#HOPE IT'S OKAY I CONTINUED HAVE A RUBY SPEECH

[saimincho]

" yeah, i do mean it, " ruby knew that everyone had something good inside of them, even if it was still naive thinking to many, " i-i mean, it... it shows. in how you interact with others, especially gale, " it came as a shock to everyone to learn that the winter maiden was a mere child, and some thought it was a responsibility far too big for her -- perhaps they were right, but she was getting by, all with the help of her 'mother', " i... " her gaze flicked off for a second before returning back to nera, her hand coming up to form a fist in front of her own chest, " i can see how much she cares about you, and people with bad hearts don't, no, wouldn't have someone who cares about them that much. at least, that's what i think. "

@frznkingdom / con.

[time-is-restored]

What Happened At The Church On Ruby Road?

AKA: Why does RTD want us to watch Ruby's first episode with a ruler and protractor?

Alright, so since I read this article excerpt yesterday night I haven't been able to stop thinking about what trick could be hidden in the sequence between the cloaked woman, the doctor, and baby ruby. While I'm not at all claiming to know the answer, I have a few details to point out that might help with further analysis.

First of all: A Continuity Error (On Purpose?)

At the very beginning of TCORR, when the doctor's giving his 'once upon a time,' speech, we see the TARDIS materialise + the doctor appear, looking in the direction of the cloaked woman, looking distraught. Disney+ is evil so I can't get an accurate screenshot, so take this scuffed photo instead, taken from 1:03. You can see a tear rolling down his cheek (little white dot on the left of his face, in line w this nose).

Later in the episode, when the doctor materialises in the scene for the first time, there is no tear. It's a marginally different shot in several ways, but that's the most noticable to me - screenshot taken from 42:59.

By itself, this is totally negligible. But I think when taken with the opening monologue (which heavily implies that the doctor finds out the cloaked woman's identity - "As for the mother, she was never seen again. No one ever knew her name, until that night a time traveller came to call. A traveller known as the Doctor."), there is possible evidence here that the doctor came to this moment twice. Once in the sequence of events as we see them, rescuing Ruby from the goblins, and once where... something else happened.

Second: The Layout of The Church

We get a few aerial shots of the church when the camera is showing the ascent of the ship, and a lovely wide shot as the doctor decides to not follow the cloaked woman (taken from 46:28 and 44:07).

The most important thing I want to point out is the way the hedge path curves to the right in the direction the doctor and the cloaked lady are facing. You can only really see it in that one shot (so I hope it's not a lens effect!). The aerial shot helps clarify that nothing is obstructing either of the character's view of the church.

We can also see that in this iteration of their encounter, the cloaked woman is standing a little bit to the right of the doctor (thanks to the curved path).

Third: The Timing

The only real indication of how much real time is passing in each scene is the clock striking midnight. So, when does that happen?

In the opening sequence, the clock strikes midnight after the man from the church has found Ruby and picked her up. We then see the woman relatively far down the road that we can see in that above screenshot, and THEN we see the TARDIS apparate and the Doctor appear.

In the goblin sequence, the woman is already far down the road well before it hits midnight, as the doctor sees her walking away before he runs to save baby ruby. Obviously time moves slower than usual in TV actions scenes, but that's not all - we see the clock strike midnight before the man from the church picks Ruby up.

Furthermore, the woman has... barely moved at all in those few minutes. Screenshots from 43:00 and then 46:45.

Okay, that should be all the relevant information from TCORR. Now to get to that point!

Fourth: The Point

This is where things go off the fucking rails. Here's our orienting shots for the Point.

Just to compare the positions of the doctor's shot here, here's the last shot we have of him looking at the lady in TCORR:

While this could just be a fancy camera angle, I think the Doctor is standing more to (his) left of the TARDIS than in this above shot. AKA: he's standing more to the left than she is. That emphasises that, if the woman was to be pointing at him when she turns around, she should be pointing to her right.

But I don't think she is -- especially in that wide shot, her arm looks like it's going wide. It's going more to the left than it should be. If RTD hadn't explicitly said the 'who's pointing at who' was significant, I would be fine with accepting that she's pointing at the doctor -- especially since that's how the doctor reads it.

And if we go back to the layout of the church, the things she could be pointing at are, in order of exactly how far to the left she'd have to point:

something just behind the doctor (would explain how close the point is to him)

the path up to the church

the clock tower

ruby/the baby

Regardless of where she's pointing, I think the implication is that there's someone else at the scene, doing something that the doctor didn't notice (perhaps due to his own bias with mother figures).

Wild Speculation:

Now, what do I think this means? Honestly, no idea LOL. It's still all just vague enough it could go in fifty different directions. But we know for sure that the moment where Ruby Sunday was left at the church is a moment in flux, thanks to the the Doctor's memory changing + the song in the background being different in Devil's Chord.

Part of me wonders if there's something (someone?) hiding inside that memory/moment in time? Like how Thirteen hid her companions inside their own time stream to try and buy time away from the swarm guys? It would explain the Maestro's reaction -- 'he couldn't have been there[...] on the night of her birth' -- in the devil's chord, the young boy is a harbinger. Maybe ruby is the harbinger of something too? That could also explain why it started snowing in the TARDIS after 15 scanned her -- the same thing happened when Maestro started trying to pull out her song.

Then if you go with the changeling angle, it's entirely possible we're about to get a shell game with babies 2: electric boogaloo (thanks russel for saying we should rewatch a good man goes to war, i'll never sleep again 👍). Maybe while the doctor's too busy watching the cloaked woman, someone else is intervening, switching her baby for ruby? Or doing something To her baby that explains why ruby is so... wrong, for lack of a better word?

Also, looking between the opening sequence vs the goblin sequence timing, we have several minutes where the cloaked woman is totally unaccounted for in the latter, as well as an entire interaction between her and the doctor that... didn't happen? Or did happen, but was forgotten? Unwritten? Rewritten? Etc.?

If I had to make a bet (and let's be honest, what else are we doing while theorising LOL), I'd say that something about that night has been memory-holed out of existence. Possibly a doomed timeline that righted itself, ala 73 yards, but left just enough trace that the people involved know something happened (ruby knows she's been to wales three times before, the doctor knows he was pointed at).

I think it was triggered when the lady and the doctor got too close to each other (did she hear that the goblin ship was taking her baby? did she turn around and see something she otherwise would have missed?), and realised something about each other (or ruby?) that needed to stay dormant. the cold opening implies the doctor learns her name, and since there don't appear to be any time of the angels sneaky outfit change moments, i can only assume it happened here, somewhere in this memory.

And hell, in for a penny in for a pound, maybe it all got undone (retconned, in universe, in real time), because the Doctor shouldn't learn about the cloaked woman until the finale? Spoilers? In TV meta, did the director tell all the other actors (the church man + the cloaked lady) to hold in place until the doctor was back in position?

[Final note, regarding the continuity error I noted first up, in TV shows with ad breaks factored in -- brief fades to black at dramatic moments, then the last ten seconds play again to remind the audience what's happening -- sometimes directors would use different takes for before and after the ad break. Maybe that's the explanation for the tear -- in universe, that cold open stopped in its tracks the moment the opening was cued to play. It then started again with a doctor who had last cried several minutes ago, and the scene played out as intended.]

Anyway fellow 'the mistakes are in there on purpose' believers how are we FEELING!!!!!

[kittyprincessofcats]

RWBY Volume 9 Ep 2 - Altercation at the Auspicious Auction

Okay, yeah, I will do this for this episode, too. But this time I’ll actually try to keep it short and only say the stuff I really want to say.

- I’ll start with the biggest thing for me: Nuts and Dolts, Ruby’s depression caused by her grief over Penny, oh gosh my feels. Okay, so the common response from other NND shippers I’ve seen to this episode basically boils down to “Oh wow, this hurts” and while I get that sentiment (I’ve watched the episode several times now and I cry over Ruby’s speech every time), I still prefer it this way. I mean, think of the alternative: I’d be much more upset if the show just brushed Penny’s death aside and had Ruby have a “meh, whatever” reaction to it. How did I put it in my post about V9E1? Oh yeah:

[...] but if I have to deal with half of my ship being dead, then I at least want to see the other half have the most intense reaction possible to it. I want Ruby to grieve, I want Ruby to go through hell, I want her to just not be normal about this on any level. The intro already tells us that this is the “Ruby is depressed” volume, but I want that to be at least in large parts because of her grief for Penny. Ruby thought she’d lost Penny once, then she got her back, got even closer with her, fell in love with her, went through all of that trouble in Volume 8 to save her from the virus, only to find out she died anyways… yeah, I want Ruby to suffer about it [...]

So basically, I’m getting exactly what I asked for and I’m loving it. Of course I’m still heartbroken that they killed Penny in the first place, but if that’s how it is, then I want Ruby to have exactly this reaction we’re getting. Maybe I just like angst, maybe it’s that I want Penny to continue to be important to the plot even after her death, maybe I feel more and more validated in my NND-shipping ways the more Ruby grieves, or maybe it’s that my hopes of Penny coming back grow the more emphasis is put on how much her death messes Ruby up - but yeah, either way: more suffering please, I’m here for it. *evil laugh*

- I’m just going to say it: The way Ruby is grieving for Penny definitely makes it look like Penny was more than just a friend to her. In the first episode, Ruby was already sad in the beginning, but still had at least a bit of that spark left. But from the moment she found out Penny died (and fainted about it), she just completely shut down. This entire episode, she’s just completely in her own head the entire time. She doesn’t smile, doesn’t laugh, just keeps looking down sadly, her voice sounds so broken the entire time - seriously, props to the animators and Lindsay for bringing that depression accross so well. And Ruby is also solely focused on her grief for Penny the entire time. I don’t think she’s actually oblivious to Bumbleby being a thing, she was just in her own head with her own thoughts and not paying attention to what was going on around her. And just look at Ruby’s voice and posture and everything when she’s comforting Weiss about Atlas - she’s barely holding it together. And when they’re at the auction, she barely pays attention to Yang’s fight for her arm or anything else around her, she’s solely focused on that figurine - Penny’s sword. Then while everyone else is arguing how to proceed, she again only talks about the sword and feeling drawn to it and then she just sits there and looks down at it while it rains.

And to be clear - I’m not saying that romantic relationships are inherently more important than platonic ones or that you can’t grieve for a friend in a very intense way, but what I’m definitely getting here is that Penny was more (in whatever way that may be) than a “regular” friend to Ruby.

- Also, it really upsets me that Ruby doesn’t get to keep Penny’s sword at the end of the episode! I saw the spoiler that she’d get the sword in advance and I was hoping she’d fight with the sword until she gets Crescent Rose back. It’s kinda sad that Ruby’s again being selfless and giving up the only thing she has left of Penny just so they can keep going in the story. But I’m hoping she’ll get the sword back at least. (And that she’ll get Penny back; I’ve been reading theories and I’m not giving up on this one. Also, come on, fairytales have a rule of 3 - and Penny’s only been alive twice so far.)

- On a happier note: Bumbleby are adorable and they’ve very obviously heading towards being canon this season. It’s happening, be ready. And it’s lovely to see Blake being so comfortable with the idea of romance now that she’s just straight-up going for it and flirting in the silliest cutest way possible. (Blake honey... what Yang said wasn’t even funny and you’re here giggling like a lovesick schoolgirl, making puns and touchting her hand... good for you. Good for you, go get her.) No seriously, the bees warm my heart and like Weiss said: It’s about time.

- And again, I don’t actually think Ruby is oblivious to it. I kind of assumed she knew ever since she and Yang had this exchange of looks in V6:

(That silent “So you and Blake, huh?” “Yeah...” exchange was when I realized that Bumbleby was going to be canon for real.)

- But also, something I noticed on my rewatch: We see that Weiss is very aware of Bumbleby (and of romance around her in general?), so my shipper heart can’t help but wonder what she was going to say when she started with “I know that Penny... I know that was a lot to hear.” (“I know that Penny meant a lot to you?”)

- Little is still adorable and I love them so much. Team RWBY’s reactions to them saying they’ll live by the bridge need to become a “draw the squad” meme.

- Weiss becoming the slapstick comic-relief character is amazing, I love that for her.

- Also, I didn’t quite realize until she said it that Weiss just lost her her home. Gosh, they’re just all going through it, huh?

- Yang saying she’d rather fight the racoon made me think of RWBY Chibi. (“I’m Yang, lets fight.”)

- Okay, so the “knowing what it is to feel loved” thing... Is that meant to be what the person is supposed to have or what they’re supposed to give up? So, did Yang hesitate because she doesn’t know what it’s like to feel loved (abandonment issues and all that) or because she does (Blake, Ruby) and she doesn’t want to give that feeling up?

- Also “enough hope to fill this jar”... yeah, so just in case you somehow didn’t yet understand that Ruby has depression, here’s it spelled out one more time.

- I also wonder to what extent the others realize that it’s Ruby’s emotions causing the rain? Because when Weiss complains that “Now it’s raining on just us!” that didn’t seem like she realizes.

That’s a shorter post than last time, I’m improving.

[spiinsparks]

HIGH PAIN TOLERANCE / @badnikbreaker​ / ACCEPTING ! “You’re snapping. Headache again?” ames but during forces before their conversation abt sonic being sorta off.  yknow there's some tension.

             GREEN  EYES  SWEPT  OVER  THE  map  of  mobius.  voices  chattered  over  the  wrist  coms  ,  their  cadences  muffled  and  overrun  with  static  as  the  words  came  in  one  ear  and  ran  right  out  of  the  other.  everything   was  ,  so  far  ,  going  according  to  tails’  brilliant  plan.   well.   give  or  take  a  couple  of   minor  hiccups.   sonic’s  eyes  wandered  towards  a  more  specific  location  within  the  city.  

            red  gate  bridge.

                                              . . . metal.

          or  ,  really  ,  just  another  fake.  an  illusion  that  was  so  real  he  was  STILL  walking  off  bruises  underneath  his  quills  and  fur.  sonic  folded  his  arms  over  his  chest.  he had  thought  that  maybe  he’d  feel  RELIEVED  once  he  and  his  friends   had  finally  hunted  down  the  source  of  infinite’s  power.  the  phantom  ruby.  in  hindsight  it  felt  so  OBVIOUS.  (  giant  ,  weird  rock  implant  !  oh  ,  you  know  ,  maybe  spin  dash  into  that  first  !  duh.  )  

            and  it  was  a  step  up!  he  was  glad  for  that.  but  although  tails  was  working  on  weakening  that  source  ,  sonic  couldn’t  help  the  prickle  of  uneasy  DREAD  that  crawled  up  his  spine  all  the  same.  turns  out  ,  knowing  the  source  didn’t  exactly  make  going  toe-to-toe  with  illusions  of  your  greatest  enemies  any  less  jarring.

          it  didn’t  make  their  especially  soulless  stares  pierce  any  less.  or  their  punches  hurt  less.  knowing   wouldn’t  have  stopped  stabbing  ,  near  debilitating  pain  shooting  through  the  whole  of  him  ,  or  the  haunting  echoes  of  blood-gurgling  cries  or  —

           an  unknown  weight  settled  onto  his  shoulder.  abruptly  drawn  from  his  thoughts  ,  all  of  the  hedgehog’s  instincts  fired  off  as  sonic  tensed  and  RECOILED.  spines  bristled  ,  teeth  grit.  his  arms  hunched  but  did  not  raise.  his  hands  fell  ,  and  balled  into  fists  in  front  of  his  own  body  ,  awkwardly  angled  a  little  too  close  together.  

           for  just  that  moment  ,  unfocused  and  bleary  ,  sonic  was  poised  and   braced  for  impact.                . . .  it  never  came.  

        ��  amy  ,  bless  her  ,  didn’t  say  a  word  until  sonic  shifted  his  weight  from  foot  to  foot  and  shed  the  tension  from  his  shoulders.  his  spines  settled  ,  quill  by  quill  ,  but   sonic  could  not  shake  the  discomfort  that  lodged  deep  in  his  chest.  she  was  watching  him.  searching  him  ,   almost.  and  as  he  pressed  his  lips   thin  and  raised  a  brow  ,   he  decided  right  then  and  there  he  did  NOT  particularly  care  for  the  look  in  her  eyes  he  couldn’t  seem  to  identify.

          but  then  he  couldn’t  really  identify  a  lot  of  things  about  her ,  lately.

           ❝  heh.  do   i  got  something  on  my  face?  ❞  he  asked  ,  mustering  a  small  grin.  (  hoping  -  HOPING  -  she  wouldn’t  ask.  )

           “no.”  came  the  reply  ,  and  sonic  wasn’t  certain  whether  the  simplicity  of  it  was  WELCOME  or  not.  they  stared  each  other  down  ,  quiet  and  still  ,  and  sonic’s  ears  flicked  as  the  silence  dragged.  (  he   was  used  to  effervescent  hope  speeches  and  spitfired  passions.  not  . . .  this.  )

            “you’re  snapping.”  she  continued  ,  fixing  him   with  an  almost  pointed   look  ,  and  sonic  blinked.  okay.  he’d  thought  way  too  soon.  of  course  she’d  keep  pressing.   thankfully  ,  and  with  some  pause  ,  his  friend  took  two  steps  back  as  she  continued.  but  the  pointed  look  never  wavered.   “headache  again?”

          ‘trick  question,’  sonic  realized.                        (  but  one  built  of  his  own  design.  )

            with  nonchalance  woven  through  every  movement  ,  sonic  rolled  backwards   onto  his  heels  and  crossed  his  arms  behind  his   head.  for  it  was  wide  ,   this  chasm.  and  the  bridge  they’d  built  was  made  of  loose  stone  and  sand.              but  it  was  easier  to  cry  ‘HEADACHE’  and  call  it  a  day.  easier  to  process.  and deal with.  

              easier  to  give  amy  AMPLE  opportunity  to  leave  what  small  fragment  of  what  shattered  pieces  had  shown  well  enough  alone.  

             he  shrugged  and  turned  halfway  away  ,  feet  angled  towards  the  front  door.

        ❝   eh.  nothin’  a  bit  of  fresh  air  won’t  fix  up  pronto.  ❞

[adorewo0]

SUMMARY : You are gifted barricade tickets to a Seventeen concert by your best friend. Woozi ends up taking your phone leading you down a slightly hectic and confusing love story with someone you never thought you would meet.

PAIRING : Ruby(?) Woozi x reader

GENRE : Fluff, delulu, idol au/smau(?)

FEATURING : All of Seventeen

WARNINGS : None :)

NOTES : This is my first story, so any feedback on things I need to improve on would be helpful. Also some parts will be set up like a smau. It’s all based on what I’m feeling in the moment/what I think is visually appealing. THIS IS PURE FICTION AND NOT RELATED TO THE IDOLS IRL!

Thank you<3

PROLOGUE

“Cupid doesn't lie!!”

“But you won't know unless you give it a try!!”

I’m whisper-yelling the lyrics to “Cupid” by 112 along with my best-friend at my family gathering for my birthday. I take my baby cousin's hand for balance so he can dance with me. His little smiles and giggles light up the room. Out of the corner of my eye, I see my uncle peak through the door.

“We’re gonna go ahead and sing happy birthday y/n.”

“Okay,” I responded. Kya and I walk out of the colorful room towards the dining room filled with many memories. Everyone is arranging the seats, along with the cake and plates. I sit at the end of the wood table and the room goes dark. The cake brightened by candles is being brought towards me and I hear the many different voices of my family around me. I look up and see all of their phones pointed at me. I smile, looking back down at the cake in embarrassment.

The song finishes and I make my “wish”. I cut a piece of cake for myself first and then for the rest of my family as well. We dig into my grandma’s brownie cake, savoring the flavor. I join in my aunties conversation, laughing at their jokes every once in a while. I see Kya starting to get up to throw away her plate and I give her mine as well. She jokingly side-eyes me and we both let out a small laugh.

She doesn’t come back for a moment, but I pay no mind to her absence, assuming she went to the restroom. I feel someone tap me on my shoulder, so I turn in that direction seeing Kya with a big smile on her face. She hands me an envelope and I take it incredulously.

“So I decided to get you and myself a gift for your birthday-”

“An expensive ass gift,” my mom cuts in between Kya’s speech.

She continues laughing, “Yes, very expensive, but definitely worth it. I know I will enjoy it and I hope you do too.”

“Okay…” I opened the envelope to find Seventeen barricade tickets. “You a lie.”

“I promise you I’m not, my bank account can prove it,” she replies. I get up and start screaming. Everyone around us is laughing and making jokes, but all I'm worried about is when this concert is.

“When is the concert?” I ask quickly.

“Two weeks from now, so we have plenty of time to prepare and get what we need,” she answers.

“Thank you!” I say in an excited voice.

[thornedrose44]

Prompt: "Do it. Take a chance, I'm begging you. You don't want to spend the rest of your life wondering what could have been."

Read on AO3

“What is it?” Kara huffed out, her frustration finally reaching critical mass.

“What’s what?” Alex replied, playing dumb by pretending to study the DEO’s monitors far too intently considering Kara had literally just dispatched the rogue villain of the week.

Kara crossed her arms, hip cocked forward slightly as she leant against the central console, blue eyes observing her sister's profile closely.

“Whatever you’re not telling me because you think it will upset me.” The superhero clarified bluntly, her social hesitation and uncertainty having dampened over the last few years.

She had learnt the hard way how important it was to never shy away from the truth and avoid speaking around the heart of the matter. It was a lesson she had absorbed completely, and it was one she refused to forget - needing to prove she had evolved, had bettered herself from the version that had required teaching in the first place.

“I’m not…” Alex refuted, shrugging dismissively but keeping her gaze trained forward, “There’s no-“

“Look, I’m asking you out of courtesy,” Kara cut in, “but you and I both know that I could just as easily ask Nia, and she would fold almost instantly.”

Alex grumbled irritably under her breath - Nia still had yet to build an effective resistance to Kara’s puppy dog eyes and this particular weakness had caused no small amount of trouble for Alex over the last five years.

“It is Lena related, right?” Kara checked, though it was completely unnecessary.

For Alex to actively try and keep a secret from her, it couldn’t be about anything else. And it had been more or less confirmed by her sister's reaction to her threatening to go to Nia.

“Just because I’m keeping a secret, doesn’t automatically mean it’s to do with Lena.” Alex tried, though the conviction behind her statement was weaker than wet tissue paper.

The redhead side-eyed her and Kara merely had to arch an unimpressed eyebrow in return for the DEO director to deflate.

“Okay maybe it’s a little to do with Lena.” Alex admitted with a wince, rubbing the back of her neck in defeat.

Kara threw her hands up in exasperation. “It’s been over five years, okay? I’m fine!”

Her bellowed declaration of stability, made the nearby DEO agents look over with a mix of curiosity and concern. Kara grimaced at the reaction and as such didn’t resist when Alex grabbed her arm and dragged her out of the central room and into her private office.

Alex turned to face her fully, lips pressed tight together and hands firm on her own hips (it had always annoyed Kara that Alex managed to make her signature superhero pose far more intimidating than her own attempts).

“Yelling I’m fine, definitely helps your case.” Alex retorted, voice dripping with sarcasm.

Kara had the good grace to look suitably embarrassed for a moment before launching into the same variation of the speech she gave every time there was a morsel of Lena news to be had. “I screwed up, okay? Big time screwed up - ‘regret it for the rest of my life’ screwed up!” Kara declared prompting a beleaguered sigh from her sister who knew the blatant lie that was coming next. “But I’ve made my peace with it. I won’t spiral into another depressive episode when I hear how happy she is.”

Alex shook her head, not even remotely convinced - not that Kara could blame her, the last time Alex had been pestered into telling her a Lena update, Kara had spent a weekend on a drinking binge that had successfully proven that there were limits even for a kryptonian.

“I don’t think-“ Alex began.

“What is it?” Kara demanded. “Is she getting another medal from the president?”

Alex shook her head, jaw clenching and unclenching. “Kara, you don’t want to know this.”

“Her and Kal save the world again?” Kara barrelled on, her lips curling into a jealous snarl. “The greatest Luthor and Super duo continue to make the world a better place?”

That particular news article had been printed and burned by Kara’s heat vision more times than she dared admit to anyone.

“Kara, please-“ Alex begged, expression crumpling as Kara relentlessly pushed.

“Tell me, I can take it.” Kara proclaimed, voice coming out high pitched and strained. “Is she dating someone again? Another famous actress? That Olympic male gymnast? What-“

“She’s getting married.”

A bomb must have gone off, Kara thought to herself.

A kryptonite bomb.

It was the only thing that could explain the ringing in her ears, and the way everything just… hurt.

A shard of kryptonite must have pierced her chest and cut her heart into jagged pieces. That was the only thing that could explain it.

“What?” She questioned, barely above a whisper. She didn’t quite recognise her own voice - it sounded shattered and unfamiliar. She also didn’t know what she was asking.

Didn’t know what ‘what’ was all about.

What just happened?

What did you say?

What post-apocalyptic reality are we living in now?

“Next week, she’s getting married.” Alex explained, giving Kara answers she no longer wanted. “Sam, Ruby, Kal and Lois are invited.”

She knew it should sting. Not being invited even though they hadn’t spoken in nearly five years. That she should feel something about the fact that Lena had omitted Alex, Brainy, Nia and J’onn as well - it further reinforced how Lena believed them to be Kara’s friends and never hers (which was one of the things Kara regretted most - how her poor treatment of Lena had infected and destroyed everyone else’s friendship with the youngest Luthor).

“To who?” Kara asked, tone cold, hollow… empty.

“Kara,” Alex murmured softly, reaching out to comfort her sister, “this clearly isn’t good for you.”

Kara jerked backwards so fast that the papers on Alex’s desk shot into the air, fluttering down around the sisters like snow.

“Just tell me!” Kara ordered, hands turned into white knuckle fists at her sides that would be capable of tearing through the strongest of metals. Her eyes heated but she managed to stave the fire in them as she glowered at her sister.

Alex slumped back, leaning heavily against her desk, running a frantic hand through her short hair. “Does it matter?” Alex muttered defeatedly, brown eyes filled with pity and sympathy as she stared up into Kara’s eyes.

“Of course it fucking matters,” Kara snapped in outrage before she had a chance to stop and think , “because it’s not me!”

The admission hung heavy and rotting between them. It wasn’t a revelation to either of them, though the fact that the intensity of Kara’s feelings hadn’t dampened despite the separation of half a decade was.

“Kara…” Alex breathed, standing back up and moving towards the blonde with the obvious intent of hugging her.

“I should get back to CatCo.” Kara mumbled, cheeks a fiery red with shame. She stepped hurriedly away from her sister and was already halfway out the door before she halted, turning back to call out a sad yet sincere. “Thanks for telling me.”

Xxx

“I genuinely don’t get why you love these films so much.” Lena remarked, hands cupping her just made cup of cocoa, nose adorably scrunched up as she snuggled back down on the sofa beside Kara, who didn’t hesitate to wrap an arm around her best friend’s shoulders.

“They’re sweet and romantic.” Kara replied with a happy sigh, turning to nuzzle into the side of Lena’s head for a fleeting moment as the film’s lead started her joyful march down the aisle. “It makes me hopeful.”

“Hopeful?” Lena repeated curiously, leaning away slightly so she could meet Kara’s blue eyes.

Kara shrugged, ducking her head bashfully, “It’s stupid.”

“Hey,” Lena murmured gently, freeing a hand from her mug so that she could interlace her warmed fingers with Kara’s, “you could never be stupid, especially not about something like this.” Her best friend asserted, before asking seriously, “You want the classic big white wedding?”

“Uh…” Kara blushed, cheeks pinking as her mind struggled to kick into gear.

She didn’t know how to tell Lena that the reason she loved weddings more than any other event is because they so closely resembled Kryptonian Bonding ceremonies. That the exchanging of rings, polished everlasting metal, reminded her of wonderfully crafted bracelets clasped on wrists. That it was an occasion for family to join together across generations, for the rare flashes of art and music on Krypton to take centre stage over cold science.

She didn’t know how to tell Lena that after being alone, abandoned and lost - ripped away from her home in the cruelest of ways - that the idea of belonging to someone else, of having a home in someone else regardless of time or location was what Kara wanted more than anything else.

She didn’t know how to tell Lena because it would require admitting the truth of who she really was, it would require taking accountability for years of lies.

She didn’t know how to tell Lena without losing her forever.

“Yeah.” Kara coughed awkwardly, “I want the whole thing. Beautiful dress, surrounded by family… the love of my life at the end of the aisle. Everything.” She shot Lena a side-long glance, “I’m guessing you don’t?”

“Never really been my thing,” Lena admitted readily and Kara’s heart twisted at how Lena didn’t hesitate to bare herself, how she gave all of herself when it could be argued that Kara - at best - only gave half, “probably because I can’t imagine I have enough people in my life to invite and feel ‘surrounded’.” Lena pursed her lips thoughtfully, “I also don’t get the need for the spectacle. Just the idea that there’s someone out there that would want to…” Kara watched her best friend deflate, expression wistful and pained, “be with me, love me like that… that’s more than enough.”

Kara’s eyes stung with barely suppressed tears at how little Lena thought of herself. Whoever had the privilege of marrying her best friend would be the single luckiest and most fortunate person in the universe and Kara wished Lena knew that, wished she believed it. But when she opened her mouth to say it, to proclaim it, her breath faltered and her courage abandoned her… like it always did with the youngest Luthor.

“So no white dress?” Kara muttered instead, voice meek and lacking the lightheartedness that should have carried the question.

It didn’t matter, though, Lena let out a quick exhale that resembled something on the edge of laughter. Kara’s escalating heart rate settled at that, however, it did little to alleviate the pang of regret that was steadily accompanying all her interactions with the CEO.

“Well, I guess I could be convinced by someone special.” Lena teased, shooting Kara an overtly salacious wink that wouldn’t - on the surface - be considered genuine.

“Anyone that marries you will have to be special.” Kara replied, the statement tumbling out instantly.

It wasn’t the heartfelt confession that Kara wished it to be and it wasn’t quite light enough to be dismissed as a friendly reassurance. Instead, it was yet another thing that fell into the ethereal greyness that lied between them, something to tuck away and think back on late at night when they tried to work out if the other meant it the way they wished they did.

“Yeah?” Lena whispered, piercing green eyes studying Kara’s face closely.

Kara swallowed thickly, “Yeah.”

Xxx

Lena found out less than six weeks after that movie night. They defeated Lex and Kara had been on the edge of breathing easy, of being able to simply relax back into her life when it all came crashing down.

They had been at Games Night and Kara had been antsy, waiting for her best friend to arrive. The thought of pulling Lena into a hug had been what she had been looking forward to most all day.

Kara was at peace, laughing and drinking with her friends - her family - when Lena had arrived. Kara had beamed up at her immediately and for a second Lena’s entrancing green eyes lit up in return before turning dark and distant.

Kara’s smile faltered, crinkle appearing between her brows when-

The wine bottle smashed into the wall behind Kara’s head.

Deathly silence fell over the area.

Kara looked into hollow, emptied out versions of her favourite green. She would have preferred anger, fury, rage… the defeated nothingness staring back at the Kryptonian was far worse.

Lena turned and left, grinding Kara’s heart to dust and taking the sand particles left with her.

She knew.

She knew because Lex had told her.

She knew because she had gone to stop her brother, intent on saving the world like always only to find out that those she was saving the world for didn’t view her as their equal. That the people she treated as family had kept her on the outskirts. That her best friend had lied, had manipulated, had-

xxx

It was Lois that found out everything from Lena.

When the fallout had happened, as Kara and the Superfriends realised what they had lost, the blonde hero sent notice to her cousin that his identity was probably known as well (mostly because she remembered how hurt she had been when Kal shared her secret without her consent). Kal and Lois had arrived almost immediately, frantic and terrified (especially with baby Jon to consider) at the concept of a Luthor knowing their identity.

Kara, joined by all the Superfriends, quickly put their minds to rest, sharing Lena’s actions from before, her dependability, kindness and inherent goodness. Kal and Lois were convinced their secret was safe but they were horrified to hear how Lena had been isolated and kept at arms length after her considerable good deeds. Alex and the others had squirmed uncomfortably and tried to weakly talk around their hesitancy.

Kal and Lois had simply looked at Kara for an explanation but she had none. Yet again the words would not come.

It was Lois, therefore, that had sought out the youngest Luthor and through her incredible tenacity was able to gain access where everyone else was rebuffed and harshly rejected.

It was Lois that comforted Lena, gave her support and sympathy.

It was Lois that relayed Lena’s demand that they give her space.

It was Lois that suggested Lena return to Metropolis - presenting it as a way to celebrate how L-Corp, after Lena’s repeated sacrifices and heroism, was fully rehabilitated and ready to reclaim its once home.

It was Lois that encouraged Lena and Kal to work together becoming an unstoppable force that Kara and Lena had always danced on the precipice of.

A Luthor and a Super. Saving the world.

xxx

Kara did as asked. Gave Lena space. Or at least the semblance of space.

She checked in constantly, hovered nearby throughout the days and nights leading upto L-Corp’s departure and Lena along with it. She followed Lena’s jet to Metropolis, a sentinel ensuring safe passage.

She kept her distance for three months. Three months of stony silence before she broke.

Snapped, more like.

Landing on Lena’s new balcony in Metropolis that had been specially built for Superman this time - not for her, though Kara, at the time, had hoped that she had been considered consciously or unconsciously as well.

Kara couldn’t remember the exact words.

She remembered crying from beginning to end.

Remembered ‘I loved you’ - past tense.

Remembered finally breaking through Lena’s cold, hardened shell to the raw, bleeding wound hidden underneath and regretting it almost immediately.

Remembered how seeing Lena’s agony was worse than kryptonite, worse than watching Krypton burn…

Remembered Lena saying she needed time to heal, for Kara to stop hovering nearby - because she knew, she sensed Kara’s presence even without seeing her once - and to give her time to stop thinking of Kara and feeling only pain when she did so.

Remembered promising to do just that.

Remembered a timer starting to count in her head - the seconds that she would be condemned to purgatory.

Remembered the hope that just refused to go out - the hope that whispered give it time, give it time, give it time with every beat of her heart.

Remembered thinking that given enough time Lena would reach out and they would get the chance that Kara had almost destroyed for them.

Remembered flying zig-zagged and dangerous to Alex where her endless stream of tears returned to full flow as she sobbed into her sister’s shoulder using words and phrases like ‘heartbroken’ and ‘I love her’ and ‘I can’t survive this pain’ and ‘what do I do?’ and ‘I can’t breathe’.

Remembered a hollowed out shell of Kara Danvers moving through the motions for a year, for two, three, four… five...

Remembered taking up drinking to excess whenever she saw Lena’s life flourish and grow - not because she didn’t want Lena to be happy, that was what Kara wanted and wished for more than anything - because she wasn’t there with her for those life-changing events.

Remembered Alex and Kelly’s worries growing with each occurrence, intervening more and more to such a degree that they encouraged Kara to consider AA meetings - she did eventually, and found destroying entire junkyards to be a healthier coping mechanism, external destruction rather than internal.

Remembered Brainy at the behest of Alex, setting up Kara’s phone and computer to prevent searching for any keywords affiliated to Lena and to alert Alex if Kara ever managed to stumble upon a news article.

Remembered listening to Kal and Lois skipping large parts of stories where it was clear that Lena was involved - it was nice in some way to know Lena was getting the credit she deserved, but it hurt when Kal’s stories started to involve gaps at Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year (events that made Kara’s loneliness even more acute and her longing intensify).

Remembered her life without Lena.

Remembered regret and guilt and loss.

Remembered-

“She’s getting married.”

xxx

Kara shouldn’t have been there. Shouldn’t be anywhere in the vaguest vicinity of where she currently was.

The bride was dressed in a simple silky white shift, sipping intermittently from her champagne glass as she stared contemplatively up at the designer white dress hanging off the door in front of her. Raven locks were pinned up, so tight and intricate that it made Kara wince sympathetically at how it must tug and pinch at the bride’s scalp - she’d always preferred it down, loose and curling… soft and inviting. The bride’s make-up was artistic with a dramatic edge that would captivate but made her look… not like herself in Kara’s opinion.

Or maybe after five years it made Lena look more like herself - the version of herself she had become once free of Kara and all the pain she brought into her life.

She was hovering outside the dressing room window, trying to work out how far she was willing to take this. If it would be better to leave without saying anything, to try and leave some part of Lena’s life unspoiled.

It was the fear that she had always given into when she was best friends with Lena that made her decision for her. Like speaking her truth and learning to ask for what she wanted - Kara had also promised herself that she would never allow that bone deep fear to stop her ever again.

The window was open and it was as good an invite as Kara was ever going to get.

“Lena?”

The beautiful bride-to-be jerked in her place, champagne glass nearly tumbling to the floor but saved at the last second.

She didn’t turn around for a beat… then two…

Kara was just about to escape back through the window when Lena exhaled slowly and pivoted round to meet her.

“Kara?” Lena breathed out, green eyes closed off and wary.

The kryptonian studied the love of her life for a moment, taking in every little detail - soaking it all up as if accepting that this would be the last time she might ever get to see it again. That the timer that had counted past five years would stop after this moment, the hope powering it gone forever.

“Don’t marry them, please.” Kara requested, no flowery language, no build up. Just the honest truth.

“What?” Lena’s jaw dropped and the champagne glass didn’t survive the second shock, crashing to the ground - released by trembling fingers.

“Don’t marry them.” Kara repeated, uncaring of how the carpet below them soaked up the amber liquid.

Lena’s expression flitted through an array of emotions before settling on indignant rage, “And why the hell not?!”

Kara didn’t flinch, didn’t retreat, instead she stood taller, the crest of her super suit catching the early afternoon light. “Because it should have been me. It still should be me.”

Lena scoffed in disbelief, “You can’t be serious. Now? You’re doing this now?”

Kara pursed her lips, fighting back the regret that always came with the reminders of countless missed opportunities. “Yes.”

The straightforwardness of Kara’s answers seemed to be throwing Lena, leaving her wrong-footed, clearly expecting the blonde to talk around and hint and imply like she used to.

But Kara had learnt. (The lesson had been too painful not to.)

“You had years, Kara!” Lena argued, “Years where I…. I threw myself at you. Practically begged you to love me… to trust me…”

“I know.” Kara replied sadly, wanting desperately to reach out when Lena’s pretty green eyes began to glisten with unshed tears. “I know. But I’m here now.”

“I don’t want you to be.” Lena muttered, arms crossed over her chest and head ducked downwards to hide her expression.

“I know that too.” Kara assured, fingers twitching with the desire to make contact, to comfort and coax - even after all these years her body remembered, the pathways of hardwired instinct related to her best friend were still there, still active even if temporarily closed for service.

“Then why are you here?” Lena murmured, voice barely above a whisper.

“Because I’m in love with you.”

Lena’s head snapped up at that, green eyes like saucers.

Kara’s single biggest regret was that she had never said those words to Lena before, had alluded and pointed at them during their final interaction but had never outright said them. And Lena had deserved to hear them then and deserved to hear them now to forever vanquish the doubts that had always been with her.

“Because I’m in love with you and we didn’t get our chance.” Kara affirmed, taking a half step closer to the bride, her red heeled boots and Lena’s bare feet meaning the younger woman had to tip her head ever so slightly back to maintain eye contact. “We didn’t get our chance because of me. Because I was afraid, I was so afraid of losing you. Of doing even the slightest thing that could mean you weren’t in my life. And in the end every action I took out of fear of losing you ensured just that. I’ve spent five years without you, Lena, and I can’t bear a single day more.”

“Kara,” Lena whispered, “I’m getting married.”

“I know.” Kara smiled sadly before adding, “Don’t.”

“What are you suggesting? Seriously?” Lena sighed, shaking her head mournfully and Kara knew she was losing her then.

“I’m suggesting that we have our chance now before it's gone forever.”

Gathering the small amount of courage Kara had left, she tentatively let her hands nudge forwards, brushing against Lena’s cool, pale fingers. That small contact was everything. Made it easier to breathe, made the colours of the world more vibrant, made everything just more.

“I let fear hold me back from the person that made me happiest in the entire universe and I won’t let it hold me back again.”

“Kara…” Lena whimpered, glancing back over her shoulder at the closed door that her wedding dress was displayed on, though she didn’t pull her hand away from Kara’s touch, didn’t flinch or retreat.

“Do it.” Kara pleaded, stepping across that final slither of distance between them, her forehead leaning forward to rest gently against the side of Lena’s, “Take a chance, I’m begging you. You don’t want to spend the rest of your life wondering what could have been.”

Lena inhaled shakily, head returning to forward facing - foreheads pressed against one another, breathing in the same air - and then… and then…

Lena’s hands slipped fully into Kara’s, fingers intertwining together.

[diavolosthots]

Its that time of the .... Time again idk man i dont have a set schedule for these

ₓ˚. ୭ ˚○◦˚BEELZEBUB proposing headcanons ˚◦○˚ ୧ .˚ₓ

First things first, this man took his sweet time in getting to this point

Mainly because he doesn’t want to waste his or your time when either one of you thinks that the other person isn’t the one, you know? 

Beel’s kind of old school in the sense that IF he gets married, he would marry only once and until death does you literally apart, which is why he never treated that idea lightly. 

You’re so different from other people though and you don’t bore him to death, which is a great feeling. 

As a matter of fact, you give him both the highs and the lows while also giving him the space he needs. You accept him and his weird stomach and crazy workout routines and the fact that every once in a while, he randomly disappears because he caught a new restaurant open only to return later after having eaten the whole menu

But don’t worry! He held back and brought you some of the appetizers.

Because he loves you 

He’s not very…. Extravagant in his proposal though. He’s a simple man and he likes to keep things simple. You won’t see flashing lights and neither will it be around a lot of people. Just the two of you... Kinda. 

But first, the ring!

He doesn’t like the ring to be too traditional but he also doesn’t want it to be so covered in gemstones that you can’t even see the band anymore. So, he decided on a white gold, trillion cut ruby engagement ring with a diamond in the middle and the two rubies, shaped in hearts, on either side of it. Cute, pretty, but not overly bearing. It’s still simple in his eyes and he hopes you like it. 

Planning the little speech was honestly the hardest part because let’s face it: Beel isn’t a man of words, he is a man of actions

At first he even debated putting you on a mini scavenger hunt so you could find him and meet him somewhere and he can just do it quick and easy but then he decided you deserve better than that and he just needs to find the words

He wanted it to be casual and less forced so he took you out to dinner and afterward, just strolled around with you in the Devildom streets

Homeboy is so good at hiding his nervousness like dude you won’t even notice ANYTHING

He’s been playing with the box in his pocket forever now but his hand is always in his pocket so you probably wouldn’t have noticed

Also, a part of him just knows you’ll say yes so he’s taking it easy. 

“(Y/N). Pause for a moment.” okay rude you were just about to tell him this really cool story!

He turned to you underneath one of the many streetlights. The streets were pretty much empty with the exception of a few demons here and there but far enough away to not interrupt you. 

“I love you.” 

A giggle erupted from you because he’s being so serious and obviously you know that, “I love you too Beel.”

He’s smiling, glad because he just needed to be sure. 

“Good, otherwise this next part will be weird.” Confusion took over your face but he’s still smiling, a soft blush tinting his cheeks, “it’s weird… when I’m with you I feel really easy, like nothing could ever get to me, no matter what. You also don’t make me feel as hungry because you take my mind off things. You love me but you also respect my space and aren’t too overbearing… I like that. I don’t think you know how much that alone means to me, but it means a lot. You have fun with me but you also know when to get serious. You support me and cheer me on and you’re my biggest fan and I can only hope that you know that I’m your biggest fan, too.” He’s still smiling when he pulls the box out of his pocket, getting down on one knee in front of you and holding it out to show you the ring. “I think fans should stick together… and I want to continue cheering you on forever… I want to love you forever. Please, (Y/N), will you marry me?”  

[theshelbyclan]

My thoughts on season 6

I promised a few of you I’d share my ideas and opinions, so I will, but first off I just wanted to clarify that these are just my opinions: nothing more, nothing less. Feel free to disagree, in fact please do because I love discussing these things, but most of all, allow others to disagree with you as well. I had very mixed feelings about this season, but some really loved it, and that’s great! Don't slag it off for the sake of

Okay here we go (might be a long one) with ALL THE SPOILERS

I’m gonna start with my biggest issue with this season and that is the fact that it’s changed so much: no more gangster legend but the hopelessness of history. We’re at this nihilistic stage of the story. I started watching because of the hope: working class boy managing against all odds to build something. But here we are, in season 5 already, using these real historical figures and fascism, so we knew from the very start that this working class boy couldn't change a thing because we know the atrocities of the war that followed. And I hated it. It was always about this gritty family, full of pain and despair, but it’s gotten too big with this plot involved. You can still win if you want to give your aunt a home and your children a future, but you can’t win against 1930s fascism. It’s hopeless.

Also, personal side note, I didn’t enjoy this season as such. It was slow and the cinematography wasn't my style. I just continued watching because I wanted to know how they’d end things.

That being said, I did enjoy the final a lot more than the other five episodes and it felt a bit more like the ‘olden days’

I’ve also really missed the family aspect of Peaky Blinders. This was just Tommy and co. Like half the season is Tommy walking around, thinking, brooding, and we follow him and just him. It’s one of the reasons this season was so slow...

I get that this was always going to suck, but I missed Polly. She truly kept everything and everyone together

That being said, it was so strong that Arthur was the one to avenge Polly. Such a heart wrenching but gorgeous scene and it was perfect. 

And that scene with Jeremiah, Arthur and Uncle Charlie, like they were back in France, that was truly the most beautiful scene in my opinion, when you see them sitting there in a row in the end? Oh man I cried. 

Also, I loved the two major scenes with Tommy and Arthur, the first one being in the cellar where they talk of their childhood and the second in Tommy’s office after Arthur finds out he’s sick. So beautiful, made me cry both of them, so strong. Paul Anderson I applaud you and your acting skills 

Ruby dies and I don’t see why. Is it because this will make Tommy ‘really change this time’? I don’t buy it anymore. Polly’s death did that already. There was no need for her to die. AND, but I think we all agree on that one, there was no fucking need to replace her by a fucking son after 5 fucking minutes.

The Duke plot was lazy, the kid was only there for a week and then takes over? Nah...

Sensation and abstract motifs are more important than plot or characters in this season. One main example is the character of Diana, because she to has hardly any function in the story. We already had Mosley as ‘the devil’, but Diana is just there to say shocking things. And this I will not have, someone spouting antisemitism for shock factor only. Because in the end, Tommy’s brought nazi’s together, bravo, and then the entire fascism plot just...stops. 

I get that Diana’s speeches are meant to be scary, thats’s the point in the story, but they really scared me, because antisemitism is so very much alive and growing today. I wonder if this is the right time to exploit that for television..

Also, a small note from the historian in me: the aristocracy would never use Tommy, like Churchill here supposedly does. Because they wanted to preserve the status quo and keep their wealth, which is why they feared fascists, but the only thing they feared more than fascists were the revolutionaries 

And, from the point of view of the Nazi’s why go through the hassle of letting Tommy think he’s dying, because in the international growing nazi movement, Tommy’s not even slightly important. Also, you could’ve literally shot him a hundred times over at the dinner table XD

Yeah, tommy having cancer was an anticlimax but him not actually having cancer even more so. And why did he have those seizures then?

So. Many. Loose. Ends! The main cliffhanger from season 5, who’s the black cat, and they never even considered Billy? Also, Jessie Eden? Finn half the time? Karl? BILLY BOYS??

The soundtrack was interesting. Some choices I didn’t like at all, but for example the use of ‘blackbird’ was beautifully done. Bit hit and miss this season

Freddie’s not Jewish, fuck off. You can’t use us whenever you feel like it when you’ve never even mentioned or hinted to it before.

I’ve mentioned this before so I won’t go into it for too much here, but I don’t like this new Tommy, but this new season had tainted my view of him unfortunately. Mainly, Tommy saying ‘P*rish J*dah’ broke my heart utterly. And he fucked a nazi, not because he had to, but because he could. Fuck you, you absolute cunt. 

Thank God for Alfie in this season

I was really, really, really pleased that Lizzie left Tommy. Sweetheart, you deserve so much better. No more crying scenes with nothing changed afterwards, just done. Go. Wonderful.

Tommy should’ve shot himself and that should’ve been the end

[hes-writer]

Confessions: A ‘Favourite’ Extra

Summary: beatrice graduates and dad!harry is not invited

Warnings: angst!

Word Count: 3305 words

A/N: this is part of the ‘Favourite’ universe :D this scene takes place sometime between the first and second part! please read them before reading this.

Part One | Part Two

_____

Graduation.

Through Beatrice’s 18-years of living, she did not think that the celebration of liberation would be so sour. The day started off like any normal day. That is, except, she did not have to deliberately avoid the areas of the house that her dad, Harry, was in. It was strange that she had to feel uncomfortable in her own home.

For this special event, Beatrice had initially bought only three tickets for Ruby, Caleb and her mum, Y/N. Her dad had a packed schedule of promoting his newest album anyway so Beatrice thought that it wouldn’t even matter. She didn’t think he would want to come anyway. If Beatrice knew anything about her father is that he never really cared much about what went on in her life.

Beatrice supposes that it was okay. She had a whole lifetime to get used to it. A full lifestyle living on the edge because she didn’t know when her dad would clap-back with an insult for no reason. However, it didn’t mean that the spike in pain hurt any less. Don’t get her wrong; she was grateful for Y/N being around and involved. But Beatrice sometimes wondered how it would feel like to be wrapped in a fatherly embrace or be guided with wisdom and courage.

She really couldn’t remember the last time Harry did anything that made Beatrice feel like his daughter. Aside from the family photos they took on during the holidays or when celebrating whatever work achievement he managed to snag--that was the only time where Beatrice would feel Harry’s hand resting on her shoulder.

___

“Can I get one?” Ruby asked, tugging on the coloured strings of Beatrice’s cap. Her small body was being held by her older sister while Y/N took photos of the three siblings.

“Caleb, put your phone away please,” Y/N requested, shaking her head at the way the young boy groaned. Nonetheless, he followed the instruction.

"You’re lucky I love you or I would not have shown up,” Caleb grumbled, offering a sweet smile afterwards to suggest that he was joking. The three siblings posed for the camera, Beatrice trying hard not to let Ruby tilt her square cap.

Between a plastered smile, Beatrice replied, “Probably why dad isn’t here,”

Caleb widened his eyes significantly. Though, it seemed conspicuous to Y/N who was busy figuring out how to brighten the screen.

“That’s not true, sissy. He’s just busy,”

Beatrice chuckled, shrugging off the comforting hand of her younger brother, “Always busy but never when one of you have something going on,”

“It’s just a coincidence,”

“Yeah, sure,”

Caleb frowned at her response, focusing her attention on Ruby’s babbles. He almost spilled the surprise that their dad was going to watch Beatrice cross the stage. Caleb knew how his sisters felt about Harry and he hoped that his appearance would help patch things up between them.

Caleb walked over to Y/N, “Are you sure that Dad’s coming?”

Y/N nodded, “Yes, he said he’s looking for parking now,”

Caleb bit his lip nervously, “Do you think she’ll be surprised?”

——

“Graduate with honours, Beatrice Y/LN,”

Applause filled the venue as Beatrice walked up the steep steps of the stage. A shy smile was placed on her lips when she caught sight of the projector screen showcasing her achievements for her senior year.

In the audience, both Harry and Y/N were confused as to why Beatrice used her mother's name to be announced. The cinch in Y/N’s brow smoothed out when the principal continued speaking. Harry, however, couldn’t help the questioning frown.

“Top Chemistry. Top Biology. Overall Best Science Student. Gold Volunteer Badge. Level 4 Music Theory. Beatrice has been excelling both academically and musically while serving the community,”

Beatrice squinted at the bright lights, placing her diploma and speech on the podium. She had never been good at public speaking. However, her announced name gave Beatrice newfound confidence. It’s just her. All her achievements wouldn’t be credited to her father just because he was Harry Styles.

“Hi, uh,” She cleared her throat, “I’m Beatrice Y/LN and I’m very honoured to be standing in front of you today,”

Her speech was short and to the point; thanking her fellow classmates even though there were very few to thank personally. There were a few jokes in between and some nostalgic memories about various school events throughout the year. Beatrice mentioned remarks to her teachers who helped her achieve high grades. Lastly, she thanked her family for supporting  her

“I’d like to thank my family. My brother, Caleb. My sister, Ruby and my Mum. You guys have been so wonderful to me and I hope that I made you proud,”

Y/N was tearing up with a hand clasped over her mouth. She could not believe that her oldest daughter was off to university in a few weeks. Beatrice’s work ethic was unmatched and it showed in her getting the recognition that she deserved.

There was a pregnant pause before applause filled the space again. Despite switching her name last minute, everyone in her school knew that Beatrice was a Styles kid. They were probably waiting for her to mention him in her speech. But Beatrice felt no need to mention the man that had done nothing for her. He wasn’t even here.

“Thank you and congratulations, everyone!”

Harry slumped lower in his seat. He could feel Y/N’s worried eyes and Caleb’s observant gaze inspecting his face.

____

Beatrice stood beside her family, watching Harry a few metres away who was currently busy attending to the fans that recognized him. Even with his graying hair, many parents greeted him with a reminiscing statement about how they ‘saw him in concert back in the day’, to which he would chuckle at and proceed to converse for a few minutes until their child--Beatrice’s age--tugged them away.

All that Beatrice wanted to do was to get home and interact with her online friends. She had mentioned that she was graduating today and they were all very proud of her. Beatrice would rather take the peace and quiet of her own room than a bustling party.

“You’re invited,” Emma, a popular girl, stated while handing her a piece of paper with all the details of the party. Beatrice mumbled a hushed ‘thanks’, despite knowing that she wouldn’t even attend it in the first place.

“Are you going, Tris?” Y/N asked, holding Ruby’s hand so the youngest child would not get lost in the crowd.

Beatrice shook her head ‘no’, explaining that there was no point.

“I don’t know anyone there anyway,”

She was kind of a loner, but Beatrice was happier by herself anyways. “Besides, I don’t think dad will agree. It’s way past curfew,”

Y/N nodded in understanding. The curfew set for their eldest child was at nine in the evening. Y/N was sure that Harry would be lenient to let Beatrice go; it was her graduation after all. Sooner or later, Beatrice would be leaving for university.

____

Beatrice should be grateful. She should be happy, yet somehow those emotions were non-existent to her brain right now. She should be smiling, eyes brimming with tears because her dad actually cared to throw a party for her. But all she could feel right now was a pure disappointment and agonizing anger because Beatrice knows that he was trying to make up for years of mistreatment.

At this moment, the rowdiness of the party only proved that Harry really did not know anything about Beatrice. She did not know over half the people here, aside from the few relatives they see during the holidays; her grandparents, cousins, aunts and uncles. The rest were recognizable from Harry’s industry. Beatrice swore she saw Lizzo sipping a cup of liquor in their kitchen.

Aside from the initial greeting of ‘congratulations’, paired with the large banister taped on the foyer of the house, this party wasn’t much of a celebration based on Beatrice’s milestone in life. If anything, it looked like a regular get together for celebrities and industry people. Frankly, she had no interest in interacting with them. As rude as it may sound, the swirling turmoil of emotions beginning from her stomach made Beatrice push past the packed crowd with a tight-lipped smile in order to get to her room.

She felt like she couldn’t breathe, especially knowing that these people in her house absolutely adored Harry. They saw him as a family man, loved and appreciated by his kids. It wasn’t a complete lie, per se. Beatrice just didn’t have much experience to confirm that he was, in fact, a lovable and caring person.

If she had to put a finger on it, Beatrice was feeling utter disgust. She was disgusted because Harry was the perfect person in their eyes when everything he had shown her was that she was someone that didn’t deserve any of his attention. It felt like this was a celebration of her dad’s façade--he was not actually proud of her. He was just making it seem like he is so he wouldn’t be perceived as the dead-beat dad.

A knock at her door sounded. It was almost as if Beatrice could sense her dad’s presence without turning around to look at who just entered the privacy of her room.

“Tris?” Harry whispered, hesitating on mumbling the nickname. He had never done it willingly before, much less not as bitter as the previous times.

Beatrice swore that she could practically see the venom slithering on his tongue every time he said her name. But maybe that was just her skewed perception.

The chair that she was sitting on creaked as she shifted her weight, leaning her elbows on her desk.

“Why did you even throw a party, dad?”

It was merely a genuine question that held so many underlying meanings. Why now? Why not earlier when there was still hope to fix whatever sort of broken and fucked up relationship they had with each other?

Harry fully stepped into the room, observing the walls decorated with art and artists whom he recognized were his friends. He didn’t realize that she was a fan of Florence Pugh.

He cleared his throat with a fist to his mouth, “I wanted to celebrate your graduation,”

Beatrice internally rolled her eyes, “Did you really? Because you haven’t been there when I needed your help with my homework or assignments or anything. Now,  suddenly you want to act like you were a big part of how I achieved my accomplishments?”

It was a sour realization. It was accurate that Harry refused to help her with schoolwork. He swore that he was busy looking over new options for his upcoming projects. Retrospectively, he might have subconsciously spewed out excuses so that he wouldn’t be able to help his dear daughter.

Beatrice sighed, flattening the balls of her palms against the edge of the sleek wood, pushing the rolling wheels of the chair back. She stood up.

“Just admit it. You threw the party because you felt guilty and you think that somehow, everything will magically be okay between us?” Beatrice shot him a questioning look, chest-puffing when Harry’s lack of words confirmed her theory.

Beatrice propped her feet in the middle of her room, twisting her body so that her back was facing away from the closed-door; from him. She breathed heavily through her nose, lungs rising up and down as she gathered her thoughts.

Unbelievable.

Harry stood with his arms by his sides, staring at his daughter with curious compassion. He did not know what to say, nor did he know how to act because he didn’t take the time to get to know her. He didn’t spend time with Beatrice; nurturing, caring, calming or comforting her because he simply couldn't get over the fact that she was once a person that caused calamity in his life.

“Tris,” Her dad spoke, earning a pinch of her facial expression from the familiarity of the nickname. Yet, it was unfamiliar because Harry used it mundanely.

Beatrice cut him off, “I’ll be leaving for university in a few weeks. You can quit pretending like you care. You say this graduation party is for me but I don’t even know most of the people here!”

The volume of her voice reached a threshold that should warn both of them to keep quiet. However, Beatrice knew that with the hustle and bustle of the celebration going on downstairs—no one would hear her honesty except for her and Harry.

Harry blinked twice, mouth dropping slightly agape. Why did he throw this party? He knew his intentions; he was proud of his daughter. He wanted to show her off to everyone he knew about how intelligent and well-rounded Beatrice was.

The girl continued speaking as if reading Harry’s train of thought.

“This is for you,” She spoke bitterly as if her tongue was left with an odd taste in her mouth. “Showing off a ‘trophy’ daughter who graduated with honours but that doesn’t matter, does it? Nothing I ever do will match what you’ve done.”

The accompanying laugh—albeit, sarcastic— left Harry confused.

“What? No, this is for you. I’m proud of you,” Harry quickly disagreed with Beatrice, gesturing his large hands in a wave to emphasize his words.

She turned around with gentle disbelief; her features were hardened yet Beatrice’s eyes gleamed with hope. She wanted so badly to believe her dad, but his lack of attentiveness to her led Beatrice to roll her eyes at him instead.

“Cut the crap, Dad,”

“Language,” Harry added, pursing his lips when Beatrice scoffed.

“I can’t believe this,” Beatrice muttered, she stared at the ground as if picking out the words to say.

As bad as it sounded, she wanted to hurt her dad the way he did to her. Years of being treated like an unwanted child slowly built up inside of her and Beatrice wanted the pain to end.

“You wanted to be everything so bad that you forgot to be my Dad,”

“I am your dad, Tris,” Harry watched as she walked over to her desk. Fingers cascading the glass picture frame which held a still of their family.

“Don’t you think I know that?” Beatrice turned around, throwing the edged frame on her bed in a fit of anger.

Harry’s brows shot up to his forehead, watching his daughter’s eyes well up with tears.

“You are my dad but you’ve never been one to me! Why is that? Huh?” Beatrice pressed, crossing her arms and digging her fingernails on the skin of her bicep.

“I’m sorry that I took those opportunities away from you. You got movie deals, You had an album coming out. Tours, shows, money—you had everything and I ruined it, didn’t I? As you said, it would’ve been better if I wasn’t born,”

Harry was no stranger to not interrupting someone when they spoke. However, he couldn’t let Beatrice believe the words she spoke.

“Don’t say that! That’s not true,” He stuttered over his words, heart-shattering under the weight of Beatrice’s truthfulness. Sure, he had everything, but it didn’t mean that he was satisfied.

“But you thought about it right? You wondered how different it would be if I wasn’t born at the wrong time. Maybe you would’ve loved me more—like you do Caleb and Ruby,” Beatrice smiled sadly.

She was glad that at least her siblings would not have to experience the searing pain of being unappreciated. They did not deserve to be seen through like a ghost.

“Maybe you would’ve paid more attention to me. Maybe you would have cared that I was hurting every time you showed me nothing but disdain,”

Beatrice used her forearm to wipe away the tears beginning to soak her reddened cheeks. She sighed, plopping down at the foot of her bed, watching Harry look at her with an unreadable emotion on his face.

“You know, It’s not my responsibility to ask why,” Beatrice whispered. Though, she wondered what would have happened if she did question her dad why he looked at her as if she was a burden in his life.

Beatrice’s monologue crescendoed as utter pain cracked her voice every now and then. Her figure slouching as she truly experienced what it was like to let go of the turmoiled affliction soaring through her body.

“I’m your child! You’re the one who’s supposed to be looking out for me. You’re the one who’s supposed to show me what love is supposed to feel like. I’ve always wondered how you’d react if I came home with a boyfriend like all the movies and books talk about. But, all you’ve shown and made me feel was my first heartbreak when you’re supposed to be the one nursing me from it,”

At that point, Harry could not remain the eye contact he shared with his daughter, gazing down at the floorboard in shame.

“You were supposed to scare guys off because I’m your eldest daughter. You’re supposed to protect me from everything that could hurt me, even when it’s irrational because that is what Dads do,”

That same bitter laugh that pierced Harry’s ears earlier echoed again.

“But I guess you never really wanted to become one to begin with. Or maybe just not with me.”

Harry took a few steps back. Her words figuratively churned and twisted his gut. He caught his balance on the doorknob that moved feverishly under his weight. Sure, he didn’t want to be her dad at first. And he had many chances to fix a strained relationship, but he never took them. So really, he had no shield at denying the truth. He was simply a father who failed to be the dad to Beatrice.

“I-I do! I want to be--if you'd let me,” He hated the way his voice became weary.

Despite their differences, Beatrice and Harry both mutually hated the way his tone pinched. The way he had to plead and beg for his daughter’s forgiveness when it seemed to be too late. This could have been avoided if Harry took the chance to become the dad that Beatrice deserved to have. The dad that her siblings--Caleb and Ruby--saw and spent time with while Beatrice watched behind, wondering why she was never treated the way they did.

“For years, I wondered what was wrong with me. I listened to the music that you liked. I asked mum what you enjoyed doing because you never talk to me. I wanted you to see me as a daughter instead of this--this invisible speck that you shrug off your shoulder every time I needed you!” Beatrice cried out, hugging herself for comfort.

The worst part was that she could see Harry’s legs buckle in hesitation to come closer to her or not. He shouldn’t even have to think to comfort his daughter, but he did.

“I wanted you to like me as if I even have to do that in the first place! You’re my dad, don’t you get it? Because I didn’t. I spent so much time being the perfect child in hopes of you giving me an ounce of your attention aside from the face you put on when I walked into the room. Why did you have to treat me this way, huh?”

Tears spilled from her forest-green eyes, identical to Harry’s glazed ones. His mouth parted in retaliation. As if he was plopped in quicksand, Harry had no idea how to defend himself.

“I know that you didn’t want me in the first place but--,” Beatrice sniffled, wiping the salty liquid to her damp temples, “I just wished you treated me like I wasn’t a burden to you,”

_____

[salemwritesxx]

scars of the past

↳ omega bakugou (21) x alpha, older reader (29)

summary: Katsuki is dating Y/n, an older Alpha who already has a 5 year old child, and even though they both feel very comfortable with each other, Y/n turns back at last, leaving Bakugou alone in front of his own apartment door. However, the Omega has never been someone to just give up and accept something easily.

w.count: 2.2k

content warning: age gap (8 y.), omegaverse, reader has a child, indicated knotting in the last bit but not explicit, mpreg mentioned, alpha reader has a c-section scar and talks about his pregnancy in the last bit

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He knew something was going on. This wasn’t like the few dates prior. Today it was… stiff, uncomfortable. You didn’t talk much.

“Y/n-san?”, Katsuki startled you a bit as you flinched, before faking that smile – he could immediately tell.

“I’m sorry. We are out on a date and I’m all quiet today, huh? Forgive me.”, once again, you smiled, though Bakugou could tell it wasn’t genuine, though for now, he didn’t say anything and instead put on a little smile himself.

“It’s okay.”

And so, you continued the rest of the dinner.

-

As you brought him home, once more, Katsuki could feel something was in the air, the last few dates were funny, he genuinely felt comfortable around you. He started to like you – a lot. Not even caring that you already had a child, because the more time passed in the last months, the more he liked the thought of becoming part of your family one day.

However, once in front of Katsuki’s apartment door, you stopped and said, “I’m sorry, we need to stop.”

Completely thrown off, he lost his friendly façade for a moment as his facial features derailed and he could just blink for a moment, staring at you with his mouth open, only to shake his head and get back to reality.

“What… What do you mean? We need to stop?”, trying so hard to not yell or get aggravated, since he was so easily agitated and full of rage, he just stared at you with those ruby eyes you really fell for.

“I… I am sorry, I am a coward. But I just can’t let this go on. If we continue, I am going to seriously fall for you and I just can’t.”

With that, you suddenly turned around and rushed down the flight of stairs, literally running away from him while Bakugou could just stay there in front of his apartment and stare at the spot you had been standing in a few seconds ago.

He was so taken aback, his usual potty mouth didn’t escape one sound.

Right when he thought he had met someone he actually liked. Right when it seemed like everything was going well because the last dates were so nice… Everything crashed down on him. Feeling like he couldn’t breathe, like someone was choking him and all he could do was stand still and stare. So that’s how it felt to be rejected by someone you liked?

Wow, that shit hurt.

But he wouldn’t be Bakugou fucking Katsuki if he went and started pitying himself. The moment the sad feelings hit him, he tried to shake them off as he stormed into his apartment.

Stopping? Giving up? As if! He had never been an obedient little whimpy Omega and you would learn that very soon, because for Bakugou the last word had not yet been spoken. Even if you wouldn’t give in to his advances, he at least wanted to have a better reason than “I just cannot fall in love with you”!

-

Right the next morning, it was a Sunday and he knew you had Sundays off, he went to your apartment complex. Katsuki had only been there once and that very briefly since you didn’t want him to accidentally meet your son, which, he understood, in case things weren’t going to work out, but now? No, Bakugou didn’t care. Even if it was selfish of him.

Being a smart Omega, he ringed someone else’s doorbell, telling them he had forgotten his key to the complex and thus being able to enter quite easily as they opened the front door so he could get in – good thing he wasn’t a robber or something… These people really needed to stop being so friendly, but it was only a good thing for him.

Now you, at least, couldn’t stop him right at the entrance and you had to see him.

Knocking on your door, he waited for a moment, though hearing a “Seiji, don’t!” inside, before it already opened up and a little boy stood in front of Katsuki.

“Oh…”, with big e/c eyes that were definitely yours, Seiji stared at Katsuki for a moment, only for you to arrive and then also finally see who stood in front of your door.

“Katsuki… What-“

“Daddy!”, Seiji then interrupted you, both of you looking down to the little one, “Who is that? You smell like him sometimes.”, the big eyes back on Bakugou who was instantly blushing lightly. Little Alpha kids picked up scents quite easily…

“Sei! I…Go inside, okay? Daddy needs to talk to Katsuki for a moment.”, you said as gently as you could even though your heart was beating 100 miles per hour since you didn’t expect Bakugou to show up at your doorstep.

“Mhhh…”, pouting for a moment, Seiji then begrudgingly went back into your living room where all his toys were, so you could slip out and close the door behind you just before it completely locked.

“Katsuki, what are you doing here?”, you said in a hushed voice.

“I am here because I need answers! You can't just fucking… ditch me like that! Not after saying… what you said yesterday, about… falling and stuff.”, he couldn’t even utter it out loud properly, thinking you really fell for him, even though he had always heard what a complicated, unlovable Omega he was.

Sighing, you rubbed your eyes, before looking back.

“I know. I am supposed to be the older one, you know. Be responsible and not run away. But…”, you turned slightly to look into your apartment where Seiji was making noises as he was playing with a plane toy, “I cannot let myself get hurt again, you know? For his sake, I need to be strong and I can only do that when I am alone.”

“What utter bullshit!”, Katsuki blurted out in the heat of the moment, making you blink and turn back, completely taken aback that he was so rude to you – speech wise. Not even using keigo.

“I get it! You’re a father, but come on!”, he then grabbed you by your shirt, Katsuki’s usual frown changing to a… hurt facial expression. “What’s the point of always being afraid to be hurt? Yes, I cannot promise you that we won’t fight from time to time or that I am not fucking annoying sometimes, but… Just because there is a possibility of these things happening doesn’t mean we shouldn’t try?! You said you would fall for me and me too! I…”, he then gulped and looked down at your torso, a soft rosy hue on his cheeks, “I really like you too and I want to try dating you, properly. I want to be your mate. And, I know you feel the same. We can both smell it, we are compatible on so many levels, so why would you push me away like that?”

It had always been hard for Bakugou to talk about his feelings, but once he started, it kind of was flowing on its own, expressing how much he wanted to be called your Omega, feeling that connection he had with you.

Though the moment he realized what he had just said, especially after you’ve been just silent for the past seconds, he let go of your t-shirt and kind of stumbled back.

“Sorry, I kind of just lost it there. I-“, however he couldn’t talk further when you stepped closer and then hugged him against your strong chest, immediately feeling safe and like he had belonged there, in your arms, all along.

“You’re right. I am a coward, even though I am the Alpha and older and I should take initiative in these things, I… got scared. I didn’t want to go through it all one more time. I don’t know if I can handle it one more time, but… you’re right. I cannot go on with my life being afraid of being hurt again. Because in the end, there will be happy moments, even if it all cease to exist in the end, I know there were happy moments we shared. Forgive me. Are you sure you want this coward Alpha as your mate?”, you then chuckled and looked into his ruby eyes as Katsuki had also looked up, a smile immediately flitting across his lips as he nodded.

“Yeah. I am brave enough for both of us.”, he teased you and laughed, only to see the smile on your lips widen which made his heart skip a bit.

“I’m glad. You truly are one special Omega, Katsuki.”, and with that, you pulled him closer, Bakugou instantly relaxing into the hug as you connected your lips, sharing such a sweet kiss in the middle of the hallway.

“Daddy!”, then the door swung open, making you both flinch and look at little Seiji who held his teddy bear and stared at you with big eyes, “Can I watch TV?”

“Ah… yes, wait, Daddy will turn it on for you.”, then you turned to your new mate, “Will you come inside and eat breakfast with us?”

“Breakfast?”, Katsuki was little confused, especially when you snickered.

“Well, you came so soon, I didn’t even have a chance to make it. I thought you said you weren’t a morning person.”, taking his hand in yours, he instantly squeezed it and walked inside with you, his shy “Yeah no- I really ain’t! But, yesterday just.. hit me pretty hard so I couldn’t really sleep.” made you feel a bit bad, hence you pressed a soft kiss against the side of his head.  

“I hope from now on, whenever I keep you up at night, it’s for another reason.”, and that teasing smirk certainly didn’t help Bakugou’s heart at all, especially when you giggled and went inside the kitchen while he just yelled a “Y-Y/n-san!” as he quickly put his shoes away so he could follow you inside the kitchen, helping you with breakfast and hoping to bond with your son while doing so.

--

Panting and sweating, Bakugou collapsed on top of you eventually, safely landing in your arms that already awaited him while you were now tied for the next 20-ish minutes, though now, both of you had to calm down your racing hearts again and catch your breath.

Since this had been your official first night together, Bakugou was pretty surprised seeing your healed c-section scar across your lower abdomen, hence why, when he could control his breathing again he said, “You know… You never mentioned you were the one who’s pregnant with Seiji.”

“Ah…”, inevitably and complete instinctively you were reaching down to your scar, “You’re right, I never did…”, and then, it was silent again, and even though he wanted to be nosy, he immediately suppressed it and snuggled closer instead, understanding that there might be a reason why you never mentioned it.

Though then you surprised him when you said after a few minutes, “Me and my ex-husband had planned two kids. We were both Alpha men so we decided that I would be pregnant once and he would be pregnant next after like a year or so.”

“Was it a forced marriage?”, he asked so casually, knowing that Alpha/Alpha marriage was very commonly an arranged one in this world.

“No.”, then you sighed, the memories kind of hurting as you looked at the ceiling, “That’s why it hurt so much. We married young. We thought we could truly have a happy ever after, or at least… I thought so. So naturally, when we tried and I found out I was pregnant, we were truly excited. But…”, you gulped and stopped, Katsuki immediately holding on tighter as he felt his Alpha mate’s uneasiness.

“Something in those 9 months changed. I don’t know how or when or why, but, I just knew and I was right. A day after Seiji was born and I was still in hospital he came in and said he didn’t love me anymore. So… that was that.”, you rubbed your eyes and sighed again, though Katsuki was there, holding onto you.

“Literal human trash!”, Bakugou was angry and hurt just listening, like who would do that? He was so, so livid just listening to this story, no wonder you were scared of being hurt again, after such a painful situation, he also would have probably stayed single for the rest of his life.

Pulling him closer though, you buried your face in his hair and whispered, “It’s okay now. It’s been 5 years. I moved on because I have you. You came crashing into my life and I couldn’t be happier about it. Because you didn’t give up, even when I ran away, you came running after me and I am so grateful for that.”

You effectively made Katsuki blush as he buried his face in the nook of your neck, inhaling your Alpha scent and cuddling closer. He was so happy he didn’t let you just run away that night and he went after you right the next morning. Even if your past had left scars on you, he was there and he was willing to build a future with you and Seiji – and one day, when you were both ready, you could take the next step and give Seiji a little brother or sister.

Though those were certainly just dreams of the future for now.

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@salemwritesxx || do not repost, edit, modify or translate my works

writer’s note: hi, it’s me, salem – living his unachievable dream of having a real biological family one day in his fictional world. and? how’s your day? lmfao || also request update? I’m working on a hinata smut and it’s coming along nicely, cannot wait to share it once it’s done 👀

[shoutoismybaby]

Omega Shame Part 2

Part 1 / Part 3

Thank you guys for all your interest! It made me super happy to see so many people excited about my writing, so I hope you enjoy and stay tuned for the last part soon!

Warnings: Angst, depression, mentions of fighting (bc hero training)

***

The classroom didn't smell right.  Not only was your serotonin inducing scent the class had gotten accustomed to in the past couple months missing, but a certain caramel smell had a hint of burnt rubber and ash to it. Despite some of the girls hearing commotion coming from your room, you didn’t answer their calls or knocks, so no one knew what was going on. The only knowledge the class had was that you weren’t in class and Bakugou was upset. Well, more upset than he usually was.

Even his best friends, whether or not he would admit that’s what they were to him, would earn growls and bared teeth if they got too close. Other than that though, Bakugou was generally unresponsive. Only caring when people got too close, but he didn’t respond when Aizawa called on him, or when the lunch bell rang. Only shoving the teachers hand off his shoulder when he came to check up on the blond.

Bakugou was just too caught up in his thoughts to really be aware of his surroundings as he followed his class aimlessly to the cafeteria.

Even though his body was in the P.E Training grounds, his brain was back in time to your dorm room. Back when your body began to tremble at the sight of him, the way salty tears rushed from your eyes when he started to speak. Your throat squeaking as you begged him to spare the nest you had constructed. It was beautifully made, if you had asked him. The way your soft blankets were woven together with your favorite weekend clothes, pillows being used to stable the walls. It looked incredibly comfortable.

Bakugou knew that Omegas could get upset if their nest was intruded without permission. But he also knew he was nowhere near your circular haven. Yet, you were crying, shaking, and begging.

It was then that it dawned on the hothead that you were scared of him. His omega was Terrified of him. It made his heart beat erratically, how could he make someone he cared about so scared of him? Especially his own omega. It was his job to keep you safe, to take care of you and make sure you were comfortable. You trusted him to fulfill this role, but you thought he was going to destroy your nest?

It made Bakugous’ buzz in confusion. It made no sense that you would be freaking out just because your alpha walked in your room.

Unless you weren't even his omega by choice. What if you just accepted his courting gift because you were afraid he would hurt you? He had been told multiple times throughout his life that he needed to stop being so aggressive,  that he would scare omegas away, but he had always brushed those comments off. He had thought that he would find someone who liked him despite his anger, and he thought you were that person.

Clearly, though, you were too fearful of him to even reject his proposal. Your trembling body inside of your nest was undeniable proof of that. You were too scared to even tell him you were nesting, and if the sight was evidence enough you didn’t seem to have or want his scent anywhere close to your nest. He should have noticed it before. What kind of alpha scared those they were supposed to protect?

You probably just got off of your meds to make him happy too. You had made so many sacrifices to keep him happy, and the thought of that made his blood boil. He had been a terrible alpha to you. He had to end this, he couldn’t put you through anymore pain. His inner alpha cried at the thought of having hurt you.

His large hand moved towards his opposite wrist, gently shimmying the bracelet that sat on it off. It was your courting gift to him, since you insisted on making him something in return. It was simple, made of skillfully twisted threads in his hero costume colors. His heart had skipped a beat the moment you presented it to him, not that he would tell anyone that. Especially not now, not when all the memories he shared with you were put into perspective.

He remembered how it felt as though the threads burnt his skin on its way past. How it dragged his heart down with it as it fell to the floor. Since then, he felt numb to the outside world. It didn’t matter how many times Kirishima tried to get him involved in their 1-1 match, he mostly just stood there, letting his instincts do the bare minimum to protect his body.

“Come on man!” His body dodged another hit just enough before slacking again, causing the redheaded alpha to growl. “You’re not responding to anything and you smell, honestly bad bro. What’s going on with you!?”

The only thing “going on” in Katsuki’s brain was replaying the pain in your eyes over and over. Replaying how you were scared, no, terrified of the person who was supposed to protect you. His omega wasn’t his omega anymore, and his alpha felt broken. He felt alone.

He could only focus on how he failed to do his basic duties. How he failed you. Everyone had been right when they critiqued his anger. He was too aggressive to deserve an Omega. Clearly he couldn’t treat one right no matter how much their smile made serotonin speed through his brain. If he couldn’t protect you from himself it was ridiculous to think he would do anything but fuck up protecting Japan from villains. He was a terrible alpha who couldn’t even treat an Omega properly, so what was the point? He wasn’t even good at his innate purpose.

By now Kirishima was getting desperate. All day his best friend had been growing more and more despondent, and he was scared for what that meant. He just needed Bakugou to talk to him, Kirishima wanted to be reassured that he was okay. And he had an idea of how to pull Bakugou back into the present, even if he didn’t like it.

“I don’t want to do this but, I’m really worried about you. Bakugou is this about (Y/n)?” The blondes alpha perked up at the mention of your name, drawing Bakugou’s head up with it.

“The girls said something happened in (Y/n)’s room last night and,” He hesitated, ruby eyes falling to Bakugou's large wrists. “You’re not wearing the courting bracelet she made for you anymore”

His words caused a whimper to leave Katsukis throat. Kirishima had no idea what kind of pain that reminder brought to Bakugou, but he could guess. The way the blonds hands clenched and brows furrowed made Kirishima's heart drop, he hated bringing up things that could hurt Katsuki. But he could only fix the problem if he knew what was wrong, and for that he needed Bakugou to talk to him.

“Did, did you guys break up?” Kirishima kept his distance, afraid of what Bakugou would do once he snapped out of his trance. But all Bakugou did was begin to shake, blinking furiously as he became aware of his surroundings once again along with the hot tears that flooded his eyes. Kirishima ran towards his friend then, placing a hand on the other alphas shoulder in a hope to be any bit comforting without overwhelming his friend. He analyzed the way Bakugous nose scrunched, causing his large canines to show as the first sob burst out of his trembling frame. It was so powerful that the blond lost his balance, falling into the stunned redheads arms. Face tucked into his friends chest, shielded from the attention his sobs were bringing from his entire class.

“Bakugou…” Kirishima ran his hands up and down Bakugous back gently feeling the way the blond fisted his shirt in desperation, “What happened? You can tell me.”

“I’m a terrible alpha,” Bakugous voice was shaky and Kirishima almost felt guilty at how relieved he was to hear it. “No you’re not man, wha-” “Yes I am!” Bakugous voice reached the same volume as his sobs that interrupted his speech. “She thought that I was going to destroy her nest, she was scared of me. I was supposed to defend her when really I’m the one she wanted protection from.”

Krishima didn’t know how to respond to what his friend said. Eyes too wide in confusion as he looked towards his teacher for answers. You had always been absolutely smitten with Bakugou, just his presence in the room made it seem like you radiated love and positivity. It didn’t seem that Bakugou needed any further encouragement to continue though, as his next statement sent ice down the spines of the whole class.

“I failed as an alpha… I don’t want to be alive anymore.” All Bakugou wanted to do in that moment was curl up and die. He didn’t have a purpose anymore, so he didn’t see the point of existing. It was then that his body seemed to shut back down in order to conserve energy, he began to slack in Kirishima's arms leaving him sitting on the ground despite the redheads' many protests. The revelation of how his best friend felt bringing tears to his own eyes, and a recognition to his teachers.

“Aizawa, what's happening to Bakugou?” Kirishima asked, struggling to hold himself together as he knelt in front of his friend. Bakugou’s eyes seemed more void of life than ever as he stared aimlessly at Kirishima's shirt.

“Someone call Recovery Girl, I fear that Bakugou has developed an Alpha depression.”

***

Tag List:

@pasteldana-blog @fandomtrash1616 @cyntinaaa @my-neighbor-todoro @anime-weeb-bnha @professionalreblogs @thenerdyrebel @weeb-reading-trash @procrastinatingmurder @myherotrashbin @spicyfoodboi @tspice283 @inumorph @rubyreds-stuff @mscarterakaviola98 @arcticsakura

[anotherfanficblog]

Chapter 1: Fathoms Below

Pairing: Din Djarin x f!reader (royal!au) Word Count: 2k Warnings: None

Masterlist

Synopsis: Rebellious Princess y/n doesn’t fit into royal life. She much prefers spending her time daydreaming about all the adventures she wants to go on. However when an attack is made against the royal family she is thrust under the watchful eye of a knight from Mandalore who doesn’t speak or show his face at all. The pair begin forming a strong bond that has the potential to become something more, the only thing stopping her? The handsome stranger who saved her that she can’t get out of her head.

A/N: I’ve change the creed slightly cause I need it to fit the story but it’s an au so I can do what I want

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

“And when the pull is strong, I almost think I hear the sea, wild and free, calling me from fathoms below”

Today was one of the biggest days in the entire kingdom: the ruby jubilee of King Psellus, celebrating 30 years since he had taken the throne. Melanie hadn’t slept, this celebration was going to be the pinnacle of her event planning career, and everything needed to be perfect, and she knew it was going to be provided her youngest sister didn’t do what she always did and ruin everything. She loved her sister of course but the girl would lose her head if it wasn’t screwed on

Melanie walked along the grand corridor of the palace making sure all her sisters were awake and getting dressed in preparation for the long day ahead. As all the sisters opened their doors groggily to see who had disturbed their sleep Melanie noticed Y/N’s door yet to be opened. She knocked again… no response, she tried again slightly louder this time until she was eventually banging on her sister’s door loud enough to wake the whole kingdom up. Finally, the door opened and her sister, still half asleep, wandered out.

“Geez Mel what time is it?” she asked rubbing her eyes.

Melanie ignored the question and began pacing back and forth down the corridor like a general addressing her troops.

“Okay ladies today is quite possibly the most important day of my entire life and I am determined to make it go off without a hitch. That means I need everyone to follow the itinerary down to the minute, no exceptions” she said glaring at y/n. 

Y/n rolled her eyes “yeah, yeah I got it.”

Melanie didn’t appear to believe her, but she continued “okay first we are having our hair and make-up done in five minutes in the parlour which should take an hour, during this time I would suggest you eat breakfast as their will be no other time to eat. Then at 7:00am our dresses should arrive from the modiste so we can then get dressed, then an hour of guest greeting in the main hall, during this time I will be doing finally preparations on the ballroom, town square and banquet hall. I will then join you at 8:00am for a rehearsal and sound check in the grand courtyard for our performance I sincerely hope that those who have been… unable to attend previous rehearsals are well prepared.”

Another dig directed at y/n but at this point she was so used to it that her sisters’ words rolled off her like water. 

“The celebration begins at 9:00 with us going on at approximately 10:00 as the last act” Melanie continued “then balcony appearance and father’s speech at 11:00, lunch at 12:00, then you are free to enjoy the festivities till 5:00 when you are needed for a dress change, then at 6:00 dinner, then at 8:00 the ball and finally you may all retire to your chambers at midnight at least. Do you understand me?”

“Yes” the sisters responded in a monotone unison.

Melanie eyed up y/n one final time before conceding “good, then let’s get to the parlour.”

As the sisters all sat quietly gossiping as they got their makeup done. Y/n didn’t have much to add to the conversation as she wasn’t as well versed in the lives of various foreign dignitaries, so she resorted to staring out the large window that flooded the room with light as the sun rose.

The window looked out directly on the harbour and y/n could see all the foreign ships coming into port. She wondered where the ship had come from and how it was different Caphus. The only one of her sisters who had been allowed to travel outside of the kingdom was Eleanor and that was only because she was the oldest and therefore heir to throne and had to make connections, which wasn’t fair. The rest of them should be able to expand their horizons and see the world but no, instead they had to waste away their days inside a castle.

Technically they weren’t even allowed of palace grounds without a guard accompanying them, but y/n had managed to skirt around that rule. She knew at least fifteen different ways out of the castle to avoid detection from guards, it was quite a talent really. 

She was broken out of her thoughts when she Florence let out a loud squeal of excitement “ahh they’re here! Look at how gorgeous they are, which ones mine?”

Y/n turned to see various ballgowns being ushered into the parlour. The dresses were all different styles, but they were all in a shade of red, keeping on theme for the ‘ruby’ jubilee. As the sisters began admiring themselves in the dresses, y/n stood to the side awkwardly. She smoothed down the fabric of the skirt with her hand and looked at herself in the mirror. Honestly, it was like she was looking at a stranger, these frilly dresses didn’t suit her, and she felt and looked uncomfortable. 

Eleanor noticed her sister standing awry to the side and approached her, putting a hand delicately on her shoulder. “You look beautiful” she said.

“Thanks” y/n responded half-heartedly.

Melanie clapped her hands together loudly gaining everyone’s attention. “Okay everyone, great hall now, I’ll see you in an hour.” With that Melanie rushed out the room as the remaining sisters filed out slowly talking amongst themselves.

 The great hall was crowed, too crowded as the foreign nobles clambered at the chance to talk to one of the princesses. Y/n was immediately overwhelmed she didn’t like being the centre of attention and talking to nobles was draining at the best of times. She glanced over at her sisters who were charming as ever captivating their audience. Y/n looked at large grandfather clock that loomed over the great hall. How had it only been five minutes.

Surely no one would notice if she slipped out, just for a bit. She’d be back for the rehearsal; she just needed some space to breathe. She politely excused herself from the duke from some country she’d already forgotten the name of and made her way out of the hall. She ran along the corridor determined to get out of there as quickly as possible when she turned the corner and BANG! Ran directly into someone.

“I’m so sorry, I wasn’t looking where I was going and-” Y/n’s ramblings were cut off by a loud laugh and she breathed a sigh of relief when she realised, she had only run into Boba Fett, captain of the royal guard. Boba was probably her only friend in the castle he most definitely knew about her adventures outside the palace grounds but didn’t stop her and didn’t alert her father both of which she was truly thankful for.

“It’s okay princess” he calmed her before narrowing his eyes “where are you off too in such a hurry?”

“Oh, you know… my room, to get some air. It’s quite overwhelming in there” she lied.

“Mmhmm” Boba nodded not believing her in the slightest.

“What about you?” Y/n asking changing the subject “shouldn’t you be getting ready for the changing of the guard?”

“The guard won’t change without me; I’m meeting an old friend whose travelling in for the jubilee” he explained.

“Well then you should probably get going” y/n said trying to get away as quickly as possible.

“Mmm yes” Boba says knowing full well what the girls plan was “you’ll do well to stay out of trouble today y/n. Don’t do anything I would do.”

“Yeah, I got it” y/n said scurrying away down the corridor. Boba smiled and shook his head as he watched her disappear into her room.

 -----------------

Din stepped off the boat and took in the kingdom. He wasn’t being lied to when he was told that this was probably one of the most beautiful kingdoms he would ever see. Even more so in its current state, being decked out in various red decorations for the jubilee. 

“Mando!”

Din looked around for the source of the sound.

“Mando!”

Din squinted as he saw Boba push his way through the crowd of people and make his way towards him.

“How are you?” Boba asks pulling him into a hug.

“I’m well how are you?” Din responds.

“Yeah, good” Boba says raking his eyes up and down Din’s unarmored body “I almost didn’t recognise you without all the armour on.”

“Yeah, well you know I can’t talk or take it off once I’ve got it on” Din explained “so I thought if I’m not working here, I might as well take the opportunity to walk around without it.”

Boba nodded in agreement. “Besides” Din continued “people act weird and nervous around mandalorians and I want people to enjoy themselves today.”

“You’re an honourable man” Boba said looking up at the town hall clock “shit is that the time? I better head off. I’ve got to get ready for the changing off the guard, but you look around and enjoy yourself and loosen up a bit, it’s a celebration after all. I’ll meet up with you later, okay?”

“Okay” Din nodded before Boba ran off. Din looked around wondering what he should do first. He knew the festivities wouldn’t start till after the kings address so he had some time to look around the kingdom. He was pretty sure Boba had mentioned at some point the beach cliffs of Caphus being the most beautiful part of the kingdom so maybe he should check those outs. 

Din approached a local and enquired about where he would find these cliffs. “Oh they’re just off the path down there” the local said pointing “they’re pretty hidden but have a look around and you’ll probably find them eventually.” 

Din thanked the local before heading off down the path.

 -------------- 

Y/n stared out of her bedroom window at the sea. She knew she shouldn’t leave but it was like her grotto was calling her and she just couldn’t resist sneaking out. Y/n undid her long and heavy ballgown, leaving it in a pile on the floor. She quickly got dressed in something much shorter and lighter before tying a dark cloak around her shoulders.

Y/n scaled down the side of the castle, she done this many times before and was sure that she could probably do this with her eyes closed. She fled down a back side path that led directly to her grotto. When she got there, she finally felt herself breathe properly for the first time that day. She felt herself stop pretending to be something that she wasn’t and finally allowed her to be herself.

She watched as the waves gently crashed against the shore. The sound was like music to her, and she couldn’t help but vocalise against the waves sound. She did this often, it provided her with a sense of calm. No two songs were the same and it was like the sea could almost sense how she was feeling and provided the appropriate soundtrack to match. 

Din approached the cliffs and took in the sight before him. ‘Wow’ he thought, the cliffs were truly breathtaking, and the sea was so crisp and blue it almost looked like glass. He climbed down the side and landed on the soft sand. He closed his eyes and allowed the sound of the sea to overwhelm his senses when he heard the soft sound of someone singing.

He followed the source of the noise his feet seemingly carrying him before his brain could catch up and as he got closer the song got louder and the voice was truly perfect. Din came to a cave where the voice was coming from, and he peered inside. Inside sat a vision of beauty singing absentmindedly like she wasn’t aware of how perfect she was. She reminded Din of a siren, so beautiful and perfect whose songs lured men to their deaths and honestly if this is how he died he’d be okay with that.

Din couldn’t peel his eyes off her, so much so that he almost didn’t notice the dark figure creeping up behind her.

[bridgyrose]

Ruby paused for a moment as she watched Atlas Academy buzz with activity. Between the rumors of Weiss having run off, General Ironwood pulling his armies back to Atlas, including any and all soldiers that were helping with other academies, and the embargo that was starting to take its toll on the merchants and companies that needed global trade, it was starting to seem like an easier task to make Atlas crumble than before. Even better, no one knew about her yet, which meant getting closer to Ironwood would be a snap.

“Is everything okay, Ruby?” asked Penny.

Ruby nodded, giving a smile to Penny. “Everything’s fine.” She quickly reached for Penny’s hand, giving a gentle squeeze. “I guess I’m just not used to how busy an academy can be. Beacon was big but Atlas… Atlas just seems to be busy.”

“You will get used to it. But follow me, the General’s office isnt much farther.”

Ruby stayed close to Penny, her eyes wandering around as they made their way through the main hall. She frowned a little when she noticed this was Atlas’ attempt to show off how they thought of their kingdom. But to her, it only showed that Atlas cared about one thing: themselves. “You know, after Beacon was attacked, I was worried I had lost you forever.”

Penny paused for a moment as she walked, smiling a bit. “I still remember that day you found out the truth about me. It is… one of the special memories I try to keep close. And… I was worried about you too after I was told what happened when I was rebuilt. No one really knew if you were still alive or not, and… I am glad I never gave up hope.”

Ruby blushed a little, continuing to walk to a nearby elevator to get to Ironwood’s office. “I’m glad you’re back, Pen. It makes me feel better that I have a friend here that can help me.”

Penny started walking with Ruby, keeping close to her. “Of course. And maybe, while you are here, we can start becoming better friends.”

“Better friends, huh?”

Penny nodded, beaming with a smile. “Speaking of friends, where are the rest of your team? I thought you would be with them.”

Ruby let out a sigh as she entered the elevator and let Penny press the right button to get to Ironwood’s office. “I’m… not sure how they are. After Beacon fell, Weiss was brought back to Atlas by her father, Blake ran away and Yang… she wasnt doing all that great when I left.”

Penny looked at Ruby, slightly confused. “You travelled all on your own?”

Ruby nodded, pulling out her scroll and running through the faces of her friends. “I did. Jaune… he was heartbroken when Pyrrha died. And Ren and Nora… I havent seen them since Beacon fell. I’m not even sure what their fate was.” She hated the idea of lying to Penny about her friends, or at least about Jaune, Ren, and Nora. But she needed Penny on her side if her plan was going to work.

“Oh, I am… I am sorry.”

“It’s fine. It was nice to be alone for a bit. You know, clear my head, find out a few things about myself… just… being able to get a little perspective.”

The elevator stopped at the top of Atlas Academy, opening up to yet another entryway. Penny walked Ruby to Ironwood’s office, stepping to the side. “Here is the General’s office.”

Ruby smiled and gave a small thank you to Penny before walking in, taking a deep breath. “General Ironwood, I have news-”

“You will need to wait,” said Ironwood as he looked away from Winter. “Specialist Schnee and I have something we need to discuss.”

Winter paused for a moment and looked over to Ruby. “I think we should hear her out, General. She did attend Beacon, and the fact that she made it here even after closing our borders might give us a bit more insight on where we have any failings in our security.”

The General stood up and looked over Ruby. “Now that she mentions it, how did you make it to Atlas. You’re far from home, arent you Ruby?”

“I am.” Ruby walked closer to Ironwood’s desk, mentally running over the speech she practiced for him. “I managed to get a little help from someone who was returning to Atlas, but that’s not why I’m here. I dont think your kingdom is as safe as you think.”

Ironwood frowned at Ruby. “And what makes you think that?”

“I think the person, or people that attacked Beacon might already be here, just like they might be at the other two academies.”

Ironwood paused for a moment, one hand twitching slightly as he started looking over a few papers on his desk. “And what makes you so sure of that?”

Ruby shrugged. “Its just a guess. When Cinder attacked Beacon, she made herself seem like a student. Even the Haven kids considered her as one of her own. Wouldnt it be safe to say that she might have other agents already embedded into the other schools as well?”

Winter leaned over to Ironwood, whispering to him. “She has a point, sir. Maybe we can let her in on what is really-”

“No. That’s not possible. I would know-”

“Would you though?” Ruby sighed and started walking out. “What I mean is that if you are sure that there’s no double agent in the school, that’s fine. But I was hoping that maybe I could help you find out if there really is a spy here.”

Ironwood nodded and sighed. “You… have a point. After what happened at Beacon, we really cant be too careful. And if you’re right, then I dont think Cinder is the one behind all of this.”

Ruby paused for a moment before slowly turning around, feigning a bit of confusion. “She’s not?”

Ironwood shook his head. “I cant tell you everything right now, but Cinder is only a pawn to who’s really attacking the Academies. And if you’re right that there is a spy here and now, then we should find them before they cause any trouble.”

Ruby smiled a bit and nodded. “Then tell me what you want me to do.”

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

Arthur Watts sighed as he walked around Mantle, hacking into the cameras as he walked past them and keeping an eye on his scroll. He was sure that by now, Ruby would be making her way to Atlas Academy to start talking to Ironwood, giving him an extra way into the Atlas Network assuming talks with Jacques dont go as planned. He smirked once a new message popped up on his scroll, two words giving him all he needed to know: “I’m in.”

“At least Ruby isnt a failure like Cinder is,” he remarked to himself as he kept walking, spotting a small building to hole up in. He quickly responded to Ruby, giving her the next set of instructions. “And now, for the real fun to begin.”

[itsclydebitches]

RWBY Recaps: Volume 8 “Worthy”

Happy Saturday, everyone! I mean that seriously for once. Regardless of what I have to say about this episode — and as always, there's a lot — I want it on the record that "Worthy" was leagues ahead of... pretty much everything else we've gotten lately. For all of RWBY's continuing problems, there's a level of effort here that I really do appreciate. Especially for the penultimate episode.

Our title, "Worthy," immediately conjures thoughts of Watts' speech about Cinder needing to be "worthy" of the power she craves and, what do you know, our villains work hard to prove their worth this episode. Hallelujah! We start with the heroes though and do you recall how last week I said that our opening may as well be a summary of the whole series since Volume 6, what with the grimm conveniently avoiding the team's airship and them just looking vaguely sad that the people around them are perishing? Well, same here. Or rather, same problems, different flavor. Oscar opens with the question, "What do we do now?" and no sooner has he asked that then the magic portal appears to give him the answer. Useful!

More seriously though, I've been intensely side-eyeing the group's wish since last week. Not (just) because of the awful decision to turn Penny human, but simply because the story emphasized how "smart" the group was, heavily insisting that their portal plan is a masterpiece of well thought out strategy... and I really don't think it is. There was a lot of confusion last episode about how exactly the group was using the vault, with my own interpretation — that they were funneling everyone to Vacuo's vault — proven wrong today, but one of the problems brought up was how Ambrosius could possibly create portals across a kingdom precisely where the group needs them. Yang asks him,

"Can you make a bunch of doorways in Atlas that open at a single spot in Vacuo?"

To which, simply, Ambrosius says no. He'd need, among other things, "coordinates and specs for each door" and "an explanation for bending space and time."

This is why, prior to the very end of "Creation" where we saw portals appearing everywhere, I thought using both vaults was the solution. Ambrosius knows (or can easily receive) the coordinates for his own vault and the one in Vacuo. As weird, alternate dimensions, they're potentially capable of bending space and time as necessary. If you put the portal in Atlas' vault and open it up in Vacuo's vault, you're golden. The only challenge now is getting everyone in the kingdom to the Winter Maiden's vault.

But then... that didn't happen. Apparently the vault just becomes the in-between place for everyone to pass through and the portals appear all over the kingdom, even though the group didn't provide those "coordinates and specs." What they did was show Ambrosius a schematic of the cities. That's not the same thing as telling him precisely where each portal needs to appear — which is what he asked for. I bring this long-winded explanation up not merely to emphasize "RWBY's wish isn't as smart as the story wants you to believe it is" but because this wreaks havoc on who is getting a portal. How did the group tell Ambrosius precisely where to put a portal for Jaune's group? Why didn't they try to make one appear for Qrow and Robyn? Or Winter? Or Pietro and Maria? They had to have been somewhat specific in terms of saying where these portals appeared because if they just wished for everyone to get one, Jacques and Ironwood would have gotten one too. Basically, the portals do appear for characters whose “Worthy” plot now takes place in this in-between space and the portals do not appear for those whose plot is still taking place in Atlas. That's a mess. To say nothing of how it implies that our heroes just don't give a damn about all their other allies — including an uncle (Ruby, Yang) and a father (Penny) — and that, ultimately, Ambrosius did the very thing he initially said wouldn't work. He put a bunch of doors around Atlas that opened on a single point in Vacuo without making the group meet these requirements first. The rest is just a bunch of mumbo jumbo to distract the viewer from the fact that none of this actually makes sense.

But that's a tangent. To get back on track, Jaune's group decides to "spread the word on foot" since they can't contact anyone via their scrolls anymore. What this translates to is Jaune going to one spot and Nora doing the rest of the work because she can suddenly ride her hammer like a broomstick. 

You know what? I'm fine with it. Have we ever seen Nora do this before? Not that I recall. Is it a cute image that feeds my witch-loving brain? Yeeeeeaah.

They're not sure if the portals are safe though and everyone turns to Jaune as the joke test subject. Except everyone else is right behind him when the go through? Even the jokes in this show aren't consistent.

What I do like though is that we get another interesting team split: Oscar, Emerald, and Ren heading to Vacuo while Jaune and Nora help with the evacuation — even though Nora and Jaune aren't actually doing anything together. Still, I can see that (for this volume at least) RT has taken the duo criticisms to heart. It would have been incredibly easy to attach Nora and Ren at the hip again, despite her desire for space, so I'm glad that they're still striving to mix things up a bit.

Nora says that Shade is "armed to the teeth with huntsmen and huntresses." It is? I mean sure, it has its school, but so did Vale. So did Atlas. In fact, we've spent the last two volumes emphasizing that Atlas is really the only armed kingdom remaining. Remember the plan for them to protect the world after knowledge of Salem's existence threw everything into disarray? Well, the people know about Salem now. And Salem herself is attacking. And they're about to slam an entire kingdom into another one. Don't get me wrong, I'm glad Nora ends her observations with the assertation that Vacuo will need as much help as they can get, but that worry feels far, far too late. Where were these concerns when Ruby made her announcement to the world in the first place? The fact that the group never went, "Hey, is it really worth telling people about Salem now when we can no longer provide the protection against the grimm that this announcement will necessitate? Yeah, we need backup, but can they even get here in time? I don't think so. Maybe we should hold off and try to find a way to solve this ourselves. Or, at the very least, just tell them Atlas is facing a massive grimm attack. That won't create quite the same panic as 'Magic immortal lady eager to kill you all' will."

Our heroes only acknowledge these problems when they're already neck deep in them. Forethought is not their strong suit.

For our obligatory humor, the people of Atlas are hiding behind the staircase after the evil portal appeared (weren't there, like, twenty of them in the last episode?) and a brave dude trying to toss a rock through accidentally hits Jaune. He — I kid you not — uses the Atlas huntsmen license gifted to him by Ironwood to gain authority over the group.

Talk about the story being tone deaf.

We segue to a shot of Penny who flies herself through the portal using the Maiden powers, precisely as she would have with her boots. Okay, I try not to pull many "I told you so"s because that's rude, petty, and all around just shit behavior... but boy is it tempting at times. Because RWBY's fandom is so staunchly against criticism that even the most polite pushbacks boil down to an equally rude "Just wait" mentality. Readers of these recaps know we were told to "just wait" for the group to talk to Ozpin. Or "just wait" for them to be punished for their crimes. "Just wait" for the complex forgiveness arc the group is sure to undergo with Emerald. "Just wait" is the go-to response when someone doesn't entirely disagree with our problems with the show, but still believes we're not giving RT enough credit. Most recently, I was told to "just wait" in regards to Penny. We don't actually know that her body is human. We don't actually know that her Maiden powers will still be the same. We don't actually know that this won't be the start of a long journey wherein she has to figure out how to use this new body, both on the battlefield and off. And the issue of RWBY failing to answer any of these questions isn’t valid criticism either because the only point being made here is that we’re not patient and supportive enough. Just wait. RT will prove you wrong. 

Well... Penny's body still appears entirely human, her Maiden powers still work just fine, and now they've given her the ability to create all her old weapons out of aura, meaning she fights exactly the same as she did before.

The only thing making Penny human did was force her to fight barefoot. Oh, and erase her journey of accepting herself as an android. 

Again, I don't want to be that asshole, especially when so many people want the show to be better — just like I do. By all means, hold out hope with me. But before slamming into someone's inbox to explain why they're being too negative because things are bound to be taken seriously down the road, keep in mind the staggering number of times we've decided to "just wait" and nothing ever came of it. Keep in mind that RWBY should be tackling these questions and expectations from the start. Now here we are, disappointed again. We're not pessimistic because we want to be, we're pessimistic because there's a clearly established pattern at play.

So Penny's change is, at this point, meaningless for her development and, at this point, we've lost the chance to introduce challenges later. If RT does, we're forever going to wonder why Penny didn't express any doubts upon waking up in a human body, or why she didn't face any problems while fighting another Maiden. Like Emerald getting the group to laugh and immediately being trusted with important duties, it's too late to suddenly backtrack and insist that there's still work to be done here. RT missed their chance.

That fight is a few minutes off though. For now, Oscar and the others arrive in Vacuo to discover that there's a sandstorm going on. Who could have ever expected that?

Seriously though, this is just one of the many reasons why our heroes come across as stupid. They deliberately chose to send everyone "outside the city limits of Vacuo," in a desert kingdom, after Ruby got the entire world panicked about Salem, and they somehow didn't think that a) weather might be a problem or b) grimm were going to show up? These characters have been though enough shit that they should be planning for the worst and hoping for the best, not planning for the best and assuming the worst just won't happen to them. Why wouldn't they have everyone appear inside the kingdom if they (against Ambrosius' rules) got to choose where everyone ended up? Why in the world would they rely on communications being up when CCT has been spotty since Volume 3 and Watts just took out Atlas’ entire system? Our characters don't think anything through — despite Ambrosius’ claims otherwise — and it makes for some pretty awful characterization. Because RWBY isn't trying to be a story about teenagers seriously messing up their attempts at heroics, it's trying to be a story about True Heroes... and we're just supposed to ignore the endless number of times the group doesn't think the most basic problems through. So now, Oscar and the other stand there doing nothing for the rest of the episode because a sandstorm in the desert threw a wrench in their plans. 

The only reason I didn’t bring this up last week is because I had no idea they had chosen to dump everyone outside of the city. I thought they were going to the vault, or at the very least appearing inside the border. Why wouldn’t you send everyone to the city??

It’s so stupid, but then Cinder arrives and blows a whole bunch of people off the edge of the pathways. HELL YEAH.

I mean, obviously not hell yeah for the poor civilians who just took a tumble, but yay the villain causing some damage. It's small potatoes compared to what we were promised at the end of last volume — Salem decimating a whole kingdom in The Fall of Atlas — but at least it's more than we were getting last week.

So Cinder is having her evil fun when the entire group leaves Penny to go after her. Again, stupid. You're going to leave the girl who (at this point) may not have been in a position to fight with her new body and stands vulnerable with a Relic? Not a single member stays behind to guard her? It would have served Team RWBY right if Neo had shown up and just clocked Penny, taking a second Relic for herself.

Cinder taunts the group with information she shouldn't have: “Your little friend Oscar was right, but the easy part ends here" then mimics them with the question "How’d you know about that?” at their shocked looks. This starts a flashback where we return to Cinder, Neo, and Watts in the alleyway. 

Again Cinder is given more development than a supposed hero like Emerald, apologizing to Neo for not upholding her end of their bargain. In fact, Cinder displays more growth here than our entire title characters combined, it's just that her growth turns her into a better villain. She apologizes to Neo, compliments Watts as a means of acknowledging the work he's accomplished — “You tore this kingdom apart with nothing but your intellect. How about we finish what you started?” — and tells the heroes that she did learn something from them: “Sometimes, if you want to win, you simply can’t do it alone.” 

I quite like all of this. Again, not that Cinder should be our biggest threat with Salem on the scene, but if you remove that context this is a great moment for her. She's actually learned something, but instead of following in the rather abrupt and, in Hazel's case, nonsensical footsteps of her peers, what she's learned has made her more dangerous, not a sudden, convenient ally. Since Volume 7 RWBY has hammered home the idea that only friends can truly be a good team and now, well, Cinder is kind of making friends. She's apologizing to Neo. She seems glad that Watts is happy. RWBY took the concept of working together and applied it to our villains with devastating effect. Team RWBY has been skating by on the idea that power comes from friendship, so what happens if your enemies become weird friends too?

To be clear, this doesn't erase the staggering number of other problems with Cinder's character, or the villains as a unit, or the volume as a whole... but it is an interesting step in the right direction. Props for that.

Granted, outside of the fight itself, the villains don't really win because they're smart, the heroes are just — again — staggeringly stupid. Cinder promises to get Ruby for Neo if she can ask Jinn a question... which she does! 

This moment could have been avoided if our heroes had just put the Lamp in the vault. Or not had Oscar carrying it around. Or used up the wish after they'd already summoned Jinn. Cinder's victory here rests entirely on her own enemies' ineptitude. At least she has the smarts to exploit it. She asks Jinn what the group's plan is and our three villains are shown the revelation outside after saving Penny and the discussions that took place in the dining room. They learn everything they need to inflict maximum chaos.

And it’s great. 

Three other details of note:

Cinder spots Emerald with the heroes during Jinn's vision, but doesn't have much of a reaction beyond her expression tightening.

Jinn looks sad when she reveals the group's plan, reinforcing the idea that she's biased towards our heroes. I'd be more on board with that characterization if a) she weren't created by Light whose own Good Guy persona is dubious at best, and b) she wasn't so cruel towards Ozpin. Again, it's just this strange insistence that everyone adore Ruby Rose.

Neo reveals the Relic by pulling it out of Roman's hat. Uh... is that how hats work? They contain objects twice their height? While resting on someone's head? This wasn't one of Neo's illusions, she literally just pulled it out like a real world magician. That's weird. Showy, but weird.

Anyway, the flashback continues as the villains infiltration the Atlas military headquarters. I really enjoyed the music and cinematography here. It's a strangely uplifting tune — rather Cinderella-esque — which doesn't appear to work until you remember that these moments are through Cinder's perspective. Of course this is a Happy Ending for her — even if it's not for the audience. The quick cut between her summoning some fire and the whole room alight, bodies everywhere, was an excellent touch.

The happiness of this moment is then emphasized by Neo skipping as she beats people and Watts admitting that this is "everything I’ve ever wanted." I'm really digging the contrast between this scene's celebratory nature and the knowledge that the story is celebrating the wrong characters. It creates an enjoyably uncomfortable feeling for us and helps flesh out the villains more. From their perspective, life is good.

There's even a shot of that #1 Dad mug. Sometimes, RWBY gets it right.

Watts in particular is enjoying himself. He snags a discarded apple — no fairy tale symbolism there, I'm sure — and casually rubs the blood off it before taking a bite. This guy has style! 

Watts watches Jaune try to send out his message to the kingdom and cuts communication at the worst possible moment. But then, we knew that already.

Elsewhere in the facility, Robyn and Qrow are trying to round up the Ace Ops. They all feel Atlas shake, realizing that the group has used the Relic, and Elm is appropriately horrified. "They'll destroy the kingdom!" Robyn says some self-righteous words about how a kingdom is made up of its people, not the land it exists on, which, while ignoring the importance of land to so many cultures, completely ignores that right now the majority of people are still on Atlas, or below it, including them. "They set the house alight!" someone cries. "Who cares about a stupid house," Robyn says, uncaring that the entire family still resides inside and she's starting to inhale smoke.

As Robyn tries to paint herself as a hero, Watts hacks one of the droids and sets it to self-destruct, telling it to run full-tilt at the group. Their weapons don't stop it and at the last second Marrow throws himself in front to take the blast, shattering his aura. Uh... after everything we've seen in this show, a single, small explosion wipes out his aura? I don't care about that so much here, but I absolutely care about it for an upcoming scene. Keep this in mind.

Also, I'm not going to get into the potential problems of trying to execute Marrow, beating up Marrow, and then blowing up Marrow. Others can tackle that leviathan of a subject.

At least he survived? But only RT knows if Robyn and Qrow bothered to put him on their ship.

Because as Atlas begins to fall Harriet, free of Marrow's semblance, races for an airship going off the edge of the open parking garage. Idk what else to call that space. I'm sure there's something appropriately military-esque, but we're going with parking garage for now lol. This is the one — one — moment where I felt like the Ace Ops were actually written like they weren't friends, what with Harriet's willingness to race off and leave them behind. Again though, it's too late and there are, frankly, other aspects to consider. Like the fact that Marrow just betrayed her. I don't think she's in the right mind for trusting the rest of her team, especially when there are only seconds to save herself.

Vine uses his stretchy arms to grab hold of her ship though and heaves himself on board.

Cutting to the jail, Ironwood wakes up and is greeted with a despondent Jacques. As Ironwood realizes that the group has the Staff, Jacques goes, "That's right, you lose! … we both lose." Before there can be any interesting discussion though, Ironwood's cell... goes out???

I suppose the explanation for this is things falling apart as Atlas descends, but man is that another moment of head-scratching convenience. What's even worse is that Winter apparently just left his weapons beside the cell. "Hey, what should we do with Ironwood's giant gun?" "Idk, leave it for him on the off chance us removing the city's power source wreaks havoc with the electrical bars?" I mean seriously. At least Qrow had to go find his weapon in a locker.

For a second Jacques is thrilled, sure that Ironwood will open his cell too... right?

He does open the cell, by blasting the whole thing to smithereens, Jacques included.

You all know I'm horribly disappointed with how they've written Ironwood, but I can't bring myself to dredge up any fury over this murder. It's Jacques. You know, the abuser and slave owner who has never shown a single shred of decency? Can't say I'm sorry to see him gone, especially since one of the Schnee girls were never going to kill him. The only other thing they could have done was have Jacques die an accidental death.

So villain!Ironwood can have another murder, as a treat.

Meme jokes aside, it's interesting that Ironwood's never-seen-before-last-episode gun produces a green blast and fire. It looks incredibly similar to what Penny created as an android and the fire around her Maiden eyes. Unlike Watts' apple though, I don't think this is a parallel RT intentionally included. Not unless we want to dig deep for more “Metal bodies = evil” symbolism, but there’s already plenty more persuasive examples of that. 

Returning to Team RWBY, we finally come to the highlight of the episode: Yang falling off the edge.

Okay, I want to praise RWBY for having the guts to kill off a main character... but we all know they haven't killed off a named character. If next episode — or perhaps even next volume — it's revealed that Yang is really dead, I'll happily eat these words. For now though, this is not the consequence that RWBY critics have asked for. This is, in fact, quite a mess.

Let's count up all the ways this scene has failed spectacularly.

No one believes that Yang is actually dead. Not just because she's a title character, not just because Ambrosius never confirmed that the void was deadly or even dangerous — "Don't fall," however ominous, doesn't actually tell us what happens to someone who falls — but also because we have been here before. Three volumes ago. Remember how it looked like Weiss would die only for Jaune to unlock his semblance and save her? Yeah. The audience is both genre and RWBY savey. This cliffhanger feels cheap because absolutely no one is fooled.

Feel familiar? 

Worse, Yang falls because of another round of stupidity. Nothing about this moment is convincing.

First, she notices Neo sneaking up on Ruby. What's her reaction? To flare her semblance, charge her in fury, and be horribly injured. Oh wow, where have we seen this before?

This is the exact same series of events from Volume 3. A loved one of Yang's is about to be harmed, she gets mad, charges without thinking, and takes the brunt of the attack herself, resulting in a far more serious injury than likely would have otherwise occurred. Emotionally understandable, but stupid. More importantly, it's the exact thing Tai tried to warn her about. The fandom praised Yang's arc because she got a moment of calm with Mercury, but since then we’ve ignored that development, reverting Yang to the same, impulsive fighter as before. Volume 6 showed us this problem in a non-combat setting and this moment solidifies it. Yang has learned absolutely nothing since Beacon. She's the same protective, reckless fighter she was back then, getting herself grievously injured because she can't think before she acts. What was the point of sending her on that journey if she was never going to improve? 

Neo cuts through Yang's aura in a single hit. A single hit. These characters have long, drawn out fights filled with crazy attacks and you're telling me a single slice of Neo's weapon is enough to shatter Yang's aura? Really, aura has been an absurd plot device for a while, but this volume has been particularly bad. Ren's aura breaks so the group is spotted by Salem's grimm, but then is back just a few minutes later so he can see purple petals around Emerald. Jaune's aura is said to be running just as low, but then is totally fine to boost Penny for the next hour until she reaches the vault. Now, Yang has had just as much time to rest as they do, but she’s instantly taken out?

This is a problem not because the loss of aura itself sends her over, but because the hit was apparently so powerful Yang passes out. She's groggy at least, blearily looking at everyone as she falls, but not reacting to them and, importantly, not trying to save herself. 

Yang could have reached for Blake's throw. She has a landing strategy. She could have blasted herself up, or towards any of the three paths she falls past. Instead she just... plummets. In a show where our characters are introduced through their ability to survive being launched off a cliff. Neo's attack needs to be miraculously incapacitating to justify — "justify" — Yang doing nothing to get out of this situation, in an episode where, minutes later, Ren's aura will also go out (again) but he's standing up and ready to fight a horde of grimm. But losing her aura through one hit somehow incapacities Yang?  

Also, to ward off the expected claims: she didn't hit her head. Yang's back hit the path and her eyes were closed before she ever made contact. Neo's hit just... knocked her out.

That's absurd.

Worse than her not helping herself, no one else on her team helps either. Except Blake. Ruby, who this volume has learned that she is basically able to teleport and negate the mass of carrying someone else, doesn't fly towards her sister. Weiss, who can summon flying grimm and create platforms for someone to land on, just reaches out a hand. They all had time to do something, Blake's action is proof of that, but neither of them did. Why? Because the show wants this to be a bees moment. I say that not as someone who hates the ship, but as someone who loves it. Or at least, I've always loved its potential, but if you need to prove their devotion by erasing the devotion of others... that's incredibly bad writing. And that's what this is. The choice to have Blake the only one capable of acting sends the message that she loves Yang enough to overcome the shock of her falling. That love powers her to act. But Yang is Weiss’ teammates too! Yang is Ruby's sister.

You’re telling me neither of them had the drive to push past shock and save her? 

I find it particularly insulting that Weiss comforts Blake rather than crumbling in grief herself. I find it doubly insulting that Blake cries and screams, but Ruby stoically continues her fight with Neo. In trying to show Blake's love for Yang — and hers in turn — the show has unintentionally pulled back on the love everyone else has, even between siblings. This is a far more harmful repetition of Yang's moment in the outpost: she cares more about the imagined disagreement with Blake than she does the actual fight she had with Ruby. Blake shows more emotion for Yang's assumed death than her sister has. You can't prove love by diminishing it elsewhere. The scene 100% needed all three girls doing everything in their power to save Yang, failing, and then continuing the fight while expressing the appropriate emotion for such a massive loss. Ruby can fly towards Yang and be pinned by Cinder. Weiss can start to summon and have an attack disrupts it. Ruby can scream and cry while she fights Neo. Again: that's her sister.

There's nothing about this scene that works for me and honestly? After Yang returns they better kiss. Or there better be an "I love you." Something canonical. There will never be a better, more obvious time for a confession than after Blake thinks she's lost Yang for good and if we don't get one... the ship has well and truly sunk. We're living in a post-Supernatural finale world. You can no longer take your one, implied to be queer main couple, toss one into this fantasy's version of super hell, give them a second chance together... and then leave things dangling. RWBY has to make them canon when Yang returns if they have any hope of maintaining a large portion of their queer fanbase.

As a final note on this scene, I don't like what it implies about both Blake and our lost civilians. Like Yang, (and like Penny last episode) this attack undermines the growth our characters have undergone. Yang learns not to attack out of emotion with her semblance... and then does just that. Penny learns that she's a person with an android body... and then gets a human body to make her perfect. Blake realizes that she isn't willing to kill people in this war anymore... and then goes after Neo with an intensity that implies she's ready to kill her. It's a detail that might have been meaningful if Blake's struggle had existed in more than a single line in a single scene. As it is, it just feels like they've forgotten — or are ignoring — another character beat they introduced. 

As for our civilians, will the show bring them back too? Look, I'm pleased Cinder blew them off the edge. I'm glad there were finally consequences for the kingdom-wide attack, even if none of have to come about from our main antagonist. But that impact was erased the second they threw Yang off the edge too. If they bring only her back, Team RWBY look like assholes who only care about their friends, not all the people they were charged with protecting (a recurring theme in this series). If they do bring the civilians back, we've lost that consequence. RWBY never should have tossed a title character into that void especially when, as said, everyone watching knows it's not a real consequence of this fight.

This was a terribly crafted scene, imo. If the only purpose here is to push the bees to confess, we could have gotten that after the whale. Yang was captured by Salem. That's more than enough danger to justify coming clean about feelings and the volume could have easily been reworked to make Blake aware of that danger, forcing her to stew in it until Yang returned, unharmed.

Instead we get this.

Also, I don't even want to get into the implications of having Yang disappear in a cloud of glittering gold dust like Pyrrha did. That's a world building rabbit hole RWBY really doesn't need.

So Yang is gone but obviously not gone. Blake is the only one impacted by this enough to react emotionally. Penny hears her scream and comes running, showing the viewer that absolutely nothing had changed despite getting an entirely new body. 

Cinder weirdly throws her voice — has she done that before? — to distract Penny and the fight continues, with Neo going after Ruby and Blake going after Neo. There's a moment where Blake realizes that Weiss is in trouble too, looking between her two teammates, unsure of who to help. 

I'm calling it now: Blake will be the third semblance upgrade, splitting herself into multiple fighters capable of functioning independently, rather than just shadow clones to take hits.

It would make as much sense as anything else.

Cinder at least is fighting smart, attacking the civilians rather than Weiss directly, then blowing her glass up in Weiss' face. She then manages to catch herself in the air, but, you know, couldn't do the same for Yang.

At the very least don't have Weiss using these abilities seconds later, c'mon.

We thankfully leave this nonsense for, well... more nonsense. Vine and Harriet get into a fight about what Clover would have wanted, which means nothing to the viewer because we didn't know Clover long enough to develop that sense for ourselves. I'm sorry, but following an order to peacefully bring Qrow in for questioning is not proof that he would have seen things through in the sense of blowing up Mantle, yet that's what we're supposed to believe based on Harriet's assertions and Vine's take that "perhaps Clover was wrong." I really hate that RWBY has taken to bashing the guy before he had the chance to actually do anything. Everyone is criticizing Clover based on lies or assumptions about what he might have done if, you know, he hadn't been murdered. Qrow blames Clover for defending himself, not his own choice to team up with Tyrian. Robyn asserts that Qrow is a better huntsmen than Clover, even though the one scene they had together was Robyn deciding to attack Clover because she didn't like him doing his job. Now Vine is like, "Yeah, Clover might have tried to blow up a kingdom needlessly, but maybe he was wrong and a bad person, you know?" I don't even like Clover that much, but the story has really gone out of its way to criticize him when he's obviously not around to prove, disprove, or otherwise defend himself. That’s messed up. 

The one good part about this scene is Harriet losing it, all her firm beliefs crumbling to reveal just an aching grief for losing Clover. Hark, is this humanity for the other Ace Ops I see? Some development and characterization? Vine reaching out sympathetically to comfort her because they've always been a team, no matter what Ruby might say about it?

Oh wait, no. They're interrupted by Robyn screaming as she slams her ship into theirs.

I think Robyn is, officially, my least favorite character in the series. Which isn't to say there aren't objectively worse characters than her — we saw one get blown up this episode — but no one has this particular combination of horrible acts, self-righteous attitude, and an absolute dearth of other positive qualities to distract from that. Robyn has brought nothing to the last two volumes except frustration and I can only hope she goes off to do her own thing when our finale is done.

Qrow goes feral, turning into a bird and changing at the last second to slam through Harriet's window. He taunts her about getting the fight she wanted and we see Watts hacking her ship while they're distracted.

Watts, I'm really loving the evil schemes, but don't you want to, uh... leave? Atlas is falling and you're one of maybe three people left on it. Best get a move on, chop, chop.

Those other two people are Winter and Ironwood, both of whom have come to the vault looking for Team RWBY. Ironwood lands a hit with his new gun, giving a short speech about how though he was always on the lookout for betrayal, he never expected it from her. He tells Winter to stand aside as his final order, to which she replies, “I’ve never wavered in fighting the enemies of this kingdom," preparing to fight.

I've explained the problems with Ironwood's downfall ad nauseam. I don't think that's needed again here. However, there are two final points I'd like to make.

Winter's characterization took a hit along with Ironwood's. Why didn't he think she'd ever betray him? Because they clearly cared for one another. The fact that Winter so quickly and easily gave up on Ironwood is a disservice to both of them. Even in the throes of being an emotionless killer, we still understand Ironwood's devastation at this betrayal: his shock when Winter attacked, his request that she step aside now, the single tear. 

There's nothing like that on her end. No denial that the man she faithfully followed would do this. No insistence that the man who helped her escape her abusive upbringing be reasoned with. Nothing. Winter dismisses Ironwood with the same callousness the narrative has.

Which brings me to my second point: this isn't hopeful. I know the Emerald lovers don't want me making comparisons, but the story has already done that for us. You can't give us an all out villain — someone responsible for countless deaths across the series, attacks on kingdoms, lying to our heroes, willingly working for the enemy  — and say that it's good to forgive her instantly, but it's not acceptable to even consider forgiving the man who has also killed, also threatened to attack a kingdom, was honest with our heroes, and always fought against the enemy. You can't give us an entire story about hope and forgiveness — Ruby reaching out to Raven, Weiss wanting to rescue Jacques, Oscar putting all his trust in Hazel — while saying that this character isn't worth compromising with. This character needs to be denounced to the whole world so there's no possibility of forgiveness. This character will commit horrific acts and his allies will immediately jump ship, but others? Their horrific acts are forgiven the moment you give them a way out. I'm supposed to believe that Yang, who knew Emerald only as the woman who attacked her school and has helped make their lives a living hell since then, will laugh with her within an hour, but Qrow, after years of being an ally and friend to Ironwood, is suddenly ready to murder him over an arrest he had no context for? That Ruby will try to make peace with every enemy she comes across, but not the guy who was the ally she betrayed? That Winter would extend more compassion to her abusive father than the man who helped her escape that? Ironwood's downfall isn't just horribly written, it messes with RWBY's core themes. Everyone deserves a second chance, is worth crying over, is worth reaching out to no matter how many horrible things they've done... except this guy here.

And when that guy is the PTSD riddled military vet who crumpled in large part because the heroes continually lied to, betrayed, and took extreme action rather than working to find a compromise... that's a really bad take. That shows a lot of bias on the part of RT. They're trying to write a story about the evils of the institution, but think they can reduce that to the evils of a single man driven to the brink. That doesn't send a teachable message to the audience and it certainly doesn't send a hopeful one. All it does is reiterate that if you rip away someone's support network when they're already falling they will, shockingly, fall harder.

Which brings us back to characters like Emerald. Because no, no one has to help Ironwood. When someone is hurting you and committing the crimes he has this volume, no one is required to extend a hand at their own, personal peril. But when the narrative is so heavily pushing forgiveness for other mass-murderers? When child torturers are extended a hand during the torture? That reframes everyone abandoning Ironwood into something unpalatable. Having Ironwood’s allies, friends, and really, family, so quickly toss him aside while other, equally bad people are welcomed in says that everyone struggling like him isn’t worth the effort. From a genre perspective, this isn’t a tragedy because the characters don’t care. No one is striving to bring Ironwood back from the brink. No one is crying over the man they lost. Hazel gets a moment of silence as Emerald kneels, stricken in the aftermath of his death, but one of the heroes since Volume 2 gets nothing but hateful looks from his second. 

But we all knew we'd end up here. My current theory? The portal should still be open at the vault. Winter will fight Ironwood, escape through it, and it will close right before he escapes too. He'll fall with Atlas and everyone will act as if it's some beautiful, poetic justice for him to perish with the city. 

Here’s hoping I’m very wrong! 

Finishing with Oscar's group, Ren's aura breaks after trying to mask everyone coming through the portal. Oscar realizes that Penny should have come through by now and runs back to find her, only to discover that the portal is closed on this side. Why? Because Weiss wished for a "one way trip to Vacuo." Not only is this another example of our heroes being stupid — they come up with this complicated wish that doesn't actually makes sense, but don't bother to be careful with their words like Ruby was when helping Penny? — but it also just... doesn't add up? How does Oscar know what Weiss wished for? How does Ozpin? (His one line in the episode.) They recall this together, the flashback acting like a memory, but neither of them were there. Neither was Ren. Neither was Emerald. They haven't spoken to the Relic group since separating.

It looks like RT still needs to edit their scripts.

As Oscar realizes they're trapped, the emotions of the group summons a huge number of grimm to the area. At this point, my only thought was why none of them had used the time Ren was buying them to try and find Vacuo. I mean, they're not the only fighters with semblances here. They have the Happy Huntresses too and, I would think, the Atlas students (unless the army was abandoned like Pietro and Maria were. Where are Neon and Flynt?) There's no one in this huge crowed with an ability that might make scouting ahead a little safer? No one is even going to try and figure some plan out? Everyone on these teams is too passive. They encounter a problem — where's the city? — and instead of trying to solve it while they can, while they’re in a good position to, they wait around until the situation becomes unimaginably worse and they have to figure something out or risk dying. Now, the people are being carried off by grimm, they know something has gone wrong on the pathways, and Ren is about to enter another fight without his aura. Let's hope he doesn't take a hit like Yang.

Summary of "Worthy"? Excellent villains, terrible heroes. It's better than what we've gotten in a while, but choices like Yang's fall ensures it's still not good. Given the trajectory of the volume, it was inevitable that we would end up here: moments that look significant at first glance, but are (quite likely) no more than window dressing in the long run.

Finally, bingo is rather boring this week. Unsurprising, considering we're almost out of space. I'm keeping our "Army of grimm conveniently doesn't kill any civilians" square checked because the point there was for Salem to kill people, not for the group to lead the refuges into a grimm infested desert. We'll have to see how many people they lose though and whether Atlas "somehow survives." Here, like Robyn, I'm talking about the citizens, not the now clearly doomed hunk of land. At this point, Oscar doesn’t seem to at all care about his near death experience, but I'll hold off on that square until we're truly done, and there's still a near certain possibility that Ironwood will die, with a likely possibility that Qrow grabs a bottle when first given the chance. What RWBY has avoided though is a Jacques-Watts team up 2.0. Considering, you know, Jacques is dead.

Gold star for not doing the expected, iffy thing, RWBY.

That's the square I would have least minded seeing though 😬

Anyway, finale next Saturday, folks! What insanity will the end bring? Only time will tell. But I can't wait to see what state the fandom will be left in for hiatus!

Until then 💜

[rubyleo-vibes]

The entire weekend

Chris Evans naughty mood lives rent free in my mind

So my hormones have been really crazy lately and when I’m about to write something naughty my mood changes drastically and have the feeling to write something angsty and before the first idea dies, here we go. I hope you like it. Enjoy my beautiful gems

word count: 1,894

warning: +18, smut, dirty talk, body fluids, slight dom vibes? 

________

“You okay doll?” I heard Chris’s deep voice, trying to catch my breath I feel his hand caressing my tummy, “i think I’m ruined and you?” I giggled I turned my head to see his darken baby blue eyes- “same here and we haven’t even doing that much but we already close to real thing...”he kissed my shoulder -“... I promise doll” and he gave me a smirk and kissing my lips slowly and passionately, one of his hand placed on my cheek and the other exploring my upper body.

We were laying in bed, our clothes abandoned all around his bedroom, damp sheets underneath and our sweaty bodies screaming for attention. I mean when this man told me that he wasn’t planned to letting me go the entire weekend and today was about teasing each other, lots of foreplay and coming until he say so, wasn’t even kidding, why? Because he wants to please his shiny gemstone and he knows how much i love the whole foreplay stuff, so his plans for the weekend was to tangle our bodies and his excuses were “we need lots of foreplay to make us ready for all the sweet dirty things that I planned to do with you this weekend, and I know that you are an expert on the job doll and so am I”, and that was four hours ago, so many kisses here and there, touches all over our bodies, teasing each other unlit we were cried and just saying “ do it, wanna see you”.Patient is a virtue...so building the tension and the desire for our taste, our sounds and the owners of a sweet frustrated release was a freaking honor and a reward for our egos . One day we talked about how long we could push the foreplay and Chris took to serious that conversation, cause today he put in table a lead time for both of us.

He said “just foreplay” “teasing you and teasing me”, our cries rumbling the walls, the room feels like summer even though was the middle of winter. It wasn’t a punishment,no, it was a pure pleasure, you know just fun games. Four hours of sweet foreplay, he was the one in charge to allow us to come as hard as we want, yes he decides when he wanted to come and when I was allowed to do it, nothing mean or cruel, as like said just funny games.

Pure lust in our eyes, the only rule we agreed for that night was that we can’t connect our bodies the way we always do, so he can’t be my plug until the clock says is midnight. Yes call us crazy but this game was pretty fun to play. The time says it was another hour ahead to feel the real and sweet electricity we make when our bodies are properly connected. How the heck we aren’t fucking each other, don’t know, but we are two strong and stubborn humans who wanted to push the limits and prove that we have the virtue of being patient.

“Come on doll I know you can give us another hour of that sweet teasing,” Chris said while he was getting up to change his position, spreading my legs and make space for him, once between them his stare admiring my shiny heated body, his hands massaging my thighs. And here we go again... what are we doing now? , cause we touched, talked dirty, played, lots of fun and every time is hotter and the insatiable feeling gets worse than before.

I laughed by his words and he just frowned-“prove me if you want... you know I can, but you? You look like you are about to break your own word”- I said with a bratty tone, but he just laughed and said “ oh pretty girl, you know I can keep my dick this last minutes out of your warms walls, you’re so strong and patient, so good for me” while he lean to kiss my cleavage and the top of my breast, I wimped feeling his lips on me and his talking dirty game coming in my ears, I couldn’t help and my body shove, he giggled- “and so responsive too, can’t wait to make you mine, if I was you I’ll enjoy this last time of teasing cause they won’t be able to appear the rest of the weekend”, the bastard played pretty good, he finished saying kissing my earlobe and his warm breathtaking mine away. But he was right, I need to enjoy this little game, and two can play.

I arched my back, brushing my nipples against his tattooed hard chest I feel his heavy cock twitching against my thighs, his entire body tensed by the way I played too- “you know...” I started my next move, while I began touching his grown biceps, his new training for that new role was hitting different levels and he knows that, -“...i can be as good as you want...”- he was now looking me in my eyes, so desperate and anger-“... My body can respond to you anytime you want to... but remember that you’re at the same place too... Remember that I can make you hard faster than the velocity of the light...”- I said brushing our lips and his lips slightly apart.

“You made things to me pretty girl, I can’t deny you that..and”- he stopped a second to give me a quick kiss and continue-“remember I’m yours..”- I gasped and replayed-“you’re mine, you’re my man”- I kissed him quickly and he continues his speech-“ exactly... and you’re mine, my beautiful Ruby, so beautiful and unique, all mine baby..” I moan before our lips started a battle that he won. Catching our breaths after a short but heated kiss I said-“ all yours...” my eyes closed trying to bring more words, I felt how his heat moved away from me, kneeling again between my legs.

“11:11 doll, make a wish, I’m already asking mine,” Chris said while he checked the clock on his nightstand, bringing my attention to him I bite my lip watching him stroking softly his cock while his turn his eyes to me again, a cheeky smile on his face waiting for my response-“did you made it pretty girl?”- I nodded-“oh yeah?”- he pumped his length harder and I raised my hips for attention, he just lets a small laugh out “oh I can tell we asked for the same thing... but we have a deal pretty girl, why don’t you tell me what was you wish, mmh?” His voice sounded so deep and harsh, I was losing my mind, but I have to continue my game too, but any freaking word has the courage to let out my mouth.

“What happened doll?, I thought you were talkative, you’re the teasing queen”- he said and my eyes couldn’t leave his big hard cock, and swallow again my words, he was enjoying this and obviously took vantage of it -“oh... you want this pretty girl mmmh?”- he brings close his cock to my wetness -“you want my cock isn’t huh?, yeah i know, i’m so hard for you, so hard that hurts petty girl, you want to know what was my wish mmmh?”-  i took a deep breath and bring myself together again and anxious to hear his answer i whispered- “what was your wish?”- he smiles wide-” there she is, I was missing your voice doll...”- he chuckled and before he continues, he began to rub his hard against my puffy lips, we immediately moan at the feeling of our aching skin- “... my wish was this... your beautiful pussy, shit! i want it so bad, i want it to feel you around me, but we need to be patient isn’t pretty girl?”-

He grunts while he rubbed harder against me, coating him with my juices, both breathing heavily every second, I began to make a circular motion trying to feel him further than what he was doing, but Chris stopped me, he pressed harsh my hips against the bed, on oh his hands on my hip preventing to move and the other playing with my clit and grabbing his cock and slapping my pussy with his hardness, making me moan and letting a puddle under me, he moaned even louder by the pleasant feeling of my greedy cunt, we both were counting the seconds to feel us connected. 

-”yes pretty girl keep going with those pretty noises  you’re  making, i love hearing  you, fuuuu-cckk baby girl  i love how your pretty pussy sounds, so wet for me, she looks so pretty with my cock rubbing her, shhiiiit baby, can’t wait to be inside you..”- i was playing with my tits, my walls were clenching around nothing, his dirty talk excited me, I always do, but this time he was losing control, the veins on his necks stood out from the effort of not burying himself in me, his arms have marked the triple all he screamed a high level of eroticism, we continued like this for several minutes, talking dirty and rubbing our sexes without penetrating, saying what we would do to each other once they want twelve o'clock, his cock shining with my juices looked so appetizing. His painful red tip plaything dangerous at my entrance, but never getting inside.

-”fuuu-cckk Chr-Chrisss! i’m so close, please!”- i cried out loud, a burning feeling inside me screaming to see the light, Chris groan i felt how his cock twicht and i knew he was close too,- “aaaahhhg yeah! mmmmmh yeah pretty girl? are you gonna come for me?, yeah you are, i can't  wait to feel that pretty tight pussy squeezing me and coming around me...”- he rubbed faster-”... come on pretty girl, come for me, i’m right behind you, i’m gonna come so hard, where do you want it baby mmmh?, i think I’m gonna come right here, close to your pussy, yeah! gonna make her look even pretty”- at this point we were both lost, everything was so hot, i scream when I felt his tip rubbing harder my dripping pearl, and just like that let my release come out by the body, I was shaking, Chris didn’t let me close my legs, he rubbed faster and with a loud moan he painted my cunt with his white warm seed.

He let himself fall on me trying not to hurt me, with a spleen he supported the two of them breathing heavily, made a mess, his warm breath on my neck and his moans turned me on even more, I hugged him by the neck. He kept playing with his cock in my pussy and expanding his seed in me, something sounded at the back, the clock updating us by the time and from one moment to the next I felt how he collected his disaster and without warning, he buried himself in me , I felt how he stretched my walls, we let out a cry of pleasure, Chris kissed my neck and said- ”fucking finally, is midnight and we have the entire weekend to fuck as much as we want and there'll be no fucking foreplay, did you get it pretty girl ?, no more funny games ”- i cried and just nodded in response.

------

Ruby’s note 

ammm okay! i need a moment, please don’t touch me, i need a cold shower know. 

Let me know what did you think 

show me your love

say yes to reblog 

love you all

[tuffduff]

‘Til Death and Beyond (Slash x Reader)

Pairing: Slash x Reader

Words: 1,965

Request: anon! “Hi luv ! I was wondering if I could request an imagine with slash and the reader at their wedding reception. Just them being all cute and married together.”

A/N: Imagine all the boys giving speeches at your wedding...amazing. A sickly sweet and gushy wedding fic for you on this Sunday. Enjoy, my loves!

Taglist: @ubernoxa​ @the--blackdahlia​ @reigns420​ @stradlin-cold-heartbreaker​ @rumoured-whispers​ @dustnbones​

“Oh, shit, Y/N.” Slash said under his breath to you as he reached out to lock your hand securely in his. “I don’t know how to dance.” He placed his other hand on your waist and you placed your free hand on his shoulder.

“Babe, it’s just a slow dance. We don’t have to break out a waltz or anything.” You reassured him affectionately as you swayed for your first dance, your long ball gown grazing against the floor.

“Can you imagine?” He chuckled. You took in the sight of him, still in leather pants, except they were nice leather pants. He had long ditched his tuxedo jacket and had his white button up unbuttoned—always unorthodox and free-spirited was your husband. Husband, you thought again, mulling over the word in your mind and feeling a wave of love. Suddenly, he grinned at you and brushed his fingers against your cheek.

“What, is there something wrong?” You asked anxiously; there were a lot of people watching. The last thing you wanted was something on your face or something amiss.

“No! You just look so fucking beautiful.”

Lenny Kravitz, Slash’s longtime friend, was singing “May This Be Love” by Jimi Hendrix and strumming guitar softly. You rested your head on Slash’s shoulder, getting teleported back to all the times you had listened to this song together. One of your first dates, curled together on his bed half-dressed, his lips lazily leaving kisses on your head. Whenever he was playing guitar and noticed you were listening, it was the song he would transition to. He would even sing for you, but only you.

There were moments often where you felt like you needed to pinch yourself. When you went out together and Slash was recognized and got swarmed by adoring fans. When you listened to Guns N’ Roses songs and the guitar solos hit and you were reminded the man playing them loved you. And then the private moments, your most cherished, when he would make sure you were fully covered by the blankets, those moments of love that reminded you just how lucky you really were.

You and Slash were soon seated right in the center of your reception area—a ritzy LA hotel reception area with shiny oak, warm candelabra lighting, grand stone columns and marble floors. Almost immediately, you jumped at the sound of Duff hitting his glass with a knife too loudly.

“Oops,” he muttered in amusement, before loudly continuing. “Hello, everybody, can I have a moment?” He was Slash’s best man; therefore, he would be starting off the speeches. You felt yourself grow apprehensive and almost nervous; it appeared Duff had indulged in cocktail hour. You just prayed he wasn’t too far gone yet as he turned his gaze to you and Slash fondly.

“I just wanna say, to the bride and groom, I’m so fucking happy for you two.” You pressed a smile, hoping your older relatives didn’t mind his language. Slash laughed good-naturedly. “No, seriously. I’ve been rooting for you guys...since the very beginning—Slash, man, don’t you remember? I see you nodding—don’t get embarrassed! Okay,” Duff turned to his audience excitedly, now armed with a story. “So, I remember—way back when—it was at one of our gigs at the Troubadour, or maybe it was the Whiskey. Anyways, we were about to start ‘Sweet Child’ and I had already noticed Slash was almost avoiding one side of the stage. He’s almost been playing the whole gig with his back turned to the crowd or kinda like, sideways. It was weird. Anyways, we’re about to start ‘Sweet Child’ and Slash keeps messing up.” You giggled and the rest of your audience laughed; you remembered this story very well.

Slash was now ducking his head in embarrassment, holding your hand in his tighter. “We had to restart like three times. Axl was furious, Izzy and I were just like ‘what is going on?’ It wasn’t until later I found out Slash had seen Y/N for the first time standing in crowd up front at this show.” You heard a wave of aww rise up from the crowd, and warm smiles in your direction.  “He was so intimidated and nervous by her that he wouldn’t even go to that side of the stage, and he psyched himself out and everything. Anyways, I guess it all worked out, didn’t it?” Duff grinned, raising his glass. “I love you both, congrats!”

Steven stood up next enthusiastically, practically bouncing. “Slash, Y/N, you did it! Finally hitched, finally. It’s like Duff was saying, I was rooting for you both since the beginning. Have any of you guys ever noticed the difference between Slash when he’s with Y/N and when he’s not?” Some of the crowd chuckled, some were even nodding. “I’m serious! There’s a difference! And I’ve known this guy for a while. When he’s not, I mean he’s still Slash, but when she’s around it’s like the sun is shining, the angels are singing—he’s happier! And I like it when you’re around too, Y/N. I love you two! Good job!” Steven grinned, blowing you kisses. Your heart melted at his loving praise.

Axl stood next, calm and cool, one hand in his pocket. “I knew this was serious back...I guess it was a few years ago, I don’t remember when. Slash hates conflict. There was a fight, not a fight just a disagreement, between you two. Slash came storming into the studio and he was pretty upset, just withdrawn and occupied. I brushed it off as like a typical girl problem, I even told myself what does it matter anyways, it’s not a serious thing. You came then, busting into the studio with all five of us staring. Slash just lit up and you, Y/N—I’ll never forget this. You glared at Slash and said ‘I want this to work and I love you. Nothing is ever going to be greater than that and I don’t want to ever run away and not talk things through. You can keep the snakes.’” The crowd laughed, you and Slash laughed too—you had forgotten about this. “I was like ‘really? All of this over snakes?’ But that’s important to Slash, which therefore was important to you, Y/N. And I knew it was serious and right, because you’d never have an issue compromising for each other. And that’s something special.”

Izzy kept it short, smiling lightly and keeping his head down as he talked. “I can honestly just say I’ve never seen Slash happier than when he’s on the road reading a letter Y/N wrote him. I’ve even seen him drawing pictures of her, like a high school kid drawing pictures in his notebook, in his own little world. And Y/N, we’ve all come to love her too. This whole band owes a lot to her, and I couldn’t be happier for you both.”

All of those words were enough to make you feel complete, until you felt Slash stand up. You watched him, stunned; you both had agreed you weren’t going to make speeches since the thought of it made you both nervous. He glanced down at you and laughed as if knew exactly what you were thinking.

“Um, I know we both said we wouldn’t make a speech or anything, but...I had to.” He said. You knew he was nervous from the sheepish smile on his face and the way he kept running his hands through his hair and shifting his weight. Even his voice, which was slightly shaky. “I never had the slightest clue about what love was, until you. I wouldn’t be me now if it weren’t for the way you’ve loved me all this time. Not to get too sappy or anything, but there are times when it gets hard on the road and the thought of you is what keeps me going, you know? And it bugs me sometimes when people ask you what it’s like to be with a rock star. I’m just me, and that’s all you’ve ever needed. You’ve always treated me like that, like I’m just me. And really, it’s you that rocks my world.” He couldn’t keep from laughing through his words. You were crying and laughing and jumped to your feet as the crowd clapped and cheered and whistled.

“I love you!” You cried, throwing your arms around his neck. He held you tight, picking you up off your feet for a moment.

“I love you more, Mrs. Hudson.” He pulled back, a lopsided grin on his face. “That sounds kinda funny, doesn’t it?”

“No! Funny?” You asked, laughing and hitting his arm as he laughed too. “I love the way it sounds.”

The night went on with the dinner being served and guests coming over to congratulate you both. You got a dance with each of the guys and Slash danced a number of times with your mom and his own mother.

When it was time to throw your bouquet, your best friend caught it. The guys were much more excited to watch Slash retrieve your garter—if only for the chance to try and embarrass Slash.

He had a wobbly smile on his face as he got down to knees to a loud yell from Duff and a whistle from Axl. “Alright, here I go,” he laughed to you before he lifted your large skirt and stuck his head underneath.

“Hey, where’s the fun in that?” Axl booed. You felt Slash kiss up your leg from the privacy of underneath your dress and couldn’t help but blush as you tried to not make eye contact with his parents. His breath on your leg going higher and higher had you struggling not to squirm in your seat and you knew from the smirks of your friends they must have known too. Finally, Slash reappeared, holding your garter in between his teeth to raucous cheering. He tossed it into the crowd, where it landed on top of Izzy’s hat. He immediately began blushing with embarrassment at the attention the garter was garnering. You were just glad the attention was away from you.

Soon, it was time to cut the cake. It was a large tiered cake adorned in beautiful ruby red roses and intricate icing designs almost made to imitate a lace material. Slash didn’t trust himself to be the one to cut into the cake, so you did it with his hand holding yours. Obediently, you cut two pieces for yourselves and ate the first bite, giggling at each other and feeling silly. Slash’s eyes flashed at you and darted next to him to where Duff stood at his side. You glanced next to you, where Steven was smiling. Reading each other’s minds, you both slammed your pieces of cake respectively into his band mates’ faces. Slash couldn’t reach Duff’s face, so most of the cake ended up on his collar and tie. Steven’s shocked face staring back at you made you laugh, but he merely wiped the cake off his face with his finger and licked the icing, laughing too.

Duff took the pieces of fallen cake and tried to get Izzy, who smartly ducked to the back of the crowd. Slash had somehow ended up with cake on his face and you laughed to yourself, pulling him by the collar of his shirt towards you to kiss. You could taste the sweet icing on his lips and smiled into the kiss; he had his hands out in the air to avoid getting cake on your dress.

“I love you,” he told you as he pulled away, still laughing at Duff and Steven trying to rid themselves of cake. You smiled, wrapping your arm around his waist.

“And I love you.”