#Also my coworkers make fun of me all the time and it's mostly good natured

[bsaka7]

at what point did excitement for the holidays become apathy and the occasional wave of dread...

[bts-hyperfixation]

Can you please write dumb/cute/random things BTS members will do while they are crushing on reader?

This was cute to write! This is what I think they'd each be like with crushes. Just so you know, all of them are dorks.

Please send me asks to keep me motivated while I’m off work! Thirsty thoughts, Most likely to, reactions, life updates, and general gibberish welcomed!!

Namjoon:

If Namjoon has a crush on you he gets extra clumsy. In his head, he is trying to be the most sophisticated person on earth, think W sexy numkim Namjoon. however in reality he is actually fumbling at every step, stuttering and tripping his way through conversations, beating himself up a little inside every time he rambles on a bit too long about something. Eventually, he just gives up on trying to impress you because he is too in his head and thinks he doesn't have a chance. Ironically that is when he manages to be more comfortable around you and stops breaking things. He still info dumps, but because he is a little less self-conscious about it, he allows it to flow more naturally and you can have a proper conversation without him disappearing to berate himself for talking too much. If the crush progresses to you hanging out he will always bring a little gift, sometimes snacks, sometimes a trinket that makes him think of you. He will send you pictures of things in nature that remind him of you, and take you to museums where certain sculptures or paintings reflect his feelings or your likeness. 

Seokjin:

None stop trying to make you laugh. Probably refers to himself as worldwide handsome a lot to garner your attention like: "Hey Y/N, did you know they call me WWH?", or "Did you miss my WWH face?". It's a good job that he is in fact very pretty or it would get annoying. Although you tell him every time that it annoys you while using the opportunity to slap/feel up his bicep. He stops by your workplace every day to try and see you, but he is trying to be subtle as he does it, making up genuine excuses as to why he is there. Gets exceedingly disappointed when your coworkers tell him you are on a break because it would be too suspicious if he came back later on. 

Yoongi:

He starts by offering you some of his food, claiming he has too much and he thought you might not have eaten yet (It's 10:30 am, of course, you haven't eaten yet). Then he is bringing in bigger meals claiming to be trying new recipes and then always making too much (He is trying new recipes, they happen to be some of your favourites. He is also sizing up the recipe to have enough for you both and more). He will invite you to listen in on some tracks he is working on, saying they are nowhere near finished but he wants an outside opinion (They are mostly finished, and mostly about you).

Hoseok:

Strikes me as a straight forward man. You are absolutely going to know if he has a crush on you. There is no messing about he just asks you out... and then hyperventilates about it as soon as he is behind a closed door. It doesn't matter if you answered yes or no that was the most fear-inducing thing he has ever done, debut stage included. He keeps the brave front when around you at all times though. He is very good at pretending to be confident and charming even when his heart is trying to beat out of his ribcage. He makes a point of kissing your hand when he sees you, like the way you giggle and blush.

Jimin:

Similar to Namjoon, goes from being the most coordinated guy in the world to tripping over his own shoes. He blushes furiously every time you walk in the room and struggles to form full sentences. The others rip the shit out of him for being so nervous when you leave. He spends most of his time with his head in his hands hiding the red in his cheeks rather than making eye contact. Eventually, the butterflies die down and he decides he needs to man up and make a move. He refuses to let Jeon - couldn't make eye contact with a woman until he turned twenty-two - Jungkook make fun of him for being anxious, so he swallows the fear and makes a move. Then his flirting becomes relentless: He leans against walls and cages you in a little, he uses pickup lines and keeps calling you beautiful, and he refers to you with pet names. He tries everything he can to make you as flustered as you made him before he asks you out, god-forbid you fight flirty fire with fire.

Taehyung:

He follows you around like a lost puppy when he can. If he is around you will never have to carry anything or open a door. He gives you expensive gifts that you aren't allowed to refuse, if you do they just end up at your house later on in the day. He claims most of them are leftovers from brand deals, but some of them are coming from brands you swear they've never worked with. He frequently brings you smoothies and snacks too. Even if he isn't around he will have them delivered to your work, sometimes for your whole office, not just you. If you try to tell him to stop he just makes the tata mic face until you come to a compromise that he will stop sending you drinks if you let him take you out for one. 

Jungkook:

If he figures out he has a crush on you, you will not see him for 8-16 days. The first day he realises he will look at you with the widest eyes and blinks a little too slowly, he then excuses himself as soon as possible. He then spends days in his house typing and erasing a text to send to you. It gives him a heart attack when typing bubbles appear because that means you've seen him lurking. He eventually figures out what he wants to do with his crush and then you struggle to get rid of him, not that you necessarily want to, although he did almost follow you into a bathroom once because he was too busy talking and not paying attention to where you were going. When he gets drunk on his own at home he always texts you, nothing serious or even damning, he just is genuinely missing you. It probably comes across wrong because its always 2am, but he is innocently just wondering how you are. Once you fall in to a conversation it is obvious that it wasn't meant as a booty call, as much as you sometimes might wish it was.

[milogreer]

❥ my top ten redacted audio speakers !!

i’ve seen a bunch of people doing this so i wanted to join in! i love a bandwagon 😋

feisty werewolf; milo - i mean, come on. *gestures at my blog* look at me. milo very quickly took top spot, by the time i got to the panic attack audio i was like the rest of y’all can pack it up bc this guy’s got me hooked lmfao it was just so sweet to see a softer side of the guy who, at that point in the timeline, had mostly only been abrasive, cocky, and flirty. that accent also does everything for me. the exact moment i fell in love with him was when he said, “of course i’m not mad. i was worried - scared that you were hurt or something. but never mad.” 🫠💖

nervous air elemental; lasko - lasko… what can i say about lasko. he definitely awoke something in me lmao, initially i didn’t want to get into the elementals because meeting new people felt like a chore at the time but he immediately made me laugh and it was all downhill from there… i love that he’s kinda freaky and he makes me want to bite him in the non-canon audios, but even in prime universe he’s just so sweet and a really good friend. and his relationship with coworker makes me so proud of his development

arrogant incubus; gavin - i’ve said it before but gavin’s the reason i’m here! his hbs 2023 audio was my first audio of the channel, and to go back in time and watch his progression to that point was so heartwarming 🥺 him and freelancer are possibly the best pair in the universe, i just adore everything about them. gavin’s audios are actually the hardest ones for me to listen to because the love he has for freelancer is suffocating to witness in a really bittersweet way 😩

yandere cultist friend; blake - this one is um …. i never expected this HAHA when i first listened to the balance he really skeeved me out (as he should), but then mother mother released ‘explode!’ and for some unfathomable reason it got into my head as a blake song and i couldn’t dissociate it from him. on a second listen of the balance, i definitely appreciate his character more and the juxtaposition of him with elliott and sunshine vs bestie is so so interesting to me. i can’t even be mad at bestie because he’d have me wrapped around his finger too 🥲 rly nervous for his next story update

chaotic boyfriend; guy - BABYGIRL. humor is the biggest thing i look for in relationships both platonic and romantic and no one makes me laugh like guy does. he’s so my type and the way honey acts is literally how i am with guys i like, so guy audios are always so much fun to listen to 💖 and no BA hits quite like that pre-recorded one

i ended up talking more than i thought i would so the other half is under the cut!

it gets kind of messy in the second half because i think these could get shuffled around depending on my mood but for now these are my thoughts!

seer obscura; morgan - morgan is… captivating. i know he kinda only blew up after ‘time is a song’ but it’s with good reason; the atmosphere is so calming but also, like… there’s a longing to it, ykwim? the two of them being the only know seer obscuras naturally lends a hand to the tension between them. no one else understands their unique struggles - so when his new obscura acquaintance calls him up in the middle of the night asking for help and comfort, of course he isn’t going to say no. it’s such an intimate setting for their third audio together and you can feel the tension building the whole time up to “i want to know you.” it’s just a really good audio. very interested to see where his story goes

sarcastic inchoate demon; avior - THE SNARK. THE QUIET KINDNESS. THE MYSTERY. THE YEARNING. THE TRAGEDY. avior’s got it all. sovereign state had me on the edge of my seat the whole time and still does, honestly. his hbs rewind audio is one of my favorites; the effort and love he put into that little date to give starlight a reprieve from their shared hell… he is such a romantic 💖 there’s nothing quite like falling in love while stuck in an actual hell

unempowered boyfriend; geordi - he’s an interesting one for me bc my love of him is directly tied to cutie + cutie’s telepathy giving us a look into his head (i just melt over his whispered little i love yous and compliments). they have a fascinating and messy story that i live for even when it makes me sick lol i adore that they’re both flawed but that they’re taking steps to better themselves. it’s fun when couples in the redactedverse aren’t perfect but still try to be better out of love

mysterious stranger; hush - THE weird guy. within his first audio i went from being indifferent to charmed. i love a mystery and everything about him is mysterious, but he’s also so clueless sometimes that it’s like. so what if he tied doc to the bed in their first meeting, now he’s asking to hold their hand when he’s nervous. so what if his purpose is to free the sovereigns? he learned how to cook for doc. i can’t NOT love him

unknown yandere caller - i’m a ghostface fan, okay. and i’m a taurus. i like when people are obsessed with me 🤷🏼‍♀️ there’s just something so… like. listen. “you’ll start to expect me. you’ll start to crave me.” from the audio and “i know you’ll find them. and you’ll keep them. because they’re from me.” from his card? the arrogance. it’s bewitching. i need him back ASAP i don’t even care if he doesn’t get a real name, i just miss him. come back please 🙏🏻

[powwuten]

might i ask what a globetrotter is?

Its a collection of music and art that contribute to a project that mostly exists in my head okay bye haha!

Oohhhh i got you there

ahem

“What is globetrotter?”

Globetrotter is a hypothetical maybe happening rpg that currently is having its story told through art, music, and possibly writing or a few comics in the future. It follows three silly little guys that I designed (and have been iterating on because I'm kinda inconsistent) for years now, named Ceridwen, Riice, and Mollam! If you didn’t notice, the first two have misspelled welsh names. What's the significance of them being welsh? There is none! For now! That's the nature of this whole project, really. A lot of the time things exist to be cool, though by the time they leave my head they’ve usually formed enough connective tissue to be a part of a wider story. I had the main protagonists, I had the main antagonists, and I had the themes I wanted to use…then bam! Three cursed individuals trying to defeat a group of time demons to release themselves from being born anew for eternity! Funny how that works!

“Wait so who are those guys in orange?”

in what

“sorry i meant orange”

oh! right!

Ceridwen and Riice are both coworkers at…!! Well honestly I haven’t deliberated on that fact much, but hey, the fact of the matter is they do science 👍👍. Work’s been a little harder after one of their labs got attacked though. Poor thangs. Wonder who did that.

In a world of demons and humans and angels sometimes, how would you categorize a man with a head made of teeth? Perhaps the best description is “cowboy”. Mollam’s the third party member of this trio, but he isn’t exactly enthusiastic about joining them. Strange premonitions are driving Mollam away from Ceridwen and Riice. Poor thangs. Wonder why that is.

“What do these guys look like!!” I hear you ask…and my answer?!?!

I don’t have reference sheets yet. oops. I’ll do it. 👍. I will also say that I didn’t cover their personalities in detail much, but applications speak louder than descriptions! I’ll start writing eventually and in that same vein i’ll start drawing eventually et cetera et cetera…!

“Why is globetrotter?”

Well, to be perfectly honest, to get right to the point, to be quick, to make things simple, in my experience, in the end, it all boils down to the fact that it's fun! It's fun and it’s good practice and I enjoy this world in my head and want to share it with people! plain and simple. im honestly not sure if this section even needed to be here tbh like yeah i like thing im making it i think thats how most things are made.

“Where is globetrotter?”

Primarily boiling in my mind

Secondarily sitting in dms with @marismoments39

Thirdarily out and about on soundcloud

Fourtharily on tumblr

Tumblr? What tumblr? Globetrotter tumblr! https://www.tumblr.com/globetrotterer to be exact! I kinda just made it recently so there isn't much there but hey keep your eyes on it. Seeing as I’ve approached this project across years and grown so much alongside it, it’ll take a bit for some concrete stuff to show up. I’ll do my best to even things out!

“How is globetrotter?”

awww you’re too nice. globetrotter is doing well, and you?

“Is this it?”

No!!!! Unless I die the moment I post this. Feel free to ask me whatever!!!!!

[incorrect-skylanders-quotes]

My (kinda disjointed) thoughts on some Skylanders ships (part 1)

Trying something new today! It's gonna be hard to write an opinion on Skylander ships, considering the fact that most of them are crackships and half the characters have really basic personalities, but I'll try my best. I'm starting with the dragon Skylanders, but I'll eventually cover other Skylander pairings in the future.

Spyro x Cynder: 9/10. Pretty basic, all things considered. It's the ship people choose because they were hardcore Legend of Spyro fans and shipped Spynder back then. I do think they have a good dynamic; Cynder's evil past is ripe with angst and hurt/comfort potential, and Spyro being the one to save her naturally makes him a perfect candidate to provide the "comfort" part. At the same time though, I understand the appeal of having them remain platonic since as of 2023, Skylanders is the only Spyro media to have both appear without any hint of romance between them.

Spyro x Sunburn: 6/10. It's mostly an ironic ship I thought of as a joke during the early days back when I only did incorrect quotes exclusively about the dragon Skylanders. I don't think Sunburn and Spyro would really have a whole lot of interesting interactions.

Spyro x Whirlwind: 1/10. I don't see the appeal. To me, they're just friends or coworkers. Nothing more than that. The only reason anyone ships this is that they hate Cynder or Spynder, but they also don't want to ship Spyro with the humanoid girls or Sonic Boom because "interspecies romance yucky"

Whirlwind x Cynder: 9/10. The opposite of Spywind. These two have a great dynamic, Whirlwind being ostracized for her mixed heritage, while Cynder's distrusted for her past as a servant of Malefor. The two could find a lot of comfort in each other due to their shared experiences. The only reason it's not a complete 10/10 is because I prefer pairing the two with other characters.

Whirlwind x Sunburn: 8/10. It's aight. I guess the way their backstories contrast is interesting, Whirlwind used to be hated for being a dragon hybrid while Sunburn was coveted for the same reason.

Whirlwind x Camo: 7/10. No strong opinions.

Sunburn x Camo: 8/10. I can see why it has appeal. Two pranksters goofin' off together is always nice.

Whirlwind x Sunburn x Camo: 9/10. Whirlwind and her two supportive bfs, who are also dating each other. I think overall I prefer polyshipping these three over their separate ships, but the reasons why are based entirely on fanon I made up regarding the three.

Whirlwind x Zap: 5/10 ...Eh? Nothing wrong with it, but I don't really see the appeal either. It's better than Spywind because the entire basis for the ship isn't just "a hetero dragon ship for Spyro that isn't Cynder"

Side note: Damn, Whirlwind has a lot of ships. Why is that?

Drobot x Camo: 8/10. I think it's really funny. Drobot the serious, intelligent, and logical-minded, while Camo is a jokester who makes fruit explode for shits and giggles. The contrast between serious and silly always makes for a fun dynamic, and I think if the two ever got meaningful interactions, Camo would be the guy who'd get Drobot to loosen up.

Bash x Flashwing: 8/10. This pairing actually has ground to stand on since it's one of the only ships that have actual potential for being canon. Bash falling in love with Flashwing is literally half of her backstory, and it's a standout trait for Bash and Skylanders in general. It's rare for Skylanders characters to actually have romantic feelings for anyone, much less each other, which is what makes this ship so appealing, it's potential for exploring this idea. Sadly, canon has not seen that potential. There's been no actual exploration of the pairing in Skylanders media, not even the comics or Skylanders Academy, which literally exist to flesh out the goddamn Skylanders. The closest we get is apparently from a book called "Skylanders Universe: The Complete Collection, page 39" which states Flashwing canonically likes Bash back, though she won't admit it out loud (don't quote me on this, I got it from the wiki). That's it. That's all we get. If the pairing actually got explored in official Skylanders material, then it'd be a 9 or a 10.

[crapcafe]

hearing people talking about cooking is always such an interesting topic and i'm gonna take a min to ramble about it. i learned how to cook (eggs and pasta mostly) as a kid from my mom because she learned to cook at a young age as well and she would also be gone on work trips pretty often. later on in life i worked in restaurant kitchens as a kitchen manager and a line cook. i've even had the displeasure of working alongside new hire line cooks that don't fucking know how to cook but figure that they can still do the job (they could not)

some things just become intuitive so it's hard for me to remember exactly what i needed to focus on learning and what did just come naturally from the start, but a lot of it relates to just general science/chemistry knowledge. denser items will take longer to cook than less dense things (potatoes take forfuckingever but sliced button mushrooms take like a minute or two), high heat makes things cook way faster so liquids will boil off sooner, dense items will sear/burn quicker, and thin/small things will just burn. some professional cooks don't even know this based on the amount of times i've had to talk coworkers out of turning the fryer temp higher because things were taking a long time to cook (this is a great way to get a nice crispy skin on some shit that's still frozen in the middle)

there's a lot of learning how to read recipes. abbreviations (sometimes tablespoon is T or tb or TBSP or Tbs), how to adjust amounts if you need more or less of something, looking up substitutions for things (if you don't have milk but need to make a cream sauce, using applesauce instead of oil or butter or eggs in some baking recipes, etc). its definitely a skill to know how to read some recipes, and coming in with your own knowledge is great, but it's another instance of "you need to learn the rules to know how to break them." this is how you get the screenshots of ppl substituting kale in their banana cookie recipes and then wondering why they suck

thinking of foods in terms of nutritional value can also be helpful. if you have tortilla chips and salsa youre technically getting some vegetables in you. frozen and dried fruits and veggies are still fruits and veggies. rice and beans is grains and protein. miso soup with tofu and spinach is lots of protein and iron. romaine salad with balsamic vin, olive oil, feta, and tomatoes is some vitamins and fats and calcium but without grains and fiber it wont give you too much energy so have some bread or something with it. moving away from processed food will make you feel better. apple slice and peanut butter is my new depression meal bc it makes me feel more alive than shredded cheese from the bag and you can feel like a roman emperor a bit.

if you're just starting out learning how to cook: try to keep it simple with starch + veggie + protein (veggie pasta is a staple classic, roast some stuff and toss it with pasta and garlic and olive oil), find something with just a handful of ingredients that you actually want to eat. the act of cooking can be fun but not everyone thinks its fun, so at least make sure you'll want to eat the final product. if there's any sauces you really like try to keep some on hand. gochujang+soy sauce+sesame oil+sugar+broth can be really good in a stir fry, and basically all of those things will last a long time.

anyway theres a lot of text about cooking. theres a reason i stayed working in kitchens for almost 5 years despite how shit working in kitchens is. i like food and cooking. its one of the few things humans have been doing for a bajillion years and its necessary to live a healthy life and if you can find some fun and peace in the process then thats even better. theres no shame in not knowing how to cook but there is shame in refusing to try and learn imo

insert senshi page about eating well and exercising regularly to live a healthy life

[kathleenmarymulligan]

December 24, 2022 Christmas Eve Morning

I’m feeling a bit discouraged this morning, friends and family. I’ll open with that. Our challenges cannot compare to what so many struggle with around us—and all I have to do is look at the U.S. headlines to know that this was probably a good Christmas to skip in the Northeast. So forgive me, in advance, for asking you to indulge me.

We moved into our place yesterday- and we are still so grateful for this gift. But northern India is experiencing a “severe cold wave”- and while the temperature may sound balmy at 41 degrees- in a house made of stone and concrete (as almost all homes are) with no heating (also typical)- last night was damn cold. If you know me, you know I’m pretty tough about a lot of things (growing up going to Windy Island certainly trained me)- but you also know there is one thing I can’t stand—and that’s being COLD. We went to an electrical appliance store first thing yesterday and bought a quartz heater…but frankly, I can’t tell any discernable difference between our bedroom and the outside after running it for several hours. And the hot water does not seem to be working. The person who manages the house, Vasu, is very nice- and assured me he’d have a plumber attend to it today. But not being able to take a hot shower right now just adds to my shivering. It’s my understanding that this weather will last through January—and I’m wondering how that’s going to go.

David and I made a trip to the mall yesterday to purchase some things we both needed and wanted to make the place feel more like home. That was really fun--mostly because David went down to Reliance Smart (a lot like a smaller Walmart) to buy necessities (a bucket, clothes pins, etc.) while I went upstairs to Home Centre (India’s version of Bed Bath and Beyond) to buy the more “wants vs. needs.” That was a lot more enjoyable to do without David continuously murmuring how much he hates shopping. Salespeople in India are encouraged to be extremely attentive when one enters a shop—and that can be a little overwhelming, to be honest. But I was eventually approached by a young man named Ravi who was terrifically helpful, patient, good humored, and charming—and we had a great time together. Several of Ravi’s coworkers hovered nearby with obvious envy. I’m not sure if they work on commission ( it was clear I was there to spend some significant bucks) or if they were just damn bored (the ratio of salesperson to customer tends to be very, very high here.)

Once my purchases were wrapped up and ready to go (first I had to dash downstairs to give David some cash after he learned that Reliance’s credit card system was not working)- Ravi and another salesman walked TWO shopping carts of purchases down to the street,

, where they hailed an autorickshaw, loaded everything into it (with barely room for humans)

and Ravi ACCOMPANIED US TO OUR HOUSE. This was at his manager’s instruction (and Ravi’s good nature)- and after we unloaded everything to the driveway of our house- Ravi would not accept any tip. I wrote him a rave review when I received the now ubiquitous customer survey on my phone late last evening.

I know that part of my blues is the shock of moving from a very comfy hotel bubble to real life in Amritsar, and the rest is probably that it’s Christmas Eve (my favorite day of the year)- and I’m in bed with the knit cap on that David thankfully suggested I buy at Reliance Smart yesterday and which I wore all night (an homage to my dear old dad—who often did the same.)

We had a simple and incredible meal last night served by the house’s staff member Nidhi (sp?)

and this morning David brewed us the Starbucks coffee given to me by my wonderful student Quinn Whittman as a gift (served in our new mugs from Home Centre.) If I can just get warm…all will be fine (WHY didn’t I bring my hot water bottle to India, Sarah HJ? Now I’m trying to track a couple down.)

We are off to the Foreign Registration Office to meet Dr. Devender Singh from Khalsa College. Hoping to get that red tape task taken care of today!

Missing our friends and family in the U.S. very much this morning. Hoping you all are staying safe and warm. Please be careful out there! And wishing you all a very merry, joyous, and warm holiday surrounded by loved ones.

Thus endeth my whining…with a photo of me with Scary Santa.

[hungerandthirst]

okay first program of the season is over (grade 4s from an all-girls school) and this is where we’re at

i miss having the bigger staff team at my old workplace (about 20 to 25 people there vs 4 to 6 of us at this place)

i kiiiiind of miss having younger coworkers but i also kind of don’t? the people here are a huge range (next youngest after me is late 20s, one in early 30s, two in their 40s, and one guy who’s almost 70!) and from a fun-with-coworkers perspective i feel like it’s not as good but it also brings a really different energy to the program and i think i can learn a lot from them

ethically/educationally i think our messaging is really strong – all of the staff here have a much more nuanced understanding of the environmental crises of the world and how they interplay with socioeconomics than my old bosses did, and they really genuinely care about making an impact and getting these kids outdoors. a lot of the kids this week sat on the forest floor for the first time ever in their lives.

on that point, this actually feels like “outdoor education” rather than “activities that happen outdoors.” soooooo many camps are just like archery and rock climbing and biking and it’s all about “personal development” but here they manage to do that while actually teaching about nature

i did aunt houda’s chickens at the campfire and it KILLED

god this job is tiring. mostly in a good way. but i’m excited for the summer and just working with adults because you don’t have to be switched on in the same way.

the thing i’m honestly the most nervous about is just getting lost in the forest with the kids. the “trails” we follow are just pieces of flagging tape and i’m gonna be out there with them for like 3 hours walking around. so scared of not being able to get back 😬

i really really really don’t like the way the owner of this place talks to his wife. literally everything else about him is great, but sometimes his wife will be trying to say something and he’ll talk to her like she’s a child until she stops talking. it’s so uncomfortable to watch. and she doesn’t even seem bothered by it but he literally just keeps repeating her name in the most patronizing tone of voice until she stops trying to talk.

we mostly cater to private schools (and this is unfortunately extremely prevalent in outdoor education just by virtue of which schools can afford to come and do our kinds of programs) which is too bad because i think kids from less privileged backgrounds would really benefit from what we’re doing. at the same time it’s a good opportunity to talk to kids with more resources and get them to think critically about how their consumption impacts people and the planet.

spitballing off of that point: what if we went to private schools and asked families to donate the outdoor gear that their kids have grown out of, until we eventually had a big enough stock to supply a whole grade with appropriate clothing and footwear? maybe we could also ask for monetary donations when parents are signing the consent forms and could get enough money to waive the fee for a school from the DTES? staff could potentially volunteer or accept a pay reduction for those 3 days or whatever, and then we could potentially provide an almost cost-free opportunity for lower income schools to send their kids to us. hmmm.

okay well ultimately, i had a lot of fun, i’m absolutely exhausted, and i made $750 in three days. so all in all life is pretty good

[kinocomix]

metal band story devlog 12: Making art in 2024, a survival guide but also DOGGO

first things first, as I oh so subtly implied in the title of this devlog, have a dog:

I’m sure someone is out there yelling at their screen with anatomy complaints, but I like it.

This is a braque d'auvergne dog and it kinda looks like, well, every spotted dog ever. 

image from 101dogbreeds https://www.101dogbreeds.com/coat/spotted-dogs

The drawing above is the initial draft of what I kind of want the dog to look like for the most part. I’m taking the liberty of changing some things here and there, since I want the dog to be a mutt.

Here you can see I changed the torso shape, and made it so that I can redraw the design faithfully using simple proportions. I also took extra care to decide what the eyes looked like, so I tried several things there:

I ended up settling for, once again, the initial once I came up with (I swear I don’t do this all the time). I felt like I wanted the dog to feel like it could talk, but subvert that by having it be just a normal dog. During my research I also came across something cool that I will not be including in the design. Which is the fact that if a dog sustains an intense scar, the hair grows back WHITE.

also, this could entirely be me and my bias but it’s… hard to find pictures of deformed dogs that are ugly? like dogs are always so excited to exist that even if their entire lower jaw is missing they’ll look like a vibe and be having a good time if you’re nice to them.

on a final note regarding dogs, have this. It’s out of context and I won’t explain it cause I’d like to have everyone try to figure it out.

With that being done, you might notice I don’t have a final design yet, because the four sketches I drew were the only things I was able to accomplish this week. This is realistic progress. So let's talk about art in the internet age. you thought this was going to be a straightforward devlog about a dog? well think again. 

This week I had a lot of thinking to do outside of the context of comics and art. I’m 27, and although the internet has led us to believe that it’s straightforward to be a microcelebrity for a living it’s actually very difficult, and the mental toll it can take on you is equally as worth noting. it’s weird and volatile and you’re fighting an ever changing landscape of other people trying to get heard. I currently work at a board game store, one of the nicest jobs I could have hoped for. My boss is a fun guy, my coworkers are awesome and the people who come to the store are nice and from all walks of life… but it’s not sustainable for me. It's the night shift which goes against my natural circadian rhythm and the pay is mostly being spent on transport at the moment. One time I offhandedly said “art is made by people with day jobs” and while I meant it at the time the true meaning and depth of that statement is still unfolding to me. While writing this devlog, I had a job interview to attend. If we’re being realistic, while it’s possible for me to make a living off of making my comics for a dedicated niche audience that supports me on patreon, the chances of that actually happening are quite low given the fact that the rate at which I output things doesn’t work with the modern internet’s unquenchable need for more stuff.

this isn’t a new thing or will it ever go away. Art is an extension of us as human beings, it’s our desire to project meaning onto an uncaring world that we are part of. it’s ironic if you think about it for a second, a more pretentious person would call it something like “the duality of man” or some shit but I wouldn’t like that to be me. god, it would be so hilarious to look back at this devlog years from now and realize I unironically said “the duality of man”. Anyways the value of art, as we know, is not dedicated by how much attention it gets otherwise hominids all those years ago wouldn’t have put color to stone

Cave drawing in the upper Paleolithic cave of Chauvet-Pont d'Arc, Ardeche, France

you see there’s no real way of saying “I want less digital things in my life” without the internet seeing you as a 4567 year old grandma yelling at a cloud but that’s it really. The way I see it, artists on the internet can end up somewhere on this graph:

I think I fall where the red dot does. On top is my friend fouad, working on his graphic novel having left the internet entirely. closer to the left are most youtubers, to the right are people like my dad’s uncle, who would paint for himself and family members exclusively. 

Today was the first day where I looked at someone whose art was exclusive to one very specific place and said “I get it”. beyond a certain point the feeling of making something cool can get overshadowed by all the people running towards it. Meaningful connection gets replaced by a wall of words from many people where your ability to engage with it gets harder and harder the bigger the wall gets. Which is why I think I’m going to put the comic here on tumblr and tapas, and not bother with other places really.

Eventually, I’d like to be an art teacher. Until then we’ll make it work with what we have, and even if I don’t get my dream job I think I’ll still be happy.

Devlog update on Tuesdays.

[salsakiyoomi]

hi!! congrats on hitting 1k!! i 'm a relatively new follower of urs and i just wanted to partake in this. thanks ^_^

fandom: JJK 

name: call me lee or use ⭐

abt me: 

im an introvert. mellow, light-hearted, down-to-earth and a bit assertive when i can be and i have tendencies to be passive-aggressive when provoked. i think i'd say i'm kinda stubborn as well and i don't like to cause trouble for myself for no good reason/do things i don't want to do. i tend to be rational and use common sense more than anything. i go with the flow and i'm quite unshaken to setbacks and try not to dwell on them. im also observant and catch onto small details and remember the small things abt ppl easily. i get along with most people really since i don't have strong feelings of hate for the people around me (tolerant as hell). im also naturally intelligent but the lack of motivation kinda throws me off (lazy bum). when im around people, i tend to be corny as hell with my jokes and they are almost always a hit or miss. im also sarcastic (too much for my own good tbh). people have told me im quite warm-hearted, loyal and considerate. a friend of mine also told me they felt like they could be themself in my presence. im also quite comical (in terms of my facial expressions). i also like to have fun and enjoy myself but it takes a ton out of me. also i get terribly flustered easy over the smallest things whether it be compliments or flirts..

as for hobbies i really love drawing and im into videogames (mostly horror games) and tv series/movies. honestly whatever catches my attention. i also want to play the guitar and garden soon.

ideal type: i look for someone who i can spend time with.. i like to take things slow, so i guess something casual then turns serious. also someone trustworthy. i have a hard time expressing how i feel so i tend to use more actions than words. id also like someone who can motivate me cuz im quite the lazy person. knowing that someone has my back is something i deeply appreciate. i can understand jealousy but be willing to talk to me abt it so i can make it up instead of acting all distant. other than that, the bare minimum wins. you love me, i love you.

season: winter, early-mid spring or whenever it rains.

favourite trope: childhood friends to lovers, hurt/comfort

congrats and thank you again! sorry for using anon..

HONEYMOON MATCHUP WITH : SATORU GOJO

— honeymoon :

satoru thinks it's funny, how you've been ignoring him for half of the day, all because he took your leftovers in the fridge, you frown at him every time you see him and you throw snarky remarks whenever he talks to you — it's fine, he thinks, you'll get over it on your own, he'll buy you a new pizza if he has to — and sure enough, he does, and you almost forget that you were mad at him while you're munching on your pizza and he's suddenly kissing your cheek. you groan in annoyance, trying to push him off but he only laughs and drops his body weight on you, mumbling something about how you can't resist him and that you're all over him and you find it so ridiculous that you laugh and when he tries to kiss your lips, you kiss him back, trying to ignore the smile you have on your face and the way his hand snakes up your body to hold your waist — you figure you can forgive him for stealing your leftovers.

you, on the other hand, think it's funny how easily jealous satoru gets. it's silly really, it was all because he saw a coworker talking with you — wait no, flirting with you when satoru was there to pick you up — the whole drive home was him being grouchy, you couldn't help but laugh about it really, and when the two of you got back home, it looked like the pout only is face only got deeper because you haven't made any move to talk to him yet, it wasn't until bedtime that you snuggled up to him, and buried your ace in the crook of his neck, mumbling about how much you loved him really and there was no way in hell you would ever think about being with someone else — ultimately, satoru was a big softie for you, and he couldn't help but melt under your touch and hold you close.

if there was one thing satoru loved about you, it was the fact of how long he knew you — ever since he was eight, if he remembers correctly, he likes the idea of how he knows you inside out, knows you like nobody else, better than anybody else. so when the day came of your third year anniversary of dating — or rather, twenty years of friendship, he knew exactly what to do, he ordered fancy dinner ( mcdonalds ) and invited you over to his place ( for netflix and chill ) and actually made an effort to make the living room look inviting for you, and once you were there, he scooped you up in his arms, laid on the couch and turned on the tv to put on a show, it wasn't long after that it only became background noise as the two of you were practically making out, taking short breaks in between just to catch your breath and for him to mumble sweet nothings to you, it's silly and sweet how the two of you are, he thinks, but it's not like he would have it any other way.

— what's on the radio : lust for life, lana del rey

a/n : lee's such a cool name, ty for the request

[dotster001]

Enemies to Lovers; part two of how ever many parts it takes for my coworker to fall in love with Vil

Summary: A continuation of enemies to lovers. You hate Vil Shoenheit slightly less now.

Part three. Part Four. Part Five. Part Six. Part Seven.

Part Eight. Part Nine. Part Ten. Epilogue.

"Look! It's Vil Schoenheit!"

"Who's that he's with?"

So…the beach had been a bad idea

You had truly believed that it would not be busy at this time of the evening, but it was more crowded than usual. And, immediately, one of Vil's fans had spotted them, and started a mob. 

Normally, Vil would take the time to greet each of his fans, like a queen greeting her subjects. But one look at your startled and uncomfortable expression had him grabbing your hand, and running.

You'd reached a secluded sea cave, and were hiding in there. 

"You were quite right, the beach was very relaxing, and quite fun," Vil had a smug smile on his face.

"Well it's normally fun," you snapped. "Sorry," you muttered. "It's not your fault the beach was crowded."

Vil gave a soft smile and sat in silence, scrolling through his phone now and then. You also tried to sit in the silence, but eventually, you had had enough.

"Hey," you said. "How did you know Epel likes Deuce?"

He looked at you and raised a single eyebrow. Oh shoot, you thought, I was in the vent, he doesn't know I know.

"Deuce told me." You hastily blurted. He seemed to accept this because he gave a simple nod.

"I told you once that I'm hard on those I care about. Whether you believe in my methods or not, you must understand that I do care about Epel, which means I pay attention to what's important to him. And Deuce is one of those things."

"Huh, okay…it's just you kind of strike me as someone to be needlessly strict about who the people they care about date. I mean, I love Deuce, but I thought that you'd be suspicious of his background."

He gave you an assessing look. Then, "I truly believe people can change. I also truly believe, just as much as you do, that despite Deuce's past he is a good boy. And if he makes Epel happy, that's all either of us can ask for, yes?"

"Yeah…"

They fell into comfortable silence again. Eventually, Vil's phone vibrated, and he told you that the beach had cleared out. TYou walked back to Ramshackle dorm in silence, and when they reached the door he gently took your hand.

"Believe it or not, I enjoyed spending time with you. We should do this again sometime." He pressed a gentle kiss to the back of your hand, and walked off into the night, never once looking back.  Which was for the best, because you couldn't control how warm your cheeks were.

                                  ….

Lessons with Vil had continued as normal after that. We'll, mostly. You couldn't help but find yourself hyper aware of everything he did. The way held his pencil, the way he gave a half smile when you remembered the material, the way he gracefully crossed his legs while he sat watching you show what you learned…it was all too much. He was too much. But you still hated him! Or maybe you didn't. But!

Having paid much closer attention to him recently, you had noticed that, maybe he wasn't as cruel as you'd thought. You had to sit in on one of Epel's lessons one day, because you had an exam that you had panicked and Vil had helped you to study for, and most of it was just how to treat people so that they didn't look down on you. Even when he focused on Epel's looks, it was about weaponizing it to get what he wanted.

One of the lessons you had had to sit through had led  to….and incident though. They were outside, and Vil was leading yoga, while explaining gold transmutation principles. In the field nearby, the spell drive club was practicing. Naturally, Epel was pissy about this, having had to miss practice, but the practice had been called last minute so there was nothing he could do. 

You found your eyes wandering to Leona, who was leading the practice. Suddenly, he threw the disc, and it headed straight for you. Having no chance to dodge, you prepared to be hit and pass out (deja Vu, huh?) Except….you found herself knocked to the ground as the disc buried itself in the tree behind you. 

When you gained awareness of your surroundings, you realized Vil was calling your name. Oh yeah, and he was above you, looking down at you with frazzled violet eyes, a hand pressed in the ground on either side of your head.

You realized what a compromising position you were in relatively quickly, and scooched out from under him as gracefully as you could, hoping he didn't notice your embarrassed expression. Luckily, he seemed to have moved on from you once you assured him you were fine.

"Kingscholar! What was that, you could have killed Y/N!"

Leona looked at Vil, who was marching his way across to the spell drive field. He let out an intense eye roll.

"It's not my fault the herbivore doesn't know how to dodge." 

"Apologize. Now."

Leona gave a sigh and attempted to go back to practice, but Vil wasn't done with him. Meanwhile, you and Epel sat watching in shock. Epel went over to investigate the disc buried in the tree. It was a solid inch into the bark.

"Darn he's right, that coulda killed you! Imma kill him!"

You had to hold Epel back until Vil came back with an angry flounce. He looked at you with concerned eyes, and once he calmed down Epel, he gazed into your face, searching.

"You're sure you're alright?" He looked so worried. You gave him a reassuring nod, and Vil sighed heavily. "Lessons are over for the day. Both of you go home, cool off," a pointed glare at Epel "and get some rest" a soft look at you. 

Vil dragged Epel off with him, and before You left, you looked over at Leona. His eyes met yours and  he gave a smirk. Then he went back to practice as though nothing had happened.

                                  ….

Summer break was coming, and after what had happened with you and Grim in Scarabia over winter break, your friends were less than happy to let you stay at the school.

They had all been arguing about it, including Epel, who was using some rather vulgar language to make his point. Vil who had initially come over to correct said language had turned to you and said, "if it makes everyone here calm down, you can stay with me. My home is spacious enough for the two of you, and there is a guest house where you can stay without worrying that you have to be part of the 'Schoenheit glamour world'" 

You had attempted to argue, but all your friends had seemed to agree that this was a great idea, and eventually they all convinced you to go for it.

And that's how you found yourself living with the man you "hated" for three months.

[heyheyloki]

U&I

Summary: The reader begins to realize his feelings for Saiki.

Saiki x M!Reader

Word Count: 8711

1. The Best Friends

Being friends with a psychic definitely had its ups and downs. At first, you didn’t notice a thing out of the ordinary with Saiki, well, granted you were kids when the both of you met so naturally you just wanted to be friends and thought nothing more. However, he noticed something odd with you the moment you two met.

He couldn’t read your mind.

Actually forget being about to read your mind, none of his psychic abilities worked on you. He couldn’t see through you and when he touched you without his super thin transparent gloves on nothing happened. You were basically immune to him.

At first, he thought something was wrong with you, or that maybe you had some psychic powers as well. That wasn’t the case at all. In reality, you were a normal human without any powers or tricks. That stumped Saiki even more, but it also became the soul reason he wanted to be your friend as well.

For one, he didn’t have to deal with your thoughts. Two, his image of you wasn’t ruined because he can’t see under your skin. Three, your calmer personality made him relax. And of course all those other things like your kindness and stuff, but those were irrelevant the moment he knew he couldn’t read your mind.

It’s been years since he met you in the park during recess, and now here you guys were, 16 years later and still friends. Oh, there was one thing that bothered him about you.

“What to hang out today?” You asked as you slung your bag over your shoulder.

“Sure.” Saiki said. Yep. That’s right, since he can’t get in your mind, he actually has to move his mouth when he talks to you.

It was a bit weird to others that he never did it with anyone else other than you, but he didn’t care.

On the way home he couldn’t help but notice you eyeing his antennas, the things that keep his powers stable. He turned his head towards you and gave you a curiosity look.

“Do those things poke at your head at all?” You asked, moving you hand up to poke at the top of the pink ball. “Like, does it make your head ichy?”

Saiki shook his head. He knew he had to talk to you at some points, but times like these he didn’t. He enjoyed that about you too, that you don’t force him to talk all the time. You knew it was a bit weird for him to talk, he explained it to you when he told you all about his powers.

“Hm,” you hummed out. Your hands going back at your side and into your pant pockets. “It would for me, if I was you. They just look painful, but I guess you gotta do what you gotta do if you don’t wanna blow up the world.”

Saiki nodded his head, his eyes continuing to linger on you. It was one days like these when he saw you thinking so hard about something that he wished he could just take a peak. At some points, he loved the silence, especially when the both of you were watching movies, but right now, especially in this moment, he’d give anything to know. It was mostly prominent when he’d stare at you during class and you’d have this far out look in your orbs, you drew him in, and perhaps that’s why he fell for you.

Though, there were other factors that won his favor. Mostly the fact that, unlike everyone else, he can’t stare right through you and just see your raw muscles and pumping organs. Instead, he was able to focus on your handsome face and not get side tracked about your racing thoughts. You were the only person in the world that make him feel somewhat normal. That was a love-hate relationship at times.

“Think I could sleep over tonight?” You suddenly asked, “we don’t have school tomorrow.”

Saiki stared at you for a moment just to relish in that fact that nothing worked on you. No telekinesis, mind control, no nothing. He was going to have to win your favor just like everyone else. To him, it wasn’t normal, but looking at you, he didn’t seem to mind the extra work.

“Sure,” Saiki said. He still had trouble talking aloud, hell, sometimes he will actually use telekinesis and wait for your response only to have pure silence. “My parents are leaving for a wedding, so the house should be free for a while.”

When the two of you got to Saiki’s house, it was a bit peaceful until his parents had to head out. You liked his mom and dad a lot, they were like your second family, so you wanted to wish them a good time. It was for one Saiki’s dad’s coworkers.

“Are you sure you don’t wanna come with us?” Saiki’s dad asked his son. “You’ve met Kirishima before, and you can bring [Name] as your plus one date.”

You knew Saiki wasn’t going to be interested in a wedding. He always told you normal happy events for others is misery for him since he can hear the jealousy and pity that the crowd is thinking. You felt sorry that he couldn’t turn it off, but you were glad that you were the only person he could catch a break with. However, when you looking over at Saiki, he seemed to entertain the thought.

It was a new side to Saiki, one that made you confused. It was always either you or no one. You could tell the way he wanted to get away from many of the people in his class that seemed to have declared themselves his friends from a small interaction. Sure, you felt their interest, but it was just a bit sad to you that Saiki could never actually enjoy friends unless they were pure. Otherwise, he could hear all the backstabbing thoughts or otherwise stupid comments that go around in their brain that was thought to be private to them.

“I’m going to have to pass,” you commented. “I don’t have a suit, besides, you two should enjoy the night. It’s been a while since I’ve seen you both go out alone.”

Saiki’s mom smiled widely at you. Her eyes clouding over with a wet film before wrapping her arms around you for a tight hug. “Ah, thank you, [Name]! What would we do without you?”

You chuckled softy at the comment before saying, “Who knows, I rather not think about that.”

When she finally let you go, you and Saiki waved the both of them off as they left. Honestly, you weren’t sure if they’d even make it back at a reasonable time. It was a wedding, after all. Oh well, as long as they make it back drunk and safe rather than drunk and not safe, you didn’t mind. You were sleeping over anyway, so right now, you just wanted to hang out with your childhood best friend.

“What do you wanna do?” You asked with a calming tone.

Saiki turned his head to you. “TV?”

“Sure,” you smiled. However, as soon as you turned to the living room, you noticed the absolute mess his parents left behind. So, out of the goodness of your heart, you said, “How about you find something and all clean up this in the meantime. Sound good?”

Saiki nodded once more. He truly thought your actions were kind, but he rather have you watching TV with him than picking up his dad’s dirty clothes. He knew his father tended to be sloppy, but this was just a mess.

As you were about to pick up a pair of jeans, all the clothes that were strewn about the floor suddenly started to float in the air and shoot into the open washing machine. The trash floated itself into the garage while everything else was moved around to make it look clean until otherwise.

You pressed your lips together as your brows furrowed in annoyance. Once you turned to Saiki and saw his innocence face, you knew you couldn’t be angry but you had to ask, “Do you really want me to watch TV with you that bad?”

“Yes,” Saiki stated.

You sighed, your lips parting as you left the oxygen leave your lungs. “Fine, but let’s both clean up a bit before than. It’ll be a nice surprise and a way to thank your parents for letting me stay the night.”

Saiki nodded. “Okay.”

It took a bit of convincing on your end to let him let you help out. You may not have powers, but you didn’t want to take advantage of his. You knew it was effortless and he made it seem like it didn’t affect him whatsoever, but you knew every time he does something it takes a toll. His powers aren’t perfect.

You both ended up cleaning the living room, Saiki’s room, and now you were in the kitchen sorting the trash. Saiki was using his powers to sort while you whipped down the countertops.

“Good grief,” Saiki said aloud, his voice drawing your eyes to him. He was crouched down with two bags in front of him and the garage floating upside down, it’s contents was either going in the first or second bag.

“What?” You asked curiosity. It wasn’t all the time that he speaks from his mouth without you talking first.

“How could anyone have let it get this dirty in here?” He asked aloud. “I mean, really it’s a wonder we don’t have bugs.”

You were going to respond. That was until he suddenly shut his mouth, a chest deep grunt leaving him as you notice him stare at something on the furniture next to him.

It was a cockroach.

Mind you, the moment you realized what it was you weren’t the least bit surprised when he suddenly teleported. Saiki hates bugs. He could read the minds of humans, as well as animals, but he couldn’t with bugs. He thought they were small minded icky things. Hell, he couldn’t even let his powers touch the thing.

You counted down the seconds before he came back. It was around ten, maybe fifteen. He also teleported right behind you.

“Welcome back,” you greeted and watched as his eyes dart towards the floor.

“Sorry, I may have overreacted.” He muttered. “I just hate them.”

“I know,” you hummed out before looking around and grabbing a cup and piece of paper. Saiki watched you as you let the roach crawl on the piece of paper before placing the cup over it so it didn’t run away. You were quick to put it outside and close the window after so Saiki didn’t worry about it coming back in.

“All gone,” you cheered with a smile. “Now, let’s watch TV, ya?”

2. Saiki’s Pushy Friends

PK Academy was a school were many different personalities and people collided. It was always fun to meet new people in this school, yet on the other side of the coin, sometimes they were more than a little odd. Not like you can speak, your best friend was a psychic. Though, he wasn’t delusional like this one guy in your class that declared himself Saiki’s friend. His name was Kaido. He thinks he has powers and has an evil organization following him around.

Then, you have Nendou. Basically, he’s stupid. Not that you minded, but sometimes being stupid isn’t the best thing in the world, especially now.

It was the sports festival at PK and Saiki and you had to participate in it. You both were on the same team since all the teams were decided by class. This also gave you a good idea of the friends Saiki has made. It was safe to say that Kaido was growing on you. You felt a little bad for the guy, what can you say.

Let’s not forget about Hairo as well. You knew him a bit more from hearsay than the others, plus he was class rep. Though, you had to say, he was a little too overly enthusiastic.

It was kind of a surprise to see Teruhashi, the most popular girl in school, try and interact with Saiki. Though, it was a bit amusing since to him, she’s nothing more than walking muscle. However, you did think he would swoon over her like all the other guys in your school if she was like you. However, you knew Saiki had no interest in romance so you don’t care either way.

Finally, Nendou. You were originally going to say that you didn’t mind the guy that much and thought maybe he would be a good thing for Saiki. However, after just watching him take out one of the antennas from Saiki’s head, you started to wonder how much of a danger his stupidity is to Saiki.

You watched that pink haired friend of yours collapse to the ground with a hard thud as soon as Nendou pull the thing out of his head. You were quick to rush over to him and sit by his side. When you flipped him over, since he fell face forward, worry grew about your body and infected your bloodstream.

You heard protests about turning him over, but at this point all the worried voices drowned before they were even audible to you. His lips were parted as drool leaked from his mouth and went down his chin, his eyes dead and without life as darkness surrounded them. It didn’t take you long to recover and swipe the antenna Nendou was holding and pop it back in its rightful place in his pink locks.

You didn’t know how long it would take for him to wake up, or if he’d wake up at all. All you knew was to sit and wait for him to wake up. To your surprise, he woke up rather quickly. Maybe a mere minute or so after you fixed him up. When his eyes opened, you felt yourself suddenly get surrounded as Saiki’s friends crowed over him to ask how he was.

You noticed him using telepathy to talk to everyone when Hairo said, “You passed out after Nendou took that think out of your head, lucky for you, [Name] put it back right away!”

“Yeah, he saved your life!” Kaido spit out next, their hands placing on my shoulder out of respect and gratitude. 

Saiki’s eye then direct to you, his voice never leaving his lips for a moment before you noticed him flinch.

‘Ah,’ you thought. ‘He tried to use telepathy with me again.’

When he noticed, Saiki just nodded in your direction. You knew he was thanking you, he didn’t need to word it out to you. The look in his eyes was enough.

Lunch came immediately after Saiki ended up waking up, and it was understatement to say he didn’t want to be bother with anyone else besides you. He was quick to drag you to the roof of the school to eat.

The both of you sat against the railing, lunch in your laps. You wanted I just forget about the scare that Saiki gave you, but the after effects he was having wasn’t making that easy. He was having trouble, and it was easy to see when his hands were shaking so much that he couldn’t even pick up his food without it falling back in the box.

You side eyed him, his expression one of concentration as he tried to pick up his food again. Though, he dropped it again.

He sighed quickly after that, only looking down at his food as you saw his mind wonder off.

Once you finished chewing whatever food you had in your mouth, you placed your food to the side and moved so that you weren’t side to side, but rather across from Saiki’s body now. He didn’t register your movements until he saw a hand come into his view and pick up an item of food with his chopsticks.

When he turned to you, you had the chopsticks in your dominant hand and your other under the food so it didn’t drop to the filthy ground.

“C’mon, lemme help,” you said. It was easy for Saiki to pick up the worry in your tone, however he knew not to address it or else you’ll just either deny it or baby him. “Open up.”

He obeyed your command after a moment, opening his mouth wide enough for you to place his food in his mouth. The hand that was meant to catch the food if it fell made sure Saiki closed his mouth, his fingers placed a bit of pressure under his chin to shut his jaws before slowly trailing away. The food wasn’t nearly as satisfying as the chill that ran down his spine at your lingering touch that crawled on his skin.

“I could hurt you.” He suddenly spit out. It was pained. “Having my antenna taken out messed up my powers.”

You leaned your head to the side, your eyes never falling from his. “Yeah, I kinda figured.”

“You should go.” He stated.

“Why?”

“I just told you.”

You smiled. “Saiki, you could never hurt me.”

He looked at you like you had something stuck in your teeth. “You don’t know that, I may not be able to read your mind, but I don’t know how my other powers react to you.”

You remained quiet for a moment before shuffling your body side by side again, your head falling to rest of Saiki’s shoulder. You felt him flinch at the contact, his muscles even began to tighten just out of fear.

“Yanno,” you started out saying, your hand coming up to play the antenna that you could reach. “It’s odd to me how these things are the only thing keeping you stable.”

“Is it?”

You chuckled and nodded. “Small things like these verses your powers. The thing that gets me is that these things actually win in that fight. Though, I suppose it does complete the look you have.”

“And what look is that?” Saiki asked as he gazed down at you to see your eyes already on him. He could feel his fingers twitch as he watched you say shamelessly, “The cute, mysterious loner type.”

Saiki’s lips parted as he gazed at you. He quickly recomposed himself when he noticed you waiting patiently for him to respond. He sighed before asking, “Mysterious loner? Where’d you get that?”

You laughed before sarcastically questioning, “yep, I wonder where.”

3. Your friends are my friends

You don’t know how you got wrapped into this, but perhaps it’ll allow you to know Saiki’s friends better.

Currently, you were walking with Kaido, Nendou, and Saiki to a good ramen shop Nendou suggested. You were dragged along when Nendou remembered you from the Sports Festival and as Saiki’s friend. They never really got the chance to speak to you since you’re usually out the door as soon as the bell rings, but today they finally caught you.

At some point Teruhashi joined the group, though you feel like she kinda took over since now the boys, except for Saiki and you, were fawning over her. Saiki and you took it upon yourselves to give them all room to talk to her, so you both sorts trailed behind.

It was silent for a while, the only noise was Nendou or Kaido talking to Teruhashi. However, you caught the, “what does that even mean,” that Saiki mumbled under his breath.

“Hm?” You hummed. “What does what mean?”

It was obvious to you he didn’t realize he said that aloud. But he just seemed to be glad that only you heard that.

“Teruhashi wants me to go ‘oh wow’ or something to her.” Saiki revealed. “I don’t even know what that means.”

You kept your gaze on Saiki for a moment. “So, she likes you?”

“I guess,” he muttered. “I think it’s more that I’m the only guy that isn’t kissing her feet.”

You watched Teruhashi interact with Nendou and Kaido. You know that, normally, she wouldn’t take time to hang out with these guys. However, because of her crush on Saiki, she bares with them. In all honesty, she seems a bit perfect. Being able to deal with them just for the person she adores. It’s easy for anyone to do, and not a lot of people would even bother.

“She seems like a good fit for you.” You suddenly uttered out.

When Saiki heard that, he felt his hands twitch. He didn’t like that, not one bit. What irked him the most was that it seemed natural, like you actually meant it. And, of course, he had no way of knowing if those words were genuine or actually forced.

“No way,” Saiki stated coldly. “Never in a million years.”

“Damn, that’s cold, Saiki.” He heard you say, a teasing tone wedged in your voice.

“Why do you keep calling me Saiki, anyway? We aren’t acquaintances.”

“Hm?” You questioned. “I thought you don’t like me calling you by your first name in public?”

Saiki sighed. “Well now I’m telling you I don’t care.”

Saiki knew this way of showing that you were closer to him than anyone would ever be may have been childish on his part, but when he heard his first name come from your lips in front of his other ‘friends’, he felt more than satisfied. 

4. Friendship Can Bring Romance

Being able to rest during class was one of your guilty pleasures. Even if you got called out by your teacher, you didn’t mind. It was better when it was raining outside, the patter of rain when it hit the window made you want to nap.

“Hey,” a voice called out to you. You didn’t listen though, it wasn’t important.

“Hey, [Name],” it called out again. Okay, maybe you should wake up. Then again, sleep. You could always sleep later though.

You fluttered your eyes open as you felt your body being pushed around. When your sight became focused, the blurry figure in front of you showed a blue hair kid. You knew him, but from where?

“Saiki asked me to wake you up, sorry,” he confessed.

Oh, right. That’s Kaido, Saiki’s friend.

“Hm? Where is Kusuo?” You asked in a groggy voice, your hand coming up to wipe your eyes.

“Oh, he went home.” Kaido informed you. “Something just came up, I guess.”

“Alright,” you hummed before the end of your lips pulled upward. “Thank you, Kaido.”

It wasn’t easy for Kaido to wake up the quiet kid. Kaido only met the guy once or twice, and when he was hanging with him, you only stayed close to Saiki. It was kinda odd, but Kaido understood your attachment to the pink haired man. Saiki was Kaido’s first friend, after all, so he knew how awesome the guy was.

Though, he’s never got the chance to speak to you. He knows Saiki never really goes anywhere with you, and somehow you always end up by his side. He just always seemed to miss you when it came to getting the chance to introduce himself so Kaido was pretty glad when you came along the trip to that ramen place, even if it was a dumb and he got distracted by Teruhashi.

Kaido knew you were the closest person to Saiki. He’s pretty sure that not even Nendou is as close to Saiki as you are. And those two are best friends. Kaido didn’t know the extend of how long you two have been friends, but he does know from watching that Saiki has respect for you. So, it was critical that he makes a great impression with you so that he can become closer to Saiki and maybe you as well.

“S-Sure, no problem!” He stuttered, his bandaged hand retracting from your shoulder and holding them up in the air in a surrendered notion.

“Do you live around here at all? I’ll walk you home as a thank you.” You said as you stood from your seat and began to search for your bag.

“What? You don’t have to do that, really, it isn’t necessary!” Kaido spit out quickly, his words jumping all over the place.

“It’s really no trouble at all,” you stated as you put your bag over your shoulder. “C’mon, let’s get going before the rain gets worse.”

The rain eventually stopped when both teens got closer to your house. Kaido’s was further ahead, so he thought it would be better if he just walked you home instead so you didn’t have to walk more than you have to already.

“So, you’ve been friends with Saiki since he was little, huh?” Kaido asked as you explained why Saiki trusts you so much. “That’s pretty awesome! What was he like back then?”

“Pretty much the same.” You answered. “Though he did get more handsome throughout the years, and he used to be kinda sweet. Now, not so much.”

“I see, so you guys have been through it all together.” Kaido replied.

“Basically, though, he did start to worry me a bit since I was his only friend for a really long time,” you confessed. You paused as you looked up at Kaido and gave him a smile, “But I’m glad he finally made a friend like you.”

Kaido could feel his heart beat a million miles an hour just at the words you strung together. He never heard kinder words than those, and he was even more thrilled that he succeeded in making a good impression on Saiki’s childhood friend!

“It’s, uh, n-no problem, really!” Kaido muttered out as his whole face began to fluster, his hands going everywhere.

“Oh,” you hummed out.

“Hm?” Kaido questioned. His nerves going down. “What is it?”

“Did you know you were dragging your scarf the whole time?” You asked curiosity as your hands started to real in the extra fabric.

“What?” He asked out of pure shock. Though, realizing that he doesn’t make a fool out of himself he said, “O-Of course I did! It’s a fashion choice.”

“Not the best one,” you stated as you stepped closer to the blue haired male.

Kaido’s eyes widened as he stated directly into your colored orbs, watching them dance solely for him. It was like getting attention from a loved one, but this attention make him nervous to the point where he thought his face was going to explode with red. Kaido’s lips slowly started to disappear as the scarf started to build up around his shoulders and neck.

“There you go,” you said, “much better. Now your scarf doesn’t get more dirty and you look even better.”

‘Even better? What’s that supposed to mean? Does it.. does it mean he thought I looked good before?!’ Kaido thought.

Kaido let out an awkward laugh as he played with the end of the scarf. “O-Oh, haha, thank you.”

“Sure,” you hummed. “Now let’s get going.”

5. Blessing Turned On Jealousy

What’s that saying, the enemy of my enemy is my friend? Yeah, that’s it. See, that could apply to this yet at the same time it would go a little different.

More like, the enemy of my best friend is my friend. At least for your situation. You see, walking home with Saiki has now turned into walking home with Saiki, Nendou, and Kaido. Not that you mind, but sometimes you really do wish it was back to when Saiki and you got to spend time alone together. However, being friends with Saiki and then having his friends automatically become your friends may have some perks.

Like now. Bumping into Kaido’s mom was totally accidental. But, in the end it payed off. Why?

Because coffee jelly.

“I know it’s not easy being friends with my son because he’s so shy, but please be patient.” Kaido’s mom announced as she placed the coffee jelly down in front of Saiki and you.

“Please don’t say that mama—I mean—mother.” Kaido pleased, his voice cracking as it got higher with embarrassment.

Overall, the beginning was a very nice. Hell, it was damn near perfect. Although, you just had to snoop around. Well, it was more like exploring Kaido’s room.

Your fingertips brushed along the spines of the many books Kaido had stacked up in his bookcase. It was seriously amazing how many books he had, he even had some original copies of some famous old books.

“This is pretty awesome,” you muttered to yourself before your eyes spotted something that didn’t quite match with the others. In all honesty, you were simply curious. However, curiosity did kill the cat. In your case, more like awakened the Saiki K.

“Hey, Kaido, what is the Jet Black Wings?” You asked aloud as the group sat down eating whatever snacks were about. You would always hear either chewing or at least some conversation, but after that question left your mouth it was dead silent. You felt like you killed something, but when you looked over you noticed Kaido’s face beat red. Seriously, his entire face was as red as a blood moon.

“P-Put that back!” He stuttered out, the blue haired boy suddenly running up to you to snatch the book from your hand.

As he reached for it, you held it higher. Even if he was about the same height or maybe a inch or so taller, you just needed to make him miss his hand from grabbing it.

“Don’t be embarrassed, I’m just curious.” You calmly said. “Is it bad or something?”

“N-No! It’s nothing, uh, bad! Just give me it back!” Kaido begged this time around, his hands trying desperately to grab it from you. Okay, maybe you were being a little mean at this point, but it was kinda fun to tease him.

You began to back up as Kaido trying to nab the book in your hand. “Just explain it!”

“No! Never!” He shouted.

You couldn’t help but laugh a little, though, that was your fatal mistake. Having yourself distracted by your own humor, your mind didn’t take into account the pile of prep books scattered about until it was too late. You quickly lost your voice, as well as your balance before slamming your head hard against the wood floors.

“Woah! You guys okay?” Nendou asked out of genuine concern.

As much as you would have liked to answer him, you were too concerned with the pain pounding into your skull like a jackhammer. Seriously, this is gonna give you one massive headache.

You scrunched your nose as your finally gave effort to open your eyes, though, they permanently remained open when you noticed a face staring down at you, a body on top of yours. You guessed that during the fall Kaido tried to save you, but only got dragged along instead.

“H-Hey, um, are you okay?” He asked under his shaky breath.

You only nodded before trying to avoid his gaze in any possible way. The position you were in didn’t help whatsoever in that department. Instead, you hoped that Kaido would take the hint and get off. That plan wasn’t looking too good cause all that was running through his mind was how you looked under him. Let’s say, the thoughts he had left a distaste in Saiki’s mouth.

Originally, he was just gonna let you handle it, but after hearing Kaido’s perverted thoughts about you, that plan blew up.

Saiki stood up, leaving his coffee jelly half eaten before grabbing Kaido by the back of his shirt and yanking him off of you. Saiki gave some strength into that but not enough to launch him into the bookshelf like he wanted too. He knelt down to come to your level and help you up, your massive headache being noticeable when you held onto the back of your head.

“Damnit, that really hurt,” you muttered to yourself but Saiki heard it clear as day.

It wasn’t long after that he took you home as well as the left over coffee jelly. Saiki advised you to stay home a day just to let the pain die down a bit before going back to school, so, the pink haired boy was all alone today. And all alone to everyone else meant to bother him more than usual.

Teruhashi, Nendou, Hairo. All of them. Though, it was a bit weird that Kaido wasn’t bothering with him today. Not that he was complaining, but he couldn’t pinpoint the answer until he heard Kaido’s thoughts, ‘I need to ask Saiki for permission. They’re best friends, it would be rude if I didn’t ask permission to ask out [Name].’

Never mind. He didn’t need to know that.

It was around lunch time that Kaido walked up to Saiki for the first one, the blush that littered his cheeks made Saiki want to gag for a moment.

“So, uh, Saiki, I have to ask you something.” Kaido uttered out lowly. Clearly, this was nerve wracking for him.

“What is it?” Saiki asked telepathically.

“Well, it’s about [Name], yanno, our [Name]?”

‘What other person has that name?’ Saiki thought. ‘And don’t say our, it’s creepy.’

“You see, I, well, I think I like him and I’d like your blessing to ask him out!” Kaido shouted, his body bowing at an almost 90 degree angle.

Normally, Saiki would just say to do whatever since he could read [Name]’s thoughts and see that he doesn’t like Kaido in that way. However, the one person in the world that Saiki actually wants is immune to his powers. He knew he needed to shut this down fast.

‘No way.’ Saiki responded.

“Thank you so much, Saiki, you won’t—wait—why not?” Kaido asked aloud, his voice getting higher the more he freaked out. He thought this would be easy, he means, it was Saiki. The most chill guy ever actually gave him a hard ‘no’ to asking out his best friend. Kaido shouldn’t be surprised, even though he is.

‘Because I said so,’ Saiki strictly put. He knew it was wrong to say this, who was he to say no to something that isn’t his business. Though, the feeling of relief that he still had a chance was more satisfying in the end.

By the time Saiki got to your house it was basically as soon as school ended. He used teleportation to get here as fast as he could, as well as just appear in your room. He wasn’t expecting you to still be asleep, though, he supposed this wasn’t too bad.

The pink haired male carefully walking up to the bedside of his best friend. It was odd to see your hair going in one direction instead of all over the place like normal, and don’t even get him started on the soft snores that came from your nose. Snoring isn’t usually the most attractive thing in the world, but this light snores from you made him think of the habit as cute.

Now, he would normally wake you up. But, just allowing himself to look at you for a moment longer without any consequences never hurt anybody. Saiki sat himself down on your floor, his eyes keeping to your closed ones as they slowly began to travel down to your lips. He doesn’t know what came over him, but it seriously began to freak him out when he started think about Kaido touching his lips with yours. After the freak out, jealousy was spiraling around in the psychic. He never knew that Kaido, of all people, would actually develop romantic feelings for you. If he did, he would have never allowed the both of you to interact the way you did at his house the other day.

Saiki let out a sigh before standing up once more, his hand came up to your shoulder slowly and began to shake it. It wasn’t long after that your eyes fluttered open and gave him that soft smile that caused his heart to skip a beat.

6. School Trip

The school trip was always the most looked forward to activity in high school. This year it was a three day trip to Okinawa. While you were excited to spend some time at a gorgeous place like Okinawa, Saiki was definitely less excited.

As kids talked with their friends in a group or just at their desks, you were currently sitting on top of Saiki’s desk with the pink haired boy sitting in the chair. This wasn’t something you always do, especially since at times Saiki has pushed you off out of retaliation, but after a moment or two of still being there, you knew he didn’t mind today.

“You excited?” You asked him.

“No. I don’t get the appeal.” He spit out, his eyes closing as he moved his head down. “I could get to Okinawa in three minutes.”

“Kusuo, not everyone is like you.” You explained. “So don’t go getting moody on this trip, I’m not letting you ruin it for me.”

“I won’t, I’m just saying a fact.” He replied.

You were about to continue with things you’re excited to do during the trip before Hairo came around to the both of you with a clip board in hand. He was responsible for dividing rooms.

“Saiki, [Name], did you guys decide on your group for the class trip?” He asked politely. “You should have three boys and three girls in your group.”

Saiki didn’t say anything, instead he just rested his head against your forearm. Perhaps he wanted Hairo to think he fell asleep and leave it to you, or maybe he was actually saying that he didn’t care as long as he was with you. Either way, you smiled at the contact and said to Hairo, “Kusuo and I will be rooming, it doesn’t matter who else is in our group.”

“Okay, great!” Hairo exclaimed as he wrote it down. “Kaido and Nendou are still available so I’ll just place Kaido with your group, and then randomly place you guys with a girls group.”

“Thanks, Hairo,” you hummed out as he walked away to probably inform Kaido about the rooming.

You never minded contact with Saiki, in fact, you sort of enjoyed it. However, seeing him still like this, even with Hario now gone, you worried.

“Hey, Kusuo,” you called out.

No answer.

“Kusuo?” You asked this time. And when he didn’t answer again you unconsciously moved your hand up to his head and moved it back to where you could look him in the eyes. Saiki’s face was still without expression, though, those eyes worried you. He seemed, almost, upset.

“Kusuo?” You asked. “What’s wrong?”

He shook his head, signaling that nothing was wrong. You knew he was lying.

You tilted your head, some of your hair moving with gravity to expose part of your forehead. “Why are you lying to me?”

“I’m not.” He said, his voice was steady and yet, that look in his eyes still bothered you.

You knew he wasn’t going to budge but still, just because you’re going to let it go now doesn’t mean that you weren’t about to keep an eye on him.

Throughout the beginning and the first day of the trip, you kept an eye on Saiki. He seemed way more tired than usual, but that didn’t startle you. Instead, it was how he was by your side more often now when Kaido was around. You weren’t an idiot, it was pretty obvious. You didn’t mind Saiki’s attention, but you didn’t want him to think just because you were friends with Kaido that he’d be put second.

“Kusuo, can we talk?” You asked him as the two of you had the room to yourselves. The others were out and about, but the two of you decided on an early night.

“About what?” He asked as he set up his sleeping area.

“Today.” You started out. “You’ve been acting weird around Kaido. Did something happen?”

You watched Saiki carefully, so carefully that you noticed his fingers lightly curl around the blanket. You didn’t want to push him, so instead of pushing him to speak, you allowed yourself to be silent and let him take his time. You don’t remember how many minutes pasted, but you swear it felt like decades.

“Nothing happened.” He informed you. “His thoughts just aren’t for my taste at the moment.”

“His thoughts?” You questioned as you slowly approached Saiki on his blanket until you were right in front of him. “Okay, then, what’s got you all bothered? Let me guess, he’s thinking dirty things, right?”

“Sort of.” He replied.

“I bet it’s about Teruhashi,” you theorized. “Is that why you don’t like it?”

“No, it’s not about Teruhashi.”

“Really? Then who?”

Saiki went quiet once more.

You sighed. Your head moving down to get a glimpse at his face. It wasn’t until you moved your hand over by his, your finger tips brushing with his accidentally to get more stability as you leaned in did you hear him finally confess.

“It was about you.”

To say that you needed a minute to take that in was an understatement. Kaido was a good guy and all, but it was kinda startling to realize he liked guys, as well as girls, since you didn’t suspect that even for a minute with him.

“Seriously?” You asked once more.

Saiki nodded. “He asked me if he could ask you out.”

“And what did you say?”

“No.”

You couldn’t help a smile crawl upon your face with that one. You knew it was a bit hard to read Saiki, especially when it came to you, but you were just beyond happy to hear that.

“Good,” you suddenly shot out. Saiki’s head moving back up in an instant to see your happy features. “I don’t like Kaido like that anyway, saves me from breaking his heart.”

“You don’t?”

“Nope.” You hummed out. You knew this may backfire on you in more ways than one, but right now, you didn’t care. The happiness you felt told you to take a chance and throw out the bait. “I know you can’t read my mind, but I actually do have someone I like.”

Saiki aimlessly stared at you for a moment and took in the words you confessed to him. It was an odd feeling, the rapid beating of his heart, but perhaps this was finally the start of things going his way for once.

On the second day of the trip, everyone went to Emerald Beach. It was one of the many places were people could stare at others and no one would think anything of it. A perverts dream. Though, for Saiki, he just wanted to hang out with you.

“Where’s [Name]?” Kaido asked Nendou as Saiki stood behind the two.

“He said he had to go buy a swimsuit. The one he brought apparently went missing.” Nendou told the blue haired boy.

Now, that want a mistake. Sure, it may have been a dirty trick but Saiki rather die than see you in the swimsuit you brought. After all, you bought a shirt with it. He knew you didn’t take off your shirt often, even at the beach, but he was determined to see you with just a pair of shorts.

Much like how all the guys that crowded around the girls changing house waited patiently to see Teruhashi in a two piece swim suit.

It was a while after Teruhashi came out, and when everyone was in the water that you made your appearance. You had your hands wedged into your swim shirt pockets as you allowed your feet to take in the hot sand that felt magical between your toes. You gazed around for a moment before noticing pink hair sitting under an umbrella.

A devilish smirk crawled on your features as you began to slowly approach the male. This may give Saiki a heart attack, but it was worth it. As you stood over him from behind, you attacked. Your body shot down as your arms wrapped aruund his neck and pushed your chest into his bare back.

“Hey, what’s a cute guy like you doing all alone at a place like this?” You teased, allowing your voice to go on for some time so that he realized it was just you.

Saiki immediately flinched at the contact before noticing it was just you. However, when he noticed the touch of your skin against his, he could feel his entire body heat up. The sensation was new, he’s felt his face go hot before, but his entire body was a new one.

“What took you so long?” Saiki tried to play off.

You just sighed and got a tighter grip on the male, your chest pushing more into his back. “Someone stole my swimsuit. Sadly, I didn’t have enough money to replace the whole thing, so I had to go by some swim shorts.”

“Hm, as least you’re here.” Saiki stated, making sure not to comment on the ‘stolen swimsuit’.

“Yeah,” you uttered as you released Saiki from your grasp and sat down next to him. You gazed out at the beautiful ocean that was filled with laughing people with this loving look in your eyes, all the while not realizing Saiki’s held that same gaze as he stared at you.

When you did turn to him, he completely lost himself in his mind as his eyes wondered about your figure. You weren’t the most fit guy in the world, but you did have these subtle yet enchanting muscle lines along your upper body that made Saiki lose himself.

“I saw that.” You suddenly said. Saiki’s eyes now darting back to yours. “You just checked me out.”

Saiki saw no way out of this one. So, he just confessed it. “So what if I was?”

In all honesty, he just expected you to laugh and tell him that it’s only fair if he does the same. However, the twist was unexpected and, well, definitely appreciated. He watched as you gazed down, this bashful look in your eyes as you did everything to avoid his gaze. Your body language wasn’t helping either. Your fingers were tapping against the towel and the heel of your foot was moving back and forth.

Maybe this trip wasn’t totally for nothing.

7. All That Was A Secret

Spring break. It was one of those weeks that Saiki went to go visit his grandparents all the way in the middle fo nowhere. So, for the most of this break, you were home alone. 

It was kind of boring. This break was definitely not one that you looked forward to, more now then before, especially after the beach during the class trip. Those words always ended up repeating in your mind, way too much then you thought they would. Then again, you shouldn’t be surprised. All those days that you’d try to subtly touch him, tease him, it was just a way to relieve yourself of the pent up emotions you’ve had for him for a few years now. 

Currently, you were in your room upon your bed, hugging one of your pillows close to your chest. You never tried to dwell on if Saiki felt the same or not, but recently, it’s been clawing at you more and more. It wasn’t like you didn’t think you had a chance, but more if Saiki was more comfortable just staying friends. You would understand, even if it would hurt, you’d do it for him. You’d do anything for that guy. 

You sighed before slowly lifting your body off the bed. Today wasn’t a good day for being sad, it was summer break, after all. You knew you had to get your mind off Saiki, and him being away made it a bit easier. So, you grabbed some clothes from your closet and laid them on the bed. You weren’t sure what you were going to do, but you were determined to fine something to take your mind off him. 

You let your pants drop to the ground before taking the ones on your bed and letting your legs slip through each of the pant legs. Next, you stripped your shirt off and took in a deep breath. You paused for a moment before dropping the dirty shirt on the ground and grabbing the new one. In all honestly, you never really pay attention to your surroundings when changing. But, does anyone? It wasn’t until your head went through the hole on the top of the shirt did you realize that the bed in front of you was now missing and the wall you were staring at was not the wall of your bed room. When you turned your head, you locked eyes with Saiki in an unfamiliar room. 

“Huh?” You uttered under your breath before your eyes widened, your face felling hotter than usual before frantically pulling your shirt all the way down. Once down, you opened your mouth and said, “You can’t do that without me knowing! What if I was in the middle of a shower or something and not just changing?”

“I would have given you some of my clothes.” He replied nonchalantly.

You bit the inside of your cheek before crossing your arms over your chest. “Why did you teleport me anyway?”

“I can’t stand it here.” Saiki confessed. Of course, you knew he didn’t exactly enjoying visiting his grandparents but he has never done this before. “Just hang out with me. I’ll send you back after.”

You sighed. You can’t exactly say no after that, so, with that Saiki and you began to watch a movie. It wasn’t one you two watched before so it was easy to get lost in it. Though, it was also easy to focus on Saiki when he suddenly placed his hand on top of yours as you guys watched. You weren’t too sure if he thought you wouldn’t notice, but there was no way you were going to pull away. After all, it’s not like he placed his fingers between yours, if he did that, you don’t know if you could handle it. 

After a half an hour into the movie you finally got the plot of it, and you weren’t amused at all. It was a best friends to lovers troupe. More specifically, childhood friends that drifted apart only to be brought back together by work and now slowly are developing feelings for one another. Let’s just say now, you were a little more than nervous. 

Thank god Saiki couldn’t read your mind, because now, you feel like you’d give him a headache. You couldn’t help but ask yourself if he knows and is only doing this to taunt you, or maybe this was all just a big coincident. Yeah, one massive coincident. In reality though, Saiki was just teasing you. He had no idea of your feelings but he wanted to watch the movie with you to implant the idea in his mind of the possibility.

Well, his plan was working. Maybe a little too much. Though, as you were about to spit something out, your eyes suddenly shot down to the floor in embarrassment. Yep, a make out scene. Of course, Saiki had no idea about that, but it was better than just the sappy stuff cause now it was really ingrained in your head. 

Once it was over and you had somewhat of your cool back you couldn’t help it. You needed to ask. If it blew up in flames, then so be it. 

“Hey, Saiki,” you uttered out lowly. Saiki caught it immediately and turned his gaze on you. “I have a.. question.”

“What?” He asked.

“Well,” your voice trailed off as you moved your eyes down to where both of your hands connected. “We’ve been best friends for a long time now but, have you ever, um, thought about doing...that?

Saiki remained quiet for a moment, his thoughts going everywhere before thinking to himself, ‘All the time, actually.’

As much as he wish he could have said that telepathically, he could never try to say that vocally. So, he just opted for a nod and watched your body flinch. The hand he touched growing warm.

“You’re hot.” Saiki suddenly spit out. This time, you brought your hand back to your body so he couldn’t tell anymore. 

“S-So what?” You stuttered out.

To say that Saiki didn’t like this side of you was an understatement. He’s never never seen you so flustered before, and it was really adorable to look at.

“It’s cute.” Saiki commented, his body leaning in just to see your face closer.

You turned your head to the side, eyes darting to the tv just to look away for a moment to compose yourself. You knew that there wasn’t gonna be another perfect moment like this so, you slowly reached over to place your hand on the back of Saiki’s neck. It was warm. When he noticed what you wanted as you started to lean back and gently pull him with you, he complied quickly until he gazed at you from above. Suddenly, he was jealous at the fact that Kaido got to see this view before him. 

He stared at you for a moment before watching you bite down on your bottom lip, his mind doing backflips at the want to read your mind, but also at how good you looked under him. 

“Kiss me.” You whispered under your breath, just loud enough for him to hear. 

“If I do,” Saiki uttered lowly. “I might not be able to stop.”

“That’s okay.”

[n7punk]

WDtFD Fic Notes

WDtFD is now complete! I will be taking the rest of the month of November off from posting for the most part as I will be working on an original novel for NaNoWriMo, but I intend to come back to fic writing after that. See my announcement here.

Epilogue life:

Obviously these two have more healing to do, but it’s going to take years. Luckily, they have eternity to process their trauma. Catra has less guilt than Adora, but she has been through a lot, so it takes her awhile to settle down and really feel safe and loved. Adora struggles with what she has been forced to do, but being an enforcer for the coven helps her to feel like she is “making up” for what she has done.

Catra, despite pending the first several weeks making fun of it, comes to really like life on the faem. It’s the polar opposite of how she grew up while still being secluded enough that she can be in her preferred form with worry. As she slowly begins to meet the farm residence (under good conditions) she warms up to them and eventually befriends them too. Regardless, she loves their cottage. She calls it quaint to disguise the fact that she finds it cute.

Adora does get a new parasol, something like this, and she and Catra enjoy going out together, even if they spend most of their time on the farm so Catra can be herself. Adora gets a “real job” one summer just for shits and giggles and leaves all her coworkers thinking farmers are so backwards and withdrawn that they don’t know the basics of society, but hey, at least they don’t suspect she is a vampire. She mostly sticks to farming and coven business.

Adora does learn to cook, and recognize ingredients, exclusively because she wants to cook for Catra and help her in the kitchen, though it is a challenge when she doesn’t know how anything tastes or how much of something is good, so she always needs to follow a recipe, even if it’s one Catra made up and wrote down on a card for her.

As she alludes to in the end of the fic, Adora picks up poetry, though it takes her awhile to hone her skills. She writes poems to and about Catra, and when she eventually gets good, her poems have this timeless quality due to the almost “throwback” lifestyle she lives with little modernity. At one point, she begins publishing them and becomes quiet famous under one of her aliases. She uses a few to publish poems over the years, almost always in compilations focused on her life or sapphic love.

Catra is right about her immortality, though she would die if she lost Melog as she needs them to sustain her, and she is more susceptible to dying of injury due to her reduced healing factor (though she is also less likely to die this way than a human). She works a variety of jobs, taking up a few trades before she settles into carpentry and wood carving. Of course she uses her claws in addition to her tools, and she ends up building a little workshop near their house with Adora where she creates her pieces. She has a member of the coven sell them for her (as she doesn’t visibly age, she tries not to put her face out there in connection with her work, and then her stuff can be connected to a timeless, faceless studio and she can maintain and client base past what should be one carpenter’s natural life. She hires a few werecreatures in the coven to sell her stuff, in a similar way to how the farm sells its produce).

The two of them have a lot of trauma to work through, but in the end they settle down into a peaceful life on the farm.

Songs for this AU: Lykke Li - Until We Bleed (title track). The Wolven Storm (Priscilla’s Song) – The Witcher 3 Unofficial Soundtrack. One Day The Only Butterflies Left Will Be In Your Chest As You March Towards Your Death - Bring Me The Horizon ft Amy Lee. The Tradition – Halsey. I Will Never Die – Delta Rae. Haunted – Taylor Swift. 1121 – Halsey. Smoke – PVRIS. The Lighthouse – Halsey. You And I – PVRIS. Bells In Santa Fe – Halsey. Eyelids – PVRIS. Bad Habits – Ed Sheeran. Same Soul – PVRIS. Taste Of You – Rezz, Dove Cameron.

Chapter 1

This is my oldest AU ever, with the biggest lag time between concept and writing. I came up with this AU in late October in 2020 as Halloween was approaching, and I intended to write it soon after as I was writing SLAS at the time, but obviously other AUs kept calling to me, and then in March or April of this year I was like “what if I just wait until next Halloween for it” and then I…. ended up doing that lol. It has been a full year since I came up with this idea, but I’m really happy to finally be writing it.

I feel like I have to acknowledge/recommend SleepySappho’s vampire fic from last year. I think I came up with this AU before I read that (though it had been published for 3 months, I only go to the tags occasionally, and I have uncompleted works filtered out so the only way I found that one must have been someone recommending it to me), so it wasn’t actually inspired by that, but it’s good, so I would be remiss to ignore it completely. I don’t know if there are any other Catradora vampire AU fics, but I haven’t seen/read them lol. Another Catradora vampire AU that I got into after I had this fic idea was the CaSPOP AU on Twitter and every time it updated I would start yearning to write WDtFD again.

A puma and a cougar are the same thing, which I feel like a lot of people don’t realize, but I didn’t want to use the word cougar as a descriptor because it just sounded like I was talking about something else.

I was careful for Catra to never use the phrase “her heart/her heartbeat”, though Adora uses it often in reference to Catra. Catra has a weird relationship with the heart in her chest and doesn’t usually casually refer to it as her own. This led to some purposefully awkward phrasing that I left as a trail of breadcrumbs for the later reveal.

Catra mentioning Melog being made out of mud is a reference to Melog (Melog = golem) in the original She-ra, which was quite different. I saw an interview with Noelle where they said they wanted to have something like Clawdeen for Catra in the reboot, but it would seem like they were copying/infringing on Steven Universe if they had a pink lion companion even though it’s from the original show. Thus they made Melog, because Catra really needed a therapy cat lol.

Chapter 2

Shadow Weaver actually got a job at a prenatal clinic so she could scope out potential werecreature of dhampir children. She knew she would find a werecreature first, so when she came across Catra’s parents she was prepared to snatch her (accessing her home address in the office records) with the assistance of her supernatural abilities. Dhampirs are extremely rare. She expected it to take much longer to find one, perhaps even a lifetime that would necessitate her snatching another werecreature, but after a few months, a woman came through the clinic with an unusual pregnancy from a one night stand (vampires aren’t completely sterile, but the chances they get someone pregnant having unprotected sex are lower than the chances of pregnancy on birth control for mortals, and thus the father didn’t think twice about it). Shadow Weaver actually (unethically and illegally) discouraged the woman from terminating her pregnancy despite the problems it was causing her because she saw magical potential within her. When Adora was born, she was proven right and once again stole her in the night, leaving the area completely shortly after to raise the girls in reclusion.

Adora’s place has a built-in microwave, otherwise she wouldn’t have bothered with getting one.

When Angella and Micah were first courting, Angella had him over for dinner and had no idea what she was doing, so despite ordering the food, she still burned it trying to reheat it (she had never worked a microwave before and literally just had one for show). Her terrible cooking became a running theme/joke in their relationship. She would try to cook for Micah when he was sick and it would just make him sicker but he would still be touched by the gesture.

All supernatural creatures are resistant to someone else’s magic being used on them, but sires have compulsion abilities over their fledglings because those fledglings have their venom/magic inside them. Vampires have stronger compulsion abilities over mortals they have recently fed on for similar reasons, though the venom that is used to subdue prey during feeding is different from the venom used to shut down someone’s body and turn them.

Chapter 3

Comments: oh I’m worried about why there’s no chapter titles Meanwhile me planning this: I hate coming up with chapter titles and it’s a short fic so it doesn’t really need them, right???

Chapter 4

Writing Catra in human form was, like, hard. Like DT said something and I started to write about her ears pining back and then realized I couldn’t. Add on the fact that Adora didn’t have normal body responses like a heartbeat or that much of a need to breathe – though she still does it instinctively, so she could still gasp and stuff – and writing this fic was a unique challenge.

DT passes themselves off as just the manager instead of the owner, but they made up Peekablue for the purpose of tax evasion. No, I will not elaborate.

DT is watching Cats because because they’re a theatre kid and also thought it was a funny joke, but then it seemed fated since I missed this update because I was watching the recording with a group for Halloween. It isn’t good. The 2019 version was so bad I’m still struggling to believe that it was something a major company invested money and time in, saw the final results of, and still released it to the public. Should have just cut their losses and saved a bit of reputation lmao.

Catra’s hate of the butter smell is because of how horrid it smells to her one she shifts, but it’s also inspired by a friend I had who worked at a movie theatre and fucking hated the smell of move popcorn after that. It clung to their uniform and wouldn’t go away. There is a class divide at the movie theatre: those who prefer working concessions because you can watch the movies from that booth, and those who prefer to work the ticket booth because you can avoid ruining the smell of popcorn as much as possible. Catra aligns herself with the latter.

Melog’s mud can’t come loose as magic has granted them an actual body, but I think if you cut them in half then the center would be mud or mud-like (maybe like that pink tubby custard a vegetarian tried to pass off as industrial meat back in the day) and they would have the ability to reform like water-droplets.

They have paperwork because Angella, despite not being techno-phobic, doesn’t trust computers with coven matters on the basis that they could be hacked, so everything is manual/physical.

Micah doesn’t actually say shit like “I’m not mad, just disappointed” but he never raises his voice and even vaguely implied disappointment threatens to make Adora cry.

Chapter 5

This entire chapter is The Scene™ for this fic.

The feeding scene was supposed to be in the last chapter. Actually, it was supposed to be in chapter 3 in the initial outline of 4-5 chapters. As I was writing chapter 2 and I kept inserting scenes not in my initial plan, my outline grew to a solid 5 chapters, but I still posted it with a predicted count of just 4 because I would rather add chapters than take them away. The adjusted outline had the feeding scene at the beginning of chapter 4… and then I wrote chapter 3 and only got to half the stuff I wanted to, which pushed the feeding scene out again to the very end of chapter 4. Except when I got there, there had once again been more added scenes that meant I had run out of room and it got pushed to the beginning of chapter 5. What I had left in my plan was about 1 to 1 & ½ chapters from there, so I was like, I still don’t know for sure it’s gonna be 6 chapters, maybe I’ll just make the final chapter long, and I left the count at 5 until I finished that feeding scene and realized I was already at 6k for Chapter 5 T_T I finished the chapter and gave up on making the fic just 5 chapters at that point. I was so determined to make this a short fic with just 4-5 chapters and it just refused to happen.

Chapter 6

Adora not wanting to kiss Human!Catra was inspired by when I dated a girl with glasses and I felt like I was cheating on her when I kissed her while she had them off. She just looked so different that it felt wrong.

Melog doesn’t need to eat or feel much motivation to do so, but they do find smells interesting.

In this AU, the only way to become a werecreature is to be bitten by another one on the full moon and get their saliva in your bloodstream. You because whatever werecreatue they were, as each kind has its own strains, but appearances vary based on the person.

Adora’s job as an enforcer is to be the first line of defense before they call in a hunter, so she doesn’t kill people. Rather, she hunts them down and tries to talk to them to sort out misunderstandings and accidents. If what occurred was neither and they didn’t have a good reason for what they did, she then calls in hunters, helps them track the individual, and leaves it in their hands. She is hopefully able to help them before that is necessary, though if that isn’t possible, she is comforted by knowing she is helping to protect innocents from people like her.

Catra’s operation on herself is inspired by the five women in recorded history who have survived performing their own c-sections. One was in 2000 and both she and her baby survived. Reading about it is insane. Her name is Ines Ramirez Perez if you want to look it up, but don’t if you’re squeamish. Of course, a human could never remove their own heart, but Catra was still an undead vampire at that point in the operation and could only be killed via being staked, in addition to her werecat healing factor that helped her recover afterwards. A normal human, even if someone else performing the ritual, likely wouldn’t have recovered, but it would be possible, and anyone with a healing factor has far increased odds.

I don’t really explicitly confirm it, but Catra’s taste changed due to a combination of her new heart, the large transfusion, the change in her diet, the change in her health, her recent healing, and having detoxified her blood in the ritual.

The car isn’t mentioned really in this chapter because Adora didn’t get it back from the mechanic until a few days after the fic ended.

Original Outline:

This fic weirdly changed and… didn’t. The backstory changed, but my ideas for the fic itself were always centered around a few scenes, and those followed their outlines pretty well.

My original idea for the backstory was Catra and Adora having the same experience that they ended up having in the final version, but Shadow Weaver wasn’t acting alone. Rather, she was part of a vampire cult (along with Hordak and a few other villains) led by Horde Prime that’s entire goal was creating more higher vampires. It was going to be that Adora was eventually freed when hunters came after the cult, but them letting her live and not mistaking her for just another member of the cult would have been a bit flimsy. Truthfully, though, I changed this just because it was too dense of a backstory. The backstory for this fic is still dense, but this would have just been too much for a “short” fic. However, if this was a full length AU (9+ chapters), I would have kept the cult part of the backstory.

I also changed the world. In my original concept for the first, hybrids still existed so Catra was magicat that, as a werecat, could also transform into a full cat. However, as I wanted the supernatural community to be a secret in this AU, having hybrids also exist kind of “lowered the stakes” since there were already multiple races out in the world and the only reason for supernatural folk to keep themselves quiet would be fear of rejection based on their powers, I guess. It just made more sense for there to only be humans in this AU and all hybrids to be represented as a “halfway form” form for their respective werecreature (werecats & magicats, werelizards & lizardfolk, etc).

As far as the fic itself goes, there was only two changes, really: 1) everyone living on the farm rather than in a regular neighbourhood (which allows them the privacy to be their supernatural selves, so it just made more sense) and Catra not having a place of her own (which allowed for her to move into Adora’s place easier, crucial for the tight turnaround of this AU, and also hammered home the “always running” narrative). 2) is that… well, I came up with this idea before I wrote OTOS, but around the same time. What I’m saying is, in the original, Catra ran back to her own place after healing up, still bitter about the killing/turning thing, and she only returned to Adora when her heart started, thus prompting her to “temporarily” move in. However, I really am done writing heat, so after I wrote OTOS I knew that I would change that, and making it so Catra didn’t have her own place to stay allowed her stay Adora the whole time more easily.

I wrote a very detailed outline for the feeding scene, as well as snippets of other scenes, all on the same day that I came up with this idea and all of that only needed minor adjustment to work with where they ended up being by that point in the fic. Overall, the story of the fic largely didn’t change.

Meta:

Batdora shenanigans

Timeline:

Chapter 1:

             Saturday: Hit with car.

             Sunday morning: Call Micah/Mara, wake up broken.

Chapter 2:

             Sunday afternoon: Glimmer and Bow come over, breakfast, bathroom, cuddle.

Chapter 3:

             Monday: Catra walking, throwing books, getting hot, Glimbow confrontation, nightmare.

Chapter 4:

             Tuesday: Catra going to work, DT, Glimbow talk, car, cuddle, night farming.

Chapter 5:

             Tuesday night/Wednesday early morning: feeding fight, waking up together, staying.

Chapter 6:

             Wednesday: Breakfast, unpacking, grocery store/kiss, first kiss/making out.

             Thursday: (Catra works), asks Glimmer about blood.

             Friday: Batdora walking, (Catra working), Asks Glimmer if Catra can stay.

             Saturday: Mara letter writing, handing off letter.

             Sunday: Melog’s fed up with moping.

[maplesweater]

My Published Hetagame Masterlist

I decided this should probably be my first hetagame-related post that I make right now since I know I have an (outdated) page full of information and links to my games BUT you can't find that on mobile and I'm too lazy to edit that right now SO I'll do my best to keep this list up to date This list is gonna contain both my solo projects and group projects I worked on.

#1 is Child's Garden This was a group project between myself, @unlimited-trash-spill @sanctuaryofstars and @noizy-bunny Game page description: Go on a little misadventure with a group of kids trying to save their beloved kindergarten from closing for good! Hijinks include launching traitors off into the sky, stealing a random bike to avoid responsibility, getting your parents arrested and more all the while trying to raise funds! Do you think you have what it takes to jump on this crazy bandwagon in hopes of making enough money to save the kindergarten? And their pudding! Never forget the pudding. The game has a warning for serious topics taken lightly, since all of the main characters are children, after all. There's also two mentioned ships which consist of two of the pairs of parents in the game, FrUK and AusHun.

#2 is Guidebooks (See the game page description for the full name I'm not typing all that lmao) This was another group project between the same people as above. Game page description: 17-year old Ludwig Beilschmidt has been invited on a camping trip by his friends Matthew, Ivan, and Kyle! He agrees, and soon enough finds himself at the campsite where the four boys intend to spend a week getting closer to nature and just having fun! The only problem is, this is Ludwig's first time in the woods. Ever. He's always been more the sort to stay home and review flash cards, rather than go outside and explore. On top of that, it turns out that Matthew isn't that great at keeping Ivan and Kyle in line. That sort of thing was usually his brother Alfred's job, who's been banned from coming with them due to Alfred-brand shenanigans. So it seems that this trip has already started out badly. Can they pull it together and end up having a fun time? Or will this camping trip end up going south? Find out in "My Friends Invited Me to go Camping, but My Only Experience Is Reading Guidebooks!" The only thing worthy of a "content warning" is that there's swearing so if you don't like that be aware ig The game contains no ships, but speaking of the game I made a dumb stupid trailer for it that's linked on the game page and I'd be very happy if you guys checked that out I worked really hard on it at the time.

#3 is Apple Butter This group project was only between myself and @unlimited-trash-spill. Game Page Description: A short and relaxing Ukraine-centric game made within 14 days by Maple and Cune. Grow apples on your farm and pick them! Cook some delicious food!  Go shopping for more ingredients! Feed your ghost friends (at the graveyard)! Chat with your neighbors and coworkers! Help preparing for the town festival!

The only thing really worthy of a 'content warning' is one of the ghosts gives brief description of the situations leading to his death at one point, that involves fire. He doesn't go into detail, but it's there nonetheless. This game also has no ships in it.

Now we're getting to my solo games So technically speaking I have two currently published games but one of them is old and bad and I'm currently working on a reboot so please ignore that one thank you.

#4 is Freedom This one was a solo project that I decided to see if I could make in six days. And I did. So that's a thing. Game page description: Alfred is standing in a dark room. How did he get there? There's no way of telling. Where is he? There's no way of knowing. How long does he have to escape? Ten minutes. And it's your job to get him out.As far as warnings go, this game was made for halloween, so there's what you'd expect from a halloween game, mostly blood and cursing. Uhhhh yeahhhh that's it

This page will be expanded as I/we eventually put out more games.

[murder-by-sk8board]

Sk8 Future AU

Characters ages + professions

Reki - 24 - Very well-known board designer/maker. Also he's very popular at S (he just wants to skate ya' know? Have fun!) His brand is very well liked among the skating community. He's got an online shop with basic boards he designed and he also takes custom orders. He can make you a custom board sort of like the way he originally made Langa's as well, (he will watch you skate and design one based of your skating style and add/remove things that would be helpful all that stuff) but it takes time obv and of course he charges a fair price for it. (Langa's the only one getting a free board around here. He's got a business to run.) He doesn't do/get requests for these types of custom boards very often tho. Reki's boards are sold either online or exclusively at Dope Sketch. My son making money doing what he is good at and enjoys :) He is also attending school for graphic design and business management.

Langa - 25 - MODEL LANGA MODEL LANGA MODEL LANGA! Kid got scouted by not one. but TWO different modeling agencies in his third year. He and Reki were just wondering around Tokyo when they went to watch one of Miya's competitions and yeah. (Reki definitely could be a model too, I agree. don't @ me.) Anyways. Langa works for some really good modeling agency or whatever and is actually very well known. (Rich Bitch) He started modeling a little bit, towards the end of third year, and then after graduation started doing it full-time (or whatever the fuck "full-time" means in the modeling industry) He is still popular at S and he and Reki go all the time.

Miya - 18 - High school third year. Pro skater. Went to the Olympics once :) Won Bronze. This kid is still very much a sassy little bitch that is very good at skating. Still goes to S of course. Looking at going to university for game developing. He lives with Joe and Cherry. I like to think that Miya got emancipated from his parents when he was 16 bc they are neglectful and only care about the money he is making them with his skating and Matchablossom took him in.

Hiromi - 30 - After his manager married her bf and left, he became the manager of Tulip. This guy loves his job and is great. After his manager left, he dropped the overly sweet borderline weird act. Obv he's still a very nice guy because Hiromi is actually a very nice guy, I just mean that he is a little bit more natural. He's not using that high pitched customer service voice all the time and started to style his hair in a mohawk regularly rather than doing that god awful combed down tuft on top if his head. His coworkers/subordinates all really like him. He dads his one high school employee sometimes mostly definitely on accident but come on man she's a kid and needs to be taken care of. He is living the dream of being a punk rocker working in a flower shop. 100% the kind of metalhead that will beat you up if you say anything about BABYMETAL not being a real metal band. Still attends S frequently.

Kojiro and Kaoru - 37 - Still doing what they're doing and being amazing I love them. They are married and also adopted a baby recently. The go to S sometimes but not a whole lot. They are, as Miya calls them, Old People. When they adopted the baby, they made extra sure that Miya would be okay with it and that he knew they didn't care for him any less (bc this kid has self-worth and abandonment issues.) Miya actually ended up picking her name. Kojiro and Kaoru couldn't decide whose last name she should have (and also thought that hyphenating would be too long) so Miya chimed in that she could have Nanjo for her family name, and her given name be Sakura. Best of both. Nanjo Sakura is six months old, and Matchablossom have had her for four. She is very cute and adorable and she turned Kaoru soft. This man wasn't even completely sure about dealing with a child younger than 15 until he met her. Kojiro continues to make fun of him for it.

[keilemlucent]

lavender latte: i

(T (for now!))

hawks | takami keigo x reader

chapter 2   ||   chapter 3 ||  chapter 4

ao3

word count: ~3k

You serve Hawks a lavender, oat milk latte. Not only is he hooked on your drinks, but he's also hooked on you as well.

a fluffy multi-chaptered piece i’ll release when i’m feeling it :’^) enjoy y’all. coffee shop au hell

||||||||||||||||||

You and Keigo met each other on the coldest, snowiest day of the year.

The temperature was near glacial. The air stung and bit like hell, wind kicking and spitting powdery snow as it fell in sheets from the grey sky.

The weather, horribly, prevented two of your coworkers from working the morning shift at the tea shop. Half of the trains were shut down across the city in addition to power outages. But, your cheap ass owner forced you to open. Alone. In a blizzard.

You were fairly certain that you wouldn’t be getting many customers.

Opening at the tea shop on a normal day was a hellish amount of work. As you unlocked the door and walked into your humble establishment of employment, you grimaced at the thought of all of the work you were to do.

After disrobing from your thick winter jacket, scarf, and mittens and throwing on your apron, it was time to begin. You made yourself a simple, oat milk latte and then started to get to work setting up for the day. 

It was hardly dawn. 

  Keigo was on early morning patrol. It wasn’t his favorite shift, oh, hardly, but he did enjoy watching the sunrise. And, while his wings were powerful, the snowstorm did force him to fly much lower in the grey haze of the day than he normally would. Stepping out of his apartment around just before 5:30 AM, Keigo almost moaned in anguish at the cold. He was infinitely glad he had worn a thermal bodysuit under his uniform.

His quirk afforded him much in terms of battle prowess, in addition to a few avian mutations. Most notably at that moment was his difficulty conserving heat. As Keigo stood on his balcony, frowning at the can of coffee in his hand, he made the prompt decision to fly to his area of patrol and grab a hot drink. The thought of downing something cold made his stomach turn.

Gracefully, Keigo turned and flew, letting himself be carried across town. The area he was patrolling was relatively quiet, mostly small businesses and lower-middle-class apartments. As he touched down, shivering and sleepy, he padded through the empty streets with his wings folded to his back.

  The wind was wild, wiping between buildings, making snowdrifts that blocked some of the doors of shops nearby. Part of you cursed, shaking your head. You desperately wanted to be warm, curled in bed with your cats, and watching cartoons.

You set up the shop, moving chairs and turning on machines. Though you were a tea shop, you sold more coffee than any sort. On a normal, fully-staffed day, you’d be in the back, crafting tea blends. But, that day was, in fact, a very abnormal day and it was about to get weirder.

  Keigo meandered around the streets, strangely at genuine ease. There were no civilians and very few stores open allowing him to walk freely, albeit coldly. Part of him wondered if he would even find a coffee shop.

But lo and behold, he did. 

Keigo opened the door, a cute bell ringing. The shop was themed warmly with yellow-toned wood counters and furnishings. There was a smattering of local art on the walls and jewel-toned accents. All in all, it was a cozy reprieve from the icy nature of outside. Keigo relished the heat.

It seemed only one person was working, you. 

  When you heard the bell sounding at the entrance of a customer, you piped up from behind the counter, “Just one sec!”

A kind laugh, “Take your time.”

You were struggling to reach a tea blend. It was high on the many shelves behind the counter. You clamored on top of the counter, rising on your knees to try and reach it. Your hands stretched to grip it with an arch of your back. You grinned in victory as you managed to grab it. You pulled back, miscalculating in your pride—

And then you were losing balance.

And then you were falling.

(How fucking cliche).

You would’ve hit the floor if it wasn’t for some unknown force, pushing you back onto the counter, steadying you. The sensation, new, perked you up, causing you to let out a high noise of surprise. You turned, your eyes going wide.

Several beautiful, scarlet feathers caught your fall.

Your eyes flickered up to your patron savior.

  Number two hero, Hawks, smiling at you and giving you a bit of cheshire grin, stifling a laugh.

You slowly descended from the counter, turning to face him at the register, “Well, I really have to say thank you. I nearly ate shit there.”

“All in a day's work,” Hawks winked at you. You beamed easily. Local heroes came and drank at the shop fairly regularly, but never anyone particularly famous, let alone the top ten. Never the incredibly stunning, wind-whipped bachelor hero that was Hawks.

“What can I get for you today?” You asked, going for a notepad.

Hawks eyes scanned the menu behind you. He hummed, pretty, amber eyes settling back on you, “Surprise me.”

Your eyes widened, but you nodded. You couldn’t stop smiling.

“Alright, let me ask a few questions, just to make your drink the best it can.” You told him. “First off, hot or iced?”

“Oh, definitely hot,” Hawks almost wiggled a feathered eyebrow at you and you couldn’t help rolling your eyes. 

“Okay, how much caffeine? Any allergies?” You asked, scribbling an idea down on the notepad. “Milk preference?”

“As much as you can legally supply me with, no preferred milk, and no allergies. Though, I do like things sweet,” Hawks was removing his gloves as he spoke. “Go crazy, give me the best thing you got, angel. Something that gives me the warm and fuzzies.”

Oh, that was a move. 

Hawks was notoriously (in the media) shamelessly flirtatious with fans and other heroes. It was always painted as something that was in good fun, never sexual, and just part of his brand. This was just common knowledge, but god you never expected it to be directed at you with a cute pet name.

  “On it,” You smiled back at him, face hot. You smoothed yourself down before beginning to craft his drink. 

It wasn’t often that you worked the front counter, and there was a good reason for it. Most of the time, you got too into making drinks, customizing them frivolously (often due to your quirk). Though you were skilled, it took a lot of time that people didn’t have for a coffee run.

But, on the day of a momentous snowstorm, you and Hawks had all the time in the world.

  Keigo was a bit stunned by you.  

You were cute, one. 

You were wearing a soft-looking turtleneck sweater, and high-waisted, wide-leg pants. They were fashionable but obviously aged. But it worked. A cute, embroidered apron was tied over you snuggly around your waist. It was adorned with buttons and pins, brightly colored.

 You spoke so frankly to him. You didn’t gawk at him for even a second, even when his feathers propped you up from falling. You blushed at his pet name but didn’t seem any more fazed than a bit of embarrassment. He liked it. It felt normal.

Keigo rested his hands on the counter, watching you flit about behind the counter. 

“I gotta ask, why are you open in this blizzard??” Keigo tilted his head as your gaze flickered to him. You were still smiling, just a bit, even hard at work. 

  You snorted, “Cheap boss who won’t close, and my coworkers are stranded without the trains running. I live close by and work hourly, so I might as well come in, ya’ know?”

Hawks laughed, something warm and full, so juxtaposed to the storm of flurries outside. 

It was odd, talking to the number two fucking hero so casually, but it felt good. There was a sense of awe and idleness, but it dimmed. There were no flashy heroics, just one person wanting a drink and the other making it.

Your quirk activated on its own as you stared at the syrups. Your quirk’s tell was so small and normal, no one ever caught it. A heavy dilation of the eyes was not something most people were tuned into. Yet there you were, submerged in sensation. Touch, sight, smell, taste, even sound, all blending together. They elicited something deeper in you, creating something abstract you could make tangible.

To make a feeling into a physical reality was a gift, but it came with drawbacks of course.

You poured a few syrups into the bottom of the cup, carefully selecting them.

“I can’t imagine how cold it is up in the sky,” You mused to yourself just before steaming some oat milk. 

“Oh, you have no idea, ” Hawks lamented to you with a groan. “I feel like I’m gonna lose a few toes whenever I work in this weather.”

“Just toes? I’d be worried about a whole foot,” You grinned back at him as you poured more things into the cup, stirring every few moments. 

The feeling in your mind was so tangible to you, and you could perfectly translate it to reality. Something warm, to beat away the frost of the world beyond the tea shop. 

You sprinkled the top with a few dashes of cinnamon, setting it on the counter in front of him. 

  Keigo looked down at the drink you made him, raising an eyebrow. He went to take a sip, but you stopped him, “I’d give that a few minutes if you don’t want to burn your tongue, tailfeathers.”

  Hawks nearly fucking squawked as he set down the drink, giving you a look of false anger, “ Tailfeathers? That’s not a kind name to call me. I don’t even have those.”

Keigo huffed, pouting at you. 

  “You call me, a stranger barista, angel, I call you tailfeathers. Easy trade.” You shrugged at him, tapping into the register system. “I’m not charging you until you try it.”

“Don’t tell me you’re going to upcharge if I don’t like it?” Hawks continued to pout, jokingly so, pulling out a wad of bills that was undoubtedly much more than any drink would cost. 

Your eyes widened, leaving you sputtering, “Oh, never— it’s on the house if it bangs as much as I think it will.”

Hawks laughed, out loud, bending back a bit. You watched his pretty red wings shudder and reflect the warm light of the coffee house. Keigo collected himself, over-dramatically straightening himself. 

You watched with anticipation as he took his sip.

  Keigo was a man of poor taste. Sure, dropping an unholy amount of money on frivolities was one of his small pleasures, after so much of the ascetic bullshit that the Commission put him through, it only seemed fair. But, caffeine was a necessity with his fucked up schedule and he’d be damned waiting in a line or making it at home. Canned coffee was saccharine and speedy and that’s all he fucking wanted. 

But, when the first drops of that stupid oat milk latte hit his tongue, Keigo was beyond enamored. 

Yeah, he wanted coffee to feel warm in this storm, but he didn’t expect to feel warm. With just one gulp, he could feel the heat, like the flames of a steady hearth, drift around his body. 

He brought the cup down from his lips, looking at you with awe. 

You had the smuggest grin spread across your face, arms crossed over your chest.

“Thoughts?” God, you were so cheeky. He loved it. You were so subtly bold.

“This,” Keigo took another greedy swig, wiping his mouth on the back of his ungloved hand, “is the best coffee I’ve ever had in my damn life.”

Your smile just got wider. 

“Glad I could meet your tastes, tailfeathers. No charge,” You gave him a cheeky little wink. You swore you saw his face get redder, but you dismissed it a moment later.

“Oh no, nu-uh,” Keigo pushed the bills towards you. “Take it as a tip then. Seriously. How did you make this?”

You stared down at the bills and Hawks’s hand. His hands weren’t particularly large, but they were scarred plenty. Veins and bone were accented by the dryness of his skin. 

You looked back up at him, still not taking the money, “Can you keep a secret? It’s a big one, especially considering you’re a hero.”

Hawks tilted his head, “If you say you used your quirk to mess with this drink, I don’t know if I’m legally able to keep it a secret.”

“Nah, nah. I didn’t ‘mess with your drink’,” You shook your head, nodding down to it. “Do you know what synesthesia is?”

(He did, surely. But he just wanted to listen to you talk more.)

“Enlighten me?” Hawks ask, stooping to rest his elbows on the counter, chin cradled in his hands.

  For being a man who could kill you in a split second, Hawks was remarkably cute. You understood his sex appeal long before he entered the shop. His hair looked unnaturally fluffy, wind-ruffled, and honey blonde. His eyes had a few cute bird-like markings ringing the sweet, amber irises. He had a delicate but defined jaw. 

He raised a sculpted, feathered eyebrow at you. 

(He’d caught you staring).

You cleared your throat, laughing it off easily (though you were mentally kicking yourself), “Synesthesia, broadly, is like senses overlapping in your brain. Like... The common example is seeing colors when you hear a month of the year.”

“Now, what does this have to do with my lovely drink?” Hawks batted his eyelashes at you. You could tell he was definitely flirting with you, but you brushed it off the best you could. 

He’s a hot guy you made coffee for. Happens all the time. 

“Well, you had me a little bit, I did use my quirk, but it doesn’t mess with your drink physically at all. Not even close,” You laugh. “My quirk allows me to conceptualize abstract ideas into tangible ideas.”

“That really makes it sound like you used your quirk to make my drink,” Keigo watched your eyes dilate as he spoke.

You blinked, and they went back to normal.

“No, no. It’s like for your drink,” Both of your eyes looked towards the steaming cup. “I took your request for ‘warm and fuzzies’ to heart.”

Keigo blinked at you. 

Your pupils expanded again, “I figured ‘ you know, this guy has to fly around in the cold all day, right? Probably is freezing and far away from home ’— and there was my inspiration.

“I used my quirk to conceptualize... the idea of being warm and safe into a tangible concept. A nice, easy coffee drink. Four shots of espresso, oat milk, homemade lavender honey syrup, two of my own, specially made tea extracts, and a bit of cinnamon for good measure.”

Hawks blinked at you, “Your quirk gives you the... blueprints, to turn ideas, literal feelings, into reality and these blueprints just work?” 

You nodded and shrugged, “Most of the time. The less I’m focused on it, the more likely it is that the feeling won’t be able to manifest. I just get more exact with my construction with the fewer stimuli.”

“Drawback?” Hawks quirked an eyebrow, already having a good idea as to it.

You gestured lazily to the empty coffee shop, “I get overstimulated easily, quirk activated or not. Makes a lot of shit hard, but I like my quirk. I mean, it’s nothing like having a crazy strong pair of wings, but it services me well.”

“Did you really ‘manifest’ ‘warm and fuzzies’ into a drink, or did you make it a bit deeper than that?” Keigo sipped again, relishing how it warmed him all over once more. The taste that was dancing over his palette seemed a little more complex than what they were saying. 

“To be frank and to have a bit of an ego, yeah, I went for my go-to feeling when making drinks for myself,” You averted your eyes from him. “A good drink should feel like you’re getting hugged from the inside out, you know? Comforted. It’s hard enough to get that tangibly without a quirk. I just try to help where I can.”

  Keigo blinked at you.

You had turned suddenly, shy, eyes anxiously darting and a hand tugging at the sleeve of your sweater. A cute flush was spreading over your cheekbones when you finally looked at him again, “Kinda corny, right?”

Despite the fact that Keigo’s heart was fucking pounding, he shook his head, voice steady and sure, “Nah, I think it’s cool. You’re doing a lot more than just making coffee for folks.”

Your face got even redder as you rubbed the back of your head,

“I usually work in the back, so I don’t tend to make a lot of coffee for people. I make the tea blends that we sell. I don’t always use my quirk, but sometimes I do.”

Keigo watched you nervously pull at your apron, giving him an oddly desperate deadpan, “Please don’t turn me in.”

That made Keigo bust out laughing again. 

You couldn’t help but stare at him in shock, and then join him. You covered your mouth at first, but finally, just let yourself laugh with him. All it seemed like that there was in the world was you, Keigo, the lavender latte, and the snowdrifts outside.

  Hawks’s pager beeped, almost instantly pulling him from his laughing fit. He glanced at it, giving a dull grimace, “Duty calls, it seems.”

“You’d think villains would take snow days?” You told him as he re-gloved his hands. 

“It would really make my job easier,” He chuckled. Hawks pushed the forgotten money on the counter. “That’s all for you, ya hear me? Keep it or I will actually turn you in.”

Oh, you were feeling bold. 

Before Hawks could pull his hand away, you placed your own on his, stopping his movement.

“Only,” You somehow, one-handed, managed to pull a bit of receipt paper from its machine. Still one-handed you grabbed a pen and scribbled onto the paper. You pushed it towards Keigo. “If you take this very conveniently small piece of paper that totally doesn’t have my name and number on it. Just in case you’d like another lavender latte like that.”

  Oh, Keigo was floored.

He had rapid fucking fans. They were feral. He’d had fans drop their entire life stories on him, gush to him, stalk him— one time, a fan dropped to their knees and licked his boots. And he’d certainly received many phone numbers in his day, so many, but never like this. 

This felt a little different.

“Well, I was gonna say, I might need some contact to know when you work next. Just so I can grab one of your lovely drinks,” Hawks winked at you, all smitten.  He walked backwards towards the door, still meeting your eyes

“Feel free to.” You were just as starry-eyed as he was. “I have a lot to show you!”

And with that, Hawks whisked himself out of the door, fast as ever.

And you both simmered, full of intangible feelings.