#(how DOES his de-aging work exactly??)

[redeemed-wren]

SUMMER ROSE AND TAIYANG XIAO-LONG

[kaidatheghostdragon]

De-age fic, but good parents AU

Something de-ages danny, not a clue what exactly, but it does. BUT, danny had already had a good reveal with his parents, so he goes home and they see him de-aged and immediately get to work figuring out how to get him back to normal.

Life goes on as normal, its just that danny's body is about ten years younger. He still has to go to school (with a story that the thing that de-aged danny was aimed at fenton and phantom jumped in to take the hit but it got both of them - or open secret au, take your pick), still has chores, still has to deal with the ghosts that cause problems.

With barely a pause to question 'is that still danny?' everyone continues as normal.

Thing is, there's the typical information firewall we like to invoke to explain why the justice league doesnt know about amity. It blocks ghosts, Phantom, infinite realms, liminality and ecto-contamination, you name it.

What it doesnt block? Baby Hero.

As in, now that Phantom is tiny, everyone and their dog is taking pics and recording phantom to coo all over him on social media. Everyone is enjoying how adorable he is while it lasts. Even the rogues are playing nicer to soak it all up.

The justice league is concerned. Apparently there's some new hero (phantom has been active for over a year by now, minimum) operating in the midwest, and he is literally preschool age. Even the Robins didn't start that young! Who is raising this kid? What are they thinking?!

Its frustratingly hard to get any more intel about phantom (because the firewall is still catching everything else about him), so theyre gonna have to send someone in blind to scope out the situation.

Who do they send? You can decide, but i vote they put together a team: batman (wfa characterization) because he knows how to handle child vigilantes, wonder woman because everyone loves wonder woman and she's a good voice of reason, and zatanna (NOT constantine! Zatanna is more child friendly) to cover magical bases in case this is something like a captain marvel situation.

[kiss-me-muchoo]

𝐈𝐧𝐜𝐡𝐞𝐬 𝐢𝐧 𝐛𝐞𝐭𝐰𝐞𝐞𝐧 𝐮𝐬 || 𝐄𝐧𝐳𝐨 𝐕𝐨𝐠𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐜𝐢𝐜 𝐱 𝐅𝐞𝐦!𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐞𝐫

𝐒𝐮𝐦𝐦𝐚𝐫𝐲_ you are the girl who does the makeup effects for the society of the snow and you fall for el pendejo de Enzo (no te creas, papi tkm💋). But you start avoiding him because it’s not correct to fall in love with someone like him.

𝐖𝐚𝐫𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐬_ AGE GAP (I’m turning 20 in March, let me live my fantasy), angst, fluff, Spanglish fic (I’m Mexican American, I know what I’m writing), reader is in denial and speaks Spanish, idk misunderstandings?, happy ending (irl Enzo nunca nos va a pelar)😭

𝐚𝐮𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐫’𝐬 𝐧𝐨𝐭𝐞_ I hate Spanglish but how can I keep both mi gente latino and my RAHHH🦅🇺🇸 people happy? With a Spanglish fic. I let go all my frustrations y lo ardida que estoy con cierto uruguayo.

♪ ♫ 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐬𝐭 𝐩𝐥𝐚𝐲𝐥𝐢𝐬𝐭 𝟒 𝐄𝐧𝐳𝐨 𝐕𝐨𝐠𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐜𝐢𝐜 ✰𝐢𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐱

@kissmemucho on X // @_hannia.k on instagram

—————————————————————————

One day, you started hating going to work. It was half work, half practice for college. Still, you started hating it. From moving some months to Spain to work on the makeup team for a movie, to spending hours with each actor to do their makeup.

That wasn’t the issue though. It was just that… uh… gosh.

You had developed a crush for that man called Enzo. It was so cringe to admit. And it tore apart you because he was significantly older than you. He would never turn to look down at you. That was the most honest thing about the whole thing. Only that you were even depriving yourself from being his friend.

But god, his pretty nose and deep eyes. His soft hair and perfect smile. The way he was so kind to everyone and to you. Soon you learned he was single too. It was so damn much that it made you so mad. He was perfect. Gorgeous in every sense.

And that’s exactly why you now hate going to work.

Sometimes the aura around the team seemed to be heavy due to the context of the movie. You had seen how every actor started to lose weight and prepare for the role. Which was a little tough. Anyways, everyone in the cast believed you were a burst of sunshine at least. Who seemed to make the hours spent seated on a chair with makeup and prosthetics being placed a little more fair.

“¡HEY!…GUAPA, VENÍ PARA ACÁ!” You heard as soon as you entered the workplace. Once you spotted the little circle of boys, you rolled your eyes and giggled.

“¿Y ahora qué se te ofrece Juani?”

“Que confirmes si vienes a cenar con todos” you looked at the others. Matías and the others were exchanging looks, with none other than Enzo. You don’t even look at the man, you can only focus on the boy with annoying blue eyes.

“Cómo jodes, chico. Ya veré si voy o no, tengo mucho que hacer” that was true, you had a lot to do. But mostly, it was because you believed you had nothing amazing to share with them.

“Podemos esperarte.” Enzo said, which immediately made your stomach flutter and your chest to get congested. He was wearing some t-shirt and those damn Adidas joggers he liked to repeat on a daily basis.

The fact that he suggested waiting for you to go out and have dinner should’ve made you blush, but it only made you nervous, increasing your eagerness to run away from the little circle of men.

“No pasa nada, váyanse ustedes. Que se la pasen bien…” and poor Enzo, he watched how you disappeared through the hallways with your big bag full of makeup and brushes.

“Ya va a caer…”

“Pero ni me gusta” everyone giggled. Enzo knew you were younger, of age, but younger. He also knew you were from a little too far away from Uruguay, that you were bilingual, that you were passionate about writing and other arts, that your eyes were lighter than expected in the sun, that your hands were very soft and that you were so extroverted with everyone except with him.

“Sos idiota, si no te gustara no te hubieras quedado como mogólico viéndola irse”

“Pero es una niña…” he tried to reason.

“La veinteañera universitaria que trabaja aquí en producción y anda sola por la vida” everyone laughed again. You were certainly an adult. Yeah you still acquired toys, listened to silly music and watched Barbie or Bratz movies. But you were legally an adult.

Which led Enzo wondering if he could ever have a chance with you. You had seen a lot of people, with how many times you had travelled to Los Angeles, the heart of Hollywood and everything, sometimes he doubted you could be interested in him.

But no… he definitely hadn’t caught an eye on you.

…

It was a Friday. A week from the day you rejected dinner with your workmates. Nothing serious happened after that. Juani made fun and exposed you with random tweets like a bully. He was laughing his ass off of you, so shameless and stupid. However, you on the other hand… were dying out of embarrassment. Especially after seeing how many people started following him. Then gifting him with an army of girls starving for shitpost around the internet.

“Si no estuvieras por grabar una escena tan desgarradora, te ahorcaba en este preciso momento, Juani '' you wanted to kill him. He had posted online two videos of you dancing like the proudest stripper, a picture of you rolling your eyes that looked extremely silly and dorky. Two audios of you cursing in Spanish and saying how much you hated capitalism. And he even made his own stickers of you to pass around the group chat of the cast.

“Eso te pasa por ¡RIDÍCULA!” The tone he used, extremely mocking you was enough to make you laugh along with him and caught the attention of everyone surrounding you two.

“Pues nunca te conseguiré el follow de los ex-One Direction” he stopped laughing, knowing you had made him remember his humbling twitter posts.

“¡Qué boluda… y pesada!”

“Okay, pinche ardido” one of the design team members from the movie appeared and handed you a little paper. It was the list of your schedule. Juani snatched it and opened it before you could even blink.

“UYYY… te toca todo el día con Enzo” he started teasing you like a child. You rolled your eyes in annoyance.

“Pero la boluda y pesada soy yo”

“Pues si” you finally read the paper and yes… 3 hours with Enzo.

“Well… it could be worse” you admitted sighing, accepting that you would spend three hours swallowing your pride and pierced feelings.

“Dejáte querer…” you frowned confused at the boy beside you.

“What?” You asked laughing, but he only shrugged.

“Nothing, dear” once again, you rolled your eyes.

“De verdad eres medio insoportable” he batted his ears, acting innocent. Deep down, both of you were actually friends.

“Te quiero” he responded, making you laugh once again.

“Si, yo también. Mi pendejito favorito”

“No, ese debe ser Enzo” this time, you blushed.

“Como chingas con meterlo en nuestras conversaciones. ¿Te gusta o qué?” He laughed, helping you out with your heavy bag full of brushes and capes and everything.

“No. ¿Y a vos? ¿Gustas de Enzo?” You remained quiet, pretending you hadn’t heard him.

You opened the door of the little room, surprised to see Enzo already there. So you grabbed the bag from Juani and started closing the door.

“Adios, naco perdedor” and just like that, you closed the door on his face.

You sighed, closing your eyes, before staring at the plain door for some seconds.

“Hola…” you heard his deep and sweet voice. It was just… that you had to be a big girl and leave aside your foolishness for that grown ass man. He was just a crush… a simple mortal at the end.

“Hi…” you replied awkwardly. You had seen the following section of his instagram, the most pretty girls, very different from you. Which made you feel… like it was auto-sabotage. But before you could start feeling depressed again. You decided to keep working, the only reason why you were in that room in the first place.

He would think you kinda disliked him. Every time you entered to work on his makeup, he would be smiling and trying to talk to you. And while you were polite and smiley too, you remained very quiet, always avoiding his cute eyes.

“¿Cómo estás?” He would ask, looking at you through the mirror in the room.

“Pues muy bien, gracias.” You would reply, turning to open the boxes with prosthetics and other special effects makeup. And he sighed, already feeling a little disappointed.

“¿Me permites tus manos?” You ask him. He shows you the palm of his hands with another smile, which you reply quickly. Your heart started pounding as soon as he walked into the room.

“Perdón si estoy fría.” You admit with a blush, knowing the tips of your fingers were freezing.

“No pasa nada, linda” he had to be joking. He couldn’t call you “linda” just like that? However, you do your best to ignore it.

So you start making little lines of the paint samples you had taken. Until you noticed which one was identical to his skin.

“Okay, I got it.” You speak to yourself, out loud though. Sometimes Enzo questioned if you weren’t fluid in Spanish, but he had heard you talk and talk with other people in Spanish. Your accent was so clean, so different to the rest of the crew.

“¿Te molesta si pongo música?” You ask him, grabbing your phone.

“No, para nada.”

“Nomás no me vayas a juzgar” you giggle without looking at him, scrolling through your playlist.

It was the first time you attempted to joke with him. And he wouldn’t risk the opportunity.

“Jamás podría…” you only thank him before starting to play some music.

He was used to your touch now. You had small and soft hands compared to him. Every time you had to pick the right tone that matched his skin, brush his hair and work inches away from his face. It was insufferable for you. And to him… it only built more intrigue.

He listens to how you barely mumble some songs.

“¿Quién es ella?” He asks at the song.

“Nelly Furtado” you reply, concentrating on his hands, starting to draw the fake wounds. Promiscuous was a great song to feel empowered while trying to beat the feelings for the man who was extremely close to you.

Some minutes passed and then Madonna came with Dress You Up and Enzo barely got it right. You sing very low and he tries to hear you with precision.

“¿Y esta?” You ask him when gorgeous started.

and God, that damn song was like a curse and blessing at that very moment.

You're so cool, it makes me hate you so much

(I hate you so much)

You've ruined my life, by not being mine

You're so gorgeous

I can’t say anything to your face

'Cause look at your face

And I'm so furious

At you for making me feel this way

That was you. That was how much you hated your feelings for him. Because he would never be yours.

And somehow, Enzo got the message. He wasn’t sure but he felt how you changed the way of singing and avoided his eyes.

“¿Y esa quién es?” He asked once again.

“Esa es Taylor Swift”

“No la conozco” you giggle, ignoring the song a little bit.

“¡Enzo, por Dios!. ¿En qué mundo vives?” You found it very hard to believe he didn’t know half of your musical taste.

“Pues en Uruguay…” for the first time, he makes you laugh and talks to you so fucking much that you have to stop spreading the fake dirt on his face.

You're gorgeous

You make me so happy, it turns back to sad

There's nothing I hate more than what I can't have

You are so gorgeous, it makes me so mad

You’re so gorgeous

“¿Por qué nunca sales con nosotros?” He asks suddenly, and it takes you aback. That you end up looking straight at his face.

“Tú tampoco sales, prefieres quedarte en el cerro” he laughs, feeling a little too comfortable under your touch on his cheeks and chin.

“He salido dos veces con ellos. ¿Y vos? Cero…”

“Estoy ocupada.” You simply reply.

“No es cierto. Por ahí me dijeron que te la pasas viendo películas y escribiendo fanfiction” you blush, but you keep working.

Actually, last Saturday was the first weekend you cried because of him. You couldn’t even stay at a local bar. You left your friends there to go home. New addition to your routine.

“Maybe… ¿pero a ti qué si no voy?” You ask giggling, hoping he would drop the issue. You pause the music and slip your phone inside your bag before returning to him. Scared of his possible answer.

“Pues… porque te quiero ver” your hands start shaking.

“¿A mí?”

“Si. A ti, linda” he senses how taken aback you are. And he realized, that he had adapted some of your slang words from all the time he spent with you.

“¿Por qué yo, Enzo?” He smiles, and you want to kill him. He made the gesture like you had been so oblivious for ages.

“Porque…” slowly, he grabbed your wrist, preventing you from keeping working on his face. He touches you with such gentleness that it makes you finally start shaking.

The way he looks at you. It must’ve been a dream, two pairs of eyes deeply connected. He was silently revealing he liked you. Once you get it, you shake your head, his eyes giving you some confirmation.

“No..” You brush away from him.

“Si… tal vez suene raro o no me creas… pero, vos me gustas. Por eso quiero verte y busco tus bonitos ojos cada vez que trabajas conmigo…” you sigh, dropping the brush and paint a little too violent.

“¿Y por qué yo entre tantas diosas que están a tus pies?” You are fighting against the tears already forming on your eyes. He remains quiet, and to you… that’s an answer.

He doesn’t like the way you are being too negative. But you don’t like having that conversation at all. You are shocked, and you don’t feel in love at that moment. You feel panic and stress.

“Fui al bar el sábado pasado y te vi con la chica rubia. Si te gusta alguien no dejas a la chica rubia hacer ni un movimiento. No te encuentras en redes a las chicas a las que les das reacciones” maybe you had no right to be so angered. But it had been two months, and everything had worsened. At that point, your eyes were already red and crystallized.

“Nada de eso significó algo”

“Si fue algo. Fue tu cuarteada en lo que buscabas la manera de acercarte a mí. Por si no te resultaba la cosa conmigo…” again, he remains quiet.

“This is bullshit. Mira Enzo, he estado aquí desde hace dos meses y nunca te acercaste. No te salió el amor por mí hoy” you spit with anger, grabbing your paint and makeup, hurrying to get out of there.

“Me has gustado desde la primera semana cuando te conocí. Pero tú no me quieres, y por eso te evado. Aparte del dilema de nuestra age gap, que podría ser un problema” you explain putting your coat on and grabbing the bag.

“Y eres una persona hermosa, Enzo. Sé que eres el amigo y novio perfecto. Pero mi intuición me dice que me vas a lastimar” he steps between you and the door. The proximity worsens everything, he wants to end it all for once with a kiss to make you feel the way he does.

It was already difficult for him. He had felt slightly depressed while filming, he felt weird, in company but alone at the same time. And he believed you were the right burst of sunshine to lighten his weird mood swings.

But you believed he was lying. He honestly felt hurt that you were mistaking him for some womaniser and asshole.

“No te vayas, por favor” he pleaded, shocked to see your teary eyes. So he started questioning what you said about being hurt.

“Ya acabamos, no te preocupes.” You manage to slip beside him, opening the door and leaving him alone.

The dramatic moment culminated in Enzo feeling more depressed and giving a sadder performance for the movie. For you, it gave you a reason to cry in the shower and stare at the balcony of your place for hours, contemplating the sky and feeling so damn weird.

…

You have flashbacks of seeing him laughing and letting the blonde girl at the bar whisper in his ear. His honest smile and how he admitted he liked you a day ago.

You wished for weeks, now months that he confessed his feelings for you. But the moment he does, it feels wrong. Like it wasn’t meant to happen. Because he’s older, he’s got more experience, he had a very extended long-term girlfriend once, he is too much unlike you.

Maybe it wasn’t meant to happen and this is how it was supposed to end.

With you bursting out in tears and anger. Him believing you were crazy, but you had a point.

He never made a move. Just trying to talk, but he never invited you to do anything with him, or just to stay with him during the free days. It seemed unreal that suddenly he liked you.

And maybe you’re just scared of falling in love, because he could unintentionally but potentially break your heart.

Nonetheless, on the second day you want to distract yourself, it’s Saturday again and you go out alone to jog, then to buy some new clothes and you are about to prepare your dinner when the pain in the ass of Juani asks you to go out for some tapas.

You agree because you really need to distract yourself from thinking about the whole cringy issue with Enzo.

Probably everyone in the production already knew. But you would shut your mouth just to let the rumours die.

You start your walk towards the restaurant when he sends you the location. It’s a few blocks away, and you frown when you see what type of restaurant it is.

“amiguito, pero creí que querías tapas. Este es un restaurante vegano” you send him a voice message. And he replies immediately.

“Ay pues para ser fitness un día nada más, chica. ¿Ya vas para allá?” You roll your eyes, not that you didn’t like vegan food but you wanted tapas.

“Si, morro meco. Ya estoy a un par de cuadras” you send back, putting on your EarPods and route.

You realise how much you like wearing sneakers, long dresses and coats with matching purses. Perfect for the weather and your silly thoughts of walking on the streets along some cool music playing in the background.

Until you arrive at the restaurant and you don’t spot Juani. But maybe he was on his way. So you order first, grilled tofu with vegetables and tangy sauce.

It’s a cute place, and by the time you find a table, it’s already dark. The restaurant has candles everywhere and quality music playing.

When you start closing your purse, you look up and you freeze. Because you see Enzo entering the place, with a tiny bouquet of flowers on his right hand and a water bottle on the other.

He was wearing jeans, a random buttoned shirt and dark sunglasses.

Oh, fuck him. Of course he knew he looked gorgeous.

Quickly you change from your seat, giving your back to him, hopefully becoming invisible.

Your fingers rush to find the contact of Juani and send him a violent voice message.

“Oye, ¿por qué carajo no has llegado? ¿Y por qué Enzo Vogrincic está viendo el menú ahora mismo?” You send and he starts writing.

“Es que él es vegano…” he writes in text, which boils your blood.

“¿Y eso a mí qué chingados me importa, Juani? Ven ya y sácame a escondidas o te juro que me voy a colgar del primer poste de luz que vea” you silently scream, lowering your voice.

“No puedo” that’s it, you’re going to die in a vegan restaurant while Enzo Vogrincic orders food.

You are about to stand up when he literally appears on your table.

Qué hijo de puta, y todavía te sonríe y todo.

“¿Y el Juani ya viene o no?” You ask, trying to sound confident.

“De hecho no va a venir” right, pinche Juani idiota, qué gran amigo y todo.

“That’s it. I’m leaving!” You mumble sighing, standing up from the table, when Enzo grabs your forearm and makes you sit again.

“No, vos te quedas. Mira, te traje estas” he hands you the flowers, yellow tulips.

“Yo nunca le he dicho a Juani… ni a Matías cuáles son mis flores favoritas” you frown confused, grabbing them.

They’re beautiful.

“Tuve que buscar por mi cuenta” he admits, and you frown deeper. Until you open your eyes in shock.

“¿Me zorreraste mi Instagram?” Enzo starts laughing, and you blush. He takes a seat and drops the receipt of his order on the table. You read it, chickpea pasta with arrabiata sauce and zucchini.

You read his order just to avoid looking at his eyes.

“Dejáme explicar todo…” slowly, you look at him. You are still on time to ask for the food to be to go, you can leave and just let this strange issue wash away.

But a waitress appears with your tofu and the pasta. You awkwardly smile and say thank you as well as Enzo.

“Pues ya que…” he smiles, thinking your eyeliner was so perfect. Your dress was cute and the coat made you look elegant and fine.

“Vos sabes quién te engañó. Le pedí que te hiciera venir a un lugar para encontrarme” your roll your eyes. Unbelievable how childish was the whole situation.

“Yo quería tapas”

“Dale, ahorita te llevo por tapas” Enzo says with a giggle. You simply mock him with a gesture and proceed to eat.

“Lamento no haberte dado señales desde el inicio. Creí que con hacerle plática cuando me maquillabas era suficiente.” He confesses.

“Con todos sos un amor. Y conmigo… siempre seria y pues… llegué a pesar que no te agradaba” you shrug, eyebrows rising and avoiding his eyes once again.

“Todo lo contrario…” you admit.

“Ya veo. Entonces hace unas semanas, los chicos empezaron a sacar el tema. Que debía invitarte a salir o hacerte venir con nosotros a comer para ahí verte”

“Y ayer me atreví. Pero temo que tu reacción no fue la que buscaba” he says with many pauses, not wanting to disturb you.

“Tú declaración tampoco fue lo que esperaba.” He nods, calming you.

“Ya lo sé, hubiera sido mejor esperar a estar en un lugar… como este”

“Quizá” you reason with him.

“Incluso desde antes de admitir que vos me gustas, no me he visto con nadie. Así que solo sos tú… nadie más” you nod, looking back at the tulips.

“Están preciosas, gracias” you say lifting the boquete. Enzo smiles. So you know it’s time, you sigh.

“Yo también lo siento por juzgarte sin saber. No tenía derecho de ponerme celosa, ni nada. Es solo que me da miedo dejar que esto, fluya…” you say, not wanting to repeat once again that your intuition said he would break your heart.

“No te voy a lastimar, nunca. Dejáme quererte, linda. Por favor….” he pleads, accepting he was nervous and desperate. He really longed for someone in the upside down moments of his days.

“Yo solo quiero sentir lealtad, confianza, pasión y seguridad. ¿Me puedes dar eso?”

“Te voy a dar todo, pero más lo que vos quieras. Y si lealtad, confianza, pasión y seguridad es lo que querés…. Así será, linda” you smile, finding his hand on top of the table, intertwining your fingers with him.

“Entonces todo bien, lindo” he smiles more, ending in a sweet laugh.

He helps you pick the rest of the food, both of you also order ice cream cones. Him with chocolate and you with pistachios. And soon both of you are walking together in the streets. Spring is near and it’s your favourite season. You feel happy feeling his warm touch outside of the job. And now being inches away from him feels like a new home.

“¿Si vamos a ir por las tapas?” He starts laughing again, and when he leans, you can feel what’s coming.

“Te voy a besar…” he warns before grabbing your cheeks and smashing his lips with yours.

“Te quiero” he spills, and you only smile on his lips, deepening the kiss. Feeling the silly butterflies in your stomach and intense tears of happiness. You almost drop your cone due to that.

“Yo también te quiero” you reply, swiftly bumping your forehead with him. He then takes your hand and suddenly you don’t feel wrong about it.

Now it feels perfect. Like destiny changed and finally it was meant to be.

____________________

update junio 2024: JAJSJDJJDDJ QUÉ MAMADAS ESCRIBÍA EN ENERO. LOL, QUÉ MAL, ENZO AÚN TE QUIERO MUCHÍSIMOOOO🩷

[ifyoucandaniel]

exactly one person asked and i’ve been DYING to make this, so here are all of my favorite long batman fanfics in general and for new readers @twisted-tales-told :)

cards on the table by @wesslan ! 69k, completed. this is one of my all time favorite fanfictions, it’s so funny and tim is a mastermind genius and a little liar <3 he basically pretends to be a fortune teller and gives scarily good predictions and advice by stalking the upper class and eventually gets involved with the batfam and has to maintain his lies while dealing with his issues :) 10/10, very found family, good angst, so much lying

Dark Matter by @mysterycyclone , 221k, ongoing. this is a batman fanfic rec, of course my bbg dark matter is going to be here <3 this is a MCUxDCU crossover where after infinity war (spoilers for that if you haven’t seen it!) peter parker gets sent to the DCU dimension with part of the soul stone and basically is haunted by the ghosts of the avengers while trying to survive in gotham and get back to his dimension. this is so well written i’ve read it at least three times, it’s still ongoing but trust me it is SO GOOD. i can’t properly describe it, but if you like spider-man and you are interested in batman, you’ll love.

Red is the Color of Sinners by @bluelotuswrites , series, 120k, ongoing, M. i want you to look me in my eyes when i tell you this is my favorite series on ao3. it is set after under the red hood and daredevil 3 where jason and matt meet in a church after jason loses his ability to speak following the events of UTRH. they keep running into each other both as matt and daredevil and eventually jason begins helping matt out with injuries and tech. it’s not finished yet, but there is something so compelling about their dynamic in this series as well as jason’s overall character and how he is portrayed. i’m a sucker for mute jason after UTRH and this series does so well giving him a fresh start and a place away from gotham to heal and build relationships. i cannot recommend enough.

buy back the secrets by @vinelark , 71k, ongoing, T. THIS!!! oh my god, so this is a timkon fic where kon still doesn’t know tim’s civilian identity, but whenever he’s in trouble tim calls for superboy which leads to them meeting without kon knowing. shenanigans ensure when kon starts spending more time with tim! it’s still ongoing but the author is currently working on the next part and it is so so worth the wait. chapter 4 ends on a cliffhanger though so be warned :))

Sales People Know (listening is the most important part) by Mayhem10, 77k, completed, T. this has the coolest urban magical realism ever. tim basically runs this magic shop that shows up places and people who need something find it in his shop :) it’s kinda a slow burn found family fic with magic themes and a smidge of angst!

Retrograde Motion by Lysical, 112k, completed, T. this is best de-aged kid fic ever. jason gets turned into a 7 year old and basically the outlaws, artemis and biz, join forces with the batfam to take care of him. but trust me when i say this is worth your time, it might sound tropey but in the best way possible!! and jason’s relationship with artemis is sooo important to me in this!

Hand in Unloveable Hand (a chokehold) by britishparty, 54k, completed, M. this is one of the best psychological torture/grooming fics i’ve ever read. pretty much what if while our taking photos of batman and robin, little tim gets kidnapped and black mask gets his hands on him and decides he’s the perfect size for a protege. years of psychological abuse and insane mind games ensue. also tim is a Badass™️

If He Had Come by bronwe_iris, 45k, completed, T. so i’m a little freak and i love the angst of arkham knight jason, but more specifically the aus where bruce saves jason before he becomes the arkham knight! this is an au where bruce finds jason and saves him from the joker after 9 months of torture and brings him home. focuses on his healing mentally and physically and rebuilding his relationship with his family

Banshee in a Well by liverobinreaction (bugbee), 43k, completed, T. veeeery good angst. basically what if tim couldn’t die? 43k of tim drake whump where he just dies a bajillion times and eventually his family notices <3

The Birds: Hatching a Family by Oceanera12, 81k, completed, T. this is like “what if the batkids weren’t adopted by bruce, but instead they were all foster siblings who can’t seem to stay out of gotham at night and batman happens to find them and decides obviously he can’t leave these kids to their own business, he has to stick his nose in it” and there’s some angst and heaps of found family

The Hellblazer’s Apprentice by @bluelotuswrites, 29k, ongoing, M. what can i say, im a simple woman, i love to see jason with literally any older male mentor :) basically in UTRH what if he took up an apprenticeship under constantine to learn magic to piss off batman! so good, i really love constantine so seeing him and jason interact in a long fic is so good. also ALL BLADES JASON TODD SAVE ME… ALL BLADES JASON TODD-

something in the static by bonerot19, 101k, ongoing series with three main completed works, T. this is a jason centric series where jason still lives in crime alley with his mom and dad and never stole the batmobile tires. it follows his life in crime alley with an addict mom and an abusive dad and one night when his dad is whaling on him nightwing finds him and the bats just can’t seem to leave him alone after that. steph is his neighbor and best friend also and their relationship is so good. this is a “what if jason took a different way home to the wayne’s” fic series and i love it so much <3

catch the asteroids that come your way by ThePackWantsTheD, 54k, completed, T. i don’t read a lot of ships in the batman fandom i’m sorry, but this kyle/jason one is sooo lovely. basically the two of them growing up together and falling in love and then dealing with the aftermath of A Death in the Family and finding each other again :) really sweet and nice!

hope you find something you like! i realized the majority of these are tim or jason centric, and i love them all dearly, but if anyone has any recs for long fics focusing on any of the other batkids lmk! and any other recs in general, i am a fiend for new fics

[makingqueerhistory]

Selected Works from Donatello

Note: The photos of these works are available under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International license rather than Public Domain

Donatello is perhaps one of the most well-known Italian sculptors, but little is certain about his private life. 

Like many notable Renaissance artists including De Vinci and Michelangelo, Donato di Niccolò di Betto Bardi was financially supported by the Medici family. Donatello neither married nor had any known children, but he still enjoyed patronage from the Medici family even in his old age. While he modeled his work after ancient Greek and Roman works, his style is now emblematic of the Early Renaissance style of sculpture. While his works are numerous and impressive, David is by far his most well-known today (not to be confused with Michelangelo's David).

It's unfair to say Donatello's sexuality did not impact his work — who we are will always often the work we create whether it is consciously or not — but it's difficult to say exactly how. By some accounts, Donatello's sexuality was well-known in Florence. Other accounts, particularly those from straight historians, are more vague. Unfortunately, the intentional closeting of queer people by straight historians is a common problem we've discussed before. Neither Donatello nor his fellow artists, supporters, or even detractors spoke of his sexuality explicitly. There are also no recorded charges for sodomy against Donatello, while other queer artists were not as fortunate. 

All that being said, that does not mean there is no evidence of Donatello's sexuality. He was known to hire handsome assistants, often choosing them for their beauty rather than artistic talents. It is possible his sexuality was known and accepted because of his popularity, talent, and support from the Medici family. And, of course, there are countless queer people throughout history for whom we will never find records or stories. 

Donatello

public domain art

[starwrighter]

The first out of three prompts I'm throwing out this month

Featuring my favorite trope of de aging the ghost boy for trauma and angst purposes :D

Okay! So Danny gets captured by the G.I.W or the Fenton's he's experimented on until his body can no longer take it and he retreats back into his core. Since he is still in the G.I.W's/ the Fenton's lab this doesn't exactly help him escape. With Sadistic Joy the G.I.W/ Fenton's start experimenting with Danny's core. They don't manage to break his core fortunately (whether it be because halfa cores are hard to break or the sheer powerhouse that is Danny you decide!)

Danny reforms before they could figure out how to use his core as a weapon and this causes some side effects. Both halves of him were balanced with each other, instincts clicked into place. New organs and features of his body worked perfectly with his newly enhanced human ones. Only problem with this was that he was now a baby. A literal baby like a little under a year old! And worse news he was still in the lab, his memorys blurry and his thinking process babyfied. He didn't know much about the people keeping him captive right now but he knew they hurt him and he wanted out.

The G.I.W/ Fenton's are furious that Danny reformed before they could create the perfect weapon and are now trying to make him retreat back into his core yet again. They do their worst but do to Danny's new balanced forms He. Does. Not. Give. Danny doesn't retreat back into his core he's unable to; his body healing the damage faster than they could deal it. Eventually they decided they'd kill Danny again the same way he died the first time.

They put the now officially 1yo halfa into the portal chamber. He's cuffed and muzzled to keep him from escaping or making any of those ghostly chirps, clicks, and warbles at them. (They think Danny is threatening them but he's just showing distress and calling for an adult to help him)

They quickly turn the portal off and on again with Danny inside but when they look into the chamber there's no Phantom or ghost core.

The portal didn't kill him though. No, it blasted the infant through the infinite realms so fast he clips into a different universe and crashes directly into Bruce Wayne's living room.

The batfam are very startled because they were just having a movie night, they even got Jason to show up! Now they're trying to coax a terrified baby out from under a piece of furniture so they can get the cuffs and muzzle off him.

Everyone's gone from laughing and cringing from embarrassment from the stupid movie made about their vigilante persona's to being concerned, sad, and angry on behalf of their unexpected guest.

Damian leaves the room for a second and returns with a stuffed animal from his room, offering it to the baby. The baby doesn't have the free hands to grab it but crawls out to reach for it. Damian takes the opportunity to scoop the little boy up and removing muzzle and cuffs.

Danny immediately let's out an avalanche of repressed chirps and trills, excited to be free from his chains and happy with the toy he was given. Danny decides the angry child is okay, he didn't know about the bigger people though.

The entire fam has already decided he's theirs now and they're going to destroy whoever had the balls to do something like this to a child.

(Damian would make a great older brother and you can fight me on this! >:(

[codenamesazanka]

rant. this was a vent in response to the final chapter, but the anime reaching the heteromorph riot arc got me all whiny again. embarrassingly personal.

On "Peaceful Resolutions" + general heteromorph riot arc stuff

When I was in elementary school - I forget what age - there was a snow day. Children love snow days. Me, my younger sibling, and my grandmother went outside to play. We wanted to use the neighborhood hill to sled. Unfortunately, it was already being used by some older kids. Middle schoolers only a few years older than me?

They didn't want to share the hill. So they pushed and shoved us. They threw snowballs at us. When I cried for them to stop, they laughed. When my grandmother, who didn't know English, who spoke only Chinese, yelled at them to stop, they laughed, and mocked her. "Ching chong ching chong." After that, no matter what me or my sibling said in English, they pretended not to understand and just kept chanting slurs. There is nothing more frustrating than screaming out your pain that you know people can hear and understand, and having it fall on deaf ears; more than that, your pain is enjoyment for them.

Was this discriminatory incident resolved peacefully? Well, me, my sibling, and my grandmother cut our snow day short and went home. Our retreat was 'peaceful', but I guess the incident wasn't exactly resolved.

Would attacking them back helped? No, of course not. (And not that we could. We were two elementary kids and an elderly woman. Understand that bullies nearly always purposefully target those weaker than them, ones who can't fight back without negative consequences.) Indeed, things would've just escalated. But we didn't want to retaliate. We didn't want revenge. We just wanted them to stop.

Did we do anything about it? No, it was just some kids being mean. A very minor thing (even as the incident, only one among others, continues to destroy our perception that this neighborhood was ever safe for us, truly our home. But my town had an active neo-nazi gang that liked to vandalize houses and slip posters into newspapers, so it was never going to be safe.) We didn't know our neighbors well because of language barriers, because we stood out as a Chinese family in a largely white neighborhood and people didn't talk to us much either. We wouldn't know how to alert the parents of these kids. And we thought, even if we did complain - a non-violent method of action - they might just find us annoying. They might hate us more. What if the language barrier leads to more confusion and conflict? We didn't want to risk it. We kept our heads down and let the incident go. My family became more reluctant to go out, to let me and my sibling outside to play. We maintained the peace.

Understand that it doesn't really matter what an discriminated minority does to resist discrimination - the perpetrator can find any act of resistance inappropriate. That is their prerogative by being in the position of power.

Shoji saved a girl, gave the community peace by preventing them from having to grieve her death. His village then bashed his face with a hoe for daring to resist and break the norms of the village, for daring to touch the girl to save her life.

A third party, of course, can come and resolve the incident by de-escalating everything. But for my incident, it was not me that this third party needed to stop. We did not engage in violence. It was the older kids. And had I retaliated - idk how, as a child; tackle them? - to protect my grandmother, my younger sibling - that would be self defense, likely because I wanted the bullying to stop and had to resort to violence when nothing else worked; because I feared the violence they were about to do to us more than my fear and reluctance to engage in violence in the first place. Maybe self-defense is too strong a word here for schoolyard bullying, but the principle is the same.

(It wasn't just schoolyard bullying, obviously. There were other incidents, from when I was younger, when I'm much older. This incident is one that I feel is less revealing/personal/vulnerable to tell.)

There was no peace in that incident that wasn't broken by the perpetrator to begin with. Not that the peace was peaceful for us in the first place. Bringing about true peace is solely on stopping the perpetrator, and ultimately on dealing with the root cause.

��Discriminatory incident” is so vague. An incident can be anything. “Peaceful Resolution” implies responsibility on all parties. What we're told isn't 'Shoji stops the bigots nonviolently'. (Also: The bigots are afforded this. Villains must be put down with violence, but not the people throwing rocks and spraying pesticides on children. I'm of course of the opinion that violence shouldn't be used to stop bigots or Villains except as a last resort, but the manga has demonstrated that no Hero ever stopped a bigot using the same methods they use on Villains. Why is that?) It isn't 'Shoji saves victims of hate crimes'. Judging by Shoji's own statements and how the heteromorph arc plays out, a peaceful resolution is stopping both the heteromorph victim (who may or may not be lashing out - in response to the hate crime) and perpetrator - If anything, more stopping the heteromorphs.

I’m going to suggest that rarely, heteromorphs ever actually retaliate with violence. True, the heteromorphs we see (Shoji, ordinary lady, Koda's mom) aren't part of the rioters but are we to believe all these rioters are people who react with violence every time, and it's their first solution? When they stopped the damn riot themselves because they didn't want to hurt the healthcare workers? (and even the riot wasn’t purposeless, indiscriminate violence - they were solely there to retrieve Kurogiri). Pig Nose guy says he's been beaten up for no reason, so he's already at the receiving end of violence that justifies self-defense, but we can assume he didn't actually lash out any of those times because he's the one who stops everyone, feeling so bad about just the idea of hurting someone.

I can’t say that’s 100% canon that none of the heteromorphs ever lashed out (and of course ‘statistically’ some of them must have), but overall, for most of them, it’s a legitimate assumption to be made. The heteromorphs from the Jeda or 6/6 incidents were fully massacred. Shoji and Spinner were children - Shoji was on the ground, getting bashed in the face with a farming hoe wielded by an adult. Spinner got sprayed with pesticides for walking outside and became a hikikomori, saying that he accepted being a ‘lizard freak’, he was ready to give up. (And he only took action when the extraordinary moment of Stain getting on TV made him realized he hated this suffocating world where Heroes failed him, never protected him.) Ordinary Lady never lashed back out at her attackers. Koda’s mom had to be protected by Koda’s dad.

Even the PLF agitator - his wound is a long deep scar on his head - a head injury that would’ve thoroughly incapacitated him, if not kill him. It is likely not the wound of someone hitting back with self-defense as if the PLF agitator was the one attacking someone and they were fighting back for their life.

These are the ‘Discriminatory Incidents’. What does a peaceful resolution look like, here?

The heteromorphs at the hospital aren’t there to get revenge. They’re there because they’ve been pushed into a corner and probably have become afraid for their lives, their future. During a national crisis where Heroes order civilians to go into hero-guarded shelters, these shelters had the audacity to refuse heteromorphs, leaving them out on the streets, vulnerable to the dangers of jailbreakers and lack of resources.

The peace was broken first by discrimination. The heteromorphs probably took Spinner’s call to action as a life preserver. Heroes had refused to protect them during the collapse of the state; and so they likely found truth in Spinner’s word that if Heroes win the day, nothing will change. They weren’t there to hurt anyone at the hospital - they were there to take back Kurogiri.

But Shoji framed the whole thing as revenge, as being avengers. He accused the heteromorphs of being violent and non-peaceful, without ever naming the first act of violence on the part of the non-heteromorphs. He didn’t want to risk the heteromorphs’ hard-won reputation and status (“You’ll set us back 30 years.* They’ll target your children.”) He wanted the heteromorphs to do what my family did - kept our heads down and let the incident go. Maintained the peace.

Shoji said that those who hurt the heteromorphs weren’t justified, but he then says “there has to be a better way”. We never find out what this was, beyond the vague ‘Shine bright’.

(I shined bright, too. I was a straight-A student. I did extracurriculars - piano, viola, art, softball. As did my sibling. My family were hard-working citizens. My mom worked two jobs. I hate telling these details, because they don't matter. My worth as someone who doesn’t deserve to face discrimination does not and should not depend on my grades or trained skills, how pleasant or cool I seem to someone. None of that matters to the people who wanted to hurt us because they simply saw being visibly Asian American as the offense.)

We don’t find out how Shoji’s better way works in the final chapter either. Just that he resolved the incidents ‘peacefully’. Because he wanted to solve discrimination peacefully. As do everyone, oppressors and the oppressed. But ‘peace’ often means something different to oppressors, and something different to the oppressed.

(Did Shoji resolve the heteromorph riot peacefully? Not really. He shouted a lot to the crowd, but he also fought Spinner (ah, you might say - well, Spinner was using violence! Shoji has to react to that with punching as well! Yeah. That's what I mean.) Koda had birds shoved someone off a building.)

Shoji’s better ways - I will assume it’s stopping the blood cleansings. That is a noble goal. It is a necessary and vital goal. And so, how? How does he cover the large areas of rural land, so that he’s there to stop these hate crimes? How does he know when something will happen? Is it a campaign and community-level action? Uraraka’s tackling of Quirk Counseling is a ‘project’, widespread and implemented on a macro level. Shoji’s efforts are on what’s implied to be individual incidents. But putting that aside for now, I will assume “resolving” is talking down the perpetrator. I will assume it’s protecting the victim while negotiating with the person holding the weapon.

Peaceful implies that he does so without violence (as he should! As a Hero Law Enforcement of the State!); but a blanket label of ‘peaceful’ also implies stopping the other party (the victim) asking them to stand down as well.

I just think - during my Discriminatory Incidents, how can anyone have me stand down, have stopped me, when I haven't done anything in the first place? And if I did have to be stopped from engaging in self-defense, that's not a resolution. That's a save. That's someone saving me from the violence, saving me from having to resort to violence.

Heroes save people. There's no question of 'peacefully' when they fight villains to save people. There’s no framing of ‘peacefully’ when they do so. But it seems heteromorphs are not allowed the same language of ‘peacefully’ and 'save'.

-

tl;dr. idk. the heteromorph mini-arc’s writing and message is awful.

-

*re: “set us back 30 years.” I know we don’t know exactly what happened 30 years ago, but we can guess - and so I don’t think guessing one of the named massacres is too wild. From my own experiences, the murder of Vincent Chin was about 40 years ago. I grew up with Vincent Chin as a horror story.

Being told that, due to whatever actions I was doing, would set back all that progress Asian Americans made since then is just cruel and wrong and illogical in all ways. Vincent Chin didn’t deserve to be murdered whatever he did 40 years ago, and he deserved to have his murderers be brought to real justice. The sheer injustice of that case is objective. There is no way someone can tell me that I’m setting time back to when the murder of Vincent Chin happened, that I would be causing injustice like that again, I’m responsible for any more murders that happen, and have that be in any way true.

Related— On Bnha's apparent ideal of "a hero is someone who is willing to suffer in silence" and "we'll get it right next generation!"

From Asian American Dreams, by Helen Zia:

The reaction within the Detroit area’s small, scattered Asian American population was immediate and visceral. Suddenly people who had endured a lifetime of degrading treatment were wondering if their capacity to suffer in silence might no longer be a virtue, when even in death, after such a brutal, uncontested killing, they could be so disrespected.

[...]

Vincent was part of an entire generation for whom the immigrant parents had suffered and sacrificed. Other Asian Americans also found a strong connection to the lives of Vincent, Lily, and David Chin. Theirs was the classic immigrant story of survival: work hard and sacrifice for the family, keep a low profile, don’t complain, and, perhaps in the next generation, attain the American dream. For Asian Americans, along with the dream came the hope of one day gaining acceptance in America. The injustice surrounding Vincent’s slaying shattered the dream.

[junedenim]

dance in my underpants

the consequences of destroying bras

warnings: smut, age gap, fucking & stuff

word count: 2.7k

It was a trip to the mall. Two people who are having fun. The guidelines of your relationship haven't been outlined yet. Neither of you have raised any complaints about it. I mean, how could you complain when he looks like that and he fucks like that. 

You had fucked in a bed finally. Like a proper fucking. A couple of times now actually. Usually at his place because it was gargantuan in size and he had no one living with him in that villa. You fucked at your place once, last night, when your roommate was away for the weekend. During foreplay before the aforementioned fucking, he ripped your bra. Now you're at the mall after a promise to replace it that you are making sure he upholds. 

"I don't know why you need a bra," Alex says. "You look much better without one. You don't even need a shirt." He's got his arm wound around your waist. Your body touches his side and you walk in sync without even noticing.

"You'd like for me to walk around topless all the time?" You question. The mall is mostly bare. It's a Wednesday before noon. Something Alex is deeply annoyed by but you've got plans later today and you don't need this guy ghosting you over a bra, especially when you've seen what his house looks like. You can milk this sucker for the prettiest, priciest bra imaginable.

"I think society would like you walking around topless all the time. You'd get the key to the city or something." He's dressed differently today. Most of the time he's got that suit jacket on that looks like he just came from investing in the stock market or fucking your mom. Now, he's got a leather jacket on that makes it look threatening and burns holes through you, especially when his hard exterior dissolves into a chuckle.

"I think I'd be put on a sex offender list if I did that." He laughs at that and tightens his grip on your waist. You like how hard he presses into your skin. Fingernails indents found on your thighs. He isn't only in this practice. A fair share of clawing at his back has been demonstrated.

"Isn't that like your First Amendment right to do that? It would be freedom of expression. Your boobs are like a special art form or something. Like the Venus de Milo or something." He's cute with his sunglasses, his admiring gaze peeking through, that smirk that threatens his lips, that chain that hangs from his neck.

Inside the store, his eyes dash around the room with wonder like he is a kid in a candy store. You let out a huff of laughter. "You look like you're about to make love to the bras. You sure you want me walking around topless?"

He leans and whispers close to your ear, "No, I'll just rip every single one off of you."

You snap around and look him in the eye. "You will not be ripping any more bras of mine."

He nods with a tight smirk. "Yeah. And who is buying the bra again?"

"You're replacing what you broke."

"In that case, I'll buy you as many as you want as long as I can tear them off you." You giggle to distract yourself from the heat that rises from your core and floods through your whole body. You walk over to the push-up bra section. 

Alex comes behind you holding up a red lace balconette bra. "Already found you a winner." He is talking in a hushed tone because he knows exactly what it does to you. Rings of fire flush your cheeks. He reaches around you and picks up another one, a black push-up number. "Ooh, this one too."

You accept the bra with a laugh. "What is this? Project Runway?"

He wiggles his eyebrows suggestively. "Does that mean I get a fashion show?"

You slap the bra in your hand on his chest playfully and turn away from him, the uncontrollable smile spreading on your face. You search through the store more. Alex, of course, has more suggestions and, well, if he's going to pay for it, who are you to deny trying them on?

When you head to the fitting rooms, Alex tells the employee working the section, "I'm gonna help her out."

Past the employee, you turn back to him with an accusing smile and an agape mouth. "You wanna fuck me in the changing room."

He pulls a shocked face as if it could be the most unaccepted thing ever. "You and your dirty mind. Shush."

You enter the fitting room with him following behind as he locks the door and rubs your hands over the fabric of the bras in your hand. It simulates a feeling in you. That one that's becoming familiar with him rubbing his hands all over you. Over your body. Over your breasts. Over your nipples. Your eyes stare at him, specifically his ass in those pants.

"You gonna make me?" You tease. He turns around to look at you. Quickly taking his sunglasses off, he looks at you smug. 

Alex is strange. An anomaly. He eyes you up and down, smirking the whole way, and then he sits on the little chair in the corner of the small room, crossing his legs. He could be Vito Corleone right now if he had a cat on his lap. A really hot young Vito Corleone, a young Marlon Brando. Or something or other, you're too horny-drunk to think of proper figures. He rubs his chin and says, "Maybe. Try on the black one first."

"Turn around," you joke.

His eyes widen and he lets a chuckle. "You know I've seen you naked before. Like fully nude, right?"

You nodded assuredly. "Oh, yeah, I know, but I'm afraid you'd get too turned on and cream your pants."

Alex gives a half-ass laugh because, yeah, you've turned him into a completely horny pervert that he is definitely going to cream in this fitting room but he's hoping it will be in you and not his trousers. "Shut up."

It's your turn to look smug. A flirty look with batting of your eyelashes is the quickest way to get him turned on. You undo the bra you were wearing and answer his request for the black bra first. It's cute, but not quite your style. However, it's definitely Alex's as he is practically drooling over himself. "I don't like it," you announce, reaching back to undo it.

"I fucking love it. Don't take it off yet."

You indulge him, standing there in your panties and bra. There wasn't much need to take off your pants but it will definitely quicken the process when he does fuck you. You furrow your brows and taunt him, "Weren't you supposed to be a cool older guy? You're more horny than my high school boyfriend."

"I fuck you better than your high school boyfriend." There's the smug bastard.

You huff and undo the bra. "You'd have the be a corpse to fuck worse than my high school boyfriend." 

"When was that? Last year?" 

"And you went to school when log cabins were a thing, right?"

He scoffs, "Funny." You both do that a lot. Tease the other about their age. The age gap isn't much of an issue because you're two adults and you're just fucking. Literally all the time fucking.

You slip on the red one, mainly because he picked it and you want to quicken the process and just have him fuck you already. Fingering, blowjob, penetration, you don't care, you just want him to get to it already. 

"I like this one." You fiddle with the straps. You're a temptress, snapping one strap back on your skin and letting the other one hang off your shoulder.

"I like this one too." He is, of course, staring at your boobs and not at you.

You hum. Staring into the mirror, you ask, "Are you sure it's not too sexy?" You're just waiting for his next move, trying everything to entice him. You look at him through his reflection in the mirror.

"I don't think too sexy is a thing." He is still sitting in that chair.

You sigh loudly, poking at the cups. "Then maybe it's not sexy enough."

"Not sexy enough is definitely not a thing."

You turn around. He's leaned back in the chair, showing no sign of movement. You're desperate and he is too, even if he isn't showing it now. "Prove it?" You request.

He wags his finger accusingly. "See, I knew you wanted to fuck in the fitting room."

You hold your hands up as acting defense."Whoops. You caught me. But you can't be looking arrogant in that leather jacket and not expect me to want to fuck you."

He's pleased by this, his grin growing into a shit-eating one. "Well," he stands up, "you are very hot in that bra. I just might have to."

You laugh. "Don't make it so procedural. Just get over here—"

With the go-ahead, he is pretty quick to interrupt with a hard kiss on the lips. "I'm worried you won't be able to be quiet though," he baits.

You rub your nose up against him, both breathing the same hot air. "I do have enough control over myself, unlike some other people."

"Shall we put it to a test?" No response is needed. He has his mouth on you in an instant. Like him admiring you in a bra but wanting you desperately naked, you push his leather jacket off in an instant. It splashes on the floor into a pile of black sludge. His boot kicks it back out of the way around where your clothes lie.

Hungry kisses on your neck and down to your chest. He devours every bit of your skin. Your belly, your thighs; his lips, his teeth. Every part of you is drawn to him, every inch waiting for his touch. When his fingers brush near the lacy edge of your underwear, you find yourself growing antsy, aching to be touched right there. To be touched by him and he's so close with one hand squeezing your ass and the other skimming your hemline but he just won't.

Suddenly he turns you around and the kissing doesn't stop there. Soft kisses over your ears, rough ones on your neck. You're helpless, unable to take control like you desperately want to—or pretend like you do. The feel of his weight on you and his hard-on pressed against your ass. Your breath comes in short bursts as he pushes you up against the wall. He's grinding against you and you're grinding against the wall, looking for some release.

Alex unhooks your bra and slips his hands under you. They're not cold, but you still shiver at the touch. The roughness of his grasp and the featherlike flick of his thumbs against your nipples. He murmurs into your ear, "Much better without the bra."

The throbbing between your thighs grows stronger as he pushes you against the wall, positioning himself at your knees. He slides your panties off, followed by his pants. He grabs your hips with one hand, pulling you up against his cock. You tremble, and you think he notices, because he teases, slowly rolling his hips against you, and you push back. He gets the hint and slips two fingers inside you, just barely, before pulling them out again. A frustrated gasp leaves your mouth, and you turn your head as if to say��hurry the fuck up, but he just smirks and focuses his view on your pussy.

You're desperate and he knows it. He fucking enjoys it, keeping you in a holding pattern and grabbing your hips hard, like he's afraid you'll slip away, rubbing his cock against you like he's waiting for permission or really for you to beg. But you refuse to be the first to crumble and the next thing you know he's burying himself inside you, slowly but surely, like he wants you to feel every inch to the fullest. You gasp, just like he was hoping. A satisfied grunt leaves his lips, which not only gives you full satisfaction and pleasure of getting noise out of him but adds fuel to the fire and as he slowly pulls back out, you sway your hips a little, inviting him right back. His next thrust is harder and more brutal, but you're so ready for him that he pounds into you with ease.

"Oh, fuck," you moan and he is picking up the pace, trying to urge more out of you. You cover your mouth out of fear of capturing the employee—who is only a handful of feet away—and her attention. The aching becomes too much to bear, and you reach for your clit, but he slaps the hand away and holds it behind your back.

You whine, pushing against his thrusts, but he only slows down, murmuring into my ear, "You like that, don't you?"

"Yes," I whisper. "You're so—you're so fucking good."

"Uh-huh."

Once again you're left frustrated as he pulls out and flips you over. You arch your back against the wall as he expertly glides his hands around the curves of your body.

"A quickie is usually quick," you note.

He leans in closer, getting right in your face, gently raking his fingers through your hair. The look on his face is wanting, but soft. The slight part of his lips and his downturned eyes looking into yours. It's a jarring feeling, suddenly being the subject of his tender affection, but you're unable to look away or grab him and say we're here to fuck, not fondle. 

The taste of Alex's morning cigarette lingers on his lips. The tip of his nose bumps into yours as you allow yourself to sink into the kiss. His kisses are long and slow, matching the rhythm of your bodies as you begin to move again. You drink in all the groans and grunts you get out of him.

When he places his thumb just over your clit, the intensity catches you by surprise, but he steadies you. He holds his other hand over your mouth. Your moans muffled and hopefully quiet enough. He holds his thumb over your clit and you quiver at the touch. Your breath comes in shorter and shorter bursts. You're redder than ever, you're sure, and he looks so fucking pleased with himself, his arrogance driving you crazy in more ways than one. He picks up the speed a little, rolling his hips in rhythm with yours. The pressure on your clit and the throbbing of him inside you causes the sweat on his skin and your breath to shatter. As the orgasm overtakes you, you bite down on his shoulder, collapsing against him like you have no bones left in your body.

His chest rises and falls with yours, he holds you there until you detach. Before you can say anything, he holds you up in the air and fucks you, hard against the wall. His thrusting becomes erratic, unrelenting, and with a mess of strangled grunts and groans that he tries to hold inside.

"Wouldn't it be really funny if she knocked on the door now?" You joke.

Alex laughs causing his pattern to be even more fucked up. His smile drops as his breath develops heavier and warmer against your ear. He bites the lobe softly and whispers, "I'm gonna come in you, okay?"

You nod the best you can and his breath becomes strangled and choked-up. He lets out a noisy exhale before his cum floods into you. He nuzzles into your neck and he lets out a moan into your skin hoping to cover it. You stroke the back of his head, scratching your nails soothingly across the surface.

"Shall I try on the rest?" You whisper into his ear.

He lifts his head and chuckles, "Oh, fuck." He shakes his head, still out of breath, he says, "No, I'll buy all of them for you. I don't care if they don't fit. We need to go back to bed."

You giggle at how exhausted he looks. "I have plans."

His cock is still hanging in the air. He has done little to clean himself up, still staring at you. You feel him ooze out of you but you shockingly like the feeling. "Come over after. I'll fuck you in the hot tub."

*

a/n: submit your bald alex photos for more, well, bald alex (fucking in public, of course).

[ao3sbatfamily]

Hii, do you know any fics that has the same/similar Tim & Bruce dynamics from this post?? https://www.tumblr.com/14pinkpaperclips/755378418836701184?source=share

Bruce and Tim get de-aged to the murderous-greiveing-sad-batman time. The rest of the family sees the exactly how much Bruce relied on Tiny Tim.

'The Work Is Rotten But It Must Be Done' by Mouse_in_this_house

Tim plants himself in front of Bruce with crossed arms. “Words, Bruce,” Tim reprimands, “I’ll take one word answers but I won’t learn Neanderthal. So, food or sleep?”

It should be funny, everything about this, extra tiny Tim and Bruce being more or less useless, but, really, there’s nothing that Jason could name a comedy in this situation. “Jason doesn’t eat till he does his homework for math,” Bruce muttered blankly.

Tim patted Bruce’s arm, even as Jason’s heart seized suddenly in his chest. “Then lay down on the couch,” Tim insisted, “I’ll tell Alfred to put off making anything till you’ve slept for a bit. How…how was it out there?”

Bruce frowned deeper, trying to scrape together a memory of a patrol that didn’t happen. “Same,” Bruce mumbled.

Tim’s shoulders relaxed. “Nobody’s in the hospital then,” Tim concluded.

[bnhaobservation]

Quirk counseling: canon, the cultural references and what we can guess from this all

So, a recent ask I received pushed me to dig more into Quirk counseling, in hope I could offer better information about it.

Also thanks to @poppy5991 who helped me to expand the overmentioned ask adding to it things I forgot to mention. Hopefully this time I've covered things better. If not, I apologize.

LOOKING AT CANON AND WHAT IT TELLS US

There’s not much about Quirk counseling as it gets mentioned, as far as I know, exactly 6 times in the whole 42 volumes (and the anime).

The first time Quirk counseling comes up, is after Shigaraki’s attack in chap 22... and not much is said.

MIDNIGHT ‘Shōgaku-ji no “issei ‘kosei’ COUNSELING” uke tenai no kajira...’ ミッドナイト「小学時の『一斉〝個性〟カウンセリング 』受けてないのかじら...」 Midnight “Didn’t he receive “universal/mass/simultaneous ‘Quirk’ counseling” in elementary school?” [Chap. 22- Ep. 14]

From what Midnight says we can infer that ‘Issei “kosei” COUNSELING’ [一斉〝個性〟カウンセリング “universal/simultaneous/mass ‘Quirk’ counseling”] is given in elementary school as kind of a group activity or class lesson as ‘issei’ (一斉) generally is used to say “simultaneous”, “all at once”, which should imply all the kids at elementary school (or more likely, all the kids in a class) get it at the same time.

For contest, Midnight brings this up because they think Tomura has too much power and was never taught to ‘control’ it (as in not to use it to do what he wants). So we can guess Quirk counseling would, in their mind, have given Tomura a better grasp of what was allowed to do with his Quirk and what wasn’t (with becoming a Villain being definitely on the ‘Don’t do it’ list).

The discussion about Quirk counseling won’t progress any further.

The next time Quirk counseling is mentioned is in chap 165.

Ikoma Komari ‘Hai… shōgakkō teigakunen wa jinkaku keisei ni oite taisetsuna jiki desu...〝Kosei〟 no chigai ga ōkiku eikyō suru tame COUNSELING o okonai. Sukoyakana seishin o hagukumeru yō SUPPORT suru no desu ga... COUNSELING mo bannōde wa arimasen. Kono CLASS no ko-tachi wa watashi-tachi ni kokoro o tozashite shimaimashita. Watashi no sekinindearu koto wa shōchi shite imasu...! Desuga...! Yume ni mukatte hagende rassharu minasama to fureau koto de massuguna kimochi o omoidasa sete age rarereba…’ 生駒小麿里「はい…小学校低学年は人格形成に於いて大切な時期です...〝個性〟の違いが大きく影響する為カウンセリングを行い。健やかな精神を育めるようサポートするのですが...カウンセリングも万能ではありません。このクラスの子たちは私達に心を閉ざしてしまいました。私の責任であることは承知しています...！ですが...！夢に向かって励んでらっしゃる皆さまと触れ合うことでまっすぐな気持ちを思い出させてあげられれば…」 Ikoma Komari “Yes... the early years of elementary school are an important time for personality development... differences in “Quirk” have a big impact, so we provide counseling. We support them in developing a healthy mind... but counseling is not a panacea. The children in this class have closed their hearts off to us. I know that it is my fault...! But...! I hope that by interacting with all of you who are working hard towards your dreams, we can help them remember their honest feelings...” [Chap. 165-Ep. 79]

Here we don’t talk specifically of Quirk counseling, just of counseling and of how ‘differences in Quirk’ have a big impact on personality development, also adding that counseling is not a fix-it-all. Ironically though, all the kids in the class seems to be the same according to their teachers, ‘mondaiji’ (問題児 “problem children”) who’re always ‘hanko-teki’ (反抗的 “rebellious”/“defiant”) no matter what she does despite them all having very different Quirks, children who have ‘closed their heart’ to them (aka they aren’t listening to them anymore) and feel they’re better than anyone else and it’s clear with this class counseling didn’t work at all.

We jump at chap 226.

CURIOUS ‘Inō no yokuatsu ni yotte jibun o koroshita fukōna shōjo, sore ga anata nandesho? Toga Himiko. ‘“Kosei” COUNSELING’, jita rikai no yugami o kyōseishi shakaisei no suri awase o hodokosu jōsō kyōiku (read: PROGRAM). Mochiron, kanpekina PROGRAM de wa naishi, kojinsa o yori tsuyoku kanjite shimau to iu mondai o kakaete imasu. Chi o nomi henshin suru, umaretsuki motsu sono inō ni yotte anata wa “chi” ni tsuyoi kyōmi o hikareru yō ni natta. Shikashi shin no fukō wa “akogare” to iu dareshimo ga daku futsū no kanjō. Chi to akogare kamiatte shimatta nitsu no yōso wa tōtei shakai ni ukeire rareru MONO de wa nakatta. Dakara, anata wa FUTA o shita. Jishin o yokuatsu shi kamen o tsukutta.’ キュリオス「異能の抑圧によって自分を殺した不幸な少女、それがあなたなんでしょ？渡我被身子（トガヒミコ）。『〝個性〟カウンセリング』、自他理解の歪みを矯正し社会性の擦り合わせを施す情操教育（プログラム）。もちろん、完璧なプログラムでは無いし、個人差をより強く感じてしまうという問題を抱えています。血を飲み変身する、生まれつき持つその異能によってあなたは〝血〟に強い興味を引かれるようになった。しかし真の不幸は〝憧れ〟という誰しもが抱く普通の感情。血と憧れ噛み合ってしまった２つの要素は到底社会に受け入れられるモノではなかった。だから、あなたはフタをした。自信を抑圧し仮面を作った。」 Curious “You’re an unfortunate girl who killed herself by suppressing her supernatural powers, aren’t you? Toga Himiko. ‘“Quirk” counseling’, it’s an emotional education (read: program) to correct distortions in self-understanding and other things, and to adjust for socialization. Of course, it’s not a perfect program, and it has the problem of making individual differences even more apparent. Your innate ability to transform by drinking blood has made you very interested in “blood”. However, your true misfortune is “admiration”, a normal emotion that anyone can have. The two elements that go together, blood and admiration, were never going to be accepted by society. So you put a lid on it. You suppressed your confidence and made a mask.” [Chap 226]

Episode 109 should be the one in charge to transpose this scene in animation but episode 109 cut the references to Quirk counseling.

CURIOUS ‘Inō no yokuatsu ni yotte jibun o koroshita fukōna shōjo. Sore ga anata nandesho? Toga Himiko. Umaretsuki motsu sono inō ni yotte anata wa chi ni tsuyoi kyōmi o hikareru yō ni natta. Shikashi, shin no fukō wa akogare to iu dareshimo ga daku futsū no kanjō to chi e no kyōmi, kono futatsu ga kamiatte shimatta koto. Sore wa tōtei shakai ni ukeire rareru MONO de wa nakatta. Dakara, anata wa FUTA o shita. Jishin o yokuatsu shi kamen o tsukutta.’キュリオス「異能の抑圧によって自分を殺した不幸な少女。それがあなたなんでしょ？渡我被身子。生まれつき持つその異能によってあなたは血に強い興味を引かれるようになった。しかし、真の不幸は憧れという誰しもが抱く普通の感情と血への興味、この二つが噛み合ってしまったこと。それは到底社会に受け入れられるモノではなかった。だから、あなたはフタをした。自信を抑圧し仮面を作った。」 Curious “You're the unfortunate girl who killed yourself by suppressing your supernatural powers. That's you, isn't it? Toga Himiko. The supernatural power you were born with has made you very interested in blood. However, your true misfortune was that your fascination with blood and your normal emotion of longing were intertwined. This is something that could never be accepted by society. So you put a lid on it. You suppressed your confidence and made a mask.” [Ep 109]

It’s a bad decision as Quirk counseling was meant to become important later but that’s what they decided to do.

Anyway in the manga there’s something we can work with, if before we were told Quirk counseling helps in developing personality, here it’s clarified the help is aimed at helping people to act ‘normal’, so that they can have a correct perception of themselves as well as socialize and interact correctly, the problem is it suppresses whatever is judged ‘not normal’ in a person and Quirks often generate wild differences between what’s normal for a person and what’s normal for another.

The result of this is that Quirk counseling ends up remarking in an even stronger way the differences between people, by forcing them to suppress feelings that are dictated by their Quirk.

We then jump to chap 370.

? ‘“Kosei” COUNSELING!” Kosei” kyōiku! Kore ga nise (read: mayakashi) de aru koto o! Wareware wa “katachi” o motte shitte iru!.’ ?「〝個性〟カウンセリング！〝個性〟教育！これが贋（まやかし）である事を！我々は〝形〟を持って知っている！」 ? ““Quirk” counseling! “Quirk” education! This is phony/bogus/sham (read: fake/deception)! We know it due to having this “shape/form”!” [Chap. 370-Ep. 152]

At this point we’ve a nameless heteromorph guy claiming Quirk counseling (along with Quirk education) is basically a sham, it’s not it didn’t work with that class of kids by coincidence, it’s just something that doesn’t really work with Heteromorphs.

While there’s not really an explanation we can guess that, if the point of Quirk counseling is making people ‘normal’, Heteromorphs, who in Japanese are called ‘Igyō’ (異形 “abnormal”), have a hard time with it, since they’re not normal by definition and can’t really change/suppress their ‘not normal’/‘heteromorphic’ traits.

We aren’t told what Heteromorphs are told during Quirk counseling, and the thing is made more complex by how somehow in big cities there’s no discrimination, while in rural villages people still go for ‘chiharai’ (血祓い “blood cleansing”), beating and scarring Heteromorphs who dare to come into contact with not-Heteromorphs, no matter if it’s to save them.

We then jump to chap 392.

? ‘HAI kyōsei shite ikimashou “futsū” ni. A HAI mō chotto matte kudasai. Sugu sotchi ikimasu. Etto… ē daijōbudesu. Sō desu ne… tsuyoi “kosei” o motsu ko niarigachi na tōsaku desu yo. Kono shakai de wa yoku aru koto desu. Tadashite keshite ikimashou.’ ?「ハイ矯正していきましょう〝普通〟に。あハイもうちょっと待ってください。すぐそっち行きます。えっと…ええ大丈夫です。そうですね…強い〝個性〟を持つ子にありがちな倒錯ですよ。この社会ではよくあることです。正して消していきましょう。」 ? “Yes, let’s correct it and make it “normal”. Ah, yes, please wait a moment. I’ll be there right away. Um... yes, it’s okay. Well... it’s a common perversion among children with strong “Quirks”. It’s common in this society. Let’s correct it and eliminate it.” [Chap. 392]

Here we see a person talking with Himiko’s parents. We aren’t told this person is a Quirk counselor but, I guess, that’s the idea. It’s hard to say if she’s Himiko’s teacher or an external figure, however it makes clear Quirk counseling is more or less what Curious said. That person thought Himiko being fascinated by blood was wrong, she actually calls it a ‘tōsaku’ (倒錯 “perversion”), albeit one she labels as common, and tried to force Himiko to suppress her feelings so she could perceive herself and socialize with the others in a ‘correct’ way.

An interesting difference between the manga and the anime is that in the anime that person’s talk is more streamlined... and we see her also talking with Himiko's parents.

? ‘Hai kyōsei shite ikimashou futsū ni. Sō desu ne… tsuyoi kosei o motsu ko niari-gachina tōsakudesu yo. Kono shakaide wa yoku aru kotodesu. Sei shite keshite ikimashou.’ ?「ハイ矯正していきましょう普通に。そうですね…強い個性���持つ子にありがちな倒錯ですよ。この社会ではよくあることです。正して消していきましょう。」 ? “Yes, let's correct it and make it normal. It's a perversion that is common among children with strong Quirks. It's a common occurrence in this society. Let's correct it and eliminate it.” [Ep. 158]

This might imply that in the manga that person is actually busy with more things at once, she doesn’t have a lot of time to dedicate to Himiko’s parents and therefore she doesn’t have a lot of time to dedicate to Himiko.

Back to the conversation though, regardless of the source, the person talking makes clear that what Himiko does isn’t just something that’s “rude”/“inappropriate” to do in society but that it’s a “perversion”, a common one, yes, but a “perversion” and she says so to her parents who were already worried she wasn’t human.

Chichioya ‘Mō nekko ga!’ 父親「もう根っこが！」 Father “Her core/roots is/are already– (gone/rotten)!”

Hahaoya ‘Ningen ja nai ko un jatta!’ 母親「人間じゃない子産んじゃった！」 Mother “I gave birth to a child that isn’t human!” [Chap. 392-Ep. 158]

And later

Hahaoya ‘Watashi-tachi ga waruin desu. Mō… tsugunai kirenai desu… ganbatta kedo damedattan desu… ano ko ha… akuma no konan desu.’ 母親「私たちが悪いんです。もう…償い切れないです…頑張ったけど駄目だったんです…あの子は…悪魔の子なんです。」 Mother “It's our fault. We can never make up for it. We tried our best but it was no use. That child is a demon's child.” [Chap. 226]

So Quirk counseling didn’t really reassure her parents nor solved Himiko’s problems. They weren’t going to accept that Himiko could have different feelings from the norm and help her to cope with them correctly, they just wanted to eradicate them from her. As she couldn’t, she was forced to suppress them… and since she couldn’t keep them bottled up forever they eventually exploded and lead her to hurt Saito.

The last time Quirk counseling comes up is at the end of the manga.

? ‘Tsudzuite wa TEAM-UP NEWS. INGENIUM, FROPPY, CREATI soshite URAVITY ga zenkoku no shōgakkō o megutte imasu. Teki (read: VILLAIN) hasseiritsu no genshō ni tomonai katsudō no haba wo hirogeru “HERO”-tachi sono naka demo-- URAVITY no uchidashita “kosei” COUNSELING kakuchō keikaku wa ima mottomo hitsuyō fukaketsuna katsudō to iwa rete imasu.’ ?「続いてはチームアップニュース。インゲニウムフロッピー・クリエティそしてウラビティが全国の小学校を巡っています。敵（ヴィラン）発生率の減少に伴い活動の幅を広げる〝ヒーロー〟たちその中でもーーウラビティの打ち出した〝個性〟カウンセリング拡張計画は今最も必要不可欠な活動と言われています。」 ? “Next up is team-up news. Ingenium, Froppy, Creativity and Uravity are touring elementary schools across the country. As enemy (read: Villain) occurrence rates decrease, the “heroes” are expanding the scope of their activities. Among them, Uravity’s “Quirk” counseling expansion plan is said to be the most essential activity right now.”

In this bit it seems that expanding Quirk counseling became a key factor in lowering the occurrence rate of Villains… which, of course, doesn’t seem to be possible since in almost all the other cases in which Quirk counseling was mentioned it turned out it either didn’t work (with the Masegaki elementary school kids) or made matters worse (Himiko and the heteromorphs). Is it a typing mistake as apparently the program already reached all the elementary schools so it didn’t need to be expanded and, anyway, didn’t work? Or does ‘expanding’ refers to actually put more resources and people in Quirk counseling so they can actually devote more time to the kids and help them better? Hard to say.

LOOKING AT THE CULTURAL CONTEST AND WHAT IT TELLS US

Counseling in Japan

While, of course, there’s no Quirk counseling in Japan, by 2006 Japan had school counselors (スクールカウンセラー) available in all the public middle schools. Prior to it though, this work was entrusted to the homeroom teacher (担任教師 ‘Tannin kyōshi’) and often also the school nurse (看護教諭 ‘Kango kyōyu’ ) who were meant to dispense discipline, encourage better conduct, increase motivation, provide career guidance, and offer advice. Those teachers though, were not trained in counseling, and it was often a duty they disliked, often choosing to use their classroom hours for something different than “moral education” depending on their personal educational agenda. Now instead, when problems arise, the teacher or the students or the students’ parents can ask help to the school counselor, which would also offer the plus of being a third party figure, so that they would be people not involved in evaluating students (and therefore have no conflict of interests with them) and would be professional in the field of psychology so as to offer better help to them.

Currently in Japan a school counselor visits a school about once a week to give children advice about various problems they face. School counseling is provided by clinical psychologists, psychiatrists and other professionals with expertise in mental health issues. In addition to advising children, the counselors can advise parents and teachers about how to handle their own day-to-day. A school counselor stands by in a counseling room where he or she listens to children’s problems one-on-one. Children can seek advice about whatever may worry them, such as relations with their friends, their family problems and uncertainties about their future and the counselor will advice them about how they should handle their problems while also talking with their homeroom teachers about what would be the best solution to each problem.

The problems with this system are often that the Clinical Psychologist isn’t also trained as a school counselor which leads with problems of interaction with the teachers, that there is confusion about the role of teachers and school counselors, and that there’s a HUGE stigma of shame at the idea of students or parents seeing a counselor. Much of the counseling that is now conducted in the Japanese schools is remedial with the individual as the focus; an approach that is contrary to the Asian interdependent view of self, an approach that seems to further exacerbate the student’s reluctance to see the school counselor.

It’s possible Horikoshi went for a mix of the above, with Quirk counseling given both by the class homeroom teacher and by a specialist… and the improvement was that the specialist was better prepared for the job or that he were to spend more time than once a week in the school… or that Quirk counseling originally was given by the homeroom teacher and then, Uraraka’s expansion program improved it by having it being given by a third party figure who was more competent than the teacher. Hard to tell.

Honne, Tatemae and Giri

Honne (本音 “true sound”) refers to a person's true feelings and desires.

Tatemae (建前 “built in front”, “façade”) refers contrastingly to the behavior and opinions one displays in public.

Giri (義理 “duty”, “obligation”) refers to the social obligations each person have.

Okay, fine, why should we care about these three words? Because Japanese people go to great length to hide their honne (true feelings) and show their tatemae (facade) so as to fulfill their giri (social obligation). They must do everything they can to avoid the disapproval of others, to avoid direct confrontation or disagreement. They’re completely justified in telling white lies to hide their true nature and present their Tatemae, so completely justified they can lie even in trial, that they’re expected to do so (remember when, in chap 306, a guy said Enji should have just lied in regard to what Touya declared?).

Part of the Quirk counseling plan is clearly based on this, on teaching children how to show a socially acceptable tatemae and hide their own honne. This is what Himeko was taught, that her own fascination for blood was an unacceptable honne and needed to be buried inside herself if she wanted to be ‘normal’. That it was her duty to present herself as ‘normal’ and therefore show solely an acceptable tatemae.

Tōsaku (倒錯 “perversion”) and double meanings

As said before ‘Tōsaku’ means “perversion” and it’s used to describe how Himiko is fascinated by blood… but this is a word also used to describe sexual deviances… and Horikoshi clearly had fun with using words with double meanings in Himiko’s case, for example the onomatopoeia for sucking blood (ちうちう ‘chiuchiu’), sounds also like the onomatopoeia for kissing, Himiko is referred as a ‘ijōsha’ (異常者) which can be translated as “deviant” but also as “pervert” and so on. In short Horikoshi subtly create parallels between Himiko’s love for blood and the fact that Himiko’s way of loving people is not what in Japan is labeled as normal (she also loves girls and not just boys and would like to hurt people she loves). So, while Himiko’s problem of being fascinated with blood might seem distant from the audience as people in real world don’t have a Quirk that makes them fascinated with blood, the parallelism with sexual inclinations bring Himeko back into someone with whom people can relate and, in a way, someone that stands in parallel with Magne.

Heteromorphs, how ‘not normal’ they are meant to be and blood impurity

In English the word ‘Igyō’ (異形) had been translated as “heteromorph” but a better translation is “abnormal” or, more literally “not normal shape”. In a Quirk counseling program that aims at making everyone ‘normal’, who already starts with a name that states they’re not with a normal shape is clearly cut out of the race.

When Shouji talks of what was done to him he mentions ‘chiharai’ (血祓い “blood cleansing”) [Chap 371] and, in the previous chapter, he was told he had ‘imi chi’ (忌み血 “cursed blood”) [Chap 370].

Japan is very invested in blood purity, in pre-Meiji era Shinto and Buddhist traditions considered blood (血 ‘chi’) a source of symbolic pollution or ‘kegare’ (穢れ “uncleanness”, “defilement”) with elaborate rituals of avoidance and purification, however, in the Edo period (1603–1868) blood gained the positive meaning of “lineage”/”life force”, overtaking the preceding key metaphors for heredity. This though ended up causing the solidification of a hereditary status system that placed certain groups of people as being permanently “polluted” because they had works tied with blood, like executioners, undertakers, slaughterhouse workers, butchers, and tanners called ‘eta’ (穢多 “great filth”) as well as beggars, street performers, prostitutes, convicted criminals, and the physically disabled among others called ‘hinin’ (非人 “not people”) which together form the group called ‘burakumin’ (部落民 “village people”) and were considered outcasts. Their own blood was considered permanently impure, they were subject to increasingly stricter sanctions that prohibited their contact and mixing with the rest of society by means of restricted residences, economic activities, special clothing, hairstyles, and tattoos and since now blood also was a term used to define lineage, its polluting property also came to be regarded as inheritable and permanent which is why people still don’t want to marry (aka ‘mix blood’) with people whose ancestors were ‘burakumin’.

This was also made worse from the 1900 eugenicist obsession with blood as a medium to modernize the Japanese race and nation.The pure Japanese blood, or “Yamato blood,” was now heralded as a refined superior substance to be protected or enhanced through social programs of reproduction and health also through eugenic marriage counseling services.

This ultimately expanded to include people who had mental illness or familiar with mental illness but also with people who are of not pure Japanese ancestry. We would probably talk about genetics. In Japan it’s referred as blood.

Blood type is, in Japanese mentality, also tied with personality and discrimination can be so high that some would just discriminate people with blood type B or AB as negative stereotyping credits the B types as selfish, and ABs as eccentric and unpredictable and therefore more prone to have a loose morality.

As a result even if Shouji being a Heteromorph is tied to his Quirk and his genes, the story talks about his ‘cursed blood’… and people could refer to it also in relation to how the Todoroki are related to a criminal, Touya/Dabi.

(Plus this also tells you why Himiko's fascination for blood could NEVER be accepted since things related to blood lead to impurity)

While all this doesn’t tell us much about Quirk counseling, it helps to get a better perspective on why blood is mentioned when Heteromorphs are discriminated and how strong discrimination can be based to blood ties, clearly making it something that can’t be overcome with just the discriminated person in question trying to ‘act normal’ by presenting an acceptable ‘tatemae’.

The series leaves unclear what exactly falls into the Heteromorph category because, if the problem is just the shape being not normal, things like having tapes in your arms or engines in your legs, or horns on your head also give you an abnormal shape. Overall we can assume that the more the shape is abnormal and hard to ‘disguise’ as normal, the more one ends up being considered as an Heteromorph (Shouji’s arms are a much more visible ‘abnormal’ trait than Iida’s legs or Sero’s arms).

Just so you know currently Japan lacks any law which prohibits racial, ethnic, or religious discrimination nor has any national human rights institutions. Although racism exists it’s a taboo topic. In the past in the name of national unity, the Japanese government identified and forcefully assimilated marginalized populations, which included indigenous Ryukyuans, Ainu, and other underrepresented groups, imposing assimilation programs in language, culture and religion. Japan considers these ethnic groups as a mere “subgroup” of the Japanese people and therefore synonymous to the Yamato people, and does not recognize them as a minority group with a distinct culture. This is why in the story Heteromorph discrimination isn’t punished but it could also be the basis for why the Quirk counseling doesn’t keep into consideration how Heteromorphs are different but tries to force them too to act ‘normal’.

Quirk

We’re all familiar with the term Quirk that in Japanese is ‘kosei’ (〝個性〟 always written between quotation marks) which, translated literally means “individuality” or “personality”. In a country that is group oriented, values uniformity and thinks standing out is bad, Quirks that instead grant an even more marked ‘individuality’ and that are unique to each person, should feel like a big deal… but also it you tie a superpower with your personality you might get some unpleasant combo that aren’t really meant to be. For example thing at Tomura and at how his Quirk destroy/decay things. If you think that his Quirk is his ‘personality’ or tied to it, you get the idea Tomura is someone who can only destroy/decay, that has a destructive character or that who has an animal Quirk has an animal character.

WHERE ALL THIS LEAVES US?

Japanese youths have been fighting so as to have their individuality recognized in various subtle ways but it’s still an ongoing battle. The same goes for the descendant of the Burakumin and for people in the LGBTQ+ community. Sadly most of those topics are kind of considered taboo to discuss in Japanese culture so it’s possible that Horikoshi’s attempt at saying that Quirk counseling would be improved is a subtle message that’s meant to say that in the BNHA world steps would be taken to improve the acceptance of those people and the recognition of each person’s individuality, implying more a change into mentality/education than a change into some institutionalized thing called ‘Quirk counseling’, hence he didn’t need to develop much how it would work.

Of course mine is purely speculation.

Ultimately, if we solely look at the story, how Quirk counseling work/is administered is hardly well explained in the story, and how is reformed is explained even less (saying just it underwent an expansion) as well as why Uraraka, who had no idea of Himiko’s problems with Quirk counseling, decided to focus on it. But it’s likely the cultural context that’s meant to make it work for Japanese readers using solely what little is explained as reference and, for them, improving it, is likely a big step.

For whose of us who are instead cut out from the whole cultural context, there’s just too little to work with and it feels forgettable and confusing.

Said all this, which is likely still an incomplete overview, I hope my ramblings will help people to understand it better. If not, I apologize.

[qierxing]

Glass Doll

Commissioned by the wonderful thefangirlhasarrive Yan!Vil x F!OC TW/CW: Implied long term drugging, manipulation, unhealthy relationship, obsessive behavior

“So? What do you think?”

Victoria looks up from the crinkled script to the director, then to the nervous scriptwriter next to him, dark bags sagging under his eyes. 

In all honesty, it was a mess. The actions were near impossible to decipher, the transitions were abrupt, and the whole thing felt like a five tiered cake only a couple inches away from collapsing. But. But. There was a glimmer of something raw and rich in the text that had her pause in remuneration. She’s been through enough B-rated films and top grossing releases to know that what she read has a spark that she hadn’t seen in a very, very long time.

“I think it’s something that we can work with,” came her measured reply. The script writer looked ready to collapse in relief at her verdict, no doubt knowing that his work could have never seen the light of day if it weren’t for her approval. 

“Wonderful!” The director smiled, clasping a meaty hand onto the script writer’s shoulders, jostling the poor man. “I had a feeling you would see the potential. Mr. Schoenheit did as well!”

The smile drops from her lips as soon the words leave the director’s mouth. So it wasn’t just hinging on her opinion. Her lips curl ever so slightly in a sneer as the director continues going on about plans of casting, set dressing, and script refining. 

Now, Victoria had nothing against the up and rising actor Vil Schoenheit. She’s never crossed paths with him, so the only thing she knew was that he was a NRC alumnus and no matter how hard paparazzi did try, his private life is still a mystery to this day. In this day and age, she has to admire how he’s managed to escape the prying eyes of the ravaging media.

But she did not like being set aside like a delicate china plate in favor of prettier, shinier silverware.  

“And what exactly does Vil Schoenheit have to do with this?” Her cold question snaps the director out of his rambling to turn with a face of disbelief.

“Why, he’s your co-actor! We got him to agree a while ago–we just needed your agreement.”

–

It was after Victoria went through various dress rehearsals and makeup testing that she got to meet the person she is supposed to go mad for. He is indeed beautiful as the people say. Vil’s beauty is knife-like, all sharp edges with nothing to sand them down. His eyes, especially, are hypnotic; an enchanting amethyst purple that one could not help but look twice to appreciate. His shiny blond hair is done in a deliberate way that the stray strands curl and frame his face perfectly for viewing pleasure. Each part of his appearance is meticulously crafted to the point where Victoria wondered if he himself could pass as a work of art.

He introduces himself with a confident air that makes her lips tilt upward unconsciously. She did so like those charismatic enough to meet her fierce tawny eyes head on. Perhaps she can almost forgive the director for the earlier slight of weighing their opinions against each other. 

“Victoria De La Rosa. I look forward to working with you, Mr. Schoenheit.” His thin, bow shaped lips curl into a satisfied smile at her confident introduction. His bare hand accepts her own outstretched one with a surprisingly firm shake.

“As do I, Ms. Rosa.” 

The filming goes along swimmingly, with only the usual minor hitches and mishaps of a movie shooting. During breaks, Victoria has come to relish in the company of Vil, whose presence feels like a balm in the hustle and bustle. Although she is no stumbling wide-eyed rookie, Vil’s advice is insightful and not condescending, a refreshing change from her previous contracts.

“Your speech is slurring a bit here,” Vil taps a manicured finger on her paper, highlighting a line. “Make sure to enunciate. Lady Sigrid is not someone who minces words.”

She nods in agreement, making a mental note. The two of them were sitting next to each other in director chairs, going over their parts together while interns and prop designers rushed past to help set up the backdrop for their scene. 

“I didn’t think you were much into horror.” The words leave her mouth before she can think about it, and her face colors dark in embarrassment as she realizes what she’s just said to the famous actor. “It’s not that I don’t think you’re capable! It’s just–”

He cuts her off with a husky chuckle that makes her spine tingle in a strange way. “It’s just that I’ve never done horror movies?”

Victoria can only nod in response. He leans his head back with a contemplative hum, his white neck gleaming in the dull showlights like porcelain. (Seriously. She must ask him later about his skin routine)

“If I may return your question with my own?” Vil posits, “Why did you decide to act for this? I’m well aware an actress of your caliber has better pickings besides this smaller studio.”

A warmth blooms in her chest at the subtle compliment laced in his question. He wasn’t wrong. If she had to give one reason…

Psychological horror is something Victoria greatly adored, in all of her acting stints in movies. There is no need to rely on a hidden red paint bag to burst and cover your body in fake blood for the fear to sink into people (she certainly appreciated not having to clean it off each time they had to reroll). Indeed, what lurks in the recesses of the mind, she thought, would be far scarier than stab wounds or chopped gore.

“I think far too many people think that horror is something that is supposed to make someone scream,” she carefully says. “And it can be. But I’m getting tired of the predictable zombie apocalypse or serial killer thrillers. I want something that can truly make someone shudder and think about why we fear.”

Vil smiles with a flash of blinding white teeth almost akin to a snarl, as if he knew exactly what she would reply with. “Precisely. You and I both know what makes this particular production worthy.”

The director calls for them in the distance, and Victoria has no time to dwell on the way his pretty lavender eyes had made something burn in her core.

—

Being with Vil felt like downing sparkling wine–bubbly, fizzy, and most of all, titillating. 

Her heart soared whenever he handed her water bottles or leaned in close to whisper tasteful quips in that velvet smooth voice of his. It’s almost scary, just how much he knew what would make her perk up with pleasure. It’s like he actually understood her, not like the others who only saw her superficial shell. 

It made her hopeful, optimistic. Real friends were hard to come by in the industry. It was not that far of a stereotype to say that actors were cutthroat in their endeavors to reach the top. The games her fellow coworkers played were akin to the political machinations in the time of the Seven. As much as she wanted no part of it, Victoria knew she could not escape either.

It’s a rare day to relax for once. The first batch of filming had been done, so while the film was being post-processed, the director decided to let the actors have a quick breath before they were back to the grindstone.

She had intended to put the day to good use: a trip to the hotsprings spa she adored, then afterward, some time in the antique bookshop she had found a while back, and finally seeing Neige’s new movie that had come out. A ping on her phone distracted her from the planning in her mind.

With a huff, she’s about to mute her notifications when she sees the Magicam banner with the quote “@vdelrosa 👀 lookin kinda cozy”. Her frown deepens. It’s from a rando account, but her gut twists, and she taps her thumb on it, a post popping up. The comment was nestled under a picture. When she takes a closer look, she realizes with a strange sense of detachment that the picture is of Vil and her during the filming, when they were exchanging quiet conversation with each other. The picture’s angle is intimate and with a realization of disgust, Victoria realizes someone on the set had been leaking pics, or worse, paparazzi had managed to bribe someone. 

Victoria knew better than to look through the other comments. No doubt it would be a riotous mass of either those against her or egging on the tabloid like gossip. Her fury burned like a wildfire inside her, and before she could think, her phone was hurled into the soft covers of her bed, hard enough to make a weighted dent inside the fabric. 

Her phone chimes again and she groans as she realizes her phone wasn’t muted, so distracted by the post that had exposed her to the public. Victoria picks it up again and once again she pauses, because this time, it was a text message banner.

You had also gotten tagged in that post, right? Don’t worry, I took care of it, dear.

Victoria’s heart fluttered when she read the sender’s name: Vil. Her stomach churned even more at the sweet endearance. Dear. Dear. It was so casually said, yet she couldn’t help but feel like she was floating in the clouds at the nickname. 

And despite the danger that whispered, Victoria couldn’t help but hope that maybe, just maybe, she wasn’t alone anymore.

—

It was a simple vial that caught her attention.

Vil had invited her to practice their lines together in his dressing room, which she agreed readily, trying not to let her pounding heart show in her eager face. He had stepped out for a moment, but as the seconds ticked on, her eyes began to scour the room in fascinated curiosity.

In the midst of the rich swathes of fabrics thrown over chaises and makeup containers decorating the creaky old vanity table, a dark midnight blue vial stood innocently among them. Unlike the other makeup vials, it had no label and was unusually tiny. Against her whisper of unease, she picked it up and realized with a flicker of surprise, that it was translucent. An unknown liquid sloshed inside the glass, fizzing and bubbling ominously. 

She furrowed her eyebrows in distant confusion. As far as she knew, there were no brands of serums that had this kind of carbonation in the formula. It would be the first for her. Perhaps a nutrition drink of some sorts? But such a miniscule size–how much did he pay for it? And what were the benefits?

Before Victoria could blink, the vial was magicked away from her hand, and she whips around to see VIl with a mischievous smirk playing on his lips. It was the first time Victoria had seen someone use their magic so flawlessly, without any effort or incantation. Yet, despite the light countenance the actor bore, there was something taut with tension in his smile, like a bow drawn with an arrow.

“Didn’t your parents ever tell you that looking around someone’s belongings is rude?” His voice had none of the scolding she expected from someone having their belongings rifled through. Certainly, it was her wrong, but something didn’t feel right.

The awkward situation is remedied faster than expected, but Victoria doesn’t miss the way Vil treats the vial far more preciously than she had expected for a skincare item. 

—

“How’s your shooting going along?”

The sound of the coffee shop echoes around, clinks of cutlery and cups tinkling in booths behind them. The shop workers were smart enough to stick them in the hidden corner of the shop, where it was dim and only lit by the weak sunlight streaming through the one gothic window next to them. 

“Tori?” She finally drags her gaze from the stained glass to Neige’s worried chocolate eyes. 

“It’s been going fine.” She sips at her earl gray tea latte, relishing the warm sweetness that blooms over her tongue. It quickly warms her bones from the chilly Shaftlands air.

Neige purses his lips, but takes a sip of his own drink. Hot apple cider. He’s never been very fond of caffeinated drinks, even if his work would have been improved by it. Instead, he leans in on his elbows.

“How’s Vi? The two of you aren’t…fighting, are you?” Victoria bites her tongue at Neige’s cautious question. 

“No way,” she shakes her head firmly. Neige looks somewhat relieved at her response. 

“That’s good. A lot of people find Vi…” he pauses, tongue prodding the inside of his cheek in a thoughtful look.. “...hard to work with. But he means well. He always does.”

Victoria takes another scalding sip of her latte to stop herself from saying anything in response. Vil’s crooked smile flashes in her mind, the tiny bottle practically burning a hole in her pocket. She feels guilty for the ulterior motive of this supposed catch-up, but there was no one else she could turn to. 

“Neige, you’re a mage, right?” The question takes the young man back. He nods hesitantly.

“Yes?” He tilts his head with a raised eyebrow. The winter light makes him even more radiant, like an angel. “But why are you asking?”

Victoria couldn’t stop the question from leaving her lips. “How well versed are you with potions?”

For a moment, the only sounds that could be heard were the cafe patrons’ murmuring and the dry leaves blowing outside. Victoria’s own heart hammered, for she knew she was toeing the line of no return. Neige’s conflicted countenance flickers back and forth from concern and confusion. 

“Alchemy?” His voice lowers even more quietly. “I’m not exactly a pro at it, but I did decent in school.” 

He pauses, then: “If you really want someone with potion expertise, you should be asking Vi. I heard he was the top of his alchemy class.”

Something cold slithers in her gut at that. As if aware of Neige’s words, the vial presses into her leg, practically molding itself into her very skin. 

“It’s not that I don’t trust Vil,” she deflected quickly, “It’s just that I don’t want any chance of this being…you know.”

He doesn’t need any more explanation. Neige nods his head in understanding when Victoria extracts the vial from her coat pocket with sweaty fingers, sliding it over the table into his opened palm. 

“I’ll see what I can do,” Neige discreetly examines the vial with a scrutiny that was unfamiliar on his youthful heart-shaped face. “It’ll take me a while, though, if it’s not a basic potion.”

Victoria bites her tongue. By now, Vil probably had noticed it gone missing, and she could only hope by then, she would be apologizing for a misunderstanding. 

If it was a misunderstanding, that is. 

—

A celebratory toast. That’s all it was supposed to be. All it was meant to be. 

The box office release has been a smashing success, and Vil wasted no time in extending an invitation to share a drink over their ‘hard work’, in his words. 

But this?

She steps into the foyer of the regal penthouse, looking around rather uneasily. The interior was just as lavish with various tasteful paintings dressing the halls and elegant embroidered rugs lining the white marble floors. The click of heels turns her attention away from marveling silently to Vil giving his usual charismatic smile. 

He had dressed up, alright. It almost made Victoria self conscious, even if the midnight blue dress that hugged her form just right and the glittering pearls on her neck could hardly be called underdressing. Vil, on the other hand, donned a casual white peasant blouse that showed a generous expanse of his fair neck and collarbone, with waist high black pants. His hair had been slicked back, with only a couple strands of dyed hair free to frame his face and neck. 

“Thank you for coming. I hope you haven’t been waiting long.” Victoria shakes her head as he leads her through the hallways to the grand living room and seats her on a fancy deep purple Rococo style sofa. He wastes no time in taking the spot next to her much to her chagrin and directs her attention to the spread on the coffee table in front of them. 

“Please, help yourself.” He pours a bottle of champagne into two crystal glasses, handing one to her. She welcomed the familiar sensation of alcohol burning on her tongue, followed by the fruity lightfulness of the aftertaste. Just as she takes it, the doorbell echoes, and Vil excuses himself to greet it, leaving her disoriented by the sheer luxury of the room.

A buzz, disturbing and urgent peeled through the air like the hum of agitated wasps. It was her phone.

Tori, how did you get this potion?

Neige. Her heart immediately stops. Before she could type a reply, her phone buzzes again.

If I’m correct, it’s a love potion-and those have been banned for decades now. I don’t think it’s possible to have one unless you went to the black market or somehow brewed it yourself

Love potion? Her mind races with this information. What was a love potion doing in Vil’s room? Suddenly, Neige’s words surface in her mind.

 “If you really want someone with potion expertise, you should be asking Vi. I heard he was the top of his alchemy class.”

How many drinks has she accepted from Vil? Even this champagne that had already wetted her lips was not any different. She had simply trusted him, and because of that…

Another buzz. 

You’re not safe, where are you?

“My dear?” Vil’s silken voice cuts through her veneer of panic. 

Tori?

Try as she might, when she looked up, Vil immediately saw past her flimsy facade and bore witness to the muted horror that painted her face. She had finally pieced the puzzle together.

“You know, my dear, I didn’t want this to happen.” A sigh, as if he was a disappointed parent who was trying to make their child see sense. “It wasn’t easy making that potion.”

Her eyes desperately scanned the room for anything, any clue that could be used for escape, or more importantly, a weapon. But what could she do against a mage? Vil was blocking the only exit out of the living room.

”If you didn’t catch on, the potion would have done its work.” Her breathing quickened. “But, we’ll make it work, won’t we, my dear?”

“Nothing to lose, nothing to fear. The shining crown is meant for me. ” With faint dread, she realizes he’s chanting a spell, but as her body succumbs to the raw, primal instinct to survive, it is already too late.

“Fairest one of all.” 

Just as the last word leaves his lips, her body locks like a ball jointed doll, frozen in action of bolting, her last ditch attempt to escape halted right in its tracks. Her voice comes out in a frustrated scream, but even that, too, crackles in her throat.

“Come to me.”

Her body refused her control and with the same kind of seductive sway, her legs had floated her to the very villain who put all of this in motion. His smile now was cruel, puncturing with the jagged sharpness she had seen all those weeks ago. Still, embarrassingly enough, his hands were gentle as they caressed her sides and even worse still, made her burn with yearning. 

“Until you fall completely in love with me, my darling,” Vil’s warm breath hovered over her own lips, teasing with the possibility of what she could have. “You will not be able to disobey me. Curses are powerful things, as you know.”

Victoria wanted to scream. She wanted to punch Vil, throw things at him. But she couldn’t. All she could do was watch helplessly as her body perfectly curled into Vil’s own lithe form and her hands began to undo the laces that held his shirt together. 

She wouldn’t be alone. She just wouldn’t be able to remember what it’s like to be herself.

[soleilnomoon]

May I get a oatmeal raisin cookie, dulce de leche roll, nougat, with caramel on top with Law from One Piece, with a f!reader, please?

hiii angel 😊💕 ty for your patience, i had fun writing this one, something short & sweet as law is the worst and i h8 him (i'm lying ofc).

1.8k words, fem reader, nsfw, 18+ mdni, a lil bit of angst (i can never help myself ok) mixed w. smut; feat. cute thangs like law being the worst ever, delusion on both law and reader's part, rough (consensual) sex, reader as always lacks self-preservation, but that's how i like her; law likes to think he's above intimacy but lbr he ain't. (if u see spelling/grammatical errors, no u didn't <3)

if he’s honest with himself — and he often isn’t — you brought this on yourself. he’s grown beyond tired of repeating himself throughout the day; he tells you as much after he instructs you to hold onto the backs of your thighs to expose your pussy to him in a way you’ve never done before. there’s something almost clinical about the way his amber eyes take in your body. his gaze is hawkish, a little cold, but also very familiar — leaving behind a blazing path with every passing second.

you knew you shouldn’t have pushed him, but you were having so much fun earlier, and things are always exciting whenever he gets angry. what you didn’t count on, was law reacting so quickly. normally he lets you have your way and then deals with you the next day, preferring to drag out his punishments — but today, you really toed the line. you’d be proud if you weren’t currently in a bind.

one ironclad rule that everyone on board the polar tang follows, is to never disturb the captain while he’s working. on the rare occasions where there’s an absolute need for his assistance, he’ll make an exception — but you’ve never cared about that, often provoking him in front of the others, flirting as you taunt him by not wearing the appropriate attire in the submarine.

trafalgar law thrives on order, on ensuring his crew follows his plans exactly the way he wants them to, and without question, too. you’ve always thought the others archaic and ridiculous for following him blindly like that, and, besides, law makes it easy to tease him. constantly finding reasons to touch him, always making sure to sit right next to him during meals, your hand drifting to touch his thigh under the table, nails dragging down he inseam of his denim.

whenever you act like that, whenever you brush up against him with the intent of rattling his nerves, he has to remind himself that it’s not feasible for him to fuck you on the table for everyone to see exactly how he likes to deal with you. it’s because you know he won’t do it, that you keep poking.

he stopped fighting you ages ago, but he doesn’t let you get away with much in front of the others.

except for today. you actually managed to fluster him in an irreparable way, so he’s teaching you a lesson.

there are books, papers, and pens scattered on the floor near the desk — law shoved them off to drop you on the surface without restriction. you’re on your back, hot tears pooling around your eyes, threatening to roll down your round cheeks without mercy.

when he originally called you into his office, you figured he’d give you a lecture then send you on your way; but the moment you entered, he had you backed against the door, long fingers wrapped around your throat, squeezing tightly. you’re normally not so careless to let yourself be caught off guard like that, but he has height and strength to his advantage always.

you expected him to kiss you then, to make you fall apart without even doing much — but he didn’t, as usual, he always refuses to kiss you. the sting of that rejection somehow always leaves you with a bitter feeling that you swallow with great difficulty each time. you don’t know why you get your hopes up like that; law isn’t intimate, nor does he crave any sort of romantic companionship. you know that, and yet you still can’t help yourself; hope is a dangerous thing, so you unfortunately have to learn that lesson repeatedly.

“don’t move,” is all he says when he slides the tip of his cock inside your tight hole before snapping his hips forward, the motion making your hips twitch and has your pussy clench around him. it’s pure desperation that has you whimpering and pleading with him to hurry up.

he doesn’t listen — and why would he? he’s the one in charge here, not you. still, he doesn’t make you wait for long, as he thrusts his cock in and out, enjoying the way your slick clings to his length, your thighs warm and soft each time his hips meet yours. you bite down hard on your bottom lip, hoping to keep quiet — knowing it’ll piss him off even more, but law isn’t having it. he plucks your lip away from your teeth, cock pounding into you harder, making you choke on his name.

“behave,” he clicks his tongue afterward, but gives you a dark smile. “you’ll take what i give you and like it.” more than like it, really; your mind is a jumbled mess, thoughts bouncing around erratically, heart beating too fast, as if you’re running an eternal marathon. he leans down, licks along your collarbone, nipping at the skin there, hips rolling against yours at a devastating pace. it makes you rethink all the times you acted out, makes you want to repent somehow — and this does serve as some sort of penance, even if you’re getting pleasure out of it.

and he is too; out of your submission, out of his domination of you. it’s always exhilarating when he has the upper hand in any given situation, but with you he’s amplified tenfold, and he doesn’t know why. or he pretends he doesn’t, anyway.

when you plead for him to slow down, he sucks his teeth and speeds up, reminding that he’s the one in charge — and always has been. your pussy swallows most of his length, a feat that he continues to remain in awe of. no matter how rough he is with you, you always manage to survive and he supposes he likes that about you.

your tenacity is dangerous, though, and if he’s not careful he might end up liking you more than necessary. even though he already does. he watches the expressions on your face, the ecstasy despite all your complaints — you just like running your mouth, is all; he knows that now.

law pulls out of you without warning, leaving a aching, vacant feeling in your pussy. you open your mouth to protest, but he motions for you to get on your hands and knees. he hisses in annoyance when you rub your ass against his hardened length; his patience is practically nonexistent, and you feel it when he grabs your ass and thrusts inside you again.

the change in position has you arching your back, a bit of drool gliding down your bottom lip and spilling onto your chin as you reach back and grab his hip. you bounce your ass against him, matching the timing of his thrusts; a warmth crawls around his chest as he watches the way his cock moves in and out of your pussy. he doesn’t know what to do with that feeling, so he swallows back a groan and grabs a fistful of your hair to pull you closer.

your whining grips him around the throat, makes him think about going easier on you — but then he remembers your insolence and drags his lips along the curve of your ear.

“stop running.”

an impossible request, you know that he knows that; but you take it anyway, grateful that he’s fucking you hard enough to make you forget you have feelings for him. you know later on you’ll mull over what you should or shouldn’t have said, but for now you’ll enjoy the way his cock kisses a spot so deep that it has your eyes rolling back. your words are barely coherent when he kisses the side of your neck, and he almost moans your name out loud when you clench around him in retaliation. and, because he refuses to let you push things in your favor, he rubs your clit with his fingers, your wetness dripping down your thighs so prettily, pussy squelching loudly with each thrust of his cock.

you know that this will only end with your heart in torn carelessly into pieces, but you don’t care; the rush that overwhelms you with each orgasm he gives you is worth it. it’s a powerful delusion, one that you’ll keep for as long as you can. law pinches your clit impulsively, and the way you tremble beneath him, the way you cry out for more more more nearly incapacitates him.

but he stands strong, thankfully.

it’s only when his strokes get sloppy and frenetic, that an orgasm seizes control of your body.

“you’re squeezing so tight,” he says lightly, breathing uneven against your skin, pressing kisses on your shoulder, “must be feeling good, hm?” he knows why you can’t answer him, which is why he pushes you back down onto the desk and slaps your ass. you’re not sure if it’s the aggression or the fact that you’re nearly spent, but it’s like your orgasm is never ending. arousal pools around your abdomen as sweat clings to your skin; he won’t last much longer, but he wants to delude himself into thinking he can handle more.

“too much,” you manage to say, pussy overstimulated, sensitive, and puffy; but you still arch against him, still buck your hips backwards, enjoying the way law seems every bit as obsessed with you as you are with him. you know you’ll be sore in the morning, but it’ll be worth it; and you know that no matter what he says, you affect him more than he’s ever willing to admit publicly.

your pussy has him in a literal chokehold, which is always the case whenever he fucks you, but tonight it feels different. he’s not sure what it is, but something compels him to pull you flush against his chest. when you turn your face towards him, he kisses you, the impulse surprising both of you. he cums the moment your lips part and his tongue glides inside your mouth, artful and graceful as it caresses your tongue with familiarity. a flush takes hold of your body, making your skin hot to the touch, but he doesn’t stop kissing you; his thrusts are slower, almost sensual but he refuses to read too much into it. when he pulls away, he tries to catch his breath, heart suddenly much too big for his chest when he realizes what he just did. you don’t bother teasing him about it, as your body is currently out of commission, your thoughts obliterated of anything that isn’t related to him.

he glances down and sees the way your cum spills onto his desk, the sight burned into his mind. you don’t even remember if you locked the door when you came in — and anyone could’ve heard the way law had you screaming, the pleasure much to great to keep quiet no matter how hard you tried. he isn’t worried about that, though; he’s concerned with how he’s supposed to move forward now that he’s allowed you a bit of intimacy and vulnerability. he supposes he can think about that later, so for now he runs a hand down his face before giving your ass a playful slap and commending you for a job well done.

[moonshineplaydate]

Well, as (sorta promised), here are some of my other Hazbin Hotel Age Regression headcanons! I say sort of as I most likely won’t include Sir Pentious, and I’ll just bunch him in with the other miscellaneous characters that I like! Sorry about that but regardless, let’s go on with the show!

Hazbin Hotel Age Regression Headcanons, Part 2.

Alastor, The Radio Demon

•No one really knows what his deal is, I mean, the dude’s from the 30’s, he’s like prehistoric. No one expected him to know what age regression was, let alone indulge it.

•That was until he was seen casually taking care of a regressed Niffty, playing with her in the living room of the hotel.

‘Why, of course I know what regression, how else would I be taking care of this little darling Niffty here?’

•He just left at that, he didn’t explain much, people just accepted it as a fact of life.

•From what people have seen, he’s entirely a caregiver, mostly for Niffty but sometimes watches over Charlie if he’s feeling up for it.

•He likes talking to littles, but not in the same way Charlie does, he mainly acts like he’s gossiping with her.

‘Abababababa!’

‘(Gasp), I cannot believe she said that, she really shouldn’t be talking, I wish I had her confidence.’

•Alastor doesn’t like being touched, and that stays true with littles. He has no problem grabbing them or holding them, but touching him is where the line is drawn.

•The most he’ll do is let them hold his hand if they’re scared.

•Has to be reminded not to accidentally spook the little with any of his…everything.

•Has no idea what to do if a little starts crying and just dumps them onto Husk. Or, he’ll use his microphone to play some soothing music for them, which sometimes works.

•Also, he makes the best food for his littles, I’ve always believed Alastor is an amazing cook and he can make practically anything a little wants!

•He calls littles, ‘Tiny Demons, Deerlings, Little Shadow, Princess (Charlie specific).

•Won’t really admit it but he likes taking care of littles. Even if it’s his ‘duty’ as manager of the hotel, he has a genuine liking to them.

•He’s not the safest with littles, he keeps them sheltered from most of Hell, because it’s Hell and that place sucks, but would honestly just watch if they climbed up some place high or played with a knife.

•Alastor keeps makes his shadows watch them at all times though, in case they seem like they’ll really hurt themself.

•He’ll also kill and or eat anyone who so much as makes one of his littles cry, not in front of them of course.

•No one knows if Alastor regresses or not, people are too scared to ask him, so they go to Husker but even he doesn’t know. Alastor is an enigma, after all.

Husker

•Husker is a caregiver! He never felt a need to be little, and really really took a long time to understand it.

•It took a while to wrap his head around the fact that people actually felt like a child when they were little, and weren’t just acting.

•He sort of understood it with Niffty, but really understood it with Angel. He always thought Angel was fake but could recognise that the way he acted when he was small but anything but.

•It was kinda like a moment where everything clicked for him.

•He wasn’t really interested in being a caregiver or looking after kids, by all accounts, he hates them.

•Still, Husk acts as a de facto babysitter of the hotel, especially if the littles just need some time to chill. Other people can be a liiittle hyper.

•So, Husker was stuck with a bunch of kids a lot of the time, he wasn’t exactly a fan but he didn’t hate it either.

•Once he learned how to take care of them mostly, keeping their little gear on hand (he has a bunch of bottles, juice and milk in the bar for them), giving them attention, he got the hang of it.

•He really cannot deal with tantrums though, and has to find someone else to before he ends up snapping at them which he wouldn’t want.

•He has the kind of vibe of a babysitter that’s just honest with the kids he babysits, and finds it amusing to lie to them about little things.

‘Hu-Husk, why are you a c-cat?’

‘It’s cause I ate a bunch of fur when I was alive.’

•It’s comedy gold to him.

•He never acts mean to littles, just a little blunt at times.

•Isn’t the best at handling crying but still tries, he doesn’t really do bottle feeding but he’ll do his best to calm a little down!

Niffty

•I imagine Niffty as a total regressor, I don’t think she’d be one for taking care of others!

•Her age range can be anywhere from 2-5!

•Her regression is mostly voluntary though sometimes she slips without even realising.

•She’s very hyper when she’s little, usually talking very fast and bouncing around the place!

•She loves piggy back rides, it makes her feel tall! Her favourite thing to do is get a piggy back ride off Husk and have him fly her around!

•She calls Husker ‘kitty’ when he’s regressed; Alastor’s her dada and Charlie’s her mama!

•Niffty finds Alastor more fun and prefers hanging out with him, but Charlie can be more comforting at times!

•Being taken care of by the two of them is like a dream for her, or when she gets to have play dates with a little Charlie.

•With Husker though, she finds him a bit boring but loves being able to blabber at him for hours and hours.

•She can talk fairly well when she’s a slightly bigger age but when she’s really tiny, it’s mostly babbles.

•Niffty doesn’t have that much little gear, she has this horrifying stitched together plushie that no one can really tell what it’s supposed to be, along with a red and black paci that Alastor got for her! She also has a pair of white PJ’s with light purple tints to them!

•She doesn’t really care for touch when she’s little, but she loves receiving gifts, usually sweets though; she goes absolutely insane for anything with sugar!

•Husker had to put a lock on one of cabinets as Niffty got in one time and ate half a bag of sugar.

•The one thing she hates about and gets fussy over is nap time, she always tries to weasel her way out of it and claim she’s not tired even if she’s actively fighting to stay awake.

•This usually goes on until Charlie says she’ll read her a story, or Alastor plays her some music that helps her fall asleep. After just a couple seconds of her head being on the pillow, she’ll be out like a light!

•Niffty does like nick names when regressed but she honestly couldn’t care what she’s called, even if it’s insulting she’ll think it’s a compliment!

•Still though, her caregivers stick to a couple! Alastor calls her ‘Little Darling’, Charlie calls her, ‘Sweetie’, and Husk calls her ‘Brat’.

————-

Whew, and that’s the main six done! It took a bit out of me, but I’m glad I got all this out of my system, it was fun to write! This doesn’t mean I’m done with Hazbin though, I still have other characters and I obviously want to write a fic at some point! Also I’m fine if you want to send in character requests for any headcanons, just keep in mind I may be busy! Thanks for reading starlights, I’ll hopefully be back soon with more cool stuff!

[grandmother-goblin]

OC Smash or Pass: A'ras

Quick Facts:

Height: 6'5"

Age: 33

Gender: Male

Pronouns: He/Him

Sexuality: bisexual (monogamous, but he does have a history as a bit of a rake)

Pros:

Gives excellent hugs, cuddles, and massages.

Extremely difficult to anger and is really good at keeping calm in stressful situations - this has made him the de-facto leader several times in his life. He's ambivalent about being in a leadership role.

Eager and excited to try/learn new things (that is how he ended up with Volo's eye tbh lol). Definitely takes the "you only live once" thing very seriously.

Favorite activities include sleeping and metal working (he makes his own jewelry).

Very responsible and quick witted. Overall, a very kind person. Quick to admit when he's wrong and will take actions to correct himself.

Playful and has a good sense of humor.

Cons:

Can sometimes come off as condescending (he WAS raised as a Githyanki, after all lol). He really doesn't mean to though lol.

Used to being a lone wolf and free spirit, so he doesn't always communicate as well as he needs to (like he'll wander off without telling anyone because he needs to get food for the group and just assumes his companions know what he's doing.)

A bit of a flirt (in a very polite way).

Doesn't take "hints" well even if they are obvious and he knows exactly what you're hinting at. If you want him to do or know something, he wants you to just tell him directly and won't do anything about it until you do.

Can be stubborn and selfish, especially if he feels like things are a waste of his time.

[puhpandas]

i think this one line actually does a lot for showing us how rocky ggy trios group is.

a lot of ppls first impressions while reading GGY are "wow, ellis and gregory are really bad friends. they just shrug off all Tonys interests and make him do everything on his own." and that is true and is a big part of their relationships

but also this line i think shows us blatantly how Tony is in the wrong too. yeah, Ellis and Gregory (though he gets a pass. hes literally being mind controlled) make Tony feel like they dont care about his interests and are fine with him running off and wont care if hes gone, and they'll change his work without caring about how he feels about it,

But to be fair, Tony is always so in his head about everything, and he has never mentioned telling his friends about these issues to fix them. Tony, in always being so focused on his internal monologuing and whatever obsession of the week hes found, never bothers to tell his friends how he feels about the things he doesnt like that they do.

so of course ellis and gregory would have no idea.

this line also applies to what i said. "tony hates that they always assume he'll do the work" but then he does all the work with no complaining. he never says that he doesnt like that, and on top of that he does exactly what ellis thinks he'll do.

Ellis is basically saying that Tony always runs off without them to do something himself. Tony is always so in his own head, he doesnt wait for his friends if they want to put off the story another day, and will go off without them every time.

of course Ellis is in thr wrong too, but i would also be annoyed if my friend ran off first hour for a 'group' project just to get it done faster without them. and it seems from Ellis' experience, he doesnt bother trying to join in later becasue by that time Tony already has a whole thing gotten into his brain that Ellis isnt included in (which is literally true. tony did do that in the book)

i wouldnt be suprised if Ellis (and gregory) changed GGY because its like a way of getting back at Tony. Ellis is frustrated with how he'll run off and start the story without him and then turn around and get mad when he isnt involved with its creation, so he just does this. immature? yeah. but Ellis is 12 and Tony is also 12 but tries so hard to be older.

and that makes him distance himslef from Ellis canonically. he talks about how hes frustrated with how Ellis is content to stay acting his age but Tony is starting to 'grow up', and he wonders how much longer they'll be friends. but with this in mind and how Tony handles conflicts with his friends its kinda clear that wow he is not mature enough to actually work through these issues

Tony gets defensive a lot of the time, and if Ellis challenged him and confronted Tony and talked about how he never tells them these things and gets mad when they arent mind readers like Tony believes himself is, Tony would take that as ellis telling him hes immature (because he would be) and would get pissed

but back to the Mr Rabbit thing, all of this is shown in this one line. Tony also never listens to his friends or takes them seriously, and he distances himself from them (which he then gets mad about them not being involved over) and then doesnt care enough to get Gregorys num de plume right. (even if Mr. Rabbit was something petty to get back at gregory because of tonys frustrations, once again goes towards how tony is more immature than he thinks he is)

i have lots of thoughts about these three and how their relationships could work, but this is an analysis on their strictly book characters with no fanon. of course theres a lot of potential with these three if the events of the book go differently (gregory is never mind controlled and is actually there as himself to resolve these issues, or tony doesnt die in ggy and has a wake up call later on that he acts on and apologizes + changes, or gregory goes missing and tony survives and he changes as a person going through that (and when gregory comes back later on)), so i think resolving their relationship issues within different scenarios is really interesting

[magicalrocketships]

Maybe you’ve moved on but I gotta ask.

How is de aged Max doing today? What is him and Daniel up to?

I will never have moved on from tiny Max. Never! He has my full and entire heart. I have at least three versions of this entire universe running concurrently in my head at any one time. But today Daniel has to find some clothes and shoes and toys for a newly small Max, and Max still refuses to tell him what he would like to eat for breakfast.

There is a POSSIBILITY that this link shows the stuff I've already posted in chronological order. Will it work on both mobile and browser? Who knows. Anyway, this bit follows directly on from this part.

1100 words of de-aged Max:

The woman who comes to deliver Max's Go Small stuff is called Charlotte, she's dressed impeccably, and she obviously thinks she's extremely good with children. 

She has, however, met her match in Max, because Max maintains the same stubborn silence he's been giving Daniel all morning. He folds his arms and sits on the sofa in Daniel's hastily washed and dried old Go Small kit, and barely allows Charlotte to measure his feet for some shoes. He does not answer any of her questions, and buries his face in Daniel's side when she has to put his foot in the foot measuring thingy.

Max is not very good in the morning when he's normal sized, but when he's just a baby and he's scared and trying to hide it and he's been up in the middle of the night having adventures with washing machines and unexpected baths and too-big Daniel t-shirts, well. He'd barely consented to eat any breakfast, even after Daniel had gone all out (little bowls of the two different types of cereal he has, another piece of toast with a jam smiley face on it, and then a fuck-it bowl of sweets from his bag of M&S Percy Pigs from when he was in Milton Keynes last month, because Max won't be small for long and he has to eat something). Max had sat at Daniel's table, sleepy and quiet and stubborn and shy, had eaten two bites of toast (avoiding the jam), a handful of cheerios, and three of the sweets. He'd eaten the sweets without taking his eyes off of Daniel's face, which remained creepy. He is absolutely not up for meeting strangers in Daniel's living room who do strange things like deposit bags and boxes in the doorway and then ask to measure his feet. 

"What kind of shoes would you like, Max?" Charlotte asks, which seems like a stupid question to ask given that Max has given her exactly zero interactions since she arrived, and he very clearly does not want any shoes at all. "We have red ones, and green ones, and blue ones, and some with pictures on, if you don't want a colour. We have Spider-man, and Pikachu, and—" 

For the very first time all day, Max makes a voluntary noise. His gaze darts to Daniel, his eyes bright. 

Daniel purposefully softens his smile. "Something there you like the sound of, Maxy-Max? Was it the green ones?"

Max shakes his head no.

"Well, it must be the Spider-man ones, then." He turns to Charlotte, giving her the ghost of a wink. "I think—"

"No," Max says quickly. When he says "Pikachu please," he says it so quickly the words run together, all mixed up like they've just run into a wall and scattered letters everywhere. 

"Pikachu, hey?" Daniel says. "That's a very good choice, Maxy-Max."

"They're in the van," Charlotte says, getting to her feet. "I'll go and get them, and some socks to match, maybe? Then we can try them on, make sure they fit nicely."

As she leaves, Max stares wide-eyed up at Daniel. "Pikachu shoes?"

"Pikachu shoes," Daniel agrees. "Pikachu, that's the chicken, right? Cluck-cluck."

"No," Max frowns. "Pikachu is a mouse, Daniel." 

"Right," Daniel says, nodding. "The purple mouse, I forgot. Silly Daniel."

"He is yellow," Max says, still frowning. "Pikachu is yellow and he's a mouse and he's the best one. He has a tail that goes like this--" he shapes out a lightning bolt in the air, kind of, and Daniel puts on his best learning face. "He likes ketchup."

"Ohhh," Daniel says. "Like you like tomato soup." 

Max's eyes get really wide. He beams.

Daniel rests his chin on his palm. "Do you know anything else about Pokemon? I don't think I know anything. I thought Pikachu was a purple chicken."

Max tells Daniel at least fifteen things about Pokemon before Charlotte comes back brandishing a pair of Pikachu trainers in one hand, and a bag of things to up-sell Daniel in the other. Daniel doesn't bother reviewing them, since they're clearly Pokemon clothes and books and socks and toys, and he's not exactly poor. If Max gets big again today, they can all go to some other Pokemon-obsessed seven year old. He agrees to take them all, even as Max tells him all about Charmander — his tail is on fire, Daniel, but he doesn't set on fire, it is all right, it is just his tail — and Squirtle, who Daniel believes is a horse and Max has to explain is a turtle.

"Of course," Daniel says, as he finishes velcroing Max's Pikachu trainers closed. They're teamed with matching socks. Daniel does not choose to think about what he's just paid for either of them. "Silly me. The horse is the other one, right?"

Max blinks at him like Daniel is extremely stupid. It's the cutest fucking thing Daniel has ever seen in his entire fucking life. He's seen that expression on Max's face before, only more grown up-shaped and usually directed towards the journalist with the stupidest question in any given press session. Right now the full baby force of it is directed towards him. 

"Jigglypuff, right?" Daniel says. "The horse?"

"He is not a horse, Daniel," Max says finally. Daniel's stupidity is clearly weighing heavy on him, because when Daniel gets up to say thank you and good bye to Charlotte, he gets up too, complete with new shoes, and hides behind Daniel's hip, hands to Daniel's waistband. He does not say goodbye. Daniel doesn't ask him to, particularly as when he shakes Charlotte's hand, she whispers, got yourself a handful there, and nods towards baby Max. 

Daniel is glad that he's standing as a physical shield between her and Max, because right now he feels like he could evolve into some kind of huge fucking terrifying Pokemon if anyone on the planet said anything mean about the scared little boy clutching his t-shirt. "I've got pretty big hands," he says finally, and shuts the door on her. 

Then, he turns back around to Max, who's looking down in wonder at his yellow Pikachu trainers and matching socks, his hand still tangled in Daniel's shirt. 

"You like your new shoes, Maxy?"

"Yes," Max says, wiggling his toes. "Is she coming back?"

"No," Daniel says, as Max slips his hand into his. Daniel's heart expands about fifteen sizes. "Do you want to look at your new book about flags?"

"A book about flags?" Max asks, blinking. 

"Yeah," Daniel says, grabbing the package off the table. "You want to look?"

"Yes, please," Max says, and doesn't let go of Daniel's hand. 

[continues here]