#I like writing cutesy platonic stuff

[harrietswriting]

Baking with the gang

The outsiders x gn!reader (platonic)

An: I know my last two fics were in 1st person but I think from now on I'm going to do them in second person. Please send me requests!! 💕

Tw: none? Men? Mediocre writing skills?

"Two-Bit, I swear to God. Stick your finger in the batter one more time and I'll beat you with this whisk." You threaten the laughing greaser angrily as he runs out of kitchen licking his finger.

You sigh and mumble: "Never making cake here again," then go back to stirring the batter.

"I'll stand guard, y/n," Ponyboy says as he peeks into the dining room at Two-Bit who had sat down to watch Soda and Steve's card game.

You laugh, "Thanks, Pony."

Dallas walks in past Ponyboy, Johnny tagging along behind him.

"Hey Pony." Dallas nods in his direction as he leans against the counter and crosses his arms. Johnny greets you and Pony too.

"I don't get a greeting, Dally?" You ask, feigning hurt.

"No."

"What are ya making?" Johnny leans to look in the bowl.

You smile proudly. "Chocolate cake," then you look past him at the cake's secret service agent. "Pony, where are the pans?"

"I'll get one." He opens a cabinet and gets out a cake pan. "Like this?"

"Yes thank you." You smile has he hands it to you.

Steve cheers in the other room having evidently won against Soda. Two-Bit laughs. Sodapop tells him to quit it.

"When's Darry gettin' back from work, Ponyboy?" Johnny asks. You had been wondering too. You start to carefully pour the cake batter into the pan.

"Soon I think. He said he was going to stop at the store once he got off." Pony answers. Steve walks in with a cocky engery around him.

"You win?" You ask him as he eyes the cake pan.

"Hell yeah!" He declares proudly. "Who else wants to play me? Dally?"

Dallas shrugs. "Sure. I win, you owe me a pack of cancer sticks."

"Sure, and vise versa." They walk back into the dining room just as Soda walks in.

"Cake done?" He asks.

"No, I'm putting it in now." You open the oven, which you'd pre-heated, and gingerly set the pan on the middle rack.

"Shoot." He looks a little disappointed. He leaves and goes back to the dining room.

Pony and Johnny start talking about some movie they'd seen and the drive-in. Pony's mad they never show good movies there, and Johnny's not convinced there are good movies. You hum a Beatles song as you turn the timer and set it for 30 minutes then place it on the counter.

"You just haven't seen a good movie because you've never gone to a movie theater." Pony argues.

"I'm not paying to see some phony movie that i won't like." Johhny rebutts.

"I think the drive-in plays some good movies." You add. They look at you.

"That's cause you have low standards." Ponyboy says matter-of-factly. You scoff. Two-Bit, had entered the kitchen just in time to hear the comment and decides to add: "Yeah, that's obvious, look at your your ex!" He laughs.

"Uh- You're not getting any cake Two!" You're offended, that was uncalled for. He shrugs, knowing your bluffing.

"We were talking about movies." Johnny shifts to lean against the counter like Dally had been doing earlier.

"Oh. Forgot you guys are boring." He laughs again.

"Hey Two! Mickey's on!"

~

Thirty minutes later you're all stuffed in the living room, including Darry, who had finally gotten home. Dallas, Ponyboy, Johnny, and you were on the couch, Pony on the arm of the couch. Darry was in one chair reading the paper, and Soda was in the other. Two-bit was sitting on the ground and drinking a beer while Steve counted his winnings next to him. Steve had lost against Dallas then proceeded to beat Soda again, Johnny, and you. You sadly had to hand over the money you had in your pocket to him. He was very happy.

The timer goes off and you get up from the couch.

"Does that mean the cakes done?" Soda asks.

"I'll check." You walk to the kitchen and can feel excited eyes on you. Jesus, these boys like chocolate cake. You get out an oven mit and a tooth pick before opening the oven. You poke the cake with the toothpick and sure enough, it comes out clean. So, you carefully take the cake out of the over and you plop it onto a plate.

"Cake is done!" You yell as you carry plate out to the dining room. Two-Bit is sat. Zip. He's already here. And Steve is right behind him.

"I'll get forks and plates!" Soda announces. He gets the quickly and hands them out. You cut the cake into generous slices, the first piece going to Two-Bit. Dallas finally joins the party at the table. Darry comes next, and now everyone is sitting around the table.

Two-Bit takes a bite and closes his eyes in satisfaction. "Mmmm."

Steve gets one next, then Soda, Pony, Johnny, Dallas, and Darry, then finally you cut yourself one.

"Thank you y/n." Darry says before taking a bite. This encourage a slew of thanks from the rest of the guys, even a mumble from Dallas.

You smile. "You're welcome, guys."

Within 20 minutes the cake is gone.

An: SEND ME REQUESTS PLEASE. Also, do you guys like 1st person or 2nd person narration better? Please giveme constructive criticism or something. okay bye love yall 💕💕

[goldfades]

could you write some Caitlin hc?

𝐑𝐄𝐋𝐀𝐓𝐈𝐎𝐍𝐒𝐇𝐈𝐏 𝐇𝐄𝐀𝐃𝐂𝐀𝐍𝐎𝐍𝐒 ─ CC²²

─ warnings | fluff, mention of arguing/VERY SLIGHT ANGST, best friends to lovers, just a bunch of yap... sorry in advance <3

─ taglist | @xocherishxo @iienstein @yazmunson @euphternal @hello-nah817 @wanderlusturous @plushkhiii @ilovepaigebueckerss @ajcuteee @vi0lentb3rry @paigeszn @brynsreads @delicateray and here's a link to my taglist if anyone would like to join!!

PRE-RELATIONSHIP

i feel like caitlin just gives off childhood best friends to lovers + high school sweethearts, like you guys knew each your entire lives and were like super duper close

and then one day it kinda just like hit caitlin like SHE IS **IN LOVE** WITH YOU

she's definitely the first one to "catch feelings"

i use that term VERY loosely because both of you guys were idiots and didn't realize you'd loved each other the first time you met

but she's the first one to realize it

which i feel like would cause a slight rift between you two because up until that point, it was "platonic"

she just wouldn't know how to go about her feelings and it would just stress her out, so she just began to distance herself

and in the years you've known her SHE'S NEVER DONE THAT TO YOU, so obviously you notice

and you try and talk to her about it but she reassures you and tells you it's nothing, that she's just stressed about school

which you don't buy so you just keep bugging her about it, cause she's ur best friend ur not about to lose her!!

eventually you give up after realizing that maybe she just doesn't wanna be friends with you anymore, and after you didn't show up to her game, caitlin knew she FUCKED UP

so after the game, she goes to your house and tells you that she messed up

and you both go up to your room and talk about it, she's SO emotional and just stressed out but she pours everything out to you

and you're confused at first, caitlin likes YOU????

and when you hug her and tell her it's alright, that you liked her back, baby was taken aback cause she's like WHAT

she expected you to just be okay with it obviously but she never expected you to tell her you LIKED HER BACK????

it's just so cutesy rom-com-y and just... ADORABLE and sweet

RELATIONSHIP

queen of cuddles, oh my lord this woman is always on top of you

she doesn't really process her size sometimes cause she'll just lay on top of you and she forgets that she's literally 6ft with a bunch of muscles

you've almost died multiple times

she's super duper touchy all the 24/7 EXCEPT AT GAMES

pda is cute and all but not at games because she has to keep up an appearance and being overly touchy with your girlfriend at a game isn't exactly a great image

but she'll do it anywhere else!!!!!! but of course not too much cause again, the whole image thing

she loves taking pictures and videos to everything, her entire camera roll is just you and her atp

like vlogs GALORE to send to her family and stuff, because they adore you and her relationship!!!!

and obvs the team but they get rly sick and tired quicklu

"caitlin we get it u have an amazing healthy relationship" *attachment: 8 photos of you guys giving a thumbs down with frowns* "did we rly need 8 photos?" "yes!!!!!!!!"

and she vlogs everything, like every moment with you, she's got recorded

but those are usually very sacred to her, she doesn't show them to anyone and she hearts them so that she can look at them anytime she misses u :(

she loves showing you off on her instagram stories!!! but she gives everyone crumbs, like your back with her jersey and a cutesy little heart and you two holding hands

she has posts of you guys from high school still on instagram but she doesn't really post you a lot just because she wants to be professional

but whenever she can, SHE DOESSSS (like that whole 1yr post but with u.......)

you're at every single one of her important games!!!!! since yall have been together for so long, you guys make time for each other (ofc), she'll fly you out, pay for your hotels and everything

you're her number one supporter and fan!!!! oh my gosh

because she can't respond to weird comments, YOU def can

especially the ones that are like "i can def beat her in a 1v1" and it's just some random man

"most mens players at college level couldn't even beat her, i guarantee a random guy on tiktok could🤗" "you're 5'7, think again ���"

caitlin just laughs at the comments but you will never let anyone shit talk your girlfriend????

she finds your protectiveness so endearing like it makes her fall more in love w you (if that's even possible?"

rom-com nights are like the ideal date night - caitlin cooks the food and you pick the movie, you guys cuddling on the couch as you eat and watch the movie is like every free saturday/sunday for yall

caitlin hates being away from you, she just wishes you could be with her 24/7

if she's away from you, expect 10000+ messages from her and 10 minute snapchat vlogs of her just at the gym while she speaks into the speakers quietly as if she's being followed (shes just dramatic)

some of the vlogs are just her in the hotel room very bored, trying to think of something to talk to u about and ITS SO CUTE

"so uh... i heard that squirrels can't burp. isn't that weird and like.... kinda sad? imagine living your whole life without being able to burp, i think i would die. speaking of that, i tried making your mom's cupcakes the other day, but i accidentally used salt instead of sugar! and that's exactly why i stick to cooking, baking is too damn hard. oh shit, kate is calling me, i gotta go but uh i hope you're having a great day. i miss you like crazy and can't wait until we're together again. i love you!"

yeah she's a yapper

she loves when you do her hair because i feel like she's more of a outfit person

so she would like if you braided her hair or like curled it or something, it makes her feel good and like pretty

the one time she curled her hair without you, she burned her arm and she swore she'd never again🫠

↳ make sure to check out my navigation or masterlist if you enjoyed! any interaction is greatly appreciated !

↳ thank you for reading all the way through, as always ♡

[bones4thecats]

Aaaa yay requests are open again! (⁠ ⁠╹⁠▽⁠╹⁠ ⁠)

Hmmm... Could I request Valentino, Vox, and Velvette in a platonic/familial relationship with a young demon reader?

Also, could the reader have the ability to 'charm' people - but not in a way that makes others fall in love with them. Instead it causes the target to perceive them as objectively cute (like a baby otter, or a puppy) - although it doesn't prevent cuteness aggression. (Essentially - they can make people perceive them as adorable. Or more adorable than they may already be lol) (⁠ ⁠ꈍ⁠ᴗ⁠ꈍ⁠)

I hope you have a great day! Remember to hydrate! (⁠ﾉ⁠◕⁠ヮ⁠◕⁠)⁠ﾉ⁠*⁠.⁠✧

- 🧑‍🧑‍🧒 anon \⁠(⁠･⁠◡⁠･⁠)⁠/

The Vees With An Adorable-Child! Reader

Characters: Vox, Valentino, and Velvette Requester: 👪Anon A/N: This was fun to write, and like my last two posts, this is shorter than normal. But hey, I've released multiple posts in one day! Haven't done that in quite a while!! ⚠️ Spoilers/Trigger Warnings for: Mentions of SA and abuse (not directed at the Reader) ⚠️

╔══════════════════════════════════════════╗

╚═════ Vox ═════════════════════════════════╝

📺 When Vox first saw you with Velvette, he was alarmed. Why did she keep saying you would be useful for any future plans? You were a damn child!

"Velvette, do explain. How in the name of Hell is that- that BABY, supposed to be of use to us?"

"You'll see someday, Voxy!"

📺 Rolling his eyes as you giggled and kept messing around with some stuffed animals that Velvette and Valentino had bought you a couple days prior, Vox had to admit, there was something off about you being around

📺 And that feeling became completely cleared when you finally revealed you abilities to him

📺 As an up-and-coming star in Hell's media, you were hunted down by many individuals, so the Vees ended up traveling with you everywhere. Either that or they'd have some bodyguards surrounding you

📺 One day, Vox had decided to take a walk around Hell with you out of sheer boredom. And while he looked away for a couple minutes to tell a waiter that he just needed the food straightly to-go, he noticed a sound of giggles and awes in your direction

📺 Looking towards you, he saw a group of sinners applauding you as sparkles and other cutesy-things surrounded your form. It was like your adorable charm was ramped up to another level in their eyes

📺 You then giggled which then made them adore you so much to the point they all became aggressive with one another, tackling and attacking one another harshly in front of the other demons around

📺 Vox smirked as the waiter handed him a couple bags of the food for the Vees and you to eat at home. Maybe you could be of use with getting others to convert from Alastor's old-timey radio to Vox's new-timey technology

╔══════════════════════════════════════════╗

╚═════ Valentino ══════════════════════════════╝

❣️ When Valentino first saw you, he had to admit you were quite the cute child!

❣️ He went from physically beating another sinner under contract with him to kneeling in front of you and giving you a small hat identical to his own, including the antenna!

❣️ Val is by-far the one who spoils you the most. He gives you all kinds of stuff ranging from children's toys (he knows not to give you adult ones) and outfits that look close to his

❣️ One time, he gave you small sunglasses like his, but they had tiny teddy bears on the rims , and seeing you wear a tinier version of his entire outfit made him swoon and almost cry tears of joy at your cuteness

❣️ He is also one of the first demons to ever see your abilities. One day, one of his producers for an upcoming movie had begun to yell at another actress, one that you had become quite close to

❣️ You became angry and used your Overlord magic against him, charming him into becoming aggressive with himself. Resulting in him tearing his own fur out and for the other crew members to call an ambulance to go to a nearby Hospital

❣️ Valentino walked up to you and patted your head and nuzzled your forehead before giving you a sugar-filled comment

"Your abilities are definitely ones to not mess with, niña/niño. You should be proud of yourself for having such magnificent power in the palm of your tiny hands."

╔══════════════════════════════════════════╗

╚═════ Velvette ═══════════════════════════════╝

📳 She was the first demon to come across you

📳 Velvette had been taking random photos to test out a new filter she was making when she came across you. You were such an adorable child! Just standing there with a fancy outfit and big-cutesy eyes!

📳 She asked if you wanted a photo and when you said yes, she smiled and took a selfie with you. And when she looked back, she noticed you looked somehow cuter with some demons ogling you from the back

📳 Obviously this was sadly normal in Hell, but she noticed how they ended up pouncing on one another and begin trying to tear one another's limbs off/out

📳 You just smiled and giggled at their actions, and Velvette gained an idea. What if you came by V-Tower with her and became a main piece in her new child-outfit line? You seem like the perfect model for some outfits, after all!

📳 She was initially met with backlash from both of her partners, but after Valentino saw you, he had to love you like an uncle would a child immediately. And when Vox spent time with you, he began to care for you in the same way

📳 Every time you use your abilities on others, Velvette smirks and laughs manically at the wild actions of the other demons around you two

[darlingwriter]

hi! i made this new sideblog because i want to branch out and try writing fic on tumblr (as opposed to ao3), seperate from my normal stuff. anywayyy, hey, hi, hello. you can call me vi. i have no clue what i'm doing.

some faq/get to know me nonsense under the cut:

what kind of fic do you write? i mean, honestly, i write all sorts of things; original work, poetry, tragic longfics, passionate essays about gender equality, extensive lists, notes app ramblings, etc etc. but specifically i want to try out writing reader insert fic stuff on this blog, because it's a style that just really intrigues me for some reason, especially as it's not very prevalent in the general literary world.

what sort of reader insert fic? literally most kinds hahaa. fluffy romantic cutesy shit, platonic goofing around, hurt/comfort, angst, the list goes on and on.

do/will you write smut? yeah, sure. i'm not interested in writing super hardcore kink stuff or anything, because 1) i just don't wanna and 2) i'm really not super educated in that area, but generally, yeah, i'll write smut.

will you take requests/asks/prompts? omg omg yes please i'd be so honoured. obviously i can't promise to write something for every ask i get, but please please please feel free to reach out!

what fandom/characters do you write for? currently experiencing a call of duty hyperfixation at the moment for reasons incomprehensible even to myself, so, right now, probably just going to be sticking to that. i have so so many fandoms, but i don't want to stretch myself (or this blogs target audience) too thin. but i might branch out later, who knows?

you fool! you absolute jester! you've forgotten to include a vital piece of information on this list!!! aaa, my bad, please reach out to me via ask or dm, and let me know! i'm like, perpetually sleepy and forgetful at the moment so it's more than likely i forgot to add something important to this. i am sorry in advance, it's my fault for quitting caffeine.

what anon signatures have already been claimed? 🧃 / 🐧

[castlebyersafterdark]

Your post about will wanting mike physically made me wonder if many of the puritan bylers used to be milevens (statistics would suggest yes) who are still struggling to come to terms with what it means for a man to be gay. 

There seems to be a lack of understanding about how boys actually relate to each other in both platonic and romantic contexts. After all, lots of gay media that caters to young teen girls, like heartstopper, is cutesy if not totally sanitised, and if they are basing what byler could be off of what they thought mileven WAS, then it tracks - because mileven was never physical or sexual either. The reasons for this are all to do with mike’s sexuality, but perhaps many people think that mileven WAS real and no longer is, and therefore when mike and will get together it’ll just be another version of that heterosexual romance. 

Ofc this is wrong, not least because mike and el were so young when they were exploring each other even if it was entirely performed rather than genuinely exploratory. but even if mike was exploring a relationship with el for the first time as a 16/17 yr old, it would still manifest differently to one with will because they are both boys. Not to say that love itself or the butterflies you feel are different, but the way that two men will express their love + the fact that mike and will are friends, would obviously change their dynamic. 

Do you think that if mike and el had been shown to check each other out, that people would have a different opinion (not about mike being gay or bi, but about how his and will’s attraction will express itself?) Because you’re right - people do forget that will being gay means he wants to be intimate with men. Is that because they think his attraction is never physically expressed in the show? But then what exactly would that physical attraction look like? Has he not been ogling mike enough for you? Or painting his body in a very intricate ritual of dedication and love? Or is it because Will is just so gosh darn adorable, and they think that someone who has a baby face cannot experience sexual attraction? 

Intriguing premise on multiple fronts!

Re: the former Milevnn scenario - never considered that but at least for some folks in fandom? Maybe! That's an interesting idea, but I do kind of lean towards a lot of the 'puritan' ideas just being a product of today's internet/fandom culture, via this agenda from how gen z seems to have grown up entirely online. And you can't fully blame it on this generation! Those under that mindset didn't inflict it on themselves! (Same vein as "no one is born racist - you are taught to hate"). It's a reaction to a deeper conversation of social media and surveillance culture and this pervasive mindset of thought-crime, etc. I'm toeing the line between genZ/millennial but my fandom experience in the early years was a bit different, where there wasn't as strong of a backlash and negative reaction to sexuality and sex in regards to fandom (people were writing fic about high school age characters doing alllll sorts of stuff and, thinking back, getting a call-out about that content kinda seems unfathomable in retrospect). I genuinely feel it's mostly a culture clash in fandom spaces. But with kindness and re-education and conversation, I think we can either come to agreements and find common ground rather than fighting and call-outs and witch-hunts and all that negativity. I find it more helpful to ask the puritan-mind set folks "why do you feel this way? what about this is so upsetting to you? Have you never really examined your judgement and why it makes you upset?" Learning moments! Kindness and compassion goes a long way in fighting repression and bigotry, and I know that's a hard pill to swallow sometimes in the face of contentiousness.

Re: not understanding the teenage boy experience - another verrrrrrry big factor that I also think simultaneously plays into what's going on, even with those well-intentioned and supportive, just hesitant. It's just the honest truth. Without getting too far into gender politics et. al - yeah, unless you yourself are or were a teenage boy, especially a gay teenage boy - there's a lot of presumption and inference and while mileage does very much vary in personal experience, there are tenets that will factor into an accurate portrayal. Yes - not every teenager is going to have sex. Not every teenager is even interested in sex and many will grow into adults who aren't interested either and that's totally valid and fine. But I do not think that is the case for these specific characters, personally. It's a disservice to sanitize queer sexuality. To put it bluntly, if two teenage boys are dating/have feelings for each other - they're going to want to have sex. Are you kidding me? Teenagerdom? The horniest time of our lives??? Yall. It's going to be awkward and fumbling and exploratory and they won't fully know what they're doing, but these boys will want to experiment and get it on. That's nature, that's biology. It honestly cracks me up when I read some sfw byler fics with heavy make-out scenes and the next moment it's like 'oh we better stop before we get carried away' and I'm like, oh honey. That's not how dicks work. They're already hard and they both know it. They're sixteen. You get hard at a strong breeze sometimes. The love of your young little life has his hands up your shirt and his tongue in your mouth? Boner central. Sorry!!!

Re: a different portrayal of Mike and El - interesting as well. There are so many factors here to consider. Showing Mike and El in more 'intimate' scenarios I don't think really would have that big of a factor in regards to the anti-sex brigade in general. A big portion of the same people who spout off about 'they're minors! we don't need to see sex in media!' would say it whether it's mike and el or mike and will... but there's def a layer of homophobia inherent with mike and will in conjunction with that mindset, even by people who claim to like and support gay ships. The Will dilemma tho. I've been puzzling over the Will dilemma since I stepped into the Byler fandom. And why he, despite being literally "the gay character" - his sexuality is less explored in regard to the most baseline aspects of being gay. Is it infantilizing because he's our cute sweet little victim? Is it because he has yet to actually pursue his love interest in the narrative? I'm still working on pondering this myself!! Because it isn't at all how I viewed his situation or character. But, very interesting points...

[everlasting-rainfall]

PLEASE READ!

Hey, everyone. I'm on mobile right now so excuse any problems with what I'm doing

I have a request for all of you, and it's about requests. I'm requesting you to send more in but of specific types.

Im going through some stuff currently and it's very stressful...

So I'll get to the point. I'd like you all to please send in requests about certain things so I have something comforting to work on.

Im gonna answer them once everything has cleared up and gotten a bit better

Its something to keep me occupied when I'm bored of other things.

Now then the types of requests I'd like you to send in are basically things that bring me a lot of comfort

Ask me about my OC's like something simple like "What are their worst fears?", "How do they deal with *insert scenario*", and "What would happen if *insert scenario*?"

I do have a post about them and I do have a recent post about them that includes their designs. Plus a few old ones that describe in detail.

I don't know if it's in the masterlist though... Sorry!

Also I do have some other new ones too like Esme the Angel whose Nika's wife, Tender the Skeleton whose T-Bones Wife, Dot the Slime Girl whose Paulie and Iceberg's wife, etc

Another thing is to please send in requests for comfort characters of mine. I'll warn you though that some of my comfort characters are probably odd.

Theyre comfort in the sense of big scary evil thing that could and would squash you like an insect is kind hearted and soft with someone...

My comfort characters are the following...

-Figarland Garling

-Joyboy

-Imu

-Nika

-Gorosei

-Obscure Characters (It is always fun to write them!)

Another thing for comfort characters would probably be like platonic/familial yandere scenarios meaning no romance

My comfort characters for these are different of course and they're the following

-The Vegapunks

-The Marines of Navarone (G8)

-Movie Characters

-Accino Family (Ice Hunter Arc)

-Shanks and his Crew

-Straw Hats

-Kozuki Family

-Any Seven Warlords of the Sea Characters

Remember that there won't be any romance for you with these characters if you ask for platonic or familial

Another thing is that I like to write for new concepts. Since I don't have time to explain any of my AU's.

I'll list them off with a tiny summary and let you pick one that sounds interesting. Feel free to ask questions and I'll answer them when my internet is back on

-Crane Game AU

Reaching into a crane game to grav something only to be grabbed and pulled into a plush world

-Love Apocalypse AU

A virus turns people into zombies focused on love, you got it and wound up with someone. What happens when the virus is cured and the person doesn't wanna let you go?

-Fiction into Reality AU

Fictional character winds up in your world and wants to take you back with them

-Mystical Forest AU

Living in a town surrounded by a giant forest on all sides, it's full of monsters and one of the monsters decides they like you.

-Containment AU

Monsters have returned to be the dominant species of earth as humans hurt the earth. Monsters have been captured and it's basically SCP Foundation.

-Pastel Broadcast AU (Beware, this one is based off the Dark Web)

Being sold to someone on the dark web who hosts a pastel and cutesy broadcast where they do typical dark web stuff. You think you're next until they say the new episode of their broadcast is about introducing a new character. You.

-Coraline AU

Self explanatory I feel

-Time Traveller AU

Invent a time machine, go back in time, get mistaken for someone who passed away. Time is slowly modifying to turn you into that person for real.

-Toon AU

Find an old animation studio that brought its mascot to life. The mascot brings you to their world and you slowly are turning into a toon like them.

Those are the au's and you can suggest familial/platonic for any of these by the way.

You also don't have to request my comfort characters if you really don't want to

And that should be all that I have to say. Thank you so very much if you decide to send in a request.

And if you don't then still thank you for reading this.

See you later! And thank you again!

[floatingcatacombs]

Compile Hagiography Through Reading the Hyperdimension Neptunia Wiki

12 Days of Aniblogging 2023, Day 4

When I’m really bored on the computer, one of the things I'll occasionally do is explore the Hyperdimension Neptunia wiki. Neptunia is a role-playing series whose main distinction is being centered around moe anthropomorphizations of video game companies and consoles, which fascinates me. These are textbook trashy 6/10 anime RPGs, and release at a pace that suggests both a low budget and a pretty dedicated fanbase. I don’t mean to patronize, though. I’m not above this kind of stuff, I just can’t let a bunch of mid 30-hour JRPGs into my life at this moment in time. Rather, my angle of interest here is the origins of the Neptunia developer, Compile Heart.

listening and learning

You see, back in the late 80s and early 90s, a company called Compile was one of the greats in Japanese home PC gaming. Most of their early output was shmups for the MSX, although they dabbled in a bit of everything, including running a disc magazine to distribute games. Compile’s first hit was Madou Monogatari in 1990, a numberless first-person dungeon crawler with a focus on voice samples. It features a lovable cast, starring young magician Arle Nadja as she attempts to graduate kindergarten, viscerally decapitate an evil sorcerer, and fend off Satan and the girl who’s down bad for Satan. Plenty of remakes and sequels followed, and eventually Compile struck gold with Puyo Puyo, the platonic ideal of competitive falling-block games. To set it apart from the more faceless puzzle games of the era, they reused the Madou Monogatari cast, resulting in a cutesy aesthetic with occasional lingering bits of fucked-up lore.

After porting Puyo Puyo and its sequel to everything imaginable, Compile spent their mid-90s rapidly scaling the company, ultimately biting off more than they could chew. This was an era of serious change as developers moved towards 3D, and consumer preferences moved too fast for Compile to adapt. Some high-profile failures like Madou Monogatari Saturn and Puyo Puyo Dungeon sent the company into a fiscal downward spiral, leading frequent business partner Sega to bail them out by buying the rights to Puyo Puyo. Compile got to finish their in-progress work, including the gorgeous yet frustrating Puyo Puyo 4, but the writing was on the wall. Compile declared bankruptcy in 2003 after throwing all of their hopes and dreams into one last little game, Pochi and Nyaa. It’s a puzzle game with simple yet strategic mechanics that feels like something of a return to infancy for the developers. Also, it was released on the Neo-Geo in 2003! If you know anything about arcade hardware, that’s nuts.

The late 90's pre-rendered backgrounds combined with Sunaho Tobe's character artwork give Puyo Puyo 4 such a special look. Shame it's unplayable unless you're very good at chaining.

So Compile scatters to the winds and a lot of the non-shmup devs regroup at the newly formed Compile Heart, where they eventually hit the jackpot with Hyperdimension Neptunia and crank one of those out per year ad infinitum.

That was a pretty tumultuous history! And Neptunia seems like a way to process this? After all, the protagonist is named after and personifies the Sega Neptune, a cancelled 90’s console. Compile and Sega have intertwined histories and faced a similar trajectory. Rapid success in the early 90s was followed up by bad business decisions later in the decade, leading to a tragic exit from the industry that nobody wanted to see. Hyperdimension Neptunia wants to convey these scars to an audience who weren't necessarily around for it.

The first Neptunia game opens with the anime girl manifestations of Nintendo, Sony, and Xbox deciding that in order to break the sixth-generation console war stalemate, they need to team up against the one who poses the biggest threat. So, they get together and betray Neptunia, casting her out of the heavens. Obviously, this isn’t how it happened in the real world. The Dreamcast may have been awesome, but Sega was operating at a loss trying to support it, and the release of the all-consuming PS2 spelled doom. But this intro is closer to how it felt to Sega fans. It’s a mythical retelling of the fall, one that slots right in with the endless glowing retrospectives of Sega’s glorious but doomed last breath (My favorite is calling the console a “small, square, white plastic JFK”).

I’m no industry expert or historian, but I was around to see the Japanese game industry flounder during the PS3 era, when high definition brought with it new expectations and inflated development cycles. Obviously juggernauts like Capcom and Square Enix got out fine, but a lot of smaller studios went under at some point in the past 15 years. Hudson, T&E Soft, ASCII, Clover Studio, Imageepoch. In another world, beloved FromSoft could have fallen to the wayside just as easily.

That’s why Neptunia is really important, I think. It serves as a way to self-mythologize, to keep fragments of these studios alive no matter what happens to them later. It’s a snapshot of all the B-tier Japanese game companies at any given point, written by one such company. When some of them inevitably fold, the Neptunia series will act as one more eulogy. As a huge fan of Compile-era Puyo Puyo, it’s a strange but relieving afterlife to witness. I may never play these games, but I’m grateful for what they do, and it’s a very entertaining series to rummage through the wiki of, especially as someone with a known appreciation of OS-tans.

The second Hyperdimension Neptunia game appears to introduce the Gamindustri Graveyard, a burial ground for defunct game companies. Resting there alongside all the other fallen studios is 1st-Gen Compa, the spirit of Compile. She’s wearing an outfit adorned with Puyos, with ears resembling those of beloved mascot Carbuncle. What is just a random horny anime girl for one person is a loving tribute for another. It’s a meaningful way to send off the old.

…and so is raising the dead! In October, Compile Heart announced a new Madou Monogatari game, with Sega giving them the rights to use classic Puyo Puyo characters on the project. According to the press release, the development team includes many staff members who were part of the original incarnation of Compile. Hope springs eternal, somehow.

[mysweetgeo]

“This reminded me of you.” with george harrison please? if possible 65/56 era, shaggy haired geo supremacy 😫

i’m thinking reader is single on v day and so is george, so they both plan to surprise each other with gifts (mutual pining slay) but accidentally bump into each other while buying said gifts at a shop.

or literally just write any cutesy fluff i absolutely adore your writing😭

Picture Perfect

Request: I'm thinking reader is single on V Day and so is George, so they both plan to surprise each other with gifts (mutual pining slay) but accidentally bump into each other while buying said gifts at a shop.

Prompts: "This reminded me of you."

Pairings: George Harrison x F!Reader

(SO SO SO SO SORRY FOR THE DELAY !! I’d written 99% of this prior to V Day and fucked off to England the weekend after and forgot about it entirely 😭)

You and George had known each other for a few years, you’d initially met entirely by accident on the set of one of their photoshoots back in ’63. You’d been a photography assistant and had been asked to do a mundane task and had wound up spilling coffee all over George while retrieving coffee for the group. 

While George had found the situation hysterical, your boss had found it quite the opposite and fired you on the spot. 

This had led to you and George becoming great friends and you had made it a point to visit with him at every chance you got. 

You couldn’t help but feel something more than just a friendly adoration for the man, and what you had thought was just a platonic attraction had bloomed into something much more. 

It was hard to watch girlfriends come and go, but you stuck with him through all his heartbreaks. Always providing booze and jelly babies—which you knew he adored. 

With Valentine’s Day coming up, and George’s most recent girlfriend having just broke up with him last month, you decided a surprise gift would be an ideal way to help cheer him up. 

You’d stepped into the candy shoppe which was filled to the brim with Valentine’s Day paraphernalia. So much so that it nearly made you gag. 

You looked through the candy, grabbing several packages of jelly babies artificially colored with red and pink hues. You’d also grabbed a few packages of digestive biscuits to stuff in there as well. 

You were looking through the card section of the store when you heard a very familiar voice call your name. 

“George? What’re you doing here?” You asked, clearly taken off guard. 

“I reckon I should ask ye the same,” he said with a gentle smile. “What are you doing here?”

You shrugged nonchalantly, playing with a card in your hands, “Getting a gift for someone.”

George leaned an arm on the shelf to give himself a cool persona, “And who’s the lucky fellow?”

Your face tinged pink and you looked down at your feet, “Someone,” you managed to whisper. 

He laughed softly, “Do I know him?”

You flitted your eyes to see George’s amused face, “You could say that.”

“Well, any man who likes jelly babies and digestives is good in my book. How long have youse been seein’ each other?”

“We aren’t seeing each other, I’m just buying these for a friend,” you answered. “You never answered my question—why are you here?”

It was George’s turn to blush, “Well, y’see, I have this girl I know, right. And she’s a real good friend to me and I think I might like her, y’know. So I’ve just gone and gotten her a present that she’ll hopefully like and I needed a card to go along with the present. Somethin’ romantic-like.”

“Ahhh, so who’s the lucky lady this time ‘round?” You asked softly. 

George’s face turned even more red and he scratched at the back of his head. His hair had gotten much longer since you’d known him and his natural curls left his ends just above his shoulders. 

“Well—it’s erm, it’s complicated, y’know,” he huffed a laugh, “'cos I’ve known her for a few years now but I haven’t known how to say what I feel for her, y’know?”

Your heart fluttered in your chest, “I know exactly what you mean.”

George’s eyes narrowed on yours, “You do?”

You nodded, “I do, I really do.” You stopped yourself for a moment, did you really want to tell George how you felt in the middle of a convenience store?

“George I—“ You began but were cut off by him. 

“I think I love you,” George blurted. 

You heard something fall to the floor, not realizing it had been all of the gifts for George you were holding on to.

“George, I love you too,” You closed the distance and hesitantly touched his arm. 

“Oh thank God, I thought you were talking about someone else,” George laughed as he looked down at you. 

“Who else do you know that has an unrealistic obsession for jelly babies and chocolate digestives?” You said with a laugh.

“Thought you might’ve cloned me without my approval.”

You shook your head before leaning up to press a kiss to his lips, which were just as soft and full as you had imagined. 

When you pulled away for a breath, George’s eyes were still closed and his face mirrored your own—pure bliss.

“So what’d you get me?” You asked, breaking the comfortable silence. 

“Well I was walkin’ past this shop in the city centre right, and they had a couple real nice cameras. And I saw this *real* nice one and I dunno, it just y’know,” He paused and pulled a box from the small gift bag in his hand. “This reminded me of you. You said you’d need a new camera soon so I thought I’d help. I hope you like it.”

You could only bring your hands up to cover your mouth in reaction. “George—Oh my God,” You reached a hand out to take the box from his hand, “this is too much, this must’ve been so expensive. Look at you, you’ve gotten me a new camera and all I’ve gotten you is a card and some candy—I can’t accept this, its too much—“

Your ramblings were interrupted by George pressing his lips to yours once again. 

When you pulled away for a second time, George was grinning, “You’ll accept it and I’m sure we can work something out as repayment if you really think it’s necessary—which is completely unnecessary in my opinion.”

Your hand was wrapped around his bicep for stability, “You’re too much you know that?” You asked.

“Obviously, must be why I’m the ‘Quiet Beatle,’” he said with laugh. 

After scooping up the items you’d dropped, you made quick work of paying for them and heading off with George for some more impromptu lip-locking and candy eating.

And if a few photos were snapped of him eating said candy, well they were in good fun and great quality. 

[incomingalbatross]

Amphibia Platonic Soulmates AU Pt 1

(Draft)

I wrote a short intro for this AU and want to share it A) for itself and B) as an experiment to see if this makes me more motivated to write the next part. :P So here it is!

(If you read it and are up for commenting, I'd be interested to hear if the soulmate concept here seems intelligible. Hard to judge how much of the stuff in my head I put down on paper, especially from the POV of someone who considers it normal.)

---

At school, they’d been constantly doodling soulmark designs, drafting new variations on napkins and notebook pages, drawing them in marker on the backs of their hands (which wasn’t super realistic but was visible) and on each other’s shoulders (less convenient, but more like the real thing). It was the cool thing for all the girls in school to do with their best friends, but Sasha had come up with it first.

“It so doesn’t matter if we’re, like, fated soulmates,” she’d said one day at the start of middle school, sketching on top of her math notes during lunch. “We can make our own decisions, right? And show everyone else exactly who they’re dealing with.”

“That’s so cool, Sash!” Anne had agreed, leaning forward to look at her images. Marcy had beamed and nodded vigorously, already working away with her own pencil on design ideas.

Since then, they’d gone through dozens of “official” three-person soulmate marks - cheerleading pompoms, tennis rackets, dice, skateboards, musical clefs, names in English and Mandarin and Thai - drawn on their notebook covers, doodled during classes, sketched on their skin like the real thing. They’d do each other’s shoulders at every sleepover, letting the marks linger until the permanent marker wore off.

Every design had to be approved by Sasha before they put it on anywhere visible, of course - she had the best ideas - and usually the specifics were finalized by Marcy (“Your designs are just too…cutesy, Anne, we don’t wanna look like little kids”). But Anne had the steadiest hands in applying the marker.

“And we have to keep working on it,” Sasha would always remind them. “We want something really cool, really us, by the time we’re eighteen, right? Then we can finally get tattoos and they’ll never wear off.”

Anne…had maybe felt a little uneasy about that. Not that she didn’t want to! It sounded super cool! But the one time she’d mentioned it at home, her parents had looked disapproving in an uncomfortable way, and her mom had said gently, “Are you sure that’s something people should do for themselves? Soulmate marks are special, Anne, and if that’s not exactly what you have with your friends, I don’t think it would be right to pretend you do.”

But like…Shasha was right. Soulmates weren’t so super-rare that they had to be treated like some sacred thing! Soulmarks marked out people who were made to be your other halves, your kindred spirits, but not everyone had those. (Or at least they didn’t meet them, but the odds were way against you either way, so basically same diff.) And wasn’t it just as valid to have a mark for the people you’d chosen as your kindred spirits? The people you’d built those close bonds with by yourself, instead of by weird destiny-magic?

Anne thought it checked out, anyway. And Sasha and Marcy definitely did, and they were her best friends, and that was basically just as important as soulmates. To the three of them, anyway.

And then Anne got zapped to Amphibia (Sasha’s fading marker design still clear on the back of her hand), and met a little pink frog boy whose life she had to save, and who saved her life, and called her a hero and got her a place to sleep that wasn’t a cave…

And the day after meeting him, she was changing into her swimsuit, when she saw a funny patch of color on her skin out of the corner of her eye. A patch of bright blue, on her right shoulder…right where soulmarks were supposed to go.

"HUH."

---

Next time: "Did we just become best friends??"

[another-lost-mc]

Sorry if this is a bad question or if you’ve answered this before but I checked the request rule page and I didn’t see anything about platonic requests so is it okay if when your requests come on I request something similar to like child reader? I understand if you don’t write that kind of stuff, I just wanna make sure!! I’m very new to requesting stuff! :))

I hope you’re doing well!!

I don't mind platonic relationship requests or requests with child/teen characters (strictly SFW content only).

Luke has made an appearance from time to time in my writing since he adds a lot of cutesy humor to group-type scenarios (he has his own masterlist). I have a demon child OC (Mephisto's younger brother) too since Solmare's way too slow developing him as his own character. I've vaguely written about MC's descendants in the human world too (with a human partner) or their child with Solomon. I don't write about pregnancy so the details are left a little vague. I admit that I get sappy and can't resist family fluff once in a while.

In terms of child/teen MC/Reader, I've written about teen!MC with some of the OCs engaging in typical babysitting-type shenanigans or how they interact and get along. I've also written about Solomon with a teen!MC apprentice. I actually have a tag for #teen!mc content that I forgot about...oops.

I don't get many requests for child/teen characters often, although the premise in various situations has so much cute fluff potential. I'm not sure when/if my requests will ever officially open again, but if I receive any I tuck them away and write them if/when I'm interested in the idea. (It's called my rainy day folder lol.)

[sing-in-me-oh-muse]

Writer Highlight from Writers Sanctuary

Each month on Writers Sanctuary, a Discord server that nurtures writers of all kinds, highlights a writer and asks them questions about their writing process. This month's writer is Chai_ki!

@Chai_ki

Ao3 Profile: Chai_ki

Works:

Fervor Lullaby was fun to write and it honestly just flowed. I think that’s why I like it so much.

Can I Take Your Last Name was my first attempt at humor and I had a ton of fun writing it.

The Cadence of Leaves was my first multi-chapter fic and even though I haven’t posted in a while, I’m on track to finish it!

What is your writing process? How do you approach a fic or original work? (e.g. Are you a Pantser? Plotter? Do you focus on dialogue before description? etc.)

Pantser, now there's a great term! I would have to say that I am definitely more of a pantser but occasionally will try to plot. Most of the time I just write as things come and hope it all flows well. 😅A lot of my ideas come from music. I usually can imagine a scene in my head during a song and then that scene grows (if I'm lucky). Original works have been hard as I have a tendency to want to over-explain things and feel like I can't get the characters back stories across well enough. That's one of the reasons I love fan fiction, those reading already know the characters so I can just dive right into the story.

What was your first story and why did you finally decide to write?

Ooo this is hard. My first ever story was one about cats I think. It was in 1st or 2nd grade. I've had random other stories since then. My first Miraculous fic was titled "Affinity" and I first posted it on Amino. It's one I would like to rewrite (and finish) at some point, but I have a few other projects to finish first. I have always loved to write and as stated in answer 1, I struggle with over-explaining my characters. I fell in love with Miraculous and then found out there was this entire community of writers and realized I had found my version of heaven. That was in 2018 and since then writing for the fandom has been one of my most relaxing hobbies.

Where is your favorite place/time/conditions to write?

This one is easy, mostly. I can honestly write just about anywhere - so long as I don't have other responsibilities to attend to in the moment. I prefer to have music playing, usually it's songs that have inspired my current work, but I can write without it as well. So long as the ideas are flowing, I'm able to write!

What is your favorite pairing, platonic or romantic, and why?

Fandom specific would be the love square. I honestly can't really say why, I just know I adore them. I think a part of it is because I see bits of myself in each character, both in cannon and fanon. I also love the dynamic between Alya and Marinette. Alya reminds me of my best friend of 25 years in so many ways and I find I end up writing from personal experience with them. In terms of anything other than my own writing, I enjoy a variety of parings and ships and enjoy seeing how other creators bring them to life. (Not fandom specific I have a few parings that I'd consider an OTP, but that would make this answer way too long. 🤣)

Do you have any thematic elements you’re interested in or that consistently show up in your writing?

To be honest, I haven't thought much about themes in my writing. I suppose my main theme is cutesy love stories, friends being there for each other. Stuff like that. I'd love to get good at writing adventure or humor, but I'm not sure I'm there yet. I do have a WIP that is an adventure story. The prompt is a Goonies/National Treasure AU I was given in the MWG for December's event. I'm struggling with it, but I also enjoy the challenge. One of my favorite tropes is friends to lovers and I feel like I use that in every story I've posted so far.

How do you deal with writer's block?

Music. Just about everything comes back to music for me. Sometimes I get disheartened if I'm stuck but I've found that listening to music, be it a new song, band or old favorite always sparks something creative.

What do you do if you have too many ideas?

I feel as though that's a normal state of living for me. 😅At any given moment some idea for something is floating around in my mind. (Along with a constant radio of song.) If one idea really sparks an interest I will hyper fixate on it, otherwise they live in my head, rent free. Truthfully, I should be noting them down somewhere...

You said that Fervor Lullaby (which is adorable) was fun and easy to write because it "just flowed." How long did writing the one shot take in that flow tate, and have you ever been able to get back into it for any other pieces?

Thank you! 🥺 Fervor Lullaby took about 3 hours in total to write. I saw the prompt and the ideas just kept coming. Ironically this story didn't have a song to spark it though I found a very fitting one to go with it once it was done. Sadly, I haven't been able to get back that fast of a flow since then and IRL stuff has limited my writing time significantly over the last 6-ish months. I hope to get back into writing more now that things have slowed down a bit. Seeing other creators is always inspiring and I am grateful for the Miraculous community!

---

Join Writers Sanctuary today and sign up to be highlighted on Tumblr and the server!

[solar-wing]

need you to know i’m like platonically in love with you. your writing is absolutely stellar and always has such good concepts !! i love how you are able to do both cutesy romance and world shattering yandere stories. truly obsessed with your fics !!!! hope you’re doing well 🫶

Oh thank yeeewwww!💛

I'm actually working oon some original stories right now with what was supposed to be my YANDERE characters. It's easier for me to write YANDERE for fanfics than my own original characters which is why I took down the Jock x Overachiever stuff. I'm re-writing it so it'll be posted soon but as something completely different.

[redr0sewrites]

this is so cool!! ok ok what do you think of ❄️🧸🔪? love your stuff btw!

AHSHSJSHSHS TYYYYY!!!! ask game is here for anyone else interested ♥️

❄️ ⇢ what's your dream theme/plot for a fic, and who would write it best?

URHEHRHREHGHHHHE IDK I HAVE SOO MANYYYUY!!! i would really love to read a domestic x reader (platonic) fic ab the entire hazbin hotel cast, like just silly stories of stuff that happened off screen and like genuinely just filler episodes but in fic form. like i want to read about charlie and vaggie having inside jokes, or lucifer making a duck for vaggie, or husk telling angel dust stories about when he was an overlord, or Sir Pen's shenanigans with his eggs or alastor hanging out and gossiping with rosie and how reader would fit into all of that. just a long, cutesy fic of them all being HAPPY and TOGETHER before the next season inevitably rips me apart. i would love to write it myself, but i would also love to see it written by some of my fav hazbin fic writers- shoutout to yall ur all awesome (like @bigfatbimbo, @kottenox, @bad-and-drawn-that-way :)

🧸 ⇢ what's the fastest way to become your mutual?

just ask ♥️ i love moots and i love having mutuals!!! i also often follow a lot of content blogs such as fic writers or fanartists who create content for fandoms i like so if u create any content like that i would love to follow u!!!! i also am more prone to following people who comment/interact with my posts a lot or come in and give me specific asks a lot, but i understand not everyone is confident enough to do stuff like that- ik i certainly am not!! always feel free to ask if u wanna be moots, no pressure!

🔪 ⇢ what's the weirdest topic you researched for a writing project?

oh my lord there are SO. MANY. i did a lot of research on like sounding when i was doing my sounding w vox hcs, and i also ended up doing research on dick piercings this one time when i was working on this one draft for an adam fic, and i've done a lot of random research for requests. not that these are "weird" topics per se, but i've received some requests for like readers with specific diseases, mental illnesses, chronic pain, stuff like that. to fulfill those requests i've done research on a lot of those topics!!!

[canyouhearthelight]

Leather Houses, Ch. 3

Chapter 3 of 4 for this one!

This chapter is significantly longer than the other two if my word count is correct. Which makes sense, because this is also the chapter that took the longest to write, despite @baelpenrose encouraging me every step of the way for several months. As before, a reminder that this is a horror story. This chapter in particular gets a bit squicky on the blood and medical stuff, so read at your own risk.

For those out there who don't vibe with this kind of fiction, never fear! One last chapter after this, and I have a short retelling of a fairy tale close at hand, and a cyberpunk story after that (hopefully).

So… My name is Joannette Perkins, I guess? Matt has called me Joanie since we were seven. That's one of the few things in this whole mess that hasn't changed.

I haven't heard from him in over a week. He went to this doctor we'd never heard of before, trying to get some answers about the latest change in our - my, I guess now? - reality. He was supposed to be back at my house by five-thirty at the latest. Six o'clock rolled by, then seven, with no Mike. I tried calling his phone, but it went to voicemail. When I called the doctor's office, they acted like they'd never heard of Mitch Anderson… despite the fact, earlier that same day, they had an entire file on him dating from his birth.  I hung up the phone before she finished his last name, jumped in my car, and hauled ass to his house.

Whatever higher power exists in the universe must have heard my desperate prayers, because the sight that greeted me when I pulled in the driveway I knew as well as my own tasted like salvation.  No feeling of dread, no nausea, no pulsing veins. Just plain, white siding. Black shutters.  Concrete porch, brick lined foundation.

Mitch’s house was just a house. He wasn’t erased. He may still be alive.

But that meant that the so-called-doctor’s office was lying.

I bolted into his house, key already in hand instead of digging it out of the potted plant. Slamming the door, I looked around. Nothing seemed out of place.  After a mad dash to his bedroom, I snatched his planner off the dresser.  Matt was always so meticulous, and I had never been more grateful.  I flicked through the pages, not trusting anything in the past - just because… Mitch? Matt? Fuckfuckfuckfuckfuck why couldn’t I remember my best friend’s name? - was supposedly immune to what was going on, I didn’t trust it to spread to his planner.

Finally, I reached today’s date. DCol 3.5.  Sure enough, I recognized that shorthand, and it matched what I remembered. He promised to be back at my house by 5:30PM at the latest.  Here it was, creeping up on eight o’clock, and he was nowhere to be found.  The house wasn’t transformed, but I was also battling to remember his name.

Swearing soundly, I glanced around the room. Mail.  He kept mail somewhere… his desk.  Where was his desk?  Storming through the house, I finally found a small sideboard in the living room, stuffed with neatly-filed mail.

Michael Andrews.  Every last thing in that drawer was addressed to the one name I couldn’t think of.  Logically, this had to be the right name - why keep me from even guessing such a normal name, if it wasn’t the name I was looking for? I mean… Mitch? Has anyone actually known a guy named fucking Mitch? Not even ‘Mitchell’. Just…. Mitch.

I scrambled to look at the messages in my phone.  To only mild chagrin, I saw they were nothing out of the ordinary.  Breakfast dates, good mornings and good nights, cutesy little nicknames and plans for weekend after weekend.   A romantic getaway coming up, to help ‘rekindle’ our relationship.

“Lazy fucks,” I muttered.  The only fight Mike and I ever had was over who was taking Amanda Bradford to prom.  I punched him because he took her, he hit me back because I hooked up with her in the limo.

We both dumped her, our black eyes and broken hearts a matched set. Mike and I were platonic soul mates, and how dare she do that to us?  We also both casually ignored the fact that our friendship was likely the reason we were both single. Codependency? Never met her. Anyway.  It was very clear that whoever was behind this didn’t do their homework.  Yet another piece of information we - I - could use against Them: They were fallible.  Anything that made mistakes could be beaten.

In the end, I tucked Mike’s planner under my arm and headed back to my house to plot my next move, along with anything I knew to be accurate that I thought may help me - plus his phonebook, which was currently so thin it did nothing to level his table anymore.  My biggest concern was the difficulty I had in remembering his name.  Every other detail was crisp and clear, but the name kept getting garbled.  Had they realized they couldn’t just erase people without either of us noticing?  Were they still able to mislead me, so I couldn’t ask around about him?

For the last seven days, I had done everything I could think of to find out where Mike vanished to.  He obviously didn’t disappear in the same way everyone else in town had, since his house was still just a house when I drove by twice a day to collect his mail. Calling the ‘doctor’ with the right name didn’t help, either, since it seemed he didn’t put me down as his emergency contact.  I called bullshit every time, since he had no living family and I would have been his emergency contact even if there wasn’t some fake hot-and-heavy relationship dangling in the new background.  I even drove past the address for ‘Doctor Collins’ several times, and the building looked… boring.  Like a normal medical practice.

Except that Sanderson had never had a doctor’s practice in town.  We had always driven over to Hendrix for that.

Today was the day I planned to walk into that clinic and find out exactly what happened to Mike.  A week was past, no word of him, plus more and more people were disappearing around town and leaving those horrid leather buildings. Yet his house still stood, as though he just stepped out for a minute. As reassuring as the sight was, it seemed an offense in the face of everything else going on - a sick taunt from an unknown player.  I vacillated between relief and revulsion every time I drove by, but didn’t dare park in his driveway.

Instead, I decided to lay low at my own house and get what little rest I could before what I had planned for tonight. As much as my conscience told me I should be seen around town and try to act normal, another part of me couldn’t stand to be reminded of the nightmarish ghost town I lived in now.

As hard as it was to believe, I managed to doze off into fitful sleep at some point. When I woke up, it was dark outside and the clock read nine at night. I shook the sleep out of my head and picked up the planner on my bedside table. 

DCol 3.5

Right. “Doctor” Collins’ clinic, looking for Mike.  I pulled my tennis shoes on and dug a permanent marker out of the kitchen junk drawer.  In the largest letters I could manage, I scrawled “Don’t Sleep” on the back of my forearm, and “Save Mike” on the inside.  The fog was already trying to descend and push him out, fighting back with every letter of his name that I managed to write. In the end, I was breathing heavily and leaning against my counters. It took a few minutes to catch my breath, but eventually I stood up and was brushing my hair out of my face when something caught my eye.

Save Mike.

At least it works, I realized guiltily. I made sure to keep my arm in my field of vision as I looked up the doctor’s office and set the GPS on my phone to take me there. With the nagging voice coming from my pocket, I grabbed my keys and climbed in the car.  It took several wrong turns and a strong reminder not to throw my phone out of the window, but I eventually pulled up outside the nondescript clinic, squinting against the darkness.

I glanced around and saw no other vehicles at the clinic or even on the street nearby. Made sense, I supposed - whatever weird shit they were doing here, witnesses were probably a bad idea.  I was pretty sure that walking in the front door was still an awful idea, so I slowly made my way around the building looking for another entrance.  There had to be one for deliveries, ri - 

Bingo. Ugly standard door with a deadbolt, meet girl with a juvie rap sheet shorter than it probably should be. It took long enough to make me mad at myself, but I managed to get both locks open.  I held my breath and screwed my eyes shut, throwing a silent prayer to anything listening that the alarm wouldn’t be armed.

Apparently the right person heard, because the only sound was the creak of the door hinges and my heart thundering in my ears.  Not giving it a chance to catch up, I darted inside and made sure to lock the door behind me - if nothing else, it would hopefully slow someone down if I got caught.  Unfortunately, that left me in a dark, unlit hallway without even a moon to shine in.

I patiently stood, chanting “Save Mike, Save Mike, Save Mike” over and over while I waited for my eyes to adjust.  The words had started to lose any sense of meaning by the time it occurred to me that I should have been able to see something by now.  Carefully, I lifted a shaking hand in front of my face.

I may as well have been blindfolded. I blinked hard a couple of times to confirm that my eyes were, in fact, open, and tried again. Nothing, and I had to suppress a shriek when I accidentally touched my own nose. A deep breath later I held my hand as far out in front of me as possible and started carefully inching forward. “Save Mike” I mouthed silently while I tried to think how far into the building the front desk would be.

When I was roughly where I estimated a door would be in a normal doctor’s office, I started waving my hand in the vicinity of the right height for a door handle.  My fingers only touched more air, so I slid forward slowly, thinking I may have been off by a couple feet.  Still nothing.

“Save Mike,” I whispered, trying to remind myself why I was in such terrifying circumstances.  I kept moving forward, step by step, fingers grasping for anything.  When I was roughly three feet past where the front door of the clinic should have been, I still hadn’t reached so much as a wall.

This is it, I thought. I’m in another nightmare, that has to be it. Trying to orient myself, I squatted down and placed my palm flat on a cool, slightly damp floor.

Don’t think about why it’s damp, I sang nervously in my head. Save Mike…

I inched my hands in the vicinity of where I was, keeping my hand on the floor.  It was much rougher than I expected. Nonetheless, I didn’t find anything in the area right around me.  I sat down, stretched one leg to my left and my right hand in the opposite direction.  I wasn’t tall by any means, but if I really was still in a hallway, it would have to be pretty damned wide if I couldn’t touch either wall like this.

My hand still met nothing but air, but right when I was about to panic, I stubbed my toe on something very large and very blunt.

Bingo!  Scooting as quickly as I could on my butt, I soon had both toes and both knees against a hard surface.  I scrambled to my feet and reached both hands for a doorknob.

I regretted that decision for the rest of my life.

The second my palm flattened on the wall, my fully-dilated eyes were scorched by a bright light.  I bent over my knees, groaning involuntarily and rubbing away tears.  After several moments, the pain subsided and I carefully cracked one eye, shocked to still be alive.  Instead of being caught like I had feared, my eyes were greeted by blurry gold lights glowing from the walls of the hallway.  I blinked several times to clear my vision, turning to the other wall to be greeted by the same blurry shapes.  No matter how many times I tried to clear the spots, they only got clearer.

Instead of dull lights, I was staring at what looked like letters.  I had no idea what they said, and I don’t know why my brain thought “letters”, but there was no doubt in my mind that was what I was looking at. Confusion made me turn my head in the direction I came from, showing that the symbols went on as far as I could see.  When I looked in the direction I had been going, I saw the same thing.

“That makes no sense,” I whispered to myself. “There’s no way…”  When I spun again, I saw the words on my arm.

“Oh god,” I remembered in horror. “Mike. MIKE!” I took off at a jog, choosing a direction at random. “Michael!”

I jogged for what seemed an eternity, shoving down thoughts that tried to make me confront the impossible nature of the hallway I was in.  Mike and I could figure it out later, I just needed to find him first.  I saw nothing even vaguely resembling a door, however, and no matter how far I went, the hallway stretched as far as I could see in both directions.  My breath was getting shorter and shorter when I decided to distract myself by focusing on the letters lighting the infinite corridor.

I was able to confirm my hunch that they were either letters or a repeating pattern - some symbols were more frequent than others, with entire sequences repeating.  I was covered with a thin sheet of sweat when I realized that they all repeated after a certain point.  Over and over, to the point that I could measure how far I had come by each repetition. It was maddening.

When I was breathing heavily and shaking with exhaustion, I stopped and screamed in frustration.  “Dammit!” I shouted. “Where’s Mike!?  I just want to find him and I’ll go!  Hell, show me a door, and I’ll just leave. I’ll find another way, if he’s still alive.  Just stop running me around in circles!”

My voice echoed, repeating the last word. Circles, I thought. Am I, though?  Am I running around in circles?  Out of ideas and desperate, I walked over to one wall and started slapping my palms against it.

I mean, it worked in the movies, right?  And it’s not like I had anything to lose - I was trapped in what seemed to be an infinite hallway, out of breath, with no food or water.  I had gotten in here somehow, so there had to be a way to get out.  I slapped and poked and prodded until my palms were numb and bleeding, nails broken back to the nail bed. There was just enough light that I could see the handprints I was leaving on the walls.

Absolutely nothing happened.

My back slammed against a wall in defeat, probably smearing bloody handprints as I slid to the floor. I banged my head back against the hard surface until I saw stars. As they cleared, I started laughing miserably. “I’m going to die in here,” I gasped, tears leaking from my eyes. “Why the hell did I think I could save anyone? I can’t even save myself…”  Twisting to the side, I started pounding on the wall with the so-far undamaged side of one hand. Something snapped in even that, and I ended up resting my forehead against the wall, sobbing.

No food, no water, no Mike, no dignity. I just sobbed and snotted with every last shred of energy I had left. I couldn’t even be bothered to wipe my face, and gave up breathing through my nose entirely. At one point, I was trying to catch my breath and turned my head to rest one cheek against the cool material.

Even that, I only got to enjoy for about five seconds, because the wall gave way and dumped me back on the floor. I was blinded by light again, although this time it was white and from overhead. “Ow, fuck,” I swore.

The groan that answered me from nearby sent me shooting to my feet, swearing even more.  I shaded my eyes from the bright light, squinting into the room I had somehow opened.  Something lay in a heap on a table, strapped down around various parts of its mass.

“Jesus fuck, Joanie,” it groaned miserably. “Learn some new shit for once…”

I ran over, my heart pounding. “I’m going to make your face some new shit, you son of a - well, no, your mom was a fucking saint, but still!”

“Took you long enough,” he managed through dry, cracked lips.

“They tried to make me forget you,” I admitted, bracing myself on the edge of the table while I tried to remove the restraints with trembling and painful fingers.

“Are you bleeding?”

“We can talk about it later. We still need to figure out how to get out of here.”

“I don’t even know if I can walk.  They injected me with something.  Said I keep resetting or something. That I never remember?”

“Don’t know what they’re talking about, don’t care.  Walking may be the least of our issues,” I rushed out as I got the next restraint loose.  “That door I came through was something way beyond locked.  I thought I was going to die before I found you.”

Poor Mike looked incredibly confused, and I couldn’t exactly blame him - I sounded like a lunatic. “The office isn’t that big… unless they moved me?”

“Hell, they could have moved us both to another planet for all I can tell.  That hallway is not standard issue, that’s for damned sure.”  As much as I loved Mike, I knew for a fact that if I told him anything else about the hallway now, the idiot would want to see it. “I solemnly swear to tell you everything once we aren’t here anymore.”

I barely managed to get the restraints removed completely because my hands were slick with blood by the end, although I never could have told whose it was at that point.  Carefully, I helped Mike into a sitting position and made sure he was somewhat steady before looking for something to drink for the both of us. After pausing to re-steady him three or four times, all I managed to find were bags of IV fluid.

Grimacing, I stabbed one and started sucking it dry, desperate for anything to keep me going. It tasted like stale electrolyte drink, but it took every ounce of willpower to stop halfway through the bag and give it to Mike. At the first taste, he jerked his face away and spat it out. Years of practice cleaning cuts and making him eat when he was sick at least left me well-equipped to grab the back of his head and stick the corner of the bag back in his mouth. “It’s the only thing I can find to drink,” I scolded. “So we can stand here until we die of old age and dehydration, or you can quit being a big baby.”

The scowl he threw at me before he started drinking ranked just below the top ten most terrifying things I had seen that day, but eventually the bag was empty. I snagged another, stuffed it in my bra, and shoved the scalpel in my back pocket for good measure.  From this side, the door was pretty obvious, so I mentally oriented which way I needed to turn when we went through it - you know, in case direction actually mattered when you were dealing with eldritch physics or whatever made impossibly long hallways with golden runes and invisible doors.

“Okay, bud,” I grunted as I helped Mike to his feet. “Time to boogie. Through the door, hang a right.”

“Uh huh,” he panted, nodding.

“Before you know it, I’ll be shoving you in the shower,” I promised, reaching for the handle and mentally bracing myself.

“Ass.”

“You very much underestimate how bad you smell,” I muttered. “You’ve been here at least a week.”

“Real fun….” he trailed off as the door to the lab or whatever closed behind us. “Where the hell are we?”

I hiked him higher up on my shoulder and started walking. “I told you, I don’t know. But there’s air, so that’s nice.”

“Are we underground? This is - “

“I. Don’t. Know,” I repeated slowly. “And I. Don’t. Care. This should be the direction of the door I came in if I’m remembering right, so we’re going this way. Not sure it matters to the hallway, but it matters to me, so let’s get going.”

“What do you mean, if it matters!?” Great. Mike was starting to panic. Doing an awesome job, Joanie!

Hiking him higher on my shoulder again - dragging a man six inches taller than you was not an easy task - I took as deep of a breath as I could. “When I got here on the outside, this was the fake doctor’s office, complete with fake back door. As soon as I got inside, the door closed or vanished, or something. It was pitch black, I couldn’t find a wall, and because I couldn’t see, it took forever to realize I had walked way too far to not have slammed into the front door. Blah, blah, blah, kept going like a dumbass, blah blah, turned around, found a wall, it lit up…” I waved my spare hand around. “So at least there’s light?”

That seemed to help, because he at least started walking instead of half-stumbling, half-being dragged. “Whatever they injected me with messed up my eyes, I think.” He rubbed them, almost punching me in the cheek.

“Hey, we don’t want to barf, so that’s something,” I joked. I am soooo not telling him that he can probably see them fine, they’re just gibberish.

“Are there any more people missing?” he asked after a few minutes of walking.

“Not that I can tell. You were the last one, so far. And your house is still… you know, your house. Maybe the program or whatever got stuck?”

A rueful chuckle shook him as he stumbled against me slightly. “Sure. Leather houses, people who don’t exist anymore, hallways that can’t exist but do…. A program makes as much sense as anything.”

“That, a psychotic break, magic, or aliens are pretty much our options.” I dragged him more towards the middle of the hallway as he stumbled again.

“Sure,” he sighed. “All of the above, hell. Why not?”

A damp skittering noise made me look down. “Did you kick something? Why didn’t you say anything?”

“Huh?” Mike stopped and stared dumbly at his feet. “What would I have kicked?”

“The… gravel…” I trailed off as I realized the gravel I had cut my hands on before was gone. The floor was completely smooth now.

Which explained the noise even less.  Especially when I heard it again.

“Mike, we gotta move. I think the tunnel is closing up behind us, or falling apart, or just found a new way to fuck with me.” I gripped the wrist over my shoulder firmly and grabbed his waist hard enough to make him yelp. “Let’s go…” I urged, dragging him as fast as I could.

“Joanie,” he tried to complain, panting slightly. “I can’t…”

A loud, sucking, grumbling noise cut him off.

“Never mind,” he finished, finally picking up the pace. “I’ll sleep when I’m dead.”

“That’s the spirit!”

We were both panting soon - Mike from trying to run after whatever they did to him, me from trying to keep him upright as he kept stumbling sideways.

“Fuck!” I swore when my shoulder barked into the wall. “Dammit, Mike! I get that you’re unsteady, but at least try to wobble in both directions!”

That damned skittering again. Every nerve ending in my body was now set to ‘gotta go, don’t get eaten, don’t get buried’.

“Then quit steering me into the wall!” he argued back. “I’m doing my best, here. But I can go forward or where you send me, not both!”

“I’m just trying to keep you from running me into the wall, dumbass!” Nopenopenope, I did not hear another gurgle, I definitely did not. Nope.

“Running me into the other one isn’t -” This time he steered me into the wall hard enough to knock me down, wrenching my arm from around his waist painfully.

Swearing, I pushed myself up from the floor and leaned my back against the wall, bracing myself to get up. “Damn it, that’s what I was talking about!” I managed to get up, but Mike was still in the way.  How he hadn’t fallen when I did was beyond me, but nonetheless I ducked back under his arm and started walking as fast as I could away from whatever was making those horrible noises behind us.  I gave up entirely on steering him toward the middle and just focused on going forward and avoiding walking into the wall on my side.

“Janie,” Mike panted eventually.

“Mm hmm.”

“Those noises are getting louder.”

“Nope. No they aren’t. There aren’t any noises.”

“It sounds like a really big stomach full of marbles is behind us.”

I groaned, curling my shoulder away from the wall again. “If you keep talking about it, I can’t keep pretending not to hear it, Mike.” 

The wet growling noise happened again, and this time Mike was the one sent stumbling.  Fortunately for us both, he flung his left arm out and braced himself on the wall beside me.

Well. I thought it was fortunate, at least.

“What the fuck!?” he shouted, jerking his hand away like the wall burned it. “That can’t be there!”

“Keep walking….” I insisted, nudging him forward. “And I told you that you kept walking me into the wall!”

“Walking…. Walking….” he singsonged before hissing in my ear. “Janey that wall can’t be there because of this.” He grabbed the hand I had wrapped around him and stretched my fingers out.

Dragging them against a wall.

“Oh, hell no,” I muttered, gently pushing him ahead of me. Bracing my hands on his hips, I kept leading him. “Go, go, gogo go go go.”

He started jogging. “Don’t need to tell me again…”

“Great,” I complained. “First time in my life you ever listen to me the first time, and it’s because a hallway is trying to eat us.”

He jogged a little faster. “Not helping, Joannette!”

“You’re going faster, so I beg to differ, Michael!” The growling and skittering happened again, close enough and loud enough that I smelled something rank and my hair blew against my face.

“Heard it!” was the only thing Mike said before speeding up.

By this point I could touch both walls with my fingertips, something I very much regretted wishing for previously. “Do you see anything ahead?” I cried, panic edging into my voice. “A light, eyes, words, anything?”

“I think I see a door, but it’s too far away!”

Like hell it was. “I don’t care what that receptionist at work told you, you are not disabled, dude! You did cross country… Move your ass!”

“That was in high school!” he shouted back, speeding up more anyway. “And I’ve been tortured for a week!”

Another fetid growl brushed against my cheek. “And I’ll make that seem like a fucking vacation if I get eaten by the Hall of Eternal Stench!” I squeaked, bracing my hands on his shoulders and pushing as hard as I could to make him go faster.

The further we went, the tighter the hall was getting, much more noticeably now. My elbows were tucked against my sides, palms still dragging on both walls, by the time Mike shouted that we were almost there.

“It’s not locked!” I screamed. “I didn’t lock it behind me!”

My blood turned to ice as something sharp drew down my back. I bolted forward, slamming into Mike and knocking him to the floor. I barely managed to steady myself before what felt like the same thing dragged past my ankle.

Not five seconds later, Mike started screaming. Not from fear… this was like the time he had broken his ankle and seen bone sticking out.

He was screaming in pain.

Before I realized what I was doing, I grabbed the scalpel from my back pocket and slashed as far as I could behind me, whipping my whole body around from the force of adrenaline.  Whatever was behind us hissed, and I could see a dark flicker retreat past my ankles.

“Mike?” I asked as calmly as I could, trying to force my eyes to see whatever it was. “Are you still alive?”

Panicked, wheezing shrieks answered me.

“That works,” I tried to assure him. “I need you to crawl forward until you feel the door, okay?” My voice was trembling, but I wasn’t screaming, so I counted that as a win.

After some scuffling noises behind me, I heard his voice smaller than it had been since he’d hit puberty. “I’m.. I’m there.”

Thinking hard and still trying to see something in front of my face, I carefully backed up until my feet bumped into him. “That’s you, right?”

“Ye-yeah.”

“Awesome. The door handle should be on the right.” No. It was on the right from the outside. “Left! Left! The handle should be on the left. I need you to scoot as far to the left of the door as you can, okay?  You can sit against my legs if you need to.”  Something as dark as the hallway was flickering across the now-faint runes on the walls.   I couldn’t even force my brain to make up a shape, there were too many… somethings. Limbs, things, creatures - 

“I - I - I moved.”

“Can you climb up my back to stand? We’re only going to have one shot at this.”

Clumsily, he used me as a ladder to get to his feet.  Something had him leaning against me heavily.

“Mike, can you walk?”

“My foot, I… I think it cut something. I tried to stand on it, but it won’t take any weight. Like my ACL, but lower.”

Fuuuuuuuck, that wasn’t good. “You’re my best friend, Mike.  My best person.  I wouldn’t have done all this stupid shit if you weren’t.”

“I know,” he answered hesitantly. “And I’m glad to be your person.”

The shapes on the walls were incredibly close, but still too far away for me to hit anything as I slashed outward.

“How close is the door?”

“My hand is on it.”

“Awesome.”  Still lashing out at the darkness, I could tell the sigils were fading and we were running out of time.  Mentally, I mapped where the door and handle were, arm burning as I ran out of energy.

“You love me, Mike?”

“Love you. You’re my best friend.”

“Love you, too. And I’m sorry.” Closing my eyes, I whipped around and reached past him.

<Prev Masterpost Next>

[minty-bubblegum]

My requests are open!! ><

Small introduction

Hiii! I'm minty-bubblegum, and you may refer to me as the following (which ever form you're comfortable with): minty; mint; Lilypad; and moots may call me whatever they please :3. (Also, I'm going to call my followers special names mwahaha >:3)

｡･:*:･ﾟ★,｡･:*:･ﾟ☆

I am an artist and writer, and I'm willing to take requests for both fanart and writing. I am still somewhat new to tumblr and figuring things out, but I understand the basics ^^;.

｡･:*:･ﾟ★,｡･:*:･ﾟ☆

Rules, fandoms, etc.

For art requests, I will do any content except anything that I deem pornographic. I'm also not really that good at drawing such things in the first place; for I enjoy drawing cutesy things the most. So, maybe don't request anything that's NSFW at all. Trust me, I tried to draw guts one time and they looked like worms 😭

For writing requests, I am open to everything. I am more willing with writing for personal reasons, so yes I am open to NSFW with kinks and fetishes; just please, PLEASE no feet! 😥(unless we're talking about my little blorbos, then that's a different story >:D) ALSO, writing formats. Headcannons, scenarios, etc. etc. All are welcome. I will not write NSFW for minor characters. Any relationship is platonic unless the character is aged up.

Also, once I actually start writing some real stuff, I may make an AO3 account and cross-post from there. :P

ALSO also, asks. They are open and we can brainrot together, or just talk about whatever. Please, I think it would be funny and I promise I'm friendly :).

Another thing; please be very specific on what you want. I tend to go into depressive states and have no motivation, and if it's too broad I may struggle to finish it 😭. And school is starting, so I might be slow.

｡ﾟ•┈୨♡୧┈• ｡ﾟ

FINALLY, we get to what I'll be taking requests for. I'm a gal who loves the internet, so this is gonna be a few :3.

Twisted Wonderland (All characters are automatically aged up typically, unless stated to be in a certian time.)

Black Butler (I am still relatively new to this.)

Ensemble Stars (I don't know much about any of the lore and I don't really play events either. I only play for my babygirls and the banger songs.)

Bungo Stray Dogs (I haven't watched any of the latest seasons I'm trying to catch up. 🙏)

South Park (I've watched literally everything. Also, only SFW unless they are explicitly stated to be an adult [16+] or aged up to a certain age, as stated previously.)

Bands I like >:D (This one is weird, I know. It's just. I've had some funny ideas idk man ;-;)

And if people ever want to, you may request for some of my own personal characters :3.

Thanks for reading!

~ Signing off, yours truly.

P.S. @busycloudy you get VIP benefits. I will not elaborate on that, it's up to you to decide what it means.

[captainbobbin]

VanVen for the ship ask please?

(referring to this ship ask meme)

eehhh Makes Sense I guess, but Doesn't Compel me haha

I get that they are two different entities and they have a deep personal bond etc and that's all well and good, but it's a little bit squicky to me; there's an element of too-close-to-comfort for me personally. I suppose I can see why people would like it - I feel like I would enjoy other characters with their kind of dynamic hooking up and having some kind of long-standing rivalry-turned-romance, the aspect of an intimate connection so strong it is a part of you, that definitely is my kind of thing and I feel like I'd be happy to read or write about it for other characters - but I think the main part is their ages. Or, perceived ages. I know there's some background stuff with Ven going on (I haven't played the mobile games yet I'm afraid) but he's still like 14? I think? Or at least portrayed as being around 14. And while Vanitas is a kind of shape-shifting darkness entity from what I gather, he's in the form of a kid, really, isn't he; As I said in my last ask I don't ship the kid characters at all, I never really have, it makes me kinda uncomfortable haha; I don't mind seeing art of some of the cutesy platonic stuff for other ships here and there but I don't actively seek it out at all and I have no real interest in any kind of romantic angle for the young'uns. Fluff is fine is what I'm saying but VanVen feels like it might have a more hostile/angsty edge which I am personally a little bit cautious of when it comes to the kid characters haha