#I guess I hoped that there would be some other people who realize respectability politics is bullshit

[charmedreincarnation]

I shifted and manifested with your Morphics challenge !!!!!

I am sharing this on an alternate account because I don’t feel comfortable posting on my main account. I want to continue using my main account so, I hope that’s okay.

I’ve been in the LOA community for a while and have consumed every piece of information. You know how it is.. I had a Reddit and TikTok shifting account and was literally helping people shift with my advice. But aside from maybe slightly hearing or seeing my DR, I had never succeeded, and even that was years ago.

I’ve gotten lazier yet more somehow ambitious since 2020 when I first started this journey, which is insane because you know how when you first find out about shifting, you have a lot of symptoms and almost do it, but then months and years pass, and you’re more desperate yet doing the same useless things. It was like that. I was enlightened; I could spew every method to you backwards, studied many years from teachers like Neville Goddard, Joseph Murphy, Florence Scovel Shinn, Wayne Dyer, Earl Nightingale, Louise Hay, Esther Hicks (Abraham-Hicks), Albert Einstein, Thomas Edison, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Wallace D. Wattles, Rhonda Byrne—okay, everyone and their teachers. I also spent so much money on paid subliminals, meditations, teacher personal subscriptions, witch spells, lucid dreaming supplements, etc., but there are some things money can’t buy, so really, don’t waste your money lol.

I’m not here to be wise and do nothing with that wisdom, so I realized maybe instead of trying to do everything so mighty and intricate and be pretentious in my intelligence, let me try something so simple I would be shocked if it worked. Then I came across a post that was like, "Everyone is going to shift in September," and I almost cried because I have been trying for almost 5 years. I’ve given everything, and I was starting to think LOA is a cult because, let’s be real, it checks off all the things of a cult:

1. Charismatic Leaders: Many LOA teachings are popularized by charismatic figures who attract devoted followings, similar to leaders in cults.

2. Promised Benefits: LOA often promises significant personal benefits, like wealth and happiness, which can be enticing and lead to strong adherence.

3. Community and Belonging: Followers of LOA often form tight-knit communities, sharing experiences and supporting each other, which can resemble the communal aspect of cults.

4. Us vs. Them Mentality: Some LOA teachings might create a divide between "believers" and "non-believers," fostering an exclusive mindset.

5. Simplistic Solutions: The idea that simply thinking positively can solve complex life issues might be seen as an oversimplification, similar to some cult ideologies.

It’s almost religious, but most people are religious, and you know what? Without faith in something, people might have probably just (TW) killed themselves. Everyone has some kind of cult behavior—religious, politics, loyalty to family who don’t love or respect them. At this point, if it was a cult, I guess I was okay with that. Hopefully, the belief would at least give some sort of false comfort. Because having awareness and enlightenment and still suffering is even worse. Ignorance is bliss, as they say.

Then I came across your challenge, and tbh I had tried every subliminal, meditation, binaural beat, etc., so at first, I thought, how will this be any different? But then I saw the LOA Bella success story, and I just felt this was my calling because I had never related to a success story so much. I wanted to cry because it felt like a sign.

This isn’t a very exciting or good story, but all I did was:

Morning
https://youtu.be/gOpZAPo8VvU?si=FA2oxWQkR6l2KU_M

During the day (together)
https://youtu.be/67T-wX2iqfM?si=-f-TvsYyQ_D-od1L
https://youtu.be/xwaSBZFucGg?si=8-XLLROuoIypBSu0

Overnight
https://youtu.be/uBHMmHbQwa0?si=h01rp0Ngdl7Xhv9C

Basically I had a lucid dream and woke up in my waiting room because I had used lucid dreams to get into the void state, but they were also fake voids, and it was annoying to think, "Wow, I’m going to wake up with my dream life," and then fail. So I was taking no chances. I had a dream I was at work, and this lazy girl was being lazy as usual but an actual nuisance. We were outside, and I was like, "Wait, I don’t work outside," and then I got too excited, so I started jumping around and did a backflip because I heard that helps stabilize the dream. Then I commanded my annoying coworker to take me to a portal, and she did. I envisioned my waiting room and set the intention that when I close my eyes and enter the portal, I would wake up in my WR. I walked through, and then I fell. I was scared to open my eyes, so I affirmed just in case as I fell, and I heard the beach waves, and I knew it was there.

I only did this for manifesting purposes because then I intended to shift back to the same reality but where I had my dream life and master shifting abilities and void ability.

Honestly, I was so depressed at that point I didn’t particularly have any dreams or aspirations, so I didn’t know what would make me happy, as sad as it sounds. But I just slid into my WR bed and set the intention because I knew anything is possible in my WR and fell asleep. When I woke up, I woke up in a brand new house with a brand new family in a beautiful room.

Now, like I said, I didn’t have any intentions, so for the last few days, I’ve been having so many surprises and things happening that I now realize, of course, I would want this. I am just very happy, and I can’t believe it was so easy after almost 4 years.

I don’t have any stupid enlightenment advice that I would have thought I would have when I finally succeeded. As stupid and cult-like as it sounds, don’t give up—something will click.

That's amazing! I'm so happy for you and your success :)) and I am even more happy that you’ve found happiness when you don’t even know what you wantedand that it worked out.

I had a very similar experience and what I took from this is to be open to experimenting with different methods because what might not work today could be the key tomorrow and it can seem random.

I wish you the best with your dream life and I hope you continue to find happiness in different ways

[nope-body]

.

[smoothriverrocksrock]

GOD I WOULD KILL FOR TF1 DECEPTICON BEE!! The thought of him not wanting to leave Megatron alone after something so horrific warms my heart. I need a fic of them becoming friends. (do you have any more headcanons?)

I really hope to get to writing a fic for this, and I’ll definitely link it if I do! Kinda busy with other fics tho and since one is close to finishing I wanna start it after I’m done with that one

Well first and most obvious headcanon is that Bee has to have some MAJOR respect for D-16/Megatron purely because of that scene with him standing up to Sentinel. Genuinely, seeing Bee watch that had me in the theaters wondering why tf Bee would be horrified by D-16 killing him. B-127 is a better person than me because of I saw one of my friends get CARVED INTO it would be my last straw

My main idea for a Decepticon tf1 Bee story kinda looks like this (warning this gets LONG):

-He sees Megatron and the High Guard leaving, and he can’t believe it. He just got a friend group, he can’t just let it split apart! Especially not like this!

-With a quick number exchange, Bee tells Elita that he’s going with Megatron and it’s nothing personal he just wants to stay with him ok byeeeee

-Elita is kinda baffled, and Optimus absolutely takes it personally but in a sad “wait what if I’m in the wrong, oh no, now I lost two friends” way. Optimus wants to go after him and Megatron but Elita stops him. They both agree it’s probably best to give them all space and let Bee try and figure it out

-Megatron is also baffled that this guy is coming with him, but he feels relieved that at least *someone* familiar agrees with him. He won’t admit it tho, it’s a cold comfort after everything else that’s happened

-The High guard doesn’t really care rn, they just got banished (AGAIN!) and a friend of their new leader is probably good enough to keep around

-I imagine some of them are probably injured (most importantly Megatron), so Soundwave helps them highjack a train where they can take temporary shelter, get supplies/food, and rest. Starscream finds out the base got blown up and appropriately grieves about the loss of his awesome throne. Shockwave is revealed to be the best thing they have to a doctor. Rough times.

-Bee keeps trying to get Megatron to talk about what just happened, but he refuses. Bee eventually talks about how horrible sublevel 50 was because of the isolation, and promises Megatron that he won’t leave him alone

-Still cold comfort to Megatron. He just lost his longest companion, and he knows Bee could never compare. Bee also realizes this, but he’s trying his best

Lotta places the story could go from there, but I wanna keep it as a “Bumblebee inadvertently becomes the moral backbone of the Decepticons” type of story. I also wanna clarify that Bee is still totally down for murder, he just convinces Megatron to keep the guns pointed at the Quintessons for now

He also shares soooo much Decepticon gossip to Optimus and Elita, but never anything that could ever compromise the Decepticons. He’ll be like “You’ll NEVER guess what Skywarp just said today” and Elita will ask for boring stuff like “where are you based” and “are you eating enough” and Bumblebee refuses to have his friendships compromised by politics. Optimus appreciates this, and does the same. Eventually Elita will conform and send him memes

Also Soundwave and Bee become scout friends. This is the law. Bee is one of the only people who will contribute to the community playlist

[saltminerising]

seeing the drama go down about the auraboa lore has made me super anxious. as a writer and also an autistic person, it can be hard to fully know and prepare for every single issue ahead of time, and it worries me that i’ll accidentally write something problematic into my own lore on flight rising without realizing it. (also i don’t have the funds to personally hire a sensitivity reader for all my flight rising lore.) it makes me wonder if one day i’ll write something and get cancelled and called racist for something i didn’t intend for it to come across that way at all, despite my best efforts to be cognizant of such things.

i’m not saying people shouldn’t call out these things. as a writer, there’s a lot of pressure to perform, but also the responsibility to get things right, to not spread misinformation or perpetuate harmful stereotypes. but i really think some compassion should be extended to the other side too, that people are human and they do make mistakes, unintentionally causing hurt. should flight rising hire sensitivity readers? absolutely. should they fix and change the issues present within the lore? absolutely. but i also don’t think they intended to belittle or dehumanize a group of people with their recent lore, either.

i know i’ve certainly taken the time to rewrite entire chunks of my own lore when something just felt… off to me for whatever reason. and i think that’s something that no author should be afraid to do. but the sheer hostility that comes from some people can be really daunting and anxiety-inducing. discouraging, even. to some extent, it makes me personally wonder if i should even try to tell stories when people try to find as much fault as possible in them, and aggressively tear them down rather than offering constructive criticism. it creates an environment of hostility rather than a learning space where we can all be better people.

i’m not talking about the folks who have valid criticisms, and voiced those things politely and with respect, who have brought up real concerns. that should by all means get discussed and acknowledged. i’m talking about the ones who are going overboard and getting angry at staff and just straight up calling them extremely racist. not that i’m defending racism. of course not. just that i think being that as accusatory as possible doesn’t get us anywhere other than high tension and mob mentality.

i also think there are definitely people who are being dismissive of these concerns as well, and those folks need to back down too. (especially that individual who posted a baby image as a reply to what an individual stated. that’s such a childish thing to do. please be better than that.) i’m just sad to see some people can’t remain civil about these topics, i guess. i feel like, we’re all people here, we all bleed the same, we all make mistakes. perhaps a little bit of empathy would go a long way from both sides of the equation.

on another note. for the folks who are being equally dismissive of the phobias that genes like medusa and scuttle trigger: people are people, and what bothers one person might not upset another. expecting everyone to feel the same way, and to not have a certain trigger because it doesn’t personally bother you is a very narrow-minded way of thinking. let people exist in the way that they do without making them feel unheard and unseen, as though they are ridiculous or foolish. they’re not.

i love these genes myself, but i can understand if someone else was unnerved by them, because the world is a larger place than my own narrow perception of it. again, compassion and empathy go a long way. please don’t be unkind to the folks who may be dealing with things you are not. wouldn’t you appreciate it if someone was as understanding about the things that upset you?

anyways. sorry for rambling. i’m sure most of you will think this is too much to read, and that’s fine too. i can understand that. regardless of whether you did or not, i hope you all have a good week. rest, hydrate, and take care of yourselves.

[mesaprotector]

was reading recently about the "to be lawful or good" trope (follow orders/respect rule of law, or do what's right?), and it occurred to me that western values are so idealistic on the matter that "good" is almost always chosen, and a character who believes the law is the greater good is usually painted as morally dubious and hypocritical. tvtropes points out that in the parallel "to be chaotic or good" dilemmas protagonists almost always choose chaotic. i guess that makes sense from the point of view of fiction as wish fulfillment, and the ideal world for an american is one where they can do whatever they want without consequences.

psycho-pass is a really good example of media where this does not happen. anime in general tends to be more respectful of "lawful" values, sometimes to excess from my own western point of view (too many anime i've seen, workplace abuse is "dealt" with by learning to work harder). but urobuchi at least has a nice concept of what a balance can look like. (spoilers below, of course).

akane tsunemori is the most lawful good character to ever lawful good. she has constant positive intentions, cares for everyone in her society, and does so by enforcing and interpreting the law - and would not have it any other way. there's an amazing quote from her near the end of s1 (i have not seen the later seasons):

"People have always detested evil and sought out a righteous way of living. Their feelings, the accumulation of those peoples feelings are the law. They’re neither the provisions, nor the system. They’re the fragile and irreplaceable feelings that everyone carries in their hearts."

when faced with "to be lawful or good", she never once gives up on the law, no matter what. she has at least two chances to kill a dangerous villain outright and rejects both as being against orders; when the law itself tries to ensnare someone she loves, she finds a way out by following the rules instead of just breaking them like any other hero would.

dungeons and dragons kind of threw the alignment system at players and told them "you, there, interpret this". it's difficult and a lot to ask. from the little experience i have with it, most players only care about good/neutral/evil, and as for law vs. chaos they're just treated like different flavors of ice cream. it's far more compelling to treat them as equally important - a lawful good character and a chaotic good character are as far apart, morally, as a lawful good and a lawful evil one.

psycho-pass s1 doesn't have a chaotic good character. the closest it gets is kagari, who could perhaps be called chaotic neutral (though i have trouble calling any literal cop chaotic, he was essentially forced into the role). but it does have a fantastic example of a chaotic vs. lawful conflict, just on the evil side - makishima vs. sibyl.

i think where i wanted to go with this is that part of maturity is learning that two people, or groups of people, who are fighting, may very well both be righteous, and talking it out is often not a solution. i think most modern politics is like this, but that's just my feeling. there are some fairly evil people around, to be sure, but the vast majority of people are not - and recognizing that those different from you are in some ways righteous, and that you yourself are in some ways capable of evil - is really a critical sort of humility.

i might be a little too thrilled with myself for having realized this so early - i was the only kid in my class who liked "lord of the flies", and i still do like it. tumblr used to really have a thing about hating it back when the audience on this website had an average age of 16. i hope those people who insisted "but i'd never have grown up to do anything bad" have learned better since. but looking at how many older people (including apparently most writers) haven't gotten the memo, i'm not too sure.

[annonniiiiieeeee]

Ok, so unless this is a spoiler question: How does Hueso react to Usagi? Do Leo and Usagi ever babysit Jr? :)

(It is a little bit of a spoiler but I also think most people can guess it a mile away so might as well confirm it.)

Leo tell Hueso all about Usagi before Hueso ever gets to meet them boy. On one hand he is happy Leo found someone who took care of him and helped him when he needed it most. But if the boy was not everything Leo said and more than He didn’t deserve his pepino.

Hueso is one of the few people who Leo confides his insecurity in. He knows how Leo thinks about himself and he doesn’t need anyone taking advantage of the boy’s low self esteem. When he finds out that Usagi knows about all of Leo’s insecurities and still told Leo he loves him he has mixed feelings. He is not sure if this Usagi phased his ‘love’ as I love you despite all of these things, or if he said I love you except for your flaws, or was it I love you, flaws and all.

If it was the first two then this boy had to go. He would make Leo’s insecurities worse and could manipulate the boy into thinking worse about himself.

Even the third option made him wary. Leo did have flaws but many of his insecurities were unfounded and he just needed support.

Thankfully when they met he found that Usagi was a mixture of option three and something better. The boy loved all of Leo and supported him in his insecurities. Pulling Leo aside to reassure him of his worth and value. Hueso liked this Usagi.

He saw that the two were a good fit together, balancing each other’s personalities well. Leo had become less boisterous about his own achivments. Instead of bragging in the hopes that someone else would agree with him, he had become more reserved. At first Hueso had worried this was the boy valuing himself less but when Usagi showed up he realized what it truly was. Leo didn’t have to praise himself anymore as someone else was doing it for him. Usagi acknowledged Leo’s successes and praised him for them while also helping the boy with his failures. Leo had need that for a long time.

But it wasn’t just Leo that this relationship balanced. When he talked to Usagi’s friends he found that the boy used to be very serious and was now starting to find joy in their daily lives. He was having fun and enjoying his time with Leo. But it wasn’t until much later he truly saw Leo’s effect on Usagi’s personality.

The boy and his friends had approached Hueso with a request. They had wondered where to go to find employment in the hidden city. They were all use to working for money, and specifically Usagi wanted to start establishing themselves here. This was now their home after all. They didn’t asked him for jobs as they didn’t want to “take advantage” of his and Leo’s relationship, but the other two adults they could go to were unemployed rat man and mad scientist turned lunch lady. April worked in the human world as did Draxum but it would be harder for a bunny, fox, and rhino to pass as humans.

Hueso had offered them jobs at the restaurant anyways. ‘Just until they found something more suited to them.’ He could tell they were hard workers and it was better to keep them out of trouble while they learned their new city. Besides at this point he still didn’t fully trust the bunny.

The three did great. Usagi was all ways polite and respectful and Kitsune had a bubbly personality making them popular as waiters. Gen was more gruff but his love of food had made him a fast study in the kitchen as a bust boy turned chief. They were good workers. They were even better on days when he had ruff customers.

Most of his staff didn’t want to work on the nights he had crime bosses come in. These were the nights he normally would call Leo and his brothers in for some extra hands. He had learned to play the boys to their strengths Leo as a server and Mikey in the kitchen. If Donnie or Raph tagged along they would help Leo bring out food or just be in the back, just in case something went poorly.

His three new servers didn’t take off the first time. He still called in Leo and Mikey just for the extra hands. He had a feeling that his new servers weren’t fully aware of what was happening that night.

The restaurant was cleared out of it’s usually guest and staff confusing the three new members. It confused them more when Leo and Mikey, who had arrrived with them, went to the back to get ready instead of taking their normal booth. Leo, Mikey, and Hueso all did their best to explain who was coming tonight. The three were not happy.

The best Leo could do was describe the mob boss as a lord who ran a criminal gang instead of a city. Usagi had given him a flat look and said “so they are like the leader of a group of bandits.” Usagi was not happy about servicing such people. Gen and Kitsune had left a life of crime but that’s the difference they left, these people still actively hurt people. Judging by the way Hueso was stressing, they would hurt him if this didn’t go well.

Usagi didn’t understand why they couldn’t just deny them entry, Leo tried to explain that they had power in the city and that it was better for Hueso if they just grinned and bared it. Leo didn’t like it either but he understood how the underground worked. Most of these gangs wouldn’t actually cause to many problems as Big Mama kept smaller gangs in line.

He told them that if they didn’t want to do this Hueso wouldn’t hold it against them if they left. He was used to doing this by himself before the turtles entered his life. Raph had only helped out once as serving criminals rubbed him the wrong way. He made it clear though that him and Mikey were staying as he wouldn’t abandon Hueso. Just because he had done it by himself before didn’t mean he should or that it was easy.

Gen and Kitsune were fine staying. Both understood that dealing with these kinds of people was necissary. Kitsune’s past as a theif and entertainer made her more then aware of what bad people in power could do to businesses. Gen didn’t mind as long as they got paid, he and his family had been bounty hunters after all.

It was Usagi whose fur fluffed up at the thought. Gen and Kitsune both told him he should probably go and Leo reassured him no one would mind if he left. Leo loved his boyfriend’s sense of morals and duty, he knew Usagi wouldn’t be comfortable with this. But Usagi couldn’t leave. The idea of leaving his boyfriend, his sibling, his boyfriend’s little brother, and their boss (who had been to kind to them and was more of an uncle at this point) behind to face these people made his skin crawl.

He stayed but Leo suggested he stay in back or with Hueso. He and Kitsune could handle being the waiters tonight. This allowed Usagi to not have to serve them while also giving him something to do besides watch and worry.

The night had started off great Leo and Kitsune were charming and Mikey and Gen were killing it in the kitchen. Hueso was bouncing between helping in the kitchen and keeping an eye on everything, Usagi stayed by his side ready to step in if necessary. Everything had been going great. Until an order came out late.

They started to yell at Kitsune and Leo stepped in only for one of the henchman to shove Leo into Kitsune knocking them both down in a spill of food. Usagi moved before Hueso could stop him. He was in between his loved ones and the threat his wakizashi at the henchman’s throat. The fight that followed was nothing new. They had managed to keep the restaurant safe which was all Hueso really wanted out of the night.

It was after they were gone that Usagi righteous anger was fully on display. It had been the whole fight but now that it was over he was still infuriated that any of them were put in that situation in the first place. It was here that Hueso got to see Leo’s true effect on Usagi for the first time. Usagi was ranting about what had just occurred asking if it had happened before. The boy was rightfully upset at the treatment of his loved ones. Leo just got up and hugged him stilling the boy’s fury. Leo calmed him with gentle touches and whispered reassurances and Hueso could now see exactly how balanced they were as a couple.

Usagi continued to work for him as did his friends. They never took off a ruff night though Usagi never acted as a server on those nights, more of a bouncer. It quickly spread through the underworld to keep your hands to yourself at Run of the Mill, there was a new samurai there.

Hueso became quite fond of the lot of them. When he called Leo to babysits Jr. he would also allow Usagi to join them. He was trusting the couple with his boy. (Besides there was no better birth control then a child running around your ankles. He might like them as a couple but he didn’t need any grandnephew or grandniece running around just yet)

He might have also give the group a small pay raise when he found out that Usagi used his salary to get things for Leo. The boy’s love language was gift giving and who was Hueso to stand in between that. (For a man made out of bones he is quite soft for his adopted boy and his sweet boyfriend)

[teatimeweirdo]

Lindir x Reader

Note: I am in love with him, also prolly out of character... I just wanted comfort because I have been feeling weird lately

Gender Neutral, talk of Wounds but no description

You had no idea how you even got in this situation, you were peacefully riding your horse and then all of the sudden you laid wounded on the ground. It wasn’t out of the ordinary that someone in your troupe got hurt, while you were out patrolling but it was never all too serious. 

Now you were on someone else’s horse, you’re not sure whose, on your way back to Rivendell in hopes of finding you some aid. You weren’t in a life or death situation but if not treated it could for sure turn into one. You didn’t really know what was going on during most of the ride back, everything seemed like a blur.  

You didn’t know how much time had passed when you gained clear consciousness again, but by the time you were patched up and back in Rivendell. 

You looked around, you were in your room. It was quiet, but not too quiet, because just a few seconds later you heard the sound of a feather scratching on paper as if someone was writing. You turned your head to get a full view of your room and saw a certain dark haired elf sitting at your desk writing what you could assume was a Document for Lord Elrond. If you were honest with yourself you would admit that you fancied the Lord’s right hand man, who wouldn’t he could be sweet if he wanted to and he always treated you with respect. 

“You’re awake.”

He stated bluntly, usually he would be a bit awkward around other people, but over time the two of you have become great friends and could (maybe) even joke around with each other. It took away what you only could describe as arrogance, which actually was the main reason you even wanted to talk to him since you wanted to get your perspective on him and over time you managed to break through his mask. 

“I feel like shit.”

You finally noticed the pain, which you felt all over your body, it wasn’t unbearable but it was uncomfortable. You probably have been healed while you were out, but healing sadly doesn’t take the pain away. 

“You sure look like it.”

This comment caught you off guard, it was so out of character for the usually polite elf you knew. You couldn’t help but laugh, never in your life would you have guessed you would ever hear something like that out of his mouth.

“I’m sorry, that was rude. I’m glad you’re awake, you scared me quite a bit. You made me quite worried.”

The statement made your heartbeat a little faster and your face heated up. Your crush on Lindir was by no means a secret, Lord Elrond knew before you even knew it yourself. 

“Lord Elrond said you need to rest, if you had gotten to Rivendell a few minutes later your wounds could have been fatal. Have you no respect for your life? Do you always have to put yourself in danger?”

His worry warmed your heart, you actually didn’t mean to put yourself in danger… you weren’t even sure what had happened in the first place, but you would do it again if it meant protecting others, especially Lindir.

“Someone has to protect the people who can’t fight, even if that means putting myself in danger. I couldn’t bear the thought of something happening to you.”

“I’m sorry, I can’t let that happen. You mean the world to me and I couldn’t bear the thought of you dying without be being able to tell you th -”

You learned very early in your friendship that if you find a topic that upsets the dark haired elf he starts rambling, but what he was saying right now piqued your interest. 

"Without you being able to tell me what?”

This is what broke him, he suddenly became a blushy stuttering mess and started tripping over his words, because unknown to you he also had feelings for you. Lindir realized there was no way out of the hole he just accidentally dug, he was scared to make you uncomfortable and ruin your friendship, but it was either he confesses now or spend the rest of his eternity pining for you. So he took a deep breath.

“Listen, I do not want to ruin our friendship, but I can fully understand if you do not want to see me again if I say what I am going to say.” 

You felt your face heat up even more, but at the same time you were scared… but nothing could have prepared you for what’s about to come. 

“I have feelings for you… romantic feelings and I’m aware you might not reciprocate these feelings, but would you maybe be interested in a rendez-vous?”

Your heart skipped a beat, the person you fancied asked you out. Meanwhile you didn’t notice that he moved closer to your bed. 

“Of course, because I actually really like you too…romantically.”

The butterflies in your stomach went wild, you were more than excited and could barely contain your happiness. Your body was full of adrenaline and you couldn’t feel your wounds anymore. You took this opportunity to hug Lindir, he was warm and smelled like new books and tea. 

the dark haired elf hugged you back and gave you a sweet kiss on the cheek, his lips felt warm against your sweet skin. 

You have never felt this kind of bliss before.

[ciaossu-imagines]

C Nanbaka Romantic Match

So, as I've mentioned before, I find it hard to do matches for you when we talk about your (and my own) faves so much so I already know who you're in love with. So, of course, I'm going to match you and ship you with SAMON GOKUU!

Neither you nor Samon are people who rush into things, especially romantic relationships. In fact, romantic relationships are not something that is top priority for either of you and, as cliché as this is starting to sound here on the blog, I see the two of you starting off as polite acquaintances, growing into friends. I also think this is a friendship that takes a while to grow into a really solid one, just because Samon is so busy with his job that he doesn't always have the amount of free time needed, or even that he'd like, to really spend a lot of time building solid friendships outside of his fellow guards. But a friendship definitely does develop between the two of you and both of you are content and happy getting to know and learn about each other. Neither of you rush things, even when one of you starts to develop feelings beside friendship for the other. In fact, when Samon does realize his feelings aren't entirely friendship based, he'll be really confused about it. He's not stupid, he knows what romance is, but he has such little experience with it and it's likely to really be the first time he's felt serious romantic interest in someone. Whether those feelings would potentially ruin the wonderful friendship the two of you had developed also took the two of you time to wrestle with and something the both of you really had to deal with and come to peace with before the two of you had the discussion needed to change the relationship from purely platonic into the sweet and innocent romance it did become.

And I do say innocent because, of course, there is never going to be a sexual component to your romance with Samon. It can sometimes invite judgment, and definitely confusion, from others around you, but the fact that you are sex-repulsed and Samon not only respects that, but honestly is perfectly content without sex himself as he's lived his whole life a virgin and has never considered his life poorer for it, means that not having that sexual component is what works the best for the two of you. Of course, while you might sometimes be upset about people's judgment and remarks, you largely accept them and stay quiet or deal with your emotions on your own, whereas Samon is definitely ready to fight anyone who dares to judge not only him but you.

Now, going into the rest of it, it's not going to be any particular order or any set format as to how your relationship developed or anything like that but mostly just me acknowledging the two of you are in a relationship and hey, this is what some of the parts of the relationship look like and I hope you don't mind that's how I chose to do it! It not only made it a little easier for me, writing wise, but it just made more sense in my head.

So, starting off by repeating once again that Samon is not at all stupid. He's quite smart in his own way but he can be a little simplistic in some ways in that he really does take a lot of things at face value. And because of that way of thinking of his, he really appreciates your lack of a poker face. Once he gets to know you well enough, he can almost always figure out what you're thinking, even back when the two of you were just friends. By the time he gets into a relationship with you, he can always tell what you're thinking and feeling. It makes it a lot easier for him because he never really has to guess if you're happy or if you're upset. And he's actually a little proud, when he can read you completely, that he can, especially if those around you can't do that all the time. It's just a little reminder for him, and something that makes him smile and kind of swell with that pride that you're his and he knows you just as well by now as you know yourself. If you can do the same to him, it will really make him ecstatic.

While it takes Samon a little while to fully understand that sometimes, when you are upset or feeling really emotional, you really do need some peace and time to yourself. He's someone who really is compelled to take everything on himself and he wants nothing more than to solve all your problems for you and the fact that you can't always let him do that might frustrate him at first. It really takes him a little bit to get over it, to swallow his pride enough to learn that sometimes you just need to get some time to yourself, some space, and that there are some problems you really do need to turn around in your own head and solve yourself. Once he learns that, if the problem is big enough for you, after you do have that time to yourself, you're more than willing to talk to him about it, that you still do depend on him in tough times, then he's more willing and able to comprehend that need of yours and give you that time and space.

Samon really does hold a lot of respect for you. Being someone who is so energetic, so disciplined and so used to very physical work and training, it took him a little bit to get used to the fact that you didn't have as much energy or the physical ability to do everything he could do or that most people could do. However, because he did grow up with Noriko and she also had her own issues, though nowhere as severe as you, he was a little more ready to accept and deal with it than some of the other guards and prisoners were. He also, through really getting to know you and how you live every day, grew to really respect you. While you might have days where you don't have the energy to do everything, he sees how hard you work to do everything you need to for physio or to keep your body as healthy as it can be. He knows those things are sometimes really hard for you, painful, or sucky, but he sees that you try your best, each and every day despite your disabilities. And that's a thing that will always gain his respect - effort and, of course, your positivity in the face of everything. He's definitely going to encourage you to keep as healthy as you can, to do the hard things, and to be the best you can be, but he realizes that can look different on different days. He's also going to make it clear that he's proud of you when you do do the difficult things, though it won't always be verbal praise since he can sometimes struggle a little with that. I see him being more head pets, or a small treat or just comments about how great you're doing rather than him physically saying that 'I'm proud of you'.

Now, I do see a sticking point between you and Samon being your real lack of planning. Samon always has a routine, a schedule…he knows what he's going to be doing every day, knows what he needs to do throughout the day and such. Your more lackadaisical approach to your days, where you don't set much in stone, really throws him off and he doesn't understand it at all. He doesn't get your habit of being easily distracted because it's so different from how he is. That being said, while he'll never understand it and doesn't necessarily think it's the best way to live life, he tries hard not to judge too harshly and does see that living like that makes you the happiest. He largely lives life his way and tries to let you live it your way. However, he can get frustrated if, during time spent with him or conversations with him, you space out or get distracted too often, mostly because he really does want your full attention. When you do explain that it's just your brain really never shutting off, that there's always noise up there, he will understand a little bit better, as he's someone who is also always mentally on in some way, even if it's just focusing in on training and sensations, but he'll still never fully understand. He also does expect plans for the two of you to be made in advance and for you to be able to stick to them if at all possible. He will occasionally do spontaneous visits or plans, but because of his work and his training and all that, he really does need plans done in advance.

Samon is someone who, while he does everything he can to remain realistic and even optimistic, can fall into brooding or dwelling on his issues and inferiority problems and can sometimes fall into doubting himself a little. He really does depend on you, more than you'll ever know, during those times, which you often won't even know are happening. You're positive outlook on people and life in general really help him, as does how very positive you are about him. You never leave him any doubts that you not only truly love him, but see him as this really amazing man, with all these lovely things about him. You remind him, in his darkest moments or the moments when he starts to doubt, to not only see the best in people, in life, but also in himself.

Both you and Samon also have very strong moral codes that really do link up well together. You're always very empathic and you really care about others. Not only are you always willing to help and lend a hand to those in need, but your passion and conviction that innocents should always be protected and that 'bad' people should really be punished does align with his own beliefs, though he does tend to believe more in rehabilitation and helping those bad people become better or at least useful to society. He loves and finds it something to admire in you that you really do have a healthy respect for the rules. While you might break rules that you see as unreasonable (which even Samon himself can sometimes do), you do see the reasoning behind a lot of the rules and do your best to follow them and he appreciates that and how well it aligns with his own beliefs and the way he lives his life.

I will say that one area that you and Samon might run into problems and little arguments in is that he'll often push you to try for a little better in this or that. He really does shoot for the stars and pushes himself to higher and higher limits at all times and as much as he tries to respect the fact that you know yourself and your body and your abilities better than anyone else, he can sometimes forget that fact or some of his comments might make it seem like he's not respecting that. You can see what he's thinking is encouragement and positivity from his as negativity or unrealistic expectations and it can sometimes cause little arguments. Thankfully both of you are quick to forgive and move on and put aside those petty squabbles once hurt feelings are soothed a little bit and the two of you have a chance to kind of communicate a bit. While saying he's sorry is something Samon struggles with verbally doing, you'll know he regrets making you feel bad and you'll see the efforts he's making to make it up to you.

Once you do develop a good friendship with Samon and settle into feeling really comfortable with him, one of the most pleasant things for you is that he does allow you to be unrealistic and silly with him. While he'll have no trouble talking about serious things with you, and does so surprisingly well at times, he's also perfectly happy to keep things light and fun, to talk about unrealistic or impossible things. In fact, he really likes to do so with you, to try to get you going and to make you laugh. He's always so proud of himself whenever he makes you laugh, after all, and it's one of his favourite sounds.

That being said, Samon can sometimes have a bad habit of dominating your conversations with him. It really comes down to how loud and talkative a person he is in comparison to your more quiet nature. He'll happily talk your ear off and it excites him that you never shut him down or tell him to be quiet or insult him in any way, like he's used to some of the other Nanba staff doing. You always make it seem like you're perfectly happy to listen to him for any length of time and he can sometimes fall too much into that happiness and doesn't always remember to give you the space to talk as well. He does try really hard though to remember, even with his slips now and then. And honestly, given his really great sense of hearing, he's one of the few who always does hear you start to speak, even if you falter or have to restart. He has a cute habit of really leaning into you to make sure he catches everything you say, since you do have a quiet little voice, that often made you a little embarrassed by the closeness and proximity of his body and face to yours at first.

One of the things that Samon really does admire about you is how easily you can accept that people don't like you. You don't really let it bother you, and you'll readily admit that there are things about you that might be annoying to some people or that people might have reasons not to like or to be upset about. He struggles with feeling disliked and he struggles with feeling not good enough, so admitting his own shortcomings and becoming okay with being disliked is something he does need to work on and does need to improve on. He knows that, but it is hard for him and how effortless you make it look really does impress him.

Samon does little things to try to protect you. Of course, he obviously sticks up for you whenever he thinks anyone is being unfair or outright mean to you, but he also tries to protect you in little ways, and sometimes those little ways can annoy you actually. The one that really does bother you the most is that he will sometimes hide his own issues, his problems, or things he thinks might upset you from you. He really is only doing it because he does want to protect you from any upset or bad emotions, but you have to remind him that you are more than capable of handling your emotions and you really want to be there for him, no matter what is happening, and that you are an adult capable of understanding that sometimes the world is not a perfectly kind place. Another little, and more happiness producing for you, way that Samon tries to protect you is that he'll do everything he can to find the least crowded places to take you or to be with you because he knows that crowds do give you anxiety. He also does everything he can to keep the area quiet when he's with you, or to forewarn you of any strange noises you might hear, as he knows how much unexpected noises bother you. He'll also try everything he can to keep people from just barging in on the two of you or will warn you of the possibility that people might, knowing that unexpected interruptions also give you anxiety and make you freeze up, though you always try your best to really make the best of the situation and figure out how to proceed (and boy, is that another thing he really does respect).

Growing up in the mountains as he did, and then dedicating himself to training and work, Samon really doesn't know much of anything about pop culture or media in general. Once he does learn how much it means to you, your shows and movies, your YouTube videos, and your occasional novels, he really does try to get more into pop culture and media. He largely takes his guide on what to watch and read from you though, and some of the other staff members. He likes best letting you guide him towards things though, because it gives him someone to watch something with (though he's horrible for talking during shows) or someone to really talk to about his opinions on something you recommended for him to read. While he won't grow as attached to fictional characters as you will, he will definitely gain his own favourites and will happily talk to you about both his favourite character's cool moments and your favourite's really cool moments. He's not hugely imaginative though, and doesn't really think about the characters beyond what is really shown plain out. Again, Samon is kind of a guy who takes what they see at face value. While you won't have his very first cinema experience with him, he's definitely someone who goes to the theatre more because of your influence and it becomes an easy date night idea for the two of you, if something is playing that he knows you want to see.

You'll probably end up getting Samon into not only more media and pop culture but also at least one cheesy, fun little phone game. Where you have that one game you adore, that he finds you playing while you zone out to music, and given how happy he sees it making you, he can't not try it out. Samon has at least one phone game you introduce him to that he can figure out how to play and do well at (since honestly, he's kind of terrible at tech).

Maybe it's because Samon really isn't someone blessed with a lot of creativity himself and a real active imagination, but your creative nature really does impress him. The things you think up, the effort and skills you show in crafts like diamond painting or latch-hooking, and especially the stories you pour your effort and time into…they all really astound him and it really is because those are all things that Samon just can't do. He is someone who cannot help but respect people who can do things that he can't, after all. He also sees how happy these creative pursuits make you, which makes him like them more. He's always happy to read your stories if he has the time and he'll always find things to compliment about them. He listens to your thoughts and to your headcanons about not only your favourite characters but your original characters and he'll give his honest opinions. That being said, because Samon is who he is, there will be times he pouts or gets upset when you get on a roll about your favourites or will kind of go quiet on you after reading some chapters. It all boils down to him being pouty and jealous because 'do you like them more than you like me?' Yes, that's right, he definitely will sometimes get jealous of completely fictional characters.

Like I've said, Samon is someone whose very face value and who, while observant, doesn't really delve too deep into why people act the way they do, why they react certain ways, why they do the things they do and really doesn't analyze or think too hard about people and their distinct personalities. And because that is the sort of person, he really doesn't get how much you love doing that, though he definitely respects and is a little blown away by how much knowledge you have on that subject. The amount of research you do, how much time and effort you put into learning, and how passionate you are about personality types is something he doesn't understand but that he really does enjoy listening to you talk about. He does everything he can to learn about them, to remember what you tell him about them and he tries to be a good student because of how important the subject is for you. And you can definitely see his efforts and how much attention he does actually pay to you when you talk to him about it, because you'll bring up a personality type and he'll mention 'oh, that's the type that are like this and this, right?', going off of prior knowledge you've told him, and I think it does matter to you and is something you find sweet, that he puts in that effort to learn and share about something that you do love so dearly.

On top of trying to protect you in little ways, Samon will also try quite hard, though it doesn't always show, to make you comfortable. One of the most obvious examples, and the most noticeable one, is that he'll learn how important your study is to you. It's your safe space, the place you feel most you and the most relaxed and since there is travel in the two of you seeing each other, he'll do everything he can to recreate your study in his own place, just to allow you to always have that comfort space and that 'you' space. He'll even hunt down and pay extreme amounts to have exact duplicates of your plushies in that study, including your beloved Haikyuu!! plush.

Samon really does eat minimally and treats food very much like fuel. He's very health conscious and doesn't think much about food beyond its nutritional value for the most part. He does have his few guilty pleasure treats, like his popsicles, but he tries hard not to really find a lot of pleasure in food, just because of how strictly he was raised. It's through his relationship with you that he develops a slightly more balanced attitude towards food. While you don't overeat or really over-indulge in food, you do have a much more pronounced love for it and you encourage Samon to try out different types of foods and to allow himself those moments of food indulgence. He also sees that there are times you really do allow yourself to indulge, to really enjoy how amazing some foods can be, and that you remain largely healthy (and happier because of those moments), so he starts to relax about his finicky food habits and does find joy in food, especially in the shared meals together with you.

You and Samon both do find a lot of beauty and peace in being in nature and it's another thing that becomes an easy and relaxed date for the two of you. He'll enjoy showing you the beautiful gardens and ponds of Building 5 or of finding easy to maneuver parks, forests, and mountains that you can reasonably manage walking in for dates. The fact that you will need breaks to rest actually makes it even better, as the two of you sit in largely companionable silence and just enjoy the beautiful views. He's always happy to point out things that he really likes or finds especially beautiful about the view and he expects and encourages you to do the same.

Your need for peace and alone time works out well in your relationship with Samon. The truth of the matter is that his work really is incredibly important to him and that his work will keep him away from you for periods of time. He'll have periods where he'll be too busy to really spend a lot of time with you or do more than message or have a phone call with you. And you really do use those times to get the space and peace you need. He never feels like his job, his goals, and his dedication to those goals is a huge inconvenience for you, because you never let him feel that way and you find a way to make that time apart beneficial for yourself.

You can often make Samon laugh, sometimes even without really trying. Bad puns and word play always gets to him, and the fact that that sort of humour is up your alley means you can always gain at least a smile and a joking 'that's so terrible' from him.

You and Samon actually are very similar in the things you dislike or the things that bother and upset you. While Samon can sometimes come across as rude or impudent towards others, you always know he's coming from a good spot and he's actually someone who does dislike rudeness and bullying from anyone. He hates seeing people be used, abused, mocked unfairly, or treated badly and he's always going to stick up for people when he can or he'll try to find a way to help them. You consider that one of his best qualities and it is something that really matters to you.

Both you and Samon dislike liars. Nothing will bother the two of you more than finding out someone has been lying to you, especially if they're justifying it by saying they had to lie to spare your feelings. You never have to worry about Samon lying to you, because while he might try to hide some emotions or problems, he'll always be honest with you. He doesn't have it in him to really lie and deceive people, especially those he really cares about. And knowing that you're a truthful sort of person really is something that allowed Samon to grow as close a bond to you as he did develop. To him, honesty is a sign of trust and respect, and he not only needs to feel that towards you but needs to know you feel the same towards him, so your honesty with him is one of the ways he is able to know it.

This can sometimes be a little unwelcome though, as Samon will call out your less than positive traits, often accusing you of being a little stubborn. Of course, you will often call him naggy in return, since he will ask you repeatedly to do something. It's one of those things that make you feel pressured and annoyed, so you drag your feet on doing it, which makes him nag more, and it's one of the few other things I can see the two of you arguing about.

Samon is an intensely loyal person. He truly loves so few people and those he does love? He's going to be fiercely loyal, protective, and those people will always have his support. There could be a big fight, things could go south and the two of you might not talk for a week…heck, you could go a month or two without talking while feelings heal but if at any time, even with his feelings hurt, you contact Samon and need his help, he's going to drop everything the second it's possible to help you. That's just the amount of loyalty this man possesses and the fact that you will return that in kind, to the point where you will put aside your distaste for conflict to speak up or fight, is part of what makes this relationship as strong as it is.

It's in Samon that you find that perfect blend of best friend and romantic partner. He's someone who never judges you, though, as mentioned, he will call out your more unsavory traits or will tell you when he thinks you're in the wrong. However, he always does so as gently as someone like him possibly can and he only does so when the two of you are alone together. He always has your back publicly. He always does his best to see your point of view too before he rushes to snap judgments. You know that no matter what, you can always go to Samon to talk about anything and everything, serious to silly, and find a listening ear, a protective guardian, a true friend. The two of you create so many happy, wonderful memories together that you both treasure. He's uncomfortable a bit to begin with in both verbal and physical affection but he grows more comfortable with it, especially since he's relatively touch-starved as a person. He grows to not only love the physical affection you show him but initiates cuddling, hugs, and non-sexual touches himself. One of his favourite ways of showing you physical affection is either head pets or through sitting you down and brushing out your hair for you and then using his fingers to trace the curves of your ear or your shoulders, just because he gets to feel useful while also getting to smell you, feel your warm body, and touch your soft skin and ways that also feel nice to you.

There are so many little things about you that just make you 'you' and they're all things that Samon considers irresistibly cute, to be honest. You laughing to yourself because something you thought of amused you, the way you carry on conversations with yourself out loud, the way you're fidgety in small ways, like your fingers always tapping. It's all so very adorable to him.

Runners Up: Seitarou, Nico, Musashi

[stonesandswords]

Me: I am not comfortable with the entire concept of Jade as a symbol of writers that don’t understand how race impacts experience and think a lot of the way people discuss her is evidence of a very white fandom that thinks working in customer service is an excuse to be a jerk to someone that literally just asked politely for a table.

Also me, guiltily: The concept of Nate so longing for connection to someone that he’s delighted at someone sitting down to have some dessert with him and Jade being nice to someone who is clearly having a bad day is really sad and sweet.

Ugh!!!! I get this!!! Sorry if I kinda lost the plot with this answer. I was trying to be thoughtful and then got a bit carried away with my thoughts about the topic. But it's definitely a double-edged sword there, and I'd love to hear more of your thoughts about it!

On one hand, I’m so happy Nate finally feels seen, even just a little, for his completely wonderful but quirky, normal self. Like he was having a bad day, which seemed cumulative of a lot of things and really highlighted Nate's introvertedness and awkwardness as a person. He's come across Jade at her job a few different times now, that we've seen, at different stages of his career and social life. For so long, Nate has thought that social status was something he wanted to achieve and would finally gain him respect from people who aren't really his peers.

This scene made me think of when Nate and Keeley were having a conversation in Keeley's office at Richmond, talking about being rich and famous or whatnot, and Nate commented that he wouldn't mind the groupies, and Keeley laughed telling him that he wouldn't. Like Nate is getting all these high-status things he thought he wanted: a new fancy car from Rupert, invites to fancy events with other high-status folks, and dates with famous models and socialites.

Yet, despite this, Nate still set the date at A Taste of Athens (*Rebecca Welton voice* in Tooting!) simply because he likes it there! It's sentimental to him! His family has probably been going there for decades. It doesn't take much to impress Nate because he knows what he likes. I mean, look at how he still drove around his green mini cooper despite getting the manager job at West Ham.

It's just very interesting to see the difference between noticing the very simple and sentimental things that he clearly loves and enjoys, but not really realizing that that's just enough for him. Clearly, from what we've seen, what Nate craves most, is validation. He assumes living this high-profile, high-status life will give him that validation, but it's just not enough.

Because on the other hand, what we've seen from Nate's interactions with his parents and with Ted, what Nate truly craves is validation from the people who he admires, loves, and respects the most. He craves validation from people he looks up to, and I think that the scene with Jade and the baklava shows that, in comparison to Anastasia, Nate doesn't actually look up to or respect the people he's currently surrounded by. And honestly, I hope that Nate realizes this soon, for his own benefit.

But I agree there’s a lot to it about race and the general stereotype of customer service in general, throughout the whole show. Like Jade’s entire existence has been pretty … unreadable? Like we take a look at how the episode ended and I feel like I can retroactively be like “Oh I guess I can see maybe what the writers were trying to do here.” But realistically there’s not much continuity in how Jade seems to be presented during her job.

I can’t tell if her role is to try and humble Nate or something, but if so, why must it be a white hostess at a run-of-the-mill Greek restaurant in South London? Like she’s just so oddly rude to Nate, and listen I understand having an off day or long day, but she’s aloof and cold to Nate every time he comes in. IIRC, we don’t see her interact with any other customers enough to tell if she’s like this with all of them or just with Nate (I’m happy to stand corrected on this one). Even if it’s just Jade being unimpressed with Nate trying to flex his famous associations or his own high-profile job title, she doesn’t have to be so dismissive and get his name wrong on purpose (even when Nate continuously remembers hers and refers to her by her correct name), it’s bothersome for sure.

Also re: my point about Keeley being the one person to kind of hint to Nate that he wouldn’t like fame as much as he thinks he would? Like why is it that the two characters who ever really seem to side-eye Nate’s intentions are Keeley and Jade? Because that’s putting just as much pressure on them to get through to Nate as women, as it is on Nate as a man of color whose understanding of himself seems to be shifted onto the white women around him.

I’m hoping that this season sees Nate shaping up on his own, and having him remember the empathy of someone who was always kind of standoffish and unsympathetic toward him. That he can use this moment of kindness from Jade to reflect on his own relationships with others around him. Because in a way, the sharing of the baklava was the closest to an apology that we see Nate get from anyone in the series. I hope it was the fact that Jade overheard Nate talking the food and the restaurant up and totally altered her preconceived ideas of Nate, apologizing with a place of baklava.

[empiriical]

" if i may, Mr. Splot, " his voice drifted from the back of the gathering crowd, indifferent but pleasant. As if what he was observing was no more than the ordinary -- and, perhaps it was. Luck Gandor had a proclivity for hanging around strange company. The likes of whom most of Jacuzzi and his gang of misfit delinquents would be dangerous. Even Luck's disingenuous smile was no more a sheathe for the violence within. " you seem to be in a spot of trouble. if circumstances continue at this rate, who knows what may happen? "

How long Luck had been standing and what he had overheard was anybody's guess. But, it seemed to have been enough for him to catch that Jacuzzi was with his back against the world ( perhaps not for the first time, was Luck's guess ). " i know very well you have the backing of the Martillos, and i am not here to overstep where i'm not needed. however, seeing how the Martillos are doing their utmost to not find themselves in the crosshairs with the Runoratas . . . it may be more beneficial for you all to let the Gandors provide a service. " His smile said what his words didn't : at no small price, of course. — @c4rdsharp

a spot of trouble may be an understatement, although in some ways, jacuzzi feels so in over his head that he doesn't even know where to begin digging his way out of it.

the mafia boss' voice is polite, but jacuzzi knows better than to be put at ease by that, && he tenses despite himself. "...! mister gandor! i didn't even know you were there..." though practically the same age, jacuzzi speaks with nervous reverence, as if addressing someone much more powerful. because i am, he reminds himself. he's one of the heads of the gandor family, && i'm just a nobody...

it's unclear to him the complete relationship between the gandors && the martillos, although he's overheard claire felix explaining it to chané a number of times. from what he's gathered, they have some sort of nonaggression pact. maybe it's because one is mafia && one is camorra ( not that jacuzzi fully understands the difference ), or maybe it's because the three gandor brothers grew up with one of the martillos' executives, firo prochaneizo — jacuzzi's new boss.

he assumes luck knows about that development, so he can only hope that means this offer is made in good faith, && won't cause issues. after al, it seems like he's trying to protect the martillos... i can respect that.

"that's awful nice of you," jacuzzi finally says, realizing too late that he's been simply standing there with his mouth open for a slightly longer-than-appropriate length of time. "it's... really complicated, && honestly, i'm... a little lost. everyone seems to know each other, && that guy's—" ( he points to the silver-haired ladd russo ) "—family wanted me dead, but it seems like that's not really a problem now, && also his... relative? cousin? u-um, i'm not sure, but — they're staying with us now, so..."

realizing he's rambling, jacuzzi clamps his mouth shut once more, && looks at luck with watery eyes. "here's the problem. we've been dealing with some money issues, && the martillos are helping us out a lot with that, but... having so many people where we're staying is starting to attract attention... y'see, we're staying in a real rich neighborhood, && we don't really fit in... do you know the genoard mansion? way uptown? that's where we are."

[pepsiwriteswords]

Hihihi! Took me more than a week, I'm sorryyy, but I'm here with prompt(s)!

For Disconnected, cause I'm writing and rereading old letters and I now have Anaya brainrot. 👍 And I actually realize I have no clue how to write prompts so… Umm… Hope this is something..?

How would Anaya feel about AIs like Cortana or Ciri? And/or if there are true commercial AIs in her world, how would she treat them?

Also, a more open ended prompt if it's better

Highway feelings for any character

Alright, diving back to letter writing!

<3

Mara!! Time is fake, it's all good. Also it took me like, a week to actually work on answering this (& I still haven't even started my letter back to you >.>) & it sat in my drafts for like, 2 more still incomplete, so I cannot throw stones, here. xP Mostly I'm just amused that I got your letters & this ask on the same day. xD

(For the record, though, I fully intend to work on my letter to you soon - I am just Tired Always & also we're moving so. Might be a minute!)

(idk how to write prompts either. mad respect for the people behind all those prompt accounts bc omg.)

Ooh, the cyborg android daughter!! Also the fact that I have apparently talked enough about any of my characters for anyone other than myself to have character-specific brainrot is just. Thank you. :)

Now, android daughter & AI!

Hmm. I honestly have no idea & that might partially be bc I don't have an iphone to ask Siri a couple questions to see how she responds & I don't use & have never used Cortana/Bixby/the Google assistant on any phone or computer I've ever owned.

No, wait, I guess I have one thing: I think she'd mostly be confused by them? Not necessarily their purpose or anything like that, but by the fact that like. Humans made an AI that could answer questions & like. Use google for them, then just. Stopped there. Like, in a world where Anaya exists & might not be that unique a creation, the existence of AIs that are still programmed to have like, 3 ways of responding to a question would be ... baffling to her, I think. Like, you ask Siri a question, you get 'sorry, I don't understand, please try again', 'here is every article google brings up when you search that' & sometimes she just tells you. Yeah, she has a couple somewhat snarky or sassy answers for like, zero divided by zero or whatever, but when you ask her those questions, it's always the same answer, word for word. Anaya would just be wondering what the point of that is, when clearly humans have figured out the answer to real, actual, can-identify-themselves-in-a-mirror AI coding/programming/whatever the appropriate word is there. Of course, she'd still be polite when she talked to them. Manners, after all. & there'd probably still be some sort of like. Feeling of kinship there.

Kind of a bonus answer: This question has made me realize that Disconnected & Distant Light could actually take place at the same time (& possibly at least one shared location -- there is nothing in my worldbuilding so far that states Anaya & co are on Earth...) & there's an AI character in Distant Light. And I think Anaya & Test would get along fantastically. (I really don't know that much about Test, & honestly, brain has not been on enough to work out how Anaya being an android might change her character. >.> It's just. Vibes. Snarky AI who has been very not-sheltered meets a snarky-but-fairly-naive android who's been both incredibly sheltered & like. Y'know. Subject to Gideon's terrible-awful-rich-mad-scientist energy for ... idk how long yet. Also just. Anaya, chose her name, covering herself in she/her pronoun pins & bi pride stuff & Test_0374, let the human that built it choose its name, knows about human sexualities & Gender Stuff but has no interest in partaking itself, has stuck with it/its pronouns the whole time it's been active ... Just. I forsee some great interactions. xP

And okay! I give! The universe doesn't want me to write right now! Once I actually thought about that second prompt for a minute, my brain was like, 'yes, I can vibe with that' & gave me ideas for like. The Black Witch & Styx. Can I put any of those into actual words, though? Nope! Quinn & Blair were gonna have a conversation about magic & the shitty things that happened to them when they were kids & their separation. And Victor was gonna meet Styx & text Natacha & it was maybe gonna be like, the beginning of that story but.

-_- I miss writing. But I also want to stop holding this hostage in my drafts so. Um.

I'm gonna tuck that highway feelings in a mental back pocket & maybe start trying to work on Styx & TBW, though.

[nightowlfandom]

Billy Loomis And Stu Macher x Reader- Our Favorite Girl (Slight gore warning)

CHECK OUT MY MASTERLIST HERE!

Leggo!

...(Trigger warning, stabby stab)

“Hey newbie!” 

You looked up from your textbook to find Stu Macher prancing up to you. With a polite smile, you greeted him.

“Hi Stuart.” you said. “How are you?”

“Hey! I said you didn’t have to be so ‘oooh hi Stuart I’m so prim and proper.’ “ he laughed out loud. “We’re friends aren’t we?” 

“I guess so.” you laughed nervously. “ Um...what’s up?”

“I’m havin’ a party and you’re coming!”

“Parties?” You frowned. “I-uh...” you wanted to reject the idea. You hated parties and your parents would probably blow a fuse if they knew what was going on around town. ‘Stuart, I don’t think that’s a good idea.”

“Why not, kitten?” he winked. “Afraid to be seen with little ol’ me?” there was a darkness behind his words that you couldn’t ignore. “Don’t like being out after dark?”

“I’m not the partying type is all.” you shrugged. “If you hadn’t noticed, I’m not the most popular person around here.” you stared down at your shoes. “I just don’t wanna ruin your party. I’m the last person you wanna be seen with.”

“It’d make me real happy, kitten.” he stepped forward and slipped his fingertips under your chin and made you look up. “Please? Just for a few minutes.”

Call it weakness, but you couldn’t say no to him.

“Okay.” you smiled lightly. “I’ll go”

“Great! Don’t worry, it’ll be super memorable.” he winked as he skipped off. 

Later on, you were walking to your locker only to bump into Adam. Typical bully. “Hey Y/N. Heard you were going to Macher’s party tonight...you gonna wear a dress for me?”

“No.” you answered curtly. “It’s amazing how you don’t seem to have anything better to do other than shove your nose into my business.” you hugged your books to your chest. “Can I go now?.”

“Hey...is there a problem?” you turned around to find Billy Loomis stalking up to you. You had seem him a handful of times but never actually talked to him before. “You...where do I know you from?”

“I sit behind you in English. We had a project together once.” you replied sheepishly. “Stuart forces me to sit between him and his girlfriend at lunch when they’re fighting. You talk to me from time to time...”

“Stuart...” he raised an eyebrow. “You mean Stu?”

“mhm! You probably don’t remember me because I never reply...” you nodded. 

“You goin’ to his party or somethin’?”

“He asked me to go.” you trailed off. “You’re going too, right?”

“ Why? Excited to meet me there?”“ he smirked, totally ignoring Adam at this point. 

“I mean...” you stared down at your books. “I was hoping someone I’d know would be there.”

Billy raised an eyebrow at you. You gave off a shy aura and for some reason he was into that. He and Stu had been planning a massacre, and they were gonna blame that damned Sydney Prescott. It was the perfect crime. 

“Hm...I’ll see you there.” he winked at you, then sent a death-bringing glare at Adam. “Problem, handsome?” he sneered as he passed the athlete.

... at the party

“Not even three hours in and I have to hide...” you cursed yourself out. “Damn asshole...!” 

Adam was informed that you had arrived and was looking for you, shit!

You ran into the kitchen, losing your breath. “Billy?” 

The suspect in question whipped around. Billy was holding what you assumed was the house phone and instantly hung it up. “Hey...”

“Am I glad to see you.” you sighed.

“Somethin wrong?” 

Billy was in the middle of executing his plan, but for some reason he couldn’t help but want to talk to you. 

“Adam is looking for me.” you sighed. “Could I...stay here with you? Please?”

Billy smiled, darting out his tongue to run across his bottom lip. You were absolutely adorable. “I have a better idea.” he smirked, walking up to you. “Why don’t we send him a little message?”

“You have a girlfriend.” you put a hand on Billy’s chest. “I c-can’t.”

“Not anymore...she dumped me for Randy.” he tusked. ”Figures right?”

“Well...that’s her fault...you’re pretty cool.” you bit your lip.

“So...” Billy tilted your head up towards you. “Let me-”...he gently kissed your lips. While it felt wrong, you melted into him. He held the side of your face in his hand. Sidney wasn’t your friend, not by a longshot, but you still respected her. The fact that Billy was so willing to kiss you, like this.

“For once...stop worrying about other people.” he mumbled against your lips. “Just live in the moment...shit I know what I want...you know what you want...so act on it damnit.”

“Are we still talking about getting Adam off me back or-”

“Shush...don’t think.”

“Kinda hard to when your girlfriend is in the other room”

“Shut up.” he shushed you, tightening his arms around you. You kissed him back with just as much urgency. How would the others react, seeing this...seeing you. Billy backed you up against the counter. Before it could get any farther, you both heard screaming, girlish screaming. 

“What the hell was that?” you asked, feeling your heart race.

“Stay here.” Billy ran in the direction of the noise, leaving you to stand there in terror.

You could hear screams and cries for help, followed by what sounded like gleeful laughter. You were left frozen in place as a man with a mask on his face kicked open the kitchen door. 

You immediately braced yourself with a kitchen knife.

“Stay back!” you warned. “I will cut you!”

“Easy kitten, I’m not gonna kill ya.”

Call it ignorance. Call it instinct, but there was something familiar about the way this stranger spoke to you.

“What did you just say?” you dared ask this man. “Did you just call me kitten?”

“You’re naive, childish...and adorable...like a little kitty cat.” the way he laughed under the mask led you to believe he was laughing with his tongue stuck out.

There was only one person that you knew who spoke like that. You slowly lowered the knife and walked up to him cautiously. The figure didn’t move in the slightest. You were standing toe to toe with him. 

You cautiously raised the mask only revealing the bottom half of the strangers face...only they weren’t a stranger.

“Stu.” you concluded.

“....You said my name.” he flirted.

“Care to explain?”

“In a bit...got something to take care of.” he straightened his mask again before disappearing again.

It was only less than a minute before Stu came quite literally crawling back into the kitchen.

Stu doubled over, holding his stomach as you rushed over to his side. “Stu?” you put a hand on his forehead. “Stu, please don’t be dead!” you winced. “It’s okay, you’re okay.” That damn Sidney...she must have had something to do with this.

“Y/N...it hurts.” Stu moaned in pain. “Hold me?” 

You wasted no time in gathering him to the best of your abilities. He rested his head in your knee. You hummed thoughtfully, shushing him while you used his sweater to apply pressure to his stab wound.

“Y/N, are you sure you aren’t an angel?” He shamelessly flirted, smiling through his pain.

“No, I’m not.” you giggled. ”Save your energy.”

“I’d have more if you just gave me those lips of yours...” he winked. Just to shut him up, you kissed his forehead. 

“Not what I meant, but works for me.”

 As you chided the poor boy, Sydney ran into the kitchen, screaming at the top of her lungs while Billy also wounded stumbled behind. 

“Billy??” you gasped in horror. Seeing you must have caused him to loose his footing, because he slowed his movements. You laid Stu on his back and urged him keep his sweater over his wound. 

You scrambled to your feet, eyeing Sidney with a glare no one had ever seen you wear.

“Y/N! You’ve got to believe me! They’ve been the ones doing this.”

“I find that really hard to believe that when you were just standing over Stu with a bloody knife.” you seethed. “Your own boyfriend? Really?” you dared step closer.

“Y/N! They’re manipulating you!” she began crying. “You have to see it!” She was obviously hysterical.

“Then give me the knife.” you faked calm, cautiously stepping towards her. “Give me the knife...and we can-” you stopped yourself. You looked over at Billy, praying he wouldn’t be mad. “We’ll call the cops.” you you held your hand out.

“WHAT?” Billy seethed. You avoided his gaze. Hopefully he wouldn’t sense your fear. 

“Trust me...” you said, just barely above a whisper. You were mostly talking to Billy, but had to make it look like it was directed at her. “We can get out of this...”

Sidney (very stupidly) outstretched her hand, the one that was holding the knife. Once it was within your reach, you grabbed her wrist, and grabbed the blade with your free hand, throwing it to the side. You tackled to to the floor and held her down.

“Crazy bitch.” you mumbled. She began thrashing, and screaming bloody murder. You were eventually able to get the best of her. “Whoever is the least dead...COPS...NOW!” You struggled as Sidney screamed. “This bitch is out of her mind!.”

“I have a better idea.” A seemingly fine, and now very much not dead Stu rose to his feet, a sick smile plastered on his face. The knife had slid over to him and you hadn’t even realized. You were too focused on keeping Sidney on the floor.

Suddenly you were yanked back into Billy’s arms as a sharp object came down from above, plunging through Sidney’s chest. 

“Oh my god!” you buried your head into Billy’s shirt, trying to block out the terrible sounds you heard the terrible sounds of skin ripping. 

“Shhh it’s over babe.” He shushed you. “It’s okay.” he stroked your hair with his bloody hand. Stu laughed manically as he wiped the sweat off his face. 

“Some party huh.” Stu cackled. He wasted no time in sandwiching you between himself and Billy.

“You had us thinking you’d betray us, Kitten.” Stu dug his head into your shoulder.

“Y/N would never do that to us...she’s our good girl.”

“You guys are-”

“Absolutely.”

“And this party was-”

“Smart girl.”

“And now that you know our little secret, we’re never letting you go, kitten!” Stu laughed. 

“And if you tell anyone, we’ll have no choice but to take you down with us...but you won’t do that to us, will you?” Billy asked, nuzzling his head into your neck.

[donutloverxo]

Soooo there are many fics where reader makes steve jealous and it ends in rogh possesive fcking.. but what if steve tries to make reader jealous and it totally backfires and she becomes extremely insecure?? But please with a fluffy ending because my poor heart can’t handle anything less 🥺🥺

Hey. Thanks for the request and I hope this fits. *gif is not mine* Dividers by @firefly-graphics

Please note that my stories are not to be stolen or reposted on any other site. Reblogs and welcome and much appreciated. This blog and this story is 18+. Do not read, follow or interact if you are not 18+. Please🙏🙏

"Um... yes?" You asked as you brought down the hand which was holding out a twenty dollar bill - since you thought it was the pizza you've been waiting for, for like the past half an hour, and not a blond, six feet and some inches,tall super soldier.

"Hi... doll," he smiled.

"My name's Y/N," you corrected him as you frowned, so fed up of men undermining you by calling you such 'sweet' nicknames. You knew Captain Rogers wasn't like that, but still you couldn't have him getting any ideas.

"Right," he cleared his throat as he repeated your name. "Sorry," he said with a toothy grin, which almost made your heart melt.

"How did you get my address, Captain?"

"Tony gave it to me. I would've asked you at work... but I wanted to do this the right way."

"Do what?" you quirked a brow.

"Um, I maybe people aren't as formal nowadays," he sheepishly rubbed the back of his neck, "But I can't really change who I am... not so late in life anyway," he cringed as he realised he was pretty rambling then, taking a deep breath he gathered enough courage, "I wanted to ask you to come with me, as my date, to the valentines party this Sunday."

You hummed at that, considering it because damn if Rogers wasn't convincing. Even when he wasn't as authoritative and dominating as he is when he puts on the suit.

It would be nice to be courted and treated nicely, and to not have to put up with the shit most men try to pull with you, you were sure Rogers would show you the time of your life. Besides, only an idiot would say no to him.

"No." You said with a finality that left no room for debate. "Is that all?"

"Uh... I... yes..." he stammered, not exactly prepared to be turned down so bluntly. "Can I ask why?"

"I don't shit where I eat."

"What?" his eyebrows cutely scrunching up.

You just knew you must've touched a nerve with your crass language. Tony, your boss, had told you about Cap and his 'language' incident.

"I don't date people at work... it can get complicated," you explained as he nodded.

It wasn't a complete lie. You didn't want to be known as the 'easy' girl or have others gossip about you. But that would be a sacrifice you'd willing make for someone like Steve. Who'd dare make fun of the Captains girl anyway?

You had been smitten with him from the moment you saw him, learning about his bravery and sacrifice as a kid you looked upto him and respected him, but when you met him in real life... you were a complete goner. Your stomach did somersaults every time he touched you, or hell even looked your way.

You tried your best to flirt, which was basically you stuttering and trying to make small talk whenever you had a chance to talk to him. Since he was born almost a century ago he would probably be offended if you were the one to make the first move.

You continued your back and forth for weeks before he told you about her. That he'll be visiting her over the weekend. You simply nodded, having a vague idea of who Peggy Carter was but not of what she went to Steve.

After some research you found out that she was an old flame of his, someone he couldn't marry and build a life with because he was frozen for decades. Upon seeing her many qualifications, and just how freaking brilliant she was, you knew one thing.

You may not be as smart as her, but you knew that you could never measure upto a woman that incredible. Someone Steve still visits after all these years. You were already afraid that he was out of your league but now you were sure of it.

"Did I do something wrong?" he wanted to know.

"What do you mean?"

"Well," he shoved his hands in his pockets, his bottom lip jutting out in a pout, "It's just that you used to talk to me all the time... and now it seems as if you're ignoring me. Is it because of something I did? Whatever it is I never meant to hurt you," he swore.

You sighed. "It's nothing you did, really. I just realized how incompatible we are. I hope you find the one you're looking for, someone who'll make you happy and give you the world. It just won't be me."

You didn't let him say anything closing your door instantly as you kept your tears at bay.

At the valentines party

"Cap," Tony said, slapping a hand on Steve's shoulder, "I thought you'd have her on your arm tonight. What happened?"

Referring to his assistant. He wanted to play cupid this once, since it was the season of love, he wanted to see his idiot friends happy. He was sure you both would be disgustingly smooching and all cute at the party. But not only had you both shown up separately, you seemed to be actively ignoring Steve.

"She uh... rejected me," he said, looking down into his glass of whiskey. It didn't do much for him but it helped him blend in.

"Ouch," Tony winced, "I was sure she would go for you. But I guess I have been wrong before," he shrugged.

"Really?"

"Yeah. She goes all heart eyes whenever you're around. But I guess that's nothing unique since that's just how most women act around you," he scoffed. "You should read all the love letters you got today. I was going through them, you have quite a passionate fanbase of people who want to... what was it..." he pretended to think hard about it. "Yes, 'ride your bicep', I don't understand the physics of how on earth that would work, but I am intrigued."

"Tony," Steve rolled his eyes as he always does when he's around the billionaire. "I don't really care about all of them... they don't know me. I only care about her and I don't know why she said no, but there's nothing I can do about it."

"Whoa, you're accepting defeat so soon? Where's that I-can-do-this-all-day attitude?"

"This isn't a war, Tony. If she doesn't see me that way... then there isn't much I could do."

"Maybe she's just playing hard to get. There's absolutely no way to really know what goes on in womens heads, Rogers. They're so smart and sneaky... it's kinda scary actually."

"I don't think she'd play games..."

Tony had gotten distracted pretty quickly and left Steve alone to pout and only appreciate your beauty from afar. You had worn a pink dress with red hearts on it, and for some reason, you got more beautiful every time he looked at you.

"Hello."

He jerked when he heard the foreign voice, looking at the blonde woman next to him, with her hand out, he shook it just to be polite.

"I'm Crystal," she smiled, flashing her sparkly white teeth.

"I'm Steve."

"Of course I know who you are!" she laughed, "You're Captain America, everyone knows you," she playfully hot his bicep before squeezing it, "Oh my... you must work out a lot."

"Uh... yeah..." he nodded. He could never get used to how people perceived him so differently.

"There is something I need to know really bad," Crystal blinked as she looked up at him, "Do you wear underwear in those suits? They seem really tight, wouldn't it be uncomfortable?"

"Oh, um... we just sort of..."

You had never looked at yourself as a jealous person. Maybe things were different when it came to Steve... he was a pretty special guy.

When you looked at him, talking to some girl, dancing with her, laughing and having fun with her, it was as if you were on fire from simmering rage, at the same time you could feel your heart breaking in a million pieces.

You knew it was wrong. You had no claim to him, he can do whatever he wants. If you said no to him then it makes perfect sense that he seeked out someone else.

You just had to get away for some fresh air, so you wouldn't abandon all class and pull the girls hair and drag her away from your Steve.

You yelped when you heard him call out your name.

Looking over your shoulder you saw him staring at you, his brows scrunched up, he looked so worried. But why?

"What're you doing here? You'll catch a cold, doll," he takes off his blazer, putting it over your shoulders and then groaning when he realised his slip up.

"Right, sorry, old habits die hard. I won't call you that again, I promise," he said, crossing his finger over his heart.

"No... I think it's kinda sweet. No ones ever had such an endearing petname for me. I do like it."

"Oh," he frowned, "it's just that you said you didn't."

Tony, of all the people in the whole universe, was right. There was no understanding women.

"I guess I lied..."

"Why?"

"Um..." You were at a loss of words and nervous. Steve wouldn't tolerate lies, and you didn't want him to hate you. "It was easier to do that then tell you the truth."

"What's the truth?"

"I do like you... a lot. But I don't want to live in someone else's shadow. And I just think the whole thing would end in a disaster..."

"What're you talking about, Y/N?"

"Peggy. Your first and only love. I can't measure upto her, not in my wildest dreams, there's no use trying."

"Why would you have to measure upto Peggy?"

You opened your mouth to answer, but couldn't really come up with an answer. "Why wouldn't I?"

"I did have feelings for her, but that was a long time ago. I'm happy she lived her life, it just wasn't meant to be."

"So, you're not still in love with her?"

"No," he shook his head, "I wouldn't have asked you out if I was."

"Well, what about Crystal? You were practically glued to her the entire evening!" you huffed as you stomped your foot. Mad at your own stupidity. You could've simply told him the truth and asked for a straight answer. "I have to warn you, she had was pretty crazy in the last season."

"Last season?"

"Mm-hm, the last season of her reality show, I've seen all eight seasons. Maybe they just amp up the drama, maybe she isn't actually crazy, I wouldn't know," you shrugged.

"Doll," he smirked, circling a hand around your waist and pulling you into him, "are you jealous?"

"I am not!" you gasped, looking away from his eyes as you felt your cheeks heat up.

"I don't want anyone but you. Why would I? You're goddamn perfect. And... I want you to be my girl."

"I guess I don't really have a reason to say no now..." you murmured, your face still flustered as you played with the buttons on his shirt before he tilted your chin up to make you look at him, placing his lips over yours in the most tender of kisses.

"Got the job done, Tones... I'm pretty sure I saw him go after her, I have to say though, you look at Captain America, and you really don't expect him to be that awkward..." Crystal said as she sipped on her gin and tonic. "You owe me."

Tony only hummed, not too happy about being indebted to someone, but you both needed a necessary push in the right direction.

[azaleavi]

Pretty boy

Summary: You don't like James Barnes. Of course not when he has a different girl with him every time. And no, you are not jealous... right?

Word count: 3.8k i went OUT with this one

Warnings: language, a man being a creep, then getting beaten up, kissing, very slight alcohol consumption

Author's note: This gave me the idea. It turned out to be pretty long. Sorry. I hope you like it! This is 40s!Bucky btw.

Feedback is always appreciated and don’t forget to reblog and like if you enjoyed it and want to see more. Thank you!

Masterlist

Part 2

James Barnes was a menace. An annoying little shit, who thought he could do anything and have anyone just because he was handsome. Not like you found him attractive or anything, but all the girls of New York seemed to drop their panties at the sight of him. One pet name and they were ready to kiss the ground he walked on. You couldn’t understand. How did these girls not see what kind of person he was? Multiple times you saw girls leave his apartment in the morning looking all sad. At first you felt bad for them, but after a while as they kept coming back you just couldn’t bring yourself to pity them.

Being a close friend of Steve meant you got to see a lot of James too. They were kind of a package deal, to which - by the way - you did not sign up for. Steve was the sweetest person you’ve ever met, maybe too righteous sometimes and he definitely did not know how to walk away from a fight, but he was a good man inside and out. James on the other hand was not like him. He wasn’t a bad man per se, but he was just too much of a player for you. He knew he was handsome and he used it to get girls all the time. Or dames as he called them. You hated that word by every fiber of your being. It reduced a woman to a simple object in your opinion and it basically said that she was only a pretty thing and nothing else. You did not want to be a pretty thing, you wanted more out of your life. Marrying some stuck up man and bearing his children was not something you dreamed of, no matter how many times people told you that it was what you had to do. No. You wanted a life that didn’t revolve around men. A life that you could choose for yourself. But it wasn’t that easy. Everyone expected you to do what they did. It didn’t even occur to them that you wanted something else.

Your mom had been telling you that you should marry James as he was such a nice young man. You just rolled your eyes every time she brought it up. She didn’t understand. How could she when she was so in love with your father after they met a few times that they got married just after a couple of months of knowing each other. Their love was something so extraordinary that you knew it wouldn’t happen to you. Especially not with James. He wasn't thinking about marriage and even if he did he wouldn't want you as a wife. Not like you wanted to marry him or anyone else for that matter, but that didn't mean that it didn't sting a little that he went after every girl he saw, but never thought of you the same way. He never even tried and it beat down your confidence a little. When you first met James you found him intriguing, your young self even had a crush on him for a while. But it didn't take long for you to get to know the real him and the disappointment made you force that crush down. You only laughed at yourself now, finding it hilarious that you once wanted to kiss him and love him. Of course, you didn't feel that way about him anymore. That would be stupid of you. Of course..

-

Having a night out with Steve was a wonderful idea. That is until James showed up, making you narrow your eyes at your friend. You clearly remembered him telling you that James had other plans and it would be just the two of you, but of course he had to mess up your plans.

You went to a bigger pub in the city, having been there before and liking it. James dragged Steve away as soon as you entered, talking about some girl he wanted to introduce him to, so you just went to the bar to ask for some alcohol. God knows you needed it if James was around.

All of the sudden two hands grabbed your waist and turned you around. Before you could realize what was happening a pair of lips were on yours, kissing with so much passion you almost moaned into it. Noses bumping against each other your hand gripped his hair. Your mind cleared as you realized that a stranger was kissing you without your permission and you pushed him away by his chest, hand already raised to slap him. Your whole body froze as you came face to face with a familiar man. James.

"What the fuck is your problem?" you hissed, your palm almost connecting with his cheek, but being stopped by his hand on your wrist. He pulled you close again by his hold on your arm.

"There is a girl I need to get rid of. Just play along" he mumbled, his breath hitting your lips as he leaned in for another kiss. You almost got lost in him again, but you were more aware and not caught by surprise this time so you managed to pull your head away from him.

"I will do no such thing" you narrowed your eyes at him. "Let go of me" you were getting angrier by the second. Who did he think he was?

"What if I don't want to?" Okay that's it. You ripped yourself from his arms.

“Listen here, pretty boy” you pointed your finger at him in your anger, not registering the smug expression that worked its way onto his face. “You can’t just do whatever you want because you are a-“

“You think I’m pretty?” he interrupted your angry rambling and grabbed your finger to pull you closer by it. In your surprise you stumbled forward, your hands finding place on his chest, your nose a few inches from his.

“James” you called out his name in warning. If he didn’t let go of you right now you wouldn’t be responsible for what you did to him.

“Come on, doll. I told you to call me Bucky multiple times” he smirked down at you.

“And I told you that we are not friends therefore I don’t have to call you your stupid nickname” you yanked your hand out of his grip, stepping back. “And stop calling me doll. I’m not one of your girls”

“Ouch doll, that hurts my feelings” he rubbed his chest where his heart was.

“Oh, I didn’t know you knew what those were” you frowned at him, not amused by his teasing. He opened his mouth in mocking shock.

"Don't be so mean to me. A lady like you should always be polite." he teased, knowing well that you hated being called a lady and being told what you should and should not do.

"Good thing I'm not a lady then" you grimaced at him, cocking your head to the side.

"Well, with the way you've been talking to me, I guess you aren't" he stepped back into your personal space. "And if you are not a lady then you should have no problem playing along with me."

"I'm might not be a lady, but I'm definitely not one of your dames either" you pushed him by his shoulders to finally have enough space between you.

"Are you jealous, doll?" a smug smile played on his lips.

"Oh very." your sarcasm was clear as day. "It would be an honor to lie in your bed then leave in the morning, only to never hear from you again." you turned back to the bar, your drink already in front of you. Lifting the glass you nodded at the bartender who gave you a small smile. You drowned it in one shot, the alcohol giving your throat a familiar burn as it went down. "Is there anything else you need?" you turned back to him. He didn't say anything as he kept staring at you. "No? Then you can leave me alone" you shooed him away by your hands, already done with his shenanigans.

"Don't drink too much because of me" he called after you as he walked backwards, that stupid smile not leaving his lips. Rolling your eyes you turned back to the bar, leaning on it with your elbows, a sigh leaving your lips.

How could he just kiss you like that? You thought he at least had some respect for you, bit it seemed like he didn't. He was James Barnes for god's sake. Of course he didn't. You didn't know what you were thinking. He wasn't different from any man. A part of you believed that he might have been but he just proved it that he wasn't. Your mother would loose her mind if she knew what her 'nice young man' did to you just now.

You shook your head to get the thoughts out of it and signaled for the bartender to give you another shot. You drowned that one too as someone sat down next to you. You were ready to tell him to fuck off, thinking it was James again, but as you turned your head it was a man your age. You lifted your eyebrows, not being in the mood to deal with another self-centered man.

"What is a pretty dame like you doing here alone?" he tried to flirt, but he already lost you at the word he called you.

"I'm not here alone. And it's none of your business" you showed him a mocking smile and stood up ready to leave, your night already ruined. A hand locking around your wrist made you stop.

"Come on. I just want to make you have a good time" he smirked, but it left his lips as soon as you ripped your arm out of his hold.

"I don't care about your good time" you rubbed your wrist, his grip leaving the skin red.

"Okay. I tried being nice, but you clearly don't care for it. Maybe you like men when they are being a little more forceful? You like 'em rough?" he pulled you to his body by your waist, your hands flying to his chest trying to push him away. Why is this happening to you now?

"Let go of me" you squirmed in his hold, disgusted by him. Unfortunately he was stronger than you and didn't loosen his arms around you no matter how hard you hit his chest.

"You like this don't ya?" his breath hit your cheek as you tried to get as far away as you could.

"No, I don't. Stop" you were getting desperate, looking around for anyone to help you. There were a lot of people around, but none of them seemed to care. Tears gathered in your eyes.

Suddenly the man was pulled backwards by his collar, a fist meeting his cheek a second later, making you gasp. He fell down on the ground, but your savior didn't let him get away that easily as he hit him a few more times. You quickly stepped closer and that's when you saw his face. It was James. Your shock quickly dissipated as he lifted his arm again to hit the other man. You hands grabbed his forearm and you tried to pull him away, making him look at you.

"Stop it, James. He is already on the ground" you pleaded. A relieved sigh left your lips as he stepped away, his arm going around your waist to lead you away from the crowd that formed around you.

"Are you okay?" he stopped you in front of the building, the cold night air picking at your skin.

"Yes, I'm fine." you rubbed your arms, stopping your movements as he grabbed your arm that had the red bruise on it.

"Did he do that to you?" he almost growled, head turning to look inside the place.

"Yes, but it's fine. It doesn't hurt that much" you put your hand on his arm, trying to calm him down. Why did he care anyway?

The door opened and Steve walked out, a worried look on his face. you immediately pulled your hand away from James, stepping back.

"I heard what happened. Are you okay?" his eyes traveled over your whole body, trying to see if you were hurt.

"I'm fine, Steve." you forced a smile in his direction. In truth you weren't completely fine, but the boys didn't need to know that.

"I'll walk her home" James spoke up from next to you, making you look at him in surprise.

"I'm perfectly capable of walking home myself, thank you" you replied to him.

"I know that, but both of us would be more relaxed if someone was with you. And Steve was talking to a pretty woman before I left" he sent a knowing smile to the man. You looked at him, only to see him looking down at his feet, a blush on his cheek confirming James' words.

"Steve! What are you doing out here then?" you almost shouted at him. "Go back inside right now. I'll be fine." you waved him off.

"I'll go check on you tomorrow, okay?" he was already inching backwards toward the door.

"Yes, okay, just go" you laughed, happy for him. He walked back inside, leaving the two of you alone. "So you don't have to walk me home, just stay outside for a little while so Steve doesn't get suspicious." you forced another smile on your face.

"I will not let you walk around alone this late at night." he grabbed your arm that wasn't bruised and started pulling you towards your home.

"I've done it multiple times before" you argued, but walked alongside with him, your heart beating rapidly in your chest.

For the duration of the walk neither of you spoke a word, but it wasn't awkward or uncomfortable. The silence between you was nice, letting you look around as he still held your arm, neither of you wanting to let go. He made you feel safe as you walked along the dim streets, a small smile playing on your lips.

"Thanks for walking me home" you reached your house, stopping in front of the door as you turned to him.

"Isn't there something else you should thank me for too?" he smirked, stepping closer.

"Well I was about to say it, but now I'm not going to" you put your hands behind you, leaning on the door.

"It's not only with words that you can thank me" he leaned closer, his face a few inches from yours for the second time that night. There it is.

"You know, I was thinking that you are not so bad while we were walking home, but you just reminded me why I don't like you" you smiled at him.

"And why is that?" he tilted his head to the side.

"You just can't keep it in your pants." you shook your head.

"Actually I wanted to apologize about earlier." he got serious, stepping backwards to put some distance between you.

"Earlier?" you asked back, confused as to what he was referring to.

"The kiss" he mumbled, looking down, almost as if he was nervous. But James Barnes does not get nervous.

"Oh." it was all you could say, surprise taking over your brain.

"So I'm sorry" he kept looking down.

"Uhm... it's okay, I guess?" you didn't know what to say to that, thoughts running through your mind a thousand miles an hour.

"I'm just gonna go now." he pointed behind him awkwardly. As he turned away you couldn't help yourself and you called after him, the alcohol in your system giving you courage.

"You are really not that bad, James." he turned back, surprise written all over his face, but he quickly covered it up by a smirk.

"Is that a compliment I hear?" you rolled your eyes at him. There was the James you knew.

"And it might be the last if you keep this up" you let out a smile. "But seriously, we could be friends if you didn't do what you do." you shrugged nonchalantly.

"What am I doing?" he asked, confused.

"You know, every time I see you, you have a different girl on your arm" you couldn't look into his eyes, a little embarrassed.

"You avoid me because of that?" his eyes widened.

"Yes. What did you think the reason was?" you furrowed your eyebrows.

"I don't know. I just thought you do it because you don't like me, not because you are jealous" he let out a laugh.

"I am not jealous, James. Get that out of your head." you looked away as a blush crept up your cheeks.

"Oh god you are blushing" he continued to laugh, the redness of your cheek only deepening. "I can't believe you like me" he mused.

"Okay, that is enough out of you. I'm going inside" you turned and reached for the handle as he grabbed you to turn you back around, your back hitting the wood of the door, his left arm on the door next to your face, his right circled around your waist. You let out a gasp at how close his face was.

"You didn't deny it" he whispered, his warm breath hitting your lips. Your mouth opened, realizing your mistake.

"I-" you wanted to defend yourself, but nothing came to mind. His right hand touched your face, palm flat against your cheek. You couldn't help but lean into his touch, closing your eyes for a second. Your eyes snapped open when you realized what you were doing and pushed his hand away. "I'm not one of your dames, James" you looked into his eyes. You couldn't let him treat you like any other girl. You refused to be another one night stand for him. A stable relationship you could work with, but being someone he called when he was bored was not something you wanted or could handle.

"No, you are not." he agreed.

"Then don't treat me like them" you pushed yourself more into the door. You were afraid. Not of him, he would never hurt you. Not physically at least. But you were afraid of what would happen. Will he leave you saying that he won't give up that lifestyle for you? Or will he stay with you?

"Never" he shook his head.

"I don't want to be one of many" you continued, trying to get him to understand.

"You know why I was always with a different girl?" he pulled away slightly.

"Why?"

"Because I wanted to forget about you. I thought you didn't like me because you were always so distant. So I just wanted to find someone else, but none of them compared to you." he brushed his thumb along your lower lip. Your eyes met his as he lifted your head by your chin. "None of them were you" his nose bumped against yours. "I like you. I did from the first time we met" he finally confessed, your heart skipping a beat at his words.

"James" his name left your lips in a sigh. "Kiss me" he didn't need more as his lips latched onto yours, the butterflies in your stomach going crazy. His tongue swiped across your lip asking for entrance and as you opened your mouth, his body pushed you against the door, trapping you. It was a trap you never wanted to escape. His hands held your head, his thumbs stroking your cheeks as you arms were around his neck, pulling him impossibly closer. Your heart beat rapidly as his hands traveled down your body, stopping at your waist.

A few moments later he had to pull away as both of you needed air, but de didn't go far, only enough for you to catch your breath. His forehead leaning against yours, noses touching, the two of you giggled into each others mouths.

"Wow" he mumbled as he left short pecks on your lips, unable to keep himself away from you. It was your first real kiss and he was already addicted.

"Stop it" you giggled and let him press one long peck on you before pushing him away. "I don't want you to get bored of that" you teased.

"I could never" he pressed another kiss on your mouth, making you laugh.

"Okay, I understand" you could barely talk as he still had his mouth on yours. He pulled you closer and rested his head on your shoulder.

"You are amazing" he murmured into the fabric of your clothes.

"Flattery will get you nowhere, James" you were glad he couldn't see your face as it was coated in a red blush.

"I'm just saying the truth" he pressed his lips to your cheek.

"I probably should get inside, before we wake up my parents." you sucked in your lips try to hide your smile.

"Maybe" he agreed, but made no move to let you go.

"You have to let me go for that to happen" you pulled away as much as you could.

"Then you shouldn't go" he teased, still holding you.

"I'll see you tomorrow, or today I should say" you reassured him and he let go at that. You straightened your clothes as he watched you. Looking up at him the softness in his eyes almost made you say 'fuck it' and spend the rest of the night with him, but you held yourself back. He turned and walked down the stairs, but suddenly ran buck up to you to press one more long kiss on your soft lips. You couldn't help, but let a smile break out on your lips as he pulled away to look into your eyes once more.

He was already out on the street when you remembered something.

"Hey, pretty boy!" you called after him once more, making him turn around with a big smile on his face from the nickname. "Good night" you bit your lip, trying to hide your own smile, but failing miserably.

"Good night to you too, doll" he playfully bowed down a little, making you let out a laugh.

If someone saw you that night, under the moonlight, they would have seen two people completely in love with one another, laughing, being happy that they finally found their missing piece that was in front of them the whole time. Eyes shining like the stars above them as they watched each other, only the moon being witness of their intimate moment.

Permanent taglist: @byatomoe

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[makeste]

BnHA Chapter 308: VIBE: CHECKED

Previously on BnHA: Lots and lots of Shindou idk what else to tell you.

Today on BnHA: Tired Nomad Deku rescues Shindou from Muscular, and us from Shindou. Muscular is all “OH BOY I SURE CAN’T WAIT TO FIGHT DEKU AGAIN AFTER HE TOTALLY KICKED MY ASS THE LAST TIME!! I’M SURE THIS TIME WILL GO DIFFERENTLY SEEING AS HE’S HAD ALMOST AN ENTIRE YEAR’S WORTH OF ADDITIONAL TRAINING, AND ALSO HAS SIX FOURQUIRKS NOW, IN ADDITION TO THE CONFIDENCE THAT COMES WITH HAVING EIGHT OTHER PEOPLE’S SOULS CHILLING OUT INSIDE HIM OFFERING MORAL SUPPORT AND ENCOURAGEMENT.” Deku is all, “[kicks Muscular’s ass effortlessly].” Muscular is all, “[gets his ass totally kicked].” I for one am very satisfied with this, and with respect to all, I would like to hereby declare this post a discourse-free zone. I’m just happy to see my son out here making good use of his FOURQUIRKS, and more importantly beating Muscular in less than seventeen pages so we can all go on with our lives lol.

damn Deku since when were you allowed to look this cool

from this perspective and with the smoke, cape, backpack, and mask more or less obscuring his actual profile, he looks less like a sixteen-year-old boy and more like a grownass man

OH SNAP

we got a glimpse of this in the cleaned-up scan of 307, but seeing both of his eyes looking so distinctively All Might-esque here is... whoa. I mean we know that his face still looks pretty normal underneath the mask and he doesn’t actually have the black sclera, but still, this is an awesome look. mini-Might

lol Muscular

you and me both. I mean no offense, but yeah

so Deku is just standing there silently

typical Deku. tight-lipped and expressionless. mum’s the word. quiet as a mouse. silent as a grave

okay no but seriously this is so weird and creepy though you guys. Deku please say something or else I’m just gonna mindlessly say whatever stupid things come into my head in an effort to make things less awkward

so Muscular is all “I should probably make a cool speech about revenge but Horikoshi couldn’t think of anything good so I’m just going to stand here clenching my fist real slowly”

“I’m not here to go on a monologue” he says, as he monologues about not monologuing

okay you guys I confess I have only read through/watched the Deku VS Muscular fight once because the arm-breaking is just way too uncomfortable for me to revisit. and so as a result, I have completely forgotten Whatever The Deal Is with Muscular’s eye lmao so let me go look it up real quick

okay so it’s a prosthetic, obviously, and he changes it out according to his mood. that part does sound familiar. I just can’t remember which eye is supposed to indicate which mood. don’t tell me I actually have to go back and reread this shit

lol I’m skimming through chapter 75 now and remembering/realizing that I hardly paid any attention to this the first time around because as soon as I found out the villains were after Kacchan my brain was like “TIME TO FOCUS ON THIS AND ONLY THIS NOW AND FOREVER” and yeah. ah memories

anyway so he started out with the flower-looking eye, and then later on he was all

which begs the question, how on earth could I have ever forgotten the most ridiculous panel I’ve ever read lmao

anyway, but so after all of that, I'm only just now realizing that this isn't one of his previous eye prosthetics in the current chapter; this is an ACTUAL FUCKING ROCK that he's just randomly shoved into his eye socket fkdsjlk

so basically (1) I did all of that painstaking research for nothing, five whole minutes of my life wasted THANKS A LOT, and (2) what, and I have never meant this more emphatically, THE FUCK

anyway so now he's leaping at the building that Deku is standing on top of. but he’s not aiming anywhere near Deku though, wtf

(ETA: HAHA YOU BROKE ALL YOUR MUSCLES YOU LOSER.)

...huh

lmao okay then. I hope those annoying citizens in the building next door are watching this go down and rethinking their life choices

dlkdkljk

just keep standing there pressed right up against the window, why don’t you. “WHAT’S GOING ON THIS SUPER CLOSE COLLAPSING BUILDING IS BLOCKING OUR VIEW.” well, folks, we’ve long since known there’s a critical shortage of hero and villain brain cells, but what we’re learning now is that civilian brain cells are also in short supply

OH THANK GOD DEKU IS FINALLY TALKING THAT WAS ACTUALLY UNSETTLING AS FUCK

SO HE’S STILL OUR GOOD, POLITE, WORRIED, CONSIDERATE DEKU UNDERNEATH THAT COOL AND MYSTERIOUS VENEER. for real, thank fuck, because I swear to god if he suddenly started acting like the Dekus in all of the vigilante AUs my interest in this series would have dropped something like 50% lol. just because he dropped out of school and ran away from home and is currently dressed like the physical manifestation of a Linkin Park playlist doesn’t mean he’s not still the WORLD’S BIGGEST DORK okay

I MEAN, THIS RIGHT HERE. THIS IS WHAT I’M TALKING ABOUT. HE’S APOLOGIZING FOR THE DELAY

PLEASE FIND THE ATTACHED SHINDOU YOU REQUESTED. BEST REGARDS!!!

OH MY GOD WHY IS HE SUCH A BADASS

something about making bold, confident statements while obscured in smoke?? idk but damn it fucking works

ffjkkl

more importantly, should you tell him you actually need your copy of Shindou in excel format and not pdf?? on the one hand you don’t want to sound ungrateful, but on the other hand what are you even supposed to do with this

this chapter so far consists of like 50% smoke, but on the other hand Deku VS Kacchan 2 had a lot of cinematic smoke too so who am I to complain

OMG IS IT HIS ARMS

IDK DID YOU?! TELL ME YOUR SECRETS. PLEASE, AT SOME POINT THIS FIGHT HAS GOT TO ACTUALLY ADVANCE THE PLOT

OHHHHHHH

IT’S EN’S QUIRK!! OH MY GOD OKAY THAT’S ACTUALLY AWESOME

I CAN HEAR THE SOUND OF DISCOURSE RUMBLING IN THE BACKGROUND BUT I DON’T CARE LOL. WON’T CATCH ME EVER SAYING NO TO ANOTHER SIXQUIRK. GO AHEAD, BRING THEM ON, I WANT TO SEE THEM ALL but take it easy though Deku. don’t want to give yourself lung cancer or anything

also it’s good to see that in a very real sense he’s not fighting alone. the Vestiges really did mean it when they said they could appear more easily now. this is on a whole other level

so is this whole next page still En talking, or someone else? because whoever it is sure is chatty

okay, several things

pretty sure it is En, because he keeps saying “I suppose.” for someone who never said two words until one page ago, this guy sure never shuts up. we can’t all follow Muscular’s lead I suppose. oh my god now I’m doing it too

really like the suggestion of Deku using the SIXQUIRKS like tools in an arsenal, because that’s what he’s good at! it’s almost like he’s been training for this his entire life. “you value quirks too much” LOOK HE JUST THINKS THEY’RE COOL OKAY IS THAT A CRIME

where the fuck did all this rope come from

not gonna ask what the fuck that thing is sticking out from the back of his utility belt. Horikoshi will surely explain this

is that a fucking jetpack. I’m sorry Deku were six fucking quirks not enough for you. you can fucking float??? but JUST TO BE SAFE, LET’S STRAP A PAIR OF ROCKETS TO OUR SHOULDERS IDK

-- or wait, is this all supposed to be like a visual representation of En’s metaphor?? OH MY GOD AM I JUST STUPID LOL, DON’T ANSWER THAT. NEVER MIND. NEW LIST!!

rope = blackwhip

jetpack = float

radio = danger sense

and so I’m guessing that this ridiculously phallic thing is supposed to be a flare or something?? and that = the new quirk, smokescreen. well that was a fucking ride lmao we now return you to our regularly scheduled chapter

so now Deku is floating to his heart’s content and thinking that he’ll just sneak up on Muscular and vibe check his ass or whatever

WOOOOOOOO DANGER SENSE YESSSS I LOVE THIS FOR HIM

okay guys, I'm gonna press pause here for a sec to make a serious note, because I am loving the shit out of this, but tbh I'm having trouble enjoying it as much as I want to because I keep getting anxious thinking about the discourse. I know that a lot of the fandom has very strong opinions on Deku's character development one way or the other, and I want to respect that. but I also really have no spoons to debate this topic at all beyond what I’ve already weighed in on. so if it’s all the same to everyone, I plan on staying out of this discussion, at least this week

anyway! that said, YEAH BOI GET HIS ASS

VIBE: CHECKED. CURB: STOMPED. HOTEL: TRIVAGO

-- OF COURSE HE’S STILL FUCKING FINE LOL HE CRASHES INTO BUILDINGS FOR FUN IDK WHAT I WAS EXPECTING

dammit Muscular. how many fucking quirks does it take to beat you?! the annoying thing is that even with all of his cool new powers, Deku is still something of a mismatch against him. anyway r.i.p. to all these poor buildings

OOOOOHHHHH

you guys have no idea how intrigued I am at the prospect of watching Deku try to play both good cop and bad cop here lmao

anyway so Muscular says he doesn’t know, go figure

“I’m not here to make small talk or anything” he says as he small talks about not small talking

OH MY GOD DEKU

are you really gonna talk no jutsu all of these villains from now on?? that last battle really did have a profound impact on you, huh! interesting

you guys he’s really doing it omg

Deku this guy tried to murder a five-year-old literally just for fun. I mean more power to you, but holy shit you’re really gonna try to defeat Muscular with anger management therapy huh

I MEAN

WHO COULD HAVE SEEN THAT RESPONSE COMING dlkjslkjk

FUCK’S SAKE DEKU, I KNOW YOU MEAN WELL BUT THEY CAN’T ALL HAVE TRAGIC PASTS KIDDO

but. I have to admit, I do still like that he tried. probably knew just as well as we did what the end result was going to be, but still. he made the effort in good faith and I respect that

uh oh

why do I get the feeling Muscular just got a whole lot deader

oh my god oh my god he’s doing the “powering up” stance ffff don’t fucking tell me you can still use your fucking arms here, Deku

BUT MORE IMPORTANTLY WHAT’S THIS??

okay so basically he’s saying that whatever it was he sensed in Tomura, he doesn’t sense from Muscular. which, yeah, that sounds exactly right. good judge of character here lol

AHHHHAHAHA YESS

WHOOPS, GET FUCKED I GUESS

WOOOOHOOOOOOOO

lmao so apparently this is the belated result of Shindou’s attack from chapter 307?? I’ll be damned. good for you Shindou!! I always liked you buddy. please just take my word on that and don’t fact check that statement

okay lol the one tiny bit of discourse I will allow is that it’s bullshit that he just did that with his right arm. like, I’ll fully acknowledge that. that makes no fucking sense, and I demand an explanation from the Great Plot Hole Filler himself. he’s never let us down before when it comes to continuity so I’m trusting him not to suddenly start now

that said, we love to see a rematch against a boring guy settled quickly and decisively within the span of a single chapter. THANK YOU

I like that Deku implies that his power is being a smart nerd who battles villains using the power of ANALYTICS. he basically didn’t do anything except restrain Muscular and wait for Shindou’s attack to take effect while halfheartedly checking to see if he regretted any of that murder and stuff

(ETA: and almost forgot to mention, he made excellent use of all four of his active SIXQUIRKS. it’s like the chapter title said; this is basically him fighting all-out, and it’s a sight to see.)

also, as cool as the mask was, this just feels right. like, we had our fun, now let us see his face, yes good

anyway, I think this was a good start towards establishing What’s Up With Deku Right Now! so if it’s all the same to Horikoshi, I would next like to take some time to explore Why’s Up With Deku. that, and What’s Up With Everyone Else, Especially Kacchan. por favor

[drabbles-mc]

New Year’s Eve

Javier Peña x F!Reader

Warnings: language, alcohol, Javier experiencing softness and happiness

Word Count: 2.5k

A/N: Reposting because Tumblr locked me out of the tags and I will not stand for that lmao. I guess Javi is gonna be my new designated holiday character lmao. Idk what it is but for Christmas and for New Year’s I got hit with inspo for little stories for him. Hope you enjoy! And, hope you guys are enjoying New Year’s, whatever that looks like for you. For me it looks like eating cheesecake and writing fanfiction hahaha

Narcos Taglist: @thesandbeneathmytoes​​​ @winchestershiresauce​​​ @bruxasolta​​​ @garbinge​​​ @panagiasikelia​​​ @sizzlingcloudmentality​​​ @alm0501​​​ (If you want to be added just let me know!)

When you finally got up from your desk to head out for the night, you realized that everyone else had already gone home. Everyone, except for one person. Javier was still hunched over his desk, papers scattered in front of him and an empty glass in his hand. You assumed that at some point earlier in the evening it’d been filled with whiskey.

It was the quietest that the embassy had ever been, everyone else having headed out earlier than usual to either go home or gone out on the town to celebrate. You couldn’t deny that you were surprised to see that he wasn’t among the people who were out and about looking for a good time.

You cleared your throat as you walked up to his desk, “Hey, it’s, uh, it’s getting kinda late.”

The sound of your voice snapped him from what he’d been focusing on. A low, quiet groan slipped out of him as he checked the time on his watch. It was only a little after ten, which was an early night by his standards.

“I still got a couple hours left in me,” despite his exhaustion he flashed you a smile.

You chuckled, leaning back against his desk, “Maybe, but I’m sure your girlfriend would like to have you out of here to ring in the new year with her,” you knew Javi’s reputation, and while you were fairly certain he didn’t have a steady girlfriend, you also knew that there was no shortage of women who would jump at the chance to have any reason to spend the night with him.

He laughed, shaking his head as he leaned back in his chair, “I don’t think that’s going to be an issue,” he paused, taking a moment to really look at you, “You have someone waiting at home, then?”

You shook your head, “No. Not this year.”

It was the most that you and Javier had spoken one on one. You were usually playing middleman with him and the higher-ranking government officials, but the two of you never had much reason to speak solely to each other. He’d always been polite to you, despite the evident problems he had with your bosses. You respected that about him.

To try and distract yourself from the way that he was staring at you, you asked, “You’ve been down here longer than me—you know any fun places to go for a night like tonight?”

“Fun?” he chuckled, clearly implying that it had been a long time since he budgeted time for fun into his schedule.

“Yea,” you laughed as you rested your hands in your lap, “Back home my family used to throw a huge party every year to celebrate. But, you know, it’s just me here,” you shrugged, “Didn’t know if you knew of any bars that had parties going on or something.”

He thought about it, looking back and forth between you and the paperwork on his desk, “I know one spot,” he leaned forward, propping his elbows on the desk, “They don’t do a party exactly. But they do a countdown and all that shit,” he chuckled, “I know the bartender so we could probably get a break on drinks.”

“We?” your eyebrows lifted in surprise.

“Sorry,” he tried to read your expression, “didn’t mean to assume, just thought you might want—”

“I do,” you cut him off, a smile on your face, “A little company would be nice.”

You knew he was tired—everyone at the embassy was these days. But even though that was the case, he still shuffled his papers into a somewhat neat pile, grabbed his keys and wallet, and got up from his seat with a decent amount of enthusiasm. There was a tiny smirk on his face as he gestured for you to walk in front of him.

“After you.”

You laughed, fixing your jacket as you walked towards the main doors of the building. You looked back over your shoulder at Javier as you stepped out onto the sidewalk, and it was nice to see him with a bit of a pep in his step. You weren’t sure if he had the capacity to be relaxed these days, but he looked about as close to it as he could be.

He stood next to you, nodding down the street, “It’s not far, if you wanna walk.”

You shrugged, nodding, “Sure. Not like we have other pressing plans, right?” you laughed.

The walk to the bar was quiet, but comfortable. You couldn’t remember the last time you just casually went to grab drinks with someone from work—it didn’t seem to be a luxury anyone was afforded these days. Javier puffed on a cigarette as he strolled beside you. He was constantly looking around, some safety habits would stay with him forever, even off the clock. But every so often you could feel him looking at you, watching the way you took everything in. You always said you wanted to make more of a point to explore where you lived now, but you just never made the time. The scenic little stroll had you thinking that maybe you should ask Javier for more suggestions in the future.

“Here,” he pointed before snubbing his cigarette out beneath his shoe. He gave you a brief smile, “Follow me.”

You lingered close behind him as the two of you made your way deeper into the bar. It was busy, but not quiet suffocating. The music was loud, but good. Out of pure instinct you reached out and gently held on to Javier’s upper arm, not wanting to be separated. If he felt any type of way about it, he didn’t show it.

He managed to snag the two of you a couple stools at the less-packed end of the bar. The bartender had seen him immediately when he walked in, and he gave Javier a quick wave in greeting. As the two of you sat down, the man materialized in front of you with a pleasant but curious smile on his face.

“What unfortunate bet did you lose, hermosa, that landed you here with Peña on New Year’s Eve?” the bartender laughed as he grabbed a glass for Javi, filling it with whiskey without even bothering to ask.

Javier shook his head with a chuckle, “No bet, if you can believe it.”

“I can’t,” the bartender laughed as he focused his attention on you, “What can I get you?”

You enjoyed watching the banter between the two of them, “Something strong and sweet.”

He winked, “I’m off the clock at three,” he laughed, shaking his head, “Espere, I got something for you,” and with that, he was off, scooping up a glass as he went.

You looked over at Javi, who was shaking his head at the entire interaction. You smiled, “You got a lot of friends, huh?”

He laughed, taking a sip of his drink before responding, “Just trying to balance out all the enemies.”

When the bartender set the glass down in front of you, you didn’t ask what was inside. Taking a sip, you had to admit that it was exactly what you had been looking for. He saw the look of satisfaction on your face and flashed you a wink and a smile before getting swept off with his other duties.

It was a little difficult at first to figure out what exactly you wanted to talk to Javier about. Your common ground with him was work, sure, but even that was a bit of a stretch. You both worked at the embassy but your jobs couldn’t have been more different. And, besides that, so much of your lives revolved around work and talking about work, you knew that he must’ve been wanting a break from that. Even if he didn’t, you certainly did.

You also didn’t want to ask about anything that would amplify the little hint of sadness that was lingering in his expression. Or maybe it wasn’t sadness, per se, maybe it was loneliness. There was something to be said for the fact that the two of you were the last ones to leave on the last night of the year. You didn’t want to think about any of that, though, and you didn’t want him thinking about it either. For a man who seemed to have a quip and comment for everything when he was at work, he was uncharacteristically quiet as he sat beside you.

“I don’t bite, you know,” you said with a laugh before taking a sip of your drink.

His shoulders relaxed and a smile crossed his face, “I know.”

Apparently that was the little bit of reassurance that he needed. The two of you picked up talking and swapping stories as if you were old friends rather than just coworkers, or acquaintances as best. Javier was funny, and truthfully you could’ve listened to him talk all night. He spoke to you with such ease, the smile on his face growing a little wider as the minutes ticked by.

“I just don’t think I can picture a little Javier running around Texas in a cowboy hat, roping calves or whatever,” you laughed and shook your head.

He almost choked on a mouthful of beer at the mental image you were conjuring up, “I just said I grew up on a ranch. You added in the accessories.”

“You’re telling me you didn’t have your very own ten-gallon hat?”

He shook his head, still smiling, “Only my dad had one. I think those are a rite of passage type of thing.”

“Ah,” you nodded, “I see. And you thought getting the DEA badge was tough.”

Javi chuckled, “My father is tougher than any government official in any country, believe me.”

He asked you about home, about your own family. You didn’t get into the heavy topics—it wasn’t the kind of night for that. But you gave him the highlights, the overview. You threw in a few stories that you knew would get him to laugh, because let’s face it everyone needed a little more of that.

“I think our aunts might be secretly related,” he chuckled as another glass of whiskey was set down in front of him. He waved his thanks to the bartender before looking back to you, “She the one who throws the party every year?”

Your face brightened as you nodded, “Yes! She’s got a huge house, invites everyone over. My uncle cooks way too much food and we all drink way too much wine and champagne. Gets harder and harder every year to stay up until midnight without a power nap,” you chuckled.

“Speaking of which,” he nodded to the shelf behind the bar where there was a countdown clock running, “Told you.”

“Oh, shit,” you laughed, “It’s already 11:30?” you finished off what was left of your drink.

“No power nap for you this year,” he couldn’t help but to smile at your excitement, swirling the alcohol around in his glass as he watched you.

“I guess not,” you smiled, thanking the bartender as he brought you another drink. You took a long sip from it before speaking up again, “Thank you, by the way.”

“Don’t gotta thank me,” he brushed off the sincerity in your tone, unsure of what to do with it, “Never need to twist my arm for a drink.”

You leaned, lightly bumping his shoulder with yours, “The company is almost as good as the drinks.”

“Almost?” he laughed.

You shrugged, gesturing towards the bartender, “Your friend makes a pretty good cocktail, what can I say?”

Once you realized the time, it all seemed to move faster. You and Javi were able to keep yourselves sufficiently entertained between swapping stories and people watching, the two of you inching ever closer as you tried to be subtle in regards to who you were talking about. Although, in the spirit of honesty, anything below shouting would’ve kept your conversation under wraps.

Soon enough, the countdown started. The entirety of the small bar joined in, and Javier couldn’t deny that your excitement was palpable. You were practically vibrating in your seat as you called out the numbers. And, despite the fact that he hadn’t given a shit about the New Year’s Eve countdown in years, Javier found it impossible not to join in with you.

“Happy New Year!” you jumped off your seat, glass still barely hanging in one hand. The whole bar was filled with cheering and clapping, a bright end to what had been an incredibly difficult and trying year.

Javi was watching you, a smile on his face. He reached for his glass and was about to take a celebratory sip, but before he could you used your free hand to cup the side of his face before pulling him into a kiss. It caught him off-guard, the gesture itself and how much he enjoyed it and found himself melting into you. He could taste the sweetness from your drink on your lips and it was the kind of refreshing change of pace that was perfect for bringing in a brand new year.

All too soon for his liking, you pulled away. Heat instantly flooded to your face when the reality of what you’d done settled over you. Setting your glass down on the bar, your eyes dropped to the floor as you tried to recover, “Sorry,” you laughed nervously, “Just, you know, it’s midnight and I just—”

His hand coming to rest on the outside of your arm gave you pause. When you forced yourself to look at him, you saw the soft smile on his face and it settled your nerves a bit. He gave your arm a light squeeze, “Happy New Year.”

Javier finished his drink, and the two of you made the silent agreement that it was time to head home. He tossed some money onto the surface of the bar, the bartender coming over and scooping it up mere seconds later.

“Come back any time,” he called out with a smile. When he saw that Javi was about to answer, he gave him a dismissive wave, “Not you, Peña. I know you’ll be back.”

You laughed, just as much at the man’s comment as Javier’s fake shocked expression. You gave the bartender a wave, “Have a good night. Happy New Year.”

The two of you walked back towards the embassy, back towards your cars and the reality that you were going to be living in for the next 365 days. The same comfortable silence enveloped you both as you walked. There was the hum of excitement still coming from people’s homes, from other bars and clubs. It felt like a different Colombia for the night.

“We should do this again,” you said as the two of you got to the parking lot.

“Same time next year?” Javi said with a chuckle.

You smiled, shaking your head, “Or sooner, if you want.”

He let out a low hum of approval, “I think we could make that work,” he lingered as you unlocked the door to your car.

“Thank you, Javier,” you stepped in and gave him a quick hug, “Goodnight, I’ll see you Monday.”

Before you pulled too far back, he leaned in and pressed a fleeting kiss against your lips. The smile on his face was contagious as he finally let you go, “Goodnight.”