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izzyizumi · 6 years ago

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“Notes and references on Digimon Adventures’ timeline / “ages” (ranges)...!! [ click on the photo + right click + open in a new tab + click again to enlarge!! ] (+ click the second photo for caption / note the second row’s ages ) Disclaimer: Most of this information was compiled and semi up-to-date as of pre Kizuna and DigiAdv 2020′s releases. {“Digimon Adventure:”, the reboot series, was set in an alternative timeline and is not implied to follow the main canon’s timeline in a 1:1 direct fashion.} “The Beginning” film, featuring the 02 Chosen Children group as central characters, wasn’t even announced yet as of the original writing of this post, but updated the Chosen’s ages as mostly speculated on here to a February 2012 timeframe, up from Kizuna’s June~ 2010.

As most of this information was earlier speculation going by information given by magazine scans and the like, etc., especially by mid to later Tri era; Please use this information as a starting reference to come to your own conclusions!

{PLEASE DO NOT Reblog this to Discourse!} (The information is being provided for informative purposes only.)

[ disclaimer : much of this is speculation / unconfirmed, but it’s basically noting “conflicting ages” issue re: the Adventures timeline sans OWG’s continuity errors, if going by Kakudou’s statement noted below. i.e. “these would / could be the ages using provided statements + 02 ages despite conflicting ages issues” ... I hope this makes sense! ] extra notes / references: - 02 Memorial Book - an official published book (Japanese language only) that confirms every Chosen Child’s age “in” / at some point of (including the latter end of) 02 sans Takeru’s. This is also despite continuity errors with the Adventure movie “Our War Game” and Sora’s previously assumed “birthday”, among any other continuity errors. [*any following information leaves Sora’s supposed “birthday” alone + treats it as non-canon to the main series or subject to “fixes”, going by Kakudou’s word.] - Adventures director Kakudou since stated on Twitter the only character with a confirmed “zodiac sign” was Miyako, also despite Sora’s supposed “birthday” range. He went on to say besides Miyako, none of the characters had / have “set birthdays”. Despite this, the 02 ages and Taichi’s given ages since remain official, so take Kakudou’s word with a grain of salt as well, however, it is still notable. [ x ] asker on Twitter: “Is this true? [Link to an image with the Chosen Children and zodiac signs.]” Kakudou: “It’s not true. The only one with a set birthday is Miyako. The other characters don’t have set birthdays.” (emphasis / italics mine) - The 02 Memorial Book also confirms Jun Motomiya (Daisuke’s older sister) to be 17 in 11th grade, however her friend and Miyako’s older sister Momoe is also confirmed 11th grade. Note we also have no confirmation of either’s birthday ranges. They are NOT in 12th grade / 18 in the Japanese version (it literally isn’t possible unless they also have conflicting ages, which seems unlikely as both have their grades confirmed to be 11th... and Jun’s age “17″.) - This could mean either could have actually been around 16 at the start of 02 OR within an accurate real-world setting without the timeline inconsistencies. - this is also despite Taichi (and some of the other Chosen) often officially being given the “older” age range for his school grades’ years. Note Jun and Momoe are also not part of the “main” Chosen Children group and do not become Chosen until post-02. - In comparison, Chizuru (Miyako’s other sister)’s grade is also confirmed to be 8th, “same as Yamato”’s. - If Taichi + Yamato are officially confirmed 14 in 02, they would be on the “older” end of their grades’ age ranges (13~14, with Taichi+Yamato by extension being 14). Koushiro and Mimi are confirmed 13 in 02, placing them one year younger than Taichi exactly regardless of where their “birthdays” may fall, again implying they’re on the older end of their age ranges if their birthday ranges follow a similar pattern. This is also despite a real-world setting implying they should be younger (i.e. 13~), and could be because they’re a part of the “main” Chosen Children group. (i.e. “conflicting age”) - There is nothing confirming their ages to be more than a year less than Taichi’s. If going by 02′s confirmed material only, they’re a year less exactly by any (CERTAIN) point of any series in the canon, and anything else is unofficial. - their official ages are also not confirmed in any Tri materials. (as of September 2018), only Taichi’s given Tri age of “17″ is official for Tri. (+ the 02 ages, Taichi & Yamato’s official ages of “22″ in the sequel movie, etc.) (If Taichi is “17″ in Tri, Koushiro + Mimi would be 16~17, unless Taichi ages to 18 by December 2005. If Taichi is 18 during (any point of), or by the end of Tri [likely], as he was 14 in (some point of) 02, Koushiro + Mimi would both be 17 ~ 18 by around the same point(s), following him.) (* This is despite Taichi being in 11th grade, Jou being in 12th, and them being in 10th.) - Koushiro’s adoptive parents state his biological parents had him “two years” after they married. If Koushiro was born around 1989 (Taichi 1988, if going by his V-Tamer manga’s birth year but also by the official given timeline statements of Adventures - Adventure takes place in 1999, minus 11 years [Taichi’s assumed age] = 1988), this would estimate they married around 1987~. (*confirmed in the Japanese version of Episode 38 of Adventure, when Koushiro’s parents reveal this information to him.) (*an interesting additional note - certain adoption laws in Japan were apparently only just being finalized around 1989.) [ x ] (linked source: a three-part series of articles / written blogs on adoption in Japan. Trigger warnings all around, but they contain some very useful info.) ( “Adoption in the sense of taking a non-biological child and making them legally and emotionally indistinguishable from a biological child is an entirely new concept in Japan. Legislation to create the legal framework for this sort of adoption was only finalised in 1989. The entire concept remains unfamiliar, particularly in the case of interracial adoptions.” ) - quote, emphasis mine [ *the article in question being written around 2013. ] - Jou, Daisuke, & Iori’s birthdays may all hypothetically (note: ‘hypothetically’, unconfirmed, unofficial, etc.) fall after August 3rd ~ December 31st if going by the stated timeline, taking note some of the continuity errors noted by Our War Game and using the official 02 ages. If not Jou’s, Daisuke & Iori’s particularly, also using their official given ages (7 and 5 respectively) on August 3rd in Adventure, when both witness Digimon for the first times. - Miyako could also potentially be 11 at the start of 02 turning 12 between May 22 - June 20, but her official 02 age is “12″ while the younger 02 kids are officially stated “11″, i.e. not “11″ and “10″ respectively. - the 02 kids would at the least be 11~12 (or possibly 12~13, should they all be on the “older” aged range for their school year) by “Natsu e no Tobira” regardless of conflicting ages issues with them. - Hikari was stated to be older than Takeru in an early Tri interview, though they’re still in the same grade (confirmed). 02′s Memorial Book also confirms her, Daisuke, and Ken [sans Takeru, age not given] to all be the same age (11). - it’s possible that because only Takeru’s age wasn’t given and he’s confirmed “younger”, he could actually be the “younger” age range for their grade while the rest of them [sans also Miyako] are the “older” range. - Meiko has no officially given age. Her grade (correction: same as *TAICHI’S, YAMATO’S & SORA’S - she is literally in Taichi’s class) would assume an age range of around 16 ~ 17, however, note for all we know she could even be slightly older than Taichi; we literally don’t know. EDIT: a 2016 interview likely confirmed her age range being similar to Taichi’s, i.e. 17~. If she’s same age as him she’d be 17-going-on-18 too. [ x ] “ Q: How long have Meiko and Meikoomon been partners? A: Meiko’s digivice are the same model as Taichi and party’s, and she’s also the same age as them… ” (*emphasis mine) - Jou is not in high school yet in 02, instead, he is studying to take the entrance exams at a private school in order to enter high school. This is important to note in order to not place him as being too much older compared to the rest of the kids. He’s still only one grade above Taichi. - The English dub ages almost everyone up by about 1 ~ 2 years from their confirmed ages or grades. Note this is only canon to the English / American / US dub and any dubs that base their scripts off it, not the Japanese version. However, they are canon within their own “universe” if going by its script. * This is apparently retconned / changed by the Tri dub’s dvd summaries, however, it would still be canon to Adventure-02′s dubs in non Tri canon compliant fanworks and the like regardless. * ( Note: before Tri was first announced in 2015, many, many older fanworks contained either the older ages / timeline info or the dub ages timeline / info, especially fanworks by non-Japanese International artists. So, for example, the Adventure Chosen [Taichi and co.] during 02 could be portrayed in their 02 school uniforms at a higher age of +1~2 years, because that was the canon info given at the time. It’d still be canon compliant for non Tri compliant works. +Etc. similar scenarios involving the Adventure kids being older in the various dubs.) - official birthdays + zodiac signs have not been given for any Chosen aside from Miyako’s + her siblings’ zodiac, as Kakudou stated, and the continuity errors with Sora’s birthday in “Our War Game”. Take any such “lists” you see with a huge grain of salt and compare to Miyako’s given zodiac range (Gemini). This would include any such “lists” used by the Japanese fandom, which may also still have incorrect estimates based on the given canon info / statements. (Gemini is May 21 - June 20, give or take “cusp” dates.) - Tri is confirmed to have taken place in the year 2005, “December” “2005″ showing in Takeru’s email. The Japanese school year begins in April and ends in March. This would imply around 8 months passed since the start of Tri, nearly a full year, and likely aging many of the main Chosen regardless by December. Around 4~5 months would have passed between April and August 2005 / late summer. This would include any time passed (+3 or so months) before Dec. Japanese School system notes - Children who have their 6th birthday on or before April 1 enter the first grade of elementary school of that year. [ Japanese school system reference provided by the Tokyo International Communication Commitee. i.e. use these notes over Wikipedia.] - In order to be a first year high school student in Japan, the student needs to be at an age to turn 15 to 16 between April 1st to March 31st in the next year. [ * causing even more issues ! ] [ source: (from a native Japanese fan in one of my other fandoms which has similar timing issues to Digimon’s, i.e. taking place mid-August while only giving grades and “conflicting (official) ages”): x + x . The series in question is Kagerou Project / Mekakucity Actors (2014 anime) - please note there’s major spoilers for the initial plot of that series! however, this is the source for this statement. ] - Skipping or repeating grades is an extremely unlikely event that typically, within a real-world setting, may formally involve changing schools, thus why it’s rarely done. Koushiro and Ken both even note such, Koushiro mentioning in “Our War Game” (iirc??) and Ken in an episode of 02 while being interviewed. - + extra confirmation of Tri grades (not ages): [ x ] [ x ] - “Taichi, 17, high school days”: [ x ] [ x ] EDITS: [ *note: this post may be further edited as needed! ] [ **note: should the 02 ages be “conflicting”, this would assume their ages at any point of 02 (including ‘at the end of 02′). However, please note ages are confirmed for [some point of] 02 while they’re not confirmed for Adventure, meaning anything for Adventure would be pure speculation and possibly thrown off by continuity errors (i.e. Sora’s “birthday” in OWG + Kakudou’s statement.) ] [ *** if you want to read further on the various issues, there’s an entire archived thread on “With the Will” going over the various conflicting ages / timeline. Note this thread occured around 2013+ and we did not have Tri info at the time. Take anything you read there with a huge grain of salt. The only things confirmed are: grades [adv, 02, tri] (NOT AGES), Taichi’s ages [02, tri, sequel movie, not stated in Adventure], the 02 Chosens’ (all of them - Taichi and co. + 02)’s ages during some point of 02 [Memorial Book], and any other stated references. i.e. ages are not officially stated for Adventure nor tri for anyone NOT Taichi.] (the same thread mentions: According to one of the books, the movie [Our War Game] does indeed take place on March 4. x + x . Once again, emphasizing even more conflicting issues caused by Our War Games’ continuity. ) [+ even more potentially useful timeline notes under the read more!!] [concept art book references; drama cd references; some other Koushiro (+ Sora) specific timeline related notes, etc. etc. etc.....]

(* the same book’s concept arts / info from above mentions the Hikarigaoka / “Heighton View Terrace” battle in the 1st Adventure movie to take place in 1995. This is despite the novels stating Hikari recalled the events happening “three years ago” and Adventure taking place in 1999 on August 1st ~ 3rd. )

(note the “1995″, third column from the right on the second header line.) [ where younger Taichi + Hikari are pictured ] (right click + open in new tab + click again if needed to enlarge!) (* Wikimon also confirms “1995″. ) (*Daisuke’s birth year is stated to be “1991″ in V-tamer’s manga, but again note the continuity issues presented even by the novels’ dates. However, also note 2002 [when 02 takes place] - 11 years [confirmed age] = 1991.) (* regardless if they can be considered “canon” or not, the Adventure drama cds take place between: - 2-and-a-half-years after Adventure, - during the summer of 2001 post-Adventure / pre-02 [also note: Koushiro visiting his biological parents’ graves, likely also Obon, as the Ohigan holiday is also mentioned by him in his April 2001 drama cd track ], (elaborated on further below as well) ... - during a NEXT summer post-02 [Natsu e no Tobira] where Iori “already” “has a girlfriend” (yeah, unlikely he’d be 9 still), - and a Valentines’ Day sometime post-start of 02. Note 02 starts around April, meaning that Valentines’ can’t be until the year after [or Feb. 14, 2003].) ** Koushiro’s drama cd track “Chat” also confirms “1995″ for the Hikarigaoka incident: “ According to Gennai-san, the numbers [of new Chosen Children] seem to grow twice their original amount each year. So that means… in 1999, there were eight of us. Since there was apparently no other but us eight, then what about in 1995? ’95 was the time of the Hikarigaoka incident… just what was the story behind it…?” ” ** the same post-Adventure drama cd track includes the following months/timeframes: November 1999 [Taichi], May 2000 [Jou], October 2000 [Sora], April 2001 [Koushiro], September 2001 [Mimi], March 2002 [Yamato]. ** Koushiro also mentions in his drama cd track (taking place, again, during April 2001): “I even grew a little taller. Even though the fifth-grade girls that just joined the computer club this year are taller than me… I’m going to be Captain starting this year, though!”, implying he was in sixth grade in 2001 and possibly older than the fifth-grade girls he mentioned, who would be 10~11[ish]; Koushiro being confirmed 13 in 02. ** Jou’s drama cd track mentions he’s in Junior High as of May 2000: “Yeah, [Junior High] school is going smoothly.” ** Sora’s drama cd track mentions a possible reference to her still being elementary school-aged as of October 2000: “I’m thinking that next time, I will try reading one of [Sora’s father]’s books. Mom keeps them locked safely behind the shelves. There’s so many of them! I wonder if they’re still too difficult for an [elementary]-schooler to understand…” *** Sora also mentions her father’s birthday, occuring during the same timeframe i.e. October of 2000, implying possibly her birthday month wouldn’t be October (and again regardless of OWG issues re: her “birthday”). ** Mimi’s drama cd track mentions her starting that school year in America in September of 2001: “The new school term begins in September over here, so I’ve started school yesterday.” The track itself takes place Sept. 11th, implying “yesterday” to be Sept. 10th. This could cause further issues for Mimi’s age. ** Taichi’s drama cd drack [taking place Nov. ‘99] mentions: “And… it’s already 3 months since I’ve been separated from [Agumon]…” he then [later] proceeds to mention re: Hikarigaoka: “In the middle of that screen shone a fuzzy light. The light was… like that time! Yes, that time when Hikari and I met our first Digimon 4 years ago. It looked exactly like that time a Digiegg popped out of Dad’s computer in the middle of the night!” - again conflicting with the novels stating “3 years ago” and giving the “correct” year range of ‘95, as Koushiro’s did. ** re: Hikarigaoka, Jou’s drama cd track [taking place May 2000 as opposed to Taichi’s Nov 1999] mentions: “Shuu-niisan [Jou’s oldest brother] wasn’t even at home in Hikarigaoka when the Digimon first appeared 5 years ago, right?” -^.... implying further that the Hikarigaoka incidents’ date being 1995 is correct ** in the summer of 2001′s drama cd track, Mimi mentions: “Yep! Since last month I’ve been in New York City, and next month I’ll be starting my new school!”. Referring to the above, “next month” would be Sept. 10 2001. Note the dates for Obon in comparison [should Koushiro be visiting his parents’ graves for this reason] would be “August 15″ or “15th day of the 7th lunar month”. In 2018, Obon was “August 25″, in 2019, it was “August 15th”. x *** Important: there is NO official confirmation, including within the book itself, that the grades in the 02 Memorial Book were from “the end of” 02. That is unconfirmed and mere speculation by the fanbase, using other timeline points as references. Unfortunately, “Our War Game”’s continuity also tends to interfere with this interpretation. Basically, it is nothing but theory at this point and hasn’t been confirmed in any official printed materials. Do not take it as “canon” fact. Though it can obviously be used as references for fic and the like, please keep this in mind, and that multiple continuity issues also conflict with this theory. [+ etc. info on Jou’s ages during 02 + Iori’s ] Note how above, I also mentioned Jou wasn’t in high school yet in 02. he is only ONE GRADE ABOVE Taichi [+ Yamato] (+ Meiko) (+ Sora) This becomes even more obvious with Tri, because he does not wear Tri’s high school uniform in 02. Instead he wears his private school’s dark blue uniform. 02 takes place in 2002. (starting April, through post-Christmas? 2002) Tri took place around April through late December 2005. (And Tri wasn’t even a THING circa 2002 yet. It did not exist until 2015.) in comparison, let’s look at Iori. (the youngest Chosen) he’s in 3rd grade in 02. he meets Jou who is in 9th. both first meet some time before Odaiba Memorial Day (August 3rd) We have no confirmation if either met when Jou was perhaps 14 ~ 15. Jou, regardless, is at 15 during SOME POINT of 02 or even since the very start, even if mathematically it’s maybe impossible. But he’d STILL be much closer to 15 at the start of 02 if that was the case (and this also depends on if his birthday really is after August 3rd.) (for all we know, it could possibly be estimated before while the staff just shrugs) The novels do seem to confirm Jou could have been younger at the start because Yamato initially assumed they were in the same grade. The novel (NOT THE SHOW) also refers to Jou at “11 years” in Adventure. However, the novels had other continuity errors re: Hikarigaoka date, too. The show only gives Jou’s grade (6th in Adventure, 9th in 02.) Again, let’s look back at Iori. He meets Jou when Iori is stated to be in “3rd grade”. the Memorial Book (seems to?) confirm Iori as “9″ however, please note if you follow the “theory” the ages reflect, so-called, “the end of 02″, that’d also place IORI on the early end of his grade’s age ranges (9~10) AT THE “”END OF 02″”. POST-AUGUST 3RD - DECEMBER 31ST [ again, another inconsistency !! ] So, instead, it seems safer to assume Iori would actually be 10 / 9~10 before or by the end of 02 even if it’s mathematically / maybe impossible possibly with a birthday range sometime after August 3rd through post-December 31st or possibly even sometime before August 3rd (if the staff just shrugged this off like w/Sora, for example) then he’d be 10~11 post-02, and +1 year or so in “Natsu e no Tobira” (11~12, 12~13 etc.) (or 10-going-on-11, turning a year older at any point of the following school year) [ again. he’s stated to have a girlfriend. A GIRLFRIEND. BEFORE DAISUKE ] [ unlikely ? if he was 9 at the start of 02 and there ] so, if Jou is 15 ~ 16 in 02, 15 at / around the very start, and Iori is 9 ~ 10 in 02, 10 by the end, their age difference would be about 5 years, while meeting as minors. if Jou is a year younger at the start, it’d be even less. he’d be 14 ~ 15, turning 15 some point during 02 / before the end. (around 4 years for the age difference, give or take) it’s even possible Iori could somehow be 10~11 not very long after the end of 02. or even during 02, with a given conflicting age of “9″. ( while again the staff just shrugs ) ( and then the age difference would only be around 3~4 years, should Jou be younger at the start, too ) [ also see: how Daisuke has a very similar issue, yet he’s listed as “11″ ] [ he also sees the Digimon for the first time on August 3rd, with his age ( 7 ) officially given alongside Iori’s ( 5 ) ] [ and yet, in 02, somehow Iori is 9 instead of 10, while Daisuke is 11 ] ( at the assumed start, if not the end ) [ W/DAISUKE NOT ? 10 ] ( unless one of the two or both has a conflicting age / birthday issue in which case, whoo !! ) [ THANKS 02 AGES + OUR WAR GAME + KAKUDOU ]

[+perhaps the MOST IMPORTANT piece of information for Koushiro fans:] The Japanese version of Episode 38 of Adventure (i.e. again, the famous Koushiro’s adoption reveal scene) does not mention Koushiro’s biological parents having died “when he was a baby” that was a line / “edit” seemingly added in by the US DUB. Instead, the Japanese version mentions his parents’ meeting / his father’s career and when they had him (iirc it was along the lines of “two years later, they had you”) (hence the estimating for Koushiro’s birth year, noted above) (but I’ll rewatch again + provide full caps and exact dialogue as soon as I’m able to!) basically - as far as I’ve seen when gathering all this info, unless any guidebook states otherwise, Koushiro’s biological parents having died “when he was a baby” was a line added in BY THE AMERICAN DUB (meaning) (if anyone reading can please provide a direct quote / translation on anything to do with the timeframes of Koushiro’s past that isn’t from ep38 of Adventure i.e. from the Japanese guidebooks, the third novel that was still untranslated, etc. PLEASE LET ME KNOW p l e a s e ) because WHEN EXACTLY DID HIS BIOLOGICAL PARENTS DIE, THEN (WHAT IF KOUSHIRO WAS OLDER THAN “A BABY”) (OR AT LEAST OLDER THAN TWO YEARS OLD AT MOST) (BECAUSE WOW DO I HAVE T H E O R I E S) (at the very least it’d be useful info for estimating years / the timeline further) (because otherwise this places Koushiro’s biological parents’ deaths to) (have occurred) (anywhere from the time Koushiro was born [estimated 1989]) [perhaps giving a year i.e. 1990] (..... to the time of pre-MOVING TO ODAIBA [estimated 1995]) [+further info on Sora’s grades below!]

(right click + open in new tab to enlarge!) [or you may have to otherwise zoom in, thanks tumblr] For the record, these are what Sora’s ages / grades would be if the timeline wasn’t an issue and if we kinda-sorta ignore her “birthday” in OWG. Note if you follow the timing given in her drama cd track (”October 2000″) with her still being an elementary school student in October 2000 - [and Koushiro+Mimi following one grade / year behind exactly] - - the grades / ages actually DO match up. i.e. Sora is in 8th grade in 2002 [AT SOME POINT] and 11th in Tri, at the canon ages given by 02 (all Chosen) + Tri (for Taichi). The same occurs with most of the rest of the Chosen. Basically - ( THANKS OUR WAR GAME + KAKUDOU ) ( + an extra theory bit on Sora !! )

FINAL PSA:

Even on that WTW thread, even on various Wikis, there’s often the absolute insisting that we absolutely only use what info the “canon” has given us.

While for the most part I agree, I especially agree that all of Adventures canon is “canon”, yes, including / especially OWG and the CD Dramas, novels, etc. (though I am hesitant because the novels do have a different continuity while V-tamer did as well, including it managed by different people, also noted below,) (OWG and the CD dramas are near definitely canon by this point though) (since even around Tri, we got the “summer of 2001″ cd drama) I would also like to point out: that post I linked above from the native Japanese translator where they point out the inconsistencies in my other fandom? She mentions things like,

“[ [the staff] may have thought that the fans will misinterpret that (the ages)] [and think (the characters) were one grade below (the others in their same year)]”

for example, even in that series, a major character’s conflicting age was later “shown correctly” (at “17″ instead of “16″ by an August 15th period).

The anime staff for that same series even noted (at an event for Japanese fans) another major characters’ birthday literally conflicts with the script itself. (she states she’s “16″ consistently, but the character can literally only be “15″ at the very start - her birthday is Feb. 14th. The series takes place August 15th, with her being a first-year high school student saying she’s “16″ instead of “15″.)

Japanese animators are human too, you know? Obviously they could make mistakes with the script. Obviously they will correct issues where needed, or otherwise even simply leave it alone.

Kakudou even notes this in the various novels “afterwords”; how Adventures’ planning was all over the place, because no one expected it would become this popular.

Kakudou: (emphasis / italics mine):

“ As the season changed from summer to fall, the contents of this new TV show began to be finalized. During that time, talks were brought up of a comic serialization in Shueisha V-Jump and a story for a movie. The only thing agreed upon was that the character “Taichi” would be the concurrent main character in both, and a separate staff was prepared for the making of the [1st] movie. The name “Taichi” was decided on by Toei, while the original visual of him wearing goggles was produced by the comic artist. With that Taichi at the center, we decided on the ages, specialties, and personalities of the other seven main characters. “ “ The stage for the TV series was basically set in the Digital World, while the movie was based in the real world in a different year. After that, it was all chaos. The story that started in File Island expanded to a bigger scale, and we even inserted in stories of them in the real world. “ “ The real world arc that begins in this second volume was actually only meant to be three episodes at first. In reality, it became eleven episodes. Although Taichi and the others lived in the familiar Odaiba, the “Odaiba elementary school” they attended was completely made up, something that was decided on only two weeks before post-recording of the first episode. There was a lot of running about going on. Although I say it was utter disarray, I don’t have to tell you that, as the creator, I enjoyed it the most. Fortunately, many people were able to enjoy the TV series. ” This is not a “persistent” “rumor”, it literally is Kakudou’s word itself that Adventures’ planning was somewhat wild at some point of the beginning of the series, from the Afterwords of the novels.

Does it mean the entire series’ (+02, +Tri etc) planning was wild all over? No.

Does it mean things are never subject to future change / corrections, provided this fandom is allowed to continue as a franchise? No.

Granted, until we get those corrections, we should still pay attention to the canon and the official ages given.

For all we know, some excuse could be given i.e., “this character was held back” [even though it’s impossible*] or “this character is [older/younger] [than previously stated]” [even though it’s impossible] (* I’ve seen that happen, too - characters stating “you’ll have to repeat [if you fail your grade]!” even though it almost never / rarely happens in real-world Japan the rules can be bent for anime, you know??) (and for example, Sora’s case could have potentially already been “corrected” by her cd drama track “October 2000″, which actually came out after OWG.) (Even OWG has Japan’s spring break starting much earlier than usual - i.e. around March 4th, beginning of March, instead of around the final week of March before school resumes April 1st. This is literally where the “timing” issue for literally all of this may come from.) ... Because I’ve also seen cases where these inconsistencies weren’t corrected. And the fandoms ended up (mostly) fine in the end. So, let up on those 1~2 year gaps / inconsistencies a bit, please ?? (note: Adventure first aired in ‘99.

IT’S BEEN LIKE 20 YEARS. Let it goooooo ) and maybe stop hating on Jun Motomiya for many of these related issues pls and actually note what I said about her age pls because you know what at the very least I KNOW I got hers right

#digimon #digimon adventure #digimon adventure 02 #digimon adventure tri #taichi yagami #advs #refs #reference #adv refs #tri refs #advs refs #02 refs #taichi refs #jun #ages #grades #birthdays #zodiac #02 kids #koushiro refs #koushiro #(I REST MY CASE)#(ANYWAY SO YEAH IF PPL CAN STOP HATING ON JUN OVER 'THE YAMATO THING' YOU'D REALIZE THEY'RE ACTUALLY PRETTY CLOSE IN AGE STILL)#(and we have NO idea around when her birthday is regardless much less even Momoe's who is confirmed same grade so)#(also added in as much official info and statements as i could reference OWG timeline issues aside)#(anyway this fandom is a lot calmer on the issue than one of my other major fandoms which never gives it up BUT YEAH leave Jun alone tbh)#(sobs i had to collect info from all over the wikis for this and such but yeah if I'm off on anything not OWG related let me know!!)#(also if putting OWG Sora's ''birthday'' asidethis implies an Apr-Aug range for Taichi Yama Kou Mimi aaand possibly Hikari + some etc. ?? ?)#(EDITS I ADDED IN KOUSHIRO RELATED INFO YEAH YEAH GUESS WHERE A LOT OF MY RECENT HEADCANONS CAME FROM)#(EDITS THE EDITS ADDS JOU AND IORI'S COMPARING ISSUES WITH DAISUKE'S WHOO CONFLICTING AGES)

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eldritchtaur · 2 years ago

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literally my reaction to seeing i had 17 notifications this morning asfiodjsa

anyway, because i like starting group discussions (and i think it would be easier just to put everything together in one post rather than reblog things one by one) i'm gonna tag people i reply to (please feel free to tell me if you want to be removed!!)

@astral-cataclysm, @robyn-goodfellowe

Good to know I'm not the only one who has deepseated resentment because of past experiences (genuine)

also mood robyn about the still having filtered/tagged thing it's always a gamble going through the ahit tag because i have deepseated issues from then aijofdps

@gracebeth3604

honestly feel that!! i like seeing a snatcher who softens up because of changing for the better but if you try to be like "well secretly he was nice the entire time" i'm stealing your left kidney (joking)

also please @ me when that rant happens because I love hearing other people's writing processes <- has the tism

@majormeilani

literally my ahit au started out of spite of dadtcher content because i looked at him and went "he would NOT be like that as a parent"

like you said, i don't think hat kid HATES him, but the two would (and constantly do in canon) butt heads with each other on a near constant basis so it's weird to me thinking of them as like. family.

like maybe frenemies, maybe eventual friends, but not like family ijodfap

@guardianscry

no yeah same!! i like him in-game but also jesus christ i feel like it's accurate to call him the tumblr sexyman of the ahit fandom--

also you mentioning that last part just kinda made me realize that i saw a sharp decrease in ahit content after people were like "hey can you draw characters other than snatcher" and so it's kinda sad to think about how, in my opinion, a lot of people back then were in just for snatcher and no other character--

@howdyfriend

NO YEAH YOU DODGED A BULLET ASOIFIPJJASFO

I'm feeling a lot calmer now because i got a lot of the anger out of my system (plus i went to bed saopjdf) but I genuinely wasn't expecting people to agree with me (probably because i remember how it felt if you even went to say that you didn't like snatcher you were shunned from some of the fandom)

honestly i need to get back to writing/drawing ahit because i tend to be motivated by a lot of emotions (primarily spite and confidence) and with the reassurance of "the fandom is no where near as YIKES as it used to be" it encourages me a lot more

okay so i was talking about this in the tags of the one post, but i know that the tags got super jumbled so putting my thoughts here aodifpja

so i know that current ahit fandom (hopefully) isn't like this [idk i tend to stay pretty in my corner just making content for myself/friends] but i remember that there was just. so much content of ignoring the fact that canonically snatcher is an asshole and instead he's this misunderstood baby who is traumatized so that makes everything alright--

like i understand softening your favourite but added on the fact that whenever you went into the ahit tag, all you would see is snatcher, it just made me hate snatcher for awhile

and while the hate has softened from actually good interpretations, the oversturation of "he's traumatized so he did nothing wrong" has permanently changed how i see the character

what didn't help was that people tended to use hat/bow as therapists for snatcher and for personal reasons (mostly trauma related) that made me EXTREMELY uncomfortable

i literally got into arguments with people on tumblr pretty much saying that there was no proof of hat kid disliking snatcher (spoiler alert: there is) and even someone telling me that hat kid wasn't a child (which. eugh.)

and, again, while i don't have a problem with softening your characters, it just was the oversaturation of it combined with the fact that snatcher was the only thing that most people talked about which was frustrating

there's no clean way to end this but i'm putting this in the main tag, even if it's shooting the hornet's nest /j /lh

#a hat in time #ahit #arynn rambles #💗 lilac #🎬 tyche

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bow-wow-wark-wark · 4 years ago

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Big rant ahead sorry 😅

I'll be honest, I havent liked hypmic for a long time and its not like if I'm that popular or well known in the fandom but general psa: if you like Samatoki × Ichiro please never interact with me.

Like, I don't understand how you could think it's ok, and if you like it or don't see much off an issue with it pls, pls never interact with me.

I feel like I don't need to explain why but just in case I do: its gross, ichiro is basically a teenager and samatoki is a full fleshed adult. And you might say "but ichiro is 19 which is basically an adult" it doesnt fucking matter, he's just leaving teenager hood and becoming more of an adult while samatoki is already one; besides they met when Ichiro was 17 and samatoki was a fucking adult!!!! I don't care what you say this is what it is, that being, basically pedo shit.

Anyways I'm tired of people liking it and not thinking anything of it, or people putting it in comps and making jokes about it; I know I can't change the minds of the people that like it but I can set the boundary, so if you like it get fucked. Especially if you draw nsfw of it, yuck.

Also I think most people that like it have a weird dynamic with it... like I think they infantilize ichiro too much, and that they like to point out the age difference that they have a lot (although this also happens in other ships). I also think they make samatoki very rude and insensitive while Ichiro is like the softer, nicer type, and even thought he is calmer than samatoki, they are both hot headed and it's just weird. (Evidently not everyone I'm not trying to generalize, but it's from what I've generally come across) Like you can like their dynamic as friends and all, like I think they're funny but pls stop.

Also if you want to argue with me on this and defend it, dont waste your time. I'm not changing my mind or responding/seeing your message.

#not art post #hypmic #hypmic rant #i really needed to get this off my chest #i was worried of alienating people but good #leave!!

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liliesoftherain · 4 years ago

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My Hero Academia Main 3 Boys x Reader

Ch. 15 Hakamata vs Bakugou

Masterlist

A/N: OKAY WAIT I CAN EXPLAIN SDFJEVJ-

A big thank you for everyone who was waiting patiently. I know I haven’t been active lately, and I’ve been getting asks about this story and honestly I felt terrible for not updating, not because I was feeling pressured. So don’t think it was anyone pressuring me, honestly it wasn’t. I haven’t been feeling that motivated to write. School had kicked my ass the last few weeks, especially with this covid and everything happening, I’ve been exhausted. My job was ‘essential’ enough to keep me working throughout everything, and i had been picking up shifts and working my ass off, and honestly? I’m over work but lol need that money right

But I want to continue this story, I want to finish it. I have so much planned and I don’t want to abandon it. So I wont(: Get ready for updates, cause they’re coming. My other stories, I don’t really know what to do, I’ll make a post about that later. For now, enjoy this; it’s short, but I’m already working on the next chapter(:

SORRY FOR THE FIGHT SCENE THIS WRITING BREAK MADE ME EVEN WORSE WHEN IT COMES TO WRITING THEM LOLOL SORRY HUNS MUAH ENJOY ANYWAYS.

If anyone wants to be added to the taglist, or if i missed you, please send an ask and I’ll add you!!

TAGLIST: @rizamendoza808 !(: @iris-suoh !(: @quicksilverfangirl !(: @shortperson202 !(: @noodlenerd101 !(: @matchamidoriya !(: @thorsbtch-captainnoobmaster69me !(: @pastel-prynce !(: @sunkissedneptune @monetfatalia !(: @legit-fandom-trash !(: @lovethewitchofendor !(: @dekuxlink !(: @water-melone98 !(: @helena-way07 !(: @nothing17-7 !(: @hopelessdisasterr !(: @karmaboundlife !(: @lunamoonmint !(: @ihatemyselftoinfinityandbeyond !(: @beew !(: @kaylees1414 !(:

You watched the next battle feeling more upbeat, thanking everyone as they gave you their congratulations. You were in awe at the fight between Bakugou and Kirishima, seeing as the former was on the defensive until the latter was suffering due to the overuse of his quirk. Bakugou had sent relentless attack after attack, managing to knock Eijiro out and win the battle.

“With that vicious win, Bakugou advances to the third round! Ladies and gentlemen, take a look at our final four.”

You glance up to the big screen to see a picture of you along with Bakugou, Todoroki, and Iida on it, the cheers erupting all around the stadium. You chug down your 5th bottle of water before turning on your heel to walk out; you hadn’t sat down, choosing to stand by the entrance just to watch the fight.

You throw your bottle in the trash as you head down the hallway, spotting a boy making his way towards you,

“Hey, Izuku,” you wave, a smile on your face, “you’re looking, well, better.”

“O-oh, hey! Yea, I guess so,” he smiled back sheepishly, his arm in a cast and he was bandaged all over, “Recovery Girl healed me up, enough to walk at least.”

“Shouldn’t you be resting up then? It’s not smart to make your injuries worse you know.”

“I’ll be fine, really, I don’t want to miss any more battles. This is where everyone’s efforts are paying off, including yours. Congrats on being top four, (y/n).” He beams, there was that excited gleam in his eye, the one he gets when he watches a pro at work.

“O-oh, thanks-” You blush at the look, being cut off as he starts to rant.

“Tokoyami is super strong, and you managed to win! I mean, since I also found out about Dark Shadows and Tokoyami’s weakness I assumed you would have no trouble taking him down. Not saying you wouldn’t have won without a weakness! I don’t doubt you and your abilities, really, you’re an amazing fighter! I wish I would have been able to see your fight, but at least I’ll be able to watch you go up against Kaachan-”

Your laughter brought him out of his word vomit, and he felt the blush grow along his face. He knew he often had issues with muttering whatever he thought, but for some reason it was worse when he was with you; his tongue felt heavy in his mouth, his head was light, and he couldn’t help how he spoke his mind. He liked talking to you, telling you everything he thought. You always gave him your full attention, no matter how crazy, long, or irritating it was.

Maybe that’s why he found you so captivating?

“S-sorry, I was doing it again..”

“Don’t be, and you were with me in spirit Deku! Even if you didn’t get to watch. Plus, I doubted myself against Tokoyami in the first place, I wouldn’t blame you if you did.” You watched as his eyes widened.

“But I didn’t! I-”

“I know, thank you. I mean it,” you bite your lip to contain the grin that wants to break across your face, “you always believe in me and I appreciate it. You’re the best, Izuku.”

The large blush that spread across his body made you giggle once more before you continued forward, glancing back to give a dazzling smile.

“Now go watch those matches, I’ll be listening for your cheers when it’s my turn!”

“Ye-yeah…” The goofy grin stayed on his face the rest of his journey to the stands.

You made it to the waiting room, breathing in deeply as you steal your nerves for the next match. You were calmer this time, not in the sense of feeling confident, oh no.

You were going up against Bakugou Katsuki; one of the strongest and smartest guys you've ever met. He had such an incredible display of reflexes and skills, for this fight you knew you had to be smart and cautious if you wanted half a chance against him.

The more you thought about it, the more you felt as if your head would explode. There weren’t really a lot of ways to go about it; he didn’t have a huge drawback like yours or Tokoyami’s, his greatest weakness was most likely the prolonged use of his quirk, and the strain it provided on his muscles and fibers in his arms. He wasn’t stupid either, he quick reaction times and well thought up plans-as long as Izuku wasn’t involved.

He always lost it when it came to Deku.

The sound of announcements rang overhead, and you snapped out of your thoughts to see you've been sitting for about five minutes or so. You stand and leave the room, heading out of the waiting room and towards the arena.

Walking up the steps, you saw your opponent already waiting. The pillars in the corners erupting with flames, the crowd being drowned out by the booming voice of Present Mic.

“And now, Bakugou vs Hakamata! These two have been coming out high in the ranks all day, let’s see which one can handle the heat better! Those destructive explosions or that fiery light! There could have also been sparks of a burning romance between these two, will this be the end of it!?”

“You’re jumping to conclusions again.”

You desperately ignore the teasing words, knowing your dad was definitely going to have a talk with you once this was all over. You noticed the slight flushing of Bakugou’s face, knowing he must’ve been annoyed by the accusations as well.

“Oh well, ready!? BEGIN!”

Wasting no time, you spring forward, using your quirk to give you a boost as you drew your arm back for an attack. Bakugou cocked his own right arm, setting off an explosion to get you to back off. You dodge, bringing your arm down and having light extend to the ground to push off and throw you up into the air. Maneuvering behind him you extend your leg, knocking an elongated beam of light into his back.

He let out a grunt, and without missing a beat turning and reaching to grab a hold of your ankle. You willed the light to wrap around your ankle, raising the heat in hopes of him letting go.

“Fuck!”

He still held on, despite any pain, throwing you over his shoulder onto the concrete. You caught yourself, landing in a crouched position. There wasn’t a clear way to beat him from a distance, nor was there a clear victory to beat him in close combat. The longer he continued, the more he’d sweat-the more his quirk would be fueled.

All you had to do was bring the heat, be fast, get him out of bounds.

Bakugou stared straight into your eyes and saw how determined you were, the steely focus that left him feeling weird. As if he were hyper aware yet dazed at the same time; you were strong, there was no doubt in his mind that you could kick some ass, even if you had some doubt against yourself.

However, no matter how large your smile was, how bright that stupid sparkle in your eye was after you won a match, he couldn’t afford to lose. He was angry; angry at people for thinking less of him, angry with people assuming he was all talk, angry with Icy Hot-acting as if Deku was more of a threat than he was. He needed to fight to prove himself, and he’d take down anyone in his way. Even if it was you.

He threw an open palm towards you, a large exploding firing that you couldn’t dodge went straight towards your face. Thankfully you weren’t sent flying back, your quick thinking allowing you to extend your light as a brace to hold you steady at the impact, mentally thanking Todoroki for the move.

Since you were able to steady yourself, along with having the cover of the smoke, countering was a move Bakugou clearly didn’t expect as you lunged forward and landed a punch against his cheek.

“That was a solid hit little miss Hakamata delivered!”

The moment your fist connected you saw the look on his face; that glare and that feral grin of his as it spread across his lips.

“FUCKING DIE!”

His shout accompanied a larger, more forceful explosion, this time successfully knocking you back. You rolled along the ground, quickly picking yourself up as you sent multiple beams of light yourself to counter his explosions. They were hindering your aim, knocking into each other and effectively missing him.

It was all too frustrating.

You thought of a way you could beat him, but to do so you’d be taking an even bigger risk than you did with Tokoyami. At least in that battle, you were pretty darn sure your light would do the trick. You tried a move, a calculated risk, and it all fell into place thankfully. This time however, you had one chance and if you screwed up; it’d be all over.

If there was a way to maneuver him closer to the edge, you could rush at him with your light speed and hit him with a giant blast of light to knock him over the edge.

All you needed to do was get him to step out of bounds, you could do this.

Throughout your thinking, you had been countering Bakugou’s explosions, and vice versa with him flinging explosions your way to counteract your light. It was getting easier to see his power growing, the more sweat he was able to produce was giving him that boost. While in turn, your body only began to grow even warmer, uncomfortably so. You wanted nothing more than to rip off the new jacket you put on, to cool off in some way, but you were unable.

This battle was going on for too long, and you couldn’t risk it continuing, so you slowly started to back away and put distance between you two.

Bakugou didn’t seem to notice, so you hoped, as you made it far enough away to not be so close to the edge but just enough to give you a boost. You grunt, the heat feeling stronger as you let it course through you, glowing once more and rushing at the boy in front of you.

When you were using your light speed, despite how fast you traveled, you were able to see just about everything around you. The contrast was weird, but it was one you were used to with practice. You were unable to grab or touch anything in this form, since you were practically light yourself, so to be able to get Bakugou out of the ring you had to quickly go back to your original state.

Doing so, you only had a split second to see Bakugou’s eyes widen as you used your body to ram into his chest. You hear him gasp out, the force of you slamming into him causing the breath to escape from his lungs, as he was sent flying back.

Your hands on his chest draw light, extending it to help you further, sending you both in opposite directions; instead of following him out of the ring, you fall backwards as he skids across the ground and flies through the air towards the ground.

‘This is it,’ you think to yourself, watching him fall.

The smile on your face was immediately wiped away as you saw how Bakugou twisted in the air, arms pointed down towards the ground as he used his quirk to propel himself upwards. You try to stand, pushing away your dizzy spell as you try to send more light beams to get him off course and have him fall.

It was no good.

Katsuki used his quirk to rush you this time, just as you did him, and sent wave after wave of explosions your way while still in the air. Just like that it was over, the force of his quirk knocked you off, the heat only making your head spin as you fell onto the ground off the arena.

Your body was hot, it was aching, and you were trying to breath but found it difficult to do so-you reached your limit. Two big moves in one day was too much for you to handle, and you saw black in the corner of your eyes.

The stadium was silent for a moment, Midnight’s voice being the last thing you heard before your eyes fluttered closed.

“Hakamata is out of bounds, Bakugou is the winner!”

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orionsangel86 · 5 years ago

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You know when I first joined Twitter I had many reservations. I had always heard that Twitter fandom was pretty toxic and for that reason I tried to avoid it as long as possible. Eventually with Tumblr slowly dying I just went for it. I was... pretty damn naive when I joined up.

I have always said, over and over again, that my main reason for even being in fandom was to meet new people and make new friendships that would outlast Supernatural. At this point in time I feel I have accomplished this, though I am always open to making new friends. I like to think, that this being my primary reason for being here, it makes me a genuine person. I am not altogether that interested in popularity, getting the most followers, making my opinion the one everyone MUST believe in, and I never had much interest in “fighting” antis first hand. Sure I liked writing meta and would defend myself if I was attacked, but seeking out drama and forcing my opinion on others were never things that I cared about.

Twitter changed me. I said I was naive, and I was particularly naive to people seeking me out, being super nice to me, inviting me into lots of various fandom GCs and welcoming me with open arms. When people do that, you feel loved, you feel like you are a part of something, and very quickly it can become addictive. You very easily start feeling like those people are your friends, and you get protective of them. You support them, stand up for them, and turn a blind eye when their behaviour gives you pause.

The other thing you should know about me is that I am an empath. Sometimes this is a strength, and sometimes it is a weakness. I hate the idea of upsetting people, and I feel strongly towards those who are upset. I always try to see different points of view in a situation, and I am very consciencous of offending people - When I have offended others, I tend to dwell on it for a long time afterwards, wanting to make things right. But I also think that being empathic can make me prone to manipulation. Especially of the emotional kind. When that happens I can get defensive myself, when I suspect emotional manipulation I shut down very quickly, and I can get spiteful towards it. It’s a defense mechanism. I often regret my actions later. I feel like Twitter fandom has brought out some of my nastier qualities, but I feel that I need to explain where I think this has come from.

I was invited into a GC that in hindsight, was a bad place. It was supposedly a place created to vent about things that upset us, and to keep an eye on that “other” side of fandom - the bronlys. It was a secret place, you must never talk about this GC, I was told. This GC didn’t exist. I’m going to talk about this GC, and in doing so will probably get attacked, subtweeted, called out directly, called a liar, exposed for being this that and whatever, probably have my private DMs shared, and yeah... a whole bunch of shit probably. I’m altogether not prepared for any of that, but since I have that whole bunch blocked now, I’m hoping any shit they say about me will blow over. Anyone who truly knows me, knows I am not the person they make me out to be anyway.

When I first joined that GC the point was to call out hate towards the cast and the writers. To find tagged tweets and bullying and harassment and make sure that the wider fandom knew exactly who the problem people were. I believed in that process. I believed that we were doing good for the fandom in making newer fans aware of who needed to be avoided, as I had heard stories first hand of people who had come into fandom reached out to bigger fandom accounts and immediately been shut down and bullied just for saying they liked Castiel or shipped Dean and Cas. I was angry at those hateful people and wanted some kind of justice for them, so yeah, I joined in happily with the call outs.

But over the past year, things have changed. First, it was not just calling out bronlies, it was calling out extreme stans, who also tagged the writers in their hate. Sure, I wasn’t happy that anyone was tagging the writers in hate, so fuck those people. They can go to hell. I’ll support the calling out of those names too. Then, when people started turning on meta writers like me and taking the piss out of our meta, calling it bullshit and mocking us, it was hurtful, so when that GC rallied together to support me and my fellow meta writers and call out those assholes I was all for it. They were screencapping my meta and calling me deluded after all, why shouldn’t I defend myself and get my friends to help? People in fandom can be dicks when they want to be. But then again, so can we all.

Then it got weird. I think people in fandom started getting nervous about the final season announcement and how the show would end. Cas stans started getting extremely negative about his chances for survival. Destiel shippers started complaining about Destiel being queerbaiting and planning on going after the writers if it didn’t go canon. These were people who I was mutuals with, whose accounts I followed, and whose opinions, whilst they were kind of upsetting for me as a positive fan, were untagged personal opinions and not hate. Those people weren’t attacking positive fans, though sometimes discussions got heated, arguably it got heated on both sides. When the GC started going after those people I started feeling uncomfortable. But I kept quiet. This, I have come to realise, was a huge mistake.

Suddenly other fans were fighting against the GC people. They (we) were called “the fandom police” and “the bully squad” by so many others. I started noticing how other fans, fellow Destiel shippers, were blocking me and avoiding me for my associations with this group. I watched as the GC people started slagging off accounts that were my long time mutuals, my close friends, people I had met in real life and knew to be good people all because they had voiced a slightly negative opinion about the show. If you are relatively well known in Supernatural fandom, chances are this GC has slagged you off.

At the same time, I had watched how some of my friends within the GC “clique” had started changing, how their behaviour online was becoming aggressive and mean. How they were antagonistic and bullyish. My friends. People who I knew were good people before. The dog piling, the condescending tones, the entitled sense of righteousness, it all added up. I started trying to voice my concerns, both to people I was close to within the GC privately, and timidly within the GC itself - for which I was shut down. I started reconsidering my own behaviour online. Had I too acted like this? Had I also aggressively gone after people for simply voicing a negative opinion? Had I also shown myself to be exactly what this GC was supposed to be fighting against?

Some of the others privately admitted to feeling the same way. Some of us backed off and stopped associating with the main GC accounts. We kept our distance from them, some I know muted them. But none of us left the GC. I wish I had back then rather than letting it escalate further.

It had once again got worse from just going after people with negative opinions, now they were going after anyone who disagreed with their specific opinions. Either you agree with us, or you are an idiot. I couldn’t stomach it anymore. My friend, who was also in the GC, decided to query this new line of thinking because she disagreed with the “big opinion”. This is what kicked off all the drama. I’m not going to go into detail about it because otherwise it’ll get too obvious and personal and I want to keep this vague because whilst these people have hurt me and spread lies about me I actually don’t intend to call them out personally or reveal whose who in the group.

Just know this. By the time I eventually spoke up it was apparantly too late. My admittence of my discomfort was seen as a betrayal. There were private DMs in which I got defensive and snapped back whilst emotional about basically losing all my closest Twitter friends, and some messages I sent which I am not proud of. If they get out, fair enough. Judge me all you like. Just understand that I was extremely upset and confused how no one else apparantly saw the issues I was seeing; that this GC was indeed bullying and policing fandom, and that these people were intimidating, threatening, and manipulating everyone into believing they were victims.

I tried to let it drop, I tried to ignore it. I wanted to keep quiet. But my quitting the GC, my request to those who were calmer and less inclined towards bad behaviour to at least keep the ones who were bullying fandom in line, didn’t stop them. Their behaviour has only escalated further and Twitter fandom right now is an awful place because of it. The bronlys must be laughing at us, because Destiel fandom has turned cannabalistic.

I spoke out recently. I tried to keep it vague in a tweet about the recent drama in general. But one thing I said gets pulled out separately and suddenly I’m the big bad wolf invalidating people and I’m a horrible person who is clearly fetishising destiel as I want them to fuck on the map table apparantly?!?! I mean, this is what these people do. They take something and blow it up. They twist your words, they basically throw a dictionary of large complex words at you claiming you are x,y,and z. they use terms like gaslighting and strawmanning aimed at you and in the confusion it takes you forever to actually realise that they are doing those things themselves. Constantly. To everyone.

Look I took it too far. I subtweeted too. I exhibited those bad behaviours as well. Hell, I learned from the best after all. I was in that GC for a year. Of course I am still trying to unlearn those behaviours. I am not proud of my behaviour on Twitter. After this post, I will try to do be better. Everyday. I will be better. I apologise to anyone I may have hurt by supporting and encouraging that behaviour.

I have had mutual friends tell me privately that I need to stop. What upsets me, is that those mutuals aren’t exactly telling the others to stop too. No. Those were the mutuals who stayed quiet whilst those particular people just constantly attacked and bullied everyone. So I’m sorry, but this is me not stopping, this is me making one last post on the topic. This is me telling my story as I see it. This is me pouring my heart out and getting it off my chest. This is my truth. I’m not spinning lies here, I’m not trying to twist anything, because I think I also come across quite badly. But the recent accusations against me, claiming I don’t care for anyone else in fandom, that my calling out “so called bullying” is just my personal vendetta against people who used to be my friends. Well, yes. Technically you’d be right there, they did used to be my friends, but no. Where you are wrong, is saying I don’t care. Because if I didn’t care about the bullying that I am STILL seeing on my timeline via upset mutuals reacting to the hurtful tweets of those I have blocked, I would just ignore it and not cause myself further drama. If I didn’t 100% believe those people were bullies, they’d still be my friends. I wouldn’t have called them out. Why would I put myself through all this if I didn’t 100% believe what I’ve been saying? That’s just madness.

Because here’s the thing, I HATE bullies. I have been bullied my whole fucking life, and what I hate MORE than that, was that through that GC I also became something that I hated. Because by associating with them for that year, I might as well have called myself a bully too. And that I just can’t forgive.

So my reason for writing this post is twofold.

1. Yes, it’s to defend the lies spread against me. So that those wondering if I am actually a fake bitch with a vendetta against certain people can make up their own minds. Perhaps this post exasperates that, or in your minds confirms their accusations about me. Maybe it does. I would argue that I am not fake. This isn’t fake. This is my personal truth and a very personal account of things that have greatly hurt me and caused me much internal conflict over the past few months. Those people who I am accusing (whose names I have left out to stupidly protect their privacy because believe it or not I’m not a bitch who encourages harassment against anyone even people I consider bullies) will never admit that their behaviour is wrong. They will continue to attempt to convince anyone who asks that I turned on them for no reason, or because I blindly follow my friend who they are also attacking and exposing right now for getting emotional and taking a DM convo too far. If you choose to believe them that is your right, clearly you and I were never close enough for you to trust my word over the words of people whose behaviour is clearly and proudly splashed all over their own social media accounts. Frankly, if you see all that, and still believe that behaviour is okay, you are no friend of mine.

2. It’s because I want people to know that actually, through all the pain and drama and emotion and loss of friendship, and conflict and struggle with my mental health, I do care. I care too damn much. If I didn’t I wouldn’t have spent an hour of my Sunday writing this out. Because this has been toiling and whirling inside me painfully for months and I am fed up of it. I had to write it down. I had to get it out of me. I want these people out of my life for good, but I can’t sit by and let bullies continue to manipulate my fandom, my mutuals, my friends who I see encouraged by their behaviour to imitate it. They are unfortunately very good at encouraging others to also partake in their behaviour. Please do not fall for it. Please consider your tone when tweeting or replying to someone with an opposing opinion. Please don’t feed bad behaviour by liking it and tweeting it just because you agree with the specific opinion buried within the condescension. Please don’t throw around strong accusations like homophobia against your fellow queer fans just because they have different desires from this dumb show that we all love.

If you can all do that for me, then I will promise to do it for you too.

I am terrified to post this post. I know that in doing so I am burning quite a few bridges. I know that those I accuse will do everything in their power to make out that I am insane, that I am a psycho. I know that I am exposing myself to more attacks, more harassment. I am sure there will be plenty of twitter threads dragging my name through the mud. They’ll dismiss all of this, call it bullshit, once again claim its just my personal vendetta against certain people. I guess I’m hoping that by anticipating all this and writing it down, it might give those people pause to just stop and leave me be. Stop the cycle of bad behaviour that has caused all this escalation and go back to enjoying the show without policing everyone else.

At this point I just want everyone to know the truth. Whether you believe it or not is your prerogative. This show ends in a few months time and I just want to enjoy it without seeing bullying in my timeline. That’s what this has always been about.

We must stand up to bullying. We must not let it ruin the final few months of this show. This post is my final word on the topic. I won’t respond to anything else. I won’t respond to any threats, any subtweets against me going forward. Hateful anons will be blocked. I won’t respond to anyone asking me for more info and I have no intention of naming people personally or giving more clues as to the GC or the people who were in it. So please don’t ask. Just keep an eye out for bad behaviour in fandom and if you see it, block or mute the source, only call it out if you know you have the mental capabilities to tackle the gaslighting. But absolutely do not support it. Do not feed the bullies as attention is what they want most of all, that and making their words the only words fandom follows.

I am done with this now. I won’t discuss this more.

#personal #fandom wank

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xplrvibes · 4 years ago

Note

i've been thinking about how much sam and colby's stories infuriated me last night and... I get that they're traveling for 25x25, it's their job and in my mind they take a lot of necessary precautions (keep to themselves, try to stay out of crowds, etc). youtube is already not doing good, imagine if they didn't put some effort on top of that. But the party bus was a crossed line for me, and I wonder if it's because I'm pissed they're having the fun they want to have and I'm not - I don't mean they're partying and I'm not, I mean they wanted to party, so they did, whereas I want to do X but I can't right now. So I wonder if my irritation comes from there. Absolutely pissed that people they're not traveling with joined tho lol (and I love Kat), not just at them but at SnC for allowing it too. That move was 100% selfish of them imo

(Disclaimer: not defending their stupidity here, but just thinking about how they came to this point, and trying to brainstorm how to get them past this point without more stupidity)

Yes, this 100%. I think a lot of people’s anger and annoyance comes from seeing people doing something that they can’t do right now. I saw one person say, “I feel like they’re rubbing it in our face,” and I think that’s what it stems from. They aren’t doing that, of course- but perception is key, and that is exactly how it is coming across.

Also, on the youtube issue: I’ve been pretty vocal in the past about my feelings on the whole 25x25 thing and what they’ve been doing up to this point- I was looking this morning and I saw some people saying, “they could just stay home and do content from their houses,” and the logical, analytical part of my brain that thinks about figures and numbers and view counts (too much time in the corporate world will do that to you) immediately started thinking, “Well thats what they’ve been doing all of this time on their personal channel vids, and those are tanking (outside of the tiktok vids, which everyone in the fandom seems to hate) and I know if they decided to say fuck it and join twitch now, they would get absolutely flamed by everyone saying they were only doing it for the money, jumping on a trend, etc, so they are kind of in a weird boat right now.”

Youtubers who do travel content are in a rough spot right now, because they are known for...travel content. If they don’t do the content they are known for, their views go down. If they do the content they are known for, they are now traveling in a pandemic. If they don’t do anything, there goes their income and their platform as people slowly lose interest and turn away. So, it’s a fine line to walk.

So my first thought was them going back to doing abandoned stuff that is within driving distance of them, to limit travel/exposure, but still put out content they are known for. That would be an easy fix. But obviously, they have concerns about doing that for legal reasons and that’s completely valid, given their (literal) record, so if they don’t feel comfortable doing that, then fine.

So, because I am just in general more of a, “Let’s come up with a solution to this problem rather than stand and scream about the problem all day,” person, I started thinking about things they could do that could keep them relevant and help them with their platform/income for the next couple of months until herd immunity kicks in and they can start this whole thing up again. Here’s what I came up with:

twitch streams or podcasts on their main yt channel where they tell in depth stories about their travels- they could even do a rewatch of their older videos and tell us behind the scenes stuff about them. Maybe do one of two of those a week. Hell, they could do it on a stream somewhere, record it, and upload it onto their yt channel later. Best of both worlds.

they could do more of those virtual ghost tour type things that you can do in your car, like what they did on Sam’s channel. I bet there are a ton of those out there- I did one in Gettysburg years ago, so it’s not a new concept.

Virtual tours that are being offered on National Parks websites or travel websites, or virtual ghost tours being offered on websites- a watchalong of those. Could be fun! They could go to the Louvre if they wanted to.

Pepper in the occasional real trip to a place that is open and socially distant/safe to visit. National Parks, again, are a good place to start, but I’m sure they can find other stuff even within the general California area that are cool, interesting, and not a packed building full of tons of people.

I mean, these are 4 ideas I came up with after 5 hours of aleep, before I had my first shot of caffeine of the day, and I am not a creative youtuber, I am just a corporate schlub. Imagine what they could come up with if they got creative and thought outside the box.

Anyway, with this whole controversy brewing, I think their best bet now would be to postpone the 25x25 and do something else for a few months until things are calmer. I don’t think they necessarily went into this thinking, “Fuck this pandemic shit, we’re YoUtUbErS!”, I do think they went in with intentions of staying what they deemed as “safe” and still being able to produce content, and until now it hasn’t been an issue so they kept it going. But they did the old Icarus thing and flew to close to the sun on this one. Time to come down a little more before them wings burn off.

#asks #traphouse suggestions #traphousesuggestions #tagging this with that because i put ideas for videos in here

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krreader · 6 years ago

Text

NCT reacting to you not being ready for sex yet.

pairing: nct x reader fandom: nct warnings: mentions of sex (duh) genre: fluff ; angst ; hints of smut

a/n: I won’t tell you how long this took me to finish (9 hours), but let me tell you.. it’s a lot easier to write for 7 member groups than it is for 21 member ones lol. anyways, I hope you guys like it! I most certainly enjoyed it!!!

moon taeil

Taeil never pushed you to do anything you didn’t want to do and he also didn't do it when it came down to sex. He was happy with you, just spending time with you was enough for him and no matter how much time you would need, he would give it to you.

“Stop worrying so much about it, alright?” he said as he brushed a strand of hair behind your ear, both of you sitting on the couch and watching a movie, “I'll wait.”

“I don't want you to wait too long, though.”

“Don't put so much pressure on yourself, (Y/N),” he grabbed your hand and interlinked his fingers with yours, returning to look at the TV screen, “This is nice too..”

You knew that he meant it and that only made you fall in love with him more.

You leaned your head against his shoulders and smiled softly, “Thank you.”

“No need.”

john seo

You were so embarrassed, even though you had no reason to be.

Johnny knew that, that's why he immediately comforted you after you had told him that you weren't ready yet.

“We've only been dating for a month, (Y/N),” he put his chin on your shoulder, his arms wrapped around you from behind, “It's okay that you want to wait some more.”

“No! Other girls would rip their clothes from their bodies if they had a chance to be with you. I'm your girlfriend and I can't even do that..”

“First of all, stop comparing yourself to other girls that’s unhealthy. Second, I don't want anyone but you and if you want to wait, then we'll wait. End of story.”

He had to do a little more convincing for the next hour until you and him were on the same page, but after that you felt a lot better and calmer. You'd wait until you felt ready for it. And he would too.

lee taeyong

You knew that you could have a conversation about it with him without him being upset. That was the one thing you knew you always could always depend on, to talk calmly about an issue with him. Because he always listened to you and your worries.

“It's not that I never want to do it,” you said honestly, reaching over the table to grab his hand, “It's just that I would like to wait a little longer.. until I'm 100% comfortable.”

“We'll wait for as long as you want to,” Taeyong pulled your hand up to his mouth and kissed your knuckles, a small smile spreading on his face.

He always respected you. He always supported you. He always loved you.

And because of all that, he didn't have to wait too long anyways.

nakamoto yuta

He had been talking to this other idol girl all night and something inside of you had just snapped. Hence, the make-out session in the public restroom.

“(Y/N),” he gently pushed you away from him, “What are you doing? You said you wanted to wait.”

“Screw what I said,” you tried to unbutton his shirt, but Yuta was quicker and caught your hands.

“No. We won't do that. We'll talk about what's actually going on and we'll have sex once you're ready for it.”

You thought about persisting for a moment, but he was right. You weren't ready and only would have done this because you wanted to prove a point that you were the one sleeping with him and nobody else.

But that wasn't fair to him and definitely not to you.

“You want to talk in here, or..-?”

Yuta laughed and unlocked the door, pulling you out with him, “Maybe outside would be more pleasant, unless you want to have a serious conversation while someone else is pooping next to us.”

qian kun

Kun could tell that this was making you uncomfortable, so he immediately started rubbing over your back when your voice began to tremble.

“Love, you don't have to be upset over this. If you want to wait, then that's okay for me.”

“But you shouldn't have to wait.. I shouldn't be feeling this way, I should..-”

“Hey, stop,” he grabbed your chin and made you look at him, “Whatever you're feeling is alright, because everyone feels differently. Some people want to have sex right after they start dating, others want to wait. There is no right and no wrong. As long as we're both on the same page and we are.. I will wait for you, (Y/N).”

You still started crying, but only because he was so supportive.

kim dongyoung

It wasn't hard to figure out what he wanted when he looked at you like that and then ended up pulling you onto his lap. And making out was fine, but you could feel that he wanted more. Like.. actually feel it.

“Wait,” you leaned back, just a bit, biting on your lower lip but not looking into his eyes, “This is.. a little too fast for me.”

“Did I do something wrong?”

“No! No, you.. you didn't, it's just..-” you sighed, leaning your forehead against his so that you could avoid eye contact, “Give me a few more weeks, Donyoung.. just to really get comfortable.”

“You're not comfortable with me?”

He almost sounded offended and that was the last thing you wanted, “It has nothing to do with you, it's just something that I want.”

Well, he wasn't too happy about it in that second with that boner, but he liked you.. a lot. And he would obviously respect your choices and wait.

“Alright then,” he sighed and pushed you off of him, giving you a forehead kiss before he walked out of the room, “Give me.. ten minutes, okay? I'll be right back.”

ten

He was the one that initiated he. He figured that after two months of dating, it was time to take the next step.

But Ten wasn't stupid, he could tell that you weren't into it. Or at least not like he was.

“I'm so sorry,” you immediately apologized when he stopped kissing your neck, “It's just.. I don't know.. I can't explain it, I just would like to wait a little longer.”

“No, I'm sorry. I shouldn't have assumed you were ready. That needs to come from you..”

“Please don't be disappointed.”

“I'm not,” he smiled encouragingly and kissed your nose, “Just.. tell me if I need to wait till we're married?”

You started laughing, shaking your head, “Sweetheart, you're too hot for that.”

Then he was okay with it.

jung yoonoh

“Can I ask you something, (Y/N)?” Yoonoh asked, continuing to eat, but with a curious look on his face.

“Sure!”

“Are you.. comfortable when you're with me?”

That was most certainly unexpected and really took you by surprise, “Why would you ask that?”

“Well.. we've been a couple for more than three months now, yet the most we've done is kiss. I'm not saying I don't like it, it's just something that I noticed. So I wanted to know if you're uncomfortable and if there is anything I can do to change that..”

God, you were so whipped for this man.

“I'm just not ready yet. Doesn't have anything to do with you, though. You're perfect the way you are, trust me.”

“I do,” he nodded, reaching over the table to interlink your fingers, “So I will wait until you’re ready.”

And he did.

dong sicheng

“Why are you so upset about this?” Sicheng looked at with confusion in his eyes, “You're my girlfriend because I like you for your personality, not because I want to sleep with you so desperately. If you want to wait, then we wait. You know it doesn't matter to me, I told you that when you first asked me about my opinion on sex.”

You sighed deeply, brushing over your knuckles, “I know what you said then, it's just.. it's been four months and I'm scared you'll get annoyed eventually.”

“I won't,” he shook his head, “I can promise you that I won't, (Y/N).”

And he didn't break his promise, even if it still took a while until you were ready.

kim jungwoo

You two sat on his bed when you told him, Jungwoo's hand lying on your lower back. You could feel his thumb run up and down as he carefully listened to your words.

“I don't want to wait forever, please trust me on this. But.. just a little while..”

“That's okay,” he smiled sweetly, “I can wait. As long as..-”

“As long as what?”

You watched him lie down on his back and then point at his chest, wiggling his eyebrows.

You started laughing, knowing what he wanted right away. So you laid down, your head resting on his chest as he wrapped his arms around you and kissed your forehead.

“That's all I need right now anyways,” he whispered.

lucas

Lucas was a natural flirt. He probably didn't even do it on purpose, but every time he talked to a woman, it seemed like he was devouring her with his eyes. And as a girlfriend, that often made you jealous.

But since you and him haven't had sex yet, it mostly made you insecure. So much, that you decided to just get it over with one night.

But see, that was never the right approach when it came down to sex and as much as Lucas wanted you, he didn't want you like this.

So he stopped as you tried to undress him and pushed you onto your back, his eyes searching yours for clues as to what was going on.

“Why are you doing this if you don't even want it?”

“What are you talking about?! I do!” but again, as you wanted to unbuckle is belt, he grabbed your hands and pinned them over your head to continue talking to you.

“No you don't and I can feel it. So why don't you tell me what's really going on? Because we're not having sex until I'm 100% sure you're okay with it.”

He was surprised when you confessed the real reason to him and also felt incredibly ashamed.

The fact that he was the reason he had pushed you to this point because he couldn't control his inner flirt made him realize that he had to change his attitude from now on.

You meant so much to him.. and he never wanted to hurt you or make you feel insecure.

mark lee

“We can wait,” was the first thing Mark said accompanied with a nod when you told him, “I don't mind.”

“Really?” you smiled.

“Yeah, sure!” he wrapped an arm around your shoulder and pulled you closer, kissing your temple, “I'm happy as it is. And hyungs are all jealous either way, so it's all good.”

“Some of them are dating too, though?”

“Yeah, but only one is dating you and that's me,” he wiggled his eyebrows, both of you starting to laugh.

No, sex really wasn't that important. Laughing together like you did now was.

xiao dejun

“There is one thing I think I should say right away though,” you said on your first night that you stayed over.

“What's that?” he wasn't expecting it, continuing to prepare the bed with a smile.

“I'd like to wait when it comes to sex..”

Aaaand he choked. On nothing but thin air. So much that you had to clap on his back to help him breathe normally again.

Only then did he stutter out: “S-Sex?”

“Yeah. You know, the thing where the man puts his..-” but before you could finish, he put his hand over your mouth and shook his head.

“I know what it means! I just didn't think we would do that tonight anyways.”

“Oh! Well.. in that case, it's all good then.”

You had made him nervous there for a second. He wanted to wait too.

won kunhang

“Would you mind if we waited? Just.. a little longer?” you asked as you were cuddling one night.

“Wait for.. sex?”

“Yeah..”

“Of course not,” he brushed your hair behind your ear, “I'm not with you for sex, (Y/N). You know that.”

“I do, it's just.. we've been together for two months already.”

“And even if we're together for two years and you still want to wait that's okay with me..”

“Seriously?”

He gulped down hard, “Do you.. want to wait for two more years?”

“No,” you started laughing and cuddled into his chest, “Just a little longer.. not two years.”

huang renjun

You were surprised at how eager he was, but you were his first proper girlfriend and he wanted to get to the.. good stuff right away.

“Rejun,” you gently pushed his hands away from your body and looked at him, “Not yet.”

“What?” funny how he had been so confident a moment ago, but was now staring at you with big puppy eyes.

“We've only been dating for four weeks.. let's not rush things, alright? I want to take this slow..”

It's not like he could do anything about that. And quite frankly, it wouldn't hurt for him to wait too. Unless he wanted your first time together to absolutely suck.

At least now he could do.. proper research to prepare himself for it.

lee jeno

You two talked about it relatively soon after you started dating. He was glad that you were the one bringing it up, because he had felt like it would have been weird if he had.

But you had both agreed on waiting, actually. You weren't ready yet and it seemed as if he wasn't either.

You both wanted to wait until you were fully comfortable with each other, so what you did was explore your relationship first. You took baby steps for as long as it took the both of you to say: Okay, I'm ready now.

And the path to that comfortableness might have been a bit longer than that of others, but nevertheless you enjoyed every day with each other.

Relationships aren't just about sex, after all.

lee donghyuck

You had actually just been making out, nothing more than that, when his hands began to wander.

You've been dating for three months and he had admitted that you were his first girlfriend, so it was understandable that he wanted to get some experiences in. However, it didn't feel right yet. You didn't know whether it was because of the age or because you weren't 100% comfortable yet, but in the end that didn't matter.

The fact that you weren't ready yet made you push him back and tell him. Tell him that you wanted to wait a little longer.

And even though he fell back with a sigh and stared at the ceiling in silence, he wasn't angry.

Just.. visibly worked up now.

na jaemin

“That's alright,” he smiled, leaning back in his chair, “I don't really mind.”

“Seriously?”

“We're still young,” he shrugged, “We have so much time to experience it all together.”

“Other boys would be upset, you know?”

“Well,” he took a sip from his coffee, looking at you over the rim of his cup, “I'm not like other boys.”

And if he kept looking at you like that you would correct your previous statement and would straddle him, so..

liu yangyang

YangYang and you were just kissing, until he began sliding lower, kissing your jaw, then your neck and then..-

“Hold on, wait..”

“Huh?”

“Well.. this is nice, don't get me wrong, it's just.. can we wait a little longer for the real deal?”

“The real deal?” he repeated with a chuckle, “I didn't plan on doing that tonight anyways, but I'm glad you thought so.”

“Well, I just thought.. because you..- nevermind.”

“We've only been dating for three months, you're not the only one who needs time, angel.”

Who would have thought..

zhong chenle

“I feel like we should wait a little more,” you whispered into the darkness of the night, his hand on your waist.

“Wait? For what?” he had almost fallen asleep, so this was kind of random in Chenle's mind, “Wait to sleep?”

“With each other.”

“Huh?!” his eyes widened all of a sudden as he leaned back. He couldn't see you properly, but he could feel your hot and quick breathing, “Why are we talking about that right now?”

“It just.. came to mind, I don't know. I feel like we haven't talked about it properly yet.”

“Because I didn't care enough. If it happens, it happens. Until then, we'll just do this,” and so he pulled you back against him, as tightly as he could so that there was no space left between you two, “And I'm satisfied.”

park jisung

You both weren't ready yet so it was very easy.

It wasn't even a conversation you had, it was just something you could both feel. Whenever a hand touched a more intimate place, you'd both blush, or whenever someone said something slightly dirty, you'd start laughing because you were so embarrassed.

You were sure that you'd get more comfortable around each other the longer your relationship lasted and the older you became, so now you were looking forward to each day you could spend together and each new experience you could have with each other.

“Thank you,” Jisung smiled at you one night, both of you walking through the park.

“For what?”

“Being you,” he shrugged, tightening his grip around your hand a little, “I never thought I'd find someone that understands me like you do..”

Well, he wasn't the only one.

#nct imagine #nct x reader #kpop #kpop imagines #kpop reactions #nct #reader #requests #EARLY POST BECAUSE I DIDN'T POST YESTERDAY #HI #nct reaction

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flyswhumpcenter · 5 years ago

Text

Nurse Café - Chapter 6/6: “Back to Normalcy, If Normalcy There Is“

PREVIOUS CHAPTER

Fic Summary: Life could have honesty been simpler than that for Hokuto, a second-year Liteature major. There’s, however, someone out there willing to just make it easier on him.

Fandom: Ensemble Stars! (College/Coffeeshop AU) Ships: HokuAn (Anzu/Hokuto)

AO3 version available here.

-------------------------

Chapter Summary: After recovery comes coming clean to your friends about where on Earth you've been lately.

Chapter Wordcount: 1.7K words

Chapter Notes: Let Subaru Enstars Say Fuck. Writing Hokuto and Subaru banter has no rights to be this fun, I swear. Anyway! I started work on this chapter right after finishing the very first chapter in, what, July? I believe the first paragraph of this is older than the entirely of chapter 2, in fact. More on NC's origin story in the end notes. Because of how long this chapter has actually been in the works for, I'm afraid it sounds a little reconstituted and mashed together. Y'know, casual "I spent 6 months on this" issues and whatnot. I'm still terrified this is OOC, as I've honestly not watched Enstars in months by now and got carried away by my headcanons and AU-ing, but oh well. I hope you'll like

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Hokuto was walking down to his first class of the week, the one whose presentation he had eventually surrendered to and asked to postpone (not his proudest achievement), when he heard a very familiar sound: Subaru Akehoshi’s signature high-pitched voice resonated through the corridors, accompanied by ferocious-sounding footsteps rushing in his direction, lacking any kind of discretion or concern for whomever else may have had the misfortune to be sharing this very corridor with him.

“Ho-kke!!”

Akehoshi jumped on him, wrapping his arm around his shoulders and almost making him tumble and fall. If his face wasn’t so naturally inexpressive, someone else would have noticed the panic suddenly enlacing his mind.

“Back off, Akehoshi,” he responded to the assault, watching his friend get down and walk next to him.

“You usually bite harder than that, Hokke! What’s up? It’s been a while since we’ve seen each other!”

“…it’s been, what, a week at most? I wouldn’t call that ‘a while’.”

“It’s just not the same without you, Hokke! I’ve missed you friend!”

To be fair, he had missed Akehoshi and simply didn’t want to admit it to the latter’s face. Doing that was like yearning to be discredited. He’d have to work on that dishonesty of his later.

“I suppose so,” he replied with some doubt lingering (truly, someone as much of a social butterfly as Akehoshi couldn’t have missed him that much, right?).

“Hey, Hokke, tell me something! What’s happened to you? You’ve disappeared from the surface of the planet, Ukki and I got worried, and Sally wouldn’t tell us anything about your whereabouts! Anzu seemed really worried about you too…”

Oh God, was this guy really going all out on him? Was it legally allowed to embarrass someone in public like that?

“It’s a long story,” he half-heartedly replied.

Akehoshi’s glaze didn’t let up. He was coming for actual answers and Hokuto wasn’t all too keen on giving it to him in public like that. He had somewhat of an image to keep as a student representative in the university, he found that important to keep for himself, and this excitable boy wouldn’t do that. Not while he was alive, at least.

Suddenly, more footsteps came in their direction, prompting them to both turn around. Coming towards them were Anzu and Isara with Yuuki trailing not far from them. All shone a smile, to which Akehoshi replied with more excitement. Truly, this guy seemed unstoppable and always full of energy. Hokuto suddenly found himself somewhat envious of this, before focusing back on the incoming conversation, wondering how he’d unbury himself from having to reveal why he had gone missing for an entire week.

“Hello everyone!” Anzu said in their direction, her lovely smile as on point as always.

“Hi everyone!” Yuuki continued, waving at them, Isara doing the same right afterwards.

Akehoshi rushed towards them. Well, there was nothing better to do than follow him, he supposed… At least, it’d be a good way to begin returning to normalcy.

As they walked back in the direction to their classes, questions rose up.

“Ah, Hidaka, you’re back!” Yuuki noted with a bright smile. “Where have you been all that time?”

“Yeah, Hokke, where in the world were you?! Our routine doesn’t work the same if it’s without you, y’know!”

He didn’t know if he should have been flattered or offended to that remark.

“I had…” How was he supposed to lie about the reason without actually lying about it either? “I had a lot of things to take care of.”

“Still,” Yuuki makes another note, albeit his tone drops in happiness, “you weren’t there on Tuesday for your own presentation! The prof didn’t know what to do with you missing, he hadn’t seen that coming.”

“Frankly, never did I,” Akehoshi added. “A day without Hokke around isn’t a normal day!”

They were pushy, but he couldn’t hold it against them. He had vanished for an entire week, after all, of course they’d ask about it.

“Hokuto, I think it’s time you tell them what’s actually happened. We’ve respected you not wanting us to do that on our terms, but… These two were worried sick you know!” Isara finished to convince him.

Despite the embarrassment already piling up in the back of his mouth, Hokuto nonetheless cleared his throat and tried finding the exact right words. He’d have liked to keep that awkward week in the sands of time, but alas, the peer pressure happened to be a little too strong to withstand.

“I, hmm…,” yeah, no, that remained hard to put into words, “may have collapsed last Friday night.”

A thick silence settled. While Isara and Anzu exchanged slightly awkward glances, Akehoshi and Yuuki had be shut for good, the former blinking furiously and the second staring with a distraught expression and agape mouth.

“W-wait, really?! L-like, collapsed-collapsed?!”

“Yes, that kind.”

“What the fuck Hokke.”

“Huh… Y-yeah, what h-he – what Akehoshi said,” Yuuki added with a tiny, clearly confused laugh.

He scratched the back of his head. This was making him maybe more nervous than the entire process of making that cancelled presentation…

“I don’t exactly remember much from it.”

“Let me do that recap for you then,” Isara suddenly chimed in. “Friday night, you went into a café, realized you picked the wrong one, ordered an espresso at eleven in the evening, passed out on Anzu who was supposed to close the shop, and she tended to you for most of Saturday afterwards.” (Did he have to mention that? He could see Anzu growing red as he said that). “I think that’s all you need to know guys!”

Hokuto wanted to bury his face in his hands and disappear right here and there; alas, miracles didn’t exist, did they.

“You do look much better than when I last saw you, though, Hokuto!” Isara resumed the conversation.

“Mao is right! You really do look better, I promise,” Anzu added, and if it wasn’t his fever coming back, then he didn’t think he’d like to acknowledge what it was. “You still look a little tired though, are you sure you should be attending class right away?”

“It’s only a couple of lectures, nothing I can’t pull through.”

“…Do I need to remind you that you said that about your presentation too, Hokuto…?”

That made Yuuki jolt in place.

“Wait, you ran yourself sick just for that presentation?!”

“Unlike what Isara is saying, it’s not just that presentation.”

“Speaking of that presentation, Makoto, do you remember for what subject it was?”

“I think it was for the History class. I mostly remember the prof looking kind of pissed…”

“So that was the subject this was for! Hokuto didn’t quite remember it and I was curious.”

“Wait, Hokke, you didn’t remember that when Anzu asked?!”

“Man, Hidaka, you really must have been exhausted to the bone to forget something like that…”

Everyone was trying to kill him, especially Akehoshi’s barely contained amused giggling.

“Anzu, why did… That didn’t amuse you back there!”

She gave him a glance, suddenly much calmer, her smile dropping.

“That was because it meant there was a ton of problems on your end, Hokuto. Come on, do you think that was a normal thing?”

“I never said the opposite…”

“I know. I just try to make that amusing because, frankly, you scared us all to death, not just Mao and I.”

“Oh, yeah,” Akehoshi added, “you don’t even know how much Ukki and I asked about you for days! These two really wouldn’t tell us much even if they did!”

“Sorry for that again, guys. Hokuto really insisted on us not telling, or at least, he mumbled about that in his sleep…”

“I actually remember asking you that, Isara. I wasn’t entirely braindead.”

Akehoshi and Yuuki looked thoroughly confused. This was at least proof that they had successfully been kept out of the loop.

“Still,” Yuuki asked, “why didn’t you want us to know? We’re friends, aren’t we?”

“I don’t think you’d ever want to see what unfolded there.”

“Well duh! Of course we don’t wanna see you be sick beyond your mind or somethin’ Hokke! Anzu and Sally talk about it as if you were gonna die!”

“Plus, we’re friends. Isn’t the whole point of friendship to help each other out in times of need?”

“They’re right, Hokuto,” Isara completed their argument. “You were also helping your grandma at the time, right? The poor woman looked worried for your life back there!”

“This was merely me fulfilling my obligations as her grandson. Still, I suppose you are right. I obviously couldn’t have survived that alone.”

“I think we can all testify to that…” Isara seemed a little jaded, but nonetheless smiled again as he put his hand on his friend’s shoulder. “So, next time, don’t hesitate to call for us when you need help, ’kay? We really don’t want you to run yourself to the ground like that again!”

The three others hummed and nodded almost in unison. All he could react with was a sigh and a tiny smile (that was most likely not even visible on his stiff face).

“Lesson learnt.”

Their conversation eventually took its usual course, deviating (to his relief) to other topics. By the end of the main hallway, he found himself with only Anzu, the both of them heading towards different rooms almost facing each other.

“Ah, before I forget. Thank you very much for… all of this, Anzu. I don’t even want to know where I’d be right now if it wasn’t for you.”

“As much as I also don’t want to imagine that, I’d have said an ER. Again, really, Hokuto, you don’t need to thank me so politely! It’s a normal thing for friends to do. You’ve done that for me before, haven’t you?”

“That’s true…” (And these weren’t such good memories, as it mostly reminded him of bitter concern).

“Just avoid doing that next time you feel in a pinch, okay? I’m sure we’ll all be glad to help. I know I will…” Her voice trailed off and so did her eyes, looking in the distance. He naïvely started doing so as if someone or something would arrive.

“I’ll make sure to, then.”

They stared at each other, red, for a couple moments before Anzu snapped out of it first.

“Ah, sorry, my class starts real soon! See you around, Hokuto!”

“See you later then.”

As they went on their separate ways, he could only confirm something: if his heart was beating this profusely, it had to mean he had very clearly come down with another illness altogether. In hopes that, just like his collapse, Anzu could help him fix his own issues…

#enstars #hokuan #anzu (enstars)#hidaka hokuto #akehoshi subaru #isara mao #yuuki makoto #hurt comfort #humor #fluff #recovery #au: college #otp: konpeito chou cream #brotp: shining ensemble #fic: nurse cafe

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demonsonthemoon · 5 years ago

Text

Veni, Vedi - Chapter 6

Fandom: Pacific Rim Pairings: Eventual Newt/Hermann/Vanessa Word Count: 7091 Summary: Everything changed after they collapsed the Breach. Newt lost the thing he had dedicated his life to. Hermann lost all of his certainties, and gained a family. Vanessa found something to hope for again. And, somehow, all of their lives got tangled together.

Also available on AO3.

NEWT

Newt stared at Hermann in silence, smile frozen on his lips.

If you so despise my perfect little life, I suggest you walk out of it right now.

Newt had wanted to get a rise out of Hermann, to make him react. That was always what he was doing. Newt was aware of his own issues, to an extent, and so he knew of his self-destructive tendencies, and he knew that his favorite method of destruction had always been Hermann.

But this hadn't been what he truly wanted, he realised now. Because Hermann had the upper hand, like always. He had a way to cut him out. Maybe Hermann was as lost as Newt, even if it hurt him to admit it. But at least he didn't need him. There were other people that he could rely on.

Newt had dug this hole for himself, it was time to lie in it.

Instead of letting the fight escalate, he just stayed silent. Hermann stared him down for a few more seconds, then stormed out of the room.

Newt's muscles immediately relaxed, in an almost painful way. He could feel his whole body shake from the tension. Nervous laughter started bubbling inside his stomach. He wasn't exactly sure what – if anything – was funny, but he couldn't help himself. He muffled the giggles against one of his arms. The last thing he needed was for Hermann to come back inside and berate him for making light of the situation.

Maybe it was because of how ridiculous he and Hermann were acting. Maybe it was because of how ridiculous the whole human race seemed, scrabbling for meaning in a world that had tilted its axis. Maybe it was because of how ridiculous it felt to have his e-mail inbox filled with messages from various government agencies.

He hadn't really meant what he had said about Hermann's life. Actually, he thought bitterly, he was surprised it hadn't been obvious how jealous he felt of it. Hermann seemed able to fit into the patterns of his old existence with ease. Newt was just starting to realise how dangerous his tendency to burn every bridges he crossed could be.

He let his laughter turn into sobs, not caring as much anymore about whether the noises would get noticed or not. Let Hermann be disgusted with him. Let him blame it all on Newt's splendid personality, as he called it. Newt knew how to push people away. That was at least one thing he was still good at, in this now kaiju-less world.

He wiped at his eyes and closed his computer. The sleeve of his white shirt was wet with tears and snot. He sighed. He was quickly running out of clothes, what with only bringing one suitcase with him. Maybe he really should start looking for somewhere else to stay. Somewhere where he wouldn't feel like he was intruding. Somewhere where he wouldn't have to face Hermann.

Newt knew that Hermann wasn't okay, despite his façade. And he knew that it was his own fault. Because Hermann had accepted to drift with him, without time to weigh the consequences, and his perfect brain had been ruined in the process. Because Newt wasn't able to do things on his own like he was supposed to.

Newt stood up, put on a sweater and his jacket above his dirty shirt, and all but ran out of the apartment building.

Standing on the threshold, looking up at the home he had just left, Newt realised he hadn't been outside for three days. The air here tasted different than in Hong Kong. Colder. There were less people around, at least in this neighbourhood. Newt was quite happy about that, having made the realisation while on a bus to the airport that him and crowds didn't get along quite so well anymore. He had handled the incident like a champ, with only a minimal amount of screaming and just a tiny panic attack, but he wasn't eager to go for Round 2. He had had enough nightmares about Otachi already, he didn't need to seek them out in his waking life.

God, if Otachi had forever ruined concerts for him, he was going to be pissed.

Standing in the cold, Newt also realised he didn't really know where he was. He had taken the bus on his way here, sure, but couldn't even remember which direction he had come from. He shoved his hands inside his pockets and started walking anyway.

He groaned when his left leg started hurting after only a few hundred meters. He walked faster. That would teach his body what pain was his and what wasn't. He found a bus stop at some point. He wasn't sure how long he had been walking for and if the stop was the same one he had first arrived at, but he waited there anyway. He climbed in the first bus that came by, bought his ticket and sat down. He watched the city pass by for a while, then got off and took another bus.

He finally ended up near the Spreeinsel in Mitte. There were a few tourists there. Europe was far away from the Pacific and some of the people here were still able to enjoy the luxury of going on holidays. Still, it was far calmer than it would have been before the Kaiju War. There were more people sitting on sidewalks too, homeless and refugees.

Newt was slowly starting to realise how paradoxical the situation in Shatterdomes had been. He had been one of the people closest to the front line, had seen kaiju remains up close and walked through the destruction the creatures had caused. But he had no idea what the longterm consequences of this conflict had been. He had no idea how fucked the economy was, what measures which countries were taking, which governments were trying to send back refugees where they came from now that the threat had collapsed back into its own universe. For more than ten years he had been living in a small bubble of metal and hierarchy, and now he was facing the fall back to reality.

Wasn't this the exact thing he had told Hermann?

Newt groaned. His feet were hurting. It wasn't some kind of phantom drift-pain anymore, but the real-life, physical pain of walking for too long after months without exercise. He found an empty bench and sat down, looking at the Spree river.

The current was slow. He would probably be able to swim against it if he tried.

He probably shouldn't try.

It had been a long time since he had last swum, though. He could remember holidays with his mother, on the rare occasions where she would take him with her. He remembered golden beaches and warm water, so clear he could see tiny fish go past him. He remembered watching the dead bodies of jellyfish and prodding them with a stick.

He remembered waves hitting his legs, rain in his eyes, foreign smells and foreign colors all around him. He remembered being a kaiju.

Newt was angry. At Hermann, at himself, at the PPDC, at the governments, at the world at large and even at another universe. He was angry and frustrated and for once, just for once, he didn't feel like caring at all. He watched the Spree go its merry course, and let himself be carried away by the memories.

His body became massive, powerful instead of weak, stable instead of insecure. Newt could remember what it was like to never be alone, to have dozens of voices in his head all at the same time, to have hundreds of thoughts always running through his head and never lose track of one of them. He felt at home, surrounded by that hurricane of sound. More at home than in the silence he'd been living in in the last month, one he remembered from too much medication and a house that was empty at night.

A couple walked in front of him, and Newt bared his teeth. He was ready to fight if he had to. Fight for his right to live, for his right to exist. Fight because it was the only thing he knew how to do. Fight and destroy because that was the meaning behind being alive.

Again, he did not know how long he stayed there, watching the water. He did not know how much longer he would have stayed either if his phone hadn't started to ring, breaking the illusion and bringing him back to his tiny body and the coolness of a German evening.

He fished his phone out of his pocket and brought it to his ear without checking the caller ID.

“Newt Geiszler?” he said, voice sluggish, as if the sounds were foreign to him.

“Newt? This is Vanessa.”

He froze. Why would she be calling him? Hermann had to have explained their arguments. Was she going to tell him that she had put his suitcase in the lobby, for him to pick up whenever he wanted? It wasn't Vanessa's style, not from what Newt knew of her. And she had been the one to offer he stay with them in the first place, so...

“Uh... Yes?” Eloquent. Nice.

“Listen. I know you two had a fight but... Hermann is acting... off.” She sounded genuinely worried, too much for Newt not to feel the same anxiety shoot up through him as well. “I can't get him to respond to me. At all. Could you... Could you come back? And see whether you can do something? I know it's a lot to ask. I'm sorry.”

“I'm on my way,” Newt replied, without having to think about it. He had been ready to leave since Vanessa had said something was wrong with Hermann. It was the way it was and the way it had always been. As much as he was angry with the man he knew he couldn't leave him on his own.

Even when Newt truly believed that he had come to hate Hermann Gottlieb, physics genius and writer of passionate e-mails, kindred spirit in a desert of intellectual desolation, absolute asshole with uptight manners and disdain written on his every feature, even when he truly believed he had come to hate Hermann, he had always been there to defend him and his theories. He had always been there to defend Hermann as a person too, to be honest. But that part he had tried to handle more discretely.

“Okay,” Vanessa said with a relieved sigh. “Okay.”

There was so much fear in her voice. Newt started running towards the closest bus stop. “He'll be fine, 'Nessa. We'll make sure he's fine. But you've got to hold on until I get there, okay? Stay with him. Keep talking to him.” Newt had no idea what he was doing. He had no idea what was going on and how he was going to help. But he couldn't do nothing, not like the past two days. If this was going to be another war, he wasn't scared to go on the front line anymore. Or, more accurately, he was terrified, but he would do it anyway.

He also knew that Vanessa needed to feel useful. She needed something to do, or she would lose it. Newt felt bad to instinctively use this knowledge and manipulate her, but he thought the situation justified the means. “I'm hanging up now. I'll be there as soon as I can.”

He was out of breath as he finally reached the bus stop. He quickly googled the quickest itinerary, keeping an eye out for a potential cab in the meantime. He ended up taking a bus, an S-Bahn, then a second bus, and arrived at the Gottliebs' apartment exhausted and nervous.

He rang the bell and waited, shifting from foot to foot and shivering. Vanessa buzzed him in without even checking who was there, and he climbed the stairs two by two, ignoring the elevator altogether. He was out of breath when he finally knocked on the Gottliebs' door, and truly wondered whether he should take up jogging. Except he knew he wouldn't, because the choice between sports and more time to do science was really not even worth talking about.

Vanessa opened the door and immediately gestured for him to go into the living-room. Hermann was sitting on the couch/bed and staring out the window. The only reason they knew he was alive was the way his chest moved with every of his breath. He was perfectly still otherwise. The fact that he was sitting in the exact same way he had been with Newt when they had talked together about their nightmares was all too obvious, and Newt bit his lip. So it was his fault again.

He crouched down in front of Hermann and looked into his eyes. At least he was blinking, but there was no life in his gaze. Newt waved a hand in front of Hermann's face, frowning when the eyes didn't even catch on the movement. He looked up to Vanessa, who shook her head.

“I don't know what to do. He's been like that since I came back and I can't get him to respond.”

Newt nodded. The only logical response to this situation was panic.

“Hermann?” He snapped his fingers in front of the other man's face. “Hey. You're freaking your wife out here, man. Actually, you're freaking me out too. Say something, come on!”

There was no response. Newt hadn't seriously expected one anyway.

VANESSA

Vanessa watched as Newt tried to get her husband to react, to no avail. Her arms were crossed around her chest, partly as a way to conceal her shaking hands.

Had she been wrong? Were Newt and Hermann really as unable to help each other as they seemed to think they were? Were they maybe even making each other worse? Had she made things worse? Was she going to have to watch her husband wither away in front of her, unable to help?

She couldn't think like that. She had to keep trying, and give Hermann and Newt a chance to keep trying as well. She had to believe in the bright future she wished for, if only because it seemed so impossible to realise right now. So many things had been impossible before and happened anyway. She couldn't give up now.

“I... I'm gonna make myself something to drink,” she said, looking for something to do that would occupy her hands. “Do you want some coffee?”

Newt looked up from where he was crouching on the floor. He forced his expression not to express any panic, and Vanessa was grateful, even if she saw through the facade. “Uh... Yeah. That would be nice. Thanks.”

She nodded and went to the kitchen. In the relative privacy, she forced herself to take deep breaths and try to calm down. Hermann had been fine earlier. A bit distant, defensive, but Vanessa had immediately understood why once she noticed that Newt had been gone. He'd explained that they'd had a fight, that Newt had stormed off, but he was confident that he would be back.

Vanessa had kissed him softly and then gone to take a nap, and once she had woken up she had found him frozen in place, eyes fixed on the horizon.

She started making coffee, and considered making herself an infusion instead, but decided against it. Coffee was comforting to her, and she needed everything that could help right now.

When she came back to the living-room with the two mugs, Newt was seated on the floor, one of Hermann's hands in his. He was looking at the pale skin like it might hold the answer to all of life's mysteries. Vanessa knew the feeling.

She put Newt's mug on the coffee table, then sat down in an armchair, watching the two men.

Newt nodded his thanks for the drink, but kept his eyes trained on Hermann.

“What happened exactly?” she asked. Hermann had only given her one side of the story, and without many details. She needed more, if she wanted to actually understand.

Newt didn't turn to look at her, as if ashamed to do so.

“I'm not gonna judge you or be mad. Like I said, I already know that you two had a fight. I just want to know what happened so I can try to piece together what the fuck is going on.” It wasn't a habit of hers to swear, but she would have to watch her language for years after Victoria's birth. So she was going to enjoy this way of voicing her frustration while she still had it.

“That's fair.” He stepped back from Hermann. There was only one armchair in the room, and the other option was to sit next to Hermann on the bed. So Newt just crossed his legs and faced Vanessa, still on the ground. “Totally justified. You're right.”

Vanessa frowned. Newt was nervous. Newt was stalling. She glared at him and raised an eyebrow.

“Okay, that? That is exactly the expression Hermann gets when he's unimpressed with me but there are too many people around for him to start shouting. You know, I didn't really believe people when they said that married couple start to look alike, but this is actually kind of freaky so... And yep. There is the gaze telling me to get back on topic or something bad will happen. Sorry.”

Vanessa was having a hard time keeping her expression demanding, despite the seriousness of the situation. Newt made her think of herself, and how she would start babbling in the same way whenever she got nervous.

“Okay. So we had a fight. Kind of a big fight? I insulted his life-choices and he told me that if I hated them so much I should probably just walk out of here. I cried a little, possibly? Then I left. I only came back after you called me. I didn't think... I didn't think anything would happen, I didn't mean to-”

“What started the fight?” Vanessa interrupted. She didn't think Newt was actually responsible for the situation, even if he seemed to blame himself. But she didn't have the time to comfort Newt either, not until they had figured things out.

“Uh... We were talking about the future. And about how I have absolutely no clue what I'm gonna do with the rest of my life. And how he pretends that he does, but he's actually scared too. I mean... I'm not making this up, right? You must have noticed this too?”

Vanessa hesitated, then nodded. She knew she could trust Hermann, and he kept telling her that he knew what he was doing, knew what he wanted. He kept telling her that he wanted to be here and that he was happy. But it wasn't impossible for him to be lying to himself.

“But, like... He was fine when I left. He was super pissed, but he was fine. He was in his office when I walked out...”

“I talked to him, before he... became like this. But then I took a nap, and when I woke he wasn't responding.”

Newt seemed slightly relieved that at least there was a chance this hadn't been caused by their fight directly. Vanessa took a sip of her coffee. They still were no closer to figuring what was going on or how to fix it.

“Has something like this ever happened before?” Newt asked. Vanessa was surprised, as she had been on the verge of asking the same question herself. She thought about it.

“I'm not sure. Never anything this bad but... I guess he gets lost in memories, sometimes. He starts staring into space. But he'll usually snap out of it if you call for him.”

Newt nodded. “Yeah, you mentioned that the other night. That I did it too. But what could be different about today that lead to him staying stuck?”

Vanessa was fairly confident Newt was only talking to himself and didn't expect a reply, but she felt obligated to give him one anyway. “Well. You're here.”

“What?”

“I don't want to... accuse you of anything. I don't think it's really your fault. But since you're here, and the two of you are connected, and you had your fight... maybe that made the... memory drift stronger. Or something.”

Newt's eyes widened. “Memory-drift! That's it! Vanessa, you're a genius!”

She frowned. She didn't see how her insight was actually of any help. “I'm flattered but... What am I a genius for, actually?”

“A memory-drift! That's what this is! A drift! A connection. A two-way link!” Newt seemed really excited, and got up from the floor. “I went to the Spreeinsel when I left. I stared at the water for a long time. A really long time. I wanted to... get lost in the memories. I did it intentionally. But Hermann? Well, I'm not sure if I'm right at all, but if we think about this like a drift... It's actually not just a one-way or even two way connection. It actually goes in three directions. Pilot/Pilot/Jaeger, or Me/Hermann/Kaiju. And maybe... maybe the connection is still there partly, and so it also works with Me/Memories/Hermann. Like a powerful ghost-drift. I think I've had it happen to me before, a bit, when...”

Newt trailed off, then raised his eyes towards Vanessa, an apology in them.

“When we were still in the Shatterdome. He missed you. He missed you a lot, and sometimes I would get waves of... of missing you too. Not really, because I don't actually know you, but I would get hit by all these memories he has of you, and I would just feel what he was feeling, you know? Well, no. You don't know. Obviously you don't.” He started playing with the cuff of his sweater. “And I thought it was just my mind fixating on these memories on its own. Because I missed... having someone to go home too. But maybe he did influence me in some way. Maybe I got lost in those specific memories so easily because he was thinking about them as well.”

He started drumming his fingers against one of his thighs. He thought in a visible way. You could read on his face how his brain was chasing after different theories, disecting them one after the other, selecting the best ones even as he talked. It was fascinating.

In that moment, Vanessa felt like she knew her husband better than ever before. She remembered seeing him smile at his computer screen, and feeling jealous for a while until her boyfriend beckoned her over so she could take a look. He had explained to her how Newt's theories were great, flawed but amazing, beautiful. How he went further in his research than anyone else, despite their lack of comparative samples. She had tried her best to understand, then, but she couldn't see the beauty in those things in the same way that Newt and Hermann did. That was one reason why she had never done anything with her engineering degree. She couldn't believe in it like Hermann believed in numbers.

But she could see the beauty in the way Newt was thinking now, entire body focused on the task.

“If he really was influencing me before through a ghost-drift... Maybe this time I was the one influencing him.”

“What memories were you looking for, then? When you left?”

Newt froze, then looked down at his lap. Vanessa feared she already knew the answer.

“I...” Newt seemed to realize there was no point in lying, not when they were on the same team. “The kaiju. I was going through some of the kaiju's memories.”

Vanessa couldn't help but wince, even if she had expected it. She remembered how Hermann had described it, being this kind of beast, losing his humanity until all he wanted was to destroy. “Why would you do that?”

Newt still didn't look at her. “ I was angry. I was angry and scared. They... It's just so easy to lose yourself when you think about the kaiju. Not just because they're... interesting. They're connected. They have this sort of hive mentality, a shared mind. Hermann and I tapped into that when we drifted. We could access everything every kaiju has ever thought. Because all their memories are shared. That kind of knowledge, that kind of power, it's... thrilling. You know how, in a concert, you can be overwhelmed just by the atmosphere, the connectedness you feel? Everyone around you is dancing to the same music and thinking the same things, and it's so much and so beautiful that it makes you want to cry. That's what drifting with a kaiju is like. Except for the part where it's terrifying.”

Vanessa stared, and didn't say anything. How could she? To her, kaiju were danger. Kaiju were war and destruction, kaiju were consequences impossible to deal with, millions of lives lost. They were the monsters that had taken her life away from her. She would never be able to see the beauty in them.

She looked down at Newt's arms, covered by his shirt and sweater, where she knew tattoos were hiding. How foolish and how brave to wear death on one's skin. Like carving on epitaph on your bedroom door. Hermann had thought the same, before. But if she asked him today, what would his answer be?

“Vanessa...”

“How do we get him out? How do we get him to snap out of the memories, the ghost-drift?”

Newt froze, than shook his head in apology. Vanessa felt herself moving closer and closer to her snapping point. She wanted to hit him. She wanted to scream at him and punch him, maybe break his stupid glasses, because she had brought him into her home, a perfect stranger, she had brought him into her family, she had made his bed and taught him how to use the stove and still he was useless when she needed him the most. In that moment, she thought she knew what he and her husband felt when they chased their memories' power.

“I... I don't know. I'm not sure? If this was an actual drift we could program the machine to pull him out. We can't do that here. And I never had any problem to snap out of it, so... I don't know why he's stuck.” He looked down at his hands. “Sorry. I'm gonna try. I promise I'm gonna try.”

They finished their coffee and tried to talk to Hermann some more. He still looked as much like a statue as he had before. The tried to shake him, to no avail, and after a while Vanessa just couldn't stand it anymore. She had already tried all of that.

She excused herself and went to the bathroom, splashing water on her face and staring at her reflection in the mirror. She looked tired and frustrated, her eyes puffy and red. Her hair was also starting to get too long, she would need to get a haircut. But that was fine. That was okay. That was something she could fix, and she would fix it. She breathed, in and out, then jumped and banged her toe against a cupboard when she heard a commotion coming from the living-room.

She swore at her clumsiness, but went to the living-room as fast as she could despite the pain. The first thing she noticed was that Hermann wasn't sitting on the couch anymore. Then she realised that the noise she had heard had been caused by Newton falling to the ground and hitting the coffee table. Luckily, it was wooden, not made of glass.

Above Newton, one hand to the ground and one gripping Newt's arm, was Hermann. He was breathing heavily and, although his posture was definitely agressive, the only thing Vanessa could see in his eyes was confusion.

“Hermann!” she shouted.

He let go of Newt's arm and turned towards her, eyes blinking in confusion. He then tried to stand up, but wobbled and nearly fell back down. Newt sat up quickly to support him, but whined as he did so. From what Vanesse could guess, he had probably hurt his head when falling, and the speed of his movement had made him dizzy.

“Dude. Just sit down,” Newt said. “It will help both of us. I think I need to sit down too.”

Hermann did as he was told, and Newt flopped down next to him with a groan, rubbing at his head.

Vanessa was left standing awkwardly in one corner of the room. “So. What happened, exactly?”

HERMANN

Hermann's head felt like a tiny room in which a dozen of drums were beating out of time. His vision was shaky, like some colors were missing from it, and he felt like he was floating just outside of his body.

“What happened?”

That was the question. He had a vague memory of being unable to work after the argument he'd had with Newton and coming back to the kitchen to find him gone. Then Vanessa came back, they talked a little, but she was tired and went into the bedroom to rest. Then... Hermann had wanted to sit down a while and collect his thoughts, and suddenly he had found himself with Newton pinned under him, one hand gripping his arms and teeth bared at the other's throat.

His head was killing him. His shoulder too.

Hermann raised a hand to it, and was surprised at the sharp pain that echoed through him as soon as his fingers touched it.

“Yeah, I wouldn't do that if I were you,” Newton said guiltily. Hermann glared at him. “Like... don't put any pressure on there. I kind of... had to punch you.”

“You what?” Vanessa exclaimed.

Newton winced. “I punched him, okay? There was a reason for it! I didn't do it just for the hell of it, you know!” He had turned towards Vanessa with his hands raised in the air, as if placating a wild animal. Seeing the fury painted on his wife's face, Hermann could understand why. He felt something twist inside of him at the sight, because he knew this was his fault, that Vanessa was angry because she'd been worried about him. Again.

“He was chasing kaiju memories. I thought that physical harm might force him to react on instinct and snap out of it. It worked! I mean, he did attack me and nearly took a bite of me, but he ended up snapping out of it! So it worked!”

Hermann felt distant, like the conversation was happening in another room. The fact that Newton and Vanessa were talking about him like he wasn't even there didn't help the matters.

“Oh my god. You punched him. You just punched him and that was enough? Why didn't I think of that sooner?”

“Uh... To be fair, I think it's quite a good thing that your first instinct wasn't to punch your husband as hard as you could? I think I would have been a little worried if it had been.”

Vanessa took five long steps to the couch and started hugging Newt, to the latter's aparent confusion. To Hermann's too, if he was honest.

“Thank you. Thank you so much. I seriously had no clue of what to do, and we would still be stuck if you hadn't been there.”

Newt hugged her back quickly before taking his distance and mumbling: “You're... welcome, I guess.”

Hermann cleared his throat. “I'm sorry but... can someone explain to me what's going on?”

And then Vanessa was hugging him too. He slowly put his arms around her, careful not to make any sudden movement. She smiled at him, tenderly, and Hermann saw tears well up in her eyes, barely a second before she wiped them away with a hand.

“You were gone,” Newt explained. “I mean, not gone-gone, because obviously you're still here. But you were chasing memories. Of the kaiju, I think, which is probably while you fucking jumped at me when you woke up. You weren't responding at all, by the way. Which is why I punched you.”

Now that Newt mentioned it, Hermann thought he could remember blue shapes across the horizon, the smell of the ocean and the sensation of his body speeding through waters.

“How did it happen? I can't... I can't remember anything precisely, it's all...” He winced, his headache flaring up again.

Newton reached out and, after a second of hesitation, put a hand on Hermann's knee. Hermann looked down at it and forced himself not to stare. “I think it was my fault. I'm sorry. You know how... how the hivemind worked? How the kaiju were able to share their thoughts instantly, without conscious effort?” Hermann nodded, unsure of where exactly his colleague was going with this explanation. “Well, I think something similar is happening. Obviously not as strongly, I think we would have noticed if we were able to actually communicate by telepathy, but something similar. I think we can still influence each other somehow, through a kind of ghost-drift. Like, we can't really communicate but we can... share memories. Or something.”

“A ghost-drift?” Hermann asked with one eyebrow raised. It was a phenomenon known to happen with Jaeger pilots. After a strong drift, a lot of pairs would feel like they could still communicate with each other, even without PONs. They thought they could read each other's thoughts or even have silent conversations. Nobody had ever been able to prove that this phenomenon was real, tough, and it might just have been that two people who knew each other very well and had just been in each other's heads had a way of reading each other's body language unconsciously.

“I guess. Kind of. I mean, you know my feelings on ghost-drifting in general. The PONs already require a very high compatibility threshold, and the Jaegers kind of act as a buffer in normal cases, so in a controlled drift it seems very unlikely that the kind of physical alterations that could enable a real ghost-drift would occur. Even with a really powerful neural handshake.”

“But yours wasn't a controlled drift, was it?” Vanessa asked.

Newton squirmed under her gaze. “Um. Yeah. I kinda... messed with the PONs a bit when I built my custom set-up. I had to lower the compatibility threshold. A lot. Because like... I don't think I'm actually Drift Compatible with a piece of kaiju brain, you know? But I was careful! I also lowered the depth of the connection. Obviously that became kind of useless because of the whole Hivemind thing, but it's not as if I could actually have predicted that. And I also set a timer, so I knew I would be pulled away.”

Hermann raised an eyebrow. Careful was not the adjective that came into his mind when he thought of Newton and of his first drift. He also very clearly remembered having to pull Newton from his own set-up himself after he had nearly died.

“Don't give me that look! It didn't work the first time because I passed out and started seizing! But that was because of the Hivemind! In normal conditions it would have worked just fine!”

“You were attempting to drift with a piece of kaiju brain, Newton, were you seriously expecting anything that could be called normal conditions?”

Newton looked like he wante to argue but, exhibiting an impressive bout of self-restraint, he just pouted instead. “Anyway! The system wasn't actually planned for a threeway drift, and with the lowered compatibility threshold and the kaiju's connection... maybe something did happen. To our brains, I mean. Maybe we did get affected by it, except it would be really hard to notice, because it's super difficult to get a clear reading on neural activity, you know? But it could be that we... that we can actually ghost drift.”

“So that means... you were thinking of the kaiju?”

Vanessa looked between the two of them. “Hermann...”

He thought she was scared they would have another fight, but that wasn't what Hermann was looking for. He just wanted to understand.

“It's alright, Vanessa,” Newton said, shaking his head. “It's fine.” He turned towards Hermann again. “I was. I was angry. I was angry at you and at myself and at everything. And when I'm angry I do destructive shit. Stare into the void, and it will stare back, they say. So I stared.”

Hermann could remember. He could remember picking fights with people older, bigger, stronger than him. He could remember drinking unhealthy amounts, just because he could. He could remember breaking things.

It made an awful kind of sense, that the memories of the kaiju would just become one more unhealthy coping mechanism.

“But you came back,” Hermann pointed out. He wasn't sure whether he was talking about the memories, or about Newt physically being here again. Maybe both.

At least he could remember the fight clearly, although he might have prefered it if he didn't. It hadn't been their usual kind of banter, the back and forth that stung but ultimately led them to being more productive. This fight had meant to hurt, to strike where they were both most vulnerable. They had been trying to destroy each other, and Hermann remembered the emptiness that had washed over him when he had thought that he might have succeeded.

“I came back,” Newton agreed. “Vanessa called for me. I never intended to actually leave, I mean... I just needed some time. I would have come back for my suitcases anyway and... I mean, I should probably go and stay at a hotel or something, it might be best for everyone, but it doesn't mean...”

He was struggling to find his words, which should mean something. But Hermann was having hard enough a time keeping his own thoughts straight through the pounding pain, he didn't feel able to interpret Newt's expression.

“I mean... We fight a lot. Right? And this fight was bad. I was out of line and you...”

“I was out of line too.”

Newton nodded in acknowledgment. Vanessa was watching them intently, probably trying to parse together what was left unsaid, and watching over them in case things got violent once more.

“But I think actually... I think this fight might have been necessary, in a way? We tried to handle things on our own, when you left. And it didn't work out great, did it? And now... If we really are connected, there's no point in trying to keep our lives separate. I think maybe Vanessa was right. I think maybe we need each other. So like... if you'll still have me...”

Hermann sighed. This was too much. The idea of having Newton's memories had already felt overwhelming, but now there was a chance that their brainwaves were forever connected to each other, and that just felt worse. Hermann not only knew the Newton of a month and a half ago more intimately than he had ever hoped, there was also part of the present-Newton forever within him.

Still. He had pulled him out. Even if it was technically Newton's fault if Hermann had lost himself in the memories in the first place, he had pulled him out. Hermann didn't know what would have happened if he hadn't. Would Hermann have been able to stop it by himself?

“You can stay,” he said. He wasn't certain he didn't mean it as a request. Will you stay? Will you do this for... Will you do this with me? “Until we figure things out. Until we get better. You can stay here, if you want.” Here, meaning in this flat. Here, meaning in Berlin. Here, meaning in Hermann's life.

Hermann turned towards Vanessa, waiting to see if she would say something. This had been her idea in the first place, but she had the right to change her mind. Especially after what had happened today. Hermann couldn't blame Newton, because he knew that wasn't how it worked. But if Vanessa saw Newton as a danger, he would respect it. He needed her to feel safe too. He didn't think he would ever be able to feel at home in a place where Vanessa wasn't safe.

But she nodded.

“Thank you,” Newton said, sounding overwhelmed. “Thank you guys so much, seriously. I don't know if I can... how I can ever repay you but... I appreciate it. I really do. More than I can say.”

Newton was sincere. Earnest, even. And Hermann was glad that Vanessa could feel it to, that she trusted him, somehow, despite everything that had happened. There was a time when he had hated Newton with all of his being. Now he didn't want to imagine his wife asking him to leave. How had his life come to this?

“I'm glad you're okay,” Vanessa said softly, coming closer and sliding her fingers in one of Hermann's hands. “I was really scared.”

Hermann wanted to apologize, but he didn't know for what, so he leaned into his wife's touch instead. His whole body felt tired, he guessed that he had been tensing his muscles the whole time he had been... lost? Unconscious? Unsconscious felt like the most accurate word.

“Okay, well, I'm gonna...” Newt started. “I think I'm gonna take a shower? I was outside a lot, and it was kind of really cold so... yeah. I'll be in the bathroom.”

He stood up and nearly ran out of the room. Hermann guessed that it was his very undiscreet way of giving him and Vanessa space, and he was thankful for it.

Vanessa immediately pressed her shoulder against his uninjured side, settling in more comfortably now that they had more space on the couch.

They kept silent for a moment, soaking in each other's warmth. Hermann didn't know what to say. He was still confused about everything that had happened.

“I don't want to lose you again,” Vanessa whispered.

#Pacific Rim #Newmann #Newt/Hermann/Vanessa #Newt Geiszler #Hermann Gottlieb #Vanessa Gottlieb #Meeni writes fics

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classicdaisycalico · 7 years ago

Note

🔥 for the Sonic series as well ;)

Send me a “ 🔥 “ for an unpopular opinion.

Hoo boy you just opened another entire can of worms here

So uhhh let’s get started shall we?

First of all, people need to stop bitching about whether or not the classic games are the best or the Adventure-era games or the modern games. All Sonic games have their ups and downs. To say that their greatness stopped after [insert Sonic game here] is really rude and puts down a lot of other people who genuinely like the series and all it has to offer.

With this in mind, I genuinely like Sonic ‘06…at least, in theory. If Sega hadn’t rushed it the way they did (and I feel awful about all the pressure that was put on them in order to put something out there), then I’m sure we would have had a genuinely excellent game and we definitely wouldn’t have as much of a divide in the fandom. Of course, I am not without my fair share of opinions on it, though.

Let’s just get right down to it, shall we? We didn’t need Elise and that awkward “romantic” subplot. It felt kinda…forced in some ways? Furthermore I don’t even think that the princess in the story should have been Elise. It should have been Blaze. She could still be the same character implemented in the exact same way and everything, but carrying all of Elise’s role in the story would have made SO much more sense. It would give her a larger reason to be a part of the storyline, too. Also…SOL Dimension? SOLeanna? SOL Emeralds? SOLaris? Sega missed out on a golden opportunity here. I think they should hire me for a remake of this game.

Speaking of Blaze, WHERE WAS SHE IN FORCES?! I know she’s gonna show up in IDW at some point, I think, but if the Phantom Ruby can mess with other dimensions, then Blaze popping up in the in-game story could have made sense. Also, where was Big in all this? Where was Cream? And her mom? And most importantly, where were all the Chao and the animal buddies? Sonic games aren’t the same without Chao :(

Now let’s change the subject here and get to the voice actors. I genuinely like this voice cast a lot. Roger’s voice still sits a little too deep for a 15 year old, I think, but he delivers the snark so well it’s grown on me.

I like that Cindy Robinson doesn’t sound too Minnie Mouse with her take on Amy, but I still like Liza Ortiz’s slightly better since her 12 year old voice is a little more believable.

Quinton Flynn makes a good Silver. His voice doesn’t bite as much as Pete Capella’s voice used to. Quinton sounds much…calmer? But he still manages to capture both the vulnerability in his voice and the strong sense of justice he maintains.

Kirk Thornton is doing an amazing job with Shadow. I know he had a little bit of trouble adjusting in earlier games but he has improved so much. I don’t like his take on Boom!Shadow, though. He didn’t have to make him sound so gruff.

Kathleen Delaney’s voice for Rouge was absolutely atrocious. Bringing Karen Strassman in was such an enormous relief. I like how she implement’s Rouge’s coy and witty nature, but Lani Minella still holds out as my #1 Rouge VA.

Speaking of Rouge, people need to understand that Rouge is not just your stereotypical “sexy female character”. Being flirty and confident is party of her personality, yes, but it’s both of those things that contribute to what is undoubtedly the biggest part of her character: her wits. Rouge can use what her mama gave to manipulate any enemy ever and later physically kick their ass in a matter of seconds. That’s pretty badass, in my book.

Speaking of female characters, Amy is more than her crush on Sonic, and the writers need to figure this out. Amy is a dedicated girl who throws her heart and soul into all that she does, and if she’s ever fighting alongside her friends, she’ll fight to the death for everyone there that she loves. Yeah, she just so happens to be more vocal and physically aggressive than most, particularly when it comes to Sonic, but she is only 12, after all. And even then, her crush has been significantly toned down, which I appreciate, since it means the writers are finally getting it.

Speaking of the writers, I notice that a lot of people complain about Pontac and Graff’s way about writing storylines for a lot of the games recently. And yes, that is true; while I do like the way they write humor, the things I don’t like are the plotholes that seem to stay empty at times, and some minor characterization things. While they do get the big picture about certain characters’ thoughts and actions, it’s the small stuff they seem to overlook, and missing all the small things can add up and make the characters overall attitude in a game seem off.

Speaking of characterization, I’m still bitter about the way they handled Infinite’s backstory. SO MUCH MORE could have been done with him, and yet his motivation for becoming what he became was chalked all up to simply being bored with the current state of the world. I’m not bitter lol

Lastly, let’s get to ships. There are a few that I’m not completely on board with, and shipping Knuckles with Rouge basically tops the list. I always feel like I’m one of the only people on this hellsite that doesn’t ship the two together (anyone who knows me knows that Shadouge is my OTP for the Sonic series). I just feel like there’s a stronger bond and overall sense of closeness that Shadow and Rouge has that Knuckles and Rouge doesn’t. Most of the time, their interactions are generally negative and sometimes even played up for comic relief. I don’t see those kinds of interactions culminating into a relationship, I just don’t.

I’m not on board with Sonaze, either. Sorry guys! I feel like Blaze wouldn’t want to ruin one of her first real friendships with someone who she used to hate. Friendship has become something really special to Blaze, and trying to move beyond it, especially with someone who is not on board with romantic relationships most of the time, would probably not be the best move to make, anyway. I think it’s for the best if she left her friendship as it was.

Shadamy is a little unsettling. Shadow saw a comparison in Amy to Maria in Sonic Adventure 2, right? So at best, I think he sees her as something akin to a little sister figure, just like how Shadow saw with Maria. Also, I haven’t seen much interaction between the two of them since then (with a few minor exceptions, of course). So…how would that make any sense? (It’s through this reasoning that I can’t ship Shadow with Maria, either. Aside from the fact that she’s a literal human. Who is also currently dead.)

With all the times Sonic and Shadow have faced off against each other, I don’t see Sonadow happening. While they do harbor a mutual respect for one other, their personalities clash immensely, and pointing out their shit to each other every time that happens can turn ugly very quickly. The fact that it’s been going on for so long only justifies that reasoning further. (Sorry, guys!)

Phew. Okay. I’m done. Hopefully I don’t get crucified or burned at the stake or anything for this. (Especially that last bit. I swear I’m not homophobic, at least…I try not to be. Anyone who follows me would know that I try to educate myself on any LGBT+ issues as much as I can.)

Uhhh so that’s that. Hope you enjoy reading through all of this!

#ask me things #perla-speedofsound-adventuring #sonic

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rebaobsessivelywrites · 7 years ago

Text

The Profiler in the Therapist (ch 5)

You can find this entire fic here on AO3.

Fandom: Bones (TV) and Criminal Minds (TV)

Entire Fic Description:

Dr. Lance Sweets is no longer the innocent eager psychologist he was a little over a year and a half ago. His time as a prodigy profiler at the BAU was a blessing. His time in a serial killer's basement was not.

Now, scarred but healed, Sweets is 'retired' to calmer job in the FBI as a therapist. As he helps others, he helps himself. But... is it enough? What will he do when one of his most fascinating (unwilling) patients asks for help on a case? How will his new team take his past as his secrets slowly start to come out?

Entire Fic Warnings: cannon-typical violence, past torture, panic attacks, PTSD, serial killers

Chapter word count: 2,762

Chapter warnings: nothing? let me know if I’m wrong

Summary: Part 2 of social fluff plot. Pottery scene ahead!!!

Please read the fic! First chapter, previous chapter, next chapter, master list. And let me know if you want to be tagged.

The next day, Spencer and Lance toured various campuses in the LA area, including Caltech, and attended a few lectures in the spur of the moment. That afternoon they caught a flight from LA-X back to DC and parted ways. Sweets’ day didn’t end there, however; he met Rossi at his rather large house and proceeded to receive his customary weekend Italian cuisine lesson a day late, before catching a cab back to his apartment building. Tired, satisfied, and pleasantly full, he crashed and slept soundly.

The following morning, he settled into his office, filed the work he had completed over the weekend, and rolled with the familiar pattern of his day. The sun rose to its zenith above the building as he greeted patients and performed a few routine evaluations. Finally, just before lunch, Dr. Brennan and Agent Booth arrived for their session. They, of course, immediately jumped into their current case, discussing the unpleasant discovery of a decomposing body by a couple out on a romantic outing.

“What a shock for that couple, huh?” Booth commented, “I mean they slide naked into the hot mud bath and the skeleton pokes her in the… you know—”

“Anus,” Brennan finished.

“Bones!” he turned to give his partner a reproachful look.

“What? It’s a clinical term for that part of the body, Booth,” she frowned back at him.

Internally, Sweets shook his head at the insistent bickering. Sometimes the pair behaved like children. Or maybe Reid and Morgan when they were being particularly special. “Dr. Brennan, Agent Booth,” he cut in. They turned to look at him. “Would it be fair to say you use work to avoid confronting your personal issues?”

“What?” Booth huffed, “Because I don’t what to talk about the…” he trailed off and gestured vaguely.

“The anus,” Brennan supplied again.

Booth frowned at her again, “You really like that word, don’t you.”

Sweets swiftly cut in before thing could be pulled father off course, “Do you ever discuss something that isn’t attached to work?”

“Well,” the agent protested, “It’s better than talking about the…” he trailed off again.

“The anus?” Sweets filled in this time.

“What is it with you two?” he asked in exasperation

“Well, Sweets could be right; we talk a lot about work,” Brennan put in. For a moment, Sweets was mildly shocked that the resistant scientist was agreeing with him. It was practically too good to be true.

The discussion continued, of course, with them protesting that they talk about unrelated people and do unrelated things, but Sweets was able to easily point out that they were all connected in some way to their jobs and that they rarely talk about their personal lives and issues. He finally leaned forward and got to the point, “I’d like to see you guys in a social situation. A situation where work is a taboo subject.”

“What, are you going to send us to a restaurant and watch us through a one-way mirror?” Booth snarked.

“No,” Sweets shook his head at the agent’s antics, “An evening out—the three of us and a friend of mine.”

“A friend?” Booth asked in surprise, pausing as he leant forward to grab the colorful squishy toy Sweets had taken to keeping on his coffee table. It was, of course, from Garcia’s special stash.

“Thank you,” Sweets said dryly, “For your vote of confidence in my social life, Agent Booth.” He frowned slightly at him, but sighed when he saw Brennan looked curious too. “She’s a technical analyst. However I’m going to refuse to let anyone talk about their work.”

Booth turned to Brennan and decided sagely, “They need someone to buy them beer.”

“You want us to go on a double date?” Brennan asked, now quite indignant.

Sweets frowned at that. Does she think I’m dating Garcia? Why would she think that? Before he could say anything on the matter, however, Booth jumped enthusiastically into the theory.

“Yeah, listen, why don’t you just go on the internet like all the rest of the kids?” he advised snidely, gesturing at him with the hand holding the colorful squishy ball.

Sweets slammed his metaphorical head into a wall.

Why was he working with these two? He knew he loved helping people as a therapist, but the forensic anthropologist-agent pair made him question his sanity for turning away from serial crime.

Psychopaths were so much simpler.

Forcing himself not to reply to the comment, he sighed, “Ok, how about this: if it goes well, I’ll withdraw my concerns. I’ll release you back into your environment.” He winced internally as soon as the words left his mouth. Agent Booth was going to—

“What are we? Brook trout?”

Yup. There it was.

Brennan, however, frowned in thought for a second, looking between the two of them, before smiling. “Fine,” she agreed suddenly, surprising both her partner and her therapist. Sweets couldn’t help smiling back; he was far more pleased than he’d admit that the scientist had conceded to his idea.

After a moment of silence, he turned to her partner—who was squeezing the poor ball he still held violently— and pulled the card he knew the agent would be unable to resist: “Agent Booth? Unless you think that’s too much to prove…”

Booth narrowed his eyes at him, and it was clear he knew Sweets was pushing his buttons, but he gave a cocky smile and agreed, “Fine,” before turning to Brennan and adding, “I’ll show him I have nothing to prove. Bring it on, Sweets,” he challenged the psychologist, hurling the squishy toy at him. Sweets caught it with ease.

He really hoped this would be worth it.

“Dr. Sweets,” said therapist answered his phone absently, eyes still on the notes and forms spread across his desk.

“Hey there, Junior,” a warm voice came across the line.

“Morgan,” Sweets smiled, putting down his pen. “Let me guess, you have a case?”

The profiler chuckled, “You’ve still got it, Lance. And yes, we do. You’ll probably see it if you turn on the news; it’s a family annihilator. He’s killing the families of deployed soldiers.”

“God,” he breathed in horror.

“Yeah,” Morgan agreed somberly. “We’re headed to Hampton.” After a beat of silence he continued in a forcibly more upbeat tone, “Anyway, Garcia wanted to call you to let you know about the case, and that you might have to post pone your outing, but once I heard about it I decided to call you instead… mainly so I could tell you not to go painting. From what I’ve heard—”

“Yeah, I know,” Sweets sighed, “Booth would not appreciate that. I’m just struggling with ideas.”

“You should try something like… ceramics,” he offered hesitantly, “It’s probably hands on enough for your agent and will satisfy Garcia”

The therapist blinked in surprise, “When have you done ceramics?”

A moment passed and Morgan cleared his throat awkwardly. “Uh,” he started, “I had a girlfriend in high school who was into pottery, and she drug me along several times.”

Sweets couldn’t help laughing at that.

“Hey,” Morgan huffed, voice full of mock-hurt.

“Thanks, Derek,” Sweets finally offered after he caught his breath, “That’s a great idea.”

“Glad to help,” the profiler returned warmly. A voice said something in the background and Sweets recognized it as Rossi. Morgan murmured something back. A second later, Morgan’s voice came through the phone again, “I’ve got to go, Junior.”

“Ok,” he agreed, “Good luck on the case.”

“Thanks, Lance,” he sighed in a way that clearly meant they needed it, “We’ll keep you posted.”

After he hung up, Sweets considered his phone. He should research pottery classes and then call up Dr. Brennan and schedule a time. Knowing his old team and how they worked, they’d likely be done with this case by Wednesday. Thursday night would probably be safe….

The pottery shop was a pleasant space—it was decorated in warm earthy tones with individual stations spread comfortably around the space so no one had to socialize with anyone beyond their own group. The teacher’s station was on a raised platform in the center, but the teacher herself only settled there occasionally, preferring instead to move between the groups to help anyone who was struggling. Several groups appeared to be regulars and were crafting incredibly complex pots or sculptures, while others appeared to be new and relatively clueless.

Sweet’s group was, of course, one of these groups. The four of them were having a varying amount of fun with the novel activity. It was new to all of them except Dr. Brennan, who was reminiscing on the last time she threw a pot. Booth was on the station directly across from her and was rolling his eyes a bit as he added clay to his slowly forming lump. The agent had been highly resistant to the idea of ceramics and had, upon arriving, refused to try the ‘spinning thing,’ proceeding to sculpt instead (to the delight of their teacher). Garcia, who was across from Sweets, had been extremely excited at no only meeting Dr. Brennan and Agent Booth but at learning pottery too. She was currently quizzing Brennan about Colombia as she determinedly shaped her clay into something resembling a pot. Sweets himself was observing the interactions with interest and his own attempt at pottery in dismay.

Garcia glanced over at him and immediately caught on. “Relax, Sir Sweetness,” she huffed with a roll of her eyes, “It looks wonderful.”

Booth gave an incredulous chuckle, clearly at the nickname—or at least that’s what Sweets hoped—and Brennan looked over before giving a slight frown. “It looks fine,” she agreed hesitantly, confusion marring her tone.

A beat after Brennan’s positive comment—when Sweets was busy being surprised and Garcia was busy beaming at the confused anthropologist—Booth took the opportunity to jump in from left field. “Are you sure you aren’t dating?” he prodded with a cheeky smile.

Garcia immediately transitioned her attention to the other half of the investigative team. “What, me and Lancelot?” she asked incredulously. “Like I would ever cheat on my brilliant sugar plum.” With that she huffed and turned back to her pot.

Lance took pity on Booth and turned to explain, “Pen is dating a co-worker.”

Garcia let out a satisfied hum, “We’re an unstoppable hacker duo.” A beat later she looked up at Sweets with wide eyes, and pointed accusingly at him, “But we aren’t allowed to talk about work! Shame on you, Junior.”

“Yeah, ok,” he chuckled, “That one’s on me.”

“So,” Booth ventured, “Sweets really has no one?”

“I wouldn’t say that, no,” Garcia disagreed, “He has us—all of his friends from his old job—and honestly, we’re basically family.”

“That’s an interesting perspective,” Brennan mused, “There has to be an extraordinary level of trust for strangers to become that close. I mean, from an anthropological stand point—”

“Spencer would like you,” Garcia interrupted, a thoughtful expression on her face, “The two of you could probably drone on and on about culture and facts and studies…”

Brennan blinked in surprise, “Is he a scientist?”

“He has doctorates in engineering, chemistry, and mathematics and bachelors in psychology and sociology,” Lance supplied, a proud note in his voice.

“How old is he?” Booth asked, pausing his sculpting to stare.

“Twenty-nine,” Sweets smiled at the dumbfounded agent.

“But,” Garcia jumped in, “That’s misleading because our bonafide genius had all of those degrees seven years ago.” She smirked at Sweets, “See, that’s why Lance is our junior genius.”

Sweets shook his head—both in exasperation and fondness, “I can’t believe you and Morgan still call me that.”

“Oh, Junior—it’s a term of endearment. My chocolate thunder was a genius in his own right when he coined that beautiful nickname.”

Booth gave the tech genius a mischievous smile, “I think I agree with Penelope on this one, Junior.”

“Agent Booth, please,” Sweets sighed. While the therapist was pleased with the Agents’ shift in attitude, he really did not want his patient to call him Junior.

Dr. Brennan was apparently thinking along the same lines as she frowned at her partner, “Booth, I believe you told me once that nicknames are meaningful only from a small subset of individuals and condescending from anyone else— much like how I tolerate your nickname for me but refuse to let anyone else call me ‘Bones’.”

Booth turned to blink in surprise at the anthropologist, but any comment he could have made was cut off by Garcia. The technical analyst was grinning from ear to ear. “That is so sweet!” she gushed, instantly making both partners uncomfortable, “I do the same thing with Morgan, my chocolate thunder. He calls me baby girl. Of course my sugar plum, Kevin, was put off at first and the department insists on putting us through endless harassment classes, but our nicknames just stuck.”

“Do you have nicknames like that for everyone you know?” Brennan interrupted, a note of horror in her voice.

“Yes,” Sweets put in dryly, answering for his friend, “She does. Usually quite a few for each person, too.”

Garcia simply smiled at that. She was inordinately proud of all her nicknames—given and received.

A moment of silence passed where everyone returned to their creations and Sweets observed them with interest. It only lasted for a minute, however, as Booth looked up and glanced at Sweets before smiling slightly.

“Uh, Sweets,” he offered, “Your, uh, thing there is drooping.”

Sweets glanced down to find his pot, which he had been rather proud of, tipping slightly to the side as it spun around and around. “Oh, come on,” he huffed in exasperation. Of course his first attempt at pottery would literally fall over on him.

Booth, however had no such concerns, grinning happily and brandishing his finished clay figure, “Look at my horse!” It was… a stunningly realistic creation.

“Wow!” Garcia exclaimed in surprise and awe.

Sweets couldn’t help agreeing, “That’s amazing, Agent Booth.” For someone utterly opposed to the idea of ‘making’ anything, he was obviously not only enjoying himself, but possessed a natural talent.

“Very impressive,” Brennan eyed her partner’s creation with clear incredulity. Sweets would not be surprised to discover she had reached the same conclusion as he had, albeit without any ‘useless’ psychology.

“Yes it is,” Booth agreed triumphantly, picking a piece of stray clay off of his creation and tossing it at the anthropologist. Brennan flinched and gasped in surprise, before ignoring Booth’s hurried apology and swiftly grabbing some clay and retaliating. In a matter of seconds, Brennan’s pot was ruined and the two had devolved into chuckling messes, tossing clay back and forth like toddlers.

“Hey, Lance,” Garcia called, redirecting his attention from smiling at the pair to look at his friend… who was wielding a handful of clay.

“Pen!” he managed to gasp in surprise a split second before he was covered in a light layer of wet soppy clay. The perpetrator started cackling evilly, and that could not stand, so Sweets shrugged his mental shoulders and hurled a piece at her in revenge.

A few minutes later, the four were gasping for breath as they laughed on the sidewalk outside the pottery shop, having been succinctly kicked to the curb. Sweets managed to right himself after a few moments, and found Booth leaning against the wall chuckling at Brennan who was smiling in a slightly confused manner and holding a helplessly cackling Penelope upright. It was a rather surprising sight. Rather like the night itself. It hadn’t been what Sweets had intended, with this little social outing, but it was fulfilling all the same.

Sweets found he couldn’t regret it, even if it meant he had to follow through with his promise to cut the interesting pair free from therapy. They deserved it, even if he still didn’t understand how they worked together.

As Booth rounded up their little group and herded them down the street, towards some favorite restaurant of his, Sweets found himself smiling. Garcia glanced over her shoulder at him and gave him a knowing look and a wink.

Sweets huffed a sigh and rolled his eyes at her, but found he agreed with the sentiment. He may be ‘letting them go’, but this… this was alright. Lance only hoped the interesting pair would stay in touch. Maybe they’d even bring him a few cases.

Yeah.

He smiled wider, watching Brennan start up a lecture on something Booth had said.

A few cases would be good.

#reba's fanfic #profiler in the therapist #tag more later

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rofics · 7 years ago

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Hidden Omega (Part 62)

Fandom: Bts (Got7 + Big Bang + B.A.P + Monsta X + Seventeen + Block B+Vixx+TVXQ+Exo) Who doesn’t love a good ensemble Pairing: Namjoon x Everybody Genre: Smut/Fluff/Angst Au: Canon / Omegaverse au Length: 3.4k

Chapter 1 ! Previous Chapter ! Next Chapter

The first thing Namjoon did when he got back to his little living space was to open all the windows, it was so damn hot. Why was it so hot?

So yeah Namjoon had been feeling a little overheated lately. But the last 12 hours it had gotten insane. In general he had been feeling very beside himself, and he couldn’t explain why.

When he had gone to say goodbye to B.a.p. He found it hard to let go of Junhyung for some reason that he couldn’t explain. It was like his mind was telling him that he needed to hold the younger omega close and cuddle him.

The worst part was that for some reason, he could feel arousal burn low in his stomach. It wasn’t like he just wanted to cuddle and protect Junhyung, he wanted to touch the omega. He wanted the taller to touch him as well.

He had felt dirty when he finally left the dorm, and he knew that Jongup had noticed that something was wrong with him as well. The alpha had kinda been looking at him with his mind lost in thought. Like he couldn’t place what was wrong, but he knew for sure that something was wrong.

Now that he was home, and nobody was close to him he had hoped that the weird feeling would disappear. But it hadn’t, instead it was almost like it had gotten stronger, and opening the windows didn’t help! He threw himself at the bed, unable to keep a low whine in.

He was greeted by the plushie that Seungri had gotten him that was still laying in his bed. He couldn’t stop himself from burying his head in it and taking a deep breath.

Alpha….

Seungri’s scent was so alpha, it was so good. Yes it was a lot softer than most alphas because he was a soft alpha, but Namjoon liked it.

Namjoon could start feeling himself get turned on by the scent. NO! He half threw the plushie across the room, he couldn’t do that! Seungri was a real person, another idol that Namjoon looked up to. He would not enjoy Namjoon getting turned on by his scent. He would probably find it weird, and all the trust that they had built up between them would be gone, no he couldn’t do that.

What was wrong with him?

He didn’t know, but something wasn’t right that was for sure! He could ignore this! It was just him not good at being alone yet, yeah he should just ignore it. He decided he would start unpacking, yeah unpacking seemed like a good idea!

He slowly made his way through his clothes, hanging all the pieces up nicely. He hated when it had folds. That was until he hit a plastic bag that was sealed. It was the hoodie that Jiho and Kyung had given him. Mostly he had tried to avoid using it for scent, and just kept it in the scent sealed bag.

But now, it would be okay for him to just smell it briefly, right? Just for a little while. He was gonna go and stay with Block B in a few days anyway, and there he would be surrounded by all their scents. So using the hoodie for a little while would be okay, right?

As he unpacked the hoodie and buried his head in it, the scent of vanilla bourbon and fig exploded in his nose. This was some of the scents he was the most used to. This was scents that he had known longer than he had known BTS, longer than he had presented, other than his family pack. This was safe.

While different subgenders scent did different things, and Namjoon thought he was gonna be safe since it was the scent of two betas, he turned out to be wrong. It happened again. He could feel the low flames of arousal burning low in his stomach, no not again!

He pushed the hoodie away from his mouth with more force than he should probably be proud of, the innocent fabric landing on the ground with a soft sound. Namjoon was staring at it with big wide open eyes. “What?”

He felt slightly scared of his own body for once, and worst of all, he could feel how his body had started producing slick. It started get him wet and ready. What was wrong with him? Namjoon wasn’t sure what to do. He wasn’t sure why his body was betraying him!

He didn’t wanna be turned on!

The worst part was that he didn’t know what to do, he had no idea why it was suddenly happening. In his panic he didn’t think of the most logical thing to do. Which was to google his symptoms and his issues.

Instead he did what he had gotten used to doing when he was having issues with his omega self and with his inner omega in general. He rushed to his phone and while trying to keep in tears that was threatening to fall he called the number of the one person that he trusted and believed could answer his questions.

He called Daesung.

Daesung was luckily quick at picking up his phone. The older omega sounded out of breath, which was probably from the gym. Namjoon knew that it was his gym time. “Joonie? I thought you said you were going to nap when you got home? Still struggling with being alone?”

It was always nice the feeling of how much Daesung actually cared about him. He always treated Namjoon like he was something precious. Which always made Namjoon blush lightly, even over the phone.

“I think there is something wrong with me.” Namjoon voice was shaking and he was almost sure that Daesung could hear the tears in his voice over the phone.

The reaction from Daesung was instantaneous his voice got as soft as possible. “Joonie please you need to calm down a little, and tell me what is wrong.”

Namjoon followed his advice and tried to breath a little deeper as to center himself. “My body is doing really weird things and I can’t stop it.” He was a little shy to tell what was actually wrong with his body, it was kinda a… weird topic to talk about with the older idol.

“What is the symptoms? Are you sick?” Daesung sounded worried and Namjoon could hear him move out of the gym.

“It started earlier today. I am so warm, every single one of my windows are open and I am still way to warm. I don’t know what is wrong with my body, but it is like it can’t regulate to the air around me.” Namjoon was shy and mumbled the next part of the sentence was mumbled into his sleeve. “And every time I smell somebody else's scent I get turned on. I don’t know what it is. While I have different reactions to different subgenders, I still get turned on for some reason. Even when I don’t want to and there is nothing sexual about the situation.”

It took a few moments for Daesung to actually answer, but his answer was very serious when he did. “Namjoon close all your windows now. Please fast, stay on the line while you do it. We will keep talking after.” There was something in Daesung’s voice there wasn’t to be argued with.

Namjoon was quick at doing as he was told, walking slowly around and closing the windows that he had opened. It wasn’t like they had really helped him cool down or helped in any way, but closing them did for some reason feel bad. He couldn’t explain why, but he felt like he needed them open for other reasons than just to cool down.

As he closed the last window, it was hard for him to keep in a whine that he couldn’t explain. “Are they closed now?” Daesung’s voice were more relaxed at that moment, and Namjoon just hummed a yes as he threw himself in his bed.

He felt a lot more calm now that he was talking with Daesung. He couldn’t explain why, but even over the phone the older omega’s voice was calming to him. “Why did you want me to close them?”

Namjoon couldn’t stop himself from pushing his face down into the bedding, where a little bit of the scent plushies scent was still lingering in it. Daesung’s voice was had dropped a little to be as soft as it could. In the back of his mind Namjoon wanted to giggle at how much Daesung must had to strain his voice to make that voice, but the main part of his brain was just focusing on how pleasant the voice was. “Are you calmer now?” another hum from Namjoon, “this is gonna sound very weird and intrusive Joonie, but are you producing slick right now.”

A blush flared up in Namjoon’s tanned cheeks at the question. But he couldn’t and shouldn’t lie to Daesung when the older was clearly trying to help him. “Yes, it started 20 minutes ago. It won't stop.” He knew that he sounded slightly whiny, something that wasn’t normal for him. But his hormones were acting up for some reason.

“Joonie baby, you are going into heat. Remember how Doctor Choi said that there was a chance that you wouldn’t be a having a real preheat.? The reason for that being that your body has been waiting for a heat since you were 18. That is why I needed you to close to windows. I don’t know how strong your scent is yet, but I don’t want to risk you attracting alphas with no self control.” A closing door was heard from Daesung’s side as the other clearly had found a place to lock himself while he talked to Namjoon.

Namjoon could feel the slight tinged of fear running up his spine. While the idea of an alpha touching him felt good, he didn’t want it to be a stranger! No, that was scary, and he was glad that not only had he closed his windows he had also locked them. “Heat?”

“Yes I am almost 100 percent sure that you are about to start your heat Joonie I don’t wanna scare you, but your first heat is gonna be strong. It has been suppressed for so long. You can’t do this alone.” Daesung’s voice were still soft, but it also had an edge to it at that point, it was clearly that this was not a point that he was willing to argue on.

That of course didn’t mean that Namjoon wasn’t gonna argue with him about it. “But Mark went through his heats alone, omegas can go through heats alone!”

Daesung sighed a little. “It’s different for you though. This isn’t just ‘a heat’ this is your first heat that has been surprised for so many years. I don’t want to scare you, but this one is gonna be rough for you and it’s your first. You nor your body knows how to deal with it. You don’t know how your inner omega is gonna react to a heat, please I beg you Joonie. Don’t do this alone. I see you as a close friend, and I don’t want any of my friends to be hurt.”

The elders voice sounded almost slightly desperate. Namjoon knew from talking to Daesung so much that he really cared for his friends, and he was very blessed to be one of those friends that Daesung cared so much about. But in that moment he wanted to not listen to him. The thought of anybody touching him, no matter the subgender, sounded amazing. He wasn’t sure how to get to that. “I don’t have a pack.”

He hated how pathetic and weak his tone of voice sounded. He was still lying in his bed with his face buried in the bedding half speaking into it as he was breathing in the sweet scent of candy apples.

“You have five packs courting you. Just please choose one of them. Any of them. Even if it’s just two of the members. You can’t be alone in this, it’s not possible, please don’t do this.” Daesung could clearly hear that Namjoon was very seriously considered to disregard what he was saying and do it alone.

“But if I choose one of them to spend my heat with, then it’s like I am giving them an advantage. It is like I am saying that I will pick them, which I am not ready to pick! Please tell me that you understand. I don’t want people to feel sad. Or to feel like I am not giving them a chance. I don’t even know who I would pick! Who said they would even come here now and spend my heat with me? What if they are busy? What if they don’t want to?” Namjoon could feel himself starting to panic slightly with all the questions there were in his mind. He hadn’t thought that this would be an question that he would have to answer to early.

“Namjoon you are panicking again. You can’t panic right now, your inner omega is gonna get really confused and it can be bad for your heat. Take a few deep breaths.” Namjoon was quick to do what the older omega told him to do. In general Daesung was easy to follow the guidance of.

“What about friends that aren’t courting you?”

Namjoon thought about it for a second. Really thought. “I don’t really have any. The only others I have is the rest of BTS and who they are staying with, and I don’t want to take that away from them. Are you sure I can’t do this alone? I will remember to eat and drink.”

Yeah Namjoon could do it right? How bad could it really be? He wasn’t 18, he might be a new omega, but he was a leader and an idol. He knew how to control himself. He didn’t really need somebody to take care of him! Yes the thought of having somebody touch his overheated skin and to tell him that he was being good Was amazing, and maybe it forced a little bit more slick from Namjoon’s body.

Daesung didn’t agree though. The tone of his voice was the most worried that Namjoon had ever heard him. “No, you wont remember to eat and drink, this isn’t gonna be a normal heat.” He sounded like he was thinking for a second, and he sounded a lot more hesitant when he spoke up. “Do you really not have any other choice?”

For a second Namjoon felt a little ashamed, like he was admitting that he just had no friends. But that wasn’t true! He had friends, there we just busy doing other stuff. And he really couldn’t pick one of the packs that were courting him.

He was almost 100 percent sure, that one of those packs were gonna be his pack one day. Namjoon might not be sure which one of the packs was gonna end up as his, but he was sure that it was gonna be one of them. And because of that, he wanted to be fair. He didn’t want it to seem like he was giving somebody an advantage, and that he was already preferring somebody over other people.

It wasn’t just for their benefit, but also for his own. Namjoon didn’t know what a heat did to his mind, and he didn’t want to get a biased opinion of one of the packs courting him because of that. “No… there is nobody else.”

All he had was people back from his time as an underground rapper and none of them had reached out to him after he presented. He wouldn’t feel comfortable with them around him during a heat. Namjoon didn’t know what to do.

Luckily, Daesung seemed to have his back. “I might have an idea how to help you, but it is only an idea. If you don’t feel comfortable with it, you just have to say so, and then we will find something else.”

“I trust you.” Because Namjoon did, Daesung had never been anything but kind to him.

“I could help you.”

For a few seconds the words were just hanging in the air, this was not what Namjoon had expected. That was not something he had ever even thought of as an option. Ir wasn’t that it was an unpleasant thought, just an unexpected thought.

“Are you sure… Would the rest of your pack be okay with that?” Namjoon didn’t wanna get any form of negativity between him and the rest of Big Bang, even as they had slowly become more humans than idols and stars. Namjoon still didn’t want to risk them being mad at him.

“I think if anything, they would be very disappointed in me if I didn’t offer it. We are not some baby pack with lingering issues of self esteem not fixed. We have been together for so many years now that we are comfortable and trust each other. Plus everybody here does really like you. Jiyong is still slightly scared that you hate him because he did exactly what I told him not to do. Youngbae thinks you are adorable, which I will admit might change when he finds out that you are seven and a half heads taller than him. And Ri sees you as even more than a friend than I do.” Daesung's voice was back to being soft and supportive.

This was one of the reasons why after meeting and talking to Big Bang so much, he was even more in awe of them as people, not just idols. They had what Namjoon hoped to have one day with his own pack. A working pack relation, where even in the hard times they could trust each other blindly. “Would it really be okay?”

Namjoon couldn’t deny that Daesung’s idea made sense, it was the most logical option for him. “Of course it would be okay. But do you feel comfortable with this?”

The younger omega nodded into the bedding until he remembered that Daesung couldn’t actually see him which forced him to speak up. “Yeah, I trust you.”

So he was gonna do this.

But Daesung wasn’t done yet as he hesitated another second. “I would like to bring Seungri. I know it seems like a lot of with both of us, but I’m not an alpha. I would feel better knowing that there was an alpha here as well, and I think it might be better for you as well. Plus Ri is a soft alpha, which should hopefully help you a lot and make you more comfortable. But if you aren’t comfortable with it, we can do it just the two of us.”

For a second Namjoon wasn’t sure of his answer, he trusted Seungri. He really did. He talked a lot with the elder and he was one of the nicest people Namjoon had met. But he was also an alpha.

Namjoon had met Seungri a few times in person. Most of the time it had been Seungri seeking him out. But Namjoon had never had the ‘alpha’ reaction to Seungri. While yes he was clearly an alpha… He was also just a very soft and sweet, and pair that with Namjoon thinking of Seungri’s scent of the plushie.

While yes it had turned him on, but that had been the heat. The scent itself had just made Namjoon feel safe, he made his choice. “I trust Seungri as well and I think you might be right.”

Even over the phone, Namjoon could almost hear the smile on Daesung’s face. “That good. I need to pick up a few things and Seungri. Go take a cold shower to calm down and clean. Then go take a nap. We will let ourselves in and make some food for all of us, okay?”

A calm had settled over Namjoon. He was going to be okay. He could trust the older idols “Okay.”

He went to hang up, but not too fast to miss Daesung's next sentence. “We promise we will take good care of you Joonie.”

#Bts #behind the scenes #Bangtan #Kim Namjoon #RM #Omega verse #Big Bang #Daesung #Seungri

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sweetwriting · 7 years ago

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Tim Drake Positivity Week -Day 4: Funny or Serious

Category: Gen

Genre: Humor/Fluff/Angst/Family

Fandoms: DC Comics, Batverse, Superverse

Continuity : Post-Crisis/Pre-Flashpoint referenced. Rebirth

Summary: Family is a tricky matter in those parts and it's especially true for people who were gone from the world for so long. (featuring Jon, Clark and Conner)

Word Count: 4 979

AN: I'm very late because while this piece has been finished for like a month, I didn't have time to write it on my computer so its posting has been delayed and I apologize (I was already late because it got away from me and started getting long. I had to cut some parts).

This is part of my own version of Tim Drake's come back in the DC Rebirth Plot which I've been working on and planning for, for about a year and a half now. Since I kind of loath Tynion's take on his character...I mean people talk about Lobdell but Tynion worsened everything like 100 times and at least Lobdell admitted to his fault when he created his first Origin Story by saying it wasn't Tim Drake... they literally had everything on a silver platter and they decided to throw it out. It's ridiculous I'm telling you. I still haven't read A Lonely Place of Living, I'm waiting until next Thursday to read it all at once partially because Tynion's writing feels so bland -mostly bc his notion of character development is using timeskips and because he's told a fan he considered Rebirth!Tim to be the same as preboot!Tim and it scared me more than anything because he's exactly the same as N52!Tim- partially because I didn't want to have to wait for a story I had 99% chances of disliking because of the issues I mentioned in the tags and here (or as Shawn Spencer said in Psych, "Just 'cause you put syrup on somethin', don't make it pancakes").

ANYWAY, this happens during my AU which I promise I will start posting some time in November. It kind of gives away a part of it but at the same time, it's something that's so obvious it's not really given away (especially if you've read some of my Tumblr posts). The point of the other fic being "how does it get to this point?".

To read it on AO3

Finally! It was time. Jon had been waiting for this for months (well three months). Which was when Kon-El/Conner had come back to the land of livings...or Earth. True he hadn’t been thrilled to learn about Jon’s existence at first -more the opposite actually- apparently because he and his dad had had issues? And Jon being the new Superboy or something. On top of which there had been the Tim Drake and Bart Allen cases to deal with which prevent any of the older Super’s issues to be solved. But Conner had warmed up to him and now Jon was allowed to spend his Week-End at his place. In Ca.li.for.nia!

Now Jon had gotten used to Metropolis (his self from three months ago would have killed him for it) but the sun of Metropolis wasn’t as agreeable as the one of their old town? And definitely not as nice as the one in California!

He was also finally going to really meet Damian’s “lost” brother whom he had nicknamed the “real” Tim Drake (not to be mean to the other Tim but Witness Protection program and all that Jazz made it his fake name).

So Jon was really excited. His dad was coming down the stairs now, so he could fly him over (Jon still had trouble controlling his power of flight). Jon had just kissed his mom goodbye and was literally jumping to the ceiling in excitement.

“Conner, if you keep pacing like this you’re going to leave a trail on the ground.” Conner stopped. He turned to his right to look at Tim who was reading something on his tablet, comfortably settled on the couch, lounging in jeans and T-shirt, a look Conner was still trying to get used to. Not that Tim had never worn those before, it simply hadn’t been a common sight. He tried to glare at him but the panicked look in his eyes and seemingly emanating from every pore of his skin made him look more like a scared puppy than anything else.

“You don’t get it Tim. You didn’t completely mess up with your younger brother!”

Tim looked up from his Tablet, stared at Conner for a few seconds while raising his eyebrows. It was quite obviously meant to be taken as a “seriously?” and When had Tim learned to do that? And from who? Okay, that question was easily answered. It was probably Alfred.

“I meant as a first meeting! You tried to welcome Damian while I basically just had a small fit like a spoiled brat.”

Great. He was pouting now. Tim sighed and put his tablet on the coffee table next to him. Conner sighed as well and went to sit on it so he could face Tim.

“Look I understand you’re stressed out but it’s quite clear that the kid is ready to forgive you…Plus you had extenuating circumstances…you know with the “mixed memories” and the “having just woken up in a tube” things. And you’re great with kids. Remember Traya, she could make you do anything just by looking at you? You’ll be awkward at first and then you two will be planning my doom”. He paused, seemingly deep in thoughts. “Now that I think about it, I should probably be the one to worry. I mean your little brother or nephew or cousin or whatever is friends with Damian.”

Conner snorted and looked at Tim, now a lot calmer.

“Please. I’m pretty sure you’d be able to tell if he was planning something, he’s not very sneaky”. He paused, breathing deeply. ”Okay, I’m feeling a little better now. Thanks, Wonder Boy.”

He clapped him on the knee as Tim started to smile at him. Both started when the doorbell rang and Tim saw Conner stiffen. Seeing as the meta was starting to panic again, Tim got up first, quickly followed by Conner, and answered the door. He couldn’t help the smile that grew on his face as he saw the new Superboy bouncing on the ball of his feet. He would have smiled anyway (he wasn’t the social butterfly of the Batfam for no reason after all) but at least now it was completely genuine.

“Hey, Clark, Jon, welcome.”

Jon beamed up at him and bit his lower lip as Clark had settled his hands on his shoulders, probably to prevent his son from accidentally showing his powers to their neighbors. Tim moved to his right so they could come in, closed the door and turned to see Conner awkwardly trying to start a conversation. Jon looked at them, in boredom or disbelief, Tim wasn’t sure. So he walked toward him, leaving both “older” Kryptonians (and damn, Conner was younger than his younger brother) trying to avoid the elephant in the room as he addressed Jon.

“Hey, do you want me to show you your room while these two shuffle awkwardly?”

Jon looked at him with pure relief in his eyes and replied with said relief seeping through his words.

“Yes please” He paused “Wait.” He looked between Conner and Tim “I get my own room?”

Conner, who had been glaring at Tim along with Clark, nodded at slowly, taken aback by the kid’s excitement but a smile started to grow because of it. He was definitely a cute kid. Now the point of this Week-End was to find the personality hidden underneath all the cuteness and see if they had a chance of getting along even outside of the vigilante field. Tim had been right when he had told him, a few days after being back, that Conner needed a family outside of the Teen Titans. Something more stable that didn’t rely on a roster and Tim himself was looking for his own place within the Bats or…How had he said it again? “I’d help you by lending you mine but I’m not sure what it entails right now”. And of course they had each other but Conner was sure Tim meant “aside from each other”. He used to have Ma (and Pa for a short time) but he was barely starting acclimating to them when he died and he had finally (relatively) gotten used to it, having a stable family life when those world-changing event happened. There had been that first year in Hawaï with Roxy, Tana, Dubbilex and Rex but “stable” wasn’t the word he’d use to describe that time (still the closest he had for about two years)…And well he did miss Clark and Steel (and Kara and Matrix but…). And Okay, he had never really thought about having siblings. He already had Roxy and Bart and the kids from Cadmus but the idea was appealing even if, technically, Jon would be his nephew? What did you call the child of your cousin? Now that he thought about it was his cover still that of Clark’s cousin? Or was he his brother now? His son? No. He was brought back to that first time of awareness in this new world and shuddered so briefly that only Clark had noticed it. The fact that Tim had apparently lead Jon to his room and left them to their own devices while Conner was daydreaming might have helped in that. Clark who was now lifting an eyebrow, demanding an explanation for Conner’s mind’s wandering. Nice to know Clark was still the king of righteousness. Conner sighed and replied to Clark’s silent probing.

“It’s nothing, something just reminded me of the tube I woke up in. Which got me thinking, are we gonna use the same “I’m your cousin" I.D?”

Clark cleared his throat having been clearly hoping he’d be able to avoid the topic or maybe he was just that awkward with him.

“Actually, Lois and I were thinking that since, uh, you’re not 21 yet, and Ma’s not here anymore”, he paused. Both Kents feeling the weight of her loss in their heart, she was much better at dealing with these family matters than either of them. Conner should have stayed with her. He wanted nothing more than to have stayed with her –with Tim while he sorted through his own family matters of course. But she was gone. And he had to get used to that fact. Apparently, all his parental figures had died while he was “asleep” or whatever had happened to him. Clark’s voice broke him out of his thoughts. “We thought we could be your legal guardians with me being your big brother. It’d be a little hard to explain your existence any other way without making up a whole different family tree.” He paused again. He had started to gain a good rhythm but it seemed like it wasn't easy. Clark was more used to forcing his will on Conner (even if he had gotten better at talking to him over time…Clark still wasn’t Ma Kent and the thought almost had him panicking. He tried to control his breath again -his meeting with Parallax and Sinestro not yet forgotten- and continued. Conner’s little frown didn’t help). “I meant that we would have to create a new mother and where you’d have lived before coming to Smallville -you know how thorough Batman can be when he wants to- and I just thought that me becoming my younger brother’s legal guardian after the death of our Mother made more sense. It allows you to stay here and continue your studies, if you want to. But if you need anything you know my home is yours.” Clark stopped. He was starting to mumble. This situation, with Conner, had never been easy. He had barely started to hit his 30’s when Kon had first appeared. He was too young to have a teenage son (it didn’t help that the child in question was born because a creep stole his DNA to experiment on). Now he was hitting his 40’s and Conner had lost so many years, first with his own death then with the last world-altering nonsense (if only it was only those) and he hadn’t caught up, Conner was barely out of his teens and while Clark could now be a father. Their history got in the way and Conner had a confusing enough track record and putting a little “normalcy” and “stability” in his life had been one of his main reasons to have him live with Ma in the first place. And yet, things had gotten so messed up. He looked at the young man in front of him (because at virtually 19 that’s what he was now and if it that didn’t send a wave of regret…-for Conner’s missed childhood? For not helping him like he should have been helped in his first few years? For everything Conner missed while he was forced to not grow up (and there were too many times it had happened in his life)?- then what could?). Conner seemed startled. Clark didn’t know what exactly had startled him but then he grinned and held out his hand for Clark to shake and said:

“Deal.”

Of course, Clark wasn’t naïve enough to think Conner was perfectly okay with this but being given a chance was all he could ask for. And they smiled awkwardly at each other. Damn.

“Hey Tim, what’s the matter with dad and Conner?”

Jon had just finished putting his clothes in the dresser of his room under Tim’s watchful eyes –he felt lucky he had had to deal with Bart for years and learned to watch out for hyperactive-like kids. The question, while expected was not one Tim was keen on answering.

“It’s not really my place to say at this point. Maybe you try asking him tomorrow morning?”

That pout. Damn. Tim could definitely see the family traits. Though Conner’s always seemed a lot less innocent (to be fair he never looked like an 11 years old and he almost always had terrible ideas fueling them). On a side note, what were the chances Jon had listened in on the other two? Tim didn’t know him enough to actually utter a guess.

“Anyway, due to various time issues we weren’t sure what kids your age like but we thought Video Games was kind of a timeless thing and we’ve got tons of them. Cass has been filling our living room with books if it’s more your thing but Conner and I are more comic books people…There’s also my own training gear in my version of the “Batcave” if you want.”

Apparently, those were the right things to say to divert the child’s attention because he seemed ready to start jumping again (it was probably the mention of video games).

“You’ve got video games? Are they old? ‘Cause you’re old, you’re even older than Conner and you guys haven’t had a lot of time to adjust right?”

Tim felt the urge to cry in protest but had to remind himself of the kid’s age and managed to avoid snapping at him.

“We’ve got all kinds, remember one of us is a speedster so even if Conner and I hadn’t yet, he’s had the time to catch up”

“Cool! By the way, did you mean it when you said I could train in your…what did you call it again? Nest?”

Once again Tim was glad he had had to deal with Bart for a long while otherwise, he’s not sure he could have followed Jon’s babbling. He wondered vaguely if Conner would have acted in a similar way had he been given a chance to be 11. And the bad jokes…Was Superman as bad? He seemed to be from the little times they had interacted and from what Conner had told him (though that one seemed more like unreliable narration).

“I don’t call it anything other than HQ. Conner calls it a nest too though so you can do it.” He paused. “Just please don’t use it outside of this apartment”.

Jon tried to hold in a laugh (and quite obviously failed) before Tim ushered him back downstairs.

“C’mon let’s save those two from an awkwardness overload.”

As Conner closed the door behind his cousin. Wait. Brother. It felt weird. He turned to his best friend and to the kid who apparently was his nephew now.

“So…This is finally over.”

He felt his phone vibrate in his back pocket and he felt his cheeks heat up as he read the message he had just received: “I heard that you know.” Tim and Jon looked at each other questioningly but seemed to decide not to pry (if only because they had already guessed what had happened, Jon himself having been on the receiving hand of his father’s hearing quite a few times). Conner tried to ignore them as he started walking to the kitchen.

“Alright, it’s time to eat!”

Tim’s deadpan voice came from where he and Jon and stayed, making him stop in his track:

“Conner it’s barely 6. How about we spend some downtime together”

Conner’s cheeks turned pink. in his hurry to forget what had happened with Clark he had forgotten pretty much everything else that was going on. He took a sudden turn to the right, toward the living room as he exclaimed:

“Video Games it is.”

Tim sighed and mumbled something about how it was lucky Jon was part of a video games generation and they had already decided it was going to be their next activity or the night would have started badly.

“Right, turn on the Switch, we still have the last sonic game to play and it’s ideal when we have guests”.

Tim snorted as he approached his best friend who had paused in the doorway, patting him on the back as he took his wrist to lead him toward the various video game stations they had. He turned to John.

“C’mon, want to help me destroy his sorry ass?”

“Tim! Don’t talk like that! Clark’s never gonna forgive me if we talk that way in front of his kid!”

Conner was starting to panic, and Tim felt sorry for him. That he was so stressed out about something as simple as…What was wrong exactly with what he had said? He looked at Conner Questioningly.

“You realize you’re not supposed to use words like “ass” in front of a kid, right?”

Tim’s eyes turned slightly vacant. He had, in fact, not known that.

“Oh.”

He turned toward Jon who, annoyed, was grumbling about not being a kid.

“Sorry Jon, I had no idea Conner had become a proper adult. You shall now only refer to him for adult matters. He’s the responsible one”.

Tim had left Conner’s side to set up the console with Jon while his friend was still shell-shocked. Conner was fuming, and he started to raise his arms in frustration.

“It’s not funny Tim! You know how much is riding on this!”

Tim stopped for a second and signed for Jon to keep taking out the console. He got up and walked toward Conner setting his hands gently on his right shoulder and forearm so Conner would drop his arms. He did, forcing Tim to drop his hands and turned to face Tim whose left hand had replaced his right one on Conner’s right shoulder as the other settled on the left side of his neck, hoping he could get his best friend to look him in the eye so he could try to ground him and avoid what he knew was going to turn into a sour mood.

“Hey, it’s okay Conner. Jon’s 11 so I doubt he’s never heard the word before that and he probably knows not to use this kind of language in front of his parents. And you’re stressing yourself too much this is just a mise-en-bouche.”

He stopped for a second, making sure Conner was looking into his eyes “But I promise I’ll make an effort” He patted his friend’s neck and put his hands back to his side and started to walk back toward the consoles. “C’mon let’s get defeated by your brother…Nephew...whichever.”

Conner caught up to him in a few tranquil strokes (being taller than Tim had its advantages and reminding him of the fact was one of them).

“Apparently, it’s Nephew, I’m Clark’s little brother now. Also you might get defeated but that’s because you su- I mean you’re awful at those kinds of Video Games.”

Tim was smiling. He knew it. He may not have been able to see it but he could feel Tim’s wry smile. It was there. Because not two minutes ago he had been pani- no he had been lecturing Tim about his language and he almost had a slip up himself. But Tim seemed to feel magnanimous enough not to mention it…yet.

They had been playing for about an hour and Jon had, in fact, kicked their asses. Conner would probably feel less sulky if Tim hadn’t gotten the best of him too.

He was starting to pout (glare. He was glaring at them) when Tim interrupted the game to say they should prepare their snacks-dinner and to join him once he was done taking the ingredients out. Conner wondered what it could be since they didn’t have much more than pasta ingredients and it wasn’t really “snack-dinner” worthy…Unless…Nah Tim wouldn’t show this side of them to a new guest…Would he?

Anyway, Tim had been in the middle of the couch, between the two Supers and feeling him slip away had Conner almost latching onto his arm and beg him to stay with them when the older teen threw him a look that meant “He’s here so you guys could bond, I’ve been playing the mediator for the past hour and a half, it’s time to deal with your shit”. Okay, so maybe Conner was reading a little more into this and the look just meant “grow a pair”, or “grow up”. The point of the message was still the same.

And damn, it was probably gonna be awkward. What if it was as awkward as when he talked to Clark but this time he would be in Clark’s shoes? This is a terrible ending. What if…

“Tim’s really cool! You’re lucky he was your Robin. I have to deal with Damian. I mean, we get along better (way better) than we did months ago but he’s still a pain. Tim was probably a thousand time more fun to deal with! I mean he’s already much more fun to deal with than most of the other bats even if he’s old.”

Conner looked at the new Superboy, mouth slightly open at having been interrupted in his internal freakout. He couldn’t help but laugh, both at Jon’s conclusion and in relief, startling the kid.

“Oh, Believe me, Tim wasn’t fun or even funny back then. Well…He still isn’t funny. His jokes are awful. He was our leader you know, so he felt responsible for our lives. Plus back then there was the secret identity issue. It frustrated me a lot. Back then we…We didn’t get along actually. In a different way from you and Damian because we wanted to be friends but the circumstances got in the way and pushed us apart. It was quite complicated if I’m being honest. Way more than I realized back then”.

He paused looking at his hands. He had loved that time; when they were all pretty innocent even if some of the most tragic moments of their lives happened during that very period of time : Tana’s death, Guardian’s, Gotham turning into a No Man’s Land, Bruce being accused of murder and going awry, the first time the gap between Tim and Steph really made itself known, Cissie almost killing someone, one of Bart’s clones dying…Apokolips in general…, among others. He really missed the innocence they had before all those events started accumulating. On the other hand, and he knew it was selfish of him considering all the hurt that was needed to get there and how much it caused afterwards, he wouldn’t give up the depth it had given to his and Tim’s friendship for anything in the world, with maybe the exception of Tim having a happy life. He looked up at the kid beside him, hoping he wouldn’t have to go through half as much as he did (but he had Clark and Lois and there was a better support system for young Heroes so he was already off to a better start than Kon had been, and he’d make sure to help keep it that way). He had to take a deep breath as nostalgia took hold of his heart. Because despite everything he had just thought, he wished the evolution of his and Tim’s relationship hadn’t happened at the expense of their innocence and he felt terrible at being responsible for such a big part of Tim’s own. Whether during the war or when he died. He was brought back to reality by Jon hovering next to his arm, looking slightly worried. Conner tried to recompose himself as he continued:

“What I mean is that we had to go through many trials for Tim –and the rest of us really- to learn, and re-learn to have fun and stop being so serious all the time. Now that Tim’s not needed in Gotham, he’s free to be more…at ease I guess…That and he’s trying to make us more...content I guess, so we would have less of a chance to end up like his family.”

He watched Jon grimace and mutter a small “yeah no kidding” and he winked at the kid. He was starting to truly like him. But he felt it was time to join Tim, after all –and despite what Tim himself might think- he needed to bond with Jon almost as much as Conner did.

They both got up as Conner ushered the young hero toward the kitchen which they found filled with recipients and when Conner started smelling it, all he could do was stop abruptly and say:

“Wait a second. Cheese? Potatoes. More cheese?” He paused, his voice going lower as if he had found the answer to the universe because he realized Tim had actually decided on what he had hoped they would be eating. “A deep fryer.”

He shared a look with Tim who smiled at him and they both exclaimed at the same time:

“Cuatro Quesos Dos Fritos!”

Jon started, surprised at their exclamation, staring at them as if they were aliens. Okay, wrong choice of word. Not alien, but something he hadn’t expected. Wondering if they weren’t lunatics –or if they really were adults. He asked in a small voice:

“What’s Quatro Quesos Dos Fritos?”

Tim seemed to remember they had a novice in the delicious art of cheesy food with them and started explaining as he got close to the oven.

“Only the most delicious snack of all time. It’s potatoes filled with a cheese mixture. And when they’re finished, they look a little something like this.”

While he had been distracting both Supers with his little explanation, Tim had taken a plate from within the oven and showed it to them. Conner looked at him, half amazed, half laughing.

“Dude, how did you just fabricate Cuatro Quesos Dos Fritos out of thin air?”

Tim smiled as Jon looked like a fish out of water. Luckily Conner had decided to humor him in his little game.

“C’mon Conner this is how all successful TV chefs do it.” He turned to Jon, his smile threatening to break his face as he took in Jon’s amazed look. “Try one of those, kid, because here’s the best part, they’re very healthy for us."

Jon snorted as he tried one of the Cuatro Quesos dos Fritos then stopped as he was hit by the amazing flavor of the treat, ready to complain to his father for hiding such marvelous food from him all his life. Conner, for his part, rolled his eyes and chose to focus on the delicious taste of the potatoes as he replied:

“I don’t even care that’s not true”

Tim looked affronted as if Conner had said the worse possible thing.

“Are you kidding? All major cheese groups are represented, you’ve got yellow, orange and white!”

Jon grinned as the two almost adults started arguing on the benefits of cheese.

They spent their night making Cuatro Quesos Dos Fritos and playing video Games. Jon complained about Damian (fully supported by Tim) and talked about his adventures in Super Hero-ing while Conner traded him for some of his own. Mostly those back in Hawai (no need for the kid to know about those times he was left to his own device or his Luthor Paranoia) with Roxy, Tana, Dubbilex, Rex and Sam. And while his heart squeezed when he thought about them (Dubbilex was dead and there was nothing he could do about it), they remained at the back of his thoughts. He was starting to truly move on from that part of his life and the various circumstances that had caused him so much grief. He was happy. His relationship with Jon was merely in its early stages, they were merely acquaintances at this point, but he could actually say “early” and believe there would be a follow-up.

He was happily settled against Tim, sharing his family with him because that’s how far they had gotten and he now had a nephew who looked up to him and it both scared him and left him elated (it almost reminded him of Bart when he was Impulse but he had known Kon’s issues better than Jon did and was much less star struck by him).

The best part though was that they were here making jokes and smiling and being happy without thinking about what could go wrong and, really, he couldn’t think of anything he would want more at this point (except having Bart and even Cassie with them).

Bonus:

“Can you believe it Robin? They had so many video games it was amazing! And Cuatro Quesos Dos Fritos had to be made in heaven, it’s hard to believe they exist!”

It was Sunday night and Jon and Damian had gone out for “Patrol” as Damian called it, and Jon had started rambling about his week-end in California the second Damian showed up. He snorted. His relationship with this Drake was more vitriolic than with the other one. Some details were confusing. The merging of the worlds meant that some things didn’t make complete sense as their different sets of memories adjusted to each other and some were just lost. In any case, it didn’t mean he had to be happy to hear about Drake’s “amazingness”.

“I’ve got to say though, I didn’t know what to expect when I got there but they’re so cool. Conner’s so lucky to have a boyfriend as cool as Tim!” He paused. “Wait, does that mean that we’re…kinda officially a family and…”

“They’re not dating”.

The voice cut right through Jon’s monologue like a cold shower would a heat streak gotten on a beach near Ajaccio. Jon was dumbstruck.

“What?”

Damian tried to level his eyes with Jon.

“I said that they’re not dating. As in they’re not together, not in a relationship”

Jon froze and Damian started waving his right hand in front of the younger boy’s eyes until he started blinking again. It was as if his stress levels had risen all at once and so had the pitch of his voice.

“How the hell is that possible ! ? “

Jon was now reviewing his whole Week-End, completely lost and looked at Damian when the boy, coming out of his own shock at Jon’s vocabulary, cleared his throat, trying to regain his snark.

“Now do you understand why I call Drake an idiot?”

AEN: First thing firsts, Conner actually knows what happened to him he just doesn’t want to think about it more than he has to. It was also a fairly important plot point in the real fic so when I thought about it later on I was fairly relieved :p

2nd, in my mind, Tim is about 6-10 months older than Conner. Because Conner was 16 for like a year and a half but when he started aging Tim was 15. So he died when he was 17 and Tim had turned 16 like 3 months before (Tim’s 16th Birthday issue happened around the beginning of Teen Titans). Then Kon was dead for a year and a half going on two years, Tim was 17 almost 18 at the end of Red Robin (we know that if N52 hadn’t happened we would have an issue about Tim’s 18th Birthday fairly soon after) so he was about 17 and a half (probably a little more) when Conner came back to life. Hence Tim being between 6 and 10 months older than Conner.

3. they need hugs. They all do.

4. the Cuatro Quesos Dos Fritos was shamelessly stolen from the Psych Slumber Party bit on USA today for a Psych Marathon a few years ago. Because Half the time I see Shawn and Gus I can't help but think of Tim and Kon (except I reverse the roles often). I just slightly modified it to fit the story. (but seriously if you haven't, go watch the first four seasons of Psych).

#Tim Drake #Clark Kent #Conner Kent #TimKon #Tim Drake Positivity Week #Batverse #BrOTP: TimKon #OTP: TimKon #DC comics #Angst & Fluff #Psych #Jon Samuel Kent

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