#(tagging both AUs bc the same scene happens in both)

[starry-bi-sky]

ive been hesitating to ask this bc youve been on a roll with the clone^2au (which i am frothing over) but could i poke you for some childhood friend au? bc GOD i wanna see how danny reacts to reuniting w jason or how the rest of the batfam react to learning jason never told danny of his resurrection or wondering if dannys gonna put jokers dead body on a display/offering to jasons grave. i havent been normal about this since i first read it and was wondering. thank you for your writing.

RAAAAHHHH DON'T BE HESITANT I AM JUST AS FERAL OVER MY CHILDHOOD FRIENDS AU AS I AM WITH CLONE^2 I AM DELIGHTED BY THIS. Like.,,,, i literally love them,,, so much. I can't listen to The Crane Wives without thinking of them.

(which is my fault - the ao3 fic of them has literally only crane wives lyrics for each chapter title and summary (posted AND the ones not written) so of course im gonna associate with them.)

(if you wanna listen to some of their songs while thinking of cfau here are my recommendations: "Once & for All", "Here I Am", "Hollow Moon" is a Danny AND Jason song to me, this would be my go-to song for an animatic of CFAU if i had the skills for it. "Tongues and Teeth", "Curses" and "take me to war" is a heavy cfau danny song to me, and of course, "the moon will sing")

Like they're BEST friends dude, they're two sides of the same coin and when they were kids they would do this thing where their 'fingers crossed'/'double-crossed' was them hooking their index fingers in the fingers crossed gesture.

and i'm actually currently rewriting my original post into a more fic-like format, and when I'm done I'll post it on here under the cfau tag - with the original post still in tact. But its,,, gonna be so long dude,,,, the original behemoth was just over 9000 words,,, and I've written 3k words already of the new one and we haven't even reached Jason and Danny reuniting at the gala yet,,, i need to get back to that,,,

and then to answer your questions!! god im almost hesitant to answer because i dont wanna spoil the little fic i had planned for it but also like,, its not like im gonna spoil everything, right? and answering the questions isnt the same as writing the scene down so!!

i love danny and jason's reuniting, like i've thought about it SO much and I've thought about it happening after Danny kills the Joker. I know the reveal could have been before that, and it could have been equally just as dramatic but like??? Thematically, doing it after danny kills the joker is SO good. To me at least.

Because like?? Jason's been in somewhat denial about danny's plan to kill the joker for months. ever since danny told him that he wanted to at the gala. And from Jason's pov its not even technically a plan. He sees his best friend for the first time after five years and his best friend still isn't over his death. He hasn't stepped foot in Gotham since his funeral and now suddenly he's here.

And he's still so full of grief over his death that he tells a masked vigilante that he's going to kill the guy that did it, who lives in said masked vigilante's city. And danny's got that look in his eyes that Jason knows so well that means he's being serious. And yet he still doesn't know if he should believe him or not.

And then he does. Danny kills him. And Jason can't fucking believe it. And when he goes and sees Danny, Danny's hands are still covered in blood. And that reunion? God like a fucking firework show. Danny's so fucking angry, and pissed, and hurt, and so goddamn overjoyed that he's alive and here that he sends them both to the ground, and if he doesn't calm down he's gonna take out the power in a five block radius.

there's just so, so much yelling on Danny's end. And then so much crying, first from Danny and then them both. because god, you're alive. you're here. i've missed you so much. i'm never letting you out of my sights again.

and Joker's death! God I don't want to actually say too much about that, but the way I have it set up thematically makes me actually not want danny to take any part of the joker with him as an offering. and he may actually forego that particular ghost etiquette and offer something else as an offering to Jason in substitute to not bringing him the Joker's heart/head/ritualistic body part.

Because you know what the last thing a man whose been spending the last two decades of his life building himself up to be larger than life would want? A death that's unremarkable. :) and that's all i'll put on the matter for now.

and the batfam!! they technically already know that jason hasn't told danny he was resurrected, and plenty of them have mixed feelings on them. largely bruce and dick i think, considering they saw firsthand how close jason and danny were when they were kids.

Dick was honestly surprised at first when he found out that Jason hadn't told Danny he was alive - and on one hand he understands the reasoning for it, and on the other hand he isn't sure if it was such a good idea. Especially after he sees Danny again after he arrives back in Gotham and sees just how badly Jason's death was still affecting him. But it's not like he's going to try and convince Jason to tell him - he can make his own choices, even if Dick has questions about them.

Bruce has much the same thoughts as Dick, so there's not really much to add here other than he might bring it up once or twice to Jason like, vaguely. And then immediately drops it when Jason shuts him down. He might actually somewhat...?? prefer that Jason hasn't told Danny because that raises a lot of questions and could jeopardize their identities. However, again, Jason can make his own choices and there's not much Bruce can do about it other than disapprove from afar.

Tim who knew of Danny from stalking the Wayne family shares similars sentiments of being surprised that Jason didn't tell Danny, but again, yeah, understands the thought process to some extent. Doesn't bring it up ever.

Everyone else who hadn't seen firsthand how close Danny and Jason are don't really have much opinion on it -- Jason didn't tell his best friend he was alive, great, he also didn't tell them either so it's not like its that much of a surprise. It would've been more of a surprise to them if Jason had told Danny before he told Bruce and co. Damian may make a comment or two about Jason not telling Danny, but its not about how he can't believe he didn't tell him or anything like it.

[lovemyths]

hear me out: zosan pro wrestling au

i'm a huge wrestling fangirl and i've been thinking about how zosan really fits into this. let me lay out my argument:

pro wrestling is a mix of sports + theater/entertainment right? so while there is a sports element, pro wrestling has storylines, characters, and wrestlers engage in more dialogue-based scenes (promos) outside of the ring. HOWEVER pro wrestling as an art form has the blurriest fourth wall EVER. they often blend reality and fiction. things in storyline are represented as Real. but more often or not, Reality is brought into storyline. a big example of this is that when 2 wrestlers dislike each other irl, good business practice is to turn it into a storyline. so a feud can be a mix of fictional elements mixed with real animosity. MESSY!!

also because it's scripted, everyone in the match/storyline has to agree. which means you have to be willing to lose, or "put someone over" (make them look good). obvs if there's real beef between 2 wrestlers the politics of that can get testy

similar to acting wrestling has CHEMISTRY. it's very clear when 2 wrestlers just click in the ring. in fact there is a term called wrestling soulmates, which people use to describe a pair of wrestlers who simply bring out the best in each other naturally.

so. zosan.

often rivalries have a babyface (hero) and a villain (heel). i have so many one piece pro wrestling au Opinions and scenarios, but my ideal one for zosan is:

it takes place in the indies. babyface!sanji (nicknamed black leg) and heel!zoro come up in the business around the same time. they wrestle for different promotions (companies; side note: indie wrestlers are not contracted like in wwe so they can wrestle wherever whenever) for several years before they so happen to be booked for the same show. because they're both rising stars, they are scheduled for a match together. they're already familiar with each other's work, but there's an immediate tension there bc they are both trying to be The Indie Wrestler of their era. and their personalities clash. they clash a LOT while planning the layout of their match together.

but when they get in the ring, it's magic. inexplicably it's as smooth as butter when they wrestle each other.

which is good for both their careers, but also bad, because they hate each other and now companies all over the country want to book them together. so they're stuck in a storyline together, and unfortunately, it's the best work they've done in their careers so far. the wrestling is great, and their promos against each other are heated and leave crowds coming back for more beause they can't tell what's real or not. backstage though they get along like cats and dogs, especially when it comes to deciding who wins each match + how they can still look strong in defeat. the bookers don't mind they're both such divas because they put on a damn good match whenever the bell rings

but obvs working so closely together leads to bonding anyways, not to mention the intimacy of wrestling as a sport. some wrestling rivalries last multiple years, or decades, and rivals often are forced to team up for storyline purposes to.

what i'm saying is that maybe their storyline ends up leading to them being a tag team and going on the run of the century. maybe sanji turns heel and they're just an evil wrestling duo wreaking havoc around the country (they're both nice people irl).

i have a gajillion thoughts on this but i will stop here.

[corporatefrog]

꒦‧₊ ꒷ headcannons: team stan with a careless friend✧.*

✧.* tags: college au

✧.* Characters: kenny mccormick, kyle broflovski, stan marsh, eric cartman, butters stotch

a/n: I usually don't add cartman to these things bc he stinks+loser+annoying+suckmydick but I know he'd take advantage of someone who hod so sense of mortality so he gets a pass this time ig.

masterlist

Kenny

He mistakes the carelessness for spontaneity and immediately assigns you as his go to “lets do something stupid I just thought of” partner

He’s a “try everything once” kind of guy so it’s perfect that you have no sense of self preservation

“Kenny stand on the other side of the field, I wanna see how far I can throw my phone.”

“Okay.”

You both infuriate stan to no end

#annoyingduo in the best way possible 

Do NOT put the two of you in the same room at a party

All of a sudden there’s a 15 person game of just dance happening but there’s no screen?? You’re all just doing moves you saw on just dance

Everyday is a new adventure

Kenny probably has an eye out for you though

He can die doing something stupid and be back the next day but you on the other hand are not 

Gotta keep his partner in crime alive! There’s a bunch of other things on his “before I die (for real)” bucket list that you still need to mark off

Kyle

You just get caught up in the moment! You have such a wonder for life!

Kyle doesn’t get it sometimes seeing as he tries to view everything logically. 

He’s more like a babysitter when you both go somewhere

“You did not just spend $300 on knock off jordans from a random man on the street corner.”

“I did and they’re the comfiest shoes I’ve ever worn. He told me they’ll cure my posture problems.”

“Do you just believe anything someone tells you?”

“Coming from someone who almost cried when I didn’t use his Candy Crush referral code so he could get more lives, that’s really rich.”

Okay so he gets swept up in trends sometimes. At least he understands his own mortality!

After the third time you try to learn how to do a backflip and fail miserably, he has to leave the room to keep from screaming 

keeps a mental count of the things you do every day that should kill you

the current record is 14

Stan

He doesn’t understand how you can just go through your day without a care

Are you not afraid of dying? That’s like 32% of his thoughts during the day

“Fuck I dropped my credit card down the drain. Stan, hold my ankles while I reach down to grab it.”

“I can literally see the used heroin needles down there.”

“Okay and??? Not my fault the city doesn’t have a safe use zone, I need that card!” 

One time you guys were leaving a store and the alarm went off 

Stan turned to ask you if you got the security tags removed but you we’re already sprinting halfway across the mall

Not because you stole anything, but because you saw jimmy, clyde, and tolkien walking out of a store and wanted to say hi

And then you spent the rest of the day being lectured by an underpaid paul blart wannabe

Stan was freaking out because he thought you would get arrested for causing a scene or something (they find any reason to arrest someone in south park) 

But all you did was laugh in that light hearted, careless way you always do

Cartman

Bro will manipulate your carelessness for all its worth

You are now the second person he calls when he has some stupid plot that needs someone who doesn’t understand the concept of death

If kenny’s busy, you’re on speed dial

Honestly, you’re probably the first call because you’ll do something stupid without needing to be paid! 

Free labor!

Wanna work at dicknbaus hot dogs for 14 hours with no pay? It’s free hotdogs! You’re in! 

Hes an exploitative motherfucker 

Thats all im here to say about it

butters 

You’re going to give him a heart attack

One time you purposely kicked a medicine ball to see how far it would go and broke your foot

And he was more worried about your foot than you were!

“Oh jesus, can you move it?”

“Um… no I don’t think so. Lemme take off my sock”

“AH ITS PURPLE!”

“Oh damn, you’re right. That’s a nice shade though, I was thinking of painting my room that color!”

“NOW IS NOT THE TIME TO BE TALKING ABOUT THIS”

Unlike kyle, he can’t force himself to ignore your careless nature

He’s always worrying about you 

He’ll suggest you both go to first aid classes or cpr training whenever you hang out “just for fun!”

but really he needs to know that you at least have some first aid knowledge if you're going to keep running around like death is a social construct

[bp-zb1fics]

Something cute with Zhang Hao where the reader became close with one of the boys (Jiwoong maybe?) and he's jealous because poor boy has the biggest crush on reader :( with a cute lil confession? 🥰

A real kiss~

pairing: jealous zhang hao x long time friend reader ft. jiwoong as the cause of drama (jk)

pronouns: none used

genre: canon au, fluff, humour

tw/tags: introvert things, nicknames, jealousy lol, jiwoong giving hands-on acting lessons (maybe a lil too hands-on for hao but he’s just being nice y’all), woong best wingman (yes he can sense the tension), kdrama mention, flashback, kissing, confessions

wc: 1175

summary: maybe hao’s a teeny little bit jelly of how well you get along with jiwoong. 

a/n if any of you saw this earlier than scheduled, it's because tumblr hates me and likes to confuse me constantly~ anyways thanks for the req anon, this was really cute and i enjoyed writing it very much, a little content note: xiào xiào is a nickname used for kids who are like happy or smiley but hao calls mc that bc they make hao happy shdsd ok if any better mandarin speaker would like to correct me or suggest another nickname, just lmk~

check my pinned for more fics!

Zhang Hao likes to think he’s a fairly laid back person.

Or at least, that’s what he likes to think when you’ve been deep in conversation with Jiwoong for the past hour and not spending time with the person who actually invited you over (him).

Okay maybe he isn’t being fair. You’ve also, over the past hour, checked in on him and tried your best to involve him in your conversation. It’s just that Hao is an introvert and today is one of the days where he doesn’t feel like making it a three way conversation. Also they’ve mostly worked it out but he and Jiwoong still have their awkward moments so there’s that too.

“You alright Hào hào?” Well at least he can enjoy the fact you’re using the nickname that only you call him. (Because absolutely no one else is allowed to call him that ever).

“I’m fine, Xiào xiào.”

You had joined Yuehua around the same time, Zhang Hao as an idol trainee while you were preparing to go into acting. To say you were close would be an understatement. You clicked immediately, the other Yuehua trainees would joke that you were Hao’s co-parent with how often you would come over to their dorm with food. 

Hao spent every free day he had off the program with you if both of you weren’t busy. Sometimes you’d even accompany him to visit his subway ads, obviously sporting a mask and hat and keeping it lowkey so as not to draw attention to yourself. While you’ve been an extra or had a line or two for a few drama gigs, you haven’t exactly made your public debut just yet.

It just so happened that you’d be working with Jiwoong on your first minor supporting role in The Good Bad Mother, alongside your actor sunbaenim in Yuehua who had the starring role. The eldest hyung also happened to have quite a bit of experience in acting and you happened to have questions. While your company sunbaenims and teachers were helpful, they were also quite busy and you didn’t want to bother them too much.

“So for kissing scenes-”

Suddenly, Hao’s full attention is on you as you ask his bandmate how one goes about filming such scenes. He’s not dumb. Hao knows once you start getting bigger roles, you might do scenes like that. But dammit, he wants to be your first kiss, not some actor who’s playing your love interest.

“You’ve never been kissed before?”

It’s one of those moments where you’re too tired from the hours and hours of PR training, Hao preparing for Boys Planet and you for the eventual conferences and public appearance you’ll make once you make your acting debut. 

“It’s not that.” You sink into the sofa of the little room you’ve been in for hours, learning how to avoid getting a bad edit on camera. 

“It’s just that none of them really meant anything, you know? It was for fun, for a dare or some shit like that. To figure out whether I liked boys or girls or both. I just don’t think it’s a real kiss, you know?”

“What’s a real kiss then?”

You’re quiet for a bit and Hao’s about to move on with the conversation when you speak again.

“With someone I like. I’d be nice to kiss someone I like. Someone who likes me too.”

I like you, Hao thinks. I’d like to kiss you. 

He could do it. He could offer. But he’s shy and your friendship is only a few months old and he’s going to get shipped off to this Mnet program soon. So instead he says:

“That sounds nice. I’ve never thought of it that way.”

“Maybe because you’re the type to go around kissing everyone, Mr. Campus prince.”

You tease.

“Hey! I wasn’t like that at all.”

Hao protests. You grin mischievously and your conversation devolves back to light, playful back and forth.

But Hao doesn’t forget.

Maybe that’s the day that he decides to try and become the someone you like.

Jiwoong’s hands are on your shoulders. Zhang Hao’s not sure when that happened but he does know that he doesn’t like it.

“So my hands should go here?” You ask, patting Jiwoong's rib cage. He nods, expression completely placid and wholly focused on teaching you how to manoeuvre yourself.

“You can also put it on their waist, the director will be giving you instructions and you can monitor yourself on camera between takes as well.”

You nod thoughtfully, tentatively placing your hands on him. Zhang Hao’s fingers twitch, just a little. Most of the members who had been filtering in and out of the room seemed to have disappeared. It’s just him, you, and Jiwoong.

Which is why you decide to lean in, your face just about a few inches away from the eldest ZB1 member.

“So I just go like this?”

That’s it. Hao’s had enough. He can’t do this. He can’t watch you anymore.

“Xiào xiào?” 

Hao’s careful not to show how happy he is when you pull away from Jiwoong and look at him. His hyung must have sensed it anyway, standing up and saying he’s supposed to meet Seobin soon. You thank him for the help, he says you can text him anytime (Hao’s not sure how to feel about that one) and then he leaves the two of you alone.

“There goes my acting teacher.” You pout a little and Hao can’t help himself.

“You came here to spend time with me, not take lessons from Jiwoong-hyung.” 

“Awww, is Hào hào jealous?”

“I miss you.” He says instead of answering, hugging your side like he usually does.

You hug him back, and in a small voice, you admit.

“I’ve missed you too, Hào hào.”

There shouldn’t be anything special about the moment. You’ve done this before, hugged like this before, said things like this before. But this time, he just-

Hao pulls away, his arms still wrapped around you loosely. It’s just enough so he can see your eyes, looking at him, he can’t read you too well, he swears his heart’s beating so loudly that you can hear it. But you don’t pull away. He leans in.

His lips are soft against yours, you can feel the slightly sticky sensation of the lip balm he uses, taste a little of the tea he was drinking a while ago. It’s warm and nice and it feels perfect.

His arms slide to your waist and your fingers circle around his shoulders, holding onto the fuzzy knit fabric of his cardigan. You can smell the perfumed lotion he uses, pleasantly floral and addicting. He keeps kissing you. You keep kissing back.

Hao only stops when his heart feels like it’s going to give out, catching his breath and looking at you with your flushed cheeks and swollen lips. He can’t help but ask.

“Was that a real kiss?” I like you so, so much.

“I think it was, Hào hào.” I like you too.

[l-just-want-to-see]

hey hi I would like to hear more about this 1945 au where Bianca joins Gaea and Kronos to avenge her mother's death (murder)

omg hi.

okay WATCH OUT. because I’ve thought wayyy too much about this au. short version: it combines the major pjo and hoo villains and stars Hazel and Bianca as protagonists. it’s abt grief, sanity, abandonment, and inevitability. all the characters are stuck in a world where they are incredibly powerless and they’re angry because they’re trying desperately to create some kind of agency for themselves.

long version: so basically it was inspired by a reread of son of Neptune, where I realized from Hazel’s memories just how watered down her character was in fanon. Hazel is certainly heroic, she’s brave, and occasionally kind, but she’s not the sweet innocent character a lot of people write her to be. She’s someone who’s deeply angry because of how much she was wronged - someone who was abandoned by essentially both of her parents and of course the justice of the underworld. So I initially thought about it as Hazel joining Gaea in Alaska. And I think it still works, but ultimately I do believe that Hazel would betray Gaea (as I said, she’s got a pretty solid moral compass). And then I realized she had someone that could be a perfect foil for her, and who had reasons to go against the Olympians.

That’s where Bianca comes in. Hazel, at this point allied with Gaea, gets both Bianca and Nico out of the Lotus Casino. The timeline is a little hazy (mainly working off of vibes and singular scenes 😔) but essentially Hazel flees from Gaea with both of her siblings. They try and cross the ocean to get to Europe in hopes of talking to the oracle of Delphi, because as kids from the 1940s they know nothing about the Greek/Roman gods, have no internet, and haven’t been found by CHB/CJ since they are busy with the war.

The trio gets separated with Nico and Hazel still on their way to Europe. In New York, Bianca remembers what happened to her mother. She goes to Kronos and tells him she is willing to help him in exchange for destroying the Olympians.

In Europe, Hazel and Nico essentially find other demigods on their way to Delphi. This team essentially consists of 1945 au’s the seven. There’s a German son of Zeus, Adar Anstand, a French daughter of Poseidon, Morgane Le Gall, an Italian son of Dionysus, Marco Veggere, and then people who I couldn’t find a name for (but I still love my children): a Scandinavian son of Apollo, and an Indian daughter of Demeter. They all have their own thing but I’ll keep it to one fun fact, which is that Marco doesn’t believe in the Greek gods at all. Incredibly, every time something magical happens, Marco isn’t in the picture so the belief gets stronger over time 😭

(more spoilers)

Hazel and Nico go back to New York to try and attempt to unite the Greek and Roman gods, which does work and help the seven minus those two defeat Gaea although they do all die. Sorry. Hazel and Nico also talk to Bianca on Olympus. Bianca ultimately makes the same choice Luke does (it’s very much a family Bianca you promised moment). sad. Sorry Bianca didn’t feature as much because in terms of the general timeline she’s just off w Kronos but she’s very important to the story, she’s the first character whose arc I really defined. You can go check my #1945 au if you’re curious for more of the vibes, bc I’ve tagged a bunch of web weavings that I feel match them. I’ve also got some about Adar and Marco I think?

[sillyunicorn]

hey, cheers for tagging me! tell me more about that 3+1 Simon singing fic bc 👀 i love those kind of fics lol

-s.ham

Hi! 🥰 tks for the ask!!

This one is actually mostly partially written! It's a cute little American (I know) high school AU where Simon is trying so hard to flirt with Wille through cheesy pop songs and Wille is. Clueless. Despite having the biggest crush on Simon. There's also a bet between Rosh and Ayub about how well Simon's plan will work due to said cluelessness 😂

This one is stalled out bc middles are hard and bc I have a bunch of "[TK LYRICS]" where I need to figure out what song Simon could be singing 🤣

Here's the first scene below the cut:

"Dude. That was like, super embarrassing for you."

"What?!" Simon spluttered as Rosh dropped her lunch tray on the table next to him. "You think he knew the song was about him?"

"Oh, definitely not. But everyone else did."

Simon's cheeks burned. He had just treated the entire combined choir and concert band classes to his rendition of "Kiss You" for their weekly Friday performances during the previous period. Rosh was probably never going to let him live it down.

Across the table, Ayub tried to make him feel better.

"He is, like, totally in love with you though. Did you see the way he was staring?"

"Like a baby deer lost in the woods," Rosh scoffed.

"A baby fawn," Ayub agreed.

"Just a fawn," Rosh said.

"That's what I said."

"No, you said baby fawn. Which is redundant. A baby deer is a fawn.”

"It doesn’t even matter," Simon interrupted. "He doesn't even know I exist."

A tater tot hit him in the cheek, and Simon looked up to see Rosh shrugging at him. "So make sure he knows."

"What do you mean? Sing him an even more obvious love song?"

Simon had thought he was being discreet. Sure, he had changed "tell me girl" to "tell me boy" and had maybe made eye contact with Wille a few times, but other than that there was no way anyone could have known who he had in mind.

Rosh rolled her eyes. "I was going to say talk to him. He’s oblivious. He didn’t have a clue your song was directed to him. He's never going to pick up on your hints."

"I don't know," Ayub mused. "I sit next to him in math and he's like, really smart. I bet he could figure it out."

"Book smarts and emotional intelligence are not the same thing, trust me," Rosh said, now ripping the skin off a clementine. "Or else Yasmina and I would still be together."

"So I should sing him some more songs?" Simon asked.

"Definitely," Ayub said, just as Rosh said, "Absolutely not."

Simon looked between them, torn between frustration and amusement.

"How about this," Ayub said, picking up the tater tot Rosh had thrown at Simon and tossing it back at her. "We’ll make a bet. If Simon can get through to Wilhelm in song by Valentine's Day, you have to go out with my cousin Aiza. If he can't, I'll drive you to soccer practice for the rest of the year."

"You think he can get Wilhelm to speak up in two weeks? Deal," Rosh said, popping the twice-thrown tater tot in her mouth and extending her hand to Ayub.

Simon, who was pretty sure both of those things were going to happen eventually anyway, since Rosh had been checking out Aiza's Instagram stories every day at lunch for the last two weeks, and Ayub would be getting his license at the end of January, just shook his head.

"Don't I get a say in any of this?"

"Nope," his friends said in unison.

[quirkle2]

HELLO ermm i love ur zombie au and i have a few questions about it i came up with while scrolling thru the tag if thats fine !!!!

ritsu and mob arent quite the same after being cured and all, but what about teru and reigen and tome?

By the moment mob gets cured, is the apocalypse also coming to an end?

how did teru and reigens adventure while searching for the kagebrothers go?

how did reigen and teru react to meeting tome?

why were the kagebros and teru with reigen? where are the kageyamas' parents?

HOPE THESE ARENT TOO MUCH I LOVE TJIS AU BYE

hello!! im glad ur likin it so far :]

this is a lotta questions (which, dw, i am stoked about) so this gets kinda long. tome backstory inside of a mini tangent tho so<3

(i talk abt the typical zombie au stuff but Also there's child and parental death here so be careful)

all of them are affected pretty greatly by this—it's an apocalypse after all. reigen is probably a bit hyper vigilant about keeping the kids in his sights, since last time he failed to do that, they got separated for like 2 years, mob got turned into a zombie, and ritsu gained trauma <3 he became quite protective over teru as time went on, since the kid was rly all he had left. it's actually a point of minor tension between him n teru; that is, teru being tired of his constant worry. reigen generally does a pretty good job at hiding those worries, but as time goes on that ability to mask it slips from his hold

he makes a strict rule that if they're going somewhere, they are using the buddy system and reigen Needs to know exactly where they're going. you can imagine a group of teenagers that want privacy have a bit of an issue w this sometimes, but they mostly understand

teru is very lucky to stick w his adoptive father for the whole journey (he'd.already adopted teru by the time the apocalypse rolled around) and he's very aware of that. he's no doubt run into plenty of dangerous situations with a plan that he does not bother to inform reigen abt, and therefore has given reigen approximately 16571651 heart attacks, and most likely has traumatized himself as well. teru is generally better at keeping a good mindset in situations like this, but it does indeed get to him sometimes. he's still just a kid, and it all feels kinda hopeless to him, bc even if they Do find ritsu n mob, what then? even living in a settlement doesn't guarantee your survival

teru seems to stick closer to people after everything—he hates being alone and gets kinda scared when left to his own devices. he likes hearing people talk around him; prolly a product of reigen constantly talking to him during the journey to keep their minds off of the Horrors. he cannot deal with silence

^ i WISH i had more to say about reigen n teru as a whole but unfortunately the main gang gets all of my attention and brain power . whyam i like this

tome is pretty hardy, and even though she lost her original family and ended up walking away from her adoptive one at the settlement, she rarely lets people know that gets to her other than a convo or two here and there with ritsu. she Is a little paranoid after everything, and it's a bit of a mix between her own paranoia and trauma getting to her along with ritsu's contagious vigilance. they both look over their shoulders for threats and sleep with their weapons—when tome joined ritsu n mob, she was targeted as well, so she's adopted some of those prey instincts

sorry if i go on a tome tangent here, but a theme w tome throughout this is that she never quite fits in anywhere. she never feels like she's somewhere she was Meant to be, and she's just kinda wandering from group to group searching for something that can replace the hole her original family's deaths left

i don't have a set-in-stone scene in my head for how it happens, but i've always imagined tome has a sister, either older or younger. in this au she's younger, and she unfortunately becomes a zombie. whether it was tome's fault or not, she Believes it is, and she did what everybody had told her to do—tome "mercy" killed her sister.

the Reason she joins ritsu n mob is because she sees a way for her to "redeem" herself—ritsu didn't go through with that choice. ritsu chose to spare mob, and take care of him, no matter How hard it got, and she feels like if she helps out w this, and aids in keeping somebody's beloved sibling safe, then she's still a good person. she doesn't rly do it for Him, Or his brother. she does it for herself (and sometimes she wonders if she's even More horrible for that)

she finds a purpose through ritsu and mob, but i wouldn't say she fully feels at home there. to delve into another question a lil bit, reigen n teru reacted well to tome, and reigen and her got along just like they do in canon. she becomes good friends w them, but there's times when she feels like the odd one out—because she is. she's the new person trying to meld into this group that already has a history and strong bonds, and even if she gets along w them well enough, she doesn't rly,,, sink right into it like it was made for her, yaknow?

she feels a little distant from everybody when mob is cured, too, bc their History is shining through and they're laughing and crying and hugging him and tome doesn't rly know how to intervene, or if she should, so she kinda hangs back and lets them have their moments of victory. and she quietly wonders if this "redeemed" her or not. she doesn't know. she doesn't feel like it did.

ANYWAY SORRY tome tangent over. is everybody still here [empty auditorium] excellent

to answer ur question about the apocalypse ending, no not rly ! it's certainly Slowing Down now that a solid cure has been created, and it will continue to do so for years, but i think it'll be ? a long while before zombies are a thing of the past for them. society was Wrecked by this shit so the kids will feel the effects of this well into their adult years

teru and reigen's adventures were generally ????a lot safer than ritsu's, since they were able to stay at settlements regularly, but they still ran into some trouble. the most fun parts about it to me are when they come across areas where ritsu n mob have been before

at some point they arrive at the settlement were tome was from ! and like clockwork, they Always ask—has anybody seen two kids, both with black hair, about yay high? one's got a bowl cut, the other spiky? names are ritsu n shigeo kageyama and they Finally get that spark of recognition in somebody's eyes. they ask the Head Guy of the settlement this and he goes "oh wow yes i Have seen ritsu, u must be the family he was lookin for! he was brought in here just a month ago... he was very sick,,he seemed better when he left with tome but i woulda liked him to stay a little longer, he still looked pale. no sign of that other kid tho... he did mention a brother" and they. ooookay. 1) ritsu was alive at least a month ago .holyshit.this is the closest to proof we've ever gotten, 2) the fact that ritsu was "very" sick has them concerned tho, and 3) He Wasn't With Mob ? uhm.

i rly am so sorry; reigen and teru tend to get the backburner spot in this au so i don't spend nearly as much time and energy fleshing out their story bits. they feel so shallow rn..,, ill hopefully fix that soon

aaaaand ritsu and mob were with reigen n teru bc their parents died. the only "good" detail abt this is that they didn't have to go through becoming zombies. ritsu was sleeping over at a friend's house when the worldwide panic set in, and the kageyama parents and mob were on their way to pick him up when they got into a crash in the crazy state of the roads. mob obviously survived w some wounds, but their parents weren't that lucky. teru and reigen were in the process of fleeing the city as well when they found him by the crash site by chance, and they picked up ritsu afterward in their mad dash to run. mob was the one to tell ritsu their parents just died—you can imagine how well that went

[dark-elf-writes]

Ok, so I finished!!! A couple of them are untagged aus/ideas that were there and I wanted to include in the list. Some of the AUs also had a few untagged posts I hunted down and listed in “quotes” or a hashtag with what to search to find them if you want to go back to tag them. And admittedly I only focused on the AUs I personally contributed to as me or anon, if only because those were the easiest for me to find.

* Timeloop: https://dark-elf-writes.tumblr.com/tagged/timeloop%20au/chrono

- note:some earlier ones aren’t showing, but thats bc earlier it was tagged as “time loop au” instead of “timeloop au”

* Symbol of Safety: https://dark-elf-writes.tumblr.com/tagged/symbol%20of%20safety%20au/chrono

* Hatake Clan Au: https://dark-elf-writes.tumblr.com/tagged/hatake%20clan%20au/chrono

- Note: earliest Hatake Clan lore is untagged.

- Can be found separately by searching:

“The image of the Hatake’s walking through a field”. “I decided to rewrite and expand on some things :))” “The Hatake were not always as they are”. “Kakashi is so goddamn stressed out he turns his ancestors hair gray”

* Venomous Naruto: https://dark-elf-writes.tumblr.com/tagged/venomous%20naruto/chrono

- I found origin posts! They cross over with the color blind au but eh

- “venomous Naruto Uzumaki is exactly what I needed to see today at 9:33 am”

- #also you know how the deadly animals are always brightly colored

- “Like baby Naru is very much in the camp of “any attention is good attention”

* Naruto Uzumaki Protection Squad: https://dark-elf-writes.tumblr.com/tagged/naruto%20uzumaki%20protection%20squad/chrono

- Note: first 2 post are not tagged; can be found by searching slacker squad.

- Additional note: second post is tagged “Naruto protection squad au” instead of “Naruto Uzumaki protection squad au”

* Shinobi Babysitter’s Club: https://dark-elf-writes.tumblr.com/tagged/Shinobi%20babysitter%E2%80%99s%20club%20au/chrono

- Note: The first post was a kakashi simp/appreciation ask from me but it could be added to the tag for full coverage since it sets the scene of the au. Can be found by searching “Aizawa energy”

* Kakashi’s Mom: https://dark-elf-writes.tumblr.com/tagged/Kakashi%E2%80%99s%20mom%20au/chrono

* Unnamed: there’s this kinda au we made with Naruto thinking the fourth hokage is boring and preferring Hashi or Tobi but it doesn’t have a tag. Screen shots included in next ask so you can just tag that

* Unnamed: Shikamaru finds out naruto is the son of the fourth hokage. Second post can be found by searching “my tumblr keeps crashing” and the first by searching #brilliance. There is also 2 other people find out posts that can be found by searching “it happens in the middle of class” and “Are there just no pictures of the Fourth Hokage other than the whole mountain thing”

* Unnamed: another orochimaru time travel. Less of an au and more of a prompt. Post can be found under #Oro-Sasuke is redefining emotionally repressed

* Unnamed: not rly an au, but a funny little theory/prompt about Hashirama, Lee, and Gai all having the same hair. Will send screen shots so u can tag that

* Unnamed: Naruto is foxy and color blind. Screen shots will be sent

* Ohana AU: https://dark-elf-writes.tumblr.com/tagged/ohana%20au/chrono

- Some posts are untagged so you can find them by searching:

- “Both are amazing. I could see them doing both tbh”

- “I mean Naruto is definitely his own level of Too Much”

* Foxy Naru: https://dark-elf-writes.tumblr.com/tagged/foxy%20naru/chrono

- “Give me night shine and predator instincts”

- I think these would work well with what’s already in the Hatake clan au if you wanna double them up on tags

* Vigilante Deku: https://dark-elf-writes.tumblr.com/tagged/vigilante%20deku/chrono

- “They’re honestly thankful for their mask so he can’t see how flustered they are”

* Hunter Au: https://dark-elf-writes.tumblr.com/tagged/hunter%20au/chrono

- First post not included, search “Supernatural but MHA”

Tell me if you want me to send the screen shots so u can tag them :)))

if u do end up doing that, I’ll make more chrono tags I’m case they get added to

I appreciate you so much you are a gift a saint a blessing upon my house. Truly unmatched. Amazing. Beautiful. gorgeous.

[sga-owns-my-soul]

20 Questions for Fic Writers

thanks @wonkyelk and @esteefee for the tag!!

1. How many works do you have on AO3?

21 currently!

2. What's your total AO3 word count?

27805! which is insane to me

3. What fandoms do you write for?

stargate atlantis 🥰

4. What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

Rodney McKay Has Worth (and not just for his brain) and Not Dating, but More Than Friends

Names Have Power

The Scientist and The Soldier

Expressions of Love and Trust

5. Do you respond to comments? Why or why not?

i try to! i don't always see comments but i definitely try to respond, even it's just to say thanks for commenting i'm glad you enjoyed it! it means a lot to me when people take time out of their day to not only read my fics, but to also leave a comment. i always appreciate it!

6. What's the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

for posted fics, probably Bludgeoned, it's very angsty and ends with an vague insinuation that rodney may or may not survive his latest off-world incident. for fics in general it's definitely my Bad Timeline au wip where nothing happy happens

7. What's the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

Ronon Gets Mad at Sheppard, i think. i've got a lot of fics with a happy ending but i'm really proud of this one and how it turned out. it was a bit of a challenge bc i don't write ronon very often but it was really fun to get into his character and i'm happy with how things got wrapped up in that one, i think it's a very cute fic

8. Do you get hate on fics?

thankfully, no!

9. Do you write smut? If so what kind?

yesss i love writing smut 🙏🏼 im honestly surprised at how little smut i have on my ao3 honestly, i don't think i even have a kink fic posted which is my favourite kind of smut to write. i should fix that 🤔 (feel free to send me ideas!!)

10. Do you write crossovers? What's the craziest one you've written?

i have written exactly one crossover in my life, i posted it unfinished on wattpad like a decade ago and it was a bones/one direction crossover where the boys got kidnapped by the gravedigger. i think i wrote like 4 chapters total before i abandoned it 😅

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

not that i know of, and i really hope i never do. i have no issues with people sharing my fics but please don't claim it as your own!!

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

not that i know of, but i would be so honoured if someone did!!!

13. Have you ever cowritten a fic before?

i'm currently co-writing A Big Project with @the-mushroom-faerie but shhh it's a secret no spoilers

14. What's your all-time favourite ship?

this will come as no surprise to anyone but it's mcshep 🥰🥰

15. What's a WIP you want to finish, but doubt you ever will?

so i had this idea for a fic about radek visiting rodney everytime he's in the infirmary, and it starts off with like a "hey can you sign off on these things cool thanks bye" but then after the storm he visits him and sees his arm and it progresses to radek getting very sad and stressed every time rodney gets hurt so he visits him in the infirmary. i've written a few scenes for it but it's such a big project that i doubt i'll ever finish it

16. What are your writing strengths?

i'm very very good at writing angst and sadness, probably bc i am a void of angst and sadness 😂

17. What are your writing weaknesses?

endings i'm so bad at endings i can't write endings for SHIT i feel like most of my endings suck lmao i also cannot do technobabble i'm not smart 😂

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language for a fic?

i only speak my bastard native language so i have to rely on other people or google translate so i very rarely do it, but i think it's so cool when other writers can do it!!

19. First fandom you wrote for?

uhhhh i don't remember if it was one direction or dan and phil that i first ever wrote for, i wrote for both of them right around the same time

20. Favourite fic you've ever written?

i really love all the fics i've written, both published and unpublished, but i think my absolute favourite fic i've written was this ficlet i posted here for a kiss prompt between ronon and jennifer (i just think it's so adorable and i love them and the little team dynamic/interaction is so sweet it's just so cute okay i love it)

Tags: @the-mushroom-faerie @spurious @frostysfrenzy @colonelshepparrrrd @frankthesnek and anyone else who wants to!!!

[chryzuree]

nitw chrysijacks au!!! tell me more abt it im so invested i love nitw!! do they get to be animals too...if they were animals what would they be!!!

AAAAH, okay okay, so it’s still a work in progress bc i haven’t decided if i want to have chrysi be in mae’s position but with elements of bea, or if i want jacks to be in mae’s position and have chrysi be mostly bea with just a hint of cole (bc i think chrysi would’ve absolutely left town for a bit), but as of writing this.. i’m erring towards chrysi as mae, since she defs can perceive things that most ppl can’t, plus she’s charismatic and generally a mess.

i was thinking chrysi shows up a couple days before her bday & you know. dismembered arm is found as usual. YES, chrysi’s thrilled abt this!!! VERY important to know!!! honestly, it’s a relief for her to find that arm, bc the vibes in that diner were in SHAMBLES. she was rlly trying to avoid eye contact w jacks and jacks was staring her down w his laser eyes. put those things AWAY, it’s literally four in the afternoon…

the party scene happens on chrysi’s bday itself, and guess who FUCKING FORGOT IT WAS HER BDAY. when the rest of their friends arrive at the party later (bc unfortunately, chrysi had to drive jacks out. she’s going to scream. that’s the worst, most awkward car ride over ever) & wish her happy bday, jacks is like “😦 oh………. happy birthday……….” <- has been in the same space as her for the past two hours. like. damn.

JACKS is the one that gets drunk (saw an ex, to which chrysi says, “you can’t run away from the town’s population”, since jacks is a serial dater), so chrysi takes him home and it’s the worstttt. she should’ve stayed at college. ((actually, jacks asks why she came home.. he’s rlly glad but he’s worried for her. unfortunately for him, he does NOT phrase it like that and chrysi gets even angrier w him))

they start repairing their relationship right around the same time chrysi starts seeing cult members / having fucked up dreams. so mostly, jacks comments on how exhausted and ill she looks. you really know how to compliment a girl, don’t you??

on one of their outings, chrysi finds out that jacks hasn’t rlly dated anyone in a while (omg.. theyre both single at the same time again.. which hasn’t occurred since jacks ruined their makeout session in senior year of high school!!!! wrow!!!!!) but anyway. still have to unpack allllllll the drama of high school before it goes anywhere.

their halloween celebration is fun.. i think that jacks would jst tag along w chrysi…. she’d win at the water balloon toss & they’d both laugh at their fortunes being read & jacks suspiciously goes missing when chrysi’s asked to cover for the witch play the town’s putting on. i jst think they need to reminisce abt halloween celebrations past… they neeeeeeed to kiss abt this, but they will NOT!!! never ever!!!!

jacks is the first to agree to research ghosts w chrysi <333 ughhh, he wants her so bad. does he believe in ghosts?? well.

THE SCENE IN THE WOODS, WHEN SHE GETS SHOT AT??? JACKS HAS TO BE PHYSICALLY DRAGGED AWAY SO HE DOESN’T ALSO GET SHOT AT. he’s sick with worry the whole time chrysi’s in the hospital. who cares abt the cult member keeping an eye on the appt??? he only cares abt how chrysi’s holding up…

he is dragging chrysi into the appt & picking her up bridal style when she shows up!!! he is putting her on the couch and tucking her in and curling up beside her!!!! they actually have a heart to heart there + chrysi begins to forgive him… before she “falls asleep” against him and jacks falls asleep too.. then chrysi gets up and goes to the woods w/o telling anyone.

jokes on her, bc jacks wakes up within ten minutes of her leaving bc he misses the feeling of her curled up against him. can NOT stop his obsessive crush and hyper-awareness of her. it’s been on overdrive since, like, ninth grade.

he’s the one to yell at her when they show up in the woods. OMG, JACKS ALSO HAS A CROSSBOW!!!! he fucking sucks at shooting at the guy tbh, he’s jst glad he managed to hit him.. then he hands off the crossbow to hold chrysi the whole way into the mines.

i haven’t rlly decided what i wanted to do here, bc i kinda want to deviate & play w story stuff regarding castor’s death.. kinda want it to be the valors that are part of the cult + they’re trying to bring castor back… but i also kinda want to up the level of danger throughout this whole time, so maybe castor’s already been revived as a vampire, but he’s like… super fucked up and ghoulish and nothing like the castor they knew… what if the mines were castor’s living quarters & they were jst trying to protect him?? plus this could mean that jacks can finally choose chrysi over castor !!!!!!! ,,,,mmm, yeah, i’m going to do that.

anyway. chrysi does NOT feel bad abt caving in the mines behind them!!!!!!! bye bye, valors!!! die then!!!!! jacks is a little more like, well, that was maybe not the best course of action? WHO CARES MAN!!!!!!

chrysi defs passed out bc visions or w/e but it’s FINE!!!!

the story would end w chrysi wishing jacks happy bday (fucked up two and a half weeks there, huh?) + jacks giving chrysi her bday present, bc he felt like an asshole that he a) forgot it was chrysi’s bday, and b) got blackout drunk on it… then they kiss abt it <333 and now they’re a couple!!!!

i wasn’t rlly thinking they’d be OFFICIALLY animals, but i think they’d both have a cat / fox motif…. lots of shirts + trinkets to call to mind those animals for them!!!!!!!!!!!! they should kiss…

[6okuto]

Hello!! I love your work and was wondering how you get different ideas for fics? I struggle coming up with ideas that are kinda outside the box lol, lots of love <333

OMGGG Thank U!! I get it. < girl who's been stuck on ideas. lol...(said in agony). i will try to make a list for both of us (T＿T)b

being so srs 1) i don't think any of my work is vry unique/creative and 2) i'm an infp-t who injects romance into everything and thinks about it everywhere. i have issues. so a popular prompt or one of my Many thoughts is usually all i need 🫥😔 But!!!

reels/tiktoks, esp if it's a trend (would u love me if i was a worm / act a fool / etc). i basically trained my fyp before i uninstalled tiktok to give me new scenarios LMAO

prompt lists/generators can be vry helpful to get my brain going

^ have a list of fave charas / charas that have different personalities !! bokuto, iwaizumi, suna, etc. r faves but they're so different that Boom. 1 prompt = 5 scenes to pick from :]

+ a list your favourite things / tropes/ aus. doesn't matter how popular or niche! key things for Me: special moments/firsts + domesticity + charas being whipped. LOL

think of different media! your fave shows/movies, dating sims, etc. do u have a favourite moment.. what got U flustered 🤨

i get smau ideas from pinterest sometimes . i find funny memes + tweets and save them to a board LOL

Read other works!! also i follow the oc questions tag bc the q's can hit super specific scenarios that make u go Woah

tbh ideas just come from,,, life. silly things. Write down these moments to use later! "photo of you" was bc i saw a girl printing pcs of herself for her friends and said hey... :)

^ "boyfriends in public" was bc i kept watching couples try to pay for each other at checkout. songs they'd post you to...i kept seeing ppl posting their s/o and said what about Me.

multi-chara post: take a prompt and think of it in different locations! he gives you his jacket? why? because you're outside and it's cold, because you're at his game/set/etc. and he thinks it'd be cute that everyone knows you're dating, because you want to sleep and you can use it as a blanket, etc etc.

^ just start naming random places in ur head and see if anything happens—get more specific as u go! house. kitchen. the walk-in pantry. boom: big party scene and person a walks into the pantry at the sight of their favourite snack, caught by person b who's the host. oh that's a good one actually. woah. LOL

and like,, it's so so cool to just.. do an idea that's been done before. remember that if u as a reader will eat up the same prompt/trope over and over again, that u as a writer can feel happy to write it too!! So Many of my own posts have been done before but i think they're still good in their own way 🤷🏻‍♀️ U writing it rather than someone else means that it'll automatically be special to U.

some prompts / thoughts 4 u to use + get ur brain going!!! ^___^

holidays, birthdays, anniversaries, firsts dance! in the kitchen? at a wedding? is it their first one? are they really bad at it? person a thinks person b is a worker and asks for help and they do! they do Not work at this store though. fogged up glasses person a saving b from an awful looking date / a no show a gets b smth from build a bear with a special recording both going to the movies alone but ending up next to each other. it's a comically bad movie a is asked what their 'type' is and describe b who's listening both cosplaying as a chara part of a duo/relationship, then spotting the other at a con :0 (hurt/)comfort: anxious reader, overworked reader, someone was rude, person a has a nightmare, person a accidentally injures themself and doesn't tell b package left at the wrong door "god the men you put on this earth to hunt and protect are ___" person a, who struggles to initiate physical affection, suddenly initiates physical affection (why? where? are they both flustered?) person a tries slipping a valentine into b's things as a secret, but is caught in the act strangers on an airplane watching the same movie next to each other (bonus: one is re-watching, the other is watching for the first time. the re-watcher pretends they don't know what's going to happen because it's endearing to watch the other) a accidentally reacts to b's ig story or posts the comment they very much did not mean to comment

[seiwas]

i think i exceeded the tags writing my thoughts on this willow omg but i so loved the way this was written!! 🥺 i don't normally gravitate towards android au's but your writing always has a way of pulling me in anything you come up with!!

you were able to fit in so much in just 2k words sjhdbvadhj ur writing always integrates such rich context without it feeling too much!! it always reads so easily!! and flowy!! and like i am being fed the details and not /reading/ it yk?

this concept is so shouto too!!! u are the au expert and i love how u paired todorokis bluntness and somewhat cluelessness with his nature as an android/robot!! i think it matches so well aaah he is so innocent so cute i wanna mONCH on his CHEEKS (even tho ill be tasting metal)

anD!! your worldbuilding is insane!!!! the descriptions you put and the names you made to describe ads and the corporation and even down to the construction of shouto as an android like omg... shjdbajds u r so so so cool for that 🥺 i could rlly feel cyberpunk vibes from gsdahf (idk if u meant for that to show but thats the kind of streets i got from the way u were describing it!! all the neon lights!! like arcane!!)

i so love the way you carry the android theme throughout your writing too !!! the words you chose are so thematically consistent and!!! i find that so so biG BRAINED!!! and satisfying... like i would have never noticed that before but now that i write a little i think word choice is one of the things i am constantly noticing !!! and i can feel so much how carefully thought out your words are here !!!

i also ADORE anything that humanises a character and setting up shouto as an android leaves so many possibilities to explore that 🥺 which im so glad you did !!! ugh !! just grappling with the whole do they have free will? is the life they live theirs? are they more than their intended purpose? (i saw that u were inspired by ex machina writing this and i could rlly feel it !!!!!)

am now gonna share some of my favourite parts!!

i think it's so cool how you integrated the happenings of his scar (from the explosion) and how endeavour is his 'creator' by working fr the company that made him (Todoroki Corp.) i've always adored how incredibly creative you are!!

if the hands that made him and the hands that ruined him are the same, if he meant to leave or if he was cast out. <- i love that line so much!!

i like the constant conflict of how he is so android by fact, but is so human by feel! and it's so cute how he's able to get a better sense of what reader's feeling by reading all their stats (heartbeat, vocal cues, etc.)

As his fingers shift until their smooth pads are brushing the delicate veins in your wrists, as he tightens his arm around yours when another stranger on the streets knocks your shoulder, as he leans into the warmth of your humanness <- i also really loved that line!! and how it makes him feel so human!!

Technicolor rains down on your both, swathing him in a wild array as advertisements dance on the buildings that tower above you <- and THISS!!! technicolour rain sounds so so pretty, and i think it paints the image of the scene so so vividly!!

this is also such a small line but i liked how you used 'ruination' here (idk!! just smth abt it!!): but Shouto looks down at you in all his ruination and—

This is one those moments in which he overrides all your defenses, uploads something warm and hopeful and frightening into your chest cavity <- it's this!! the choice of words!! overrides and uploads uGH WILLOW!! i am kissing ur brain and ur fingertips!!!! it's so so satisfying how in theme it is!!

Maybe it’s not the rain that amuses him—and maybe it is. Maybe it really is that simple, that innocent. Maybe it’s the microtremors in your voice and your increased heart rate, all the little details that could never go unnoticed. <- this paragraph i also really loved!! i think bc it's humanising him so much!! and how he's able to be amused by all these mundane, human things bc of the fact that he isn't one sbhsjfs

AND IT'S SO CUTE!!! how he doesn't stop asking in the end, as if he has his own lil personality and flavour sddsgbsj this was a lovely read willow ! :')

one thousand lonely stars, hiding in the cold—

android!shouto x reader

wc: 2k+

tags: angst, cyberpunk dystopian setting, financial vulnerability, explicit language, minor mention of sex work + sex workers, reader has strong/conflicting feelings about their situation, and — as always — the question of true humanity.

notes: what a great opportunity this was for me to continue exploring this idea !! tysm to @shoto-brainrot for not only giving me the chance, but also for being such a support and helping me to figure out all this commission jazz !! i so appreciate you, and i hope you enjoy it ! 🩷

original post

You’ve yet to find out what caused the damage to Shouto’s faceplate.

By the time you discovered him outside the credit exchange, he had been busted open and left for—whatever the equivalent of dead is for an android. A gaping hole in the left side of his disturbingly human face exposed his inner circuitry to the rain and you think that should have finished him off, truly, but—he's still kicking. 

Technology in the lower district is distinct. The most careful hands could have crafted him down in the best underground salvage yard and he still wouldn't have lasted half an hour with his face submerged in a shallow mud puddle like that. Wiring would have been shot, fuses blown.

Even if the Todoroki Corporation symbol on his wrist wasn't glowing, a blinking light in time with his would-be heart, you'd know what he is. You'd know he didn't belong down here, beneath the smog, in the industrial bones of your dying city.

And yet—

The left side of Shouto's face took the brunt of whatever blow he'd been dealt, and the scarring—if it's even called that?—has extended down over his cheekbone and backward, so violently that his ear had only barely been hanging on. Without the bandage you've wrapped him up in, he's quite a sight: half a tangled mess of wires and pins, a dull cyan light glowing in his orbital socket. With the wrapping, however, he’s almost exactly as he was meant to be: seamless.

The fate of his detached ear had been unknown. Until this morning.

It still works, much to your surprise, learning so only after wondering aloud the whereabouts of your data docket and hearing Shouto answer from across the apartment. Whoever put him together, you realize, took great care to make him durable, adamantine; the carbon nanotubes and polymer arrays that make up his cochlea were hardly affected by the assault.

Someone—or something—meant to harm him, and you know that for certain, now. Such wreckage couldn’t have happened naturally, not to a Skin-Puppet like him.

(When you look at him, you can’t help but consider his creator. How far he is from them and why. If the hands that made him and the hands that ruined him are the same, if he meant to leave or if he was cast out. You haven’t asked, but it’s odd that a machine could keep such information to himself—itself.)

(Given the brutality behind his mutilation, perhaps it’s best you don’t know the answers.)

Working tech from the richer district—KōkyōLuxuria, above the smog, built high into the clouds—could not only earn you enough to eat this week, but also to pay off all your debts to the League. Maybe even finance a decent apartment a few stories up.

And that’s why you’re here: racing through the slums in the rain, doing your damndest to make this sale before time runs out and you’re forced to find another buyer. Coming across a Hack with 1,640,254 credits in their docket is rare; who knows when you’ll find someone from the Trade in Musutafu sector again? You’re likely to sooner perish—either from your empty stomach or that broker that demanded payment two days ago.

Shouto, however, doesn’t see the urgency.

“Hello, handsome! Awful cold out tonight…care to warm me up?”

“Oh, hello.”

At the even, all-too-friendly lilt in his voice, you halt your sprint again, and spin around with a hiss. “Shouto!” You snap—but it comes too late; the Entertainers have struck like lightning, already scrambling his code. 

Out of habit, you’d pulled the hood of his sweatshirt up over his head before leaving the apartment, and now the material separates his image from view—though you can easily imagine the pleasant expression showing on his face, illuminated in pink under the NanotechNymph advertisement.

At his easily captured interest, two women strut from the open doors of the low-lit den, all allure and swaying hips, mirage flickering beneath the heavy rain. They only meet him halfway—too far from the emanator deep within the club—and you dash forward to stop him from wordlessly accepting their offer. You can’t afford to owe anyone any more than you already do.

“Shouto,” you say again, mouth twisting when he looks at you simply. Despite the hood, his bandage grows dark from the rain and—despite his framework, worry fluxes in your stomach at the thought of him getting too wet. “We have to go.”

“Aww,” an Entertainer says to you, girlish pout pulling down her full lips. “You don’t want to come inside and play with us?”

“No,” you try not to look at them any longer, just in case that racks up a charge, too. Rock solid as he is, Shouto allows himself to be steered away, much to your relief. “Buzz off, holo-ham.”

“I’d like to play.” Shouto pipes up, peeking behind his shoulder when the girls squeal in excitement. “Can we come back once we’ve finished?”

“Not for that kind of play.” You put a hand on the back of his head and swivel it, all while shoving him down the sidewalk. You almost remark on how man-like he’s acting, before chasing the thought away.

“What other types of play are there?”

“Just—hush.” 

And he does, finally, when you loop your arm through his: a presumably innocent gesture that draws his attention fully back to you, as physical touch seems to do, with him. Beneath the material of the jacket, he feels natural, all muscle and bone, even leaning into you as if the weather has made him cold. You can feel him tracing your face with his one-eyed gaze—scanning you—and you pretend not to notice.

“Your heart rate has gone up. Have I made you angry?”

“Yes,” you tell him, though he hasn’t, really. “You and your curiosity are gonna make me late, and then we’ll be in some serious shit.”

He looks away then, down to the soaked pavement, a mimicry of disappointment. From the corner of your eye, you can see his manufactured Adam’s apple bob, and the muscle beneath your hand shifts.

“They seemed nice, the holograms.” He says, and you can’t help the soft snort such a comment merits. 

“Yeah, they’re nice, alright, until you can’t pay them.”

Shouto looks at you once again, stride threatening to falter until you tug him along. “Do you know them?”

You already know where he’s going with his question, and the corner of his lips quirk up when you cast him a filthy look. “Well, no, but—”

“Then how do you know—”

“I just do, alright?” You frown at him and he accepts it in full, studying once more. Whatever he finds in your expression amuses enough that he’s placated for the moment, though you know it won’t be long before he’s piping up again.

He does it often—studies you: body language, physiological changes, speech patterns, vocal cues. Human behavior he catalogs and streams to someone back at the Corporation headquarters, finding the miniscule details he can use against you, some day. Whatever the reason behind his damage, he is still a product of his evil overlords, made for reasons you can only imagine. 

This is what you tell yourself. 

As his fingers shift until their smooth pads are brushing the delicate veins in your wrists, as he tightens his arm around yours when another stranger on the streets knocks your shoulder, as he leans into the warmth of your humanness: this is what you tell yourself.

You’re overcome with a sense of loss and you don’t know why, and you clear the strange lump hardening in your throat. “Life lesson number six, Todoroki,” you murmur it closely to him, nearly into the fabric at his shoulder, though he doesn’t react to the name. “Everybody wants something from someone, holo-hams included.”

Shouto seems to process your words, for a moment, and his face is expressionless when you steal a peek up at him. Technicolor rains down on your both, swathing him in a wild array as advertisements dance on the buildings that tower above you, and again you think of his creator. The careful hands that crafted his smooth cheeks, the sharp line of his nose, the leanness of his body. You wonder if he’s ever been deemed precious.

Nearly all of the residents relegated to the lower districts owe the Todoroki Corporation in some way. Be it through credit loans or applied interest rates on subsidized housing or hidden costs and high premiums on mandatory, shit insurance—Enji Todoroki sits in the lap of KōkyōLuxuria, has probably never even stepped down from his pedestal. 

There’s no good reason a product of his could have found its way to you: this is what you tell yourself.

“And you want my ear.” Shouto says, looking back down at you as your shoulders tense. There isn’t a byte of hostility in his voice, but he must understand the sharpness to what he’s saying.

“Yes,” you admit with a nod, and some underlying, rogue streak of guilt has you pressing into him, as if your proximity could make up for your selfishness. “The sensors in your ear are gonna pay for our dinner tonight, handsome.”

His stride falters once more, and despite the time clock ticking in the back of your mind—you let him stop you. Maybe you want him to. Nothing ever goes unnoticed by him and you know that and maybe it’s cruel of you to say such a thing, to offer a comfort you can’t admit to, but Shouto looks down at you in all his ruination and—

Before he can say anything, a fat drop of water hits the tip of his perfectly manufactured nose. It makes him flinch, delayed, and the surprise he wears and the scrunch of his brow seem so—human, there before you. Shouto tilts his face to the dark, smoggy sky, and again that worry bites you, about too much water trickling into his core.

“We’re going to be late,” you repeat, though it’s much weaker than it was earlier. This is one those moments in which he overrides all your defenses, uploads something warm and hopeful and frightening into your chest cavity; you can’t tell if you want to run because you have to, for the sale—or if it’s a result of watching him now, haloed in neon.

He’s not one to ignore you, but he doesn’t respond, instead retracting his arm from your grip in order to push the hood back off his head. Raindrops soak into his bandage and the excess pools, dripping down over the line of his jaw and the column of his throat. So close to him, you can see the goosebumps that break out across his skin.

(You wonder if he’s ever been deemed precious. You wonder if he meant to leave, or if he was cast out. You wonder if he was created for continued corruption—or if someone out there wanted him to experience life, no matter how rusty.)

(You wonder if he feels as human as he looks. If he can blush, or if the soft skin below his ear can bruise.)

A small sound bubbles out of him, like a light laugh of disbelief. 

You found him face down in the rain; you’re not sure why it could cause such a reaction now, but he turns to eye the commercial playing behind him, before watching the path of a man walking by the two of you. Rain collects in his perfect cupid’s bow until he licks it away, and his hair slicks to the side when he pushes it out of his face. 

Shouto turns his attention back to you rather plainly, though the edges of his smile pull up a little higher than they usually do, enough that the apples of his cheeks round. He asks you, “What’s going to be for our dinner?” and the question is oddly worded, but each one is intentional. 

Maybe it’s not the rain that amuses him—and maybe it is. Maybe it really is that simple, that innocent. Maybe it’s the microtremors in your voice and your increased heart rate, all the little details that could never go unnoticed. 

There isn’t a way that this could end well: this is what you tell yourself.

You nod once and turn to face back the way you came, resigned, before looping your arm through his again. You trace the delicate veins on the inside of his wrist, careful not to cover the slow-blinking symbol embedded there, and you decide it doesn’t matter what his creator did or didn’t want. Because he has wants of his own, just like anyone.

“Okay,” you sigh, and when you slosh through the puddles collecting on the sidewalk, Shouto seems happy to follow along, this time. “I can probably sweet talk Toyomitsu into buying us some takoyaki, but you’re gonna have to play it cool.”

“Is this the kind of play you were talking about?”

That lilt has returned to his voice, even and friendly and amused.

“No,” you swat at him to hear his little huff of laughter, “now stop asking about that.”

Of course he doesn’t.

[luckycheesefoodie321]

I posted 3,361 times in 2022

351 posts created (10%)

3,010 posts reblogged (90%)

Blogs I reblogged the most:

@mxcrowe

@cottonskittles

@lunaisace

@derinthescarletpescatarian

@lithi

I tagged 496 of my posts in 2022

#kdrama - 211 posts

#extraordinary attorney woo - 193 posts

#spoilers - 118 posts

#korean drama - 63 posts

#asian drama - 60 posts

#percy jackson - 23 posts

#the umbrella academy - 20 posts

#pjo - 18 posts

#manga - 15 posts

#percy jackson and the olympians - 14 posts

Longest Tag: 137 characters

#like i can handle letting suyeon be with a judgemental bitch bc she’s i’ve known you so long i don’t need to be nice to you anymore vibes

My Top Posts in 2022:

#5

As someone who has absorbed MLB almost entirely through tumblr and has only watched a few eps here and there but really wants to get into it, I like to visit the tag whenever it trends and was curious about today and what was happening. But as it turns out @buggachat (??) Bakery Enemies AU is straight up just thriving and from what I can tell, is 90% of why MLB is trending atm XD

264 notes - Posted August 21, 2022

#4

The subtlety of Park Eun-bin’s acting that you know the difference between Young woo’s natural aversion to eye contact and her actively trying to play coy and avoid Myeong Seok’s gaze when he accurately deduced she definitely jumped in on the arrest on the train bc she couldn’t help herself

295 notes - Posted July 29, 2022

#3

When Steven finds himself in Dr Harrow’s office and Harrow let’s slip that his mum had passed away and he explodes at him so Harrow backpedals and actually picks up the phone to “call” the mum… and just the increasing distress on Steven’s face as he practically begs him not to bother his mum until Harrow holds out the phone and just the grief on his face as Steven finally admits out loud that his mother is dead…

Give Oscar the Oscar and 15 motion picture deals.

311 notes - Posted April 28, 2022

#2

Fun things after watching The Batman

The movie sets a more crime-thriller, film noir take on Batman that really hones in on Bats as the world’s greatest detective as opposed to throwing in a bunch of action scenes as has been the norm of late for “superhero” films. The action choreo that is there feels so real and like an actual real person fighting, making Bats feel more grounded as a person, and the action set pieces just compliment all the build up through the quieter moments. Literally 80% of this film is him looking around a room for clues or inferring some sort of deduction from a conversation and I’m here for itttt

The actor who plays Tim Drake in Titans plays the scared kid who doesn’t wanna beat up the random guy. Not the same Batmen but how fun if that was Tim Drake’s origin story in another timeline

This whole time Bruce is majorly projecting on the Mayor’s son his own trauma as a kid who lost his parents to a brutal murder. In both Bruce and Bats forms, he holds eye contact with the kid. When Bats comes over to help the people trapped under the tower, and the mayor-elect Bella Reál hesitates to take his hand (bc he’s a vigilante who in many ways represents everything she’s been campaigning against, also bc he’s masked and dangerous etc) the first one to take his hand and thus demonstrate his trust in Bats is the kid. And the others follow (literally that shot with the flare and everyone following in the dark water was so beautiful I cannot)

The repeated use of Ave Maria whether in full form or hints throughout the score as a signal of impending danger

That opening title screen just stretching all the way across the theatre screen. Magnificent

Despite the “I am Vengeance” line being the mic drop-ish line from the trailer, basically everyone makes fun of Bats for using it the whole movie and then it comes back in a sinister way right at the end

People initially laughing at the idea of Robert Pattinson as Bats now saying his is one of the best interpretations of Batman so far, especially in terms of the detective aspect of the character

This version of Bruce reads as much younger than the other interpretations of Bruce Wayne. Like all of them are “would rather do XX than go to therapy” to some degree, but this version of Bats leans hard into this and feels really fresh on the scene. Guess it helps that when he’s Bruce he doesn’t switch immediately into a three piece suit and actually wears normal clothes. And he’s only 2 years into the game. I think it also adds to this image bc the playboy personality is nonexistent in this version of Bruce. He’s attracted to Selina (or at least drawn to her and the kiss just pushed it in a more romantic direction), but he also doesn’t push it beyond the opportunities she has presented to him. So idk. That seems very young of him?? I guess to be so caught up in the Batman of it all that he doesn’t recognise the potential for him and Selina until after she kisses him.

The fact that Selina’s leather suit actually has some give and slight bagginess to it. Like yes it is form fitting, but there’s clearly wiggle room and that’s a small thing but v important I think that it isn’t skin tight. Bc all other scenes she’s dressed in what I would say are very revealing clothing, as part of her job at that club that exploits women’s bodies and looks for profit. In this outfit, she clearly has so much more control and ownership of her body, and despite the typically slinky and seductive image of Cat woman, her suit feels quite practical and more like a uniform or battle outfit.

Paul Dano was freaking brilliant as The Riddler. But I also kept thinking “yo it’s that guy from Little Miss Sunshine” XD

1,836 notes - Posted March 6, 2022

My #1 post of 2022

Crap

Pads

Sexy

Stripper

Cramps

All words that you don’t realise have impact until you suddenly hear them in a pixar movie and you double take way harder than you thought you would bc wow they said that so casually… bc yeah a 13yo prolly does say crap and sexy on occasion… and hey periods are perfectly natural so duh ofc the mom would bring out a pile of pads for her pubescent daughter, and talk about using herbal tea for cramps…

but also you don’t realise that you’ve never heard any of these things in a movie geared for children and pixar managed to do it so casually that it made you blink for a hot second before being quite pleased that it’s been included… that things like periods are discussed so openly in a film and pads are acknowledged and named and shown on screen rather than acting like it’s taboo or unnatural (not only the mom but also Abby/Priya?? saying she has pads for Mei)… to theme a film specifically on the female puberty experience… the change in body odour (when Priya whipped out deodorant for Mei??? Love that), the discomfort in your own body, the mood swings, the sweating, in many cases a greater physical and emotional attraction to others… an experience which in the past has been so greatly hush hush and treated like a shameful secret…

Then you think to yourself wow imagine if pixar had managed to include the lgbt+ character they had been hoping to insert in what would likely be a very respectful but also casual and natural representation that does not define the character purely by their presence but by what they as a person bring to the story (betting my life on Miriam and the potential for a Mir-Mei ship) had the Mouse not gotten in the way.

And this was meant to be a fun post about how casually Abby said “stripper music” and how I actually double-taked at Meilin saying sexy, but then i had other thoughts…

2,539 notes - Posted March 12, 2022

Get your Tumblr 2022 Year in Review →

[youssefguedira]

hello everyone i am here with more lotr au. this is again partially the fault of @spacegirlsgang for a) suggesting the whole au in the first place and b) making me feel emotions about it regularly and also partially a little bit inspired by this art by @non-un-topo bc i have not been able to stop thinking about it. it is also the sort-of sequel to this

Yusuf has not exactly gotten used to battle, but he likes to think he’s gotten better at it. He’s had to. Their journey has been a dangerous one. He’s glad that now, at the end of it all, he has Nicolò with him.

By now, he is used to having Nicolò beside him in battle, there to stop the enemies that Yusuf does not see, to fell them before they even reach him. Nicolò wounds an enemy and Yusuf finishes them off. Yusuf ducks to allow Nicolò to fire an arrow over his shoulder without needing to be told. Part of him is terrified, of course - if they lose today, they will lose everything - but at least he is not alone.

Except then, Yusuf loses him.

It happens between one breath and the next. Yusuf turns to look for him, but Nicolò is not there. He is not among the bodies already on the battlefield, nor is he among the surrounding soldiers. Yusuf cannot see him anywhere.

He needs to move, and he needs to move now; lingering in any one place during battle can be deadly, and he has already been standing here too long. But he’s frozen to the spot, still searching the masses around him desperately for any sign of Nicolò. There is none, and Yusuf is terrified for him. It cannot end like this, not after everything they’d been through. This cannot be it.

An Orc charges him, forcing him to snap out of his spiral, raising its club high above its head, but is felled by an Elvish arrow between the eyes before it reaches. Yusuf whirls, searching for the arrow’s source - hoping - but it’s an elf Yusuf doesn’t recognise. Not Nicolò.

The encounter succeeds in bringing him back to the present, though. He cannot panic now, or there is a very high chance he will die. So Yusuf fights on, disoriented and terrified as he is, because he cannot do anything else. There are a few close calls - he is too used to fighting with Nicolò by his side - but he survives, and keeps scanning the horizon for a familiar silhouette.

The battle ends when the earth itself shakes apart under their feet, swallowing the enemy hordes; when the great, looming volcano on the horizon shudders and erupts. Yusuf sees Andromache in the distance astride her horse, her axe raised high in victory. Quynh is beside her, red robes standing out amid the armor of their allies, with her staff in hand. Sebastien is there, too. Nicolò is not.

But he is not among the bodies that Yusuf can see, either, and that gives him hope as he searches. Around him, people are celebrating, mourning, tending to one another’s wounds. He barely pays any of them any mind.

Just when he is beginning to lose hope, he catches sight of a familiar figure in the distance. His tunic is stained with blood, the braids Yusuf had done for him early this morning beginning to come undone, no longer as neat as they had been, but the sight of him lifts a weight from Yusuf’s chest.

“Nicolò!” he screams across the battlefield. Nicolò turns. Catches sight of him.

Yusuf is running before he can think about it, his sword falling from his hand at some point. He trips on a rock that juts out from the bloodstained ground and almost falls, but then Nicolò is there to catch him, pulling him close, his arms tight and secure around Yusuf’s back, sinking to his knees and pulling Yusuf with him, one hand sliding into Yusuf’s hair as Yusuf presses his face into Nicolò’s neck with a relieved sob. Nicolò presses his lips to Yusuf’s temple, shakily whispering “Yusuf, arimelda- elenionya ancalima- I thought you were-”

“I’m here,” Yusuf says, clinging tightly to Nicolò’s tunic. “I’m here.”

Nicolò exhales slowly and holds him tighter.

They don’t move for a while, both too relieved to do anything else. Yusuf runs his hands over Nicolò’s back, his ribs, his chest, checking for injuries - he can’t forget the sheer amount of blood he’d seen on Nicolò’s tunic. “Are you hurt?” he asks, pulling back to look at him.

“It’s not mine,” Nicolò says. “I’m okay.” He reaches up, thumb brushing Yusuf’s cheekbone. “Are you?”

Yusuf nods hurriedly. Nicolò leans in, pressing their foreheads together, and Yusuf closes his eyes.

“It’s over,” Nicolò whispers into the space between them. “We won.”

Yusuf hasn’t even begun to process that yet - the sheer relief that their battle is finally over, and that they’d survived it; the desperate hope that Nile and Lykon hadn’t been on the mountain when it erupted; the exhaustion of the long battle. There are so many things he could say.

“I love you,” he says instead of any of them. He hadn’t admitted it last night, not when there was a very real possibility that one or both of them could die the next day. Yusuf is a storyteller: he knows just as many stories that end in tragedy as those that end happily, stories where not everyone survives the final battle, where the lovers are separated by death. The odds in this battle had been stacked against them from the beginning. And yet, despite it all, here they are, alive and together at the end of the story.

It’s not the most poetic of declarations - Yusuf could do better given time to think about it - but Nicolò smiles like the sunrise anyway, and it feels like the beginning of a new story.

“I love you too,” he replies, in that simple, earnest way of his. Yusuf kisses him then, because what else is he supposed to do?

When they part, Nicolò closes his eyes and rests his head on Yusuf’s shoulder, and Yusuf makes no move to pull away. Later, they will reunite with Andromache, and Quynh, and Sebastien. Later, they will wait anxiously for any sign of Nile and Lykon. Later, they will tend to the wounded and bury the dead and try to find a way to help their world heal from this.

For now, Yusuf thinks, they can steal a few more moments.

[thelastspeecher]

...Not giving this a title because I don’t know what to call it.  And no preamble, because I have to get dinner started.  Here, have Fiddleford meeting Stan in the Stansort AU.

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              Someone tapped Stan on the shoulder.  Stan stopped staring out the window at the snowy grounds and turned. A young man stood before him.  

              The only people I’ve seen with a nose like that were the royal family. The man began to speak to Stan in Lironian.  Stan held up his hands.

              “Whoa, whoa, I’m not that good at Lironian yet,” he said quickly.  “You gotta talk slower, man.”  The man frowned.

              “Are you American?” he asked.  His accent was just like the royal family’s as well, light and reminiscent of French.  Stan nodded. “Why are-”

              “Fidds!”  At the shout, Stan and the stranger looked over.  Angie and Lute ran into view and tackled the stranger in immense hugs. The stranger chuckled.

              “Good to see you, too.  Even if it only took one semester of me being abroad before you replaced me with an American.”

              “Who?” Lute asked, breaking off his hug.  Angie followed suit.  Stan cleared his throat.  Lute looked at him.  “Oh! Right.”  He looked back at the stranger.  “That’s just Stan.”

              “We’d never dream of replacing you,” Angie said, bouncing on the balls of her feet.  “Stan’s a special case.”

              “Oh?”  The man eyed Stan with an analytical gaze.  “How so?”

              “Pa and Harper fished him out of the ocean,” Lute replied.  The man’s eyes widened.

              “Oh.  That definitely qualifies as a special case.”  He stuck out a hand.  “By the way, my name’s Fiddleford.  And in case you couldn’t tell-”

              “You’re Angie and Lute’s older brother,” Stan finished, shaking the offered hand.  Fiddleford grinned.

              “Yep.  You catch on quick.”

              “Kinda hard not to, since you’ve got the same nose that Merle does.”

              “Wow, already referring to Pa by his first name.  You sure you’re not my replacement?” Fiddleford asked jovially.

              “Nah.  I’m just some random foreigner that charmed his way into the castle.”

              “Don’t know what’s so charming about you smelling like fish and throwing up every half hour,” Lute muttered.  Stan punched his shoulder playfully.  Lute grinned at him.  “Face it, Stan, you weren’t exactly the most charismatic thing when you were soaking wet sitting on the deck.”

              “He’s lying,” Stan informed Fiddleford, who rolled his eyes.

              “Sure he is.  Say, what’s your last name?”

              “My last name?  It’s Pines. Why?”  A strange look crossed Fiddleford’s face, but vanished so quickly that Stan half-wondered if he’d imagined it.

              “Just wanted a proper introduction, that’s all.”  Fiddleford narrowed his eyes at his younger siblings. “Now, if you want presents, go wait in the sitting room, okay?”

              “Which one?” Lute asked.

              “The blue one, obviously,” Angie scoffed.  “That’s Fidds’ favorite.”

              “She’s right,” Fiddleford said.  He made a shooing motion.  “Scoot! I’ll bring your presents in a bit.” Angie grabbed Stan’s hand. Fiddleford grimaced.  “Oh, Stan, I don’t have any presents for you.  If I’d known you were here-”

              “It’s fine, I-”  Stan frowned. “You would���ve bought me presents even though we’d never met?”

              “Sure!” Fiddleford said.  After a moment, Stan shook his head.

              “You McGuckets are so fucking weird, I swear.”

              “Language,” Angie hissed.

              “English.”

              “You-”  Angie huffed a few times, then began to tug Stan.  Stan waved at Fiddleford as he let Angie drag him away.

              Fiddleford shook his head in amusement at his younger siblings’ and Stan’s antics.  He turned away, about to go unpack the presents he’d bought, when he heard someone clear their throat.  Fiddleford spun around.  He beamed.

              “Pa!”

              “Fiddleford,” Pa McGucket said warmly, embracing his son.  He broke off the hug to look Fiddleford up and down. “I see your semester abroad hasn’t left you any the worse for the wear.”

              “Nope.  It was very illuminating.”

              “Good.  I’m glad to hear that.  And I’m very happy you’re back for the holidays.”

              “Of course!”  Fiddleford chewed on his lip.  “Pa, about Stan…I think he might be-”

              “You’re right,” Pa McGucket said.  “Your roommate is Stan’s brother.  Twin brother, actually.”  Fiddleford leaned against the wall, trying to digest the information.  “We discovered that when running background checks on Stan.”

              “Maybe I should have invited Ford to visit,” he said softly.

              “No.”  Pa McGucket’s response was immediate.  Fiddleford cocked his head.

              “Why not?”

              “Think about it.  Did your roommate ever mention he had a twin brother?”

              “…No.”

              “That’s because there’s bad blood.”

              “What exactly happened?”

              “That’s information that Stan can share with you when he wants to,” Pa McGucket said firmly.  Fiddleford gave a short nod.  “But know that your ma and I decided it merits his staying with us for the foreseeable future.”  Fiddleford’s jaw dropped.

              “Wait, what?  Pa, I know you like to help people, but-”

              “Stan needs support and warmth, as well as some freedom from economic anxiety. So he’ll stay with us.  He can leave whenever he wants, of course.”  Pa McGucket sighed.  “And we decided that his situation means we won’t force him to contact his family.  If he wants to, by all means, he can.  But we won’t make him.”

              “Sounds like he got out of a pretty bad situation,” Fiddleford said after a moment.

              “He was less than eighteen when we fished him out of the ocean after his shoddy boat capsized.  He got halfway across the Atlantic.  And we couldn’t find a single missing persons report for him.  That alone should speak volumes,” Pa McGucket said.  Fiddleford nodded slowly.

              “It does.”

              “Don’t worry, I’m sure you’ll find some other way to bond with your roommate. You can make friends without reuniting an estranged twin.”  Pa McGucket ruffled Fiddleford’s hair.  “You better go grab the presents before your sister and brother raise a kerfuffle.” Fiddleford managed a grin.

              “Yep,” he said weakly.  Pa McGucket smiled at him before walking away.  Fiddleford let out a long sigh.  “Hopefully Stan wants to meet up with Ford soon, so that I don’t have to keep this sort of secret from both of them,” he said quietly to himself.  “He’s got to.  I mean, how long could it possibly take for Stan and Ford to want to mend fences?”

[teecupangel]

From @theconfusedartist’s tags:

#i was debating if desmond should have whipped cream #or anything that needs to be whipped #because doing it manually and without cream of tartar is a form of torture #(speaking from experience) #i honestly don’t want to inflict on him #then I remembered #he’s an assassin #he can take it #lemon juice is also an alternative #for cream of tartar btw #<---teecups tags #omg now im just imagining him getting up and making whipped cream #just so pleased with himself when hes done #he puts it all on his pastries and has a little leftover #then this happens and the last bit of whipped cream spills all over the ground #that day it was desmond who became the most terrifying person in the area #also this entire drabble is so funny! #maria and Altaïr fighting over some delicious sweets #everyone smart just leaving the area whereas anyone foolish getting messed up bc they got in the middle of the fight #desmond becoming the scariest person for a while and closing up shop for the day after losing his whipped cream #lmaooo #this is drabble is gold #i love the baker desmond au

They say the criminal would always come back to the scene of the crime.

And the two criminals did just that.

Maria returned first, an apology already on her lips, only to stop when she saw the smile on Desmond’s face.

For a brief moment, Maria prayed to her god for the souls of both her and that damn Assassin.

Altaïr returned an hour later, wearing freshly cleaned robes that he had obviously gotten from the Rafiq who took a long time just staring at his pomegranate coated (but not blood!) robes before sighing and showing him to one of the rooms in the bureau he could use to change.

Only to freeze when he saw the damn Templar who had sacrificed him to the guards on his knees, holding a bowl on his lap as he…

Continuously stir whatever was in the bowl at such a speed that it used his entire right arm.

“Oh, Altaïr, welcome back.”

Altaïr froze.

Desmond had always greeted him with a cheerful tone that was filled with warmth.

But that greeting…

It was as cheerful as usual with a hint of gentleness to it.

… and was lacking of any warmth at all.

Altaïr stared at Desmond, his heart skipping a beat as he saw the smile on Desmond’s face.

He looked like an angel.

… sent to burn a country with sacred flames.

“Sit.” Desmond ordered in the same sweet tone, like honey that threatened to swallow a small ant.

“I’ll teach you how to make whipping cream.”

And Altaïr…

Altaïr resigned to his fate and closed the door behind him.

‘What if desmond time travels and has to deal with such and such, or turns into an animal, or gets hurt, or-’

What if Desmond time travels and learns how to bake bread!! Huh!!? What about that!! What if he opens a super successful bakery, and solves all the worlds problems with the best fresh baked bread every!!

(This is /j but like. 👏🏻 anons let Desmond have peace challenge👏🏻 (but also don’t cause I love reading all of them I’m just like ‘how did you even come up with this? Sometimes lmao))

Anyway, since we already have a Desmond is a baker in Renaissance Italy idea, here’s Desmond is a baker during the Third Crusades instead:

So in this setup, Desmond would say fuck it and just open a bakery in Acre.

Jerusalem was too much of a hotspot at the moment and Acre had ports which meant there would be new customers that Desmond could lure in with the smell of freshly baked bread. 

And it worked.

Maybe a bit too well because…

Kadar visited while he was out looking for information for his brother’s current target. 

They both stared at one another for a moment and then Desmond just did his usual ‘Welcome! Are you looking for anything specific or would you like to hear today’s recommendations?’ spiel while Kadar just stares at him.

When Kadar went “Altaïr?”, Desmond just gave him his best bartender ‘I’m being respectful but also distant so you’ll still tip me’ smile as he goes, “I’m sorry, we don’t have a bread called ‘Altaïr’.”

Then he showed Kadar the star-shaped pull apart sweet bread he’s just perfected and go “But maybe I can interest you in this pull apart start bread? It’s sweet and fluffy and freshly baked.”

And sweet poor Kadar leaves the bakery with a basket of breads instead because Desmond was good at using both Ezio’s charms and his bartending social skills to get customers to buy more than they should.

Hey.

A man needed to profit to keep the roof over his head while trying to experiment for the upcoming debut of his sugar-free pastries.

The next day, Malik entered the bakery but Desmond was ready.

Desmond had planned for this!

“Welcome!” Desmond greeted, giving Malik his sweetest smile that he knew would completely unnerve Malik.

Desmond weaponized the similarity between him and Altaïr to unnerve Malik to the point that he cannot focus on observing Desmond, distracted by such a sweet smile that looked so disturbing in his eyes because he’s imagining Altaïr doing such an expression and it was horror beyond Malik’s wildest imagination. 

Okay.

Desmond was exaggerating but that got Malik to not ask too many invasive questions and leave the bakery after purchasing two baskets worth of bread so Desmond was going to consider that a mission successful.

And then…

His greatest adversary entered his little quaint bakery.

And Desmond was ready for him.

“Welcome!” Desmond greeted happily, “Are you looking for anything specific or would you like to see today’s recommendations?”

Altaïr simply stared at him.

But that didn’t matter.

Desmond held all the cards.

Because he knew one of Altaïr’s greatest weakness…

Altaïr secretly loved sweets.

“Today’s a special day!” Desmond clapped his hands in practiced joy that wasn’t over the top, “Today’s the debut of our dessert line! Here.”

Desmond took out a tray of sweet deserts, glistening in either honey or fruit jams. 

“Would you like a taste?” Desmond asked with the sweetness of the snake that tempted Eve to take a bite.

And Altaïr…

Altaïr left the bakery with a basket filled with desserts and pastries, quietly sinking into the shadows before anyone could see him and ask for one of the forbidden sweets he had acquired.