#I really didn’t do they must’ve just started tbh

[tariah23]

One of the white guys at the pool made a joke saying some shit like “Tariah!” And I was like “yeah, you got it right-“ and he was like “do I get shots for getting it right-“ and I didn’t catch the joke and was like “do you want a cup or” and he was like “it wasn’t a rly good joke sorry-“ lmfaoooo but i remembered his name as well and he was like ^^! I was just embarrassed because I didn’t get the joke because I was too caught up in complaining about anime online, sorry I’m a failure-

[batsandbirdbrains]

This one is pretty much a total AU after season 2 of yj bc tbh I forgot what even happens in seasons 3 and 4 it was kinda a snooze fest but I like most of the characters and the setting SO

The one where Black Lightning finds a beaten up Dick Grayson dissociating on his doorstep

Also I want to age Dick down to like 17 bc I think it adds to the drama of it all.

So like Jeff opens the door to find Dick standing there, blood running down his nose and lips, his eye bruised black, and looking generally roughed up. He has a hastily packed bag slung over his shoulder, and he’s shivering and taking in gasping breaths.

“I didn’t know where else to go,” Dick stutters out, his teeth chattering.

Jeff ushers him inside, helping him sit on the couch before grabbing a first aid kit and washing the blood off his face.

“What happened, kid?”

Dick hadn’t winced once when antiseptic was sprayed on the cuts on his face, but he has a full body flinch when asked about it. Jeff doesn’t rush him, just stays quiet and continues patching him up while Dick’s mouth opens and closes a few times without making any noise.

“I didn’t wanna do it,” he finally stammers out. “I said no. And then he - he got really mad.”

Jeff has never heard Nightwing - never heard Dick - speak in such a small voice before. And it hits him that an actual teenager is sitting on his couch with half his face covered in blood.

“Who got really mad?” He asks gently, putting bandages carefully over some of the more gnarly cuts. Dick is quiet for a long time, and Jeff doesn’t think he’s going to say anything before he sucks in a shaky breath.

“Batman,” he chokes out.

And Jeff sees red, wants to go beat the shit out of the overgrown furry, but he tries to stay calm for the distraught boy sitting in front of him.

“What did he want you to do?”

He tries to stay calm, but his voice must’ve been too low, too dangerous, because Dick is quick to defend the man who literally beat him.

“It wasn’t like that,” he says hurriedly. “Not like that, not like - he wanted - I was s’posed to-“

Dick takes in several gasps of air, and Jeff pats one of his hands gently and tells him to take his time, that there’s no rush.

“He wanted me to go undercover,” he eventually tells him. “He wanted me to pretend to - to fake being - everyone already hates me so much.”

The last part shocks Jeff a bit, and he tries to tell Dick that no one hates him, but Dick just shakes his head.

“They do!” He argues. “They think all I do is lie and keep secrets and, and - it’s kinda true but it’s not - it’s not like that!”

“Just explain what he wanted you to do,” Jeff says quietly. “In your own words. However much you wanna tell me. But Dick, I can’t help you if I don’t know what’s wrong.”

Dick squeezes his eyes shut and looks down, pressing the heels of his hands into his eyes. Jeff gives him a minute, goes to get both of them a cup of tea, and Dick starts looking a little better once he’s holding the warm cup in his hand, even if he’s not drinking it yet.

“He wanted me to go back to Deathstroke,” Dick whispers. “But I’m - last time was - I can’t go back to him again. I don’t think - I wouldn’t-“

He can’t quite finish what he wants to say, but Jeff doesn’t push.

“It’s okay,” Jeff tells him. “You don’t have to explain.”

Seeing the kid let out a choked sob pulls at his heart. He feels like he just got stabbed in the chest, and all he can do is scoot closer to him and put an arm around his tense shoulders.

“What did he do when you said no?” He asks after a few minutes, once Dick has calmed down some.

Dick looks at him with a miserable look on his face.

“He kicked the crap out of me then kicked me out,” he sobs. “I’m sorry, I didn’t know where else to go, I didn’t - I dunno if I can even - I don’t know who would wanna help me.”

“Dick,” Jeff wants to cry at how utterly lost this kid sounds. “I’m glad you came to me, of course I’ll help you. But kid, you gotta know that anyone would’ve helped you out tonight, right?”

Dick just shakes his head.

“No,” he says, sounding so sure of himself. “No one wants me around anymore. I dunno why you even put up with me.”

“Because you’re my friend,” he says without missing a beat. “And you’re a good kid. One who doesn’t deserve the kind of crap you’ve been putting up with.”

Dick just keeps shaking his head, not quite hearing what Jeff is saying to him. Jeff can see his eyes starting to glaze over, and he holds back a sigh. He ends up bringing Dick to a guest room, and then once Dick is tucked in and asleep, he sits in a chair with his head in his hands. Now he has to figure out how he’s gonna strangle Batman with his own cape.

[quin-ns]

Fake Blood (Ethan Landry x Reader)

Word count: 5.6K

Summary: spoiler: the blood isn’t fake. alone in your apartment after your friends had been attacked, you ask ethan to stop by. he does in an unexpected way and you get more than you bargained for

Tags: (18+), friends to lovers, minor violence, knife tw, flirting, making out, virgin!ethan, virgin!reader, fingering, unprotected p in v sex, the ghostface robe stays on during sex, denial ab ethan being a murderer :) (if bad why hot?)

A/N: just watched scream 6 for the first time only a few days ago and couldn’t get this psycho out of my brain (tiktok edits didn’t help lol). timeline might be a little wonky but tbh it’s not relevant. also this follows the theory that ethan did the big apartment attack. I really wasn’t expecting this to be this long but it’s worth it yall I promise

Misc masterlist + main masterlist

As much as you liked Mindy, if you knew becoming friends with her would lead to you being integrated into her friend group of past and present serial killer victims, you might’ve thought about asking someone else to partner up with you for a presentation in your film studies class.

When you’d asked her, it was mostly to avoid having to accept an offer from a guy named Jason, who had always stared at you during that class and brought up the ‘Stab’ movies whenever he could (this was before you knew your friends knew him, but you still got a weird vibe from the guy).

She’d been excited to hang out with you after you two gave your presentation, and that’s how you wound up spending most days with her and her tight knit group of friends.

You were probably closest with Mindy, but you liked her brother too. For a guy named Chad, he was actually pretty chill. You got along with Tara as well, who was in a bit of a rebellious phase after being attacked and nearly killed, which you only learned about once they trusted you enough. Her older sister Sam was mostly cool too, but a bit overprotective. There was a gloomy aspect to her, but you supposed it made sense given that she was betrayed by her murderous boyfriend and now the internet peddled theories that blamed her for a series of killings in their home town of Woodsboro.

They had a tight bond, and even though you grew close with each of them, you knew you’d be an outsider. Like Tara and Sam’s roommate Quinn, Mindy’s girlfriend Anika, and Chad’s roommate Ethan. You all had shared multiple conversations about their trust issues. It must’ve been hard to even start to trust people after all that.

Out of all of the other “newcomers” as Mindy once put it, you got along with Ethan the best. He was a little quiet and sorta dorky (which your friends would tease him about a little—all friendly, of course) but he was fun to talk to. You guys liked a lot of the same stuff, including horror movies, and it didn’t hurt that he was cute.

In your opinion, with his curly dark hair and eyes to compliment, the whole “shy guy” thing was part of the appeal.

You wondered if he’d ever make a move, or if he even knew you were curious about him in that way. You wouldn’t go so far to say it was a crush for your ego’s sake, but you wouldn’t send him running off with his tail between his legs like you did with most guys.

Like that guy Jason from film class, who, just before Halloween, was killed alongside his roommate by a masked killer.

“Didn’t he have a thing for you?” Mindy asked you as you were all gathered around the TV, finding out the news together.

You were sitting crammed in a chair next to Ethan since the others had all taken up the couch space. He didn’t seem to mind, but it did unfortunately make it easy for them all to look your way and stare. You didn’t like the attention.

You were in shock at the news, especially when the anchor revealed Jason had also killed your film professor. Ethan pointed that out, saying if the guy was crazy enough to do that he might’ve even gone after you.

“Maybe the killer who killed him did you a favor,” Quinn suggested in response to Ethan.

The thought terrified you. You looked around the group. “Do you guys think he really would’ve hurt me? He seemed weird, not psycho.”

“We talked not that long ago, nothing seemed off,” Tara revealed with a grim look. “He asked if you and Sam were gonna come to the party.”

You hadn’t planned on going—what the hell would’ve happened if you had?

You exchanged a look with Sam, who seemed to have the wheels in her head turning.

You zoned back into the news as the reporter explained the mask found was a ghostface mask—like from the Stab movies. And of course, the actual Woodsboro killings.

“Pack a bag,” Sam told her sister, springing up to move around the apartment building.

Sam and Tara argued, which was a little weird to witness. You tried to sink back into the chair, while Ethan looked at you like he wanted to say something.

Hopefully it wasn’t “get out of the chair” because you didn’t think you could move.

The night ended with you going back to your little apartment alone. Your roommate was out of town and so your anxiety was on high alert.

A lot had happened that night apparently, including Sam and Tara getting attacked in a convenience store and them being questioned by the cops.

As much as you cared about them, you feared what would happen if you were with them.

That’s why the next night when you were invited over, you had been hesitant. A government paper was the perfect excuse, but you had FaceTimed with them so you all could keep an eye on each other.

You sat at your little desk, your laptop opened to work on your paper, and your phone propped up on your cup so you could talk to them hands free.

Apparently everyone was together at the apartment except Ethan, who told you he was studying in the library when you texted to ask him. You responded that you were working on a paper and that if he wanted to come over to keep you company, he could.

You’d spent some time alone with him, but not a lot when you really thought about it. It was always in the group—who were all murder suspects, according to Mindy’s movie rules.

You knew you weren’t the killer, and you had absolutely no motive. The others were still suspicious of you so that hurt a little (maybe that was another reason why you were keeping to yourself), but you did your best to understand that they weren’t just suspicious of you.

Everyone was a suspect, and no one was safe.

You felt even less safe when Mindy said she’d call you back. You didn’t know why she had to hang up so urgently, but you had a feeling it had to do with the emotional conversation Tara and Sam had been having in the background. You couldn’t make out most of it clear so you avoided mentioning it.

You sighed and checked your chat with Ethan. He hasn’t responded to your text. You were getting nervous now that you weren’t video chatting with your other friends anymore and the thought of being home alone didn’t bring you much ease.

You thought about just going over to the Carpenter’s (and Quinn’s) apartment, not wanting to bother Ethan further. Maybe he was ignoring you on purpose.

However, it was a far walk there. You didn’t feel safe making it alone at night—especially with a killer on the loose, likely targeting your friends. If you had a car, maybe, but you were a broke college student who could barely afford a place to live.

You sucked it up and double texted Ethan, this time asking if he could come over and that you were worried.

When he didn’t respond right away, you gave it a few minutes.

A little while longer passed and since you now couldn’t focus on your paper, you tried to call Mindy back. Then Tara. Then Chad. Then Sam. Then Quinn. Then Anika.

Not a single one of them answered.

You took a deep breath. Then, you went to double check that your door was locked.

You tried to call Ethan, but his phone went immediately to voicemail. It must’ve been dead or powered off.

That left no one else to call, and you felt more alone than ever.

You sat down at your desk and tried to focus.

You ended up going to your bedroom, putting on sleep clothes, and watching a comfort show under all your blankets instead, paper completely forgotten.

Your phone dinged from your bedside table and when you looked at it, you saw a message from Ethan. Only a few hours late, but he said he was on his way up.

That was sudden. You tried to not overthink being alone with Ethan too much.

A few moments later, there was a knock at your front door.

You climbed out of bed, not really caring that you were wearing sleep shorts and a baggy shirt. Your friends had seen you go to class in about the same when you had all night study sessions.

When you got to the door, you got a little nervous. But you knew it had to be Ethan, so you tried to push the anxiety aside and unlocked then opened the door.

You were met with shock and horror.

Towering over you in your doorway stood a figure in a black robe… and a ghostface mask.

You tried to slam the door, but the person caught it. You choked on a scream when they shoved their way in, holding a knife. There was a small stain of red on the metal blade and a darker, bigger mass on the robe.

Blood. Blood was red.

You scrambled back and tried to think of where to go. None of the doors in your apartment locked, not even the bathroom door.

Your heart and mind raced and suddenly you were spewing words.

“I don’t know what to say to make you not kill me, but I please don’t,” you rushed out.

The person—the killer—moved closer to you after shutting and locking your front door.

You ran, but there was really nowhere to go. The killer ran too. You tried to lure them to the bathroom and shove them in, but they dodged and had you almost within their grasp.

They didn’t slash the knife, though.

You ran for the front door, but the killer grabbed you by the arm. You were shoved back against your hallway wall and pinned. Your back slammed against the wall, but not hard. They held the knife to your throat—not too close, but it was still there and still kept you frozen.

“Are you gonna kill me?”

The words came out before you could stop them. You internally scolded yourself. That’s the kinda shit the girls who got murdered asked.

There was a laugh, and then a familiar voice.

“I’d never do that.”

By the time the killer reached for the mask and pulled it off, you still hadn’t processed your shock.

“Ethan?” you gawked up at him while he gave you a cheeky smile. He let the mask drop and the hand holding the knife fell to his side.

“You should’ve seen your face,” he said through a smile, excited eyes scanning your face for realization.

“Is this… is this a fucking prank?” you questioned, finally comprehending. “Ethan, what the fuck!?” You shoved him back by his shoulder, admittedly a little pissed. “You’re covered in blood!”

He stayed standing in front of you.

“It’s fake, I promise. It was just a joke,” he reasoned, looking a little guilty. “Y’know, cause Halloween and… alright, maybe my timing isn’t great.”

You scoffed out a laugh at that. “It’s terrible timing. There really is someone after us.”

“You’re right, I’m sorry,” Ethan apologized with a small, apologetic smile. You stared at him, still surprised. He looked so innocent for someone that could pull off, let alone come up with, such a messed up prank.

“Is this where you’ve been? Dressing up to mess with me while there really is a killer after us?” You questioned, raising your brows and crossing your arms.

“Y’know, if there really is a killer after us, we probably shouldn’t let each other die virgins,” Ethan stated in a flirtatious way he easily could’ve played off as a joke. Maybe it was entirely a joke, but you played along in a different direction.

You scoffed. “And you’re just assuming I’m a virgin?”

He shrugged, the long fabric of his costume rustling. “I see how you are with guys. They want you, you never want them.”

“So what, I’m a tease?” you guessed, used to hearing that but a little disappointed to think it would come from him.

“No,” he clarified quickly. “But they’re just never good enough for you and you know that. Like that jerk Jason.”

You cringed a little at the mention of him, and then felt bad about that. The guy had been murdered, after all.

“Don’t say that, he’s dead.”

“So what?” Ethan asked plainly, surprising you a little. “He was a killer too. He could’ve gone after you, you should be grateful to whoever did it.”

You furrowed your brows. He was starting to sound like someone else. “Grateful?”

“It’s okay, you’re allowed to be.” Ethan’s expression as he spoke was one of reassurance. “You could’ve been next, you never know. He was one of those guys who couldn’t take a hint that he was beneath you.”

You had no idea he thought that way about you—that there were men he deemed unworthy. It was enough to distract you from the shift in his demeanor.

“And what? You’re saying you’re one of the guys who’s good enough for me?” you couldn’t help but wonder. You never thought about your dating history (or lack of) like that.

“Hell no,” he said, surprising you yet again. You were expecting a ‘yes’ with the way he was coming onto you all of the sudden, but what he said carried even more of a self-depreciating brand of charm. “But I’m hoping maybe you’ll pity the loser who’s had a hopeless crush on you for a while now and give him a chance.”

“You’re not a loser,” you said before you registered the rest of his words. When you did, you were taken aback at the confession. “But you’re not usually this… bold, Ethan.”

You wanted to ask him if something was wrong, but there was a lot wrong these past few hours.

“What can I say? I’ve been feeling more confident recently.”

You hummed, understanding that in a way.

“Maybe it’s the whole ‘we could die any second’ thing,” you ventured a guess.

He smiled to himself, like you’d just referenced an inside joke you weren’t a part of.

“Could be,” he agreed. He laughed a little and looked down at himself, then met your eyes again. “Sorry about scaring you. It was in poor taste. We both like horror movies… I don’t know, it was stupid.”

You scoffed, but you weren’t really mad anymore.

“I like horror movies, I don’t want to be in one,” you told him, eyeing the knife he held loosely in his right hand. “Is the knife real?”

“What?” Ethan asked, feigning confusion. He lifted the knife and examined it. “This knife?”

“Yeah, that knife,” you parroted back his playful tone. “You said the blood is fake, but is the knife real?”

A devious look crossed Ethan’s face. He held it to your throat slowly, holding it horizontally. You didn’t flinch, much to his pleasure. He seemed almost impressed.

“Gotta be authentic, right?” he mused, eyes flicking to your parted lips as you breathed steadily. “Can I kiss you?”

When his curious eyes looked back at yours, you couldn’t help but notice he still held the knife. The rush of excitement you felt scared you more than the fear of him letting it slip forward.

“What’s the knife for?” you asked with a surge of confidence, taunting him a little. “If I say no?”

Ethan laughed at that. He pulled it back and let it drop to the floor. It clattered against the wood, and you let out a breath you hadn’t realized you’d been holding. But it wasn’t from fear—it was from anticipation. Maybe your curiosity was a little more than that after all.

“You’re safe with me,” he assured. “Promise.”

His words felt layered, but in a way you couldn’t define.

Perhaps it was his way of saying he’d protect you. Maybe it was strange, especially given his entrance, but you found yourself feeling exactly that with Ethan. Safe.

Nothing was going to hurt you, certainly not him.

“About that kiss…” you started, giving him the indication that he was looking for.

Ethan took the hint and ran with it, lips crashing into yours in the blink of an eye.

His lips were soft, but the kiss was needy and hungry. You tried to move your lips in sync with his, but he was much more dominant.

A joke that you’d never say flashed by about him practicing.

It was easy not to laugh when Ethan’s hand threaded into your hair and his tongue began to explore your mouth.

The leather glove felt strange. It made you pull back a little, which you almost couldn’t do with the way Ethan eagerly chased your swollen lips with his own.

You glanced over his costume again. It looked really legit—when did he have time to get it? Was he actually gonna wear this for Halloween? You swore you remembered him and Chad talking about some other costume he made out of cardboard for the frat party.

Before you could spiral down that path, Ethan pulled the leather gloves off quickly and cast them aside. It was like he could read your mind. Both hands went to your face, pulling you to meet him halfway in another searing kiss.

You didn’t know what was coming over you, but whatever it was was causing arousal to stir in your belly.

You figured out the answer to that pretty quickly.

It was want. You wanted Ethan.

“Is the other offer still on the table?” you uttered softly when you and Ethan had to part for air.

He grinned, unable to contain it.

“Thought there was no way in hell that would work,” Ethan admitted a little breathlessly. “Thought I never stood a chance with you, but I liked you anyway.”

Ethan had a boyish charm about him usually, but now that was combined with a streak of deviance that you finally now noticed.

You weren’t expecting to be as intrigued by it as you were.

“Give yourself a little more credit,” you told Ethan, raising your hand to cup his cheek. He leaned into your touch a little. One hand rested on your shoulder and the other fell to hold your hip, tucking under your baggy shirt and rubbing your skin beneath. “You are pretty cute.”

Ethan’s smile only grew, but when you leaned in to kiss him again his lips met yours.

He wrapped his arms around your waist and guided the two of you to the ground with your back leaning against the wall. He was in front of you, on his knees, with you in his lap.

You ran a hand through his curly hair and you guided his lips back to yours. From what he’d revealed, Ethan hadn’t had a lot of experience with girls. It was a damn shame, because the boy was a great kisser.

His hand caressed your thigh as he trailed upward. You gave him a soft sound of encouragement when his fingers found their way to the waistband of your shorts.

“Is this okay?” Ethan asked, which made you want to grab him and kiss him again.

“Yeah.”

His hand slid into your shorts and your underwear.

One finger—you guessed middle—pushed inside of you. A small gasp escaped you at the intrusion and he watched your face.

Ethan was making sure the sound wasn’t of pain, which it wasn’t, and you appreciated that.

He withdrew the digit, then pushed in again. He repeated the motion a few more times before adding his index finger.

Ethan’s breathing grew heavy as he felt you squeeze around his fingers. He thrust and curled them inside you with rhythm. He managed to find one pretty quickly. That plus his thumb rubbing at your clit, you were falling apart in mere minutes.

Your brief orgasm rocked your whole body, leaving you clenching his fingers and quivering.

Ethan muttered things to you, but you could hardly hear over the sound of your own heart pounding in your ears.

Your head rested back against the wall as you caught your breath, still trembling from the aftershocks. Ethan withdrew his hand from between your legs and out of your shorts.

Your eyelids felt heavy, but in between slow blinks you saw him lift his fingers to his lips. You watched breathlessly as he placed them into his mouth and moaned at the taste of you.

No words would come out of your mouth, but he took rendering you speechless as a compliment.

“I’ve thought about that,” Ethan started, voice a little ragged. He was watching you, but his hand had moved off to the side. “What you’d look like… what you’d sound like… what you’d taste like.” The awe in his eyes as he spoke left you swooning.

“And?” you managed, sitting up a little straighter.

With the change in your angle, you could feel the bulge in his pants, even though the added layer of the costume he had yet to remove.

“You’re better than I ever imagined,” Ethan finished.

A scrape against the floor alarmed you. You looked to the sound and saw Ethan grabbing the knife off of the floor.

You watched as he brought it between your bodies. He first tucked it through the leg of your shorts, the cold metal sliding against your skin as it caught under your underwear as well. Then, he pointed the sharp side facing out. Finally, he sliced up through the fabric. You gasped a little as the cold air of the room hit your newly exposed skin. He did the same with the other leg, then pulled the tattered material away from your body.

You did the honors of pulling off your shirt. You didn’t have a bra underneath and you almost laughed at the way Ethan gawked at your fully naked body when you cast it aside.

“Your turn,” you told him. You were completely undressed, while he still wore the long, black disguise.

“Actually,” Ethan said a little eerily. There was something in his eyes you couldn’t quite pinpoint. “I was thinking I could leave it on?”

It was a question, there was room for you to say no. Maybe you should’ve, it was a little weird. But you weren’t really thinking about that. You were more focused on how badly you wanted Ethan to fuck you, and that clouded your brain.

“As long as you don’t put the mask back on,” you relented in a joking tone.

“You’re so fucking cool,” Ethan rushed out before slamming his lips into yours. The knife was cast aside again—you didn’t see it happen, but both of his hands were on your face.

You laughed a little against his lips, dazed and drunk on arousal. You didn’t really care about the logistics of it.

His hands moved down, but you were distracted by his lips dominating yours.

You heard the sound of his zipper being undone and he moved a little—you guessed shoving his pants down his thighs.

There was no time to look down because in a rush, Ethan was pinning you back against the wall with his body. One hand gripped your waist, holding you in place for him. The other was presumably guiding his cock to your entrance.

You gasped a little against his lips when he started to press forward while simultaneously pulling you down into his lap. The fabric of the costume draped over your thighs, blocking your view.

The stretch of his cock pushing into you was more intense than you could’ve predicted, but your whole body trembled with pleasure at the feel.

Finally, he either got too excited or lost his patience, and guided you down the rest of the way until he was fully sheathed inside of you.

“Fuck, fuck, fuck,” Ethan cursed to himself, body straining to keep from moving. His head dropped to your shoulder, heavy breaths hitting your neck. He leaned against you, forcing you against the wall.

His cock twitched inside of you and his body tensed, trying to hold back.

You panted slightly, trying to get your breath back. You ran a hand up his back and you felt him shiver. Your hand moved up the back of his neck and into his mess of curls.

You always liked Ethan’s hair.

You gave a small, barely qualifiable tug, but it had an effect. His body jerked, causing him to move inside of you. You gasped a little, but the motion felt good.

He lifted his head to look at you. His face was a little flushed and the lust blown look in his eyes made you quiver.

“You can move,” you whispered out, not trusting your voice.

Ethan didn’t need to be told twice. He secured the arm around your waist a little tighter and he put the other hand on the wall, giving himself leverage.

The slow drag of him moving out of you made you gasp for breath. The thrust back in knocked the air out of your lungs.

He set a quick pace after that, hips slamming eagerly into yours as the pleasure and excitement overwhelmed him.

It felt good, really fucking good.

Neither of you knew exactly what you were doing, but you were sure you’d figured it out because your whole body tingled with pleasure.

You cried out his name, which only spurred him on.

In a jarring movement you could hardly track, Ethan dragged you from the wall to the floor. He put himself on top of you, never once withdrawing from inside of you.

He watched your face as he pounded into you. Ethan had more leverage this way, able to grip your hip in one hand while the other held the top half of him off of you by being planted on the floor near your head.

You wrapped your legs around his waist, which you couldn’t see because the bottom half of your body was covered by the black costume. You hardly paid any attention to that aspect. You didn’t care that he wore it, not when you were this caught up in pleasure.

(In hindsight, you should’ve).

“I’ve wanted you for so long,” Ethan breathed out, hips starting the stutter with every thrust.

The knot in your belly started to tighten as he buried himself into you over and over.

You couldn’t speak, your breathing was so labored as you reached to cling to him.

His head dropped down to your shoulder as he allowed more of his body weight to fall onto you. You found yourself enjoying the feel of him truly being on top of you.

You hardly noticed the fake blood smearing onto your bare skin. When you did, you were too gone to care.

You bucked your hips, meeting his stuttering thrusts. He was getting close to his edge and so were you. You moaned beneath him as his forceful thrusts sparked pleasure through your entire body.

“I’m close,” you managed to moan out against his ear.

“Oh, fuck,” Ethan groaned out, cock pulsing inside of you at the thought. He lifted his head enough to be able to watch your face. “Come again for me, please,” he panted out, nearly falling over the edge at the mere anticipation.

The begging was hot, and your body was already ready to give him what he wanted.

You noticed his eyes flicking down your body, seeing the red stains on your skin. That was quickly forgotten by you when your whole body began to tense and quiver. You held onto him tight as waves of ecstasy crashed over you.

You didn’t see his eyes linger.

Ethan couldn’t hold it together, not with the way your body tightened around him as your orgasm rocked you.

He collapsed on top of you, holding you against him as his forehead pressed to yours. His eyes were clenched shut as he frantically shoved his hips against yours, burying himself deep. His cock twitched, his whole body shivering as he spilled himself inside of you with a moan.

The sound of him alone was enough to prolong your pleasure as you rode it out, but the extra movement and the feeling of him filling you was an added bonus.

He kissed you hard on the lips, effectively pulling the air from your lungs.

After a moment, he found the strength to roll off of you, only to then drag you to his side.

“I can die a happy man, now,” he joked morbidly.

You shoved him a little by the shoulder like you had before, but not enough to actually make him go anywhere.

“Don’t say shit like that,” you argued weakly.

He flashed you a brief grin. “I meant it as a compliment.”

You rolled your eyes and did you best to laugh it off.

You lost track of how long it took you to move from the floor to your couch. The same thing happened between the time it took for you to get from the couch to your shower.

It was a tiny shower that couldn’t fit two people, so you rinsed off as quick as you could. You were tired, and your legs felt weak, and you knew you’d be sore in a way that would make it hard to keep calm tomorrow.

Whatever he had used for the blood, at least it washed off fast. You were able to finish up in a matter of minutes.

You threw on new pajamas and crawled into your bed, managing to tell Ethan to take however long he wanted and that he could stay over if he wanted.

You found yourself hoping he would.

You were nearly asleep when the shower shut off and Ethan finally joined you in bed. He was only in his boxers and a black t-shirt, which he must’ve been wearing under the costume robe.

A thought nagged at the back of your mind about the costume, wondering why he’d gone through all of that just to mess with you for a minute—albeit a terrifying minute. It didn’t seem like him, but then you remembered you’d only met him a few months ago.

You were so exhausted you fell asleep in his arms, not awake enough to care about all of the weird details. In fact, the only thing you could think about was how much you liked falling asleep with Ethan’s arms around you.

In the morning, you found out your friends had all been attacked.

You showed up with Ethan after the feed on your college’s chat app blew up with images of cops swarming and ambulances outside of Sam, Tara, and Quinn’s apartment.

Mindy seemed relieved to see you, but not so much when she realized Ethan was with you. Maybe she’d cleared you as a suspect in her head.

She yelled at him to stay back, accusing him of being the killer. Nobody was taking Quinn’s death well, but Mindy was especially heartbroken over Anika.

“Stay back!” Mindy yelled at Ethan, who did as she commanded.

Everyone turned on him then, even Chad. Everyone except you. They demanded his alibi.

“How do I know you’re not the killer, roomie,” Chad spit at him, amped up.

“I was with Y/N last night,” Ethan defended, holding his hands up in a small show of innocence, before you could say a word. “We were… preoccupied, alright?”

You wanted to elbow him for how he worded it, he couldn’t have been more obvious if he tried. It might’ve been on purpose, you weren’t sure.

He wasn’t close enough to do that, though, and now all eyes were on you.

“Yeah, he was with me,” you backed Ethan up.

You weren’t going to leave him hanging because it was the truth, but you knew what that implied, and so did your friends. They all shared subtle—but not unnoticeable—looks. Your face felt warm, while Ethan bit back a prideful smile.

“So you guys, um…”

“Chad, stop,” Tara scolded him before he could point out the obvious.

“Point is, we had nothing to do with this,” Ethan stated.

We?

They were suspicious of him, and now he was lumping the two of you together. There were always two killers in the movies—you began to doubt if the alibi would ease their anxiety or only spike it.

You thought back to when he had showed up to your apartment in that costume. He’d scared you, but you accepted it when he told you it was a joke that he mistakenly took too far.

It made you wonder. What if it was him?

If he wanted to hurt you, he easily could’ve. That didn’t seem to be his intention. What was? Seeing how much he could scare you? Get your heart rate up? Seeing if you wouldn’t believe him?

Or was it seeing if he could put the evidence right in front of you and have you ignore it because of a crush?

Fuck. Maybe it was some weird combination of all. Were you that gullible? Or were you overthinking it now?

Your brain struggled to come up with a conclusion.

You wanted to believe Ethan was innocent. You really, really did.

It was easier than believing you had slept with a killer. Or potentially worse, that you had feelings for one.

Ethan gave you a slight, assuring smile.

Your head told you one thing, but your heart told you another.

Maybe you shouldn’t have, but you kept your mouth shut and gave him one back.

[coveofsecrets]

@kiyoahdiy requested: “Platonic yandere Shanks as the father of the reader, but the reader is a marine and serves in the Navy, the complete opposite of her father.”

─── ✱*.｡:｡✱*.:｡✧*.｡✰*.:｡✧*.｡:｡*.｡✱ ───

“𝙵𝚘𝚞𝚗𝚍”

-> Platonic!yandere!Shanks x reader

-> Warnings: small descriptions of violence, kidnapping, possible ooc-ness, this is written with daughter reader in mind for the request but no pronouns were used across the fic.

-> Word count: 2.4k

-> Yipppeeee my first request!!! Wehehehe thank you for requesting <3. Ngl considering Shanks MINIMAL FUCKING SCREEN TIME, this was a bit difficult, but I’m proud of it nontheless! I think?? Idk. Tbh, I’m not too proud of this??? Not a huge fan of it, but here we go!!! Augh

─── ✱*.｡:｡✱*.:｡✧*.｡✰*.:｡✧*.｡:｡*.｡✱ ───

There are clouds over your head.

Drifting about the overhead stream, they are much like plankton, not using any energy to defy where the currents take them.

Lazy, but at the same time, beautiful.

The thin, spread-out clouds, providing drops of paint to the canvas of blue up above; the white mists barely count as brushstrokes, moreso faint dabs along the board.

Despite their little abundance, they're a wonderful addition to the painting.

“There you are!”

The warmth of a much bigger person appears next to you; warmth that's plentiful, unlike what’s above.

“Been awhile since I last saw you- I was starting to get worried! Turns out you were here all along.” A bark of laughter comes from the bigger person. “Whatcha out here, for? See something interesting?”

A heavy hand patting your head, your attention is ripped away from the clouds, to the one behind you.

…huh.

Red hair gently flying with the wind; similar to the plankton-like clouds high up.

“Pretty.”

A simple answer from you, unknown if it’s about the mist or the person’s hair, but it’s one your dad takes.

The man hums, “Yeah?”

“Mhm. It looks… It looks like one of those paintings. Like the one we saw in, uh…”

What was that island called again?

A small groan from you, head tilting to the side as you try your best to remember the name of that place.

Hm…

Suddenly, as if a sharp rock has hit the back of your head, the name comes to you.

“Pomerine!”

Shanks laughs.

No warning given, he laughs.

Not just a small chuckle- no, that’s not how he laughs. It’s always a loud, boisterous guffaw that bursts from his stomach; the kind of laugh you’d hear at a party, a gathering for him, his crew, and anybody who wants to join.

Instead of joining in, you bristle, shoulders tensing as you shout “Stop laughing! Isn’t that the name?!”

To your question, there is no answer.

He just continues to cackle endlessly, the sound echoing across the ship, his joy reaching to touch the world.

Yet, despite its spread, the clouds do not care. They just continue to drift along the sky, lazily drifting past the both of you.

Free, unbothered, unshackled.

Much like you, now.

“Cadet?”

A voice; soft fall of the snow, gentle cracking of a fireplace; fills your ear.

Turning to look at the one in a higher position than you, pink glasses reflecting the sun, white coat draped over broad shoulders; you salute.

“Yes, commander?” You hum.

Sea-touched eyebrows furrow, a look of concern washing over her face. “A- are you alright? You’ve been standing here f- for a while now….” Her concern quietly brought up, as if afraid to express her opinion.

A while?

In turn, your own eyebrows furrow.

Didn’t I just get here?

“Really?” Your tongue too slow for your mind, you practically drawl, “Sorry commander, must’ve…” a yawn, “must’ve lost track of time.”

“A- are you sure? You weren’t even here for lunch…”

Lunch?

Aw, man.

Being able to indulge as much as you want, tasting cooking that’s not your own- lunch is your favorite time of the day, and you didn’t even get to indulge in that?

An “Oh.” is all that leaves you, but the disappointment is evident.

“I- it’s okay, though!” To contrast your own sorrow, Tashigi’s tone lifts up. “I saved you some food!” Gloved hands reaching up, a bowl of soup comes into view.

Oh.

Daisies bloom inside your chest.

How kind.

“…thank you, Commander.” You take the bowl, bringing it to your lips.

As usual, it’s delicious.

No matter how the dish may vary- less spices, more water, a bit raw- whoever the chef may be always cooks the signature soup beautifully. In fact, these differences, these imperfections, are what make it yummy.

To your thanks, Tashigi smiles.

Soft socks against cold feet, cool rags against sweaty foreheads.

Her smile’s nice.

To be honest, the entirety of G5’s smiles are nice.

Lips pulled back to show a sneer, lips pulling up to a shy grin, lips pulling down to hide their joy; they’re all so, so different, but so, so enjoyable.

Here, in the Marines, everything’s different. Every day is different, and that’s truly enjoyable.

One day, you could be going about your regular cadet drills, and then another, you could be engaged in a bloody battle with the enemy.

Like right now.

Wait, what?

In a blink, everything’s changed.

All around you, your cremates are running, shouting orders, loading cannons- blasts of those are too close to your ears, sound akin to thunder in a storm.

How did it-?

In your hands, there is a cannon ball, and you find yourself placing it into its holder, lighting the fuel, and covering your ears.

Another strike of lighting, to the enemy ship.

That ship is like any other; big, brown, and with people standing at the end, scrambling around and shouting things at one another.

Oh…

You zoned out again.

God, why do you zone out so much?

It’s been a problem for… awhile, now. Even on the previous ship you boarded, you’d always space off to god knows where. No matter what’s happening- no matter how fun, new, or interesting- you will always find a way to detach yourself from the world.

Well.

Not like it matters, now.

Right now, you have a job to do, and that is loading the cannons to fire at the enemy.

“Vice Admiral-!” A Petty Officer, Gal, calls out, “The Red Hair Pirates’-”

Red Hair Pirates?

Ice-cold nails graze your brain.

“-sails are bowsing! I think they’re planning to engage!”

Bowsing?

The Red Hair Pirates?

Engage?

The crew of an Emperor?

Your father’s crew?

That-

No.

That doesn’t seem right.

That doesn’t seem right at all-

They’re not a type to engage unless necessary, or if they want to talk with the other ship, and as far as you know, there’s nothing to talk about with Marines, so to intend engagement…

Those ice-cold nails against your cerebellum start to stab into the flesh.

“That right?”

The quiet rumble of sea emperors, the loud cry of shoebills.

It’s Vice Admiral Smoker.

Standing in front of the captain’s cabin, facing his underlings, what he says is easily heard by everyone on deck.

What he says easily throws ice-cold water over your head.

“All men, get ready for an on-deck battle!”

Bile rushes up your throat.

“This is not your average pirate we’re facing, but an Emperor! Be on guard, and take them down at all costs!”

They don’t know what they’re up against!

”No matter what, do not let them gain the upper hand. This might be the chance to take down an Emperor of the Sea!”

They’re going to die-!

Compared to your own thoughts, though, the bloodthirsty cries make them feel as if they are nothing.

Swords raised, guns held high; your crew is excited.

Such is the nature of g5.

Violent, crude, and disgusting; all of those traits are combined into one lovable group, the sect more than any average pirate can handle.

But the Red Hair pirates aren’t average.

Whereas every other pirate crew is a fly, the billion-bounty crew is the stars themselves.

Unreachable, only able to be seen at rare moments- and when they are, it’s best hoped they haven’t incurred the fire’s wrath, else a person will be incinerated by them.

It’s too much for G5 to handle.

The meat they drool for will only devour them, their much longer fangs and talons digging into G5’s flesh, forcing them to regret the stupid decision they have made.

They will keel.

Keel, to the might of the Red-Hair pirates.

Keel, to the might of Shanks.

Keel, to the might of your dad.

You don’t want that to happen.

After finally escaping his clutches, hopping from ship to ship, and finding people you love, you can’t let all of it be torn from your hands.

You can’t let them be torn from your hands.

Just like that.

Like an adult stealing candy from a baby, like a bird feeding its young, like a mosquito sucking out blood.

Easily.

I don’t-

Your lungs start to shrivel up.

I can’t-

Your vision becomes blurry.

I- I-!

Your hands start to go numb.

I-!

You can’t do anything.

As much as you want to stop them, to somehow talk them into not picking a fight they cannot win, you know you won’t be able to.

You know you’re powerless in this situation.

So all you can do, in this situation, is help.

Try to help, because in a fight, in a democracy, in any sort of situation, the more numbers, the better.

Even if it’s one, even if it’s a number that is ultimately useless, maybe, just maybe, your small addition could do something.

Maybe it can turn the tide.

It’s a small chance- a chance that not even a gambling addict would take- but it’s a chance.

For any opportunity to keep your freedom, you’ll take anything.

Forcing your lungs to expand, fighting past the blurry vision, hesitant hands grab at the sword strapped on your hip, unsheathing it to hold it up with the rest of your crew.

The weapon points towards the clouds, unbound and unshackled.

Maybe… like I’ll continue to be, if we win this.

Or maybe not.

In the end, your number was useless.

The tens of numbers were useless.

The numbers, known for being relentless, were useless.

You’ve all lost.

Against the desert of the Red Hair Pirates, they were nothing but a speck of sand in the crew’s domain.

Bradycardia in a dog, carbon dioxide in a human.

Even Vice-Admiral Smoker and Tashigi, the strongest people in your sect, are out.

It wasn’t even to the might of the entire crew; it was just one person.

One singular piece, one molecule, which was the head.

Emperor of the Sea, Red-Haired Shanks, your father.

Your father.

At the end of this carnage, he stands; red hair sticking out amongst the brown flooring underneath him, cape blacking out the people on the floor, expression grossly contrasting against the scene.

Shanks is smiling.

Smiling.

Loose and careless, eyes crinkled, he has the face of nothing more than a cocky bastard who knows he’s won.

A cocky bastard that, with one ant left out of the whole colony, can kick his feet up and savor a cold beer, relaxing with the bulk of the threat gone.

A lax giant, facing a terrified ant.

Back painfully pressed against the railing, shallow breaths puffed through your throat, hands shaking around the hilt of your sword…

You’re scared.

You’re so, so scared.

You could practically die of fright, of your heart beating too fast please stop please just stop it stop beating so fast it HURTS-

He speaks.

“Hey, bud-” his voice is a soft murmur against the raging sea- “Been awhile since I last saw you, huh?” He sounds… tired.

A man who has gone through the worst, braving cold and heat, fighting friend and foe, trudging through declining sanity; all that, to find who he holds dear to him.

You don’t know why, but that thought scares you even more.

Something about that man never stopping, never letting himself be swayed by his own bodily needs to the point of being driven to a state that’s barely alive…

You were never going to be out of his grasp for long.

A wheeze is brought out of your mouth, expanding your throat far more than it needs to; a bad response, unclear on what exactly you feel, but it’s a response he takes.

“I-” you start, only to be interrupted by Shanks.

“I’ve missed you, y’know?” Hairy hands come up to you, and for some odd reason, despite how much you want to, you can’t stop it.

It’s as if those nails from before have moved past your skull, spreading its icy wrath across your body, starting by freezing your bones.

For that, you can’t move.

No matter how much you will yourself to, all your body can do for you, is stay still.

Stay still, until the threat passes; still, until the predator leaves the area; still, because running or fighting will be pointless.

His hands caress the skin of your face.

The contact made, red eyes widen, dark bags underneath highlighted, before the organs of sight are forced to relax.

“Aw, cmon,” Shanks chuckles, “There’s no need to look at me like that…” His voice is now… shaky.

Afraid.

“I just wanted to make sure you’re safe.”

His hands feel so warm.

So secure.

So tight.

You want to get away from it, you need to get away from it, you can’t take it anymore-!

However, your muscles won’t respond, the bones holding them together stuck in place- locked into each other, preventing anything from moving.

The smile of your father widens, reaching so far up that his eyes crinkle.

Something’s wrong.

When Shanks smiles- genuinely smiles- his face glows. Gums exposed, teeth bared together, eyebrows high up his forehead and eye crinkles reaching across his face.

This one… this one, though… his teeth aren’t anywhere to be seen, his eyebrows almost cover his eyes, and those crinkles are nowhere to be seen. His face is no longer the sun you once knew, but a version that’s hidden behind the clouds; dark and unknown.

“Let’s go back home, yeah?”

Those words.

That phrase.

The tone.

Finally, you’ve snapped out of your petrification, bones shattering the wall of ice around it, and-

“Wait-”

A pathetic whimper, so small and meek, comes out of you as you step back; shuffle back, really.

That small shuffle is met with a wide step, multiple more following soon after.

The panic in his voice does not match his walking. The Emperor moves slow, steady.

Orca to squid, human to rabbit.

“Please-”

But how much can begging do, when they fall on willfully closed ears?

Nothing.

Thus, the strong arms of Red-Haired Shanks pick you up, bringing you close to his chest.

Away from liberty, closer to isolation.

Once more, you’ll go back to how it was.

Once more, you won’t be able to see the clouds as you please.

Once more, you’ll be safe.

After so long, your dear old daddy has you back, and this time, he’ll never let go.

[capitanooos]

online friends... and a tutor // kaedehara kazuha x reader (highschool au)

-`♡´- pairing : kaedehara kazuha x reader

-`♡´- summary : when reader gets assigned a tutor to help her with math, some secret identities get revealed

-`♡´- warnings : math | idk nothing

-`♡´- notes : this was written when i was crushing on my now ex ;-; but this was also something people loved on my old blog so repost! i hate math, scored 2.7/10 on my recent exam

dont translate, modify or repost my work. you do not have permission

Ping!

Your face brightened up as you heard your phone go off, you were glad the classroom was already full of noise so the teacher hopefully didn’t notice. 

Hey what you up to? 

Hiii!! Nothing much, just waitig for class to end tbh, wby?

waiting**

In class AND on your phone? Are you trying to get into detention, my dear?

Not that I should be talking, I’m doing the same.

Yk I can’t just ignore you, that’d be mean

I’d be worse if you got detention again, dummy.

You bit your lip to stop yourself from smiling. It had been what? Six months since you met this stranger online? It didn’t take more than two weeks before you became inseparable. Socials were shared soon enough, though neither of yours showed anything but pretty pictures or fit-checks. You knew he was in the same school year as you, though he was a year older because of an early birthday. But you had no idea where in the world he lived, he was more secretive about that but you did figure out that you were in the same time zone. You didn’t really mind, you liked figuring him out on your own and he didn’t mind that either.

Would be worth it tbh.

Read 14:38 PM

Kadeh? You alright? Don’t tell me they took your phone LMAO

Delivered.

“[Name], busted.” your english teacher stood in front of you, and as he said, you got busted. “I know you’d much rather be texting your boyfriend but c'mon.” he held his hand up, signaling for you to hand your phone to him.

“He’s not my boyfriend.”

“Sure, sweetheart.” he rolled his eyes at you before standing straight again. “This is three times, that means detention. Go to classroom sixteen at four o’clock, I’ll be there.” 

You let out a deep breath, of course you got busted, you jinxed it, and now you both lost your phone for the day and got detention. 

“Girl, sooner or later he will get bored of you and drop contact.” your friend said, “You know that’s what happens with all online friends.” you looked at her and tried your best not to slap her. 

She’s right, you know. One part of you thought, while the other protested. No, she isn’t. Kadeh wouldn’t do that!

You turned your head around and ignored her for the rest of the day.

“Hey teach,” you entered classroom sixteen a bit before four o’clock, walking up to your English teachers’ desk to sign off your name on the detention list. Your eyes scanned the paper for other names.

Childe. Reason: disrespectful behavior. Of course he’d say something stupid.

Itto. Reason: disturbing class even after two warnings. Nothing new

Chongyun. Reason: talking through my lesson with Xingqiu. Of course, the cute freshmen couple.

Xingqiu. Reason: talking through my lesson with Chongyun.

[Name]. Reason: texting during class. Sigh.

Yoimiya. Reason: disturbing class even after two warnings. That rarely happened, she must���ve been excited over something.

Kazuha. Reason: texting during class. Seemed like she wasn't the only one today.

Cyno. Reason: playing cards with Kaveh during class. Tcg obsessed assholes.

Kaveh. Reason: playing cards with Cyno during class.

“Sir, could I have some blank papers? I filled up my notebook during my last class.'' He handed you some and you turned around to find a seat where you’d be sitting for the next hour. You found a spot next to the window behind Yoimiya, who smiled at you. You watched the others come in, Cyno and Kaveh going straight to the back of the room, Childe sat in the row next to Yoimiya and the two started chatting away, Itto moved to the spot right besides the door, Xingqiu and Chongyun were in the front, and finally the last student entered the room. Kazuha, you didn’t share any classes with him, you were in classes one, and he was in two. Meaning you’d never gotten the chance to properly meet over the last few years. 

You knew him from walking around in the hallways, standing in line behind him in the cafeteria, small shared smiles and awkward nods as you locked eyes with him during lunch. After he signed off his name he walked to take the seat beside you. 

“So I wasn’t the only one caught texting today.” he joked as he sat down, holding out his hand, “Kaedehara Kazuha,” 

Seemed like today was the day you finally got introduced to him.

You fell down on your bed with your phone in hand. 

Kadeh? You alright? Don’t tell me they took your phone LMAO

Guess what? They did, and detention.

MINE TOO BYE AND THEN TEACH PUT ME IN DETENTION AS WELL

So you WERE trying to get into detention, huh? Pfft I didn’t realize I had made friends with a bad girl.

You just told me you got into detention as well and you’re calling me bad? Your teachers are just as bad as mine, or you’re just as bad as covering your schemes as me.

I promise you, my dear, I am not bad at covering up my secrets.

You must have a lot of them then.

How ‘bout you come find out?

You giggled at his texts, he never failed to make you do so. As you rolled off your bed to grab your homework and laptop you heard your phone buzz a couple of times, and coming back to your bed you checked your messages.

No worries tho, I’m not THAT bad. 

I don’t sell drugs or guns or stuff like that

I just get into detention for giving my sweet girl the attention she deserves.

Which is totally worth it except when they take my phone and I CAN'T text you.

Whoops sorry was gettrng my books and laptop

You not respondfing within a minure basically menas your phone got taken, and possibly got detention too. Or you’re passed out on your couch

But I gotta go, well not that i wnat ot but i have math homework that i have to make otheriwse theyll assign me a tuotr and i dont want htha

Fuck ym grammar oml

No need to apologize dummy

But go make your homework, I won’t disappear

“[Name] your test results weren’t great. I see no other choice but to assign you a tutor to help you out ‘till the end of term.” you stared at your math teacher in defeat. You knew you weren’t great at math, but Kadeh had explained the difficult things to you since the guy was amazing at basically everything. 

“Is there really no other thing? Something that doesn’t include a tutor.”

“Yes. You paying attention.” he looked back at you before grabbing another paper from his desk. “Let’s see, it says here that Kaedehara Kazuha is available, you good with that?”

That wasn’t the worst person, he was pretty chill to you ever since you met in detention. The awkward nods and smiles now turned into small conversations and hello’s, with still the smiles. “Yeah sure, fine by me.” “Great, just go to the library after your last class and you’ll probably find him there.”

They gave me a fucking tutor.

Turns out my test didn’t go as well as i thought it went. 

Ughughughughguhgughugh 

Why me.

Read 11:32 PM

As you were about to type your next message your head and later body hit something–someone. 

“Ouch!” your hand flew up to your head and the books in your hand fell to the floor, where your phone already was. 

“I’m so sorry, please. Are you okay?” you knew that voice and you looked up to meet Kazuha’s eyes. You nodded in return, crouching to gather your books and phone.

“Though my screen protector is less fine,” you laughed as you saw it shattered, your messages with Kadeh gone blurry due to the cracks. “Are you alright?” looking at him he sat down beside you to help you with your books. “I am, no worries. I was just texting my f–someone. Where’d your bag go?” he said, standing up with some of your books in his hands and offering you the other; which you gladly took. “My friend's bag broke, and I just had these few books so I gave her mine. Besides, I got a spare tote in my locker.” you reached out to take the books from him, but he turned around and started walking.

“I’ll walk with you, can’t let a pretty girl carry these heavy books alone now can I?” 

You laughed at him while shaking your head, a slight blush coming to your cheeks.

“Did you hear the news already? My math teacher assigned you as my tutor.” quickly changing the subject you walked to your locker as he followed behind like a lost puppy.

“Yes, I saw the email come in. Wanna meet in the library after class?”

You agreed as you opened your locker and placed your books inside. You grabbed the spare tote bag and threw in your economy books and art supplies for your next few classes. “Sounds good, and thank you and sorry.”

He winked and turned around to his next class.

Okayhe isn’t hat bad

Excudr my grammsr my screen protecotr broke cuase i bumpedi nto him and ym stuff fell

No worries, dear.

See, I told you it’d be fine. Now you have someone that can explain it to you one on one, instead of over dms.

Kazuha looked back over his shoulder to see [name] typing away on her phone, and at the same time his phone was exploding.

Yes but youre jsut better yoou know. 

I meani dk him yet idk how he ‘teahces’. 

What if i dontunderstandh im? 

Yk i odnt like telling people i odnt understand.

It’ll be fine, dear. You just go to his lessons, pretend to understand, then afterwards you talk to me about it and I’ll explain some more if needed. Sound good?

Thnak you kadeh ilysm

I love you too, my dear.

A small smile danced over her features and she scrunched up her nose in adoration. No way that his best friend and lowkey crush, which was strange since he’d never seen her face, was this cute girl from school who he was now going to tutor.

Gotta go to my nect class, i htae economy ugh.

Goodluck sweetheart, you can do it!

Oh fuck.

“So mister Kaedeh–” you cut yourself off and giving the blonde before you a suspicious look before continueing, “Kaedehara Kazuha, how you think you’ll be able to make the math math for me?”

“By showing you how to think logically.”

You rolled your eyes and smiled before throwing your bag on the floor. As you sat down you checked your phone to check if you got a message from Kadeh or not, and when you saw none you shut your phone down.

“Let’s get started then.”

Twenty minutes later you were solving equations that gave you headaches before. Now it all seemed to make a lot of sense and with Kazuha’s help you were on a streak. He looked proudly as you moved on to the fifth one with no trouble, you raised your writing arm to your face to inspect the equation on the paper, and before Kazuha could ask if you were alright you were already writing again. Every now and then you’d furrow your brows, pout a little, or bite on your lip as you studied the paper. When you were finished you gave Kazuha the sheet of paper with a smile and he started to correct it, explaining how to do certain things faster for example. Sometimes you’d nod, other times you’d give him a strange look to which he just laughed before explaining.

Safe to say that you walked away from the extra math lesson with a lot more knowledge and confidence, and a new friend. 

Okay okay he isnt that bad at explaining. I actually understand it now and i was on a roll, or well he said that. 

After he explained soem thigns eh had me make about  fifteen questions, after he corrected them and explainedw what i did wrong and how ic an do other thigns differently so itll be faster. 

I actually understnasd

I told you it wouldn’t be that bad, dear. I’m proud of you, I know you did great.

Next time im meetng him is enxt week thursday, same time. 

We agreed to meet every week same time until end semester cuase thats what teach said.

Yeah, not that bad right? Just once a week cannot hurt. And he doesn’t seem like the worst type of guy.

He isn’t no, he has a calming aura, its nice to be arounf him. Hes prety too ngl

Thugh some people at school spread some odd rumors aboit him 

Liek that he sells weed and sht.

Oh well even if eh does idc he expains math like a pro.

Anyways imma head home, no driving and texting. Talk soon!! Loveyou

Drive safe, sweetheart. I love you too.

Kazuha stayed in the library for a while longer. When [name] was leaving she was already typing away on her phone, and mere seconds later his phone started exploding. Reading her texts made him sit in silence for a bit before responding. He was now certain that she was his online best friend. She told him the things he told her and it all just added up. He threw his head back as he looked at the ceiling that was painted to resemble the night sky. 

Not before long he saw Heizou and his mob of dark red hair above him. 

“What happened? Why are you slouching?”

Kazuha sighed as he sat up.

“I think my best friend may be in this school.”

“Uh yeah, hello, here I am right in front of ya, buddy.”

Kazuha looked at Heizou desperately.

“Oh shit, you mean [online name]? What? How? Why? What?!”

“I tutor this girl, [name]. This morning I bumped into her while I was texting [online name], she was busy on her phone too. I didn’t receive any messages from her when [name] and i bumped into each other, but she was typing. Then I offered to walk her to her locker and carry her books because she lent her own to her friend. She dropped her economy books into her new bag. Later [online name] texted me she had economy class, and that she hated it.” Kazuha started at the wall as he spoke mindlessly.

“Yeah okay… But those can all just be coincidences, you know.”

“Then just now when she was leaving she was typing away on her phone, and seconds later [online name] started messaging me. Then she told me how her tutor told her she was on a roll, I told [name] that! Then she said that there were some rumors about her tutor, that he sells weed. People say I sell weed! I don’t but they say it!” 

Heizou just stared at him for ten seconds before his mind came up with a master plan that goes as follows.

The next time [online name] is texting him Heizou will sneak up on [name] and look on her phone, if it’s who she thinks is Kadeh then the mission is a success, and if not then Kazuha’s heart will calm down.

And so the following day Heizou stood behind [name] with another friend of his, just ‘talking’. As Kazuha gave the sign she was typing, Heizou looked over her shoulder to see what she was writing.

Yeah! I genuenly cannot wait for summer either ughhh

Heizou and his friend bolted back to Kazuha when she sent it and he snatched the phone from his hands.

Yeah! I genuenly cannot wait for summer either ughhh

He looked Kazuha dead in the eye before giving him his phone back. 

“Go get your girl, loverboy.”

Four weeks had passed since that day. Four weeks, four Thursdays, four tutor lessons. [Name] realized that Kazuha was acting differently lately. She would catch him staring at her during those lessons, or even more often during lunch break. She would always give him her sweetest smile, and he’d return it before breaking eye contact with a small chuckle. Their friends started noticing too, there was some sort of tension with someone in the cafeteria but they couldn’t place who. 

It took another week before Kazuha decided to just go for it. He knew [name] was already in the library because her last class had been dismissed early. So when he saw her curled up on one of the couches, his heart melted. His phone vibrating in his pocket let him know she was texting him, some personalized do not disturb setting that let only her messages through. 

He grabbed his phone and sent her a quick text, ignoring the things she had said before. 

I cant reply rn, I have to tutor someone.

You tutor???@?@!! You never told me

There’s more I haven’t told you.

Like what?

Look up, sweet girl

You looked up in confusion and locked eyes with Kazuha. Your eyes widened and your mouth fell open. Looking back at your phone, then back at Kazuha tears came to your eyes. 

“Hello, my dear” he softly smiled as he took a slow step towards you, cupping your cheeks as tears were seconds away from falling. “You’re–” your bottom lip started trembling as you buried your face into his chest, one of his hands coming to hold your head as the other held your back, slowly brushing up and down. “I hate you–but I don’t. You–”

You felt his chest vibrate, letting you know he was laughing. You gripped at his shirt–which you now realized was the shirt you’d seen a thousand times before on his instagram.

“Who knew the sweetest girl in town,” he dropped his head to talk right next to your ear, “was actually my sweet girl?” He felt you trying to bury yourself even deeper into his chest. “No no, sweetheart, you need oxygen.” With that you pulled back, your big eyes staring back at him, a little bloodshot and your cheeks all red. “Not funny,” you whispered, “You don’t wanna know how much I was hoping you were actually living in my town, went to school here and I don’t know. I’d be happy if that were the case unless you were Childe.” tears came back to your eyes. “And what if it was me?” he rested his forehead against yours, looking you directly into your eyes. Blood rushed to your cheeks as you replied.

“Then I’m afraid that I won’t be able to stop myself from falling for you–Kadeh–even harder.” 

One moment you were talking and smiling, looking directly into the male's eyes. The next you were processing what was happening as his lips collided with yours.

“Even in real life you seem to have a processing time to what I say or do.” he said when he pulled back.

“Can you blame me? Look at yourself.” Kazuha swore he saw hearts in your eyes before you closed them again and pulled him back to you, lips once again meeting each other.

“No, I can’t. But you, my dear sweet girl, are even more breathtaking than I imagined you’d be.”

“Mister Kaedehara and Miss [name]! Detention!”

-`♡´--`♡´--`♡´--`♡´--`♡´--`♡´--`♡´--`♡´--`♡´--`♡´--`♡´--`♡´-

dont forget to like and reblog <3

[lovedrruunk]

‘Awkward meetings ❀⋆.ೃ࿔

Venture (Overwatch x reader)

Authors note!! ＼(＾▽＾); second venture fic!! Tbh I just rlly rlly rlly hated my last one so I’m giving it another go bc I’m actually just so in love with them.. If you see me pocketing the HELL out of a venture mind yer damn business. also im having a pretty tough time coming up with scenarios so id rlly appreciate some ideas!

This was new. Sloane wasn’t nervous; they weren’t the nervous type! They’re bold, and fun, and eccentric (in a good way!) and they most definitely weren’t nervous! So why was it that each time you came around they seemed to trip over their words?

“Young love…” Tracer and Angela couldn’t help but smile, looking at the two of you from a distance as they were enjoying their coffee in Gibraltars HQ lounge.

Any regular person would call them crazy for seeing anything romantic about your awkward short interactions, but knowing both of you when you’re apart tells them everything they’d need to know.

“Yea!... I like your nails! They look… aesthetically pleasing…”

“Oh, thank you! Yea um- painted them myself!”

“Really? Wow! That must’ve taken like… a billion years!”

“Haha!...Yea!”

In the distance, both women were heavily facepalming. They couldn’t help but cringe at the conversation, and as cute as the two of you were, awkwardness had its limits and you two seemed to hit it a while ago.

Sloane didn’t plan on the conversation going this way, they promise! It’s just each time they try talking to you their palms start to sweat and their knees start to wobble and the only thing they can focus on is your face and your voice and trying to think of the right joke to make you laugh and suddenly all those late nights of coming up with scenarios in their head of what to say to you while giggling and kicking their feet are left completely forgotten. All the diary entries describing exactly what they would say and do in order to at least be your friend have now gone to waste.

To be more than an acquaintance to you, that's all they’re asking for, they’ve lowered their standard and yet they couldn’t even reach it!

With a heavy sigh, they turn to look at you, wanting to give the conversation one more try. “Look… I’m really sorry for how lame I'm being. To be honest, I just think you’re really cool and it feels like I have no idea how to approach you!” They smile as they feel their nerves calm now that they’ve confessed to their nervousness. You feel a weight lift off your shoulders, and you’d be lying if you said you weren’t happy they had decided to break the ice first.

“Oh gosh okay, I’m so glad I’m not the only one who felt that way!! I’ve always thought you were cool and funny, honestly I just really wanted to get to know you.”

At this point, you were both smiling and it seemed like the heavy atmosphere had completely vanished now that you were both being transparent.

In the background, Tracer and Angela celebrated quietly, proud of the two of you for finally being able to act normal around one another. You two spent the next couple of minutes warming up to each other as you laughed and joked making plans to hang out, a warm feeling now in your chests.

“Y’know I don’t even know why I was so intimidated in the first place…”

“You could sense my gay agenda.”

[diorsluv]

feather , part 16

“ floating through the memories ”

series m. list previous chapter next chapter

( socialmedia!au )

yourusername

liked by jamie.drysdale, jackhughes, adamfantilli, and 76,954 others

yourusername a lil photo dump from this month :)

view all comments

jamie.drysdale that pic of me on fort makes me look homeless

→ yourusername i mean u were the one that stole my guest room

_alexturcotte yoooo it’s a cat

→ yourusername yes booker has 2 🥰🥰

→ _alexturcotte yoooo it’s two cats

username36 the guys r trying so hard to be nice LMFAO

username23 okay but tbh the way he looks at her… 🥹🥹🥹

lhughes_06 damn i didn’t make it in the dump

→ yourusername you’ll make up half the pics in the story lu i promise

→ lhughes_06 you promise?

→ yourusername i’ve never broken a promise before 🙄

trevorzegras i thought we all collectively decided to forget about that pic of me and turcs

→ yourusername well i did not collectively decide that!

→ trevorzegras i’m collectively deciding for you

→ _quinnhughes so did we all forget what the definition of “collectively” is or???

→ jackhughes yes quinn we’ve all collectively forgotten

username1 our mini drysdale seems a lot happier and i’m here for it!!!

liked by yourusername

rutgermcgroarty i don’t think it’s safe to be taking pictures of yourself in the side mirrors while driving

→ yourusername i was parked. at the beach. you were there.

→ rutgermcgroarty see i’ve collectively decided to omit that from my memory so no i wasn’t there actually 😒

→ _quinnhughes that’s.. still not what collectively means rutger

edwards.73 will i ever make the photo dump 😕

→ yourusername ethan sweetie you were just in my last one

→ yourusername and i’m posting all our vacation pics on my story 😭😭

→ edwards.73 that’s not good enough

→ yourusername you never post me 🤨

→ edwards.73 OK THATS DIFFERENT THO

luca.fantilli i bet u suck at bowling

→ yourusername YOU’VE SEEN ME BOWL

→ luca.fantilli that’s been collectively forgotten

→ yourusername um WHAT????? I’M BETTER THAN YOU

→ luca.fantilli that’s also been collectively forgotten

→ yourusername oh but u admit to me being better, u just happened to collectively forget

→ _quinnhughes you’re all using collectively wrong just to spite me aren’t you

yourusername

liked by bookerburke_, adamfantilli, _alexturcotte, and 41,002 others

yourusername when he takes you to paint in a field of flowers 🥹🥹

tagged: bookerburke_

view all comments

bookerburke_ hope i’m living up to the expectations 😅

→ yourusername wdym?? ofc u are ☹️

→ bookerburke_ no i’m just saying tho, like you must have high expectations from all the guys you must’ve dated before yk

→ yourusername what i barely dated anyone, i told u this before already 😭

→ bookerburke_ yea but i doubt it lmao

→ yourusername i don’t think we should be doing this in my public comments

→ jamie.drysdale uh?? she’s only dated two other guys and they were a lot less of assholes than you

this comment thread has been deleted

username57 um… we all saw that thread right

→ username11 yes but let’s not talk about it

username63 yo those comments were so uncalled for??? what happened to the “good guy” or was it all just an act??

username44 wtf? the switch-up is crazy and bro CANNOT be talkin to lil drizz like that

username18 don’t tell me he started acting like a dick just cuz she started giving more attention to luke again

adamfantilli the stuffed animals yay

edwards.73 ooh painting 👀

trevorzegras the cowboy hats… are you turning texan

lhughes_06 nice hat

rutgermcgroarty show the finished painting don’t be scared!

colecaufield man where’s all the replies from our lil drizzy 🥲

_quinnhughes kid if this is your attempt at being aesthetic then you’re failing pretty bad

this post has been deleted

next chapter notes ) first off i wanted to say THANK YOU FOR 200 FOLLOWERSSS!! i’m glad at least some of yall enjoy this series lmfaooo and I KNOW I KNOW it was kind of a really quick and sudden shift but there’ll be more development (at least i see it as more development) later on i also know you’re all thinking this is messy as shit but um.. it gets messier! (edit: i changed the layout to make it easier to read LMAO)

tags: @aliaology @hockeyboysarehot @absolutelyhugh3s

[meltedbluecaterpillar]

Oh my god I read "insatiable," the Trey fic, and I am literally in awe, it was SO good I literally need to inject it into my veins. It's unfortunately rare for me to find Trey smut that I vibe with so I am REALLY happy I found your blog!! I think I saw that your requests are open right now (and I also saw that you also like Trey),,, could I please request more Trey smut </3

I trust your vision for him tbh, so not too many specifics here, but if you could somehow incorporate Trey being very loving and praising his partner, that would literally be the cherry on top. Loving partners are so sexy/j

You are doing god's work here and I'm so interested to see more fics from you in general!

Sweetie Pie

A/N: I agree Alice… Finding fics of Trey is like finding gold coins on the beach. Trey is sexy. People just need to be more open minded… Thank you for enjoying my writing… Sometimes I am very bashful about it. So I am happy that I could please you. This is what I have to offer.

tags: gn!reader, praise kink wc: 1.5k+

You almost felt bad about lying to Riddle. Almost. It was 11pm when you arrived in Heartslabyul. A small duffle bag hanging off your shoulder as you crept through the halls and up the stairs to a particular someone’s dorm room. You nearly jumped out of your skin when a door swung open,  and Riddle was frowning in the doorway. Thankfully, you had rehearsed your excuse. When asked why you had snuck into the building, you waved a hand dismissively and pulled a green notebook out of your bag. You had borrowed Trey’s notes for the alchemy exam. You just wanted to return them before class started tomorrow. 

The Housewarden was hesitant. Yawning softly before starting to smile. He was happy that you were doing something honorable. When he offered you an escort for your walk back you assured him that you would be okay. The walk wasn’t that long. Riddle must’ve been too tired to acknowledge the duffle bag in its entirety. Which was a good thing for you. You didn’t exactly lie. That was why you almost felt bad. You were returning Trey’s notes and having a sleepover. 

The moment you entered his room you could feel his body against yours. The door was pushed shut with your body pinned against the hard surface and Trey’s strong body. His lips peppered the side of your face, his leg slid between your thighs, and he successfully took your duffle bag from its place on your shoulder to hit the floor with a soft thud. “At least give me a hello.” You teased, turning your head with a soft whine as he snatched your earlobe between his teeth. “Hiii.” He purred softly and kissed along the side of your face. You could smell the fresh mint on his breath. You loved the way it prickled and electrified your skin. 

This was all the cause of pent up energy from exams. The two of you agreed to focus on your studies, not realizing the consequences that would come from lack of attention. The both of you were so touch starved. Trey had startled you with his enthusiastic request for a school night sleepover. You had no reason to decline. Your hips rolled against his light, hoping for friction as his hands rubbed against the sides of your body. Your top was pushed up as Trey caught your lips in a quick biting kiss that left your bottom lip caught in his teeth. You shivered with a weak moan as he released the flesh with a playful grin, hidden in the darkness of the dorm room. His thumbs rubbed gingerly over your budding nipples. Your hips rocked faster with the silent desire for more. “Does that feel good?” He asked softly and you nodded. Far too bashful to use your voice. “Awww that makes me happy~” Trey sighed with a smile.

When his hips rolled into yours, meeting your meek thrusts you could feel how hard his cock was. Hidden beneath his cotton pajama pants. There was a stuttering breath as he pinched and teased your nipples, ducking his head down to suck at your throat as you reached downwards to slide a finger in the waistband and pull. “Come on…” You whined impatiently. Your breath hitching when he sucked hard on the flesh closest to your jaw before pulling away with a wet smack. “What happened to the ‘hello’s?” Trey chuckled softly as you exhaled your frustration. “Alright, alright. Here is fine?” The Vice Housewarden posed it as a question. But really he was telling you. Not asking you. 

Your bottoms were slipped down your thighs and pooled around your ankles. Your lips caught in hungry kisses as Trey lowered his body, pressing his mouth harder against yours to silence your yelp. His strong arms had lifted you against the door. You were folded against his body now, knees hooked over his elbows as he pulled away to let you breathe. A thin trail of spit connecting your bruised lips to his. The position was suffocating. The position was erotic. Your hands grabbed at his arms with your skin burning from your ears and down to your collarbone. The heat between your legs was intense as Trey pressed his head against yours. “You wanna work yourself open for me? Get it nice and ready so I can fill you up?” His tone was polite. Giving you no reason to deny. Your skin was coating itself in a thin film of sweat, burning against the cool air of the room as you snuck a hand down between your legs to pump a finger in and out of yourself. You could feel Trey’s eyes watching you. “Only one finger? I think two would make it easier. Or do you like the way it feels when you get stretched open?” He asked softly as he peppered kisses along the side of your face. Your finger pumped and curled faster. “When I fill you up with my cock? When it presses against that special spot inside of you? I love when your eyes roll up into your head, that’s how I know you’re close to cumming.” Having his husky voice encouraging you like this was already pushing you to the edge of an orgasm. You slipped a second finger inside, listening to the squish and wet sound of your furious movements. You wanted to cum. But you would rather have Trey inside of you first. 

“Can you stay quiet for me?” He asked with another delicate kiss pressed against your face and you nodded with your fingers slowing to a stop. Your heart was ready to jump out of your throat from excitement. It was almost embarrassing how excited you were to be fucked. Almost. “Pull your fingers out. I’ll make you feel good. Just make sure to keep it down okay?” Trey instructed and naturally you obeyed with a dazed look on your face. Your arms wrapped around his shoulders, hugging him close as you listened to the shuffle of clothing. “You’re such a good listener, doing everything I ask without complaining.” He chuckled quietly. Your hole clenched when you felt something round pushing against you, breaching the entrance. Your nails dug into his shirt and you forced your head into his shoulder. “You take me so well. Even when you cried and sobbed about it being too big for you at first.” Trey pushed slowly, feeling you convulse around each inch as the muscles in your stomach cramped and twisted. Aching for more and more. To be filled entirely. “You’re so good for me. So perfect. I couldn’t ask for anything more. I’m lucky to be the guy you like.” He huffed with a tight roll of his hips. His grip on your hips tightened as he lifted you slightly, only to drag your body downwards as your back slid against the wood of the door. “Ohhhh fuuuckkk…” The warbled sound was pulled out of your throat as Trey nestled deep inside of your body. 

Your thighs shaking and your toes curled tightly as you attempted to stop yourself from cumming. The round tip of his cock rubbed your most sensitive bundle of nerves. Pressing harshly as stars dotted your vision. Tears pricked the corner of your eyes as you felt yourself starting to orgasm no matter how hard you tried to hold back. And Trey knew this. “Already? Ohhhh sweetie pie~” He cooed as you tilted your head back until it rested against the wood of the door. And with a gentle kiss on your forehead, Trey began to lift you, and pull you back down onto his cock. Starting slow before gradually picking up speed. The lewd wet smacks of skin meeting made you cry and moan. You struggled to bite back the sounds as your insides were given the rough massage you needed. The daily stressors. The annoyances around you during class. Running around on behalf of the Headmage. All being fucked out of you and forgotten bit by bit. “Shhhh- Remember you have to be quiet.” Trey warned with your lips again caught in his. You were struggling to catch your breath now. When he pulled away he was pouting, a bead of sweat rolling down his temple. “You’re doing so good. So, so good for me. You wanna cum again?” He asked and you nodded quickly. Your breath short as Trey’s short nails left deep crescents on your hips. “Cum with me okay? Come on.” You obeyed. You had no reason not to. 

You shook and strangled your loud cry in your throat. Body twitching from overstimulation against the hard surface of the door as Trey fucked you through said orgasm. His cock beating against the bundle of nerves before pressing tight against it. His cock throbbing with each gush of sperm oozing out and filling you. 

The warmth was pleasant. Leaving you in a daze as you started to fall limp, allowing yourself to be supported by Trey. You felt him shiver as he began to soften, warming his cock inside of you. “Are you okay?” He whispered, and you nodded. You felt more than okay. But you were too tired to speak up. 

[lightlycareless]

How do you think Naoya would be as a teacher at Jujutsu Tech? This idea came to me when I was about to fall asleep and I have not been able to stop thinking about it, especially with your portrayal of Naoya.

It’d probably be more auish. Tbh I could see Y/N being a teacher their first(maybe like a year or two) before Naoya(probably against the wishes of his family) decides to teach their too in hopes of getting closer to Y/N 🤭

I feel like Naoya would be like kinda a good teacher but also bad at it is as well. Especially since he’s not there because he has some ‘passion for educating the youth’. I feel like he’d be good in the sense that his students are gonna have the skills they need fight these curses and stuff just…he’s not nice in his teaching. Part of it is probably because he also initially wouldn’t feel a desire to bond or connect with his students.

That is until Y/N steps in. Maybe she thinks that he’s not used to teaching and just needs some pointers on how to get his point across without being harsh to his students. Maybe Y/N decides to give him like after hours teaching lessons. I can see Naoya being slightly peeved having something about him being criticized but if he’s head over heels still, I could see him swallowing his pride and accepting just so he can have one on one time with Y/N(A win is a win am I right lol).

I can then see Y/N suggest they do joint training or something so she can be there to help if he finds himself struggling or whatever(idk) and like maybe his students are noticing that Naoya isn’t that bad and maybe they even notice the painfully obvious pining he has for Y/N. And seeing that kinda humanizes him for them. I can see his students growing less intimidated, maybe even being able to try to start cracking jokes with him and just genuinely act like goofy, relaxed kids around him. Maybe they’re like ‘We gotta help Naoya-Sensei get with Y/N-Sensei’.

Idk this just gave me such cute and fluffy vibes for Naoya gradually caring for his students and the cute moments him and Y/N would have as teachers

Hello!!

Thank you so much for sending me this ask!! I love me some highschool au... but I never thought of it from a teacher's perspective!!! I might write more of it in the future, probably after I tire myself out from the student POV.

Until then, I hope you like this little drabble I wrote :> Naoya is, in all universes, a jerk. But a dork at the same time.

warnings: fluff. naoya is a tiny bit of a jerk, nothing too crazy tho. as expected of him.

Happy reading!!!

Naoya lost track of you after graduating. Whether because he got too busy with his missions, or because deep inside him, he thought that his chances with you were effectively gone the moment he left school.

Still, he hoped that one day your paths would cross once again, providing him another chance to do what he couldn’t do back then and make you his.

Fortunately, that moment would come the moment he learned of your whereabouts by unwittingly eavesdropping on an insignificant conversation between his assistant and another equally mundanesorcerer he was assigned to work with on that occasion.

“Did you hear? Jujutsu High has a new teacher.”

“New teacher? That’s weird. Didn’t know they were hiring—who is it?”

“You’d never guess—Y/N!”

“Y/N? Hinata’s sister? Wasn’t she like… working out of the country, or something?”

“I think so. She must’ve gotten bored of it, there’s not much work outside of Japan, you know. Though I’m surprised she’d settle for a teaching job; isn’t that…”

“Tedious? Yeah. She must be really passionate about it.”

As Naoya recalled, having heard directly from you how you’d always desired to be a teacher, for the responsibility of molding the future of the community appeared to be highly fulfilling to you, and such, a duty you wished to help develop if ever given the opportunity.

It wasn’t his dream, he genuinely couldn’t care less about anyone else but you, that’s for sure…

But if this is what he needed to do to get close to you, then he knows what he must.

Safe to say, the school was pleasantly surprised to receive Naoya’s demand application for whatever teaching position was open, ready to work as soon as possible.

Because of his prestige, the rutinary interview was promptly skipped, they’d still give him the basic training to give him a basic idea of what was required of him, but outside of that, a few days after he showed interest in the job, he got it.

And so, he begins, working as the type of teacher many only expected of him: unapproachable, hard to understand, impatient, and most of all, genuinely indifferent to his students.

Some gave him the benefit of the doubt, hoped that Naoya’s unpredictability would work on their favor…

But they were proven wrong when all these issues began to arise, problems that were dealt with by the students either skipping class, opting to fail it and going to summer school, hopefully with an entirely different teacher.

Transferring schools, if not dropping out altogether…

Or venting their frustrations out. Those that weren’t too keen on sacrificing their grades (that much) would resort to the only other sensei they felt most comfortable with to do so—you.

“Naoya-sensei is horrible, he spends all day sulking about us not being good, frequently calling out all the mistakes we make, but then, he doesn’t help us!”

“Why was he even hired?! Weren’t there any other better candidates?!”

“I wouldn’t say that…” you murmur, an attempt to stop them from saying anything else that might get them into trouble if heard by the wrong person… as well as from spreading lies, for a job like this one, especially amongst the sorcery community, isn’t one many would consider highly sought after. Genuinely there might’ve not been another candidate. Less a better one.

Not everyone liked the idea of a selfless career, one that often went unrecognized, after all. So, for the arrogant, overconfident heir of the Zen’in known to not care about anything beyond his interests…

Well, a surprise could only be an understatement.

Though as unexpected as it was, you wouldn’t deny that seeing this new side of him was kind of nice. Like it humanized him—or whatever little you knew of him anyways, since he often kept to himself, even when working alongside as teacher, he just… didn’t approach you.

But, well, it’s not like he did otherwise back then either. He wasn’t much of a social person. Yet, he always managed to amuse you; maybe through the fact that he seemed particularly… calmer with you.

Either way, you were probably the only other person that thought he was deserving of having friends, people that were always willing to help when struggling, just as he was doing right now with his students.

So, after brief consideration, and ignoring the warnings from fellow teachers and friends alike, you take the first step.

“Hey, Naoya!” You greet, walking over to his table, the same one where he’d always eat lunch—alone. Thankfully, if you were lucky enough, that would change today. “Do you mind if I sit with you?”

“Why?” Naoya asks back immediately after, the nature of his question making you blink, slightly upsetting you.

While his response came out as an indirect rejection, which you would’ve taken as such if you didn’t have other motives… his words were actually meant as a kind of a personal demand, desperate to know why you decided to approach him right then and there, of all places, when there were much better options?!

Certainly, having his first official conversation with you in the teacher’s lounge wasn’t on the top of his list; even worse for a date…

But if this is where it’ll happen, he’ll take it.

“I mean—sure, take a seat. It’s not like anybody else is going to.” Responds, as nonchalantly as he could to appear calm and collected, cool. The type of guy he thinks you’d like, only to have the contrary effect.

«Well, nobody said this was going to be easy.» you think to yourself.

“How is school treating you?” You begin after taking a seat next to him, though you don’t really begin to eat; appetite effectively replaced with anxiety. What if Naoya chews you out just for asking? Again?? “You’ve been here a few weeks now, is everything up to your liking?”

“No. It’s horrible. I hate it.” He assesses, with an unforeseen speed that surprised him as well. But that only helps to show how comfortable he is with you, even when the last time he saw you had been years by that point. To be near you always puts him on a good mood.

Naoya always felt like you were the only one that truly understood him, after all. And that’s something that not even time could replace. 

“Oh. That’s… awful.” You murmur, surprised by his honesty. You suspected he was having it bad... but not like this! “Why, if I may ask?”

“The students are stupid.”

“Don’t—Don’t say that Naoya!” you gasp, he chuckles at your reaction. «How cute.» he thinks.

“Ah, so there’s not a single student that has made you lose your cool, Y/N-sensei?” he takes this opportunity to tease you, you frown.

“Even if there was, it’s unprofessional for me to say so.” You respond. “A teacher must not show any kind of preference, or disregard for their students.”

Naoya remains quiet, getting the feeling that his teasing actually ended up irritating you even further, instead of smoothing things out. But ignorant on how to bridge that gap, he simply goes back to his food, hoping for a miracle: for the earth to swallow him whole, or for you to prove you weren’t that upset. Whatever happened first.

It’ll be neither.

“I can help you, if you’d like.” You quietly offer. “With getting along with your students, and all that…”

“…What do you mean?” Naoya asks, returning his gaze to you.

“Don’t tell anyone this, but… the other day my students told me they were struggling a bit to understand your lessons.” You confess. “They said they were afraid of asking you things because you tend to lash out, and so…”

“Ah, did they?” Naoya scowls. “It’s not my fault they can’t seem to understand basic things!”

“They’re trying their best. They’re just kids, after all, lacking the experience we have.” You explain. “Especially yours, which I already know is quite impressive!”

His heart skips a beat, and that little compliment was enough to put him in a good mood all over again! If only he could spend the rest of his life hearing you refer to him so adorably…

“It’s just a matter of knowing how to transform your skills into lessons. Not everybody has the talent to be a good teacher, and that’s nothing to be ashamed of.” You go on, with such passion Naoya couldn’t dismiss—you really liked this job, didn’t you? “Let me help you so you don’t go through the same struggles as me.”

A part of him wanted to feel offended by your words, angry that you’d call him incompetent in the job he clearly never showed interest in, simply taking it with the hopes of getting close to you (which he failed in for various… excuses)—a sentiment that only grew bigger when also acknowledging that his students had spoken badly of him behind his back.

What, were they too afraid of confronting him? They weren’t babies, pathetic…

But another part of him wanted him to forget all this in favor of taking this for what it was, what he wanted: an opportunity to get closer to you.

It’s easy to guess which one he took. Or more like, which one he accepted with utmost importance. Naoya is still Naoya, and his anger wasn’t to disappear so easily… but he was willing to compromise.

Thus, your mission to make Naoya into a better teacher begins! With tutoring classes taking part either after school, or the weekend, depending on the necessity of your intervention—values judged by the feedback from your students.

And Naoya was willing to play along too, (much to your relief) although he did so by thinking this was the closest thing he could get as a date with you, hoping to get the real deal further down the road…

But of course, he’d underestimated your dedication to helping him, soon realizing that the only things happening during those moments were either going over and over again your notes, trying to figure out what teaching method would better suit Naoya, as well as preparing his classes for the week and the activities to accompany them—and nothing more.

He was disappointed, yet, but not enough to give up. Such determination led him to agree that the best way to keep this arrangement going on as long as possible (until he was able to properly ask you out, or for you to fall in love) was by continuing to fail as a teacher, dump any help/information you’ve given him to start from 0 once again.

Which, surprisingly, worked. But at the expense of your frustrations for his seeming lack of advancement.

You’d never disclose your emotions to him, wanting to avoid making him feel this was some kind of burden (especially when you were the one to suggest it) but… he was not making it any easy.

It was well known that he was a difficult person; everyone always made sure to remind you of that. And yet, you still gave him the benefit of the doubt, you really did!

But like all things, it wouldn’t take long before you end up circling back to the notion that perhaps you misunderstood his real purpose with the job. Or even worse, maybe he did like the job, he just preferred tormenting you far better.

If so… then there was nothing else to do. If Naoya didn’t want to improve, then you wouldn’t waste your time anymore.

“Hey, Y/N, where are you going?” He asks upon noticing you cleaning up after your things, instead of setting them for his class, just like you’ve done almost every day up to that point. “We’re not doing it today?”

“Oh, um… No. I just—I just remembered I had something else already planned for today, sorry.” And for the next day, and the day after…

A whole week in fact, just enough time for Naoya to realize that you indeed had given up on him.

And who wouldn’t? He was being an absolute prick towards all the efforts you made to help him! Regardless of whose idea it was, the fact that he just discarded them like they didn’t mean anything, without the decency to tell you he wasn’t interested in them anymore, all for a selfish, personal reason…!

That wasn’t to be the worst part, however; what hurt the most was that Naoya still claimed to care for you, even when he went on to do all these dismissivethings, in his mind, he truly, still believed he was doing the right thing! That somehow this would lead to you developing feelings for him and getting together!

Yet, your departure would serve as a much-needed critical wake-up call; the perfect detonator for him to finally open his eyes and realize that he was doing was not only stupid, but highly disrespectful to you, the woman he proclaimed to have feelings for.

He hated seeing you upset with him, the light of your eyes dimmed out for something he knew you were highly passionate about.

But what he hated the most was admitting he was the cause of it.

Thus, having his work cut out for him, he begins to do what he should’ve done: apply your knowledge to improving his classes, and taking everyone by surprise when it actually begins to work!

Naoya simply becomes that less impatient teacher, yet willing to call out mistakes with the purpose of helping students, not just demeaning them. And not only that, but his classes are also met with astonishing grades, proof that they’re actually learning!

An advancement that naturally leads the students to grow eager to see what other cool thing Naoya-sensei will teach them this time around, or if lucky enough, help them create a technique no one else has ever thought of before! His creative talents for such things is not one they could pass!!

But most importantly, beyond the improvement of his teaching abilities, he also got your acknowledgment. The unexpected surprise that Naoya not only managed to commit to what you taught him, but that he was actually listening all along…

Though feeling recognized by your efforts, you were mostly elated to see his relationship advance with his students at the end of the day, as seen in the somewhat fond way they’d speak of him whenever in conversation with you.

“Naoya-sensei is much nicer this time around.” One would say.

“He actually offered to help me if I was struggling with my training, can you believe it?!”

“I wonder what happened to make him change? Do you think it was Y/N-sensei? They were seen together quite a lot…”

“Oh my god, maybe he likes her.”

“Don’t be silly, I don’t think Naoya-sen—oh my god he does.”

At their silence and wide eyes when the classroom door opens, you quickly turn around to see the culprit behind their reaction, both curious and worried; was it an angry parent? Wouldn’t be the first time something like that happens…

No. It was much worse, actually. Or perhaps better? Either way, you’d end up reacting the same way when realizing it was Naoya standing by the frame; and not only that, but he was accompanied with a bouquet of colorful flowers that with just a simple glance you managed to understand were for you.

And, well, him walking straight to you might’ve been a dead giveaway as well.

“Nao—Naoya, what are you—”

“I wanted to thank you.” He says, handing the flowers to you. “For… all the help you’ve given me.”

“What—what are you even talking about??” you laugh nervously, flustered by his gesture, embarrassed by the endless pairs of eyes on you.

“For helping me with my students.” Naoya goes on. “I wouldn’t have been able to do it without you.”

“O—oh, it was nothing!” you gasp. “Really, you don’t need to do—”

“Come on, Y/N-sensei!!” one would cry.

“Naoya-sensei went through the trouble of getting them for you!! The least you could do is accept them!”

“Isn’t he your type, anyways?? Accept the flowers, sensei!”

“Oh, that’s so dreamy… I wish I had a boyfriend that got me flowers!”

“No way, how come sensei gets a girlfriend before me???”

“Wait a minute.” You breathe, your student’s words making something in your mind click. “Were you—were you guys behind this?!”

The group lets out a chuckle, giving you enough of an answer.

“What?! Since when?!”

Easily, after noticing how his gaze lingered on you a bit longer than usual whenever you were around.

Of course, ever since you essentially stopped talking to him, he’s been nothing but a miserable puppy trying to gain your attention once again. Naoya hoped that by becoming a better teacher would do the trick, and you did approach him from time to time, but alas, it wasn’t as much as he wanted it to be.

He was ready to give up too, planning on quitting as soon as the school year was over… until his students stepped in to help.

“Naoya-sensei, you need to be more assertive in your approach!”

“Excuse me?” He frowns. “I’m the teacher here, you know?”

“We’re not talking about that!”

“What are you talking about, then?”

“You like Y/N-sensei, don’t you?” one declares, making Naoya’s cheeks burn up.

“That’s not for you to discuss!”

“Your reaction was real convincing, sensei.”

“…What are you even planning to get out of this?”

“Nothing! We just think it’s sweet that someone is interested in Y/N-sensei, she deserves that much after being so nice to us!” They grin. “And while we wouldn’t normally consider you to be the best candidate for her, something tells us she likes you too!”

“Huh? What? Why? Did she tell you??”

“No, but you just confirmed our suspicions!” They laugh, Naoya rolls his eyes. “As we were saying, we normally would’ve chosen someone else to matchmake our sensei with, like Nanami-san, though he’s rarely around. Or Gojo-sensei, but he’s too weird for her…”

“I don’t—I don’t want to hear about other men.” Naoya warns.

“Oh, so you’re the jealous type? Makes sense though, you’re always very… explosive.”

“Say that again and you’re going to spend the weekend here” He scowls.

“Alright, alright, sensei!! We were just joking. Anyways, it’s clear that you reformed, and with that, we’ve officially declared you adequate to date Y/N-sensei!!”

“The issue here is making her like you…”

“You’re making me sound unlikable.” Naoya frowns.

“I mean, wasn’t she upset for days after she was last seen with you?”

Naoya’s heart sinks to his stomach upon hearing that. He has no way to deny he wasn’t responsible for that—in fact, he was well aware it was him.

“You gotta make her like you. See you as a potential partner and not a fellow coworker.”

“…And how can I do that?” Naoya never thought he’d be receiving love advice from one of his students, in fact, a part of him tells him he probably shouldn’t… but after running out of ideas, he guesses why the hell not? Besides, they’re willing, he might as well.

“By being attentive and thoughtful. Take into consideration what Y/N-sensei is always boasting about!! We can already name a few off the top of our head! Surely you can do so too, Naoya-sensei; you two have been much closer than us, after all…”

«Like the flowers on the main garden» Which you never failed to bring to his attention whenever walking to class, admiring how colorful and pretty they were, silently hoping that one day you’d be gifted ones, if ever lucky enough.

“But how do I even approach her? Nothing ever seems to be the right time, she’s always busy.” «Either with work, or avoiding me…»

“Now that just sounds like an excuse” they shake their head crossing their arms. “Just do it when she’s in class! She’s not going to be able to leave there! Besides, that would be 100% romantic, I’m sure of it!! But don’t try to get out of this one by having someone else do it for you, though. It has to be you. That’s the only way for this to work.”

“Huh?? Why not??” Naoya was sure considering it, he hated the thought of being public about something so intimate. Besides, isn’t a secret admirer the type of thing women like…?

“Do you want her to think it was Kusakabe-sensei, perhaps? He was flirting with her the other day…”

That was more than enough for Naoya to swallow the embarrassment of doing such gesture before the students, fast forward to the moment where he walked into your classroom, standing a mere few feet away from you and your flustered face, evidence of your acceptance for his gift—welcoming his efforts.

“Th—thank you, Naoya.” You murmur, finally taking the bouquet in your hands and leaning down to take in their sweet scent—freshly cut, making you smile. “These flowers… they’re beautiful!”

Naoya’s chest tightens at the sight of your happy face, proud that he was responsible of said reaction, and such, making him smile as well.

“Does that mean you two are dating now?!” One of your students claims.

“No!” you gasp, looking up to Naoya. “I mean…”

“Not without a date, we aren’t.” Naoya adds. “Dinner? Please let me make it up to you for the horrible way I treated you.”

“…Yes.”

Naturally, your students never let go of the opportunity to pester the two after that. Whether to know where you went to as a date, if Naoya-sensei got you more gifts (insisting that you’d demand for greater things! He was the heir of the Zen’in, surely, he could afford more!! — you declined their suggestions)

But most importantly, if the two were finally together, because after seeing what the two did: from secretly meeting after class, face red whenever he got too close to you to whisper something seemingly innocent, to accompany you to your room… It was nothing but obvious—they just needed confirmation.

Or for you to stop acting like he wasn’t you boyfriend already!

“Shut up, everyone! Can’t you see sensei’s boyfriend is coming?”

“He’s not— he’s not my boyfriend.” You fretted one too many times, a response everyone could see through, a blatant lie considering the heat on your cheeks, or the excitement in your face, eager to see him again after being apart for soooo long (just a few hours. He’s literally next door to you.)

“Aaaaah, as if!! You’re all red!”

“Stop it, already! Or you’ll all have extra homework!”

And that seemed to be enough to quiet them for the following days, at least until you and Naoya had the misfortune of being caught kissing each other at the teacher’s lounge by an innocent student that simply wished to discuss some matters regarding their last exam.

While they promised to keep what they saw a secret, it really wouldn’t take long before everyone heard of your new status with Naoya, and as expected of the students, they’d begin to tease and cheer for their favorite couple whenever walking by.

No amount of naivety, feigning ignorance could help you out of this situation anymore, though Naoya no longer planned on doing so.

“Well, they already know the truth.” He smiles, intertwining his hand with yours. “Might as well commit to it.”

“Oh, Naoya—Do you think they’ll ever stop? I don’t mind them doing that, I just worry they might get in trouble with the school…”

Naoya laughs, kissing your cheek; no matter the situation, his gestures always make you feel adored, safe.

“I don’t think so—but if they do, I’ll show them to not mess with my students.” He assures you. “Come on now, love. We’re running late to class.”

Never in a million years would you have expected for the follow to happen:

First, Naoya to have feelings for you. Though you always liked him, he often appeared… distant, giving you the impression he solely wanted to pursue his career as a sorcerer. Or perhaps he already had someone else to be his partner, considering his role amongst the Zen’in, so he didn’t need to look beyond that—a thought that greatly hurt you, enough to let those feelings slowly die out eventually.

Secondly, for his feelings to motivate him into joining Jujutsu High as a teacher just to get close to you—yes, he eventually told you. Were you surprised? Very. But mostly impressed by his determination, flustered to understand he liked you that much he was willing to do one of the things he didn’t like!

Which leads to the third point. After hearing his initial purpose on becoming a teacher, you genuinely expected him to leave the job after the first year, but turns out, he’s actually quite fond of being one now!

And while there were still moments where his impatience got the best of him, it was still visible that he truly learned to enjoy spending time with his students, mostly teasing them, but outside of that, he’s found satisfaction in being recognized as someone reliable with their knowledge, talented, worthy of admiration! And helping them become that same person too.

Things were slowly beginning to fall in place for you and Naoya, a moment of absolute bliss that promised to last a lifetime.

Guess all both had to worry about now was the reaction the students would inevitably have when learning you’re planning to get married—if the titles of boyfriend and girlfriend were enough to evoke such havoc… you could only imagine what would happen with husband and wife.

Or when learning you were to have a baby.

But all in due time.

Imagine if they take Naomi to class that would be WILD. I like to think Naoya eventually works as something else (with better pay I mean) so Y/N can keep doing what she likes but more comfortably.

Also the students matchmaking YN lmao and NAOYA BEING THE RIGHT CANDIDATE it's like DAMN were the other really that bad??? I'm sure one of them even thought of setting her up with the director 💀 she would be like "ew no, he was my teacher!!!" she's just so nice to them, they want to see her happy!!

Naoya's puppy eyes whenever observing Y/N from a distance were the true MVP, if it weren't for his unavoidable sadness, I don't think anything would've happened. They really saw him mope around and were like "damn, he must really like Y/N if he's like that..."

Anyways, this was really cute to write. I actually wanted to put Naoya as a teacher first and then Y/N joined, but it kind of flipped your request around, so this is what I went with :>

I hope you liked it!! And thank you so much for sending in this adorable request ❤️ Now, take care, and hope to see you soon!!

[maxdibert]

Hi Max (is that your name? Idk what to call you 😅), did you ever think about Severus’s daily routine—being a miserable, depressing teacher, surrounded by loud kids every day? How did he cope? Did he have any hobbies to pass the time? What did he even do all day when he wasn’t grading essays, teaching, or brewing potions? Or was that all he did? Probably read books… or perhaps he socialized with the portraits and ghosts.. I always imagined the idea of him doing nothing but the same routine every day to be really sad and depressing. But I suppose he was so numb to that lifestyle that he just got used to it.

But like.. what made him happy? I can’t imagine living a life doing a job I hate, with no friends to share my small joys with. Was he just a shell of a man? Maybe he really was depressed. How did he not kill himself? Did he only keep going out of sheer spite and his promise to protect Harry and fight against Voldemort?

Or maybe he did have some kind of social life..in pubs, in the Muggle world… idk, I have a hard time understanding how he stayed alive for so many years. I would’ve ended it, tbh. My life is my family and my hobbies, but mostly my family. I can’t imagine what life does to a person who doesn’t even have one person they can laugh with. How did that affect him?

Maybe he was at least friendly with Minerva and Poppy? And Dumbledore, sometimes and perhaps he corresponded with Lucius. But who else? 😅 He didn’t seem super close with any of them in the books, so I guess we can only argue they were on friendly terms at best. I'd love to know your thoughts. 😊

Heyyy! Actually, my name isn't Max, but you can call me that since it's the nickname I have here, so it's all good hahaha.

Well, let's see, this is something I've thought a lot about lately in terms of character development, and I think I would divide it into two parts: Severus before Harry entered Hogwarts, before Voldemort returned, and everything that followed, and Severus after he’s already caught up in a spiral of anxiety and work overload, plus being a double agent.

I think during his first years at Hogwarts, he was probably in a crazy depression, and not only because of feeling guilty for Lily’s death, but also because he was just a 21-year-old kid when he started teaching, because he was teaching at the same place where he’d been bullied, because half the people he usually interacted with were dead and the other half were in Azkaban, and because I think it must’ve been pretty hard for him to adapt to a life he really didn’t want and one he had to get used to. So, in his early twenties, I picture him as kind of a zombie, after that terrible shock, the end of the war, all the emotional damage, just a few years where he was simply going through the motions, getting used to teaching, everything was new, so that’s what his daily life was based on. I've always imagined him having a pretty good relationship with the Malfoys, I think especially when he was younger, he’d visit them now and then, maybe on weekends... But he’d spend the holidays at Spinner’s End, and in the summer, he’d lock himself in his childhood home and not leave, because being stuck there was always a kind of self-imposed punishment: Hogwarts was a prison, his childhood home another, and if he hadn’t earned his way out of one, he didn’t deserve to leave the other.

I think his reputation as a nasty teacher was forged over the years, as he gained more confidence in front of the classes, he became stricter, more demanding, and didn’t tolerate nonsense. This was probably around 25 or so. I see that phase as one of accepting grief and loss, gaining more self-assurance at work, also starting to gain more trust from Dumbledore, and beginning a rivalry with Minerva, whom I always see him resenting a bit for letting certain things happen, but at the same time, respecting her as a colleague. I picture him very focused on his work, even obsessively so, to avoid thinking about other things. He would assign as much homework as possible so he could keep his mind busy correcting it, or simply practicing potions when his sessions were over. I imagine him sleeping terribly, deciding to do extra rounds at night not because he was interested in catching students in the act, but because he couldn’t sleep well, also because it gave him an excuse to leave the castle and smoke a cigarette since everything was just so damn anxiety-inducing. I never saw him as someone extremely sociable with other teachers because most of them were already teaching when he was a student at Hogwarts and didn’t lift a finger to make his life any less miserable, but I do see him being quite polite with most of them, though never opening up personally or anything like that, always with a shield up. I think he preferred staying reading, working, or studying potions rather than going to social gatherings with them or anything like that. I don’t see him being comfortable hanging out with them or having a drink. But I do picture him being comfortable going to Muggle pubs when he spent his summers at Spinner’s End. Shitty pubs with shitty people who were already drunk from early morning, where no one knew him, and he didn’t have to explain anything to anyone, in a world where there hadn’t been a war, no one had died, and he hadn’t been part of any shady organization. I imagine him going to those kinds of grim places when he wasn’t at Hogwarts and his house felt too suffocating, having a couple of beers. I picture him having occasional, short-lived encounters with Muggles, nothing serious, just a one-night thing to let off steam because he was in his twenties and felt alone, surrounded only by kids and old people, and that was just a damn depression. I imagine him visiting the Malfoys from time to time, as Draco was getting older, and I imagine Narcissa insisting that he needed to find a good pureblood girl, as she had always done since he was barely a teenager. I picture Lucius telling him that he didn’t understand what the hell he was doing under Dumbledore’s leadership in the first years, but seeing it as a good opportunity as Draco was approaching 11. I don’t imagine him having much of a social life. I think he talked a lot with Dumbledore, had many conversations with him, and saw him as the father figure he never had. I also think he had a genuine friendship with the Malfoys, and that created a very strong conflict and cognitive dissonance for him, but he couldn’t avoid it because they had always treated him well. But I think, within what was possible, he had free time, could do his own things, have his moments, his casual encounters, read his books, peaceful stuff.

And then came Harry.

Honestly, I think life after Harry at Hogwarts became pure anxiety for Severus. Because it wasn’t just managing Potions classes for seven damn years, being Head of House, doing night patrols, but also having to follow the kid around every corner to make sure he didn’t end up headless. Because Harry wasn’t just a responsibility, and he wasn’t an easy kid, but a kid who loved getting into trouble, so Severus had to babysit him both inside and outside of his work hours. And the fact that Harry came to Hogwarts only indicated that Voldemort’s return was getting closer, and when he returned, Severus completely lost his life. I mean, once he became a double agent, his life revolved around pretending on both sides, having cover stories on both sides, risking his neck, being constantly between Voldemort and Dumbledore, having to follow the plan, protect Harry, teach, work for the Order, put up with the Death Eaters, Lucius in Azkaban, Draco being doomed to kill Dumbledore, and a lot of other things. So, I basically picture him abandoning any hobbies he had, losing around 15 kilos, and just going on because, in the end, he was a kid from the streets who’d been raised to survive, and he had survival mode on 24/7, with anxiety through the roof, and that was basically it.

And then, after Dumbledore’s death, I picture him super depressed, super alone, with everything collapsing around him because the people he fought for hated him, and the people who didn’t hate him were the ones he had to betray, and I can’t imagine what that must have been like emotionally, but it probably involved a lot of wine and going back to smoking after having quit for years, because who the hell doesn’t start smoking again in a situation like that? And more anxiety, more depression, and the desire to do absolutely nothing but having to keep going, no matter what.

[juyeonszn]

REFLECTIONS

PAIRING jacob bae x f!reader

WORD COUNT 2.07k

GENRES smut lol

WARNINGS 18+ MINORS DO NOT INTERACT, mature language, fawn writing about jacob bae yet again but i swear this time was necessary!!!, porn without plot but also if u squint there’s a little bit of plot, roommates/best friends with mutual pining, i mixed so many tropes in here tbh, vaginal fingering, unprotected sex (pls be safe), mirror sex, soft? dom!jacob, lmk if i missed anything!

SUMMARY the two times jacob bae derails your saturday night plans.

MORE FAWNTOBER DAY 2 IS A GOOOOO 😈 i’m actually doing pretty well timing wise and as far as im concerned, i’ll actually pull this thing off 😭 anyways.. enjoy!! pls remember to reblog if u liked what u read! and stay tuned for the rest of the fics coming out this month <3

PERM TAGLIST @winterchimez @maessseongs @itsbeeble

If it were up to you, you would just stay home for the evening. You’d kick your feet up into the ottoman and put on a random movie, latched onto Jacob’s side like a little leech. You were lucky your roommate was just as much of a cuddler as you were. It’d be kind of awkward if he wasn’t.

Unfortunately, your Saturday night plans would have to be postponed.

“It’s gonna be fun, N/N, I promise,” he tries to convince you, hands clasped together. “Sangyeon even said he’d pay your tab.”

“But I’m tired, Cobie,” you pout, knowing full well that your puppy dog eyes would always be his weakness, even if he’d never admit it to himself. “I don’t wanna go out tonight.”

He must’ve really been looking forward to going out and meeting up with the guys if not even your guilt-tripping face worked on him. He goes off on a tangent about how you always stay in, and despite loving that to an extent, sometimes he wants to enjoy a night out. You were still confused as to why he didn’t just go by himself. Why did he have to bring you along with him?

It’s not like you were dating or anything. You were just roommates. Really close roommates. Roommates who cuddled every other night. Roommates who often found themselves sleeping in the other’s bed rather than their own. Roommates who were so undeniably attracted to each other but masked it by pretending they weren’t.

Couldn’t you have been sucked into a different trope?

“I just think you’re not giving the idea enough credit,” he raises his hands in surrender. “Besides, wouldn’t you feel left out? Wouldn’t you get major FOMO?”

You sigh. He had a point. Even if you didn’t really want to go clubbing, knowing all of your friends were there without you would make you sad. Imposter syndrome came way too easily for you. “Fine, I guess I’ll go.”

Jacob fist bumps the air, dragging you from the couch to your bedroom so you could start getting ready. He knows you take a while and the arranged meet up time was two hours from the current time. You move as quickly as you can, because even if you were only interested half heartedly, you didn’t want to be late. Especially because Jacob had a knack for constantly being punctual.

You kiss your teeth as you stare at your closet after you’ve finished showering and doing your hair and makeup. You felt like there was nothing good enough to wear. This wasn’t just a bar that you usually frequented, so you couldn’t dress casually. But it also wasn’t so fancy that you had to go over the top either. And for some reason, none of your clothes could fall into the perfect in-between category.

There was one dress.

You hadn’t worn it in a while, mostly because you never found the occasion to and it brought bad memories. It was a confidence booster, that was for sure. A tight black dress that stopped just below your ass and showed the perfect amount of cleavage. The moment you put it on, it’s like you’re a new person.

Staring back at you is someone you haven’t seen in a couple years, someone you shoved into the recesses of your subconscious. She used to party every night until she was black out drunk, making out and sleeping with random strangers until she was satisfied. She was stuck in a loop until she became friends with Jacob Bae, eventually moving in to get away from that lifestyle.

You never tell him how grateful you are. Part of you wishes to keep your past buried, hidden from the light of day so you never have to face your mistakes again. But at the same time, you could never tell him thank you enough. For saving you in a way, for helping you close that chapter of your life.

There’s a knock at your door, and you call out a “Come in” before your brain catches up with you. You make eye contact with Jacob in the mirror, watching his expression shift slightly. It wouldn’t have been noticeable if you were anyone else, but you knew him almost as well as you knew yourself. Maybe better.

He walks up behind you, brushing your hair behind your shoulder with a featherlight touch. “I haven’t seen this one on you in a long time.”

He’s so close to you, it’s kind of driving you crazy. You bite the inside of your lip, trying to keep your voice steady. “Should I wear it?”

His fingers start at your waist, trailing down to the hem of your dress. His knuckles skim across the bare skin of your exposed thigh, provoking your body to shudder. “Hmm, I’m not too sure,” Jacob rests his chin on your shoulder, looking at you through the mirror. “Seeing you in this is making me rethink going out tonight. Kinda wanna keep you here, all to myself, like that night at Hyunjae’s party.”

Okay, so perhaps you might’ve skipped a tiny detail in the retelling of your first encounter with Jacob Bae.

The reason you two became friends was because he actually happened to be one of those random strangers you slept with. It was a stroke of luck that you kept in contact with him after that night, considering he was supposed to be nothing more than a nameless face. But he was cute and he was funny, so when he asked to hang out a few days later you couldn’t help but cave in.

“Jacob…” You breathe, chest rising and falling rapidly. “D-Don’t you wanna see the boys?”

His lips press to the juncture between your neck and collarbone, a soft kiss that already packs your head with cotton. He hums into your skin, hands bunching up your dress around your hips. Someone was impatient. “Not important. We can reschedule.”

You didn’t want to reschedule. You wanted to get out of this apartment, fully clothed, with an excuse to ignore the hammering of your heart in your rib cage and the fluttering down there. If you stayed here any longer, Jacob would successfully charm his way into your pants. (Dress?) And you didn’t want to think about the consequences that may come with.

But it’s not like he gives you much of a choice, invading your headspace with every nip and suck of your jugular and jaw. His slender fingers run a line down the front of your panties, a small groan leaving the back of his throat when he feels how wet you are for him. With heavy eyelids, you watch the entire thing in the mirror, lips parting with a gasp at the sight.

“Fuck, baby,” he curses in your ear, pulling you backward so the two of you are sitting on the edge of your bed, still facing your mirror. “You want me just as bad don’t you?”

You whine, squirming as he dips his fingers into the waistband of your underwear, collecting your slick and smearing it all over your lower lips. He helps you shimmy out of your panties and dress, leaving you completely nude for him. His fingers resume their previous activities, easily pumping the ring and middle digits in and out of your cunt. His free hand grips your jaw, forcing you to keep your eyes on his movements.

“Cobie,” you whimper, spreading your legs wider to give both of you a better view. “Feels so good…”

His thumb circles your clit, mouth beside your ear to whisper all the filthy things he wants to do to you. Your toes curl at the same time his fingers do, brushing that sweet spot in your pussy. A strangled moan escapes you as you hit your climax, walls tightening around his fingers and back arching into his chest.

“That was so hot. You did so well for me,” he praises, thumb rubbing lazy patterns into your clit to bring you back down. “I just need you to do that on my cock. Can you do that for me, baby?”

“Mhm,” you nod, hands reaching behind yourself to free him from his jeans, fumbling with the button and zipper in your haste. “Need you inside of me already.”

You hope Jacob doesn’t have high expectations for you since you came so quickly with just his fingers. You’re not sure if he’s anticipating you to last longer with his cock. From what you remember, he wasn’t the longest, but he was definitely the thickest, and that’s what scared you the most. You were afraid of how full he’d make you feel.

Once the clothes from his bottom half are removed, you risk a glance at his dick in the mirror, your pussy clenching around nothing. Despite not knowing if you’d be able to take him without turning into a blubbering mess, you really wanted to try. You wanted him to fill you up like a plug in a bathtub drain.

He takes his girth in one hand, sliding his dick through your folds languidly, lubricating himself with the wetness of your cunt. He groans in your ear again, squeezing your hip to steel himself. “You ready for me?”

Your head bobs up and down quickly, patience wearing thin. He chuckles before impaling you on his cock, both of you moaning from the feeling of one another. The stretch burns, but it’s fucking heavenly, your pussy feeling so stuffed you can barely think. (Not that your thoughts were coherent beforehand anyway.)

“You’re— oh god, Jacob— you’re s-so deep,” you mewl, hands supporting yourself on his thighs. “I feel so full.”

He keeps his grip on your waist, fucking up into you as slowly as he can as to not disrupt your adjustment to his cock. Your head lolls back onto his shoulder, lips parted with a gasp every time he thrusts into your tight pussy. He shakes his head, urging you to stay upright.

“I need you to keep your eyes on the mirror, baby. Watch me fuck you until you can’t take it anymore.” Jacob commands, voice as deep as his dick inside of you.

You comply, hooded eyes nearly rolling to the back of your head when you take in the sight of him bouncing you on his cock. Your nails dig into his skin, lip splitting from the force in which you’re biting it. He looks so hot, focused on getting you both to that peak you desperately need to reach.

It’s such a stark contrast to the sweet Jacob Bae you’re used to, this one pounding into you without mercy, eyebrows knitted together in concentration. That first time you had sex, years ago, was pretty vanilla thanks to you both having a little too much to drink that night. You don’t even think you remembered most of it. Had you known he was such a freak, maybe you wouldn’t have pretended your attraction to him was nonexistent. Maybe this would’ve happened a lot sooner.

You don’t dwell on that regret much longer, Jacob yanking your attention back in by rubbing your clit with his middle finger. The amount of overstimulation fogs your vision, voluminous, pornographic level moans reverberating around the room. The words bubbling past your lips don’t make any sense, reduced to babbling until an encouragement is uttered into your ear.

“Cum on my cock, sweetheart,”

A cry is ripped from your vocal cords, your body writhing above him and continuing even after he’s orgasmed inside of you, fucking his cum into your cunt as he calms you down. You whimper when he grasps your jaw once more, egging you on to stare at the mixture of your cum running down your legs.

You both look absolutely feral, skin sticky with sweat and chests heaving up and down as if you’d ran a marathon. Jacob makes no move to pull out, leaving open mouthed kisses on your neck, back and shoulders. Your eyes flutter shut as a wave of exhaustion rushes over you.

“I think you’re pretty close to succeeding in your mission,” you say hoarsely. “I can hardly function right now.”

He laughs, such a melodic sound it almost doesn’t belong in your current setting. “Yeah? Do you wanna help me pass it?”

And in spite of being on the brink of passing out, who are you to deny such a promising offer?

© juyeonszn. do not steal, claim, or repost.

[njessie]

once again, i've had time to gather my thoughts so here they are:

there was a lot of tonal whiplash in that ep, from scene to scene but also the tone/mood shift from the scenes before the fight with carbon vs during and after was so quick and jarring imo

like they really had me in the first half, knowing the spoilers beforehand i thought it must’ve been a prank or that they changed the story from the theatre run cause it was so unserious and ridiculous for the first half, it just didn’t seem like they’d kill joke. again, the tonal whiplash was strong

i thought maybe we were overanalyzing the scenes in the series where they mention joke dying, or that the writers forgot to pickup those threads but. obviously not lmao. it seems this was planned from the start, which makes me wonder if they’d always intended to do s2 (or a second special ep or movie, whatever it ends up being)

for a minute i thought the constant teerak/ cheesiness was overdone and slightly ooc compared to jackjoke from the series but then i decided it was fine lmao. partly cause i knew they’d be the clingiest mfs on the planet so vindication for me lmao. but also cause let’s be real, they were ready to die together. they were making out with a bomb strapped to joke’s neck. after everything they’ve been through? they deserve it. i hope they’re 10x worse post-reunion in s2

was the writing great? no. was it cringe sometimes? yes. will i eat up a s2 despite that? also yes 🙂‍↕️

we talk a lot about war’s acting (rightfully so!) but yin did those grief scenes really well. my stomach was in knots watching jack lose himself, punching hoy, unable to come to terms with everything. the post wedding scene where he’s crying at the table? emotional damage. the last scene on the swings? even more emotional damage. yinwar the actors you are

say what you want about the story but the character consistency is there in this show. sacrificing himself to save jack + their friends was so on brand for joke

i have mixed feelings about marketing it as a wedding ep and then giving us that. on one hand, maximum angst and emotional damage, which i love, but on the other hand…kinda brutal tbh. if it hadn't been for the end credits scene it would've been extremely questionable - i'm not even one to hate on a well-done MCD but the series just wasn't thematically set up as a tragedy for it to make sense or be anything other than for shock value. but again, it seems they were always planning for s2

i’ve decided i didn’t hate it but i didn’t love it either. it might’ve been easier to deal with if it came with an official s2 announcement but given that’s not confirmed…just the thought of jack thinking joke is dead after everything they’ve gone through and that never being cleared up is so devastating to me lmao

[pagannatural]

2.06 No Exit

-The episode begins with Dean telling Sam a little joke about Scientology, which Sam appreciates. Why are they so cute??

-Sam is standing with his whole body facing Dean again while Jo talks to Dean about a case. He wants Dean’s attention so bad.

-Jo does the romance trope where she loops Dean into being her fake boyfriend for the landlord. Dean doesn’t seem flustered by this, just a little irritated because she’s not supposed to be there. He gets much more flustered by people mistaking him and Sam for a couple. I think he does see Jo as more like a sister, but Jo is also pretty and cool and Dean is a ho, so he’s also a little attracted to her.

Sam looks high-key annoyed when she pulls the fake girlfriend card. He’s jealous.

-Love triangle imagery. Delicious.

Sam is facing and pointing his gun at Dean while he cleans it which I’m going to interpret as a little phallic. Jo is also facing Dean.

-Dean says Jo shouldn’t be here, and the camera cuts to her and then Sam, who’s still looking at her, annoyed.

His boxers are in a twist. Now Dean has someone else he has to look out for and pay attention to besides Sam and he is not a fan.

-Dean tells Jo “my Dad started me in this when I was so young. I wish I could do something else.” Jo argues that he loves the job and he says “yeah but I’m a little twisted.” SAY MORE.

-The first thing Dean says when he wakes up is “where’s Sam?” He sits up blearily, sees Jo, and is like Well that’s not Sam.

-Jo asks for a memory of Dean’s father so he tells her about the first time John took him shooting when he was 6 or 7 and he had a knack for it. Dean says John “gave me this smile, like…” and trails off. Jo says he must’ve been proud, but I wonder if little Dean was just happy to see his dad happy for once. John probably didn’t smile very often. I could see Little Dean believing that he could make his dad happy and fix whatever was wrong by being good at hunting.

-Jo says “get this” which is what Sam always says. Jo is paralleled to Sam before Dean has a moment where they’re squeezed up close together in the walls of the building they’re investigating and he says he “should’ve cleaned the pipes” (jerked off) (I know most people probably know that’s what that means but tbh I had to google it because I was like wait did he just—?).

Dean and Sam cleaned their guns together earlier and Dean often cleans Sam’s for him. Does that count?

-Dean is familiar with the smell of chloroform. Why?? Did someone chloroform him? Oh my god?

-Jo learns that John made a mistake that killed her father on a hunt. She storms out of the bar, so Dean asks her to talk to him, thinking she’s mad because she got in trouble and thinking it’s his fault. She says “get off me” when he touches her arm and he just says okay sorry and turns to go.

I just think this is really interesting because we don’t get to see Dean interact with that many people in personal contexts and the way he instantly drops it shows what he’s like in relationships with people other than Sam. He holds himself at a distance. He’s sweet and respectful and let her in just a little, but he’s also ready to move on at the drop of a hat. He must be impossible to get to know, the kind of person people desperately want to be special to. He’s opened up to Sam a couple of times, but it’s also the way that he cares for Sam that’s different in that he gets completely absorbed and lets his own defenses fall away.

[adrunkpoetwallowing]

TW BIG RANT

I just finished Percy and Jackson and the Last Olympian yesterday and I don’t how I feel about it.

Luke dies, which I guess makes sense, I think readers would be mad if he just surrendered and was just sent to Tartarus, will he go to Elysium?

Maybe or he’ll go to the fields of Asphodel but I don’t think he’ll feel very guilty.

I HATED, when Luke died and then Percy calls him Hermes child and then tells Hermes that Luke loved him, like no?

Percy! Did we meet the same guy for the past 4 years, he literally growled at you, when you mentioned Hermes in book 2!

Hermes doesn’t deserve that kind of closure, the whole reason this war started was because Luke felt neglected and abandoned and left with his mentally ill mother, who only drinks peanut butter sandwiches and only drinks kook aide.

Why would he love you Hermes? I know he had to leave him for the prophecy so he couldn’t be influenced and his fate become worse, HE CREATED THE INTERNET, HES THE GOD OF MESSAGES YOU THINK HE’D BE ABLE TO SEND A TEXT MESSAGE OR PHONE ONCE IN A WHILE, so Luke isn’t just left hiding in the closet from his mother, when she’s having her episodes.

Speaking of May, poor, poor May, she’s going to be making sandwiches waiting for a boy, who won’t ever come back, or maybe she knows Luke is dead, but we don’t know if she knows that, we don’t get any closure, maybe she will know since the spirit of Delphi has moved on too Rachel, ( I think). It’s all because Nazi fucking Hades cause he’s bitter he can’t get revenge on his brother.

The ending felt kinda simplistic (well it wasn’t ALOT happened) but we had all this doubt from Calypso, Ethan and Prometheus I guess but in the ending just like:

‘Hey, I know you guys threatened to kill me a bunch of times, and I know you guys are really, REALLY shitty, but like send your kids a text message and it’s A Okay. Let’s party!’ :D

( Luke would not be impressed tbh)

And Luke, Ohhh Luke there’s so much to say, I thought at the start of the book, he was 14 or at least 16 but in actuality he’s BIG AGE 19, I was imagining for a young teenager for so long!

I wish didn’t shift so much to psychopath unfeeling terrorist to,

‘Annabeth’ D:

It’d be cool if it was shown that he actually cared for some other campers, since he WAS the head counsellor of the Hermes cabin, he must’ve been taking so many undetermined kids, who should’ve fuelled his anger at the Gods but that’s never brought up. He only cares for:

‘Annabeth!’

‘Spare Annabeth, expect, when I trick her into holding the sky, or I tell my goons to feed her to the monsters along with her friends.’

We didn’t get any interactions between Luke and Hermes and I’m sorry that I keep bringing this up but it makes me so mad that somethings that’s been teased for 4 books never happens, ( flashbacks don’t count)

Hermes doesnt deserve to believe that Luke loves him, go to Conner and Travis if you want a Hermes kid to love you, they already do, but they don’t seem to care.

B-But the Ancient rules they can’t interfere with their children it wouldn’t be fair and only cause more problems.

All the Gods should go into celibacy tbh, Poseidon tells Percy he shouldn’t have been born, but then he’ll just probably continue to have more kids.

Id be mad if my godly parent couldn’t keep it in their pants and I have to suffer monsters attacking me constantly trying to kill and eat me because I’m a walking flare.

Elysium would be cool I guess, that’s if I don’t die at 3 because a cyclops sneaked into my kindergarten for a light snack.

Annabeth and Luke, Thalia and Luke

Thalia literally kills Luke in 3rd book and she never brings it up again, I know it was supposed to show reforming ability but still it was weird no one cared.

They didn’t seem to care much for each other ether, except for a few pieces of dialogue in the 3rd book.

But honestly if my best friend, who I brought back to life killed me, I’d drop her too.

I don’t think Luke’s a pedo or was in any way romantically interested in Annabeth.

They way Annabeth literally snapped Luke back in his body was talking about their little family and if Luke gets a little incest gene from the Olympians it’s safe to presume, he saw her like that as well.

And when he was asking Annabeth to run away with him, it was creepy yes, but I saw it as

‘Oh this heavily traumatized and and mind raped young man is asking his last tie to childhood to run away with him because she’s the only person he cares for and wants to relive his childhood’

Not

‘Oh let’s romantically run away together my 16 year old crush! 😻

I heard Rick Riordan forgot the age gap, so yknow, I won’t personally see it as canon for my own mind. 😌

Anway I don’t how I feel about Luke anymore, he’s my new comfort character so I can’t stop thinking about and I’m so hyperfixated on him it’s making me ill but he really sucks as a character at the end, the pay off wasn’t worth it.

Hermes is probably going to be Percy Jackson’s new father figure which kinda pisses me off, I’m going to read a free PDF of the Demi god diaries somehow so I’ll get Luke content, Hermes too with Percy and Annabeth.

OH WAIT AND ONE OF HERMES DAUGHTERS WAS HARRIET TUBMAN, that meant she got with a slave and then still let her be a SLAVE!!!

There was probably a prophecy that said Hermes couldn’t interfere and he was probably so upset at all the suffering that was happening to his daughter, his heart probably ached.

😔😔😔

I hate prophecy’s when it’s brought up in media, I wish people would go LMK style and say FUCK destiny, we make our own pathways.

But alas that’s not how it works in Greek mythology prophecy’s happen no matter what, so people don’t do much about it when it’s told.

(Hermes)

I doubt I’d make a very good Demi god, I’d probably join the titan army out of spite, then trip and die in the first battle

[milimeters-morales]

chapter 9 of my transfem miles fic!

Chap 1 / Chap 2 / Chap 3 / Chap 4 / Chap 5 / Chap 6 / Chap 7 / Chap 8

Wordcount: 4k+

Warnings: trans kid gets called slurs and beat up (the beating up isn't shown happening). to skip, stop reading once the whole park section ends (the linebreak), and pick it back up again at "Kenneth smiles, showing off their bloodied teeth" because I don't recc skipping the entire section tbh. but you can do that if you want, just go to the next linebreak.

“I’m just saying, I’ve been through worse--” Miles starts, shutting up at the pained look on his parents’ faces. 

“No extreme Spider-Manning,” his dad tells him, crossing his arms. “And take one of my jackets. It’s getting cold out.”

It’s not, Miles thinks as he grabs his dad’s smallest coat from the rack. It was still too big, the sleeves were going past his hands, but he kind of liked that. 

“And take my scarf,” his mom adds, crossing her arms too.

Dang it, they’re mirroring! Now he’s definitely not going to win any argument he makes now.

“It’s not that cold out,” he tries.

“The weather is unpredictable,” his mom replies instantly, like she had that excuse prepared.

Ughhh. You crack a few ribs, break one nose, and nearly (well, literally) pass out from exhaustion one time! Okay, maybe more than once, but that’s besides the point. He’s not made of glass-- he’s still here, isn’t he? Did he die?

No, but he probably would if he said anything other than, “Yes Mother and Father, I’ll run home as soon as the wind gets too strong for my fragile bones!”

“Fix your face,” his dad tells him as he makes his way to the door.

Miles schools his expression, not even realizing he was scowling like someone personally insulted him, and sighs.

“Don’t you sigh at us,” his mom says, “we’re just trying to make sure you’ll be alright.”

“I am, Ma. I’m just going hang with Ganke and Gwen.”

“The second, and I mean the second--“

Miles really considers interrupting her to speed this up. And that’s the difference between him and a dead Miles, because a dead Miles definitely would have already done that. Add another reason to the “Why Miles Would Have Gotten Into Visions Anyway” list, this for sure counts.

“--hurting, you come home, okay?”

“Yeah,” he nods and shrugs.

She narrows her eyes, and his dad tilts his head.

“Yes, ma’am.”

Once he’s finally out of that house, and breathing in the fresh air on the street, Miles takes off the scarf, puts it in the jacket pocket, and ties the jacket around his waist. It really isn’t that cold, his parents are just extra worried since he came home with kind of bad injuries yesterday. 

When he woke up to get breakfast (after texting Ganke that yes, he was fine, and no, he wouldn’t be a “rich widow”), his mom and dad were hovering more than usual, and his dad looked anxious to even clap him on his shoulder like he usually did in the mornings. 

It’s not like he’s never shown up injured before, he’s come home with worse! Sure, they don’t usually know, but it’s not like he was going to die. He was just a bit roughed up.

They must’ve seen some disturbing story on the news, or something. 

_____

“How was the fudge?” Gwen asks him as he shows up to the candy store. They had all agreed to meet here, as some sort of “reward” for Miles.

“Oh, I didn’t eat it yet,” he answers, “how’s Brick? That guy you helped me with?”

Ganke snorts at the name as he grabs some sour gummies.

“Right,” Gwen nods, “he’s apparently back to normal? Spider-Doc called me in and let me see him, but he wants you to come in and double check.”

“But I didn’t see him when he was normal.”

“That’s what I said probably happened,” Gwen gestures towards him with more nodding, “but he said Brick would probably want to see a familiar Spidey anyway. So yeah, he looks normal, but he’s exhausted and not really cooperative. That bracelet can only last like, two weeks.”

Miles gums and grabs some plantain chips and a slushie cup. “Alright, why can’t we visit now? It’ll only take a few minutes, right?”

Gwen shrugs. “Wait, can we take you?” she asks Ganke, reaching up to grab a bag of chocolate pretzels for him after seeing him go to stand on his tip-toes.

“Short ass,” Miles laughs, dodging the punch to his shoulder. “But I don’t know, I’ve never seen anyone else bring civilians to what remains.”

“Oh my god, you sound so ominous when you call it that,” Ganke laughs, making his way over to the counter. “And I don’t wanna go anyway.”

Gwen reluctantly grabs her own snacks, complaining about none of them being sweet or salty enough to actually be worth it. They all pay for their candy (with Ganke’s money, he’s sure to remind Gwen and Miles) and leave, walking down the street and chowing down.

“Alright, so Margo and Doc had found the dimension Brick was from, but don't think it’s a good idea to let him go back yet because we don’t know about the other effects-- if there are any-- of the super steroid,” Gwen explains as she chews her strawberry wafers. “Not what its name by the way, don’t call it that. Doc gets annoyed and starts explaining exactly what the drug is.”

“Isn’t that a good thing to know?” Miles asks, looking down each alley they pass. 

“Miles, it’s like fifteen different ingredients with names longer than the pi,” Gwen rolls her eyes, “Anyway, Doc’s waiting ‘till Brick’s coherent enough. Might take most of the day, but just wanted to let you know.”

Miles nods, eyes catching on someone. It was some kid, he thinks, just playing on a phone. Why did he focus on--

“Ohhh!” He whisper-shouts, quickly looking away and back to his friends, “that’s Kenneth!” 

“Who?” Gwen and Ganke ask at the same time.

Shoot. “Nobody, just some kid I helped as the other guy,” Miles explains hurriedly. “They don’t actually know me.”

“Aw, but you two look like you’d be friends,” Ganke replies, still looking at Kenneth. “God knows you need more normal ones. No offense, Gwen.”

“I get it,” she says, also still looking at Kenneth. It’s like these two all of a sudden forgot what manners are!

“Stop staring at them! Come on,” He hisses out, feeling shame claw at his back and shoulders. He steers the two to the other side of the street, not so subtly checking if Kenneth looked up at any point.

“Jeez, that perfume lasts long,” Gwen comments, “you smell like a romance novel cover.”

“I hate that I know exactly what you mean,” he replies.

“Why are you so on edge anyway?” Ganke asks him. “Something happen? …Other than yesterday?”

“My parents… they’re just… protective,” he decides on. “C’mon, let’s just go before it gets too crowded.”

_____

Of course, because Miles can’t have anything, the cat cafe’s grand opening was too crowded and left him and Gwen overstimulated, irritated, and wanting to escape. Gwen and Ganke didn’t even get to choose ridiculous names to call the cats instead of their actual ones, which usually would’ve had Miles thanking every deity he could think of for this miracle, but it was just awful this time.

He let Gwen scurry off to Hobie’s dimension to calm down, and dropped Ganke off at home, apologizing for ruining the day. The boy told him he didn’t ruin anything, and kissed his cheek before heading inside. Miles didn’t really believe that, but it’s fine, he can act like he does. 

After a few stress bites and scratches, a loose brick crumbled into dust, and some breathing exercises, Miles is ready to be Spider-Man for the rest of the day.

At some point, he ends up in the park helping a few parents set up a pretty expensive looking birthday party (which earns him a cupcake, score!) and goes to swing off again, but a little girl calling out to him seconds before zipping closer to cling to his leg stops him.

“Spidey, you smell good!” The little girl missing-- who’s missing one of her front teeth, now isn’t that cute-- smiles up at him. “You smell like my ma!”

Normally, this sentence would be extremely weird, but considering he just saved a woman wearing the strongest perfume in the world yesterday, it’s justified. It’s reached normal strength levels today, from what his parents said, so that’s a small positive. 

Miles laughs, “Aw, thank you! Where is your mama?”

“Norah says she’s busy far away!”

Miles nods, “And who’s Norah? Is that your sister?”

The little girl giggles, “Nooo! That’s my other ma! She’s super tall!”

Miles nods again, “Ohhh, I see! My bad! Let’s go find her, she must be wondering where you are!” Offering his hand to the girl, whose hand is impossibly small in his own, he begins to walk where she came from.

“So what does she look like?” 

“Umm,” the girl says, whipping her head around as she searches around, “she’s got red hair like Ariel. And her favorite color is green!”

Luckily, someone with red hair that vibrant is easy to spot in the park.

Norah’s eyes widen as she turns from the man she’s talking to on a bench and sees her daughter being guided to her by Spider-Man. “Hi honey, are you okay? Why are you with Spider-Man?”

“I’m fine, he smells like Ma! Smell him!” the little girl excitedly informs her mom, running and hugging her legs.

“Oh, no thank you, I believe you,” Norah laughs, brushing her hair out of her face. 

And man, that kid wasn’t lying at all. The woman is tall, so tall that Miles has to actually move his head a considerable amount when he looks up at her.

“Go back to playing with Micah and his friends, honey,” Norah runs a hand through the girl’s short hair before she takes off to a sandbox, “and don’t wander off this time!”

“She probably means the perfume you’re wearing. It smells a lot like what my ex used to wear,” Norah gives him a warm smile after sighing. “I didn’t even know they still sold that scent! She always got it from like, a reseller.”

Miles smiles and shrugs, “I don’t know if they do, but a woman I saved was wearing it. Guess it’s still that strong, huh?”

“Ahh, that makes more sense,” Norah says, the man behind her humming and nodding.

…Why did that make him feel kind of weird? Put on the spot, almost?

“We won’t keep you,” Norah says, going back to sit on the bench.

“Alright! Have a nice day!”

Miles swings off, feeling strange. 

Sure, he hasn’t met any guys that wear perfume, but it’s the same thing as cologne. Something to make you smell good! He knows it’s not that common, but women wear cologne all the time. Right? So, a man wearing perfume wouldn’t be that weird.

“God, why are you so defensive…” he mutters to himself. 

____

Later that night, when he’s expertly convinced his parents he won’t get into any fights (but come on, be serious), he’s trying to calm down after being held at gunpoint by a would-be mugger that looked way too young to fully understand what they were doing.

It turned out fine, but still. Gunpoint. You’d think after nearly 2 years, he could take it like it was nothing.

Anyway, he’s swinging off the stress, when he hears it-- the telltale sounds of a fight.

He rockets down to a nearby rooftop and peeks over the edge, eyes widening when he sees Kenneth-- again! The kid was cornered by four much larger people. At least one of them must’ve been an adult or something! Kenneth was sneering-- that’s blood, that’s blood-- at the group, fists balled at their sides and shaking.

Darting down, Miles lands between Kenneth and the four others, spreading his arms out. “What, you got a problem?” he asks them loudly, stepping forward. Two flinch back at his sudden appearance, the other two looking surprised but not moving. “You deaf or something?” He narrows his lenses in the way he knows people don’t like and revels in those resulting furrowed brows.

“You defending him?” one of the men asks, sounding genuinely surprised. Is this man serious?

“Them,” Kenneth spits out from behind Miles. 

“You beating on a kid? You ain’t got anything better to do with your lives?” Miles can feel the adrenaline pumping in his veins, teeth grinding and chest getting tight. He takes another step forward, sending one of them running off with mutters about “not getting tased”. 

“Pussy!” Kenneth shouts after the runner, and Miles doesn’t feel the need to say anything about that. His focus is on the three excuses of-- 

Calm down. Kenneth’s safety is more important than his anger. 

“Spidey, you know that’s a man, right?” the second man asks him.

“A tranny,” the third man spits out.

The word hits his ears like a pot of boiling water spills onto his feet, like he’s being hit with that truck all over again. There’s mini explosions in his chest, and it feels like his head literally empties, leaving only… scribbles. Incoherent, angry, scared scribbles.

Miles lets the electricity in his veins glow bright enough to cast shadows against the walls. “You’re being assholes. Get lost!”

The third man leaves, grumbling, and dragging the second with him despite the difficulty since the second just assumed they could all win the fight against Miles if they stuck together. 

“Oh, not only are you assholes, you’re stupid too? Pick a struggle!” Miles rolls his eyes at the two retreaters. “What, you really wanna try it? You?” He looks the final man still standing in front of him up and down and tries to put as much disdain, disbelief, and annoyance in his voice until it practically drips with all three. He scoffs to make it hurt a little, in the way everyone else at school does when someone asks for a girl’s number, “Yeah, right.”

The man sneers and quickly stomps out of the alley after the others. “...kind of man wears perfume, prolly one of ‘em…” he mutters as he leaves.

A few moments pass, and once Kenneth breathes out a heavy sigh of relief, Miles finally relaxes, breathing out a sigh of his own.

“I am so sorry about that,” he apologizes, letting the electricity die down and turning to face Kenneth. Now that he’s close up, he can see blood dripping down from their nose and a bruise on their cheek. “Look, I’ll walk you home.”

“Thanks,” Kenneth smiles, showing off their bloodied teeth. Yeesh. “I don’t actually think I could’ve won that one.”

As they’re walking down the street, Miles keeps a hand on Kenneth’s shoulder, wondering if he should take them to urgent care just in case. 

“I’m still real sorry you had to hear that,” he tells them, “those jerks don’t know a thing. Grown ass men… how old are you?”

“I’m fourteen! My birthday was last month,” Kenneth happily informs him. The baby fat on their cheeks makes Miles’s heart ache, and he struggles to smile. Did he used to look like that? Only fourteen, and having to deal with adults hating them to the point of beating them up for the way they dress and identify. Jesus. Maybe they’re more alike than he thought. 

“I just turned sixteen,” Miles admits.

“Really? Is that why you do that deep voice thing?”

Embarrassment makes him falter in step, nearly face planting on the ground. “Uh, no, I…”

Every possible answer he could give is embarrassing! Why did he even bring up age in the first place?!

Kenneth smiles and seems to consider him. “Y’know… if… I totally get it, if you do the voice for… other reasons. I mean, I know some guys who do that, but you already sound fine.”

“Thank you,” Miles takes the compliment with only the tiniest bit of confusion. Kenneth thought… ohhhh. Ohhhh. 

Should he correct them? 

Yes, duh. 

…

But he doesn’t really want to. Kenneth isn’t entirely sure that he’s transgender, just guessing, right? Is this bad? Is he doing something wrong right now not clearing this up?

He feels like he was just put on the spot in the middle of class or something. He shouldn’t be so anxious, this is ridiculous-- Kenneth’s the one that just got attacked!

But this is obviously also bad... but he's just so hesitant, for some reason.

“I won’t tell anybody, if you are like me,” Kenneth says softly, blood dried on their face but a sparkle in their eye, “don’t worry.”

____

Miles unlocks the door to his family’s apartment, still talking with Gwen. 

“--can’t believe it’s still on me either! Anyway, how about next weekend? The cafe probably won’t calm down for a week, and there’s a new garden here, the kind that offers tours and stuff. I saw some pictures online-- Hi Dad,” Miles says, nodding to his dad as he makes his way to his room.

“Miles? What’s that smell?” his dad asks him from his spot on the couch. He swings an arm over the back of it and fixes Miles with a quizzical look. Without his glasses on, his squinting looks even more suspicious.

“Uh, still that perfume,” Miles answers, wishing he got the power of teleportation instead of his super-anxiety. “I gotta go, let me know what you think,” he rushes out into the watch, quickly taking it off and shoving it into his jacket pocket.

His dad gets up and walks over, sniffing the air. “Oh, you… found another bottle?” he asks hesitantly, crossing his arms and tilting his head, “Jesus, that is strong.”

“Everyone else says it’s not,” Miles reassures him, “apparently they don’t even make this anymore?”

“I see why,” his dad mumbles, “so how… how was it?”

“How was what?”

“Going around, smelling like perfume all day. Nobody gave you any trouble?”

Miles hears that protectiveness in his dad’s question, and thinks about Norah and that man she was talking to, the men that attacked Kenneth, and his mom saying how she could say she was the reason for it yesterday. It all made him feel weird, like he was expecting something that he wasn’t even sure of.

“Nah. I mean, some people didn’t expect it, but nothing mean.”

“Okay, that’s good,” his dad nods, “want some spaghetti? Your mom’ll be home in a few minutes, come help set everything out.”

After dinner, which was only partially ruined for him and his dad because of his mom’s ER horror stories that she’s brought home today, Miles gets ready for bed. Well, a few hours of relaxing and maybe another patrol then actual bed. 

As he’s walking back to his room after his shower, legs freshly shaved and piercings cleaned, his dad stops him to ask him something, but stops mid-question with wide eyes. Miles smiles, unsure of what’s wrong, and tilts his head. Stuff about hair and a mustache are all he can make out of his dad’s incomprehensible (excited?) sputtering.

“How didn’t I see this earlier! I was right across from you!” His dad’s loud and all up in his face as he turns it every which way in search of more hairs.

“Maybe you just need new glasses,” Miles shrugs, trying to pull his face free as gently as possible.

“Rio! Get in here!” 

Miles resists the urge to roll his eyes. 

“What? What, is something wrong?”

“Nothing’s wrong--”

“Miles is growing a beard!”

“Whaaat?” His mom’s sleepy eyes widen, a tired but proud smile growing on her face as she lightly slaps his dad’s hands away to replace them with her own. “Ahh, I see them! You’re growing up too fast!” She playfully slaps at his arm, “Stop it.”

“I’ll slow down,” Miles sighs exaggeratedly, head hanging like he’s just so inconvenienced.

“How didn’t I notice this? Can’t believe you’re growing into a man,” his dad places the heels of his palms on his forehead, eyes wide. “Next thing I know he’s off to college, getting married--” he starts rambling as he paces in the living area.

“Dad, really?” Miles puts his hands on his hips. “It’s just a little hair. It’s not even on my chin.”

“--us in a nursing home-- Just a little hair?! This is--”

“You’re really calm,” his mom whispers to him as they watch his dad continue to gesture wildly and wear down the floorboards. “You’re not even a little excited?”

“I freaked out about it earlier,” he whispers back with a small smile.

“You and your father, I swear,” she huffs with a shake of her head.

____

As he’s suiting up again after he’s sure his parents are asleep, his watch buzzes. Putting his glove in his mouth to free both hands, he grabs it to see a message from Margo.

|Margo Kess 22191-B: hey Gwen invited me to your garden thing next weekend but said she forgot to check with you 2 see if it was okay?

|Miles Morales 1610-B: It’s fine! We’ll have to get there pretty early like 9am maybe

|Miles Morales 1610-B: what time would that be for you

|Margo Kess 22191-B: uhh let me check

|Margo Kess 22191-B: that’s like 1pm for me :v dw

|Miles Morales 1610-B: alright that’s good! 

|Margo Kess 22191-B: : thanks! Gwen would have told you herself but she broke her phone

|Miles Morales 1610-B: fight gone wrong?

|Margo Kess 22191-B: she said everything was 2 loud and fast so she just crushed it in her hands this morning :/

|Miles Morales 1610-B: Oh it must’ve been from our trip to this cat cafe

|Miles Morales 1610-B: turned out to be a bad idea for us!

|Margo Kess 22191-B: i hope the garden doesn’t turn out 2 be like that </3 

|Miles Morales 1610-B: sameee

Once he’s fully dressed, he grabs a random jacket. It was a little too big, must’ve been one of the newer ones his mom bought him after his growth spurt. 

It’s a nice night , he thinks as he perches on the roof of a library. 

A cloudless starry sky, a nice breeze, and-- hold on, is that his physics teacher?

Mrs. Chesterfield and some man are walking together out of the J-Mart across the road. Oh man, should he say hi? No, right? No. That would be kind of weird, and she’s been a little annoying lately anyway. He doesn’t actually have anything to say to her anyway that wouldn’t expose who he is.

The man she’s walking with spots him and gives a small wave. Mrs. Chesterfield notices and gives a small wave as well, but with a pleasant smile.

Miles waves back, watching as they leave in their car. 

So weird. He knows, realistically, his teachers have lives outside of school, but to see them with other people, and doing what, going on a snack run? To see them do something so normal is just plain strange. He wonders how they clean their houses…

A quiet sound of paper ripping pulls him out of thoughts, and a faint whisper makes him look behind him. Hobie’s in the courtyard below, swiftly closing the portal behind him and jumping up to the roof to sit next to Miles.

“Relax,” Hobie tells him, “just checking on you.”

“Why?” Miles scoots over to put some comfortable space between them, “Did something happen?”

Hobie is quiet for a moment, mismatched eyes boring into Miles’s own and making him look to the side, before turning and facing ahead.

Alright, so he’s not going to get an answer?

“You can tell me, it’s fine,” he insists, but when Hobie doesn’t want to do something, he just won’t. Miles learned that the sorta-hard way when he kept expecting Hobie to continue conversations instead of letting an awkward silence take over. At first, it seemed like Hobie was just toying with him, but Gwen explained that Hobie was “just like that.”

The two sit in silence, Miles looking for a conversation starter. Something (most likely) happened, and things tend to be… pretty bad in Hobie’s dimension. 

As his eyes flit about, they land on the skirt Hobie’s wearing. It’s one of the old lady skirts Miles bought for him, but it’s been torn haphazardly at the end and stained with something, probably bleach? 

“I like what you did with the skirt,” he says, smiling. “Did you do the same with the other ones?”

Hobie shakes his head. “Gave ‘em away.”

“Oh, that’s nice! I was actually at a shelter a few days ago, I think I’m gonna go again to give some people my old clothes,” Miles says. Okay, so he wasn’t thinking that until now, but it still sounds like a good idea. Maybe he’ll see that manager lady again.

His mind drifts to the old man that kept arguing. Ugh. 

“S’good,” Hobie mumbles. “You and the others, you know you can come to me, yeah?”

Shit, was he not visiting Hobie’s dimension enough? Yeah, he doesn’t visit that much, but he thought Hobie preferred it that way!

“Yeah, of course! I’m sure the others know that too,” he nods, “well, you might have to remind Margo. She’s never even visited me before, and she’s only coming next weekend because Gwen asked her to.”

Hobie taps on the roof, “I meant, if your parents start that bullshit. But that too, that too.”

Miles’s anxiety turns to confusion. “Why would my parents get that mad? I mean, Spider-Man was an unpleasant surprise, sure, but--”

Hobie gives him a sad(?) look, which makes him stop and think. Does he do anything that--

Oh, DUH!

“I mean, I don’t think Mom and Dad would get mad at me dating Ganke, of all things to get mad at me about,” Miles rushes out, playing with the sleeves of his jacket. The anxiety comes back, settling in his legs and shoulders.

“I don’t wanna say don’t trust them,” Hobie says slowly, as if explaining bad news to a toddler, “but I want you to have a backup. Just in case.”

“Just in case,” Miles repeats, considering the possibility. “I just… I mean, I don’t think they’re like that. They’ve never said anything about… hating gay people or anything…” But what if…

“I don’t want you to freak out,” Hobie tells him quickly, squinting. “It’s just always a possibility, and I don’t want you to be lost if worse comes to worst. It’s smart.”

Miles brings his knees to his chin. His parents are good people, they wouldn’t hate him for something like this. They love him! But… he knows a lot of people say that, and don’t know for sure, and get a nasty surprise. He’s heard stories online and on the news that turn out even worse. 

“I’m not freaking out,” he says aloud, more for himself than Hobie. “I just never considered it before, y’know?” 

“Yeah. I know,” Hobie sighs. “I know.”

“Shit, man…” Miles says after a few moments of silence. “So… what should I do? I can’t just run away from here and leave my dimension without a Spider-Man.”

Hobie taps again. “That’s what you have us for.”

He briefly meets Miles’s eyes, and though he doesn’t smile, the warmth is there. It’s almost too much, but thankfully Hobie looks away first. “Just wanted to make sure you knew.”

“...Thanks,” Miles smiles. “Do you want to join me tonight? Or do you wanna go give the others the same talk?”

Hobie stands up, stretching his arms high above him. “I can tell ‘em after. Lemme get changed.”

Score!

A/N: past me was again not pleased with this chapter but it literally looks fine? it's short and sweet! well not sweet 100% but i feel like it's nicely packaged with a simple bow. kenneth nation sorry for hurting our cousin

[kaija-rayne-author]

Review 2 in series for Dragon Age Veilguard

Spoilers for Veilguard

First part of review series is below.

I'm not an asshole disclaimer (same as the first one, if you read that, you can just skip down to the cut.)

Something came to my attention. I need to make it crystal clear that I utterly love the diversity in DAV. It's fantastic. I'm also a heavily left leaning, non-binary, queer as fuck reviewer, editor, and author.

I'm on media blackout while I play this, so I'm only getting second-hand info on how awful it is right now in the DA Fandom. Please be safe and take care of yourselves. Arguing with incels and white supremacists is completely pointless. They sea lion worse than an actual sea lion. Your mental health is important.

Though, every single time the anti-queer brigade comes out for a new DA game, I sit there thinking 'have you bozos ever played any DA game, like, ever?' My guess is nope.

9 hours in, 7 hours playtime.

Negative review

While I'm incredibly grateful that I can play this game, because I really hope the story actually starts soon, (yes, I said it, the pacing on this is terrible, and I'm both an editor and a writer, I have a clue). I hate to say... I am soooo glad I didn't buy it. Or I'd be demanding a refund. I didn’t actually look at the price tag, but it must’ve been around $80 Canadian. Given our cost of living crisis, that's obscene but whatever. Games are expensive.

It's just not worth that much in its current state. Sure. Games on release often have bugs. I kinda hate spending money to be an unpaid beta tester. BG3 had nowhere near as many.

My computer comes down right around the middle of the minimum and recommended specs. DA4 doesn't even make it get hot like BG3 makes it. So I'm really thinking glitchy game vs computer issues. Considering I'm not the only one it's happening to... welp. (I looked the glitch up, it's pretty common.)

5 out of 10 loads, my character glitches back to the stock elf body. And if I continue playing, it corrupts my saves and they won't load. It has also happened mid-battle, too. So I have to figure out which save to go back to before the glitch bit. Which, without pics in the save files is fun /s.

'Balanced' play isn’t. I play on tactician/hard in most games. I'm on balanced, and keep fucking dying. TBH I'm not extremely awesome with the controls and moves yet, but I'm not bad either. I honestly just think the bad guys are too overpowered (way too fast, hit too hard, and it takes too long to break their armour) for beginning levels. And yes, I have my Rook in the best armour I currently have. Maybe if I could carry more than 3 potions, it wouldn't matter as much, but IDEK man.

And you know what isn't actually any fun in games? Dying a lot. Also? Having to drop my difficulty level for regular bad guys less than ten hours into the game. It's still teaching me moves ffs, so is sorta the tutorial. I'm not a 'get gud' type. I think that's ridiculous. Gaming is supposed to be fun. If it makes it more fun to drop the level for a boss fight or whatever, more power to you. But I usually don't have to until end-game material. If I have to at all. It's honestly pretty rare. Load time is ridiculous, so every time an over-powered not-a-fucking-darkspawn slams my rogue (which I swear shouldn't be possible, I know how to fight with rogues, they're my first and favourite class), I get creamed because I'm bloody stuck in a place I shouldn't get stuck in.

I know they had testing on this. Wasn't that why the date was pushed back? My memory isn't great since COVID but I think I might’ve seen that somewhere.

Solavellans will likely be disappointed in the first seven hours. You see Solas twice. He may as well not even be in the game.

And I really hate to say this, but I'm just bored. I wasn’t itching to play it like I usually am with good games. (If a game catches me up, it's about the only thing I want to do.) I still loaded it up tonight, didn’t have anything better to do. (Because I'd probably have done that instead.) I'm mostly playing so I know what happens in the story myself. And I was hoping we'd get some answers to all this lore that lives in my head, rent free. So, whatever, I'm still hoping it will catch me up. I'll keep playing in hopes we actually get something resembling a story at some point soon.

And the number of editorial errors is ridiculous. Both developmental and copy.

'Cause bodies can't decompose in the Anderfels? Because nothing external lives there? Granted, I have specialized knowledge there (former forensic anthropologist) but, that isn't remotely how decomp works.

Does your 3 week old raw hamburger not rot because it was in a cold, dark place without any external decomposers? (My 17 year old knew the correct answer to that, so did my 12 year old.)

The primary forms of humanoid/mammalian decomposition come from inside us. Bugs don't even start showing up for a bit. Why do you think bodies bloat? Our gut bacteria going wild. Why do you think bodies are routinely embalmed? No bugs (usually) in a funeral home or morgue either.

And y'know? I actually outright told Epler on Twitter (before it went to complete hell) that he needed a better editor or 4 after playing DAI. And DAV already has more editorial issues than I noticed in the whole first half of DAI. Way to prove my point.

I'm an exacting editor. I'm pretty good at it. And I don't expect perfection in anything. Perfectionism is a trauma response, after all. But so many errors so soon? Really?

I'm not even getting into the story issues. Because I'm still hoping we actually, y'know, get to a story? And if I'm really lucky? That story will cover some of the glaring errors.

But so far? I'm not impressed. I've never, since I started playing DA games, been fucking bored.

Next one is here: