#Whisper Punch

[andrewknightley]

saw someone saying something like "do you really think veilguard story would be better if you could do evil choices?" and actually yeah. i think if they let us act more like the dreadwolf on the "you are a paralellism to the dreadwolf" game, it would be more significant when the story tells you "you are a bit like him/you are nothing like him" because , thats how you chosed to play it.

[ladyloveandjustice]

My Top 12 Favorite Anime of 2024 (and more)!

We had a lot of good anime in 2024, so here's the list of my top 12 favorites and some bonus great anime as well. If you get tired of clicking the review links, check out my anime overview collection for all of them here.  

You can also check out my post about my favorite manga from 2024 here and my favorite books of 2024 here.

These are in no particular order!

Delicious in Dungeon (a.k.a Dungeon Meshi)

Dungeon Meshi  is one of my favorite stories period, and easily my top anime of the year. The basic premise is that Laios and his party of adventurers need to travel through a monster-infested dungeon rescue his sister. Rather waste precious time earning money for food, Laios decides they should just eat the monsters they encounter as they travel. But then that simple plot spins off into so much more...

The story combines cooking and adventure animanga expertly. It has some of the most impressive and fascinating worldbuilding I've ever seen, top-tier varied character design and a great plot. It's also funny as hell, and I love its main cast of nuanced eccentric weirdos with all my heart. Even the characters who have five minutes of screen time feel like you could watch a spin-off series about them.

It's not just about food, but the cycle of life and death, about hunger of all kinds, about ecosystems and societies and finding solace in the monstrous...there's a lot simmering under this story!

So, go ahead and eat up! And read my review here for more!

Mayonaka Punch

Canceled YouTuber, Masaki, meets a pathetic lesbian vampire, Live. Live agrees to help Masaki launch a new YouTube channel, but in exchange, Masaki has to let Live suck up all her blood when they reach 100 million subscribers.

 This is the kind of stuff I watch anime for. This is what dreams are made of.

Do you support women's wrongs? Are you craving some women who are loveable shitheads? Do you want a great ensemble comedy about five disaster vampires wreaking havoc and a cynical human along for the ride? This show has all that, plus some down bad lesbian vampire shenanigans! But there's also a lot of growth for the main character, and the show has a lot of pathos in how it explores how the internet and its outrage train can do a number on one's mental health.

It's a ton of fun! See my full review here!

Magilumiere Magical Girls Inc.

Being a magical girl is no longer the domain of teenagers, and has evolved into an actual career dominated by adult women. Kana becomes a magical girl for a scrappy start up company, and tries her best to navigate working life.

It's the magical girl story about adult women I've been craving for years! Magical girl media often explores the struggles of adolescence and growing up, and this show takes us to the next step by using magical girls to explore what it’s like to be a young woman entering the working world. The focus is one Kana struggling to grow her confidence and accept support from her workplace, but it also has a lot to say about companies exploiting their workers, prizing efficiency and growth over actually taking care of their customers, and it shows how the world could be better than what it is right now. Check out my review here for more detail!

Girls Band Cry

After being bullied, Nina drops out school and ends up starting a band with four other girls, including the woman whose music saved her at her darkest moment. Nina's determined for the band to stick it to the people who once looked down on them. GBC features some wonderfully messy and entertaining teenage girls, actually incredible CGI animation and great music. Nina, the lead, is allowed to be angry and obnoxious and powered by spite, but the narrative sympathizes with her and loves her spirit, even if she sometimes messes things up. All the girls have rough edges and raw emotion and a great dynamic with each other. They also flip people off a lot.

It was kind of screwed over by streaming, but don't sleep on it! See my review here!

Natsume's Book of Friends (Season 7) 

Anime's sweetest boy and his horrible cat (affectionate) are back, and it's time for more yokai adventures! I’ve already talked at length about how this series is special–check out my series review/ Rec post for the series here. I also did an article titled The Courage to Speak: Mental Illness and Recovery in Natsume’s Book of Friends that goes into more in-depth analysis. The story is sweet and charming and sometimes heartwrenching and very important to me.

It's yet another season of lovely, bittersweet yokai tales that tug on your heartstrings, the characters continue to heal and grow in slow but satisfying ways. It just feels so nice watching this series again and letting the love, comfort, and catharsis wash over me. See my review here.

Dead Dead Demon's DeDeDeDe Destruction

A giant mothership is hovering over Tokyo. The aliens have done nothing, not even leaving their ship, but Japan and America are already trying to blow that UFO up, and show off who has the best weapons, causing many civilian casualties along the way. Meanwhile, two girls are just trying to living their lives.

This anime goes hard on criticizing the military industrial complex, Japanese nationalism and imperialism, American imperialism, xenophobia, mistreatment of immigrants, rich people, and conspiracy theorists. That means it's often devastating and visceral, but it also follows some fantastic weird girls and their ride-or-die soul bond, as well as other charming, funny teenagers who are just trying to live in a world falling apart around them. You can also look forward to some plot twists that recontextualize everything you know!

You should also see my review for some content warnings and a really important message about episode order if you want more detail, you can read it here.

Senpai is an Otokonoko

 Makoto is an "otokonoko" ( a term that means crossdressing boy) and he's figuring out his relationship to gender, and hiding his interests from his mother. A girl named Aoi confesses to him, thinking he's a girl. But he reveals the truth, she's ecstatic about it, much to his shock. Meanwhile, Makoto's best friend Ryuji is also crushing on him...

It's tough to be a queer kid in a world full of rigid gender roles and insidious homophobia, and this anime shows the unfairness of that struggle. But it also shows the joy of finding those who accept and understand you, and of slowly becoming comfortable with who you are. The show knows how to make you really roots for these great kids, and it's really good at tugging the ol' heartstrings. See my review here for more!

A Sign of Affection

The anime follows Yuki, a shy girl who's been deaf since birth, and Itsuomi, a world-traveler and polyglot, fall in love. They both live in very different worlds, but as their romance blooms, they're eager to learn more about each other.

A Sign of Affection is shoujo romance at its sweetest, with soft colors, gentle blushes, tender moments, and plenty of warm fuzzies. The animation is beautiful and the show treats Yuki's perspective with care and delicacy as the story goes on. It also have a great focus on communication and consent in a relationship. Read my review here! 

YATAGARASU: The Raven Does Not Choose Its Master

In this world, people have the ability to shapeshift into yatagarasu, the giant three legged ravens from Japanese mythology. Prince Wakamiya, who's next in line for the emperor, is thought to be an incarnation of the powerful "Golden Raven", so the four women chosen as his bride candidates (each who carry the hopes of their respective provinces) compete fiercely for his hand. Yukiya, a canny young boy, has been pulled into being the prince's attendant, and both Yukiya and the women soon find themselves pulled into a deadly web of mysteries and political machinations.

Yatagarasu is a tightly woven tale of political intrigue, featuring lots of palace folk plotting against each other, multiple assassination attempts, spies, fascinating worldbuilding and use of mythology, well executed plot twists, and complex characters. Yukiya is a very likeable little trickster with a heart of gold, and he works well as an audience surrogate who has to keep up with all this weird court drama. In the first half, the story focuses a lot on on women contending with rigid roles and how that leads to both enmity and empathy between them. But disappointingly, most of those characters are dropped or have their roles reduced in the second half of the anime, which is a shame.

Overall, this anime is a story that hooks you with it's story and it's dark, majestic atmosphere and never lets go. It's just plain good, and pretty underrated, so I'd suggest checking it out!

The Apothecary Diaries (Episodes 13-24)

The second half of The Apothecary Diaries was somehow even better than the first half, crafting a compelling ongoing mystery and delving into MaoMao’s backstory. There were quite a few big thrills that made me gasp aloud. MaoMao, the world's best poison-obsessed detective, pulled off some show-stopping feats and she remains an incredible, endearing character. Especially now that we’ve learned she has a killer evil laugh. Check out my review of the first part of The Apothecary Diaries here and slightly more detail on this run of episodes here.

Dandadan

 Another one you've probably heard of, it's the story of two kids- Momo, who was abducted by aliens and Okarun, who was cursed by a yokai. Now they have to break Okarun's curese while aliens and yokai are hunting them!

Dandadan is an anime bursting with absurd action and humor, and it has a boppin’ soundtrack and amazing animation from Science Saru. It’s wildly weird in the best way, and the characters are hilarious lovable losers. It's also the rare example of a battle shonen that actually treats its female lead as an equal to her male partner, in screen time and in battle. I adore Momo with all my heart- she's fun, she's bombastic, she's badass, she's everything.

However, the main problem I have with the show is its pattern of putting Momo in sexual peril. I go into more detail about this and the show in general in my review here.

Train to the End of the World

 A story about four girls and a dog traveling across a weird, warped version of Japan to find their missing friend, Train to the End of the World is wild. I absolutely adore bizarre anime about equally bizarre girls, and this delivers. We see the girls encounter a cult with mushrooms growing out of their heads, screaming goatmen and even zombies on their journey. The dynamic between the different characters is great, and the dialogue is snappy. If you appreciate wild and weird zaniness that also has a lot of heart and great friendships, give this show a try. My full review is here.

Bonus Anime- some other stuff you might want to check out!

Cherry Magic! Thirty Years of Virginity Can Make You a Wizard?!

Despite an extremely goofy title Cherry Magic quickly became a surprisingly grounded, thoughtful and heartfelt BL romance worth watching. See my full review here.

7th Time Loop: The Villainess Enjoys a Carefree Life Married to Her Worst Enemy!

Rishe has lived seven lives, had lots of adventures, and in every single one of them, she has been killed as result of the world war started by the emperor of a neighboring kingdom. Each time Rishe dies, she's sent back to the moment the crown prince of her own country broke off their engagement (she's actually pretty happy about it). But in her seventh life, the future Emperor sees her, is instantly smitten by how cool she is and proposes to her. Rishe decides she might as well enjoy life chilling in the palace before things inevitably go to hell.

7th Time Loop has a fun conceit, and it features a vivacious, badass heroine who's a joy to watch. Having lived as a commoner in most of her past lives, she's ready to use her smarts to help people--whether it's going undercover to help a maid who's being bullied or addressing illiteracy among the servant girls. Whether she's beating up kidnappers or politically maneuvering, she's learning and growing and kicking ass. While her love interest is a bit too broody for me, I do deeply relate to how Rishe's badassery clearly turns him on. The antagonists and plot are sometimes a bit silly, but it's always a good time. A josei anime about an awesome gal is just what the doctor ordered.

Acro Trip

A silly show about a magical girl fangirl who's recruited to an evil organization by an incompetent villain,  Acro Trip is a lot of fun, and I recommend it to any magical girl enjoyer. I also recommend it to anyone who loves pathetic failguys and girls. Our "villain" Chrome is the most hilariously pathetic of them all. You like bad boys? Well this man is literally bad at everything. See my full review here.

Whisper Me a Love Song

 I have to give a shoutout to the only textual yuri anime that came out this year--it's production basically completely collapsed, but it's still watchable and the story is a sweet and solid girl band romance. At least consider giving the manga a shot if nothing else! See my review here!

[oookaline]

just thinking scary dog priviledge but its tim x kon vs red robin x superboy ig

like in civvies scary dog priviledge goes to Kon when someone is being just a bit too friendly with the Wayne kid

Or when he and Tim go to get some coffee and the bartender slips her number onto tims cup who gets picked up by Kon and thrown across the room in such a speed that you blink you miss but- is that coffee running down the window..?

Or in galas where Tim is charming some old ladies and entertaining their grandkids when suddenly they seem nervous for some reason so Tim turns around to see Kon standing behind him with the biggest smile ever just to turn back around and see that the girl/boy who was so willingly flirting with him earlier has gone pale and gave a quick goodbye, "Human disaster strikes again and fumbles badly-" "Shut it Meatsack-"

Or just walking in general, when Tim Drake isn't Tim Drake-Wayne and he doesnt have to wear gala smiles and expensive three piece suits so he's bundles in a hoodie and hunched and cluching his messenger bag like his lifeline depends on it; but to a passerby all they see is tired cat™ Tim Drake who looks delectable and- is that a monster behind him? (It's Kon who's making himseelf taller and puffing his muscles and making sure to hold intensive eye contact with every passerby who looks in Tim's direction with some kind of interest)

But when if their supersonas? Tim takes the scary dog priviledge to a new level.

They just saved some people from a collapsed building and some person is draping themselves all over superboy and exaggerating their hurt ankle. How do we know they're exaggerating? Well, purelly because Red Robin just appeared out of nowhere and slammed the head of his bo staff so hard on the ground near them that it made cracks on the concrete while makingg the pperson jump up and scurry away as well, ankle suddenly fine enough to move again. Red's excuse? "Oops. bug."

Patrolling toguether one night and people are asking for superboy's phottos and autographs and he laughs and smilles and poses and people question why he's alone while laughing and brushing their hands against his arms and he just cocks his head "alone?" and a presence is suddenly felt in the alley nearby and if you focus just enough you can see the outline of someone who absolutely looks and feels like they're planning a murder and everyone just respectfully tales a step back because what the fuck.

Or when they're either talking with new heroes/heroes who don't know them well and just get a bit too close to Kon and suddenly they feel a murderous aura around them just to look around and see Red Robin just staring them down with no smile on his face and they frown because surely this feeling is not becaause I feel threatened by a human out of all-

[bone-apple-teeths]

ok but what if i edited all of john's lines and the music out of the entirety of malevolent so it just sounds like what a bystander would hear

[hystericwaif]

baby if u love me take me to the gas station ♡

[mystic-warriors]

I HATH FINALLY CREATED MY OWN WHISPER HUMAN DESIGN although I’d still like to give credit to user BechnoKid since their interpretation has been a big inspo lmao

[willosword]

gotta get this out of my system but the fact that nolan's instinct whenever he experiences Big Anger is to use his son as a punching bag and that it's actually become A Pattern at this point makes me wanna start clawing at the walls

[shawnaise]

oh my god. holy shit. deez nups. the entire buttering-up of seeing lassiter happy the whole episode only for the shules event at the end..? the look on shawn’s face is horrible. just seeing the moment where he realizes that nothing he ever did was good enough for anybody; that his life and choices in life aren’t worth the effort he put into them. where no matter how much good he does- how many murderers he catches; he’s a failure above all else. it’s a direct parallel to his relationship with his dad; the way that he has to choose profession or love and neither way is a good option. where love sculpts you into an ugly vision of self where you only live to please others; and profession offers you joy but only at the expense of never being able to be yourself. shawn doesn’t win in either of these scenarios and he can’t because there’s no way to. no matter what happens after this episode; I don’t think shawn will ever be fully redeemed as a concept; as a character? sure, they need to keep the plot moving. but as a person? in real life that kind of thing doesn’t just disappear after a couple of filler episodes, it lingers and reminds you that people love you until; until they meet a part of you they don’t like, until they figure out a part of you that they didn’t want to. and it’s your fault for being broken; it’s your fault for having that part; that indescribable part that even you aren’t too sure you’d like to share. but they see it, and all the time before that is only until.

[foxnikki]

If it's another one, you can also comment what is, no pressure of course! I also posted a first and a second part of this poll since there's a lot of manga and anime, so if you want you can check if there's your favourite in those polls ヽ(*´＾｀)ﾉ

[Pt.1]

[Pt.2]

[morsesnotes]

Endeavour | Terminus

[murdleandmarot]

@pinkieclown HAPPY (late) BIRTHDAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!

(This is their oc Oopsadaizee!!!)

There’s a right side up version under the cut :)))

[batsplat]

I saw the post about assen 2016 and Marc cutting the chicane and was wondering if Marc did that a lot to his competitors like the imitation of mind games. Cause I’ve always thought of Vale as the one who used the mind games more. Did Marc use mind games a lot and was just more subtle?

(assen '16)

if you're interested in reading more about marc marquez mind games, then boy do I have a post for you

anyway, I can't really think of anything that's all that similar to assen 2016 because that's such a specific situation... not every day that you have something as memorable and as easy to visibly imitate and as controversial as cutting the final chicane. of course, if we're talking about imitation, it's pretty hard to avoid mentioning how marc did infamously copy two out of valentino's three most well known career overtakes within half a year of joining the premier class, and was also pretty shameless about the whole thing. but at least there you can say it's all about the race situation marc happened to find himself in - and there will only have been so much premeditation possible with both incidents

more broadly speaking, then, targeted behaviour where he's trying to send a message to one of his competitors during non-race sessions... well, that's fairly common. he loves using non-race sessions to study and stalk and at times deliberately harass his competitors. I'll give a little more details on one specific incident here to demonstrate what I'm talking about. it's related to towing, as it so often is with marc, and I ended up only briefly mentioning it in the post linked above. for context, marc spent a fair bit of time in 2019 trying to mess with the rookie revelation fabio quartararo, sometimes during the races themselves and sometimes outside of them. nothing wrong with hazing your young challengers, right? so one of the more widely discussed incidents took place in sepang 2019 qualifying (tw crash):

big fan of how the article very strongly implies that when marc says the words "honestly speaking", he was not, in fact, honestly speaking. did a single person on this planet believe marc when he said he just happened to end up right behind fabio? who knows, maybe there's someone out there, who knows...

obviously, marc and his team weren't really trying to hide what they were doing, which makes it even funnier that marc just goes for this completely shameless 'oh it was all just a coincidence' routine. and of course, this entire episode ended on a pretty sour note for marc. even though he tried to shrug it off in the moment, this incident did come with consequences for him:

which, yeah. lot's to be said here, lots to be said. but let's return to the actual point of the post, the mind games

in the end marc did do a rather nice salvage job in the race, p11 to p2 - and fabio didn't win the race, which I'm sure was appreciated. here's a nicely in-depth description of the incident that I'm going to liberally steal excerpts from. it's a good bit of extra insight on both the episode itself and what it represented in the broader context of the dynamic between the pair of them

it's part of the established playbook when it comes to dealing with promising young talent: you try to rough them up in the races and you try to rough them up outside of them. you try to make them nervous, maybe you even try to scare them. and so the cycle continues

this is the thing, right, marc really does view all on-track sessions as time to 'work' on his rivals. he's never been focused solely on himself during these sessions - and the towing thing has never just been a matter of practicality for him. 'the race doesn't just happen on sunday' 'great riders, champions, are bullies' 'they don't just want to win, they want to rub the rest of the world's noses in it'... marc has always adopted that philosophy in his racing (and he learnt from the best). he's never been shy in his tactics of intimidation - in his efforts to undermine his rivals' confidence and make them suffer. it's all part of the game

and then, of course, there's the bit of insight we get about how marc was reportedly worried about fabio because of his talent and fearlessness... a rookie who hadn't even won a race yet. and yet marc's "been doing his best to instil fear" into fabio. unfortunately it's not always easy to spook young talent, especially when they're so very brave... it's a tricky line to toe - by marking out your rivals like that, you are also letting them implicitly know you see them as a threat. which if anything can help motivate them and make them more confident. inconvenient

anyway, l'll include some more of the description of the incident, which helps illustrate just how little effort marc was going to in attempting to hide his underhanded behaviour (and how that may have been the whole point):

inherently, right, this 'battle of nerves' is a really important element of the whole towing strategy. it's about your read of the other rider, your analysis of their character, how you think they will play the situation... how much you think they're willing to risk, how much you think they'd be motivated to just fuck you over regardless, how prepared they will be to call your bluff. and in the context of sepang 2019, with that year's title very much sealed up, marc decided that he was prepared to play this game for as long as he had to. marc had won the last five races, fabio was still searching for his first ever win... marc knew young and hungry fabio would blink before he did

which, yeah. less than ideal to engage in mind games in a way that ends up getting you injured. this whole incident does serve as a good illustration of marc's overall approach, but obviously this specific episode wasn't particularly successful or indeed wise from marc's side. all in all, it probably wasn't all that intimidating for fabio when marc crashed behind him

anyway, here's some more bits talking about how marc was perhaps not being 100% honest in his post-qualifying interview:

even though in this specific example marc did admittedly fuck it, a lot of this kind of behaviour isn't bad long-term investment because it's meant to be cumulative, where you're just consistently putting pressure on someone... as it says above, "every ounce of energy spent worrying about you is one which can't be spent on trying to go faster". so you're hoping to distract your opponents, you're hoping that this constant tension will eventually unsettle them - or that you've spent so much time studying and analysing them that you can figure out how to bother them more effectively (*coughs* 2008 *coughs again*). or maybe you just can't help yourself in messing with your opponents and sometimes it is counterproductive because you've shown them how seriously you take them as a rival. maybe sometimes it's a bit of all of those things!

on fabio's reaction:

which is a pretty friendly response, it has to be said! but anyway, of course 'if he wants to follow us we are doing a good job' is probably the most healthy and useful takeaway from the whole thing. that's the thing with bullies, isn't it, you do have to figure out a way to stand up to them. fabio might have been annoyed while marc was picking on him, but he's not picking a fight with marc after the fact. he's just making it clear that he's not been intimidated - and has bagged himself pole in the process while marc started from eleventh place. as fabio says, "it's a little bit part of the game". but it is a game, and it's one that marc has always been more than happy to play

[ladyloveandjustice]

Happy New Yuri! It's time to look back on 2024 !

Unfortunately, 2024 wasn't as amazing a year for textual yuri as 2023 (2025 is looking good, though!), but we are drowning in subtext as usual (and a few textual confirmations of ONE half of the couple's feelings).

I kind of had a hard time picking the 11 because this one was so subtext focused, but I did my best (for the ones I haven't watched, I went with what I'd seen talked about in yuri circles the most, which was tagged with LGBTQ themes the most on anilist, etc). Sorry, Laid Back Camp, NareNare, Train to the End to the World, and others.

And to pre-empt: I didn't include Gushing Over Magical Girls because it makes me deeply uncomfortable, and it's my poll. If you want to fully vote on it you can make your own poll--but you're free to vote in the "something else" option.

[sastielsfandom]

wlw sastiel save me, save me wlw sastiel

No Escape

Summary:

Sam can't handle the forced detox, she knows her time is running out. But she's not the only one and Castiel can't sit back and watch any longer.

[sommerregenjuniluft]

For the prompt game……..

57. “Teach me to fight.”

Jarty??

nonny this is a lovely prompt, however i don't think either of them would ever ask the other for help this easily so instead you get something a little more heated

for @stagpdf and @sixlane and everyone that's as insane about them as i am

1114 words

The breeze outside is ruffling Barty’s short hair where he’s propped on one of the lunch tables alone, pocket knife in hand and finishing the apple he nicked from the cafeteria, James stupidly persistent cologne drifting over to him every now and then with the wind where he’s standing with his usual group, the older Black, Lupin and Pettigrew, throwing and catching a ball back and forth like the pretentious High School cliches that they are. 

Barty doesn’t let himself look up, all he’d see of James would be the expanse of his wide shoulder and strong back and frankly freakishly huge ass anyways, so.

James knows he’s there though. Barty knows James knows he’s there.

His friends are currently talking him up, metaphorically patting him on the back and praising him, as if that inflated ego of his needed any more stroking and when the fundraiser comes up for the millionth god damn time Barty can’t help himself anymore. It’s a miracle he’s held out this long honestly.

Barty snorts.

Out of the corner of his eyes he sees James’ tense back finally turning, “Is there a problem here, Crouch?”

Barty pockets his knife, turning his attention away from the carving he did on the tabletop while eavesdropping. He puts on his most unsettling grin, all teeth, sharp edges and eyes wide, “Me? No, no.” He waits until they’ve all turned their attention away before he continues, like an afterthought, “Y’know, I just find it funny that James wasn’t able to secure a single award or accolade despite his obvious charm and ingeniousness as you’ve so well described it. Unlike the other house representatives that were attending.”

Barty’s tongue makes its way into the pocket of his cheek, giddy with the execution of his blow as he watches James’ fists curl at his sides, chest heaving unevenly and expression so hard it would send any lesser man to his knees. Barty knows he’s struck a nerve, as was his intention, and he keeps himself propped up lazily on his elbows as he watches the other boy closely, as he feels the pulsing waves of James’ resentment wash over him like the most relaxing bubble bath.

“Leave it, Prongs, he doesn’t know what he’s talking about,” Sirius spits, putting a hand on James’ shoulder.

Which James shrugs off immediately, making a twisted sort of satisfaction pool deep in Barty’s gut, warming him from the inside. 

He doesn’t lie to himself, he knows he likes James’ attention on him like this with nobody but Barty getting to him, focused so intensely it’s almost sick. It’s the one time Barty feels evenly matched.

“No, someone ought to put him in his place and with the way he can’t seem to get off my dick right now I’m not averse to volunteering for the task myself,” James hisses, eyes narrowed dangerously.

“Oh?” Barty can’t help the hysterical laugh that slips from his throat, “Oh, this is phenomenal. You think you can teach me how to fight? Show me how to throw a proper punch, huh, Potter?” He doesn’t miss the way James’ upper lip twitches with the urge to sneer at the use of his last name and Barty lifts from his slouch against the bench to stand, opening his arms invitingly, “C’mon then, golden boy, show me what you got.”

There’s a ticking in James’ jaw and Barty can see his eyes attempt to dart over his shoulder where his pack of idiotic friends are still standing before he zeros back in on him, “Walk away, Crouch.”

“Aww, what?” Barty coos, skin already buzzing, “You afraid you’re gonna get your shit rocked? Afraid you’re gonna lose?”

The words reverberate back in Barty’s head, his own voice, same sentence but tone decidedly more playful but mean all the same. Bent over a table of pool, cue in hand and blinking up at James standing in the doorway in his stupidly tight shirt and plaid pajama pants. 

“Afraid you’re gonna lose?”

James had tilted his head with a cocky smirk. “Not with the way you’re holding that cue I’m not,” he’d answered. His eyes had flitted to the uncapped bottle of vodka on the sideboard Barty had stolen from his father’s cabinet and brought onto the trip. “You’re aware of the fact we’re gonna be up pretty early tomorrow, yes?”

Their heads of houses had chosen them to represent their school on this stupid fundraiser Gala slash genius competition with a bunch of rich old guys and other schools. Slughorn has this weird obsession with Barty’s intelligence and with Lily getting sick last minute McGonagall was subjected to instead pick no other than Headboy himself, obviously.

Which was evidently trying to ruin Barty’s entire fun.

“Oh my god,” Barty had groaned, “Yes, mom. God, you’re worse than fucking Evans.”

James had bristled at the comment, “Watch your mouth.”

And Barty doesn’t really remember what he’d said after that, something lewd and inappropriate and agitating probably but he knows how it had ended. With James and him passed out on the plush sofa in the room, half a bottle of vodka divided between the two of them, knocking them right on their asses after they’d played round and round after pool, drinking every time they’d made a mistake, bickering over what counted as a mistake until their mouths were dry only to repeat and repeat again—it was a devil’s circle, evidently.

Waking up was hell. 

Barty had felt gross, sweaty and dizzy and too warm for his skin especially with the way Mister human furnace was plastered to his chest, an arm slung tightly around Barty’s midriff and messy hair tickling the side of his face, glasses digging uncomfortably into Barty’s collarbone. And, what with a christian father that doesn’t like you an inch more than he likes a speck of mud on his pristine shoes, Barty had always known he’d end up in these fiery pits. Obviously he could do without the pounding headache but Barty had to say he thinks he could get used to someone like James sticking to his side like that.

So Barty knows how it had started and he knows how it’d ended and just how it had worked the first time it works a second time as well. 

And like a fucking charm it does.

James huffs an irritated breath and pushes the ball into Pettigrew’s chest before walking closer to where Barty is standing. 

“You don’t know your limits,” he growls.

Barty makes sure to pitch his voice into something sultry when he answers, “How about you show me then, Bambi?”

James growls again and then he’s already swinging for Barty.