#Two lunch boxes in one episode!

[piperamitt]

Did you guys know Poof has a Crash Nebula lunch box? If not...

Now you do.

[raviniaraven]

I gotta draw more Skultech. Feeling the need to remind people that they're canon

[emptyjunior]

Can I say how much I love how Ouran High School handles the rich boy/poor girl in love trope. 

Like I absolutely believe it’s discussions about classism and elitism to this Day still hold up! 

I will admit there is so much weird stuff in ouran😭, but we see the Handsome ‘Unlimited Money’ Male Lead a LOT in anime and I feel ouran gets a lot of points of the characterisation SO right, that a lot of other shows just don’t! 

Ouran does the whole love story/harem/all the boys want brown hair girl that we project on, trope. Like they do that, but they show that at the foundation, the root of all of it, those rich boys are JEALOUS. They aren’t approaching Haruhi with the need to protect and own her, at their core the rich are envious of her! Even though they have everything, they want what she has! 

Like we see in the real world with how the rich cosplay as poor! And say "ohhhh I'm so broke please venmo me for lunch" and wear their ripped jeans and strained sweaters and take pictures at the met gala with a box of McDonalds fries in their hand. 

The classist comments made towards Haruhi ARE comedic relief, but the joke isn’t on characters like Haruhi, the joke is on THEM. 

They are the ones who can’t do anything! They are the ones who are stilted and emotionally closed off! They are the ones who can’t make an instant coffee or go to a mall without help! 

THAT is why Haruhi is the center of this harem, why she is the one they’re chasing. They are jealous of her insight and world experience from living independently, from living a REAL life. That is her enviable trait. Haruhi GETS people! And they don’t. Their wealth has isolated them and now there is a barrier between these characters and the rest of the world and they have no idea how to navigate it. 

And this is the foundation of 90% of the problems/conflict in the show! 

The holiday ep when Hikaru has feelings because Haruhi reconnects with Nice Guy Arai? Hikaru says he doesn’t like this guy for all these reasons and most of them are like ‘he’s just some nobody from nothing who only knows Haruhi cause they went to some stupid public school together’. Like okay? Haruhi has all of those ‘bad traits’ as well but you still seem to like her?  

Because it’s not about that, it’s never about that, it’s not even about the love rival/romance angle (at least not completely).  

Hikaru is scared and embarrassed! He already was when they got there, when these rich boys crashed Haruhi’s summer to find out she is an employee here and she is working with her own two hands. This is not a break for her! And then he’s so worried when Haruhi and Arai find each other because what they have is so untouchable to him. Same background, same class, they can meet each other’s needs! And know the other's needs! And this is a chasm that Hikaru has no idea how to cross so he starts lashing out. 

And that episode concludes with Hikaru being told about Haruhi’s fear of thunderstorms, finally actually listening and empathizing with what that means, and then going to her and giving her the stuff she needs to deal with that problem (blanket, headphones, support, protection etc.). 

He has to LEARN that none of those poor people inherently know all this secret knowledge! They just care and ask each other stuff! You can ask Haruhi what she's afraid of and then help her with that! It was always this simple! Just because you’re not the same class as her and knowing her isn’t as easy as it is with people the same as you, doesn’t mean you’ll never know! Learn! Listen! Keep trying! 

Ouran shows their rich characters being hurt by their wealth. Their elitists mindset does NOT benefit them and they’re only narratively rewarded when they break out of it, THAT’S why the arcs are so good. 

(And also while we’re here, I LOVE when they do eps that show Tamaki’s character is actually a parallel of Haruhi’s. Tamaki grew up as an illegitimate child, hidden away in France with his mother. He knows what it is to not be at the top of the food chain, and he learns the skills to keep living! Tamaki is a survivor in a world run by a man who was ashamed of him and did not want him. That can destroy a child, but Tamaki doesn’t let it. He learns how to work people and he learns that belief in yourself is the most powerful asset someone can have. And this is the life experience he imparts onto Kyoya and this SAVES Kyoya, who was barreling towards a black pit of despair and chasing his father’s shadow. The ‘poor’ characters of this show have power that the rich people desperately desire, and in the end they learn that it’s not something you take it’s something you build for yourself.) 

[celiastjamesoscar]

Clean

Pairings: Natasha Romanoff x fem!reader

Summary: when Natasha comes back hurt from a mission, she lets you clean her wounds.

Warnings: fluff, light cussing, mentions of sex, jokes about kidnapping, reader being a menace

My Masterlist

Word Count: 3.6K

AN: this is probably the softest fic I have ever written 💀

The sound of soft footsteps echoed throughout the compound as Natasha made her way into the kitchen. She quietly opened a cabinet and grabbed a bowl along with the box of Raisin Bran. She set the bowl down on the island before moving to the fridge and grabbing some milk, and then she made herself a bowl of cereal.

Today had been one of the rougher missions she's been on; it was supposed to be a simple bag and grab, but Hydra agents had gotten the drop on them, and she came back battered and bruised. Along with the bruises, Natasha had minor cuts littering her body, and a small jolt of pain ran through her body every time she moved.

You had warned Natasha not to go on the mission; it sounded too easy. And now, as she sat on the couch and rewatched her comfort episodes of New Girl, she wished that she had listened to you. You were always the wiser one in the relationship, and Natasha sometimes hated that about you. You would always try and talk her out of doing risky missions and she rarely listened to you. She was scared to face your wrath, so she wasted as much time as possible before entering your shared bedroom.

You had joined the Avengers as a surgeon; you were one of the country's best and met Natasha during one of her missions. She was undercover at a bar in Italy when she saw you.

It was a rowdy Friday night, and Natasha’s target was at the same bar. You had accidentally bumped into her, causing her to ruin her dress, and naturally, she was bitchy with you for it. You ushered out a plethora of apologies; you told her that you were only here because your friend had dragged you here but then left once she found someone to hook up with, causing you to be stressed, and that’s why you accidentally ran into her.

You bought her a drink as an apology, and she gladly accepted it. You wanted to talk to her, but she told you she had some business to take care of once she saw her target leave the building.

“See you in a minute, yeah?” She asked once she finished her drink and placed her hand on your arm, giving it a gentle squeeze. “Of course,” you replied, smiling as you watched the redhead leave the bar. Natasha was a willow, and she bent right to your wind, begging you to take her hand and meet her after dark.

Naturally, you didn’t see the woman again, and you felt ashamed for getting your hopes up. Eventually, you saw Natasha again in the same bar, and this time, she bought you a drink. The two of you conversed back and forth about your lives, even though you suspected she wasn’t telling you the whole truth about her job.

“I do background checks at the Smithsonian Museum in Washington,” Natasha said as she sipped her drink. You lightly laughed at her words but didn’t pry; you knew she was lying because her forest-green eyes refused to meet yours for over three seconds. You told her that you were a surgeon at one of the hospitals in New York City, and when she asked what specialty you are, you told her trauma.

The pair talked into the hours of the night, and when it came time to leave, Natasha asked you for your number, and you happily gave it to her. You spent one more week with Natasha before you returned to New York, and it was the best week of your life. You went on lunch dates with her every day she was free, and you quickly bonded with the woman.

When it came time for you to leave, you kissed Natasha’s cheek as you stood outside her apartment with a bouquet of lavender and violets. “I’m heading back to New York at 3 today, and I just wanted to say goodbye before I left,” you said with a smile, but your eyes had pain in them as you handed Natasha her flowers. She smiled at them and welcomed you into her apartment while she put them in flowers. The apartment was bare of any photos except a few that you could tell were of a fake family near the fireplace in the living room.

Take-out containers were in the trash can, while the fridge had a scarce amount of food in it. You weren’t naïve; all the signs you had picked up on that Natasha was a spy. You had dipped your toes in this line of work before; you had worked with Interpol for a year and a half before switching to medicine, so you knew all the signs.

When Natasha returned after putting the flowers in a vase, she invited you to watch a movie with her until your flight, and you gladly accepted it. When the clock hit one, you pulled your head up from Natasha’s lap and grabbed your things. “See you in a minute, Natasha,” you said as you kissed her cheek again and disappeared down the hallway.

Naturally, when Natasha returned to the States, she ran your name across all kinds of databases, and eventually, she found you. She read your file a dozen times: graduated high school as the valedictorian with enough college credit to be an incoming sophomore, finished a year early in criminal Justice, and soon worked with Interpol as a spy. You spent 18 months with Interpol before an injury threw you out, and that’s when you switched to medicine.

Just like high school, you graduated at the top of your class and got an internship at one of the best prestigious hospitals in the country. You’ve been there for roughly a year now, but you were one of the best residents there.

You weren’t even back home for three weeks when an agent from SHIELD asked you if you would like a job offer at Stark Tower. At first, you were a bit shocked at the offer, but when you entered the first floor of the Stark Building, and you saw your redhead, you knew it was her doing.

“It’s nice to see you again,” Natasha said with a sly grin as she led you through the luxurious building and toward a room with ‘T. Stark’ on the name mantle beside the door. You give her a questioning look before entering the room. “Good luck,” Natasha said gently before leaving you alone with the genius, billionaire, playboy, and philanthropist.

The interview went well, aside from the fact that Tony kept hitting on you, and you were offered the job of a head surgeon. The salary was definitely an increase, and it had much better benefits than your old job, plus, you would get to see Natasha a lot more, so of course you took the offer.

One week into your new job and Natasha asked you on a date. It was nothing fancy; a picnic date on the top of Stark Tower, but you would be lying if it weren’t the best date you’d ever been on. You two talked and drank a bottle of Dom Perignon deep into the night, and when it was time to go your separate ways, Natasha pulled you into a soft and gentle kiss. It’s been eight months since Natasha started calling you hers, and she’s never been happier.

However, as she recalls all the happy memories since the start of your beautiful and gentle relationship, she gets called back into reality when she hears soft footsteps echo off the walls. She held her breath and prepared for the scolding that she would inevitably receive, but to her surprise, it was Wanda up looking for a light night snack. “Trouble in paradise?” Wanda asked as she grabbed her own stash of pop-tarts; no one dared to mess with Thor’s.

Natasha sighed at Wanda’s words; the poor girl was on the same mission as her, and Wanda knew how badly Natasha was banged up. “No, I just know that Y/N is going to have my head when she sees how bad it is,” Natasha said with a defeated sigh as Wanda walked over to her.

The Sokovian placed her hand on Natasha’s shoulder and gently squeezed it, “I wish you the best of luck with your lady; may your survival be long,” Wanda joked as she walked off.

“May your death be quick,” Natasha mumbled under her breath once Wanda left the room. She finished up her cereal and cleaned the bowl and spoon before she tipped-toed to your shared bedroom. The Russian quietly opened the door and gently climbed into bed, wrapping her arms around your waist and pulling you into her. You sighed at the contact before subconsciously nudging your head into your girlfriend’s neck.

“Where were you?” You mumbled into the crook of Natasha’s neck before kissing her clothed collarbone. “I had an amazing day, love. I’m so glad you asked,” Natasha joked as she pulled you closer and kissed the top of your head.

You groaned at Natasha’s words before nudging your head against the redhead’s chest. “Life360 said you got home an hour ago, Nat. So where were you?” You asked as sleep left your body. Natasha knew that this conversation could go one of two ways: she could be honest with you and have you scold her, or she could lie and have you not find out until training in the morning and then have you scold her. “I'm cheating on you,” Natasha lied.

“Seriously, Natasha? I'm not going to fall for that,” you stated. The last time she had pulled that was when she snuck out at midnight to watch Barbie with Clint. When she told you she was cheating on you, you went ballistic; you were on the verge of throwing her off a cliff until you saw a pink box in her purse backpack.

“Natasha, what’s this?” You had asked as you made your way over toward her bag. She tried to stop you, but you were too quick, and you pulled out a Barbie doll from its box. “Did you go watch Barbie without me?”

“Y/N, I love you so much, but this was the only time Clint could go with me. You are so beautiful,” Natasha said while making her way over to you. “I bought you the Barbie and car the theater was selling.”

You scoffed at Natasha’s words before setting the Barbie down on your dresser along with the car. “I want to wrap my hands around your neck and not let go, but I’m going to let it slide: on one condition,” you stated as you walked back to Natasha and stopped before her.

“Yes, anything.”

“I get to be on bottom for a week, no questions asked.”

“Deal.”

See, Natasha was one of those people who will lie only when the truth sounds like a lie, and you quickly found that out after that incident.

Pulling back from the memory, Natasha wrapped her arms around you tighter and whispered, “Promise me you won’t get mad?”

“Depends on what it is,” you replied. Natasha took a deep breath and kissed your head once and then twice before speaking, “The mission went a little south today, but I’m okay.”

At the mention of the mission going wrong, you pushed yourself up and the bed and turned on the lamp next to the bed. “What happened, Natasha? Are you alright? I swear to god if someone hurt you,” you trailed off at the end at the thought of losing your lover. “I’m fine, detka. Don’t worry,” Natasha replied as she gently grabbed your hands at the hems of her shirt.

“Natasha,” you warned as your eyes pierced the other soul; she knew you could be intense, especially regarding her safety and well-being. The Russian groaned at your words before allowing you to take her shirt off, and her heart broke at the small gasp that left your lips.

“I told you it’s not bad,” Natasha joked as you pulled her into the bathroom and flipped on the lights. You motioned for her to sit on the sink while you looked through the cabinets for a first aid kit. Now that you were in better lighting, you could see all the cuts and bruises that littered your other half’s body. There was hardly enough skin that wasn't either turning a dark purple or that didn’t have a cut on it; you didn’t know whether to scold her for being so reckless or to cherish her for still being here with you.

Deciding to go with both, you gently cupped Natasha’s cheeks and pulled her into a loving kiss expressing all your love for her. She kissed you back as she wrapped her arms around your waist and slid off the sink. “I love you,” Natasha murmured against your lips as her breath fanned your lips. You kissed the words and pulled back, “I love you too, but I cannot believe you got this hurt and didn’t tell me about it! Now, get back on the sink so I can take care of you,” you said as you opened the first aid kit.

You grabbed some peroxide and put it on a cotton ball before gently pressing it against a cut on Natasha’s lower abdomen. Natasha hissed at the sting and gripped the sink’s edge as she groaned. “I told you to be careful,” you remarked as you set the cotton ball down and put some Neosporin on a bandit. “Yeah, yeah,” Natasha mumbled.

“Tell you what, for every cut I clean up, you get a kiss?” You proposed as you gently placed the bandit on Natasha’s cut. The redhead smiled at this proposition and tried to pull you into another kiss, but you put a finger to her lips, stopping her advances, “Nuh-uh, you’ve already gotten yours for this cut.”

The woman threw her hand back and groaned at your words, “Why do you hate me?” She exclaimed. You scoffed at her words as you grabbed another cotton ball and put peroxide on it, “I don’t hate you; I’m just not letting you bend the rules,” you said with a playful smile as you ignored how Natasha mumbled something under her breath.

When you placed the cotton ball on a cut near Natasha’s collarbone, applying more pressure than needed, she hissed and pushed you away from her, “Ow! What the fuck was that?!”

You rolled your eyes at Natasha’s comment before grabbing her shoulder with your left hand to keep her in place as you pressed the ball back onto her skin. “Stop being a baby, Nat, and let me clean your wounds,” you replied with a slight chuckle, causing Natasha to smack your arm. “Hey! Do not hit me, you little shit!”

“Don’t call me a baby, then!” Natasha retorted, refusing to let you clean her wounds again. You scoffed at her words and put the first aid kit back in the cabinet, and walked off to bed, “Fine, then. If you aren’t going to let me take care of you, I guess you just have to have Doctor Lee take care of you.”

Natasha froze at the mention of Doctor Lee. She’s only been to him once since you started working here, and she hated every second of it. You had the day off and were having dinner with a friend when you got a call from Natasha.

“Excuse me for a second,” you said to your friend while exiting the dining table. “What’s up, my love?” You asked when you stepped outside the restaurant and answered the phone. You had expected Natasha to ask if you would pick her up some food or maybe even ask if she could top tonight, but you didn’t expect her to scream in Russian about Doctor Lee. You had picked up a little Russian just from being around Natasha, so you knew the basic of what had happened: she had gotten a small cut on a mission that required stitches, and Lee made the cut worse, so Natasha had to get more stitches than needed and Lee complained about how rude Natasha was to her face.

Doctor Lee was a grumpy older man but was the best doctor you had ever worked with, so everyone put up with his attitude. You listened to Natasha rant about him for another five minutes before you interrupted her, “Natasha, I love you so much, but I’m going to need to get back to Kate before she thinks I left her,” you said with a small laugh when you heard Natasha groan. “Fine, let’s just hope I don’t bleed out all over our floor, and you have to clean it up,” she replied in an upset tone.

You rolled your eyes at her comment as you walked back into the restaurant, “you will be fine until I get back. If it’s that bad, I’m sure Lee can help you again.”

“He’s the one who got me into this mess!” Natasha yelled into the phone.

“Ah, so it must have been him who stabbed you then?”

The phone was silent for a few seconds before Natasha replied, “Yes.”

“Oh my god, you leave that poor man alone! He’s brilliant,” you said as you sat down at your table and across from Kate, who sent you a knowing smile. She was friends with Natasha’s sister, and she knew that the sisters shared a similar trait of exaggerating things.

“Just because he’s smart doesn’t mean he’s a good person,” Natasha retorted.

“I guess you’re right. I’ll talk to you when I get home, okay? I love you.”

“That’s if I don’t bleed out and die,” Natasha mumbled into the phone before adding with excitement, “I love you too,” before hanging up.

Natasha shook off the painful memory when she heard you get into bed and shut off the lamp. “Hey, Y/N. Wait,” Natasha said as she walked into the bedroom and sat beside you, touching your hip. “Please don’t make me go to Lee.”

You rolled over and faced Natasha, your face heating up as her hand was now on your lower abdomen, and you had to fight back your thoughts. “Are you going to complain?” You questioned. Natasha shook her head and prayed that you would finish cleaning her wounds; she would rather die than return to Lee. “Okay,” you said as you moved from the bed and walked back into the bathroom with Natasha on your heels.

“Do I still get kisses for every cut cleaned?” Natasha asked as she sat on the sink. “Maybe, if you behave,” you replied with a playful smirk as you got out the first aid kit again.

You repeated the same actions with the cotton ball as you did moments earlier and lightly pressed it onto a small cut on Natasha’s shoulder. “Do you remember when we first met?” Natasha asked randomly as you placed a bandaid on her cut. “Mhm,” you replied as you quickly kissed the Russian’s lips, holding up to your end of the deal, “the bar in Italy.”

“Yeah, but do you remember when we met again in the bar?”

You weren’t quite sure where Natasha was going with this, but you wanted to play along. “Of course. Why do you ask?”

The redhead hissed when she felt the sting of peroxide seep into her cut as you pressed the cotton against her skin. You noticed how her eyes looked everywhere but you and how she played with her fingers in her lap; she was nervous about something, and you had no idea why. “I went to that bar every single night after I first saw you,” Natasha admitted after you placed another bandaid on her.

You laughed at her words and her nervousness. “Natasha, you literally stalked me and basically kidnapped me after knowing me for a week! Why are you so nervous to admit you also stalked the bar looking for me?”

“I did not stalk you!” Natasha defended, “I just missed you so much; I searched everywhere for you and didn’t stop until I found you. And I didn’t kidnap you. You were 24 years old!”

“Mhm, if you say so, you can still kidnap an adult,” you replied as you threw away the ball and kissed Natasha again, “that looks like all the serious ones.”

Natasha frowned at your comment; she didn’t enjoy you cleaning the cuts, but she wanted the reward of your kisses. “No, I think I have some more on my back,” your girlfriend replied.

You pulled her off the sink by her hands and turned her around; there were tiny cuts over her back and some light bruises, but nothing that needed cleaning. You pressed your pointer finger into a bruise that was turning purple, “nope, looks good.”

The pain that shot through Natasha’s back when you dug your finger into her bruise was something she would never forget; she would be on her deathbed and still remember that feeling. She ducked away from your finger and turned around, “What the fuck is wrong with you?! That hurt!”

“That’s what you get for ‘adultnapping’ me,” you replied as you put up the first aid kit and left the bathroom. The older woman was right on your heels after turning off the lights, “Don’t act like it wasn’t the best crime ever.”

The sound of laughter bounced around the room as you climbed into bed and opened your arms for Natasha, and she quickly crawled into your grasp, laying her head on your chest. “We were jet-set; Bonnie and Clyde, huh?” You replied and placed a kiss on Natasha's head. “Mhm. I’m just glad you didn’t turn me in for the crime,” Natasha mumbled against your collarbone as sleep slowly took her.

“Of course not, my love,” you replied as you kissed Natasha’s head and rubbed her back as sleep consumed you; slowly drifting off with the love of your life in your arms.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

AN: I rushed this and I kinda hate it but oh well 💀

[angie-likes-to-art]

Fic Recs (Stranger Things Edition V)

All fics are fem!reader

Marvel One Two Three Harry Potter One Two Three Stranger Things One Two Three Four Specific Characters Tangerine Masterlist

New in Town by @galaxy-siren

Pairing: Eddie Munson x Reader Request: hey!! could you write a story where a new girl at school decides to nervously go up to Eddie during lunch? She gently taps his shoulder to get his attention to ask him something. ahh I don’t know you can decide what she wants to ask him! lol meanwhile Eddie is just “🤨…😍”

Horror Movies & Chill by @eiightysixbaby (18+ Only)

Pairing: Eddie Munson x Reader Summary: eddie tries to scare you and gets more than he bargained for.

Satanic Panic by @hand-candy-writing

Pairing: Eddie Munson x Reader Summary: “you encounter eddie munson in the cafeteria during his satanic panic rant, but quickly distract him from his tirade.”

Happy Hours (Series, Ongoing) by @bangaveragewhitewine (18+ Only)

Pairing: Bouncer!Eddie Munson x Bartender!Reader Summary: When you’re not pouring beers and shaking cocktails behind the bar of Jackie’s, you’re fighting flirting balancing banter and bite with the metalhead bouncer on your break. A busy Friday night changes how you see Eddie Munson. Maybe you were wrong about the bouncer with his silver tongue and Bambi brown eyes...

Simmer (Series, Completed) by @upsidedownwithsteve

Pairing: Linecook!Eddie Munson x Reader Summary: “welcome to hawkins’ number one diner! where the staff don’t wanna be there and the linecook is a grumpy metal head who likes to argue with his boss and ignore everyone else. but the new waitress can’t hack the rude customers and the regulars can be a little… much.” 

Pretty Eyes by @galaxy-siren

Pairing: Eddie Munson x Reader Request: hii!! ok so you know that scene when Eddie is first introduced in Season 4 episode 1 where he’s exclaiming out things about conforming to society, and he’s jumping off the table and whatnot?? i was wondering if you could do something where Eddie ends up bumping into a girl while he’s moving around so dramatically, and instead of calling him a freak like he expects, she shyly apologizes for running into him when it was clearly his fault. He’d be the type to be so confused and yet go “Guys I’m in love-”😂

Bruises by @lonelysatellites (18+ Only)

Pairing: Eddie Munson x Reader Summary: “Working the bar in an underground bare knuckle boxing club, reader meets the new fighter on the block, a wiry, charming metal head.”

Don’t Call Me ‘Baby’ (Series, Completed) by @katyswrites (18+ Only)

Pairing: Sugar Daddy!Steve Harrington x Reader Summary: “This wasn’t supposed to happen. That’s what you would both tell yourselves, later on. It had started with a bet. You were a cocktail waitress, studying abroad in Rome and working yourself to death to keep yourself afloat. Steve Harrington was a business executive for one of the biggest tech companies in the world, ten years your senior, and earnest enough that it intrigued you. But, there was only one problem - he doesn’t do relationships. Not now, perhaps not ever. So, a deal is struck - something mutually beneficial. No attachments, and you get to be his perpetual mistress, while he makes sure you want for nothing. But, what happens when the agreement becomes more than what either of you bargained for?”

Same Old Song and Dance (Mini-Series, Completed) by @m0llygunn (18+ Only)

Pairing: Bully!Eddie Munson x Reader Summary: “Eddie’s teased and taunted you for the last decade of your life but you’re not innocent. It’s always been a game, a dance if you will.”

[echantedtoon]

A Lovers' Circle (Poly Haishira x Reader) Ch8 A Scarred Heart

(How many hearts can Y/n conquer? Let's find out on the next episode of Dragon Ball Z- Jk. Warnings for death mentioned.)

Taglist: @shadyd3ar @jcrml @tengensangel

@miniverse-zen @mysteri0uz @jjamsbangtan

@the-unknown-fandom @lavenderdropp

@mimisweetz. @purplesoulsapphire

Remember if you want to be added to the taglist lemme know

Your heart was fluttering. Soaring like a plane even. As you walked down the road with your head leaned against Gyomei's arm, arm wrapped around his own, and holding hands. It was the perfect start to your new morning and walking outside only to be surprised by Gyomei patiently waiting to walk you to work.

Although you both did stop by the cafe where you had your first date to grab some coffee and something to eat. Chasing after kids all day meant you'd be needing the energy, however you were surprised by seeing a small box next to the cash register. A sign above it advertised some kind of raffle.

"What's that?," you asked pointing towards the box out to the cashier.

He brightly smiled. "It's a raffle to celebrate Kimetsu Academy's fiftieth anniversary! If you leave your name and contact info, you get a chance to win a thousand dollars and a certificate for free cafeteria meals for the rest of the year! Only registered students can enter though." He nudged the box closer to you. "Would you like to enter? I just need to see a student ID to confirm you're a student and you can enter for free!"

"It's going on today?"

"Actually students have until classes are over this Friday to enter, and the winner's gonna be drawn Saturday. How about it? Wanna enter?"

A thousand dollars AND free lunches for the rest of the year!? You could use a thousand dollars to help pay off your car! Or pay bills for a while! Or get Gyomei a great present! And free lunches for the rest of the year would save you SO much money!...Buuut the chances of you getting picked within like thousands of other students was slim. Oh what the heck. It was a free raffle. Even if you didn't win what's the harm?

You did end up digging your student ID out of your bag to confirm your student status to the cashier before writing your contact info on a piece of paper, slipping it into the box, grabbing your coffee, and then leaving with Gyomei.

He himself felt his cheeks and ears burn up a bright happy pink as the smaller hand squeezed his. He was still half convinced that it was all just a dream and he'd wake up to no one being there. But as she held onto him as they crossed the campus and towards your workplace. You were surprised to see that he came inside with you until your coworker came up to you with a baby currently nomming on their hand in her arms.

"Y/n, there you are! Practically everyone dropped their kids off already and we've been swamped!," she grumpily said. "It's about time you and the new guy got here!"

You blinked staring at her confused. "New guy?"

He gestured to Gyomei behind you bouncing the drooling baby on her hip. "Yeah? Himejima. The boss liked his application so he got the job."

You blinked in surprise blinking before turning to Gyomei who still only smiled at you. "Is that what you meant by 'the job interview ' you had?"

He nodded. "Yes. I'm sorry for not telling you beforehand but I didn't know if I would get the job here. It's only going to be for a year anyways before I finish my last year and earn my degree."

You beamed. "Are you kidding?! That's amazing! I'd love to work with my boyfriend! This is like a dream come true for me-"

"Then would you two PLEASE get changed and help me with playtime?," your coworker interrupted with a raised brow.

"Oh! S-Sorry."

You two quickly got changed into the signature pink aprons (honestly you were surprised they were able to find one that fit Gyomei-) and quickly just got to work helping your coworker take care of the infants that the parents dropped off before going to classes as your manages escorted Gyomei somewhere else. Guess she wanted to walk him through his first day on the job, and help out considering the increase of children that came into the daycare last month. But I digress. You only busied yourself by helping in the infantry wing of the daycare. Getting to work changing one crying baby's diaper before going on to sit down and attempt to rock a stubborn baby down for a nap. However he was stubborn and kept waking up just as he started to nod off and give an angry babble in protest.

"Stubborn little guy aren't you?," you asked him still gently rocking him in the chair.

Again the baby made a noise pouting and waving his tiny hands in protest making you chuckle-

RING!!

Until the front desk bell rang out. The noise caused you to stop rocking and your coworker to look up from counting the diaper supply in the nearby closet, both of you looking towards the doorway.

RING RING!!

The noise came back louder than before and one of the sleeping infants gave a small noise of protest in their sleep.

"Oh you've got to be kidding me." Your coworker mumbled before lightly placing her head on the closet door.

DING DING DING DING!!

The constant dinging of the bell made her inhale deeply and turn to you. "Give me the baby and go see who the heck is there before I go and ding that thing against their heads!" She was already holding out her hands for the baby in your arms just as another two ding sounds sounded from up the hall. "And tell them to shut up before they wake up these babies!" She hissed already plucking the half asleep baby boy from your arms and heaving him onto one shoulder.

"Sure." You stood up with a smile. "I'll get right on th-"

"WAAAHH!!"

Your head whipped behind you as finally the previously stirring baby woke up and started crying. Your coworkers eye twitch as only more dinging came from the front desk. You only quickly scurried out promising to come back soon and help her.

DINGDINGDINGDINGDINGDINGDINGDINGDING-!!

A rapid ringing sounded as someone repeatedly just mashed the bell at the front desk making you frown annoyed. What kind of Karen were you going to be dealing with today? With a frown you poked your head out the doorway making out half the figure of a man turned away from you looking around the front lobby, a toddler on his hip and two bags slung over his shoulders. You frowned before inhaling deeply and forcing a customer service smile on your face.

"I'm coming!," you called out making your way towards him to which he turned around sharply.

"Oh thank fu-.." He paused looking at the boy in his arms. "..Fudge! Thank FUDGE!! I've been standing here forever and I'm late for my da-..DARN classes! It's doesn't usually take this-.."

He paused seeing who came out from the back hallway and you also paused seeing who it was. You blinked once. Twice. Before the realization that SANEMI was the one standing in front of you hit you. The same thing must've been happening to Sanemi because he slowly blinked, face surprised. You both probably would've continued if the little boy in his arms didn't look up from his toy and gasped happily!!

"Y/N!!," he cheered tugging on Sanemi's shirt and pointing the toy at you. "Nemi it's da nice lady!!"

Sanemi jumped as his little brother squealed out and looked at him. "What?"

"Hi, Sanemi," you greeted making him look back to you sharply however you just smiled. "It's nice to see you again. Were you looking for Gyomei?"

He seemed to finally snap out of it before shaking his head. "No. I'm dropping off my baby brother for my mom. She's busy trying to fix an emergency at work." Without saying anything he leaned his little brother forward into your awaiting arms. "And I'm already late for my dam classes-"

"SWEAR!," Koto tattled pointing back to his brother hurrying to get the diaper bag off his shoulder.

"Here! He's got some clothes n' stuff. I'll pick 'em back up when my classes are done!" The bag dropped on the counter with a plop sound before reaching out to ruffle his little brother's head. "Be good. I'll see you later."

With that he turned and practically ran out with Koto waving at his big brother. "Bye bye, Nemi!" A toy was shoved up to your face. "Play?"

"Not right now. I have to work but I'll drop you off somewhere you can play with the other nice kids."

In the end you dropped off both Koto and his bag with your manager in the daycare room before you left back to help your frustrated coworker in the infantry wing. Luckily it wasn't too much of a problem afterwards to get both babies to sleep again and help her with a supply count. It was a bit of a pain to have so many children with a few workers but somehow you all made it. However you can't say you weren't happy when the day started to tick closer to a close and slowly parents started filing in, some carrying backpacks or books from classes, and picking up their kids after showing confirming identities. You waved goodbye to a little girl who was picked up by her tired dad after coming back from chemistry class and waved goodbye to you with a smile! You couldn't help but wave back with a chuckle before returning to the back to help clean up and disinfectant everything else for tomorrow, passing by your coworker hauling out some trash and stopping by one room which lead to what was essentially a giant playroom bigger than your kitchen and bedroom combined.

A few people were already in there sweeping, and picking up toys, and wiping down things with wet wipes. One being your boyfriend who was still holding a familiar toddler in one arm and wiping spilt grape juice off a table with the other.

"How was your first day?" His head turned to you with a smile already on his face as you leaned on the doorway. "By the looks of it, you had a wild snack time."

He chuckled and you swore his deep chuckles would make anyone blush. "Just an accident with a leaky juice box. Overall it was rather well." He slowly stood back up turning his head in your direction. "They seemed to like story time."

"You should've seen him!" Your boss proudly looked at him from spraying the toys with a disinfectant spray. "The kids all adored him! And he put them all down for naps in record time! I knew I had a good feeling when I saw you!"

He chuckled a bit flustered at the older woman's praise. "I thank you for the compliment."

"Is he the last one here?," you asked nodding at Sanemi's brother in his arms.

"Yes," Gyomei confirmed, "But Sanemi might be a bit behind today. He's been really busy with classes and helping his family these days."

"Oh no. I hadn't known about that."

It was then Koto looked up at you and gasped. "NICE LADY!!" He cheered making Gyomei blink at him. "Now we play?!"

You couldn't help but laugh at the two year old. "No sorry. I have to help clean up."

A loud whine escaped his throat but Gyomei only hummed. "I had no idea you already knew Sanemi's family."

"I don't. Well not all of them." You gestured to the boy in his arms still giggling in his arms. "I've been working here since Koto was a baby, but I had no idea that Sanemi was his older brother."

He nodded wiping the table again. "Yes. His mother uses his student discount for the daycare since his other siblings are already school aged. I'm afraid Koto still can't attend the local preschool until he's four or five years old."

"Oh, that's why he was dropping him off. But it's strange I've never seen him drop Koto off before."

He hummed brows furrowing slightly. "Well it could be because of the recent strain his family is going through."

Recent strain? What recent strain? You didn't think Sanemi looked stressed yesterday when you all went to the onsen. Other than arguing with Obanai on horror movies but with how those two acted you got the sense that's how they were all the time. So what could it possibly be? 

"He didn't seem that stressed when I saw him Friday or yesterday even. Is he alright?"

Gyomei looked at you before again his head tilted at the boy playing with a toy car. "... We'll talk later."

You weren't sure what he meant by that but you respected his choice. For now you you left to go help clean up the nursery room before it was time before you all left. By the time you got done helping to wash and change the sheets and wiping down the surfaces, Gyomei was already standing outside waiting for you still in his giant pink apron and still holding Onto who looked like he tuckered out and decided to take a nap in his large arms. He turned towards the directions of your footsteps and smiled brightly. 

"Ah. There you are. Are you finished with your duties?," he asked politely.

You nodded. "Yes. Oh." You stopped seeing Koto still asleep in his arms. "Has Sanemi not arrived yet?"

He shook his head no. "No but he'll probably be running a little late. He also tutors for an hour after classes to help make some extra money."

"What does he do for a living anyways?" 

"He tutors math lessons and currently works online part-time for a telemarketing company that sells magazines."

"Oh. He must be really good at math then."

"The best actually. He's smarter than he looks."

"I don't doubt that." You giggled at the memory of him using those skills to get more girls on Tengen's back Friday. "Did you want to come over to my house for dinner tonight? I can make a mean spaghetti with mushroom sauce."

He hummed and was about to say something but before he could say anything a loud shout from up the hall caused both of you to snap your heads to the left towards the front lobby. It sounded like a woman's voice.

"No identification! No pick up! Now leave before I call security!"

You knew that voice. Your coworker.

"Fucking hell! That's my student ID! You want my dam driver's license too?!"

Uh oh. You definitely knew THAT voice. Quickly you approached the front peeking around the corner and sure enough found the sources of the cussing. Sanemi was looking annoyed down at your coworker with gritted teeth and his student ID was laid out on the counter by his hand. You coworker looked angry but slightly intimidated by the way he was leaning over the counter. She remained firm crossing her arms.

"You're not on the registry for pick up or emergency contacts. You're not allowed to take any child unless you're on the registry or the guardian calls to confirm alternative pick ups which neither have happened."

"Fucking-" A hand gripped his hair before running down his face. THUD! She jumped as both of his hands slammed down on the counter and he leaned farther onto it to shout at her face. "We have the same fucking last name! I dropped Koto off this morning!! What other fucking 'confirmation' do you want?!"

"S-Sir, if you don't calm down a-a-and leave I-Ill  call campus security."

"I AIN'T LEAVING WITHOUT MY BROTHER!!"

Oh no. This was escalating quickly. You had better step in before things got out of control.

"Lacey." Said woman jumped up and both of their heads snapped up as you smiled walking in calmly. "Is everything ok?"

"Oh thank fuck! It's you!" Sanemi sounded relieved before snapping Lacey another accusing look. "This walking clown is refusing to give Koto back! Tell 'er that I dropped him off!"

"Sanemi, we are a daycare. I'll have to ask you not to use cuss words and foul language or I'll have to ask you to wait outside." You lightly scolded him with a smile which caught him off guard with a blank blink. You just hummed turning to Lacey. "Now what seems to be the problem?"

Lacey scowled. "He's not on the registry. No registry or guardian notice means no pick up."

Sanemi looked about ready to combust with an eye twitch and a few viens popping up on his body. 

"Here. Let's just take a look at it to confirm just in case." With a hum you just gently nudged her out of the way so you could have access to the computer. Humming to yourself you just typed into it with both watching you. "Koto Shinazugawa. Right here. Now let's see...Oh. it does look like only his mom is listed." Lacey sent a smug look at- "Let's see if we had any missed calls from her." You continued into your database and with a few clicks of a mouse found something. "Oh. It looks like we have two missed calls from Mrs. Shinazugawa."

"Yeah! My mom tried calling you guys to let you know I'd be here!"

"I'm sorry for the inconvenience. Let's just call her back real quick just to make sure everything's lined up. Alright?" You stayed professional smiling at him as he continued to glare but slowly relaxed. Leaning off the counter and crossing his arms as you grabbed the phone and redialed the number. A few rings went by your ear before you perked up. "Hello, Mrs. Shinazugawa! I'm sorry to call you-...Yes. I know you are probably busy with deliveries. No. Your son is fine! Sleeping like a baby! I just wanted to call you back to make sure Sanemi was supposed to pick up his brother....Really? Great! Sorry for the missed calls. We were swamped today. You have a nice day, Ma'am. Sorry for bothering you." The phone hung up with a click as you smiled at Sanemi. "Sorry for the inconvenience. I'll go get Koto's bag for you."

Lacey's face dropped as Sanemi huffed. "It's about time."

"You're really going to give him the kid?"

You turned to Lacey. "Their mom confirmed it just now." She opened her mouth- You pointed at her. "You know you're supposed to check the database before denying or confirming anyone who comes in here. We provide good customer service which means we check first. You know that from training."

"It's not my fault." She hissed at you. Before half nodding back towards the now much calmer man. "Have you seen him?"

"I have actually. What are you getting at?"

She looked at you like you were crazy. "uh-..Are you blind? He looks like he just got out of jail!" Sanemi's eyes shifted over. "By the way he acts, I wouldn't be surprised if he's done some crap too-"

"Lacey. Do me a favor. Shut up."

Her face blinked at your happy smiling one. "I-..What?"

"You heard me. Shut up. I don't care what you think, discriminating someone just because he has scars is as stupid as saying that someone is dumb because they're blonde. And if I hear that again I'm telling our manager. So why don't  you just get the broom and start sweeping the front like you're supposed to?"

She didn't say anything as you turned to leave- Blinking at Gyomei standing there still with the sleeping toddler in his arms and tilting his head down at you. However you only patted his arm with a smile and informed him that you were going to grab Koto's overnight bag before leaving to go grab it from the cubby closet. He stood there still before tilting his head at Sanemi and could guess the surprise that was plastered all over the other man's face right now. Staring wide eyed in silence. 

You returned a moment later with the bag Sanemi left with you and by then Gyomei was already handing him back his baby brother. Koto yawned half way woken up by the jostle however lit up when he saw his big brother.

"Nemi!" He tiredly reached out to him and tiredly curled up on his shoulder with a yawn.

"Here's his bag." You smiled handing him the duffle bag he just slumped over his shoulder with a blank look.

"Yeah. Thanks."

"Sanemi, are you going home after this?"

Said white haired man looked at Gyomei with a frown. "My mom doesn't get off work for another three hours. Genya and Teiko can watch the other three for a little longer. I'm just gonna work on my project until my mom picks up Koto."

"In that case do you want to join us for dinner?" The loom Sanemi gave you was like if you just slapped him. "I'm making spaghetti tonight."

"Sketti!" Koto peeked up immediately turning around to you with a smile. "YUM!"

Sanemi continued to stare at you.. before he shook his head and turned. "No. Kanae's picking up something. I'll see ya round Gyomei."

You frowned at him. Was it something you said? Koto waved at you from his big brother's shoulder and you waved back until they left out the door. Well safe to say that was strange, but you supposed that since he's been going through a lot it wasn't that out of the ordinary. You also decided not to pry Gyomei for answers. That was between Sanemi and his family and partners so you'd respect that privacy. Although you couldn't say you weren't curious about it all.

Tuesday went by better. This time you got there early enough to be informed that Sanemi and Koto's mom called. Apparently Sanemi would be dropping off and picking up Koto for the foreseeable future until she became available and to put him down as an emergency contact in the daycare's registry. You remembered Mrs. Shinazugawa. She was a middle aged woman who was oddly small and always looked tired when she came in starting to drop off Koto as a baby three years ago. At the time you assumed that she was going back to college to earn a degree and that's why she was using Kimetsu University's daycare.

But finding out she was using Sanemi's status as a student for a discount on childcare was both a more believable answer and only more curious about it. But again you respected their boundaries and only tended to Koto and the other kids until it was time for his big brother to pick him up. You thought it was adorable. He'd get so excited and shout 'NEMI' every time he saw him regardless of just seeing him that morning. 

Each time he'd give you a strange look before just taking his brother and leaving. You were confused about the looks but they weren't angry looks just almost confused. He probably just was still getting used to Gyomei having a new girlfriend. You were still getting used to having a boyfriend yourself so it was understandable. Lacey continued to give him and you dirty looks..but hadn't done anything since Monday's fiasco so you didn't worry about her anymore. It wasn't until Thursday morning that your curiosity was finally sated. You forgot your lunch at home while fishing out to work one morning, so again you decided to stop by the campus cafe to grab a sandwich to eat later when you ran into two familiar faces. One was a woman with long black hair and pink eyes. The other was a tall man with white hair and red wine eyes. They were shuffling around the side of the register as people walked by. 

Hey. Wasn't that-

"Kanae?" Your voice asked before the woman turned her head around with a blink followed by the white haired man. "Tengen?"

On cue he smiled. "Well, well, well. If it isn't the future Mrs. Himejima." He winked sending you a finger gun making you chuckle. "What's cooking good looking?~"

You couldn't help but giggle at him. "I forgot my lunch at home so I was just grabbing a sandwich for later. What are you guys doing here?"

"Entering that raffle. Tomorrow's the last day you can enter."

"Oh. Planning on getting that paint set you mentioned if you win?"

Tengen frowned shaking his head. "Actually it's for-" He paused looking back to Kanae and jabbing a thumb to you. "Actually it's ok to tell 'er right? Or is that stepping over a boundary?" She looked at him then at you.. before nodding. "Alrighty then." Red eyes looked back to you. "It's actually for Sanemi."

You blinked. "What?"

"Well if any of us win that is. No guarantee that any of us will." He waved a hand. "But the more of us that enter, the better chances there are of us actually getting it."

"Why does Sanemi need it?" You didn't think he was anymore broke than you were.

"It's not exactly for him really. It's so his mom can pay off that debt faster." 

That's when it all clicked. The mentioning of Mrs. Shinazugawa struggling, Sanemi helping to take his brother to daycare, Gyomei's reluctance to talk about it- You almost didn't catch what Tengen said next with a distasteful bite to his voice.

"Ever since that asshole died, his family's been having nothing but a hard time."

"Let's not speak ill of the dead Uzui," Kanae lightly scolded him. "He's still Sanemi's father."

"Wasn't much of a father in the first place."

"Wait. His father passed away?" You went wide eyed at them when Kanae nodded.

"It was an accident. A hit and run driver ran him over when he was crossing the road at night-"

"Right as he was coming back from the casino." Kanae shot Tengen a scowl this time. "Oh come on, Kanae. Don't sugarcoat it. If we're gonna tell her might as well tell it how it is." He looked at you with a mad look. "The greedy rats ass was killed coming back all high strung from the casino. Good riddance I'd say but because his mom wasn't divorced yet from the deadbeat now she has to pay off his gambling debt! At least they didn't have to pay for the funeral."

You could only stare at him in shock. "That's awful. How much was it?"

"Seven thousand dollars." Tengen threw up his hands. "How do those debt collecting sharks expect her to just magically come up with that money?! She's already trying to raise like six other kids!"

"Seven thousand dollars?!"

That was a lot of money! If Mrs. Shinazugawa was already struggling then this would've put a lot of strain on her already. 

"A thousand dollars ain't much but it'd be a thousand dollars she doesn't have to pay. ...*sigh* Anyways you said you wanted to get a sandwich?"

"Uh.. Y-Yeah. I was."

You made sure to be extra nice to Sanemi after that and play with Koto when he asked, despite the confused looks Sanemi still gave you. He wasn't ever mean to you and after finding out about his family situation you didn't have any reasons to be mean back. Soon Thursday and Friday turned into Saturday morning and you FINALLY got a day off to yourself to finish up some real work.

"Are you sure you don't want to come join us at the park? I heard there's going to be a vendor that sells delicious homemade ice cream."

You smiled one shoulder holding up your phone to your ear as you continued to write down on a piece of paper. "Sorry, Mei. I'd love to but I have to get this report done before Monday and I already planned on cleaning my house today. Maybe tomorrow."

"I understand completely. I'll swing by later today to make sure you're not overwhelming yourself."

You smiled. If there was one thing that you already loved about your boyfriend is was how understanding of you he was. "Alright. Have fun on your date with Giyuu and Shinobu. I'm sure you'll have lots of fun."

With that out of the way you were able to get your project mostly done. Mostly because of a second phone call you got right in the middle of trying to finish up your health class report. Which honestly did annoy you a little bit. You wanted to get this done TODAY and then get all of your household chores done TODAY so you could have TOMORROW off with your boyfriend! It continued to ring so with a sigh you dropped your pencil to pick it up and hold to your ear.

"Hello?"

"Y/n L/n?"

"Yes. Who is this?" You frowned but soon that frown disappeared and your eyes widened. "Shut up. You're kidding? Wha- No! I'm not busy! I can come over right now and pick it up! Where?" You stood up quickly nearly knocking over the papers on your table as you ran to grab your shoes. "Dean's office! Right! Are you sure this isn't a prank call?....Ok! Im on my way right now! Holy cow this is unbelievable! Yeah! I'll see you soon! Bye!"

You squealed in utter astonished happiness as you ran to go grab your shoes! What should you do first?! Pay off your car? Get that pet ferret you always wanted? Maybe take Gyomei out for a really fancy dinner? The possibilities were endless! You happily skipped out of your house and ran down the road towards the academy. Running and running and running...

But slowly your running slowed.

And the giddy smile turned to a thin line.

And you stopped in the middle of the sidewalk.

Staring at nothing in particular until you blinked and looking back to your house.

......

THUD. THUD. THUD. THUD.

"Nemi, chill! You're gonna give yourself brain damage if you keep that up!"

Two small hands on his head stopped Sanemi in his pursuit of hitting his head against the table repeatedly. Only stopping so he didn't painfully smash Suma's fingers between his forehead and Tengen's table. Not like it'd do anyone good even if they stopped him. 

"I just found out Genya and Hiroshi got a part time job to help my mom pay bills and Teiko started babysitting for money." His head lifted up to glare angrily at nothing. "HOW THE HELL AM I SUPPOSED TO BE CALM?! THEY'RE SUPPOSED TO WORRY ABOUT BEING KIDS NOT HAVING TO HELP MY MOM PAY BILLS!! NOW TEIKO IS STUCK TRYING TO WATCH THE OTHERS AND OTHER BRATS AT OUR HOUSE AND MY BROTHERS ARE FLIPPING BURGERS AT A WACKDONALDS!!"

He ended his rant by slamming his fists on the table and letting veins bunch up in anger. Most people would flinch but considering how used to his anger they were, his girlfriend and Suma only looked on in growing concern than actual fear.

"Honey, it's not going to be forever." Kanae attempted to soothe her boyfriend with a gentle hand softly rubbing his back. A small kiss pressing to his cheek. "They promised you it's only going to be until that big debt bill is paid off, and you guys already paid off a good portion of it."

That seemed to calm him down somewhat as he ate least unclenched his teeth and relaxed back a little bit. "I know. I just don't want them to get it in their heads that they have to work at an early age! They should be worried about school and getting good grades not paying bills... Maybe I should drop out and get a full time job."

"WHAT?! NEMI, NO!!" Sum hopped from one foot to the other. "You came so far! And you'll graduate after next year!"

"She's right! You only have a year and a half more then you'll graduate. Your mom wouldn't want you to quit."

"Maybe that's not what she wants.." Body deflated. Head hung. "But that might be what she needs."

There was silence as both women stared at him then at each other in lost. He couldn't just quit. He worked so hard to get to where he was at, already sacrificing lots of things. If he did this now..then he'll regret it later. But with his family struggling as it was how could they ask him to change his mind? They would've continued to sit there in silence if there wasn't a loud knock on the door that had them all look up. Again there was silence before the knocking came again but a bit louder. After exchanging looks, Suma eventually stop up and went to go answer the door. Pulling it open, blinking...and then beaming into a smile.

"Y/N! Oh my gosh! Hi! What are you doing here!?"

"Hi, Suma. Is Sanemi here?" Said white haired man perked up hearing his name. "Gyomei told me I could find him here."

"Yeah! You wanna come in?"

"Can't. I have to go pay some bills and finish cleaning my house. But can you give him this for me? It's really important he gets it."

"Sure! I'll do that right now!"

"Thanks! You're a life saver!"

They were surprised when Suma closed the door a moment later before turning and revealing a large manilla envelope in her hand.

"The hell is that?"

She shrugged. "No idea. Y/n said it's for you. OOH!! Maybe it's the recipe for that ohagi you liked! Y'know she ones she made that weekend."

"Tch. That'd be one good thing outta this dam day."

He mumbled under his breath as Suma walked over to him and he just bluntly took it from her. Giving a look at the front and back before just tearing off the top and peeking inside. In an instant his face went from bored and annoyed to cartoony shocked in one second. Both girls watched his expression change rapidly, looked at one another, before Kanae just reached over to pull the opening up more to look inside and VERY quickly gained the same shocked expression.

"Oh my," was all she managed to say.

"What is it?! Tell me!"

"Money."

"What?!" Suma quickly joined the two gasping out. "HOLY COW!! LOOK AT THE ZEROS ON THAT CHECK!!"

Sanemi continued to stare at the envelope blankly until Kanae pried it from his hands to peer inside with a raised brow. "There's a card in here too." Holding it up, narrowed pink eyes were able to read it. "It's a gift card of some sort."

"Hey. Wasn't this stuff like...the prizes for that raffle or something?"

Again there was silence as a realization of what exactly was sitting in Kanae's hands washed over them all...until a loud scraping of a chair caused both ladies to jump as Sanemi abruptly stood up and just..stared at the table. Silently stirring something around in his head before both hands landed with a loud thud sound on the table. 

"Sanemi?" "Honey, are you ok?"

"I'll be damned...Kanae."

"Yes?"

"If Gyomei doesn't marry that woman we will."

[fluentmoviequoter]

Hey could you do fic for David 'Deacon' Kay with wife reader where she go to somewhere and then there's a robbery and he has to save her? Tag me later! Thanks :))

Absolutely! Thanks for another great idea!! I hope you enjoy @pear-1206 🤍 This did turn out pretty short, but if anyone is interested in a longer version, I could try!! (Did I name this like a SWAT episode with one random word from the plot? Maybe.)

Warnings: a bit of angst, mostly fluff, some comfort. 1.3k+ words.

Picture from Pinterest

Robbery

You can’t remember the last time you said goodbye to Deacon. Just after you were married, Deacon was shot, and you decided never to say bye again, worried it would be your last farewell. Since then, plenty of alternatives have made their way into your morning routine.

“Have a great day.” “Be safe.” “Call whenever.” Anything to express your love and care, but never bye.

✯✯✯✯✯

“No,” you mumble, gripping Deacon as he tries to roll over.

“It’s Friday,” he replies lightly. “One more day then I’m all yours for the weekend.”

You groan, loosening your grip on him as he kisses your forehead.

“Pull me up,” you request as you raise your hands over your chest.

Deacon chuckles, standing beside you and tugging your arms gently so you’re sitting up.

“I have a bunch of errands to run today. Walk me out, handsome?”

“It would be an honor, sweetheart,” Deacon replies, kissing your hand. “But you have to send me updates while you’re out.”

“Of course.”

When you’re ready to go, you gather your things and wait by the front door for Deacon. He pulls you into a tight hug before leading you to your car, kissing you quickly as you sit in the driver’s seat.

“See you tonight,” Deacon promises.

“Be safe. I love you.”

“I love you.”

✯✯✯✯✯

Deacon enters the locker room at SWAT HQ but only manages to change into his gear before Hondo yells that they have a call. It should be an easy enough raid, Deacon thinks, just a quick in and out to apprehend a suspect who has barricaded himself in a house.

While Deacon rides in Black Betty, you drive to your first stop: a department store to buy a few things for a friend’s housewarming party. And, as usual, you find a few things for yourself and Deacon. As you wait in line to check out, you text Deacon that everything is going well and you plan to pick up an order from a sporting goods store next. He doesn’t reply, though you’ve grown to expect that from him. He’ll answer when he can, and you smile at the picture of him on your phone’s home screen.

While you pull out of the parking lot, Deacon replies and says he’s back at HQ and loves you. Short and to the point, Deacon never leaves room for miscommunication or interpretation, and it is one of many things you love about him.

✯✯✯✯✯

You visit your favorite restaurant for lunch before you make your last stop. At this point in the day, you’re ready to get home and wait for Deacon. This is the one errand you didn’t tell him about because your trip to the jewelry store is to get your anniversary gift for him.

Walking inside, you quickly find the perfect watch, tactical grade, black and minimalistic, perfectly Deacon. As the jeweler boxes it for you, you also find a new silver necklace chain you think he’d like, adding it to your gift.

You swipe your credit card just before the bell over the door rings.

“Nobody move!” a masked gunman yells, two more men behind him. “This will be over quickly, just don’t scream and do what I say.”

Stopping where you are, you duck behind a display case to text Deacon. He can see your location with the click of a button, so you just type: ‘Robbery here.’

Sliding your phone into your bag, you raise your hands as one of the men finds you, pointing his gun at you as he tells you to move. You move slowly before him, joining the small group of shoppers sitting in the corner.

“This isn’t about you,” one of the men says. “Sit there, be quiet, and then you can go home. You won’t be getting a refund, though.”

The woman beside you takes a sharp breath, and you turn to her quickly.

“Hey, hey, it’s going to be okay, just take a few deep breaths, okay?” you whisper, taking her hand as you comfort her. “What’s your name?”

As you talk to her, you can only hope that Deacon got your text and the team is on their way.

✯✯✯✯✯

Deacon pulls his phone out of his pocket when it buzzes, and when he reads your message, those two words kick his brain into SWAT mode.

“Robbery at 6333 West 3rd Street, 738,” Deacon tells Hicks and Hondo.

“It’s in The Grove. That suite is a jewelry store,” Hicks says, pulling up the map. “Locally owned Weiss Jewelry.”

Deacon’s brows furrow, wondering why you’re at a jewelry store.

 “There’s no report of a robbery,” Hondo adds.

Deacon will ask what you were doing there once you’re safe, he decides.

“My wife is there. She sent me a text,” Deacon explains.

“Why didn’t you start with that?” Hicks exclaims. “20-David, get out there!”

As Deacon climbs into Black Betty, he lets his training control him rather than his emotions. Thinking like a sergeant rather than a husband is the only way he can do his job and ensure your safety. There will be time to be a husband later, but not if something happens to you first.

✯✯✯✯✯

“Stop talking!” one of the men yells, pointing between you and the crying woman beside you.

You hear a loud bang at the back of the building and press your lips together, praying that it’s Deacon’s team.

✯✯✯✯✯

“Take it,” Hondo commands.

Street fires a flashbang through the side window. As it temporarily blinds the men inside, Luca pushes the accelerator of Black Betty to the floor, ripping the metal door off its hinges so the team can make entry. 

Tan and Street move to handcuff the suspects on the floor while Hondo and Deacon move toward the front of the store.

“LAPD SWAT, on the ground now!” Hondo yells as another masked man opens the door separating the vault and the storefront.

He raises his hands, lowering his gun and sliding it to Deacon as he kneels.

“Go, Deac,” Hondo says.

Deacon steps through the door, walking toward the door as he clears the room. When he sees a crowd of people cowering in a corner, he lowers his gun and steps into view. The hostages tense before seeing his LAPD uniform.

“I’m Sergeant Kay, LAPD SWAT,” he explains calmly. “We’ve apprehended the men who robbed you and the store. EMTs and officers are outside to assist you.”

Deacon’s eyes remain on you as he talks, and you send him a small smile. When he concludes, you stand before helping the women beside you up and to the door. You turn around to find Deacon, but he moves faster than you, pulling you into a tight hug as he cradles your head against his chest. You return his hug, breathing deeply.

“Thank you for coming so quickly,” you say.

“What were you doing here?” he asks, leaning back to look at your face as he cradles it between his gloved hands.

“Paid in full and not needed for evidence, Mrs. Kay,” Luca calls as he approaches, handing you a bag containing two jewelry boxes.

“Thanks, Luca.” 

You take the bag, holding it in one hand while the other grips the strap of Deacon’s vest. “Happy Anniversary?”

“Don’t you dare try to give that to me now. We’re celebrating as planned,” Deacon demands, pulling you close again.

“You got here really fast,” you murmur, moving your hand to his cheek.

“You called. I’ll always come.”

“One of these days, I’m going to save you.”

“You do that every time I see you.” Deacon kisses you before adding, “You are trouble, though.”

“Maybe I’ll let them keep the gifts, just in case,” you retort, leaning back to find a police officer.

Deacon grabs your wrist, gentle as always. “No,” he answers, kissing you before you can make another comment.

[mylovehalfway]

I Hear the Sunspot Episode 7 thoughts/analysis

(Spoilers ahead!)

————————————————————————

Knowing we’re over halfway through the show, starting the episode with scenes from the beginning was an excellent and rather emotional choice. It puts into perspective just how much their relationship has grown and how we’ve seen it progress each week.

THE BENTO BOXES. It’s literally them, you guys. This also seems like a callback to how their friendship started in the first place, which was Taichi approaching Kohei and asking for some of his lunch. Not to mention, his mom found them in a pair. This is what you call fate!

Taichi has not forgotten about the kiss he and Kohei shared! The way that the simple thought of it turned him into a blushing mess was so cute. Whether he realizes it or not, he has definitely fallen hard.

Taichi falling down a hill and catching Kohei off guard, just like how they first met, was adorable. The only difference is that back then he was trying to win Kohei over, and now he’s trying to win him back.

Kohei & Taichi making each other jealous seems to be a never-ending saga at this point. Kohei even took it upon himself to entertain the woman at the dinner table so she and Taichi wouldn’t get too close. The possessiveness the two have for each other is insane (in a good way!).

The way Kohei & Taichi talk about each other will always be endearing. I feel like this was similar to what Taichi said about Kohei in episode 5, such as how people don’t understand the other’s personality. Kohei actually doesn’t want others to see that side of Taichi, though. He straight up admitted he wanted him for himself, which honestly isn’t surprising considering his actions not only throughout the show but also a couple of minutes earlier in the episode.

Taichi’s face when his friends were talking about how Kohei may not need him anymore broke me. He’s gotten so used to being around him all the time to the point he can’t cope with their relationship being any other way. It also doesn’t help that everyone around him is telling him what he already suspected. He’s always been the optimistic one and willing to fight for the both of them to remain in each other’s lives but now he’s convinced he has no purpose in Kohei’s life anymore, which is not true at all.

This episode was cute yet stressful. While I’m not a fan of her character so far, I’m looking forward to seeing what Maya will bring to the table as far as the plot goes. So far it just seems like she’s there to drive a wedge between Kohei & Taichi because she feels like the latter doesn't understand Kohei like she does, but I hope that’s not all there is to it and we get to see more depth from her character.

[writingoddess1125]

Blip on the Radar pt. 3

Previous <<<

If you enjoy this please support me on Ko-Fi

This was definitely not how Simon saw himself. Sitting in a run down chinese resturant infront of his former one night stand and a toddler ready to fight for some chopped egg rolls.

It felt like a odd episode of the Twilight Zone for him. Simon had been trying to meet you and his child in a far better way, having called the night before to the clinic to ask if you'd be there which they had said no to- So Simon's plan was to go to get flowers, call to ask to meet and go down that road. However the phone number he had was bad so he wanted to see if he could convince someone at your work- which lead him to this awkward interaction...

Thinming about it the flowers he was pretty sure was wilting in his rental car outside-

"So.. Simon right?" You say softly, breaking the awkward tension between you two. He nodded softly, on edge as well but hiding it well with his natural intimidating feature.

"What clued you in to us? Or wanting to meet at all?" You ask, wanting to keep up the conversation as light and open for the father of your child.

"It was the Ancestory you took. Due to my part in the Military they alerted me to you two" He explained looking to Erik once again- the toddler happily munching on his lunch as he blinked those big eyes at him- They were exactly like his mothers...

"That and I wished to see my child" You felt a level of guilt at that, you always assumed that most men would rather not know they had a child in this way- but he seemed genuinely interested and his accent clued you in he had come from far away to do so.

"I understand.. I do apologize you found out in well a unique way" You say softly, chuckling at the oddity of this all and Simon bowing his head also in amusement.

Erik fussed as he reached for more eggrolls, but you giving him the finely chopped Broccoli instead which he looked ready to box you over.

"No Mama" He whined at first and pouted. However Erik's curious gaze fell to the large man staring at him, Erik had been oddly quiet and just observing the masked man in confusion. Simon smirked at this under his mask- he could tell his biy was observing him, Grabbing his fork as he stabbed into his own food taking up some Broccoli to eat himself pulling up his mask just enough to do so-

The child narrowing his eyes as he took a spoon of his own chopped Broccoli and shoved it into his mouth.

"Huh- Usually I have to force him to eat anything green" You mused, impressed that Erik was willingly eating the broccoli. Simon chuckled at this, admiration in his eyes as he stared at his son.

"Oldest trick, they see you eat it they will" He said as he stared at the boy clumsily eating the chopped food infront of him.

"Whats his name?"

"Erik, Erik Wyett (Y/L/N)-"

"Erik hm? Good name.. Little fighter hm?" He hummed, you giving the most deadpan exhausted look possible.

"You have no idea-"

Simon laughed at this, a hearty laugh at that which made Erik stare at the man and giggle. Erik's little dimples showing as he smiled at the man, you couldnt but assume Simon had the same.

"Do you want to hold him?"

After a moment he softly nodded, you standing up from your seat pulling a wiggling Erik with you and handing him to the man. You were hesitant of couse- but that was neither here or there, Sitting back down as you stared at the two.

Erik was staring at Simon confused by the face mask and who was holding him- Simon holding the toddler like he was made of glass, you could see he was unsure of himself now that he was holding the child.

"Hefty Lad, you give you Mum trouble?"

"No No" Erik's little voice said shyly, Making Simon's heart damn near melt. The toddler looking over Simon calmly, reaching his hand to mess with the drawstring of his jumper then to touch the short locks of blonde hair peaking from under the hoodie then finally his mask- reaching to pull it from his face but Simon reached a gentle hand up to wrap around Erik's fist before he ripped it off.

Simon paused at this glancing around calmly like at any moment someone would pop out before taking his free hand and pulling the mask away calmly.

There you and Erik saw his face, you couldn't lie. He was pretty in a rugged way, a crooked thin nose which had clearly been broken and set many times, thin stubble over his square jaw and hints of dimples on his muscular cheeks but it was the thick scars on his face that really took notice. One across his nose and another down the right side of his lip- He was like a well worn boxer.

Simon handing the toddler the mask who looked it over before focusing on his face again. Erik's chubby fingers tracing the scars that stretched across his nose and another over his lip and chin.

"Scary no?" Simon chimed, expecting the toddler to be uncomforble with his scarred face. However he was met with a surprise when Erik patted his scars with the forever sticky toddler hands.

"Boo Boo go away- No hurt?" Erik said softly, trying to rub the 'pain' away from the scars thinking they hurt the soilder. Simon smiled at this, which turned into the two looking in a mirror- Having the same almost Goofy crooked smile along with deep dimples, it just made your heart flutter.

"No hurt Mate, no hurt"

For the rest of your lunchbreak you and Simon agreed to meet up later at your home to talk about child arrangements and more important matters- Simon holding Erik the rest of the time getting him to finish his kunch and crawl over him till Erik fell asleep on his shoulder still clutching the mask in a tight fist.

Stepping out of the resturant Simon a bit reluctantly handed Erik back to you. Clearly wanting to hold the boy forever it seemed-

"Thank you for being so.. accommodating" Simon said calmly, knowing most wouldn't be so interested in something like this- However you smile as you hold your heavy boy.

"It's no problem, I appreciate the effort and how interested you want to be in Erik's life" You say sincerely. Simon felt a fluttering in his chest at your kindness towards them-

"Oh I had these for you" He said softly before going into the rented car and pulling out a bouquet of absolutely devastated Peonies and Lilies.

Simon mentally slapped himself as he held the clearly almpst dead flowers- He felt like a awkward teenager again. However you giggled at this and gently took the flowers from his hand, smiling at the sweet gesture.

"Thank you, That's really sweet Simon" He gave another smile which made your heart flutter, however your phone chimed snapping you back to reality.

Exchanging quick goodbyes you run back to the Clinic holding Erik who was starting to wake from his nap by the sudden movement. Simon watching you run off as he stood by the car dazed-

Tag List:

@maliemoon @elvyshiarieko @gaida-511 @im-as-mad-as-a-wax-bananna @elvyshiarieko

[theglamorousferal]

So if you’re new to the Danny Phantom fandom whether that be because you have joined us via a crossover, the new graphic novel coming out or just somehow got hooked into this fandom there are a few things you should know.

90% of content you will see is purely fanon lore.

I’m gonna divide this into two different sections, going over what is canon and then the most common things from fanon.

So if you go by the show, we have at least three different kinds of ghosts. We have ones like the Fright Knight who is a spirit formed from the feelings and beliefs of people surrounding the thoughts of Halloween and we have ones who were once humans like Sidney Poindexter and Desiree. There are also some who are the product of two different ghosts like Box Lunch. We technically also have the Ancients, but we don’t know anything about them except that they existed many years ago and then they enclosed Pariah Dark in the Sarcophagus of Forever sleep.

We know that a high concentration of ectoplasm introduced very quickly can causes human to turn into a half ghost. This happened with Danny at least 3 times, and the accident Vlad had (as well as Jack in an alternate timeline). Danny was changed twice by the portal and then once by being blasted by a bunch of ectoplasm.

In canon, the Fenton parents are very loving parents with just a bit of absent mindedness to them that leads to them missing the obvious signs that something is up with Danny. Every time in the show that he is exposed to them, he is accepted by them entirely. Even when in an alternate timeline where his parents never got together, he is accepted by them.

In canon, Jazz started out not knowing how to help Danny, Tucker and Sam, but it is shown in the show that she trains to be better later on. She still calls the ghosts by things she designated them as though, not how they would like to be called.

In canon, Vlad is awful. He regularly tries to Hamlet the main character. He tried to ruin/kill Jack to get with Maddie and make their kids his kids many, many times. He cloned a child, gaslit the clones into thinking he cared for them and then planned to melt them down to have his “perfect son”. In canon of the show, Vlad is not redeemable. (This sorta changes a bit in the graphic novel, but it’s a toss up whether that is actually considered active canon or if it’s its own canon now.)

In canon, Tucker is a genius after he was forced to sit through 12 hours of study programming. In canon, he is the reincarnation of a Pharaoh. He can speak a made-up language, Esperanto, and can hack into nearly every piece of tech he comes across.

In canon, Sam is obsessed with all things goth and so has tomes about magical beings and artifacts. She is athletic and is always ready to throw down. She only has plant powers in the episode “Urban Jungle”.

Now onto the Fanon, at least the most popular headcanons that I have come across.

The most common thing among the fandom is that Danny is half-dead. Some have him a ghost possessing his own corpse. Some have him be Schrodinger’s boy. Some have him have lower vitals or just no vital signs altogether. He is said to have died and not come back all the way or right. Common things have him be cold to the touch, a lower heart rate, and him forgetting to breathe entirely.

Probably the second most common headcanon is that Danny is the Ghost King after having fought and defeated Pariah Dark in single combat. Ways he takes the throne are varied, everything from him being forcibly put onto the throne and unable to go to the human world, to having to name Jazz or Maddie as regent until he reaches either human or ghostly majority, to him taking the throne but it being more of a figurehead thing. Most stories will have him have a plethora of titles and names he goes by. Along with this he now has a lair inside the Zone, most have him taking over Pariah’s Keep and some do have him have his own new lair.

Another popular headcanon is Ancient of Space or the Balance Danny (going with AGIT, the balance actually is now canon). These lead to things like Danny having an eldritch form. Something that is obviously “other” and hurts to perceive.

Both of these result in an OP Danny and probably around half of them will have him stuck at 14 and/or functionally immortal.

Another very common DP headcanon is Bad Fenton Parents and that their research caused the GIW’s formation. Alongside that come the most common type of fic you will come across which is where Danny has been captured by either the GIW or his parents and then is vivisected. Majority of them will have him vivisected by his own parents. Many of them will have them be varying levels of neglectful, from just not noticing things about their kids to straight up forgetting they were there and Jazz having to take care of them both.

In most fanon, the GIW are actively trying to genocide an entire species. This is closest to a canon thing considering that they did try to nuke the GZ, which would have resulted in their universe also collapsing. The things that some people write/draw for the atrocities the GIW and Bad!Fentons are things that I bring up to my therapist frequently. Be prepared for descriptive gore.

There are a few characters that have spawned in fanon that are widely accepted as canon characters now. The main one is Wes Weston along with his brother Kyle. Wes Weston was a background character that we see for about 3 frames in one episode, but he looked similar to Danny and had green eyes and the fandom latched onto that. It started out with someone claiming the A-listers would think that Wes is Phantom because he’s athletic, had the same build and green eyes. From there, the fandom has decided that he also is the only person to figure out that Danny was Phantom and tries frequently to expose him. Kyle Weston is Wes’ older brother, in the same class as Jazz and he doesn’t believe that ghosts are real and is played for gags a lot.

Another major piece of fanon lore is ghost cores. This stems from a remark Frostbite said talking about Danny’s core temperature and the fans took it and ran with it. In fanon there’s all kinds of different types of ghost cores, usually an element or an aspect of existence. Many have Danny possess an ice core, in some he has a space core. Others take his “death” into consideration and believe him to have an electric core. Commonly people have Vlad have a fire core. Usually cores are an orb that a ghost can retreat into to heal. If the core is shattered, the ghost is ended and no longer exists in any capacity.

Similar to cores is obsessions. These are essentially the purpose of the ghost, their drive and purpose. Skulker’s is hunting, Ember’s is recognition etc. Most give Danny a protection obsession, but will sometimes give him a space obsession.

Something that has gained traction in the last few years (to my knowledge mostly since the pandemic) is liminality. Liminality is where people are contaminated with ectoplasm due to overexposure or ingestion of it and it gives them ghostly abilities. Different people have liminality give people different abilities. Some have glowing eyes, lengthened canines and pointed ears. Some have enhanced senses, strength and speed as well as extra durability. Some have eyes that reflect like a cats and night vision. Some even go so far as give them at least one of the major ghostly abilities.

How someone becomes liminal differ depending on if the writer wishes to have it just be main characters or if it’s the entire town. If it’s just main characters then usually their frequent exposure to ghostly things as well as close proximity to it makes them liminal. For the whole town people will usually have the portal give off essentially radiation or when the town was pulled into the GZ be the cause.

Frequently Sam, Tucker and to a lesser extent Jazz are given extra abilities. Sam usually has residual powers from her time possessed by Undergrowth, Tucker usually has some form of techno Nancy and Jazz usually has some sort of empathetic ability, if not that she get’s the basic extra strength, speed, durability and senses.

There are some lesser known ones that should at least be mentioned in case you come across them. One of those being ghost hunger. This is where ghosts or liminals thirst for ectoplasm similar to how vampires thirst for blood. Another common thing is that ghosts socialize by fighting. That most of the fights are ghosts greeting the baby ghost. The last thing is that the main characters are known as Team Phantom.

I’m probably going to think of more later and I’ll post when I do, but this is the basics that I could remember on the fly. I hope this helps people!!

[oneatlatime]

Hiii!!! I’ve been binging through your blog for the past few weeks and I noticed how you talk about how Kataang(Katara x Aang) is portrayed in the show. Honestly yeah, I will admit I didn’t like it at first but now I just don’t really care for it. But I’d be interested hearing an in-depth opinion on the ship(unless you already did and I just never noticed or forgot 😭).

Another question, do you think you’re going to read the comics that came out the series? If you’re asking my opinion I’d say they’re a uuuh 7-8 out of 10 IG?

I do have thoughts on Kataang which I haven't shared yet. Part of me thinks I should wait to answer your ask until I've finished the series; it's obvious to me that these two are being set up to be the big finale couple, which means if I talk about them now I'm probably missing the pieces I need to have a full, well-rounded opinion. But you know what? I feel like talking about them now. So here goes.

Short answer: It peeves me that Aang comes from a culture that seemingly doesn't even have parents, yet he still manages to date his mother.

Long answer: they're both way too young. I'm a huge fan of letting the kids be kids for as long as possible. Especially with these kids, who have been prevented from being kids by the war. As Katara points out in the opening scene of the very first episode, she's been the mother since her own died (or at least she feels like she has had to be the mother). Call me crazy, but I'd rather Katara spend a few years after the war doing dumb childish stuff to recapture that lost childhood than jump straight into a relationship. Isn't the safety and space to do dumb childish stuff one of the things those who are trying to end the war are fighting for? Shouldn't she get to enjoy that? And Aang is just way too young no matter what way you look at it. He's 12 right? I think that would make him a grade 6 student. Back in my day (yells at cloud) Grade 6 students collected yugioh cards and feuded over who had the snazzier lunch box. I could picture a 12 year old having a crush on a slightly older girl that goes to the same school, but it would be short lived and unactionable. I guess Katara would be around 14? So, a grade 8 student. A grade 8 girl would not date a grade 6 boy. It would just never happen.

They've both got bigger fish to fry. Aang is the last Air Nomad AND the current Avatar. When he fully takes on both of those positions, what time will he have for a girlfriend? Katara is the only Southern Waterbender. Whether or not she wants the responsibility, it will be her duty to single-handedly reconstruct a huge portion of her nation's culture from the ground up once she returns south. Does she have the time to ping pong around the globe mothering her boyfriend as he rides giant animals or does Avatar stuff? Say she wants to: what will her family and the rest of her tribe think of the only person who can access such a huge part of their culture riding off into the sunset?

Their current relationship dynamic is still too mother/son. This is more obvious in season 1 than in season 2 (maybe that's growth?) but you can't depict a male/female pair as pieta and then expect me to ship. I think this could change somewhat, but I've already been disappointed in that. I thought that once Katara had mastered waterbending and therefore felt she had something other than mothering to contribute to the group, she would back off with the mothering. And she did, a little, but not enough for my tastes. Maybe as Aang fully steps into the Avatar role and the last Air Nomad role (sidenote: no idea what the latter would look like) he'll move on to a more equal relationship with Katara.

I think Katara is meant for better things than rebirthing a nation. Bending seems to be at least somewhat genetic. So if Aang wants Airbending in any form to survive after his death, he's going to need a billion kids. While I could definitely see Katara wanting children, I don't see her as the barefoot pregnant type.

I'm not convinced that Aang has a clear picture of Katara. She has flaws, which is good! Does Aang see them?

I get the feeling that, while they are helping each others' skills grow as they travel the globe, they are also preventing each others' personalities from growing. As long as Aang is around, Katara has someone to mother. As long as Katara is around, Aang has someone who prevents him from feeling the full weight of his responsibilities. Again, this is worse in season 1, but how often did Katara deny that Aang was to blame for something that was at least somewhat his fault? Aang will never become a fully rounded person until he can look at his flaws and mistakes dead on and say "my bad" without a Katara in the background going "no you're perfect!" Katara deserves to find out what kind of person she is outside of a nurturing role. Quick thought experiment: what if you pair Katara with someone who needs no nurturing, or better yet, nurtures her? And what if you pair Aang with someone as bluntly truthful as Toph? Katara and Aang might find both of those situations uncomfortable at first, but I think it would contribute to their growth.

Aang having a crush on an oblivious Katara would be a great single season arc. I think it would fit both of their characters well, and I think Aang growing past latching on to the first person he saw after the iceberg would be a good way to show that he's rooting himself in his time-displaced present, and fully committing to ending the war. And don't get me wrong, I love Aang and Katara both as a fighting team and as friends.

These kids are all fighting a war, and all kids. I don't mind the supporting characters having romances, because it's not like Sokka or Suki can end the war, no matter how hard they try/might want to. But I'm a big believer in doing one thing at a time, and I think if you're the only person in the whole world who can end a war, then ending the war should take precedence over dating. I'm aware that that's an unrealistic expectation and out of step with the show's theme of balance. In the real world, birth rates skyrocket during war time because people live for the moment and grab happiness (read boinking) wherever they see it. But both these kids are pre-boinking age so I'm going to be a cranky old fart about it.

Being the wife of the Avatar is a position that will often come with being relegated to second place, especially with the amount of work that undoing a century of war will take. Although she works well in a team, Katara is a naturally dominant personality. Katara did enough of putting herself in second place before the series started. I think Katara could very easily fall into the pattern of subjugating her own needs and desires and putting her husband's first, but I don't want that to happen. And one way to prevent that from happening is to prevent her from dating the single most politically important person in the universe. (To be clear, Aang would never deliberately squish a wife like that, I just think the workload of being Avatar and last air nomad would cause that to happen)

A lot of my objections to this pairing are very adult objections. I don't know what I would have thought about this pairing when I was the age of the show's target audience. It undoubtedly would have bothered me less, although I probably would have been put off by how twee it is. As an adult, all I can see are babies playing house.

As for the comics, I hadn't made any concrete plans to read them. I don't know where I'd get access to them. I'm not sure how canonical they are. I guess I should probably decide whether or not I want to read them after I've finished the whole series. I've been told that my girl Jin appears in one of them, so I definitely have some interest. I have also had the Avatar Kyoshi novels strenuously recommended to me. But so much of Avatar's charm, to me, is in the medium. And while comics are closer to animation than books are, they're still static. Avatar does movement so well.

[lazyneonrabbitt]

Sergei pt.2

Part one | Kraven x Reader

Your bestie finds out about your big cat man boyfriend.

Ever since you met the man who came to kill you, your ability to care better for yourself had finally shown itself. In the form of Sergei sending you money and giftcards to expensive boutiques in your neighborhood.

His visits had been sparse with your home being in Spiderman's main area and he couldn't just drive up to your place and parade himself around without being spotted.

He still visited, taking a different car each time, checking any and all social media pages so he could steer clear of his location.

You loved his visits. Every time he’d show up with treats and toys for the cats. Usually he’d call you to ask what you wanted for lunch or dinner and let you know when he’d arrive. At first he would never stay the night, afraid of being found and putting you in danger but this morning you had woken up on your couch, tangled in Sergei’s limbs as the sunlight shone through the windows.

Right now you were sitting around your coffee table again. You had done a quick breakfast run to the bakery across the street and when you returned Sergei had already brewed a fresh pot of coffee. One of the first things he had bought you was a stupidly expensive coffeemaker and a large box of supplies to easily make your beloved expensive drinks at home whenever you wanted, as soon as he learned that was where most of your leftover money went towards.

He had also bought you this huge, squishy lion plush that went everywhere around the apartment with you and was currently back to living on the couch behind you, after spending the night on the table you currently sat at.

“For when I’m not around.” He had said when you video called him. He had left you the instructions to either send him a video or call him whenever you’d get a git from him so he could see your reaction even when he wasn’t with you.

The two of you happily enjoyed breakfast together and cleaned up before refilling all he cats’ food and water bowls. You worked well around each other and planned your day while you both did your things and had decided to just stay here and do nothing, hang out on the couch with some snacks and TV. It was good for Sergei to unwind and not think about life for once, and having you with him worked as a great distraction. Such a great distraction, that halfway into the second episode of your show he had half laid down against the armrest of the couch, one leg up against the backrest and one hanging off the seat, with you sprawled over him like a ragdoll, but still holding Kraven the lion. With one hand he was rubbing lazy circles on your back while the other rested on the stuffed lion’s head, fingers playing with its mane. You were lying if you’d say you knew what the last thing said on the show was, as you were way too distracted by how beautiful Sergei looked with the sunlight casting a glow around his curls and making his eyes look almost like a glowing orange.

He caught you staring a while ago but decided to ignore it until now when he peeked down at you, looking you straight in the eyes. He let out a breathy laugh and without a warning hoisted you up so he could properly sit you down on top of him, Kraven still held close to your chest. Sergei looked up at you, down to the stuffed lion and back to you again. You took the hint and leaned over, your chest an inch away from his face as you went to place the lion on the chair next to you. When you moved back you were pulled against him, a pair of strong arms around you and soft lips on yours. You hummed as one of his hands went to the small of your back and the other played with your hair. Yours had found his curls almost immediately, tugging at them and deepening your kiss.

A squeeze to your side made you jump and break the kiss, sitting up, your hips right on his. Taking one look at each other you both laughed. He apologized for accidentally tickling you a you leaned back on his legs that were hanging off the armrest of the small couch he barely fit on like this. He put his hands behind his head with a stupidly handsome smirk on his face, looking at you like he was trying to say ‘I know you’re enjoying the view.’ And yeah, you were enjoying it for sure. You placed your hands on his chest, shamelessly squeezing like he would do to you whenever he’d walk up to you from behind. He returns the gesture before grabbing your hips and grinding you down on him, letting out a satisfying growl.

You were staring down at him with a soft smile, the show on TV turned into low, barely there background noise. “what are you thinking about, my little rabbit?” He had quirked up one brow and returned your smile with a half one.

With a blush you look away, feeling almost embarrassed to admit. “I’m just happy.” Your hand moved to rest on his cheek. “Haven’t felt that in a long time, until you showed up.” Your voice was barely above a whisper but he heard you clear as day, placing a hand on your cheek and guiding you down towards him and pull you into a kiss.

The kiss was soft and sweet at first, slowly getting more intimate as his hands started grasping at any part of you that he could reach. You could feel the growl rumbling in his chest as he held you close to him. Your hands found his hair and gave it a good pull with both hands causing him to groan into the kiss, parting his lips for you to slip your tongue past them.

Things had gotten intimate with Sergei before, but this felt different. The way he held you close and the intensity of the kisses. It sounded stupid in your head but you wanted more. Your sighs and moans only spurred each other on more, one of his large hands on the small of your back, holding you against him as he kept grinding up into you making you think he was hoping to do more than make out today.

Your intimate moment was cut short when your front door was opened without any warning, your best friend standing in your living room out of the blue. You both shot up at the sudden intrusion, you staring at your friend, Sergei staring at you in shock and your friend looking between the two of you and dropping whatever she held in panic.

“What the hell?” She had backed up against your door, hand fumbling to find the doorknob and failing as she did not dare to look away, afraid the man in front of her would attack.

You had crawled off Sergei’s lap while he sat up as well, giving you a look asking what the plan was. You looked back at her, one hand had found her phone. “What are you doing?” On her phone was the app you had gotten for emergencies, broadcasting your location in case you needed saving. “Please don’t press that button,” the look on your face must have said enough as her thumb moved away from the screen, holding her hand up to show you.

By now Sergei had gotten off the couch and walked over to the dropped papers now all over your floor. He gathered them up to give them a quick look but stopped as he realized what he was holding. He picked them all up and rose again, standing only a foot away from your now terrified friend.

“Why do you have this?” He clutched the files in his hand, holding them up to her face as he snarled. He turned back to you now. “Why does your friend have detailed files on me?” He stepped over to you.. “Do you have these as well?” He drops the papers in your lap for you to look at. You rifle through them, taking in the images that are clearly security cam footage screen grabs. Timeframes included tell you these are from his visits. So he had been spotted, even with how careful he had been. You had talked about what to do if something like this ever happened, but you never really got to a proper answer. Your only options were either killing or leaving and you didn't want to do either, you loved this area and there was no way you’d let him kill your friends. With tears in your eyes you looked back to your friend, still standing frozen at your door. “Can you please talk?”

Your sudden change had Sergei shift his focus back you caring for you rather than eliminating the threat that was your friend who now knew who he was and had seen him with you. He leaned against the couch’s backrest and turned to listen to your friend’s explanation.

She sighed and looked down at her feet, starting her story.

What you had expected was true, Spidey had spotted Sergei in town on multiple occasions, but didn’t have any evidence of him actively hunting someone so he found there was no reason to engage for now but he did feel like he had to warn his close ones in case he was planning something. Clearly he didn’t know of the original reason he came here that first time, otherwise a fight would have happened already. Luckily he threw that plan out the window when his first target turned out to be, well, you.

“So, yeah.” She sighed, nervously looking between the two of you and praying her words were good enough to not end up beheaded and put on a wall like a hunting trophy.

When she was with Spidey he had given her the papers and they talked about the dangers of them spending time together as there were, according to him, always enemies watching.

“What were you doing with him then, anyways?” You interrupted her continuation with a suspicious look. A blush crept up her face as she stumbled over her words. “We.. we’re friends,” she shrugged nonchalantly. “Friends can hang out.”

You rolled your eyes at her, immediately reading through her lies. “yeah, of course you were hanging out just to talk about the dangers of hanging out.” You gestured grandly as you spoke. “He could have emailed us those files, but h went through the effort of having them printed so you had an excuse to see each other, i get it.” you shrugged back at her. “I don’t care that you guys are fucking but I wear if you tell him about any of this,” You wave your finger between you and Sergei, who had just been standing there, watching how you were going to handle this whole thing. “I will send him to go put your head on Spidey’s wall.” It was clear it wasn’t an empty threat, but she also knew that if you both agreed to keep your partners’ names out of your mouths like true friends would, there would’t be a single problem. So that’s what you did.

Her very chaotic visit ended with you all making an agreement and rehearsing her ‘I gave her the files, she said she’d be careful. Your app is still on her home screen.” speech before heading back home.

[soupandsauce]

OCD with Finn Hudson

Finn Hudson x Female Reader

I got back into my teenage obsession with Glee ever since I found out it's on Hulu and so I will now be writing for Glee characters! Requests are super welcome!

Summary: How Finn helps and supports you during your OCD episodes

This is mainly for my own comfort as I am really struggling with my OCD now.

Having contamination OCD is a debilitating disability. Not to mention suffering through it during high school. Your first week was comforting once you met with the counselor, Miss Pillsbury who also struggles with all things germs. She encouraged you to dive into a club to try and socialize with people. Thats what a club is after all, a group of people coming together for a period to support one another.

So you did, or rather, you ignored her idea until someone very handsome came up to you during a rather germs time.

it was lunch, and you were sitting alone in an empty classroom far away from the floating particles of the high school cafeteria. You sat down with a sigh as you opened up your bento box full of healthy and colorful food. after sanitizing your dried out hands, you started to eat. A few laughs and voices occasionally decorating the silence as students walked the halls.

One of those students was Finn Hudson, the quarterback for McKinley high as well as one of the guys known to be in glee club. He was rather tall, couldn't be shorter than six foot four and had soft brown hair. You had seen him in passing as you walked in the halls in between classes. he always had a smile on his face and seemed to be a very gentle and friendly person despite his popular status.

Finn saw you as you ate alone in the classroom. He saw how you were wiping off your fruits and the way that the table underneath you was still partially wet from what must have been a lysol wipe. It reminded him of Miss Pillsbury and how she struggles with OCD. He smiled at your cute frame, no taller than five foot two. He wanted to say hello but for some reason, he felt himself get nervous. As if your beauty enthralled him.

But before he could look away, you looked up from your lunch to see him. He tried to act normal.

"Why are you eating alone? We'd love to meet you." he says as he walks inside the classroom.

"Oh, um, Hi." I say as I blush softly, still stiff.

"Hi." he says softly as he walks over to the table you're at and sits down across from you. So he is incredibly kind.

"I'm Finn." he says "You're new right?"

I swallow a bite of food.

"Yeah, I'm Y/N" you say.

he smiles

"So why are you all alone in here?" he asks again.

You swallow again out of nervousness, you might as well be honest.

"Oh, I have a germ problem." You start

Finn's face softens even further if that's even possible as he listens.

"I'm guessing you've met the counselor?" He says with a cute smile

"You two have a lot in common."

You smile softly and blush again

"Yeah, she's encouraged me to join a club. She says it might help." You say.

Then, Finn smiles. again like he has an idea.

"Do you like music?" He asks

"Yeahhh?" you say, drawing your word out as if you know he's up to something.

Finn giggles a little before saying, "Join glee club! Or just stop by today after school to see what it's like. I'll be there." he says.

You smile softly and blush again.

"Okay" You whisper.

.

.

.

after school, you pack up your bag and put some hand sanitizer onto your hands, grimacing slightly as you see how dry your hands are becoming from the over use. As you stand at your locker, you see Finn walking the hall too and he gives you a smile and a wave. You smile back and wave as well before you turn back around to your locker.

Then, from behind you, a couple of football players are snickering as they both hold slashes in their hands and walk towards you. Finn watches and his usual smile quickly drops into a look of dread and worry. Finn quickly runs over to you and you turn around to see Finn, as well as these two football players all coming towards you, you flinch as they all three get so close, worried that they will touch you.

"Hey new girl, welcome to McKinley." One of the football players says with a smirk on his face as if he's up to no good.

"Don'y even think about it, dude." Finn says.

"Says you, you faggot. Everyone knows that Glee club members are all losers. She associates with you, so therefore, she's a loser too. And you know what losers get." The football guys says as he throws the contents of the slushy into the air towards you.

"No! Stop!" Finn says as he tries to block it, but he's too late. The cold, wet, and sticky slushy splashes all over your face, hair, clothes, and skin and you gasp so loud that Finn think it's a scream.

"Finn looks furious as the two guys who walk away with a strut. And for a moment, you think that Finn is going to run after them and punch em, but instead, Finn turns back to you with a terribly sorry look on his face.

"Y/n, I'm so sorry... I tried to stop them... I know you..." But he can't even finish his sentence before you start breaking down into a panic as you feel the blue slush all over you, CONTAMINATING you.

Finn watches in fear as you shrivel to the ground in a ball and cry as you hyperventilate and panic, unable to move.

"Here" Finn says as he takes you gently by the shoulders and walks you away from the large, watching crowd and into the empty football locker room.

"I-I-its- I..." You try to speak, not only about what just happened, but the fact that the locker room only worsens your situation due to the sporty, sweaty smell.

Finn is quick to fetch his duffel bag from his locker and rummage inside of it to hold out a hoodie and a pair of joggers.

He runs with a towel over to you and wipes off your face as you cry, barely registering the close proximity or how kind he is being to you for a moment. But after a few minutes of him wiping your face and hands clean, you start to catch your breath, hiccuping every so breaths s you sniffle.

"I know it's not the best place in the world, but there's showers around the corner if you wanna wash up a little. I have these clean clothes too if you wanna change." he says in the most gentle voice.

You sniffle as you look at his sorry expression, like he somehow caused it, and suddenly really start to feel for him. You start to tear up again and Finn sees it.

"N-No I didn't mean to make you cry again, im so sorry." Finn says as he stands up straight and puts his hands on his eyes.

"No Finn, you're just so sweet." You say.

"Thank you"

You then decide to take a quick shower while Finn waits right outside the locker room door, making sure that no one comes in. After about 20 minutes of scrubbing and washing, you finally come walking out slowly. Finn turns around to see you, 5'2, with damp hair, all while wearing HIS hoodie and HIS joggers which, mind you, swallow you whole. He smiles.

"How do you feel?" He asks

"better, thank you." You say with a quiet and scratchy voice from all the crying and hyperventilating.

Finn smiles back

"Do you still feel good enough for Glee club or do you want to try another day?" He asks, not wanting to pressure you after such a traumatic thing.

You feel some sort of pull to Finn, almost as if you want to be near him always.

"Only if you sit beside me, Finn" You say softly with a smile.

.

.

.

Time went on and Glee club was the thing that really helped you feel more normal, more accepted. And as promised, Finn sat by you each and every time. Almost everyone in the club, including Mr. Schue, were convinced that you and Finn were dating but the both of you denied it until the night of regionals. Before the show, behind the curtain, you two had a rather short conversation.

"Break a leg" You said to Finn

"I love you." he quickly gets out right before the music starts.

.

.

.

Since then, you two have been happily dating.

.

.

.

On nights where he spends the night, or a full weekend over, he always respects your boundaries and little rituals. Finn smiles as he takes off his outside clothes and changes into his inside clothes for you, giving you little winks here and there as he unbuttons his shirt. He helps you by wiping down the counters with lysol wipes after he cooks anything and helps you with the laundry.

But there are times when it gets so bad that Finn tries to help you refrain from doing your cleanings.

Often times, he sees how chapped your hands are from all the hand washing and hand sanitizer so he sits you down and rubs lotion on your hands, whispering softly how you have to take care of them. or he will challenge you to only wash your hands for a minute as he stands next to you. He praises you when you do well.

.

.

.

Mr. Schue really likes you and Finn because he sees himself and Miss Pillsbury in you two. he can tell that you two are going to last based off how you treat each other. And that's the main reason why you two commonly get to sing all the ballads. After performance nights, Finn and you have sleepovers where you clean the trophy while watching a movie together, it's really sweet.

[translatemunson]

it always ends up with a town car speeding • ttfd

chapter six of the tortured firefighters department

previous chapter | masterlist | next chapter

cw: fem!reader, afab!reader, no descriptions of reader, mentions of food, 118 being a family, buck being a considerate friend, girls night with our favs (lmk if i missed something)

You checked your phone again and stared at the doughnut box you bought on your way to the firehouse. When you were leaving your shift, you heard one of your coworkers dispatching the 118 for an incident. Based on your calculations, it was enough time for you to drive to your coffee shop, get yourself some decaf latte and two boxes of doughnuts for the team and deliver it yourself at the firehouse.

However, forty minutes after your estimations, they were still nowhere to be seen. Or something worse happened, or they were just stuck in the midmorning traffic.

You held back the urge to text Buck and ask, but maybe he didn’t have his cellphone with him and would be a waste of time. So you turned on the volume of your headphones, your favorite playlist blasting, and closed your eyes, trying to remember all the concepts you’ve been studying over the week.

After your mental breakdown, you decided to put your life back on tracks again. You were back to work the graveyard shifts, while also attending classes and asking for deadline extensions from your professors, so you could at least have a shot at delivering decent papers and syllabus.

Did that mean you were always out of your house or buried in books? Yes, but this time you had friends making sure to check on you from time to time. Maddie was always reminding you to eat and take breaks — even when she wasn’t working the graveyard with you —, Hen gave you some notes from Karen old book’s in hopes they would be helpful — and most of them were —, Eddie and Buck were always inviting you to hang out, even if it was just for lunch. Besides Buck — who saw with his own eyes when you hit rock bottom —, they probably had a general idea of what was going on with you.

You didn’t hear the engine and the ambulance entering the garage — how could you when your favorite song was playing — and you were the one that ended up surprised by the 118.

“Oh my-,” you screamed when you felt your chair trip back. But before you could hit the floor, you were stopped mid fall, and Eddie was staring at you, kinda upside down, “Edmundo, you little piece of-”

“Nice to see you too, Brains. And you brought donuts?” He set your chair upright, and you saw Chim and Hen already picking one from the box. They waved, mouths already full with the treat. “What got you in such a good mood?”

“Definitely not you.” He reached for one, and you slapped his arm. “Put it down. Now.”

“Really?” He looked surprised, but he was just messing with you.

“You heard the lady, Eddie,” Buck finally showed up, a small towel in hand, cleaning the smoke particles from his face. “Oh, you brought doughnuts!”

If looks could kill, Eddie would’ve dropped dead. But now that Buck was here, your features softened and that strange sensation washed over you.

Something changed after the night he showed up at your door and helped you through your depressive episode — you started to use the real name of what that was. But you couldn’t quite point it out, thinking maybe it changed only in you, and he was still the same Evan Buckley you met weeks ago.

“Suit yourself, Buck.” You pushed the box further, keeping it away from Eddie.

“I thought you hated him.” He pointed.

“Hate is a strong word, Edmundo,” you took a sip of your coffee. “Besides, he didn’t scare me to death!”

“I’m on her good side now,” Buck admitted, proud of himself. If he knew that he was more than just on your good side, that he found his way inside your impenetrable fortress, he would use it to his advantage. “Thanks, Brains.”

“So, miss Halfway Through Her PhD, what brings you here today?” Chim pulled a chair and dipped back for a second donut. Buck went straight to the kitchen to pour himself a cup of coffee.

“Nothing, just wanted to drop by and share some treats before I go to class.”

“You’re a long way from Caltech,” Hen sat to your right, pushing Eddie away.

“Yes, ma’am, I know. By the way, one of my professors used to work with Karen, Mrs. Duncan.”

 “Don’t remember his name from our conversations, but I’ll tell her,” she smiled. “Also, she found a few more books in the basement, drop by to pick up any time.”

“Will do.” You opened your notes app to add it to your to do list, and checked the time. “I’d love to sit and catch up with you guys, but I have to leave if I want to make it in time,” you showed your phone screen, time ticking against you. “I left another box in the fridge, but don’t get used to it.”

“Can I have one now?” Eddie wouldn’t shut up one second. God, you needed to find him a date and get him laid.

“Fine, Diaz. But don’t you ever do that again.”

“Scouts honor,” he promised.

You grabbed your bag, ran down the stairs, waved Bobby goodbye — the captain was coming out of his office — and took a walk to your car, parked outside of the fire house.

“Hey, Brains!” You heard Buck calling you, and for a moment you thought you were reliving that fight at Eddie’s house. You stopped on your tracks, far enough from the fire house building to have some privacy. “We have to stop meeting like this.”

“Not my fault if you guys took longer than I estimated on that call,” you smiled.

“Was it you?”

“No, it was May, but I overheard her instructions.” You checked your bag for your key. “Was everyone ok?”

“Yeah, everyone’s fine,” Buck closed in the distance between you, and looked over his shoulder to the firehouse before asking, “How have you been feeling?”

“I’m better, Buck. Hmm, thanks for not telling them all the details about, you know, that thing,” you felt like stepping on eggshells, talking for the first time about what he did for you. When you woke up that next morning, you avoided the subject like the plague. “They really don’t need one more thing to worry about.”

“It never stopped them from caring, you know?”

“Yeah, I know.” You bit your lips and stared into your shoes. “Anyway, I’m sorry I blew you off last weekend, I had these tough exams and I spent all my free time studying. I really forgot to check my phone, and didn’t crossed my mind to tell you I was gonna be busy, so I’m-”

“Brains, it’s ok. Really.” He gently grabbed your arm, cutting your nervous talk short. “I assumed you were busy, that’s why I just let you be. And you promised me you’d tell me if things got bad, so I really get it. Even though I was never a good student.”

“Cut yourself some slack, Buck. You may not be good with math and science, but you got into LAFD, which is a huge thing.” And before he could say anything, you added, “I’ve seen the training program, it’s tough and demands a lot of intuition and assessing a scene quickly.”

“A compliment, Brains? Oh, I’m definitely on your good side now.”

“You’re unbelievable, Evan Buckley.” You pushed him, your hands placed in the middle of his chest. “If you excuse me, I need to run through LA traffic to get in time for class now.”

Your movements were a little awkward, like you’re both trying to dance the same song, but missing all the queues. You stepped aside, he opened the door for you and your hands touched, your bag fell to the floor and it was so like one of those romcoms moments. And you kept trying to avoid Buck’s eyes, which led you to almost step on his foot and bump into him multiple times.

“Don’t get yourself into an accident,” he said before closing the door for you. “I really don’t wanna be the one dragging your ass out of a mess.”

“Don’t worry, I’m a safe driver.”

“Hope your class doesn't suck.”

“Hope your shift is just saving cats from trees and helping elderly cross the street.” You avoided the Q-word, an old superstition from all dispatchers and first responders. “See ya, Buckley.”

+++

“I don’t think I can do it, that’s the problem,” you poured another glass of wine.

“Why not? I mean, what’s wrong with that?” Maddie picked up another bite of the cheesecake slice you ordered for girl’s night.

“I don’t know, maybe the fact that is gonna be, I don’t know, the third time I’ll ask for a reschedule, and I really don’t wanna do it!” You stored the wine bottle in the corner, still yapping about your latest quest.

“C’mon, Brains, you had your reasons. I bet he won’t say no.”

“But if he does? Like, he definitely hates me now.”

“I bet Buck would never hate you.”

“The student who keeps… Wait a damn minute, since when are we talking about Buck?”

“I thought you were talking about him all along?” Maddie grabbed her glass, hiding her knowing smirk behind the dark liquid.

“What made you feel like I was talking about it?” She tried to walk away from you, but you caged her on her seat. “No, Maddie, you’re not pulling this trick on me.”

“You really didn’t notice him giving you the special Buckley treatment? The heart eyes? Are you blind or something?”

“No? Because you’re literally making that up.”

“You’re definitely a woman of science, because you won’t notice something until it’s right into your face, with proofs and everything.” Maddie stared at something over your shoulder, probably in the direction of Buck’s place. “Oh God, he’s gonna kill me.”

“You should worry about me killing you, not him. Buck wouldn’t hurt a fly.”

“You’re right.” And then she clocked you. “And you have feelings for him too, don’t you?”

You thanked God for whoever was banging at your door. You walked away from Maddie’s question and ended up face to face with May.

“Did you tell her already?” She was holding a box of goodies and looked into Maddie.

“Tell me what?”

“I did, because you’re late. Now you gave her the perfect way out.” Maddie shook her head.

“Oh no, now that I’m here,” May stole your wine glass, took a sip and sat by your kitchen counter, “thank you for that, no one is escaping.”

“I hate you, guys.” You considered the idea of running to Buck’s and asking for shelter, but it would just prove their point. You closed the door and sighed, “I think you’re out of your mind if you really believe he has a crush on me. And to answer your question,” you walked back to the kitchen, getting a clean wine glass, “No, I don’t have feelings for Buck. Are we on good terms now? Yes, but that doesn’t mean I like him.”

“Never saw someone tiptoe around the word friends so much,” May was definitely Athena’s daughter because she knew how to come for the neck. “And you don’t like him? Whatever helps you sleep at night.”

“No, I don’t. Yeah, we are friends, but I’m kinda seeing someone else now,” you confessed.

“Oh, are you?” Maddie had her doubts, because you were only bringing it up after being confronted about Buck.

“Yes, it’s a guy from one of my classes. We’ve been studying together, having a few coffees between classes, he’s nice.”

“What’s his name?” May had her phone on hand. “C’mon, Brains.”

“Stephen. He’s getting a PhD in Statistics,” you told them. “He’s nice, and I think we’re having an official date next tuesday.”

Maddie and May whispered for a few seconds, pointing to the phone screen. You stood there, chewing the sweets and drinking big sips of the wine. Even if Buck had feelings for you… Were you lying to yourself? No, you and Stephen had something going on. At least you thought so.

“Tell us everything about Stephen!” May didn’t sound convinced.

So you did. You told them how he was kind enough to lend his notes from one of the classes you missed, then suggested you should study together in the library, and as a thank you gesture, you ended up buying coffee for him before your study sessions. You were texting each other very frequently, and he asked if you wanted to go to this italian cantina on one of your days off. How could you say no?

“Ok, but you noticed he resembles Buck, right?” May kept rolling his Instagram posts. “You’re lying to yourself, girl.”

“Yeah, because of all the DNA combinations, Buck is the only one allowed to have those features. Like c’mon, May, now you’re just making things up.” You rolled your eyes. “And, like, Stephen has dark brown eyes, he’s not like Buck.”

“Oh poor off brand Buck,” she stole a cherry from the cake slice. “Girl, be serious.”

“May, he genuinely seems like a nice guy.” You were almost saying ‘thank you’ to Maddie when she added, “Are you sure you’re not using him as a way to avoid Buck?” You wished the baby Jee good luck because she was worse than any friend you had. Come on, how could she do that to you?

“What? No! Please, that’s absurd.” You assumed your serious pose, both hands on the kitchen counter, “I don’t have feelings for Buck, we are just friends. And I think you’re making this up, he doesn’t have feelings for me. He’s just being Buck.” Every time you said those words, you were trying really hard to believe them. “Are you both happy now?”

They traded a very long and silent look and smiled.

“No, but you do you, girl.” May put her phone away and opened another box of desert. “Just don’t call me when you finally come into realization.”

“Geez, you look just like your mom right now,” you pointed, the Athena stare taking over her face. “You can say you told me so if that happens. But again, it’s not gonna happen. Any final words, Maddie?”

She laughed and poured another glass of wine, “You’re gonna learn pretty quickly that the Buckley’s don’t give up until they get what they want.”

a/n: hi guys! sorry for taking so long to post this new chapter — i wasn’t feeling well, so i took a break from writing and everything else. but i’m back! i’m cooking something related go this chapter (thanks to @live-love-be-unique request, you were so spot on casey), and the following two chapters are already drafted on my notes. hope everyone’s doing ok, soon enough we will get more 9-1-1 content! see y’all very soon! oh wait, also, shout out to my love @munsonsreputation for helping me with proofreading and cheering me up when i decided to face my fears and write 💙 love you babeeee

[tsxkkis]

tadashi yamaguchi - cooking genius

a/n = finally found some time to write something with the mess that is school starting last week, and i'm not really the happiest with this work to be honest T-T also i've been reading one piece lately and i absolutely LOVE sanji hence why using his character in this fic

summary = a (not so) secret admirer starts leaving lunches on your desk everyday at school.

warnings = nothing really, pure fluff.

yamaguchi was feeling gloomy from the moment you turned the tv on.

the two of you had a tradition; two times every week, you would meet up at either your or his house, watching different tv shows and movies together as a way to relax from school, volleyball, and other stressful things filling your lives. it was a perfect deal; you finally had someone to talk to about your current hyperfixations, and thanks to you, he finally had the motivation to watch all the things he never truly picked up.

so when you suggested rewatching your childhood favorite series, one piece, he was more than happy to agree. well, at least at first.

a grimace was almost stuck to his face the whole time since a certain blonde cook appeared on the screen, taking in all of your comments about your favorite character as the episodes went by. he listened as you gushed over the blonde, pupils almost heart-shaped at the sight of him in every scene, mumbling something along the lines of loving guys who can cook well as your hands went to grab the snacks.

but somehow, his lack of excitement went unnoticed by you; your focus being completely and utterly on the screen, invested in the story you already knew by heart. what you did notice, though, was a bento box lying on your desk at school a few days later, with a small note on top of it.

'made these just for you :)'

your head immediately turned towards yamaguchi, a tap on the shoulder being enough for him to turn around to you with a questioning look on his face.

"did you see who left it here?" yamaguchi shook his head in response, a soft sigh leaving your lips as you sat down and opened the box, eyes scanning the food inside.

you barely missed the faint blush and shy smile on your friend's face as he watched you notice all your favorite foods inside, digging into one of them with the happiest look in your eyes.

as days went by, more and more boxes appeared on your desk, the food in each one, to your surprise, tasting better than previous meals you got. each one came with another sweet note; whether a compliment or just something nice to make you smile for the rest of the day. before you knew it, you were stuck wondering who could it be; yamaguchi being the victim of listening to all your (terribly wrong) speculations about who might be behind all of this. 

"ahh, i wish i knew who it is." you mumbled under your breath, pen scribbling little doodles on your english notebook, the empty box lying next to it with a few crumbs of the food inside. "you know, i might just marry them on the spot."

yamaguchi's eyes widened hearing those words, a faint blush on his face as he listened to your rambling, tsukishima's comment of how corny you were being going completely unnoticed by him.

he could hear the exciting squeals from you when the next day at school, the note on your bento box was something completely different than before.

'meet me at the history section in the library after classes, please :)'

when the bell rang, signaling the end of your last class that day, you ran to the place as fast as you could, breath shortening with each passing moment as the adrenaline mixed with stress ran through your body.

the history books section was one at the very end of the library, your steps slowing down as you approached the place. when your head finally turned to face the person hiding behind everything that's been making you smile for the last few weeks, you almost couldn't believe it.

"you came." a shy smile appeared on yamaguchi's face, hands trembling as he took in your surprised expression. "i- i was a bit scared you'd back out last second because you changed your mind or somethi-"

"it was you this whole time?"

your body froze, a thousand thoughts flooding your mind all at once. how did you miss the fact that it was yamaguchi? he was the only one who could possibly know you so well to pull this off.

the only one who could actually put in so much effort.

seeing yamaguchi nod in answer made your body react before your mind could even fully comprehend the situation; arms wrapping tightly around the boy's figure, head hidden in the crook of his neck. soon enough you could feel his hands creeping around your waist as well, unsure movements as he gently pulled you even closer to him.

"you said you liked guys who can cook well," his words were a faint whisper as he started explaining, the lack of eye contact with you in this very moment helping him properly voice his thoughts. "tsukishima said it was stupid and i should confess to you already because in his words, it's obvious you feel the same way."

"well, he was right about one thing, at least."

you pulled away from the hug, eyes locking with his as your hands made their way to his, gently squeezing them. yamaguchi had no idea what made his face more red at that moment; the fact that you could feel just how shaky his hands were, or the fact that you just admitted to liking him back.

"i've always liked you, tadashi." hearing those words, he thought he was imagining things. and yet, this whole situation was really happening; it wasn't another one of his stupid dreams, another dumb fantasy of his. "you've just given me another reason to do so now."

yamaguchi blinked. once, twice. his body was frozen on the spot, and yet somehow he managed to let a few words out, said so quietly that you almost didn't hear them.

"so, does that mean... you'll go out with me?"

you leaned in, placing a quick kiss on his cheek, and you could swear that you heard him gasp as you did so.

"i would love to."

taglist: @ox1-lovesick @moonswolfie @wyrcan

[karamazovposting]

On Ivan and bipolar disorder (part one)

I've never seen anyone talk about this and it doesn't surprise me considering most people don't really know what bipolar disorder actually is (the stereotypes are all wrong and good representation in media is rare, sigh) and while I'm not saying my interpretation is the only correct one as I'm a firm believer that anyone can see whatever they want in art and that's a beautiful thing, in my opinion there are enough things about Ivan's behaviour and character that make my bipolar Ivan Karamazov agenda worthy of being pushed a little.

This first part will be more of an introduction where I'll just talk, in general, about what I picked up on in the first half of the novel and then in the next parts (I don't know how many there'll be yet, there's a lot of stuff to say) I'll get more specific by going over Ivan's inner world and the more significant events that made me think yeah this young man definitely needs some lithium.

Let's start with this: I know every Dostoevsky character is fucked up in their own way, that's pretty much his thing, but there is a difference between being a little fucked up and being actually mentally ill. There's just something about Ivan that made something in my brain click and go bipolar, which has never really happened before.

Do I think Dostoevsky deliberately chose to make Ivan so bipolar coded? Considering at the time there was barely a name for this disorder (which isn't even the same name we use today), let alone an actual diagnosis, no. But as someone who is diagnosed with bipolar disorder, I think his character makes a lot more sense if we see him as suffering from it. I even talked about this to my therapist who has read the book and he sees my vision too (lmao).

The thing that I'm sure jumps to someone's mind when it comes to Ivan and the topic of mental illness is the psychotic episode he goes through after Fyodor's murder, and while it kind of sustains my thesis on its own already, I thought he was bipolar coded way before that, because in my opinion there are a lot of subtle signs and behaviours that are kind of like little puzzle pieces that need to be put together to get to see the bigger picture, as bipolar disorder is not just the episodes someone goes through but also the impact those episodes have on them. It's a disorder that shapes the person, their brain chemistry and patterns and therefore their life in an irreversible way.

What initially struck me was how angry Ivan actually is. We don't really see it at first solely because we don't really see much of him in general, but I think that after he pushes Maksimov off the carriage without saying a word or explaining himself to his father we open some sort of Pandora's box. After that, almost every time he appears in the first half of the novel, he's angry. At the top of my head I can only think of two instances where he's not: when talking to Katerina before leaving for Moscow, which is also the first time we see him show an emotion other than anger (and it only took him, what? More than 300 pages? Yeah, relatable), and when he's at lunch with Alyosha shortly after. Other than that, he's always angry, and it's so visceral that I couldn't help but think that he feels that particular kind of deep rage only someone with bipolar disorder is capable of feeling (I personally nicknamed bipolar disorder the always fucking angry disorder). The way he's so deeply and irrationally angry that he feels himself shake and has to collect himself in order to not beat up Smerdyakov? The way he can't let it go and engages in conversation with him even though he himself doesn't even know why he's feeling or doing any of that? The way he treats his father? That's undiagnosed/untreated behaviour, I've been there. It may feel weird or even absurd if you're not familiar with this disorder, but there's a reason why the term bipolar rage is a thing: it is indeed on another level. It also seems like the only emotion he's comfortable with showing is anger and that's why it seems to be his only emotional outlet, as he didn't seem that eager to open up in front of Katerina and even when alone with his own brother you can feel some sort of awkwardness coming from him. I'll go into the specifics of that particular interaction with Alyosha in the future, but I think that after that Ivan's, very emotion-centered, character arc officially starts to develop as his relationship with his own feelings finally and slowly starts to change and becomes a tool to get him closer to the other characters. It's obviously not linear and I really like that, it feels very realistic.

Anyway, at first I thought I was just projecting, lots of people have anger issues and showing one symptom of something doesn't mean you have it, diagnostic criterias exist for a reason. The thing is, the more I read the more I noticed that not only Ivan happens to meet a lot of them, but he also shows some behaviors and has some personality traits that can easily be interpreted as bipolar coded (as I said a few paragraphs ago): his complex and peculiar type of loneliness, the emotional outbursts, his own perception of himself compared to how the other characters speak of him, his traumatic childhood, his attitude towards life (and death), the reasons behind his relationship with God and religion, his curated persona, the fact that no one seems to understand him. Not to mention he's described as having experienced depression and anguish multiple times in the past, and in a particular occasion in the novel not even knowing why (this one point in particular is very important as it connects to his attitude towards life and death, which is the most bipolar coded thing about him to me). All things I'll go over with more detail in the future when I'll get to his inner world.

For now I'll say that the main thing about bipolar disorder is that it fucks up one's emotions a lot, causing "inappropriate" or "abnormal" (for a lack of better terms) and exaggerated emotional responses and reactions in the people who have it (which usually manifest as the epic highs and lows the average person has at least heard of, but it can and does get more complicated than that) and I genuinely don't think Ivan reacts normally to anything, ever; the most noticeable thing to me is that his default reaction to anything, no matter what it is, is laughter. We also see him get extremely anxious to the point of being physically unwell and spiral a little after Smerdyakov and Fyodor tell him to go to Cermašnja due to what the former told him, which made me go damn, no one died yet and he's already paranoid?. His emotional regulation is a mess and he's so real (and bipolar) for that.

Another quite important thing about bipolar disorder is that it makes every emotion more intense to the point of confusion and being all over the place, which causes a person with bipolar disorder's emotional responses and reactions to be the way they are. Now, I'm not proclaiming myself as the one and only True Ivan Karamazov Understander, but I do think people tend to focus too much on his façade of coldness and on the darker side of his story, causing them to forget about how actually fun, passionate and almost childish he is at times. Ivan feels, and he feels deeply, and it isn't fair to overlook that just because he rarely shows it. Extreme rationality and collectedness can often also be a way to try to gain control over your symptoms (I'm guilty of that). We get to see some of his less collected emotionality in how dramatic he gets (like a true Karamazov) when reciting poetry in German to Katerina and in The brothers get acquainted, Rebellion and The Grand Inquisitor, as I already mentioned. At this point of the novel, something in particular happens and at this point in the novel I decide that yes, Ivan is bipolar coded.

I think I'll stop here at this sort of "cliffhanger" because this got quite long and I need one post only to elaborate that last paragraph. This isn't as coherent as I hoped it would be and, honestly, I kind of feel stupid, like I read too much into this and am seeing things that aren't there (how familiar, how fitting), but I wanted to share my perspective (and I'm also open to discussion!). Also, I won't lie, Ivan is my favorite character of The Brothers Karamazov and I don't think he's talked about enough, I've even seen people say he's the least interesting one out of the brothers which kind of broke my heart because I personally think he's the most interesting (no shade to the uninteresting Ivan gang of course). I don't know if I feel like that towards him because for the first time ever I got to see myself in a character and it was very important to me, but I don't think it really matters, "meeting" him made me happy and he will always be special to me, even if his story has its fair share of tragedy. Or maybe because of it. I'm planning on making a post about that and his ending in particular, but for now I'll focus on finishing this bipolar Ivan Karamazov essay.

No idea when I'll write the rest though, but I will.