#You have no idea how clever I felt when I first figured out how to make my toxic bombs work

[the-iron-shoulder]

pathfinder 2 stuff

I was originally a little upset with the Player Core 2 remaster of the alchemist class because my character’s specific strategy relied HEAVILY on making most/all of my alchemical items during daily prep, but the remastered alchemist moved way far away from the stuff you make during daily prep and focuses SO much more on your on-the-fly stuff with your versatile vials and your Quick Alchemy, but after some very, VERY careful reading of the rules, I’ve come to the realization that you can, in fact, use a Quick Alchemy-sourced poison to dose a weapon and not necessarily attack with it in the same round, since the ��stays potent until start of next turn” thing is just talking about how long you have to Activate it, not how long the effects actually last. Which means that I can keep my current strategy of poisoned bombs! (You just gotta multiclass barbarian and pick up the elemental rage that lets you do extra slashing damage on a hit, and then you take Raging Thrower so it works on your thrown weapons, and there you have it! Now any arbitrary bomb that does any kind of damage can still deliver an injury poison!)

overall, now that I’ve solved that particular little problem, I’m willing to say that I think the remaster is generally an upgrade for alchemists. I like the mechanic for regaining versatile vials during exploration, I like the fact that everyone gets to automatically shift alchemical DCs to their class DC, I like that the at-will stuff scales better than Perpetual Infusions did, and I like the fact that the toxicologist gets “fuck you, you’re immune to poison but you ain’t immune to MY poison” at level 1. (Also, multiclassing into alchemist is a thousand times more effective now, since although you get fewer infused items per day, they actually scale in power now, and I’ll take that quality-over-quantity change any day.)

When I first heard about the remaster, I was a bit skeptical because tbh it did seem like just a cash grab, but overall I’m willing to say that they’ve made enough meaningful changes to a lot of classes (especially in PC2) that I feel like it was worth the effort.

wonder if they’ll ever remaster the dark archive classes and the secrets of magic classes…

[alphajocklover]

Genie Glory the Game

(A [Very Late] Trade with @bigwishes. I hope you like it!) 43 followers. Rich Donaldson, also known as TF2Twink on Twitch, had 43 followers.Rich had been streaming for over 3 years now and only had 43 followers. 43 measly followers. It made him feel pathetic. It made him feel like he was useless. Yet at the same time, Rich was incredibly grateful for every one of those followers. 

Rich Donaldson had wanted to become a gaming streamer since he was a kid. It hadn’t really been a real thing until he was a teen, and most people thought he was crazy for thinking he could make money that way. Some people doubted it was a real job, some thought it was too competitive, some thought it was just a dumb idea in general. No matter what the reason, everyone in Rich’s life agreed that Rich wasn’t going to make it as a streamer. Especially his hyper religious, video game hating parents. Still Rich refused to give up. He knew it would be hard, maybe impossible, but he was passionate and felt like he had to follow his dream. That was what everyone in the movies did after all. Rich moved out, cut contact with his parents, went into debt buying the best streaming gear he could… and immediately regretted it. Rich didn’t mind losing contact with his parents. They had never been the most loving people, so he hadn’t really lost much. Except things weren’t working out like they did in the movies. Rich wasn’t making it, and worse than that he wasn’t getting any better at streaming. He was good at the games, so he knew that wasn’t the issue. The issue was… he was incredibly, painfully, horribly shy. Rich didn’t have the confidence that a streamer needed. He could barely get a word out during the stream without starting to awkwardly ramble, and even when he did he came off as awkward and weird. He wasn’t just unconfident, he was a downright nervous wreck. Still he didn’t give up. He couldn’t after everything he had thrown away to get this chance… all the sleepless nights working part time jobs to stay above water… he was in too deep. So he kept going “Hey chat! S-so t-today…” Rich took a deep breath, trying his best not to ramble “T-today I’m going to be playing a new game. I-it’s not very well known, but i-it looked cool and I’ve heard a lot of people are playing it… S-so let's get into ‘Genie Glory the Game!” Rich said, trying to be excited. Barely anyone was watching, and it was getting hard to pretend he wasn’t incredibly depressed, but he kept smiling. Genie Glory was a pretty simple game with a simple premise that had been baffling gamers for months. It was a pretty simple idea based on a classic scenario. You play a random guy who has discovered a genie’s lamp and now has 3 wishes. You make a wish by typing it into the computer, and the genie grants the wish, but usually in some twisted way that is accompanied by a pixelated animation of the player's fate. The goal is to get through all 3 wishes alive. What made the game so popular was that no one had beat it yet. Whatever AI the game used was incredibly clever and strangely creative, and to make it even more difficult, the game only allowed you to play it once. Popular streamers, actually geniuses, and even philosophers hadn’t been able to beat the game, so Rich knew beating it would make him famous.

“Ok chat. I-it’s time for our first wish… And I’m taking suggestions…” Rich said. Rich wanted to beat the game, but… he wasn’t sure how to beat this game, so he’d take all the help he could get. A few suggestions actually came across the screen ‘BasedBro69: Wish for your muscles to grow!’

‘GenieGay33: No way, that's the way to open ended! The Genie will make him grow until he pops or something’

‘MissTaken27: That's such a basic idea. Might as well ask him to wish to be a frat boy or something.’

Rich laughed at this. He knew most of his followers' usernames by heart, but BasedBro69 was new. Still the conversation he had started was kind of funny, and he figured… why not? “Ok then, why not! Lets make me a frat boy!” He said, snickering as he typed in his computer. He tried to be as specific as possible to avoid the spell being twisted “‘I wish I was an attractive, stereotypical frat boy.”

Rich laughed as he watched the pixelated version of himself grow muscular, his clothing changing to a tank top and backwards cap. He watched as the other version of him rushed a frat. Rich was certain something would go wrong, afterall he knew from first hand experience that hazing could get fucking intense, but surprisingly his character survived and got through the first wish without any incident. Rich grinned widely. Most people never even made it through the first wish, but he, a relative nobody, had managed! He stood up straighter as he watched people start to flood into the stream. He checked the chat happily. ‘GenieMan33: He actually made it with that wish? I’ll never understand this game, but good for you!’ ‘MisterRichD27: Kind of an ironic wish considering you are a frat boy. No offense.’ ‘BasedBro69: I fucking knew that would work bro! You can do this!’

Rich blushed slightly at MisterRichD27’s comment, and his flirty name. While he didn’t tend to think of himself that way, he was technically a frat boy. He had joined one after heading to college in the hopes of finding some friends. His frat brothers could be… kind of obnoxious, and very stereotypical, but they had helped him come out of his shell somewhat and even get in shape. He was still fairly shy, but he never would have gotten this far in college or with his streaming if it wasn’t for them. He chuckled at the chat, slightly embarrassed “I’ll admit, that was a weird wish, but hey, it worked so who cares!” Rich said cheerily “Ok, so what's the next wish going to be? I’m trusting you on this chat!” Rich said with what he hoped was a charming wink. ‘GenieMan33: Maybe something basic like money? That doesn’t usually work but you seem to be on a hot streak.’

‘BasedBro69: No way bro. He only gets to play once. Wish for something like fucking confidence or something. Something fun!’

‘MisterRichD27: IDK, Basedbro69 was right last time. Maybe you should wish for confidence?’ Rich shrugged. He could think up even more ways that this could go wrong, but this game had never seemed to work on logic in any of the videos he watched to prepare for this. So with a grin, he typed in his second wish “I wish I had the kind of cocky confidence that ladies love.” he said with a chuckle. He hoped it would be obvious that it was a joke, since his Twitch username, FortnightOtter44, made it obvious he was gay. He watched as the little version of him grew a big head, quite literally. Rich was worried this was leading to some type of game over, but his head deflated, his muscles grew, and a bunch of pixelated girls in bikinis ran up to the pixelated him. Rich grinned wide and tried not to cuss in celebration, not wanting to get demonetized (again). He had fucking done it! He fucking got past wish 2! He smirked as he watched the chat explode as more people tuned in ‘GenieStud33: Fuck yeah! RDH fucking did it! Knew you had it in you bro!’

‘MissRichD27: RDH is the best gamer ever! And the hottest! DM me!’

BasedBro69: HELL YEAH! You can do this bro!’ Rich, known as RDH to his fans, or RichDaHunk on Twitch, smirked, as he saw the comments roll in. He fucking knew he could get this game. He may not have been the most popular streamer on twitch, but he was a fucking good gamer and a total stud. He flexed his biceps, getting the chat riled up again in a frenzy of lust and admiration. Rich didn’t bother to look at the chat this time. He gave a smarmy, cocky smirk at the camera “I know what to put in next bros. I’m gonna wish for something fucking inevitable.” he said cockily.

He quickly typed in “I wish I was the most popular gaming streamer on Twitch”, and watched with a practiced cool confidence as the pixelated version of him gained millions of followers. The chat exploded with awe and wonder as what Rich had always known was going to happen, happened. He had won the game. He flexed his muscles for the stream, celebrating with his 43 million followers. He didn’t understand why they were all shocked. He was the coolest, hottest, douchiest gamer on twitch. Of course he fucking won!

[sirfrogsworth]

Dinner with John

In a little test to make sure my heart is doing better (it seems to be doing much better so far), I decided to reconnect with one of my oldest friends. John and I met for dinner at this really cool restaurant that I had no idea existed.

It's like, just on a street, in a neighborhood, not too far from my house. I parked in front of some dude's lawn.

I didn't realize such a thing was possible these days. Most places are moving out of the area. It was also a bit jarring to be next to people's houses and going to a restaurant and then across the street is one of the biggest churches I've ever seen.

After "Here is the church" they decided to really overdo "HERE IS THE MOTHERFUCKIN' STEEPLE!!!"

They probably didn't curse though.

Or maybe they did.

That could have been Our Lady of the Rancid Tongue and their greeting could be "Praise Jesus and fuck you."

Probably not.

And then the restaurant, Hendel's, was a real treat. Just a very cool vibe. I couldn't figure out how to actually enter the place as the front door was inaccessible.

Thankfully John knew to go through the rear. The church is probably really judgy about that.

I'm getting a lot of jokes out of this church.

On the side of the building they have a really cool mural...

But, apparently, they didn't care for the aesthetic of the power meters so they painted those to match the brick.

Which I thought was quite clever.

When we were ordering I had already decided I was going to get a birthday steak in honor of my dad. Every year on my birthday he would grill me a steak. And though it is about a month late, I still wanted to make that happen.

But then John said he was paying.

And I said, "You can't pay, I'm getting a steak."

And he said, "I can get you a steak."

And then I felt guilty for not just ordering a water and eating bread. (I was raised to be highly embarrassed by generosity. But I'm working on it.)

When the waiter asked how I wanted my steak done I asked, "What is the least amount you can cook it?" And then he said, "We can do rare." And I was like, "I would like it rare." And then the waiter gave me a look as if to say, "Are you sure about that?" But when one asks a question like that, there is an assumed level of certainty that you want your steak to moo when it arrives.

We bonded over both losing our dads. Sometimes it is nice when you have a shared experience, even if it is a sad one, to just be able to talk without the bullshit. On occasion, dealing with people who aren't sure what to say can drain the emotional batteries. And when you have someone who... just knows... it is a lot easier.

It was a nice night out. I realized it was my first time in a restaurant in over a decade. And I had just enough energy to make it through dinner. I had been working on my house all week and I was dangerously close to using up what last bit of energy I had. Which is why I collapsed into bed immediately after getting home and have stayed there since Thursday night.

But as the folks at OLRT would say, "Fuck the consequences, I had fun. Praise the goddamn Lord."

[absolutebl]

Best 23 of BL 2023 - Quirky Awards

SHOCK & AWE AWARDS

1. Biggest BL surprise of 2023:

The last 3 months of 2023 in general got my biggest WTF award.

GMMTV fielding OffGun AND TayNew in the same quarter while also airing Last Twilight (arguably one of their best BLs ever)

That they ALSO optioned 3 JBLs

That there's a high heat omegaverse BL staring Pavel

That there were 20 BLs airing and none of them Korean.

With 5 VAMPIRE BLs announced for next year

But my prize in this category goes to My Dear Gangster Oppa.

It's just crazy:

Thai talent, Korean money + IP (this is adapted from a manwha) airing on a Chinese channel (iQIYI). Plus it was GOOD and made smart reuse of a pair who richly deserved it. I'm delighted by the eclectic insanity of this production. And wonder if any other film genre could even do anything like this.

2. The “that country did WHAT?” award:

The 8th Sense from Korea?!

I mean, seriously?! Dealing with metal health, suicide, darkness, therapy, age gap, & first time love BUT FROM KOREA? And then openness and casual boyfriend physical affection? What's next? An actual hard fought coming out narrative with an HEA? Gay domesticity and families?

Careful Korea, you'll strain something. Possibly your own culture and film industry.

I should stop having expectations of Korea, they keep surprising me.

Runners up: Korea letting OnlyOneOf do Bump Up Business not to mention that OmegaX thing. AND Korea adapting Why R U? What are you up to, Korea? Qua? Is this a coded message? Should we send help? Do you need snacks?

3. Biggest casting whoa! where did you come from? award:

GeminiFourth in My School President.

Seriously? Babies what? How did GMMTV find you? How do you exist? How is BL this lucky?

4. That studio did WHAT now? award:

GMMTV putting EarthMix into Moonlight Chicken.

And then doubling down with G4 as the damn sides.

Fucking genius.

5. I’m sad you were ignored award:

Destiny Seeker.

It's just a really fun little Thai pulp, the pairs were good, silly dialogue, plus consent and other good rep. I enjoyed it. No one talked about it AT ALL.

6. 2023 BL That Actually Made Me Lose My Mind Award?

Laws of Attraction. -The casting, the crazy story, the soapy drama! But specifically: Film playing Charn - the range of his smiles alone. GLORIOUS

I mean I Feel You Linger in the Air also sparked something in me, but LoA drove me actually nuts.

NARRATIVE AWARDS

7. Best story 2023:

La Pluie

I know, you're surprised, right? At the time I didn't chat much about it but I really enjoyed the discourse others were having. I love anything that really examines the fated mates (soulmates) trope and the idea of "the one". What a clever way to do that. (This is one reason UWMA is my favorite Thai BL.)

This one reminded me of the way Color Rush approached allegory and that's no bad thing. Such an impressive little piece.

8. Best narrative structure 2023 award:

Unintentional Love Story.

I know this may seem a simplistic pick. But I love the tidiness of this no frills contemporary romance, how the culture of work and personal ethics and corruption fight against the main character's affection and integrity. Poor baby boy is driven into a corner and then punished for it. But it is punishment he feels he deserves, and so it is up to his (now) ex to figure out what went wrong and why.

It's just great. I love it when no one is stupid or wrong, it's just impossible circumstances and unintentional love deeply felt.

9. Best 2023 dialogue (script) award:

Jun & Jun

Never before has Korea laced a BL with that much perfectly executed innuendo. It was a master class. I didn't know you could be that lascivious in Korean, quite frankly. Plus the way the 2 Juns constantly seamlessly transition between formal register (work, public - where they are boss/employee) to informal register (when they are alone and age mates + childhood sweethearts).

Beautiful to hear and watch.

10. Favorite scene 2023:

The dub con scene in I Cannot Reach You because I AM TRASH for an out of control seme. I'm sorry I just AM.

I have said it before, I will say it again, NO ONE DOES THIRST like Japan. And when that thirst bubbles over, it is heart-clenching and very hot.

11. The most rewatchable BL of 2023 award:

Our Dating Sim

That scene where they lie on the floor + the stolen kiss + giggle? Come on, it should be on comfort repeat in war rooms. It could bring world peace.

ACTORS & CHARACTERS AWARDS

12. Best performance of a queer actor in a leading role, 2023:

Fluke in Make a Wish.

It was fun to see him as an irreverent immortal and while I love OhmFluke I also really enjoyed this new pairing. It was a genuine pleasure to watch.

13. Best pining 2023:

The moot pining in Tokyo in April is...

Boys, seriously? Japan must you destroy us like this? Hurts so good.

14. Best wingman 2023 (The Namgoong Award)

Tiw from My School President

I mean, come on, of course it's him!

(Also can you believe Mark went on from this to do fricking Only Friends!? To Last Twilight! Come on GMMTV GIVE HIM A LEAD!)

15. Biggest OMG I LOVE you boys together, YAY!

Dimpled McMafia & Feral Bunny Foo Foo from Kiseki Dear to Me.

They were feral for each other.

We were feral for them

It was a whole delightful THING.

16. Most unexpected return of a BL pair? award:

The Private Lessons pair showing up in Love Class 2.

I know it was only a cameo, but SERIOUSLY? Thank you SO MUCH Korea! A big studio picking up a Strongberry pairing? I love you.

Seriously tho between them, Taiwan & Korea tried for ALL THE CAMEOS this year.

17. Well aren't you two just the prettiest? award:

NetJames in Bed Friend.

Need I say more?

18. LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARD

Bah Vinh in Vian & Mr Cinderella 2. I did like either show but I loved him in them. Especially the make outs.

Yes you have chemistry with all the boys in Vietnam and you kiss beautifully. But it's okay now honey, you have the crown. Relax, you're stressing us out.

RANDOM PICKS

19. Favorite Linguistic Moment of 2023:

Our Dating Sim

Caught in the act by the elevator scene. OMG it's so funny. They're being such boyfriend shits to each other, and to be caught in the act by THAT character, and try to manifest formal language whole cloth? Hilarious.

Honorable mention to War Peanuts in Destiny Seeker.

20. Biggest disappointment of 2023:

You Are Mine

Seriously Taiwan, AGAIN you disappoint me with an Office BL? You're Taiwan, land of offices and suits. This should be YOUR SETTING TO WIN. And yet... argh. I mean it wasn't bad. But it wasn't good either. Stop it Taiwan, do better.

Runners up? Between Us, Chains of Heart, Dangerous Romance - this was a HOTLY contested category.

+ 2 Winners in the sub-category of FUCK YOU FOR THAT ENDING award:

The Director who Buys Me Dinner - I mean this nicely but: you have your lane now Korea, stop hurting us, that's Japan's responsibility and they do it better.

I Feel You Linger In the Air - I'm just hugely disappointed. Thailand ALMOST got its second 10/10 from me, but that damn ending.

Argh.

21. Best Wardrobe/Prop Use 2023

The shower of packaged bedsheets in My Personal Weatherman

Amazing. Brilliant. No notes.

22. Best Queer Rep 2023

Chot in Step By Step

In fact, all the queer characters in this show were treated with great integrity.

AND props to this cast for refusing to do fan service. GOOD FOR YOU! Fuck those sasang wankers.

Runners up? The found family cast of Love in Translation and the Rainbow Rice Cakes in The New Employee.

23. Best Meta Trope call out

Tin Tem Jai

Come on, what a zinger, but at themselves (and Taiwan)

Final question: which of the 23 was the hardest for me to pick?

Honestly? Question #1 this year. But also question #20.

(Last year: 2022's Version) 

Remember I only pull from shows that were completely finished by the end of 2023. Or The Sign probably would have taken multiple categories. But it will fall into 2024 offerings.

(source)

[rivendell-poet]

❝𝐘𝐨𝐮 𝐜𝐚𝐧'𝐭 𝐬𝐩𝐞𝐚𝐤 𝐄𝐥𝐯𝐢𝐬𝐡?❞ « one-shot »

Pairing : Legolas X Reader

Wordcount : 4.3k

No TWs | Gender-neutral reader | Elf!reader | First part of this work

(Legolas POV - Italics means the dialogue is Elvish)

The first time Legolas had met you, or rather truly spoken to you, he was trying to solve a riddle from one of the books he’d procured in Rivendell. It wasn’t all a riddle book, most of it was a collection of Elvish poetry along with the occasional story or song, but he’d finished all of it, along with the other three riddles in that book, yet he still couldn’t figure this one out.

He’d taken to asking around for an answer to it, or at least for help, but because of the fact it was in Elvish only Aragorn and you could understand it. And Legolas quickly discovered that, despite his many good qualities, riddles and their solutions were not Aragorn’s strong suit. Which had left you to ask.

Legolas approached you quietly, as he always did, but you’d still heard him and turned around to greet him, smiling slightly as you shuffled closer to him.

He probably would have walked over to you even if he’d know the answer to the riddle, so he could see that pretty smile and talk to you for a bit. But what was he thinking? He had come here to ask you about a riddle, not to admire and stare (hopefully not too obviously) at you in the afternoon light.

“Do you need anything?” You asked, looking briefly at him and then at the book in his hands. Legolas smiled, and then took a few steps to sit down beside you, “Yes, actually. I’ve been reading this for a while now, and one of the riddles in it, I simply cannot understand. I was wondering if you could offer me your advice?”

You looked up at him for a second, then gestured to the book still in his hands, “May I?”

“Of course,” he began, as both of you reached for the other, there was a brief moment as his hand met yours. Just a brief touch, but Legolas could feel the tips of his ears turn a slight shade of pink, and thanked Valar that they were hidden behind his hair.

For a second he risked a glance at you, and then your ears, to see if he could perhaps spot the same thing? It was a silly idea, to think that you would be interested in him, but some part of him wanted to see anyway. But there was almost nothing on your cheeks, a faint rosy hue, but something that could easily have come from the heat of today. And Legolas wasn’t about to make assumptions, it would be unfair of him to spring unwanted feelings onto you, especially since the two of you had barely spoken.

You had now taken the book from him, and had begun to stare at the well pondered over page, reading the Elvish riddle with a slight frown. Then you looked up at him, “This is the riddle about what it cannot do, right? How it says ‘cannot be seen, cannot be felt’?”

“Yes, have you heard of it before?”

“Ok, it is. And yes, it’s one of the more common ones used in Rivendell. Children generally use it all the time, they think they're so clever when they get it right, or that they’re an idiot when they don’t,” you paused for a second, and Legolas hoped you wouldn’t see the hurt in his eyes. Was it really that common of a riddle in Rivendell, yet he hadn’t figured it out?

You looked closer at him at that point, and he felt a bit of blush take over the embarrassment, “Oh - no. I didn’t mean it like that, it’s an annoying riddle to know the answer to,” you almost stumbled over your words. “Besides, I don’t like riddles anyway,” you trailed off, as if to say something more.

But whatever you were going to say didn’t matter so much, and Legolas felt himself smiling again, it wasn’t that he’d been being foolish, the riddle was just a harder one. Then he felt himself smile again, and he turned back to you in a lightly teasing tone, “It’s ok to call me a fool . I haven’t exactly the best record when it comes to riddles or poetry.”

You had let yourself slouch a little now, and a new, still just as beautiful, but less tense smile was on your face now, “Well, I’m awful at it too. We may suffer its confusion together,” at that, a laugh escaped him, as well as a small one from you, and he felt his heart grow lighter still. Was it really normal for him to have feelings about another elf so rapidly?

There was a brief, although not awkward, pause as the two of you sat together, before he could see Frodo begin to get up again, causing Aragorn to follow him. “We shall continue going forward, I want to get to the edges of these fields by midnight,” Aragorn proclaimed, looking around and slightly into the distance, before turning back to you, “Will you take the front?”

You had gotten yourself up at that point, “Of course. The ring-bearer in the middle?”

There was nodding, and small conversation struck up between the fellowship as they decided where to go in their march. Like most days, Legolas turned to Aragorn and then Gandalf, as he would walk by them, but both were already in company with one of the hobbits. He looked once more, not particularly wanting to be walking with the dwarf, or with whatever chaos Merry and Pippin were sure to bring. Stepping ahead again, he caught up to you, “May I scout with you? My usual marching partners have both found someone else, and I would like to appreciate the views with someone.”

That was the first time you two had walked together, and Legolas could feel the nervous beating in his heart as he asked, and waited for an answer. He could feel the strong blush in his ears, and the thankfully lighter on dusting his cheeks. He also felt the almost soaring sensation when you had said yes. 

From the one the two of you had always gone on scouting missions together, or both stayed up to watch throughout the night. Even if neither of you had a specific job in the line, more often than not it was you and him walking together. And he loved that.

And now it was in a situation like this. Like most nights, Legolas had offered to take a night-watch (elves not needing as much sleep as the others) and everyone had instinctually looked to you as well, and your hand was already up. Lazily raised, but your eyes were shining and there was a smile on your face that grew brighter when you looked at him. At least, Legolas thought it did.

He still wasn’t sure of your feelings for him. He knew of his feelings for you, of course. To him you were perfect, and would be the one forever. But how could he really say that to you? Or know that you felt the same way. Yes, you were around him most of all, and you seemed to share a special bond - but he didn’t want to be imagining all of that. He didn’t want to ruin what was already there.

And he was hesitant to get advice from any other members of the Fellowship, especially as they were not elves. Of course, they could fall in love and spend their lives together, but mortal lives were just that, lives. And if Legolas decided to love you, like he had, then he would love you for the rest of eternity, and that wasn’t something many other cultures understood.

But quite a lot of the Fellowship did seem supportive of the two of you. Even if most of it was Gimli making some sort of joke as the two of you went off together, prompting Pippin and Merry to start as well, it gave him quiet confidence that something was there between the two of you. And Aragorn knew, maybe even before Legolas had completely figured out his own feelings.

And it was Aragorn’s advice he was thinking of, as he gazed into the woods. Around them, only a few metres off, the rest of the Fellowship was sleeping. Only you and him were awake and still watchful in the moonlight. There was almost only moonlight as well.

With both of you being elves, you could rely less on fire to provide vision, and could instead gaze further into the darkened forest and still see if there was any danger. But all was calm, there wasn’t a single noise from the forest, and as both him and you sat in companionable silence, there was no noise from either of you. As he tried to listen, he realised he could still hear a few things.

There was a soft flickering from a lantern that was still on, positioned next to Merry’s bed, but only emitting the slightest bit of noise. And he could hear the soft breathing of everyone at camp, some hitched slightly, but most deep and calm. Yours was calm as well, content and peaceful.

Then he heard a slight shuffle, and he felt a weight against his back. Now Legolas could hear his heart, beating faster, as well as feel himself blush slightly more heavily. It was you, you were leaning up against his back, and looking up into the stars.

Surely this contact couldn’t be comfortable for you, he reflected, noting how you were lent up against the bit of armour he still had on. But he didn’t want to push you off either, his heart panged at the idea of losing physical contact with you. Instead, as gently as he could, he began to shift slightly and manoeuvre as to where you were still leaning on him, but much more comfortably.

Then the weight was gone, and he could feel you suddenly shift off him. Legolas turned around to look at you, and you smiled back at him, head still faintly titled back to watch the stars. You spoke, “Sorry, should’ve… asked permission, I know.”

He smiled at this, quick to reassure, “Oh, don’t worry about it. I don’t mind it at all friend . I was simply curious as to what you were doing?”

Even though you’d been sitting in silence for the past hour, it was so comfortably easy to start a conversation, for both of you to bring out each other's smiles. And tonight was no exception, he looked at you a little closer. Was that a slight amount of blush on you? Even with the poor lighting, he could see it was. But was it because you loved him back, or was it just embarrassment?

“I was,” there was hesitation in your voice, so probably the latter he realised as his heart sank, “Observing our immediate upward surroundings,  to make sure a… bird, doesn’t attack us while we’re sleeping.”

Legolas found himself laughing at that, although just a soft one. Not wanting to ruin the tranquillity of the firelight mood, or to make it seem like he was laughing at you. Suddenly unsure of himself, Legolas looked up towards the stars as well, “It is ok, I think the stars are very beautiful too.”

Then he caught himself. His heart was beating faster, much too fast. He thought back to what Aragorn had told him, and what he knew in his heart. Glancing around for a brief moment, everything seemed perfect to him. If he was ever to let you know he loved you, now would be the time. The hesitation had only been a second, but he felt uncertain. Then he opened his mouth to speak again.

“They are very pretty, my love.”

There was a pause between the two of you, and he looked back into your eyes, almost desperate. Please, give me a sign that you love me too? Legolas searched around your face, from the blush that had spread from your ears to your cheeks, and the fact your eyes almost seemed to sparkle. But then nothing, instead you gave a small smile, an obviously forced one, and turned from him to face the forest.

His heart fell. Nothing, he loved you, and would love you for the rest of forever, but it wasn’t the same for you. There was a second where his eyes blinked more rapidly, but instead he peered out into the night, searching for something that wasn’t there. Just like he’d seen something that wasn’t there. And now because of that he was stuck on watch with someone he’d poured out his heart too, who didn’t love him in return.

That incident had been last night, and it was the morning now. He hadn’t gotten much sleep at all, being kept awake by his aching heart. Not that elves like him needed much, to be fair.

Like usual, everyone else awoke - and Aragorn insisted on eating breakfast while on the move instead of sitting down to dine. Normally you would protest, and then the hobbits would join in (you telling him afterwards you wanted to watch the end of the sunrise with him) but there was no voice of complaint from you either, just a resignation as you got up.

Although you, and some of the fellowship had now started walking forward, Legolas waited a bit longer. If he stayed behind here, would you have waited for him to catch up? Six strides, seven strides, eight strides. It didn’t seem like it, and as he strode to not be felt behind by the party, he could hear whispers between Merry and Pippin.

The rest of the day was equally forlorn, him staying completely near the back until you and Gimli had both slowed your pace a little, as if to stay behind him. His heart had started to lift, the first hint of a smile, but then you turned briefly and faced Boromir, so he’d turned immediately to face Gimli, striking up a conversation with the dwarf based on faked enthusiasm - and not wanting to look at you being happy with someone else.

Eventually, you tried to approach him a few times, and his heart made it so he couldn’t bring himself to even look at you fully. Legolas gave short answers in the few times you spoke with him, and all of them were about what was currently going on (like a brief scouting report) and a brief moment of caring again, when he’d asked you what you ate.

But in all the conversations, he’d been quiet and reserved, trying to slip away as quickly as he could to scout or talk to anyone else. He couldn’t just pretend things would go back to the way they were, not if you didn’t love him but he loved you so dearly. And he didn’t want to force you to speak with him either, and approached with that awkwardness that you had - as though you didn’t want to be there.

The only words he had uttered that were about that night had been a brief phrase to you, “I’m sorry.”

But you had looked blank, and then he ran ahead again to the scouting position of the party before he could hear what you had to say. It was fine that you didn’t love him, but he didn’t want to hear you say that - or flounder around with words to pretend everything was ok.

The next day was the same, walking alone or with Gimli, even briefly along with Merry and Pippin (to see if their incessant joy could infect him) but that didn’t work either. When he’d approached them they looked shocked, and Merry had given some not-so-subtle glances to you, and then to him with concern on his face. Legolas had just told them not to worry, and tried to engage with them tales of Mirkwood instead.

Eventually, the company stopped for the night again. Basic camp was set up again, the two of you placing your sleeping mats almost on the opposite side of the circle the fellowship always seemed to make. Three larger logs, sturdy but long fallen, encompassed where you had set up camp, and like most nights people began to split into little groups and make small talk about the day's journey.

Legolas forced himself to sit down, shoulder slightly slumped in a way unlike him, and facing partially away from most of the circle, instead looking at Aragorn. The ranger noticed him almost straight away, and silently walked away from where he was sharpening his blade to sit down beside the elf.

“What’s wrong with the two of you?” came the soft words of Aragorn, looking briefly at you before staring back at Legolas.

“In Elvish,” Legolas instinctually corrected, not wanting the rest of the fellowship to become involved, “I… took the advice that you had offered me a few nights ago.”

Aragorn raised a brow, casting his mind back and remembering the windy time. They’d been on watch together, and Legolas had approached Aragorn confessing his feelings about you. Wondering how Aragorn had managed to confess to Arwen, and what he should do.

“I presume it didn’t go as well as you thought it would?”

“No, it didn’t,” there was a more melancholy tone to Legolas’s voice, clear even through the beautiful tones of Elvish, “Everything… everything seemed perfect. I wasn’t sure if I’d ever been more in love with them.”

Aragorn’s eyes became a bit more sympathetic as he saw the elf almost struggle to finish his sentence, looking slightly lost. “And then what happened?”

“They were looking up at the stars, they looked beautiful. And, we talked about them for a brief while. Then, I called her my love, and they said nothing after that. We sat in silence for the rest of the night.” At that, a more intense sadness formed in Legolas’s eyes, and the two of them briefly looked over at where you were sitting. You had been briefly staring back at them for a second, and the two of you met eyes for a second. He could feel his heart break a bit more, and he turned away, missing the concerned look that crossed Aragorn’s face as he stared at the two of you.

“Well, my friend. I am sorry that this has happened,” there was little comfort that Aragorn could give at the moment. Legolas knew the ranger would be there for him, and he would not appreciate meaningless words of comfort to try and soothe an aching heart. Aragorn paused for a second, before asking, “Do you still care for them?”

Legolas looked up at this, voice raising for a second and then shushing again, “Care for them?” That was when it got quieter, “Of course I do. They are my stars, my forest, my heart. Even if they do not feel the same way.”

“Well then there may still be hope for the two of you, do not give up yet Legolas.”

There was a lull in conversation between the two of them, and comfort for a second before Legolas looked back at the camp. Looked to see you sitting and staring into the floor, Frodo at your side. A now familiar sadness twinged in his heart, before the silence was broken by Sam, “Is anyone available to go get firewood, I want to start cookin’ before it gets too late.”

“I will.”

As soon as Legolas said it, he heard you say it at the same time, and he looked up at you for a second with a smile before reality came down upon him. But before he could apologise, shake his head and retreat back to Strider, Sam clasped his hands together.

“Two is better than one, I suppose.”

Now seeing that neither of you could back out, Legolas sat up, giving a brief look to Aragorn - as though to ask for help. He didn’t want to have to be with you right now, especially after he’d just confessed he still loved you.

“Just be getting firewood, mind,” Gimli called out as the two of you were leaving to head into the forest, and in spite of himself Legolas could feel his ears burn with blush, just like they always did. You would have nudged him at this point, some blush scattering your cheeks, and replying scathingly, but the both of you stayed silent this time.

He filled in the gap for you instead, “Do not worry Gimli, it will just be collecting firewood.”

The phrase came out colder than he intended, and he saw you rush forward into the trees, before stopping and looking around at the floor. Your movements seemed almost erratic at times, and while he stooped to collect firewood he kept his eyes trained on you, still worried. It was ridiculous, he knew. The idea that you would need help from him, or want it.

After only a few minutes, he saw you had much more timber in your arms than usual (normally the two of you would make jokes, and he’d end up collecting the brunt of it) and watched as you straightened up, “I think we have enough - do you want to head back?”

There was a moment of silence, before you began to continue, “Wait, Legolas, I meant to-”

“Yes, I think we have plenty between us,” he cut across quietly. There was no reason for you to apologise to him, or for the two of you to discuss what had happened in the moonlight. He just needed to get back to camp, not have his heart tricked into thinking you might like him again.

But what if you did, what if he had interrupted you. “Wait, I do actually love…” His voice trailed off as he saw you several steps ahead, clearly not listening and desperate to get back to camp. Of course you weren’t speaking to confess, why did he let his heart lead him yet again?

“We’re back, is this enough?” He heard you say to the fellowship, appearing out of the treeline a little behind you silently. Dinner was quiet, and he sat off to the side with Aragorn, neither of them speaking and instead just eating silently. Eventually dinner ended, and like always the matter of who was going to watch was brought up.

Legolas watched as you volunteered, hand going up, then felt as everyone’s gaze turned to him. Watching was another one of those things the two of you would do together, but he couldn’t face being alone with you right now - especially after two failed confessions in three days. As the silence began to grow tense, Aragorn moved slightly to volunteer as well, throwing an almost chiding look at Legolas.

Sleep was difficult for him, but everything was silent and he managed to find himself drifting off, although dreamlessly. When he awoke, it was to something jabbing him in the side. For a second fear raced through him, a sword perhaps? A cunning ambush? But then the thing tapped him again, it was just a stick. And if Legolas knew him, it would be Aragorn. Silently, he moved his hand to be free and listened for the movement of the air. 

Then he struck, one hand grabbing the stick and the other straying to his bow - if only to give a brief scare. He looked around at the moonlight before remembering the watch, a slight scowl falling over his face, “I assume I’m taking over the watch?”

His voice was slightly stiff, and he hauled himself out of the bedroll, pulling on his quiver as he did so and readjusting his bow. There was a slight grin on Aragorn’s face as he walked away, one of those knowing ones that he got once in a while. Silently Legolas sat up and walked to face the fire, instinctively walking to be next to you and then swerving and sitting opposite you.

There was silence as he stared at the fire, his heart both wanting to say something to you, but his heart also worrying that it would get hurt again. And both were battling, and neither were winning when you suddenly emitted a small sound.

It was like a choking one, and worry immediately flooded his eyes as he looked up at you. Were you ill, had something happened? But he shouldn’t still be fussing over you… that, wasn’t his job anymore. Not that it ever truly was. Legolas began to look away again, not wanting to torture his heart more.

“I can’t speak Elvish.”

Shock was the first thing that hit him, like a punch in the safe. That and almost absolute confusion. You were an elf, how could you not speak the mother-tongue? But then, along with the shock and confusion, his heart began to sing as well. You may still feel the same way, you just didn’t know what he had said.

Almost timidly, and certainly quietly, he spoke up while daring to glance into your eyes, “So you could not understand me, when I was talking to you in the forest?”

You shook your head, and his heart soared. There was still a chance for him, for the two of you. Then it hurt again as you let out another almost choked sob noise, “I know five words, the most useful one is food.”

So you truly had not understood him when he had been speaking. Relief was now rushing over him, that and love again. Still just as strong and pure, but he wasn’t squashing it down because of your supposed ‘rejection’. Almost subconsciously he stood up and moved over to you. Not quite touching, but close.

“What… what did you call me on that night?”

Your eyes left his, and he almost felt his throat make the same choked noise, “I- I’m not sure how you’d respond to it now.”

“Legolas, the only reason I didn’t react is because I didn’t understand you, I promise. I was just uncertain of what you said, and I didn’t want to ruin our friendship.”

Your eyes now met again, and he was struck by an urge to hug you. Or, perhaps kiss you. But he wasn’t sure, so instead his hand just reached out and grasped yours. He tried to speak and then gulped nervously, before trying again, “I called you my love.”

He whispered it, and then tried again, “In the forest. Meleth nîn means my love, and I said it because,” at that point his voice, or maybe his nerves, betrayed him, and his voice trailed off. You grasped onto his hands again, to stop them from slipping away.

“As… as in partners?” there was nervousness in your voice, but certainty in his heart. He needed to let you know, and he took a deep breath.

“Yes, meleth nîn, as in… I love you.”

Hope you enjoyed! Requests are open <3

thank you for reading *･༓˚✧ wish to be tagged?

[thatanimeramenchick]

Yandere Alastor walking in on reader trying to escape? (Maybe like through an unlocked window or door or something)

Yandere Alastor x Escaping Reader

I really like this idea. Unfortunately for the reader, they're probably not going to have a good time.

----

“What are you doing, dearest?”

Well, to be perfectly honest, you had been trying to break out of Alastor’s chateau. It had gone about as successfully as one might expect though. Whatever demon plants he had growing around this house, they were certainly… friendly. They had wrapped you up nice and tight as your body half hung out the window. It had you stuck upside down, and your skirts were flowing open like a flower, your stocking clad legs sticking out like two stamen.

“I… leaned a little too far out the window,” you said.

You pushed your skirt up, trying to cover your legs.

“And you happened to lean so far out that you completely fell out and got tangled up?” he said.

“…. Yes.”

“Hm…” he walked around you, the thoughtful buzz of his voice filling the air, “Is that so?”

You thought you felt your heart stop as he cocked his head to look at you thoughtfully.

“You must have lent out awfully far. The plants are usually so docile,” he said, “You know, lying is a bad habit to get into.”

Docile, my ass. This thing would have eaten me if it could have.

You narrow your eyes at his chiding tone, but you probably look more clownish than intimidating. His amused expression is a dead give away for how ridiculous he thinks you are.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” you say when you finally manage to find your voice.

“No? You don’t?” he said, “Perhaps I should let you stay out here until you remember. Though, I did hear there’s supposed to be a thunderstorm tonight. You’re smart though. I’m sure you’ll have it figured out before the worst of it hits.”

“But I didn’t!” you said, “I fell. I-I… I should have been more careful.”

He was turning away towards the door. Damn it. You really didn’t want to get left in the rain though, especially since you knew he was going to leave you out there anyway until you confessed. Might as well get it over with.

“W-wait! Alastor,” you said, squeezing your eyes tight. You didn’t want to look at him as you said this, “I… I wanted to go outside, and get some fresh air.”

When you finally managed to pry an eye open, he had turned back to you and walked over.

“And?”

Ugh, how this man tortured you.

“I was gonna just take a walk,” you said, “I-I was gonna come back.”

You could tell that despite his constant smile, he wasn’t sold on your little excuse. You decided to lay it on thicker.

“I swear! I wasn’t going to run away again! I wasn’t! It was just a little-’

“And what are you supposed to do if you want to go out?” he interrupted.

“… ask you first,” you said after a short pause, “But-”

“Ah, so you DO remember!” he said, “Clever girl. And run away? I didn’t even mention that. Unless you were thinking of it.”

“No! I wasn’t!”

“Then why did you bring it up? Ah, I told you not to lie to me,” he said, “Clearly, you were at least thinking about it if you brought it up.”

You knew it was pointless to argue with him when he was convinced of something. Besides, it’s not like he was wrong. You had planned a small walk, but if there had been even the slightest chance of escape, you would have bolted.

“… it might have been on my mind,” you finally concede.

“Such a stubborn little thing,” Alastor said,

He flicked your forehead with his claw.

“It never ceases to amaze just how mule headed you can be,” he said, more to himself than you.

He sighed before he conjured up a tentacle. He seemed mollified enough to get you out, and of course he wasn’t going to dirty himself up to do that. It untangled you from the vines, seized you by the waist, and yanked you back into the room. Before you knew it, you were slammed onto the floor as he released you just a little too soon. You could feel bruising forming beneath your skin, that would last for a few short hours yet were still painful. Groaning, you managed to stand up.

“I just don't understand why you insist on fighting me,” he said, more amusement than anger in his voice, “You and I both know you’re not going to win.”

You felt your claw like fingernails diffing into your skin, leaving an obvious mark.

“Well, maybe if you weren’t so controlling…” you started to mutter softly to yourself.

Apparently, there was more anger hiding inside him than you thought. You watched his hands tighten on his staff at your words, and his face darkened, eyes narrowing. Your heart sped up to that of a bullet train. You knew that look. The last time he had looked like that he had chopped off your hand, and you had had to wait for what felt like forever until it regenerated. You had to admit that it had been an effective mode of action, as you hadn’t dared to raise a hand to him since that day.

“I didn’t mean it like that! I just, it’s-it’s...” you said, voice sputtering.

Tears welled on the edges of your eyes. You don’t even know if they were crocodile ones or not. You’d faked them so many times to try to weasel your way out of things, Alastor related or otherwise, that they just came naturally to you at the first sign of trouble. After you were sure he had seen them, you buried your face in his chest, wailing.

“You don’t understand!” you wailed, “It’s so lonely when you’re not here. I miss you when you’re working. I can’t stand it, and I know you’re always so busy.”

“Sh, sh, I understand,” he said, running his fingers through your hair, “I know you get so bored in here. You must want to scream.”

Oh, thank all that was holy. You knew that Alastor tended to have a soft spot for a woman in tears, and he was taking this much better than-

“But being so rebellious like this… Dearest, it pains me to say this, but you really should know better. It’s like you’re begging me to punish me when you act like this,” he said.

You’re entire body went rigid as you felt his gentle petting turn into a firm grasp, keeping your face pressed into his chest.

“And darling, please believe me, it always hurts me much more than it does you when I have to do this,” he said.

His voice was so tender, you would have almost believed him. But no matter how gentle his tone, it couldn’t conceal the obvious sadistic glee dancing in his pupils.

[cheezeybread]

I just finished finals and I need the twst boys to suffer. I need a oneshot with the first year squad needing to solve algebra, chemistry, Literature, etc. All the crap we've had to put up with in normal school I wanna subject them to it. Ace making fun of us for not understanding magic homework? Tough shit, now the bastard has to solve these functions and figure out some parabolas!

Make the boys suffer, I can get behind that idea 😎

Also, I saw somewhere that someone hc'd Deuce as having a learning disability or some type of dyslexia? I think it works so well with him saying he had issues with school and not having good grades no matter how hard he worked at it.

⚛》》》◆《《《⚛

"I hate this!" Deuce muttered harshly, his eyes watery and half-closed. He had been staring at the same problem for the past twenty minutes, nothing more than an erased question mark to show for all his efforts.

"Boohoo, bastard, try being as clever as me, maybe," Ace shot back, sounding like the confident prick he was. However, when you glanced down at his paper, you could see tear stains on it, and the sheer amount of damage done to it by being erased so many times.

You sighed, leaning your head back on the sofa. Sitting on the floor, working on your seperate homework on the coffee table, were you, Ace, Deuce, and Grim (of course Grim was piled up on a bunch of books to be able to see his work. And so that you could make sure he wasn't cheating). Unfortunately for everyone, it was the time of year for exams. Right before winter break let out, you had to fight for your freedom. And unfortunately for the boys, NRC was a college- which meant that while it was also a "Magic-specialized" school, it had other classes, as well. Such as basic World History, English, Non-magical science, and math. Fortunately for you, the Math and English were close enough to the same ones back at home that you already knew most of it.

So you were coursing through the classes with grace and ease, leaving your friends stumbling and begging for help with their own classes.

For once, you were at top! No more were you this magicless human that they felt like they had to defend....well, you still were, technically, but now you were more known as the smart person who could help tutor the other Freshmen.

And since they were oh, so desperate for your help, you were able to charge thaumarks per tutoring session. With special discounts for your closer friends, of course.

Maybe the amount of power was starting to go to your head. Or maybe Azul had finally rubbed off on you. Either way, you had some extra money in your pocket for once, and you could afford to buy snacks! Snacks! For you to eat! And other fun little gidgets and gizmos that you could only stare at wistfully in shop windows!

Through the sessions, you had learned everyone's weaknesses and what subjects they needed help on the most.

Deuce had issues with English classes- mainly reading difficult passages and understanding them. You suspected he had dyslexia or some other type of learning disability. But you found that if you read the passage out loud slowly, he was able to retain the knowledge better.

Ace had issues with math. Specifically graphs and the mathematical equations that went with them. Parabolas, Quadratic formulas, you name it! it made him want to tear his hair out....and it made you want to bash his head into a wall just helping him. But if you worked out a problem a few times, he would eventually understand it. Maybe. Until the next problem, and then he'd forget it all over again.

Jack had issues with World History. All he kept saying was that if he couldn't smell it, it didn't matter well enough. To which you always had to reply with "that's dumb". Dates and times were definitely not his strong suit. But! If you mentioned Riddle during your tutoring sessions, Jack would work much harder at memorizing information. It was almost like he wanted Riddle to be impressed with him...even though Riddle was never at any of the study sessions.

Epel also struggled with English. He didn't understand why he had to find out what the text meant with a whole buncha "metaphors" and stuff. "The author meant what they wrote, didn't they? Why should I have to put a buncha words into their mouth???" But once you explained to him that the teacher wanted to see what Epel himself thought about the text, it all clicked for him. Now he just made up some semi-passable nonsense as his answers.

And Sebek...well, he was Sebek. He struggled a little bit with all of it, in his own way. But having Malleus sit in with some of the study sessions was remarkably helpful. You only had to help Sebek twice before he started doing better on his own.

"YNnnnnnnnNNNNN!" Ace groaned, giving up his false sense of confidence "I'm tiiiiiiired." There was a thud, and you glanced over to see Ace's head up against the table.

"Hey, back to work," You said, thumping the side of his head "Or you could keep resting and just pay me for another session. You know what, honestly, do whatever you want. It's your exam you're gonna flunk, not mine."

"You're such a tyrant..." Ace grumbled, begrudgingly lifting his head just enough to be able to write on his paper.

"No, even Riddle doesn't charge us for study sessions," Deuce chuckled tearfully, rubbing one of his eyes "They're more like Azul."

"Boohoo, bastard," You stuck your tongue out, mimicking Ace's insult from earlier.

Deuce opened his mouth to retort, but his expression changed to confusion "Actually, wait- where's Grim at?"

A glance towards the empty spot at the table, and it was clear the direbeast was gone.

"Crap," You hissed, standing up quickly, wondering what sort of mischief he had gotten into now.

There was a thundering boom from the kitchen. Grim had stuck his homework in the oven to hide it from you, but put the oven at 500 degrees to get rid of the evidence quicker....which led to the old thing exploding.

Needless to say, Grim did not earn any more tutoring sessions from you.

⚛》》》◆《《《⚛

[sister-lucifer]

Teach Me Better Than I Know Now: A Preview

Ticci Toby x Gender Neutral Reader WIP

Genre: Fluff

cws: brief mentions of Toby’s trauma regarding his abusive father, non explicit mentions of depression/depression like symptoms

For as long as Toby remembers, he’s been nothing to nobody. 

He was born into a house that didn’t want him; a father who treated him like shit under his boot, a mother who didn’t care enough to save him, and a sister who was stolen too early to make a real difference. 

When he left that house and stumbled into the real world, it wasn’t all that unfamiliar. He couldn’t keep a steady job, couldn’t find any proper motivation, could barely function on his own. He couldn’t make himself shower or eat or brush his teeth with any sort of regularity; his body was practically rotting alive. 

By some miracle he managed to sneak into a community college with a bit of clever flair on his application and the lucky desperation of an underfunded educational institution. It wasn’t anything fancy, that’s for sure, but it’s better than nothing. Maybe this would help him get a worthwhile job, at least, once he figures out what he wants to do.

He didn’t have any expectations, any hope, any dreams…

That’s how it’d always been. 

He kept his shoulders slumped and head down as he entered the classroom on his first day. He kept his gaze on his ratty shoes for as long as he could until he had to look up to find a seat. Tired eyes like glassy, hazel marbles rolled lazily over the empty rows, a permanently addled brain doing its best to calculate where would be the least terrible to sit. 

That’s when it happened. 

That’s when he saw you for the first time. 

It was a lucky coincidence that you looked up at the same time he turned towards you, but it felt like blessed providence. His eyes widened as they fell on you, rapidly flicking over every detail of your glowing face. He was bolted to the floor as you took a moment to observe him, and he watched in slow motion as your perfect lips curled into a smile.

A real, genuine smile. 

Not a sneer or a mocking smirk, not a quick flash of a grin just because it’s common courtesy. 

You were really smiling at him. 

You even did that cute little head tilt and everything, your eyes crinkling at the corners as your face scrunched to accommodate that beautiful smile. 

That was all he needed—you had him on the hook from the jump, and you had no idea. 

[mayabruhbruh]

What do you think of the possibility of Will and Chance happening? I feel like it would be really poor writing tbh but I feel like they will give Will a different love interest because they’ll try to make all of the audience „happy“ But that would just truly not align with the writing so far I feel like.

Love your analyses btw<3

THANK YOUU! That's so kind :) And great ask! This is definitely a topic that the ST fandom needs to discuss.

The default question when people have little to no hope in Byler is, well, who the hell is Will going to end up with? Because it’s become increasingly evident that they’re trying to set him up for a romance. The “im not gonna fall in love”, the “it’s not my fault you don’t like girls”, even the gif shown above. It all can be interpreted to mean that Will is going to find his person soon.

So... to be completely honest, I had no idea who Chance was until this ask popped up and I had to look him up💀. It’s been a while since I’ve been on here, so I’m a little rusty on the deep lore lmao. So, in the off chance that others might also be confused, here’s a (rare) gif of him I found.

I think that’s him with the Hawkins cap on the right. Correct me if I’m wrong.

I’m not sure where the rumors that this guy was going to become a bigger part of the show came from, but that seems highly unlikely to me. I feel like they would have either hinted at it in the fourth season (like how they’re giving Patrick here quite a sizeable role so that he’ll be memorable to us later when he gets vecnafied) or they would have announced him as a more prominent character already like how they did for s5 with Holly, that one new kid character, and also how they did Amybeth for s4. Idk, maybe it’s unreasonable to think they would have to do that, but it feels quite too out-of-the-blue. Especially for a character that would take on the role of becoming our central character’s love interest, which is a BIG DEAL. Especially if it’s queer lol.

Secondly, I firmly believe that it would be a disservice to Will’s own desires to meet someone new.

Will said this explicitly in the van scene, and as of now, we’re still under the impression that Mike is his person. Forget about Mike’s issues and feelings for a second, and think about what Will is saying here. He feels like a mistake for being different, but Mike makes him feel like he’s not a mistake at all, that he’s better for being different. Mike gives him courage to fight on. Fuck. Tbh, it makes me wonder how long he’d felt this way. As a byler, you might be inclined to think his feelings have been on for forever, but narratively, he could have easily just realized his own feelings very recently, most likely sometime between season 3 and 4. It doesn’t mean the feelings weren’t there before, but realistically neither Will nor the general audience were aware of it before now.

Moving on.

Has anyone heard of the rule of Chekhov’s gun? It’s an incredibly clever and widely-used tool in screenwriting and storytelling in general that helps to clue the watchers in for what’s to come next.

Think of Lucas’ wrist rocket in season 1. When they introduced it as a flimsy-looking, no-good weapon that he’d put too much pride in at first, it gives us a good laugh and we move on. But really, it very meticulously set us up to subconsciously anticipate to see it again later. That’s what Chekhov’s gun is all about. Set-ups, foreshadowing, hidden treasures.

Another great example would be the painting reveal of s4. Obviously, after finding out that Will was painting something, bylers immediately figured it was for Mike and BEGGED and HOPED and PLEADED that we’d be able to finally see it, but to the general audience it was just another something that they’d have to pick apart and realize was actually of importance as the season progressed. (It’s also a good way of showing that the writers are fully capable of engrossing the entire fan base and general audience in his and Mike’s story. Just knowing Will had painted something and that it was for Mike created this sense of PLEASE TELL ME WHAT IT IS AND WJATS GOING ON and whatnot that watchers are simply so susceptible to it’s insane.)

Okay, back to the van scene. Will’s confession.

Now, I’m not saying that the writers intentionally used this foreshadowing tool for us to find and understand immediately. There are plenty, plenty of instances where writers use Chekhov’s gun principle and it flies over peoples heads purposefully. What I’m trying to say is that, thematically and narratively, they would never have introduced Wills feelings for Mike if not for it to have importance to the story, or for nothing to happen with it at all. It’s a set up. And a maddeningly good one, at that. Because queer stories already do tend to fly over people’s heads, and also because there’s the added drama between Mike and Eleven that makes it seem quite impossible for any of these feelings to be addressed in the midst of such emotional chaos. But whatever. I think I’m rambling.

Basically, whether they end up together or not, whether Mike reciprocates these feelings, Will is forever established to be in love with Mike. The confession was simply too grand and emotional and earnest for him to just switch up abruptly next season when he meets someone new that he might have a better chance with. Even if there were to be a whole new arc for him where he learns to let go of Mike or something crappy like that, it would be terrible writing on their end and poor use of a well-set-up Chekhov’s gun reference. It would be like introducing the gun in the display case in scene one, then two scenes later just tucking it away into a storage closet for the remainder of the story. Like… what?

And plus, it’s HIGHLY unlikely that Will would end up with that sort of storyline next season when he’s literally WITH Mike for presumably a majority of the time (based on the set pics so far).

So that’s my debunking of the Chance rumors :) and I didn’t even get to mention how incompatible they’d be just naturally as characters. Chance, a Jason-following jock that hates Dungeons and Dragons, fantasy and nerdy things, and willingly assisted in beating up the Hellfire Club when they were trying to find Eddie. What about that at all screams Will’s type? And if you’re thinking ��unconventional couple enemies to lovers”, just don’t. This isn’t a rom-com, especially for a queer plot line lol. I think it’s safe to say there’s no “chance”😉 that they will ever happen. And either way, it’d be a bummer if they did. Cus it would just be Will defeatedly settling for someone that isn’t Mike.

UGH! It makes me sad that the one thing that is firmly being teased by the writers (Will’s love playing a major role in the plot to come) is constantly being questioned and framed as different questions. “Will Mike reciprocate?” “Does this mean Mike and Eleven break up?” “Who will end up with who?” SHHH Frankly, to me this is already a win. It’s become obvious that Will having feelings for him will come up again soon, and the rest of the evidence that accounts for Mike’s end already speaks for itself, so I prefer to just sit back and watch it all unfold.

Again, thanks so much for the ask!! This was so fun to dissect and feel free to keep sending questions into my inbox. It might take me a second to post my response but I’m determined to get through all of them. Love you guys!! <3

[zcinderone]

Some ideas and criticism about case2

spoiler

I realized why people were so split and clueless right till the end. It’s because the murder itself was too simple, not too mysterious. You literally need only two existing facts to figure out whodunit a year ago: Only Teruko, Ace and Eden had access to the tape. Eden had alibi for the fish. Nothing in the resuming trial even helped further uncover or hide these two clues. Recalling the band is a bonus point as a physical proof for boss fight but not needed to know it has to be you! In classic DR cases you have to go through layers and layers of the murder mystery itself and when things are peeled and exhausted well enough, the candidate close to the last layer is most definitely the one. Yet this case is so unique: they only dabbled on the murder method a bit and quickly locked hard on two targets, effectively creating a delusion in your subconsciousness to expect some extra layers to unravel the secret when it really was the first and last one. But the case itself was so compelling because they went through such fantastical trivial things to construct solid conflicts and personal stories(which is arguably the best part in my opinoin about DR formula ) and consumed so much time. Had they switched order by chance and discussed the method first, it would literally be game over from the get-go.

Still, there are things I really feel that did damage to (further pefecting )the story.

1,Ace was in fact quite clever to figure out and pull such convoluted plan but locked this in a very narrow scope including himself. Their reasoning is well Ace choke her unconscious so people would lock some stronger dudes dismissing ladies I guess so he needed to imitate Nico which makes 0 sense and actually double locks him as that one would be strong enough and have been at the previous crime scene. And the explanation for all that is, quote Charles “ace is nothing if not unintelligent so he thought it would work” so simple and so incoherent.

 2, Water with fish, complete plot device, to help clear Eden and lock Ace, despite he can get water anywhere and more safely.

 3, Scuff on the floor, never mentioned again, you could guess it is from the struggle and it can make sense but it felt so off not even mentioning it in the closing argument.

4. Arei just didn’t wear her glove that morning. This one knocked me out hard.

There are still some things I don't find convincing but I somehow can forced myself to believe they could work and don't affect a great murder case. But these four I'm not so sure.

So far, I feel story-wise drdt still probably is the best I've seen but I genuinely feel this chapter didn't deliver a murder mystery(by itself not the whole trial) nearly on par. It's such a pity that there is some great chance already in its narrative that can make perfect sense out of a 3rd party twist(imagine how this would be received when everyone was fretting between Ace and Eden ). Every best wish to this masterpiece in the future, especially hope it can genuinely outsmart me, not in a "you believe I am way smarter but no I fooled you!" kind of trick-smart me way.

[casurlaub]

Can we please agree that liking a character doesn't mean you have to explain away their every bad call? And that disliking a character doesn't mean you have to overlook their good qualities to have them fit your narrative? No one is just this or that. It's always a range.

The lack of nuance in parts of this fandom annoys me so much. And let's please drop the double standards - finding excuses for every 'bad' thing character A does while demonizing character B.

Dumbledore is no super villain. Yes, he put defeating Voldemort over Harry's (emotional) needs. He isn't some supportive father figure, but he's not responsible for the war nor everyone's decision to join in. 'He raised an army of children' - um no? Because if so, he, the greatest wizard of the age, did a shitty job. In both wizarding wars it was just one group of friends joining the Order, not a huge number of former students. So either super-smart Dumbledore seriously sucked at recruiting, or maybe he didn't try all that hard?

James wasn't some prime example of social justice warrior from the very beginning. Yes, he had - to some extent - a set moral code, he hated the Dark Arts, and he certainly never used dark curses on others. But he found it entertaining to hex students at random. He was a classic bully; he did it because he could and because he found it funny. He enjoyed it. But that doesn't mean he had no good traits - he cared for his friends, befriended Remus (practically an outcast), and later he changed. I can't get over the people who find excuses for Snape's bullying of his students, of literal children when he's an adult, but seem to think James was the worst person to ever exist.

Sirius has a ton of good qualities; I could write an essay about it. But guess what, that doesn't make the prank thing okay (no matter if Remus cared about it). The same goes for the Snape bullying and his condescending (cruel) behavior towards Peter. And his treatment of Kreacher, who was oppressed, not the oppressor. And why do we applaud him for 'forgiving' Remus in PoA for not trying to get him out of Azkaban? What's there to applaud? He was in Azkaban because he thought Remus was the spy, did we forget that? How do we expect Remus to suss out that Sirius thought himself clever enough to outsmart not only Voldemort but also Dumbledore? Sirius isn't on some moral high ground here. He wasn't in Azkaban because of Remus but because of his own arrogance and lapse of judgement.

Remus isn't some impersonated moral code. He isn't 'the sensible one' by default. He makes a ton of shitty, truly awful decisions (roaming Hogsmeade while a werewolf, not telling Dumbledore about the secret passages or Sirius's animagus form in PoA even after Sirius, the alleged mass murderer with an agenda of killing Harry, broke into Harry's dorm, abandoning Tonks...). But he isn't some master manipulator with a hidden agenda either. He was driven by his self-loathing first and foremost. And when did it become worse to be a bystander than to participate in the actual bullying? (I'm not saying it's okay, but how can we find excuses for James and Sirius, but Remus is super evil for doing... nothing? When it's stated that Snape was following him and trying to uncover his secret to get him expelled? Shocking he didn't feel all that sympathetic.) Of course he is passive-aggressive, of course he was selfish/cowardish, I don't know, but he isn't evil? He's usually kind (ffs, he even felt pity for Greyback), and his issues are in the end all rooted in his endless self-loathing. That doesn't excuse it. It doesn't. But it doesn't mean he's acting like he does because he's an inherently bad person. This idea of inherently 'bad' or 'good' people is naive and harmful anyhow. Besides - I feel some standards imposed on him are impossible to meet, when the same people are quick to explain away James's/Sirius's/Snape's flaws. Remus is suffering from massive childhood trauma that he's forced to relive every month, he's stigmatized for it by society his whole life, but he himself is supposed to just 'let it go'? Without therapy or anything? Right...

And even Lily isn't a saint. She's fighting back a smile when James is bullying her (supposedly) best friend?

Snape is no tragic hero whose every wrong is justified because he turned around and sacrificed himself. Of course, he was brave. Of course, he had a shitty childhood. That doesn't give him a free pass. He was up to his eyes in the Dark Arts when he arrived at Hogwarts already, he invented curses like Sectumsempra while at Hogwarts, he sold the 'love of his life' to Voldemort. And even after he 'changed' and overcame his fascist views, he bullied children he was supposed to take care of - as a grown man. Not only Harry, but also Neville, Hermione, Ron, who knows how many others. So, yeah, cool, he protected their lives 'when it counted' - 'when it counted'??? You don't belittle your students, you don't insult them, you don't threaten to poison their pets no matter what happened to you when you were a kid. You're an adult, take responsibility. Easy as that. What happened to you may be an explanation, but not an excuse. And do we really think he didn't strike back at James and Sirius? That it was just James and Sirius and him taking it lying down without doing anything himself? I don't.

It's entirely natural to relate more to one character than another and to feel more sympathetic towards them. But let's move away from this 'all or nothing' way of thinking.

To me, they're all beautiful because they're flawed. It makes them real. I don't want them to be stripped of their flaws, not even my favorite characters.

Don't take Sirius's darkness away, don't turn Remus into the ever gentle voice of reason or the super selfish master manipulator (same goes for Dumbledore) and ffs don't excuse Snape's fascist views and bullying of children.

[willalove75]

Love your work! Would you write Rebecca X Female!Reader , where she's working as an assistant coach or something clever but R is very shy and introverted ( Ted is like a father figure ). But when on the pitch next to Ted, R is a complete opposite . Rebecca is intrigued ? She's also protective of R, enjoys having her and Keeley in the office , maybe flirty . Reader is like Kara Danvers from Supergirl ☺️

Thank you SO much!!!💕💕

And I love this so much! Thank you for the request! I hope you like it!!💕

A/n: I don't know anything about Kara Danvers or Supergirl so I'm sorry if I don't hit the mark on that😅😂

Gif source

When Rebecca first hired you as an assistant coach, she didn't think too much of you. Your references were good, you knew the game better than most people she's met, you were quiet, nice, very girl next door type. Even though she wasn't sure how well you'd fit in with the rest of the managers given they were all pretty outgoing men, she took a chance and it paid off.

Whenever there was a meeting Rebecca noticed that you only ever spoke when spoken to. You were quiet but thorough with your analyses, strategies and had great opinions.

For whatever reason, Keeley immediately took a liking to you and started dragging you into Rebecca's office for "girl talk." For the most part, you just listened, only giving your opinion on things when you were asked. Rebecca was curious how someone so quiet was such a great coach to a particularly rowdy team. But she admired your softness, she loved hearing you laugh and when you spoke, she hung onto every word you said. She's been pretty busy since you were hired and she wasn't able to watch you during trainings so she really had no idea how you operated on the pitch.

Finally, Rebecca found a free afternoon to finally observe training before the first match of the season. She quietly made her way out into the stands and took a seat, her eyes trained on you.

Before training that morning, Coach Lasso asked the group what you all thought the team should focus on today. Piping up, you suggested that the team should work on the finer details of their footwork. Of course it was important to learn new plays, perfect the ones they already knew, but you felt like the boys needed a refresher on the basics.

Coaches Lasso, Beard, Roy and your other assistant manager, Nate, all paused for a moment before agreeing. The boys' footwork had become a bit sloppy, messing up passes, missing goals, all because they weren't kicking the ball with the precision they should be.

Ted and the rest of the guys all agreed and even let you take the reigns for training for the day. It wasn't something you'd done before here at Richmond, but you were really excited to finally show everyone why you deserve to be here.

Rebecca watched as the boys ran a basic play, unsure why you all decided to run such a simple play, but she kept watching to see what happens.

Colin passes the ball over to Sam and even though it looked like a solid pass, Colin wasn't using the proper technique, something Rebecca wasn't paying attention to, but you definitely were.

As soon as Sam got the ball you blew your whistle and everyone stopped.

"COLIN!" You scream across the pitch. "DO I HAVE TO CALL ROY'S NIECE TO COME OVER HERE AND TEACH YOU HOW TO KICK THE BALL?"

The managers all held back a laugh, Roy and Beard smirking with approval, and the rest of the team busted out into laughter. Rebecca on the other hand, was in shock. The sweet, quiet girl she'd gotten to know was replaced by an assertive, confident coach, a side of you she didn't even know existed. She was even more enamored with you now than she ever was before.

"Oh come on coach! It was a fine pass!" He argued.

"'Fine' won't win the whole damn thing! If you want to be 'fine' then drop down to the lower levels of the league!"

The teams laughter fades and a few of the guys whistle and you hear a few mutter "oh shit".

"Run it again!" You say, blowing the whistle again.

"Fuckin' cunt." Colin murmurs under his breath.

The boys reset and start the play over, Colin gets the ball and passes it to Sam again with a perfect execution, giving Sam the opportunity to sink the ball right into the net.

"There we go! That's what I'm talking about!" You yell before blowing your whistle.

Walking out onto the pitch you walk up to Colin and pat him on the back.

"That was perfect! Did you feel how you had way more control when you connected with the ball this time?" You say as you imitate kicking a ball.

"Yes coach, I see what you mean."

"Good! Because when you hit it just right, you don't have to worry about trying to control where the ball is gonna go, you can focus on putting as much or as little power behind the kick to get it to your teammate. Just like you did with Sam, the ball got to him faster and he was able to sink that puppy straight into the net before the other team knew what hit 'em!"

Colin nods at you and you give him another pat on the shoulder before you turn away. Walking back over to the coaches, you see Rebecca sitting in the stands watching. A blush creeps across your cheeks as you give her a little wave and she waves back. You can't read her face, you're not sure if she's impressed, indifferent or unhappy with your coaching style. As training continues you try not to focus on Rebecca and direct your attention to the boys on the field.

Rebecca watches you as training continues. She sees Ted wrap his arm around your shoulder for a moment and says something to you. He spoke too quietly and she's sitting too far away to hear what he said, but she notices you relax a little before he pulls his arm away.

When training was finally over, you all head back inside, Rebecca had left at some point, although you're not sure when. In your office, you're going over a few new plays you've come up with, seeing which player would best fit each position.

"Well howdy there boss!" You hear Ted say as the sound of heels clicking across the floor enters the office. "What'd ya think of today's trainin'?"

"I must admit I was quite impressed." She says.

Looking over your shoulder, you see Rebecca lean up against the door connecting your and Ted's offices.

"Y/n, I almost couldn't believe that was you out there." She says playfully.

The blush creeps up again and you let out a nervous giggle.

"Oh, yeah, thank you."

Rebecca raises and eyebrow at you and flashes you a smile.

"Come up to my office after work, Keeley and I are going to be spending some time up there today."

"Oh? Yeah, of course. Thanks for the invite."

Rebecca smiles at you again and walks out through the locker room.

"Colin, coach l/n really ripped you a new one out there." Isaac says.

"She was such a bitch! I kicked the ball perfect the first time." Colin responds, visibly annoyed.

"I would show your coaches some more respect if I were you, Mr. Hughes." Rebecca says with daggers in her eyes.

"Oh, Ms. Welton, yes, of course, I'm so sorry." He says, obviously taken by surprise because he didn't see her there.

"Even I could tell that first kick was utter garbage." She says before walking away.

Could she really tell? No, absolutely not. But Rebecca knew what you were doing and trusted you. She also was not about to let the players trash talk their coach, especially the only female coach. That was not going to fly in her locker room.

After work you head up to Rebecca's office to find her sitting on the couch with Keeley.

"Y/n! I'm glad you came!" Rebecca says, her face lighting up a little when she sees you.

"Of course, thanks for the invite." You reply with a soft smile.

"Come in, come take a seat," Rebecca moves closer to Keeley, opening up a spot next to her. "would you like a glass of wine?"

"I would love one, thank you."

Rebecca hands you a glass after you sit down and you take a sip, your eyes flickering between the two women.

"I have to say, I'm still shocked that that was you out on the pitch this afternoon." Rebecca says as she takes a sip.

"What happened on the pitch?!" Keeley asks.

"Our sweet, quiet little y/n became this loud, assertive coach. Those boys listened to her as well as they listen to Roy."

"No shit! So you're like an entirely different person when you coach?"

"Um, I guess." You say, the blush returning once again.

"She absolutely does." Rebecca says. "I was impressed, really."

For some reason, that took you by surprise. You didn't think you could ever do anything to impress Rebecca.

"Really?"

"Absolutely, the way you commanded the team was incredible."

"Oh my god I bet it was so hot watching you get all assertive like that!" Keeley says, causing your blush to deepen.

"I don't know about that." You mumble.

Rebecca shrugs a little and smiles at you and you take another sip of wine.

As the night progresses, the three of you talk, laugh and genuinely enjoy each others company. The wine loosened you up a bit and you're talking a little more freely than you usually do. Something that both Rebecca and Keeley seem to be happy about.

"Oh! I wanted to ask you y/n, what did Ted say to you on the pitch this afternoon?" Rebecca asks.

"When?"

"After you yelled at Colin, he put his arm around you and said something to you."

"Oh," you say, blushing once again. "he just said that I was doing a really good job and that he was proud of me."

"Aw I love Ted!" Keeley says. "He's such a sweetheart."

"He's a really good guy, it's nice to have someone so supportive on the pitch."

"I can imagine! It must be tough being the only chick out there."

"It's not too bad, I mean sometimes the guys say shit but I don't let it get to me."

Rebecca stiffens when she hears you say that the team makes comments to her. She doesn't even realize it but her grip on her wine glass tightens.

"What do they say to you?" Rebecca asks.

"Honestly I don't really pay attention, sometimes they're just teasing me, sometimes they like, pretend hit on me, say stupid things. The usual things that immature athletes usually say."

"That is absolutely unacceptable." Rebecca says, her tone growing more serious.

"It's okay really-"

"No it's not, you're their manager, they should respect you just as much as they respect the other managers."

"I guess." You say, shrugging.

"No, no, they absolutely should. And if it continues there will be hell to pay."

"Rebecca, really-"

"No babes she's right," Keeley chimes in. "you absolutely deserve the same amount of respect that the other coaches get and it's some sexist bullshit that you're not getting it."

Coming to terms with the fact that this is absolutely a losing battle, you smile at the two women.

"Thanks guys, I really appreciate it."

Rebecca wraps her arm around your shoulders and pulls you into her. The moment her skin touches yours your heartbeat quickens. AS she pulls you closer you're engulfed in her perfume. It's a beautiful, no doubt expensive, scent. It automatically relaxes you even though your heart still feels like its beating out of your chest. You look up at Rebecca and she looks down at you and smiles. Immediately her gorgeous green eyes captivate you and you get lost in them for a moment. Opening your mouth to speak, you realize your throat has gone dry so you grab your wine glass and take a sip.

"We got your back babes!" Keeley says.

"We absolutely do." Rebecca says, smiling down at you.

Later that night you lay in bed unable to fall asleep. The moment Rebecca wrapped her arm around you replays over and over again on a loop. You've never felt like that before and you can't figure out why. Was it because she's your boss? Not really. How about because she saw you in your coach mode earlier? Nah. What the hell made you so nervous in such a pretty woman's arms!

Right after that thought passed through your mind it hit you. You liked Rebecca, a lot. Way more than you ever thought or would have admitted to yourself.

Shit. You had a crush on your boss.

The next morning Rebecca calls a meeting with all of the coaches and the team. Everyone gathers in the conference room and you sit in one of the chairs, fidgeting nervously because you think you know why you're all here.

"Good morning everyone, I'm sure you're all wondering why I called this meeting this morning."

"Colin I told ya, you gotta use soap when ya shower mate!" Jamie says, making the entire team laugh.

Rebecca glares at Jamie and he shrinks back in his seat.

"Sorry Ms. Welton." He mumbles.

"It was recently brought to my attention that one of the managers here has not been given the same amount of respect as the others. Something that I witnessed myself in the locker room yesterday." She says, staring daggers at Colin, who also shrinks into his seat. "Every manager on this team, assistant or otherwise, deserves your respect and I will not tolerate anyone on this team disrespecting them in any way. If I find out that any one of you are making fun of, ostracizing or disrespecting any of the coaches on this team you will be benched for the first five games." The team takes a collective breath in, they're all a little intimidated by Rebecca and they don't take her threats lightly. "Do I make myself clear?"

"Yes Ms. Welton." They say in unison.

"Wonderful, now unless anyone has any questions or concerns, you all are dismissed."

Ted turns to you and the other coaches, a confused look on his face.

"What the heck was all of that about?"

The coaches shrug their shoulders and you stay silent. The guys on the team have never said anything in front of the other coaches so you're not surprised that they didn't know they weren't treating you all that nicely.

Everyone leaves the conference room and you head to your office. The day goes by pretty quickly and the threats Rebecca made seem to have stuck because the boys are giving you less attitude than they normally do. When the day is finally over you make your way up to Rebecca's office to thank her for putting her foot down.

You knock on the door and hear her on the other side.

"Come in!" When she see's you after you open the door, her face lights up again. "Oh! Y/n! What a wonderful surprise." She says with a smile, closing her laptop. "Please, sit." She gestures to the chair in front of her desk.

You take a seat and drink her in for a quick moment. Her hair is pulled back elegantly so you can see every beautiful feature of her face. Her green button down shirt, that's showing off her perfect breasts just enough to tease you, makes her eyes pop. If you could, you would sit here all night and just look at her.

"To what do I owe the pleasure?" She asks with a smile.

"I just wanted to thank you, for earlier today."

"Oh you don't have to thank me! It's absolutely unacceptable to disrespect the people that rank higher than you. I wish you had told me sooner, I'm so sorry you've been dealing with that for so long." Her green eyes look sad, not like the pitied you, but sad that you've been treated like shit from your players.

"Yeah, I just tend to take things as they are. I don't like making waves."

"Well if anything like this ever happens again, I hope you do."

"Thank you, I will."

"I was surprised that Ted and the other coaches didn't even know. They can usually pick up on those things quickly."

"Yeah, the guys were pretty discrete when it came to them insulting me or something."

"Did you tell anyone? Like a boyfriend or-"

"Oh no, I don't have a boyfriend."

"Oh?"

"I'm not really, into guys so much." You say as you feel your cheeks starting to get warm.

"Oh." Rebecca says, almost surprised.

"I'm guessing you weren't expecting that." You say with a laugh.

"Uh, no, honestly, I was not." She also says with a laugh.

"I mean, come on, I'm a football coach for a men's team, it's kinda obvious."

"Well when you put it like that!" The two of you laugh for a minute.

Her laugh is amazing, it fills your chest with so much joy. If you could have it played on repeat for hours, you would.

"Anyway, thank you again for doing that, it means a lot."

"Of course, I can't let my staff, no less my favorite employee, be harassed by the team."

"Aw, thanks." You say, smiling at her. "I'll let you go-"

"I was just about to leave, walk with me to the carpark?"

"Of course."

The two of you walk out of the building and into the carpark in a comfortable silence. The sky is dark and there's only a few cars left, including her driver and your car. Rebecca turns towards you and you mirror her action. She tucks a strand of hair behind your ear and gently cups your face. Without realizing it, you unconsciously lean into her hand, when you realize what you just did your eyes widen. Rebecca only smirks and her thumb caresses your cheek.

"If I wasn't your boss," She says softly, as if she's talking to herself while she's admiring you.

Her hand leaves your face and you grab hold of it with yours.

"Even if you are, I wouldn't mind." You say, just as softly, with a smile.

Rebecca looks at you with a bit of surprise in her eyes, she was never expecting you to say that. She's had the feeling that you had a crush on her for awhile now, long before you realized you did. And she's secretly been admiring you from afar.

The thought of dating an employee sounds so incredibly unprofessional to Rebecca. But at the same time, you're not just any employee.

"I must say, I'm torn on the matter." She says with a small smile.

"Well, give me a chance to ease your worries." You say with a confidence you haven't had in awhile.

Rebecca picks up on your sudden burst of confidence and a smile crosses her face.

"Alright then, Friday night, 7pm, I'll pick you up?"

"Perfect."

"It's a date."

[awwfur]

WoF x TWST. Yuu, Grim, and the great seven.

Master post More WoF x twst AU! More info and rambles past here

(And size chart at the bottom cause I know WoF sizes are wack)

Makes the most sense to start with Yuu first, yea?

Yuu: They get to be human still! Yay them! In this AU I wanted scavengers/humans to be extinct. Why? To make Yuu even more outta place. There’s a bit more to them as a character, but I’ll save that for the writing of the AU.

Grim: I played with the idea of making him into some kinda cat-like fantribe. But settled on making him still very cat like but with more dragon like qualities. Also bigger. And I’m still playing with the idea of him having a smaller form closer in stature to him cannon size. (So he can still ride on Yuu and have something unique to him) He was really fun and really hard to figure out, cause I almost made him more wild cat looking, but I didn’t end up liking it.

(I don’t plan on giving the ramshackle ghost their own full fledged refs, or even just head shot/bust refs. Apologies to all.)

and now onto the seven! Who I’ve turned from Disney Villains into WoF villains/antagonists (they are in order of left to right too to bottom)

Queen Scarlet: “The Scarlet queen” I know that an icewing might have been more fitting, with all the rules they have. But! I went for color pallet. I’m also heavily bias. So Scarlet gets to be queen of hearts

Queen Wasp: “The Queen of Tribes” a big reason for picking Wasp over Blister in place of scar is the fact that, well, she did rule over the silkwings for a good 50 years give or take. And I have this head cannon that she’s fair more clever than she’s depicted in the books.

Albatross: “The great seawing animus” I REALLY wanted Ursula’s WoF substitute to be a seawing. And there was NO WAY I was using whirlpool. (If you know you know) also I have him holding the drawing for the summer palace

Blister: “The sister of Brilliance” If this clever villain wasn’t getting to be the Scar stand in, she was going to be the Jafar stand in. (And yes I drew her holding the eye of onyx. If you know. You know.)

Chameleon: “The beautiful shapeshifter” okay. Scarlet would have gotten to be the Evil queen stand in if I wasn’t dead set on making her the stand in for the queen of hearts. So I had to pick the next best character. That being Chameleon. I don’t have any big reason for him being the Evil Queen besides the fact he has those scraps of scroll to turn into a few other tribes (I can’t remember if there were more than the Icewing, Nightwing and skywing. Because I wanna say he had four tribes he turned into) and also I have him holding Darkstalker’s scroll

Queen Diamond: “The queen of Ice” another one who I just kinda picked the “oh ugh-this’ll do”. I mostly picked her cause of the spell she cast on foeslayer to keep her trapped. So I guess she gets to be the Hades stand in.

Darkstalker: “The Darkstalker” that title is subject to change. But since he already had one in the books may as well use it! Anyway, it only made since to make the most clever and powerful Wings of Fire villain be the Maleficent stand in. Drew him when he escaped from under the mountain because that pose felt like the most powerful one for him. (Although like scarlet I’m very bias)

welp that’s the WoF seven (shockingly hard to pick who would be who. Besides Darkstalker he was easy)

Size chart time!

The dragon examples are Skywings, and I’m of the belief that mudwings and nightwings are larger than skywings but I picked skywings to be the chart comparisons because not meany characters will be much taller or shorter than an average adult skywing. Well, besides the staff but that’s besides the point.

it also has Grim and Yuu because I feel it’s very important to know how tall these two are. (And if I give them exact measurements my brain won’t remember) I was also tempted to add in some kinda animal in here because we’re going largely with mega fauna and flora. But it made the chart crowded. But know I intend for even chickens to be larger than Yuu. (Or about the same hight not sure yet)

[acidxinxwonderland]

small spaces and large hands

18 plus smut shot! Minors DNI!!!

Pairing: Glamrock Freddy/F!Reader

Summary: All you wanted to do was pull a harmless prank on your good gator friend, how were you supposed to know that you'd end up getting holed up in a closet with Freddy? Although just maybe it was all worth it in the end.

Tags: Size Difference, Size Kink, Robot/Human Relationships, No vaginal sex, thigh grinding, thigh fucking, Female Reader, Closet Sex, Praise Kink

Word Count: 2.9k

 A/N: Just a fun lil one shot I've been writing for the past few days ^^ enjoy!! :D

The ao3 link in case that’s more your style: small spaces and large hands

Everyday you learn something new working as a maintenance worker at the Mega Pizzaplex, today is the day you learned that just maybe pulling pranks on giant animatronics is not the best idea. Especially if that animatronic is a gator with an ill temperament.

“Get back here brat!”

You hear him roar behind you while your legs carry you as far as you can go, trying your best to suppress your giggles as you look back to see the googly eyes still on his glasses. You whip your head back around, taking a sharp turn down a large corridor and seeing your knight in shining armor, Freddy.

“Freddy!” You stop right in front of him, panting out and looking up at him a panicked yet extremely amused expression your face.

“Superstar! Are you alright-”

You’re quick to interrupt him. “No time for that, I gotta hide, Monty’s after me!”

The animatronic bear stares down at you for only a moment before opening the door behind him and grabbing your shoulders. He picks you up with utmost ease, bringing you into a cramped closet and closing the door behind him.

It was too late for you two when you both realized he did not need to come into this closet with you.

You are now sandwiched between a giant robot made of metal and a cold hard wall, your lips tug down into a frown as you try your best to move to get some more room.

“This is uncomfortable.” Freddy bluntly states and you have to stop everything in your power to roll your eyes.

“Yeah, you think?” You huff.

“My apologies superstar. Here, I can adjust myself and make it more accommodating for you.” Freddy reaches down and grabs your hips with attentive hands, bending his knees to lower himself so he can press his back against the wall.

You let out a sigh of relief as he places you back down on the ground, giving you a bit more breathing room. It was almost perfect except for the thick thigh right in between your legs, only the smallest movement and you’d be brushing up against him.

“Is this better?”

“Yeah, much better, thanks bud.”

There was a silence that fell between the two of you after this, his blue optics fixated on you intently and although his presence was quite calm the air still felt thick around you. You try your best to think of something to say but thankfully he speaks first.

“So… Why are we hiding?”

“Well, it was supposed to be just me hiding but erm… I may or may not have put googly eyes on Monty’s shade when he set them down.” You let out a small chuckle, feeling satisfied with yourself. “Clearly, he did not think it was very funny.”

You expect to get reprimanded for your harmless prank from Freddy, but instead he lets out a deep chuckle that was like music to your ears.

“Oh my! That is quite hilarious.” He gives you a tender look, bringing his hand up to pat your head. “I am impressed, but of course, someone as clever as you would be able to pull something like this off.”

You smile up at him as you enjoy the contact. “Well I’m glad you think so. I mean, it was no biggie, I did want to take a picture but he figured it out pretty quick, you know… Not really being able to see very well as soon as he put the shades back on.” You snicker. “He immediately went after me too, didn’t even take off the eyes.”

“Hah! Really? I can only imagine how he looked.” Freddy’s tone was full of amusement. “Just be careful alright? Monty would never harm you of course, but he still has quite the temper…”

“I am well aware.” You nod your head. “I knew what I was getting into, it was worth it.”

“Well then I'm glad it provided you entertainment.”

Your eyes search his face for a moment; you really were expecting him to scold you for what you’ve done, he’s always on your case over the smallest things. It appears like pulling pranks on one of his bandmates was not worthy of one of his lectures.

You wait there for a few moments before you feel as though the coast is clear, although now you are starting to enjoy the closeness. You go to move but Freddy does before you, his leg moves upward and presses against your sex. Your eyes widen from the sudden friction, a small gasp falling from your lips.

“Are you alright?” Freddy was quick to check on you, his head tilting to the side. Does he really not realize the situation he just put you both in?

“Um.. Y-yeah. Yeah I’m okay.” You whisper as your eyes wander around the small closet due to the nervousness you feel deep within you. “Just still feeling a bit cramped.”

He nods his head. “I understand, I'll try to make it better.”

You go to open your mouth to tell him not to do that yet the only thing that tumbled out was a sharp moan as his thigh slid even further up against you. Freddy immediately stills himself, staring down at you with what appears to be a surprised expression. The air was even more thick as his blue optics searched your flushed face.

“... Did I hurt you?” He finally asks and you shake your head.

“N-no… No you didn’t hurt me. Just um,” You glance down at his leg. “Your thigh is up against a sensitive spot right now.”

You watch as the gears turn in his head before finally understanding what you mean. “Oh! It was a sound of pleasure?”

You didn’t know your face could feel so hot, shooting him a glare. “You don’t have to say it out loud!”

“You’re right, superstar, I'm sorry.” He trails off, keeping his eyes fixated on your face while you begin to become more and more hot underneath your shirt. “Your heart rate is so high... There is no need to be embarrassed.” His voice drops down an octave, a tone you’ve never heard him speak in before, it was… Really nice.

“Well you know, making a noise like that in front of Freddy Fazbear is not exactly something that happens every day.” You look away from him, it didn’t help that his thigh was still pressed up against you.

“No, it sure isn’t… But in my opinion, I think it sounded enchanting.”

Your eyes snap back up at him quickly, your shoulders tensing as his words sink in.

His hands fall down to your hips, giving them a light squeeze as he leaned down closer to you. “In fact,” He pushes you down onto his thigh, eliciting a gasp from you. “I would really like to hear more… If that’s alright with you.”

You are at a loss for words, not expecting him to actually make a move on you. You feel the air in your lungs get squeezed out as you train your gaze on him, it was not easy to think with him holding you like this. He was so much larger than you, you know it was supposed to be intimidating but all you feel is a surge of wetness in between your thighs.

“O-of course it is.” You finally murmur out.

As soon as you give the permission he presses you down onto him more while raising his leg. You bite down on your bottom lip, the sensation making you whimper. He lets out a hum as he begins to guide your body back and forth, your clothed sex easily sliding against his metal leg.

“There we go… Does that feel nice?” He purrs out the question, staring down at you with half lidded eyes.

“Y-yes, it feels good.” You find yourself having a hard time keeping your eyes on him, feeling extremely flustered from his ministrations. You let your head fall back against the wall behind you, thighs quivering from each tingling pleasure sent through your body.

“Keep those pretty eyes on me, superstar.” His voice was soft yet demanding.

You are quick to follow his command, bringing your eyes onto his. His gaze was so intense, it made your muscles seize as you allowed soft noises to fall from your lips.

Each drag of your hips sent chills across your skin, not being able to stop the timidness you feel as he brings his hand up to your face. The large paw caresses your jawline before using his thumb to trace your bottom lip, you part them as he pushes the large digit into your mouth. Your lids halfen, suckling gently as he lets out a low groan from the sight alone.

Freddy continues to guide you with ease using his other hand, the grip on your hip tightening to the point it felt almost bruising. A muffled moan emits from you as he picks up the pace, the friction was enough to feel your core tighten up in knots.

You become louder around the thumb in your mouth, it was almost embarrassing that you were already on the edge despite the two of you just starting, what made it worse when Freddy stilled your hips.

He pulls the thumb out of your mouth and you give him a slight glare. “W-why did you stop!?”

“I apologize my starlet, but I have a better idea.” He withdraws his hand from your face and pulls down your pants and underwear to your mid thigh in one quick motion. He stops for a moment, staring down at your dripping cunt with a low growl that causes a deep blush to spread across your cheeks. His thumbs trace around your glistening lips with a feather light touch.

“You are so beautiful.” He murmurs out in a trance-like tone. It takes him a few moments to snap out of it, finally using his massive hands to cup the back of your thighs and as if you weigh nothing more but a feather, he pushes your legs up into the air until your knees are up towards your torso. “Is this too uncomfortable?”

You grunt from the stretch, feeling a deep sense of curiosity from this strange position. “It’s um, it’s a-alright. What are you planning to do?”

Freddy gives a gentle squeeze to your skin before speaking. “I would like to use your thighs for pleasure. I promise it will feel good for both of us. Is that alright with you?”

Your eyes widen, taking a moment to breathe before nodding your head.

“Good, very good.” You can tell he’s getting excited as he slightly parts your legs. The sound of something opening hits your ears, your brows knit together and just as you are about to ask what that was you feel something rather big slowly push past your thighs.

You feel your breath stop in your throat as the head of a long, thick member comes into your vision. Your mouth was practically watering, you had no time to question it when all you could think about was how that would feel inside of you.

Freddy lets out a deep chuckle, bringing your body up a little more so it could rest upon your aching pussy. “You don’t seem too surprised.” He presses your thighs together once again, letting out a low groan. “Must be too excited to really care, hm?”

You nod your head, feeling something stir deep within you as you keep your eyes on the large cock between your legs. You were simply at a loss for words but who on earth could blame you? You feel your sex pulsate with carnal need, your body was screaming at you for more, more, more. “F-Freddy.” You finally whisper, snapping your eyes up to him with pure desperation. “Please move.”

“Since you’ve asked so obediently, of course. But you must try your best to not make too much noise, alright? I don’t want anyone hearing your beautiful sounds besides me.” With that he drags his hips back at an agonizing slow pace. Both of you make small noises from the delicious friction it created.  

You feel your wetness coat the underside of his member as he pushes back in, the rigid texture sliding across your clit was mind numbingly perfect.

You couldn’t grab too much considering you were suspended in the air in a bit of an uncomfortable position, so you hook your hands underneath your knees, pulling them up more as you continue to let out long moans from each drag of his cock against your swollen clit.

“Feels so good…” He huffs, his pace quickening as grunts emit from him. “Makes me wonder how tight you are, the thought of you squeezing around me sounds heavenly.”

Hearing Freddy Fazbear dirty talk was not something you’d expect to be a major turn on for you, but it made you barely think. Your hole felt empty, fluttering around nothing and causing you to squirm and whimper.

“You c-can go ahead. I-I… I want you inside of me.” You don’t even recognize your own voice as you whimper out in a pleading tone. “Please.” Since being polite seemed to work in your favor last time, what was the harm in trying it again?

Your words seem to have quite an effect on him with the way he snaps his hips forward, metal clashing against skin and causing you to let out a whimper that was a bit too loud.

He stills himself, another growl rumbling from him. “We can’t, it… It would not be wise when you are not properly prepared. Besides,” He rocks back and forth, setting a steady pace once again. “With the way you’re acting now, I know you wouldn’t be able to keep that pretty mouth of yours quiet.”

A warmth blooms across your cheeks like flowers in the spring, pants and grunts filling the void of the small closet. It was all so dizzying, especially once he picked up speed. The moans falling past your lips were increasing in volume and he gives you this warning look that sends a chill up your spine. You clasp your hand over your mouth to keep yourself quiet as he continues to push in and out of your thighs.

“That’s a good girl.” He grunts out in between his heavenly noises. “So compliant, perfect for me.”

An unbearable pressure took place in your core from both the stimulation and his praise, your thighs squeeze tighter around him in an attempt to warn him but it was too late. You let out a long, almost feral moan through your hand, your head hitting the wall behind you as the waves of an orgasm came crashing down onto you.

“Oh my.” Freddy says in this awe struck voice that made you feel like the prettiest girl in the world. “That’s it, let it all out superstar… I never knew someone could look so good like this.”

Despite just cumming the bear steadily increased his thrusts, his brows knitting as his soft grunts became faster. You have to keep your hand over your mouth, the overstimulation was almost too much, tears pricking in the corner of your eyes

“Oh, oh my… I’m getting close. That’s my good girl, you can take it.” He rambles out so hotly it makes you want to hear him on the brink of cumming all the time.

Freddy’s hips stutter before giving one finally thrust in between your thighs. He lets out this long growl as his body leans forward, pushing your legs towards you even more.

Despite Freddy clearly reaching his climax, there was not a single drop of semen. You’re a little disappointed but not surprised.

The two of you stay in place for a moment, you catch your breath as Freddy appears to be registering what he has just done.

Finally he lets you down on your feet, smoothing your hair down and straightening your shirt as he mimics the sound of clearing his throat. “I am so sorry.” He says as he pulls up your pants. “That- that was highly inappropriate of me. I took advantage of you.”

You are quick to shake your head, a little taken aback from his sudden anxiety. “No, no!” You place your hands on his. “Not at all. I was 100 percent on board with this.”

“... You really mean that?”  

“Yes! That was the hottest thing that has ever happened to me, are you kidding?” You let out a laugh, rubbing your thumb into his metal.

Freddy laughs along, giving you a warm look as he brings his hand up to your cheek. “I trust you. You did so good for me, starlet.”

You turn your face towards his hand in an attempt to hide your growing blush. “T-thank you.” She murmurs, pressing a kiss against his palm.

You are quiet for a moment, feeling a bit anxious. “Um…” You finally say, peering up at him. “Would it be okay if we did this again?”

“Oh, did you think we would do this and leave it at that?” He lets out a deep chuckle. “We are far from over superstar.”

“I-I see.” Just when you thought your face could not get any hotter he leans in, brushing his cold muzzle against your lips before pressing against them tenderly. You return the gesture while letting out a shaky breath through your nose.

Once he pulls away you feel like you could finally breathe, looking up at him with a smile brimming with affection.

“See you soon?” You ask, feeling elated from this new bond the two of you now share.

“Very soon. Good luck keeping my paws off you, starlet.”

[laughingsapphic-creates]

Inukag Week, day 3: Bickering

My ideal papayasha is, apparently, sort of a combo of Bandit Heeler from Bluey, and Beleth and Asmodeus from Hell's Belles. Especially in modern au’s where he'd have access to real therapy.

@inukag-week

~~~~~~

What Makes Us Tick

Inuyasha sighed softly as he approached the school, bracing himself for whatever awaited him beyond the front desk. Frankly, he was just relieved that he didn't have any meetings that day - just a stack of paperwork he could easily afford to put off for a few hours while he figured out what was going on with his kid.

He hadn't been too thrilled to hear that Moroha had gotten into a fight with a friend. It wasn't the first time she had argued with a classmate, but physical violence was new. At the very least, he could be glad that he had gotten the call instead of Kagome. For as wonderful and understanding as his wife could be, she struggled to comprehend how disagreements could come to this point the way he did; he'd been there.

When he spotted her sitting in the office through the window, he was puzzled to see her looking so upset. Red-faced and teary-eyed, looking more the victim than the assailant. He didn't see Miki, the girl Moroha had fought with, but he had been told the other girl had received a bloody nose as recompense for whatever she said that set Moroha off, so odds were good she was in the nurse's office.

Pushing the glass door open, he made eye contact with the secretary. She smiled, but he could see the exhaustion in her eyes.

“Thanks for coming, Mr Higurashi,” she sighed in lieu of a standard greeting. He saw Moroha twitch when he was addressed, fresh tears welling in her eyes.

“No problem. Any clue what happened?”

“Well, the girls had some sort of disagreement before class, and things boiled over during recess, but neither one would say what the fight was about,” she hummed standing to open the door for him so he could join them in the office. “Moroha has been inconsolable all day..”

Before he even had time to ask about a meeting with the teacher or principal, one of the chairs clattered, and he found his six-year-old suddenly latched around his legs, blubbering into his thigh.

“Papa, please don't break up with mama!”

The wail caught both Inuyasha and the secretary off guard. Chuckling awkwardly, he shook his head, carefully unwinding her arms from him and taking a knee in front of her.

“Momo, what on earth are you talking about?” he asked softly, wiping her tears with gentle fingers. She threw herself into him again, burying her face in his neck and continuing to plead with him but not explaining further.

With a soft sigh, he wrapped her into a tight hug, scooping her up and turning to the secretary.

“Seems like we need to have a conversation. You mind if I just take her home for the day? If the principal wants to have a meeting, we'll all come back after school hours, and we can start fresh tomorrow.”

“That sounds like a good plan. Thank you, mister Higurashi.”

“Anytime,” he assured with a nod, leaning his catch his daughter's eye. “Not anytime-anytime. Don't go getting any clever ideas on me.”

Moroha gave a hiccup of a giggle, then sniffled, tucking closer to hide beneath the curtain of his hair. He signed her out of the office without any further fuss, keeping her tucked close and rubbing her back as they left the school.

He walked in silence for a few blocks, giving Moroha a chance to gather herself. It broke his heart to see her so hurt, and terrified him that her state had to do with her perception of his relationship with Kagome.

“Alright, pup, you feelin’ a little calmer?” He asked, waiting until he got a tentative nod in response. “Glad to hear it. So, you wanna tell me what got you so upset with Miki?”

He felt her breath hitch at his words, but after another moment, she sat up a little, still not meeting his gaze.

“M-Miki saw you n’mama fightin’ this morning, a-and she- she said that, when mamas and papas fight, it means they're gonna break up, cuz they don't l-love each other anymore,” she sniffled, clearly trying so hard to stay calm and keep her voice even. “An’ I told her, that was stupid, cause you love mama so much, an-and mama loves you - then she said I was stupid, cuz people who love each other don't fight, and- I just got so mad…”

“So that's why you thought..” Inuyasha sighed, reminding himself that the person on the other end of this fight was his daughter's age and was not an appropriate target for the anger he felt at Moroha's devastation, and he could not call a child stupid while they weren't around to prove it, even if it would make his own kid feel better.

He tilted his head up towards the sky, humming understandingly. He thought back to the beginning of their relationship - remembered blow-up fights, unkind words said in anger that they didn't mean, even when they said them. Arguments that some might say should have been their undoing. Compared to the way they used to go at it, their disagreement this morning hadn't even been a fight. Just little snipes about some stupid thing or other; bickering banter.

Chuckling with a bit more humor, he maneuvered Moroha up so she could ride his shoulders the way she usually preferred, his hands keeping hold of her feet and ankles.

“Okay. Here's the deal, pup; Miki might've been right if she was talking about someone else. But if mama and I were gonna break up over a fight, it would have happened a long time ago.”

“Are you s-sure?” she asked, still sniffing occasionally but seeming truly calm now.

“Very sure,” he insisted, tilting his head back to look at her. “Momo, your mama and I have been fighting since the day we met. We've known each other for sixteen years, and we've been doing relationship together for almost fifteen of ‘em. I'll spare you the math problem, but simply put, we've had lots of time to have lots of fights.”

He looked back at the path ahead of them and felt her cross her arms on top of his head.

“For some people, yeah, Miki has a point. Sometimes couples say awful, cruel things to each other, hurt each other, and decide they can't be together anymore. Some couples fall out of love that way.”

Moroha whimpered overhead, and he squeezed her little ankles.

“The trick is,” he continued, “Mama and I have spent years gettin’ good at arguing, so we know how to fight without hurting each other.”

“How's that?” The child asked, clenching her fists in her father's hair and making him wince.

“Well… you like wrestling with me, yeah?”

“... Yeah,” she affirmed, and Inuyasha could hear the shy smile in her voice

“Right! I like it, too. Because you and me, we're tough. And we like to roughhouse and play-fight, cuz it's fun for us. But if when we wrestle, if I started doing things that actually hurt you, you probably wouldn't have as much fun, would you?”

“Well… no…”

“Yeah. And same goes for me, because it's fair and normal to not wanna be in situations that hurt you. It's like that; Same rules apply for your mama an’ me. When we fight, we're just… wrestling with our words instead of our bodies. And it took practice, y'know - we used to fight just for the sake of hurting each other when we first met. But that wasn't fun for either of us, especially when we became friends. We didn't wanna hurt each other anymore, so we had to talk about it and stop using those things against each other in arguments.”

When they reached the house, Inuyasha took her down off his shoulders so they could go through the door without receiving head trauma. Once inside, he set her on a barstool by the island counter. Her eyes looked significantly less red than they had when he'd first picked her up. Leaning on the counter beside her, he ruffled her hair, smiling into big brown eyes that reminded him so much of her mother.

“Me an’ Mama’re very opinionated people - it means we feel strongly about all kinds of stuff. So we fought over who was right a lot. We still do. But we're always respectful of each other when we disagree, and we don't keep track of who's right more.” He paused, considering his own words. “Well- unless there's something at stake, like who has to do a chore or run an errand. But then, we're really just trying to work together to find a solution that suits us both, and makes sure neither of us are getting stuck doing more chores more often without making it fair.”

He slipped her hair tie out as he spoke, running his fingers gently through her hair to straighten out the tangles and catch the flyaways before putting it back up. Moroha hummed, even smiling when his long nails gently scritched at her scalp the same way Kagome did when he did it to her.

“Stuff other people hear as arguing is just us play-fighting, like when you and I wrestle. Do you… understand what I mean?”

“I think so… Wrestling is fun, so that makes sense,” she murmured, crossing her arms on the counter. “So… you guys aren't breaking up?”

“Absolutely not,” he assured, rubbing her back again. “You were right, Moroha, mama and I love each other so, so much. You might be surprised how much time I spend thinking of ways to make sure she knows how much I love her, because she's so good at making me feel loved, and I want to make her feel just as good. The only way we're ever gonna stop being together, is if us not being together is in some way better for you. Do you think you'd be better off if we broke up?”

“No!”

“Neither do we,” he agreed with a smile. “We are gonna have to have a talk about hitting people, because that's really not okay, and we can't just hit every person who says things that upset us, no matter how easy and fun it might be. But I'm glad we got the Love and Arguing thing cleared up. Y'know, if we didn't fight like we do, you might not even be here."

“What?”

“Okay! How about you go get changed out of your uniform, and I'll scoop us some ice cream?"

“Ice cream!” Moroha jumped down from her stool, bolting down the corridor and up the stairs to her bedroom. Breathing a sigh of relief, he turned to the fridge, pulling out the promised ice cream. Oh, he really hoped she wouldn't bring that up later, after he let his guard down. His daughter did not, at any age, need to know about the disagreement that led to her conception.

“Nicely done.”

He'd never admit to having jumped a little, but he did turn around and flash a grin.

“Thanks,” he said, offering his free arm to the woman leaned against the doorway to their office, fond adoration lining her eyes and curving her smile. She stepped forward, hands sliding around his middle as she leaned up to kiss him. He held her close and kissed back happily, pulling away just enough to see her eyes. “What're you doing home?”

“Called the school back on my way there, and they told me you signed her out a few minutes before, so I just figured I'd meet you here,” she hummed, running her fingers through his long hair. “That all sounded really heavy, but it seemed like you handled it really well. But I’m definitely missing context, so why don't you fill me in while I get out the sundae stuff?”

They fell into an easy rhythm while Inuyasha recounted the past half-hour or so and they set about dressing up glass bowls for their ice cream and putting out various toppings. Kagome was, as he'd predicted, very not thrilled that Moroha had gone and hit someone. But given the fight that had led to that, she was a little more willing to call it mostly even. She commented that they should probably call Miki's parents to discuss things - she and Moroha were usually quite close, and they'd gotten close to her parents as a necessity, so hopefully they could get both girls to apologize and that relationship could be healed.

Moroha came back in her favorite red romper and threw herself into her mother's arms, accepting her scolding for resorting to physical violence before sitting down to a bowl of ice cream that she ate happily.

“While I'm thinking of it,” Kagome hummed, setting her bowl in the sink, “I have something for you.”

“Yeah?” Inuyasha asked, dumping his last scoop into Moroha's bowl while her back was turned.

“Yeah. S'in the bedroom,” she nodded, taking his hand to lead him there. Glancing over his shoulder, he grinned at his daughter before disappearing down the hall.

“You mentioned how our fighting is the reason Moroha's around,” she reminded him, bringing a blush to his face.

“It slipped out, yeah. Think I recovered pretty well, though.”

“You did,” she agreed, letting his hand go when they reached their room and going to her bedside table. “And… you remember that big fight we got into at that watch party Sango and Miroku had two months ago?"

“... Heh, yeah, I remember that,” he chuckled. “Remember that after party we had when we got home, too.”

“Good. Means I don't have to explain how this happened,” she grinned, turning around and offering him a small box, somewhat long and thin, like a bracelet box. White, with a silver bow. His eyes went wide as he took it from her hands, looking up at her as if to ask if this was really happening. She gestured for him to open it, but her beaming smile was all the confirmation he needed. Still, the sight of the two little pink lines brought tears to his eyes.

“Oh my God, Kagome.”

He set the box down and scooped her up around the waist, swinging her around until she laughed in his arms. He looked up at her, haloed in warm afternoon sunlight from the window, and he thought to himself (as he often did) that he had never loved her more than he did right then.

“I love you,” he hummed, hitching her legs on his hips to support her weight. “Thank you so much, Kagome, I love you so much.”

“I love you too,” she smiled, tearing up a little as she wrapped her arm around his neck, her other hand cupping his face. “You and our children mean the world and more to me. And I cannot wait to fight with you for the rest of my life.”

“Rest of my life. You're not getting away from me first, you're stuck with me, wench.”

“Bold of you to assume I'll let you die at all, then!"

“If I'm not allowed to die, you don't get to either!”

Kagome giggled, leaning down to kiss him. He kissed back, setting her on her feet so he could run his fingers through her hair.

“Shall we say, as long as we both shall live?” She suggested, dark eyes sparkling.

“Every version, every lifetime, Kagome.”

[a-world-with0ut-dr34ms]

Ghost x Dom!Reader x Soap (Sneak Peek)

Ghost and Soap find themselves crushing on the same woman on their team, a friendly bout between two comrades to see who you'll choose, only your answer's not one they'd expected to hear.

Tags: Future NSFW 18+/Shameless Smut/PwP/MMF/some Ghostsoap, Anon Request •ᴗ• (Full tags will be used in main post), Jealousy, Banter, Flirting, Bickering, Sexual Tension, Soap and Ghost are fighting over the same girl, but it's a friendly competition, ends in a three-way too so, spoiler alert, Scarcely proofread

Masterlist

Ghost leans forward now, resting his arms on his knees and furrowing his brow. "A'right, out with it," he says. "What's your game 'ere?"

Soap's brow furrows rather facetiously. '"I'm sorry, sir?"

"Don’t play dumb Johnny." The playful tone Ghost once used before has now since cooled, growing darker. "You know wha' I'm askin'."

Soap merely smirks, resting his arm back against the couch. "The same game you're playing, yeah?"

"And what game is that, Johnny?"

Soap can't help but laugh now, growing more and more cocky with each loaded exchange. On a normal day, Ghost might manage to intimidate the Sergeant every so often with his sheer presence, let alone his words. However, when it comes to women, Soap couldn't feel more in his element, especially up against his superior.

"One I'll beat you in."

Now it's Ghost's turn to have a laugh. A subtle thing, trapped beneath the burliness of his chest, though its deep rumble is audible enough, having warmed the Scotsman's cheeks at the sound.

"I doubt that," Ghost says.

"You underestimate my charm L.T." Soap puckers his lips and kisses the air between the two men mockingly. As much as Ghost tried to hide it, the sight had made the air catch in his throat for a second. It's that usual, competitive nature about the Sergeant that really gets Ghost's blood pumping during these mutual bouts of bickering.

"My last statement still stands," Ghost chuckles. "So what? You thought I'd leave and you two would just go at it then?"

"I wouldn't say it like that," Soap says. "...But I was hoping to have some alone time with her, yes."

"And you figured on waitin' for the rest of us to vacate before making a move..." Ghost shrugs with affirmation. "...Clever man."

"Yeah, well, what about you?" Soap asks. "Clearly we're both still here for the same reason. What's your "game", L.T.?"

"It's not your concern."

Soap groans, sinking back in his seat, though he hadn't been surprised by the lieutenant's response. "Suppose it isn't, then," he says. "It's hers."

"That's right," Ghost agrees. "We can't both have her."

"Can't we?"

Ghost brings his eyes forward to Soap's, having thought his comment had been a mere joke. However, once their gazes matched, Ghost could see that his Sergeant was dead serious.

Personally, Soap's never been opposed to the idea of a threesome. He'd even be lying if he said he hadn't fantasized about it from time to time, as boyish as it sounds. Adding Ghost into that equation hadn't tripped him up much either; Lord knows the lieutenant would be next on Soap's list if you weren't at the top of it first.

Still, Ghost had a hard time even picturing a scenario where something like that could happen, let alone with all three of you. No doubt the man had been interested in you, and for a while, he'd even felt something for Soap as well, feelings that haven't necessarily gone away.

Something with all three of you would no doubt be perfect, however, it just seemed...

"Let's be real here, Johnny." Ghost leaves it at that.

"Suit yourself," Soap merely shrugs, before a light bulb moment suddenly lets off in his eyes. "How about we bring this to the source then? Hey Y/N!"

"Soap-"

"Oi, calm down, mate," he smiles at him. "No point in beatin' 'round the bush, aye?"

You round the corner finally, having heard their voices vaguely through your door this entire time, but not being able to put full words together. From the "uh-oh" look you had on your face, however, something told the two men you were already preparing for them to say something crazy.

"What's up?"

Soap gives Ghost a final look, waiting to see if the man will protest. However, when he sees that he doesn't speak, Soap grins, turning back to you.

"If you had to pick between Ghost and I, who're you choosin'?"

"Pick for what?" you ask, certainly needing clarification. "For battle?"

Soap bursts out laughing, just now feeling how awkward it was going to be explaining this to you. "No," he says. "Like if you had to pick one of us to... I don't know, go out on a date with, who would you pick?"

You keep smiling at Soap like he's joking, but once you see he hasn't budged, you feel your heart begin to race.

Your eyes grow wide, now suddenly embarrassed to have the spotlight on you. "You're seriously asking?"

Soap nods. "I am."

You look over at Ghost now. Surely this was just another one of Soap's antics. "You too?"

Ghost shrugs. "I'd be lying if I said I wasn't curious."

You were hoping he wouldn't say that. But, if they were asking, then may God be your witness as you answer them.

Placing a hand to your chin, you pout to yourself and look back and forth between your teammates, sizing both men up for every physical feature they had to offer.

Your mind immediately goes to the gutter, not being able to help it. You've found them both distractingly good-looking ever since you joined the team, and you've more than thought about this before. Just never in comparison. Or out loud.

Soap looks like he'd be fun to play with -- he's eager, energetic, and even better, open-minded. Not to mention he was cocky too; you always liked a man who could talk his shit and back it up. With those big arms of his, he could just box you in against the bed and pin you down good and firm, as he drills into you, cooing that sweet little accent of his in your ear like he would. It made your body tingle just thinking about it.

And then there was Ghost; if there was any voice you wouldn't mind having growled in your ear while being fucked senseless, it was his. Unlike Soap, you just knew you wouldn't get it rough like you would from Ghost. You've lost count of how many times you've caught yourself gawking at him during sparring sessions or while out in the field, watching that bulking mass of muscle of his he called a body, manhandle any and everything in his way. Having him do the same to you in a more intimate sense never failed to make the lower parts of yourself start to throb at the thought.

After giving both men a good, long look, you sigh, letting your arms fall back to your sides.

"I can't choose."

"Ah, don't be shy now, lass," Soap says. "If you're worried about hurtin' our feelings-"

"No it's not that," you cut in. "It's just not an easy choice, you know?"

Simon raises an eyebrow now. "Oh?"

"Oh, don't act all surprised, Ghost."

"You like us both then?" Soap asks cautiously.

"I'd say so." You begin to smirk. "Why? What's going on here?"

The two give each other a look, before Simon goes to explain things to you.

"We're just trying to figure out which one of us has a shot."

"Figures you should be the deciding vote, seeing as you're the subject of interest, lass."

You imagine you look pretty stupid standing at the center of your living room all wide-eyed like you do, but frankly, this just feels too good to be true. It hadn't been one of them that was supposedly into you, but both of them. If you could do a backflip, you'd do twelve right now, no questions asked.

But before you get head over heels about this, "So you're saying you both want me then?"

"In more ways than one, darlin'," Soap teases.

You glance over at Ghost this time, having taken note of his sudden silence. "You too, Simon?"

He hadn't necessarily been prepared to confess his feelings to you, not like this, and much less in front of an opposing audience. Still, Ghost wouldn't have his own Sergeant show him up so easily. Plus, the way your eyes lured at him this whole time had a chill running down his spine, making it hard to concentrate. So he nods, "That's right."

A devilish smile slowly creeps over your lips.

"Well, can't I just have you both?"

Coming soon...(・ω・｀)………..

I'm in the process of typing the smut for this, but here's a preview. Please let me know if this dialogue kind of wreaks; I don't know why, but I'm struggling to like it no matter how much I rewrite it (I keep flipping back and forth between liking it and not liking it). But enough of that. I'll link the full part here once it's complete! (ʃᵕ̩̩ ᵕ̩̩)