#I was like oh cute art of the girls until I zoomed in why would you do that aaassjhhhjbb

[minty-muse]

Just saw official art of hanyuu in very questionable clothing wtf 🤢

[realcube]

trying to be nice to their crush hcs

navi | masterlist | taglist

thank you to 🍦anon for this cute request!

characters: tsukishima, kyōtani, sakusa & suna

content warning: swearing & sexual references 

kei tsukishima 

♡ this is all yamaguchi’s fault （︶^︶）

♡ he found out tsukki had a crush on you bc he mentioned you a lot in conversation so yamaguchi interrogated him for answers then lo and behold, the beanpole had a lil thing for you 

♡ you sit in front of tsukishima in homeroom while yamaguchi sits beside him so when you leaned back and asked him if you could borrow a pencil and he spat back a snarky remark about you being too irresponsible to care for your own pencils, yamaguchi hastily offered you one of his own before scolding tsukishima 

♡ he explained to his clueless friend that being nasty to people isn’t a good way to get them to like you 

♡ so perhaps he should be nicer :)

♡ honestly, tsukishima would’ve just looked yamaguchi straight in the eyes and went ‘no’, if it wasn’t for the fact you shot tadashi the sweetest smile anD PLAYFULLY BLEW HIM A KISS AFTER HE JUST GAVE YOU A DAMN PENCIL LIKE WTF 

♡ after that, he decided to give up his current personality and pick up a new one 

♡ jk jk 

♡ but he had to binge a whole bunch of those youtube psychology videos that are like ‘psychological tricks to make people like you’ and ‘THESE 5 MIND TRICKS WILL MAKE YOU THE MOST POPULAR PERSON *EVER*’!!

♡ spoiler alert: he wasn’t the most popular person but perhaps that was bc he only went to the effort of using those tricks on you 

♡ god bless him; he tries hard, he really does. (not his best, just hard)

♡ but you don’t have to be extremely observant to realise that he’s began acting different around you and of course, it confused you seeing tsukishima being nice

♡ what irritated you was how dismissive he was being of your questions though, as he was clearly trying to lead you to believe that you were crazy and he’s just always been a nice guy 

♡ but as soon as he figures out that he angered you, he’ll instantly switch back to him normal self - draining his mind of the hours of phycology studying he did last night to just pretend like it never happened 

♡ and if he’s feeling flirty, he might be extra mean to you （￣︶￣）

♡ also he makes a mental note to never take yamaguchi’s romance advice ever again 🙄

♥　♡　♥　♡　♥　♡　♥

you sighed, removing your hand from your bag after desperately rummaging through it in search of a pencil once again - deja vu. once you accepted that a pencil wasn’t going to materialise out of thin air, you peered over your shoulder and tapped the corner of yamaguchi’s desk, who wore a suspicious grin which you decided against questioning. 

“yamaguchi, do you think i could borrow a pencil again? sorry, this is the last time, i swear. i’ll be sure to get some on my way home after school tod--” 

yamaguchi dropped the line him and tsukishima had rehearsed many times beforehand, while clutching his pencilcase dear to his chest, “woah, (y/n). you’re so irresponsible. sorry, i can’t lend one of my pristine pencils to someone who is too forgetful to remember to buy some; what if you forget to return it to me?” 

tsukishima cringed at how forced it sounded but he couldn’t help but admire yamaguchi's dedication to his role. this allowed tsukishima to swoop in, pencil in hand, “here.” that wasn’t in the script but he panicked! okay, now, eye contact. 

you just sat there and stared at both of them with the most dumbfounded look plastered on your face. what just happened?  why were they both acting like they were in drama class?  and why are they both so bad at acting? they’re both passing performing arts for fucks’ sake!

kentarō kyōtani 

♡ sorry but i firmly believe kyōtani is the sorta guy to be extra mean to ppl he fancies smh

♡ the rest of them just act (somewhat) like themselves around their crush but kyōtani is himself2 (himself^2)

♡ like one time yahaba found you trembling in your locker bc you had gotten mud on mad dog’s white shoes so he chased you through the hallways of the school, threatening to trek mud on your forehead 

♡ yahaba took it upon himself to investigate as to why kyōtani was so rude to you and he got his answer as soon as he mentioned your name to mad dog and the boy’s face immediately flushed red 

♡ so after practise, yahaba schools mad dog on how to get chicks (⌐■_■)

♡ in short, his advice was ‘good guys get laid’ and for kyōtani’s understanding, ‘good’ and ‘kind’ were interchangeable 

♡ mad dog wasn’t completely oblivious to how he treated you and he was aware that he was far from ‘kind’

♡ although he usually doesn’t listen to people in general, yahaba seemed to know what he was talking about so he figured there was no harm in trying to be nice 

♡ but ngl, he just spent the rest of the day wondering...what is kind?

♡ after a few messages back and forth with yahaba, he figured that the best place to start was by apologising for - y’know - chasing you around the whole school 

♥　♡　♥　♡　♥　♡　♥

“oi!” kyōtani bellowed through hallway, paying no mind to the students that cast him dirty looks as his sights were locked on you. standing unsuspecting by your locker, stuffing your textbooks into your bag until you heard his deep voice echo through the hall, to which you visibly perked up and began frantically looking around.

he marched towards you, hands in pockets and when you noticed him out of the corner of your eye, you were more than ready to drop all your shit and bolt away. but he didn’t let you as before you were able to take off on your heels, he grabbed your shoulder and spun you around to face him - then he noticed your hands raised in defence by your face and your head hung low.

his heart sank and his grip on your shoulder immediately softened, “i’m not gonna punch you, idiot.” he spat, rolling his eyes and gritting his teeth, trying to appear angry in hopes you’d mistake his light blush for pure rage. 

“i just wanted to say that i felt bad for chasing you through the halls yesterday - you didn’t stand a chance so i guess it was a bit unfair.” he said, frowning as you replied with silence so the duty fell on him to fill it, “and i got the stain out, anyway so.” 

more silence. lovely.

suddenly, he puffed his cheeks out as his eyes snapped to meet yours and he roared, “ARE YOU GONNA FUCKING SAY SOMETHING OR ARE YOU TOO BRAINDE-”

“are you wearing eyeliner?” 

and that was the true story behind why you missed last period, because you and kyōtani had a 30 minute conversation about eyeliner and make-up, then he convinced you to skip the rest of class with him so he could buy you ramen as an apology gift.

so yeah, he figured that perhaps he should try being nice more often.

kiyoomi sakusa

♡ he didn’t need someone to tell him to be nicer, he’s just predisposed to attempt to show kindness to someone he is fond of

♡ in his mind, showing kindness, respect and stripping himself of all his personality = the only way to be desirable 

♡ (ofc this takes place before he meets atsumu tho lol)

♡ so it’s not the realisation that’s the problem for him, it’s the execution 

♡ like how is he supposed to be nice without either sounding creepy or condescending? 

♡ *cut to sakusa practising in the bathroom mirror* ‘your hand looks- no-’ he scoffs, flicking cold water onto his face, ‘your hair looks cool- pretty- nice?’

♡ *camera pans to sakusa laying in bed, staring intently at the ceiling while imagining vivid and scarily detailed scenarios about ways he could mess up while talking to you* 

♡ *camera zooms in on sakusa’s face as he manifests a nicer version of himself*

♡ he might - depending on how insecure he is - watch one of those psychology videos or read a wikihow for help

♡ but other than that, he independently tries to alter his personality in order to gain your favour bc..true love ?

♥　♡　♥　♡　♥　♡　♥

you smiled as a basketball rolled up to your feet during gym class, followed by the sound of someone approaching you and upon raising your gaze, your eyes met sakusa’s unmistakable black ones. his face hovered only a few inches away from yours due to the fact you had both reached down to pick up the ball at the same time.

he quickly pulled himself away, tucking the basketball under his elbow as he adjusted his mask so it properly covered his face to ensure that you didn’t see the light blush slowly spreading across his cheeks. he then proceeded to blurt out what he had been rehearsing for the past few nights, “oh, thank you, (y/n). your hair looks lovely today, by the way.”

you giggled, holding your hands firmly by your side to avoid fidgeting and making it obvious that his sudden comment flustered you, “thanks, sakusa. and, if we’re handing out compliments today, i didn’t know you were good at any sport other than volleyball but you’re doing surprisingly well at basketball.” you joked, your lips slowly curling into a cocky smirk, “though, i don’t think you’d stand a chance against my team.” 

god, you’re such a tease. you make it so hard for him to be nice to you. so, of course, your comment returned his ability to utter almost every sarcastic comment that comes to mind - screw being likeable. “you think so?” he quirked a brow, tossing the ball onto your lap then pacing backwards, “go on, then.”

rintarō suna

♡ it was probably those tips on social media that told him he has to be nicer 

♡ and plus he saw terushima get all the chicks and he was just sitting there like ‘where are my bitches at? 🥺’

♡ anyway, all the guys on social media that had girls lining up outside their door always had one thing in common: misogyny  obnoxious personalities !!

♡ and his whole personality was a sacrifice suna was willing and ready to make for just a crumb of cooch  🤲

♡ though you weren’t exactly his crush yet, suna thought you were the best person to carry out this experiment with bc he heard through the grapevine that you had a crush on him so perhaps this would make you happy

♡ he didn’t prepare much beforehand though which he immediately regretted as soon as he approached you bc admittedly, his game plan of ‘be self-assured but friendly’ was a bit vague 

♡ so he basically just had to bullshit through a whole, awkward conversation with you while wearing a forced ‘bold’ smirk which, in reality, looked as though he had just seen tiddies for the first time 

♡ hardly self-assured or friendly 

♡ also, the fact you thought he was playing a prank on you must’ve drastically altered the results of his experiment 

♡ at one point he says something extremely stupid you’d just quit playing along and just blurt out ‘wtf is wrong with you today’

♡ to which he’d be like ‘ahaha, nuthin much bbg, how bout you?’

♡ THE EXPERIEMNT ISN’T OVER UNTIL HE SAYS IT’S OVER OKAy?!

♥　♡　♥　♡　♥　♡　♥

you rubbed your temples in order to soothe the throbbing headache suna gave you simply by existing. like yes, you had a crush on him 10 minutes ago - but that was before he came up to you and started acting like terushima on dodgy medication. “oh and your skin is glowing bab--”

“jesus christ, rintarō, shut up!” you cried, gripping the edge of your skirt to prevent your self from delivering a swift punch right to his stupid face. he’s seriously gotten on all your nerves at this point; firstly, by spamming your phone in the middle of the night asking for homework answers (accompanied by cursed memes) as he actually managed to wake you up. secondly, by acting so oblivious to the fact you clearly had a crush on him and now, this!

heat rose to his cheeks in embarrassment as his creepy smile instantly fell right back into his resting bitch face, “this isn’t working, is it?” 

“what’s not working?”

suna scoffed, rolling his eyes - his façade having evidently disappeared. “this.” he sighed, looking around as if someone was going to save him before his eyes finally settled on you and he was reminded of what he wanted in the first place, his sparkle was rekindled for just a moment which caused him to blurt out, “just fuck me already, i’m not asking for much.”

[papers4me]

Fruits Basket Manga Review ch (76 & 77)

So, I decided to read the manga mainly in search for a more natural balanced female presentation than the idealistic, shallower, savior depiction of tohru in the anime.

I’m intentionally skipping all the chapters of her as a (mother figure) in yuki’s life & won’t read them or even visit them for comparison with the anime. I love yuki’s growth story & the unique depiction of his platonic relationship with tohru, but if his mother-tohru phase was a drink, then the anime has force fed it to me till it came from my nose! So, for yuki, I’ll be reading his growth past-his mother confession.

I’ve consulted my lovely manga readers friends & thy recommended starting from ch 90 since the content in that chapter was completely cut! but some recommended checking kyoto chapters first since they contain a nice glimpse of the author’s style & artistic vision. Kyoto ep in the anime isn’t focused on “mom-tohru” so, i like the idea! I’ll jump to ch 90 right after ch 77.

- Subtle growth of a woman ( Clash of visions & presentation between the manga’s “ Loosing the wallet with mom’s photo vs the anime’s fractured photo frame):

I really love the underlined connotation of tohru loosing her “mom” unknowingly! In the anime, this scene played without any reference to kyoko & tohru’s attachment to her. We saw tohru the teenage girl confused as she experience romantic love for the first time. Nothing more than that. But the manga says “ Main female MC is way deeper than a (mom-figure) or a (girl in love), In this panel, tohru chases after kyo & unknowingly looses her famous wallet containing her mom’s picture. Here’s what this subtly indicates:

 Normally, tohru would notice right away that her wallet is missing, here she never even notice until kyo suggest they hang out together. Subtly indicating that tohru is moving further & further from her phase of “ an afraid, grieving, abandoned child clinging to her mom”.

Normally, tohru would panic, say “ mom is missing” & everyone around her goes into search mode to make tohru at ease (hiro’s ep). Here once she notices, she says “ my wallet is missing” & kyo relaxed & laughingly gives her her wallet back. While he goes to bring the wallet, tohru instead of thinking “ oh nearly lost mom!” is musing over the fact that “it’s strange that kyo can make me happy or sad with one word only”. Subtly indicating that tohru is replacing her mom with kyo as part of growing up from the child she was to the woman she will be.

Tohru calling kyo “mysterious”, subtly explains that tohru is in the uncertain phase of understanding her feelings as a woman & hence, pave the path for upcoming trauma exploration & psychological depth.

The entire scene in the manga is depicted to convey different layers: romance, upcoming growth, & unexplored traumatic issues of abandonment, grief, & human weakness. “ Accepting human Weakness & change” IS the manga’s vision.

In the anime, the fractured picture worked simply becuz no issues of any traumatic experiences with tohru were ever hinted. Nothing abt tohru being a young woman moving away from a traumatic childhood was ever implied beside the weakly sharply cut & forgotten few scenes of her mysteriously going “ im okay” while remembering her dad’s shrine. Was there ever anything abt replacing her mom with kyo? Nope!. Was there anything abt tohru reluctance of loving kyo? Nope! to fix that, let’s shock the audience with empty photo frame! It’ll make the viewers confused & if we play the climax right & give tohru a tearjerker speech confronting akito, all is good. It worked in the anime as it served the purpose it was created for: shock value & drama. ppl bought it. But in the long run, it cemented tohru as the “savior angel” never the “ weak human”. But not many will have issues with that. Having yuki with his impressive story of growth & kyo with his shocking story of pain is enough to distract from the rest. The director must think: What does the audience want?

a woman who’d save the prince with her motherly care?“ Done!”.

a woman who’d love the monster? “ Done !”. 

a woman who has her own deep story? no one will miss that~ skip!

-Yuki’s next stage of growth: Friends:

I like how smoother the scene played here. Yes, yuki thinks back to his gratitude to tohru, but it plays subtly & more emphasis is on his friendship with kakeru. No added scene of him waving back to tohru after kakeru which brought the focus back to mom-tohru again. No. Here is way less shoved in your throat. Yuki says how he felt in the moment, moved on to the next stage, thought abt his life & choives, moved on to school. Clear lines that makes yuki more dynamic & way less “ living in his head” character.

Side Notes:

The manga’s art is pretty but expressive! I was afraid it’ll have that weird eyes bigger than the moon & too much sparkles & bubbles like the usual old shojo manga art!

Yuki is way more expressive than the anime & less pretty & sparkly! I welcome this with flowers & songs! lol.

Tohru has “low” pigtails instead of the child-like high pigtails! YES! it is crazy that this trivial change adds so much to tohru’s presentation to the viewers’ eyes. In real life no big deal but in an artistic medium such choices send subliminal messages to viewers minds, that’s why artists spend a lot of time choosing their characters default appearance. It means a lot for the character’s overall path & sends messages. High child-like pigtails: make her look like innocent & naive child since viewers usually associate such hair do with children & toddlers. Low pigtails: are cute girly style that we associate with teenagers & young adult women, it’s practical & cute.

Kyo’s looks as youthful & handsome as the anime but less angry, annoyed & more versatile in his expression! It always bothered me that the anime just go with kyo’s default frowned face, hands in pocket looks unless he should express a key emotion. Also, kyo without an undershirt in his uniform! interesting change from the anime.

I missed kyo’s two buddies! T_T. Why they weren’t in the anime’s finale.. could’ve at least put them in the underwhelming graduation ceremony ~

I really appreciate that yuki’s fanclub are one page, less annoying.

That awkward moment when a manga panel drawn by one person can depict a crowded city more than an anime with a huge team. Like the anime didn’t even need to zoom out for a huge wide shot that showcase its weakness in depicting a crowded city. If you can’t draw that, just zoom in to lessen the effect of emptiness. kyoto isn't a deserted area especially not during a school trip!

The teachers checking on the sneaking vs sleeping students scene is a welcoming sight! XDDD

Hana met kakeru before? saw him & tohru together? weird!!

Kakeru is more focused on tohru here.

I really love the photos taken for everybody. It indicates real good time! Hana eating, yuki around girls, arisa annoyed, kyo teased with playing card: did the play “rich man poor man” again? XD

I’m starting to love yuki more in the manga than the anime!

Kyo having short inner thought abt not being able to tell tohru a girl confessed to him & deciding to say “ none of ur business” is doing wonders to the scene!!! it makes him less mean to tohru & more balanced character. I mean I guessed so in the anime, but what could've prevented making the VA say this short line of inner thought?! Yuki’s VA says essays & essays in nearly every ep abt nearly every character?!.

I liked the way kyo held tohru’s hands when he turned to her, the way he held her hand in the anime is a bit weird. lol. Also, in this scene, tender gentle kyo is so well-done both in the anime & manga. The manga wins for the zoom in & focus on emotions, tho.

Next is chapter 90!

[softkuna]

𝚁𝙴𝙽𝚃-𝙰-𝙱𝙾𝚈𝙵𝚁𝙸𝙴𝙽𝙳 | meian shugo

𝚆𝚎𝚕𝚌𝚘𝚖𝚎 𝚝𝚘 𝚁𝙴𝙽𝚃-𝙰-𝙱𝙾𝚈𝙵𝚁𝙸𝙴𝙽𝙳! 𝙴𝚗𝚓𝚘𝚢 𝚢𝚘𝚞𝚛 𝚍𝚊𝚝𝚎 𝚠𝚒𝚝𝚑... 𝙼𝙴𝙸𝙰𝙽 𝚂𝙷𝚄𝙶𝙾

Meian settled into a Jeep Wrangler Rubicon that he rented from some fancy schmancy place. His date would be waiting for him not too far from that point. From her profile photos, she was cute. Small from what it seemed, but when you’re 6’5” most people were small. The profile was very obviously not written by herself seeing as most the answers included “my friend likes…”

He pulled up the map and sent an ETA through the app. He rolled the window down, letting an arm fold out while his hand remained on the wheel. Driving was his serenity and it was a damn shame he couldn’t drive as often as he wanted to. He was a humble man, not one to brag about his garage of cars. Not one to talk about how he liked to fix’em up.

It took all of 15 minutes to reach the meet up point. He saw you, but your head was down in your phone, hand along your neck and fingers tapping at the skin. He was supposed to be your boyfriend for the day. He had a date or two already to which he was tipped generously for his time. It was a natural thing for him. He was a relationship type of guy. He was always more on the natural air of things, confidence coming with age. With a face like his and a career like his, it could only grow with each person who approached him.

But for some reason, seeing you look so nervous while waiting for him made him want to not lay it on so heavy. Others he laid it thick with the ‘doll face,’ ‘pup’, ‘sugar’. (One date he didn’t even need to leave his room. It was a zoom call where he had his camera off. She had told him ‘I want you to piss my parents off.’ )

You looked up to see your date for the evening, Meian Shugo. He was in a black Jeep, high off the ground. His smile was broad, confident, gleaming. All the confidence you had built up from Shoyo had suddenly vanished. You thought you’d do so well this time but the butterflies swarmed in your stomach so violently you feared their wings would cut through your stomach.

There was a moment of silence, both of you staring at each other until he barked a laugh and hopped out of the car. Oh lord he was huge. Massive. You resisted every fiber of your being that wanted to ask him about the weather.

Meian placed a hand gently between your shoulder blades, guiding you to the opened passenger side door, “I don’t bite… much.” With a wink, he closed your door and sat on his own side.

“I-is this your car?” Your stammering was adorable.

“Nah,” he waved a large hand, “Rented it. I do own one like it back home.” He gestured a thumb behind him, pointing to a figurative ‘home.’ You nodded once and fluttered fingers to your cheeks, covering the blush when you felt his eyes on you.

He blinked at your non-winter-weather outfit; light wash and high waisted denim shorts with a thick belt. They looked big, but he figured that was the style now’a days. You had on some cream colored spaghetti strap tank top that cropped just above the belt. And a dusty pink cardigan made of…

“Ey, hon, what’s this fabric? Mind if I-?” He pinched a little between his fingers, rubbing the material. It was soft. Really soft. Nothing like he’s seen before.

“Polyester? I think??” You pulled it off and looked at the tag, “Yep! It’s not mine though. It’s my friend’s. They likes to dress me up.”

“Aren’t ya cold?”

“A little, but we’re in a car so it’s no big deal.”

His arm hung out the window, pulling back in to shift gears here and there. You stared out to the horizon, stiff as a board. You weren’t the easiest to talk to at first, often muttering single worded responses.

You couldn’t help it. He was handsome as hell. Shoyo had a boyish charm to him, especially with how energetic he was, but Meian. He was a man. A sharp edge to him that definitely couldn’t be read as anything other than comfortable masculinity.

Snapping out of your daze, you perked. You were going across a bridge. A beautiful one at that. You could see the sun just above the ocean. Probably an hour or two before sunset. Both of your hands gripped the car window,  “Meian,” you called with a slight pitch in your voice, “this is gorgeous!” You beamed at him a tad over-excitedly.

His lazy smile broadened, “Figured you’d like it.” It did say in your profile that it was one of your favorite spots to be at.

Within another set of minutes, awkward silence melted into comfort. The car stopped in an empty parking lot. It wasn’t like there were many people at the beach around 4 PM on a winter weekday. Your eyes were glued on the man as you watched his hand shift the gear to park and suddenly you remembered his proposition.

You were learning how to drive a stick shift.

“Alright pup, gonna teach ya a new trick,” He reached underneath the seat, craning it back as far as it could go. Not like it was far considering how long those legs were. Nervously you unbuckled, leaning on the console to peer at the petals.

Your heart stopped and your lips pursed slightly. Meian took one look at your expression and bit back his laugh. You looked up to him with a crease in your brow, “Why are there three petals?”

Soon enough, you were in the driver’s seat and he was in the passenger side. You searched for the lever to pull the seat up and blushed when Meian reached under to show you. At this point, it wasn’t even that he was uncomfortable to be with. It was quite the opposite. He was relaxed and maybe a little teasing. If people were colors, he’d be a serene seafoam. No, what made you nervous was how attractive you found him and how he so perfectly acted out the role of boyfriend.

“Let’s start in first, ‘kay?”

You nodded, swallowing down your anxiety. Push out of your comfort zone. More like shove you out the comfort window.

“Remember which one’s the break?” Meian peered to your legs, foot hesitantly over what you thought was the break, “Good! Now what?”

“Emergency break?” Now it was your hand’s turn to hover.

“Atta girl!” He was impressed at your memory. Most people would’ve forgotten that step if they only drove automatic. When his eyes met yours he could swear to god he saw the sparks light up in them. So you’re a praise learner, huh?

You glanced down, moving your left foot to the clutch and pressed it down. While still on break, your hand slid onto the gear shift. You waited. Picking up on the subtle clue, the captain nodded, “Yep, go to first.” His right hand hooked to the handle by the window casually.

You shifted into first. Feeling his eyes on you, you wanted to show him that you remembered his mini lesson and peered at the dash to the RPM, watching it move up before slowly letting go of the clutch. Just like that, the car began rolling.

Meian’s palm smacked the roof of the car as he hollered, lop-sided lips tugging up. You bounced excitedly, eyes switching between the gear shift, the petals, and the RPM.

You switched gears successfully not once, but twice. Each time, Meian showered you in praise. Your heart fluttered and it made you want to do more. When you turned the wheel, he encouraged you to go to the road. Anxiety crept up in you and you felt your palms sweat on the leather. He leaned the seat back, “Nothin’ta worry about. You’re a natural. Just keep doin’ what you’re doin’ and you’ll be fine.”

“Are you sure?” Your voice wavered with giddiness and uncertainty. Should he really be trusting your novice driving skills like this? You seriously questioned his judgment calls.

He peered at you from the corner of his eye, taking in the laser focus you had on the road. Hell, you even stopped gnawing your lip like it was the last food to grace the earth. He crossed his arms and tilted his head back, deciding to close his eyes, “Sure as I can be, pup. Gotta question for ya.” You hummed, leaning forward slightly to view the empty road better. He continued, “How’d ya get so good at multitasking?”

You took a moment to answer, making sure to shift appropriately as you picked up speed, “I do a lot of art – pottery and all. Professionally.” You really couldn’t multitask as well as he thought you could, but you wanted to impress him, “It’s kind of like a pottery wheel with petal and speed and hand things. That’s the closest I can get, though. There isn’t a lot of multitasking in the other art things I do, really. Not like this.”

The Jackal’s captain fully looked at you in that moment, a small ‘huh’ leaving his lips. He took in the bit of clay that lodged itself under your bitten nails and the small stripe of white paint on your thighs from propping up a canvas before the edges dried. Meian never dated an artist before, but he wanted to now.

Comfort came after driving a few circles. Eventually you found yourself on a strip of road that extended far out. Meian remained laid back, eyes closed. He never fell asleep and instead listened to you sing along to songs that played on the radio (which was turned on after the third circle seeing as you were deemed ‘good ’nuff’ for the minor distraction).

 You occasionally chit chatted about this and that. You learned that he was an athlete – like your last date. He learned that you’re supporting yourself alone. Your parents didn’t exactly vibe with you being an artist and skipping university all together. You didn’t tell him you had a date with Shoyo, though. Just like he didn’t tell you that he was part of a professional team with Shoyo.

He felt comfortable. You felt comfortable. That’s when three things happened.

1.       You passed a 15 mph speed limit sign.

2.       You saw that you were going 65 mph.

3.       You felt Meian rest a warm palm on your thigh.

Now, in quite literally any other context, that would be a pleasant boyfriend-like thing to do. He was simply acting his part’. Surely, he did the same thing with other clients. However. That combined with the other two made your heart, lungs, and soul try to jump out of your corporeal form and into the next dimension.

First gear. First gear! First gear!

Whipping it into first, the car decided you were the bourgeoisie and it was the working class. It straight revolted, a loud clattering was accompanied by you scrambling around in a panic. Meian sprang up, but his torso was snapped back by the seatbelt’s safety. He unbuckled (like a moron) and kicked your foot out of the way from its spot to press and pull both available breaks.

You sat in silence, hands over your mouth and eyes wide. A choir of ‘oh shit’ sang in your mind, commemorating your funeral with their harmony.

It took some shuffling, but Meian went back to driver’s side. You stood next to the car by the shoulder of the road. A burning smell tickled your nose. Your date came out, hands on his hips and lips pursed to the side. Coming to you, he sighed, “Transmission or clutch went awol. Damn thing won’t start back up. Nothin’s leakin’.”

You sucked your lips in and resisted the urge to scream. Throwing up was one thing. Breaking a rental car was an entirely different one. You bowed, “Meian, I am so so sorry. I should’ve been paying attention and I-I-“

“Woah, woah, girlie, calm yourself. Don’t need’ta do any of this shit,” He bent at the waist, peering at your squinting eyes. His hand rested at the curve of your shoulder into your neck, thumb stroking calmly at the spots you had tapped at before he picked you up. The effort brought near immediate relief, but anxiety made you wonder if he was masking his anger for the sake of his job. When he smiled, you knew it was genuine, “I’m damn near 30. This isn’t even the most expensive car I’ve had this happen to. Don’t worry about a thing, pups. ‘Sides, I shoulda been watching you closer. Blame the teacher, not the student.”

The words were like warm lavender winds brushing away your damp and dead leaves. You offered to pay for the expenses, not daring to mention how it would clear out your savings. Meian waved a hand, “Nah. I got it. I make more than enough to cover this plus some.”

“Then why are you a rental boy-“

“-Help me push it, will ya?” He interrupted, not wanting to admit that it was because of a bet with his troublesome teammate.

You tried to put the car into neutral as per his instructions the best you could, jogging to the back to join him in pushing. You had to admit, the view of his arms working and him pushing a vehicle was a sight to behold. 

All the two of you did was push it to the side of the road, so no cars could hit it. You leaned on the rail protecting traffic from tipping off into the waters below while Meian called the company to explain what happened.

When he hung up, he went to put the phone in his pocket, but the sight of you stopped him. You sat on the rail, facing the ocean at sunset. The cardigan you wore slid just below your shoulders and the cool breeze tousled locks so gracefully. A ghosting feeling went through his fingers as they yearned to be the wind. He snapped a photo in landscape mode.

You turned, brushing hair back around your ear and smiled to him. He snapped another photo and you gestured to him to the spot next to you. He did, leaning his forearms on the cold metal, “Hope ya don’t mind.”

“That you took photos? I mean… I thought it was against the rules. Just ahh���. Hm. Send them to me through the app? Can you do that?”

“Think so, yeah. You looked good. Cold, but good,” The words were said as the photos were sent. You saved them with a bashful thanks.

“Since the date’s almost up, my friend’s coming to get me. Will you be okay?” You glanced down to him, leaning forward as you added pressure to the bar at your toes, keeping you from falling.

“I’ll be just fine. Gotta wait for a tow,” He paused and moved to wrap his arms around your waist and pull you to lean into him, “Makin’ me anxious leanin’ like that.” His husky laugh was whisked with ocean breeze. You followed, reveling in the warmth. He liked that you were comfortable enough to accept the gesture. It’s what boyfriends did, right? Even if they weren’t real. Even if reality settled wrong in his stomach.

“The ocean’s so pretty,” You’ve always admired how the waves soaked up the sun’s colors. Oil paintings you’ve made throughout your life a testament to that love.

Meian glanced at you, then the horizon, “Yeah, but I’ve seen better.”

“If I rent you again, take me to ‘better’,” You giggled, missing the look in his eyes and the meaning of his words. Your phone rang, “Oh! That’s my friend, they’re here now - across the street!” Head tilted back, you looked up to him, “Thank you for teaching me how to drive and I really am sorry about the car. I wish I knew how to help.”

“Not a problem, pups. Rate me good. That’s help enough.”

His arms felt empty when you left them.

He checked his phone and saw that once the time struck, the contact was erased automatically. Meian sighed, scrolling through the next few clients he had lined up - his last few dates, he decided. With good tips, he still had a good shot at the win, anyway.

“How’d this one go hot stuff? No throwing up?” There was nonchalant concern in the question. 

You sat back heavily, “No throwing up. I learned how to drive stick shift, though. Then broke the car..”

“You didn’t have to pay for that, right? Those cars are outrageously expensive, ‘specially from those rental places.”

“No, he said he made enough to cover it, weirdly enough.”

“Huh. Well that’s nice of him.,” You friend commented, “Wonder what he does.”

“Me too,” You thought about Shoyo and the up-scale restaurants he took you to, “Me too.” 

“Wait, didn’t he offer you a jacket? That was the whole purpose of the shorts! What a dick!”

Tag List: @flattykawadoorusmilkbread​ 

[organic-guacamole]

showtime

episode 211 let's go

ok first of all, this is the second to last episode guys... I don't even wanna think about how much pain I'll be in after next week's episode

mr mazzara doing the recap-

this is so weird to me and I don't know why

WHY DIDN'T YALL JUST ASK BENJAMIN FOR HELP, THATS LITERALLY HIS THING

is Nini giving out the cards a callback to season 1 when Natalie Bagley said that Nini gave her a card or something on opening night of another musical?

STEPHY AS THE ENCHANTRESS OMG YES

Ricky in the crown gives me Harry styles in that photoshoot vibes

he's so pretty.

ok but why did we never see Ricky and Ashlyn interact before? it's been like 5 seconds and I already love how they bounce off each other and it's just so natural

OH THEY REALLY DON'T HAVE ANY UNDERSTUDIES-

well that explains a lot...

so Ricky fell on top of Ashlyn and all that broke for both of them was their wrist-

insert Jake Peralta *coolcoolcoolcoolcoolcool no doubt no doubt no doubt*

of course howie was amazing as the beast, were we expecting anything less??

Ricky is so beautiful and I will not shut up about it....

let me enjoy this before the makeup crew slaps mud on his face.

Nini and Ricky talking to eachother? in a civil manner? wasn't she avoiding him just in the last episode? hm ok

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH THEY CANT EXPRESS THEIR FEELINGS JUST LIKE ME HAHAHAHAHA THIS IS HILARIOUS, WHATS NEXT? THEY CUT EVERYONE OFF CUZ THEY CANT HANDLE EMOTIONS? ...ha

yes Kaden and Rico, my favourite east high boys 🥰

I mean....where's EJ?

THERE HE IS

EJ AND GINA IN THE BACKGROUND... doing something idek

KOURTNEY'S MOM IS BACK YAY

Howie is a shining star, ofc ofc

the smallest fOrk

can't wait to see the fork burst into song about how she deserves more than to be used to eat salad😌

the duster and the bluster.... ok😃

hi Gina!

hi- oh wow I didn't know Robbie Rotten was in this show!!!!!

the portwell look.

that my friends, is a married couple's look✋

GOSH EJ WHAT DID THEY DO TO YOU

aww Gina's so excited for this

D word?

Die?

Delicious?

Dom Toretto?

"good, clean fun all alone with someone I dig...a lot"

sir that does not sound very clean to me

SEBLOS

Seb looks so cute standing there next to pope Carlos

DID THEYEY REALLY LIGHT ANTOINE ON FIRE-

I NEED TO SEE THAT

Seb's reading Carlos better than big red read the script in episode 102, this is great development after the "fight"

Kourtney really just made the best outfit for herself and let the rest of them suffer

the way Gina immediately goes to hold on to EJ after the announcement

"tonight we're going to put the U in UTAH"

...

"hey where are you from?"

"TAH"

SEB'S SINGULAR CLAP KILLED ME-

he's officially salt lake city's resident thanos

just wity clapping because for some reason I have a feeling he doesn't know how to snap his fingers...don't ask why

Ms Jenn do you mind encouraging your leads before the show? idk just an idea

pepto bismol product placement smhsmh

those flowers are bigger that big red himself-

*bops along to the opening theme*

that whistle at the end slaps everytime

WHY IS THE AUDIENCE SO MASSIVE

I guess they're all here to see Ms Jenn go on as a fork after Nini decides to *go her own way*

wow i am so funny

so they couldn't do many group scenes cuz of covid, but this 300 person crowd is cool? nice

OO THE VIOLIN GIRL FROM EPISODE 6 IS IN THE ORCHESTRA

HOWIEEEEEE

"Mr Caswell", he said, in the loudest voice possible while backstage at a show that's about to start.

Mazzara what are you trying to pull-

I usually like Benjamin but I don't like his tone

"iS yOuR wHoLe FaMiLy HeRe?" LIKE YOU DON'T ALREADY KNOW THATS A SOFT SPOT FOR EJ

"we've had some good conversations these past few weeks"

right so what's going to happen after you graduate?

what does he think of you not going to Duke?

what did he say about you giving the sweatshirt that's been in the family for 3 generations to a girl you're not even dating?

good old Mr. M

therapist Mr. Mazzara, they all need it.

start with Ricky though.

"Michael Bowen"

dude why did you shave, now you look less like "hot lumberjack" and more "creep at the gas station"

OH-

does she not like Mike anymore?

why does it sound like jennzzara started dating and now they just sit back and talk smack about everyone in their freetime

break the fourth wall-

uhhhh im scared

why am I scared

he's scary

hehe flowers for Ricky, obviously for Ricky, ObViOuSLY

oh boy poor Michael

this man is in love, rip

why does Ms Jenn always look at people with her eyes open so wide

LILYYYY

I'm only excited because I really like the idea of lily and Ricky being friends, nothing more.

ha this guy's got jokes

a MOAT AROUND THE SCHOOL

wheeze

also he's very pretty.

"the wolves and very talented humans"

how dare he forget to mention the very talented wolves and normal humans, smh erasure

"being nice, what a concept" ted talk by Lily who still doesn't have a last name

did she just say lol out loud

same with the hug emoji last episode-

go touch some grass babes

the way he didn't say no, but said he didn't know how the east high kids would react-

not saying he does want to date her but that's an interesting thing to think about, also another thing to write an essay analysis on just to leave it in my drafts for a few months

awww lily genuinely trying to help him

sorry guys, I've been taken by the Lily charm (didn't know it existed until now but oh well)

REMEMBER WHEN I SAID I'LL NEVER SHIP PORTWELL?

just look at me now

the Lily wink I can't she's so cute-

HELP ME I'M BEING HELD HOSTAGE BY LIL-

David Attenborough?

oh nvm it's Benjamin narrating the show in a really weird British accent for some reason.

STEPHY GOT MORE LINES YAY GOOD FOR HER

also is this to show that Nini doesn't care about being the star of the show anymore? the way she's supporting everyone else even though she's a fork?

I would pay for a special of the full musical ngl

OOO THE TRANSFORMATION WAS SMOOTH

shockingly

yo where did the makeup come from

man I wish I was a theatre kid

THIS IS STEPHY'S EPISODE NOW IDC✋

my girl is starring

"needs an X-factor"

Simon Cowbell creeps in

"it's a yes from me"

and them boom, he takes Nini and mistreats her horribly and then she comes back to theatre after deciding music isn't for her👍

"I thought she just hog-tied him?"

don't ask sebby, it's better if you don't know.

imagine they spotlight the wrong person and this dude is just some random person that likes writing down stuff during shows.

Ms Jenn just let them do what they rehearsed (at some point we never saw) or else this is gonna end horribly wrong

"help"

same Carlos, same

I love how seb is just his translator rn

I thought he said "great displeasure" instead of "greatest pleasure"....help?

big red coming out from throwing up to see his girlfriend star is the cutest thing in this show.

Ash and Gina dancing is so fun

I'm imagining them practicing at night at their home, watching the movie for the 100th time and making sure their one dance together is perfect

KOURTNEY YES

HOWIE IS IN LOVE AHHHH

I LOVE HOWIE SO MUCH

SEBBY

THIS SCENE HAS SO MUCH GOING ON I CAN'T KEEP UP

THIS IS SO GOOD

HOW???

no because I'm actually crying

I'm dead serious.

we need this musical released as a special

big red is so proud and I love to see it

Natalie: "if you do not by at least 20 dollars in concessions, you do not support art"

rando in the audience: "but I pay for ad free Spotify"

Mr Mazzara clapping in the distance

Gigi, the guy you like is talking to you, complimenting you and hyping you up

YOU LUCKY LITTLE FEATHER DUSTER

aw EJ teasing her about the chocolates in a way that doesn't make her feel bad? take notes Richard

JORDAN FISHER

there is no rest of the show idc Jordan is it for me

THE WIG CAP ON RICKY OMG

they look like they're high and having "deep" conversations on the floor

THE MEAN GIRL WITH THE EYES-

@sunshine-julie-molina YOU HEAR THAT

Natalie really just be coming for them all

Howie what is happening rn

I'm scared

"did you enjoy it"

"very much"

dude wants a kiss so bad

ASHLYN OMG

NO DON'T DO IT BECAUSE OF LILY, PUT YOUR OWN TWIST ON IT

I want a Jordan autograph please

just keep swim- oh pushing...

Gina is literally a giant next to him and I live for it

am I about to cry for the 3rd time in this episode?

yes.

Ricky's leg kicks under the table makes me so happy aw

the portwell glances will kill me.

ah yes, mashed potato snow

Mr. M.... I'm not a theatre kid but even I know you can't have your phone on backstage.

Howie please just do it

CHIP'S BIG LINE I CANT

I LITERALLY HAD TO PAUSE IT AMD SCREAM INTO MY MASK FOR A SOLID 2 MINUTES (I'm not at home rn) HES SO CUTE

oh ok bye Jordan

oo tea

NOT HIM BEING STARSTRUCK BECAUSE HE'S MEETING HIS FUTURE BROTHER IN LAW-

"we're all just glad Gigi has a big brother figure in her life"

excuse me for a few thousand hours while I laugh hysterically

THE CAMERA ZOOM ON EJS FACE AND EVERYTHING-

STOP EJ LOOKS LIKE HE'S GONNA CRY BUT I CAN'T TAKE HIM SERIOUSLY WITH THE STAGE MAKE-UP

someone else said this already but I think it's hilarious that they had to bring in 2 guest characters to create some portwell angst

omg this really is Cici's episode, found family is their thing

elevator music lol

I'm gonna bet that big red took the harness for his surprise for Ashlyn without realising what it was

did Ms. Jenn just....tell her most mentally unstable student....to commit suicide....on a disney show...was that....I'm very....well....what the actual-

oh and there she goes running off instead of trying to make it right

oh wow Nini's the hero, she's gonna save the show 🤩

😐

the judge is doing a sudoku

honestly if I went to the hsm show as well, I'd come prepared for this one too

Lily why are you looking like that-

I WAS JUST STARTING TO LIKE YOU DON'T MESS THIS UP

wow ok, there goes that.

omg

what if Howie was acting weird because he knew what Lily did and wanted to tell Kourtbut Lily threatened him so he was scared to-

anyways see y'all clowns next week when we all simultaneously lose all motivation for the week without Fridays to look forward to.

[regrettablewritings]

Fluff alphabet for Tadashi Hamada if you're stil writing for him, please. B, c,s w?

Indeed, I do still write for the lovely lad. Stuff is below the cut

B = Baby (Do they want a family? Why/Why not?):

Oh, most definitely. Tadashi is a very family-oriented man. Always has been, always will be. So it’s no surprise that he looks forward to the day he can start his own little branch of the Hamada family tree. We’ve already seen how he is with Hiro: He’s protective, he’s encouraging, he’s inspiring, he’s good at getting him to do things he may not want to do even if it’s for his own benefit -- imagine what wonders he could do if those traits were applied to a little mini-him or mini-you or mini-you-both!

Honestly, the subject goes more or less unspoken between you two because it’s kind of a given that Tadashi wants kids. You two would be taking a walk in the park or going to the mall and the moment a stroller passes by, he’s barely playing off how much he’s trying to crane his neck to gaze upon the chubby wonder resting inside. You can see the disappointment in his eyes when he fails. Some days when you’re just at the Lucky Cat trying to get some homework done, you’ll glance up and see him at a table with a baby at it, speaking all kinds of sweet words to them. You’ve seen his favorites playlist on Youtube -- it has a decade-old commercial for Legal Zoom on it. When you questioned why it was there in the first place, you had to witness your adoring boyfriend sheepishly admit that the baby in it was just too cute. And also he liked the pale purple walls and thought it’d make for good inspiration.

“Good inspiration for . . .?” you led, knowing exactly where it was headed. You watched at Tadashi’s eyes wandered and his cheeks and ears reddened.

“For . . . a nursery . . .” he responded. It was a mumble, but you heard everything you needed to know loud and clear.

Well, not everything, of course: You asked him what exactly he envisioned for the future.

He admitted he wasn’t exactly particular about whether he wanted a boy or a girl, let alone first or second -- he just knew he would like at least two children so neither one would be lonely. Corny and cheesy as it was, he would’ve preferred to live somewhere a little closer to the suburbs (“Hey, at least I don’t expect a white picket fence!” he justified). His reasoning being that he’d like a nice, quiet area in which many parks and libraries and schools can be accessible, and so any children of yours have room to grow. However, given the structure of the area, he knew that this was going to be a tough call for a multitude of reasons.

Bottom line, though, he’d be okay with living in the city if it meant he could still provide for you and your hypothetical kids the best he could. He just wants to make sure everyone is happy and healthy. But for now, he’s content with it just being the two of you . . . Emphasis on “for now.”

C = Cuddles (How do they cuddle?):

Usually with a prayer that Hiro doesn’t barge in. No, seriously: That bedroom of theirs offers only the most courteous of privacies by way of a tasteful but otherwise unpersuasive shoji. You want Hiro to see you guys trying to get cozy about as much as Hiro does -- which is not at all, given how he pretends to throw up every time he’s walked in on you two. And how he’s voiced his dislike of it.

Given that Tadashi is ever the caring brother and roommate, he can only get away with so many dry, “You don’t have to be here”s before he just feels bad about it. As a result, the two of you have actually had to create a cuddling schedule built with Hiro’s course times, your availability, and Tadashi’s availability in mind. And God forbid Hiro ever finds out about that schedule because all he needs is one more reason to call the both of you Ultra Nerds.

Worse-case scenario, you two get booted out and have to make do with the couch in the garage, cramped as it is. But you don’t mind: Usually, the reason you two are cuddling is because you’re so butt-tired from coursework that you need to relax and zonk out for a couple hours. Besides, for as lanky and more muscle-based as a guy like Tadashi is, his arm wrapped around you is unfairly warm and comforting. You’re bound to be conked out before you can even utter a complaint, or at the very least you’re way too relaxed to register the fact that you’re both awkwardly strewn about the furniture.

So if it had to be put in a different way (and less about worrying somebody might barge in), you supposed you could describe your cuddling as being the snug equivalent to how a college student eats, sleeps, or lives altogether: You both take what you can get when you can get it and try to enjoy it before it’s time to go to your next “adult obligation.”

S = Sad (How do they cheer themselves/others up?):

Tadashi is a pretty optimistic person so it’s actually hard to get him completely down, let alone long enough for him to actually require a pick-me-up bigger than a brief inner pep talk. Normally all he needs to do is have a quiet moment to himself, some time to cool down, maybe remind himself that things can and will get better. But in the odd moment where this isn’t enough, Tadashi will often turn to his interests.

However, don’t assume this means he’ll hunker down in his lab and focus on one of his projects: He’s long since learned that it’s best to not robotically engineer with sad or frustrated -- way too many power outages have occurred from that.

Instead, he turns to his other hobbies: Living with Aunt Cass means he’s been knowing how to bake for years, albeit the baked fruits of his labors don’t always come out prettily; depending on how free his schedule is (read: not very at all anymore), he may go find a location to go surfing; or he goes to a park to get, like, a cart crepe. Usually being outside in a sunny place (with plenty of puppies and babies around) zaps him back to normal.

Which leaves him with plenty of time to figure out how to cheer you up!

Given his nature, Tadashi has become a wiz at cheering others up. He’s just got this nearly contagious brightness about him. And even if you don’t find yourself as readily bright as he, don’t worry: He’s not afraid to pull old tried-and-trues on you. Being an older brother/almost fatherly figure has allowed him the perfect position to perfect his trade: That is, the art of being goofy for the sake of cheering up his loved ones. He will easily pick you up and jump around with you, hollering about how he’s going to “turn that frown upside-down” -- by actually holding you upside-down.

Not your cup of tea? Then be prepared to witness the most tragic case of Dad Dancing ever recorded in a man below the age of 30, complete with cheesy disco music. You will be forced to witness his arms flailing, head bopping, mouth performing what you had once heard being referred to as “The White Man’s Overbite”. You will beg that he stop “for the love of Mochi.” You will try to have your pleas be heard over the speaker blaring “Got to Be Real” by Cheryl Lynn, only to be further drowned out by your boyfriend’s tone-deaf singing.

But the man will not stop: He must dance in your honor.

And once you’re done wiping away the tears left from cackling, he’ll treat you to some froyo.

If this still doesn’t work, there’s the slightest chance he might pull out the big guns: Tickling. It’s reserved strictly as a worst-case scenario, but he’s going to dance until his feet bleed if he can help it before he has to do that again. The last time he resorted to tickling a little too eagerly, it . . . didn’t end well.

W = Wedding (When, how, where do they propose?):

When? A balmy evening in May. How? With a bit of difficulty. Mind you, Tadashi is a generally organized man on the average day. But on the day he proposes to you – heck, the days leading up to it? He’s a bit of a mess. And it’s in no small part due to how incredibly involved his friends and family had tried to be the entire time.

Make no mistake, he’s very glad that he has such supportive loved ones. However, he found himself constantly fighting off a heart attack every time one of them treaded the line a little too closely for his comfort. (Sure, there’s little suspicion in Honey gushing over wedding magazines with you or Aunt Cass asking you to sample a “brand new wedding cake flavor” she was planning to use for some pastries, but Wasabi asking about your ring size and Fred talking about how kaiju costumes were better than tuxes until GoGo had to slam him down really wasn’t exactly inconspicuous.)

Hiro might’ve been the closest thing to normal throughout it all, much to the elder Hamada brother’s surprise. But even then, he was more of less gesturing for Tadashi to just go ahead and pop the question – albeit, at the most inopportune times in the latter’s honest opinion.

“I can’t propose to my girlfriend in the campus library!” Tadashi rejected Monday.

“There’s nothing romantic about being in the middle of a pizzeria and going, ‘Hey, will you marry me?’” he scoffed on Wednesday.

“Hiro, if you ever propose to somebody in front of a mall fountain, then I’ve failed you,” came his dry response Saturday. He knew his younger brother meant no harm by applying the lightest of pressures; he just wanted all the anxieties over with! But this was you Tadashi was proposing to: You deserved only the best. Only the most heartfelt . . . Which was why, in the end, the where of it all was the Lucky Cat Café. Was it the fanciest establishment he could have done it in? Not really. Thankfully, Aunt Cass was all too eager to oblige his request to have the café to yourselves one evening; it allowed him to properly decorate your favorite table with a tablecloth and a bouquet of your favorite flowers. It was admittedly a tad cheesy, but you certainly didn’t mind it.

But this was where Tadashi had grown up. It was where his family – the core of his being – was, where his friends congregated to relax. This was his home in so many ways and if he was to invite you into his family, he wanted it to be done here. Even if it meant Aunt Cass and Hiro were not too discreetly peeking out from the back. Or that the entire time Tadashi was trying to recite his proposal speech, he kept getting distracted by your friends, whose faces were mashed against a window behind you, waiting to bear witness to this milestone.

Suffice to say, it was a very group-oriented situation. But neither you nor Tadashi would have had anything less.

Thank you for your patience!

[artzychic27]

Reverstrator

‘This is perfect, astoundingly perfect.’, Lila thought to herself, hunched over her computer. For some time, she’s noticed her control over the class was wavering, and it was all because of those two idiots from the stupid art club- Nathaniel Kurtzberg and Marc Anciel. They had some nerve, getting into her minions friends heads and pointing out flaws in her lies. It wasn’t her fault people wanted to hear so many of her stories; she just had trouble keeping up with them sometimes! Lila gave them a chance like she gave Marinette. Either believe her lies and keep their friends, or become social pariahs... They always choose the second option.

So, she went around claiming that Nathaniel stole some of her drawings, Marc plagiarized some of her essays, and she even threw in a couple of lies about Marinette, saying she convinced the two boys to go against her. But what Lila didn’t account for was Alix. She never really believed her lies either. Apparently, the famous skateboarder Lila told her about was dead so that got the pink-haired girl suspicious. Whenever Lila tried to make Marc, Nathaniel, or Marinette look like the bad guys, Alix would step in and act like their self-righteous white knight. Well, she won’t look like the hero tomorrow, her and Adrien. When those idiots in her class turn against those two, Lila will be free to ruin the comic book duo’s reputation as she pleased, she’ll have Adrien all to herself, and Marinette gets to suffer. Win-win-win! ‘Damn it!’, Lila mentally cursed as she glared at her computer screen, ‘Undo... Undo...’

How is photoshop so easy for some people?! And how can they edit these crappy romantic pictures without gagging? Especially this photo she snapped of Marc and Nathaniel a couple of weeks ago while they were on one of their dates. ‘Ugh.’ Lila nearly threw up when she took the photo, and this was taking up way too much of her time. Fixing the lighting, finding the right photos of Adrien and Alix, it was so frustrating! But it’ll all be worth it tomorrow when she finally puts those losers in their place

And hopefully, Marc or Nathaniel will get akumatized. Sure, this would be a stupid reason, but people have gotten Akumatized for less. Hawkmoth was a great guy and the Italian admired his work, but Akumatizing a baby, and a man obsessed with pigeons like thirty times? If she had the Butterfly miraculous, she would at least give the Akuma a gun. Then Ladybug would finally perish and be out of her hideous sausage hair.

‘Focus! You can fantasize about her death later.’

—

“Geez, Nath. I haven’t seen you look this happy in a long time,” Alix said as she poked her redhead friend who had a dreamy look on his face with her pencil “So, what’d you and Marc do last night?” she asked with a smirk, making Nathaniel snap out of his daze and blush madly, “Alix!” He looked around the cafeteria to make sure no one heard that

She snickered, “I’m kidding! Come on, tell me what happened. Your date had to have been amazing if you’re all happy and stuff.”

This is one of the things Nathaniel loved about Alix; she was a great listener. Growing up, no one really paid attention to him. Ever since his dad left, his mom has been busy running the diner, he always blended in with the background so no one at school noticed him either. It sucked until he met his first real friends

His mom took him to the Louvre when she noticed his interest in art and while there, he met a brunette girl running all around the museum while a ten-year-old boy tried to catch her. She was loud, energetic, and immediately took a liking to the young boy. Over time, she was able to pull him out of his comfort zone and he listened to whatever he had to say.

Then he met three other girls when he was ten- One with black hair, one blond, and one bluenette. The four of them met at a fine and performing arts fair and were probably some of the youngest people there to enter each of their work in the fair contests. His painting of the Seine took third, which wasn’t too bad. First and second were high school students. The three girls immediately went to congratulate him and asked all sorts of questions (The black-haired girl didn’t talk as much, though) For once in his life, Nathaniel had friends. Friends who noticed him and listened.

“Well, it wasn’t much,” he answered with a smile, “We just got ice cream from Andre’s, went to this new museum that just opened up, went to the park.”

“Didn’t it rain a little yesterday?”, she asked

“Yeah,” he blushes, “I may have used my blazer to cover us up-”, off Alix’s snicker, he playfully slapped her arm, “Alix, come on!”

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry!”, she continued laughing while Nathaniel gave her an annoyed look, “Go on, continue. But if you say anything else like that, don’t expect me to keep a straight face.”

Nathaniel rolled his eyes, “So I used my blazer as an umbrella,” he rephrased, “and well, we were just so close, and... God, he looked cute in the rain. So, I just leaned in and kissed him.”

Alix sighed dramatically, “Ah, to be gay and in love.”

“Uh, I’m bi,” he corrected with his arms folded

“Yes, and I’m aroace, Rose and Jules are lesbians and Mari’s pan as hell. These are things we know.” she said as she leaned back into her chair and propping her feet up on the lunch table, relaxed before perking up and asking, “Did’ja give him the necklace?!”

Without saying a word, Nathaniel pulled out his phone and pulled up a picture of him and Marc kissing in the rain. Alix zooms in on the silver half-heart necklaces around their necks. She remembered how Nathaniel begged her to help him look for a gift he could give to Marc on their date. She helped him in exchange for a drawing of her performing some skating tricks. It took hours to find a gift; this is one of the reasons why Alix doesn’t date. Finally, they settled for a simple, but sweet silver heart necklace and Alix had never been so relieved to see jewelry before.

Alix couldn’t help but let out an out-of-character squeal at the sight of the picture. Her excitement turned to bitterness when she looked at something else that made her narrow her eyes “Where’s she going?”

Nathaniel follows her gaze and glared at the Italian girl leaving the cafeteria, “Don’t know. Maybe she’s just looking for more people to buy her lunch.”

“Or carry all of her stuff.”

“Or carry her.”

“Or build her a palanquin.”

“How about a monument made out of solid gold?”

At that last one, the two best friends laughed

“Lying skeeze,” she muttered, “I’m glad the others are sorta taking what she says with a grain of salt, but she’s still got them wrapped around her talons. Especially Bustier and Damocles.”

Nathaniel rolled his eyes at the mention of his teacher and principal, “Ugh, don’t get me started on those two. I almost got detention because Lie-la claimed that I stole her ‘masterpiece’. Thanks again for backing me up.”

Alix responded with a nod, “Yeah, but it’s bull that she didn’t even get in trouble. Claimed it was a problem with her long-term memory or some shit, and Bustier ate it up!”, she exclaimed, “God, we’re surrounded by idiots. How long do you think she’s gonna last?”

Nathaniel pondered before answering, “I give her one more week. She’s exposed by an Akuma who’s after her for lying about them or one of their friends.”

Alix nodded, “Three days. Truth akuma who just blasts people at random and she gets hit, so she’s forced to tell the truth. Put that in your comic”

Nathaniel reaches into his messenger bag and pulls out his sketchbook, “Maybe something like... Lady or Lord Justice?” He pulls out a pencil and begins sketching on a blank sheet

“Truth fairy?”

“Lie-on Tamer?”

Alix shook her head, “Now that just sounds like a bad pun.”

“Akumas have dumb names,” Nathaniel said with an eye roll, “If anything, this is better than what Hawkmoth comes up with.”, he gets back to work on the sketch

“... Can’t argue with you there, man.”

—

“Come o-o-o-on, Marc! Tell us everything!”, Aurore urged the shy writer as the group of four made their way to Mme. Mendelieve’s class

“Who made the first move?”, Julian asked, smirking

Marc blushed, “Guys, keep your voices down.”

Mireille squealed, “Sorry, but you can’t just go on a date and not expect people to be all excited and ask what happened! So tell us!”

Marc loved these three to death and loved them like they were his sisters and brother, but sometimes they got just a little too much for him. When he first announced that he and Nathaniel were dating, the three of them wouldn’t leave him alone for weeks and constantly asked questions whenever they went out together

“Well, went out for ice cream, went to a museum we both like, and spent the rest of the day at the park before it rained.” He smiled fondly at the memory, “Nath actually used his blazer to cover us up.”

“Aww!”, Aurore and Julian cooed while Mireille squealed, “So romantic! Please tell me you kissed in the rain!”

When Marc tried to hide the blush forming on his cheeks, that was a good enough answer for his grinning friends

Julian clasped his hands together and crouched a little lower, “Please, please tell me you have photos!”

Marc laughed at his friend and pulled out his phone, “I do.” He shows them the screen and Aurore immediately grabs the phone out of his hand. Mireille and Julien huddle around her, “Oh my God! It’s like a scene from a movie!”, Mireille exclaimed before squinting her eyes, “Wait... Are you wearing the necklace now?!”

“Necklace?”

“He gave you what?”

Marc knows there’s no hiding it from the people who were very invested in his love life now. He slips his hand under the collar of his shirt and pulls out the little half-heart charm connected to a simple white cord. Marc was once again bombarded by questions

“Guys, can we do this after class? We’re gonna be late.”

Aurore let out an exaggerated groan but complied, “You better be prepared for any question we throw at you, Rainbow.” She said his nickname teasingly as the four of them made their way to class, but stopped to look and see Lila walking out of the locker room

“How long is she gonna be here?”, Julien questioned, his tone laced with venom, “I can’t take another minute of, ‘Oh, but all of her stories are real,’ ‘Don’t be so mean,’ ‘Lila’s hurt, don’t put any more pressure on her,’ ugh! Marc, I’ll say it again, your boyfriend and cousin’s class is full of idiots.”

“Well, their hearts are in the right place, they’re just being taken advantage of.”

“It’s been like three months since she, ‘Returned from Achu,’” Aurore said with finger quotes, “How has that lying fox not been exposed yet? Everything she says is full of holes!”

“It’s because whenever someone tries to point out her lies, she’ll play the victim and get sympathy,” Mireille said, disgusted, “It’s honestly just sickening listening to her fake crying.”

“Here, here,” Julian said in agreement, “I cannot wait for a truth Akuma to appear and just make her reveal everything so her classmates and that teacher will finally stop kissing the ground she walks on.”

“That would make for a pretty good Akuma,” Marc commended

“Hell yeah, it would.”

—

‘One for the soulless redhead. And one for that... “boy.”‘, the Italian sneered as she slipped an envelope into the vent of Marc’s locker, ‘Let’s see if they’re still together after this. Once Alix is out of the picture and Adrien only has me to talk to, I’ll ruin those losers’ lives. They should know damn well than to cross Lila Diabla Rossi.’

--

Nathaniel felt like someone was burning holes in the back of his head... Or rather the side. Trying to be as inconspicuous as possible, he moved his bangs to the side, acting as if he was just scratching the side of his face, and saw Lila glaring at him before quickly looking to the front. ‘God, what’s her problem?”, he thought to himself. ‘Probably gonna spout out more bullshit about how I stole her work. Heh. Good luck you vursht-kherd ligner.’

The bell rang, ‘Finally. I get to see my Rainbow.’, Nathaniel thought as he gathered his books in his bag. He was about to grab his sketchbook, only for it to be snatched by Lila. ‘Great, now I have to disinfect it.’

“Oh, Nathaniel! I’m so sorry about what happened!”, she “apologized” in that over-the-top sweet voice. “I just have so many problems with my memory because while I was helping disabled children in America, I fell off of a ladder while trying to get their frisbee off the roof of one of their homes, and I hit my head.”

‘Maybe that isn’t a lie, because that would explain so much.’, “Okay, so can I have my sketchbook back?”, he asked in a bored tone

“And I draw Ladybug all the time because we are besties after all!”, she exclaimed

“Great, so my sketchbook?”, he holds out his hand

“And your little drawings look so much like mine, and I got concerned. I’m sure you understand, right?”

“Can I have my sketchbook back?”, He repeated, now very annoyed, and even more when Lila sent him a smirk she didn’t think he noticed. ‘This bitch is trying to make me lose my temper or something?’ Then she just started talking again

“I know how awful it is for an artist’s work to be stolen! I actually witnessed art-theft first-hand, so you get why I accused you of stealing what I thought was mine. I just didn’t want to believe that you would steal a fellow artist’s work.”

‘God, strike me now.’

“But if you stole it out of jealousy, I would completely understand.”

“... Excuse me?”

‘Got him.’ “Well, let’s face it. Your art style is a little overused and no offense, but, not very original. So, if you were jealous of my drawing style, then there are no hard feelings. You’re still an amazing artist. While I’ve studied and perfected my work over the years, you-”

“Oh meyn got! Zey shtil!”

The students who were packing away their materials and getting ready to head out turned their heads towards the redhead who was shouting furiously in Yiddish

“Ir zent nisht a farshiltn kinstler! An anoying, lignerish hur iz vos ir zent!”

Alix, who actually understood a little of what Nathaniel was saying, tried not to snicker

“Aun gebn mir meyn sketshbook, ir vursht-kherd tokhes!” At that last sentence, Nathaniel snatched the sketchbook out of her hands, then he looked around and saw the shocked or confused looks on his classmates' and teacher’s faces. He ducked his head down, trying to look as small as possible right now

Breaking the silence was Alya, “What did you say?”

“It... It was...” Nathaniel stammered and his face turned as red as his hair.

Max turned to the little robot hovering beside him, “Markov, can you translate what Nathaniel just said?”

“Certainly, Max,” a little pixelated hourglass appeared the screen on the little robot’s face before disappearing with a little ‘PING!’, “Oh my.”

“Oh, what did he say?”, Lila asked as innocently as possible.

“I’m not comfortable repeating the last two, but he did tell you to shut up, and that you have sausage hair.”

“Oh, crap,” Nathaniel muttered

Lila started rubbing her eyes to make it look like she’s crying right now. “Nathaniel, how could you be so rude?! I was only trying to help you!”, Alya and Mylene went over to console her, not noticing the smirk on her face. The classmates that were on Lila’s side sent the redhead glares and disappointed looks

Mme. Bustier frowned, “Nathaniel, go to the principal’s office, now!”, before Nathaniel could respond, Marinette spoke, “You can’t do that. It’s the end of the day, so you can’t tell Nathaniel what to do,” she sent her enabler of a teacher a sneer

“W-well, I-”

“Check the rule book!”, Alix snapped, “Students are out of teachers’ jurisdiction as soon as school hours are over. So, you can’t send him to detention.”

“But he called me horrible things!”, Lila wailed

“Well, it’s not his fault,” Juleka whispered, but everyone heard and turned their heads toward her, “... He has bipolar disorder, and sometimes he just... Yeah.” Rose takes over for her, “And you did take his sketchbook, Lila. I saw you snatch it off the table before he could grab it.”

“W... Well, I just wanted to see it!” She claimed

“Doesn’t give you the right to snatch it,” Nathaniel murmured. Marinette walked over and took his hand, “Let’s go.” The five art club students made their way to the door, but Mme. Bustier called out, “Hold on! Nathaniel still needs to be punished for using such language in class!”

Alix rolled her eyes, “Did anyone in the class, besides Markov, understand what he said?”, all she got in response were head shakes and some muttering, “Did anyone hear any curse words?”, once again, head shakes. She turned to Mme. Bustier and shrugged, “As long as he doesn’t say it in French, I don’t really think you can punish him. He said it in a language none of us knew, so you can’t really punish him for cursing in class.”

Bustier’s face turned red in embarrassment. A student just corrected her in front of her own class. Before she could say more, the five of them were gone.

—

“Nath, that mouth!”, Alix cackled, “That was priceless!”

Marinette smiled, “I wish I knew more Chinese so I can cuss Lila out in class. The only curse word I know is húndàn.”

Nathaniel blushed, “Thanks for helping me out back there, you guys.”

“Of course, Nath!” Rose hugged him, “Lila stole your sketchbook, you had every right to be upset.” Juleka nodded in agreement

Nathaniel smiled before he realized something, “I left my colored pencils in my locker.” He reluctantly pulled away from Rose’s legendary hug and ran to the locker room, “I’ll catch up with you guys later!”

Once Nathaniel walked into the locker room, he made his way down the row of lockers until he got this. Right between Alix and Nino’s lockers. He put in the combination on the purple lock he brought from home since the school has terrible security. After Marinette’s near expulsion, some of the students bought locks for their easy-to-open lockers so no one could frame them for theft. Damocles tried to stop them from doing this but he was severely outnumbered, and the fact that some of the students had lawyers for parents who could sue the school for not protecting their children’s items made him concede

Once his locker door was open, an envelope fell out as he went to reach for his pencil face. Furrowing his brow, Nathaniel picked up the mysterious envelope he didn’t remember being in his locker. ‘Maybe it’s my report card?... But it’s the middle of the quarter.’, he thought, ‘And why would they put it in my locker?’ With a shrug, Nathaniel opened the envelope and pulled out a folded sheet of paper. He unfolded the paper, and his eyes widened in shock. His jaw hung open, his hands were shaking, and his breathing became unsteady

In his hands was a photo of Marc and Adrien, but not just any photo. It looked like someone took a photo from a distance, but you could make out every detail. The two of them were sitting on a bench in the park, hand in hand, bodies pressed together, and kissing. Nathaniel wanted to cry, to punch Adrien, to throw up. He looked over the picture even though his brain told him not to, but he had to look for something. Watermarks, any signs of smeared paint, anything!... Nothing.

“N-no... No... He wouldn’t... H-he...” He crumples the paper and throws it to the floor, then he makes his way over to the door. When he opens the door, he froze at the sight. Adrien and Marc were walking the stairs, talking. Adrien must’ve said something funny because Marc started laughing. “... Oh my God...” A tear streamed down his heartbroken face which contorted into a scowl. Not able to take another second of this, Nathaniel charged out of the lockers room and ran to the doors, bumping into people along the way, but he didn’t care. He just needed to leave.

__

Marc laughed, “Oh my God! He really cursed Lila out in Yiddish?”

“Yeah, it was pretty funny,” Adrien chuckled, “If I knew we could do that, I would’ve cursed Lila out weeks ago. But yeah, if he seems a little off in art club, it’s because of Lila.”

“Thanks again, Adrien,” Marc smiled

“No problem. I’ll see you around Marc.”, and he left

Marc still couldn’t believe his sweet boyfriend cursed someone out. But, it was Lila, so he could understand that. He made his way into the locker room and walked over to his locker. He pulled a silver key out of his pocket and uses it on the lock he bought for his locker. Marc’s always been a little protective of his stuff, but after what happened with Marinette and... Her... He and most of the students took action and bought locks for their lockers.

As he opened his locker, he noticed a crumpled ball of paper on the floor. Before Marc could go to pick it up, out of peripheral vision, he saw an envelope fall out of his locker and land on the floor. Marc picked up the envelope he didn’t remember being in his locker before and looked over it to see if anyone write anything like their name. With a shrug, Marc opened the envelope and found a folded piece of paper. With some hesitation, thinking it might be something bad like a photo of something gory or inappropriate, he pulled it out and slowly unfolded it... It was worse.

His widened green eyes scanned over the photo of Nathaniel and Alix, holding hands as they kissed on a bench in the park. He dropped the photo and sat on one of the benches, looking pale and shaking. Then he brought his gloved hands to his face and started crying. “What did I do wrong?”, he asked himself

__

“Anger, despair. Both caused by an untrustworthy partner, and those who turned out to be false friends. So hard to pick.” Hawkmoth beckoned a butterfly that landed in the palm of his hand. Once covered by his other hand, the butterfly was consumed by dark magic and turned black. Hawkmoth released the Akuma, and it fluttered away, “Fly away my little Akuma, go towards the one who feels the most pain!”

__

The akuma fluttered over to the school and found its target. Sitting on the steps of the school with his head tucked into his knees was Nathaniel. And while he could sense Marc’s sadness, Nathaniel’s feelings of rage and betrayal were too good to pass up. So, it dived down and flew into the half heart necklace turning it black. He looked up, revealing the Akuma symbol over his face

__

Once Hawkmoth felt Nathaniel’s emotions, he smirked, “Welcome back Evillustrator. I can assure you, you’ll have your reven-”, Hawkmoth stopped mid-sentence, a look of confusion on his face, “What’s this?”

__

Marc lifted his head up from his hands, revealing an Akuma symbol over his tear-stained face. And his necklace was now pitch black

Hawkmoth rubbed his temples, obviously overwhelmed by the emotions these two boys were feeling. Anger, sadness, betrayal, disbelief, “Well, there’s no need to choose now. Reverstrator, I am Hawkmoth. With my help, you won’t be separated from the one you love again, no one will come between you. All I ask in return is that you bring me Ladybug and Chat Noir’s Miraculous.”

“Yes, Hawkmoth,” they say in unison. Once the Akuma symbols disappear, the purple and black mist bubbled up from their necklaces and surrounded them. The purple mist that covered Nathaniel went towards the front doors of the school, phased through, and made its way through the courtyard, startling a few students, then it went into the locker room and combined with the mist that covered Marc

The mist lifted up revealing a tall akuma, around Kim’s height, who looks like a fusion of Evillustrator and Reverser. The left side of his face is purple while the left is black, and his lipstick, while the same colors are inverted. The left side of his short-sleeved hoodie is white with black slanted stripes, the hood is black, he has black sleeves with white stripes under the hoodie, and he has white fingerless gloves which reveal black fingers. The other side is inverted. On the front of his hoodie is a black and white circle with the primary colors on it, but one is half yellow and half black. His pants are half black and white, he has a black boot on his right foot and red on his left. His hair is similar to Evillustrator’s but is more downward, the purple tips at the end are now black and white, and he has a black beret. Two noticeable traits about this Akuma is that he has two forearms on each upper arm, and he has four eyes, but two are closed at the moment while the top eyes, which are turquoise, are narrowed.

“I’m coming for you, Agreste.” He summoned Evillustrator’s tablet and pen in his hands

__

“Man, why isn’t Nath texting back?”, Alix questioned as she continued texting Nathaniel for the sixth time, “He’s been gone for like five minutes.”

“Yeah, and Marc isn’t here either.”, Marinette said, “You think they got... Sidetracked?”

Rose giggled, “Maybe.”

M. Haberkorn intervened, an amused smile on his face, “Now let’s not assume anything. They’re probably helping each other look for something.”

“Yeah, I’ll bet.”, Juleka said, a hint of playfulness in her monotone voice

Alix shook her head amusedly, “Alright, they get three more minutes, then we gotta go looking for them.” The three other girls nodded in agreement before they heard some screams coming from the courtyard, “Must be another Akuma.”, Alix said. The students and the teacher peaked out of the window and saw the Akuma running rampant around the courtyard

“WHERE IS HE?! WHERE’S ADRIEN AGRESTE?!”

“Who’s that?”, Juleka asked, shocked at the appearance of the enraged Akuma

“Damn, Hawkmoth,” Alix whispered, “you’ve made some weird-looking ones, but this one is just... God.”

“And why does he have Evillustrator’s tablet?”, Marinette piped up when she noticed the familiar Akuma weapon on one of the arms, and in the akuma’s hand was the drawing pen. She took a closer look at the Akuma and noticed a necklace with a heart charm around his neck. The more Marinette took in his appearance, the more she noticed how similar it looked to Evillustrator and Reverser, “Guys, I think that’s Marc and Nathaniel!”

The four looked at her in bewilderment before she urged for them to take a closer look at the Akuma. “It is them!”, Rose exclaimed

“They’re fused like Oblivio,” Juleka said, “How did this happen?”

M. Haberkorn shook his head solemnly, “I don’t know. But the four you need to get out of here before someone gets hurt.” As if proving his point, a loud crash was heard followed by more screaming. “Wait until I say it’s safe.” The four of them nodded. He made his way over to the door and carefully opened it. Peaking his head out, he saw the Akuma was erasing walls to classrooms, trying to find Adrien. His back was turned to the art classroom. “Alright, hurry out,” he whispered

They nodded and quickly ran out of the classroom; M. Haberkorn went to help any of the other students evacuate. Alix, Marinette, Juleka, and Rose ran through the crowd of panicking students, but Marinette stopped suddenly and ran in the direction of the locker rooms while Alix, Juleka, and Rose made it out

She opened her purse, allowing Tikki to fly out, “How do you think this happened?”, Marinette asked the tiny goddess, “I don’t know, but this Akuma is a combination of Reverser and Evillustrator, so you need to be careful. You remember how they were last time.”

Marinette nodded at the memory. Marc and Nathaniel were reckless, hostile, and apathetic as Akumas. Nathaniel almost killed Chloe with a buzz saw, and Marc nearly caused a meteor shower that could’ve destroyed Paris. Fused together, there was no telling what destruction they could cause. Before Marinette could say the phrase and transform, she noticed a crumpled piece of paper on the floor. Curious, she picked it up and opened it, revealing the photo of Marc and Adrien kissing

“What the?”, she whispered. Tikki’s eyes widened, “Well that answers Nathaniel’s akumatization, but what about Marc?” Marinette shrugged, but then noticed a piece of paper by the bench. She picked it up and saw that it was a photo of Nathaniel and Alix kissing. “There’s no way these are real. Marc and Nathaniel would never cheat on each other, Alix is Nathaniel’s best friend, she’s aromantic, and Adrien’s dating Kagami!”, she narrowed her eyes at the fake photos, “Someone must have wanted this to happen, t-to get them to break up, or maybe even deliberately try to get them Akumatized.”

“Well, you can figure this out later!”, Tikki told her chosen

“You’re right.”

TIKKI, SPOTS ON!

__

“He’s obviously not here, you jerk!”, a voice that sounded a lot like Reverser’s exclaimed

“Shut up, shut up, SHUT UP!”, Reverstrator shouted, “Fine. I’ll go look somewhere else.”

“NO! We’re going after Alix first! You let her get away!”

“What’s your deal with her?”, he growled, “She didn’t do anything!”

“Neither did Adrien!”

“Oh, of course, you take his side!”, Reverstrator exclaimed as he drew a boxing glove that punched the front doors open. Before he could walk out, Ladybug’s yoyo wrapped around his waist and flung him into a wall, “Oh, great. You’re here.”

Ladybug retracted her yoyo and spun it, preparing to use it as a shield, “The feeling is mutual! Marc, Nathaniel, whatever happened-”

“DON’T SAY HIS NAME! I DON’T WANT TO HEAR IT RIGHT NOW!”, he shouted, then drew seven swords, all aimed at Ladybug

From her hiding spot under the stairs, Lila watched the scene unfold with a twisted, unsettling, sadistic grin on her face. “Come on, do it!”, she whispered

Ladybug dodged each sword, quick and easy. They embedded themselves into the courtyard floor and formed small cracks. Lila stomped her foot in frustration and cursed out the Akuma for his failure to kill the spotted heroine, “Stupid akumas can’t do anything right!” Caught up in her ranting, Lila doesn’t notice Aurore standing a few feet away, but still in earshot, recording the battle and her. The blonde weather girl looked appalled.

“HOLD STILL, YOU PEST!”, Reverstrator was becoming angrier and angrier every time Ladybug dodged his drawn weapons. Swords and axes? Avoided and embedded into the ground. Missiles? Uses her yoyo to fling each one into the sky so they don’t destroy Paris. Boxing glove? Jump over it and just let it fly through the holes in the school walls. As she prepared to dodge more attacks, Ladybug noticed Reverstrator holding his head, and it sounded like he was muttering to himself

“God, you suck at this.”

“Well, why don’t you try it if you’re so great at it?”

“Maybe I will!”

“Don’t you dare- AH!”

Reverstrator seemed to go limp above the waist for a moment and stops moving. Ladybug slowly approached him, but stopped when he suddenly straightened up, and she grimaced when a few bones made an audible crack. His turquoise eyes closed and two monochrome eyes below them open up. Evillustrator’s tablet and pen disappear and are replaced with four monochrome paper airplanes sitting in Reverstrator’s hands.

“Let’s try this again! Your powers are useless now! REVERSION!”, Reverstrator hurled the four paper airplanes at Ladybug who acted quickly and shielded herself with her yoyo, blocking each one, “Are you KIDDING ME?!”

“Not so easy, is it?” Evillustrator’s voice snarked

“Shut it!”, Reverstrator yelled to the voice in his head as the glowing Akuma symbol appeared over his face

“Reverstrator, focus!”, Hawkmoth yelled, “I want my Miraculous!”

“Forget this!”

“No!”

Reverstrator’s body convulsed a bit, and as the monochrome eyes closed, the turquoise ones opened, “I’m going after Adrien,” Evillustrator's said, speaking through Reverstrator. His tablet and pen reappeared, which he used to draw a ball and chain around Ladybug’s ankle, preventing her from moving

“Don’t go after the boy!” Hawkmoth commanded, now concerned for Adrien’s safety

“Give me one good reason why I shouldn’t,” Reverstrator snapped, “You don’t even care who lives or dies when you send out a damn Akuma every week!”

“Your prime objective is to take the Miraculous!”

“Sure. Right after I give that rich boy what he deserves!” He drew a jetpack on his back and took off. Ladybug wrapped the string of her yoyo around the anklet, and it snapped open due to the strength of the magic weapon. Before she could swing away, Ladybug noticed Lila glaring up towards where Reverstrator flew away. ‘Later,’ she thought to herself before swinging off after Reverstrator.

__

Adrien, Nathalie, and the Gorilla sit through some traffic. Nathalie scrolls through her tablet, “You have a piano lesson in two hours, then tomorrow after school, another photoshoot...”

Adrien just zones out as she drones on in her monotonous voice. Plagg pokes his head out of his pocket and gives him a bored look as he munches on a piece of cheese. Adrien feels himself dozing off when suddenly- “ADRIEN AGRESTE!”

Nathalie put a protective hand on Adrien’s shoulder and ushered for him to duck down. She looked out the window, seeing nothing but cars and a few people getting out of there to see what’s going on. It was quiet for a moment when suddenly, an arm penetrates the roof, making Adrien let out a yelp as the hand grabbed his head, two more burst through and grab his face. Nathalie reacts, hits the first arm with her tablet, making it recoil, and grabs the other two arms wrists, “Adrien, run!”

With a nod, Adrien bolted out of the car and ran down the sidewalk, catching a glimpse of the Akuma as he rounded a corner and made his way into an alley. Plagg flew out of his pocket, eyes widened, “Did you see that guy?!”

Adrien nodded, “Hawkmoth is officially twisted.”

PLAGG, CLAWS OUT!

__

Reverstrator finally releases himself from Nathalie’s grip and runs off to find Adrien, “WHERE ARE YOU?!”

“Lookin’ for me?!”, Chat Noir’s boot made contact with his stomach, sending him to the ground and knocking the wind out of him, “I know I’m no Adrien Agreste, but you gotta admit, I’m way better.”, he smirked

Reverstrator got back up, “That, we can agree on. Adrien Agreste is a backstabbing two-timer who steals people in relationships!”

“What are you talking about?!”

Chat Noir furrowed his brown in confusion, and he didn’t have time to react when a fire hose drawn by Reverstrator sprayed him with a powerful blast of water. Chat backed away, grabbed his baton, and spun it around so it acted like a shield, deflecting the blast

“Marc, Nathaniel! Stop!”, Ladybug yelled as she dropped in and wrapped her yoyo around Reverstrator

“Don’t call me that! I’m Reverstrator now!” Suddenly, his torso started rotating around rapidly, unwinding Ladybug’s yoyo. Chat surged towards him with his staff ready. Reverstrator grabbed the staff with one set of hands and used the other set to grab Chat Noir by his waist then fling him into the streets. Ladybug threw her yoyo at him, but he managed to catch it just an inch away from his head. Grabbing the string of his yoyo with all of his hands, Reverstrator kept a tight grip as he spun his torso around and then flung Ladybug right into Chat Noir when he abruptly let go of the yoyo

Reverstrator got out his pen and drew a hole on his tablet, then a second later, one appears beneath the heroes and they fall in, “See? That’s how you get rid of heroes!”

“...”

“Oh, silent treatment, huh?!”

“Reverstrator! Why didn’t you take their Miraculous before sending them into the hole?!”, Hawkmoth asked, enraged

Reverstrator rolled his eyes, “They can’t get out of there. I’ll come back for them later.” He leaped onto a roof and made his way to the Agreste mansion

__

“Oh, I hope Marinette’s okay,” Rose voiced her concern as she, Juleka, and Alix walked back into the school when they saw that Reverstrator was gone

Juleka places a hand on her shoulder, “Maybe she just got separated while we were running. I’m sure she’s okay.”

Alix agreed, “Yeah, she can take care of herself. Maybe she just hid in the locker room.” The three of them walk into the locker room and look around for the pigtailed girl, “Marinette?!” She called out, “Marinette?!”

Juleka knocks on a few lockers, “Marinette? You in here?”

Rose walks out of the bathroom and shakes her head, “I don’t think she’s in here.”

Alix furrowed her brow in confusion, “Okay, maybe she got swept up in a group. Jules, you might be right about her getting separated.” Juleka smiled at that

Rose sighed with relief and then sat down on the bench, “Well, that’s good.” She felt her foot brush up against something and looked down to see the photo face-down on the floor, “Hm?” She picked up the photo, flipped it over, and her eyes widened in shock, “... Alix? Could you take a look at this?” She hands the photo over to Alix. The pink-haired girl gave the photo an incredulous look, “WHAT THE HELL?!” She stomps over to Juleka who’s looking down at something in her hands, “Are you seeing this?! I did not kiss Nathaniel!... Jules?” Juleka shows her and Rose what she’s looking at.

Rose gasped, “That’s why Reverstrator is after Adrien!”

“So if Nathaniel saw this photo, then Marc must’ve seen the other one.” Juleka turns to Alix, “So Reverstrator might be after you next.”

“But I didn’t kiss Nath!” She exclaimed, “And Marc definitely didn’t kiss Adrien!” She takes the photo out of Juleka’s hand and examines both photos, “These had to have been photoshopped, o-or something!”

Rose notices something on one of the photos, “Hey, what’s that?” She points to an orange smudge in the corner of the photo of Alix and Nathaniel kissing, “Looks like nail polish.” Juleka smirks, “Or Nathaniel uses hair dye.”

“Wait.” Alix narrows her eyes at the nail polish stain, “There’s only one person in the whole class who wears orange nail polish.”

“LILA!”, Rose and Juleka said at the same time

Alix nodded, “It makes sense. They know she’s lying too, so of course, she’d pull this shit! We gotta tell them before they go after Adrien!” She’s about to head out of the locker room, but Juleka stops her by placing a hand on her shoulder, “But what about you?” “I’ll be fine. It’s Lila you should be worried about when they find out what she did.” After that, she stormed out of the locker room with Juleka and Rose behind her.

__

Ladybug and Chat Noir were still in the hole. Ladybug tried using her yoyo to get out, but there was nothing for it to wrap around outside the hole. Chat Noir then wrapped his arms around Ladybug and extended his staff so that they rose out of the hole

“Nice thinking, Chat.” Ladybug commended as Chat shortened his staff

Chat smiled, “Thank you, m’lady. Now let’s go!” He and Ladybug vaulted and swung away

__

Reverstrator landed on top of a roof and just stands there, “... Why can’t I move? What are you doing?!”

“We need to talk right now!”, Reverser’s voice shouted

“I don’t want to!”, he yelled back while covering his ears, hoping that will block out his voice

“Well, I’m not letting you go until we talk!... Please?”

Reverstrator sighed, “Fine.” The monochrome eyes slowly opened, and immediately a few tears pour out as Reverstrator has a conversation with himself

Reverser speaks through Reverstrator, “... Why would you do this? W-what did I do wrong? I... I love you and you just...” One of his right hands wipes away the tears. Evillustrator speaks through Reverstrator, “I could ask you the same thing. I-I don’t know why you’re mad, but you really hurt me.”

“How did I hurt you? You kissed Alix!”

“W-what?! I never kissed Alix!... Is this why you’re mad at her? You think we kissed?”

“... Yeah.”

“No! That never happened! And I saw the photo of you kissing Adrien!” The turquoise eyes start crying, “Then I saw you and him laughing. An-and I just-”

“Well, that’s only because he was telling me what you said to Lila in class! I-I would never cheat on you. I love you...”

“I’d never cheat on you either, and Alix would never hurt you like that.” Reverstrator’s right hands wipe away the tears forming in the monochrome eyes

“I’d never do something like that to you... But where did the photo come from?”

The turquoise eyes narrowed when they noticed Alix, Juleka, and Rose walking down the sidewalk, “Let’s find out.”

__

“When I see that girl tomorrow in class, I’m gonna-!”

Reverstrator dropped down right in front of the three girls, startling them and cutting off Alix’s rant, “ALIX!” Upon seeing the menacing glare he was giving their friend, Juleka and Rose shielded Alix from the Akuma

“You better explain why there’s a picture of you kissing Nathaniel!”, Reverser shouted through the Akuma and summoned two paper airplanes in the two left hands

Alix gently nudged Juleka and Rose out of the way and approached the Akuma, but the two girls held onto their friend’s arms for protection, “Nath, Marc...” Hearing Reverstrator let out a low growl, she corrected herself, “Reverstrator, those photos are fake! I never kissed Nathaniel, and Adrien never kissed Marc! We wouldn’t do that!”

Before Reverstrator could say anything, Juleka spoke, “Lila faked those photos. W-we found some of her nail polish smeared on the back of one of them

“That... That...”

“Lignerish shlang!”

Without saying another word, Reverstrator crushed the paper airplanes in his hands and ran off to find the lying Italian who nearly destroyed a beautiful relationship. Alix called out to him, but he was already gone, leaping over the city once again. A second later, Ladybug and Chat Noir land by them. “Are you okay?” Ladybug asked as she checks to see if Reverstrator hurt them in any way

Alix nodded, “Yeah, we’re fine. But it’s Lila that you gotta save.”

Ladybug tried not to show her disgust at the mention of the liar, but Chat Noir wasn’t holding back, “What’d she do now?” he asked bitterly

“’Now?’“ Rose parroted

Chat continued, “Yeah. This wouldn’t be the first time she’s pissed off an Akuma.”

“Chat,” Ladybug hissed, “Not now.” She turned back to Alix, “So what happened?”

“Lila photoshopped a photo so it would look like Marc kissed Adrien, and Nathaniel kissed me,” she explained. Off the heroes’ looks of disgust, she continued, “Yeah, and all because they knew that she was lying!”

Ladybug took a sharp inhale. That liar could ruin her life all she wanted, but rope her friends and cousin into this? There will be hell to pay, “Alright. I guess we have to save her again. The three of you better get to safety.” Then she and Chat swung and vaulted after the Akuma as the three girls just stood there

“We’re gonna see how this goes, aren’t we?” Juleka asked after a few seconds of silence

Alix nodded, “Hell, yeah!” She exclaimed as they began springing in the direction of Reverstrator and the heroes went, “Hey, if we’re lucky, Lila might be exposed in front of everyone.”

__

Lila was walking on air. Marc and Nathaniel were probably beating that pesky bug to a bloody pulp right now. She was a little miffed that they didn’t slice her open with one of those swords or reverse her powers so she’d be useless as always. And hopefully, when she fails, those two f*gs will become public enemy numbers one and two. She could spin a whole sob story about how they were jealous of her relationship with Ladybug and they’ll be banished from Paris. Maybe she could even throw in something about Marinette and those d*kes she hangs out with. They are close; maybe get the idea of them working for Hawkmoth into those idiots’ heads-

“So, what do you think of doing another interview tomorrow?”

‘Ugh. Remember your fanbase, remember your fanbase,’ Lila reminded herself every time she hung out with Alya, “Alya, that’d be wonderful! I’d love to!” She exclaimed, before quickly dropping her expression, “But I just hope I’ll be okay to do it tomorrow. I’m just so worried about my bestie getting hurt!”

Alya nodded, “Yeah, Reverstrator doesn’t seem like the type of Akuma to hold back. But, I’m sure she’ll be fine... Though, I wonder why Marc and Nathaniel got akumatized in the first place.”

Lila internally smirked, ‘Perfect,’ “You don’t think it was because of me, do you?”

Alya immediately went to comfort her, “Girl, I’m sure it was just something else. Maybe stressed out from their comic, or-”

“But we haven’t been on the best terms lately, and-” She choked back a sob, “I can’t help but feel that I’m the reason they were Akumatized... Or... Maybe they were jealous that I’m friends with Ladybug?”

Alya frowned, “Well then, that’s just not right. Once they go back to normal, we’re gonna confront them about this!”

“ROSSI!”

Parisians cleared the way as Reverstrator dropped down from above and landed in the middle of Pont des Arts. “It’s time to reveal every single one of your lies!” Four monochrome paper airplanes materialized in his hands, “REVERSION!”

Lila ducked out of the way as the planes came for her, and they instead hit a few pedestrians who started revealing everything they’ve lied about, “I-I didn’t do anything! Please, whatever happened, I can help you!” She whined while throwing in a few tears for good measure

“ENOUGH!” Evillustrator’s pen materialized in one of his left hands, and the tablet on his right arm. He began drawing, “You won’t try to tear us apart ever again!” A buzz-saw appeared beside him and spun its way towards the two girls. Not taking any chances, Lila grabbed Alya and put her in front of her like a shield

“LILA?!”, Alya screamed as she struggled to get out of her hold, “WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!” The more she struggled, the more Lila’s nails dug into her skin and she let out a pained scream

“Call it off! Erase it!”, “I’m doing it!” The buzz saw was erased from existence, and Alya was safe. Lila pushed Alya to the ground then ran away. Reverstrator was about to run after her, but when he saw the look of betrayal on Alya’s face, he said to her, “I’d start looking for new friends if I were you.” And he ran after Lila, leaving Alya horrified at what just happened

‘How could she do that?’ She thought to herself, ‘She used me as a human shield, I-I could have died. Why would she do this?... I thought we were friends.’

Rousing her from her thoughts was the sound of a notification from her phone. She wiped the tears streaming down her cheeks and checked her phone. She furrowed her brow as she read what was on her screen. Aurore had made a post on her blog, Bug & Cat Chat. She wasn’t a fan of the blonde girl having a blog that rivaled her own and stole most of her viewers, but she kept tabs to see what she posted and how she could make the Ladyblog better. ‘Ladybug’s Supposed Bestie Roots for Akuma?’

__

Lila ran as fast as she could down the streets of Paris, but Reverstrator was faster. She dodged every paper plane, every sword, dagger, and flaming arrow, shoving pedestrians out of her way and almost getting them hit in the process. When the attacks stopped, Lila stopped running and took a few breaths.

“Damn it, Hawkmoth,” she cursed under her breath, “Control your freaks.” This moment of peace was cut short by a scream. Lila looked back and saw a car being tossed into the air and heading right for her. She leaped out of the way as the car hit the ground

“Lie-La~” Reverstrator called out, “It would be easier for everyone here if you just gave yourself up!” He started lifting another car

Lila rubbed her eyes to make it look like she’s crying, “I didn’t do anything! Why are you after me?!” She looked through her hands and saw people in the vicinity giving her wary looks, ‘Why are none of these idiots helping me?! Can’t they see I’m in danger?!’

“Mommy! That’s the girl who put the Ladyblogger in danger!” A little boy shouted

Lila looked again and saw many of the citizens scowling at or backing away from her. Some were even looking down at their phones. When she listened closely, she could clearly make out Alya’s panicked voice coming from their phones

‘Who the hell recorded that?!’

“Aurore got a video of her rooting for the Akuma!”

“She wanted Ladybug dead!”

“I bet she’s working for Hawkmoth!”

Lila scowled, ‘That blonde b*mbo!’ She put her hands behind her back and pinched her wrists to make herself cry, “I-I’d never do that! I’d never put Ladybug in danger!” Another car was thrown her way, she ran with Reverser hot on her tail

“IT’S NO USE RUNNING, LILA! JUST GIVE YOURSELF UP! EVERYONE ALREADY KNOWS WHAT YOU’RE REALLY LIKE!”

Lila was about the round a corner, but Reverstrator grabbed her by the back of her jacket and held her up in the air, “It’s over! Now confess everything you’ve lied about!”

Even when her life was on the line, Lila would not own up to her lies, “I didn’t do anything wrong! I don’t know why you’re after me, but-”

“ENOUGH!” Evillustrator summoned a paper airplane, “You are now forced to tell the truth! Reversion- HEY!” He tried to yank his arm away as Ladybug’s yoyo wrapped around his wrist

“Reverstrator, stop!” Ladybug called out as she and Chat Noir arrived, “Everyone already knows that Lila is dangerous-”

“SHUT UP LADYBUG! NO ONE ASKED YOU SHIT!”, Lila screeched, making everyone gasp. Lila was about to say more, but one of Reverstrator’s other hands wrapped around her neck and she started choking, but then he dropped her to the ground when Ladybug yanked on her yoyo and flung him into the side of a building

Chat narrowed his eyes at Lila who had taken off running a while ago, “Better hurry before she causes more trouble.”

Ladybug nodded then called for her, “LUCKY CHARM!” What dropped in her hands was, “Another yoyo?”

Chat Noir extended his staff, “Better figure out how to use it quick; Reverstrator won’t go down so easy!”

Reverstrator started drawing again, and another buzz saw came spinning for them. Chat Noir jumped in front of Ladybug and yelled out, “CATACLYSM!” The buzz saw crumbled into black dust, and immediately, the heroes were barraged by arrows. And with his free hands, he threw paper airplanes at them. They take cover behind a flipped car. Not wanting to risk getting shot by an arrow or reversed, Ladybug used the mirror in her yoyo to find a way to use her lucky charm

Use your yoyo to deflect his attacks

Wrap both yoyo’s around Reverstrator’s arms

He has super strength, so you won’t be able to hold him down on your own

Tie the ends of the yoyos to the lamp posts; they’re bolted tight to the ground

Break the necklace, catch the Akuma

Ladybug turned to Chat Noir with a determined look, “Hey, Kitty? Ever use a yoyo before?” With a grin, Chat takes the lucky charm yoyo and extends his staff. Ladybug spins her yoyo; the two run out from behind the car and start deflecting Reverstrator’s planes and arrows. Once they got close enough, Ladybug wrapped her yoyo around Reverstrator’s left arms, and Chat wrapped the Lucky Charm yoyo around the right arms. They ran in opposite directions and tied the yoyos around lamp posts so he can’t get free.

“NO!” He growled with tears in his eyes, “You won’t separate us!”

Ladybug walked over, reached into the monochrome hoodie, and pulled out a black heart-shaped necklace. She threw it to the ground, making it shatter into many pieces so the Akuma would fly out. She quickly unwrapped her yoyo, “No more evil-doing for you little Akuma... Time to De-Evilize!” She caught the Akuma, “Gotcha!” Fluttering out from the yoyo was a pure white butterfly, “Bye-bye, little butterfly.”

Chat Noir tossed her the lucky charm yoyo. She tossed it into the air and yelled out, “MIRACULOUS LADYBUG!” The yoyo burst into millions of ladybugs. The swept around the city, fixing the school, getting rid of the weapons drawn by Reverstrator, removing the reversion curse of citizens who were hit by the paper airplanes, and finally, Reverstrator was washed over by a black and purple mist that lifted up and revealed Marc and Nathaniel passed out on the ground

Ladybug and Chat Noir did their signature fist-bump, “Pound it!”

“Ugh,” Nathaniel got up and rubbed his head, “What the hell...?” His eyes widened when he saw Marc on the ground, “Rainbow!” He rushed over to his boyfriend’s side, “Baby, are you okay?” Marc’s eyes fluttered open, and Nathaniel let out a relieved sigh, “Marc, I’m so sorry I thought you cheated on me, I- You’d never do that! I just-” “Nath...” “When I saw that photo, I just panicked!” “Nath!” Nathaniel was cut off by Marc throwing his arms around his neck and pulling him in for a kiss. “... I shouldn’t have jumped to conclusions either. Nath, I’m sorry.”

Ladybug and Chat Noir offered their hands and helped the two boys up, “I’m guessing you guys remember what happened.”

Nathaniel furrowed his brow, “I-I just remember seeing that photo of Marc kissing Adrien...” No one noticed the look of shock on Chat’s face, “Then I remember Alix mentioning...” His expression darkened, “...Lila.” Marc held his hand and kissed his cheek, “She’s sort of had out for us ever since we pointed out a few holes in her lies.”

“Well, don’t worry. I’m sure you won’t be seeing much of her anymore.” At the superheroine’s words, the two boys smiled. Suddenly, the distinct beeping of Ladybug and Chat’s miraculous’ were heard

“Well, we best be off,” Chat said as he extended his staff and vaulted away

Ladybug gave the two one last smile, “Bug out.” and she swung away

__

Hawkmoth threw his can to the ground, “NO! How could they have beaten Reverstrator? He should have unstoppable! Ladybug, I swear, I will have your Miraculous!”

__

Lila felt all eyes on her as she walked into Dupont. Normally she would preen at the attention she was receiving, but these looks were hate-filled. They all looked like they wanted her dead. Ignoring the glares, she put on a prideful demeanor as she strutted her way to class...

...Where she was met with even more death glares.

Alix stood from her seat, “You’ve got some fucking nerve coming back here, Rossi.”

She reared back, “Oh, Alix!” tears began to pour, “How could you say something like that?!”, she started sobbing into her hands but no one was buying her fake tears

Nino wrapped his arms protectively around Alya and glared at the Italian, “Just get lost, Lila. Everyone in Paris saw the shit you pulled.”

“I-I don’t know what-”

“YOU PUSHED ALYA IN FRONT OF A BUZZ SAW, YOU BITCH!” Marinette screamed as she stormed over towards the Italian, “You could have killed her!”

Lila backed away from the enraged pigtailed girl, “I-I was trying to push her out of the way, but my carpel tunnel acted up, and-”

“Cut the crap, Rossi!” Nathaniel yelled, “Marc and I almost killed Alya because of you!”

“It wasn’t my fault you two got akumatized!”

“IT WAS!” The entire room went silent when the redhead slammed his fist on the desk, “You photoshopped pictures of us cheating on each other, and that’s what got us akumatized!”

Lila forced tears out of her eyes, “I’d never do something like that!” she whined

Juleka spoke up, “We found your nail polish on one of the photos,” She held up the photo and pointed to the orange nail polish. Before Lila could retort, Marinette held up one of her hands, her nails were still painted the same shade of orange as the nail polish on the photo

“Th-that was just a coincidence! It’s a very popular color!”

Chloe laughed, “Newsflash, Rossi. Raw sienna looks good on no one. Especially not you.”

Adrien stood from his seat, “And I’m sure you can explain why there’s a video of you cheering for the Akuma,” he sent Nathaniel an apologetic look, “then saying Akuma’s can’t do anything right.”

The Italian went silent before, “Ow! My head hurts! See, while I was in Africa, I hit my head and-”

“That explains a lot,” Ivan muttered

“B-but guys, I’d never...” Seeing that no one was buying a single thing she said, she scowled, “Alright, fine! So I pushed her in front of me, so what?! Better her than me!” Marinette and Nino looked ready to strangle her. She points to Nathaniel, “And you and your f*ggot boyfriend should learn your place you k**e!”

The entire room gasped at the slur used against their friend

“Lila Rossi!” Everyone turned to see Mme. Bustier standing at the doorway, “Principal’s office, now!”

“B-but Mme. Bustier!” Lila stammered

“NOW!” She repeated, “I will not have that type of language used in my classroom!”

“But Nathaniel cursed me out yesterday!”

Mme. Bustier nodded, “Yes, but no one could understand him.” She shot the redhead an apologetic smile and he smiled back, “You on the other hand, we understood you loud and clear. I will not tolerate the use of derogatory terms in this class! Now go!” She points to the door. Defeated, Lila trudges out but not before she adds, “And I’ll be giving your mother a call as well.”

Mme. Bustier followed her out and slammed the door behind her, leaving the classroom in silence

“... Okay!” Kim yelled out, “No one’s saying it, so I will.” He approaches Marinette, “Mari, I-I’m sorry that I didn’t believe you. You’re one of the most honest people I know, and I just picked that... Cáo nói dối over my own sister.”

Marinette smiled and embraced Kim, “Thanks, Kimmy.” The athlete wrapped his arms around her, “Anytime, em gái.” The whole room started apologizing to the students who didn’t believe Lila’s stories and gathered for a group hug

Marinette hummed, “Guys, this is nice... But if you ever do this again, I will not hesitate to knock some sense into each and every one of you. And believe me. I will be very violent.”

Mylene chuckled nervously, “Noted.”

__

“Hey, Rainbow.” Marc looked up from his journal and saw Nathaniel standing by the stairs, “Hey.” Nathaniel went under the stairs and sat next to Marc before littering his face with kisses, making the black-haired boy blush

“What’s got you so happy?”

Nathaniel smirked, “Two things. First: Lila’s being arrested for possibly working with Hawkmoth,” off Marc’s incredulous look, he nodded, “Seriously! After that video Aurore posted, the police took her in for questioning.”

Marc tackled Nathaniel into a hug, “That’s amazing! So, what’s the second thing?” He gives Nathaniel a knowing look

“Well,” he takes Marc’s hand and kisses it, “Ever since we were fused together, I just... I’ve never felt closer to you. Even though we were Akumatized, it just felt amazing.”

Marc can’t help but blush, “Yeah. I-I know we were arguing most of the time, but I still loved being that close to you.” His smile dropped a little, “I could feel how upset you were. That also showed how much you really care about me.”

“Of course I do, Rainbow,” Nathaniel said as he caressed his cheek, “You’re the greatest thing that’s ever happened to me. I was prepared to murder Adrien because of that photo.”

“And I was going to throttle Alix...”

“... Not our best moment.” “No, not really.”

“But,” Nathaniel pulls his sketchbook out from his messenger bag, “It does give me a few ideas for our next comic.”

Marc shows Nathaniel the page he was working on, “Me too.”

[enthusiastic-nimrod]

Hey I'm Fred's fourth daddy anon! I sent that to you, and what felt like five minutes later you came in with that gorgeous sketch. Do you have any art tips or videos that have taught you cause I've been stuck draw trying to draw anything not resembling a lump for two years. Also yeah it was whirlwind episode, f*ck Rose, and Fred should have turned that loon in.

Hey FD Anon, thanks so much! I don’t draw a lot of “horror” art so I’m really happy with it’s progress so far!

While I do agree with you that Rose is The Worst, I think she added in an interesting dynamic and I’d be happy if she became a recurring character in the Scooby mythos at large. As for Fred not turning his dad in... I agree, but I also understand why he didn’t. 

The episode went out of it’s way to show off how frightening and weird he is but Fred made it very clear that when he wasn’t wearing the mask he was a good parent, and that all of his crimes were shown as nonviolent. He didn’t seem to steal anything (unless I missed that line?) he just liked messing with people by confusing them. 

As for art tips, I... honestly never expected anybody to ask for advice from me? That’s super flattering wow. 

Okay, so I’m still pretty much a novice, but lemme give you some of my best tips and tricks:

1) Notice how my last sketch had a grey background? This wasn’t just for that sketch, this is how I use ALL of my digital canvases. I do this because the grey causes less strain to my eyes, and allows me to work longer and more easily. Being so close to a screen, especially a blue or white one, can make it harder to work for long periods of time. 

2) If you want to do digital art, you need to learn “traditional art” (pencil and paper) first. It makes transitioning to digital more easy and it’s pretty much what any art teacher would recommend, for good reason. 

3) Using one method of art not only limits you, but stops you from learning other techniques which can be incorporated into what you typically prefer. Not only that, but you can also discover a medium you really love that you never would have thought of before!

4) Whenever you get the chance, work in black and white or monochrome. This is a great way to help yourself learn about values and intensity, and just looks cool in general. 

5) Piggybacking on that last point, if you’re ever worried about your shading, values, etc becoming muddled either A] take a picture and use a filter to make it black and white, or B] create another, pure white layer on top of the others and change it from “Normal” to “Hue”. Doing this can really help change your approach to coloring (black and white effect may be different for every art program). 

6) If you want to get better at realistic faces, I was taught using the grid system. You have squares on your reference picture, squares on your paper, and then match up the body parts to the squares. I personally didn’t like this method, but it’s a really solid style of learning. 

7)  Start with the torso instead of the head. what you start with the head, the body may end up becoming wonky and having the neck stretched out at an odd angle or having a too small cranium. This is easier to fix in digital art but I suggest just remembering the importance of that rib cage (this is something I’m still training myself out of). 

8) Asking for feedback can be an invaluable tool. For example, last year I had this really weird thing where I drew my eyes way too close together- I never noticed until I had it pointed out to me, and it took MONTHS to break this habit.

9) References are very useful, and one fun technique I’ve found great use in is to draw a pose, first with no reference, and then following that reference very strictly. This can be helpful when you want to see where you are developmentally. 

10) Every now and then while drawing, you want to put the pencil down, prop up your paper, and walk away so that you can see the full image from a distance. If you’re working digitally, you zoom out a great deal so that the image appears smaller. This is a GREAT tool for seeing which sections of the piece need the most attention and how those smaller details hold up. 

11) If you have the opportunity, you REALLY want to participate in an actual art class. Having a teacher that can see what you’re doing in real time and knows where you’re at skill-wise is an INVALUABLE thing to have- these people were specifically taught how to teach you these skills, recognize your problems and how to fix them. Don’t be afraid to talk to them and ask for advice about non-classwork art, either! You can’t receive help if you don’t ask for it. 

12) Flip your canvas! I know you’ve probably heard this before, but this is one of the best ways to check for anatomy inconsistencies.

13)  When it comes to youtube artists, I don’t really actively follow any, but I do know of some! 

Mark Crilley: While I don’t watch his videos much now, I used to follow his videos RELIGIOUSLY. He’s got some really solid advice on how to map out comics and mangas, and he taught me the importance of silent scenes and keeping your work from getting too wordy. He mostly does the soft anime look, but he also does some pretty stellar realism. 

mikeymegamega: I’m not going to lie to you, anon- this man likes his cheesecake. This guy is all about the cute anime girls, so if you’re not looking for that, skip him, but I really can’t recommend his videos on hands, feet, and faces enough. 

Proko: Has a video about best drawing exorcises and is the guy you turn to when you want to know about figure drawing. He tends to focus on the more realistic anatomy, and while his videos may be long he’s got some good advice. I’d say to check out his studying anatomy correctly video, and then just kinda scroll through his pages. 

Ethan Becker: THE KNIFE MAN. The first time I clicked on him I thought he was making a troll video- but then he Got Into It and my dudes, my guys, he has some CRAZY good advice. The way he words things and shows you examples in his videos are amazing and I really can’t recommend him enough. He did a video called “Fixing PROKO's LAZY Drawings��� and while you’d think it would be a  bash fest his advice on shading in it is just so incredibly useful. Click on pretty much any of his videos and you’ll be entertained and learning. 

I'd also suggest watching speedpaints. Even if it was unintentional, I’ve learned several really solid art hacks from speedpaint and storytime videos- so always be aware that you have an option for that. 

…. Oh! And also, practice! I know you’ve probably been given this advice from everyone already, but it’s worth remembering. 

Sorry if this got a bit long, I just figured I’d try to give you some good hacks- and even if you have already heard of most of these, I hope I could at the very least entertain!

[dandivinity]

Madokannon: Religious Symbolism in Madoka Magica

If there’s one word I’d use to describe the show, Mahou Shoujo Madoka Magica, it would be deceptive. If you’re wondering how a cute Sailor Moon rip-off with even brighter colors and a moe art-style is deceptive, congrats, you fell for the deception. As the series continues, it becomes clear that the show is not a cut-and-dry monster of the week where good always triumphs. Rather it is a pastel-colored Faustian bargain where even the best intentions can lead to dire consequences. In the end it is only through the titular characters unshakeable hope and faith and no small amount of divine intervention that the series reaches it’s bitter sweet conclusion. This is obvious upon a first viewing. What is less obvious is the nature that this divine intervention takes. While the show occasionally makes direct connections to Christianity, It seems to me that the theology implemented is Buddhist through and through complete with Four noble truths, samsara, vile rebirth, and an allegory of the bodhisattva Kannon. 

Let’s start with the basis of the show, the wishes. This is one of Madoka’s most prominent aspects and the largest concern from the beginning of the series before the villain’s true underpinnings are revealed. For those of you not familiar, 1). Why are you reading this? And 2). The set-up of the Madoka,  like most magical girl anime, involves a cute animal mascot offering the girls magical powers in order to fight monsters. What makes this set up unique however is that the oh so cute cat-bunny-thing known as Kyubey also offers the girls one wish as an incentive so that they would accept it’s “contract”. Now the use of the word “contract” is an obvious red flag meant to alert us to the Faustian nature of the deal. And yes, the agreement comes with several hidden clauses that Kyubey conveniently leaves out such as the fact that becoming a magical girl involves having your soul removed from your body and placed into a gem because it’s “easier to protect”. But Kyubey’s not exactly stealing it like a Christian devil would. More importantly than the hidden clauses though, is the wishes themselves.

Now stories of the devil tempting people with promises of wealth or power are quite common in Western literature, as are tales of djinn or monkey paws providing wishes that always go wrong in Near Eastern lit. But what’s extraordinary about Madoka is that for the most part the wishes the girls grant are simple in nature and rather generous. Our main focus point, and the only wish we see pursued from beginning to end in chronological order is that of Sayaka Miki. Sayaka is established to be crushing on a boy who was a former violin prodigy before a car accident left him paralyzed with no hope of playing ever again. Sayaka wishes for him to be healed, and just like that, it’s done. 

The boy does not relapse, nor does he lead into another accident. He simply starts a miraculous yet slow path to recovery, until the series finale where he is shown without crutches and playing beautifully for a wide audience. The problem? Well as pointed out before Sayaka even makes the wish, she’s wasn’t actually doing it for him: she was on an unconscious level hoping that he’d be forever grateful to her. Does she hold this over him? No. Does he reject her? No. She simply doesn’t ask. Sayaka is too busy with her new responsibilities and ashamed of what she has become to ask. 

And frankly the importance of Kyosuke in Sayaka’s fall is largely overstated by the fanbase. Yes, he’s a large factor but even more so than wanting to heal him or his gratitude, Sayaka wants to be a hero. This is heightened when their magical mentor dies within the first three episodes. Sayaka now feels like it’s her responsibility to protect her city as no one else will. Unfortunately, she’s simply not as strong as her former mentor or the new morally unsound magical girls that seeks to dispose of her (both Kyoko and Homura). This is really what leads to Sayaka’s downward spiral as she comments, “The world doesn’t need a magical girl who can’t even kill a witch”. Sayaka wants to be a hero, and she wants to get the guy and she gets neither. Her desires, both fulfilled and unfulfilled, all lead to her suffering. This is the First Noble Truth of Buddhism. 

I realize this isn’t the most convincing argument on its own but let’s zoom out a bit here. What is desire if not earthly attachments? Attachment and inability to let go of attachment is a concept found in nearly all the wishes in the show. It doesn’t matter if it’s Sayaka’s wishing for her friend’s health, Mami literally trying to cling to life, or Kyoko (in the most directly religious moment in the show) wishing that people would come to her father’s sermons so that her family could have enough to eat. All of these desires are moral in some way and yet they are still desires. More importantly, they all involve a longing for what once was, and are attempts to return things to how they were rather than moving on. This inability to let go is characterized not just in the wishes but in the reason they’re implemented in the first place. 

When Kyubey finally explains why they knowingly cause suffering to countless adolescent girls throughout time, they explain it’s to harvest enough renewable energy from the emotions of magical girls to stave off the entropy of the universe. The whole process is rather convoluted and -let’s face it- an excuse to deconstruct magical girl tropes, but that doesn’t change the fact that preventing the heat death of the universe is still Kyubey’s number one goal. That combined with their inability to truly understand the suffering they’re causing has caused some of the community to question their villain status or at least say they’re a villain with a just cause. And while postponing the heat death of the universe may be noble in the long run, it is a literal fight against the impermanence of the universe. A fight that we know from Buddhism is doomed to only lead to personal trauma in the face of inevitability of a changing world. But it is this fight against impermanence that kyubey embodies so well, and one that is baked into the wish-based magical girl system they run. 

Ok, enough beating around the bush. It’s time to talk about Homura. After spending most of the show as a mysterious red-herring villain that knows far too much, Homura finally gets an episode dedicated to her near the end of the show where it’s revealed she’s a time traveller who restarted the timeline over and over again in order to make her wish come true; to be able to save Madoka. Specifically  Homura has to replay the same month over and over again until she can succeed in saving Madoka’s life and cannot escape until this goal is reached.  This obsession leads to a very literal samsara, by repeating the timeline again and again Homura is actively choosing to trap herself in endless cycles of suffering, death, and rebirth all because of her attachment to the mortal world. Through this process we can see Homura fall apart becoming more and more monstrous in her single-minded focus to save Madoka at the expense of everything else. By the time she arrives at our main timeline that the rest of the show takes place in, Homura is comparable to a hungry ghost. She’s directly accused of walking through the world as if dead, unable to feel anything except for the desire that damned her in the first place, her obsession with Madoka. When even this too seems lost, she nearly becomes a witch. 

In Mahayana Buddhism, rebirth on earth is not the worst thing that can happen after one’s death. If one leads a sufficiently desperate life they can be reborn as an animal, hungry ghost, or in hell. This is where Madoka’s witches come from. Perhaps the most tragic twist in Madoka Magica is that if a magical girl falls into despair (usually due to her wish’s inability to make her happy), her soul gem will transform into a grief seed which then becomes one of the monsters they fight. These nightmare collage monsters have new names separate from their old identities and live in pocket dimensions where they lure people in. These pocket dimensions often in someway manifests the desires of their old lives being filled with sweets, TVs, or (in Sayaka’s case) violinists. Interestingly, when Sayaka first dies and is reborn as the witch Octavia in a train station, her labyrinth is also full of railroad tracks. She relocates to a concert hall and the labyrinth follows suit, but train wheels remain despite having no apparent bearing on her previous life. This could be a reference to Buddhist beliefs about your final thoughts and which direction you look when you die having bearing on which realm you’ll be reborn into. 

Homura’s obsession in contrasted by Madoka’s ability to let go. Madoka’s final wish and subsequent ascension has often been compared to Jesus’s sacrifice on the cross, and rightfully so. Madoka’s wish to become a cosmic force that can take on all the despair of magical girls before they become witches at the cost of her own mortal life has many strong parallels to Jesus suffering on the cross to redeem humanity. However that idea only works if Jesus is suffering. Madoka is stated to be taking the grief of every magical girl who ever became a witch onto herself and we even see a far future version of her becoming a witch large enough to destroy the world. But before it does it is shot down by another version of a truly ascended Madoka in a white dress. This version states paradoxically that since her wish applies to all magical girls that would become witches, that includes herself. The fluidity of time and direct denial of the necessity of suffering or sacrifice are at odds with Orthodox Chriastianity, or at least its perception of Jesus. Rather I argue that the way Madoka saves all the magical girls, her subsequent erasure from existence, and even such mundane symbols such as the white dress all link her closer to the Bodhisattva, Kannon. 

Let’s take a closer look at the scene where we see Madoka actually ascends and manifests to relieve the potential witches of their grief. We see Madoka split herself into thousands shafts of light, all of which appear above different suffering magical girls in different places and time periods. And above all of them Madoka appears, she touches their corrupted soul gems which are then purified before shattering, allowing the magical girls to die in peace. A rather sad ending, but one that’s better than rebirth as a witch, which we already identified as equivalent to the hell realm. So while it is unclear where the magical girls are going to go after they die (or even if they go anywhere at all as we just saw the gems holding their souls shatter, possibly destroying them), we can know that Madoka is saving them from a worse rebirth. This directly parallels miracle tales that surround the Bodhisattva Kannon, especially in her Chinese incarnation as the white-robed Guanyin. 

Kannon is the primary example of Bodhisattva or one who has put off Budhahood to aid those still on earth. Kannon in particular swears to never ascend until all living things have been freed of samsara. She’s often depicted as having 11 heads and a thousand arms to better reach all those suffering in the world at once, like how Madoka splits herself into a myriad of forms. Many of these tales have devotees of Guanyin spared from tragic fates such as beheadings or shipwrecks. However a few, adapt these stories to instead refer to a more metaphorical salvation, especially in the pure land tradition popular in Japan which then says that anyone who calls out to Kannon on the verge of their death will be still die and be reborn to the pure land rather than wherever else they were supposed to reincarnate. Madoka’s god form even highly resembles the Chinese incarnation, Guanyin. Wikipedia states, “Guanyin is generally portrayed as a young woman wearing a flowing white robe, and usually also necklaces symbolic of Indian or Chinese royalty. In her left hand is a jar containing pure water, and the right holds a willow branch.” While we never see Madoka with any water; the flowing white dress, red gems along her collar bone, and branch-like bow (though on that seems to be more of a sakura branch) all bring to mind Guanyin.

Finally Madoka’s ascension ends with her body dissolving into glimmers of light as she explains how no one will remember her, but she’ll still be there. This dissolution of the her spiritual body is a visual symbol of ego-death. Madoka recreates a word where she does not exist, and had never existed, yet still manifests as a concept and virtuous force that leads others to salvation rather than as a sentient entity. This is the Nirvana. Madoka hadn’t just ascended to godhood, she had surpassed it and achieved nothingness, as her buddha nature radiates throughout the world, ultimately changing it into something better. This is the paradox of Buddhism and the goal of any buddhist practitioner, to achieve an inner peace so strong you become a part of the universe like madoka had. And the new world she created was better for it. 

That is at least until the show decided to  make a movie sequel and trick madoka into descending. At that point she stops acting as a Buddha and instead as Pistis Sophia in line with the obscure belief system of 2nd century Gnostics. But that will be a conversation for another time. 

[huangsren]

hs!renjun au ; aliens are real!

𝐬𝐮𝐦𝐦𝐚𝐫𝐲 ; you take interest in the class’ resident art history, seemingly cold, prince boy huang renjun after you find him rushing to the rooftop with a telescope. 

huang renjun x reader

so everyone knows Huang Renjun as the resident “yeah i love art history so i’m better than you but i won’t say that out loud bc i’m at least that decent” kid in school

none the less, he’s pretty popular ? whether that be due to the fact he’s nothing short of talented, or maybe bc he’s one of the prettiest boys in school, or bc even his signature “i don’t care” style is alluring

some girls even have this group,, rather club is the better word to describe it,, for renjun and know that more than anything, you’ll find him either : on the rooftop of the tallest building in school-  or with lee jeno on the basketball court

of course renjun isn’t actually playing tho, he’s just fooling around to piss off his basketball captain best friend

but anyways there was this one night where you had to stay back at school ‘til late with your study group

because honestly,, you guys don’t do much studying in the library

and that’d landed you a detention and having to clean the art teacher’s 20982475 easels for some reason

and afterwards, right after you come out of the classroom’s door, The Huang Renjun bumps into you

and he drops the ???? what is this a telescope stand ??/?/?? on your shin, gets up and mumbles an insincere sorry before blasting to the stairs that lead to the rooftop

even though you’re clenching your shin like it’s the worst pain you’ve felt in all your years of living- you find that he must’ve dropped a part of the stand before he zoomed away

so being the goOd person you are, you cautiously walk up the stairs (bc of that stinging pain in your shin) and out onto the rooftop with the piece of stand in your hand

your eyes spot a frustrated renjun trying to set up his telescope in the cold saying “where’d it go, where’d it go?!”

and its not until you get a little closer that you see he’s even searching under the blanket and pillows he has set up, even into the bag of snacks he has prepared to his side

when he turns around he’s met with a limping you and the piece he’s missing in your hands,, which is why he hurls himself at the speed of lightening towards you and lunges for the lost piece

but you swipe your hand away before he can get to it and he looks at you with a “excuse me? are you actually doing this right now?”

and you see the “listen we both don’t care for each other so skip the small talk and let me do what i need to do” on his face but it doesn’t stop you from asking him what he’s doing

“are you that air-headed? i’m obviously setting up a telescope” he replies, super arrogantly

“okay yeah no shit sherlock, but why” you snarked back, simply over renjun’s bad attitude since he literally dropped his stuff on you so,, it was his fault really

“listen, i’m absolutely POSITIVE there’s not a person here who doesn’t know i like to come up and look at the stars”

and then you’re taken aback bc,, you actually didn’t know the reason he ever came up to the roof all the time- but honestly, you weren’t ever curious,, until now

“that’s kind of cute” you laugh, swinging the piece in your hand so you know you have his attention

“cute? it’s everything but cute, actually. you won’t be saying that it’s ‘cute’ when i become famous for painting and capturing the first real ufo and the aliens with it”........................... is this kid serious

you really can’t find even a hint of humor in his frame nor his eyes and that’s when you burst into laughter

“aliens?? ufos?? i- oh my god hold on- i can’t stop myself from laughing holy shit”

he just looks at you like your the dumbest person he’s ever seen and scoffs, “yeah, alright” and he takes the piece from your hand and completes his stand

even though you’re starting to come off that hysterical laugh of yours, he doesn’t give you a second thought and you just watch him watching the night sky and writing in his notebook too

“not that you know me, which i expect you don’t, but ask any one around; i’m one of the most stubborn people and i happen to be adamant about all this sci-fi stuff being strictly fictional”

he turns and furrows his eyebrows at you and to your surprise he takes your wrist in attempt to drag you to the blanket but you wince in pain from your shin still hurting

how does it STILL hurt this much?

and after a second you look up and see worry in renjun’s eyes as he finally realizes that that bump may have hurt you a whole lot more than it hurt him

“maybe i’m kind of sorry about that”

“yeah? maybe you should look where you’re going” then he lets go of your wrist to fetch something

and he comes back to wrap your now swollen wow-how-did-you-not-see-that-before shin saying “i don’t think i’m the only one who needs that advice” and somehow you just know that renjun isn’t as cold as some people make him out to be,, he may be even nicer than you

and that’s that,, he makes you look through the telescope a couple of times and always says the same thing along the lines of “well if we exist here like this, what says that any other foreign life isn’t out there when the sky we see right now is already this vast”

and for the first time you really really take time to think about how big just the portion of the sky you two are seeing can be that big and how the universe and it’s galaxies and maybe even several dimensions are even bigger than you can fathom

maybe it’s the way you feel small with renjun and his big beliefs and the way he wrapped you in the extra blanket he had (bc you were shivering and he said it was “getting in the way of my scientific break-throughs”) but you close your eyes and take the time to really feel everything around you

the air, the blanket, the sounds of a school at night, even the pain in your shin which you could care less about and after a while you feel like someone is watching you and there you see it

renjun looking at you instead of the stars and you go “why aren’t you looking at the stars, huh?”

and without hesitation he just goes “well right now you seem like the brightest star” and it takes all you have to not let the blush on your face become evident

so you look away and reach for a snack before you do something to him you know you’ll regret

but still, before you place the chip in your mouth, you look at renjun again for some sign of “just kidding you’re ugly” but instead,,,,, he kisses your cheek

and you freeze and accidentally crush the chip in your fingers and well now it’s the hardest it’s ever been to hide your blush, so you just get up, nod a little at renjun and mumble a “thanks, good night” and head for the door

you can feel renjun’s eyes on you as you leave and he’s just internally fighting with himself because oh GOD why did he just do that??? it doesn’t matter that he’s popular and good looking he just can’t believe he kissed his crush’s cheek like he had no control over his own body

and his crush?? oh-so-surprisingly he’s actually had a crush on you ever since some kid in his class said that there was a girl who was completely and utterly against aliens and all that being real 

so after he’d learned who your were and stole glances at you from time to time, he concluded that maybe you were the cutest, stubborn person he’d ever found- 

and as events go, he devised a plan to set up some type of picnic on the rooftop and prove to you that ufo’s aren’t as out of this world as they seemed to you

of course he didn’t expect to hurt your shin in the process but he just had to keep that nonchalant image of his up even if it was eating him inside 

and through the night, he just couldn’t keep himself from calling you a star and giving you a little peck on the cheek, because the way you were then was just too precious in his eyes

so screw that whole plan he had of you becoming interested in him since you probably think he’s some weird touch-starved pervert of an art history student

but you actually lay in your bed thinking about that whole exchange and smile a little to yourself before falling asleep to the thoughts of what would happen to you two the next day

[watery-lane]

Untitled

Pairing: Modern!Ivar Lothbrok x Reader

Summary: We never grew up, did we?

Warnings: Angst, bad characterization, Ivar has a bigger heart than he should. Cliché?

Words: less than 1K

A/N: Just a little drabble I wrote sleep deprived to let y’all know I’m still alive and that it’ll take a little bit more than sadness and overall dread towards existence for my brain to ruin my life.

Also, I’m writing this on my phone so I don’t have the taglist here, will tag you guys when I get a hold of my laptop

“Hold on,” The voices of your friends resonated against the two walls and half ceiling of the cinema entrance as soon as you opened the door, the whistle of the wind sounding like a melody compared to the orchestra of words in front of you. “so basically you’re saying you would bone a clown.”

“If you put it that way—” a girl hugging herself as she rocked her body back and forth on the spot, rolling her eyes as she protested.

“A demon clown.”

“N—”

“A demon clown that is also a spider.”

“Remind me to not beg for you guys to pick me up after work anymore.” You teased, making them turn their heads to look at you as you reached where they were standing.

“Ah c’mon,” your best friend approached your covered from head-to-toe frame and wrapped one of her arms around you. “Don’t you say you don’t need emotional support after dealing with pre-teens and watching horror films on repeat.”

“I’m more concerned about your cousin’s weird fetishes!” Your roommate shouted, making you turn around to look at your favourite family member who protested and tried to make clear that she was not, in fact, crushing on a clown.

Truth be told, you were not paying much attention to the shenanigans of your girl gang as you kept walking.

You were indeed thinking about clowns, just not the scary or cheerful types.

The Lothbroks were surely a special kind of breed. You were pretty sure they had a cinema room in their penthouse and possibly thousands of films in their streaming services and vintage VHS. Yet they chose to barge into the cinema howling like wolves as your shift started, women stitched to their sides and careless grins on their faces asking for tickets for an old film replay.

It still got you everytime you thought about it and it didn’t help the fact that you had that scene on repeat in your brain: how Hvitserk approached the booth you were comfortably, a polite grin parting his lips as he indicated with his fingers how many tickets they wanted for the night. The tone, warm and restrained, left an odd aftertaste in your mouth as you heard him say your name with the ease of a brush stroke and the unfamiliarity of a burning fire in a bell glass. It was as if you were never strangers, yet you didn’t know enough of each other to call yourselves acquaintances. But it wasn’t that what got you.

It was the hard glance turning soft as you laid your eyes on Ivar, like fire meeting wax. The slight hand wave as he passed the booth the last one, lips perking up as if he was actually happy to see you after all these years.

And after all these years, you felt it again. The invasive feeling of your throat tightening up as your cheeks flushed red and your tummy got dizzy. The unexpectancy itched on your eyes wide open, as you processed little by little what you just experienced.

You were not supposed to feel like this. At least not after all this time, specially after how he treated you and how he left for years after secondary school ended.

See, you were just a kid. You didn’t understand the importance of personality or morality. You simply saw a kid that looked cute, way too busy fighting with his brothers, way too grumpy to deal with anyone else. Yet, you felt like you could understand him. Like you could share yourself with him. And it didn’t take long for the rest of that fancy school to know how you felt about Ivar Lothbrok, the most exhausting kid among his brothers. Soon enough your name was released from every single mouth maliciously, how a clumsy, grant funded plain Jane pinned after the “leftover” Ragnarsson. Even within the Lothbrok clan, you were just a lost child who crushed on one of them. It was not the best time of your life, Ivar Lothbrok himself made sure it wasn’t.

“So I’ve decided to buy the Ouija board and invoke those spirits because my roommate seems to not give a damn about what I say so I might aswell get new flatmates.” You zoomed out, eyes looking forward as you got closer to home. It felt like your feet tingled at the touch of the cold hard pavement, snow crunching under your soles.

“That’s amazing baby.” You mumbled with an absent smile, eyes travelling to the ground as your bundle of old feelings absorbed you into the void again, as if you were passing your fingers over an ugly scar that was starting to reopen. Your roommate sighed.

“Alright, Imma speed up and let you think about your own things. I think there are some hot dog leftovers. In case you want to have them, I’m just telling you that I’m eating them beforehand.” She trembled as she sped up, looking back at you to flash you a cheeky smile under the scarf as you waved goodbye at her with an apologetic look on your face. You did need your me time, though. You didn’t blame her. You still had ten minutes to get home and she wasn’t as heavily dressed as you were.

You gave yourself some time to stop and contemplate how snowflakes fell down to earth swiftly, the light from the closest lamp post making it look like diamonds sparkling in the dark. It made you wonder, whether you were a tiny snowflake too. How you were simply a drop of water at first, slow and steady or fast and destructive, pace marked by your surroundings, always at the same rhythm as the rest. Flowing like a river. Until you started to rise little by little, queen of the clouds as you worked on your arts degree and everything else seemed to be irrelevant enough to be looked down on. It wasn’t until real life came knocking on your palace doors when you found yourself colliding with everything else, hardening as reality rocked you with coldness and wind.

The sight of the youngest Ragnarsson seemed to be a sign that tonight, it was your time to fall down back to earth again.

“Hey!” You heard a faint voice behind you, making you speed up a little bit in fear. “Hey!” It reached your ears again, your breath hitching on your throat as you moved faster, this time holding your handbag tightly. “Penguin!” Your feet stopped responding, stomach way too full of butterflies to command your core to move. You didn’t want to turn around. You couldn’t. “Oh thank the gods, it would have taken me ages to get to you with these crutches and the icy floor.” You heard Ivar speaking to you, not striking any nerve that could make you turn around.

You probably should say something. You probably shouldn’t have stopped, it would have been easier.

“Are you following me?” You responded harshly, finally turning around to find the recipient of your first infatuation. He stopped, just like your breath did the moment you laid your eyes on him.

He was taller, stronger. You saw his hair grew long enough to cover part of his neck, some strands brushing his cheeks as the rest remained high in a bun. And he was walking towards you, making you feel small, weak again. His features were hardened like the bark after years and years thriving in the harsh environment, strong enough to endure anything life put him through. Ivar seemed to have grown a lot. You just hoped he matured enough to let you be.

“If you call ‘dragging my crippled self through the icy snow’ following then yes, I am following you.” He showed you his whitened teeth with a cheeky smile as he approached you.

You pursed your lips, taking a step back as you avoided his eyes. The weather may be cold in Scandinavia, but his eyes were always colder. Ivar sensed your tension, a sour taste filling his mouth as he watched you slipping away slightly.

“Oh.” You mouthed. “That’s cool.” You wanted to punch yourself. ‘That’s cool?’ What the hell was that?

“C’mon penguin, I haven’t seen you in years, how have y—”

“Stop.” You interrupted, raising your hand as you closed you eyes. Ivar stared at you with his head tilted to a side, confusion itched in his brows. “Stop calling me penguin. We’re not kids anymore. It’s not funny. It never was.” You knew you were a disaster of a child, way too clumsy to even walk through the cafeteria without dropping your lunch or bumping into someone else, voice way too harsh and way too loud for someone your age. Just like a penguin.

“Sorry, I thought—”

“Why are you here?” You asked, feeling how your chest tightened as your heart started to beat way too fast for your liking.

“I... I saw you working at the cinema and,” Ivar hesitated, taken aback by your sudden outburst. “I was just wondering how were you doing.” He shook his head.

“I’m... fine.” Your words were soft, reserved. “Thanks for asking.” He nodded.

“Mind if I... huh...” His broad hand slipped into his nape, gloves brushing against his hair and scarf as he scratched. “walk you home?” Your forehead wrinkled as hesitation washed over you, your insides feeling way too tender for him to come back and mess up with your feelings again. Because you knew, you knew that he always knew. That is why he took his time to tease you, that is why you were an easy target for his childish manners. Yet you swallowed your lump, head moving up and down as you retook your steps. Maybe this time he sees how you have got over him. Next to you, Ivar followed, pressing his lips together as he cautiously saved his smile for himself.

The walk was silent, the eyes of the boy with the cheeky smile and hardened glance discreetly watching you as you let your mind wander, the direction of your thoughts driving towards the past this time.

You liked him a lot, way too much at that time. From the way he attentively observed his surroundings to the little signs that showed how smart he truly was, never letting the world swallow his little frame when everybody told him he was not enough.

By the gods, you wanted to cry, the inner corner of your eyes feeling the pressure build as you suppressed your tears. You knew it wasn’t up to him just like it was not up to you, but you wished he felt the same for you. And now you’re ten years older, hoping for the past to hurt you a little bit less, so you could be a proper person to the man who was walking you home.

“Why are you doing this?” You asked with a flat tone, softer than the touch of the snowflakes on your numb skin.

“Doing what?” Ivar asked, eyes contorting as he saw your delicate state. His ribcage seemed to clench at the sight of your lip tremble, eyes crystalized as you refused to lay your eyes on him.

“We were never friends, weren’t we?” You dared to ask, cold tone making Ivar shiver under his thick goose feather coat. “Why did you come after me? Your brothers seem to have left.”

“Well... I did have fun with you.”

“You mean you did made fun of me.”

“Penguin...”

“We’re here.” You cut him off, not sure if you ever wanted to hear his response, thankful that you could now run away and hide in your nest. You two were grown adults now, giving you the reassurance that he would never ever make you feel humiliated again. You were now able to talk back with no consequences. “Thanks. For... walking with me.” You mumbled, letting your eyes wander all over his face one last time, your dilated pupils capturing his parted lips and helpless glance for a brief moment.

“It’s— no problem.” He managed to say, the sound of the door cutting his words short as he took a step back.

Just like in his teenage years, he never figured out how to show people how much they meant to him. After all, his dad never appreciated his vulnerability and the only woman he ever told he loved her laid delicately five feet underground, leaving her four children drifting away from their family legacy.

Guess he never grew up, didn’t he?

[wonderwomanfantasy]

Cosplay Cutie

Okay, a quick shout out to my favorite Todoroki cosplayers, go check out their Instagrams!

@Kerriliana   @Kittyskosplay   @ aishizaya and @ chessnochoc  

okay now that I’m done fangirling~ on to the request 

Todoroki x reader 

word count: 1,300(about)

warnings: swearing, none,

summary: you have always loved cosplay and Todoroki was your favorite hero turns out he’s a big fan of your work too...

Cosplay had always been a hobby of yours. It had started when you were a little girl and had grown as time went on. So now, during the day you made Costumes for heroes, and during your free time, you made costumes for yourself. Your best cosplay and your favorite costume was your “Female Todoroki cosplay”. You had spent countless hours studying every detail of his costume getting it perfect, and as it seemed you're hard worked paid off. You were one of the top Todoroki cosplayers in all of Japan, as well as one of the top Costume designers for heroes.

“Do I really have to do this?” Todoroki asked as the makeup techs fluttered around him. Todoroki had never enjoyed the  'So and So goes threw their tag' video but here he was making them.

“It'll be fine, everything is filtered, just be yourself kid and everything will be fine,” his manager assured him  Shoto hated this stuff, he could be out in the streets saving people, but instead, he was inside some dumb corporate office pretending to be relate-able and down to earth. Shoto knew how abrasive his personality could be, he was surprised he had fans, he wasn't cute like Midoriya or charming like Kirishima, but people liked Bakugou so anything is possible,

Who would even want to watch something like this? Him reacting to his fan art? If he was honest he tried to avoid his fan base, after he discovered Slash fiction that is. He had no idea what to expect. He tried his best to say something interesting about each post but he still ended up giving boring reactions, his fans must be staved for content if they would watch a video like this. Then he saw her. A cosplayer dressed as, well him. She was stunningly attractive, and something oddly familiar about her.

“I've seen her before, She's- Talented,” he said trying to quell his oncoming blush. “the craftsmanship on her costume is astounding, she must have spent a long time on that outfit.” he clicked the picture and zoomed in on your chest piece, merely to get a closer look at your buttons. But the closer look at your breasts didn't hurt things. He continued scrolling but his mind was still stuck on you. even when he saw other cosplayers he compared them to you. When he finished filming, he found your Instagram and followed you.

You turned your phone off when you were at work. It was just too distracting and you really needed to focus on this dress. It was a special order for your loyal customer Froppy. She had some type of special Awards ceremony and she wanted a dress that was fashionable but also practical for crime fighting and you were up for the challenge. You only had a few more details to add to the dress before it was complete which was good, Sue was coming in for the final fitting tomorrow. The door to your office was flung open violently.  

“OH MY GOD (Y/N) WHAT DID YOU DO?!” Shelly, a coworker of yours, demanded walking up to you.

“What?” you asked taking your goggles off and turning to face her. She shoved her phone in your face. You were number three on twitters trending. Right under Todoroki Shoto and an earthquake in California.

“Why am I trending?” you asked confused. You turned on your phone and was flooded with notifications. You picked your way through the notifications until you reached the end of the stream. It was a video of Todoroki and one of your Cosplays was in the thumbnail. You and Shelly crowed your phone screen and watched the video in its entirety he said you were talented. He knew who you were. HE ZOOMED IN ON YOUR CHEST AND BLUSHED. You couldn't focus on the rest of the video. The phone slipped from your numb fingers. Shelly started scrolling through the trending tab.

“oh god people are totally shipping the to of you, Look someone already drew fanart of the two of you,” she showed you a cute drawing of you looking up and smiling him he was blushing and looking down at you. It was a cute style. You would retweet it later.

“I can't believe it,” you said as Shelly continued to scroll. “well I can deal with that later. I have to finish Sue's dress right now,” you said spinning around in your chair.

“Nuh-uh a super hot hero just followed you on Instagram and stared at your chest on the internet you can't just blow that off!”

“I'm not blowing it off I'm dealing with it later, besides it's not like he actually likes me it's just a bunch of fangirls losing their minds,” you said waving her away. She rolled her eyes and left.

“you know I don't need you to go with me,” Sue said hopping alongside Todoroki.

“I know, you are more than capable of protecting yourself but I just figured I would tag along anyway,” he said unconvincingly.

“you are avoiding your manager aren't you?”

“Yeah,”

“He's losing his mind over the whole cosplayer thing right?”

“Yeah,” 

Sue laughed, not unkindly. The whole situation was a mess, according to his manager at least.

“here we are, “ Sue said going into a sleek looking building. She led him down the halls of the building. It was odd, he got his costumes here all the time but he had never been to the actual building.

“(y/n)'s office is here, you can come in.” Sue said opening the door. You jumped on her the moment she walked through the door. You didn't even seem to notice Todoroki. Which suited him fine, he looked around your office taking in every detail. It was cluttered but organized. Then he turned his attention to you, he froze in his tracks. You were poised making Sue spin and throw punches as you watched the fabric move he watched you. It was you, the cosplayer, that he had seen before. He had to stop himself from setting off the fire alarm. He should have known.

“Okay Sue now I'm going to hit you and It shouldn't hurt, but tense up for me okay?” you said and Todoroki watched as you hit Sue hart in the stomach, it seemed like the dress absorbed the punch. He couldn't help but laugh. You whipped around and stared bug eye at him.

“Oh- Mr. Todoroki I didn't see you there,” you said apologetically.

“It's alright, I should have announced myself,” he said calmly then with out thinking, he added “I am a big fan of your work,” you opened your mouth but no words came out.

“u-uh thank you that means a lot,” you managed to stutter out.

“will you two wait to flirt until I'm not here,” Sue croaked.

“Right- you can take the dress off I'll have it delivered the day before the Ceremony if that's alright.”

 Sue nodded. And left as quickly as she came, but Todoroki Hesitated for a moment.

“I would love to collaborate with you some time, a photo shoot or something,” he offered. Your mouth went dry.

“I would love to,” you said nodding. He wrote something down on a paper and placed it on his desk.

“Text me, and we'll work out the details,” he waved goodbye and left. You stood there in shock, did he just give you his number?

Todoroki knew his manager would kill him, he was giving the fangirls to much fuel but he didn't care, he couldn't wait to see his fans reactions when he asked you out.

[bookdragonlibrary]

Halloween

“Hey Ed! Did you choose your costume already?”

“Not yet. But I think you might have an idea, amigo.”

“Duh! I have the idea since summer. Wanna hear it?”

“I’m all ears.”

“Did you watch the Mysterious City of Gold?”

“No, I see where you’re going and no. Besides, it’s not a couple idea?” 

“What do you mean? They are best friends.”

“I’m pretty sure they were... Wait, who are you talking about?

“Esteban and Tao! You already have the hair! Plus it would be really crash for Taos’ peer councelor to come as Tao, don’t you think?”

“My... hair?”

He tugges at a curl without thinking. When he was younger, he could spend hours trying to straitghten it, not hesitating to pull it hard with a brush. Not like it worked anyway...

“Yeah, they’re so crash, amigo!”

Ed bites his cheek to not blush, but he’s sure he failed.

“And we ask Tye to dress as Zia, I presume?” He jokes to hide it, pushing the attention somewhere else.

But he cannot stop himself for imagining his friend in that outfit and a light blush comes on his cheek. He take his composure back, hoping that his dark skin had hidden it. Wasn’t his best idea.

“Do you think he would accept?”

Bart didn’t seem to have noticed. 

“This was sarcasm, amigo”, Ed replies with a smile.

“Ah. It’s Zia? I thought it was Tia... That would have been even funnier.”

“I heard the new season was in Japan, so maybe Sam could find a cosplay too. Maybe Tye would come along if Asami does it.”

Bart cocks his head on the side and Ed explains this new retro concept. He doesn’t need patience just for Bart’s personality but also for his lack of knowledge of the present, even if he learnt a lot since he arrived, but most of it weren’t useful for daily conversation as his special interests were often about facts, science or even art and litterature. 

“Bart, why... why didn’t you ask to Jaime for this?”

“Why would I? Blue doesn’t have Tao’s hair. Plus he does a duo costume with Traci this year. That would be weird if we do a trio costume, right?” he adds with a sad smile.

Ed doesn’t know Traci well, but he knows from Tye they are going out since summer as all the Team and the Runaways spent time together, hanging around all over the country thanks to the Zetatube and also to his dad giving acess to Sam, Tye and him. So he could go to Mount Justice beach and still be on time for dinner in Taos. Sometimes he loves his papá’s technology even if it has to bring him away and take his time.

Jaime and Traci did spend a lot of time together with their new love slowly blooming, didn’t realise sometimes they let their friends behind. Cassie was fine and spent more time with the other girls of the squad. But Bart was all alone and so used to be clinged to Jaime he wasn’t really close with the other members. He was close to Gar but he had to leave the Team months ago. Ed knows Bart could be shy when he’s in a new environment or with new people. And people he barely talked to was as new for him than a stranger. Hopefully Virgil was there and bring him along with his times out with Ed. 

The first time, he was taken aback when he saw his crush appear out of nowhere with Virgil behind and his soft knowing smile, as if he didn’t know what he was doing. Bart was fidgeting all the time, unsure if he had a right to be there, afraid of forcing his way in, until Virgil’s kindness and himself being chill made him at ease. Sometimes Virgil and Bart talked about nerd stuffs he barely undersands but he ignores if it’s because of lack of vocabulary with the language barrier or his own lack of knowledge. Virgil’s clear explanations and Bart’s ramblings helped him so he wasn’t completely lost about the subject. He never saw Bart like this, all serious. No, he was still chill as if he was talking about the weather and not electronical materials and he was still rambling as usual. But it’s all the details he knew about a difficult topic which amazed Ed. So he just listened during most part of the conversation but Bart was still aware of his presence as he explains something whenever Ed frowned at a word or a concept and that made his stomach tighten. Virgil remained silent during this moments and Ed was glad to him for that. 

“Yeah, fine. Whatever. I didn’t have any idea anyway...” Ed finally say, trying to not be too overwhelmed. But maybe it sounded too cold instead?

“Crash!” 

Preparing his costume wasn’t complicated. It was ready pretty fast. Even if Ed was so excited for this day to come, he doesn’t bring his hopes too high. That would be just two friends hanging around at a party. Two single friends, sure. Nothing more.

As he slowly spent more and more time with Bart, Virgil step backward, giving them moments just the two of them. He is closer to Cassie now. With the Team splending in two parts, Cassie was also invited to the Runaways hanging out to not be left behind and alone. And it wasn’t the Team and the Runaways anymore, but one group of friends. Sam became close to Traci thanks to the double dates with Tye and Jaime. Ed was happy for her; she had difficulties to make friends outside the Runaways, certainly because of the language and culture barriers. Traci being half Asian was the bridge she needed.  

The party is tonight. Ed cannot really think about it with all the preparatives he still needs to do. Of course, Tye had refused to come in a Zia’s outfit even if Sam found the idea really cool. But Ed is unsure if he is glad it would be just Bart and him or stressed to not have a third person to not make it awkward. Nobody discussed about the closeness of Bart and Jaime as everyone knows how Bart is: clingy, touchy and a hugger monster and also because they know how much they had to go through together. But how would they react to Bart and him being close? During all the Reach invasion, no trauma brings them together, not in the War World or even in the Reach ship as Ed didn’t know Bart and Gar were in the next room and was barely aware of the other teens around him through the pain. In a way, he relieved it isn’t the trauma or the pain who made them friends, like they were destined to be not matter what. Their friendship is dued to their personalities and not the Reach or being both meta and abducted because of it. He doesn’t want to own this aliens anything. Not even his powers. But still, their friendship is due to normal facts, meaning he could expect “normal” reactions to their closeness. 

He needs to focus on what he’s doing. Like preparing enough food because Bart– Urgh. He went in the kitchen anyway, checking if they would have enough. They have no alcohol beers and cocktails and punch also withtout alcohol, so basically fruit juices, but “cocktail” makes it sound fancier. Especially with a little umbrella in the glass.

When his friends arrive his fears are blown away. With Bart’s entrance, another feeling blooms instead. Bart was really cute in this cosplay. He even created Esteban’s famous necklace with paperboard.

Jaime and Traci have a Disney matching costume as Aladdin and Mulan. Sam was dressed as Haku and Tye as a cowboy, affirming there is nothing more terrifying than colonialism. Ed shares a look with Jaime to decide which one is going to explain it to Bart who frowns. Virgil chose Darui from Naruto and Cassie Sakura from the same universe. Ed thanks him to also took a matching costume with his own best friend. Gar arrives later, transform in a half way between human and animal to look like Michelangelo from TMNT. He was accompanied by Perdita, dressed like Belle, here incognito. Some of her guards are dressed as benevoles helping the Center for the night if anything happens. But he doubts it would be necessary – or even usefull – as Perdita is always surrounded by heroes during the party.

“Ed, mi amigo! You... you don’t wear your costume?” 

And Ed hopes he didn’t imagine the quick sad look on Bart’s face.

“I... I didn’t have a chance to put it on. You know, too much to do. I didn’t see the time passed. But it’s ready in my room. Just give me the time to–” 

He teleports right in his room. He didn’t mean to. He was just too embarassed, blushing too much, wanting to reassure Bart but not doing too much about it either. Now he isn’t sure to put the costume on even if he really wants to, his fears kicking again. Everything is too much. His feelings are a mess, he is overwhelming, completely loss and– He needs to breathe. He needs to tell him, he needs a clear answer, because walking on this string giving him headaches and he wants to stop his hopes before they get too high, before it’s too late to prevent the heartbreak. Or maybe it’s already too late. He doesn’t know. He doesn’t even know what he feels for Bart. Or he wishes it’s true. He wishes he can hide from the truth a little longer, just to be sure he is ready. But he also needs to stop lying to himself: he would never be completely ready for this kind of answer. 

He breathes and put the yellow poncho on. A little part in him still whispers he didn’t imagine things. 

He teleports back in the party and finds his friends nearby. He exhales and walks toward them. 

“Your costume is really crash, Ed!” Virgil complementes, his knowing smile on his lips again.

He would have glare at him to stop if he isn’t blushing already. 

“Edo-kun, you look like the character so much”, Sam approves. “And yellow really suits you.”

“And there’s even a bit of red in it”, Jaime notices.

“Your costume is so crash”, Bart zooms next to him, clinging at his arm. “Where do you buy it?”

“I didn’t. I sewed it mysel–”

He put his mouth shut. Now Bart would probably teasing him because he can sew, a old useless hobby...

“You can sew? This is so crash, amigo! Is there a talent you don’t have?’‘

“I... Uh...”

“Apparently, speaking isn’t one of it”, Tye teases.

Ed rolls his eyes. His friends would be the death of him if Bart’s cuteness doesn’t kill him before. 

“And you, my friend, how did you make your costume?”

“Oh! Grand– I mean Iris bought me regular clothes and helped me costumize it. And Milagro made the necklace! It’s crash, uh? Oh! And she made one for you.”

He reaches in his pocket to give him the present. The necklace was a golden crescent moon to match his golden sun. Ed blushes slighly as he just viewed them as matching love necklaces and quickly push the thought away. 

“Thanks, Bart. But I thought it was Zia wearing the second necklace?”

He smacks himself mentally. He should not have said this.

“It’s not Tao? So moded... I was sure he was him...” 

“It’s ok, I like it”, he reassures while put it on. 

And that’s what enough to make Bart smile again. 

The group talks, mixing with the rescuing teens. Ed is glad to be able to give them something common, to show them they can still have a normal live, powers or not. Some of his friends are dancing, like Traci bringing Jaime on the dance floor with Bart’s help. But the other are shyly stay on the side of the gymnasium. At this picture, he smiles to himself.

But seeing Bart dressed like that, with the same necklace and his usual cuteness, is too much. He walk to the public restroom of the building and put water on his face. 

“Ed, are you ok? I saw you rush in. Are you sick?” 

He turns his face to see Bart. He takes a paper to dry his skin, giving him time to recompose himself and find a good excuse.

“It’s ok. I was just too warm over there, you know, with the crowd. Not really a party type”

Well, half true. The Center opens only few weeks ago so it was pretty empty for now but party was never truely his thing.

When he looks back at his friend, he knows he is doomed: Bart has chocolate all over his lips as he is casually eating a brownie.

“Bart, you have... on your... Just let me help.”

Without thinking about it, Ed takes a new paper, puts some water on it and cleans Bart’s mouth. He really should have think twice  because now he is really close to his lips which are red again and somehow a little shiny with the water. He is lost in his thoughts and at the same time living an out body experience as it moves on its own and kisses Bart.

It is slow and gentle. His lips feels soft under his own. He can still taste the chocolate and ice sugar. He cups his cheek, resting his forehead against his and breathes, finally finding peace in the middle of all the emotions mixing during the night. 

Then panic rises again as he realises what he just did. He steps back.

“Bart, are you ok? Was it ok? I’m sorry, I didn’t–”

Bart’s look makes him stop. He was speechless and his eyes had widened. Ed can’t see if it is because of chock, surprise, fear or disgust. His friend opens his  mouth but looks over his shoulder almost at the same moment. 

“Guys, what is it?” he answers to the comunicator. “Emergency? Yeah, I know, but... Ok, here in a flash.” He looks back at him, as if he realises Ed is still here. “An emergency mission with the Team. Found a new meta facility. I... I have to go.”

Before he can say anything, Bart is gone. 

He screwed up, didn’t he?

When he quits the restroom, Ed wants to talk to Virgil, then remembers he left with the Team too. So he looks for Tye and Sam instead, clutching at his necklace, ignoring if he wants to keep it or tear it. They stay with him, a little away from the party, waiting for him to break in tears or get mad or anything, at least a reaction. But Ed just stay silent, still clutching the pendant.

The Team comes back few hours later with the rescuing metateens. Without the poncho, Ed tries to put a fake smile on his face while welcoming the new students. He avoids Bart’s look as best at he could, not sure what he would discover in his eyes. Tye and Sam joins him, both helping with his work and his feelings. He wants to go see Virgil so much to tell him what happened and ask how Bart was during the mission, his old self or not. But he has responsability first and those kids went on so much more trauma than he did this night. He isn’t a priority right now, no matter how his heart is currently a storm. 

After the welcoming and helping the kids have a room and rest before registration and all the administration work the next day, nobody has the heart for party anymore, tired from the mission. Ed goes to cleaning the room as an automate, his body moving so the mind doesn’t have to think or the heart to feel anymore. 

“Ed?”

With a blank mind, he doesn’t hear it at first. He notice the presence when a hand rests on his forearm. He turns himself to discover Bart, still in his hero costume, with an unsure look.

“Can– can we talk?” 

“You sure you want to talk?”

Bart doesn’t answer. Not with words. He cups his face and kisses him back. Well, with hours delay, certainly. But now, he isn’t afraid anymore of what could come next. Ed frozes an instant, melts in the softness again, taking Bart by the hips. He teleports them on the roof where nobody can see them, interupt them again, where he feels they’re alone in the world. 

“Why? Why did you do this?”

“Freaking out or kissing you?” he chucles nervously, a little out of breath. 

“Both.”

“Ed, I like you. But you don’t like me. You can’t. I’m not what I seem to be. You don’t like a real person. Just a joke.”

“I know you. You’re clever, funny, kind, you care of others. You’re stubborn and determined. Can you dare tell me there’s something wrong on that list? You can’t fake all those.”

“But you don’t know...”

“Your trauma? What you have been trough? It’s ok, you can tell me with time, when you’re ready. I will listen to you, I will confort you and I will still accept and love you after that. I won’t ask for it. I promise. We all have traumas. Heck, Gar said we can’t be true heroes without it, right? I hide sides of myself too, you know.”

Bart is looking at him, his eyes widened as he never sees them. But he can’t place what he sees though. What is hope? Acceptance? Realisation?

He cups his face, pushing him even closer to him, drying the tears forming with his thumbs.

“I know you think noone loves you, that you can’t be loved. I know it’s something you never knew or remembered, that you’re afraid of it. I promise you I do love you. I will show it to you, until you believe me and after.”

Bart bursts into tears, Ed holds him closer. He kisses his forehead, his eyelids, his cheeks, his lips. Bart hides his face in his neck, his scent calming his mind while Ed breathes in his hair, smelling the peach perfume. 

“You know, I was always afraid to hug you.”

“You can do it all the time you want. I don’t mind your crashing hugs”, he smile to his hair.

Bart kisses him again, more passionnate. Ed descends on his jaw, on his neck. He goes slow, doesn’t want to scare him, but still overwhelmed with hapiness and the love he can finally expresses.

“Ed...” Bart moans lightly.

The older boy quickly pushes away.

“You ok? Was it too much?”

“Sorry my skin is really sensitive and your slowliness excites me.”

“Ok, maybe it’s better if I stop.”

“Sorry.”

“It’s ok, don’t apologize.”

Bart hugs him, tears dry and his big smile back on his lips. 

“Oh, Ed?”

“Hm?”

“I lied to you...”

“About what?” 

“I was the one making the necklaces. I was afraid you find that weird.”

“So you have talent in your hands too? Not only the foot?” 

“We can say that.” And Ed can feel his smile against his neck. 

“It’s ok, chiquito. I like it even more.”

“So... Are we boyfriends now?”

“Do you want to?”

The little boy nods against his chest. Ed pets his hair, still can’t processing they had the same size merely a year ago. Bart vibrates in his arm, a quick regular path. The panic rises once more, not quite the same one. 

“Something wrong? Did I–?”

“I’m so happy! You’re my boyfriend now. We’re boyfriends!”

Ed smiles fondly at him, waiting for him to slow down to hold him closer as if he won’t ever let go. And maybe, in a way, it’s true.

“Te amo, novio mio.”

—————

Why I feel is worse than my previous pieces? --’ Sorry for the light angst by the way!

I know Ed is drawn after Spike Spiegel so I wanted to suggest someone new :) 

I totally see Tye casually dropping bombs like that. Was it ok? :/ What do you think of the other costumes? Oh, by the way, does someone know the accurate word for Tao’s “cape” in this show? It’s a poncho or something else?

Thanks to @gegeru I realised I wrote their first cosplay together and kiss for the @zetaflash-week day 1: firsts without even knowing it xD

Day 1 ; Day 2 ; Day 3 ; Day 4 ; Day 5 ; Day 6 ; Day 7

[ghost-nabbers-imagines]

📱 Found Phone: Larry x reader

I decided to do a lost phone au rather than switched phones au, this just was easier to write and came out way better imo. Hope you like it still. And it is gender neutral♡

My favorite band blared in my ears as the city bus drove down the road. It pulled up to one of the stops collecting two new passengars. The look of these two caught my eye. They both looked like they were my age, one a short blue haired boy wearing a prosthetic face and pigtails, the other a handsome tall guy with long brown hair.

I couldn't help but admire them on the bus ride. The brunette briefly caught my glance smiling at me, I smiled back looking away with a blush. Not too long after they had gotten off at a stop and they were gone just as quickly as they had appeared. I turned my attention to the new song that was playing until we pulled up to my stop. I jumped up and on my way off the bus I noticed a phone sitting in the spot where the brunette had been sitting. Looking around I grabbed the phone before shuffling off the bus.

When I made my way into the cafe my friend Alexis was waiting. I took a seat across from her a smile on my face. The waiter came over taking our orders as I anxiously waited to tell her about the mystery guy and his phone.

"Kay dude what's with the smile?"

"I just met the cutest guy on the bus! Ok well really didnt meet but saw."

"That's great babes. Did you get his number?"

"Well no but he left his phone."

"Dude! Why didnt you turn it into the bus driver?"

"What if, um, if he calls his own cell phone to find out who found it and I answer and we start talking and we fell in love. I mean wouldn't that be a great story? Kind of like a fairy tale for the digital age!"

"Yeah… That does sound great. What if he already has a (boyfriend/girlfriend/partner) and they call helping him look for it?"

"Well then I guess I'll just let them know to come pick it up."

"Ok sounds like a good plan. Before you start picking out wedding China why dont you look through the phone see what hes into first? For all you know he could be a total creep."

"Good idea! This is why we're friends."

I moved over next to her in the booth. It wasn't the latest phone but wasn't the oldest either. It had a crack on the corner but besides that looked in good shape. Luckily he didnt have a password set and we were able to get right into his phone. The lockscreen was a band logo for Sanitys fall and the wallpaper was a photo of him with a group including the blue haired guy from earlier. "Think he's dating the blue haired guy?" I asked observing the photo. "Nah look at the way that guys looking at the chick in purple. They're probably a thing." She suggested.

We opened his gallery next noticing it was full of more photos of the group including some where the blue haired guy and the girl in purple were acting very couple like. "Think this is his mom? Shes pretty." Alexis asked zooming in on the woman. "They do look exactly alike I bet so." I said with a nod. "I dont see any of his dad in here though. She also noticed. We switched albums seeing one labelled art, it was full of pictures of pages from sketch books to full on canvases all of beautiful artwork. "Damn he's pretty good dude!" Ehe exclaimed admiring a portrait of the woman we assumed was his mother. "Hes really talented!" I agreed shocked.

"Let's see who he texts most that will tell us who to call to get him his phone back and get you a date." Alexis suggested. I opened up his messages seeing the name Sally Face up top followed by mom. "Sally is a chick's names what if (she's his girlfriend already/he isnt into guys)?" I asked nervous. She put a comforting hand on my back clicking into the Sally Face convention. We scrolled through quickly realizing Sally was a nickname for a guy names Sal, the one from the bus. "Ok you've found no sound of him dating someone. Call Sal and tell him you found this Larry guys phone and you two need to meetup to get it back to him." Alexis said grinning like a Cheshire cat." I nodded taking a deep breath before pressing call. It rang for a few minutes before someone picked up.

"Hello?"

"Hi is this Sal? I found your friends phone on the bus. You were the last person he contacted so."

"Oh great someone found it! Hey Larry come here. "

"Hello? Sal tells me you found my phone."

"Hey yeah you left it on the bus. Is there somewhere we could meet up so I could return it to you?"

"That'd be awesome dude. Can you meet me at Addison Apartments? If not the lake or a restaurant in town would be fine."

"The apartments work. What apartment?"

"Just go out back theres a treehouse there say 6 tonight?"

"Ok see you then. Bye!"

"Bye!"

I hung up the phone smiling at Alexis. She high fived me smiling back. "Ok we're going shopping after this. I'm so excited!" She cheered clapping her hands. "Calm down we still dont know that he'll have any interest in me." I laughed. "Psh unless he's a blind idiot he won't! Now finish eating we have work to do!" She commanded sipping her drink. When we finished our food and paid ahe practically dragged me to the clothing stores near by. After about two hours of shopping I was dressed and looked super hot. At 6 she drove me to the apartments.

"You look great! Now go get your prince charming!" She cheered again. I rolled my eyes hugging her before making my way to the back of the apartments. Sure enough there was a big tree with a handmade treehouse nestled in its branches securely. Sanitys Fall could be heard playing from the top, this was definitely the right place. I climbed up the ladder seeing him sitting in a bean bag chair.

He looked up from his sketch book smiling. "Hey I assume you're the one who found my cell phone huh?" He asked setting his stuff to the side standing up. "Yep that was me." I beamed pulling his phone from my pocket handing it to him. "You're a life saver my dude. I'm Larry but I'm sure you saw that in the phone somewhere." He smiled extending his hand. I shook it smiling. "(Y/n). I'm just glad I found you." I smiled my cheeks probably getting red. "I'm lucky such a cute person found my phone." He winked making me blush more.

The two of us spent hours talking in his treehouse before his mom called him for dinner. When she noticed me she told him to invite me in for dinner as well. It was a lovely meal and I got to know them both pretty well. Larry and I practically kept flirting and had so much in common it was crazy. When he walked me out that night he handed me his phone again. "Put your number in this time cutie." He said with a wink. And that was just the beginning of our long happy relationship.

~Lex💛

[thatlesbiannudistcult-stories]

Finding Goddess (Chapter 13)

Breakfast was always best when it was eaten with Carol. Not because she was the best cook or anything, but for the simple reason that Katherine was being served by her surrogate mommy! Seeing the older woman roam around the kitchen, pulling various things out of the fridge and cupboards and mixing them together over a hot stove turned her on in more ways than one. Especially since Carol did it wearing nothing but an apron. Seeing her breasts jiggle against the cloth like they were trying to break free while the raven-headed woman's bare butt peaked out adorably from behind was unbelievably sexy. Katherine couldn't imagine anything more mom-like if she tried!

It was enough to make her sigh as she stepped out of the apartment and into her car. She didn't want to go to work. She wanted to stay with her naked mommy, have some more fun with her, marvel at her beautiful body, just for a little while longer. Fate robbed her of the opportunity to spend any quality time with her biological mother; why couldn't she spend all the time she wanted to with her sexy fake mother? Speaking of which, said sexy fake mother was exiting the apartment, no doubt to head out for work herself. She looked the part; her hair was neatly combed, her face was done up, and she had her purse and her briefcase in her hands. The only thing she didn't have were her clothes. She had walked outside stark naked! Katherine completely blanched. What is she...how did...her naked problem! It must be kicking in again! "Mom, Carol, wait!" Katherine shouted as she flung her door open. It was too late. Carol had already slammed her own shut and was pulling out of her building's meager parking lot. Katherine had to act fast! She was parked on the other side of the street opposite her lover's place. If she ran quick enough, maybe, just maybe she could slam into Carol's car and get her attention. Unfortunately, she wasn't quick enough. By the time the black girl's foot hit the sidewalk, Carol was already on the road and zooming away, her car rapidly disappearing over the horizon. Putting more and more distance between her and her clothes. Katherine had to admit, the idea of Carol driving around town and going to work in the buff was really hot! Who knows just how many people's days she would make stepping into the office bouncing breasts first? But...more likely than not, she would just get arrested if she did that. And fired! And Katherine couldn't let that happen, not to her mommy! She whipped out her phone and began texting furiously. She had to tell Carol, had to warn her! Calling her would be better, but knowing the nudist woman, she wouldn't answer it in the car. She was too responsible like that. So Katy did the next best thing: she spammed her girlfriend with messages! 'mom ur naked' 'get dressed' 'hurry' 'gr8 ass btw' Hopefully, the constant stream of alerts would get Carol's attention before she got out of her car and exposed herself to everyone. Because if they didn't... Katherine jumped. She thought she heard a loud screech off in the distance. It sounded like some kind of screaming machine. Or some kind of screaming person. She couldn't be sure. Maybe it was both; a screaming robot person. That would be something. The roaring hum of rolling tires and panicked machinery grew louder as a familiar-looking car suddenly appeared and started to zoom its way in her direction. But before Katherine could utter a sigh of relief over her message to Carol coming through, she was forced to jump back as the car came to a very sudden and very dangerous halt, spinning a near 180 degrees on the road as a certain someone slammed on the brakes a little too hard. SCRRREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAAAAAAA! The tires screamed as they grinded on the pavement, no doubt leaving rubber skids marks behind. "EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!" The tires' screams turned into Carol's as she flew out of her car in a mad panic, nearly knocking Katherine over as she blazed past her, naked and barefoot as the day she was born. Katherine was amazed the apartment building didn't get itself a new Carol-shaped window. *** The blush didn't fade from either Carol's face or her body. Not while she dressed herself. Not while she got back in her car. Not while she drove to work. Not while she entered the building, rode the elevator, and walked into the office. And it still didn't fade as gravity all but kicked her into her chair with a steel-toed boot. It still burned her every inch of skin, making her look and feel like a lobster in a pot of boiling water. Red, hot, cramped, and ready to blow up at a moment's notice. She thought she was going to get better, but she wasn't. She was getting worse. The thought to put her clothes on didn't cross her mind at all this morning. If Katherine hadn't been there, if Katherine hadn't warned her in time, if Carol's phone had been muted...she would never have realized that she had gone to work butt-naked until it was too late! Waiting out whatever condition was afflicting her wasn't going to do it. Carol had to...had to...had to do something to put an end to it! Because if she didn't, then she'd... "Hey, Carol! Working hard, or hardly working?" Carol stifled both a groan and the urge to bang her head on her desk. A talk with the office clown was the last thing she needed right now. "Not now, Harold," she mumbled. "I'm not having the best day right now." "Sorry to hear that," said her well-meaning co-worker. "What's been going on? Anything I can do to help?" "No there isn't. And I don't wanna talk about it," Carol muttered, too tired and surly to think up a proper excuse. Harold looked like he had more to say, but before he could so much as get another word in, a new voice suddenly spoke up. "Um, Miss...Connors is it?" Carol looked up to see who else decided it was their goddess-given duty to aggravate her and once more resisted the urge to bang her head on the her desk. Of all the people who had to approach her at this bitter hour, it had to be none other than the new intern. The cute, innocent-looking, bespectacled one she nearly bumped into yesterday, and who put all kinds of dirty thoughts into her head. "Yes?" she snapped, not bothering to hide her annoyance. She regretted it immediately when she saw the girl wilt behind the stacks of papers and folders she was holding. "I-I've been told to pass this onto you," the intern stammered. "Elaine Cassidy will be coming in today. They want you to speak to her about her work-in-progress." The blood finally drained from Carol's face. "Elaine...Cassidy? Oh Goddess, no..." The intern wasn't done talking. "And, since they don't know when she'll be here, they want you stationed in Writer's Room 3 for the day so she can have her meeting with you as soon as she gets here." Carol didn't bang her head on her desk, but she did lower her head onto it, burying it in her arms if only to give herself the illusion that she was actually hiding. Because the Goddess only knew how much she really needed to hide! She couldn't see the intern's face, but she was certain the poor girl was likely confused. "And, uh...they suggested you read over her manuscript while you wait for her. To review what you think needs to be revised and all." "Noooooooooooo," Carol moaned into her arms, really wanting to cry right now. "Um, that's all I had to say, so...bye!" said the intern. The rapid padding of her feet indicated she was scurrying away as fast as she could. No doubt she wasn't very comfortable speaking to Carol either. "Goddess damn son of a..." Carol muttered as she pushed herself up, pausing only to meet the baffled gaze of Harold. "Why are you looking at me like that? And what are you still doing here?" "Elaine...Cassidy?" he said. "Is she by any chance related to Jay Elliot Cassidy?" "Yes. She's the daughter of our company's bestselling author," said Carol. "And honestly, that's the only reason she's given the time of day here." "I take it she's a difficult person to work with?" "Difficult, annoying, immature, unprofessional, and very pretentious," said Carol giving her head a rub to soothe the headache that was starting to make itself known. "She thinks she's the Goddess' gift to writing, but she's not. She's terrible! She feels the need to describe every goddesss-damn little thing and action. She spent five whole pages describing a woman putting groceries away! Five pages! Of 'she put this in the fridge and that in the fridge and this in the fridge.' And three whole paragraphs talking about how handsome a man's chin was! I have never read anything more grueling and tedious in my life! And if you try to tell her what's wrong, she gets snippy and accuses you of just not getting her 'art!' It's just...AGGGHHHHH!" "Sounds...difficult," said Harold unhelpfully. "Any idea why they're having you talk to her?" "No clue at all," said Carol. "Maybe I'm the only person here she'll kind of sort of listen to? Or maybe this whole universe just hates me? I don't know!" "I see," said Harold. "By the way, what is this goddess you keep mentioning?" Carol raised an eyebrow worryingly. "G-goddess?" "Yeah, you keep saying 'goddess.' Often wherever most people would say 'god.' Is this some kind of new expression going around? Or did you convert to a new religion?" "I...haven't converted to anything," stammered Carol, who was starting to feel awfully hot again. Hot...and sweaty. "I...I have to go to the Writer's Room right now." "Yeah, I guess you should," said Harold. "Good luck! May the Goddess, whoever she is, be with you for your meeting with Miss Cassidy!" Carol grumbled at his quip as she grabbed her things and got a move on, though she couldn't help but wish it would actually be true. Goddess knew she could really use a...goddess. *** It was called the Writer's Room not because it was where people went to write, but because it was typically where writers would go to talk business with the good people of the Trilo Publishing Company. It and its sister rooms were cozy little places that offered plenty of privacy not found in the rest of the office, making them especially ideal for an author to learn from a copy editor like Carol why their book was trash and why they were trash for writing it. That's what Carol wanted to tell Elaine the second the little bitch set foot inside anyway. Going over her text like she had been for the past 30 minutes was darkening the mother's already foul mood. 'First she pulled out the milk and she put that in the fridge. Then she pulled out the juice and she put that in the fridge. Then she pulled out the bananas and she put those in the fridge...' "For fuck's sake, you don't put bananas in the fridge!" she roared, resisting her every urge to hurl the computer monitor at the wall. "This idiot knows nothing! How much longer does this go for? Goddess...did she jot down her grocery list during a bad case of writer's block or what? No, I doubt she's ever had to go grocery-shopping in her life. Damn it, my daughters wrote more engaging shit in first grade!" Carol took an angry sip of her coffee, all the while secretly wishing it was wine. Being drunk was the only thing that would make reading this crap bearable. Her wish intensified the moment the bitter-tasting liquid hit her lips. "Gah! Too hot! Too hot!" she sputtered, hastily stowing the mug on the edge of her desk. "Looks like it's going to be another rotten day," she grumbled, dropping her head despondently into her hand. It was bad enough she'd have to talk to someone as irritating as Elaine, but did the wait have to be so grueling too? She scrolled ahead into the document. Maybe there was a better, more engaging passage later on. Stories tended to be a lot more iffy on the early parts after all. Perhaps Elaine found her voice on page 100 or so? 'Like a billion rays of brilliant gilded sunshine did his hair flutter and fly in the breeze, twirling like the spinning whirlpools that were likely spinning somewhere in the azul-coloured ocean from which the waves crashed on the beach they were both standing on like two tall statues standing in the dawn. She loved his hair. She loved that about him. She would jump in and dive in it if she could, she would paddle, swim, and kick in it like it was the cerulean ocean that was meeting the beach they were both standing on, she would wear it on her body like a new dress bought at the store. That was how much she loved his hair. That was how much she loved Jones, but which she could never find the lexemes or vocables to inform him of that emotion she felt. Just like how she loved his chin. It was magnificently square, it kind of reminded her of a big rock and it...' "Ohhhhh Goooooooodeeeeesssssssss," Carol groaned, rubbing her head. This hurt so much that she swore her brain was trying to break out of her skull just to be free of this madness. Reading this text couldn't be good for anybody's health, and she was expected to pore over it for possibly HOURS? "I can't do this," she breathed as she minimized the document on the computer screen. "I need to read something better. Something more engaging. Something..." Her eyes fell down to her purse, where the Scripture of Zenriah was peering out at her like a mischievous kitten just begging to be petted. "Something...erotic," she whispered before snatching it up in her greedy hands. *** And so the Goddess could love and be loved eternally as ever She desired, but nay, the same could not be said of Her wives. For though they ever basked in the love of their Goddess, never could they sing they their love for Her as ever as they wished. Every hour of every day and every hour of every night rang with the hymn of Zenriah and a hundred scores of Her wives, and yet in those times were hundred scores more who could not sing with Her. It was in those periods of silence where new songs would have to be sung in ways never sung to the Goddess before. Arnessi yearned for her Goddess in Her hours of absence, so she took to wallowing and bathing in the clay from which all Womankind was made. She let it drip and she let it seep upon her form until it enwombed her from toe tip to hair tip, and then she let it seep within her woman. For Arnessi knew that the Goddess had once touched these pools of creation and in doing so, mayhap She was touching her once more. In her singing and her bucking and her blossoming, Arnessi learned she too could shape the clay like the Goddess had before. By embracing it with her arms and kneading it in her hands, by smothering it in her chest, and enclosing it in her bloom, Arnessi was able to create a still being in the image of Zenriah. Enraptured by her creation, Arnessi sought to create more. Statue after statue of the Goddess did she create, each more beautiful and more perfect than the last. More came to look upon what Arnessi had made and like her, they too were struck with love by the image of their Goddess. And so they joined Arnessi in her creation. Through smothering of lips and licking of tongues and of blooming of flowers and quaking of yoni, they sent ripples through the lakes of mud, they pushed rock and stone, they reshaped earth, erected mountains, split canyons, sprinkled dust, and cooled lava. When they were done, they made the first and greatest sculpture in all the history of Womankind. A home fit for a Goddess, Her Wives, Her consorts, and Her children. She made the Temple of Zenriah. And so she became known as Arnessi the Builder... ... The Goddess and the fire. For Kinuse, these were the only passions that mattered. When with the fire, she yearned for the Goddess. When with the Goddess, she yearned for the fire. For though Woman was a creature prone to dripping and flowing and running as water dripped and flowed and ran, was she not also fire given physical form? Did Woman not dance as fire danced? Did Woman not warm as fire warmed? Did Woman not tremble in the throes of passion as fire trembled? Did Woman not lick the petals of her being as fire licked? When Kinuse did not lay with Zenriah, when Kinuse did not lay with Woman, then Kinuse did lay with fire. And she loved it in all the ways that she loved Goddess and Woman! If fire could love Kinuse as Woman loved her, then could it not love the Goddess as Woman loved Her as well? So Kinuse bathed in only the purest of oils, shorn of the blood of fallen trees and leviathans. She spread it across her flesh, soaked it into her hair, and let it flow into the valleys of her posterior and of her labia until it became that of another skin over her form. And then she set herself aflame. Wreathed in fire and ensconced in flame and embroiled in light and emanating of heat, Kinuse presented herself to the Goddess in all her fiery glory and she began to dance. She thrust her breasts into the air, she twirled her hair round in circles, she splayed her legs and kicked them skyward to show her Goddess the glowing embers of her womanhood. And she burned all throughout. From her hair and from her hand and from her feet and from her nips, the flames danced and they dazzled and cast wondrous shadows all around Kinuse as the sun sank and the moon rose. All looked upon Kinuse as she danced with stars in their eyes, enchanted by the lights that never illuminated their nights in all the centuries they had lived through before. And none were more delighted than Zenriah. No longer able to contain Herself, the Goddess took to a lioness stalking her prey and pounced upon Her fiery lover with a hunger never known before. Licking the rosebud of the Goddess with her tongue and her hands and her breasts and her body and her flames, Kinuse proved that Woman was indeed a creature of fire as much as she was a being of water. For four days she burned until finally the Goddess' pleasure quenched her with a wave of infinite love, and with it went Kinuse's wakefulness. She laid happily in the pool of her Beloved's loving essence, completely unburned and unscorched by a force fatal to lesser beings made not by divine hands. ... And so Kinuse the Unburned became a holy flame to illuminate the Goddess's Temple and Her growing city forevermore. ... Enamored by the flowers, Lila... *** "Hey, old lady! Old ladyyyyyy? Wake up! I'm right here! HellOOOOOOO? Is anyone home?" Old lady? Looking up from her book with an indignant scowl, Carol growled: "Who are you calling—" Oh. It was her. She recognized that bleached blond hair and that snooty glare any day of the week. It was Elaine Cassidy, looking like she always did: like she owned the place and that the world revolved around her. Just seeing her made Carol want to wretch. Sadly, that was just another one of many things Carol couldn't do thanks to the demands of life and especially of her job. The only thing she could do was put on her biggest fake smile and pretend that everything was just dandy right now. No matter how much it hurt her soul or her face. "Oh, Miss Cassidy, what a pleasure it is to <>see</i> you a...see you a..." Her voice trailed off. Her fake smile flickered and a cold chill fell over her whole body. Not a metaphorical chill used to illustrate a sudden sense of unease, but a very literal chill that blew all over her skin from the office's air conditioning, causing goose bumps to rise over nearly every inch of her exposed flesh. It hit all the parts of her that it normally did, like her face and her neck and her hands. And it hit all the parts of her that it normally didn't as well. Like her shoulders, her back, her stomach, her thighs, her feet, and especially her breasts. I didn't. She looked down. To her horror, it turned out she very much did! Caroline Connors was sitting at the desk, in her workplace, before a very important client for her company. And she was completely naked!

[yoiotdfics]

Fic Recs for June 2017

Here are all the fics we rec’ed for the month of June.  I’m hoping to have the bonus rec list up today or tomorrow.. :)

Umm, You’re In My Bath

Harky21

Summary:

Footsteps sound out in the hall and Yuuri’s eyes immediately snap open. No one should be out right now. Technically Yuuri shouldn’t even be out right now. It was past curfew. He shifts slightly in the water hoping that the steps will continue past the door, but they don’t. They stop and then the door handle starts jiggling and he hears muttering.

Or Yuuri’s just wants a nice calm bath, but then Victor happens

based off of Moose’s amazing art and own Harry Potter AU

Scratches on Ice

ClioSelene

Summary:

Yuuri is sick, with everyone around him trying to relieve his pain. Or not. Lots of fluff anyway.

Smoke & Stones

94mercy

Summary:

Mari is five years old and she is watching her little sister grow inside her mother’s stomach. Mari is eighteen years old and she is watching her little brother’s obsession decorate his room in more merchandise than any one person should own. Mari is twenty-four years old and she is watching her little brother leave his family behind to chase his dreams. Mari is thirty years old and she is watching her little brother fall in love.

or

snapshots from the Katsuki siblings’ lives wherein Mari attempts to be the best sister that’s ever existed

we were never perfect (but i love you just the same)

wartransmission

Summary:

Life and love can never be perfect for all that people try and make it to be, but Viktor and Yuuri are doing their best to make it work.

(In which Yuuri is stubborn and refuses to rest, and Viktor is very in love and very concerned. What’s new, really?)

Four kittens and one cat

UMsArchive

Summary:

“Sometimes, a family can be two dads and four kittens-” He pauses. “-and a fifth older cat - there’s still Puma Tiger Scorpion under our tutelage.”

Shear Genius

Beltenebra

Summary:

Victor persuades Yuri to take a risk and try a new hairstyle. He’s unsure but Otabek is just the person to help.

Freeways, Boyfriends, and Great Deals on Wholesale Food

icandrawamoth

Summary:

Yuuri is an anxious driver at the best of times, let alone rush hour in a strange city. His boyfriends are varying degrees of helpful. Also, Chris has an unhealthy obsession with wholesale food stores.

eight inches

viktores_secret

Summary:

“Boys and girls are not to be within eight inches of each other.” Dolores gave the rule, but Viktor clearly wasn’t listening.

Shards of a Broken Heart

Cherry101

Summary:

Sometimes, if Yuri zoomed in on the picture, he could fool himself into believing that Otabek was alone - that the captioned message was for him, for Yuri, not for anybody else.

Sometimes, if he closed his eyes and sprayed the cologne he still continuously bought, he could pretend that the scent was Otabek himself, still with him, living with him.

~~~~~

Or, the aftermath of a failed relationship, told by Yuri.

when your hands leap towards mine, love

foxinsocksinabox

Summary:

The opening notes of an Debussy’s Première Arabesque cut through the air like rain on glass. It’s slower than Victor’s heard it played before, and something about it sounds- lonely. Wistful, almost. Somehow it suits the quiet and the early hour, and before he knows it, Victor’s hooked, as surely as if he was a fish on a line.

Finders Keepers

larkscape

Summary:

His name is Puma Tiger Scorpion the Great and he is the Emperor of the Plisetsky and Baranovskaya households.

If I Can’t Kiss Him

Val_Creative

Summary:

“You’re really pretty when you’re not scowling.”

above, below, by you, by you surrounded

seventhstar

Summary:

twenty two year old yuuri katsuki finds himself in st. petersburg, two years in the future, in the apartment where his future self and his fiance, viktor nikiforov, live.

of course they have a threesome.

pretty as a picture

rovio

Summary:

In retrospect, Grandpa should’ve left the old photos of his hot friend in the attic.

Seriously.

Fighting Evil By Moonlight

chromyrose

Summary:

Viktor Nikiforov, aka Sailor Moon, is torn between the cute, shy boy who won’t give him the time of day, and the dashing hero Tuxedo Mask.

Oh, the Horror!!

BrinThePuffling

Summary:

“No offense, Vitya…” Yuuri started slowly, “but you got scared watching The Princess and the Frog.”

In which Viktor wants to play horror games with Yuuri and Yuuri prepares himself for weeks of sleeping with the lights on.

Chills and a Fever

mypoorfaves

Summary:

Exactly what the title says. Requested by an anon on tumblr.

The Name Game

GoodbyeBlueMonday

Summary:

It’s the discussion every soon-to-be-married couple must have at some point: what to do with their names.

Yuuri and Victor take an interesting route to that decision.

(Rated T for discussion of boners/masturbation and Yurio’s swearing.)

Love notes

Rosesnfeathers

Summary:

Yuri comes back from a week in Almaty with Otabek sad and frustrated that nothing happened like he was hoping for. That is until he finds a little note in his pocket…

A Roommate’s Solemn Duty

icandrawamoth

Summary:

“What kind of roommate would I be if I didn’t take you on a little adventure every now and then?” Phichit asks with feigned seriousness. “It’s my duty as your best friend.”

Thin Ice

foxsgloves

Summary:

Sara wants to distract herself after a fight with Mickey. Mila is there to help with hot chocolate, boob jokes, and lifts across the ice.

Home Videos

GoodbyeBlueMonday

Summary:

Victor doesn’t believe Yuuri’s family that he’s been in love with him forever, but they have video proof. Cue a delighted Victor and a mortified Yuuri, but it all works out in the end.

I Have You Now My Pretty

peabrain

Summary:

The Katsuki-Nikiforovs are not abundantly skilled in roleplay.

But they are abundant in love.

Bare Emotions

Val_Creative

Summary:

There’s still intensive schooling and extracurricular, for a professional skating career — and it turns out Seung-gil attends online courses, including drawing and illustrative art. Phichit can’t be too sure why Seung-gil approached him outside the plaza, for the favor, but he’s happy to help. Even if it involves stripping off his clothes in the heavily air-conditioned room.

At Your Mercy

spicysizzle

Summary:

An innocent foot massage becomes a little bit steamy, but neither Yuuri nor Viktor seem to mind. [a.k.a Viktor’s Service Kink]

Much Ado About Nothing

TheCasualPasserby

Summary:

Two fandoms, both alike in dignity (At Skate Canada, where the world’s best compete), Begin a violent war quite suddenly Provoked by one night’s worth of angry Tweets. Within these fandoms are two skating fans Who like each other just for who they are Together they will spite the fandom ban And thus begins our story most bizarre.

tl;dr: What if a member of Yuri’s Angels fell in love with a member of JJ’s Girls?

It’s a Sign

LittleLostStar

Summary:

Five times Victor and Yuuri escalate the Silly Signs Held Up At Airport Arrival Terminals War, and one time Victor wins without using a sign at all.

taste of you

rkez

Summary:

A little ficlet I wrote for yurionicekinkweek :) It was meant for Day 1: drunk sex, but I ended up adding a few other prompt ideas

In Over Their Heads

Salmon_I

Summary:

“Okay, so now it’s all over the web, and the reporters are starting to drop hints because they want to break the story. Except there is no story.”

A misunderstanding, a meddling best friend, and a phony engagement.

Coach Yuuri

Coyoteclaw11

Summary:

Written as a fill for the prompt: Victor is the younger fanboy and Yuuri is the older star skater. Victor still shows up in Hasetsu, but because he NEEDS a coach.

–

Viktor lifted his thumb from his phone, watching the “transaction complete!” pop up confirm his purchase of a one-way ticket to Hasetsu, Japan. This was it. This was his chance.