his world as an ideal world. He essentially wrote it as a dystopian world. And his influences are pretty much based on dystopian ideas themselves, featuring major existentialist themes. Ghost in the shell, Jin-Roh, The Matrix, Berserk. Including introspective films about xenophobia and socio political inequality such as District 9 and Elysium. Same director. The part where seeing Itachi's predicament that greatly affected his own and his entire clan's, Sasuke is moved to think of fundamental questions such as - What is village, what is shinobi, what is the purpose of it all? underlines his existentialist despair. His answer to it did not come out of the blue. Like many fans think. But he was written to give up his goals entirely.

And Naruto. Well Naruto said goodbye to Sasuke. He gave Sasuke his hiatiate back. And this boy, who moved the sky and earth to bring Sasuke back, bid him goodbye with a certain meditative, contemplative stance. But not unhappy. Not his usual chirpy self. Not his usual spirited, chatty and loose tongued self. But introspective, pensive. Like they had reached a decision together. Later on, he married someone like Hinata and took a job that killed his spirit. Don't even think he isn't paying for his loyalty for Konoha, where he had to kill all his individuality and murder his zest for life and adventure, and become another cog of this unforgiving, relentlessly cruel world. Lifeless and eternally tired. A colourless husk of his older self. He couldn't even bother to attend his own hokage ceremony.

Kishi is not an ultra leftist, even though I can see he understands left ideologies, appreciates it quite well, and no wonder, Sasuke was partially inspired by Sanpei Shirato's Sasuke. He wrote Sasuke's character with such nuance and veritable shades, the claim that he is some ultra nationalist is empty. He is also not a fascist. Because if he were, the end of it all would have been shown as a reward. A prosperous haven. The best outcome of all possibilities. Your reward for loyalty. That is always the conclusion of the right wing narrative. Kishi is a realist. He appreciates existentialist themes, Japan can be credited with coming up with a whole library full of existentialist literature, as a result of the aftermath of war and the generational trauma can be seen and felt viscerally in the themes of their stories. Stories about meditation on war and the nature of war, the after effects of war, the human ethos behind them. Existentialism as a theory and way of life itself became quite a thing post war even if the theory itself was introduced before it, because it reflected what the war did to people, how it affected them, what it did to their psyches and thought processes. How certain things/ideas/thoughts/beliefs that carried social and moral value for them were rendered immaterial.

Anyway. Sasuke says - I didn't think you would come to see me off.

Naruto says nothing. This hyperactive goofball of ready words and catchphrases and nicknames just haltingly handed him back his slashed hitaiate.

The ending is - Perhaps this is what makes us ninjas.

Yes it does. Ceaselessly enduring pain and grief while giving up personal and individual wishes and desires and need for justice and their individuality does make them ninjas.

Continuing the status quo does make them ninjas. Nothing really changed, nothing really mattered. There's a certain melancholic quality to this scene. Which feels different in terms of tone and pacing, doesn't it?

Regardless, it's tragic.

Naruto is different in this scene in chapter 699. I think they have already discussed it by this point. And I think they have already come to some conclusions. What exactly did they talk about, we will never know. And I would give Kishi a lot of my money and a big part of my prized possessions, including my time, to know.

But well.

Now to come to what this ask was about, lol, I have yet to come across a fanfic that does justice to them, their story and narrative. Of course, it would be unrealistic to expect that everyone would get it, but is it unrealistic that at least someone should get it?? If I can see it and others can too, can't writers do something with this? This is such rich material, with so freaking much potential. There are so many possibilities, writers can use these themes creatively. And these are mostly my condensed thoughts, I will probably go in more detail some other day. And honestly, it takes some research, sure. But don't writers put some research in it anyway?

But they go for the easy route. It's okay, that they write what they like, but at least don't call it canon compliant. Most fans don't even understand canon. Give yourself some more credit, there's so much to discover.

At the end of the day, whenever I read some fic, unless it is supposed to be light hearted, it mostly just ends up disappointing me. Especially the ones that are based in canon universe.

This fic shows Naruto as an oblivious idiot when he is more perceptive than most fans think. He understands a lot of things, he is not a doofus, he is much more experienced at the end of the manga, he is aware of some realities and he is only going to learn more. And more. He understands his own emotions. Towards Sasuke as well. Sasuke is also shown as someone who doesn't even understand that he is attracted to Naruto when he has almost always known he was. Why else would he give up his life the way he did in land of waves? Gaara, btw, is perhaps one of the very few people who understand loneliness and being ostracized. Just him, Sasuke and Naruto, more prominently in this manga. He didn't attack Sasuke in kage arc, he could have. He is also perceptive enough to know that Naruto loves Sasuke, he also understands it better than Lee, who is a simplistic character, who thinks bad people's deeds are bad. Gaara understands that loneliness and hatred can drive people to do things they otherwise wouldn't. He resonated with Sasuke. He understood his predicament. and Naruto's. Which is why he said what he said to Naruto in kage arc. I love his character and I wish more people understood him. I swear if I could have broken the screen and picked small Gaara up when his salve got rejected by that child, I would have and I would have run....far.

Ino is portrayed as carefree and confident, sure. But I dont think she would be so fine with Sasuke being gay. She, till the end, was a Sasuke fangirl. There's absolutely no indication that she would have been fine with homosexuality. Nor would have others. Konoha presents a very bleak prospect for Sasuke and Naruto's relationship to be accepted.

I know this is a lot to take. And I know not everyone cares so much. But calling it canon compliant or 'in character' when it certainly is NOT, is taking it too far. Let's try a bit more. No?

Oh and I also didn't care about their intimate scenes. Because Naruto and Sasuke, once they get going, I think it would be like a bloody dam breaking off. It would start slowly, tentatively but then, it would burst out. And it would be unstoppable. I am talking years of repression here. Emotional and sexual. And more importantly, they trust each other all the way. I don't think tsunami would be able to stop them. It would be instinctive and natural, like everything else with them is. They might fumble and break stuff but more than anything else, it would be a desperate need to join together, to meld together, to finally be with each other as they were meant to be. They, who couldn't even touch without the pretext of a spar or a battle, if they finally allowed themselves to touch each other, it will be like a torrential force of emotions that would leave them scorched and they won't be satiated until their need to touch and reassure themselves, that it was finally happening, that they can finally touch each other, that they can HOLD each other, without feeling guilty or tabooed, that they can fuse their bodies with each other, to find not just emotional but physical reassurance, would come alive and transformed. They would run ragged. It would be passionate and tender and emotionally overwhelming, it would break barriers and boundaries, it would be a Godly experience for both. Like finally feeling at home. To be finally able to find that refuge in each other that only they could provide each other, in a world where no one else could even understand. It would be magnificent and insane and gentle and teasing and loving and sweet and painful and violent. All the damn shades. They aren't like you or me. They are different, because they are them. And no one can compare. But I can imagine.

[queenbol-of-baldurs-gate]

Feed my BG3 hunger.

I wanna know for those playing with CustomTavs that will romance someone in the game, who are they wooing? And why? How do you imagine their dynamic? In tags or reblogs are fine! I'll start;

Delight- Warlock, Tiefling, Criminal

I literally cannot unsee her romancing Astarion.

Their pasts just line up and mirror so well, as do their current situations, and while she's not outright cruel she's definitely not a Good Guy. She finds him funny and over the top, and is entertained by his poor lying but drawn in by his vulnerability. He finds her contradictory but also funny (laughing together about the walking undead husband was a sweet moment between them lmao) and is starting to find her smartass comments and teasing endearing. They don't just become good lovers, they become good friends, and they will be wonderfully morally grey and chaotic together.

Briallen- Half-Orc, Sorceror, Folk Hero

This bitch can fit so much Survivor's Guilt inside her!! I think she will really fit well with Halsin all things considered. She is, down to her core, a genuinely good person who wants to protect and help, even if she sees her heroism as a selfish act to punish herself. I can see her being drawn to Halsin's strength, confidence and wisdom and I can see him drawn to her bravery, selflessness and serenity. But hopefully he will be able to curb her extremely low sense of self-preservation and she will show him that she will accept him in his entirety with no strings. Two folks who really admire each other slowly falling head over heels for each other!

Iker- Human, Ranger, Soldier

Gale. Not just because he's a magebreaker and I love the whole enemies/rivals to lovers, but because Gale is a wonderfully complicated person and turns out Iker finds complicated hot. I can see Gale intially finding his standoffish and straight up cunty behaviour annoying/vaguely amusing at first, but become increasingly curious about the person he used to be before everything. Iker looks at Gale and they think "Fuck. He's hot. Damn mage." and becomes fascinated with the fractured man beneath the perfect veneer. Idk about Gale, but Iker is actually the devoted type and in the future won't care what he does as long as he lets them stay by his side. Unhealthy obsessions all round let's get on it cunts.

Rowan- Half-Elf, Wizard, Scholar/Sage

I am truly a bit stumped with them BUT I can see them making poor decisions and falling for Wyll. He's got secrets and they're a curious sort who naturally wants to uncover them, for good or ill. They trigger Wyll's protective instinct, as they are particularly a bit naive about the wider world beyond their studies and dig sites and he's as soon to find them crouching down in the middle of a battle protecting a suspected artifact as he is to find them completely closed off to the world with her nose in a tome. He would find their completely objective opinion about his situation surprisingly refreshing and they want to study him under a microscope (oh and he has a very nice smile they can't seem to say no to). They'll make him better, he'll make them worse lol.

Zlatan- Githyanki, Cleric, Outlander

Oh Shadowheart for sure. Not only does he find her beautiful, he's intrigued with the fact that such a kind person (objectively) worships such an evil goddess. He's always been fascinated with outlier cultures and beliefs, like the drow. She would obviously be wary of him at first, but will be pleasantly surprised by his easygoing and cheerful nature yet shocked by his daredevilry and adventurousness. When she finally lets down her guard and they get closer, I can see them having actually quite a romantic dynamic between them.

Delshad [Name WIP]- Dragonborn, Fighter, Noble

I'll be honest, I was inspired by the Panel to make a hot af dragonborn to sweep Karlach off her feet. I'm weak. He is literally Just Some Guy. He's polite, he's softspoken, he likes embroidery and he will Fuck You Up when pressed. He would find Karlach very, very cute once she trusts him with her more romantic side and he can withstand her sparky tendencies with all his scales. She would appreciate the fact that he's pretty non-conforming in terms of his status and his gender stereotype and that he's only a gentleman with her FOR her. Very sweet, very soft relationship ahoy!!

Tav [Name Undecided]- Gnome/Deep Gnome, Rogue, Urchin or Charlatan?

Now this Tav is very much a recent and underdeveloped idea, because I saw The Prettiest gnome Tav the other day and I had this image of a cute gnome lady Absolutely Down Bad for Lae'zel because she loves big strong hot mean women. I imagine a very messy, horny dynamic since this Tav despises any authority on principle and Lae'zel comes from a society very much built upon obeying authority, but I can see Lae'zel finding Tav's dedication to chaos and getting things done her way or no way quite attractive.

[fangirleaconmigo]

“I think the author over estimates how much readers judge male characters for cheating.” - this is a really interesting take and it makes me think even MORE about how Yen is presented in A Shard of Ice. Like, there are no qualms about showing Yen literally having sex with Istredd while she and Geralt are staying together/obv Geralt considers them to be in an exclusive relationship. And her self-destruction is a key point in that narrative, but I’m not sure if everyone reading it necessarily gets that. Sapkowski wants us to like Geralt because he’s the protagonist/“everyman,” but I wonder how he envisioned his readers seeing Yen? It’s just a funny thought that he’s trying SO HARD to make the readers forgive Geralt for having sex with ppl who aren’t Yen, but Yen doesn’t get that treatment at all.

She doesn’t at all. And Yen obviously is powerful politically, (on the Council), she is Thee love interest and Thee mother and has so many incredibly powerful and heroic moments, so the story does treat her with the utmost importance. But it doesn’t seem to take any pains to make her likable. Which is fine and good. Characters don’t need to be likable.

But Geralt *does* get that treatment. When he sleeps with Fringilla, Dandelion pleads with the reader not to judge him too harshly. Nimue is told directly not to judge Geralt in the context of “history”. You can almost feel the author white knuckling it making Geralt do something so unlikable. 😂😂😂😭

It just feels pretty unnecessary, given that in my few years of obsessive presence in witcher fandom I’ve seen literally one person ever get angry at Geralt for that. Yet I’ve seen Yen called a whore more times than I can count. I mean I lost track. That’s mostly on YouTube or Reddit spaces but not entirely.

I guess it’s no surprise to see people judge a woman character far far far more harshly for sexual indiscretion. It’s very predictable at this point. But it still makes me look at Sapko working overtime to protect Geralt, like…do you really think this is necessary? No one gives a shit that Geralt cheats. I think he over estimates peoples willingness to judge Geralt for that.

And people do seem to miss Yen’s extreme vulnerability, low self worth, and penchant for self destruction.

I mean I’m not here to say their relationship is #goals or that people should pattern their own lives after it lol. Irl it sounds like a waking nightmare(I am pretty aro, so most relationships look that way to me). But it’s fiction. It’s a fascinating fictional relationship about two incredibly traumatized self loathing people trying to learn to love each other.

And they always ever only love each other and they love each other completely. They also protect each other and show love in the ways they are able.

But it is interesting to see the author seemingly bend over backwards to prevent people from judging Geralt when literally no one cares.

[lexpressobean]

I have been enabled so Im gonna go on some more about my 30+ Messy ShinoHina lol (i'm shy but im also easy to squeeze more out of if you're polite enough lol)

More specifics under the cut because this became very... long after all I typed so, I will leave the fluff lovers some songs that really set the mood for me at certain parts of the story here <3 I don't hate fluff, I just need to balance it out with some feral behavior lol!

"Comfortable with the Silence" by Andy Shauf

"Wide Awake" by Katy Perry

"Feelings" by Lauv

"Near to You" by A Fine Frenzy

---

Now, the biggest thing I need people to understand about the whole situation is that everyone, everyone acts less than ideal at some point, to put it lightly. Because ideals are still just ideals, and even if you don't go looking for mess, you will experience it in your relationships as it is inevitable. People make mistakes, bro. And sometimes you just gotta live with what happens. You can't always heal or take it back, and you will experience both things simultaneously sometimes too. And it's shitty and will always feel bad. Stains, and scars, they are just proof that you have lived and have experienced things in life. No one is flawless. No one stays clean. All you can do is learn to cope and move forward with time, while trying not to make it someone else's problem. But that third thing can also still happen unintentionally too, and then new mess happens! Mess is natural. Sometimes, it only seems worse than it really is when all you do is focus on it. Other times, is continuously gets worse because of denial. It's honestly a truly wonderful thing when all parties can sit and really work through things together when Mess occurs, but that's assuming they can do so without getting toxic or distrustful and all that other bullshit that is ultimately counterproductive and makes walking away the healthiest choice at the end of the day.

And that's kind of the point, and my main reason for going this route with Shino and Hinata in a romantic sense. I feel Shino and Hinata are both the most likely, out of all the Konoha 13, to avoid and deny mess at all costs, in any situation, even at the expense of themselves in some way or form. Not just in personality, but also because of their socioeconomic standings too, but I won't get into that part of it too much rn.

Shino's behavior becomes warped more early on at the start of the story. Yeah, Shino has always been more petty and has even said or done things in canon that come off less than stellar, but they are also the kind of things that are usually harmless and finished as soon as the moment passes. But in this case, Shino refuses to act on his long standing desires, which are so strong, he's been unable to truly stamp out his feelings since he was 17, even after his heart really broke for the first time. He feels, knows deep in his bones as Hinata's and Naruto's friend as well, that Naruto isn't the person Hinata should be with. But because he wants Hinata to be happy, and respects her desicions, and because he is her friend, teammate, and fellow noble clan kid at that, he will support her first before he attempts anything selfish. And because he also still sees Naruto as his friend, and someone who at his core is a good person despite his treatment of Shino himself and obvious dumbassery, Shino swallows his jealousy and his judgment and his want. And so, he loses his chance through his self-inflicted restraint. He chooses to do this simply because it seemed like the right thing to do, for his friends. Getting involved the way he wanted to would only make things messy, regardless of how confident he is that things will work in his favor, which probably wasn't much anyway. Because how dare Shino try to impose himself on his... friend, and challenge... his other friend... Shino would never want to hurt his friends... but the thing is, you can't always keep everyone happy. You still count and will always count when everyone is involved. It was his choice to stay unhappy.

Hinata, in comparison, doesn't feel it until later, when it also feels like it's too late. And as it creeps up, she refuses to acknowledge her growing sense of disillusionment after she quite literally gets her wish from childhood, her Infinite Tsukuyomi even! She got what she wanted!! How dare she even think any ungrateful thoughts about her own situation!!! And yeah, maybe her dream didn't become an absolute nightmare... but anything less than a dream come true is still really disappointing, especially when the rose colored glasses come off so late in the game. But being unwilling to admit that will also cause her to grow closer and closer to a breaking point anyway. And deterrents are hell sometimes. The legal binding of marriage, their two kids, the fact Naruto is the Hokage, her already well known standing with her own Clan that, politically, will never paint her in a good light... All of that pressure to keep on keeping on even though she's so unhappy... She'd undeniably be the sole reason for her family 'falling apart', externally, from an outsider's point of view. And no one wants to hurt the people they love, even if they're hurting themselves in some way. Her behavior becomes warped some time later after more developments though.

But, well, it really all begins when they both fucking explode, but they ONLY explode after they're both pushed too far by someone else. But after the dust settles they both realize in their own ways that, point blank it sucks a lot that it happened like that, but they can either succumb to their situation for good, or frame it as something new, like they were both given an opportunity. Only by working past their fears, deterrents, and even false senses of morality will they get to really change their situations. It's about how they do so.

Hinata will explode first, because she will find out that Naruto has undeniably cheated on her with Sasuke. And my mind can't decide how exactly, but in the end, it doesn't matter how he did it, but he did, she finds out and she just breaks down about it all. Shino will follow suit when he realizes Hinata is broken up, and when he finds out exactly why... boy, his coniption will be fucking legendary. But the only person to actually see it would be Hinata, and it's alarming and distressing but especially terrifying because for a moment much too long, she could feel in Shino an intent to kill... and suddenly everything else is so miniscule for that moment because Hinata's best friend would actually fucking try to murder her husband...

W h a t

He doesn't mean to take his anger out on her, and he doesn't actually anyway, but his words and actions in the moment are horrifying and all she wants to do is calm him down, and she does it by pulling from some hidden reserve of strength she has as Naruto's Wife and Mother of his Children. Because it's all so confusing and so bad but goddamn it you will NOT fuck with her family!

Feelings don't disappear in an instant. Shino would know that better than anyone. It's a punch in the gut and really wounds him despite all logic but it's exactly what he needs to just... stop being so crazy. And because of this, after he calms down, and he takes several steps back and probably a seat, he realizes no matter how hard he tries he just can't won't (be honest Shino!) move on either. He will not because deeper still in his heart of hearts, he always knew he wanted to at least try. His main regret is that he hid behind the farce of 'true friendship' to stay close to her, but one can't blame themself for lack of confidence too. Sometimes the cookie will crumble as it may, but now... now as messed up the situation has become, his pent up frustration and regrets and his fucking desire override his logic and his inner goblin man comes out much more often and as fucked as it is, will probably try to gain Hinata's favor while she is still down and sorting through things. He's not doing it on purpose but mans just does not want to wait any longer. Because he was waiting since forever whether he admits it or not and he decides that Naruto DEFINITELY does not deserve this woman. He never did and never fucking will.

BUT... but but but, Hinata... has to just... process everything. Shino promises he was just so upset for her. What? He wouldn't kill Naruto. How could he ever? He is Fine, he is Good, he is going to go home and lay down. And he wholeheartedly apologizes for such an unbecoming reaction... Hinata chose to confide in Shino and flying off the handle like that was entirely inappropriate. Embarrassing and shameful even. Not the support Hinata obviously needs. Of course he will keep this all confidential, of course, no need to worry... She didn't need any of that, and Shino will never be able to apologize enough but all things considered, he will support her as best as he can. He is so so sorry but wants to be there for her, that is the truth.

And it really is the truth, but it still shakes Hinata to her core. That will never be a normal reaction from Shino. There is no explanation for that reaction, but Hinata still trusts him... she knows she can trust him to follow through with what he says... but it itches. It's an itchy and confusing sensation as she tries to dig further into why Shino was so crazy there for a moment? Does it mean something that Shino was so upset, almost more than Hinata even? Was Hinata not upset enough??? Meanwhile she's trying to work things out with Naruto who got caught and even though the threat of death can really put things into perspective fast, Hinata will have to realize there's a difference between loving someone, caring for someone, and being in love with someone. What exactly was she feeling in that moment? And what will she do now that Naruto is coming clean and explaining himself??

.

And on and on like that. As for Naruto and Sasuke, and Sakura, it's like this whole... thing that I'm still exploring. Because as a queer person myself, who's had a complicated journey and relationship with my own queerness, it's something I wanna address too. Because SNS is a crazy ride in itself, and Sakura, she deserves so much more as well...!!!

--

Bonus songs for reading all of this!!

"A 1000 Times" by Hamilton Leithauser + Rostam

"Dance Inside" by The All-American Rejects

"Wave" by Meghan Trainor ft. Mike Sabath

"I'm OK" by Manila Killa & AObeats ft. Shaylen

"Personal" by The Vamps ft. Maggie Lindemann

[slashingdisneypasta]

Omg I love the would you rathers so much- anyway here are my answers:

1. I’m sorry, but I am absolutely chomping. I feel like he’d still make a sexual reference either way, like “Damn, you’re that excited to go down on it? 😏”

2. Yeah Jennifer is getting someone else. Best part is I can get rid of a guy I don’t like!

3. I would never do that to Bubba 😭, I’ll take one for the team. My no-major injury streak had to end sometime

4. Look, Patrick is the one of the many people I’d rather not make an enemy with, so I’ll gladly go sleep on the couch. Chances are someone else might tell him to shut up though.

5. I do not trust Chucky within an inch of my life. Jason will at least be courteous and withhold on the chopping, can’t say the same for Michael but if I’m quick enough, I can get by without a stab wound.

6. Omg this one was so hard. I guess I’ll go with Beetlejuice. At least I can make him go away

7. As a child of divorced parents, going into the kitchen with two people are arguing will be just like old times. If I want chips I’m getting chips

8. Well, I have no idea how hard she’s flinging that table. So sorry Carrie, as much as I would like to help you, I’d rather not possibly die by table

9. So my favorite Slasher is Jason and my favorite Non-favorite is Pennywise. I honestly don’t know if either of them really need my help, but if I had to pick one…..I’ll save Penny. Jason has a history of coming back after dying so he’ll be up and going again soon. Penny can only do so much against an adult

10. I’m going to Mama Voorhees, I think she’ll appreciate the honesty. If I go to Freddy, I’ll have to owe him a favor, and something tells me he’ll take full advantage of that

11. Truth. God knows what they’d make me do as a dare.

12. Again, a very hard choice. I guess I’ll go with Patrick, at least he’ll try to make me look flattering.

13. I would definitely want Penny to turn into Freddy. It would come as no surprise to anyone if “Freddy” flirted with Pam. Plus, it’d be kinda funny seeing Jason chuck Freddy through the wall lol

What are your answers though? 👀

I'm so glad you liked them XDD

Oh he sure would- that or he'd be over dramatic and toony and, like, you would see his soul would crack inside his eyes XDD

Exactly!! I'm glad this is the consensus so far XDD Like, Jennifer's telling ya'll that A sacrifice must be made., and you're just going 'Okay! :D :D :D I have a list!'

That's very brave of you ^^ ^^ XD Bubba should make you a stew.

Oh same. We can brave the living room together! I think if we build the best fort- it should be fine. Haha

Again, guys-

I just don't think these are the actions of a polite boy!! This is a bitter old man!

6. Hahahaha, I'm glad it was hard 😈😈😈

7. Sameeee!! Don't mind us, guys, just gettin cheezels. Hey do we have- Hey. Hey. HEY- DO WE HAVE THE CHICKEN FLAVOUR??

8. Good call 😅

9. Good point!! We shouldn't worry too much about Jason. He's stubborn ^^ Also- same as Fox Anon!

10. Very honourable!! And you now may befriend Jason because you're pure! Congrats!

11. OKAY YOUR TRUTH! Here we go- from Billy and Stu: Would you live inside Christine, a car, if she allowed you to do so??

12. Ohhh, good choice!! Yeah, and you'd probably get some really nice, expensive digs out of the deal!

13. Its always funny to see Jason take the hammer to Freddy XD I agree.

Thank you for your answers!!! They're were great! Also thank you for the opportunity to give my answers, too! ^^ They're below if you're interested ^^

I'm eating that popsicle normally. I canNOT bite cold things, or hot things, or wood- My teeth are SO SENSITIVE!! If he has a reaction, oh well that sounds like a him problem and he can deal with it.

I'm sure I can find someone for her...

I kinda wanna meet Aubrey II!! 😅😅😅 So yeah, I'll go! Bubba can stay inside and have a tea. But I'm gonna see if I can, like, drop some food down from above somehow.

Couch!! Patrick is scary. Bring all your blankets and pillows and books for the fort. Also chocolate- we'll need rations.

Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh, this one was hard!! I think I have to go with Jason and Michael too, though! I'd rather be manhandled to death (What? Look me in the eyes and tell you that some of those gifs of Michael holding women against walls with knives and yanking them around doesn't do something to you. Look me directly in the eye- ) then whatever that dreaded big red button does... God forbid.

Drayton!~ I love Drayton ^^ And I'm very good at listening. And-

... no no no- No. No. NO

7. Like I said, I'm with you here.

8. ... *sigh* I'm probably gonna get concussed. Bring on the table!

9. Favourite Slasher? Freddy. Favourite Non-Slasher? Probably Aubrey II now!

... I would love to see this fight XD And I would probably try to save Aubrey II. Like you said- Slashers have a knack for comin back.

10. If Freddy can help me I'm going to him. That way- if it all goes south still and Pam finds out anyway- I'm not going down alone. I am taking him with me. Ha

11. Oh dear god. ... truth...

12. Oh!! Oh! This is hard. I... hmmmm... I'm gonna go with Jerry. He might be nicer to me 😅😅 And he does have a good sense of style.

13. Oof... the thought of real Chucky being oh so confused and wondering why the hell Tiffany is throwing shit at him again is hilarious... But yeah, option B. I'd rather get Freddy chucked out a window then cause a divorce.

[abdulraveman]

undefined

NO GOOD TV vol. 110

rough translation

Ep 1: How to get closer to people.

Ryo: Staff members are totally fine, and if I have to talk (to them), I will talk. But I don't seem to talk much to my cast members, for example. But I'm definitely better than I used to be. Jin: definitely Jin: I was tsun (T/N prickly, aloof). I was quite tsun. I didn't intend to be a tsun. Ryo: it just seems like you have a stern looking face, right? Jin: yeah yeah yeah Ryo: for what it’s worth, it’s the same for me. Staff: really? Jin: I'm not really doing anything. I'm just shy. For example, if I go out to eat or have a drink or something, then I usually put up a wall.

Ep 2: "I think he's good at growing close to people" Ryo: In Jin’s case, he’s that. He’s quite easily liked by everyone. By all kinds of people. Jin: Really? Ryo: that’s my image of you Jin: eh~ Jin: I’ve hardly ever seen him (ryo) meet someone for the first time. Hardly any, right? Ryo: Mm-hmm Jin: that kind of situation where you meet new people for the first time. Ryo: Yeah. When he (Jin) was in Tokyo, he would say “I am at this place, there’s so & so here, you should come over, it’s totally okay if you come” & that’s how he would invite me, but I will choose to stay home honestly (laughs). Jin: So there’s almost no such situation. Ryo: yeah, I’m rather reluctant, probably. Jin: there is a point where you can tell “Ah, he has become familiar (with someone)” is probably when he starts teasing. If ‘this guy’ starts teasing someone that tells me he has become comfortable with them.

Ep 3: People who are older or younger than yourself; do you know how to get along with them or not?

Ryo: I don’t have any friends who are 10 years younger than me. There isn’t any right? Jin: (thinking) Ryo: I don’t know if we can be considered friends, even if I think about the people I know. Jin: they’re more like kouhai, right? Ryo: We don't have any juniors, do we? Jin: Younger juniors. Jin: For me, it doesn’t matter if you’re older or younger than me. It matters what the other party thinks. Maybe because I don’t care about it too much, the other person will think “what is wrong with him?’. As far as I’m concerned it doesn’t matter who it is.

Ep 4: Which do you have more friends of; those older or younger than you? Ryo: In my case, there is no difference. It’s pretty much the same. If I have to say which side, then I would say I have more friends who are older than me, people who live together & so on. Jin: almost the same, those who are older or younger than me. Anyways, as long as it’s someone I can talk frankly with, their age doesn’t matter but it still depends on what the other person thinks. Not much flattery, just a normal & equal relationship.   Jin: Well, in this age, how do I put it, I don’t think there are any older people who make irresponsible remarks. Of course, the interactions are very polite (礼儀).

Ep 5: How we became friends Ryo: Originally, it was because I was somewhat of a senior. At that time, I thought "What is wrong with Akanishi?" Staff: Lol Ryo: Even so, he would still come to talk to me regardless*. Well, he also started calling me “Ryo-chan” almost from the very beginning. Because although we are the same age, but at that time there was a difference of one year (in seniority). Jin: a very very big difference Ryo: that’s right. but... I often... go to his house to stay overnight. I have a good relationship with Jin’s mother. I often eat at his house. Because when I came to Tokyo, I lived alone in a hotel. It was very lonely. The food I ate was always the same. It’s just something I bought at a convenience store, although there are many that sell home cooking. At that time, my relationship with Jin became better. There were times when I was the only one in his house when Jin was away. Ya …I still have the key to his house. Jin: that’s right. “Still come to talk to me regardless” I wonder what I was doing? Ryo: How should I put it, rather than saying you had no regard, it’s more like talking like buddies, even though I’m a senior. Little by little, of course. Jin: well, I think we wanted to get to know each other better, right? *T/N guigui means doing something forcefully and continuously; with great optimism; vigorously. Meaning jin was very persistent when talking to ryo which is what made them friends

[doomed-prophetess]

Dikita and Aiyla definitely share the strongest and purest bond, theirs is an undefined sort of love— even if Dikita doesn't love Aiyla romantically, the latter is still the no 1 person in her heart. And of course, Aiyla was torn and conflicted at first at her more-than-platonic feelings because... are they sisters? are they kin? is Dikita a spirit? where the hell did she come from? and then after a while Aiyla went “welp, I'm fine with this actually”. If she gets to be with Dikita, it doesn't really matter the label or the exact kind of love. Felix is the embodiment of “too little, too late”, he was shackled by his fears until he snapped— but by the point he snapped things were already irreparable. Dikita was already dead, her child already gone. And he regrets it, immensely. But it doesn't change the fact that compared to Lily, Aiyla and the fellow harem-mates who'd agreed to raise Athy together, he did... basically nothing. His love for Dikita was there, but so too was his storm of emotions (love, fear, hate, everything) towards Claude— and the two cancelled each other out until he was paralyzed. The love did not save Dikita, in the end... Who knows, in another version of the story, in another universe, maybe, if only, if only he could've mustered up the courage to meet Dikita in secret, things may have turned out differently...

Aiyla definitely isn't impressed, lol. She recognizes that he's a caged bird, like recognizes like after all, but she wishes he'd have, oh well she doesn't know, a spine? a sense of adventure? she too was a caged bird but that didn't stop her from constantly sneaking out or eventually running away. She's so frustrated.

The impressions and dynamic between Lily and Felix when the two meet again would be... interesting, to say the least.

They are soulmates 💗😌 whose love cannot be easily defined. Aiyla is a lesbian but her love for Diana cannot be put into one category and has been very confusing to her since she was young, because she was always so insistent that it had to be one or the other. Once she has matured she doesn't care to put a concrete label on these feelings, she just knows that Diana is her most special person, and being around her makes her happy enough.

lol I imagine she's super judgmental towards Felix and she's just so done with the men in her life by the time she has met him (she thinks he is a dormant and a spineless fool who lets people walk all over him as they please) and only respects him a little bit because he is Diana's lover. I can imagine young lovesick Aiyla just moping in a corner wondering what Felix has that she doesn't and why Diana chose him over her. Is it because he is a dashing knight? It has to be the uniform. Or maybe the red hair? Is Diana into redheads? Or because he is a war hero? Should she murder Claude? While we are at it the question needs to be adressed: did Aiyla ever contemplate murdering Claude as Diana's death approached? Is the Siodonnian royal family capable of wielding magic? I mean logically they should have to be otherwise they would've been colonized centuries ago by the Obelian Empire.

I'm intrigued by Aiyla's and Felix' interactions, assuming they meet regularily, because unlike Diana, I imagine Aiyla would have been allowed to leave the grounds of the Ruby Palace and was far less restricted than her. That probably means they ran into each other a few times or she played a bit love cupid and looked for him to give him a message from Diana. But which non shippy relationship interests me almost as much as Felix and Aiyla is Aiyla's and Claude's. How is her relationship to Claude? Supposing that claudiana is the toxic mirror to aiyladia, this would make Aiyla the Claude to Felix' Diana. Did Aiyla just walk into the Ruby Palace with her suitcase and he just let her stay because they are both royals and he was not in the mood to start another political conflict? Did they exchange one look and Claude correctly identified her as Diana's overattached childhood companion as in "like recognizes like"? Did he allow Aiyla to live in the same palace as Diana even though she was not his concubine, because he empathizes (as much as he is able to empathize with someone he does not love) with her situation? Or was it a more practical reason than an emotional, namely that he recognized Diana's fragile psyche needed a stabilisator or she would break completely? Does he know Aiyla loves Diana romantically or did the thought that a woman could love a woman never cross his mind and that's why he saw her never as a threat to his and Diana's relationship?

[otakween]

Head Start at Birth - Chapters 1-10

This one popped up on MAL suddenly because the JP title begins with a "0." Always excited to read/watch something new for a change, but this looks kinda bottom tier. Not only is it an incredibly generic plot, but its adaptation is a short episodes anime 😬

ALSO, this manga is being sold in the west as chapters and in the Webtoon style? I'm old school and kinda hate this. Why can't I just buy volumes?

Ch. 1

Oof this is so generic. I'm trying to give it a chance but the cliches are too much. The art is...fine but not very memorable. At least it's in color.

The mom got over her 3 year old making land management recommendations waaaay too quickly.

>_> Is that much older looking dude the love interest? I'm gonna throw up.

Lilia was 30 when she got isekai'd so I guess I'm supposed to be the target audience here? I feel like if I was in her position I wouldn't be like "YEAH, LET'S LEVEL UP!" I'd be like "YEAH! A CHANCE TO BE A KID AGAIN AND GOOF OFF!"

I feel like they vaguely implied that the mom is an evil capitalist (monarchist?) since she won't give people tax relief. That could be something interesting to explore...

Ch. 2

Reslar (the dragon) sounds suspiciously close to Rizzler lol

They introduce 3 age appropriate boys and then she immediately falls for the older guy. I get that she has the mind of a 30 year old but it's still weird. They'll probably go the "he waits until she's older" route. Whatever -_-

I was pleased that Lilia's parents stayed on her side as she was slightly rude to the royals. Their loyalties are in the right place at least.

Why does every shoujo isekai gotta be fixated on otome games and villainesses? It's honestly so bizarre how keyword obsessed media is these days...

Ch. 3

Yeah so, this is a romance isekai where the MC is 5 and the love interest is 15 🙄 I get that it's kinda based on the olden days when engagements like that were normal due to political marriages, but still. We don't really need to be romanticizing this stuff nowadays, right? Especially when it's a fantasy world where everything's made up and the points don't matter. Oh well.

This situation reminds me of The Familiar of Zero when Louise had a much older fiancé. Although in that series I think it was kind of portrayed as a little creepy/unsettling. Wow never thought I'd be praising The Familiar of Zero as a more progressive option 😅

I do appreciate that the dad (Guy) is ride or die for his daughter, but the joke about him thinking she'd been raped was a little tasteless.

We have yet to see what the plot of this series is going to be. Is it going to follow the romance angle mainly or is it going to be more about Lilia's personal development?

Ch. 4

Lilia's mom looks a lot like she stepped out of Umineko no Naku Koro ni. It's probably just the cravat lol.

We learn about Elrich's tragic backstory (his parents were executed for treason). Unfortunately, it didn't really make him a more interesting character. I had hoped he'd have at least some sort of reaction to the engagement but he's pretty much just "bland perfect husbando" so far.

The sex fantasy was something I could have lived without. Straight to jail.

Hopefully we can get an Elrich chapter here and there to flesh him out. I don't care how much he looks like Lilia's fave otome game character.

Ch. 5

I was wary of the parents at first, but they seem to actually be really good parents? Also, Lilia's mom is super politically smart too (girl boss lol). I guess the doting dad thing is basically just a stock character, but if it ain't broke, don't fix it.

Glad the spirits get to show some actually emotion for once (well, Reslar does anyways).

I do like that Lilia is more focused on her ambitions than Elrich. She just happens to also be really horny for Elrich lol (I'm sorry...that's how it's portrayed).

Ch. 6

Okay, I'm kinda getting into this >_> it's just shoujo isekai brain rot basically but the art is so cute and it's been a long time since I've read a manga in full color

Dressing in your fiancé's color is so romantic ;w; (although I guess people don't always have signature colors irl lol).

The dynamic between mom and Lilia both being badass boss babes gives me Yor/Anya vibes because of the ages haha.

That gothic look with the princess curls was serving (werk)

Ch. 7

Urgh my anime arch nemesis appears...head pats. I don't think they're cute at all, I think they're weird and demeaning. (Even if I was 5 years old I think I'd be like "get your hand off my head" lol). I still don't know if this is a thing Japanese people do IRL or not.

Lillia being instantly OP at everything she tries is pretty boring, this manga could use more conflict right about now.

Ch. 8

I like the princes' names (Isaac, Leonard, and Ferdinand). IDK if it would be better or worse if Lilia went for one of them instead. You can't win with rebirth scenarios lol

Ch. 9

Wtf, the spirits get ikemen versions? I can get on board with that actually. Some of my OCs are fantasy creatures with human versions actually...

"This is like having a sister" (file under: objectively weird things to say about your fiancé)

I can relate to Lilia's inability to relax. Productivity is fun to me 😅

Ch. 10

Still no ikemen Reslar, I'm surprised by the mangaka's restraint lol.

Wait how did people even learn about Lilia's dissertation? I thought they were keeping it on the down low.

The hedgehog spirit was cute. I'm glad they spared it lol

Lilia's spirits are just as OP as her of course -_- -yawn-

Well this was pretty forgettable, but it's a fluffy popcorn kinda read, so I'm not complaining. It's a bit unnerving having no idea how long a series will stretch to in these early stages. Hopefully this isn't a 100+ chapters one...

[serialfirstdater]

After the Sun: Last Round Up #8-10 for 2022

Mr. Lip Smacker

I had one date after my last date with the X-Ray Technician when we were still chatting before he ended things.

Mr. Lip Smacker was some sort of real estate/property guy and very much wanted to settle down. He was nice, but a bit socially awkward. Or at least, I just couldn't connect with him. He told me he came to Canada around 12 years old or so (maybe later or earlier, at this point this is such a distant memory). However, he still had a Chinese accent despite living in Canada for more than half of his life. I am just not a fan of Chinese accents. I usually never end up feeling anything towards guys with Chinese accents. More like, I get repulsed by them. 

There was this annoying lip smacking sound he did every time he was in agreement with me and it irked me so bad throughout the date. And tbh, I was just not physically attracted to him. His photos were not that clear since he wore sunglasses in most of his photos. So, yah, you can take a wild guess he was probably not that good looking irl when he never clearly showed his face.

He offered to drive me back to the subway station after our date where I parked my car but I adamantly refused. I just allowed him to drop me off at the subway station instead and hurried out the moment the car stopped. He asked me out for a second date via text but I politely turned him down and he never responded lol. 

Mr. Robot

Mr. Robot only got his nickname because he's been on the apps forever and have been using the same photo of him with a robot statue over and over again. Which he at least used for the last five years. I mentioned this to him and he said he never came across my profile and I was like "Huh, that's interesting cause I've been seeing you over and over for a long time." Unless he always capped the girl's height until now and that was why he never saw my profile.

Anywho, I warned Mr. Robot he caught me at a bad time because of my experience with the X-Ray Tech and I was completely jaded. I told him he was going to be one of my last dates before my dating sabbatical. Technically I was already on the dating sabbatical but I wanted to get the dates I was still talking to out of the way.

He asked to kiss me at the end of the date so I allowed it. It was decent enough. He told me he wanted to take things slow so I said I was completely fine with that, especially what had just recently happened with X-Ray.

I admit, he did try. He messaged me everyday for almost a month post our first date. I always responded right away but I never initiated the conversations. Basically I was waiting for him to ask me out on the second date but he never did. Probably because I didn’t initiate any convos and he thought I was uninterested LOL. I was in the mindset where I could take him or leave him. I wasn’t intrigued enough to initiate but was down if he just asked.

He eventually gave up and I never bothered trying to resurrect that convo.

Mr. Gorilla

I had a feeling I wasn’t gonna like Mr. Gorilla because...his face somewhat reminded me of a gorilla via his photos on CMB. But for some reason, I still swiped the guy. It was immediately confirmed when I saw him irl. I just knew how unattracted I was to him. I should’ve never swiped him but I was already there. *facepalm*

He was in sales and he had this very annoying bolstering laugh. After everything I said, he would laugh and it was not cute. I was not into him and I probably came off that way via the date (although stayed polite). I also told him I was on a dating sabbatical (since this date happened shortly after Mr. Robot).

I don’t remember if he paid for my meal or not (cause that was how little I thought of him, it wouldn’t have offended me if he didn’t pay). After we parted, I never heard from him again.

Andddddd, that was the last date for 2022 before I took a three-month sabbatical, thanks to X-Ray scarring me with trust issues. Onto 2022 Wrap-Up!

[kierancaz]

Hello mellon nìn, i have seen you are interested in writing for Legolas, sooooooooooooo if you are up to it of course, write something??

So here is my idea (this can be a headcanon if you want something short, but write how you want):

Reader is an elf (female reader pls) and she gets sick (wich is super rare for an elf) and Legolas gets super worried, and just stays with her and stuff. Just something fluff, you know.

Don't worry for mischaractherizing (idk if i wrote it correctly, lol) him.

That's all thank you!! You can ignore this, if you don't want to do it.💜

𝐒𝐢𝐜𝐤 𝐃𝐚𝐲𝐬

A/N: AHHHH THANK YOU FOR REQUESTING NEVER HAVE I GOTTEN OUT OF BED AND TO WORK SO FAST SJKDJJDJSJD but iyayah this was such a pain. I kept rewriting it to try and get it to my liking but I just couldn’t do it 😭 I HOPE YOU LIKE IT THO AND I HOPE ITS NOT TO CRINGE OR ANYTHING <3333

Warnings: possible spelling mistakes, not proof read (I wanted to get it out as soon as possible), and fluff (or as fluffy as I could make it), and I don’t know how elf housing works soooo if I got this wrong you’re gonna have to deal with it I’m sorry :’)

Synopsis: you fall ill and Legolas takes care of you.

༺༻༺༻༺༻༺༻༺༻༺༻༺༻༺༻

Legolas admired you greatly. He admired how hardworking and bold you where. How you never gave up and always completed the tasks set to you. How you had such a commanding presence that people just couldn’t help but be drawn to you. In fact, that’s what had drawn him to you in the first place.

Recently though he hadn’t been able to see you. Not only because he was busy but because you where busy as well. You where always running from one place to the next only stopping in the halls for a quick hello whenever he called out to you.

Coming back from patrol one day he was greeted at the gates by a elleth that he only vaguely recognized as one of the people in your charge. You where a captain of the guard, another thing he admired about you.

“My Prince,” the elleth bowed her head politely and Legolas returned the gesture. “(Y/n) is sick, she’s been taken to the infirmary and is asking for you.”

Legolas eyes widened in shock. Sick? You where sick? How long had it been since an elf was sick? Immediately it took off to the infirmary.

He was overcome with worry. What happened? How did you get sick? How sick where you? Elves didn’t often get sick and if they did they’re was usually an on hand cure and everything was solved in a couple days so why where you asking for him? Was it really that bad that you would call for him? For a moment he wondered if you where calling for him because you where on your deathbed or something before he realized how preposterous that was.

He reached the infirmary in no time and upon entering he was more then a little stumped by what he saw. There was you, sitting on the edge of the infirmary bed looking both unwell and very upset. And then there was another elf standing before you, clearly annoyed and pinching the bridge of his nose.

You spotted him at once and grinned, “Legolas!” You said and waved him over. “You have to tell Belanor that I am perfectly fine. He won’t listen to me!”

“You don’t look ever well to me.” Legolas said as he helped bring you back to balance after you stood up. You were holding onto his shoulder tightly and swaying a bit.

“That’s because she’s not well,” Belanor interrupted. “She’s got a fever. Nothing to horrible but it’ll take a few days before she’s back to normal health and… well it might get worse before it gets better.”

“I’ll be fine! There’s absolutely nothing wrong.” You said and pushed yourself off of Legolas, as you did so you where overcome by a dizzy spell and fell back onto the bed.

“Now, since you are clearly not fine, you could either stay here in the infirmary for a few days while I watch over you. Or you could go back to your own home and have someone else take care of you. I don’t trust you to take care of yourself but I’d rather not have to deal with you any longer. Make your choice quickly please.” Belanor said and crossed his arms.

You looked up from where you had your head in your hands and glared at Belanor. You opened your mouth to make a comment about what he could possibly be busy with that he needs you to make a quick decision about this but before you could Legolas spoke up.

“I can take care of her.” He said it so casually it took both you and Belanor by surprise. Again before you could say anything you where cut off.

“Ok then,” Belanor said in a still slightly surprised tone. “Try and get her to actually rest, if the fever rises anymore put a cold rag on her head. Make sure she takes this at least twice a day,” Belanor handed him a jar. “And don’t get surprised if she gets a bit delirious or throws up. Have fun.”

He walked out of the infirmary immediately after leaving you and Legolas to blink silently at each other. “So,” Legolas began. “How did you even end up here?”

You felt heat rising in your cheeks and looked away from him. “Passed out…” you mumbled. “It wasn’t too bad, I feel better now.”

You where, in fact, lying. To save face. You didn’t want him to see you as anything other then strong and independent. You didn’t need anyone caring for you and you certainly weren’t weak enough to get sick. Though, you’ve never felt so horrible.

Your nose was stuffed up and you couldn’t breath properly, your throat was sore and swallowing hurt, and your head felt all fuzzy. A couple times you thought your vision was beginning to blur as well. It had been like that for a couple days before finally you collapsed while out on patrol and one of your friends had to carry you all the way here before you finally woke up.

Suddenly there was a hand to your forehead. You brought your eyes back to Legolas who was now standing in front of you, eyes narrowed in concentration and maybe even concern with the back of his hand resting on your forehead. “Um, what are you doing, my Prince?” You questioned.

“I think it’s a human thing.” He said and moved his hand to cup your cheek. “I’ve seen Aragorn do it to others. To check if they were sick.”

You couldn’t help but lean into his touch. Maybe you where already going delirious like Belanor said, but his hand felt so warm and soft, despite the callouses on his fingers. He brushed a strand of loose hair behind your ear.

Before you knew it you were sept off the bed. It made you a little dizzy but you couldn’t do anything but stammer and pray to the gods Legolas didn’t here or feel the pounding of your heard. “Uh, what are you doing? Where are you going?” You asked quickly.

“I’m taking you back to your house.” Legolas said simply, like this was no big deal.

“I can walk on my own you know!” You protested, wiggling around a bit. “And what if someone sees us Legolas? It would be such a pain if rumors started flying around. People can be so nosy.”

Legolas chuckled, “just a few minutes ago you were struggling to stand on your own. And so what if someone sees us? Let the rumors fly, they dare not ask me about them.”

“But they will ask me.” You protested.

“There is no need to worry mellon nìn,” Legolas said, his voice ever so light and calming. “Relax for now and let me carry you home. Just this once.”

You weren’t really in the position to argue. He was right after all. So you just hummed grumpily and rested your head against his chest.

Soon enough you had fallen asleep. Legolas hoped the sound of his heart thundering in his chest wouldn’t wake you. While he was concerned about you, he couldn’t help but think about how cute you looked.

Eventually he had reached your house. He was comfortable enough to walk in on his own and set you down on your bed. He had been to your home on more then one occasion so he was familiar with the layout.

He grabbed a bowl and filled it with water along with a towel and brought it back to where you were still sleeping. He felt your forehead again before placing a cool towel there. You opened your eyes and looked at him.

“This is completely unnecessary.” You said and then coughed.

“Mhm,” was all Legolas said and nodded.

“I mean it.” You repeated. “I don’t need looking after.”

“I believe you.” He was smiling now and all you could do was glare and pout at him. There was a long stretch of silence before you turned over.

“Feel free to leave whenever you want.” You said, and it came out rather aggressively. You couldn’t see it, but Legolas eyebrows scrunched up and the hurt he felt from your comment clear on his face.

“Ah, um, alright then, I’ll get going.” He got up and walked to your door, stoping in the doorframe. “I’ll come back tomorrow morning, don’t do anything stupid mellon nìn.”

You hummed in acknowledgment and listened as he left your home. You don’t know how much time had passed before you fell asleep that night.

#######

The next morning Legolas did as he said and made his way early over to your home. He knocked twice, waited, knocked again, and when you didn’t answer he decided to let himself in.

“(Y/n)?” He called out when he entered, but he got no response.

“(Y/n) are you here? Is everything alright?” He asked as he walked through your home before checking your bedroom.

You where having a troubled sleep. Your covers kicked all over the place, brows furrowed in distress, pale as ghost with a sheen of sweat on your forehead. Immediately he went and got a bowl and filled it with cold water and after damping a rag he placed it on your forehead. You stirred slightly at his gentle touch.

“Legolas?” You asked softly, bleary eyes beginning to open. His heart beat a little faster as he brushed away some hairs that where sticking to your cheek.

“It’s me,” he said and took the bottle of medicine that Belanor had given to him from your night stand. You groaned as he lifted your head from your pillow and tipped the medicine into your mouth. You wouldn’t drink it. He sighed, stubborn as always.

“It’ll help you feel better.” He said bringing it closer to your mouth.

“It smells gross.” You mumbled, opening your mouth just enough so he could force you to take it.

After that you fell back asleep. He stayed for a few hours, watching you go in and out of sleep, tossing and turning. Every once in a while he would have you take more medicine and replace the cloth resting on your forehead.

Eventually, you where able to form a coherent thought, and the first thing you said (that wasn’t unintelligible mumbling) was, “what’re are you still going here?”

“Ah- well, I was looking after you.” Legolas said. He didn’t understand why you felt the need to always dismiss him when he tried to care for you. There was a time when you could hardly walk due to a wound on your leg and you still refused to let him carry you. He stood up from chair, “but if you wish me to leave then I shall go—”

His sentence was cut off when as he turned away and a hand clasped his wrist. “Stay…” you said looking him dead in the eyes, barely audible, but the clarity in your eyes… “I want you to stay.”

“Alright then…” Legolas said tentatively as he sat on the edge of your bed. You didn’t let go of his hand and instead, ran your thumb thumb soothingly across his knuckles. There was a long stretch of silence where all you did was that and stare at his and your hands resting on his thigh.

“I’m sorry about what I said yesterday.” You spoke finally. “I didn’t mean it to come out that way.”

“It’s alright,” he said quietly.

“I just don’t want you to see me as weak.” Now this, this surprised him.

“Mellon nìn, how could I ever view you as weak?” He started and grasped you hand with both of his and brought it to his chest, leaning forward like he needed you to see him, to look him in the eye and really listen to him.

“Mellon nìn you are the strongest person I know! You are beautiful and talented and so incredibly strong, how could I ever view you as weak? Where on Arda could you even get this notion?”

You just blinked at him. “You think I’m beautiful?”

“Eh—” his face, plastered with a look of shock, began to flush red. After recovering he pulled away and looked off to the side, trying to conceal his rising blush. “Well I mean, you are.”

You stifled a laugh and he looked back to you, “Legolas, would you like to lay down?”

“Would you like to lay down?” You repeated slowly.

“Mellon nìn I could not—”

You laughed, “you say that and then continue to call me mellon nìn?”

“Ah, well…”

“Legolas, lay down next to me… please?” There was a small smile on your face. Legolas sighed and gave in, placing himself next to you on the bed. Immediately you rested your head on his chest and slung your arm around his waist. Gingerly, he placed his arm around your shoulders and tugged you a bit closer.

“Are you sure you haven’t gone delusional?” He asked.

You hummed contently and yawned, “I might be.”

“If I can’t call you mellon nìn anymore… what shall I call you?” He asked.

“There’s an assortment of endearing nicknames out there,” you mumbled. “Take your pick by the time I wake up.”

Not even moments later you had fallen into a comfortable sleep in his arms. He stared down at you studying your face and using his free hand to twirl stands of your hair and brush them away from your face.

“I believer there’s only one name for me to call you now,” he whispered. “Meleth nìn.”

[outivv]

— long distance relationship! —

Synopsis: long distance relationship with them!

Warnings: not proofread

Game/ fandom: genshin impact

Characters: high school (kinda?)/ modern au!aether, xiao, Heizou, and albedo

Pronouns for reader: gender neutral/ not mentioned

A/n: “I’m totally gonna get back into the swing of answering requests! *doesn’t post for five days*

— Aether —

Always FaceTimes you when he’s by himself. Like pretty much no matter what he’s always trying to FaceTime. He’s walking home from school alone cause lumine is staying late? You get a text asking to FaceTime. He wants to go to the bakery in town for some breakfast? He’s gonna wake you up (depending on time zones lol) and he’s gonna ask if you wanna FaceTime.

The type to make/ buy you something and send it to you in the mail. He loves making things for people, and he especially enjoys making things for you! It’s always so exciting seeing you open your gift over FaceTime and watching your face light up at seeing a cute little knitted stuffed animal (aether knows how to knit because I said so. (And because he learned from thoma)).

He probably gets made fun of a lot by lumine. They’ll be teasing each other and aether will say something about how she’s single and she’ll just “yeah well your s/o lives in another country. Loser.”

Aether tries to visit you a lot and for long periods of time. And when he does visit… he’s so clingy. I mean either way long distance, or not, I think he’d be a very clingy partner, and very physically, and verbally affectionate. But now cause you’re long distance? Haha best of luck to ya.

Wants to do like everything that he can with you when he visits you. Like who cares if the city that has the most stuff to do is an hour a way, you’ve got a whole month! And he wants to spend that month of time very very wisely with you.

Takes pictures of everything you do together when you see each other. Even the simple things like cuddling together. They’re all very good wallpaper material too :)

Aether is like… the most polite human being on this planet, and so your parents love him. Like actually. He’s so respectful, and sweet, and thanks your parents for everything. He’s also coincidentally allowed to move in so, uhm-

When he has to leave he’s so sad too! I mean ofc he is, he doesn’t wanna leave you! Promises like 30 times to visit as soon as possible, or makes you promise to visit him as soon as possible. Whichever works, cAUSE EITYER WAY YOURE SEEING EACH OTHER AGAIN. He also looks at all the pictures he took of the two of you, while waiting for his plane, and he looks so sad just staring at his phone too :’)

— Xiao —

Xiao does the thing where it’s like “text me when you get home” it doesn’t matter that you literally live in another country, he will buy a plane ticket, go broke while doing so, and fly to whatever country you live in to make sure you’re okay.

Really likes talking about his day over call a lot, or hearing you do the same as you do homework, play video games, whatever. He just likes being on call/ FaceTiming when you’re doing something while you’re both taking.

Probably can only really sleep when he’s on call with you. It just helps him to be honest, especially after he just got back home from visiting you. If you two live on conflicting time zones though… :’)

First time he visits he’s so shy and anxious, doesn’t matter if you visited him first, he’s just very very nervous. Mostly because he’s in a new place that he’s not all that familiar with, but also because he’s with you in your room, in your space, and he’s nervous about like overstepping especially because if he makes you uncomfortable or upset, there’s really no where for him to go you know what I mean? Please just calm him down and tell him it’s fine :’)

Probably very nervous about talking to your parents too, so for the first couple of days he’s kinda just… awkward. Like he feels the situation is very very weird, because this stranger who claims to be dating their child just is like… here. For like a month. It’s not awkward xiao, that’s just you buddy.

If you have a pet him and your pet are like besties. Doesn’t matter what kind of pet you have, he’ll find a way to befriend it. Snake? First off, that’s super cool, secondly, your snake loves him. Cat? Your cat will regularly sleep on his lap. Bird? Bird and xiao are best friends, your bird no longer likes you, the bird loves xiao now.

I think when you visit him though it’s actually kinda funny. Zhongli will tell you all these things about xiao while he just sits there zoning the hell out.

Introduce him to your friends. Xiao isn’t much of a people person but for some reason he really wants to meet your friends. JWVSJD IMAGINE PICKING HIM UP FROM THE AIRPORT AND HES JUST LIKE “introduce me to your friends. Where are your friends. I want to meet them. Now.” He genuinely doesn’t know why he wants to meet them, he won’t talk much to them anyway, but like… it’s the thought of it you know you know.

When he goes back he is legit like clinging onto you. The three days before he has to go back home he’s just stuck to you. And then when he is back home he tries to like get things that remind him of you. Like a stuffed animal, keychain, or poster, something that he can bring with him a lot, or look at a fair amount and just think of you.

— Heizou —

So being in a long distance relationship with him is the funniest thing to ever exist. Because throughout the day like while he’s in class (bro you should be paying attention!!) he’ll send you the dumbest things. Doesn’t matter what, it could be a picture of himself from a unflattering angle, or some stupid joke the thought of, but it’s so amusing to read your responses.

Realllly likes reading books with you. Kinda like… a mini book club. Like you both read a book, and every week try to get to a specific chapter, and then talk about it every Sunday. It’s so stupid, because you alternate who gets to choose the books, and he chooses the worst ones!! Image the dumbest book with a weird philosophical undertone to it that you don’t understand, and that is 90% of the books Heizou chooses. He’s the worst.

Wait- but the video games you play together????? You have your own stardew world that you play a lot, and he gets so mad if you marry someone, that he’ll actively give them their least favorite gift as much as he can. Any game you play together is bound to be hilarious, stardew was just one example out of many.

DONT EVEN GET ME STARTED WHEN YOU PICK HIM UP FROM THE AIRPORT. If you’ve watched stranger things, remember when in season 4, they picked mike up from the airport and he looked like a whole circus with what he was wearing. Yeah that’s Heizou. You tell him he has to walk to your house, totally for other reasons though.

I think over call, or text, he’s very very flirty and confident but in person he’s very very clingy. Like he has to be holding onto you in some kind of way or this visit was horrible.

Like xiao he also wants to meet your friends but for different reasons. He wants to just clown on all of them (respectfully of course). Your friends also love him.

Instead of you dragging him places, he did his research ahead of time to prepare and know what he wants to do. He will make you take him to all the cool places he’s interested in! It potentially is a new experience for you too depending on where he takes you, but you know it’s fun either way!

Goes back home and is already planning for the next visit. Yeah he’s sad that he’s leaving, but he’s looking forward to the next visit already! (He also isn’t that sad cause he may have stolen one of your stuffed animals cause he knew he was gonna miss you <3)

— Albedo —

A lot of the time over face time he’ll paint you/ draw you. He uses so many different mediums too! Watercolors, charcoal, pastel, acrylic paint, ink, gouache, somehow even made a collage??? The list goes on! He just makes little ones, and they’re with all the other drawings/ paintings that he’s made of things that he finds beautiful <3

I think one of his favorite things is when you FaceTime him, and have him help you pick out your outfit for the day. It’s fun seeing you pose, and seeing all the mixing and matching of clothes. Also he’s the worst person to help you pick your outfit for the day, because he thinks you look stunning in everything.

Loves sending you pictures of things in his hometown, and I think wherever he lives it’s actually a beautiful place, so it’s always fun seeing to pictures he sent you. Plus he’s a phenomenal photographer so like… even better!

Once while you were FaceTiming he introduced you to klee and Alice and they were both just the sweetest and cutest people you’ve ever met! Alice was so so sweet, and klee was so excited to meet you, and told you all about dodoco.

Visiting you was so fun for him, obviously because he got to see you! But also because of the new environment. Albedo does very well in new places, and he’s curious about everything. Bring him to a museum, and he’ll literally ask you to marry him.

One of the things albedo was probably most excited about for his visit, was painting, and baking with you. He loves those domestic kinda activities that you can do together.

Literally if you live in a big city, do not leave him alone. Ever. He will find a hole in the wall store that he will spend hours in. Do not. Leave. Him alone. He will spend all his money at this one store, and he will not regret it BUT YOU WILL BECAUSE HE WOULD HAVE SPENT ALL HIS MONEY

[erin-bo-berin]

So, here’s an idea for a blurb, fic, or headcanon (up to you). So you know how Steve was like King Steve back in high school. Like what if he put that nickname to good use? Like his kids (the Party + his own six little nuggets) would be princes and princesses and then the reader would be his Queen. How would the Party react to that? I kinda wanted this to be set in the singlemom!verse but it can be a separate one if you like.

Oh this just gave me an idea for this! Okay so imagine that Steve makes it into a bedtime story for baby girl (I’m definitely setting this in the SingleTeenMom!verse by the way) and then the next time she sees the Party she starts calling them princes and princesses and they’re all like 🤨 at Steve lol also since this is probably gonna end up pretty lengthy, I’m making it into its own fic as well!

I have to use a King Steve gif for this just for the sake of it, but this actually takes place with season 4 cinnamon roll Steve, of course.

King Steve, His Queen & All His Princes and Princesses

“Daddy, tell me stowy?”

Steve smiled at the way the baby talk still punctuated some of the toddler’s words. He peeked over at you, seeing if it was okay with you.

Usually, you and Steve took turns reading your daughter bedtime stories, but she absolutely loved ones that Steve would make up—sometimes they would be crazier than the last. You suspected that she just enjoyed the time with her daddy, not that you could blame her. Steve in general radiated comfort, love and pure safety.

“Fine with me, I gotta put another load of laundry in, so I’ll leave you two to it.”

You kissed your baby on the cheek, telling her goodnight and you love her.

“Night mommy, love you,” she grinned up at you as Steve scooped her up into his lap, sitting on her bed with her.

You told yourself you were only going to listen from outside just for a moment, but ended up staying longer. With a peek backwards as you left her room, you saw him sitting against her headboard, her situated comfortably in his lap.

“You ready for your bedtime story, kiddo?”

She nodded, turning to she could look up at him.

“Once upon a time, there lived a man, although he was called King Steve by many.”

“Dat you daddy,” she grinned, cause Steve to chuckle.

“Yes, it’s me munchkin. Now shh, okay? Or we won’t get to the good part before you fall asleep.”

“I no sweepy,” she protested, making it less convincing as she yawned at the end of her sentence.

“Mhm,” he said, brow cocked in an amused look down at her.

“Anyway,” he continued, “King Steve was the greatest in all the land. He was looked up to by many, known by all, even disliked by some. He had everything he could want. He was popular, ladies loved him and he thought he had a court of friends that were loyal to him. Little did he know, all of those things meant nothing and deep down, he wasn’t very happy.”

“King Steve had courted many ladies, trying to find something that he thought he was missing. He thought he’d found it when he met Lady Nancy Wheeler. King Steve fell hard for her, but when you’re a bad person like he had been, not everything goes your way. Most of the time, bad people don’t deserve good things. The old King Steve, despite being popular and the highest of all was very mean to some people. He even treated some ladies of the court in a less than polite way than he should’ve. It’s never good to be mean to other people, you know that sweetheart?”

She nodded.

“Yesh daddy. It not nice to be mean.”

“That’s my smart girl,” Steve smiled, kissing her head before continuing with his story.

“Lady Nancy was a girl that King Steve fell in love with instantly. Maybe it was because she wasn’t as easy for him to catch like most girls, although he eventually did. Unfortunately for him, he liked her a lot more than she did him. While King Steve had fallen in love with Lady Nancy, she didn’t feel the same, having fallen for another Lord.”

“Wha ‘bout mommy?”

“Patience, pumpkin. This is only the beginning of the story, okay?”

You smiled to yourself, out in the hallway. Toddlers were filled with questions, interruptions, it’s just what they did. But Steve handled her like a pro. He never lost his patience with her and you loved him for it.

“Sowwy,” she apologized, playing with the buttons on his polo.

“It’s okay,” he smiled, diving back into the story.

“So, King Steve didn’t know it at the time, in fact it wasn’t until years later that he really realized it, but Lady Nancy was actually a life lesson for him. She gave him a bump on the head that he needed. She had changed him even during that time they were together, but he didn’t realize just the impact on his life she would have. She actually set King Steve on a path that would change his life forever.”

You could see your daughter’s enraptured expression as she gazed up at Steve. You had to admit, you were pretty sucked into the story as well.

“King Steve ended up getting rid of the court of friends that were more like poison to him, keeping him from being the best King he could be. He stopped being so cruel, so mean. That wasn’t who he was to begin with, it was just a part he thought he had to play to stay on top. But like I said in the beginning of the story, King Steve hadn’t been happy for a long time. Deep down he had realized that being King for the sake of it, wasn’t as great of a thing he thought it to be. He wasn’t happy at this point per se, but he was on the road to it, he just didn’t know it at the moment.”

“He was heartbroken after Lady Nancy left him, still pining after her, but it wasn’t meant to be. It was only when his land had started fighting a dragon on the loose did he come across someone who really helped King Steve. Someone who became a friend and like a child of his own, even if they were close in age—Prince Dustin.”

“Pwince Duspin?”

You heard Steve’s loud laughter at her pronunciation. She still couldn’t say some words properly and the toddler version of Dustin’s name was pretty adorable.

“Yes, Prince Dustin.”

“He was a brave boy that went looking for this dragon. He needed some help though. That’s when King Steve’s paths crossed with him and it was probably one of the best things to happen for him. You know why?”

She shook her head, waiting for him to continue.

“Because Prince Dustin opened up a whole new world of friendship, love and happiness for King Steve. He had just set foot on that path the moment he agreed to help Prince Dustin.”

“Well, at that point, they didn’t manage to catch the dragon, but Prince Dustin introduced King Steve to his group of friends. Much to his dismay, King Steve usually ended up in situations over the next few years where he had to look after the group of children. What was at first a bit annoying of a responsibility trying to keep the wild children from harm, turned into true friendship and care for this group. King Steve would do anything to protect these children, even sacrifice himself to save them. Soon, it became a well known fact that they were his children and you better not mess with them or you’d be messing with King Steve.”

“Through many adventures, including the dragon, some evil assassins and a magical port—which that’s all for another story as this story would be too long—he formed a strong bond with the group and he truly started thinking of them as his kids as well. Thus, King Steve crowned them all as his princes and princesses. There was Prince Dustin of course, the Prince born with an usual condition of missing some bones, but that didn’t stop him from being the smartest and funniest child ever.”

“Then there was Prince Mike. He was the leader of the group, strong and willing to fight for his friends. He also fell in love with Princess El. Princess El was a special girl. She had magical powers that helped others. She was also brave and sweet, even if she was a bit innocent, but everyone loved her when they met her. Prince Will was a sensitive soul, but never in the way others meant. He had seen and experienced too much for a child of his young years so he was more quiet than the others. It took him a while to learn to be a child again, even if he was wise beyond his years. He was kind and a true friend to all around him.”

“There was also Princess Max. Her red hair was as fiery as her soul. She was a fighter, containing a strength and endurance that was amazing, even after all she’d been through in her hard life. She did have a soft spot for all her loved ones, especially for Prince Lucas, her beloved. Prince Lucas was the brains of the group. He was always one to take caution before acting, but his heart was as big as ever thanks to Princess Max. He was the most active of the group, enjoying sports more than the rest, but he never let that separate him too much from his friends.”

“Then, King Steve’s world truly turned upside down. Do you know why?”

“Why?” she questioned.

It was clear from her voice that she was so into the story that she was not going to sleep anytime soon. Not that you could blame her, you were equally as transfixed by the story. It felt like a real fairytale.

“King Steve met the most beautiful woman he’d ever laid eyes on. Queen Y/N.”

“Mommy!” she squealed, excitedly.

“Yup, mommy,” Steve chuckled, “I told you we were getting to the good part soon.”

“Now King Steve was nowhere near what he used to be like. He didn’t have the effortless charisma and charm he once did to make any woman he wanted to fall to his feet. In fact, he felt like he was lacking something. Sure, he’d courted plenty of other ladies in the time between Lady Nancy and the appearance of the Queen, but the relationships never lasted long nor did they have what he was looking for. Even he at that point had no idea what he wanted. Until he met the Queen and she became everything he wanted.”

“He was draw in by her smile, the way she could make anyone laugh when she laughed. She had a contagious laugh that way. She had a heart of gold and was sweet as sugar. It was like she was a forbidden fruit that King Steve couldn’t touch. He was afraid to, at first. He was afraid he’d ruin her if he had her because he didn’t believe in himself enough. He was the King, but he felt beneath her, he felt he wasn’t good enough for her. If it weren’t for the encouragement of his friends and all his Princes and Princesses, he may have never taken the chance on her. But, he did.”

“Queen Y/N was the best thing to happen to him. Not only did she love King Steve as much as he loved her, she helped him begin to heal from so much hurt he’d buried deep. She’d helped him to believe in himself again, being the support King Steve always needed. But, what King Steve didn’t know at first was that the Queen had a child of her own. A sweet little princess with as sweet of a demeanor as she. A head full of dark hair to match her brown eyes, a smile just like her mommy’s, that brightened the room.”

“It me! I daddy’s pwincess.”

“That you are,” Steve smiled, laying her back against his chest.

Her head rested against it gently, eyes beginning to get heavy.

“You think you can make it for the end of the story, princess?”

“Yesh,” she nodded against his chest, rubbing her eyes.

“Okay. Well, the tiniest princess was an addition to his family that King Steve never knew he was missing. She was the first to actually make King Steve a father and even as nervous as that made him, it was something he wanted for himself long before he’d ever met her. He may be King, but he’d never been more humbled by such a small girl loving him for all she was worth. She had him wrapped around her little finger and he wouldn’t have it any other way. King Steve felt honored to call her his daughter. And that, my sweet Princess is the story of how King Steve became the man he is today. Even if he has more future little prince and princesses with the Queen, the tiniest Princess will always be special in his heart because she taught him how to love, in a much different way than he’d ever experienced.”

She was drifting to sleep against his chest and Steve whispered the last part to her as he slowly moved off the bed with her, to lay her down.

“That is how King Steve, his Queen and all his Princes and Princesses lived happily ever after.”

•

That was a story that your daughter loved to hear time and time again. You didn’t realize just how much until you were at a cook out Hopper and Joyce were throwing for the entire group of friends, a few weeks later.

You and Steve were sitting in chairs, eating in silence, enjoying the moment of peace you got from being temporarily child free.

When you were around Steve’s friends—which had now had become your own as well—someone always wanted to hold or play with your little girl and the short break was always welcomed. It was usually the teens who loved to whisk her away and play with her or carry her around.

You heard the happy laughter and squeals of your daughter and heard her baby voice saying something, although she was too far away to make out her words. The crowded group of teens laughed at something she said, but then glanced over at you and Steve.

You shrugged at Steve, just as confused as he was about what the look was about.

It wasn’t until they were headed in your direction that you found out what was going on.

Max was holding your little girl, and followed the boys and El.

“Steve, why does she keep call us Prince and Princess whatever?” Dustin asked.

“Yeah, she said it was a bedtime story you tell her?” Max questioned.

They all looked at him curiously where he’d paused with his food halfway to his mouth. He lowered it back to the plate before answering them.

“Does uh, anyone want to hear a story?”