#I blame the French for changing the English language and making it weird

[kay9leo]

If this ain't me 😭

IT'S HARD TO PRONOUNCE A WORD YOU NEVER HEARD BEFORE AND ENGLISH IS WIERD ENOUGH AS IT WITH DIFFERENT RULES TO PROUNCE THINGS!

(Reasons why I like Spanish at times over English 🤣🤣🤣)

[masivechaos]

WHAT DOES IT MEAN?

sirius black x fem! reader

Request: yes / no

Synopsis: Sirius likes to tease you by speaking french but maybe he’s more easily flustered than you are.

Warning/content: kissing and that's it i think, no proofreading and my bad English

a.n.: 1.1k words - it is very funny but cringe to write as a french person and it's not my best fic but here you go.

masterlist/ marauders masterlist / navigation / taglist 

── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ.─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ.───･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ.──

There were pros and cons to dating Sirius Black. A lot of pros actually, he was distracting, pointed stars at you at night, showered you with compliments every day and so on and so forth. And, at first, you thought that the fact that he knew how to speak french was a good thing.

It’s true, it sounded good and it made you fall in love with him again every time he spoke. But right now, you just wanted him to stop. Because one of the cons to dating Sirius Black was that he loved to tease you. He loved to see you look down, avoid any visual contact with him with wide eyes.

And one way to get you was to speak french to you over and over again with words you couldn’t understand. By the tone of his voice you knew they were compliments but it still made you feel weird.

“Stop,” you said but your laugh betrayed you.

“Why would I stop?” Sirius was maybe a dog in his animagus form but as a human he also knew how to master the puppy face “Tu es si belle.” He was hovering over you, his hand stroking your cheek.

You felt heat rushing to your face. “W-what does it mean?” you stuttered. Sirius let out a chuckle, finding you more than adorable like this.

He let his forehead rest against yours “You don’t need to know. Just trust me, okay?” you nodded, unsure if you could believe him or not. Sirius leaned in and pulled you into a small kiss “Do you like it when I speak french?” you nodded again, too shy to admit it out loud. “That’s great because I like it too.”

Your smile widened when he buried his head in the crook of his neck. For a few minutes, both of you didn’t talk before Sirius broke the silence again “You are so pretty”

“What?” you said confused.

“That’s what Tu es si belle means,” he said, changing his previous teasing smirk for a genuine smile that matched his now pink cheeks.

“O-oh” why so little was enough to make you flustered?

Sirius laughed “Why are you acting like I never said it before?” he reached for your hand, intertwining his fingers with yours. “If you need to hear it again, tu es belle. Je pense que tu es la personne la plus magnifique du monde” 

You gave up on trying to understand what he meant and just enjoyed how the language tasted on his tongue, letting his words calm your ears. “Thank you,” you whispered, shutting your eyes, feeling sleep starting to get you.

“You don’t know what I said,” he laughed. Sirius moved both of you so you were the one on top, wrapping his arms around your waist as you settled on his chest, your head rising and falling with his breathing.

You hummed, “I know. But I bet it’s nice so thank you.” you smiled, drawing your hand to his hair, slowly brushing your fingers through it. Sirius let out a content sigh, he had to admit that talking to you in french was a way to spare his pride. Everybody knew he wasn’t the best to express his feelings so having a one-sided conversation weirdly made him feel safe. He could say everything he wanted, getting everything off his chest, making his heart lighter without having to face the consequences. It was selfish he knew it, but he couldn’t help it.

“Je t’aime tellement,” he said barely more audible than a whisper.

Suddenly you lifted your head, surprising Sirius in the process “You love me?” Sirius didn’t tell you the three words yet, and you couldn’t blame him, you weren’t together for a long time and he grew up not knowing what love and affection were. Accepting he was loved was already hard enough so accepting that he was feeling this way was more than difficult.

Blood won Sirius’ cheeks, turning them red “H-how do you know?”

“I know je t’aime means I love you. It’s a pretty common thing to know.” You watched his expression fall, almost as if he was disappointed. “Hey,” you held his face between your hands “I love you too okay? Je t’aime” you said in a hideous french accent that resulted in making him laugh.

“Don’t make fun of me!” you said with a laugh, happy to see him happy again “I was trying to be romantic!”

“You can be romantic in English, chérie”

“Pff while you, you are flexing your french.” you rolled your eyes playfully.

He laughed at your fake pout “C’mon, don’t sulk” he pressed his lips to your cheek “I just think it sounds pretty. Tu es l’amour de ma vie, I have to sound pretty to you”

“First, what does it mean? And second, even if you sounded like a dying horse I would love you so much.” You grinned when Sirius flushed a bit.

He hid his red cheeks, moving his face to the side against the blanket, his hand covering the other side of his face.

“Why are you hiding?” you whispered, the teasing tone of the conversation changing for a calmer one, ready to listen to each other’s feelings. “Sirius?” you turned his head to you.

“I-I don’t want to tell you what it means,” he stutters.

You offered him a reassuring smile “Okay, take your time, love”

He was so grateful to have you and he knew you deserved to know but he didn’t seem to be brave enough. He let himself a few minutes, gathering all his courage to tell you. He felt like it was too early in the relationship to tell you this but fuck it. He loves you so much.

“Um,” he swallowed hard, “I said… I said you’re the love of my life” Sirius wished he could dig a grave right now and just bury himself alive. Your silence was so scary to him.

“Y-you said I’m the love of your life?” you were beaming, not quite possibly believing what he just told you.

“I- er- yeah”

You wrapped your arms around his neck, keeping him close to you as much as possible “You’re the love of my life too, Sirius”

And there, right on a picnic blanket next to the Black Lake, Sirius melt. His feelings for you burned him, making him weak in a way he couldn’t deny he loved. But he couldn’t help it, he wasn’t going to change in one day, too many confessions were revealed in an hour. He had to protect himself, and humour was his best weapon.

“But would you still love me if I were a worm?” he said, pulling on his best puppy face.

“Sirius!”

── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ.─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ.───･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ.──

⋆ ★ sirius back taglist: @ell0ra-br3kk3r @sw34terw34ther @cauliflowertree @madison-rebel @moonlitmeeks @loveeharrington @mad-elia @elenatries2write @juneberrie  @f4iry-blush @gilmore-angel @heartfucks @sparklenarniawizard @moondemon123 @mystic-writings @siriusblackstwin @natashxromanovf @goodoldfashionedluvergirl @garfieldsladybird @starconfettii @kidcuisinesvcks @percy-the-hufflepuff @fairydxll @spookydarkwitch @duxpuella @innerloverpainter @nyxxxxxxxx @venussflytraps @diorgirl444 @oncasette @locke-writes

[thatdeadaquarius]

Omg

Hey

Hey!

HEY!!

WHAT ABOUT GOD READER THAT GOT A CURSE PLACED ON THEM BY SOMEONE THEY DON'T LIKE

That curse makes them turn to random ages like,, one day you wake up and your like 3 and the other you're 29 and the acolytes just have to deal with it for a months (and just for funziz you don't keep your memories as a kid *evil laugh*)

I feel like people who are generally around kids would be great around us and some others .... Less so (*cough cough* ei)

AND EVEN BETTER

WHAT IF ENGLISH ISN'T OUR FIRST LANGUAGE AND IT SUMTGING LIKE FRENCH OR SPANISH, AND THE ACOLYTES ARE ALL OVER THE PLACE TEYING TO TALK TO YOU WHILE 14 YEAR OLD READER IS CURLED UP IN A BALL CUS THEY'RE SCARED LSKFJGJDLSK

let the tennage/ kid reader be neurodivergent/autistic (cuz i am and theres bot enough rep on this god forsaken app .·´¯`(>▂<)´¯`·.)

n E wayss <3

LOVE YA !!!!

Aka. your fave >:D kiss kiss

A KISS KISS??!!! FOR ME?!!! 😊🥰😚 <3

BRO i literally designed a whole original character around that concept lmao (except they remember/just body change/everything else kinda matches ur desc! :0 )

☆

Sun: Gender Neutral Reader (they/them only), Neurodivergent!Reader, Child!Reader, Teen!Reader

Planet: Language Shenanigans, Platonic

Orbit: Headcanons-ish, mini scenarios

Stars: Arataki Itto, Kuki Shinobu, ft. Kujou Sara, Ei + Raiden Shogun, Inazumans

Comets & Meteors: No Content Warnings & No Triggers Detected.

no bc gif is me as a kid, bc I didn't experience snow until I was 12 💀 +it stayed for like one day, was 1 inch deep, or like 5 cm (for my non-americans out there), and was gone the next lmao- I was terrified when I moved and got REAL snowy days- jfc Snezhnaya would kill little me-

SO I was kinda stuck on this tbh, i usually default to like, headcanons or scenarios if ppl dont specify/im just adding onto what you already said like when its not even really a request u know?

so, uh tried to do headcanons, but idk how good it is Orah, sorry!

Also ik you mentioned as example, but we sticking to Inazuma, bc i feel like I neglect them lol

also i hope u like Itto 💀

♤

you quickly found out that magic obeys some weird type of logic despite being magic, so you only ever fluctuate in age within the range you’ve already been,

ur kinda glad youre not seeing what you look like at 100 years old and getting stuck that way for weeks- only Sophie from Howl’s Moving Castle can be cursed to be old yet has so much rizz that she’s still badass and pulls a wizard boyfriend LMAO

so just bc idk what to make the max,

let’s put you at originally, also bc im not a minor, 20 yrs old

so what I mean by all the above is: you’ve lived 2 decades, 1-20 are the only ages you can be

-that being said,

you’re a menace.

so yeah you could’ve been a quiet kid, a well-behaved kid, a good kid even,

…but not in a magical world full of awesome flora and fauna, and magical creatures,

and gods, and vision users and-

you get the point.

plus, you hadn’t really learned English yet until u were a bit older so (who can blame you i hate this language ur so valid)

and for whatever reason English is the only one these guys speak, besides maybe some mythical creatures like the aranara or something

so its kinda absolute chaos trying to reign u in at times.

so needless to say the entirety of Inazuma is terrified for you.

like, even if you aren’t the “Creator” per say in this, they still know what the warmth of your power feels like

But more importantly-

You know who’s the first to spot a random wandering-non-Inazuman-child? And take you in? Especially one that radiates that same energy of presence they feel sometimes + makes them more powerful???

The Amazing, the All-Powerful, Awe-Inspiring Oni: Arataki Itto!

Not even his gang, or Kuki are the first to see you, nah it’s Itto himself,

he literally finds 12 yr old you just sneaking around in awe in Chinju Forest,

and needless to say ur pretty fascinated with the colors and the vibes, and it’s not like Genshin Impact existed when u were this young, ur poor younger self is just rlly paranoidly looking around

Itto is kinda a lot at first, and he was a little confused by ur constant rubbing your arms, or tapping ur fingers on stuff, (or all the stims u be doing when ur nervous) but he just took it all in stride

so Itto, after like an hour and a few well placed rocks at his face and groin by 12 yr old u who was ready to fight to the death at first, FINALLY convinced you by drawing a little picture of his house and his friends

and all that clear effort, despite the foreign world, foreign non-human guy, etc., made you warm up to him too, afterall, even 12 yr old you knew a himbo when they saw one 💪

at first he just thought you were another person who was getting powered up by that yokai he felt (he was convinced thats what you were when u weren’t physically here before, like some kind of powerful gift giving/deal making yokai)

but after he saw you shapeshift the next morning into 16 yr old you, (he lives with his grandma so ur younger self felt pretty safe staying with a himbo guy and an little grandma lady)

he was now more convinced than ever-

that you were some kind of god that’s been in hiding since the archon war (his granny has a lot of cool stories so what?! hes a very educated oni thank you very much!),

rather than a vision user, and he also thinks u being random ages is deffo a curse, and its to��keep ur powerfulness limited!! - Arataki Itto, 202X

(bc younger u doesnt remember that u can upgrade ppl, or at least it takes em a learning curve bc they gotta relearn everytime)

okay but itd be so funny tho if nobody else believes that (esp the non-magical folk), bc to them, ur just like, a bunch of siblings (child, teen, adult you lmao) or a tanuki lol

he eventually gets Kuki to believe, after she also sees how you change/the aura is honestly more powerful too once she’s paying attention, like instead of like a blanket, ur like standing in front of a raging campfire

but she makes him keep it a secret

ur really vulnerable a lot of the time, so they’re both worried abt keeping u happy and safe, aw cuties <3

◇

so yeah, ur literally just chillin with the arataki gang all the time now

the gang become ur besties no matter the age, like they love mild pranks, and general chaos, u wanna explore no matter the age, and also love chaos, esp since it can be magical now (oh child you is having the time of their life when they’re around)

its literally a match made in heaven

plus the more hands on deck, the easier it is to keep ur ass from running off as a kid (and an adult, bc omg a shiny?? a shiny crystal fly???!! lmao neurodivergent 🤝crow/raven = shiny solidarity)

honestly Itto has a blast with all versions of you, and he’s literally the best bc he’s a himbo:

so he’s fine with answering context or “obvious” questions all the time LMAO

and if he makes any conclusions abt ppl’s behavior u dont, he’ll explain pretty quick and simple and he never sees it as awkward or smth

its honestly kinda funny bc ur like 10, and just 🤨🤨🤨??? sometimes at ppl (u got better at reading ppl as u got older obv, and at english too, that doesnt help lol)

he’s super sweet abt it, just really quick which is great too,

“he’s irritated at the guard, not us!”

or “she’s relieved, not upset, don’t worry it’s all good!”

like, u never misunderstand ANYBODY with this Oni around!! <3

(this is mainly bc Itto’s gotta know when to bail, joke, stand his ground, etc. from experience, and messing w/Kujou Sara so he’s actually really good at reading people, only when he’s paying attention tho)

◇

so younger u just feels safe around Itto, and so while u do get taught english (mostly by his grandma/Kuki) u also dont rlly mask,

nor do u know how to mask as well as you do in the future

so ur just running around with the gang, living ur little neurodivergent life, and anytime someone points out smth u do that might be awkward, like repeating something over and over as a stim (esp with learning english phrases/new words at times) the gang and Itto, and Kuki, are all ready to protect 💪

but most of the time what happens is- whether unintentionally or not, Itto manages to make THEM feel awkward or like they’re the ones doing something socially weird all the time 😭

just, a parent is like “this kid can’t speak English, do they even know any other language? Because all I keep hearing is them repeating that sound over and over…”

Itto: “Damn you're right they do that a lot, just like how you peek out your window a lot, but we all got our quirks man, no need to be shy about it, the kid isn’t, so just open those curtains, and that window and look out at the world!”

which announces to the whole neighborhood, bc Itto is only ever not loud when you tap his arm as a signal, that the parent is the nosiest bitch ever, he just puts them on blast for everyone to hear lmao

◇

Itto is actually very respectful about you, and while it would, almost be easy bc of the age switching, for him to infantilize you, he’s really good at treating you like an equal no matter how old you are :0 :D

like a giant teddy bear older brother at times, and the guys and Kuki are all pretty good at it too

(tho dw, Kuki is doing all the emotional distress heavy lifting for all of them over your safety, esp bc when u switch at first u are VERY out of your element/disoriented bc u dont always recognize Teyvat/know less English)

but that being said…

Itto fucking loves your excited/happy stims!!!

You flap your hands? Ittos flapping his arms!

You jump up and down, Itto jumps!,

…with his full grown man self with MUSCLES, and causes a mini earthquake wherever you guys are- yknow a shop, the center of town, somebody’s house, near one of the guards 💀 (which always manages to knock them flat on their ass LMFAOO)

Or best of all, you do little stompy stomps??

ITTO DOES HIS STOMPS WITH YOU, like his idle animation does??? :D !!

DUDE- (/gen.n.)

u were like 8 at the time, and saw Kujou Sara for the first time, she’s looking all badass, mostly bc Itto pranked her and she’s power-walking toward u guys pissed as hell ready to arrest him, but u love it anyway bc shes so cool, and right as Sara gets to u two-

u start doing stompy stomps! And Itto joins!!

…and she’s shocked at first, but realizing how giggly and happy u two are, and then Itto explains its bc of her???

Kujou Sara lets Arataki Itto go, for the first time, ever.

she doesnt explain, but she literally was so melted by cuteness, and a warm familiarity??, by u two she couldnt be mad anymore lmao

Itto is now legally obligated to bring you to any and all matters involving the government, regardless of age, according to Kuki Shinobu, his grandma, and himself

all for different reasons tho, Itto’s like, “My lucky charm! My bestie goes everywhere with me!”

meanwhile Kuki/grandma: “A foreign non-Teyvatian speaking child/teen at times is more adept at keeping Itto in line than anyone else, or at least getting him out of the consequences 💀”

♧

Bonus:

The first time you see the Raiden Shogun,

She scares the shit out of 6 yr old you 😭

And she recognizes that familiar aura immediately, so shes just like:

😶😦😰

(You warm up to her after she offers to show you how she can summon lightning, Itto helped her lmao, and Ei also came out to keep u safe bc Raiden is a little… unaware… at times, of mortal limits, and now that ur in a mortal body-)

Also both of them unanimously agree to be the sugar mother to all ur hyperfixation foods/safe foods ever, SCOREEEE

◇

Bonus 2:

*KUKI WOULD LIKE THE COLLECTIVE CITY OF INAZUMA TO KNOW SHE DOES NOT APPROVE OF ITTO TEACHING U ENGLISH CUSSWORDS

☆

I hope somebody likes Itto enough to enjoy this, sorry if u arent a huge fan of him Orah! I just think he's annoying and neat, and havent written abt Inazuma enough lmao

I finally graduated college/uni by the way guys!!!

Ill actually have a life now that wont be hogged by homework! Like writing! Like drawing! Like anything but school!

Anyway, love u guys, another post coming soon,

Safe Travels Orah,

💀♒️

♡my beloved♡

@karmawonders / @0rah-s / @randomnatics / @glxssynarvi / @nexylaza / @genshin-impacts-me / @wholesomey-artist / @thedevioussmirk

[therealvinelle]

Ok I'm embarrassed to admit this, but I'm just now copying your Norwegian Bella AU into a text translator, and if you don't already have 50 people in your inbox demanding a translation then shame on ALL OF US because this is glorious! And while Google Translate does have a certain charm (it translated "piper hun ut" as "she beeps") I'm curious to see how you'd put it in English.

Troquantary is referring to this post. In which Bella doesn't speak English.

Fun fact, you're the only one who's gone into my inbox to request this. I was so sad, had the translation half-written and everything, but I was too proud to beg. So thank you, Troquantary, for popping this ask.

As for the dictionary fuckups, sounds about right. I made a few typos, too, that made Google Translate suffer even more. (Such as managing to mix up "henne" (her) and "hendene" (hands), resulting in Aro patting Bella instead of clapping his hands. Poor Google.)

Also, there are a few cultural references and language things that would be lost in the translation, in an attempt to keep them I included notes clarifying things.

Some things, like Aro and Carlisle's very old man way of speaking, are easier said than done to translate, you'll have to bear with me there.

Additional notes are that I added a few things to this version, many of them because translating is hard, but a few because while translating I thought "oh you know what would be much funnier-" and then wrote that.

Alright, without further ado:

When Renée left Charlie she did not go to Florida, she went to Oslo. And she went all in to make her daughter a true Norwegian, hiring Norwegian nannies and making sure never to speak English around the child. Since transatlantic flights are expensive, little Bella Swan rarely got to visit her father, and as such she never did learn what should have been her native language.

She quickly forgot what English she did have in favor of Norwegian, with the exception of words like “Yes”, “No”, and “I’m Bella”.

The few trips she took to visit her father were all the more awkward than in canon since she couldn’t play with the Black kids. Let not the blame fall upon Charlie: he took Norwegian classes and speaks conversational Norwegian. He can’t speak to Renée, because her Norwenglish is incomprehensible even to Norwegians, but he can communicate with Bella.

Not that he’s had a lot of chances to do so.

Bella makes it to seventeen years old, she’s in second grade at Handels* and is a major outsider among the preps there, and then Renée marries a handsome skier**. Together they shall travel the continent all winter to participate in as many skiing races as they can, and in the summer they’ll take gigs at Hurtigruta to see the coast.

*“Handels” is the nickname for an Oslo high school infamous for its pupils being rich and beautiful blonds who are going to be CEOs when they grow up.

**Skiing as a sport is huge in Norway

***Hurtigruta is a famous ferry that travels across the Norwegian West coast

Bella, who sucks at skiing and is too young to work at Hurtigruten, takes the hint.

With dread in her stomach and dictionary in hand she goes to her father in America.

Where she doesn’t speak the language.

Faen.

Charlie gives her a car, and I wish this meta was set in the present because I could have joked about electric cars and the automat only driver’s license*, but Twilight is set in 2005 so I can’t. The car part proceeds without drama.

*An increasing number of Norwegian youth take the driver’s license for automatic cars only, and we’re the country in the world with the highest percentage of electric car purchases.

School is worse than in canon, because she is now a thousand times more sensational than if she was merely the new student. She is from another country! All of Forks keels over with excitement.

To make matters even worse, our girl doesn’t understand a word of what people are saying.

She is too awkward to let them know she doesn’t know English. It’d become a thing, and they might think she’s dumb. To be fair, it’s not good that she’s been through primary, secondary, and now a year and a half of high school and still sucks at English.

So she nods, smiles, mumbles “Hi, I’m Bella” to the new faces, and blushes heavily when anybody says anything.

People assume she’s shy. That’s a bit boring, but oh well.

She has her biology class with the redhead hottie she noticed during lunch. She watched him and his family, they were fascinatingly pretty, but she doesn’t know anything more about them. Sure would have been great if she could have asked the tiny girl (was it Jess?) about them.

Biology proceeds as in canon - Edward badly wants to eat the delicious girl, but fortunately doesn’t.

She runs into him in the office when he tries to switch to another biology lesson, but she has no idea what he’s saying so she only has the suspicion that this somehow concerns her. Which is still uncomfortable, but Bella is probably the problem here. The hottie surely can’t be.

He’s missing from school for a week, Bella finds that weird.

He returns, and to her great horror he starts talking to her.

“Hello”, he says.

Bella dies inside. He’s too handsome!

"I'm Edward Cullen," he continues, and ok, she got that. The hottie is called Edward, that’s good to know. She’s not sure she caught that last name, though, Köln?

He says something else, it’s gibberish to Bella even though she’s concentrating, and at the end there he says “Bella Swan”.

She gulps.

"I'm Bella Swan," she confirms and nods. That should be correct. God, she hopes it’s correct.

He smiles a crooked, boyish smile. She’s awed. She didn’t think it was possible to be so beautiful.

He says something else.

Bella didn’t catch it.

She blushes even harder, she hasn’t been more embarrassed in her life. Here he is, the most handsome guy in all the world, and she has nothing to say to him. Literally, they don’t speak the same language.

She should tell him.

It’s one thing to chicken out of telling the town she doesn’t speak English, but there’s something different about Edward Cullen. He deserves the truth.

But...

He’s the most beautiful person she has seen in her life. He is American, too, so the odds of him knowing Norwegian are microscopical. If he finds out she doesn’t understand a word he says he’ll stop talking to her, and selfish as she is she doesn’t want that.

So with a slightly guilty conscience (but not enough to fess up) she contributes to the conversation with enough words and smiles to pull through. "Yes", "No", "Thank you", and "That's nice".

He is surprised by several of these answers, but instead of giving her odd looks and losing interest he grows more invested in the conversation.

Class ends.

The next day the near accident happens, and he saves her. She is stunned - dear god, did he just pick up a whole car? After teleporting across the parking lot..?

Soon she’s in the ER, and more than a little bit stressed about that fact since she knows the Americans have a terrible healthcare system.

She hopes Charlie has an insurance.

An insanely beautiful man walks into the ER, and Bella is shocked. He is just as handsome as Edward and Edward’s lunch friends!

He introduces himself as Carlisle Cullen, and Bella can only assume this is someone’s older brother. Possibly related to the blonde girl.

He smiles at her, says something, and she answers, "I'm Bella Swan."

He frowns.

That must have been the wrong answer, then.

His hands return to investigating her scalp, and to her great surprise he switches to perfect Norwegian, "kjenner De* noe ubehag når jeg holder her?" Do you feel any discomfort when I touch here?

*De is the Norwegian polite pronoun for “you”. Du = thou = the French tu, and De = you = the French vous. These polite pronouns went out of use in the 1980’s, save for when addressing royal persons, and would be considered antiquated in 2005.

He hurries to add, "Norsk lærte jeg i... fjor sommer. Det var et nettkurs." I learned Norwegian… last year. Online class.

"Hvilket da?" Which one? Bella asks, because Charlie needs to hear about this. The doctor has beautiful, if slightly outdated, pronunciation.

The doctor’s smile turns uncertain. She gets the feeling there’s something he doesn’t want to say. "Husker ikke," I don’t remember, sier han etter en litt vel lang pause.

That’s a shame. And weird.

"De hadde hellet med Dem i dag, som ikke ble truffet av den bilen." You were lucky today, not getting hit by that car. he then says, noticeably changing the subject.

"Det var ikke hell, det var Edward," It wasn’t luck, it was Edward, she replies sharply.

The doctor definitely looks uncomfortable.

She continues, "Han krysset skolegården på et blunk, og plukket opp hele bilen. Jeg så det," He crossed the schoolyard in a moment, and picked up the whole car. I saw it,

The doctor laughs. "Om han kunne det hadde nok gymkarakteren hans vært meget bedre. Nei, frøken Swan*, jeg beklager å si at det høres ut som at De er litt omtåket. Det er helt normalt ved hjernerystelse." If he could do that, his PE grade would be a lot better. No, Miss Swan, I’m sorry to say you seem confused. That’s normal with concussions.

*Addressing a young woman as “frøken” is even more outdated than using polite pronouns.

Why does Bella get the feeling he’s lying?

She’s discharged.

We’ll jump ahead to her trip to La Push - that trip uneventful, since Jacob knows she doesn’t speak English. They stick their hands in their pockets and stare at the sea.

The next day she’s shanghaied to Port Angeles, because apparently she said “Yes” at the wrong time when talking to Jessica (Turns out Jess’s name was Jessica!) and accidentally said yes to a day trip to Port Angeles.

Like in canon she wanders away from the others, and as in canon she is nearly gang raped. And again as in canon she is saved at the last moment by Edward.

He buys her dinner, and she can’t believe her own luck- and misfortune. A date with the most handsome guy on the planet (hence the luck) and she can’t say a word to him (hence the misfortune)!

He says things to her, lends her his jacket, and really this is it for Bella, she’s peaked, life can’t get better than this.

(That’s a lie, it would be better if she spoke English.)

He’s so amazing.

She’s gotten pretty good at navigating conversations with him, so she nods and aha’s her way through.

In his car on the way home the tone takes a more serious turn.

He asks her about something, and it’s a serious question, that much she’s gathered. She answers in the confirmative.

He is silent.

Did she say anything wrong?

(Edward, on his end, just asked if she knows what he is. She said yes, so calmly, not even a trace of fear in her.)

A few days later he takes her out on a walk in the woods.

He shows her a meadow in the woods, and when he steps into it he lights up in the sunlight.

Bella is in shock.

She knew there was something different about him, but- holy cow. This guy isn’t human.

Is she dating a god?

She stumbles into the clearing after him, and they spend a day together where he says things, and she can barely hear any of it (nevermind understand it) because she’s so distracted by how pretty he is.

The next day he takes her to a house in the middle of nowhere. She doesn’t want to guess that this can be where he lives. Surely gods don’t live in houses?

He shows her inside the house, and introduces her for Dr. Cullen and a lady with a name she doesn’t catch.

Bit weird that these two are acting like a couple of parents, they’re far too young and divine for that.

Edward shows her around in an old-fashioned office, and she doesn’t know what to make of i when she sees a painting of Carlisle. Edward launches into a long story when he sees her watching it, unfortunately she doesn’t catch any dates or artist names. At one point she heard the word “suicide”, though, and that’s not good.

She doesn’t get much out of the story.

The baseball game doesn’t happen because Bella didn’t pick up on what Edward wanted and didn’t realize she was being invited to a thing. They spend the afternoon watching a movie instead.

The relationship continues, impeded slightly by communication problems, but she’s mostly able to cover those up.

Until her birthday comes around.

She gets a papercut.

Jasper lunges at her. Edward throws her into a glass table, and then everyone is leaving.

Carlisle is kind enough to switch to Norwegian when he’s stitching up her arm, perhaps remembering the last time she was his patient. "Jasper har ikke vært på dietten vår så veldig lenge." Jasper hasn’t been on our diet for very long.

"Diett?"she asks. She’s never seen Edward eat anything. She wasn’t clear on what the Cullens ate, honestly she thought they were above such things. She was thinking maybe photosynthesis. The knowledge that they apparently eat food astounds her, but diets?

"Dyreblod istedenfor menneskeblod," Animal blood in stead of human blood, Carlisle clarifies.

Whachasay?

Carlisle gives a slight smile. “Jaspers liv som vampyr fikk en brutal start." Jasper’s life as a vampire got off to a brutal start.

...

Vampire?!

Bella’s missed something here.

Oh dear lord, oh fy faen, she has missed something.

“Åja”, uh huh, is all she can say, and suddenly she’s very aware of the fact that she’s sitting there with a bleeding arm.

And Carlisle.

Who is a vampire.

Over the course of the following conversation Bella makes a host of discoveries.

Edward has been a vampire this whole time, and he’s a telepathic vampire. Whether Bella should be a vampire too or not has been a matter of hot debate, but due to religious reasons Edward doesn’t want that.

Carlisle also brings up how Edward died of the Spanish flu.

"Jeg var under den oppfatning at Edward fortalte deg bakhistorien min?" I was under the impression Edward told you my back story? Carlisle asks at one point, and Bella just has to ask very nicely if he’d be so kind as to repeat it.

Turns out the guy is nearly four hundred years old.

Jaha.

Jahahaha jaa ha.

That’s… a lot.

She wanders out of the house in shock, and hardly notices Edward’s strange behavior over the next couple of days.

One day he picks her up at school, and takes her behind the house.

That works out.

He’s a vampire, but he never hurt her. He is endlessly beautiful, perhaps easier to love now that she knows he’s not a god. He’s her Edward, and that’s suddenly easier now that she knows.

They can still be together.

But now that she knows this about him, it’s about time he knows something about her as well.

It’s time to finally be honest with him.

So when he opens his mouth, she opens her mouth as well, but she doesn’t get any further than to “Edward-” before he launches into a monologue.

She’ll have to wait until he’s done before saying her piece. It’s a bit embarrassing, but it doesn’t seem like he intends to stop talking anyway.

And what he’s saying seems to be serious, so it’s probably best to let him finish.

Edward concludes his monologue by kissing her forehead. Then he disappears.

Where did he go?

A big unsure, Bella goes back to the house. She’ll just have to wait until he gets back.

She doesn’t know what to think when Charlie returns from work and tells her the Cullens have all left.

Oh, god.

Edward must have found out she doesn’t speak English.

She made a mockery of him.

He has every right to leave.

Knowing this doesn’t make it any easier to live with.

Bella sinks into a depression.

The hallucinations begin, as in canon, though Hallusinward speaks Norwegian. Thank god for small mercies.

The friendship with Jacob (dictionary in hand) blooms, as someone has to help her see those hallucinations.

The cliff diving happens, and Alice shows up. Bella’s not sure what this is about, but she has gotten good enough at English to know that something bad happened, and Alice wants them to do something.

She’s a bit surprised to find herself on a plane to Italy, though.

Alice tells her to “Run to Edward” and ok, she got that, actually.

So she saves Edward.

After that she’s taken into the sewer, which turns out to house dozens of vampires.

Bella, Edward, and Alice are received in some kind of hall, where an unusual vampire has quite a bit to say. She understands some of what he’s saying, at least the part about “la tua cantante”. She knows a bit about Italian, see, so she knows that he’s talking about a song now.

She wishes she knew the context.

At one point he takes her hand, and appears fascinated by it. She wonders if he’s a palmreader. Not very vampirey, but what does she know.

He asks her a question.

"Yes," she says.

Saying yes has gotten her this far, after all.

But when he lights up and claps his hands together, and Edward and Alice stare at her in shock and betrayal, she knows she must have said the wrong thing.

The two are dismissed from the room before Bella can do or say anything, she’s just listening to Edward make a racket outside in the hallway.

Not good.

The unusual vampire brings her further down in his sewer palace to a basement, and she is given comfortable clothes to wear.

This is getting terrifying.

The vampire leans towards her - and she chickens out.

"Jeg snakker ikke engelsk!" she squeaks. "Non habla ingles!" I don’t speak English.

Han stanser, og ser forvirret ut. "Que- Hva behager*?" I beg your pardon? spør han etter et øyeblikk.

*A very formal, and slightly outdated (you can use it, but people will think you’re putting on airs. And they will be right) way of saying “excuse me?”

Sobbing, Bella tells him the whole story, from how she didn’t want to be the weird kid in school to how she’s now somehow in Italy without knowing why nor what she just agreed to.

When she’s done the vampire starts laughing.

"Dette forklarer jo en hel del," This explains quite a bit, ler han. "Men, kjære Bella, jeg er redd det ikke endrer noe." But, my dear Bella, I’m afraid it changes nothing.

He tells her that she has agreed to serve him and his army of undead warriors into eternity.

Well fuck.

"Du skal få slippe det, når du ikke visste hva du samtykket til - men skjebnen din forblir den samme. Loven er loven." You’re released from that promise, as you didn’t know what you agreed to - but your fate remains the same. The law is the law.

After a moment of silence, during which she looks terrified, he hurries to add, "Vi har en lov. Du må bli en av oss." We have a law. You must become one of us.

A law that Bella Swan has to become a vampire?

People are finally speaking Norwegian, and Bella is still lost. And it’s too embarrassing to keep pestering this poor, polite man with questions.

So she nods.

He gives her a glittering smile, and bites her.

When she wakes, Aro offers her an English course. A language course that, naturally, leads to her staying in Volterra. Why not learn a few more languages while we’re at it, dearest Bella?

Some time later Edward breaks into Volterra to save his Rapunzel, only to barely recognize her now that she’s a vampire who says things. Lots of things, she talks all the time now. WHAT DID ARO DO TO HER.

Too mortified to admit that she never spoke English, Bella claims she’s been brainwashed.

Aro is having too much fun to correct her, and the whole sad affair sets off a regrettable flood of rumors.

[hiswhiteknight]

Unbelievably Outlandish– Part 9

Summary:  Before starting down a new crossroads, the Reader goes onto an adventure of literary traveling. Suddenly tossed into an unbelievable story that has swept the world, The Outlander Series itself. How will a twenty first century woman survive?

Note: I own no characters, except reader, clearly this is based off the lovely book series Outlander by Diana Gabaldon and tv show. This follows more the tv show, but it’s far from accurate. I’m going to try to get better with using less proper English, but who knows maybe I’ll get into Scottish slang.

Pairing: Jamie Fraser x Female Reader

Words: 1900

 Warning: Angst, playfulness, cursing, slow start, obviously fighting and such

You heard Jamie’s word after he left, ‘You should go up and spend some time with the clan, it might be worth learning a bit more.’ He wasn’t wrong, though it was hard for you to admit it. You took a deep sigh, fixed your hair, and went back up the stairs. You found Mrs. Fitz, who passed you a drink. “Lovely you joined us again Y/N. Everything prepped for the hunt?”

 “Sure is, Mrs. Fitz, sure is, which means I can drink and be merry,” you watched as the line started to dwindle down as the men took their oaths to Colum. “Anything happen after the oath taking, like that musician, will he be playing today. Love that guy,” you smile down at her.

 She looked at you bemused and shook her head, “No, he won’t be playing this evening. There will be dancing later, I’m sure quite a few men would be interested in dancing with you.”

 You shook your head at her, “You are not a match maker Mrs. Fitz. I would not dare to go out on that floor. I would insult the good Mackenzie clan with my lack of grace.” A man tripped over his feet in front of you and stumbled on to find his friends.

“Grace is nothing you need to worry about here dear,” she grinned at you. “Not too difficult to figure out, I’ll have Laoghaire show you later,” she tapped you. Laoghaire stood next to her, giving you a strange look, you were sure you didn’t warrant. Suddenly the room grew quiet and you looked up towards the entrance of the hall. Jamie was weaving through the crowd slowly. He had changed and making his way towards the oath taking line. And every eye was on him, except when you turned to observe everyone’s reaction Murtagh was looking at you. You gripped Mrs. Fitz’s arm and pushed towards Murtagh, there was no way you were taking credit for this.

 When you made yourself up to him, he was towards the back of the room with his hand gripping the top of his sword, “Why do I have a feeling this involves you?”

 “I didn’t do it,” you whispered harshly to him, sounding like a child defending their lack of innocence. He tipped his head over not believing you for a second, “I didn’t do it on purpose, and he told me he could get back just fine.”

 “You don’t understand what you just did to him. You signed his death sentence,” he pulled you back further. Murtagh caught you up in the severity of Jamie’s predicament. With every word, you grew more worrisome and filled with guilt. The thought of not having Jamie to rely on as a friend tousled around in your head. You tried to find a way to free Jamie from this situation and the only thought you could manage was start a fire or faint and you didn’t believe either of those situations would help him out of this.

 It was Jamie’s turn next and you didn’t acknowledge that you started to hold your breath. Suddenly without reason or thought, you grabbed Murtagh’s forearm. And without much thought, Jamie diplomatically got himself out of the situation looking like a leader. You cursed under your breath, before dusting off the front of your dress, “And you were worried Murtagh. See Jamie came out looking like a,” you paused not being able to come up with a metaphor that would make sense in the 18th century, “I don’t know. He is just fine. Now you can’t be mad at me.”

 Murtagh rolled his eyes as Jamie walked up to him, “Couldn’t stay away from trouble, aye?”

 Jamie looked towards you, his face grew a knowing smile I didn’t quite understand, “Sometimes trouble finds me than I’m like a moth to flame. Y/N, I see you decided to join the gathering again.”

 “You made it sound so exciting and here you were not wrong. Though it doesn’t bode well that you got caught. And now Murtagh here is blaming me for your lack of discretion,” you use your thumb to point back at Murtagh, “And I was starting to win him over.”

 Scratching the back of his neck, leaning in to whisper, “Not everyone can be sneaky as you and not get caught.”

 “Tis right there sir,” you shoot back at him.

 Hearing a big sigh come from his partner in crime, Murtagh gave Jamie an eye roll and pulled him out of the hall, “You’ve had enough of trouble this evening, let’s go.”

 “Enjoy your evening, Y/N.”

 You shook your head, biting back a snarky comment. You could throttle the man for making everything seem so suave and charming. As Jamie and Murtagh rounded the hall entrance, the phrase you repeated to yourself, ‘your charm doesn’t work on me Jamie.’ It was slowly hitting you that, that mantra might not be as strong as you needed it to be. You looked around, feeling someone starring at you and caught eye contact with Laoghaire. And suddenly she was storming out of your eyesight. The dancing had started and you watched the mesmerizing dance of the culture. Everyone’s laughter put you at ease for a moment. Then suddenly, you were in your head missing your home and brother. You weren’t meant to be here, everything you are is fake or reserved. You couldn’t live like this and the bought of hopelessness took over your soul. In this moment, something inside you became a little toxic.

  The next morning, you were up early for the hunt. The way the night ended with the uneasiness sat on your chests as you dressed for the day. This wasn’t your place, this wasn’t your job, and it started to bother you how different the times are. You would never be respected as a woman, an unmarried woman. You tossed your hair in two French braids, per usual fashion when having a busy day. You dropped your hair piece under the bed and you ducked down to grab it to suddenly find a strange bundle. You finished with your hair and brought the bundle down to the kitchen.

 You grabbed some bread and sat the bundle on the table, “Dear what are you bringing that into this kitchen,” Mrs. Fitz yelled catching you off guard and causing you to stumble backwards.

 “I,” you paused to comprehend the situation, “I, I found it in my room, under my bed and I was going to ask it was some weird potpourri thing. What is it?”

 “It’s an ill-wish, a witch’s making,” she tossed it into the fire.

 “An ill-wish, what?”

 “Someone be wishing to bring you harm dear, what have you gotten into,” she put both her hands on your face, “Try staying out of trouble, someone has an eye to hurt you.”

 “I didn’t do anything, literally I have been making myself small at possible Mrs. Fitz,” your voice started to raise. You have done everything in your power to win people over, treat people with kindness, not start a stir when you found injustice to your gender and status. You didn’t believe in witchcraft, though it should cause you to question since you are living the 18th century, which is something you would never believe in.

 “All due respect, Mrs. Fitz, but someone is going to get their ass beat hard,” you shot catching everyone’s attention.

 “Lass, mind your tongue. That is not the language a lady speaks,” Mrs. Fitz tried to sooth you.

 You pull away from her, “No,” you start to gather your things feeling the heat of this betrayal crumble the wall you built around your true self to keep you protected from these people. Every comment, action, and lie you’ve told to keep yourself from being killed, shunned, raped, or imprisoned is bubbling out of your pours. You have reached you limit, “I am not a lady Mrs. Fitz. I do not belong here. I wear pants damn it, I swear, and I could probably kick the ass of half the men here,” you paused, “At the same time,” you paused again, “Maybe not, but I sure would die trying. I do not belong here. Look at how everyone looks at me, treats me, I’m the enemy because I’m different. I’m not part of the clans, I’m an imposter. And rather than whisper about their hatred, someone wants to cause me actual pain with this bullshit. Fuck that. I’m sorry Mrs. Fitz and pardon me, but fuck that.” Your packs were hanging from my shoulder, “Let this spread around the village, anyone that can guarantee me the name of the person who put this under my bed gets all the money I have earned over the time I’ve been here.”

 “Y/N,” Mrs. Fitz called after you. She clearly was not offended by your lewdness, but more she was concerned about what you were about to cause with your burst of feelings of revenge and anger.

 You stomped up to Angus, “Where the necklace man, I didn’t escape or leave, now give the piece back?”

 “Don’t speak to me like that lassie,” he started to feel around his body for the necklace you gave him the night before. With every pat, your already boiling anger grew. That was the only piece from your family you owned. “Might of lost-,” he started to say.

 With the beginning of his sentence, you went for your dagger lying on your waistband. Before you could pull it out, Rupert pushed your hand down holding the handle down, “Settle down Y/N, Angus gave me the necklace to watch over. He noted he would lose it.” He pushed the charm in your hand, “If that would have came out, Angus would have gutted you. Does the hunt have you on edge lass?”

 “Stupidity has me on edge Rupert and it’s not much of your business,” you stormed away to find your horse. Something had changed in you and you weren’t sure what to do about it.

 You struggled to get on your horse, when someone came up and offered you an extra push. Jamie stood in front of you and your horse, “Mrs. Fitz asked me to check on you. She shared you were upset and threatening people. I heard you tried to pull a knife on Angus, what has gotten into you woman.”

 This time you didn’t make eye contact with Jamie, “Mind your business Mister MacTavish. If I want to fight or punish someone for their actions against me, then I’ll see fit to do it. Now get out of my way, there is a boar to chase down and murdered.”

 Jamie didn’t move, keeping your horse in place, “You going to get yourself killed and as your friend, that does in fact concern me. You shouldn’t be going on the hunt like this.”

 You pushed forward with the horse causing Jamie to back up quickly, “I’ve seen Old Yeller, I get the dangers that come from a boar. Right now, you should be worried about the clansmen Mackenzie. Now if you’ll excuse me,” you started to move towards the field.

 You were fully aware he would not get the reference from the 21st century, but you did not care. The thought of taking the horse and charging out of the village to the stones drifted to your mind. But you still cared to get back to your brother at the moment and that meant you had to have a chance to survive, “Y/N,” Jamie yelled after you.

 “Leave me alone, Mister MacTavish, I have business to attend to,” you shouted back.

 Part 10

Taglist:  @doctorwhatwhenandwhere @damnedandbroken @blushingpogue @blancastans @slytherinambitious @kinky-asher @lovesanimals @bilesxbilinskixlahey

[vaindumbass]

The ministry is good for one (1) thing... getting Tonks a date

‘Why-’ Tonks says to the head that is currently sticking out of her fireplace, ‘Why did you ask me for this job.’

Charlie doesn’t even hesitate before answering. ‘Because you speak French fluently, and because you love me and therefore couldn’t say no.’

Mentally, Tonks curses out the Black family and their fucked up traditions. Why French, of all things? Then she corrects herself and blames her mother instead, for keeping this particular tradition. Couldn’t she have gone hunting when she was ten, instead? Bella always thought that was great fun.

Out loud, she replies. ‘I could’ve said no. If I wanted to.’

‘So you want to do this? Good to hear! You can always thank me later, a gift basket would be nice-’

Tonks scoffs at Charlie’s way too wide grin, a laugh threatening to crack out on her face too. ‘You know what, Charlie?’

‘What?’ he says, smugly, as if he’s won.

‘You weren’t completely wrong. I couldn’t have said no.’

‘I know.’

‘You were wrong about one thing, though.’

The fire crackles as Charlie cocks his head. ‘Well?’

Tonks pulls her face into something sad and melancholic to the best of her ability, and looks dramatically into the distance. ‘I don’t love you.’

Charlie’s gasp is loud enough that Tonks almost fears that he’ll douse the flames, somehow. ‘How dare you! Was all this…. a lie?’ After he has stared morosely into the flames for a while, though, he asks: ‘But seriously, babe, what is it?’

The back of Tonks’ shoulders itches a little now that they aren’t joking anymore, and she feels a bit too closely scrutinized. ‘It’s not that bad, okay? You don’t have to look so worried.’

Charlie still looks worried.

‘It’s just- remember how you asked me so that I could translate what she would say?’

‘Sure.’

‘Well, since she’s here partially to improve her English, she told me that I wasn’t really needed.’

‘Okay.’ Charlie says, ‘And?’

‘What do you mean?’

‘You wouldn’t be bothered this much by that. I know you, can’t fool me.’

‘Okay so I may have-’

‘May have or you did?’

Tonks ignores him, words spilling out of her. ‘I may have spilled my coffee on her. And she’s so fucking pretty, Charlie, and confident, which I’m apparently attracted to?’

‘There we go,’ He mutters under his breath. Tonks isn’t done.

‘And she doesn’t sugarcoat stuff, you know? So logically I know that she means it when she says that it’s okay, and that she doesn’t mind me ruining her clothes, but what if she secretly hates me now?’

‘Mhm.’

‘She was perfectly kind, though, and have I mentioned how good-looking she is? Name is Fleur, by the way, and sure looks aren’t everything, I change mine on the daily, but the way she looks when she smiles… Only, there’s no excuse for me to stay around her, anymore, and now I’ll never see her again, and she’ll only remember me as that horrible person who ruined her day.’

Charlie’s laugh rings around the room, warm and comfortable, and some ash gets on the carpet when he finally decides to just step out of the fireplace. ‘I’m going to have to stop you there, babe. You’re not just here to speak the language of love-’ After these words, there’s a horrible eyebrow wiggle, and Tonks makes and even weirder face back, just because she can. ‘- but also to show her around!’

‘I don’t even work here anymore! It really is weird that you couldn’t find anyone else who speaks French. I mean- Sirius does?’

‘Yes,’ Charlie responds, while walking around in her house in that comfortable way of his, easily settling down on her couch, ‘because I know Sirius so much better than I know you.’

Tonks lifts up his legs so that there is some space for her to sit, and then keeps one hand curled around his ankle, the other gesturing wildly, almost hitting the lamp that stands near. ‘I don’t know! You both like animals, right?’

‘You know very well that Sirius has adopted a hippogriff. Now, if it’d been a dragon-’

‘Fair enough,’ Tonks says, because while she loves Charlie’s ranting there’s still one topic she’d like clarity on, ‘But still, aren’t there people who speak French and, like, actually work at the ministry?’

Charlie purses his lips. ‘Maybe. But while I am very aro ace I still have eyes and she’s indeed very pretty, and you are very single, so-’

He can’t even finish the sentence before Tonks has thrown a pillow at him. He throws one back, of course, and soon enough they’re two adults in a full-on pillow war, laughing up and until Tonks accidentally punches Charlie in the face.

She gets him some ice and then they just cuddle on the couch for a bit, legs intertwined, and as Charlie tells her about the proper way to clip a dragon’s toenails, she gets a feeling as if she might just be able to handle the whole Fleur thing.

~~~

Tonks is not able to handle the whole Fleur thing. 

They don’t spill their coffee again, they’re trying to be careful now, but she’s already confusing departments, and accidentally pressing all the buttons in the lift, which isn’t really appreciated by anyone.

Fleur just laughs at that. ‘How did you press all of them?’

‘I was-’ Tonks stammers, ‘I was trying to hold on to something so I wouldn’t fall.’

‘Why not hold on to me?’ Fleur asks, a thick French accent coating her words, and Tonks just stares for a while. Is this flirting? Is it a joke that Tonks is simply too dumb to get? Should they respond to this with ‘but then I wouldn’t have fallen for you’ and some finger guns?

Tonks only knows the answer to that last one (it’s ‘no’, in case that wasn’t clear). ‘It’s- erm- I mean-’

Fleur just smiles at them in a way that Tonks wishfully thinks might be flirtatious. Tonks is suddenly very glad blushes don’t really show up on their dark skin.

A voice calls out ‘Department of Magical Games and Sports’ and Tonks and Fleur get out, because this was the next part of the tour.

Fleur, her eyes lingering on the various posters hung on the walls, says, ‘Aren’t people here supposed to be impartial? This must be inefficient.’

‘For sure,’ Tonks says, never one to defend the ministry, ‘it’s all a bit shoddy, as if it’s taped together with duct tape.’ (They very carefully pronounce that last word. Who knows, maybe muggle knowledge will impress Fleur?)

‘Then why do you work for it?’

A laugh curls Tonks lips. ‘I don’t! Me and Moody, that’s my old mentor, have opened a sort of private detective office.’

They aren’t even walking through the corridor anymore. One quidditch poster (The Chudley Cannons) is slightly crinkled where Fleur’s shoulder is leaning on it. She throws a bit of her long blonde hair over her shoulder. ‘Then why are you giving me a tour here?’

With a bit of a crooked grin, Tonks answers: ‘Like I said, a bit shoddy.’

Tonks likes the fact that they’re talking now, likes it very much, and therefore they try to lean on the wall just as casually as Fleur does, but they miscalculate, and the ground suddenly comes at them with an alarming speed.

‘Watch out!’ Fleur says, from somewhere very, very close, a flowery smell suddenly surrounding them. One of Fleur’s arms is around their upper arm, the other one curled around their waist. Fleur is very warm. Coincidentally, so are Tonks’ cheeks.

They get up quickly, trying not to elbow Fleur, avoiding eye contact just a little bit. ‘When you said I could hold on to you, I didn’t think I’d need it this quickly.’

Fleur snorts. ‘I am not all too surprised, honestly.’

‘That’s fair,’ Tonks' heart is still beating wildly.

There’s a bit of a silence, and Tonks wrecks their brain for something to talk about. They don’t want this to be over just yet. Luckily, Fleur speaks up.

‘How is being a metamorphmagus? I am part-Veela, and I know other magical beings are immune for that, but I do not know much more. What do you change most often?’

‘My hair,’ Tonks laughs, raking a hand through it (short and a deep blue today), ‘It’s partly apart from my body, in a way, so it takes a bit more effort to change, but once it’s a different colour it stays that way without any effort.’

Fleur cocks her head. ‘It takes effort to change?’

‘For sure. Not all that much, but if I change too much for too long I get a headache. I would never change my skin tone, but if I did I’d get really grouchy, most probably. Oh! And I sometimes change my nose and such as a party trick.’

‘Sounds fun,’ Fleur says, a smile playing on her lips. Tonks seriously considers changing their nose into the one of that squid in the cartoon Hermione showed her, before realizing that that wouldn’t impress Fleur, but rather the opposite.

‘It is! But I get tired if I do it too much. That’s also why, on days that gender is-’ Tonks makes a vague hand gesture, ‘- I sometimes wear a binder, because while I can make my chest flatter, sometimes I’ll be concentrating on some work and suddenly, bam!’ They mimick an explosion in front of their chest, pushing their hands forward.

Fleur snickers. ‘Poor you.´ That sounds like the end of the conversation, but Tonks has finally had enough time to get their brain to work again, and they’ve come up with a new topic.

‘So, what are you here for?’

‘Did you not get that information?’ (Tonks had never said it was a good topic)

‘No, I did, but I thought you might be able to explain it better?’

‘Oh.’ Fleur says, ‘well, I am looking into the practical applications of magic, but specifically on magical creatures. Dragons, for example, can be lured to sleep with a sleeping charm, but can resist most hexes without any effort.

‘Giants, who can also resist hexes, can easily resist a sleeping charm, but curses can seriously harm them, and that’s already fascinating, but I’m going to look into what effects other kinds of magic have, outside of wizardry, starting with Veela magic, because I happen to possess that, and that's not even talking about how that magic works. Only female Veela have any sort of non-wixard magical power, but the magic is not stored in the uturus as one might think, because I do not have one, but still have magic. How does the magic know that?’

Fleur had been talking slowly and deliberately ever since Tonks had met her, as if she was weighing the words, remembering the pronunciation, but now she talks faster, a flush on her cheeks.

‘But I'm getting of topic. I will mostly work with stuff like: why does Veela magic affect unicorns but not dragons? Why does it affect giants but not metamorphmagi? And if it doesn’t affect metamorphmagi, then why do you still get so flustered?’

‘I-’ Tonks says, ‘Erm-’

‘Do not worry,’ Fleur says, smiling ever-so-slightly, ‘I think I know the answer. Would you like to go on a date with me?’

Honestly, Tonks didn’t think a dingy corner lined with quidditch posters could ever be romantic, but Fleur makes it work, with the soft lighting on her cheek, and that fucking gorgeous smile on her lips. ‘Yes,’ they answer (was there ever another option?), ‘I’d like that very much.’

In a sudden rush of courage (what are they, a gryffindor?) they ask: ‘Can I kiss you?’

Fleur nods, and they discover that yes, Fleur’s smile tastes as wonderful as it looks.

[shinsouskitten]

Hola mis amiga (I’m a French student what am I doing) I saw that your ass class requests were non existant so I’m here with a request. Can u do karma and Nagisa with a blind s/o who’s a pro assassin at 15 (is that how old they are??) and also v smart and they were sent by the government to 3-e to help with the Assassination? Bonus points if they’re low key a reaper level assassin like they have a good chance of winning if they went against the reaper 1 on 1. It’s chill if u don’t get to this 💖

Yo! I am no language student cause I can’t even english correctly half the time

Also this is what happens when I finally get requests for a character I love… I go a little ott

Warnings: reference to violence and assassination (uhh… yk, it’s called assassination classroom for a reason), Karma

---

Important info: 

💬 To have the reader be a pro assassin at 15, my friend (@grapefantaenby the beautiful Sammy whom I love dearly but is also a bitch sometimes) and I decided it might be a good idea for them to be basically the next gen Irina - not as a femme fatale, but just the next gen of pro trained assassins

💬 So for this request I am writing the reader as if they were chosen to be trained (possibly by Irina herself) and sent to e-class after Irina’s original attempt failed. Only Irina and Karasuma knows the reader is an assassin

💬 If you wish to read it from another perspective that’s fine too, but that was the idea I was writing from, so I hope that’s okay

---

Karma Akabane:

🔫😈 When he first meets you Karma barely bats an eye. You’re just another kid stuck in e-class for some reason or another. Midterms are coming up, he has a weird yellow octopus to kill, a new student doesn’t really matter to him

🔫😈 It’s only when you all get your tests results that he first notices you. You didn’t take the tests with them, instead in a lone room with braille substituted for the usual test papers, and a scribe to write down your answers, but it was the results that Karma noticed. You scored as high as him, though perhaps in different areas. None of your scores were below 95%, but you weren’t nearly as showy as he was. If he hadn’t heard Korosensei praising you he wouldn’t have even realized

🔫😈 You didn’t travel on the school trip with them, which kind of disappointed Karma (not that he’d admit it). He wanted to find out more about you, but even so, he wasn’t too bothered. He’s Karma after all

🔫😈 As mean as it sounds, he highly doubts your ability to be an assassin - at least, when he first meets you. Sight is one of the most important senses, and if you’re trying to kill an inhuman yellow… thing, you’re going to need everything you have

🔫😈 The first occasion is in science class, where you trip seemingly on nothing while making your way to your desk. Karma moves to catch you, surprising himself for a moment, but Korosensei is there first. The second he offers a tentacle to help you up, it explodes. Your hand had been covered in antisensei pellets you’d powdered so that they were invisible if someone wasn’t paying enough attention. In his surprise he doesn’t move fast enough as you fling your other arm out, catching the edge of another tentacle and slicing through it halfway. You’re unable to make another attack, as this time Korosensei moves too far away, but for a moment the whole class is silent

🔫😈 You’d gotten further than anyone, destroyed 1 (and a half) tentacles and no one had even suspected it was an attempt. Korosensei is surprised, while Irina watches her protege from the sidelines, secretly incredibly proud of your attempt

🔫😈 And Karma… Karma doesn’t know what to think. Your first trick was similar to his original attempt on Korosensei; a hand covered in antisensei material and a seemingly innocent gesture of assistance/goodwill. Did you know he’d attempted something similar? Of course not. You weren’t even there when he arrived, and besides, it’s not like you could’ve seen what he did (okay is this mean I have rlly bad social cues)

🔫😈 He doesn’t know what to think. Had he really doubted you that much?

🔫😈 With AIFA’s introduction some of the attention is steered away from you, which Karma takes as an opportunity to steal you away for a moment. It’s during gym class, he slips away easily, leading you by the elbow until you’re out of sight of the others (sneaky boi)

🔫😈 He asks question after question, at one point even joking that the two of you together would be an unstoppable force. Of course, he doesn’t mean dating, but it slowly starts to become less and less of a joke the more time you spend together. Plotting assassination slowly turns into study dates, then just regular dates

🔫😈 It’s only when some jerkwads from another class try picking on you that you and Karma are forced to decide; is it something more? I say that, because when he sees this amateur bullying attempt, he quickly slides up next to you, curling an arm around your waist and warning the kids to stay away from his s/o. It leads to one of the worst questions a person can hear… “what are we?”

🔫😈 It all works out happily though, and when he finds out about your profession he’s only intrigued (I was gonna say he’d kill to be a pro assassin then I realized the irony of my sentence)

🔫😈 He was right, the two of you do make a great team, and although you’re unable to kill Korosensei, you’re grateful for him allowing you to meet the one and only Karma Akabane

---

Nagisa Shiota:

🐍🔪 Nagisa notices you almost instantly, a complete reversal of Karma’s first reaction. He’s attentive, and so he realises there’s something different about you (not the blind things tho, I mean the assassin thing), even if he can’t quite put his finger on it

🐍🔪 He’s amazed when you score as high as Karma in the midterms, but doesn’t bring it up to you immediately. He doesn’t want you to feel singled out, so instead he waits until the day is over. It’s the first time he gets to talk to you, and even though the conversation flows smoothly, there’s still something in the back of his mind that he can’t quite place

🐍🔪 Much like Karma he’s disappointed that you don’t join them for the school trip, but he can’t really blame you. You’ve only just joined e-class, you likely don’t feel comfortable trusting them to lead you around an unfamiliar city

🐍🔪 When he returns, Nagisa can tell you’re planning something, though for the life of him he couldn’t figure out what it is. Eventually your plan reveals itself to him. You’d changed your walking stick, something no one else had really noticed. It was the same colour, in fact it was almost exactly the same, save for the slight sheen of plastic

🐍🔪 It happens the next day, just before the bell rings when you’re sitting on the steps to your class building. You frown as your hands trace across the floor, unable to reach the stick a few feet from you. Korosensei sees, and ever the helpful teacher, speeds over to hand it to you, not realising until it’s too late the new material covering the surface. And just like that two tentacles are destroyed. You attempt to finish the job with a knife, jumping towards where you heard Korosensei’s surprised gasp, but he dodges quickly

🐍🔪 You smile, murmerming out loud that it was a good plan. Korosensei agrees, after the initial shock wears off, but notes that you should’ve made your final attack just slightly quicker. If he hadn’t recovered so fast, you likely would've had him

🐍🔪 Against his better judgement, Nagisa decides to ask you where you learnt to do that. You brush him off easily at first, but it quickly becomes clear he doesn’t believe you, so eventually you give in and tell him the truth

🐍🔪 He’s surprised, but also, he’s not. Okay that sounds confusing. He could tell something was different about you, the way you act seemed too mature for a 15 year old at the bottom of the school. But at the same time he almost expected it. I mean, you had no disciplinaries and your grades were superb. Why else would you be in e-class? Karasuma, Irina, you, AIFA, all of you were there for another reason. It wasn’t to teach, or to learn, it was to kill

🐍🔪 There’s a lot of things that draw Nagisa to you, and it’s only a matter of time before he realises he’s big fat crushing on you. Karma noticed Nagia’s crush before the boy did himself, and you can imagine the teasing that took place

🐍🔪 I was gonna say you couldn’t see him to think he’s a girl which gave you bonus points but I feel like it might be in bad taste

🐍🔪 He studies you almost obsessively, attempting to learn some of your professional tricks as a way to boost e-class’s assassination attempts. It’s not creepy, he’s just genuinely amazed by your abilities, and well… you

🐍🔪 No matter what you do Nagisa is always in awe of it (simp), and your relationship (hard as it is to get Nagisa to finally admit to you) is a good one

[tellmeayarn]

(tags from @skiploom I apologize heartily)

since English isn't your first language, it makes a lot of sense that you wouldn't know how to pronounce the word because there are a lot of rules for pronunciation of written words in English that need to be explicitly taught/learned. with a system they don't teach anymore. called phonics.

you've probably seen posts about how they stopped teaching phonics in the US and literacy tanked, so I won't recap that, but I will give an impromptu phonics lesson about the letter E because this is the thing I am most autistic about. Boil me down to my essence and I can spell English words.

There are two basic ways to pronounce vowels in English - short and long.*

A short e sounds like "eh," like in pet or bed (close enough to Spanish e), and in this demo I'm gonna write it like this: ĕ

A long e sounds like "ee," like in we or be (same as Spanish i), and I'm gonna write it like this: ē

In writing we also have silent e's at the end of words sometimes (blame the French), and I'm gonna write those like this: (e) - I'll use the same convention for any silent vowel that's a helper rather than the Main Event.

The way to determine whether a vowel is long or short, you need to look at the other letters in the word.

Me uses ē, because it's alone with just one consonant before. It's the purest form of the letter just chilling.

Pet uses ĕ because it is a sandwich with one consonant on each side. It's squished in there.

Adding another vowel into the mix makes it long again - like seeing another queer at the party, it can more easily be itself.

I'm just going to rapid-fire these at y'all and hope my explanation so far has been clear enough to follow along.

pet = pĕt

Pete = Pēt(e)

peat = pē(a)t

bet = bĕt

beet = bē(e)t

beat = bē(a)t

Adding more consonants will also create changes. A very common convention in English spelling is to add a double consonant to enforce a short sound.

met - mĕt

mete - mēt(e)

meter - mētĕr

better - bĕttĕr

In "meter" above, the first E is long because the second E is in a consonant sandwich (and thus, also not a silent e). To stop that second E from influencing the first, you can jam another consonant in there. "Metter" is not a word, but we know it would rhyme with "better."

There are ABSOLUTELY outliers, although those mostly come from more recent loan words or words that are less likely to follow convention, like names e.g. the way Bette Midler pronounces her name follows standard English convention, the way Bette Davis pronounced her name did not.

As a side note for skiploom specifically - Spanish being your first language is probably a factor in the specific way you thought it was pronounced. A native French speaker would've likely guessed "mem," because they also have some weird-ass ways of constructing words that Spanish just doesn't do.

*Pronunciation is obvs more complicated than this, regional accents make a huge difference, but phonics is taught to literal 3-7yos, it's simplified/representational.

We ask your questions so you don’t have to! Submit your questions to have them posted anonymously as polls.

[weirdthoughtsandideas]

VIOLETTA UNPOPULAR OPINIONS, GO!

OH FUCK YES

Tomas was very whiny. I can understand how you could like him and why you’d want him and Violetta to be endgame, but tbh he was just. Always whiny and blamed everyone else. I lost all respect for him as an 11yo when I first watched the episode where he was like ”The kiss you gave Leon was my kiss. I can’t get over it”

Lara was NICE. She was SUPPORTIVE and WANTED THE BEST for Leon. She didn’t even dislike Violetta. Sure, she could make some comments towards her, but nothing was mean spirited. I don’t know why she just disappeard

Same for Braco, Napo and Luca. I absolutely support Tomas going back to Spain (lol) but the rest?? Where are you, come back!

I think Jade and Matias were just uneccessary after the first season. I feel like they were only there for comic relief, but tbh they just take up scenes I feel like other characters can get. Like BRACO AND NAPO AND LUCA.

It would have been pretty fun in my opinion if Esmeralda were out for stealing German’s money herself, without having Jade and Matias there. Like, her seeming like the perfect woman, and then as we go by, we realise something is not right, and we find out before the wedding exactly what has happened

I don’t mind the english dub, but it fucking sucks in season 1, sorry not sorry, and I think that is a reason Violetta never got as popular in english speaking countries. Plus, Violetta’s english singing voice is weird in season 1. But in season 2 her english singing voice got a complete GLOWUP, so I like that. But also, the english dub sometimes don’t translate correctly. They changed funny lines as ”Oh, a mexican” and ”What is up with this girl and astronomy?” to ”Oh, they’re arguing!” and ”I wish I learned astronomy in kindergarden”. Why??

I understand that, in season 2 when the characters were gonna sing in another language, the english dub had to come up with a new language. The only problem is that I personally don’t understand french at all and I didn’t know Camila was pronouncing everything wrong. I sort of wish the swedish dub (that I grew up with) had the original spanish songs, because we got the english dubbed songs, and swedish kids know english better than french, so I think we would understand if Camila pronounced english wrong

I did not care for Clement and Gery at all and I sometimes forget they exist

Sometimes I think Angie would’ve been happier if she ended up with Pablo

The last 10 episodes of season 2 >>>>> all other episodes

The end of ep75 of s2 always makes me emotional. Just... Violetta crying on stage, not being able to sing, LEON SAVES HER. Leonetta may not be the most stable couple but THAT IS LOVE

And also ep76-80 in season 2, where everyone is so bummed out and sad. I feel for them and I get so happy every time when they DO finish the song, Vilu DOES get her father back, everything is GOOD again.

The Roxy and Fausta storyline was always weird to me, it felt a bit ooc. But it was at the same time kind of funny. I think what I would do if I rewrote it is to still make them dress up as them, but not to spy on Leon. They... just dress up for another reason. Maybe to sneak into the kareoke bar because they weren’t allowed there anymore or something

Honestly season 3 is just in general a little off to me. Nothing is really the same. Maybe it’s this... less colorful filter it has on it? Idk it feels like s3 has this lighter shade on it. Maybe to reflect that the characters are older now. Or smth

I also feel like some characters in season 3 just changed personality. Violetta is much more stubborn and short tempered than before. They try really hard to show that DIEGO HAS CHANGED, HE IS NICE NOW. Which, yeah, I get it, but it’s just a little funny seeing him be a manipulative stalker and now he’s sweet Diego on guitar

I tbh never cared about Francesca’s love life. Everyone was like ”OMG DIECESCA IS MY OTP” and I’ve been like ”??? Fran hated him last season what?”. I’m not hating on Diecesca, they are a lovely couple, but I just never really... cared? I didn’t care about Marco much either. They were sweet? Then he couldn’t stop sending flowers and I’m like ”dude calm down”. And Fran’s relationship with Tomas wasn’t very good. The only relationships with Fran I cared about was her friendships and her relationship with her brother

Priscila is SUCH a psychopath and the second she showed her true sides I wanted to hug Ludmila. Please I hope Ludmila seeks therapy. Poor girl.

Season 3 felt like a fanfiction but the biggest fanfiction in this universe is Tini the movie. We don’t talk about that. What WAS that. I’m so confused. If they wanted to make a Violetta movie they could make a ”reunion” movie or smth, not WHATEVER THAT WAS. Though the visuals and angles are pretty nice.

Llamame with the cowboy hats are the funniest thing I have seen in my life and it felt so off from all the other songs, but ESPECIALLY the version with cowboy hats really gets me cackling

They wasted potential to have LGBTQ+ characters. I get it, it’s Disney, it’s a kids show, it was made in 2012. But I still just feel like... the POTENTIAL. There’s so many characters that gives off queer vibes and I- I don’t know. I feel like the majority is bisexual and then some of them are fully gay/lesbian and the rest are either straight or homophobic

I have since the ripe old age of 11 been a Leonetta shipper, and I still have a very soft spot for them. But recently I have been like ”Francesca and Violetta? Would make a good pair. Germán would approve, Francesca’s not a boy”.

I’m glad Maxi and Cami didn’t end up together, but I also wish they explored that storyline a bit more. Because they kind of just ended it, but then it was still a thing with Marco being mad at Francesca after she didn’t want to tell him Camila kissed Maxi, but then they just... dropped it. Never discussed it ever again. I feel like it just ended on a weird note.

Maxi and Naty are super cute, I love every time Maxi has to turn his cap backwards to kiss her. But Naty also gives off huge lesbian vibes, so now i’m conflicted

I think Gery’s half shaved eyebrow is ugly and now you know

Leon is very chaotic and I think we don’t appreciate him for that. Like, searching his girlfriend up on his motorcross to tell her ”let’s skip school and go and almost kiss at a secret spot in a public park”, calls girlfriend’s overprotective father ”future father in law” before running away, that whole ”LoVe Is LIKe a tHuNDEr” scene-

Diego had more chemisty with Leon than with anyone else in s2

I don’t remember Milton at all and I forgot he was a teacher. What did he do? Like... he yelled at students and that’s all I recall. Then he disappeared? What???

I have lots more but now I can’t come up with more

[natsubeatsrock]

Should Hiro Mashima die?

My answer is no. 

Though, this isn't about actually killing Hiro Mashima. Kinda got you with the title, though, huh? (This was originally going to be titled “Is Hiro Mashima dead?” and released on his birthday. You’re welcome.)

This post is about a widely debated topic of analysis known as the "death of the author." I've talked about this a few different times in passing in a few posts over the years. You could argue that this belongs in my series rewriting Fairy Tail and I considered placing it there. However, I feel that it's better that I keep this detached from that series. This topic concerns criticism of any series. Naturally, being a Fairy Tail blog, I plan on engaging this with the context of Fairy Tail's author being dead or not, hence the title. Still, this is helpful to think about for analysis of plenty of other series.

Again, though, my answer is still no.

Let's start with the origin of this term. The term comes from an essay by Roland Barthes called "La mort de l'auteur". Use your best guess as to what that translates to. I highly encourage you to read the essay as it's pretty short. It's about six or seven pages, depending on the version. There are three main points to his essay.

Creative works are products of the culture they come from and less original than people expect. 

The idea of the author as the sole creator and authority of creative works is fairly modern. 

The author's interpretation of a work shouldn't be considered the main or only interpretation of a work.

Of these three points, I'm sure you recognize the last point. But first, I want to talk about the other points. I believe it is important to understand the arguments being made as a whole.

The first point should be fairly uncontroversial. The vast majority of creative works use established language, tropes, and elements to create a new thing. I wouldn't go as far as Barthes does in this regard. Not to mention, this is somewhat weird to know considering his third point. However, I agree that creative works should be considered products of the culture and genre they come from.

The second point is a bit trickier for me. To be clear, the point is true. You only have to look at various cultural mythologies as an example. There isn't a single version of the Greek myths. There are several versions and interpretations of the various stories and myths. 

Even recent popular fictional characters have had several different interpretations. This is especially true with comics. There have been multiple different Batman interpretations, Spiderman runs, and X-Men teams that fans love. Fans even love and appreciate numerous forms of established characters like Frankenstein's monster and Sherlock Holmes. So, as a consumer and critic of art, I can understand this.

My problem is as a creator of art. I understand this being contentious when it comes to something like religious myths. But, if I create something, I want to get the credit for it. I want people to love my music or writing. But I also want people to recognize me for my skill in crafting it.

This is true even if you hold to the first point Barthes made.  Even if you believe that no art is truly unique, isn't the skill of synthesizing the various tropes and influences around a person worthy of credit in and of itself?

Then again, I am not without bias in this. Barthes says that the modern interpretation of the author is a product of the Protestant Reformation. As a Protestant myself, I get that my background plays no part in my view of this. Barthes also blames English empiricism and French rationalism, but personal faith is the biggest influence on me that Barthes lists.

That being said, there's also something Barthes completely misses in his essay. In the past, stories were passed down by oral tradition. As the stories were passed down from generation to generation, they slowly evolved and became what they are known today. Scholars today can gather a general consensus of what a story was meant to be and some traditions were more faithful about passing traditions down than others. However, you can't always tell the original author of a mythological story the same way we know who gave us stuff like the Quran or the Bible. 

As time passed, stories were written down. With this, it was easy to share single versions of a story and identify its creator. We know who made certain writing of works even before the 1500s. For example, we have the Travels of Marco Polo and Dante's Inferno and know their authors. We could tell the authors of works were before the Protestant Reformation. 

By the way, the Reformation happened to coincide with one of the most important inventions in human history: the printing press. Now you can easily make copies of an individual's works and you don't have to rely on word of mouth to share stories.

I can't stress how important an omission this is. The printing press changed the way we interact with media as a whole and might be the most important invention on this side of the wheel. And yet Barthes doesn't even mention as even a potential factor in "the modern concept of the author"? In his essay about understanding written media? That’s like ignoring Jim Crow in your essay about Birth of a Nation bringing back the KKK.

Now, we get to the final point. The author's original intentions of their works are not the main interpretation. This is understood as being the case after they create the series. Once the work is written and sent into the public, they cease to be an authority on it.

It's worth recognizing how this flows from the other two points. Barthes argued that works of fiction are products of their culture and our current understanding of an author is fairly modern. Therefore, the interpretation of the reader is just as valuable as that of the author. As Barthes himself wrote, "the birth of the reader must be at cost of the death of the author." 

At best, this means that a reader can come away with an interpretation of a work that isn't the one intended. With Fairy Tail, my mind goes to the final moments of the Grand Magic Games. My view of Gray's line "I've got to smile for her sake" has to do with romantic feelings for Ultear. I don't know of a single person who agrees with this. Mashima certainly hasn't come out and affirmed this as the right view.

It's good to recognize that a work can have more meanings behind it than the ones intended by its creator. Part of the performing process is coming to a personal interpretation of a work. In many cases, two different performances will have different interpretations of the same work, neither of which went through the creator's mind. At the same time, both work and are valid.

That being said, there is an obvious problem with this: readers are idiots. Not all readers are necessarily idiots. But enough of them are idiots. The views of idiots should have as much weight as that of the creator. Full stop. Frankly, I maintain that idiots are the worst possible sources to gauge anything of note. (At the very least, policy decisions.)

I know this as a reader who has not been alone in misunderstanding a work. I know this as an analyst who has had to sift through all kinds of cold takes on Fairy Tail. (Takes that are proven wrong simply by going through it a second time. Or a first.) And I definitely know this as a creator who has to see people butcher my works through nonsensical "interpretations."

At the same time, the argument Barthes made comes with an important caveat. He also argued that works are the products of the culture and surroundings of the author. Barthes isn’t making the argument that author’s arguments don’t matter.

As far as I can tell, Barthes doesn't take this to mean that those influences are worth analyzing. Doing so would be giving life to the author. However, there should be some recognition that a creative work didn't come to exist out of nowhere. There's a sense in which Fairy Tail didn't just wash up on the shore chapter by chapter or episode by episode. It came to be as part of the culture it came from.

Now, you'll never guess what happened. Over the years, the concept of "death of the author" lost its original intent. Nowadays, people usually only care about the third point. "Death of the author" is only brought up to dismiss "word of God" explanations of work, after its release. I'd venture to guess that most people using the term casually don't know anything about its roots. I honestly don't know how Barthes would feel about this.

I can understand what might fuel this view. A writer should do their best to write their intended meanings in a work. It would be wrong of a writer to make up for their poor writing after the fact. I don't love Mashima's "Lucy's dreams" explanation for omakes. I know Harry Potter fans don't love the stuff J.K. Rowling has said over the years.

At the same time, my (admittedly Protestant) understanding of "word of God" and "canon" is that they have the same authority. After all, the canon IS the word of God. It is a small section of what God has said, but it isn't less than that.

Of course, it's worth recognizing that nearly every writer we're talking about isn't even remotely divinely inspired or incapable of contradiction. This understanding should cut two ways. An author should never contradict their work in talking about it. Write what you want and make clear what you want to. On the other hand, writers can't fit everything they want to in a work. I'll get to this soon, but their interpretation should be treated with some value.

By the way, people will do this while throwing out the other arguments made by Barthes in the same essay. People will outright ignore the culture and context that a work comes from in order to justify their views. Creators are worshiped and praised for their works or seen as the sole problem for the bad views on works.

What worries me most about this modern interpretation of "the death of the author" is its use in fan analysis. People seem to outright not care about the author's intent in writing a story. They only care about their own interpretation of the work. Worse still, people will insist that any explanation an author gives is them covering up their mistakes. Naturally, this often leads to negative views of the work in question.

This is just something I'll never fully understand. It's one thing if you don't like something. If you don't get why something happened, shouldn't your first move be to figure out what the author was thinking? Instead, people move to the idea that it makes no sense and the writer's a hack.

If all of this seems too heady, let's try to bring this down to earth. Should Hiro Mashima die so that his readers can be born?

Hiro Mashima is one of many mangakas who were influenced by Akira and Dragon Ball. He considers J.R.R. Tolkien to be one of his favorite writers. Monster Hunter is one of his favorite game series. He's even written a manga series with the world in mind. 

It would make sense to look at Fairy Tail purely through this lens. You could see Fairy Tail as a shonen action guild story. Rather than seeing the guild as a hub for its members, Fairy Tail's members treat those within it as family. Rather than focusing on one overarching quest, the story is about how various smaller quests relating to its main characters threaten their guild. Adopting this view wouldn't necessarily be an incorrect way to engage with the series. (Mind you, I haven’t seen this view shared by many people who “kill Mashima”.)

Though, there's more to Fairy Tail than the various tropes that make it up. If you were to divorce Fairy Tail entirely from its creator, you'd miss out on understanding them. There are ways Mashima has written bits of himself into the series. Things that go farther than Rave Master cameos and references.

My favorite example is motion sickness. I often think back to Craftsdwarf mocking motion sickness as a useless quirk Dragon Slayers have. It turns out that its origin comes from his personal life. Apparently, one of his friends gets motion sickness. He decided to write this as part of his world.

This gets to the biggest reason I don't love "death of the author" as a framework for analysis. I believe the biggest question analysts should answer is why. Why did an author make certain decisions? You can't do this kind of thing well if you shut out the author's interpretation of their own work. Maybe that can work for some things, but not everything.

I've had tons of fun going through Fairy Tail and talking about it over the past seven years. More recently, I've been going through the series with the intent to rewrite the series. I've made it clear multiple times in that series that I'm trying to understand and explain Mashima's decisions in the series. I don't always agree with what I find. However, trying to understand what happened in Fairy Tail is very important to me.

It's gotten to the point that I love interacting with Mashima's writing. I talk about EZ on my main blog. I can't tell you how much fun I've been having. I'll see things and go "man, that's so Mashima" or "wow, I didn't expect that from him." HERO'S was one of my favorite things of last year and I regularly revisit it for fun. It's the simplest microcosm of what makes each series which Mashima has made both similar and distinct.

Barthes was on to something with his essay. I think there should be a sense where people should feel that their views of the media they consume are valid. This should be true even if we disagree with the author's views on the series. But I don't know that the solution is to treat the author's word on their own work as irrelevant.

There's a sense where I think we should mesh the understandings of media engagement. We recognize that Mashima wrote Fairy Tail. There are reasons that he wrote the series as we got it and they're worth knowing and understanding. However, our own interpretation of the series doesn't have to be exactly what Mashima intended. We can even disagree with how Mashima did things. 

I know fans who do this all the time. They love whatever series they follow, but wish things happened differently. Fans of Your Lie in April will joke about [situation redacted] as well as write stories where it never happens. You love a series, warts and all, but wish for the series to get cosmetic surgery, or take matters into your own hands.

And who knows? It's not as if fans haven't affected an author's writing of a series. Mashima's the perfect example. I've said this a few times before, but Fairy Tail has gone well past its original end at Phantom Lord (or Daphne for the anime fans). Levy rose to importance as fans wanted to see more of her.

Could Mashima have done that if we killed him?

Before the conclusion, I should mention another way “death of the author“ comes up. People will invoke “death of the author“ to encourage people to enjoy works they love made by messed up people. Given everything we’ve said up to this point, that’s obviously not what should be intended by its use. For now, though, I do think that we can admit that we like the works of someone even if we don’t agree with everything they did as a person. (Another rant for another day.)

In Conclusion:

“Death of the Author” is an imperfect concept, but it’s not without its points. I don’t think we should throw out the author’s intent behind a work. However, we should be able to have our disagreements with the author’s views without killing them.

[elaineiswithyou-blog]

𝐅𝐀𝐍𝐃𝐎𝐌...mha

𝐀𝐆𝐄... not comfortable with specifying but im a minor

𝐒𝐄𝐗𝐔𝐀𝐋𝐈𝐓𝐘... unlabled

𝐆𝐄𝐍𝐃𝐄𝐑 𝐈.𝐃.... demigirl (pronouns; she they)

𝐆𝐄𝐍𝐃𝐄𝐑 𝐏𝐑𝐄𝐅𝐄𝐑𝐄𝐍𝐂𝐄... male, (but idk if you do poly matchups but if you do possiby a male and a female?)

𝐌𝐁𝐓𝐈... enfp-t

𝐀𝐏𝐏𝐄𝐀𝐑𝐀𝐍𝐂𝐄... 5'11, wavy midlength black hair, dark brown eyes, tan skin, skinny asf figure, dry ass lips.

𝐅𝐀𝐒𝐇𝐈𝐎𝐍... usually oversized t-shirts (most are plain colored and others have short phrases like "hakuna matata" "self love club" "to be my own muse" "born to be wild" and stuff like that) and shorts with or without backward caps. i like tying jackets around my waist and wearing white sneakers but i hate make-up (except for chapstick) dresses, skirts and all pink outfits. if i ever wear a dress it's kind of short and i wear it with sneakers. my hair is basically always down or in a loose ponytail. my wardrobe is basically all tanktops, over-sized t-shirts, crop tops, caps, jackets, shorts and the occasional pair of denim jeans.

𝐋𝐈𝐊𝐄𝐒... music, the ocean, buzzfeed, walks/dancing in the rain, listening to music, sketching, tiktok, skate-boarding, watching tv, hanging out with friends, the arcade, caramel popcorn, green apples, pranks, lame-pick-up-lines, cinammon smell, reading, black coffee, pillow fights, white roses, the black and white aesthetic, cinemas, travelling, stargazing, martial arts and some other stuff i can't remember.

𝐃𝐈𝐒𝐋𝐈𝐊𝐄𝐒... homophobia, biphobia, racism, transpohobia, fake ppl, bullies, vitamin c pills, skirts and dresses, being alone in the dark, high heels and make-up, being judged, confined spaces, my friends and myself not being able to be ourselves because of homophobia etc., being told what to do.

𝐇𝐎𝐁𝐁𝐈𝐄𝐒... singing, writing songs, sketching, swimming and playing basketball, watching movies and playing games online, taking buzzfeed quizzes.

𝐏𝐄𝐑𝐒𝐎𝐍𝐀𝐋𝐈𝐓𝐘... social, tomboyish, athletic, easily jealous, over-protective, intimidating at first sight, chaotic, weird, coffee-obsessed, turbulent, moodswings, sleep deprived, crackhead vibes, confident when it comes to confessing to people, simp for like anyone that has two legs, im kind of a flirt and i prank people, im dirty-minded and i annoy my friends alot on purpose. my love languages are physical touch and quality time. i can be pretty stupid at times and i can be really reckless (not clumsy, reckless). im supportive, i overthink, im kind of afraid of commitment. im the type of person who gets attatched to ppl easily and then spend less time with them to get rid of the attatchment. i get pissed off easily and i have trust issues. i love pop and indie music and i mostly listen to taylor swift, ava max and maggie lindemann. when im going through something or im just in a bad mood/having a bad day, my extroverted self becomes shy and kind of gloomy. i use the same words over and over again sometimes. i love all types of affection and im the type of person who sends memes and stuff to my friends at 3am. weird thing i do : i think of blue butterflies when i get angry to calm myself down.

𝐖𝐇𝐄𝐑𝐄 𝐀𝐑𝐄 𝐘𝐎𝐔 𝐅𝐑𝐎𝐌... sri lanka, asia.

𝐅𝐀𝐕 𝐂𝐎𝐋𝐎𝐑... changes between blue, gold, red and green all the time.

𝐅𝐀𝐕 𝐀𝐍𝐈𝐌𝐀𝐋... butterflies or dolphins

𝐅𝐀𝐕 𝐒𝐏𝐎𝐑𝐓... swimming or basketball

𝐅𝐀𝐕 𝐅𝐎𝐎𝐃... seafood and junkfood

𝐃𝐎 𝐘𝐎𝐔 𝐇𝐀𝐕𝐄 𝐀 𝐏𝐄𝐓... used to have three (3) kittens but they died (D:) and now i have fish.

𝐃𝐎 𝐘𝐎𝐔 𝐇𝐀𝐕𝐄 𝐀𝐍𝐘 𝐌𝐄𝐍𝐓𝐀𝐋 𝐈𝐋𝐋𝐍𝐄𝐒𝐒𝐄𝐒: i have pstd and anxiety.

𝐃𝐎 𝐘𝐎𝐔 𝐇𝐀𝐕𝐄 𝐀𝐍𝐘 𝐒𝐈𝐁𝐋𝐈𝐍𝐆𝐒... one (1) little sister (i've always wanted an older brother tbh)

𝐈𝐅 𝐒𝐎 𝐖𝐇𝐀𝐓 𝐀𝐑𝐄 𝐓𝐇𝐄𝐘 𝐋𝐈𝐊𝐄... ngl, she drives me crazy. she's only 5 and she's adorable but she's so nosy, troublesome and everytime she pisses me off, she does this laugh that makes me even more pissed. i babysit her everyday now so its tiresome. she throws stuff at me, kicks me, puts the blame on me and all the other stuff bratty little sisters do, but at the end of the day i still love her.

𝐃𝐎 𝐘𝐎𝐔 𝐒𝐏𝐄𝐀𝐊 𝐀𝐍𝐘 𝐅𝐎𝐑𝐄𝐈𝐆𝐍 𝐋𝐀𝐍𝐆��𝐀𝐆𝐄𝐒... i speak french, greek, italian and im trying to learn spanish. english is a foreign language for me aswell because my mother tongue is sinhala.

𝐑𝐄𝐀𝐃𝐈𝐍𝐆, 𝐖𝐑𝐈𝐓𝐈𝐍𝐆, 𝐖𝐀𝐓𝐂𝐇𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐌𝐎𝐕𝐈𝐄𝐒 𝐎𝐑 𝐏𝐋𝐀𝐘𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐕𝐈𝐃𝐄𝐎 𝐆𝐀𝐌𝐄𝐒.... video games or movies, i can't pick

𝐃𝐑𝐄𝐀𝐌 𝐉𝐎𝐁... youtuber, singer or actress.

welp, sorry if this is too long!! thank you, love your work!! make sure to stay safe <33

POLY RECOGNITION 

I’d match you with....... Denki and Jiro!

I feel like your energy would fit with Denki and Jiro a lot. You and Denki probably meet and were dating before Jiro joined your group with you. You and Denki are the chaotic duo while Jiro is defiantly the more responsible one of your group. You and Denki both fluster Jiro regularly with dirty comments towards her. Jiro likes to play her guitar and watch you draw as Denki will just sit on your bed and admire how lucky he is to have such talented partners. You guys have movie date nights on the regular. Jiro and Denki are absolutely stunned at how you learned so many languages. You all constantly prank each other though Jiro doesn’t go as hardcore as you and Denki do. Jiro loves to swim with you while Denki is defiantly more into basketball, especially since he plays with his friends like Kirishima and Sero often. 

[black-streak]

Waiting for the Worms - In the Flesh?

Part 14

Happy New Decade present. Soo this part got split up as well since I got really long winded on some parts and now this is almost 3k and it was getting ridiculous. No warnings that I can think of here?

CLOSED list of people who deserve good things: @northernbluetongue @thethirdwheelfriend @shizukiryuu @theatreandcomicfreak @michellemagic @karategirl119 @moonlightstar64 @my-name-is-michell @mystery-5-5 @zalladane @queen-of-the-trash-planet-tm @miraculousdisapointment @dorkus-minimus @jardimazul @allthebooksandcrannies @g-arya @worlds-tiniest-spook-pastry @persephonescat @mycupisbroken @luciferge @18-fandoms-unite-08 @dawnwave16 @alwaysreblogneverpost @kris-pines04 @mysteriouslyswimmingfan-blo-blog @weird-pale-blonde-person @you-will-never-know-how-i-think @kokotaru @naclychilli @slytherinhquinn @clumsy-owl-4178 @ladybug-182 @darkthunder1589 @evil-elf16 @dast218 @lysslovsanime @emilytopaz @naoryllis @iloontjeboontje @thepeacetea @danielslilangel @finallyaniguana @i-like-fairytail-and-stuff @vixen-uchiha @yuulxd @bleeding-heart-romantic @magic-inthe-stars @st0rmy-w1th1n

~---~

Falling back into Marinette's body felt surprisingly gentle. It offered a sense of nostalgia from back when they use to settle in for switches back before… Well, before.

Lifting his head, Jason realized he was leaned into Marc and surrounded by the entire group all watching him wearily in a semi-circle as though to keep him from running. He had to wonder if that's what she'd been in the middle of when they swapped back. Preparing to run to him the same way he planned to hunt with Damian for her.

"What happened?" His voice came out rough and harsh around the French, having switched to English when speaking to the kid.

"Mari? Oh thank god you're back!" Chloe exasperated, moving closer to his side as Juleka spoke up.

"I thought Kagami said you lost your soulmate, but that was them, wasn't it? They're here then?"

"Did you want to find them? We can help, did you find anything out from where they were?" Marc asked next, keeping some distance.

"Horrible timing if you ask me. Must've freaked out, considering they got launched into a rogue's attack. Honestly, I can't say I blame them for taking off the way they did, or panicking when we essentially cornered them," Kagami went next.

"Ran off? Panicked? You cornered them?" Jason spoke in an almost frantic rush, "What the fuck happened?"

"Fear gas, apparently. Took us all out into lala land. Woke up to a bunch of masked guys laying all over the place. No one died, but it was a bloodbath," Juleka offered a dark smile at that, "You were gone though. Nowhere to be found, so we ran out the back door and started calling for you."

"Only when we found you, you shoved me up into a wall and started speaking in something that definitely wasn't a language you knew," Marc pursed their lips.

"Whoever they are, they stood there in a daze and suddenly tried to bolt away. Marc yanked them back and here we are. Not surprised, we are pretty intimidating," Chloe huffed, tossing her hair.

"She wasn't intimidated."

"Why wouldn't she be? Bunch of overly strong strangers crowding her in speaking in a language she doesn't understand? I'm surprised she didn't fight back more now that I think on it," Kagami gave a thoughtful hum, picking up on the pronoun use immediately and adjusting accordingly.

"She understands French just fine. It's her first language after all. English is her second. And she wasn't running away from you."

"Well then, miss know-it-all, why was she running? In a direction that was decidedly away from us," sarcasm thickly layered Chloe's tone at that.

"There's a kid in her apartment. He was shoving me out the door to go find her. She probably wanted to get back to him to make sure he didn't freak out," Jason explained, not really thinking his words through.

"Woah, what? She's got a kid? How much older than you is she?" Marc piped up.

"No, God no, not her kid, like, like a little brother or something. It's complicated. Point is, she probably felt desperate to get back to him. She wasn't intimidated by you four, hell she probably took down Scarecrow and his goons herself. Fuck, I need to find her." He rattled on at this point.

"Mari, what's going on?" Kagami finally moved closer, grabbing his hand and tilting to look him in the eye.

That's when it truly hit him. They didn't know. He never told them the truth and had assumed he never would. Had assumed his soulmate was gone forever and this particular omission would never come to light. Glancing down to where Tikki peered out from his jacket, he saw the little goddess give a solemn nod and look towards a nearby fire escape to direct him. Looking back at the people gathered around him, people who had laid their trust in him for years. Who stuck by his side all this time, never knowing the truth, looking at him with concerned eyes, he took a deep breath and prepared himself to lose them all.

"Come on, I can't have this conversation here," he gestured them forward and led the way up to the rooftops where he peered out in all directions to be sure they were alone, despite knowing the aftereffects of the miraculi made all of their senses too strong to possibly be caught unaware by a non-holder. Taking a seat on the roof edge, foot propped up against the brick and arms folded, he waited for them to gather round and settle in, either on the ledge beside him or against random pieces left up there, before he began.

"I know she understood you. She wasn't afraid or intimidated or any of those things. Wouldn't make sense for her to be. Honestly, she knows more than I do. I have no idea how she's alive. Considering she died for me three years ago."

He was met with confused looks, some more critical than others, but no one interrupted. Letting out a sigh, he decided he might as well start from the beginning.

"We switched often when we were young, but we learned to act like each other. She didn't want anyone to worry and later on, I couldn't afford for us to not switch flawlessly. No one could tell when or if we switched, though you were all aware I had a soulmate. We both lived dangerous lives. We knew the risks. Knew the consequences. We switched in the middle of her morning class three years ago, a week after her fourteenth birthday. I jolted in her seat and had a panic attack. Only a moment before, I had been held captive by the Joker. I tried to switch back, but she wouldn't let me. She held my body hostage. We'd done that before, you know. Taken an injury for the other and held on until it healed up. Been sick for one another. It wasn't that surprising that she wouldn't let me back in. And the tug calmed down, ao I assumed she was fine and going to heal up and we would switch back. Fucking stupid of me. It took a week before I realized something was wrong."

Juleka stepped in here, quiet but sure, "You're not Marinette. Are you?"

Clenching his fist, he shook his head.

"Marinette died, didn't she? She's dead?" She asked.

"Only she isn't, otherwise you wouldn't have switched today. It makes sense why you're so sure then, she would have no reason to be afraid of us," Kagami interjected before he could respond.

"I thought it was you recognizing me when you loosened your grip, but it was actually her realizing what happened, wasn't it?" Marc offered up.

"That's all good and well, but it begs the question. Why didn't you tell us?" Chloe turned towards him, slight betrayal pushing through.

Jason went quiet as they all turned to wait for his answer. How do you explain that? That the depression and guilt became too much? That you couldn't handle being treated as an outcast and stranger by the people closest to her. That you couldn't look them in the eye and tell them it was your fault that she was gone?

Tikki took this moment to come out.

"I knew. Plagg and all the other kwamis as well. He chose not to tell you. But if he hadn't, we would've stopped him ourselves. Even if he wanted to tell you, we wouldn't have allowed it."

"Why?" Kagami narrowed her eyes, flicking her gaze between her and Plagg, who had just now come out of hiding.

"At the time, we were facing an emotional terrorist. It was bad enough he could've been compromised at any given moment, was better suited to me, and had to deal with Chat all the damn time. It'd be idiotic to allow him to emotional screw all of you up. What a mess that would be," Plagg growled, looking grouchy and put out, despite a slight joy hiding in the glint of his eyes, "She's really alive?"

Tikki nodded, moving over to pull the other god into a nuzzle, "I felt it. It's definitely her."

"And after Hawkmoth was defeated?" Marc this time.

"It'd been around two years by that point. And all of us were releasing a lot of pent up anger. How well would that have gone over without the knowledge that she's alive?" Juleka cut in, saving him from having to explain.

All four of them looked to each other, having a silent group conversation, one he was left out of for once. Seemingly coming to a decision, they turned to him once more.

"So what's your name then?" Chloe demanded.

Eyebrows pinching in a weary, guarded expression, he slowly answered, "Jason. My name is Jason."

"Well then Jason, it's good to finally know who we've gotten so close to all this time," she teased.

"You're," he struggled for the word, "okay with this?"

"She's alive. Has been for who knows how long. We've worked by your side for three years now. We know you even if you weren't who we thought. Honestly, this explains a lot about some of the personality changes recently." Kagami shrugged.

"There's no use in getting upset over it now. It wouldn't help us to move forward," Marc added.

"Sure, we're hurt and annoyed and put off, but we get it. It makes sense and we're not going to hold it against you. And you heard the literal gods. You wouldn't have been able to tell us if you wanted," Chloe continued on.

Juleka nudged his side, pulling him from his shock and awe, "You know where to find her? I think I'd like to meet this new Mari."

"Y-yeah. I know where she is."

"Lead the way then," Kagami nudged him on. 

And with a small, shaky smile, taken off guard by their response, he led them back off the roofs and through the streets of Gotham towards her home.

…

Finding the place didn't take long, though he hesitated at the front door to the apartment, a shock of fear and uncertainty pulsing through for what was to come. With a nudge from behind, he knocked thrice and moved away.

After a moment, the door opened two inches and Damian peered up at him, assessing the situation and closing it an inch.

"Who are you?" 

"It's Jason," he breathed out.

The kid glared as he glared at the others behind Jason and turned ever so slightly to the side, switching effortlessly to a language he couldn't understand. A gruff response returned it and suddenly the door closed further only to open up.

"That's the same speech pattern from before!" Marc whispered excitedly.

The open floor plan of the kitchen and living room gave an open view of the dark haired figure sitting on the couch facing away from them. At his confused look, Damian spoke up.

"You need to sit down before the two of you speak. I assume you know why. You four will wait here by the door until addressed."

"Excuse me?!" Chloe gave an indignant screech.

The person on the couch tensed either and Damian growled lowly.

"We do this on our terms or you will be removed forcefully. If you're lucky, it'll be by my hand."

"Damian," the figure called, still facing away but letting off an ominous aura, as though they are aware of everything behind them without needing to see.

Damian glared and stayed in the doorway until Kagami gripped Chloe's hand and nodded their agreement.  The kid gave a huff and moved so Jason could pass. He would've just past him when he started acting up, but Jason knew better for now. Damian was closer to Marinette than any of them were and any cue from him that they were making him uncomfortable or anxious and she'd shove them out in a heartbeat. Well, the rest of them. He's not sure on himself.

Moving slowly, he moved around the far end of the couch and sat down beside her, calming himself. He could see his old body in the corner of his eye, larger and taller and way further built than it'd been the last time he saw it. A white tuft of hair curled in the front. The eyes seemed to have more green from what he could make out. His body looked very much alive. Although he was sure there were far more scars than three years ago. That was okay, hopefully she could forgive him for the scars added to her own body.

He could tell she was viewing him as well. Seeing her body as it is now, at seventeen years old and put through its own hardships and training. It felt very surreal to be sitting next to their own body, feeling like a stranger to it. No longer knowing how it would feel or react or how it moved. It was even more surreal to be sitting next to each other. Knowing that after all this time and everything they'd been through, this would be their first meeting. 

In the next minute, they would greet each other and the bond would solidify. They would either get locked in each other's body or be violently thrown back for what could very well be the last time. They couldn't know for sure which body they would settle more permanently into until they made that step though. Jason could feel the bond strengthening and vibrating between the two like a live wire, but he waited nevertheless.  This was under her terms even if he did feel like he deserved an explanation. He knew she wouldn't keep him in the dark for long, so he waited.

With a soft, almost inaudible sigh, she turned towards him at last and he mirrored her movements, meeting eyes for the first time.

Within a fraction of a second, a crackle of electricity bolted between them and they found themselves looking at the body they occupied moments before with a jolt. This time without any blackouts or confusion or yank on either of their parts. Both were glad to be sitting however as the shock wore off. As he looked at the small woman he once occupied the body of, he watched a soft smile grow on the surprisingly delicate features. How had he never noticed how she looked? He had seen that face nearly everyday for three years whether he avoided looking in a mirror or not and yet he never saw that glow to her eyes. Saw the sweetness to her smile, even when miniscule and sad. Never saw the curve of her jawline and the way her hair framed her face perfectly. How could he not notice how beautiful his soulmate was? He was in awe and he was surprised to see it reflected back at him from where he suddenly found himself looking down at her. They had moved closer as though on instinct. Reaching forward, she laced her fingers with his already partially outstretched hand and softened further as a warmth spread from their point of connection. Opening her soft pink lips, she spoke in a soft, melodic tone, one he could never manage in his time with her voice.

"Hello Jason."

"Marinette," he breathed out the name like a prayer.

Tears sprung into her eyes and with a soft laugh that doubled as a sob, she launched herself towards him, wrapping him in a tight hug and pressing her face into his shoulder.

"I'm sorry. I'm so sorry, Jason. You must be so confused and upset and angry with me and I'm so sorry you had to find out like this," she whispered soft enough he was sure even the trained and animalistic hearing in the room wouldn't catch it. Tightening his grip, he curled himself over her, unused to his new size, but taking full advantage to engulf her into his chest in a protective manner.

"It's okay. I. I would've done the same for you," he admitted.

Suddenly a small figure appeared at his side, tugging on his sleeve. Turning to look, Damian stood there, wide eyed and shaking ever so slightly, staring at Marinette.

"What's happening? Why is she crying? What'd you do to her, Jason?" The boy shot him an accusing look. Marinette must have warned him that upon meeting, she would possibly return to her old body and was able to spot the change when it occurred.

"She's just a little overwhelmed kid, relax."

"She's never overwhelmed. Marinette doesn't cry, what did you do to her?" he lashed out once more, expression growing in anger, but also fear.

She chose this moment to pull back, untangling a limb and reaching out for the kid.

"It's okay Dami, he didn't do anything wrong. I never meant to scare you," she soothed, her voice immediately smoothing out and the watery texture to her eyes retracting as if on command. Damian's shoulders came down from their hunched state as he eased forward into her grip, still darting his eyes in Jason's direction as he was drawn towards them.

Jason felt annoyance at her forcing her emotions back into a bottle for the kid but couldn't really say anything without being a hypocrite what with how he avoided the topic like the plague with the others. 

Oh shit, the others. Turning slightly, he caught sight of their bug eyed expressions, taking in the scene before them. Tapping on the back of her hand with the fingers still intertwined with hers, he caught her attention and felt as she steeled herself. Lifting her gaze towards them, demeanor calm and assessing, she looked over the group still in the entrance way. 

"You can come over now."

[goksiiiiii]

Fake Blondie changed my life - Zabdiel De Jesús

Note: This is my first imagine ever, and first time I am actually trying to write something like this. I hope it is not too bad. I am sorry for all my mistakes but I hope you understand because ENGLISH IS NOT MY FIRST LANGUAGE.

The life has never been easy. I mean, how can it been easy for a girl who doubts her worth and hates herself every day more and more? It hasn't always been like that, you were a happy child, full of energy and love for life. Unfortunately, you just didn't have luck, you bumped into wrong people, the ones that broke you. "You are actually so ugly, I mean look at your body, not only that you don't have boobs but neither do you have ass, you are so fucking flat, nobody would even fuck you and let's not talk about possibilty that someone would fall in love with you." were the words you would often hear, just in different ways. Sometimes you would hear it from your "friends", family and exes who left you after they didn't get what they wanted. It is not that you haven't been a strong girl, it has just become too much to handle. You would always wonder how they couldn't understand that you didn't have an opportunity to choose the way you would look like. It doesn't even matter because we all can be loved the way God made us.

You have moved to Miami, you were hoping for a better life. When you thought about better life you didn't mean having hookups and fucking every night different boy, no, the better life for you meant FREEDOM. You were hoping that you will be FREE, that you will be YOURSELF, you were hoping that nobody would judge you and make you feel even more shitty, if that was possible.

You got a job to work as a fashion designer for a latin boy band CNCO. It was your dream to work as a fashion designer because you have been so creative since you were very little. You were from Europe so you didn't have an opportunity to hear about them earlier. You started exploring things about them, not because you were interested in them, but because you wanted to see how they like to dress so that you can do your job well and make everyone happy. Sometimes, it seems like all you ever cared for was to make people around you happy. You have always put yourself last. It never crossed your mind that handsome boys like them would even notice you. Everyone wanted them and nobody ever wanted you, because at the end of the day you were just a flat girl. At least that's what you thought.

"I heard we will have new fashion designer" Zabdiel stated. "Oh dios mio, really?" Erick asked curiously "I really hope that we will finally be dressed up like our bodies deserve." "Carla said she will be here soon, so I will go outside to wait for her so she doesn't get lost" Richard tells the boys while heading towards exit. "It is a girl?" Christopher immediately stops playing Fortnite. "I guess, but you know, you don't need to flirt with every girl in the wolrd" Joel rolls his eyes at Chris. "Ay papa, you need to wake up man, la vida es solo una" Chris tells Joel while having a big smile on his face.

You enter the building but you don't see anyone. You try to stay as calm as you can, not allowing your anxiety to come in and ruin your dreams. As you start walking up the stairs, you bump into someone and fall down. "Oh my God are you okay?" Richard asks you worriedly "I- I- am so sorry, I was looking for our new dresser and I was in a hurry, I didn't want her to get lost." he says while helping you to get up. "In that case, I won't give you the worst clothes, I will save them for other memebers who misbehave" you tell him smiling a little. "Oh- are you-" you cut him saying "Yes. That's me" "God, I am such an idiot nena, sorry." Richard says facepalming "I almost made you break your leg on your first day." You both laugh "No need to worry, I know to be clumsy." "I am Richard and thank you for taking it easy on me and not ruining my fashion model career because of this." "I am Y/N, and don't worry, you still need to earn my trust." you said jokingly while Richard shakes head "Trust me other boys are more problematic than me, let me introduce you to them."

Richard was really nice and kind to you and you were yourself joking a bit with him, but then you remembered that you don't want to get attached to anyone. Who the hell knows what's behind that charimng smile Richard has. You don't want new friends who will hurt you at the end or even worse you don't want a boyfriend. You don't trust anyone anymore so you decided to stay as distant as you could with all the memebers from CNCO. But then you slightly shook your head and thought to yourself "Like anyone would want you anyways." A really loud and excited voice stopped you from overthinking "Oh, mamita welcome, soy Christopher, ma mas sexy of them all" he smiles at you and at that moment you wish you had his confidence.

"I am Y/N, nice to meet you." you simply say with a small smile on your face. Erick and his ugly shirt caught your attention next. "Okay you seriously need help with that." you say looking at Erick from top to the bottom. "Omg that hurts." Erick tells you while pretending to wipe a tear. He had extremly beautiful eyes and you knew it will be hard to stop staring at them. "It will be alright, no llores." you say patting Erick's back. "What's up with others? You ain't going to introduce yourselfs?" a beautiful blondie spoke up while walking towards you. "She knows me already because I almost killed her." Richard defends himself. Zabdiel gives him a confused look but decides to focus on you "Okay so, the boy who tried to kill you is Richard, the least sexy guy in here is Christopher-" "Ay papa, why so mean to me?" Chris squeals while pretending to be crying with Erick. "Oh God with who I am working." you chuckle and shake your head. Zabdiel smiles so softly at you which almost causes you to blush but you don't because you know the smile isn't for you, he is just being kind and polite, your mind tells you. "The boy who needs your help with style is Erick, the quiet one eating french fries is Joel and I am Zabdiel." he finishes introducing. "I am not quiet, I just thought she knew us." this time Joel defends himself. "I am from Europe and unfortunately Latin music is not on the big level there" you state. "Anyways I am really glad I have an opportunity to work with you guys, I know you have a concert in 3 days so we can start looking for stuff that you will wear." "Ay nena, relajate, you have time." Chris says while putting his arm around your shoulder. "You didn't tell us anything about yourself." You try your best to be kind to the boys but you were scared you will end up being hurt again. "Look, I am here to work, not to hang out with you, so please just call me when you are ready to work with me and to make an idiot of me." You exclaimed while walking out of the room. The boys look at each other in shock. "What's up with her?" Christopher asks. "No clue, but that was weird." Erick adds. "Don't be rude. We don't know her story." Zabdiel tells them. It seems like Zabdiel was the only one to notice, you are still healing your wounds.

You came to your apartment and just locked the door and threw yourself on the bed overthinking how you reacted to the boys. You knew you were so rude and that they didn't deserve it at all but you couldn't help it. You wanted to protect yourself and you thought it was a good way. But was it really? Even thought it was pretty early to sleep, it was 8pm, you just wanted to fall asleep and forget about everything. Suddenly, as your eyes start to close, you hear a bell ringing. You aren't getting up, hoping that whoever the hell it is will be gone. "Come on Y/N, we know you are in." you hear Chris' voice. "Open up please" Joel begs. You get up to open the door surprised with the fact that they found out where you live. "What the hell are you guys doing? I am trying to sleep." you say. "Sleep? At 8pm on Saturday night? Erick asks seriously. "Yea?" you state simply. "Can we come in and talk? Please." Zabdiel looks into your eyes. You quickly look away and walk away leaving the door open. The boys take that as a yes and slowly walk in.

"I have brought lots of snacks and drinks!" Richard says pointing at paper bags "We are going to make you a welcome party." You just got back into your bed and covered yourself with a blanket. "Yea, you guys have fun, just please don't break anything I literally moved in this morning." you tell them closing your eyes. "I knew that this was bad idea, we should give her time." Joel whispers to Zabdiel. "Yes, we shouldn't force her to open up, if she is not comfortable with us Zab." Erick agrees with Joel. "What, is it blame Zabdiel day or what? We haven't even tried to make her feel comfortable with us! How can she feel comfortable when there is Christopher who just comes in front of her and says "Yo I am the sexiest." I mean stop complaining and try your best to help her feel okay. She is going to be with us now every day." Zabdiel exclaimed. "Did you fall for her in like 2 hours or what?" Chris asks him with a smirk on his face. "Can you be serious at least for 1 minute? It is not always about flirting and fucking. You sometimes need to help people." Zabdiel tells him while shaking his head. "She was really happy when I bumped into her, she was so chill and I loved her humor, idk what happened later." Rich says while taking a sip of his favourite drink. Chris comes closer to you grabbing whipped cream while whispering to you slowly. "If you don't want to come to our party.... party will come to you." Chris says while spraying whipped cream all over your face and running away from you. "Christopher Damn Velez!" you shouted at him while jumping out of the bed to get your revenge but then Erick grabs you by your waist and stops you. "Run bro, run bro! I got you" Erick yells. "Erick, let me go rn or you will have an ugly style forever!" you tell him. "Y/N don't do that to me..." Erick says making a puppy face. "I am warning you!!!" you say acting seriously. Erick looks carefully at Zab coming slowly behind him and let you in his arms. "You have nothing to blackmail me with." Zab wishpers in your ear while wrapping his arms around your waist. Your body shivers at his touch and you get gooseboomps from his breath on your neck. You don't know why, but it just happens. Seems like your body was giving you signs and trying to tell you "He is the one." "Zabdiel..." you managed to say something. "You either let us introduce ourselves in real light and have good time with us or..." "Or what?" you ask "This." not even finishing the sentence he started tickling you. "N-no, n-no Zabdiel!" you exclaimed while laughing. "Stop, stop please!" you begged while tears were rolling down your face from laughing. But he didn't plan to stop, he was just tickling you even more intensively. "Then promise..." Zabdiel orders. "O-okay, te lo prometo!" you say breathing heavily. "Omg, you are such an idiot!" you tell him while throwing a pillow at him. Zabdiel didn't care about you wanting to kill him at the moment, he just knew his heart was happy because he made you smile. And if his heart and emotions could talk at that moment. They would say it was the most beautiful thing he had ever seen in his life.

"So it is sleepover then?" Joel asks. "It is." you roll your eyes playfully. "I even got stuffed animals!" Richard tells you and burst into laughter. "Omg you guys are so sweet." "OH DIOS, chicos this is our first compliment!" Chris claps his hands in excitement and everyone else make sarcastic shocked faces which causes you to laugh even more. They all light up candles and ties up balloons trying to make this interesting as much as they could. But also, they were making sure that you are comfortable and fine with everything they were doing. Zabdiel makes comfy place for you to sit next to him. "Come here." he tells you while patting the seat next to him. "No, I am still mad at you." you say trying not to laugh. "Ik how to make this even." Erick says while spraying whipped cream all ove Zabdiel's hair. "NOT THE HAIR!" Zabdiel screams. Christopher started laughing so much which made you burst into tears of laughter because his laugh was the most contagious laugh in the world. They all kept making mess throwing food at each other. "You all are going to clean this I swear." you say looking at the mess they made. "We are going to sing to you now. We will make you forget about all bad things we have done!" Joel says while smiling softly. "Oh hell no, I bet you all suck..." you say teasing them. Zabdiel raises his eyebrows at you, and you felt like your heart was just going to melt. And you were right. Erick starts slowly playing "Tu Luz" on guitar he brought here.

"Dime tú, cómo hago para captar tu atención

Sé muy bien, que en el pasado

Te han roto el corazón"

Zabdiel sings to you while tucking a piece of your hair behind your ear. He sang with so much passion, and that, together with the meaning of the lyrcis, made you get so emotional.

"Abrázame fuerte y no tengas miedo amor

Déjame explicarte..." Chris starts singing to you and his harmonies were already bringing the death to you.

"Quiero ser el que llena de felicidad

Cada espacio de soledad

Déjame ser tu luz"

they all sing together and you couldn't help it with all the emotions and their beautiful voices. "I- I- am sorry, I will be right back." you say with a low voice while crying your eyes out you run to the bathroom.

Everyone look at each other worriedly. "Zab go with her." Joel tells him. "Go see if she is okay." Richard adds. You sit down on the cold bathroom tiles leaning in the wall. You remember all the things people did to hurt you and the way Zabdiel sang to you "I know very well that in the past they have broken your heart." made you think avout all the times people came into your life to waste a couple of months and then leave you when they didn't get what they wanted. "Y/N.. please open the door." Zabdiel says while knocking on your bathroom door. You couldn't even hear him because you were overwhelmed with so many emotions at that moment and you felt like panick attack would get you soon. You try to calm down yourself but you just keep shaking and sobbing even more not realizing how loud you were getting. Once Zabdiel hears you his heart starts beating so fast "Y/N I don't care I am coming in." he tells you while opening the door. He sees you sitting down trying to calm your breathing down. Zabdiel doesn't say anything he just knees down to you and pulls you into his chest hugging you tightly. "Y/N, I am here, you are okay." Once he wrapps his arms around you body your heart starts slowly to get back in normal rhythm. He genlty grabs your face in his hand making you look at him. "Nena, it is okay, I am here, you are safe, no one is going to hurt you." he tells you looking deep into your eyes. You just nod slowly at him and hugs him tightly. You didn't know why you did that, but the only thing you knew at that moment was that you felt so safe in his arms.

After a few minutes of silence but comfortable one, you spoke up. "I am so sorry for causing such a scene in front of you and the boys." you say playing with your fingers. "I have never wanted to be rude just-" "Just you are scared to let us in your life for some reason?" Zabdiel cuts you off "You don't have to apologize for anything nena. I know how ew people can be, and how they can turn your mind against you." he tells you. "Just.. you have no idea how much I hate myself and everything about me.. I- I- don't even know why you guys want to hang out with a girl like me." you tell him while wipping your tears away." Zabdiel puts his hand on yours making sure you are okay with it. "There is absoultely nothing in you or on you that you should hate." Zab says simply. "If me and guys hadn't felt and seen that you were such a nice girl and such a great person we wouldn't even bother coming here." "I know you have every right to think I can be just some another lie, but this is me looking you right in the eyes now and promising you that we are here to protect you. I am here for anything you need. If you want to rant, go on I will listen, If you want advice I will try my best to give you great one. I am here for anything you need. Just give us a chance and we will prove to you that you can count on us." Zabdiel tells you not taking his eyes off of you. You smile at him and deep inside your heart feels that he is honest but your mind tells you to be careful. "Muchas gracias Zab, I will try my best but I hope you understand I will need time." you tell him not noticing your thumb was slighty stroking his hand. "Vale niña, we will be waiting for you. You will work with us every day, you need to get close to us sooner or later." he smiles and purposely bumps his shoulder with yours. "Now go shower, relajate and go to sleep. You need rest." You nod at him while he leaves the bathroom. Zabdiel tells his bandmates what happened and they all gave a promise that will do their best to make you feel good with them. "Can't sleep Zab?" Chris slowly whispers. "Nah." Zab replies. "You thinking about Y/N?" Chris asks. "All I know Chris is that I want to make her be able to smile without being afraid to." Zab tells Chris. "And I am sure, you will bro." Chris tells him being so confident about his words. In the morning, boys got up early to clean the mess they had made. You woke up hearing Chris' laughing about God knows what. "Ohhh, buenos dias sleeping beauty." Richard tells you. "What are guys doing?" you ask. "Nada we took a day off to help you clean." Joel answers you. "Omg, why would you that? I could do it, I was just joking last night." you tell them. "Shhh!" Erick tells you "Less talk, more work!" Erick says grabbing a brush and paint in his hands. "Are you guys like going to paint my apartment?" you ask worriedly. "Yup this place is really ugly and you need to start fresh here soo..." Erick tells you while throwing a brush at you. "Vamos a trabajo!" You just look at them in disbelief and shake your head.

"Let's start from the top." Zab says. "You know not everyone has your height." you tell him playfully rolling your eyes. Zab bends down and picks you up so you can sit on your shoulder. "What about now?" he asks. "Omg you are such an idiot." you smile. Zabdiel was happy because he was making you smile. He really liked having you close to him. "Zabdiel, bro, you have been painting the same sport for 2 minutes now, are you okay?" Chris asks while moving hand in front of his eyes. "Um- yea yea, I am fine, I was just thinking about something." Zab defends himself. You decided to distract him from his thoughts so you put a bit of blue paint on his nose. "Ohhh.... my bad, lo siento." you tell Zabdiel. "Excuse me? What was that for?" he asks while having a big smile on his face. "Nothing, it was an accident." you say trying to stop yourself from laughing. "Oh?" Zab says while putting a paint on your thigh. "This was also an accident." he casually tells you. "Zabdiel! Don't do that" you scream at the feeling of cold paint. "Do what?" he acts innocently. You use your brush and this time paint his hair. "Here, it is better, I didn't like blonde anyways." you say. "Oh my God, oh my God, you are so bad." he says while bringing you down and pushing you to the wall. Zabdiel starts moving his hair on your face. "Zabdiel! Detener!" you yell at him while laughing so much. "Oh, I love this new look of you." he says while smirking at you. "I swear you will stay bald." you try to seriously tell him. "Nah, my stylist won't let it happen to me." he says looking deep into your eyes. "Oh really? We will see." you tell him. Zabdiel's heart was beating fast and his breathing was getting heavier. He wished nothing more than to press his lips against your. He was trying to refrain especially because of the deep talk you two had last night. "I swear I dropped my ring in here-" Richard enters the room looking for the ring he lost. Chris notices you two being close to each other pressed against the wall. "We are sorry!" Chris tells you two while grabbing Richard's hand and dragging him out of the room. "Um, let's get cleaned." Zab says trying to ease the tension. "Vale." you tell him kinda thankful for Richard and Chris entering the room because you felt like if Zabdiel wasn't going to kiss you, you would do it instead. After you and boys finished painting they decided to go out with you to show you Miami a bit. "I swear Erick just kept eating the whole day, he hadn't painted anything." Joel complained. "OMG bro stop lying." Erick tells him. "This man is a liaaaar, this man is a liaa a a a r" Richard starts singing. "Madre mia, are you guys this childish every day?" you ask curiously. "What is it supposed to mean?" Chris asks while crossing arms like a kid. "Nada." you say giving up. "Nah, I swear we are normal." Zabdiel says. "Pff, yes especially you." you tell him while looking at the sunset on the beach. Other boys went to grab something to eat while Zabdiel told them he is not hungry and that he will stay with you. As you were enjoying the feeling of walking barefoot on the wet sand you see your ex friend. Well, more like ex friend with benefits. "Y/N?" Marco says. "Is that you?" he says coming close to you. "Um- yeah hi." you tell him smiling awkwardly. Marco was your friend in highschool. You guys would always have such a great time together. He was so sweet to you and whenever someone bothered you he would try to make you forget about it giving you the best pleasure ever. He was simply good in the bed. That lasted until everyone discovered you two were fucking. After they found out, people started teasing him how he couldn't find a better bitch to fuck and then he threw you away like a garbage. "Omg I haven't seen you for ages!" he says. "Who is this?" he asks pointing at Zabdiel. "He is a friend." you tell him. "With benefits? New one? Is he better than me?" Marco kept asking dumb questions which embarassed you so much. You didn't want Zabdiel to think you were just another girl wanting to fuck every second boy.

You were a teenager and at that time, that was the only way for you to escape the reality. "No Marco!" you yell. "That's in the past, I am not a kid anymore and I am not wasting my time on it. I am actually trying to find someone who is worth to love and not just to fuck. I am trying to have a normal life. Maybe you should do it too." you tell him while grabbing Zabdiel's hand and walking away from him. "Yeah good luck with that, hole is hole for every boy no matter how ugly you are." Marco shouts. Zabdiel was going to run after your ex friend but you stopped him. "I am so sorry about that." you tell Zab completely embarassed. "It is fine." he says. "But what's not fine is the way he was talking to you. It is so disgusting. I am literally disgusted with all males." Zabdiel tells you. "Dw about it, I am really used to it." you sigh. "No, damn it, you are the most chill and beautiful girl I have ever seen. And I don't even care what you say but I don't know what is better about you, how hot and beautiful you look or your incredible personality." he tells you speaking so quickly. Zabdiel couldn't handle this all and before you got a chance to answer him he asks "Is he your type?" You look at him confused but answering anyways. "No, honestly I don't know even who is my type. They all end up hurting and breaking me at the end." you say looking at the sea. "I don't want you to think I am girl like that, you know, just looking for someone to have sex with for one night-" "No, Y/N I know you are not." Zabdiel simply says. "I know you are much more than that." "Thank you Zab." you tell him smiling a little. "So let's say, a Puerto rican, 22 years old, fake blondie wanted to be your type, what would you say?" he asks you looking at your hands on your lap. This time, both your mind and heart were telling you that he was the one. The right one. "I love fake blondies." you tell him biting your lip trying not to smile so much. Zabdiel quickly moves his head up to look at you smiling so much. "So this fake blondie wants to ask you if you could give us a try?" he says. You nod at him putting a hand on his cheek slowly stroking it with your thumb. Zabdiel puts his forehead on yours and slowly moves his lips to yours, kissing you softly and passionately. "I will make you happy nena, I promise you." he tells you pulling away and bringing your hand next to his heart. "You have already done it, you have changed my life for such a little time." you tell him smiling for the first time without being afraid that you will end up being hurt. "LENGUA KISS! WE WANT LENGUA KISS!" boys shout while running to hug you both. The moment Zabdiel hears their voices, he knows whats is comping up, so he quickly grabs your hand and make you two run into the water of calm ocean.

He changed your life. He made you feel like a queen. His queen.

Sometimes you need to go through a lot of pain and experience awful things to be happy. "You will be happy" said life "but first I will make you strong."

Thank you for reading!:)

Please message me and tell me what do you think about my first work ever. Ly xx

[maxdark158]

PART TWO OF BEING INSPIRED AND WRITING ANYWAY

PLEASE check out the amazing @ozmav my friend!! AMAZING!!

Characters are probably OOC because MLB is a kids show and you guys liked stressed and cursing Damian so I kept that going even though it’s probably OOC

Angel in Gotham: Part 1 ~ Part 2 ~ Part 3 ~ Part 4 ~ Part 5 ~ Part 6 ~ Ao3

Demon in Gotham: Part 1 ~ Part 2 ~ Part 3 ~ Part 4 ~ Ao3

Fanart for AiG: Riddler ~ Joker thank you @thegreysman

Please tag me in any fanart you draw for this guys ^^

oooOOOooo

Damian tried to ignore his phone after checking it for the thirteenth time. But who was counting?

He was, actually. Because it seems the stupid worry feeling will never fucking go away! It took root, and it’s only growing. Damian wondered if drinking weedkiller works on emotions. The bitches.

He wasn’t even that worried initially! Sure, he wanted his An- Marinette to text him when she got to the hotel, but that was just… a friend thing. It’s what friends ask! And they were friends.

Damian wasn’t worried on the car ride to the manor, he had only checked his phone once then. When his father questioned him about The Riddler incident, he was thoroughly distracted and didn’t check at all. After he left the room he checked twice in one minute just to make sure he didn’t miss anything in the first check.

He checked sparsely while training briefly, adding up to eight… okay, maybe not so sparsely. But at this point the awful god damn plant had grown a mouth and it was gnawing on his sanity, bugging him every moment of peace he had.

Damian was getting really fucking sick of this whole worry business. It was awful! Why did Grayson partake in it for so many years? Why did anyone?

He was beginning to understand his classmates’ sense of humor now. But “I want to ka-shoot myself,” was not as funny as they thought it was.

Damian was so busy thinking about worrying and getting more worried – the fucking circle of life – that when he checked his phone for the fourteenth time, he realized he missed a message from Marinette.

Angel: I’m at the hotel now.

Thank fuck. Damian banished all the worry from his mind – leave, motherfucker – and typed out a response.

Damian: That’s good

Damian: Did you get in trouble?

Wait fuck the worry wasn’t gone. He wanted to smack the phone against his head. Or break his thumbs for typing that without his permission.

Angel: Professor Mendeleiev must’ve been tired or something.

Angel: She didn’t leacture

Damian bit his lip. Marinette needed to work on her English.

Angel: Lecture?

Damian: *lecture

Angel: Quiet, English is hard

He could fucking understand that! It may have been long ago but Damian had to learn once too, ya know.

Damian: Understandable.

Damian: In my original question I meant any of your classmates btw

Holy fucking shit his thumbs would be cut off by sunlight he swears to all the justice league members-

Angel: btw?

Angel: Oh by the way

Damian: yeah

Angel: I’m good at text slang in French, okay

Damian: I don’t doubt you

He really didn’t. Marinette seemed intelligent if The Riddler incident had anything to say about it.

Angel: Anyway Alya tried to bother me but I’m good now

He frowned. Alya? She hadn't told him about her.

Angel: Professor Mendeleiev told her off for bothering me after my ‘traumatic’ encounter with a Gotham villain

Damian: Speaking of, are you SURE you’re alright Angel

Damian sighed, letting his head drop. Okay, fucking fine he was still fucking worried and he hated it. His thumbs weren’t to blame, his fucking emotions were.

He pulled up Google to look up liquid weedkiller when his Ang- Marinette texted back.

Angel: I’m fine

Angel: I’ve survived akuma for three years, I’m not about to let some riddle fanatic with terrible clothing choices ruin my day

Damian: His clothes are that bad?

Good, subject change. Maybe he can stop fucking worrying.

Angel: Too much green, for one

Angel: Green shouldn’t be used in large portions when it’s that bright of a shade

Angel: Also the cloth itself was cheap, but the kind of cheap meant to look expensive if you don’t know cloth good

Damian frowned. That was so fucking obvious. Surely she didn’t actually make that mistake…

Damian: *well

Angel: Whatever

Angel: Also his hat didn’t match the type of suit he was wearing

Angel: If he wants to go old fashioned he should at least match the time period

Angel: Longer coat, more layers

Angel: He is an atrocity

Her comments were appreciable though. He could see where she came from.

Damian: he is

Angel: If I had time to cry then my tears would had been blood

Damian: *have

Damian grinned. If Marinette didn’t want her fucking grammar fixed she should learn how to spell in English.

A different motherfucking bitch of an emotion appeared at that thought. He didn’t like that one either. It made him feel bad for being mean.

Angel: istg

Damian: It appears you’re learning

Angel: Yepp

Damian: Also the Gotham news posted an article online about you

Might as well bite the bullet, right?

Damian: “Unnamed Teenager From France Holds off The Riddler Until Batman Arrives!”

Angel: Wait what?

Angel: But we both held him off?

Damian: I was kind of useless, you did most of the work

God damn it! Damian thought he told that emotion to get the fuck out! He was fucking Robin he isn’t useless, he just happened to not be needed at that exact moment.

Damian: I left shortly after you solved his riddle because the Robins had arrived

He grumbled to himself. He hated emotions. It wasn’t like he hadn’t ever felt them before, but they were easier to ignore. This girl made them hard to ignore, and Damian wasn’t sure why.

He did know that he fucking hated it.

After a moment, he realized h- Marinette hadn’t replied for a few minutes.

Damian: You there?

Angel: Yeah. I was just reading the article

Good. He didn’t want anything to happen- motherfucking dammit.

Angel: The Riddler was bad at hand to hand combat. It was easy to take him down with the practice I have from Paris

Damian: I bet.

He saw the time on his phone. Marinette had more field trip stuff tomorrow morning, right? Shouldn’t she get to bed?

Damian: It’s getting late, Angel. We should go to bed.

Damian: Goodnight

Angel: Goodnight

Angel: Also I’ll find a chat name for you soon, promise

Damian’s smile felt weird on his face but unlike the god damn worry and fucking other emotions, he didn’t hate the feeling of it.

After replying, he prepared to get dressed for his patrol as Robin.

oooOOOooo

“Sooo, Robin,” Drake dropped down next to him. “Want to share why you were at that ice cream parlor with that pigtailed French girl?”

“Fuck off,” is Damian’s extremely eloquent response. He can say it in many different languages.

“Wait, Demon Spawn has a girlfriend?” fucking Todd over the fucking comms in his fucking awful Red Hood suit. At least his current helmet didn’t have the fucking lips.

“No, I don’t-“

“I’m trying to figure that out, Red Hood, so would you kindly butt out of the conversation.”

“Of course Red Robin, good luck getting anything out of him though.”

“I don’t have a fucking girlfriend you numbskulls,” Damian hissed through the comms.

“Wait what’s this about a girlfriend, Robin?” Grayson’s overexcited cheerleader voice screamed. Damian wanted to rip out his eardrums.

“Red Robin, I thought I instructed you to leave him alone about this,” finally, his father, for once being a fucking voice of reason, speaks on the comms.

“Bruce you said I should wait until he admits to having a girlfriend,” Drake sounded too smug, Damian wanted to cut it off his masked face. “We know that isn’t going to happen.”

“I hate this fucking family,” Damian hissed.

oooOOOooo

Marinette hadn’t missed her field trip this time. Or had she? Maybe she slept in really fucking late. Damian didn’t know. He didn’t know what her sleeping schedule was like.

She could have also been captured or killed. Those were not fun thoughts. The fucking worry was back, like a virus. Damian anxiously awaited his weedkiller.

She likely wasn’t kidnapped or dead. His father would have known by now and would have told him. He hopes. If his father didn’t tell him he’s a fucking asshole.

“Master Damian.”

“Yes?” he turned around to face Alfred, grateful to be away from the god damn brain-eating plant in his head.

“I simply wanted to prevent you from walking into that wall,” Alfred gestured behind Damian.

He glanced and – yep. Fucking hell. He almost walked into a wall because of the god damn weed of an emotion forcibly taking his mind hostage.

He was having a grand ol’ time.

“Perhaps you would like to go for a drive?” Alfred asked, a single brow raised.

Damian hesitated. “Alright. Where do you want to go?”

“We can figure it out in the car, Master Damian.” Alfred went to grab the keys and his shoes. Damian checked on when his weedkiller would arrive.

A week.

Fucking fuck fuck.

He should have paid for one-hour shipping.

“Are you ready to go, Master Damian?”

“Yes.”

Alfred didn’t try to talk to him during the drive, for which Damian was grateful though. He hated this emotion thing, and people forcing him to talk made it so much worse.

His phone buzzed. Damian pulled it out and checked it.

Angel: Kill me now

His eyes widened. What happened? Is she okay? Did someone- god fucking motherfucking dammit bitch.

Damian: What’s wrong?

Stupid god damn worry.

Angel: We have to all get lunch as a class before I’m free

Angel: I’m in the group with Liar Rossi

Damian raised a brow. Marinette hadn’t told him much about this girl in her class, but he knew she lied and nobody but Marinette knew she lied.

He didn’t like her.

Angel: Death would be sweatier

Damian: *sweeter

Angel: Rude

Damian: Anyway

Damian: You can’t die yet

Damian: We still technically didn’t get ice cream

Absolutely wonderful excuse you fucking asswhipe. Damian should be a politician with that reasoning.

He looked around, recognizing the streets. They were a bit weird from the actual street instead of the rooftops, but-

Damian: Also you’re at the Gotham City Heroes and Villains Museum right?

Angel: Yes I am

Damian fought to keep the smi- self-satisfied smirk off his face. Bingo.

Damian: I’m nearby

Damian: I can pick you up for lunch

Angel: OMG really? Please do I’d really really like that

Damian: omw

“Alfred,” Damian leaned up toward the front seat. “Head to the Gotham City Heroes and Villains Museum? I’d like to pick someone up.”

“Of course Master Damian,” Alfred’s tone didn’t betray anything about his thoughts, but for some reason that was calming to him.

The car drive to the museum was fairly short, if Damian was honest. They were only a few minutes away to begin with anyway.

When they arrived, Damian saw a redhaired girl with glasses yelling at his An- Marinette. At Marinette. He couldn’t hear what Marinette had said, but it must have been good. The red-haired girl’s jaw fucking dropped. The people behind her looked fucking dead.

Priceless.

Marinette saw him and he waved. Alfred unlocked the door, and Marinette got in. She didn’t look back at her classmates' faces as Alfred drove away.

Shit. Something must have happened. He wasn’t good with emotions though, after all he ordered weedkiller to see if he could get rid of fucking worry.

So, Damian Wayne did what any Wayne would do when faced with emotions.

Ignore them.

“Where would you like to eat, Angel?” Damian asked.

Shit, fuck, too insensitive.

Marinette shrugged. “I’m not sure, I don’t know what’s here.”

She sounded so goddamn miserable-

Damian frowned. “Angel, you okay?”

Fucking shit, stupid mouth. Learn the fucking rules. He should be banned from fucking talking.

“I’m okay,” she mumbled. “I’ve got a lot on my mind right now.”

Damian wanted to press the issue but decided against it. If he was happy when Alfred didn’t make him talk feelings, maybe Marinette would be too.

He was a friend first – wait first before what, exactly?

“Alfred, can you take us to the nearest,” he glanced at Marinette. “four-star restaurant?”

“As you wish Master Damian.”

He hoped Marinette didn’t feel out of place, but he wanted to lift her spirits. She deserved to smile – that was a weird fucking sentence what the fuck?

Damian is pretty sure he’s losing his marbles.

“I know,” Marinette suddenly blurted out. “I know you’re Damian Wayne.”

Fucking fuck fuck.

Shit. She’s probably pissed he didn’t tell her-

“I just want you to know that doesn’t change anything. You’re still my friend, and I don’t care who your dad is and who you are.”

Damian gaped at her for a moment before shaking his head. He should have fucking told her, he’s an ass. “I’m sorry you had to find out on your own. I should have told you-”

Marinette interrupted, “you didn’t have to. You don’t owe me that.”

He was confused. What?

She didn’t want to know who he was right off the bat? She was okay with that secret?

“As a stranger or even a friend, you don’t owe me any details about who you are. Ever,” Marinette told him. “You’re allowed to keep secrets and not tell me things you aren’t comfortable sharing. It isn’t fair of me to demand you tell me everything.”

Holy fucking shit.

This… this woman…

“Thank you,” he said earnestly. “I… nobody’s ever said secrets are okay…”

Marinette shrugged. “I can’t help if I feel left out, but forcing you to tell me everything isn’t how friendship is supposed to work. If you don’t want to tell me, it’s okay.”

Damian’s smile was small, and it felt a bit out of place on his face. He couldn’t find it within himself to care.

“Perhaps instead of a restaurant, I can take you both to the mansion for your lunch?” Alfred, the god damn traitor, suggested.

He wanted to say ‘have you lost your god damn marbles, Alfred?’ but he didn’t.

Instead, he said, “You sure Alfred?” like a fucking loser.

Marinette glanced at him. “You don’t have to if you aren’t comforta-”

“No, it’s not that,” he assured. Why would she think he was uncomfortable? His brothers were menaces, but he was used to them! Marinette, however... “My brothers can be… rambunctious.”

Drake and Todd were going to have a fucking field day, especially after what they pulled last night over the comms. He was lucky Grayson was working today. But those two motherfuckers…

Marinette smiled. “I can handle them if that’s the only reason you’re nervous.”

Damian thought for a moment.

Fucking fuck fuck.

He hoped she could. Because if they caused her any unnecessary harm or discomfort he would murder their asses.

With pleasure too.

But one look told Damian that he wouldn’t need to. This girl was going to be the death of him. He hoped the weedkiller was miraculously early.

He sighed. “Alfred, please talk us to the mansion.”

“My pleasure, Master Damian.”

Fucking fuck fuck.

[a-random-french-girl]

Some people asked me what was my favorite version of Frozen, if I preferred the French version because I’m French or the English version because it’s the original version

I always answer: well, it’s not really the same movie

And they’re like ???

Let me explain!

The two versions are really different from one another due to the fact that we have to translate what is said and then try to sync it with the characters’ lips

And in France we loooove butchering movies and their plots

The thing is, you have two types of translation: translating the movie perfectly but losing the musicality of it (that would be for example the French Canadian version) and “translating” the movie and have something that sounds great

They didn’t do it for Frozen though, I’m actually sad for the québécois because Elsa’s singer is the French voice actress, which doesn’t make any sense, when Anna and Elsa sing together, they don’t even have the same “accent”! (We can’t really talk about an accent here, it’s just that they prononce the same word differently, we tend to merge certain syllables in French like instead of saying “je te l’ai dit” we say instead “j’te l’ai dit”, French Canadians don’t really do that) so it’s sooo weird!

But back to the main point, I will admit it guys, at first, I didn’t like Frozen *gaps* WAIT COME BACK, LET ME EXPLAIN

Okay, I didn’t like Frozen because the plot didn’t make any sense! And then 6 years later, Frozen 2 came out and I was like “hey, let’s watch the first movie again but in English this time” and gooood, it was better (plus, I didn’t speak English back in 2013! So that’s why I watched it in French back then!)

Most characters in the French version are so angry and bitter that I’m like “guys, just chill” and they’re so paradoxical at the same time!

I wanna share with you an extract of my favorite song, for the first time in forever reprise

Look at this:

I’m such a fool I can’t be free —> ni libérée, ni délivrée (neither free nor...free, French is so stupid, I love it. It’s a reference to let it go which is translated in French by “libérée, délivrée” just imagine the English translation, freeee, freeeee I’ll never lie again! (Yes Elsa said that in French...))

No escape from the storm inside of me —> dites moi comment ne pas désespérer (tell me how to not lose hope, okay, that’s not what she said but hey, at least it’s the right emotion)

I can’t control the curse —> Ce don est si intense (this gift is so intense (big mistake here, come on people, have you seen the movie? Gift??? ELSA HATES IT)

Anna please you’ll only make it worse —> toutes ces belles promesses n’ont pas de sens (all these fine promises make no sense, sounds a bit accusatory. Like “Anna you say these things but I call bullshit”)

There’s so much fear —> ce sera pire (it will be worse, okay, you missed a crucial feeling there. She is scared. She is panicking)

You’re not safe here —> tu vas souffrir (you’re going to suffer, okay, you missed something there too. They actually already failed it a bit earlier in the song too, in English, she clearly says “I’m the danger here, you should stay away” I’m French she is like “you’re in danger! For some reason! Don’t mind me I’m here! OH LOOK! ICE! TOLD YOU YOU WERE IN DANGER” ah and also, you’re going to suffer? It’s a weird thing to say, it sounds like a threat, or even worse, like a promise. Dark Elsa is the main character in French)

But that’s not only it! Now I’m going to talk about let it go, oh wait my bad, free free

Some lyrics are...uh, wrong. Or even worse, I don’t even know what they mean

“The wind is howling like this swirling storm inside” Le vent qui hurle en moi ne pense plus à demain (the wind howling inside me doesn’t think about tomorrow anymore...err, really poetic, but...what? Indeed Elsa, I’m sure it doesn’t...)

“Don’t let them in, don’t let them see, be the good girl you always have to be” cache tes pouvoirs, n’en parle pas, fais attention, le secret survivra (hide your powers, don’t talk about them, be careful, the secret will survive. Okay nice but in the English version, she is sarcastic, she is angry, she is slightly blaming her parents. Where is it in French?)

“Conceal don’t feel, don’t let them know, well now they know” Pas d’états d’âme, pas de tourments, de sentiments (no qualms, no torment, no feelings. Okay, YOU FAILED THIS TIME, there’s no evolution in Elsa’s behavior! After that, she says she is free, sounds a bit random! And when she removes her gloves, in the French version you’re like “ah? She changed her mind? Err cool I guess. I was so confused back then. Elsa pretty much says “I’m sad, I have to stop feeling, I’M FREEEEE”)

But even worse, they changed the characters: for example, Anna

Not sweet Anna T_T I mean, in the English version, she is sooo forgiving (a bit too much some might say)

But I don’t know guys, in French she sounds a bit selfish and accusatory, it’s gonna be hard to explain but bear with me

In for the first time in forever reprise, or le renouveau in French (the resurgence, but it also means the return of Spring , French can be really poetic sometimes)

She says things like “you have no right to run away from me like this” instead of “you don’t have to keep your distance anymore”, a weird thing to say with a gentle voice. But also, that’s not what she said??? Then Anna says “ because for the first time in forever, I finally understand”, it wouldn’t have worked in French after this sentence, so instead she says “because I want to celebrate this resurgence, that will change your fate” err okay, whatever you want Anna. And fate? Well technically the translation is destiny. It gives the impression that Elsa was doomed like a main character in a Shakespearean tragedy. You’re so a drama queen Anna. Didn’t you hear her sing at the top of her lungs at the top of that mountain? She is free, she is happy, well, temporarily but she is! ...It’s a miracle it didn’t set off an avalanche. It’s your fate that wouldn’t have been good.

And like, for some reason, she loves saying what she wants “I want to celebrate this resurgence” “I’d like a snowman”, what about your sister?

“We will free ourselves from this burden” instead of “we will head down this mountain together” wtf does it mean Anna? Is this burden Elsa’s powers? Or the secret? You’re confusing girl

“You plunged the entire country into an eternal winter” instead of “You kind of set off an eternal winter everywhere” she is sooo awkward about it in English because she doesn’t want to scare her off or hurt her feelings. In French? Pffft, subtlety? That’s for the weak. You did this Elsa, congratulations. No beating about the bush.

I’m not saying the translators did a bad job, their job is super hard and they actually nailed it on lots of things but yeah, when I talk about French Elsa, I feel like I’m talking about someone else. It gets even worse when you read French fanfictions. So which version is the best? None! (English, definitively English), that’s why I was able to watch this movie 6 times (yes, now it’s 6) in so many languages, it’s really fun to see how translators decided to translate certain things, and decided what was important for the plot, or not

Anyway, I felt like sharing this piece of information with you guys! Btw, my post is partly based on a French video made by LinksTheSun, about Disney songs. It has English subtitles so you should check it out, it’s actually really fun

https://youtu.be/2jo5u0TBpJM

Oh and of course, I have to share with you the French version of For The First Time In Forever Reprise, which is too great to miss out: https://youtu.be/z7mEF7gRGik

Wow you made it till the end! Thank you!

Here’s a stupid meme for your trouble:

[mikauzoran]

LuXY/Lukadrien/Lukadrienette: Welcome to La-La Land: Chapter Four

@luxyweek

Welcome to La-La Land: Chapter Four: Kwami “Swap”

“Dude. I can’t believe you’ve never had nacho cheese,” XY snorted, sounding personally insulted at this failure on Luka’s part.

Luka winced. “I’m sorry?”

“Don’t worry. I’m coming over there to fix this,” XY assured. “Where are you? The Liberty? Your place?”

“My apartment, but—”

“—No buts,” XY cut him off. “Six-Strings, this is an emergency. I’ll be right there.”

XY rang off, and all Luka could do was wait. He’d learned over the past two months of hanging out with Xavier-Yves Roth that once XY got an idea in his head, he was going to act upon it, and no one could stop him.

Luka got up off of his couch and went to change into something more flattering than the laundry he’d been lounging around the flat in.

 “What kind of cheese is this?” Luka frowned at the golden liquid drowning the tortilla chips.

XY shrugged and replied with a full mouth, “Velveeta, I think.”

Luka blinked, pulled out his phone, and opened up a Google search.

“…Velveeta is not a cheese,” he hissed a minute later once he’d read the Wikipedia article.

XY frowned. “Sure it is. America is known for this stuff. It’s even more popular than American cheese.”

Luka pinched the bridge of his nose, imagining how Plagg would shriek if he found out. “I have a friend who would be personally offended if he heard you call this cheese. Like, he’d go on the rant.”

XY waved away Luka’s protestations. “Try it already. It’s delicious.”

With a sigh, Luka picked up a chip laden with the cheese-adjacent substance and brought it to his lips. It definitely wasn’t as bad as he’d been expecting, but the suspect origin of the product kind of unsettled him. He preferred his food fresh and from an identifiable source. Maybe he’d been spoiled on getting his food from street markets and local cheese mongers and butchers, but this super-processed, plastic-looking not-cheese kind of weirded him out.

“It’s okay,” he allowed, taking another bite and trying to get over himself. “Thank you for sharing.”

“‘Okay’?” XY snorted indignantly. “Dude, this is a delicacy from my homeland. It’s more than just okay. Your taste buds are whack.”

Luka paused with another chip halfway to his mouth, and a glob of the “cheese” dribbled off the side, landing with a splat on the kitchen table. “Wait. Your homeland? But…you’re French.”

XY’s eyebrow shot straight up into his hairline. “Dude. I’m American.”

Luka blinked. “No, you’re not. Xavier-Yves, your name is French. You speak French. You’ve lived here your whole life.”

“Uh, noooo.” He sang the word on an upswing. “Six-Strings, what’s my dad’s name?”

Luka frowned. “…Bob Roth?”

It suddenly occurred to him that that wasn’t a typical French name.

“Right.” XY nodded. “My mom’s French, but my dad is American. He had to take French in high school, and when his class went on a trip to Paris, he fell in love with the place, so he was back and forth a lot after that. That’s how he met my mom.”

“Oh,” Luka remarked, suddenly feeling rather dumb for never having known this about a guy he’d been periodically making out with for two whole months.

“I was born in the Bronx and didn’t move to France until I was ten. Why do you think my French sounds so funky?” XY laughed at himself. “My mom spoke to me in French a little when I was a kid, but my parents divorced when I was really young, and she moved back to France, so I didn’t start learning French for real until I was ten. I know I speak it all the time now because I’ve pretty much lived here the past twenty years, but it’s not my first language. I didn’t learn it at home, so it’s not, you know, natural like it probably was for you.”

“Oh,” Luka repeated, seeing XY’s occasionally odd speech patterns in a new light.

Luka knew from his experiences learning Russian and English that no matter how good you got at a second or third language, it was never quite the same as speaking your mother tongue.

A thought occurred to Luka: “But…wasn’t it hard, transitioning from school in the US to school in France, if you didn’t speak French?”

XY gave a mirthless snort. “Hell yeah, it was. I had to go to special classes the first few years, and by the time I was ready to join the French school system, kids my age were way ahead of me, so I got put with a class of younger kids.”

Luka winced, trying to imagine how ostracizing that must have been to be dumped in a country where he didn’t speak the language, didn’t have any friends his age, didn’t have a supportive parent.

“I’m sorry. I bet that was awful,” he mumbled hollowly, not sure what else to say.

He felt bad for sometimes thinking that XY was kind of dumb. Luka had thought that maybe XY wasn’t inclined to academia and that his father hadn’t helped matters, but from the situation that XY described, it sounded like things had been stacked against him from the start. No wonder XY hadn’t thrived in that situation.

XY nodded, scooping up more yellow gloop onto a chip. “I hated it. I quit school as soon as I could when I was sixteen, and then I started focusing on my music for real—well…that wasn’t really until I was eighteen, after the incident with you, but…sixteen was when I started putting out tracks and made my debut and everything.”

“I don’t blame you for quitting,” Luka hummed, picking up a tortilla chip and tapping it against the plate to get some of the excess goo off. “I probably would have quit as soon as possible too…. Do you ever think about going back to the US?”

XY shrugged. “As much as I miss America, Paris is kind of my home now. I go back to visit every year, and I’ve toured there before for stretches, but I think I’m happy in Paris.”

He gave Luka a look that felt almost soft as he added, “My life is here.”

“Yeah,” Luka agreed. “I could visit other places, but I couldn’t stay away too long. My family is here…and all the people I care about.”

XY nodded. “…Speaking of your fam, they’ve never had nacho cheese either, have they?”

“Prune, I’m sorry to slight your cultural heritage, but you’re not feeding my family this stuff. Juleka will hate you,” Luka warned, trying to cut things off before it got to that point.

“Hate me more,” XY corrected. “Rose and your ma would probably get a kick out of it, though.”

Luka hummed as he picked up another chip and tapped off some of the cheese-impersonator. “Maman is part Scottish on her mother’s side, so she grew up eating gross things like sheep offal wrapped in stomach. She probably wouldn’t have a problem with this…uh…Velveeta…substance. Rose, however, being a Frenchwoman, might be offended that this product is masquerading as cheese.”

XY shrugged. “I’ll make nachos for Anarka to try, and the rest of us can have Taco Tuesday. Rose is a little carnivore. She’ll love it.”

“Taco Tuesday?” Luka repeated, tipping his head to the side.

“Yeah. It’s like a religious holiday in America for people who don’t have a religion. Every Tuesday we have Mexican food,” XY explained.

Luka frowned, mentally questioning the authenticity of the “Mexican” food but afraid to challenge XY again. “Everyone in the US does this?”

XY nodded. “It’s a big deal. They make t-shirts.”

Somehow Luka had missed this aspect of US culture.

“Oh! I almost forgot,” XY exclaimed suddenly. “After we clean up, remind me that I have a surprise for you.”

The surprise turned out to be leather pants.

XY hijacked Luka’s bathroom and came out wearing leather pants with a cyan, teal, and dark green pattern.

It was a pattern Luka knew well, and not only because he was romantically involved with the designer.

“They’re based on Viperion’s suit!” XY informed needlessly, doing a little turn to show off the backside.

XY had a magnificent backside, and the leather pants only flaunted this fact.

“You know. The snake hero?” XY pressed, and Luka realized that he was waiting for a response.

“Yeah. I remember him,” Luka assured, admiring the way the material clung to XY’s thighs.

It was an aesthetically pleasing sight.

“You really rock those, by the way,” Luka added, knowing the praise would be appreciated.

As expected, XY puffed out his chest and strutted with a little more confidence and attitude.

“Yeah, I do look pretty dope, don’t I?” He crowed.

“Very dope,” Luka affirmed, checking out XY’s calves.

In all honesty, Luka found that a person’s butt was the physical feature that most attracted him after he’d fallen for someone emotionally. Marinette did this butt wiggle that made Luka lose his mind, and Adrien in skinny jeans was akin to a religious experience.

XY definitely had a nice butt.

“That dude was always my favourite,” XY remarked, pulling Luka from his thoughts. “I always thought Viperion+ was super cool.”

“Y-You did?” Luka could feel his face starting to color.

“Mmhm.” XY turned again and started on another lap of Luka’s living room. “I was really excited when Jagged mentioned that his niece made these Viperion-inspired pants. I got a pair for you too.”

All the warm fuzzies immediately fled from Luka’s system.

Maybe XY would-n’t make him put them on now.

“I want to see you in them,” XY quickly squashed that hope, going over to his bag and pulling out a pair for Luka. “Go change,” he instructed, tossing the pants so that Luka had no choice but to catch them.

“Thanks,” Luka replied, attempting to sound excited. “That’s really thoughtful of you.”

Luka headed to the bathroom to change, hoping that XY wouldn’t recognize him just from the lower half.

“Niiiiiiice!” XY cheered, giving Luka a wolf whistle as he came back into the front room. “Give us a turn. I want to see that tush.”

“Oh my gosh,” Luka groaned, covering his face with his hands as he turned around as asked.

XY stiffened, staring dumbly at Luka’s butt. He bit out a guttural curse.

Luka dropped his hands and turned to look at XY in concern. “What? What happened?”

It took XY a minute to form coherent sentences. “Just… Could you…? Could you turn around again and walk away?”

Luka slowly turned and strode away from XY.

XY clapped a hand over his mouth and cursed again.

“What’s wrong?” Luka demanded, beginning to panic as he went over to XY on the couch.

XY’s face was so red that he looked like he was going to spring a nosebleed at any second.

He shook his head. “Just…I’ve spent a lot of time looking at pictures of Viperion’s butt.”

Luka’s hand paused en route to XY’s cheek. He blinked slowly.

XY gulped, keeping his hand clamped firmly over his mouth. “You can go ahead and deny it, if you want, but…you were Viperion, weren’t you?”

Luka opened his mouth but then closed it. “…I’m willing to bet that that’s the first time anyone’s ever had their secret identity outted by their behind. Obviously, you can’t tell anyone.”

XY cursed again. Internally, he was jumping up and down because the hero he’d had a massive crush on for the longest time was none other than his boyfriend. He was dating a superhero!!!

“Xavier-Yves,” Luka called, redirecting his attention. “I’m totally serious. You have to promise not to tell.”

XY nodded vehemently.

Luka sighed, sinking down on the couch next to XY and running a hand through his hair.

A thought occurred to XY: “It’s not weird that I’ve stared at pictures of your butt, is it?”

Luka contemplated this briefly but decided that he wasn’t one to judge, considering the amount of time he himself had spent ogling Adrien and Marinette.

He shrugged. “No. I mean, that would be kind of unfair of me, especially since I was just staring at your butt as you paraded around in those pants.”

XY burst out in a fit of giggles. “No way! Seriously?”

“Yep,” Luka came clean, admitting to his attraction. “You have a nice butt.”

XY squealed in delight, making Luka chuckle.

“…Can I…” XY bit his lip. He was feeling deliriously happy, and the last thing he wanted to do was ruin it, but… “Can I stay the night?”

Luka gave a slight start. He opened his mouth to reply, but XY cut him off.

“—Sorry! I know you don’t sleep with people you’re not in love with, and that’s fine. That’s not what I’m asking,” he rushed to explain. “I’m asking…do you maybe want to have movie night and then make out and snuggle?”

Luka took a deep breath and considered for all of five seconds before he nodded. “All right.”

It sounded like exactly the kind of evening that Luka wanted to have.